The Midnight Queen [119]
and has been known to do generous
acts."
"Has he? You expect him, beyond doubt, to do precisely as he
said; and if Leoline, different from all the rest of her sex,
prefers the knight to the king, he will yield her unresistingly
to you."
"I have nothing but his word for it!" said Sir Norman, in a
distracted tone, "and, at present, can do nothing but bide my
time."
"I have been thinking of that, too! I promised, you know, when I
left her, last night, that we would return before day-dawn, and
rescue her. The unhappy little beauty will doubtless think I
have fallen into the tiger's jaws myself, and has half wept her
bright eyes out by this time!"
"My poor Leoline! And O Hubert, if you only knew what she is to
you!"
"I do know! She told me she was my sister!"
Sir Norman looked at him in amazement.
"She told you, and you take it like this?"
"Certainly, I take it like this. How would you have me take it?
It is nothing to go into hysterics about, after all!"
"Of all the cold-blooded young reptiles I ever saw," exclaimed
Sir Norman, with infinite disgust, "you are the worst! If you
were told you were to receive the crown of France to-morrow, you
would probably open your eyes a trifle, and take it as you would
a new cap!"
"Of course I would. I haven't lived in courts half my life to
get up a scene for a small matter! Besides, I had an idea from
the first moment I saw Leoline that she must be my sister, or
something of that sort."
"And so you felt no emotion whatever on hearing it?"
"I don't know as I properly understand what you mean by emotion,"
said Herbert, reflectively. "But ye-e-s, I did feel somewhat
pleased - she is so like me, and so uncommonly handsome!"
"Humph! there's a reason! Did she tell you how she discovered it
herself?"
"Let me see -no - I think not - she simply mentioned the fact."
"She did not tell you either, I suppose, that you had more
sisters than herself?"
"More than herself! No. That would be a little too much of a
good thing! One sister is quite enough for any reasonable
mortal."
"But there were two more, my good young friend!"
"Is it possible?" said Hubert, in a tone that betrayed not the
slightest symptom of emotion. "Who are they?"
Sir Norman paused one instant, combating a strong temptation to
seize the phlegmatic page by the collar, and give him such
another shaking as he would not get over for a week to come; but
suddenly recollecting he was Leoline's brother, and by the same
token a marquis or thereabouts, he merely paused to cast a
withering look upon him, and walked on.
"Well," said Hubert, "I am waiting to be told."
"You may wait, then!" said Sir Norman, with a smothered growl;
"and I give you joy when I tell you. Such extra
communicativeness to one so stolid could do no good!"
"But I am not stolid! I am in a perfect agony of anxiety," said
Hubert.
"You young jackanapes!" said Sir Norman, half-laughing, half-
incensed. "It were a wise deed and a godly one to take you by
the hind-leg and nape of the neck, and pitch you over yonder
wall; but for your mister's sake I will desist."
"Which of them?" inquired Hubert, with provoking gravity.
"It would be more to the point if you asked me who the others
were, I think."
"So I have, and you merely abused me for it. But I think I know
one of them without being told. It is that other fac-simile of
Leoline and myself who died in the robber's ruin!"
"Exactly. You and she, and Leoline, were triplets!"
"And who is the other?"
"Her name is La Masque. Have you ever heard it?"
"La Masque! Nonsense!" exclaimed Hubert, with some energy in his
voice at last. "You but jest, Sir Norman Kingsley!"
"No such thing! It is a positive fact! She told me the whole
story herself!"
"And what is the whole story;
acts."
"Has he? You expect him, beyond doubt, to do precisely as he
said; and if Leoline, different from all the rest of her sex,
prefers the knight to the king, he will yield her unresistingly
to you."
"I have nothing but his word for it!" said Sir Norman, in a
distracted tone, "and, at present, can do nothing but bide my
time."
"I have been thinking of that, too! I promised, you know, when I
left her, last night, that we would return before day-dawn, and
rescue her. The unhappy little beauty will doubtless think I
have fallen into the tiger's jaws myself, and has half wept her
bright eyes out by this time!"
"My poor Leoline! And O Hubert, if you only knew what she is to
you!"
"I do know! She told me she was my sister!"
Sir Norman looked at him in amazement.
"She told you, and you take it like this?"
"Certainly, I take it like this. How would you have me take it?
It is nothing to go into hysterics about, after all!"
"Of all the cold-blooded young reptiles I ever saw," exclaimed
Sir Norman, with infinite disgust, "you are the worst! If you
were told you were to receive the crown of France to-morrow, you
would probably open your eyes a trifle, and take it as you would
a new cap!"
"Of course I would. I haven't lived in courts half my life to
get up a scene for a small matter! Besides, I had an idea from
the first moment I saw Leoline that she must be my sister, or
something of that sort."
"And so you felt no emotion whatever on hearing it?"
"I don't know as I properly understand what you mean by emotion,"
said Herbert, reflectively. "But ye-e-s, I did feel somewhat
pleased - she is so like me, and so uncommonly handsome!"
"Humph! there's a reason! Did she tell you how she discovered it
herself?"
"Let me see -no - I think not - she simply mentioned the fact."
"She did not tell you either, I suppose, that you had more
sisters than herself?"
"More than herself! No. That would be a little too much of a
good thing! One sister is quite enough for any reasonable
mortal."
"But there were two more, my good young friend!"
"Is it possible?" said Hubert, in a tone that betrayed not the
slightest symptom of emotion. "Who are they?"
Sir Norman paused one instant, combating a strong temptation to
seize the phlegmatic page by the collar, and give him such
another shaking as he would not get over for a week to come; but
suddenly recollecting he was Leoline's brother, and by the same
token a marquis or thereabouts, he merely paused to cast a
withering look upon him, and walked on.
"Well," said Hubert, "I am waiting to be told."
"You may wait, then!" said Sir Norman, with a smothered growl;
"and I give you joy when I tell you. Such extra
communicativeness to one so stolid could do no good!"
"But I am not stolid! I am in a perfect agony of anxiety," said
Hubert.
"You young jackanapes!" said Sir Norman, half-laughing, half-
incensed. "It were a wise deed and a godly one to take you by
the hind-leg and nape of the neck, and pitch you over yonder
wall; but for your mister's sake I will desist."
"Which of them?" inquired Hubert, with provoking gravity.
"It would be more to the point if you asked me who the others
were, I think."
"So I have, and you merely abused me for it. But I think I know
one of them without being told. It is that other fac-simile of
Leoline and myself who died in the robber's ruin!"
"Exactly. You and she, and Leoline, were triplets!"
"And who is the other?"
"Her name is La Masque. Have you ever heard it?"
"La Masque! Nonsense!" exclaimed Hubert, with some energy in his
voice at last. "You but jest, Sir Norman Kingsley!"
"No such thing! It is a positive fact! She told me the whole
story herself!"
"And what is the whole story;