At the moment she spoke the handle of the door turned. Again it turned and was rattled.
"I locked it," whispered Nell, her eyes full of mischief.
Again, and most impatiently, the handle was twisted to and fro.
"Pat, pat, how pat he comes!" she whispered.
A last loud rattle followed, then a voice cried in anger, "Open it, I bid you open it."
"G.o.d help us!" I exclaimed in sad perplexity. "It"s the King?"
"Yes, it"s the King, and, Simon, the piece begins. Look as terrified as you can. It"s the King."
"Open, I say, open!" cried the King, with a thundering knock.
I understood now that he had been in the other room, and that she had left his society to come to me; but I understood only dimly why she had locked the door, and why she now was so slow in opening it. Yet I set my wits to work, and for further aid watched her closely. She was worth the watching. Without aid of paints or powders, of scene or theatre, she transformed her air, her manner, ay, her face also. Alarm and terror showed in her eyes as she stole in fearful fashion across the room, unlocked the door, and drew it open, herself standing by it, stiff and rigid, in what seemed shame or consternation. The agitation she feigned found some reality in me. I was not ready for the thing, although I had been warned by the voice outside. When the King stood in the doorway, I wished myself a thousand miles away.
The King was silent for several moments; he seemed to me to repress a pa.s.sion which, let loose, might hurry him to violence. When he spoke, he was smiling ironically, and his voice was calm.
"How comes this gentleman here?" he asked.
The terror that Nell had so artfully a.s.sumed she appeared now, with equal art, to defy or conquer. She answered him with angry composure.
"Why shouldn"t Mr. Dale be here, Sir?" she asked. "Am I to see no friends? Am I to live all alone?"
"Mr Dale is no friend of mine----"
"Sir----" I began, but his raised hand stayed me.
"And you have no need of friends when I am here."
"Your Majesty," said she, "came to say farewell; Mr Dale was but half an hour too soon."
This answer showed me the game. If he had come to bid her farewell--why, I understood now the parts in the comedy. If he left her for the Frenchwoman, why should she not turn to Simon Dale? The King bit his lip. He also understood her answer.
"You lose no time, mistress," he said, with an uneasy laugh.
"I"ve lost too much already," she flashed back.
"With me?" he asked, and was answered by a sweeping curtsey and a scornful smile.
"You"re a bold man, Mr Dale," said he. "I knew it before, and am now most convinced of it."
"I didn"t expect to meet your Majesty here," said I sincerely.
"I don"t mean that. You"re bold to come here at all."
"Mistress Gwyn is very kind to me," said I. I would play my part and would not fail her, and I directed a timid yet amorous glance at Nell.
The glance reached Nell, but on its way it struck the King. He was patient of rivals, they said, but he frowned now and muttered an oath.
Nell broke into sudden laughter. It sounded forced and unreal. It was meant so to sound.
"We"re old friends," said she, "Simon and I. We were friends before I was what I am. We"re still friends, now that I am what I am. Mr Dale escorted me from Dover to London."
"He is an attentive squire," sneered the King.
"He hardly left my side," said Nell.
"You were hampered with a companion?"
"Of a truth I hardly noticed it," cried Nelly with magnificent falsehood. I seconded her efforts with a shrug and a cunning smile.
"I begin to understand," said the King. "And when my farewell has been said, what then?"
"I thought that it had been said half an hour ago," she exclaimed.
"Wasn"t it?"
"You were anxious to hear it, and so seemed to hear it," said he uneasily.
She turned to me with a grave face and tender eyes.
"Didn"t I tell you here, just now, how the King parted from me?"
I was to take the stage now, it seemed.
"Ay, you told me," said I, playing the agitated lover as best I could.
"You told me that--that--but I cannot speak before His Majesty." And I ended in a most rare confusion.
"Speak, sir," he commanded harshly and curtly.
"You told me," said I in low tones, "that the King left you. And I said I was no King, but that you need not be left alone." My eyes fell to the ground in pretended fear.
The swiftest glance from Nell applauded me. I would have been sorry for him and ashamed for myself, had I not remembered M. de Perrencourt and our voyage to Calais. In that thought I steeled myself to hardness and bade conscience be still.
A long silence followed. Then the King drew near to Nell. With a rare stroke of skill she seemed to shrink away from him and edged towards me, as though she would take refuge in my arms from his anger or his coldness.
"Come, I"ve never hurt you, Nelly!" said he.
Alas, that art should outstrip nature! Never have I seen portrayed so finely the resentment of a love that, however greatly wounded, is still love, that even in turning away longs to turn back, that calls even in forbidding, and in refusing breathes the longing to a.s.sent. Her feet still came towards me, but her eyes were on the King.
"You sent me away," she whispered as she moved towards me and looked where the King was.
"I was in a temper," said he. Then he turned to me, saying "Pray leave us, sir."
I take it that I must have obeyed, but Nell sprang suddenly forward, caught my hand, and holding it faced the King.
"He shan"t go; or, if you send him away, I"ll go with him."
The King frowned heavily, but did not speak. She went on, choking down a sob--ay, a true sob; the part she played moved her, and beneath her acting there was a reality. She fought for her power over him and now was the test of it.