The Midnight Queen [3]
I have no doubt. And, as I
have no ambition to be hurled headlong into one of those horrible
holes, I shall leave town altogether in a few days. And,
Ormiston, I would strongly recommend you to follow my example."
"Not I!" said Ormiston, in a tone of gloomy resolution. "While
La Masque stays, so will I."
"And perhaps die of the plague in a week."
"So be it! I don't fear the plague half as much as I do the
thought of losing her!"
Again Sir Norman stared.
"Oh, I see! It's a hopeless case! Faith, I begin to feel
curious to see this enchantress, who has managed so effectually
to turn your brain. When did you see her last?"
"Yesterday," said Ormiston, with a deep sigh. "And if she were
made of granite, she could not be harder to me than she is!"
"So she doesn't care about you, then?"
"Not she! She has a little Blenheim lapdog, that she loves a
thousand times more than she ever will me!"
"Then what an idiot you are, to keep haunting her like her
shadow! Why don't you be a man, and tear out from your heart
such a goddess?"
"Ah! that's easily said; but if you were in my place, you'd act
exactly as I do."
"I don't believe it. It's not in me to go mad about anything
with a masked face and a marble heart. If I loved any woman -
which, thank Fortune! at this present time I do not - and she had
the bad taste not to return it, I should take my hat, make her a
bow, and go directly and love somebody else made of flesh and
blood, instead of cast iron! You know the old song, Ormiston:
'If she be not fair for me
What care I how fair she be!'"
"Kingsley, you know nothing about it!" said Ormiston,
impatiently. "So stop talking nonsense. If you are cold-blooded,
I am not; and - I love her!"
Sir Norman slightly shrugged his shoulders, and flung his
smoked-out weed into a heap of fire-wood.
"Are we near her house?" he asked. "Yonder is the bridge."
"And yonder is the house," replied Ormiston, pointing to a large
ancient building - ancient even for those times - with three
stories, each projecting over the other. "See! while the houses
on either side are marked as pest-stricken, hers alone bears no
cross. So it is: those who cling to life are stricken with
death: and those who, like me, are desperate, even death shuns."
"Why, my dear Ormiston, you surely are not so far gone as that?
Upon my honor, I had no idea you were in such a bad way."
"I am nothing but a miserable wretch! and I wish to Heaven I was
in yonder dead-cart, with the rest of them - and she, too, if she
never intends to love me!"
Ormiston spoke with such fierce earnestness, that there was no
doubting his sincerity; and Sir Norman became profoundly shocked
- so much so, that he did not speak again until they were almost
at the door. Then he opened his lips to ask, in a subdued tone:
"She has predicted the future for you - what did she foretell?"
"Nothing good; no fear of there being anything in store for such
an unlucky dog as I am."
"Where did she learn this wonderful black art of hers?"
"In the East, I believe. She has been there and all over the
world; and now visits England for the first time."
"She has chosen a sprightly season for her visit. Is she not
afraid of the plague, I wonder?"
"No; she fears nothing," said Ormiston, as he knocked loudly at
the door. "I begin to believe she is made of adamant instead of
what other women are made of."
"Which is a rib, I believe," observed Sir Norman, thoughtfully.
"And that accounts, I dare say, for their being of such a crooked
and cantankerous nature. They're a wonderful race women are; and
for what Inscrutable reason it has pleased Providence to create
them - "
The opening of the door brought to a sudden end this little touch
of moralizing, and a wrinkled old porter thrust
have no ambition to be hurled headlong into one of those horrible
holes, I shall leave town altogether in a few days. And,
Ormiston, I would strongly recommend you to follow my example."
"Not I!" said Ormiston, in a tone of gloomy resolution. "While
La Masque stays, so will I."
"And perhaps die of the plague in a week."
"So be it! I don't fear the plague half as much as I do the
thought of losing her!"
Again Sir Norman stared.
"Oh, I see! It's a hopeless case! Faith, I begin to feel
curious to see this enchantress, who has managed so effectually
to turn your brain. When did you see her last?"
"Yesterday," said Ormiston, with a deep sigh. "And if she were
made of granite, she could not be harder to me than she is!"
"So she doesn't care about you, then?"
"Not she! She has a little Blenheim lapdog, that she loves a
thousand times more than she ever will me!"
"Then what an idiot you are, to keep haunting her like her
shadow! Why don't you be a man, and tear out from your heart
such a goddess?"
"Ah! that's easily said; but if you were in my place, you'd act
exactly as I do."
"I don't believe it. It's not in me to go mad about anything
with a masked face and a marble heart. If I loved any woman -
which, thank Fortune! at this present time I do not - and she had
the bad taste not to return it, I should take my hat, make her a
bow, and go directly and love somebody else made of flesh and
blood, instead of cast iron! You know the old song, Ormiston:
'If she be not fair for me
What care I how fair she be!'"
"Kingsley, you know nothing about it!" said Ormiston,
impatiently. "So stop talking nonsense. If you are cold-blooded,
I am not; and - I love her!"
Sir Norman slightly shrugged his shoulders, and flung his
smoked-out weed into a heap of fire-wood.
"Are we near her house?" he asked. "Yonder is the bridge."
"And yonder is the house," replied Ormiston, pointing to a large
ancient building - ancient even for those times - with three
stories, each projecting over the other. "See! while the houses
on either side are marked as pest-stricken, hers alone bears no
cross. So it is: those who cling to life are stricken with
death: and those who, like me, are desperate, even death shuns."
"Why, my dear Ormiston, you surely are not so far gone as that?
Upon my honor, I had no idea you were in such a bad way."
"I am nothing but a miserable wretch! and I wish to Heaven I was
in yonder dead-cart, with the rest of them - and she, too, if she
never intends to love me!"
Ormiston spoke with such fierce earnestness, that there was no
doubting his sincerity; and Sir Norman became profoundly shocked
- so much so, that he did not speak again until they were almost
at the door. Then he opened his lips to ask, in a subdued tone:
"She has predicted the future for you - what did she foretell?"
"Nothing good; no fear of there being anything in store for such
an unlucky dog as I am."
"Where did she learn this wonderful black art of hers?"
"In the East, I believe. She has been there and all over the
world; and now visits England for the first time."
"She has chosen a sprightly season for her visit. Is she not
afraid of the plague, I wonder?"
"No; she fears nothing," said Ormiston, as he knocked loudly at
the door. "I begin to believe she is made of adamant instead of
what other women are made of."
"Which is a rib, I believe," observed Sir Norman, thoughtfully.
"And that accounts, I dare say, for their being of such a crooked
and cantankerous nature. They're a wonderful race women are; and
for what Inscrutable reason it has pleased Providence to create
them - "
The opening of the door brought to a sudden end this little touch
of moralizing, and a wrinkled old porter thrust