CHAPTER LXIX. THE RECLUSE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 301, 22 September 1888, Page 5

CHAPTER LXIX. THE RECLUSE.

Thk Earl of Strathspey lay upon the stone floor of the dungeon in a feverish slumber. He was aiou&ed by the creaking hinges ot his p ison door, and the light of a lantern flashing full upon him. He raided himself, with some difficulty, to a sitting posture, aud looked in the direction of the door. At first, his eyes, unaccustomed to the light, saw nothing but a yellow mist. By degrees the figure of a man became distinguishable, a dark, wicked face bending over him. 'Curse you l ' uttered a tamilinr voice: ' aie you alive yet?' The eail, rou&ed up at the frouncl of that voice, struggled to his feet, reeled, and fell heavily against the wa 1. Lord Angus flood regarding him with sullen triumph. He had cmc down to the dungeon immediately on his ret m from London, c.en b-fore he \i-»ited the chamber of hi*! impiisoned bride, to as-ure himself tlur his terrible work was complete. He desired to see with his own eye" that the earl was dead, and with his own han^s to bolt and bar the \ault that contained his body. Then the earldom would be his own. On the morrow, with Maggie as his bride, he intended to leave England for a time, and return to c'ahn his own when matters were somewhat settled. No living soul, save Lady Drummond and her two familiars, Mother Gvynneth and Berkit-, Knew aught of his daik proceedings, and with them his secret was safe. No suspicion, he flattered himself, would ever rise against him; he had taken pains to show himself at Ravenswold and in London, and to join with well as-umed come n in the wonder caused by the eaiT-< mysterious disappearance, and had caused large rewaids to be offered for any information respecting him. The prevailing belief s\ as that the earl had gone abroad. He was in such a despondent state of mind that peop c did not maivel, as they otherwise would have done, at his sudden disappeu-ance. The only misdemeanour with which the young peer could bo charged would be the abduction ot Maggie, and that would amount to nothing when she »vas once his wife. His ell'orls had succeeded even beyond his hopes, and now, at the dead midnight hour, lie stole down to the dungeon to assure himself that his horrible work was done, and to seal with his own hands the tomb that held his victim. And ho»e wa* the earl alive — white as death, but weak as a babe, yet alive. The young murderer glared upon him like an enraged wild beast. 'Curse you!' he muttered, ' are you alive, yet ?' I am alive,' replied the earl, adding with a sudden overflow of human feeling, ' Oh unnatural son, how couldyou have the heart to put me to such a death as- this ?' 'I wanted the earldom,' replied the young man, with a diabolical ' look ; ' I

couldn't afford to lose it. You fancied I wasn't your son, did you ? You meant to disinherit me ? I told you I'd pay you for that threat ! If this death don't suit you, you shall have another form, by way of variety — something sharp and swift. 1 As he spoke he drew a slender, shining dagger from his bosom. The earl stood calm, lost to all thought of his own fate, in his amazed horror at the cool, undisguised villainy of this boy who had been his son — this serpent who turned and stung the hand that hud fostered and reared him. The young man advanced with a creeping, stealthy step, a look of fixed determination in his wicked face, his shining weapon raised aloit. The earl did not move. He was too weak to resist", and he closed his eyes and awaited in silent calmness the blow that would end all his misery. Lord Angus raised his hand one instant, and the unpardonable deed would have been done ; but a voice that rang like a trumpet anested him, a hand that grasped like steel caught his arm, and held him powerless. He wheeled round, with a oath, bitt( r and faced the young stranger of the Hermit's Cave, who had entered the dungeon by way of the secret stairway For one brief moment these two men, so strangely brought together, stood eye to eye, the one calm and intrepid, the other startled and cowering. _ The stronger was the first to break the silence. Advancing a step, and tightening his grasp of the young peer's arm, he said, quietly, but with a burning light in his brave, blue eyes : ' Young man, give me that knife !' ' Who are you,' thundered Lord Angus, 'that dare interfere with my business? Yes, I will give you my knife !' and, foaming with balHed lage, he wrenched his arm free, and made a desperate plunge at the stranger; but quick as thought, the young man intercepted the blow, and by a dexterous movement struck the deadly weapon from the young lord's hand with a force that sent it flashing and tingling to the other side of the vaulb. Lord Angus, finding himself thwarted in the very moment of success, broke into bi ter profanity. • Who are you ?' he cried again, scarcely conscious of what he said, in his insane wrath. 'W by are you here ?' 'To save the Earl of Strathspey's life,' replied the stranger, coolly : ' / am his 6on ! For a full minute after this unlooked-for announcement a dead silence reigned. The earl, white as death, with the blood slowly trickling from his arm, which the point of his son's murderous knife had slightly wounded, stood awed and wonder-stricken, his eyes riveted with a kind of fascination on the handsome faco of the young stranger who had saved his life. Lord Angus, mad with baffled rage, crouched in a corner like a wild beast held at bay ; but as the stranger uttered the astounding words, ' I am his son,' he bounded forward like a tiger, and seized him by the throat. ' You lie !' he shouted ; 'lam his son and the earldom is mine.' The young man shook him off with smiling calmness ; then holding him at arm's length in hia wonderful strength and coolness, he said serenely : ' You aie not his son ! I have the proof — better still,' he added, loosening his hold on his antagonist, and baring his corded arm t\> the shoulder, his right arm, fair and shapely ab a woman's, but with untold strength in its iron nerves, and rope-like thews, ' I have the Strathspey birth-mark, the scarlet cross. See there !' Lord Angus did &cc. On the fair, marblelike skin shone a blood-red cross so clearly I and distinctly marked that it was plainly I visible in the flickering lamp-light. The cml bending breathlessly forward, saw too ; a low gasping cry escaped his lips, he threw out his m ras, and fell heivily forward before the stranger could reach him. Lord Angu& stood stunned for an instant, and then, with the -desperation ot a dying hope, he bared his right arm also. •I have the birth-mark, too, for that matter !' he cried, defiantly. But he made his boast too .soon. He extended his arm, but lo ! (he scarlet cxm wax gone ' It had wholly faded, leaving only an impei tect scar to mark where it had been. The sight seemed to madden him. He uttered a cry like the sound of a wounded tiger, and riibhed upon his rival, his eyes blazing with a greeni-h h're. ' Curse you !' he raved. ' You shall die ! You shall not come between me and my own !' The stranger met him calmly, with his cool courage and superior strength, parrying his frantic blows with the skill of a trained athlete. Lord Angus, perceiving his disadvantage, took a small tin whistle from his vestpocket and blow it shiilly. The echo had scarcely ceased to reverberate through the vault when a sound of huirying feet was heard, and in another moment the man known as Berkit came hurrying down, Aith Mother Gwynneth and her blood-hound close behind him. Lord Angus made a significant gestuie a.s they entered, and, switt as thought, the dark man with the sabre-gash acioss his brow st rted towaid the young stranger. He had retreated, as they entered, to the farther side of the vault, and stoxl now with his shoulders braced against the wall and hU resolute blue eyes flashing like stars in the gloom. He saw there wa-. desperate work to do and he nerved himself for it. Berkit held a short, two-edged knife in his hand, and. with a swift and stealthy movement, he made a thrust at the btrange''\s t-ide, but the young man was too quick for him. He panied the- murderous blow with his own knite, which he had drawn, and then, swift as lightning, he dealt the man a blow just behind the ear with the horn-hilt of the knife which sent him tumbling in a limp heap across the mouldy floor. By this time Lord Angus had recovered his dagger, and, like a treacher us serpent, stole up in the rear to give, as he thought, a death wouud to his adversary. But the stranger, whose blue, bright eyes appeared to pos e ess the faculty of seeing in all directions, wheeled upon him, and seizing him boldly, shook him till his breath was gone, and tossed him again&b the stone wall as if he was a ball. He fell with a thud upon the flagstones, and at the same instant the old woman uttered a piercing cry : ' You've killed him -my boy, my boy !' she wailed ; then swift as thought she called : 'Here, Blood, be at him !' The hound, which had crouched behind her impatiently awaiting his turn, and fi ling the dungeon with his hoarse growls, now slid forward on his haunches with the sinuous moti m of a serpent, his ears flattened to his head, his eyes glowing like tw r o balls ot tire, Ins red tongue lolling from his reel, distended jaws, the terrible fangs gleaming within. He uttered a curious whining cry, and made a panther-like leap forward, planting his two tore-feet on the young man's shoulders. For an instant the immense weight nnd strength cf the brute threatened to overpower the young stranger, who was already weakened from his terrible exertions. He staggerer! back panting for breath, the veins standing out like cords on his white foiehead. Tlie blood-hound's murde-otE^ teeth were at hia throat, his claws were teaiing into the, quivering flesh of his shoulders.

' Courage, Blood, courage V cried the old j hasr, in her screeching voice. The brute growled hoarsely in answer, and struggled fiercely to get his man down, j But by an effort that was almost superhu- i man the young man got a firm hold on his knife and plunged it deep into the hound's heart. He fell back w ith an awful cry, and measured his gaunt length upon the reckless stones. Seeing the fate of her favourite, the old hag uttered the screech of a vulture, and seizing a knife made at the stranger so swiftly that she struck him in the side before he was aware of her intention, inflicting a painful wound. But he did not falter. Ui& white, shapely arm, with its vivid scarlet cross, held her firmly back, while with hie left hand he gathered up a coil of slender rope that he had brought with him in case he should need it in scaling the walls. With this, after some slight difficulty, he bound her securely and set her down in a corner, snarling and howlinsr like a panther, ' Now, then,' he said, with a deep breath, ' who will come next, I wonder ?' The earl still lay prostrate, unconscious of the deadly conflict that had been going 1 on. Lord Angus remained in a limp hoop, with the gaunt bloodhound stretched stark and stiff beside him. The man Berkic was lowly recovering from the effects of the blow he had received. The young stranger approached him where he lay, and grasping his collar, shook him vigorously. 'Get up, murderer,' lie said. The clear, imperative voice seemed to bring the fellow to his feet, independent of his own will. He i-ose to his feet with a sullen scowl. '1 he 3'oung man faced him with his knife in his hand. ' Do you care to save your life ?' he said ; 'itisat my mercy, you see. Piomibo to do my bidding, and I in turn will promise you safety. ' The man looked up, his dull eye gleaming. ' Safety from the law ?' he asked, significantly. ' Yes, provided you disclose all you know of this infamous plot. Do you consent ?' Berkit nodded. 1 Then help me with the earl, and lead the shortest way out of this den. Come !' He turned to the prostrate nobleman, and kneeling beside him, raised his head to his arm, his face softening with indescribable emotion. The earl had not fainted, but he lay in a dead stupor, heart and soul torpid and stagnant. The young man lifted his head reverently, the tears rising in his brave blue eyes, as he saw how worn and death-like a look his face wore. He motioned to Berkit to raise his feet, and he obeyed him; and in utter silence, but for the screeching curses of Mother Gwynneth, they bore him from the black vaults, and out into the white September moonlight. {To be Continued.)