The Midnight Queen [65]
the window and wait for him.
Ah! she might wait - much good would it do her; about that time
he would probably be - where? It was a rather uncomfortable
question, but easily answered, and depressed him to a very
desponding degree indeed.
He thought of Ormiston and La Masque - no doubt they were billing
and cooing in most approved fashion just then, and never thinking
of him; though, but for La Masque and his own folly, he might
have been half married by this time. He thought of Count
L'Estrange and Master Hubert, and become firmly convinced, if one
did not find Leoline the other would; and each being equally bad,
it was about a toss up in agony which got her.
He thought of Queen Miranda, and of the adage, "put no trust in
princes," and sighed deeply as he reflected what a bad sign of
human nature it was - more particularly such handsome human
nature - that she could, figuratively speaking, pat him on the
back one moment, and kick him to the scaffold the next. He
thought, dejectedly, what a fool he was ever to have come back;
or even having come back, not to have taken greater pains to stay
up aloft, instead of pitching abruptly head-foremost into such a
select company without an invitation. He thought, too, what a
cold, damp, unwholesome chamber they had lodged him in, and how
apt he would be to have a bad attack of ague and miasmatic fever,
if they would only let him live long enough to enjoy those
blessings. And this having brought him to the end of his
melancholy meditation, he began to reflect how he could best
amuse himself in the interim, before quitting this vale of tears.
The candle was still blinking feebly on the floor, shedding tears
of wax in its feeble prostration, and it suddenly reminded him of
the dwarf's advice to examine his dark bower of repose. So be
picked it up and snuffed it with his fingers, and held it aloof,
much as Robinson Crusoe held the brand in the dark cavern with
the dead goat.
In the velvet pall of blackness before alluded to, its small, wan
ray pierced but a few inches, and only made the darkness visible.
But Sir Norman groped his way to the wall, which he found to be
all over green and noisome slime, and broken out into a cold,
clammy perspiration, as though it were at its last gasp. By the
aid of his friendly light, for which he was really much obliged -
a fact which, had his little friend known, he would not have left
it - he managed to make the circuit of his prison, which he found
rather spacious, and by no means uninhabited; for the walls and
floor were covered with fat, black beetles, whole families of
which interesting specimens of the insect-world he crunched
remorselessly under foot, and massacred at every step; and great,
depraved-looking rats, with flashing eyes and sinister-teeth, who
made frantic dives and rushes at him, and bit at his jack-boots
with fierce, fury. These small quadrupeds reminded him forcibly
of the dwarf, especially in the region of the eyes and the
general expression of countenance; and he began to reflect that
if the dwarf's soul (supposing him to possess such an article as
that, which seemed open to debate) passed after death into the
body of any other animal, it would certainly be into that of a
rat.
He had just come to this conclusion, and was applying the flame
of the candle to the nose of an inquisitive beetle, when it
struck him he heard voices in altercation outside his door. One,
clear, ringing, and imperious, yet withal feminine, was certainly
not heard for the first time; and the subdued and respectful
voices that answered, were those of his guards.
After a moment, he heard the sound of the withdrawing bolts, and
his heart beat fast. Surely, his half-hour had not already
expired; and if it had, would she be the person to conduct him to
death? The door opened; a puff of wind extinguished his candle,
but not until he had caught
Ah! she might wait - much good would it do her; about that time
he would probably be - where? It was a rather uncomfortable
question, but easily answered, and depressed him to a very
desponding degree indeed.
He thought of Ormiston and La Masque - no doubt they were billing
and cooing in most approved fashion just then, and never thinking
of him; though, but for La Masque and his own folly, he might
have been half married by this time. He thought of Count
L'Estrange and Master Hubert, and become firmly convinced, if one
did not find Leoline the other would; and each being equally bad,
it was about a toss up in agony which got her.
He thought of Queen Miranda, and of the adage, "put no trust in
princes," and sighed deeply as he reflected what a bad sign of
human nature it was - more particularly such handsome human
nature - that she could, figuratively speaking, pat him on the
back one moment, and kick him to the scaffold the next. He
thought, dejectedly, what a fool he was ever to have come back;
or even having come back, not to have taken greater pains to stay
up aloft, instead of pitching abruptly head-foremost into such a
select company without an invitation. He thought, too, what a
cold, damp, unwholesome chamber they had lodged him in, and how
apt he would be to have a bad attack of ague and miasmatic fever,
if they would only let him live long enough to enjoy those
blessings. And this having brought him to the end of his
melancholy meditation, he began to reflect how he could best
amuse himself in the interim, before quitting this vale of tears.
The candle was still blinking feebly on the floor, shedding tears
of wax in its feeble prostration, and it suddenly reminded him of
the dwarf's advice to examine his dark bower of repose. So be
picked it up and snuffed it with his fingers, and held it aloof,
much as Robinson Crusoe held the brand in the dark cavern with
the dead goat.
In the velvet pall of blackness before alluded to, its small, wan
ray pierced but a few inches, and only made the darkness visible.
But Sir Norman groped his way to the wall, which he found to be
all over green and noisome slime, and broken out into a cold,
clammy perspiration, as though it were at its last gasp. By the
aid of his friendly light, for which he was really much obliged -
a fact which, had his little friend known, he would not have left
it - he managed to make the circuit of his prison, which he found
rather spacious, and by no means uninhabited; for the walls and
floor were covered with fat, black beetles, whole families of
which interesting specimens of the insect-world he crunched
remorselessly under foot, and massacred at every step; and great,
depraved-looking rats, with flashing eyes and sinister-teeth, who
made frantic dives and rushes at him, and bit at his jack-boots
with fierce, fury. These small quadrupeds reminded him forcibly
of the dwarf, especially in the region of the eyes and the
general expression of countenance; and he began to reflect that
if the dwarf's soul (supposing him to possess such an article as
that, which seemed open to debate) passed after death into the
body of any other animal, it would certainly be into that of a
rat.
He had just come to this conclusion, and was applying the flame
of the candle to the nose of an inquisitive beetle, when it
struck him he heard voices in altercation outside his door. One,
clear, ringing, and imperious, yet withal feminine, was certainly
not heard for the first time; and the subdued and respectful
voices that answered, were those of his guards.
After a moment, he heard the sound of the withdrawing bolts, and
his heart beat fast. Surely, his half-hour had not already
expired; and if it had, would she be the person to conduct him to
death? The door opened; a puff of wind extinguished his candle,
but not until he had caught