“I dreamed they did, as mine would you.”
“Sit down beside me,” she said presently. “It will be very hard to tell — and it cannot be very long before they come. Oh, they may find me here! It cannot matter now, for I told them all that I had been long in your room to-night.”
“Told them all? Told whom? The King? What did you say?” His face was grave again.
“The King, the court, the whole world. But it is harder to tell you.” She blushed and looked away. “It was the King that wounded you — I heard you fall.”
“Scratched me. I was only stunned for a while.”
“He drew his sword, for I heard it. You know the sound a sword makes when it is drawn from a leathern sheath? Of course — you are a soldier! I have often watched my father draw his, and I know the soft, long pull. The King drew quickly, and I knew you were unarmed, and besides — you had promised me that you would not raise your hand against him.”
“I remember that my sword was on the table in its scabbard. I got it into my hand, sheathed as it was, to guard myself. Where is it? I had forgotten that. It must be somewhere on the floor.”
“Never mind — your men will find it. You fell, and then there was silence, and presently I heard my father’s voice saying that he had killed you defenceless. They went away. I was half dead myself when I fell there beside you on the floor. There — do you see? You lay with your head towards the door and one arm out. I shall see you so till I die, whenever I think of it. Then — I forget. Adonis must have found me there, and he carried me away, and Inez met me on the terrace and she had heard my father tell the King that he had murdered you — and it was the King who had done it! Do you understand?”
“I see, yes. Go on!” Don John was listening breathlessly, forgetting the pain he still suffered from time to time.
“And then I went down, and I made Don Ruy Gomez stand beside me on the steps, and the whole court was there — the Grandees and the great dukes — Alva, Medina Sidonia, Medina Cali, Infantado, the Princess of Eboli — the Ambassadors, everyone, all the maids of honour, hundreds and hundreds — an ocean of faces, and they knew me, almost all of them.”
“What did you say?” asked Don John very anxiously. “What did you tell them all? That you had been here?”
“Yes — more than that, much more. It was not true, but I hoped they would believe it I said—” the colour filled her face and she caught her breath. “Oh, how can I tell you? Can you not guess what I said?”
“That we were married already, secretly?” he asked. “You might have said that.”
“No. Not that — no one would have believed me. I told them,” she paused and gathered her strength, and then the words came quickly, ashamed of being heard— “I told them that I knew my father had no share in the crime, because I had been here long to-night, in this room, and even when you were killed, and that I was here because I had given you all, my life, my soul, my honour, everything.”
“Great God!” exclaimed Don John starting. “And you did that to save your father?”
She had covered her face with her hands for a moment. Then suddenly she rose and turned away from him, and paced the floor.
“Yes. I did that. What was there for me to do? It was better that I should be ruined and end in a convent than that my father should die on the scaffold. What would have become of Inez?”
“What would have become of you?” Don John’s eyes followed her in loving wonder.
“It would not have mattered. But I had thrown away my name for nothing. They believed me, I think, but the King, to spare himself, was determined that my father should die. We met as he was led away to prison. Then I went to the King himself — and when I came away I had my father’s release in my hand. Oh, I wish I had that to do again! I wish you had been there, for you would have been proud of me, then. I told him he had killed you, I heard him confess it, I threatened to tell the court, the world, all Spain, if he would not set my father free. But the other — can you forgive me, dear?”
She stood before him now, and the colour was fainter in her cheeks, for she trusted him with all her heart, and she put out her hands.
“Forgive you? What? For doing the bravest thing a woman ever did?”
“I thought you would know it in heaven and understand,” she said. “It is better that you know it on earth — but it was hard to tell.”
He held her hands together and pressed them to his lips. He had no words to tell her what he thought. Again and again he silently kissed the firm white fingers folded in his own.
“It was magnificent,” he said at last. “But it will be hard to undo, very hard.”
“What will it ever matter, since we know it is not true?” she asked. “Let the world think what it will, say what it likes—”
“The world shall never say a slighting word of you,” he interrupted. “Do you think that I will let the world say openly what I would not hear from the King alone between these four walls? There is no fear of that, love. I will die sooner.”
“Oh, no!” she cried, in sudden fear. “Oh, do not speak of death again to-night! I cannot bear the word!”
“Of life, then, of life together, — of all our lives in peace and love! But first this must be set right. It is late, but this must be done now — at once. There is only one way, there is only one thing to be done.”
He was silent for a moment, and his eyes looked quickly to the door and back to Dolores’ face.
“I cannot go away,” she cried, nestling to him. “You will not make me go? What does it matter?”
“It matters much. It will matter much more hereafter.” He was on his feet, and all his energy and graceful strength came back as if he had received no hurt. “There is little time left, but what there is, is ours. Inez!” He was at the door. “Is no one there upon the terrace? Is there no servant, no sentry? Ho, there! Who are you? Come here, man! Let me see your face! Adonis?”
Inez and the dwarf were in the door. Dolores was behind him, looking out, not knowing what he meant to do. He had his hand on the dwarf’s arm in his haste. The crooked creature looked up, half in fear.
“Quick! Go!” cried Don John. “Get me a priest, a monk, a bishop, — anything that wears a frock and can speak Latin. Bring him here. Threaten his life, in my name, if you like. Tell him Don John of Austria is in extreme need, and must have a priest. Quick, man! Fly! Your life and fortune are in your legs! Off, man! Off!”
Adonis was already gone, rolling through the gloom with swinging arms, more like a huge bat than anything human, and at a rate of speed none would have guessed latent in his little twisted legs. Don John drew back within the door.
“Stay within,” he said to Dolores, gently pressing her backwards into the room. “I will let no one pass till the priest comes; and then the world may come, too, and welcome, — and the court and the King, and the devil and all his angels!” He laughed aloud in his excitement.
“You have not told me,” Dolores began, but her eyes laughed in his.
“But you know without words,” he answered. “When that is done which a priest can do in an instant, and no one else, the world is ours, with all it holds, in spite of men and women and Kings!”
“It is ours already,” she cried happily. “But is this wise, love? Are you not too quick?”
“Would you have me slow when you and your name and my honour are all at stake on one quick throw? Can we play too quickly at such a game with fate? There will be time, just time, no more. For when the news is known, it will spread like fire. I wonder that no one comes yet.”
He listened, and Inez’ hearing was ten times more sensitive than his, but there was no sound. For besides Dolores and Inez only the dwarf and the Princess of Eboli knew that Don John was living; and the Princess had imposed silence on the jester and was in no haste to tell the news until she should decide who was to know it first and how her own advantage could be secured. So there was time, and Adonis swung himself along the dim corridor and up w
inding stairs that be knew, and roused the little wizened priest who lived in the west tower all alone, and whose duty it was to say a mass each morning for any prisoner who chanced to be locked up there; and when there was no one in confinement he said his mass for himself in the small chapel which was divided from the prison only by a heavy iron grating. The jester sometimes visited him in his lonely dwelling and shocked and delighted him with alternate tales of the court’s wickedness and with harmless jokes that made his wizened cheeks pucker and wrinkle into unaccustomed smiles. And he had some hopes of converting the poor jester to a pious life. So they were friends. But when the old priest heard that Don John of Austria was suddenly dying in his room and that there was no one to shrive him, — for that was the tale Adonis told, — he trembled from head to foot like a paralytic, and the buttons of his cassock became as drops of quicksilver and slipped from his weak fingers everywhere except into the buttonholes, so that the dwarf had to fasten them for him in a furious hurry, and find his stole, and set his hat upon his head, and polish away the tears of excitement from his cheeks with his own silk handkerchief. Yet it was well done, though so quickly, and he had a kind old face and was a good priest.
But when Adonis had almost carried him to Don John’s door, and pushed him into the room, and when he saw that the man he supposed to be dying was standing upright, holding a most beautiful lady by the hand, he drew back, seeing that he had been deceived, and suspecting that he was to be asked to do something for which he had no authority. The dwarf’s long arm was behind him, however, and he could not escape.
“This is the priest of the west tower, your Highness,” said Adonis. “He is a good priest, but he is a little frightened now.”
“You need fear nothing,” said Don John kindly. “I am Don John of Austria. This lady is Doña Maria Dolores de Mendoza. Marry us without delay. We take each other for man and wife.”
“But—” the little priest hesitated— “but, your Highness — the banns — or the bishop’s license—”
“I am above banns and licenses, my good sir,” answered Don John, “and if there is anything lacking in the formalities, I take it upon myself to set all right to-morrow. I will protect you, never fear. Make haste, for I cannot wait. Begin, sir, lose no time, and take my word for the right of what you do.”
“The witnesses of this,” faltered the old man, seeing that he must yield, but doubtful still.
“This lady is Doña Inez de Mendoza,” said Don John, “and this is Miguel de Antona, the court jester. They are sufficient.”
So it chanced that the witnesses of Don John of Austria’s secret marriage were a blind girl and the King’s fool.
The aged priest cleared his throat and began to say the words in Latin, and Don John and Dolores held their clasped hands before him, not knowing what else to do, and each looked into the other’s eyes and saw there the whole world that had any meaning for them, while the priest said things they but half understood, but that made the world’s difference to them, then and afterwards.
It was soon done, and he raised his trembling hand and blessed them, saying the words very softly and clearly and without stumbling, for they were familiar, and meant much; and having reached them, his haste was over. The dwarf was on his knees, his rough red head bent reverently low, and on the other side Inez knelt with joined hands, her blind eyes turned upward to her sister’s face, while she prayed that all blessings of life and joy might be on the two she loved so well, and that they might have for ever and unbroken the infinite happiness she had felt for one instant that night, not meant for her, but dearer to her than all memories or hopes.
Then as the priest’s words died away in the silent room, there was a sound of many feet and of many voices on the terrace outside, coming nearer and nearer to the door, very quickly; and the priest looked round in terror, not knowing what new thing was to come upon him, and wishing with all his heart that he were safe in his tower room again and out of all harm’s way. But Don John smiled, while he still held Dolores’ hand, and the dwarf rose quickly and led the priest into the study where Dolores had been shut up so long, and closed the door behind him.
That was hardly done when the outer door was opened wide, and a clear, formal voice was heard speaking outside.
“His Majesty the King!” cried the chamberlain who walked before Philip.
Dolores dropped Don John’s hand and stood beside him, growing a little pale; but his face was serene and high, and he smiled quietly as he went forward to meet his brother. The King advanced also, with outstretched arms, and he formally embraced Don John, to exhibit his joy at such an unexpected recovery.
Behind him came in torch-bearers and guards and many of the court who had joined the train, and in the front rank Mendoza, grim and erect, but no longer ashy pale, and Ruy Gomez with him, and the Princess of Eboli, and all the chief Grandees of Spain, filling the wide bedchamber from side to side with a flood of rich colour in which the little constellations of their jewels shone here and there with changing lights.
Out of respect for the King they did not speak, and yet there was a soft sound of rejoicing in the room, and their very breathing was like a murmur of deep satisfaction. Then the King spoke, and all at once the silence was profound.
“I wished to be the first to welcome my dear brother back to life,” he said. “The court has been in mourning for you these two hours, and none has mourned you more deeply and sorrowfully than I. We would all know the cause of your Highness’s accident, the meaning of our friend Mendoza’s strange self-accusation, and of other things we cannot understand without a word from you.”
The chair in which Don John had sat to read Dolores’ letter was brought forward, and the King took his seat in it, while the chief officers of the household grouped themselves round him. Don John remained standing, facing him and all the rest, while Dolores drew back a little into the shadow not far from him. The King’s unmoving eyes watched him closely, even anxiously.
“The story is short, Sire, and if it is not all clear, I shall crave your Majesty’s pardon for being silent on certain points which concern my private life. I was alone this evening in my room here, after your Majesty had left supper, and I was reading. A man came to visit me then whom I have known and trusted long. We were alone, we have had differences before, to-night sharp words passed between us. I ask your Majesty’s permission not to name that man, for I would not do him an injury, though it should cost me my life.”
His eyes were fixed on the King, who slowly nodded his assent. He had known that he could trust his brother not to betray him, and he wondered what was to come next. Don John smiled a little as he went on.
“There were sharp words,” he said, “and being men, steel was soon out, and I received this scratch here — a mere nothing. But as chance would have it I fell backward and was so stunned that I seemed dead. And then, as I learn, my friend Mendoza there came in, either while we fought, or afterwards, and understood — and so, as I suppose, in generous fear for my good name, lest it should be told that I had been killed in some dishonest brawl, or for a woman’s sake — my friend Mendoza, in the madness of generosity, and because my love for his beautiful daughter might give the tale some colour, takes all the blame upon himself, owns himself murderer, loses his wits, and well-nigh loses his head, too. So I understand the matter, Sire.”
He paused a moment, and again the King slowly nodded, but this time he smiled also, and seemed much pleased.
“For what remains,” Don John continued, “that is soon explained. This brave and noble lady whom you found here, you all know. I have loved her long and faithfully, and with all my heart. Those who know me, know that my word is good, and here before your Majesty, before man and before Heaven, I solemnly swear upon my most sacred word that no harm has ever come near her, by me, or by another. Yet, in the hope of saving her father’s life, believing and yet not believing that he might have hurt me in some quarrel, she went among you, and told you the tale you know. I
ask your Majesty to say that my word and oath are good, and thereby to give your Majesty’s authority to what I say. And if there is any man here, or in Spain, among your Majesty’s subjects, who doubts the word I give, let him say so, for this is a grave matter, and I wish to be believed before I say more.”
A third time the King nodded, and this time not ungraciously, since matters had gone well for him.
“For myself,” he said, “I would take your word against another man’s oath, and I think there is no one bold enough to question what we both believe.”
“I thank your Majesty. And moreover, I desire permission to present to your Majesty—”
He took Dolores’ hand and drew her forward, though she came a little unwillingly, and was pale, and her deep grey eyes gazed steadily at the King’s face.
“ — My wedded wife,” said Don John, completing the sentence.
“Your wife!” exclaimed the King, in great surprise. “Are you married already?”
“Wedded man and wife, Sire,” answered Don John, in tones that all could hear.
“And what does Mendoza say to this?” asked Philip, looking round at the veteran soldier.
“That his Highness has done my house a great honour, your Majesty; and I pray that my daughter and I be not needlessly separated hereafter.”
His glance went to Dolores’ triumphant eyes almost timidly, and then rested on her face with a look she had never seen in his, save on that evening, but which she always found there afterwards. And at the same time the hard old man drew Inez close to him, for she had found him among the officers, and she stood by him and rested her arm on his with a new confidence.
Then, as the King rose, there was a sound of glad voices in the room, as all talked at once and each told the other that an evil adventure was well ended, and that Don John of Austria was the bravest and the handsomest and the most honourable prince in the world, and that Maria Dolores de Mendoza had not her equal among women for beauty and high womanly courage and perfect devotion.
Complete Works of F Marion Crawford Page 978
