Cader Idris

“ Fair and clear before her the future lay like a sunny sparkling lake with one barque gliding over it: Idris was the steersman, and she had nothing to do but to lie back on silken pillows, still and happy, and float wherever he chose to direct. ”

“ May God help me to keep this oath!"
"Say it again, Idie."
Idris accordingly repeated the vow, feeling somewhat proud in thus imitating the Carthaginian hero.
His mother brushed back the curls from his forehead and looked earnestly into his eyes.
"Little Idris! little Idris!" she murmured. "Am I acting foolishly? I am forgetting that you are only seven years of age—scarcely old enough to understand the meaning of what you have just uttered. No matter: when you are older, if you are a true son, as I feel sure you will be, you will not require the memory of this oath to teach you your duty. ”

“ Not till then did Idris find his tongue.
"What a divine face!" he murmured. "Who is she?"
"Her name is Rivière—Lorelie Rivière," answered Beatrice somewhat coldly.
"Rivière. She is French, then?"
Though evidently disinclined to pursue the subject, Beatrice, seeing Idris' interest in the stranger, proceeded to enlighten him so far as she was able.
"Mademoiselle Rivière is a lady, apparently of independent means. She came to Ormsby about four months ago, taking for her residence The Cedars, a villa on the North Road. She lives a quiet and secluded life. ”

“ To endeavour to ascertain the identity of the victim by pulling at the withered hand, and thus bringing the decayed form to view, was an act that not only Idris shrank from, but even Godfrey, the surgeon, familiar with the disjecta membra of the dissecting room.
Then Idris, bending forward to examine the hand more closely, gave vent to a peal of laughter.
"Brave heroes we are to be frightened by a plant! It is nothing but the root of the mandrake." ”

“ Certain past events were now seen by Idris in a new light.
"Mother, I know in what prison father is. It is the one on the moorland over there," he exclaimed, indicating the direction with his hand.
"You are right, Idie: and now you know why I live at Quilaix. It is that I may be near your father. I am happier here—if indeed I may use the word happy in speaking of myself—than in any other place. I have a beautiful house at Nantes, but I cannot live there in ease and luxury while your father is deprived of everything that makes life bright. ”

“ See here!" replied Idris, plucking a weed beside her. "Samphire! It never grows below salt water. We are quite safe."
Mademoiselle Rivière clasped her hands: her lips moved, and Idris knew that she was breathing a silent prayer. ”

“ They carefully surveyed the eastern curve of the base, Beatrice probing with the point of her sunshade, and Idris with the ferule of his walking-stick, among the long grass and bracken that grew in profusion at the foot of the hillock. Their search, however, was without result.
"I am at fault, it seems," said Idris, "or, it may be, the rain of centuries has washed down so much earth from the side of the mound that the guide-stones at its foot have become buried. We can do nothing without proper tools." ”

“ Such utterance—such action—on my part has been unintentional. I cannot listen to you."
With many women a "No" may sometimes mean "Yes," but this was not the case with Lorelie Rivière. Idris felt that her decision was final, irrevocable. And yet what was the meaning of that first look of rapture that had come into her eyes?
"You do well to refuse me, mademoiselle: to refuse in truth any suitor, for who indeed is worthy of you, but——"
"Mr. Breakspear, for pity's sake be silent. See!" ”

“ In that pestilent enclosure only the myriad vermin lived lives of comfort. No news filtered in from the world outside. They fed upon their own thoughts, so that the sight of a lizard upon the wall became an occasion for excitement. They were stung by scorpions at night; they were at times flogged by their gaolers by day. They lived at the mercy of the whims of Idris-es-Saier and that peculiar spirit Nebbi Khiddr, who always reported against them to the Khalifa just at the moment when Idris was most in need of money for his starving family. ”

“ Idris breathed a malediction. As he himself had attended to the putting up of their paraphernalia, the omission was his own, and no blame attached to Godfrey.
The neglect seemed irremediable. It was out of the question to return to Ormsby for the lantern, and yet, without a light, it would be hazardous to grope their way through darkness to the interior of the hillock. To be so near the point of discovery, and yet so far off, was maddening.
"I shall not return without some attempt at exploration," cried Idris. "We'll have to grope about in the dark and try what we can discover in that way." ”

“ The loveliest maiden whom he had ever seen was resting within his arms, dependent upon him for safety. But what safety could he give? Their position seemed hopeless. The last rung of the middle ladder hung forty feet or more above his head. The lowest ladder lay on the sands in three portions, and he realized at a glance the impossibility of refixing them in their original position.
"No boat in sight! Impossible to scale the cliffs! Too far to swim with her to Ormsby! What is to be our fate?" he muttered.
Idris had often looked death in the face, but never in circumstances so hard as these. ”

“ But as he knows the stations of his people, and their courses at particular seasons, that day we meet one Bishareen, the man that is chained with him, and conducts him, shall instantly stab him to the heart, so that he shall not see, much less triumph in, the success of his treachery. On the contrary, if he is faithful, and informs Idris where the danger is, and where we are to avoid it, keeping us rather by scanty wells than abundant ones, on the day I arrive safely in Egypt I will cloath him anew, as also his women, give him a good camel for himself, and a load of dora for them all. ”

“ There has been a dreadful mistake somewhere. He will prove that he is alive by [Pg 71] paying us a visit. In fact, he will be here this very morning. Well, this is a surprise!"
"More—a pleasure," added his sister.
Beatrice had never seen Idris, but she had often heard of him from Godfrey, and knew the painful story of his boyhood. She was aware, too, that on one occasion, Godfrey, being in pecuniary difficulties, had applied to Idris in preference to the Earl of Ormsby, and had received by return of post a handsome cheque. ”

“ We promised to return early."
"The walk through the fresh air will do you good," remarked Idris, who was himself desirous of withdrawing.
It was in vain that Lorelie pressed her visitors to stay. Beatrice declared that she must go, and within the space of a few minutes she had taken a very abrupt leave of her hostess.
That night Idris' sleep was broken by troubled dreams, in all of which a woman's image mingled, always in the act of striking down some shadowy foe; but the venue was changed from the elegant apartment at The Cedars to the grey stone interior of Ormfell! ”

“ The drawing-room was a handsome apartment, containing many evidences of taste and wealth. Lorelie took a pride in pointing out her treasures.
"My father," she remarked, observing Beatrice's eyes set upon a portrait in oils representing a handsome man in the uniform of a French military officer.
Idris viewed with interest the likeness of the man who for about the space of a minute had flashed across his childhood's days.
"A man who will ever command my respect," he murmured, "since in rescuing my father from prison he was forced by that act to become an exile from his native land." ”

“ On the one hand splendour purchased at the price of injustice to Idris: on the other the lifelong hatred of her husband for preferring the interests of Idris to his own.
The voice of Ivar jarred upon her meditations. He was lounging along the terrace smoking the inevitable cigarette.
"My lady doesn't seem very happy now that she dwells 'in marble halls, with vassals and serfs by her side.' Look around you," he continued, with a sweep of his arm that took in the whole landscape. "As far as you can see, north, east, south, and west, all is ours. Isn't the prospect fair enough for you?" ”

“ But the surgeon, though indeed reluctant to go forward, was nevertheless unwilling to be considered a coward, and demurred to the suggestion that he should remain at the entrance till Idris had first paid a visit to the interior.
"Seriously speaking," said Idris, "I do not see what danger there can be, but still there is the possibility of it, and I ought to meet it alone. Beatrice would never forgive me if harm should befall you. Stay here till I have made a brief exploration." ”

“ I am quite content to remain plain Idris Breakspear, and to leave to you the coronet of the Ravengars. I do not believe that I am of noble birth, but in any case I will do nothing detrimental to your position."
"My position!" thought Lorelie, bitterly, as she recalled the attempt made upon her life. "Heaven help me to escape from my position! But," she said, aloud, "you are doing a wrong to your future wife. She may not appreciate the generosity that deprives her of a coronet."
"My future wife!" smiled Idris. "I shall never marry."
"And why not?"
"They do not love who love twice." ”

“ He took a seat beside Lorelie, and proceeded to roll a cigarette, remarking as he did so, "You do not object?"
Lorelie assented with a smile that evoked the jealousy of the foolish Idris. If a woman may not smile upon her husband, upon whom may she smile?
Concluding that he and Beatrice were better away, Idris now arose, but Lorelie opposed their departure.
"Going after so short a stay?" she remonstrated. "Now you are here you must remain for the evening, and—and Mr. Breakspear as well," she added, glancing at Idris. ”

“ Idris becoming more puzzled at this compulsory state of labour, returned to the moral character of the workers.
"Are they all bad—every one?"
"No; not all," exclaimed his mother, with an energy that quite surprised the little fellow. "There is one there who is the best, the truest, the noblest of men."
Her eyes sparkled, and a beautiful colour burned on her cheek. She sat with a proud air as if defying the world to say the contrary.
"Is he as good as father was?"
"About the same," replied Mrs. Breakspear, her features softening into a smile. ”

“ She'll not be so mad as to cut her own [Pg 222] throat. In marrying her I've stopped her mouth. But if she had known as much a year ago as she knows to-day——!"
The smile had returned to Lorelie's lips by the time she reached Idris and Beatrice, and at her invitation they repaired to the drawing-room. Lord Walden, with a black feeling of hatred in his heart against both his wife and Idris, slowly followed without speaking, and flung himself on a distant ottoman as if desiring no companionship but his own.
Idris, thus ignored by the viscount, could but ignore him in turn. ”

“ I then advanced to the edge of the hill, and cried out with a loud voice, "Stop! for you cannot pass here." Whether they understood it I do not know, but they still persisted in mounting the hill. I again cried, shewing my firelock, "Advance a step farther and I'll fire." After a short pause they all dismounted from their camels, and one of them, with his lance in his hand, came forward till within twenty yards, upon which Idris immediately knew them, and said, they were Ababdé. ”

“ Why was she placing herself in a position where day by day she would encounter the presence of this terrible earl? for to her he was terrible. A great longing came upon her to go back to The Cedars; but the thought of Idris calmed her. For his sake she would stay. Her belief that he was the rightful heir of Ravenhall was, after all, a matter of conjecture, not of [Pg 271] knowledge: she must have proofs before telling him of her opinion: and, in her judgment, such proofs would be found at Ravenhall. ”

“ Mr. Breakspear," she said, "so it was you who carried off my book from the organ-loft. I guessed as much when I went back, and found it gone. You must not forget to return it, for I value it highly. Now, confess, that you have wondered why I, a woman, should take to poring over that old Lombard historian?"
"Curiosity is not confined to the sex with whom it is supposed to have originated," smiled Idris, "and I am willing to admit, mademoiselle, that I have been puzzled. The book does not belong to the style of literature usually patronized by ladies." ”

“ Idris, therefore, determined to scale the face of an almost perpendicular cliff, and passing, as it were, above the heads of the watchers, come out in their rear. When he was three-fourths of the way up the cliff his heart almost leaped into his mouth as he caught a glimpse of a Bashi-Bazouk, dagger in hand, waiting for him at the top. The shades of twilight were falling: to descend was impossible: to go upward was to meet certain death: yet upward he continued to pull himself, little by little, hoping that by some good fortune he might be able to outwit the armed watcher. ”

“ He ought to be a proud man to-day."
"He is proud, ignorant that, like Agamemnon, he is treading on purple to his doom."
Idris was surprised at these words, surprised still more by the bitterness with which Beatrice emphasized them. What did this speech portend?
"You have been living at Ravenhall for the past two months, I understand?" he remarked, for want of something better to say.
"Yes, as Lorelie's companion. This is our last day here. Lorelie and I take our departure to-night."
Idris was more mystified than ever. Beatrice smiled as if enjoying his perplexity. ”