THE WEIRD SISTERS. A Romance. BY RICHARD DOWLING, AUTHOR OF "THE MYSTERY OF KILLARD." In Three Volumes. VOL. II. LONDON: TINSLEY BROTHERS, 8, CATHERINE ST., STRAND. 1880. [_All rights reserved._] CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, GREAT NEW STREET, LONDON. TO EDMOND POWER, ESQ., OF SPRINGFIELD, Whose kindness to Mine and to Me I SHALL NEVER FORGET WHILE I AM. CONTENTS. Part I.--A Plain Gold Guard--_continued_. XII.--THE SHADOW OF THE TOWER OF SILENCE 1 XIII.--ON BOARD THE STEAMSHIP RODWELL 26 XIV.--ON THE RIVER 42 XV.--THE FUTURE AS IT SEEMED 59 XVI.--THE PRESENT AS IT WAS 80 XVII.--THE ASCENT OF THE TOWER OF SILENCE 95 XVIII.--ON THE TOP 113 Part II.--The Towers of Silence. I.--A STRANGER AT THE CASTLE 127 II.--THE READING OF THE WILL 148 III.--"COUSIN MAUD"--"NO; MAUD" 173 IV.--THE TWO GUARDIANS 200 V.--THE INDEFINITE PRESENT 216 VI.--THE TYRANNICAL PAST 235 THE WEIRD SISTERS. PART I. A PLAIN GOLD GUARD. CHAPTER XII. THE SHADOW ON THE TOWER OF SILENCE. After giving way to the feelings which had overwhelmed him in the passage, and which had almost betrayed him at the bedside, Grey, by a great effort, collected himself and walked soberly and deliberately until he found the grand staircase of the Castle. This he descended, and when he reached the bottom hastily sought the courtyard, and from the courtyard the grounds. "I thought it would have killed me in that room. I wish it had," he whispered to himself, as he passed aimlessly over the short dry grass. "No, no, no, no, no! I must not think of it. I must think of something else." He was now beyond the range of the Castle windows, in a little fern-clad hollow above a miniature cove. "Who said I was a coward?" he demanded, in a loud harsh voice, looking fiercely round on the cool silver river that lisped soft whispers at his feet and made low melodious concord of its rippling surge, filling the ear with memories of the far-off sea. "Who said I was a coward?" He repeated the question to the grave oaks standing above him, motionless and voiceless against the opal ocean of the unclouded sky. "No coward. I never quailed. I never winced. I held up my head as fearlessly as any undaunted soldier kneeling upon his coffin facing the firing-party. I was not afraid of anything. I only thought I should die there and then. I am sorry I did not die."