Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 115 — page 6: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

) ' ; ~—— Sa ee a ee ee ee oe — isa woman or a slave to be cowed. 6 one other person in ths hall, an old man wrap- ped in a long gown of scarlet cloth, bordered with fur, and wearing on his head the square furred ‘‘cap of maintenance,” as it was called which announced him to be of noble blood, and a relative of the house. Outside of the hall, the rest of the castle seemed to be just as much deserted, only one or two sentries pacing the top of the battlements, and it was on this unwonted loneliness that the Lady Adeline was commenting. “Where have all the men gone?” “Oh, my lady,” said Arlette, eagerly, as if bursting to tell her news, and yet with a sob in her voice, ‘‘no one knows what has become of them, since they started after poor Jacques.” Adeline de Coucy started slightly. “Jacques! Who? Not thy brother?” “Oh, yes, my lady, for ever since the day we had the news of Lord Guy’s death, Jacques has been wild, and they tell me he was caught ing yesterday and that the Master ordered im hanged.” ** But what has that to do with this midnight expedition?” asked the lady, in some wonder. “ Oh, my lady, they say that Jacques eseaped, ust as the storm broke out, aided by a strange en wizard, who came from no one knows where.” Again Adeline started, this time more per- tibly. “A Rareiecr! From whence? Perhaps he might know—” Her voice died away inarticulately, and Ar- lette regarded her with a grave pity that seldom left her. The girl knew that ber mistress had never given up the hope that her husband might be alive, and that she was eager to question every pilgrinn from the Holy Land, whereas Arlette If had no faith in any such visions. ** How can he be alive when the heathens cut off his head?’ she reasoned with much justice. But, nevertheless, she answered her mistress’s unspoken thought cheerfully: “The men heard him disputing with the Master, and saying that he came from Godfrey, _—s of Jerusalem, but they think him a wiz- ar “ And why?” ** Because of the way in which he openly de- fled the Master, when he had notso much as a raan-at-arms to back him, and because he made the Master tremble.” Adeline looked at her and burst into a low, bitter laugh. “He must be a wizard indeed to make him tremble, for he is used to lord it wherever there Well, girl, what happened next?” “Then, my lady, the Saracen cut down the Master’s horse, and the storm came down on them all with a crash, driving Master and men to the castle, while poor Jacques and the Sar- aweens went away with the storm and were heard of no more.” ‘“« And is that all?” “Not all, By lady. Squire Denis and the Master were taken together during the storm, and as soon as it was over they sallied out, took every man they could find, and went away into the night with hounds on Jacques’s trail.’ ** And are they not back yet?” “No, my lady.” Adeline de Coucy mused a little while, and then suddenly seemed to take a resolution, for she turned to Arlette and asked her: “Canst thon find thy brother and this Sar- acen, Arlette?” _ “f cannot say now, my lady. Itis like that my brother will seek me out at last.” ‘I must have speech with this Saracen, Ar- lette. He knows something of my lord’s fate or he could not frighten Gaston de Coucy. Tell thy brother it must be so.” ‘Yes, my lady.” And then further speech gvas cut short by the sound of the long-expected trumpet which an- nounced the return of De Coucy’s midnight ex- ion. Adeline hurriedly retired from the dais, where she seldom came, so great was her horror of meeting Gaston de Coucy, and left the back of the hall by a small door which ouenes ona pas- sage ending in a flight of ste eading to the turret she habitually occupied. From one of the windows of her room she looked down into the castle yard and beheld the men-at-arms trooping in, weary and muddy; while Gaston de Couey and Denis seemed to much cast down in spirit, for they remained on horseback, near together, for some time, neither thought to the other but apparently lost in ac e have not found thy brother, at all events,” said the lady, as she looked down: “or methinks he would be there asa prisoner. Go down and see what has happened, Arlette.” “Yes, my lady.” And poor Arlette, who was naturally dying with curiosity and anxiety to hear what had become of her reckless brother, was only too glad to ego She ran down-stairs and soon found herself in the court-yard among the retainers, with whom she was a great favorite. Arlette had been The Severed Head. brought up at the castle siace infancy, her mother having been foster-mother of Guy de Coucy, while her brother Jacques had been huntsman for the castle in the old days. Since the return of the Crusaders, however, poor Jacques had been in disgrace, as seemed to be the case with every one of whom Guy de Coucy had been fond. Gaston Ee to be imbued with a devil of spite that led him to persecute every adherent of the old Master of Coucy, and speedily dismissed Jacques from his post of huntsman, driving him to field work, which Marcel hated. It was not to be wondered at that the young peasant, always bred up as a huntsman, should take to poaching, which he ‘very soon did, and in which he had at last come to grief. It did not take Arlette long to gather from the retainers the story of their expedition of the night before, and of its sudden and mysterious ending. None of them had been in St. Pol’s castle, therefore they knew nothing positive as to what had happened in its recesses, but whis- pers of magic had gone round, and more than one who had been at Jerusalem.was willing to swear that he believed a Saracen magician to be roaming the country, who had bewitched their master, The bold words of George of Antioch to Gaston had not fallen on deaf ears, and the name of Bou Sheer was well known to Cru- saders. The mention of the ‘‘ thousand marks for which you sold your cousin,” had started the theory that the Master of Coucy had sold his soul to the Evil One, who was come in the person of the Syrian ministrel to claim his bar- gain, All these rumors, and much more, Arlette gathered up to take to her mistress, and then returned to the hall, through which she had to pass to reach the turret stairs. She found it full of men, eating ravenously, for they had been out all night. She saw the Master of Coucy and Squire Denis on the dais at one table, eating together, a most unusual circumstance, as it was the squire’s place to wait on his master. As Arlette passed the great fireplace, on her way up, she noticed the old knight who had been sitting there before the men came in, still in the same place, but listening to the tales they were telling with an appearance of great inte- rest. The old knight was Sir Baldwin de Coucy, a distant cousin of the old and new Masters of Coucy, whose office of Castellan, or Governor of the Castle, was one which had gradually fall- en into the hands of Denis, owing to the age and infirmities of the old warrior. Like all old men, he was fond of gossip, and the men were always willing to indulge him on account of bis rank. As the bower-maid passed him, old Baldwin looked up and made her a signal which the quick-witted girl understood to mean that he wished to tell her something in secret. She nodded in reply to the signal, for she and old Baldwin were used to hold secret consultations, and then she passed on to the dais. Gaston and Denis, surly and gruff as usual, only a little more so, looked at her as she went toward the door, and Gaston suddenly growled out: ‘* Where is thy mistress?” “In her chamber, my lord,” answered the girl, somewhat frightened at the abruptness of the question. ‘** Tell her to come down; I would see her at once!” was the surly rejoinder, accompanied by a gloomy frown, though Arlette remarked that somehow her master’s eyes did not meet her own. og Denis, who sat with his elbows leaning on the table, favored her with an impudent leer at this moment,and Arlette somewhat pertly answered: - ‘*) will tell her. Whether she come or not, is another question.” Instantly the overbearing Master of Coucy was up and frowning in good earnest. ‘** Tell her that if she comes not I will come myself and force the door. Begone, saucy wench.” The angry Master snatched up the bunting- whip from the table and made a furious blow at Arlette, which the girl only escaped by running out as fast as she could. In those days there was little respect for peasant girls on the part of feudal lords, though chivalry was fast civilizing the roughest ones. No sooner was Arlette gone than Gaston re- ~ his gloomy attitude, and remarked to enis: ‘ It’s well enough to threaten, but how if she refuse to marry me, as she has, ere this?” “Then,” answered the squire, boldly, “I would name the day, take her to the altar and make her marry me by force.” ‘* But no priest would marry us,” urged Gas- ton, in a hesitating tone. ‘* T will find one that will,” answered Denis, scornfully; ‘‘a fellow who will pronounce you man and wife while the bride is screaming with fits in the chancel, and register the marriage for a good broad piece of gold, any day in the week.” Gaston looked suspicious. ‘*Ts hea real priest?” —_s ‘*Nay; he has not been unfrocked yet,” re- plied the squire. ‘But real or pretended, he can marry you to her, and it is about time that the job was done.” ‘** Why?’ asked Gaston, in the same gloomy tone that had marked him from the beginning of the interview. ‘** Because—mark me well—because if you do not, this Syrian magician will do you some deadly burt. He has found out from Bou Sheet something about the compact in the valley of -Kedion, and he will, as he has threatened, take it to the king.” ‘* Well? Marrying her will not prevent that,” ‘*How do you know that?” asked the squire, keenly. ‘On the contrary, it may do it, since to burt you then will be to hurt De Coucy’s widow, for whom this fellow seems to have some strange tenderness.” Gaston mused awhile, ‘* Who is it, think you?” ‘“‘I think it may be Bou Sheer himself, dis- ised as a Christian. These Saracen hounds 1ave learned our Janguage, some of them from prisoners. He is angry because we cheated him out of the thousand marks, and ‘has resolved om trying to get more.” ** Why should we not offer him a thousand marks now, and so get rid of him?’ queried Gas- ton, in the uneasy tone and manner which had marked him all through the interview. Denis stared at his superior in manifest sur- prise and contempt. ‘*‘ Offer him a thousand marks, truly? He would laugh at us and demand ten. That man never came here for a thousand marks. We shall hear of him again at Orleans, at the Field of Honor, or I much mistake me.” The squire referred to a grand joust or tour- nament, lately Lees awe for the city of Or- leans, and at which the King of France was ex- pected to be present. Gaston started at the mention of the name. **'The Field of Honor! He will never dare to come there! Why, we can sweep him from the face of the earth with our retainers.” ‘Then let us go there and take the Lady Ade- line with us as the Dame de Coucy,” suggested the squire, with his usual astuteness. ‘**Good!” was the satisfied comment of his. lord, who seemed so much relieved by the idea that he forgot all about the summons he had sent to Adeline, till the squire called his atten- tion to the fact that she had not obeyed it. At the moment that he did so, Adeline her- self in her own room was reading a small note just handed her by her bower-maid. ‘ It seemed that Arlette, besides gathering up’ all the news possible from the men-at-arms in the hall, had been to see old Baldwin, who had —_ her this remarkable document. It ran us: “Tf Adeline de Coucy is still faithful to her dead lord, let her press the upper left hand corner of the fourth stone from the left side of the fireplace in the small chamber at the foot of the donjon turret, and follow the steps wherever they lead to-night. “GEORGE oF ANTIOCH,” ‘How did he get this?’ asked Adeline, won- deringly, and Arlette could give no explanation beyond the fact that Sir Baldwin had been away in the night, looking for the absent de- fenders of the castle. It seemed probable that George of Antioch and he had met while the ola knight was away. And now came the question what to do about obeying Gaston’s summons to descend. Ade- line had been so long subjected to persecutions that she realized the meaning of the summons, and had almost determined to disobey it, when the memory of Gaston’s brutal threat overcame her, and she determined to descend if only to gain time. As she had anticipated, the offer or rather command of marriage was made, and as firmly refused by her, when Gaston cut matters short by ordering her to prepare to marry him the next day and to accompany him on the third to the great tournament of Orleans. For all answer Adeline left the hall. CHAPTER V. THE PASSAGE. Nicut once more closed over the towers and walls of Coucy, and the whole household was buried in sleep, for all were tired out after the previous night’s expedition, All except Adeline and Arlette, who were now reaping the reward of regular slumbers, being broad awake and ready to go anywhere. \ They did not have to wait long that night for peace and quiet, for the retainers were soon snoring in chorus all over the castle, and it would have taken much heavier steps than those of the two girls to disturb them. Besides this, the chamber in which they were to search for the mysterious passage was in the basement of the corner turret of the donjon, separated from the rest of the building by thick walls, and occupied by winding staircases and small chambers, used as armories, The room to which the mysterious letter di- rected them was the lowest in the tower, and was intended as a store-room for quick-lime and. Greek-fire; of which, however, only two barrels: remained, Ehboo SEO com ~~ ——