The Midnight Queen

"Amen!" said Sir Norman, impatiently. "If fear has not taken away your

wits, my good sir, will you tell me what old ruin that is I saw a little

above here as I rode up?"

The man started from his trance of terror, and glanced, first at the

fiery eyes in the corner, and then at Sir Norman, in evident trepidation

of the question.

"That ruin, sir? You must be a stranger in this place, surely, or you

would not need to ask that question."

"Well, suppose I am a stranger? What then?"

"Nothing, sir; only I thought everybody knew everything about that

ruin."

"But I do not, you see? So fill your glass again, and while you are

drinking it, just tell me what that everything comprises."

Again the landlord glanced fearfully st the fiery eyes in the corner,

and again hesitated.

"Well!" exclaimed Sir Norman, at once surprised and impatient at his

taciturnity, "Can't you speak man? I want you to tell me all about it."

"There is nothing to tell, sir," replied the host, goaded to

desperation. "It is an old, deserted ruin that's been here ever since I

remember; and that's all I know about it."

While, he spoke, the crouching shape in the corner reared itself

upright, and keeping his fiery eyes still glaring upon Sir Norman,

advanced into the light. Our young knight was in the act of raising his

glass to his lips; but as the apparition approached, he laid it down

again, untasted, and stared at it in the wildest surprise and intensest

curiosity. Truly, it was a singular-looking creature, not to say a

rather startling one. A dwarf of some four feet high, and at least five

feet broad across the shoulders, with immense arms and head--a giant in

everything but height. His immense skull was set on such a trifle of a

neck as to be scarcely worth mentioning, and was garnished by a violent

mat of coarse, black hair, which also overran the territory of his

cheeks and chin, leaving no neutral ground but his two fiery eyes and

a broken nose all twisted awry. On a pair of short, stout legs he wore

immense jack-boots, his Herculean shoulders and chest were adorned with

a leathern doublet, and in the belt round his waist were conspicuously

stuck a pair of pistols and a dagger. Altogether, a more ugly or

sinister gentleman of his inches it would have been hard to find in all

broad England. Stopping deliberately before Sir Norman, he placed a hand

on each hip, and in a deep, guttural voice, addressed him: "So, sir knight--for such I perceive you are--you are anxious to know

something of that old ruin yonder?"

"Well," said Sir Norman, so far recovering from his surprise as to be

able to speak, "suppose I am? Have you anything to say against it, my

little friend?"