“I wish to see Earl De Courcy,” was her abrupt demand.
“And we wish our fortune told, good mother,” said Lord Villiers; “my father will attend to you presently.”
“Your father!” said the woman, fixing her piercing eyes on his handsome face, “then you are Lord Villiers?”
“You have guessed it. What has the future in store for me?”
“Nothing good for your father’s son,” she hissed through her clenched teeth. “Give me your hand.”
He extended it, with a smile, and she took it in hers, and peered into it. What a contrast they were! his, white, small, and delicate; her hand, bronzed and rough.
“Well, mother, what has destiny in store for me?”
“Much good or more evil. This night decides thy destiny; either thou shalt be blessed for life, or if the scale turns against thee – then woe to thee! Stand aside – the earl comes.”
A tall, distinguished-looking man, of middle-age, approached, and looked with grave surprise on the group before him.
“A word with you, lord-earl,” said the gipsy, confronting him.
“Speak out, then.”
“It must be in private.”
“Who are you?” said the earl, surprised and curious.
“I am called the gipsy queen, Ketura,” said the woman, drawing herself up.
“And what do you want of me, woman?”
“I tell you I must speak in private. Is your time so precious that you cannot grant ten minutes of it to me?” said the woman, with a fiercely-impatient flash of her black eyes.
“This way, then,” said the earl, impressed by the woman’s commanding look and tones, as he turned and led the way across a wide, lighted hall to a richly-furnished library.
Seating himself in a softly-cushioned lounging-chair, he waited for his singular visitor to begin.
CHAPTER IV.
THE GIPSY’S VOW
“May the grass wither from thy feet! the woods
Deny thee shelter! earth, a home! the dust,
A grave! the sun, his light! and heaven, her God!”
“Well, madam, I am waiting,” said the earl, after a pause, during which the wild, black eyes of the woman were fixed immovably on his face, until he began to grow uneasy under the steady glare.
“Lord earl, behold at thy feet a mother who comes to plead for her son,” said the strange woman, sinking on her knees at his feet, and holding up her clasped hands.
“Madam, I do not understand,” said the earl, surprised, and feeling himself obliged, as it were, to use a respectful form of address, by the woman’s commanding look.
“My son is in your power! my darling, my only son! my first-born! Oh, spare him!” said the woman, still holding up her clasped hands.
“Your son? Madam, I do not understand,” said the earl, knitting his brows in perplexity.
“You have condemned him to transportation! And he is innocent – as innocent of the crime for which he is to suffer as the angels in heaven,” cried the woman, in passionate tones.
“Madam, I assure you, I do not understand. Who is your son?” said the earl, more and more perplexed.
“You know him as Germaine, but he is my son, Reginald – my only son! Oh, my lord! spare him! spare him!” wildly pleaded the gipsy queen.
“Madam, rise.”
“Not until you have pardoned my son.”
“That I will never do! Your son has been found guilty of wilful robbery, and has been very justly condemned. I can do nothing for him,” said the earl, while his brow grew dark, and his mouth hard and stern.
“My lord, he is innocent!” almost shrieked the wretched woman at his feet.
“I do not believe it! He has been proven guilty,” said the earl, coldly.
“It is false! as false as the black hearts of the perjurers who swore against him!” fiercely exclaimed the gipsy; “he is innocent of this crime, as innocent of it as thou art, lord earl. Oh, Earl De Courcy, as you hope for pardon from God, pardon him.”
“Madam, I command you to rise.”
“Never, never! while my son is in chains! Oh, my lord, you do not know, you never can dream, how I have loved that boy! I had no one else in the wide world to love; not a drop of kindred blood ran in any human heart but his; and I loved, I adored, I worshiped him! Oh, Earl De Courcy, I have suffered cold, and hunger, and thirst, and hardship, that he might never want; I have toiled for him night and day, that he might never feel pain; I have stooped to actions I loathed, that he might be happy and free from guilt. And, when he grew older, I gave him up, though it was like rending soul and body apart. I sent him away; I I sent him to school with the money that years and years of unceasing toil had enabled me to save. I sent him to be educated with gentlemen. I never came near him, lest any one should suspect his mother was a gipsy. Yes; I gave him up, though it was like tearing my very heart-strings apart, content in knowing he was happy, and in seeing him at a distance at long intervals. For twenty-three years, my life has been one long dream of him; sleeping or waking, in suffering and trial, the thought that he was near me gave me joy and strength. And now he is condemned for life – condemned to a far-off land, among convicts and felons, where I will never see him again! Oh, Lord De Courcy! mercy, mercy for my son!”
With the wild cry of a mother’s agony, she shrieked out that frenzied appeal for mercy, and groveled prone to the floor at his feet.
A spasm of pain passed over the face of the earl, but he answered, sternly:
“Woman, your son is guilty. I cannot pardon him!”
“He is not guilty! Perish the soul so base as to believe such a falsehood of my high-hearted boy!” cried the gipsy, dashing fiercely back her wildly-streaming black hair. “He my proud, glorious, kindly-hearted Reginald, stoop to such a crime! Oh, sooner could the angels themselves be guilty of it than he!”
“Woman, you rave! Once again I tell you, rise!
“Pardon, pardon for my son!”
“Madam, I cannot. I pity you. Heaven knows I do! but he is guilty, and must suffer.”
“Oh, my God! how shall I convince him?” cried the wretched woman, wringing her hands in wildest despair. “Oh, Earl De Courcy! you, too, have a son, handsome, gallant and noble, the pride of your old age, the last scion of your proud race! For his sake, for the sake of your son, pardon mine!”
“Once more I tell you, I cannot. Your son is condemned; to-morrow his sentence will be executed, and I have no power to avert it. And, madam, though I pity you deeply, I must again say he deserves it. Nay – hear me out. I know you do not believe it; you think him innocent, and, being his mother, it is natural you should think so; but, believe me, he is none the less guilty. Your son deserves his fate, all the more so for his ingratitude to you, after all you have done for him. I deeply pity you, as Heaven hears me, I do!”
“Oh, then, for my sake, if there is one spark of pity for me in your heart, do not kill me! For, Lord De Courcy, it will be a double murder, his death and mine, if this sentence is executed.”
“The law must take its course; I cannot prevent it. And once more, madam, I beseech you to rise. You should kneel to God alone.”
“God would forgive him, had I pleaded to Him thus; but you, tiger-heart, you