A Castle in Spain Part 76

"Oho, senor priest," said he; "so you think that because I have once or twice restrained my anger, that I can be set at defiance with impunity!

I'm tired of being magnanimous; so let me tell you that however merciful I have been before, I will show none now. You must go on. I will allow of no hesitation. Tell him that," he added, to Brooke.

"He says," said Brooke, "that you must obey."

Talbot scarcely heard this.

She never moved her eyes from Lopez; she simply shook her head, with her immutable resolve as visible as ever. Lopez could see that the priest, for some motive or other, was bent on self-sacrifice.

He took out his watch. "I'll allow five minutes," said he, "for decision.

If at the end of that time you refuse, I will blow out your brains with my own hand. Tell him that."

"Senor captain," said Brooke, impetuously, "let me say one word."

"Translate for me, I say!"

"One word first."

"Not one--obey me!" cried Lopez, in fury.

"Senor captain," said Brooke, not heeding him, "this is a priest. It is a matter of conscience."

"Silence!" roared Lopez. "Tell him what I said. His time will soon be up!"

Brooke turned to Talbot.

"He'll only give you five minutes, Talbot," said he. "I'll try to dissuade him."

"No use, Brooke," said Talbot, mournfully. "I came prepared for this."

Brooke turned again to Lopez.

"The priest says that his vows forbid him to blaspheme the holy sacrament of marriage in this way. He says he will die rather than risk his soul by an act of sacrilege."

"A curse on his soul!" cried Lopez. "What do I care!"

"Look out for your own soul!" cried Brooke.

"Aha! are you too a priest? Beware, sir! your life is already in peril."

At this moment Harry cried out in a loud voice,

"Stop, Captain Lopez--stop, for G.o.d's sake! This is a mistake--a terrible mistake."

Lopez turned round in a fury.

"Gag that devil!" he roared.

In a moment the soldiers had seized Harry and bound a bandage over his mouth, by which they effectually stopped any further remarks.

The last chance yet remained which Brooke might seize for Talbot--it was to divulge her secret and tell about her disguise. To divulge it to this euraged and furious chieftain might now only render him ten times more furious and vengeful; it might only aggravate the doom of the prisoner; but the risk must be run.

"Stop!" cried Brooke. "Senor captain, listen. It's a mistake--She is--"

"Silence," roared Lopez, "or I'll blow your brains out!"

"Senor, this priest is not--"

"Seize this fellow!" yelled Lopez. "Bind him! Gag him!"

Several of the men sprang toward Brooke, who struggled madly, shouting at the same time words which soon were drowned in the uproar that followed.

Lopez now s.n.a.t.c.hed a rifle from one of his men. Katie gave a loud scream; Russell fell on his knees; Ashby shuddered.

Lopez took deadly aim at Talbot.

"Your time is up!" he said, coolly.

Talbot stood motionless, with a face of marble and an att.i.tude perfectly rigid; not a nerve quivered as she looked into the muzzle of the rifle, but her lips moved as if she were murmuring a prayer.

CHAPTER LI.

IN WHICH AN INTERRUPTION OCCURS IN A MARRIAGE CEREMONY.

Talbot stood; the rifle was levelled at her; Lopez had taken deadly aim; his finger was on the trigger; she felt that her last hour had come, and that naught could avail her now but prayer.

Brooke was struggling like a madman. Two of the soldiers had been hurled to the floor; another was clinging to his neck; a fourth was savagely trying to gouge out his eyes.

Lopez pulled the trigger. The report rang through the hall.

At that very instant, as the fire and smoke went flashing and blazing at Talbot--or rather, the very instant before--a figure dashed toward her. It was Brooke. By one supreme and convulsive effort he had torn himself away from his a.s.sailants, and with one great bound had flung himself at Talbot.

At the rush which he made she fell backward, and the next instant Brooke fell upon her. Talbot then struggled up to her feet, and through the dense clouds of smoke reached down to raise up Brooke. He was senseless.

With a low moan like the cry of a suffering animal, Talbot threw herself upon the senseless form. From his forehead there trickled several streams of blood which fell to the floor in a pool. She pressed her lips again and again to the wound, and then through the dense smoke she rose and looked around, confronting Lopez with the blood of Brooke's wounds staining all her face. It was a face beautiful in its marble whiteness as the face of a statue of Athena; yet terrible in the fixed and stony horror of its eyes, and in the blood-streaks that covered it, and in the incarnate hate of its expression--terrible in all this as the Gorgon face of Medusa.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "She Hurled The Breviary Upon The Floor."]

Lopez shrank back: his vengeance was satisfied, his fury had all subsided, and there flashed through every nerve a thrill of horror. It was then to him as though the dead--the priest whom he had just slain--had sprung up by an immediate resurrection from death to punish him for such atrocious sacrilege. All the superst.i.tion of his Spanish nature now rolled in one wave over his soul, overwhelming it with panic fear. The dead! the dead!

he thought--the priest with the angel face--murdered because he would not sin--it was he! But the angel face was now the awful head of a haunting and avenging demon.

And now at this very instant, while the smoke was still hanging in dense folds half-way between floor and ceiling; while Brooke still lay in his blood; while Talbot still glared in fury upon Lopez; at this very moment there arose a wild cry--sudden, menacing, irresistible--by which the whole face of the scene was changed.

"Viva el Rey!"