Joan of the Sword Hand

by S. R. Crockett

  CHAPTER XI

  THE KISS OF THE PRINCESS MARGARET

  The Princess and her guard were left alone with the secretary and theunconscious body of the Prince of Muscovy.

  "Sirrah," she cried severely to the former, "is this the first use youmake of our hospitality, thus to brawl in the street underneath my verywindows with our noble guest the Prince Ivan? Take him to my brother'sroom, and keep him safely there to await our lord's return. We shall seewhat the Prince will say to this. And as for this wounded man, take himto his own apartments, and let a surgeon be sent to him. Only not in toogreat a hurry!" she added as an afterthought to the commander of herlittle company of palace guards.

  So, merely detailing half a dozen to carry the Prince to his chambers,the captain of the guard conducted the secretary to the very room inwhich an hour before he had met the brother of the Princess. Here he wasconfined, with a couple of guards at the door. Nor had he been long shutup before he heard the quick step of the Princess coming along thepassage-way. He could distinguish it a long way off, for the summerpalace was built mostly of wood, and every sound was clearly audible.

  "So," she said, as soon as the door was shut, "you have killed PrinceWasp!"

  "I trust not," said the secretary gravely; "I meant only to wound him.But as he attacked me I could not do otherwise than defend myself."

  "Tut," cried the Princess, "I hope you have killed him. It will be goodriddance, and most like the Muscovites will send an army--which, withyour Plassenburg to help us, will make a pretty fight. It serves himright, in any event, for Prince Wasp must always be thrusting his stinginto honest folk. He will be none the worse for some of his own poisonapplied at a rapier's point to keep him quiet for some few days."

  But Johann was not in a mood to relish the jubilation of the Princess.He grew markedly uneasy in his mind. Every moment he anticipated thatthe Prince would return. A trial would take place, and he did not knowwhat might not be discovered.

  The Princess Margaret delivered him from his anxiety.

  "The laws are strict against duelling," she continued. "The Prince Ivanis in high favour with my elder brother, and it will be well that youshould be seen no more in Courtland--for the present, that is. But in alittle the Prince Wasp will die or he will recover. In either case theaffair will blow over. Then you will come back to teach me more foreigncustoms."

  She smiled and held out her hand. Johann kissed it, perhaps without thefervour which might have been expected from a brisk young man thushighly favoured by the fairest and sprightliest of princesses.

  "To-night," she went on, "there will be a boat beneath that window. Itwill be manned by those whom I can trust. A ladder of rope will bethrown to your casement. By it you will descend, and with a good horseand a sufficient escort you can ride either to Plassenburg--or toKernsberg, which is nearer, and tell Joan of the Sword Hand that hersister the Princess Margaret sends you to her. I will give you a letterto the minx, though I am sure I shall not like her. She is so forward,they say. But be ready at the hour of midnight. Who was that youth whofled as we came up?"

  "A Danish knight who came hither in our train from Kernsberg," repliedJohann. "But for him I should have been lost indeed!"

  "I must have a horse also for him!" cried the Princess. "He will surelybe on the watch and join you, knowing that his danger is as great asyours. Hearken--they are mourning for their precious Prince Wasp.To-morrow they will howl louder if by good hap he goes hometo--purgatory!"

  And through the open windows came a sound of distant shoutings as theycarried the wounded Prince to his lodgings.

  "Now," said the Princess, "for the present fare you well--in the colderfashion of Courtland this time, for the sake of the guards at the door.But remember that you are more than ever plighted to me to be myinstructor, dear Count von Loeen!"

  She went to the door, and with her fingers on the handle she turned herabout with a pretty vixenish expression. "I am so glad you stung theWasp. I love you for it!" she said.

  But after she had vanished with these words the secretary grew more andmore downcast in spirit. Even this naive declaration of affection failedto cheer him. He sat down and gave himself up to the most melancholyanticipations.

  At six a servitor silently entered with a well-chosen and beautifullycooked meal, of which the secretary partook sparingly. At seven it grewdark, and at ten all was quiet in the city. The river rushed swiftlybeneath, and the noise of it, as the water lapped against thefoundations of the summer palace, helped to disguise the sound of oars,as the boat, a dark shadow upon greyish water, detached itself from theopposite shore and approached the window from whose open casement JohannPyrmont looked out.

  "The Secretary found himself swaying over the darkwater." [_Page 75_]]

  A low whistle came from underneath, and presently followed the softreeving _whisk_ of a coil of rope as it passed through the window andfell at his feet. The secretary looked about for something to fastenit to, and finally decided upon the iron uprights of the great desk atwhich the Prince had stood earlier in the day.

  No sooner was this done than Johann set his foot on the top round andbegan to descend. It was with a sudden emptiness at the pit of thestomach and a great desire to cry out for some one to hold the laddersteady that the secretary found himself swaying over the dark water. Theboat seemed very far away, a mere spot of blackness upon the river'sface.

  But presently, and while making up his mind to practise the gymnastic ofrope ladders quietly at home, he made out a man holding the ladder,while two others with grappled boat-hooks kept the boat steady fore andaft.

  A shrouded figure sat in the stern. The secretary seemed rather to findhimself in a boat which rose swiftly to meet him than to descend intoit. He was handed from one to the other of the rowers till he reachedthe shrouded figure in the stern, out of the folds of whose envelopingcloak a small warm hand shot forth and pulled him down upon the seat.

  "Draw this corner about you, Count," a low voice whispered; and inanother moment Johann found himself under the shelter of one cloak withthat daring slip of nobility, the Princess Margaret of Courtland.

  "I was obliged to come; there is no danger. These fellows are of myhousehold and devoted to me. I did not dare to risk anything goingwrong. Besides, I am a princess, and--why need not I say it?--I wantedto come. I wanted to see you again, though, indeed, there is smallchance of that in such a night. And 'tis as well, for I am sure my hairis blown every way about my face."

  "The horses are over there," she added after a pause; "we are almost atthe shore now--alas, too quickly! But I must not keep you. I want you tocome back the sooner. And remember, if Prince Wasp gets better andworries me too much, or my brother is unkind and insists upon marryingme to the Bear, I will take one or two of these fellows and come to seekyou at Plassenburg, so make your reckoning with that, Sir Count vonLoeen. As I said, what is the use of being a princess if you cannot marrywhom you will? Most, I know, marry whom they are told; but then theyhave not the spirit of a Baltic weevil, let alone that of Margaret ofCourtland."

  They touched the shore almost at the place where the Sparhawk had landedin the morning when he escaped from the city rabble, and a stone's-throwfurther up the bank they found the horses waiting, ready caparisoned forthe journey.

  Two men were, by the Princess's orders, to accompany Johann.

  But with great thoughtfulness she had provided a fourth horse for thecompanion who, equally with himself, was under the ban of the law forwounding the lieges of the Prince of Courtland within the precincts ofthe palace.

  "He cannot have gone far," said the Princess. "He would certainlyconceal himself till nightfall in the first convenient hiding-place. Hewill be on the look-out for any chance to release you."

  And the event proved the wisdom of her prophecy. For as soon as he haddistinguished the slim figure of the secretary landing from the boat theSparhawk appeared on the crest of the hill, though for the moment he wasstill unseen by those below.

&nbs
p; "Goodbye! For the present, goodbye, dear Princess," said Johann, withhis heart in his voice. "God knows, I can never thank or repay you. Myheart is heavy for that. I am unworthy of all your goodness. It is notas you think----"

  He paused for words which might warn without revealing his secret; butthe Princess, never long silent, struck in.

  "Let there be no talk of parting except for the moment," she said. "Go,you are my knight. Perhaps one day, if you do not forget me, I may beyet far kinder to you!"

  And with a most tender kiss and a little sob the Princess sent herlover, more and more downcast and discouraged by reason of her verykindness, upon his way. So much did his obvious depression affectMargaret of Courtland, that after the secretary, with one of themen-at-arms leading the spare horse, had reached the top of the riverbank, she suddenly bade the rowers wait a moment before casting loosefrom the land.

  "Your sword! Your sword!" she called aloud, risking any listener in hereagerness; "you have forgotten your sword."

  Now it chanced that the Sparhawk had already come up with the littleparty of travellers. He kissed the hand of Johann Pyrmont, placed him onhis beast, and was preparing to mount his steed with a glad heart, whenthe voice from beneath startled him.

  "Do not trouble, I will bring the sword," said the Sparhawk to Johann,with his usual impetuosity, putting the reins into the secretary'shands. And without a moment's hesitation he flung himself down the bank.The Princess had leaped nimbly ashore, and was standing with thesheathed sword in her hand.

  When she saw the figure came bounding towards her down the pebbly bank,she gave a little cry, and dropping the scabbard, threw her armsimpulsively about the Sparhawk's neck.

  "I could not let you go like that--without ever telling you that I lovedyou--really, I mean," she whispered, while the youth stood petrifiedwith astonishment, without sound or motion. "I will marry none butyou--neither Prince Ivan nor another. A woman should not tell a manthat, I know, lest he despise her; but a princess may, if the man darenot tell her."

  * * * * *

  "And what answered you?" asked the secretary of his companion, as theyrode together through the night out on their road to Kernsberg.

  "Why, I said nothing--speech was not needed," quoth the Dane coolly.

  "She kissed you?"

  "Well," said the Sparhawk, "I could not help that, could I?"

  "But what said you to that?"

  "Why, of course, I kissed her back again, as a man ought!" he madeanswer.

  "Poor Princess," mused the secretary; "it is more than I could ever havedone for her!" Aloud he said, "But you do not love her--you had not seenher before! Why then did you kiss her?"

  For these things are hidden from women.

  The Dane shrugged his shoulders in the dark.

  "Well, I take what the gods send," he replied. "She was a pretty girl,and her Princess-ship made no difference in her kissing so far as Icould see. I serve you to the death, my Lady Duchess; but if a princessloves me by the way--why, I am ready to indulge her to the limit of herdesirings!"

  "You are indeed an accommodating youth," sighed the secretary, andforthwith returned to his own melancholy thoughts.

  And ever as they rode westward they heard all around them the rustle ofcorn in the night wind. Stacks of hay shed a sweet scent momentlyathwart their path, and more than once fruit-laden branches swept acrosstheir faces. For they were passing through the garden of the Baltic, andits fresh beauty was never fresher than on that September night whenthese four rode out of Courtland towards the distant blue hills on whichwas perched Kernsberg, built like an eagle's nest on a crag overfrowningthe wealthier plain.

  At the first boundaries of the group of little hill principalities thetwo soldiers were dismissed, suitably rewarded by Johann, to carry thenews of safety back to their wayward and impulsive mistress. Andthence-forward the Sparhawk and the secretary rode on alone.

  At the little chalet among the hills where the Duchess Joan had sosuddenly disappeared they found two of her tire-maidens and an agednurse impatiently awaiting their mistress. To them entered thatcomposite and puzzling youth the ex-architect and secretary of theembassy of Plassenburg, Johann, Count von Loeen. And wonder of wonders,in an hour afterwards Joan of the Sword Hand was riding eagerly towardsher capital city with her due retinue, as if she had merely been takinga little summer breathing space at a country seat.

  Her entrance created as little surprise as her exit. For as to her exitsand entrances alike the Duchess consulted no man, much less any woman.Werner von Orseln saluted as impassively as if he had seen his mistressan hour before, and the acclamations of the guard rang out as cheerfullyas ever.

  Joan felt her spirits rise to be once more in her own land and among herown folk. Nevertheless, there was a new feeling in her heart as shethought of the day of her marriage, when the long-planned bond ofbrotherhood-heritage should at last be carried out, and she shouldindeed become the mistress of that great land into which she hadventured so strangely, and the bride of the Prince--her Prince, the mostnoble man on whom her eyes had ever rested.

  Then her thoughts flew to the Princess who had delivered her out ofperil so deadly, and her soul grew sick and sad within her, not at alllest her adventure should be known. She cared not so much about thatnow. (Perhaps some day she would even tell him herself when--well,_after_!)

  But since she had ridden to Courtland, Joan, all untouched before, hadgrown suddenly very tender to the smarting of another woman's heart.

  "It is in no wise my fault," she told herself, which in a sense wastrue.

  But conscience, being a thing not subject to reason, dealt not a whitthe more easily with her on that account.

  It was six months afterwards that the Sparhawk, who had been given thecommand of a troop of good Hohenstein lancers, asked permission to goon a journey.

  He had been palpably restless and uneasy ever since his return, and inspite of immediate favour and the prospect of yet further promotion, hecould not settle to his work.

  "Whither would you go?" asked his mistress.

  "To Courtland," he confessed, somewhat reluctantly, looking down at thepeaked toe of his tanned leather riding-boot.

  "And what takes you to Courtland?" said Joan; "you are in danger there.Besides, even if you could, would you leave my service and engage withsome other?"

  "Nay, my lady," he burst out, "that will not I, so long as life lasts.But--but the truth is"--he hesitated as he spoke--"I cannot get out ofmy mind the Princess who kissed me in the dark. The like never happenedbefore to any man. I cannot forget her, do what I will. No, nor resttill I have looked upon her face."

  "Wait," said Joan. "Only wait till the spring and it is my hap to rideto Courtland for my marriage day. Then I promise you you shall seesomewhat of her--the Lord send that it be not more than enough!"

  So through many bitter winter days the Sparhawk abode at the castle ofKernsberg, ill content.