“Revolting!”
“It was as false as the father of lies! Yet Dyvyd Gryphyn, with the furious jealousy of his race, believed the slander. He challenged Murdockson on the spot, and the meeting was arranged to take place the next afternoon in the hollow below Wolf’s Gap.”
Gloria shuddered.
“The meeting was to be without seconds, and it was only to end in the death of one or both. When all was settled, Dyvyd Gryphyn set out to return home, arrived only at midnight, strode to his wife’s chamber, dragged her out of bed and thrust her out in the midnight storm to perish on the mountains, as she did, for her body was also found—though, as the birds of prey had been the first to discover it, it was hardly recognizable.”
“I have heard that, too!” shuddered Gloria.
“I only refer to that in its connection with the duel. The next morning he left home to fight it, although we, at Gryphynshold, had no suspicion of what was afoot. And that night I waited for him as usual when—his spectre came. After the inquest, and the verdict in accordance with the facts, the body of Dyvyd Gryphyn was buried out yonder, as I told you. But his spectre still haunts the place.”
“What became of Murdockson?”
“He left the neighborhood after the duel, and has never been heard of since. You see, ma’am, there were circumstances of horrible atrocity connected with that affair, which I have not had the courage to tell you yet. I may some time. Ah! here comes Mr. Lindsay.”
CHAPTER XXIII
WHAT PHILIPPA SAW
A horrid spectre rises to my sight,