Part 42 (1/2)
She left the room then, with one backward glance at the inert stiff figure on the bed,--and went to arrange matters with her household that the Professor's instructions should be strictly carried out. Lady Kingswood, deeply interested, heard her giving certain orders and asked--
”There is hope then? These two poor creatures will live?”
”I think so”--answered Morgana, with a thrill of sadness in her sweet voice--”They will live--pray G.o.d their lives may be worth living!”
She watched the man-servant whom she had chosen to wait on Ardini depart on his errand--she saw him open the door of the room where Seaton lay, and shut it--then there was a silence. Oppressed by a sudden heaviness of heart she thought of Manella, and entered her apartment softly to see how she fared. The girl's beautiful dark eyes were wide open and full of the light of life and consciousness. She smiled and stretched out her arms.
”It is my angel!” she murmured faintly--”My little white angel who came to me in the darkness! And this is Heaven!”
Swiftly and silently Morgana went to her side, and taking her outstretched arms put them round her own neck.
”Manella!” she said, tenderly--”Dear, beautiful Manella! Do you know me?”
The great loving eyes rested on her with glowing warmth and pleasure.
”Indeed I know you!” and Manella's voice, weak as that of a sick child, sounded ever so far away--”The little white lady of my dreams! Oh, I have wanted you!--wanted you so much! Why did you not come back sooner?”
Afraid to trouble her brain by the sudden shock of too rapidly recurring memories, Morgana made no reply, but merely soothed her with tender caresses, when all at once she made a violent struggle to rise from the bed.
”I must go!” she cried--”He is calling me! I must follow him--yes, even if he kills me for it--he is in danger!”
Morgana held her close and firmly.
”Hush, hush, dear!” she murmured--”Be quite still! He is safe--believe me! He is near you--in the next room!--out of all danger.”
”Oh, no, it is not possible!” and the girl's eyes grew wild with terror--”He cannot be safe!--he is destroying himself! I have followed him every step of the way--I have watched him,--oh!--so long!--and he came out of the hut this morning--I was hidden among the trees--he could not see me--” she broke off, and a violent trembling shook her whole body. Morgana tried to calm her into silence, but she went on rambling incoherently. ”There was something he carried as though it was precious to him--something that glittered like gold,--and he went away quickly--quickly to the canyon,--I followed him like a dog, crawling through the brushwood--I followed him across the deep water--to the cave where it was all dark--black as midnight!” She paused--then suddenly flung her arms round Morgana crying--”Oh, hold me!--hold me!--I am in this darkness trying to find him!--there!--there!--he turns and sees me by the light of a lamp he carries; he knows I have followed him, and he is angry! Oh, dear G.o.d, he is angry--he raises his arm to strike me!” She uttered a smothered shriek, and clung to Morgana in a kind of frenzy. ”No mercy, no pity! That thing that glitters in his hand--it frightens me--what is it? I kneel to him on the cold stones--I pray him to forgive me--to come with me--but his arm is still raised to strike--he does not care--!”
Here a pale horror blanched her features--she drew herself away from Morgana's hold and put out her hands with the instinctive gesture of one who tries to escape falling from some great height. Morgana, alarmed at her looks, caught her again in her arms and held her tenderly, whereat a faint smile hovered on her lips and her distraught movements ceased.
”What is this?”--she asked--then murmured--”My little white lady, how did you come here? How could you cross the flood?--unless on wings?
Ah!--you are a fairy and you can do all you wish to do--but you cannot save HIM!--it is too late! He will not save himself--and he does not care,--he does not care--neither for me nor you!”
She drooped her head against Morgana's shoulder and her eyes closed in utter exhaustion. Morgana laid her back gently on her pillows, and pouring a few drops of the cordial she had used before, and of which she had the sole secret, into a winegla.s.sful of water, held it to her lips. She drank it obediently, evidently conscious now that she was being cared for. But she was still restless, and presently she sat up in a listening att.i.tude, one hand uplifted.
”Listen!” she said in a low, awed tone--”Thunder! Do you hear it? G.o.d speaks!”
She lay down again pa.s.sively and was silent for a long time. The hours pa.s.sed and the day grew into late afternoon, and Morgana, patiently watchful, thought she slept. All suddenly she sprang up, wide-eyed and alert.
”What was that?” she cried--”I heard him call!”
Morgana, startled by her swift movement, stood transfixed--listening.
The deep tones of a man's voice rang out loudly and defiantly--
”There shall be no more wars! There can be none! I say so! I am Master of the World!”
CHAPTER XXV
A brilliant morning broke over the flower-filled gardens of the Palazzo d'Oro, and the sea, stretched out in a wide radiance of purest blue s.h.i.+mmered with millions of tiny silver ripples brushed on its surface by a light wind as delicate as a bird's wing. Morgana stood in her rose-marble loggia, looking with a pathetic wistfulness at the beauty of the scene, and beside her stood Marco Ardini, scientist, surgeon and physician, looking also, but scarcely seeing, his whole thought being concentrated on the ”case” with which he had been dealing.