XIX. — WEDDING ARRANGEMENTS.
“I had recognized his step,” continued Mohun, “but I did not move or turn my head, for I had not recovered from my feeling of ill humor toward the faithful retainer. I allowed him to approach me, and then said coldly, without looking at him—
“‘Who is that?’
“‘I, sir,’ said Nighthawk, in a trembling voice.
“‘What do you want?’
“‘I wish to speak to you, sir.’
“‘I am not at leisure.’
“‘I must speak to you, sir.’
“I wheeled round in my chair, and looked at him. His pallor was frightful.
“‘What does all this mean?’ I said, coldly, ‘this is a singular intrusion.’
“‘I would not intrude upon you, if it was not necessary sir,’ he said, in an agitated voice, ‘but I must speak to you to-night!’
“There was something in his accent which frightened me, I knew not why.
“‘Well speak!’ I said, austerely, ‘but be brief!’
“‘As brief as I can, sir; but I must tell you all. If you strike me dead at your feet, I must tell you all, sir!’
“In spite of myself I shuddered.
“‘Speak!’ I said, ‘what does this mean, Nighthawk?’ Why do you look like a ghost at me?’
“He came up close to me.
“‘What I have to tell you concerns your honor and your life, sir!’ he said, in a low tone.
“I gazed at him in speechless astonishment. Was I the prey of some nightmare? I protest to you, Surry, I thought for a moment that I was dreaming all this. A tremor ran through my frame; I placed my hand upon my heart, which felt icy cold—then suddenly my self-possession and coolness seemed to return to me as by magic.
“‘Explain your words,’ I said, coldly, ‘there is some mystery in them which I do not understand. Speak, and speak plainly.’
“‘I will do so, sir,’ he replied, in the same trembling voice.
“And going to the door of the apartment, he bent down and placed his ear at the key-hole. He remained in this attitude for a moment without moving. Then rising, he went to the window, and drawing aside the curtains, looked out on the chill moonlit expanse. This second examination seemed to satisfy him. At the same instant a light step—the step of madam—was heard crossing the floor of the apartment, above our heads; and this evidently banished Nighthawk’s last fears.
“He returned quickly to the seat where I was sitting; looked at me for some minutes with eyes full of fear, affection, sympathy, fright, and said in a voice so low, that it scarce rose above a whisper:—
“‘We are alone, sir, and I can speak without being overheard by these devils who have betrayed and are about to murder you! Do not interrupt me sir!—the time is short!—you must know every thing at once, in an hour it would be too late! The man calling himself Mortimer is probably within a hundred yards of us at this moment. The woman you have married is——his wife. Stop, sir!—do not strike me!—listen! I know the truth of every thing now. She talked with him for an hour under the big cedar, near the parsonage last night. He will see her again to-night, and in this house—hear me to the end, sir! You will not harm him; you will care nothing for all this; you will not know it, for you will be dead, sir!’
“At these words I must have turned deadly pale, for Nighthawk hastened to my side, and placed his arm around me to support me. But I did not need his assistance. In an instant I was as calm as I am at this moment. I quietly removed the arm of Nighthawk, and said in a low tone:—
“‘How do you know this?’
“‘I overheard their talk,’ he replied, in a husky voice, and looked at me with infinite tenderness as he spoke. ‘I was coming to see you at the parsonage, where I thought you had gone, sir. I could not bear to keep away from my old master’s son any longer; and let him get married without making up, and having him feel kindly again to me. Well, sir, I had just reached the big cedar, when I saw the lady come out of the house, hasten toward the cedar, and hide herself in the shadow, within a few feet of me. No sooner had she done so, than I saw a man come from the rear of the house, straight to the cedar, and as he drew nearer I recognized Mortimer. Madam coughed slightly, as though to give him the signal; he soon reached her; and then they began to talk. I was hidden by the trunk of the tree, and the shadow of the heavy boughs, reaching nearly to the ground; so I heard every word they said, without being discovered.’
“‘What was it they said?’
“‘I can not repeat their words, sir, but I can tell you what I learned from their talk.’
“‘Tell me,’ I said.
“‘First, I discovered that madam had been married to that man more than a year before you saw her.’
“‘Yes.’
“‘Before which she had been tried, convicted, and confined for six months in a prison in New York, as a thief. You turn pale, sir; shall I stop?’
“‘No, go on,’ I said.
“‘These facts,’ continued Nighthawk, ‘came out in a sort of quarrel which madam had with the man. He reproached her with intending to desert him—with loving you—and said he had not rescued her from misery to be thus treated. She laughed, and replied that she was only following a suggestion of his own. They were poor, they must live; he had himself said that they must procure money either honestly or dishonestly; and he had fully approved of the plan she had now undertaken. You, sir—she added—were an “empty-headed fool,”—the idea of her “loving” you was absurd!—but you were wealthy; immensely wealthy; had made a will leaving her your entire property;—if you died suddenly on your wedding night, she and himself would possess Fonthill, and live in affluence.’
“‘Go on,’ I said.
“‘At these words,’ continued Nighthawk, ‘I could see the man turn pale. He had not intended that, he said. His scheme had been, that madam should induce you to bestow upon her a splendid trousseau in the shape of jewels and money, with which they would elope. The marriage was only a farce, he added—he did not wish to turn it into a tragedy. But she interrupted him impatiently, and said she hated and would have no mercy on you. She would have all or nothing. Your will made her the mistress. What was a crime, more or less, to people like themselves! At these words he uttered a growl. In a word, she added, you were an obstacle, and she was going to suppress you—with or without his consent. She then proceeded to tell him her resolution; and it is a frightful, a horrible one, sir! All is arranged—you are about to be murdered!’
“‘How, and when?’ I said.
“‘This very night, by poison!’
“‘Ah!’ I said, ‘explain that.’
“‘Madam has provided herself with strychnine, which she will place in the tea you drink to-night. Tea will be served in half an hour. He will be waiting—for she forced him to agree—and your cries will announce all to him. You will be poisoned between eight and nine o’clock in the evening, sir,—at ten you will already be dying,—and at midnight you will be dead. Then madam will banish every one from her chamber, in inconsolable grief—lock the door—tap on the window-pane—he will hear the signal, and come up the back staircase—when madam will open the private door for him to come in and take a look at your body! Do you understand now, sir?’
“‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Remain here, Nighthawk. There is the step of the servant coming to tell me tea is ready!’”