"That the room of Prince Ivan is more welcome to ladies than his company!" retorted Margaret of Courtland, still holding the Sparhawk"s hand between both of hers, and keeping her angry eyes and petulant flower face indignantly upon the intruder.
Had Prince Ivan been looking at her companion at that moment he might have penetrated the disguise, so tender and devoted a light of love dwelt on the Sparhawk"s countenance and beaconed from his eyes. But he only bowed deferentially and withdrew. Margaret and the Sparhawk were left once more alone.
The two stood thus while the brisk footsteps of Prince Wasp thinned out down the corridor. Then Margaret turned swiftly upon her tall companion and, still keeping her hand, she pulled Maurice over to the window. Then in the fuller light she scanned the Sparhawk"s features with a kindling eye and paling lips.
"G.o.d in heaven!" she palpitated, holding him at a greater distance, "you are not the Lady Joan; you are--you are----"
"The man who loves you!" said the Sparhawk, who was very pale.
"The Count von Loen. Oh! Maurice, why did you risk it?" she gasped.
"They will kill you, tear you to pieces without remorse, when they find out. And it is a thing that cannot be kept secret. Why did you do it?"
"For your sake, beloved," said the Sparhawk, coming nearer to her; "to look once more on your face--to behold once, if no more, the lips that kissed me in the dark by the river brink!"
"But--but--you may forfeit your life!"
"And a thousand lives!" cried the Sparhawk, nervously pulling at his woman"s dress as if ashamed that he must wear it at such a time. "Life without you is naught to Maurice von Lynar!"
A glow of conscious happiness rose warm and pink upon the cheeks of the Princess Margaret.
"Besides," added Maurice, "the captains of Kernsberg considered that thus alone could their mistress be saved."
The glow paled a little.
"What! by sacrificing you? But perhaps you did it for her sake, and not wholly, as you say, for mine!"
There was no such thought in her heart, but she wished to hear him deny it.
"Nay, my one lady," he answered; "I was, indeed, more than ready to come to Courtland, but it was because of the hope that surged through my heart, as flame leaps through tow, that I should see you and hear your voice!"
The Princess held out her hands impulsively and then retracted them as suddenly.
"Now, we must not waste time," she said; "I must save you. They would slay you on the least suspicion. But I will match them. Would to G.o.d that Conrad were here. To him I could speak. I could trust him. He would help us. Let me see! Let me see!"
She bent her head and walked slowly to the window. Like every true Courtlander she thought best when she could watch the swirl of the green Alla against its banks. The Sparhawk took a step as if to follow, but instead stood still where he was, drinking in her proud and girlish beauty. To the eye of any spy they were no more than two n.o.ble ladies who had quarrelled, the smaller and slighter of whom had turned her back upon the taller!
They were in the same position still, and the white foam-fleck which Margaret was following with her eyes had not vanished from her sight, when the door of the summer palace was rudely thrown open and an officer announced in a loud and strident tone, "The Prince Louis to visit his Princess!"
CHAPTER x.x.xI
THE ROYAL MINX
Prince Louis entered, flushed and excited. His eyes had lost their furtive meanness and blazed with a kind of reckless fury quite foreign to his nature, for anger affected him as wine might another man.
He spoke first to the Princess Margaret.
"And so, my fair sister," he said, "you would foment rebellion even in my palace and concoct conspiracy with my own married wife. Make ready, madam, for to-morrow you shall find your master. I will marry you to the Prince Ivan of Muscovy. He will carry you to Moscow, where ladies of your breed are taught to obey. And if they will not--why, their delicate skins may chance to be caressed with instruments less tender than lovers" fingers. Go--make you ready. You shall be wed and that immediately. And leave me alone with my wife."
"I will not marry the Prince of Muscovy," his sister answered calmly. "I would rather die by the axe of your public executioner. I would wed with the vilest scullion that squabbles with the swine for gobbets in the gutters of Courtland, rather than sit on a throne with such a man!"
The Prince nodded sagely.
"A pretty spirit--a true Courtland spirit," he said mockingly. "I had the same within my heart when I was young. Conrad hath it now--priest though he be. Nevertheless, he is off to Rome to kiss the Pope"s toe. By my faith, Gretchen la.s.s, you show a very pretty spirit!"
He wheeled about and looked towards the false Joan, who was standing gripping nails into palms by the chimney-mantel.
"And you, my lady," he said, "you have had your turn of rebellion. But once is enough. You are conquered now. You are a wedded wife. Your place is with your husband. You sleep in my palace to-night!"
"If I do," muttered the Sparhawk, "I know who will wake in h.e.l.l to-morrow!"
"My brother Louis," cried the Princess Margaret, running up to him and taking his arm coaxingly, "do not be so hasty with two poor women.
Neither of us desire aught but to do your will. But give us time. Spare us, for you are strong. "A woman"s way is the wind"s way"--you know our Courtland proverb. You cannot harness the Northern Lights to your chariot-wheels. Woo us--coax us--aye, even deceive us; but do not force us. Louis, Louis, I thought you were wise, and yet I see that you know not the alphabet of love. Here is your lady. Have you ever said a loving word to her, bent the knee, kissed her hand--which, being persisted in, is the true way to kiss the mouth?"
("If he does either," growled the Sparhawk, "my sword will kiss his midriff!")
Prince Louis smiled. He was not used to women"s flatteries, and in his present state of exaltation the cajoleries of the Princess suited his mood. He swelled with self-importance, puffing his cheeks and twirling his grey moustache upwards with the finger and thumb of his left hand.
"I know more of women than you think, sister," he made answer. "I have had experiences--in my youth, that is; I am no puppet princeling. By Saint Mark! once on a day I strutted it with the boldest; and to-day--well, now that I have humbled this proud madam and brought her to my own city, why, I will show you that I am no Wendish boor. I can sue a lady"s favour as courteously as any man--and, Margaret, if you will promise me to be a good girl and get you ready to be married to-morrow, I promise you that Louis of Courtland will solicit his lady"s favour with all grace and observance."
"Gladly will I be married to-morrow," said the Princess, caressing her brother"s sleeve--"that is, if I cannot be married to-day!" she added under her breath.
But she paused a few moments as if embarra.s.sed.
Then she went on.
"Brother Louis, I have spoken with my sister here--your wife, the Lady Joan. She hath a scruple concerning matrimony. She would have it resolved before she hath speech with you again. Permit our good Father Clement to advise with her."
"Father Clement--our Conrad"s tutor, why he more than another?"
"Well, do you not understand? He is old," pleaded Margaret, "and there are things one can say easiest to an old man. You understand, brother Louis."
The Prince nodded, well pleased. This was pleasant. His mentor, Prince Wasp, did not usually flatter him. Rather he made him chafe on a tight rein.
"And if I send Father Clement to you, chit," he said patting his sister"s softly rounded cheek, "will he both persuade you and ease the scruples of my Lady Joan? I am as delicate and understanding as any man.
I will not drive a woman when she desires to be led. But led or driven she must be. For to my will she must come at last."
"I knew it, I knew it!" she cried joyously. "Again you are mine own Louis, my dear sweet brother! When will Father Clement come?"
"As soon as he can be sent for," the Prince answered. "He will come directly here to the Summer Palace. And till then you two fair maids can abide together. Princess, my wife, I kiss your n.o.ble hand. Margaret, your cheek. Till to-morrow--till to-morrow!"
He went out with an awkward attempt at airy grace curiously grafted on his usually saturnine manners. The door closed behind him. Margaret of Courtland listened a moment with bated breath and finger on lip. A shouted order reached her ear from beneath. Then came the tramp of disciplined feet, and again they heard only the swirl of the Alla fretting about the piles of the Summer Palace.
Then, quickly dropping her lover"s fingers, Margaret took hold of her own dress at either side daintily and circled about the Sparhawk in a light-tripping dance.
"Ah, Louis--we will be so good and bidable--to-morrow. To-morrow you will see me a loving and obedient wife. To-morrow I will wed Prince Wasp. Meantime--to-day you and I, Maurice, will consult Father Clement, mine ancient confessor, who will do anything I ask him. To-day we will dance--put your arm about my waist--firmly--so! There, we will dance at a wedding to-day, you and I. For in that brave velvet robe you shall be married!"