"Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence' cell."
_Romeo and Juliet._
"Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes."
_Othello._
Whilst the news that Claude Montigny had given, to a girl of dubious
birth and uncertain social position, the heart, for the possession
of which the supercillious Seraphine Duchatel had so long striven
in vain, was disturbing the souls of the Montboeuf Manorhouse, the
seigneur of Mainville, ill at ease, and apprehensive of a hasty
and irremediable matrimonial step on the part of his son, started
for Montreal again to visit the intractable advocate.
Later in the same day, Claude also took horse, and rode towards
the banks of the Ottawa, where he arrived at dusk, and crossing at
the ferry from the main to Sainte Anne, he thence, solitary, and
filled with chequered thoughts, continued his way, whilst the
ground grew dimmer and yet dimmer, and star after star stole out;
till, as the moon rose slowly in the glimmering air, he reached
the neighbourhood of dim Mount Royal.
At the same hour that the large bateau was heaving its way over
the vexed flood of the meeting waters of the Saint Lawrence and
the Ottawa, four horsemen crossed a rustic bridge, that led from
the mainland to the opposite, or eastern extremity of the Island
of Montreal. One of the riders was of gigantic stature, and another
of diminutive proportions; and all were clad in the coarse grey
frieze suit of the country, and wore upon their heads the common
blue cap or tuque. Pursuing their way, they kept to the least
frequented paths; endeavouring to avoid recognition; until the
coming night concealed them, and they journeyed beneath the decrescent
and feebly shining moon.
And now, whilst such was transpiring at the extremities of the
Island, at Stillyside, its centre, the curtains had been drawn,
and the lighted lamp, with its frosted glass globe, shone serene
and silvery, like a minor and domestic moon. Mona Macdonald sat
sewing near a table, whilst Amanda read aloud. On a sofa a lazy
lapdog dreamed, the parrot slept on its swing, and the bullfinch
on the perch in its cage, and in the pauses of Amanda's voice, the
drowsy cat was heard purring in its evening doze. Nothing was heard
without, except the fitful bark of the Newfoundland dog at some
stray passer by; and, at length, even that had ceased; Mona's needle
was laid aside, the domestics, obedient to the early habits of
country life, were abed, Mona herself had now retired, and Amanda
being left alone, nothing was heard but the measured ticking of
the old clock on the corner of the stairs. The lamp had been taken
away by the departing Mona, and in the obscurity, the moonbeams
fell in grey streaks adown the damask curtains; and after a brief
meditation on the subject of her reading, Amanda rose, noiselessly
ascended the carpeted stairs to her room, approached the window,
drew aside the drapery, and gazed towards Mainville. Thus had she
done each night since the memorable interview with Claude Montigny;
and now not less long did she linger there, but longer; nor thought
of retiring, till, startled at the approaching sound of horses,
she hastily re-closed the curtains; the sound ceased, and she began
slowly to undress. But her thoughts were elsewhere; and, falling
into a reverie, she sat with her raised fingers still upon her
dress, that she was about to withdraw from before her snowy bosom,
when again she heard the sound of hoofs on the road, and soon a
shaking of reins near the gate, and champing of the bit, mingled
with the smothered growl of the awakened Newfoundlander. Divining
the cause, and seized with trembling, she arose, again threw aside
the curtains, and beheld in the moonlight a figure advancing up
the lawn. A moment she gazed upon the apparition; then, scarcely
knowing what she did, opened the folding window, and half within
and half without her chamber, leaning forward into the night,
demanded in a piercing whisper of enquiry and alarm: "Who comes
there? Speak, is it Claude Montigny?"
"It is I, my love, for by what name shall you be called, yet dearer,
worthier than love?" responded the subdued, yet full, clear voice
of Claude. Then, drawing nearer, he continued in an enraptured
tone:
"Oh, my lady, oh, my heart, my love, my life; my mistress now, my
wife that is to be: my breath, my soul; my hope, my happiness, my
all in all; fair presence--but in vain my tongue seeks for the word
that shall embody you, and, like the hunted hare returning to its
form, so does my soul return to that word, love. My love, then, be
it, for you are my love, you are my life henceforward; nor shall
the hereafter part us, for wherever you are there unto me will
still be heaven. Oh, my love, is it not kind of fortune thus to
call you forth? a favorable omen of the issue of this night. Oh,
come forth, my love; come forth, and make a hallowed aisle of the
verandah."
"Alas!" exclaimed Amanda, stepping to the verandah, "why have you
ventured here again so soon,--or, rather, why so late? for are
there not ruffian robbers on the road, and all the secret perils
of the night?"
"No peril equals that of absence from yourself," said Claude, "for
passion has greater perils than the road. Cupid's arrows are more
terrible to him whose breast is bared by the absence of its mistress,
than would be at the traveller's throat the armed and threatening
hands of fifty ruthless robbers. But how have you fared since we
were so rudely parted?"
Amanda sighed. "But so so;" she murmured mournfully, "it is a slight
burn that does not smart a little when the scorched part is snatched
away from the fire:" and hanging down her head bashfully, repeated,
"But so so:--I have felt an unaccustomed care--of little
consequence,--but, oh, tell me, Montigny, how your father, the
proud, rich seigneur takes this matter, for I know you would inform
him of it. Is he not incensed, not angry; does he not upbraid you,
and call me evil, and perhaps deserved, hard names?"
"He has expostulated with me;" Claude responded; "yet not with too
much earnestness, knowing love's fires are blown by opposition.
How seems your guardian?"
"How shall I dare to meet him!" murmured Amanda musing.
"Do not fear him;" Claude rejoined: "he will not chide you;--besides,
you shall be gone to-morrow. I come to-night, a Jason for the golden
fleece, and may not return without it. Stillyside is Colchis, and
my desires are dolphins that have brought me hither, and will not,
returning, ferry me across the Ottawa, unless they shall be freighted
with your form. Mine own one, do not stand transfixed like death
in life, but live here no longer; leave it, and live with me for
ever, for from where you are my feet shall never stray. Do not
misdoubt me: though man were as faithless as it is said that woman
is fickle, yet I were loyal towards _you_, whom I implore to be my
affianced to-night, my bride to-morrow."
"To-morrow!--Oh, so soon," exclaimed Amanda, starting.
"It will be a thousand years till then;" interposed Montigny; "and
yet it will be the glad millenium, since you shall reign amidst my
meditations, and towards you all my thoughts be worshipping saints.
This dumb devotion will be bliss, but to have sealed you mine by
the great sacrament of marriage will be glory, such as the saved
soul experiences when, in Heaven sitting, it feels itself secure,
and proof against the possibility of loss. Accord me your consent.
Why do you ponder? wherefore should you hesitate? Amanda, be
immediately mine. What are your thoughts? What are you that transports
me with impatience out of myself, to mingle with your being, and
become one with yourself in history and fate? Our fate commands;
let us obey it, since, what is fate's behest, but Heaven's directing
voice; what is our destiny, but the deed which we perceive may not
be left undone."
"Rash man, forbear;" pronounced Amanda, her face darkening with
displeasure; "you counsel me to evil. Though I would esteem you as
I would some annunciating angel, beyond impeachment of veracity,
and bent on a generous errand, you seem as a fallen spirit now;
tempting me, not enlightening. No, Montigny, no. Shall I deceive
my guardian so kind, shall I defraud your house, your father, you?
I, who have no fortune, nor--as is your lot--upon my name, neither
the rime and hoar of silver, new renown, nor golden rust of brown
antiquity,--the dust of ages in heroic deeds, lying on your
escutcheon, dyeing it as the dust that dapples the bright insect's
wings;--shall I, I say, come and lie like to a bar sinister across
it? for what else should I be considered by your indignant friends,
except, indeed, a shadow on your brightness, a shame across your
honour?" and she hung her head in despairing sadness, whilst Montigny
thus replied:
"Oh, shame on me, to hear you so self-slandered! Friends! mistaken
friends. And what although my father and the world esteemed you my
inferior; what were their estimation unto me; and, compared with
you, what is the value of heraldic honours and traditionary glory
heaped upon the dead, which is, in truth, too often only as the
phosphorescent glimmer that hangs upon decay: what are these gauds
to me, who count you to be far above the worth of monumental effigy,
or marble mask, my living love; whom I will set,--not in the tomb
of cold, pale porphyry, nor in a sable, slabbed sarcophagus, but
breathing, and enshrined in fortune's framing gold. Fastidious
girl, and prouder than the proud Montignys, listen to me, listen.
We are two stranger vessels that have met upon the highway of the
lonely sea;--we are as two ships that, being long from port, have,
sailing, met, and exchanged one with the other, what each has needed
and what each could spare; we have bartered heart for heart. Have
you not given me yours? If you have not, why, then, return me mine."
"Then were I poor indeed," replied Amanda.
"Yet I were poorer without yours," retorted Claude, "poorer than
he who begs his bread. I wish I had to beg my bread for you, then
richly should you fare; for who, when I should crave for love of
you, (as mendicants ask alms for love of heaven), could then refuse
me? Oh, refuse no longer my request. Estimate not my fortune, but
appraise myself; and whatsoever you may deem to be my value, account
your own worth as being ten thousand times that sum. Still take
me, a mere miserable doit; an earnest, an instalment towards the
payment of the debt of love and loyalty, that shall require a life
to liquidate, then leave me bankrupt in untold arrears."
"I should forgive the debt, even before you could have asked
forgiveness," replied Amanda, smiling, though much moved; "and yet
I would not leave you perfectly absolved, but still retain you by
some small reminder, some power of execution over you--not to be
exercised towards you to your hurt--far from it, but I would be
absolute that I might shew you mercy; even as noblest kings have
been despotic, and in their day have delighted in dispensing pardon.
So would I be towards you;--or even as the King of Kings--to speak
it reverently--who, of His boundless goodness and free grace,
remits the debts and manifold trespasses of us, his poor, defaulting
creatures."
"Go on, for it is bliss to hear you," murmured Claude.
"Nay, I have done;--what have I said?" she quietly enquired of him.
"Would you unsay it?" he demanded eagerly.
"Only to say it again," she answered blushing,--"yet I fear I have
babbled strangely;--but, remember, I was never wooed before, nor
answered wooer; so, being a novice in love's archery, it may be
that the gust of a too ardent breath has caught my words, and from
my meaning wafted them awry."
"And can a fountain yield both bitter and sweet?" demanded Claude:
"or are you as changeful as is yon waning moon?" he asked half
chidingly.
"Rather consider me to be as is the sun, that knows no change of
aspect throughout the livelong year; or, if it vary, swells its
orb in winter," she observed, "even as I would now appear to you
with fuller favor, amidst this young acquaintance's chilly prospect."
"Chilly! it is summer wherever lovers cast their eyes, the bright
Bermudas. Do not libel love, nor our sweet fortunes," cried Claude
impetuously: "For me, there never will be winter where you are;
and why, when I am with you, should you thus seem to shiver, as it
were, in the shadow of November?"
"I am no casuist," she said, "and yet it would appear to be too
selfish in me, too much like to fraud, should I accept all that
you offer me, such vast and personal advantage, and for which I
bring you no equivalent, no dower, no estate; nothing to counterpoise
the wide possessions that you will inherit;--nothing that may
conciliate your family, rich in material things and heaped with
honors,--save my poor love;--and what were that?"
"More than them all," ejaculated Claude, "but why these scruples?
In human hearts love is not placed against love, as in the scales
the commodity is placed against the weight; neither is it exchanged
for land, or bartered for position; but it is always given, and is
the donor's whole, unmeasured and immeasurable. It is infinite,
growing whilst it is being given, even as the horizon grows upon
the eye of him who travels towards it. It _is_ because _it must_ be;
it is unselfish; nay, unto itself it is unjust; often giving the
most where it receives the least; possessing nothing, yet possessing
all, if it possesses but all its object's heart. It is towards its
object as is the encircling and cloud-breeding sea unto the verdant
island, encompassing, and in soft showers, shedding itself over
it. As the sea sheds itself in soft showers upon the island, so do
I shed my fondness, and would shed my fortune, over you, and in
return seek for yourself,--no more, for what more could you give,
what more could I receive, who count all else as worthless dross.
What hinders then our marriage?"
"Your father," was replied.
"He would not consent unto our nuptials though I should pray him
on my bended knees, so obstinate and unyielding is his pride,"
asseverated Claude.
"My guardian, too, is proud," answered Amanda.
"Let us not wait, but wed without, and not against their leave,
then;" Montigny urged adroitly:--"but your guardian will consent:
he has avowed as much unto me privately; so, mark; when morning
brings the daylight to the east, be ready. Meet me beyond these
grounds; when we will hasten to the village of Saint Laurent, and
there be married. The deed being thus achieved, none will oppose,
for before the irrevocable all rebuke is dumb."
"And so am I to this," was replied with dignity.
"Yet let me speak:" Montigny urged with desperate eagerness, "let
me persuade you, for to this pass it must come; then let it come
at once, since each day will cause the path thereunto to grow more
rugged. My father's storm of threats, my mother's deluge of tears,
will make the way impassable and past repair. You falter; your
silence speaks consent; you are convinced, and yield to the necessity
for this ungracious consummation. Good night. To-morrow early, meet
me at the church of Saint Laurent, all shall be ready,--pray offer
no remonstrance;--meet me there at ten,--the priest is my fast
friend;--nay, do not grieve, but say good night; to-morrow you
shall smile:--goodnight, good night;" and kissing his hand to her,
before she could reply, the impetuous lover reached the postern,
and, vaulting into the saddle, vanished.
Paralyzed with amazement and apprehension, Amanda stood motionless
and dumb. She would have called on Claude to return, but dare not,
lest she should alarm the slumbering inmates of the house, and she
was still standing irresolute and helpless, when something was
suddenly thrown over her face, shrouding her in darkness, and before
she could resist she was lifted from her feet, hurried across the
lawn in a diverse direction from that taken by Claude, and on
arriving on the road, swung into a lofty saddle. A huge arm from
some one seated behind received her, passing around her waist, and
feeling like the coil of a boa-constrictor; and, amidst the sound
of several persons mounting in haste, spurs were struck into the
sides of the large animal, that reared with a vast bound which
nearly dismounted its riders; and at once, as it seemed, a troop
were flying with her at the top of their speed along the road. Half
fainting from terror, and stifling in the folds of some coarse
envelopment, she was unable to utter a cry for help, and the
cavalcade scoured along its way. One seemed to ride before them,
and the rest behind. No one spoke, but her companion on the crupper
grasped her tightly, like a relentless fate, and onwards they still
bounded, and the deeply spurred steeds in agony of exertion stretched
themselves to the task, and still they flew, and still Amanda strove
to recover her voice; till as the dumb, in some moment of mortal
terror, are said to have found speech, she, with accents, that,
bursting through the thick veil, rung amidst the night, shrieked
out the name of Claude Montigny. A low, chuckling laugh arose around
her, followed by a curse, and a hoarse threat of violence from the
figure that rode on the crupper, who at the same time again dug
spurs into the flanks of the courser, that once more, with its
huge, responding bound nearly dismounted its riders; and prompted
as it seemed by fear of a rescue, the rate accelerated till the
troop was scouring over the ground with the flight of a tempest.
Confused with terror, and alarmed at the threats of her powerful
keeper, she remained silent, unable to divine in what direction
they were hurrying; but felt that her captor and custodian kept
looking behind, as if afraid of some one in pursuit; and the killing
pace appeared to rise yet higher, and the animals to quiver in
quick bounds like mortal throes, as the spurs were plied up to the
rowels, and the creatures seemed to swallow the ground, until again
over all burst, as might the shriek of an imprisoned gnome, from
beneath her envelopement, the cry of Amanda calling upon the name
of Claude Montigny.
"Forward! faster, yet faster!" cried a voice in rage and apprehension;
and with renewed application of whip and spur, the party tore along
the road, shaking it as the prairie is shaken when it is swept over
by a herd of buffaloes.
[Illustration: "The party tore along the road, shaking it as the
prairie shakes when it is swept over by a herd of buffaloes."]
"Claude, Claude!" she again shrieked, and now in addition to the
thick cowl, a huge hand was placed upon her mouth, a threat of
instant death came from the terrible voice behind her, the grip
tightened round her form, and, making her darkness yet darker, at
that moment the clouds, that had been lately gathering, covered
the moon. Soon the way divided before them. To the left it meandered
half hidden with trees, to the right it loomed straight and open,
leading to Montreal, and the motion of the horses, now abreast and
flinging foam from their bits, seemed like the tossing of the
boiling rapids, and amidst the thunder of the hoofs the hoarse
voice of him who rode behind her, hissing with earnestness and fear
like an excited Python, exclaimed:
"Brother, and you, master Imp, make for the city; away!" And soon,
from the diminished sound, she knew that they had parted company
with a portion of her convoy. She could hear, too, that the remaining
horseman of the four, for that had been the number, had now fallen
into the rear, and, soon, she thought she heard through her mufflings
a voice crying as if commanding them to stay; and again she heard
it, but it had grown fainter, and wider from the track they were
pursuing, and now nothing was heard but the sound of their impetuous
course through the wood. This was soon cleared, when their speed
seemed to relax, and the hard breathing of the overstrained beasts,
proclaimed how much the chase had told upon them; and at last the
veil was slightly raised, a large, coarse visage peered under it,
and the hoarse voice enquired mockingly: "How fares my bird? We
will let a little light into its cage, if it will promise to sing
no more. What says my hooded crow?" and a titanic and convulsive
hug followed, causing her to shrink with pain, and revolt in disgust
and horror; feelings which changed to mortal apprehension, when
the same lascivious looking ruffian bade his now sole male companion
ride on before. The latter made no answer, but dashed up alongside,
and gazed into the face of Amanda as he passed, with an air of
curiosity mingled with admiration and respect. There was in him a
likeness to the sinistrous countenanced ogre behind her; yet he
was a rather handsome young fellow; and as the wind, caused by
their rapid course, blew backward his long, curly hair, he exhibited
a cast of honesty and openness in his aspect. The other seemed to
be impatient at his lingering, and growled: "Don't hang glowering
here; forwards, and warn me if any one approaches, that I may cover
up this toy." And whilst the monster readjusted the cowl to the
face of Amanda, his comrade again pricked the panting sides of his
own horse, that being lightlier laden than its fellow, easily shot
ahead. And thus they swept along the road, whilst the rising breeze
still drove the clouds over the face of the moon, and the race
seemed to have its fantastic counterpart in the wrack of the sky.
And now they silently journeyed, avoiding village and hamlet, by
making wide detours; but, in spite of their precautions, arousing
the bark of many a solitary cur, as they swept by each homestead
like an apparition. Even these incidents, and possible chances for
her rescue at length ceased, and the despairing Amanda, too proud
to vainly beg for her release from her stubborn captors, drew the
hood again over her face, and in the double darkness called upon
Heaven to be her protector and deliverer. That Claude had heard
her cries she felt assured; that he had pursued a portion of her
abductors towards Montreal, and would continue his efforts, with
those of her guardian and the inmates of Stillyside, to find and
recover her she did not doubt; but in the meantime what might she
not have to endure? And shrinking from the contemplation of the
uncertain gulf before her, she was at length recalled to a sense
of external things, by a sudden change of sound, from that of the
clatter of the horses' hoofs on the hard road, to one like the roll
of a distant peal of thunder, and telling her they were crossing
a rude wooden bridge, that led from the Island to the main. Then
for the first time the riders permanently abated their speed, and
their prisoner enquired of them whither they were carrying her.
"Never mind that, my pretty passenger pigeon," replied the elder
with a ghoul-like grin; "you will not require to find your way back
this year." And the foaming, exhausted animals, relieved from the
trying gallop, dropped into a feeble trot or lazy canter, whilst
Amanda gazed wistfully around to discover some glimpse of dawn.
No certain sign of it, however, could she perceive on the circle
of the horizon, though all around there showed the whitened eaves
of the roof of gloomy clouds. Her companions, too, casting jealous
glances at each other in the obscurity, had become more mutually
taciturn; and the wind, that during the previous part of their
flight had risen, as if to be in keeping with the current violence,
had now fallen to a calm; and, proceeding thus, she continued to
tell the terrors of her situation, as they alternately glided
through the gloom of the clearing, or plunged into the denser
darkness of the forest; till at last she was startled by something
leaping against her feet, followed by the pleased but stifled
barking of a huge hound close by her, and at the same instant she
saw a woman bearing a lighted candle in her hand, emerge from a
hovel on the road side. The next moment the party were halted before
it, and the woman, holding up her light, shed its beams upon the
face and form of Amanda, whose arrival she seemed to have been
expecting; and after having fixed her eyes searchingly upon her,
turned them with a familiar and significant look on the still seated
ruffian. The light illuminated her own countenance as much as that
of Amanda, who, repelled by her manners and appearance, sat
motionless, and checked the appeal that was rising to her lips.
The redoubtable rider dismounted awkwardly from behind her, half
dragged her from the tall beast, and hurried her into the house.
The woman followed, and having closed the door, placed the candle
on a table, and sat down by the fire; when Amanda, still standing
in the midst of the miserable room, began:
"Woman, what place is this? Where am I, and why have I been brought
hither?" then bursting into passionate grief: "Oh, woman, woman,
whosoever you are, save me, I implore you, from this man," and
with the words she sprang towards the door; but the churlish giant,
guessing her intention, intercepted, and bore her back, saying
"Keep quiet, gentle lady; have patience, bashful beauty; sit down,
sit down; come pet, come." And he made as if to approach her; when,
forgetting the hazard of her position, and inspired with returning
native courage, with her heart swelling with womanly indignation,
and looking the vast figure in the face, she cried with an utterance
tremulous from grief and scorn: "Whither have you brought me,
villain, and for what end? Sirrah, come no nearer me: I am polluted
by your touch. Out, shameless wretch!" and again she rushed towards
the door, but found it resist her utmost efforts: and, baffled,
turning within, she once more addressed herself to the female, who
was now carelessly warming herself before some embers on the hearth.
"Woman," she said, "for that you are one your form and garb assure
me, though your behaviour gives your exterior the lie; woman, if
you be one, save me. Charge this man--for you have influence with
him--to liberate me; oh! charge him to release me. Turn me into
the lane, into the field, or where you will; but let me leave this
house without delay."
The female, with a grim smile, bade her recompose herself; whilst
the burly brute doggedly hinted to her that she would have to remain
some time in those parts, and might as well sit down and be content.
Perplexed at this second announcement of her intended restriction,
Amanda stood mute in fear and horror. To arouse the creature in
whose power she was might be immediately dangerous, but, for a
moment, to seem resigned to her abduction was impossible. Trembling
with dismay and sickening with apprehension, her limbs would scarcely
sustain her; and as she mentally revolved, looking wistfully around,
as if to spy any nook or cranny for escape, she at last exclaimed:
"Again, I ask, why am I brought hither? Outlaw, who are you? wherein
have I wronged you, that you should drag me to I know not where?
What place is this, and why have you come with men as heartless as
yourself, stealing me from my home to bring me hither, and cast me
into this den?" and her bosom filled as she ended; but her hearer,
knowing no compunction, only answered with a sneer: "To clip your
wings, madam," then gave a low laugh, as if of self-applause at
his quickness of repartee, or the prospect of her humiliation, and
added: "Pray, miss, retire; you have not been abed to-night, and
watching is not good for English ladies' eyes."
"Shameless!" she cried, looking upon him with unmitigable disdain,
"how dare you hint at rest within these walls? Return me to the
spot whence you have taken me; render me to my home, so desecrated,
so invaded by such felonious feet as yours. Felon, convey me to
my home at Stillyside, and there reinstate me; if indeed you have
the heart, as you have the outward semblance, of a man;" and, in
spite of her resentment, she burst into a flood of tears.
But not even woman's tears could move his stolid disposition, or
melt his stony heart; and, looking at her with an expression akin
to contempt, he demanded:
"What, take the bird back to the bush where we have caught it? No.
Besides at present you have taken a long-enough ride, and when next
you journey it must be further in the same direction. You shall
see the world, and learn how wide it is; you shall have most
excellent French society."
"Oh, keep me, heaven, from such society as yours," she
ejaculated:--"base man!--but do you know to what you have exposed
yourself? Beware; I am not without friends both subtle and strong,
and one of whom will not be slow to punish you for this outrage.
Release me, stranger, or you shall be visited with his vengeance,
not to be trifled with, not to be risked with safety."
"Ah, the old advocate," exclaimed the giant, with more bitterness
than he had hitherto manifested; "Outrage! he has himself outraged
too many of our race."
"Ay, that he has;" the woman chimed in, whilst her eyes suddenly
glared dilating, and she looked menacingly at Amanda; "there is
Robitaille, and Lamoureux, and Paille, and myself, and Babet Blais,
--poor Babet! but her boy, _his_ boy, his own son, has paid him
down with sorrow, _he_ has punished him;--ha! ha!" and both she
and her Gorgon-like guest laughed a meaning and triumphant laugh,
whilst Amanda yet stood there to be baited by the brutish man and
the lost, revengeful woman, the latter of whom thus continued to
vent her spleen: "Mistress, what are you but an English interloper?
Girl, how can we endure you? Do you not despise us? Do you not
insult, despoil, dishonor us? Do you not covet our lands, do you
not reap the taxes, take the trade? Would you not all be Seigneurs?
What shall we give you that you have not already taken! Ah, out
upon you, my young mistress! Think it well if you should not receive
what I shall not now name to you,--your guardian's gift to many a
maiden--and worse;" she added between her teeth; "death, death,"
and turned away scowling.
"Return me to my home, or worse than death awaits you;" cried
Amanda; "endless infamy; hated of our race, despised of yours,
disowned by both."
But the woman by this time had begun to busy herself in piling new
logs upon the fire, and the colossus, her companion, after having
scanned the apartment, seemingly to ascertain whether it was to be
trusted to retain the prisoner, at length, satisfied with the result
of his scrutiny, unlocked the door with the key which he drew from
his pocket, and bestowing a bow of mock respect upon Amanda, who
affected not to perceive it, departed; and she, without vouchsafing
a look upon her feminine but callous jailor, sank upon a chair in
silence.