The Lady of the Mount

by Frederic Stewart Isham

  CHAPTER XVIII

  THE MOUNTEBANK AND MY LADY

  "The Governor's daughter!" Had the light been stronger they must haveseen the start the mountebank gave. "Impossible!"

  "Eh? What?" Surprised in turn, the officer gazed at him. "Youdare--out with him!" To the soldiers.

  But in a moment had the mountebank recovered his old demeanor, and,without waiting for the troopers to obey the commandant's order, walkedvoluntarily toward the door and into the passage.

  "Our supper! Our supper!" A number of the prisoners, crowdingforward, began once more to call lustily, when again was thedisk-studded woodwork swung unceremoniously to, cutting short the soundof their lamentations.

  "Dogs!" Malevolently the dwarf gazed back. "To want to gorgethemselves on a holy day!"

  "Pious Jacques!" murmured the commandant. "But I always said you madea model landlord!"

  "When not interfered with!" grumbled the other.

  "At any rate _he_ doesn't seem to appreciate his good fortune," with aglance at the mountebank.

  "No," jeering. "A gallant cavalier to step blithely at a great lady'scommand! 'Your Ladyship overwhelms me!'" bowing grotesquely. "'YourLadyship's condescension'--"

  "Why, then, need you take me?" interposed the mountebank quickly. "Canyou not tell her ladyship I am not fit to appear in her presence--anuncouth clown--"

  "Bah! I've already done that," answered the commandant.

  "But how came her ladyship to know of me--here--?"

  "How indeed?"

  "And what does she want of me?"

  "That," roughly, "you will find out!" and stepped down the hall,followed by the soldiers, mountebank and dwarf, the last of whom tookleave of them at the door.

  Clear was the night; the stars, like liquid drops about to fall,caressed with silvery rays the granite piles. In contrast to thenoisome atmosphere of the prison, faint perfumes, borne from someflowery slope of the distant shore, swept languorously in and out theopen aisles and passages of the Mount. In such an hour that upperregion seemed to belong entirely to the sky; to partake of its wondrousstillness; to share its mysteries and its secrets. Like intruders,penetrating an enchanted spot, now they trod soft shadows; then,clangorous, beat beneath foot delicate laceworks of light.

  "Here we are!" The officer stopped. At the same time upon a near-bybalcony a nightingale began to sing, tentatively, as if trying thescope and quality of its voice. "You are to go in!" he announcedabruptly.

  "Such a fine palace! I--I would rather not!" muttered the fellow, asthey crossed an outer threshold and proceeded to mount some polishedstairs.

  "Stubborn dolt! Now in you march," pausing before a door. "But, harkyou! I and my men remain without. So, mind your behavior, or--"

  A look from the commandant completed the sentence.

  Alone, in an apartment of the palace, some moments later, themountebank's demeanor underwent a quick change; he glanced hastilytoward the door the commandant had closed in leaving, and then, withsudden brightening gaze, around him, as if making note of every detailof his surroundings. Set with columns of warm-hued marble, relievedwith ornate carvings and designs, the spacious chamber presented anappearance at once graceful and charming. Nor were its furnishings atvariance with its architectural elegance; on every hand soft colors metthe eye, in rugs of ancient pattern; in tapestries, subdued; in theupholstering of Breton oak. A culminating note was in the center ofthe room, where a great bunch of roses opened wide their petals.

  But briefly, however, the clown permitted himself to survey, or study,these details of refinement and luxury; the swift eager interest thathad shone from the dark eyes gave way to an expression, lack-luster andstupid; his countenance once more resumed its blank, stolid aspect. Asif unconscious of the anomalous figure he presented, mechanically hadhe seated himself; was gazing down, when through a doorway, oppositethe one by which the commandant had left, a slender form appeared.Under the heavy, whitened lids a slight movement of the clown's eyesalone betrayed he was aware of that new presence. A moment the girlstood there, her glance resting on the grotesque, bent figure beforeher; then with a quizzical lift of the delicate brows she entered.

  "You believe, no doubt, in making yourself at home?"

  Crossing to the table, once more she stopped; her figure, sheathed in agown of brocade of rose, glowed bright and distinct in contrast to thefaint, vari-colored tints of ancient embroideries on the wall. Above,the light threw a shimmer on the deep-burnished gold of her hair; thesweeping lashes veiled the half-disdainful, half-amused look in herbrown eyes. "Or, perhaps, you are one of those who think the peasantswill some day sit, while the lords and ladies stand?"

  "I don't know," he managed to answer, but got up, only to appear moreawkward.

  "You do not seem to know very much, indeed!" she returned, her tonechanging to one of cold severity. "Not enough, perhaps, to perceivethe mischief you may cause! That play of yours, which I witnessedto-day--"

  "You! To-day? Your Ladyship was--"

  "Yes," imperiously, "I was there! And heard and saw the effect it hadon the people; how it stirred all their baser passions! But you, ofcourse, could not know--or care, thinking only of the sous!--that,instead of teaching a lesson, the piece would only move them to anger,or resentment."

  "I--your Ladyship--great lords have commended the play--"

  "Great lords!" she began, but stopped; regarded her listener andshrugged her shoulders.

  A few moments silence lasted, the fellow apparently not knowing what tosay, or if he was expected to say anything, while, for her part, thegirl no longer looked at him, but at the flowers, taking one, which sheturned in her fingers.

  "Your Ladyship would command me--"

  "To give the play no more!"

  "But--" Expostulation shone from his look.

  "In which event you shall be suffered to go free to-morrow."

  "But my livelihood! What shall I do, if I am forbidden to earn--"

  She gave him a colder look. "I have spoken to the commandant; told himwhat I had seen, and that I did not think you intended to make trouble.Your case will, therefore, not be reported to his Excellency. Only,"with a warning flash, "if you are again caught giving the play, youmust expect to receive your deserts."

  "Of course! If your Ladyship commands!" dejectedly.

  "I do! But, as an offset to the coppers you might otherwise receive, Iwill give you a sum of money sufficient to compensate you."

  "Your Ladyship is so generous!" He made an uncouth gesture ofgratitude and covetousness. "May I ask your Ladyship how much--"

  "May I ask your ladyship how much--?"]

  "How much?" scornfully. "But I suppose--"

  The words died away; her glance fell; lingered on the hand he hadextended. Muscular, shapely, it seemed not adapted to the servilegesture; was most unlike the hand of clod or clown. Moreover, it wasmarked with a number of wounds, half-healed, which caught and held herlook.

  "Of course, I am so poor, your Ladyship--" he began, in yet more abjecttone, but stopped, attracted in turn by the direction of her gaze;then, meeting it, quickly withdrew the hand and thrust it into hispocket. Not in time, however, to prevent a startled light, a swiftgleam of recollection from springing into her eyes! The very movementitself--ironically enough!--was not without precedent.

  "You!" She recoiled from him. "The Black--"

  As a man who realizes he has betrayed himself, he bit his lips; butattempted no further subterfuge. The shambling figure straightened;the dull eyes grew steady; the bold self-possession she remembered wellon another occasion again marked his bearing.

  "Your Ladyship has discerning eyes," he remarked quietly, but as hespoke glanced and moved a little toward the window.

  My lady stood as if dazed. He, the Black Seigneur, there, in thepalace! Mechanically she raised her hand to her breast; she was verypale. On the balcony the nightingale, grown confident, burst into aflood of variations; a thousand tril
ls and full-throated notes filledthe room.

  "I understand now," at length she found voice, "why that fancy came tome below, when I was listening to the play on the platform. But whyhave you come--to the very Mount itself?" Her voice trembled a little."You! On the beach the people tried to stop you--"

  "You saw that, too?"

  "And you _knew_ the play would make trouble! You wanted it to,"quickly. "For what purpose? To get into the upper part of the Mount?To have them arrest--bring you here?" She looked at him with suddenterror. "My father! Was it to--"

  A low, distinct rapping at the door she had entered, interrupted them.She started and looked fearfully around. At the same time themountebank stepped back to the side of a great bronze in front of thebalcony, where, standing in the shadow, he was screened.

  "Elise!" a voice called out.

  The flower the girl had been holding, fell to the floor.

  "My--" she began, when the door opened and the Governor stood on thethreshold.