The eye of Helen de la Tremblade ran along the wall towards the chapel, in which she had found her uncle, on her first arrival, not many hours before; and she examined every prominent point, attentively. First came a large mass of masonry containing some of the best rooms in the château, projecting from the rest of the building; then appeared a round tower with a turret fastened to its side; and then the roof of the chapel, built against the walls, was seen with part of one window, peeping out from behind the tower. But all the way down, neither on the walls, nor between them and the château, could Helen descry any one.
As her eye strayed casually, however, to some low trees and bushes, which ran down the slope in the neighbourhood of the chapel, she thought she saw something move amongst the grey branches, but could not distinguish what; and, as she was gazing more eagerly to trace the object as it proceeded, she heard high tones speaking in the adjacent room; and turned to listen. She recognized the voices of Monsieur de Liancourt and Rose d'Albret; but she could not catch the words that were uttered, though some of them were spoken loud and in apparent anger.
"He has come to take her," said Helen to herself, "and she will not go.--Oh, that I could aid her!"
Her first impulse was to approach nearer the door, in order to push back the lock with the dagger which the boy had left with her; but then she reflected, that singly, she could do nothing to prevent the Count from dragging poor Rose to the altar.
"No!" she said, re-seating herself near the window, and a look of dark and gloomy determination coming over her face. "No! I will let them take her away--and then I will confront them all.--Ay, in the hall, amidst menials and soldiers and friends; and they shall hear truth.--Hark, how loud he speaks! He is threatening her.--Poor Rose! 'Tis all silent now--she must be gone!--Hark, the door bangs to!--They have dragged her away. Now, boy, now; for I must follow soon."
She ran hastily to the window again, and gazed out. The page was not yet there; and Helen hesitated whether to wait or hurry away to the hall.
At that moment, the sound of a hunting horn reached her ear, and she looked up from the passage between the walls, on which her eyes had been bent, to the undulating country straight before her, beyond the defences of the château. There was a large party of horsemen issuing from the nearest wood, distant about half a mile; and Helen, with her quick fancy cried, "It may be De Montigni!"
But just then, from the bushes beyond the chapel, a man on foot darted forth, and ran round, as if he perceived her at the window. She instantly recognized Estoc, and stretched her head farther forward, in order that he might certainly see her. The old soldier paused immediately opposite, and came as near to the wall as he could, without losing sight of her; and then he raised his voice, and pointed with his hand to the party of horsemen--still advancing.
But the distance rendered most of his words indistinct, and Helen caught only the few last, "--The postern a little to your right--before they can arrive; for they have barred us out by the chapel," was all that she could distinguish.
"Then these are enemies coming," she thought; "and all depends upon Estoc getting in first."