The Nest of the Sparrowhawk: A Romance of the XVIIth Century
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CHAPTER VIII
PRINCE AMEDE D'ORLEANS
At first it seemed as if the stranger meant to beat a precipitate andnone too dignified retreat now that the adoring eyes of Lady Sue were nolonger upon him. But Mistress de Chavasse had no intention of allowinghim to extricate himself quite so easily from an unpleasant position.
"One moment, master," she said loudly and peremptorily. "Prince orwhatever you may wish to call yourself ... ere you show me a clean pairof heels, I pray you to explain your presence here on Sir Marmaduke'sdoorstep at ten o'clock at night, and in company with his ward."
For a moment--a second or two only--the stranger appeared to hesitate.He paused with one foot still on the lowest of the stone steps, theother on the flagged path, his head bent, his hand upraised in the actof re-adjusting his broad-brimmed hat.
Then a sudden thought seemed to strike him, he threw back his head, gavea short laugh as if he were pleased with this new thought, then turned,meeting Mistress de Chavasse's stern gaze squarely and fully. He threwhis hat down upon the steps and crossed his arms over his chest.
"One moment, mistress?" he said with an ironical bow. "I do not needone moment. I have already explained."
"Explained? how?" she retorted, "nay! I'll not be trifled with, master,and methinks you will find that Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse will expectsome explanation--which will prove unpleasant to yourself--for yourunwarrantable impudence in daring to approach his ward."
He put up his hand in gentle deprecation.
"Impudence? Oh, mistress?" he said reproachfully.
"Let me assure you, master," she continued with relentless severity,"that you were wise an you returned straightway to your lodgings now ...packed your worldly goods and betook yourself and them to anywhere youplease."
"Ah!" he sighed gently, "that is impossible."
"You would dare? ..." she retorted.
"I would dare remain there, where my humble presence is mostdesired--beside the gracious lady who honors me with her love."
"You are insolent, master ... and Sir Marmaduke ..."
"Oh!" he rejoined lightly, "Sir Marmaduke doth not object."
"There, I fear me, you are in error, master! and in his name I nowforbid you ever to attempt to speak to Lady Susannah Aldmarshe again."
This command, accompanied by a look of withering scorn, seemed to affordthe stranger vast entertainment. He made the wrathful lady a low,ironical bow, and clapped his hands together laughing and exclaiming:
"Brava! brava! of a truth but this is excellent! Pray, mistress, willyou deign to tell me if in this your bidding you have asked SirMarmaduke for his opinion?"
"I need not to ask him. I ask you to go."
"Go? Whither?" he asked blandly.
"Out of my sight and off these grounds at once, ere I rouse the servantsand have you whipped off like a dog!" she said, angered beyond measureat his audacity, his irony, his manner, suggestive of insolent triumph.His muffled voice with its curious foreign accent irritated her, as didthe shadow of his perruque over his brow, and the black silk shade whichhe wore over one eye.
Even now in response to her violent outburst he broke into renewedlaughter.
"Better and better! Ah, mistress," he said with a shake of the head, "ofa truth you are more blind than I thought."
"You are more insolent, master, than I had thought possible."
"Yet meseems, fair lady, that in the lonely and mysterious stranger youmight have remembered your humble and devoted servant," he said, drawinghis figure up towards her.
"You! an old friend!" she said contemptuously. "I have ne'er set eyes onyou in my life before."
"To think that the moon should be so treacherous," he rejoinedimperturbably. "Will you not look a little closer, fair mistress, theshadows are somewhat dark, mayhap."
She felt his one eye fixed upon her with cold intentness, a strangefeeling of superstitious dread suddenly crept over her from head tofoot. Like a bird fascinated by a snake she came a little nearer, downthe steps, towards him, her eyes, too, riveted on his face, that curiousface of his, surrounded by the heavy perruque hiding ears and cheeks,the mouth overshadowed by the dark mustache, one eye concealed beneaththe black silk shade.
He seemed amused at her terror and as she came nearer to him, he too,advanced a little until their eyes met--his, mocking, amused, restless;hers, intent and searching.
Thus they gazed at one another for a few seconds, whilst silence reignedaround and the moon peered down cold and chaste from above, illuminingthe old house, the neglected garden, the vast park with its innumerabledark secrets and the mysteries which it hid.
She was the first to step back, to recoil before the ironical intensityof that fixed gaze. She felt as if she were in a dream, as if anightmare assailed her, which in her wakeful hours would be dissipatedby reason, by common sense, by sound and sober fact.
She even passed her hand across her eyes as if to sweep away from beforeher vision, a certain image which fancy had conjured up.
His laugh--strident and mocking--roused her from this dreamlike state.
"I ... I ... do not understand," she murmured.
"Yet it is so simple," he replied, "did you not ask me awhile ago ifnothing could be done?"
"Who ... who are you?" she whispered, and then repeated once again: "Whoare you?"
"I am His Royal Highness, Prince Amede d'Orleans," said Sir Marmaduke deChavasse lightly, "the kinsman of His Majesty, King Louis of France, themysterious foreigner who works for the religious and political freedomof his country, and on whose head _le roi soleil_ hath set a price ...and who, moreover, hath enflamed the romantic imagination of a beautifulyoung girl, thus winning her ardent love in the present and in the nearfuture together with her vast fortune and estates."
He made a movement as if to remove his perruque but she stopped him witha gesture. She had understood. And in the brilliant moonlight a completerevelation of his personality might prove dangerous. Lady Sue herselfmight still--for aught they knew--be standing in the dark roombehind--unseen yet on the watch.
He seemed vastly amused at her terror, and boldly took the hand withwhich she had arrested his act of total revelation.
"Nay! do you recognize your humble servant at last, fair Editha?" hequeried. "On my honor, madam, Lady Sue is deeply enamored of me. Whatthink you of my chances now?"
"You? You?" she repeated at intervals, mechanically, dazed still, lostin a whirl of conflicting emotions wherein fear, amazement, and acertain vein of superstitious horror fought a hard battle in her dizzybrain.
"The risks," she murmured more coherently.
"Bah!"
"If she discover you, before ... before ..."
"Before she is legally my wife? Pshaw! ... Then of a truth my schemewill come to naught ... But will you not own, Editha, that 'tis worththe risk?"
"Afterwards?" she asked, "afterwards?"
"Afterwards, mistress," he rejoined enigmatically, "afterwards sits onthe knees of the gods."
And with a flourish of his broad-brimmed hat he turned on his heel andanon was lost in the shadows of the tall yew hedge.
How long she stood there watching that spot whereon he had beenstanding, she could not say. Presently she shivered; the night hadturned cold. She heard the cry of some small bird attacked by a midnightprowler; was it the sparrow-hawk after its prey?
From the other side of the house came the sound of slow and firmfootsteps, then the opening and shutting of a door.
Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had played his part for to-night: silently ashe had gone, so he returned to his room, whilst in another corner of thesparrow-hawk's nest a young girl slept, dreaming dreams of patriots andheroes, of causes nobly won, of poverty and obscurity gloriouslyendured.
Mistress de Chavasse with a sigh half of regret, half of indifference,finally turned her back on the moonlit garden and went within.