"Are ye many?"
"But one."
The bars were instantly drawn back and the young knight entered the
first court of the palace.
"Halt! Declare for whom thou standest. That password is already outworn:
for they of the Queen's Council be of two minds."
As if from a sense of suffocation the cloak was torn off showing a suit
of armor too heavy for the slight limbs; and the helmet was loosened
with supple, nervous fingers, disclosing a face pale, strong and
soulful. The face might have been that of a man--an artist, or a poet;
but the hair, lying in loose, dusky waves about the brows, and low, in
rich clinging coils at the back of the shapely head, could only belong
to a woman.
A sudden wrath flamed in her deep eyes.
"If they of the Queen's Council be of two minds they are craven, though
I, a woman say it! But the Queen's guard, in the Queen's palace, can
have but one mind--_to uphold her cause!_"
There was no other voice in all Cyprus so tender, so compelling, so
magnetic, so all-convincing; the voice revealed her.
"Dama Margherita de Iblin!" was echoed about the court in surprise. The
news spread. The men-at-arms came thronging about her with reiterated
assurances of loyalty; it was good to confess their faith to her.
"We hold this palace for our Queen," they said, "and for no traitorous
Council. May the holy Saints in Heaven curse them roundly who forced us
to do their bidding, when we thought ourselves serving Her Majesty!"
"How came ye so many here?" she asked in astonishment, as they still
gathered from the farther courts--a number far greater than the usual
Palace-guard--chiefly a company of knights and men entitled to bear
arms, but among them many of the more peaceful citizens.
"Whom serve ye all?" She looked keenly from face to face: her words
seemed a challenge.
"Caterina Regina!" they cried in concert, with every man's right hand
upraised, calling Heaven to witness.
One, with signs of authority stepped forward to explain.
"Eccellenza, we are in command of the Lord Chamberlain Bernardini, who,
since he fought his way through the false guard placed before this
palace to serve the treachery of the Council, hath not ceased to gather
men of metal throughout the city, till enough shall come to claim the
Queen's release. For the cries of the women and unarmed weaklings
clamoring under the walls of the fortress for her release, are but
impotent wails to tickle the pride of those fiends of Naples."
"Bring me to the Bernardini, for I must speak with him on matter, it may
be, of life, or death."
"Eccellentissima, the Lord Chamberlain hath not stayed his foot since
this horror began--nor may we see his face until he hath done the
possible to gather strength for an uprising to chase these devils of
Naples."
"Dear men!" she cried, "it is a task!--I speak, not to stay your loyal
hands, but to open your eyes that ye be prepared and fail not. The
Commander of Famagosta hath men and arms behind those impregnable walls,
and all the wicked strength of his cunning Council to direct
them,--Rizzo and Fabrici--masters in intrigue--and the men of the
galleys of Naples at the tower in the port, commanding land and sea.
Without more force it is impossible!"
"Dear Lady, the Bernardini lacketh no courage, and he commandeth. He
hath sworn that we shall save the Queen. The Admiral will come from
Nikosia; and the galleys of Venice will haste to the rescue, _Pazienza!_
We are bidden to keep the peace and secrecy until the moment shall be
ripe; but to die in defense of this palace, which we hold for Her
Majesty as a place of refuge."
"Dost bring us news of her. How fares it with Her Majesty?"
"For that I came!" cried Dama Margherita, her voice ringing through the
hall like a leader's call to arms; "to bring news of her to her own! How
should it fare with a Queen made captive in her own stronghold?--With a
mother whose child hath been stolen from her?--With a woman struggling
with such anguish?"
"The Prince!--Our King! _Sanctissima Maria!_ San Marco confound the
knaves!"
Every man's hand sought his sword with a murmured oath of loyalty and
vengeance. Questions stormed upon her: but she commanded silence with a
gesture.
It was news indeed; no hint of it had passed beyond the walls of the
Fortress.
"Of where he may be hidden, naught is known. Yet the galley of Naples
lieth in our port, and one may reach it at low tide over the shallows--a
few feet away from the tower of the Fort. It were easy to carry the
child there unseen."
"Aye; it were easy--and not so hard to find him--if he were there."
"Nay, but to hold him when found! Do it not rashly, lest harm come to
him. The Bernardini will plan the emprise. Tell him the Lady Margherita
came at risk of life--in this disguise--to put his true men on the
quest. Tell him----"
She was interrupted by an exclamation.
"Margherita!--the Lady de Iblin--_thus!_"
The Bernardini had just entered the court of the Palace.
A vivid flush rose to her cheek, but she stood quite still in the place
where he had found her, and he came and bent his knee and kissed her
hand with the customary homage.
"Else might I not have crossed the Piazza," she said, "nor left the gate
of the Castle. It is easy to forfeit one's head at a moment of wrath
where Rizzo commandeth! And one--a guard within the Fortress, friend to
our cause unguessed of the Council--hath lent me this disguise that I
might bring thee my so weighty tidings of woe."
"'So weighty tidings of woe?'" he echoed startled.
"These will tell it thee," she went on hurriedly, "for I must be
returned to my chamber ere the change of guard--lest he be called on
duty and fail to respond with this full toggery of steel, because he
hath shown me this favor."
"The Queen?" he gasped.
"The Queen still liveth; but--oh, my Lord, Aluisi!"--her voice broke and
her lips quivered, she stretched out her hands to him, the nervous
fingers interlaced in a passion of pleading--"they have stolen the
baby-Prince: she will go mad if they keep him from her!"
"They shall not!" he thundered with a terrible oath: he--whose speech
was fair as a woman's. "Tell her we pledge our lives to find him--to
save them both--_all these and many more_."
With a gesture he included all the company.
"Heaven hear us!" they swore in deep, angry, concert.
She turned her face to them, a great light shining in her eyes.
"I carry Her Majesty the strength of your loyalty, dear friends," she
said. "The Madonna be praised--for her need is sore!"
Then, quite silently, and as with a solemn act of consecration, she made
the sign of the Cross before the Leader who was to save the Queen, and
with quick footsteps passed under the peristyle.
"Margherita!"
She motioned him back as he would have followed her, and he stood and
watched her--his heart in his throat--until she had crossed the moat and
been admitted to the Fort--the Lady Margherita--alone--in such a
guise--fearless and direct as ever.
* * * * *
Sunrise was just gilding the sea: it flashed and sparkled as if there
were no woe.