Matilda Montgomerie; Or, The Prophecy Fulfilled

by Major Richardson

  CHAPTER XXIX.

  The interview so fatal in its results to Gerald's long formedresolutions of virtuous purpose was followed by others of the samedescription, and in the course of these, Matilda, profiting by herknowledge of the past, had the address so to rivet the chains whichfettered the senses of her lover, by a well-timed, although apparentlyunintentional display of the beauty which had enslaved him, that so farfrom shrinking from the fulfilment of the dreadful obligation he hadimposed upon himself, the resolution of the youth became more confirmedas the period for its enactment drew nigher. There were moments when,his passion worked up to intensity by the ever-varying, over-excitingpicture of that beauty, would have anticipated the condition on which hewas to become possessed of it for ever, but on these occasions theAmerican would assume an air of wounded dignity, sometimes of deepsorrow; and alluding to the manner in which her former confidence hadbeen repaid, reproach him with a want of generosity, in seeking to makeher past weakness a pretext for his present advances.

  At length the day arrived when Gerald--the once high, generous and nobleminded Gerald,--was to steep his soul in guilt--to imbrue his hands inthe life blood of a fellow creature. The seducer of Matilda had arrived,and even in the hotel in which Grantham resided, the entertainment wasto be given by his approving fellow citizens, in commemoration of theheroism which had won to him golden opinions from every class. It hadalready been arranged that the assassination was to take place on thedeparture of their victim from the banquet, and consequently at a momentwhen, overcome by the fumes of wine, he would be found incapable ofopposing any serious resistance to their design. The better tofacilitate his close and unperceived approach to the unhappy man, a pairof cloth shoes had been made for her lover by the white hands ofMatilda, with a sort of hood or capuchin of the same material, toprevent recognition by any one who might accidentally pass him on theway to the scene of the contemplated murder. Much as Gerald objected toit, Matilda had peremptorily insisted on being present herself, towitness the execution of the deed, and the same description of disguisehad been prepared for herself. In this resolution the American,independently of her desire to fortify the courage of her lover by herpresence, was actuated by another powerful and fearful motive, whichwill be seen presently.

  The private residence of the officer was situated in a remote part ofthe town, and skirting that point of the circular ridge of hills wherethe lights in the habitation of Matilda had attracted the notice ofGerald, on the first night of his encounter. To one who viewed it from adistance, it would have seemed that the summit of the wood-crowned ridgemust be crossed before communication could be held between the twodwellings which lay as it were back to back, on either side of theformidable barrier; but on a nearer approach, a fissure in the hillmight be observed, just wide enough to admit of a narrow horse track orfoot path, which wound its sinuous course from the little valley intothe open space that verged upon the town, on gaining which the residenceof the American officer was to be seen rising at the distance of twentyyards. It was in this path, which had been latterly pointed out to himby his guilty companion, that Gerald was to await the approach of theintended victim, who on passing his place of concealment, was to becautiously followed and stabbed to the heart ere he could gain his door.

  Fallen as was Gerald from his high estate of honor, it was not without adeep sense of the atrocity of the act he was about to commit, that heprepared for its accomplishment. It is true that, yielding to thesophistry of Matilda's arguments, he was sometimes led to imagine theavenging of her injuries an imperative duty; but such was his view ofthe subject only when the spell of her presence was upon him. Whenrestored to his calmer and more unbiassed judgment, in the solitude ofhis own chamber, conscience resumed her sway, and no plausibility ofpretence could conceal from himself that he was about to become thatvilest of beings--a common murderer. There were moments even when thedread deed to which he had pledged himself appeared in such hideousdeformity, that he fain would have fled on the instant far from theinfluence of her who had incited him to its perpetration; but when theform of Matilda rose to his mental eye, remorse, conscience, everylatent principle of virtue, dissolved away--and although he no longersought to conceal from himself that what he meditated was crime of theblackest dye, his determination to secure entire possession of thatbeauty, even at the accursed price of blood, became but the moreresolute and confirmed.

  The night previous to that fixed for the assassination was passed by theguilty Gerald in a state of dreadful excitement. Large drops fell fromhis forehead in agony, and when he arose at a late hour, his pale,emaciated features, and wavering step, betrayed how little the mind orthe body had tasted of repose. Accustomed, however, as he had latterlybeen, to sustain his sinking spirits by artificial means, he was notlong in having recourse to his wonted stimulants. He called for brandyto deaden the acuteness of his feelings, and give strength to histottering limbs; and when he had drank freely of this, he sallied forthinto the forest, where he wandered during the day, without other aim orpurpose than to hide the brand of guilt, which he almost felt upon hisbrow, from the curious gaze of his fellow men. It was dark when hereturned to the hotel, and as, on his way to his own private apartment,he passed the low large room chiefly used as an ordinary, the loud humof voices which met his ear, mingled with the drawing of corks andringing of glasses, told him that the entertainment provided for hisunconscious victim had already commenced. Moving hastily on, he gainedhis own apartment, and summoning one of the domestics, he directed thathis own frugal meal (the first he had tasted that day) should be broughtup. But even for this he had no appetite, and he had recourse once moreto the stimulant for assistance. As the night drew on he grew morenervous and agitated, yet without at all wavering from his purpose. Atlength ten o'clock struck. It was the hour at which he had promised toissue forth to join Matilda in the path, there to await the passage ofhis victim to his home. He cautiously descended the staircase, and, inthe confusion that reigned among the household, all of whom were toomuch occupied with the entertainment within to heed the movements ofindividuals, succeeded in gaining the street without notice. The room inwhich the dinner was given was on the ground floor, and looked throughnumerous low windows into the street, through which Gerald mustnecessarily pass to reach the place of his appointment. Sounds of loudrevelry mixed with laughter and the strains of music, now issued fromthese, attesting that the banquet was at its height, and the wine fasttaking effect on its several participators.

  A momentary feeling of vague curiosity caused the degraded youth toglance his eye through one of the uncurtained windows upon the scenewithin, but scarcely had he caught an indistinct and confused view ofthe company, most of whom glittered in the gay trappings of militaryuniforms, when a secret and involuntary dread of distinguishing from hisfellows the man whom he was about to slay, caused him as instantaneouslyto turn away. Guilty as he felt himself to be, he could not bear thethought of beholding the features of the individual he had sworn todestroy. As there were crowds of the humbler citizens of the placecollected round the windows to view the revelry within, neither hisappearance nor his action had excited surprise; nor, indeed, was it evensuspected, habited as he was in the common garments of the country, thathe was other than a native of the town.

  On gaining the narrow pass or lane, he found Matilda wrapped in hercloak, beneath which she carried the disguise prepared for both. Themoon was in the last quarter, and as the fleecy clouds passed away frombefore it, he could observe that the lips and cheek of the American werealmost livid, although her eyes sparkled with deep mental excitement.Neither spoke, yet then breathing was heavy and audible to each. Geraldseated himself on a projection of the hill, and removing his shoes,substituted those which his companion had wrought for him. He thenassumed the hood, and dropping his head between his hands, continued forsome minutes in that attitude, buried in profound abstraction.

  At length Matilda approached him. She seated herself at his side, threwher arms around his neck, call
ed him in those rich and searching toneswhich were peculiarly her own--her beloved and affianced husband; andbidding him be firm of purpose, as he valued the lives and happiness ofboth, placed in his hand a small dagger, the handle of which was richlymounted in silver. Gerald clutched the naked weapon with a convulsivegrasp, while a hoarse low groan escaped him, and again he sank his headin silence upon his chest.

  Nearly an hour had passed in this manner, neither seeking to disturb thethoughts of the other, nor daring to break the profound silence thatevery where prevailed around them. At length a distant and solitaryfootstep was heard, and Matilda sprang to her feet, and with her headthrown eagerly forward, while one small foot alone supported the wholeweight of her inclined body, gazed intently out upon the open space, andin the direction whence the sounds proceeded.

  "He comes, Gerald, he comes!" she at length whispered in a quick tone.

  Gerald, who had also risen, and now stood looking over the shoulder ofthe American, was not slow in discovering the tall figure of a man,whose outline, cloaked even as it was, bespoke the soldier, moving in anoblique direction towards the building already described.

  "It is he--too well do I know him," continued Matilda, in the same eageryet almost inaudible whisper, "and mark how inflated with the incensewhich has been heaped upon him this night does he appear. His proud steptells of the ambitious projects of his vile heart. Little does heimagine that this arm--and she tightly grasped that which held the fataldagger--will crush them for ever in the bud. But hist!"

  The officer was now within a few paces of the path, in the gloom ofwhich the guilty pair found ample concealment, and as he drew nearer andnearer, their very breathing was stayed to prevent the slightest chanceof a discovery of their presence. Gerald suffered him to pass some yardsbeyond the opening, and advanced with long yet cautious strides acrossthe grass towards his victim. As he moved thus noiselessly along, hefancied that there was something in the bearing of the figure thatreminded him of one he had previously known, but he had not time topause upon the circumstance for the officer was already within ten yardsof his own door, and the delay of a single moment would not only deprivehim of the opportunity on which he had perilled all in this world and inthe next, but expose himself and his companion to the ignominy ofdiscovery and punishment.

  A single foot of ground now intervened between him and the unhappyofficer, whom wine, or abstraction, or both, had rendered totallyunconscious of his danger. Already was the hand of Gerald raised tostrike the fatal blow--another moment and it would have descended, buteven in the very act he found his arm suddenly arrested. Turning quicklyto see who it was who thus interfered with his purpose, he beheldMatilda.

  "One moment stay," she said in a hurried voice; "poor were my revengeindeed, were he to perish not knowing who planned his death." Then in ahoarser tone, in which could be detected the action of the fiercestpassions of the human mind, "Slanderer--villain--we meet again."

  Startled by the sound of a familiar voice, the officer turned hastilyround, and seeing all his danger at a single glance, made a movement ofhis right hand to his side, as if he would have grasped his sword--butfinding no weapon there, he contented himself with throwing his left armforward, covered with the ample folds of his cloak, with a view to thedefence of his person.

  "Yes, Forrester," continued Matilda, in the same impassioned voice, "wemeet again, and mark you," pulling back the disguise from Gerald, "'tisno vile slave, no sable paramour by whose hand you die, villain," shepursued, her voice trembling with excitement--"my own arm should havedone the deed, but that he whose service I have purchased with the handyou rejected and despised, once baulked me of my vengeance when I haddeemed it most secure. But enough! To his heart, Gerald, now that in thefulness of his wine and his ambition, he may the deeper feel the stingof death--strike to his heart--what! do you falter--do you turn coward?"

  Gerald neither moved nor spoke; his upraised hand had sunk at his sideat the first address of Matilda to her enemy, and the dagger had fallenfrom his hand upon the sward, where it might be seen glittering in therays of the pale moon. His head was bent upon his chest in abject shame,and he seemed as one who had suddenly been turned to stone.

  "Gerald, my husband!" urged Matilda, rapidly changing her tone into thatof earnest persuasion, "wherefore do you hesitate? Am I not your wife,your own wife, and is not yon monster the wretch who has consigned myfair fame to obloquy for ever--Gerald!" she added, impetuously.

  But the spell had lost its power, and Gerald continuedimmoveable--apparently fixed to the spot on which he stood.

  "Gerald, Gerald!" repeated the officer, with the air of one endeavoringto recollect.

  At the sound of that voice Gerald looked up. The moon was at that momentunobscured by a single cloud, and as the eyes of the murderer and hisintended victim met, their recognition was mutual and perfect.

  "I had never expected to see Lieutenant Grantham figuring in thecharacter of an assassin," said Colonel Forrester, in a voice of deepand bitter reproach, "still less to find his arm raised against thepreserver of his life. This," he continued, as if speaking to himself,"will be a bitter tale to recount to his family."

  "Almighty God, have mercy!" exclaimed Gerald as, overcome with shame andmisery, he threw himself upon the earth at its full length, his headnearly touching the feet of the officer. Then clasping his feet--"Oh,Colonel Forrester, lost, degraded as I am, believe me when I swear thatI knew not against whom my arm was to be directed. Nay, that you live atthis moment is the best evidence of the truth of what I utter, for Icame with a heart made up to murder. But _your_ blood worlds could nottempt me to spill."

  "I believe you," said the American feelingly. "Well do I know the artsof the woman who seems to have lured you into the depths of crime; yetlow as you are fallen, Lieutenant Grantham--much as you have disgracedyour country and profession, I cannot think you would willingly havesought the life of him who saved your own. And now rise, sir, and gainthe place of your abode, before accident bring other eyes than my own tobe witnesses of your shame. We will discourse of this to-morrow.Meanwhile, be satisfied with my promise that your attempt shall remain asecret with myself."

  While he spoke, Colonel Forrester made a movement as if to depart.Aroused by the apprehension of losing her victim, Matilda, who hadhitherto been an impatient listener, called wildly upon Gerald, who hadnow risen, to fulfil his compact; but the youth turned from her with amovement of disgust, exclaiming, with bitterness--"leave me, woman,leave me!"

  Matilda looked after him for an instant with an expression of intensestscorn; then springing to, and snatching up the dagger, which layglittering a few paces from the spot on which she stood, she advancedsilently, but rapidly upon her retreating enemy. Colonel Forrester hadgained his threshold, and had already knocked for admittance, when heheard the deep voice of Matilda at his ear, exclaiming, in a triumphanttone.

  "Think you twice, then, to escape your doom, traitor?"

  Before he could make an attempt to shield himself, the fatal steel hadentered deep into his side. Uttering a groan, he sank senseless on thesteps, whither Gerald, who had watched the action of his companion, hadflown in the hope of arresting the blow. Confused voices, mingled withthe tramp of feet, were now heard within the hall. Presently the dooropened, and a crowd of servants, chiefly black, appeared with lights.The view of their bleeding master, added to the disguise of Gerald, andthe expression of triumph visible in the pale countenance of Matilda, atonce revealed the truth. By some the former was borne to his apartment,while the greater portion busied themselves in securing the two latter,who, however, made not the slightest effort at resistance, but sufferedthemselves to be borne, amid hootings and execrations, from the spot.

  The different groups we have described as being gathered together infront of the hotel, had dispersed on the breaking up of the party, whichColonel Forrester, in compliment to those who entertained him, had beenone of the last to quit; so that on passing through the streets, not anidler was found to
swell the sable crowd that bore the wretchedprisoners onward to the common prison of the town. Just as they hadarrived at this latter, and a tall and muscular negro, apparentlyenjoying some distinction in his master's household, was about to pullthe bell for admission, a man came running breathlessly to the spot, andcommunicated to the negro just mentioned a message, in which the name ofColonel Forrester was distinctly audible to the ear of Gerald. Aretrograde movement was the immediate consequence of this interruption,and the party came once more upon the open space they had so recentlyquitted. Stupified with the excess of abjectness in which he hadcontinued plunged, from the moment of his discovery of the identity ofhis intended victim, Gerald had moved unconsciously and recklesslywhithersoever his conductors led; but now that he expected to beconfronted face to face with the dying man, as the sudden alteration inthe movement of the party gave him reason to apprehend, he felt for thefirst time that his position, bitter as it was, might be rendered evenworse. It was a relief to him, therefore, when he found that, instead oftaking the course which led to the residence of Colonel Forrester, thehead of the party, of which Matilda and himself were the centre,suddenly diverged into the narrow lane which conducted to the residenceof that unhappy woman. Instead, however, of approaching this, Geraldremarked that they made immediately for the fatal temple. When they hadreached this, the door was opened by the tall negro above described,who, with a deference in his manner not less at variance with theoccasion than with the excited conduct of the whole party on their wayto the prison, motioned both his prisoners to enter. They did so, andthe lock having been turned and the key removed, they silentlywithdrew.