"None that I am aware of," returned the countess. "The place where we now are must be a hundred yards below the surface of the earth----"

"No, my lady--that is impossible," interrupted Stephano; "a hundred feet at the most--and even that is above the mark. But stand back, my lady, while we remove some more of this solid masonry."

Giulia obeyed the robber-chief, and turned to embrace Flora with the liveliest manifestations of joy, which the young maiden sincerely shared--for escape now appeared to be at hand.

The aperture was rapidly enlarged by those who worked on the other side, and in a few minutes it was s.p.a.cious enough to admit the pa.s.sage of a human form. Then Giulia and Flora quitted their dismal cell, and entered the innermost chamber of the robbers' hold, but from which the treasures described in a previous chapter had all been removed away.

Giulia embraced the marquis with grateful affection; but Stephano exclaimed, "Come, my lord! Remember your oath, and join us in this expedition to the end!"

At that moment the awful tragedy of the night flashed back to Flora's memory, from which nothing could have dispelled it even for an instant, save the thrilling excitement attendant on the escape from the convent; and in a few hurried words, she told the dreadful tale.

But what was the astonishment of all present, when Piero, one of the banditti, exclaimed in a tone of mingled rage and grief, "'Tis Carlotta!

the victim can be none other--the dates you have mentioned, signora, convince me! Yes--five months ago she fled from that accursed convent--and yesterday she disappeared. Ah! my poor Carlotta!"

And the rude but handsome brigand wept.

Flora, forgetting the danger of re-entering the walls of the terrible inst.i.tution, exclaimed, "Follow me--it may not be too late--I will show you the cell----"

And she once more pa.s.sed through the aperture, closely followed by Stephano, Piero, Lomellino, and a dozen other banditti. The Marquis of Orsini stayed behind a few moments, to breathe a rea.s.suring word to Giulia, whom he left in the treasure chamber (as that apartment of the robbers' hold was called), and then hastened after those who had penetrated into the subterrane of the convent.

The party entered the chamber of penitence, where the long wax candles were still burning before the altar; and Flora having hastily given Stephano as much information as she could relative to the geography of the place, that chieftain placed sentinels around. Flora had already pointed out the door of the dungeon to which Carlotta had been consigned; and Piero hastened to call upon his mistress to answer him.

It was a touching spectacle to behold that lawless and bold, bad man melting into tenderness beneath the influence of love!

But no reply came from within that dungeon; and though the bolts were easily drawn back, yet the lock was strong, and the key was not there!

By this time the penitents, who slept in the various cells adjoining the chamber, had become alarmed by the heavy tread and the voices of men, and had opened their doors. But they were desired to keep back by the sentinels, whom Stephano had posted around to maintain order and prevent a premature alarm, but who, nevertheless, gave a.s.surances of speedy escape to those who might choose to profit by the opportunity.

Suddenly a door, which Flora had never noticed before in the chamber of penitence, opened, and two recluses appeared on the threshold.

"The abbess!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Flora, yielding to a sudden impulse of alarm.

But almost at the same instant Stephano sprung forward, caught the abbess by the arm, and dragged her into the chamber; then rushing up a flight of narrow stone steps, with which that door communicated, and which the other recluse had already turned to ascend, he brought her forcibly back also. This latter nun was Sister Alba, the presiding authority of the chamber of penitence.

Her astonishment, as well as that of the lady abbess, at the spectacle of a number of armed men in the most private part of the entire establishment, may well be conceived; nor was this disagreeable surprise unmixed with intense alarm. But they had little time for reflection.

"The key of that door!" cried Stephano in a fierce and menacing tone, as he pointed toward Carlotta's dungeon.

The abbess mechanically drew forth the key from beneath her convent-habit, and Piero, rushing forward, clutched it eagerly. In a few moments it turned in the lock--the next moment the door stood open.

But what a spectacle met the view of Piero, Flora, and those who were near enough to glance within! Stretched upon the stone floor of the narrow cell lay the victim--motionless and still! Drops of gore hung to her lips; in the agony of her grief she had burst a blood-vessel--and death must have been almost instantaneous.

Flora staggered back--sick at the dreadful sight; and she would have fallen to the ground had not the Marquis of Orsini suddenly sprung forward to sustain her.

"This is no place for you, young lady," he said. "Permit me to conduct you back to the companionship of the Countess of Arestino."

Flora leant upon his arm, and he half carried, rather than led her away from the chamber of penitence into the robbers' hold. But as they pa.s.sed through the aperture formed by the removal of the masonry, a terrible menace met their ears.

"Vengeance!" cried Piero, furiously; "vengeance on the murderess of Carlotta!"

"Yes--vengeance shalt thou have, comrade," returned the deep, sonorous voice of Stephano.

But scarcely were those words uttered, when the loud clanging of the bell struck up; and the abbess exclaimed joyfully, "We are saved! we are saved!"

CHAPTER x.x.xII.

THE MYSTERY OF THE CHAIR--THE CATASTROPHE.

The reader will recollect that when Flora Francatelli was released from the chair at the bottom of the pit or well, Sister Alba had led her along a narrow, dark pa.s.sage communicating with the chamber of penitence.

In a small dome-like cavity, hollowed out of the roof of this pa.s.sage, hung a large bell; and in a cell opening from the side of the pa.s.sage immediately beneath the dome, dwelt an old nun, who, for some dreadful misdeed committed in her youth, had voluntarily consigned herself to the convent of the Carmelites, and, having pa.s.sed through the ordeal of the chamber of penitence, had accepted the office of s.e.xtoness in that department of the establishment.

It was her duty to keep the chamber of penitence clean, maintain tapers constantly burning before the altar, supply also the cells of the penitents themselves with lights, and toll the bell whenever occasion required. She it was who had visited Flora's cell the first night of her arrival at the convent, to renew the taper that burnt before her crucifix, and to exchange the maiden's attire for the conventual garb.

This old nun it was, then, who suddenly tolled the bell, at the moment when Piero and Stephano were menacing the abbess and Sister Alba with their vengeance, and when the Marquis of Orsini was bearing away Flora to the robbers' hold, that she might have the companionship of Giulia.

The way in which the old nun rang the bell was such that the inmates of the convent would perceive it to be an alarm; and moreover, so sudden was its startling clang, that Stephano and Piero abandoned their hold upon the abbess and Sister Alba, and retreated a few paces, uncertain how to act; hence the exclamation of the superior of the convent, "We are saved! we are saved!"

But little did that stern, imperious woman know of the desperate characters of those with whom she had now to deal. Ashamed of their momentary hesitation, Stephano and Piero rushed on the abbess and Sister Alba, and dragged them, in spite of their deafening screams, into that fatal cell, where they threw them headlong over the lifeless corpse of their victim.

Scarcely, however, had they closed the door on the wretched woman, when the Marquis of Orsini returned; and, too well divining what had pa.s.sed, he exclaimed, "In the name of Heaven, captain!--by all that is holy, Piero! I implore you not to consummate this dreadful crime!"

"My lord," said Stephano, "ere we entered on this expedition to-night, you bound yourself by an oath to obey me as the leader. I command you then not to interfere with our proceedings; but, on the contrary, go and ascertain whence comes the clanging of that infernal bell."

The marquis turned aside, sick at heart at the deed of vengeance which was in progress, but unable to remonstrate further, in consequence of the oath which he had taken. It was, however, a relief for him to move away from the vicinity of the living tomb, whence emanated the shrieks of the abbess and the nun; and guided by the sound of the bell, he rushed, with whirling brain and desperate resolution, into the pa.s.sage leading from the chamber of penitence.

In a few moments the clanging of the bell ceased, for the marquis had discovered the old s.e.xtoness in her cell, and compelled her to desist.

All the events yet recorded in the preceding and the present chapter had occurred with a rapidity which the reader can scarcely comprehend, because their complicated nature and variety have forced us to enter into minute details requiring a considerable time to peruse. Those events which we are now about to describe also succeeded each other with marvelous speed, and occupied an incredibly short s.p.a.ce of time, although our narrative must necessarily appear prolix in comparison.

Extraordinary was the excitement that now prevailed in all the subterranean department of the convent. The victims of a stern but just vengeance were sending forth appalling screams from the fatal dungeon; and some of the penitents in their cells, which were still guarded by the sentinels, were also giving vent to their affright by means of piercing shrieks, though others remained tranquil in hope of the promised release.

Stephano had entirely recovered his presence of mind, and now issued his orders with wondrous rapidity.

Pointing to the door by which the abbess and Sister Alba had entered the chamber of penitence, he said, "Lomellino, that is the way to the upper part of the convent--there can be no doubt of it! Take Piero and half a dozen of the men, and hasten up that staircase. Secure the front gate of the building, and possess yourself of the plate and treasure. But no violence, remember--no violence to the nuns."

Lomellino, Piero, and six of the banditti hastened to obey these commands, while Stephano remained below to act as circ.u.mstances might require. He went the round of the five cells belonging to the penitents, and enjoined those who were yielding to their terrors to hold their peace, as they had nothing to fear, but much to gain--at least, he observed, if they valued their freedom; and to those who were tranquil he repeated the a.s.surances of speedy liberation already given by his men.

For thirty years the old woman had not seen a being of the male s.e.x; and she was terrified by the appearance of an armed man in that place which she had so long deemed sacred against the possibility of such an intrusion.

"Fear nothing," said the marquis, "no one will harm you. But what will be the effect of that alarm which you have rung?"

"Merely to warn those above that something unusual is taking place below," answered the old woman.