The Midnight Queen [12]
rapidly Sir Norman informed him how and
where his services were required; and the doctor being always
provided with everything necessary for such cases, set out with
him immediately. Fifteen minutes after leaving his own house,
Sir Norman was back there again, and standing in his own chamber.
But a simultaneous exclamation of amazement and consternation
broke from him and Ormiston, as on entering the room they found
the bed empty, and the lady gone!
A dead pause followed, during which the three looked blankly at
the bed, and then at each other. The scene, no doubt, would have
been ludicrous enough to a third party; but neither of our trio
could saw anything whatever to laugh at. Ormiston was the first
to speak.
"What in Heaven's name has happened!" he wonderingly exclaimed.
"Some one has been here," said Sir Norman, turning very pale,
"and carried her off while we were gone."
"Let us search the house," said the doctor; "you should have
locked your door, Sir Norman; but it may not be too late yet."
Acting on the hint, Sir Norman seized the lamp burning on the
table, and started on the search. His two friends followed him,
and
"The highest, the lowest, the loveliest spot,
They searched for the lady, and found her not."
No, though there was not the slightest trace of robbers or
intruders, neither was there the slightest trace of the beautiful
plague-patient. Everything in the house was precisely as it
always was, but the silver shining vision was gone.
CHAPTER III.
THE COURT PAGE
The search was given over at last in despair, and the doctor took
his hat and disappeared. Sir Norman and Ormiston stopped in the
lower hall and looked at each other in mute amaze.
"What can it all mean?" asked Ormiston, appealing more to society
at large than to his bewildered companion.
"I haven't the faintest idea," said Sir Norman, distractedly;
"only I am pretty certain, if I don't find her, I shall do
something so desperate that the plague will be a trifle compared
to it!"
"It seems almost impossible that she can have been carried off -
doesn't it?"
"If she has!" exclaimed Sir Norman, "and I find out the abductor,
he won't have a whole bone in his body two minutes after!"
"And yet more impossible that she can have gone off herself,"
pursued Ormiston with the air of one entering upon an abstruse
subject, and taking no heed whatever of his companion's marginal
notes.
"Gone off herself! Is the man crazy?" inquired Sir Norman, with
a stare. "Fifteen minutes before we left her dead, or in a dead
swoon, which is all the same in Greek, and yet he talks of her
getting up and going off herself!"
"In fact, the only way to get at the bottom of the mystery," said
Ormiston, "is to go in search of her. Sleeping, I suppose, is
out of the question."
"Of course it is! I shall never sleep again till I find her!"
They passed out, and Sir Norman this time took the precaution of
turning the key, thereby fulfilling the adage of locking the
stable-door when the steed was stolen. The night had grown
darker and hotter; and as they walked along, the clock of St.
Paul's tolled nine.
"And now, where shall we go?" inquired Sir Norman, as they
rapidly hurried on.
"I should recommend visiting the house we found her first; if not
there, then we can try the pest-house."
Sir Norman shuddered.
"Heaven forefend she should be there! It is the most mysterious
thing ever I heard of!"
"What do you think now of La Masque's prediction - dare you doubt
still?"
"Ormiston, I don't know what to think. It is the same face I
saw, and yet - "
"Well - and yet - "
"I can't tell you - I am fairly bewildered. If we don't find the
lady st her own house, I have half a mind to apply to your
friend, La Masque, again."
"The
where his services were required; and the doctor being always
provided with everything necessary for such cases, set out with
him immediately. Fifteen minutes after leaving his own house,
Sir Norman was back there again, and standing in his own chamber.
But a simultaneous exclamation of amazement and consternation
broke from him and Ormiston, as on entering the room they found
the bed empty, and the lady gone!
A dead pause followed, during which the three looked blankly at
the bed, and then at each other. The scene, no doubt, would have
been ludicrous enough to a third party; but neither of our trio
could saw anything whatever to laugh at. Ormiston was the first
to speak.
"What in Heaven's name has happened!" he wonderingly exclaimed.
"Some one has been here," said Sir Norman, turning very pale,
"and carried her off while we were gone."
"Let us search the house," said the doctor; "you should have
locked your door, Sir Norman; but it may not be too late yet."
Acting on the hint, Sir Norman seized the lamp burning on the
table, and started on the search. His two friends followed him,
and
"The highest, the lowest, the loveliest spot,
They searched for the lady, and found her not."
No, though there was not the slightest trace of robbers or
intruders, neither was there the slightest trace of the beautiful
plague-patient. Everything in the house was precisely as it
always was, but the silver shining vision was gone.
CHAPTER III.
THE COURT PAGE
The search was given over at last in despair, and the doctor took
his hat and disappeared. Sir Norman and Ormiston stopped in the
lower hall and looked at each other in mute amaze.
"What can it all mean?" asked Ormiston, appealing more to society
at large than to his bewildered companion.
"I haven't the faintest idea," said Sir Norman, distractedly;
"only I am pretty certain, if I don't find her, I shall do
something so desperate that the plague will be a trifle compared
to it!"
"It seems almost impossible that she can have been carried off -
doesn't it?"
"If she has!" exclaimed Sir Norman, "and I find out the abductor,
he won't have a whole bone in his body two minutes after!"
"And yet more impossible that she can have gone off herself,"
pursued Ormiston with the air of one entering upon an abstruse
subject, and taking no heed whatever of his companion's marginal
notes.
"Gone off herself! Is the man crazy?" inquired Sir Norman, with
a stare. "Fifteen minutes before we left her dead, or in a dead
swoon, which is all the same in Greek, and yet he talks of her
getting up and going off herself!"
"In fact, the only way to get at the bottom of the mystery," said
Ormiston, "is to go in search of her. Sleeping, I suppose, is
out of the question."
"Of course it is! I shall never sleep again till I find her!"
They passed out, and Sir Norman this time took the precaution of
turning the key, thereby fulfilling the adage of locking the
stable-door when the steed was stolen. The night had grown
darker and hotter; and as they walked along, the clock of St.
Paul's tolled nine.
"And now, where shall we go?" inquired Sir Norman, as they
rapidly hurried on.
"I should recommend visiting the house we found her first; if not
there, then we can try the pest-house."
Sir Norman shuddered.
"Heaven forefend she should be there! It is the most mysterious
thing ever I heard of!"
"What do you think now of La Masque's prediction - dare you doubt
still?"
"Ormiston, I don't know what to think. It is the same face I
saw, and yet - "
"Well - and yet - "
"I can't tell you - I am fairly bewildered. If we don't find the
lady st her own house, I have half a mind to apply to your
friend, La Masque, again."
"The