Mrs. Trevennack uttered a little cry, half sob, half wail, as she
looked out of the window and, under the gas-lamps opposite, recognized
through the mist the form of Walter Tyrrel.
But Trevennack didn't rush out at him as she feared and believed he
would. He only stood still in his place and glared at his enemy. "Not
now," he said, slowly; "not now, on Cleer's wedding day. But some other
time--more suitable. I hear it in my ears; I hear the voice still
ringing: 'Go, Michael, of celestial armies prince!' I can't disobey. I
shall go in due time. I shall fight the enemy."
And he sank back in his chair, with his eyes staring wildly.
For the next week or two, while Cleer wrote home happy letters from
Paris, Innsbruck, Milan, Venice, Florence, poor Mrs. Trevennack was
tortured inwardly with another terrible doubt; had Michael's state
become so dangerous at last that he must be put under restraint as a
measure of public security? For Walter Tyrrel's sake, ought she to make
his condition known to the world at large--and spoil Cleer's honeymoon?
She shrank from that final necessity with a deadly shrinking. Day after
day she put the discovery off, and solaced her soul with the best
intentions--as what true woman would not?
But we know where good intentions go. On the morning of the
twenty-ninth, which is Michaelmas Day, the poor mother rose in fear and
trembling. Michael, to all outward appearance, was as sane as usual. He
breakfasted and went down to the office, as was his wont.
When he arrived there, however, he found letters from Falmouth awaiting
him with bad news. His presence was needed at once. He must miss his
projected visit to St. Michael's, Cornhill. He must go down to Cornwall.
Hailing a cab at the door he hastened back to Paddington just in time
for the Cornish express. This was surely a call. The words rang in his
ears louder and clearer than ever, "Go, Michael, of celestial armies
prince!" He would go and obey them. He would trample under foot this
foul fiend that masqueraded in human shape as his dear boy's murderer.
He would wield once more that huge two-handed sword, brandished aloft,
wide-wasting, in unearthly warfare. He would come out in his true shape
before heaven and earth as the chief of the archangels.
Stepping into a first-class compartment he found himself, unluckily for
his present mood, alone. All the way down to Exeter the fit was on him.
He stood up in the carriage, swaying his unseen blade, celestial temper
fine, and rolling forth in a loud voice Miltonic verses of his old
encounters in heaven with the powers of darkness.
"Now waved their fiery swords, and in the air
Made horrid circles; two broad suns their shields
Blazed opposite, while expectation stood
In horror."
He mouthed out the lines in a perfect ecstasy of madness. It was
delightful to be alone. He could give his soul full vent. He knew he
was mad. He knew he was an archangel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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