ON WITCH’S CRAG.
When Percy reached the castle he found Cordelia all ready for her
ramble, with her maid in waiting to attend her. Mary Seymour was this
maid’s name, a cheery-faced, intelligent, pretty girl, just a year older
than was her mistress. She had flaxen hair and blue eyes--eyes full of
good-nature and frolic; straightforward, truthful and honest.
The friendship between Percy Maitland, the smuggler’s son, and the
daughter of Sir William Chester was something curious. It had commenced
within a month after the girl’s first appearance at Allerdale--shortly
before she had completed her twelfth year of life.
One of the first impressions made upon the baronet, after he had
accepted a home at the castle, had been in relation to the earl’s
grandson--Matthew Brandon--who, as we remember, had then entered upon
his sixteenth year; or he was about entering upon it when the baronet
and his daughter arrived.
Instinctively--in spite of his love and esteem for the boy’s noble
father; in spite of his love and deep reverence for the good old
grandfather, he conceived a strong, shuddering dislike toward that boy.
He fought against it, but without avail.
Under these circumstances little Cordelia chanced to fall in with Percy
Maitland, and a mutual attachment, as strong and enduring as it was
sudden and unbidden, was the result.
Percy took her in his boat, and led her by the banks of the river, and
taught her to fish, and he guided her through the wild passes of the
crag, and gathered for her all the beautiful flowers he could find.
At length the boy of the stone cottage came under the eye of Sir
William. Cordelia brought him. She had told so much about him that her
father had become eager to see and know him.
In a very short time the keen-eyed, observing baronet had read the boy’s
character without mistake. In fact, it was one of those characters--and
the character was written on a face and stamped in a voice--which could
not be mistaken.
And the baronet had, from the very first, felt it in his heart to thank
his good fortune that had brought such a companion and playmate for his
sweet child: and when, later, he had discovered that the low-born boy
was competent to teach all that his loved one could wish to know, his
thankfulness was increased to a degree that rendered him happily
content.
And so, as we have already seen, matters had gone on during the few
remaining months of the parent’s life. And since that time there had
been no change. Percy had remained the lady’s true and loyal knight,
teaching her all that she knew of school studies, and attending
faithfully upon her whenever need required, or opportunity offered. In
truth, the earl had appointed the youth to the post of teacher.
When the question had arisen concerning a resident tutor for the young
girl, she had herself decided. She had put her foot down emphatically,
and had said:
“I will have Percy Maitland for my tutor, and none other.”
And the earl had not disputed her. Really, he did not want a strange
tutor beneath his roof; he did not want the trouble of selecting, with a
chance, in the end, that he might be cheated.
The men in every way competent and morally qualified to teach a
beautiful young lady, like his sweet ward, were not plenty. So it was,
truly, a source of great relief to him when it had been finally decided
that young Maitland should be her tutor.
And so matters had gone on from that time. If the old earl had ever
asked himself if mischief, or trouble, could possibly come from it, he
had not made the query manifest to others. Everything went so evenly, so
smoothly, and so happily, that he had not the heart to disturb it.
With regard to Matthew, the young Lord Oakleigh, he was at home but
little. It had been from the first his desire that he should attend
school, with friends whom he loved, at Oxford; and his grandfather had
not flatly refused him, though he had seriously objected.
Knowing the boy’s character as he did--knowing how prone he was to
error, how untruthful he could be and how easily he gave way to
passion--knowing this, the earl had felt it to be his duty to keep the
lad at home if he could.
But it was not to be. On the first occasion when he had asserted his
authority, and kept master Matthew within the castle walls against his
will, he had run away at night, and had remained away two months and
more, and before he went he had robbed his grandfather’s strong box of a
large amount of money in gold. After that the earl had surrendered, and
the boy had been suffered to lead his own life after his own will and
pleasure.
One thing, and one only, gave the old man a grain of comfort: his
grandson seemed desirous to gain a good education; and so long as the
boy was at Oxford, at his studies, he would try to be content. Ah! if
Lord Allerdale could have known the character and extent of the youth’s
studies, it might have been different!
At the age of eighteen Matthew had entered one of the best colleges, or,
at least, he professed so to have done, and the time for his graduation
was now near at hand.
Touching the matter of money, he had plenty to spend; more, in fact,
than he should have had, but his father had left him a goodly sum. He
had also inherited from his mother, so his guardian, as the less of two
evils, had let him have about all he had asked for. The greater evil,
which the earl could not have put away, was debt.
During his visits to the castle, from first to last, Lord Oakleigh had
given Cordelia but little trouble; though he sometimes looked at her in
a manner that made her afraid. And he had once let fall a remark that
she could not forget. It had been about a year previous to the time of
which we are now writing. He had been at home on the autumnal vacation.
One day he met Cordelia in one of the halls, alone, and offered to kiss
her. She pushed him away angrily, and bade him, with quivering lips and
flashing eyes, never to repeat the offense.
He laughed at her, seeming to enjoy her spitefulness, as he called it;
and he said to her, with significant nod, and a look straight into her
eyes:
“Don’t be afraid of me, my pretty one. I should be a fool to harm you,
seeing that you are my own. Look sharp, Cordelia. Be sure you’re ready
when I call for you!”
And with that he had turned away, and had never alluded to the subject
since; but our heroine was very sure he thought of it, and it worried
and fretted her exceedingly.
They set forth, a happy, merry trio--Cordelia, Percy, and Mary--the
latter being regarded as a dear companion rather than as a servant.
The distance from the castle to the foot of Witch’s Crag was a full
mile, perhaps a little more. Two-thirds of the way lay through the park,
the remainder being woods.
The day had thus far been clear and bright. With the coming of noon it
had grown to be very warm--almost too warm for September--but a gentle
breeze fanned their cheeks and gave them comfort.
The course they were pursuing was toward the north. If there were clouds
rising beyond the crag they did not see them. And had they seen them
they would have taken no alarm.
“We must visit the old chapel of the monks!” said Cordelia, as they were
entering the forest.
“Certainly,” responded Percy. “A visit to the Witch’s Crag, without
paying one’s respects to the memory of the old Franciscans, would seem
almost sacrilegious.”
Accordingly, when half-way through the wood, they turned into a path
that swerved to the right, which they followed to the foot of the crag.
They had seen the wonderful mass of ragged rock many times, yet they
viewed it now in awe and wonder.
There it arose before them, a steep, wild ascent of broken, jagged
rocks--ledge on ledge and bowlder on bowlder--until, at the summit, a
height of 600 feet above sea level was reached.
And on that south side, which our adventurers had approached, the
acclivity was bold and abrupt. Toward the west, as we remarked in the
beginning, it sloped down gradually, its foot a mile and a half from the
top, reaching to the water’s edge. But the rugged rise of the crag was
not all of interest their eyes looked upon.
Bearing to the right, a short distance up the rough ascent, was seen
what, at first sight, appeared to be a mass of rock, thus quaintly piled
up by some wonderful convulsion of nature; but, upon nearer view, it was
found to be the work of human hands.
It was a solid, massive structure; its walls built from the rock of the
crag; large enough to comfortably accommodate three to four hundred
people within.
It was oblong in form: the walls were not far from fifteen feet in
height: its roof--its most wonderful part--being a massive arch, formed
of large blocks of stone hewn to the required form for the purpose.
Its broad doorway was an open arch toward the south, and on the sides
were six arched openings for windows, with the brazen frames and leaden
mullions of the casements intact; but there were no panes--no signs of
glass to be seen.
How many years the structure had stood there none could tell. Tradition
told that a fraternity of Franciscans--gray friars--had once occupied a
monastery near where the castle now stood; and that they had erected
this chapel as an offering to St. Francis, whose effigy, in stone, had
stood near the altar, while they had occupied it.
How many years it had stood there, none could tell; yet its wall, and
its wonderful roof, were as tight, as impervious to water, as ever. At
the open windows, and at the deep arch of the vestibule, the storm could
find entrance; but nowhere else.
Our three adventurers entered the chapel and looked around. The altar,
at the end opposite the entrance, was a single stone set against the
rear wall.
It was four feet high by about five feet wide, and three feet deep from
front to rear. In a far corner at the other end, toward the door, were a
dozen or more square blocks of stone that had evidently been intended
for seats.
In those old times, and amongst those old friars, it was not deemed
necessary that a worshiper should sit while holding communion with
Jehovah; and seats, as a general thing, were not provided.
These few granite blocks might have been designed for the sick, lame, or
aged, who could not stand. As they left the chapel Percy looked at his
watch, a reliable time-piece his father had brought to him from France,
and found it to be almost three o’clock.
“Shall we have time to go to the top of the crag?” he asked, with a
shade of anxiety on his face.
“Oh, yes! yes! We shall have plenty of time--four hours, at least.”
“It will be very dark in four hours from now, dear lady.”
“Time enough. Oh, I must see the top; and the view out to sea! You shall
know how fast I can walk.”
Percy smiled and nodded assent, and on they went. It was a wild, rugged
road, but more in the seeming than in fact, for the experienced guide,
who had traversed the crag in every direction from earliest childhood,
knew every inch of the way, and was able to follow a path almost as easy
of ascent as would have been the climbing of a grassy slope of the same
inclination.
By and by they came to a stretch of path which was restful--a grand
aisle, with perpendicular walls towering aloft on either hand; the floor
of which was very smooth and even, and wide enough to allow two persons
to walk abreast, with room to spare.
In reaching this point, they had climbed an ascent where our hero had
given to Cordelia his hand; and he continued to hold it after the need
had passed.
Mary was several yards in the rear, and seemed inclined to remain so.
For a time the two in advance had been silent. The sublimity of the
scene around them had inspired them.
Presently Cordelia looked up, with a new light in her eyes and a new
look on her beautiful face. A new thought had possessed her--a thought
that sent a tremor to her heart, imparting a perceptible quiver to her
lips.
“Percy!” she said, withdrawing her hand from his grasp and transferring
it to his arm, where it clung trustingly. “Percy! what did you mean by
what you said to me last evening when you asked me to look when you
worked out that matter of interest?”
He looked at her with surprise, and his look plainly asked her to what
she referred.
“Don’t you remember?” she said, in answer to his silent question. “You
said I shouldn’t have you always to help me; and--and--Percy--you spoke
as though I might not have you a great while. Did you mean that?”
The girl’s look and tone--the light of her eyes, and the deep feeling
unmistakably stamped on her face, would have caused a colder, sterner,
and a duller man than was Percy Maitland to pale and tremble. The great
love of his heart was never so near the surface before. It threatened,
almost, to burst the bounds of sense and reason, and find for itself
utterance.
But it must not be. The pure, gentle girl had trusted him, and that
trust he would not betray.
“Dear lady,” he said, as soon as he dared venture his voice, “you can
not know how aimless is the life I now lead. I gave to my father, when
he lay dying, a solemn promise that I would remain with my mother until
I was one-and-twenty. That event is past. I saw the dawning of my
twenty-second year three months ago. I am but wasting my life here.”
“Wasting--your--life! Oh, Percy! Have all the months--the years--been
wasted that you have spent in helping me? What should I do if you were
gone?”
“Hush, hush! You know not what you are saying.”
“Percy! What is the matter with you? What new freak have you taken into
your head? Why are you so eager to go away?”
Was she playing with him--trifling with his heart? He asked himself the
question, and then bent his gaze upon her upturned face. Oh, no, no!
There were tears in her eyes, and on her face a soul-sent prayer.
What could she mean? How much dared he to speak? A curious thought
occurred to him. In all the years he had known her--through all their
intimate association--though she had always called him by his Christian
name, she had done it in the days of childhood, and she had done it ever
since--in all that time he had never dared, had never presumed, to
address her in any way save as a lady, set by the rank of birth high
above him.
In the early days he had been old enough, with manly feelings enough, to
respect the rank she held, and he had felt proud that he was admitted to
her friendship.
And now the thought came to him--an audacious thought--that he would
call her as her grandfather called her; as Lord Oakleigh was permitted
to call her. He would do it, and mark the result. He expected it would
startle her; most likely, offend her; she might be angry, but he would
try it.
He trembled with thought of the daring; but, after a time, he felt that
his voice might be trusted. He looked down upon her--so looked that her
eyes must gaze straight into his own when she lifted her head, and then,
drawing the hand upon his arm more closely to his side, he made the
venture:
“Cordelia!”
She looked up quickly, looked up with a joy in her face, with a
happiness beaming in her sparkling eyes, such as the youth had never
seen there before.
Never had his voice sounded so softly sweet in her ears, never had she
heard music so nearly divine. She clung to him fondly, and expectantly,
waiting for him to go on.
“Percy!” she whispered, when she found that he would speak no further.
“What were you going to say?”
He could contain himself no longer. The deep feelings of his heart, held
in check so long, were to find utterance at length. But he had a thought
of the maid walking behind them, and was guarded.
“O dear, dear lady! Cordelia! How dared I speak that name? How dared I
call you as those of your own rank in life call you? I will tell you, if
I may. Shall I go on?”
“Yes, yes; go on.” And she wound her arm more closely around the support
it had found.
“I spoke that name for a test, dear--”
“Ah! Have a care, sir!” she broke in, as his voice hung for a moment in
choice for a word, and she looked up archly, with something in her eyes
that startled him.
“Cordelia!” he cried, gazing now without flinching, “I can not believe
that you would trifle with me. I can not believe that you could find it
in your heart to make light of the holiest feelings--the purest and
loftiest aspirations of my soul. Something tells me--I see it in your
face--in your kindly smile--that you will not be offended if I confess
to you the one deep controlling sentiment of my heart. I can make the
confession, and then bid you farewell. Ah! if--But why complain? I must
suffer. And yet I would not lose the memory of this blessed hour for all
the world beside! Cordelia, could I have been with you all these
years--so intimate--our companionship so close and trusting--could I
have lived through it all without--without--loving you? Are you very
angry?”
She looked up, and smiled divinely through her tears--looked up, and
clung still more closely to his side.
“Percy, do you think you alone have the capacity to love? Do you think I
would have associated with you all these years if I had not found in you
one whom I could honor and respect? And, dear Percy, how could I honor
and respect one like you, without loving?”
“Cordelia! Oh, do not let me mistake! Do you understand me? Do you know
what my love means? Oh, if I were to pour out the whole volume of my
love--”
“Well--what would you say? Would you call me by another name?”
“Yes! Yes! Oh, my darling! my angel!”
“Percy,” looking straight up into his eyes, with a wealth of love in her
beautiful face which no mortal could have doubted--“I will not trifle; I
will not mince words. I know what you mean; and when I tell you, from
the uttermost depths of my heart, that your words have made me happier
than I was before--happier than I had thought I could ever be--when I
tell you that, you will know that I, too, have learned to love. Oh,
Percy, I have loved you from the first; and I believe it has been the
same with you.”
“Yes, yes. Oh, how I have loved you, Cordelia! But I had never dared to
dream of this. I can scarcely believe it even now. Shall I awake and
find it a dream?”
“If the dream makes you as happy as it makes me, dear Percy, I can only
say--dream on.”
“Aye! So I will. But--”
“But what?”
“The earl!”
“Look ye, my own dear love,” said the brave girl, without a break or a
quiver in her voice, “let the earl rest for the present. Let us become
more used to our new-found joy. I have no wish to deceive the dear old
man, and at a proper time I shall tell him. I expect he will be
surprised; perhaps disappointed; but I can not believe he will be angry.
At all events no power on earth shall take our love from us nor separate
us.”
“Oh, Cordelia!”
“Percy!”
“God grant that our love may prosper! Something whispers to me that I
may hope.”
“Yes, dear love, hope, and trust in me. I will forsake you never,
never!”
Just then they heard the footfall of the maid drawing near, and Cordelia
turned to speak with her.
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