It is one of the most extraordinary anomalies in the female character,
that, having once outstepped the boundaries that are never even thought
upon but with danger, it plunges deeper and deeper still into
irretrievable ruin. Perhaps it is because women must feel most acutely
that society never permits them to retrieve, or, what is much the same,
takes no cognisance of their repentance, be it ever so sincere: their
station once lost is never to be regained; it would seem as if Dante's
inscription on the gates of Hell were to be for ever their motto--"All
hope abandon." Man may err, and err, and be forgiven; but poor woman,
with all his temptations and but half his strength, is placed beyond the
pale of earthly salvation if she be but once tempted into crime! It is a
hard, even though it may be a salutary law.
It must be borne in mind that Zillah had committed as great an iniquity
in the eyes of her people by marrying as by intriguing; nor could she
expect pardon for either one or the other, except by some wonderful and
powerful interposition, such as Burrell held out. It was astonishing to
witness the fortitude with which the fragile and delicate Jewess, who
had been clothed in purple and fine linen, fed on the most costly
viands, and slept on the most downy couch, encountered the illness,
terrors, and miseries attendant on a sea voyage in the vessel of a
Buccaneer. The Fire-fly certainly deserved every encomium bestowed upon
her by her captain; yet was she not the most pleasing residence for a
delicately-nurtured female. No murmur escaped her sealed lips, nor, in
fact, did she perceive the inconveniences by which she was surrounded;
her mind was wholly bent upon the prevention of Sir Willmott Burrell's
marriage, of which she had heard from undoubted authority; and it would
appear that she had no feelings, no ideas to bestow upon, or power to
think of, other things.
Jeromio's plotting but weak mind, never satisfied with the present,
eager for the future, and anxious to make it better by foul means, had
contrived to bring into use an abandoned excavation under the old tower
we have so frequently mentioned, which had been forsaken by Hugh
Dalton's party from its extreme dampness. They had filled the entrance
with fragments of rock and large stones; but it was known to Jeromio,
who, thinking that during his occasional visits to Gull's Nest he might
manage to smuggle a little on his own account, assisted by two other
Italians as evil-minded as himself, arranged the stones so as to permit
one person at a time to creep into the wretched hole, where he stowed
away such parts of the cargo of the Fire-fly as he could purloin from
his too-confiding commander. He admitted Zillah to a knowledge of this
cave, as a place in which she might shelter. He knew her to be a female
of wealth and consequence; yet had no idea of her connection with the
Master of Burrell, whom he had rarely seen; and though of necessity she
occasionally mixed with the people of the Gull's Nest, yet she expressed
so strong a desire for some place of privacy in the neighbourhood of
Cecil Place, and paid so liberally for it withal, that he confided to
her the secret of this cave--the entrance to which was nearly under the
window of the tower in which Barbara Iverk had been concealed on the
night when, by her lady's direction, she sought to communicate to Robin
Hays the perilous situation of the young Cavalier. At that time, also,
the Jewess saw Sir Willmott for the first time in England. She had been
on the watch ever since her landing, but terror for her own wretched
life had prevented her addressing him openly. The tones of his
well-known voice had reached her miserable cavern, and roused her from a
troubled slumber. She understood too little of his language to
comprehend the nature of his communication to Roupall, and her first
impulse was to strike a dagger to his heart; but this, her womanly
affection prevented, and she suddenly withdrew. Subsequently, she wrote
to Mrs. Constantia, and trusted much to her generosity and truth of
character, of which she had heard in France; but poor Constance, through
the cowardice of Jeromio, never received her packet, and, enraged and
maddened by the reports of his immediate marriage, she resolved on
seeing Mistress Cecil, and accomplished her purpose, as she thought,
when in fact she only saw Barbara. Her jealousy and violence defeated
her purpose at that time; but still her determination remained fixed to
prevent the union, if her life were to be the forfeit. After meeting
with the knight, she retreated into the earth, from which she had so
suddenly appeared, much to the Master of Burrell's astonishment, who had
no knowledge whatever of the cave, though he doubted not it was of
Dalton's preparing. After securing the preacher, he examined every
portion of the ruins most attentively, but without success, for she had
learned to be as wily as a fox, and had carefully secured the aperture,
through which even her delicate form passed with difficulty.