Part 39 (1/2)
The old woman flung up her arms with a gesture of triumph.
”I knew it: I knew it I knew that the prophecy would fulfil itself, for all Miriam's spite and Long Robin's greed. Boy, thou hast done well, thou hast done very well. But thou hast been more bold than secret. Thou art suspected. Miriam has been here. She is raging like a lioness robbed of her whelps. She loved yon fierce man who called himself Long Robin, yet was neither husband of hers, still less her son, with a love more wild and fierce than thou wilt ever understand. She vows that she will be revenged. She vows that the Trevlyns shall yet smart. She suspects not thee alone, but all who bear the name. Boy, boy, why didst thou not seek me earlier?”
Cuthbert made no response. He was looking in amaze at this old woman, who had now come forth from her nook behind the table, and was speaking to him without any a.s.sumption of prophetic power, but as one anxious human creature to another. He saw in her a strange likeness to old Miriam, and to the dark gipsy queen; but he marvelled at the excitement she evinced, and the eager intensity of her gaze. It was so different from her aspect when last he had seen her, so much more natural and full of human concern and anxiety.
”I have looked for thee day by day. I said in my heart, surely thou wouldst come quickly. And now, in lieu of seeking safety and counsel, thou hast been running blindly into those very perils of which I warned thee long ago. As if it were not enough to have Tyrrel and all his crew, with old Miriam at their back, resolved to hunt thee down and wrest the treasure from thee!”
Cuthbert started and looked intently at her.
”Miriam! Tyrrel! what can they know?”
”Miriam can piece together facts as well as I,” answered Esther in rapid tones; ”and thou oughtest by this to know what power that gives to those who possess the gift. In brief, I will tell thee what I myself have learned from her and others. She missed Long Robin, waited for his return till despair took the place of expectation. She knew that one of two things had happened--either that he had made off with the treasure, or that he had been done to death in the forest by some secret foe. Burning with fear and fury, she caused search to be made. The grave was found where the body lay. Rage filled the hearts of all the tribe, for the strange old man was venerated and feared, albeit he was not greatly beloved; and as thou knowest, amongst our people an injury done to one is avenged by all. Thou hadst been seen in the forest, seen moving to and fro in mysterious fas.h.i.+on. Many had wondered what thy business was, but none had interfered; for thou wast known to be under the protection of Joanna, and the word of the queen is sacred. But now that may serve no longer to protect thee. Miriam has declared aloud that Robin was the keeper of the long-lost treasure, that he was h.o.a.rding it up in some secret spot, ready to divide it amongst the whole tribe when the moment should have come. In fervid words she described the golden h.o.a.rd--the h.o.a.rd which I know well that evil man meant to make all his own when the time came that he might escape from the jealous watch kept upon him by Miriam. He was but waiting for her death, which may not be far distant, since she is subject to strange seizures of the heart which defy all our skill in curing. Then would he have fled, and taken all the treasure with him. He would have shared the spoil with none, as Miriam well knows. But she is using her power and her half knowledge of the secret for her own ends, and one of those ends is--”
The old woman paused, looking straight at Cuthbert, who regarded her fixedly, and now asked in a low voice:
”Is what?”
”The destruction of the house of Trevlyn, root and branch.”
A gleam of angry defiance shone in his eyes.
”Still that mad hatred? But why should we fear her? Let her do her worst!”
Esther raised a warning hand.
”Peace, boy!” she said; ”be not so full of recklessness and scorn. Miriam is an adversary not to be despised. Miriam is sworn to the task of vengeance upon thy house. She will not let this fresh deed of thine pa.s.s without striving might and main to fulfil that vengeance which thou hast now made void.”
”Made void?”
”Ay, by the finding of the treasure. She is a.s.sured that this is what thou hast done. She has persuaded Tyrrel and his band of it, and all are resolved to find it for themselves. She is acting with the craftiness of her nature. She has persuaded them that all the Trevlyns are in the golden secret. Wherefore vengeance is not directed against thee alone, but against all who bear thy name--Sir Richard and his son, who are in this city now.”
Cuthbert drew his brows together in a frown.
”They know naught of it,” he said hastily.
”That may be; but they are Trevlyns, and that is enough for Miriam. It is not the gold she covets; it is vengeance upon all who bear that name. She stirs the avarice and cupidity of others, that they may do the work she wishes done. And she works in other dark ways, too. She has tools which few suspect, and she uses them for her own ends without scruple. And thou, foolish boy, blind and self willed as thou art, unheeding my warnings, hast played into her hands; and now others as well as thyself may be brought into sore peril through thine own foolhardy recklessness.”
The old woman's eyes were gleaming brightly. They were fixed upon Cuthbert with keen intensity. He felt himself change colour beneath their glance, and he answered with some uneasiness:
”What hast thou to chide me with? Wherein have I been guilty of recklessness that may be hurtful to others?”
”Did I not charge thee to beware the dark-flowing river; to avoid the black cellar; to have no dealings with strange men; to have the courage to say nay to what was asked of thee? Hast. thou avoided these perils? No! thou hast been led on by thy reckless hardihood and insensate curiosity. Hast thou said no to what has been asked of thee! No! thou hast ever done the things required of thee, making excuse to forget warnings and disobey those who have counselled thee for thy good. And what has come of it? Verily, that the name of Trevlyn has been whispered amongst the names of traitors suspected of foul crimes, and that thine own kindred now stand in dire peril from thine own defiant hardihood.”
Cuthbert started and made a step forward.
”Woman, what meanest thou?” he asked with breathless eagerness. ”I understand not the meaning of thy words.”
Esther continued to gaze at him with her bright keen eyes.
”Understandest thou not that there be on foot at this very moment a vile plot for the destruction at one blow of the King, the n.o.bles, and the whole house of his Peers--a plot to blow them all into the air at the moment of their a.s.sembly upon the fifth day of this month?”