first time I ever entered it, and this vault the only part of it
within which I ever was."
"But I tell thee," said Manfred (wishing to find out if the youth had
discovered the trap-door), "it was this way I heard the noise. My
servants heard it too."
"My Lord," interrupted one of them officiously, "to be sure it was the
trap-door, and he was going to make his escape."
"Peace, blockhead!" said the Prince
angrily; "if he was going to
escape, how should he come on this side? I will know from his own
mouth what noise it was I heard. Tell me truly; thy life depends on
thy veracity."
"My veracity is dearer to me than my life," said the
peasant; "nor
would I purchase the one by forfeiting the other."
"Indeed, young philosopher!" said Manfred
contemptuously; "tell me,
then, what was the noise I heard?"
"Ask me what I can answer," said he, "and put me to death
instantly" target="_blank" title="ad.立即,立刻">
instantly if
I tell you a lie."
Manfred, growing
impatient at the steady
valour and
indifference of
the youth, cried -
"Well, then, thou man of truth, answer! Was it the fall of the trap-
door that I heard?"
"It was," said the youth.
"It was!" said the Prince; "and how didst thou come to know there was
a trap-door here?"
"I saw the plate of brass by a gleam of moonshine," replied he.
"But what told thee it was a lock?" said Manfred. "How didst thou
discover the secret of
opening it?"
"Providence, that delivered me from the
helmet, was able to direct me
to the spring of a lock," said he.
"Providence should have gone a little farther, and have placed thee
out of the reach of my resentment," said Manfred. "When Providence
had taught thee to open the lock, it
abandoned thee for a fool, who
did not know how to make use of its favours. Why didst thou not
pursue the path
pointed out for thy escape? Why didst thou shut the
trap-door before thou hadst descended the steps?"
"I might ask you, my Lord," said the
peasant, "how I, totally
unacquainted with your castle, was to know that those steps led to any
outlet? but I scorn to evade your questions. Wherever those steps
lead to, perhaps I should have explored the way - I could not be in a
worse situation than I was. But the truth is, I let the trap-door
fall: your immediate
arrival followed. I had given the alarm - what
imported it to me whether I was seized a minute sooner or a minute
later?"
"Thou art a
resolutevillain for thy years," said Manfred; "yet on
reflection I
suspect thou dost but
trifle with me. Thou hast not yet
told me how thou didst open the lock."
"That I will show you, my Lord," said the
peasant; and,
taking up a
fragment of stone that had fallen from above, he laid himself on the
trap-door, and began to beat on the piece of brass that covered it,
meaning to gain time for the escape of the Princess. This presence of
mind, joined to the
frankness of the youth, staggered Manfred. He
even felt a
disposition towards pardoning one who had been
guilty of
no crime. Manfred was not one of those
savage tyrants who
wanton in
cruelty unprovoked. The circumstances of his fortune had given an
asperity to his
temper, which was naturally
humane; and his virtues
were always ready to
operate, when his passions did not obscure his
reason.
While the Prince was in this
suspense, a confused noise of voices
echoed through the distant vaults. As the sound approached, he
distinguished the clamours of some of his domestics, whom he had
dispersed through the castle in search of Isabella,
calling out -
"Where is my Lord? where is the Prince?"
"Here I am," said Manfred, as they came nearer; "have you found the
Princess?"
The first that arrived, replied, "Oh, my Lord! I am glad we have
found you."
"Found me!" said Manfred; "have you found the Princess?"
"We thought we had, my Lord," said the fellow, looking terrified, "but
- "
"But, what?" cried the Prince; "has she escaped?"
"Jaquez and I, my Lord - "
"Yes, I and Diego," interrupted the second, who came up in still
greater consternation.
"Speak one of you at a time," said Manfred; "I ask you, where is the
Princess?"
"We do not know," said they both together; "but we are frightened out
of our wits."
"So I think, blockheads," said Manfred; "what is it has scared you
thus?"
"Oh! my Lord," said Jaquez, "Diego has seen such a sight! your
Highness would not believe our eyes."
"What new
absurdity is this?" cried Manfred; "give me a direct answer,
or, by Heaven - "
"Why, my Lord, if it please your Highness to hear me," said the poor
fellow, "Diego and I - "
"Yes, I and Jaquez - " cried his comrade.
"Did not I
forbid you to speak both at a time?" said the Prince:
"you, Jaquez, answer; for the other fool seems more
distracted than
thou art; what is the matter?"
"My
gracious Lord," said Jaquez, "if it please your Highness to hear
me; Diego and I, according to your Highness's orders, went to search
for the young Lady; but being
comprehensive that we might meet the
ghost of my young Lord, your Highness's son, God rest his soul, as he
has not received Christian burial - "
"Sot!" cried Manfred in a rage; "is it only a ghost, then, that thou
hast seen?"
"Oh! worse! worse! my Lord," cried Diego: "I had rather have seen ten
whole ghosts."
"Grant me patience!" said Manfred; "these blockheads
distract me. Out
of my sight, Diego! and thou, Jaquez, tell me in one word, art thou
sober? art thou raving? thou wast wont to have some sense: has the
other sot frightened himself and thee too? Speak; what is it he
fancies he has seen?"
"Why, my Lord," replied Jaquez, trembling, "I was going to tell your
Highness, that since the calamitous
misfortune of my young Lord, God
rest his precious soul! not one of us your Highness's faithful
servants - indeed we are, my Lord, though poor men - I say, not one of
us has dared to set a foot about the castle, but two together: so
Diego and I, thinking that my young Lady might be in the great
gallery, went up there to look for her, and tell her your Highness
wanted something to
impart to her."
"O blundering fools!" cried Manfred; "and in the
meantime, she has
made her escape, because you were afraid of goblins! - Why, thou
knave! she left me in the
gallery; I came from
thence myself."
"For all that, she may be there still for aught I know," said Jaquez;
"but the devil shall have me before I seek her there again - poor
Diego! I do not believe he will ever recover it."
"Recover what?" said Manfred; "am I never to learn what it is has
terrified these rascals? - but I lose my time; follow me, slave; I
will see if she is in the
gallery."
"For Heaven's sake, my dear, good Lord," cried Jaquez, "do not go to
the
gallery. Satan himself I believe is in the
chamber next to the
gallery."
Manfred, who
hitherto had treated the
terror of his servants as an
idle panic, was struck at this new circumstance. He recollected the
apparition of the
portrait, and the sudden closing of the door at the
end of the
gallery. His voice faltered, and he asked with
disorder -
"What is in the great
chamber?"
"My Lord," said Jaquez, "when Diego and I came into the
gallery, he
went first, for he said he had more courage than I. So when we came
into the
gallery we found nobody. We looked under every bench and
stool; and still we found nobody."
"Were all the pictures in their places?" said Manfred.
"Yes, my Lord," answered Jaquez; "but we did not think of looking
behind them."
"Well, well!" said Manfred; "proceed."
"When we came to the door of the great
chamber," continued Jaquez, "we
found it shut."
"And could not you open it?" said Manfred.
"Oh! yes, my Lord; would to Heaven we had not!" replied he - "nay, it
was not I neither; it was Diego: he was grown foolhardy, and would go
on, though I advised him not - if ever I open a door that is shut
again - "
"Trifle not," said Manfred, shuddering, "but tell me what you saw in
the great
chamber on
opening the door."
"I! my Lord!" said Jaquez; "I was behind Diego; but I heard the
noise."
"Jaquez," said Manfred, in a
solemn tone of voice; "tell me, I adjure
thee by the souls of my ancestors, what was it thou sawest? what was
it thou heardest?"
"It was Diego saw it, my Lord, it was not I," replied Jaquez; "I only
heard the noise. Diego had no sooner opened the door, than he cried
out, and ran back. I ran back too, and said, 'Is it the ghost?' 'The
ghost! no, no,' said Diego, and his hair stood on end - 'it is a
giant, I believe; he is all clad in
armour, for I saw his foot and
part of his leg, and they are as large as the
helmet below in the
court.' As he said these words, my Lord, we heard a
violent motion
and the rattling of
armour, as if the giant was rising, for Diego has
told me since that he believes the giant was lying down, for the foot
and leg were stretched at length on the floor. Before we could get to
the end of the
gallery, we heard the door of the great
chamber clap
behind us, but we did not dare turn back to see if the giant was
following us - yet, now I think on it, we must have heard him if he
had pursued us - but for Heaven's sake, good my Lord, send for the
chaplain, and have the castle exorcised, for, for certain, it is
enchanted."
"Ay, pray do, my Lord," cried all the servants at once, "or we must
leave your Highness's service."
"Peace, dotards!" said Manfred, "and follow me; I will know what all
this means."
"We! my Lord!" cried they with one voice; "we would not go up to the
gallery for your Highness's revenue." The young
peasant, who had
stood silent, now spoke.
"Will your Highness," said he, "permit me to try this adventure? My
life is of
consequence to nobody; I fear no bad angel, and have
offended no good one."
"Your behaviour is above your seeming," said Manfred, viewing him with
surprise and
admiration - "hereafter I will
reward your
bravery - but
now," continued he with a sigh, "I am so circumstanced, that I dare
trust no eyes but my own. However, I give you leave to accompany me."
Manfred, when he first followed Isabella from the
gallery, had gone
directly to the
apartment of his wife, concluding the Princess had
retired
thither. Hippolita, who knew his step, rose with anxious
fondness to meet her Lord, whom she had not seen since the death of
their son. She would have flown in a
transport mixed of joy and grief
to his bosom, but he pushed her
rudely off, and said -
"Where is Isabella?"
"Isabella! my Lord!" said the astonished Hippolita.
"Yes, Isabella," cried Manfred imperiously; "I want Isabella."
"My Lord," replied Matilda, who perceived how much his behaviour had
shocked her mother, "she has not been with us since your Highness
summoned her to your
apartment."
"Tell me where she is," said the Prince; "I do not want to know where
she has been."
"My good Lord," says Hippolita, "your daughter tells you the truth:
Isabella left us by your command, and has not returned since; - but,
my good Lord,
compose yourself:
retire to your rest: this
dismal day
has
disordered you. Isabella shall wait your orders in the morning."
"What, then, you know where she is!" cried Manfred. "Tell me
directly, for I will not lose an
instant - and you, woman," speaking
to his wife, "order your
chaplain to attend me forthwith."