Mistress Wilding

by Rafael Sabatini

  CHAPTER XI. THE MARPLOT

  Mr. Wilding's appearance produced as many different emotions as therewere individuals present. He made the company a sweeping bow on hisadmission by Albemarle's orders, a bow which was returned by a starefrom one and all. Diana eyed him in amazement, Ruth in hope; Richardaverted his glance from that of his brother-in-law, whilst Sir Rowlandmet it with a scowl of enmity--they had not come face to face since theoccasion of that encounter in which Sir Rowland's self-love had been sorudely handled. Albemarle's face expressed a sort of satisfaction,which was reflected on the countenances of Phelips and Luttrell; whilstTrenchard never thought of attempting to dissemble his profound dismay.And this dismay was shared, though not in so deep a measure, by Wildinghimself. Trenchard's presence gave him pause; for he had been far,indeed, from dreaming that his friend had a hand in this affair. Atsight of him all was made clear to Mr. Wilding. At once he saw the rolewhich Trenchard had assumed on this occasion, saw to the bottom of themotives that had inspired him to take the bull by the horns and levelagainst Richard and Blake this accusation before they had leisure tolevel it against himself.

  His quick wits having fathomed Trenchard's motive, Mr. Wilding wasdeeply touched by this proof of friendship, and for a second, as deeplynonplussed, at loss now how to discharge the task on which he came.

  "You are very choicely come, Mr. Wilding," said Albemarle. "You will beable to resolve me certain doubts which have been set on foot by thesetraitors."

  "That," said Mr. Wilding, "is the purpose for which I am here. Newsreached me of the arrest that had been made. May I beg that Your Gracewill place me in possession of the facts that have so far transpired."

  It was one of his secretaries who, at Albemarle's bidding, gave Wildingthe information that he craved. He listened gravely; then, beforeAlbemarle had time to question him on the score of the name that mighthave been upon the enfolding wrapper of the letter, he begged that hemight confer apart a moment with Mr. Trenchard.

  "But Mr. Wilding," said Colonel Luttrell, surprised not to hear theimmediate denial of the imputation they had expected, "we should firstlike to hear..."

  "By your leave, sirs," Wilding interrupted, "I should prefer thatyou ask me nothing until I have consulted with Mr. Trenchard." He sawLuttrell's frown, observed Sir Edward shift his wig to scratch his headin sheer perplexity, and caught the fore-shadowing of denial on theDuke's face. So, without giving any of them time to say him nay, headded quickly and very seriously, "I am begging this in the interests ofjustice. Your Grace has told me that some lingering doubt still hauntsyour mind upon the subject of this letter--the other charges can matterlittle, apart from that treasonable document. It lies within my power toresolve such doubts most clearly and finally. But I warn you, sirs, thatnot one word will I utter in this connection until I have had speechwith Mr. Trenchard."

  There was about his mien and voice a firmness that forewarned Albemarlethat to insist would be worse than idle. A slight pause followed hiswords, and Luttrell leaned across to whisper in His Grace's ear; fromthe Duke's other side Sir Edward bent his head forward till it almosttouched those of his companions. Blake watched, and was most foolishlyimpatient.

  "Your Grace will never allow this!" he cried.

  "Eh?" said Albemarle, scowling at him.

  "If you allow those two villains to consort together we are all undone,"the baronet protested, and ruined what chance there was of Albemarle'snot consenting.

  It was the one thing needed to determine Albemarle. Like the stubbornman he was, there was naught he detested so much as to have his coursedictated to him. More than that, in Sir Rowland's anxiety that Wildingand Trenchard should not be allowed to confer apart, he smoked a fearon Sir Rowland's part, based upon the baronet's consciousness of his ownguilt. He turned from him with a sneering smile, and without so muchas consulting his associates he glanced at Wilding and waved his handtowards the door.

  "Pray do as you suggest, Mr. Wilding," said he. "But I depend upon younot to tax our patience."

  "I shall not keep Mr. Trenchard a moment longer than is necessary," saidWilding, giving no hint of the second meaning in his words.

  He stepped to the door, opened it himself, and signed to Trenchard topass out. The old player obeyed him readily, if in silence. An usherclosed the door after them, and in silence they walked together to theend of the passage.

  "Where is your horse, Nick?" quoth Wilding abruptly.

  "What a plague do you mean, where is my horse?" flashed Trenchard. "Whatmidsummer frenzy is this? Damn you for a marplot, Anthony! What a poxare you thinking of to thrust yourself in here at such a time?"

  "I had no knowledge you were in the affair," said Wilding. "You shouldhave told me." His manner was brisk to the point of dryness. "However,there is still time to get you out of it. Where is your horse?"

  "Damn my horse!" answered Trenchard in a passion. "You have spoiledeverything!"

  "On the contrary," said Mr. Wilding tartly, "it seems you had done thatvery thoroughly before I arrived. Whilst I am touched by the regard forme which has misled you into turning the tables on Blake and Westmacott,yet I do blame you for this betrayal of the Cause."

  "There was no help for it."

  "Why, no; and that is why you should have left matters where theystood."

  Trenchard stamped his foot; indeed, he almost danced in the excess ofhis vexation. "Left them where they stood!" he echoed. "Body o' me!Where are your wits? Left them where they stood! And at any moment youmight have been taken unawares as a consequence of this accusation beinglodged against you by Richard or by Blake. Then the Cause would havebeen betrayed, indeed."

  "Not more so than it is now."

  "Not less, at least," snapped the player. "You give me credit for nomore wit than yourself. Do you think that I am the man to do things byhalves? I have betrayed the plot to Albemarle; but do you imagine I havemade no provision for what must follow?"

  "Provision?" echoed Wilding, staring.

  "Aye, provision. God lack! What do you suppose Albemarle will do?"

  "Dispatch a messenger to Whitehall with the letter within an hour."

  "You perceive it, do you? And where the plague do you think NickTrenchard'll be what time that messenger rides?"

  Mr. Wilding understood. "Aye, you may stare," sneered Trenchard. "Aletter that has once been stolen may be stolen again. The courier mustgo by way of Walford. I had in my mind arranged the spot, close by theford, where I should fall upon him, rob him of his dispatches, and takehim--bound hand and foot if necessary--to Vallancey's, who lives closeby; and there I'd leave him until word came that the Duke had landed."

  "That the Duke had landed?" cried Wilding. "You talk as though the thingwere imminent."

  "And imminent it is. For aught we know he may be in England already."

  Mr. Wilding laughed impatiently. "You must forever be building on thesecrack-brained rumours, Nick," said he.

  "Rumours!" roared the other. "Rumours? Ha!" He checked his wild scorn,and proceeded in a different key. "I was forgetting. You do not know theContents of that stolen letter."

  Wilding started. Underlying his disbelief in the talk of thecountryside, and even in the military measures which by the King'sorders were being taken in the West, was an uneasy dread lest theyshould prove to be well founded, lest Argyle's operations in Scotlandshould be but the forerunner of a rash and premature invasion byMonmouth. He knew the Duke was surrounded by such reckless, foolhardycounsellors as Grey and Ferguson--and yet he could not think the Dukewould ruin all by coming before he had definite word that his friendswere ready. He looked at Trenchard now with anxious eyes.

  "Have you seen the letter, Nick?" he asked, and almost dreaded thereply.

  "Albemarle showed it me an hour ago," said Trenchard.

  "And it contains?"

  "The news we fear. It is in the Duke's own hand, and intimates that hewill follow it in a few days--in a few days, man in person."

  Mr. Wilding clenched teeth and ha
nds. "God help us all, then!" hemuttered grimly.

  "Meanwhile," quoth Trenchard, bringing him back to the point, "there isthis precious business here. I had as choice a plan as could have beendevised, and it must have succeeded, had you not come blundering into itto mar it all at the last moment. That fat fool Albemarle had swallowedmy impeachment like a draught of muscadine. Do you hear me?" he endedsharply, for Mr. Wilding stood bemused, his thoughts plainly wandering.

  He let his hand fall upon Trenchard's shoulder. "No," said he, "I wasn'tlistening. No matter; for even had I known the full extent of yourscheme I still must have interfered."

  "For the sake of Mistress Westmacott's blue eyes, no doubt," sneeredTrenchard. "Pah! Wherever there's a woman there's the loss of a man."

  "For the sake of Mistress Wilding's blue eyes," his friend correctedhim. "I'll allow no brother of hers to hang in my place."

  "It will be interesting to see how you will rescue him."

  "By telling the truth to Albemarle."

  "He'll not believe it."

  "I shall prove it," said Wilding quietly. Trenchard swung round upon himin mingled anger and alarm for him. "You shall not do it!" he snarled."It is nothing short of treason to the Duke to get yourself laid by theheels at such a time as this."

  "I hope to avoid it," answered Wilding confidently.

  "Avoid it? How?"

  "Not by staying longer here in talk. That will ruin all. Away with you,Trenchard!"

  "By my soul, no!" answered Trenchard. "I'll not leave you. If I have gotyou into this, I'll help to get you out again, or stay in it with you."

  "Bethink you of Monmouth?" Wilding admonished him.

  "Damn Monmouth!" was the vicious answer. "I am here, and here I stay."

  "Get to horse, you fool, and ride to Walford as you proposed, there toambush the messenger. The letter will go to Whitehall none the less inspite of what I shall tell Albemarle. If things go well with me, I shalljoin you at Vallancey's before long."

  "Why, if that is your intention," said Trenchard, "I had better stay,and we can ride together. It will make it less uncertain for you."

  "But less certain for you."

  "The more reason why I should remain."

  The door of the hall was suddenly flung open at the far end of thecorridor, and Albemarle's booming voice, impatiently raised, reachedthem where they stood.

  "In any case," added Trenchard, "it seems there is no help for it now."

  Mr. Wilding shrugged his shoulders, but otherwise dissembled hisvexation. Up the passage floated the constable's voice calling them.

  Side by side they moved down, and side by side they stepped once moreinto the presence of Christopher Monk and his associates.

  "Sirs, you have not been in haste," was the Duke's ill-humouredgreeting.

  "We have tarried a little that we might make an end the sooner,"answered Trenchard dryly, and this was the first indication he gave Mr.Wilding of how naturally--like the inimitable actor that he was--he hadslipped into his new role.

  Albemarle waved the frivolous rejoinder aside. "Come, Mr. Wilding," saidhe, "let us hear what you may have to say. You are not, I take it, aboutto urge any reasons why these rogues should not be committed?"

  "Indeed, Your Grace," said Wilding, "that is what I am about to urge."

  Blake and Richard looked at him suddenly, and from him to Trenchard; butit was only Ruth whose eyes were shrewd enough to observe the altereddemeanour of the latter. Her hopes rose, founded upon this oddlyassorted pair. Already in anticipation she was stirred by gratitudetowards Wilding, and it was in impatient and almost wondering awe thatshe waited for him to proceed.

  "I take it, sir," he said, without waiting for Albemarle to expressany of the fresh astonishment his countenance manifested, "that theaccusation against these gentlemen rests entirely upon the letter whichyou have been led to believe was addressed to Mr. Westmacott."

  The Duke scowled a moment before replying. "Why," said he, "if it couldbe shown--irrefutably shown--that the letter was not addressed to eitherof them, that would no doubt establish the truth of what they say--thatthey possessed themselves of the letter in the interests of HisMajesty." He turned to Luttrell and Phelips, and they nodded theirconcurrence with his view of the matter. "But," he continued, "ifyou are proposing to prove any such thing, I think you will find itdifficult."

  Mr. Wilding drew a crumpled paper from his pocket. "When the courierwhom they robbed, as they have correctly informed you," said he quietly,"suspected their design upon the contents of his wallet, he bethoughthim of removing the wrapper from the letter, so that in case theletter were seized by them it should prove nothing against any manin particular. He stuffed the wrapper into the lining of his hat,preserving it as a proof of his good faith against the time when heshould bring the letter to its destination, or come to confess that ithad been taken from him. That wrapper the courier brought to me, and Ihave it here. The evidence it will give should be more than sufficientto warrant your restoring these unjustly accused gentlemen theirliberty."

  "The courier took it to you?" echoed Albemarle, stupefaction in hisglance. "But why to you?"

  "Because," said Wilding, and with his left hand he placed the wrapperbefore Albemarle, whilst his right dropped again to his pocket, "theletter, as you may see, was addressed to me."

  The quiet manner in which he made the announcement conveyed almost asgreat a shock as the announcement itself.

  Albemarle took up the wrapper; Luttrell and Phelips craned forward tojoin him in his scrutiny of it. They compared the two, paper with paper,writing with writing. Then Monk flung one and the other down in front ofhim.

  "What lies have I been hearing, then?" he demanded furiously ofTrenchard. "'Slife I'll make an example of you. Arrest me thatrogue--arrest them both," and he half rose from his seat, his tremblinghand pointing to Wilding and Trenchard.

  Two of the tything-men stirred to do his bidding, but in the sameinstant Albemarle found himself looking into the round nozzle of apistol.

  "If," said Mr. Wilding, "a finger is laid upon Mr. Trenchard or me Ishall have the extreme mortification of being compelled to shoot YourGrace."

  His pleasantly modulated voice was as deliberate and calm as if he wereoffering the Bench a pinch of snuff. Albemarle's dark visage crimsoned;his eyes became at once wicked and afraid. Sir Edward's cheeks turnedpale, his glance grew startled. Luttrell alone, vigilant and dangerous,preserved his calm. But the situation baffled even him.

  Behind the two friends the tything-men had come to a terror-strickenhalt. Diana had risen from her chair in the excitement of the moment andhad drawn close to Ruth, who looked on with parted lips and bosomthat rose and fell. Even Blake could not stifle his admiration ofMr. Wilding's coolness and address. Richard, on the other hand, wasconcerned only with thoughts for himself, wondering how it would farewith him if Wilding and Trenchard succeeded in getting away.

  "Nick," said Mr. Wilding, "will you desire those catchpolls behind usto stand aside? If Your Grace raises your voice to call for help, if,indeed, any measures are taken calculated to lead to our capture, Ican promise Your Grace--notwithstanding my profound reluctance to useviolence--that they will be the last measures you will take in life. Begood enough to open the door, Nick, and to see that the key is on theoutside."

  Trenchard, who was by way of enjoying himself now, stepped brisklydown the hall to do as his friend bade him, with a wary eye on thetything-men. But never so much as a finger did they dare to lift. Mr.Wilding's calm was too deadly; they had seen a man in earnest beforethis, and they knew his appearance now. From the doorway Trenchardcalled Mr. Wilding.

  "I must be going, Your Grace," said the latter very courteously, "butI shall not be so wanting in deference to His Majesty's augustrepresentatives as to turn my back upon you." Saying which, he walkedbackwards, holding his pistol level, until he had reached Trenchard andthe door. There he paused and made them a deep bow, his manner the moremocking in that there was no tinge of mockery pe
rceptible. "Your veryobedient servant," said he, and stepped outside. Trenchard turned thekey, withdrew it from the lock, and, standing on tiptoe, thrust it uponthe ledge of the lintel.

  Instantly a clamour arose within the chamber. But the two friends neverstayed to listen. Down the passage they sped at the double, and outinto the courtyard. Here Ruth's groom, mounted himself, was walking hismistress's and Diana's horses up and down whilst he waited; yonder oneof Sir Edward's stable-boys was holding Mr. Wilding's roan. Two or threemen of the Somerset militia, in their red and yellow liveries, loungedby the gates, and turned uninterested eyes upon these newcomers.

  Wilding approached his wife's groom. "Get down," he said, "I need yourhorse--on the King's business. Get down, I say," he added impatiently,upon noting the fellow's stare, and, seizing his leg, he helped him todismount by almost dragging him from the saddle. "Up with you, Nick,"said he, and Nick very promptly mounted. "Your mistress will be herepresently," Wilding told the groom, and, turning on his heel, strodeto his own mare. A moment later Trenchard and he vanished through thegateway with a tremendous clatter, just as the Lord-Lieutenant, ColonelLuttrell, Sir Edward Phelips, the constable, the tything-men, SirRowland, Richard, and the ladies made their appearance.

  Ruth pushed her way quickly to the front. She feared lest her horseand her cousin's being at hand might be used for the pursuit; so urgingDiana to do the same, she snatched her reins from the hands of thedumbfounded groom and leapt nimbly to the saddle.

  "After them!" roared Albemarle, and the constable with two of hismen made a dash for the gateway to raise the hue and cry, whilstthe militiamen watched them in stupid, inactive wonder. "Damnation,mistress!" thundered the Duke in ever-increasing passion, "hold yournag! Hold your nag, woman!" For Ruth's horse had become unmanageable,and was caracoling about the yard between the men and the gateway insuch a manner that they dared not attempt to win past her.

  "You have scared him with your bellowing," she panted, tugging at thebridle, and all but backed into the constable who had been endeavouringto get round behind her. The beast continued its wild prancing, and theDuke abated nothing in his furious profanity, until suddenly the groom,having relinquished to Diana the reins of the other horse, sprang toRuth's assistance and caught her bridle in a firm grasp which broughtthe animal to a standstill.

  "You fool!" she hissed at him, and half raised her whip to strike, butchecked on the impulse, bethinking her in time that, after all, what thepoor lad had done he had done thinking her distressed.

  The constable and a couple of his fellows won through; others wererousing the stable and getting to horse, and in the courtyard all wasbustle and commotion. Meanwhile, however, Mr. Wilding and Trenchard hadmade the most of their start, and were thundering through the town.