Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes,
Misprising what they look on
. . . . . to her
All matter else seems weak; she cannot love,
Nor take no shape nor project of affection,
She is so self-endeared.
The maple leaves had turned from rose and crimson to orange, then to
pale yellow and to brown, and had fallen to the earth, for it was now
almost Christmas, but no snow was as yet on the ground. The ladies had
made all the rooms which they occupied in the tower very comfortable and
homelike, although they could neither of them bring themselves to speak
of the place by the name of home, for that was a sacred word to both of
them. They always spoke of their dwelling-place as the castle. We have
already said that the views from every room in the tower were of
exceeding loveliness. Most of the windows overlooked the islands, many
of which were far away, others perhaps only two or three miles off. At
one time, their beauty would be softened and half obscured by mist, at
another they would appear to be lifted up into the sky by the effect of
the mirage. At times a heavy sea fog hung over the island and obscured
every distant object, and to the nearer ones gave a weird and spectral
look.
Just at daylight one morning, when the fog was coming in from the ocean,
the ladies were awakened by the lowing of cattle. On looking down from
the tower windows, they saw some cows come out from under the trees and
pass along close to the walls of the building. They scarcely had time to
express their surprise to each other, before it was much heightened by
the appearance of a woman, who followed the animals out of the forest
and drove them quickly across the grass which had formerly been the
courtyard of the castle, to a high mound a little way to the north of
it, there both she and the cattle disappeared in the fog and among a
thick growth of spruces. The woman's movements were quick and firm, and
she stepped as one who not only possessed determination, but defiance
also. She was tall and gaunt and bony, possibly not fifty years old, but
her hair which hung loose in disheveled entanglement, was as white as if
she were eighty. She had large black eyes that flashed upon every object
that she looked at. She wore a red dress, which reached only a little
below her knees. On her feet she had a pair of heavy, high boots, such
as are worn by cavalry soldiers. Her head was partially covered by an
old cotton handkerchief which had once been of many bright colors.
"Did you hear what language she spoke," said Miss Vyvyan?
"I caught the sound of a few words somewhat like Italian, but it was not
Italian."
"I heard it," replied Mrs. Carleton. "I believe it was Spanish, but she
passed so quickly I could not hear distinctly, or I should have
understood her."
All that day the ladies remained in doors. They watched in the direction
of the mound, but nothing was to be seen which would lead them to
suppose that any dwelling was near to them; and so the time passed until
night covered the island with darkness. They had put little Cora to bed,
and were, according to their usual habit, sitting beside her in Mrs.
Carleton's room. The night was unusually cold. It seemed as if winter
had really sent in its heralds in advance, to announce its near
approach. The wind howled and shrieked through the rooms which
surrounded them up stairs, and groaned and roared in the many passages
and apartments down below. Their glowing log fire was so acceptable to
them, that they were loath to leave it, and so they sat talking together
until midnight. They had gained a very good idea of time by observing
the sun and moon, and were also greatly aided by the ebb and flow of the
tide. They knew exactly the high-water mark, by certain rocks; they knew
that it took so many hours to ebb and so many to flow, and they had
become so familiar with the sound of the outgoing and incoming tide,
that even in the darkness of night, they did not feel at a loss.
"It is past midnight, Anna," said Mrs. Carleton, going to one of the
windows and leaning out to listen, "The tide has just turned. Come
here," she continued. "What is that rising above the mound?"
"Sparks of fire and wood smoke," replied Miss Vyvyan. "There must be a
dwelling of some kind there. That is probably where the woman went to
with the cows, but it is strange that we have never seen anything of it
before to-night."
The intense cold of the next day warned the ladies that they must use
dispatch in finishing their arrangements, in order to be able to meet
the exigencies that a severe winter night might bring upon them. During
the two months they had been living in the castle, they had employed
themselves continually in bringing in supplies of all kinds, until they
felt they had ample stores to last them for a very long time, but they
were all in the rooms down stairs; and as the distance from the tower
was so great, and the weather so severe, they decided to make a
storeroom up stairs, on the same floor as that on which they lived. They
had been busy for some time, packing and carrying up their requirements,
little Cora, as usual, just as active as themselves, taking up her loads
and returning for more; her tiny feet pattering up and down the long,
stone staircase, flitting back and forth between her mother and Anna,
with her own peculiar, light, swift, graceful movement, which was like
that of a bird.
All at once, they each missed the return of the child; but as the ladies
were in separate parts of the castle, they each of them thought she had
remained with the other. After some time had elapsed, they began to
feel anxious, and each sought the other.
Meeting on the stairs, the question "Where is Cora?" came from the lips
of each of them at the same moment; then a hurried explanation, and a
terrible feeling of horror. They ran in every direction, calling her
name. They separated and went different ways; they met again and went in
search of her together. Could it be possible that she had gone up the
watch tower, and fallen from the battlements. They flew up the tower
stairs and looked over. They rushed down again and out into the court
yard; no sound, no sign of the child. In the agony of their distress,
they went into every room and opened every great chest, every large
piece of furniture.
"Oh Anna," cried Mrs. Carleton, "that woman we saw, do you think she has
stolen my child; perhaps put her to death. We must go to the mound where
we saw her go."
They followed the tracks of the cattle, and pushed their way through the
trees for a short distance, till they came to the almost bare mound; it
was high and long; near the base was an opening of irregular shape,
which was evidently the entrance, but it was partly closed by an old,
broken door. They had gone within a few feet of it, when the door was
violently thrown down, and the gaunt woman in the same strange dress
stood in the doorway, brandishing a rusty sword at them, and speaking
rapidly in a peculiarly harsh and high pitched voice. She spoke in
Spanish, which Mrs. Carleton perfectly understood, and which she, also,
spoke fluently.
"Go hence," said the woman. "What seek you here? I am Louisita, and all
that you see here is mine; my land, my trees, my seashore; hence I say,
away with you, or this sword pierces the heart of both."
"Pray, hear me one moment," pleaded Mrs. Carleton, "I am in the greatest
distress."
"What care I for your distress, have I not enough of my own without
listening to yours? Off with you."
"Only a few words," again entreated Mrs. Carleton. "I want to--"
"You may want, I heed that not. I want myself; I have nothing to give
you. I would not give you anything, if I had it. You are intruders on
this island. I saw you arrive, and the men you brought with you. Ha! ha!
You meant them to land here. Where are they now? I saw it all, ha! ha!
ha! You may wait for their return; they have made a long voyage, so long
that they will never come back; glad, glad, I hate the accursed sex,
they caused all my suffering; twenty years entombed here, through their
state of mad intoxication. If only one of that great band of pirates had
remained sober, I might have got away."
"Do let me ask you, have you seen my child?" said Mrs. Carleton. "I
entreat you to tell me."
"See your child. I saw you take food to one of the accursed sex. I saw
you try to make him live. I despise you for it. Why should he live to
drink, drink, and bring misery on me and all women? I tell you again I
hate them for their love of drink. I hold them in contempt for their
weakness. The ocean did well to swallow them down, just as their
brothers swallowed down the fiery drink on that fearful night when the
great tower fell and crushed a hundred of them."
"Do, I implore you, say if my child strayed anywhere in your sight?"
cried Mrs. Carleton, overcome with anguish. "We have lost her."
"Lost her; lost her; seen her;" echoed Louisita very slowly, and making
a long pause as if to collect her thoughts, she added, "The child was
young and the wolf was hungry."
As Mrs. Carleton translated the last sentence to Miss Vyvyan, she fell
fainting into Anna's arms.
"Do not heed what she says, dear Ada; let us believe the best until we
know the worst. Cora may have fallen asleep in some of the nooks in the
building, and so did not hear us call her."
The ladies returned to the castle. Miss Vyvyan was also under the most
intense apprehension, but she concealed her feelings from Mrs. Carleton.
"Which room were you in, Ada, when you missed Cora? She may, as I said,
be asleep, and perhaps she is among some of the bales in one of the
storerooms."
"I was down at the end of the passage," replied Mrs. Carleton, "in the
largest room. We will go there first."
They went down and searched the room, but could not find Cora. As they
came out of it they heard a sound which seemed to come from under
ground. They ran to the half-dark stairway which they had seen when they
blocked up the north door. The sound was more distinct; it was Cora's
voice in conversation. Who could have taken her down to that
subterranean place? They did not hesitate an instant, but descended the
stairs as quickly as the darkness would admit, and found themselves in a
dungeon where there was just sufficient light to see that an uncovered
well was close beside the path which they were following. The talking
had ceased. The silence was profound and added still greater gloom to
the place. They both stood bending over the well and looking down into
the depth of water which was black and silent. They each looked at the
other. They read the thoughts which passed through each other's mind.
They neither of them spoke. They did not dare to. While they still stood
bending over the well, straining both eyes and ears to the utmost,
little Cora's voice came again. It seemed close to them; they could not
distinguish any words, but the tones were those of her usual pretty baby
prattle. Was that voice from the spirit land? They could see nothing but
the gray stone walls of the dungeon, the dark, open well and some large,
loose stones, which had heavy iron chains with rings attached to them,
and which had in former years been fastened to the ankles of the
prisoners and worn by them till death relieved them of their burden.
Just in the same way as many of the poor victims of imperial tyranny are
to-day doomed to drag their chains and weights while they labor in the
mines of Siberia. Again came Cora's voice as if from the further corner
of the dungeon. The ladies stumbled among the loose stones in the
semi-darkness, Anna, who was more robust and the taller of the two,
folding her arms around Mrs. Carleton to support her, and both of them
feeling their way lest they should fall into any other well or
excavation. Arrived at the corner they saw a gleam of light, which came
in a slanting direction through a large hole in the wall. They still
heard the little voice and determined to follow it. The hole would only
admit of their crawling in on their hands and knees. This they did for
several yards, until everything was in complete darkness, and they found
they were against a wall straight in front of them, and could go no
further. The passage was too narrow for them to turn round and come out,
the top of it was so low it nearly touched their heads as they crawled
along. The air was oppressive, and suffocation almost overpowered them,
but they could still hear the voice which seemed nearer. Feeling the
walls carefully with their hands, they found that a sharp turn to the
right, led along in a direct line toward the sound. This passage was
also dark, and as narrow almost as a coffin. They continued crawling for
several yards more, sometime cutting their arms with the broken stones
which covered the bottom, and sometimes placing one of their hands upon
some cold substance which moved and felt as if it might be a lizard or a
sleeping snake. They neither called nor spoke, for they feared someone
might have the child, who would run away with her, if warned of their
approach, so they determined to come upon them suddenly. They were
greatly exhausted, but they struggled on.
At length daylight appeared at the end of the subterranean passage, and
in another moment they emerged from it and stood in a large stone hall,
amply lighted from above by open iron gratings and loopholes in the
walls; through one of the latter, a bright gleam of light fell like a
halo upon the sweet, fair face and the golden head of the child, who was
sitting on the floor, with a portion of her little white dress folded
around a kitten, which she was rocking in her arms and talking to. Happy
as was her wont and all unconscious of the flight of time and the
anxiety that she had caused, she seemed to have made some little
exploration of her own since she had been there and wanted to show her
discovery, just the same as Mrs. Carleton and Miss Vyvyan were always
doing to one another.
"Come," said she, getting up from the floor and taking her mother's
hand, "funny sing down dare; Anna too," she continued, and stretching
out her other hand, she caught hold of the folds of Miss Vyvyan's dress,
and drew her along also, leading them both across the hall to a large
gate of iron bars. It was locked, and closed the entrance to a broad
stone passage.
"Down dare, funny sing," she went on, pointing to a skeleton, which lay
just inside, and so near to the gate that one hand had been thrust out
between the bars and the bones of it were lying close to their feet. A
great quantity of long black hair still remained about the skull, in the
midst of which was a Mexican ear-ring of elaborate workmanship.
Everything told them that the skeleton was that of a woman. Glancing
round the hall, the ladies could not see any door. How did Cora get
there? Before they had time to inquire, little Cora saw something inside
the gate, and with her usual quick movement, she swiftly passed her tiny
hand between the closely placed iron bars and from a small heap of
debris of finger bones, drew out a richly chased gold ring, inscribed
with the name of "Inez;" set in it was a large ruby in the form of a
heart.
The child who possessed as part of her inheritance a fine, sensitive
instinct, looking at her mother, observed that her long silken eyelashes
were wet with tears, and that traces of recent mental agony lingered on
her face. In an instant, the dear little soul strove to comfort and
cheer, after the manner so often employed by each of her guardians
toward herself. Holding up the ring in one hand, and clinging round her
mother with the other, she said,
"See, mama, Cora dot pitty sing for mama. Don't ky, don't ky, Cora loves
mama."
"Sweet child," exclaimed Anna, taking her up into her arms and holding
her to her heart. "Sweet child, more precious to us every day, for each
one reveals some new beauty of character, some still more lovable
trait. Come, dear Ada, come away," she continued. "I will carry Cora.
How did my little godchild come here?" she said, addressing the little
one in her arms.
"Kitta doe," answered Cora.
"Yes darling, where did kitta go?"
"By dare," said the child, pointing to a massive column, one side of
which was built close to the wall and had the appearance of being placed
there as a support, but was in reality to conceal a doorway which led to
a flight of stairs between two walls.
The ladies went up, Miss Vyvyan carrying Cora. They soon found
themselves in one of the rooms which was nearly filled with firearms and
other implements of warfare. The entrance to it at the top of the stairs
was concealed in the same manner as the doorway below, and but for Cora
following the little white kitten, the ladies might have lived many
years in the castle and never have seen it. The subterranean passage
into which they accidentally crawled, had been made for a place of
concealment in case of a sudden attack upon the castle.