University of Virginia Library

12. CHAPTER XII.
The Rivals.

We left our heroine at the apartments
which she had been turnishing for Madame
de Ruyter, and where Herman had his unhappy
interview with her. He returned as
we have seen, to his mother's, where Wild
called upon him, the fatal issue of which interview
we have just seen. After Herman
quitted Maria she sat down and wept for him,
and for herself, that she should be the cause
of his grief, for she felt grateful to him, and
wished from her heart she could requite his
affection. As the hour was now close at hand
when she should be at the shop, she dried her
tears and resuming her hat and shawl she
locked the neatly arranged rooms and tripped
lightly away towards her place of daily duties.

On her way she was turned aside from her
usual course by a crowd gathered around a
small building on fire, and to avoid it she passed
into the street in which the stall of Brant
the Book-man was situated. She had not yet
got in sight of it, when Brant, who was seated
in his dark box reading a newspaper, was
startled by the sudden and abrupt appearance
of Herman.

`Rolfe, you are my friend. Let me conceal
myself in your lodging-rooom! I have just
slain the burglar Wilkins Wild, and his body
is fresh and bleeding in the door of my mother's
house, and which is round the corner,
beyond the Saracen's Head!'

`You have saved the judge and hangman
trouble, if you have killed this villain,' answered
Rolfe with a smile of pleasure. `I
liked him not, for he always had an insult for
my deformity! Go in,' he continued, throwing
open the low door in the rear of his stall.
There you will be safe, till some other place
offers! Did any one see you do the deed?'

`No one!'

`Then feel secure! I will shut you in, and
by and by, go up the street and see upon
whom men fasten suspicion.'

As the Book-man turned the key in the door
to his cell, for such the room in the rear of
his stall may very properly be termed, he cast
his eyes up and down the street, preparatory
to going on his mission. He suddenly started
and his cheeks became flushed while his eyes
sparkled with intense emotion. Not ten steps
from him approaching the stall along the side-walk,
he beheld the lovely girl whom he had
before seen accompanying Madame de Ruyter,
and for whom he had then been seized
with the most violent passion—a passion that
changed his whole nature. A second time he
had seen her walking alone, and as he passed
her he sent forth his deep burning glance into
her eyes, and under his breath he whispered,

`For thy love, maiden, I would die! Deformed
as I am—base and low as you see me,
I have a soul that can appreciate your worth.
Think of me sometimes, and do not despise
the true heart which for years has throbbed
only with throes of sorrow, until the sight of
your sweet countenance thrilled my veins
with joy unutterable—and hopes high and
daring seized upon my thoughts. Nay! tremble
not! Fly me not! Pass on thy way, innocent
and fair! I have spoken with thee
and I am happy! Go—but I feel within my
soul's depths that you will never forget me!'

And the Book-man spoke truly. Though
surprised and alarmed at being thus addressed
in the street by a stranger of such a singular
aspect, Maria listened to his words with a
feeling akin to gentle pity, and wondering she
went on her way; but she could not banish
him from her mind. Her emotion when Herman
alluded to him will be remembered by
the reader.

In her haste to reach her shop, Maria did
not think of the Book-man's stall being in her
way; for since he had met her and spoken
with her so strangely, she avoided the neighborhood
of his dwelling. She first became
conscious of being near him by seeing his
dark eyes gazing upon her from beneath the
shadowy arches of his brows. Instinctively
she dropped her veil, and drawing it closely

around her face, she averted her head and hurried
by. As she left the stall behind her she
almost flew!

`She fears aud shuns me!' he said bitterly.
`If I were shapely in person and fair in visage
she would have smiled upon me! But
now as I am she avoids me as if I were
a wild beast! She must learn to love me! I
am hideoue without; but I will so make her
fall in love with my mind that she shall love
me! This passion I entertain for her is not
awakened to perish without purpose. Our
destinies are interwoven by fate, or my heart
would never have bounded to her foot-step as
it has done. Fly, maiden, fly! but we shall
meet again. She can be found at Herman's
mother's and her own! I will hie there now
and see what men say of this deed of blood.'

As he spoke he left his stall and took his
way in the direction of the Saracen's head.—
When he reached the tavern and turned the
corner, he encountered a throng of people,
who were gathered around the dwelling where
Wild lay, having been drawn together by the
outcries raised by Madame de Ruyter on returning
to her room and discovering the murdered
man upon her floor. Maria had seen
the crowd, but had avoided it, being already
late for her duties at the shop, and not knowing
the object which had set it in motion.—
Rolfe reached the scene and listening to the
numerous conjectures of the multitude, was
satisfied that the true criminal was unsuspected.
He then approached Madame de
Ruyter who was pacing up and down her
room ringing her hands, for she believed that
Herman had done the murder, and she trembled
lost she should each instant hear the cry
given of his being arrested.

`Calm yourself, madam,' said Rolfe in a
low tone. `Your son is safe. Your grief
will draw suspicion on you. Compose yourself
and Herman will be with you as soon as
the momentary excitement passes. Where is
your child?'

`My child? you said he was safe? Is he
not in safety?' she asked wildly.

`I mean your daughter!'

`My daughter! Yes—oh yes—did I say
she was not my daughter, sir?' she asked bewildered,
and looking as if she feared she had
unwittingly betrayed what she should kept
secret.

`No you did not. Is she thy daughter?'
asked the keenly watchful Book-man.

`She is the only daughter I ever had.'

`Madame, your answers are singular. You
have made me suspect she is not your child.
I never knew you had any other than Herman.'

`Who is she then if she be not my child?'
asked Madam de Ruyter with firmness, sensible
of her danger.

`I know not,' answered Rolfe turning
away and mixing with the crowd, still strongly
suspecting that the fair maiden was not the
sister of Herman; for the young seaman on
first returning home had inquired after, and
spoken of her with a tone more like that
of a lover than a brother. Nevertheless,' he
said as he walked slowly away towards his
stall, `nevertheless she may be his sister.—
Now that I know her abode I will see her
again, for my life is hid in hers.'

`Well, Rolfe?' said Herman as the Book-man
unlocked his door and entered the little
room in which he had left him.

`No one suspects you. You may venture
abroad in safety.'

`Thanks, good Brant. Did you see my
mother?

`Yes, and left her composed after assuring
her of your safety.'

`Thanks again.'

`Herman you have a sister,' said Rolfe in a
tone full of emphasis and feeling.

`Well?' responded Herman with surprise.

`I love her!' answered Brant in a voice that
came from the depths of his chest.

`Love her? cried Herman recoiling a step
and fixing his eyes fiercely upon him.

`Yes, Herman, dearer than life I love her.'

`Go on—what more?' demanded Herman
pale as marble, his lips compressed and his
hand trembling though clinched till the nails
of the fingers met in the quick flesh of the
palms.

`I mean to woo and win her. We are
friends! I have money—I am rich! I ask
your consent and I—

`Rolfe—'

`Why do you falter, Herman?' asked the
Book-man calmly.

`I will not falter, then! Know that my
sister can never love thee, and that you shall
never have my consent. Nay—by the heaven

above our heads, if you dare think of her
again I will—'

`Stop, Herman! I am satisfied now that
she is not your sister!'

`Who is she then?'

`The daughter of Mr. Carrol who so mysteriously
disappeared seven years ago!'

`Ha?' gasped Herman.

`Read that advertisement. It throws light
upon by-gone events I have long had my
thoughts upon, and I believe that this maiden
is the person here advertised, for you
disappeared at the same time she did; and
that very night I saw you from my stall in the
storm, convey something into your mother's
house, which, after I heard of the child's dis
appearance I knew must have been a little
girl. But I saw no more of you and the subject
escaped me. Now I find in your mother's
house (and loved by you, for you cannot
disguise it,) a maiden who is neither her
daughter, nor your sister, and who answers
perfectly to the description in this advertisement.
Read it!'

`I have read it, Brant,' answered Herman,
hoarsely. `Would you also claim the reward?
Beware! It was for this I slew Wild!'

`No. I desire no other reward than her
young heart! Perish the money! I love her
and it shall be my part to keep her existence
secret from those who seek her. She must be
mine, and none other's!'

`Thine accursed!' cried Herman, seizing
him by the throat, fierce with rage, that he
should dare to speak of love with reference to
one he adored, as he did his lovely foster-sister!

`Herman, take off your hands' Goad me not
to resentment!' shrieked the Book-man.

`I will tear out thy foul tongue?'

`Forbear and unloose my throat, or I will
kill thee!'

`Base spawn I defy thee! To dare lift your
thoughts to her! It is madness! Down, and
grovel in the dust, hound!'

Herman, as he spoke tried to press the head
of the dwarf to the earth, so that he could
place his foot upon his neck. But strong as
he was, he miscalculated his own powers,
compared with that of the massive-shouldered
Book-man. With a strong exertion of muscular
strength. Rolfe threw him from him,
and then uttering a short, panther-like cry,
he sprung upon him, and clasped his long,
thin fingers about his neck. He then dashed
his large head violently several times in rapid
succession into his face, till the poor young
man suffocated and overpowered fell backward
heavily to the floor, where he lay as insensible
as marble. The Book-man drew
from his bosom a slender machete, and stooping
over him drove it to the hilt in his heart!
Thrice he repeated the blow, and then getting
up he said as he gazed upon him,

`There lies the only man, who stood between
me and happiness! Thus let him perish,
who dares to be Rolfe Brant's rival in
love!'