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"The necessity of what, my good lord? Pray command your faithful Euphoric."

"Ah, you may avow what you have heard, Euphoric, I know I can trust you. Nay, I thought of giving you the papers I spoke of to put in some place of secresy and security; for you know, Euphoric, such documents as those are rather dangerous to carry about with one. Eh, Euphoric? Don�t you think so truly now? You are sharp of intellect. Where should you advise me to place them for perfect security against all accidents, Euphoric?"

"My lord, what papers?" said Euphoric, with a face of the most ingenuous simplicity.

"He knows nothing," whispered the count to the baron.

"Nothing whatever," said the baron.

"He must have slept."

"Surely, one might swear to it; all is safe."

"Perfectly. Euphoric, begone; I shall not require you further to night. Of course you will see the necessity of getting our moveables in order. The time is short, you know, my good Euphoric."

"My lord," said Euphoric.

"Do you think you will like England?"

"Like England, my lord? I know not what you mean. Alas, my lord, pardon me, my slumber has surely made me forget some order of your lordship�s. Forgive me, my honoured master, and tell me once again."

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"There cannot be a shadow of a doubt," whispered the count to the baron.

"I�ll stake Zindorf Castle and my head on the page�s slumber," answered the baron, in the same low tone.

"Never mind, Euphoric," said the count, "all is well. Get thee to rest, boy; I esteem thee most faithful."

Euphoric bowed low, and with a noiseless step, passed from the room.

With a countenance of calm placidity, which indicated by no rebellious muscle the feelings of the mind, but presented nothing to observation but serenity and wrapt repose, Euphoric walked from Count Durlack�s room to the turret, in which he himself slept, or was supposed to sleep.

He entered his little apartment, and carefully closed the door behind him.

Then, and not till then, did a fearful and sudden change come over the countenance of the page.

His eyes gleamed like burning coals, and drawing from it sheath the dagger which hung at his breast, he, with a force which none judging from his slight figure would have thought him capable of exerting, dashed it to the hilt through the wooden table which stood by him.

"Leave Zindorf Castle!" he cried, or rather shrieked, for his voice rose to an unearthly scream. "Leave Zindorf Castle, Count Durlack?�never�never�never! Your bones shall whither here. Here, in this same castle, where� But, no matter�no matter. What signifies raving thus? The time is coming�the time is coming. Count Durlack, beware! I will do an act of justice conjointly with my revenge. Those papers shall, indeed, be placed in some secure place. You thought I slept, shallow count. I�I�Euphoric sleep when revenge screamed in his ear to awaken! Ha! ha! ha! No�no�no, Euphoric seldom sleeps; but, never�never with Count Durlack�s voice ringing in his ears. Count and baron beware! Your hours are both numbered. Vengeance is at hand!"

The page now lit a small lamp, and produced writing materials.

He sat down at the little table, and penned a note. Then, taking from an obscure corner of the turret a cross-bow, and some arrows, he tied the note firmly to one of the shafts.

He then applied his eye to one of the narrow loop-holes of the turret, and looked long and wistfully into the gloomy night.

The turret was at the front of the castle, and commanded an extensive view of the forest which occupied the valley at the foot of the eminence on which the fortress was built.

All was darkness; heavy masses of clouds were slowly moving across the sky.

"The night is dark," said the page; "I cannot see the grassy knoll where I would send my arrow. Oh, for one glimpse of moonshine to point to me the spot. I must not shoot at random, or my arrow would, perchance, be lost among the trees. No, no, it must alight on the appointed spot."

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As he spoke, the full moon suddenly appeared at a small opening in the dense mass of black clouds which obscured its brightness and beauty.

A flood of silvery radiance for a moment fell upon the dark tops of the waving trees. Tower, battlement, moat, all suddenly appeared distinct and clear as if suddenly created by the wand of some enchanter.

The page fixed his eyes upon a small mound of earth, at some distance from the castle moat

In an instant he had fixed his cross-bow at the loop-hole. With a practised eye he took his aim.

Before he could release the arrow, the flood of light had vanished like a dream away, and all was dark again.

Twang went the bow-string, and the arrow flew whistling through the night air.

"The aim was taken," muttered the page; "Heaven speed the shaft!"

CHAPTER XXVIII.

SIR GASTON DE BEAUVAIS was too practised a warrior to neglect every means of recovering the men he had been so specially charged by his sovereign to make prisoners of.

The murder of the young Ernest, of Hainault, in the open streets of the capitol, had excited an extraordinary sensation at court.

The confession of the hired bravo, Marco Bruttzi, had not only pointed out the Count Durlack as his employer, but had disclosed to his horrified hearers a system of robbery and assassination, on the parts both of the Count Durlack and the Baron Zindorf, that accounted for the sudden disappearance of half-a-dozen young nobles of the court.

It was soon ascertained that the count had fled to Zindorf Castle, and in solemn council, Sir Gaston de Beauvais had solicited the employment of bringing in the count and the baron dead or alive. To this he had been incited by the murder of Ernest, who he loved with the affection of a parent.

Sir Gaston�s offer was gratefully accepted, and, loaded with the thanks and good wishes of the noble families who had suffered the loss of some one or other of their junior branches, the most gallant and wary soldier of his age, with a carefully selected party of his own immediate followers, had started on his expedition.

The result of Sir Gaston�s summons to the count and the baron to surrender themselves was what he fully expected. Conscious of their many criminal acts, it was not probable that they would surrender themselves to justice and the awakened fury of the nobles, whose families they had desolated.

Sir Gaston de Beauvais, however, was too old and too good a soldier to appear before his enemy�s gates, warn him of his danger, and then gallop

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off three days� journey from the spot, leaving the men he came to seek to mature their plans of escape, unimpeded by any one, for a much longer space of time than was amply sufficient to place them far out of reach of capture.

No sooner had he with his brave band galloped out of sight of Zindorf Castle, than he commanded a halt.

"My brave companions," he said, "we are not in sufficient force, nor have we the necessary engines of war to attempt a siege of the Castle of Zindorf, which is one of the strongest in the kingdom; but we must not leave this rascally baron, and his associate, the murderer, Count Durlack, to escape whither they may please. The next thing to getting them out of the castle is, for the present to keep them in it."

His veteran followers assented with grim smiles.

"My own opinion is," continued Sir Gaston, "that the Baron Zindorf and the count will be more intent upon escape than defending the castle against an assault, which must, in the end, terminate in their ruin."

"The knaves," cried the young man, who Sir Gaston had called Frederique, "would rather fly from danger than crush it. By my dear hopes of knighthood, I would fain win my spurs by rescuing yon beauteous damsel from the power of the black baron of Zindorf Castle."

"My noble master," said Sir Gaston�s squire, "that damsel is entitled to all our services for ever. God bless her! she saved your life, Sir Gaston."

"Saved my life!" said Sir Gaston de Beauvais, who had not observed the shaft which had been aimed at him by Roland.

"Yes," continued the soldier, " saw a shaft from a cross-bow aimed at you, and before I could by a word warn you of the treacherous design, yon noble lady struck the shaft aside, and it took its flight in harmlessness into the depths of this gloomy forest."

"Now, Heaven thank her!" cried Sir Gaston, raising his cap reverently for the noble action. "I would not fall till I have dragged the murders from their lair; and when I do fall, let it be as a soldier should, in fair and open fight. Gentlemen, my gallant comrades, this sword shall never touch its sheath till that noble lady is free!"

"Long live Sir Gaston de Beauvais!" cried Frederique.

"Hush! my comrades," said Sir Gaston ; "caution must be our watchword. I leave you Tristram Chablot in command in my absence. Place yourselves so that you command every avenue to the castle. Seize every one who attempts to leave it. Be most vigilant and careful!"

Tristram Chablot, who was a veteran warrior, rode to the front, and saluted Sir Gaston.

"On the sixth morning from this," continued the knight, "I will be with you at the head of a force sufficient to level the Castle of Zindorf to its foundation."

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Sir Gaston de Beauvais then, with a wave of his sword to his band, clapped spurs to his charger, and was soon lost to their sight.

The men at arms knew well what was required of them, and before half an hour had elapsed, sentinels were so judiciously posted all round Zindorf Castle, that it became a matter of impossibility that any one could either leave or approach the castle without being challenged.

Tristram Chablot himself took up a station amid a clump of trees, sufficiently distant to avoid observation, and yet a post which commanded a good view of the postern gate, the draw-bridge, and the warder�s tower.

The page, Euphoric, was the only one who had suspected that Sir Gaston had not entirely left the neighbourhood of the castle without a guard, and he climbed to the top of a tower called the "standard keep," which commanded a view for many miles of the surrounding country.

The practised soldiers that Sir Gaston de Beauvais had left behind were too cautious to allow themselves to be thus overlooked.

In addition to choosing themselves covers from the trees, they had adopted the expedient of binding green leaves and twigs of trees round their polished casques, and laying aside the cuirass and half mail, as calculated to attract attention by their glitter, it would have required a very keen and practised eye indeed to discover any one of them in the suits of leather, the colour of brown leaves, which they wore under their armour.

The most searching scrutiny of the page failed to detect any one in the neighbourhood of the castle, and he was about to come reluctantly to the conclusion, that Sir Gaston had really departed, when, in the far distance, he saw a horseman galloping furiously. He saw the waving plume, and the glitter of the arms. He knew it was Sir Gaston, and saw that he was alone.

This raised the hopes of Euphoric. He procured a cross-bow from the armoury, and writing on a slip of paper these words:� "Sir Gaston de Beauvais has a friend in Zindorf Castle, and the Count Durlack an enemy."

He fixed it to an arrow, and shot it on to a grassy hillock, some five or six hundred yards from the opposite side of the moat.

Some hours afterwards, looking towards the spot, he saw that the arrow was no longer on the spot where it had alighted, and where, sticking in the earth, it had formed a tolerable conspicuous object for any one who was prepared to look for its presence.

The page expected that the count at least, if not the baron, would make an attempt to escape from the castle before the threatened return of Sir Gaston de Beauvais from the court with reinforcements.

That the count should not do this the page was resolved.

Euphoric was determined to embrace every opportunity of arriving at a knowledge of the projected movements of the baron and the count. The conversation he had overheard between them in the count�s chamber, furnished him with ample material for action.

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The note he had tied to the arrow, and availed himself of the glimpse of moonlight to shoot on to the grassy knoll, was to the following effect:�

"The friend of Sir Gaston de Beauvais, who is within the castle of Zindorf, informs him and his faithful followers, that the Baron of Zindorf and Count Durlack intend attempting to escape from the castle most likely under cover of night. They wish to escape to England. Be watchful and wary, or the guilty will elude the just punishment of their crimes.

A soldier who was posted near to the hillock on which the first arrow of Euphoric had fallen, marked where it lay; for he had heard it whistle over his head. He was too wary a tactitian immediately to expose himself to observation for the purpose of securing the arrow, although he was sufficiently close to it to perceive that something unusual was appended to it

After, however, an hour had passed away, and no other shaft had appeared, he began to think the mystery worth the solving, and, accordingly, laying down his arms, he laid himself flat upon the earth, and glided in that posture sufficiently high upon the hillock to grasp the arrow.

His watch was shortly relieved, and he then reported the singular circumstance to Tristram Chablot, his temporary commander.

Tristram read and re-read the little billet, and then said, with a puzzled expression of countenance,�

"Now, beshrew me, if I know if thou hast done well or ill. I can keep watch and word with any one, or if needs be, deal a few hard blows, or, on a pinch, take a few likewise; but when people come to letters on arrows, and such like things, beshrew me if I know what to make of it. Frederique, what say you? You know more about letter craft than I do; for, I confess, I can�t write one, and by our lady, it almost puzzles me to read one."

Frederique took the little scrap of paper from the rough hand of Tristram Chablot, who was no uncommon character in those days, when men were esteemed more for personal prowess and a high sense of honour and knightly integrity than for what we consider the essentials of the most commonplace education.

"I think from my soul," said Frederique, "that this is genuine. We all know well that the gallant and noble Sir Gaston de Beauvais, whose pinion we have the high honour of bearing, has a friend in Zindorf Castle."

"The fair damsel who turned the arrow head?" said Chablot.

"The same," answered Frederique; "this scroll must have come from her."

"If it be so," said Tristram, turning to the soldier, "then you have done right, friend. But if this be a trick of the count�s (who is a wily fox), to find out who�s here, you have done very wrong, friend."

"Exactly," said Frederique, smiling. "I will advise, Tristram, that no notice be taken of this matter. We need make no demonstration of our presence here because of this circumstance."

"I don�t mean to make a demonstration," said Chablot. "My orders,

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Master Frederique, are not to allow any one to leave Zindorf Castle without arresting them. That I�ll stick to. Hang your notes and mysterious communications. Why don�t the wench jump into the moat and swim across? There would be some sense in that now�an amazing deal of sense."

"But, suppose she can�t swim, good Tristram," said Frederique, much amused.

"Then it shows the defectiveness of some folks education," said Tristram. "Here�s a girl can write a note, and, perhaps, can�t swim across a castle moat. Don�t tell me, Master Frederique, the young creature�s friends wouldn�t have been so neglectful."

"You have add notions, Tristram," said Frederique, smiling, "of female education."

"I know what�s useful and what aint," said Tristram.

CHAPTER XXIX.

CLAUDIO, when Caroline had departed from the turret, lost not a moment in carrying into effect his resolution of once more attempting to explore the gloomy vaults in which he had already so nearly lost his life.

"Maurice," he said, "I pray you remain in the turret."

"What," answered Maurice, "can you really, Claudio, wish me to see you go into danger, and remain passively behind?"

"Nay, Maurice," said Claudio, "the danger will not now be so great. The experience of our first visit has taught me caution."

"Do not ask me," cried Maurice, "to part from you. Where you go, there let me be, Claudio."

"Doubt not, generous Maurice," said Claudio, "that your company is a solace, and a great assistance to me; but you will pardon me if I hesitated to plunge you, by taking advantage of your kind and noble nature, into dangers which I feel that I ought to brave alone, whatever they may be."

"Oh, say no more, Claudio," cried Maurice; "let those dangers be what they may, Maurice desires no greater blessing than to share them with thee."

"I cannot say another word, then," answered Claudio. "Let us descend."

They immediately raised the trap-door, and once more looked upon the gloomy narrow staircase, which they knew by sad experience, conducted to so many mysteries and most fearful horrors.

"Have you a light?" said Claudio.

"I have," replied Maurice. "Here is the lantern, and I have, I think, a sufficient supply of candles."

Claudio closed the trap-door above their heads, and he could hardly refrain from a slight shudder as he shut out the daylight and found himself

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once again in the wild subterraneous labyrinth from which he had before emerged with so much difficulty and danger of his existence. A strong sense of duty, however, urged him onwards, and whispering to his heart the name of Caroline Mecklenburgh, he descended the winding staircase, followed closely by Maurice, bearing, as upon the former occasion, the lantern high above his head, to illumine the dreary darkness of the dismal and melancholy region into which they were voluntarily plunging.

"We will first, Maurice," said Claudio, "examine more carefully the long, narrow passages, to the termination of which we once thought we had arrived, and from which branches that frightful vaulted passage with its stagnant pool of water, and its sounds of dreadful import."

"I have thought much upon those sounds," said Maurice, "and the more I think the more inexplicable do they appear to me."

"I own," said Claudio, "that alarming as they were, I long to hear them again with a kind of nervous longing, which I cannot account for."

"We shall, doubtless, again hear them," said Maurice, in a voice of emotion.

"Had I been alone," said Claudio, "I should have attributed them to my own imagination; but we could not both be similarly deceived by fancy into the same belief."

"No," answered Maurice; "those sounds were real, Claudio, whatever we may at last discover their character to be."

"They came principally from the vaulted passage," said Claudio, in a low voice, "and see now we are close at its entrance, Maurice."

Maurice held up the lamp as high as he was able, and both he and Claudio gazed into the pitchy darkness of the vaulted passage with a feeling of superstitious awe which all their reason could not enable them wholly to control.

"Shall we enter it?" said Maurice, in a whisper.

"It seems more gloomy and fearful than on our first visit," said Claudio, "and, to my feelings, there is a more stern and awful air of desolation and horror about that place than I thought belonged to it before."

"The effect of all that we now see," said Maurice, "is heightened by our recollection of former events."

"True," replied Claudio, "we have now both the imagination and the reality to contend against. I would fain hear some of those sounds again."

"Shall we enter, Claudio?"

"I would wish to do so. Methinks that now I could lend a more serious attention to the sounds, and come to a better conclusion as to their probable character than I could before when taken by surprise."

"The noises before seemed," said Maurice, "to follow the blows of your sword�s hilt upon the walls."

"Think you so?" said Claudio.

"I marked it at the time," answered Maurice.