第41章 Herne the Hunter(10)

"An idle fear," rejoined Herne." I care not for your soul--you will destroy it without my aid.I have need of you.You shall be back again in this chamber before the officer visits it in the morning, and no one shall be aware of your absence.Come, or I will bear you hence.""You dare not touch me," replied Surrey, placing his hand upon his breast; "I am armed with a holy relic.""I know it," said Herne; "and I feel its power, or I would not have trifled with you thus long.But it cannot shield you from a rival.You believe the Fair Geraldine constant--ha?""I know her to he so," said Surrey.

A derisive laugh broke from Herne.

"Peace, mocking fiend!" cried Surrey furiously.

I laugh to think how you are deceived," said Herne."Would you behold your mistress now?--would you see how she conducts herself during your absence?""If you choose to try me, I will not oppose the attempt," replied Surrey;"but it will be futile."

"Remove the relic from your person," rejoined Herne."Place it upon the table, within your grasp, and you shall see her."Surrey hesitated; but he was not proof against the low mocking laugh of the demon.

"No harm can result from it," he cried at length, detaching the relic from his neck, and laying it on the table.

"Extinguish the light!" cried Herne, in a commanding voice.

Surrey instantly sprang to his feet, and dashed the lamp off the table.

"Behold!" cried the demon.

And instantly a vision, representing the form and lineaments of the Fair Geraldine to the life, shone forth against the opposite wall of the chamber.At the feet of the visionary damsel knelt a shape resembling the Duke of Richmond.He was pressing the hand extended to him by the Fair Geraldine to his lips, and a smile of triumph irradiated his features.

" Such is man's friendship--such woman's constancy!" cried Herne."Are you now satisfied?""I am, that you have deceived me, false spirit!" cried the earl."I would not believe the Fair Geraldine inconstant, though all hell told me so."A terrible laugh broke from the demon, and the vision faded away.All became perfect darkness, and for a few moments the earl remained silent.He then called to the demon, but receiving no answer, put forth his hand towards the spot where he had stood.He was gone.

Confounded, Surrey returned to the table, and searched for the relic, but, with a feeling of indescribable anguish and self-reproach, found that it had likewise disappeared.

V.What befell Sir Thomas Wyat in the Sandstone Cave--And how he drank a maddening Potion.

THE cave in which Sir Thomas Wyat found himself, on the removal of the bandage from his eyes, was apparently--for it was only lighted by a single torch--of considerable width and extent, and hewn out of a bed of soft sandstone.The roof, which might be about ten feet high, was supported by the trunks of three large trees rudely fashioned into pillars.There were several narrow lateral passages within it, apparently communicating with other caverns; and at the farther end, which was almost buried in obscurity, there was a gleam seemingly occasioned by the reflection of the torchlight upon water.On the right hand stood a pile of huge stones, disposed somewhat in the form of a Druidical altar, on the top of which, as on a throne, sat the demon hunter, surrounded by his satellites--one of whom, horned and bearded like a satyr, had clambered the roughened sides of the central pillar, and held a torch over the captive's head.

Half-stifled by the noxious vapour he had inhaled, and blinded by the tightness of the bandage, it was some time before Wyat fully recovered his powers of sight and utterance.

"Why am I brought hither, false fiend?" he demanded at length.

"To join my band," replied the demon harshly and imperiously.

"Never!" rejoined Wyat."I will have nought to do with you, except as regards our compact."" What I require from you is part of our compact," rejoined the demon.

"He who has once closed hands with Herne the Hunter cannot retreat.

But I mean you fairly, and will not delude you with false expectation.

What you seek cannot he accomplished on the instant.Ere three days Anne Boleyn shall be yours.""Give me some proof that you are not deceiving me, spirit," said Wyat.

"Come, then! " replied Herne.So saying, he sprang from the stone, and, taking Wyat's hand, led him towards the lower end of the cave, which gradually declined till it reached the edge of a small but apparently deep pool of water, the level of which rose above the rock that formed its boundary.

"Remove the torch!" thundered the demon to those behind."Now summon your false love, Sir Thomas Wyat," he added, as his orders were obeyed, and the light was taken into one of the side passages, so that its gleam no longer fell upon the water.

"Appear, Anne Boleyn!" cried Wyat.

Upon this a shadowy resemblance of her he had invoked flitted over the surface of the water, with hands outstretched towards him.So moved was Wyat by the vision, that he would have flung himself into the pool to grasp it if he had not been forcibly detained by the demon.During the struggle the figure vanished, and all was buried in darkness.

"I have said she shall be yours," cried Herne; "but time is required for the accomplishment of my purpose.I have only power over her when evil is predominant in her heart.But such moments are not unfrequent," he added, with a bitter laugh."And now to the chase.Ipromise you it will be a wilder and more exciting ride than you ever enjoyed in the king's company.To the chase!--to the chase, I say!"Sounding a call upon his horn, the light instantly reappeared.All was stir and confusion amid the impish troop--and presently afterwards a number of coal-black horses, and hounds of the same hue, leashed in couples, were brought out of one of the side passages.Among the latter were two large sable hounds of Saint Hubert's breed, whom Herne summoned to his side by the names of Saturn and Dragon.