Part 27 (2/2)
”Impossible!”
”Why not? She must have seen our shi+p; and if, as seems, the townsfolk knoe are, how s to hear news of her own land, and soht See! the light is in thestill!”
”But if not,” said Amyas, who had no such expectation, ”what is your plan?”
”I have none”
”None?”
”I have iined twenty different ones in the last hour; but all are equally uncertain, io where I a victim If Heaven accept the sacrifice, it will provide the altar and the knife”
Ay of his brother by hiranted that Frank had so adether out of his province, he had followed in full faith such a sans-appel as he held Frank to be But now he alh Frank's manner was perfectly collected and his voice fir of that intense devotion, which soon it as a lofty virtue, and yet one to be duly kept in its place by other duties) prided the into the most fantastic and self-willed excesses
Beautiful folly! the death-song of which two great geniuses were coht For, while Spenser was e in immortal verse all that it contained of noble and Christian ele with his left hand Don Quixote, saddest of books, in spite of all its wit; the story of a pure and noble soul, who mistakes this actual life for that ideal one which he fancies (and not so wrongly either) eternal in the heavens: and finding instead of a battlefield for heroes in God's cause, nothing but frivolity, heartlessness, and Godlessness, beco-stock,--and dies One of the saddest books, I say again, which man can read
A tooto certain death, Frank”
”Did I not entreat,” answered he, very quietly, ”to go alone?”
Amyas had half a mind to compel him to return: but he feared Frank's obstinacy; and feared, too, the sha; so they went up through the wicket- gate, along a sarden, forht, not only of the moon, but of the innumerable fireflies, which flitted to and fro across the sward like fiery iht the brothers on their way, they could see that the bushes on either side, and the trees above their heads, were decked with flowers of such strangeness and beauty, that, as Frank once said of Barbados, even the gardens of Wilton were a desert in coe and lemon trees (probably the only addition which ality), the fruit of which, in that strange colored light of the fireflies, flashed in their eyes like balls of burnished gold and e frolade, tossed in their faces a fragrant snow of blosso drops of perfumed dew
”What a paradise!” said Amyas to Frank, ”with the serpent in it, as of old Look!”
And as he spoke, there dropped slowly down froold, ruby, and sapphire Both stopped, and another glance showed the s full in their faces
”See!” said Frank ”And he coht Do not strike it There are worse devils to be fought with to-night than that poor beast” And stepping aside, they passed the snake safely, and arrived in front of the house
It was, as I have said, a long low house, with balconies along the upper story, and the under partin the
”Whither now?” said Anation
”Thither! Where else on earth?” and Frank pointed to the light, tre from head to foot, and pushed on
”For Heaven's sake! Look at the negroes on the barbecue!”
It was indeed time to stop; for on the barbecue, or terrace of white plaster, which ran all round the front, lay sleeping full twenty black figures
”What will you do now? You ain an entrance”
”Wait here, and I will go up gently towards theShe ht At least I know an air by which she will recognize me, if I do but huht is hers!--Down, for your life!”
And Aed hiroes, wakening suddenly with a cry, had sat up, and began crossing hi various charuished instantly
”Did you see her?” whispered Frank
”No”
”I did--the shadow of the face, and the neck! Can I behis face with his hands, he murmured to himself, ”Misery! misery! So near and yet impossible?”
”Would it be the less io up without detection, even if our going were of use Come back, for God's sake, ere all is lost! If you have seen her, as you say, you know at least that she is alive, and safe in his house--”
”As his mistress? or as his wife? Do I know that yet, Amyas, and can I depart until I know?” There was a fewone last atte, and to laugh hiury and sleepy; and this bush is very prickly; and my boots are full of ants--”
”So are ht Aht
For round the farther corner of the house a dark cloaked figure stole gently, turning a look now and then upon the sleeping negroes, and caht toward them
”Did I not tell you she would come?” whispered Frank, in a triumphant tone
Amyas was quite bewildered; and to his ical, and Frank prophetic; for as the figure ca that the shape and the ere exactly those of her, to find whoure was sorown since I saw her,” thought Amyas; and his heart for the moment beat as fiercely as Frank's
But as that behind her? Her shadow against the white wall of the house Not so Another figure, cloaked likewise, but taller far, was following on her steps It was a man's They could see that he wore a broad sombrero It could not be Don Guzman, for he was at sea Who then? Here was a edy And both brothers held their breaths, while Amyas felt whether his sas loose in the sheath
The Rose (if indeed it was she) ithin ten yards of theave a little shriek The cavalier sprang forward, lifted his hat courteously, and joined her, bowing low The ht was full upon his face
”It is Eustace, our cousin! How came he here, in the name of all the fiends?”
”Eustace! Then that is she, after all!” said Frank, forgetting everything else in her
And now flashed across Amyas all that had passed between him and Eustace in the ipsy Eustace had been beforehand with them, and warned Don Guzot hither?
”The devil, his master, sent him hither on a broomstick, I suppose: or what matter how? Here he is; and here we are, worse luck!” And, setting his teeth, A earnestly, and walking at a slow pace, so that the brothers could hear every word
”What shall we do now?” said Frank ”We have no right to be eavesdroppers”
”But we ht or none” And Amyas held hi, then,tone ”Can you wonder if such strange conduct should cause at least sorrow to your admirable and faithful husband?”
”Husband!” whispered Frank faintly to Ao”
But to go was impossible; for, as fate would have it, the two had stopped just opposite theain
”What do youhim to me in this fulsome way, sir? Do you suppose that I do not know his virtues better than you?”
”If you do, madam” (this was spoken in a harder tone), ”it ise for you to try the doards the beach on the very night that you know hisin wait to slay him, plunder his house, and most probably to carry you off from him”
”Carry me off? I will die first!”
”Who can prove that to hiainst you”
”My love to him, and his trust for me, sir!”