In the velvet pall of blackness before alluded to, its small, wan ray

pierced but a few inches, and only made the darkness visible. But Sir

Norman groped his way to the wall, which he found to be all over green

and noisome slime, and broken out into a cold, clammy perspiration, as

though it were at its last gasp. By the aid of his friendly light, for

which he was really much obliged--a fact which, had his little friend

known, he would not have left it--he managed to make the circuit of his

prison, which he found rather spacious, and by no means uninhabited; for

the walls and floor were covered with fat, black beetles, whole

families of which interesting specimens of the insect-world he crunched

Advertisement..

remorselessly under foot, and massacred at every step; and great,

depraved-looking rats, with flashing eyes and sinister-teeth, who made

frantic dives and rushes at him, and bit at his jack-boots with fierce,

fury. These small quadrupeds reminded him forcibly of the dwarf,

especially in the region of the eyes and the general expression of

countenance; and he began to reflect that if the dwarf's soul (supposing

him to possess such an article as that, which seemed open to debate)

passed after death into the body of any other animal, it would certainly

be into that of a rat.

He had just come to this conclusion, and was applying the flame of the

candle to the nose of an inquisitive beetle, when it struck him he

heard voices in altercation outside his door. One, clear, ringing, and

imperious, yet withal feminine, was certainly not heard for the first

time; and the subdued and respectful voices that answered, were those of

his guards.

After a moment, he heard the sound of the withdrawing bolts, and his

heart beat fast. Surely, his half-hour had not already expired; and

if it had, would she be the person to conduct him to death? The door

opened; a puff of wind extinguished his candle, but not until he had

caught the glimmer of jewels, the shining of gold, and the flutter of

long, black hair; and then some one came in. The door was closed; the

bolts shot back!--and he was alone with Miranda, the queen.

There was no trouble about recognising her, for she carried in her hand

a small lamp, which she held up between them, that its rays might fall

directly on both faces. Each was rather white, perhaps, and one

heart was going faster than it had ever gone before, and that one was

decidedly not the queen's. She was dressed exactly as he had seen her,

in purple and ermine, in jewels and gold; and strangely out of place she

looked there, in her splendid dress and splendid beauty, among the black

beetles and rats. Her face might have been a dead, blank wall, or cut

out of cold, white stone, for all it expressed; and as she lightly held

up her rich robes in one hand, and in the other bore the light, the

dark, shining eyes were fixed on his face, and were as barren of

interest, eagerness, compassion, tenderness, or any other feeling, as

the shining, black glass ones of a wax doll. So they stood looking at

each other for some ten seconds or so, and then, still looking full at

him, Miranda spoke, and her voice was as clear and emotionless as her

eyes, "Well, Sir Norman Kingsley, I have come to see you before you die."




Most Popular