The Commandant"s last hope was gone.
Just as he realised this, to his utter astonishment, he heard the voice of Archelaus grumbling outside in the pa.s.sage. And Archelaus had gone to rest an hour ago!
"Pretty time of night this, to come breaking a man"s rest!" growled the voice of Archelaus, audibly, and not without viciousness, as though he meant it to be heard.
"Good Lord!" exclaimed Mr. Rogers. "You don"t tell me we"ve roused the old fellow out of bed? And I reckoned I was making no more noise than a mouse!"
"He may have heard you throw that gravel against the pane." The Commandant took a step towards the door, but halted irresolutely.
"Then he"s a light sleeper," commented Mr. Rogers, "and an even more dilatory dresser. Why, good heavens!"--the Lieutenant started up from his chair--"he"s undoing the bolts! Somebody"s at the front door: one of my men to report, I"ll bet a fiver!"
He would have rushed out into the pa.s.sage, but the Commandant caught him by the arm.
"No need to hurry, my friend! Whoever it is, Archelaus will bring word."
Many hasty surmises whirled together in the Commandant"s brain--the first, and hastiest, that Vashti, unable to make her escape, had aroused Archelaus, and that Archelaus was unbarring the door for her on the pretence of hearing a knock. Even so, she would be caught as soon as she reached the sh.o.r.e. Still, occasion might be s.n.a.t.c.hed to send Archelaus after her to warn her; she might hide for the night at the Castle under Mrs. Treacher"s friendly wing. The instant need was to hold back the Lieutenant from discovering her in the pa.s.sage, and to the Lieutenant"s arm our Commandant clung.
"My good sir," expostulated Mr. Rogers, "it _must_ be one of my men.
Who else, at this hour?"
He fell back a step as the door opened.
"A person to see you, sir; from Saaron!" announced Archelaus. "Shall I show her in?"
Before either could answer, Vashti herself stood on the threshold.
Of the two men, the Lieutenant excusably showed the blankest astonishment. But the Commandant had to catch at the rail of a chair.
Vashti had discarded her cloak of furs, and faced him now in such garb as is worn by the poorest in the Islands: a short gown of hodden gray, coa.r.s.e-knitted stockings, and stout shoes. Across her shoulder, for a "turn-over," she wore a faded shawl of Tartan pattern. (The Commandant recognised it for a surplus one which Mrs. Treacher kept in the Barracks kitchen, to wear "against the draughts" on occasions when she helped Archelaus with the cooking.) But most wonderful of all was her hair. By some swift art the heavy coil had been drawn into two flat bands, brought low over the forehead, and carried back over the ears in a fashion almost slatternly. By no art could Vashti conceal that she was beautiful. She was also too wise to attempt it. But, for the rest, she had transformed herself.
"If you please, sir," she began timidly, with an Island curtsey, and paused as if uncertain, at sight of Mr. Rogers, whether to hold her ground or to flee: "If you please, sir, I be that frightened!"
Accent, intonation--both were perfect, of the true Island speech, that delicate incommunicable sing-song. The Commandant"s eyes grew rounder yet with amazement, and Vashti--afraid, perhaps, of meeting them--flung a glance of mock terror behind her, as though she had caught the footfall of a pursuer.
"But--but who in the world--" stammered Mr. Rogers.
"If you please, gentlemen"--she turned, with another quick curtsey--"my name is Vazzy Cara, and I come from Saaron. I live there with my sister, Ruth, that is wife to Eli Tregarthen----"
Mr. Rogers gave a low whistle.
"It"s true, sir--true as I stand here! The Governor knows me, and will bear me out--won"t you, sir?... A terrible way from Saaron it is, and at this hour of night.... But ask the Governor, sir, and he"ll tell you I am a respectable woman; sister to Mrs. Tregarthen, and lives with her to look after the children."
"Yes, yes," interrupted the Lieutenant, losing patience. "But the question is, how you came here, and why?"
Vashti stood panting. By the heave of her bosom it was plain to see that either her fears still possessed her or that she had been running for dear life, and must catch breath. Her hand went up to her bodice.
"I came, sir, to see the Governor--all the way across from Saaron.
Eli--that"s my sister"s husband--is in terrible trouble over there, because the Lord Proprietor means to turn him off his farm. Yes, say!"--she drew a letter from her bodice, and went on with rising voice. "Turn us out he will, though the Tregarthens have lived on the Island ever since Saaron was Saaron. The Governor, here, in his time would never have done such wickedness, nor suffered it, being a just gentleman and merciful, as all the folk can bear witness. And so, thinks I, he may be able to help us yet; and if able he will be willing."
She held out the letter towards the Commandant, who took it and turned it over vaguely between his fingers, not opening it, nor daring to meet her eyes.
"And so," continued Mr. Rogers, "you took your brother-in-law"s boat--without his knowledge----"
Vashti nodded. "Yes, sir; I took it unbeknowns. He"s a very quiet man, is my sister"s husband, and don"t like it that other folks, "specially women, should mix themselves up in his affairs."
"Then he"s a sensible fellow as well as a quiet one."
"Yes, sir." Vashti took the correction meekly, with downcast look.
"And still less, I"ll bet," Mr. Rogers continued, "would he be pleased to know that one of his woman-kind was straying across to St. Lide"s at this hour of the night."
"Oh, sir," she caught him up, "but that"s where I"ve been hindered!
For, wishing to have word with the Governor, and no one the wiser, I brought the boat to sh.o.r.e down yonder, under the Keg of b.u.t.ter, and there the coastguards have found it, and are waiting by it to catch me, and what answer to give them I can"t think, nor how to account for myself. Seemin" to me they"re everywhere, and all around me in the darkness!"
Mr. Rogers broke into a laugh. "It appears, Commandant, that I have found a mare"s nest; always supposing that this tale is a true one.
You"ll excuse me, ma"am, but service is service."
The Commandant had turned to his writing-table, and was holding the letter under the lamplight.
"I can go bail for Miss Cara," he answered, but without looking up.
"Undoubtedly she comes from Saaron, and is Mrs. Tregarthen"s sister.
Also this letter, though we cannot deal with it to-night, is addressed to Eli Tregarthen in the Lord Proprietor"s handwriting. It gives him formal notice to quit and deliver up his farm. I can give no hope of help--no hope at all." Here his voice trembled slightly. "The most I can promise is to consider it."
"And the best we can do for the moment is to escort Miss Cara down to her boat and get one of my men to sail her back to her island."
"I incline to think," said the Commandant, after a pause, "that Miss Cara--from what I have seen of her skill--is competent to sail back alone. If not, I would suggest that you or I escort her, towing my boat across for the return journey. In any case, if we can get your men out of the way, it would be wiser, perhaps, for her sake."
"And for mine, begad!" agreed the Lieutenant! "Else I shall have every man of them grinning behind my back for a month of Sundays. "Rogers"
smuggling-chase"--I can hear the villains chuckling over it.... But I say, though"--he turned on Vashti admiringly--"you"ll want an escort across, eh? You don"t tell me you"re man enough to handle that boat alone?"
"If you please, sir."
"The Channel"s none too easy on a dark night."
Vashti smiled. "My father taught it to me, sir, before I was ten years old. I could sail it blindfold."
"And you have the nerve?... And yet just now, the dark frightened you, and you ran for your life!"
"No," said Vashti, demurely, "I just stood still."
"Well, come along! And when you get to the Battery, you"ll have to stand still again, and wait until I report the coast clear. Commandant, will you give Miss Cara your arm, while I run ahead."
They stepped out together into the night. Vashti neither took the Commandant"s arm nor spoke to him, even after Mr. Rogers had pa.s.sed ahead out of earshot. Only when the pair had reached the dark battery, and were waiting there on the dark platform above the sea, she turned to him and asked--
"Shall you be busy to-morrow?"
"I am never busy."
"I have left my cloak and the guitar with Archelaus."