"It should not be necessary."
"But you would not dare!" indignantly.
"Not dare! Your Ladyship forgets--"
"True!" with a scornful glance. After a pause: "But suppose I _did_ promise? Are you not reposing a good deal of confidence in me?"
"Not too much!"
"I presume," disdainfully, "I should feel flattered in being trusted by--" She did not finish the sentence.
But the young man apparently had not heard. "I"ll take the chance on your own words," he added unexpectedly.
"My words?"
"That you are no telltale."
The girl started. "Telltale?" she repeated.
"You once told me you were not!"
"I--told you!" She stared at him.
"Told me you were no telltale," he repeated. "And--when Beppo lied, you told the truth--about a ragged vagabond of a boy."
"Beppo!" The look in her eyes deepened; cleared. "I remember now,"
she said slowly. "You were the boy with the fish, who said he lived in the woods. I met you while riding, and again that night, as a child, leaving for Paris; but I did not know, then, you would become--"
The young man"s face changed. "An outlaw!" he said coolly.
"Yes; an outlaw," she repeated firmly. Angered by his unflinching gaze, she went on: "Who dares not fly the flag of his king! Who dares not come openly into any honest port!"
She ended, her brown eyes flashing. His own darkened; but he only remarked coldly; "My Lady, at any rate, dares much!"
"Oh, I"ve no doubt you don"t care to hear--"
"From you!" He looked at her oddly, from the golden hair to the small, dainty foot. "From your Ladyship!" he repeated, as if amused. An instant he regarded her silently, intently; but his voice when at length he again spoke was cool and slightly mocking: "My Lady speaks, of course, from the standpoint of her own world--a very pretty world!
A park of _plaisance_, wherein, I can vouch for it, my Lady dances very prettily."
She started; a flush of resentment glowed and faded on her cheek; a question his words suggested trembled on her lips.
"Why did you come to the beach that night of the dance? How dared you, knowing that if--"
"Why?" His eyes lost their ironical light. "Why?" he repeated; then laughed with sudden recklessness. "I wished to see your Ladyship."
"Me?" She shrank back.
"You!" he repeated, his gaze fastened on the startled, proud face.
"Though I looked not forward to a dance--with your Ladyship!" The black eyes glowed. "_Pardi_! It was worth the risk." A moment he waited; then his manner changed. "I will leave your Ladyship now," he said quietly. "You will have opportunity to consider"--she did not answer--"whether you will give me your promise, or not," he added, and, wheeling abruptly, walked away.
Some time later, in the fast-gathering darkness, from the cove a small boat put out, with Sanchez, gloomy and sullen, in the stern; at the bow, the Governor"s daughter. As the isle receded and the point of land loomed bigger before them, the girl gazed straight ahead; but the man looked back: to the sands of the little cove, a pale simitar in the dragon-like mouth of the rock; toward the tower, near which he fancied he could see a figure, turned from them--seaward--where, far out, a ship might just be discerned, a dim outline on the horizon.
CHAPTER X
THE CLOISTER IN THE AIR
Irrespective of environment, the cloister of the Mount would have been a delight to the eye, but, upheld in mid air, with the sky so near and the sands so far below, it seemed more an inspiration of fancy than a work of hand. Dainty, delicate, its rose-colored columns of granite appeared too thin for tangible weight; the tympan"s sculptured designs, fanciful as the carvings in some palace of a poet"s dreams. Despite, however, this first impression of evanescence, it carried a charm against the ravages of time, and ethereal though it was, had rested like a crown on the grim head of the rock through the ages.
Once a place for quiet meditation, the cloister had, through a whirligig of change, become the favorite resort of the Governor, for _dejeuner_, or after-dinner dram, and, on occasions, for the transaction of much profane though necessary labor pertaining to his office and private concerns. He busied himself there now; or had been busying himself, but paused to look up from the large book before him, whose pages were inscribed with items and figures. His finger, following the mental computation, remained stationary. _Fouage_--tax upon fires; _banvin_--duties on wine; _vingtain_--the lord"s right to his share of the produce; _minage_--his due from each _mine_ or half _setier_ of coin--consideration of these usually all-important matters seemed for the moment to have been forgotten.
He leaned back, and as he sat thus, the light and shadow playing on him, the dark, steely eyes looked the more sunken, the hard, cynical lips beneath the white mustache, the more cruel, the spare figure the more alert and ready, as if to grapple with some hidden danger.
"_J"arrive en ce pays De Ba.s.se Normandie--_"
At one of the apertures looking out to the barren waste of sand stood the Lady Elise; the words of the old Norman chant she was singing in desultory fashion rang softly, oddly, in that spot, where black-clad brethren for centuries had been wont to tread. Mechanically the Governor listened, but the voice soon ceased abruptly and again, after the manner of one of orderly habits, he bent over the big book; once more the curving finger slid up and down, and parsimony, the vice of the aged, had begun to shine from his pinched features, when a footstep rang on the marble pavement.
"Your Excellency sent for me?" The commandant stood respectfully near.
The Governor closed the book with deliberation; lifted his eyes. "The prisoners that were taken last night are safely housed?"
"Housed? Yes, your Excellency! But we have little room. The upper cells are all occupied; the dungeons, fairly full! Even the _In-pace_ and _Les Deux Jumeaux_ have been pressed into service."
"Hum!" The long hand tapped restlessly a moment; the cold eyes gleamed, then shot an inquiring look. "There are no new particulars about last night"s encounter with this--Black Seigneur?"
"None, your Excellency, except," the commandant drew a paper from his breast pocket, "I have here in writing the detailed account of the officer in charge of your Excellency"s boat, who was wounded himself in the encounter."
"Read it."
The commandant obeyed. ""Our schooner, belonging to his Excellency, the Governor, was returning last night to the Mount with troops--reinforcements for the garrison from St. Dalard--when it happened quite by accident near a ship, maneuvering at a respectful distance from the island of Casque. The night was dark and cloudy, but our men got a look at her and suspecting who she was and knowing her armament, against our will, we felt obliged to bear away. She, having no reason to think us other than a fishing schooner, or that we were freighted with troops instead of cod, did not follow and we had pa.s.sed out of sight, and were rounding the island when we ran into two small sail-boats that had just set out from there.""
"To join the ship of this outlaw!" interposed the Governor. "Go on!"
shortly.
""We hailed; their answer was unsatisfactory; we ordered them to halt, whereupon they tried to sail away. We followed and overtaking them, commanded them to surrender. Their leader, who was the Black Seigneur himself, refused, and we attacked"--"
"_Bien_! "We attacked!" But what then? Eh, what then?"
""With fury they responded; in spite of their inferiority of numbers tried to board us. Bravely our men repulsed them; yet still they persisted; led by their captain, the Black Seigneur, had gained the deck when a chance shot struck him. As he fell back, the others tried to escape; one boat was sunk"--"
"And the other, bearing their leader, got away!" interrupted the Governor harshly.
"In the confusion--yes, your Excellency."
The Governor waved his hand impatiently.