The House of Whispers | Page 9

still fingering it with
great care, now and then turning to the matrix in order to satisfy
himself, "I should place it as having been executed about 1350. But it is
really a very beautiful specimen, done at a time when the art of
seal-engraving was at its height. No engraver could to-day turn out a
more ornate and at the same time bold design. Moyes is really very
fortunate in securing this. You must write, my dear, and ask him how
these latest treasures came into his hands."

At his request she got down another of the ponderous volumes of
Sassolini from the high shelf, and read to him, translating from the
Italian the brief notice of the ancient church of Dulcigno, which, it
appeared, had been built in the Lombard-Norman style of the eleventh
century, while the campanile, with columns from Paestum, dated from
1276.
The third seal, the circular one, was larger than the rest, being quite two
inches across. In the centre of the top half was the Madonna with Child,
seated, a male and female figure on either side. Below were three
female figures on either side, the two scenes being divided by a festoon
of flowers, while around the edge ran in somewhat more modern
characters--those of the early sixteenth century--the following:
+ SIGILLVM . VICARIS . GENERALIS . ORDINIS . BEATA .
MARIA . D' MON . CARMEL +
"This," declared Sir Henry, after a long and most minute examination,
"is a treasure probably unequalled in the collection at Cambridge, being
the actual seal of the Vicar-General of the Carmelite order. Its date I
should place at about 1150. Look well, dear, at those flower garlands;
how beautifully they are engraved! Seal-making is, alas! to-day a lost
art. We have only crude and heavy attempts. The company seal seems
to-day the only thing the engraver can turn out--those machines which
emboss upon a big red wafer." And his busy fingers were continuously
feeling the great circular bronze matrix, and a moment afterwards its
sulphur-cast.
He was an enthusiastic antiquary, and long ago, in the days when the
world was light, had read papers before the Society of Antiquaries at
Burlington House upon mediaeval seals and upon the early Latin
codices. Nowadays, however, Gabrielle acted as his eyes; and so
devoted was she to her father that she took a keen interest in his
dry-as-dust hobbies, so that after his long tuition she could decipher
and read a twelfth-century Latin manuscript, on its scrap of yellow,
crinkled parchment, and with all its puzzling abbreviations, almost as
well as any professor of palaeography at the universities, while
inscriptions upon Gothic seals were to her as plain as a paragraph in a

newspaper. More than once, white-haired, spectacled professors who
came to Glencardine as her father's guests were amazed at her
intelligent conversation upon points which were quite abstruse. Indeed,
she had no idea of the remarkable extent of her own antiquarian
knowledge, all of it gathered from the talented man whose affliction
had kept her so close at his side.
For quite an hour her father fingered the three seal-impressions,
discussing them with her in the language of a savant. She herself
examined them minutely and expressed opinions. Now and then she
glanced apprehensively to that open window. He pointed out to her
where she was wrong in her estimate of the design of the circular one,
explaining a technical and little-known detail concerning the seals of
the Carmelite order.
From the window a cool breath of the night-wind came in, fanning the
curtains and carrying with it the sweet scent of the flowers without.
"How refreshing!" exclaimed the old man, drawing in a deep breath.
"The night is very close, Gabrielle, dear. I fear we shall have thunder."
"There was lightning only a moment ago," explained the girl. "Shall I
put the casts into your collection, dad?"
"Yes, dear. Moyes no doubt intends that I should keep them."
Gabrielle rose, and, passing across to a large cabinet with many shallow
drawers, she opened one, displaying a tray full of casts of seals, each
neatly arranged, with its inscription and translation placed beneath, all
in her own clear handwriting.
Some of the drawers contained the matrices as well as the casts; but as
matrices of mediaeval seals are rarities, and seldom found anywhere
save in the chief public museums, it is no wonder that the bulk of
private collections consist of impressions.
Presently, at the Baronet's suggestion, she closed and locked the cabinet,
and then took up a bundle of business documents, which she

commenced to sort out and arrange.
She acted as her father's private secretary, and therefore knew much of
his affairs. But many things were to her a complete mystery, be it said.
Though devoted