mrs. breakspear sat by the open casement enjoying the deep beauty of the evening. the air was still and clear, and over the bay hung one star sparkling in a sapphire sky.
idris, seated with her, had eyes for nothing but the yacht nemesis, which still lay out in the offing, rising and falling with the motion of the tide, and showing a tiny light at the stern.
"look, mother!" he cried suddenly. "they are putting out a boat."
by the faint starlight they could see in the boat seven men, one of whom steered while the rest rowed. their garb was that of ordinary french seamen, but mrs. breakspear noticed with surprise that each was armed with cutlass and pistol.
"why are they not coming to the harbour?" asked idris, a question which found an echo in his mother's mind.
the boat glided smoothly on, and finally vanished behind the cliffs to the east of the town.
"i wonder whether old baptiste is watching them?" said idris. "he said that the men in the yacht were smugglers, and that they would come ashore this evening. and sure enough they've come."
"if the men in that boat are smugglers, don't you think, idie, that they would wait till it is much darker?"
idris was forced to admit the reasonableness of this remark.
[pg 27]
"why are they all wearing swords? perhaps they are vikings, after all?" he went on, loth to believe that such heroes had vanished from the earth.
his mother shook her head in mild protest, not knowing that there was a good deal of latter-day vikingism in the enterprise that was taking these seven men ashore.
now as mrs. breakspear sat in the silence and solemnity of the deepening twilight she became subject to a feeling the like of which she had never before experienced. a vague awe, a presentiment of coming ill, stole over her; and, yielding to its influence, she resolved, before it should be too late, to carry out a purpose she had long had in mind.
"idie," she said, closing the casement and moving to the fireplace, "come and sit here. i have something to tell you."
wondering much at her grave manner the little fellow obeyed.
"idie," she began, "you have been taught to believe that your father died when you were an infant. i have told you this, thinking it right that you should know nothing of his sad history. but, sooner or later, you are sure to hear it from others: told, too, in a way that i would not have you believe. therefore it is better that you should hear the story from me: and remember to take these words of mine for your guidance in all future years: and if men should speak ill of your father, do not believe them: for who should know him better than i, his wife?"
she paused for a moment: and idris, new to this sort of language, made no reply.
"idie, your father is not dead."
idris' eyes became big with wonder.
"then why doesn't he live with us?" he asked.
[pg 28]
"because," replied his mother, sinking her voice to a whisper, "because he is in prison."
as prison is a place usually associated with crime, idris naturally received a shock, which his mother was not slow to perceive.
"idie, you know something of history, and therefore you know that many a good man has found himself in prison before to-day."
"o yes: there was sir walter raleigh, and that earl of surrey who was a poet: and—and—i can't think of any more at present, but i can find them in the book."
"well, your father, like many others in history, is suffering unjustly."
"what do they say he did?"
"they say," replied his mother, once more sinking her voice to a whisper, "they say he committed murder. but he did not: he did not: he did not. i have his word that he is innocent. i will set his word against all the rest of the world."
"how long is he to remain in prison?"
"he is never to come out," replied mrs. breakspear; and, unable to control her emotion, she burst into a fit of sobbing.
idris, touched by the sight of his mother's grief, began to cry also. now for the first time he understood why his mother so often wept in secret. how could men be so cruel as to take his father away from her and to shut him up in prison for a crime he had not committed?
"why didn't they put him under the guillotine?" he asked, when his fit of crying was over.
a natural question, but one that caused his mother to shiver.
"do not use that awful word," she said. "he was condemned to death, but the sentence was afterwards changed."
[pg 29]
certain past events were now seen by idris in a new light.
"mother, i know in what prison father is. it is the one on the moorland over there," he exclaimed, indicating the direction with his hand.
"you are right, idie: and now you know why i live at quilaix. it is that i may be near your father. i am happier here—if indeed i may use the word happy in speaking of myself—than in any other place. i have a beautiful house at nantes, but i cannot live there in ease and luxury while your father is deprived of everything that makes life bright. now listen, idie, for i am going to require of you a solemn promise. since your father did not commit the murder it is certain that some one else did. i want you to find that man."
"i, mother?"
"of course i do not mean now. in after years. when you are a man."
"but supposing the murderer should be dead?"
"you must find him, living or dead: if living, you must bring him to justice: if dead, you must show to the world that your father was guiltless of the deed. he himself, confined as he is within prison walls, can do nothing to establish his innocence: and as for me, i have the feeling that i shall not live long. grief is shortening my days. to you, then, i leave this task: to it you must devote your whole life. you will be spared the necessity of having to earn your living, since you are well provided for. but though health, strength, and fortune be yours, you will find these advantages embittered by the constant thought, 'men think me the son of a murderer!' will you let the world do you this injustice? will you not try to clear your father's memory? will you not ever bear in mind your mother's dearest wish?"
moved by her earnestness idris gave the required[pg 30] promise, consoling himself over the present difficulty of the problem by the thought that it would perhaps seem easier in the days to come.
"you have not forgotten the story we read the other day," continued his mother, "of the great hannibal; how, when he was a boy his father, leading him to the altar, made him swear to be the lifelong enemy of rome? you, too, must make a similar oath. bring me the bible."
idris brought it, and at his mother's command laid his hand upon a page of the open book, and repeated after her the following words:—
"i swear on reaching manhood to do my best to establish my father's innocence. may god help me to keep this oath!"
"say it again, idie."
idris accordingly repeated the vow, feeling somewhat proud in thus imitating the carthaginian hero.
his mother brushed back the curls from his forehead and looked earnestly into his eyes.
"little idris! little idris!" she murmured. "am i acting foolishly? i am forgetting that you are only seven years of age—scarcely old enough to understand the meaning of what you have just uttered. no matter: when you are older, if you are a true son, as i feel sure you will be, you will not require the memory of this oath to teach you your duty. and now i will tell you the story of the murder, and why your father came to be suspected of—— ha! what is that?" she gasped, breaking off abruptly. "listen! o, idie, who is it?"
they had believed themselves to be alone in the house. mrs. breakspear, before retiring to this sitting-room, had made fast the outer doors as well as the lower windows. in such circumstances, therefore, it was alarming to hear footsteps ascending the staircase—footsteps which mrs.[pg 31] breakspear instinctively felt to be those of a man, and not of a woman; footsteps, not of old pol, but of a stranger! how had he gained access to the house, and what was his object?
the unknown visitor had mounted to the head of the staircase and was now advancing along the passage leading to the room in which mrs. breakspear sat. unable to speak from surprise and fear mother and son gazed at the door with dilated eyes as if expecting to see some awful vision.
the door was pushed open, and mrs. breakspear could scarcely suppress a scream at sight of the man who entered, for his face was hidden behind a black silk vizard, such as might be worn at a bal masqué, and through the holes of the vizard two eyes could be seen sparkling, so it seemed to mrs. breakspear, with a sinister expression. a low-crowned soft hat covered his head; and a cloak, reaching to his heels, completely concealed his person.
he came forward a few paces, glancing round the room as he did so, and seeming to derive satisfaction from the fact that it contained no persons more formidable than a woman and a child.
"you are alarmed, madame, but without reason," he began. "it is not my purpose to do you hurt—" he paused for a moment, and then added, "unless your obstinacy should call for it."
the man's voice was altogether strange to mrs. breakspear. he spoke in french, but with an accent that somehow impressed her with the belief that he was an englishman: one, too, accustomed to move in good society.
"the first fact i would impress upon your mind is this," continued the stranger, "that you are alone, unprotected, in my power absolutely. if you raise your[pg 32] voice there is no one either in the house or in the street to hear you. the town is practically deserted. all are gone to the pardon, a fact i have taken into my calculations. if you will reflect upon this, it may facilitate my errand."
these words, and the tone in which they were spoken, did not tend to allay mrs. breakspear's fears. with difficulty she gathered voice to speak.
"who are you?"
a smile appeared beneath the fringe of the silken vizard.
"this mask is sufficient proof that i wish to conceal my identity."
"what do you want?"
"a more sensible question than your first, since it brings us to the point at once. i require, nay, i demand of you, the norse altar-ring now in your keeping."
"what reason have you for supposing that it is here?" said mrs. breakspear, growing bolder.
"do not equivocate." the eyes in the mask flashed like polished steel. "i know it to be in your possession. do you deny it?" mrs. breakspear was silent. "you do not deny it? good! the ring being here, i demand it."
"why do you want it?"
"i decline to be catechised. give me the ring."
"you are evidently a gentleman by education, if not by birth." the stranger gave a start at this. "and yet you seek to act the part of a common thief, a part you would not dare act," she cried with spirit, "were i a man, and not a defenceless woman."
the man shrugged his shoulders impatiently.
"i did not come to listen to moral vapourings, but to receive the ring."
"and what if i refuse to comply with your demand?"
illustration
[pg 33]
"you are alone, let me repeat, and absolutely at my mercy."
a dagger flashed from beneath his cloak. with a cry mrs. breakspear clasped idris in her arms to shield him from a possible attack. yet even amid her fear it did not escape her notice that the hand which held the weapon was small, white, and decorated with a diamond ring.
"listen to the voice of prudence," continued the stranger. "it is within my power to despatch you both, and to search these apartments for the ring which you admit is somewhere here. i am quite prepared to go to that extreme rather than return without it. you will, therefore, see the wisdom of surrendering the ring: you thus save your life and that of your child: i save time and trouble—an arrangement mutually advantageous."
something in his tone convinced mrs. breakspear that he was quite capable of carrying out his threat.
"you will find the ring in an ebony case in the top drawer of that cabinet. take it: and if it should bring upon you the curse which it has brought upon me and mine, you will live to rue this day."
the man smiled, put up his weapon, walked towards the oak press, and in a moment more the casket was in his hands.
"yes, this is it," he murmured in a tone of satisfaction, as he drew the ring from the case, and scrutinized the runic inscription.
"may one ask," he continued, concealing the relic upon his person, "how you came to deny all knowledge of it at the trial of your husband?"
"i spoke truly," she answered, "being unaware at the time that my husband had secretly entrusted it to the care of his friend, captain rochefort."
"after stealing it from the body of his victim," added the stranger.
[pg 34]
"his victim? there you err," cried mrs. breakspear with flashing eyes, loathing to answer the stranger, yet eager to vindicate her husband. "when my husband left the armorique club on that fatal evening he overtook m. duchesne on his way home, and upon the latter's expressing regret for his violence of the preceding night a reconciliation took place. as a pledge of amity m. duchesne, remembering the interest my husband had shown in the ring, made him a present of it: in return my husband insisted that duchesne should accept the antique poniard purchased by him that morning. thus they parted: the one with the ring, the other with the dagger. the assassin, whoever he was, that attacked duchesne, must, during the struggle, have become possessed of the dagger, and with it he inflicted the fatal wound. next morning, my husband, foreseeing that he might be accused of the murder, and aware that his possession of the ring would seem a suspicious circumstance, handed it to captain rochefort, enjoining him, very unwisely as i now perceive, to keep silent on the matter."
"and so," commented the stranger, "captain rochefort conspired to defeat the ends of justice."
"the word justice comes with an ill grace from the lips of a coward and a thief," retorted mrs. breakspear, her spirit rising, as it always rose, whenever her husband's innocence was put to the doubt. "say, rather, that in concealing the ring captain rochefort was seeking to prevent the law from drawing an erroneous conclusion."
"he failed, however," sneered the stranger, "for the law pronounced your husband guilty—greatly to my interests. a pity they didn't guillotine him! still, he is in prison: there let him rot! and—— ah!" he muttered in a hoarse voice, breaking off abruptly. "in the name of hell, what's that?"
he could not have been a very brave man, idris[pg 35] thought, for he seemed unable to keep his hand which rested on the table from shaking.
all three were silent, listening for a renewal of the sound. it soon came—a dull boom slowly rolling through the air like distant thunder.
with the air of one mad the stranger dashed to the window, and flinging wide the casement looked out into the night, a night of glory and beauty, such as is seldom seen in misty brittany. the air from horizon to zenith was alive with countless stars that seemed to float like silver dust in the blue depth. their faint light falling over a wide expanse of rippling sea, and on a long arc of yellow sand terminated at each end by dark cliffs, formed a picture that would have charmed the eye of an artist.
idris, his curiosity getting the better of his fear, slipped from his mother's embrace, and, stealing to a second casement, looked through its latticed panes.
on the water was the boat he had noticed earlier in the evening, the boat that had been put out from the yacht. if its occupants had gone ashore for the purpose of taking some one aboard they had failed in their object, since the boat contained the same seven sailors. they were evidently in a state of perplexity: for, without any apparent motive, they were rowing backwards and forwards in a line parallel with the shore, the steersman now and then standing up and sweeping the coast with a night-glass.
turning his eyes upon the yacht idris saw jets of black smoke issuing from the funnel. the engineer was evidently getting up steam.
here, thought idris, was the explanation of the booming sound. the yacht was about to weigh anchor, and had fired a gun as a signal of departure.
the masked man, however, did not seem to think that the sound came from the yacht. with his body half out[pg 36] of the window he was staring at the plateau of brown moorland with its faint silvery crown—staring as if behind that white mist some exciting event were happening that he would fain witness.
once more came the dull, rolling reverberation, and at that sound the man reeled from the window as if buffeted by a giant hand.
"damnation! he has escaped," he hissed between his set teeth. "is this their vigilance, after being warned of the plot? but my enemy shall not escape. i'll join in the chase myself. that gun invites pursuit. it is lawful," and here a sinister smile appeared beneath the fringe of his mask, "it is lawful to shoot a fugitive convict."
with that he darted from the room and dashed down the staircase: the slamming of a door followed, and the next moment his tread could be heard going up the street in the direction of the moorland prison.
the indignation felt by mrs. breakspear at the theft of the ring became lost in a new emotion. a convict had escaped, and the stranger's words seemed almost to imply that the fugitive was—her husband! she strove to banish this idea as a wild fancy, as a too daring hope on her part, but it would persist in forcing itself upon her. with her hand pressed to her side she sat, powerless to speak, trembling at the thought that at that very moment eric marville might be fleeing over the misty moorland with armed warders in close pursuit eager to bring him down with a carbine shot.
"hark! there goes another gun," cried idris. "who is it that is firing, and why are they doing it?"
something else besides the gun was now heard. along the lonely and usually silent road that led down from the moorland to quilaix came a sound, which, at first faint and undistinguishable in character, became gradually more distinct, and finally developed into the thud-thud[pg 37] of horse-hoofs, accompanied by the noise of wheels rattling madly forward as if speed were a matter of life and death to the driver of the vehicle.
louder and ever louder grew the sound of the galloping horse-hoofs; they descended the moorland: they reached the outskirts of the town: they came plunging up the rue grande, and at last the wild race was brought to a sudden standstill in front of the harbour-master's door.
idris, looking from the window, saw in the street below a light gig, and in it a man of soldierly aspect, who was holding the reins with a tight hand and using his best endeavours to keep the panting and steaming mare steady in order to facilitate the descent of a second man.
"for god's sake, eric, make haste," cried the one in the gig, with a backward glance. "they can't be far behind us."
the man to whom these words were spoken delivered a succession of knocks at the street-door, the loud, imperative knocks of one whose errand will brook no delay.
without waiting for his mother's bidding idris flew down the stairs eager to learn the meaning of this strange summons.
on opening the door he found on the threshold a man draped from neck to ankles in a grey ulster, a man who acted in a very strange way, for he lifted idris completely off his feet and kissed him several times.
now idris, though not at all averse to the kisses of his mother or of the fishermen's daughters, had an objection to the kisses of a man, and especially of a strange man, and he struggled to be free.
"where's your mother?" cried the stranger, setting idris down.
"she's up there," answered idris, indicating the staircase. "but you'd better not kiss her. she won't like it."
[pg 38]
the man gave a joyous laugh.
"won't she? well, let us see," was his answer, and he darted swiftly up the staircase, first calling out to the man in the gig:—
"see to the boy, noel."
"now, my little man," said the military gentleman, "jump up here. you are going for a sail in that pretty ship yonder in the bay."
idris' eyes sparkled at this enchanting prospect.
"but i can't go without my mother."
"oh, she's coming too; your father as well."
"my father?" laughed idris. "why, my father is in——"
he checked the word "prison" upon his lips, and substituted for it the euphemism, "over there."
"by god! that's where he'll be again, unless he hurries," cried the military gentleman. "that's your father who has just run up-stairs."
his father up-stairs! the day had been a succession of surprises to idris, and this was the climax of them all. he had never known such an exciting time. deaf to the gentleman's command to ascend the vehicle he turned and scampered hastily up to his mother's sitting-room, where he beheld a sight that struck him dumb.
the stranger was standing in the middle of the room with mrs. breakspear in his arms, her cheek pillowed on his breast.
"eric, o, eric!" she murmured: and the pure joy of that moment transfigured her face with the light and beauty of an angel's.
"edith, my sweet wife!" cried the man pressing her lips to his. "this kiss is a compensation for all i have suffered. there! you mustn't faint. why, here's our boy. what a fine fellow he is becoming! well, idris, what do you think of your father and his court dress?"
[pg 39]
idris' face fell as he surveyed the newcomer. this man with his close-cropped head, grimy visage, stubbly beard, and half-savage air, his father! beneath the grey ulster there peeped out the prison livery, clad in which garb divine apollo himself would lose all grace and majesty.
eric marville was not slow to read the thoughts of his little son, and he smiled grimly.
"upon my word, he stares as if i were some wild animal. i verily believe i am: prison life grinds every trace of the godlike out of a man.—but come, edith, we haven't a moment to lose. you can hear that they have discovered my escape," he continued, as another boom rolled over the moorland. "rochefort was for hurrying me on board his yacht at once, but it wasn't likely that i would leave you and the boy behind, when you were so close at hand. come, edith and idris, wife and son, come! away to a new life in a new land!"
at that moment there came from without the warning voice of captain rochefort.
"marville! marville," he roared. "look to yourself. they're here."
as he spoke quick footsteps came clattering over the pavement of the rue grande, and the ping-ping of carbine shots rang out on the night-air. the bullets were intended for the captain, but missed their mark; and the mare taking fright at the report set off at a gallop, followed by the pursuers, who were on foot.
"halt!" shouted an authoritative voice. "let the car go; that's not the quarry. our man's in here; this is his wife's abode. through the house, two of you, and guard the rear. two of you watch the front. leave the rest to me. i'll unearth him."
the man who gave these commands rushed through the doorway of the harbour-master's dwelling, and, as if[pg 40] guided by instinct, neglected the lower storey and made his way up the staircase.
all this took place so quickly that marville was for the moment paralyzed with surprise, and stood motionless and silent, with his scared wife clinging to him.
"don't make any resistance, eric, dearest," she pleaded. "it will be better not."
springing from his lethargy marville put aside the arms of his wife and made for the open window, only to perceive two watchful gendarmes in the street below, who instantly levelled their carbines at sight of the convict's face.
the only other outlet from the room was through the doorway: but there, framed within the entrance and pistol in hand, stood a grey-haired, fine looking veteran, clad in military uniform, duclair, governor of the prison, who, alive to his responsibility, had himself joined in the chase.
"run to earth," he said, with a grim smile. "you're fairly cornered. it's no use resisting."
"we'll see about that," muttered marville, pulling forth a revolver—a recent gift of rochefort's—with the intention of forcing his way over the disabled or dead body of the governor.
"drop that, or by——" and duclair punctuated the sentence with the significant raising of his own weapon.
seeing the pistol levelled mrs. breakspear, with uplifted arms, flung herself forward to shield her husband.
simultaneously with her movement came a deadly click from marville's weapon, followed instantly by a loud bang. the report was accompanied by a cry of "ah! eric!" and by the fall of a body—sounds that sent a cold thrill to the hearts of those who heard them.
there, amid faint wreaths of bluish smoke, lay mrs. breakspear, prostrate on the carpet, her forehead [pg 41]disfigured by a spot from which came the slow ooze of blood.
"o, you have shot my mother!" wailed idris, casting a look of anguish at his father.
the little fellow dropped on his knees beside her, but it was only a piece of clay upon which he now gazed: his mother was gone forever: was as much a part of the past as the dead c?sars of history. dread change, and all the work of a moment!
"edith! my wife! o god, i have killed her!"
dropping the weapon eric marville staggered forward to lift up the dead form and implore forgiveness from her who was beyond power to grant it, but ere he could reach the fallen figure, strong hands were laid upon him, and a pair of steel manacles was clasped upon his wrists.
"mon dieu! who has done this?" cried one of the gendarmes, appalled at the sight.
"the prisoner," responded the governor. "take notice, all of you, that my weapon is undischarged."
the gendarmes lifted the silent form and laid it upon a couch, and there idris knelt, sobbing bitterly and calling upon his mother to speak.
"my poor boy," said the governor, after a brief inspection of the body, "she will never speak again.—we ought," he added, turning to address his men, "we ought to send for a doctor, though he can do no good, for she is stone dead."
there was but one doctor in quilaix, and he, idris explained amid his tears, had gone with the procession to the pardon.
"we must have some woman to attend to the body," continued duclair. "we can't return to valàgenêt leaving the boy alone with a corpse. surely all the women folk haven't gone to this cursed pardon?"
idris, as well as his grief would let him, explained[pg 42] where a woman was likely to be found, and a gendarme was at once despatched to fetch her.
the man who had done the deed offered now no resistance to his captors. his desire for liberty had fled. overwhelmed by the awful result of his own act he had sunk into a stupor, staring with glassy eyes at that which but a few minutes before had been a living woman.
touched by the spectacle of his grief they allowed him to sit beside her; and, as he showed a desire to clasp her hand, the governor made a sign to one of the party to remove the manacles.
this done, he sat holding the limp fingers within his own, pressing them as if expecting the pressure to be returned.
the gendarmes stood aloof in pitying silence. not even the governor spoke, feeling the emptiness of any attempt at consolation.
as for idris, he shrank, not unnaturally, from the man who had killed his mother. once he addressed to him a piteous reproach:—"oh, why did you come here?—oh, mother, mother, speak to me!"
absorbed in his own grief, however, the man did not hear, or, at least, did not reply to this plaint. it was a melancholy scene, and the men awaited with secret impatience the coming of the woman to end the oppressive spell.
the silence was broken by the prisoner himself. all bent forward to listen, but the words spoken conveyed no intelligible meaning to his hearers. for, in a cold, mechanical voice, that sounded like the monotone of a mournful bell, he murmured over and over again:—
"the curse of the runic ring! the curse of the runic ring!"
* * * * * *
next day the minister of the interior received the[pg 43] following telegram from the governor of valàgenêt prison:—
"regret to state that convict, eric marville, escaped last night, by connivance of warder, bribed by captain noel rochefort, who, with light vehicle, waited at prearranged time near prison. owing to mist, two men some time in meeting, thus enabling pursuers to overtake them at 6, rue grande, quilaix. here marville, resisting capture, accidentally shot his wife dead. prisoner conveyed back to valàgenêt under guard of four gendarmes. on lonely part of moor escort assailed by rochefort and six men. suddenness of attack and numerical superiority enabled assailants to effect rescue. prisoner carried off, presumably, on board nemesis, as she steamed off immediately afterwards."
end of prologue
