Fair Margaret

by H. Rider Haggard

  CHAPTER XXIII

  FATHER HENRIQUES AND THE BAKER'S OVEN

  A week had gone by. Margaret was in the palace, where Peter had been tosee her twice, and found her broken-hearted. Even the fact that theywere to be wed upon the following Saturday, the day fixed also for thecombat between Peter and Morella, brought her no joy or consolation. Foron the next day, the Sunday, there was to be an "Act of Faith," an_auto-da-fe_ in Seville, when wicked heretics, such as Jews, Moors, andpersons who had spoken blasphemy, were to suffer for their crimes--someby fire on the Quemadero, or place of burning, outside the city; some bymaking public confession of their grievous sin before they were carriedoff to perpetual and solitary imprisonment; some by being garottedbefore their bodies were given to the flames, and so forth. In thisceremony it was known that John Castell had been doomed to play aleading part.

  On her knees, with tears and beseechings, Margaret had prayed the queenfor mercy. But in this matter those tears produced no more effect uponthe heart of Isabella than does water dripping on a diamond. Gentleenough in other ways, where questions of the Faith were concerned shehad the craft of a fox and the cruelty of a tiger. She was evenindignant with Margaret. Had not enough been done for her? she asked.Had she not even passed her royal word that no steps should be taken todeprive the accused of such property as he might own in Spain if he werefound guilty, and that none of those penalties which, according to lawand custom fell upon the children of such infamous persons, shouldattach to her, Margaret? Was she not to be publicly married to herlover, and, should he survive the combat, allowed to depart with him inhonour without even being asked to see her father expiate his iniquity?Surely, as a good Christian she should rejoice that he was given thisopportunity of reconciling his soul with God and be made an example toothers of his accursed faith. Was she then a heretic also?

  So she stormed on, till Margaret crept from her presence wonderingwhether this creed could be right that would force the child to informagainst and bring the parent to torment. Where were such things writtenin the sayings of the Saviour and His Apostles? And if they were notwritten, who had invented them?

  "Save him!--save him!" Margaret had gasped to Peter in despair. "Savehim, or I swear to you, however much I may love you, however much we mayseem to be married, never shall you be a husband to me."

  "That seems hard," replied Peter, shaking his head mournfully, "since itwas not I who gave him over to these devils, and probably the end of itwould be that I should share his fate. Still, I will do what a man can."

  "No, no," she cried in despair; "do nothing that will bring you intodanger." But he had gone without waiting for her answer.

  It was night, and Peter sat in a secret room in a certain baker's shopin Seville. There were present there besides himself the FrayHenriques--now a secretary to the Holy Inquisition, but disguised as alayman--the woman Inez, the agent Bernaldez, and the old Jew, Israelof Granada.

  "I have brought him here, never mind how," Inez was saying, pointing toHenriques. "A risky and disagreeable business enough. And now what isthe use of it?"

  "No use at all," answered the Fray coolly, "except to me who pocket myten gold pieces."

  "A thousand doubloons if our friend escapes safe and sound," put in theold Jew Israel. "God in Heaven! think of it, a thousand doubloons."

  The secretary's eyes gleamed hungrily.

  "I could do with them well enough," he answered, "and hell could spareone filthy Jew for ten years or so, but I see no way. What I do see, isthat probably all of you will join him. It is a great crime to try totamper with a servant of the Holy Office."

  Bernaldez turned white, and the old Jew bit his nails; but Inez tappedthe priest upon the shoulder.

  "Are you thinking of betraying us?" she asked in her gentle voice."Look here, friend, I have some knowledge of poisons, and I swear to youthat if you attempt it, you shall die within a week, tied in a doubleknot, and never know whence the dose came. Or I can bewitch you, I, whohave not lived a dozen years among the Moors for nothing, so that yourhead swells and your body wastes, and you utter blasphemies, notknowing what you say, until for very shame's sake they toast you amongthe faggots also."

  "Bewitch me!" answered Henriques with a shiver. "You have done thatalready, or I should not be here."

  "Then, if you do not wish to be in another place before your time," wenton Inez, still tapping his shoulder gently, "think, think! and find away, worthy servant of the Holy Office."

  "A thousand doubloons!--a thousand gold doubloons!" croaked old Israel,"or if you fail, sooner or later, this month or next, this year or next,death--death as slow and cruel as we can make it. There are twoInquisitions in Spain, holy Father; but one of them does its business inthe dark, and your name is on its ledger."

  Now Henriques was very frightened, as well he might be with all thoseeyes glaring at him.

  "You need fear nothing," he said, "I know the devilish power of yourleague too well, and that, if I kill you all, a hundred others I havenever seen or heard of would dog me to my death, who have taken youraccursed money."

  "I am glad that you understand at last, dear friend," said the soft,mocking voice of Inez, who stood behind the monk like an evil genius,and again tapped him affectionately on the shoulder, this time with thebare blade of a poniard. "Now be quick with that plan of yours. It growslate, and all holy people should be abed."

  "I have none. I defy you," he answered furiously.

  "Very well, friend--very well; then I will say good night, or ratherfarewell, since I am not likely to meet you again in this world.""Where are you going?" he asked anxiously.

  "Oh! to the palace to meet the Marquis of Morella and a friend of his, arelation indeed. Look you here. I have had an offer of pardon for mypart in that marriage if I can prove that a certain base priest knewthat he was perpetrating a fraud. Well, I _can_ prove it--you mayremember that you wrote me a note--and, if I do, what happens to such apriest who chances to have incurred the hatred of a grandee of Spain andof his noble relation?"

  "I am an officer of the Holy Inquisition; no one dare touch me," hegasped.

  "Oh! I think that there are some who would take the risk. Forinstance--the king."

  Fray Henriques sank back in his chair. Now he understood whom Inez meantby the noble relative of Morella, understood also that he had beentrapped. "On Sunday morning," he began in a hollow whisper, "theprocession will be formed, and wind through the streets of the city tothe theatre, where the sermon will be preached before those who arerelaxed proceed to the Quemadero. About eight o'clock it turns on to thequay for a little way only, and here will be but few spectators, sincethe view of the pageant is bad, nor is the road guarded there. Now, if adozen determined men were waiting disguised as peasants with a boat athand, perhaps they might----" and he paused.

  Then Peter, who had been watching and listening to all this play, spokefor the first time, asking:

  "In such an event, reverend Sir, how would those determined men knowwhich was the victim that they sought?"

  "The heretic John Castell," he answered, "will be seated on an ass,clad in a _zamarra_ of sheepskin painted with fiends and a likeness ofhis own head burning--very well done, for I, who can draw, had a hand init. Also, he alone will have a rope round his neck, by which he maybe known."

  "Why will he be seated on an ass?" asked Peter savagely. "Because youhave tortured him so that he cannot walk?"

  "Not so--not so," said the Dominican, shrinking from those fierce eyes."He has never been questioned at all, not a single turn of the_mancuerda_, I swear to you, Sir Knight. What was the use, since heopenly avows himself an accursed Jew?"

  "Be more gentle in your talk, friend," broke in Inez, with her familiartap upon the shoulder. "There are those here who do not think so ill ofJews as you do in your Holy House, but who understand how to apply the_mancuerda_, and can make a very serviceable rack out of a plank and apulley or two such as lie in the next room. Cultivate courtesy, mostlearned priest, lest before you le
ave this place you should add a cubitto your stature."

  "Go on," growled Peter.

  "Moreover," added Fray Henriques shakily, "orders came that it was notto be done. The Inquisitors thought otherwise, as they believed--doubtless in error--that he might have accomplices whose nameshe would give up; but the orders said that as he had lived so long inEngland, and only recently travelled to Spain, he could have none.Therefore he is sound--sound as a bell; never before, I am told, has animpenitent Jew gone to the stake in such good case, however worthy andworshipful he might be."

  "So much the better for you, if you do not lie," answered Peter."Continue!"

  "There is nothing more to say, except that I shall be walking near tohim with the two guards, and, of course, if he were snatched away fromus, and there were no boats handy in which to pursue, we could not helpit, could we? Indeed, we priests, who are men of peace, might even flyat the sight of cruel violence."

  "I should advise you to fly fast and far," said Peter. "But, Inez, whathold have you on this friend of yours? He will trick everybody."

  "A thousand doubloons--a thousand doubloons!" muttered old Israel like asleepy parrot.

  "He may think to screw more than that out of the carcases of some of us,old man. Come, Inez, you are quick at this game. How can we best holdhim to his word?"

  "Dead, I think," broke in Bernaldez, who knew his danger as the partnerand relative of Castell, and the nominal owner of the ship _Margaret_ inwhich it was purposed that he should escape. "We know all that he cantell, and if we let him go he will betray us soon or late. Kill him outof the way, I say, and burn his body in the oven."

  Now Henriques fell upon his knees, and with groans and tears began toimplore mercy.

  "Why do you complain so?" asked Inez, watching him with reflective eyes."The end would be much gentler than that which you righteous folk meteout to many more honest men, yes, and women too. For my part, I thinkthat the Senor Bernaldez gives good counsel. Better that you shoulddie, who are but one, than all of us and others, for you will understandthat we cannot trust you. Has any one got a rope?"

  Now Henriques grovelled on the ground before her, kissing the hem of herrobe, and praying her in the name of all the saints to show pity on onewho had been betrayed into this danger by love of her.

  "Of money you mean, Toad," she answered, kicking him with her slipperedfoot. "I had to listen to your talk of love while we journeyed together,and before, but here I need not, and if you speak of it again you shallgo living into that baker's oven. Oh! you have forgotten it, but I havea long score to settle with you. You were a familiar of the Holy Officehere at Seville--were you not?--before Morella promoted you to Motrilfor your zeal, and made you one of his chaplains? Well, I had a sister,"And she knelt down and whispered a name into his ear.

  He uttered a sound--it was more of a scream than a gasp.

  "I had nothing to do with her death," he protested. "She was broughtwithin the walls of the Holy House by some one who had a grudge againsther and bore false witness."

  "Yes, I know. It was you who had the grudge, you snake-souled rogue, andit was you who gave the false witness. It was you, also, who but theother day volunteered the corroborative evidence that was necessaryagainst Castell, saying that he had passed the Rood at your house inMotril without doing it reverence, and other things. It was you, too,who urged your superiors to put him to the question, because you said hewas rich and had rich friends, and much money could be wrung out of himand them, whereof you were to get your share. Oh! yes, my information isgood, is it not? Even what passes in the dungeons of the Holy Housecomes to the ears of the woman Inez. Well, do you still think thatbaker's oven too hot for you?"

  By this time Henriques was speechless with terror. There he knelt uponthe floor, glaring at this soft-voiced, remorseless woman who had made atool and a fool of him; who had beguiled him there that night, and whohated him so bitterly and with so just a cause. Peter was speaking now.

  "It would be better not to stain our hands with the creature's blood,"he said. "Caged rats give little sport, and he might be tracked. For mypart, I would leave his judgment to God. Have you no other way, Inez?"

  She thought a while, then prodded the Fray Henriques with her foot,saying:

  "Get up, sainted secretary to the Holy Office, and do a little writing,which will be easy to you. See, here are pens and paper. NowI'll dictate:

  "'Most Adorable Inez,

  "'Your dear message has reached me safely here in this accursed HolyHouse, where we lighten heretics of their sins to the benefit of theirsouls, and of their goods to the benefit of our own bodies----'"

  "I cannot write it," groaned Henriques; "it is rank heresy."

  "No, only the truth," answered Inez.

  "Heresy and the truth--well, they are often the same thing. They wouldburn me for it."

  "That is just what many heretics have urged. They have died gloriouslyfor what they hold to be the truth, why should not you? Listen," shewent on more sternly. "Will you take your chance of burning on theQuemadero, which you will not do unless you betray us, or will youcertainly burn more privately, but better, in a baker's oven, and withinhalf an hour? Ah! I thought you would not hesitate. Continue yourletter, most learned scribe. Are those words down? Yes. Now add these:

  "'I note all you tell me about the trial at the Alcazar before theirMajesties. I believe that the Englishwoman will win her case. That was avery pretty trick that I played on the most noble marquis at Granada.Nothing neater was ever done, even in this place. Well, I owed him along score, and I have paid him off in full. I should like to have seenhis exalted countenance when he surveyed the features of his bride, thewaiting-woman, and knew that the mistress was safe away with anotherman. The nephew of the king, who would like himself to be king some day,married to an English waiting-woman! Good, very good, dear Inez.

  "'Now, as regards the Jew, John Castell. I think that the matter maypossibly be managed, provided that the money is all right, for, as youknow, I do not work for nothing. Thus----'" And Inez dictated withadmirable lucidity those suggestions as to the rescue of Castell, withwhich the reader is already acquainted, ending the letter as follows:

  "'These Inquisitors here are cruel beasts, though fonder of money thanof blood; for all their talk about zeal for the Faith is so much windbehind the mountains. They care as much for the Faith as the mountaincares for the wind, or, let us say, as I do. They wanted to torture thepoor devil, thinking that he would rain maravedis; but I gave a hint inthe right quarter, and their fun was stopped. Carissima, I must stopalso; it is my hour for duty, but I hope to meet you as arranged, and wewill have a merry evening. Love to the newly married marquis, if youmeet him, and to yourself you know how much.

  "'Your

  "'HENRIQUES.

  "'POSTSCRIPTUM.--This position will scarcely be as remunerative as Ihoped, so I am glad to be able to earn a little outside, enough to buyyou a present that will make your pretty eyes shine.'

  "There!" said Inez mildly, "I think that covers everything, and wouldburn you three or four times over. Let me read it to see that it isplainly written and properly signed, for in such matters a good dealturns on handwriting. Yes, that will do. Now you understand, don't you,if anything goes wrong about the matter we have been talking of--thatis, if the worthy John Castell is not rescued, or a smell of our littleplot should get into the wind--this letter goes at once to the rightquarter, and a certain secretary will wish that he had never been born.Man!" she added in a hissing whisper, "you shall die by inches as mysister did."

  "A thousand doubloons if the thing succeeds, and you live to claimthem," croaked old Israel. "I do not go back upon my word. Death andshame and torture or a thousand doubloons. Now he knows our terms,blindfold him again, Senor Bernaldez, and away with him, for he poisonsthe air. But first you, Inez, be gone and lodge that letter whereyou know."

  * * * * *

  That same night two cloaked figures, Peter and Bernaldez, wer
e rowed ina little boat out to where the _Margaret_ lay in the river, and, makingher fast, slipped up the ship's side into the cabin. Here the stoutEnglish captain, Smith, was waiting for them, and so glad was the honestfellow to see Peter that he cast his arms about him and hugged him, forthey had not met since that desperate adventure of the boarding of the_San Antonio_.

  "Is your ship fit for sea, Captain?" asked Peter.

  "She will never be fitter," he answered. "When shall I get sailingorders?"

  "When the owner comes aboard," answered Peter.

  "Then we shall stop here until we rot; they have trapped him in theirInquisition. What is in your mind, Peter Brome?--what is in your mind?Is there a chance?"

  "Aye, Captain, I think so, if you have a dozen fellows of the rightEnglish stuff between decks."

  "We have got that number, and one or two more. But what's the plan?"

  Peter told him.

  "Not so bad," said Smith, slapping his heavy hand upon his knee; "butrisky--very risky. That Inez must be a good girl. I should like to marryher, notwithstanding her bygones."

  Peter laughed, thinking what an odd couple they would make. "Hear therest, then talk," he said. "See now! On Saturday next Mistress Margaretand I are to be married in the cathedral; then, towards sunset, theMarquis of Morella and I run our course in the great bull-ring yonder,and you and half a dozen of your men will be present. Now, I may conqueror I may fail----"

  "Never!--never!" said the captain. "I wouldn't give a pair of old bootsfor that fine Spaniard's chance when you get at him. Why, you will crimphim like a cod-fish!"

  "God knows!" answered Peter. "If I win, my wife and I make our adieux totheir Majesties, and ride away to the quay, where the boat will bewaiting, and you will row us on board the _Margaret_. If I fail, youwill take up my body, and, accompanied by my widow, bring it in the samefashion on board the _Margaret_, for I shall give it out that in thiscase I wish to be embalmed in wine and taken back to England for burial.In either event, you will drop your ship a little way down the riverround the bend, so that folk may think that you have sailed. In thedarkness you must work her back with the tide and lay her behind thoseold hulks, and if any ask you why, say that three of your men have notyet come aboard, and that you have dropped back for them, and whateverelse you like. Then, in case I should not be alive to guide you, you andten or twelve of the best sailors will land at the spot that thisgentleman will show you to-morrow, wearing Spanish cloaks so as not toattract attention, but being well armed underneath them, like idlersfrom some ship who had come ashore to see the show. I have told you howyou may know Master Castell. When you see him make a rush for him, cutdown any that try to stop you, tumble him into the boat, and row foryour lives to the ship, which will slip her moorings and get up hercanvas as soon as she sees you coming, and begin to drop down the riverwith the tide and wind, if there is one. That is the plot, but God aloneknows the end of it! which depends upon Him and the sailors. Will youplay this game for the love of a good man and the rest of us? If yousucceed, you shall be rich for life, all of you."

  "Aye," answered the captain, "and there's my hand on it. So sure as myname is Smith, we will hook him out of that hell if men can do it, andnot for the money either. Why, Peter, we have sat here idle so long,waiting for you and our lady, that we shall be glad of the fun. At anyrate, there will be some dead Spaniards before they have done with us,and, if we are worsted, I'll leave the mate and enough hands upon theship to bring her safe to Tilbury. But we won't be--we won't be. By thisday week we will all be rolling homewards across the Bay with never aSpaniard within three hundred miles, you and your lady and MasterCastell, too. I know it! I tell you, lad, I know it!"

  "How do you know it?" asked Peter curiously.

  "Because I dreamed it last night. I saw you and Mistress Margaretsitting sweet as sugar, with your arms around each other's middles,while I talked to the master, and the sun went down with the windblowing stiff from sou-sou-west, and a gale threatening. I tell you thatI dreamed it--I who am not given to dreams."