ALL IS OVER.
Idalia could not sleep that night. Satisfied revenge brings no sweet
sleep! Frightful visions chased through her brain, in which the
distorted faces of her disgraced victims haunted her. There is a maiden
in a boat that the ice flood sweeps along, her cry is borne on the wind;
and that man?--it is the one to whom Idalia has prayed, whom she has
lost, and now she would give him over to neither man nor devil.
The beautiful woman had many stately rooms, and yet there was not space
enough for her. Long since had she wept through them all. Back and forth
she went to the balcony and blew her breath on the panes in warm rings
through which she could look out at the Waag. A great waste field of ice
stretched out before her, reaching from Mitosin Castle to Madocsany; the
moon lighted up a landscape still as death; about three o'clock in the
morning, as she gazed out from her balcony over the wide waste, like a
mad woman, it suddenly seemed to her as if a black spot moved over
there and came nearer and nearer the castle; as it came nearer, it
proved to be the figure of a man; the nearer it approached, stumbling
among the ice blocks, the more evident became its purpose to come
straight to the castle. It was somebody from Mitosin! Idalia wakened her
people and gave orders to carry out a stretcher and help the man who was
with difficulty struggling through the ice, and bring him to the castle.
This man was Master Mathias. When brought before Idalia, his face was
hardly recognizable, it was so blue with frost and pain, and its
features were so distorted.
"I came from Mitosin," he gasped out, sinking down upon the bearskin
before the fire where they had laid him.
"Bring him a cup of warm wine," ordered the lady.
"No, no! no more wine," he groaned, "leave us alone. I have had enough
of that."
When left alone with the lady of the castle, he wrung her hands and sank
upon his knees.
"For God's sake, save me, most gracious Lady, I entreat you!"
"What ails you?"
"The Lord of Mitosin has poisoned me and himself too. May God punish him
for it. Help me, or I must die."
"How can I help you?"
"Don't begrudge me that. You know very well I have been poisoned by a
drinking cup, although there was no poison to be seen in it. They say
that when you poisoned your husband, you did the same thing: you drank
from the same cup with him, so as not to excite his suspicions, and
drank the poison; but after he died, you went aside and took the
antidote. You lived and he died."
"You're mad!"
"No, I am not. Give me the antidote. You know the secret. If you set me
free, I'll tell you a secret you will not be sorry to hear."
"What secret is that?"
"The secret where Father Peter is now."
At this name, the lady sprang toward Master Mathias, raised him up from
the bearskin, and laid him on a couch.
"What, you know where he is! Is he still alive?"
"Yes, he is, and no harm has been done yet!"
"Where is he?"
"Give me the antidote quickly."
"No, no; there is time yet. I must have the secret first, there is no
escape for you until then."
Large drops of sweat stood out on the brow of the tortured man.
"My master made me promise on the Holy Gospels that I would not betray
it to any body. I shall go to Hell for this."
"You'll go there anyway. The question is whether you will go sooner or
later. If you tell me what you know, the devils will have to wait for
you; if you keep it to yourself, you'll have to go at once. Speak at
once or die."
"You'll surely give me the medicine?"
"Yes, there you have it now. While you were speaking, I dropped it into
your mouth. I carry it with me always in the stone of my ring. See how
green it is, gleaming in the darkness; if I should give you all of it,
you would live a hundred years longer."
The poor fellow in the agony of death told all. When he spoke of the
chamber of the dead, and of the cavern of treasure, Idalia was convinced
that he spoke the truth. No one who had not been there and seen them
could know of these places.
"Good," she said, "now take this. Go home to Tepla to your daughter, and
say nothing of what you know."
But what the beautiful lady really gave Master Mathias was anything but
an antidote; it was a still more active poison, so there should be no
time for him to communicate his secret to a third.
When Master Mathias had dragged himself to Tepla to his daughter's
house, his tongue hardly moved in his throat, and he could only stammer:
"Father Peter--walled in--under-ground--with treasures--in
Mitosin--still alive--I am undone." More he could not say; by the time
the priest came, he was already dead.
* * * * *
Idalia was left alone with the secret she had extorted. Suddenly her old
passion blazed up again to its full height like a column of fire. Her
beloved was still alive; he was only buried, walled in deep
underground,--abandoned by God and man, left to the company of the
corpses, with no sound save those of the silent night; robbed of his
loved one, betrayed in despair, with nobody to expect but grim death.
What if somebody should go down to him in this frightful grave, and
should look at him through that small opening; would not such a
countenance seem like that of an angel looking down from Heaven? Would
he not look upon her as a goddess who should bring him up from the
depths of the grave into God's world again? Would it be possible for him
not to yield to the force of that love which opens graves even, and will
not leave him to God or the devil?
She did not hesitate long, but threw her black cloak around her
shoulders, placed a dagger and a sword at her belt, and looked for a
strong axe: "It will be convenient," she thought, "to break through the
heavy walls." She lighted her lantern, and stole out of the castle.
Toward morning, a thick fog had settled over the place, so that nobody
saw which way she went. In fact nobody ever knew which way she had gone.
About six o'clock that morning, the whole country was aroused by a
frightful underground explosion convulsing the earth. Towers fell,
castles rocked, the Jesuit monastery fell in, and Mitosin Chapel was
reduced to a heap of stones.
Those who were awake at the time maintained that they saw a giant column
rise up from the middle of the Waag and blaze on high. The clouds of
smoke were visible for some time through the fog, and seemed like an
army of darkness. The broken ice began to heave and roll violently, not
only forward, but in all directions, overspreading the valley and
sweeping away before it villages and forests.
After the flood had subsided and the Waag returned to its bed, evil
traces were left behind in thick layers of round pebbles; for the Waag
is not like those friendly rivers which when they overflow cover the
earth with a fertile deposit.
In the excitement over the disturbance of the elements, people forgot
the frightful family history that had just been enacted in the two
castles. A few days later, relatives of the Likovay family found the
body of Lord Grazian in the agent's quarters of the castle. The swollen
flood had not forced its way there; but not one stone upon another was
left of the little church. The devastating explosion had opened a way
through this for the streaming flood of waters, whose irresistible
current ground stone and wood to powder.
The same fate met the statue of Nepomeck at Madocsany. The Hussite
passage was filled with stones, and the flood took its path from there
over the country.
It was not for a long, long time that the members of the Likovay family
began to inquire what had become of the treasure that Lord Grazian had
received from the Lady of Madocsany for his estate; but never a trace of
it was found.
And the whole of this story, from beginning to end, is a true story. The
dates are kept in the family archives: and on the lips of the people the
name of Father Peter still lives. The place is often visited by
earthquakes, and at such times they say, "Father Peter has turned over
in his grave." And every time that Mitosin Castle and estate is
transferred to a new purchaser, it is stipulated in the contract, that
if the buried treasure is found, it shall be given back to its rightful
owners. But the people say that the treasure will never be found, until
Father Peter has been set free from his living grave; and this may be
true.
Other Books Uniform with this Volume
What's Bred in the Bone Grant Allen
The Desire of the Eyes Grant Allen
The Wooing O't Mrs. Alexander
Her Dearest Foe Mrs. Alexander
Lorna Doone Blackmore
Auld Licht Idylls and A Window in Thrums J. M. Barrie
An Auld Licht Manse J. M. Barrie
A Living Lie Paul Bourget
When the World was Younger Miss M. E. Braddon
The Golden Butterfly Besant & Rice
A Son of Hagar Hall Caine
The Bondman Hall Caine
The Deemster Hall Caine
The Shadow of a Crime Hall Caine
The Moonstone Wilkie Collins
Wooed and Married Rosa N. Carey
Not Like Other Girls Rosa N. Carey
Pretty Miss Neville B. M. Croker
Beyond The Pale B. M. Croker
Crime of the Boulevard Jules Claretie
A Galloway Herd S. R. Crockett
A Romance of Two Worlds Marie Corelli
Vendetta Marie Corelli
Wormwood Marie Corelli
Thelma Marie Corelli
Ardath Marie Corelli
The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas
Twenty Years After Alexandre Dumas
Vicomte de Bragelonne Alexandre Dumas
Louise de la Valliere Alexandre Dumas
Ten Years Later Alexandre Dumas
The Man in the Iron Mask Alexandre Dumas
Two Years Before the Mast R. H. Dana, Jr.
The Professor's Experiment The Duchess
A Step Aside Charlotte Dunning
Some Women's Ways Mary A. Dickens
Not in the Prospectus Parke Danforth
The White Company A. Conan Doyle
Micah Clarke A. Conan Doyle
The Firm of Girdlestone A. Conan Doyle
The Captain of the Pole Star A. Conan Doyle
The Mystery of Cloomber A. Conan Doyle
Strange Secrets A. Conan Doyle
The Betrayal of John Fordham B. L. Farjeon
Borderland Jessie Fothergill
Kith and Kin Jessie Fothergill
One of Three Jessie Fothergill
Peril Jessie Fothergill
The Wellfields Jessie Fothergill
Probation Jessie Fothergill
The First Violin Jessie Fothergill
Nihilist Princess M. T. Gagneur
Cranford Mrs. Gaskell
Woodlanders Thomas Hardy
Two On a Tower Thomas Hardy
Far From the Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy
The Arundel Motto Mary Cecil Hay
For Her Dear Sake Mary Cecil Hay
Nora's Love Test Mary Cecil Hay
Old Myddleton's Money Mary Cecil Hay
A Maiden's Choice W. Heimburg
Magdalen's Fortunes W. Heimburg
Defiant Hearts W. Heimburg
Two Daughters of One Race W. Heimburg
A Fatal Misunderstanding W. Heimburg
Lucie's Mistake W. Heimburg
The Dagger and the Cross Joseph Hatton
A Girl of the Commune G. A. Henty
The Queerest Man Alive George H. Hepworth
Jasper Fairfax Margoret Holmes
Tempest and Sunshine Mary J. Holmes
Homestead on the Hillside Mary J. Holmes
English Orphans Mary J. Holmes
Lena Rivers Mary J. Holmes
Peter the Priest Maurus Jokai
The Golden Age of Transylvania Maurus Jokai
Westward Ho Charles Kingsley
Hypatia Charles Kingsley
Phantom 'Rickshaw Rudyard Kipling
In Black and White and Story of Rudyard Kipling
the Gadsbys
Wee Willie Winkie and American Notes Rudyard Kipling
Ballads, Poems and Other Verses Rudyard Kipling
Under the Deodars and City of the Rudyard Kipling
Dreadful Night
Plain Tales Prom the Hills Rudyard Kipling
The Light That Failed Rudyard Kipling
Soldiers Three Rudyard Kipling
Mine Own People Rudyard Kipling
Madame Sans Gene Edmond Lepelletier
Ramuntcho Pierre Loti
Guilty Bonds Wm. Le Queux
Strange Tales of a Nihilist Wm. Le Queux
Gold Elsie E. Marlitt
Old Mam'sell's Secret E. Marlitt
Daireen F. Frankfort Moors
A New Note Ella MacMahon
Lindsay's Girl Mrs. Herbert Martin
An Old Maid's Love Maarten Maartens
The Cedar Star Mary E. Mann
The Man Who Was Good Leonard Merrick
A Daughter of the Philistines Leonard Merrick
A Soldier of Fortune L. T. Meade
The King's Assegai Bertram Mitford
Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush Ian MacLaren
Matrimony W. E. Norris
The Story of a Governess Mrs. Oliphant
Under Two Flags Ouida
The Massarenes Ouida
The Splendid Spur "Q" (A. T. Quiller Couch)
Warren Hyde Helen Riemensnyder
What Cheer W. Clark Russell
The Lady Maud W. Clark Russell
The Wreck of the Grosvenor W. Clark Russell
Cloister and the Hearth Charles Reade
Forced Acquaintances Edith Robinson
Sheba Rita
Kitty Rita
After Bread and On the Sunny Shore Henryk Sienkeiwicz
Dragon's Teeth Translated by Mary Serrano
The Heart of a Mystery T. W. Speight
Robert Urquhart Gabriel Setoun
New Arabian Nights Robert Louis Stevenson
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Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson
The Crystal Button Chauncey Thomas
Jack Horner Mary S. Tiernan
Homoselle Mary S. Tiernan
Captain Antifer Jules Verne
On the Winning Side Mrs. J. H. Walworth
Uncle Scipio Mrs. J. H. Walworth
The Wide, Wide World Susan Warner
A DAUGHTER OF THE PHILISTINES
By LEONARD MERRICK
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An Unofficial Patriot
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Press_.
"In its scope and power it is unrivalled among war stories."--_Ideas,
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"In many ways the most remarkable historical novel of the Civil
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"The interview with Lincoln is one of the finest bits of dialogue in a
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time."--_Courier-Journal, Louisville_.
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"Has enriched American literature."--_Item, Philadelphia_.
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"Entitled to a place with standard histories of the War."--_Atlanta
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THE DAGGER AND THE CROSS
BY JOSEPH HATTON
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Dust in the Balance
By GEORGE KNIGHT
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Betrayal of John Fordham
By B. L. FARJEON
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* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
This book, as originally published, did not have a table of contents.
A table of contents has been created for this electronic edition.