CHAPTER XV.
THE DUEL CONTINUED.
I fell to wondering, as we rode home, whether we should find all safe;for we had left Marie Wort and my lady's woman to keep house with twoonly of the men. From that, again, I strayed into thoughts of thechain, and of Marie herself, so that the very head of what happenedwhen we reached the house escaped me. The first I knew of it, FrauleinAnna's horse backed suddenly into mine, and brought us all up shortwith a deal of jostling and plunging. When I looked forward to learnwhat was amiss, I saw a man lying on his face under my lady's horse,and so near it that the beast's feet were touching his head. The manwas crying out something in a pitiful tone, and two or three of thegeneral's officers who were riding abreast of me were swearingroundly, and there was great confusion.
General Tzerclas said something, but my lady overbore him. 'What isit?' I heard her cry. 'Get up, man, and speak. Don't lie there. Whatis it?'
The man rose to his knees, and cried out, 'Justice, justice, lady!' ina wild sort of way, adding something--which I could not understand,for he spoke in a vile _patois_--about a house. He was in a miserableplight, and looked scarcely human. His face was sallow, his eyes shonewith famine, his shrunken limbs peered through mud-stained rags thatonly half covered him.
'Which is your house?' my lady asked gently. And when one of theofficers who had ridden up abreast of her would have intervened, sheraised her hand with a gesture there was no mistaking. 'Which is yourhouse?' she repeated.
The man pointed to the one in which we had our quarters.
'What! That one?' my lady cried incredulously. 'Then what has broughtyou to this?' For the creature looked the veriest scarecrow that everhung about a church-porch. His head and feet had no covering, his hairwas foully matted. He was filthy, hideous, famine-stricken.
And desperate. For, half-cringing, half-defiant, he pointed hisaccusing finger at the general. 'He has! He and his army!; he cried.'That house was mine. Those fields were mine. I had cattle, they haveeaten them. I had wood, they have burned it. I had meat, they havetaken it. I was rich, and I am _this!_ I had, and I have not--only awife and babes, and they are dying in a ditch. May the curse ofGod----'
'Hush!' my lady cried, in an unsteady voice. And, without adding aword, she turned to General Tzerclas and looked at him; as if thiswere Heritzburg, and she the judge, he the criminal.
Doubtless the position was an awkward one. But he showed himself equalto it. 'There has been foul play here,' he said firmly. 'I think Iremember the man's face.' Then he turned and raised his hand. 'Let allstand back,' he said in a stern, curt tone.
We fell back out of hearing, leaving him and my lady with the man. Forsome time the general seemed to be putting questions to the fellow,speaking to my mistress between whiles. Presently he called sharplyfor Ludwig. The captain went forward to them, and then it was veryplain what was going on, for the general raised his voice, and madethe rating he administered to his subaltern audible even by us. BackLudwig came by-and-by, with a dark sneer on his face, and we saw thegeneral hand money to the man.
'Teufel!' one of the fellows who rode beside me muttered, surprise inhis voice. 'When the general gives, look to your necks. It will costsome one dear, this! I would not be in that clod's shoes for his bootyten times told!'
Possibly. But I was not so much interested on the clown's account ason my lady's; and one needed only half an eye to see what thegeneral's liberality had effected with her. She was all smiles again,speaking to him with the utmost animation, leaning towards him as sherode. She forgot the Waldgrave, who had fallen back with the rest ofus; she forgot all but the general. He went with her to the door ofthe house, gave his hand to help her to dismount, lingered talking toher on the threshold. And my heart sank. I could have gnashed my teethwith anger as I stood aside uncovered, waiting for him to go.
For how could we combat the man? Such an episode as this, which shouldhave opened my lady's eyes to his true character, served only torestore him to favour and blind her more effectually. It had undoneall the good of the afternoon; it had effaced alike the Waldgrave'ssuccess and the general's remissness; it had given Tzerclas, who allday had been losing slowly, the upper hand once more. I felt thedisappointment keenly.
I suppose it was that which made me think of consulting Fraulein Anna,and begging her to use her influence with my lady to get out of thecamp. At any rate, the idea occurred to me. I could not catch herthen; but later in the evening, when some acrobats, whom the generalhad sent for the Countess's diversion, were performing outside, and mylady had gone out to the fallen tree to see them the better, I foundthe Fraulein alone in the outer room. She looked up at my entrance.
'Who is it?' she said sharply, peering at me with her white,short-sighted face. 'Oh, it is you, Mr. Thickhead, is it? I know whomyou have sneaked in to see!' she added spitefully.
'That is well,' I answered civilly. 'For I came in to see you,Fraulein.'
'Oh!' she retorted, nodding her head in a very unpleasant manner.'Then you want something. I can guess what it is. But go on.'
'If I want something,' I answered, 'and I do, it is in your ownbehalf, Fraulein. You heard what I said to my lady last night? I didnot persuade her. Can you persuade her--to leave the camp and itscommander?'
Fraulein Max shook her head. 'Why should I?' she said, smoothing outher skirt with her hands, and looking at me with a cunning smile.'What have I to gain by persuading her, Master Schwartz?'
'Safety,' I said.
'Oh!' she cried ironically. 'Then let me remind you of something.When we were all safe and comfortable at Heritzburg--safe, mindyou--who was it disturbed us? Who was it stirred up my lady to maketrouble--_more improbi anseris_--and though I warned him what wouldcome of it, persisted in it until we had all to flee at night like somany vagrants? Ay, and have never had a quiet night since! Who wasthat, Master Martin?'
'Fraulein,' I answered patiently, forbearing to remind her how muchshe had been herself in fault, 'I may have been wrong then. It doesnot alter the situation now.'
'Does it not?' she replied. 'But I think it does. You had your way atHeritzburg, and what came of it? Trouble and misery. You want your waynow, but I shall not help you to it. I have had enough of your way,and I do not like it.'
She laughed triumphantly, seeing me silenced; and I stood looking ather, wondering what argument I could use. Doubtless she had had acomfortless time on the journey from Heritzburg, jogging through fordsand over ruts, and along steep places, wet, tired, and scared,deprived of her books and all her home pleasures. She had had time andto spare to lay up many a grudge against me. Now it was her turn, andI read in her face her determination to make the most of it.
I might frighten her; and that seemed my only chance. 'Well,Fraulein,' I said after a pause, 'you may have been right then, andyou may be right now. But I hope you have counted the cost. If my ladyshows herself determined to leave, to-morrow and perhaps the next daythe power of going will remain in her hands. Later it will have passedfrom her. Familiarity breeds contempt, and even the Countess ofHeritzburg cannot stay long in such a camp as this, where nothing isrespected, without losing that respect which for the moment protectsher. In a day or two, in a few days, the hedge will fall. And then,Fraulein, we may all look to ourselves.'
But Fraulein Anna laughed shrilly. '_O tu anser!_' she criedcontemptuously. 'Open your eyes! Cannot you see that the general isknee-deep in love with her? In a week he will be head over ears, andher slave!'
I stared at her. Doubtless she knew; she was a woman. I drew a deepbreath. 'Well,' I said, 'and what of that?'
She looked at me spitefully. 'Ask my lady!' she said. 'How should Iknow?'
I returned her gaze, and thought awhile. Then I said coldly, 'I thinkit is you who are the fool, Fraulein. Take it for granted that whatyou tell me is true. Have you considered what will happen should mylady repulse him? What will happen to her and to us?'
'She will not,' Fraulein Max
answered.
But I saw that the shaft had gone home. She fidgeted on her seat. AndI persisted. 'Still, if she does?' I said. 'What then?'
'She will not!' she answered. 'She must not!'
'By Heaven!' I cried, 'you are on his side!'
She blinked at me with her short-sighted eyes. 'And why not?' she saidslowly. 'On whose side should I be? My Lord Waldgrave's? He nevergives me a word, and seldom recognises my existence. On yours? If youwant help, go to the black-eyed puling girl you have brought in, whois always creeping and crawling round us, and would oust me if she andyou could manage it and she had the breeding. Chut! don't talk to me,'she continued maliciously, the colour rising to her pale cheeks. 'Iwonder that you dare to come to me with such proposals! Is my lady tobe ruled by her servants? Has she no judgment of her own? Why, youfool, I have but to tell her, and you are disgraced!'
'As you please, Fraulein,' I said sullenly, stung to anger by one partof her harangue. 'But as to Marie Wort----'
'Marie Wort?' she cried, catching me up and mocking my tone. 'Who saidanything about her, I should like to know? Though for my part, had Imy way, the popish chit should be whipped!'
'Fraulein!' I cried.
She laughed bitterly. 'Oh, you are fools, you men!' she said. 'But Ihave made you angry, and that is enough. Go! Yes, go. I have supped onfolly. Go, before your mistress comes in; or I must out with all, andlose a power over you.'
I went sullenly. While we had been talking the room had been growingdark. Then it had grown light again with a smoky, dancing glare thatplayed fantastically on the walls and seemed to rise and sink withthe murmur of applause outside. They had brought torches made ofpine-knots that my lady might see the longer, and in the yellow circleof light which these shed, the mountebanks, monstrously dressed andcasting weird shadows, were wrestling and leaping and writhing. Thelight reached, but fitfully and by flashes, the log on which my ladysat enthroned, with General Tzerclas and the Waldgrave at her side.Still farther away the crowd surged and laughed and gibed in thedarkness.
I looked at my lady and found one look enough. I read the utterhopelessness of the attempt I had just made. She was enjoying herself.Fear was not natural to her, and she saw nothing to fear either in theman beside her or the crowd beyond. Suspicion was no part of hercharacter, and she saw nothing to suspect. Had I won Fraulein Max overto my side, as I felt sure that the general had bought her to his, Ishould equally have had my trouble for my pains, and no more.
My only hope lay in the Waldgrave. He alone, could he once warm intoflower the love that hung trembling in the bud, might move her as Iwould have her moved. But, then, the time? Every hour we remainedwhere we were, every day that rose and found us in the camp, renderedretreat more difficult, the general's plans more definite. He mightnot yet have made up his mind; he might not yet have hardened hisheart to the point of employing force; _his_ passion might be still inthe bud, his ambition unshaped. But how long dared I give him?
Assured that here lay the stress, I watched the young lord's progresswith an anxiety scarcely less than his own. And the longer I watchedthe higher rose my hopes. It seemed to me that he went steadilyforward in favour, while the general stood still. More than onceduring the next two days the latter showed himself irritable orcapricious. The iron hand began to push through the silken glove. Andthough, on every one of these occasions, Tzerclas covered his mistakewith the dexterity of a man of the world, and my lady's eyes couldscarcely be said to be opened, a little coolness resulted, of whichthe Waldgrave had the benefit.
He, on his part, seemed imperturbable. Love had to all appearancechanged his nature. A dozen times in the two days the impulse to flyat his rival's throat must have been strong upon him, yet through allhe remained calm, pleasant, and courteous, and carried an old head onyoung shoulders.
I wondered at last why he did not speak, for I marked the cloud on thegeneral's brow growing darker and darker, and I found the forcedinaction and suspense intolerable. Then I gathered, I cannot say why,that the Waldgrave would not speak until after the great banquet towhich the general had bidden my lady. It had been deferred a day ortwo, but on the third day after the shooting-match it took place.
My Lady Rotha: A Romance Page 16