A NOCTURNE
It was only natural that, though tired as he was and enjoying an
unusually contented mind, Diogenes was nevertheless unable to get to
sleep.
He had had a very good supper and had parted at an early hour from his
host. Ben Isaje had been amiable even deferential to the last, and
indeed there had been nothing in the Jew's demeanour to arouse
misgivings in the most suspicious mind.
The lean and towzled serving woman had prepared a clean and comfortable
bed in the narrow alcove within the wall panelling of the small room
which adjoined the shop, but though the weary philosopher wooed sleep
with utmost persistence, it resolutely refused to be lured to his
pillow. At first the arrival of the night watchmen had kept him awake:
for they made their entrance with much jangling of swords and loud and
lusty talk. There was apparently a good solid partition between his room
and the shop because as soon as the watchmen were settled at their post
their voices only reached Diogenes' ear like a muffled murmur.
A door gave from this room on the passage and this he had carefully
locked; but it hung loosely on its hinges and the slightest noise in the
house--a heavy footfall overhead or in the shop--would cause it to
rattle with a weird, intermittent sound which sent sleep flying baffled
away.
There were thoughts too which crowded in upon him--pleasant thoughts as
well as others that were a trifle sad--the immediate future with its
promise of a possible fortune loomed brightly enough, but the means to
that happy end was vaguely disturbing the light-hearted equanimity of
this soldier of fortune accustomed hitherto to grip Chance by the hair
whenever she rushed past him in her mad, whirling career, and without
heeding those who stood in his way.
But suddenly the whole thing seemed different, and Diogenes himself
could not have told you why it was so. Thoughts of the future and of the
promises which it held disturbed when they should have elated him: there
was a feeling in him which he could not analyse, a feeling wherein a
strange, sweet compassion seemed to form the main ingredient. The
philosopher who had hitherto viewed life through the rosy glasses of
unalterable good-humour, who had smiled at luck and ill-luck, laughed at
misfortune and at hope, suddenly felt that there was something in life
which could not be dismissed light-heartedly, something which really
counted, though it was so intangible and so elusive that even now he
could not give it a name.
The adventurer, who had slept soundly and dreamlessly in camp and on the
field, in the streets of a sacked town or the still smouldering
battlements of a fortress, could find no rest in the comfortable bed so
carefully prepared for him in the house of Ben Isaje the Jew. The murmur
of voices from the shop, low and monotonous, irritated his nerves, the
rattling of the door upon its hinges drove him well-nigh distracted.
He heard every noise in the house as they died out one by one; the voice
of the serving woman bidding the jongejuffrouw "good-night," the
shuffling footsteps of the old Jew, the heavy tread of Maria overhead,
and another, light and swift which--strangely enough--disturbed him more
completely than the louder sounds had done.
At last he could stand his present state no longer, he felt an
unpleasant tingling to the very tips of his fingers and the very roots
of his hair; it seemed to him as if soft noiseless steps wandered
aimlessly outside his door; furtive tiny animals with feet of velvet
must have run down the stairs and then halted, breathless and terrified,
on the other side of those rattling wooden panels.
He sat up in bed and groping for his tinder he struck a light; then he
listened again. Not a sound now stirred inside the house, only the wind
soughed through the loose tiles of the roof and found out the chinks and
cracks of the ill-fitting window, through which it blew with a sharp,
whistling sound. From the shop there came the faint murmur of some of
the watchmen snoring at their post.
Beyond that, nothing. And yet Diogenes, whose keen ear was trained to
catch the flutter of every twig, the movement of every beast, could have
sworn that someone was awake at this moment, in this house besides
himself--someone who breathed and trembled on the other side of the
door.
Without a moment's hesitation he slipped on his clothes as quickly as he
could, then he pulled the curtains across in front of the alcove and
paused for one second longer in order to listen.
He had certainly not been mistaken. Through the stillness of the house
he heard the soughing of the wind, the snoring of the watchmen, and that
faint, palpitating sound outside in the passage--that sound which was as
the breathing of some living, frightened thing.
Then he walked as noiselessly as he could up to the door, and with a
sudden simultaneous turn of key and handle he opened it suddenly.
It opened outwards, and the passage beyond was pitch dark, but there in
front of him now, white as a ghost, white as the garment which she wore,
white as the marble statue of the Madonna which he had seen in the
cathedral at Prague, stood the jongejuffrouw.
The candle which she carried flickered in the draught, and thus
flickering it lit up her large blue eyes which she kept fixed upon him
with an expression half defiant yet wholly terrified.
Frankly he thought at first that this was an apparition, a vivid
embodiment of the fevered fancies which had been haunting him. No wonder
therefore that he made no movement toward her, or expressed the
slightest astonishment at seeing her there, all alone, in the middle of
the night, not five paces away from him.
Thus they stood looking at one another for some time in absolute
silence; she obviously very frightened, hesitating betwixt audacity and
immediate flight, and he puzzled and with a vague sense of unreality
upon him, a sense as of a dream which yet had in it the pulsating
vividness of life.
She was the first to break this silence which was beginning to be
oppressive. Gilda Beresteyn was not a timid woman nor was hers a
character which ever vacillated once her mind was made up. The step
which she had taken this night--daring and unconventional as it was--had
been well thought out: deliberately and seriously she had weighed every
danger, every risk which she ran, even those which in her pure-minded
innocence she was not able fully to appreciate. Now though she was
scared momentarily, she had no thought of turning back.
The old stiff-necked haughtiness of her race did not desert her for a
moment, even though she was obviously at a disadvantage in this
instance, and had come here as a suppliant.
"I wished to speak with you, sir," she said, and her voice had scarce a
tremor in it, "my woman was too timorous to come down and summon you to
my presence, as I had ordered her to do; so I was forced to come
myself."
Though she looked very helpless, very childlike in her innocence, she
had contrived to speak to him like a princess addressing a menial,
holding her tiny head very high and making visible efforts to still the
quivering of her lips.
There was something so quaint in this proud attitude of hers under the
present circumstances, that despite its pathos Diogenes' keen sense of
humour was not proof against it, and that accustomed merry smile of his
crept slowly over every line of his face.
"I am ever at your service, mejuffrouw," he said as gravely as he could,
"your major domo, your valet ... I always await your commands."
"Then I pray you take this candle," she said coldly, "and stand aside
that I may enter. What I have to say cannot be told in this passage."
He took the candle from her, since she held it out to him, and then
stepped aside just as she had commanded, keeping the door wide open for
her to pass through into the room. She was holding herself very erect,
and with perfect self-possession she now selected a chair whereon to
sit. She wore the same white gown which she had on when first he laid
hands on her in the streets of Haarlem, and the fur cloak wherein she
had wrapped herself had partially slid from her shoulders.
Having sat down, close to the table, with one white arm resting upon it,
she beckoned peremptorily to him to close the door and to put the candle
down; all of which he did quite mechanically, for the feeling had come
back to him that the white figure before him was only a vision--or
mayhap a dream--from which, however, he hoped not to awaken too soon.
"At your command, mejuffrouw," was all that he said, and he remained
standing quite close to the door, with half the width of the room
between himself and her.
But to himself he murmured under his breath:
"St. Bavon and the Holy Virgin, do ye both stand by me now!"
"I do not know, sir," she began after awhile, "if my coming here at this
hour doth greatly surprise you, but in truth the matter which brings me
is so grave that I cannot give a thought to your feelings or to mine
own."
"And mine, mejuffrouw, are of such little consequence," he said
good-humouredly seeing that she appeared to wait for a reply, "that it
were a pity you should waste precious time in considering them."
"Nor have I come to talk of feelings, sir. My purpose is of deadly
earnestness. I have come to propose a bargain for your acceptance."
"A bargain?"
"Yes. A bargain," she reiterated. "One I hope and think that you will
find it worth while to accept."
"Then may I crave the honour of hearing the nature of that bargain,
mejuffrouw?" he asked pleasantly.
She did not give him an immediate reply but remained quite still and
silent for a minute or even two, looking with wide-open inquiring eyes
on the tall figure of the man who had--to her mind--done her such an
infinite wrong. She noted and acknowledged quite dispassionately the air
of splendour which became him so well--splendour of physique, of youth
and of strength, and those laughing eyes that questioned and that
mocked, the lips that always smiled and the straight brow with its noble
sweep which hid the true secret of his personality. And once again--as
on that evening at Leyden--she fell almost to hating him, angered that
such a man should be nothing better than a knave, a mercenary rogue paid
to lend a hand in unavowable deeds.
He stood her scrutiny as best he could, answering her look of haughty
condescension with one of humble deference; but the smile of gentle
irony never left his lips and tempered the humility of his attitude.
"You have owned to me, sir," resumed Gilda Beresteyn at last, "that you
have been paid for the infamous work which you are doing now; for laying
hands on me in the streets of Haarlem and for keeping me a prisoner at
the good will of your employer. To own to such a trade, sir, is to admit
oneself somewhat below the level of honest men. Is that not so?"
"Below the level of most men, mejuffrouw, I admit," he replied
imperturbably.
"Had it not been for that admission on your part, I would never have
thought of coming to you with a proposal which...."
"Which you never would have put before an honest man," he broke in with
perfect equanimity, seeing that she hesitated.
"You anticipate my thought, sir: and I am glad to find that you will
make my errand even easier than I had hoped. Briefly then let me tell
you--as I told you at Leyden--that I know who your paymaster is. A man
has thought fit to perpetrate a crime against me, for a reason which no
doubt he deemed expedient and which probably he has not imparted to you.
Reasons and causes I imagine, sir, are no concern of yours. You take
payment for your deeds and do not inquire into motives. Is that not so?"
This time Diogenes only made a slight bow in acknowledgment of her
question. He was smiling to himself more grimly than was his wont, for
he had before him the recollection of the Lord of Stoutenburg--cruel,
coarse, and evil, bullying and striking a woman--and of Nicolaes
Beresteyn--callous and cynical, bartering his sister's honour and safety
to ensure his own. To the one she had plighted her troth, the other was
her natural protector, dear to her through those sweet bonds of
childhood which bind brother and sister in such close affection. Yet
both are selfish, unscrupulous rogues, thought the philosopher, though
both very dear to her, and both honest men in her sight.
"That being so, sir," she resumed once more, "meseems that you should be
equally ready to do me service and to ask me no questions, provided that
I pay you well."
"That, mejuffrouw," he said quietly, "would depend on the nature of the
service."
"It is quite simple, sir. Let me explain. While my woman and I were
having supper upstairs, the wench who served us fell to gossiping,
telling us the various news of the day which have filtered through into
Rotterdam. Among other less important matters, sir, she told us that the
Prince of Orange had left his camp at Sprang in order to journey
northwards to Amsterdam. Yesterday he and his escort of one hundred
men-at-arms passed close to this city; they were making for Delft where
the Prince means to spend a day or two before proceeding further on his
journey. He sleeps at the Prinzenhof in Delft this night."
"Yes, mejuffrouw?" he said, for suddenly her manner had changed;
something of its coolness had gone from it, even if the pride was still
there. While she spoke a warm tinge of pink flooded her cheeks; she was
leaning forward, her eyes bright and glowing were fixed upon him with a
look of eagerness and almost of appeal, and her lips were moist and
trembling, whilst the words which she wished to speak seemed to be dying
in her throat.
"What hath the progress of the Prince of Orange to do with your most
humble and most obedient servant?" he asked again.
"I must speak with the Prince of Orange, sir," she said while her voice
now soft and mellow fell almost like a prayer on his ear. "I must go to
him to Delft not later than to-morrow. Oh! you will not refuse me
this ... you cannot ... I...."
She had clasped her hands together, her eyes were wet with tears, and as
she pleaded, she bent forward so low in her chair, that it seemed for a
moment as if her knees would touch the ground. In the flickering
candle-light she looked divinely pretty thus, with all the cold air of
pride gone from her childlike face. A gentle draught stirred the fair
curls round her head, the fur cloak had completely slipped down from her
shoulders and her white dress gave her more than ever the air of that
Madonna carved in marble which he had seen once in the cathedral at
Prague.
The philosopher passed a decidedly shaking hand across his forehead: the
room was beginning to whirl round him, the floor to give way under his
feet. He fell to thinking that the mild ale offered to him by Ben Isaje
had been more heady than he had thought.
"St. Bavon," he murmured to himself, "where in Heaven's name are ye now?
I asked you to stand by me."
It was one of those moments--perfect in themselves--when a man can
forget everything that pertains to the outer world, when neither
self-interest nor ordinary prudence will count, when he is ready to
jeopardize his life, his career, his future, his very soul for the
ecstasy which lies in the one heaven-born minute. Thus it was with this
philosopher, this man of the moment, the adventurer, the soldier of
fortune; the world which he had meant to conquer, the fortune which he
had vowed to win seemed to slip absolutely away from him. This
dream--for it was after all only a dream, it was just too beautiful to
be reality--the continuance of this dream seemed to him to be all that
mattered, this girl--proud and pleading--a Madonna, a saint, a child of
innocence, was the only perfect, desirable entity in this universe.
"St. Bavon, you rogue! you are playing me false!" he murmured, as the
last vestige of self-control and of prudence threatened to fall away
from him.
"Madonna," he said as with a quick movement he came forward and bent the
knee before her, "I entreat you to believe that whatever lies in my
power to do in your service, that will I gladly do. How can I refuse,"
he added whilst that immutable smile, gentle, humorous, faintly
ironical, once more lit up his face as he looked straight into hers,
"how can I refuse to obey since you deign to plead to me with those
lips? how can I withstand your appeal when it speaks to me through your
eyes?"
"You will let me do what I ask?" she exclaimed with a little cry of joy,
for his attitude was very humble and his voice yielding and kind; he was
kneeling at some little distance from her, which was quite becoming in a
mercenary knave.
"If it be in my power, Madonna!" he said simply.
"Then will I pay you well," she continued eagerly. "I have thought it
all out. I am rich you know, and my bond is as good as that of any man.
Do you but bring me inkhorn and paper, I will give you a bond for 4,000
guilders on Mynheer Ben Isaje himself, he hath monies of mine own in
trust and at interest. But if 4,000 guilders are not enough, I pray you
name your price; it shall be what you ask."
"What do you desire me to do, Madonna?"
"I desire you to escort me to Delft so that I may speak with the Prince
of Orange."
"The Prince of Orange is well guarded. No stranger is allowed to enter
his presence."
"I am not a stranger to him. My father is his friend; a word from me to
him, a ring of mine sent in with a request for an audience and he will
not refuse."
"And having entered the presence of the Stadtholder, mejuffrouw, what do
you propose to say to him?"
"That, sir, is naught to you," she retorted coldly.
"I pray you forgive me," he said, still humbly kneeling, "but you have
deigned to ask my help, and I'll not give it unless you will tell me
what your purpose is."
"You would not dare...."
"To make conditions for my services?" he said speaking always with
utmost deference, "this do I dare, mejuffrouw, and my condition is for
your acceptance or refusal--as you command."
"I did not ask for your help, sir," she said curtly. "I offered to pay
you for certain services which I desire you to render me."
Already her look of pleading had gone. She had straightened herself up,
prouder and more disdainful than before. He dared to make conditions!
he! the mercenary creature whom anyone could buy body and soul for
money, who took payment for doing such work as would soil an honest
man's hands! It was monstrous! impossible, unthinkable. She thought that
her ears had deceived her or that mayhap he had misunderstood.
In a moment at her words, at the scornful glance which accompanied them,
he had risen to his feet. The subtle moment had gone by; the air was no
longer oppressive, and the ground felt quite steady under him. Calm,
smiling, good-tempered, he straightened out his massive figure as if to
prepare himself for those shafts which her cruel little tongue knew so
well how to deal.
And inwardly he offered up a thanksgiving to St. Bavon for this cold
douche upon his flaming temper.
"I did not misunderstand you, mejuffrouw," he said lightly, "and I am
ready to do you service--under a certain condition."
She bit her lip with vexation. The miserable wretch was obviously not
satisfied with the amount which she had named as payment for his
services, and he played some weak part of chivalry and of honour in
order to make his work appear more difficult, and to extract a more
substantial reward from her. She tried to put into the glance which she
now threw on him all the contempt which she felt and which truly
nauseated her at this moment. Unfortunately she had need of him, she
could not start for Delft alone, marauders and footpads would stop her
ever reaching that city. Could she have gone alone she were not here now
craving the help of a man whom she despised.
"Meseems," she said coldly after a slight pause, "that you do wilfully
misunderstand our mutual positions. I am not asking you to do anything
which could offend your strangely susceptible honour, whose vagaries, I
own, I am unable to follow. Will 10,000 guilders satisfy your erratic
conscience? or did you receive more than that for laying hands on two
helpless women and dragging one--who has never done you any wrong--to a
depth of shame and sorrow which you cannot possibly fathom?"
"My conscience, mejuffrouw," he replied, seemingly quite unperturbed at
her contemptuous glance and insulting speech, "is, as you say, somewhat
erratic. For the moment it refuses to consider the possibility of
escorting you to Delft unless I know what it is that you desire to say
to the Prince of Orange."
"If it is a question of price...."
"It is not a question of price, mejuffrouw," he broke in firmly, "let
us, an you will allow it, call it a question of mine erratic
conscience."
"I am rich, sir ... my private fortune...."
"Do not name it, mejuffrouw," he said jovially, "the sound of it would
stagger a poor man who has to scrape up a living as best he can."
"Forty thousand guilders, sir," she said pleading once more eagerly, "an
you will take me to Delft to-morrow."
"Were it ten hundred thousand, mejuffrouw, I would not do it unless I
knew what you wished to say to the Stadtholder."
"Sir, can I not move you," she implored, "this means more to me than I
can hope to tell you." Once again her pride had given way before this
new and awful fear that her errand would be in vain, that she had come
here as a suppliant before this rogue, that she had humbled her dignity,
entreated him, almost knelt to him, and that he, for some base reason
which she could not understand, meant to give himself the satisfaction
of refusing the fortune which she did promise him.
"Can I not move you," she reiterated, appealing yet more earnestly, for,
womanlike, she could not forget that moment awhile ago, when he had
knelt instinctively before her, when the irony had gone from his smile,
and the laughter in his mocking eyes had yielded to an inward glow.
He shook his head, but remained unmoved.
"I cannot tell you, sir," she urged plaintively, "what I would say to
the Prince."
"Is it so deadly a secret then?" he asked.
"Call it that, an you will."
"A secret that concerns his life?"
"That I did not say."
"No. It was a guess. A right one methinks."
"Then if you think so, sir, why not let me go to him?"
"So that you may warn him?"
"You were merely guessing, sir...."
"That you may tell him not to continue his journey," he insisted,
speaking less restrainedly now, as he leaned forward closer to her, her
fair curls almost brushing against his cheek as they fluttered in the
draught.
"I did not say so," she murmured.
"Because there is a trap laid for him ... a trap of which you know...."
"No, no!" she cried involuntarily.
"A trap into which he may fall ... unknowingly ... on his way to the
north."
"You say so, sir," she moaned, "not I...."
"Assassins are on his track ... an attempt will be made against his
life ... the murderers lie in wait for him ... even now ... and you,
mejuffrouw, who know who those murderers are...."
A cry of anguish rose to her lips.
"No, no, no," she cried, "it is false ... you are only
guessing ... remember that I have told you nothing."
But already the tense expression on his face had gone. He drew himself
up to his full height once more and heaved a deep breath which sounded
like a sigh of satisfaction.
"Yet in your candour, mejuffrouw, you have told me much," he said
quietly, "confirmed much that I only vaguely guessed. The Stadtholder's
life is in peril and you hold in your feeble little hands the threads of
the conspiracy which threatens him ... is that not why you are here,
mejuffrouw ... a prisoner, as you say, at the good-will of my employer?
I am only guessing, remember, but on your face, meseems that I can read
that I do guess aright."
"Then you will do what I ask?" she exclaimed with a happy little gasp of
renewed hope.
"That, mejuffrouw, is I fear me impossible," he said quietly.
"Impossible? But--just now...."
"Just now," he rejoined with affected carelessness, "I said, mejuffrouw,
that I would on no account escort you to Delft without knowing what your
purpose is with the Prince of Orange. Even now I do not know, I merely
guessed."
"But," she entreated, "if I do own that you have guessed aright--partly
at any rate--if I do tell you that the Stadtholder's life might be
imperilled if I did not give him a timely word of warning, if...."
"Even if you told me all that, mejuffrouw," he broke in lightly, "if you
did bring your pride down so far as to trust a miserable knave with a
secret which he might sell for money on the morrow--even then, I fear
me, I could not do what you ask."
"But why not?" she insisted, her voice choking in her throat in the
agony of terrible doubt and fear.
"Because the man of whom you spoke just now, the man whom you love,
mejuffrouw, has been more far-seeing, more prudent than you or I. He
hath put it out of my power to render you this service."
"How?"
"By warning Mynheer Ben Isaje against any attempt at escape on your
part, against any attempt at betrayal on mine. Mynheer Ben Isaje is
prepared: he hath a guard of ten picked men on the watch, and two more
men outside his door. If you tried to leave this house with me without
his consent he would prevent you, and I am no match alas! for twelve
men."
"Why should he guard me so?"
"Because he will not be paid if he keep not watch over you."
"But I'll swear to return straightway from Delft. I'll only speak with
the Prince and return immediately.... Money! always money!" she cried
with sudden vehemence, "a great man's life, the honour of a house, the
salvation of the land, are these all to be sacrificed because of the
greed and cupidity of men?"
"Shall I call Mynheer Ben Isaje?" asked Diogenes placidly, "mayhap,
mejuffrouw, that you could persuade him more easily than me!"
But at this she rose to her feet as suddenly as if she had been stung:
the colour in her cheeks deepened, the tears were dry in her eyes.
"You," she exclaimed, and there was a world of bitter contempt in the
tone of her voice, "persuade you who have tricked and fooled me, even
while I began to believe in you? You, who for the past half hour have
tried to filch a secret from me bit by bit! with lying words you led me
into telling you even more than I should! and I, poor fool I thought
that I had touched your heart, or that at least there was some spark of
loyalty in you which mayhap prompted you to guess that the Prince was in
danger. Fool that I was! miserable, wretched fool! to think for a moment
that you would lend a hand in aught that was noble and chivalrous! I
would I had the power to raise the blush of shame in your cheeks, but
alas! the shame is only for me, who trusting in your false promises and
your lies have allowed my tongue to speak words which I would give my
life now to unsay--for me who thought that there was in you one feeble
spark of pity or of honour. Fool! fool that I was! when I forgot for one
brief moment that it was your greed and cupidity that were the props
without which this whole edifice of infamy had tottered long ago;
persuade you to do a selfish deed! you the abductor of women, the paid
varlet and mercenary rogue who will thieve and outrage and murder for
money!"
She sank back in her chair and, resting her arms upon the table, she
buried her face in them, for she had given way at last to a passionate
fit of weeping. The disappointment was greater than she could bear after
the load of sorrow which had been laid on her these past few days.
When she heard through the chatterings of a servant that the Stadtholder
was at Delft this very night, the memory of every word which she had
heard in the cathedral on New Year's Eve came back to her with renewed
vividness. Delft! she remembered that name so well and Ryswyk close by,
the only possible way for a northward journey! Then the molens which
Stoutenburg had said were his headquarters, where he stored arms and
ammunition and enough gunpowder to blow up the wooden bridge which spans
the Schie and over which the Stadtholder and his bodyguard must pass.
Every word that Stoutenburg and her brother and the others had spoken
that night, rang now in her ears like a knell: Delft, Ryswyk, the
molens, the wooden bridge! Delft, Ryswyk, the molens, the wooden bridge!
Delft....
Delft was quite near, less than four leagues away ... the Stadtholder
was there now ... he could be warned before it was too late ... and she
could warn him without compromising her brother and his friends.... Then
it was that she remembered that in the room below there slept a knave
who would do anything for gold.
Thus she had run down to him full of eagerness and full of hope. And now
he had refused to help her, and worse still had guessed at a secret
which, if he bartered or sold it, meant death to her brother and his
friends.
Contempt and hate had broken down her spirit. Smothering both, she was
even now ready to fall on her knees, to plead with him, to pray, to
implore ... if only that could have moved him ... if only it meant
safety for the Stadtholder, and not merely a useless loss of pride and
of dignity.
Anger and misery and utter hopelessness! they were causing her tears,
and she hated this man who had her in his power and mocked her in her
misery: and there was the awful thought that the Stadtholder was so
near--less than four leagues away! Why! had she been free she could have
run all the way to him--that hideous crime, that appalling tragedy in
which her brother would bear a hand, could be averted even now if she
were free! Oh! the misery of it! the awful, wretched helplessness! in a
few days--hours mayhap--the Stadtholder would be walking straight into
the trap which his murderers had set for him ... the broken bridge! the
explosion! the assassin at the carriage door! She saw it all as in a
vision of the future, and her brother in the midst of it all with hands
deeply stained in blood.
And she could avert it all--the crime, the sorrow, the awful, hideous
shame if only she were free.
She looked up at last, ashamed of her tears, ashamed that a rogue should
have seen how keenly she suffered.
She looked up and turned to him once more. The flickering light of the
candles fell full upon his splendid figure and upon his face: it was the
colour of ashes, and there was no trace of his wonted smile around his
lips: the eyes too looked sunken and their light was hid beneath the
drooping lids. Her shafts which she had aimed with such deadly precision
had gone home at last: in the bitterness of her heart she apparently had
found words which had cut him like a lash.
Satisfied at least in this she rose to go.
"There is nothing more to say," she said as calmly as she could, trying
to still the quivering of her lips: "as you say, Mynheer Ben Isaje has
carefully taken the measure of your valour and it cannot come up to a
dozen picked men, even though life and honour, country and faith might
demand at least an effort on their behalf. I pray you open the door. I
would--for mine own sake as well as your own--that I had not thought of
breaking in on your rest."
Without a word he went to the door, and had his hand on the latch ready
to obey her, when something in his placid attitude irritated her beyond
endurance. Woman-like she was not yet satisfied: perhaps a thought of
remorse at her cruelty fretted her, perhaps she pitied him in that he
was so base.
Be that as it may, she spoke to him again:
"Have you nothing then to say?" she asked.
"What can I say, mejuffrouw?" he queried in reply, as the ghost of his
wonted smile crept swiftly back into his pale face.
"Methought no man would care to be called a coward by a woman, and
remain silent under the taunt."
"You forget, mejuffrouw," he retorted, "that I am so much less than a
man ... a menial, a rogue, a vagabond--so base that not even the
slightest fear of me did creep into your heart ... you came to me, here,
alone at dead of night with an appeal upon your lips, yet you were not
afraid, then you struck me in the face like you would a dog with a whip,
and you were no more afraid of me than of the dog whom you had thrashed.
So base am I then that words of mine are not worthy of your ear.
Whatever I said, I could not persuade you that for one man to measure
his strength against twelve others were not an act of valour, but one of
senseless foolishness. I might tell you that bravery lies oft in
prudence but seldom in foolhardiness, but this I know you are not in a
mood now to believe. I might even tell you," he continued with a slight
return to his wonted light-hearted carelessness, "I might tell you that
certain acts of bravery cannot be accomplished without the intervention
of protecting saints, and that I have found St. Bavon an admirable saint
to implore in such cases, but this I fear me you are not like to
understand. So you see, mejuffrouw, that whatever I said I could not
prove to you that I am less of a blackguard than I seem."
"You could at least prove it to this extent," she retorted, "by keeping
silence over what you may have guessed."
"You mean that I must not sell the secret which you so nearly
betrayed ... have no fear, mejuffrouw, my knowledge of it is so scanty
that the Stadtholder would not give me five guilders for it."
"Will you swear...."
"Such a miserable cur as I am, mejuffrouw," he said lightly, "is surely
an oath-breaker as well as a liar and a thief--what were the good of
swearing?... But I'll swear an you wish ..." he added gaily.
"Surely you ..." she began.
But with a quick gesture he interrupted her.
"Dondersteen, mejuffrouw," he said more firmly than he had yet spoken
before, "if beauty in you is tempered with pity, I entreat you to spare
me now: even knaves remember become men sometimes and my patron Saint
Bavon threatens to leave me in the lurch."
He held open the door for her to pass through, and gravely held out one
of the pewter candles to her. She could not help but take it, though
indeed she felt that the last word between that rogue and herself had
not by any means been spoken yet. But she hardly looked at him as she
sailed past him out of the room, her heavy skirt trailing behind her
with a soft hissing sound.
As soon as she heard the door shut to behind her, she ran up the stairs
back to her own room with all speed, like a frightened hare.
Had she remained in the passage one instant longer she would have heard
a sound which would have terrified her; it was the sound of a prolonged
and ringing laugh which roused the echoes of this sleeping house, but
which had neither mirth nor joy in its tone, and had she then peeped
through a keyhole she would have seen a strange sight. A man who in the
flickering candle-light looked tall and massive as a giant took up one
of the wooden chairs in the room, and after holding it out at arm's
length for a few seconds, he proceeded to smash it viciously bit by bit
until it lay a mass of broken débris at his feet.