After our dismissal from the Polish Court we returned for a while to our
own homes, where we should have seen little of one another but for the
circumstance that we happened to fall in love--if the mild passion of a
youth of seventeen can be called by that name--with the same lady, an
attractive person of mature age, in comparison with our own, and withal
the wife of another, a neighbour, Falbofsky.
It became our delight--an unworthy pastime, indeed--to compete for the
favour of this lady, and this foolish competition was the first
beginning of the state of constant rivalry in which we two have since
passed our lives.
Probably, but for the desire to outdo one another, neither of us would
have thought seriously of the matter. I am sure, looking back through
the years that have passed, that I was never in love with Falbofsky’s
wife, and Mazeppa has many times assured me that his attentions to the
lady were prompted by that necessity for some kind of amusement or
pastime which every idle youth must experience. But though both denied
afterwards that love impelled us to the lady’s side, I think we were
both at the time seriously determined to get the better of one another
in her affections; and I remember that each boasted continually of the
progress and success of his pursuit of the fair one, who smiled, I dare
say, impartially upon both of us, pleased with the attentions of each,
though not disposed to reward either with any but the cheapest favours.
The matter ended somewhat abruptly, and indeed seriously enough for all
parties concerned.
Falbofsky was a Polish noble. We had seen him occasionally at the King’s
Court, where, being our senior, he had taken but little notice of us. We
did not like him, and our visits to his wife were generally undertaken
when we knew that he was away from home, at Court or elsewhere.
The lady would inform us whenever these absences were to take place,
when Mazeppa or I would be sure to appear, and sometimes both of us
together, in order to lighten for her the creeping hours of separation
from her husband.
I know not whether someone played us false, some messenger or servant at
Falbofsky’s house, but it is certain that one day Falbofsky got wind of
our habit of profiting by his absence, for he played us a pretty trick.
We each received, as usual, intimation that Madame would receive
visitors upon a certain day and at a certain hour, and as usual, too,
both Mazeppa and I strained every nerve to get the better of one another
by arriving first, in order to enjoy the society of the lady for awhile
before the other should come to destroy the delights of undisturbed
possession. On this occasion I had the advantage of Mazeppa, it
appeared, being half an hour in advance of my rival, a fact which I
discovered by falling first into the ambush prepared for us by the angry
husband, who, having smelt a rat or having received warning, lay in wait
for us at a lonely spot in the forest, accompanied by half a dozen stout
retainers.
A couple of these pounced out from their hiding-place before I had
realised that I was attacked, and seized my reins.
I imagined that I had to do with robbers, and hit out so lustily with my
fist that one of my fellows dropped the bridle and fell. But others
rushed out and pulled me from the saddle. My horse galloped away,
leaving me in their hands. Then I realised that I had to do with
Falbofsky.
‘Gag him,’ he said, ‘and tie him to a tree meanwhile, lest he make a
noise and warn the other rascal.’
‘So Mazeppa is still expected,’ I thought. It would be like his cunning,
however, if he should have obtained information of this ambush and had
stayed away, or maybe gone round by a longer road. Mazeppa was ever the
most subtle of mortal men--a very fox, indeed.
‘Falbofsky, let us fight it out like men,’ I said. He took no notice of
my words.
‘Do you hear?’ he repeated. ‘Gag him, and tie him to a tree; his fool of
a horse has run away, or----’
I knew not what he was going to say, though, knowing what I now know, I
have no doubt he intended to treat me as he presently treated Mazeppa.
Thanks to my good horse, who was cleverer than I, and escaped, he was
unable to have his will. I interrupted him.
‘Are you afraid to cross swords, Falbofsky? I will fight you for your
wife, come!’
He took no more notice of this foolish speech than of the other.
‘Gag him quickly, fools!’ he said, stamping his foot; ‘if he shows fight
tap him, one of you, on the head.’
Then four of them fell upon me, and in spite of my struggling overbore
me and fastened a band tightly about my mouth. Then they tied me to a
tree, and sat about waiting and watching, as they had waited and watched
for me.
Presently came the sound of galloping hoofs. Mazeppa rode quickly,
anxious, like me, to obtain the lady’s ear before his rival should have
arrived.
‘He comes,’ said Falbofsky; ‘be ready all, and this time secure the
horse, or by thunder you shall be sorry, every one of you!’
Nearer came Mazeppa: the galloping hoofs approached very close, they
were almost upon us. Oh, that I could cry out and warn him! but I was as
dumb as the dead.
‘Now!’ whispered Falbofsky, ‘two, and then immediately other two!’
At the word out darted a pair of fellows and seized Mazeppa’s reins as
they had seized mine. The horse reared up in sudden terror. Mazeppa
struck at his assailants, but missed; he tried to draw his sword, but a
second pair of fellows had pinned his arms and quickly pulled him from
the saddle.
Mazeppa lay and struggled, moving this way and that with a heap of men
atop of him. Now he showed a head, now an arm, and all the while he
cursed and threatened; but the fight was unequal--as I knew to my
cost--and presently he was exhausted and lay still.
All the while he had not seen me, nor yet Falbofsky, so that he did not
yet understand how matters stood.
‘If it is a matter of ransom,’ he panted, and then paused open-mouthed,
for his eyes fell upon me. His hand stole towards his sword hilt, but
they had deprived him of the weapon. Then he recognised Falbofsky.
‘Oh, is it so then?’ he said. ‘What is the meaning of this outrage,
Falbofsky? Have you and your crew turned highway robbers?’
‘Bind his wrists behind his back,’ said Falbofsky, ignoring Mazeppa’s
words. His men obeyed, Mazeppa resisting, but uselessly.
‘Now,’ continued Falbofsky, ‘strip him; leave him not a vestige of his
garments; strip the horse also of his saddle and cloth. Take one of the
ropes you have brought and tie the fool tightly to the horse’s back. Lay
him along, so, and pass the rope round the middle of both. Now remove
the bridle, and let them go. Lord, what a thin poor creature thou art,
Mazeppa! The folks in the villages will mistake thy lean naked body for
a pine-stem!’
Mazeppa was too dazed to reply, he seemed bereft of speech. The men had
meanwhile slipped the bridle from his horse’s neck. One of them gave a
shout to startle the animal, and another, snatching a stick, smote it
violently upon the quarters. Away dashed the frightened creature.
For a moment or two the fleeting hoof-steps were audible as it dashed,
mad with surprise and terror, through the forest: a wild curse or shriek
from the throat of Mazeppa came back faintly from the distance, then
horse and man had disappeared from sight and sound.
Now came my turn.
‘Strip him, too,’ said Falbofsky, ‘and leave him gagged in the road.’
If looks could kill, mine would, I think, have slain my enemy at that
moment, but he avoided my gaze and took no further notice of me. He
mounted a horse which was brought him from a distance, where it had
remained in hiding, and rode away.
Me they stripped of all but a thin shirt. He whom I had knocked down
when he held my bridle came up when his master had gone, and belaboured
me with a stick, adding many curses. The rest laughed and applauded,
making insulting remarks and treating me roughly and brutally as they
dragged me into the road, gagged and naked, and there left me.
A peasant found me an hour later as he passed with his cart of hay. He
released me, covered me with a cloth, and drove me to my house. Here I
lost little time. Fortunately, I had succeeded in gaining the house
unseen, for it was the dinner hour and the servants were busy with their
meal. I dressed myself quickly, took my sword, mounted my best horse,
and dashed away towards the Falbofsky mansion, distant but two leagues
from our own.
My horse knew the road well, for he had borne me many times by the same
route. But love had never caused me to drive him so wildly forward as
did now the madness of hate and the desire for revenge. My madness
seemed to infect him. His hoofs spurned the earth as we flew through
air. Within half an hour I stood in the presence of Falbofsky, who sat
with his wife talking and laughing, and I doubt not telling her the
story of how he had served the two fools who had loved to hang at her
apron strings.
She cried out when she saw me. She was accustomed to see me look
differently.
‘Chelminsky!’ she exclaimed in terror; ‘your eyes are full of murder.’
‘My heart also,’ I said. ‘Draw, Falbofsky. This time you must fight,
whether you will or no!’
‘Oh, I am ready,’ he laughed, drawing his weapon, ‘if you must needs
have another lesson!’
We crossed swords, and I was conscious of our fair Helen rushing from
the room screaming for help. ‘I must make haste,’ I thought, ‘and get
this matter finished before they come to interrupt.’ We began to fight
cautiously.
‘While yet you have hearing and understanding,’ I said, as our swords
touched, ‘let me tell you that your wife is innocent of all sin. I would
not have you die suspecting her falsely.’
‘Die!’ he said with an oath. ‘Death will not come at your call, my
friend; as for my wife, she knows a man from a child as well as I. You
have been punished enough for the wrong you have done. Will you go
home?’
For answer I fell upon him with vigour. This last insult cut me deeply,
wounding my vanity. I would show him what manner of child I was. If I
might not wound the heart of a woman, I could at least cut to pieces any
man who presumed to offend me!
Falbofsky was, I could see, surprised and alarmed by my skill with the
sword. He had begun the fight leisurely, as one reserving his strength.
Soon he was fencing with all his art, and fencing well. But this day I
would take no denying, and within a few minutes I had him disarmed and
at mercy. I think I should have given him the point without pity, but
that his fair wife ran shrieking into the room at the moment, followed
by servants, and implored me to spare him.
‘Chelminsky, do not slay,’ she cried. ‘Chelminsky, my friend! See, he is
wounded already!’
I had not observed this. It was true, however; his sword-arm was soaked
with blood.
‘Well, I will spare him,’ I said, ‘since you ask me!’ Whereupon I
stalked from the room very proudly and happily, for I felt my honour had
been amply vindicated.