The Red Axe

by S. R. Crockett

  CHAPTER XXVII

  ANOTHER MAN'S COAT

  I followed the Prince without another word, and when he received thePrincess I had the happiness of taking the Little Playmate by the handand conducting her as gallantly as I could into the palace. And I wasglad, for it helped to allay a kind of reproachful feeling in my heart,which would keep tugging and gnawing there whenever I was not thinking ofanything else. I feared lest, in the throng and press of new experiences,I might a little have neglected or been in danger of forgetting the loveof the many years and all the sweetness of our solitary companionship.

  Nevertheless, I knew well that I loved those sweetest eyes of hers morethan all the words of men and women and priests.

  And even as I helped her to dismount, I went over and told her so.

  It was just when I held her in my arms for a moment as she dismounted.She clung to me, and methought I heard a little sob.

  "Do not ever be unkind, Hugo," she said. "I am very lonely. I wish, withall my heart, I were back again in the old Red Tower."

  "Unkind--never while I live, little one," I whispered in her ear. "Cheeryour heart, and to-morrow your sorrows will wear off, and you and I bothshall find friendship in the strange land."

  "I hate the Princess! And I shall never like her as long as I live!" shesaid, with that certain concentrated dislike which only good women feeltowards those a degree less innocent, specially when the latter are wellto look upon.

  There was no time to reply immediately as I conducted her up the steps.For I had to keep my eyes open to observe how the Prince conductedhimself, and in the easy ceremonial of Plassenburg it chanced that Ihappened upon nothing extravagant.

  "But, Helene, you said a while ago that you hated _me_!" I said, after alittle pause, smiling down at her.

  "Did I?" she answered. "Surely nay!"

  "Ah, but 'tis true as your eyes," I persisted. "Do you not remember whenI had cut the calf's head off with the axe? You did not love the thoughtof the Red Tower so much then!"

  "Oh, _that_!" she said, as if the discrepancy had been fully explained bythe inflexion of her voice upon the word.

  But she pressed my hand, so I cared not a jot for logic.

  "You do not love her, you are sure?" she said, looking up at me when wecame to the darker turn of the stairs, for the corkscrews were narrowerin the ancient castle than in the new palace below.

  "Not a bit!" said I, heartily, without any more pretence that I did notunderstand what she meant.

  She pressed my hand again, momentarily slipping her own down off myarm to do it.

  "It is not that I love you, Hugo, or that I want you to love me," shesaid, like one who explains that which is plain already, "except, ofcourse, as your Little Playmate. But I could not bear that you shouldcare about that--that woman."

  It was evident that there were to be stirring times in the Castle ofPlassenburg, and that I, Hugo Gottfried, was to have my share of them.

  As soon as we had arrived at the banqueting-hall, the Prince beckoned meand presented me formally to the Lady Ysolinde.

  "Your Highness, this is Captain Hugo Gottfried, my newofficer-in-waiting."

  The Princess bowed gravely and held out her hand. Her aqua-marine eyeswere bent upon me, suffused with a certain quick and evident pleasurewhich became them well.

  "Your Highness has chosen excellently. I can bear witness that theCaptain Gottfried is a brave--a very brave man," she said.

  And at that moment I was most grateful to her for the testimony. Forbehind us stood the young Von Reuss, pulling at his mustache and lookingvery superciliously over at me.

  Then the Lady Ysolinde withdrew to her own apartments, and that day I gotno more words with her nor yet with Helene.

  The Prince also went to his room, and I remained where I was, deemingthat for the present my duty was done.

  The servant of the man whose coat I wore stood with another servitorclose at hand--indeed, many of all ranks stood about.

  "That is the fellow," I heard one say, tauntingly, meaning me tohear--"peacocking it there in my master's coat!"

  His companion laughed contumeliously, at which the passion within mesuddenly stirred. I gave one of them the palm of my hand, and as theother fell hastily back my foot took him.

  "What ho, there! No quarrelling among the lackeys!" cried Von Reuss,insolently, from the other side of the room.

  "Were you, by any chance, speaking to me?" said I, politely, lookingover at him.

  "Why, yes, fellow!" he said. "If you squabble with the waiting-menconcerning cast-off clothes, you had better do it in the stables, where,as you say, your own wardrobe is kept."

  "Sir," said I, "the coat I wear, I wear by the command of your Prince. Itshall be immediately returned to you when the Prince permits me to go offduty. In the mean time, pray take notice that I am Captain HugoGottfried, officer-in-waiting to the Prince Karl of Plassenburg, and thatmy sword is wholly at your service."

  "You are," retorted Von Reuss, "the son of my uncle Casimir'sHereditary Executioner, and one day you may be mine. Let that besufficient honor for you."

  "That I may be yours is the only part of my father's hereditary office Icovet!" said I, pointedly.

  And certainly I had him there, for immediately he turned on his heel andwould have walked away.

  But this I could not permit. So I strode sharply after him, and seizinghim by his embroidered shoulder-strap, I wheeled him about.

  "But, sir," said I, "you have insulted an officer of the Prince. Will youanswer for that with your sword, or must I strike you on the face eachtime I meet you to quicken your sense of honor?"

  Before he had time to answer the Prince came in.

  "What, quarrelling already, young Spitfire!" he cried. "I made you myorderly--not my disorderly."

  Von Reuss and I stood blankly enough, looking away from one another.

  "What was the quarrel?" asked the Prince, when he had seatedhimself at table.

  I looked to Von Reuss to explain. For indeed I was somewhat awed to thinkthat thus early in my new career I had embroiled myself with the nephewof Duke Casimir, even though, like myself, he was in exile and dependentupon, the liberality of Prince Karl.

  But, since he did not speak, I made bold to say: "Sire, the Count vonReuss taunted me with wearing a borrowed coat, and called me a servitor,because by birth I am the son of the Hereditary Executioner of theWolfmark. So I told him I was an officer of your household, and that mysword was much at his service."

  "So you are," cried the Prince--"so you are--a servitor! So is he--youngfools both! And as for being son of the Hereditary Executioner, it isthroughout all our German land an honorable office. Once I was assistantexecutioner myself, and wished with all my heart that I had beenprincipal, and so pocketed the guilders. No more of this folly, VonReuss. I am ashamed of you, and to a new-comer! Hear ye, sir, I will nothave it! I will e'en resume my old trade and do a little justicing on myown account. Shake hands this instant, you young bantams!"

  And the Prince sat back in his chair and looked grimly at us. I went astep forward. But Von Reuss held aloof.

  "Provost Marshal!" cried the Prince, in a voice which made every one inthe room jump and all the glasses ring on the table--"bring a guard!"

  The Provost Marshal advanced, bowed, and was departing, when Von Reusscame forward and held his hand out, at first sulkily, but afterwardsreadily enough.

  Then we shook hands solemnly and stiffly, of course loving each other notone whit better.

  "Ah," said the Prince, "I thought you would! For if you had not, youruncle, Duke Casimir, might have been a Duke without either an heir to hisDukedom or a successor to his Hereditary Justicer."

  "Now sit down, lads, sit down and agree!" he said, after a pause. "Theladies come not to table to-night. So now begin and tell me all theaffair of the Earthhouses. I must ride and see the place. I declare Igrow rotten and thewless in this dull Plassenburg, where they dare notstick so much as a knife in one another, all for fear
of Karl Miller'sSon! Since I cannot adventure forth on my own account, I am become a manthat wearies for news. Tell me every part of the affair, concealingnothing. But if you can, relate even your own share in it as faithfullyas becomes a modest youth."

  So I told him at length all that hath already been told, giving as far asI could the credit to Jorian and Boris, as indeed was only their desert.

  Whereupon the tale being finished, the Prince said: "Have the twoarchers up!"

  And while the pursuivant had gone for them, the old Councillor leanedacross the table and whispered: "Enter Field-Marshal Jorian andGeneral Boris!"

  But when the archers came in and stood like a pair of kitchen pokers, thePrince ordered them to tell the story.

  Jorian turned his head to Boris, and Boris turned his head to Jorian.They both made a little impatient gesture, which said: "Tell it you!"

  But neither appeared to be able to speak first.

  "Wind them up with a cup of wine apiece!" cried the hearty Prince;"surely that will set one of them off."

  Two great flagons of wine were handed to Jorian and Boris, and they drankas if one machine had been propelling their internal workings, throwingoff the liquor with beautiful unanimity and then bringing their cups tothe position of salute as if they had been musketoons at the new Frenchdrill. After which each of them, having finished, gave the little coughof content and appreciation, which among the archers means manners.

  But nevertheless the Prince's information with regard to the affair ofErdberg was not increased.

  "Go on!" he cried, impatiently, looking at Jorian and Boris sternly.

  They were still silent.

  "This officer, Captain Hugo Gottfried," said the Prince, looking at me,"tells me that the credit of the preservation of the Princess among thecave folk is due to you two brave men."

  "He lies!" said Wendish Jorian, with a face like a blank wall.

  "Good!" muttered Boris, approvingly.

  "He did it himself!" said Boris, adding, after a pause--"with an axe!"

  "Good!" quoth Jorian.

  "He cut a calf's head off!" said Jorian, as a complete explanation of howthe preserving of the Princess was effected.

  Whereat all laughed, and the Prince more than any. For ever since hedrank his first draught of wine, he had begun to mellow.

  "Well, hearty fellows, what reward would you have for your greatbravery?"

  They turned their heads simultaneously inward without moving any otherpart of their bodies. They nodded to one another.

  "Well," cried the Prince, "what reward do you desire?"

  "Now for the Field-Marshal's wand!" said the Councillor near to me, underhis breath.

  "Twelve dozen Rhenish!" said Jorian.

  The Prince looked at Boris.

  "And you?" he said.

  "Twelve dozen Rhenish!" said Boris, without moving a muscle.

  "God Bacchus!" cried the Prince, "you will empty my cellars betweenyou, and I shall not have a sober archer for a month. But you shallhave it. Go!"

  Jorian and Boris saluted with a wink to each other as they wheeled, whichsaid, as plain as monk's script or plainer, "Good!"