CHAPTER XV
Tocktamish poured half a flagon of Chian wine into a tall Venetianbeaker and drank it off by way of whetting his appetite.
'The master of the house is unavoidably absent,' he observed, when hehad smacked his lips noisily. 'He has sent me to beg that you willexcuse him and make yourselves at home.'
By this time Dame Polo was beginning to revive, and the two men weresomewhat reassured as to the Tartar's intentions. When he had enteredhe had looked as if he meant to murder them all, but it was nowevident from his manner that he wished to produce a pleasantimpression. He drew the peacock towards him, and at once took all thebest pieces that were left on the dish, using his fingers to savetrouble. Giustina watched him without turning her head, and judgedthat, after all, he had only meant to show his admiration for herbeauty when he had leered so horribly. She was in reality the leasttimid of all the party, though she had shrieked so loudly, and sheremembered a fairy story about a frightful monster that had loved abeautiful princess. She was already pondering on the means of making asimilar conquest.
'Are we to understand,' asked Marin Corner, politely, but in a shakytone, 'that you come from Messer Carlo Zeno?'
Tocktamish grunted assent, for his mouth was full, and he noddedemphatically.
'Messer Carlo Zeno is in need of a large sum of money without delay,'he said, when he was able to speak again.
Sebastian Polo looked at Marin Corner significantly; and Marin Cornerlooked at Sebastian Polo. The fat lady pricked her ears, figurativelyspeaking, for indeed they were much too deeply embedded in theirexuberant surroundings of cheek and jowl to suggest that they couldever prick at all. The Tartar crammed his mouth full again, and hisgreat beard wagged with his jaws in the inevitable silence thatfollowed. In her heart Giustina compared him to a ravenous lion, buther father thought he resembled a hungry hyena.
Finding that his throat was not cut yet, and learning that there wasto be a question of money, Marin Corner felt that the colour wasreturning to his nose and the warmth to his heart.
'Why does Messer Carlo not come home himself and get the money heneeds?' he asked.
By this time Omobono had recovered from his fright enough to creepinto the room behind Tocktamish. He was already making anxiousgestures to the two Venetian gentlemen to enjoin caution. The Tartardrank again before he answered the question.
'He happened to be so busy that he preferred to send me to get themoney for him,' said the soldier. 'You see we are old friends. Wefought together in Greece.'
Then Omobono's voice was heard, quavering with anxiety.
'There is no money in the house!' he cried, winking violently at Poloand Corner. 'There is not a penny, I swear! There were large paymentsto make yesterday.'
The poor little secretary was so anxious to be heard that he had comewithin arm's length of the Tartar, though behind him. Tocktamishturned his big head, and put out his hand unexpectedly, and Omobonofelt himself caught and whirled round like a child till he was closeto the table and face to face with the tipsy giant. He was sure thathe felt his liver shrivelling up inside him with sheer fright.
'What is this little animal?' the Tartar asked, cocking one eye in aknowing way and examining him with a sort of boozy gravity.
But Omobono really could not find a word. His captor shook himplayfully.
'What is your name, you funny little beast?' he enquired, and heroared with laughter by way of answering himself.
Giustina, strange to say, was the only one to join in his mirth, andshe laughed quite prettily, to the inexpressible surprise of herparents, who were shocked and grieved, as well as scared almost todeath.
'Come, come!' laughed the Tartar, shaking the little man like abean-bag. 'If you cannot speak, you can at least give up your keys,and I will see for myself if there is any money!'
Thereupon he seized the bunch of keys which the secretary wore at hisbelt, and wrenched it off with a pull that snapped the thong by whichit hung. Again Giustina laughed, but a little more nervously now; hermother sat transfixed, open-mouthed, with an almost idioticexpression. Again the two merchants glanced at each other, and thenboth looked towards the door.
Between his fright and the terrible indignity of having his keys tornfrom him, Omobono had never been nearer to fainting in his life.
'Robbery!' he gasped. 'Rank robbery!'
Tocktamish sent him spinning into the nearest corner by a turn of thewrist, after which the ruffian took another mouthful of meat, andslowly filled his glass while he was disposing of it. Omobono hadsteadied himself in the corner, but his face was deadly white, and hislips were moving nervously in a delirium of terror.
'Messer Carlo needs ten thousand ducats before sunset,' observed theTartar before he drank.
Polo and Corner started to their feet; to their commercial souls themere mention of such a demand was more terrifying than all the crookedweapons that gleamed in Tocktamish's broad belt.
'Ten thousand ducats!' they repeated together in a breath.
'Yes!' roared the Tartar, in a voice that made the glasses on thetable shake together and ring. 'Ten thousand ducats! And if I do notfind the money in the house, you two must find it in yours! Do youunderstand?'
'Yes!' roared the Tartar. 'Ten thousand ducats! And if I do not find the money in the house, you two must find it in yours! Do you understand?']
They understood, for his voice was like thunder, and he had risen too,and towered above them with his full glass in one hand and Omobono'skeys in the other. Then, being already tolerably drunk, he solemnlyraised the keys to his lips, thinking that he held the glass in thathand, and rolled his eyes terribly at the two merchants; and he setthe glass down with an emphatic gesture, as if it had been the bunchof keys, and it broke to pieces, and the yellow wine splashed outacross the table and ran down and streamed upon the mosaic floor.
A terrific Tartar oath announced that he had realised his mistake, andas he at once made up his mind that the Venetians were responsible forit, his next action was to hurl the foot of the broken glass at Polo'shead; and he instantly seized the empty silver flagon and flung it atCorner's face. The lighter weapon missed its aim and broke to atomsagainst the opposite wall, but the jug struck Corner full on thebridge of his thin nose with awful effect, and he fell to the floorand lay there, a moaning, bleeding heap.
Polo looked neither at his wife nor at his daughter, but fled throughthe open door at the top of his not very great speed. His wife faintedoutright, and in real earnest now, and with a final croak rolledgently from her chair, without hurting herself at all. Omobonoflattened his lean body against the wall, trembling in every joint,and gibbering with fear; and Tocktamish, seeing that he had sosatisfactorily cleared the field, proceeded to address his attentionsto Giustina, who had not fainted, but was really much too frightenedto rise from her seat or try to escape.
The Tartar drew his chair nearer to hers, and suddenly smiled, as ifhe had done nothing unusual, and was only anxious to make himselfagreeable. He had been drinking since early morning, but he would begood for at least another gallon of wine before it made him senseless.He addressed Giustina in the poetic language of his native country.
'Come, pet parrot of my soul!' he began, coaxingly. 'Fill me a cup andlet me hear your ravishing voice! Tocktamish has cleared the house asthe thunderstorm clears the hot air from the valley! Drink, my prettynightingale, and the golden wine shall warm your speech in your littlethroat, as the morning sunshine melts the icicles in my beard when Ihave been hunting all night in winter! Drink, my fawn, my spring lamb,my soft wood-pigeon, my white bunny rabbit! Drink, sweet one!'
The Tartar's similes were in hopeless confusion, possibly because hetranslated them into Greek, but he was convinced that he was eloquent,and he was undeniably as strong as a bear. He had filled a fresh glassand was evidently anxious to make Giustina drink out of it before him,for he held it to her lips with his left hand while his right tried totake her round the waist and draw her to his knee.
But this was much more than she was prepared to submit to. In thefairy story, Beast was less enterprising in the presence of Beauty,and collapsed into obedience at the mere lifting of her finger.Giustina was a big creature, usually sleepy and not inclined to movequickly; but she was capable of exerting considerable strength in anemergency. The instant she felt Tocktamish's hand at her waist, sherose with a quick, serpentine motion that unwound her, as it were,from his encircling hold, and almost before he knew that she was onher feet she had fled from the room and slammed the door behind her.
Tocktamish tried to follow her, but he stumbled successively over thestill unconscious dame and the still moaning Corner, so that when hereached the door at last his purpose had undergone a change, and, ashe thought, an improvement. Women never ran out of the house into thestreet, he argued; therefore Giustina was now upstairs and would staythere; hence it would be wiser to finish the peacock and anything elsehe could lay hands on before going to pay her a visit. For Tocktamishfound the food and the wine to his liking, and such as were not to behad every day, even by a Tartar officer with plenty of money in hiswallet. He was tolerably steady still, as he made his way back towardshis seat.
His eye fell on Omobono, flattened against the wall and still in apalsy of fear; for all that has been told since Corner had fallen andPolo had run away had occupied barely two minutes.
Tocktamish suddenly felt lonely, and the little secretary amused him.He took him by the collar and whirled him into Giustina's vacant chairat the table.
'You may keep me company, while I finish my dinner,' he explained. 'Icannot eat alone--it disturbs my digestion.'
He roared with laughter, and slapped Omobono on the back playfully.The little man felt as if he had been struck between the shoulders bya large ham, and the breath was almost knocked out of his body; and hewondered how in the world his tight hose had survived the strain ofhis sitting down so suddenly.
'You look starved,' observed the Tartar, in a tone of concern, afterobserving his face attentively. 'What you want is food and drink,man!'
With a sudden impulse of hospitality he began to heap up food onGiustina's unused plate, with a fine indifference to gastronomy, orpossibly with a tipsy sense of humour. He piled up bits of roastpeacock, little salt fish, olives, salad, raisins, dried figs, candiedstrawberries, and honey cake, till he could put no more on the plate,which he then set before Omobono.
'Eat that,' he said. 'It will do you good.'
Then he addressed himself to the peacock again, with a good will.
Omobono would have got up and slipped away, if he had dared. Next tohis bodily fear, he was oppressed by the terrible impropriety ofsitting at his master's table, where the guests should have been. Thisseemed to him a dreadful thing.
'Really, sir,' he began, 'if you will allow me I would rather----'
'Do not talk. Eat!'
Tocktamish set the example by tearing the meat off a peacock's legwith his teeth.
'You need it,' he added, with his mouth very full.
The poor secretary looked at the curiously mixed mess which histormentor had set before him, and he felt very uncomfortable at themere idea of tasting the stuff. Then he glanced at the Tartar and sawthe latter's bloodshot eye rolling at him hideously, while theshark-like teeth picked a leg bone, and terror chilled his heartagain. What would happen if he refused to eat? Tocktamish dropped thebone and filled two glasses.
'To Messer Carlo Zeno!' he cried, setting the wine to his lips.
Omobono thought a little wine might steady his nerves; and, moreover,he could not well refuse to drink his master's health.
'Good!' laughed Tocktamish. 'If you cannot eat, you can drink!'
Just then Corner groaned piteously, where he lay in a heap on thefloor. His nose was much hurt, but he was even more badly frightened.The Tartar was not pleased.
'If that man is dead, take him out and bury him!' he cried, turning onOmobono. 'If he is alive, kick him and tell him to hold his tongue! Hedisturbs us at our dinner.'
Omobono thought he saw a chance of escaping, and rose, as if to obey.But the Tartar's long arm reached him instantly and he was forced backinto his seat.
'I thought you meant me to take him away,' he feebly explained.
'I was speaking to the slaves,' said Tocktamish gravely, though therewas no servant or slave within hearing.
The unfortunate merchant, who was not at all unconscious, and hadprobably groaned with a vague idea of exciting compassion, now heldhis peace, for he did not desire to be kicked, still less to be takenout and buried. The Tartar seemed satisfied by the silence thatfollowed. After another glass he rose to his feet and took Omobono bythe arm; considering his potations he was still wonderfully steady onhis legs.
'Where is the strong box?' he asked, dragging the secretary towardsthe door opposite to the one through which Giustina had gone out.
'There is no money in the house,' cried Omobono, in renewed terror. 'Iswear to you that there is no money!'
'Very well,' answered the Tartar, who had taken the keys from thetable. 'Show me the empty box.'
'There is no strong box, sir,' answered the secretary, resolving tocontrol his fear and die in defending his master's property.
The difficulty was to carry out this noble resolution. Tocktamishgrabbed him by both arms and held him in the vice of his grasp.
'Little man,' he said gravely. 'There is a box, and I will find thebox, and I will put you into the box, and I will throw the box intothe water. Then you will know that it is not good to lie toTocktamish. Now show me where it is.'
Omobono shrank to something like half his natural size in his shameand fear, and led the way to the counting-house. Once only he stopped,and made a gallant attempt to be brave, and tried to repeat his queerlittle prayer, as he did on all the great occasions of his life.
'O Lord, grant wealth and honour to the Most Serene Republic,' hebegan, and though he realised that in his present situation thisrequest was not much to the point, he would have gone on to ask forvictory over the Genoese, on general principles.
But at that moment he felt something as sharp as a pin sticking intohim just where his hose would naturally have been most tight, andwhere, in fact, the strain that pulled them up was most severe; inthat part of the human body, in short, which, as most of us have knownsince childhood is peculiarly sensitive to pain. There was no answerto such an argument _a posteriori_; the little man's head went down,his shoulders went up, and he trotted on; and though he could not beput off from finishing his prayer he had reached the door of thecounting-house when he was only just beginning to pray that he mighthave strength to resist curiosity, a request even more out of place,just then, than a petition for the destruction of the Genoese. Amoment later he and Tocktamish entered the room, and the Tartar shutthe door behind him.
Neither of the two had heard two little bare feet following themsoftly at a distance; but when the door was shut Lucilla ran nimbly upto it and quickly drew the great old iron bolt which had been leftwhere it had once been useful, at a time when the disposition of thehouse had been different. Lucilla knew that all the windows within hadheavy gratings, and that neither Omobono nor his captor could get out.
Giustina had fled upstairs, as women generally do to save themselvesfrom any immediate danger. They are born with the idea that when ahouse has more than one story the upper one is set apart for them andtheir children, as indeed it always was in the Middle Ages, and theyfeel sure that there must be other women there who will help them, ordefend them, or hide them. For it is a curious fact that whereas womendistrust each other profoundly where the one man of their affectionsis concerned, they rely on each other as a whole body, banded togetherto resist and get the better of the male sex, in a way that would docredit to any army in an enemy's country. Therefore Giustina wentupstairs, quite certain of finding other women.
Now there was but one door on the upper landing, and that was Zoe's,and it was open; and just outside it Lucilla was hiding in thecur
tain, listening to the strange sounds that came up from below; butwhen Giustina ran in without seeing her, the little slave stayedoutside and slipped downstairs noiselessly, listened again at thedining-room door, watched the Tartar and the secretary from a place ofsafety, and then ran nimbly after them on purpose to lock them in, asshe did, for she was a clever little slave and remembered the bolt.
Meanwhile Giustina rushed on like a whirlwind till she fell panting onthe divan beside Zoe, hardly seeing her at all, and staring at thedoor, through which she expected every moment to see the burly Tartarenter in pursuit; so that Yulia, who guessed the danger, ran and shutit of her own accord.
Then Giustina drew a long breath and looked round, and she met Zoe'seyes scrutinising her face with a look she never forgot.
'That monster!' she exclaimed, by way of explanation and apology.
Zoe had heard nothing, for the house was solidly built, and she hadnot the least idea who had frightened Giustina. It occurred to herthat Gorlias might be in the house, and that on being seen by theVenetians it had suited him to terrify them in order to get out againwithout being questioned.
'You are Giustina Polo,' she said. 'I am Arethusa, Messer Carlo Zeno'sslave. Will you tell me what has happened?'
Giustina had now recovered herself enough to see that this Arethusawas very lovely, and she momentarily forgot the danger she hadescaped.
'You are his slave!' she repeated slowly, and still breathing hard.'Ah--I begin to understand.'
'So do I,' Zoe answered, looking at the handsome, heavy face, the dyedhair, and marble hands.
There was something like relief in her tone, now that she had examinedher rival well.
'When did Carlo buy you?' asked Giustina, growing coldly insolent asshe recovered her breath and realised her social superiority.
'I think it was just five weeks ago,' Zoe answered simply. 'But itseems as if I had always been here.'
'I have no doubt,' said Giustina. 'Five weeks! Yes, I understand now.'
Then a fancied sound waked her fear of pursuit again, and her eyesturned quickly towards the door. Yulia was standing beside it,listening with her ear to the crack; she shook her head as she metGiustina's anxious glance. There was nothing; no one was coming.
'You had better tell me what has happened,' Zoe said. 'You met someone who frightened you,' she suggested.
Giustina saw that Zoe was in complete ignorance of the Tartar's visit,and she told what she had seen and heard downstairs. As she went on,explaining that Tocktamish demanded ten thousand ducats in Zeno'sname, Zoe's expression grew more anxious, for she gathered the truthfrom the broken and exaggerated narrative. After failing in hisattempt to free Johannes, Zeno had fallen into the hands of thesoldiers he had won over to the revolution; they demanded an enormousransom, and if it was not forthcoming they would give him up toAndronicus.
It was bad enough, yet it was better than it might have been, for itmeant that Zeno was still alive and safe, and would not be hurt solong as his captors could be made to wait for the money they asked.
'Ten thousand ducats!' Zoe repeated. 'It is more than can ever be gottogether!'
'My father could pay twice as much if he pleased,' answered the richmerchant's daughter, vain of his immense wealth. 'But I hardly thinkhe will give anything,' she added slowly, while she watched Zoe's faceto see what effect the statement might have.
'Messer Carlo has many friends,' Zoe answered quietly. 'But if he isalive it is very probable that he may come home without paying anyransom at all. And if he does, he will certainly repay the soldiersfor the trick they have played him.'
'You do not seem anxious about him,' said Giustina, deceived andsurprised by her assumed calmness.
'Are you?' Zoe asked.
At that moment Yulia opened the door, for she had been listening fromwithin and had heard her companion's bare feet on the pavementoutside. Lucilla slipped in, almost dancing with delight at her lastfeat, and looking like a queer little sprite escaped from a fairytale.
'I have locked them up in the counting-house, Kokona!' she cried. 'TheTartar giant and the secretary! They are quite safe!'
She laughed gleefully and Yulia laughed too. Giustina suddenlyrecollected her mother, who had fainted in the dining-room. As for herfather, her knowledge of his character told her that since there hadbeen danger he was certainly in a place of safety. She did not carewhat became of Marin Corner, whom she detested because he had oncedared to ask for her hand, though he was a widower of fifty. But hermother was entitled to some consideration after all, if only forhaving brought into the world such a wonderful creature as Giustinareally believed herself to be. Yet in her heart the young woman felt asecret resentment against her for having grown so enormously fat;since it very often happens that as daughters grow older they growmore and more like their mothers, and Giustina was aware that sheherself was already rather heavy for her age. It would be a terriblething to be a fat woman at thirty, and it would be her mother's faultif she were. Many daughters are familiar with this argument, thoughthey may cry out and rail at the story-teller in the bazaar who hasbetrayed it to the young men.
Giustina rose with much dignity now that she was fully reassured as tothe safety of the house. Zoe was questioning Lucilla, who could hardlyanswer without breaking into laughter at the idea of having imprisonedOmobono and the terrible Tartar. The little secretary had never beenunkind to any one in his life, but once or twice, when the master hadbeen out and he had been on his dignity, he had found the slave-girlsloitering on the stairs and had threatened them with the master'sdispleasure and with a consequent condign punishment if they were everagain caught doing nothing outside their mistress's apartment; and itwas therefore delightful to know that he was shut up with Tocktamish,in terror of his life, and that his tremendous dignity was all gone topieces in his fright.
'You are a clever girl,' said Zoe. 'I only hope the door is strong.'
'I called the servants and the slaves before I came upstairs,'Lucilla answered. 'I left them piling up furniture against the door. Agiant could not get out now.'
'Poor Omobono!' Zoe exclaimed. 'How frightened he must be.'
Giustina meanwhile prepared to go away, settling and smoothing thefolds of her gown, and pressing her hair on one side and the other.Yulia brought her a mirror and held it up, and watched the younglady's complacent smile as she looked at her own reflection. When shehad finished she barely nodded to Zoe, as she might have done to aslave who had served her, and she went out in an exceedingly statelyand leisurely manner, quite sure that she had impressed Zoe with herimmeasurable superiority. She was much surprised and displeasedbecause Zoe did not rise and remain respectfully standing while shewent out, and she promised herself to remember this also against thebeautiful favourite when she herself should be Carlo Zeno's wife.
But at a sign from Zoe, Lucilla followed her downstairs since therewas no one else to escort her; and a few minutes later Yulia saw thelittle party come out upon the landing below. The fat lady in greensilk was in a very limp condition, the embroidered roses seemed todroop and wither, and she was helped by three of Zeno's men; MarinCorner was holding a large napkin to his injured nose, so that hecould not see where he put his feet and had to be helped by the doorporter. As for Sebastian Polo, his wife and daughter well knew thathe was by this time safe at home, and was probably recovering his lostcourage by beating his slaves.
'They are gone,' said Yulia, when the boat had shoved off at last.
Zoe rose then, and went slowly to the window. She stood there a fewmoments looking after the skiff, and in spite of her deep anxiety afaint smile played round her tender mouth as she thought of hermeeting with Giustina; but it vanished almost at once. Her ownsituation was critical and perhaps dangerous.
She knew that although she was a slave she was the only person in thehouse who could exercise any authority now that Omobono was locked upin the counting-house, and that it would be impossible to let him outwithout liberating Tocktamish at the same time, w
hich was not to bethought of. If the Tartar got out now he would probably murder thefirst person he met, and every one else whom he found in his way;indeed, Zoe thought it not impossible that he was already murderingOmobono out of sheer rage.
'Come,' she said to Lucilla. 'We must go downstairs and see what canbe done.'
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