CHAPTER XII
THE MAN FROM THE EAST
In a great, cool room of his splendid Venetian palace, Sir Edmund Acour,Seigneur of Cattrina sat in consultation with the priest Nicholas.Clearly he was ill at ease; his face and his quick, impatient movementsshowed it.
"You arrange badly," he said in a voice quite devoid of its ordinarymelodious tones. "Everything goes wrong. How is it you did not know thatthis accursed Englishman and his Death's-head were coming here? What isthe use of a spy who never spies? Man, they should have been met uponthe road, for who can be held answerable for what brigands do? Or, atthe least, I might have started for Avignon two days earlier."
"Am I omnipotent, lord, that I should be held able to read the minds ofmen in far countries and to follow their footsteps?" asked the aggrievedNicholas. "Still it might have been guessed that this bulldog of aBriton would hang to your heels till you kick out his brains or he pullsyou down. Bah! the sight of that archer, who cannot miss, always givesme a cold pain in the stomach, as though an arrow-point were workingthrough my vitals. I pity yonder poor fool of a Swiss to-morrow, forwhat chance has he against a fish-eyed wizard?"
"Ten thousand curses on the Swiss!" said Acour. "He thrust himself intothe affair and will deserve all he gets. I pity myself. You know I am nocoward, as not a few have learned before to-day, but I have little luckagainst this Englishman. I tell you that there at Crecy I went downbefore him like a ninepin, and he spared my life. My God! he spared mylife, being a fool like all his breed. And now the tale is known againstme and that of the changed armour, too. Why could not de la Roche diewithout speaking, the faithless hound whom I had fed so well! So, so,regrets are vain; de Cressi is here, and must be faced or I be shamed."
"You may be killed as well as shamed," Nicholas suggested unpleasantly."It is certain that either you or that Englishman will die to-morrow,since he's set for no fancy tilting with waving of ladies' kerchiefs andtinsel crowns of victory, and so forth. Merchant bred or not, he is asturdy fighter, as we all learned in France. Moreover, his heart is fullwith wrong, and the man whose quarrel is just is always to be feared."
"A pest on you!" snarled Cattrina. "Have you the evil eye that you thencroak disaster in my ears? Look you, priest, I must come through thisgame unharmed. Death is a companion I do not seek just yet, who have toomuch to live for--power and wealth and high renown, if my plans succeed;and as you should know, they are well laid. Moreover, there is thatEnglish girl, Red Eve, my wife, from whose sweet side you made me flee.I tell you, Nicholas, I burn for her and had rather taste her hatethan the love of any other woman on the earth. Now, too, the Pope hassummoned me to Avignon, and her also, to lay our causes before him.Being bold, mayhap she will come, for his Holiness has sent hersafe-conduct under his own hand. Nor has he mentioned--for I saw a copyof the brief--that the same business will take me to Avignon about thistime. Well, if she comes she will not go away again alone; the Frenchroads are too rough for ladies to travel unescorted. And if she doesnot come, at least our marriage will be declared valid and I'll take herwhen and where I can, and her wealth with her, which will be useful."
"Only then, lord, you must not die, nor even be wounded, to-morrow. Itis the Englishman who should die, for whatever the Pope may decree Ithink that while de Cressi lives the slumbrous eyes of that Eve of yourswill find a way to charm you to a sleep that has no wakening. She isnot a fair-haired toy that weeps, forgets and at last grows happy in herbabe. She's a woman to make men or break them. Oh, when her sense cameback to her, for a flash she looked me cold yonder in that Englishchapel, and it seemed to me that God's curse was in her stare."
"You've caught the terror, Nicholas, like so many just now in Venice.Why, to-day I've not met a man or woman who is not afraid of something,they know not what--save the Englishman and his death's-head. I think'tis the unwholesome air of this strange season, and all the signs andomens we hear of on every side that conjure vapours to the brain."
"Yes, I've the terror," said Nicholas with something like a groan."Every sin I ever did--and most of them have been for you, lord--seemsto haunt my sleep. Yes, and to walk with me when I wake, preaching woeat me with fiery tongues that repentance or absolution cannot quench orstill."
"Yet, Nicholas, I think that you must add one more to their count, ora share of it, which should weigh light among so many. Either I orde Cressi must pack for our last journey, and if we meet face to faceto-morrow, how know I that it will be de Cressi? Better far that weshould not meet."
"Lord, lord, you cannot fly! He is King Edward's champion, so proclaimedbefore all whose names are written in the Golden Book of Venice. Hewould cry your shame in every Court, and so would they. There's not aknight in Europe but would spit upon you as a dastard, or a common wenchbut would turn you her back! You cannot fly!"
"Nay, fool, but he can die--and before to-morrow. What makes your brainso dull, Nicholas? It is not its wont."
"Ah, I see--not flight, murder. I had forgotten; it is not a usual sauceto a banquet of honour even in Italy, and therefore, perhaps, the saferto serve. But how is it to be done? Poison? He is in Carleon'shouse; Carleon has faithful servants. Though perhaps a basket of rarefruits--but then he might not eat them; those Englishmen live mostly onhalf-raw meat. The signora would probably eat them, and the others."
"Nay, no more of your drugs; your skill in them is too well known. Come,these men have been watched since they set foot in Venice. Have theyoffended none besides myself and the Swiss?"
A look of intelligence crept into the eyes of Nicholas.
"Now that you mention it, lord, they have. There is a certain boatmanand bravo called Giuseppe. With him and his mates they quarrelled abouttheir fare and threw them into the canal in front of the ambassador'shouse, just because they drew a knife or two. A woman I know told me ofit. He's a great villain, this Giuseppe, who would do anything for tenpieces, also revengeful and a hater of cold water."
"Send for him, Nicholas, or send this woman to him--that may be safer.Ten pieces! I'll pay him fifty."
"Ay, lord, but the Englishman may not give him a chance. Only foolswould go out walking in Venice along after dark if they should happento have enemies here, and the house is watched by the Doge's Guards.Yet one can try. Fortune loves the brave, and Englishmen are very greatfools. They might stroll abroad to see the moon rise over the Adriatic."
"Try, Nicholas, try as you never tried before. Succeed, too, lest youand I should part company and you never be named abbot after all."
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