CHAPTER XI.
A FOUL BLOW.
They none of them believed me, it seemed; and smarting under MistressAnne's ridicule, hurt by even the Duchess's kindly incredulity, whatcould I do? Only assert what I had asserted already, that it wasundoubtedly Clarence, and that before twenty-four hours elapsed theywould have proof of my words.
At mention of this possibility Master Bertie looked up. He had leftthe main part in the discussion to others, but now he intervened. "Onemoment!" he said. "Take it that the lad is right, Master Lindstrom. Isthere any precaution we can adopt, any back door, so to speak, we cankeep open, in case of an attempt to arrest us being made? What wouldbe the line of our retreat to Wesel?"
"The river," replied the Dutchman promptly.
"And the boats are all at the landing-stage?"
"They are, and for that reason they are useless in an emergency," ourhost answered thoughtfully. "Knowing the place, any one sent tosurprise and arrest us would secure them first, and the bridge. Thenthey would have us in a trap. It might be well to take a boat round,and moor it in the little creek in the farther orchard," he added,rising. "It is a good idea, at any rate. I will go and do it."
He went out, leaving us four--the Duchess, her husband, Anne, andmyself--sitting round the lamp.
"If Master Carey is so certain that it was Clarence," my lady began,"I think he ought to----"
"Yes, Kate?" her husband said. She had paused and seemed to belistening.
"Ought to open that letter he has!" she continued impetuously. "I haveno doubt it is a letter to Clarence. Now the rogue has come on thescene again, the lad's scruples ought not to stand in the way. Theyare all nonsense. The letter may throw some light on the Bishop'sschemes and Clarence's presence here; and it should be read. That iswhat I think."
"What do you say, Carey?" her husband asked, as I kept silence. "Isnot that reasonable?"
Sitting with my elbows on the table, I twisted and untwisted thefingers of my clasped hands, gazing at them the while as thoughinspiration might come of them. What was I to do? I knew that thethree pairs of eyes were upon me, and the knowledge distracted me, andprevented me really thinking, though I seemed to be thinking so hard."Well," I burst out at last, "the circumstances are certainly altered.I see no reason why I should not----"
Crash!
I stopped, uttering an exclamation, and we all sprang to our feet."Oh, what a pity!" the Duchess cried, clasping her hands. "You clumsy,clumsy girl! What have you done?"
Mistress Anne's sleeve as she turned had swept from the table aFlorentine jug, one of Master Lindstrom's greatest treasures, and itlay in a dozen fragments on the floor. We stood and looked at it, theDuchess in anger, Master Bertie and I in comic dismay. The girl's liptrembled, and she turned quite white as she contemplated the ruin shehad caused.
"Well, you have done it now!" the Duchess said pitilessly. What womancould ever overlook clumsiness in another woman! "It only remains topick up the pieces, miss. If a man had done it--but there, pick up thepieces. You will have to make your tale good to Master Lindstromafterward."
I went down on my knees and helped Anne, the annoyance her incredulityhad caused me forgotten. She was so shaken that I heard the bits ofware in her hand clatter together. When we had picked up all, even tothe smallest piece, I rose, and the Duchess returned to the formersubject. "You will open this letter, then?" she said; "I see you will.Then the sooner the better. Have you got it about you?"
"No, it is in my bedroom," I answered. "I hid it away there, and Imust fetch it. But do you think," I continued, pausing as I opened thedoor for Mistress Anne to go out with her double handful of fragments,"it is absolutely necessary to read it, my lady?"
"Most certainly," she answered, gravely nodding with each syllable, "Ithink so. I will be responsible." And Master Bertie nodded also.
"So be it," I said reluctantly. And I was about to leave the room tofetch the letter--my bedroom being in a different part of the house,only connected with the main building by a covered passage--when ourhost returned. He told us that he had removed a boat, and I stayed awhile to hear if he had anything more to report, and then, finding hehad not, went out to go to my room, shutting the door behind me.
The passage I have mentioned, which was merely formed of rough planks,was very dark. At the nearer end was the foot of the staircase leadingto the upper rooms. Farther along was a door in the side opening intothe garden. Going straight out of the lighted room, I had almost togrope my way, feeling the walls with my hands. When I had aboutreached the middle I paused. It struck me that the door into thegarden must be open, for I felt a cold draught of air strike my brow,and saw, or fancied I saw, a slice of night sky and the branch of atree waving against it. I took a step forward, slightly shivering inthe night air as I did so, and had stretched out my hand with theintention of closing the door, when a dark form rose suddenly close tome, I saw a knife gleam in the starlight, and the next moment I reeledback into the darknesss of the passage, a sharp pain in my breast.
I knew at once what had happened to me, and leaned a moment againstthe planking with a sick, faint feeling, saying to myself, "I have itthis time!" The attack had been so sudden and unexpected, I had beentaken so completely off my guard, that I had made no attempt either tostrike or to clutch my assailant, and I suppose only the darkness ofthe passage saved me from another blow. But was one needed? The handwhich I had raised instinctively to shield my throat was wet with thewarm blood trickling fast down my breast. I staggered back to the doorof the parlor, groped blindly for the latch, seemed to be an agefinding it, found it at last, and walked in.
The Duchess sprang up at sight of me. "What," she cried, backing fromme, "what has happened?"
"I have been stabbed," I said, and I sat down.
It amused me afterward to recall what they all did. The Dutchmanstared, my lady screamed loudly, Master Bertie whipped out his sword;he could make up his mind quickly enough at times.
"I think he has gone," I said faintly.
The words brought the Duchess to her knees by my chair. She tore openmy doublet, through which the blood was oozing fast. I made no doubtthat I was a dead man, for I had never been wounded in this waybefore, and the blood scared me. I remember my prevailing idea was akind of stunned pity for myself. Perhaps later--I hope so--I shouldhave come to think of Petronilla and my uncle and other people. Butbefore this stage was readied, the Duchess reassured me. "Courage,lad!" she cried heartily. "It is all right, Dick. The villain struckhim on the breastbone an inch too low, and has just ripped up a scrapof skin. It has blooded him for the spring, that is all. A bit ofplaster----"
"And a drink of strong waters," suggested the Dutchman soberly--histhoughts were always to the point when they came.
"Yes, that too," quoth my lady, "and he will be all right."
I thought so myself when I had emptied the cup they offered me. I hadbeen a good deal shaken by the events of the day. The sight of bloodhad further upset me. I really think it possible I might have died ofthis slight hurt and my imagination, if I had been left to myself. Butthe Duchess's assurance and the draught of schnapps, which seemed tosend new blood through my veins, made me feel ashamed of myself. Ifthe Duchess would have let me, I would at once have gone to search thepremises; as it was, she made me sit still while she ran to and frofor hot water and plaster, and the men searched the lower rooms andsecured the door afresh.
"And so you could see nothing of him?" our host asked, when he andMaster Bertie returned, weapons in hand. "Nothing of his figure orface?"
"Nothing, save that he was short," I answered; "shorter than I am, atany rate, and I fancy a good deal."
"A good deal shorter than you are?" my lady said uneasily; "that is noclew. In this country nine people out of ten are that. Clarence, now,is not."
"No," I said; "he is about the same height. It was not Clarence."
"Then who could it be?" she muttered, rising, and then wi
th a quickshudder sitting down again. "Heaven help us, we seem to be in themidst of foes! What could be the motive? And why should the villainhave selected you? Why pick you out?"
Thereupon a strange thing happened. Three pairs of English eyes met,and signaled a common message eye to eye. No word passed, but themessage was "Van Tree!" When we had glanced at one another we lookedall of us at our host--looked somewhat guiltily. He was deep inthought, his eyes on the stove; but he seemed to feel our gaze uponhim, and he looked up abruptly. "Master Van Tree----" he said, andstopped.
"You know him well?" the Duchess said, appealing to him softly. Wefelt a kind of sorrow for him, and some delicacy, too, about accusingone of his countrymen of a thing so cowardly. "Do you think it ispossible," she continued with an effort--"possible that he can havedone this, Master Lindstrom?"
"I have known him from a boy," the merchant said, looking up, a handon either knee, and speaking with a simplicity almost majestic, "andnever knew him do a mean thing, madam. I know no more than that." Andhe looked round on us.
"That is a good deal; still, he went off in a fit of jealousy whenMaster Carey brought Dymphna home. We must remember that."
"Yes, I would he knew the rights of that matter," said the Dutchmanheartily.
"And he has been hanging about the place all day," my lady persisted.
"Yes," Master Lindstrom rejoined patiently; "yet I do not think he didthis."
"Then who did?" she said, somewhat nettled.
That was the question. I had my opinion, as I saw Master Bertie andthe Duchess had. I did not doubt it was Van Tree. Yet a thought struckme. "It might be well," I suggested, "that some one should askMistress Anne whether the door was open when she left the room. Shepassed out just in front of me."
"But she does not go by the door," my lady objected.
"No, she would turn at once and go upstairs," I agreed. "But she couldsee the door from the foot of the stairs--if she looked that way, Imean."
The Duchess assented, and went out of the room to put the question. Wethree, left together, sat staring at the dull flame of the lamp, andwere for the most part silent, Master Bertie only remarking that itwas after midnight. The suspicion he and I entertained of Van Tree'sguilt seemed to raise a barrier between us and our host. My wound,slight as it was, smarted and burned, and my head ached. Aftermidnight, was it? What a day it had been!
When the Duchess came back, as she did in a few minutes, both Anne andDymphna came with her. The girls had risen hastily, and were shiveringwith cold and alarm. Their eyes were bright, their manner was excited.They were full of sympathy and horror and wonder, as was natural; ofnervous fear for themselves, too. But my lady cut short theirexclamations. "Anne says she did not notice the door," she said.
"No," the girl answered, trembling visibly as she spoke. "I went upstraight to bed. But who could it be? Did you see nothing of him as hestruck you? Not a feature? Not an outline?"
"No," I murmured.
"Did he not say a word?" she continued, with strange insistence. "Washe tall or short?" Her dark eyes dwelling on mine seemed to probe mythoughts, as though they challenged me to keep anything back from her."Was it the man you hurt this morning?" she suggested.
"No," I answered reluctantly. "This man was short."
"Short, was he? Was it Master Van Tree, then?"
We, who felt also certain that it was Van Tree, started, nevertheless,at hearing the charge put into words before Dymphna. I wondered, and Ithink the others did, too, at Mistress Anne's harshness. Even my lady,so blunt and outspoken by nature, had shrunk from trying to questionthe Dutch girl about her lover. We looked at Dymphna, wondering howshe would take it.
We had forgotten that she could not understand English. But this didnot serve her; for without a pause Mistress Anne turned to her, andunfalteringly said something in her scanty Dutch which came to thesame thing. A word or two of questioning and explanation followed.Then the meaning of the accusation dawned at last on Dymphna's mind. Ilooked for an outburst of tears or protestations. Instead, with aglance of wonder and great scorn, with a single indignant widening ofher beautiful eyes, she replied by a curt Dutch sentence.
"What does she say?" my lady exclaimed eagerly.
"She says," replied Master Lindstrom, who was looking on gravely,"that it is a base lie, madam."
On that we became spectators. It seemed to me, and I think to all ofus, that the two girls stood apart from us in a circle of light bythemselves; confronting one another with sharp glances as though acurtain had been raised from between them, and they saw one another intheir true colors and recognized some natural antagonism, or, it mightbe, some rivalry each in the other. I think I was not peculiar infeeling this, for we all kept silence for a space as though expectingsomething to follow. In the middle of this silence there came a lowrapping at the door.
One uttered a faint shriek; another stood as if turned to stone. TheDuchess cried for her child. The rest of us looked at one another.Midnight was past. Who could be abroad, who could want us at thishour? As a rule we should have been in bed and asleep long ago. We hadno neighbors save the cotters on the far side of the island. We knewof no one likely to arrive at this time with any good intent.
"I will open," said Master Lindstrom. But he looked doubtfully at thewomen-folk as he said it.
"One minute," whispered the Duchess. "That table is solid and heavy.Could you not----"
"Put it across the door?" concluded her husband. "Yes, we will." Andit was done at once, the two men--my lady would not let me help--soarranging it that it prevented the door being opened to its fullwidth.
"That will stop a rush," said Master Bertie with satisfaction.
It did strengthen the position, yet it was a nervous moment when ourhost prepared to lower the bar. "Who is there?" he cried loudly.
We waited, listening and looking at one another, the fear of arrestand the horrors of the Inquisition looming large in the minds of someof us at least. The answer, when it came, did not reassure us. It wasuttered in a voice so low and muffled that we gained no information,and rather augured treachery the more. I remember noticing how eachtook the crisis; how Mistress Anne's face was set hard, and her breathcame in jerks; how Dymphna, pale and trembling, seemed yet to haveeyes only for her father; how the Duchess faced the entrance like aqueen at bay. All this I took in at a glance. Then my gaze returned toMaster Lindstrom, as he dropped the bar with a jerk. The door waspushed open at once as far as it would go. A draught of cold air camein, and with it Van Tree. He shut the door behind him.
Never were six people so taken aback as we were. But the newcomer,whose face was flushed with haste and excitement, observed nothing.Apparently he saw nothing unexpected even in our presence downstairsat that hour, nothing hostile or questioning in the half circle ofastonished faces turned toward him. On the contrary, he seemedpleased. "Ah!" he exclaimed gutturally. "It is well! You are up! Youhave taken the alarm!"
It was to me he spoke, and I was so surprised by that, and by hissudden appearance, so dumfounded by his easy address and the absenceof all self-consciousness on his part, so struck by a change in him,that I stared in silence. I could not believe that this was the samehalf-shy, half-fierce young man who had flung away a few hours beforein a passion of jealousy. My theory that he was the assassin seemed ona sudden extravagant, though here he was on the spot. When MasterLindstrom asked, "Alarm! What alarm?" I listened for his answer as Ishould have listened for the answer of a friend and ally, withouthesitation, without distrust. For in truth the man was transfigured;changed by the rise of something to the surface which ordinarily layhid in him. Before, he had seemed churlish, awkward, a boor. But inthis hour of our need and of his opportunity he showed himself as hewas. Action and purpose lifted him above his outward seeming. I caughtthe generous sparkle in his eye, and trusted him.
"What!" he said, keeping his voice low. "You do not know? They arecoming to arrest you. Their plan is to surround the house beforedaybreak. Already there is a boat
lying in the river watching thelanding-stage."
"Whom are they coming to arrest?" I asked. The others were silent,looking at this strange messenger with mingled feelings.
"All, I fear," he replied. "You, too, Master Lindstrom. Some one hastraced your English friends hither and informed against you. I knownot on what ground you are included, but I fear the worst. There isnot a moment to be lost if you would escape by the bridge, before thetroop who are on the way to guard it arrives."
"The landing-stage, you say, is already watched?" our host asked, hisphlegmatic coolness showing at its best. His eyes roved round theroom, and he tugged, as was his habit when deep in thought, at hisbeard. I felt sure that he was calculating which of his possessions hecould remove.
"Yes," Van Tree answered. "My father got wind of the plan in Arnheim.An English envoy arrived there yesterday on his way to Cleves or somepart of Germany. It is rumored that he has come out of his road toinquire after certain English fugitives whom his Government areanxious to seize. But come, we have no time to lose! Let us go!"
"Do you come too?" Master Lindstrom said, pausing in the act ofturning away. He spoke in Dutch, but by some inspiration born ofsympathy I understood both his question and the answer.
"Yes, I come. Where Dymphna goes I go, and where she stops I stop,though it be at Madrid itself," the young man answered gallantly. Hiseyes kindled, and he seemed to grow taller and to gain majesty. Thebarrier of race, which had hindered me from viewing him fairly before,fell in a trice. I felt now only a kindly sorrow that he had done thisnoble thing, and not I. I went to him and grasped his hand; and thoughI said nothing, he seemed, after a single start of surprise, tounderstand me fully. He understood me even better, if that werepossible, an hour later, when Dymphna had told him of her adventurewith the Spaniard, and he came to me to thank me.
Ordered myself to be idle, I found all busy round me, busy with astealthy diligence. Master Lindstrom was packing his plate. Dymphna,pale, but with soft, happy eyes--for had she not cause to beproud?--was preparing food and thick clothing. The Duchess had fetchedher child and was dressing it for the journey. Master Bertie wascollecting small matters, and looking to our arms. In one or other ofthese occupations--I can guess in which--Van Tree was giving his aid.And so, since the Duchess would not let me do anything, it chancedthat presently I found myself left alone for a few minutes with Anne.
I was not watching her. I was gnawing my nails in a fit ofdespondency, reflecting that I was nothing but a hindrance and adrawback to my friends, since whenever a move had to be made I wassure to be invalided, when I became aware, through some mysterioussense, that my companion, who was kneeling on the floor behind me,packing, had desisted from her work and was gazing fixedly at me. Iturned. Yes, she was looking at me; her eyes, in which a smolderingfire seemed to burn, contrasting vividly with her pale face andcontracted brows. When she saw that I had turned--of which at firstshe did not seem aware--she rose and came to me, and laid a hand on myshoulder and leaned over me. A feeling that was very like fright fellupon me, her manner was so strange. "What is it?" I stammered, as shestill pored on me in silence, still maintained her attitude. "What isthe matter, Anne?"
"Are you _quite_ a fool?" she whispered, her voice almost a hiss, herhot breath on my cheek. "Have you no sense left, that you trust thatman?"
For a moment I failed to understand her. "What man?" I said. "Oh, VanTree!"
"Ay, Van Tree! Who else? Will you go straight into the trap he haslaid for you?" She moistened her lips with her tongue, as though theywere parched. "You are all mad! Mad, I think! Don't you see," shecontinued, stooping over me again and whispering hurriedly, her wildeyes close to mine, "that he is jealous of you?"
"He was," I said uneasily. "That is all right now."
"He was? He is!" she retorted. "He went away wild with you. He comesback smiling and holding out his hand. Do you trust him? Don't yousee--don't you see," she cried, rocking me to and fro with her hand inher excitement, "that he is fooling you? He is leading us all into atrap that has been laid carefully enough. What is this tale of anEnglish envoy on his way to Germany? Rubbish! Rubbish, I tell you."
"But Clarence----"
"Bah! It was all your fancy!" she cried fiercely, her eyes for themoment flitting to the door, then returning to my face. "How should hefind us here? Or what has Clarence to do with an English envoy?"
"I do not know," I said. She had not in the least persuaded me. In arare moment I had seen into Van Tree's soul and trusted himimplicitly. "Please take care," I added, wincing under her hand. "Youhurt me!"
She sprang back with a sudden change of countenance as if I had struckher, and for a moment cowered away from me, her former passion stillapparent fighting for the mastery in her face. I set down hercondition to terror at the plight we were all in, or to vexation thatno one would take her view. The next moment I went farther. I thoughther mad, when she turned abruptly from me and, flying to the door bywhich Van Tree had entered, began with trembling fingers to releasethe pin which confined the bar.
"Stop! stop! you will ruin all!" I cried in horror. "They can see thatdoor from the river, and if they see the light, they will know we areup and have taken the alarm; and they may make a dash to secure us.Stop, Anne! Stop!" I cried. But the girl was deaf. She tuggeddesperately at the pin, and had already loosened the bar when I caughther by the arms, and, pushing her away, set my back against the door."Don't be foolish!" I said gently. "You have lost your head. You mustlet us men settle these things, Anne."
She was indeed beside herself, for she faced me during a second or twoas though she would spring upon me and tear me from the door. Herhands worked, her eyes gleamed, her strong white teeth showedthemselves. I shuddered. I had never pictured her looking like that.Then, as steps sounded on the stairs and cheerful voices--cheerfulthey seemed to me as they broke in on that strange scene--drew nearer,she turned, and walking deliberately to a seat, fell to weepinghysterically.
"What are you doing to that door?" cried the Duchess sharply, as sheentered with the others. I was securing the bar again.
"Nothing," I said stolidly. "I am seeing that it is fast."
"And hoity toity, miss!" she continued, turning to Anne. "What hascome over you, I would like to know? Stop crying, girl; what is thematter with you? Will you shame us all before this Dutch maid? Here,carry these things to the back door."
Anne somehow stifled her sobs and rose. Seeming by a great effort torecover composure, she went out, keeping her face to the last avertedfrom me.
We all followed, variously laden, Master Lindstrom and Van Tree, whocarried between them the plate-chest, being the last to leave. Therewas not one of us--even of us who had only known the house a fewweeks--who did not heave a sigh as we passed out of the warm lamp-litparlor, which, littered as it was with the debris of packing, lookedstill pleasant and comfortable in comparison with the darkness outsideand the uncertain future before us. What, then, must have been thepain of parting to those who had never known any other home? Yet theytook it bravely. To Dymphna, Van Tree's return had brought greathappiness. To Master Lindstrom, any ending to a long series ofanxieties and humiliations was welcome. To Van Tree--well, he hadDymphna with him, and his side of the plate-chest was heavy, and gavehim ample employment.
We passed out silently through the back door, leaving the youngDutchman to lock it behind us, and flitted, a line of gliding shadows,through the orchard. It was two o'clock, the sky was overcast, aslight drizzle was falling. Once an alarm was given that we were beingfollowed; and we huddled together, and stood breathless, a clump ofdark figures gazing affrightedly at the tree trunks which surroundedus, and which seemed--at least to the women's eyes--to be moving, andto be men closing in on us. But the alarm was groundless, and with nogreater mishap than a few stumbles when we came to the slippery edgeof the creek, we reached the boat, and one by one, admirably orderedby our host, got in and took our seats. Van Tree and Master Lindstrompushed us off; then they swung themselves in and pad
dled warily along,close under the bank, where the shadows of the poplars fell across us,and our figures blended darkly with the line of rushes on the shore.
The Story of Francis Cludde Page 12
