Peter the Priest Part 19

The poor fellow in the agony of death told all. When he spoke of the chamber of the dead, and of the cavern of treasure, Idalia was convinced that he spoke the truth. No one who had not been there and seen them could know of these places.

"Good," she said, "now take this. Go home to Tepla to your daughter, and say nothing of what you know."

But what the beautiful lady really gave Master Mathias was anything but an antidote; it was a still more active poison, so there should be no time for him to communicate his secret to a third.

When Master Mathias had dragged himself to Tepla to his daughter's house, his tongue hardly moved in his throat, and he could only stammer: "Father Peter--walled in--under-ground--with treasures--in Mitosin--still alive--I am undone." More he could not say; by the time the priest came, he was already dead.

Idalia was left alone with the secret she had extorted. Suddenly her old pa.s.sion blazed up again to its full height like a column of fire. Her beloved was still alive; he was only buried, walled in deep underground,--abandoned by G.o.d and man, left to the company of the corpses, with no sound save those of the silent night; robbed of his loved one, betrayed in despair, with n.o.body to expect but grim death.

What if somebody should go down to him in this frightful grave, and should look at him through that small opening; would not such a countenance seem like that of an angel looking down from Heaven? Would he not look upon her as a G.o.ddess who should bring him up from the depths of the grave into G.o.d's world again? Would it be possible for him not to yield to the force of that love which opens graves even, and will not leave him to G.o.d or the devil?

She did not hesitate long, but threw her black cloak around her shoulders, placed a dagger and a sword at her belt, and looked for a strong axe: "It will be convenient," she thought, "to break through the heavy walls." She lighted her lantern, and stole out of the castle.

Toward morning, a thick fog had settled over the place, so that n.o.body saw which way she went. In fact n.o.body ever knew which way she had gone.

About six o'clock that morning, the whole country was aroused by a frightful underground explosion convulsing the earth. Towers fell, castles rocked, the Jesuit monastery fell in, and Mitosin Chapel was reduced to a heap of stones.

Those who were awake at the time maintained that they saw a giant column rise up from the middle of the Waag and blaze on high. The clouds of smoke were visible for some time through the fog, and seemed like an army of darkness. The broken ice began to heave and roll violently, not only forward, but in all directions, overspreading the valley and sweeping away before it villages and forests.

After the flood had subsided and the Waag returned to its bed, evil traces were left behind in thick layers of round pebbles; for the Waag is not like those friendly rivers which when they overflow cover the earth with a fertile deposit.

In the excitement over the disturbance of the elements, people forgot the frightful family history that had just been enacted in the two castles. A few days later, relatives of the Likovay family found the body of Lord Grazian in the agent's quarters of the castle. The swollen flood had not forced its way there; but not one stone upon another was left of the little church. The devastating explosion had opened a way through this for the streaming flood of waters, whose irresistible current ground stone and wood to powder.

The same fate met the statue of Nepomeck at Madocsany. The Hussite pa.s.sage was filled with stones, and the flood took its path from there over the country.

It was not for a long, long time that the members of the Likovay family began to inquire what had become of the treasure that Lord Grazian had received from the Lady of Madocsany for his estate; but never a trace of it was found.

And the whole of this story, from beginning to end, is a true story. The dates are kept in the family archives: and on the lips of the people the name of Father Peter still lives. The place is often visited by earthquakes, and at such times they say, "Father Peter has turned over in his grave." And every time that Mitosin Castle and estate is transferred to a new purchaser, it is stipulated in the contract, that if the buried treasure is found, it shall be given back to its rightful owners. But the people say that the treasure will never be found, until Father Peter has been set free from his living grave; and this may be true.

Other Books Uniform with this Volume

What's Bred in the Bone Grant Allen The Desire of the Eyes Grant Allen The Wooing O't Mrs. Alexander Her Dearest Foe Mrs. Alexander Lorna Doone Blackmore Auld Licht Idylls and A Window in Thrums J. M. Barrie An Auld Licht Manse J. M. Barrie A Living Lie Paul Bourget When the World was Younger Miss M. E. Braddon The Golden b.u.t.terfly Besant & Rice A Son of Hagar Hall Caine The Bondman Hall Caine The Deemster Hall Caine The Shadow of a Crime Hall Caine The Moonstone Wilkie Collins Wooed and Married Rosa N. Carey Not Like Other Girls Rosa N. Carey Pretty Miss Neville B. M. Croker Beyond The Pale B. M. Croker Crime of the Boulevard Jules Claretie A Galloway Herd S. R. Crockett A Romance of Two Worlds Marie Corelli Vendetta Marie Corelli Wormwood Marie Corelli Thelma Marie Corelli Ardath Marie Corelli The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas Twenty Years After Alexandre Dumas Vicomte de Bragelonne Alexandre Dumas Louise de la Valliere Alexandre Dumas Ten Years Later Alexandre Dumas The Man in the Iron Mask Alexandre Dumas Two Years Before the Mast R. H. Dana, Jr.

The Professor's Experiment The d.u.c.h.ess A Step Aside Charlotte Dunning Some Women's Ways Mary A. d.i.c.kens Not in the Prospectus Parke Danforth The White Company A. Conan Doyle Micah Clarke A. Conan Doyle The Firm of Girdlestone A. Conan Doyle The Captain of the Pole Star A. Conan Doyle The Mystery of Cloomber A. Conan Doyle Strange Secrets A. Conan Doyle The Betrayal of John Fordham B. L. Farjeon Borderland Jessie Fothergill Kith and Kin Jessie Fothergill One of Three Jessie Fothergill Peril Jessie Fothergill The Wellfields Jessie Fothergill Probation Jessie Fothergill The First Violin Jessie Fothergill Nihilist Princess M. T. Gagneur Cranford Mrs. Gaskell Woodlanders Thomas Hardy Two On a Tower Thomas Hardy Far From the Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy The Arundel Motto Mary Cecil Hay For Her Dear Sake Mary Cecil Hay Nora's Love Test Mary Cecil Hay Old Myddleton's Money Mary Cecil Hay A Maiden's Choice W. Heimburg Magdalen's Fortunes W. Heimburg Defiant Hearts W. Heimburg Two Daughters of One Race W. Heimburg A Fatal Misunderstanding W. Heimburg Lucie's Mistake W. Heimburg The Dagger and the Cross Joseph Hatton A Girl of the Commune G. A. Henty The Queerest Man Alive George H. Hepworth Jasper Fairfax Margoret Holmes Tempest and Sunshine Mary J. Holmes Homestead on the Hillside Mary J. Holmes English Orphans Mary J. Holmes Lena Rivers Mary J. Holmes Peter the Priest Maurus Jokai The Golden Age of Transylvania Maurus Jokai Westward Ho Charles Kingsley Hypatia Charles Kingsley Phantom 'Rickshaw Rudyard Kipling In Black and White and Story of Rudyard Kipling the Gadsbys Wee Willie Winkie and American Notes Rudyard Kipling Ballads, Poems and Other Verses Rudyard Kipling Under the Deodars and City of the Rudyard Kipling Dreadful Night Plain Tales Prom the Hills Rudyard Kipling The Light That Failed Rudyard Kipling Soldiers Three Rudyard Kipling Mine Own People Rudyard Kipling Madame Sans Gene Edmond Lepelletier Ramuntcho Pierre Loti Guilty Bonds Wm. Le Queux Strange Tales of a Nihilist Wm. Le Queux Gold Elsie E. Marlitt Old Mam'sell's Secret E. Marlitt Daireen F. Frankfort Moors A New Note Ella MacMahon Lindsay's Girl Mrs. Herbert Martin An Old Maid's Love Maarten Maartens The Cedar Star Mary E. Mann The Man Who Was Good Leonard Merrick A Daughter of the Philistines Leonard Merrick A Soldier of Fortune L. T. Meade The King's a.s.segai Bertram Mitford Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush Ian MacLaren Matrimony W. E. Norris The Story of a Governess Mrs. Oliphant Under Two Flags Ouida The Ma.s.sarenes Ouida The Splendid Spur "Q" (A. T. Quiller Couch) Warren Hyde Helen Riemensnyder What Cheer W. Clark Russell The Lady Maud W. Clark Russell The Wreck of the Grosvenor W. Clark Russell Cloister and the Hearth Charles Reade Forced Acquaintances Edith Robinson Sheba Rita Kitty Rita After Bread and On the Sunny Sh.o.r.e Henryk Sienkeiwicz Dragon's Teeth Translated by Mary Serrano The Heart of a Mystery T. W. Speight Robert Urquhart Gabriel Setoun New Arabian Nights Robert Louis Stevenson Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson The Crystal b.u.t.ton Chauncey Thomas Jack Horner Mary S. Tiernan h.o.m.oselle Mary S. Tiernan Captain Antifer Jules Verne On the Winning Side Mrs. J. H. Walworth Uncle Scipio Mrs. J. H. Walworth The Wide, Wide World Susan Warner

THE DAGGER AND THE CROSS

BY JOSEPH HATTON

Author of "By Order of the Czar."

"Most dramatic manner.... Deserves to rank well up in current fiction."--_Minneapolis Tribune_.

"Villainy of the deepest die, heroism of the highest sort, beauty wronged and long suffering, virtue finally rewarded, thrills without number."--_St. Louis Globe-Democrat_.

"Clean wholesome story, which should take prominent place in current fiction."--_Chicago Record_.

"Finely conceived and finely written."--_Toledo Blade_.

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THE CEDAR STAR

BY MARY E. MANN

Author of "Susannah."

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"An unusually pleasing novel and well written."--_Philadelphia Press_.

"A charming book, beginning with good chapters of child-life, and containing memorable figures, notably Billy the Curate and Betty herself. Betty is, indeed, quite a discovery."--_London Academy_.