My Lady Rotha: A Romance

by Stanley John Weyman

  CHAPTER XXIX.

  IN THE HOUSE BY ST. AUSTIN'S.

  Two of these men sat facing one another at a great table covered withpapers. As I entered they turned their faces to me, and on the instantone sprang to his feet with an exclamation of rage that made the roofring.

  'General!' he cried passionately, 'what--what devil's trick is this?Why have you brought that man here?'

  'Why?' Tzerclas answered easily, insolently. 'Does he know you?' Hehad come in just before us. He smiled; the man's excitement seemed toamuse him.

  'By ----, he does!' the other exclaimed through his teeth. 'Are youmad?'

  'I think not,' the general answered, still smiling. 'You willunderstand in a minute. But his business can wait. First'--he took upa paper and scanned it carefully--'let us complete this list of----'

  'No!' the stranger replied impetuously. And he dashed the paper backon the table and looked from one to another like a wild beast in atrap. He was a tall, very thin, hawk-nosed man, whom I had seen onceat my lady's--the commander of a Saxon regiment in the city's service,with the name of a reckless soldier. 'No!' he repeated, scowling,until his brows nearly met his moustachios. 'Not another gun, notanother measurement will I give, until I know where I stand! Andwhether you are the man I think you, general, or the blackestdouble-dyed liar that ever did Satan's work!'

  The general laughed grimly--the laugh that always chilled my blood.'Gently, gently,' he said. 'If you must know, I have brought him intothis room, in the first place, because it is convenient, and in thesecond, because----'

  'Well?' Neumann snarled, with an ugly gleam in his eyes.

  'Because dead men tell no tales,' Tzerclas continued quietly. 'And ourfriend here is a dead man. Now, do you see? I answer for it, you runno risk.'

  'Himmel!' the other exclaimed; in a different tone, however. 'But inthat case, why bring him here at all? Why not despatch him upstairs?'

  'Because he knows one or two things which I wish to know,' the generalanswered, looking at me curiously. 'And he is going to make us as wiseas himself. He has been drilling in the south-east bastion by theorchard, you see, and knows what guns are mounted there.'

  'Cannot you get them from the fool in the other room?' Neumanngrunted.

  'He will tell nothing.'

  'Then why do you have him hanging about here day after day, riskingeverything? The man is mad.'

  'Because, my dear colonel, I have a use for _him_ too,' Tzerclasreplied. Then he turned to me. 'Listen, knave,' he said harshly. 'Doyou understand what I have been saying?'

  I did, and I was desperate. I remembered what I had done to him, howwe had outwitted, tricked, and bound him; and now that I was in hispower I knew what I had to expect; that nothing I could say wouldavail me. I looked him in the face. 'Yes,' I said.

  'You had the laugh on your side the last time we met,' he smiled. 'Nowit is my turn.'

  'So it seems,' I answered stolidly.

  I think it annoyed him to see me so little moved. But he hid thefeeling. 'What guns are in the orchard bastion?' he asked.

  I laughed. 'You should have asked me that,' I said, 'before you toldme what you were going to do with me. The dead tell no tales,general.'

  'You fool!' he replied. 'Do you think that death is the worst you haveto fear? Look round you! Do you see these windows? They are boardedup. Do you see the door? It is guarded. The house? The walls arethick, and we have gags. Answer me, then, and quickly, or I will findthe way to make you. What guns are in the orchard bastion?'

  He took up a paper with the last word and looked at me over it,waiting for my answer. For a moment not a sound broke the silence ofthe room. The other men stood all at gaze, watching me, Neumann with ascowl on his face. The lights in the room burned high, but thefrowning masks of boards that hid the windows, the litter of papers onthe table, the grimy floor, the cloaks and arms cast down on it in amedley--all these marks of haste and secrecy gave a strange andlowering look to the chamber, despite its brightness. My heart beatwildly like a bird in a man's hand. I feared horribly. But I hid myfear; and suddenly I had a thought.

  'You have forgotten one thing,' I said.

  They started. It was not the answer they expected.

  'What?' Tzerclas asked curtly, in a tone that boded ill for me--ifworse were possible.

  'To ask how I came into the house.'

  The general looked death at Ludwig. 'What is this, knave?' hethundered. 'You told me that he came in by the window?'

  'He did, general,' Ludwig answered, shrugging his shoulders.

  'Yes, from the next house,' I said coolly. 'Where my friends are nowwaiting for me.'

  'Which house?' Tzerclas demanded.

  'Herr Krapp's.'

  I was completely in their hands. But they knew, and I knew, that theirlives were scarcely more secure than mine; that, given a word, a sign,a traitor among them--and they were all traitors, more or less--alltheir boarded windows and locked doors would avail them not tenminutes against the frenzied mob. That thought blanched more than onecheek while I spoke; made more than one listen fearfully and cast eyesat the door; so that I wondered no longer, seeing their grisly faces,why the room, in spite of its brightness, had that strange and sombrelook. Treachery, fear, suspicion, all lurked under the lights.

  Tzerclas alone was unmoved; perhaps because he had something less tofear than the faithless Neumann. 'Herr Krapp's?' he said scornfully.'Is that all? I will answer for that house myself. I have a manwatching it, and if danger threatens from that direction, we shallknow it in good time. He marks all who go in or out.'

  'You can trust him?' Neumann muttered, wiping his brow.

  'I am trusting him,' the general answered dryly. 'And I am not oftendeceived. This man and the puling girl upstairs tricked me once; butthey will not do so again. Now, sirrah!' and he turned to me afresh, acruel gleam in his eyes. 'That bird will not fly. To business. Willyou tell me how many guns are in the orchard bastion?'

  'No!' I cried. I was desperate now.

  'You will not?'

  'No!'

  'You talk bravely,' he answered. 'But I have known men talk asbravely, and whimper and tremble like flogged children five minuteslater. Ludwig--ah, there is no fire. Get a bit of thin whip-cord, andtwist it round his head with your knife-handle. But first,' hecontinued, devouring me with his hard, smiling eyes, 'call in Taddeo.You will need another man to handle him neatly.'

  At the word my blood ran cold with horror, and then burning hot. Mygorge rose; I set my teeth and felt all my limbs swell. There was amist of blood before my eyes, as if the cord were already tight and mybrain bursting. I heaved in my bonds and heard them crack and crack.But, alas! they held.

  'Try again!' he said, sneering at me.

  'You fiend!' I burst out in a fury. 'But I defy you. Do your worst, Iwill balk you yet!'

  He looked at me hard. Then he smiled. 'Ah!' he said. 'So you think youwill beat me. Well, you are an obstinate knave, I know; and I have notmuch time to spare. Yet I shall beat you. Ludwig,' he continued,raising his voice, though his smiling eyes did not leave me. 'IsTaddeo there?'

  'He is coming, general.'

  'Then bid him fetch the girl down! Yes, Master Martin,' he continuedwith a ruthless look, 'we will see. I have a little account againsther too. Do not think that I have kept her all this time for nothing.We will put the cord not round your head--you are a stubborn fool, Iknow--but round hers, my friend. Round her pretty little brow. We willsee if that will loosen your tongue.'

  The room reeled before my eyes, the lights danced, the men's faces,some agrin, some darkly watchful, seemed to be looking at me through amist that dimmed everything. I cried out wild oaths, scarcely knowingwhat I said, that he would not, that he dared not.

  He laughed. 'You think not, Master Martin?' he said. 'Wait until theslut comes. Ludwig has a way of singeing their hands with a lamp--thatwill afford you, I think, the last amusement you will ever enjoy!'

  I knew
that he spoke truly, and that he and his like had done thingsas horrible, as barbarous, a hundred times in the course of thiscursed war! I knew that I had nothing to expect from their pity ortheir scruples. And the frenzy of passion, which for a moment hadalmost choked me, died down on a sudden, leaving me cold as thecoldest there and possessed by one thought only, one hope, one aim--toget my hands free for a moment and kill this man. The boarded windows,the guarded doors, the stern faces round me, the silence of the gloomyhouse all forbade hope; but revenge remained. Rather than Marie shouldsuffer, rather than that childish frame should be racked by theircruel arts, I would tell all, everything they wanted. But if by anytrick or chance I went afterwards free for so much as a second, Iwould choke him with my naked hands!

  I waited, looking at the door, my mind made up. The moments passedlike lead. So apparently thought some one else, for suddenly on thesilence came an interruption. 'Is this business going to last allnight?' Neumann burst out impatiently. 'Hang the man out of hand, ifhe is to be hanged!'

  'My good friend, revenge is sweet,' Tzerclas answered, with an uglysmile. 'These two fooled me a while ago; and I have no mind to befooled with impunity. But it will not take long. We will singe her alittle for his pleasure--he will like to hear her sing--and then wewill hang him for her pleasure. After which----'

  'Do what you like!' Neumann burst out, interrupting him wrathfully.'Only be quick about it. If the girl is here----'

  'She is coming. She is coming, now,' Tzerclas answered.

  I had gone through so much that my feelings were blunted. I could nolonger suffer keenly, and I waited for her appearance with a composurethat now surprises me. The door opened, Taddeo came in! looked beyondhim, but saw no one else; then I looked at him. The ruffian wastrembling. His face was pale. He stammered something.

  Tzerclas made but one stride to him. 'Dolt!' he cried, 'what is it?'

  'She is gone!' the man stuttered.

  'Gone?'

  'Yes, your excellency.'

  For an instant Tzerclas stood glaring at him. Then like lightning hishand went lip and his pistol-butt crashed down on the man's temple.The wretch threw up his arms and fell as if a thunderbolt had struckhim--senseless, or lifeless; no one asked which, for his assailant,like a beast half-sated, stood glaring round for a second victim. ButLudwig, who had come down with Taddeo, knew his master, and kept hisdistance by the door. The other two men shrank behind me.

  'Well?' Tzerclas cried, as soon as passion allowed him to speak. 'Areyou dumb? Have you lost your tongue? What is it that liar meant?'

  'The girl is away,' Ludwig muttered. 'She got out through a window.'

  'Through what window?'

  'The window of my room, under the roof,' the man answered sullenly.'The one--through which that fool came in,' he continued, noddingtowards me.

  'Ah!' the general cried, his voice hissing with rage. 'Well, we havestill got him. How did she go?'

  'Heaven knows, unless she had wings,' Ludwig answered. 'The window isat the top of the house, and there is neither rope nor ladder there,nor foothold for anything but a bird. She is gone, however.'

  The general ground his teeth together. 'There is some cursed treacheryhere!' he said.

  The Saxon colonel laughed in scorn. 'Maybe!' he retorted in a mockingtone, 'but I will answer for it, that there is something else, andthat is cursed mismanagement! I tell you what it is, GeneralTzerclas,' he continued fiercely. 'With your private revenges, andyour public plots, and your tame cats who are mad, and your wild catswho have wings--you think yourself a very clever man. But Heaven helpthose who trust you!'

  The general's eyes sparkled. 'And those who cross me?' he cried in avoice that made his men tremble. 'But there, sir, what ground ofcomplaint have you? The girl never saw you.'

  'No, but that man has seen me!' Neumann retorted, pointing to me. 'Andwho knows how soon she may be back with a regiment at her heels? Thenit will be "Save yourselves!" and he will be left to hang me.'

  The general laughed without mirth. 'Have no fear!' he said. 'We willhang him out of hand. Ludwig, while we collect these papers, take theother two men and string him up in the hall. When they break in theyshall find some one to receive them!'

  I had thought that the agony of death was passed; but I suppose thatthe news of Marie's escape had awakened my hopes as well as rekindledmy love of life; for at these words, I felt my courage run from melike water. I shrank back against the wall, my limbs trembling underme, my heart leaping as if it would burst from my breast. I felt therope already round my neck, and when the men laid hold on me, I criedout, almost in spite of myself, that I would tell what guns there werein the orchard bastion, that I knew other things, that----

  'Away with him!' Tzerclas snarled, stamping his foot passionately. Hewas already hurrying papers together, and did not give me a glance.'String him up, knaves, and see this time that you obey orders. Wemust be gone, so pull his legs.'

  I would have said something more; I would have tried again. Even aminute, a minute's delay meant hope. But my voice failed me, and theyhustled me out. I am no coward, and I had thought myself past fear;but the flesh is weak. At this pinch, when their hands were on me,and I looked round desperately and found no one to whom I couldappeal--while hope and rescue might be so near and yet come toolate--I shrank. Death in this vile den seemed horrible. My kneestrembled; I could scarcely stand.

  The hall into which they dragged me was the same dusty, desolate placeinto which, little foreseeing what would happen there, I had lookedover the deaf hag's shoulder. Ludwig's candle only half dispersed thedarkness which reigned in it. Two of the men held me while he went toand fro with the light raised high above his head.

  'Ha! here it is!' he said at last. 'I thought that there was a hook.Bring him here, lads.'

  They forced me, resisting feebly, to the place. The candle stoodbeside him; he was forming a noose. The light, which left all behindthem dark, lit up the men's harsh faces; but I read no pity there, nohope, no relenting; and after a hoarse attempt to bribe them withpromises of what my lady would give for my life, I stood waiting. Itried to pray, to think of Marie, of my soul and the future; but mymind was taken up with rage and dread, with the wild revolt againstdeath, and the rush of indignation that would have had me scream likea woman!

  On a sudden, out of the darkness grew a fourth face that looked at me,smiling. It was no more softened by ruth or pity than the others were;the laughing eyes mocked me, the lip curled as with a jest. And yet,at sight of it, I gasped. Hope awoke. I tried to speak, I tried toimplore his help, I tried But my voice failed me, no words came. Theface was the Waldgrave's.

  Yet he nodded as if I had spoken. 'Yes,' he said, smiling morebroadly, 'I see, Martin, that you are in trouble. You should havetaken my advice in better time. I told you that he would get thebetter of you.'

  Ludwig, who had not seen him before he spoke, dropped the rope, andstood, stupefied, gazing at him. I cried out hoarsely that they weregoing to hang me.

  'No, no, not as bad as that!' he said lightly, between jest andearnest. 'But I gave you fair warning, you know, Martin. Oh,he is----'

  Waldgrave, Waldgrave!' I panted, trying to get to him; but the menheld me back. 'They will hang me! They will! It is no joke. In God'sname, save me, save me! I saved you once, and----'

  'Chut, chut!' he replied easily. 'Of course I will save you. I will goto the general and arrange it now. Don't be afraid. My sweet cousinmust not lose her steward. Why, you are shaking like an aspen, man.But I told you, did I not? Oh, he is the---- Wait, fellow,' hecontinued to Ludwig, 'until I come back. Where is your master?'

  'Upstairs,' Ludwig answered sullenly, an ugly gleam in his eyes.

  The Waldgrave turned from me carelessly, and went towards the stairs,which were at the end of the hall. Ludwig, as he did so, picked up therope with a stealthy gesture. I read his mind, and called pitifully tothe Waldgrave to stop.

  'They will hang me while you are away,' I cried. 'And he is notupstairs! They are l
ying to you. He is in the room on the left.'

  The Waldgrave halted and came back, his handsome face troubled.Ludwig, looking as if he would strike me, swore under his breath.

  'Upstairs, your excellency, upstairs!' he cried. 'You will find himthere. Why should I----'

  'Hush!' one of the other men said, and I felt his grasp on my armrelax. 'What is that, captain--that noise?'

  But Ludwig was intent on the Waldgrave. 'Upstairs!' he continued tocry, waving his hand in that direction. 'I assure you, my lord----'

  'Steady!' the man who had cut him short before exclaimed. 'They are atthe door, Ludwig. Listen, man, listen, or we shall be taken likewolves in a trap!'

  This time Ludwig condescended to listen, scowling. A noise like thatmade by a rat gnawing at wood could be heard. My heart beat fast andfaster. The man who had given the alarm had released my armaltogether. The other held me carelessly.

  With a yell which startled all, I burst suddenly from him and sprangpast the Waldgrave. Bound as I was, I had the start and should havebeen on the stairs in another second, when, with a crash and ablinding glare, a shock, which loosened the very foundations of thehouse, flung me on my face.

  I lay a moment, gasping for breath, wondering where I was hurt. Out ofthe darkness round me came a medley of groans and shrieks. The air wasfull of choking smoke, through which a red glare presently shone, andgrew gradually brighter. I could see little, understand less of whatwas happening; but I heard shots and oaths, and once a rush ofcharging feet passed over me.

  After that, growing more sensible, I tried to rise, but a weight layon my legs--my arms were still tied--and I sank again. I took thefancy then that the house was on fire and that I should be burnedalive; but before I had more than tasted the horror of the thought, acrowd of men came round me, and rough hands plucked me up.

  'Here is another of them!' a voice cried. 'Have him out! To thechurchyard with him! The trees will have a fine crop!'

  'Halloa! he is tied up already!' a second chimed in.

  I gazed round stupidly, meeting everywhere vengeful looks and savagefaces.

  A butcher, with his axe on his shoulder, hauled at me. 'Bring himalong!' he shouted. 'This way, friends! Hurry him. To the churchyard!'

  My wits were still wool-gathering, and I should have gone quietly; buta man pushed his way to the front and looked at me. 'Stop! stop!' hecried in a voice of authority. 'This is a friend. This is the man whogot in by the roof. Cut the ropes, will you? See how his hands areswollen. That is better. Bring him out into the air. He will revive.'

  The speaker was Herr Krapp. In a moment a dozen friendly arms liftedme up and carried me through the crowd, and set me down in the littlecourt. The cool night air swept my brow. I looked up and saw the starsshining in the quiet heaven, and I leant against the wall, sobbinglike a woman.