The Star-Chamber, Volume 2 | Page 7

dared to raise his eyes towards his wife, so much was
he shocked by her appearance. It was with difficulty she gave utterance
to the words she addressed to him.
"I thank you for coming to me, my Lord," she said; "but you will not
regret your kindness. We are quite alone, are we not? My eyes are so
dim that I cannot distinguish any object at the other end of the
room--but I can see you plainly enough, my dear Lord."
"We are alone, Elizabeth," replied Lord Roos, in a voice of some
emotion, after glancing around.
"Then I may speak freely," she continued. "What I predicted has
occurred. You did not do well, my dear Lord, to take that phial from

me and place it in other hands. Nay, start not! I know I am poisoned: I
have known it from the first. But I have made no effort to save myself,
for I was aware it was your will I should die."
"O, Elizabeth!" murmured her husband.
"I was aware of it," she repeated; "and as I have never voluntarily
disobeyed you, I would not now thwart your purpose, even though I
myself must be the sacrifice. It was to tell you this that I have sent for
you. It was to forgive--to bless you."
And as she spoke she threw her arms round his neck, and he felt his
cheek wet with her tears.
"This is more than I can bear," cried Lord Roos, in a voice suffocated
by emotion. "I thought I had firmness for anything; but it deserts me
entirely now. You are an angel of goodness, Elizabeth; as I am a demon
of darkness. I do not deserve your forgiveness."
"You will deserve it, if you will comply with the request I am about to
make to you," she rejoined, looking at him beseechingly.
"Whatever it be it shall be granted, if in my power," he rejoined
earnestly. "I would redeem your life, if I could, at the price of my own.
You have exorcised the evil spirit from me, Elizabeth."
"Then I shall die happy," she replied, with a smile of ineffable delight.
"But the request! What is it you would have me perform?" he asked.
"I would have you spare my mother," she replied. "I know she has been
dealt with in the same way as myself; but I also know there is yet time
to save her."
"It shall be done," said Lord Roos, emphatically. "Where is she?"
"In the adjoining chamber."
"Is Luke Hatton in attendance upon her?"

"In constant attendance," she rejoined. "That man has obeyed you well,
my Lord. But take heed of him: he is a dangerous weapon, and may
injure the hand that employs him. Strike gently upon that bell. He will
attend the summons."
Lord Roos complied; when, to his astonishment and dismay, the
curtains shrouding the entrance to the adjoining room were drawn aside,
and Lady Lake stalked from behind them. Never before had she
surveyed her son-in-law with such a glance of triumph as she threw
upon him now.
"You were mistaken you see, Elizabeth," said Lord Roos to his lady.
"Your mother needs no aid. She is perfectly well."
"Ay, well enough to confound you and all your wicked purposes, my
Lord," cried Lady Lake. "You have not accomplished my destruction,
as you perceive; nor shall you accomplish your wife's destruction,
though you have well-nigh succeeded. Let it chafe you to madness to
learn that I possess an antidote, which I have myself approved, and
which will kill the poison circling in her veins, and give her new life."
"An antidote!" exclaimed Lord Roos. "So far from galling me to
madness, the intelligence fills me with delight beyond expression. Give
it me, Madam, that I may administer it at once; and heaven grant its
results may be such as you predict!"
"Administered by you, my Lord, it would be poison," said Lady Lake,
bitterly. "But you may stand by and witness its beneficial effects. They
will be instantaneous."
"As you will, Madam, so you do not delay the application," cried Lord
Roos.
"Drink of this, my child," said Lady Lake, after she had poured some
drops of the cordial into a glass.
"I will take it from no hand but my husband's," murmured Lady Roos.

"How?" exclaimed her mother, frowning.
"Give it me, I say, Madam," cried Lord Roos. "Is this a time for
hesitation, when you see her life hangs upon a thread, which you
yourself may sever?"
And taking the glass from her, he held it to his wife's lips; tenderly
supporting her while she swallowed its contents.
It was not long before the effects of the cordial were manifest. The
deathly hue of the skin changed to a more healthful colour,