ESCAPE, BUT NOT LIBERTY.
"The which did cause his paine."
The door did not open at once, and Kophetua stood with his arm about his
ghostly companion listening to the muttered curses of the men without.
There seemed to be something amiss with the lock. Fiercely they rattled
the key, and every moment the prisoners expected to hear the bolt fly
back.
"See, see," whispered Penelophon, suddenly pointing to the window, "I
knew you would save me; why did you frighten me so?"
Kophetua looked up, and saw a stout pole had been thrust in between the
bars of the window-grating, and that some one was using it as a lever to
try and tear them out.
"Leap out both," cried a low disguised voice outside, "the moment it
gives."
The pole strained again and the key grated; and now the shrill voice of
the shrivelled Emperor could be heard screaming from his gilded throne
and bidding his men make haste. The bars groaned and bent, but they
were still tough, and would not give. The lock rattled each moment more
savagely; the scream of the Emperor grew more angry; the suspense was
becoming almost unendurable, when, with a sudden crash, the whole
window-grating fell outwards. There was a sound of feet hurrying away,
and then all was silent without.
But now a heavy hammer was clanging with deafening noise upon the broken
lock, and between each stroke rose the scream of the frenzied monarch,
so piercing that it seemed to Kophetua to half paralyse him, as he
grasped the window-sill and strove to draw himself up. It was a
desperate struggle, for he was unused to such exercise; but it was done
at last, and he sat astride the stone sill, and held out his hands to
Penelophon. She seemed quite calm, and looked up in his face trustfully,
as he in a fever of excitement began to pull her up. Two hammers were
now banging rhythmically on the door, and the din of their ponderous
blows was almost incessant, and yet the awful scream of anger was not
drowned. But the tough old lock still held; and it was not till
Kophetua, more dead than alive, had dropped to the ground, and had
caught the beggar-maid in his arms, that the clangour ceased in a
deafening crash, and they knew that the door was burst.
They did not stop to hear more. As soon as the gaolers dare tell their
frantic monarch of the escape the pursuit would begin. No sooner indeed
did her feet touch the ground than Penelophon seized the King's hand,
and began running down a labyrinth of tortuous passages as fast as the
clinging grave-clothes would allow. The King was hardly less agitated
than before. They could hear the shout of the beggars as the pursuit
began; but in five minutes all was over, and the King and the
beggar-maid ran out hand-in-hand through the great gate by which he had
entered.
Still they did not stop. Kophetua could not feel sure after what he had
seen of their power and numbers that the beggars would not carry the
pursuit beyond the limits of the liberty. So he hurried on still without
resting till he had let himself in at the private entrance to the palace
gardens. Once inside he threw himself on a bench, exhausted with fatigue
and excitement, and the beggar-maid sank at his feet. The adventure was
over, and he would think quietly what was next to be done.
The thought seemed hardly framed when Kophetua awoke to the
consciousness that he had been asleep. How long he knew not. The dawn
was just beginning to glimmer as he opened his eyes, and he started up
terror-stricken to see a corpse stretched at his feet. Then he
remembered it all, and began to realise his position. It was certainly
sufficiently embarrassing. He, the King of Oneiria, was sitting in his
own garden with a beggar-maid, dressed like a corpse, in his charge.
What was he to do with her? She too had fallen asleep, and was lying
outstretched upon her back like an effigy on a tomb. Her arms lay
listlessly, with palms upturned, just as they had dropped on either side
of her. Her head was resting on the roots of a tree, and was turned
gently towards him. Out of the dark masses of her hair, which lay
littered over the white grave-clothes, her face glimmered wan and pale
in the ashen light. So still and peaceful and deathlike was the picture
that, save for the gentle breathing, it might indeed have been the sleep
that knows no waking.
He sat with his chin in his hand looking at her. Yes, she was very
beautiful. Those features were cast in the same exquisite mould which in
the picture had seemed to him to tell of nothing but inanity, but now he
saw it in the flesh it spoke of that divine purity, strength, and
tenderness which the angels are given. It was a beauty of holiness that
seemed to sanctify him as he gazed. He felt himself ennobled that he
could distinguish it. But where could he take her? Assuredly most men
would call that face from which all sensuality and the earthly parts of
beauty had been refined away inane. They were too gross to see what real
beauty was. General Dolabella would certainly call it inane.
General Dolabella! that was an idea. General Dolabella was certainly
the only person of his acquaintance to whom he felt it was possible for
him to bring a young girl dressed in grave-clothes, the first thing in
the morning, and ask him to take care of her. In the reaction which his
rest had brought about he began to feel ashamed of his quixotic
enterprise, and to see his position in the ridiculous light. He fancied
what the wits would say if they heard of it, what smart things would be
current at his expense; and he laughed cynically at himself that he of
all men should have been deluded into an attempt to resuscitate so dead
and false a thing as chivalry. Just then Penelophon cried out in her
sleep, and awoke with a restless start. Her eyes opened, she seized the
shroud convulsively in her hands to look closely at it, and then, with a
choking cry of horror, covered her face and fell back. Kophetua was on
his knees at her side in a moment. He took her hands from her eyes, and
tried to comfort her.
"Look up, Penelophon," said he, very tenderly. "It was only a dream."
"Where am I?" she cried wildly. "It was so dark and cold in the grave
when they covered me up. Ah!" she went on, with the same trusting look
coming back as at first, "I remember, they did not bury me. You saved
me. Shall I go with you now?"
She stretched her arms to him, and he lifted her up. She was very cold,
and so was he; but he took off his cloak and tried to repress a shiver
as he wrapped it about her and drew the hood over her head.
"Yes, if you can," he said; "I want to put you where kind people will
keep you safe."
She staggered when she tried to walk, being still weak with the shock
she had had, and stiff with cold; so he put his arm about her, and
supported her towards the gate which led from the opposite side of the
gardens into General Dolabella's official residence. The servants were
just astir, and there was little difficulty in getting in, when Kophetua
explained that he must see the Minister at once on urgent business of
state. It is true they hardly knew what to make of the King's sudden
appearance, with his haggard face and dishevelled and unpowdered hair;
but his manner was so sharp and peremptory that they were too glad to
show him and his charge to the Minister's private room with all possible
speed, and it was not many minutes more before the General himself
hurried in in his nightcap and flowered dressing-gown.
"God preserve us, sire!" said he, starting back to see the haggard
spectacle the King presented after the horrors he had gone through,
"what has happened? It is most alarming. Let me send at once for the
Adjutant-General or the Archbishop! Which department is it?"
"Calm yourself, my dear General," said the King a little nervously; "it
is nothing of any consequence--at least, that is, not at present. Later
in the day I will see you with the Adjutant-General. Now I merely wish
you to take charge of a person, whom I have saved--it matters not
how--from a very awkward position. I wished for secrecy and fidelity,
and, above all, no idle curiosity, so I came to you."
"Your majesty does me a great honour," said the General, with a profound
bow. "I presume this is the gentleman beside you. I need hardly say I
shall be proud to offer him an asylum as long as it can be of any
service to him or your majesty."
Penelophon was still wrapped in the burnouse, and in the dim morning
light it was impossible to see her plainly. The mistake only made the
King more nervous still. He had hoped the explanation was over, and now
he had to begin again.
"That is like your kind heart," he answered, with some hesitation. "But
it is only right to tell you, you are mistaken in thinking this is a
gentleman."
"Oh!" said the General, with a very wise nodding of his head, "it is a
lady we have rescued. Now I understand the case."
"Pardon me, General," said the King testily, "but you understand nothing
of the kind. It is not a lady at all. It is a beggar-maid."
"Forgive me, sire," answered the General, with some dignity. "I could
hardly have been expected to have grasped the situation. It is a
delicate office for a married man; but your majesty knows my devotion,
and of course I will conceal her, as well as I can, till you can
otherwise bestow her."
"But that is not what I want," said the King, growing more and more
vexed. "Don't you see? It is an unfortunate girl I have rescued from the
most atrocious cruelty. She needs protection, and I desire that your
wife shall take her into her service."
"Really, your majesty," cried the General, in great perturbation, "it
is--well, not impossible; that is a word I will not allow myself to use
in a question of serving your majesty. But consider what my wife--I
mean, consider what it is to request the Director of Public Worship to
introduce such a person into the bosom of his family."
"General Dolabella," replied the King coldly, "you do not believe me.
You permit yourself to doubt the word of your sovereign. Very well, I
will convince you that what I say is true, and that this poor girl is
without reproach."
With a vague idea that he would at once make the General grasp the whole
case, he stepped to Penelophon and drew off the burnouse that covered
her, leaving her standing motionless and deathlike in her clinging
grave-clothes and dark pall of hair, a pale and ghastly figure in the
sickly morning light. The effect upon the Minister was startling. He
sank back thunderstruck into the chair behind him. His jaw dropped, his
eyes stared wildly, and beads of perspiration came out on his forehead.
"Excuse me, sire," he said faintly, when he was a little recovered. "You
see I am a little shocked. I was not prepared to see the lady in fancy
dress. It is very pretty; but I confess I was not quite prepared for it.
I shall be better directly."
"I am sorry to alarm you," said the King, "but pray oblige me by not
referring to this poor girl as a lady again. You see the story I have
told you is obviously true. It is strange, but I cannot just now go into
details of how she came to be in this costume, which I admit is unusual.
At present all I ask from you is very simple. Procure her a suitable
dress from one of your own women servants, introduce her to your wife as
a young person who has been highly recommended to you as a desirable
maid for her, of course without mentioning my name. She cannot refuse,
and all I ask is done."
"But, your majesty," pleaded the poor General, "you hardly
appreciate--my wife--I mean our domestic relations, particularly at this
moment,--I assure your majesty it is a most delicate application you ask
me to make, and one capable of painful misinterpretation."
"Very well," said the King sharply; "I understand you to refuse my
request. I regret my confidence was so misplaced. Hitherto I had not
doubted your devotion."
"But, your majesty----" began Dolabella.
"Silence, sir," said Kophetua sharply. "Enough has been said. With
pain--with considerable pain I must put you to the trouble of receiving
my orders as High Constable of the kingdom."
It was a sinecure office the General enjoyed as Commander-in-chief. He
stood up at once and saluted, trying to look in his night-cap and
flowered dressing-gown as constable-like as under the circumstances was
attainable.
"I place this woman under arrest to you," continued the King. "You will
keep her in solitary confinement, so far as is consistent with her kind
treatment. Above all, you will let no one see her, and you will produce
her person when called upon. Kindly draft a warrant, and I will sign it
at once. I believe my orders are plain?" he added, as the High Constable
hesitated.
"Perfectly," moaned Dolabella lugubriously, and sat down to write.
Meanwhile Penelophon, who at last was beginning dimly to grasp that her
angel was really Trecenito himself, was gazing from one to the other in
hopeless wonder without speaking. The warrant was done. Kophetua signed
it, drew his burnouse about him, and left the room without another
word. Penelophon looked after him wistfully, and then sat down and began
to cry.
"I am very sorry, sir," she said, "to be here, if you do not want me."
"There, there! my dear," said the soft-hearted General petulantly.
"There is no need to cry. It is no fault of yours. Only you place me in
a very painful position. You cannot understand, because you do not know
Madame Dolabella. She is a most charming motherly person, but unhappily
a woman to whom it will be an extremely delicate task to explain why I,
a father of a family, am holding a _tête-à-tête_ in my study the first
thing in the morning with a corpse--or what is a corpse to all intents
and purposes, only worse. She is not so used to that kind of thing as
some people. I must get you a more decent dress at once, and some
breakfast. You look very hungry." And therewith the General gathered the
skirts of his flowered dressing-gown around him and shuffled off in his
slippers, carefully locking the door behind him.
Kophetua reached his apartments in no enviable frame of mind. He was
angry with the General and angry with himself. He felt it was a piece of
cowardice to compel his Minister to undertake a duty he was afraid of
himself. He was determined to provide for Penelophon elsewhere as soon
as possible. But how was it to be done? If General Dolabella would not
accept his assurance of the girl's innocence and danger, who would? It
was impossible to explain the case to any one. To begin with, he was
heartily ashamed of the whole adventure, and then such heavy
considerations of state were involved in it. It must entail, in the
first place, the unpleasant confession that he was not King in his own
dominions. The beggars had been suffered to grow into an uncontrollable
power; and, until he could concert measures with the general staff for
the concentration of a considerable force in the capital, it was clear
that the subject must not be mentioned, especially as there was the
further complication of Turbo, and the extraordinary part he had played
in the matter. It was absolutely necessary to know what position the
Chancellor would take before any move could be made; and how he was to
arrive at that Kophetua could not for the life of him think.
It was certainly a situation, and one which would require all his
statesmanship to deal with. At last, he admitted, he was face to face
with a difficulty of the kind he had longed for all his life. He was
aware of a great danger, a great wrong in the state which must be
remedied; yet, so he argued to himself, it was impossible to enjoy the
position because it was so mixed up with ridiculous personal
considerations. Had it only been a plain question of politics, he felt
he would have been equal to it, and would have rejoiced in grappling
with its difficulties. As it was, he would have given anything if he had
only stayed at home that night; and as he cast himself exhausted on his
bed for a little rest, there was no one he hated so much as beautiful
Mlle de Tricotrin, who had been clever enough to wheedle him into making
such a fool of himself for the mere pleasure of winning her good
opinion. Whatever happened, he determined she should not know he had
been weak enough to act on the advice he had allowed her to give, and so
afford her a still better hold on him than she had already obtained by
his stupid confidences.