"There was one, in particular, possessed of even more devouring curiosity than the rest, a certain young countess of miraculous beauty, whom I need not describe, since you have her very image in Leoline.The Marquis de Montmorenci, of a somewhat inflammable nature, loved her almost as much as he had done my mother, and she accepted him, and they were married.She may have loved him (I see no reason why she should not), but still to this day I think it was more to discover the secret of La Masque than from any other cause.I loved my beautiful new mother too well to let her find it out; although from the day she entered our house as a bride, until that on which she lay on her deathbed, her whole aim, day and night, was its discovery.There seemed to be a fatality about my father's wives; for the beautiful Honorine lived scarcely longer than her predecessor, and she died, leaving three children - all born at one time - you know them well, and one of them you love.To my care she intrusted them on her deathbed, and she could have scarcely intrusted them to worse; for, though I liked her, I most decidedly disliked them.They were lovely children - their lovely mother's image; and they were named Hubert, Leoline, and Honorine, or, as you knew her, Miranda.Even my father did not seem to care for them much, not even as much as he cared for me;and when he lay on his deathbed, one year later, I was left, young as I was, their sole guardian, and trustee of all his wealth.That wealth was not fairly divided - one-half being left to me and the other half to be shared equally between them; but, in my wicked ambition, I was not satisfied even with that.Some of my father's fierce and cruel nature I inherited; and Iresolved to be clear of these three stumbling-blocks, and recompense myself for my other misfortunes by every indulgence boundless riches could bestow.So, secretly, and in the night, Ileft my home, with an old and trusty servant, known to you as Prudence, and my unfortunate, little brother and sisters.
Strange to say, Prudence was attached to one of them, and to neither of the rest - that one was Leoline, whom she resolved to keep and care for, and neither she nor I minded what became of the other two.""From Paris we went to Dijon, where we dropped Hubert into the turn at the convent door, with his name attached, and left him where he would be well taken care of, and no questions asked.
With the other two we started for Calais, en route for England;and there Prudence got rid of Honorine in a singular manner.Apacket was about starting for the island of our destination, and she saw a strange-looking little man carrying his luggage from the wharf into a boat.She had the infant in her arms, having carried it out for the identical purpose of getting rid of it;and, without more ado, she laid it down, unseen, among boxes and bundles, and, like Hagar, stood afar off to see what became of it.That ugly little man was the dwarf; and his amazement on finding it among his goods and chattels you may imagine; but he kept it, notwithstanding, though why, is best known to himself.
A few weeks after that we, too, came over, and Prudence took up her residence in a quiet village a long way from London.Thus you see, Sir Norman, how it comes about that we are so related, and the wrong I have done them all.""You have, indeed!" said Sir Norman, gravely, having listened, much shocked and displeased, at this open confession; "and to one of them it is beyond our power to atone.Do you know the life of misery to which she has been assigned?""I know it all, and have repented for it in my own heart, in dust and ashes! Even I - unlike all other earthly creatures as I am -have a conscience, and it has given me no rest night or day since.From that hour I have never lost sight of them; every sorrow they have undergone has been known to me, and added to my own; and yet I could not, or would not, undo what I had done.
Leoline knows all now; and she will tell Hubert, since destiny has brought them together; and whether they will forgive me Iknow not.But yet they might; for they have long and happy lives before them, and we can forgive everything to the dead.""But you are not dead," said Sir Norman; "and there is repentance and pardon for all.Much as you have wronged them, they will forgive you; and Heaven is not less merciful than they!""They may; for I have striven to atone.In my house there are proofs and papers that will put them in possession of all, and more than all, they have lost.But life is a burden of torture I will bear no longer.The death of him who died for me this night is the crowning tragedy of my miserable life; and if my hour were not at hand, I should not have told you this.""But you have not told me the fearful cause of no much guilt and suffering.What is behind that mask?""Would you, too, see?" she asked, in a terrible voice, "and die?""I have told you it is not in my nature to die easily, and it is something far stronger than mere curiosity makes me ask.""Be it so! The sky is growing red with day-dawn, and I shall never see the sun rise more, for I am already plague-struck!"That sweetest of all voices ceased.The white hands removed the mask, and the floating coils of hair, and revealed, to Sir Norman's horror-struck gaze, the grisly face and head, and the hollow eye-sockets, the grinning mouth, and fleshless cheeks of a skeleton!
He saw it but for one fearful instant - the next, she had thrown up both arms, and leaped headlong into the loathly plague-pit.
He saw her for a second or two, heaving and writhing in the putrid heap; and then the strong man reeled and fell with his face on the ground, not feigning, but sick unto death.Of all the dreadful things he had witnessed that night, there was nothing so dreadful as this; of all the horror he had felt before, there was none to equal what he felt now.In his momentary delirium, it seemed to him she was reaching her arms of bone up to drag him in, and that the skeleton-face was grinning at him on the edge of the awful pit.And, covering his eyes with his hands, he sprang up, and fled away.
