“Now, gentlemen, you may take seats here, if you like, and listen to the remainder of a little story which I have been relating for the amusement of my friends. I can finish it by the time we reach Vicksburg; then I will be pleased to go with you to Jackson, Mississippi, to answer any demands which the law may require of me.”
Then turning to Ivanhoe, he said:
“Be so kind as to go down and escort the queen up, and inform her that her friends are anxiously awaiting her presence, so that our amusements may be resumed.”
Ivanhoe returned in a few moments, with the queen leaning on his arm. She was weeping bitterly, and it was plain to see that the shock had considerably shaken her nerves. Ivanhoe handed her to a seat, when Ingomar said:
“I am exceedingly sorry that your Majesty should have been disturbed by what has just occurred; but I beg to assure you that there is no cause for alarm on the part of my good friends whatever. This affair for which I am now under arrest is by no means new to me, and I don’t feel in the least annoyed by it. The only cause of regret is that your Majesty should have been troubled by it; but it need not interrupt the thread of my little story, which I am now ready to take up, as soon as you may signify your pleasure.”
The queen was so much distressed by the occurrence just related that she was unable to utter a word. Tears were still falling rapidly from her eyes, while her hand trembled as she made a sign to Ingomar to proceed.
CHAPTER XXII.
The arrest of Ingomar had the effect to cast a gloom over the entire party, who were beginning to feel deeply interested in his history. All were seated in a circle round the queen, waiting in silence to hear what was to be said next. The queen was making a desperate effort to conceal her emotions, but without effect. The two officers sat staring at each other, evidently very much embarrassed, while Ingomar was the only one who appeared calm and unconcerned. The mysterious lady in the black domino was leaning on the arm of the old gentleman with the long white beard. She seemed to be anxiously watching the two officers and Ingomar, while she stood near the corner of the pilot house, about thirty feet from where the queen and her party were seated. The strange conduct of the lady in the black domino had excited the curiosity of every passenger on the boat, and when Ingomar was arrested under a charge of willful murder it was hard to tell which feeling had the upper hand, curiosity or indignation. If Ingomar had intimated a wish to have the two officers put ashore in a canebrake it would have been done; in fact, Ivanhoe made a proposition to that effect, but Ingomar wouldn’t hear to it.
“No, my friends, it is my wish that these two officers should be treated with the utmost courtesy; they are only executing the process which the law has placed in their hands; but I would beg to admonish them that handcuffs are not made for gentlemen. The law considers all men innocent until their guilt is established; and, as I have already stated, this case is by no means unfamiliar to me. It is really a part of the little story which I have been telling; and I promise to tell you all about it before I am done. I guess I can easily conclude the narrative by the time we shall reach Vicksburg; but I must relate circumstances and incidents in the order in which they introduced themselves into my story. About three weeks after I had departed from Vicksburg (where I had gone, as I have heretofore stated, to hunt up certain facts which Lottie thought were necessary,) the grand jury returned into the criminal court a true bill against Viola Bramlett, charging her with willful murder, and the day for the trial was agreed on. Mr. Rockland had made the necessary arrangements with the attorney-general, who was quite a young man, but possessed a high order of intellect. He was a good lawyer, but differed from other prosecuting attorneys in one respect. Nearly all State attorneys imagine that it is their duty to prosecute with a vengeance every unfortunate creature against whom a bill may be found. But attorney-general Quillet was ever ready to enter a nolle prosequi when the proof justified it. I was overwhelmed with astonishment one morning to see Harry Wallingford come walking into my office, looking like a corpse. His beard was long and uneven; the hair on his head tangled and unsightly; his clothes were soiled and hung loosely about his body; and his face had no signs of blood in it; his eyes were sunk deep in their sockets, and had a wild, restless stare about them. He held out his thin, bony hand as he dropped into a chair, like one who was very tired.
“‘What on earth caused you to return so soon, Harry?’ I inquired.