Margaret Tudor: A Romance of Old St. Augustine

by Annie T. Colcock

  CHAPTER IV.

  Day after day dragged by. We grew aweary of discussing the possibilitiesof our escape and fell gradually into silence.

  It was on the first day of June that Don Pedro de Melinza arrived in thegalley from San Augustin, and our captivity took on a new phase.

  He is a handsome man, this Spanish Don, and he bears himself with theairs of a courtier--when it so pleases him. As he stood that day at theopen door of our hut prison, in the full glow of the summer morning, hewas a goodly sight. His thick black hair was worn in a fringe of wavylocks that rested lightly on his flaring collar. His leathern doubletfitted close to his slight, strong figure, and through its slashedsleeves there was a shimmer of fine silk. In his right hand he held hisplumed sombrero against his breast; his left rested carelessly on thehilt of his sword.

  I could find no flaw in his courteous greetings; but I looked into hiscountenance and liked it not.

  The nose was straight and high, the keen dark eyes set deep in the oliveface; but beneath the short, curled moustache projected a full, redunder lip.

  Show me, in a man, an open brow, a clear eye, a firm-set mouth, and achin that neither aims to meet the nose nor lags back upon the breast;and I will dub him honest, and brave, and clean-minded. But if hisforehead skulks backward, his chin recedes, and his nether lip curlsover redly--though the other traits be handsome, and the figure full ofgrace and strength controlled--trust that man I never could! Such an oneI saw once in my early childhood. My mother pointed him out to me andbade me note him well.

  "That man," she said, "was once your father's friend and close comrade;yet now he walks free and lives in ease, while my poor husband is inslavery. Why is it thus? Because he over yonder was false to his oath,to his friends, and to his king. He sold them all, like Esau, for a messof pottage. Mark him well, my child, and beware of his like; for inthese days they are not a few, and woe to any who trust in them!"

  I remembered those words of my mother when the Senor Don Pedro deMelinza y de Colis made his bow to us that summer's day. The meaning ofhis courtly phrases was lost upon me; but I gathered from his mannerthat he had come in the guise of a friend,--and I trembled at theprospect of such friendship.

  Nevertheless I was right glad when the fetters were struck from my dearlove and his companions, and we were taken upon the Spanish galley andserved like Christians.

  At the earliest opportunity Mr. Rivers hastened to make things clear tome. "Our deliverer"--so he termed him, whereat I marvelledsomewhat,--"our deliverer assures me that Padre Ignacio's action iscondemned greatly by his uncle, Senor de Colis, the Governor andCaptain-General at San Augustin. Don Pedro has been sent to transport usthither, where we will be entertained with some fitness until we cancommunicate with our friends."

  "Says he so? 'Twill be well if he keeps his word; but to my thinking hehas not the face of an honest man."

  Mr. Rivers looked at me gravely. "That is a hard speech from such gentlelips," he said. "Don Pedro is a Spanish gentleman of high lineage. Hisuncle, Senor de Colis, is a knight of the Order of St. James. Such holdtheir honour dear. Until he gives us cause to distrust him, let us havethe grace to believe that he _is_ an honest man."

  I looked back into the frank gray eyes of my true and gallant love, andI felt rebuked. 'Twas a woman's instinct, only, that made me doubt theSpaniard; and this simple trust of a noble nature in the integrity ofhis fellow man seemed a vastly finer instinct than my own.

  From that moment I laid by my suspicions, and met the courteous advancesof Senor de Melinza with as much of graciousness as I knew how. But, aswe spoke for the most part in different tongues, little conversation waspossible to us.

  I marvelled at the ease with which Mr. Rivers conversed in both Spanishand French. Of the latter I was not wholly ignorant myself,--although inmy quiet country life I had had little opportunity of putting myknowledge to the test, seldom attempting to do more than "prick in someflowers" of foreign speech upon the fabric of my mother tongue; so itwas with great timidity that I essayed at first to thread the mazes ofan unfamiliar language.

  The Spaniard, however, greeted my attempts with courteous comprehension,and after a time I was emboldened to ask some questions concerning thetown of San Augustin, and to comment upon the vivid beauty of the skiesand the blue waves around us. Upon that he broke into rapturous praisesof his own land of Spain--"the fairest spot upon the earth!" As Ilistened, smilingly, it seemed to me that I perceived a shadow gatheringupon the brow of my dear love.

  So far the galley had depended solely upon her oars--of which there weresix banks, of two oars each, on either side,--but now, the wind havingfreshened, Don Pedro ordered her two small lateen sails to be hoisted.While he was giving these directions and superintending theirfulfilment, Mr. Rivers drew closer to my side, saying, in a rapidwhisper:

  "You have somewhat misread me, sweetheart, in regard to your demeanourtoward our host. 'Tis surely needless for you to put yourself to thepain of conversing with him at such length."

  Now it must be remembered that in the last few hours our situation hadgreatly changed. I had left a dark and dirty hovel for a cushioned couchupon a breezy deck. In the tiny cabin which had been placed at mydisposal, I had, with Barbara's aid, rearranged my tangled locks and mydisordered clothing; so that I was no longer ashamed of my untidyappearance. With my outward transformation there had come a reaction inmy spirits, which bounded upward to their accustomed level.

  The salt air was fresh upon my cheek; the motion of our vessel,careening gaily on the dancing waves, was joyous and inspiring. I forgotthat we were sailing southward, and that, if our English friends hadsurvived to begin their intended settlement, we were leaving themfarther and farther behind. My thoughts went back to the earlier days ofour journey over seas; and a flash of the wilful mischief, which Ithought had all died from my heart, rose suddenly within me.

  I leaned back upon my cushioned seat and looked with half-veiled eyes atmy gallant gentleman.

  "These nice distinctions, Mr. Rivers, are too difficult for me," I said."If this Spanish cavalier of high lineage and honest intentions isworthy of any gratitude, methinks a few civil words can scarcely overpayhim."

  A heightened colour in the cheek of my betrothed testified to the warmthof his feelings in the matter, as he replied:

  "You are wholly in the right, my dearest lady! If civil words can cancelaught of our indebtedness I shall not be sparing of them. Nevertheless,permit me, I entreat you, to assume the entire burden of our gratitudeand the whole payment thereof."

  "Not so," I rejoined, with some spirit. "Despite our beggared fortunes,I trust no one has ever found a Tudor bankrupt in either courtesy orgratitude; and--by your leave, sir--I will be no exception!"

  This I said, not because I was so mightily beholden to the Spaniard;but--shame upon me!--because Mr. Rivers had chosen to reprove me, awhile since, for my uncharity.

  'Tis passing strange how we women can find pleasure in giving pain tothe man we love; while if he suffered from any other cause we wouldgladly die to relieve him! 'Twould seem a cruel trait in a woman'scharacter--and I do trust that I am not cruel! But I must admit thatwhen I greeted Don Pedro, on his return, with added cordiality, it wasnothing in his dark, eager countenance that set my heart beating--butrather the glimpse I had caught of a bitten lip, a knotted brow, and apair of woeful gray eyes gazing out to sea.

  Repentance came speedily, however. There was that in the Spaniard'smanner that aroused my sleeping doubts of him; and I soon fell silentand sought to be alone.

  My gallant gentleman had withdrawn himself in a pique, and, in thecompany of old Captain Baulk and the lad Poole, seemed to have whollyforgotten my existence.

  I made Dame Barbara sit beside me, and, feigning headache, leaned myhead upon her shoulder and closed my eyes. The dame rocked herselfgently to and fro, and from time to time gave vent to smothered prayersand doleful ejaculations that set my thoughts working upon my ownmisdoings.

  Through my half-
shut eyes I saw the sun go down behind the strip ofshore, and watched the blue skies pale to faintest green and richestamber. A little flock of white cloudlets, swimming in the transparentdepths, caught fire suddenly and changed to pink flames, then gloweddarkly red like burning coals, and faded, finally to gray ashes in thepurpling west.

  "Lord, have mercy on our sinful hearts!" groaned Dame Barbara softly.

  "Amen!" I sighed, and wondered what ailed mine, that it could be so verywicked as to add to the burden of anxiety that my dear love had to bear!A few tears stole from under my half-closed lids, and I was verymiserable and forlorn, when suddenly I felt a hand laid upon mine.

  I looked up hastily, and saw the face of my gallant gentleman, verygrave and penitent, in the fast-deepening twilight. My heart gave a gladleap within my bosom; but I puckered my lips woefully and heaved amighty sigh.

  "Thank you, dear Dame, for your kind nursing," I said to Barbara."Truly, I know not what I should do without your motherly comforting attimes."

  Mr. Rivers took my hand, and drew me gently away, saying:

  "See what a bright star hangs yonder, above the sombre shores!"

  I glanced at the glittering point of light, and then, over my shoulder,at the shadowy decks. The Spaniard was not in sight, and only the bentfigure of the dame was very near.

  My dear love raised my fingers to his lips. "Forgive me, sweetheart, forbeing so churlish--but you cannot know the fears that fill me when I seethat man's dark face gazing into yours, and realize that we are utterlyin his power."

  "Surely he would not harm me!" I said, hastily.

  "'Tis that he may learn to love you," said Mr. Rivers gravely.

  "He may spare himself the pain of it!" I cried. "Have you not told himthat we are betrothed?"

  "Aye, love--but he may lose his heart in spite of that. What wonder ifhe does? The miracle would be if he could look upon your face unmoved."

  "Am I so wondrous pretty, then?"

  "Fairer than any woman living!" he declared. I knew well enough it was atender falsehood, but since he seemed to believe it himself it was everywhit as satisfactory as if it had been truth!

  "Be comforted," I whispered, reassuringly. "I know very well how to makemyself quite homely. I have only to pull all my curls back from my browand club them behind: straightway I will become so old and ugly that noman would care to look me twice in the face. Wait till to-morrow, andyou will see!"

  A laugh broke from Mr. Rivers's lips, and then he sighed heavily.

  "Nay, sweetheart, if it be the head-dress you assumed one day somemonths ago for my peculiar punishment, I pray you will not try itsefficacy on the Spaniard; for it serves but to make you the moreirresistible."

  But already I have dwelt longer upon myself and my own feelings than isneedful for the telling of my tale. I must hasten on to thosehappenings that more nearly concerned Mr. Rivers. Yet, in lookingbackward, I find it hard to tear my thoughts from the memory of thatlast hour of quiet converse with my dear love, under the starlitsouthern skies. How seldom we realize our moments of great happinessuntil after they have slipped away! It seemed to me then that we were inthe shadow of a dark-winged host of fears; but now I know that it servedonly to make our mutual faith burn the more brightly.

  I did not, thereafter, neglect Mr. Rivers's warning, and avoided theSpaniard as much as possible. My dear love lingered always at my elbow,and replied for me, in easy Spanish, to all the courteous speeches ofDon Pedro.

  Sometimes I think it would have been far better had he left me to followmy own course. There are some men who need only a hint of rivalry tospur them on where of their own choice they had never thought toadventure. Melinza's attentions did not diminish, while his mannertoward Mr. Rivers lost in cordiality as time went on.