Ricardo's Repentance.
{Bottle of weapon salve: p109.jpg}
The queen, as it happened fortunately, was lunching with one of the
ladies of her Court. Ricardo did not come down to luncheon, and
Jaqueline ate hers alone; and very mournful she felt. The prince had
certainly not come well out of the adventure. He had failed (as all
attempts to restore the Stuarts always did); he had been wounded, though
he had never received a scratch in any of his earlier exploits; and if
his honour was safe, and his good intentions fully understood, that was
chiefly due to Jaqueline, and to the generosity of King James and Prince
Charles.
"I wonder what he's doing?" she said to herself, and at last she went up
and knocked at Ricardo's door.
"Go away," he said; "I don't want to see anybody. Who is it?"
"It's only me--Jaqueline."
{"It's only me": p111.jpg}
"Go away! I want nobody."
"Do let me in, dear Dick; I have good news for you," said the princess.
"What is it?" said Ricardo, unlocking the door. "Why do you bother a
fellow so?"
He had been crying--his hand obviously hurt him badly; he looked, and
indeed he was, very sulky.
"How did you get on in England, Dick?" asked the princess, taking no
notice of his bandaged hand.
"Oh, don't ask me!" said Ricardo. "I've not been to England at all."
"Why, what happened?"
"Everything that is horrid happened," said Dick; and then, unable to keep
it any longer to himself, he said: "I've failed to keep my promise; I've
been insulted, I've been beaten by a fellow younger than myself; and, oh!
how my hand does hurt, and I've got such a headache! And what am I to
say to my mother when she asks why my arm is in a sling? and what will my
father say? I'm quite broken down and desperate. I think I'll run away
to sea;" and indeed he looked very wild and miserable.
"Tell me how it all happened, Dick," said the princess; "I'm sure it's
not so bad as you make out. Perhaps I can help you."
"How can a girl help a man?" cried Dick, angrily; and poor Jaqueline,
remembering how she _had_ helped him, at the risk of her own life, when
King James nearly crushed her in the shape of a mosquito, turned her head
away, and cried silently.
"I'm a beast," said Dick. "I beg your pardon, Jack dear. You are always
a trump, I will say; but I don't see what you can do."
Then he told her all the story (which, of course, she knew perfectly well
already), except the part played by the mosquito, of which he could not
be aware.
"I was sure it was not so bad as you made it out, Dick," she said. "You
see, the old king, who is not very wise, but is a perfectly honourable
gentleman, gave you the highest praise." She thought of lecturing him a
little about disobeying his father, but it did not seem a good
opportunity. Besides, Jaqueline had been lectured herself lately, and
had not enjoyed it.
"What am I to say to my mother?" Dick repeated.
"We must think of something to say," said Jaqueline.
"I can't tell my mother anything but the truth," Ricardo went on. "Here's
my hand, how it does sting! and she must find out."
"I think I can cure it," said Jaqueline. "Didn't you say Prince Charles
gave you his own sword?"
"Yes, there it is; but what has that to do with it?"
"Everything in the world to do with it, my dear Dick. How lucky it is
that he gave it to you!"
And she ran to her own room, and brought a beautiful golden casket, which
contained her medicines.
Taking out a small phial, marked (in letters of emerald):
"WEAPON SALVE,"
the princess drew the bright sword, extracted a little of the ointment
from the phial, and spread it on a soft silk handkerchief.
"What are you going to do with the sword?" asked Ricardo.
"Polish it a little," said Jaqueline, smiling, and she began gently to
rub, with the salve, the point of the rapier.
As she did so, Ricardo's arm ceased to hurt, and the look of pain passed
from his mouth.
"Why, I feel quite better!" he said. "I can use my hand as well as
ever."
Then he took off the stained handkerchief, and, lo, there was not even a
mark where the wound had been! For this was the famous Weapon Salve
which you may read about in Sir Kenelm Digby, and which the Lady of
Branxholme used, in _The Lay of the Last Minstrel_. But the secret of
making it has long been lost, except in Pantouflia.
"You are the best girl in the world, Jaqueline," said Ricardo. "You may
give me a kiss if you like; and I won't call you 'Jack,' or laugh at you
for reading books, any more. There's something in books after all."
The princess did not take advantage of Dick's permission, but advised him
to lie down and try to sleep.
"I say, though," he said, "what about my father?"
"The king need never be told anything about it," said Jaqueline, "need
he?"
"Oh, that won't do! I tell my father everything; but then, I never had
anything like this to tell him before. Don't you think, Jaqueline, you
might break it to him? He's very fond of you. Just tell him what I told
you; it's every word of it true, and he ought to know. He might see
something about it in the _Mercure de France_."
This was the newspaper of the period.
"I don't think it will get into the papers," said Jaqueline, smiling.
"Nobody could tell, except the king and the princes, and they have
reasons for keeping it to themselves."
"I don't trust that younger one," said Dick, moodily; "I don't care for
that young man. Anyway, my father _must_ be told; and, if you won't, I
must."
"Well, I'll tell him," said Jaqueline. "And now lie down till evening."
After dinner, in the conservatory, Jaqueline told King Prigio all about
it.
His Majesty was very much moved.
"What extraordinary bad luck that family has!" he thought. "If I had not
changed the rug, the merest accident, Prince Charles would have dined at
St. James's to-night, and King George in Hanover. It was the very
nearest thing!"
"This meddling with practical affairs will never do," he said aloud.
"Dick has had a lesson, sire," said the princess. "He says he'll never
mix himself up with politics again, whatever happens. And he says he
means to study all about them, for he feels frightfully ignorant, and,
above all, he means to practise his fencing."
These remarks were not part of the conversation between Ricardo and
Jaqueline, but she considered that Dick _meant_ all this, and, really, he
did.
"That is well, as far as it goes," said the king. "But, Jaqueline, about
that mosquito?" for she had told him this part of the adventure. "That
was a very convenient mosquito, though I don't know how Dick was able to
observe it from any distance. I see _your_ hand in that, my dear, and I
am glad you can make such kind and wise use of the lessons of the good
Fairy Paribanou. Jaqueline," he added solemnly, laying his hand on her
head, "You have saved the honour of Pantouflia, which is dearer to me
than life. Without your help, I tremble to think what might have
occurred."
The princess blushed very much, and felt very happy.
"Now run away to the queen, my dear," said his Majesty, "I want to think
things over."
He did think them over, and the more he thought the more he felt the
inconvenience attending the possession of fairy things.
"An eclipse one day, as nearly as possible a revolution soon after!" he
said to himself. "But for Jaqueline, Ricardo's conduct would have been
blazed abroad, England would have been irritated. It is true she cannot
get at Pantouflia very easily; we have no sea-coast, and we are
surrounded by friendly countries. But it would have been a ticklish and
discreditable position. I must really speak to Dick," which he did next
morning after breakfast.
"You have broken my rules, Ricardo," he said. "True, there is no great
harm done, and you have confessed frankly; but how am I to trust you any
longer?"
"I'll give you my sacred word of honour, father, that I'll never meddle
with politics again, or start on an expedition, without telling you. I
have had enough of it. And I'll turn over a new leaf. I've learned to
be ashamed of my ignorance; and I've sent for Francalanza, and I'll fence
every day, and read like anything."
"Very good," said the king. "I believe you mean what you say. Now go to
your fencing lesson."
"But, I say, father," cried Ricardo, "was it not strange about the magic
carpet?"
"I told you not to trust to these things," said the king. "Some
enchanter may have deprived it of its power, it may be worn out, someone
may have substituted a common Persian rug; anything may happen. You
_must_ learn to depend on yourself. Now, be off with you, I'm busy. And
remember, you don't stir without my permission."
The prince ran off, and presently the sounds of stamping feet and "_un_,
_deux_; _doublez_, _degagez_, _vite_; _contre de carte_," and so forth,
might be heard over a great part of the royal establishment.