The castle was not exempt from the scourge. First some of the servants
were seized, and three men and four women died. Walter himself was
attacked, but he took it lightly, and three days after the seizure
passed into a state of convalescence.
Dame Vernon was next attacked, and expired six hours after the
commencement of her illness. Scarcely was Walter upon his feet than
Ralph, who had not for a moment left his bedside, was seized, but he
too, after being at death's door for some hours, turned the corner.
Lastly Edith sickened.
By this time the scourge had done its worst in the village, and
three-fifths of the population had been swept away. All the male
retainers in the castle had died, and the one female who survived was
nursing her dying mother in the village. Edith's attack was a very
severe one.
Walter, alone now,--for Ralph, although convalescent, had not yet left
his bed,--sat by his wife's bedside a prey to anxiety and grief; for
although she had resisted the first attack, she was now, thirty-six
hours after it had seized her, fast sinking. Gradually her sight and
power of speech failed, and she lay quiet and motionless, and it seemed
as if life had already departed.
Suddenly Walter was surprised by the sound of many heavy feet ascending
the stairs. He went out into the ante-room to learn the cause of this
strange tumult, when five armed men, one of whom was masked, rushed into
the room. Walter caught up his sword from the table.
"Ruffians!" he exclaimed, "how dare you thus dishonour the abode of
death?"
Without a word the men sprang upon him. For a minute he defended himself
against their attacks, but he was still weak; his guard was beaten down,
and a blow felled him to the ground.
"Now settle her!" the masked man exclaimed, and the band rushed into the
adjoining room. They paused, however, at the door at the sight of the
lifeless figure on the couch.
"We are saved that trouble," one said; "we have come too late."
The masked figure approached the couch and bent over the figure.
"Yes," he said, "she is dead, and so much the better."
Then he returned with the others to Walter.
"He breathes yet," he said. "He needs a harder blow than that you gave
him to finish him. Let him lie here for a while, while you gather your
booty together; then we will carry him off. There is scarcely a soul
alive in the country round, and none will note us as we pass.
"If we killed him here his body would be found with wounds upon it, and
even in these times some inquiry might be made; therefore it were best
to finish him elsewhere. When he is missed it will be supposed that he
went mad at the death of his wife, and has wandered out and died, maybe
in the woods, or has drowned himself in a pond or stream. Besides, I
would that before he dies he should know what hand has struck the blow,
and that my vengeance, which he slighted and has twice escaped, has
overtaken him at last."