Under the Red Dragon: A Novel
Some fifteen miles southward from Craigaderyn is a quaint and singular
village named Dinas Mowddwy, situated very strangely on the shelf of a
steep mountain overlooking the Dyfi stream--a lofty spot commanding a
view of the three beautiful valleys of the Ceryst; but this place was
in past times the abode and fortress of a peculiar and terrible tribe,
called the Gwylliad Cochion, or Red-haired Robbers, who made all North
Wales, but more particularly their own district, a by-word and
reproach, from the great extent and savage nature of the outrages they
committed by fire and sword; so that to this day, we are told, there
may be seen, in some of the remote mountain hamlets, more especially
in Cemmaes near the sea, the well-sharpened scythe-blades, which were
placed in the chimney-corners overnight, to be ready for them in case
of a sudden attack. They were great crossbowmen, those outlaws, and
never failed in their aim; and so, like the broken clans upon the
Highland border, they levied black mail on all, till the night of the
1st of March, 1534; when, during a terrific storm of thunder,
lightning, and wind, Sir Jorwerth Lloyd of Craigaderyn, John Wynne ap
Meredydd, and a baron named Owen, scaled the mountain at the head of
their followers, fell on them sword in hand, and after slaying a great
number, hung one hundred of them in a row. One wretched mother, a
red-haired Celt, begged hard and piteously to have her youngest son
spared; but Sir Jorwerth was relentless, so the young robber perished
with the rest. Then the woman rent her garments, and laying bare her
bosom, said it had nursed other sons and daughters, who would yet wash
their hands in the blood of them all. Owen was waylaid and slain by
them at a place named to this day Llidiart-y-Barwn, or the Baron's
Gate, and Meredydd fell soon after; but for Lloyd the woman, who was a
reputed witch, had prepared another fate, as if aiming at the
destruction of his soul as well as his body; for after his marriage
with Gwerfyl Owen, he fell madly in love with a golden-haired girl
whom he met when hunting in the forest near Craigaderyn; and as he
immediately relinquished all attendance at church and all forms of
prayer, and seemed to be besotted by her, the girl was averred to be
an evil spirit, as she was never seen save in his company, and then
only (by those who watched and lurked) "in the glimpses of the moon."
On the third St. David's eve after the slaughter at Dinas Mowddwy, he
was seated with Gwerfyl in her chamber, listening to a terrific storm
of wind and rain that swept through the valley, overturning the oldest
trees, and shaking the walls of the ancient house, while the lightning
played above the dim summits of Snowdon, and every mountain stream and
_rhaidr_, or cataract, rolled in foam and flood to Llyn Alwen or the
Conway.
On a tabourette near his knee she sat, lovingly clasping his hand
between her own two, for he seemed restless, petulant, and gloomy, and
had his cloak and cap at hand, as if about to go forth, though the
weather was frightful.
"Jorwerth," said she softly, "the last time there was such a storm as
this was on that terrible night--you remember?"
"When we cut off the Gwylliad Cochion--yes, root and branch, sparing,
as we thought, none, while the rain ran through my armour as through a
waterspout. But why speak of it, to-night especially? Yes, root and
branch, even while that woman vowed vengeance," he added, grinding his
teeth. "But what sound is that?"
"Music," she replied, rising and looking round with surprise; but his
tremulous hand, and, more than that, the sudden pallor of his face,
arrested her, while the strains of a small harp, struck wildly and
plaintively, came at times between the fierce gusts of wind that shook
the forest trees and the hiss of the rain on the window-panes without.
Louder they seemed to come, and to be more emphatic and sharp; and, as
he heard them, a violent trembling and cold perspiration came over all
the form of Sir Jorwerth Lloyd.
"Heaven pity the harper who is abroad to-night!" said Gwerfyl,
clasping her white hands.
"Let Hell do so, rather!" was the fierce response of her husband, as
his eyes filled with a strange light.
At that moment a hand knocked on the window, and the startled wife, as
she crouched by her husband's side, could see that it was small and
delicate, wondrously beautiful too, and radiant with gems or
glittering raindrops; and now her husband trembled more violently than
ever.
Gwerfyl crossed herself, and rushed to the window.
"Strange," said she; "I can see no one."
"No one in human form, perhaps," replied her husband gloomily, as he
lifted his cloak. "Look again, dear wife."
The lady did so, and fancied that close to the window-pane she could
see a female face--anon she could perceive that it was small and
beautiful, with hair of golden red, all wavy, and, strange to say,
unwetted by the rain, and with eyes that were also of golden red, but
with a devilish smile and glare, and glitter in them and over all her
features, as they appeared, but to vanish, as the successive flashes
of lightning passed. With terror and foreboding of evil, she turned to
her startled husband. He was a pale and handsome man, with an aquiline
nose, a finely-cut mouth and chin; but now his lips were firmly
compressed, a flashing and fiery light seemed to sparkle in his eyes,
his forehead was covered with lines, and the veins of his temples were
swollen, while his black hair and moustache seemed to have actually
become streaked with gray. What unknown emotion caused all this? There
were power and passion in his bearing; but something strange, and
dark, and demon-like was brooding in his soul. The white drops
glittered on his brow as he threw his cloak about him, and _then_ the
notes of the harp were heard, as if struck triumphantly and joyously.
"Stay, stay! leave me not!" implored his wife on her knees, in a
sudden access of terror and pity, that proved greater even than love.
"I cannot--I cannot! God pardon me and bless you, dear, dear wife, but
go I must!"
("Exactly like Rudolph, as we saw him last night in the opera,
breaking away from his followers when he heard the voice of Lurline
singing amid the waters of the Rhine," added Winifred in a
parenthesis, as she laid her hand timidly on my arm.)
She strove on her knees to place in his hand the small ivory-bound
volume of prayers which ladies then carried slung by a chain at their
girdle, even as a watch is now; but he thrust it aside, as if it
scorched his fingers. Then he kissed her wildly, and broke away.
She sprang from the floor, but he was gone--gone swiftly into the
forest; and with sorrow and prayer in her heart his wife stealthily
followed him. By this time the sudden storm had as suddenly ceased;
already the gusty wind had died away, and no trace of it remained,
save the strewn leaves and a quivering in the dripping branches; the
white clouds were sailing through the blue sky, and whiter still, in
silvery sheen 'the moonlight fell aslant in patches through the
branches on the glittering grass. Amid that sheen she saw the dark
figure of her husband passing, gliding onward to the old oak tree, and
Gwerfyl shrunk behind another, as the notes of the infernal harp--for
such she judged it to be--fell upon her ear.
"You have come, my beloved," said a sweet voice; and she saw the same
strangely-beautiful girl with the red-golden hair, her skin of
wondrous whiteness, and eyes that glittered with devilish triumph,
though to Jorwerth Du they seemed only filled with ardour and the
light of passionate love, even as the beauty of her form seemed all
round and white and perfect; but lo! to the eyes of his wife, who was
under _no spell_, that form was fast becoming like features in a
dissolving view, changed to that of extreme old age--gray hairs and
wrinkles seemed to come with every respiration; for this mysterious
love, who had bewitched her husband, was some evil spirit or demon of
the woods.
"How long you have been!" said she reproachfully, for even the
sweetness of her tone had suddenly passed away; "so long that already
age seems to have come upon me."
"Pardon me; have I not sworn to love you for ever and ever, though
neither of us is immortal?"
"You are ready?" said she, laying her head on his breast.
"Yes, my own wild love!"
"Then let us go."
All beauty of form had completely passed away, and now Gwerfyl saw her
handsome husband in the arms of a very hag; hollow-cheeked, toothless,
almost fleshless, with restless shifty eyes, and grey elf-locks like
the serpents of Medusa; a hag beyond all description hideous: and her
long, lean, shrivelled arms she wound lovingly and triumphantly around
him. Her eyes gleamed like two live coals as he kissed her wildly and
passionately from time to time, the full blaze of the moonlight
streaming upon both their forms.
Gwerfyl strove to pray, to cry aloud, to move. But her tongue refused
its office, and her lips were powerless; all capability of volition
had left her, and she was as it were rooted to the spot. A moment
more, and a dark cloud came over the moon, causing a deeper shadow
under the old oak tree. Then a shriek escaped her, and when again the
moon shone forth on the green grass and the gnarled tree, Gwerfyl
alone was there--her husband and the hag had disappeared. Neither was
ever seen more. North Wales is the most primitive portion of the
country, and it is there that such fancies and memories still linger
longest; and such was the little family legend told me by Winifred
Lloyd. I was thinking over it now, recalling the earnest expression of
her bright soft face and intelligent eyes, and the tone of her
pleasantly modulated voice, when she, half laughingly and half
seriously, had related it, with more point than I can give it, while
we sat in a corner and somewhat apart from every one--on the first
night I met the Cressinghams--in a crowded London ballroom, amid the
heat, the buzz, and crush of the season--about the last place in the
world to hear a story of _diablerie_; and "the old time" seemed to
come again, as I descended to the drawing-room, to meet her and Lady
Estelle.
CHAPTER VI.--THREE GRACES.
Already having met and been welcomed by my host and his daughters, my
first glances round the room were in search of Lady Estelle and her
mother. About eighteen persons were present, mostly gentlemen, and I
instinctively made my way to where she I sought was seated, idling
over a book of prints. Two or three gentlemen were exclusively in
conversation with her; Sir Madoc, who was now in evening costume, for
one.
"Come, Harry," said he, "here is a fair friend to whom I wish to
present you."
"You forget, Sir Madoc, that I said we had met before; Mr. Hardinge
and I are almost old friends--the friends of a season, at least,"
said Lady Estelle, presenting her hand to me with a bright but
calm and decidedly conventional smile, and with the most perfect
self-possession.
"It makes me so very happy to meet you again," said I in a low voice,
the tone of which she could not mistake.
"Mamma, too, will be _so_ delighted--you were quite a favourite with
her."
I bowed, as if accepting for fact a sentiment of which I was extremely
doubtful, and then after a little pause she added,--
"Mamma always preferred your escort, you remember."
Of that I was aware, when she wished to leave some more eligible
_parti_--old Lord Pottersleigh, for instance--to take charge of her
daughter.
"I am so pleased that we are to see a little more of you, ere you
depart for the East; whence, I hear, you are bound," said she after a
little pause.
Simple though the words, they made my heart beat happily, and I