Chapter 23

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_ CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

Zappa had hitherto contrived to prevent the meeting of Ada and Nina, by compelling both of them to remain shut up in their respective parts of the castle. The cause of this conduct it is scarcely necessary to explain. His object was to keep Nina ignorant of the presence of her rival, and he also hoped to bend Ada's haughty spirit by the confinement to which she was subject. It could not, however, be supposed that Nina should not hear rumours of the presence of a stranger in the island, although Paolo had been careful not to hurt his sister's feelings needlessly, by speaking of her. Little Mila, the only personal attendant with whom she could converse, had been warned not to mention the arrival of Ada and her attendant; and for some time she kept the secret which was burning on her tongue; but as she suffered somewhat from that infirmity which is said, I suspect unjustly, to be peculiar to her sex, she at last began to think that she had kept it long enough. She did not, however, at once announce the information she had to communicate, but reserved to herself the pleasure of giving it out by driblets.

"We shall have the whole castle built up as it used to be, one of these days, I suspect, signora," she observed, as she was assisting Nina to dress. "It would be difficult, though, to arrange a more handsome room than this."

"No, Mila, scarcely could anything be more beautiful than this. But why should you say so?" asked Nina, whose suspicions had already been aroused by her attendant's previous remarks.

"Why, signora, I was comparing it with a room I have seen elsewhere, which is also very magnificent," returned Mila.

"You have seen! Why, you have never been off this island," exclaimed Nina.

"That is true, signora," said the Greek girl; "but the room I speak of is on the island, and I confess it is at no great distance from this tower."

"I was not aware that any other part of the castle was inhabited, except the tower and the house close to it," observed Nina.

"There you are mistaken, signora. The other old tower to the east of this, has had a room lately fitted up, very much like this, and there lives there a good-natured, lively girl, who tells me--for we manage to talk very well together--that she was born in an island like this, only larger. I like her very much, though she is not at all pretty; but she has a mistress, a young lady, who also lives in the tower, who is a complete angel--so fair, and kind, and beautiful, though she does not speak much, as she does not understand a word of Romaic; but I loved her the moment I saw her, and I am sure you would do so also, signora, were you to see her."

"A lady! young, and fair, and beautiful," repeated the Italian girl, a feeling gushing into her bosom which was very far from being allied to love. "Who is she? how long has she been here? what is she like?"

"As to who she is, signora, all I know is, that they say she belongs to a people who have big ships, and have never been slaves to the Turks; then she has been here ever since our chief came back; for he brought her in his vessel with Signor Paolo, your brother, who knows more about her than I do; and I suspect, loves her also not a little. And with regard to what she is like--she is not so tall as you are, signora; but her skin is as clear as yours, and fair as the foam blown across the ocean in a winter's storm, with some of the hue stolen from the rose on her cheeks; and her eyes--so soft they are, and of the same tint as the brightest spot in the cloudless sky above our heads."

How long little Mila, having now ventured once to let her tongue run loose on the forbidden subject, would have continued recapitulating the praises of the stranger lady--little dreaming of the wounds she was inflicting on the feelings of her older friend and mistress--it is impossible to say, had not Nina interrupted her.

"I must go and see this stranger lady!" she exclaimed, in a tone which startled the little girl, and taught her that it would have been wiser to have obeyed orders, and not mentioned her. "Come, Mila, we will go at once, and you shall run up into her room, and announce me."

"Oh, dear! signora, that will never do," answered the Greek girl. "You forget that the directions of our chief forbid you to quit your tower; and what would he say, were he to hear that you had visited that of the stranger lady. He is certain to come back, and find you there."

Nina had, however, so determined to satisfy her jealous suspicions, that she overruled all Mila's scruples.

"If I find them fatally true, a speedy death will be my only resource, or, ah! that of my rival;" so ran the current of her thoughts. "I could not let her live in the triumphant enjoyment of what I had lost--his love. I could not bear to think that other ears but mine own hear the tender accents of his voice, which speaks so eloquently to me of love. 'Twould be madness to know that I were flung aside for one more young and beautiful, perchance, but one who could not feel for him one tenth part of the intense love I bear him. I must go and see her. If she is--oh! God, what?" And her hand touched, unconsciously, the hilt of a small dagger she wore in her girdle.

Ada Garden was sitting in her chamber when little Mila hurried into her presence, and intimated, as well as she could, that a lady desired to see her, flying out at the same speed with which she entered.

As it happened, Ada did not, in the least, understand what she meant, and supposing it was a matter of no importance, continued the perusal of a work she held in her hand. She was startled by hearing a deep sigh, and looking up, she saw a graceful female figure standing at the other end of the room, with her eyes fixed intently on her. For the first moment, the idea glanced across her mind, that her senses must have deceived her, so statue-like was the form--so rigid was the gaze; but a few seconds served to assure her that a human being was in her presence. Her own look, as she lifted up her eyes, betokened surprise, though not alarm, and there was that sweet and tranquil expression, that purity, the consciousness of innocence, in her countenance, which the beautiful Italian--for she was the intruder--interpreted aright. Nina did not utter a word for some moments; but with the passionate impulse which had, unhappily, too often guided her, she advanced towards her supposed rival, and knelt down before her, bending her head to the ground. She soon looked up, and gazed in her countenance with an expression of earnest inquiry, as if she would read her thoughts.

"Lady," she at length exclaimed, "I have wronged you--I feel--I know-- you cannot be the base, the cruel being I have believed you. You would not seek to estrange the affections of a husband from one who lives for him alone. Say you do not love Argiri Caramitzo, the chief of this island--you do not wish to win his love."

Astonishment prevented Ada from answering this extraordinary address, and she hesitated, while she considered in what terms she should speak, so that she might quickly tranquillise the agitated feelings of her visitor, and, at the same time, avoid wounding them.

Nina seemed to mistake her silence for an acknowledgment of guilt, for she sprang to her feet, and her dagger-blade flashed in her hand. In another moment, it would have been stained with blood, had not Ada exclaimed--

"Indeed you do me wrong, signora. I would not rob you of your husband's love, for all the world can give. I am not mistaken in supposing you to be the sister of Signor Paolo Montifalcone; and if so, I already know your history, and, far from seeking to injure you, would do all in my power to preserve you from harm."

"You can but injure me in one way, and that you might do unknowingly and unwillingly," exclaimed the Italian, still regarding her with a glance of distrust; while she clutched the weapon in her right hand, which hung down by her side, the other being stretched out before her, as if to prevent her supposed rival from approaching her.

Ada felt an unusual courage come to her aid. She neither trembled nor turned pale, nor did she show any attempt to defend herself from Nina's mistaken vengeance; but she lifted her mild blue eyes, full of commiseration, towards the now flashing orbs of the Italian, and, in a sweet, calm voice, she said--

"There is a Power above, which, if we seek, will arm us both--you against such vain fears, me against the guilt, unknowing though it may be, of winning affections which should be your alone."

A fresh impulse seized the unhappy Nina; flinging away her weapon, she rushed forward, and throwing herself on her knees, clasped Ada's hand and covered it with kisses.

"I have not the heart to injure you, though you should prove my destruction," she exclaimed. "But you will not allow him to pour the words of tender endearment into those ears; nay, if he does but think or utter one word of love, remember, the time has come to act for your own safety. Here, take this weapon, and promise me to employ it, should the necessity arrive, for should you fail to do so, neither your beauty, nor his shielding arm could save you from the maddened impulse of my hand-- the last dying effort of my strength."

As she spoke, she rose, and lifting her dagger from the ground, she returned with it towards Ada.

"Nay, fear not, lady," she said, as she saw Ada start. "It is harmless now. Take the dagger, and keep it as remembrance of the unhappy Nina Montifalcone."

Nina presented the weapon, as she said this, with the hilt towards Ada, who considered it would be more politic to accept the gift, though, indeed, she shuddered as she did so; but she felt that she might herself unhappily be driven to the dire necessity of employing it. She took it, therefore, and placed it on the table by her. She then raised the excited and unhappy girl, who had again sunk on her knees, and placed her on a seat by her side, when, after some time, she succeeded, by slow degrees, in completely tranquillising and re-assuring her mind.

"You are no stranger to me, Nina," said Ada Garden, affectionately holding her hand. "Your brother has told me the whole of your history, and his own unhappy fate. His devotion to you seems unparalleled. Do you feel that you give it a just return?"

"Alas! no," answered Nina. "He has, I fear, sacrificed himself to me from that dreadful night when I left my native home, confused, bewildered, and little dreaming that it was to be for ever. But I do not detain him; if he wishes to return he may do so."

"He came with you, and without you he will not go back," observed Ada.

"While my father lived, I would have returned to see him, at the risk of my life--at the risk of the displeasure of one dearer than life; but now that he is no more, no earthly power should make me quit my husband."

"But your brother has doubts of the truth of the report of your father's death, and would still induce you to accompany him," said Ada.

"What! and allow you to remain?" whispered Nina, her fears, in a moment, rushing back to the baneful course from which they had been diverted. "No, lady, that were folly too great even for me to commit."

Ada saw that she was touching on dangerous ground.

"Indeed, again you wrong me, Nina," she said, tenderly pressing her hand. "I did not believe my intentions could be so misconstrued; but I will not mention a subject which is so painful to you."

"There are few which are not, lady," returned Nina, again appeased; "for the very language we speak reminds me of the home I have lost, the misery I have caused--it reminds me that I may be stigmatised as a murderess; that the death of the best, the kindest of fathers, may be laid to my charge; and often would such thoughts drive me to madness, and to seek a speedy end to all my misery from the summit of yonder cliff; but for what I have lost, I have gained a prize which recompenses me for all--the love of one without which death would have been welcome; a love I value more than all the earth's brightest treasure. They say the maidens in your country are calm and cold as the snow on the Appenines, and it were in vain, therefore, for you, lady, to attempt to conceive what that love is. He might abandon me--he might forget me--he might spurn me, but still I should love him, though I slew him for his perfidy; and should die happily on the tomb to which I had consigned him. Then do not speak to me again of quitting him;--he is my world, and all else I have abandoned for him."

Ada, after this, did not again attempt to renew the subject--indeed, pirate though he was, Zappa, she remembered, was, there existed every reason to believe, the young Italian's husband; and though utterly unworthy of her devoted affection, as she had herself too strong a proof to doubt, Nina still owed to him the duty of a wife. She had severed other sacred ties, in a way they can never be severed without ultimately bringing grief and remorse to the heart of the guilty one; but she now must abide by the consequences of her fault, and had no power to quit him to whom she had bound herself, even to visit the deathbed of a father. It was painful, however, to Ada, to reflect what must be the ultimate fate of her lovely and interesting companion, when the pirate's already waning love was burnt out--when the cast on which she had staked her all on earth was lost for ever; or, should the lawless adventurer meet the fate his daring expeditions seemed to court, and when death should claim his own, she should learn that he whom she had so truly loved was a murderer, and a robber, and had died the death of a malefactor, what anguish, what shame, was in store for her--what a dreary future.

The two girls, both equally beautiful in their separate styles, sat together, without speaking, for some time, lost in their own reflections. Both were sad--for one was a prisoner, without a prospect of release: to the mind of the other, a picture of the home of her youth, and her deserted, dying father, had been conjured up with the vividness with which they had never before presented themselves, and some pangs of remorse were agitating her mind. They were startled by a loud peal of thunder, which reverberated through the sky, and looking out through the casement they beheld the whole air of heaven covered with dark rolling clouds, and the sea a mass of white foam, which a blast, like a whirlwind, blew furiously over the surface; while the sullen roar of the lately aroused waves was heard as they lashed the rocks beneath the cliffs. One of those sudden tempests had arisen, which at times visit the shores of the Mediterranean with peculiar fury; their anger, like the rage of a human being, though short, yet causing havoc and destruction wherever it falls. The wind, as it increased, howled and whistled through the ruined building; the lightning darted, with vivid flashes, from the lowering sky; and the waves, worked into fury, rose every instant higher and higher, till they appeared like the water of a boiling cauldron, as their white-headed crests leaped up towards the tower, which they seemed to shake to the very base.

Marianna, followed by little Mila, rushed into the room, shrieking with alarm; crying out that the building was going to fall about their heads; at the same time, the rain descended so furiously, that they were afraid to venture into the open air.

"Oh! signora, we are all going to be washed into the sea, and we shall never more be heard of; oh! Santa Maria, have mercy on us," cried the Maltese, rushing up to Ada, and crouching down by her side.

The Greek girl was not so much alarmed, as she had witnessed similar tempests before, and knew how speedily they terminated; so also had Nina, who gazed at it devoid of all fear; and whose agitated state of mind it seemed rather to allay than increase.

"Do not be alarmed, lady," she said, smiling, as she turned to Ada. "You may also quiet the fears of your attendant, for the masonry with which we are surrounded has already stood firm for several hundred years through many a fiercer storm than this; and the shocks we now feel are not likely to shatter these old towers. They are caused by the waves dashing under the caverned rocks beneath our feet. How furiously the waters rage and foam at the opposition this little island makes against them. It was during a storm like this that Argiri Caramitzo was first brought to my father's castle. Heaven grant that he may not have been tempted out on the sea this morning. Mila, do you know if your chief left the harbour since I came here?"

The latter sentence she spoke in her broken Romaic, and in a tone which showed her agitation.

"Yes, lady," answered the Greek girl, "He went on board one of the misticos as soon as he reached the harbour, and immediately set sail."

"Great heaven, and is even now on yon troubled waters," exclaimed the poor girl almost fainting with agitation. "And I am here, nor even till this instant thought of him. Cannot we send out the other mistico to assist him. Surely some of his brave followers will be found ready to search for him. I myself will accompany them."

"Alas, signora, it would be in vain now to attempt to put to to sea," replied Mila, who knew more about nautical affairs than did Nina. "Yet we need not fear for the safety of our chief--he is even now probably taking shelter under some of the neighbouring islands. He and those who are with him are too well accustomed to the signs of the weather not to have perceived this storm in time to have escaped from its fury."

"Ah, I think I see a white sail flying before the wind, like a sea-bird's wing on the summit of the waves," exclaimed Marianna, who had been looking through the telescope at the object of which she spoke.

"Oh, it must be the mistico, then," cried Nina joyfully, hastening to the telescope, through which she saw the white canvas, closely reefed, of a small vessel standing for the island.

"Oh, it is the mistico," she exclaimed eagerly. "I know her by the shape of her sails. It must be her, and they are returning in safety."

As soon as Nina had withdrawn her eye from the glass, which she did not do for a long time, till she had fully persuaded herself that the vessel in sight was the one she hoped, with her husband on board, Ada's curiosity and interest were excited to watch the progress of the mistico. On she came, careering across the foaming sea, now lifted on the summit of a curling wave, now sunk into the deep trough between the watery mountains, where she would remain, her sail alone visible, apparently about to be overwhelmed by the wave which lifted its crested head close astern of her; but again she would rise once more on the summit of another, and as it were seated on it would fly onwards for a long distance, again to plunge down to the dangerous depths from which she had just emerged. To Ada the little vessel appeared in the most imminent danger, and she expected every instant to see it disappear beneath the waves, and wondered how she could have so long continued to buffet them successfully. As she watched, she observed that the mistico, instead of steering towards the west end of the island, so as to fetch the mouth of the bay, was gradually verging towards the east; and it struck her also that she was smaller than the mistico she had been accustomed to see from the stern windows of the brig, while she was living on board. But of that, of course, she was not able to form any correct judgment, as from so great a height and distance the eye even of the most experienced is easily deceived. She feared therefore that the sail in sight was a stranger, and would, to a certainty, be wrecked on the coast, without the chance of receiving any aid from the inhabitants, who were much more likely to murder any of the unfortunate crew who might escape the perils of shipwreck, for the sake of their clothes, and any money they might have about them, than to assist in preserving their lives.

Nina also had been watching, with still more intense interest, the progress of the sail, now seen without the aid of the glass; but so persuaded was she that it was her husband's mistico, that she did not remark the difference of size, nor that she was not steering directly for the harbour.

"Ah, he will be here soon, and in spite of the storm I must return to my tower, to receive him when he comes on shore," she exclaimed in a cheerful voice. "Lady I must bid you farewell, and as I cannot now tell you all the love and gratitude I feel for you, I must entreat you to allow me to visit you again. You will forget my passion and folly, and remember only any redeeming traits you may have discovered in me. Say you will do this, my sweet friend, before I leave you."

"Indeed I will," answered Ada, pressing both the hands which were held out to her. "I shall think of you always with the affection of a sister; but I must not let you go even now; for I fear greatly you will be disappointed in your expectations. See, yonder bark; mark how her head is turned; and tell me if she is steering for the harbour."

"Alas! that is not our chief's mistico, after all," exclaimed little Mila, corroborating the opinion Ada had formed. "She will be wrecked, too, and all in her will, to a certainty, perish."

"I cannot think that it is not his," said Nina. "He has some reason for approaching the further end of the island, if, indeed, he is not about to enter the harbour--perhaps he may purpose going round it to anchor on the northern side."

"That vessel, as she now steers, would not get round the island, lady," observed the Greek girl. "I wish my grandfather were here--and he would understand clearly all about it. Ah, there he is; and now the rain is over I may venture out and call him up here. He will explain matters clearly to us."

Saying this, without a thought of the consequences either to herself or to her, should the morose old pirate think fit to inform his chief of Nina's visit to the stranger lady, out ran the lively girl into the open air.

She was almost blown away down the ravine by a furious gust of wind, which caught her just as she got outside the door; but, undaunted, she managed to work on her way, shouting loudly all the time to her grandfather to come to her assistance; but as he was to windward, and rather deaf, he did not hear her.

At last she reached him, and seized him by the arm to support herself, after her fatiguing run, while she insisted on his accompanying her back to the apartment of the stranger lady.

He looked very angry at first at being asked to go; but little Mila's eloquence conquered, and she led him in triumph back, holding on by his arm; but this time it was to prevent herself from being fairly lifted off her feet, and blown along over the ground.

He made a somewhat unwilling salute to the two ladies, as he entered the room, while Mila dragged him up to the window.

"Now tell these ladies what you think about that mistico there, which is driving towards the shore--let me see, where is she? Alas! she has come frightfully near."

"That mistico, why she must be a stranger to these parts, or she would not venture near our shore; and she has a crew on board who know very little about their calling, for they are going to wreck themselves as clearly as possible, somewhere at the east end of the island. They could not do it better if they were to try; and as there are only two places on the whole coast where they have a chance of escaping, probably in a few minutes they will have gone to the other world."

"Then you think that she is not my husband's mistico," said Nina.

"Think! why no, of course not; she is not unlike her either, lady," answered the old pirate. "They are strangers, who, as they are not invited to come here, will probably have their throats cut for their intrusion, if, by chance, they happen to get in shore alive."

"But your chief--what think you of your chief?" exclaimed Nina eagerly.

"He is safe enough under shelter of one of the islands, and will be back here right enough to-morrow morning," answered the old man.

"Grant heaven it may be so," ejaculated Nina. "And now, Vlacco, you must obey me in this. Collect all the men you can, and hasten along the shore, to where that vessel will be wrecked. Remember, the life of your chief was preserved in a similar manner, and it were impious to allow any to perish whom we can save. Bring such as escape safe to my tower; and beware that no one robs or injures them."

The old man, who had found that he had been very much too severe to Nina during the last absence of Zappa, was glad of an opportunity of regaining her favour, and accordingly promised to obey her directions.

In spite of the violence of the storm, he immediately set out to collect some more youthful and active men to attend him; and he was soon again seen crossing the causeway in the direction of the place towards which the vessel was driving.

As it was scarcely possible for Nina to reach her own tower, she continued, with Ada Garden, watching the awful progress of the mistico.

On came the little vessel, scarcely visible, amid the foam and spray which surrounded her.

She had now got completely to the east side of the tower, whereas, when first seen at the greatest distance, she was in the south-west. Her course must, therefore, have been about northeast, as nearly as possible, directly before the wind; and whatever old Vlacco might have said to the contrary, she must have been steered by no timid or ignorant hands.

"She may even now get round the east end of the island!" exclaimed Nina, whose eye had seldom been off her. "If she can once do that, the unhappy men on board her may yet escape with their lives."

"But suppose she does not, will not the old Greek and his followers be able to rescue them?" asked Ada; who, though less apparently excited, felt an equal, if not a greater interest in the fate of the stranger.

"Ah! she appears even now to be full a mile short of the point. And see yonder wave which lifts her up--in another instant, it will dash her on those frowning rocks, and all on board must perish. Oh! Heaven, have mercy on them. There--there--they are lost."

As she spoke, a huge wave came rolling on, lifting the little vessel on its curling summit, and, with a loud roar, bore her, with the wildest impetuosity, towards the frowning cliffs. Downward it came with a terrific crash, its crest flying upwards in showers of foam, and hurling the bark, she was lost to sight among the rocks. All the females, as they beheld the sad spectacle, uttered a cry of horror, and they fancied that they could hear, amid the howling of the storm, the despairing shrieks of the drowning mariners, and could distinguish, among the foam, their dying forms, with their arms stretched out, in their agony, for assistance, where none could come.

"They are all lost!" cried Nina, hiding her face in her hands to shut out the dreadful sight her imagination had conjured up. "May the saints intercede for their souls!"

Her example was followed by Marianna and Mila, while Ada, though pale and trembling, had pointed the telescope towards the spot, for the purpose of discovering whether any human beings had succeeded in gaining the shore. Not a vestige of the wreck could she see; but on the summit of the cliff, above where she supposed the vessel must have struck, she beheld a person, whom she concluded was old Vlacco, waving, as if to some one below. He and his followers then disappeared down the cliffs.

"There is hope yet, Nina--there is hope yet!" she exclaimed joyfully. "Thank Heaven! some may have escaped." _

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