"'Well speak!' I said, austerely, 'but be brief!'

"'As brief as I can, sir; but I must tell you all. If you strike me dead at your feet, I must tell you all, sir!'

"In spite of myself I shuddered.

"'Speak!' I said, 'what does this mean, Nighthawk?' Why do you look like a ghost at me?'

"He came up close to me.

"'What I have to tell you concerns your honor and your life, sir!' he said, in a low tone.

"I gazed at him in speechless astonishment. Was I the prey of some nightmare? I protest to you, Surry, I thought for a moment that I was dreaming all this. A tremor ran through my frame; I placed my hand upon my heart, which felt icy cold--then suddenly my self-possession and coolness seemed to return to me as by magic.

"'Explain your words,' I said, coldly, 'there is some mystery in them which I do not understand. Speak, and speak plainly.'

"'I will do so, sir,' he replied, in the same trembling voice.

"And going to the door of the apartment, he bent down and placed his ear at the key-hole. He remained in this att.i.tude for a moment without moving. Then rising, he went to the window, and drawing aside the curtains, looked out on the chill moonlit expanse. This second examination seemed to satisfy him. At the same instant a light step--the step of madam--was heard crossing the floor of the apartment, above our heads; and this evidently banished Nighthawk's last fears.

"He returned quickly to the seat where I was sitting; looked at me for some minutes with eyes full of fear, affection, sympathy, fright, and said in a voice so low, that it scarce rose above a whisper:--

"'We are alone, sir, and I can speak without being overheard by these devils who have betrayed and are about to murder you! Do not interrupt me sir!--the time is short!--you must know every thing at once, in an hour it would be too late! The man calling himself Mortimer is probably within a hundred yards of us at this moment. The woman you have married is----his wife. Stop, sir!--do not strike me!--listen! I know the truth of every thing now. She talked with him for an hour under the big cedar, near the parsonage last night. He will see her again to-night, and in this house--hear me to the end, sir! You will not harm him; you will care nothing for all this; you will not know it, for you will be dead, sir!'

"At these words I must have turned deadly pale, for Nighthawk hastened to my side, and placed his arm around me to support me. But I did not need his a.s.sistance. In an instant I was as calm as I am at this moment. I quietly removed the arm of Nighthawk, and said in a low tone:--

"'How do you know this?'

"'I overheard their talk,' he replied, in a husky voice, and looked at me with infinite tenderness as he spoke. 'I was coming to see you at the parsonage, where I thought you had gone, sir. I could not bear to keep away from my old master's son any longer; and let him get married without making up, and having him feel kindly again to me. Well, sir, I had just reached the big cedar, when I saw _the lady_ come out of the house, hasten toward the cedar, and hide herself in the shadow, within a few feet of me. No sooner had she done so, than I saw a man come from the rear of the house, straight to the cedar, and as he drew nearer I recognized Mortimer. Madam coughed slightly, as though to give him the signal; he soon reached her; and then they began to talk. I was hidden by the trunk of the tree, and the shadow of the heavy boughs, reaching nearly to the ground; so I heard every word they said, without being discovered.'

"'What was it they said?'

"'I can not repeat their words, sir, but I can tell you what I learned from their talk.'

"'Tell me,' I said.

"'First, I discovered that madam had been married to that man more than a year before you saw her.'

"'Yes.'

"'Before which she had been tried, convicted, and confined for six months in a prison in New York, as a thief. You turn pale, sir; shall I stop?'

"'No, go on,' I said.

"'These facts,' continued Nighthawk, 'came out in a sort of quarrel which madam had with the man. He reproached her with intending to desert him--with loving you--and said he had not rescued her from misery to be thus treated. She laughed, and replied that she was only following a suggestion of his own. They were poor, they must live; he had himself said that they must procure money either honestly or dishonestly; and he had fully approved of the plan she had now undertaken. _You_, sir--she added--were an "empty-headed fool,"--the idea of her "loving" you was absurd!--but you were wealthy; immensely wealthy; had made a will leaving her your entire property;--_if you died suddenly on your wedding night_, she and himself would possess Fonthill, and live in affluence.'

"'Go on,' I said.

"'At these words,' continued Nighthawk, 'I could see the man turn pale.

He had not intended _that_, he said. His scheme had been, that madam should induce you to bestow upon her a splendid trousseau in the shape of jewels and money, with which they would elope. The marriage was only a farce, he added--he did not wish to turn it into a tragedy. But she interrupted him impatiently, and said she hated and would have no mercy on you. She would have all or nothing. Your will made her the mistress.

What was a crime, more or less, to people like themselves! At these words he uttered a growl. In a word, she added, you were _an obstacle_, and she was going to _suppress you_--with or without his consent. She then proceeded to tell him her resolution; and it is a frightful, a horrible one, sir! All is arranged--you are about to be _murdered_!'

"'How, and when?' I said.

"'This very night, by poison!'

"'Ah!' I said, 'explain that.'

"'Madam has provided herself with strychnine, which she will place in the tea you drink to-night. Tea will be served in half an hour. _He_ will be waiting--for she forced him to agree--and your cries will announce all to him. You will be poisoned between eight and nine o'clock in the evening, sir,--at ten you will already be dying,--and at midnight you will be dead. Then madam will banish every one from her chamber, in inconsolable grief--lock the door--tap on the window-pane--_he_ will hear the signal, and come up the back staircase--when madam will open the private door for him to come in and take a look at your body! Do you understand now, sir?'

"'Yes,' I said. 'Remain here, Nighthawk. There is the step of the servant coming to tell me tea is ready!'"

XX.

THE CUP OF TEA.

"The door opened as I uttered the words, and my old major-domo--gray haired, and an heir-loom, so to say, of the family--bowed low, and announced that tea was served and madam waiting.

"I rose and looked into the mirror above the fireplace. I was pale, but not sufficiently so to excite suspicion; and with a smile which frightened Nighthawk, took my way toward the supper-room.

"Madam was awaiting me, as I suspected, and I had never seen her look more radiant. A single glance told me that she had made an elaborate toilet in honor of--my funeral! Her dark hair was in shining braids; her eyes sparkled with joy; her parted lips showed her white teeth;--the only evidence I saw of concealed emotion was in the bloodless cheeks. They were as white as the lace falling over her superb silk dress.

"'You see you keep me waiting!' she said, with playful _naivete_, 'and your tea is growing cold, sir--which is worse for me than for you, as you do not care, but I care for you!'

"And as I pa.s.sed her, she drew me playfully toward her, dragged me down, and held up her lips. I touched them with my own; they were as cold as ice, or the cheek my own face just touched in pa.s.sing. I went to the table; took my seat; and madam poured out the tea, with a covert glance toward me. I was not looking at her, but I saw it.

"A moment afterward, the old waiter presented me the small gilt cup, smoking, fragrant, and inviting.

"I took it, looking, as before, out of the corner of my eye at madam.

She was leaning forward, watching me with a face as pale as death. I could hear her teeth chatter.

"I placed the cup to my lips;--her hand, holding a spoon, trembled so that the spoon beat a tattoo on her saucer. She was watching me in breathless suspense; and all at once I turned full toward her.

"'The taste of this tea is singular,' I said, 'I should call it very bad.'

"'Oh, it is--excellent!' she muttered, between her chattering teeth.

"'The cup you send me is certainly wretched. Do me the _pleasure to taste it, madam_.'

"And depositing it upon the waiter of the old servant, I said:--

"'Take this to your mistress.'

"He did so; she just touched it with her lips, her hand trembling, then replaced it upon the waiter.