Among the Ashes; or, Doomsday (with illustration) (Christmas Supplement) [pp. A001-A032]

8
AffONU TffB A~ffES.
[C~nisv~As,
Vampire that she is, can you deny the
evidence of your own senses?"
"No! no! " roared the crowd, hoarsely,` she is a vampire-a creature cursed
by God, and the enemy of man; away
with lier to the pit! She must die as
she lias made others to die!
"What is themeaningof all this?"
said Madame Cabanel, rising and facing
the crowd with the true courage of an
Englishwoman. "What harm have I
done to any of you that you should come
about me, in the absence of my husband,
with these angry looks and insolent
words?"
"What harm hast thou done!" cried
old Martin. "Sorceress as thou art, thou
bast bewitched our good master, and,
vampire as thou art, thou nourishest thyself on our blood. llave we not proof
of that at this very moment? Look at
thy mouil~-curse~ broucolaque; and
here lies thy victim, who accuses thee
in his death!"
Fanny laughed scornfully. "I cannot
condescend to answer such folly," she
said, lifting her head. "Are you men
or children?"
"We are men, madame," said Legros, the miller; "and being men we
must protect our weak ones. We have
all had our doubts-and who more cause
tban I, with three little ones taken to
heaven before their time?-and now we
are
"Because I have nursed a dying
child, and done my best to soothe him!"
said Madame Cabanel, with unconscious
pathos.
No more words!" cried Adele,
dragging her by the arm she had never
let go. " To the pit with her, my
friends, if you wouI~ not see all your
children die as mine has died, as our
good Legros's have died!"
A kind of shudder shook the crowd,
and a groan, that sounded in itself a
curse, burst from them.
"To il~e pit! " ffiey cried. "Let the
demons take their own!"
Quick as thougift Ado in pinioned the
strong white arms; end before the poor
girl could utter more than one cry Legros had placed his brawny band over
her mouth. Though this destruction of
a monster was not the murder of a
human being in b mind, or in the
mind of any there, still they did not
care to have their iierves disturbed by
cries that sounded so h~man as Madaine
Cabanel's. Silent, tiien, and gloomy,
that dreadful corte&ce took its way to il~e
forest, carrying its living load, gagged
and helpless as if it liad been a corpse,
among them. Save with Adele and old
Martin, it was not so much personal ani
mosity as the instinctive self-defence of
fear that animated them. They were
executioners, not enemies; and the executioners of a more righteous law than
that allowed by tlie national code. But
one by one they dropped ow, till their
numbers were reduced to six, of whom
Legros was one, and Lesonef, who had
lost his only sister, another.
The pit was not more than an English
mile from the Maison Cabanel. It was
a dark and lonesome spot, where not the
bravest man of all that assembly would
have dared to go alone after nightfall;
but a multitude gives courage, said old
Martin Briolic; and half a dozen stalwart men, led by such a woman as Adele,
were not afraid of even lutins or the
White Ladies.
As swiftly as they could for the burden they bore, and all in utter silence,
the corte'~e strode over the moor, one or
two of them carrying rude torches; for
the night was black, and the way was
not without its natural dangers. -Nearer
and nearer they came to the fatal bourn,
and heavier grew the weight of their
victim. She had long ceased to struggle,
and now lay as if dead in the hands of
her bearers. But no one spoke of this
or of aught else. Not a word was cxchanged between them.
The way got darker, the distance betwo en them and the place of execution
shorter; and at last il~ey reached the
border of the pit where this fearful monster, this vampire-poor, innocent Fanny
Cabanel-was to be fl~rown. As they
lowered her, the light of their torches
fell on her face.
"Grand Dien! " cried Legros, taking
off his cap; "she is dead!"
"A vampire cannot die," said Adele.
"It is only an appearance. Ask Father
Martin."
A vampire cannot die unless the
evil spirits take her, or she is buried
with a stake thrust through her body,"
said Maftin Briolic, sententiously.
"I don't like the look of it," said Legros; and so said some others.
They had taken the bandage from the
mouth of the poor girl, and as she lay, in
the flickering light, her blue eyes halfop en, and her pale face white wfth the
whiteness of death, a little return of hnman f~Aing among them shook them as
if the wind had passed over fl~em.
Suddenly they heard the sound of
horses' hoofs thundering across the plain.
They counted two, four, six; and they
were now only four unarmed men, with
Martin and Adde to make up the nm~her Between the vengeance of man
and the power and malice of the wooddemons, their courage faded, and their
presence of mind deserted them. Legros
rushed frantically into the darkness of
the forest, and Lesoue.~f followed him;
the two others fled over the plain, while
the horsemen came nearer and nearer.
Only Adele and Martin Briolic stood
their ground; Adele holding the torch
high above her head, to show herself in
her swarthy passion and revenge, and
the dead body of her victim, more clearly. She wanted no concealment; she
had done her work, and she gloried in it.
Then the horsemen came plunging to
them; Jules Cabanel the first, followed
by the doctor, and four gardes-champetres.
"Wretches! murderers!" was all he
said, as he flung himself from his horse,
and raised her pale face to his lips.
"Master," said Adele, "she deserved
to die. She is a vampire, and she has
killed our child."
"Fool!" cried Jules Cabanel, flinging off her Ii and. "Oh, my loved wife,
thou, who did no harm to man or beast,
to be murdered now by men who are
worse than beasts!
"She was killing thee," said Adele.
"Ask monsieur le docteur. What ailed
the master, monsieur?"
"Do not bring me into this infamy,"
said the doctor, looking up from fl~e
dead. "Whatever ailed monsieur, she
ought n~t to be here! You have made
yourself her judge and executioner,
Adele, and you must answer for it to the
law."
"You say this, too, master," said
Adele.
"I say so, too," returned Monsieur
Cabanel. "To the law you must answer
for the innocent life you have so cruelly
taken-you, and all the fools and murderers you have joined to you."
"And.there is to be no vengeance for
our child?"
"Would you revenge yourself on
God, ~~~~~~~` said Monsieur Cabanel,
sternly
"And our past years of love, master?"
"Are memories of hate, Adele," said
Monsieur Cabanel, as he turned again to
the pale face of his dead wife.
"Then my place is vacant," said
Adele, with a bitter cry. "Ah, my little
Adoiphe, it is well thou went before!"
"llold, Ma'ame Adele! "cried Martin.
But, before a hand could be stretched
out, with one bound, one shriek, she had
flung herself into the pit where she had
hoped to bury Madame Cabanel; and
they heard her body strike the water at
the boftom with a dull splash, as of something falling from a great distance.
"They can prove nothing against me,