My daughter is dear to me,madam,said Foster gruffly;and Idesire not that she should get the court-tricks of lying and 'scaping--somewhat too much of that has she learned already,an it please your ladyship.The Countess,much fatigued and greatly terrified by the circumstances of her journey,made no answer to this insolence,but mildly expressed a wish to retire to her chamber,Ay,ay,muttered Foster,'tis but reasonable;but,under favour,you go not to your gew-gaw toy-house yonder--you will sleep to-night in better security.I would it were in my grave,said the Countess;but that mortal feelings shiver at the idea of soul and body parting.You,I guess,have no chance to shiver at that,replied Foster.
My lord comes hither to-morrow,and doubtless you will make your own ways good with him.But does he come hither?--does he indeed,good Foster?Oh,ay,good Foster!replied the other.But what Foster shall I be to-morrow when you speak of me to my lord--though all I have done was to obey his own orders?You shall be my protector--a rough one indeed--but still a protector,answered the Countess.Oh that Janet were but here!She is better where she is,answered Foster--one of you is enough to perplex a plain head.But will you taste any refreshment?Oh no,no--my chamber--my chamber!I trust,she said apprehensively,I may secure it on the inside?With all my heart,answered Foster,so I may secure it on the outside;and taking a light,he led the way to a part of the building where Amy had never been,and conducted her up a stair of great height,preceded by one of the old women with a lamp.
At the head of the stair,which seemed of almost immeasurable height,they crossed a short wooden gallery,formed of black oak,and very narrow,at the farther end of which was a strong oaken door,which opened and admitted them into the miser's apartment,homely in its accommodations in the very last degree,and,except in name,little different from a prison-room.
Foster stopped at the door,and gave the lamp to the Countess,without either offering or permitting the attendance of the old woman who had carried it.The lady stood not on ceremony,but taking it hastily,barred the door,and secured it with the ample means provided on the inside for that purpose.
Varney,meanwhile,had lurked behind on the stairs;but hearing the door barred,he now came up on tiptoe,and Foster,winking to him,pointed with self-complacence to a piece of concealed machinery in the wall,which,playing with much ease and little noise,dropped a part of the wooden gallery,after the manner of a drawbridge,so as to cut off all communication between the door of the bedroom,which he usually inhabited,and the landing-place of the high,winding stair which ascended to it.The rope by which this machinery was wrought was generally carried within the bedchamber,it being Foster's object to provide against invasion from without;but now that it was intended to secure the prisoner within,the cord had been brought over to the landing-place,and was there made fast,when Foster with much complacency had dropped the unsuspected trap-door.
Varney looked with great attention at the machinery,and peeped more than once down the abyss which was opened by the fall of the trap-door.It was dark as pitch,and seemed profoundly deep,going,as Foster informed his confederate in a whisper,nigh to the lowest vault of the Castle.Varney cast once more a fixed and long look down into this sable gulf,and then followed Foster to the part of the manor-house most usually inhabited.
When they arrived in the parlour which we have mentioned,Varney requested Foster to get them supper,and some of the choicest wine.I will seek Alasco,he added;we have work for him to do,and we must put him in good heart.Foster groaned at this intimation,but made no remonstrance.The old woman assured Varney that Alasco had scarce eaten or drunken since her master's departure,living perpetually shut up in the laboratory,and talking as if the world's continuance depended on what he was doing there.
I will teach him that the world hath other claims on him,said Varney,seizing a light,and going in quest of the alchemist.He returned,after a considerable absence,very pale,but yet with his habitual sneer on his cheek and nostril.Our friend,he said,has exhaled.How!--what mean you?said Foster--run away--fled with my forty pounds,that should have been multiplied a thousand-fold?
I will have Hue and Cry!
I will tell thee a surer way,said Varney.
How!--which way?exclaimed Foster;I will have back my forty pounds--I deemed them as surely a thousand times multiplied--Iwill have back my in-put,at the least.
Go hang thyself,then,and sue Alasco in the Devil's Court of Chancery,for thither he has carried the cause.How!--what dost thou mean is he dead?
Ay,truly is he,said Varney;and properly swollen already in the face and body.He had been mixing some of his devil's medicines,and the glass mask which he used constantly had fallen from his face,so that the subtle poison entered the brain,and did its work.SANCTA MARIA!said Foster--I mean,God in His mercy preserve us from covetousness and deadly sin!--Had he not had projection,think you?Saw you no ingots in the crucibles?Nay,I looked not but at the dead carrion,answered Varney;an ugly spectacle--he was swollen like a corpse three days exposed on the wheel.Pah!give me a cup of wine.I will go,said Foster,I will examine myself--He took the lamp,and hastened to the door,but there hesitated and paused.
Will you not go with me?said he to Varney.