"You know Greek, also?"
"Yes, Monsieur."
"Then, you are too learned. Do you understand my godfather, who amuses
himself recounting our affairs before you? That is of no importance to
him; he has nothing to hide; he is King, he is responsible to no one but
himself. As for me, what the devil! put yourself in my place. My
position is delicate, and I have many affairs to manage. I am not rich;
I have only my pay, the esteem of my chiefs, and the friendship of the
brigands. A traveler's indiscretion might cost me my promotions."
"And you count on the fact that I will keep your infamies secret?"
"When I count on anything, Monsieur, my confidence is rarely misplaced.
I do not know that you will leave these mountains alive, and yet your
ransom may never be paid. If my godfather would cut off your head, I
should be satisfied you would not talk. If, on the contrary, you should
return to Athens, I counsel you, as a friend, to keep silent about what
you have seen. Imitate the discretion of the late Madame la Duchesse de
Plaisance, who was taken captive by Bibichi and who died ten years later
without having related to any one the details of her captivity. Do you
know a proverb which runs: "The tongue cuts off the head?" Meditate
seriously upon it, and do not put yourself in a place to exactly verify
it."
"The menace----"
"I do not menace you, Monsieur, I am a man too well brought up to resort
to threats, I warn you! If you should gossip, it is not I who would
avenge myself. All the men in my company adore their Captain. They are
even more warmly interested in my interests than I am myself; they would
be pitiless, to my great regret, to any indiscreet person who had caused
me any trouble."
"What do you fear, if you have so many accomplices?"
"I fear nothing from the Greeks, and, in ordinary times, I should insist
less strongly on my orders. We have, among our chiefs, some fanatics
who think that we ought to treat bandits like Turks; but I have also
found some who are on the right side, in case it came to an internecine
struggle. The misfortune is that the diplomats would interfere, and the
presence of a stranger would, without doubt, injure my cause. If any
misfortune happens to me through you, do you see, Monsieur, to what you
would be exposed? One cannot take four steps in the kingdom without
meeting a gendarme. The road from Athens to Piraeus is under the
vigilance of these quarrelsome persons, and accidents frequently occur."
"It is well, Monsieur; I will reflect upon it."
"And will keep the secret?"
"You have nothing to ask of me and I have nothing to promise. You have
advised me of the danger of being indiscreet. I accept the advice and I
will refrain from speaking of it."
"When you return to Germany, you may tell whatever you please. Speak,
write, publish; it is of no importance. The works published against us
do no harm to any one, unless, perhaps, to their authors. You are free
to relate the adventure. If you paint, faithfully, what you have seen
the good people of Europe will accuse you of traducing an illustrious
and oppressed people. Our friends, and we have many among men of sixty,
will tax you with levity, caprice, and even of ingratitude. They will
recall that you have been the guest of Hadgi-Stavros and mine; they will
reproach you with having broken the holy laws of hospitality. But the
most pleasing thing of the whole will be, that no one will believe you.
The public will place no confidence in seeming lies. Try to persuade the
cockneys of Paris, of London, of Berlin, that you have seen a Captain of
the standing army, embraced by a chief of banditti. A company of choice
troops acting as guards to Hadgi-Stavros' prisoners, in order to give
him the opportunity of capturing the army coffers! The highest State
functionaries founding a stock company for the purpose of plundering
travelers! As well tell them that the mice of Attica have formed an
alliance with the cats, and that our sheep take their food from the
wolves' mouths! Do you know what protects us against the displeasure of
Europe? It is the improbability of our civilization. Happily for the
kingdom, everything which will be written against us will be too
unnatural to be believed. I can cite to you a little book, which is not
in praise of us, although it is accurate from beginning to end. It has
been read, somewhat, everywhere; in Paris they found it curious, but I
know of only one city where it seemed true! Athens! I do not prevent you
from adding a second volume, but wait until away; if not, there possibly
might be a drop of blood on the last page."
"But," I answered, "if I should commit an indiscretion before my
departure, how could you know that I was to blame?"
"You, alone, are in my secret. The Englishwomen are persuaded that I
have delivered them from Hadgi-Stavros. I charge myself with keeping up
the delusion until the King's return. It will be for only two days,
three at the most. We are forty kilometres from the Scironian Rocks;
our friend will reach there in the night. They will make the attack
to-morrow evening, and conquerors or conquered, they will be here Monday
morning. We can prove to the prisoners that the brigands surprised us.
While my godfather is absent, I will protect you against yourself by
keeping you away from these ladies. I will borrow your tent. You ought
to see, Monsieur, that I have a more delicate skin than this worthy
Hadgi-Stavros, and that I ought not to expose my complexion to the
changes of temperature! What would be said, on the 15th, at the Court
Ball if I presented myself brown as a peasant? I must, moreover, give
those poor captives the benefit of my society; it is my duty as their
liberator. As for you, you will sleep here in the midst of my soldiers.
Permit me to give an order, which concerns you. Ianni! Brigadier Ianni!
I confide Monsieur to thy care! Place around him four guards, who will
watch him night and day, accompany him everywhere, fully armed. Thou
wilt relieve them every two hours. Forward!"
He saluted me with ironical politeness, and humming a tune, descended
Mrs. Simons' staircase. The sentinel shouldered arms.
From that instant there began for me a purgatory of which the human mind
can have little conception. Everyone knows or guesses what a prison
would be; but try to imagine a living and moving prison, the four walls
of which come and go, recede and approach, turn and return, rubbing
hands, scratching, blowing noses, shaking, floundering about, and
obstinately fixing eight great black eyes upon the prisoner. I tried to
walk; my prison of eight feet regulated the step to mine. I went toward
the front of the camp; the two men who preceded me stopped short, I
bumped into them. This incident explained to me an inscription which I
had often seen, without understanding it, in the neighborhood of camps:
"Limit of Garrison" I turned around; my four walls turned like the
scenes in a theater where a change of view is required. At last, tired
of this way of promenading, I sat down. My prison seated itself around
me; I resembled an intoxicated man who sees his house turn. I closed my
eyes; the measured step of the sentinels wearied my brain. At least, I
thought if these four soldiers would but speak to me! I spoke to them in
Greek; it was a seductive agent which had never failed me with
sentinels. It was clear loss of time. The walls had, possibly, ears, but
the use of the voice was denied them; no one spoke under arms; I
attempted bribery. I drew from my pocket the money which Hadgi-Stavros
had returned and which the Captain had forgotten to take from me. I
distributed it to the four cardinal points of my lodge. The somber and
frowning walls changed to a smiling front, and my prison was illumined
as with a ray of sunlight. But five minutes later the Brigadier relieved
the guards; it was just two hours that I had been a prisoner! The day
seemed long! the night, eternal! The Captain had already taken
possession of my tent and my bed, and the rock which served me for a
resting place was not as soft as feather. A fine penetrating rain
cruelly convinced me that a roof was a fine invention; and that thatches
rendered a true service to society. If at times, in spite of my
unpleasant surroundings, I dropped off to sleep, I was almost always
awakened by the Brigadier Ianni, who ordered a change of guards.
Finally, what shall I say? At night and in dreams I saw Mary-Ann and her
respectable mother in the hands of their liberator. Ah! Monsieur, how I
began to render justice to the good old King of the Mountains! How I
retracted all the maledictions which I had hurled against him! How I
regretted his kind and paternal government! How I sighed for his return!
How warmly did I breathe his name in my prayers! "My God!" I cried with
fervor, "give the victory to thy servant, Hadgi-Stavros! Make every
soldier in the kingdom fall beneath his hand! Bring to his hands the
coffer, and even to the last écus of that infernal army! And let the
bandits return, that we may be delivered from the hands of the
soldiers!"
As I finished this prayer, a well-sustained fire was heard in the midst
of the camp. This occurred many times during the day and following
night. It was only a trick of M. Pericles. In order the better to
deceive Mrs. Simons and to persuade her that he was defending her
against an army of bandits, he had ordered that volleys should be fired
from time to time.
This pretty conceit came near costing him dear. When the brigands
arrived in camp, at dawn, on Monday morning, they believed that a fight
was going on with a true enemy, and they began to fire some balls,
which, unfortunately, touched no one.
I had never seen a defeated army when I assisted at the return of the
King of the Mountains. The sight had, for me, all the novelty of a
first experience. Heaven had listened unfavorably to my prayers. The
Greek soldiers had defended themselves with so much ardor that the
engagement was prolonged till night. Formed in a square around the two
mules which carried the treasure, they had, at first, returned a regular
fire upon Hadgi-Stavros' sharp-shooters. The old Palikar, despairing of
killing one by one, a hundred and twenty men who would not give an inch,
attacked them with bare blades. His men assured us that he had performed
marvels, and the blood with which he was covered testified to it. But
the bayonet had had the last word; in other words, had won the day. The
troops had killed forty brigands, of which one was a dog. A regulation
bullet had arrested the advancement of young Spiro, that young officer
with so brilliant a future. I saw march in sixty men, overcome with
fatigue, dusty, bloody, bruised, and wounded. Sophocles had been shot in
the shoulder; the men were carrying him. The Corfuan and a few others
had been left on the road, some with the shepherds, some in a village,
and others on the bare rocks beside the path.
The band was sad and discouraged. Sophocles howled with grief. I heard
some murmurs against the King's imprudence, who had exposed the lives of
his men for a miserable sum, instead of peaceably plundering rich and
careless travelers.
The strongest, the freshest, the most content, the gayest of the lot was
the King. His face expressed the proud satisfaction of a duty
accomplished. He recognized me at once in the midst of my four men, and
cordially held out his hand to me. "Dear prisoner," he said, "you see a
badly treated King. Those dogs of soldiers would not give up the
treasure. It was their money; my trip to the Scironian Rocks brought me
nothing, and I have lost forty men, without counting some wounded who
cannot live. But no matter! I am well beaten. There were too many of
those rascals for us, and they had bayonets. Without which----. Come!
this day has rejuvenated me. I have proved to myself that I still have
blood in my veins!"
And he hummed the first verse of his favorite song: "Un Clephte aux
yeux, noirs----" He added: "By Jupiter (as Lord Byron said), I would not
for twenty thousand francs have remained quietly at home since Saturday.
That can still be put into my history. It can be said that, at more than
sixty years of age, I fought with bare sabre in the midst of bayonets;
that I killed three or four soldiers with my own hand, and that I
marched ten leagues in the mountains in order to return in time to take
my cup of coffee. Cafedgi, my child, do thy duty! I have done mine. But
where the devil is Pericles?"
The charming Captain was still resting in his tent. Ianni hurried away
to bring him forth, half asleep, his mustache uncurled, his head
carefully tied up in a handkerchief. I know of nothing which will so
thoroughly awaken a man as a glass of cold water or bad news. When M.
Pericles learned that the little Spiro and two other soldiers had been
left behind, it was truly another defeat. He pulled off his
handkerchief, and but for the respect he had for his person he would
have torn his hair.
"This will do for me," he cried. "How explain their presence among you?
and in bandit dress, too! They will be recognized! The others are
masters of the battle ground. Shall I say that they deserted in order to
join you? That you made them prisoners? The question will be asked why I
said nothing about it. I have waited for thy coming to make my final
report. I wrote last evening that I had thee almost surrounded on
Parnassus, and that all our men were admirable. Holy Virgin! I shall not
dare to show myself Sunday at Patissia! What will be said the 15th at
the Court Ball? The whole diplomatic corps will talk me over. They will
convene the council. Will I yet be invited?"
"To the council?" asked the bandit.
"No; to the Court Ball!"
"Dancer! Go!"
"My God! my God! who knows what will be done? If the only trouble was
about these Englishwomen, I would not worry myself. I would confess
everything to the Minister of War. These English! That was enough! But
to lend my soldiers to attack the army box! To send Spiro into the
engagement! They will point the finger at me; I shall never dance
again!"
Who was it who rubbed his hands in glee during this monologue? It was
the son of my father, surrounded by his four soldiers!
Hadgi-Stavros, quietly seated, enjoyed his coffee in little sips. He
said to his godson: "Thou seemest much troubled! Remain with us. I
assure thee a minimum of ten thousand francs a year, and I will enroll
thy men. We will take our revenge together."
The offer was alluring. Two days before it would have received much
approval. And even now it caused a faint smile among the soldiers, none
from the Captain. The soldiers said nothing; they looked at their old
comrades; they eyed Sophocles' wound; they thought of the deaths of the
night before, and they turned wistful faces toward Athens, as if they
could inhale the, to them, sweet odor of the barracks.
As for M. Pericles, he replied with visible embarrassment:
"I thank thee, but I would need to reflect. My habits are those of a
city; I am delicate in health; the winters are rigorous in the
mountains; I have already taken cold. My absence would be noticed at all
assemblies; I would be searched for everywhere; fine marriages are often
proposed to me. Moreover, the trouble is not so great as we believe it.
Who knows whether the three unfortunates will be recognized? Will news
of the event arrive before we do? I will go at once to the Ministry; I
will find out how matters stand. No one will come to contradict me,
since the two companies have kept on their march to Argos.... Decidedly,
I must be there; I must face the music. Care for the wounded.... Adieu!"
He made a sign to his drummer.
Hadgi-Stavros rose, came and placed himself in front of me with his
godson, whom he dominated by a head, and said to me: "Monsieur, behold a
Greek of to-day! I! I am a Greek of former days! And the papers pretend
that we have progressed!"
At the roll of the drum the walls of my prison fell away like the
ramparts of Jericho! Two minutes afterward I was before Mary-Ann's tent.
Mother and daughter hastily arose. Mrs. Simons perceived me first, and
cried out to me:
"Oh, well! are we to start?"
"Alas! Madame, we are not there."
"Where are we then? The Captain gave us word for this morning."
"How did you find the Captain?"
"Gallant, elegant, charming! A little too much the slave of discipline;
it was his only fault."
"Coxcomb and scamp, coward and bully, liar and thief; those are his true
names, and I will prove it to you."
"Come, Monsieur; what have the soldiers done to you?"
"What have they done to me, Madame? Deign to come with me only to the
top of the staircase."
Mrs. Simons arrived there just in time to see the soldiers defile past,
the drummer at the head, the bandits again installed in their places,
the Captain and the King mouth to mouth, giving the last good-bye kiss.
The surprise was a little too much. I had not been sufficiently
considerate of the good woman, and I was punished for it, because she
fainted dead away and nearly broke my arms as I caught her. I carried
her to the brook; Mary-Ann rubbed and slapped her hands; I threw a
handful of water in her face. But I believe that it was fury which
revived her.
"Miserable wretch!" she cried.
"He has plundered you, is it not true? Stole your watches, your money?"
"I do not regret my jewels; he may keep them! But I would give ten
thousand francs to get back the handshakes I have given him. I am
English, and I do not clasp hands with every one!" This regret of Mrs.
Simons drew from me a heavy sigh. She let fall upon me all the weight of
her anger. "It is your fault," she said. "Could you not have warned me?
It was only necessary to tell me that the brigands were saints in
comparison!"
"But, Madame, I advised you that you must put no faith in the soldiers."
"You told me so; but you said it softly, slowly, coldly. Could I believe
you? Could I divine that this man was only Stavros' jailer? That he
remained here to give the bandits time to get back? That he frightened
us with imaginary dangers? That he claimed to have been besieged in
order to have us admire him? That he simulated the night attacks to make
it appear that he was defending us? I see all now, but tell us if you
have nothing to say?"
"My God! Madame, I told all I knew; I did what I could!"
"But, German, who are you? In your place an Englishman would have
sacrificed his life for us, and I would have given him my daughter's
hand!"
Wild poppies are very scarlet, but I was more than that when I heard
Mrs. Simons' speech. I was so troubled that I dared not raise my eyes,
nor respond; neither did I ask the good woman what she meant by her
words. Because, in a word, why should a person as harsh as she had shown
herself to be, use such language before her daughter and before me? By
what door had this idea of marriage entered her mind? Was Mrs. Simons
truly a woman to award her daughter, as an honest recompense, to the
first liberator? There were no signs of it. Was it not rather a cruel
irony addressed to my most secret thoughts?
When I examined myself I ascertained, with legitimate pride, the
innocent warmth of all my sentiments. I render this justice to myself,
that the fire of passion had not raised a degree the temperature of my
heart. At each instant of the day, in order to test myself, I occupied
myself with thinking of Mary-Ann. I built castles in Spain, of which she
was the mistress. I planned romances, of which she was the heroine and I
the hero. I thought of the most absurd things. I imagined events as
improbable as the history of the Princess Ypsoff and Lieutenant
Reynauld. I even went so far as to see the pretty English girl seated at
my right on the back seat of a post-chaise, with her beautiful arm
around my long neck. All these flattering suppositions, which should
have agitated deeply a soul less philosophical than mine, did not
disturb my serenity. I did not experience the alternatives of fear and
hope which are the symptoms of love. Never, no, never, have I felt those
great convulsions of the heart which are recorded in romances. Then I
did not love Mary-Ann. I was a man without reproach. I could walk with
uplifted head. But Mrs. Simons, who had not read my thoughts, was
perfectly capable of deceiving herself as to the nature of my devotion.
Who knows whether she did not suspect me of being in love with her
daughter; whether she had not misinterpreted my trouble and my timidity;
whether she had not let slip the word marriage, in order to force me to
betray myself. My pride revolted against so unjust a suspicion, and I
replied in a firm tone, without looking her in the face:
"Madame, if I was sufficiently fortunate to rescue you from here, I
swear to you that it would not be in order to marry your daughter."
"And why, then?" she asked, in a tone of pique. "Is it because my
daughter is not good enough for one to marry? I find you agreeable,
truly! Is she not pretty enough, or of a good enough family? Have I
brought her up improperly? Is she not a good match? To marry Miss
Simons, my dear sir! it is a beautiful dream! and most difficult to be
gratified!"
"Alas! Madame," I replied, "you have seriously misunderstood me. I
confess that Mademoiselle is perfect, and, if her presence did not make
me timid, I would tell you what passionate admiration she inspired in me
the first day. It is precisely for that reason that I have not the
impertinence to think that any chance could raise me to her level!"
I hoped that my humility would touch this dreadful mother. But her anger
was not in the least appeased.
"Why?" she cried. "Why are you not worthy of my daughter? Answer me,
then!"
"But, Madame, I have neither fortune nor position."
"A fine affair! no position! You would have one, Monsieur, if you
married my daughter. To be my son-in-law, is not that a position? You
have no fortune! Have we ever asked money of you? Have we not enough for
ourselves, for you, and for many others? Moreover, the man who would
rescue us from here, would he not receive a present of a hundred
thousand francs? It is a small sum, I confess, but it is something. Will
you say that a hundred thousand francs is a miserable sum? Then, why are
you not worthy to marry my daughter?"
"Madame, I am not----"
"Come! What is it you are not? You are not English?"
"Oh! by no means!"
"Eh! well! you cannot believe that we are foolish enough to make a crime
of your birth? Eh! Monsieur, I know very well that it is not permitted
to all the world to be English! The entire earth cannot be English--at
least, not for many years. But one may be an honest man and a learned
man without having really been born in England."
"As for integrity, Madame, it is a virtue which we transmit from father
to son. As for intelligence, I have just enough to be a doctor. But,
unfortunately, I have no illusions in regard to my physical defects,
and----"
"You wish to say that you are ugly? No, Monsieur, you are not ugly. You
have an intelligent face. Mary-Ann, is not Monsieur's face intelligent?"
"Yes, mamma!" Mary-Ann replied. If she blushed as she answered her
mother saw it better than I, for my eyes were fixed obstinately on the
ground.
"Monsieur," added Mrs. Simons, "were you ten times uglier, you would not
then be as ugly as my late husband. And, more than that, I beg you to
believe that I was as pretty as my daughter the day I gave him my hand.
What have you to say to that?"
"Nothing, Madame, except that you confuse me, and that it will not be my
fault if you are not on the road to Athens to-morrow."
"What do you count on doing? This time try to find a means less
ridiculous than that the other day!"
"I hope to satisfy you if you will listen to me to the end."
"Yes, Monsieur."
"Without interrupting me?"
"I will not interrupt you. Have I ever interrupted you?"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"When?"
"Always! Madame, Hadgi-Stavros has all his funds invested in the firm of
Barley & Company."
"With our firm?"
"No. 31 Cavendish Square, London. Last Wednesday he dictated, in our
presence, a business letter to Mr. Barley."
"And you never told me before?"
"You would never give me the opportunity."
"But this is monstrous! Your conduct is inexplicable! We could have been
at liberty six days ago! I will go straight to him; I will tell him our
relations----"
"And he will demand of you two or three hundred thousand francs! Believe
me, Madame, the best way is to say nothing to him. Pay your ransom; make
him give you a receipt, and in fifteen days send to him a statement,
with the following note: 'Item, 100,000 francs paid, personally, by Mrs.
Simons, our partner, as per receipt!' In this way you will get back your
money, without the aid of the soldiers. Is it clear?"
I raised my eyes and saw the pretty smile which broke over Mary-Ann's
face as she saw through the plot. Mrs. Simons angrily shrugged her
shoulders, and seemed moved only by ill-humor.
"Truly," she said to me, "you are a wonderful man! You proposed to us an
acrobatic escape when we had such simple means at our command! And you
have known it since Wednesday morning! I will never pardon you for not
having told me the first day."
"But, Madame, will you not remember that I begged you to write to
Monsieur, your brother, to send you a hundred and fifteen thousand
francs?"
"Why a hundred and fifteen?"
"I mean to say a hundred thousand."
"No! a hundred and fifteen. That is right! Are you sure that this
Stavros will not keep us here when he has received the money?"
"I will answer for it. The bandits are the only Greeks who never break
their word. Do you not understand that if it happened once that they
kept prisoners after having received the ransom, no one would ever pay
one again?"
"That is true! But what a queer German you are, not to have spoken
sooner."
"You always cut me short."
"You ought to have spoken even then!"
"But, Madame----"
"Silence! Lead me to this detestable Stavros."
The King was breakfasting on roast turtles, seated with his unwounded
officers under his tree of justice. He had made his toilet; he had
washed the blood from his hands and changed his clothes. He was
discussing, with his men, the most expeditious means of filling the
vacancies made by death in his ranks. Vasile, who was from Javina,
offered to find thirty men in Epinus, where the watchfulness of the
Turkish authorities had put more than a thousand bandits in retreat. A
Laconian wished that they might get for ready money the little band
belonging to Spartiate Pavlos, who had improved the province of Mague,
in the neighborhood of Calamato. The King, always imbued with English
ideas, thought of forced recruiting, and of pressing into service the
Attic shepherds. This plan seemed to him to possess superior advantages,
as it would require no outlay of funds and he would obtain the herds
into the bargain.
Interrupted in the midst of his deliberations, Hadgi-Stavros gave his
prisoners a cool reception. He did not offer even a glass of water to
Mrs. Simons, and she had not yet breakfasted; she fully realized the
omission of this courtesy. I took upon myself the part of speaker, and,
in the Corfuan's absence, the King was forced to accept my services as
intermediary. I said to him that after the disaster of the evening
before he would be glad to learn Mrs. Simons' decision; that she would
pay, with the briefest delay possible, her ransom and mine; that the
funds would be turned over the next day, either to a banker in Athens,
or to some other place which he would designate, in exchange for his
receipt.
"I am much pleased," he said, "that these ladies have renounced the idea
of calling the Greek army to their aid. Tell them that, for the second
time, anything necessary for writing will be furnished them; but that
they must not abuse my confidence! That they must not draw the soldiers
here! At the sight of the very first soldier who appears on the
mountain, I will cut off their heads. I swear it by the Virgin of the
Megaspilion, who was carved by Saint Luke's own hand."
"Do not doubt! I give my word for these ladies and myself. Where do you
wish to have the sum left?"
"At the National Bank of Greece. It is the only one which has not yet
gone into bankruptcy."
"Have you a safe man to carry the letter?"
"I have the good old man! I will send to the convent for him. What time
is it? Nine o'clock in the morning. The reverend gentleman has not yet
drunk enough to become tipsy."
"The monk will do. When Mrs. Simons' brother has turned over the sum and
taken your receipt, the monk will bring you the news."
"What receipt? Why a receipt? I have never given any. When you are at
liberty you will readily see that you have paid me what you owe me."
"I think that a man like you ought to transact business according to
European methods. In a good administration----"
"I transact business in my own way, and I am too old to change my
methods!"
"As you please! I ask it in the interest of Mrs. Simons. She is guardian
of her minor daughter, and she must render account of her whole
fortune."
"But that will arrange itself! I care for my interests as she does for
hers. When she pays for her daughter is it a great misfortune? I have
never regretted what I have disbursed for Photini. Here is the paper,
the ink and the reeds. Be good enough to watch the composition of the
letter. It concerns your head, too!"
I rose, abashed, and followed the ladies, who saw my confusion without
knowing the cause. But a sudden inspiration made me suddenly retrace my
steps. I said to the King: "Decidedly, you were right to refuse the
receipt, and I was wrong in asking for it. You are wiser than I; youth
is imprudent."
"What do you say?"
"You are right, I tell you. It is necessary to wait. Who knows if you
will not experience a second defeat more terrible than the first. You
are not as strong as at twenty years of age; you may fall a captive to
the soldiers."
"I?"
"They will try you as a common malefactor; the magistrates will no
longer fear you. In such circumstances a receipt for a hundred and
fifteen thousand francs would be overwhelming proof. Give no weapons of
justice to be turned against you. Perhaps Mrs. Simons or her heirs would
join in a criminal suit to recover what had been taken from them. Never
sign a receipt!"
He replied in thundering tones: "I will sign it! and two rather than
one! I will sign all; as many as need signing. I will sign them always
for anyone! Ah! the soldiers imagine that they will manage me easily,
because once, chance, and their larger force gave them the advantage! I
fall, living, into their hands, I, whose arm is proof against fatigue,
and whose head is proof against bullets! I seat myself on a bench,
before a judge, like a peasant who has stolen cabbages! Young man, you
do not yet know Hadgi-Stavros! It would be easier to pluck up Parnassus
and place it upon the summit of Taygète, than to tear me from my
mountains, and place me on a court bench! Write for me, in Greek, Madame
Simons' name! Good! Yours also!"
"It is not necessary, and----"
"Write! You know my name, and I am sure that you will not forget it. I
wish to have yours, to hold as a souvenir."
I wrote my name as best I could in the harmonious language of Plato.
The King's lieutenants applauded his firmness without understanding that
it would cost him a hundred and fifteen thousand francs. I hurried with
a light heart and much pleased with myself to Mrs. Simons' tent. I told
her that her money had had a narrow escape, and she deigned to smile on
learning that I had pretended to be deceived in order to rob our
robbers. A half hour afterward she submitted for my approval the
following letter:
"My Dear Brother:--The gendarmes whom you sent to our rescue were
treacherous, and fled ignominiously. I advise you to see that they
are hung. They will need a gallows a hundred feet high for their
Captain Pericles. I shall complain of him, especially, in the
dispatch which I intend to send to Lord Palmerston, and I shall
consecrate to him a portion of the letter which I shall write to
the editor of the "Times," as soon as you have set us free. It is
useless to hope anything from the local authorities. All the
natives are leagued against us, and the day after our departure the
Greeks will gather in some corner of the kingdom to divide what
they have taken from us. Fortunately, they will have little. I have
learned from a young German, whom I took at first for a spy, and
who is a very honest man, that this Stavros, called Hadgi-Stavros,
has funds placed with our firm. I beg you to verify the fact, and
if it is true, let nothing prevent you from paying the ransom which
is demanded. Turn over to the Bank of Greece 115,000 francs (4600
sterling) for a regular receipt, sealed with this Stavros' seal.
The amount will be charged to his account. Our health is good,
although life in the mountains may not be comfortable. It is
monstrous that two English women, citizens of the greatest kingdom
in the world, should be compelled to eat their roast without
mustard and without pickles and to drink pure water like any fish.
"Hoping that you will not delay in arranging for our return to our
accustomed habits, I am, my dear brother, very sincerely yours,
"Rebecca Simons."
I carried, to the King, the good woman's letter. He took it with
defiance, and examined it so sharply that I trembled lest he should
understand it. I was, however, very sure that he knew no English. But
this devil of a man, inspired me with superstitious terror, and I
believed him capable of performing miracles. He seemed satisfied only
when he reached the figures 4600 livres sterling. He saw, at once, that
he was not to be troubled with the gendarmes. The letter was placed,
with other papers, in a tin cylinder. They brought forward the good old
man, who had drunk just enough wine to limber up his legs, and the King
gave the box to him, with very explicit instructions. He departed, and
my heart kept pace with him to the end of his journey. Horace did not
follow with a more tender look the ship which bore Virgil away.
As soon as the King saw the affair in train to be completed, he became
very genial. He ordered for us a veritable feast; he distributed double
rations of wine to his men; he went himself to look after the wounded,
and with his own hands extracted the ball from Sophocles' shoulder.
Orders were given the bandits to treat us with the respect due our
money.
The breakfast which I ate, without spectators, with the ladies was one
of the happiest repasts I ever remember. All my evils were then ended; I
should be free after two days of this sweet captivity. Perhaps even, on
leaving Hadgi-Stavros, an adorable slavery!... I felt that I was a poet
like Gessner. I ate as heartily as Mrs. Simons, and I assuredly drank
with more appetite. I gulped down the white wine of Aegina, as formerly
the wine of Santorin. I drank to Mary-Ann's health, to her mother's, to
my good parents' and to that of Princess Ypsoff. Mrs. Simons wished to
hear the history of that noble stranger, and by my faith, I did not keep
it secret. Good examples are never too well known. Mary-Ann gave
charming attention to my recital. She thought that the Princess had done
well, and that a woman ought to take her happiness wherever she found
it. Proverbs are the wisdom of nations, and sometimes their success. I
was cast upon the wind of prosperity, and I felt myself borne toward, I
know not what terrestrial paradise. Oh, Mary-Ann! the sailors who
traverse the ocean have never had for guides two stars like your eyes!
I was seated before her. Passing the wing of a fowl to her, I leaned so
near her that I saw my image reflected in her eyes. I found I looked
well, Monsieur, for the first time in my life! The frame set off the
picture so well. A strange thought seized me. I felt that I had
surprised, in this incident, a decree of destiny. It seemed to me that
the beautiful Mary-Ann carried in the depths of her heart the image
which I had discovered in her eyes.
All this was not love, I know it well, I wish neither to accuse myself,
nor to appropriate to myself a sentiment which I have never felt; but it
was a firm friendship, and which would suffice, I thought, for a man
about to enter the wedded state. No turbulent emotion stirred my heart,
but I felt it melting slowly like a piece of wax in the warmth of a
genial sun.
Under the influence of this reasonable ecstasy, I related to Mary-Ann
and her mother the history of my life. I described to them the paternal
mansion, the great kitchen where we all ate together; the copper
sauce-pans hanging on the wall according to size; the strings of hams
and sausages which hung in the inside of the chimney; our modest, and
often hard life: the future of each of my brothers; Henri ought to
succeed papa; Frederic was learning the tailor's trade; Frantz and
Jean-Nicholas had had positions since they were eighteen; the one as
corporal, the other, as quarter-master sergeant. I told them of studies,
my examinations, the little successes which I had enjoyed at the
University, the beautiful future of professor to which I could lay
claim, with three thousand francs income, at least. I do not know to
what point my recital interested them, but I took great pleasure in it,
and I stopped to drink from time to time.
Mrs. Simons did not speak to me again about our discussion on marriage,
and I was very happy. It is better not to say a word, than to talk in
the air when we know ourselves so little. The day passed for me, like an
hour; I mean as an hour of pleasure. The next day seemed long to Mrs.
Simons; as for me, I would have liked to stop the sun in its course. I
instructed Mary-Ann in the first principles of botany. Ah! Monsieur, the
world does not know all the tender and delicate sentiments one can
express in a lesson in botany.
At last, on Wednesday morning, the monk appeared on the horizon. He was
a worthy man, taken altogether, this little monk! He had risen before
dawn in order to bring us liberty in his pocket. He brought to the King
a letter from the president of the bank, and to Mrs. Simons a letter
from her brother. Hadgi-Stavros said to Mrs. Simons: "You are free,
Madame, and you may take Mademoiselle, your daughter, away. I hope that
you will not take away from our rocks too unpleasant memories. We have
offered you all that we have; if the bed and the table have not been
worthy of you, it is the fault of circumstances. I had this morning an
angry fit, which I pray you to forget; one must pardon a conquered
general. If I dared to offer a little present to Mademoiselle, I would
beg her to accept an antique ring which could be made to fit her finger.
It does not come from any plunder we have taken; I bought it of a
merchant of Nauplie. Mademoiselle will show this jewel in England, in
relating her visit to the King of the Mountains."
I faithfully translated this little speech, and I slipped the King's
ring on Mary-Ann's finger, myself.
"And I," I asked of Hadgi-Stavros, "shall I carry away nothing by which
to remember you?"
"You, dear sir? But you remain! Your ransom is not paid!"