"I wouldn"t have anyone else here for the world," the Englishman said, shaking his fist.
"Does the Signor want a knife?" asked the man, thrusting his hand into his inner pocket.
"Not I. We don"t understand that sort of thing in our country, my brave Andrea. Fisticuffs will settle this little matter, you"ll see!"
The man looked up admiringly at the Englishman"s commanding figure and broad shoulders.
"I think they will run away from the Signor when they see him," he whispered. "But let the Signor remember this: if one of them thrusts his hand inside his coat, so, do not wait one moment--knock him down or get out of his way. He will have the knife, and they know how to use it, these brigands."
"Tell me the name of their leader--I mean the fellow who is trying to carry off the Signorina. Will he be there?"
The man shook his head.
"I cannot tell the Signor his name. I dare not. I was once in his service, and he has powers--hush!"
The two men held their breath, keeping well in the shadow of the orange grove. They had reached the road, and in the distance they could hear the sound of approaching voices.
"I leave you now, Signor," whispered his companion to the Englishman. "I dare not be seen. To-morrow, at the hotel."
He glided noiselessly away. The Englishman scarcely heard him, he was listening intently. Light footsteps were coming along the winding road toward him, and soon a laughing voice rang out upon the night air.
"My dear Adrienne, don"t you think we were a little foolish to walk home so late as this? See, there is not a soul upon the promenade."
"_Tant mieux!_" was the light answer. "Is it not to escape from them all, that we came this way? The stillness is exquisite, and the night breeze from the sea, after that hot room, is divine. What a view we shall have of the bay when we get to the top of the hill."
"They say that this place is infested with robbers, and it is terribly lonely," was the somewhat fearful answer. "Why would you not let poor Leonardo come with us?"
"Because I did not want Leonardo, _cherie_. Leonardo is very good, but he wearies me by persisting to dwell upon a forbidden subject; and as for protection--well, I fancy Giovanni is sufficient."
They were pa.s.sing him now so close that he felt impelled to hold his breath. He had only a momentary glimpse of them, but it was sufficient.
A few yards behind, a sullen-looking servant was trudging along, looking carefully around. In the white moonlight their faces, even their expressions, were perfectly visible to him; Adrienne"s rapt and absorbed by the still restful beauty of the dreaming night, and indifferent to all fear; her companion, whose dark eyes were glancing somewhat anxiously around her, and Giovanni"s, whose furtive looks, more expectant than apprehensive, marked him out to the Englishman as an accomplice in whatever devilry was afoot. Unseen himself, he watched them pa.s.s, and listened to their voices growing fainter and fainter in the distance. They were out of sight and out of hearing.
He was preparing to follow them, when suddenly another sound broke the stillness. He held his breath, and crouched down, watching. In a minute, two dark forms, keeping carefully in the shadows by the side of the road, crept stealthily past.
He waited till they, too, were out of sight, and then stood up with tingling pulses, but quite cool. Moving on tip-toe, he stepped lightly over the low stone wall into the road, and gazed after them.
The ascent was steep, and the road curved round and round in zig-zag fashion. On one side it was bordered by a thickly-growing orange grove, whose delicate perfume was sweetening the still languid air. On the other was a stretch of waste open country, separated from the road by a low wall. He chose the seaward side, and keeping under the shadow of the trees, followed them, his footsteps sinking noiselessly into the thick dust.
Once the two ladies paused to look back. He stopped too; and the two bending figures between them drew closer into the shadows, and waited.
He was some distance away, but the sound of her voice floated clearly down to him on a breath of that faint night air.
"Ah, how beautiful it is," she cried, pointing downward; "just a few steps, and we shall see the sea glistening through the leaves of the orange trees."
"I am sure that it is not prudent, Adrienne. We have come past the footpath down to the villa, and this upper road is so lonely. Listen! I fancied that I heard footsteps."
There was a moment"s silence, then a low musical laugh which sounded to him like the sweetest music.
"It was the echo of our own, you foolish child. There is nothing to fear, and have we not Giovanni?"
Again they turned, and again he followed. Suddenly his heart gave a great bound. About fifty yards in front of the two girls was a rudely-built country carriage, drawn by a pair of mules and with a single man on the box. They had paused at such an unexpected sight, and seemed to be deliberating in whispers whether or no they should proceed.
Before they had come to any decision, the two men had crept out from the shadow of the wall and trees into the road, and with bent bodies hurried toward them.
He did not shout out or make any noise; he simply lessened the distance between him and them by increasing his pace. The two stooping forms, casting long, oblique shadows across the white, hard road, were almost level with their intended victims. Now the shadow of one of them crept a little in advance of the ladies, and Adrienne Cartuccio, seeing it, stepped suddenly back with a cry of alarm.
"Giovanni! Giovanni! There are robbers! Ah!"
The cry became a shriek, but it was instantly stifled by a coa.r.s.e hand thrust upon her mouth. At the same moment her companion felt herself treated in a similar manner. They could only gaze into the dark ruffianly faces of their captors in mute terror. The whole thing had been too sudden for them to make any resistance, and Giovanni, their trusted escort, seemed suddenly to have disappeared. As a matter of fact, he was watching the proceedings from behind a convenient bowlder.
The man who was holding Adrienne pointed to the carriage, the door of which the driver had thrown open.
"This way, Signorina," he said "It is useless to struggle. We shall not harm you."
She shook her head violently, and with a sudden effort thrust his hand away from her mouth.
"What do you want?" she cried. "Who are you? You can have my jewels, but I will never step inside that carriage. Help! help!"
He wound his arms around her, and, without a word, commenced dragging her across the road.
"You may shout as much as you like," he muttered. "There will only be echoes to answer you."
A sudden warning cry rang out from his companion, and, with a start, he released his victim. The Englishman had stepped into the middle of the group, and, before he could spring back, a swinging left-hander sent him down into the dust with a dull, heavy thud.
"You blackguard!" he thundered out Then turning quickly round he faced the other man, who had sprung across the road with bent body, and with his right hand in his breast. There was a gleam of cold steel, but before he could use the knife which he had drawn, his arm was grasped and held as though by a vice, and slowly bent backward. He dropped the weapon, with a shriek of pain, upon the road, and fell on his knees before his captor.
The Englishman"s grasp relaxed, and taking advantage of it, the man suddenly jumped up, leaped over the wall, and disappeared in the plantation. Pursuit would have been impossible, but none of them thought of it.
The two ladies looked at their preserver standing in the middle of the road--fair and straight and tall, like a Greek G.o.d, but with a terrible fury blazing in his dark blue eyes.
"You are not hurt, I trust?" he asked, his breath coming quickly, for he was in a towering pa.s.sion. He was not speaking to the darker of the two girls at all; in fact, he was unconscious of her presence. He was standing by Adrienne Cartuccio"s side, watching the faint color steal again into her cheeks, and the terror dying out of her eyes, to be replaced by a far softer light. Her black lace wrap, which she had been wearing in Spanish fashion, had fallen a little back from her head, and the moonlight was gleaming upon her ruddy golden hair, all wavy and disarranged, throwing into soft relief the outline of her slim, girlish figure, her heaving bosom, and the exquisite transparency of her complexion. She stood there like an offended young queen, pa.s.sionately wrathful with the men who had dared to lay their coa.r.s.e hands upon her, yet feeling all a woman"s grat.i.tude to their preserver. Her eyes were flashing like stars, and her brows were bent, but as she looked into his face her expression softened. Of the two sensations grat.i.tude was the stronger.
"You are not hurt?" he repeated "I am sorry that I did not get here sooner, before that fellow touched you."
She held out her hand to him with a little impetuous movement.
"Thanks to you. No, Signor," she said, her eyes suddenly filling with tears. "Oh, how grateful we are, are we not, Margharita?"
"Indeed, indeed we are. The Signor has saved us from a terrible danger."
He laughed a little awkwardly. Where is the Englishman who likes to be thanked?
"It is nothing. The fellows were arrant cowards. But what was the carriage doing here?"
He pointed along the road. Already the clumsy vehicle had become a black speck in the distance, swaying heavily from side to side from the pace at which it was being driven, and almost enveloped in a cloud of dust.
Adrienne shook her head. Margharita had turned away, with her face buried in her hands.
"I cannot imagine. Perhaps they were brigands, and intended to carry us off for a ransom."
The Englishman shrugged his shoulders.