Yet, no sooner had he taken the decision, than he realised that it was beyond his power to carry it out. Those enormous soulless eyes held him captive.
Suddenly a sharp, agonised cry pierced his half-dazed conciousness. Within seconds those huge eyes that had blotted out everything else contracted. With startling rapidity they shrank back to normal and Roger found himself able to focus the whole of his terrible antagonist’s person. Malderini was standing rigid, his head thrown back, his mouth still wide open from the cry he had uttered.
With blind instinct, impelled by the imperative urge of self preservation, Roger rushed in upon him. The point of his pike caught the Venetian on the left side of the chin and tore a long gash from it right up to his ear. Malderini screamed again, lurched side-ways and thrust at Roger’s face. He ducked and the pike passed harmlessly over his left shoulder. At the same instant his own pike ripped through Malderini’s coat just below the armpit. Wounded again, the Venetian swung round, and with the blood now gushing from his slashed cheek, fell face forward to the ground.
Panting, Roger stared down at him. He could hardly believe his eyes. The feathered shaft of a long arrow was sticking up from Malderini’s backside.
6
The Venetian Strikes Back
The point of the arrow had buried itself in the right-hand side of Malderini’s broad bottom. Major Rawton was also staring down at it. His pendulous cheeks going a deeper shade of purple and his blue eyes popping, he exclaimed:
‘First pikes, now arrows! Damme, I’m mad; or mixed up with a set of madmen!’
The Doctor ran up with his black bag. The seconds, with the exception of Sheridan, crowded round. He was looking in the direction of the temple, and gave a loud shout:
‘There she goes! There! The devilish jade! She should be put in the stocks for this!’
Roger followed his glance and was just in time to catch a glimpse of pale gold hair as, to the left of the knoll on which the temple stood, and some way beyond it, a running figure disappeared into the woods.
‘By God, I’ll see to it that she’s not!’ he cried. ‘This carrion here had hypnotised me. I had no more fight left in me than a rabbit set before a snake. He would have butchered me by now had she not shot him in his fat arse the moment that she did.’
Although he had seen the running figure indistinctly and for only a second, he had no doubt that it was Clarissa who had saved him. In the garden of the Governor’s residence in Martinique there had been three targets at which guests sometimes amused themselves by shooting. One of her beaux had persuaded her to take up the sport and, at medium range, she had become a surprisingly good bow-woman. At Stillwaters, too, there were targets at the far end of the bowling green; so she would have had no difficulty in getting hold of a bow and arrows. He wondered now if the Princess, with intent to strengthen this chance of getting rid of the husband she hated, had incited Clarissa to the act. But it was most unlikely that the two women would have exchanged confidences, or even had an opportunity of meeting during the night. It seemed more probable that Clarissa, having had personal experience of Malderini’s hypnotic powers, had foreseen that he might use them during the duel, and so taken this desperate means of intervention.
Another yelp of pain from the Venetian drew Roger’s attention back to him. The muscles of the buttock contract and exert a tight grip on any weapon which pierces them; so to get the arrow out, the Doctor had had to grasp it with both hands, put a foot in the small of Malderini’s back, and give a sharp tug. Major Rawton then helped him turn the wounded man over so that he could examine the injury to his face. The gash was long but not deep and after swabbing it with an astringent to check the bleeding, he said:
‘There’s nought dangerous about that; but there may be about the wound in his side. Look, blood is seeping through his coat. Help me to get him out of it. Perhaps, though, it would be better to cut it off him.’
‘No!’ cried Malderini. ‘No!’ Clutching the lapels of his coat, he held them fast against his chest, and went on in his indifferent English. ‘I forbid! You will not cut him! I not have it. I forbid! I forbid!’
‘Heaven defend me!’ exclaimed the Major. ‘This is the maddest meeting that ever I attended. A man who will not let a doctor staunch his blood should be in Bedlam.’
Sheridan added a swift expostulation in French. ‘You must let doctor get at your wound and plug it. What’s a coat matter when your life may be in danger?’
Using the same language, Malderini gasped out, ‘It is not serious! If it were I’d know it. My servant, Pietro, has salves and will do all that is needful.’
Meanwhile, unnoticed by them, Pietro had appeared on the edge of the group. Servants sometimes accompanied their masters to such encounters to act as horse-holders, but were left at some distance from the place of meeting and never permitted to witness the actual engagement. So Sheridan, catching sight of him at that moment, asked him what the devil he was doing there.
The tall, blackhaired valet’s bony face showed his agitation, and he replied: ‘My master ordered me to follow, and to watch from the edge of the wood. He said that, should he be wounded, I was to let no one touch him and bind up his wound myself.’
‘Then Major Rawton is right,’ murmured Colonel Thursby. ‘He ought to be in Bedlam. Were the wound serious he might, by rejecting the services of a qualified medical man, die of it before he could be moved.’
‘I know what I am about,’ Malderini snarled, ‘and I am worried only for my face.’ Breaking into English, he added, ‘Will it make scar, doctor? Tell me. Make no hidings. Will I have scar for life?’
Although his plump face was so lacking in distinction, its skin was smooth, a good colour, and of a fine texture; so there was justification for his concern at the possibility of an ugly blemish on it. All the same, they were distinctly taken aback by the vindictiveness his vanity led him to display a moment later. On the doctor’s replying: ‘Providing no infection sets in, the wound should heal fairly quickly; but I fear it will leave a permanent mark,’ Malderini looked up at Roger, his eyes blazing with hatred, and gulped out:
‘As you have spoiled my face, so I will spoil your life. Remember that! Remember! Sooner or later you shall pay for this a hundredfold.’
In normal circumstances, Roger would have offered a defeated antagonist his hand, and expressed the hope that he would soon be recovered from his wounds. Faced with such malice, there was nothing to be said. Shrugging his shoulders, he turned away and walked towards the place where he had left his coat.
Droopy Ned and the Colonel went with him. As soon as they were out of earshot of the others, the latter said, ‘My boy, this is a bad business. I thought it your intention to handle matters so that the affair should have no sequel.’
‘It did not lie with me,’ Roger replied angrily. ‘He mesmerised me, and would have killed me in another few moments. Once freed of his gaze, I struck out at him like a madman, caring not what might happen, providing I could end the encounter while I had the chance.’
‘That explanation is acceptable to us, but will not prove so to others.’
‘I see no reason why I should be called on to explain to anyone. That he was put off his stroke through being shot with an arrow from behind was my good fortune, but I was in no way responsible for it.’
‘Such marksmanship would not have disgraced Diana herself,’ remarked Droopy, laconically, ‘and, in such a setting, it would have been easy to take Miss Marsham for the goddess.’
‘You saw her, then?’
‘Yes. My long-sight is far better than my short-sight. I glimpsed her running off into the woods. It is unfortunate that Sheridan should have done so too.’
‘So it was Clarissa!’ the Colonel exclaimed. ‘I’d not yet even formed a theory on whom it could have been. And Sheridan saw her. That may provoke a damnably worrying situation. He’ll not have meant what he said about clapping her in the stocks, but it’s too intriguing a story for him to keep it to hims
elf; and she has laid herself open to prosecution. She could be charged with doing grievous bodily harm—nay, even with attempted murder.’
‘You’re right, Sir,’ Droopy nodded. ‘And when Malderini learns who pipped him, his malice is such that I greatly fear he will demand the issuing of a warrant.’
Roger’s face expressed his consternation. ‘We must protect her at all costs,’ he said quickly. ‘She must leave Stillwaters before a warrant can be served on her. I’ll take her down to my father’s house at Lymington. She could live there for a year without anyone here or in London being the wiser. We’ll set off as soon as she has had time to get her things together.’
‘Steady on, my boy, steady on,’ the Colonel sought to calm him. ‘There is no call to rush your fences, Sheridan is too much of a gentleman to lay an information against a woman, and especially one who is a close friend of Georgina’s. He’ll take no action, even should Malderini press him to. If the Venetian is determined to be revenged upon her he’ll have to apply to the bench himself, and he’ll be in no state to do so for some days to come. Better still, as soon as we can get Sheridan on his own we’ll endeavour to persuade him to hold his tongue. If we succeed and he has not yet told Malderini, there will be no need for you to take Clarissa down into Hampshire.’
While they had been talking, Sheridan had fetched the doctor’s carriage, and Malderini was now being helped into it. Both Roger and Droopy agreed that the Colonel’s advice was sound, and the three of them set off for the house. As the carriage would have to go round by the drive and road, and move only at a walk to avoid jolting its injured passenger, they did not expect it to arrive for some twenty minutes after themselves; but the Colonel and Droopy remained in the hall, in order to seize the first opportunity of getting hold of Sheridan, while Roger went up to Georgina.
When he came through the boudoir to her room, he found that her curtains were drawn back and she was sitting up in bed wide awake. As he began to tell her what had taken place, she interrupted him:
‘I know all, short of the final outcome. Clarissa has but this moment left me, and she waited until she saw you strike Malderini down. Is he badly wounded?’
‘Her arrow must have made a fairish hole in his bottom; I drew blood from his left side in the region of the ribs and laid open his cheek from chin to ear; so at the moment he must be suffering a fine variety of pains. But there is no cause for alarm on his account and after a week or so his hurts should not prevent his resuming his diplomatic negotiations.’
‘Then that is something. It cannot be said, though, that you kept your promise to me of letting him off lightly. Why, in God’s name, did you have to wound him twice and thrust your pike into his face? I’d hoped that after this meeting we might count the whole horrid business done with; but now I fear he may seek to be revenged upon you.’
‘You are right in that,’ Roger admitted. ‘It seems he’s mighty vain of that smooth skin of his; so he has sworn to make me pay for ruining it. But I was fighting for my life. The swine used his power to hypnotise upon me, and all but had me at his mercy.’
She nodded. ‘Clarissa feared that might prove the case, and gave it as her reason for creeping up on the meeting and shooting at him.’
‘Thank God she did; or I’d not be here to tell the tale. I must go to her now and thank her.’
‘No, Roger, you must not. To prevent you doing so was her main reason for coming to me. She displayed a-fine nerve in carrying through such a daring feat; for, had her aim been bad, she might have killed you. But afterwards, reaction set in and, by the time she reached me, the poor child was in a storm of tears. I gather that yesterday she asked you to marry her, and you refused. Now, she is afraid that you might change your mind, but only because you feel that she has placed you under an obligation to her; and that would be more than she could bear. She implored me to do my utmost to convince you that she would have done the same for any man she liked, and all the thanks she asks is that the matter should never be mentioned between you.’
‘Then she has shown great sensibility as well as courage,’ he said slowly. ‘I appreciate the embarrassment it would cause her if I suddenly displayed a change of heart, and equally the disappointment she might feel if I failed to give any sign that her act had strengthened the ties of affection that already exist between us. I will, in private, observe her wish; but there can be no escaping references to the affair by us in her presence if, as may occur, proceedings are taken against her for assault.’
‘What say you?’ Georgina exclaimed, sitting up with a jerk.
Roger told her how matters stood and when he had done, she cried, ‘But this might mean prison for her—or even transportation. Oh God, Roger, the Devil himself must have been lurking at my elbow when I agreed to invite this vile Venetian to the house. Papa is right, though. We must nip in the bud this threat to her. They’ll be back by now. Go down and find out what has happened. If Dick Sheridan has made the least difficulty about promising to keep silent, send him straight up to me. He shall swear on the Bible not to give Clarissa away, or it shall cost him my friendship, and much more besides.’
Down in the front hall, Roger found the Colonel and Droopy still waiting. The latter had just been outside and reported that there was no sign of the carriage. They remained there uneasily for a further quarter of an hour, then decided either that it must have broken down, or that Malderini’s injuries had proved more serious than expected and that, instead of bringing him to the house, Dr. Chudleigh had had him carried into a gamekeeper’s cottage.
Before leaving the house, the Colonel had ordered breakfast to be served early against their return; so, leaving a footman to report should the carriage make a belated appearance, they decided to go in to it. Beckford joined them shortly afterwards, all agog to hear details of the encounter. Suppressing Clarissa’s part in it and all reference to the arrow, they told him what had occurred, then for the remainder of the meal observed a gloomy silence, broken only by occasional platitudes.
Roger was wondering if he should, or even could, inform the Princess of the result of the meeting. The last thing he wished was to court the possibility of becoming further involved by seeking a private interview with her, and it seemed very possible that, though she could speak English, she could not read it. It occurred to him that he might ask the Colonel or Droopy to act as his messenger, but he still felt reluctant to give away her secret; so, eventually, he decided to take a chance on her ability to read a foreign language and, when he had finished his breakfast, went to the writing room. There, knowing her French to be better than her English he wrote in that language, and in bold clear calligraphy, a brief résumé of the present situation, and sent it up to her by a footman.
Ten o’clock came, and eleven, while they hung about wondering where Malderini was and what had happened to prevent him being brought back to the House. Then, shortly after eleven, Sheridan arrived on his own in a hired carriage. He told them that he had come to fetch the Princess and Malderini’s baggage, as the Venetian had refused to return to Stillwaters. At Ripley, only a little over a mile away, there was a good coaching inn called ‘The Talbot’; so they had taken him there and Pietro had put him to bed.
Tackled at once by the Colonel, Sheridan said that, although he considered Clarissa’s part in the affair most reprehensible, he had no intention of giving her away. Then he went upstairs to see the Princess and supervise the packing of his own bags. By half-past twelve all was completed. Georgina was present to see them off and, accompanied by the Princess and his pretty young wife, Sheridan drove away.
The remainder of the Sunday passed uneventfully, but the atmosphere was by no means a happy one, Clarissa took her meals up in her room and the others found it difficult to conceal their anxieties. On the Monday morning Beckford departed, but Droopy, having no important engagements in London, agreed to stay on for another few days. On Monday evening they learned from Dr. Chudleigh that Malderini had been taken with a slight fever on
the Sunday afternoon, but as it had completely abated within twenty-four hours, Sheridan had decided to remove him on the following morning from the inn to the greater comfort of his house at Polesden. It was on Wednesday, while they were sitting at dinner, that a groom arrived from Polesden with a letter marked ‘urgent’ from Sheridan for Georgina. When it was brought to her, she glanced through it; then, having sent the servants from the room, she read it aloud. It ran:
‘Believe me, sweet friend, it is with the deepest regret that I now address myself to you upon a subject which must prove highly distasteful to us both. Having enjoyed so many hours of happiness under your hospitable roof, the last thing I would wish is to disturb the tranquillity of its inmates. But, alas, I have no choice; for despite my most earnest representations and endeavours, the matter has gone beyond my powers of control.
‘It has now emerged that Signor Malderini’s servant, Pietro, also observed Miss Marsham, bow in hand, a few moments after she had discharged her arrow at his master. He, of course, had seen Miss Marsham about the house, and from his description of her, Malderini had no hesitation in identifying his assailant. My appeals to his chivalry have proved in vain. This forenoon he sent for the Sheriff’s officers from Guildford and has since made a deposition to them.
Further to this, while there are many matters upon which Mr. Brook and I most sharply disagree, I feel that, as gentleman to gentleman, I would be failing in honourable conduct did I not convey a warning to him through you that he should also look to the continued freedom of his person. Signor Malderini is so set upon being revenged upon him that, again despite my vigorous protests, he now asserts that their meeting was forced upon him and declares it to be his intention to invoke the anti-duelling laws against Mr. Brook.
The Rape of Venice Page 9
