The buzz of agitation attracted instant attention; the whisper was loud enough to catch the ears of several; the news went rapidly kindling through the room that the company was too many by one: all the ladies trembled, their knees shook, their voices failed, they stopped in the very middle of questions, answers halted for their conclusion and were never more remembered by either party; the very music began to falter, the lights seemed to wane and sicken; for the fact was now too evident – that The Masque had kept his appointment, and was at this moment in the room, ›to meet the Landgrave and his honourable company.‹

Adorni and the Landgrave now walked apart from the rest of the household, and were obviously consulting together on the next step to be taken, or on the proper moment for executing one which had already been decided on. Some crisis seemed approaching, and the knees of many ladies knocked together, as they anticipated some cruel or bloody act of vengeance. »Oh, poor Masque!« sighed a young lady in her tender-hearted concern for one who seemed now at the mercy of his enemies; »Do you think, sir,« addressing her partner, »they will cut him to pieces?« – »Oh, that wicked old Adorni!« exclaimed another; »I know he will stick the poor Masque on one side, and somebody else will stick him on the other; I know he will, because The Masque called him a tailor: do you think he was a tailor, sir?« – »Why, really, madam, he walks like a tailor; but then he must be a very bad one, considering how ill his own clothes are made; and that, you know, is next door to being none at all. But see, his Highness is going to stop the music.«

In fact, at that moment the Landgrave made a signal to the orchestra; the music ceased abruptly; and his Highness advancing to the company, who stood eagerly awaiting his words, said – »Illustrious and noble friends! for a very urgent and special cause I will request of you all to take your seats.«

The company obeyed: every one sought the chair next to him, or, if a lady, accepted that which was offered by the cavalier at her side. The slanders continually diminished. Two hundred were left, one hundred and fifty, eighty, sixty, twenty, till at last they were reduced to two, – both gentlemen, who had been attending upon ladies. They were suddenly aware of their own situation. One chair only remained out of twelve hundred. Eager to exonerate himself from suspicion, each sprang furiously to this seat; each attained it at the same moment, and each possessed himself of part at the same instant. As they happened to be two elderly corpulent men, the younger cavaliers, under all the restraints of the moment, the panic of the company, and the Landgrave's presence, could not forbear laughing; and the more spirited amongst the young ladies caught the infection.

His Highness was little in a temper to brook this levity; and hastened to relieve the joint occupants of the chair from the ridicule of their situation. »Enough!« he exclaimed, »enough! all my friends are requested to resume the situation most agreeable to them; my purpose is answered.« – The Prince was himself standing with all his household, and, as a point of respect, all the company rose. (»As you were,« whispered the young soldiers to their fair companions.)

Adorni now came forward. »It is known,« said he, »by trials more than sufficient, that some intruder, with the worst intentions, has crept into this honourable company. The ladies present will therefore have the goodness to retire apart to the lower end of the saloon, whilst the noble cavaliers will present themselves in succession to six officers of his Highness's household, to whom they will privately communicate their names and quality.«

This arrangement was complied with, not however without the exchange of a few flying jests on the part of the younger cavaliers and their fair partners, as they separated for the purpose. The cavaliers, who were rather more than five hundred in number, went up as they were summoned by the number marked upon their cards of admission, and, privately communicating with some one of the officers appointed, were soon told off, and filed away to the right of the Landgrave, waiting for the signal which should give them permission to rejoin their parties.

All had been now told off, within a score. These were clustered together in a group; and in that group undoubtedly was The Masque. Every eye was converged upon this small knot of cavaliers; each of the spectators, according to his fancy, selected the one who came nearest in dress, or in personal appearance, to his preconceptions of that mysterious agent. Not a word was uttered, not a whisper; hardly a robe was heard to rustle, or a feather to wave.

The twenty were rapidly reduced to twelve, these to six, the six to four – three – two; the tale of the invited was complete, and one man remained behind. That was, past doubting, The Masque!

 

 

Chapter XVI

»There stands he that governs Klosterheim by night!« thought every cavalier, as he endeavoured to pierce the gloomy being's concealment, with penetrating eyes, or by scrutiny ten times repeated, to unmasque the dismal secrets which lurked beneath his disguise. »There stands the gloomy murderer!« thought another. »There stands the poor detected criminal,« thought the pitying young ladies, »who in the next moment must lay bare his breast to the Landgrave's musketeers.«

The figure meantime stood tranquil and collected, apparently not in the least disturbed by the consciousness of his situation, or the breathless suspense of more than a thousand spectators of rank and eminent station, all bending their looks upon himself. He had been leaning against a marble column, as if wrapped up in reverie, and careless of everything about him. But, when the dead silence announced that the ceremony was closed, that he only remained to answer for himself, and upon palpable proof – evidence not to be gainsaid – incapable of answering satisfactorily; when in fact it was beyond dispute that here was at length revealed, in bodily presence, before the eyes of those whom he had so long haunted with terrors, The Masque of Klosterheim, – it was naturally expected that now at least he would show alarm and trepidation; that he would prepare for defence, or address himself to instant flight.

Far otherwise! – cooler than any one person beside in the saloon, he stood, like the marble column against which he had been reclining, upright – massy – and imperturbable. He was enveloped in a voluminous mantle, which at this moment, with a leisurely motion, he suffered to fall at his feet, and displayed a figure in which the grace of an Antinous met with the columnar strength of a Grecian Hercules, – presenting, in its tout ensemble, the majestic proportions of a Jupiter. He stood – a breathing statue of gladiatorial beauty, towering above all who were near him, and eclipsing the noblest specimens of the human form which the martial assembly presented. A buzz of admiration arose, which in the following moment was suspended by the dubious recollections investing his past appearances, and the terror which waited even on his present movements. He was armed to the teeth; and he was obviously preparing to move.

Not a word had yet been spoken; so tumultuous was the succession of surprises, so mixed and conflicting the feelings, so intense the anxiety. The arrangement of the groups was this: – At the lower half of the room, but starting forward in attitudes of admiration or suspense, were the ladies of Klosterheim. At the upper end, in the centre, one hand raised to bespeak attention, was The Masque of Klosterheim. To his left, and a little behind him, with a subtle Venetian countenance, one hand waving back a half file of musketeers, and the other raised as if to arrest the arm of The Masque, was the wily minister Adorni – creeping nearer and nearer with a stealthy stride.