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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:41:41 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:41:41 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13243-0.txt b/13243-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ddaeb8a --- /dev/null +++ b/13243-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9833 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13243 *** + +IN THE PALACE OF THE KING + +A LOVE STORY OF OLD MADRID + +BY +F. MARION CRAWFORD + + + +1900 + + To my old friend + GEORGE P. BRETT + + New York, October, 1906 + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER I + CHAPTER II + CHAPTER III + CHAPTER IV + CHAPTER V + CHAPTER VI + CHAPTER VII + CHAPTER VIII + CHAPTER IX + CHAPTER X + CHAPTER XI + CHAPTER XII + CHAPTER XIII + CHAPTER XIV + CHAPTER XV + CHAPTER XVI + CHAPTER XVII + CHAPTER XVIII + CHAPTER XIX + CHAPTER XX + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +Two young girls sat in a high though very narrow room of the old Moorish +palace to which King Philip the Second had brought his court when he +finally made Madrid his capital. It was in the month of November, in the +afternoon, and the light was cold and grey, for the two tall windows +looked due north, and a fine rain had been falling all the morning. The +stones in the court were drying now, in patches, but the sky was like a +smooth vault of cast lead, closing over the city that lay to the +northward, dark, wet and still, as if its life had shrunk down under +ground, away from the bitter air and the penetrating damp. + +The room was scantily furnished, but the few objects it contained, the +carved table, the high-backed chairs and the chiselled bronze brazier, +bore the stamp of the time when art had not long been born again. On the +walls there were broad tapestries of bold design, showing green forests +populated by all sorts of animals in stiff attitudes, staring at one +another in perpetual surprise. Below the tapestry a carved walnut +wainscoting went round the room, and the door was panelled and flanked +by fluted doorposts of the same dark wood, on which rested corbels +fashioned into curling acanthus leaves, to hold up the cornice, which +itself made a high shelf over the door. Three painted Italian vases, +filled with last summer's rose leaves and carefully sealed lest the +faint perfume should be lost, stood symmetrically on this projection, +their contents slowly ripening for future use. The heap of white ashes, +under which the wood coals were still alive in the big brazier, diffused +a little warmth through the chilly room. + +The two girls were sitting at opposite ends of the table. The one held a +long goose-quill pen, and before her lay several large sheets of paper +covered with fine writing. Her eyes followed the lines slowly, and from +time to time she made a correction in the manuscript. As she read, her +lips moved to form words, but she made no sound. Now and then a faint +smile lent singular beauty to her face, and there was more light in her +eyes, too; then it disappeared again, and she read on, carefully and +intently, as if her soul were in the work. + +She was very fair, as Spaniards sometimes are still, and were more often +in those days, with golden hair and deep grey eyes; she had the high +features, the smooth white throat, and the finely modelled ears that +were the outward signs of the lordly Gothic race. When she was not +smiling, her face was sad, and sometimes the delicate colour left her +clear cheek and she grew softly pale, till she seemed almost delicate. +Then the sensitive nostrils quivered almost imperceptibly, and the +curving lips met closely as if to keep a secret; but that look came +seldom, and for the most part her eyes were quiet and her mouth was +kind. It was a face that expressed devotion, womanly courage, and +sensitiveness rather than an active and dominating energy. The girl was +indeed a full-grown woman, more than twenty years of age, but the early +bloom of girlhood was on her still, and if there was a little sadness in +the eyes, a man could guess well enough that it rose from the heart, and +had but one simple source, which was neither a sudden grief nor a +long-hidden sorrow, but only youth's one secret--love. Maria Dolores de +Mendoza knew all of fear for the man she loved, that any woman could +know, and much of the hope that is love's early life; but she knew +neither the grief, nor the disappointment, nor the shame for another, +nor for herself, nor any of the bitterness that love may bring. She did +not believe that such things could be wrung from hearts that were true +and faithful; and in that she was right. The man to whom she had given +her heart and soul and hope had given her his, and if she feared for +him, it was not lest he should forget her or his own honour. He was a +man among men, good and true; but he was a soldier, and a leader, who +daily threw his life to the battle, as Douglas threw the casket that +held the Bruce's heart into the thick of the fight, to win it back, or +die. The man she loved was Don John of Austria, the son of the great +dead Emperor Charles the Fifth, the uncle of dead Don Carlos and the +half brother of King Philip of Spain--the man who won glory by land and +sea, who won back Granada a second time from the Moors, as bravely as +his great grandfather Ferdinand had won it, but less cruelly, who won +Lepanto, his brother's hatred and a death by poison, the foulest stain +in Spanish history. + +It was November now, and it had been June of the preceding year when he +had ridden away from Madrid to put down the Moriscoes, who had risen +savagely against the hard Spanish rule. He had left Dolores de Mendoza +an hour before he mounted, in the freshness of the early summer morning, +where they had met many a time, on a lonely terrace above the King's +apartments. There were roses there, growing almost wild in great earthen +jars, where some Moorish woman had planted them in older days, and +Dolores could go there unseen with her blind sister, who helped her +faithfully, on pretence of taking the poor girl thither to breathe the +sweet quiet air. For Inez was painfully sensitive of her affliction, and +suffered, besides blindness, all that an over-sensitive and imaginative +being can feel. + +She was quite blind, with no memory of light, though she had been born +seeing, as other children. A scarlet fever had destroyed her sight. +Motherless from her birth, her father often absent in long campaigns, +she had been at the mercy of a heartless nurse, who had loved the fair +little Dolores and had secretly tormented the younger child, as soon as +she was able to understand, bringing her up to believe that she was so +repulsively ugly as to be almost a monster. Later, when the nurse was +gone, and Dolores was a little older, the latter had done all she could +to heal the cruel wound and to make her sister know that she had soft +dark hair, a sad and gentle face, with eyes that were quite closed, and +a delicate mouth that had a little half painful, half pathetic way of +twitching when anything hurt her,--for she was easily hurt. Very pale +always, she turned her face more upwards than do people who have sight, +and being of good average woman's height and very slender and finely +made, this gave her carriage an air of dignity that seemed almost pride +when she was offended or wounded. But the first hurt had been deep and +lasting, and she could never quite believe that she was not offensive to +the eyes of those who saw her, still less that she was sometimes almost +beautiful in a shadowy, spiritual way. The blind, of all their +sufferings, often feel most keenly the impossibility of knowing whether +the truth is told them about their own looks; and he who will try and +realize what it is to have been always sightless will understand that +this is not vanity, but rather a sort of diffidence towards which all +people should be very kind. Of all necessities of this world, of all +blessings, of all guides to truth, God made light first. There are many +sharp pains, many terrible sufferings and sorrows in life that come and +wrench body and soul, and pass at last either into alleviation or +recovery, or into the rest of death; but of those that abide a lifetime +and do not take life itself, the worst is hopeless darkness. We call +ignorance 'blindness,' and rage 'blindness,' and we say a man is 'blind' +with grief. + +Inez sat opposite her sister, at the other end of the table, listening. +She knew what Dolores was doing, how during long months her sister had +written a letter, from time to time, in little fragments, to give to the +man she loved, to slip into his hand at the first brief meeting or to +drop at his feet in her glove, or even, perhaps, to pass to him by the +blind girl's quick fingers. For Inez helped the lovers always, and Don +John was very gentle with her, talking with her when he could, and even +leading her sometimes when she was in a room she did not know. Dolores +knew that she could only hope to exchange a word with him when he came +back, and that the terrace was bleak and wet now, and the roses +withered, and that her father feared for her, and might do some +desperate thing if he found her lover talking with her where no one +could see or hear. For old Mendoza knew the world and the court, and he +foresaw that sooner or later some royal marriage would be made for Don +John of Austria, and that even if Dolores were married to him, some +tortuous means would be found to annul her marriage, whereby a great +shame would darken his house. Moreover, he was the King's man, devoted +to Philip body and soul, as his sovereign, ready to give his life ten +times for his sovereign's word, and thinking it treason to doubt a royal +thought or motive. He was a rigid old man, a Spaniard of Spain's great +days, fearless, proud, intolerant, making Spain's honour his idol, +capable of gentleness only to his children, and loving them dearly, but +with that sort of severity and hardness in all questions where his +authority was concerned which can make a father's true affection the +most intolerable burden to a girl of heart, and which, where a son is +its object, leads sooner or later to fierce quarrels and lifelong +estrangement. And so it had happened now. For the two girls had a +brother much older than they, Rodrigo; and he had borne to be treated +like a boy until he could bear no more, and then he had left his +father's house in anger to find out his own fortune in the world, as +many did in his day,--a poor gentleman seeking distinction in an army of +men as brave as himself, and as keen to win honour on every field. Then, +as if to oppose his father in everything, he had attached himself to Don +John, and was spoken of as the latter's friend, and Mendoza feared lest +his son should help Don John to a marriage with Dolores. But in this he +was mistaken, for Rodrigo was as keen, as much a Spaniard, and as much +devoted to the honour of his name as his father could be; and though he +looked upon Don John as the very ideal of what a soldier and a prince +should be, he would have cut off his own right hand rather than let it +give his leader the letter Dolores had been writing so long; and she +knew this and feared her brother, and tried to keep her secret from him. + +Inez knew all, and she also was afraid of Rodrigo and of her father, +both for her sister's sake and her own. So, in that divided house, the +father was against the son, and the daughters were allied against them +both, not in hatred, but in terror and because of Dolores' great love +for Don John of Austria. + +As they sat at the table it began to rain again, and the big drops beat +against the windows furiously for a few minutes. The panes were round +and heavy, and of a greenish yellow colour, made of blown glass, each +with a sort of knob in the middle, where the iron blowpipe had been +separated from the hot mass. It was impossible to see through them at +all distinctly, and when the sky was dark with rain they admitted only a +lurid glare into the room, which grew cold and colourless again when the +rain ceased. Inez had been sitting motionless a long time, her elbow on +the table, her chin resting upon her loosely clasped white hands, her +blind face turned upward, listening to the turning of the pages and to +the occasional scratching of her sister's pen. She sighed, moved, and +let her hands fall upon the table before her in a helpless, half +despairing way, as she leaned back in the big carved chair. Dolores +looked up at once, for she was used to helping her sister in her +slightest needs and to giving her a ready sympathy in every mood. + +"What is it?" she asked quickly. "Do you want anything, dear?" + +"Have you almost finished?" + +The girl's voice would almost have told that she was blind. It was sweet +and low, but it lacked life; though not weak, it was uncertain in +strength and full of a longing that could never be satisfied, but that +often seemed to come within possible reach of satisfaction. There was in +the tones, too, the perpetual doubt of one from whom anything might be +hidden by silence, or by the least tarn of words. Every passing hope and +fear, and every pleasure and pain, were translated into sound by its +quick changes. It trusted but could not always quite promise to believe; +it swelled and sank as the sensitive heart beat faster or slower. It +came from a world without light, in which only sound had meaning, and +only touch was certainty. + +"Yes," answered Dolores. "I have almost finished--there is only half a +page more to read over." + +"And why do you read it over?" asked Inez. "Do you change what you have +written? Do you not think now exactly as you did when you wrote?" + +"No; I feel a great deal more--I want better words! And then it all +seems so little, and so badly written, and I want to say things that no +one ever said before, many, many things. He will laugh--no, not that! +How could he? But my letter will seem childish to him. I know it will. I +wish I had never written it I Do you think I had better give it to him, +after all?" + +"How can I tell?" asked Inez hopelessly. "You have never read it to me. +I do not know what you have said to him." + +"I have said that I love him as no man was ever loved before," answered +Dolores, and the true words seemed to thrill with a life of their own as +she spoke them. + +Then she was silent for a moment, and looked down at the written pages +without seeing them. Inez did not move, and seemed hardly to breathe. +Then Dolores spoke again, pressing both her hands upon the paper before +her unconsciously. + +"I have told him that I love him, and shall love him for ever and ever," +she said; "that I will live for him, die for him, suffer for him, serve +him! I have told him all that and much more." + +"More? That is much already. But he loves you, too. There is nothing you +can promise which he will not promise, and keep, too, I think. But more! +What more can you have said than that?" + +"There is nothing I would not say if I could find words!" + +There was a fullness of life in her voice which, to the other's +uncertain tones, was as sunshine to moonlight. + +"You will find words when you see him this evening," said Inez slowly. +"And they will be better than anything you can write. Am I to give him +your letter?" + +Dolores looked at her sister quickly, for there was a little constraint +in the accent of the last phrase. + +"I do not know," she answered. "How can I tell what may happen, or how I +shall see him first?" + +"You will see him from the window presently. I can hear the guards +forming already to meet him--and you--you will be able to see him from +the window." + +Inez had stopped and had finished her speech, as if something had choked +her. She turned sideways in her chair when she had spoken, as if to +listen better, for she was seated with her back to the light. + +"I will tell you everything," said Maria Dolores softly. "It will be +almost as if you could see him, too." + +"Almost--" + +Inez spoke the one word and broke off abruptly, and rose from her chair. +In the familiar room she moved almost as securely as if she could see. +She went to the window and listened. Dolores came and stood beside her. + +"What is it, dear?" she asked. "What is the matter? What has hurt you? +Tell me!" + +"Nothing," answered the blind girl, "nothing, dear. I was thinking--how +lonely I shall be when you and he are married, and they send me to a +convent, or to our dismal old house in Valladolid." + +A faint colour came into her pale face, and feeling it she turned away +from Dolores; for she was not speaking the truth, or at least not half +of it all. + +"I will not let you go!" answered Dolores, putting one arm round her +sister's waist. "They shall never take you from me. And if in many years +from now we are married, you shall always be with us, and I will always +take care of you as I do now." + +Inez sighed and pressed her forehead and blind eyes to the cold window, +almost withdrawing herself from the pressure of Dolores' arm. Down below +there was tramping of heavy feet, as the companies of foot guards took +their places, marching across the broad space, in their wrought steel +caps and breastplates, carrying their tasselled halberds on their +shoulders. An officer's voice gave sharp commands. The gust that had +brought the rain had passed by, and a drizzling mist, caused by a sudden +chill, now completely obscured the window. + +"Can you see anything?" asked Inez suddenly, in a low voice. "I think I +hear trumpets far away." + +"I cannot see--there is mist on the glass, too. Do you hear the trumpets +clearly?" + +"I think I do. Yes--I hear them clearly now." She stopped. "He is +coming," she added under her breath. + +Dolores listened, but she had not the almost supernatural hearing of the +blind, and could distinguish nothing but the tramping of the soldiers +below, and her sister's irregular breathing beside her, as Inez held her +breath again and again in order to catch the very faint and distant +sound. + +"Open the window," she said almost sharply, "I know I hear the +trumpets." + +Her delicate fingers felt for the bolts with almost feverish anxiety. +Dolores helped her and opened the window wide. A strain of distant +clarions sounding a triumphant march came floating across the wet city. +Dolores started, and her face grew radiant, while her fresh lips opened +a little as if to drink in the sound with the wintry air. Beside her, +Inez grew slowly pale and held herself by the edge of the window frame, +gripping it hard, and neither of the two girls felt any sensation of +cold. Dolores' grey eyes grew wide and bright as she gazed fixedly +towards the city where the avenue that led to the palace began, but +Inez, bending a little, turned her ear in the same direction, as if she +could not bear to lose a single note of the music that told her how Don +John of Austria had come home in triumph, safe and whole, from his long +campaign in the south. + +Slowly it came nearer, strain upon strain, each more clear and loud and +full of rejoicing. At first only the high-pitched clarions had sent +their call to the window, but now the less shrill trumpets made rich +harmonies to the melody, and the deep bass horns gave the marching time +to the rest, in short full blasts that set the whole air shaking as with +little peak of thunder. Below, the mounted officers gave orders, +exchanged short phrases, cantered to their places, and came back again a +moment later to make some final arrangement--their splendid gold-inlaid +corslets and the rich caparisons of their horses looking like great +pieces of jewelry that moved hither and thither in the thin grey mist, +while the dark red and yellow uniforms of the household guards +surrounded the square on three sides with broad bands of colour. Dolores +could see her father, who commanded them and to whom the officers came +for orders, sitting motionless and erect on his big black horse--a stern +figure, with close-cut grey beard, clad all in black saving his heavily +gilded breastplate and the silk sash he wore across it from shoulder to +sword knot. She shrank back a little, for she would not have let him see +her looking down from an upper window to welcome the returning visitor. + +"What is it? Do you see him? Is he there?" Inez asked the questions in a +breath, as she heard her sister move. + +"No--our father is below on his horse. He must not see us." And she +moved further into the embrasure. + +"You will not be able to see," said Inez anxiously. "How can you tell +me--I mean, how can you see, where you are?" + +Dolores laughed softly, but her laugh trembled with the happiness that +was coming so soon. + +"Oh, I see very well," she answered. "The window is wide open, you +know." + +"Yes--I know." + +Inez leaned back against the wall beside the window, letting her hand +drop in a hopeless gesture. The sample answer had hurt her, who could +never see, by its mere thoughtlessness and by the joy that made her +sister's voice quaver. The music grew louder and louder, and now there +came with it the sound of a great multitude, cheering, singing the march +with the trumpets, shouting for Don John; and all at once as the throng +burst from the street to the open avenue the voices drowned the clarions +for a moment, and a vast cry of triumph filled the whole air. + +"He is there! He is there!" repeated Inez, leaning towards the window +and feeling for the stone sill. + +But Dolores could not hear for the shouting. The clouds had lifted to +the westward and northward; and as the afternoon sun sank lower they +broke away, and the level rays drank up the gloom of the wintry day in +an instant. Dolores stood motionless before the window, undazzled, like +a statue of ivory and gold in a stone niche. With the light, as the +advancing procession sent the people before it, the trumpets rang high +and clear again, and the bright breastplates of the trumpeters gleamed +like dancing fire before the lofty standard that swayed with the slow +pace of its bearer's horse. Brighter and nearer came the colours, the +blazing armour, the standard, the gorgeous procession of victorious +men-at-arms; louder and louder blew the trumpets, higher and higher the +clouds were lifted from the lowering sun. Half the people of Madrid went +before, the rest flocked behind, all cheering or singing or shouting. +The stream of colour and light became a river, the river a flood, and in +the high tide of a young victor's glory Don John of Austria rode onward +to the palace gate. The mounted trumpeters parted to each side before +him, and the standard-bearer ranged his horse to the left, opposite the +banner of the King, which held the right, and Don John, on a grey Arab +mare, stood out alone at the head of his men, saluting his royal brother +with lowered sword and bent head. A final blast from the trumpets +sounded full and high, and again and again the shout of the great throng +went up like thunder and echoed from the palace walls, as King Philip, +in his balcony above the gate, returned the salute with his hand, and +bent a little forward over the stone railing. + +Dolores de Mendoza forgot her father and all that he might say, and +stood at the open window, looking down. She had dreamed of this moment; +she had seen visions of it in the daytime; she had told herself again +and again what it would be, how it must be; but the reality was beyond +her dreams and her visions and her imaginings, for she had to the full +what few women have in any century, and what few have ever had in the +blush of maidenhood,--the sight of the man she loved, and who loved her +with all his heart, coming home in triumph from a hard-fought war, +himself the leader and the victor, himself in youth's first spring, the +young idol of a warlike nation, and the centre of military glory. + +When he had saluted the King he sat still a moment on his horse and +looked upward, as if unconsciously drawn by the eyes that, of all +others, welcomed him at that moment; and his own met them instantly and +smiled, though his face betrayed nothing. But old Mendoza, motionless in +his saddle, followed the look, and saw; and although he would have +praised the young leader with the best of his friends, and would have +fought under him and for him as well as the bravest, yet at that moment +he would gladly have seen Don John of Austria fall dead from his horse +before his eyes. + +Don John dismounted without haste, and advanced to the gate as the King +disappeared from the balcony above. He was of very graceful figure and +bearing, not short, but looking taller than he really was by the +perfection of his proportions. The short reddish brown hair grew close +and curling on his small head, but left the forehead high, while it set +off the clear skin and the mobile features. A very small moustache +shaded his lip without hiding the boyish mouth, and at that time he wore +no beard. The lips, indeed, smiled often, and the expression of the +mouth was rather careless and good-humoured than strong. The strength of +the face was in the clean-cut jaw, while its real expression was in the +deep-set, fiery blue eyes, that could turn angry and fierce at one +moment, and tender as a woman's the next. + +He wore without exaggeration the military dress of his time,--a +beautifully chiselled corslet inlaid with gold, black velvet sleeves, +loose breeches of velvet and silk, so short that they did not descend +half way to the knees, while his legs were covered by tight hose and +leather boots, made like gaiters to clasp from the knee to the ankle and +heel. Over his shoulder hung a short embroidered cloak, and his head +covering was a broad velvet cap, in which were fastened the black and +yellow plumes of the House of Austria. + +As he came near to the gate, many friends moved forward to greet him, +and he gave his hand to all, with a frank smile and words of greeting. +But old Mendoza did not dismount nor move his horse a step nearer. Don +John, looking round before he went in, saw the grim face, and waved his +hand to Dolores' father; but the old man pretended that he saw nothing, +and made no answering gesture. Some one in the crowd of courtiers +laughed lightly. Old Mendoza's face never changed; but his knees must +have pressed the saddle suddenly, for his black horse stirred uneasily, +and tried to rear a little. Don John stopped short, and his eyes +hardened and grew very light before the smile could fade from his lips, +while he tried to find the face of the man whose laugh he had heard. But +that was impossible, and his look was grave and stern as he went in +under the great gate, the multitude cheering after him. + +From her high window Dolores had seen and heard also, for she had +followed every movement he made and every change of his expression, and +had faithfully told her sister what she saw, until the laugh came, short +and light, but cutting. And Inez heard that, too, for she was leaning +far forward upon the broad stone sill to listen for the sound of Don +John's voice. She drew back with a springing movement, and a sort of cry +of pain. + +"Some one is laughing at me!" she cried. "Some one is laughing because I +am trying to see!" + +Instantly Dolores drew her sister to her, kissing her tenderly, and +soothing her as one does a frightened child. + +"No, dear, no! It was not that--I saw what it was. Nobody was looking at +you, my darling. Do you know why some one laughed? It hurt me, too. He +smiled and waved his hand to our father, who took no notice of him. The +laugh was for that--and for me, because the man knew well enough that +our father does not mean that we shall ever marry. Do you see, dear? It +was not meant for you." + +"Did he really look up at us when you said so?" asked Inez, in a +smothered voice. + +"Who? The man who laughed?" + +"No. I mean--" + +"Don John? Yes. He looked up to us and smiled--as he often does at +me--with his eyes only, while his face was quite grave. He is not +changed at all, except that he looks more determined, and handsomer, and +braver, and stronger than ever! He does each time I see him!" + +But Inez was not listening. + +"That was worth living for--worth being blind for," she said suddenly, +"to hear the people shout and cheer for him as he came along. You who +can see it all do not understand what the sound means to me. For a +moment--only for a moment--I saw light--I know I saw a bright light +before my eyes. I am not dreaming. It made my heart beat, and it made my +head dizzy. It must have been light. Do you think it could be, Dolores?" + +"I do not know, dear," answered the other gently. + +But as the day faded and they sat together in the early dusk, Dolores +looked long and thoughtfully at the blind face. Inez loved Don John, +though she did not know it, and without knowing it she had told her +sister. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +When Don John had disappeared within the palace the people lingered a +little while, hoping that something might happen which would be worth +seeing, and then, murmuring a little in perfectly unreasonable +disappointment, they slowly dispersed. After that old Mendoza gave his +orders to the officers of the guards, the men tramped away, one +detachment after another, in a regular order; the cavalry that had +ridden up with Don John wheeled at a signal from the trumpets, and began +to ride slowly back to the city, pressing hard upon the multitude, and +before it was quite dark the square before the palace was deserted +again. The sky had cleared, the pavement was dry again, and the full +moon was rising. Two tall sentinels with halberds paced silently up and +down in the shadow. + +Dolores and her sister were still sitting in the dark when the door +opened, and a grey-haired servant in red and yellow entered the room, +bearing two lighted wax candles in heavy bronze candlesticks, which he +set upon the table. A moment later he was followed by old Mendoza, still +in his breastplate, as he had dismounted, his great spurs jingling on +his heavy boots, and his long basket-hilted sword trailing on the marble +pavement. He was bareheaded now, and his short hair, smooth and +grizzled, covered his energetic head like a close-fitting skull cap of +iron-grey velvet. He stood still before the table, his bony right hand +resting upon it and holding both his long gloves. The candlelight shone +upward into his dark face, and gleamed yellow in his angry eyes. + +Both the girls rose instinctively as their father entered; but they +stood close together, their hands still linked as if to defend each +other from a common enemy, though the hard man would have given his life +for either of them at any moment since they had come into the world. +They knew it, and trembled. + +"You have made me the laughing-stock of the court," he began slowly, and +his voice shook with anger. "What have you to say in your defence?" + +He was speaking to Dolores, and she turned a little pale. There was +something so cruelly hard in his tone and bearing that she drew back a +little, not exactly in bodily fear, but as a brave man may draw back a +step when another suddenly draws a weapon upon him. Instantly Inez moved +forward, raising one white hand in protest, and turning her blind face +to her father's gleaming eyes. + +"I am not speaking to you," he said roughly, "but you," he went on, +addressing Dolores, and the heavy table shook under his hand. "What +devil possessed you that you should shame me and yourself, standing at +your window to smile at Don John, as if he were the Espadero at a bull +fight and you the beauty of the ring--with all Madrid there to look on, +from his Majesty the King to the beggar in the road? Have you no +modesty, no shame, no blood that can blush? And if not, have you not +even so much woman's sense as should tell you that you are ruining your +name and mine before the whole world?" + +"Father! For the sake of heaven do not say such words--you must not! You +shall not!" + +Dolores' face was quite white now, as she gently pushed Inez aside and +faced the angry man. The table was between them. + +"Have I said one word more than the very truth?" asked Mendoza. "Does +not the whole court know that you love Don John of Austria--" + +"Let the whole world know it!" cried the girl bravely. "Am I ashamed to +love the best and bravest man that breathes?" + +"Let the whole world know that you are willing to be his toy, his +plaything--" + +"His wife, sir!" Dolores' voice was steady and clear as she interrupted +her father. "His wife," she repeated proudly; "And to-morrow, if you and +the King will not hinder us. God made you my father, but neither God nor +man has given you the right to insult me, and you shall not be +unanswered, so long as I have strength and breath to speak. But for you, +I should be Don John of Austria's wife to-day--and then, then his 'toy,' +his 'plaything'--yes, and his slave and his servant--what you will! I +love him, and I would work for him with my hands, as I would give my +blood and my life for his, if God would grant me that happiness and +grace, since you will not let me be his wife!" + +"His wife!" exclaimed Mendoza, with a savage sneer. "His wife--to be +married to-day and cast off to-morrow by a turn of the pen and the +twisting of a word that would prove your marriage void, in order that +Don John may be made the husband of some royal widowed lady, like Queen +Mary of the Scots! His wife!" He laughed bitterly. + +"You have an exalted opinion of your King, my father, since you suppose +that he would permit such deeds in Spain!" + +Dolores had drawn herself up to her full height as she spoke, and she +remained motionless as she awaited the answer to what she had said. It +was long in coming, though Mendoza's dark eyes met hers unflinchingly, +and his lips moved more than once as if he were about to speak. She had +struck a blow that was hard to parry, and she knew it. Inez stood beside +her, silent and breathing hard as she listened. + +"You think that I have nothing to say," he began at last, and his tone +had changed and was more calm. "You are right, perhaps. What should I +say to you, since you have lost all sense of shame and all thought of +respect or obedience? Do you expect that I shall argue with you, and try +to convince you that I am right, instead of forcing you to respect me +and yourself? Thank Heaven, I have never yet questioned my King's +thoughts, nor his motives, nor his supreme right to do whatsoever may be +for the honour and glory of Spain. My life is his, and all I have is +his, to do with it all as he pleases, by grace of his divine right. That +is my creed and my law--and if I have failed to bring you up in the same +belief, I have committed a great sin, and it will be counted against me +hereafter, though I have done what I could, to the best of my +knowledge." + +Mendoza lifted his sheathed sword and laid his right hand upon the +cross-bar of the basket hilt. + +"God--the King--Spain!" he said solemnly, as he pressed his lips to it +once for each article of his faith. + +"I do not wish to shake your belief," said Dolores coldly. "I daresay +that is impossible!" + +"As impossible as it is to make me change my determination," answered +Mendoza, letting his long sword rest on the pavement again. + +"And what may your determination be?" asked the girl, still facing him. + +Something in his face forewarned her of near evil and danger, as he +looked at her long without answering. She moved a little, so as to stand +directly in front of Inez. Taking an attitude that was almost defiant, +she began to speak rapidly, holding her hands behind her and pressing +herself back against her sister to attract the latter's attention; and +in her hand she held the letter she had written to Don John, folded into +the smallest possible space, for she had kept it ready in the wrist of +her tight sleeve, not knowing what might happen any moment to give her +an opportunity of sending it. + +"What have you determined?" she asked again, and then went on without +waiting for a reply. "In what way are you going to exhibit your power +over me? Do you mean to take me away from the court to live in +Valladolid again? Are you going to put me in the charge of some sour old +woman who will never let me out of her sight from morning till morning?" +She had found her sister's hand behind hers and had thrust the letter +into the fingers that closed quickly upon it. Then she laughed a little, +almost gaily. "Do you think that a score of sour old duennas could teach +me to forget the man I love, or could prevent me from sending him a +message every day if I chose? Do you think you could hinder Don John of +Austria, who came back an hour ago from his victory the idol of all +Spain, the favourite of the people--brave, young, powerful, rich, +popular, beloved far more than the King himself, from seeing me every +day if he chose, so long as he were not away in war? And then--I will +ask you something more--do you think that father, or mother, or king, or +law, or country has power to will away the love of a woman who loves +with all her heart and soul and strength? Then answer me and tell me +what you have determined to do with me, and I will tell you my +determination, too, for I have one of my own, and shall abide by it, +come what may, and whatsoever you may do!" + +She paused, for she had heard Inez softly close the door as she went +out. The letter at least was safe, and if it were humanly possible, Inez +would find a means of delivering it; for she had all that strange +ingenuity of the blind in escaping observation which it seems impossible +that they should possess, but of which every one who has been much with +them is fully aware. Mendoza had seen Inez go out, and was glad that she +was gone, for her blind face sometimes disturbed him when he wished to +assert his authority. + +"Yes," he said, "I will tell you what I mean to do, and it is the only +thing left to me, for you have given me no choice. You are disobedient +and unruly, you have lost what little respect you ever had--or +showed--for me. But that is not all. Men have had unruly daughters +before, and yet have married them well, and to men who in the end have +ruled them. I do not speak of my affection for you both, since you have +none for me. But now, you are going beyond disobedience and lawlessness, +for you are ruining yourself and disgracing me, and I will neither +permit the one nor suffer the other." His voice rose harshly. "Do you +understand me? I intend to protect my name from you, and yours from the +world, in the only way possible. I intend to send you to Las Huelgas +to-morrow morning. I am in earnest, and unless you consent to give up +this folly and to marry as I wish, you shall stay there for the rest of +your natural life. Do you understand? And until to-morrow morning you +shall stay within these doors. We shall see whether Don John of Austria +will try to force my dwelling first and a convent of holy nuns +afterwards. You will be safe from him, I give you my word of +honour,--the word of a Spanish gentleman and of your father. You shall +be safe forever. And if Don John tries to enter here to-night, I will +kill him on the threshold. I swear that I will." + +He ceased speaking, turned, and began to walk up and down the small +room, his spurs and sword clanking heavily at every step. He had folded +his arms, and his head was bent low. + +A look of horror and fear had slowly risen in Dolores' face, for she +knew her father, and that he kept his word at every risk. She knew also +that the King held him in very high esteem, and was as firmly opposed to +her marriage as Mendoza himself, and therefore ready to help him to do +what he wished. It had never occurred to her that she could be suddenly +thrust out of sight in a religious institution, to be kept there at her +father's pleasure, even for her whole life. She was too young and too +full of life to have thought of such a possibility. She had indeed heard +that such things could be done, and had been done, but she had never +known such a case, and had never realized that she was so completely at +her father's mercy. For the first time in her life she felt real fear, +and as it fell upon her there came the sickening conviction that she +could not resist it, that her spirit was broken all at once, that in a +moment more she would throw herself at her father's feet and implore +mercy, making whatever promise he exacted, yet making it falsely, out of +sheer terror, in an utter degradation and abasement of all moral +strength, of which she had never even dreamed. She grew giddy as she +felt it coming upon her, and the lights of the two candles moved +strangely. Already she saw herself on her knees, sobbing with fear, +trying to take her father's hand, begging forgiveness, denying her love, +vowing submission and dutiful obedience in an agony of terror. For on +the other side she saw the dark corridors and gloomy cells of Las +Huelgas, the veiled and silent nuns, the abomination of despair that was +before her till she should die and escape at last,--the faint hope which +would always prevent her from taking the veil herself, yet a hope +fainter and fainter, crossed by the frightful uncertainty in which she +should be kept by those who guarded her. They would not even tell her +whether the man she loved were alive or dead, she could never know +whether he had given up her love, himself in despair, or whether, then, +as years went by, he would not lose the thread that took him back to the +memory of her, and forget--and love again. + +But then her strong nature rose again, and the vision of fear began to +fade as her faith in his love denied the last thought with scorn. Many a +time, when words could tell no more, and seemed exhausted just when +trust was strongest, he had simply said, "I love you, as you love me," +and somehow the little phrase meant all, and far more than the tender +speeches that sometimes formed themselves so gracefully, and yet +naturally and simply, because they, too, came straight from the heart. +So now, in her extreme need, the plain words came back to her in his +voice, "I love you, as you love me," with a sudden strength of faith in +him that made her live again, and made fear seem impossible. While her +father slowly paced the floor in silence, she thought what she should +do, and whether there could be anything which she would not do, if Don +John of Austria were kept a prisoner from her; and she felt sure that +she could overcome every obstacle and laugh at every danger, for the +hope of getting to him. If she would, so would he, since he loved her as +she loved him. But for all the world, he would not have her throw +herself upon her father's mercy and make false promises and sob out +denials of her love, out of fear. Death would be better than that. + +"Do as you will with me, since you have the power," she said at last, +quite calmly and steadily. + +Instantly the old man stopped in his walk, and turned towards her, +almost as if he himself were afraid now. To her amazement she saw that +his dark eyes were moist with tears that clung but half shed to the +rugged lids and rough lashes. He did not speak for some moments, while +she gazed at him in wonder, for she could not understand. Then all at +once he lifted his brown hands and covered his face with a gesture of +utter despair. + +"Dolores! My child, my little girl!" he cried, in a broken voice. + +Then he sat down, as it overcome, clasped his hands on the hilt of his +sword, and rested his forehead against them, rocking himself with a +barely perceptible motion. In twenty years, Dolores had never +understood, not even guessed, that the hard man, ever preaching of +wholesome duty and strict obedience, always rebuking, never satisfied, +ill pleased almost always, loved her with all his heart, and looked upon +her as the very jewel of his soul. She guessed it now, in a sudden burst +of understanding; but it was so new, so strange, that she could not have +told what she felt. There was at best no triumph at the thought that, of +the two, he had broken down first in the contest. Pity came first, +womanly, simple and kind, for the harsh nature that was so wounded at +last. She came to his side, and laid one hand upon his shoulder, +speaking softly. + +"I am very, very sorry that I have hurt you," she said, and waited for +him to speak, pressing his shoulder with a gentle touch. + +He did not look up, and still he rocked himself gently, leaning on his +sword. The girl suffered, too, to see him suffering so. A little while +ago he had been hard, fierce, angry, cruel, threatening her with a +living death that had filled her with horror. It had seemed quite +impossible that there could be the least tenderness in him for any +one--least of all for her. + +"God be merciful to me," he said at length in very low tones. "God +forgive me if it is my fault--you do not love me--I am nothing to you +but an unkind old man, and you are all the world to me, child!" + +He raised his head slowly and looked into her face. She was startled at +the change in his own, as well as deeply touched by what he said. His +dark cheeks had grown grey, and the tears that would not quite fall were +like a glistening mist under the lids, and almost made him look +sightless. Indeed, he scarcely saw her distinctly. His clasped hands +trembled a little on the hilt of the sword he still held. + +"How could I know?" cried Dolores, suddenly kneeling down beside him. +"How could I guess? You never let me see that you were fond of me--or I +have been blind all these years--" + +"Hush, child!" he said. "Do not hurt me any more--it must have been my +fault." + +He grew more calm, and though his face was very grave and sad, the +natural dark colour was slowly coming back to it now, and his hands were +steady again. The girl was too young, and far too different from him, to +understand his nature, but she was fast realizing that he was not the +man he had always seemed to her. + +"Oh, if I had only known!" she cried, in deep distress. "If I had only +guessed, I would have been so different! I was always frightened, always +afraid of you, since I can remember--I thought you did not care for us +and that we always displeased you--how could we know?" + +Mendoza lifted one of his hands from the sword hilt, and took hers, with +as much gentleness as was possible to him. His eyes became clear again, +and the profound emotion he had shown subsided to the depths whence it +had risen. + +"We shall never quite understand each other," he said quietly. "You +cannot see that it is a man's duty to do what is right for his children, +rather than to sacrifice that in order to make them love him." + +It seemed to Dolores that there might be a way open between the two, but +she said nothing, and left her hand in his, glad that he was kind, but +feeling, as he felt, that there could never be any real understanding +between them. The breach had existed too long, and it was far too wide. + +"You are headstrong, my dear," he said, nodding at each word. "You are +very headstrong, if you will only reflect." + +"It is not my head, it is my heart," answered Dolores. "And besides," +she added with a smile, "I am your daughter, and you are not of a very +gentle and yielding disposition, are you?" + +"No," he answered with hesitation, "perhaps not." Then his face relaxed +a little, and he almost smiled too. + +It seemed as if the peace were made and as if thereafter there need not +be trouble again. But it was even then not far off, for it was as +impossible for Mendoza to yield as it would have been for Dolores to +give up her love for Don John. She did not see this, and she fancied +that a real change had taken place in his disposition, so that he would +forget that he had threatened to send her to Las Huelgas, and not think +of it again. + +"What is done cannot be undone," he said, with renewed sadness. "You +will never quite believe that you have been everything to me during your +life. How could you not be, my child? I am very lonely. Your mother has +been dead nearly eighteen years, and Rodrigo--" + +He stopped short suddenly, for he had never spoken his son's name in the +girl's hearing since Rodrigo had left him to follow his own fortunes. + +"I think Rodrigo broke my heart," said the old man, after a short pause, +controlling his voice so that it sounded dry and indifferent. "And if +there is anything left of it, you will break the rest." + +He rose, taking his hand from hers, and turning away, with the roughness +of a strong, hard man, who has broken down once under great emotion and +is capable of any harshness in his fear of yielding to it again. Dolores +started slightly and drew back. In her the kindly impression was still +strong, but his tone and manner wounded her. + +"You are wrong," she said earnestly. "Since you have shown me that you +love me, I will indeed do my best not to hurt you or displease you. I +will do what I can--what I can." + +She repeated the last words slowly and with unconscious emphasis. He +turned his face to her again instantly. + +"Then promise me that you will never see Don John of Austria again, that +you will forget that you ever loved him, that you will put him +altogether out of your thoughts, and that you will obediently accept the +marriage I shall make for you." + +The words of refusal to any such obedience as that rose to the girl's +lips, ready and sharp. But she would not speak them this time, lest more +angry words should answer hers. She looked straight at her father's +eyes, holding her head proudly high for a moment. Then, smiling at the +impossibility of what he asked, she turned from him and went to the +window in silence. She opened it wide, leaned upon the stone sill and +looked out. The moon had risen much higher now, and the court was white. + +She had meant to cut short the discussion without rousing anger again, +but she could have taken no worse way to destroy whatever was left of +her father's kindlier mood. He did not raise his voice now, as he +followed her and spoke. + +"You refuse to do that?" he said, with an already ominous interrogation +in his tone. + +"You ask the impossible," she answered, without looking round. "I have +not refused, for I have no will in this, no choice. You can do what you +please with me, for you have power over my outward life--and if you +lacked it, the King would help you. But you have no power beyond that, +neither over my heart nor over my soul. I love him--I have loved him +long, and I shall love him till I die, and beyond that, forever and +ever, beyond everything--beyond the great to-morrow of God's last +judgment! How can I put him out of my thoughts, then? It is madness to +ask it of me." + +She paused a moment, while he stood behind her, getting his teeth and +slowly grinding the heel of one heavy boot on the pavement. + +"And as for threatening me," she continued, "you will not kill Don John, +nor even try to kill him, for he is the King's brother. If I can see him +this evening, I will--and there will be no risk for him. You would not +murder him by stealth, I suppose? No! Then you will not attack him at +all, and if I can see him, I will--I tell you so, frankly. To-morrow or +the next day, when the festivities they have for him are over, and you +yourself are at liberty, take me to Las Huelgas, if you will, and with +as little scandal as possible. But when I am there, set a strong guard +of armed men to keep me, for I shall escape unless you do. And I shall +go to Don John. That is all I have to say. That is my last word." + +"I gave you mine, and it was my word of honour," said Mendoza. "If Don +John tries to enter here, to see you, I will kill him. To-morrow, you +shall go to Las Huelgas." + +Dolores made no answer and did not even turn her head. He left her and +went out. She heard his heavy tread in the hall beyond, and she heard a +bolt slipped at the further door. She was imprisoned for the night, for +the entrance her father had fastened was the one which cut off the +portion of the apartment in which the sisters lived from the smaller +part which he had reserved for himself. These rooms, from which there +was no other exit, opened, like the sitting-room, upon the same hall. + +When Dolores knew that she was alone, she drew back from the window and +shut it. It had served its purpose as a sort of refuge from her father, +and the night air was cold. She sat down to think, and being in a +somewhat desperate mood, she smiled at the idea of being locked into her +room, supperless, like a naughty child. But her face grew grave +instantly as she tried to discover some means of escape. Inez was +certainly not in the apartment--she must have gone to the other end of +the palace, on pretence of seeing one of the court ladies, but really in +the hope of giving Don John the letter. It was more than probable that +she would not be allowed to enter when she came back, for Mendoza would +distrust her. That meant that Dolores could have no communication with +any one outside her rooms during the evening and night, and she knew her +father too well to doubt that he would send her to Las Huelgas in the +morning, as he had sworn to do. Possibly he would let her serving-woman +come to her to prepare what she needed for the journey, but even that +was unlikely, for he would suspect everybody. + +The situation looked hopeless, and the girl's face grew slowly pale as +she realized that after all she might not even exchange a word with Don +John before going to the convent--she might not even be able to tell him +whither they were sending her, and Mendoza might keep the secret for +years--and she would never be allowed to write, of course. + +She heard the further door opened again, the bolt running back with a +sharp noise. Then she heard her father's footsteps and his voice calling +to Inez, as he went from room to room. But there was no answer, and +presently he went away, bolting the door a second time. There could be +no more doubt about it now. Dolores was quite alone. Her heart beat +heavily and slowly. But it was not over yet. Again the bolt slipped in +the outer hall, and again she heard the heavy steps. They came straight +towards the door. He had perhaps changed his mind, or he had something +more to say; she held her breath, but he did not come in. As if to make +doubly sure, he bolted her into the little room, crossed the hall a last +time, and bolted it for the night, perfectly certain that Dolores was +safely shut off from the outer world. + +For some minutes she sat quite still, profoundly disturbed, and utterly +unable to find any way out of her difficulty, which was, indeed, that +she was in a very secure prison. + +Then again there was a sound at the door, but very soft this time, not +half as loud in her ears as the beating of her own heart. There was +something ghostly in it, for she had heard no footsteps. The bolt moved +very slowly and gently--she had to strain her ears to hear it move. The +sound ceased, and another followed it--that of the door being cautiously +opened. A moment later Inez was in the room--turning her head anxiously +from side to side to hear Dolores' breathing, and so to find out where +she was. Then as Dolores rose, the blind girl put her finger to her +lips, and felt for her sister's hand. + +"He has the letter," she whispered quickly. "I found him by accident, +very quickly. I am to say to you that after he has been some time in the +great hall, he will slip away and come here. You see our father will be +on duty and cannot come up." + +Dolores' hand trembled violently. + +"He swore to me that he would kill Don John if he came here," she +whispered. "He will do it, if it costs his own life! You must find him +again--go quickly, dear, for the love of Heaven!" Her anxiety increased. +"Go--go, darling--do not lose a moment--he may come sooner--save him, +save him!" + +"I cannot go," answered Inez, in terror, as she understood the +situation. "I had hidden myself, and I am locked in with you. He called +me, but I kept quiet, for I knew he would not let me stay." She buried +her face in her hands and sobbed aloud in an agony of fear. + +Dolores' lips were white, and she steadied herself against a chair. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Dolores stood leaning against the back of the chair, neither hearing nor +seeing her sister, conscious only that Don John was in danger and that +she could not warn him to be on his guard. She had not believed herself +when she had told her father that he would not dare to lift his hand +against the King's half brother. She had said the words to give herself +courage, and perhaps in a rush of certainty that the man she loved was a +match for other men, hand to hand, and something more. It was different +now. Little as she yet knew of human nature, she guessed without +reasoning that a man who has been angry, who has wavered and given way +to what he believes to be weakness, and whose anger has then burst out +again, is much more dangerous than before, because his wrath is no +longer roused against another only, but also against himself. More +follies and crimes have been committed in that second tide of passion +than under a first impulse. Even if Mendoza had not fully meant what he +had said the first time, he had meant it all, and more, when he had last +spoken. Once more the vision of fear rose before Dolores' eyes, nobler +now; because it was fear for another and not for herself, but therefore +also harder to conquer. + +Inez had ceased from sobbing now, and was sitting quietly in her +accustomed seat, in that attitude of concentrated expectancy of sounds +which is so natural to the blind, that one can almost recognize +blindness by the position of the head and body without seeing the face. +The blind rarely lean back in a chair; more often the body is quite +upright, or bent a little forward, the face is slightly turned up when +there is total silence, often turned down when a sound is already heard +distinctly; the knees are hardly ever crossed, the hands are seldom +folded together, but are generally spread out, as if ready to help the +hearing by the sense of touch--the lips are slightly parted, for the +blind know that they hear by the mouth as well as with their ears--the +expression of the face is one of expectation and extreme attention, +still, not placid, calm, but the very contrary of indifferent. It was +thus that Inez sat, as she often sat for hours, listening, always and +forever listening to the speech of things and of nature, as well as for +human words. And in listening, she thought and reasoned patiently and +continually, so that the slightest sounds had often long and accurate +meanings for her. The deaf reason little or ill, and are very +suspicious; the blind, on the contrary, are keen, thoughtful, and +ingenious, and are distrustful of themselves rather than of others. Inez +sat quite still, listening, thinking, and planning a means of helping +her sister. + +But Dolores stood motionless as if she were paralyzed, watching the +picture that «he could not chase away. For she saw the familiar figure +of the man she loved coming down the gloomy corridor, alone and unarmed, +past the deep embrasures through which the moonlight streamed, straight +towards the oak door at the end; and then, from one of the windows +another figure stood out, sword in hand, a gaunt man with a grey beard, +and there were few words, and an uncertain quick confounding of shadows +with a ray of cold light darting hither and thither, then a fall, and +then stillness. As soon as it was over, it began again, with little +change, save that it grew more distinct, till she could see Don John's +white face in the moonlight as he lay dead on the pavement of the +corridor. + +It became intolerable at last, and she slowly raised one hand and +covered her eyes to shut out the sight. + +"Listen," said Inez, as Dolores stirred. "I have been thinking. You must +see him to-night, even if you are not alone with him. There is only one +way to do that; you must dress yourself for the court and go down to the +great hall with the others and speak to him--then you can decide how to +meet to-morrow." + +"Inez--I have not told you the rest! To-morrow I am to be sent to Las +Huelgas, and kept there like a prisoner." Inez uttered a low cry of +pain. + +"To a convent!" It seemed like death. + +Dolores began to tell her all Mendoza had said, but Inez soon +interrupted her. There was a dark flush in the blind girl's face. + +"And he would have you believe that he loves you?" she cried +indignantly. "He has always been hard, and cruel, and unkind, he has +never forgiven me for being blind---he will never forgive you for being +young! The King! The King before everything and every one--before +himself, yes, that is well, but before his children, his soul, his +heart--he has no heart! What am I saying--" She stopped short. + +"And yet, in his strange way, he loves us both," said Dolores. "I cannot +understand it, but I saw his face when there were tears in his eyes, and +I heard his voice. He would give his life for us." + +"And our lives, and hearts, and hopes to feed his conscience and to save +his own soul!" + +Inez was trembling with anger, leaning far forward, her face flushed, +one slight hand clenched, the other clenching it hard. Dolores was +silent. It was not the first time that Inez had spoken in this way, for +the blind girl could be suddenly and violently angry for a good cause. +But now her tone changed. + +"I will save you," she said suddenly, "but there is no time to be lost. +He will not come back to our rooms now, and he knows well enough that +Don John cannot come here at this hour, so that he is not waiting for +him. We have this part of the place to ourselves, and the outer door +only is bolted now. It will take you an hour to dress--say +three-quarters of an hour. As soon as you get out, you must go quickly +round the palace to the Duchess Alvarez. Our father will not go there, +and you can go down with her, as usual--but tell her nothing. Our father +will be there, and he will see you, but he will not care to make an open +scandal in the court. Don John will come and speak to you; you must stay +beside the Duchess of course--but you can manage to exchange a few +words." + +Dolores listened intently, and her face brightened a little as Inez went +on, only to grow sad and hopeless again a moment later. It was all an +impossible dream. + +"That would be possible if I could once get beyond the door of the +hall," she said despondently. "It is of no use, dear! The door is +bolted." + +"They will open it for me. Old Eudaldo is always within hearing, and he +will do anything for me. Besides, I shall seem to have been shut in by +mistake, do you see? I shall say that I am hungry, thirsty, that I am +cold, that in locking you in our father locked me in, too, because I was +asleep. Then Eudaldo will open the door for me. I shall say that I am +going to the Duchess's." + +"Yes--but then?" + +"You will cover yourself entirely with my black cloak and draw it over +your head and face. We are of the same height--you only need to walk as +I do--as if you were blind--across the hall to the left. Eudaldo will +open the outer door for you. You will just nod to thank him, without +speaking, and when you are outside, touch the wall of the corridor with +your left hand, and keep close to it. I always do, for fear of running +against some one. If you meet any of the women, they will take you for +me. There is never much light in the corridor, is there? There is one +oil lamp half way down, I know, for I always smell it when I pass in the +evening." + +"Yes, it is almost dark there--it is a little lamp. Do you really think +this is possible?" + +"It is possible, not sure. If you hear footsteps in the corridor beyond +the corner, you will have time to slip into one of the embrasures. But +our father will not come now. He knows that Don John is in his own +apartments with many people. And besides, it is to be a great festival +to-night, and all the court people and officers, and the Archbishop, and +all the rest who do not live in the palace will come from the city, so +that our father will have to command the troops and give orders for the +guards to march out, and a thousand things will take his time. Don John +cannot possibly come here till after the royal supper, and if our father +can come away at all, it will be at the same time. That is the danger." + +Dolores shivered and saw the vision in the corridor again. + +"But if you are seen talking with Don John before supper, no one will +suppose that in order to meet him you would risk coming back here, where +you are sure to be caught and locked up again. Do you see?" + +"It all depends upon whether I can get out," answered Dolores, but there +was more hope in her tone. "How am I to dress without a maid?" she asked +suddenly. + +"Trust me," said Inez, with a laugh. "My hands are better than a +serving-woman's eyes. You shall look as you never looked before. I know +every lock of your hair, and just how it should be turned and curled and +fastened in place so that it cannot possibly get loose. Come, we are +wasting time. Take off your slippers as I have done, so that no one +shall hear us walking through the hall to your room, and bring the +candles with you if you choose--yes, you need them to pick out the +colours you like." + +"If you think it will be safer in the dark, it does not matter," said +Dolores. "I know where everything is." + +"It would be safer," answered Inez thoughtfully. "It is just possible +that he might be in the court and might see the light in your window, +whereas if it burns here steadily, he will suspect nothing. We will bolt +the door of this room, as I found it. If by any possibility he comes +back, he will think you are still here, and will probably not come in." + +"Pray Heaven he may not!" exclaimed Dolores, and she began to go towards +the door. + +Inez was there before her, opening it very cautiously. + +"My hands are lighter than yours," she whispered. + +They both passed out, and Inez slipped the bolt back into its place with +infinite precaution. + +"Is there light here?" she asked under her breath. + +"There is a very small lamp on the table. I can just see my door." + +"Put it out as we pass," whispered Inez. "I will lead you if you cannot +find your way." + +They moved cautiously forward, and when they reached the table, Dolores +bent down to the small wick and blew out the flame. Then she felt her +sister's hand taking hers and leading her quickly to the other door. The +blind girl was absolutely noiseless in her movements, and Dolores had +the strange impression that she was being led by a spirit through the +darkness. Inez stopped a moment, and then went slowly on; they had +entered the room though Dolores had not heard the door move, nor did she +hear it closed behind her again. Her own room was perfectly dark, for +the heavy curtain that covered the window was drawn; she made a step +alone, and cautiously, and struck her knee against a chair. + +"Do not move," whispered Inez. "You will make a noise. I can dress you +where you stand, or if you want to find anything, I will lead you to the +place where it is. Remember that it is always day for me." + +Dolores obeyed, and stood still, holding her breath a little in her +intense excitement. It seemed impossible that Inez could do all she +promised without making a mistake, and Dolores would not have been a +woman had she not been visited just then by visions of ridicule. Without +light she was utterly helpless to do anything for herself, and she had +never before then fully realized the enormous misfortune with which her +sister had to contend. She had not guessed, either, what energy and +quickness of thought Inez possessed, and the sensation of being advised, +guided, and helped by one she had always herself helped and protected +was new. + +They spoke in quick whispers of what she was to wear and of how her hair +was to be dressed, and Inez found what was wanted without noise, and +almost as quickly as Dolores could have done in broad daylight, and +placed a chair for her, making her sit down in it, and began to arrange +her hair quickly and skilfully. Dolores felt the spiritlike hands +touching her lightly and deftly in the dark--they were very slight and +soft, and did not offend her with a rough movement or a wrong turn, as +her maid's sometimes did. She felt her golden hair undone, and swiftly +drawn out and smoothed without catching, or tangling, or hurting her at +all, in a way no woman had ever combed it, and the invisible hands +gently divided it, and turned it upon her head, slipping the hairpins +into the right places as if by magic, so that they were firm at the +first trial, and there was a faint sound of little pearls tapping each +other, and Dolores felt the small string laid upon her hair and fastened +in its place,--the only ornament a young girl could wear for a +headdress,--and presently it was finished, and Inez gave a sigh of +satisfaction at her work, and lightly felt her sister's head here and +there to be sure that all was right. It felt as if soft little birds +were just touching the hair with the tips of their wings as they +fluttered round it. Dolores had no longer any fear of looking ill +dressed in the blaze of light she was to face before long. The dressing +of her hair was the most troublesome part, she knew, and though she +could not have done it herself, she had felt that every touch and turn +had been perfectly skilful. + +"What a wonderful creature you are!" she whispered, as Inez bade her +stand up. + +"You have beautiful hair," answered the blind girl, "and you are +beautiful in other ways, but to-night you must be the most beautiful of +all the court, for his sake--so that every woman may envy you, and every +man envy him, when they see you talking together. And now we must be +quick, for it has taken a long time, and I hear the soldiers marching +out again to form in the square. That is always just an hour and a half +before the King goes into the hall. Here--this is the front of the +skirt." + +"No--it is the back!" + +Inez laughed softly, a whispering laugh that Dolores could scarcely +hear. + +"It is the front," she said. "You can trust me in the dark. Put your +arms down, and let me slip it over your head so as not to touch your +hair. No---hold your arms down!" + +Dolores had instinctively lifted her hands to protect her headdress. +Then all went quickly, the silence only broken by an occasional +whispered word and by the rustle of silk, the long soft sound of the +lacing as Inez drew it through the eyelets of the bodice, the light +tapping of her hands upon the folds and gatherings of the skirt and on +the puffed velvet on the shoulders and elbows. + +"You must be beautiful, perfectly beautiful to-night," Inez repeated +more than once. + +She herself did not understand why she said it, unless it were that +Dolores' beauty was for Don John of Austria, and that nothing in the +whole world could be too perfect for him, for the hero of her thoughts, +the sun of her blindness, the immeasurably far-removed deity of her +heart. She did not know that it was not for her sister's sake, but for +his, that she had planned the escape and was taking such infinite pains +that Dolores might look her best. Yet she felt a deep and delicious +delight in what she did, like nothing she had ever felt before, for it +was the first time in her life that she had been able to do something +that could give him pleasure; and, behind that, there was the belief +that he was in danger, that she could no longer go to him nor warn him +now, and that only Dolores herself could hinder him from coming +unexpectedly against old Mendoza, sword in hand, in the corridor. + +"And now my cloak over everything," she said. "Wait here, for I must get +it, and do not move!" + +Dolores hardly knew whether Inez left the room or not, so noiselessly +did the girl move. Then she felt the cloak laid upon her shoulders and +drawn close round her to hide her dress, for skirts were short in those +days and easily hidden. Inez laid a soft silk handkerchief upon her +sister's hair, lest it should be disarranged by the hood which she +lightly drew over all, assuring herself that it would sufficiently hide +the face. + +"Now come with me," she whispered. I will lead you to the door that is +bolted and place you just where it will open. Then I will call Eudaldo +and speak to him, and beg him to let me out. If he does, bend your head +and try to walk as I do. I shall be on one side of the door, and, as the +room is dark, he cannot possibly see me. While he is opening the outer +door for you, I will slip back into my own room. Do you understand? And +remember to hide in an embrasure if you hear a man's footsteps. Are you +quite sure you understand?" + +"Yes; it will be easy if Eudaldo opens. And I thank you, dear; I wish I +knew how to thank you as I ought! It may have saved his life--" + +"And yours, too, perhaps," answered Inez, beginning to lead her away. +"You would die in the convent, and you must not come back--you must +never come back to us here--never till you are married. Good-by, +Dolores--dear sister. I have done nothing, and you have done everything +for me all your life. Good-by--one kiss--then we must go, for it is +late." + +With her soft hands she drew Dolores' head towards her, lifted the hood +a little, and kissed her tenderly. All at once there were tears on both +their faces, and the arms of each clasped the other almost desperately. + +"You must come to me, wherever I am," Dolores said. + +"Yes, I will come, wherever you are. I promise it." + +Then she disengaged herself quickly, and more than ever she seemed a +spirit as she went before, leading her sister by the hand. They reached +the door, and she made Dolores stand before the right hand panel, ready +to slip out, and once more she touched the hood to be sure it hid the +face. She listened a moment. A harsh and regular sound came from a +distance, resembling that made by a pit-saw steadily grinding its way +lengthwise through a log of soft pine wood. + +"Eudaldo is asleep," said Inez, and even at this moment she could hardly +suppress a half-hysterical laugh. "I shall have to make a tremendous +noise to wake him. The danger is that it may bring some one else,---the +women, the rest of the servants." + +"What shall we do?" asked Dolores, in a distressed whisper. + +She had braced her nerves to act the part of her sister at the dangerous +moment, and her excitement made every instant of waiting seem ten times +its length. Inez did not answer the question at once. Dolores repeated +it still more anxiously. + +"I was trying to make up my mind," said the other at last. "You could +pass Eudaldo well enough, I am sure, but it might be another matter if +the hall were full of servants, as it is certain that our father has +given a general order that you are not to be allowed to go out. We may +wait an hour for the man to wake." + +Dolores instinctively tried the door, but it was solidly fastened from +the outside. She felt hot and cold by turns as her anxiety grew more +intolerable. Each minute made it more possible that she might meet her +father somewhere outside. + +"We must decide something!" she whispered desperately. "We cannot wait +here." + +"I do not know what to do," answered Inez. "I have done all I can; I +never dreamt that Eudaldo would be asleep. At least, it is a sure sign +that our father is not in the house." + +"But he may come at any moment! We must, we must do something at once!" + +"I will knock softly," said Inez. "Any one who hears it will suppose it +is a knock at the hall door. If he does not open, some one will go and +wake him up, and then go away again so as not to be seen." + +She clenched her small hand, and knocked three times. Such a sound could +make not the slightest impression upon Eudaldo's sound sleep, but her +reasoning was good, as well as ingenious. After waiting a few moments, +she knocked again, more loudly. Dolores held her breath in the silence +that followed. Presently a door was opened, and a woman's voice was +heard, low but sharp. + +"Eudaldo, Eudaldo! Some one is knocking at the front door!" + +The woman probably shook the old man to rouse him, for his voice came +next, growling and angry. + +"Witch! Hag! Mother of malefactors! Let me alone--I am asleep. Are you +trying to tear my sleeve off with your greasy claws? Nobody is knocking; +you probably hear the wine thumping in your ears!" + +The woman, who was the drudge and had been cleaning the kitchen, was +probably used to Eudaldo's manner of expressing himself, for she only +laughed. + +"Wine makes men sleep, but it does not knock at doors," she answered. +"Some one has knocked twice. You had better go and open the door." + +A shuffling sound and a deep yawn announced that Eudaldo was getting out +of his chair. The two girls heard him moving towards the outer entrance. +Then they heard the woman go away, shutting the other door behind her, +as soon as she was sure that Eudaldo was really awake. Then Inez called +him softly. + +"Eudaldo? Here--it was I that knocked--you must let me out, please--come +nearer." + +"Doña Inez?" asked the old man, standing still. + +"Hush!" answered the girl. "Come nearer." She waited, listening while he +approached. "Listen to me," she continued. "The General has locked me +in, by mistake. He did not know I was here when he bolted the door. And +I am hungry and thirsty and very cold, Eudaldo--and you must let me out, +and I will run to the Duchess Alvarez and stay with her little girl. +Indeed, Eudaldo, the General did not mean to lock me in, too." + +"He said nothing about your ladyship to me," answered the servant +doubtfully. "But I do not know--" he hesitated. + +"Please, please, Eudaldo," pleaded Inez, "I am so cold and lonely +here--" + +"But Doña Dolores is there, too," observed Eudaldo. + +Dolores held her breath and steadied herself against the panel. + +"He shut her into the inner sitting-room. How could I dare to open the +door! You may go in and knock--she will not answer you." + +"Is your ladyship sure that Doña Dolores is within?" asked Eudaldo, in a +more yielding tone. + +"Absolutely, perfectly sure!" answered Inez, with perfect truth. "Oh, do +please let me out." + +Slowly the old man drew the bolt, while Dolores' heart stood still, and +she prepared herself for the danger; for she knew well enough that the +faithful old servant feared his master much more than he feared the +devil and all evil spirits, and would prevent her from passing, even +with force, if he recognized her. + +"Thank you, Eudaldo--thank you!" cried Inez, as the latch turned. "And +open the front door for me, please," she said, putting her lips just +where the panel was opening. + +Then she drew back into the darkness. The door was wide open now, and +Eudaldo was already shuffling towards the entrance. Dolores went +forward, bending her head, and trying to affect her sister's step. No +distance had ever seemed so long to her as that which separated her from +the hall door which Eudaldo was already opening for her. But she dared +not hasten her step, for though Inez moved with perfect certainty in the +house, she always walked with a certain deliberate caution, and often +stopped to listen, while crossing a room. The blind girl was listening +now, with all her marvellous hearing, to be sure that all went well till +Dolores should be outside. She knew exactly how many steps there were +from where she stood to the entrance, for she had often counted them. + +Dolores must have been not more than three yards from the door, when +Inez started involuntarily, for she heard a sound from without, far +off--so far that Dolores could not possibly have heard it yet, but +unmistakable to the blind girl's keener ear. She listened +intently--there were Dolores' last four steps to the open doorway, and +there were others from beyond, still very far away in the vaulted +corridors, but coming nearer. To call her sister back would have made +all further attempt at escape hopeless--to let her go on seemed almost +equally fatal--Inez could have shrieked aloud. But Dolores had already +gone out, and a moment later the heavy door swung back to its place, and +it was too late to call her. Like an immaterial spirit, Inez slipped +away from the place where she stood and went back to Dolores' room, +knowing that Eudaldo would very probably go and knock where he supposed +her sister to be a prisoner, before slipping the outer bolt again. And +so he did, muttering an imprecation upon the little lamp that had gone +out and left the small hall in darkness. Then he knocked, and spoke +through the door, offering to bring her food, or fire, and repeating his +words many times, in a supplicating tone, for he was devoted to both the +sisters, though terror of old Mendoza was the dominating element in his +existence. + +At last he shook his head and turned despondently to light the little +lamp again; and when he had done that, he went away and bolted the door +after him, convinced that Inez had gone out and that Dolores had stayed +behind in the last room. + +When she had heard him go away the last time, the blind girl threw +herself upon Dolores' bed, and buried her face in the down cushion, +sobbing bitterly in her utter loneliness; weeping, too, for something +she did not understand, but which she felt the more painfully because +she could not understand it, something that was at once like a burning +fire and an unspeakable emptiness craving to be filled, something that +longed and feared, and feared longing, something that was a strong +bodily pain but which she somehow knew might have been the source of all +earthly delight,--an element detached from thought and yet holding it, +above the body and yet binding it, touching the soul and growing upon +it, but filling the soul itself with fear and unquietness, and making +her heart cry out within her as if it were not hers and were pleading to +be free. So, as she could not understand that this was love, which, as +she had heard said, made women and men most happy, like gods and +goddesses, above their kind, she lay alone in the darkness that was +always as day to her, and wept her heart out in scalding tears. + +In the corridor outside, Dolores made a few steps, remembering to put +out her left hand to touch the wall, as Inez had told her to do; and +then she heard what had reached her sister's ears much sooner. She stood +still an instant, strained her eyes to see in the dim light of the +single lamp, saw nothing, and heard the sound coming nearer. Then she +quickly crossed the corridor to the nearest embrasure to hide herself. +To her horror she realized that the light of the full moon was streaming +in as bright as day, and that she could not be hid. Inez knew nothing of +moonlight. + +She pressed herself to the wall, on the side away from her own door, +making herself as small as she could, for it was possible that whoever +came by might pass without turning his head. Nervous and exhausted by +all she had felt and been made to feel since the afternoon, she held her +breath and waited. + +The regular tread of a man booted and spurred came relentlessly towards +her, without haste and without pause. No one who wore spurs but her +father ever came that way. She listened breathlessly to the hollow +echoes, and turned her eyes along the wall of the embrasure. In a moment +she must see his gaunt figure, and the moonlight would be white on his +short grey beard. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Dolores knew that there was no time to reflect as to what she should do, +if her father found her hiding in the embrasure, and yet in those short +seconds a hundred possibilities flashed through her disturbed thoughts. +She might slip past him and run for her life down the corridor, or she +might draw her hood over her face and try to pretend that she was some +one else,--but he would recognize the hood itself as belonging to +Inez,--or she might turn and lean upon the window-sill, indifferently, +as if she had a right to be there, and he might take her for some lady +of the court, and pass on. And yet she could not decide which to +attempt, and stood still, pressing herself against the wall of the +embrasure, and quite forgetful of the fact that the bright moonlight +fell unhindered through all the other windows upon the pavement, whereas +she cast a shadow from the one in which she was standing, and that any +one coming along the corridor would notice it and stop to see who was +there. + +There was something fateful and paralyzing in the regular footfall that +was followed instantly by the short echo from the vault above. It was +close at hand now she was sure that at the very next instant she should +see her father's face, yet nothing came, except the sound, for that +deceived her in the silence and seemed far nearer than it was. She had +heard horrible ghost stories of the old Alcazar, and as a child she had +been frightened by tales of evil things that haunted the corridors at +night, of wraiths and goblins and Moorish wizards who dwelt in secret +vaults, where no one knew, and came out in the dark, when all was still, +to wander in the moonlight, a terror to the living. The girl felt the +thrill of unearthly fear at the roots of her hair, and trembled, and the +sound seemed to be magnified till it reëchoed like thunder, though it +was only the noise of an advancing footfall, with a little jingling of +spurs. + +But at last there was no doubt. It was close to her, and she shut her +eyes involuntarily. She heard one step more on the stones, and then +there was silence. She knew that her father had seen her, had stopped +before her, and was looking at her. She knew how his rough brows were +knitting themselves together, and that even in the pale moonlight his +eyes were fierce and angry, and that his left hand was resting on the +hilt of his sword, the bony brown fingers tapping the basket nervously. +An hour earlier, or little more, she had faced him as bravely as any +man, but she could not face him now, and she dared not open her eyes. + +"Madam, are you ill, or in trouble?" asked a young voice that was soft +and deep. + +She opened her eyes with a sharp cry that was not of fear, and she threw +back her hood with one hand as the looked. + +Don John of Austria was there, a step from her, the light full on his +face, bareheaded, his cap in his hand, bending a little towards her, as +one does towards a person one does not know, but who seems to be in +distress and to need help. Against the whiteness without he could not +see her face, nor could he recognize her muffled figure. + +"Can I not help you, Madam?" asked the kind voice again, very gravely. + +Then she put out her hands towards him and made a step, and as the hood +fell quite back with the silk kerchief, he saw her golden hair in the +silver light. Slowly and in wonder, and still not quite believing, he +moved to meet her movement, took her hands in his, drew her to him, +turned her face gently, till he saw it well. Then he, too, uttered a +little sound that was neither a word nor a syllable nor a cry--a sound +that was half fierce with strong delight as his lips met hers, and his +hands were suddenly at her waist lifting her slowly to his own height, +though he did not know it, pressing her closer and closer to him, as if +that one kiss were the first and last that ever man gave woman. + +A minute passed, and yet neither he nor she could speak. She stood with +her hands clasped round his neck, and her head resting on his breast +just below the shoulder, as if she were saying tender words to the heart +she heard beating so loud through the soft black velvet. She knew that +it had never beaten in battle as it was beating now, and she loved it +because it knew her and welcomed her; but her own stood still, and now +and then it fluttered wildly, like a strong young bird in a barred cage, +and then was quite still again. Bending his face a little, he softly +kissed her hair again and again, till at last the kisses formed +themselves into syllables and words, which she felt rather than heard. + +"God in heaven, how I love you--heart of my heart--life of my life--love +of my soul!" + +And again he repeated the same words, and many more like them, with +little change, because at that moment he had neither thought nor care +for anything else in the world, not for life nor death nor kingdom nor +glory, in comparison with the woman he loved. He could not hear her +answers, for she spoke without words to his heart, hiding her face where +she heard it throbbing, while her lips pressed many kisses on the +velvet. + +Then, as thought returned, and the first thought was for him, she drew +back a little with a quick movement, and looked up to him with +frightened and imploring eyes. + +"We must go!" she cried anxiously, in a very low voice. "We cannot stay +here. My father is very angry--he swore on his word of honour that he +would kill you if you tried to see me to-night!" + +Don John laughed gently, and his eyes brightened. Before she could speak +again, he held her close once more, and his kisses were on her cheeks +and her eyes, on her forehead and on her hair, and then again upon her +lips, till they would have hurt her if she had not loved them so, and +given back every one. Then she struggled again, and he loosed his hold. + +"It is death to stay here," she said very earnestly. + +"It is worse than death to leave you," he answered. "And I will not," he +added an instant later, "neither for the King, nor for your father, nor +for any royal marriage they may try to force upon me." + +She looked into his eyes for a moment, before she spoke, and there was +deep and true trust in her own. + +"Then you must save me," she said quietly. "He has vowed that I shall be +sent to the convent of Las Huelgas to-morrow morning. He locked me into +the inner room, but Inez helped me to dress, and I got out under her +cloak." + +She told him in a few words what she had done and had meant to do, in +order to see him, and how she had taken his step for her father's. He +listened gravely, and she saw his face harden slowly in an expression +she had scarcely ever seen there. When she had finished her story he was +silent for a moment. + +"We are quite safe here," he said at last, "safer than anywhere else, I +think, for your father cannot come back until the King goes to supper. +For myself, I have an hour, but I have been so surrounded and pestered +by visitors in my apartments that I have not found time to put on a +court dress--and without vanity, I presume that I am a necessary figure +at court this evening. Your father is with Perez, who seems to be acting +as master of ceremonies and of everything else, as well as the King's +secretary--they have business together, and the General will not have a +moment. I ascertained that, before coming here, or I should not have +come at this hour. We are safe from him here, I am sure." + +"You know best," answered Dolores, who was greatly reassured by what he +said about Mendoza. + +"Let us sit down, then. You must be tired after all you have done. And +we have much to say to each other." + +"How could I be tired now?" she asked, with a loving smile; but she sat +down on the stone seat in the embrasure, close to the window. + +It was just wide enough for two to sit there, and Don John took his +place beside her, and drew one of her hands silently to him between both +his own, and kissed the tips of her fingers a great many times. But he +felt that she was watching his face, and he looked up and saw her +eyes--and then, again, many seconds passed before either could speak. +They were but a boy and girl together, loving each other in the tender +first love of early youth, for the victor of the day, the subduer of the +Moors, the man who had won back Granada, who was already High Admiral of +Spain, and who in some ten months from that time was to win a decisive +battle of the world at Lepanto, was a stripling of twenty-three +summers--and he had first seen Dolores when he was twenty and she +seventeen, and now it was nearly two years since they had met. + +He was the first to speak, for he was a man of quick and unerring +determinations that led to actions as sudden as they were bold and +brilliant, and what Dolores had told him of her quarrel with her father +was enough to rouse his whole energy at once. At all costs she must +never be allowed to pass the gates of Las Huelgas. Once within the +convent, by the King's orders, and a close prisoner, nothing short of a +sacrilegious assault and armed violence could ever bring her out into +the world again. He knew that, and that he must act instantly to prevent +it, for he knew Mendoza's character also, and had no doubt but that he +would do what he threatened. It was necessary to put Dolores beyond his +reach at once, and beyond the King's also, which was not an easy matter +within the walls of the King's own palace, and on such a night. Don John +had been but little at the court and knew next to nothing of its +intrigues, nor of the mutual relations of the ladies and high officers +who had apartments in the Alcazar. In his own train there were no women, +of course. Dolores' brother Rodrigo, who had fought by his side at +Granada, had begged to be left behind with the garrison, in order that +he might not be forced to meet his father. Doña Magdalena Quixada, Don +John's adoptive mother, was far away at Villagarcia. The Duchess +Alvarez, though fond of Dolores, was Mistress of the Robes to the young +Queen, and it was not to be hoped nor expected that she should risk the +danger of utter ruin and disgrace if it were discovered that she had +hidden the girl against the King's wishes. Yet it was absolutely +necessary that Dolores should be safely hidden within an hour, and that +she should be got out of the palace before morning, and if possible +conveyed to Villagarcia. Don John saw in a moment that there was no one +to whom he could turn. + +Again he took Dolores' hand in his, but with a sort of gravity and +protecting authority that had not been in his touch the first time. +Moreover, he did not kiss her fingers now, and he resolutely looked at +the wall opposite him. Then, in a low and quiet voice, he laid the +situation before her, while she anxiously listened. + +"You see," he said at last, "there is only one way left. Dolores, do you +altogether trust me?" + +She started a little, and her fingers pressed his hand suddenly. + +"Trust you? Ah, with all my soul!" + +"Think well before you answer," he said. "You do not quite +understand--it is a little hard to put it clearly, but I must. I know +you trust me in many ways, to love you faithfully always, to speak truth +to you always, to defend you always, to help you with my life when you +shall be in need. You know that I love you so, as you love me. Have we +not often said it? You wrote it in your letter, too--ah, dear, I thank +you for that. Yes, I have read it--I have it here, near my heart, and I +shall read it again before I sleep--" + +Without a word, and still listening, she bent down and pressed her lips +to the place where her letter lay. He touched her hair with his lips and +went on speaking, as she leaned back against the wall again. + +"You must trust me even more than that, my beloved," he said. "To save +you, you must be hidden by some one whom I myself can trust--and for +such a matter there is no one in the palace nor in all Madrid--no one to +whom I can turn and know that you will be safe--not one human being, +except myself." + +"Except yourself!" Dolores loved the words, and gently pressed his hand. + +"I thank you, dearest heart--but do you know what that means? Do you +understand that I must hide you myself, in my own apartments, and keep +you there until I can take you out of the palace, before morning?" + +She was silent for a few moments, turning her face away from him. His +heart sank. + +"No, dear," he said sadly, "you do not trust me enough for that--I see +it--what woman could?" + +Her hand trembled and started in his, then pressed it hard, and she +turned her face quite to him. + +"You are wrong," she said, with a tremor in her voice. "I love you as no +man was ever loved by any woman, far beyond all that all words can say, +and I shall love you till I die, and after that, for ever--even if I can +never be your wife. I love you as no one loves in these days, and when I +say that it is as you love me, I mean a thousand fold for every word. I +am not the child you left nearly two years ago. I am a woman now, for I +have thought and seen much since then--and I love you better and more +than then. God knows, there is enough to see and to learn in this +court--that should be hidden deep from honest women's sight! You and I +shall have a heaven on this earth, if God grants that we may be joined +together--for I will live for you, and serve you, and smooth all trouble +out of your way--and ask nothing of you but your love. And if we cannot +marry, then I will live for you in my heart, and serve you with my soul, +and pray Heaven that harm may never touch you. I will pray so fervently +that God must hear me. And so will you pray for me, as you would fight +for me, if you could. Remember, if you will, that when you are in battle +for Spain, your sword is drawn for Spain's honour, and for the honour of +every Christian Spanish woman that lives--and for mine, too!" + +The words pleased him, and his free hand was suddenly clenched. + +"You would make cowards fight like wolves, if you could speak to them +like that!" he said. + +"I am not speaking to cowards," she answered, with a loving smile. "I am +speaking to the man I love, to the best and bravest and truest man that +breathes--and not to Don John of Austria, the victorious leader, but to +you, my heart's love, my life, my all, to you who are good and brave and +true to me, as no man ever was to any woman. No--" she laughed happily, +and there were tears in her eyes--"no, there are no words for such love +as ours." + +"May I be all you would have me, and much more," he said fervently, and +his voice shook in the short speech. + +"I am giving you all I have, because it is not belief, it is certainty. +I know you are all that I say you are, and more too. And I trust you, as +you mean it, and as you need my trust to save me. Take me where you +will. Hide me in your own room if you must, and bolt and bar it if need +be. I shall be as safe with you as I should be with my mother in heaven. +I put my hands between yours." + +Again he heard her sweet low laughter, full of joy and trust, and she +laid her hands together between his and looked into his eyes, straight +and clear. Then she spoke softly and solemnly. + +"Into your hands I put my life, and my faith, and my maiden honour, +trusting them all to you alone in this world, as I trust them to God." + +Don John held her hands tightly for a moment, still looking into her +eyes as if he could see her soul there, giving itself to his keeping. +But he swore no great oath, and made no long speech; for a man who has +led men to deeds of glory, and against whom no dishonourable thing was +ever breathed, knows that his word is good. + +"You shall not regret that you trust me, and you will be quite safe," he +said. + +She wanted no more. Loving as she did, she believed in him without +promises, yet she could not always believe that he quite knew how she +loved him. + +"You are dearer to me than I knew," he said presently, breaking the +silence that followed. "I love you even more, and I thought it could +never be more, when I found you here a little while ago--because you do +really trust me." + +"You knew it," the said, nestling to him. "But you wanted me to tell +you. Yes--we are nearer now." + +"Far nearer--and a world more dear," he answered. "Do you know? In all +these months I have often and often again wondered how we should meet, +whether it would be before many people, or only with your sister Inez +there--or perhaps alone. But I did not dare hope for that." + +"Nor I. I have dreamt of meeting you a hundred times--and more than +that! But there was always some one in the way. I suppose that if we had +found each other in the court and had only been able to say a few words, +it would have been a long time before we were quite ourselves +together--but now, it seems as if we had never been parted at all, does +it not?" + +"As if we could never be parted again," he answered softly. + +For a little while there was silence, and though there was to be a great +gathering of the court, that night, all was very still where the lovers +sat at the window, for the throne room and the great halls of state were +far away on the other side of the palace, and the corridor looked upon a +court through which few persons had to pass at night. Suddenly from a +distance there came the rhythmical beat of the Spanish drums, as some +detachment of troops marched by the outer gate. Don John listened. + +"Those are my men," he said. "We must go, for now that they are below I +can send my people on errands with orders to them, until I am alone. +Then you must come in. At the end of my apartments there is a small +room, beyond my own. It is furnished to be my study, and no one will +expect to enter it at night. I must put you there, and lock the door and +take the key with me, so that no one can go in while I am at court--or +else you can lock it on the inside, yourself. That would be better, +perhaps," he added rather hurriedly. + +"No," said the girl quietly. "I prefer that you should have the key. I +shall feel even safer. But how can I get there without being seen? We +cannot go so far together without meeting some one." + +He rose, and she stood up beside him. + +"My apartments open upon the broad terrace on the south side," he said. +"At this time there will be only two or three officers there, and my two +servants. Follow me at a little distance, with your hood over your face, +and when you reach the sentry-box at the corner where I turn off, go in. +There will be no sentinel there, and the door looks outward. I shall +send away every one, on different errands, in five minutes. When every +one is gone I will come for you. Is that clear?" + +"Perfectly." She nodded, as if she had made quite sure of what he had +explained. Then she put up her hands, as if to say good-by. "Oh, if we +could only stay here in peace!" she cried. + +He said nothing, for he knew that there was still much danger, and he +was anxious for her. He only pressed her hands and then led her away. +They followed the corridor together, side by side, to the turning. Then +he whispered to her to drop behind, and she let him go on a dozen paces +and followed him. The way was long, and ill lighted at intervals by oil +lamps hung from the vault by small chains; they cast a broad black +shadow beneath them, and shed a feeble light above. Several times +persons passed them, and Dolores' heart beat furiously. A court lady, +followed by a duenna and a serving-woman, stopped with a winning smile, +and dropped a low courtesy to Don John, who lifted his cap, bowed, and +went on. They did not look at Dolores. A man in a green cloth apron and +loose slippers, carrying five lighted lamps in a greasy iron tray, +passed with perfect indifference, and without paying the least attention +to the victor of Granada. It was his business to carry lamps in that +part of the palace--he was not a human being, but a lamplighter. They +went on, down a short flight of broad steps, and then through a wider +corridor where the lights were better, though the night breeze was +blowing in and made them flicker and flare. + +A corporal's guard of the household halberdiers came swinging down at a +marching step, coming from the terrace beyond. The corporal crossed his +halberd in salute, but Don John stopped him, for he understood at once +that a sentry had been set at his door. + +"I want no guard," he said. "Take the man away." + +"The General ordered it, your Highness," answered the man, respectfully. + +"Request your captain to report to the General that I particularly +desire no sentinel at my door. I have no possessions to guard except my +reputation, and I can take care of that myself." He laughed +good-naturedly. + +The corporal grinned--he was a very dark, broad-faced man, with high +cheek bones, and ears that stuck out. He faced about with his three +soldiers, and followed Don John to the terrace--but in the distance he +had seen the hooded figure of a woman. + +Not knowing what to do, for she had heard the colloquy, Dolores stood +still a moment, for she did not care to pass the soldiers as they came +back. Then she turned and walked a little way in the other direction, to +gain time, and kept on slowly. In less than a minute they returned, +bringing the sentinel with them. She walked slowly and counted them as +they went past her--and then she started as if she had been stung, and +blushed scarlet under her hood, for she distinctly heard the big +corporal laugh to himself when he had gone by. She knew, then, how she +trusted the man she loved. + +When the soldiers had turned the corner and were out of sight, she ran +back to the terrace and hid herself in the stone sentry-box just +outside, still blushing and angry. On the side of the box towards Don +John's apartment there was a small square window just at the height of +her eyes, and she looked through it, sure that her face could not be +seen from without. She looked from mere curiosity, to see what sort of +men the officers were, and Don John's servants; for everything connected +with him or belonging to him in any way interested her most intensely. +Two tall captains came out first, magnificent in polished breastplates +with gold shoulder straps and sashes and gleaming basket-hilted swords, +that stuck up behind them as their owners pressed down the hilts and +strutted along, twisting their short black moustaches in the hope of +meeting some court lady on their way. Then another and older man passed, +also in a soldier's dress, but with bent head, apparently deep in +thought. After that no one came for some time--then a servant, who +pulled something out of his pocket and began to eat it, before he was in +the corridor. + +Then a woman came past the little window. Dolores saw her as distinctly +as she had seen the four men. She came noiselessly and stealthily, +putting down her foot delicately, like a cat. She was a lady, and she +wore a loose cloak that covered all her gown, and on her head a thick +veil, drawn fourfold across her face. Her gait told the girl that she +was young and graceful--something in the turn of the head made her sure +that she was beautiful, too--something in the whole figure and bearing +was familiar. The blood sank from Dolores' cheeks, and she felt a chill +slowly rising to her heart. The lady entered the corridor and went on +quickly, turned, and was out of sight. + +Then all at once, Dolores laughed to herself, noiselessly, and was happy +again, in spite of her danger. There was nothing to disturb her, she +reflected. The terrace was long, there were doubtless other apartments +beyond Don John's, though she had not known it. The lady had indeed +walked cautiously, but it might well be that she had reasons for not +being seen there, and that the further rooms were not hers. The Alcazar +was only an old Moorish castle, after all, restored and irregularly +enlarged, and altogether very awkwardly built, so that many of the +apartments could only be reached by crossing open terraces. + +When Don John came to get her in the sentry-box, Dolores' momentary +doubt was gone, though not all her curiosity. She smiled as she came out +of her hiding-place and met his eyes--clear and true as her own. She +even hated herself for having thought that the lady could have come from +his apartment at all. The light was streaming from his open door as he +led her quickly towards it. There were three windows beyond it, and +there the terrace ended. She looked at the front as they were passing, +and counted again three windows between the open door and the corner +where the sentry-box stood. + +"Who lives in the rooms beyond you?" she asked quickly. + +"No one--the last is the one where you are to be." He seemed surprised. + +They had reached the open door, and he stood aside to let her go in. + +"And on this side?" she asked, speaking with a painful effort. + +"My drawing-room and dining-room," he answered. + +She paused and drew breath before she spoke again, and she pressed one +hand to her side under her cloak. + +"Who was the lady who came from here when all the men were gone?" she +asked, very pale. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Don John was a man not easily taken off his guard, but he started +perceptibly at Dolores' question. He did not change colour, however, nor +did his eyes waver; he looked fixedly into her face. + +"No lady has been here," he answered quietly. + +Dolores doubted the evidence of her own senses. Her belief in the man +she loved was so great that his words seemed at first to have destroyed +and swept away what must have been a bad dream, or a horrible illusion, +and her face was quiet and happy again as she passed him and went in +through the open entrance. She found herself in a vestibule from which +doors opened to the right and left. He turned in the latter direction, +leading the way into the room. + +It was his bedchamber. Built in the Moorish manner, the vaulting began +at the height of a man's head, springing upward in bold and graceful +curves to a great height. The room was square and very large, and the +wall below the vault was hung with very beautiful tapestries +representing the battle of Pavia, the surrender of Francis the First, +and a sort of apotheosis of the Emperor Charles, the father of Don John. +There were two tall windows, which were quite covered by curtains of a +dark brocade, in which the coats of Spain and the Empire were woven in +colours at regular intervals; and opposite them, with the head to the +wall, stood a vast curtained bedstead with carved posts twice a man's +height. The vaulting had been cut on that side, in order that the foot +of the bed might stand back against the wall. The canopy had coats of +arms at the four corners, and the curtains were of dark green corded +silk, heavily embroidered with gold thread in the beautiful scrolls and +arabesques of the period of the Renascence. A carved table, dark and +polished, stood half way between the foot of the bedstead and the space +between the windows, where a magnificent kneeling-stool with red velvet +cushions was placed under a large crucifix. Half a dozen big chairs were +ranged against the long walls on each side of the room, and two +commodious folding chairs with cushions of embossed leather were beside +the table. Opposite the door by which Dolores had entered, another +communicated with the room beyond. Both were carved and ornamented with +scroll work of gilt bronze, but were without curtains. Three or four +Eastern, rugs covered the greater part of the polished marble pavement, +which here and there reflected the light of the tall wax torches that +stood on the table in silver candlesticks, and on each side of the bed +upon low stands. The vault above the tapestried walls was very dark +blue, and decorated with gilded stars in relief. Dolores thought the +room gloomy, and almost funereal. The bed looked like a catafalque, the +candles like funeral torches, and the whole place breathed the +magnificent discomfort of royalty, and seemed hardly intended for a +human habitation. + +Dolores barely glanced at it all, as her companion locked the first door +and led her on to the next room. He knew that he had not many minutes to +spare, and was anxious that she should be in her hiding-place before his +servants came back. She followed him and went in. Unlike the bedchamber, +the small study was scantily and severely furnished. It contained only a +writing-table, two simple chairs, a straight-backed divan covered with +leather, and a large chest of black oak bound with ornamented steel +work. The window was curtained with dark stuff, and two wax candles +burned steadily beside the writing-materials that were spread out ready +for use. + +"This is the room," Don John said, speaking for the first time since +they had entered the apartments. + +Dolores let her head fall back, and began to loosen her cloak at her +throat without answering him. He helped her, and laid the long garment +upon the divan. Then he turned and saw her in the full light of the +candles, looking at him, and he uttered an exclamation. + +"What is it?" she asked almost dreamily. + +"You are very beautiful," he answered in a low voice. "You are the most +beautiful woman I ever saw." + +The merest girl knows the tone of a man whose genuine admiration breaks +out unconsciously in plain words, and Dolores was a grown woman. A faint +colour rose in her cheek, and her lips parted to smile, but her eyes +were grave and anxious, for the doubt had returned, and would not be +thrust away. She had seen the lady in the cloak and veil during several +seconds, and though Dolores, who had been watching the men who passed, +had not actually seen her come out of Don John's apartments, but had +been suddenly aware of her as she glided by, it seemed out of the +question that she should have come from any other place. There was +neither niche nor embrasure between the door and the corridor, in which +the lady could have been hidden, and it was hardly conceivable that she +should have been waiting outside for some mysterious purpose, and should +not have fled as soon as she heard the two officers coming out, since +she evidently wished to escape observation. On the other hand, Don John +had quietly denied that any woman had been there, which meant at all +events that he had not seen any one. It could mean nothing else. + +Dolores was neither foolishly jealous nor at all suspicious by nature, +and the man was her ideal of truthfulness and honour. She stood looking +at him, resting one hand on the table, while he came slowly towards her, +moving almost unconsciously in the direction of her exquisite beauty, as +a plant lifts itself to the sun at morning. He was near to her, and he +stretched out his arms as if to draw her to him. She smiled then, for in +his eyes she forgot her trouble for a moment, and she would have kissed +him. But suddenly his face grew grave, and he set his teeth, and instead +of taking her into his arms, he took one of her hands and raised it to +his lips, as if it had been the hand of his brother's wife, the young +Queen. + +"Why?" she asked in surprise, and with a little start. + +"You are here under my protection," he answered. "Let me have my own +way." + +"Yes, I understand. How good you are to me!" She paused, and then went +on, seating herself upon one of the chairs by the table as she spoke. +"You must leave me now," she said. "You must lock me in and keep the +key. Then I shall know that I am safe; and in the meantime you must +decide how I am to escape--it will not be easy." She stopped again. "I +wonder who that woman was!" she exclaimed at last. + +"There was no woman here," replied Don John, as quietly and assuredly as +before. + +He was leaning upon the table at the other side, with both hands resting +upon it, looking at her beautiful hair as she bent her head. + +"Say that you did not see her," she said, "not that she was not here, +for she passed me after all the men, walking very cautiously to make no +noise; and when she was in the corridor she ran--she was young and +light-footed. I could not see her face." + +"You believe me, do you not?" asked Don John, bending over the table a +little, and speaking very anxiously. + +She turned her face up instantly, her eyes wide and bright. + +"Should I be here if I did not trust you and believe you?" she asked +almost fiercely. "Do you think--do you dare to think--that I would have +passed your door if I had supposed that another woman had been here +before me, and had been turned out to make room for me, and would have +stayed here--here in your room--if you had not sent her away? If I had +thought that, I would have left you at your door forever. I would have +gone back to my father. I would have gone to Las Huelgas to-morrow, and +not to be a prisoner, but to live and die there in the only life fit for +a broken-hearted woman. Oh, no! You dare not think that,--you who would +dare anything! If you thought that, you could not love me as I love +you,--believing, trusting, staking life and soul on your truth and +faith!" + +The generous spirit had risen in her eyes, roused not against him, but +by all his question might be made to mean; and as she met his look of +grateful gladness her anger broke away, and left only perfect love and +trust behind it. + +"A man would die for you, and wish he might die twice," he answered, +standing upright, as if a weight had been taken from him and he were +free to breathe. + +She looked up at the pale, strong features of the young fighter, who was +so great and glorious almost before the down had thickened on his lip; +and she saw something almost above nature in his face,--something high +and angelic, yet manly and well fitted to face earthly battles. He was +her sun, her young god, her perfect image of perfection, the very source +of her trust. It would have killed her to doubt him. Her whole soul went +up to him in her eyes; and as he was ready to die for her, she knew that +for him she would suffer every anguish death could hold, and not flinch. + +Then she looked down, and suddenly laughed a little oddly, and her +finger pointed towards the pens and paper. + +"She has left something behind," she said. "She was clever to get in +here and slip out again without being seen." + +Don John looked where she pointed, and saw a small letter folded round +the stems of two white carnations, and neatly tied with a bit of twisted +silk. It was laid between the paper and the bronze inkstand, and half +hidden by the broad white feather of a goose-quill pen, that seemed to +have been thrown carelessly across the flowers. It lay there as if meant +to be found, only by one who wrote, and not to attract too much +attention. + +"Oh!" he exclaimed, in a rather singular tone, as he saw it, and a +boyish blush reddened his face. + +Then he took the letter and drew out the two flowers by the blossoms +very carefully. Dolores watched him. He seemed in doubt as to what he +should do; and the blush subsided quickly, and gave way to a look of +settled annoyance. The carnations were quite fresh, and had evidently +not been plucked more than an hour. He held them up a moment and looked +at them, then laid them down again and took the note. There was no +writing on the outside. Without opening it he held it to the flame of +the candle, but Dolores caught his wrist. + +"Why do you not read it?" she asked quickly. + +"Dear, I do not know who wrote it, and I do not wish to know anything +you do not know also." + +"You have no idea who the woman is?" Dolores looked at him wonderingly. + +"Not the very least," he answered with a smile. + +"But I should like to know so much!" she cried. "Do read it and tell me. +I do not understand the thing at all." + +"I cannot do that." He shook his head. "That would be betraying a +woman's secret. I do not know who it is, and I must not let you know, +for that would not be honourable." + +"You are right," she said, after a pause. "You always are. Burn it." + +He pushed the point of a steel erasing-knife through the piece of folded +paper and held it over the flame. It turned brown, crackled and burst +into a little blaze, and in a moment the black ashes fell fluttering to +the table. + +"What do you suppose it was?" asked Dolores innocently, as Don John +brushed the ashes away. + +"Dear--it is very ridiculous--I am ashamed of it, and I do not quite +know how to explain it to you." Again he blushed a little. "It seems +strange to speak of it--I never even told my mother. At first I used to +open them, but now I generally burn them like this one." + +"Generally! Do you mean to say that you often find women's letters with +flowers in them on your table?" + +"I find them everywhere," answered Don John, with perfect simplicity. "I +have found them in my gloves, tied into the basket hilt of my +sword--often they are brought to me like ordinary letters by a messenger +who waits for an answer. Once I found one on my pillow!" + +"But"--Dolores hesitated--"but are they--are they all from the same +person?" she asked timidly. Don John laughed, and shook his head. + +"She would need to be a very persistent and industrious person," he +answered. "Do you not understand?" + +"No. Who are these women who persecute you with their writing? And why +do they write to you? Do they want you to help them?" + +"Not exactly that;" he was still smiling. "I ought not to laugh, I +suppose. They are ladies of the court sometimes, and sometimes others, +and I--I fancy that they want me to--how shall I say?--to begin by +writing them letters of the same sort." + +"What sort of letters?" + +"Why--love letters," answered Don John, driven to extremity in spite of +his resistance. + +"Love letters!" cried Dolores, understanding at last. "Do you mean to +say that there are women whom you do not know, who tell you that they +love you before you have ever spoken to them? Do you mean that a lady of +the court, whom you have probably never even seen, wrote that note and +tied it up with flowers and risked everything to bring it here, just in +the hope that you might notice her? It is horrible! It is vile! It is +shameless! It is beneath anything!" + +"You say she was a lady--you saw her. I did not. But that is what she +did, whoever she may be." + +"And there are women like that--here, in the palace! How little I know!" + +"And the less you learn about the world, the better," answered the young +soldier shortly. + +"But you have never answered one, have you?" asked Dolores, with a scorn +that showed how sure she was of his reply. + +"No." He spoke thoughtfully. "I once thought of answering one. I meant +to tell her that she was out of her senses, but I changed my mind. That +was long ago, before I knew you--when I was eighteen." + +"Ever since you were a boy!" + +The look of wonder was not quite gone from her face yet, but she was +beginning to understand more clearly, though still very far from +distinctly. It did not occur to her once that such things could be +temptations to the brilliant young leader whom every woman admired and +every man flattered, and that only his devoted love for her had kept him +out of ignoble adventures since he had grown to be a man. Had she seen +that, she would have loved him even better, if it were possible. It was +all, as she had said, shameless and abominable. She had thought that she +knew much of evil, and she had even told him so that evening, but this +was far beyond anything she had dreamt of in her innocent thoughts, and +she instinctively felt that there were lower depths of degradation to +which a woman could fall, and of which she would not try to guess the +vileness and horror. + +"Shall I burn the flowers, too?" asked Don John, taking them in his +hand. + +"The flowers? No. They are innocent and fresh. What have they to do with +her? Give them to me." + +He raised them to his lips, looking at her, and then held them out. She +took them, and kissed them, as he had done, and they both smiled +happily. Then she fastened them in her hair. + +"No one will see me to-night but you," she said. "I may wear flowers in +my hair like a peasant woman!" + +"How they make the gold gleam!" he exclaimed, as he looked. "It is +almost time that my men came back," he said sadly. "When I go down to +the court, I shall dismiss them. After the royal supper I shall try and +come here again and see you. By that time everything will be arranged. I +have thought of almost everything already. My mother will provide you +with everything you need. To-morrow evening I can leave this place +myself to go and see her, as I always do." + +He always spoke of Doña Magdalena Quixada as his mother--he had never +known his own. + +Dolores rose from her seat, for he was ready to go. + +"I trust you in everything," she said simply. "I do not need to know how +you will accomplish it all--it is enough to know that you will. Tell +Inez, if you can--protect her if my father is angry with her." + +He held out his hand to take hers, and she was going to give it, as she +had done before. But it was too little. Before he knew it she had thrown +her arms round his neck, and was kissing him, with little cries and +broken words of love. Then she drew back suddenly. + +"I could not help it," she said. "Now lock me in. No--do not say +good-by--even for two hours!" + +"I will come back as soon as I can," he answered, and with a long look +he left her, closed the door and locked it after him, leaving her alone. + +She stood a few moments looking at the panels as if her sight could +pierce them and reach him on the other side, and she tried to hold the +last look she had seen in his eyes. Hardly two minutes had elapsed +before she heard voices and footsteps in the bedchamber. Don John spoke +in short sentences now and then to his servants, and his voice was +commanding though it was kindly. It seemed strange to be so near him in +his life; she wondered whether she should some day always be near him, +as she was now, and nearer; she blushed, all alone. So many things had +happened, and he and she had found so much to say that nothing had been +said at all of what was to follow her flight to Villagarcia. She was to +leave for the Quixadas' house before morning, but Quixada and his wife +could not protect her against her father, if he found out where she was, +unless she were married. After that, neither Mendoza nor any one else, +save the King himself, would presume to interfere with the liberty of +Don John of Austria's wife. All Spain would rise to protect her--she was +sure of that. But they had said nothing about a marriage and had wasted +time over that unknown woman's abominable letter. Since she reasoned it +out to herself, she saw that in all probability the ceremony would take +place as soon as Don John reached Villagarcia. He was powerful enough to +demand the necessary permission of the Archbishop, and he would bring it +with him; but no priest, even in the absence of a written order, would +refuse to marry him if he desired it. Between the real power he +possessed and the vast popularity he enjoyed, he could command almost +anything. + +She heard his voice distinctly just then, though she was not listening +for it. He was telling a servant to bring white shoes. The fact struck +her because she had never seen him wear any that were not black or +yellow. She smiled and wished that she might bring him his white shoes +and hang his order of the Golden Fleece round his neck, and breathe on +the polished hilt of his sword and rub it with soft leather. She had +seen Eudaldo furbish her father's weapons in that way since she had been +a child. + +It had all come so suddenly in the end. Shading her eyes from the +candles with her hand, she rested one elbow on the table, and tried to +think of what should naturally have happened, of what must have happened +if the unknown voice among the courtiers had not laughed and roused her +father's anger and brought all the rest. Don John would have come to the +door, and Eudaldo would have let him in--because no one could refuse him +anything and he was the King's brother. He would have spent half an hour +with her in the little drawing-room, and it would have been a +constrained meeting, with Inez near, though she would presently have +left them alone. Then, by this time, she would have gone down with the +Duchess Alvarez and the other maids of honour, and by and by she would +have followed the Queen when she entered the throne room with the King +and Don John; and she might not have exchanged another word with the +latter for a whole day, or two days. But now it seemed almost certain +that she was to be his wife within the coming week. He was in the next +room. + +"Do not put the sword away," she heard him say. "Leave it here on the +table." + +Of course; what should he do with a sword in his court dress? But if he +had met her father in the corridor, coming to her after the supper, he +would have been unarmed. Her father, on the contrary, being on actual +duty, wore the sword of his rank, like any other officer of the guards, +and the King wore a rapier as a part of his state dress. + +She was astonished at the distinctness with which she heard what was +said in the next room. That was doubtless due to the construction of the +vault, as she vaguely guessed. It was true that Don John spoke very +clearly, but she could hear the servants' subdued answers almost as +well, when she listened. It seemed to her that he took but a very short +time to dress. + +"I have the key of that room," he said presently. "I have my papers +there. You are at liberty till midnight. My hat, my gloves. Call my +gentlemen, one of you, and tell them to meet me in the corridor." + +She could almost hear him drawing on his gloves. One of the servants +went out. + +"Fadrique," said Don John, "leave out my riding-cloak. I may like to +walk on the terrace in the moonlight, and it is cold. Have my drink +ready at midnight and wait for me. Send Gil to sleep, for he was up last +night." + +There was a strange pleasure in hearing his familiar orders and small +directions and in seeing how thoughtful he was for his servants. She +knew that he had always refused to be surrounded by valets and +gentlemen-in-waiting, and lived very simply when he could, but it was +different to be brought into such close contact with his life. There was +a wonderful gentleness in his ways that contrasted widely with her +father's despotic manner and harsh tone when he gave orders. Mendoza +believed himself the type and model of a soldier and a gentleman, and he +maintained that without rigid discipline there could be no order and no +safety at home or in the army. But between him and Don John there was +all the difference that separates the born leader of men from the mere +martinet. + +Dolores listened. It was clear that Don John was not going to send +Fadrique away in order to see her again before he went down to the +throne room, though she had almost hoped he might. + +On the contrary, some one else came. She heard Fadrique announce him. + +"The Captain Don Juan de Escobedo is in waiting, your Highness," said +the servant. "There is also Adonis." + +"Adonis!" Don John laughed, not at the name, for it was familiar to him, +but at the mere mention of the person who bore it and who was the King's +dwarf jester, Miguel de Antona, commonly known by his classic nickname. +"Bring Adonis here--he is an old friend." + +The door opened again, and Dolores heard the well-known voice of the +hunchback, clear as a woman's, scornful and full of evil laughter,--the +sort of voice that is heard instantly in a crowd, though it is not +always recognizable. The fellow came in, talking loud. + +"Ave Cæsar!" he cried from the door. "Hail, conqueror! All hail, thou +favoured of heaven, of man,--and of the ladies!" + +"The ladies too?" laughed Don John, probably amused by the dwarfs +antics. "Who told you that?" + +"The cook, sir. For as you rode up to the gate this afternoon a scullery +maid saw you from the cellar grating and has been raving mad ever since, +singing of the sun, moon, and undying love, until the kitchen is more +like a mad-house than this house would be if the Day of Judgment came +before or after Lent." + +"Do you fast in Lent, Adonis?" + +"I fast rigidly three times a day, my lord conqueror,--no, six, for I +eat nothing either just before or just after my breakfast, my dinner, +and my supper. No monk can do better than that, for at those times I eat +nothing at all." + +"If you said your prayers as often as you fast, you would be in a good +way," observed Don John. + +"I do, sir. I say a short grace before and after eating. Why have you +come to Madrid, my lord? Do you not know that Madrid is the worst, the +wickedest, the dirtiest, vilest, and most damnable habitation devised by +man for the corruption of humanity? Especially in the month of November? +Has your lordship any reasonable reason for this unreason of coming +here, when the streets are full of mud, and men's hearts are packed like +saddle-bags with all the sins they have accumulated since Easter and +mean to unload at Christmas? Even your old friends are shocked to see so +young and honest a prince in such a place!" + +"My old friends? Who?" + +"I saw Saint John the Conqueror graciously wave his hand to a most +highly respectable old nobleman this afternoon, and the nobleman was so +much shocked that he could not stir an arm to return the salutation! His +legs must have done something, though, for he seemed to kick his own +horse up from the ground under him. The shock must have been terrible. +As for me, I laughed aloud, which made both the old nobleman and Don +Julius Caesar of Austria exceedingly angry. Get before me, Don Fadrique! +I am afraid of the terror of the Moors,--and no shame to me either! A +poor dwarf, against a man who tears armies to shreds,--and sends +scullery maids into hysterics! What is a poor crippled jester compared +with a powerful scullery maid or an army of heathen Moriscoes? Give me +that sword, Fadrique, or I am a dead man!" + +But Don John was laughing good-naturedly. + +"So it was you, Adonis? I might have-known your voice, I should think." + +"No one ever knows my voice, sir. It is not a voice, it is a freak of +grammar. It is masculine, feminine, and neuter in gender, singular by +nature, and generally accusative, and it is optative in mood and full of +acute accents. If you can find such another voice in creation, sir, I +will forfeit mine in the King's councils." + +Adonis laughed now, and Dolores remembered the laughter she had heard +from the window. + +"Does his Majesty consult you on matters of state?" inquired Don John. +"Answer quickly, for I must be going." + +"It takes twice as long to tell a story to two men, as to tell it to +one,--when you have to tell them different stories," + +"Go, Fadrique," said Don John, "and shut the door." + +The dwarf, seeing the servant gone, beckoned Don John to the other side +of the room. + +"It is no great secret, being only the King's," he said. "His Majesty +bids me tell your Serene Highness that he wishes to speak with you +privately about some matters, and that he will come here soon after +supper, and begs you to be alone." + +"I will be here--alone." + +"Excellent, sir. Now there is another matter of secrecy which is just +the contrary of what I have told you, for it is a secret from the King. +A lady laid a letter and two white carnations on your writing-table. If +there is any answer to be taken, I will take it." + +"There is none," answered Don John sternly, "Tell the lady that I burned +the letter without reading it. Go, Adonis, and the next time you come +here, do not bring messages from women. Fadrique!" + +"Your Highness burned the letter without reading it?" + +"Yes. Fadrique!" + +"I am sorry," said the dwarf, in a low voice. + +No more words were spoken, and in a few moments there was deep silence, +for they were all gone, and Dolores was alone, locked into the little +room. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +The great throne room of the palace was crowded with courtiers long +before the time when the King and Queen and Don John of Austria were to +appear, and the entries and halls by which it was approached were almost +as full. Though the late November air was keen, the state apartments +were at summer heat, warmed by thousands of great wax candles that +burned in chandeliers, and in huge sconces and on high candelabra that +stood in every corner. The light was everywhere, and was very soft and +yellow, while the odour of the wax itself was perceptible in the air, +and helped the impression that the great concourse was gathered in a +wide cathedral for some solemn function rather than in a throne room to +welcome a victorious soldier. Vast tapestries, dim and rich in the thick +air, covered the walls between the tall Moorish windows, and above them +the great pointed vaulting, ornamented with the fantastically modelled +stucco of the Moors, was like the creamy crests of waves lashed into +foam by the wind, thrown upright here, and there blown forward in swift +spray, and then again breaking in the fall to thousands of light and +exquisite shapes; and the whole vault thus gathered up the light of the +candles into itself and shed it downward, distributing it into every +corner and lighting every face in a soft and golden glow. + +At the upper end, between two great doors that were like the gateways of +an eastern city, stood the vacant throne, on a platform approached by +three broad steps and covered with deep red cloth; and there stood +magnificent officers of the guard in gilded corslets and plumed steel +caps, and other garments of scarlet and gold, with their drawn swords +out. But Mendoza was not there yet, for it was his duty to enter with +the King's own guard, preceding the Majorduomo. Above the throne, a huge +canopy of velvet, red and yellow, was reared up around the royal coat of +arms. + +To the right and left, on the steps, stood carved stools with silken +cushions--those on the right for the chief ministers and nobles of the +kingdom, those on the left for the great ladies of the court. These +would all enter in the King's train and take their places. For the +throng of courtiers who filled the floor and the entries there were no +seats, for only a score of the highest and greatest personages were +suffered to sit in the royal presence. A few, who were near the windows, +rested themselves surreptitiously on the high mouldings of the +pilasters, pushing aside the curtains cautiously, and seeming from a +distance to be standing while they were in reality comfortably seated, +an object of laughing envy and of many witticisms to their less +fortunate fellow-courtiers. The throng was not so close but that it was +possible to move in the middle of the hall, and almost all the persons +there were slowly changing place, some going forward to be nearer the +throne, others searching for their friends among their many +acquaintances, that they might help the tedious hour to pass more +quickly. + +Seen from the high gallery above the arch of the great entrance the hall +was a golden cauldron full of rich hues that intermingled in streams, +and made slow eddies with deep shadows, and then little waves of light +that turned upon themselves, as the colours thrown into the dyeing vat +slowly seethe and mix together in rivulets of dark blue and crimson, and +of splendid purple that seems to turn black in places and then is +suddenly shot through with flashes of golden and opalescent light. Here +and there also a silvery gleam flashed in the darker surface, like a +pearl in wine, for a few of the court ladies were dressed all in white, +with silver and many pearls, and diamonds that shed little rays of their +own. + +The dwarf Adonis had been there for a few moments behind the lattice +which the Moors had left, and as he stood there alone, where no one ever +thought of going, he listened to the even and not unmusical sound that +came up from the great assembly--the full chorus of speaking voices +trained never to be harsh or high, and to use chosen words, with no loud +exclamations, laughing only to please and little enough out of +merriment; and they would not laugh at all after the King and Queen came +in, but would only murmur low and pleasant flatteries, the change as +sudden as when the musician at the keys closes the full organ all at +once and draws gentle harmonies from softer stops. + +The jester had stood there, and looked down with deep-set, eager eyes, +his crooked face pathetically sad and drawn, but alive with a swift and +meaning intelligence, while the thin and mobile lips expressed a sort of +ready malice which could break out in bitterness or turn to a kindly +irony according as the touch that moved the man's sensitive nature was +cruel or friendly. He was scarcely taller than a boy of ten years old, +but his full-grown arms hung down below his knees, and his man's head, +with the long, keen face, was set far forward on his shapeless body, so +that in speaking with persons of ordinary stature he looked up under his +brows, a little sideways, to see better. Smooth red hair covered his +bony head, and grew in a carefully trimmed and pointed beard on his +pointed chin. A loose doublet of crimson velvet hid the outlines of his +crooked back and projecting breastbone, and the rest of his dress was of +materials as rich, and all red. He was, moreover, extraordinarily +careful of his appearance, and no courtier had whiter or more delicately +tended hands or spent more time before the mirror in tying a shoulder +knot, and in fastening the stiffened collar of white embroidered linen +at the fashionable angle behind his neck. + +He had entered the latticed gallery on his way to Don John's apartments +with the King's message. A small and half-concealed door, known to few +except the servants of the palace, opened upon it suddenly from a niche +in one of the upper corridors. In Moorish days the ladies of the harem +had been wont to go there unseen to see the reception of ambassadors of +state, and such ceremonies, at which, even veiled, they could never be +present. + +He only stayed a few moments, and though his eyes were eager, it was by +habit rather than because they were searching for any one in the crowd. +It pleased him now and then to see the court world as a spectacle, as it +delights the hard-worked actor to be for once a spectator at another's +play. He was an integral part of the court himself, a man of whom most +was often expected when he had the least to give, to whom it was +scarcely permitted to say anything in ordinary language, but to whom +almost any license of familiar speech was freely allowed. He was not a +man, he was a tradition, a thing that had to be where it was from +generation to generation; wherever the court had lived a jester lay +buried, and often two and three, for they rarely lived an ordinary +lifetime. Adonis thought of that sometimes, when he was alone, or when +he looked down at the crowd of delicately scented and richly dressed men +and women, every one called by some noble name, who would doubtless +laugh at some jest of his before the night was over. To their eyes the +fool was a necessary servant, because there had always been a fool at +court; he was as indispensable as a chief butler, a chief cook, or a +state coachman, and much more amusing. But he was not a man, he had no +name, he had no place among men, he was not supposed to have a mother, a +wife, a home, anything that belonged to humanity. He was well lodged, +indeed, where the last fool had died, and richly clothed as the other +had been, and he fed delicately, and was given the fine wines of France +to drink, lest his brain should be clouded by stronger liquor and he +should fail to make the court laugh. But he knew well enough that +somewhere in Toledo or Valladolid the next court jester was being +trained to good manners and instructed in the art of wit, to take the +vacant place when he should die. It pleased him therefore sometimes to +look down at the great assemblies from the gallery and to reflect that +all those magnificent fine gentlemen and tenderly nurtured beauties of +Spain were to die also, and that there was scarcely one of them, man or +woman, for whose death some one was not waiting, and waiting perhaps +with evil anxiety and longing. They were splendid to see, those fair +women in their brocades and diamonds, those dark young princesses and +duchesses in velvet and in pearls. He dreamed of them sometimes, +fancying himself one of those Djin of the southern mountains of whom the +Moors told blood-curdling tales, and in the dream he flew down from the +gallery on broad, black wings and carried off the youngest and most +beautiful, straight to his magic fortress above the sea. + +They never knew that he was sometimes up there, and on this evening he +did not wait long, for he had his message to deliver and must be in +waiting on the King before the royal train entered the throne room. +After he was gone, the courtiers waited long, and more and more came in +from without. Now and then the crowd parted as best it might, to allow +some grandee who wore the order of the Golden Fleece or of some other +exalted order, to lead his lady nearer to the throne, as was his right, +advancing with measured steps, and bowing gravely to the right and left +as he passed up to the front among his peers. And just behind them, on +one aide, the young girls, of whom many were to be presented to the King +and Queen that night, drew together and talked in laughing whispers, +gathering in groups and knots of three and four, in a sort of irregular +rank behind their mothers or the elder ladies who were to lead them to +the royal presence and pronounce their names. There was more light where +they were gathered, the shadows were few and soft, the colours tender as +the tints of roses in a garden at sunset, and from the place where they +stood the sound of young voices came silvery and clear. That should have +been Inez de Mendoza's place if she had not been blind. But Inez had +never been willing to be there, though she had more than once found her +way to the gallery where the dwarf had stood, and had listened, and +smelled the odour of the wax candles and the perfumes that rose with the +heated air. + +It was long before the great doors on the right hand of the canopy were +thrown open, but courtiers are accustomed from their childhood to long +waiting, and the greater part of their occupation at court is to see and +to be seen, and those who can do both and can take pleasure in either +are rarely impatient. Moreover, many found an opportunity of exchanging +quick words and of making sudden plans for meeting, who would have found +it hard to exchange a written message, and who had few chances of seeing +each other in the ordinary course of their lives; and others had waited +long to deliver a cutting speech, well studied and tempered to hurt, and +sought their enemies in the crowd with the winning smile a woman wears +to deal her keenest thrust. There were men, too, who had great interests +at stake and sought the influence of such as lived near the King, +flattering every one who could possibly be of use, and coolly +overlooking any who had a matter of their own to press, though they were +of their own kin. Many officers of Don John's army were there, too, +bright-eyed and bronzed from their campaigning, and ready to give their +laurels for roses, leaf by leaf, with any lady of the court who would +make a fair exchange--and of these there were not a few, and the time +seemed short to them. There were also ecclesiastics, but not many, in +sober black and violet garments, and they kept together in one corner +and spoke a jargon of Latin and Spanish which the courtiers could not +understand; and all who were there, the great courtiers and the small, +the bishops and the canons, the stout princesses laced to suffocation +and to the verge of apoplexy, and fanning themselves desperately in the +heat, and their slim, dark-eyed daughters, cool and laughing--they were +all gathered together to greet Spain's youngest and greatest hero, Don +John of Austria, who had won back Granada from the Moors. + +As the doors opened at last, a distant blast of silver trumpets rang in +from without, and the full chorus of speaking voices was hushed to a +mere breathing that died away to breathless silence during a few moments +as the greatest sovereign of the age, and one of the strangest figures +of all time, appeared before his court. The Grand Master of Ceremonies +entered first, in his robe of office, bearing a long white staff. In the +stillness his voice rang out to the ends of the hall: + +"His Majesty the King! Her Majesty the Queen!" + +Then came a score of halberdiers of the guard, picked men of great +stature, marching in even steps, led by old Mendoza himself, in his +breastplate and helmet, sword in hand; and he drew up the guard at one +side in a rank, making them pass him so that he stood next to the door. + +After the guards came Philip the Second, a tall and melancholy figure; +and with him, on his left side, walked the young Queen, a small, thin +figure in white, with sad eyes and a pathetic face--wondering, perhaps, +whether she was to follow soon those other queens who had walked by the +same King to the same court, and had all died before their time--Mary of +Portugal, Mary of England, Isabel of Valois. + +The King was one of those men who seem marked by destiny rather than by +nature, fateful, sombre, almost repellent in manner, born to inspire a +vague fear at first sight, and foreordained to strange misfortune or to +extraordinary success, one of those human beings from whom all men +shrink instinctively, and before whom they easily lose their fluency of +speech and confidence of thought. Unnaturally still eyes, of an +uncertain colour, gazed with a terrifying fixedness upon a human world, +and were oddly set in the large and perfectly colourless face that was +like an exaggerated waxen mask. The pale lips did not meet evenly, the +lower one protruding, forced, outward by the phenomenal jaw that has +descended to this day in the House of Austria. A meagre beard, so fair +that it looked faded, accentuated the chin rather than concealed it, and +the hair on the head was of the same undecided tone, neither thin nor +thick, neither long nor short, but parted, and combed with the utmost +precision about the large but very finely moulded ears. The brow was +very full as well as broad, and the forehead high, the whole face too +large, even for a man so tall, and disquieting in its proportions. +Philip bent his head forward a little when at rest; when he looked about +him it moved with something of the slow, sure motion of a piece of +mechanism, stopping now and then, as the look in the eyes solidified to +a stare, and then, moving again, until curiosity was satisfied and it +resumed its first attitude, and remained motionless, whether the lips +were speaking or not. + +Very tall and thin, and narrow chested, the figure was clothed all in +cream-coloured silk and silver, relieved only by the collar of the +Golden Fleece, the solitary order the King wore. His step was ungraceful +and slow, as if his thin limbs bore his light weight with difficulty, +and he sometimes stumbled in walking. One hand rested on the hilt of his +sword as he walked, and even under the white gloves the immense length +of the fingers and the proportionate development of the long thumb were +clearly apparent. No one could have guessed that in such a figure there +could be much elasticity or strength, and yet, at rare moments and when +younger, King Philip displayed such strength and energy and quickness as +might well have made him the match of ordinary men. As a rule his anger +was slow, thoughtful, and dangerous, as all his schemes were vast and +far-reaching. + +With the utmost deliberation, and without so much as glancing at the +courtiers assembled, he advanced to the throne and sat down, resting +both hands on the gilded arms of the great chair; and the Queen took her +place beside him. But before he had settled himself, there was a low +sound of suppressed delight in the hall, a moving of heads, a +brightening of women's eyes, a little swaying of men's shoulders as they +tried to see better over those who stood before them; and voices rose +here and there above the murmur, though not loudly, and were joined by +others. Then the King's waxen face darkened, though the expression did +not change and the still eyes did not move, but as if something passed +between it and the light, leaving it grey in the shadow. He did not turn +to look, for he knew that his brother had entered the throne room and +that every eye was upon him. + +Don John was all in dazzling white--white velvet, white satin, white +silk, white lace, white shoes, and wearing neither sword nor ornament of +any kind, the most faultless vision of young and manly grace that ever +glided through a woman's dream. + +His place was on the King's right, and he passed along the platform of +the throne with an easy, unhesitating step, and an almost boyish smile +of pleasure at the sounds he heard, and at the flutter of excitement +that was in the air, rather to be felt than otherwise perceived. Coming +up the steps of the throne, he bent one knee before his brother, who +held out his ungloved hand for him to kiss--and when that was done, he +knelt again before the Queen, who did likewise. Then, bowing low as he +passed back before the King, he descended one step and took the chair +set for him in the place that was for the royal princes. + +He was alone there, for Philip was again childless at his fourth +marriage, and it was not until long afterwards that a son was born who +lived to succeed him; and there were no royal princesses in Madrid, so +that Don John was his brother's only near blood relation at the court, +and since he had been acknowledged he would have had his place by right, +even if he had not beaten the Moriscoes in the south and won back +Granada. + +After him came the high Ministers of State and the ambassadors in a rich +and stately train, led in by Don Antonio Perez, the King's new +favourite, a man of profound and evil intelligence, upon whom Philip was +to rely almost entirely during ten years, whom he almost tortured to +death for his crimes, and who in the end escaped him, outlived him, and +died a natural death, in Paris, when nearly eighty. With these came also +the court ladies, the Queen's Mistress of the Robes, and the maids of +honour, and with the ladies was Doña Ana de la Cerda, Princess of Eboli +and Melito and Duchess of Pastrana, the wife of old Don Ruy Gomez de +Silva, the Minister. It was said that she ruled her husband, and Antonio +Perez and the King himself, and that she was faithless to all three. + +She was not more than thirty years of age at that time, and she looked +younger when seen in profile. But one facing her might have thought her +older from the extraordinary and almost masculine strength of her small +head and face, compact as a young athlete's, too square for a woman's, +with high cheekbones, deep-set black eyes and eyebrows that met between +them, and a cruel red mouth that always curled a little just when she +was going to speak, and showed extraordinarily perfect little teeth, +when the lips parted. Yet she was almost beautiful when she was not +angry or in a hurtful mood. The dark complexion was as smooth as a +perfect peach, and tinged with warm colour, and her eyes could be like +black opals, and no woman in Spain or Andalusia could match her for +grace of figure and lightness of step. + +Others came after in the long train. Then, last of all, at a little +distance from the rest, the jester entered, affecting a very dejected +air. He stood still a while on the platform, looking about as if to see +whether a seat had been reserved for him, and then, shaking his head +sadly, he crouched down, a heap of scarlet velvet with a man's face, +just at Don John's feet, and turning a little towards him, so as to +watch his eyes. But Don John would not look at him, and was surprised +that he should put himself there, having just been dismissed with a +sharp reprimand for bringing women's messages. + +The ceremony, if it can be called by that name, began almost as soon as +all were seated. At a sign from the King, Don Antonio Perez rose and +read out a document which he had brought in his hand. It was a sort of +throne speech, and set forth briefly, in very measured terms, the +results of the long campaign against the Moriscoes, according high +praise to the army in general, and containing a few congratulatory +phrases addressed to Don John himself. The audience of nobles listened +attentively, and whenever the leader's name occurred, the suppressed +flutter of enthusiasm ran through the hall like a breeze that stirs +forest leaves in summer; but when the King was mentioned the silence was +dead and unbroken. Don John sat quite still, looking down a little, and +now and then his colour deepened perceptibly. The speech did not hint at +any reward or further distinction to be conferred on him. + +When Perez had finished reading, he paused a moment, and the hand that +held the paper fell to his side. Then he raised his voice to a higher +key. + +"God save his Majesty Don Philip Second!" be cried. "Long live the +King!" + +The courtiers answered the cheer, but moderately, as a matter of course, +and without enthusiasm, repeating it three times. But at the last time a +single woman's voice, high and clear above all the rest, cried out other +words. + +"God save Don John of Austria! Long live Don John of Austria!" + +The whole multitude of men and women was stirred at once, for every +heart was in the cheer, and in an instant, courtiers though they were, +the King was forgotten, the time, the place, and the cry went up all at +once, full, long and loud, shaming the one that had gone before it. + +King Philip's hands strained at the arms of his great chair, and he half +rose, as if to command silence; and Don John, suddenly pale, had half +risen, too, stretching out his open hand in a gesture of deprecation, +while the Queen watched him with timidly admiring eyes, and the dark +Princess of Eboli's dusky lids drooped to hide her own, for she was +watching him also, but with other thoughts. For a few seconds longer, +the cheers followed each other, and then they died away to a comparative +silence. The dwarf rocked himself, his head between his knees, at Don +John's feet. + +"God save the Fool!" he cried softly, mimicking the cheer, and he seemed +to shake all over, as he sat huddled together, swinging himself to and +fro. + +But no one noticed what he said, for the King had risen to his feet as +soon as there was silence. He spoke in a muffled tone that made his +words hard to understand, and those who knew him best saw that he was +very angry. The Princess of Eboli's red lips curled scornfully as she +listened, and unnoticed she exchanged a meaning glance with Antonio +Perez; for he and she were allies, and often of late they had talked +long together, and had drawn sharp comparisons between the King and his +brother, and the plan they had made was to destroy the King and to crown +Don John of Austria in his place; but the woman's plot was deeper, and +both were equally determined that Don John should not marry without +their consent, and that if he did, his marriage should not hold, unless, +as was probable, his young wife should fall ill and die of a sickness +unknown to physicians. + +All had risen with the King, and he addressed Don John amidst the most +profound silence. + +"My brother," he said, "your friends have taken upon themselves +unnecessarily to use the words we would have used, and to express to you +their enthusiasm for your success in a manner unknown at the court of +Spain. Our one voice, rendering you the thanks that are your due, can +hardly give you great satisfaction after what you have heard just now. +Yet we presume that the praise of others cannot altogether take the +place of your sovereign's at such a moment, and we formally thank you +for the admirable performance of the task entrusted to you, promising +that before long your services shall be required for an even more +arduous undertaking. It is not in our power to confer upon you any +personal distinction or public office higher than you already hold, as +our brother, and as High Admiral of Spain; but we trust the day is not +far distant when a marriage befitting your rank may place you on a level +with kings." + +Don John had moved a step forward from his place and stood before the +King, who, at the end of his short speech, put his long arms over his +brother's shoulders, and proceeded to embrace him in a formal manner by +applying one cheek to his and solemnly kissing the air behind Don John's +head, a process which the latter imitated as nearly as he could. The +court looked on in silence at the ceremony, ill satisfied with Philip's +cold words. The King drew back, and Don John returned to his place. As +he reached it the dwarf jester made a ceremonious obeisance and handed +him a glove which he had dropped as he came forward. As he took it he +felt that it contained a letter, which made a slight sound when his hand +crumpled it inside the glove. Annoyed by the fool's persistence, Don +John's eyes hardened as he looked at the crooked face, and almost +imperceptibly he shook his head. But the dwarf was as grave as he, and +slightly bent his own, clasping his hands in a gesture of supplication. +Don John reflected that the matter must be one of importance this time, +as Adonis would not otherwise have incurred the risk of passing the +letter to him under the eyes of the King and the whole court. + +Then followed the long and tedious procession of the court past the +royal pair, who remained seated, while all the rest stood up, including +Don John himself, to whom a master of ceremonies presented the persons +unknown to him, and who were by far the more numerous. To the men, old +and young, great or insignificant, he gave his hand with frank +cordiality. To the women he courteously bowed his head. A full hour +passed before it was over, and still he grasped the glove with the +crumpled letter in his hand, while the dwarf stood at a little distance, +watching in case it should fall; and as the Duchess Alvarez and the +Princess of Eboli presented the ladies of Madrid to the young Queen, the +Princess often looked at Don John and often at the jester from beneath +her half-dropped lids. But she did not make a single mistake of names +nor of etiquette, though her mind was much preoccupied with other +matters. + +The Queen was timidly gracious to every one; but Philip's face was +gloomy, and his fixed eyes hardly seemed to see the faces of the +courtiers as they passed before him, nor did he open his lips to address +a word to any of them, though some were old and faithful servants of his +own and of his father's. + +In his manner, in his silence, in the formality of the ceremony, there +was the whole spirit of the Spanish dominion. It was sombrely +magnificent, and it was gravely cruel; it adhered to the forms of +sovereignty as rigidly as to the outward practices of religion; its +power extended to the ends of the world, and the most remote countries +sent their homage and obeisance to its head; and beneath the dark +splendour that surrounded its gloomy sovereigns there was passion and +hatred and intrigue. Beside Don John of Austria stood Antonio Perez, and +under the same roof with Dolores de Mendoza dwelt Ana de la Cerda, +Princess of Eboli, and in the midst of them all Miguel de Antona, the +King's fool. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +When the ceremony was over, and every one on the platform and steps of +the throne moved a little in order to make way for the royal personages, +making a slight momentary confusion, Adonis crept up behind Don John, +and softly touched his sleeve to attract his attention. Don John looked +round quickly, and was annoyed to see the dwarf there. He did not notice +the fact that Doña Ana de la Cerda was watching them both, looking +sideways without turning her head. + +"It is a matter of importance," said the jester, in a low voice. "Read +it before supper if you can." + +Don John looked at him a moment, and turned away without answering, or +even making a sign that he understood. The dwarf met Doña Ana's eyes, +and grew slowly pale, till his face was a yellow mask; for he feared +her. + +The door on the other side of the throne was opened, and the King and +Queen, followed by Don John, and preceded by the Master of Ceremonies, +went out. The dwarf, who was privileged, went after them with his +strange, rolling step, his long arms hanging down and swinging +irregularly, as if they did not belong to his body, but were only +stuffed things that hung loose from his shoulders. + +As on all such state occasions, there were separate suppers, in separate +apartments, one for the King, and one for the ministers of state and the +high courtiers; thirdly, a vast collation was spread in a hall on the +other side of the throne room for the many nobles who were but guests at +the court and held no office nor had any special privileges. It was the +custom at that time that the supper should last an hour, after which all +reëntered the throne room to dance, except the King and Queen, who +either retired to the royal apartments, or came back for a short time +and remained standing on the floor of the hall, in order to converse +with a few of the grandees and ambassadors. + +The royal party supped in a sombre room of oval shape, dark with +tapestries and splendid with gold. The King and Queen sat side by side, +and Don John was placed opposite them at the table, of which the shape +and outline corresponded on a small scale with those of the room. Four +or five gentlemen, whose office it was, served the royal couple, +receiving the dishes and wines from the hands of the chief butler; and +he, with two other servants in state liveries, waited on Don John. +Everything was most exactly ordered according to the unchangeable rules +of the most formal court in Europe, not even excepting that of Rome. + +Philip sat in gloomy silence, eating nothing, but occasionally drinking +a little Tokay wine, brought with infinite precaution from Hungary to +Madrid. As be said nothing, neither the Queen nor Don John could speak, +it being ordained that the King must be the first to open his lips. The +Queen, however, being young and of a good constitution in spite of her +almost delicate appearance, began to taste everything that was set +before her, glancing timidly at her husband, who took no notice of her, +or pretended not to do so. Don John, soldier-like, made a sparing supper +of the first thing that was offered to him, and then sat silently +watching the other two. He understood very well that his brother wished +to see him in private, and was annoyed that the Queen should make the +meal last longer than necessary. The dwarf understood also, and smiled +to himself in the corner where he stood waiting in case the King should +wish to be amused, which on that particular evening seemed far from +likely. But sometimes he turned pale and his lips twisted a little as if +he were suffering great pain; for Don John had not yet read the letter +that was hidden in his glove; and Adonis saw in the dark corners of the +room the Princess of Eboli's cruel half-closed eyes, and he fancied he +heard her deep voice, that almost always spoke very sweetly, telling him +again and again that if Don John did not read her letter before he met +the King alone that night, Adonis should before very long cease to be +court jester, and indeed cease to be anything at all that 'eats and +drinks and sleeps and wears a coat'--as Dante had said. What Doña Ana +said she would do, was as good as done already, both then and for nine +years from that time, but thereafter she paid for all her deeds, and +more too. But this history is not concerned with those matters, being +only the story of what happened in one night at the old Alcazar of +Madrid. + +King Philip sat a little bent in his chair, apparently staring at a +point in space, and not opening his lips except to drink. But his +presence filled the shadowy room, his large and yellowish face seemed to +be all visible from every part of it, and his still eyes dominated +everything and every one, except his brother. It was as if the +possession of some supernatural and evil being were stealing slowly upon +all who were there; as if a monstrous spider sat absolutely motionless +in the midst of its web, drawing everything within reach to itself by +the unnatural fascination of its lidless sight--as if the gentlemen in +waiting were but helpless flies, circling nearer and nearer, to be +caught at last in the meshes, and the Queen a bright butterfly, and Don +John a white moth, already taken and soon to be devoured. The dwarf +thought of this in his corner, and his blood was chilled, for three +queens lay in their tombs in three dim cathedrals, and she who sat at +table was the fourth who had supped with the royal Spider in his web. +Adonis watched him, and the penetrating fear he had long known crept all +through him like the chill that shakes a man before a marsh fever, so +that he had to set his teeth with all his might, lest they should +chatter audibly. As he looked, he fancied that in the light of the waxen +torches the King's face turned by degrees to an ashy grey, and then more +slowly to a shadowy yellow again, as he had seen a spider's ugly body +change colour when the flies came nearer, and change again when one was +entangled in the threads. He thought that the faces of all the people in +the room changed, too, and that he saw in them the look that only near +and certain death can bring, which is in the eyes of him who goes out +with bound hands, at dawn, amongst other men who will see the rising sun +shine on his dead face. That fear came on the dwarf sometimes, and he +dreaded always lest at that moment the King should call to him and bid +him sing or play with words. But this had never happened yet. There were +others in the room, also, who knew something of that same terror, though +in a less degree, perhaps because they knew Philip less well than the +jester, who was almost always near him. But Don John sat quietly in his +place, no more realizing that there could be danger than if he had been +charging the Moors at the head of his cavalry, or fighting a man hand to +hand with drawn swords. + +But still the fear grew, and even the gentlemen and the servants +wondered, for it had never happened that the King had not at last broken +the silence at supper, so that all guessed trouble near at hand, and +peril for themselves. The Queen grew nervous and ceased to eat. She +looked from Philip to Don John, and more than once seemed about to +speak, but recollected herself and checked the words. Her hand shook and +her thin young nostrils quivered now and then. Evil was gathering in the +air, and she felt it approaching, though she could not tell whence it +came. A sort of tension took possession of every one, like what people +feel in southern countries when the southeast wind blows, or when, +almost without warning, the fresh sea-breeze dies away to a dead calm +and the blackness rises like a tide of pitch among the mountains of the +coast, sending up enormous clouds above it to the pale sky, and lying +quite still below; and the air grows lurid quickly, and heavy to breathe +and sultry, till the tempest breaks in lightning and-thunder and +drenching rain. + +In the midst of the brewing storm the dwarf saw only the Spider in its +web, illuminated by the unearthly glare of his own fear, and with it the +frightened butterfly and the beautiful silver moth, that had never +dreamed of danger. He shrank against the hangings, pressing backwards +till he hurt his crooked back against the stone wall behind the +tapestry, and could have shrieked with fear had not a greater fear made +him dumb. He felt that the King was going to speak to him, and that he +should not be able to answer him. A horrible thought suddenly seized +him, and he fancied that the King had seen him slip the letter into Don +John's glove, and would ask for it, and take it, and read it--and that +would be the end. Thrills of torment ran through him, and he knew how it +must feel to lie bound on the rack and to hear the executioner's hands +on the wheel, ready to turn it again at the judge's word. He had seen a +man tortured once, and remembered his face. He was sure that the King +must have seen the letter, and that meant torment and death, and the +King was angry also because the court had cheered Don John. It was +treason, and he knew it--yet it would have been certain death, too, to +refuse to obey Doña Ana. There was destruction on either side, and he +could not escape. Don John had not read the writing yet, and if the King +asked for it, he would probably give it to him without a thought, +unopened, for he was far too simple to imagine that any one could accuse +him of a treasonable thought, and too boyishly frank to fancy that his +brother could be jealous of him--above all, he was too modest to suppose +that there were thousands who would have risked their lives to set him +on the throne of Spain. He would therefore give the King the letter +unopened, unless, believing it to be a love message from some foolish +woman, he chose to tear it up unread. The wretched jester knew that +either would mean his own disgrace and death, and he quivered with agony +from head to foot. + +The lights moved up and down before his sight, the air grew heavier, the +royal Spider took gigantic proportions, and its motionless eyes were +lurid with evil It was about to turn to him; he felt it turning already, +and knew that it saw him in his corner, and meant to draw him to it, +very slowly. In a moment he should fall to the floor a senseless heap, +out of deadly fear--it would be well if his fear really killed him, but +he could not even hope for that. His hands gripped the hangings on each +side of him as he shrank and crushed his deformity against the wall. +Surely the King was taming his head. Yes--he was right. He felt his +short hair rising on his scalp and unearthly sounds screamed in his +ears. The terrible eyes were upon him now, but he could not move hand or +foot--if he had been nailed to the wall to die, he could not have been +so helpless. + +Philip eyed him with cold curiosity, for it was not an illusion, and he +was really looking steadily at the dwarf. After a long time, his +protruding lower lip moved two or three times before he spoke. The +jester should have come forward at his first glance, to answer any +question asked him. Instead, his colourless lips were parted and tightly +drawn back, and his teeth were chattering, do what he could to close +them. The Queen and Don John followed the King's gaze and looked at the +dwarf in surprise, for his agony was painfully visible. + +"He looks as if he were in an ague," observed Philip, as though he were +watching a sick dog. + +He had spoken at last, and the fear of silence was removed. An audible +sigh of relief was heard in the room. + +"Poor man!" exclaimed the Queen. "I am afraid he is very ill!" + +"It is more like--" began Don John, and then he checked himself, for he +had been on the point of saying that the dwarfs fit looked more like +physical fear than illness, for he had more than once seen men afraid of +death; but he remembered the letter in his glove and thought the words +might rouse Philip's suspicions. + +"What was your Serene Highness about to say?" enquired the King, +speaking coldly, and laying stress on the formal title which he had +himself given Don John the right to use. + +"As your Majesty says, it is very like the chill of a fever," replied +Don John. + +But it was already passing, for Adonis was not a natural coward, and the +short conversation of the royal personages had broken the spell that +held him, or had at least diminished its power. When he had entered the +room he had been quite sure that no one except the Princess had seen him +slip the letter into Don John's glove. That quieting belief began to +return, his jaw became steady, and he relaxed his hold on the +tapestries, and even advanced half a step towards the table. + +"And now he seems better," said the King, in evident surprise. "What +sort of illness is this, Fool? If you cannot explain it, you shall be +sent to bed, and the physicians shall practise experiments upon your +vile body, until they find out what your complaint is, for the +advancement of their learning." + +"They would advance me more than their science, Sire," answered Adonis, +in a voice that still quaked with past fear, "for they would send me to +paradise at once and learn nothing that they wished to know." + +"That is probable," observed Don John, thoughtfully, for he had little +belief in medicine generally, and none at all in the present case. + +"May it please your Majesty," said Adonis, taking heart a little, "there +are musk melons on the table." + +"Well, what of that?" asked the King. + +"The sight of melons on your Majesty's table almost kills me," answered +the dwarf. + +"Are you so fond of them that you cannot bear to see them? You shall +have a dozen and be made to eat them all. That will cure your abominable +greediness." + +"Provided that the King had none himself, I would eat all the rest, +until I died of a surfeit of melons like your Majesty's great-grandsire +of glorious and happy memory, the Emperor Maximilian." + +Philip turned visibly pale, for he feared illness and death as few have +feared either. + +"Why has no one ever told me that?" he asked in a muffled and angry +voice, looking round the room, so that the gentlemen and servants shrank +back a little. + +No one answered his question, for though the fact was true, it had been +long forgotten, and it would have been hard for any of those present to +realize that the King would fear a danger so far removed. But the dwarf +knew him well. + +"Let there be no more melons," said Philip, rising abruptly, and still +pale. + +Don John had suppressed a smile, and was taken unawares when the King +rose, so that in standing up instantly, as was necessary according to +the rules, his gloves slipped from his knees, where he had kept them +during supper, to the floor, and a moment passed before he realized that +they were not in his hand. He was still in his place, for the King had +not yet left his own, being engaged in saying a Latin grace in a low +tone, He crossed himself devoutly, and an instant later Don John stooped +down and picked up what he had dropped. Philip could not but notice the +action, and his suspicions were instantly roused. + +"What have you found?" he asked sharply, his eyes fixing themselves +again. + +"My gloves, Sire. I dropped them." + +"And are gloves such precious possessions that Don John of Austria must +stoop to pick them up himself?" + +Adonis began to tremble again, and all his fear returned, so that he +almost staggered against the wall. The Queen looked on in surprise, for +she had not been Philip's wife many months. Don John was unconcerned, +and laughed in reply to the question. + +"It chances that after long campaigning these are the only new white +gloves Don John of Austria possesses," he answered lightly. + +"Let me see them," said the King, extending his hand, and smiling +suddenly. + +With some deliberation Don John presented one of the gloves to his +brother, who took it and pretended to examine it critically, still +smiling. He turned it over several times, while Adonis looked on, +gasping for breath, but unnoticed. + +"The other," said Philip calmly. + +Adonis tried to suppress a groan, and his eyes were fixed on Don John's +face. Would he refuse? Would he try to extract the letter from the glove +under his brother's eyes? Would he give it up? + +Don John did none of those things, and there was not the least change of +colour in his cheek. Without any attempt at concealment he took the +letter from its hiding-place, and held out the empty glove with his +other hand. The King drew back, and his face grew very grey and shadowy +with anger. + +"What have you in your other hand?" he asked in a voice indistinct with +passion. + +"A lady's letter, Sire," replied Don John, unmoved. + +"Give it to me at once!" + +"That, your Majesty, is a request I will not grant to any gentleman in +Spain." + +He undid a button of his close-fitting doublet, thrust the letter into +the opening and fastened the button again, before the King could speak. +The dwarf's heart almost stood still with joy,--he could have crawled to +Don John's feet to kiss the dust from his shoes. The Queen smiled +nervously, between fear of the one man and admiration for the other. + +"Your Serene Highness," answered Philip, with a frightful stare, "is the +first gentleman of Spain who has disobeyed his sovereign." + +"May I be the last, your Majesty," said Don John, with a courtly gesture +which showed well enough that he had no intention of changing his mind. + +The King turned from him coldly and spoke to Adonis, who had almost got +his courage back a second time. + +"You gave my message to his Highness, Fool?" he asked, controlling his +voice, but not quite steadying it to a natural tone. + +"Yes, Sire." + +"Go and tell Don Antonio Perez to come at once to me in my own +apartments." + +The dwarf bent till his crooked back was high above his head, and he +stepped backwards towards the door through which the servants had +entered and gone out. When he had disappeared, Philip turned and, as if +nothing had happened, gave his hand to the Queen to lead her away with +all the prescribed courtesy that was her due. The servants opened wide +the door, two gentlemen placed themselves on each side of it, the chief +gentleman in waiting went before, and the royal couple passed out, +followed at a little distance by Don John, who walked unconcernedly, +swinging his right glove carelessly in his hand as he went. The four +gentlemen walked last. In the hall beyond, Mendoza was in waiting with +the guards. + +A little while after they were all gone, Adonis came back from his +errand, with his rolling step, and searched for the other glove on the +floor, where the King had dropped it. He found it there at once and hid +it in his doubtlet. No one was in the room, for the servants had +disappeared as soon as they could. The dwarf went quickly to Don John's +place, took a Venetian goblet full of untasted wine that stood there and +drank it at a draught. Then he patted himself comfortably with his other +hand and looked thoughtfully at the slices of musk melon that lay in the +golden dish flanked by other dishes full of late grapes and pears. + +"God bless the Emperor Maximilian!" he said in a devout tone. "Since he +could not live for ever, it was a special grace of Providence that his +death should be by melons." + +Then he went away again, and softly closed the door behind him, after +looking back once more to be sure that no one was there after all, and +perhaps, as people sometimes do on leaving a place where they have +escaped a great danger, fixing its details unconsciously in his memory, +with something almost akin to gratitude, as if the lifeless things had +run the risk with them and thus earned their lasting friendship. Thus +every man who has been to sea knows how, when his vessel has been hove +to in a storm for many hours, perhaps during more than one day, within a +few miles of the same spot, the sea there grows familiar to him as a +landscape to a landsman, so that when the force of the gale is broken at +last and the sea subsides to a long swell, and the ship is wore to the +wind and can lay her course once more, he looks astern at the grey water +he has learned to know so well and feels that he should know it again if +he passed that way, and he leaves it with a faint sensation of regret. +So Adonis, the jester, left the King's supper-room that night, devoutly +thanking Heaven that the Emperor Maximilian had died of eating too many +melons more than a hundred and fifty years ago. + +Meanwhile, the King had left the Queen at the door of her apartments, +and had dismissed Don John in angry silence by a gesture only, as he +went on to his study. And when there, he sent away his gentlemen and +bade that no one should disturb him, and that only Don Antonio Perez, +the new favourite, should be admitted. The supper had scarcely lasted +half an hour, and it was still early in the evening when he found +himself alone and was able to reflect upon what had happened, and upon +what it would be best to do to rid himself of his brother, the hero and +idol of Spain. + +He did not admit that Don John of Austria could be allowed to live on, +unmolested, as if he had not openly refused to obey an express command +and as if he were not secretly plotting to get possession of the throne. +That was impossible. During more than two years, Don John's popularity, +not only with the people, but with the army, which was a much more +serious matter, had been steadily growing; and with it and even faster +than it, the King's jealousy and hatred had grown also, till it had +become a matter of common discussion and jest among the soldiers when +their officers were out of hearing. + +But though it was without real cause, it was not without apparent +foundation. As Philip slowly paced the floor of his most private room, +with awkward, ungainly steps, stumbling more than once against a cushion +that lay before his great armchair, he saw clearly before him the whole +dimensions of that power to which he had unwillingly raised his brother. +The time had been short, but the means used had been great, for they had +been intended to be means of destruction, and the result was tremendous +when they turned against him who used them. Philip was old enough to +have been Don John's father, and he remembered how indifferent he had +been to the graceful boy of twelve, whom they called Juan Quixada, when +he had been brought to the old court at Valladolid and acknowledged as a +son of the Emperor Charles. Though he was his brother, Philip had not +even granted him the privilege of living in the palace then, and had +smiled at the idea that he should be addressed as "Serene Highness." +Even as a boy, he had been impatient to fight; and Philip remembered how +he was always practising with the sword or performing wild feats of +skill and strength upon half-broken horses, except when he was kept to +his books by Doña Magdalena Quixada, the only person in the world whom +he ever obeyed without question. Every one had loved the boy from the +first, and Philip's jealousy had begun from that; for he, who was loved +by none and feared by all, craved popularity and common affection, and +was filled with bitter resentment against the world that obeyed him but +refused him what he most desired. + +Little more than ten years had passed since the boy had come, and he had +neither died a natural death nor fallen in battle, and was grown up to +young manhood, and was by far the greatest man in Spain. He had been +treated as an inferior, the people had set him up as a god. He had been +sent out to command expeditions that be might fail and be disgraced; but +he had shown deeper wisdom than his elders, and had come back covered +with honour; and now he had been commanded to fight out the final battle +of Spain with the Moriscoes, in the hope that he might die in the fight, +since he could not be dishonoured, and instead he had returned in +triumph, having utterly subdued the fiercest warriors in Europe, to reap +the ripe harvest of his military glory at an age when other men were in +the leading-strings of war's school, and to be acclaimed a hero as well +as a favourite by a court that could hardly raise a voice to cheer for +its own King. Ten years had done all that. Ten more, or even five, might +do the rest. The boy could not be without ambition, and there could be +no ambition for him of which the object should be less than a throne. +And yet no word had been breathed against him,--his young reputation was +charmed, as his life was. In vain Philip had bidden Antonio Perez and +the Princess of Eboli use all their wits and skill to prove that he was +plotting to seize the crown. They answered that he loved a girl of the +court, Mendoza's daughter, and that besides war, for war's sake, he +cared for nothing in the world but Dolores and his adopted mother. + +They spoke the truth, for they had reason to know it, having used every +means in their power to find out whether he could be induced to quarrel +with Philip and enter upon a civil war, which could have had but one +issue, since all Spain would have risen to proclaim him king. He had +been tempted by questions, and led into discussions in which it seemed +certain that he must give them some hope. But they and their agents lost +heart before the insuperable obstacle of the young prince's loyalty. It +was simple, unaffected, and without exaggeration. He never drew his +sword and kissed the blade, and swore by the Blessed Virgin to give his +last drop of blood for his sovereign and his country. He never made +solemn vows to accomplish ends that looked impossible. But when the +charge sounded, he pressed his steel cap a little lower upon his brow, +and settled himself in the saddle without any words and rode at death +like the devil incarnate; and then men followed him, and the impossible +was done, and that was all. Or he could wait and watch, and manoeuvre +for weeks, until he had his foe in his hand, with a patience that would +have failed his officers and his men, had they not seen him always ready +and cheerful, and fully sure that although he might fail twenty times to +drive the foe into the pen, he should most certainly succeed in the +end,--as he always did. + +Philip paced the chamber in deep and angry thought. If at that moment +any one had offered to rid him of his brother, the reward would have +been ready, and worth a murderer's taking. But the King had long +cherished the scheme of marrying Don John to Queen Mary of +Scotland,--whose marriage with Bothwell could easily be annulled--in +order that his presumptuous ambition might be satisfied, and at the same +time that he might make of his new kingdom a powerful ally of Spain +against Elizabeth of England. It was for this reason that he had long +determined to prevent his brother's marriage with Maria Dolores de +Mendoza. Perez and Doña Ana de la Cerda, on the other hand, feared that +if Don John were allowed to marry the girl he so devotedly loved, he +would forget everything for her, give up campaigning, and settle to the +insignificance of a thoroughly happy man. For they knew the world well +from their own point of view. Happiness is often like sadness, for it +paralyzes those to whose lot it falls; but pain and danger rouse man's +strength of mind and body. + +Yet though the King and his treacherous favourite had diametrically +opposite intentions, a similar thought had crossed the minds of both, +even before Don John had ridden up to the palace gate late on that +afternoon, from his last camping ground outside the city walls. Both had +reasoned that whoever was to influence a man so straightforward and +fearless must have in his power and keeping the person for whom Don John +would make the greatest sacrifice of his life; and that person, as both +knew, was Dolores herself. Yet when Antonio Perez entered Philip's +study, neither had guessed the other's thought. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +The court had been still at supper when Adonis had summoned Don Antonio +Perez to the King, and the Secretary, as he was usually called, had been +obliged to excuse his sudden departure by explaining that the King had +sent for him unexpectedly. He was not even able to exchange a word with +Doña Ana, who was seated at another of the three long tables and at some +distance from him. She understood, however, and looked after him +anxiously. His leaving was not signal for the others, but it caused a +little stir which unhinged the solemn formality of the supper. The +Ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire presently protested that he was +suffering from an unbearable headache, and the Princess of Eboli, next +to whom he was seated, begged him not to stand upon ceremony, since +Perez was gone from the room, but to order his coach at once; she found +it hot, she said, and would be glad to escape. The two rose together, +and others followed their example, until the few who would have stayed +longer were constrained to imitate the majority. When Mendoza, relieved +at last from his duty, went towards the supper-room to take the place +that was kept for him at one of the tables, he met Doña Ana in the +private corridor through which the officers and ladies of the household +passed to the state apartments. He stood still, surprised to see her +there. + +"The supper is over," she said, stopping also, and trying to scrutinize +the hard old face by the dim light of the lamps. "May I have a word with +you, General? Let us walk together to your apartments." + +"It is far, Madam," observed Mendoza, who suspected at once that she +wished to see Dolores. + +"I shall be glad to walk a little, and breathe the air," she answered. +"Your corridor has arches open to the air, I remember." She began to +walk, and he was obliged to accompany her. "Yes," she continued +indifferently, "we have had such changeable weather to-day! This morning +it almost snowed, then it rained, then it, began to freeze, and now it +feels like summer! I hope Dolores has not taken cold? Is she ill? She +was not at court before supper." + +"The weather is indeed very changeable," replied the General, who did +not know what to say, and considered it beneath his dignity to lie +except by order of the King. + +"Yes--yes, I was saying so, was I not? But Dolores--is she ill? Please +tell me." The Princess spoke almost anxiously. + +"No, Madam, my daughters are well, so far as I know." + +"But then, my dear General, it is strange that you should not have sent +an excuse for Dolores' not appearing. That is the rule, you know. May I +ask why you ventured to break it?" Her tone grew harder by degrees. + +"It was very sudden," said Mendoza, trying to put her off. "I hope that +your Grace will excuse my daughter." + +"What was sudden?" enquired Doña Ana coldly. "You say she was not taken +ill." + +"Her--her not coming to court." Mendoza hesitated and pulled at his grey +beard as they went along. "She fully intended to come," he added, with +perfect truth. + +Doña Ana walked more slowly, glancing sideways at his face, though she +could hardly see it except when they passed by a lamp, for he was very +tall, and she was short, though exquisitely proportioned. + +"I do not understand," she said, in a clear, metallic voice. "I have a +right to an explanation, for it is quite impossible to give the ladies +of the court who live in the palace full liberty to attend upon the +Queen or not, as they please. You will be singularly fortunate if Don +Antonio Perez does not mention the matter to the King." + +Mendoza was silent, but the words had their effect upon him, and a very +unpleasant one, for they contained a threat. + +"You see," continued the Princess, pausing as they reached a flight of +steps which they would have to ascend, "every one acknowledges the +importance of your services, and that you have been very poorly rewarded +for them. But that is in a degree your own fault, for you have refused +to make friends when you might, and you have little interest with the +King." + +"I know it," said the old soldier, rather bitterly. "Princess," he +continued, without giving her time to say more, "this is a private +matter, which concerns only me and my daughter. I entreat you to +overlook the irregularity and not to question me further. I will serve +you in any way in my power--" + +"You cannot serve me in any way," answered Doña Ana cruelly. "I am +trying to help you," she added, with a sudden change of tone. "You see, +my dear General, you are no longer young. At your age, with your name +and your past services, you should have been a grandee and a rich man. +You have thrown away your opportunities of advancement, and you have +contented yourself with an office which is highly honourable--but poorly +paid, is it not? And there are younger men who court it for the honour +alone, and who are willing to be served by their friends." + +"Who is my successor?" asked Mendoza, bravely controlling his voice +though he felt that he was ruined. + +The skilful and cruel woman began to mount the steps in silence, in +order to let him suffer a few moments, before she answered. Reaching the +top, she spoke, and her voice was soft and kind. + +"No one," she answered, "and there is nothing to prevent you from +keeping your post as long as you like, even if you become infirm and +have to appoint a deputy--but if there were any serious cause of +complaint, like this extraordinary behaviour of Dolores--why, perhaps--" + +She paused to give her words weight, for she knew their value. + +"Madam," said Mendoza, "the matter I keep from you does not touch my +honour, and you may know it, so far as that is concerned. But it is one +of which I entreat you not to force me to speak." + +Doña Ana softly passed her arm through his. + +"I am not used to walking so fast," she said, by way of explanation. +"But, my dear Mendoza," she went on, pressing his arm a little, "you do +not think that I shall let what you tell me go further and reach any one +else--do you? How can I be of any use to you, if you have no confidence +in me? Are we not relatives? You must treat me as I treat you." + +Mendoza wished that he could. + +"Madam," he said almost roughly, "I have shut my daughter up in her own +room and bolted the door, and to-morrow I intend to send her to a +convent, and there she shall stay until she changes her mind, for I will +not change mine" + +"Oh!" ejaculated Doña Ana, with a long intonation, as if grasping the +position of affairs by degrees. "I understand," she said, after a long +time. "But then you and I are of the same opinion, my dear friend. Let +us talk about this." + +Mendoza did not wish to talk of the matter at all, and said nothing, as +they slowly advanced. They had at last reached the passage that ended at +his door, and he slackened his pace still more, obliging his companion, +whose arm was still in his, to keep pace with him. The moonlight no +longer shone in straight through the open embrasures, and there was a +dim twilight in the corridor. + +"You do not wish Dolores to marry Don John of Austria, then," said the +Princess presently, in very low tones. "Then the King is on your side, +and so am I. But I should like to know your reason for objecting to such +a very great marriage." + +"Simple enough, Madam. Whenever it should please his Majesty's policy to +marry his brother to a royal personage, such as Queen Mary of Scotland, +the first marriage would be proved null and void, because the King would +command that it should be so, and my daughter would be a dishonoured +woman, fit for nothing but a convent." + +"Do you call that dishonour?" asked the Princess thoughtfully. "Even if +that happened, you know that Don John would probably not abandon +Dolores. He would keep her near him--and provide for her generously--" + +"Madam!" cried the brave old soldier, interrupting her in sudden and +generous anger, "neither man nor woman shall tell me that my daughter +could ever fall to that!" + +She saw that she had made a mistake, and pressed his arm soothingly. + +"Pray, do not be angry with me, my dear friend. I was thinking what the +world would say--no, let me speak! I am quite of your opinion that +Dolores should be kept from seeing Don John, even by quiet force if +necessary, for they will certainly be married at the very first +opportunity they can find. But you cannot do such things violently, you +know. You will make a scandal. You cannot take your daughter away from +court suddenly and shut her up in a convent without doing her a great +injury. Do you not see that? People will not understand that you will +not let her marry Don John--I mean that most people would find it hard +to believe. Yes, the world is bad, I know; what can one do? The world +would say--promise me that you will not be angry, dear General! You can +guess what the world would say."' + +"I see--I see!" exclaimed the old man, in sudden terror for his +daughter's good name. "How wise you are!" + +"Yes," answered Doña Ana, stopping at ten paces from the door, "I am +wise, for I am obliged to be. Now, if instead of locking Dolores into +her room two or three hours ago, you had come to me, and told me the +truth, and put her under my protection, for our common good, I would +have made it quite impossible for her to exchange a word with Don John, +and I would have taken such good care of her that instead of gossiping +about her, the world would have said that she was high in favour, and +would have begun to pay court to her. You know that I have the power to +do that." + +"How very wise you are!" exclaimed Mendoza again, with more emphasis. + +"Very well. Will you let me take her with me now, my dear friend? I will +console her a little, for I daresay she has been crying all alone in her +room, poor girl, and I can keep her with me till Don John goes to +Villagarcia. Then we shall see." + +Old Mendoza was a very simple-hearted man, as brave men often are, and a +singularly spotless life spent chiefly in war and austere devotion had +left him more than ignorant of the ways of the world. He had few +friends, chiefly old comrades of his own age who did not live in the +palace, and he detested gossip. Had he known what the woman was with +whom he was speaking, he would have risked Dolores' life rather than +give her into the keeping of Doña Ana. But to him, the latter was simply +the wife of old Don Ruy Gomez de Silva, the Minister of State, and she +was the head of the Queen's household. No one would have thought of +repeating the story of a court intrigue to Mendoza, but it was also true +that every one feared Doña Ana, whose power was boundless, and no one +wished to be heard speaking ill of her. To him, therefore, her +proposition seemed both wise and kind. + +"I am very grateful," he said, with some emotion, for he believed that +she was helping him to save his fortune and his honour, as was perhaps +really the case, though she would have helped him to lose both with +equally persuasive skill could his ruin have served her. "Will you come +in with me, Princess?" he asked, beginning to move towards the door. + +"Yes. Take me to her room and leave me with her." + +"Indeed, I would rather not see her myself this evening," said Mendoza, +feeling his anger still not very far from the surface. "You will be able +to speak more wisely than I should." + +"I daresay," answered Doña Ana thoughtfully. "If you went with me to +her, there might be angry words again, and that would make it much +harder for me. If you will leave me at the door of her rooms, and then +go away, I will promise to manage the rest. You are not sorry that you +have told me, now, are you, my dear friend?" + +"I am most grateful to you. I shall do all I can to be of service to +you, even though you said that it was not in my power to serve you." + +"I was annoyed," said Doña Ana sweetly. "I did not mean it--please +forgive me." + +They reached the door, and as she withdrew her hand from his arm, he +took it and ceremoniously kissed her gloved fingers, while she smiled +graciously. Then he knocked three times, and presently the shuffling of +Eudaldo's slippers was heard within, and the old servant opened +sleepily. On seeing the Princess enter first, he stiffened himself in a +military fashion, for he had been a soldier and had fought under Mendoza +when both were younger. + +"Eudaldo," said the General, in the stern tone he always used when +giving orders, "her Excellency the Princess of Eboli will take Doña +Dolores to her own apartments this evening. Tell the maid to follow +later with whatever my daughter needs, and do you accompany the ladies +with a candle." + +But at this Doña Ana protested strongly. There was moonlight, there were +lamps, there was light everywhere, she said. She needed no one. Mendoza, +who had no man-servant in the house but Eudaldo, and eked out his meagre +establishment by making use of his halberdiers when he needed any one, +yielded after very little persuasion. + +"Open the door of my daughter's apartments," he said to Eudaldo. +"Madam," he said, turning to the Princess, "I have the honour to wish +you good-night. I am your Grace's most obedient servant. I must return +to my duty." + +"Good-night, my dear friend," answered Doña Ana, nodding graciously. + +Mendoza bowed low, and went out again, Eudaldo closing the door behind +him. He would not be at liberty until the last of the grandees had gone +home, and the time he had consumed in accompanying the Princess was just +what he could have spared for his supper. She gave a short sigh of +relief as she heard his spurred heels and long sword on the stone +pavement. He was gone, leaving Dolores in her power, and she meant to +use that power to the utmost. + +Eudaldo shuffled silently across the hall, to the other door, and she +followed him. He drew the bolt. + +"Wait here," she said quietly. "I wish to see Doña Dolores alone." + +"Her ladyship is in the farther room, Excellency," said the servant, +bowing and standing back. + +She entered and closed the door, and Eudaldo returned to his big chair, +to doze until she should come out. + +She had not taken two steps in the dim room, when a shadow flitted +between her and the lamp, and it was almost instantly extinguished. She +uttered an exclamation of surprise and stood still. Anywhere save in +Mendoza's house, she would have run back and tried to open the door as +quickly as possible, in fear of her life, for she had many enemies, and +was constantly on her guard. But she guessed that the shadowy figure she +had seen was Dolores. She spoke, without hesitation, in a gentle voice. + +"Dolores! Are you there?" she asked. + +A moment later she felt a small hand on her arm. + +"Who is it?" asked a whisper, which might have come from Dolores' lips +for all Doña Ana could tell. + +She had forgotten the existence of Inez, whom she had rarely seen, and +never noticed, though she knew that Mendoza had a blind daughter. + +"It is I--the Princess of Eboli," she answered in the same gentle tone. + +"Hush! Whisper to me." + +"Your father has gone back to his duty, my dear--you need not be +afraid." + +"Yes, but Eudaldo is outside--he hears everything when he is not asleep. +What is it, Princess? Why are you here?" + +"I wish to talk with you a little," replied Doña Ana, whispering now, to +please the girl. "Can we not get a light? Why did you put out the lamp? +I thought you were in another room." + +"I was frightened. I did not know who you were. We can talk in the dark, +if you do not mind. I will lead you to a chair. I know just where +everything is in this room." + +The Princess suffered herself to be led a few steps, and presently she +felt herself gently pushed into a seat. She was surprised, but realizing +the girl's fear of her father, she thought it best to humour her. So far +Inez had said nothing that could lead her visitor to suppose that she +was not Dolores. Intimate as the devoted sisters were, Inez knew almost +as much of the Princess as Dolores herself; the two girls were of the +same height, and so long as the conversation was carried on in whispers, +there was no possibility of detection by speech alone. The quick-witted +blind girl reflected that it was strange if Doña Ana had not seen +Dolores, who must have been with the court the whole evening, and she +feared some harm. That being the case, her first impulse was to help her +sister if possible, but so long as she was a prisoner in Dolores' place, +she could do nothing, and she resolved that the Princess should help her +to escape. + +Doña Ana began to speak quickly and fluently in the dark. She said that +she knew the girl's position, and had long known how tenderly she loved +Don John of Austria, and was loved by him. She sympathized deeply with +them both, and meant to do all in her power to help them. Then she told +how she had missed Dolores at court that night. + +Inez started involuntarily and drew her breath quickly, but Doña Ana +thought it natural that Dolores should give some expression to the +disappointment she must have felt at being shut up a prisoner on such an +occasion, when all the court was assembled to greet the man she loved. + +Then the Princess went on to tell how she had met Mendoza and had come +with him, and how with great difficulty she had learned the truth, and +had undertaken Dolores' care for a few days; and how Mendoza had been +satisfied, never suspecting that she really sympathized with the lovers. +That was a state secret, but of course Dolores must know it. The King +privately desired the marriage, she said, because he was jealous of his +brother and wished that he would tire of winning battles and live +quietly, as happy men do. + +"Don John will tell you, when you see him," she continued. "I sent him +two letters this evening. The first he burned unopened, because he +thought it was a love letter, but he has read the second by this time. +He had it before supper." + +"What did you write to him?" asked Inez, whispering low. + +"He will tell you. The substance was this: If he would only be prudent, +and consent to wait two days, and not attempt to see you alone, which +would make a scandal, and injure you, too, if any one knew it, the King +would arrange everything at his own pleasure, and your father would give +his consent. You have not seen Don John since he arrived, have you?" She +asked the question anxiously. + +"Oh no!" answered the blind girl, with conviction. "I have not seen him. +I wish to Heaven I had!" + +"I am glad of that," whispered the Princess. "But if you will come with +me to my apartments, and stay with me till matters are arranged--well--I +will not promise, because it might be dangerous, but perhaps you may see +him for a moment." + +"Really? Do you think that is possible?" In the dark Inez was smiling +sadly. + +"Perhaps. He might come to see me, for instance, or my husband, and I +could leave you together a moment." + +"That would be heaven!" And the whisper came from the heart. + +"Then come with me now, my dear, and I will do my best," answered the +Princess. + +"Indeed I will! But will you wait one moment while I dress? I am in my +old frock--it is hardly fit to be seen." + +This was quite true; but Inez had reflected that dressed as she was she +could not pass Eudaldo and be taken by him for her sister, even with a +hood over her head. The clothes Dolores had worn before putting on her +court dress were in her room, and Dolores' hood was there, too. Before +the Princess could answer, Inez was gone, closing the door of the +bedroom behind her. Doña Ana, a little taken by surprise again, was fain +to wait where she was, in the dark, at the risk of hurting herself +against the furniture. Then it struck her that Dolores must be dressing +in the dark, for no light had come from the door as it was opened and +shut. She remembered the blind sister then, and she wondered idly +whether those who lived continually with the blind learned from them to +move easily in the dark and to do everything without a light. The +question did not interest her much, but while she was thinking of it the +door opened again. A skirt and a bodice are soon changed. In a moment +she felt her hand taken, and she rose to her feet. + +"I am ready, Princess. I will open the door if you will come with me. I +have covered my head and face," she added carelessly, though always +whispering, "because I am afraid of the night air." + +"I was going to advise you to do it in any case, my dear. It is just as +well that neither of us should be recognized by any one in the corridors +so far from my apartments." + +The door opened and let in what seemed a flood of light by comparison +with the darkness. The Princess went forward, and Eudaldo got upon his +legs as quickly as he could to let the two ladies out, without looking +at them as they crossed the hall. Inez followed her companion's footfall +exactly, keeping one step behind her by ear, and just pausing before +passing out. The old servant saw Dolores' dress and Dolores' hood, which +he expected to see, and no more suspected anything than he had when, as +he supposed, Inez, had gone out earlier. + +But Inez herself had a far more difficult part to perform than her +sister's. Dolores had gone out alone, and no one had watched her beyond +the door, and Dolores had eyes, and could easily enough pretend that she +could not see. It was another matter to be blind and to play at seeing, +with a clever woman like the Princess at one's elbow, ready to detect +the slightest hesitation. Besides, though she had got out of the +predicament in which it had been necessary to place her, it was quite +impossible to foresee what might happen when the Princess discovered +that she had been deceived, and that catastrophe must happen sooner or +later, and might occur at any moment. The Princess walked quickly, too, +with a gliding, noiseless step that was hard to follow. Fortunately Inez +was expected to keep to the left of a superior like her companion, and +was accustomed to taking that side when she went anywhere alone in the +palace. That made it easier, but trouble might come at one of the short +flights of steps down and up which they would have to pass to reach the +Princess's apartments. And then, once there, discovery must come, to a +certainty, and then, she knew not what. + +She had not run the risk for the sake of being shut up again. She had +got out by a trick in order to help her sister, if she could find her, +and in order to be at liberty the first thing necessary was to elude her +companion. To go to the door of her apartments would be fatal, but she +had not had time to think what she should do. She thought now, with all +the concentration of her ingenuity. One chance presented itself to her +mind at once. They most pass the pillar behind which was the concealed +entrance to the Moorish gallery above the throne room, and it was not at +all likely that Doña Ana should know of its existence, for she never +came to that part of the palace, and if Inez lagged a little way behind, +before they reached the spot, she could slip noiselessly behind the +pillar and disappear. She could always trust herself not to attract +attention when she had to open and shut a door. + +The Princess spoke rarely, making little remarks now and then that +hardly required an answer, but to which Inez answered in monosyllables, +speaking in a low voice through the thick veil she had drawn over her +mantle under her hood, on pretence of fearing the cold. She thought it a +little safer to speak aloud in that way, lest her companion should +wonder at her total silence. + +She knew exactly where she was, for she touched each corner as she +passed, and counted her steps between one well-known point and the next, +and she allowed the Princess to gain a little as they neared the last +turning before reaching the place where she meant to make the attempt. +She hoped in this way, by walking quite noiselessly, and then stopping +suddenly just before she reached the pillar, to gain half a dozen paces, +and the Princess would take three more before she stopped also. Inez had +noticed that most people take at least three steps before they stop, if +any one calls them suddenly when they are walking fast. It seems to need +as much to balance the body when its speed is checked. She noticed +everything that could be heard. + +She grew nervous. It seemed to her that her companion was walking more +slowly, as if not wishing to leave her any distance behind. She +quickened her own pace again, fearing that she had excited suspicion. +Then she heard the Princess stop suddenly, and she had no choice but to +do the same. Her heart began to beat painfully, as she saw her chance +slipping from her. She waited for Doña Ana to speak, wondering what was +the matter. + +"I have mistaken the way," said the Princess, in a tone of annoyance. "I +do not know where I am. We had better go back and turn down the main +staircase, even if we meet some one. You see, I never come to this part +of the palace." + +"I think we are on the right corridor," said Inez nervously. "Let me go +as far as the corner. There is a light there, and I can tell you in a +moment." In her anxiety to seem to see, she had forgotten for the moment +to muffle her voice in her veil. + +They went on rapidly, and the Doña Ana did what most people do when a +companion offers to examine the way,--she stood still a moment and +hesitated, looking after the girl, and then followed her with the slow +step with which a person walks who is certain of having to turn back. +Inez walked lightly to the corner, hardly touching the wall, turned by +the corner, and was out of sight in a moment. The Princess walked +faster, for though she believed that Dolores trusted her, it seemed +foolish to give the girl a chance. She reached the corner, where there +was a lamp,--and she saw that the dim corridor was empty to the very +end. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +The Princess was far from suspecting, even then, that she had been +deceived about her companion's identity as well as tricked at the last, +when Inez escaped from her. She would have laughed at the idea that any +blind person could have moved as confidently as Inez, or could +afterwards have run the length of the next corridor in what had seemed +but an instant, for she did not know of the niche behind the pillar, and +there were pilasters all along, built into the wall. The construction of +the high, springing vault that covered the whole throne room required +them for its solidity, and only the one under the centre of the arch was +built as a detached pillar, in order to give access to the gallery. Seen +from either end of the passage, it looked exactly like the rest, and few +persons would have noticed that it differed from them, even in passing +it. + +Doña Ana stood looking in the direction she supposed the girl to have +taken. An angry flush rose in her cheek, she bit her lips till they +almost bled, and at last she stamped once before she turned away, so +that her little slipper sent a sharp echo along the corridor. Pursuit +was out of the question, of course, though she could run like a deer; +some one might meet her at any turning, and in an hour the whole palace +would know that she had been seen running at full speed after some +unknown person. It would be bad enough if she were recognized walking +alone at night at a distance from her own apartments. She drew her veil +over her face so closely that she could hardly see her way, and began to +retrace her steps towards the principal staircase, pondering as to what +she should say to Mendoza when he discovered that she had allowed his +daughter to escape. She was a woman of manlike intelligence and not +easily unbalanced by a single reverse, however, and before she had gone +far her mind began to work clearly. Dolores, she reasoned, would do one +of two things. She would either go straight to Don John's apartments, +wait for him, and then tell him her story, in the hope that he would +protect her, or she would go to the Duchess Alvarez and seek protection +there. Under no circumstances would she go down to the throne room +without her court dress, for her mere appearance there, dressed as she +was, would produce the most profound astonishment, and could do her no +possible good. And as for her going to the Duchess, that was impossible, +too. If she had run away from Doña Ana, she had done so because the idea +of not seeing Don John for two days was intolerable, and she meant to +try and see him at once. The Duchess was in all probability with the +Queen, in the latter's private apartments, as Dolores would know. On the +whole, it seemed far more likely that she had done the rashest thing +that had suggested itself to her, and had gone directly to the man she +loved,--a man powerful enough to protect her against all comers, at the +present time, and quite capable of facing even the King's displeasure. + +But the whole object of Doña Ana's manoeuvre had been to get possession +of Dolores' person, as a means of strongly influencing Don John's +actions, in order thus to lead him into a false position from which he +should not be able to escape without a serious quarrel with King Philip, +which would be the first step towards the execution of the plot +elaborated by Doña Ana and Perez together. Anything which could produce +an open difference between the brothers would serve to produce two +parties in Spain, of which the one that would take Don John's side would +be by far the stronger. His power would be suddenly much increased, an +organized agitation would be made throughout the country to set him on +the throne, and his popularity, like Cæsar's, would grow still more, +when he refused the crown, as he would most certainly do. But just then +King Philip would die suddenly of a fever, or a cold, or an indigestion, +as the conspirators thought best. There would be no direct male heir to +the throne but Don John himself, the acknowledged son of the Emperor +Charles; and even Don John would then be made to see that he could only +serve his country by ruling it, since it cried out for his rule and +would have no other. It was a hard and dangerous thing to lead King +Philip; it would be an easy matter to direct King John. An honest and +unsuspicious soldier would be but as a child in such skilful hands. Doña +Ana and Perez would rule Spain as they pleased, and by and by Don John +should be chosen Emperor also by the Electors of the Holy Roman Empire, +and the conspirators would rule the world, as Charles the Fifth had +ruled it. There was no limit to their ambition, and no scruple would +stand between them and any crime, and the stake was high and worth many +risks. + +The Princess walked slowly, weighing in the balance all there was to +lose or gain. When she reached the head of the main staircase, she had +not yet altogether decided how to act, and lest she should meet some one +she returned, and walked up and down the lonely corridor nearly a +quarter of an hour, in deep thought. Suddenly a plan of action flashed +upon her, and she went quickly on her way, to act at once. + +Don John, meanwhile, had read the letter she had sent him by the dwarf +jester. When the King had retired into his own apartments, Don John +found himself unexpectedly alone. Mendoza and the guard had filed into +the antechamber, the gentlemen in waiting, being temporarily at liberty, +went to the room leading out of it on one side, which was appropriated +to their use. The sentries were set at the King's door, and Mendoza +marched his halberdiers out again and off to their quarters, while the +servants disappeared, and the hero of the day was left to himself. He +smiled at his own surprise, recollecting that he should have ordered his +own attendants to be in waiting after the supper, whereas he had +dismissed them until midnight. + +He turned on his heel and walked away to find a quiet place where he +might read the paper which had suddenly become of such importance, and +paused at a Moorish niche, where Philip had caused a sacred picture to +be placed, and before which a hanging silver lamp shed a clear light. + +The small sheet of paper contained but little writing. There were half a +dozen sentences in a clear hand, without any signature--it was what has +since then come to be called an anonymous letter. But it contained +neither any threat, nor any evidence of spite; it set forth in plain +language that if, as the writer supposed, Don John wished to marry +Dolores de Mendoza, it was as necessary for her personal safety as for +the accomplishment of his desires, that he should make no attempt to see +her for at least two days, and that, if he would accept this advice, he +should have the support of every noble and minister at court, including +the very highest, with the certainty that no further hindrance would be +set in his way; it added that the letter he had burned had contained the +same words, and that the two flowers had been intended to serve as a +signal which it was now too late to use. It would be sufficient if he +told the bearer of the present letter that he agreed to take the advice +it contained. His assent in that way would, of course, be taken by the +writer to mean that he promised, on his word. That was all. + +He did not like the last sentence, for it placed him in an awkward +position, as a man of honour, since he had already seen Dolores, and +therefore could not under any circumstances agree to take advice +contrary to which he had already acted. The most he could now say to the +dwarf would be that he could give no answer and would act as carefully +as possible. For the rest, the letter contained nothing treasonable, and +was not at all what he had expected and believed it to be. It appeared +to be written in a friendly spirit, and with the exception of his own +brother and Mendoza, he was not aware that he had an enemy in Spain, in +which he was almost right. Nevertheless, bold and frank as he was by +nature, he knew enough of real warfare to distrust appearances. The +writer was attached to the King's person, or the letter might have been +composed, and even written in an assumed hand, by the King himself, for +Philip was not above using the methods of a common conspirator. The +limitation of time set upon his prudence was strange, too. If he had not +seen her and agreed to the terms, he would have supposed that Dolores +was being kept out of his way during those two days, whereas in that +time it would be possible to send her very far from Madrid, or to place +her secretly in a convent where it would be impossible to find her. It +flashed upon him that in shutting up Dolores that evening Mendoza had +been obeying the King's secret orders, as well as in telling her that +she was to be taken to Las Huelgas at dawn. No one but Philip could have +written the letter--only the dwarf's fear of Philip's displeasure could +have made him so anxious that it should be read at once. It was all as +clear as daylight now, and the King and Mendoza were acting together. +The first letter had been brought by a woman, who must have got out +through the window of the study, which was so low that she could almost +have stepped from it to the terrace without springing. She had watched +until the officers and the servants had gone out and the way was clear. +Nothing could have been simpler or easier. + +He would have burnt the letter at the lamp before the picture, had he +not feared that some one might see him do it, and he folded it again and +thrust it back under his doublet. His face was grave as he turned away, +for the position, as he understood it, was a very desperate one. He had +meant to send Dolores to Villagarcia, but it was almost impossible that +such a matter should remain unknown, and in the face of the King's +personal opposition, it would probably ruin Quixada and his wife. He, on +his side, might send Dolores to a convent, under an assumed name, and +take her out again before she was found, and marry her. But that would +be hard, too, for no places were more directly under the sovereign's +control than convents and monasteries. Somewhere she must go, for she +could not possibly remain concealed in his study more than three or four +hours. + +Suddenly he fancied that she might be in danger even now. The woman who +had brought the first letter had of course left the window unfastened. +She, or the King, or any one, might get in by that way, and Dolores was +alone. They might have taken her away already. He cursed himself for not +having looked to see that the window was bolted. The man who had won +great battles felt a chill at his heart, and he walked at the best of +his speed, careless whether he met any one or not. But no place is more +deserted than the more distant parts of a royal palace when there is a +great assembly in the state apartments. He met no one on his way, and +entered his own door alone. Ten minutes had not elapsed since the King +had left the supper-room, and it was almost at that moment that Doña Ana +met Mendoza. + +Dolores started to her feet as she heard his step in the next room and +then the key in the lock, and as he entered her hands clasped themselves +round his neck, and her eyes looked into his. He was very pale when he +saw her at last, for the belief that she had been stolen away had grown +with his speed, till it was an intolerable certainty. + +"What is it? What has happened?" she cried anxiously. "Why are you so +white? Are you ill?" + +"I was frightened," he said simply. "I was afraid you were gone. Look +here!" + +He led her to the window, and drew the curtain to one side. The cool air +rushed in, for the bolts were unfastened, and the window was ajar. He +closed it and fastened it securely, and they both came back. + +"The woman got out that way," he said, in explanation. "I understand it +all now--and some one might have come back." + +He told her quietly what had happened, and showed her the letter, which +she read slowly to the end before she gave it back to him. + +"Then the other was not a love letter, after all," she said, with a +little laugh that had more of relief in it than amusement, though she +did not know it herself. + +"No," he answered gravely. "I wish I had read it. I should at least have +shut the window before leaving you!" + +Careless of any danger to herself, she sat looking up into his anxious +face, her clasped hands lying in his and quite covered by them, as he +stood beside her. There was not a trace of fear in her own face, nor +indeed of any feeling but perfect love and confidence. Under the gaze of +her deep grey eyes his expression relaxed for a moment, and grew like +hers, so that it would have been hard to say which trusted the other the +more. + +"What does anything matter, since we are together now?" she asked. "I am +with you, can anything happen to me?" + +"Not while I am alive," he answered, but the look of anxiety for her +returned at once. "You cannot stay here." + +"No--you will take me away. I am ready--" + +"I do not mean that. You cannot stay in this room, nor in my apartments. +The King is coming here in a few minutes. I cannot tell what he may +do--he may insist on seeing whether any one is here, listening, for he +is very suspicious, and he only comes here because he does not even +trust his own apartments. He may wish to open the door--" + +"I will lock it on the inside. You can say that it is locked, and that +you have not the key. If he calls men to open it, I will escape by the +window, and hide in the old sentry-box. He will not stay talking with +you till morning!" + +She laughed, and he saw that she was right, simply because there was no +other place where she could be even as safe as where she was. He slowly +nodded as she spoke. + +"You see," she cried, with another little laugh of happy satisfaction, +"you must keep me here whether you will or not! You are really +afraid--frightened like a boy! You! How men would stare if they could +see you afraid!" + +"It is true," he answered, with a faint smile. + +"But I will give you courage!" she said. "The King cannot come yet. +Perez can only have just gone to him, you say. They will talk at least +half an hour, and it is very likely that Perez will persuade him not to +come at all, because he is angry with you. Perhaps Perez will come +instead, and he will be very smooth and flattering, and bring messages +of reconciliation, and beg to make peace. He is very clever, but I do +not like his face. He makes me think of a beautiful black fox! Even if +the King comes himself, we have more than half an hour. You can stay a +little while with me--then go into your room and sit down and read, as +if you were waiting for him. You can read my letter over, and I will sit +here and say all the things I wrote, over and over again, and you will +know that I am saying them--it will be almost as if I were with you, and +could say them quite close to you--like this--I love you!" + +She had drawn his hand gently down to her while she was speaking, and +she whispered the last words into his ear with a delicate little kiss +that sent a thrill straight to his heart. + +"You are not afraid any more now, are you?" she asked, as she let him +go, and he straightened himself suddenly as a man drawing back from +something he both fears and loves. + +He opened and shut his hands quickly two or three times, as some nervous +men do, as if trying to shake them clear from a spell, or an influence. +Then he began to walk up and down, talking to her. + +"I am at my wit's end," he said, speaking fast and not looking at her +face, as he turned and turned again. "I cannot send you to +Villagarcia--there are things that neither you nor I could do, even for +each other, things you would not have me do for you, Dolores. It would +be ruin and disgrace to my adopted mother and Quixada--it might be +worse, for the King can call anything he pleases high treason. It is +impossible to take you there without some one knowing it--can I carry +you in my arms? There are grooms, coachmen, servants, who will tell +anything under examination--under torture! How can I send you there?" + +"I would not go," answered Dolores quietly. + +"I cannot send you to a convent, either," he went on, for he had taken +her answer for granted, as lovers do who trust each other. "You would be +found in a day, for the King knows everything. There is only one place, +where I am master--" + +He stopped short, and grew very pale again, looking at the wall, but +seeing something very far away. + +"Where?" asked Dolores. "Take me there! Oh, take me where you are +master--where there is no king but you, where we can be together all our +lives, and no one can come between us!" + +He stood motionless, staring at the wall, contemplating in amazement the +vastness of the temptation that arose before him. Dolores could not +understand, but she did what a loving women does when the man she loves +seems to be in a great distress. She came and stood beside him, passing +one arm through his and pressing it tenderly, without a word. There are +times when a man needs only that to comfort him and give him strength. +But even a woman does not always know them. + +Very slowly he turned to her, almost as if he were trying to resist her +eyes and could not. He took his arm from hers and his hands framed her +face softly, and pushed the gold hair gently back on her forehead. But +she grew frightened by degrees, for there was a look in his eyes she had +never seen there, and that had never been in them before, neither in +love nor in battle. His hands were quite cold, and his face was like a +beautiful marble, but there was an evil something in it, as in a fallen +angel's, a defiance of God, an irresistible strength to do harm, a +terror such as no man would dare to meet. + +"You are worth it," he said in a tone so different from his natural +voice that Dolores started, and would have drawn back from him, but +could not, for his hands held her, shaking a little fiercely. + +"What? What is it?" she asked, growing more and more frightened--half +believing that he was going mad. + +"You are worth it," he repeated. "I tell you, you are worth that, and +much more, and the world, and all the world holds for me, and all earth +and heaven besides. You do not know how I love you--you can never +guess--" + +Her eyes grew tender again, and her hands went up and pressed his that +still framed her face. + +"As I love you--dear love!" she answered, wondering, but happy. + +"No--not now. I love you more. You cannot guess--you shall see what I +will do for your sake, and then you will understand." + +He uttered an incoherent exclamation, and his eyes dazzled her as he +seized her in his arms and pressed her to him so that she could have +cried out. And suddenly he kissed her, roughly, almost cruelly, as if he +meant to hurt her, and knew that he could. She struggled in his arms, in +an unknown terror of him, and her senses reeled. + +Then all at once, he let her go, and turned from her quickly, leaving +her half fainting, so that she leaned against the wall and pressed her +cheek to the rough hanging. She felt a storm of tears, that she could +not understand, rising in her heart and eyes and throat. He had crossed +the room, getting as far as he could from her, and stood there, turned +to the wall, his arms bent against it and his face buried in his sleeve. +He breathed hard, and spoke as if to himself in broken words. + +"Worth it? My God! What are you not worth?" + +There was such a ring of agony and struggling in his voice that Dolores +forgot herself and stood up listening, suddenly filled with anxiety for +him again. He was surely going mad. She would have gone to him again, +forgetting her terror that was barely past, the woman's instinct to help +the suffering man overruling everything else. It was for his sake that +she stayed where she was, lest if she touched him he should lose his +senses altogether. + +"Oh, there is one place, where I am master and lord!" he was saying. +"There is one thing to do--one thing--" + +"What is the thing?" she asked very gently. "Why are you suffering so? +Where is the place?" + +He turned suddenly, as he would have turned in his saddle in battle at a +trumpet call, straight and strong, with fixed eyes and set lips, that +spoke deliberately. + +"There is Granada," he said. "Do you understand now?" + +"No," she answered timidly. "I do not understand. Granada? Why there? It +is so far away--" + +He laughed harshly. + +"You do not understand? Yes, Granada is far away--far enough to be +another kingdom--so far that John of Austria is master there--so far +that with his army at his back he can be not only its master, but its +King? Do you understand now? Do you see what I will do for your sake?" + +He made one step towards her, and she was very white. + +"I will take you, and go back to-morrow. Do you think the Moors are not +men, because I beat them? I tell you that if I set up my standard in +Granada and call them to me, they will follow me--if I lead them to the +gate of Madrid. Yes--and so will more than half the Spanish army, if I +will! But I do not want that--it is not the kingdom--what should I care +for that? Could I not have taken it and held it? It is for you, dear +love--for your sake only--that we may have a world of our own--a kingdom +in which you are queen! Let there be war--why should I care? I will set +the world ablaze and let it burn to its own ashes, but I will not let +them take you from me, neither now, nor ever, while I am alive!" + +He came quickly towards her now, and she could not draw back, for the +wall was behind her. But she thrust out her hands against him to keep +him off. The gesture stopped him, just when he would have taken her in +his arms. + +"No, no!" she cried vehemently. "You must not say such things, you must +not think such thoughts! You are beside yourself, and you will drive me +mad, too!" + +"But it will be so easy--you shall see--" + +She cut his words short. + +"It must not be easy, it must not be possible, it must not be at all! Do +you believe that I love you and that I would let you do such deeds? Oh, +no! That would not be love at all--it would be hate, it would be treason +to you, and worse treason than yours against your brother!" + +The fierce light was sinking from his face. He had folded his arms and +stood very still, listening to her. + +"You!" she cried, with rising energy. "You, the brave soldier, the +spotless man, the very soul of honour made flesh and blood! You, who +have but just come back in triumph from fighting your King's +enemies--you against whom no living being has ever dared to breathe a +slander or a slighting word. Oh, no, no, no, no! I could not bear that +you should betray your faith and your country and yourself, and be +called traitor for my sake! Not for ten lives of mine shall you ruin +yours. And not because I might love you less if you had done that deed. +God help me! I think I should love you if you committed any crime! The +shame is the more to me--I know it. I am only a woman! But rather than +let my love ruin you, make a traitor of you and lose you in this world +and the next, my soul shall go first--life, soul, honour, everything! +You shall not do it! You think that you love me more than I love you, +but you do not. For to save you as you are, I love you so dearly that I +will leave you--leave you to honour, leave you to your King, leave you +to the undying glory of the life you have lived, and will live, in +memory of my love!" + +The splendid words rang from her lips like a voice from heaven, and her +eyes were divinely lightened. For they looked up, and not at him, +calling Heaven to witness that she would keep her promise. As her open +hand unconsciously went out, he took it tenderly, and felt her fingers +softly closing on his own, as if she would lift him to himself again, +and to the dear light of her own thoughts. There was silence for a +moment. + +"You are better and wiser than I," he said, and his tone told her that +the madness was past. + +"And you know that I am right? You see that I must leave you, to save +you from me?" + +"Leave me--now?" he cried. "You only said that--you meant me to +understand--you did not mean that you would leave me now?" + +"I do mean it," she said, in a great effort. "It is all I can do, to +show you how I love you. As long as I am in your life you will be in +danger--you will never be safe from yourself--I see it all now! I stand +between you and all the world would give you--I will not stand between +you and honour!" + +She was breaking down, fight as she would against the pain. He could say +nothing, for he could not believe that she really was in earnest. + +"I must!" she exclaimed suddenly. "It is all I can do for you--it is my +life--take it!" + +The tears broke from her eyes, but she held her head high, and let them +fall unheeded. + +"Take it!" she repeated. "It is all I have to give for yours and your +honour. Good-by--oh, love, I love you so dearly! Once more, before I +go--" + +She almost, fell into his arms as she buried her face on his shoulder +and clasped his throat as she was wont. He kissed her hair gently, and +from time to time her whole frame shook with the sobs she was choking +down. + +"It kills me," she said in a broken voice. "I cannot--I thought I was so +strong! Oh, I am the most miserable living woman in the world!" + +She broke away from him wildly and threw herself upon a chair, turning +from him to its cushion and hiding her face in her hands, choking, +pressing the furious tears back upon her eyes, shaking from head to +foot. + +"You cannot go! You cannot!" he cried, falling on his knees beside her +and trying to take her hands in his. "Dolores--look at me! I will do +anything--promise anything--you will believe me! Listen, love--I give +you my word--I swear before God--" + +"No--swear nothing--" she said, between the sobs that broke her voice. + +"But I will!" he insisted, drawing her hands down till she looked at +him. "I swear upon my honour that I will never raise my hand against the +King--that I will defend him, and fight for him, and be loyal to him, +whatever he may do to me--and that even for you, I will never strike a +blow in battle nor speak a word in peace that is not all honourable, +through and through,--even as I have fought and spoken until now!" + +As she listened to his words her weeping subsided, and her tearful eyes +took light and life again. She drew him close, and kissed him on the +forehead. + +"I am so glad--so happy!" she cried softly. "I should never have had +strength to really say good-by!" + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +Don John smoothed her golden hair. Never since he had known that he +loved her, had she seemed so beautiful as then, and his thought tried to +hold her as she was, that she might in memory be always the same. There +was colour in her cheeks, a soft flush of happiness that destroyed all +traces of her tears, so that they only left her grey eyes dark and +tender under the long wet lashes. + +"It was a cruel dream, dear love! It was not true!" Finding him again, +her voice was low, and sweet with joy. + +He smiled, too, and his own eyes were quiet and young, now that the +tempest had passed away, almost out of recollection. It had raged but +for a few moments, but in that time both he and she had lived and loved +as it were through years, and their love had grown better and braver. +She knew that his word was enough, and that he would die rather than +break it; but though she had called herself weak, and had seemed to +break down in despair, she would have left him for ever rather than +believe that he was still in danger through her. She did not again ask +herself whether her sudden resolution had been all for his sake, and had +not formed itself because she dreaded to think of being bound to one who +betrayed his country. She knew it and needed no further self-questioning +to satisfy her. If such a man could have committed crimes, she would +have hated them, not him, she would have pardoned him, not them, she +would still have laid her hand in his before the whole world, though it +should mean shame and infamy, because she loved him and would always +love him, and could never have left him for her own sake, come all that +might. She had said it was a shame to her that she would have loved him +still; yet if it had been so, she would have gloried in being shamed for +his sake, for even then her love might have brought him back from the +depths of evil and made him again for her in truth what he had once +seemed to the whole world. She could have done that, and if in the end +she had saved him she would have counted the price of her name as very +little to set against his salvation from himself. She would have given +that and much more, for her love, as she would freely give all for him +and even for his memory, if he were dead, and if by some unimaginable +circumstances her ruin before the world could keep his name spotless, +and his glory unsullied. For there is nothing that a true-hearted loving +woman will not give and do for him she loves and believes and trusts; +and though she will give the greatest thing last of all, she will give +it in the end, if it can save him from infamy and destruction. For it is +the woman's glory to give, as it is the man's to use strength in the +hour of battle and gentleness in the day of peace, and to follow honour +always. + +"Forget it all," answered Don John presently. "Forget it, dear, and +forgive me for it all." + +"I can forget it, because it was only a dream," she said, "and I have +nothing to forgive. Listen to me. If it were true--even if I believed +that we had not been dreaming, you and I, could I have anything to +forgive you? What?" + +"The mere thought that I could betray a trust, turn against my sovereign +and ruin my country," he answered bravely, and a blush of honest shame +rose in his boyish cheeks. + +"It was for me," said Dolores. + +That should explain all, her heart said. But he was not satisfied, and +being a man he began to insist. + +"Not even for you should I have thought of it," he said. "And there is +the thought to forgive, if nothing else." + +"No--you are wrong, love. Because it was for me, it does not need my +forgiveness. It is different--you do not understand yet. It is I who +should have never forgiven myself on earth nor expected pardon +hereafter, if I had let myself be the cause of such deeds, if I had let +my love stand between you and honour. Do you see?" + +"I see," he answered. "You are very brave and kind and good. I did not +know that a woman could be like you." + +"A woman could be anything--for you--dare anything, do anything, +sacrifice anything! Did I not tell you so, long ago? You only half +believed me, dear--perhaps you do not quite believe me now--" + +"Indeed, indeed I do, with all my soul! I believe you as I love you, as +I believe in your love--" + +"Yes. Tell me that you do--and tell me that you love me! It is so good +to hear, now that the bad dream is gone." + +"Shall I tell you?" He smiled, playing with her hand. "How can I? There +are so few words in which to say so much. But I will tell you this--I +would give my word for you. Does that sound little? You should know, for +you know at what price you would have saved my honour a while ago. I +believe in you so truly that I would stake my word, and my honour, and +my Christian oath upon your faith, and promise for you before God or man +that you will always love me as you do to-day." + +"You may pledge all three. I will, and I will give you all I have that +is not God's--and if that is not enough, I will give my soul for yours, +if I may, to suffer in your stead." + +She spoke quietly enough, but there was a little quaver of true +earnestness in her voice, that made each word a solemn promise. + +"And besides that," she added, "you see how I trust you." + +She smiled again as she looked at him, and knew how safe she was, far +safer now than when she had first come with him to the door. Something +told her that he had mastered himself--she would not have wished to +think that she had ruled him? it was enough if she had shown him the +way, and had helped him. He pressed her hand to his cheek and looked +down thoughtfully, wishing that he could find such simple words that +could say so much, but not trusting himself to speak. For though, in +love, a man speaks first, he always finds the least to say of love when +it has strongest hold of him; but a woman has words then, true and +tender, that come from her heart unsought. Yet by and by, if love is not +enduring, so that both tire of it, the man plays the better comedy, +because he has the greater strength, and sometimes what he says has the +old ring in it, because it is so well said, and the woman smiles and +wonders that his love should have lasted longer than hers, and desiring +the illusion, she finds old phrases again; yet there is no life in them, +because when love is dead she thinks of herself, and instead, it was +only of him she thought in the good days when her heart used to beat at +the sound of his footfall, and the light grew dim and unsteady as she +felt his kiss. But the love of these two was not born to tire; and +because he was so young, and knew the world little, save at his sword's +point, he was ashamed that he could not speak of love as well as she. + +"Find words for me," he said, "and I will say them, for yours are better +than mine." + +"Say, 'I love you, dear,' very softly and gently--not roughly, as you +sometimes do. I want to hear it gently now, that, and nothing else." + +She turned a little, leaning towards him, her face near his, her eyes +quiet and warm, and she took his hands and held them together before her +as if he were her prisoner--and indeed she meant that he should not +suddenly take her in his arms, as he often did. + +"I love you, dear," he repeated, smiling, and pretending to be very +docile. + +"That is not quite the way," she said, with a girlish laugh. "Say it +again--quite as softly, but more tenderly! You must be very much in +earnest, you know, but you must not be in the least violent." She +laughed again. "It is like teaching a young lion," she added. "He may +eat you up at any moment, instead of obeying you. Tell me, you have a +little lion that follows you like a dog when you are in your camp, have +you not? You have not told me about him yet. How did you teach him?" + +"I did not try to make him say 'I love you, dear,'" answered Don John, +laughing in his turn. + +As he spoke a distant sound caught his ear, and the smile vanished from +his face, for though he heard only the far off rumbling of a coach in +the great court, it recalled him to reality. + +"We are playing with life and death," he said suddenly. "It is late, the +King may be here at any moment, and we have decided nothing." He rose. + +"Is it late?" asked Dolores, passing her hand over her eyes dreamily. "I +had forgotten--it seems so short. Give me the key on my side of the +door--we had decided that, you know. Go and sit down in your room, as we +agreed. Shall you read my letter again, love? It may be half an hoar +still before the King comes. When he is gone, we shall have all the +night in which to decide, and the nights are very long now. Oh, I hate +to lose one minute of you! What shall you say to the King?" + +"I do not know what he may say to me," answered Don John. "Listen and +you shall hear--I would rather know that you hear everything I say. It +will be as if I were speaking before you, and of course I should tell +you everything the King says. He will speak of you, I think." + +"Indeed, it would be hard not to listen," said Dolores. "I should have +to stop my ears, for one cannot help hearing every word that is said in +the next room. Do you know? I heard you ask for your white shoes! I +hardly dared to breathe for fear the servants should find out that I was +here." + +"So much the better then. Sit in this chair near the door. But be +careful to make no noise, for the King is very suspicious." + +"I know. Do not be afraid; I will be as quiet as a mouse. Go, love, go! +It is time--oh, how I hate to let you leave me! You will be careful? You +will not be angry at what he says? You would be wiser if you knew I were +not hearing everything; you will want to defend me if he says the least +word you do not like, but let him say what he will! Anything is better +than an open quarrel between you and the King! Promise me to be very +moderate in what you say, and very patient. Remember that he is the +King!" + +"And my brother," said Don John, with some bitterness. "Do not fear. You +know what I have promised you. I will bear anything he may say that +concerns me as well as I can, but if he says anything slighting of +you--" + +"But he may--that is the danger. Promise me not to be angry--" + +"How can I promise that, if he insults you?" + +"No, I did not mean that exactly. Promise that you will not forget +everything and raise your hand against him. You see I know you would." + +"No, I will not raise my hand against him. That was in the promise I +made you. And as for being angry, I will do my best to keep my temper." + +"I know you will. Now you must go. Good-by, love! Good-by, for a little +while." + +"For such a little time shall we say good-by? I hate the word; it makes +me think of the day when I left you last." + +"How can I tell what may happen to you when you are out of my sight?" +asked Dolores. "And what is 'good-by' but a blessing each prays for the +other? That is all it means. It does not mean that we part for long, +love. Why, I would say it for an hour! Good-by, dear love, good-by!" + +She put up her face to kiss him, and it was so full of trust and +happiness that the word lost all the bitterness it has gathered through +ages of partings, and seemed, what she said it was, a loving blessing. +Yet she said it very tenderly, for it was hard to let him go even for +less than an hour. He said it, too, to please her; but yet the syllables +came mournfully, as if they meant a world more than hers, and the sound +of them half frightened her, so that she was sorry she had asked him for +the word. + +"Not so!" she cried, in quick alarm. "You are not keeping anything from +me? You are only going to the next room to meet the King--are you sure?" + +"That is all. You see, the word frightened you. It seems such a sad word +to me--I will not say it again." + +He kissed her gently, as if to soothe her fear, and then he opened the +door and set the key in the lock on the inside. Then when he was +outside, he lingered a moment, and their lips met once more without a +word, and they nodded and smiled to one another a last time, and he +closed the door and heard her lock it. + +When she was alone, she turned away as if he were gone from her +altogether instead of being in the next room, where she could hear him +moving now and then, as he placed his chair near the light to read and +arranged the candlesticks on the table. Then he went to the other door +and opened it and opened the one beyond upon the terrace, and she knew +that he was looking out to see if any one were there. But presently he +came back and sat down, and she distinctly heard the rustle of the +strong writing-paper as he unfolded a letter. It was hers. He was going +to read it, as they had agreed. + +So she sat down where she could look at the door, and she tried to force +her eyes to see through it, to make him feel that she was watching him, +that she came near him and stood beside him, and softly read the words +for him, but without looking at them, because she knew them all by +heart. But it was not the same as if she had seen him, and it was very +hard to be shut off from his sight by an impenetrable piece of wood, to +lose all the moments that might pass before the King chose to come. +Another hour might pass. No one could even tell whether he would come at +all after he had consulted with Antonio Perez. The skilful favourite +desired a quarrel between his master and Don John with all his heart, +but he was not ready for it yet. He must have possession of Dolores +first and hide her safely; and when the quarrel came, Don John should +believe that the King had stolen her and imprisoned her, and that she +was treated ill; and for the woman he loved, Don John would tear down +the walls of Madrid, if need be, and if at the last he found her dead, +there would be no harm done, thought Perez, and Don John would hate his +brother even to death, and all Spain would cry out in sympathy and +horror. But all this Dolores could neither know nor even suspect. She +only felt sure that the King and Perez were even now consulting together +to hinder her marriage with Don John, and that Perez might persuade the +King not to see his brother that night. + +It was almost intolerable to think that she might wait there for hours, +wasting the minutes for which she would have given drops of blood. +Surely they both were overcautious. The door could be left open, so that +they could talk, and at the first sound without, she could lock it again +and sit down. That would be quite as safe. + +She rose and was almost in the act of opening the door again when she +stopped and hesitated. It was possible that at any moment the King might +be at the door; for though she could hear every sound that came from the +next room, the thick curtains that hid the window effectually shut out +all sound from without. It struck her that she could go to the window, +however, and look out. Yet a ray of light might betray her presence in +the room to any one outside, and if she drew aside the curtain the light +would shine out upon the terrace. She listened at Don John's door, and +presently she heard him turn her letter in his hand, and all her heart +went out to him, and she stood noiselessly kissing the panels and saying +over again in her heart that she loved him more than any words could +tell. If she could only see out of the window and assure herself that no +one was coming yet, there would be time to go to him again, for one +moment only, and say the words once more. + +Then she sat down and told herself how foolish she was. She had been +separated from him for many long and empty months, and now she had been +with him and talked long with him twice in leas than three hours, and +yet she could not bear that he should be out of her sight five minutes +without wishing to risk everything to see him again. She tried to laugh +at herself, repeating over and over again that she was very, very +foolish, and that she should have a just contempt for any woman who +could be as foolish as she. For some moments she sat still, staring at +the wall. + +In the thought of him that filled her heart and soul and mind, she saw +that her own life had begun when he had first spoken to her, and she +felt that it would end with the last good-by, because if he should die +or cease to love her, there would be nothing more to live for. Her early +girlhood seemed dim and far away, dull and lifeless, as if it had not +been hers at all, and had no connection with the present. She saw +herself in the past, as she could not see herself now, and the child she +remembered seemed not herself but another--a fair-haired girl living in +the gloomy old house in Valladolid, with her blind sister and an old +maiden cousin of her father's, who had offered to bring up the two and +to teach them, being a woman of some learning, and who fulfilled her +promise in such a conscientious and austere way as made their lives +something of a burden under her strict rule. But that was all forgotten +now, and though she still lived in Valladolid she had probably changed +but little in the few years since Dolores had seen her; she was part of +the past, a relic of something that had hardly ever had a real +existence, and which it was not at all necessary to remember. There was +one great light in the girl's simple existence, it had come all at once, +and it was with her still. There was nothing dim nor dark nor forgotten +about the day when she had been presented at court by the Duchess +Alvarez, and she had first seen Don John, and he had first seen her and +had spoken to her, when he had talked with the Duchess herself. At the +first glance--and it was her first sight of the great world--she had +seen that of all the men in the great hall, there was no one at all like +him. She had no sooner looked into his face and cast her eyes upon his +slender figure, all in white then, as he was dressed to-night, than she +began to compare him with the rest. She looked so quickly from one to +another that any one might have thought her to be anxiously searching +for a friend in the crowd. But she had none then, and she was but +assuring herself once, and for all her life, that the man she was to +love was immeasurably beyond all other men, though the others were the +very flower of Spain's young chivalry. + +Of course, as she told herself now, she had not loved him then, nor even +when she heard his voice speaking to her the first time and was almost +too happy to understand his words. But she had remembered them. He had +asked her whether she lived in Madrid. She had told him that she lived +in the Alcazar itself, since her father commanded the guards and had his +quarters in the palace. And then Don John had looked at her very fixedly +for a moment, and had seemed pleased, for he smiled and said that he +hoped he might see her often, and that if it were in his power to be of +use to her father, he would do what he could. She was sure that she had +not loved him then, though she had dreamed of his winning face and voice +and had thought of little else all the next day, and the day after that, +with a sort of feverish longing to see him again, and had asked the +Duchess Alvarez so many questions about him that the Duchess had smiled +oddly, and had shaken her handsome young head a little, saying that it +was better not to think too much about Don John of Austria. Surely, she +had not loved him already, at first sight. But on the evening of the +third day, towards sunset, when she had been walking with Inez on a +deserted terrace where no one but the two sisters ever went, Don John +had suddenly appeared, sauntering idly out with one of his gentlemen on +his left, as if he expected nothing at all; and he had seemed very much +surprised to see her, and had bowed low, and somehow very soon, blind +Inez, who was little more than a child three years ago, was leading the +gentleman about the terrace, to show him where the best roses grew, +which she knew by their touch and smell, and Don John and Dolores were +seated on an old stone bench, talking earnestly together. Even to +herself she admitted that she had loved him from that evening, and +whenever she thought of it she smelt the first scent of roses, and saw +his face with the blaze of the sunset in his eyes, and heard his voice +saying that he should come to the terrace again at that hour, in which +matter he had kept his word as faithfully as he always did, and +presumably without any especial effort. So she had known him as he +really was, without the formalities of the court life, of which she was +herself a somewhat insignificant part; and it was only when he said a +few words to her before the other ladies that she took pains to say +'your Highness' to him once or twice, and he called her 'Doña Dolores,' +and enquired in a friendly manner about her father's health. But on the +terrace they managed to talk without any such formal mode of address, +and used no names at all for each other, until one day--but she would +not think of that now. If she let her memory run all its course, she +could not sit there with the door closed between him and her, for +something stronger than she would force her to go and open it, and make +sure he was there. This method, indeed, would be a very certain one, +leaving no doubt whatever, but at the present moment it would be foolish +to resort to it, and, perhaps, it would be dangerous, too. The past was +so beautiful and peaceful; she could think its history through many +times up to that point, where thinking was sure to end suddenly in +something which was too present for memory and too well remembered not +to be present. + +It came back to her so vividly that she left her seat again and went to +the curtained window, as if to get as far as possible from the +irresistible attraction. Standing there she looked back and saw the key +in the lock. It was foolish, girlish, childish, at such a time, but she +felt that as long as it was there she should want to turn it. With a +sudden resolution and a smile that was for her own weakness, she went to +the door again, listened for footsteps, and then quietly took the key +from the lock. Instantly Don John was on the other side, calling to her +softly. + +"What is it?" he asked. "For Heaven's sake do not come in, for I think I +hear him coming." + +"No," she answered through the panel. "I was afraid I should turn the +key, so I have taken it out." She paused. "I love you!" she said, so +that he could hear, and she kissed the wood, where she thought his face +must be, just above her own. + +"I love you with all my heart!" he answered gently. "Hush, dear love, he +is coming!" + +They were like two children, playing at a game; but they were playing on +the very verge of tragedy, playing at life with death at the door and +the safety of a great nation hanging in the balance. + +A moment later, Dolores heard Don John opening and shutting the other +doors again, and then there were voices. She heard her father's name +spoken in the King's unmistakable tones, at once harsh and muffled. +Every word came to her from the other room, as if she were present. + +"Mendoza," said Philip, "I have private matters to discuss with his +Highness. I desire you to wait before the entrance, on the terrace, and +to let no one pass in, as we do not wish to be disturbed." + +Her father did not speak, but she knew how he was bending a little +stiffly, before he went backwards through the open door. It closed +behind him, and the two brothers were alone. Dolores' heart beat a +little faster, and her face grew paler as she concentrated her attention +upon making no noise. If they could hear her as she heard them, a mere +rustling of her silk gown would be enough to betray her, and if then the +King bade her father take her with him, all would be over, for Don John +would certainly not use any violence to protect her. + +"This is your bedchamber," said Philip's voice. + +He was evidently examining the room, as Don John had anticipated that he +would, for he was moving about. There was no mistaking his heavy steps +for his brother's elastic tread. + +"There is no one behind the curtain," said the King, by which it was +clear that he was making search for a possible concealed listener. He +was by no means above such precautions. + +"And that door?" he said, with a question. "What is there?" + +Dolores' heart almost stood still, as she held her breath, and heard the +clumsy footfall coming nearer. + +"It is locked," said Don John, with undisturbed calm. "I have not the +key. I do not know where it is,--it is not here." + +As Dolores had taken it from the lock, even the last statement was true +to the letter, and in spite of her anxiety she smiled as she heard it, +but the next moment she trembled, for the King was trying the door, and +it shook under his hand, as if it must fly open. + +"It is certainly locked," he said, in a discontented tone. "But I do not +like locked doors, unless I know what is beyond them." + +He crossed the room again and called out to Mendoza, who answered at +once. + +"Mendoza, come here with me. There is a door here, of which his Highness +has not the key. Can you open it?" + +"I will try, your Majesty," answered the General's hard voice. + +A moment later the panels shook violently under the old man's weight, +for he was stronger than one might have thought, being lean and tough +rather than muscular. Dolores took the moment when the noise was loudest +and ran a few steps towards the window. Then the sounds ceased suddenly, +and she stood still. + +"I cannot open it, your Majesty," said Mendoza, in a disconsolate tone. + +"Then go and get the key," answered the King almost angrily. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +Inez remained hidden a quarter of an hour in the gallery over the throne +room, before she ventured to open the door noiselessly and listen for +any sound that might come from the passage. She was quite safe there, as +long as she chose to remain, for the Princess had believed that she had +fled far beyond and was altogether out of reach of any one whose dignity +would not allow of running a race. It must be remembered that at the +time she entered the gallery Mendoza had returned to his duty below, and +that some time afterwards he had accompanied the King to Don John's +apartments, and had then been sent in search of the key to the locked +door. + +The blind girl was of course wholly ignorant of his whereabouts, and +believed him to be in or about the throne room. Her instinct told her +that since Dolores had not gone to the court, as she had intended, with +the Duchess Alvarez, she must have made some last attempt to see Don +John alone. In her perfect innocence such an idea seemed natural enough +to Inez, and it at first occurred to her that the two might have +arranged to meet on the deserted terrace where they had spent so many +hours in former times. She went there first, finding her way with some +little difficulty from the corridor where the gallery was, for the +region was not the one to which she was most accustomed, though there +was hardly a corner of the upper story where she had never been. +Reaching the terrace, she went out and called softly, but there was no +answer, nor could she hear any sound. The night was not cold now, but +the breeze chilled her a little, and just then the melancholy cry of a +screech owl pierced the air, and she shivered and went in again. + +She would have gone to the Duchess Alvarez had she not been sure that +the latter was below with the Queen, and even as it was, she would have +taken refuge in the Duchess's apartments with the women, and she might +have learned something of Dolores there. But her touch reminded her that +she was dressed in her sister's clothes, and that many questions might +be asked her which it would be hard to answer. And again, it grew quite +clear to her that Dolores must be somewhere near Don John, perhaps +waiting in some concealed corner until all should be quiet. It was more +than probable that he would get her out of the palace secretly during +the night and send her to his adoptive mother at Villagarcia. She had +not believed the Princess's words in the least, but she had not +forgotten them, and had argued rightly enough to their real meaning. + +In the upper story all was still now. She and Dolores had known where +Don John was to be lodged in the palace nearly a month before he had +returned, and they had been there more than once, when no one was on the +terrace, and Dolores had made her touch the door and the six windows, +three on each side of it. She could get there without difficulty, +provided that no one stopped her. + +She went a little way in the right direction and then hesitated. There +was more danger to Dolores than to herself if she should be recognized, +and, after all, if Dolores was near Don John she was safer than she +could be anywhere else. Inez could not help her very much in any way if +she found her there, and it would be hard to find her if she had met +Mendoza at first and if he had placed her in the keeping of a third +person. She imagined what his astonishment would have been had he found +the real Dolores in her court dress a few moments after Inez had been +delivered over to the Princess disguised in Dolores' clothes, and she +almost smiled. But then a great loneliness and a sense of helplessness +came over her, and she turned back and went out upon the deserted +terrace again and sat down upon the old stone seat, listening for the +screech owl and the fluttering of the bats that flew aimlessly in and +out, attracted by the light and then scared away by it again because the +moon was at the full. + +Inez had never before then wandered about the palace at night, and +though darkness and daylight were one to her, there was something in the +air that frightened her, and made her feel how really helpless she was +in spite of her almost superhuman hearing and her wonderful sense of +touch. It was very still--it was never so still by day. It seemed as if +people must be lying in wait for her, holding their breath lest she +should hear even that. She had never felt blind before; she had never so +completely realized the difference between her life and the lives of +others. By day, she could wander where she pleased on the upper +story--it was cheerful, familiar; now and then some one passed and +perhaps spoke to her kindly, as every one did who knew her; and then +there was the warm sunlight at the windows, and the cool breath of the +living day in the corridors. The sounds guided her, the sun warmed her, +the air fanned her, the voices of the people made her feel that she was +one of them. But now, the place was like an empty church, full of tombs +and silent as the dead that lay there. She felt horribly lonely, and +cold, and miserable, and she would have given anything to be in bed in +her own room. She could not go there. Eudaldo would not understand her +return, after being told that she was to stay with the Princess, and she +would be obliged to give him some explanation. Then her voice would +betray her, and there would be terrible trouble. If only she had kept +her own cloak to cover Dolores' frock, she could have gone back and the +servant would have thought it quite natural Indeed, by this time he +would be expecting her. It would be almost better to go in after all, +and tell him some story of her having mistaken her sister's skirt for +her own, and beg him to say nothing. She could easily confuse him a +little so that he would not really understand--and then in a few minutes +she could be in her own room, safe and in bed, and far away from the +dismal place where she was sitting and shivering as she listened to the +owls. + +She rose and began to walk towards her father's quarters. But suddenly +she felt that it was cowardly to go back without accomplishing the least +part of her purpose, and without even finding out whether Dolores was in +safety after all. There was but one chance of finding her, and that lay +in searching the neighbourhood of Don John's lodging. Without hesitating +any longer, she began to find her way thither at once. She determined +that if she were stopped, either by her father or the Princess, she +would throw back her head and show her face at once. That would be the +safest way in the end. + +She reached Don John's windows unhindered at last. She had felt every +corner, and had been into the empty sentry-box; and once or twice, after +listening a long time, she had called Dolores in a very low tone. She +listened by the first window, and by the second and third, and at the +door, and then beyond, till she came to the last. There were voices +there, and her heart beat quickly for a moment. It was impossible to +distinguish the words that were spoken, through the closed window and +the heavy curtains, but the mere tones told her that Don John and +Dolores were there together. That was enough for her, and she could go +back to her room; for it seemed quite natural to her that her sister +should be in the keeping of the man she loved,--she was out of harm's +way and beyond their father's power, and that was all that was +necessary. She would go back to her room at once, and explain the matter +of her dress to Eudaldo as best she might. After all, why should he care +what she wore or where she had been, or whether in the Princess's +apartments she had for some reason exchanged gowns with Dolores. Perhaps +he would not even notice the dress at all. + +She meant to go at once, but she stood quite still, her hands resting on +the low sill of the window, while her forehead pressed against the cold +round panes of glass. Something hurt her which she could not understand, +as she tried to fancy the two beautiful young beings who were +within,--for she knew what beauty they had, and Dolores had described +Don John to her as a young god. His voice came to her like strains of +very distant sweet music, that connect themselves to an unknown melody +in the fancy of him who faintly hears. But Dolores was hearing every +word he said, and it was all for her; and Dolores not only heard, but +saw; and seeing and hearing, she was loved by the man who spoke to her, +as dearly as she loved him. + +Then utter loneliness fell upon the blind girl as she leaned against the +window. She had expected nothing, she had asked nothing, even in her +heart; and she had less than nothing, since never on earth, nor in +heaven hereafter, could Don John say a loving word to her. And yet she +felt that something had been taken from her and given to her +sister,--something that was more to her than life, and dearer than the +thought of sight to her blindness. She had taken what had not been given +her, in innocent girlish thoughts that were only dreams, and could hurt +no one. He had always spoken gently to her, and touched her hand kindly; +and many a time, sitting alone in the sun, she had set those words to +the well-remembered music of his voice, and she had let the memory of +his light touch on her fingers thrill her strangely to the very quick. +It had been but the reflection of a reflection in her darkness, wherein +the shadow of a shadow seemed as bright as day. It had been all she had +to make her feel that she was a part of the living, loving world she +could never see. Somehow she had unconsciously fancied that with a +little dreaming she could live happy in Dolores' happiness, as by a +proxy, and she had never called it love, any more than she would have +dared to hope for love in return. Yet it was that, and nothing +else,--the love that is so hopeless and starving, and yet so innocent, +that it can draw the illusion of an airy nourishment from that which to +another nature would be the fountain of all jealousy and hatred. + +But now, without reason and without warning, even that was taken from +her, and in its place something burned that she did not know, save that +it was a bad thing, and made even blackness blacker. She heard their +voices still. They were happy together, while she was alone outside, her +forehead resting against the chill glass, and her hands half numb upon +the stone; and so it would always be hereafter. They would go, and take +her life with them, and she should be left behind, alone for ever; and a +great revolt against her fate rose quickly in her breast like a flame +before the wind, and then, as if finding nothing to consume, sank down +again into its own ashes, and left her more lonely than before. The +voices had ceased now, or else the lovers were speaking very low, +fearing, perhaps, that some one might be listening at the window. If +Inez had heard their words at first, she would have stopped her ears or +gone to a distance, for the child knew what that sort of honour meant, +and had done as much before. But the unformed sound had been good to +hear, and she missed it. Perhaps they were sitting close and, hand in +hand, reading all the sweet unsaid things in one another's eyes. There +must be silent voices in eyes that could see, she thought. She took +little thought of the time, yet it seemed long to her since they had +spoken. Perhaps they had gone to another room. She moved to the next +window and listened there, but no sound came from within. Then she heard +footfalls, and one was her father's. Two men were coming out by the +corridor, and she had not time to reach the sentry-box. With her hands +out before her, she went lightly away from the windows to the outer side +of the broad terrace, and cowered down by the balustrade as she ran +against it, not knowing whether she was in the moonlight or the shade. +She had crossed like a shadow and was crouching there before Mendoza and +the King came out. She knew by their steady tread, that ended at the +door, that they had not noticed her; and as the door closed behind them, +she ran back to the window again and listened, expecting to hear loud +and angry words, for she could not doubt that the King and her father +had discovered that Dolores was there, and had come to take her away. +The Princess must have told Mendoza that Dolores had escaped. But she +only heard men's voices speaking in an ordinary tone, and she understood +that Dolores was concealed. Almost at once, and to her dismay, she heard +her father's step in the hall, and now she could neither pass the door +nor run across the terrace again. A moment later the King called him +from within. Instantly she slipped across to the other side, and +listened again. They were shaking a door,--they were in the very act of +finding Dolores. Her heart hurt her. But then the noise stopped, as if +they had given up the attempt, and presently she heard her father's step +again. Thinking that he would remain in the hall until the King called +him,--for she could not possibly guess what had happened,--she stood +quite still. + +The door opened without warning, and he was almost upon her before she +knew it. To hesitate an instant was out of the question, and for the +second time that night she fled, running madly to the corridor, which +was not ten steps from where she had been standing, and as she entered +it the light fell upon her from the swinging lamp, though she did not +know it. + +Old as he was, Mendoza sprang forward in pursuit when he saw her figure +in the dimness, flying before him, but as she reached the light of the +lamp he stopped himself, staggering one or two steps and then reeling +against the wall. He had recognized Dolores' dress and hood, and there +was not the slightest doubt in his mind but that it was herself. In that +same dress he had seen her in the late afternoon, she had been wearing +it when he had locked her into the sitting-room, and, still clad in it, +she must have come out with the Princess. And now she was running before +him from Don John's lodging. Doubtless she had been in another room and +had slipped out while he was trying the door within. + +He passed his hand over his eyes and breathed hard as he leaned against +the wall, for her appearance there could only mean one thing, and that +was ruin to her and disgrace to his name--the very end of all things in +his life, in which all had been based upon his honour and every action +had been a tribute to it. + +He was too much stunned to ask himself how the lovers had met, if there +had been any agreement between them, but the frightful conviction took +hold of him that this was not the first time, that long ago, before Don +John had led the army to Granada, Dolores had found her way to that same +door and had spent long hours with her lover when no one knew. Else she +could not have gone to him without agreement, at an instant's notice, on +the very night of his return. + +Despair took possession of the unhappy man from that moment. But that +the King was with Don John, Mendoza would have gone back at that moment +to kill his enemy and himself afterwards, if need be. He remembered his +errand then. No doubt that was the very room where Dolores had been +concealed, and she had escaped from it by some other way, of which her +father did not know. He was too dazed to think connectedly, but he had +the King's commands to execute at once. He straightened himself with a +great effort, for the weight of his years had come upon him suddenly and +bowed him like a burden. With the exertion of his will came the thirst +for the satisfaction of blood, and he saw that the sooner he returned +with the key, the sooner he should be near his enemy. But the pulses +came and went in his throbbing temples, as when a man is almost spent in +a struggle with death, and at first he walked uncertainly, as if he felt +no ground under his feet. + +By the time he had gone a hundred yards he had recovered a sort of +mechanical self-possession, such as comes upon men at very desperate +times, when they must not allow themselves to stop and think of what is +before them. They were pictures, rather than thoughts, that formed +themselves in his brain as he went along, for he saw all the past years +again, from the day when his young wife had died, he being then already +in middle age, until that afternoon. One by one the years came back, and +the central figure in each was the fair-haired little child, growing +steadily to be a woman, all coming nearer and nearer to the end he had +seen but now, which was unutterable shame and disgrace, and beyond which +there was nothing. He heard the baby voice again, and felt the little +hands upon his brow, and saw the serious grey eyes close to his own; and +then the girl, gravely lovely--and her far-off laugh that hardly ever +rippled through the room when he was there; and then the stealing +softness of grown maidenhood, winning the features one by one, and +bringing back from death to life the face he had loved best, and the +voice with long-forgotten tones that touched his soul's quick, and +dimmed his sight with a mist, so that he grew hard and stern as he +fought within him against the tenderness he loved and feared. All this +he saw and heard and felt again, knowing that each picture must end but +in one way, in the one sight he had seen and that had told his shame--a +guilty woman stealing by night from her lover's door. Not only that, +either, for there was the almost certain knowledge that she had deceived +him for years, and that while he had been fighting so hard to save her +from what seemed but a show of marriage, she had been already lost to +him for ever and ruined beyond all hope of honesty. + +They were not thoughts, but pictures of the false and of the true, that +rose and glowed an instant and then sank like the inner darkness of his +soul, leaving only that last most terrible one of all behind them, +burned into his eyes till death should put out their light and bid him +rest at last, if he could rest even in heaven with such a memory. + +It was too much, and though he walked upright and gazed before him, he +did not know his way, and his feet took him to his own door instead of +on the King's errand. His hand was raised to knock before he understood, +and it fell to his side in a helpless, hopeless way, when he saw where +he was. Then he turned stiffly, as a man turns on parade, and gathered +his strength and marched away with a measured tread. For the world and +what it held he would not have entered his dwelling then, for he felt +that his daughter was there before him, and that if he once saw her face +he should not be able to hold his hand. He would not see her again on +earth, lest he should take her life for what she had done. + +He was more aware of outward things after that, though he almost +commanded himself to do what he had to do, as he would have given orders +to one of his soldiers. He went to the chief steward's office and +demanded the key of the room in the King's name. But it was not +forthcoming, and the fact that it could not be found strengthened his +conviction that Don John had it in his keeping. Yet, for the sake of +form, he insisted sternly, saying that the King was waiting for it even +then. Servants were called and examined and threatened, but those who +knew anything about it unanimously declared that it had been left in the +door, while those who knew nothing supported their fellow-servants by +the same unhesitating assertion, till Mendoza was convinced that he had +done enough, and turned his back on them all and went out with a grey +look of despair on his face. + +He walked rapidly now, for he knew that he was going back to meet his +enemy, and he was trying not to think what he should do when he should +see Don John before him and at arm's length, but defended by the King's +presence from any sudden violence. He knew that in his heart there was +the wild resolve to tell the truth before his master and then to take +the payment of blood with one thrust and destroy himself with the next, +but though he was half mad with despair, he would not let the thought +become a resolve. In his soldier's nature, high above everything else +and dominating his austere conscience of right and wrong, as well as +every other instinct of his heart, there was the respect of his +sovereign and the loyalty to him at all costs, good or bad, which sent +self out of sight where his duty to the King was concerned. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +When he had sent away Mendoza, the King remained standing and began to +pace the floor, while Don John stood by the table watching him and +waiting for him to speak. It was clear that he was still angry, for his +anger, though sometimes suddenly roused, was very slow to reach its +height, and slower still to subside; and when at last it had cooled, it +generally left behind it an enduring hatred, such as could be satisfied +only by the final destruction of the object that had caused it. That +lasting hate was perhaps more dangerous than the sudden outburst had +been, but in moments of furious passion Philip was undoubtedly a man to +be feared. + +He was evidently not inclined to speak until he had ascertained that no +one was listening in the next room, but as he looked from time to time +at Don John his still eyes seemed to grow almost yellow, and his lower +lip moved uneasily. He knew, perhaps, that Mendoza could not at once +find the servant in whose keeping the key of the door was supposed to +be, and he grew impatient by quick degrees until his rising temper got +the better of his caution. Don John instinctively drew himself up, as a +man does who expects to be attacked. He was close to the table, and +remained almost motionless during the discussion that followed, while +Philip paced up and down, sometimes pausing before his brother for a +moment, and then turning again to resume his walk. His voice was muffled +always, and was hard to hear; now and then it became thick and +indistinct with rage, and he cleared his throat roughly, as if he were +angry with it, too. At first he maintained the outward forms of courtesy +in words if not in tone, but long before his wrath had reached its final +climax he forgot them altogether. + +"I had hoped to speak with you in privacy, on matters of great +importance. It has pleased your Highness to make that impossible by your +extraordinary behaviour." + +Don John raised his eyebrows a little incredulously, and answered with +perfect calmness. + +"I do not recollect doing anything which should seem extraordinary to +your Majesty." + +"You contradict me," retorted Philip. "That is extraordinary enough, I +should think. I am not aware that it is usual for subjects to contradict +the King. What have you to say in explanation?" + +"Nothing. The facts explain themselves well enough." + +"We are not in camp," said Philip. "Your Highness is not in command +here, and I am not your subordinate. I desire you to remember whom you +are addressing, for your words will be remembered." + +"I never said anything which I wished another to forget," answered Don +John proudly. + +"Take care, then!" The King spoke sullenly, and turned away, for he was +slow at retort until he was greatly roused. + +Don John did not answer, for he had no wish to produce such a result, +and moreover he was much more preoccupied by the serious question of +Dolores' safety than by any other consideration. So far the King had +said nothing which, but for some derogation from his dignity, might not +have been said before any one, and Don John expected that he would +maintain the same tone until Mendoza returned. It was hard to predict +what might happen then. In all probability Dolores would escape by the +window and endeavour to hide herself in the empty sentry-box until the +interview was over. He could then bring her back in safety, but the +discussion promised to be long and stormy, and meanwhile she would be in +constant danger of discovery. But there was a worse possibility, not +even quite beyond the bounds of the probable. In his present mood, +Philip, if he lost his temper altogether, would perhaps be capable of +placing Don John under arrest. He was all powerful, he hated his +brother, and he was very angry. His last words had been a menace, or had +sounded like one, and another word, when Mendoza returned, could put the +threat into execution. Don John reflected, if such thought could be +called reflection, upon the situation that must ensue, and upon the +probable fate of the woman he loved. He wondered whether she were still +in the room, for hearing that the door was to be opened, she might have +thought it best to escape at once, while her father was absent from the +terrace on his errand. If not, she could certainly go out by the window +as soon as she heard him coming back. It was clearly of the greatest +importance to prevent the King's anger from going any further. Antonio +Perez had recognized the same truth from a very different point of view, +and had spent nearly three-quarters of an hour in flattering his master +with the consummate skill which he alone possessed. He believed that he +had succeeded when the King had dismissed him, saying that he would not +see Don John until the morning. Five minutes after Perez was gone, +Philip was threading the corridors, completely disguised in a long black +cloak, with the ever-loyal Mendoza at his heels. It was not the first +time that he had deceived his deceivers. + +He paced the room in silence after he had last spoken. As soon as Don +John realized that his liberty might be endangered, he saw that he must +say what he could in honour and justice to save himself from arrest, +since nothing else could save Dolores. + +"I greatly regret having done anything to anger your Majesty," he said, +with quiet dignity. "I was placed in a very difficult position by +unforeseen circumstances. If there had been time to reflect, I might +have acted otherwise." + +"Might have acted otherwise!" repeated Philip harshly. "I do not like +those words. You might have acted otherwise than to defy your sovereign +before the Queen! I trusted you might, indeed!" + +He was silent again, his protruding lip working angrily, as if he had +tasted something he disliked. Don John's half apology had not been +received with much grace, but he saw no way open save to insist that it +was genuine. + +"It is certainly true that I have lived much in camps of late," he +answered, "and that a camp is not a school of manners, any more than the +habit of commanding others accustoms a man to courtly submission." + +"Precisely. You have learned to forget that you have a superior in +Spain, or in the world. You already begin to affect the manners and +speech of a sovereign--you will soon claim the dignity of one, too, I +have no doubt. The sooner we procure you a kingdom of your own, the +better, for your Highness will before long become an element of discord +in ours." + +"Rather than that," answered Don John, "I will live in retirement for +the rest of my life." + +"We may require it of your Highness," replied Philip, standing still and +facing his brother. "It may be necessary for our own safety that you +should spend some time at least in very close retirement--very!" He +almost laughed. + +"I should prefer that to the possibility of causing any disturbance in +your Majesty's kingdom." + +Nothing could have been more gravely submissive than Don John's tone, +but the King was apparently determined to rouse his anger. + +"Your deeds belie your words," he retorted, beginning to walk again. +"There is too much loyalty in what you say, and too much of a rebellious +spirit in what you do. The two do not agree together. You mock me." + +"God forbid that!" cried Don John. "I desire no praise for what I may +have done, but such as my deeds have been they have produced peace and +submission in your Majesty's kingdom, and not rebellion--" + +"And is it because you have beaten a handful of ill-armed Moriscoes, in +the short space of two years, that the people follow you in throngs +wherever you go, shouting for you, singing your praises, bringing +petitions to you by hundreds, as if you were King--as if you were more +than that, a sort of god before whom every one must bow down? Am I so +simple as to believe that what you have done with such leisure is enough +to rouse all Spain, and to make the whole court break out into cries of +wonder and applause as soon as you appear? If you publicly defy me and +disobey me, do I not know that you believe yourself able to do so, and +think your power equal to mine? And how could that all be brought about, +save by a party that is for you, by your secret agents everywhere, high +and low, forever praising you and telling men, and women, too, of your +graces, and your generosities, and your victories, and saying that it is +a pity so good and brave a prince should be but a leader of the King's +armies, and then contrasting the King himself with you, the cruel King, +the grasping King, the scheming King, the King who has every fault that +is not found in Don John of Austria, the people's god! Is that peace and +submission? Or is it the beginning of rebellion, and revolution, and +civil war, which is to set Don John of Austria on the throne of Spain, +and send King Philip to another world as soon as all is ready?" + +Don John listened in amazement. It had never occurred to him any one +could believe him capable of the least of the deeds Philip was +attributing to him, and in spite of his resolution his anger began to +rise. Then, suddenly, as if cold water had been dashed in his face, he +remembered that an hour had not passed since he had held Dolores in his +arms, swearing to do that of which he was now accused, and that her +words only had held him back. It all seemed monstrous now. As she had +said, it had been only a bad dream and he had wakened to himself again. +Yet the thought of rebellion had more than crossed his mind, for in a +moment it had taken possession of him and had seemed to change all his +nature from good to bad. In his own eyes he was rebuked, and he did not +answer at once. + +"You have nothing to say!" exclaimed Philip scornfully. "Is there any +reason why I should not try you for high treason?" + +Don John started at the words, but his anger was gone, and he thought +only of Dolores' safety in the near future. + +"Your Majesty is far too just to accuse an innocent man who has served +you faithfully," he answered. + +Philip stopped and looked at him curiously and long, trying to detect +some sign of anxiety if not of fear. He was accustomed to torture men +with words well enough, before he used other means, and he himself had +not believed what he had said. It had been only an experiment tried on a +mere chance, and it had failed. At the root of his anger there was only +jealousy and personal hatred of the brother who had every grace and +charm which he himself had not. + +"More kind than just, perhaps," he said, with a slight change of tone +towards condescension. "I am willing to admit that I have no proofs +against you, but the evidence of circumstances is not in your favour. +Take care, for you are observed. You are too much before the world, too +imposing a figure to escape observation." + +"My actions will bear it. I only beg that your Majesty will take account +of them rather than listen to such interpretation as may be put upon +them by other men." + +"Other men do nothing but praise you," said Philip bluntly. "Their +opinion of you is not worth having! I thought I had explained that +matter sufficiently. You are the idol of the people, and as if that were +not enough, you are the darling of the court, besides being the women's +favourite. That is too much for one man to be--take care, I say, take +care! Be at more pains for my favour, and at less trouble for your +popularity." + +"So far as that goes," answered Don John, with some pride, "I think that +if men praise me it is because I have served the King as well as I +could, and with success. If your Majesty is not satisfied with what I +have done, let me have more to do. I shall try to do even the +impossible." + +"That will please the ladies," retorted Philip, with a sneer. "You will +be overwhelmed with correspondence--your gloves will not hold it all" + +Don John did not answer, for it seemed wiser to let the King take this +ground than return to his former position. + +"You will have plenty of agreeable occupation in time of peace. But it +is better that you should be married soon, before you become so +entangled with the ladies of Madrid as to make your marriage +impossible." + +"Saving the last clause," said Don John boldly, "I am altogether of your +Majesty's opinion. But I fear no entanglements here." + +"No--you do not fear them. On the contrary, you live in them as if they +were your element." + +"No man can say that," answered Don John. + +"You contradict me again. Pray, if you have no entanglements, how comes +it that you have a lady's letter in your glove?" + +"I cannot tell whether it was a lady's letter or a man's." + +"Have you not read it?" + +"Yes." + +"And you refused to show it to me on the ground that it was a woman's +secret?" + +"I had not read it then. It was not signed, and it might well have been +written by a man." + +Don John watched the King's face. It was for from improbable, he +thought, that the King had caused it to be written, or had written it +himself, that he supposed his brother to have read it, and desired to +regain possession of it as soon as possible. Philip seemed to hesitate +whether to continue his cross-examination or not, and he looked at the +door leading into the antechamber, suddenly wondering why Mendoza had +not returned. Then he began to speak again, but he did not wish, angry +though he was, to face alone a second refusal to deliver the document to +him. His dignity would have suffered too much. + +"The facts of the case are these," he said, as if he were recapitulating +what had gone before in his mind. "It is my desire to marry you to the +widowed Queen of Scots, as you know. You are doing all you can to oppose +me, and you have determined to marry the dowerless daughter of a poor +soldier. I am equally determined that you shall not disgrace yourself by +such an alliance." + +"Disgrace!" cried Don John loudly, almost before the word had passed the +King's lips, and he made half a step forward. "You are braver than I +thought you, if you dare use that word to me!" + +Philip stepped back, growing livid, and his hand was on his rapier. Don +John was unarmed, but his sword lay on the table within his reach. +Seeing the King afraid, he stepped back. + +"No," he said scornfully, "I was mistaken. You are a coward." He laughed +as he glanced at Philip's hand, still on the hilt of his weapon and +ready to draw it. + +In the next room Dolores drew frightened breath, for the tones of the +two men's voices had changed suddenly. Yet her heart had leapt for joy +when she had heard Don John's cry of anger at the King's insulting word. +But Don John was right, for Philip was a coward at heart, and though he +inwardly resolved that his brother should be placed under arrest as soon +as Mendoza returned, his present instinct was not to rouse him further. +He was indeed in danger, between his anger and his fear, for at any +moment he might speak some bitter word, accustomed as he was to the +perpetual protection of his guards, but at the next his brother's hands +might be on his throat, for he had the coward's true instinct to +recognize the man who was quite fearless. + +"You strangely forget yourself," he said, with an appearance of dignity. +"You spring forward as if you were going to grapple with me, and then +you are surprised that I should be ready to defend myself." + +"I barely moved a step from where I stand," answered Don John, with +profound contempt. "I am unarmed, too. There lies my sword, on the +table. But since you are the King as well as my brother, I make all +excuses to your Majesty for having been the cause of your fright." + +Dolores understood what had happened, as Don John meant that she should. +She knew also that her position was growing more and more desperate and +untenable at every moment; yet she could not blame her lover for what he +had said. Even to save her, she would not have had him cringe to the +King and ask pardon for his hasty word and movement, still less could +she have borne that he should not cry out in protest at a word that +insulted her, though ever so lightly. + +"I do not desire to insist upon our kinship," said Philip coldly. "If I +chose to acknowledge it when you were a boy, it was out of respect for +the memory of the Emperor. It was not in the expectation of being called +brother by the son of a German burgher's daughter." + +Don John did not wince, for the words, being literally true and without +exaggeration, could hardly be treated as an insult, though they were +meant for one, and hurt him, as all reference to his real mother always +did. + +"Yes," he said, still scornfully. "I am the son of a German burgher's +daughter, neither better nor worse. But I am your brother, for all that, +and though I shall not forget that you are King and I am subject, when +we are before the world, yet here, we are man and man, you and I, +brother and brother, and there is neither King nor prince. But I shall +not hurt you, so you need fear nothing. I respect the brother far too +little for that, and the sovereign too much." + +There was a bad yellow light in Philip's face, and instead of walking +towards Don John and away from him, as he had done hitherto, he began to +pace up and down, crossing and recrossing before him, from the foot of +the great canopied bed to one of the curtained windows, keeping his eyes +upon his brother almost all the time. + +"I warned you when I came here that your words should be remembered," he +said. "And your actions shall not be forgotten, either. There are safe +places, even in Madrid, where you can live in the retirement you desire +so much, even in total solitude." + +"If it pleases your Majesty to imprison Don John of Austria, you have +the power. For my part, I shall make no resistance." + +"Who shall, then?" asked the King angrily. "Do you expect that there +will be a general rising of the people to liberate you, or that there +will be a revolution within the palace, brought on by your party, which +shall force me to set you free for reasons of state? We are not in Paris +that you should expect the one, nor in Constantinople where the other +might be possible. We are in Spain, and I am master, and my will shall +be done, and no one shall cry out against it. I am too gentle with you, +too kind! For the half of what you have said and done, Elizabeth of +England would have had your life to-morrow--yes, I consent to give you a +chance, the benefit of a doubt there is still in my thoughts about you, +because justice shall not be offended and turned into an instrument of +revenge. Yes--I am kind, I am clement. We shall see whether you can save +yourself. You shall have the chance." + +"What chance is that?" asked Don John, growing very quiet, for he saw +the real danger near at hand again. + +"You shall have an opportunity of proving that a subject is at liberty +to insult his sovereign, and that the King is not free to speak his mind +to a subject. Can you prove that?" + +"I cannot." + +"Then you can be convicted of high treason," answered Philip, his evil +mouth curling. "There are several methods of interrogating the accused," +he continued. "I daresay you have heard of them." + +"Do you expect to frighten me by talking of torture?" asked Don John, +with a smile at the implied suggestion. + +"Witnesses are also examined," replied the King, his voice thickening +again in anticipation of the effect he was going to produce upon the man +who would not fear him. "With them, even more painful methods are often +employed. Witnesses may be men or women, you know, my dear brother--" he +pronounced the word with a sneer--"and among the many ladies of your +acquaintance--" + +"There are very few." + +"It will be the easier to find the two or three, or perhaps the only +one, whom it will be necessary to interrogate--in your presence, most +probably, and by torture." + +"I was right to call you a coward," said Don John, slowly turning pale +till his face was almost as white as the white silks and satins of his +doublet. + +"Will you give me the letter you were reading when I came here?" + +"No." + +"Not to save yourself from the executioner's hands?" + +"No." + +"Not to save--" Philip paused, and a frightful stare of hatred fixed his +eyes on his brother. "Will you give me that letter to save Dolores de +Mendoza from being torn piecemeal?" + +"Coward!" + +By instinct Don John's hand went to the hilt of his sheathed sword this +time, as he cried out in rage, and sprang forward. Even then he would +have remembered the promise he had given and would not have raised his +hand to strike. But the first movement was enough, and Philip drew his +rapier in a flash of light, fearing for his life. Without waiting for an +attack he made a furious pass at his brother's body. Don John's hand +went out with the sheathed sword in a desperate attempt to parry the +thrust, but the weapon was entangled in the belt that hung to it, and +Philip's lunge had been strong and quick as lightning. + +With a cry of anger Don John fell straight backwards, his feet seeming +to slip from under him on the smooth marble pavement, and with his fall, +as he threw out his hands to save himself, the sword flew high into the +air, sheathed as it was, and landed far away. He lay at full length with +one arm stretched out, and for a moment the hand twitched in quick +spasms. Then it was quite still. + +At his feet stood Philip, his rapier in his hand, and blood on its fine +point. His eyes shone yellow in the candlelight, his jaw had dropped a +little, and he bent forwards, looking intently at the still, white face. + +He had longed for that moment ever since he had entered his brother's +room, though even he himself had not guessed that he wanted his +brother's life. There was not a sound in the room as he looked at what +he had done, and two or three drops of blood fell one by one, very +slowly, upon the marble. On the dazzling white of Don John's doublet +there was a small red stain. As Philip watched it, he thought it grew +wider and brighter. + +Beyond the door, Dolores had fallen upon her knees, pressing her hands +to her temples in an agony beyond thought or expression. Her fear had +risen to terror while she listened to the last words that had been +exchanged, and the King's threat had chilled her blood like ice, though +she was brave. She had longed to cry out to Don John to give up her +letter or the other, whichever the King wanted--she had almost tried to +raise her voice, in spite of every other fear, when she had heard Don +John's single word of scorn, and the quick footsteps, the drawing of the +rapier from its sheath, the desperate scuffle that had not lasted five +seconds, and then the dull fall which meant that one was hurt. + +It could only be the King,--but that was terrible enough,--and yet, if +the King had fallen, Don John would have come to the door the next +instant. All was still in the room, but her terror made wild noises in +her ears. The two men might have spoken now and she could not have heard +them,--nor the opening of a door, nor any ordinary sound. It was no +longer the fear of being heard, either, that made her silent. Her throat +was parched and her tongue paralyzed. She remembered suddenly that Don +John had been unarmed, and how he had pointed out to Philip that his +sword lay on the table. It was the King who had drawn his own, then, and +had killed his unarmed brother. She felt as if something heavy were +striking her head as the thoughts made broken words, and flashes of +light danced before her eyes. With her hands she tried to press feeling +and reason and silence back into her brain that would not be quieted, +but the certainty grew upon her that Don John was killed, and the tide +of despair rose higher with every breath. + +The sensation came upon her that she was dying, then and there, of a +pain human nature could not endure, far beyond the torments Philip had +threatened, and the thought was merciful, for she could not have lived +an hour in such agony,--something would have broken before then. She was +dying, there, on her knees before the door beyond which her lover lay +suddenly dead. It would be easy to die. In a moment more she would be +with him, for ever, and in peace. They would find her there, dead, and +perhaps they would be merciful and bury her near him. But that would +matter little, since she should be with him always now. In the first +grief that struck her, and bruised her, and numbed her as with material +blows, she had no tears, but there was a sort of choking fire in her +throat, and her eyes burned her like hot iron. + +She did not know how long she knelt, waiting for death. She was dying, +and there was no time any more, nor any outward world, nor anything but +her lover's dead body on the floor in the next room, and his soul +waiting for hers, waiting beside her for her to die also, that they +might go together. She was so sure now, that she was wondering dreamily +why it took so long to die, seeing that death had taken him so quickly. +Could one shaft be aimed so straight and could the next miss the mark? +She shook all over, as a new dread seized her. She was not dying,--her +life clung too closely to her suffering body, her heart was too young +and strong to stand still in her breast for grief. She was to live, and +bear that same pain a lifetime. She rocked herself gently on her knees, +bowing her head almost to the floor. + +She was roused by the sound of her father's voice, and the words he was +speaking sent a fresh shock of horror through her unutterable grief, for +they told her that Don John was dead, and then something else so strange +that she could not understand it. + +Philip had stood only a few moments, sword in hand, over his brother's +body, staring down at his face, when the door opened. On the threshold +stood old Mendoza, half-stunned by the sight he saw. Philip heard, stood +up, and drew back as his eyes fell upon the old soldier. He knew that +Mendoza, if no one else, knew the truth now, beyond any power of his to +conceal it. His anger had subsided, and a sort of horror that could +never be remorse, had come over him for what he had done. It must have +been in his face, for Mendoza understood, and he came forward quickly +and knelt down upon the floor to listen for the beating of the heart, +and to try whether there was any breath to dim the brightness of his +polished scabbard. Philip looked on in silence. Like many an old soldier +Mendoza had some little skill, but he saw the bright spot on the white +doublet, and the still face and the hands relaxed, and there was neither +breath nor beating of the heart to give hope. He rose silently, and +shook his head. Still looking down he saw the red drops that had fallen +upon the pavement from Philip's rapier, and looking at that, saw that +the point was dark. With a gesture of excuse he took the sword from the +King's hand and wiped it quite dry and bright upon his own handkerchief, +and gave it back to Philip, who sheathed it by his side, but never +spoke. + +Together the two looked at the body for a full minute and more, each +silently debating what should be done with it. At last Mendoza raised +his head, and there was a strange look in his old eyes and a sort of wan +greatness came over his war-worn face. It was then that he spoke the +words Dolores heard. + +"I throw myself upon your Majesty's mercy! I have killed Don John of +Austria in a private quarrel, and he was unarmed." + +Philip understood well enough, and a faint smile of satisfaction flitted +through the shadows of his face. It was out of the question that the +world should ever know who had killed his brother, and he knew the man +who offered to sacrifice himself by bearing the blame of the deed. +Mendoza would die, on the scaffold if need be, and it would be enough +for him to know that his death saved his King. No word would ever pass +his lips. The man's loyalty would bear any proof; he could feel horror +at the thought that Philip could have done such a deed, but the King's +name must be saved at all costs, and the King's divine right must be +sustained before the world. He felt no hesitation from the moment when +he saw clearly how this must be done. To accuse some unknown murderer +and let it be supposed that he had escaped would have been worse than +useless; the court and half Spain knew of the King's jealousy of his +brother, every one had seen that Philip had been very angry when the +courtiers had shouted for Don John; already the story of the quarrel +about the glove was being repeated from mouth to mouth in the throne +room, where the nobles had reassembled after supper. As soon as it was +known that Don John was dead, it would be believed by every one in the +palace that the King had killed him or had caused him to be murdered. +But if Mendoza took the blame upon himself, the court would believe him, +for many knew of Dolores' love for Don John, and knew also how bitterly +the old soldier was opposed to their marriage, on the ground that it +would be no marriage at all, but his daughter's present ruin. There was +no one else in the palace who could accuse himself of the murder and who +would be believed to have done it without the King's orders, and Mendoza +knew this, when he offered his life to shield Philip's honour. Philip +knew it, too, and while he wondered at the old man's simple devotion, he +accepted it without protest, as his vast selfishness would have +permitted the destruction of all mankind, that it might be satisfied and +filled. + +He looked once more at the motionless body at his feet, and once more at +the faithful old man. Then he bent his head with condescending gravity, +as if he were signifying his pleasure to receive kindly, for the giver's +sake, a gift of little value. + +"So be it," he said slowly. + +Mendoza bowed his head, too, as if in thanks, and then taking up the +long dark cloak which the King had thrown off on entering, he put it +upon Philip's shoulders, and went before him to the door. And Philip +followed him without looking back, and both went out upon the terrace, +leaving both doors ajar after them. They exchanged a few words more as +they walked slowly in the direction of the corridor. + +"It is necessary that your Majesty should return at once to the throne +room, as if nothing had happened," said Mendoza. "Your Majesty should be +talking unconcernedly with some ambassador or minister when the news is +brought that his Highness is dead." + +"And who shall bring the news?" asked Philip calmly, as if he were +speaking to an indifferent person. + +"I will, Sire," answered Mendoza firmly. + +"They will tear you in pieces before I can save you," returned Philip, +in a thoughtful tone. + +"So much the better. I shall die for my King, and your Majesty will be +spared the difficulty of pardoning a deed which will be unpardonable in +the eyes of the whole world." + +"That is true," said the King meditatively. "But I do not wish you to +die, Mendoza," he added, as an afterthought. "You must escape to France +or to England." + +"I could not make my escape without your Majesty's help, and that would +soon be known. It would then be believed that I had done the deed by +your Majesty's orders, and no good end would have been gained." + +"You may be right. You are a very brave man, Mendoza--the bravest I have +ever known. I thank you. If it is possible to save you, you shall be +saved." + +"It will not be possible," replied the soldier, in a low and steady +voice. "If your Majesty will return at once to the throne room, it may +be soon over. Besides, it is growing late, and it must be done before +the whole court." + +They entered the corridor, and the King walked a few steps before +Mendoza, covering his head with the hood of his cloak lest any one +should recognize him, and gradually increasing his distance as the old +man fell behind. Descending by a private staircase, Philip reëntered his +own apartments by a small door that gave access to his study without +obliging him to pass through the antechamber, and by which he often came +and went unobserved. Alone in his innermost room, and divested of his +hood and cloak, the King went to a Venetian mirror that stood upon a +pier table between the windows, and examined his face attentively. Not a +trace of excitement or emotion was visible in the features he saw, but +his hair was a little disarranged, and he smoothed it carefully and +adjusted it about his ears. From a silver box on the table he took a +little scented lozenge and put it into his mouth. No reasonable being +would have suspected from his appearance that he had been moved to +furious anger and had done a murderous deed less than twenty minutes +earlier. His still eyes were quite calm now, and the yellow gleam in +them had given place to their naturally uncertain colour. With a smile +of admiration for his own extraordinary powers, he turned and left the +room. He was enjoying one of his rare moments of satisfaction, for the +rival he had long hated and was beginning to dread was never to stand in +his way again nor to rob him of the least of his attributes of +sovereignty. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +Dolores had not understood her father's words. All that was clear to her +was that Don John was dead and that his murderers were gone. Had there +been danger still for herself, she could not have felt it; but there was +none now as she laid her hand upon the key to enter the bedchamber. At +first the lock would not open, as it had been injured in some way by +being so roughly shaken when Mendoza had tried it. But Dolores' +desperate fingers wound themselves upon the key like little ropes of +white silk, slender but very strong, and she wrenched at the thing +furiously till it turned. The door flew open, and she stood motionless a +moment on the threshold. Mendoza had said that Don John was dead, but +she had not quite believed it. + +He lay on his back as he had fallen, his feet towards her, his graceful +limbs relaxed, one arm beside him, the other thrown back beyond his +head, the colourless fingers just bent a little and showing the nervous +beauty of the hand. The beautiful young face was white as marble, and +the eyes were half open, very dark under the waxen lids. There was one +little spot of scarlet on the white satin coat, near the left breast. +Dolores saw it all in the bright light of the candles, and she neither +moved nor closed her fixed eyes as she gazed. She felt that she was at +the end of life; she stood still to see it all and to understand. But +though she tried to think, it was as if she had no mind left, no +capacity for grasping any new thought, and no power to connect those +that had disturbed her brain with the present that stared her in the +face. An earthquake might have torn the world open under her feet at +that moment, swallowing up the old Alcazar with the living and the dead, +and Dolores would have gone down to destruction as she stood, +unconscious of her fate, her eyes fixed upon Don John's dead features, +her own life already suspended and waiting to follow his. It seemed as +if she might stand there till her horror should stop the beating of her +own heart, unless something came to rouse her from the stupor she was +in. + +But gradually a change came over her face, her lids drooped and +quivered, her face turned a little upward, and she grasped the doorpost +with one hand, lest she should reel and fall. Then, knowing that she +could stand no longer, instinct made a last effort upon her; its +invisible power thrust her violently forward in a few swift steps, till +her strength broke all at once, and she fell and lay almost upon the +body of her lover, her face hidden upon his silent breast, one hand +seeking his hand, the other pressing his cold forehead. + +It was not probable that any one should find her there for a long time. +The servants and gentlemen had been dismissed, and until it was known +that Don John was dead, no one would come. Even if she could have +thought at all, she would not have cared who saw her lying there; but +thought was altogether gone now, and there was nothing left but the +ancient instinct of the primeval woman mourning her dead mate alone, +with long-drawn, hopeless weeping and blinding tears. + +They came, too, when she had lain upon his breast a little while and +when understanding had wholly ceased and given way to nature. Then her +body shook and her breast heaved strongly, almost throwing her upon her +side as she lay, and sounds that were hardly human came from her lips; +for the first dissolving of a woman's despair into tears is most like +the death agony of those who die young in their strength, when the limbs +are wrung at the joints and the light breaks in the upturned eyes, when +the bosom heaves and would take in the whole world at one breath, when +the voice makes sounds of fear that are beyond words and worse to hear +than any words could be. + +Her weeping was wild at first, measureless and violent, broken by sharp +cries that hurt her heart like jagged knives, then strangled to a +choking silence again and again, as the merciless consciousness that +could have killed, if it had prevailed, almost had her by the throat, +but was forced back again with cruel pain by the young life that would +not die, though living was agony and death would have been as welcome as +air. + +Then her loud grief subsided to a lower key, and her voice grew by +degrees monotonous and despairing as the turning tide on a quicksand, +before bad weather,--not diminished, but deeper drawn within itself; and +the low moan came regularly with each breath, while the tears flowed +steadily. The first wild tempest had swept by, and the more enduring +storm followed in its track. + +So she lay a long time weeping; and then strong hands were upon her, +lifting her up and dragging her away, without warning and without word. +She did not understand, and she fancied herself in the arms of some +supernatural being of monstrous strength that was tearing her from what +was left of life and love. She struggled senselessly, but she could find +no foothold as she was swept through the open door. She gasped for +breath, as one does in bad dreams, and bodily fear almost reached her +heart through its sevenfold armour of such grief as makes fear +ridiculous and turns mortal danger to an empty show. The time had seemed +an age since she had fallen upon dead Don John--it had measured but a +short few minutes; it seemed as if she were being dragged the whole +length of the dim palace as the strong hands bore her along, yet she was +only carried from the room to the terrace; and when her eyes could see, +she knew that she was in the open air on a stone seat in the moonlight, +the cool night breeze fanning her face, while a gentle hand supported +her head,--the same hand that had been so masterfully strong a moment +earlier. A face she knew and did not dread, though it was unlike other +faces, was just at the same height with her own, though the man was +standing beside her and she was seated; and the moonlight made very soft +shadows in the ill-drawn features of the dwarf, so that his thin and +twisted lips were kind and his deep-set eyes were overflowing with human +sympathy. When he understood that she saw him and was not fainting, he +gently drew away his hand and let her head rest against the stone +parapet. + +She was dazed still, and the tears veiled her sight. He stood before +her, as if guarding her, ready in case she should move and try to leave +him. His long arms hung by his sides, but not quite motionless, so that +he could have caught her instantly had she attempted to spring past him; +and he was wise and guessed rightly what she would do. Her eyes +brightened suddenly, and she half rose before he held her again. + +"No, no!" she said desperately. "I must go to him--let me go--let me go +back!" + +But his hands were on her shoulders in an instant, and she was in a +vise, forced back to her seat. + +"How dare you touch me!" she cried, in the furious anger of a woman +beside herself with grief. "How dare you lay hands on me!" she repeated +in a rising key, but struggling in vain against his greater strength. + +"You would have died, if I had left you there," answered the jester. +"And besides, the people will come soon, and they would have found you +there, lying on his body, and your good name would have gone forever." + +"My name! What does a name matter? Or anything? Oh, let me go! No one +must touch him--no hands that do not love him must come near him--let me +get up--let me go in again!" + +She tried to force the dwarf from her--she would have struck him, +crushed him, thrown him from the terrace, if she could. She was strong, +too, in her grief; but his vast arms were like iron bars, growing from +his misshapen body. His face was very grave and kind, and his eyes more +tender than they had ever been in his life. + +"No," he said gently. "You must not go. By and by you shall see him +again, but not now. Do not try, for I am much stronger than you, and I +will not let you go back into the room." + +Then her strength relaxed, and she turned to the stone parapet, burying +her face in her crossed arms, and her tears came again. For this the +jester was glad, knowing that tears quench the first white heat of such +sorrows as can burn out the soul and drive the brain raving mad, when +life can bear the torture. He stood still before her, watching her and +guarding her, but he felt that the worst was past, and that before very +long he could lead her away to a place of greater safety. He had indeed +taken her as far as he could from Don John's door, and out of sight of +it, where the long terrace turned to the westward, and where it was not +likely that any one should pass at that hour. It had been the impulse of +the moment, and he himself had not recovered from the shock of finding +Don John's body lifeless on the floor. He had known nothing of what had +happened, but lurking in a corner to see the King pass on his way back +from his brother's quarters, he had made sure that Don John was alone, +and had gone to his apartment to find out, if he could, how matters had +fared, and whether he himself were in further danger or not. He meant to +escape from the palace, or to take his own life, rather than be put to +the torture, if the King suspected him of being involved in a +conspiracy. He was not a common coward, but he feared bodily pain as +only such sensitive organizations can, and the vision of the rack and +the boot had been before him since he had seen Philip's face at supper. +Don John was kind, and would have warned him if he were in danger, and +so all might have been well, and by flight or death he might have +escaped being torn limb from limb. So he had gone boldly in, and had +found the door ajar and had entered the bedchamber, and when he had seen +what was there, he would have fled at once, for his own safety, not only +because Don John's murder was sure to produce terrible trouble, and many +enquiries and trials, in the course of which he was almost sure to be +lost, but also for the more immediate reason that if he were seen near +the body when it was discovered, he should certainly be put to the +question ordinary and extraordinary for his evidence. + +But he was not a common coward, and in spite of his own pardonable +terror, he thought first of the innocent girl whose name and fame would +be gone if she were found lying upon her murdered lover's body, and so +far as he could, he saved her before he thought of saving himself, +though with infinite difficulty and against her will. + +Half paralyzed by her immeasurable grief, she lay against the parapet, +and the great sobs came evenly, as if they were counted, shaking her +from her head to her waist, and just leaving her a breathing space +between each one and the next. The jester felt that he could do nothing. +So long as she had seemed unconscious, he had tried to help her a little +by supporting her head with his hand and arm, as tenderly as if she had +been his own child. So long as she did not know what he was doing, she +was only a human being in distress, and a woman, and deep down in the +jester's nature there was a marvellous depth of pity for all things that +suffered--the deeper and truer because his own sufferings in the world +were great. But it was quite different now that she knew where she was +and recognized him. She was no longer a woman now, but a high-born lady, +one of the Queen's maids of honour, a being infinitely far removed above +his sphere, and whose hand he was not worthy to touch. He would have +dared to be much more familiar with the King himself than with this +young girl whom fate had placed in his keeping for a moment. In the +moonlight he watched her, and as he gazed upon her graceful figure and +small head and slender, bending arms, it seemed to him that she had come +down from an altar to suffer in life, and that it had been almost +sacrilege to lay his hands upon her shoulders and keep her from doing +her own will. He almost wondered how he had found courage to be so rough +and commanding. He was gentle of heart, though it was his trade to make +sharp speeches, and there were wonderful delicacies of thought and +feeling far down in his suffering cripple's nature. + +"Come," he said softly, when he had waited a long time, and when he +thought she was growing more quiet. "You must let me take you away, Doña +Maria Dolores, for we cannot stay here." + +"Take me back to him," she answered. "Let me go back to him!" + +"No--to your father--I cannot take you to him. You will be safe there." + +Dolores sprang to her feet before the dwarf could prevent her. + +"To my father? oh, no, no, no! Never, as long as I live! I will go +anywhere, but not to him! Take your hands from me--do not touch me! I am +not strong, but I shall kill you if you try to take me to my father!" + +Her small hands grasped the dwarfs wrists and wrung them with desperate +energy, and she tried to push him away, so that she might pass him. But +he resisted her quietly, planting himself in a position of resistance on +his short bowed legs, and opposing the whole strength of his great arms +to her girlish violence. Her hands relaxed suddenly in despair. + +"Not to my father!" she pleaded, in a broken voice. "Oh, please, +please--not to my father!" + +The jester did not fully understand, but he yielded, for he could not +carry her to Mendoza's apartments by force. + +"But what can I do to put you in a place of safety?" he asked, in +growing distress. "You cannot stay here." + +While he was speaking a light figure glided out from the shadows, with +outstretched hands, and a low voice called Dolores' name, trembling with +terror and emotion. Dolores broke from the dwarf and clasped her sister +in her arms. + +"Is it true?" moaned Inez. "Is it true? Is he dead?" And her voice +broke. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +The courtiers had assembled again in the great throne room after supper, +and the stately dancing, for which the court of Spain was even then +famous throughout Europe, had begun. The orchestra was placed under the +great arch of the central window on a small raised platform draped with +velvets and brocades that hung from a railing, high enough to conceal +the musicians as they sat, though some of the instruments and the moving +bows of the violins could be seen above it. + +The masked dancing, if it were dancing at all, which had been general in +the days of the Emperor Maximilian, and which had not yet gone out of +fashion altogether at the imperial court of Vienna, had long been +relegated to the past in Spain, and the beautiful "pavane" dances, of +which awkward travesties survive in our day, had been introduced +instead. As now, the older ladies of the court withdrew to the sides of +the hall, leaving the polished floor free for those who danced, and sets +formed themselves in the order of their rank from the foot of the throne +dais to the lower end. As now, too, the older and graver men congregated +together in outer rooms; and there gaming-tables were set out, and the +nobles lost vast sums at games now long forgotten, by the express +authorization of the pious Philip, who saw that everything which could +injure the fortunes of the grandees must consolidate his own, by +depriving them of some of that immense wealth which was an ever-ready +element of revolution. He did everything in his power to promote the +ruin of the most powerful grandees in the kingdom by encouraging gaming +and all imaginable forms of extravagance, and he looked with suspicion +and displeasure upon those more prudent men who guarded their riches +carefully, as their fathers had done before them. But these were few, +for it was a part of a noble's dignity to lose enormous sums of money +without the slightest outward sign of emotion or annoyance. + +It had been announced that the King and Queen would not return after +supper, and the magnificent gravity of the most formal court in the +world was a little relaxed when this was known. Between the strains of +music, the voices of the courtiers rose in unbroken conversation, and +now and then there was a ripple of fresh young laughter that echoed +sweetly under the high Moorish vault, and died away just as it rose +again from below. + +Yet the dancing was a matter of state, and solemn enough, though it was +very graceful. Magnificent young nobles in scarlet, in pale green, in +straw colour, in tender shades of blue, all satin and silk and velvet +and embroidery, led lovely women slowly forward with long and gliding +steps that kept perfect time to the music, and turned and went back, and +wound mazy figures with the rest, under the waxen light of the waxen +torches, and returned to their places with deep curtsies on the one +side, and sweeping obeisance on the other. The dresses of the women were +richer by far with gold and silver, and pearls and other jewels, than +those of the men, but were generally darker in tone, for that was the +fashion then. Their skirts were straight and barely touched the floor, +being made for a time when dancing was a part of court life, and when +every one within certain limits of age was expected to dance well. There +was no exaggeration of the ruffle then, nor had the awkward hoop skirt +been introduced in Spain. Those were the earlier days of Queen +Elizabeth's reign, before Queen Mary was imprisoned; it was the time, +indeed, when the rough Bothwell had lately carried her off and married +her, after a fashion, with so little ceremony that Philip paid no +attention to the marriage at all, and deliberately proposed to make her +Don John's wife. The matter was freely talked of on that night by the +noble ladies of elder years who gossiped while they watched the dancing. + +That was indeed such a court as had not been seen before, nor was ever +seen again, whether one count beauty first, or riches and magnificence, +or the marvel of splendid ceremony and the faultless grace of studied +manners, or even the cool recklessness of great lords and ladies who +could lose a fortune at play, as if they were throwing a handful of coin +to a beggar in the street. + +The Princess of Eboli stood a little apart from the rest, having just +returned to the ball-room, and her eyes searched for Dolores in the +crowd, though she scarcely expected to see her there. It would have been +almost impossible for the girl to put on a court dress in so short a +time, though since her father had allowed her to leave her room, she +could have gone back to dress if she had chosen. The Princess had rarely +been at a loss in her evil life, and had seldom been baffled in anything +she had undertaken, since that memorable occasion on which her husband, +soon after her marriage, had forcibly shut her up in a convent for +several months, in the vain hope of cooling her indomitable temper. But +now she was nervous and uncertain of herself. Not only had Dolores +escaped her, but Don John had disappeared also, and the Princess had not +the least doubt but that the two were somewhere together, and she was +very far from being sure that they had not already left the palace. +Antonio Perez had informed her that the King had promised not to see Don +John that night, and for once she was foolish enough to believe the +King's word. Perez came up to her as she was debating what she should +do. She told him her thoughts, laughing gaily from time to time, as if +she were telling him some very witty story, for she did not wish those +who watched them to guess that the conversation was serious. Perez +laughed, too, and answered in low tones, with many gestures meant to +deceive the court. + +"The King did not take my advice," he said. "I had scarcely left him, +when he went to Don John's apartments." + +"How do you know that?" asked the Princess, with some anxiety. + +"He found the door of an inner room locked, and he sent Mendoza to find +the key. Fortunately for the old man's feelings it could not be found! +He would have had an unpleasant surprise." + +"Why?" + +"Because his daughter was in the room that was locked," laughed Perez. + +"When? How? How long ago was that?" + +"Half an hour--not more." + +"That is impossible. Half an hour ago Dolores de Mendoza was with me." + +"Then there was another lady in the room." Perez laughed again. "Better +two than one," he added. + +"You are wrong," said the Princess, and her face darkened. "Don John has +not so much as deigned to look at any other woman these two years." + +"You should know that best," returned the Secretary, with a little +malice in his smile. + +It was well known in the court that two or three years earlier, during +the horrible intrigue that ended in the death of Don Carlos, the +Princess of Eboli had done her best to bring Don John of Austria to her +feet, and had failed notoriously, because he was already in love with +Dolores. She was angry now, and the rich colour came into her handsome +dark face. + +"Don Antonio Perez," she said, "take care! I have made you. I can also +unmake you." + +Perez assumed an air of simple and innocent surprise, as if he were +quite sure that he had said nothing to annoy her, still less to wound +her deeply. He believed that she really loved him and that he could play +with her as if his own intelligence far surpassed hers. In the first +matter he was right, but he was very much mistaken in the second. + +"I do not understand," he said. "If I have done anything to offend you, +pray forgive my ignorance, and believe in the unchanging devotion of +your most faithful slave." + +His dark eyes became very expressive as he bowed a little, with a +graceful gesture of deprecation. The Princess laughed lightly, but there +was still a spark of annoyance in her look. + +"Why does Don John not come?" she asked impatiently. "We should have +danced together. Something must have happened--can you not find out?" + +Others were asking the same question in surprise, for it had been +expected that Don John would enter immediately after the supper. His +name was heard from end to end of the hall, in every conversation, +wherever two or three persons were talking together. It was in the air, +like his popularity, everywhere and in everything, and the expectation +of his coming produced a sort of tension that was felt by every one. The +men grew more witty, the younger women's eyes brightened, though they +constantly glanced towards the door of the state apartments by which Don +John should enter, and as the men's conversation became more brilliant +the women paid less attention to it, for there was hardly one of them +who did not hope that Don John might notice her before the evening was +over,--there was not one who did not fancy herself a little in love with +him, as there was hardly a man there who would not have drawn his sword +for him and fought for him with all his heart. Many, though they dared +not say so, secretly wished that some evil might befall Philip, and that +he might soon die childless, since he had destroyed his only son and +only heir, and that Don John might be King in his stead. The Princess of +Eboli and Perez knew well enough that their plan would be popular, if +they could ever bring it to maturity. + +The music swelled and softened, and rose again in those swaying strains +that inspire an irresistible bodily longing for rhythmical motion, and +which have infinite power to call up all manner of thoughts, passionate, +gentle, hopeful, regretful, by turns. In the middle of the hall, more +than a hundred dancers moved, swayed, and glided in time with the sound, +changed places, and touched hands in the measure, tripped forward and +back and sideways, and met and parted again without pause, the colours +of their dresses mingling to rich unknown hues in the soft candlelight, +as the figure brought many together, and separating into a hundred +elements again, when the next steps scattered them again; the jewels in +the women's hair, the clasps of diamonds and precious stones at throat, +and shoulder, and waist, all moved with an intricate motion, in orbits +that crossed and recrossed in the tinted sea of silk, and flashed all at +once, as the returning burden of the music brought the dancers to stand +and turn at the same beat of the measure. Yet it was all unlike the +square dancing of these days, which is either no dancing at all, but a +disorderly walk, or else is so stiffly regular and awkward that it makes +one think of a squad of recruits exercising on the drill ground. There +was not a motion, then, that lacked grace, or ease, or a certain purpose +of beauty, nor any, perhaps, that was not a phrase in the allegory of +love, from which all dancing is, and was, and always must be, drawn. +Swift, slow, by turns, now languorous, now passionate, now full of +delicious regret, singing love's triumph, breathing love's fire, sighing +in love's despair, the dance and its music were one, so was sight +intermingled with sound, and motion a part of both. And at each pause, +lips parted and glance sought glance in the light, while hearts found +words in the music that answered the language of love. Men laugh at +dancing and love it, and women, too, and no one can tell where its charm +is, but few have not felt it, or longed to feel it, and its beginnings +are very far away in primeval humanity, beyond the reach of theory, +unless instinct may explain all simply, as it well may. For light and +grace and sweet sound are things of beauty which last for ever, and love +is the source of the future and the explanation of the past; and that +which can bring into itself both love and melody, and grace and light, +must needs be a spell to charm men and women. + +There was more than that in the air on that night, for Don John's return +had set free that most intoxicating essence of victory, which turns to a +mad fire in the veins of a rejoicing people, making the least man of +them feel himself a soldier, and a conqueror, and a sharer in undying +fame. They had loved him from a child, they had seen him outgrow them in +beauty, and skill, and courage, and they had loved him still the more +for being the better man; and now he had done a great deed, and had +fulfilled and overfilled their greatest expectations, and in an instant +he leapt from the favourite's place in their hearts to the hero's height +on the altar of their wonder, to be the young god of a nation that loved +him. Not a man, on that night, but would have sworn that Don John was +braver than Alexander, wiser than Charlemagne, greater than Cæsar +himself; not a man but would have drawn his sword to prove it on the +body of any who should dare to contradict him,--not a mother was there, +who did not pray that her sons might be but ever so little like him, no +girl of Spain but dreamt she heard his soft voice speaking low in her +ear. Not often in the world's story has a man so young done such great +things as he had done and was to do before his short life was ended; +never, perhaps, was any man so honoured by his own people, so trusted, +and so loved. + +They could talk only of him, wondering more and more that he stayed away +from them on such a night, yet sure that he would come, and join the +dancing, for as he fought with a skill beyond that of other swordsmen, +so he danced with the most surpassing grace. They longed to see him, to +look into his face, to hear his voice, perhaps to touch his hand; for he +was free of manner and gentle to all, and if he came he would go from +one to another, and remember each with royal memory, and find kind words +for every one. They wanted him among them, they felt a sort of tense +desire to see him again, and even to shout for him again, as the vulgar +herd did in the streets,--as they themselves had done but an hour ago +when he had stood out beside the throne. And still the dancers danced +through the endless measures, laughing and talking at each pause, and +repeating his name till it was impossible not to hear it, wherever one +might be in the hall, and there was no one, old or young, who did not +speak it at least once in every five minutes. There was a sort of +intoxication in its very sound, and the more they heard it, the more +they wished to hear it, coupled with every word of praise that the +language possessed. From admiration they rose to enthusiasm, from +enthusiasm to a generous patriotic passion in which Spain was the world +and Don John was Spain, and all the rest of everything was but a dull +and lifeless blank which could have no possible interest for natural +people. + +Young men, darkly flushed from dancing, swore that whenever Don John +should be next sent with an army, they would go, too, and win his +battles and share in his immortal glory; and grand, grey men who wore +the Golden Fleece, men who had seen great battles in the Emperor's day, +stood together and talked of him, and praised God that Spain had another +hero of the Austrian house, to strike terror to the heart of France, to +humble England at last, and to grasp what little of the world was not +already gathered in the hollow of Spain's vast hand. + +Antonio Perez and the Princess of Eboli parted and went among the +courtiers, listening to all that was to be heard and feeding the fire of +enthusiasm, and met again to exchange glances of satisfaction, for they +were well pleased with the direction matters were taking, and the talk +grew more free from minute to minute, till many, carried away by a force +they could not understand and did not seek to question, were openly +talking of the succession to the throne, of Philip's apparent ill +health, and of the chance that they might before long be doing service +to his Majesty King John. + +The music ceased again, and the couples dispersed about the hall, to +collect again in groups. There was a momentary lull in the talk, too, as +often happens when a dance is just over, and at that moment the great +door beside the throne was opened, with a noise that attracted the +attention of all; and all believed that Don John was returning, while +all eyes were fixed upon the entrance to catch the first glimpse of him, +and every one pronounced his name at once in short, glad tones of +satisfaction. + +"Don John is coming! It is Don John of Austria! Don John is there!" + +It was almost a universal cry of welcome. An instant later a dead +silence followed as a chamberlain's clear voice announced the royal +presence, and King Philip advanced upon the platform of the throne. For +several seconds not a sound broke the stillness, and he came slowly +forward followed by half a dozen nobles in immediate attendance upon +him. But though he must have heard his brother's name in the general +chorus of voices as soon as the door had been thrown open, he seemed by +no means disconcerted; on the contrary, he smiled almost affably, and +his eyes were less fixed than usual, as he looked about him with +something like an air of satisfaction. As soon as it was clear that he +meant to descend the steps to the floor of the hall, the chief courtiers +came forward, Ruy Gomez de Silva, Prince of Eboli, Alvarez de Toledo, +the terrible Duke of Alva, the Dukes of Medina Sidonia and of Infantado, +Don Antonio Perez the chief Secretary, the Ambassadors of Queen +Elizabeth of England and of France, and a dozen others, bowing so low +that the plumes of their hats literally touched the floor beside them. + +"Why is there no dancing?" asked Philip, addressing Ruy Gomez, with a +smile. + +The Minister explained that one of the dances was but just over. + +"Let there be more at once," answered the King. "Let there be dancing +and music without end to-night. We have good reason to keep the day with +rejoicing, since the war is over, and Don John of Austria has come back +in triumph." + +The command was obeyed instantly, as Ruy Gomez made a sign to the leader +of the musicians, who was watching him intently in expectation of the +order. The King smiled again as the long strain broke the silence and +the conversation began again all through the hall, though in a far more +subdued tone than before, and with much more caution. Philip turned to +the English Ambassador. + +"It is a pity," he said, "that my sister of England cannot be here with +us on such a night as this. We saw no such sights in London in my day, +my lord." + +"There have been changes since then, Sire," answered the Ambassador. +"The Queen is very much inclined to magnificence and to great +entertainments, and does not hesitate to dance herself, being of a very +vital and pleasant temper. Nevertheless, your Majesty's court is by far +the most splendid in the world." + +"There you are right, my lord!" exclaimed the King. "And for that +matter, we have beauty also, such as is found nowhere else." + +The Princess of Eboli was close by, waiting for him to speak to her, and +his eyes fixed themselves upon her face with a sort of cold and +snakelike admiration, to which she was well accustomed, but which even +now made her nervous. The Ambassador was not slow to take up the cue of +flattery, for Englishmen still knew how to flatter in Elizabeth's day. + +"The inheritance of universal conquest," he said, bowing and smiling to +the Princess. "Even the victories of Don John of Austria must yield to +that." + +The Princess laughed carelessly. Had Perez spoken the words, she would +have frowned, but the King's eyes were watching her. + +"His Highness has fled from the field without striking a blow," she +said. "We have not seen him this evening." As she spoke she met the +King's gaze with a look of enquiry. + +"Don John will be here presently, no doubt," he said, as if answering a +question. "Has he not been here at all since supper?" + +"No, Sire; though every one expected him to come at once." + +"That is strange," said Philip, with perfect self-possession. "He is +fond of dancing, too--no one can dance better than he. Have you ever +known a man so roundly gifted as my brother, my lord?" + +"A most admirable prince," answered the Ambassador, gravely and without +enthusiasm, for he feared that the King was about to speak of his +brother's possible marriage with Queen Mary of Scots. + +"And a most affectionate and gentle nature," said Philip, musing. "I +remember from the time when he was a boy that every one loved him and +praised him, and yet he is not spoiled. He is always the same. He is my +brother--how often have I wished for such a son! Well, he may yet be +King. Who should, if not he, when I am gone?" + +"Your Majesty need not anticipate such a frightful calamity!" cried the +Princess fervently, though she was at that moment weighing the +comparative advantage of several mortal diseases by which, in appearance +at least, his exit from the world might be accelerated. + +"Life is very uncertain, Princess," observed the King. "My lord," he +turned to the English Ambassador again, "do you consider melons +indigestible in England? I have lately heard much against them." + +"A melon is a poor thing, of a watery constitution, your Majesty," +replied the Ambassador glibly. "There can be but little sustenance in a +hollow piece of water that is sucked from a marsh and enclosed in a +green rind. To tell the truth, I hear it ill spoken of by our +physicians, but I cannot well speak of the matter, for I never ate one +in my life, and please God I never will!" + +"Why not!" enquired the King, who took an extraordinary interest in the +subject. "You fear them, then! Yet you seem to be exceedingly strong and +healthy." + +"Sire, I have sometimes drunk a little water for my stomach's sake, but +I will not eat it." + +The King smiled pleasantly. + +"How wise the English are!" he said. "We may yet learn much of them." + +Philip turned away from the Ambassador and watched the dance in silence. +The courtiers now stood in a wide half circle to the right and left of +him as he faced the hall, and the dancers passed backwards and forwards +across the open space. His slow eyes followed one figure without seeing +the rest. In the set nearest to him a beautiful girl was dancing with +one of Don John's officers. She was of the rarest type of Andalusian +beauty, tall, pliant, and slenderly strong, with raven's-wing hair and +splendidly languorous eyes, her creamy cheek as smooth as velvet, and a +mouth like a small ripe fruit. As she moved she bent from the waist as +easily and naturally as a child, and every movement followed a new curve +of beauty from her white throat to the small arched foot that darted +into sight as she stepped forward now and then, to disappear instantly +under the shadow of the gold-embroidered skirt. As she glanced towards +the King, her shadowy lids half hid her eyes and the long black lashes +almost brushed her cheek. Philip could not look away from her. + +But suddenly there was a stir among the courtiers, and a shadow came +between the King and the vision he was watching. He started a little, +annoyed by the interruption and at being rudely reminded of what had +happened half an hour earlier, for the shadow was cast by Mendoza, tall +and grim in his armour, his face as grey as his grey beard, and his eyes +hard and fixed. Without bending, like a soldier on parade, he stood +there, waiting by force of habit until Philip should speak to him. The +King's brows bent together, and he almost unconsciously raised one hand +to signify that the music should cease. It stopped in the midst of a +bar, leaving the dancers at a standstill in their measure, and all the +moving sea of light and colour and gleaming jewels was arrested +instantly in its motion, while every look was turned towards the King. +The change from sound to silence, from motion to immobility, was so +sudden that every one was startled, as if some frightful accident had +happened, or as if an earthquake had shaken the Alcazar to its deep +foundation. + +Mendoza's harsh voice spoke out alone in accents that were heard to the +end of the hall. + +"Don John of Austria is dead! I, Mendoza, have killed him unarmed." + +It was long before a sound was heard, before any man or woman in the +hall had breath to utter a word. Philip's voice was heard first. + +"The man is mad," he said, with undisturbed coolness. "See to him, +Perez." + +"No, no!" cried Mendoza. "I am not mad. I have killed Don John. You +shall find him in his room as he fell, with the wound in his breast." + +One moment more the silence lasted, while Philip's stony face never +moved. A single woman's shriek rang out first, long, ear-piercing, +agonized, and then, without warning, a cry went up such as the old hall +had never heard before. It was a bad cry to hear, for it clamoured for +blood to be shed for blood, and though it was not for him, Philip turned +livid and shrank back a step. But Mendoza stood like a rock, waiting to +be taken. + +In another moment furious confusion filled the hall. From every side at +once rose women's cries, and the deep shouts of angry men, and high, +clear yells of rage and hate. The men pushed past the ladies of the +court to the front, and some came singly, but a serried rank moved up +from behind, pushing the others before them. + +"Kill him! Kill him at the King's feet! Kill him where he stands!" + +And suddenly something made blue flashes of light high over the heads of +all; a rapier was out and wheeled in quick circles from a pliant wrist. +An officer of Mendoza's guard had drawn it, and a dozen more were in the +air in an instant, and then daggers by scores, keen, short, and strong, +held high at arm's length, each shaking with the fury of the hand that +held it. + +"Sangre! Sangre!" + +Some one had screamed out the wild cry of the Spanish soldiers--'Blood! +Blood!'--and the young men took it up in a mad yell, as they pushed +forwards furiously, while the few who stood in front tried to keep a +space open round the King and Mendoza. + +The old man never winced, and disdained to turn his head, though he +heard the cry of death behind him, and the quick, soft sound of daggers +drawn from leathern sheaths, and the pressing of men who would be upon +him in another moment to tear him limb from limb with their knives. + +Tall old Ruy Gomez had stepped forwards to stem the tide of death, and +beside him the English Ambassador, quietly determined to see fair play +or to be hurt himself in preventing murder. + +"Back!" thundered Ruy Gomez, in a voice that was heard. "Back, I say! +Are you gentlemen of Spain, or are you executioners yourselves that you +would take this man's blood? Stand back!" + +"Sangre! Sangre!" echoed the hall. + +"Then take mine first!" shouted the brave old Prince, spreading his +short cloak out behind him with his hands to cover Mendoza more +completely. + +But still the crowd of splendid young nobles surged up to him, and back +a little, out of sheer respect for his station and his old age, and +forwards again, dagger in hand, with blazing eyes. + +"Sangre! Sangre! Sangre!" they cried, blind with fury. + +But meanwhile, the guards filed in, for the prudent Perez had hastened +to throw wide the doors and summon them. Weapons in hand and ready, they +formed a square round the King and Mendoza and Ruy Gomez, and at the +sight of their steel caps and breastplates and long-tasselled halberds, +the yells of the courtiers subsided a little and turned to deep curses +and execrations and oaths of vengeance. A high voice pierced the low +roar, keen and cutting as a knife, but no one knew whose it was, and +Philip almost reeled as he heard the words. + +"Remember Don Carlos! Don John of Austria is gone to join Don Carlos and +Queen Isabel!" + +Again a deadly silence fell upon the multitude, and the King leaned on +Perez' arm. Some woman's hate had bared the truth in a flash, and there +were hundreds of hands in the hall that were ready to take his life +instead of Mendoza's; and he knew it, and was afraid. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +The agonized cry that had been first heard in the hall had come from +Inez's lips. When she had fled from her father, she had regained her +hiding-place in the gallery above the throne room. She would not go to +her own room, for she felt that rest was out of the question while +Dolores was in such danger; and yet there would have been no object in +going to Don John's door again, to risk being caught by her father or +met by the King himself. She had therefore determined to let an hour +pass before attempting another move. So she slipped into the gallery +again, and sat upon the little wooden bench that had been made for the +Moorish women in old times; and she listened to the music and the sound +of the dancers' feet far below, and to the hum of voices, in which she +often distinguished the name of Don John. She had heard all,--the cries +when it was thought that he was coming, the chamberlain's voice +announcing the King, and then the change of key in the sounds that had +followed. Lastly, she had heard plainly every syllable of her father's +speech, so that when she realized what it meant, she had shrieked aloud, +and had fled from the gallery to find her sister if she could, to find +Don John's body most certainly where it lay on the marble floor, with +the death wound at the breast. Her instinct--she could not have reasoned +then--told her that her father must have found the lovers together, and +that in sudden rage he had stabbed Don John, defenceless. + +Dolores' tears answered her sister's question well enough when the two +girls were clasped in one another's arms at last. There was not a doubt +left in the mind of either. Inez spoke first. She said that she had +hidden in the gallery. + +"Our father must have come in some time after the King," she said, in +broken sentences, and almost choking. "Suddenly the music stopped. I +could hear every word. He said that he had done it,--that he had +murdered Don John,--and then I ran here, for I was afraid he had killed +you, too." + +"Would God he had!" cried Dolores. "Would to Heaven that I were dead +beside the man I love!" + +"And I!" moaned Inez pitifully, and she began to sob wildly, as Dolores +had sobbed at first. + +But Dolores was silent now, as if she had shed all her tears at once, +and had none left. She held her sister in her arms, and soothed her +almost unconsciously, as if she had been a little child. But her own +thoughts were taking shape quickly, for she was strong; and after the +first paroxysm of her grief, she saw the immediate future as clearly as +the present. When she spoke again she had the mastery of her voice, and +it was clear and low. + +"You say that our father confessed before the whole court that he had +murdered Don John?" she said, with a question. "What happened then? Did +the King speak? Was our father arrested? Can you remember?" + +"I only heard loud cries," sobbed Inez. "I came to you--as quickly as I +could--I was afraid." + +"We shall never see our father again--unless we see him on the morning +when he is to die." + +"Dolores! They will not kill him, too?" In sudden and greater fear than +before, Inez ceased sobbing. + +"He will die on the scaffold," answered Dolores, in the same clear tone, +as if she were speaking in a dream, or of things that did not come near +her. "There is no pardon possible. He will die to-morrow or the next +day." + +The present truth stood out in all its frightful distinctness. Whoever +had done the murder--since Mendoza had confessed it, he would be made to +die for it,--of that she was sure. She could not have guessed what had +really happened; and though the evidence of the sounds she had heard +through the door would have gone to show that Philip had done the deed +himself, yet there had been no doubt about Mendoza's words, spoken to +the King alone over Don John's dead body, and repeated before the great +assembly in the ball-room. If she guessed at an explanation, it was that +her father, entering the bedchamber during the quarrel, and supposing +from what he saw that Don John was about to attack the King, had drawn +and killed the Prince without hesitation. The only thing quite clear was +that Mendoza was to suffer, and seemed strangely determined to suffer, +for what he had or had not done. The dark shadow of the scaffold rose +before Dolores' eyes. + +It had seemed impossible that she could be made to bear more than she +had borne that night, when she had fallen upon Don John's body to weep +her heart out for her dead love. But she saw that there was more to +bear, and dimly she guessed that there might be something for her to do. +There was Inez first, and she must be cared for and placed in safety, +for she was beside herself with grief. It was only on that afternoon by +the window that Dolores had guessed the blind girl's secret, which Inez +herself hardly suspected even now, though she was half mad with grief +and utterly broken-hearted. + +Dolores felt almost helpless, but she understood that she and her sister +were henceforth to be more really alone in what remained of life than if +they had been orphans from their earliest childhood. The vision of the +convent, that had been unbearable but an hour since, held all her hope +of peace and safety now, unless her father could be saved from his fate +by some miracle of heaven. But that was impossible. He had given himself +up as if he were determined to die. He had been out of his mind, beside +himself, stark mad, in his fear that Don John might bring harm upon his +daughter. That was why he had killed him--there could be no other +reason, unless he had guessed that she was in the locked room, and had +judged her then and at once, and forever. The thought had not crossed +her mind till then, and it was a new torture now, so that she shrank +under it as under a bodily blow; and her grasp tightened violently upon +her sister's arm, rousing the half-fainting girl again to the full +consciousness of pain. + +It was no wonder that Mendoza should have done such a deed, since he had +believed her ruined and lost to honour beyond salvation. That explained +all. He had guessed that she had been long with Don John, who had locked +her hastily into the inner room to hide her from the King. Had the King +been Don John, had she loved Philip as she loved his brother, her father +would have killed his sovereign as unhesitatingly, and would have +suffered any death without flinching. She believed that, and there was +enough of his nature in herself to understand it. + +She was as innocent as the blind girl who lay in her arms, but suddenly +it flashed upon her that no one would believe it, since her own father +would not, and that her maiden honour and good name were gone for ever, +gone with her dead lover, who alone could have cleared her before the +world. She cared little for the court now, but she cared tenfold more +earnestly for her father's thought of her, and she knew him and the +terrible tenacity of his conviction when he believed himself to be +right. He had proved that by what he had done. Since she understood all, +she no longer doubted that he had killed Don John with the fullest +intention, to avenge her, and almost knowing that she was within +hearing, as indeed she had been. He had taken a royal life in atonement +for her honour, but he was to give his own, and was to die a shameful +death on the scaffold, within a few hours, or, at the latest, within a +few days, for her sake. + +Then she remembered how on that afternoon she had seen tears in his +eyes, and had heard the tremor in his voice when he had said that she +was everything to him, that she had been all his life since her mother +had died--he had proved that, too; and though he had killed the man she +loved, she shrank from herself again as she thought what he must have +suffered in her dishonour. For it was nothing else. There was neither +man nor woman nor girl in Spain who would believe her innocent against +such evidence. The world might have believed Don John, if he had lived, +because the world had loved him and trusted him, and could never have +heard falsehood in his voice; but it would not believe her though she +were dying, and though she should swear upon the most sacred and true +things. The world would turn from her with an unbelieving laugh, and she +was to be left alone in her dishonour, and people would judge that she +was not even a fit companion for her blind sister in their solitude. The +King would send her to Las Huelgas, or to some other distant convent of +a severe order, that she might wear out her useless life in grief and +silence and penance as quickly as possible. She bowed her head. It was +too hard to bear. + +Inez was more quiet now, and the two sat side by side in mournful +silence, leaning against the parapet. They had forgotten the dwarf, and +he had disappeared, waiting, perhaps, in the shadow at a distance, in +case he might be of use to them. But if he was within hearing, they did +not see him. At last Inez spoke, almost in a whisper, as if she were in +the presence of the dead. + +"Were you there, dear?" she asked. "Did you see?" + +"I was in the next room," Dolores answered. "I could not see, but I +heard. I heard him fall," she added almost inaudibly, and choking. + +Inez shuddered and pressed nearer to her sister, leaning against her, +but she did not begin to sob again. She was thinking. + +"Can we not help our father, at least?" she asked presently. "Is there +nothing we can say, or do? We ought to help him if we can, +Dolores--though he did it." + +"I would save him with my life, if I could. God knows, I would! He was +mad when he struck the blow. He did it for my sake, because he thought +Don John had ruined my good name. And we should have been married the +day after to-morrow! God of heaven, have mercy!" + +Her grief took hold of her again, like a material power, shaking her +from head to foot, and bowing her down upon herself and wringing her +hands together, so that Inez, calmer than she, touched her gently and +tried to comfort her without any words, for there were none to say, +since nothing mattered now, and life was over at its very beginning. +Little by little the sharp agony subsided to dull pain once more, and +Dolores sat upright. But Inez was thinking still, and even in her sorrow +and fright she was gathering all her innocent ingenuity to her aid. + +"Is there no way?" she asked, speaking more to herself than to her +sister. "Could we not say that we were there, that it was not our father +but some one else? Perhaps some one would believe us. If we told the +judges that we were quite, quite sure that he did not do it, do you not +think--but then," she checked herself--"then it could only have been the +King." + +"Only the King himself," echoed Dolores, half unconsciously, and in a +dreamy tone. + +"That would be terrible," said Inez. "But we could say that the King was +not there, you know--that it was some one else, some one we did not +know--" + +Dolores rose abruptly from the seat and laid her hand upon the parapet +steadily, as if an unnatural strength had suddenly grown up in her. Inez +went on speaking, confusing herself in the details she was trying to put +together to make a plan, and losing the thread of her idea as she +attempted to build up falsehoods, for she was truthful as their father +was. But Dolores did not hear her. + +"You can do nothing, child," she said at last, in a firm tone. "But I +may. You have made me think of something that I may do--it is just +possible--it may help a little. Let me think." + +Inez waited in silence for her to go on, and Dolores stood as motionless +as a statue, contemplating in thought the step she meant to take if it +offered the slightest hope of saving her father. The thought was worthy +of her, but the sacrifice was great even then. She had not believed that +the world still held anything with which she would not willingly part, +but there was one thing yet. It might be taken from her, though her +father had slain Don John of Austria to save it, and was to die for it +himself. She could give it before she could be robbed of it, perhaps, +and it might buy his life. She could still forfeit her good name of her +own free will, and call herself what she was not. In words she could +give her honour to the dead man, and the dead could not rise up and deny +her nor refuse the gift. And it seemed to her that when the people +should hear her, they would believe her, seeing that it was her shame, a +shame such as no maiden who had honour left would bear before the world. +But it was hard to do. For honour was her last and only possession now +that all was taken from her. + +It was not the so-called honour of society, either, based on +long-forgotten traditions, and depending on convention for its +being--not the sort of honour within which a man may ruin an honest +woman and suffer no retribution, but which decrees that he must take his +own life if he cannot pay a debt of play made on his promise to a +friend, which allows him to lie like a cheat, but ordains that he must +give or require satisfaction of blood for the imaginary insult of a +hasty word--the honour which is to chivalry what black superstition is +to the true Christian faith, which compares with real courage and truth +and honesty, as an ape compares with a man. It was not that, and Dolores +knew it, as every maiden knows it; for the honour of woman is the fact +on which the whole world turns, and has turned and will turn to the end +of things; but what is called the honour of society has been a fiction +these many centuries, and though it came first of a high parentage, of +honest thought wedded to brave deed, and though there are honourable men +yet, these are for the most part the few who talk least loudly about +honour's code, and the belief they hold has come to be a secret and a +persecuted faith, at which the common gentleman thinks fit to laugh lest +some one should presume to measure him by it and should find him +wanting. + +Dolores did not mean to hesitate, after she had decided what to do. But +she could not avoid the struggle, and it was long and hard, though she +saw the end plainly before her and did not waver. Inez did not +understand and kept silence while it lasted. + +It was only a word to say, but it was the word which would be repeated +against her as long as she lived, and which nothing she could ever say +or do afterwards could take back when it had once been spoken--it would +leave the mark that a lifetime could not efface. But she meant to speak +it. She could not see what her father would see, that he would rather +die, justly or unjustly, than let his daughter be dishonoured before the +world. That was a part of a man's code, perhaps, but it should not +hinder her from saving her father's life, or trying to, at whatever +cost. What she was fighting against was something much harder to +understand in herself. What could it matter now, that the world should +think her fallen from her maiden estate? The world was nothing to her, +surely. It held nothing, it meant nothing, it was nothing. Her world had +been her lover, and he lay dead in his room. In heaven, he knew that she +was innocent, as he was himself, and he would see that she was going to +accuse herself that she might save her father. In heaven, he had +forgiven his murderer, and he would understand. As for the world and +what it said, she knew that she must leave it instantly, and go from the +confession she was about to make to the convent where she was to die, +and whence her spotless soul would soon be wafted away to join her true +lover beyond the earth. There was no reason why she should find it hard +to do, and yet it was harder than anything she had ever dreamed of +doing. But she was fighting the deepest and strongest instinct of +woman's nature, and the fight went hard. + +She fancied the scene, the court, the grey-haired nobles, the fair and +honourable women, the brave young soldiers, the thoughtless courtiers, +the whole throng she was about to face, for she meant to speak before +them all, and to her own shame. She was as white as marble, but when she +thought of what was coming the blood sprang to her face and tingled in +her forehead, and she felt her eyes fall and her proud head bend, as the +storm of humiliation descended upon her. She could hear beforehand the +sounds that would follow her words, the sharp, short laugh of jealous +women who hated her, the murmur of surprise among the men. Then the sea +of faces would seem to rise and fall before her in waves, the lights +would dance, her cheeks would burn like flames, and she would grow +dizzy. That would be the end. Afterwards she could go out alone. Perhaps +the women would shrink from her, no man would be brave enough to lead +her kindly from the room. Yet all that she would bear, for the mere hope +of saving her father. The worst, by far the worst and hardest to endure, +would be something within herself, for which she had neither words nor +true understanding, but which was more real than anything she could +define, for it was in the very core of her heart and in the secret of +her soul, a sort of despairing shame of herself and a desolate longing +for something she could never recover. + +She closed her tired eyes and pressed her hand heavily upon the stone +coping of the parapet. It was the supreme effort, and when she looked +down at Inez again she knew that she should live to the end of the +ordeal without wavering. + +"I am going down to the throne room," she said, very quietly and gently. +"You had better go to our apartment, dear, and wait for me there. I am +going to try and save our father's life--do not ask me how. It will not +take long to say what I have to say, and then I will come to you." + +Inez had risen now, and was standing beside her, laying a hand upon her +arm. + +"Let me come, too," she said. "I can help you, I am sure I can help +you." + +"No," answered Dolores, with authority. "You cannot help me, dearest, +and it would hurt you, and you must not come." + +"Then I will stay here," said Inez sorrowfully. "I shall be nearer to +him," she added under her breath. + +"Stay here--yes. I will come back to you, and then--then we will go in +together, and say a prayer--his soul can hear us still--we will go and +say good-by to him--together." + +Her voice was almost firm, and Inez could not see the agony in her white +face. Then Dolores clasped her in her arms and kissed her forehead and +her blind eyes very lovingly, and pressed her head to her own shoulders +and patted it and smoothed the girl's dark hair. + +"I will come back," she said, "and, Inez--you know the truth, my +darling. Whatever evil they may say of me after to-night, remember that +I have said it of myself for our father's sake, and that it is not +true." + +"No one will believe it," answered Inez. "They will not believe anything +bad of you." + +"Then our father must die." + +Dolores kissed her once more and made her sit down, then turned and went +away. She walked quickly along the corridors and descended the second +staircase, to enter the throne room by the side door reserved for the +officers of the household and the maids of honour. She walked swiftly, +her head erect, one hand holding the folds of her cloak pressed to her +bosom, and the other, nervously clenched, and hanging down, as if she +were expecting to strike a blow. + +She reached the door, and for a moment her heart stopped beating, and +her eyes closed. She heard many loud voices within, and she knew that +most of the court must still be assembled. It was better that all the +world should hear her--even the King, if he were still there. She pushed +the door open and went in by the familiar way, letting the dark cloak +that covered her court dress fall to the ground as she passed the +threshold. Half a dozen young nobles, grouped near the entrance, made +way for her to pass. + +When they recognized her, their voices dropped suddenly, and they stared +after her in astonishment that she should appear at such a time. She was +doubtless in ignorance of what had happened, they thought. As for the +throng in the hall, there was no restraint upon their talk now, and +words were spoken freely which would have been high treason half an hour +earlier. There was the noise, the tension, the ceaseless talking, the +excited air, that belong to great palace revolutions. + +The press was closer near the steps of the throne, where the King and +Mendoza had stood, for after they had left the hall, surrounded and +protected by the guards, the courtiers had crowded upon one another, and +those near the further door and outside it in the outer apartments had +pressed in till there was scarcely standing room on the floor of the +hall. Dolores found it hard to advance. Some made way for her with low +exclamations of surprise, but others, not looking to see who she was, +offered a passive resistance to her movements. + +"Will you kindly let me pass?" she asked at last, in a gentle tone, "I +am Dolores de Mendoza." + +At the name the group that barred her passage started and made way, and +going through she came upon the Prince of Eboli, not far from the steps +of the throne. The English Ambassador, who meant to stay as long as +there was anything for him to observe, was still by the Prince's side. +Dolores addressed the latter without hesitation. + +"Don Ruy Gomez," she said, "I ask your help. My father is innocent, and +I can prove it. But the court must hear me--every one must hear the +truth. Will you help me? Can you make them listen?" + +Ruy Gomez looked down at Dolores' pale and determined features in +courteous astonishment. + +"I am at your service," he answered. "But what are you going to say? The +court is in a dangerous mood to-night." + +"I must speak to all," said Dolores. "I am not afraid. What I have to +say cannot be said twice--not even if I had the strength. I can save my +father--" + +"Why not go to the King at once?" argued the Prince, who feared trouble. + +"For the love of God, help me to do as I wish!" Dolores grasped his arm, +and spoke with an effort. "Let me tell them all, how I know that my +father is not guilty of the murder. After that take me to the King if +you will." + +She spoke very earnestly, and he no longer opposed her. He knew the +temper of the court well enough, and was sure that whatever proved +Mendoza innocent would be welcome just then, and though he was far too +loyal to wish the suspicion of the deed to be fixed upon the King, he +was too just not to desire Mendoza to be exculpated if he were innocent. + +"Come with me," he said briefly, and he took Dolores by the hand, and +led her up the first three steps of the platform, so that she could see +over the heads of all present. + +It was no time to think of court ceremonies or customs, for there was +danger in the air. Ruy Gomez did not stop to make any long ceremony. +Drawing himself up to his commanding height, he held up his white gloves +at arm's length to attract the attention of the courtiers, and in a few +moments there was silence. They seemed an hour of torture to Dolores. +Ruy Gomez raised his voice. + +"Grandees! The daughter of Don Diego de Mendoza stands here at my side +to prove to you that he is innocent of Don John of Austria's death!" + +The words had hardly left his lips when a shout went up, like a ringing +cheer. But again he raised his hand. + +"Hear Doña Maria Dolores de Mendoza!" he cried. + +Then he stepped a little away from Dolores, and looked towards her. She +was dead white, and her lips trembled. There was an almost glassy look +in her eyes, and still she pressed one hand to her bosom, and the other +hung by her side, the fingers twitching nervously against the folds of +her skirt. A few seconds passed before she could speak. + +"Grandees of Spain!" she began, and at the first words she found +strength in her voice so that it reached the ends of the hall, clear and +vibrating. The silence was intense, as she proceeded. + +"My father has accused himself of a fearful crime. He is innocent. He +would no more have raised his hand against Don John of Austria than +against the King's own person. I cannot tell why he wishes to sacrifice +his life by taking upon himself the guilt. But this I know. He did not +do the deed. You ask me how I know that, how I can prove it? I was +there, I, Dolores de Mendoza, his daughter, was there unseen in my +lover's chamber when he was murdered. While he was alive I gave him all, +my heart, my soul, my maiden honour; and I was there to-night, and had +been with him long. But now that he is dead, I will pay for my father's +life with my dishonour. He must not die, for he is innocent. Grandees of +Spain, as you are men of honour, he must not die, for he is one of you, +and this foul deed was not his." + +She ceased, her lids drooped till her eyes were half closed and she +swayed a little as she stood. Roy Gomez made one long stride and held +her, for he thought she was fainting. But she bit her lips, and forced +her eyes to open and face the crowd again. + +"That is all," she said in a low voice, but distinctly, "It is done. I +am a ruined woman. Help me to go out." + +The old Prince gently led her down the steps. The silence had lasted +long after she had spoken, but people were beginning to talk again in +lower tones. It was as she had foreseen it. She heard a scornful woman's +laugh, and as she passed along, she saw how the older ladies shrank from +her and how the young ones eyed her with a look of hard curiosity, as if +she were some wild creature, dangerous to approach, though worth seeing +from a distance. + +But the men pressed close to her as she passed, and she heard them tell +each other that she was a brave woman who could dare to save her father +by such means, and there were quick applauding words as she passed, and +one said audibly that he could die for a girl who had such a true heart, +and another answered that he would marry her if she could forget Don +John. And they did not speak without respect, but in earnest, and out of +the fulness of their admiration. + +At last she was at the door, and she paused to speak before going out. + +"Have I saved his life?" she asked, looking up to the old Prince's kind +face. "Will they believe me?" + +"They believe you," he answered. "But your father's life is in the +King's hands. You should go to his Majesty without wasting time. Shall I +go with you? He will see you, I think, if I ask it." + +"Why should I tell the King?" asked Dolores. "He was there--he saw it +all--he knows the truth." + +She hardly realized what she was saying. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +Ruy Gomez was as loyal, in his way, as Mendoza himself, but his loyalty +was of a very different sort, for it was tempered by a diplomatic spirit +which made it more serviceable on ordinary occasions, and its object was +altogether a principle rather than a person. Mendoza could not conceive +of monarchy, in its abstract, without a concrete individuality +represented by King Philip; but Ruy Gomez could not imagine the world +without the Spanish monarchy, though he was well able to gauge his +sovereign's weaknesses and to deplore his crimes. He himself was +somewhat easily deceived, as good men often are, and it was he who had +given the King his new secretary, Antonio Perez; yet from the moment +when Mendoza had announced Don John's death, he had been convinced that +the deed had either been done by Philip himself or by his orders, and +that Mendoza had bravely sacrificed himself to shield his master. What +Dolores had said only confirmed his previous opinion, so far as her +father's innocence was at stake. As for her own confession, he believed +it, and in spite of himself he could not help admiring the girl's heroic +courage. Dolores might have been in reality ten times worse than she had +chosen to represent herself; she would still have been a model of all +virtue compared with his own wife, though he did not know half of the +Princess's doings, and was certainly ignorant of her relations with the +King. + +He was not at all surprised when Dolores told him at the door that +Philip knew the truth about the supposed murder, but he saw how +dangerous it might be for Dolores to say as much to others of the court. +She wished to go away alone, as she had come, but he insisted on going +with her. + +"You must see his Majesty," he said authoritatively. "I will try to +arrange it at once. And I entreat you to be discreet, my dear, for your +father's sake, if not for any other reason. You have said too much +already. It was not wise of you, though it showed amazing courage. You +are your father's own daughter in that--he is one of the bravest men I +ever knew in my life." + +"It is easy to be brave when one is dead already!" said Dolores, in low +tones. + +"Courage, my dear, courage!" answered the old Prince, in a fatherly +tone, as they went along. "You are not as brave as you think, since you +talk of death. Your life is not over yet." + +"There is little left of it. I wish it were ended already." + +She could hardly speak, for an inevitable and overwhelming reaction had +followed on the great effort she had made. She put out her hand and +caught her companion's arm for support. He led her quickly to the small +entrance of the King's apartments, by which it was his privilege to pass +in. They reached a small waiting-room where there were a few chairs and +a marble table, on which two big wax candles were burning. Dolores sank +into a seat, and leaned back, closing her eyes, while Ruy Gomez went +into the antechamber beyond and exchanged a few words with the +chamberlain on duty. He came back almost immediately. + +"Your father is alone with the King," he said. "We must wait." + +Dolores scarcely heard what he said, and did not change her position nor +open her eyes. The old man looked at her, sighed, and sat down near a +brazier of wood coals, over which he slowly warmed his transparent +hands, from time to time turning his rings slowly on his fingers, as if +to warm them, too. Outside, the chamberlain in attendance walked slowly +up and down, again and again passing the open door, through which he +glanced at Dolores' face. The antechamber was little more than a short, +broad corridor, and led to the King's study. This corridor had other +doors, however, and it was through it that the King's private rooms +communicated with the hall of the royal apartments. + +As Ruy Gomez had learned, Mendoza was with Philip, but not alone. The +old officer was standing on one side of the room, erect and grave, and +King Philip sat opposite him, in a huge chair, his still eyes staring at +the fire that blazed in the vast chimney, and sent sudden flashes of +yellow through the calm atmosphere of light shed by a score of tall +candles. At a table on one side sat Antonio Perez, the Secretary. He was +provided with writing-materials and appeared to be taking down the +conversation as it proceeded. Philip asked a question from time to time, +which Mendoza answered in a strange voice unlike his own, and between +the questions there were long intervals of silence. + +"You say that you had long entertained feelings of resentment against +his Highness," said the King, "You admit that, do you?" + +"I beg your Majesty's pardon. I did not say resentment. I said that I +had long looked upon his Highness's passion for my daughter with great +anxiety." + +"Is that what he said, Perez?" asked Philip, speaking to the Secretary +without looking at him. "Read that." + +"He said: I have long resented his Highness's admiration for my +daughter," answered Perez, reading from his notes. + +"You see," said the King. "You resented it. That is resentment. I was +right. Be careful, Mendoza, for your words may be used against you +to-morrow. Say precisely what you mean, and nothing but what you mean." + +Mendoza inclined his head rather proudly, for he detested Antonio Perez, +and it appeared to him that the King was playing a sort of comedy for +the Secretary's benefit. It seemed an unworthy interlude in what was +really a solemn tragedy. + +"Why did you resent his Highness's courtship of your daughter?" enquired +Philip presently, continuing his cross-examination. + +"Because I never believed that there could be a real marriage," answered +Mendoza boldly. "I believed that my child must become the toy and +plaything of Don John of Austria, or else that if his Highness married +her, the marriage would soon be declared void, in order that he might +marry a more important personage." + +"Set that down," said the King to Perez, in a sharp tone. "Set that down +exactly. It is important." He waited till the Secretary's pen stopped +before he went on. His next question came suddenly. + +"How could a marriage consecrated by our holy religion ever be declared +null and void?" + +"Easily enough, if your Majesty wished it," answered Mendoza +unguardedly, for his temper was slowly heating. + +"Write down that answer, Perez. In other words, Mendoza, you think that +I have no respect for the sacrament of marriage, which I would at any +time cause to be revoked to suit my political purposes. Is that what you +think?" + +"I did not say that, Sire. I said that even if Don John married my +daughter--" + +"I know quite well what you said," interrupted the King suavely. "Perez +has got every word of it on paper." + +The Secretary's bad black eyes looked up from his writing, and he slowly +nodded as he looked at Mendoza. He understood the situation perfectly, +though the soldier was far too honourable to suspect the truth. + +"I have confessed publicly that I killed Don John defenceless," he said, +in rough tones. "Is not that enough?" + +"Oh, no!" Philip almost smiled, "That is not enough. We must also know +why you committed such on abominable crime. You do not seem to +understand that in taking your evidence here myself, I am sparing you +the indignity of an examination before a tribunal, and under torture--in +all probability. You ought to be very grateful, my dear Mendoza." + +"I thank your Majesty," said the brave old soldier coldly. + +"That is right. So we know that your hatred of his Highness was of long +standing, and you had probably determined some time ago that you would +murder him on his return." The King paused a moment and then continued. +"Do you deny that on this very afternoon you swore that if Don John +attempted to see your daughter, you would kill him at once?" + +Mendoza was taken by surprise, and his haggard eyes opened wide as he +stared at Philip. + +"You said that, did you not?" asked the King, insisting upon the point. +"On your honour, did you say it?" + +"Yes, I said that," answered Mendoza at last. "But how did your Majesty +know that I did?" + +The King's enormous under lip thrust itself forward, and two ugly lines +of amusement were drawn in his colourless cheeks. His jaw moved slowly, +as if he were biting something of which he found the taste agreeable. + +"I know everything," he said slowly. "I am well served in my own house. +Perez, be careful. Write down everything. We also know, I think, that +your daughter met his Highness this evening. You no doubt found that out +as others did. The girl is imprudent. Do you confess to knowing that the +two had met this evening?" + +Mendoza ground his teeth as if he were suffering bodily torture. His +brows contracted, and as Perez looked up, he faced him with such a look +of hatred and anger that the Secretary could hot meet his eyes. The King +was a sacred and semi-divine personage, privileged to ask any question +he chose and theoretically incapable of doing wrong, but it was +unbearable that this sleek black fox should have the right to hear Diego +de Mendoza confess his daughter's dishonour. Antonio Perez was not an +adventurer of low birth, as many have gratuitously supposed, for his +father had held an honourable post at court before him; but he was very +far from being the equal of one who, though poor and far removed from +the head of his own family, bore one of the most noble names in Spain. + +"Let your Majesty dismiss Don Antonio Perez," said Mendoza boldly. "I +will then tell your Majesty all I know." + +Perez smiled as he bent over his notes, for he knew what the answer +would be to such a demand. It came sharply. + +"It is not the privilege of a man convicted of murder to choose his +hearers. Answer my questions or be silent. Do you confess that you knew +of your daughter's meeting with Don John this evening?" + +Mendoza's lips set themselves tightly under his grey beard, and he +uttered no sound. He interpreted the King's words literally. + +"Well, what have you to say?" + +"Nothing, Sire, since I have your Majesty's permission to be silent." + +"It does not matter," said Philip indifferently. "Note that he refuses +to answer the question, Perez. Note that this is equivalent to +confessing the fact, since he would otherwise deny it. His silence is & +reason, however, for allowing the case to go to the tribunal to be +examined in the usual way--the usual way," he repeated, looking hard at +Mendoza and emphasizing the words strongly. + +"Since I do not deny the deed, I entreat your Majesty to let me suffer +for it quickly. I am ready to die, God knows. Let it be to-morrow +morning or to-night. Your Majesty need only sign the warrant for my +execution, which Don Antonio Perez has, no doubt, already prepared." + +"Not at all, not at all," answered the King, with horrible coolness. "I +mean that you shall have a fair and open trial and every possible +opportunity of justifying yourself. There must be nothing secret about +this. So horrible a crime must be treated in the most public manner. +Though it is very painful to me to refer to such a matter, you must +remember that after it had pleased Heaven, in its infinite justice, to +bereave me of my unfortunate son, Don Carlos, the heir to the throne, +there were not wanting ill-disposed and wicked persons who actually said +that I had caused his life to be shortened by various inhuman cruelties. +No, no! we cannot have too much publicity. Consider how terrible a thing +it would be if any one should dare to suppose that my own brother had +been murdered with my consent! You should love your country too much not +to fear such a result; for though you have murdered my brother in cold +blood, I am too just to forget that you have proved your patriotism +through a long and hitherto honourable career. It is my duty to see that +the causes of your atrocious action are perfectly clear to my subjects, +so that no doubt may exist even in the most prejudiced minds. Do you +understand? I repeat that if I have condescended to examine you alone, I +have done so only out of a merciful desire to spare an old soldier the +suffering and mortification of an examination by the tribunal that is to +judge you. Understand that." + +"I understand that and much more besides," answered Mendoza, in low and +savage tones. + +"It is not necessary that you should understand or think that you +understand anything more than what I say," returned the King coldly. "At +what time did you go to his Highness's apartments this evening?" + +"Your Majesty knows." + +"I know nothing of it," said the King, with the utmost calm. "You were +on duty after supper. You escorted me to my apartments afterwards. I had +already sent for Perez, who came at once, and we remained here, busy +with affairs, until I returned to the throne room, five minutes before +you came and confessed the murder; did we not, Perez?" + +"Most certainly, Sire," answered the Secretary gravely. "Your Majesty +must have been at work with me an hour, at least, before returning to +the throne room." + +"And your Majesty did not go with me by the private staircase to Don +John of Austria's apartment?" asked Mendoza, thunderstruck by the +enormous falsehood. + +"With you?" cried the King, in admirably feigned astonishment. "What +madness is this? Do not write that down, Perez. I really believe the man +is beside himself!" + +Mendoza groaned aloud, for he saw that he had been frightfully deceived. +In his magnificent generosity, he had assumed the guilt of the crime, +being ready and willing to die for it quickly to save the King from +blame and to put an end to his own miserable existence. But he had +expected death quickly, mercifully, within a few hours. Had he suspected +what Philip had meant to do,--that he was to be publicly tried for a +murder he had not committed, and held up to public hatred and ignominy +for days and perhaps weeks together, while a slow tribunal dragged out +its endless procedure,--neither his loyalty nor his desire for death +could have had power to bring his pride to such a sacrifice. And now he +saw that he was caught in a vise, and that no accusation he could bring +against the King could save him, even if he were willing to resort to +such a measure and so take back his word. There was no witness for him +but himself. Don John was dead, and the infamous Perez was ready to +swear that Philip had not left the room in which they had been closeted +together. There was not a living being to prove that Mendoza had not +gone alone to Don John's apartments with the deliberate intention of +killing him. He had, indeed, been to the chief steward's office in +search of a key, saying that the King desired to have it and was +waiting; but it would be said that he had used the King's authority to +try and get the key for himself because he knew that his daughter was +hidden in the locked room. He had foolishly fancied that the King would +send for him and see him alone before he died, that his sovereign would +thank him for the service that was costing his life, would embrace him +and send him to his death for the good of Spain and the divine right of +monarchy. Truly, he had been most bitterly deceived. + +"You said," continued Philip mercilessly, "that you killed his Highness +when he was unarmed. Is that true?" + +"His Highness was unarmed," said Mendoza, almost through his closed +teeth, for he was suffering beyond words. + +"Unarmed," repeated the King, nodding to Perez, who wrote rapidly. "You +might have given him a chance for his life. It would have been more +soldier-like. Had you any words before you drew upon him? Was there any +quarrel?" + +"None. We did not speak to each other." Mendoza tried to make Philip +meet his eyes, but the King would not look at him. + +"There was no altercation," said the King, looking at Perez. "That +proves that the murder was premeditated. Put it down--it is very +important. You could hardly have stabbed him in the back, I suppose. He +must have turned when he heard you enter. Where was the wound?" + +"The wound that killed his Highness will be found near the heart." + +"Cruel!" Philip looked down at his own hands, and he shook his head very +sadly. "Cruel, most cruel," he repeated in a low tone. + +"I admit that it was a very cruel deed," said Mendoza, looking at him +fixedly. "In that, your Majesty is right." + +"Did you see your daughter before or after you had committed the +murder?" asked the King calmly. + +"I have not seen my daughter since the murder was committed." + +"But you saw her before? Be careful, Perez. Write down every word. You +say that you saw your daughter before you did it." + +"I did not say that," answered Mendoza firmly. + +"It makes very little difference," said the King, "If you had seen her +with his Highness, the murder would have seemed less cold-blooded, that +is all. There would then have been something like a natural provocation +for it." + +There was a low sound, as of some one scratching at the door. That was +the usual way of asking admittance to the King's room on very urgent +matters. Perez rose instantly, the King nodded to him, and he went to +the door. On opening, someone handed him a folded paper on a gold +salver. He brought it to Philip, dropped on one knee very ceremoniously, +and presented it. Philip took the note and opened it, and Perez returned +to his seat at once. + +The King unfolded the small sheet carefully. The room was so full of +light that he could read it when he sat, without moving. His eyes +followed the lines quickly to the end, and returned to the beginning, +and he read the missive again more carefully. Not the slightest change +of expression was visible in his face, as he folded the paper neatly +again in the exact shape in which he had received it. Then he remained +silent a few moments. Perez held his pen ready to write, moving it +mechanically now and then as if he were writing in the air, and staring +at the fire, absorbed in his own thoughts, though his ear was on the +alert. + +"You refuse to admit that you found your daughter and Don John together, +then?" The King spoke with an interrogation. + +"I did not find them together," answered Mendoza. "I have said so." He +was becoming exasperated under the protracted cross-examination. + +"You have not said so. My memory is very good, but if it should fail we +have everything written down. I believe you merely refused to answer +when I asked if you knew of their meeting--which meant that you did know +of it. Is that it, Perez?" + +"Exactly so, Sire." The Secretary had already found the place among his +notes. + +"Do you persistently refuse to admit that you had positive evidence of +your daughter's guilt before the murder?" + +"I will not admit that, Sire, for it would not be true." + +"Your daughter has given her evidence since," said the King, holding up +the folded note, and fixing his eyes at last on his victim's face. If it +were possible, Mendoza turned more ashy pale than before, and he started +perceptibly at the King's words. + +"I shall never believe that!" he cried in a voice which nevertheless +betrayed his terror for his child. + +"A few moments before this note was written," said Philip calmly, "your +daughter entered the throne room, and addressed the court, standing upon +the steps of the throne--a very improper proceeding and one which Ruy +Gomez should not have allowed. Your daughter Dolores--is that the girl's +name? Yes. Your daughter Dolores, amidst the most profound silence, +confessed that she--it is so monstrous that I can hardly bring myself to +say it--that she had yielded to the importunities of his late Highness, +that she was with him in his room a long time this evening, and that, in +fact, she was actually in his bedchamber when he was murdered." + +"It is a lie!" cried Mendoza vehemently. "It is an abominable lie--she +was not in the room!" + +"She has said that she was," answered Philip. "You can hardly suppose a +girl capable of inventing such damning evidence against herself, even +for the sake of saving her own father. She added that his Highness was +not killed by you. But that is puerile. She evidently saw you do it, and +has boldly confessed that she was in the room--hidden somewhere, +perhaps, since you absolutely refuse to admit that you saw her there. It +is quite clear that you found the two together and that you killed his +Highness before your daughter's eyes. Why not admit that, Mendoza? It +makes you seem a little less cold-blooded. The provocation was great--" + +"She was not there," protested Mendoza, interrupting the King, for he +hardly knew what he was doing. + +"She was there, since she confesses to have been in the room. I do not +tolerate interruption when I am speaking. She was there, and her +evidence will be considered. Even if you did not see her, how can you be +sure that your daughter was not there? Did you search the room? Did you +look behind the curtains?" + +"I did not." The stern old man seemed to shrink bodily under the +frightful humiliation to which he was subjected. + +"Very well, then you cannot swear that she was not in the room. But you +did not see her there. Then I am sorry to say that there can have been +no extenuating circumstances. You entered his Highness's bedchamber, you +did not even speak to him, you drew your sword and you killed him. All +this shows that you went there fully determined to commit the crime. But +with regard to its motive, this strange confession of your daughter's +makes that quite clear. She had been extremely imprudent with Don John, +you were aware of the fact, and you revenged yourself in the most brutal +way. Such vengeance never can produce any but the most fatal results. +You yourself must die, in the first place, a degrading and painful death +on the scaffold, and you die leaving behind you a ruined girl, who must +bury herself in a convent and never be seen by her worldly equals again. +And besides that, you have deprived your King of a beloved brother, and +Spain of her most brilliant general. Could anything be worse?" + +"Yes. There are worse things than that, your Majesty, and worse things +have been done. It would have been a thousand times worse if I had done +the deed and cast the blame of it on a man so devoted to me that he +would bear the guilt in my stead, and a hundred thousand times worse if +I had then held up that man to the execration of mankind, and tortured +him with every distortion of evidence which great falsehoods can put +upon a little truth. That would indeed have been far worse than anything +I have done. God may find forgiveness for murderers, but there is only +hell for traitors, and the hell of hells is the place of men who betray +their friends." + +"His mind is unsettled, I fear," said the King, speaking to Perez. +"These are signs of madness." + +"Indeed I fear so, Sire," answered the smooth Secretary, shaking his +head solemnly. "He does not know what he says." + +"I am not mad, and I know what I am saying, for I am a man under the +hand of death." Mendoza's eyes glared at the King savagely as he spoke, +and then at Perez, but neither could look at him, for neither dared to +meet his gaze. "As for this confession my daughter has made, I do not +believe in it. But if she has said these things, you might have let me +die without the bitterness of knowing them, since that was in your +power. And God knows that I have staked my life freely for your Majesty +and for Spain these many years, and would again if I had it to lose +instead of having thrown it away. And God knows, too, that for what I +have done, be it good or bad, I will bear whatsoever your Majesty shall +choose to say to me alone in the way of reproach. But as I am a dying +man I will not forgive that scribbler there for having seen a Spanish +gentleman's honour torn to rags, and an old soldier's last humiliation, +and I pray Heaven with my dying breath, that he may some day be +tormented as he has seen me tormented, and worse, till he shall cry out +for mercy--as I will not!" + +The cruelly injured man's prayer was answered eight years from that day, +and even now Perez turned slowly pale as he heard the words, for they +were spoken with all the vehemence of a dying man's curse. But Philip +was unmoved. He was probably not making Mendoza suffer merely for the +pleasure of watching his pain, though others' suffering seems always to +have caused him a sort of morbid satisfaction. What he desired most was +to establish a logical reason for which Mendoza might have committed the +crime, lest in the absence of sound evidence he himself should be +suspected of having instigated it. He had no intention whatever of +allowing Mendoza to be subjected to torture during the trial that was to +ensue. On the contrary, he intended to prepare all the evidence for the +judges and to prevent Mendoza from saying anything in self-defence. To +that end it was necessary that the facts elicited should be clearly +connected from first cause to final effect, and by the skill of Antonio +Perez in writing down only the words which contributed to that end, the +King's purpose was now accomplished. He heard every word of Mendoza's +imprecation and thought it proper to rebuke him for speaking so freely. + +"You forget yourself, sir," he said coldly. "Don Antonio Perez is my +private Secretary, and you must respect him. While you belonged to the +court his position was higher and more important than your own; now that +you stand convicted of an outrageous murder in cold blood, you need not +forget that he is an innocent man. I have done, Mendoza. You will not +see me again, for you will be kept in confinement until your trial, +which can only have one issue. Come here." + +He sat upright in his chair and held out his hand, while Mendoza +approached with unsteady steps, and knelt upon one knee, as was the +custom. + +"I am not unforgiving," said the King. "Forgiveness is a very beautiful +Christian virtue, which we are taught to exercise from our earliest +childhood. You have cut off my dearly loved brother in the flower of his +youth, but you shall not die believing that I bear you any malice. So +far as I am able, I freely forgive you for what you have done, and in +token I give you my hand, that you may have that comfort at the last." + +With incredible calmness Philip took Mendoza's hand as he spoke, held it +for a moment in his, and pressed it almost warmly at the last words. The +old man's loyalty to his sovereign had been a devotion almost amounting +to real adoration, and bitterly as he had suffered throughout the +terrible interview, he well-nigh forgot every suffering as he felt the +pressure of the royal fingers. In an instant he had told himself that it +had all been but a play, necessary to deceive Perez, and to clear the +King from suspicion before the world, and that in this sense the +unbearable agony he had borne had served his sovereign. He forgot all +for a moment, and bending his iron-grey head, he kissed the thin and +yellow hand fervently, and looked up to Philip's cold face and felt that +there were tears of gratitude in his own eyes, of gratitude at being +allowed to leave the world he hated with the certainty that his death +was to serve his sovereign idol. + +"I shall be faithful to your Majesty until the end," he said simply, as +the King withdrew his fingers, and he rose to his feet. + +The King nodded slowly, and his stony look watched Mendoza with a sort +of fixed curiosity. Even he had not known that such men lived. + +"Call the guards to the door, Perez," he said coldly. "Tell the officer +to take Don Diego Mendoza to the west tower for to-night, and to treat +him with every consideration." + +Perez obeyed. A detachment of halberdiers with an officer were stationed +in the short, broad corridor that led to the room where Dolores was +waiting. Perez gave the lieutenant his orders. + +Mendoza walked backwards to the door from the King's presence, making +three low bows as he went. At the door he turned, taking no notice of +the Secretary, marched out with head erect, and gave himself up to the +soldiers. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +The halberdiers closed round their old chief, but did not press upon +him. Three went before him, three behind, and one walked on each side, +and the lieutenant led the little detachment. The men were too much +accustomed to seeing courtiers in the extremes of favour and disfavour +to be much surprised at the arrest of Mendoza, and they felt no great +sympathy for him. He had always been too rigidly exacting for their +taste, and they longed for a younger commander who should devote more +time to his own pleasure and less to inspecting uniforms and finding +fault with details. Yet Mendoza had been a very just man, and he +possessed the eminently military bearing and temper which always impose +themselves on soldiers. At the present moment, too, they were more +inclined to pity him than to treat him roughly, for if they did not +guess what had really taken place, they were quite sure that Don John of +Austria had been murdered by the King's orders, like Don Carlos and +Queen Isabel and a fair number of other unfortunate persons; and if the +King had chosen Mendoza to do the deed, the soldiers thought that he was +probably not meant to suffer for it in the end, and that before long he +would be restored to his command. It would, therefore, be the better for +them, later, if they showed him a certain deference in his misfortune. +Besides, they had heard Antonio Perez tell their officer that Mendoza +was to be treated with every consideration. + +They marched in time, with heavy tread and the swinging gait to right +and left that is natural to a soldier who carries for a weapon a long +halberd with a very heavy head. Mendoza was as tall as any of them, and +kept their step, holding his head high. He was bareheaded, but was +otherwise still in the complete uniform he wore when on duty on state +occasions. + +The corridor, which seemed short on account of its breadth and in +comparison with the great size of the halls in the palace, was some +thirty paces long and lighted by a number of chandeliers that hung from +the painted vault. The party reached the door of the waiting room and +halted a moment, while one of the King's footmen opened the doors wide. +Don Ruy Gomez and Dolores were waiting within. The servant passed +rapidly through to open the doors beyond. Ruy Gomez stood up and drew +his chair aside, somewhat surprised at the entrance of the soldiers, who +rarely passed that way. Dolores opened her eyes at the sound of +marching, but in the uncertain light of the candles she did not at first +see Mendoza, half hidden as he was by the men who guarded him. She paid +little attention, for she was accustomed to seeing such detachments of +halberdiers marching through the corridors when the sentries were +relieved, and as she had never been in the King's apartments she was not +surprised by the sudden appearance of the soldiers, as her companion +was. But as the latter made way for them he lifted his hat, which as a +Grandee he wore even in the King's presence, and he bent his head +courteously as Mendoza went by. He hoped that Dolores would not see her +father, but his own recognition of the prisoner had attracted her +attention. She sprang to her feet with a cry. Mendoza turned his head +and saw her before she could reach him, for she was moving forward. He +stood still, and the soldiers halted instinctively and parted before +her, for they all knew their commander's daughter. + +"Father!" she cried, and she tried to take his hand. + +But he pushed her away and turned his face resolutely towards the door +before him. + +"Close up! Forward--march!" he said, in his harsh tone of command. + +The men obeyed, gently forcing Dolores aside. They made two steps +forward, but Ruy Gomez stopped them by a gesture, standing in their way +and raising one hand, while he laid the other on the young lieutenant's +shoulder. Ruy Gomez was one of the greatest personages in Spain; he was +the majorduomo of the palace, and had almost unlimited authority. But +the officer had his orders directly from the King and felt bound to +carry them out to the letter. + +"His Majesty has directed me to convey Don Diego de Mendoza to the west +tower without delay," he said. "I beg your Excellency to let us +proceed." + +Ruy Gomez still held him by the shoulder with a gentle pressure. + +"That I will not," he said firmly; "and if you are blamed for being slow +in the execution of your duty, say that Ruy Gomez de Silva hindered you, +and fear nothing. It is not right that father and daughter should part +as these two are parting." + +"I have nothing to say to my daughter," said Mendoza harshly; but the +words seemed to hurt him. + +"Don Diego," answered Ruy Gomez, "the deed of which you have accused +yourself is as much worse than anything your child has done as hatred is +worse than love. By the right of mere humanity I take upon myself to say +that you shall be left here a while with your daughter, that you may +take leave of one another." He turned to the officer. "Withdraw your +men, sir," he said. "Wait at the door. You have my word for the security +of your prisoner, and my authority for what you do. I will call you when +it is time." + +He spoke in a tone that admitted of no refusal, and he was obeyed. The +officers and the men filed out, and Ruy Gomez closed the door after +them. He himself recrossed the room and went out by the other way into +the broad corridor. He meant to wait there. His orders had been carried +out so quickly that Mendoza found himself alone with Dolores, almost as +by a surprise. In his desperate mood he resented what Ruy Gomez had +done, as an interference in his family affairs, and he bent his bushy +brows together as he stood facing Dolores, with folded arms. Four hours +had not passed since they had last spoken together alone in his own +dwelling; there was a lifetime of tragedy between that moment and this. + +Dolores had not spoken since he had pushed her away. She stood beside a +chair, resting one hand upon it, dead white, with the dark shadow of +pain under her eyes, her lips almost colourless, but firm, and evenly +closed. There were lines of suffering in her young face that looked as +if they never could be effaced. It seemed to her that the worst conflict +of all was raging in her heart as she watched her father's face, waiting +for the sound of his voice; and as for him, he would rather have gone +back to the King's presence to be tormented under the eyes of Antonio +Perez than stand there, forced to see her and speak to her. In his eyes, +in the light of what he had been told, she was a ruined and shameless +woman, who had deceived him day in, day out, for more than two years. +And to her, so far as she could understand, he was the condemned +murderer of the man she had so innocently and truly loved. But yet, she +had a doubt, and for that possibility, she had cast her good name to the +winds in the hope of saving his life. At one moment, in a vision of +dread, she saw his armed hand striking at her lover--at the next she +felt that he could never have struck the blow, and that there was an +unsolved mystery behind it all. Never were two innocent human beings so +utterly deceived, each about the other. + +"Father," she said, at last, in a trembling tone, "can you not speak to +me, if I can find heart to hear you?" + +"What can we two say to each other?" he asked sternly. "Why did you stop +me? I am ready to die for killing the man who ruined you. I am glad. Why +should I say anything to you, and what words can you have for me? I hope +your end may come quickly, with such peace as you can find from your +shame at the last. That is what I wish for you, and it is a good wish, +for you have made death on the scaffold look easy to me, so that I long +for it. Do you understand?" + +"Condemned to death!" she cried out, almost incoherently, before he had +finished speaking. "But they cannot condemn you--I have told them that I +was there--that it was not you--they must believe me--O God of mercy!" + +"They believe you--yes. They believe that I found you together and +killed him. I shall be tried by judges, but I am condemned beforehand, +and I must die." He spoke calmly enough. "Your mad confession before the +court only made my conviction more certain," he said. "It gave the +reason for the deed--and it burned away the last doubt I had. If they +are slow in trying me, you will have been before the executioner, for he +will find me dead--by your hand. You might have spared me that--and +spared yourself. You still had the remnant of a good name, and your +lover being dead, you might have worn the rag of your honour still. You +have chosen to throw it away, and let me know my full disgrace before I +die a disgraceful death. And yet you wish to speak to me. Do you expect +my blessing?" + +Dolores had lost the power of speech. Passing her hand now and then +across her forehead, as though trying to brush away a material veil, she +stood half paralyzed, staring wildly at him while he spoke. But when she +saw him turn away from her towards the door, as if he would go out and +leave her there, her strength was loosed from the spell, and she sprang +before him and caught his wrists with her hands. + +"I am as innocent as when my mother bore me," she said, and her low +voice rang with the truth. "I told the lie to save your life. Do you +believe me now?" + +He gazed at her with haggard eyes for many moments before he spoke. + +"How can it be true?" he asked, but his voice shook in his throat. "You +were there--I saw you leave his room--" + +"No, that you never saw!" she cried, well knowing how impossible it was, +since she had been locked in till after he had gone away. + +"I saw your dress--not this one--what you wore this afternoon." + +"Not this one? I put on this court dress before I got out of the room in +which you had locked me up. Inez helped me--I pretended that I was she, +and wore her cloak, and slipped away, and I have not been back again. +You did not see me." + +Mendoza passed his hand over his eyes and drew back from her. If what +she said were true, the strongest link was gone from the chain of facts +by which he had argued so much sorrow and shame. Forgetting himself and +his own near fate, he looked at the court dress she wore, and a mere +glance convinced him that it was not the one he had seen. + +"But--" he was suddenly confused--"but why did you need to disguise +yourself? I left the Princess of Eboli with you, and I gave her +permission to take you away to stay with her. You needed no disguise." + +"I never saw her. She must have found Inez in the room. I was gone long +before that." + +"Gone--where?" Mendoza was fast losing the thread of it all--in his +confusion of ideas he grasped the clue of his chief sorrow, which was +far beyond any thought for himself. "But if you are innocent--pray God +you may be, as you say--how is it possible--oh, no! I cannot believe +it--I cannot! No woman could do that--no innocent girl could stand out +before a multitude of men and women, and say what you said--" + +"I hoped to save your life. I had the strength. I did it." + +Her clear grey eyes looked into his, and his doubt began to break away +before the truth. + +"Make me believe it!" he cried, his voice breaking. "Oh, God! Make me +believe it before I die!" + +"It is true," she cried, in a low, strong voice that carried belief to +his breast in spite of such reasoning as still had some power over him. +"It is true, and you shall believe it; and if you will not, the man you +have killed, the man I loved and trusted, the dead man who knows the +whole truth as I know it, will come back from the dead to prove it +true--for I swear it upon his soul in heaven, and upon yours and mine +that will not be long on earth--as I will swear it in the hour of your +death and mine, since we must die!" + +He could not take his eyes from hers that held him, and suddenly in the +pure depths he seemed to see her soul facing him without fear, and he +knew that what she said was true, and his tortured heart leapt up at the +good certainty. + +"I believe you, my child," he said at last, and then his grey lids half +closed over his eyes and he bent down to her, and put his arm round her. + +But she shuddered at the touch of his right hand, and though she knew +that he was a condemned man, and that she might never see him again, she +could not bear to receive his parting kiss upon her forehead. + +"Oh, father, why did you kill him?" she asked, turning her head away and +moving to escape from his hold. + +But Mendoza did not answer. His arm dropped by his side, and his face +grew white and stony. She was asking him to give up the King's secret, +to keep which he was giving his life. He felt that it would be treason +to tell even her. And besides, she would not keep the secret--what woman +could, what daughter would? It must go out of the world with him, if it +was to be safe. He glanced at her and saw her face ravaged by an hour's +grief. Yet she would not mourn Don John the less if she knew whose hand +had done the deed. It could make but a little difference to her, though +to himself that difference would be great, if she knew that he died +innocent. + +And then began a struggle fierce and grim, that tore his soul and +wounded his heart as no death agony could have hurt him. Since he had +judged her unjustly, since it had all been a hideous dream, since she +was still the child that had been all in all to him throughout her life, +since all was changed, he did not wish to die, he bore the dead man no +hatred, it was no soothing satisfaction to his outraged heart to know +him dead of a sword wound in the breast, far away in the room where they +had left him, there was no fierce regret that he had not driven the +thrust himself. The man was as innocent as the innocent girl, and he +himself, as innocent as both, was to be led out to die to shield the +King--no more. His life was to be taken for that only, and he no longer +set its value at naught nor wished it over. He was the mere scapegoat, +to suffer for his master's crime, since crime it was and nothing better. +And since he was willing to bear the punishment, or since there was now +no escape from it, had he not at least the human right to proclaim his +innocence to the only being he really loved? It would be monstrous to +deny it. What could she do, after all, even if she knew the truth? +Nothing. No one would dare to believe her if she accused the King. She +would be shut up in a convent as a mad woman, but in any case, she would +certainly disappear to end her life in some religious house as soon as +he was dead. Poor girl--she had loved Don John with all her heart--what +could the world hold for her, even if the disgrace of her father's death +were not to shut her out of the world altogether, as it inevitably must. +She would not live long, but she would live in the profoundest sorrow. +It would be an alleviation, almost the greatest possible, to know that +her father's hand was not stained by such a deed. + +The temptation to speak out was overwhelming, and he knew that the time +was short. At any moment Ruy Gomez might open the door, and bid him part +from her, and there would be small chance for him of seeing her again. +He stood uncertain, with bent head and folded arms, and she watched him, +trying to bring herself to touch his hand again and bear his kiss. + +His loyalty to the King, that was like a sort of madness, stood between +him and the words he longed to say. It was the habit of his long +soldier's life, unbending as the corslet he wore and enclosing his soul +as the steel encased his body, proof against every cruelty, every +unkindness, every insult. It was better to die a traitor's death for the +King's secret than to live for his own honour. So it had always seemed +to him, since he had been a boy and had learned to fight under the great +Emperor. But now he knew that he wavered as he had never done in the +most desperate charge, when life was but a missile to be flung in the +enemy's face, and found or not, when the fray was over. There was no +intoxication of fury now, there was no far ring of glory in the air, +there was no victory to be won. The hard and hideous fact stared him in +the face, that he was to die like a malefactor by the hangman's hand, +and that the sovereign who had graciously deigned to accept the +sacrifice had tortured him for nearly half an hour without mercy in the +presence of an inferior, in order to get a few facts on paper which +might help his own royal credit. And as if that were not enough, his own +daughter was to live after him, believing that he had cruelly murdered +the man she most dearly loved. It was more than humanity could bear. + +His brow unbent, his arms unfolded themselves, and he held them out to +Dolores with a smile almost gentle. + +"There is no blood on these hands, my little girl," he said tenderly. "I +did not do it, child. Let me hold you in my arms once, and kiss you +before I go. We are both innocent--we can bless one another before we +part for ever." + +The pure, grey eyes opened wide in amazement. Dolores could hardly +believe her ears, as she made a step towards him, and then stopped, +shrinking, and then made one step more. Her lips moved and wondering +words came to him, so low that he could hardly understand, save that she +questioned him. + +"You did not do it!" she breathed. "You did not kill him after all? But +then--who--why?" + +Still she hesitated, though she came slowly nearer, and a faint light +warmed her sorrowful face. + +"You must try to guess who and why," he said, in a tone as low as her +own. "I must not tell you that." + +"I cannot guess," she answered; but she was close to him now, and she +had taken one of his hands softly in both her own, while she gazed into +his eyes. "How can I understand unless you tell me? Is it so great a +secret that you must die for it, and never tell it? Oh, father, father! +Are you sure--quite sure?" + +"He was dead already when I came into the room," Mendoza answered. "I +did not even see him hurt." + +"But then--yes--then"--her voice sank to a whisper--"then it was the +King!" + +He saw the words on her lips rather than heard them, and she saw in his +face that she was right. She dropped his hand and threw her arms round +his neck, pressing her bosom to his breastplate; and suddenly her love +for him awoke, and she began to know how she might have loved him if she +had known him through all the years that were gone. + +"It cannot be that he will let you die!" she cried softly. "You shall +not die!" she cried again, with sudden strength, and her light frame +shook his as if she would wrench him back from inevitable fate. + +"My little girl," he answered, most tenderly clasping her to him, and +most thoughtfully, lest his armour should hurt her, "I can die happy +now, for I have found all of you again." + +"You shall not die! You shall not die!" she cried. "I will not let you +go--they must take me, too--" + +"No power can save me now, my darling," he answered. "But it does not +matter, since you know. It will be easy now." + +She could only hold him with her small hands, and say over and over +again that she would not let him go. + +"Ah! why have you never loved me before in all these years?" he cried. +"It was my fault--all my fault." + +"I love you now with all my heart," she answered, "and I will save you, +even from the King; and you and I and Inez will go far away, and you two +shall comfort me and love me till I go to him." + +Mendoza shook his head sadly, looking over her shoulder as he held her, +for he knew that there was no hope now. Had he known, or half guessed, +but an hour or two ago, he would have turned on his heel from the door +of Don John's chamber, and he would have left the King to bear the blame +or shift it as he could. + +"It is too late, Dolores. God bless you, my dear, dear child! It will +soon be over--two days at most, for the people will cry out for the +blood of Don John's murderer; and when they see mine they will be +satisfied. It is too late now. Good-by, my little girl, good-by! The +blessing of all heaven be on your dear head!" + +Dolores nestled against him, as she had never done before, with the +feeling that she had found something that had been wanting in her life, +at the very moment when the world, with all it held for her, was +slipping over the edge of eternity. + +"I will not leave you," she cried again. "They shall take me to your +prison, and I will stay with you and take care of you, and never leave +you; and at last I shall save your life, and then--" + +The door of the corridor opened, and she saw Ruy Gomez standing in the +entrance, as if he were waiting. His face was calm and grave as usual, +but she saw a profound pity in his eyes. + +"No, no!" she cried to him, "not yet--one moment more!" + +But Mendoza turned his head at her words, looking over his shoulder, and +he saw the Prince also. + +"I am ready," he said briefly, and he tried to take Dolores' hands from +his neck. "It is time," he said to her. "Be brave, my darling! We have +found each other at last. It will not be long before we are together for +ever." + +He kissed her tenderly once more, and loosed her hold, putting her two +hands together and kissing them also. + +"I will not say good-by," she said. "It is not good-by--it shall not be. +I shall be with you soon." + +His eyes lingered upon hers for a moment, and then he broke away, +setting his teeth lest he should choke and break down. He opened the +door and presented himself to the halberdiers. Dolores heard his +familiar voice give the words of command. + +"Close up! Forward, march!" + +The heavy tramp she knew so well began at once, and echoed along the +outer entries, growing slowly less distinct till it was only a distant +and rumbling echo, and then died away altogether. Her hand was still on +the open door, and Ruy Gomez was standing beside her. He gently drew her +away, and closed the door again. She let him lead her to a chair, and +sat down where she had sat before. But this time she did not lean back +exhausted, with half-closed eyes,--she rested her elbow on her knee and +her chin in her hand, and she tried to think connectedly to a +conclusion. She remembered all the details of the past hours one by one, +and she felt that the determination to save her father had given her +strength to live. + +"Don Ruy Gomez," she said at last, looking up to the tall old nobleman, +who stood by the brazier warming his hands again, "can I see the King +alone?" + +"That is more than I can promise," answered the Prince. "I have asked an +audience for you, and the chamberlain will bring word presently whether +his Majesty is willing to see you. But if you are admitted, I cannot +tell whether Perez will be there or not. He generally is. His presence +need make no difference to you. He is an excellent young man, full of +heart. I have great confidence in him,--so much so that I recommended +him to his Majesty as Secretary. I am sure that he will do all he can to +be of use to you." + +Dolores looked up incredulously, and with a certain wonder at the +Prince's extreme simplicity. Yet he had been married ten years to the +clever woman who ruled him and Perez and King Philip, and made each one +believe that she was devoted to him only, body and soul. Of the three, +Perez alone may have guessed the truth, but though it was degrading +enough, he would not let it stand in the way of his advancement; and in +the end it was he who escaped, leaving her to perish, the victim of the +King's implacable anger, Dolores could not help shaking her head in +answer to the Prince of Eboli's speech. + +"People are very unjust to Perez," he said. "But the King trusts him. If +he is there, try to conciliate him, for he has much influence with his +Majesty." + +Dolores said nothing, and resuming her attitude, returned to her sad +meditations, and to the study of some immediate plan. But she could +think of no way. Her only fixed intention was to see the King himself. +Ruy Gomez could do no more to help her than he had done already, and +that indeed was not little, since it was to his kindly impulse that she +owed her meeting with her father. + +"And if Perez is not inclined to help Don Diego," said the Prince, after +a long pause which had not interrupted the slow progression of, his +kindly thought, "I will request my wife to speak to him. I have often +noticed that the Princess can make Perez do almost anything she wishes. +Women are far cleverer than men, my dear--they have ways we do not +understand. Yes, I will interest my wife in the affair. It would be a +sad thing if your father--" + +The old man stopped short, and Dolores wondered vaguely what he had been +going to say. Ruy Gomez was a very strange compound of almost childlike +and most honourable simplicity, and of the experienced wisdom with +regard to the truth of matters in which he was not concerned, which +sometimes belongs to very honourable and simple men. + +"You do not believe that my father is guilty," said Dolores, boldly +asserting what she suspected. + +"My dear child," answered Ruy Gomez, twisting his rings on his fingers +as he spread his hands above the coals in the brazier, "I have lived in +this court for fifty years, and I have learned in that time that where +great matters are at stake those who do not know the whole truth are +often greatly deceived by appearances. I know nothing of the real matter +now, but it would not surprise me if a great change took place before +to-morrow night. A man who has committed a crime so horrible as the one +your father confessed before us all rarely finds it expedient to make +such a confession, and a young girl, my dear, who has really been a +little too imprudently in love with a royal Prince, would be a great +deal too wise to make a dramatic statement of her fault to the assembled +Grandees of Spain." + +He looked across at Dolores and smiled gently. But she only shook her +head gravely in answer, though she wondered at what he said, and +wondered, too, whether there might not be a great many persons in the +court who thought as he did. She was silent, too, because it hurt her to +talk when she could not draw breath without remembering that what she +had lived for was lying dead in that dim room on the upper story. + +The door opened, and a chamberlain entered the room. + +"His Majesty is pleased to receive Doña Dolores de Mendoza, in private +audience," he said. + +Ruy Gomez rose and led Dolores out into the corridor. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +Dolores had prepared no speech with which to appeal to the King, and she +had not counted upon her own feelings towards him when she found herself +in the room where Mendoza had been questioned, and heard the door closed +behind her by the chamberlain who had announced her coming. She stood +still a moment, dazzled by the brilliant lights after having been so +long in the dimmer waiting room. She had never before been in the King's +study, and she had fancied it very different from what it really was +when she had tried to picture to herself the coming interview. She had +supposed the room small, sombre, littered with books and papers, and +cold; it was, on the contrary, so spacious as to be almost a hall, it +was brightly illuminated and warmed by the big wood fire. Magnificent +tapestries covered the walls with glowing colour, and upon one of these, +in barbaric bad taste, was hung a single great picture by Titian, +Philip's favourite master. Dolores blushed as she recognized in the face +of the insolent Venus the features of the Princess of Eboli. Prom his +accustomed chair, the King could see this painting. Everywhere in the +room there were rich objects that caught and reflected the light, things +of gold and silver, of jade and lapis lazuli, in a sort of tasteless +profusion that detracted from the beauty of each, and made Dolores feel +that she had been suddenly transported out of her own element into +another that was hard to breathe and in which it was bad to live. It +oppressed her, and though her courage was undiminished, the air of the +place seemed to stifle her thought and speech. + +As she entered she saw the King in profile, seated in his great chair at +some distance from the fire, but looking at it steadily. He did not +notice her presence at first. Antonio Perez sat at the table, busily +writing, and he only glanced at Dolores sideways when he heard the door +close after her. She sank almost to the ground as she made the first +court curtsey before advancing, and she came forward into the light. As +her skirt swept the ground a second time, Philip looked slowly round, +and his dull stare followed her as she came round in a quarter of a wide +circle and curtsied a third time immediately in front of him. + +She was very beautiful, as she stood waiting for him to speak, and +meeting his gaze fearlessly with a look of cold contempt in her white +face such as no living person had ever dared to turn to him, while the +light of anger burned in her deep grey eyes. But for the presence of the +Secretary, she would have spoken first, regardless of court ceremony. +Philip looked at her attentively, mentally comparing her with his young +Queen's placidly dull personality and with the Princess of Eboli's fast +disappearing and somewhat coarse beauty. For the Princess had changed +much since Titian had painted his very flattering picture, and though +she was only thirty years of age, she was already the mother of many +children. Philip stared steadily at the beautiful girl who stood waiting +before him, and he wondered why she had never seemed so lovely to him +before. There was a half morbid, half bitter savour in what he felt, +too,--he had just condemned the beauty's father to death, and she must +therefore hate him with all her heart. It pleased him to think of that; +she was beautiful and he stared at her long. + +"Be seated, Doña Dolores," he said at last, in a muffled voice that was +not harsh. "I am glad that you have come, for I have much to say to +you." + +Without lifting his wrist from the arm of the chair on which it rested, +the King moved his hand, and his long forefinger pointed to a low +cushioned stool that was placed near him. Dolores came forward +unwillingly and sat down. Perez watched the two thoughtfully, and forgot +his writing. He did not remember that any one excepting the Princess of +Eboli had been allowed to be seated in the King's study. The Queen never +came there. Perez' work exempted him in private, of course, from much of +the tedious ceremonial upon which Philip insisted. Dolores sat upon the +edge of the stool, very erect, with her hands folded on her knees. + +"Doña Dolores is pale," observed the King. "Bring a cordial, Perez, or a +glass of Oporto wine." + +"I thank your Majesty," said the young girl quickly. "I need nothing." + +"I will be your physician," answered Philip, very suavely. "I shall +insist upon your taking the medicine I prescribe." + +He did not turn his eyes from her as Perez brought a gold salver and +offered Dolores the glass. It was impossible to refuse, so she lifted it +to her lips and sipped a little. + +"I thank your Majesty," she said again. "I thank you, sir," she said +gravely to Perez as she set down the glass, but she did not raise her +eyes to his face as she spoke any more than she would have done if he +had been a footman. + +"I have much to say to you, and some questions to ask of you," the King +began, speaking very slowly, but with extreme suavity. + +He paused, and coughed a little, but Dolores said nothing. Then he began +to look at her again, and while he spoke he steadily examined every +detail of her appearance till his inscrutable gaze had travelled from +her headdress to the points of her velvet slippers, and finally remained +fixed upon her mouth in a way that disturbed her even more than the +speech he made. Perez had resumed his seat. + +"In my life," he began, speaking of himself quite without formality, "I +have suffered more than most men, in being bereaved of the persons to +whom I have been most sincerely attached. The most fortunate and +successful sovereign in the world has been and is the most unhappy man +in his kingdom. One after another, those I have loved have been taken +from me, until I am almost alone in the world that is so largely mine. I +suppose you cannot understand that, my dear, for my sorrows began before +you were born. But they have reached their crown and culmination to-day +in the death of my dear brother." + +He paused, watching her mouth, and he saw that she was making a +superhuman effort to control herself, pressing the beautiful lips +together, though they moved gainfully in spite of her, and visibly lost +colour. + +"Perez," he said after a moment, "you may go and take some rest. I will +send for you when I need you." + +The Secretary rose, bowed low, and left the room by a small masked door +in a corner. The King waited till he saw it close before he spoke again. +His tone changed a little then and his words came quickly, as if he felt +here constraint. + +"I feel," he said, "that we are united by a common calamity, my dear. I +intend to take you under my most particular care and protection from +this very hour. Yes, I know!" he held up his hand o deprecate any +interruption, for Dolores seemed about to speak. "I know why you come to +me, you wish to intercede for your father. That is natural, and you are +right to come to me yourself, for I would rather hear your voice than +that of another speaking for you, and I would rather grant any mercy in +my power to you directly than to some personage of the court who would +be seeking his own interest as much as yours." + +"I ask justice, not mercy, Sire," said Dolores, in a firm, low voice, +and the fire lightened in her eyes. + +"Your father shall have both," answered Philip, "for they are +compatible." + +"He needs no mercy," returned the young girl, "for he has done no harm. +Your Majesty knows that as well as I." + +"If I knew that, my dear, your father would not be under arrest. I +cannot guess what you know or do not know--" + +"I know the truth." She spoke so confidently that the King's expression +changed a little. + +"I wish I did," he answered, with as much suavity as ever. "But tell me +what you think you know about this matter. You may help me to sift it, +and then I shall be the better able to help you, if such a thing be +possible. What do you know?" + +Dolores leaned forward toward him from her seat, almost rising as she +lowered her voice to a whisper, her eyes fixed on his face. + +"I was close behind the door your Majesty wished to open," she said. "I +heard every word; I heard your sword drawn and I heard Don John +fall--and then it was some time before I heard my father's voice, taking +the blame upon himself, lest it should be said that the King had +murdered his own brother in his room, unarmed. Is that the truth, or +not?" + +While she was speaking, a greenish hue overspread Philip's face, ghastly +in the candlelight. He sat upright in his chair, his hands straining on +its arms and pushing, as if he would have got farther back if he could. +He had foreseen everything except that Dolores had been in the next +room, for his secret spies had informed him through Perez that her +father had kept her a prisoner during the early part of the evening and +until after supper. + +"When you were both gone," Dolores continued, holding him under her +terrible eyes, "I came in, and I found him dead, with the wound in his +left breast, and he was unarmed, murdered without a chance for his life. +There is blood upon my dress where it touched his--the blood of the man +I loved, shed by you. Ah, he was right to call you coward, and he died +for me, because you said things of me that no loving man would bear. He +was right to call you coward--it was well said--it was the last word he +spoke, and I shall not forget it. He had borne everything you heaped +upon himself, your insults, your scorn of his mother, but he would not +let you cast a slur upon my name, and if you had not killed him out of +sheer cowardice, he would have struck you in the face. He was a man! And +then my father took the blame to save you from the monstrous accusation, +and that all might believe him guilty he told the lie that saved you +before them all. Do I know the truth? Is one word of that not true?" + +She had quite risen now and stood before him like an accusing angel. And +he, who was seldom taken unawares, and was very hard to hurt, leaned +back and suffered, slowly turning his head from side to side against the +back of the high carved chair. + +"Confess that it is true!" she cried, in concentrated tones. "Can you +not even find courage for that? You are not the King now, you are your +brother's murderer, and the murderer of the man I loved, whose wife I +should have been to-morrow. Look at me, and confess that I have told the +truth. I am a Spanish woman, and I would not see my country branded +before the world with the shame of your royal murders, and if you will +confess and save my father, I will keep your secret for my country's +sake. But if not--then you must either kill me here, as you slew him, or +by the God that made you and the mother that bore you, I will tell all +Spain what you are, and the men who loved Don John of Austria shall rise +and take your blood for his blood, though it be blood royal, and you +shall die, as you killed, like the coward you are!" + +The King's eyes were closed, and still his great pale head moved slowly +from side to side; for he was suffering, and the torture of mind he had +made Mendoza bear was avenged already. But he was silent. + +"Will you not speak?" asked the young girl, with blazing eyes. "Then +find some weapon and kill me here before I go, for I shall not wait till +you find many words." + +She was silent, and she stood upright in the act to go. He made no +sound, and she moved towards the door, stood still, then moved again and +then again, pausing for his answer at each step. He heard her, but could +not bring himself to speak the words she demanded of him. She began to +walk quickly. Her hand was almost on the door when he raised himself by +the arms of his chair, and cried out to her in a frightened voice:-- + +"No, no! Stay here--you must not go--what do you want me to say?" + +She advanced a step again, and once more stood still and met his scared +eyes as he turned his face towards her. + +"Say, 'You have spoken the truth,'" she answered, dictating to him as if +she were the sovereign and he a guilty subject. + +She waited a moment and then moved as if she would go out. + +"Stay--yes--it is true--I did it--for God's mercy do not betray me!" + +He almost screamed the words out to her, half rising, his body bent, his +face livid in his extreme fear. She came slowly back towards him, +keeping her eyes upon him as if he were some dangerous wild animal that +she controlled by her look alone. + +"That is not all," she said. "That was for me, that I might hear the +words from your own lips. There is something more." + +"What more do you want of me?" asked Philip, in thick tones, leaning +back exhausted in his chair. + +"My father's freedom and safety," answered Dolores. "I must have an +order for his instant release. He can hardly have reached his prison +yet. Send for him. Let him come here at once, as a free man." + +"That is impossible," replied Philip. "He has confessed the deed before +the whole court--he cannot possibly be set at liberty without a trial. +You forget what you are asking--indeed you forget yourself altogether +too much." + +He was gathering his dignity again, by force of habit, as his terror +subsided, but Dolores was too strong for him. + +"I am not asking anything of your Majesty; I am dictating terms to my +lover's murderer," she said proudly. + +"This is past bearing, girl!" cried Philip hoarsely. "You are out of +your mind--I shall call servants to take you away to a place of safety. +We shall see what you will do then. You shall not impose your insolence +upon me any longer." + +Dolores reflected that it was probably in his power to carry out the +threat, and to have her carried off by the private door through which +Perez had gone out. She saw in a flash how great her danger was, for she +was the only witness against him, and if he could put her out of the way +in a place of silence, he could send her father to trial and execution +without risk to himself, as he had certainly intended to do. On the +other hand, she had been able to terrify him to submission a few moments +earlier. In the instant working of her woman's mind, she recollected how +his fright had increased as she had approached the door by which she had +entered. His only chance of accomplishing her disappearance lay in +having her taken away by some secret passage, where no open scandal +could be possible. + +Before she answered his last angry speech, she had almost reached the +main entrance again. + +"Call whom you will," she said contemptuously. "You cannot save +yourself. Don Ruy Gomez is on the other side of that door, and there are +chamberlains and guards there, too. I shall have told them all the truth +before your men can lay hands on me. If you will not write the order to +release my father, I shall go out at once. In ten minutes there will be +a revolution in the palace, and to-morrow all Spain will be on fire to +avenge your brother. Spain has not forgotten Don Carlos yet! There are +those alive who saw you give Queen Isabel the draught that killed +her--with your own hand. Are you mad enough to think that no one knows +those things, that your spies, who spy on others, do not spy on you, +that you alone, of all mankind, can commit every crime with impunity?" + +"Take care, girl! Take care!" + +"Beware--Don Philip of Austria, King of Spain and half the world, lest a +girl's voice be heard above yours, and a girl's hand loosen the +foundation of your throne, lest all mankind rise up to-morrow and take +your life for the lives you have destroyed! Outside this door here, +there are men who guess the truth already, who hate you as they hate +Satan, and who loved your brother as every living being loved +him--except you. One moment more--order my father to be set free, or I +will open and speak. One moment! You will not? It is too late--you are +lost!" + +Her hand went out to open, but Philip was already on his feet, and with +quick, clumsy steps he reached the writing-table, seized the pen Perez +had thrown down, and began to scrawl words rapidly in his great angular +handwriting. He threw sand upon it to dry the ink, and then poured the +grains back into the silver sandbox, glanced at the paper and held it +out to Dolores without a word. His other hand slipped along the table to +a silver bell, used for calling his private attendants, but the girl saw +the movement and instinctively suspected his treachery. He meant her to +come to the table, when he would ring the bell and then catch her and +hold her by main force till help came. Her faculties were furiously +awake under the strain she bore, and outran his slow cunning. + +"If you ring that bell, I will open," she said imperiously. "I must have +the paper here, where I am safe, and I must read it myself before I +shall be satisfied." + +"You are a terrible woman," said the King, but she did not like his +smile as he came towards her, holding out the document. + +She took it from his hand, keeping her eyes on his, for something told +her that he would try to seize her and draw her from the door while she +was reading it. For some seconds they faced each other in silence, and +she knew by his determined attitude that she was right, and that it +would not be safe to look down. She wondered why he did not catch her in +his arms as she stood, and then she realized that her free hand was on +the latch of the door, and that he knew it. She slowly turned the +handle, and drew the door to her, and she saw his face fall. She moved +to one side so that she could have sprung out if he had tried violence, +and then at last she allowed her eyes to glance at the paper. It was in +order and would be obeyed; she saw that, at a glance, for it said that +Don Diego de Mendoza was to be set at liberty instantly and +unconditionally. + +"I humbly thank your Majesty, and take my leave," she said, throwing the +door wide open and curtseying low. + +A chamberlain who had seen the door move on its hinges stepped in to +shut it, for it opened inward. The King beckoned him in, and closed it, +but before it was quite shut, he heard Dolores' voice. + +"Don Ruy Gomez," she was saying, "this is an order to set my father at +liberty unconditionally and at once. I do not know to whom it should be +given. Will you take it for me and see to it?" + +"I will go to the west tower myself," he said, beginning to walk with +her. "Such good news is even better when a friend brings it." + +"Thank you. Tell him from me that he is safe, for his Majesty has told +me that he knows the whole truth. Will you do that? You have been very +kind to me to-night, Prince--let me thank you with all my heart now, for +we may not meet again. You will not see me at court after this, and I +trust my father will take us back to Valladolid and live with us." + +"That would be wise," answered Ruy Gomez. "As for any help I have given +you, it has been little enough and freely given. I will not keep your +father waiting for his liberty. Good-night, Doña Dolores." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +All that had happened from the time when Don John had fallen in his room +to the moment when Dolores left her sister on the terrace had occupied +little more than half an hour, during which the King had descended to +the hall, Mendoza had claimed the guilt of Don John's murder, and the +two had gone out under the protection of the guards. As soon as Dolores +was out of hearing, Inez rose and crept along the terrace to Don John's +door. In the confusion that had ensued upon the announcement of his +death no one had thought of going to him; every one took it for granted +that some one else had done what was necessary, and that his apartments +were filled with physicians and servants. It was not the first time in +history that a royal personage had thus been left alone an hour, either +dead or dying, because no one was immediately responsible, and such +things have happened since. + +Inez stole along the terrace and found the outer door open, as the dwarf +had left it when he had carried Dolores out in his arms. She remembered +that the voices she had heard earlier had come from rooms on the left of +the door, and she felt her way to the entrance of the bedchamber, and +then went in without hesitation. Bending very low, so that her hands +touched the floor from time to time, she crept along, feeling for the +body she expected to find. Suddenly she started and stood upright in an +instant. She had heard a deep sigh in the room, not far off. + +She listened intently, but even her ears could detect no sound after +that. She was a little frightened, not with any supernatural fear, for +the blind, who live in the dark for ever, are generally singularly +exempt from such terrors, but because she had thought herself alone with +the dead man, and did not wish to be discovered. + +"Who is here?" she asked quickly, but there was no answer out of the +dead stillness. + +She stood quite still a few seconds and then crept forward again, +bending down and feeling before her along the floor. A moment later her +hand touched velvet, and she knew that she had found what she sought. +With a low moan she fell upon her knees and felt for the cold hand that +lay stretched out upon the marble pavement beyond the thick carpet. Her +hand followed the arm, reached the shoulder and then the face. Her +fingers fluttered lightly upon the features, while her own heart almost +stood still She felt no horror of death, though she had never been near +a dead person before; and those who were fond of her had allowed her to +feel their features with her gentle hands, and she knew beauty through +her touch, by its shape. Though her heart was breaking, she had felt +that once, before it was too late, she must know the face she had long +loved in dreams. Her longing satisfied, her grief broke out again, and +she let herself fall her length upon the floor beside Don John, one arm +across his chest, her head resting against the motionless shoulder, her +face almost hidden against the gathered velvet and silk of his doublet. +Once or twice she sobbed convulsively, and then she lay quite still, +trying with all her might to die there, on his arm, before any one came +to disturb her. It seemed very simple, just to stop living and stay with +him for ever. + +Again she heard a sound of deep-drawn breath--but it was close to her +now, and her own arm moved with it on his chest--the dead man had moved, +he had sighed. She started up wildly, with a sharp cry, half of +paralyzing fear, and half of mad delight in a hope altogether +impossible. Then, he drew his breath again, and it issued from his lips +with a low groan. He was not quite dead yet, he might speak to her +still, he could hear her voice, perhaps, before he really died. She +could never have found courage to kiss him, even then she could have +blushed scarlet at the thought, but she bent down to his face, very +close to it, till her cheek almost touched his as she spoke in a very +trembling, low voice. + +"Not yet--not yet--come back for one moment, only for one little moment! +Oh, let it be God's miracle for me!" + +She hardly knew what she said, but the miracle was there, for she heard +his breath come again and again, and as she stared into her everlasting +night, strange flashes, like light, shot through her brain, her bosom +trembled, and her hands stiffened in the spasm of a delirious joy. + +"Come back!" she cried again. "Come back!" Her hands shook as they felt +his body move. + +His voice came again, not in a word yet, but yet not in a groan of pain. +His eyes, that had been half open and staring, closed with a look of +rest, and colour rose slowly in his cheeks. Then he felt her breath, and +his strength returned for an instant, his arms contracted and clasped +her to him violently. + +"Dolores!" he cried, and in a moment his lips rained kisses on her face, +while his eyes were still closed. + +Then he sank back again exhausted, and her arm kept his head from +striking the marble floor. The girl's cheek flushed a deep red, as she +tried to speak, and her words came broken and indistinct. + +"I am not Dolores," she managed to say. "I am Inez--" + +But he did not hear, for he was swooning again, and the painful blush +sank down again, as she realized that he was once more unconscious. She +wondered whether the room were dark or whether there were lights, or +whether he had not opened his eyes when he had kissed her. His head was +very heavy on her arm. With her other hand she drew off the hood she +wore and rolled it together, and lifting him a little she made a pillow +of it so that he rested easily. He had not recognized her, and she +believed he was dying, he had kissed her, and all eternity could not +take from her the memory of that moment. In the wild confusion of her +thoughts she was almost content that he should die now, for she had felt +what she had never dared to feel in sweetest dreams, and it had been +true, and no one could steal it away now, nor should any one ever know +it, not even Dolores herself. The jealous thought was there, in the +whirlwind of her brain, with all the rest, sudden, fierce, and strong, +as if Don John had been hers in life, and as if the sister she loved so +dearly had tried to win him from her. He was hers in death, and should +be hers for ever, and no one should ever know. It did not matter that he +had taken her for another, his kisses were her own. Once only had a +man's lips, not her father's, touched her cheek, and they had been the +lips of the fairest, and best, and bravest man in the world, her idol +and her earthly god. He might die now, and she would follow him, and in +the world beyond God would make it right somehow, and he, and she, and +her sister would all be but one loving soul for ever and ever. There was +no reasoning in all that--it was but the flash of wild thoughts that all +seemed certainties. + +But Don John of Austria was neither dead nor dying. His brother's sword +had pierced his doublet and run through the outer flesh beneath his left +arm, as he stood sideways with his right thrust forward. The wound was a +mere scratch, as soldiers count wounds, and though the young blood had +followed quickly, it had now ceased to flow. It was the fall that had +hurt him, not the stab. The carpet had slipped from under his feet, and +he had fallen backwards to his full length, as a man falls on ice, and +his head had struck the marble floor so violently that he had lain half +an hour almost in a swoon, like a dead man at first, with neither breath +nor beating of the heart to give a sign of life, till after Dolores had +left him; and then he had sighed back to consciousness by very slow +degrees, because no one was there to help him, to raise his head a few +inches from the floor, to dash a little cold water into his face. + +He stirred uneasily now, and moved his hands again, and his eyes opened +wide. Inez felt the slight motion and heard his regular breathing, and +an instinct told her that he was conscious, and not in a dream as he had +been when he had kissed her. + +"I am Inez," she said, almost mechanically, and not knowing why she had +feared that he should take her for her sister. "I found your Highness +here--they all think that you are dead." + +"Dead?" There was surprise in his voice, and his eyes looked at her and +about the room as he spoke, though he did not yet lift his head from the +hood on which it lay. "Dead?" he repeated, dazed still. "No--I must have +fallen. My head hurts me." + +He uttered a sharp sound as he moved again, more of annoyance than of +suffering, as strong men do who unexpectedly find themselves hurt or +helpless, or both. Then, as his eyes fell upon the open door of the +inner room, he forgot his pain instantly and raised himself upon his +hand with startled eyes. + +"Where is Dolores?" he cried, in utmost anxiety. "Where have they taken +her? Did she get out by the window?" + +"She is safe," answered Inez, hardly knowing what she said, for he +turned pale instantly and had barely heard her answer, when he reeled as +he half sat and almost fell against her. + +She held him as well as she could, but the position was strained and she +was not very strong. Half mad now, between fear lest he should die in +her arms and the instinctive belief that he was to live, she wished with +all her heart that some one would come and help her, or send for a +physician. He might die for lack of some simple aid she did not know how +to give him. But he had only been dizzy with the unconscious effort he +had made, and presently he rested on his own hand again. + +"Thank God Dolores is safe!" he said, in a weak voice. "Can you help me +to get to a chair, my dear child? I must have been badly stunned. I +wonder how long I have been here. I remember--" + +He paused and passed one hand over his eyes. The first instinct of +strong persons who have been unconscious is to think aloud, and to try +and recall every detail of the accident that left them unconscious. + +"I remember--the King was here--we talked and we quarrelled--oh!" + +The short exclamation ended his speech, as complete recollection +returned, and he knew that the secret must be kept, for his brother's +sake. He laid one head on the slight girl's shoulder to steady himself, +and with his other he helped himself to kneel on one knee. + +"I am very dizzy," he said. "Try and help me to a chair, Inez." + +She rose swiftly, holding his hand, and then putting one arm round him +under his own. He struggled to his feet and leaned his weight upon her, +and breathed hard. The effort hurt him where the flesh was torn. + +"I am wounded, too," he said quietly, as he glanced at the blood on his +vest. "But it is nothing serious, I think." + +With the instinct of the soldier hurt in the chest, he brushed his lips +with the small lace ruffle of his sleeve, and looked at it, expecting to +see the bright red stains that might mean death. There was nothing. + +"It is only a scratch," he said, with an accent of indifference. "Help +me to the chair, my dear." + +"Where?" she asked. "I do not know the room." + +"One forgets that you are blind," he answered, with a smile, and leaning +heavily upon her, he led her by his weight, till he could touch the +chair in which he had sat reading Dolores' letter when the King had +entered an hour earlier. + +He sat down with a sigh of relief, and stretched first one leg and then +the other, and leaned back with half-closed eyes. + +"Where is Dolores?" he asked at last. "Why did she go away?" + +"The jester took her away, I think," answered Inez. "I found them +together on the terrace. She was trying to come back to you, but he +prevented her. They thought you were dead." + +"That was wise of him." He spoke faintly still, and when he opened his +eyes, the room swam with him. "And then?" + +"Then I told her what had happened at court; I had heard everything from +the gallery. And Dolores went down alone. I could not understand what +she was going to do, but she is trying to save our father." + +"Your father!" Don John looked at her in surprise, forgetting his hurt, +but it was as if some one had struck his head again, and he closed his +eyes. "What has happened?" he asked faintly. "Try and tell me. I do not +understand." + +"My father thought he had killed you," answered Inez, in surprise. "He +came into the great hall when the King was there, and he cried out in a +loud voice that he had killed you, unarmed." + +"Your father?" He forgot his suffering altogether now. "Your father was +not even in the room when--when I fell! And did the King say nothing? +Tell me quickly!" + +"There was a great uproar, and I ran away to find Dolores. I do not know +what happened afterwards." + +Don John turned painfully in his chair and lifted his hand to the back +of his head. But he said nothing at first, for he was beginning to +understand, and he would not betray the secret of his accident even to +Inez. + +"I knew he could not have done it! I thought he was mad--he most have +been! But I also thought your Highness was dead." + +"Dear child!" Don John's voice was very kind. "You brought me to life. +Your father was not here. It was some one else who hurt me. Do you think +you could find Dolores or send some one to tell her--to tell every one +that I am alive? Say that I had a bad fall and was stunned for a while. +Never mind the scratch--it is nothing--do not speak of it. If you could +find Adonis, he could go." + +He groaned now, for the pain of speaking was almost intolerable. Inez +put out her hand towards him. + +"Does it hurt very much?" she asked, with a sort of pathetic, childlike +sympathy. + +"Yes, my head hurts, but I shall not faint. There is something to drink +by the bed, I think--on this side. If you could only find it. I cannot +walk there yet, I am so giddy." + +"Some one is coming!" exclaimed Inez, instead of answering him. "I hear +some one on the terrace. Hark!" she listened with bent head. "It is +Adonis. I know his step. There he is!" + +Almost as she spoke the last words the dwarf was in the doorway. He +stood still, transfixed with astonishment. + +"Mercy of heaven!" he exclaimed devoutly. "His Highness is alive after +all!" + +"Yes," said Inez, in a glad tone. "The Prince was only stunned by the +fall. Go and tell Dolores--go out and tell every one--bring every one +here to me!" + +"No!" cried Don John. "Try and bring Doña Dolores alone, and let no one +else know. The rest can wait." + +"But your Highness needs a physician," protested the dwarf, not yet +recovered from his astonishment. "Your Highness is wounded, and must +therefore be bled at once. I will call the Doctor Galdos--" + +"I tell you it is nothing," interrupted Don John. "Do as I order you, +and bring Doña Dolores. Give me that drink there, first--from the little +table. In a quarter of an hour I shall be quite well again. I have been +as badly stunned before when my horse has fallen with me at a barrier." + +The jester swung quickly to the table, in his awkward, bow-legged gait, +and brought the beaker that stood there. Don John drank eagerly, for his +lips were parched with pain. + +"Go!" he said imperatively. "And come back quickly." + +"I will go," said Adonis. "But I may not come back quickly, for I +believe that Doña Dolores is with his Majesty at this moment, or with +her father, unless the three are together. Since it has pleased your +Highness not to remain dead, it would have been much simpler not to die +at all, for your Highness's premature death has caused trouble which +your Highness's premature resurrection may not quickly set right." + +"The sooner you bring Doña Dolores, the sooner the tremble will be +over," said Don John. "Go at once, and do your best." + +Adonis rolled away, shaking his head and almost touching the floor with +his hands as he walked. + +"So the Last Trumpet is not merely another of those priests' tales!" he +muttered. "I shall meet Don Carlos on the terrace, and the Emperor in +the corridor, no doubt! They might give a man time to confess his sins. +It was unnecessary that the end of the world should come so suddenly!" + +The last words of his jest were spoken to himself, for he was already +outside when he uttered them, and he had no intention of wasting time in +bearing the good news to Dolores. The difficulty was to find her. He had +been a witness of the scene in the hall from the balcony, and he guessed +that when she left the hall with Ruy Gomez she would go either to her +father or the King. It would not be an easy matter to see her, and it +was by no means beyond the bounds of possibility that he might be +altogether hindered from doing so, unless he at once announced to every +one he met the astounding fact that Don John was alive after all. He was +strongly tempted to do that, without waiting, for it seemed by far the +most sensible thing to do in the disturbed state of the court; but it +was his business to serve and amuse many masters, and his office, if not +his life, depended upon obeying each in turn and finding the right jest +for each. He placed the King highest, of course, among those he had to +please, and before he had gone far in the corridor he slackened his pace +to give himself time to think over the situation. Either the King had +meant to kill Don John himself, or he had ordered Mendoza to do so. That +much was clear to any one who had known the secret of Don Carlos' death, +and the dwarf had been one of the last who had talked with the +unfortunate Prince before that dark tragedy. And on this present night +he had seen everything, and knew more of the thoughts of each of the +actors in the drama than any one else, so that he had no doubt as to his +conclusions. If, then, the King had wished to get rid of Don John, he +would be very much displeased to learn that the latter was alive after +all. It would not be good to be the bearer of that news, and it was more +than likely that Philip would let Mendoza go to the scaffold for the +attempt, as he long afterwards condemned Antonio Perez to death for the +murder of Escobedo, Don John's secretary, though he himself had ordered +Perez to do that deed; as he had already allowed the ecclesiastic Doctor +Cazalla to be burned alive, though innocent, rather than displease the +judges who had condemned him. The dwarf well knew that there was no +crime, however monstrous, of which Philip was not capable, and of the +righteous necessity of which he could not persuade himself if he chose. +Nothing could possibly be more dangerous than to stand between him and +the perpetration of any evil he considered politically necessary, except +perhaps to hinder him in the pursuit of his gloomy and secret pleasures. +Adonis decided at once that he would not be the means of enlightening +the King on the present occasion. He most go to some one else. The +second person in command of his life, and whom he dreaded most after +Philip himself, was the Princess of Eboli. + +He knew her secret, too, as he had formerly known how she had forged the +letters that brought about the deaths of Don Carlos and of Queen Isabel; +for the Princess ruled him by fear, and knew that she could trust him as +long as he stood in terror of her. He knew, therefore, that she had not +only forgiven Don John for not yielding to her charm in former days, but +that she now hoped that he might ascend the throne in Philip's stead, by +fair means or foul, and that the news of his death must have been a +destructive blow to her hopes. He made up his mind to tell her first +that he was alive, unless he could get speech with Dolores alone, which +seemed improbable. Having decided this, he hastened his walk again. + +Before he reached the lower story of the palace he composed his face to +an expression of solemnity, not to say mourning, for he remembered that +as no one knew the truth but himself, he must not go about with too gay +a look. In the great vestibule of the hall he found a throng of +courtiers, talking excitedly in low tones, but neither Dolores nor Ruy +Gomez was there. He sidled up to a tall officer of the guards who was +standing alone, looking on. + +"Could you inform me, sir," he asked, "what became of Doña Dolores de +Mendoza when she left the hall with the Prince of Eboli?" + +The officer looked down at the dwarf, with whom he had never spoken +before, but who, in his way, was considered to be a personage of +importance by the less exalted members of the royal household. Indeed, +Adonis was by no means given to making acquaintance at haphazard with +all those who wished to know him in the hope that he might say a good +word for them when the King was in a pleasant humour. + +"I do not know, Master Adonis," answered the magnificent lieutenant, +very politely. "But if you wish it, I will enquire." + +"You are most kind and courteous, sir," answered the dwarf +ceremoniously. "I have a message for the lady." + +The officer turned away and went towards the King's apartments, leaving +the jester in the corner. Adonis knew that he might wait some time +before his informant returned, and he shrank into the shadow to avoid +attracting attention. That was easy enough, so long as the crowd was +moving and did not diminish, but before long he heard some one speaking +within the hall, as if addressing a number of persons at once, and the +others began to leave the vestibule in order to hear what was passing. +Though the light did not fall upon him directly, the dwarf, in his +scarlet dress, became a conspicuous object. Yet he did not dare to go +away, for fear of missing the officer when the latter should return. His +anxiety to escape observation was not without cause, since he really +wished to give Don John's message to Dolores before any one else knew +the truth. In a few moments he saw the Princess of Eboli coming towards +him, leaning on the arm of the Duke of Medina Sidonia. She came from the +hall as if she had been listening to the person who was still speaking +near the door, and her handsome face wore a look of profound dejection +and disappointment. She had evidently seen the dwarf, for she walked +directly towards him, and at half a dozen paces she stopped and +dismissed her companion, who bowed low, kissed the tips of her fingers, +and withdrew. + +Adonis drew down the corners of his mouth, bent his head still lower, +and tried to look as unhappy as possible, in imitation of the Princess's +expression. She stood still before him, and spoke briefly in imperious +tones. + +"What is the meaning of all this?" she asked. "Tell me the truth at +once. It will be the better for you." + +"Madam," answered Adonis, with all the assurance he could muster, "I +think your Excellency knows the truth much better than I." + +The Princess bent her black brows and her eyes began to gleam angrily. +Titian would not have recognized in her stern face the smiling features +of his portrait of her--of the insolently beautiful Venus painted by +order of King Philip when the Princess was in the height of his favour. + +"My friend," she said, in a mocking tone, "I know nothing, and you know +everything. At the present moment your disappearance from the court will +not attract even the smallest attention compared with the things that +are happening. If you do not tell me what you know, you will not be here +to-morrow, and I will see that you are burned alive for a sorcerer next +week. Do you understand? Now tell me who killed Don John of Austria, and +why. Be quick, I have no time to lose." + +Adonis made up his mind very suddenly that it would be better to disobey +Don John than the angry woman who was speaking to him. + +"Nobody killed him," he answered bluntly. + +The Princess was naturally violent, especially with her inferiors, and +when she was angry she easily lost all dignity. She seized the dwarf by +the arm and shook him. + +"No jesting!" she cried. "He did not kill himself--who did it?" + +"Nobody," repeated Adonis doggedly, and quite without fear, for he knew +how glad she would be to know the truth. "His Highness is not dead at +all--" + +"You little hound!" The Princess shook him furiously again and +threatened to strike him with her other hand. + +He only laughed. + +"Before heaven, Madam," he said, "the Prince is alive and recovered, and +is sitting in his chair. I have just been talking with him. Will you go +with me to his Highness's apartment? If he is not there, and safe, burn +me for a heretic to-morrow." + +The Princess's hands dropped by her sides in sheer amazement, for she +saw that the jester was in earnest. + +"He had a scratch in the scuffle," he continued, "but it was the fall +that killed him, his resurrection followed soon afterwards--and I trust +that his ascension may be no further distant than your Excellency +desires." + +He laughed at his blasphemous jest, and the Princess laughed too, a +little wildly, for she could hardly control her joy. + +"And who wounded him?" she asked suddenly. "You know everything, you +must know that also." + +"Madam," said the dwarf, fixing his eyes on hers, "we both know the name +of the person who wounded Don John, very well indeed, I regret that I +should not be able to recall it at this moment. His Highness has +forgotten it too, I am sure." + +The Princess's expression did not change, but she returned his gaze +steadily during several seconds, and then nodded slowly to show that she +understood. Then she looked away and was silent for a moment. + +"I am sorry I was rough with you, Adonis," she said at last, +thoughtfully. "It was hard to believe you at first, and if the Prince +had been dead, as we all believed, your jesting would have been +abominable. There,"--she unclasped a diamond brooch from her +bodice--"take that, Adonis--you can turn it into money." + +The Princess's financial troubles were notorious, and she hardly ever +possessed any ready gold. + +"I shall keep it as the most precious of my possessions," answered the +dwarf readily. + +"No," she said quickly. "Sell it. The King--I mean--some one may see it +if you keep it." + +"It shall be sold to-morrow, then," replied the jester, bending his head +to hide his smile, for he understood what she meant. + +"One thing more," she said; "Don John did not send you down to tell this +news to the court without warning. He meant that I should know it before +any one else. You have told me--now go away and do not tell others." + +Adonis hesitated a moment. He wished to do Don John's bidding if he +could, but he knew his danger, and that he should be forgiven if, to +save his own head, he did not execute the commission. The Princess +wished an immediate answer, and she had no difficulty in guessing the +truth. + +"His Highness sent you to find Doña Dolores," she said. "Is that not +true?" + +"It is true," replied Adonis. "But," he added, anticipating her wish out +of fear, "it is not easy to find Doña Dolores." + +"It is impossible. Did you expect to find her by waiting in this corner! +Adonis, it is safer for you to serve me than Don John, and in serving me +you will help his interests. You know that. Listen to me--Doña Dolores +must believe him dead till to-morrow morning. She must on no account +find out that he is alive." + +At that moment the officer who had offered to get information for the +dwarf returned. Seeing the latter in conversation with such a great +personage, he waited at a little distance. + +"If you have found out where Doña Dolores de Mendoza is at this moment, +my dear sir," said Adonis, "pray tell the Princess of Eboli, who is very +anxious to know." + +The officer bowed and came nearer. + +"Doña Dolores de Mendoza is in his Majesty's inner apartment," he said. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +Dolores and Ruy Gomez had passed through the outer vestibule, and he +left her to pursue his way towards the western end of the Alcazar, which +was at a considerable distance from the royal apartments. Dolores went +down the corridor till she came to the niche and the picture before +which Don John had paused to read the Princess of Eboli's letter after +supper. She stopped a moment, for she suddenly felt that her strength +was exhausted and that she must rest or break down altogether. She +leaned her weight against the elaborately carved railing that shut off +the niche like a shrine, and looked at the painting, which was one of +Raphael's smaller masterpieces, a Holy Family so smoothly and delicately +painted that it jarred upon her at that moment as something untrue and +out of all keeping with possibility. Though most perfectly drawn and +coloured, the spotlessly neat figures with their airs of complacent +satisfaction seemed horribly out of place in the world of suffering she +was condemned to dwell in, and she fancied, somewhat irreverently and +resentfully, that they would look as much out of keeping with their +surroundings in a heaven that must be won by the endurance of pain. +Their complacent smiles seemed meant for her anguish, and she turned +from the picture in displeasure, and went on. + +She was going back to her sister on the terrace, and she was going to +kneel once more beside the dear head of the man she had loved, and to +say one last prayer before his face was covered for ever. At the thought +she felt that she needed no rest again, for the vision drew her to the +sorrowful presence of its reality, and she could not have stopped again +if she had wished to. She must go straight on, on to the staircase, up +the long flight of steps, through the lonely corridors, and out at hist +to the moonlit terrace where Inez was waiting. She went forward in a +dream, without pausing. Since she had freed her father she had a right +to go back to her grief. But as she went along, lightly and quickly, it +seemed beyond her own belief that she should have found strength for +what she had done that night. For the strength of youth is elastic and +far beyond its own knowledge. Dolores had reached the last passage that +led out upon the terrace, when she heard hurrying footsteps behind her, +and a woman in a cloak slipped beside her, walking very easily and +smoothly. It was the Princess of Eboli. She had left the dwarf, after +frightening him into giving up his search for Dolores, and she was +hastening to Don John's rooms to make sure that the jester had not +deceived her or been himself deceived in some way she could not +understand. + +Dolores had lost her cloak in the hall, and was bareheaded, in her court +dress. The Princess recognized her in the gloom and stopped her. + +"I have looked for you everywhere," she said. "Why did you run away from +me before?" + +"It was my blind sister who was with you," answered Dolores, who knew +her voice at once and had understood from her father what had happened. +"Where are you going now?" she asked, without giving the Princess time +to put a question. + +"I was looking for you. I wish you to come and stay with me to-night--" + +"I will stay with my father. I thank you for your kindness, but I would +not on any account leave him now." + +"Your father is in prison--in the west tower--he has just been sent +there. How can you stay with him?" + +"You are well informed," said Dolores quietly. "But your husband is just +now gone to release him. I gave Don Ruy Gomez the order which his +Majesty had himself placed in my hands, and the Prince was kind enough +to take it to the west tower himself. My father is unconditionally +free." + +The Princess looked fixedly at Dolores while the girl was speaking, but +it was very dark in the corridor and the lamp was flickering to go out +in the night breeze. The only explanation of Mendoza's release lay in +the fact that the King was already aware that Don John was alive and in +no danger. In that case Dolores knew it, too. It was no great matter, +though she had hoped to keep the girl out of the way of hearing the news +for a day or two. Dolores' mournful face might have told her that she +was mistaken, if there had been more light; but it was far too dark to +see shades of colour or expression. + +"So your father is free!" she said. "Of course, that was to be expected, +but I am glad that he has been set at liberty at once." + +"I do not think it was exactly to be expected," answered Dolores, in +some surprise, and wondering whether there could have been any simpler +way of getting what she had obtained by such extraordinary means. + +"He might have been kept under arrest until to-morrow morning, I +suppose," said the Princess quietly. "But the King is of course anxious +to destroy the unpleasant impression produced by this absurd affair, as +soon as possible." + +"Absurd!" Dolores' anger rose and overflowed at the word. "Do you dare +to use such a word to me to-night?" + +"My dear Dolores, why do you lose your temper about such a thing?" asked +the Princess, in a conciliatory tone. "Of course if it had all ended as +we expected it would, I never should use such a word--if Don John had +died--" + +"What do you mean?" Dolores held her by the wrist in an instant and the +maddest excitement was in her voice. + +"What I mean? Why--" the Princess stopped short, realizing that Dolores +might not know the truth after all. "What did I say?" she asked, to gain +time. "Why do you hold my hand like that?" + +"You called the murder of Don John an absurd affair, and then you said, +'if Don John had died'--as if he were not lying there dead in his room, +twenty paces from where you stand! Are you mad? Are you playing some +heartless comedy with me? What does it all mean?" + +The Princess was very worldly wise, and she saw at a glance that she +must tell Dolores the truth. If she did not, the girl would soon learn +it from some one else, but if she did, Dolores would always remember who +had told her the good news. + +"My dear," she said very gently, "let my wrist go and let me take your +arm. We do not understand each other, or you would not be so angry with +me. Something has happened of which you do not know--" + +"Oh, no! I know the whole truth!" Dolores interrupted her, and resisted +being led along in a slow walk. "Let me go to him!" she cried. "I only +wish to see him once more--" + +"But, dearest child, listen to me--if I do not tell you everything at +once, it is because the shock might hurt you. There is some hope that he +may not die--" + +"Hope! Oh no, no, no! I saw him lying dead--" + +"He had fainted, dear. He was not dead--" + +"Not dead?" Dolores' voice broke. "Tell me--tell me quickly." She +pressed her hand to her side. + +"No. He came to himself after you had left him--he is alive. No--listen +to me--yes, dear, he is alive and not much hurt. The wound was a +scratch, and he was only stunned--he is well--to-morrow he will be as +well as ever--ah, dear, I told you so!" + +Dolores had borne grief, shame, torment of mind that night, as bravely +as ever a woman bore all three, but the joy of the truth that he lived +almost ended her life then and there. She fell back upon the Princess's +arm and threw out her hands wildly, as if she were fighting for breath, +and the lids of her eyes quivered violently and then were quite still, +and she uttered a short, unnatural sound that was more like a groan of +pain than a cry of happiness. + +The Princess was very strong, and held her, steadying herself against +the wall, thinking anything better than to let her slip to the floor and +lie swooning on the stone pavement. But the girl was not unconscious, +and in a moment her own strength returned. + +"Let me go!" she cried wildly. "Let me go to him, or I shall die!" + +"Go, child--go," said the Princess, with an accent of womanly kindness +that was rare in her voice. But Dolores did not hear it, for she was +already gone. + +Dolores saw nothing in the room, as she entered, but the eyes of the man +she loved, though Inez was still beside him. Dolores threw herself +wildly into his arms and hid her face, crying out incoherent words +between little showers of happy tears; and her hands softly beat upon +his shoulders and against his neck, and stole up wondering to his cheeks +and touched his hair, as she drew back her head and held him still to +look at him and see that he was whole. She had no speech left, for it +was altogether beyond the belief of any sense but touch itself that a +man should rise unhurt from the dead, to go on living as if nothing not +common had happened in his life, to have his strength at once, to look +into her eyes and rain kisses on the lids still dark with grief for his +death. Sight could not believe the sight, hearing could not but doubt +the sound, yet her hands held him and touched him, and it was he, unhurt +saving for a scratch and a bruise. In her overwhelming happiness, she +had no questions, and the first syllables that her lips could shape made +broken words of love, and of thanks to Heaven that he had been saved +alive for her, while her hands still fluttered to his face and beat +gently and quickly on his shoulders and his arms, as if fearing lest he +should turn to incorporeal light, without substance under her touch, and +vanish then in air, as happiness does in a dream, leaving only pain +behind. + +But at last she threw back her head and let him go, and her hands +brushed away the last tears from her grey eyes, and she looked into his +face and smiled with parted lips, drinking the sight of him with her +breath and eyes and heart. One moment so, and then they kissed as only +man and woman can when there has been death between them and it is gone +not to come back again. + +Then memory returned, though very slowly and broken in many places, for +it seemed to her as if she had not been separated from him a moment, and +as if he must know all she had done without hearing her story in words. +The time had been so short since she had kissed him last, in the little +room beyond: there had been the minutes of waiting until the King had +come, and then the trying of the door, and then the quarrel, that had +lasted a short ten minutes to end in Don John's fall; then the half hour +during which he had lain unconscious and alone till Inez had come at the +moment when Dolores had gone down to the throne room; and after that the +short few minutes in which she had met her father, and then her +interview with the King, which had not lasted long, and now she was with +him again; and it was not two hours since they had parted--a lifetime of +two hours. + +"I cannot believe it!" she cried, and now she laughed at last. "I +cannot, I cannot! It is impossible!" + +"We are both alive," he answered. "We are both flesh and blood, and +breathing. I feel as if I had been in an illness or in a sleep that had +lasted very long." + +"And I in an awful dream." Her face grew grave as she thought of what +was but just passed. "You must know it all--surely you know it +already--oh, yes! I need not tell it all." + +"Something Inez has told me," he replied, "and some things I guess, but +I do not know everything. You must try and tell me--but you should not +be here--it is late. When my servants know that I am living, they will +come back, and my gentlemen and my officers. They would have left me +here all night, if I had been really dead, lest being seen near my body +should send them to trial for my death." He laughed. "They were wise +enough in their way. But you cannot stay here." + +"If the whole court found me here, it would not matter," answered +Dolores. "Their tongues can take nothing from my name which my own words +have not given them to feed on." + +"I do not understand," he said, suddenly anxious. "What have you said? +What have you done?" + +Inez came near them from the window, by which she had been standing. She +laid a hand on Dolores' arm. + +"I will watch," she said. "If I hear anything, I will warn you, and you +can go into the small room again." + +She went out almost before either of them could thank her. They had, +indeed, forgotten her presence in the room, being accustomed to her +being near them; but she could no longer bear to stay, listening to +their loving words that made her loneliness so very dark. And now, too, +she had memories of her own, which she would keep secret to the end of +her life,--beautiful and happy recollections of that sweet moment when +the man that seemed dead had breathed and had clasped her in his arms, +taking her for the other, and had kissed her as he would have kissed the +one he loved. She knew at last what a kiss might be, and that was much; +but she knew also what it was to kneel by her dead love and to feel his +life come back, breath by breath and beat by beat, till he was all +alive; and few women have felt that or can guess how great it is to +feel. It was better to go out into the dark and listen, lest any one +should disturb the two, than to let her memories of short happiness be +marred by hearing words that were not meant for her. + +"She found you?" asked Dolores, when she was gone. + +"Yes, she found me. You had gone down, she said, to try and save your +father. He is safe now!" he laughed. + +"She found you alive." Dolores lingered on the words. "I never envied +her before, I think; and it is not because if I had stayed I should have +suffered less, dear." She put up her hands upon his shoulders again. "It +is not for that, but to have thought you dead and to have seen you grow +alive again, to have watched your face, to have seen your eyes wake and +the colour come back to your cheeks and the warmth to your dear hands! I +would have given anything for that, and you would rather that I should +have been there, would you not?" She laughed low and kissed away the +answer from his lips. "If I had stayed beside you, it would have been +sooner, love. You would have felt me there even in your dream of death, +and you would have put out your hand to come back to me. Say that you +would! You could not have let me lie there many minutes longer breaking +my heart over you and wanting to die, too, so that we might be buried +together. Surely my kisses would have brought you back!" + +"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 winding 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. + +But there were a few who were ill pleased; for Antonio Perez said +nothing, and absently smoothed his black hair with his immaculate white +hand, and the Princess of Eboli was very silent, too, for it seemed to +her that Don John's sudden marriage, and his reconciliation with his +brother, had set back the beginning of her plan beyond the bounds of +possible accomplishment; and she was right in that, and the beginning of +her resentment against Don John for having succeeded in marrying Dolores +in spite of every one was the beginning of the chain that led her to her +own dark fate. For though she held the cards long in her hands after +that, and played for high stakes, as she had done before, fortune failed +her at the last, and she came to unutterable ruin. + +It may be, too, that Don John's splendid destiny was measured on that +night, and cut off beforehand, though his most daring fights were not +yet fought, nor his greatest victories won. To tell more here would be +to tell too much, and much, too, that is well told elsewhere. But this +is true, that he loved Dolores with all his heart; that the marriage +remained a court secret; and that she bore him one fair daughter, and +died, and the child grew up under another reign, a holy nun, and was +abbess of the convent of Las Huelgas whither Dolores was to have gone on +the morning after that most eventful night. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's In The Palace Of The King, by F. Marion Crawford + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13243 *** diff --git a/13243-h/13243-h.htm b/13243-h/13243-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1426aaf --- /dev/null +++ b/13243-h/13243-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9753 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> + <title>the title</title> + <style type="text/css"> + + body + {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + + p + {text-align: justify;} + + blockquote + {text-align: justify;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 + {text-align: center;} + + hr + {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + + html>body hr + {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + + hr.full + {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full + {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + + pre + {font-size: 0.7em; color: #000; background-color: #FFF;} + + .poetry + {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 0%; + text-align: left;} + + .footnote + {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 0.9em;} + + .index + {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; + text-align: center;} + + .figure + {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; + text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em;} + .figure img + {border: none;} + + .date + {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; + text-align: right;} + + span.rightnote + {position: absolute; left: 92%; right: 1%; + font-size: 0.7em; border-bottom: solid 1px;} + + span.leftnote + {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 92%; + font-size: 0.7em; border-bottom: solid 1px;} + + span.linenum + {float:right; + text-align: right; font-size: 0.7em;} + </style> +</head> + +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13243 ***</div> + +<h1>In the Palace of the King</h1><br /> +<h2>A Love Story of Old Madrid</h2><br /> +<br /> +<h3>BY</h3> +<h3>F. MARION CRAWFORD</h3><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h4>COPYRIGHT 1900</h4> +<h4>BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</h4><br /> + +<hr /> + +<center> +To my old friend<br /> +GEORGE P. BRETT<br /> +<br /> +New York, October, 1906<br /> +</center> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CONTENTS'></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<blockquote> +<a href='#CHAPTER_I'>CHAPTER I</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_II'>CHAPTER II</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_III'>CHAPTER III</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_IV'>CHAPTER IV</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_V'>CHAPTER V</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_VI'>CHAPTER VI</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_VII'>CHAPTER VII</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_VIII'>CHAPTER VIII</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_IX'>CHAPTER IX</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_X'>CHAPTER X</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XI'>CHAPTER XI</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XII'>CHAPTER XII</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XIII'>CHAPTER XIII</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XIV'>CHAPTER XIV</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XV'>CHAPTER XV</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XVI'>CHAPTER XVI</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XVII'>CHAPTER XVII</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XVIII'>CHAPTER XVIII</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XIX'>CHAPTER XIX</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XX'>CHAPTER XX</a><br /> +</blockquote> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_I'></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + + +<p>Two young girls sat in a high though very narrow room of the old Moorish +palace to which King Philip the Second had brought his court when he +finally made Madrid his capital. It was in the month of November, in the +afternoon, and the light was cold and grey, for the two tall windows looked +due north, and a fine rain had been falling all the morning. The stones in +the court were drying now, in patches, but the sky was like a smooth vault +of cast lead, closing over the city that lay to the northward, dark, wet +and still, as if its life had shrunk down under ground, away from the +bitter air and the penetrating damp.</p> + +<p>The room was scantily furnished, but the few objects it contained, the +carved table, the high-backed chairs and the chiselled bronze brazier, bore +the stamp of the time when art had not long been born again. On the walls +there were broad tapestries of bold design, showing green forests populated +by all sorts of animals in stiff attitudes, staring at one another in +perpetual surprise. Below the tapestry a carved walnut wainscoting went +round the room, and the door was panelled and flanked by fluted doorposts +of the same dark wood, on which rested corbels fashioned into curling +acanthus leaves, to hold up the cornice, which itself made a high shelf +over the door. Three painted Italian vases, filled with last summer's rose +leaves and carefully sealed lest the faint perfume should be lost, stood +symmetrically on this projection, their contents slowly ripening for future +use. The heap of white ashes, under which the wood coals were still alive +in the big brazier, diffused a little warmth through the chilly room.</p> + +<p>The two girls were sitting at opposite ends of the table. The one held a +long goose-quill pen, and before her lay several large sheets of paper +covered with fine writing. Her eyes followed the lines slowly, and from +time to time she made a correction in the manuscript. As she read, her lips +moved to form words, but she made no sound. Now and then a faint smile lent +singular beauty to her face, and there was more light in her eyes, too; +then it disappeared again, and she read on, carefully and intently, as if +her soul were in the work.</p> + +<p>She was very fair, as Spaniards sometimes are still, and were more often +in those days, with golden hair and deep grey eyes; she had the high +features, the smooth white throat, and the finely modelled ears that were +the outward signs of the lordly Gothic race. When she was not smiling, her +face was sad, and sometimes the delicate colour left her clear cheek and +she grew softly pale, till she seemed almost delicate. Then the sensitive +nostrils quivered almost imperceptibly, and the curving lips met closely as +if to keep a secret; but that look came seldom, and for the most part her +eyes were quiet and her mouth was kind. It was a face that expressed +devotion, womanly courage, and sensitiveness rather than an active and +dominating energy. The girl was indeed a full-grown woman, more than twenty +years of age, but the early bloom of girlhood was on her still, and if +there was a little sadness in the eyes, a man could guess well enough that +it rose from the heart, and had but one simple source, which was neither a +sudden grief nor a long-hidden sorrow, but only youth's one secret--love. +Maria Dolores de Mendoza knew all of fear for the man she loved, that any +woman could know, and much of the hope that is love's early life; but she +knew neither the grief, nor the disappointment, nor the shame for another, +nor for herself, nor any of the bitterness that love may bring. She did not +believe that such things could be wrung from hearts that were true and +faithful; and in that she was right. The man to whom she had given her +heart and soul and hope had given her his, and if she feared for him, it +was not lest he should forget her or his own honour. He was a man among +men, good and true; but he was a soldier, and a leader, who daily threw his +life to the battle, as Douglas threw the casket that held the Bruce's heart +into the thick of the fight, to win it back, or die. The man she loved was +Don John of Austria, the son of the great dead Emperor Charles the Fifth, +the uncle of dead Don Carlos and the half brother of King Philip of +Spain--the man who won glory by land and sea, who won back Granada a second +time from the Moors, as bravely as his great grandfather Ferdinand had won +it, but less cruelly, who won Lepanto, his brother's hatred and a death by +poison, the foulest stain in Spanish history.</p> + +<p>It was November now, and it had been June of the preceding year when he +had ridden away from Madrid to put down the Moriscoes, who had risen +savagely against the hard Spanish rule. He had left Dolores de Mendoza an +hour before he mounted, in the freshness of the early summer morning, where +they had met many a time, on a lonely terrace above the King's apartments. +There were roses there, growing almost wild in great earthen jars, where +some Moorish woman had planted them in older days, and Dolores could go +there unseen with her blind sister, who helped her faithfully, on pretence +of taking the poor girl thither to breathe the sweet quiet air. For Inez +was painfully sensitive of her affliction, and suffered, besides blindness, +all that an over-sensitive and imaginative being can feel.</p> + +<p>She was quite blind, with no memory of light, though she had been born +seeing, as other children. A scarlet fever had destroyed her sight. +Motherless from her birth, her father often absent in long campaigns, she +had been at the mercy of a heartless nurse, who had loved the fair little +Dolores and had secretly tormented the younger child, as soon as she was +able to understand, bringing her up to believe that she was so repulsively +ugly as to be almost a monster. Later, when the nurse was gone, and Dolores +was a little older, the latter had done all she could to heal the cruel +wound and to make her sister know that she had soft dark hair, a sad and +gentle face, with eyes that were quite closed, and a delicate mouth that +had a little half painful, half pathetic way of twitching when anything +hurt her,--for she was easily hurt. Very pale always, she turned her face +more upwards than do people who have sight, and being of good average +woman's height and very slender and finely made, this gave her carriage an +air of dignity that seemed almost pride when she was offended or wounded. +But the first hurt had been deep and lasting, and she could never quite +believe that she was not offensive to the eyes of those who saw her, still +less that she was sometimes almost beautiful in a shadowy, spiritual way. +The blind, of all their sufferings, often feel most keenly the +impossibility of knowing whether the truth is told them about their own +looks; and he who will try and realize what it is to have been always +sightless will understand that this is not vanity, but rather a sort of +diffidence towards which all people should be very kind. Of all necessities +of this world, of all blessings, of all guides to truth, God made light +first. There are many sharp pains, many terrible sufferings and sorrows in +life that come and wrench body and soul, and pass at last either into +alleviation or recovery, or into the rest of death; but of those that abide +a lifetime and do not take life itself, the worst is hopeless darkness. We +call ignorance 'blindness,' and rage 'blindness,' and we say a man is +'blind' with grief.</p> + +<p>Inez sat opposite her sister, at the other end of the table, listening. +She knew what Dolores was doing, how during long months her sister had +written a letter, from time to time, in little fragments, to give to the +man she loved, to slip into his hand at the first brief meeting or to drop +at his feet in her glove, or even, perhaps, to pass to him by the blind +girl's quick fingers. For Inez helped the lovers always, and Don John was +very gentle with her, talking with her when he could, and even leading her +sometimes when she was in a room she did not know. Dolores knew that she +could only hope to exchange a word with him when he came back, and that the +terrace was bleak and wet now, and the roses withered, and that her father +feared for her, and might do some desperate thing if he found her lover +talking with her where no one could see or hear. For old Mendoza knew the +world and the court, and he foresaw that sooner or later some royal +marriage would be made for Don John of Austria, and that even if Dolores +were married to him, some tortuous means would be found to annul her +marriage, whereby a great shame would darken his house. Moreover, he was +the King's man, devoted to Philip body and soul, as his sovereign, ready to +give his life ten times for his sovereign's word, and thinking it treason +to doubt a royal thought or motive. He was a rigid old man, a Spaniard of +Spain's great days, fearless, proud, intolerant, making Spain's honour his +idol, capable of gentleness only to his children, and loving them dearly, +but with that sort of severity and hardness in all questions where his +authority was concerned which can make a father's true affection the most +intolerable burden to a girl of heart, and which, where a son is its +object, leads sooner or later to fierce quarrels and lifelong estrangement. +And so it had happened now. For the two girls had a brother much older than +they, Rodrigo; and he had borne to be treated like a boy until he could +bear no more, and then he had left his father's house in anger to find out +his own fortune in the world, as many did in his day,--a poor gentleman +seeking distinction in an army of men as brave as himself, and as keen to +win honour on every field. Then, as if to oppose his father in everything, +he had attached himself to Don John, and was spoken of as the latter's +friend, and Mendoza feared lest his son should help Don John to a marriage +with Dolores. But in this he was mistaken, for Rodrigo was as keen, as much +a Spaniard, and as much devoted to the honour of his name as his father +could be; and though he looked upon Don John as the very ideal of what a +soldier and a prince should be, he would have cut off his own right hand +rather than let it give his leader the letter Dolores had been writing so +long; and she knew this and feared her brother, and tried to keep her +secret from him.</p> + +<p>Inez knew all, and she also was afraid of Rodrigo and of her father, +both for her sister's sake and her own. So, in that divided house, the +father was against the son, and the daughters were allied against them +both, not in hatred, but in terror and because of Dolores' great love for +Don John of Austria.</p> + +<p>As they sat at the table it began to rain again, and the big drops beat +against the windows furiously for a few minutes. The panes were round and +heavy, and of a greenish yellow colour, made of blown glass, each with a +sort of knob in the middle, where the iron blowpipe had been separated from +the hot mass. It was impossible to see through them at all distinctly, and +when the sky was dark with rain they admitted only a lurid glare into the +room, which grew cold and colourless again when the rain ceased. Inez had +been sitting motionless a long time, her elbow on the table, her chin +resting upon her loosely clasped white hands, her blind face turned upward, +listening to the turning of the pages and to the occasional scratching of +her sister's pen. She sighed, moved, and let her hands fall upon the table +before her in a helpless, half despairing way, as she leaned back in the +big carved chair. Dolores looked up at once, for she was used to helping +her sister in her slightest needs and to giving her a ready sympathy in +every mood.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" she asked quickly. "Do you want anything, dear?"</p> + +<p>"Have you almost finished?"</p> + +<p>The girl's voice would almost have told that she was blind. It was sweet +and low, but it lacked life; though not weak, it was uncertain in strength +and full of a longing that could never be satisfied, but that often seemed +to come within possible reach of satisfaction. There was in the tones, too, +the perpetual doubt of one from whom anything might be hidden by silence, +or by the least tarn of words. Every passing hope and fear, and every +pleasure and pain, were translated into sound by its quick changes. It +trusted but could not always quite promise to believe; it swelled and sank +as the sensitive heart beat faster or slower. It came from a world without +light, in which only sound had meaning, and only touch was certainty.</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Dolores. "I have almost finished--there is only half a +page more to read over."</p> + +<p>"And why do you read it over?" asked Inez. "Do you change what you have +written? Do you not think now exactly as you did when you wrote?"</p> + +<p>"No; I feel a great deal more--I want better words! And then it all +seems so little, and so badly written, and I want to say things that no one +ever said before, many, many things. He will laugh--no, not that! How could +he? But my letter will seem childish to him. I know it will. I wish I had +never written it I Do you think I had better give it to him, after +all?"</p> + +<p>"How can I tell?" asked Inez hopelessly. "You have never read it to me. +I do not know what you have said to him."</p> + +<p>"I have said that I love him as no man was ever loved before," answered +Dolores, and the true words seemed to thrill with a life of their own as +she spoke them.</p> + +<p>Then she was silent for a moment, and looked down at the written pages +without seeing them. Inez did not move, and seemed hardly to breathe. Then +Dolores spoke again, pressing both her hands upon the paper before her +unconsciously.</p> + +<p>"I have told him that I love him, and shall love him for ever and ever," +she said; "that I will live for him, die for him, suffer for him, serve +him! I have told him all that and much more."</p> + +<p>"More? That is much already. But he loves you, too. There is nothing you +can promise which he will not promise, and keep, too, I think. But more! +What more can you have said than that?"</p> + +<p>"There is nothing I would not say if I could find words!"</p> + +<p>There was a fullness of life in her voice which, to the other's +uncertain tones, was as sunshine to moonlight.</p> + +<p>"You will find words when you see him this evening," said Inez slowly. +"And they will be better than anything you can write. Am I to give him your +letter?"</p> + +<p>Dolores looked at her sister quickly, for there was a little constraint +in the accent of the last phrase.</p> + +<p>"I do not know," she answered. "How can I tell what may happen, or how I +shall see him first?"</p> + +<p>"You will see him from the window presently. I can hear the guards +forming already to meet him--and you--you will be able to see him from the +window."</p> + +<p>Inez had stopped and had finished her speech, as if something had choked +her. She turned sideways in her chair when she had spoken, as if to listen +better, for she was seated with her back to the light.</p> + +<p>"I will tell you everything," said Maria Dolores softly. "It will be +almost as if you could see him, too."</p> + +<p>"Almost--"</p> + +<p>Inez spoke the one word and broke off abruptly, and rose from her chair. +In the familiar room she moved almost as securely as if she could see. She +went to the window and listened. Dolores came and stood beside her.</p> + +<p>"What is it, dear?" she asked. "What is the matter? What has hurt you? +Tell me!"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," answered the blind girl, "nothing, dear. I was thinking--how +lonely I shall be when you and he are married, and they send me to a +convent, or to our dismal old house in Valladolid."</p> + +<p>A faint colour came into her pale face, and feeling it she turned away +from Dolores; for she was not speaking the truth, or at least not half of +it all.</p> + +<p>"I will not let you go!" answered Dolores, putting one arm round her +sister's waist. "They shall never take you from me. And if in many years +from now we are married, you shall always be with us, and I will always +take care of you as I do now."</p> + +<p>Inez sighed and pressed her forehead and blind eyes to the cold window, +almost withdrawing herself from the pressure of Dolores' arm. Down below +there was tramping of heavy feet, as the companies of foot guards took +their places, marching across the broad space, in their wrought steel caps +and breastplates, carrying their tasselled halberds on their shoulders. An +officer's voice gave sharp commands. The gust that had brought the rain had +passed by, and a drizzling mist, caused by a sudden chill, now completely +obscured the window.</p> + +<p>"Can you see anything?" asked Inez suddenly, in a low voice. "I think I +hear trumpets far away."</p> + +<p>"I cannot see--there is mist on the glass, too. Do you hear the trumpets +clearly?"</p> + +<p>"I think I do. Yes--I hear them clearly now." She stopped. "He is +coming," she added under her breath.</p> + +<p>Dolores listened, but she had not the almost supernatural hearing of the +blind, and could distinguish nothing but the tramping of the soldiers +below, and her sister's irregular breathing beside her, as Inez held her +breath again and again in order to catch the very faint and distant +sound.</p> + +<p>"Open the window," she said almost sharply, "I know I hear the +trumpets."</p> + +<p>Her delicate fingers felt for the bolts with almost feverish anxiety. +Dolores helped her and opened the window wide. A strain of distant clarions +sounding a triumphant march came floating across the wet city. Dolores +started, and her face grew radiant, while her fresh lips opened a little as +if to drink in the sound with the wintry air. Beside her, Inez grew slowly +pale and held herself by the edge of the window frame, gripping it hard, +and neither of the two girls felt any sensation of cold. Dolores' grey eyes +grew wide and bright as she gazed fixedly towards the city where the avenue +that led to the palace began, but Inez, bending a little, turned her ear in +the same direction, as if she could not bear to lose a single note of the +music that told her how Don John of Austria had come home in triumph, safe +and whole, from his long campaign in the south.</p> + +<p>Slowly it came nearer, strain upon strain, each more clear and loud and +full of rejoicing. At first only the high-pitched clarions had sent their +call to the window, but now the less shrill trumpets made rich harmonies to +the melody, and the deep bass horns gave the marching time to the rest, in +short full blasts that set the whole air shaking as with little peak of +thunder. Below, the mounted officers gave orders, exchanged short phrases, +cantered to their places, and came back again a moment later to make some +final arrangement--their splendid gold-inlaid corslets and the rich +caparisons of their horses looking like great pieces of jewelry that moved +hither and thither in the thin grey mist, while the dark red and yellow +uniforms of the household guards surrounded the square on three sides with +broad bands of colour. Dolores could see her father, who commanded them and +to whom the officers came for orders, sitting motionless and erect on his +big black horse--a stern figure, with close-cut grey beard, clad all in +black saving his heavily gilded breastplate and the silk sash he wore +across it from shoulder to sword knot. She shrank back a little, for she +would not have let him see her looking down from an upper window to welcome +the returning visitor.</p> + +<p>"What is it? Do you see him? Is he there?" Inez asked the questions in a +breath, as she heard her sister move.</p> + +<p>"No--our father is below on his horse. He must not see us." And she +moved further into the embrasure.</p> + +<p>"You will not be able to see," said Inez anxiously. "How can you tell +me--I mean, how can you see, where you are?"</p> + +<p>Dolores laughed softly, but her laugh trembled with the happiness that +was coming so soon.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see very well," she answered. "The window is wide open, you +know."</p> + +<p>"Yes--I know."</p> + +<p>Inez leaned back against the wall beside the window, letting her hand +drop in a hopeless gesture. The sample answer had hurt her, who could never +see, by its mere thoughtlessness and by the joy that made her sister's +voice quaver. The music grew louder and louder, and now there came with it +the sound of a great multitude, cheering, singing the march with the +trumpets, shouting for Don John; and all at once as the throng burst from +the street to the open avenue the voices drowned the clarions for a moment, +and a vast cry of triumph filled the whole air.</p> + +<p>"He is there! He is there!" repeated Inez, leaning towards the window +and feeling for the stone sill.</p> + +<p>But Dolores could not hear for the shouting. The clouds had lifted to +the westward and northward; and as the afternoon sun sank lower they broke +away, and the level rays drank up the gloom of the wintry day in an +instant. Dolores stood motionless before the window, undazzled, like a +statue of ivory and gold in a stone niche. With the light, as the advancing +procession sent the people before it, the trumpets rang high and clear +again, and the bright breastplates of the trumpeters gleamed like dancing +fire before the lofty standard that swayed with the slow pace of its +bearer's horse. Brighter and nearer came the colours, the blazing armour, +the standard, the gorgeous procession of victorious men-at-arms; louder and +louder blew the trumpets, higher and higher the clouds were lifted from the +lowering sun. Half the people of Madrid went before, the rest flocked +behind, all cheering or singing or shouting. The stream of colour and light +became a river, the river a flood, and in the high tide of a young victor's +glory Don John of Austria rode onward to the palace gate. The mounted +trumpeters parted to each side before him, and the standard-bearer ranged +his horse to the left, opposite the banner of the King, which held the +right, and Don John, on a grey Arab mare, stood out alone at the head of +his men, saluting his royal brother with lowered sword and bent head. A +final blast from the trumpets sounded full and high, and again and again +the shout of the great throng went up like thunder and echoed from the +palace walls, as King Philip, in his balcony above the gate, returned the +salute with his hand, and bent a little forward over the stone railing.</p> + +<p>Dolores de Mendoza forgot her father and all that he might say, and +stood at the open window, looking down. She had dreamed of this moment; she +had seen visions of it in the daytime; she had told herself again and again +what it would be, how it must be; but the reality was beyond her dreams and +her visions and her imaginings, for she had to the full what few women have +in any century, and what few have ever had in the blush of maidenhood,--the +sight of the man she loved, and who loved her with all his heart, coming +home in triumph from a hard-fought war, himself the leader and the victor, +himself in youth's first spring, the young idol of a warlike nation, and +the centre of military glory.</p> + +<p>When he had saluted the King he sat still a moment on his horse and +looked upward, as if unconsciously drawn by the eyes that, of all others, +welcomed him at that moment; and his own met them instantly and smiled, +though his face betrayed nothing. But old Mendoza, motionless in his +saddle, followed the look, and saw; and although he would have praised the +young leader with the best of his friends, and would have fought under him +and for him as well as the bravest, yet at that moment he would gladly have +seen Don John of Austria fall dead from his horse before his eyes.</p> + +<p>Don John dismounted without haste, and advanced to the gate as the King +disappeared from the balcony above. He was of very graceful figure and +bearing, not short, but looking taller than he really was by the perfection +of his proportions. The short reddish brown hair grew close and curling on +his small head, but left the forehead high, while it set off the clear skin +and the mobile features. A very small moustache shaded his lip without +hiding the boyish mouth, and at that time he wore no beard. The lips, +indeed, smiled often, and the expression of the mouth was rather careless +and good-humoured than strong. The strength of the face was in the +clean-cut jaw, while its real expression was in the deep-set, fiery blue +eyes, that could turn angry and fierce at one moment, and tender as a +woman's the next.</p> + +<p>He wore without exaggeration the military dress of his time,--a +beautifully chiselled corslet inlaid with gold, black velvet sleeves, loose +breeches of velvet and silk, so short that they did not descend half way to +the knees, while his legs were covered by tight hose and leather boots, +made like gaiters to clasp from the knee to the ankle and heel. Over his +shoulder hung a short embroidered cloak, and his head covering was a broad +velvet cap, in which were fastened the black and yellow plumes of the House +of Austria.</p> + +<p>As he came near to the gate, many friends moved forward to greet him, +and he gave his hand to all, with a frank smile and words of greeting. But +old Mendoza did not dismount nor move his horse a step nearer. Don John, +looking round before he went in, saw the grim face, and waved his hand to +Dolores' father; but the old man pretended that he saw nothing, and made no +answering gesture. Some one in the crowd of courtiers laughed lightly. Old +Mendoza's face never changed; but his knees must have pressed the saddle +suddenly, for his black horse stirred uneasily, and tried to rear a little. +Don John stopped short, and his eyes hardened and grew very light before +the smile could fade from his lips, while he tried to find the face of the +man whose laugh he had heard. But that was impossible, and his look was +grave and stern as he went in under the great gate, the multitude cheering +after him.</p> + +<p>From her high window Dolores had seen and heard also, for she had +followed every movement he made and every change of his expression, and had +faithfully told her sister what she saw, until the laugh came, short and +light, but cutting. And Inez heard that, too, for she was leaning far +forward upon the broad stone sill to listen for the sound of Don John's +voice. She drew back with a springing movement, and a sort of cry of +pain.</p> + +<p>"Some one is laughing at me!" she cried. "Some one is laughing because I +am trying to see!"</p> + +<p>Instantly Dolores drew her sister to her, kissing her tenderly, and +soothing her as one does a frightened child.</p> + +<p>"No, dear, no! It was not that--I saw what it was. Nobody was looking at +you, my darling. Do you know why some one laughed? It hurt me, too. He +smiled and waved his hand to our father, who took no notice of him. The +laugh was for that--and for me, because the man knew well enough that our +father does not mean that we shall ever marry. Do you see, dear? It was not +meant for you."</p> + +<p>"Did he really look up at us when you said so?" asked Inez, in a +smothered voice.</p> + +<p>"Who? The man who laughed?"</p> + +<p>"No. I mean--"</p> + +<p>"Don John? Yes. He looked up to us and smiled--as he often does at +me--with his eyes only, while his face was quite grave. He is not changed +at all, except that he looks more determined, and handsomer, and braver, +and stronger than ever! He does each time I see him!"</p> + +<p>But Inez was not listening.</p> + +<p>"That was worth living for--worth being blind for," she said suddenly, +"to hear the people shout and cheer for him as he came along. You who can +see it all do not understand what the sound means to me. For a moment--only +for a moment--I saw light--I know I saw a bright light before my eyes. I am +not dreaming. It made my heart beat, and it made my head dizzy. It must +have been light. Do you think it could be, Dolores?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know, dear," answered the other gently.</p> + +<p>But as the day faded and they sat together in the early dusk, Dolores +looked long and thoughtfully at the blind face. Inez loved Don John, though +she did not know it, and without knowing it she had told her sister.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_II'></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + + +<p>When Don John had disappeared within the palace the people lingered a +little while, hoping that something might happen which would be worth +seeing, and then, murmuring a little in perfectly unreasonable +disappointment, they slowly dispersed. After that old Mendoza gave his +orders to the officers of the guards, the men tramped away, one detachment +after another, in a regular order; the cavalry that had ridden up with Don +John wheeled at a signal from the trumpets, and began to ride slowly back +to the city, pressing hard upon the multitude, and before it was quite dark +the square before the palace was deserted again. The sky had cleared, the +pavement was dry again, and the full moon was rising. Two tall sentinels +with halberds paced silently up and down in the shadow.</p> + +<p>Dolores and her sister were still sitting in the dark when the door +opened, and a grey-haired servant in red and yellow entered the room, +bearing two lighted wax candles in heavy bronze candlesticks, which he set +upon the table. A moment later he was followed by old Mendoza, still in his +breastplate, as he had dismounted, his great spurs jingling on his heavy +boots, and his long basket-hilted sword trailing on the marble pavement. He +was bareheaded now, and his short hair, smooth and grizzled, covered his +energetic head like a close-fitting skull cap of iron-grey velvet. He stood +still before the table, his bony right hand resting upon it and holding +both his long gloves. The candlelight shone upward into his dark face, and +gleamed yellow in his angry eyes.</p> + +<p>Both the girls rose instinctively as their father entered; but they +stood close together, their hands still linked as if to defend each other +from a common enemy, though the hard man would have given his life for +either of them at any moment since they had come into the world. They knew +it, and trembled.</p> + +<p>"You have made me the laughing-stock of the court," he began slowly, and +his voice shook with anger. "What have you to say in your defence?"</p> + +<p>He was speaking to Dolores, and she turned a little pale. There was +something so cruelly hard in his tone and bearing that she drew back a +little, not exactly in bodily fear, but as a brave man may draw back a step +when another suddenly draws a weapon upon him. Instantly Inez moved +forward, raising one white hand in protest, and turning her blind face to +her father's gleaming eyes.</p> + +<p>"I am not speaking to you," he said roughly, "but you," he went on, +addressing Dolores, and the heavy table shook under his hand. "What devil +possessed you that you should shame me and yourself, standing at your +window to smile at Don John, as if he were the Espadero at a bull fight and +you the beauty of the ring--with all Madrid there to look on, from his +Majesty the King to the beggar in the road? Have you no modesty, no shame, +no blood that can blush? And if not, have you not even so much woman's +sense as should tell you that you are ruining your name and mine before the +whole world?"</p> + +<p>"Father! For the sake of heaven do not say such words--you must not! You +shall not!"</p> + +<p>Dolores' face was quite white now, as she gently pushed Inez aside and +faced the angry man. The table was between them.</p> + +<p>"Have I said one word more than the very truth?" asked Mendoza. "Does +not the whole court know that you love Don John of Austria--"</p> + +<p>"Let the whole world know it!" cried the girl bravely. "Am I ashamed to +love the best and bravest man that breathes?"</p> + +<p>"Let the whole world know that you are willing to be his toy, his +plaything--"</p> + +<p>"His wife, sir!" Dolores' voice was steady and clear as she interrupted +her father. "His wife," she repeated proudly; "And to-morrow, if you and +the King will not hinder us. God made you my father, but neither God nor +man has given you the right to insult me, and you shall not be unanswered, +so long as I have strength and breath to speak. But for you, I should be +Don John of Austria's wife to-day--and then, then his 'toy,' his +'plaything'--yes, and his slave and his servant--what you will! I love him, +and I would work for him with my hands, as I would give my blood and my +life for his, if God would grant me that happiness and grace, since you +will not let me be his wife!"</p> + +<p>"His wife!" exclaimed Mendoza, with a savage sneer. "His wife--to be +married to-day and cast off to-morrow by a turn of the pen and the twisting +of a word that would prove your marriage void, in order that Don John may +be made the husband of some royal widowed lady, like Queen Mary of the +Scots! His wife!" He laughed bitterly.</p> + +<p>"You have an exalted opinion of your King, my father, since you suppose +that he would permit such deeds in Spain!"</p> + +<p>Dolores had drawn herself up to her full height as she spoke, and she +remained motionless as she awaited the answer to what she had said. It was +long in coming, though Mendoza's dark eyes met hers unflinchingly, and his +lips moved more than once as if he were about to speak. She had struck a +blow that was hard to parry, and she knew it. Inez stood beside her, silent +and breathing hard as she listened.</p> + +<p>"You think that I have nothing to say," he began at last, and his tone +had changed and was more calm. "You are right, perhaps. What should I say +to you, since you have lost all sense of shame and all thought of respect +or obedience? Do you expect that I shall argue with you, and try to +convince you that I am right, instead of forcing you to respect me and +yourself? Thank Heaven, I have never yet questioned my King's thoughts, nor +his motives, nor his supreme right to do whatsoever may be for the honour +and glory of Spain. My life is his, and all I have is his, to do with it +all as he pleases, by grace of his divine right. That is my creed and my +law--and if I have failed to bring you up in the same belief, I have +committed a great sin, and it will be counted against me hereafter, though +I have done what I could, to the best of my knowledge."</p> + +<p>Mendoza lifted his sheathed sword and laid his right hand upon the +cross-bar of the basket hilt.</p> + +<p>"God--the King--Spain!" he said solemnly, as he pressed his lips to it +once for each article of his faith.</p> + +<p>"I do not wish to shake your belief," said Dolores coldly. "I daresay +that is impossible!"</p> + +<p>"As impossible as it is to make me change my determination," answered +Mendoza, letting his long sword rest on the pavement again.</p> + +<p>"And what may your determination be?" asked the girl, still facing +him.</p> + +<p>Something in his face forewarned her of near evil and danger, as he +looked at her long without answering. She moved a little, so as to stand +directly in front of Inez. Taking an attitude that was almost defiant, she +began to speak rapidly, holding her hands behind her and pressing herself +back against her sister to attract the latter's attention; and in her hand +she held the letter she had written to Don John, folded into the smallest +possible space, for she had kept it ready in the wrist of her tight sleeve, +not knowing what might happen any moment to give her an opportunity of +sending it.</p> + +<p>"What have you determined?" she asked again, and then went on without +waiting for a reply. "In what way are you going to exhibit your power over +me? Do you mean to take me away from the court to live in Valladolid again? +Are you going to put me in the charge of some sour old woman who will never +let me out of her sight from morning till morning?" She had found her +sister's hand behind hers and had thrust the letter into the fingers that +closed quickly upon it. Then she laughed a little, almost gaily. "Do you +think that a score of sour old duennas could teach me to forget the man I +love, or could prevent me from sending him a message every day if I chose? +Do you think you could hinder Don John of Austria, who came back an hour +ago from his victory the idol of all Spain, the favourite of the +people--brave, young, powerful, rich, popular, beloved far more than the +King himself, from seeing me every day if he chose, so long as he were not +away in war? And then--I will ask you something more--do you think that +father, or mother, or king, or law, or country has power to will away the +love of a woman who loves with all her heart and soul and strength? Then +answer me and tell me what you have determined to do with me, and I will +tell you my determination, too, for I have one of my own, and shall abide +by it, come what may, and whatsoever you may do!"</p> + +<p>She paused, for she had heard Inez softly close the door as she went +out. The letter at least was safe, and if it were humanly possible, Inez +would find a means of delivering it; for she had all that strange ingenuity +of the blind in escaping observation which it seems impossible that they +should possess, but of which every one who has been much with them is fully +aware. Mendoza had seen Inez go out, and was glad that she was gone, for +her blind face sometimes disturbed him when he wished to assert his +authority.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "I will tell you what I mean to do, and it is the only +thing left to me, for you have given me no choice. You are disobedient and +unruly, you have lost what little respect you ever had--or showed--for me. +But that is not all. Men have had unruly daughters before, and yet have +married them well, and to men who in the end have ruled them. I do not +speak of my affection for you both, since you have none for me. But now, +you are going beyond disobedience and lawlessness, for you are ruining +yourself and disgracing me, and I will neither permit the one nor suffer +the other." His voice rose harshly. "Do you understand me? I intend to +protect my name from you, and yours from the world, in the only way +possible. I intend to send you to Las Huelgas to-morrow morning. I am in +earnest, and unless you consent to give up this folly and to marry as I +wish, you shall stay there for the rest of your natural life. Do you +understand? And until to-morrow morning you shall stay within these doors. +We shall see whether Don John of Austria will try to force my dwelling +first and a convent of holy nuns afterwards. You will be safe from him, I +give you my word of honour,--the word of a Spanish gentleman and of your +father. You shall be safe forever. And if Don John tries to enter here +to-night, I will kill him on the threshold. I swear that I will."</p> + +<p>He ceased speaking, turned, and began to walk up and down the small +room, his spurs and sword clanking heavily at every step. He had folded his +arms, and his head was bent low.</p> + +<p>A look of horror and fear had slowly risen in Dolores' face, for she +knew her father, and that he kept his word at every risk. She knew also +that the King held him in very high esteem, and was as firmly opposed to +her marriage as Mendoza himself, and therefore ready to help him to do what +he wished. It had never occurred to her that she could be suddenly thrust +out of sight in a religious institution, to be kept there at her father's +pleasure, even for her whole life. She was too young and too full of life +to have thought of such a possibility. She had indeed heard that such +things could be done, and had been done, but she had never known such a +case, and had never realized that she was so completely at her father's +mercy. For the first time in her life she felt real fear, and as it fell +upon her there came the sickening conviction that she could not resist it, +that her spirit was broken all at once, that in a moment more she would +throw herself at her father's feet and implore mercy, making whatever +promise he exacted, yet making it falsely, out of sheer terror, in an utter +degradation and abasement of all moral strength, of which she had never +even dreamed. She grew giddy as she felt it coming upon her, and the lights +of the two candles moved strangely. Already she saw herself on her knees, +sobbing with fear, trying to take her father's hand, begging forgiveness, +denying her love, vowing submission and dutiful obedience in an agony of +terror. For on the other side she saw the dark corridors and gloomy cells +of Las Huelgas, the veiled and silent nuns, the abomination of despair that +was before her till she should die and escape at last,--the faint hope +which would always prevent her from taking the veil herself, yet a hope +fainter and fainter, crossed by the frightful uncertainty in which she +should be kept by those who guarded her. They would not even tell her +whether the man she loved were alive or dead, she could never know whether +he had given up her love, himself in despair, or whether, then, as years +went by, he would not lose the thread that took him back to the memory of +her, and forget--and love again.</p> + +<p>But then her strong nature rose again, and the vision of fear began to +fade as her faith in his love denied the last thought with scorn. Many a +time, when words could tell no more, and seemed exhausted just when trust +was strongest, he had simply said, "I love you, as you love me," and +somehow the little phrase meant all, and far more than the tender speeches +that sometimes formed themselves so gracefully, and yet naturally and +simply, because they, too, came straight from the heart. So now, in her +extreme need, the plain words came back to her in his voice, "I love you, +as you love me," with a sudden strength of faith in him that made her live +again, and made fear seem impossible. While her father slowly paced the +floor in silence, she thought what she should do, and whether there could +be anything which she would not do, if Don John of Austria were kept a +prisoner from her; and she felt sure that she could overcome every obstacle +and laugh at every danger, for the hope of getting to him. If she would, so +would he, since he loved her as she loved him. But for all the world, he +would not have her throw herself upon her father's mercy and make false +promises and sob out denials of her love, out of fear. Death would be +better than that.</p> + +<p>"Do as you will with me, since you have the power," she said at last, +quite calmly and steadily.</p> + +<p>Instantly the old man stopped in his walk, and turned towards her, +almost as if he himself were afraid now. To her amazement she saw that his +dark eyes were moist with tears that clung but half shed to the rugged lids +and rough lashes. He did not speak for some moments, while she gazed at him +in wonder, for she could not understand. Then all at once he lifted his +brown hands and covered his face with a gesture of utter despair.</p> + +<p>"Dolores! My child, my little girl!" he cried, in a broken voice.</p> + +<p>Then he sat down, as it overcome, clasped his hands on the hilt of his +sword, and rested his forehead against them, rocking himself with a barely +perceptible motion. In twenty years, Dolores had never understood, not even +guessed, that the hard man, ever preaching of wholesome duty and strict +obedience, always rebuking, never satisfied, ill pleased almost always, +loved her with all his heart, and looked upon her as the very jewel of his +soul. She guessed it now, in a sudden burst of understanding; but it was so +new, so strange, that she could not have told what she felt. There was at +best no triumph at the thought that, of the two, he had broken down first +in the contest. Pity came first, womanly, simple and kind, for the harsh +nature that was so wounded at last. She came to his side, and laid one hand +upon his shoulder, speaking softly.</p> + +<p>"I am very, very sorry that I have hurt you," she said, and waited for +him to speak, pressing his shoulder with a gentle touch.</p> + +<p>He did not look up, and still he rocked himself gently, leaning on his +sword. The girl suffered, too, to see him suffering so. A little while ago +he had been hard, fierce, angry, cruel, threatening her with a living death +that had filled her with horror. It had seemed quite impossible that there +could be the least tenderness in him for any one--least of all for her.</p> + +<p>"God be merciful to me," he said at length in very low tones. "God +forgive me if it is my fault--you do not love me--I am nothing to you but +an unkind old man, and you are all the world to me, child!"</p> + +<p>He raised his head slowly and looked into her face. She was startled at +the change in his own, as well as deeply touched by what he said. His dark +cheeks had grown grey, and the tears that would not quite fall were like a +glistening mist under the lids, and almost made him look sightless. Indeed, +he scarcely saw her distinctly. His clasped hands trembled a little on the +hilt of the sword he still held.</p> + +<p>"How could I know?" cried Dolores, suddenly kneeling down beside him. +"How could I guess? You never let me see that you were fond of me--or I +have been blind all these years--"</p> + +<p>"Hush, child!" he said. "Do not hurt me any more--it must have been my +fault."</p> + +<p>He grew more calm, and though his face was very grave and sad, the +natural dark colour was slowly coming back to it now, and his hands were +steady again. The girl was too young, and far too different from him, to +understand his nature, but she was fast realizing that he was not the man +he had always seemed to her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if I had only known!" she cried, in deep distress. "If I had only +guessed, I would have been so different! I was always frightened, always +afraid of you, since I can remember--I thought you did not care for us and +that we always displeased you--how could we know?"</p> + +<p>Mendoza lifted one of his hands from the sword hilt, and took hers, with +as much gentleness as was possible to him. His eyes became clear again, and +the profound emotion he had shown subsided to the depths whence it had +risen.</p> + +<p>"We shall never quite understand each other," he said quietly. "You +cannot see that it is a man's duty to do what is right for his children, +rather than to sacrifice that in order to make them love him."</p> + +<p>It seemed to Dolores that there might be a way open between the two, but +she said nothing, and left her hand in his, glad that he was kind, but +feeling, as he felt, that there could never be any real understanding +between them. The breach had existed too long, and it was far too wide.</p> + +<p>"You are headstrong, my dear," he said, nodding at each word. "You are +very headstrong, if you will only reflect."</p> + +<p>"It is not my head, it is my heart," answered Dolores. "And besides," +she added with a smile, "I am your daughter, and you are not of a very +gentle and yielding disposition, are you?"</p> + +<p>"No," he answered with hesitation, "perhaps not." Then his face relaxed +a little, and he almost smiled too.</p> + +<p>It seemed as if the peace were made and as if thereafter there need not +be trouble again. But it was even then not far off, for it was as +impossible for Mendoza to yield as it would have been for Dolores to give +up her love for Don John. She did not see this, and she fancied that a real +change had taken place in his disposition, so that he would forget that he +had threatened to send her to Las Huelgas, and not think of it again.</p> + +<p>"What is done cannot be undone," he said, with renewed sadness. "You +will never quite believe that you have been everything to me during your +life. How could you not be, my child? I am very lonely. Your mother has +been dead nearly eighteen years, and Rodrigo--"</p> + +<p>He stopped short suddenly, for he had never spoken his son's name in the +girl's hearing since Rodrigo had left him to follow his own fortunes.</p> + +<p>"I think Rodrigo broke my heart," said the old man, after a short pause, +controlling his voice so that it sounded dry and indifferent. "And if there +is anything left of it, you will break the rest."</p> + +<p>He rose, taking his hand from hers, and turning away, with the roughness +of a strong, hard man, who has broken down once under great emotion and is +capable of any harshness in his fear of yielding to it again. Dolores +started slightly and drew back. In her the kindly impression was still +strong, but his tone and manner wounded her.</p> + +<p>"You are wrong," she said earnestly. "Since you have shown me that you +love me, I will indeed do my best not to hurt you or displease you. I will +do what I can--what I can."</p> + +<p>She repeated the last words slowly and with unconscious emphasis. He +turned his face to her again instantly.</p> + +<p>"Then promise me that you will never see Don John of Austria again, that +you will forget that you ever loved him, that you will put him altogether +out of your thoughts, and that you will obediently accept the marriage I +shall make for you."</p> + +<p>The words of refusal to any such obedience as that rose to the girl's +lips, ready and sharp. But she would not speak them this time, lest more +angry words should answer hers. She looked straight at her father's eyes, +holding her head proudly high for a moment. Then, smiling at the +impossibility of what he asked, she turned from him and went to the window +in silence. She opened it wide, leaned upon the stone sill and looked out. +The moon had risen much higher now, and the court was white.</p> + +<p>She had meant to cut short the discussion without rousing anger again, +but she could have taken no worse way to destroy whatever was left of her +father's kindlier mood. He did not raise his voice now, as he followed her +and spoke.</p> + +<p>"You refuse to do that?" he said, with an already ominous interrogation +in his tone.</p> + +<p>"You ask the impossible," she answered, without looking round. "I have +not refused, for I have no will in this, no choice. You can do what you +please with me, for you have power over my outward life--and if you lacked +it, the King would help you. But you have no power beyond that, neither +over my heart nor over my soul. I love him--I have loved him long, and I +shall love him till I die, and beyond that, forever and ever, beyond +everything--beyond the great to-morrow of God's last judgment! How can I +put him out of my thoughts, then? It is madness to ask it of me."</p> + +<p>She paused a moment, while he stood behind her, getting his teeth and +slowly grinding the heel of one heavy boot on the pavement.</p> + +<p>"And as for threatening me," she continued, "you will not kill Don John, +nor even try to kill him, for he is the King's brother. If I can see him +this evening, I will--and there will be no risk for him. You would not +murder him by stealth, I suppose? No! Then you will not attack him at all, +and if I can see him, I will--I tell you so, frankly. To-morrow or the next +day, when the festivities they have for him are over, and you yourself are +at liberty, take me to Las Huelgas, if you will, and with as little scandal +as possible. But when I am there, set a strong guard of armed men to keep +me, for I shall escape unless you do. And I shall go to Don John. That is +all I have to say. That is my last word."</p> + +<p>"I gave you mine, and it was my word of honour," said Mendoza. "If Don +John tries to enter here, to see you, I will kill him. To-morrow, you shall +go to Las Huelgas."</p> + +<p>Dolores made no answer and did not even turn her head. He left her and +went out. She heard his heavy tread in the hall beyond, and she heard a +bolt slipped at the further door. She was imprisoned for the night, for the +entrance her father had fastened was the one which cut off the portion of +the apartment in which the sisters lived from the smaller part which he had +reserved for himself. These rooms, from which there was no other exit, +opened, like the sitting-room, upon the same hall.</p> + +<p>When Dolores knew that she was alone, she drew back from the window and +shut it. It had served its purpose as a sort of refuge from her father, and +the night air was cold. She sat down to think, and being in a somewhat +desperate mood, she smiled at the idea of being locked into her room, +supperless, like a naughty child. But her face grew grave instantly as she +tried to discover some means of escape. Inez was certainly not in the +apartment--she must have gone to the other end of the palace, on pretence +of seeing one of the court ladies, but really in the hope of giving Don +John the letter. It was more than probable that she would not be allowed to +enter when she came back, for Mendoza would distrust her. That meant that +Dolores could have no communication with any one outside her rooms during +the evening and night, and she knew her father too well to doubt that he +would send her to Las Huelgas in the morning, as he had sworn to do. +Possibly he would let her serving-woman come to her to prepare what she +needed for the journey, but even that was unlikely, for he would suspect +everybody.</p> + +<p>The situation looked hopeless, and the girl's face grew slowly pale as +she realized that after all she might not even exchange a word with Don +John before going to the convent--she might not even be able to tell him +whither they were sending her, and Mendoza might keep the secret for +years--and she would never be allowed to write, of course.</p> + +<p>She heard the further door opened again, the bolt running back with a +sharp noise. Then she heard her father's footsteps and his voice calling to +Inez, as he went from room to room. But there was no answer, and presently +he went away, bolting the door a second time. There could be no more doubt +about it now. Dolores was quite alone. Her heart beat heavily and slowly. +But it was not over yet. Again the bolt slipped in the outer hall, and +again she heard the heavy steps. They came straight towards the door. He +had perhaps changed his mind, or he had something more to say; she held her +breath, but he did not come in. As if to make doubly sure, he bolted her +into the little room, crossed the hall a last time, and bolted it for the +night, perfectly certain that Dolores was safely shut off from the outer +world.</p> + +<p>For some minutes she sat quite still, profoundly disturbed, and utterly +unable to find any way out of her difficulty, which was, indeed, that she +was in a very secure prison.</p> + +<p>Then again there was a sound at the door, but very soft this time, not +half as loud in her ears as the beating of her own heart. There was +something ghostly in it, for she had heard no footsteps. The bolt moved +very slowly and gently--she had to strain her ears to hear it move. The +sound ceased, and another followed it--that of the door being cautiously +opened. A moment later Inez was in the room--turning her head anxiously +from side to side to hear Dolores' breathing, and so to find out where she +was. Then as Dolores rose, the blind girl put her finger to her lips, and +felt for her sister's hand.</p> + +<p>"He has the letter," she whispered quickly. "I found him by accident, +very quickly. I am to say to you that after he has been some time in the +great hall, he will slip away and come here. You see our father will be on +duty and cannot come up."</p> + +<p>Dolores' hand trembled violently.</p> + +<p>"He swore to me that he would kill Don John if he came here," she +whispered. "He will do it, if it costs his own life! You must find him +again--go quickly, dear, for the love of Heaven!" Her anxiety increased. +"Go--go, darling--do not lose a moment--he may come sooner--save him, save +him!"</p> + +<p>"I cannot go," answered Inez, in terror, as she understood the +situation. "I had hidden myself, and I am locked in with you. He called me, +but I kept quiet, for I knew he would not let me stay." She buried her face +in her hands and sobbed aloud in an agony of fear.</p> + +<p>Dolores' lips were white, and she steadied herself against a chair.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_III'></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + + +<p>Dolores stood leaning against the back of the chair, neither hearing nor +seeing her sister, conscious only that Don John was in danger and that she +could not warn him to be on his guard. She had not believed herself when +she had told her father that he would not dare to lift his hand against the +King's half brother. She had said the words to give herself courage, and +perhaps in a rush of certainty that the man she loved was a match for other +men, hand to hand, and something more. It was different now. Little as she +yet knew of human nature, she guessed without reasoning that a man who has +been angry, who has wavered and given way to what he believes to be +weakness, and whose anger has then burst out again, is much more dangerous +than before, because his wrath is no longer roused against another only, +but also against himself. More follies and crimes have been committed in +that second tide of passion than under a first impulse. Even if Mendoza had +not fully meant what he had said the first time, he had meant it all, and +more, when he had last spoken. Once more the vision of fear rose before +Dolores' eyes, nobler now; because it was fear for another and not for +herself, but therefore also harder to conquer.</p> + +<p>Inez had ceased from sobbing now, and was sitting quietly in her +accustomed seat, in that attitude of concentrated expectancy of sounds +which is so natural to the blind, that one can almost recognize blindness +by the position of the head and body without seeing the face. The blind +rarely lean back in a chair; more often the body is quite upright, or bent +a little forward, the face is slightly turned up when there is total +silence, often turned down when a sound is already heard distinctly; the +knees are hardly ever crossed, the hands are seldom folded together, but +are generally spread out, as if ready to help the hearing by the sense of +touch--the lips are slightly parted, for the blind know that they hear by +the mouth as well as with their ears--the expression of the face is one of +expectation and extreme attention, still, not placid, calm, but the very +contrary of indifferent. It was thus that Inez sat, as she often sat for +hours, listening, always and forever listening to the speech of things and +of nature, as well as for human words. And in listening, she thought and +reasoned patiently and continually, so that the slightest sounds had often +long and accurate meanings for her. The deaf reason little or ill, and are +very suspicious; the blind, on the contrary, are keen, thoughtful, and +ingenious, and are distrustful of themselves rather than of others. Inez +sat quite still, listening, thinking, and planning a means of helping her +sister.</p> + +<p>But Dolores stood motionless as if she were paralyzed, watching the +picture that «he could not chase away. For she saw the familiar figure of +the man she loved coming down the gloomy corridor, alone and unarmed, past +the deep embrasures through which the moonlight streamed, straight towards +the oak door at the end; and then, from one of the windows another figure +stood out, sword in hand, a gaunt man with a grey beard, and there were few +words, and an uncertain quick confounding of shadows with a ray of cold +light darting hither and thither, then a fall, and then stillness. As soon +as it was over, it began again, with little change, save that it grew more +distinct, till she could see Don John's white face in the moonlight as he +lay dead on the pavement of the corridor.</p> + +<p>It became intolerable at last, and she slowly raised one hand and +covered her eyes to shut out the sight.</p> + +<p>"Listen," said Inez, as Dolores stirred. "I have been thinking. You must +see him to-night, even if you are not alone with him. There is only one way +to do that; you must dress yourself for the court and go down to the great +hall with the others and speak to him--then you can decide how to meet +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Inez--I have not told you the rest! To-morrow I am to be sent to Las +Huelgas, and kept there like a prisoner." Inez uttered a low cry of +pain.</p> + +<p>"To a convent!" It seemed like death.</p> + +<p>Dolores began to tell her all Mendoza had said, but Inez soon +interrupted her. There was a dark flush in the blind girl's face.</p> + +<p>"And he would have you believe that he loves you?" she cried +indignantly. "He has always been hard, and cruel, and unkind, he has never +forgiven me for being blind---he will never forgive you for being young! +The King! The King before everything and every one--before himself, yes, +that is well, but before his children, his soul, his heart--he has no +heart! What am I saying--" She stopped short.</p> + +<p>"And yet, in his strange way, he loves us both," said Dolores. "I cannot +understand it, but I saw his face when there were tears in his eyes, and I +heard his voice. He would give his life for us."</p> + +<p>"And our lives, and hearts, and hopes to feed his conscience and to save +his own soul!"</p> + +<p>Inez was trembling with anger, leaning far forward, her face flushed, +one slight hand clenched, the other clenching it hard. Dolores was silent. +It was not the first time that Inez had spoken in this way, for the blind +girl could be suddenly and violently angry for a good cause. But now her +tone changed.</p> + +<p>"I will save you," she said suddenly, "but there is no time to be lost. +He will not come back to our rooms now, and he knows well enough that Don +John cannot come here at this hour, so that he is not waiting for him. We +have this part of the place to ourselves, and the outer door only is bolted +now. It will take you an hour to dress--say three-quarters of an hour. As +soon as you get out, you must go quickly round the palace to the Duchess +Alvarez. Our father will not go there, and you can go down with her, as +usual--but tell her nothing. Our father will be there, and he will see you, +but he will not care to make an open scandal in the court. Don John will +come and speak to you; you must stay beside the Duchess of course--but you +can manage to exchange a few words."</p> + +<p>Dolores listened intently, and her face brightened a little as Inez went +on, only to grow sad and hopeless again a moment later. It was all an +impossible dream.</p> + +<p>"That would be possible if I could once get beyond the door of the +hall," she said despondently. "It is of no use, dear! The door is +bolted."</p> + +<p>"They will open it for me. Old Eudaldo is always within hearing, and he +will do anything for me. Besides, I shall seem to have been shut in by +mistake, do you see? I shall say that I am hungry, thirsty, that I am cold, +that in locking you in our father locked me in, too, because I was asleep. +Then Eudaldo will open the door for me. I shall say that I am going to the +Duchess's."</p> + +<p>"Yes--but then?"</p> + +<p>"You will cover yourself entirely with my black cloak and draw it over +your head and face. We are of the same height--you only need to walk as I +do--as if you were blind--across the hall to the left. Eudaldo will open +the outer door for you. You will just nod to thank him, without speaking, +and when you are outside, touch the wall of the corridor with your left +hand, and keep close to it. I always do, for fear of running against some +one. If you meet any of the women, they will take you for me. There is +never much light in the corridor, is there? There is one oil lamp half way +down, I know, for I always smell it when I pass in the evening."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is almost dark there--it is a little lamp. Do you really think +this is possible?"</p> + +<p>"It is possible, not sure. If you hear footsteps in the corridor beyond +the corner, you will have time to slip into one of the embrasures. But our +father will not come now. He knows that Don John is in his own apartments +with many people. And besides, it is to be a great festival to-night, and +all the court people and officers, and the Archbishop, and all the rest who +do not live in the palace will come from the city, so that our father will +have to command the troops and give orders for the guards to march out, and +a thousand things will take his time. Don John cannot possibly come here +till after the royal supper, and if our father can come away at all, it +will be at the same time. That is the danger."</p> + +<p>Dolores shivered and saw the vision in the corridor again.</p> + +<p>"But if you are seen talking with Don John before supper, no one will +suppose that in order to meet him you would risk coming back here, where +you are sure to be caught and locked up again. Do you see?"</p> + +<p>"It all depends upon whether I can get out," answered Dolores, but there +was more hope in her tone. "How am I to dress without a maid?" she asked +suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Trust me," said Inez, with a laugh. "My hands are better than a +serving-woman's eyes. You shall look as you never looked before. I know +every lock of your hair, and just how it should be turned and curled and +fastened in place so that it cannot possibly get loose. Come, we are +wasting time. Take off your slippers as I have done, so that no one shall +hear us walking through the hall to your room, and bring the candles with +you if you choose--yes, you need them to pick out the colours you +like."</p> + +<p>"If you think it will be safer in the dark, it does not matter," said +Dolores. "I know where everything is."</p> + +<p>"It would be safer," answered Inez thoughtfully. "It is just possible +that he might be in the court and might see the light in your window, +whereas if it burns here steadily, he will suspect nothing. We will bolt +the door of this room, as I found it. If by any possibility he comes back, +he will think you are still here, and will probably not come in."</p> + +<p>"Pray Heaven he may not!" exclaimed Dolores, and she began to go towards +the door.</p> + +<p>Inez was there before her, opening it very cautiously.</p> + +<p>"My hands are lighter than yours," she whispered.</p> + +<p>They both passed out, and Inez slipped the bolt back into its place with +infinite precaution.</p> + +<p>"Is there light here?" she asked under her breath.</p> + +<p>"There is a very small lamp on the table. I can just see my door."</p> + +<p>"Put it out as we pass," whispered Inez. "I will lead you if you cannot +find your way."</p> + +<p>They moved cautiously forward, and when they reached the table, Dolores +bent down to the small wick and blew out the flame. Then she felt her +sister's hand taking hers and leading her quickly to the other door. The +blind girl was absolutely noiseless in her movements, and Dolores had the +strange impression that she was being led by a spirit through the darkness. +Inez stopped a moment, and then went slowly on; they had entered the room +though Dolores had not heard the door move, nor did she hear it closed +behind her again. Her own room was perfectly dark, for the heavy curtain +that covered the window was drawn; she made a step alone, and cautiously, +and struck her knee against a chair.</p> + +<p>"Do not move," whispered Inez. "You will make a noise. I can dress you +where you stand, or if you want to find anything, I will lead you to the +place where it is. Remember that it is always day for me."</p> + +<p>Dolores obeyed, and stood still, holding her breath a little in her +intense excitement. It seemed impossible that Inez could do all she +promised without making a mistake, and Dolores would not have been a woman +had she not been visited just then by visions of ridicule. Without light +she was utterly helpless to do anything for herself, and she had never +before then fully realized the enormous misfortune with which her sister +had to contend. She had not guessed, either, what energy and quickness of +thought Inez possessed, and the sensation of being advised, guided, and +helped by one she had always herself helped and protected was new.</p> + +<p>They spoke in quick whispers of what she was to wear and of how her hair +was to be dressed, and Inez found what was wanted without noise, and almost +as quickly as Dolores could have done in broad daylight, and placed a chair +for her, making her sit down in it, and began to arrange her hair quickly +and skilfully. Dolores felt the spiritlike hands touching her lightly and +deftly in the dark--they were very slight and soft, and did not offend her +with a rough movement or a wrong turn, as her maid's sometimes did. She +felt her golden hair undone, and swiftly drawn out and smoothed without +catching, or tangling, or hurting her at all, in a way no woman had ever +combed it, and the invisible hands gently divided it, and turned it upon +her head, slipping the hairpins into the right places as if by magic, so +that they were firm at the first trial, and there was a faint sound of +little pearls tapping each other, and Dolores felt the small string laid +upon her hair and fastened in its place,--the only ornament a young girl +could wear for a headdress,--and presently it was finished, and Inez gave a +sigh of satisfaction at her work, and lightly felt her sister's head here +and there to be sure that all was right. It felt as if soft little birds +were just touching the hair with the tips of their wings as they fluttered +round it. Dolores had no longer any fear of looking ill dressed in the +blaze of light she was to face before long. The dressing of her hair was +the most troublesome part, she knew, and though she could not have done it +herself, she had felt that every touch and turn had been perfectly +skilful.</p> + +<p>"What a wonderful creature you are!" she whispered, as Inez bade her +stand up.</p> + +<p>"You have beautiful hair," answered the blind girl, "and you are +beautiful in other ways, but to-night you must be the most beautiful of all +the court, for his sake--so that every woman may envy you, and every man +envy him, when they see you talking together. And now we must be quick, for +it has taken a long time, and I hear the soldiers marching out again to +form in the square. That is always just an hour and a half before the King +goes into the hall. Here--this is the front of the skirt."</p> + +<p>"No--it is the back!"</p> + +<p>Inez laughed softly, a whispering laugh that Dolores could scarcely +hear.</p> + +<p>"It is the front," she said. "You can trust me in the dark. Put your +arms down, and let me slip it over your head so as not to touch your hair. +No---hold your arms down!"</p> + +<p>Dolores had instinctively lifted her hands to protect her headdress. +Then all went quickly, the silence only broken by an occasional whispered +word and by the rustle of silk, the long soft sound of the lacing as Inez +drew it through the eyelets of the bodice, the light tapping of her hands +upon the folds and gatherings of the skirt and on the puffed velvet on the +shoulders and elbows.</p> + +<p>"You must be beautiful, perfectly beautiful to-night," Inez repeated +more than once.</p> + +<p>She herself did not understand why she said it, unless it were that +Dolores' beauty was for Don John of Austria, and that nothing in the whole +world could be too perfect for him, for the hero of her thoughts, the sun +of her blindness, the immeasurably far-removed deity of her heart. She did +not know that it was not for her sister's sake, but for his, that she had +planned the escape and was taking such infinite pains that Dolores might +look her best. Yet she felt a deep and delicious delight in what she did, +like nothing she had ever felt before, for it was the first time in her +life that she had been able to do something that could give him pleasure; +and, behind that, there was the belief that he was in danger, that she +could no longer go to him nor warn him now, and that only Dolores herself +could hinder him from coming unexpectedly against old Mendoza, sword in +hand, in the corridor.</p> + +<p>"And now my cloak over everything," she said. "Wait here, for I must get +it, and do not move!"</p> + +<p>Dolores hardly knew whether Inez left the room or not, so noiselessly +did the girl move. Then she felt the cloak laid upon her shoulders and +drawn close round her to hide her dress, for skirts were short in those +days and easily hidden. Inez laid a soft silk handkerchief upon her +sister's hair, lest it should be disarranged by the hood which she lightly +drew over all, assuring herself that it would sufficiently hide the +face.</p> + +<p>"Now come with me," she whispered. I will lead you to the door that is +bolted and place you just where it will open. Then I will call Eudaldo and +speak to him, and beg him to let me out. If he does, bend your head and try +to walk as I do. I shall be on one side of the door, and, as the room is +dark, he cannot possibly see me. While he is opening the outer door for +you, I will slip back into my own room. Do you understand? And remember to +hide in an embrasure if you hear a man's footsteps. Are you quite sure you +understand?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; it will be easy if Eudaldo opens. And I thank you, dear; I wish I +knew how to thank you as I ought! It may have saved his life--"</p> + +<p>"And yours, too, perhaps," answered Inez, beginning to lead her away. +"You would die in the convent, and you must not come back--you must never +come back to us here--never till you are married. Good-by, Dolores--dear +sister. I have done nothing, and you have done everything for me all your +life. Good-by--one kiss--then we must go, for it is late."</p> + +<p>With her soft hands she drew Dolores' head towards her, lifted the hood +a little, and kissed her tenderly. All at once there were tears on both +their faces, and the arms of each clasped the other almost desperately.</p> + +<p>"You must come to me, wherever I am," Dolores said.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I will come, wherever you are. I promise it."</p> + +<p>Then she disengaged herself quickly, and more than ever she seemed a +spirit as she went before, leading her sister by the hand. They reached the +door, and she made Dolores stand before the right hand panel, ready to slip +out, and once more she touched the hood to be sure it hid the face. She +listened a moment. A harsh and regular sound came from a distance, +resembling that made by a pit-saw steadily grinding its way lengthwise +through a log of soft pine wood.</p> + +<p>"Eudaldo is asleep," said Inez, and even at this moment she could hardly +suppress a half-hysterical laugh. "I shall have to make a tremendous noise +to wake him. The danger is that it may bring some one else,---the women, +the rest of the servants."</p> + +<p>"What shall we do?" asked Dolores, in a distressed whisper.</p> + +<p>She had braced her nerves to act the part of her sister at the dangerous +moment, and her excitement made every instant of waiting seem ten times its +length. Inez did not answer the question at once. Dolores repeated it still +more anxiously.</p> + +<p>"I was trying to make up my mind," said the other at last. "You could +pass Eudaldo well enough, I am sure, but it might be another matter if the +hall were full of servants, as it is certain that our father has given a +general order that you are not to be allowed to go out. We may wait an hour +for the man to wake."</p> + +<p>Dolores instinctively tried the door, but it was solidly fastened from +the outside. She felt hot and cold by turns as her anxiety grew more +intolerable. Each minute made it more possible that she might meet her +father somewhere outside.</p> + +<p>"We must decide something!" she whispered desperately. "We cannot wait +here."</p> + +<p>"I do not know what to do," answered Inez. "I have done all I can; I +never dreamt that Eudaldo would be asleep. At least, it is a sure sign that +our father is not in the house."</p> + +<p>"But he may come at any moment! We must, we must do something at +once!"</p> + +<p>"I will knock softly," said Inez. "Any one who hears it will suppose it +is a knock at the hall door. If he does not open, some one will go and wake +him up, and then go away again so as not to be seen."</p> + +<p>She clenched her small hand, and knocked three times. Such a sound could +make not the slightest impression upon Eudaldo's sound sleep, but her +reasoning was good, as well as ingenious. After waiting a few moments, she +knocked again, more loudly. Dolores held her breath in the silence that +followed. Presently a door was opened, and a woman's voice was heard, low +but sharp.</p> + +<p>"Eudaldo, Eudaldo! Some one is knocking at the front door!"</p> + +<p>The woman probably shook the old man to rouse him, for his voice came +next, growling and angry.</p> + +<p>"Witch! Hag! Mother of malefactors! Let me alone--I am asleep. Are you +trying to tear my sleeve off with your greasy claws? Nobody is knocking; +you probably hear the wine thumping in your ears!"</p> + +<p>The woman, who was the drudge and had been cleaning the kitchen, was +probably used to Eudaldo's manner of expressing himself, for she only +laughed.</p> + +<p>"Wine makes men sleep, but it does not knock at doors," she answered. +"Some one has knocked twice. You had better go and open the door."</p> + +<p>A shuffling sound and a deep yawn announced that Eudaldo was getting out +of his chair. The two girls heard him moving towards the outer entrance. +Then they heard the woman go away, shutting the other door behind her, as +soon as she was sure that Eudaldo was really awake. Then Inez called him +softly.</p> + +<p>"Eudaldo? Here--it was I that knocked--you must let me out, please--come +nearer."</p> + +<p>"Doña Inez?" asked the old man, standing still.</p> + +<p>"Hush!" answered the girl. "Come nearer." She waited, listening while he +approached. "Listen to me," she continued. "The General has locked me in, +by mistake. He did not know I was here when he bolted the door. And I am +hungry and thirsty and very cold, Eudaldo--and you must let me out, and I +will run to the Duchess Alvarez and stay with her little girl. Indeed, +Eudaldo, the General did not mean to lock me in, too."</p> + +<p>"He said nothing about your ladyship to me," answered the servant +doubtfully. "But I do not know--" he hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Please, please, Eudaldo," pleaded Inez, "I am so cold and lonely +here--"</p> + +<p>"But Doña Dolores is there, too," observed Eudaldo.</p> + +<p>Dolores held her breath and steadied herself against the panel.</p> + +<p>"He shut her into the inner sitting-room. How could I dare to open the +door! You may go in and knock--she will not answer you."</p> + +<p>"Is your ladyship sure that Doña Dolores is within?" asked +Eudaldo, in a more yielding tone.</p> + +<p>"Absolutely, perfectly sure!" answered Inez, with perfect truth. "Oh, do +please let me out."</p> + +<p>Slowly the old man drew the bolt, while Dolores' heart stood still, and +she prepared herself for the danger; for she knew well enough that the +faithful old servant feared his master much more than he feared the devil +and all evil spirits, and would prevent her from passing, even with force, +if he recognized her.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Eudaldo--thank you!" cried Inez, as the latch turned. "And +open the front door for me, please," she said, putting her lips just where +the panel was opening.</p> + +<p>Then she drew back into the darkness. The door was wide open now, and +Eudaldo was already shuffling towards the entrance. Dolores went forward, +bending her head, and trying to affect her sister's step. No distance had +ever seemed so long to her as that which separated her from the hall door +which Eudaldo was already opening for her. But she dared not hasten her +step, for though Inez moved with perfect certainty in the house, she always +walked with a certain deliberate caution, and often stopped to listen, +while crossing a room. The blind girl was listening now, with all her +marvellous hearing, to be sure that all went well till Dolores should be +outside. She knew exactly how many steps there were from where she stood to +the entrance, for she had often counted them.</p> + +<p>Dolores must have been not more than three yards from the door, when +Inez started involuntarily, for she heard a sound from without, far off--so +far that Dolores could not possibly have heard it yet, but unmistakable to +the blind girl's keener ear. She listened intently--there were Dolores' +last four steps to the open doorway, and there were others from beyond, +still very far away in the vaulted corridors, but coming nearer. To call +her sister back would have made all further attempt at escape hopeless--to +let her go on seemed almost equally fatal--Inez could have shrieked aloud. +But Dolores had already gone out, and a moment later the heavy door swung +back to its place, and it was too late to call her. Like an immaterial +spirit, Inez slipped away from the place where she stood and went back to +Dolores' room, knowing that Eudaldo would very probably go and knock where +he supposed her sister to be a prisoner, before slipping the outer bolt +again. And so he did, muttering an imprecation upon the little lamp that +had gone out and left the small hall in darkness. Then he knocked, and +spoke through the door, offering to bring her food, or fire, and repeating +his words many times, in a supplicating tone, for he was devoted to both +the sisters, though terror of old Mendoza was the dominating element in his +existence.</p> + +<p>At last he shook his head and turned despondently to light the little +lamp again; and when he had done that, he went away and bolted the door +after him, convinced that Inez had gone out and that Dolores had stayed +behind in the last room.</p> + +<p>When she had heard him go away the last time, the blind girl threw +herself upon Dolores' bed, and buried her face in the down cushion, sobbing +bitterly in her utter loneliness; weeping, too, for something she did not +understand, but which she felt the more painfully because she could not +understand it, something that was at once like a burning fire and an +unspeakable emptiness craving to be filled, something that longed and +feared, and feared longing, something that was a strong bodily pain but +which she somehow knew might have been the source of all earthly +delight,--an element detached from thought and yet holding it, above the +body and yet binding it, touching the soul and growing upon it, but filling +the soul itself with fear and unquietness, and making her heart cry out +within her as if it were not hers and were pleading to be free. So, as she +could not understand that this was love, which, as she had heard said, made +women and men most happy, like gods and goddesses, above their kind, she +lay alone in the darkness that was always as day to her, and wept her heart +out in scalding tears.</p> + +<p>In the corridor outside, Dolores made a few steps, remembering to put +out her left hand to touch the wall, as Inez had told her to do; and then +she heard what had reached her sister's ears much sooner. She stood still +an instant, strained her eyes to see in the dim light of the single lamp, +saw nothing, and heard the sound coming nearer. Then she quickly crossed +the corridor to the nearest embrasure to hide herself. To her horror she +realized that the light of the full moon was streaming in as bright as day, +and that she could not be hid. Inez knew nothing of moonlight.</p> + +<p>She pressed herself to the wall, on the side away from her own door, +making herself as small as she could, for it was possible that whoever came +by might pass without turning his head. Nervous and exhausted by all she +had felt and been made to feel since the afternoon, she held her breath and +waited.</p> + +<p>The regular tread of a man booted and spurred came relentlessly towards +her, without haste and without pause. No one who wore spurs but her father +ever came that way. She listened breathlessly to the hollow echoes, and +turned her eyes along the wall of the embrasure. In a moment she must see +his gaunt figure, and the moonlight would be white on his short grey +beard.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_IV'></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + + +<p>Dolores knew that there was no time to reflect as to what she should do, +if her father found her hiding in the embrasure, and yet in those short +seconds a hundred possibilities flashed through her disturbed thoughts. She +might slip past him and run for her life down the corridor, or she might +draw her hood over her face and try to pretend that she was some one +else,--but he would recognize the hood itself as belonging to Inez,--or she +might turn and lean upon the window-sill, indifferently, as if she had a +right to be there, and he might take her for some lady of the court, and +pass on. And yet she could not decide which to attempt, and stood still, +pressing herself against the wall of the embrasure, and quite forgetful of +the fact that the bright moonlight fell unhindered through all the other +windows upon the pavement, whereas she cast a shadow from the one in which +she was standing, and that any one coming along the corridor would notice +it and stop to see who was there.</p> + +<p>There was something fateful and paralyzing in the regular footfall that +was followed instantly by the short echo from the vault above. It was close +at hand now she was sure that at the very next instant she should see her +father's face, yet nothing came, except the sound, for that deceived her in +the silence and seemed far nearer than it was. She had heard horrible ghost +stories of the old Alcazar, and as a child she had been frightened by tales +of evil things that haunted the corridors at night, of wraiths and goblins +and Moorish wizards who dwelt in secret vaults, where no one knew, and came +out in the dark, when all was still, to wander in the moonlight, a terror +to the living. The girl felt the thrill of unearthly fear at the roots of +her hair, and trembled, and the sound seemed to be magnified till it +reëchoed like thunder, though it was only the noise of an advancing +footfall, with a little jingling of spurs.</p> + +<p>But at last there was no doubt. It was close to her, and she shut her +eyes involuntarily. She heard one step more on the stones, and then there +was silence. She knew that her father had seen her, had stopped before her, +and was looking at her. She knew how his rough brows were knitting +themselves together, and that even in the pale moonlight his eyes were +fierce and angry, and that his left hand was resting on the hilt of his +sword, the bony brown fingers tapping the basket nervously. An hour +earlier, or little more, she had faced him as bravely as any man, but she +could not face him now, and she dared not open her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Madam, are you ill, or in trouble?" asked a young voice that was soft +and deep.</p> + +<p>She opened her eyes with a sharp cry that was not of fear, and she threw +back her hood with one hand as the looked.</p> + +<p>Don John of Austria was there, a step from her, the light full on his +face, bareheaded, his cap in his hand, bending a little towards her, as one +does towards a person one does not know, but who seems to be in distress +and to need help. Against the whiteness without he could not see her face, +nor could he recognize her muffled figure.</p> + +<p>"Can I not help you, Madam?" asked the kind voice again, very +gravely.</p> + +<p>Then she put out her hands towards him and made a step, and as the hood +fell quite back with the silk kerchief, he saw her golden hair in the +silver light. Slowly and in wonder, and still not quite believing, he moved +to meet her movement, took her hands in his, drew her to him, turned her +face gently, till he saw it well. Then he, too, uttered a little sound that +was neither a word nor a syllable nor a cry--a sound that was half fierce +with strong delight as his lips met hers, and his hands were suddenly at +her waist lifting her slowly to his own height, though he did not know it, +pressing her closer and closer to him, as if that one kiss were the first +and last that ever man gave woman.</p> + +<p>A minute passed, and yet neither he nor she could speak. She stood with +her hands clasped round his neck, and her head resting on his breast just +below the shoulder, as if she were saying tender words to the heart she +heard beating so loud through the soft black velvet. She knew that it had +never beaten in battle as it was beating now, and she loved it because it +knew her and welcomed her; but her own stood still, and now and then it +fluttered wildly, like a strong young bird in a barred cage, and then was +quite still again. Bending his face a little, he softly kissed her hair +again and again, till at last the kisses formed themselves into syllables +and words, which she felt rather than heard.</p> + +<p>"God in heaven, how I love you--heart of my heart--life of my life--love +of my soul!"</p> + +<p>And again he repeated the same words, and many more like them, with +little change, because at that moment he had neither thought nor care for +anything else in the world, not for life nor death nor kingdom nor glory, +in comparison with the woman he loved. He could not hear her answers, for +she spoke without words to his heart, hiding her face where she heard it +throbbing, while her lips pressed many kisses on the velvet.</p> + +<p>Then, as thought returned, and the first thought was for him, she drew +back a little with a quick movement, and looked up to him with frightened +and imploring eyes.</p> + +<p>"We must go!" she cried anxiously, in a very low voice. "We cannot stay +here. My father is very angry--he swore on his word of honour that he would +kill you if you tried to see me to-night!"</p> + +<p>Don John laughed gently, and his eyes brightened. Before she could speak +again, he held her close once more, and his kisses were on her cheeks and +her eyes, on her forehead and on her hair, and then again upon her lips, +till they would have hurt her if she had not loved them so, and given back +every one. Then she struggled again, and he loosed his hold.</p> + +<p>"It is death to stay here," she said very earnestly.</p> + +<p>"It is worse than death to leave you," he answered. "And I will not," he +added an instant later, "neither for the King, nor for your father, nor for +any royal marriage they may try to force upon me."</p> + +<p>She looked into his eyes for a moment, before she spoke, and there was +deep and true trust in her own.</p> + +<p>"Then you must save me," she said quietly. "He has vowed that I shall be +sent to the convent of Las Huelgas to-morrow morning. He locked me into the +inner room, but Inez helped me to dress, and I got out under her +cloak."</p> + +<p>She told him in a few words what she had done and had meant to do, in +order to see him, and how she had taken his step for her father's. He +listened gravely, and she saw his face harden slowly in an expression she +had scarcely ever seen there. When she had finished her story he was silent +for a moment.</p> + +<p>"We are quite safe here," he said at last, "safer than anywhere else, I +think, for your father cannot come back until the King goes to supper. For +myself, I have an hour, but I have been so surrounded and pestered by +visitors in my apartments that I have not found time to put on a court +dress--and without vanity, I presume that I am a necessary figure at court +this evening. Your father is with Perez, who seems to be acting as master +of ceremonies and of everything else, as well as the King's secretary--they +have business together, and the General will not have a moment. I +ascertained that, before coming here, or I should not have come at this +hour. We are safe from him here, I am sure."</p> + +<p>"You know best," answered Dolores, who was greatly reassured by what he +said about Mendoza.</p> + +<p>"Let us sit down, then. You must be tired after all you have done. And +we have much to say to each other."</p> + +<p>"How could I be tired now?" she asked, with a loving smile; but she sat +down on the stone seat in the embrasure, close to the window.</p> + +<p>It was just wide enough for two to sit there, and Don John took his +place beside her, and drew one of her hands silently to him between both +his own, and kissed the tips of her fingers a great many times. But he felt +that she was watching his face, and he looked up and saw her eyes--and +then, again, many seconds passed before either could speak. They were but a +boy and girl together, loving each other in the tender first love of early +youth, for the victor of the day, the subduer of the Moors, the man who had +won back Granada, who was already High Admiral of Spain, and who in some +ten months from that time was to win a decisive battle of the world at +Lepanto, was a stripling of twenty-three summers--and he had first seen +Dolores when he was twenty and she seventeen, and now it was nearly two +years since they had met.</p> + +<p>He was the first to speak, for he was a man of quick and unerring +determinations that led to actions as sudden as they were bold and +brilliant, and what Dolores had told him of her quarrel with her father was +enough to rouse his whole energy at once. At all costs she must never be +allowed to pass the gates of Las Huelgas. Once within the convent, by the +King's orders, and a close prisoner, nothing short of a sacrilegious +assault and armed violence could ever bring her out into the world again. +He knew that, and that he must act instantly to prevent it, for he knew +Mendoza's character also, and had no doubt but that he would do what he +threatened. It was necessary to put Dolores beyond his reach at once, and +beyond the King's also, which was not an easy matter within the walls of +the King's own palace, and on such a night. Don John had been but little at +the court and knew next to nothing of its intrigues, nor of the mutual +relations of the ladies and high officers who had apartments in the +Alcazar. In his own train there were no women, of course. Dolores' brother +Rodrigo, who had fought by his side at Granada, had begged to be left +behind with the garrison, in order that he might not be forced to meet his +father. Doña Magdalena Quixada, Don John's adoptive mother, was far +away at Villagarcia. The Duchess Alvarez, though fond of Dolores, was +Mistress of the Robes to the young Queen, and it was not to be hoped nor +expected that she should risk the danger of utter ruin and disgrace if it +were discovered that she had hidden the girl against the King's wishes. Yet +it was absolutely necessary that Dolores should be safely hidden within an +hour, and that she should be got out of the palace before morning, and if +possible conveyed to Villagarcia. Don John saw in a moment that there was +no one to whom he could turn.</p> + +<p>Again he took Dolores' hand in his, but with a sort of gravity and +protecting authority that had not been in his touch the first time. +Moreover, he did not kiss her fingers now, and he resolutely looked at the +wall opposite him. Then, in a low and quiet voice, he laid the situation +before her, while she anxiously listened.</p> + +<p>"You see," he said at last, "there is only one way left. Dolores, do you +altogether trust me?"</p> + +<p>She started a little, and her fingers pressed his hand suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Trust you? Ah, with all my soul!"</p> + +<p>"Think well before you answer," he said. "You do not quite +understand--it is a little hard to put it clearly, but I must. I know you +trust me in many ways, to love you faithfully always, to speak truth to you +always, to defend you always, to help you with my life when you shall be in +need. You know that I love you so, as you love me. Have we not often said +it? You wrote it in your letter, too--ah, dear, I thank you for that. Yes, +I have read it--I have it here, near my heart, and I shall read it again +before I sleep--"</p> + +<p>Without a word, and still listening, she bent down and pressed her lips +to the place where her letter lay. He touched her hair with his lips and +went on speaking, as she leaned back against the wall again.</p> + +<p>"You must trust me even more than that, my beloved," he said. "To save +you, you must be hidden by some one whom I myself can trust--and for such a +matter there is no one in the palace nor in all Madrid--no one to whom I +can turn and know that you will be safe--not one human being, except +myself."</p> + +<p>"Except yourself!" Dolores loved the words, and gently pressed his +hand.</p> + +<p>"I thank you, dearest heart--but do you know what that means? Do you +understand that I must hide you myself, in my own apartments, and keep you +there until I can take you out of the palace, before morning?"</p> + +<p>She was silent for a few moments, turning her face away from him. His +heart sank.</p> + +<p>"No, dear," he said sadly, "you do not trust me enough for that--I see +it--what woman could?"</p> + +<p>Her hand trembled and started in his, then pressed it hard, and she +turned her face quite to him.</p> + +<p>"You are wrong," she said, with a tremor in her voice. "I love you as no +man was ever loved by any woman, far beyond all that all words can say, and +I shall love you till I die, and after that, for ever--even if I can never +be your wife. I love you as no one loves in these days, and when I say that +it is as you love me, I mean a thousand fold for every word. I am not the +child you left nearly two years ago. I am a woman now, for I have thought +and seen much since then--and I love you better and more than then. God +knows, there is enough to see and to learn in this court--that should be +hidden deep from honest women's sight! You and I shall have a heaven on +this earth, if God grants that we may be joined together--for I will live +for you, and serve you, and smooth all trouble out of your way--and ask +nothing of you but your love. And if we cannot marry, then I will live for +you in my heart, and serve you with my soul, and pray Heaven that harm may +never touch you. I will pray so fervently that God must hear me. And so +will you pray for me, as you would fight for me, if you could. Remember, if +you will, that when you are in battle for Spain, your sword is drawn for +Spain's honour, and for the honour of every Christian Spanish woman that +lives--and for mine, too!"</p> + +<p>The words pleased him, and his free hand was suddenly clenched.</p> + +<p>"You would make cowards fight like wolves, if you could speak to them +like that!" he said.</p> + +<p>"I am not speaking to cowards," she answered, with a loving smile. "I am +speaking to the man I love, to the best and bravest and truest man that +breathes--and not to Don John of Austria, the victorious leader, but to +you, my heart's love, my life, my all, to you who are good and brave and +true to me, as no man ever was to any woman. No--" she laughed happily, and +there were tears in her eyes--"no, there are no words for such love as +ours."</p> + +<p>"May I be all you would have me, and much more," he said fervently, and +his voice shook in the short speech.</p> + +<p>"I am giving you all I have, because it is not belief, it is certainty. +I know you are all that I say you are, and more too. And I trust you, as +you mean it, and as you need my trust to save me. Take me where you will. +Hide me in your own room if you must, and bolt and bar it if need be. I +shall be as safe with you as I should be with my mother in heaven. I put my +hands between yours."</p> + +<p>Again he heard her sweet low laughter, full of joy and trust, and she +laid her hands together between his and looked into his eyes, straight and +clear. Then she spoke softly and solemnly.</p> + +<p>"Into your hands I put my life, and my faith, and my maiden honour, +trusting them all to you alone in this world, as I trust them to God."</p> + +<p>Don John held her hands tightly for a moment, still looking into her +eyes as if he could see her soul there, giving itself to his keeping. But +he swore no great oath, and made no long speech; for a man who has led men +to deeds of glory, and against whom no dishonourable thing was ever +breathed, knows that his word is good.</p> + +<p>"You shall not regret that you trust me, and you will be quite safe," he +said.</p> + +<p>She wanted no more. Loving as she did, she believed in him without +promises, yet she could not always believe that he quite knew how she loved +him.</p> + +<p>"You are dearer to me than I knew," he said presently, breaking the +silence that followed. "I love you even more, and I thought it could never +be more, when I found you here a little while ago--because you do really +trust me."</p> + +<p>"You knew it," the said, nestling to him. "But you wanted me to tell +you. Yes--we are nearer now."</p> + +<p>"Far nearer--and a world more dear," he answered. "Do you know? In all +these months I have often and often again wondered how we should meet, +whether it would be before many people, or only with your sister Inez +there--or perhaps alone. But I did not dare hope for that."</p> + +<p>"Nor I. I have dreamt of meeting you a hundred times--and more than +that! But there was always some one in the way. I suppose that if we had +found each other in the court and had only been able to say a few words, it +would have been a long time before we were quite ourselves together--but +now, it seems as if we had never been parted at all, does it not?"</p> + +<p>"As if we could never be parted again," he answered softly.</p> + +<p>For a little while there was silence, and though there was to be a great +gathering of the court, that night, all was very still where the lovers sat +at the window, for the throne room and the great halls of state were far +away on the other side of the palace, and the corridor looked upon a court +through which few persons had to pass at night. Suddenly from a distance +there came the rhythmical beat of the Spanish drums, as some detachment of +troops marched by the outer gate. Don John listened.</p> + +<p>"Those are my men," he said. "We must go, for now that they are below I +can send my people on errands with orders to them, until I am alone. Then +you must come in. At the end of my apartments there is a small room, beyond +my own. It is furnished to be my study, and no one will expect to enter it +at night. I must put you there, and lock the door and take the key with me, +so that no one can go in while I am at court--or else you can lock it on +the inside, yourself. That would be better, perhaps," he added rather +hurriedly.</p> + +<p>"No," said the girl quietly. "I prefer that you should have the key. I +shall feel even safer. But how can I get there without being seen? We +cannot go so far together without meeting some one."</p> + +<p>He rose, and she stood up beside him.</p> + +<p>"My apartments open upon the broad terrace on the south side," he said. +"At this time there will be only two or three officers there, and my two +servants. Follow me at a little distance, with your hood over your face, +and when you reach the sentry-box at the corner where I turn off, go in. +There will be no sentinel there, and the door looks outward. I shall send +away every one, on different errands, in five minutes. When every one is +gone I will come for you. Is that clear?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly." She nodded, as if she had made quite sure of what he had +explained. Then she put up her hands, as if to say good-by. "Oh, if we +could only stay here in peace!" she cried.</p> + +<p>He said nothing, for he knew that there was still much danger, and he +was anxious for her. He only pressed her hands and then led her away. They +followed the corridor together, side by side, to the turning. Then he +whispered to her to drop behind, and she let him go on a dozen paces and +followed him. The way was long, and ill lighted at intervals by oil lamps +hung from the vault by small chains; they cast a broad black shadow beneath +them, and shed a feeble light above. Several times persons passed them, and +Dolores' heart beat furiously. A court lady, followed by a duenna and a +serving-woman, stopped with a winning smile, and dropped a low courtesy to +Don John, who lifted his cap, bowed, and went on. They did not look at +Dolores. A man in a green cloth apron and loose slippers, carrying five +lighted lamps in a greasy iron tray, passed with perfect indifference, and +without paying the least attention to the victor of Granada. It was his +business to carry lamps in that part of the palace--he was not a human +being, but a lamplighter. They went on, down a short flight of broad steps, +and then through a wider corridor where the lights were better, though the +night breeze was blowing in and made them flicker and flare.</p> + +<p>A corporal's guard of the household halberdiers came swinging down at a +marching step, coming from the terrace beyond. The corporal crossed his +halberd in salute, but Don John stopped him, for he understood at once that +a sentry had been set at his door.</p> + +<p>"I want no guard," he said. "Take the man away."</p> + +<p>"The General ordered it, your Highness," answered the man, +respectfully.</p> + +<p>"Request your captain to report to the General that I particularly +desire no sentinel at my door. I have no possessions to guard except my +reputation, and I can take care of that myself." He laughed +good-naturedly.</p> + +<p>The corporal grinned--he was a very dark, broad-faced man, with high +cheek bones, and ears that stuck out. He faced about with his three +soldiers, and followed Don John to the terrace--but in the distance he had +seen the hooded figure of a woman.</p> + +<p>Not knowing what to do, for she had heard the colloquy, Dolores stood +still a moment, for she did not care to pass the soldiers as they came +back. Then she turned and walked a little way in the other direction, to +gain time, and kept on slowly. In less than a minute they returned, +bringing the sentinel with them. She walked slowly and counted them as they +went past her--and then she started as if she had been stung, and blushed +scarlet under her hood, for she distinctly heard the big corporal laugh to +himself when he had gone by. She knew, then, how she trusted the man she +loved.</p> + +<p>When the soldiers had turned the corner and were out of sight, she ran +back to the terrace and hid herself in the stone sentry-box just outside, +still blushing and angry. On the side of the box towards Don John's +apartment there was a small square window just at the height of her eyes, +and she looked through it, sure that her face could not be seen from +without. She looked from mere curiosity, to see what sort of men the +officers were, and Don John's servants; for everything connected with him +or belonging to him in any way interested her most intensely. Two tall +captains came out first, magnificent in polished breastplates with gold +shoulder straps and sashes and gleaming basket-hilted swords, that stuck up +behind them as their owners pressed down the hilts and strutted along, +twisting their short black moustaches in the hope of meeting some court +lady on their way. Then another and older man passed, also in a soldier's +dress, but with bent head, apparently deep in thought. After that no one +came for some time--then a servant, who pulled something out of his pocket +and began to eat it, before he was in the corridor.</p> + +<p>Then a woman came past the little window. Dolores saw her as distinctly +as she had seen the four men. She came noiselessly and stealthily, putting +down her foot delicately, like a cat. She was a lady, and she wore a loose +cloak that covered all her gown, and on her head a thick veil, drawn +fourfold across her face. Her gait told the girl that she was young and +graceful--something in the turn of the head made her sure that she was +beautiful, too--something in the whole figure and bearing was familiar. The +blood sank from Dolores' cheeks, and she felt a chill slowly rising to her +heart. The lady entered the corridor and went on quickly, turned, and was +out of sight.</p> + +<p>Then all at once, Dolores laughed to herself, noiselessly, and was happy +again, in spite of her danger. There was nothing to disturb her, she +reflected. The terrace was long, there were doubtless other apartments +beyond Don John's, though she had not known it. The lady had indeed walked +cautiously, but it might well be that she had reasons for not being seen +there, and that the further rooms were not hers. The Alcazar was only an +old Moorish castle, after all, restored and irregularly enlarged, and +altogether very awkwardly built, so that many of the apartments could only +be reached by crossing open terraces.</p> + +<p>When Don John came to get her in the sentry-box, Dolores' momentary +doubt was gone, though not all her curiosity. She smiled as she came out of +her hiding-place and met his eyes--clear and true as her own. She even +hated herself for having thought that the lady could have come from his +apartment at all. The light was streaming from his open door as he led her +quickly towards it. There were three windows beyond it, and there the +terrace ended. She looked at the front as they were passing, and counted +again three windows between the open door and the corner where the +sentry-box stood.</p> + +<p>"Who lives in the rooms beyond you?" she asked quickly.</p> + +<p>"No one--the last is the one where you are to be." He seemed +surprised.</p> + +<p>They had reached the open door, and he stood aside to let her go in.</p> + +<p>"And on this side?" she asked, speaking with a painful effort.</p> + +<p>"My drawing-room and dining-room," he answered.</p> + +<p>She paused and drew breath before she spoke again, and she pressed one +hand to her side under her cloak.</p> + +<p>"Who was the lady who came from here when all the men were gone?" she +asked, very pale.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_V'></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + + +<p>Don John was a man not easily taken off his guard, but he started +perceptibly at Dolores' question. He did not change colour, however, nor +did his eyes waver; he looked fixedly into her face.</p> + +<p>"No lady has been here," he answered quietly.</p> + +<p>Dolores doubted the evidence of her own senses. Her belief in the man +she loved was so great that his words seemed at first to have destroyed and +swept away what must have been a bad dream, or a horrible illusion, and her +face was quiet and happy again as she passed him and went in through the +open entrance. She found herself in a vestibule from which doors opened to +the right and left. He turned in the latter direction, leading the way into +the room.</p> + +<p>It was his bedchamber. Built in the Moorish manner, the vaulting began +at the height of a man's head, springing upward in bold and graceful curves +to a great height. The room was square and very large, and the wall below +the vault was hung with very beautiful tapestries representing the battle +of Pavia, the surrender of Francis the First, and a sort of apotheosis of +the Emperor Charles, the father of Don John. There were two tall windows, +which were quite covered by curtains of a dark brocade, in which the coats +of Spain and the Empire were woven in colours at regular intervals; and +opposite them, with the head to the wall, stood a vast curtained bedstead +with carved posts twice a man's height. The vaulting had been cut on that +side, in order that the foot of the bed might stand back against the wall. +The canopy had coats of arms at the four corners, and the curtains were of +dark green corded silk, heavily embroidered with gold thread in the +beautiful scrolls and arabesques of the period of the Renascence. A carved +table, dark and polished, stood half way between the foot of the bedstead +and the space between the windows, where a magnificent kneeling-stool with +red velvet cushions was placed under a large crucifix. Half a dozen big +chairs were ranged against the long walls on each side of the room, and two +commodious folding chairs with cushions of embossed leather were beside the +table. Opposite the door by which Dolores had entered, another communicated +with the room beyond. Both were carved and ornamented with scroll work of +gilt bronze, but were without curtains. Three or four Eastern, rugs covered +the greater part of the polished marble pavement, which here and there +reflected the light of the tall wax torches that stood on the table in +silver candlesticks, and on each side of the bed upon low stands. The vault +above the tapestried walls was very dark blue, and decorated with gilded +stars in relief. Dolores thought the room gloomy, and almost funereal. The +bed looked like a catafalque, the candles like funeral torches, and the +whole place breathed the magnificent discomfort of royalty, and seemed +hardly intended for a human habitation.</p> + +<p>Dolores barely glanced at it all, as her companion locked the first door +and led her on to the next room. He knew that he had not many minutes to +spare, and was anxious that she should be in her hiding-place before his +servants came back. She followed him and went in. Unlike the bedchamber, +the small study was scantily and severely furnished. It contained only a +writing-table, two simple chairs, a straight-backed divan covered with +leather, and a large chest of black oak bound with ornamented steel work. +The window was curtained with dark stuff, and two wax candles burned +steadily beside the writing-materials that were spread out ready for +use.</p> + +<p>"This is the room," Don John said, speaking for the first time since +they had entered the apartments.</p> + +<p>Dolores let her head fall back, and began to loosen her cloak at her +throat without answering him. He helped her, and laid the long garment upon +the divan. Then he turned and saw her in the full light of the candles, +looking at him, and he uttered an exclamation.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" she asked almost dreamily.</p> + +<p>"You are very beautiful," he answered in a low voice. "You are the most +beautiful woman I ever saw."</p> + +<p>The merest girl knows the tone of a man whose genuine admiration breaks +out unconsciously in plain words, and Dolores was a grown woman. A faint +colour rose in her cheek, and her lips parted to smile, but her eyes were +grave and anxious, for the doubt had returned, and would not be thrust +away. She had seen the lady in the cloak and veil during several seconds, +and though Dolores, who had been watching the men who passed, had not +actually seen her come out of Don John's apartments, but had been suddenly +aware of her as she glided by, it seemed out of the question that she +should have come from any other place. There was neither niche nor +embrasure between the door and the corridor, in which the lady could have +been hidden, and it was hardly conceivable that she should have been +waiting outside for some mysterious purpose, and should not have fled as +soon as she heard the two officers coming out, since she evidently wished +to escape observation. On the other hand, Don John had quietly denied that +any woman had been there, which meant at all events that he had not seen +any one. It could mean nothing else.</p> + +<p>Dolores was neither foolishly jealous nor at all suspicious by nature, +and the man was her ideal of truthfulness and honour. She stood looking at +him, resting one hand on the table, while he came slowly towards her, +moving almost unconsciously in the direction of her exquisite beauty, as a +plant lifts itself to the sun at morning. He was near to her, and he +stretched out his arms as if to draw her to him. She smiled then, for in +his eyes she forgot her trouble for a moment, and she would have kissed +him. But suddenly his face grew grave, and he set his teeth, and instead of +taking her into his arms, he took one of her hands and raised it to his +lips, as if it had been the hand of his brother's wife, the young +Queen.</p> + +<p>"Why?" she asked in surprise, and with a little start.</p> + +<p>"You are here under my protection," he answered. "Let me have my own +way."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I understand. How good you are to me!" She paused, and then went +on, seating herself upon one of the chairs by the table as she spoke. "You +must leave me now," she said. "You must lock me in and keep the key. Then I +shall know that I am safe; and in the meantime you must decide how I am to +escape--it will not be easy." She stopped again. "I wonder who that woman +was!" she exclaimed at last.</p> + +<p>"There was no woman here," replied Don John, as quietly and assuredly as +before.</p> + +<p>He was leaning upon the table at the other side, with both hands resting +upon it, looking at her beautiful hair as she bent her head.</p> + +<p>"Say that you did not see her," she said, "not that she was not here, +for she passed me after all the men, walking very cautiously to make no +noise; and when she was in the corridor she ran--she was young and +light-footed. I could not see her face."</p> + +<p>"You believe me, do you not?" asked Don John, bending over the table a +little, and speaking very anxiously.</p> + +<p>She turned her face up instantly, her eyes wide and bright.</p> + +<p>"Should I be here if I did not trust you and believe you?" she asked +almost fiercely. "Do you think--do you dare to think--that I would have +passed your door if I had supposed that another woman had been here before +me, and had been turned out to make room for me, and would have stayed +here--here in your room--if you had not sent her away? If I had thought +that, I would have left you at your door forever. I would have gone back to +my father. I would have gone to Las Huelgas to-morrow, and not to be a +prisoner, but to live and die there in the only life fit for a +broken-hearted woman. Oh, no! You dare not think that,--you who would dare +anything! If you thought that, you could not love me as I love +you,--believing, trusting, staking life and soul on your truth and +faith!"</p> + +<p>The generous spirit had risen in her eyes, roused not against him, but +by all his question might be made to mean; and as she met his look of +grateful gladness her anger broke away, and left only perfect love and +trust behind it.</p> + +<p>"A man would die for you, and wish he might die twice," he answered, +standing upright, as if a weight had been taken from him and he were free +to breathe.</p> + +<p>She looked up at the pale, strong features of the young fighter, who was +so great and glorious almost before the down had thickened on his lip; and +she saw something almost above nature in his face,--something high and +angelic, yet manly and well fitted to face earthly battles. He was her sun, +her young god, her perfect image of perfection, the very source of her +trust. It would have killed her to doubt him. Her whole soul went up to him +in her eyes; and as he was ready to die for her, she knew that for him she +would suffer every anguish death could hold, and not flinch.</p> + +<p>Then she looked down, and suddenly laughed a little oddly, and her +finger pointed towards the pens and paper.</p> + +<p>"She has left something behind," she said. "She was clever to get in +here and slip out again without being seen."</p> + +<p>Don John looked where she pointed, and saw a small letter folded round +the stems of two white carnations, and neatly tied with a bit of twisted +silk. It was laid between the paper and the bronze inkstand, and half +hidden by the broad white feather of a goose-quill pen, that seemed to have +been thrown carelessly across the flowers. It lay there as if meant to be +found, only by one who wrote, and not to attract too much attention.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" he exclaimed, in a rather singular tone, as he saw it, and a +boyish blush reddened his face.</p> + +<p>Then he took the letter and drew out the two flowers by the blossoms +very carefully. Dolores watched him. He seemed in doubt as to what he +should do; and the blush subsided quickly, and gave way to a look of +settled annoyance. The carnations were quite fresh, and had evidently not +been plucked more than an hour. He held them up a moment and looked at +them, then laid them down again and took the note. There was no writing on +the outside. Without opening it he held it to the flame of the candle, but +Dolores caught his wrist.</p> + +<p>"Why do you not read it?" she asked quickly.</p> + +<p>"Dear, I do not know who wrote it, and I do not wish to know anything +you do not know also."</p> + +<p>"You have no idea who the woman is?" Dolores looked at him +wonderingly.</p> + +<p>"Not the very least," he answered with a smile.</p> + +<p>"But I should like to know so much!" she cried. "Do read it and tell me. +I do not understand the thing at all."</p> + +<p>"I cannot do that." He shook his head. "That would be betraying a +woman's secret. I do not know who it is, and I must not let you know, for +that would not be honourable."</p> + +<p>"You are right," she said, after a pause. "You always are. Burn it."</p> + +<p>He pushed the point of a steel erasing-knife through the piece of folded +paper and held it over the flame. It turned brown, crackled and burst into +a little blaze, and in a moment the black ashes fell fluttering to the +table.</p> + +<p>"What do you suppose it was?" asked Dolores innocently, as Don John +brushed the ashes away.</p> + +<p>"Dear--it is very ridiculous--I am ashamed of it, and I do not quite +know how to explain it to you." Again he blushed a little. "It seems +strange to speak of it--I never even told my mother. At first I used to +open them, but now I generally burn them like this one."</p> + +<p>"Generally! Do you mean to say that you often find women's letters with +flowers in them on your table?"</p> + +<p>"I find them everywhere," answered Don John, with perfect simplicity. "I +have found them in my gloves, tied into the basket hilt of my sword--often +they are brought to me like ordinary letters by a messenger who waits for +an answer. Once I found one on my pillow!"</p> + +<p>"But"--Dolores hesitated--"but are they--are they all from the same +person?" she asked timidly. Don John laughed, and shook his head.</p> + +<p>"She would need to be a very persistent and industrious person," he +answered. "Do you not understand?"</p> + +<p>"No. Who are these women who persecute you with their writing? And why +do they write to you? Do they want you to help them?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly that;" he was still smiling. "I ought not to laugh, I +suppose. They are ladies of the court sometimes, and sometimes others, and +I--I fancy that they want me to--how shall I say?--to begin by writing them +letters of the same sort."</p> + +<p>"What sort of letters?"</p> + +<p>"Why--love letters," answered Don John, driven to extremity in spite of +his resistance.</p> + +<p>"Love letters!" cried Dolores, understanding at last. "Do you mean to +say that there are women whom you do not know, who tell you that they love +you before you have ever spoken to them? Do you mean that a lady of the +court, whom you have probably never even seen, wrote that note and tied it +up with flowers and risked everything to bring it here, just in the hope +that you might notice her? It is horrible! It is vile! It is shameless! It +is beneath anything!"</p> + +<p>"You say she was a lady--you saw her. I did not. But that is what she +did, whoever she may be."</p> + +<p>"And there are women like that--here, in the palace! How little I +know!"</p> + +<p>"And the less you learn about the world, the better," answered the young +soldier shortly.</p> + +<p>"But you have never answered one, have you?" asked Dolores, with a scorn +that showed how sure she was of his reply.</p> + +<p>"No." He spoke thoughtfully. "I once thought of answering one. I meant +to tell her that she was out of her senses, but I changed my mind. That was +long ago, before I knew you--when I was eighteen."</p> + +<p>"Ever since you were a boy!"</p> + +<p>The look of wonder was not quite gone from her face yet, but she was +beginning to understand more clearly, though still very far from +distinctly. It did not occur to her once that such things could be +temptations to the brilliant young leader whom every woman admired and +every man flattered, and that only his devoted love for her had kept him +out of ignoble adventures since he had grown to be a man. Had she seen +that, she would have loved him even better, if it were possible. It was +all, as she had said, shameless and abominable. She had thought that she +knew much of evil, and she had even told him so that evening, but this was +far beyond anything she had dreamt of in her innocent thoughts, and she +instinctively felt that there were lower depths of degradation to which a +woman could fall, and of which she would not try to guess the vileness and +horror.</p> + +<p>"Shall I burn the flowers, too?" asked Don John, taking them in his +hand.</p> + +<p>"The flowers? No. They are innocent and fresh. What have they to do with +her? Give them to me."</p> + +<p>He raised them to his lips, looking at her, and then held them out. She +took them, and kissed them, as he had done, and they both smiled happily. +Then she fastened them in her hair.</p> + +<p>"No one will see me to-night but you," she said. "I may wear flowers in +my hair like a peasant woman!"</p> + +<p>"How they make the gold gleam!" he exclaimed, as he looked. "It is +almost time that my men came back," he said sadly. "When I go down to the +court, I shall dismiss them. After the royal supper I shall try and come +here again and see you. By that time everything will be arranged. I have +thought of almost everything already. My mother will provide you with +everything you need. To-morrow evening I can leave this place myself to go +and see her, as I always do."</p> + +<p>He always spoke of Doña Magdalena Quixada as his mother--he had +never known his own.</p> + +<p>Dolores rose from her seat, for he was ready to go.</p> + +<p>"I trust you in everything," she said simply. "I do not need to know how +you will accomplish it all--it is enough to know that you will. Tell Inez, +if you can--protect her if my father is angry with her."</p> + +<p>He held out his hand to take hers, and she was going to give it, as she +had done before. But it was too little. Before he knew it she had thrown +her arms round his neck, and was kissing him, with little cries and broken +words of love. Then she drew back suddenly.</p> + +<p>"I could not help it," she said. "Now lock me in. No--do not say +good-by--even for two hours!"</p> + +<p>"I will come back as soon as I can," he answered, and with a long look +he left her, closed the door and locked it after him, leaving her +alone.</p> + +<p>She stood a few moments looking at the panels as if her sight could +pierce them and reach him on the other side, and she tried to hold the last +look she had seen in his eyes. Hardly two minutes had elapsed before she +heard voices and footsteps in the bedchamber. Don John spoke in short +sentences now and then to his servants, and his voice was commanding though +it was kindly. It seemed strange to be so near him in his life; she +wondered whether she should some day always be near him, as she was now, +and nearer; she blushed, all alone. So many things had happened, and he and +she had found so much to say that nothing had been said at all of what was +to follow her flight to Villagarcia. She was to leave for the Quixadas' +house before morning, but Quixada and his wife could not protect her +against her father, if he found out where she was, unless she were married. +After that, neither Mendoza nor any one else, save the King himself, would +presume to interfere with the liberty of Don John of Austria's wife. All +Spain would rise to protect her--she was sure of that. But they had said +nothing about a marriage and had wasted time over that unknown woman's +abominable letter. Since she reasoned it out to herself, she saw that in +all probability the ceremony would take place as soon as Don John reached +Villagarcia. He was powerful enough to demand the necessary permission of +the Archbishop, and he would bring it with him; but no priest, even in the +absence of a written order, would refuse to marry him if he desired it. +Between the real power he possessed and the vast popularity he enjoyed, he +could command almost anything.</p> + +<p>She heard his voice distinctly just then, though she was not listening +for it. He was telling a servant to bring white shoes. The fact struck her +because she had never seen him wear any that were not black or yellow. She +smiled and wished that she might bring him his white shoes and hang his +order of the Golden Fleece round his neck, and breathe on the polished hilt +of his sword and rub it with soft leather. She had seen Eudaldo furbish her +father's weapons in that way since she had been a child.</p> + +<p>It had all come so suddenly in the end. Shading her eyes from the +candles with her hand, she rested one elbow on the table, and tried to +think of what should naturally have happened, of what must have happened if +the unknown voice among the courtiers had not laughed and roused her +father's anger and brought all the rest. Don John would have come to the +door, and Eudaldo would have let him in--because no one could refuse him +anything and he was the King's brother. He would have spent half an hour +with her in the little drawing-room, and it would have been a constrained +meeting, with Inez near, though she would presently have left them alone. +Then, by this time, she would have gone down with the Duchess Alvarez and +the other maids of honour, and by and by she would have followed the Queen +when she entered the throne room with the King and Don John; and she might +not have exchanged another word with the latter for a whole day, or two +days. But now it seemed almost certain that she was to be his wife within +the coming week. He was in the next room.</p> + +<p>"Do not put the sword away," she heard him say. "Leave it here on the +table."</p> + +<p>Of course; what should he do with a sword in his court dress? But if he +had met her father in the corridor, coming to her after the supper, he +would have been unarmed. Her father, on the contrary, being on actual duty, +wore the sword of his rank, like any other officer of the guards, and the +King wore a rapier as a part of his state dress.</p> + +<p>She was astonished at the distinctness with which she heard what was +said in the next room. That was doubtless due to the construction of the +vault, as she vaguely guessed. It was true that Don John spoke very +clearly, but she could hear the servants' subdued answers almost as well, +when she listened. It seemed to her that he took but a very short time to +dress.</p> + +<p>"I have the key of that room," he said presently. "I have my papers +there. You are at liberty till midnight. My hat, my gloves. Call my +gentlemen, one of you, and tell them to meet me in the corridor."</p> + +<p>She could almost hear him drawing on his gloves. One of the servants +went out.</p> + +<p>"Fadrique," said Don John, "leave out my riding-cloak. I may like to +walk on the terrace in the moonlight, and it is cold. Have my drink ready +at midnight and wait for me. Send Gil to sleep, for he was up last +night."</p> + +<p>There was a strange pleasure in hearing his familiar orders and small +directions and in seeing how thoughtful he was for his servants. She knew +that he had always refused to be surrounded by valets and +gentlemen-in-waiting, and lived very simply when he could, but it was +different to be brought into such close contact with his life. There was a +wonderful gentleness in his ways that contrasted widely with her father's +despotic manner and harsh tone when he gave orders. Mendoza believed +himself the type and model of a soldier and a gentleman, and he maintained +that without rigid discipline there could be no order and no safety at home +or in the army. But between him and Don John there was all the difference +that separates the born leader of men from the mere martinet.</p> + +<p>Dolores listened. It was clear that Don John was not going to send +Fadrique away in order to see her again before he went down to the throne +room, though she had almost hoped he might.</p> + +<p>On the contrary, some one else came. She heard Fadrique announce +him.</p> + +<p>"The Captain Don Juan de Escobedo is in waiting, your Highness," said +the servant. "There is also Adonis."</p> + +<p>"Adonis!" Don John laughed, not at the name, for it was familiar to him, +but at the mere mention of the person who bore it and who was the King's +dwarf jester, Miguel de Antona, commonly known by his classic nickname. +"Bring Adonis here--he is an old friend."</p> + +<p>The door opened again, and Dolores heard the well-known voice of the +hunchback, clear as a woman's, scornful and full of evil laughter,--the +sort of voice that is heard instantly in a crowd, though it is not always +recognizable. The fellow came in, talking loud.</p> + +<p>"Ave Cæsar!" he cried from the door. "Hail, conqueror! All hail, +thou favoured of heaven, of man,--and of the ladies!"</p> + +<p>"The ladies too?" laughed Don John, probably amused by the dwarfs +antics. "Who told you that?"</p> + +<p>"The cook, sir. For as you rode up to the gate this afternoon a scullery +maid saw you from the cellar grating and has been raving mad ever since, +singing of the sun, moon, and undying love, until the kitchen is more like +a mad-house than this house would be if the Day of Judgment came before or +after Lent."</p> + +<p>"Do you fast in Lent, Adonis?"</p> + +<p>"I fast rigidly three times a day, my lord conqueror,--no, six, for I +eat nothing either just before or just after my breakfast, my dinner, and +my supper. No monk can do better than that, for at those times I eat +nothing at all."</p> + +<p>"If you said your prayers as often as you fast, you would be in a good +way," observed Don John.</p> + +<p>"I do, sir. I say a short grace before and after eating. Why have you +come to Madrid, my lord? Do you not know that Madrid is the worst, the +wickedest, the dirtiest, vilest, and most damnable habitation devised by +man for the corruption of humanity? Especially in the month of November? +Has your lordship any reasonable reason for this unreason of coming here, +when the streets are full of mud, and men's hearts are packed like +saddle-bags with all the sins they have accumulated since Easter and mean +to unload at Christmas? Even your old friends are shocked to see so young +and honest a prince in such a place!"</p> + +<p>"My old friends? Who?"</p> + +<p>"I saw Saint John the Conqueror graciously wave his hand to a most +highly respectable old nobleman this afternoon, and the nobleman was so +much shocked that he could not stir an arm to return the salutation! His +legs must have done something, though, for he seemed to kick his own horse +up from the ground under him. The shock must have been terrible. As for me, +I laughed aloud, which made both the old nobleman and Don Julius Caesar of +Austria exceedingly angry. Get before me, Don Fadrique! I am afraid of the +terror of the Moors,--and no shame to me either! A poor dwarf, against a +man who tears armies to shreds,--and sends scullery maids into hysterics! +What is a poor crippled jester compared with a powerful scullery maid or an +army of heathen Moriscoes? Give me that sword, Fadrique, or I am a dead +man!"</p> + +<p>But Don John was laughing good-naturedly.</p> + +<p>"So it was you, Adonis? I might have-known your voice, I should +think."</p> + +<p>"No one ever knows my voice, sir. It is not a voice, it is a freak of +grammar. It is masculine, feminine, and neuter in gender, singular by +nature, and generally accusative, and it is optative in mood and full of +acute accents. If you can find such another voice in creation, sir, I will +forfeit mine in the King's councils."</p> + +<p>Adonis laughed now, and Dolores remembered the laughter she had heard +from the window.</p> + +<p>"Does his Majesty consult you on matters of state?" inquired Don John. +"Answer quickly, for I must be going."</p> + +<p>"It takes twice as long to tell a story to two men, as to tell it to +one,--when you have to tell them different stories,"</p> + +<p>"Go, Fadrique," said Don John, "and shut the door."</p> + +<p>The dwarf, seeing the servant gone, beckoned Don John to the other side +of the room.</p> + +<p>"It is no great secret, being only the King's," he said. "His Majesty +bids me tell your Serene Highness that he wishes to speak with you +privately about some matters, and that he will come here soon after supper, +and begs you to be alone."</p> + +<p>"I will be here--alone."</p> + +<p>"Excellent, sir. Now there is another matter of secrecy which is just +the contrary of what I have told you, for it is a secret from the King. A +lady laid a letter and two white carnations on your writing-table. If there +is any answer to be taken, I will take it."</p> + +<p>"There is none," answered Don John sternly, "Tell the lady that I burned +the letter without reading it. Go, Adonis, and the next time you come here, +do not bring messages from women. Fadrique!"</p> + +<p>"Your Highness burned the letter without reading it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Fadrique!"</p> + +<p>"I am sorry," said the dwarf, in a low voice.</p> + +<p>No more words were spoken, and in a few moments there was deep silence, +for they were all gone, and Dolores was alone, locked into the little +room.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_VI'></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + + +<p>The great throne room of the palace was crowded with courtiers long +before the time when the King and Queen and Don John of Austria were to +appear, and the entries and halls by which it was approached were almost as +full. Though the late November air was keen, the state apartments were at +summer heat, warmed by thousands of great wax candles that burned in +chandeliers, and in huge sconces and on high candelabra that stood in every +corner. The light was everywhere, and was very soft and yellow, while the +odour of the wax itself was perceptible in the air, and helped the +impression that the great concourse was gathered in a wide cathedral for +some solemn function rather than in a throne room to welcome a victorious +soldier. Vast tapestries, dim and rich in the thick air, covered the walls +between the tall Moorish windows, and above them the great pointed +vaulting, ornamented with the fantastically modelled stucco of the Moors, +was like the creamy crests of waves lashed into foam by the wind, thrown +upright here, and there blown forward in swift spray, and then again +breaking in the fall to thousands of light and exquisite shapes; and the +whole vault thus gathered up the light of the candles into itself and shed +it downward, distributing it into every corner and lighting every face in a +soft and golden glow.</p> + +<p>At the upper end, between two great doors that were like the gateways of +an eastern city, stood the vacant throne, on a platform approached by three +broad steps and covered with deep red cloth; and there stood magnificent +officers of the guard in gilded corslets and plumed steel caps, and other +garments of scarlet and gold, with their drawn swords out. But Mendoza was +not there yet, for it was his duty to enter with the King's own guard, +preceding the Majorduomo. Above the throne, a huge canopy of velvet, red +and yellow, was reared up around the royal coat of arms.</p> + +<p>To the right and left, on the steps, stood carved stools with silken +cushions--those on the right for the chief ministers and nobles of the +kingdom, those on the left for the great ladies of the court. These would +all enter in the King's train and take their places. For the throng of +courtiers who filled the floor and the entries there were no seats, for +only a score of the highest and greatest personages were suffered to sit in +the royal presence. A few, who were near the windows, rested themselves +surreptitiously on the high mouldings of the pilasters, pushing aside the +curtains cautiously, and seeming from a distance to be standing while they +were in reality comfortably seated, an object of laughing envy and of many +witticisms to their less fortunate fellow-courtiers. The throng was not so +close but that it was possible to move in the middle of the hall, and +almost all the persons there were slowly changing place, some going forward +to be nearer the throne, others searching for their friends among their +many acquaintances, that they might help the tedious hour to pass more +quickly.</p> + +<p>Seen from the high gallery above the arch of the great entrance the hall +was a golden cauldron full of rich hues that intermingled in streams, and +made slow eddies with deep shadows, and then little waves of light that +turned upon themselves, as the colours thrown into the dyeing vat slowly +seethe and mix together in rivulets of dark blue and crimson, and of +splendid purple that seems to turn black in places and then is suddenly +shot through with flashes of golden and opalescent light. Here and there +also a silvery gleam flashed in the darker surface, like a pearl in wine, +for a few of the court ladies were dressed all in white, with silver and +many pearls, and diamonds that shed little rays of their own.</p> + +<p>The dwarf Adonis had been there for a few moments behind the lattice +which the Moors had left, and as he stood there alone, where no one ever +thought of going, he listened to the even and not unmusical sound that came +up from the great assembly--the full chorus of speaking voices trained +never to be harsh or high, and to use chosen words, with no loud +exclamations, laughing only to please and little enough out of merriment; +and they would not laugh at all after the King and Queen came in, but would +only murmur low and pleasant flatteries, the change as sudden as when the +musician at the keys closes the full organ all at once and draws gentle +harmonies from softer stops.</p> + +<p>The jester had stood there, and looked down with deep-set, eager eyes, +his crooked face pathetically sad and drawn, but alive with a swift and +meaning intelligence, while the thin and mobile lips expressed a sort of +ready malice which could break out in bitterness or turn to a kindly irony +according as the touch that moved the man's sensitive nature was cruel or +friendly. He was scarcely taller than a boy of ten years old, but his +full-grown arms hung down below his knees, and his man's head, with the +long, keen face, was set far forward on his shapeless body, so that in +speaking with persons of ordinary stature he looked up under his brows, a +little sideways, to see better. Smooth red hair covered his bony head, and +grew in a carefully trimmed and pointed beard on his pointed chin. A loose +doublet of crimson velvet hid the outlines of his crooked back and +projecting breastbone, and the rest of his dress was of materials as rich, +and all red. He was, moreover, extraordinarily careful of his appearance, +and no courtier had whiter or more delicately tended hands or spent more +time before the mirror in tying a shoulder knot, and in fastening the +stiffened collar of white embroidered linen at the fashionable angle behind +his neck.</p> + +<p>He had entered the latticed gallery on his way to Don John's apartments +with the King's message. A small and half-concealed door, known to few +except the servants of the palace, opened upon it suddenly from a niche in +one of the upper corridors. In Moorish days the ladies of the harem had +been wont to go there unseen to see the reception of ambassadors of state, +and such ceremonies, at which, even veiled, they could never be +present.</p> + +<p>He only stayed a few moments, and though his eyes were eager, it was by +habit rather than because they were searching for any one in the crowd. It +pleased him now and then to see the court world as a spectacle, as it +delights the hard-worked actor to be for once a spectator at another's +play. He was an integral part of the court himself, a man of whom most was +often expected when he had the least to give, to whom it was scarcely +permitted to say anything in ordinary language, but to whom almost any +license of familiar speech was freely allowed. He was not a man, he was a +tradition, a thing that had to be where it was from generation to +generation; wherever the court had lived a jester lay buried, and often two +and three, for they rarely lived an ordinary lifetime. Adonis thought of +that sometimes, when he was alone, or when he looked down at the crowd of +delicately scented and richly dressed men and women, every one called by +some noble name, who would doubtless laugh at some jest of his before the +night was over. To their eyes the fool was a necessary servant, because +there had always been a fool at court; he was as indispensable as a chief +butler, a chief cook, or a state coachman, and much more amusing. But he +was not a man, he had no name, he had no place among men, he was not +supposed to have a mother, a wife, a home, anything that belonged to +humanity. He was well lodged, indeed, where the last fool had died, and +richly clothed as the other had been, and he fed delicately, and was given +the fine wines of France to drink, lest his brain should be clouded by +stronger liquor and he should fail to make the court laugh. But he knew +well enough that somewhere in Toledo or Valladolid the next court jester +was being trained to good manners and instructed in the art of wit, to take +the vacant place when he should die. It pleased him therefore sometimes to +look down at the great assemblies from the gallery and to reflect that all +those magnificent fine gentlemen and tenderly nurtured beauties of Spain +were to die also, and that there was scarcely one of them, man or woman, +for whose death some one was not waiting, and waiting perhaps with evil +anxiety and longing. They were splendid to see, those fair women in their +brocades and diamonds, those dark young princesses and duchesses in velvet +and in pearls. He dreamed of them sometimes, fancying himself one of those +Djin of the southern mountains of whom the Moors told blood-curdling tales, +and in the dream he flew down from the gallery on broad, black wings and +carried off the youngest and most beautiful, straight to his magic fortress +above the sea.</p> + +<p>They never knew that he was sometimes up there, and on this evening he +did not wait long, for he had his message to deliver and must be in waiting +on the King before the royal train entered the throne room. After he was +gone, the courtiers waited long, and more and more came in from without. +Now and then the crowd parted as best it might, to allow some grandee who +wore the order of the Golden Fleece or of some other exalted order, to lead +his lady nearer to the throne, as was his right, advancing with measured +steps, and bowing gravely to the right and left as he passed up to the +front among his peers. And just behind them, on one aide, the young girls, +of whom many were to be presented to the King and Queen that night, drew +together and talked in laughing whispers, gathering in groups and knots of +three and four, in a sort of irregular rank behind their mothers or the +elder ladies who were to lead them to the royal presence and pronounce +their names. There was more light where they were gathered, the shadows +were few and soft, the colours tender as the tints of roses in a garden at +sunset, and from the place where they stood the sound of young voices came +silvery and clear. That should have been Inez de Mendoza's place if she had +not been blind. But Inez had never been willing to be there, though she had +more than once found her way to the gallery where the dwarf had stood, and +had listened, and smelled the odour of the wax candles and the perfumes +that rose with the heated air.</p> + +<p>It was long before the great doors on the right hand of the canopy were +thrown open, but courtiers are accustomed from their childhood to long +waiting, and the greater part of their occupation at court is to see and to +be seen, and those who can do both and can take pleasure in either are +rarely impatient. Moreover, many found an opportunity of exchanging quick +words and of making sudden plans for meeting, who would have found it hard +to exchange a written message, and who had few chances of seeing each other +in the ordinary course of their lives; and others had waited long to +deliver a cutting speech, well studied and tempered to hurt, and sought +their enemies in the crowd with the winning smile a woman wears to deal her +keenest thrust. There were men, too, who had great interests at stake and +sought the influence of such as lived near the King, flattering every one +who could possibly be of use, and coolly overlooking any who had a matter +of their own to press, though they were of their own kin. Many officers of +Don John's army were there, too, bright-eyed and bronzed from their +campaigning, and ready to give their laurels for roses, leaf by leaf, with +any lady of the court who would make a fair exchange--and of these there +were not a few, and the time seemed short to them. There were also +ecclesiastics, but not many, in sober black and violet garments, and they +kept together in one corner and spoke a jargon of Latin and Spanish which +the courtiers could not understand; and all who were there, the great +courtiers and the small, the bishops and the canons, the stout princesses +laced to suffocation and to the verge of apoplexy, and fanning themselves +desperately in the heat, and their slim, dark-eyed daughters, cool and +laughing--they were all gathered together to greet Spain's youngest and +greatest hero, Don John of Austria, who had won back Granada from the +Moors.</p> + +<p>As the doors opened at last, a distant blast of silver trumpets rang in +from without, and the full chorus of speaking voices was hushed to a mere +breathing that died away to breathless silence during a few moments as the +greatest sovereign of the age, and one of the strangest figures of all +time, appeared before his court. The Grand Master of Ceremonies entered +first, in his robe of office, bearing a long white staff. In the stillness +his voice rang out to the ends of the hall:</p> + +<p>"His Majesty the King! Her Majesty the Queen!"</p> + +<p>Then came a score of halberdiers of the guard, picked men of great +stature, marching in even steps, led by old Mendoza himself, in his +breastplate and helmet, sword in hand; and he drew up the guard at one side +in a rank, making them pass him so that he stood next to the door.</p> + +<p>After the guards came Philip the Second, a tall and melancholy figure; +and with him, on his left side, walked the young Queen, a small, thin +figure in white, with sad eyes and a pathetic face--wondering, perhaps, +whether she was to follow soon those other queens who had walked by the +same King to the same court, and had all died before their time--Mary of +Portugal, Mary of England, Isabel of Valois.</p> + +<p>The King was one of those men who seem marked by destiny rather than by +nature, fateful, sombre, almost repellent in manner, born to inspire a +vague fear at first sight, and foreordained to strange misfortune or to +extraordinary success, one of those human beings from whom all men shrink +instinctively, and before whom they easily lose their fluency of speech and +confidence of thought. Unnaturally still eyes, of an uncertain colour, +gazed with a terrifying fixedness upon a human world, and were oddly set in +the large and perfectly colourless face that was like an exaggerated waxen +mask. The pale lips did not meet evenly, the lower one protruding, forced, +outward by the phenomenal jaw that has descended to this day in the House +of Austria. A meagre beard, so fair that it looked faded, accentuated the +chin rather than concealed it, and the hair on the head was of the same +undecided tone, neither thin nor thick, neither long nor short, but parted, +and combed with the utmost precision about the large but very finely +moulded ears. The brow was very full as well as broad, and the forehead +high, the whole face too large, even for a man so tall, and disquieting in +its proportions. Philip bent his head forward a little when at rest; when +he looked about him it moved with something of the slow, sure motion of a +piece of mechanism, stopping now and then, as the look in the eyes +solidified to a stare, and then, moving again, until curiosity was +satisfied and it resumed its first attitude, and remained motionless, +whether the lips were speaking or not.</p> + +<p>Very tall and thin, and narrow chested, the figure was clothed all in +cream-coloured silk and silver, relieved only by the collar of the Golden +Fleece, the solitary order the King wore. His step was ungraceful and slow, +as if his thin limbs bore his light weight with difficulty, and he +sometimes stumbled in walking. One hand rested on the hilt of his sword as +he walked, and even under the white gloves the immense length of the +fingers and the proportionate development of the long thumb were clearly +apparent. No one could have guessed that in such a figure there could be +much elasticity or strength, and yet, at rare moments and when younger, +King Philip displayed such strength and energy and quickness as might well +have made him the match of ordinary men. As a rule his anger was slow, +thoughtful, and dangerous, as all his schemes were vast and +far-reaching.</p> + +<p>With the utmost deliberation, and without so much as glancing at the +courtiers assembled, he advanced to the throne and sat down, resting both +hands on the gilded arms of the great chair; and the Queen took her place +beside him. But before he had settled himself, there was a low sound of +suppressed delight in the hall, a moving of heads, a brightening of women's +eyes, a little swaying of men's shoulders as they tried to see better over +those who stood before them; and voices rose here and there above the +murmur, though not loudly, and were joined by others. Then the King's waxen +face darkened, though the expression did not change and the still eyes did +not move, but as if something passed between it and the light, leaving it +grey in the shadow. He did not turn to look, for he knew that his brother +had entered the throne room and that every eye was upon him.</p> + +<p>Don John was all in dazzling white--white velvet, white satin, white +silk, white lace, white shoes, and wearing neither sword nor ornament of +any kind, the most faultless vision of young and manly grace that ever +glided through a woman's dream.</p> + +<p>His place was on the King's right, and he passed along the platform of +the throne with an easy, unhesitating step, and an almost boyish smile of +pleasure at the sounds he heard, and at the flutter of excitement that was +in the air, rather to be felt than otherwise perceived. Coming up the steps +of the throne, he bent one knee before his brother, who held out his +ungloved hand for him to kiss--and when that was done, he knelt again +before the Queen, who did likewise. Then, bowing low as he passed back +before the King, he descended one step and took the chair set for him in +the place that was for the royal princes.</p> + +<p>He was alone there, for Philip was again childless at his fourth +marriage, and it was not until long afterwards that a son was born who +lived to succeed him; and there were no royal princesses in Madrid, so that +Don John was his brother's only near blood relation at the court, and since +he had been acknowledged he would have had his place by right, even if he +had not beaten the Moriscoes in the south and won back Granada.</p> + +<p>After him came the high Ministers of State and the ambassadors in a rich +and stately train, led in by Don Antonio Perez, the King's new favourite, a +man of profound and evil intelligence, upon whom Philip was to rely almost +entirely during ten years, whom he almost tortured to death for his crimes, +and who in the end escaped him, outlived him, and died a natural death, in +Paris, when nearly eighty. With these came also the court ladies, the +Queen's Mistress of the Robes, and the maids of honour, and with the ladies +was Doña Ana de la Cerda, Princess of Eboli and Melito and Duchess +of Pastrana, the wife of old Don Ruy Gomez de Silva, the Minister. It was +said that she ruled her husband, and Antonio Perez and the King himself, +and that she was faithless to all three.</p> + +<p>She was not more than thirty years of age at that time, and she looked +younger when seen in profile. But one facing her might have thought her +older from the extraordinary and almost masculine strength of her small +head and face, compact as a young athlete's, too square for a woman's, with +high cheekbones, deep-set black eyes and eyebrows that met between them, +and a cruel red mouth that always curled a little just when she was going +to speak, and showed extraordinarily perfect little teeth, when the lips +parted. Yet she was almost beautiful when she was not angry or in a hurtful +mood. The dark complexion was as smooth as a perfect peach, and tinged with +warm colour, and her eyes could be like black opals, and no woman in Spain +or Andalusia could match her for grace of figure and lightness of step.</p> + +<p>Others came after in the long train. Then, last of all, at a little +distance from the rest, the jester entered, affecting a very dejected air. +He stood still a while on the platform, looking about as if to see whether +a seat had been reserved for him, and then, shaking his head sadly, he +crouched down, a heap of scarlet velvet with a man's face, just at Don +John's feet, and turning a little towards him, so as to watch his eyes. But +Don John would not look at him, and was surprised that he should put +himself there, having just been dismissed with a sharp reprimand for +bringing women's messages.</p> + +<p>The ceremony, if it can be called by that name, began almost as soon as +all were seated. At a sign from the King, Don Antonio Perez rose and read +out a document which he had brought in his hand. It was a sort of throne +speech, and set forth briefly, in very measured terms, the results of the +long campaign against the Moriscoes, according high praise to the army in +general, and containing a few congratulatory phrases addressed to Don John +himself. The audience of nobles listened attentively, and whenever the +leader's name occurred, the suppressed flutter of enthusiasm ran through +the hall like a breeze that stirs forest leaves in summer; but when the +King was mentioned the silence was dead and unbroken. Don John sat quite +still, looking down a little, and now and then his colour deepened +perceptibly. The speech did not hint at any reward or further distinction +to be conferred on him.</p> + +<p>When Perez had finished reading, he paused a moment, and the hand that +held the paper fell to his side. Then he raised his voice to a higher +key.</p> + +<p>"God save his Majesty Don Philip Second!" be cried. "Long live the +King!"</p> + +<p>The courtiers answered the cheer, but moderately, as a matter of course, +and without enthusiasm, repeating it three times. But at the last time a +single woman's voice, high and clear above all the rest, cried out other +words.</p> + +<p>"God save Don John of Austria! Long live Don John of Austria!"</p> + +<p>The whole multitude of men and women was stirred at once, for every +heart was in the cheer, and in an instant, courtiers though they were, the +King was forgotten, the time, the place, and the cry went up all at once, +full, long and loud, shaming the one that had gone before it.</p> + +<p>King Philip's hands strained at the arms of his great chair, and he half +rose, as if to command silence; and Don John, suddenly pale, had half +risen, too, stretching out his open hand in a gesture of deprecation, while +the Queen watched him with timidly admiring eyes, and the dark Princess of +Eboli's dusky lids drooped to hide her own, for she was watching him also, +but with other thoughts. For a few seconds longer, the cheers followed each +other, and then they died away to a comparative silence. The dwarf rocked +himself, his head between his knees, at Don John's feet.</p> + +<p>"God save the Fool!" he cried softly, mimicking the cheer, and he seemed +to shake all over, as he sat huddled together, swinging himself to and +fro.</p> + +<p>But no one noticed what he said, for the King had risen to his feet as +soon as there was silence. He spoke in a muffled tone that made his words +hard to understand, and those who knew him best saw that he was very angry. +The Princess of Eboli's red lips curled scornfully as she listened, and +unnoticed she exchanged a meaning glance with Antonio Perez; for he and she +were allies, and often of late they had talked long together, and had drawn +sharp comparisons between the King and his brother, and the plan they had +made was to destroy the King and to crown Don John of Austria in his place; +but the woman's plot was deeper, and both were equally determined that Don +John should not marry without their consent, and that if he did, his +marriage should not hold, unless, as was probable, his young wife should +fall ill and die of a sickness unknown to physicians.</p> + +<p>All had risen with the King, and he addressed Don John amidst the most +profound silence.</p> + +<p>"My brother," he said, "your friends have taken upon themselves +unnecessarily to use the words we would have used, and to express to you +their enthusiasm for your success in a manner unknown at the court of +Spain. Our one voice, rendering you the thanks that are your due, can +hardly give you great satisfaction after what you have heard just now. Yet +we presume that the praise of others cannot altogether take the place of +your sovereign's at such a moment, and we formally thank you for the +admirable performance of the task entrusted to you, promising that before +long your services shall be required for an even more arduous undertaking. +It is not in our power to confer upon you any personal distinction or +public office higher than you already hold, as our brother, and as High +Admiral of Spain; but we trust the day is not far distant when a marriage +befitting your rank may place you on a level with kings."</p> + +<p>Don John had moved a step forward from his place and stood before the +King, who, at the end of his short speech, put his long arms over his +brother's shoulders, and proceeded to embrace him in a formal manner by +applying one cheek to his and solemnly kissing the air behind Don John's +head, a process which the latter imitated as nearly as he could. The court +looked on in silence at the ceremony, ill satisfied with Philip's cold +words. The King drew back, and Don John returned to his place. As he +reached it the dwarf jester made a ceremonious obeisance and handed him a +glove which he had dropped as he came forward. As he took it he felt that +it contained a letter, which made a slight sound when his hand crumpled it +inside the glove. Annoyed by the fool's persistence, Don John's eyes +hardened as he looked at the crooked face, and almost imperceptibly he +shook his head. But the dwarf was as grave as he, and slightly bent his +own, clasping his hands in a gesture of supplication. Don John reflected +that the matter must be one of importance this time, as Adonis would not +otherwise have incurred the risk of passing the letter to him under the +eyes of the King and the whole court.</p> + +<p>Then followed the long and tedious procession of the court past the +royal pair, who remained seated, while all the rest stood up, including Don +John himself, to whom a master of ceremonies presented the persons unknown +to him, and who were by far the more numerous. To the men, old and young, +great or insignificant, he gave his hand with frank cordiality. To the +women he courteously bowed his head. A full hour passed before it was over, +and still he grasped the glove with the crumpled letter in his hand, while +the dwarf stood at a little distance, watching in case it should fall; and +as the Duchess Alvarez and the Princess of Eboli presented the ladies of +Madrid to the young Queen, the Princess often looked at Don John and often +at the jester from beneath her half-dropped lids. But she did not make a +single mistake of names nor of etiquette, though her mind was much +preoccupied with other matters.</p> + +<p>The Queen was timidly gracious to every one; but Philip's face was +gloomy, and his fixed eyes hardly seemed to see the faces of the courtiers +as they passed before him, nor did he open his lips to address a word to +any of them, though some were old and faithful servants of his own and of +his father's.</p> + +<p>In his manner, in his silence, in the formality of the ceremony, there +was the whole spirit of the Spanish dominion. It was sombrely magnificent, +and it was gravely cruel; it adhered to the forms of sovereignty as rigidly +as to the outward practices of religion; its power extended to the ends of +the world, and the most remote countries sent their homage and obeisance to +its head; and beneath the dark splendour that surrounded its gloomy +sovereigns there was passion and hatred and intrigue. Beside Don John of +Austria stood Antonio Perez, and under the same roof with Dolores de +Mendoza dwelt Ana de la Cerda, Princess of Eboli, and in the midst of them +all Miguel de Antona, the King's fool.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_VII'></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + + +<p>When the ceremony was over, and every one on the platform and steps of +the throne moved a little in order to make way for the royal personages, +making a slight momentary confusion, Adonis crept up behind Don John, and +softly touched his sleeve to attract his attention. Don John looked round +quickly, and was annoyed to see the dwarf there. He did not notice the fact +that Doña Ana de la Cerda was watching them both, looking sideways +without turning her head.</p> + +<p>"It is a matter of importance," said the jester, in a low voice. "Read +it before supper if you can."</p> + +<p>Don John looked at him a moment, and turned away without answering, or +even making a sign that he understood. The dwarf met Doña Ana's +eyes, and grew slowly pale, till his face was a yellow mask; for he feared +her.</p> + +<p>The door on the other side of the throne was opened, and the King and +Queen, followed by Don John, and preceded by the Master of Ceremonies, went +out. The dwarf, who was privileged, went after them with his strange, +rolling step, his long arms hanging down and swinging irregularly, as if +they did not belong to his body, but were only stuffed things that hung +loose from his shoulders.</p> + +<p>As on all such state occasions, there were separate suppers, in separate +apartments, one for the King, and one for the ministers of state and the +high courtiers; thirdly, a vast collation was spread in a hall on the other +side of the throne room for the many nobles who were but guests at the +court and held no office nor had any special privileges. It was the custom +at that time that the supper should last an hour, after which all +reëntered the throne room to dance, except the King and Queen, who +either retired to the royal apartments, or came back for a short time and +remained standing on the floor of the hall, in order to converse with a few +of the grandees and ambassadors.</p> + +<p>The royal party supped in a sombre room of oval shape, dark with +tapestries and splendid with gold. The King and Queen sat side by side, and +Don John was placed opposite them at the table, of which the shape and +outline corresponded on a small scale with those of the room. Four or five +gentlemen, whose office it was, served the royal couple, receiving the +dishes and wines from the hands of the chief butler; and he, with two other +servants in state liveries, waited on Don John. Everything was most exactly +ordered according to the unchangeable rules of the most formal court in +Europe, not even excepting that of Rome.</p> + +<p>Philip sat in gloomy silence, eating nothing, but occasionally drinking +a little Tokay wine, brought with infinite precaution from Hungary to +Madrid. As be said nothing, neither the Queen nor Don John could speak, it +being ordained that the King must be the first to open his lips. The Queen, +however, being young and of a good constitution in spite of her almost +delicate appearance, began to taste everything that was set before her, +glancing timidly at her husband, who took no notice of her, or pretended +not to do so. Don John, soldier-like, made a sparing supper of the first +thing that was offered to him, and then sat silently watching the other +two. He understood very well that his brother wished to see him in private, +and was annoyed that the Queen should make the meal last longer than +necessary. The dwarf understood also, and smiled to himself in the corner +where he stood waiting in case the King should wish to be amused, which on +that particular evening seemed far from likely. But sometimes he turned +pale and his lips twisted a little as if he were suffering great pain; for +Don John had not yet read the letter that was hidden in his glove; and +Adonis saw in the dark corners of the room the Princess of Eboli's cruel +half-closed eyes, and he fancied he heard her deep voice, that almost +always spoke very sweetly, telling him again and again that if Don John did +not read her letter before he met the King alone that night, Adonis should +before very long cease to be court jester, and indeed cease to be anything +at all that 'eats and drinks and sleeps and wears a coat'--as Dante had +said. What Doña Ana said she would do, was as good as done already, +both then and for nine years from that time, but thereafter she paid for +all her deeds, and more too. But this history is not concerned with those +matters, being only the story of what happened in one night at the old +Alcazar of Madrid.</p> + +<p>King Philip sat a little bent in his chair, apparently staring at a +point in space, and not opening his lips except to drink. But his presence +filled the shadowy room, his large and yellowish face seemed to be all +visible from every part of it, and his still eyes dominated everything and +every one, except his brother. It was as if the possession of some +supernatural and evil being were stealing slowly upon all who were there; +as if a monstrous spider sat absolutely motionless in the midst of its web, +drawing everything within reach to itself by the unnatural fascination of +its lidless sight--as if the gentlemen in waiting were but helpless flies, +circling nearer and nearer, to be caught at last in the meshes, and the +Queen a bright butterfly, and Don John a white moth, already taken and soon +to be devoured. The dwarf thought of this in his corner, and his blood was +chilled, for three queens lay in their tombs in three dim cathedrals, and +she who sat at table was the fourth who had supped with the royal Spider in +his web. Adonis watched him, and the penetrating fear he had long known +crept all through him like the chill that shakes a man before a marsh +fever, so that he had to set his teeth with all his might, lest they should +chatter audibly. As he looked, he fancied that in the light of the waxen +torches the King's face turned by degrees to an ashy grey, and then more +slowly to a shadowy yellow again, as he had seen a spider's ugly body +change colour when the flies came nearer, and change again when one was +entangled in the threads. He thought that the faces of all the people in +the room changed, too, and that he saw in them the look that only near and +certain death can bring, which is in the eyes of him who goes out with +bound hands, at dawn, amongst other men who will see the rising sun shine +on his dead face. That fear came on the dwarf sometimes, and he dreaded +always lest at that moment the King should call to him and bid him sing or +play with words. But this had never happened yet. There were others in the +room, also, who knew something of that same terror, though in a less +degree, perhaps because they knew Philip less well than the jester, who was +almost always near him. But Don John sat quietly in his place, no more +realizing that there could be danger than if he had been charging the Moors +at the head of his cavalry, or fighting a man hand to hand with drawn +swords.</p> + +<p>But still the fear grew, and even the gentlemen and the servants +wondered, for it had never happened that the King had not at last broken +the silence at supper, so that all guessed trouble near at hand, and peril +for themselves. The Queen grew nervous and ceased to eat. She looked from +Philip to Don John, and more than once seemed about to speak, but +recollected herself and checked the words. Her hand shook and her thin +young nostrils quivered now and then. Evil was gathering in the air, and +she felt it approaching, though she could not tell whence it came. A sort +of tension took possession of every one, like what people feel in southern +countries when the southeast wind blows, or when, almost without warning, +the fresh sea-breeze dies away to a dead calm and the blackness rises like +a tide of pitch among the mountains of the coast, sending up enormous +clouds above it to the pale sky, and lying quite still below; and the air +grows lurid quickly, and heavy to breathe and sultry, till the tempest +breaks in lightning and-thunder and drenching rain.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the brewing storm the dwarf saw only the Spider in its +web, illuminated by the unearthly glare of his own fear, and with it the +frightened butterfly and the beautiful silver moth, that had never dreamed +of danger. He shrank against the hangings, pressing backwards till he hurt +his crooked back against the stone wall behind the tapestry, and could have +shrieked with fear had not a greater fear made him dumb. He felt that the +King was going to speak to him, and that he should not be able to answer +him. A horrible thought suddenly seized him, and he fancied that the King +had seen him slip the letter into Don John's glove, and would ask for it, +and take it, and read it--and that would be the end. Thrills of torment ran +through him, and he knew how it must feel to lie bound on the rack and to +hear the executioner's hands on the wheel, ready to turn it again at the +judge's word. He had seen a man tortured once, and remembered his face. He +was sure that the King must have seen the letter, and that meant torment +and death, and the King was angry also because the court had cheered Don +John. It was treason, and he knew it--yet it would have been certain death, +too, to refuse to obey Doña Ana. There was destruction on either +side, and he could not escape. Don John had not read the writing yet, and +if the King asked for it, he would probably give it to him without a +thought, unopened, for he was far too simple to imagine that any one could +accuse him of a treasonable thought, and too boyishly frank to fancy that +his brother could be jealous of him--above all, he was too modest to +suppose that there were thousands who would have risked their lives to set +him on the throne of Spain. He would therefore give the King the letter +unopened, unless, believing it to be a love message from some foolish +woman, he chose to tear it up unread. The wretched jester knew that either +would mean his own disgrace and death, and he quivered with agony from head +to foot.</p> + +<p>The lights moved up and down before his sight, the air grew heavier, the +royal Spider took gigantic proportions, and its motionless eyes were lurid +with evil It was about to turn to him; he felt it turning already, and knew +that it saw him in his corner, and meant to draw him to it, very slowly. In +a moment he should fall to the floor a senseless heap, out of deadly +fear--it would be well if his fear really killed him, but he could not even +hope for that. His hands gripped the hangings on each side of him as he +shrank and crushed his deformity against the wall. Surely the King was +taming his head. Yes--he was right. He felt his short hair rising on his +scalp and unearthly sounds screamed in his ears. The terrible eyes were +upon him now, but he could not move hand or foot--if he had been nailed to +the wall to die, he could not have been so helpless.</p> + +<p>Philip eyed him with cold curiosity, for it was not an illusion, and he +was really looking steadily at the dwarf. After a long time, his protruding +lower lip moved two or three times before he spoke. The jester should have +come forward at his first glance, to answer any question asked him. +Instead, his colourless lips were parted and tightly drawn back, and his +teeth were chattering, do what he could to close them. The Queen and Don +John followed the King's gaze and looked at the dwarf in surprise, for his +agony was painfully visible.</p> + +<p>"He looks as if he were in an ague," observed Philip, as though he were +watching a sick dog.</p> + +<p>He had spoken at last, and the fear of silence was removed. An audible +sigh of relief was heard in the room.</p> + +<p>"Poor man!" exclaimed the Queen. "I am afraid he is very ill!"</p> + +<p>"It is more like--" began Don John, and then he checked himself, for he +had been on the point of saying that the dwarfs fit looked more like +physical fear than illness, for he had more than once seen men afraid of +death; but he remembered the letter in his glove and thought the words +might rouse Philip's suspicions.</p> + +<p>"What was your Serene Highness about to say?" enquired the King, +speaking coldly, and laying stress on the formal title which he had himself +given Don John the right to use.</p> + +<p>"As your Majesty says, it is very like the chill of a fever," replied +Don John.</p> + +<p>But it was already passing, for Adonis was not a natural coward, and the +short conversation of the royal personages had broken the spell that held +him, or had at least diminished its power. When he had entered the room he +had been quite sure that no one except the Princess had seen him slip the +letter into Don John's glove. That quieting belief began to return, his jaw +became steady, and he relaxed his hold on the tapestries, and even advanced +half a step towards the table.</p> + +<p>"And now he seems better," said the King, in evident surprise. "What +sort of illness is this, Fool? If you cannot explain it, you shall be sent +to bed, and the physicians shall practise experiments upon your vile body, +until they find out what your complaint is, for the advancement of their +learning."</p> + +<p>"They would advance me more than their science, Sire," answered Adonis, +in a voice that still quaked with past fear, "for they would send me to +paradise at once and learn nothing that they wished to know."</p> + +<p>"That is probable," observed Don John, thoughtfully, for he had little +belief in medicine generally, and none at all in the present case.</p> + +<p>"May it please your Majesty," said Adonis, taking heart a little, "there +are musk melons on the table."</p> + +<p>"Well, what of that?" asked the King.</p> + +<p>"The sight of melons on your Majesty's table almost kills me," answered +the dwarf.</p> + +<p>"Are you so fond of them that you cannot bear to see them? You shall +have a dozen and be made to eat them all. That will cure your abominable +greediness."</p> + +<p>"Provided that the King had none himself, I would eat all the rest, +until I died of a surfeit of melons like your Majesty's great-grandsire of +glorious and happy memory, the Emperor Maximilian."</p> + +<p>Philip turned visibly pale, for he feared illness and death as few have +feared either.</p> + +<p>"Why has no one ever told me that?" he asked in a muffled and angry +voice, looking round the room, so that the gentlemen and servants shrank +back a little.</p> + +<p>No one answered his question, for though the fact was true, it had been +long forgotten, and it would have been hard for any of those present to +realize that the King would fear a danger so far removed. But the dwarf +knew him well.</p> + +<p>"Let there be no more melons," said Philip, rising abruptly, and still +pale.</p> + +<p>Don John had suppressed a smile, and was taken unawares when the King +rose, so that in standing up instantly, as was necessary according to the +rules, his gloves slipped from his knees, where he had kept them during +supper, to the floor, and a moment passed before he realized that they were +not in his hand. He was still in his place, for the King had not yet left +his own, being engaged in saying a Latin grace in a low tone, He crossed +himself devoutly, and an instant later Don John stooped down and picked up +what he had dropped. Philip could not but notice the action, and his +suspicions were instantly roused.</p> + +<p>"What have you found?" he asked sharply, his eyes fixing themselves +again.</p> + +<p>"My gloves, Sire. I dropped them."</p> + +<p>"And are gloves such precious possessions that Don John of Austria must +stoop to pick them up himself?"</p> + +<p>Adonis began to tremble again, and all his fear returned, so that he +almost staggered against the wall. The Queen looked on in surprise, for she +had not been Philip's wife many months. Don John was unconcerned, and +laughed in reply to the question.</p> + +<p>"It chances that after long campaigning these are the only new white +gloves Don John of Austria possesses," he answered lightly.</p> + +<p>"Let me see them," said the King, extending his hand, and smiling +suddenly.</p> + +<p>With some deliberation Don John presented one of the gloves to his +brother, who took it and pretended to examine it critically, still smiling. +He turned it over several times, while Adonis looked on, gasping for +breath, but unnoticed.</p> + +<p>"The other," said Philip calmly.</p> + +<p>Adonis tried to suppress a groan, and his eyes were fixed on Don John's +face. Would he refuse? Would he try to extract the letter from the glove +under his brother's eyes? Would he give it up?</p> + +<p>Don John did none of those things, and there was not the least change of +colour in his cheek. Without any attempt at concealment he took the letter +from its hiding-place, and held out the empty glove with his other hand. +The King drew back, and his face grew very grey and shadowy with anger.</p> + +<p>"What have you in your other hand?" he asked in a voice indistinct with +passion.</p> + +<p>"A lady's letter, Sire," replied Don John, unmoved.</p> + +<p>"Give it to me at once!"</p> + +<p>"That, your Majesty, is a request I will not grant to any gentleman in +Spain."</p> + +<p>He undid a button of his close-fitting doublet, thrust the letter into +the opening and fastened the button again, before the King could speak. The +dwarf's heart almost stood still with joy,--he could have crawled to Don +John's feet to kiss the dust from his shoes. The Queen smiled nervously, +between fear of the one man and admiration for the other.</p> + +<p>"Your Serene Highness," answered Philip, with a frightful stare, "is the +first gentleman of Spain who has disobeyed his sovereign."</p> + +<p>"May I be the last, your Majesty," said Don John, with a courtly gesture +which showed well enough that he had no intention of changing his mind.</p> + +<p>The King turned from him coldly and spoke to Adonis, who had almost got +his courage back a second time.</p> + +<p>"You gave my message to his Highness, Fool?" he asked, controlling his +voice, but not quite steadying it to a natural tone.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sire."</p> + +<p>"Go and tell Don Antonio Perez to come at once to me in my own +apartments."</p> + +<p>The dwarf bent till his crooked back was high above his head, and he +stepped backwards towards the door through which the servants had entered +and gone out. When he had disappeared, Philip turned and, as if nothing had +happened, gave his hand to the Queen to lead her away with all the +prescribed courtesy that was her due. The servants opened wide the door, +two gentlemen placed themselves on each side of it, the chief gentleman in +waiting went before, and the royal couple passed out, followed at a little +distance by Don John, who walked unconcernedly, swinging his right glove +carelessly in his hand as he went. The four gentlemen walked last. In the +hall beyond, Mendoza was in waiting with the guards.</p> + +<p>A little while after they were all gone, Adonis came back from his +errand, with his rolling step, and searched for the other glove on the +floor, where the King had dropped it. He found it there at once and hid it +in his doubtlet. No one was in the room, for the servants had disappeared +as soon as they could. The dwarf went quickly to Don John's place, took a +Venetian goblet full of untasted wine that stood there and drank it at a +draught. Then he patted himself comfortably with his other hand and looked +thoughtfully at the slices of musk melon that lay in the golden dish +flanked by other dishes full of late grapes and pears.</p> + +<p>"God bless the Emperor Maximilian!" he said in a devout tone. "Since he +could not live for ever, it was a special grace of Providence that his +death should be by melons."</p> + +<p>Then he went away again, and softly closed the door behind him, after +looking back once more to be sure that no one was there after all, and +perhaps, as people sometimes do on leaving a place where they have escaped +a great danger, fixing its details unconsciously in his memory, with +something almost akin to gratitude, as if the lifeless things had run the +risk with them and thus earned their lasting friendship. Thus every man who +has been to sea knows how, when his vessel has been hove to in a storm for +many hours, perhaps during more than one day, within a few miles of the +same spot, the sea there grows familiar to him as a landscape to a +landsman, so that when the force of the gale is broken at last and the sea +subsides to a long swell, and the ship is wore to the wind and can lay her +course once more, he looks astern at the grey water he has learned to know +so well and feels that he should know it again if he passed that way, and +he leaves it with a faint sensation of regret. So Adonis, the jester, left +the King's supper-room that night, devoutly thanking Heaven that the +Emperor Maximilian had died of eating too many melons more than a hundred +and fifty years ago.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the King had left the Queen at the door of her apartments, +and had dismissed Don John in angry silence by a gesture only, as he went +on to his study. And when there, he sent away his gentlemen and bade that +no one should disturb him, and that only Don Antonio Perez, the new +favourite, should be admitted. The supper had scarcely lasted half an hour, +and it was still early in the evening when he found himself alone and was +able to reflect upon what had happened, and upon what it would be best to +do to rid himself of his brother, the hero and idol of Spain.</p> + +<p>He did not admit that Don John of Austria could be allowed to live on, +unmolested, as if he had not openly refused to obey an express command and +as if he were not secretly plotting to get possession of the throne. That +was impossible. During more than two years, Don John's popularity, not only +with the people, but with the army, which was a much more serious matter, +had been steadily growing; and with it and even faster than it, the King's +jealousy and hatred had grown also, till it had become a matter of common +discussion and jest among the soldiers when their officers were out of +hearing.</p> + +<p>But though it was without real cause, it was not without apparent +foundation. As Philip slowly paced the floor of his most private room, with +awkward, ungainly steps, stumbling more than once against a cushion that +lay before his great armchair, he saw clearly before him the whole +dimensions of that power to which he had unwillingly raised his brother. +The time had been short, but the means used had been great, for they had +been intended to be means of destruction, and the result was tremendous +when they turned against him who used them. Philip was old enough to have +been Don John's father, and he remembered how indifferent he had been to +the graceful boy of twelve, whom they called Juan Quixada, when he had been +brought to the old court at Valladolid and acknowledged as a son of the +Emperor Charles. Though he was his brother, Philip had not even granted him +the privilege of living in the palace then, and had smiled at the idea that +he should be addressed as "Serene Highness." Even as a boy, he had been +impatient to fight; and Philip remembered how he was always practising with +the sword or performing wild feats of skill and strength upon half-broken +horses, except when he was kept to his books by Doña Magdalena +Quixada, the only person in the world whom he ever obeyed without question. +Every one had loved the boy from the first, and Philip's jealousy had begun +from that; for he, who was loved by none and feared by all, craved +popularity and common affection, and was filled with bitter resentment +against the world that obeyed him but refused him what he most desired.</p> + +<p>Little more than ten years had passed since the boy had come, and he had +neither died a natural death nor fallen in battle, and was grown up to +young manhood, and was by far the greatest man in Spain. He had been +treated as an inferior, the people had set him up as a god. He had been +sent out to command expeditions that be might fail and be disgraced; but he +had shown deeper wisdom than his elders, and had come back covered with +honour; and now he had been commanded to fight out the final battle of +Spain with the Moriscoes, in the hope that he might die in the fight, since +he could not be dishonoured, and instead he had returned in triumph, having +utterly subdued the fiercest warriors in Europe, to reap the ripe harvest +of his military glory at an age when other men were in the leading-strings +of war's school, and to be acclaimed a hero as well as a favourite by a +court that could hardly raise a voice to cheer for its own King. Ten years +had done all that. Ten more, or even five, might do the rest. The boy could +not be without ambition, and there could be no ambition for him of which +the object should be less than a throne. And yet no word had been breathed +against him,--his young reputation was charmed, as his life was. In vain +Philip had bidden Antonio Perez and the Princess of Eboli use all their +wits and skill to prove that he was plotting to seize the crown. They +answered that he loved a girl of the court, Mendoza's daughter, and that +besides war, for war's sake, he cared for nothing in the world but Dolores +and his adopted mother.</p> + +<p>They spoke the truth, for they had reason to know it, having used every +means in their power to find out whether he could be induced to quarrel +with Philip and enter upon a civil war, which could have had but one issue, +since all Spain would have risen to proclaim him king. He had been tempted +by questions, and led into discussions in which it seemed certain that he +must give them some hope. But they and their agents lost heart before the +insuperable obstacle of the young prince's loyalty. It was simple, +unaffected, and without exaggeration. He never drew his sword and kissed +the blade, and swore by the Blessed Virgin to give his last drop of blood +for his sovereign and his country. He never made solemn vows to accomplish +ends that looked impossible. But when the charge sounded, he pressed his +steel cap a little lower upon his brow, and settled himself in the saddle +without any words and rode at death like the devil incarnate; and then men +followed him, and the impossible was done, and that was all. Or he could +wait and watch, and manoeuvre for weeks, until he had his foe in his hand, +with a patience that would have failed his officers and his men, had they +not seen him always ready and cheerful, and fully sure that although he +might fail twenty times to drive the foe into the pen, he should most +certainly succeed in the end,--as he always did.</p> + +<p>Philip paced the chamber in deep and angry thought. If at that moment +any one had offered to rid him of his brother, the reward would have been +ready, and worth a murderer's taking. But the King had long cherished the +scheme of marrying Don John to Queen Mary of Scotland,--whose marriage with +Bothwell could easily be annulled--in order that his presumptuous ambition +might be satisfied, and at the same time that he might make of his new +kingdom a powerful ally of Spain against Elizabeth of England. It was for +this reason that he had long determined to prevent his brother's marriage +with Maria Dolores de Mendoza. Perez and Doña Ana de la Cerda, on +the other hand, feared that if Don John were allowed to marry the girl he +so devotedly loved, he would forget everything for her, give up +campaigning, and settle to the insignificance of a thoroughly happy man. +For they knew the world well from their own point of view. Happiness is +often like sadness, for it paralyzes those to whose lot it falls; but pain +and danger rouse man's strength of mind and body.</p> + +<p>Yet though the King and his treacherous favourite had diametrically +opposite intentions, a similar thought had crossed the minds of both, even +before Don John had ridden up to the palace gate late on that afternoon, +from his last camping ground outside the city walls. Both had reasoned that +whoever was to influence a man so straightforward and fearless must have in +his power and keeping the person for whom Don John would make the greatest +sacrifice of his life; and that person, as both knew, was Dolores herself. +Yet when Antonio Perez entered Philip's study, neither had guessed the +other's thought.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_VIII'></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + + +<p>The court had been still at supper when Adonis had summoned Don Antonio +Perez to the King, and the Secretary, as he was usually called, had been +obliged to excuse his sudden departure by explaining that the King had sent +for him unexpectedly. He was not even able to exchange a word with +Doña Ana, who was seated at another of the three long tables and at +some distance from him. She understood, however, and looked after him +anxiously. His leaving was not signal for the others, but it caused a +little stir which unhinged the solemn formality of the supper. The +Ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire presently protested that he was +suffering from an unbearable headache, and the Princess of Eboli, next to +whom he was seated, begged him not to stand upon ceremony, since Perez was +gone from the room, but to order his coach at once; she found it hot, she +said, and would be glad to escape. The two rose together, and others +followed their example, until the few who would have stayed longer were +constrained to imitate the majority. When Mendoza, relieved at last from +his duty, went towards the supper-room to take the place that was kept for +him at one of the tables, he met Doña Ana in the private corridor +through which the officers and ladies of the household passed to the state +apartments. He stood still, surprised to see her there.</p> + +<p>"The supper is over," she said, stopping also, and trying to scrutinize +the hard old face by the dim light of the lamps. "May I have a word with +you, General? Let us walk together to your apartments."</p> + +<p>"It is far, Madam," observed Mendoza, who suspected at once that she +wished to see Dolores.</p> + +<p>"I shall be glad to walk a little, and breathe the air," she answered. +"Your corridor has arches open to the air, I remember." She began to walk, +and he was obliged to accompany her. "Yes," she continued indifferently, +"we have had such changeable weather to-day! This morning it almost snowed, +then it rained, then it, began to freeze, and now it feels like summer! I +hope Dolores has not taken cold? Is she ill? She was not at court before +supper."</p> + +<p>"The weather is indeed very changeable," replied the General, who did +not know what to say, and considered it beneath his dignity to lie except +by order of the King.</p> + +<p>"Yes--yes, I was saying so, was I not? But Dolores--is she ill? Please +tell me." The Princess spoke almost anxiously.</p> + +<p>"No, Madam, my daughters are well, so far as I know."</p> + +<p>"But then, my dear General, it is strange that you should not have sent +an excuse for Dolores' not appearing. That is the rule, you know. May I ask +why you ventured to break it?" Her tone grew harder by degrees.</p> + +<p>"It was very sudden," said Mendoza, trying to put her off. "I hope that +your Grace will excuse my daughter."</p> + +<p>"What was sudden?" enquired Doña Ana coldly. "You say she was not +taken ill."</p> + +<p>"Her--her not coming to court." Mendoza hesitated and pulled at his grey +beard as they went along. "She fully intended to come," he added, with +perfect truth.</p> + +<p>Doña Ana walked more slowly, glancing sideways at his face, +though she could hardly see it except when they passed by a lamp, for he +was very tall, and she was short, though exquisitely proportioned.</p> + +<p>"I do not understand," she said, in a clear, metallic voice. "I have a +right to an explanation, for it is quite impossible to give the ladies of +the court who live in the palace full liberty to attend upon the Queen or +not, as they please. You will be singularly fortunate if Don Antonio Perez +does not mention the matter to the King."</p> + +<p>Mendoza was silent, but the words had their effect upon him, and a very +unpleasant one, for they contained a threat.</p> + +<p>"You see," continued the Princess, pausing as they reached a flight of +steps which they would have to ascend, "every one acknowledges the +importance of your services, and that you have been very poorly rewarded +for them. But that is in a degree your own fault, for you have refused to +make friends when you might, and you have little interest with the +King."</p> + +<p>"I know it," said the old soldier, rather bitterly. "Princess," he +continued, without giving her time to say more, "this is a private matter, +which concerns only me and my daughter. I entreat you to overlook the +irregularity and not to question me further. I will serve you in any way in +my power--"</p> + +<p>"You cannot serve me in any way," answered Doña Ana cruelly. "I +am trying to help you," she added, with a sudden change of tone. "You see, +my dear General, you are no longer young. At your age, with your name and +your past services, you should have been a grandee and a rich man. You have +thrown away your opportunities of advancement, and you have contented +yourself with an office which is highly honourable--but poorly paid, is it +not? And there are younger men who court it for the honour alone, and who +are willing to be served by their friends."</p> + +<p>"Who is my successor?" asked Mendoza, bravely controlling his voice +though he felt that he was ruined.</p> + +<p>The skilful and cruel woman began to mount the steps in silence, in +order to let him suffer a few moments, before she answered. Reaching the +top, she spoke, and her voice was soft and kind.</p> + +<p>"No one," she answered, "and there is nothing to prevent you from +keeping your post as long as you like, even if you become infirm and have +to appoint a deputy--but if there were any serious cause of complaint, like +this extraordinary behaviour of Dolores--why, perhaps--"</p> + +<p>She paused to give her words weight, for she knew their value.</p> + +<p>"Madam," said Mendoza, "the matter I keep from you does not touch my +honour, and you may know it, so far as that is concerned. But it is one of +which I entreat you not to force me to speak."</p> + +<p>Doña Ana softly passed her arm through his.</p> + +<p>"I am not used to walking so fast," she said, by way of explanation. +"But, my dear Mendoza," she went on, pressing his arm a little, "you do not +think that I shall let what you tell me go further and reach any one +else--do you? How can I be of any use to you, if you have no confidence in +me? Are we not relatives? You must treat me as I treat you."</p> + +<p>Mendoza wished that he could.</p> + +<p>"Madam," he said almost roughly, "I have shut my daughter up in her own +room and bolted the door, and to-morrow I intend to send her to a convent, +and there she shall stay until she changes her mind, for I will not change +mine"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" ejaculated Doña Ana, with a long intonation, as if grasping +the position of affairs by degrees. "I understand," she said, after a long +time. "But then you and I are of the same opinion, my dear friend. Let us +talk about this."</p> + +<p>Mendoza did not wish to talk of the matter at all, and said nothing, as +they slowly advanced. They had at last reached the passage that ended at +his door, and he slackened his pace still more, obliging his companion, +whose arm was still in his, to keep pace with him. The moonlight no longer +shone in straight through the open embrasures, and there was a dim twilight +in the corridor.</p> + +<p>"You do not wish Dolores to marry Don John of Austria, then," said the +Princess presently, in very low tones. "Then the King is on your side, and +so am I. But I should like to know your reason for objecting to such a very +great marriage."</p> + +<p>"Simple enough, Madam. Whenever it should please his Majesty's policy to +marry his brother to a royal personage, such as Queen Mary of Scotland, the +first marriage would be proved null and void, because the King would +command that it should be so, and my daughter would be a dishonoured woman, +fit for nothing but a convent."</p> + +<p>"Do you call that dishonour?" asked the Princess thoughtfully. "Even if +that happened, you know that Don John would probably not abandon Dolores. +He would keep her near him--and provide for her generously--"</p> + +<p>"Madam!" cried the brave old soldier, interrupting her in sudden and +generous anger, "neither man nor woman shall tell me that my daughter could +ever fall to that!"</p> + +<p>She saw that she had made a mistake, and pressed his arm soothingly.</p> + +<p>"Pray, do not be angry with me, my dear friend. I was thinking what the +world would say--no, let me speak! I am quite of your opinion that Dolores +should be kept from seeing Don John, even by quiet force if necessary, for +they will certainly be married at the very first opportunity they can find. +But you cannot do such things violently, you know. You will make a scandal. +You cannot take your daughter away from court suddenly and shut her up in a +convent without doing her a great injury. Do you not see that? People will +not understand that you will not let her marry Don John--I mean that most +people would find it hard to believe. Yes, the world is bad, I know; what +can one do? The world would say--promise me that you will not be angry, +dear General! You can guess what the world would say."'</p> + +<p>"I see--I see!" exclaimed the old man, in sudden terror for his +daughter's good name. "How wise you are!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Doña Ana, stopping at ten paces from the door, "I +am wise, for I am obliged to be. Now, if instead of locking Dolores into +her room two or three hours ago, you had come to me, and told me the truth, +and put her under my protection, for our common good, I would have made it +quite impossible for her to exchange a word with Don John, and I would have +taken such good care of her that instead of gossiping about her, the world +would have said that she was high in favour, and would have begun to pay +court to her. You know that I have the power to do that."</p> + +<p>"How very wise you are!" exclaimed Mendoza again, with more +emphasis.</p> + +<p>"Very well. Will you let me take her with me now, my dear friend? I will +console her a little, for I daresay she has been crying all alone in her +room, poor girl, and I can keep her with me till Don John goes to +Villagarcia. Then we shall see."</p> + +<p>Old Mendoza was a very simple-hearted man, as brave men often are, and a +singularly spotless life spent chiefly in war and austere devotion had left +him more than ignorant of the ways of the world. He had few friends, +chiefly old comrades of his own age who did not live in the palace, and he +detested gossip. Had he known what the woman was with whom he was speaking, +he would have risked Dolores' life rather than give her into the keeping of +Doña Ana. But to him, the latter was simply the wife of old Don Ruy +Gomez de Silva, the Minister of State, and she was the head of the Queen's +household. No one would have thought of repeating the story of a court +intrigue to Mendoza, but it was also true that every one feared Doña +Ana, whose power was boundless, and no one wished to be heard speaking ill +of her. To him, therefore, her proposition seemed both wise and kind.</p> + +<p>"I am very grateful," he said, with some emotion, for he believed that +she was helping him to save his fortune and his honour, as was perhaps +really the case, though she would have helped him to lose both with equally +persuasive skill could his ruin have served her. "Will you come in with me, +Princess?" he asked, beginning to move towards the door.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Take me to her room and leave me with her."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I would rather not see her myself this evening," said Mendoza, +feeling his anger still not very far from the surface. "You will be able to +speak more wisely than I should."</p> + +<p>"I daresay," answered Doña Ana thoughtfully. "If you went with me +to her, there might be angry words again, and that would make it much +harder for me. If you will leave me at the door of her rooms, and then go +away, I will promise to manage the rest. You are not sorry that you have +told me, now, are you, my dear friend?"</p> + +<p>"I am most grateful to you. I shall do all I can to be of service to +you, even though you said that it was not in my power to serve you."</p> + +<p>"I was annoyed," said Doña Ana sweetly. "I did not mean +it--please forgive me."</p> + +<p>They reached the door, and as she withdrew her hand from his arm, he +took it and ceremoniously kissed her gloved fingers, while she smiled +graciously. Then he knocked three times, and presently the shuffling of +Eudaldo's slippers was heard within, and the old servant opened sleepily. +On seeing the Princess enter first, he stiffened himself in a military +fashion, for he had been a soldier and had fought under Mendoza when both +were younger.</p> + +<p>"Eudaldo," said the General, in the stern tone he always used when +giving orders, "her Excellency the Princess of Eboli will take Doña +Dolores to her own apartments this evening. Tell the maid to follow later +with whatever my daughter needs, and do you accompany the ladies with a +candle."</p> + +<p>But at this Doña Ana protested strongly. There was moonlight, +there were lamps, there was light everywhere, she said. She needed no one. +Mendoza, who had no man-servant in the house but Eudaldo, and eked out his +meagre establishment by making use of his halberdiers when he needed any +one, yielded after very little persuasion.</p> + +<p>"Open the door of my daughter's apartments," he said to Eudaldo. +"Madam," he said, turning to the Princess, "I have the honour to wish you +good-night. I am your Grace's most obedient servant. I must return to my +duty."</p> + +<p>"Good-night, my dear friend," answered Doña Ana, nodding +graciously.</p> + +<p>Mendoza bowed low, and went out again, Eudaldo closing the door behind +him. He would not be at liberty until the last of the grandees had gone +home, and the time he had consumed in accompanying the Princess was just +what he could have spared for his supper. She gave a short sigh of relief +as she heard his spurred heels and long sword on the stone pavement. He was +gone, leaving Dolores in her power, and she meant to use that power to the +utmost.</p> + +<p>Eudaldo shuffled silently across the hall, to the other door, and she +followed him. He drew the bolt.</p> + +<p>"Wait here," she said quietly. "I wish to see Doña Dolores +alone."</p> + +<p>"Her ladyship is in the farther room, Excellency," said the servant, +bowing and standing back.</p> + +<p>She entered and closed the door, and Eudaldo returned to his big chair, +to doze until she should come out.</p> + +<p>She had not taken two steps in the dim room, when a shadow flitted +between her and the lamp, and it was almost instantly extinguished. She +uttered an exclamation of surprise and stood still. Anywhere save in +Mendoza's house, she would have run back and tried to open the door as +quickly as possible, in fear of her life, for she had many enemies, and was +constantly on her guard. But she guessed that the shadowy figure she had +seen was Dolores. She spoke, without hesitation, in a gentle voice.</p> + +<p>"Dolores! Are you there?" she asked.</p> + +<p>A moment later she felt a small hand on her arm.</p> + +<p>"Who is it?" asked a whisper, which might have come from Dolores' lips +for all Doña Ana could tell.</p> + +<p>She had forgotten the existence of Inez, whom she had rarely seen, and +never noticed, though she knew that Mendoza had a blind daughter.</p> + +<p>"It is I--the Princess of Eboli," she answered in the same gentle +tone.</p> + +<p>"Hush! Whisper to me."</p> + +<p>"Your father has gone back to his duty, my dear--you need not be +afraid."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but Eudaldo is outside--he hears everything when he is not asleep. +What is it, Princess? Why are you here?"</p> + +<p>"I wish to talk with you a little," replied Doña Ana, whispering +now, to please the girl. "Can we not get a light? Why did you put out the +lamp? I thought you were in another room."</p> + +<p>"I was frightened. I did not know who you were. We can talk in the dark, +if you do not mind. I will lead you to a chair. I know just where +everything is in this room."</p> + +<p>The Princess suffered herself to be led a few steps, and presently she +felt herself gently pushed into a seat. She was surprised, but realizing +the girl's fear of her father, she thought it best to humour her. So far +Inez had said nothing that could lead her visitor to suppose that she was +not Dolores. Intimate as the devoted sisters were, Inez knew almost as much +of the Princess as Dolores herself; the two girls were of the same height, +and so long as the conversation was carried on in whispers, there was no +possibility of detection by speech alone. The quick-witted blind girl +reflected that it was strange if Doña Ana had not seen Dolores, who +must have been with the court the whole evening, and she feared some harm. +That being the case, her first impulse was to help her sister if possible, +but so long as she was a prisoner in Dolores' place, she could do nothing, +and she resolved that the Princess should help her to escape.</p> + +<p>Doña Ana began to speak quickly and fluently in the dark. She +said that she knew the girl's position, and had long known how tenderly she +loved Don John of Austria, and was loved by him. She sympathized deeply +with them both, and meant to do all in her power to help them. Then she +told how she had missed Dolores at court that night.</p> + +<p>Inez started involuntarily and drew her breath quickly, but Doña +Ana thought it natural that Dolores should give some expression to the +disappointment she must have felt at being shut up a prisoner on such an +occasion, when all the court was assembled to greet the man she loved.</p> + +<p>Then the Princess went on to tell how she had met Mendoza and had come +with him, and how with great difficulty she had learned the truth, and had +undertaken Dolores' care for a few days; and how Mendoza had been +satisfied, never suspecting that she really sympathized with the lovers. +That was a state secret, but of course Dolores must know it. The King +privately desired the marriage, she said, because he was jealous of his +brother and wished that he would tire of winning battles and live quietly, +as happy men do.</p> + +<p>"Don John will tell you, when you see him," she continued. "I sent him +two letters this evening. The first he burned unopened, because he thought +it was a love letter, but he has read the second by this time. He had it +before supper."</p> + +<p>"What did you write to him?" asked Inez, whispering low.</p> + +<p>"He will tell you. The substance was this: If he would only be prudent, +and consent to wait two days, and not attempt to see you alone, which would +make a scandal, and injure you, too, if any one knew it, the King would +arrange everything at his own pleasure, and your father would give his +consent. You have not seen Don John since he arrived, have you?" She asked +the question anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh no!" answered the blind girl, with conviction. "I have not seen him. +I wish to Heaven I had!"</p> + +<p>"I am glad of that," whispered the Princess. "But if you will come with +me to my apartments, and stay with me till matters are arranged--well--I +will not promise, because it might be dangerous, but perhaps you may see +him for a moment."</p> + +<p>"Really? Do you think that is possible?" In the dark Inez was smiling +sadly.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. He might come to see me, for instance, or my husband, and I +could leave you together a moment."</p> + +<p>"That would be heaven!" And the whisper came from the heart.</p> + +<p>"Then come with me now, my dear, and I will do my best," answered the +Princess.</p> + +<p>"Indeed I will! But will you wait one moment while I dress? I am in my +old frock--it is hardly fit to be seen."</p> + +<p>This was quite true; but Inez had reflected that dressed as she was she +could not pass Eudaldo and be taken by him for her sister, even with a hood +over her head. The clothes Dolores had worn before putting on her court +dress were in her room, and Dolores' hood was there, too. Before the +Princess could answer, Inez was gone, closing the door of the bedroom +behind her. Doña Ana, a little taken by surprise again, was fain to +wait where she was, in the dark, at the risk of hurting herself against the +furniture. Then it struck her that Dolores must be dressing in the dark, +for no light had come from the door as it was opened and shut. She +remembered the blind sister then, and she wondered idly whether those who +lived continually with the blind learned from them to move easily in the +dark and to do everything without a light. The question did not interest +her much, but while she was thinking of it the door opened again. A skirt +and a bodice are soon changed. In a moment she felt her hand taken, and she +rose to her feet.</p> + +<p>"I am ready, Princess. I will open the door if you will come with me. I +have covered my head and face," she added carelessly, though always +whispering, "because I am afraid of the night air."</p> + +<p>"I was going to advise you to do it in any case, my dear. It is just as +well that neither of us should be recognized by any one in the corridors so +far from my apartments."</p> + +<p>The door opened and let in what seemed a flood of light by comparison +with the darkness. The Princess went forward, and Eudaldo got upon his legs +as quickly as he could to let the two ladies out, without looking at them +as they crossed the hall. Inez followed her companion's footfall exactly, +keeping one step behind her by ear, and just pausing before passing out. +The old servant saw Dolores' dress and Dolores' hood, which he expected to +see, and no more suspected anything than he had when, as he supposed, Inez, +had gone out earlier.</p> + +<p>But Inez herself had a far more difficult part to perform than her +sister's. Dolores had gone out alone, and no one had watched her beyond the +door, and Dolores had eyes, and could easily enough pretend that she could +not see. It was another matter to be blind and to play at seeing, with a +clever woman like the Princess at one's elbow, ready to detect the +slightest hesitation. Besides, though she had got out of the predicament in +which it had been necessary to place her, it was quite impossible to +foresee what might happen when the Princess discovered that she had been +deceived, and that catastrophe must happen sooner or later, and might occur +at any moment. The Princess walked quickly, too, with a gliding, noiseless +step that was hard to follow. Fortunately Inez was expected to keep to the +left of a superior like her companion, and was accustomed to taking that +side when she went anywhere alone in the palace. That made it easier, but +trouble might come at one of the short flights of steps down and up which +they would have to pass to reach the Princess's apartments. And then, once +there, discovery must come, to a certainty, and then, she knew not +what.</p> + +<p>She had not run the risk for the sake of being shut up again. She had +got out by a trick in order to help her sister, if she could find her, and +in order to be at liberty the first thing necessary was to elude her +companion. To go to the door of her apartments would be fatal, but she had +not had time to think what she should do. She thought now, with all the +concentration of her ingenuity. One chance presented itself to her mind at +once. They most pass the pillar behind which was the concealed entrance to +the Moorish gallery above the throne room, and it was not at all likely +that Doña Ana should know of its existence, for she never came to +that part of the palace, and if Inez lagged a little way behind, before +they reached the spot, she could slip noiselessly behind the pillar and +disappear. She could always trust herself not to attract attention when she +had to open and shut a door.</p> + +<p>The Princess spoke rarely, making little remarks now and then that +hardly required an answer, but to which Inez answered in monosyllables, +speaking in a low voice through the thick veil she had drawn over her +mantle under her hood, on pretence of fearing the cold. She thought it a +little safer to speak aloud in that way, lest her companion should wonder +at her total silence.</p> + +<p>She knew exactly where she was, for she touched each corner as she +passed, and counted her steps between one well-known point and the next, +and she allowed the Princess to gain a little as they neared the last +turning before reaching the place where she meant to make the attempt. She +hoped in this way, by walking quite noiselessly, and then stopping suddenly +just before she reached the pillar, to gain half a dozen paces, and the +Princess would take three more before she stopped also. Inez had noticed +that most people take at least three steps before they stop, if any one +calls them suddenly when they are walking fast. It seems to need as much to +balance the body when its speed is checked. She noticed everything that +could be heard.</p> + +<p>She grew nervous. It seemed to her that her companion was walking more +slowly, as if not wishing to leave her any distance behind. She quickened +her own pace again, fearing that she had excited suspicion. Then she heard +the Princess stop suddenly, and she had no choice but to do the same. Her +heart began to beat painfully, as she saw her chance slipping from her. She +waited for Doña Ana to speak, wondering what was the matter.</p> + +<p>"I have mistaken the way," said the Princess, in a tone of annoyance. "I +do not know where I am. We had better go back and turn down the main +staircase, even if we meet some one. You see, I never come to this part of +the palace."</p> + +<p>"I think we are on the right corridor," said Inez nervously. "Let me go +as far as the corner. There is a light there, and I can tell you in a +moment." In her anxiety to seem to see, she had forgotten for the moment to +muffle her voice in her veil.</p> + +<p>They went on rapidly, and the Doña Ana did what most people do +when a companion offers to examine the way,--she stood still a moment and +hesitated, looking after the girl, and then followed her with the slow step +with which a person walks who is certain of having to turn back. Inez +walked lightly to the corner, hardly touching the wall, turned by the +corner, and was out of sight in a moment. The Princess walked faster, for +though she believed that Dolores trusted her, it seemed foolish to give the +girl a chance. She reached the corner, where there was a lamp,--and she saw +that the dim corridor was empty to the very end.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_IX'></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + + +<p>The Princess was far from suspecting, even then, that she had been +deceived about her companion's identity as well as tricked at the last, +when Inez escaped from her. She would have laughed at the idea that any +blind person could have moved as confidently as Inez, or could afterwards +have run the length of the next corridor in what had seemed but an instant, +for she did not know of the niche behind the pillar, and there were +pilasters all along, built into the wall. The construction of the high, +springing vault that covered the whole throne room required them for its +solidity, and only the one under the centre of the arch was built as a +detached pillar, in order to give access to the gallery. Seen from either +end of the passage, it looked exactly like the rest, and few persons would +have noticed that it differed from them, even in passing it.</p> + +<p>Doña Ana stood looking in the direction she supposed the girl to +have taken. An angry flush rose in her cheek, she bit her lips till they +almost bled, and at last she stamped once before she turned away, so that +her little slipper sent a sharp echo along the corridor. Pursuit was out of +the question, of course, though she could run like a deer; some one might +meet her at any turning, and in an hour the whole palace would know that +she had been seen running at full speed after some unknown person. It would +be bad enough if she were recognized walking alone at night at a distance +from her own apartments. She drew her veil over her face so closely that +she could hardly see her way, and began to retrace her steps towards the +principal staircase, pondering as to what she should say to Mendoza when he +discovered that she had allowed his daughter to escape. She was a woman of +manlike intelligence and not easily unbalanced by a single reverse, +however, and before she had gone far her mind began to work clearly. +Dolores, she reasoned, would do one of two things. She would either go +straight to Don John's apartments, wait for him, and then tell him her +story, in the hope that he would protect her, or she would go to the +Duchess Alvarez and seek protection there. Under no circumstances would she +go down to the throne room without her court dress, for her mere appearance +there, dressed as she was, would produce the most profound astonishment, +and could do her no possible good. And as for her going to the Duchess, +that was impossible, too. If she had run away from Doña Ana, she had +done so because the idea of not seeing Don John for two days was +intolerable, and she meant to try and see him at once. The Duchess was in +all probability with the Queen, in the latter's private apartments, as +Dolores would know. On the whole, it seemed far more likely that she had +done the rashest thing that had suggested itself to her, and had gone +directly to the man she loved,--a man powerful enough to protect her +against all comers, at the present time, and quite capable of facing even +the King's displeasure.</p> + +<p>But the whole object of Doña Ana's manoeuvre had been to get +possession of Dolores' person, as a means of strongly influencing Don +John's actions, in order thus to lead him into a false position from which +he should not be able to escape without a serious quarrel with King Philip, +which would be the first step towards the execution of the plot elaborated +by Doña Ana and Perez together. Anything which could produce an open +difference between the brothers would serve to produce two parties in +Spain, of which the one that would take Don John's side would be by far the +stronger. His power would be suddenly much increased, an organized +agitation would be made throughout the country to set him on the throne, +and his popularity, like Cæsar's, would grow still more, when he +refused the crown, as he would most certainly do. But just then King Philip +would die suddenly of a fever, or a cold, or an indigestion, as the +conspirators thought best. There would be no direct male heir to the throne +but Don John himself, the acknowledged son of the Emperor Charles; and even +Don John would then be made to see that he could only serve his country by +ruling it, since it cried out for his rule and would have no other. It was +a hard and dangerous thing to lead King Philip; it would be an easy matter +to direct King John. An honest and unsuspicious soldier would be but as a +child in such skilful hands. Doña Ana and Perez would rule Spain as +they pleased, and by and by Don John should be chosen Emperor also by the +Electors of the Holy Roman Empire, and the conspirators would rule the +world, as Charles the Fifth had ruled it. There was no limit to their +ambition, and no scruple would stand between them and any crime, and the +stake was high and worth many risks.</p> + +<p>The Princess walked slowly, weighing in the balance all there was to +lose or gain. When she reached the head of the main staircase, she had not +yet altogether decided how to act, and lest she should meet some one she +returned, and walked up and down the lonely corridor nearly a quarter of an +hour, in deep thought. Suddenly a plan of action flashed upon her, and she +went quickly on her way, to act at once.</p> + +<p>Don John, meanwhile, had read the letter she had sent him by the dwarf +jester. When the King had retired into his own apartments, Don John found +himself unexpectedly alone. Mendoza and the guard had filed into the +antechamber, the gentlemen in waiting, being temporarily at liberty, went +to the room leading out of it on one side, which was appropriated to their +use. The sentries were set at the King's door, and Mendoza marched his +halberdiers out again and off to their quarters, while the servants +disappeared, and the hero of the day was left to himself. He smiled at his +own surprise, recollecting that he should have ordered his own attendants +to be in waiting after the supper, whereas he had dismissed them until +midnight.</p> + +<p>He turned on his heel and walked away to find a quiet place where he +might read the paper which had suddenly become of such importance, and +paused at a Moorish niche, where Philip had caused a sacred picture to be +placed, and before which a hanging silver lamp shed a clear light.</p> + +<p>The small sheet of paper contained but little writing. There were half a +dozen sentences in a clear hand, without any signature--it was what has +since then come to be called an anonymous letter. But it contained neither +any threat, nor any evidence of spite; it set forth in plain language that +if, as the writer supposed, Don John wished to marry Dolores de Mendoza, it +was as necessary for her personal safety as for the accomplishment of his +desires, that he should make no attempt to see her for at least two days, +and that, if he would accept this advice, he should have the support of +every noble and minister at court, including the very highest, with the +certainty that no further hindrance would be set in his way; it added that +the letter he had burned had contained the same words, and that the two +flowers had been intended to serve as a signal which it was now too late to +use. It would be sufficient if he told the bearer of the present letter +that he agreed to take the advice it contained. His assent in that way +would, of course, be taken by the writer to mean that he promised, on his +word. That was all.</p> + +<p>He did not like the last sentence, for it placed him in an awkward +position, as a man of honour, since he had already seen Dolores, and +therefore could not under any circumstances agree to take advice contrary +to which he had already acted. The most he could now say to the dwarf would +be that he could give no answer and would act as carefully as possible. For +the rest, the letter contained nothing treasonable, and was not at all what +he had expected and believed it to be. It appeared to be written in a +friendly spirit, and with the exception of his own brother and Mendoza, he +was not aware that he had an enemy in Spain, in which he was almost right. +Nevertheless, bold and frank as he was by nature, he knew enough of real +warfare to distrust appearances. The writer was attached to the King's +person, or the letter might have been composed, and even written in an +assumed hand, by the King himself, for Philip was not above using the +methods of a common conspirator. The limitation of time set upon his +prudence was strange, too. If he had not seen her and agreed to the terms, +he would have supposed that Dolores was being kept out of his way during +those two days, whereas in that time it would be possible to send her very +far from Madrid, or to place her secretly in a convent where it would be +impossible to find her. It flashed upon him that in shutting up Dolores +that evening Mendoza had been obeying the King's secret orders, as well as +in telling her that she was to be taken to Las Huelgas at dawn. No one but +Philip could have written the letter--only the dwarf's fear of Philip's +displeasure could have made him so anxious that it should be read at once. +It was all as clear as daylight now, and the King and Mendoza were acting +together. The first letter had been brought by a woman, who must have got +out through the window of the study, which was so low that she could almost +have stepped from it to the terrace without springing. She had watched +until the officers and the servants had gone out and the way was clear. +Nothing could have been simpler or easier.</p> + +<p>He would have burnt the letter at the lamp before the picture, had he +not feared that some one might see him do it, and he folded it again and +thrust it back under his doublet. His face was grave as he turned away, for +the position, as he understood it, was a very desperate one. He had meant +to send Dolores to Villagarcia, but it was almost impossible that such a +matter should remain unknown, and in the face of the King's personal +opposition, it would probably ruin Quixada and his wife. He, on his side, +might send Dolores to a convent, under an assumed name, and take her out +again before she was found, and marry her. But that would be hard, too, for +no places were more directly under the sovereign's control than convents +and monasteries. Somewhere she must go, for she could not possibly remain +concealed in his study more than three or four hours.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he fancied that she might be in danger even now. The woman who +had brought the first letter had of course left the window unfastened. She, +or the King, or any one, might get in by that way, and Dolores was alone. +They might have taken her away already. He cursed himself for not having +looked to see that the window was bolted. The man who had won great battles +felt a chill at his heart, and he walked at the best of his speed, careless +whether he met any one or not. But no place is more deserted than the more +distant parts of a royal palace when there is a great assembly in the state +apartments. He met no one on his way, and entered his own door alone. Ten +minutes had not elapsed since the King had left the supper-room, and it was +almost at that moment that Doña Ana met Mendoza.</p> + +<p>Dolores started to her feet as she heard his step in the next room and +then the key in the lock, and as he entered her hands clasped themselves +round his neck, and her eyes looked into his. He was very pale when he saw +her at last, for the belief that she had been stolen away had grown with +his speed, till it was an intolerable certainty.</p> + +<p>"What is it? What has happened?" she cried anxiously. "Why are you so +white? Are you ill?"</p> + +<p>"I was frightened," he said simply. "I was afraid you were gone. Look +here!"</p> + +<p>He led her to the window, and drew the curtain to one side. The cool air +rushed in, for the bolts were unfastened, and the window was ajar. He +closed it and fastened it securely, and they both came back.</p> + +<p>"The woman got out that way," he said, in explanation. "I understand it +all now--and some one might have come back."</p> + +<p>He told her quietly what had happened, and showed her the letter, which +she read slowly to the end before she gave it back to him.</p> + +<p>"Then the other was not a love letter, after all," she said, with a +little laugh that had more of relief in it than amusement, though she did +not know it herself.</p> + +<p>"No," he answered gravely. "I wish I had read it. I should at least have +shut the window before leaving you!"</p> + +<p>Careless of any danger to herself, she sat looking up into his anxious +face, her clasped hands lying in his and quite covered by them, as he stood +beside her. There was not a trace of fear in her own face, nor indeed of +any feeling but perfect love and confidence. Under the gaze of her deep +grey eyes his expression relaxed for a moment, and grew like hers, so that +it would have been hard to say which trusted the other the more.</p> + +<p>"What does anything matter, since we are together now?" she asked. "I am +with you, can anything happen to me?"</p> + +<p>"Not while I am alive," he answered, but the look of anxiety for her +returned at once. "You cannot stay here."</p> + +<p>"No--you will take me away. I am ready--"</p> + +<p>"I do not mean that. You cannot stay in this room, nor in my apartments. +The King is coming here in a few minutes. I cannot tell what he may do--he +may insist on seeing whether any one is here, listening, for he is very +suspicious, and he only comes here because he does not even trust his own +apartments. He may wish to open the door--"</p> + +<p>"I will lock it on the inside. You can say that it is locked, and that +you have not the key. If he calls men to open it, I will escape by the +window, and hide in the old sentry-box. He will not stay talking with you +till morning!"</p> + +<p>She laughed, and he saw that she was right, simply because there was no +other place where she could be even as safe as where she was. He slowly +nodded as she spoke.</p> + +<p>"You see," she cried, with another little laugh of happy satisfaction, +"you must keep me here whether you will or not! You are really +afraid--frightened like a boy! You! How men would stare if they could see +you afraid!"</p> + +<p>"It is true," he answered, with a faint smile.</p> + +<p>"But I will give you courage!" she said. "The King cannot come yet. +Perez can only have just gone to him, you say. They will talk at least half +an hour, and it is very likely that Perez will persuade him not to come at +all, because he is angry with you. Perhaps Perez will come instead, and he +will be very smooth and flattering, and bring messages of reconciliation, +and beg to make peace. He is very clever, but I do not like his face. He +makes me think of a beautiful black fox! Even if the King comes himself, we +have more than half an hour. You can stay a little while with me--then go +into your room and sit down and read, as if you were waiting for him. You +can read my letter over, and I will sit here and say all the things I +wrote, over and over again, and you will know that I am saying them--it +will be almost as if I were with you, and could say them quite close to +you--like this--I love you!"</p> + +<p>She had drawn his hand gently down to her while she was speaking, and +she whispered the last words into his ear with a delicate little kiss that +sent a thrill straight to his heart.</p> + +<p>"You are not afraid any more now, are you?" she asked, as she let him +go, and he straightened himself suddenly as a man drawing back from +something he both fears and loves.</p> + +<p>He opened and shut his hands quickly two or three times, as some nervous +men do, as if trying to shake them clear from a spell, or an influence. +Then he began to walk up and down, talking to her.</p> + +<p>"I am at my wit's end," he said, speaking fast and not looking at her +face, as he turned and turned again. "I cannot send you to +Villagarcia--there are things that neither you nor I could do, even for +each other, things you would not have me do for you, Dolores. It would be +ruin and disgrace to my adopted mother and Quixada--it might be worse, for +the King can call anything he pleases high treason. It is impossible to +take you there without some one knowing it--can I carry you in my arms? +There are grooms, coachmen, servants, who will tell anything under +examination--under torture! How can I send you there?"</p> + +<p>"I would not go," answered Dolores quietly.</p> + +<p>"I cannot send you to a convent, either," he went on, for he had taken +her answer for granted, as lovers do who trust each other. "You would be +found in a day, for the King knows everything. There is only one place, +where I am master--"</p> + +<p>He stopped short, and grew very pale again, looking at the wall, but +seeing something very far away.</p> + +<p>"Where?" asked Dolores. "Take me there! Oh, take me where you are +master--where there is no king but you, where we can be together all our +lives, and no one can come between us!"</p> + +<p>He stood motionless, staring at the wall, contemplating in amazement the +vastness of the temptation that arose before him. Dolores could not +understand, but she did what a loving women does when the man she loves +seems to be in a great distress. She came and stood beside him, passing one +arm through his and pressing it tenderly, without a word. There are times +when a man needs only that to comfort him and give him strength. But even a +woman does not always know them.</p> + +<p>Very slowly he turned to her, almost as if he were trying to resist her +eyes and could not. He took his arm from hers and his hands framed her face +softly, and pushed the gold hair gently back on her forehead. But she grew +frightened by degrees, for there was a look in his eyes she had never seen +there, and that had never been in them before, neither in love nor in +battle. His hands were quite cold, and his face was like a beautiful +marble, but there was an evil something in it, as in a fallen angel's, a +defiance of God, an irresistible strength to do harm, a terror such as no +man would dare to meet.</p> + +<p>"You are worth it," he said in a tone so different from his natural +voice that Dolores started, and would have drawn back from him, but could +not, for his hands held her, shaking a little fiercely.</p> + +<p>"What? What is it?" she asked, growing more and more frightened--half +believing that he was going mad.</p> + +<p>"You are worth it," he repeated. "I tell you, you are worth that, and +much more, and the world, and all the world holds for me, and all earth and +heaven besides. You do not know how I love you--you can never guess--"</p> + +<p>Her eyes grew tender again, and her hands went up and pressed his that +still framed her face.</p> + +<p>"As I love you--dear love!" she answered, wondering, but happy.</p> + +<p>"No--not now. I love you more. You cannot guess--you shall see what I +will do for your sake, and then you will understand."</p> + +<p>He uttered an incoherent exclamation, and his eyes dazzled her as he +seized her in his arms and pressed her to him so that she could have cried +out. And suddenly he kissed her, roughly, almost cruelly, as if he meant to +hurt her, and knew that he could. She struggled in his arms, in an unknown +terror of him, and her senses reeled.</p> + +<p>Then all at once, he let her go, and turned from her quickly, leaving +her half fainting, so that she leaned against the wall and pressed her +cheek to the rough hanging. She felt a storm of tears, that she could not +understand, rising in her heart and eyes and throat. He had crossed the +room, getting as far as he could from her, and stood there, turned to the +wall, his arms bent against it and his face buried in his sleeve. He +breathed hard, and spoke as if to himself in broken words.</p> + +<p>"Worth it? My God! What are you not worth?"</p> + +<p>There was such a ring of agony and struggling in his voice that Dolores +forgot herself and stood up listening, suddenly filled with anxiety for him +again. He was surely going mad. She would have gone to him again, +forgetting her terror that was barely past, the woman's instinct to help +the suffering man overruling everything else. It was for his sake that she +stayed where she was, lest if she touched him he should lose his senses +altogether.</p> + +<p>"Oh, there is one place, where I am master and lord!" he was saying. +"There is one thing to do--one thing--"</p> + +<p>"What is the thing?" she asked very gently. "Why are you suffering so? +Where is the place?"</p> + +<p>He turned suddenly, as he would have turned in his saddle in battle at a +trumpet call, straight and strong, with fixed eyes and set lips, that spoke +deliberately.</p> + +<p>"There is Granada," he said. "Do you understand now?"</p> + +<p>"No," she answered timidly. "I do not understand. Granada? Why there? It +is so far away--"</p> + +<p>He laughed harshly.</p> + +<p>"You do not understand? Yes, Granada is far away--far enough to be +another kingdom--so far that John of Austria is master there--so far that +with his army at his back he can be not only its master, but its King? Do +you understand now? Do you see what I will do for your sake?"</p> + +<p>He made one step towards her, and she was very white.</p> + +<p>"I will take you, and go back to-morrow. Do you think the Moors are not +men, because I beat them? I tell you that if I set up my standard in +Granada and call them to me, they will follow me--if I lead them to the +gate of Madrid. Yes--and so will more than half the Spanish army, if I +will! But I do not want that--it is not the kingdom--what should I care for +that? Could I not have taken it and held it? It is for you, dear love--for +your sake only--that we may have a world of our own--a kingdom in which you +are queen! Let there be war--why should I care? I will set the world ablaze +and let it burn to its own ashes, but I will not let them take you from me, +neither now, nor ever, while I am alive!"</p> + +<p>He came quickly towards her now, and she could not draw back, for the +wall was behind her. But she thrust out her hands against him to keep him +off. The gesture stopped him, just when he would have taken her in his +arms.</p> + +<p>"No, no!" she cried vehemently. "You must not say such things, you must +not think such thoughts! You are beside yourself, and you will drive me +mad, too!"</p> + +<p>"But it will be so easy--you shall see--"</p> + +<p>She cut his words short.</p> + +<p>"It must not be easy, it must not be possible, it must not be at all! Do +you believe that I love you and that I would let you do such deeds? Oh, no! +That would not be love at all--it would be hate, it would be treason to +you, and worse treason than yours against your brother!"</p> + +<p>The fierce light was sinking from his face. He had folded his arms and +stood very still, listening to her.</p> + +<p>"You!" she cried, with rising energy. "You, the brave soldier, the +spotless man, the very soul of honour made flesh and blood! You, who have +but just come back in triumph from fighting your King's enemies--you +against whom no living being has ever dared to breathe a slander or a +slighting word. Oh, no, no, no, no! I could not bear that you should betray +your faith and your country and yourself, and be called traitor for my +sake! Not for ten lives of mine shall you ruin yours. And not because I +might love you less if you had done that deed. God help me! I think I +should love you if you committed any crime! The shame is the more to me--I +know it. I am only a woman! But rather than let my love ruin you, make a +traitor of you and lose you in this world and the next, my soul shall go +first--life, soul, honour, everything! You shall not do it! You think that +you love me more than I love you, but you do not. For to save you as you +are, I love you so dearly that I will leave you--leave you to honour, leave +you to your King, leave you to the undying glory of the life you have +lived, and will live, in memory of my love!"</p> + +<p>The splendid words rang from her lips like a voice from heaven, and her +eyes were divinely lightened. For they looked up, and not at him, calling +Heaven to witness that she would keep her promise. As her open hand +unconsciously went out, he took it tenderly, and felt her fingers softly +closing on his own, as if she would lift him to himself again, and to the +dear light of her own thoughts. There was silence for a moment.</p> + +<p>"You are better and wiser than I," he said, and his tone told her that +the madness was past.</p> + +<p>"And you know that I am right? You see that I must leave you, to save +you from me?"</p> + +<p>"Leave me--now?" he cried. "You only said that--you meant me to +understand--you did not mean that you would leave me now?"</p> + +<p>"I do mean it," she said, in a great effort. "It is all I can do, to +show you how I love you. As long as I am in your life you will be in +danger--you will never be safe from yourself--I see it all now! I stand +between you and all the world would give you--I will not stand between you +and honour!"</p> + +<p>She was breaking down, fight as she would against the pain. He could say +nothing, for he could not believe that she really was in earnest.</p> + +<p>"I must!" she exclaimed suddenly. "It is all I can do for you--it is my +life--take it!"</p> + +<p>The tears broke from her eyes, but she held her head high, and let them +fall unheeded.</p> + +<p>"Take it!" she repeated. "It is all I have to give for yours and your +honour. Good-by--oh, love, I love you so dearly! Once more, before I +go--"</p> + +<p>She almost, fell into his arms as she buried her face on his shoulder +and clasped his throat as she was wont. He kissed her hair gently, and from +time to time her whole frame shook with the sobs she was choking down.</p> + +<p>"It kills me," she said in a broken voice. "I cannot--I thought I was so +strong! Oh, I am the most miserable living woman in the world!"</p> + +<p>She broke away from him wildly and threw herself upon a chair, turning +from him to its cushion and hiding her face in her hands, choking, pressing +the furious tears back upon her eyes, shaking from head to foot.</p> + +<p>"You cannot go! You cannot!" he cried, falling on his knees beside her +and trying to take her hands in his. "Dolores--look at me! I will do +anything--promise anything--you will believe me! Listen, love--I give you +my word--I swear before God--"</p> + +<p>"No--swear nothing--" she said, between the sobs that broke her +voice.</p> + +<p>"But I will!" he insisted, drawing her hands down till she looked at +him. "I swear upon my honour that I will never raise my hand against the +King--that I will defend him, and fight for him, and be loyal to him, +whatever he may do to me--and that even for you, I will never strike a blow +in battle nor speak a word in peace that is not all honourable, through and +through,--even as I have fought and spoken until now!"</p> + +<p>As she listened to his words her weeping subsided, and her tearful eyes +took light and life again. She drew him close, and kissed him on the +forehead.</p> + +<p>"I am so glad--so happy!" she cried softly. "I should never have had +strength to really say good-by!"</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_X'></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + + +<p>Don John smoothed her golden hair. Never since he had known that he +loved her, had she seemed so beautiful as then, and his thought tried to +hold her as she was, that she might in memory be always the same. There was +colour in her cheeks, a soft flush of happiness that destroyed all traces +of her tears, so that they only left her grey eyes dark and tender under +the long wet lashes.</p> + +<p>"It was a cruel dream, dear love! It was not true!" Finding him again, +her voice was low, and sweet with joy.</p> + +<p>He smiled, too, and his own eyes were quiet and young, now that the +tempest had passed away, almost out of recollection. It had raged but for a +few moments, but in that time both he and she had lived and loved as it +were through years, and their love had grown better and braver. She knew +that his word was enough, and that he would die rather than break it; but +though she had called herself weak, and had seemed to break down in +despair, she would have left him for ever rather than believe that he was +still in danger through her. She did not again ask herself whether her +sudden resolution had been all for his sake, and had not formed itself +because she dreaded to think of being bound to one who betrayed his +country. She knew it and needed no further self-questioning to satisfy her. +If such a man could have committed crimes, she would have hated them, not +him, she would have pardoned him, not them, she would still have laid her +hand in his before the whole world, though it should mean shame and infamy, +because she loved him and would always love him, and could never have left +him for her own sake, come all that might. She had said it was a shame to +her that she would have loved him still; yet if it had been so, she would +have gloried in being shamed for his sake, for even then her love might +have brought him back from the depths of evil and made him again for her in +truth what he had once seemed to the whole world. She could have done that, +and if in the end she had saved him she would have counted the price of her +name as very little to set against his salvation from himself. She would +have given that and much more, for her love, as she would freely give all +for him and even for his memory, if he were dead, and if by some +unimaginable circumstances her ruin before the world could keep his name +spotless, and his glory unsullied. For there is nothing that a true-hearted +loving woman will not give and do for him she loves and believes and +trusts; and though she will give the greatest thing last of all, she will +give it in the end, if it can save him from infamy and destruction. For it +is the woman's glory to give, as it is the man's to use strength in the +hour of battle and gentleness in the day of peace, and to follow honour +always.</p> + +<p>"Forget it all," answered Don John presently. "Forget it, dear, and +forgive me for it all."</p> + +<p>"I can forget it, because it was only a dream," she said, "and I have +nothing to forgive. Listen to me. If it were true--even if I believed that +we had not been dreaming, you and I, could I have anything to forgive you? +What?"</p> + +<p>"The mere thought that I could betray a trust, turn against my sovereign +and ruin my country," he answered bravely, and a blush of honest shame rose +in his boyish cheeks.</p> + +<p>"It was for me," said Dolores.</p> + +<p>That should explain all, her heart said. But he was not satisfied, and +being a man he began to insist.</p> + +<p>"Not even for you should I have thought of it," he said. "And there is +the thought to forgive, if nothing else."</p> + +<p>"No--you are wrong, love. Because it was for me, it does not need my +forgiveness. It is different--you do not understand yet. It is I who should +have never forgiven myself on earth nor expected pardon hereafter, if I had +let myself be the cause of such deeds, if I had let my love stand between +you and honour. Do you see?"</p> + +<p>"I see," he answered. "You are very brave and kind and good. I did not +know that a woman could be like you."</p> + +<p>"A woman could be anything--for you--dare anything, do anything, +sacrifice anything! Did I not tell you so, long ago? You only half believed +me, dear--perhaps you do not quite believe me now--"</p> + +<p>"Indeed, indeed I do, with all my soul! I believe you as I love you, as +I believe in your love--"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Tell me that you do--and tell me that you love me! It is so good +to hear, now that the bad dream is gone."</p> + +<p>"Shall I tell you?" He smiled, playing with her hand. "How can I? There +are so few words in which to say so much. But I will tell you this--I would +give my word for you. Does that sound little? You should know, for you know +at what price you would have saved my honour a while ago. I believe in you +so truly that I would stake my word, and my honour, and my Christian oath +upon your faith, and promise for you before God or man that you will always +love me as you do to-day."</p> + +<p>"You may pledge all three. I will, and I will give you all I have that +is not God's--and if that is not enough, I will give my soul for yours, if +I may, to suffer in your stead."</p> + +<p>She spoke quietly enough, but there was a little quaver of true +earnestness in her voice, that made each word a solemn promise.</p> + +<p>"And besides that," she added, "you see how I trust you."</p> + +<p>She smiled again as she looked at him, and knew how safe she was, far +safer now than when she had first come with him to the door. Something told +her that he had mastered himself--she would not have wished to think that +she had ruled him? it was enough if she had shown him the way, and had +helped him. He pressed her hand to his cheek and looked down thoughtfully, +wishing that he could find such simple words that could say so much, but +not trusting himself to speak. For though, in love, a man speaks first, he +always finds the least to say of love when it has strongest hold of him; +but a woman has words then, true and tender, that come from her heart +unsought. Yet by and by, if love is not enduring, so that both tire of it, +the man plays the better comedy, because he has the greater strength, and +sometimes what he says has the old ring in it, because it is so well said, +and the woman smiles and wonders that his love should have lasted longer +than hers, and desiring the illusion, she finds old phrases again; yet +there is no life in them, because when love is dead she thinks of herself, +and instead, it was only of him she thought in the good days when her heart +used to beat at the sound of his footfall, and the light grew dim and +unsteady as she felt his kiss. But the love of these two was not born to +tire; and because he was so young, and knew the world little, save at his +sword's point, he was ashamed that he could not speak of love as well as +she.</p> + +<p>"Find words for me," he said, "and I will say them, for yours are better +than mine."</p> + +<p>"Say, 'I love you, dear,' very softly and gently--not roughly, as you +sometimes do. I want to hear it gently now, that, and nothing else."</p> + +<p>She turned a little, leaning towards him, her face near his, her eyes +quiet and warm, and she took his hands and held them together before her as +if he were her prisoner--and indeed she meant that he should not suddenly +take her in his arms, as he often did.</p> + +<p>"I love you, dear," he repeated, smiling, and pretending to be very +docile.</p> + +<p>"That is not quite the way," she said, with a girlish laugh. "Say it +again--quite as softly, but more tenderly! You must be very much in +earnest, you know, but you must not be in the least violent." She laughed +again. "It is like teaching a young lion," she added. "He may eat you up at +any moment, instead of obeying you. Tell me, you have a little lion that +follows you like a dog when you are in your camp, have you not? You have +not told me about him yet. How did you teach him?"</p> + +<p>"I did not try to make him say 'I love you, dear,'" answered Don John, +laughing in his turn.</p> + +<p>As he spoke a distant sound caught his ear, and the smile vanished from +his face, for though he heard only the far off rumbling of a coach in the +great court, it recalled him to reality.</p> + +<p>"We are playing with life and death," he said suddenly. "It is late, the +King may be here at any moment, and we have decided nothing." He rose.</p> + +<p>"Is it late?" asked Dolores, passing her hand over her eyes dreamily. "I +had forgotten--it seems so short. Give me the key on my side of the +door--we had decided that, you know. Go and sit down in your room, as we +agreed. Shall you read my letter again, love? It may be half an hoar still +before the King comes. When he is gone, we shall have all the night in +which to decide, and the nights are very long now. Oh, I hate to lose one +minute of you! What shall you say to the King?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know what he may say to me," answered Don John. "Listen and +you shall hear--I would rather know that you hear everything I say. It will +be as if I were speaking before you, and of course I should tell you +everything the King says. He will speak of you, I think."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, it would be hard not to listen," said Dolores. "I should have +to stop my ears, for one cannot help hearing every word that is said in the +next room. Do you know? I heard you ask for your white shoes! I hardly +dared to breathe for fear the servants should find out that I was +here."</p> + +<p>"So much the better then. Sit in this chair near the door. But be +careful to make no noise, for the King is very suspicious."</p> + +<p>"I know. Do not be afraid; I will be as quiet as a mouse. Go, love, go! +It is time--oh, how I hate to let you leave me! You will be careful? You +will not be angry at what he says? You would be wiser if you knew I were +not hearing everything; you will want to defend me if he says the least +word you do not like, but let him say what he will! Anything is better than +an open quarrel between you and the King! Promise me to be very moderate in +what you say, and very patient. Remember that he is the King!"</p> + +<p>"And my brother," said Don John, with some bitterness. "Do not fear. You +know what I have promised you. I will bear anything he may say that +concerns me as well as I can, but if he says anything slighting of +you--"</p> + +<p>"But he may--that is the danger. Promise me not to be angry--"</p> + +<p>"How can I promise that, if he insults you?"</p> + +<p>"No, I did not mean that exactly. Promise that you will not forget +everything and raise your hand against him. You see I know you would."</p> + +<p>"No, I will not raise my hand against him. That was in the promise I +made you. And as for being angry, I will do my best to keep my temper."</p> + +<p>"I know you will. Now you must go. Good-by, love! Good-by, for a little +while."</p> + +<p>"For such a little time shall we say good-by? I hate the word; it makes +me think of the day when I left you last."</p> + +<p>"How can I tell what may happen to you when you are out of my sight?" +asked Dolores. "And what is 'good-by' but a blessing each prays for the +other? That is all it means. It does not mean that we part for long, love. +Why, I would say it for an hour! Good-by, dear love, good-by!"</p> + +<p>She put up her face to kiss him, and it was so full of trust and +happiness that the word lost all the bitterness it has gathered through +ages of partings, and seemed, what she said it was, a loving blessing. Yet +she said it very tenderly, for it was hard to let him go even for less than +an hour. He said it, too, to please her; but yet the syllables came +mournfully, as if they meant a world more than hers, and the sound of them +half frightened her, so that she was sorry she had asked him for the +word.</p> + +<p>"Not so!" she cried, in quick alarm. "You are not keeping anything from +me? You are only going to the next room to meet the King--are you +sure?"</p> + +<p>"That is all. You see, the word frightened you. It seems such a sad word +to me--I will not say it again."</p> + +<p>He kissed her gently, as if to soothe her fear, and then he opened the +door and set the key in the lock on the inside. Then when he was outside, +he lingered a moment, and their lips met once more without a word, and they +nodded and smiled to one another a last time, and he closed the door and +heard her lock it.</p> + +<p>When she was alone, she turned away as if he were gone from her +altogether instead of being in the next room, where she could hear him +moving now and then, as he placed his chair near the light to read and +arranged the candlesticks on the table. Then he went to the other door and +opened it and opened the one beyond upon the terrace, and she knew that he +was looking out to see if any one were there. But presently he came back +and sat down, and she distinctly heard the rustle of the strong +writing-paper as he unfolded a letter. It was hers. He was going to read +it, as they had agreed.</p> + +<p>So she sat down where she could look at the door, and she tried to force +her eyes to see through it, to make him feel that she was watching him, +that she came near him and stood beside him, and softly read the words for +him, but without looking at them, because she knew them all by heart. But +it was not the same as if she had seen him, and it was very hard to be shut +off from his sight by an impenetrable piece of wood, to lose all the +moments that might pass before the King chose to come. Another hour might +pass. No one could even tell whether he would come at all after he had +consulted with Antonio Perez. The skilful favourite desired a quarrel +between his master and Don John with all his heart, but he was not ready +for it yet. He must have possession of Dolores first and hide her safely; +and when the quarrel came, Don John should believe that the King had stolen +her and imprisoned her, and that she was treated ill; and for the woman he +loved, Don John would tear down the walls of Madrid, if need be, and if at +the last he found her dead, there would be no harm done, thought Perez, and +Don John would hate his brother even to death, and all Spain would cry out +in sympathy and horror. But all this Dolores could neither know nor even +suspect. She only felt sure that the King and Perez were even now +consulting together to hinder her marriage with Don John, and that Perez +might persuade the King not to see his brother that night.</p> + +<p>It was almost intolerable to think that she might wait there for hours, +wasting the minutes for which she would have given drops of blood. Surely +they both were overcautious. The door could be left open, so that they +could talk, and at the first sound without, she could lock it again and sit +down. That would be quite as safe.</p> + +<p>She rose and was almost in the act of opening the door again when she +stopped and hesitated. It was possible that at any moment the King might be +at the door; for though she could hear every sound that came from the next +room, the thick curtains that hid the window effectually shut out all sound +from without. It struck her that she could go to the window, however, and +look out. Yet a ray of light might betray her presence in the room to any +one outside, and if she drew aside the curtain the light would shine out +upon the terrace. She listened at Don John's door, and presently she heard +him turn her letter in his hand, and all her heart went out to him, and she +stood noiselessly kissing the panels and saying over again in her heart +that she loved him more than any words could tell. If she could only see +out of the window and assure herself that no one was coming yet, there +would be time to go to him again, for one moment only, and say the words +once more.</p> + +<p>Then she sat down and told herself how foolish she was. She had been +separated from him for many long and empty months, and now she had been +with him and talked long with him twice in leas than three hours, and yet +she could not bear that he should be out of her sight five minutes without +wishing to risk everything to see him again. She tried to laugh at herself, +repeating over and over again that she was very, very foolish, and that she +should have a just contempt for any woman who could be as foolish as she. +For some moments she sat still, staring at the wall.</p> + +<p>In the thought of him that filled her heart and soul and mind, she saw +that her own life had begun when he had first spoken to her, and she felt +that it would end with the last good-by, because if he should die or cease +to love her, there would be nothing more to live for. Her early girlhood +seemed dim and far away, dull and lifeless, as if it had not been hers at +all, and had no connection with the present. She saw herself in the past, +as she could not see herself now, and the child she remembered seemed not +herself but another--a fair-haired girl living in the gloomy old house in +Valladolid, with her blind sister and an old maiden cousin of her father's, +who had offered to bring up the two and to teach them, being a woman of +some learning, and who fulfilled her promise in such a conscientious and +austere way as made their lives something of a burden under her strict +rule. But that was all forgotten now, and though she still lived in +Valladolid she had probably changed but little in the few years since +Dolores had seen her; she was part of the past, a relic of something that +had hardly ever had a real existence, and which it was not at all necessary +to remember. There was one great light in the girl's simple existence, it +had come all at once, and it was with her still. There was nothing dim nor +dark nor forgotten about the day when she had been presented at court by +the Duchess Alvarez, and she had first seen Don John, and he had first seen +her and had spoken to her, when he had talked with the Duchess herself. At +the first glance--and it was her first sight of the great world--she had +seen that of all the men in the great hall, there was no one at all like +him. She had no sooner looked into his face and cast her eyes upon his +slender figure, all in white then, as he was dressed to-night, than she +began to compare him with the rest. She looked so quickly from one to +another that any one might have thought her to be anxiously searching for a +friend in the crowd. But she had none then, and she was but assuring +herself once, and for all her life, that the man she was to love was +immeasurably beyond all other men, though the others were the very flower +of Spain's young chivalry.</p> + +<p>Of course, as she told herself now, she had not loved him then, nor even +when she heard his voice speaking to her the first time and was almost too +happy to understand his words. But she had remembered them. He had asked +her whether she lived in Madrid. She had told him that she lived in the +Alcazar itself, since her father commanded the guards and had his quarters +in the palace. And then Don John had looked at her very fixedly for a +moment, and had seemed pleased, for he smiled and said that he hoped he +might see her often, and that if it were in his power to be of use to her +father, he would do what he could. She was sure that she had not loved him +then, though she had dreamed of his winning face and voice and had thought +of little else all the next day, and the day after that, with a sort of +feverish longing to see him again, and had asked the Duchess Alvarez so +many questions about him that the Duchess had smiled oddly, and had shaken +her handsome young head a little, saying that it was better not to think +too much about Don John of Austria. Surely, she had not loved him already, +at first sight. But on the evening of the third day, towards sunset, when +she had been walking with Inez on a deserted terrace where no one but the +two sisters ever went, Don John had suddenly appeared, sauntering idly out +with one of his gentlemen on his left, as if he expected nothing at all; +and he had seemed very much surprised to see her, and had bowed low, and +somehow very soon, blind Inez, who was little more than a child three years +ago, was leading the gentleman about the terrace, to show him where the +best roses grew, which she knew by their touch and smell, and Don John and +Dolores were seated on an old stone bench, talking earnestly together. Even +to herself she admitted that she had loved him from that evening, and +whenever she thought of it she smelt the first scent of roses, and saw his +face with the blaze of the sunset in his eyes, and heard his voice saying +that he should come to the terrace again at that hour, in which matter he +had kept his word as faithfully as he always did, and presumably without +any especial effort. So she had known him as he really was, without the +formalities of the court life, of which she was herself a somewhat +insignificant part; and it was only when he said a few words to her before +the other ladies that she took pains to say 'your Highness' to him once or +twice, and he called her 'Doña Dolores,' and enquired in a friendly +manner about her father's health. But on the terrace they managed to talk +without any such formal mode of address, and used no names at all for each +other, until one day--but she would not think of that now. If she let her +memory run all its course, she could not sit there with the door closed +between him and her, for something stronger than she would force her to go +and open it, and make sure he was there. This method, indeed, would be a +very certain one, leaving no doubt whatever, but at the present moment it +would be foolish to resort to it, and, perhaps, it would be dangerous, too. +The past was so beautiful and peaceful; she could think its history through +many times up to that point, where thinking was sure to end suddenly in +something which was too present for memory and too well remembered not to +be present.</p> + +<p>It came back to her so vividly that she left her seat again and went to +the curtained window, as if to get as far as possible from the irresistible +attraction. Standing there she looked back and saw the key in the lock. It +was foolish, girlish, childish, at such a time, but she felt that as long +as it was there she should want to turn it. With a sudden resolution and a +smile that was for her own weakness, she went to the door again, listened +for footsteps, and then quietly took the key from the lock. Instantly Don +John was on the other side, calling to her softly.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" he asked. "For Heaven's sake do not come in, for I think I +hear him coming."</p> + +<p>"No," she answered through the panel. "I was afraid I should turn the +key, so I have taken it out." She paused. "I love you!" she said, so that +he could hear, and she kissed the wood, where she thought his face must be, +just above her own.</p> + +<p>"I love you with all my heart!" he answered gently. "Hush, dear love, he +is coming!"</p> + +<p>They were like two children, playing at a game; but they were playing on +the very verge of tragedy, playing at life with death at the door and the +safety of a great nation hanging in the balance.</p> + +<p>A moment later, Dolores heard Don John opening and shutting the other +doors again, and then there were voices. She heard her father's name spoken +in the King's unmistakable tones, at once harsh and muffled. Every word +came to her from the other room, as if she were present.</p> + +<p>"Mendoza," said Philip, "I have private matters to discuss with his +Highness. I desire you to wait before the entrance, on the terrace, and to +let no one pass in, as we do not wish to be disturbed."</p> + +<p>Her father did not speak, but she knew how he was bending a little +stiffly, before he went backwards through the open door. It closed behind +him, and the two brothers were alone. Dolores' heart beat a little faster, +and her face grew paler as she concentrated her attention upon making no +noise. If they could hear her as she heard them, a mere rustling of her +silk gown would be enough to betray her, and if then the King bade her +father take her with him, all would be over, for Don John would certainly +not use any violence to protect her.</p> + +<p>"This is your bedchamber," said Philip's voice.</p> + +<p>He was evidently examining the room, as Don John had anticipated that he +would, for he was moving about. There was no mistaking his heavy steps for +his brother's elastic tread.</p> + +<p>"There is no one behind the curtain," said the King, by which it was +clear that he was making search for a possible concealed listener. He was +by no means above such precautions.</p> + +<p>"And that door?" he said, with a question. "What is there?"</p> + +<p>Dolores' heart almost stood still, as she held her breath, and heard the +clumsy footfall coming nearer.</p> + +<p>"It is locked," said Don John, with undisturbed calm. "I have not the +key. I do not know where it is,--it is not here."</p> + +<p>As Dolores had taken it from the lock, even the last statement was true +to the letter, and in spite of her anxiety she smiled as she heard it, but +the next moment she trembled, for the King was trying the door, and it +shook under his hand, as if it must fly open.</p> + +<p>"It is certainly locked," he said, in a discontented tone. "But I do not +like locked doors, unless I know what is beyond them."</p> + +<p>He crossed the room again and called out to Mendoza, who answered at +once.</p> + +<p>"Mendoza, come here with me. There is a door here, of which his Highness +has not the key. Can you open it?"</p> + +<p>"I will try, your Majesty," answered the General's hard voice.</p> + +<p>A moment later the panels shook violently under the old man's weight, +for he was stronger than one might have thought, being lean and tough +rather than muscular. Dolores took the moment when the noise was loudest +and ran a few steps towards the window. Then the sounds ceased suddenly, +and she stood still.</p> + +<p>"I cannot open it, your Majesty," said Mendoza, in a disconsolate +tone.</p> + +<p>"Then go and get the key," answered the King almost angrily.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XI'></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + + +<p>Inez remained hidden a quarter of an hour in the gallery over the throne +room, before she ventured to open the door noiselessly and listen for any +sound that might come from the passage. She was quite safe there, as long +as she chose to remain, for the Princess had believed that she had fled far +beyond and was altogether out of reach of any one whose dignity would not +allow of running a race. It must be remembered that at the time she entered +the gallery Mendoza had returned to his duty below, and that some time +afterwards he had accompanied the King to Don John's apartments, and had +then been sent in search of the key to the locked door.</p> + +<p>The blind girl was of course wholly ignorant of his whereabouts, and +believed him to be in or about the throne room. Her instinct told her that +since Dolores had not gone to the court, as she had intended, with the +Duchess Alvarez, she must have made some last attempt to see Don John +alone. In her perfect innocence such an idea seemed natural enough to Inez, +and it at first occurred to her that the two might have arranged to meet on +the deserted terrace where they had spent so many hours in former times. +She went there first, finding her way with some little difficulty from the +corridor where the gallery was, for the region was not the one to which she +was most accustomed, though there was hardly a corner of the upper story +where she had never been. Reaching the terrace, she went out and called +softly, but there was no answer, nor could she hear any sound. The night +was not cold now, but the breeze chilled her a little, and just then the +melancholy cry of a screech owl pierced the air, and she shivered and went +in again.</p> + +<p>She would have gone to the Duchess Alvarez had she not been sure that +the latter was below with the Queen, and even as it was, she would have +taken refuge in the Duchess's apartments with the women, and she might have +learned something of Dolores there. But her touch reminded her that she was +dressed in her sister's clothes, and that many questions might be asked her +which it would be hard to answer. And again, it grew quite clear to her +that Dolores must be somewhere near Don John, perhaps waiting in some +concealed corner until all should be quiet. It was more than probable that +he would get her out of the palace secretly during the night and send her +to his adoptive mother at Villagarcia. She had not believed the Princess's +words in the least, but she had not forgotten them, and had argued rightly +enough to their real meaning.</p> + +<p>In the upper story all was still now. She and Dolores had known where +Don John was to be lodged in the palace nearly a month before he had +returned, and they had been there more than once, when no one was on the +terrace, and Dolores had made her touch the door and the six windows, three +on each side of it. She could get there without difficulty, provided that +no one stopped her.</p> + +<p>She went a little way in the right direction and then hesitated. There +was more danger to Dolores than to herself if she should be recognized, +and, after all, if Dolores was near Don John she was safer than she could +be anywhere else. Inez could not help her very much in any way if she found +her there, and it would be hard to find her if she had met Mendoza at first +and if he had placed her in the keeping of a third person. She imagined +what his astonishment would have been had he found the real Dolores in her +court dress a few moments after Inez had been delivered over to the +Princess disguised in Dolores' clothes, and she almost smiled. But then a +great loneliness and a sense of helplessness came over her, and she turned +back and went out upon the deserted terrace again and sat down upon the old +stone seat, listening for the screech owl and the fluttering of the bats +that flew aimlessly in and out, attracted by the light and then scared away +by it again because the moon was at the full.</p> + +<p>Inez had never before then wandered about the palace at night, and +though darkness and daylight were one to her, there was something in the +air that frightened her, and made her feel how really helpless she was in +spite of her almost superhuman hearing and her wonderful sense of touch. It +was very still--it was never so still by day. It seemed as if people must +be lying in wait for her, holding their breath lest she should hear even +that. She had never felt blind before; she had never so completely realized +the difference between her life and the lives of others. By day, she could +wander where she pleased on the upper story--it was cheerful, familiar; now +and then some one passed and perhaps spoke to her kindly, as every one did +who knew her; and then there was the warm sunlight at the windows, and the +cool breath of the living day in the corridors. The sounds guided her, the +sun warmed her, the air fanned her, the voices of the people made her feel +that she was one of them. But now, the place was like an empty church, full +of tombs and silent as the dead that lay there. She felt horribly lonely, +and cold, and miserable, and she would have given anything to be in bed in +her own room. She could not go there. Eudaldo would not understand her +return, after being told that she was to stay with the Princess, and she +would be obliged to give him some explanation. Then her voice would betray +her, and there would be terrible trouble. If only she had kept her own +cloak to cover Dolores' frock, she could have gone back and the servant +would have thought it quite natural Indeed, by this time he would be +expecting her. It would be almost better to go in after all, and tell him +some story of her having mistaken her sister's skirt for her own, and beg +him to say nothing. She could easily confuse him a little so that he would +not really understand--and then in a few minutes she could be in her own +room, safe and in bed, and far away from the dismal place where she was +sitting and shivering as she listened to the owls.</p> + +<p>She rose and began to walk towards her father's quarters. But suddenly +she felt that it was cowardly to go back without accomplishing the least +part of her purpose, and without even finding out whether Dolores was in +safety after all. There was but one chance of finding her, and that lay in +searching the neighbourhood of Don John's lodging. Without hesitating any +longer, she began to find her way thither at once. She determined that if +she were stopped, either by her father or the Princess, she would throw +back her head and show her face at once. That would be the safest way in +the end.</p> + +<p>She reached Don John's windows unhindered at last. She had felt every +corner, and had been into the empty sentry-box; and once or twice, after +listening a long time, she had called Dolores in a very low tone. She +listened by the first window, and by the second and third, and at the door, +and then beyond, till she came to the last. There were voices there, and +her heart beat quickly for a moment. It was impossible to distinguish the +words that were spoken, through the closed window and the heavy curtains, +but the mere tones told her that Don John and Dolores were there together. +That was enough for her, and she could go back to her room; for it seemed +quite natural to her that her sister should be in the keeping of the man +she loved,--she was out of harm's way and beyond their father's power, and +that was all that was necessary. She would go back to her room at once, and +explain the matter of her dress to Eudaldo as best she might. After all, +why should he care what she wore or where she had been, or whether in the +Princess's apartments she had for some reason exchanged gowns with Dolores. +Perhaps he would not even notice the dress at all.</p> + +<p>She meant to go at once, but she stood quite still, her hands resting on +the low sill of the window, while her forehead pressed against the cold +round panes of glass. Something hurt her which she could not understand, as +she tried to fancy the two beautiful young beings who were within,--for she +knew what beauty they had, and Dolores had described Don John to her as a +young god. His voice came to her like strains of very distant sweet music, +that connect themselves to an unknown melody in the fancy of him who +faintly hears. But Dolores was hearing every word he said, and it was all +for her; and Dolores not only heard, but saw; and seeing and hearing, she +was loved by the man who spoke to her, as dearly as she loved him.</p> + +<p>Then utter loneliness fell upon the blind girl as she leaned against the +window. She had expected nothing, she had asked nothing, even in her heart; +and she had less than nothing, since never on earth, nor in heaven +hereafter, could Don John say a loving word to her. And yet she felt that +something had been taken from her and given to her sister,--something that +was more to her than life, and dearer than the thought of sight to her +blindness. She had taken what had not been given her, in innocent girlish +thoughts that were only dreams, and could hurt no one. He had always spoken +gently to her, and touched her hand kindly; and many a time, sitting alone +in the sun, she had set those words to the well-remembered music of his +voice, and she had let the memory of his light touch on her fingers thrill +her strangely to the very quick. It had been but the reflection of a +reflection in her darkness, wherein the shadow of a shadow seemed as bright +as day. It had been all she had to make her feel that she was a part of the +living, loving world she could never see. Somehow she had unconsciously +fancied that with a little dreaming she could live happy in Dolores' +happiness, as by a proxy, and she had never called it love, any more than +she would have dared to hope for love in return. Yet it was that, and +nothing else,--the love that is so hopeless and starving, and yet so +innocent, that it can draw the illusion of an airy nourishment from that +which to another nature would be the fountain of all jealousy and +hatred.</p> + +<p>But now, without reason and without warning, even that was taken from +her, and in its place something burned that she did not know, save that it +was a bad thing, and made even blackness blacker. She heard their voices +still. They were happy together, while she was alone outside, her forehead +resting against the chill glass, and her hands half numb upon the stone; +and so it would always be hereafter. They would go, and take her life with +them, and she should be left behind, alone for ever; and a great revolt +against her fate rose quickly in her breast like a flame before the wind, +and then, as if finding nothing to consume, sank down again into its own +ashes, and left her more lonely than before. The voices had ceased now, or +else the lovers were speaking very low, fearing, perhaps, that some one +might be listening at the window. If Inez had heard their words at first, +she would have stopped her ears or gone to a distance, for the child knew +what that sort of honour meant, and had done as much before. But the +unformed sound had been good to hear, and she missed it. Perhaps they were +sitting close and, hand in hand, reading all the sweet unsaid things in one +another's eyes. There must be silent voices in eyes that could see, she +thought. She took little thought of the time, yet it seemed long to her +since they had spoken. Perhaps they had gone to another room. She moved to +the next window and listened there, but no sound came from within. Then she +heard footfalls, and one was her father's. Two men were coming out by the +corridor, and she had not time to reach the sentry-box. With her hands out +before her, she went lightly away from the windows to the outer side of the +broad terrace, and cowered down by the balustrade as she ran against it, +not knowing whether she was in the moonlight or the shade. She had crossed +like a shadow and was crouching there before Mendoza and the King came out. +She knew by their steady tread, that ended at the door, that they had not +noticed her; and as the door closed behind them, she ran back to the window +again and listened, expecting to hear loud and angry words, for she could +not doubt that the King and her father had discovered that Dolores was +there, and had come to take her away. The Princess must have told Mendoza +that Dolores had escaped. But she only heard men's voices speaking in an +ordinary tone, and she understood that Dolores was concealed. Almost at +once, and to her dismay, she heard her father's step in the hall, and now +she could neither pass the door nor run across the terrace again. A moment +later the King called him from within. Instantly she slipped across to the +other side, and listened again. They were shaking a door,--they were in the +very act of finding Dolores. Her heart hurt her. But then the noise +stopped, as if they had given up the attempt, and presently she heard her +father's step again. Thinking that he would remain in the hall until the +King called him,--for she could not possibly guess what had happened,--she +stood quite still.</p> + +<p>The door opened without warning, and he was almost upon her before she +knew it. To hesitate an instant was out of the question, and for the second +time that night she fled, running madly to the corridor, which was not ten +steps from where she had been standing, and as she entered it the light +fell upon her from the swinging lamp, though she did not know it.</p> + +<p>Old as he was, Mendoza sprang forward in pursuit when he saw her figure +in the dimness, flying before him, but as she reached the light of the lamp +he stopped himself, staggering one or two steps and then reeling against +the wall. He had recognized Dolores' dress and hood, and there was not the +slightest doubt in his mind but that it was herself. In that same dress he +had seen her in the late afternoon, she had been wearing it when he had +locked her into the sitting-room, and, still clad in it, she must have come +out with the Princess. And now she was running before him from Don John's +lodging. Doubtless she had been in another room and had slipped out while +he was trying the door within.</p> + +<p>He passed his hand over his eyes and breathed hard as he leaned against +the wall, for her appearance there could only mean one thing, and that was +ruin to her and disgrace to his name--the very end of all things in his +life, in which all had been based upon his honour and every action had been +a tribute to it.</p> + +<p>He was too much stunned to ask himself how the lovers had met, if there +had been any agreement between them, but the frightful conviction took hold +of him that this was not the first time, that long ago, before Don John had +led the army to Granada, Dolores had found her way to that same door and +had spent long hours with her lover when no one knew. Else she could not +have gone to him without agreement, at an instant's notice, on the very +night of his return.</p> + +<p>Despair took possession of the unhappy man from that moment. But that +the King was with Don John, Mendoza would have gone back at that moment to +kill his enemy and himself afterwards, if need be. He remembered his errand +then. No doubt that was the very room where Dolores had been concealed, and +she had escaped from it by some other way, of which her father did not +know. He was too dazed to think connectedly, but he had the King's commands +to execute at once. He straightened himself with a great effort, for the +weight of his years had come upon him suddenly and bowed him like a burden. +With the exertion of his will came the thirst for the satisfaction of +blood, and he saw that the sooner he returned with the key, the sooner he +should be near his enemy. But the pulses came and went in his throbbing +temples, as when a man is almost spent in a struggle with death, and at +first he walked uncertainly, as if he felt no ground under his feet.</p> + +<p>By the time he had gone a hundred yards he had recovered a sort of +mechanical self-possession, such as comes upon men at very desperate times, +when they must not allow themselves to stop and think of what is before +them. They were pictures, rather than thoughts, that formed themselves in +his brain as he went along, for he saw all the past years again, from the +day when his young wife had died, he being then already in middle age, +until that afternoon. One by one the years came back, and the central +figure in each was the fair-haired little child, growing steadily to be a +woman, all coming nearer and nearer to the end he had seen but now, which +was unutterable shame and disgrace, and beyond which there was nothing. He +heard the baby voice again, and felt the little hands upon his brow, and +saw the serious grey eyes close to his own; and then the girl, gravely +lovely--and her far-off laugh that hardly ever rippled through the room +when he was there; and then the stealing softness of grown maidenhood, +winning the features one by one, and bringing back from death to life the +face he had loved best, and the voice with long-forgotten tones that +touched his soul's quick, and dimmed his sight with a mist, so that he grew +hard and stern as he fought within him against the tenderness he loved and +feared. All this he saw and heard and felt again, knowing that each picture +must end but in one way, in the one sight he had seen and that had told his +shame--a guilty woman stealing by night from her lover's door. Not only +that, either, for there was the almost certain knowledge that she had +deceived him for years, and that while he had been fighting so hard to save +her from what seemed but a show of marriage, she had been already lost to +him for ever and ruined beyond all hope of honesty.</p> + +<p>They were not thoughts, but pictures of the false and of the true, that +rose and glowed an instant and then sank like the inner darkness of his +soul, leaving only that last most terrible one of all behind them, burned +into his eyes till death should put out their light and bid him rest at +last, if he could rest even in heaven with such a memory.</p> + +<p>It was too much, and though he walked upright and gazed before him, he +did not know his way, and his feet took him to his own door instead of on +the King's errand. His hand was raised to knock before he understood, and +it fell to his side in a helpless, hopeless way, when he saw where he was. +Then he turned stiffly, as a man turns on parade, and gathered his strength +and marched away with a measured tread. For the world and what it held he +would not have entered his dwelling then, for he felt that his daughter was +there before him, and that if he once saw her face he should not be able to +hold his hand. He would not see her again on earth, lest he should take her +life for what she had done.</p> + +<p>He was more aware of outward things after that, though he almost +commanded himself to do what he had to do, as he would have given orders to +one of his soldiers. He went to the chief steward's office and demanded the +key of the room in the King's name. But it was not forthcoming, and the +fact that it could not be found strengthened his conviction that Don John +had it in his keeping. Yet, for the sake of form, he insisted sternly, +saying that the King was waiting for it even then. Servants were called and +examined and threatened, but those who knew anything about it unanimously +declared that it had been left in the door, while those who knew nothing +supported their fellow-servants by the same unhesitating assertion, till +Mendoza was convinced that he had done enough, and turned his back on them +all and went out with a grey look of despair on his face.</p> + +<p>He walked rapidly now, for he knew that he was going back to meet his +enemy, and he was trying not to think what he should do when he should see +Don John before him and at arm's length, but defended by the King's +presence from any sudden violence. He knew that in his heart there was the +wild resolve to tell the truth before his master and then to take the +payment of blood with one thrust and destroy himself with the next, but +though he was half mad with despair, he would not let the thought become a +resolve. In his soldier's nature, high above everything else and dominating +his austere conscience of right and wrong, as well as every other instinct +of his heart, there was the respect of his sovereign and the loyalty to him +at all costs, good or bad, which sent self out of sight where his duty to +the King was concerned.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XII'></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + + +<p>When he had sent away Mendoza, the King remained standing and began to +pace the floor, while Don John stood by the table watching him and waiting +for him to speak. It was clear that he was still angry, for his anger, +though sometimes suddenly roused, was very slow to reach its height, and +slower still to subside; and when at last it had cooled, it generally left +behind it an enduring hatred, such as could be satisfied only by the final +destruction of the object that had caused it. That lasting hate was perhaps +more dangerous than the sudden outburst had been, but in moments of furious +passion Philip was undoubtedly a man to be feared.</p> + +<p>He was evidently not inclined to speak until he had ascertained that no +one was listening in the next room, but as he looked from time to time at +Don John his still eyes seemed to grow almost yellow, and his lower lip +moved uneasily. He knew, perhaps, that Mendoza could not at once find the +servant in whose keeping the key of the door was supposed to be, and he +grew impatient by quick degrees until his rising temper got the better of +his caution. Don John instinctively drew himself up, as a man does who +expects to be attacked. He was close to the table, and remained almost +motionless during the discussion that followed, while Philip paced up and +down, sometimes pausing before his brother for a moment, and then turning +again to resume his walk. His voice was muffled always, and was hard to +hear; now and then it became thick and indistinct with rage, and he cleared +his throat roughly, as if he were angry with it, too. At first he +maintained the outward forms of courtesy in words if not in tone, but long +before his wrath had reached its final climax he forgot them +altogether.</p> + +<p>"I had hoped to speak with you in privacy, on matters of great +importance. It has pleased your Highness to make that impossible by your +extraordinary behaviour."</p> + +<p>Don John raised his eyebrows a little incredulously, and answered with +perfect calmness.</p> + +<p>"I do not recollect doing anything which should seem extraordinary to +your Majesty."</p> + +<p>"You contradict me," retorted Philip. "That is extraordinary enough, I +should think. I am not aware that it is usual for subjects to contradict +the King. What have you to say in explanation?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing. The facts explain themselves well enough."</p> + +<p>"We are not in camp," said Philip. "Your Highness is not in command +here, and I am not your subordinate. I desire you to remember whom you are +addressing, for your words will be remembered."</p> + +<p>"I never said anything which I wished another to forget," answered Don +John proudly.</p> + +<p>"Take care, then!" The King spoke sullenly, and turned away, for he was +slow at retort until he was greatly roused.</p> + +<p>Don John did not answer, for he had no wish to produce such a result, +and moreover he was much more preoccupied by the serious question of +Dolores' safety than by any other consideration. So far the King had said +nothing which, but for some derogation from his dignity, might not have +been said before any one, and Don John expected that he would maintain the +same tone until Mendoza returned. It was hard to predict what might happen +then. In all probability Dolores would escape by the window and endeavour +to hide herself in the empty sentry-box until the interview was over. He +could then bring her back in safety, but the discussion promised to be long +and stormy, and meanwhile she would be in constant danger of discovery. But +there was a worse possibility, not even quite beyond the bounds of the +probable. In his present mood, Philip, if he lost his temper altogether, +would perhaps be capable of placing Don John under arrest. He was all +powerful, he hated his brother, and he was very angry. His last words had +been a menace, or had sounded like one, and another word, when Mendoza +returned, could put the threat into execution. Don John reflected, if such +thought could be called reflection, upon the situation that must ensue, and +upon the probable fate of the woman he loved. He wondered whether she were +still in the room, for hearing that the door was to be opened, she might +have thought it best to escape at once, while her father was absent from +the terrace on his errand. If not, she could certainly go out by the window +as soon as she heard him coming back. It was clearly of the greatest +importance to prevent the King's anger from going any further. Antonio +Perez had recognized the same truth from a very different point of view, +and had spent nearly three-quarters of an hour in flattering his master +with the consummate skill which he alone possessed. He believed that he had +succeeded when the King had dismissed him, saying that he would not see Don +John until the morning. Five minutes after Perez was gone, Philip was +threading the corridors, completely disguised in a long black cloak, with +the ever-loyal Mendoza at his heels. It was not the first time that he had +deceived his deceivers.</p> + +<p>He paced the room in silence after he had last spoken. As soon as Don +John realized that his liberty might be endangered, he saw that he must say +what he could in honour and justice to save himself from arrest, since +nothing else could save Dolores.</p> + +<p>"I greatly regret having done anything to anger your Majesty," he said, +with quiet dignity. "I was placed in a very difficult position by +unforeseen circumstances. If there had been time to reflect, I might have +acted otherwise."</p> + +<p>"Might have acted otherwise!" repeated Philip harshly. "I do not like +those words. You might have acted otherwise than to defy your sovereign +before the Queen! I trusted you might, indeed!"</p> + +<p>He was silent again, his protruding lip working angrily, as if he had +tasted something he disliked. Don John's half apology had not been received +with much grace, but he saw no way open save to insist that it was +genuine.</p> + +<p>"It is certainly true that I have lived much in camps of late," he +answered, "and that a camp is not a school of manners, any more than the +habit of commanding others accustoms a man to courtly submission."</p> + +<p>"Precisely. You have learned to forget that you have a superior in +Spain, or in the world. You already begin to affect the manners and speech +of a sovereign--you will soon claim the dignity of one, too, I have no +doubt. The sooner we procure you a kingdom of your own, the better, for +your Highness will before long become an element of discord in ours."</p> + +<p>"Rather than that," answered Don John, "I will live in retirement for +the rest of my life."</p> + +<p>"We may require it of your Highness," replied Philip, standing still and +facing his brother. "It may be necessary for our own safety that you should +spend some time at least in very close retirement--very!" He almost +laughed.</p> + +<p>"I should prefer that to the possibility of causing any disturbance in +your Majesty's kingdom."</p> + +<p>Nothing could have been more gravely submissive than Don John's tone, +but the King was apparently determined to rouse his anger.</p> + +<p>"Your deeds belie your words," he retorted, beginning to walk again. +"There is too much loyalty in what you say, and too much of a rebellious +spirit in what you do. The two do not agree together. You mock me."</p> + +<p>"God forbid that!" cried Don John. "I desire no praise for what I may +have done, but such as my deeds have been they have produced peace and +submission in your Majesty's kingdom, and not rebellion--"</p> + +<p>"And is it because you have beaten a handful of ill-armed Moriscoes, in +the short space of two years, that the people follow you in throngs +wherever you go, shouting for you, singing your praises, bringing petitions +to you by hundreds, as if you were King--as if you were more than that, a +sort of god before whom every one must bow down? Am I so simple as to +believe that what you have done with such leisure is enough to rouse all +Spain, and to make the whole court break out into cries of wonder and +applause as soon as you appear? If you publicly defy me and disobey me, do +I not know that you believe yourself able to do so, and think your power +equal to mine? And how could that all be brought about, save by a party +that is for you, by your secret agents everywhere, high and low, forever +praising you and telling men, and women, too, of your graces, and your +generosities, and your victories, and saying that it is a pity so good and +brave a prince should be but a leader of the King's armies, and then +contrasting the King himself with you, the cruel King, the grasping King, +the scheming King, the King who has every fault that is not found in Don +John of Austria, the people's god! Is that peace and submission? Or is it +the beginning of rebellion, and revolution, and civil war, which is to set +Don John of Austria on the throne of Spain, and send King Philip to another +world as soon as all is ready?"</p> + +<p>Don John listened in amazement. It had never occurred to him any one +could believe him capable of the least of the deeds Philip was attributing +to him, and in spite of his resolution his anger began to rise. Then, +suddenly, as if cold water had been dashed in his face, he remembered that +an hour had not passed since he had held Dolores in his arms, swearing to +do that of which he was now accused, and that her words only had held him +back. It all seemed monstrous now. As she had said, it had been only a bad +dream and he had wakened to himself again. Yet the thought of rebellion had +more than crossed his mind, for in a moment it had taken possession of him +and had seemed to change all his nature from good to bad. In his own eyes +he was rebuked, and he did not answer at once.</p> + +<p>"You have nothing to say!" exclaimed Philip scornfully. "Is there any +reason why I should not try you for high treason?"</p> + +<p>Don John started at the words, but his anger was gone, and he thought +only of Dolores' safety in the near future.</p> + +<p>"Your Majesty is far too just to accuse an innocent man who has served +you faithfully," he answered.</p> + +<p>Philip stopped and looked at him curiously and long, trying to detect +some sign of anxiety if not of fear. He was accustomed to torture men with +words well enough, before he used other means, and he himself had not +believed what he had said. It had been only an experiment tried on a mere +chance, and it had failed. At the root of his anger there was only jealousy +and personal hatred of the brother who had every grace and charm which he +himself had not.</p> + +<p>"More kind than just, perhaps," he said, with a slight change of tone +towards condescension. "I am willing to admit that I have no proofs against +you, but the evidence of circumstances is not in your favour. Take care, +for you are observed. You are too much before the world, too imposing a +figure to escape observation."</p> + +<p>"My actions will bear it. I only beg that your Majesty will take account +of them rather than listen to such interpretation as may be put upon them +by other men."</p> + +<p>"Other men do nothing but praise you," said Philip bluntly. "Their +opinion of you is not worth having! I thought I had explained that matter +sufficiently. You are the idol of the people, and as if that were not +enough, you are the darling of the court, besides being the women's +favourite. That is too much for one man to be--take care, I say, take care! +Be at more pains for my favour, and at less trouble for your +popularity."</p> + +<p>"So far as that goes," answered Don John, with some pride, "I think that +if men praise me it is because I have served the King as well as I could, +and with success. If your Majesty is not satisfied with what I have done, +let me have more to do. I shall try to do even the impossible."</p> + +<p>"That will please the ladies," retorted Philip, with a sneer. "You will +be overwhelmed with correspondence--your gloves will not hold it all"</p> + +<p>Don John did not answer, for it seemed wiser to let the King take this +ground than return to his former position.</p> + +<p>"You will have plenty of agreeable occupation in time of peace. But it +is better that you should be married soon, before you become so entangled +with the ladies of Madrid as to make your marriage impossible."</p> + +<p>"Saving the last clause," said Don John boldly, "I am altogether of your +Majesty's opinion. But I fear no entanglements here."</p> + +<p>"No--you do not fear them. On the contrary, you live in them as if they +were your element."</p> + +<p>"No man can say that," answered Don John.</p> + +<p>"You contradict me again. Pray, if you have no entanglements, how comes +it that you have a lady's letter in your glove?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell whether it was a lady's letter or a man's."</p> + +<p>"Have you not read it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And you refused to show it to me on the ground that it was a woman's +secret?"</p> + +<p>"I had not read it then. It was not signed, and it might well have been +written by a man."</p> + +<p>Don John watched the King's face. It was for from improbable, he +thought, that the King had caused it to be written, or had written it +himself, that he supposed his brother to have read it, and desired to +regain possession of it as soon as possible. Philip seemed to hesitate +whether to continue his cross-examination or not, and he looked at the door +leading into the antechamber, suddenly wondering why Mendoza had not +returned. Then he began to speak again, but he did not wish, angry though +he was, to face alone a second refusal to deliver the document to him. His +dignity would have suffered too much.</p> + +<p>"The facts of the case are these," he said, as if he were recapitulating +what had gone before in his mind. "It is my desire to marry you to the +widowed Queen of Scots, as you know. You are doing all you can to oppose +me, and you have determined to marry the dowerless daughter of a poor +soldier. I am equally determined that you shall not disgrace yourself by +such an alliance."</p> + +<p>"Disgrace!" cried Don John loudly, almost before the word had passed the +King's lips, and he made half a step forward. "You are braver than I +thought you, if you dare use that word to me!"</p> + +<p>Philip stepped back, growing livid, and his hand was on his rapier. Don +John was unarmed, but his sword lay on the table within his reach. Seeing +the King afraid, he stepped back.</p> + +<p>"No," he said scornfully, "I was mistaken. You are a coward." He laughed +as he glanced at Philip's hand, still on the hilt of his weapon and ready +to draw it.</p> + +<p>In the next room Dolores drew frightened breath, for the tones of the +two men's voices had changed suddenly. Yet her heart had leapt for joy when +she had heard Don John's cry of anger at the King's insulting word. But Don +John was right, for Philip was a coward at heart, and though he inwardly +resolved that his brother should be placed under arrest as soon as Mendoza +returned, his present instinct was not to rouse him further. He was indeed +in danger, between his anger and his fear, for at any moment he might speak +some bitter word, accustomed as he was to the perpetual protection of his +guards, but at the next his brother's hands might be on his throat, for he +had the coward's true instinct to recognize the man who was quite +fearless.</p> + +<p>"You strangely forget yourself," he said, with an appearance of dignity. +"You spring forward as if you were going to grapple with me, and then you +are surprised that I should be ready to defend myself."</p> + +<p>"I barely moved a step from where I stand," answered Don John, with +profound contempt. "I am unarmed, too. There lies my sword, on the table. +But since you are the King as well as my brother, I make all excuses to +your Majesty for having been the cause of your fright."</p> + +<p>Dolores understood what had happened, as Don John meant that she should. +She knew also that her position was growing more and more desperate and +untenable at every moment; yet she could not blame her lover for what he +had said. Even to save her, she would not have had him cringe to the King +and ask pardon for his hasty word and movement, still less could she have +borne that he should not cry out in protest at a word that insulted her, +though ever so lightly.</p> + +<p>"I do not desire to insist upon our kinship," said Philip coldly. "If I +chose to acknowledge it when you were a boy, it was out of respect for the +memory of the Emperor. It was not in the expectation of being called +brother by the son of a German burgher's daughter."</p> + +<p>Don John did not wince, for the words, being literally true and without +exaggeration, could hardly be treated as an insult, though they were meant +for one, and hurt him, as all reference to his real mother always did.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, still scornfully. "I am the son of a German burgher's +daughter, neither better nor worse. But I am your brother, for all that, +and though I shall not forget that you are King and I am subject, when we +are before the world, yet here, we are man and man, you and I, brother and +brother, and there is neither King nor prince. But I shall not hurt you, so +you need fear nothing. I respect the brother far too little for that, and +the sovereign too much."</p> + +<p>There was a bad yellow light in Philip's face, and instead of walking +towards Don John and away from him, as he had done hitherto, he began to +pace up and down, crossing and recrossing before him, from the foot of the +great canopied bed to one of the curtained windows, keeping his eyes upon +his brother almost all the time.</p> + +<p>"I warned you when I came here that your words should be remembered," he +said. "And your actions shall not be forgotten, either. There are safe +places, even in Madrid, where you can live in the retirement you desire so +much, even in total solitude."</p> + +<p>"If it pleases your Majesty to imprison Don John of Austria, you have +the power. For my part, I shall make no resistance."</p> + +<p>"Who shall, then?" asked the King angrily. "Do you expect that there +will be a general rising of the people to liberate you, or that there will +be a revolution within the palace, brought on by your party, which shall +force me to set you free for reasons of state? We are not in Paris that you +should expect the one, nor in Constantinople where the other might be +possible. We are in Spain, and I am master, and my will shall be done, and +no one shall cry out against it. I am too gentle with you, too kind! For +the half of what you have said and done, Elizabeth of England would have +had your life to-morrow--yes, I consent to give you a chance, the benefit +of a doubt there is still in my thoughts about you, because justice shall +not be offended and turned into an instrument of revenge. Yes--I am kind, I +am clement. We shall see whether you can save yourself. You shall have the +chance."</p> + +<p>"What chance is that?" asked Don John, growing very quiet, for he saw +the real danger near at hand again.</p> + +<p>"You shall have an opportunity of proving that a subject is at liberty +to insult his sovereign, and that the King is not free to speak his mind to +a subject. Can you prove that?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot."</p> + +<p>"Then you can be convicted of high treason," answered Philip, his evil +mouth curling. "There are several methods of interrogating the accused," he +continued. "I daresay you have heard of them."</p> + +<p>"Do you expect to frighten me by talking of torture?" asked Don John, +with a smile at the implied suggestion.</p> + +<p>"Witnesses are also examined," replied the King, his voice thickening +again in anticipation of the effect he was going to produce upon the man +who would not fear him. "With them, even more painful methods are often +employed. Witnesses may be men or women, you know, my dear brother--" he +pronounced the word with a sneer--"and among the many ladies of your +acquaintance--"</p> + +<p>"There are very few."</p> + +<p>"It will be the easier to find the two or three, or perhaps the only +one, whom it will be necessary to interrogate--in your presence, most +probably, and by torture."</p> + +<p>"I was right to call you a coward," said Don John, slowly turning pale +till his face was almost as white as the white silks and satins of his +doublet.</p> + +<p>"Will you give me the letter you were reading when I came here?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Not to save yourself from the executioner's hands?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Not to save--" Philip paused, and a frightful stare of hatred fixed his +eyes on his brother. "Will you give me that letter to save Dolores de +Mendoza from being torn piecemeal?"</p> + +<p>"Coward!"</p> + +<p>By instinct Don John's hand went to the hilt of his sheathed sword this +time, as he cried out in rage, and sprang forward. Even then he would have +remembered the promise he had given and would not have raised his hand to +strike. But the first movement was enough, and Philip drew his rapier in a +flash of light, fearing for his life. Without waiting for an attack he made +a furious pass at his brother's body. Don John's hand went out with the +sheathed sword in a desperate attempt to parry the thrust, but the weapon +was entangled in the belt that hung to it, and Philip's lunge had been +strong and quick as lightning.</p> + +<p>With a cry of anger Don John fell straight backwards, his feet seeming +to slip from under him on the smooth marble pavement, and with his fall, as +he threw out his hands to save himself, the sword flew high into the air, +sheathed as it was, and landed far away. He lay at full length with one arm +stretched out, and for a moment the hand twitched in quick spasms. Then it +was quite still.</p> + +<p>At his feet stood Philip, his rapier in his hand, and blood on its fine +point. His eyes shone yellow in the candlelight, his jaw had dropped a +little, and he bent forwards, looking intently at the still, white +face.</p> + +<p>He had longed for that moment ever since he had entered his brother's +room, though even he himself had not guessed that he wanted his brother's +life. There was not a sound in the room as he looked at what he had done, +and two or three drops of blood fell one by one, very slowly, upon the +marble. On the dazzling white of Don John's doublet there was a small red +stain. As Philip watched it, he thought it grew wider and brighter.</p> + +<p>Beyond the door, Dolores had fallen upon her knees, pressing her hands +to her temples in an agony beyond thought or expression. Her fear had risen +to terror while she listened to the last words that had been exchanged, and +the King's threat had chilled her blood like ice, though she was brave. She +had longed to cry out to Don John to give up her letter or the other, +whichever the King wanted--she had almost tried to raise her voice, in +spite of every other fear, when she had heard Don John's single word of +scorn, and the quick footsteps, the drawing of the rapier from its sheath, +the desperate scuffle that had not lasted five seconds, and then the dull +fall which meant that one was hurt.</p> + +<p>It could only be the King,--but that was terrible enough,--and yet, if +the King had fallen, Don John would have come to the door the next instant. +All was still in the room, but her terror made wild noises in her ears. The +two men might have spoken now and she could not have heard them,--nor the +opening of a door, nor any ordinary sound. It was no longer the fear of +being heard, either, that made her silent. Her throat was parched and her +tongue paralyzed. She remembered suddenly that Don John had been unarmed, +and how he had pointed out to Philip that his sword lay on the table. It +was the King who had drawn his own, then, and had killed his unarmed +brother. She felt as if something heavy were striking her head as the +thoughts made broken words, and flashes of light danced before her eyes. +With her hands she tried to press feeling and reason and silence back into +her brain that would not be quieted, but the certainty grew upon her that +Don John was killed, and the tide of despair rose higher with every +breath.</p> + +<p>The sensation came upon her that she was dying, then and there, of a +pain human nature could not endure, far beyond the torments Philip had +threatened, and the thought was merciful, for she could not have lived an +hour in such agony,--something would have broken before then. She was +dying, there, on her knees before the door beyond which her lover lay +suddenly dead. It would be easy to die. In a moment more she would be with +him, for ever, and in peace. They would find her there, dead, and perhaps +they would be merciful and bury her near him. But that would matter little, +since she should be with him always now. In the first grief that struck +her, and bruised her, and numbed her as with material blows, she had no +tears, but there was a sort of choking fire in her throat, and her eyes +burned her like hot iron.</p> + +<p>She did not know how long she knelt, waiting for death. She was dying, +and there was no time any more, nor any outward world, nor anything but her +lover's dead body on the floor in the next room, and his soul waiting for +hers, waiting beside her for her to die also, that they might go together. +She was so sure now, that she was wondering dreamily why it took so long to +die, seeing that death had taken him so quickly. Could one shaft be aimed +so straight and could the next miss the mark? She shook all over, as a new +dread seized her. She was not dying,--her life clung too closely to her +suffering body, her heart was too young and strong to stand still in her +breast for grief. She was to live, and bear that same pain a lifetime. She +rocked herself gently on her knees, bowing her head almost to the +floor.</p> + +<p>She was roused by the sound of her father's voice, and the words he was +speaking sent a fresh shock of horror through her unutterable grief, for +they told her that Don John was dead, and then something else so strange +that she could not understand it.</p> + +<p>Philip had stood only a few moments, sword in hand, over his brother's +body, staring down at his face, when the door opened. On the threshold +stood old Mendoza, half-stunned by the sight he saw. Philip heard, stood +up, and drew back as his eyes fell upon the old soldier. He knew that +Mendoza, if no one else, knew the truth now, beyond any power of his to +conceal it. His anger had subsided, and a sort of horror that could never +be remorse, had come over him for what he had done. It must have been in +his face, for Mendoza understood, and he came forward quickly and knelt +down upon the floor to listen for the beating of the heart, and to try +whether there was any breath to dim the brightness of his polished +scabbard. Philip looked on in silence. Like many an old soldier Mendoza had +some little skill, but he saw the bright spot on the white doublet, and the +still face and the hands relaxed, and there was neither breath nor beating +of the heart to give hope. He rose silently, and shook his head. Still +looking down he saw the red drops that had fallen upon the pavement from +Philip's rapier, and looking at that, saw that the point was dark. With a +gesture of excuse he took the sword from the King's hand and wiped it quite +dry and bright upon his own handkerchief, and gave it back to Philip, who +sheathed it by his side, but never spoke.</p> + +<p>Together the two looked at the body for a full minute and more, each +silently debating what should be done with it. At last Mendoza raised his +head, and there was a strange look in his old eyes and a sort of wan +greatness came over his war-worn face. It was then that he spoke the words +Dolores heard.</p> + +<p>"I throw myself upon your Majesty's mercy! I have killed Don John of +Austria in a private quarrel, and he was unarmed."</p> + +<p>Philip understood well enough, and a faint smile of satisfaction flitted +through the shadows of his face. It was out of the question that the world +should ever know who had killed his brother, and he knew the man who +offered to sacrifice himself by bearing the blame of the deed. Mendoza +would die, on the scaffold if need be, and it would be enough for him to +know that his death saved his King. No word would ever pass his lips. The +man's loyalty would bear any proof; he could feel horror at the thought +that Philip could have done such a deed, but the King's name must be saved +at all costs, and the King's divine right must be sustained before the +world. He felt no hesitation from the moment when he saw clearly how this +must be done. To accuse some unknown murderer and let it be supposed that +he had escaped would have been worse than useless; the court and half Spain +knew of the King's jealousy of his brother, every one had seen that Philip +had been very angry when the courtiers had shouted for Don John; already +the story of the quarrel about the glove was being repeated from mouth to +mouth in the throne room, where the nobles had reassembled after supper. As +soon as it was known that Don John was dead, it would be believed by every +one in the palace that the King had killed him or had caused him to be +murdered. But if Mendoza took the blame upon himself, the court would +believe him, for many knew of Dolores' love for Don John, and knew also how +bitterly the old soldier was opposed to their marriage, on the ground that +it would be no marriage at all, but his daughter's present ruin. There was +no one else in the palace who could accuse himself of the murder and who +would be believed to have done it without the King's orders, and Mendoza +knew this, when he offered his life to shield Philip's honour. Philip knew +it, too, and while he wondered at the old man's simple devotion, he +accepted it without protest, as his vast selfishness would have permitted +the destruction of all mankind, that it might be satisfied and filled.</p> + +<p>He looked once more at the motionless body at his feet, and once more at +the faithful old man. Then he bent his head with condescending gravity, as +if he were signifying his pleasure to receive kindly, for the giver's sake, +a gift of little value.</p> + +<p>"So be it," he said slowly.</p> + +<p>Mendoza bowed his head, too, as if in thanks, and then taking up the +long dark cloak which the King had thrown off on entering, he put it upon +Philip's shoulders, and went before him to the door. And Philip followed +him without looking back, and both went out upon the terrace, leaving both +doors ajar after them. They exchanged a few words more as they walked +slowly in the direction of the corridor.</p> + +<p>"It is necessary that your Majesty should return at once to the throne +room, as if nothing had happened," said Mendoza. "Your Majesty should be +talking unconcernedly with some ambassador or minister when the news is +brought that his Highness is dead."</p> + +<p>"And who shall bring the news?" asked Philip calmly, as if he were +speaking to an indifferent person.</p> + +<p>"I will, Sire," answered Mendoza firmly.</p> + +<p>"They will tear you in pieces before I can save you," returned Philip, +in a thoughtful tone.</p> + +<p>"So much the better. I shall die for my King, and your Majesty will be +spared the difficulty of pardoning a deed which will be unpardonable in the +eyes of the whole world."</p> + +<p>"That is true," said the King meditatively. "But I do not wish you to +die, Mendoza," he added, as an afterthought. "You must escape to France or +to England."</p> + +<p>"I could not make my escape without your Majesty's help, and that would +soon be known. It would then be believed that I had done the deed by your +Majesty's orders, and no good end would have been gained."</p> + +<p>"You may be right. You are a very brave man, Mendoza--the bravest I have +ever known. I thank you. If it is possible to save you, you shall be +saved."</p> + +<p>"It will not be possible," replied the soldier, in a low and steady +voice. "If your Majesty will return at once to the throne room, it may be +soon over. Besides, it is growing late, and it must be done before the +whole court."</p> + +<p>They entered the corridor, and the King walked a few steps before +Mendoza, covering his head with the hood of his cloak lest any one should +recognize him, and gradually increasing his distance as the old man fell +behind. Descending by a private staircase, Philip reëntered his own +apartments by a small door that gave access to his study without obliging +him to pass through the antechamber, and by which he often came and went +unobserved. Alone in his innermost room, and divested of his hood and +cloak, the King went to a Venetian mirror that stood upon a pier table +between the windows, and examined his face attentively. Not a trace of +excitement or emotion was visible in the features he saw, but his hair was +a little disarranged, and he smoothed it carefully and adjusted it about +his ears. From a silver box on the table he took a little scented lozenge +and put it into his mouth. No reasonable being would have suspected from +his appearance that he had been moved to furious anger and had done a +murderous deed less than twenty minutes earlier. His still eyes were quite +calm now, and the yellow gleam in them had given place to their naturally +uncertain colour. With a smile of admiration for his own extraordinary +powers, he turned and left the room. He was enjoying one of his rare +moments of satisfaction, for the rival he had long hated and was beginning +to dread was never to stand in his way again nor to rob him of the least of +his attributes of sovereignty.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XIII'></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + + +<p>Dolores had not understood her father's words. All that was clear to her +was that Don John was dead and that his murderers were gone. Had there been +danger still for herself, she could not have felt it; but there was none +now as she laid her hand upon the key to enter the bedchamber. At first the +lock would not open, as it had been injured in some way by being so roughly +shaken when Mendoza had tried it. But Dolores' desperate fingers wound +themselves upon the key like little ropes of white silk, slender but very +strong, and she wrenched at the thing furiously till it turned. The door +flew open, and she stood motionless a moment on the threshold. Mendoza had +said that Don John was dead, but she had not quite believed it.</p> + +<p>He lay on his back as he had fallen, his feet towards her, his graceful +limbs relaxed, one arm beside him, the other thrown back beyond his head, +the colourless fingers just bent a little and showing the nervous beauty of +the hand. The beautiful young face was white as marble, and the eyes were +half open, very dark under the waxen lids. There was one little spot of +scarlet on the white satin coat, near the left breast. Dolores saw it all +in the bright light of the candles, and she neither moved nor closed her +fixed eyes as she gazed. She felt that she was at the end of life; she +stood still to see it all and to understand. But though she tried to think, +it was as if she had no mind left, no capacity for grasping any new +thought, and no power to connect those that had disturbed her brain with +the present that stared her in the face. An earthquake might have torn the +world open under her feet at that moment, swallowing up the old Alcazar +with the living and the dead, and Dolores would have gone down to +destruction as she stood, unconscious of her fate, her eyes fixed upon Don +John's dead features, her own life already suspended and waiting to follow +his. It seemed as if she might stand there till her horror should stop the +beating of her own heart, unless something came to rouse her from the +stupor she was in.</p> + +<p>But gradually a change came over her face, her lids drooped and +quivered, her face turned a little upward, and she grasped the doorpost +with one hand, lest she should reel and fall. Then, knowing that she could +stand no longer, instinct made a last effort upon her; its invisible power +thrust her violently forward in a few swift steps, till her strength broke +all at once, and she fell and lay almost upon the body of her lover, her +face hidden upon his silent breast, one hand seeking his hand, the other +pressing his cold forehead.</p> + +<p>It was not probable that any one should find her there for a long time. +The servants and gentlemen had been dismissed, and until it was known that +Don John was dead, no one would come. Even if she could have thought at +all, she would not have cared who saw her lying there; but thought was +altogether gone now, and there was nothing left but the ancient instinct of +the primeval woman mourning her dead mate alone, with long-drawn, hopeless +weeping and blinding tears.</p> + +<p>They came, too, when she had lain upon his breast a little while and +when understanding had wholly ceased and given way to nature. Then her body +shook and her breast heaved strongly, almost throwing her upon her side as +she lay, and sounds that were hardly human came from her lips; for the +first dissolving of a woman's despair into tears is most like the death +agony of those who die young in their strength, when the limbs are wrung at +the joints and the light breaks in the upturned eyes, when the bosom heaves +and would take in the whole world at one breath, when the voice makes +sounds of fear that are beyond words and worse to hear than any words could +be.</p> + +<p>Her weeping was wild at first, measureless and violent, broken by sharp +cries that hurt her heart like jagged knives, then strangled to a choking +silence again and again, as the merciless consciousness that could have +killed, if it had prevailed, almost had her by the throat, but was forced +back again with cruel pain by the young life that would not die, though +living was agony and death would have been as welcome as air.</p> + +<p>Then her loud grief subsided to a lower key, and her voice grew by +degrees monotonous and despairing as the turning tide on a quicksand, +before bad weather,--not diminished, but deeper drawn within itself; and +the low moan came regularly with each breath, while the tears flowed +steadily. The first wild tempest had swept by, and the more enduring storm +followed in its track.</p> + +<p>So she lay a long time weeping; and then strong hands were upon her, +lifting her up and dragging her away, without warning and without word. She +did not understand, and she fancied herself in the arms of some +supernatural being of monstrous strength that was tearing her from what was +left of life and love. She struggled senselessly, but she could find no +foothold as she was swept through the open door. She gasped for breath, as +one does in bad dreams, and bodily fear almost reached her heart through +its sevenfold armour of such grief as makes fear ridiculous and turns +mortal danger to an empty show. The time had seemed an age since she had +fallen upon dead Don John--it had measured but a short few minutes; it +seemed as if she were being dragged the whole length of the dim palace as +the strong hands bore her along, yet she was only carried from the room to +the terrace; and when her eyes could see, she knew that she was in the open +air on a stone seat in the moonlight, the cool night breeze fanning her +face, while a gentle hand supported her head,--the same hand that had been +so masterfully strong a moment earlier. A face she knew and did not dread, +though it was unlike other faces, was just at the same height with her own, +though the man was standing beside her and she was seated; and the +moonlight made very soft shadows in the ill-drawn features of the dwarf, so +that his thin and twisted lips were kind and his deep-set eyes were +overflowing with human sympathy. When he understood that she saw him and +was not fainting, he gently drew away his hand and let her head rest +against the stone parapet.</p> + +<p>She was dazed still, and the tears veiled her sight. He stood before +her, as if guarding her, ready in case she should move and try to leave +him. His long arms hung by his sides, but not quite motionless, so that he +could have caught her instantly had she attempted to spring past him; and +he was wise and guessed rightly what she would do. Her eyes brightened +suddenly, and she half rose before he held her again.</p> + +<p>"No, no!" she said desperately. "I must go to him--let me go--let me go +back!"</p> + +<p>But his hands were on her shoulders in an instant, and she was in a +vise, forced back to her seat.</p> + +<p>"How dare you touch me!" she cried, in the furious anger of a woman +beside herself with grief. "How dare you lay hands on me!" she repeated in +a rising key, but struggling in vain against his greater strength.</p> + +<p>"You would have died, if I had left you there," answered the jester. +"And besides, the people will come soon, and they would have found you +there, lying on his body, and your good name would have gone forever."</p> + +<p>"My name! What does a name matter? Or anything? Oh, let me go! No one +must touch him--no hands that do not love him must come near him--let me +get up--let me go in again!"</p> + +<p>She tried to force the dwarf from her--she would have struck him, +crushed him, thrown him from the terrace, if she could. She was strong, +too, in her grief; but his vast arms were like iron bars, growing from his +misshapen body. His face was very grave and kind, and his eyes more tender +than they had ever been in his life.</p> + +<p>"No," he said gently. "You must not go. By and by you shall see him +again, but not now. Do not try, for I am much stronger than you, and I will +not let you go back into the room."</p> + +<p>Then her strength relaxed, and she turned to the stone parapet, burying +her face in her crossed arms, and her tears came again. For this the jester +was glad, knowing that tears quench the first white heat of such sorrows as +can burn out the soul and drive the brain raving mad, when life can bear +the torture. He stood still before her, watching her and guarding her, but +he felt that the worst was past, and that before very long he could lead +her away to a place of greater safety. He had indeed taken her as far as he +could from Don John's door, and out of sight of it, where the long terrace +turned to the westward, and where it was not likely that any one should +pass at that hour. It had been the impulse of the moment, and he himself +had not recovered from the shock of finding Don John's body lifeless on the +floor. He had known nothing of what had happened, but lurking in a corner +to see the King pass on his way back from his brother's quarters, he had +made sure that Don John was alone, and had gone to his apartment to find +out, if he could, how matters had fared, and whether he himself were in +further danger or not. He meant to escape from the palace, or to take his +own life, rather than be put to the torture, if the King suspected him of +being involved in a conspiracy. He was not a common coward, but he feared +bodily pain as only such sensitive organizations can, and the vision of the +rack and the boot had been before him since he had seen Philip's face at +supper. Don John was kind, and would have warned him if he were in danger, +and so all might have been well, and by flight or death he might have +escaped being torn limb from limb. So he had gone boldly in, and had found +the door ajar and had entered the bedchamber, and when he had seen what was +there, he would have fled at once, for his own safety, not only because Don +John's murder was sure to produce terrible trouble, and many enquiries and +trials, in the course of which he was almost sure to be lost, but also for +the more immediate reason that if he were seen near the body when it was +discovered, he should certainly be put to the question ordinary and +extraordinary for his evidence.</p> + +<p>But he was not a common coward, and in spite of his own pardonable +terror, he thought first of the innocent girl whose name and fame would be +gone if she were found lying upon her murdered lover's body, and so far as +he could, he saved her before he thought of saving himself, though with +infinite difficulty and against her will.</p> + +<p>Half paralyzed by her immeasurable grief, she lay against the parapet, +and the great sobs came evenly, as if they were counted, shaking her from +her head to her waist, and just leaving her a breathing space between each +one and the next. The jester felt that he could do nothing. So long as she +had seemed unconscious, he had tried to help her a little by supporting her +head with his hand and arm, as tenderly as if she had been his own child. +So long as she did not know what he was doing, she was only a human being +in distress, and a woman, and deep down in the jester's nature there was a +marvellous depth of pity for all things that suffered--the deeper and truer +because his own sufferings in the world were great. But it was quite +different now that she knew where she was and recognized him. She was no +longer a woman now, but a high-born lady, one of the Queen's maids of +honour, a being infinitely far removed above his sphere, and whose hand he +was not worthy to touch. He would have dared to be much more familiar with +the King himself than with this young girl whom fate had placed in his +keeping for a moment. In the moonlight he watched her, and as he gazed upon +her graceful figure and small head and slender, bending arms, it seemed to +him that she had come down from an altar to suffer in life, and that it had +been almost sacrilege to lay his hands upon her shoulders and keep her from +doing her own will. He almost wondered how he had found courage to be so +rough and commanding. He was gentle of heart, though it was his trade to +make sharp speeches, and there were wonderful delicacies of thought and +feeling far down in his suffering cripple's nature.</p> + +<p>"Come," he said softly, when he had waited a long time, and when he +thought she was growing more quiet. "You must let me take you away, +Doña Maria Dolores, for we cannot stay here."</p> + +<p>"Take me back to him," she answered. "Let me go back to him!"</p> + +<p>"No--to your father--I cannot take you to him. You will be safe +there."</p> + +<p>Dolores sprang to her feet before the dwarf could prevent her.</p> + +<p>"To my father? oh, no, no, no! Never, as long as I live! I will go +anywhere, but not to him! Take your hands from me--do not touch me! I am +not strong, but I shall kill you if you try to take me to my father!"</p> + +<p>Her small hands grasped the dwarfs wrists and wrung them with desperate +energy, and she tried to push him away, so that she might pass him. But he +resisted her quietly, planting himself in a position of resistance on his +short bowed legs, and opposing the whole strength of his great arms to her +girlish violence. Her hands relaxed suddenly in despair.</p> + +<p>"Not to my father!" she pleaded, in a broken voice. "Oh, please, +please--not to my father!"</p> + +<p>The jester did not fully understand, but he yielded, for he could not +carry her to Mendoza's apartments by force.</p> + +<p>"But what can I do to put you in a place of safety?" he asked, in +growing distress. "You cannot stay here."</p> + +<p>While he was speaking a light figure glided out from the shadows, with +outstretched hands, and a low voice called Dolores' name, trembling with +terror and emotion. Dolores broke from the dwarf and clasped her sister in +her arms.</p> + +<p>"Is it true?" moaned Inez. "Is it true? Is he dead?" And her voice +broke.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XIV'></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + + +<p>The courtiers had assembled again in the great throne room after supper, +and the stately dancing, for which the court of Spain was even then famous +throughout Europe, had begun. The orchestra was placed under the great arch +of the central window on a small raised platform draped with velvets and +brocades that hung from a railing, high enough to conceal the musicians as +they sat, though some of the instruments and the moving bows of the violins +could be seen above it.</p> + +<p>The masked dancing, if it were dancing at all, which had been general in +the days of the Emperor Maximilian, and which had not yet gone out of +fashion altogether at the imperial court of Vienna, had long been relegated +to the past in Spain, and the beautiful "pavane" dances, of which awkward +travesties survive in our day, had been introduced instead. As now, the +older ladies of the court withdrew to the sides of the hall, leaving the +polished floor free for those who danced, and sets formed themselves in the +order of their rank from the foot of the throne dais to the lower end. As +now, too, the older and graver men congregated together in outer rooms; and +there gaming-tables were set out, and the nobles lost vast sums at games +now long forgotten, by the express authorization of the pious Philip, who +saw that everything which could injure the fortunes of the grandees must +consolidate his own, by depriving them of some of that immense wealth which +was an ever-ready element of revolution. He did everything in his power to +promote the ruin of the most powerful grandees in the kingdom by +encouraging gaming and all imaginable forms of extravagance, and he looked +with suspicion and displeasure upon those more prudent men who guarded +their riches carefully, as their fathers had done before them. But these +were few, for it was a part of a noble's dignity to lose enormous sums of +money without the slightest outward sign of emotion or annoyance.</p> + +<p>It had been announced that the King and Queen would not return after +supper, and the magnificent gravity of the most formal court in the world +was a little relaxed when this was known. Between the strains of music, the +voices of the courtiers rose in unbroken conversation, and now and then +there was a ripple of fresh young laughter that echoed sweetly under the +high Moorish vault, and died away just as it rose again from below.</p> + +<p>Yet the dancing was a matter of state, and solemn enough, though it was +very graceful. Magnificent young nobles in scarlet, in pale green, in straw +colour, in tender shades of blue, all satin and silk and velvet and +embroidery, led lovely women slowly forward with long and gliding steps +that kept perfect time to the music, and turned and went back, and wound +mazy figures with the rest, under the waxen light of the waxen torches, and +returned to their places with deep curtsies on the one side, and sweeping +obeisance on the other. The dresses of the women were richer by far with +gold and silver, and pearls and other jewels, than those of the men, but +were generally darker in tone, for that was the fashion then. Their skirts +were straight and barely touched the floor, being made for a time when +dancing was a part of court life, and when every one within certain limits +of age was expected to dance well. There was no exaggeration of the ruffle +then, nor had the awkward hoop skirt been introduced in Spain. Those were +the earlier days of Queen Elizabeth's reign, before Queen Mary was +imprisoned; it was the time, indeed, when the rough Bothwell had lately +carried her off and married her, after a fashion, with so little ceremony +that Philip paid no attention to the marriage at all, and deliberately +proposed to make her Don John's wife. The matter was freely talked of on +that night by the noble ladies of elder years who gossiped while they +watched the dancing.</p> + +<p>That was indeed such a court as had not been seen before, nor was ever +seen again, whether one count beauty first, or riches and magnificence, or +the marvel of splendid ceremony and the faultless grace of studied manners, +or even the cool recklessness of great lords and ladies who could lose a +fortune at play, as if they were throwing a handful of coin to a beggar in +the street.</p> + +<p>The Princess of Eboli stood a little apart from the rest, having just +returned to the ball-room, and her eyes searched for Dolores in the crowd, +though she scarcely expected to see her there. It would have been almost +impossible for the girl to put on a court dress in so short a time, though +since her father had allowed her to leave her room, she could have gone +back to dress if she had chosen. The Princess had rarely been at a loss in +her evil life, and had seldom been baffled in anything she had undertaken, +since that memorable occasion on which her husband, soon after her +marriage, had forcibly shut her up in a convent for several months, in the +vain hope of cooling her indomitable temper. But now she was nervous and +uncertain of herself. Not only had Dolores escaped her, but Don John had +disappeared also, and the Princess had not the least doubt but that the two +were somewhere together, and she was very far from being sure that they had +not already left the palace. Antonio Perez had informed her that the King +had promised not to see Don John that night, and for once she was foolish +enough to believe the King's word. Perez came up to her as she was debating +what she should do. She told him her thoughts, laughing gaily from time to +time, as if she were telling him some very witty story, for she did not +wish those who watched them to guess that the conversation was serious. +Perez laughed, too, and answered in low tones, with many gestures meant to +deceive the court.</p> + +<p>"The King did not take my advice," he said. "I had scarcely left him, +when he went to Don John's apartments."</p> + +<p>"How do you know that?" asked the Princess, with some anxiety.</p> + +<p>"He found the door of an inner room locked, and he sent Mendoza to find +the key. Fortunately for the old man's feelings it could not be found! He +would have had an unpleasant surprise."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because his daughter was in the room that was locked," laughed +Perez.</p> + +<p>"When? How? How long ago was that?"</p> + +<p>"Half an hour--not more."</p> + +<p>"That is impossible. Half an hour ago Dolores de Mendoza was with +me."</p> + +<p>"Then there was another lady in the room." Perez laughed again. "Better +two than one," he added.</p> + +<p>"You are wrong," said the Princess, and her face darkened. "Don John has +not so much as deigned to look at any other woman these two years."</p> + +<p>"You should know that best," returned the Secretary, with a little +malice in his smile.</p> + +<p>It was well known in the court that two or three years earlier, during +the horrible intrigue that ended in the death of Don Carlos, the Princess +of Eboli had done her best to bring Don John of Austria to her feet, and +had failed notoriously, because he was already in love with Dolores. She +was angry now, and the rich colour came into her handsome dark face.</p> + +<p>"Don Antonio Perez," she said, "take care! I have made you. I can also +unmake you."</p> + +<p>Perez assumed an air of simple and innocent surprise, as if he were +quite sure that he had said nothing to annoy her, still less to wound her +deeply. He believed that she really loved him and that he could play with +her as if his own intelligence far surpassed hers. In the first matter he +was right, but he was very much mistaken in the second.</p> + +<p>"I do not understand," he said. "If I have done anything to offend you, +pray forgive my ignorance, and believe in the unchanging devotion of your +most faithful slave."</p> + +<p>His dark eyes became very expressive as he bowed a little, with a +graceful gesture of deprecation. The Princess laughed lightly, but there +was still a spark of annoyance in her look.</p> + +<p>"Why does Don John not come?" she asked impatiently. "We should have +danced together. Something must have happened--can you not find out?"</p> + +<p>Others were asking the same question in surprise, for it had been +expected that Don John would enter immediately after the supper. His name +was heard from end to end of the hall, in every conversation, wherever two +or three persons were talking together. It was in the air, like his +popularity, everywhere and in everything, and the expectation of his coming +produced a sort of tension that was felt by every one. The men grew more +witty, the younger women's eyes brightened, though they constantly glanced +towards the door of the state apartments by which Don John should enter, +and as the men's conversation became more brilliant the women paid less +attention to it, for there was hardly one of them who did not hope that Don +John might notice her before the evening was over,--there was not one who +did not fancy herself a little in love with him, as there was hardly a man +there who would not have drawn his sword for him and fought for him with +all his heart. Many, though they dared not say so, secretly wished that +some evil might befall Philip, and that he might soon die childless, since +he had destroyed his only son and only heir, and that Don John might be +King in his stead. The Princess of Eboli and Perez knew well enough that +their plan would be popular, if they could ever bring it to maturity.</p> + +<p>The music swelled and softened, and rose again in those swaying strains +that inspire an irresistible bodily longing for rhythmical motion, and +which have infinite power to call up all manner of thoughts, passionate, +gentle, hopeful, regretful, by turns. In the middle of the hall, more than +a hundred dancers moved, swayed, and glided in time with the sound, changed +places, and touched hands in the measure, tripped forward and back and +sideways, and met and parted again without pause, the colours of their +dresses mingling to rich unknown hues in the soft candlelight, as the +figure brought many together, and separating into a hundred elements again, +when the next steps scattered them again; the jewels in the women's hair, +the clasps of diamonds and precious stones at throat, and shoulder, and +waist, all moved with an intricate motion, in orbits that crossed and +recrossed in the tinted sea of silk, and flashed all at once, as the +returning burden of the music brought the dancers to stand and turn at the +same beat of the measure. Yet it was all unlike the square dancing of these +days, which is either no dancing at all, but a disorderly walk, or else is +so stiffly regular and awkward that it makes one think of a squad of +recruits exercising on the drill ground. There was not a motion, then, that +lacked grace, or ease, or a certain purpose of beauty, nor any, perhaps, +that was not a phrase in the allegory of love, from which all dancing is, +and was, and always must be, drawn. Swift, slow, by turns, now languorous, +now passionate, now full of delicious regret, singing love's triumph, +breathing love's fire, sighing in love's despair, the dance and its music +were one, so was sight intermingled with sound, and motion a part of both. +And at each pause, lips parted and glance sought glance in the light, while +hearts found words in the music that answered the language of love. Men +laugh at dancing and love it, and women, too, and no one can tell where its +charm is, but few have not felt it, or longed to feel it, and its +beginnings are very far away in primeval humanity, beyond the reach of +theory, unless instinct may explain all simply, as it well may. For light +and grace and sweet sound are things of beauty which last for ever, and +love is the source of the future and the explanation of the past; and that +which can bring into itself both love and melody, and grace and light, must +needs be a spell to charm men and women.</p> + +<p>There was more than that in the air on that night, for Don John's return +had set free that most intoxicating essence of victory, which turns to a +mad fire in the veins of a rejoicing people, making the least man of them +feel himself a soldier, and a conqueror, and a sharer in undying fame. They +had loved him from a child, they had seen him outgrow them in beauty, and +skill, and courage, and they had loved him still the more for being the +better man; and now he had done a great deed, and had fulfilled and +overfilled their greatest expectations, and in an instant he leapt from the +favourite's place in their hearts to the hero's height on the altar of +their wonder, to be the young god of a nation that loved him. Not a man, on +that night, but would have sworn that Don John was braver than Alexander, +wiser than Charlemagne, greater than Cæsar himself; not a man but +would have drawn his sword to prove it on the body of any who should dare +to contradict him,--not a mother was there, who did not pray that her sons +might be but ever so little like him, no girl of Spain but dreamt she heard +his soft voice speaking low in her ear. Not often in the world's story has +a man so young done such great things as he had done and was to do before +his short life was ended; never, perhaps, was any man so honoured by his +own people, so trusted, and so loved.</p> + +<p>They could talk only of him, wondering more and more that he stayed away +from them on such a night, yet sure that he would come, and join the +dancing, for as he fought with a skill beyond that of other swordsmen, so +he danced with the most surpassing grace. They longed to see him, to look +into his face, to hear his voice, perhaps to touch his hand; for he was +free of manner and gentle to all, and if he came he would go from one to +another, and remember each with royal memory, and find kind words for every +one. They wanted him among them, they felt a sort of tense desire to see +him again, and even to shout for him again, as the vulgar herd did in the +streets,--as they themselves had done but an hour ago when he had stood out +beside the throne. And still the dancers danced through the endless +measures, laughing and talking at each pause, and repeating his name till +it was impossible not to hear it, wherever one might be in the hall, and +there was no one, old or young, who did not speak it at least once in every +five minutes. There was a sort of intoxication in its very sound, and the +more they heard it, the more they wished to hear it, coupled with every +word of praise that the language possessed. From admiration they rose to +enthusiasm, from enthusiasm to a generous patriotic passion in which Spain +was the world and Don John was Spain, and all the rest of everything was +but a dull and lifeless blank which could have no possible interest for +natural people.</p> + +<p>Young men, darkly flushed from dancing, swore that whenever Don John +should be next sent with an army, they would go, too, and win his battles +and share in his immortal glory; and grand, grey men who wore the Golden +Fleece, men who had seen great battles in the Emperor's day, stood together +and talked of him, and praised God that Spain had another hero of the +Austrian house, to strike terror to the heart of France, to humble England +at last, and to grasp what little of the world was not already gathered in +the hollow of Spain's vast hand.</p> + +<p>Antonio Perez and the Princess of Eboli parted and went among the +courtiers, listening to all that was to be heard and feeding the fire of +enthusiasm, and met again to exchange glances of satisfaction, for they +were well pleased with the direction matters were taking, and the talk grew +more free from minute to minute, till many, carried away by a force they +could not understand and did not seek to question, were openly talking of +the succession to the throne, of Philip's apparent ill health, and of the +chance that they might before long be doing service to his Majesty King +John.</p> + +<p>The music ceased again, and the couples dispersed about the hall, to +collect again in groups. There was a momentary lull in the talk, too, as +often happens when a dance is just over, and at that moment the great door +beside the throne was opened, with a noise that attracted the attention of +all; and all believed that Don John was returning, while all eyes were +fixed upon the entrance to catch the first glimpse of him, and every one +pronounced his name at once in short, glad tones of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Don John is coming! It is Don John of Austria! Don John is there!"</p> + +<p>It was almost a universal cry of welcome. An instant later a dead +silence followed as a chamberlain's clear voice announced the royal +presence, and King Philip advanced upon the platform of the throne. For +several seconds not a sound broke the stillness, and he came slowly forward +followed by half a dozen nobles in immediate attendance upon him. But +though he must have heard his brother's name in the general chorus of +voices as soon as the door had been thrown open, he seemed by no means +disconcerted; on the contrary, he smiled almost affably, and his eyes were +less fixed than usual, as he looked about him with something like an air of +satisfaction. As soon as it was clear that he meant to descend the steps to +the floor of the hall, the chief courtiers came forward, Ruy Gomez de +Silva, Prince of Eboli, Alvarez de Toledo, the terrible Duke of Alva, the +Dukes of Medina Sidonia and of Infantado, Don Antonio Perez the chief +Secretary, the Ambassadors of Queen Elizabeth of England and of France, and +a dozen others, bowing so low that the plumes of their hats literally +touched the floor beside them.</p> + +<p>"Why is there no dancing?" asked Philip, addressing Ruy Gomez, with a +smile.</p> + +<p>The Minister explained that one of the dances was but just over.</p> + +<p>"Let there be more at once," answered the King. "Let there be dancing +and music without end to-night. We have good reason to keep the day with +rejoicing, since the war is over, and Don John of Austria has come back in +triumph."</p> + +<p>The command was obeyed instantly, as Ruy Gomez made a sign to the leader +of the musicians, who was watching him intently in expectation of the +order. The King smiled again as the long strain broke the silence and the +conversation began again all through the hall, though in a far more subdued +tone than before, and with much more caution. Philip turned to the English +Ambassador.</p> + +<p>"It is a pity," he said, "that my sister of England cannot be here with +us on such a night as this. We saw no such sights in London in my day, my +lord."</p> + +<p>"There have been changes since then, Sire," answered the Ambassador. +"The Queen is very much inclined to magnificence and to great +entertainments, and does not hesitate to dance herself, being of a very +vital and pleasant temper. Nevertheless, your Majesty's court is by far the +most splendid in the world."</p> + +<p>"There you are right, my lord!" exclaimed the King. "And for that +matter, we have beauty also, such as is found nowhere else."</p> + +<p>The Princess of Eboli was close by, waiting for him to speak to her, and +his eyes fixed themselves upon her face with a sort of cold and snakelike +admiration, to which she was well accustomed, but which even now made her +nervous. The Ambassador was not slow to take up the cue of flattery, for +Englishmen still knew how to flatter in Elizabeth's day.</p> + +<p>"The inheritance of universal conquest," he said, bowing and smiling to +the Princess. "Even the victories of Don John of Austria must yield to +that."</p> + +<p>The Princess laughed carelessly. Had Perez spoken the words, she would +have frowned, but the King's eyes were watching her.</p> + +<p>"His Highness has fled from the field without striking a blow," she +said. "We have not seen him this evening." As she spoke she met the King's +gaze with a look of enquiry.</p> + +<p>"Don John will be here presently, no doubt," he said, as if answering a +question. "Has he not been here at all since supper?"</p> + +<p>"No, Sire; though every one expected him to come at once."</p> + +<p>"That is strange," said Philip, with perfect self-possession. "He is +fond of dancing, too--no one can dance better than he. Have you ever known +a man so roundly gifted as my brother, my lord?"</p> + +<p>"A most admirable prince," answered the Ambassador, gravely and without +enthusiasm, for he feared that the King was about to speak of his brother's +possible marriage with Queen Mary of Scots.</p> + +<p>"And a most affectionate and gentle nature," said Philip, musing. "I +remember from the time when he was a boy that every one loved him and +praised him, and yet he is not spoiled. He is always the same. He is my +brother--how often have I wished for such a son! Well, he may yet be King. +Who should, if not he, when I am gone?"</p> + +<p>"Your Majesty need not anticipate such a frightful calamity!" cried the +Princess fervently, though she was at that moment weighing the comparative +advantage of several mortal diseases by which, in appearance at least, his +exit from the world might be accelerated.</p> + +<p>"Life is very uncertain, Princess," observed the King. "My lord," he +turned to the English Ambassador again, "do you consider melons +indigestible in England? I have lately heard much against them."</p> + +<p>"A melon is a poor thing, of a watery constitution, your Majesty," +replied the Ambassador glibly. "There can be but little sustenance in a +hollow piece of water that is sucked from a marsh and enclosed in a green +rind. To tell the truth, I hear it ill spoken of by our physicians, but I +cannot well speak of the matter, for I never ate one in my life, and please +God I never will!"</p> + +<p>"Why not!" enquired the King, who took an extraordinary interest in the +subject. "You fear them, then! Yet you seem to be exceedingly strong and +healthy."</p> + +<p>"Sire, I have sometimes drunk a little water for my stomach's sake, but +I will not eat it."</p> + +<p>The King smiled pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"How wise the English are!" he said. "We may yet learn much of +them."</p> + +<p>Philip turned away from the Ambassador and watched the dance in silence. +The courtiers now stood in a wide half circle to the right and left of him +as he faced the hall, and the dancers passed backwards and forwards across +the open space. His slow eyes followed one figure without seeing the rest. +In the set nearest to him a beautiful girl was dancing with one of Don +John's officers. She was of the rarest type of Andalusian beauty, tall, +pliant, and slenderly strong, with raven's-wing hair and splendidly +languorous eyes, her creamy cheek as smooth as velvet, and a mouth like a +small ripe fruit. As she moved she bent from the waist as easily and +naturally as a child, and every movement followed a new curve of beauty +from her white throat to the small arched foot that darted into sight as +she stepped forward now and then, to disappear instantly under the shadow +of the gold-embroidered skirt. As she glanced towards the King, her shadowy +lids half hid her eyes and the long black lashes almost brushed her cheek. +Philip could not look away from her.</p> + +<p>But suddenly there was a stir among the courtiers, and a shadow came +between the King and the vision he was watching. He started a little, +annoyed by the interruption and at being rudely reminded of what had +happened half an hour earlier, for the shadow was cast by Mendoza, tall and +grim in his armour, his face as grey as his grey beard, and his eyes hard +and fixed. Without bending, like a soldier on parade, he stood there, +waiting by force of habit until Philip should speak to him. The King's +brows bent together, and he almost unconsciously raised one hand to signify +that the music should cease. It stopped in the midst of a bar, leaving the +dancers at a standstill in their measure, and all the moving sea of light +and colour and gleaming jewels was arrested instantly in its motion, while +every look was turned towards the King. The change from sound to silence, +from motion to immobility, was so sudden that every one was startled, as if +some frightful accident had happened, or as if an earthquake had shaken the +Alcazar to its deep foundation.</p> + +<p>Mendoza's harsh voice spoke out alone in accents that were heard to the +end of the hall.</p> + +<p>"Don John of Austria is dead! I, Mendoza, have killed him unarmed."</p> + +<p>It was long before a sound was heard, before any man or woman in the +hall had breath to utter a word. Philip's voice was heard first.</p> + +<p>"The man is mad," he said, with undisturbed coolness. "See to him, +Perez."</p> + +<p>"No, no!" cried Mendoza. "I am not mad. I have killed Don John. You +shall find him in his room as he fell, with the wound in his breast."</p> + +<p>One moment more the silence lasted, while Philip's stony face never +moved. A single woman's shriek rang out first, long, ear-piercing, +agonized, and then, without warning, a cry went up such as the old hall had +never heard before. It was a bad cry to hear, for it clamoured for blood to +be shed for blood, and though it was not for him, Philip turned livid and +shrank back a step. But Mendoza stood like a rock, waiting to be taken.</p> + +<p>In another moment furious confusion filled the hall. From every side at +once rose women's cries, and the deep shouts of angry men, and high, clear +yells of rage and hate. The men pushed past the ladies of the court to the +front, and some came singly, but a serried rank moved up from behind, +pushing the others before them.</p> + +<p>"Kill him! Kill him at the King's feet! Kill him where he stands!"</p> + +<p>And suddenly something made blue flashes of light high over the heads of +all; a rapier was out and wheeled in quick circles from a pliant wrist. An +officer of Mendoza's guard had drawn it, and a dozen more were in the air +in an instant, and then daggers by scores, keen, short, and strong, held +high at arm's length, each shaking with the fury of the hand that held +it.</p> + +<p>"Sangre! Sangre!"</p> + +<p>Some one had screamed out the wild cry of the Spanish soldiers--'Blood! +Blood!'--and the young men took it up in a mad yell, as they pushed +forwards furiously, while the few who stood in front tried to keep a space +open round the King and Mendoza.</p> + +<p>The old man never winced, and disdained to turn his head, though he +heard the cry of death behind him, and the quick, soft sound of daggers +drawn from leathern sheaths, and the pressing of men who would be upon him +in another moment to tear him limb from limb with their knives.</p> + +<p>Tall old Ruy Gomez had stepped forwards to stem the tide of death, and +beside him the English Ambassador, quietly determined to see fair play or +to be hurt himself in preventing murder.</p> + +<p>"Back!" thundered Ruy Gomez, in a voice that was heard. "Back, I say! +Are you gentlemen of Spain, or are you executioners yourselves that you +would take this man's blood? Stand back!"</p> + +<p>"Sangre! Sangre!" echoed the hall.</p> + +<p>"Then take mine first!" shouted the brave old Prince, spreading his +short cloak out behind him with his hands to cover Mendoza more +completely.</p> + +<p>But still the crowd of splendid young nobles surged up to him, and back +a little, out of sheer respect for his station and his old age, and +forwards again, dagger in hand, with blazing eyes.</p> + +<p>"Sangre! Sangre! Sangre!" they cried, blind with fury.</p> + +<p>But meanwhile, the guards filed in, for the prudent Perez had hastened +to throw wide the doors and summon them. Weapons in hand and ready, they +formed a square round the King and Mendoza and Ruy Gomez, and at the sight +of their steel caps and breastplates and long-tasselled halberds, the yells +of the courtiers subsided a little and turned to deep curses and +execrations and oaths of vengeance. A high voice pierced the low roar, keen +and cutting as a knife, but no one knew whose it was, and Philip almost +reeled as he heard the words.</p> + +<p>"Remember Don Carlos! Don John of Austria is gone to join Don Carlos and +Queen Isabel!"</p> + +<p>Again a deadly silence fell upon the multitude, and the King leaned on +Perez' arm. Some woman's hate had bared the truth in a flash, and there +were hundreds of hands in the hall that were ready to take his life instead +of Mendoza's; and he knew it, and was afraid.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XV'></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + + +<p>The agonized cry that had been first heard in the hall had come from +Inez's lips. When she had fled from her father, she had regained her +hiding-place in the gallery above the throne room. She would not go to her +own room, for she felt that rest was out of the question while Dolores was +in such danger; and yet there would have been no object in going to Don +John's door again, to risk being caught by her father or met by the King +himself. She had therefore determined to let an hour pass before attempting +another move. So she slipped into the gallery again, and sat upon the +little wooden bench that had been made for the Moorish women in old times; +and she listened to the music and the sound of the dancers' feet far below, +and to the hum of voices, in which she often distinguished the name of Don +John. She had heard all,--the cries when it was thought that he was coming, +the chamberlain's voice announcing the King, and then the change of key in +the sounds that had followed. Lastly, she had heard plainly every syllable +of her father's speech, so that when she realized what it meant, she had +shrieked aloud, and had fled from the gallery to find her sister if she +could, to find Don John's body most certainly where it lay on the marble +floor, with the death wound at the breast. Her instinct--she could not have +reasoned then--told her that her father must have found the lovers +together, and that in sudden rage he had stabbed Don John, defenceless.</p> + +<p>Dolores' tears answered her sister's question well enough when the two +girls were clasped in one another's arms at last. There was not a doubt +left in the mind of either. Inez spoke first. She said that she had hidden +in the gallery.</p> + +<p>"Our father must have come in some time after the King," she said, in +broken sentences, and almost choking. "Suddenly the music stopped. I could +hear every word. He said that he had done it,--that he had murdered Don +John,--and then I ran here, for I was afraid he had killed you, too."</p> + +<p>"Would God he had!" cried Dolores. "Would to Heaven that I were dead +beside the man I love!"</p> + +<p>"And I!" moaned Inez pitifully, and she began to sob wildly, as Dolores +had sobbed at first.</p> + +<p>But Dolores was silent now, as if she had shed all her tears at once, +and had none left. She held her sister in her arms, and soothed her almost +unconsciously, as if she had been a little child. But her own thoughts were +taking shape quickly, for she was strong; and after the first paroxysm of +her grief, she saw the immediate future as clearly as the present. When she +spoke again she had the mastery of her voice, and it was clear and low.</p> + +<p>"You say that our father confessed before the whole court that he had +murdered Don John?" she said, with a question. "What happened then? Did the +King speak? Was our father arrested? Can you remember?"</p> + +<p>"I only heard loud cries," sobbed Inez. "I came to you--as quickly as I +could--I was afraid."</p> + +<p>"We shall never see our father again--unless we see him on the morning +when he is to die."</p> + +<p>"Dolores! They will not kill him, too?" In sudden and greater fear than +before, Inez ceased sobbing.</p> + +<p>"He will die on the scaffold," answered Dolores, in the same clear tone, +as if she were speaking in a dream, or of things that did not come near +her. "There is no pardon possible. He will die to-morrow or the next +day."</p> + +<p>The present truth stood out in all its frightful distinctness. Whoever +had done the murder--since Mendoza had confessed it, he would be made to +die for it,--of that she was sure. She could not have guessed what had +really happened; and though the evidence of the sounds she had heard +through the door would have gone to show that Philip had done the deed +himself, yet there had been no doubt about Mendoza's words, spoken to the +King alone over Don John's dead body, and repeated before the great +assembly in the ball-room. If she guessed at an explanation, it was that +her father, entering the bedchamber during the quarrel, and supposing from +what he saw that Don John was about to attack the King, had drawn and +killed the Prince without hesitation. The only thing quite clear was that +Mendoza was to suffer, and seemed strangely determined to suffer, for what +he had or had not done. The dark shadow of the scaffold rose before +Dolores' eyes.</p> + +<p>It had seemed impossible that she could be made to bear more than she +had borne that night, when she had fallen upon Don John's body to weep her +heart out for her dead love. But she saw that there was more to bear, and +dimly she guessed that there might be something for her to do. There was +Inez first, and she must be cared for and placed in safety, for she was +beside herself with grief. It was only on that afternoon by the window that +Dolores had guessed the blind girl's secret, which Inez herself hardly +suspected even now, though she was half mad with grief and utterly +broken-hearted.</p> + +<p>Dolores felt almost helpless, but she understood that she and her sister +were henceforth to be more really alone in what remained of life than if +they had been orphans from their earliest childhood. The vision of the +convent, that had been unbearable but an hour since, held all her hope of +peace and safety now, unless her father could be saved from his fate by +some miracle of heaven. But that was impossible. He had given himself up as +if he were determined to die. He had been out of his mind, beside himself, +stark mad, in his fear that Don John might bring harm upon his daughter. +That was why he had killed him--there could be no other reason, unless he +had guessed that she was in the locked room, and had judged her then and at +once, and forever. The thought had not crossed her mind till then, and it +was a new torture now, so that she shrank under it as under a bodily blow; +and her grasp tightened violently upon her sister's arm, rousing the +half-fainting girl again to the full consciousness of pain.</p> + +<p>It was no wonder that Mendoza should have done such a deed, since he had +believed her ruined and lost to honour beyond salvation. That explained +all. He had guessed that she had been long with Don John, who had locked +her hastily into the inner room to hide her from the King. Had the King +been Don John, had she loved Philip as she loved his brother, her father +would have killed his sovereign as unhesitatingly, and would have suffered +any death without flinching. She believed that, and there was enough of his +nature in herself to understand it.</p> + +<p>She was as innocent as the blind girl who lay in her arms, but suddenly +it flashed upon her that no one would believe it, since her own father +would not, and that her maiden honour and good name were gone for ever, +gone with her dead lover, who alone could have cleared her before the +world. She cared little for the court now, but she cared tenfold more +earnestly for her father's thought of her, and she knew him and the +terrible tenacity of his conviction when he believed himself to be right. +He had proved that by what he had done. Since she understood all, she no +longer doubted that he had killed Don John with the fullest intention, to +avenge her, and almost knowing that she was within hearing, as indeed she +had been. He had taken a royal life in atonement for her honour, but he was +to give his own, and was to die a shameful death on the scaffold, within a +few hours, or, at the latest, within a few days, for her sake.</p> + +<p>Then she remembered how on that afternoon she had seen tears in his +eyes, and had heard the tremor in his voice when he had said that she was +everything to him, that she had been all his life since her mother had +died--he had proved that, too; and though he had killed the man she loved, +she shrank from herself again as she thought what he must have suffered in +her dishonour. For it was nothing else. There was neither man nor woman nor +girl in Spain who would believe her innocent against such evidence. The +world might have believed Don John, if he had lived, because the world had +loved him and trusted him, and could never have heard falsehood in his +voice; but it would not believe her though she were dying, and though she +should swear upon the most sacred and true things. The world would turn +from her with an unbelieving laugh, and she was to be left alone in her +dishonour, and people would judge that she was not even a fit companion for +her blind sister in their solitude. The King would send her to Las Huelgas, +or to some other distant convent of a severe order, that she might wear out +her useless life in grief and silence and penance as quickly as possible. +She bowed her head. It was too hard to bear.</p> + +<p>Inez was more quiet now, and the two sat side by side in mournful +silence, leaning against the parapet. They had forgotten the dwarf, and he +had disappeared, waiting, perhaps, in the shadow at a distance, in case he +might be of use to them. But if he was within hearing, they did not see +him. At last Inez spoke, almost in a whisper, as if she were in the +presence of the dead.</p> + +<p>"Were you there, dear?" she asked. "Did you see?"</p> + +<p>"I was in the next room," Dolores answered. "I could not see, but I +heard. I heard him fall," she added almost inaudibly, and choking.</p> + +<p>Inez shuddered and pressed nearer to her sister, leaning against her, +but she did not begin to sob again. She was thinking.</p> + +<p>"Can we not help our father, at least?" she asked presently. "Is there +nothing we can say, or do? We ought to help him if we can, Dolores--though +he did it."</p> + +<p>"I would save him with my life, if I could. God knows, I would! He was +mad when he struck the blow. He did it for my sake, because he thought Don +John had ruined my good name. And we should have been married the day after +to-morrow! God of heaven, have mercy!"</p> + +<p>Her grief took hold of her again, like a material power, shaking her +from head to foot, and bowing her down upon herself and wringing her hands +together, so that Inez, calmer than she, touched her gently and tried to +comfort her without any words, for there were none to say, since nothing +mattered now, and life was over at its very beginning. Little by little the +sharp agony subsided to dull pain once more, and Dolores sat upright. But +Inez was thinking still, and even in her sorrow and fright she was +gathering all her innocent ingenuity to her aid.</p> + +<p>"Is there no way?" she asked, speaking more to herself than to her +sister. "Could we not say that we were there, that it was not our father +but some one else? Perhaps some one would believe us. If we told the judges +that we were quite, quite sure that he did not do it, do you not think--but +then," she checked herself--"then it could only have been the King."</p> + +<p>"Only the King himself," echoed Dolores, half unconsciously, and in a +dreamy tone.</p> + +<p>"That would be terrible," said Inez. "But we could say that the King was +not there, you know--that it was some one else, some one we did not +know--"</p> + +<p>Dolores rose abruptly from the seat and laid her hand upon the parapet +steadily, as if an unnatural strength had suddenly grown up in her. Inez +went on speaking, confusing herself in the details she was trying to put +together to make a plan, and losing the thread of her idea as she attempted +to build up falsehoods, for she was truthful as their father was. But +Dolores did not hear her.</p> + +<p>"You can do nothing, child," she said at last, in a firm tone. "But I +may. You have made me think of something that I may do--it is just +possible--it may help a little. Let me think."</p> + +<p>Inez waited in silence for her to go on, and Dolores stood as motionless +as a statue, contemplating in thought the step she meant to take if it +offered the slightest hope of saving her father. The thought was worthy of +her, but the sacrifice was great even then. She had not believed that the +world still held anything with which she would not willingly part, but +there was one thing yet. It might be taken from her, though her father had +slain Don John of Austria to save it, and was to die for it himself. She +could give it before she could be robbed of it, perhaps, and it might buy +his life. She could still forfeit her good name of her own free will, and +call herself what she was not. In words she could give her honour to the +dead man, and the dead could not rise up and deny her nor refuse the gift. +And it seemed to her that when the people should hear her, they would +believe her, seeing that it was her shame, a shame such as no maiden who +had honour left would bear before the world. But it was hard to do. For +honour was her last and only possession now that all was taken from +her.</p> + +<p>It was not the so-called honour of society, either, based on +long-forgotten traditions, and depending on convention for its being--not +the sort of honour within which a man may ruin an honest woman and suffer +no retribution, but which decrees that he must take his own life if he +cannot pay a debt of play made on his promise to a friend, which allows him +to lie like a cheat, but ordains that he must give or require satisfaction +of blood for the imaginary insult of a hasty word--the honour which is to +chivalry what black superstition is to the true Christian faith, which +compares with real courage and truth and honesty, as an ape compares with a +man. It was not that, and Dolores knew it, as every maiden knows it; for +the honour of woman is the fact on which the whole world turns, and has +turned and will turn to the end of things; but what is called the honour of +society has been a fiction these many centuries, and though it came first +of a high parentage, of honest thought wedded to brave deed, and though +there are honourable men yet, these are for the most part the few who talk +least loudly about honour's code, and the belief they hold has come to be a +secret and a persecuted faith, at which the common gentleman thinks fit to +laugh lest some one should presume to measure him by it and should find him +wanting.</p> + +<p>Dolores did not mean to hesitate, after she had decided what to do. But +she could not avoid the struggle, and it was long and hard, though she saw +the end plainly before her and did not waver. Inez did not understand and +kept silence while it lasted.</p> + +<p>It was only a word to say, but it was the word which would be repeated +against her as long as she lived, and which nothing she could ever say or +do afterwards could take back when it had once been spoken--it would leave +the mark that a lifetime could not efface. But she meant to speak it. She +could not see what her father would see, that he would rather die, justly +or unjustly, than let his daughter be dishonoured before the world. That +was a part of a man's code, perhaps, but it should not hinder her from +saving her father's life, or trying to, at whatever cost. What she was +fighting against was something much harder to understand in herself. What +could it matter now, that the world should think her fallen from her maiden +estate? The world was nothing to her, surely. It held nothing, it meant +nothing, it was nothing. Her world had been her lover, and he lay dead in +his room. In heaven, he knew that she was innocent, as he was himself, and +he would see that she was going to accuse herself that she might save her +father. In heaven, he had forgiven his murderer, and he would understand. +As for the world and what it said, she knew that she must leave it +instantly, and go from the confession she was about to make to the convent +where she was to die, and whence her spotless soul would soon be wafted +away to join her true lover beyond the earth. There was no reason why she +should find it hard to do, and yet it was harder than anything she had ever +dreamed of doing. But she was fighting the deepest and strongest instinct +of woman's nature, and the fight went hard.</p> + +<p>She fancied the scene, the court, the grey-haired nobles, the fair and +honourable women, the brave young soldiers, the thoughtless courtiers, the +whole throng she was about to face, for she meant to speak before them all, +and to her own shame. She was as white as marble, but when she thought of +what was coming the blood sprang to her face and tingled in her forehead, +and she felt her eyes fall and her proud head bend, as the storm of +humiliation descended upon her. She could hear beforehand the sounds that +would follow her words, the sharp, short laugh of jealous women who hated +her, the murmur of surprise among the men. Then the sea of faces would seem +to rise and fall before her in waves, the lights would dance, her cheeks +would burn like flames, and she would grow dizzy. That would be the end. +Afterwards she could go out alone. Perhaps the women would shrink from her, +no man would be brave enough to lead her kindly from the room. Yet all that +she would bear, for the mere hope of saving her father. The worst, by far +the worst and hardest to endure, would be something within herself, for +which she had neither words nor true understanding, but which was more real +than anything she could define, for it was in the very core of her heart +and in the secret of her soul, a sort of despairing shame of herself and a +desolate longing for something she could never recover.</p> + +<p>She closed her tired eyes and pressed her hand heavily upon the stone +coping of the parapet. It was the supreme effort, and when she looked down +at Inez again she knew that she should live to the end of the ordeal +without wavering.</p> + +<p>"I am going down to the throne room," she said, very quietly and gently. +"You had better go to our apartment, dear, and wait for me there. I am +going to try and save our father's life--do not ask me how. It will not +take long to say what I have to say, and then I will come to you."</p> + +<p>Inez had risen now, and was standing beside her, laying a hand upon her +arm.</p> + +<p>"Let me come, too," she said. "I can help you, I am sure I can help +you."</p> + +<p>"No," answered Dolores, with authority. "You cannot help me, dearest, +and it would hurt you, and you must not come."</p> + +<p>"Then I will stay here," said Inez sorrowfully. "I shall be nearer to +him," she added under her breath.</p> + +<p>"Stay here--yes. I will come back to you, and then--then we will go in +together, and say a prayer--his soul can hear us still--we will go and say +good-by to him--together."</p> + +<p>Her voice was almost firm, and Inez could not see the agony in her white +face. Then Dolores clasped her in her arms and kissed her forehead and her +blind eyes very lovingly, and pressed her head to her own shoulders and +patted it and smoothed the girl's dark hair.</p> + +<p>"I will come back," she said, "and, Inez--you know the truth, my +darling. Whatever evil they may say of me after to-night, remember that I +have said it of myself for our father's sake, and that it is not true."</p> + +<p>"No one will believe it," answered Inez. "They will not believe anything +bad of you."</p> + +<p>"Then our father must die."</p> + +<p>Dolores kissed her once more and made her sit down, then turned and went +away. She walked quickly along the corridors and descended the second +staircase, to enter the throne room by the side door reserved for the +officers of the household and the maids of honour. She walked swiftly, her +head erect, one hand holding the folds of her cloak pressed to her bosom, +and the other, nervously clenched, and hanging down, as if she were +expecting to strike a blow.</p> + +<p>She reached the door, and for a moment her heart stopped beating, and +her eyes closed. She heard many loud voices within, and she knew that most +of the court must still be assembled. It was better that all the world +should hear her--even the King, if he were still there. She pushed the door +open and went in by the familiar way, letting the dark cloak that covered +her court dress fall to the ground as she passed the threshold. Half a +dozen young nobles, grouped near the entrance, made way for her to +pass.</p> + +<p>When they recognized her, their voices dropped suddenly, and they stared +after her in astonishment that she should appear at such a time. She was +doubtless in ignorance of what had happened, they thought. As for the +throng in the hall, there was no restraint upon their talk now, and words +were spoken freely which would have been high treason half an hour earlier. +There was the noise, the tension, the ceaseless talking, the excited air, +that belong to great palace revolutions.</p> + +<p>The press was closer near the steps of the throne, where the King and +Mendoza had stood, for after they had left the hall, surrounded and +protected by the guards, the courtiers had crowded upon one another, and +those near the further door and outside it in the outer apartments had +pressed in till there was scarcely standing room on the floor of the hall. +Dolores found it hard to advance. Some made way for her with low +exclamations of surprise, but others, not looking to see who she was, +offered a passive resistance to her movements.</p> + +<p>"Will you kindly let me pass?" she asked at last, in a gentle tone, "I +am Dolores de Mendoza."</p> + +<p>At the name the group that barred her passage started and made way, and +going through she came upon the Prince of Eboli, not far from the steps of +the throne. The English Ambassador, who meant to stay as long as there was +anything for him to observe, was still by the Prince's side. Dolores +addressed the latter without hesitation.</p> + +<p>"Don Ruy Gomez," she said, "I ask your help. My father is innocent, and +I can prove it. But the court must hear me--every one must hear the truth. +Will you help me? Can you make them listen?"</p> + +<p>Ruy Gomez looked down at Dolores' pale and determined features in +courteous astonishment.</p> + +<p>"I am at your service," he answered. "But what are you going to say? The +court is in a dangerous mood to-night."</p> + +<p>"I must speak to all," said Dolores. "I am not afraid. What I have to +say cannot be said twice--not even if I had the strength. I can save my +father--"</p> + +<p>"Why not go to the King at once?" argued the Prince, who feared +trouble.</p> + +<p>"For the love of God, help me to do as I wish!" Dolores grasped his arm, +and spoke with an effort. "Let me tell them all, how I know that my father +is not guilty of the murder. After that take me to the King if you +will."</p> + +<p>She spoke very earnestly, and he no longer opposed her. He knew the +temper of the court well enough, and was sure that whatever proved Mendoza +innocent would be welcome just then, and though he was far too loyal to +wish the suspicion of the deed to be fixed upon the King, he was too just +not to desire Mendoza to be exculpated if he were innocent.</p> + +<p>"Come with me," he said briefly, and he took Dolores by the hand, and +led her up the first three steps of the platform, so that she could see +over the heads of all present.</p> + +<p>It was no time to think of court ceremonies or customs, for there was +danger in the air. Ruy Gomez did not stop to make any long ceremony. +Drawing himself up to his commanding height, he held up his white gloves at +arm's length to attract the attention of the courtiers, and in a few +moments there was silence. They seemed an hour of torture to Dolores. Ruy +Gomez raised his voice.</p> + +<p>"Grandees! The daughter of Don Diego de Mendoza stands here at my side +to prove to you that he is innocent of Don John of Austria's death!"</p> + +<p>The words had hardly left his lips when a shout went up, like a ringing +cheer. But again he raised his hand.</p> + +<p>"Hear Doña Maria Dolores de Mendoza!" he cried.</p> + +<p>Then he stepped a little away from Dolores, and looked towards her. She +was dead white, and her lips trembled. There was an almost glassy look in +her eyes, and still she pressed one hand to her bosom, and the other hung +by her side, the fingers twitching nervously against the folds of her +skirt. A few seconds passed before she could speak.</p> + +<p>"Grandees of Spain!" she began, and at the first words she found +strength in her voice so that it reached the ends of the hall, clear and +vibrating. The silence was intense, as she proceeded.</p> + +<p>"My father has accused himself of a fearful crime. He is innocent. He +would no more have raised his hand against Don John of Austria than against +the King's own person. I cannot tell why he wishes to sacrifice his life by +taking upon himself the guilt. But this I know. He did not do the deed. You +ask me how I know that, how I can prove it? I was there, I, Dolores de +Mendoza, his daughter, was there unseen in my lover's chamber when he was +murdered. While he was alive I gave him all, my heart, my soul, my maiden +honour; and I was there to-night, and had been with him long. But now that +he is dead, I will pay for my father's life with my dishonour. He must not +die, for he is innocent. Grandees of Spain, as you are men of honour, he +must not die, for he is one of you, and this foul deed was not his."</p> + +<p>She ceased, her lids drooped till her eyes were half closed and she +swayed a little as she stood. Roy Gomez made one long stride and held her, +for he thought she was fainting. But she bit her lips, and forced her eyes +to open and face the crowd again.</p> + +<p>"That is all," she said in a low voice, but distinctly, "It is done. I +am a ruined woman. Help me to go out."</p> + +<p>The old Prince gently led her down the steps. The silence had lasted +long after she had spoken, but people were beginning to talk again in lower +tones. It was as she had foreseen it. She heard a scornful woman's laugh, +and as she passed along, she saw how the older ladies shrank from her and +how the young ones eyed her with a look of hard curiosity, as if she were +some wild creature, dangerous to approach, though worth seeing from a +distance.</p> + +<p>But the men pressed close to her as she passed, and she heard them tell +each other that she was a brave woman who could dare to save her father by +such means, and there were quick applauding words as she passed, and one +said audibly that he could die for a girl who had such a true heart, and +another answered that he would marry her if she could forget Don John. And +they did not speak without respect, but in earnest, and out of the fulness +of their admiration.</p> + +<p>At last she was at the door, and she paused to speak before going +out.</p> + +<p>"Have I saved his life?" she asked, looking up to the old Prince's kind +face. "Will they believe me?"</p> + +<p>"They believe you," he answered. "But your father's life is in the +King's hands. You should go to his Majesty without wasting time. Shall I go +with you? He will see you, I think, if I ask it."</p> + +<p>"Why should I tell the King?" asked Dolores. "He was there--he saw it +all--he knows the truth."</p> + +<p>She hardly realized what she was saying.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XVI'></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + + +<p>Ruy Gomez was as loyal, in his way, as Mendoza himself, but his loyalty +was of a very different sort, for it was tempered by a diplomatic spirit +which made it more serviceable on ordinary occasions, and its object was +altogether a principle rather than a person. Mendoza could not conceive of +monarchy, in its abstract, without a concrete individuality represented by +King Philip; but Ruy Gomez could not imagine the world without the Spanish +monarchy, though he was well able to gauge his sovereign's weaknesses and +to deplore his crimes. He himself was somewhat easily deceived, as good men +often are, and it was he who had given the King his new secretary, Antonio +Perez; yet from the moment when Mendoza had announced Don John's death, he +had been convinced that the deed had either been done by Philip himself or +by his orders, and that Mendoza had bravely sacrificed himself to shield +his master. What Dolores had said only confirmed his previous opinion, so +far as her father's innocence was at stake. As for her own confession, he +believed it, and in spite of himself he could not help admiring the girl's +heroic courage. Dolores might have been in reality ten times worse than she +had chosen to represent herself; she would still have been a model of all +virtue compared with his own wife, though he did not know half of the +Princess's doings, and was certainly ignorant of her relations with the +King.</p> + +<p>He was not at all surprised when Dolores told him at the door that +Philip knew the truth about the supposed murder, but he saw how dangerous +it might be for Dolores to say as much to others of the court. She wished +to go away alone, as she had come, but he insisted on going with her.</p> + +<p>"You must see his Majesty," he said authoritatively. "I will try to +arrange it at once. And I entreat you to be discreet, my dear, for your +father's sake, if not for any other reason. You have said too much already. +It was not wise of you, though it showed amazing courage. You are your +father's own daughter in that--he is one of the bravest men I ever knew in +my life."</p> + +<p>"It is easy to be brave when one is dead already!" said Dolores, in low +tones.</p> + +<p>"Courage, my dear, courage!" answered the old Prince, in a fatherly +tone, as they went along. "You are not as brave as you think, since you +talk of death. Your life is not over yet."</p> + +<p>"There is little left of it. I wish it were ended already."</p> + +<p>She could hardly speak, for an inevitable and overwhelming reaction had +followed on the great effort she had made. She put out her hand and caught +her companion's arm for support. He led her quickly to the small entrance +of the King's apartments, by which it was his privilege to pass in. They +reached a small waiting-room where there were a few chairs and a marble +table, on which two big wax candles were burning. Dolores sank into a seat, +and leaned back, closing her eyes, while Ruy Gomez went into the +antechamber beyond and exchanged a few words with the chamberlain on duty. +He came back almost immediately.</p> + +<p>"Your father is alone with the King," he said. "We must wait."</p> + +<p>Dolores scarcely heard what he said, and did not change her position nor +open her eyes. The old man looked at her, sighed, and sat down near a +brazier of wood coals, over which he slowly warmed his transparent hands, +from time to time turning his rings slowly on his fingers, as if to warm +them, too. Outside, the chamberlain in attendance walked slowly up and +down, again and again passing the open door, through which he glanced at +Dolores' face. The antechamber was little more than a short, broad +corridor, and led to the King's study. This corridor had other doors, +however, and it was through it that the King's private rooms communicated +with the hall of the royal apartments.</p> + +<p>As Ruy Gomez had learned, Mendoza was with Philip, but not alone. The +old officer was standing on one side of the room, erect and grave, and King +Philip sat opposite him, in a huge chair, his still eyes staring at the +fire that blazed in the vast chimney, and sent sudden flashes of yellow +through the calm atmosphere of light shed by a score of tall candles. At a +table on one side sat Antonio Perez, the Secretary. He was provided with +writing-materials and appeared to be taking down the conversation as it +proceeded. Philip asked a question from time to time, which Mendoza +answered in a strange voice unlike his own, and between the questions there +were long intervals of silence.</p> + +<p>"You say that you had long entertained feelings of resentment against +his Highness," said the King, "You admit that, do you?"</p> + +<p>"I beg your Majesty's pardon. I did not say resentment. I said that I +had long looked upon his Highness's passion for my daughter with great +anxiety."</p> + +<p>"Is that what he said, Perez?" asked Philip, speaking to the Secretary +without looking at him. "Read that."</p> + +<p>"He said: I have long resented his Highness's admiration for my +daughter," answered Perez, reading from his notes.</p> + +<p>"You see," said the King. "You resented it. That is resentment. I was +right. Be careful, Mendoza, for your words may be used against you +to-morrow. Say precisely what you mean, and nothing but what you mean."</p> + +<p>Mendoza inclined his head rather proudly, for he detested Antonio Perez, +and it appeared to him that the King was playing a sort of comedy for the +Secretary's benefit. It seemed an unworthy interlude in what was really a +solemn tragedy.</p> + +<p>"Why did you resent his Highness's courtship of your daughter?" enquired +Philip presently, continuing his cross-examination.</p> + +<p>"Because I never believed that there could be a real marriage," answered +Mendoza boldly. "I believed that my child must become the toy and plaything +of Don John of Austria, or else that if his Highness married her, the +marriage would soon be declared void, in order that he might marry a more +important personage."</p> + +<p>"Set that down," said the King to Perez, in a sharp tone. "Set that down +exactly. It is important." He waited till the Secretary's pen stopped +before he went on. His next question came suddenly.</p> + +<p>"How could a marriage consecrated by our holy religion ever be declared +null and void?"</p> + +<p>"Easily enough, if your Majesty wished it," answered Mendoza +unguardedly, for his temper was slowly heating.</p> + +<p>"Write down that answer, Perez. In other words, Mendoza, you think that +I have no respect for the sacrament of marriage, which I would at any time +cause to be revoked to suit my political purposes. Is that what you +think?"</p> + +<p>"I did not say that, Sire. I said that even if Don John married my +daughter--"</p> + +<p>"I know quite well what you said," interrupted the King suavely. "Perez +has got every word of it on paper."</p> + +<p>The Secretary's bad black eyes looked up from his writing, and he slowly +nodded as he looked at Mendoza. He understood the situation perfectly, +though the soldier was far too honourable to suspect the truth.</p> + +<p>"I have confessed publicly that I killed Don John defenceless," he said, +in rough tones. "Is not that enough?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" Philip almost smiled, "That is not enough. We must also know +why you committed such on abominable crime. You do not seem to understand +that in taking your evidence here myself, I am sparing you the indignity of +an examination before a tribunal, and under torture--in all probability. +You ought to be very grateful, my dear Mendoza."</p> + +<p>"I thank your Majesty," said the brave old soldier coldly.</p> + +<p>"That is right. So we know that your hatred of his Highness was of long +standing, and you had probably determined some time ago that you would +murder him on his return." The King paused a moment and then continued. "Do +you deny that on this very afternoon you swore that if Don John attempted +to see your daughter, you would kill him at once?"</p> + +<p>Mendoza was taken by surprise, and his haggard eyes opened wide as he +stared at Philip.</p> + +<p>"You said that, did you not?" asked the King, insisting upon the point. +"On your honour, did you say it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I said that," answered Mendoza at last. "But how did your Majesty +know that I did?"</p> + +<p>The King's enormous under lip thrust itself forward, and two ugly lines +of amusement were drawn in his colourless cheeks. His jaw moved slowly, as +if he were biting something of which he found the taste agreeable.</p> + +<p>"I know everything," he said slowly. "I am well served in my own house. +Perez, be careful. Write down everything. We also know, I think, that your +daughter met his Highness this evening. You no doubt found that out as +others did. The girl is imprudent. Do you confess to knowing that the two +had met this evening?"</p> + +<p>Mendoza ground his teeth as if he were suffering bodily torture. His +brows contracted, and as Perez looked up, he faced him with such a look of +hatred and anger that the Secretary could hot meet his eyes. The King was a +sacred and semi-divine personage, privileged to ask any question he chose +and theoretically incapable of doing wrong, but it was unbearable that this +sleek black fox should have the right to hear Diego de Mendoza confess his +daughter's dishonour. Antonio Perez was not an adventurer of low birth, as +many have gratuitously supposed, for his father had held an honourable post +at court before him; but he was very far from being the equal of one who, +though poor and far removed from the head of his own family, bore one of +the most noble names in Spain.</p> + +<p>"Let your Majesty dismiss Don Antonio Perez," said Mendoza boldly. "I +will then tell your Majesty all I know."</p> + +<p>Perez smiled as he bent over his notes, for he knew what the answer +would be to such a demand. It came sharply.</p> + +<p>"It is not the privilege of a man convicted of murder to choose his +hearers. Answer my questions or be silent. Do you confess that you knew of +your daughter's meeting with Don John this evening?"</p> + +<p>Mendoza's lips set themselves tightly under his grey beard, and he +uttered no sound. He interpreted the King's words literally.</p> + +<p>"Well, what have you to say?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, Sire, since I have your Majesty's permission to be +silent."</p> + +<p>"It does not matter," said Philip indifferently. "Note that he refuses +to answer the question, Perez. Note that this is equivalent to confessing +the fact, since he would otherwise deny it. His silence is & reason, +however, for allowing the case to go to the tribunal to be examined in the +usual way--the usual way," he repeated, looking hard at Mendoza and +emphasizing the words strongly.</p> + +<p>"Since I do not deny the deed, I entreat your Majesty to let me suffer +for it quickly. I am ready to die, God knows. Let it be to-morrow morning +or to-night. Your Majesty need only sign the warrant for my execution, +which Don Antonio Perez has, no doubt, already prepared."</p> + +<p>"Not at all, not at all," answered the King, with horrible coolness. "I +mean that you shall have a fair and open trial and every possible +opportunity of justifying yourself. There must be nothing secret about +this. So horrible a crime must be treated in the most public manner. Though +it is very painful to me to refer to such a matter, you must remember that +after it had pleased Heaven, in its infinite justice, to bereave me of my +unfortunate son, Don Carlos, the heir to the throne, there were not wanting +ill-disposed and wicked persons who actually said that I had caused his +life to be shortened by various inhuman cruelties. No, no! we cannot have +too much publicity. Consider how terrible a thing it would be if any one +should dare to suppose that my own brother had been murdered with my +consent! You should love your country too much not to fear such a result; +for though you have murdered my brother in cold blood, I am too just to +forget that you have proved your patriotism through a long and hitherto +honourable career. It is my duty to see that the causes of your atrocious +action are perfectly clear to my subjects, so that no doubt may exist even +in the most prejudiced minds. Do you understand? I repeat that if I have +condescended to examine you alone, I have done so only out of a merciful +desire to spare an old soldier the suffering and mortification of an +examination by the tribunal that is to judge you. Understand that."</p> + +<p>"I understand that and much more besides," answered Mendoza, in low and +savage tones.</p> + +<p>"It is not necessary that you should understand or think that you +understand anything more than what I say," returned the King coldly. "At +what time did you go to his Highness's apartments this evening?"</p> + +<p>"Your Majesty knows."</p> + +<p>"I know nothing of it," said the King, with the utmost calm. "You were +on duty after supper. You escorted me to my apartments afterwards. I had +already sent for Perez, who came at once, and we remained here, busy with +affairs, until I returned to the throne room, five minutes before you came +and confessed the murder; did we not, Perez?"</p> + +<p>"Most certainly, Sire," answered the Secretary gravely. "Your Majesty +must have been at work with me an hour, at least, before returning to the +throne room."</p> + +<p>"And your Majesty did not go with me by the private staircase to Don +John of Austria's apartment?" asked Mendoza, thunderstruck by the enormous +falsehood.</p> + +<p>"With you?" cried the King, in admirably feigned astonishment. "What +madness is this? Do not write that down, Perez. I really believe the man is +beside himself!"</p> + +<p>Mendoza groaned aloud, for he saw that he had been frightfully deceived. +In his magnificent generosity, he had assumed the guilt of the crime, being +ready and willing to die for it quickly to save the King from blame and to +put an end to his own miserable existence. But he had expected death +quickly, mercifully, within a few hours. Had he suspected what Philip had +meant to do,--that he was to be publicly tried for a murder he had not +committed, and held up to public hatred and ignominy for days and perhaps +weeks together, while a slow tribunal dragged out its endless +procedure,--neither his loyalty nor his desire for death could have had +power to bring his pride to such a sacrifice. And now he saw that he was +caught in a vise, and that no accusation he could bring against the King +could save him, even if he were willing to resort to such a measure and so +take back his word. There was no witness for him but himself. Don John was +dead, and the infamous Perez was ready to swear that Philip had not left +the room in which they had been closeted together. There was not a living +being to prove that Mendoza had not gone alone to Don John's apartments +with the deliberate intention of killing him. He had, indeed, been to the +chief steward's office in search of a key, saying that the King desired to +have it and was waiting; but it would be said that he had used the King's +authority to try and get the key for himself because he knew that his +daughter was hidden in the locked room. He had foolishly fancied that the +King would send for him and see him alone before he died, that his +sovereign would thank him for the service that was costing his life, would +embrace him and send him to his death for the good of Spain and the divine +right of monarchy. Truly, he had been most bitterly deceived.</p> + +<p>"You said," continued Philip mercilessly, "that you killed his Highness +when he was unarmed. Is that true?"</p> + +<p>"His Highness was unarmed," said Mendoza, almost through his closed +teeth, for he was suffering beyond words.</p> + +<p>"Unarmed," repeated the King, nodding to Perez, who wrote rapidly. "You +might have given him a chance for his life. It would have been more +soldier-like. Had you any words before you drew upon him? Was there any +quarrel?"</p> + +<p>"None. We did not speak to each other." Mendoza tried to make Philip +meet his eyes, but the King would not look at him.</p> + +<p>"There was no altercation," said the King, looking at Perez. "That +proves that the murder was premeditated. Put it down--it is very important. +You could hardly have stabbed him in the back, I suppose. He must have +turned when he heard you enter. Where was the wound?"</p> + +<p>"The wound that killed his Highness will be found near the heart."</p> + +<p>"Cruel!" Philip looked down at his own hands, and he shook his head very +sadly. "Cruel, most cruel," he repeated in a low tone.</p> + +<p>"I admit that it was a very cruel deed," said Mendoza, looking at him +fixedly. "In that, your Majesty is right."</p> + +<p>"Did you see your daughter before or after you had committed the +murder?" asked the King calmly.</p> + +<p>"I have not seen my daughter since the murder was committed."</p> + +<p>"But you saw her before? Be careful, Perez. Write down every word. You +say that you saw your daughter before you did it."</p> + +<p>"I did not say that," answered Mendoza firmly.</p> + +<p>"It makes very little difference," said the King, "If you had seen her +with his Highness, the murder would have seemed less cold-blooded, that is +all. There would then have been something like a natural provocation for +it."</p> + +<p>There was a low sound, as of some one scratching at the door. That was +the usual way of asking admittance to the King's room on very urgent +matters. Perez rose instantly, the King nodded to him, and he went to the +door. On opening, someone handed him a folded paper on a gold salver. He +brought it to Philip, dropped on one knee very ceremoniously, and presented +it. Philip took the note and opened it, and Perez returned to his seat at +once.</p> + +<p>The King unfolded the small sheet carefully. The room was so full of +light that he could read it when he sat, without moving. His eyes followed +the lines quickly to the end, and returned to the beginning, and he read +the missive again more carefully. Not the slightest change of expression +was visible in his face, as he folded the paper neatly again in the exact +shape in which he had received it. Then he remained silent a few moments. +Perez held his pen ready to write, moving it mechanically now and then as +if he were writing in the air, and staring at the fire, absorbed in his own +thoughts, though his ear was on the alert.</p> + +<p>"You refuse to admit that you found your daughter and Don John together, +then?" The King spoke with an interrogation.</p> + +<p>"I did not find them together," answered Mendoza. "I have said so." He +was becoming exasperated under the protracted cross-examination.</p> + +<p>"You have not said so. My memory is very good, but if it should fail we +have everything written down. I believe you merely refused to answer when I +asked if you knew of their meeting--which meant that you did know of it. Is +that it, Perez?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly so, Sire." The Secretary had already found the place among his +notes.</p> + +<p>"Do you persistently refuse to admit that you had positive evidence of +your daughter's guilt before the murder?"</p> + +<p>"I will not admit that, Sire, for it would not be true."</p> + +<p>"Your daughter has given her evidence since," said the King, holding up +the folded note, and fixing his eyes at last on his victim's face. If it +were possible, Mendoza turned more ashy pale than before, and he started +perceptibly at the King's words.</p> + +<p>"I shall never believe that!" he cried in a voice which nevertheless +betrayed his terror for his child.</p> + +<p>"A few moments before this note was written," said Philip calmly, "your +daughter entered the throne room, and addressed the court, standing upon +the steps of the throne--a very improper proceeding and one which Ruy Gomez +should not have allowed. Your daughter Dolores--is that the girl's name? +Yes. Your daughter Dolores, amidst the most profound silence, confessed +that she--it is so monstrous that I can hardly bring myself to say it--that +she had yielded to the importunities of his late Highness, that she was +with him in his room a long time this evening, and that, in fact, she was +actually in his bedchamber when he was murdered."</p> + +<p>"It is a lie!" cried Mendoza vehemently. "It is an abominable lie--she +was not in the room!"</p> + +<p>"She has said that she was," answered Philip. "You can hardly suppose a +girl capable of inventing such damning evidence against herself, even for +the sake of saving her own father. She added that his Highness was not +killed by you. But that is puerile. She evidently saw you do it, and has +boldly confessed that she was in the room--hidden somewhere, perhaps, since +you absolutely refuse to admit that you saw her there. It is quite clear +that you found the two together and that you killed his Highness before +your daughter's eyes. Why not admit that, Mendoza? It makes you seem a +little less cold-blooded. The provocation was great--"</p> + +<p>"She was not there," protested Mendoza, interrupting the King, for he +hardly knew what he was doing.</p> + +<p>"She was there, since she confesses to have been in the room. I do not +tolerate interruption when I am speaking. She was there, and her evidence +will be considered. Even if you did not see her, how can you be sure that +your daughter was not there? Did you search the room? Did you look behind +the curtains?"</p> + +<p>"I did not." The stern old man seemed to shrink bodily under the +frightful humiliation to which he was subjected.</p> + +<p>"Very well, then you cannot swear that she was not in the room. But you +did not see her there. Then I am sorry to say that there can have been no +extenuating circumstances. You entered his Highness's bedchamber, you did +not even speak to him, you drew your sword and you killed him. All this +shows that you went there fully determined to commit the crime. But with +regard to its motive, this strange confession of your daughter's makes that +quite clear. She had been extremely imprudent with Don John, you were aware +of the fact, and you revenged yourself in the most brutal way. Such +vengeance never can produce any but the most fatal results. You yourself +must die, in the first place, a degrading and painful death on the +scaffold, and you die leaving behind you a ruined girl, who must bury +herself in a convent and never be seen by her worldly equals again. And +besides that, you have deprived your King of a beloved brother, and Spain +of her most brilliant general. Could anything be worse?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. There are worse things than that, your Majesty, and worse things +have been done. It would have been a thousand times worse if I had done the +deed and cast the blame of it on a man so devoted to me that he would bear +the guilt in my stead, and a hundred thousand times worse if I had then +held up that man to the execration of mankind, and tortured him with every +distortion of evidence which great falsehoods can put upon a little truth. +That would indeed have been far worse than anything I have done. God may +find forgiveness for murderers, but there is only hell for traitors, and +the hell of hells is the place of men who betray their friends."</p> + +<p>"His mind is unsettled, I fear," said the King, speaking to Perez. +"These are signs of madness."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I fear so, Sire," answered the smooth Secretary, shaking his +head solemnly. "He does not know what he says."</p> + +<p>"I am not mad, and I know what I am saying, for I am a man under the +hand of death." Mendoza's eyes glared at the King savagely as he spoke, and +then at Perez, but neither could look at him, for neither dared to meet his +gaze. "As for this confession my daughter has made, I do not believe in it. +But if she has said these things, you might have let me die without the +bitterness of knowing them, since that was in your power. And God knows +that I have staked my life freely for your Majesty and for Spain these many +years, and would again if I had it to lose instead of having thrown it +away. And God knows, too, that for what I have done, be it good or bad, I +will bear whatsoever your Majesty shall choose to say to me alone in the +way of reproach. But as I am a dying man I will not forgive that scribbler +there for having seen a Spanish gentleman's honour torn to rags, and an old +soldier's last humiliation, and I pray Heaven with my dying breath, that he +may some day be tormented as he has seen me tormented, and worse, till he +shall cry out for mercy--as I will not!"</p> + +<p>The cruelly injured man's prayer was answered eight years from that day, +and even now Perez turned slowly pale as he heard the words, for they were +spoken with all the vehemence of a dying man's curse. But Philip was +unmoved. He was probably not making Mendoza suffer merely for the pleasure +of watching his pain, though others' suffering seems always to have caused +him a sort of morbid satisfaction. What he desired most was to establish a +logical reason for which Mendoza might have committed the crime, lest in +the absence of sound evidence he himself should be suspected of having +instigated it. He had no intention whatever of allowing Mendoza to be +subjected to torture during the trial that was to ensue. On the contrary, +he intended to prepare all the evidence for the judges and to prevent +Mendoza from saying anything in self-defence. To that end it was necessary +that the facts elicited should be clearly connected from first cause to +final effect, and by the skill of Antonio Perez in writing down only the +words which contributed to that end, the King's purpose was now +accomplished. He heard every word of Mendoza's imprecation and thought it +proper to rebuke him for speaking so freely.</p> + +<p>"You forget yourself, sir," he said coldly. "Don Antonio Perez is my +private Secretary, and you must respect him. While you belonged to the +court his position was higher and more important than your own; now that +you stand convicted of an outrageous murder in cold blood, you need not +forget that he is an innocent man. I have done, Mendoza. You will not see +me again, for you will be kept in confinement until your trial, which can +only have one issue. Come here."</p> + +<p>He sat upright in his chair and held out his hand, while Mendoza +approached with unsteady steps, and knelt upon one knee, as was the +custom.</p> + +<p>"I am not unforgiving," said the King. "Forgiveness is a very beautiful +Christian virtue, which we are taught to exercise from our earliest +childhood. You have cut off my dearly loved brother in the flower of his +youth, but you shall not die believing that I bear you any malice. So far +as I am able, I freely forgive you for what you have done, and in token I +give you my hand, that you may have that comfort at the last."</p> + +<p>With incredible calmness Philip took Mendoza's hand as he spoke, held it +for a moment in his, and pressed it almost warmly at the last words. The +old man's loyalty to his sovereign had been a devotion almost amounting to +real adoration, and bitterly as he had suffered throughout the terrible +interview, he well-nigh forgot every suffering as he felt the pressure of +the royal fingers. In an instant he had told himself that it had all been +but a play, necessary to deceive Perez, and to clear the King from +suspicion before the world, and that in this sense the unbearable agony he +had borne had served his sovereign. He forgot all for a moment, and bending +his iron-grey head, he kissed the thin and yellow hand fervently, and +looked up to Philip's cold face and felt that there were tears of gratitude +in his own eyes, of gratitude at being allowed to leave the world he hated +with the certainty that his death was to serve his sovereign idol.</p> + +<p>"I shall be faithful to your Majesty until the end," he said simply, as +the King withdrew his fingers, and he rose to his feet.</p> + +<p>The King nodded slowly, and his stony look watched Mendoza with a sort +of fixed curiosity. Even he had not known that such men lived.</p> + +<p>"Call the guards to the door, Perez," he said coldly. "Tell the officer +to take Don Diego Mendoza to the west tower for to-night, and to treat him +with every consideration."</p> + +<p>Perez obeyed. A detachment of halberdiers with an officer were stationed +in the short, broad corridor that led to the room where Dolores was +waiting. Perez gave the lieutenant his orders.</p> + +<p>Mendoza walked backwards to the door from the King's presence, making +three low bows as he went. At the door he turned, taking no notice of the +Secretary, marched out with head erect, and gave himself up to the +soldiers.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XVII'></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + + +<p>The halberdiers closed round their old chief, but did not press upon +him. Three went before him, three behind, and one walked on each side, and +the lieutenant led the little detachment. The men were too much accustomed +to seeing courtiers in the extremes of favour and disfavour to be much +surprised at the arrest of Mendoza, and they felt no great sympathy for +him. He had always been too rigidly exacting for their taste, and they +longed for a younger commander who should devote more time to his own +pleasure and less to inspecting uniforms and finding fault with details. +Yet Mendoza had been a very just man, and he possessed the eminently +military bearing and temper which always impose themselves on soldiers. At +the present moment, too, they were more inclined to pity him than to treat +him roughly, for if they did not guess what had really taken place, they +were quite sure that Don John of Austria had been murdered by the King's +orders, like Don Carlos and Queen Isabel and a fair number of other +unfortunate persons; and if the King had chosen Mendoza to do the deed, the +soldiers thought that he was probably not meant to suffer for it in the +end, and that before long he would be restored to his command. It would, +therefore, be the better for them, later, if they showed him a certain +deference in his misfortune. Besides, they had heard Antonio Perez tell +their officer that Mendoza was to be treated with every consideration.</p> + +<p>They marched in time, with heavy tread and the swinging gait to right +and left that is natural to a soldier who carries for a weapon a long +halberd with a very heavy head. Mendoza was as tall as any of them, and +kept their step, holding his head high. He was bareheaded, but was +otherwise still in the complete uniform he wore when on duty on state +occasions.</p> + +<p>The corridor, which seemed short on account of its breadth and in +comparison with the great size of the halls in the palace, was some thirty +paces long and lighted by a number of chandeliers that hung from the +painted vault. The party reached the door of the waiting room and halted a +moment, while one of the King's footmen opened the doors wide. Don Ruy +Gomez and Dolores were waiting within. The servant passed rapidly through +to open the doors beyond. Ruy Gomez stood up and drew his chair aside, +somewhat surprised at the entrance of the soldiers, who rarely passed that +way. Dolores opened her eyes at the sound of marching, but in the uncertain +light of the candles she did not at first see Mendoza, half hidden as he +was by the men who guarded him. She paid little attention, for she was +accustomed to seeing such detachments of halberdiers marching through the +corridors when the sentries were relieved, and as she had never been in the +King's apartments she was not surprised by the sudden appearance of the +soldiers, as her companion was. But as the latter made way for them he +lifted his hat, which as a Grandee he wore even in the King's presence, and +he bent his head courteously as Mendoza went by. He hoped that Dolores +would not see her father, but his own recognition of the prisoner had +attracted her attention. She sprang to her feet with a cry. Mendoza turned +his head and saw her before she could reach him, for she was moving +forward. He stood still, and the soldiers halted instinctively and parted +before her, for they all knew their commander's daughter.</p> + +<p>"Father!" she cried, and she tried to take his hand.</p> + +<p>But he pushed her away and turned his face resolutely towards the door +before him.</p> + +<p>"Close up! Forward--march!" he said, in his harsh tone of command.</p> + +<p>The men obeyed, gently forcing Dolores aside. They made two steps +forward, but Ruy Gomez stopped them by a gesture, standing in their way and +raising one hand, while he laid the other on the young lieutenant's +shoulder. Ruy Gomez was one of the greatest personages in Spain; he was the +majorduomo of the palace, and had almost unlimited authority. But the +officer had his orders directly from the King and felt bound to carry them +out to the letter.</p> + +<p>"His Majesty has directed me to convey Don Diego de Mendoza to the west +tower without delay," he said. "I beg your Excellency to let us +proceed."</p> + +<p>Ruy Gomez still held him by the shoulder with a gentle pressure.</p> + +<p>"That I will not," he said firmly; "and if you are blamed for being slow +in the execution of your duty, say that Ruy Gomez de Silva hindered you, +and fear nothing. It is not right that father and daughter should part as +these two are parting."</p> + +<p>"I have nothing to say to my daughter," said Mendoza harshly; but the +words seemed to hurt him.</p> + +<p>"Don Diego," answered Ruy Gomez, "the deed of which you have accused +yourself is as much worse than anything your child has done as hatred is +worse than love. By the right of mere humanity I take upon myself to say +that you shall be left here a while with your daughter, that you may take +leave of one another." He turned to the officer. "Withdraw your men, sir," +he said. "Wait at the door. You have my word for the security of your +prisoner, and my authority for what you do. I will call you when it is +time."</p> + +<p>He spoke in a tone that admitted of no refusal, and he was obeyed. The +officers and the men filed out, and Ruy Gomez closed the door after them. +He himself recrossed the room and went out by the other way into the broad +corridor. He meant to wait there. His orders had been carried out so +quickly that Mendoza found himself alone with Dolores, almost as by a +surprise. In his desperate mood he resented what Ruy Gomez had done, as an +interference in his family affairs, and he bent his bushy brows together as +he stood facing Dolores, with folded arms. Four hours had not passed since +they had last spoken together alone in his own dwelling; there was a +lifetime of tragedy between that moment and this.</p> + +<p>Dolores had not spoken since he had pushed her away. She stood beside a +chair, resting one hand upon it, dead white, with the dark shadow of pain +under her eyes, her lips almost colourless, but firm, and evenly closed. +There were lines of suffering in her young face that looked as if they +never could be effaced. It seemed to her that the worst conflict of all was +raging in her heart as she watched her father's face, waiting for the sound +of his voice; and as for him, he would rather have gone back to the King's +presence to be tormented under the eyes of Antonio Perez than stand there, +forced to see her and speak to her. In his eyes, in the light of what he +had been told, she was a ruined and shameless woman, who had deceived him +day in, day out, for more than two years. And to her, so far as she could +understand, he was the condemned murderer of the man she had so innocently +and truly loved. But yet, she had a doubt, and for that possibility, she +had cast her good name to the winds in the hope of saving his life. At one +moment, in a vision of dread, she saw his armed hand striking at her +lover--at the next she felt that he could never have struck the blow, and +that there was an unsolved mystery behind it all. Never were two innocent +human beings so utterly deceived, each about the other.</p> + +<p>"Father," she said, at last, in a trembling tone, "can you not speak to +me, if I can find heart to hear you?"</p> + +<p>"What can we two say to each other?" he asked sternly. "Why did you stop +me? I am ready to die for killing the man who ruined you. I am glad. Why +should I say anything to you, and what words can you have for me? I hope +your end may come quickly, with such peace as you can find from your shame +at the last. That is what I wish for you, and it is a good wish, for you +have made death on the scaffold look easy to me, so that I long for it. Do +you understand?"</p> + +<p>"Condemned to death!" she cried out, almost incoherently, before he had +finished speaking. "But they cannot condemn you--I have told them that I +was there--that it was not you--they must believe me--O God of mercy!"</p> + +<p>"They believe you--yes. They believe that I found you together and +killed him. I shall be tried by judges, but I am condemned beforehand, and +I must die." He spoke calmly enough. "Your mad confession before the court +only made my conviction more certain," he said. "It gave the reason for the +deed--and it burned away the last doubt I had. If they are slow in trying +me, you will have been before the executioner, for he will find me dead--by +your hand. You might have spared me that--and spared yourself. You still +had the remnant of a good name, and your lover being dead, you might have +worn the rag of your honour still. You have chosen to throw it away, and +let me know my full disgrace before I die a disgraceful death. And yet you +wish to speak to me. Do you expect my blessing?"</p> + +<p>Dolores had lost the power of speech. Passing her hand now and then +across her forehead, as though trying to brush away a material veil, she +stood half paralyzed, staring wildly at him while he spoke. But when she +saw him turn away from her towards the door, as if he would go out and +leave her there, her strength was loosed from the spell, and she sprang +before him and caught his wrists with her hands.</p> + +<p>"I am as innocent as when my mother bore me," she said, and her low +voice rang with the truth. "I told the lie to save your life. Do you +believe me now?"</p> + +<p>He gazed at her with haggard eyes for many moments before he spoke.</p> + +<p>"How can it be true?" he asked, but his voice shook in his throat. "You +were there--I saw you leave his room--"</p> + +<p>"No, that you never saw!" she cried, well knowing how impossible it was, +since she had been locked in till after he had gone away.</p> + +<p>"I saw your dress--not this one--what you wore this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"Not this one? I put on this court dress before I got out of the room in +which you had locked me up. Inez helped me--I pretended that I was she, and +wore her cloak, and slipped away, and I have not been back again. You did +not see me."</p> + +<p>Mendoza passed his hand over his eyes and drew back from her. If what +she said were true, the strongest link was gone from the chain of facts by +which he had argued so much sorrow and shame. Forgetting himself and his +own near fate, he looked at the court dress she wore, and a mere glance +convinced him that it was not the one he had seen.</p> + +<p>"But--" he was suddenly confused--"but why did you need to disguise +yourself? I left the Princess of Eboli with you, and I gave her permission +to take you away to stay with her. You needed no disguise."</p> + +<p>"I never saw her. She must have found Inez in the room. I was gone long +before that."</p> + +<p>"Gone--where?" Mendoza was fast losing the thread of it all--in his +confusion of ideas he grasped the clue of his chief sorrow, which was far +beyond any thought for himself. "But if you are innocent--pray God you may +be, as you say--how is it possible--oh, no! I cannot believe it--I cannot! +No woman could do that--no innocent girl could stand out before a multitude +of men and women, and say what you said--"</p> + +<p>"I hoped to save your life. I had the strength. I did it."</p> + +<p>Her clear grey eyes looked into his, and his doubt began to break away +before the truth.</p> + +<p>"Make me believe it!" he cried, his voice breaking. "Oh, God! Make me +believe it before I die!"</p> + +<p>"It is true," she cried, in a low, strong voice that carried belief to +his breast in spite of such reasoning as still had some power over him. "It +is true, and you shall believe it; and if you will not, the man you have +killed, the man I loved and trusted, the dead man who knows the whole truth +as I know it, will come back from the dead to prove it true--for I swear it +upon his soul in heaven, and upon yours and mine that will not be long on +earth--as I will swear it in the hour of your death and mine, since we must +die!"</p> + +<p>He could not take his eyes from hers that held him, and suddenly in the +pure depths he seemed to see her soul facing him without fear, and he knew +that what she said was true, and his tortured heart leapt up at the good +certainty.</p> + +<p>"I believe you, my child," he said at last, and then his grey lids half +closed over his eyes and he bent down to her, and put his arm round +her.</p> + +<p>But she shuddered at the touch of his right hand, and though she knew +that he was a condemned man, and that she might never see him again, she +could not bear to receive his parting kiss upon her forehead.</p> + +<p>"Oh, father, why did you kill him?" she asked, turning her head away and +moving to escape from his hold.</p> + +<p>But Mendoza did not answer. His arm dropped by his side, and his face +grew white and stony. She was asking him to give up the King's secret, to +keep which he was giving his life. He felt that it would be treason to tell +even her. And besides, she would not keep the secret--what woman could, +what daughter would? It must go out of the world with him, if it was to be +safe. He glanced at her and saw her face ravaged by an hour's grief. Yet +she would not mourn Don John the less if she knew whose hand had done the +deed. It could make but a little difference to her, though to himself that +difference would be great, if she knew that he died innocent.</p> + +<p>And then began a struggle fierce and grim, that tore his soul and +wounded his heart as no death agony could have hurt him. Since he had +judged her unjustly, since it had all been a hideous dream, since she was +still the child that had been all in all to him throughout her life, since +all was changed, he did not wish to die, he bore the dead man no hatred, it +was no soothing satisfaction to his outraged heart to know him dead of a +sword wound in the breast, far away in the room where they had left him, +there was no fierce regret that he had not driven the thrust himself. The +man was as innocent as the innocent girl, and he himself, as innocent as +both, was to be led out to die to shield the King--no more. His life was to +be taken for that only, and he no longer set its value at naught nor wished +it over. He was the mere scapegoat, to suffer for his master's crime, since +crime it was and nothing better. And since he was willing to bear the +punishment, or since there was now no escape from it, had he not at least +the human right to proclaim his innocence to the only being he really +loved? It would be monstrous to deny it. What could she do, after all, even +if she knew the truth? Nothing. No one would dare to believe her if she +accused the King. She would be shut up in a convent as a mad woman, but in +any case, she would certainly disappear to end her life in some religious +house as soon as he was dead. Poor girl--she had loved Don John with all +her heart--what could the world hold for her, even if the disgrace of her +father's death were not to shut her out of the world altogether, as it +inevitably must. She would not live long, but she would live in the +profoundest sorrow. It would be an alleviation, almost the greatest +possible, to know that her father's hand was not stained by such a +deed.</p> + +<p>The temptation to speak out was overwhelming, and he knew that the time +was short. At any moment Ruy Gomez might open the door, and bid him part +from her, and there would be small chance for him of seeing her again. He +stood uncertain, with bent head and folded arms, and she watched him, +trying to bring herself to touch his hand again and bear his kiss.</p> + +<p>His loyalty to the King, that was like a sort of madness, stood between +him and the words he longed to say. It was the habit of his long soldier's +life, unbending as the corslet he wore and enclosing his soul as the steel +encased his body, proof against every cruelty, every unkindness, every +insult. It was better to die a traitor's death for the King's secret than +to live for his own honour. So it had always seemed to him, since he had +been a boy and had learned to fight under the great Emperor. But now he +knew that he wavered as he had never done in the most desperate charge, +when life was but a missile to be flung in the enemy's face, and found or +not, when the fray was over. There was no intoxication of fury now, there +was no far ring of glory in the air, there was no victory to be won. The +hard and hideous fact stared him in the face, that he was to die like a +malefactor by the hangman's hand, and that the sovereign who had graciously +deigned to accept the sacrifice had tortured him for nearly half an hour +without mercy in the presence of an inferior, in order to get a few facts +on paper which might help his own royal credit. And as if that were not +enough, his own daughter was to live after him, believing that he had +cruelly murdered the man she most dearly loved. It was more than humanity +could bear.</p> + +<p>His brow unbent, his arms unfolded themselves, and he held them out to +Dolores with a smile almost gentle.</p> + +<p>"There is no blood on these hands, my little girl," he said tenderly. "I +did not do it, child. Let me hold you in my arms once, and kiss you before +I go. We are both innocent--we can bless one another before we part for +ever."</p> + +<p>The pure, grey eyes opened wide in amazement. Dolores could hardly +believe her ears, as she made a step towards him, and then stopped, +shrinking, and then made one step more. Her lips moved and wondering words +came to him, so low that he could hardly understand, save that she +questioned him.</p> + +<p>"You did not do it!" she breathed. "You did not kill him after all? But +then--who--why?"</p> + +<p>Still she hesitated, though she came slowly nearer, and a faint light +warmed her sorrowful face.</p> + +<p>"You must try to guess who and why," he said, in a tone as low as her +own. "I must not tell you that."</p> + +<p>"I cannot guess," she answered; but she was close to him now, and she +had taken one of his hands softly in both her own, while she gazed into his +eyes. "How can I understand unless you tell me? Is it so great a secret +that you must die for it, and never tell it? Oh, father, father! Are you +sure--quite sure?"</p> + +<p>"He was dead already when I came into the room," Mendoza answered. "I +did not even see him hurt."</p> + +<p>"But then--yes--then"--her voice sank to a whisper--"then it was the +King!"</p> + +<p>He saw the words on her lips rather than heard them, and she saw in his +face that she was right. She dropped his hand and threw her arms round his +neck, pressing her bosom to his breastplate; and suddenly her love for him +awoke, and she began to know how she might have loved him if she had known +him through all the years that were gone.</p> + +<p>"It cannot be that he will let you die!" she cried softly. "You shall +not die!" she cried again, with sudden strength, and her light frame shook +his as if she would wrench him back from inevitable fate.</p> + +<p>"My little girl," he answered, most tenderly clasping her to him, and +most thoughtfully, lest his armour should hurt her, "I can die happy now, +for I have found all of you again."</p> + +<p>"You shall not die! You shall not die!" she cried. "I will not let you +go--they must take me, too--"</p> + +<p>"No power can save me now, my darling," he answered. "But it does not +matter, since you know. It will be easy now."</p> + +<p>She could only hold him with her small hands, and say over and over +again that she would not let him go.</p> + +<p>"Ah! why have you never loved me before in all these years?" he cried. +"It was my fault--all my fault."</p> + +<p>"I love you now with all my heart," she answered, "and I will save you, +even from the King; and you and I and Inez will go far away, and you two +shall comfort me and love me till I go to him."</p> + +<p>Mendoza shook his head sadly, looking over her shoulder as he held her, +for he knew that there was no hope now. Had he known, or half guessed, but +an hour or two ago, he would have turned on his heel from the door of Don +John's chamber, and he would have left the King to bear the blame or shift +it as he could.</p> + +<p>"It is too late, Dolores. God bless you, my dear, dear child! It will +soon be over--two days at most, for the people will cry out for the blood +of Don John's murderer; and when they see mine they will be satisfied. It +is too late now. Good-by, my little girl, good-by! The blessing of all +heaven be on your dear head!"</p> + +<p>Dolores nestled against him, as she had never done before, with the +feeling that she had found something that had been wanting in her life, at +the very moment when the world, with all it held for her, was slipping over +the edge of eternity.</p> + +<p>"I will not leave you," she cried again. "They shall take me to your +prison, and I will stay with you and take care of you, and never leave you; +and at last I shall save your life, and then--"</p> + +<p>The door of the corridor opened, and she saw Ruy Gomez standing in the +entrance, as if he were waiting. His face was calm and grave as usual, but +she saw a profound pity in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"No, no!" she cried to him, "not yet--one moment more!"</p> + +<p>But Mendoza turned his head at her words, looking over his shoulder, and +he saw the Prince also.</p> + +<p>"I am ready," he said briefly, and he tried to take Dolores' hands from +his neck. "It is time," he said to her. "Be brave, my darling! We have +found each other at last. It will not be long before we are together for +ever."</p> + +<p>He kissed her tenderly once more, and loosed her hold, putting her two +hands together and kissing them also.</p> + +<p>"I will not say good-by," she said. "It is not good-by--it shall not be. +I shall be with you soon."</p> + +<p>His eyes lingered upon hers for a moment, and then he broke away, +setting his teeth lest he should choke and break down. He opened the door +and presented himself to the halberdiers. Dolores heard his familiar voice +give the words of command.</p> + +<p>"Close up! Forward, march!"</p> + +<p>The heavy tramp she knew so well began at once, and echoed along the +outer entries, growing slowly less distinct till it was only a distant and +rumbling echo, and then died away altogether. Her hand was still on the +open door, and Ruy Gomez was standing beside her. He gently drew her away, +and closed the door again. She let him lead her to a chair, and sat down +where she had sat before. But this time she did not lean back exhausted, +with half-closed eyes,--she rested her elbow on her knee and her chin in +her hand, and she tried to think connectedly to a conclusion. She +remembered all the details of the past hours one by one, and she felt that +the determination to save her father had given her strength to live.</p> + +<p>"Don Ruy Gomez," she said at last, looking up to the tall old nobleman, +who stood by the brazier warming his hands again, "can I see the King +alone?"</p> + +<p>"That is more than I can promise," answered the Prince. "I have asked an +audience for you, and the chamberlain will bring word presently whether his +Majesty is willing to see you. But if you are admitted, I cannot tell +whether Perez will be there or not. He generally is. His presence need make +no difference to you. He is an excellent young man, full of heart. I have +great confidence in him,--so much so that I recommended him to his Majesty +as Secretary. I am sure that he will do all he can to be of use to +you."</p> + +<p>Dolores looked up incredulously, and with a certain wonder at the +Prince's extreme simplicity. Yet he had been married ten years to the +clever woman who ruled him and Perez and King Philip, and made each one +believe that she was devoted to him only, body and soul. Of the three, +Perez alone may have guessed the truth, but though it was degrading enough, +he would not let it stand in the way of his advancement; and in the end it +was he who escaped, leaving her to perish, the victim of the King's +implacable anger, Dolores could not help shaking her head in answer to the +Prince of Eboli's speech.</p> + +<p>"People are very unjust to Perez," he said. "But the King trusts him. If +he is there, try to conciliate him, for he has much influence with his +Majesty."</p> + +<p>Dolores said nothing, and resuming her attitude, returned to her sad +meditations, and to the study of some immediate plan. But she could think +of no way. Her only fixed intention was to see the King himself. Ruy Gomez +could do no more to help her than he had done already, and that indeed was +not little, since it was to his kindly impulse that she owed her meeting +with her father.</p> + +<p>"And if Perez is not inclined to help Don Diego," said the Prince, after +a long pause which had not interrupted the slow progression of, his kindly +thought, "I will request my wife to speak to him. I have often noticed that +the Princess can make Perez do almost anything she wishes. Women are far +cleverer than men, my dear--they have ways we do not understand. Yes, I +will interest my wife in the affair. It would be a sad thing if your +father--"</p> + +<p>The old man stopped short, and Dolores wondered vaguely what he had been +going to say. Ruy Gomez was a very strange compound of almost childlike and +most honourable simplicity, and of the experienced wisdom with regard to +the truth of matters in which he was not concerned, which sometimes belongs +to very honourable and simple men.</p> + +<p>"You do not believe that my father is guilty," said Dolores, boldly +asserting what she suspected.</p> + +<p>"My dear child," answered Ruy Gomez, twisting his rings on his fingers +as he spread his hands above the coals in the brazier, "I have lived in +this court for fifty years, and I have learned in that time that where +great matters are at stake those who do not know the whole truth are often +greatly deceived by appearances. I know nothing of the real matter now, but +it would not surprise me if a great change took place before to-morrow +night. A man who has committed a crime so horrible as the one your father +confessed before us all rarely finds it expedient to make such a +confession, and a young girl, my dear, who has really been a little too +imprudently in love with a royal Prince, would be a great deal too wise to +make a dramatic statement of her fault to the assembled Grandees of +Spain."</p> + +<p>He looked across at Dolores and smiled gently. But she only shook her +head gravely in answer, though she wondered at what he said, and wondered, +too, whether there might not be a great many persons in the court who +thought as he did. She was silent, too, because it hurt her to talk when +she could not draw breath without remembering that what she had lived for +was lying dead in that dim room on the upper story.</p> + +<p>The door opened, and a chamberlain entered the room.</p> + +<p>"His Majesty is pleased to receive Doña Dolores de Mendoza, in +private audience," he said.</p> + +<p>Ruy Gomez rose and led Dolores out into the corridor.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XVIII'></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + + +<p>Dolores had prepared no speech with which to appeal to the King, and she +had not counted upon her own feelings towards him when she found herself in +the room where Mendoza had been questioned, and heard the door closed +behind her by the chamberlain who had announced her coming. She stood still +a moment, dazzled by the brilliant lights after having been so long in the +dimmer waiting room. She had never before been in the King's study, and she +had fancied it very different from what it really was when she had tried to +picture to herself the coming interview. She had supposed the room small, +sombre, littered with books and papers, and cold; it was, on the contrary, +so spacious as to be almost a hall, it was brightly illuminated and warmed +by the big wood fire. Magnificent tapestries covered the walls with glowing +colour, and upon one of these, in barbaric bad taste, was hung a single +great picture by Titian, Philip's favourite master. Dolores blushed as she +recognized in the face of the insolent Venus the features of the Princess +of Eboli. Prom his accustomed chair, the King could see this painting. +Everywhere in the room there were rich objects that caught and reflected +the light, things of gold and silver, of jade and lapis lazuli, in a sort +of tasteless profusion that detracted from the beauty of each, and made +Dolores feel that she had been suddenly transported out of her own element +into another that was hard to breathe and in which it was bad to live. It +oppressed her, and though her courage was undiminished, the air of the +place seemed to stifle her thought and speech.</p> + +<p>As she entered she saw the King in profile, seated in his great chair at +some distance from the fire, but looking at it steadily. He did not notice +her presence at first. Antonio Perez sat at the table, busily writing, and +he only glanced at Dolores sideways when he heard the door close after her. +She sank almost to the ground as she made the first court curtsey before +advancing, and she came forward into the light. As her skirt swept the +ground a second time, Philip looked slowly round, and his dull stare +followed her as she came round in a quarter of a wide circle and curtsied a +third time immediately in front of him.</p> + +<p>She was very beautiful, as she stood waiting for him to speak, and +meeting his gaze fearlessly with a look of cold contempt in her white face +such as no living person had ever dared to turn to him, while the light of +anger burned in her deep grey eyes. But for the presence of the Secretary, +she would have spoken first, regardless of court ceremony. Philip looked at +her attentively, mentally comparing her with his young Queen's placidly +dull personality and with the Princess of Eboli's fast disappearing and +somewhat coarse beauty. For the Princess had changed much since Titian had +painted his very flattering picture, and though she was only thirty years +of age, she was already the mother of many children. Philip stared steadily +at the beautiful girl who stood waiting before him, and he wondered why she +had never seemed so lovely to him before. There was a half morbid, half +bitter savour in what he felt, too,--he had just condemned the beauty's +father to death, and she must therefore hate him with all her heart. It +pleased him to think of that; she was beautiful and he stared at her +long.</p> + +<p>"Be seated, Doña Dolores," he said at last, in a muffled voice +that was not harsh. "I am glad that you have come, for I have much to say +to you."</p> + +<p>Without lifting his wrist from the arm of the chair on which it rested, +the King moved his hand, and his long forefinger pointed to a low cushioned +stool that was placed near him. Dolores came forward unwillingly and sat +down. Perez watched the two thoughtfully, and forgot his writing. He did +not remember that any one excepting the Princess of Eboli had been allowed +to be seated in the King's study. The Queen never came there. Perez' work +exempted him in private, of course, from much of the tedious ceremonial +upon which Philip insisted. Dolores sat upon the edge of the stool, very +erect, with her hands folded on her knees.</p> + +<p>"Doña Dolores is pale," observed the King. "Bring a cordial, +Perez, or a glass of Oporto wine."</p> + +<p>"I thank your Majesty," said the young girl quickly. "I need +nothing."</p> + +<p>"I will be your physician," answered Philip, very suavely. "I shall +insist upon your taking the medicine I prescribe."</p> + +<p>He did not turn his eyes from her as Perez brought a gold salver and +offered Dolores the glass. It was impossible to refuse, so she lifted it to +her lips and sipped a little.</p> + +<p>"I thank your Majesty," she said again. "I thank you, sir," she said +gravely to Perez as she set down the glass, but she did not raise her eyes +to his face as she spoke any more than she would have done if he had been a +footman.</p> + +<p>"I have much to say to you, and some questions to ask of you," the King +began, speaking very slowly, but with extreme suavity.</p> + +<p>He paused, and coughed a little, but Dolores said nothing. Then he began +to look at her again, and while he spoke he steadily examined every detail +of her appearance till his inscrutable gaze had travelled from her +headdress to the points of her velvet slippers, and finally remained fixed +upon her mouth in a way that disturbed her even more than the speech he +made. Perez had resumed his seat.</p> + +<p>"In my life," he began, speaking of himself quite without formality, "I +have suffered more than most men, in being bereaved of the persons to whom +I have been most sincerely attached. The most fortunate and successful +sovereign in the world has been and is the most unhappy man in his kingdom. +One after another, those I have loved have been taken from me, until I am +almost alone in the world that is so largely mine. I suppose you cannot +understand that, my dear, for my sorrows began before you were born. But +they have reached their crown and culmination to-day in the death of my +dear brother."</p> + +<p>He paused, watching her mouth, and he saw that she was making a +superhuman effort to control herself, pressing the beautiful lips together, +though they moved gainfully in spite of her, and visibly lost colour.</p> + +<p>"Perez," he said after a moment, "you may go and take some rest. I will +send for you when I need you."</p> + +<p>The Secretary rose, bowed low, and left the room by a small masked door +in a corner. The King waited till he saw it close before he spoke again. +His tone changed a little then and his words came quickly, as if he felt +here constraint.</p> + +<p>"I feel," he said, "that we are united by a common calamity, my dear. I +intend to take you under my most particular care and protection from this +very hour. Yes, I know!" he held up his hand o deprecate any interruption, +for Dolores seemed about to speak. "I know why you come to me, you wish to +intercede for your father. That is natural, and you are right to come to me +yourself, for I would rather hear your voice than that of another speaking +for you, and I would rather grant any mercy in my power to you directly +than to some personage of the court who would be seeking his own interest +as much as yours."</p> + +<p>"I ask justice, not mercy, Sire," said Dolores, in a firm, low voice, +and the fire lightened in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Your father shall have both," answered Philip, "for they are +compatible."</p> + +<p>"He needs no mercy," returned the young girl, "for he has done no harm. +Your Majesty knows that as well as I."</p> + +<p>"If I knew that, my dear, your father would not be under arrest. I +cannot guess what you know or do not know--"</p> + +<p>"I know the truth." She spoke so confidently that the King's expression +changed a little.</p> + +<p>"I wish I did," he answered, with as much suavity as ever. "But tell me +what you think you know about this matter. You may help me to sift it, and +then I shall be the better able to help you, if such a thing be possible. +What do you know?"</p> + +<p>Dolores leaned forward toward him from her seat, almost rising as she +lowered her voice to a whisper, her eyes fixed on his face.</p> + +<p>"I was close behind the door your Majesty wished to open," she said. "I +heard every word; I heard your sword drawn and I heard Don John fall--and +then it was some time before I heard my father's voice, taking the blame +upon himself, lest it should be said that the King had murdered his own +brother in his room, unarmed. Is that the truth, or not?"</p> + +<p>While she was speaking, a greenish hue overspread Philip's face, ghastly +in the candlelight. He sat upright in his chair, his hands straining on its +arms and pushing, as if he would have got farther back if he could. He had +foreseen everything except that Dolores had been in the next room, for his +secret spies had informed him through Perez that her father had kept her a +prisoner during the early part of the evening and until after supper.</p> + +<p>"When you were both gone," Dolores continued, holding him under her +terrible eyes, "I came in, and I found him dead, with the wound in his left +breast, and he was unarmed, murdered without a chance for his life. There +is blood upon my dress where it touched his--the blood of the man I loved, +shed by you. Ah, he was right to call you coward, and he died for me, +because you said things of me that no loving man would bear. He was right +to call you coward--it was well said--it was the last word he spoke, and I +shall not forget it. He had borne everything you heaped upon himself, your +insults, your scorn of his mother, but he would not let you cast a slur +upon my name, and if you had not killed him out of sheer cowardice, he +would have struck you in the face. He was a man! And then my father took +the blame to save you from the monstrous accusation, and that all might +believe him guilty he told the lie that saved you before them all. Do I +know the truth? Is one word of that not true?"</p> + +<p>She had quite risen now and stood before him like an accusing angel. And +he, who was seldom taken unawares, and was very hard to hurt, leaned back +and suffered, slowly turning his head from side to side against the back of +the high carved chair.</p> + +<p>"Confess that it is true!" she cried, in concentrated tones. "Can you +not even find courage for that? You are not the King now, you are your +brother's murderer, and the murderer of the man I loved, whose wife I +should have been to-morrow. Look at me, and confess that I have told the +truth. I am a Spanish woman, and I would not see my country branded before +the world with the shame of your royal murders, and if you will confess and +save my father, I will keep your secret for my country's sake. But if +not--then you must either kill me here, as you slew him, or by the God that +made you and the mother that bore you, I will tell all Spain what you are, +and the men who loved Don John of Austria shall rise and take your blood +for his blood, though it be blood royal, and you shall die, as you killed, +like the coward you are!"</p> + +<p>The King's eyes were closed, and still his great pale head moved slowly +from side to side; for he was suffering, and the torture of mind he had +made Mendoza bear was avenged already. But he was silent.</p> + +<p>"Will you not speak?" asked the young girl, with blazing eyes. "Then +find some weapon and kill me here before I go, for I shall not wait till +you find many words."</p> + +<p>She was silent, and she stood upright in the act to go. He made no +sound, and she moved towards the door, stood still, then moved again and +then again, pausing for his answer at each step. He heard her, but could +not bring himself to speak the words she demanded of him. She began to walk +quickly. Her hand was almost on the door when he raised himself by the arms +of his chair, and cried out to her in a frightened voice:--</p> + +<p>"No, no! Stay here--you must not go--what do you want me to say?"</p> + +<p>She advanced a step again, and once more stood still and met his scared +eyes as he turned his face towards her.</p> + +<p>"Say, 'You have spoken the truth,'" she answered, dictating to him as if +she were the sovereign and he a guilty subject.</p> + +<p>She waited a moment and then moved as if she would go out.</p> + +<p>"Stay--yes--it is true--I did it--for God's mercy do not betray me!"</p> + +<p>He almost screamed the words out to her, half rising, his body bent, his +face livid in his extreme fear. She came slowly back towards him, keeping +her eyes upon him as if he were some dangerous wild animal that she +controlled by her look alone.</p> + +<p>"That is not all," she said. "That was for me, that I might hear the +words from your own lips. There is something more."</p> + +<p>"What more do you want of me?" asked Philip, in thick tones, leaning +back exhausted in his chair.</p> + +<p>"My father's freedom and safety," answered Dolores. "I must have an +order for his instant release. He can hardly have reached his prison yet. +Send for him. Let him come here at once, as a free man."</p> + +<p>"That is impossible," replied Philip. "He has confessed the deed before +the whole court--he cannot possibly be set at liberty without a trial. You +forget what you are asking--indeed you forget yourself altogether too +much."</p> + +<p>He was gathering his dignity again, by force of habit, as his terror +subsided, but Dolores was too strong for him.</p> + +<p>"I am not asking anything of your Majesty; I am dictating terms to my +lover's murderer," she said proudly.</p> + +<p>"This is past bearing, girl!" cried Philip hoarsely. "You are out of +your mind--I shall call servants to take you away to a place of safety. We +shall see what you will do then. You shall not impose your insolence upon +me any longer."</p> + +<p>Dolores reflected that it was probably in his power to carry out the +threat, and to have her carried off by the private door through which Perez +had gone out. She saw in a flash how great her danger was, for she was the +only witness against him, and if he could put her out of the way in a place +of silence, he could send her father to trial and execution without risk to +himself, as he had certainly intended to do. On the other hand, she had +been able to terrify him to submission a few moments earlier. In the +instant working of her woman's mind, she recollected how his fright had +increased as she had approached the door by which she had entered. His only +chance of accomplishing her disappearance lay in having her taken away by +some secret passage, where no open scandal could be possible.</p> + +<p>Before she answered his last angry speech, she had almost reached the +main entrance again.</p> + +<p>"Call whom you will," she said contemptuously. "You cannot save +yourself. Don Ruy Gomez is on the other side of that door, and there are +chamberlains and guards there, too. I shall have told them all the truth +before your men can lay hands on me. If you will not write the order to +release my father, I shall go out at once. In ten minutes there will be a +revolution in the palace, and to-morrow all Spain will be on fire to avenge +your brother. Spain has not forgotten Don Carlos yet! There are those alive +who saw you give Queen Isabel the draught that killed her--with your own +hand. Are you mad enough to think that no one knows those things, that your +spies, who spy on others, do not spy on you, that you alone, of all +mankind, can commit every crime with impunity?"</p> + +<p>"Take care, girl! Take care!"</p> + +<p>"Beware--Don Philip of Austria, King of Spain and half the world, lest a +girl's voice be heard above yours, and a girl's hand loosen the foundation +of your throne, lest all mankind rise up to-morrow and take your life for +the lives you have destroyed! Outside this door here, there are men who +guess the truth already, who hate you as they hate Satan, and who loved +your brother as every living being loved him--except you. One moment +more--order my father to be set free, or I will open and speak. One moment! +You will not? It is too late--you are lost!"</p> + +<p>Her hand went out to open, but Philip was already on his feet, and with +quick, clumsy steps he reached the writing-table, seized the pen Perez had +thrown down, and began to scrawl words rapidly in his great angular +handwriting. He threw sand upon it to dry the ink, and then poured the +grains back into the silver sandbox, glanced at the paper and held it out +to Dolores without a word. His other hand slipped along the table to a +silver bell, used for calling his private attendants, but the girl saw the +movement and instinctively suspected his treachery. He meant her to come to +the table, when he would ring the bell and then catch her and hold her by +main force till help came. Her faculties were furiously awake under the +strain she bore, and outran his slow cunning.</p> + +<p>"If you ring that bell, I will open," she said imperiously. "I must have +the paper here, where I am safe, and I must read it myself before I shall +be satisfied."</p> + +<p>"You are a terrible woman," said the King, but she did not like his +smile as he came towards her, holding out the document.</p> + +<p>She took it from his hand, keeping her eyes on his, for something told +her that he would try to seize her and draw her from the door while she was +reading it. For some seconds they faced each other in silence, and she knew +by his determined attitude that she was right, and that it would not be +safe to look down. She wondered why he did not catch her in his arms as she +stood, and then she realized that her free hand was on the latch of the +door, and that he knew it. She slowly turned the handle, and drew the door +to her, and she saw his face fall. She moved to one side so that she could +have sprung out if he had tried violence, and then at last she allowed her +eyes to glance at the paper. It was in order and would be obeyed; she saw +that, at a glance, for it said that Don Diego de Mendoza was to be set at +liberty instantly and unconditionally.</p> + +<p>"I humbly thank your Majesty, and take my leave," she said, throwing the +door wide open and curtseying low.</p> + +<p>A chamberlain who had seen the door move on its hinges stepped in to +shut it, for it opened inward. The King beckoned him in, and closed it, but +before it was quite shut, he heard Dolores' voice.</p> + +<p>"Don Ruy Gomez," she was saying, "this is an order to set my father at +liberty unconditionally and at once. I do not know to whom it should be +given. Will you take it for me and see to it?"</p> + +<p>"I will go to the west tower myself," he said, beginning to walk with +her. "Such good news is even better when a friend brings it."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. Tell him from me that he is safe, for his Majesty has told +me that he knows the whole truth. Will you do that? You have been very kind +to me to-night, Prince--let me thank you with all my heart now, for we may +not meet again. You will not see me at court after this, and I trust my +father will take us back to Valladolid and live with us."</p> + +<p>"That would be wise," answered Ruy Gomez. "As for any help I have given +you, it has been little enough and freely given. I will not keep your +father waiting for his liberty. Good-night, Doña Dolores."</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XIX'></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + + +<p>All that had happened from the time when Don John had fallen in his room +to the moment when Dolores left her sister on the terrace had occupied +little more than half an hour, during which the King had descended to the +hall, Mendoza had claimed the guilt of Don John's murder, and the two had +gone out under the protection of the guards. As soon as Dolores was out of +hearing, Inez rose and crept along the terrace to Don John's door. In the +confusion that had ensued upon the announcement of his death no one had +thought of going to him; every one took it for granted that some one else +had done what was necessary, and that his apartments were filled with +physicians and servants. It was not the first time in history that a royal +personage had thus been left alone an hour, either dead or dying, because +no one was immediately responsible, and such things have happened +since.</p> + +<p>Inez stole along the terrace and found the outer door open, as the dwarf +had left it when he had carried Dolores out in his arms. She remembered +that the voices she had heard earlier had come from rooms on the left of +the door, and she felt her way to the entrance of the bedchamber, and then +went in without hesitation. Bending very low, so that her hands touched the +floor from time to time, she crept along, feeling for the body she expected +to find. Suddenly she started and stood upright in an instant. She had +heard a deep sigh in the room, not far off.</p> + +<p>She listened intently, but even her ears could detect no sound after +that. She was a little frightened, not with any supernatural fear, for the +blind, who live in the dark for ever, are generally singularly exempt from +such terrors, but because she had thought herself alone with the dead man, +and did not wish to be discovered.</p> + +<p>"Who is here?" she asked quickly, but there was no answer out of the +dead stillness.</p> + +<p>She stood quite still a few seconds and then crept forward again, +bending down and feeling before her along the floor. A moment later her +hand touched velvet, and she knew that she had found what she sought. With +a low moan she fell upon her knees and felt for the cold hand that lay +stretched out upon the marble pavement beyond the thick carpet. Her hand +followed the arm, reached the shoulder and then the face. Her fingers +fluttered lightly upon the features, while her own heart almost stood still +She felt no horror of death, though she had never been near a dead person +before; and those who were fond of her had allowed her to feel their +features with her gentle hands, and she knew beauty through her touch, by +its shape. Though her heart was breaking, she had felt that once, before it +was too late, she must know the face she had long loved in dreams. Her +longing satisfied, her grief broke out again, and she let herself fall her +length upon the floor beside Don John, one arm across his chest, her head +resting against the motionless shoulder, her face almost hidden against the +gathered velvet and silk of his doublet. Once or twice she sobbed +convulsively, and then she lay quite still, trying with all her might to +die there, on his arm, before any one came to disturb her. It seemed very +simple, just to stop living and stay with him for ever.</p> + +<p>Again she heard a sound of deep-drawn breath--but it was close to her +now, and her own arm moved with it on his chest--the dead man had moved, he +had sighed. She started up wildly, with a sharp cry, half of paralyzing +fear, and half of mad delight in a hope altogether impossible. Then, he +drew his breath again, and it issued from his lips with a low groan. He was +not quite dead yet, he might speak to her still, he could hear her voice, +perhaps, before he really died. She could never have found courage to kiss +him, even then she could have blushed scarlet at the thought, but she bent +down to his face, very close to it, till her cheek almost touched his as +she spoke in a very trembling, low voice.</p> + +<p>"Not yet--not yet--come back for one moment, only for one little moment! +Oh, let it be God's miracle for me!"</p> + +<p>She hardly knew what she said, but the miracle was there, for she heard +his breath come again and again, and as she stared into her everlasting +night, strange flashes, like light, shot through her brain, her bosom +trembled, and her hands stiffened in the spasm of a delirious joy.</p> + +<p>"Come back!" she cried again. "Come back!" Her hands shook as they felt +his body move.</p> + +<p>His voice came again, not in a word yet, but yet not in a groan of pain. +His eyes, that had been half open and staring, closed with a look of rest, +and colour rose slowly in his cheeks. Then he felt her breath, and his +strength returned for an instant, his arms contracted and clasped her to +him violently.</p> + +<p>"Dolores!" he cried, and in a moment his lips rained kisses on her face, +while his eyes were still closed.</p> + +<p>Then he sank back again exhausted, and her arm kept his head from +striking the marble floor. The girl's cheek flushed a deep red, as she +tried to speak, and her words came broken and indistinct.</p> + +<p>"I am not Dolores," she managed to say. "I am Inez--"</p> + +<p>But he did not hear, for he was swooning again, and the painful blush +sank down again, as she realized that he was once more unconscious. She +wondered whether the room were dark or whether there were lights, or +whether he had not opened his eyes when he had kissed her. His head was +very heavy on her arm. With her other hand she drew off the hood she wore +and rolled it together, and lifting him a little she made a pillow of it so +that he rested easily. He had not recognized her, and she believed he was +dying, he had kissed her, and all eternity could not take from her the +memory of that moment. In the wild confusion of her thoughts she was almost +content that he should die now, for she had felt what she had never dared +to feel in sweetest dreams, and it had been true, and no one could steal it +away now, nor should any one ever know it, not even Dolores herself. The +jealous thought was there, in the whirlwind of her brain, with all the +rest, sudden, fierce, and strong, as if Don John had been hers in life, and +as if the sister she loved so dearly had tried to win him from her. He was +hers in death, and should be hers for ever, and no one should ever know. It +did not matter that he had taken her for another, his kisses were her own. +Once only had a man's lips, not her father's, touched her cheek, and they +had been the lips of the fairest, and best, and bravest man in the world, +her idol and her earthly god. He might die now, and she would follow him, +and in the world beyond God would make it right somehow, and he, and she, +and her sister would all be but one loving soul for ever and ever. There +was no reasoning in all that--it was but the flash of wild thoughts that +all seemed certainties.</p> + +<p>But Don John of Austria was neither dead nor dying. His brother's sword +had pierced his doublet and run through the outer flesh beneath his left +arm, as he stood sideways with his right thrust forward. The wound was a +mere scratch, as soldiers count wounds, and though the young blood had +followed quickly, it had now ceased to flow. It was the fall that had hurt +him, not the stab. The carpet had slipped from under his feet, and he had +fallen backwards to his full length, as a man falls on ice, and his head +had struck the marble floor so violently that he had lain half an hour +almost in a swoon, like a dead man at first, with neither breath nor +beating of the heart to give a sign of life, till after Dolores had left +him; and then he had sighed back to consciousness by very slow degrees, +because no one was there to help him, to raise his head a few inches from +the floor, to dash a little cold water into his face.</p> + +<p>He stirred uneasily now, and moved his hands again, and his eyes opened +wide. Inez felt the slight motion and heard his regular breathing, and an +instinct told her that he was conscious, and not in a dream as he had been +when he had kissed her.</p> + +<p>"I am Inez," she said, almost mechanically, and not knowing why she had +feared that he should take her for her sister. "I found your Highness +here--they all think that you are dead."</p> + +<p>"Dead?" There was surprise in his voice, and his eyes looked at her and +about the room as he spoke, though he did not yet lift his head from the +hood on which it lay. "Dead?" he repeated, dazed still. "No--I must have +fallen. My head hurts me."</p> + +<p>He uttered a sharp sound as he moved again, more of annoyance than of +suffering, as strong men do who unexpectedly find themselves hurt or +helpless, or both. Then, as his eyes fell upon the open door of the inner +room, he forgot his pain instantly and raised himself upon his hand with +startled eyes.</p> + +<p>"Where is Dolores?" he cried, in utmost anxiety. "Where have they taken +her? Did she get out by the window?"</p> + +<p>"She is safe," answered Inez, hardly knowing what she said, for he +turned pale instantly and had barely heard her answer, when he reeled as he +half sat and almost fell against her.</p> + +<p>She held him as well as she could, but the position was strained and she +was not very strong. Half mad now, between fear lest he should die in her +arms and the instinctive belief that he was to live, she wished with all +her heart that some one would come and help her, or send for a physician. +He might die for lack of some simple aid she did not know how to give him. +But he had only been dizzy with the unconscious effort he had made, and +presently he rested on his own hand again.</p> + +<p>"Thank God Dolores is safe!" he said, in a weak voice. "Can you help me +to get to a chair, my dear child? I must have been badly stunned. I wonder +how long I have been here. I remember--"</p> + +<p>He paused and passed one hand over his eyes. The first instinct of +strong persons who have been unconscious is to think aloud, and to try and +recall every detail of the accident that left them unconscious.</p> + +<p>"I remember--the King was here--we talked and we quarrelled--oh!"</p> + +<p>The short exclamation ended his speech, as complete recollection +returned, and he knew that the secret must be kept, for his brother's sake. +He laid one head on the slight girl's shoulder to steady himself, and with +his other he helped himself to kneel on one knee.</p> + +<p>"I am very dizzy," he said. "Try and help me to a chair, Inez."</p> + +<p>She rose swiftly, holding his hand, and then putting one arm round him +under his own. He struggled to his feet and leaned his weight upon her, and +breathed hard. The effort hurt him where the flesh was torn.</p> + +<p>"I am wounded, too," he said quietly, as he glanced at the blood on his +vest. "But it is nothing serious, I think."</p> + +<p>With the instinct of the soldier hurt in the chest, he brushed his lips +with the small lace ruffle of his sleeve, and looked at it, expecting to +see the bright red stains that might mean death. There was nothing.</p> + +<p>"It is only a scratch," he said, with an accent of indifference. "Help +me to the chair, my dear."</p> + +<p>"Where?" she asked. "I do not know the room."</p> + +<p>"One forgets that you are blind," he answered, with a smile, and leaning +heavily upon her, he led her by his weight, till he could touch the chair +in which he had sat reading Dolores' letter when the King had entered an +hour earlier.</p> + +<p>He sat down with a sigh of relief, and stretched first one leg and then +the other, and leaned back with half-closed eyes.</p> + +<p>"Where is Dolores?" he asked at last. "Why did she go away?"</p> + +<p>"The jester took her away, I think," answered Inez. "I found them +together on the terrace. She was trying to come back to you, but he +prevented her. They thought you were dead."</p> + +<p>"That was wise of him." He spoke faintly still, and when he opened his +eyes, the room swam with him. "And then?"</p> + +<p>"Then I told her what had happened at court; I had heard everything from +the gallery. And Dolores went down alone. I could not understand what she +was going to do, but she is trying to save our father."</p> + +<p>"Your father!" Don John looked at her in surprise, forgetting his hurt, +but it was as if some one had struck his head again, and he closed his +eyes. "What has happened?" he asked faintly. "Try and tell me. I do not +understand."</p> + +<p>"My father thought he had killed you," answered Inez, in surprise. "He +came into the great hall when the King was there, and he cried out in a +loud voice that he had killed you, unarmed."</p> + +<p>"Your father?" He forgot his suffering altogether now. "Your father was +not even in the room when--when I fell! And did the King say nothing? Tell +me quickly!"</p> + +<p>"There was a great uproar, and I ran away to find Dolores. I do not know +what happened afterwards."</p> + +<p>Don John turned painfully in his chair and lifted his hand to the back +of his head. But he said nothing at first, for he was beginning to +understand, and he would not betray the secret of his accident even to +Inez.</p> + +<p>"I knew he could not have done it! I thought he was mad--he most have +been! But I also thought your Highness was dead."</p> + +<p>"Dear child!" Don John's voice was very kind. "You brought me to life. +Your father was not here. It was some one else who hurt me. Do you think +you could find Dolores or send some one to tell her--to tell every one that +I am alive? Say that I had a bad fall and was stunned for a while. Never +mind the scratch--it is nothing--do not speak of it. If you could find +Adonis, he could go."</p> + +<p>He groaned now, for the pain of speaking was almost intolerable. Inez +put out her hand towards him.</p> + +<p>"Does it hurt very much?" she asked, with a sort of pathetic, childlike +sympathy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my head hurts, but I shall not faint. There is something to drink +by the bed, I think--on this side. If you could only find it. I cannot walk +there yet, I am so giddy."</p> + +<p>"Some one is coming!" exclaimed Inez, instead of answering him. "I hear +some one on the terrace. Hark!" she listened with bent head. "It is Adonis. +I know his step. There he is!"</p> + +<p>Almost as she spoke the last words the dwarf was in the doorway. He +stood still, transfixed with astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Mercy of heaven!" he exclaimed devoutly. "His Highness is alive after +all!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Inez, in a glad tone. "The Prince was only stunned by the +fall. Go and tell Dolores--go out and tell every one--bring every one here +to me!"</p> + +<p>"No!" cried Don John. "Try and bring Doña Dolores alone, and let +no one else know. The rest can wait."</p> + +<p>"But your Highness needs a physician," protested the dwarf, not yet +recovered from his astonishment. "Your Highness is wounded, and must +therefore be bled at once. I will call the Doctor Galdos--"</p> + +<p>"I tell you it is nothing," interrupted Don John. "Do as I order you, +and bring Doña Dolores. Give me that drink there, first--from the +little table. In a quarter of an hour I shall be quite well again. I have +been as badly stunned before when my horse has fallen with me at a +barrier."</p> + +<p>The jester swung quickly to the table, in his awkward, bow-legged gait, +and brought the beaker that stood there. Don John drank eagerly, for his +lips were parched with pain.</p> + +<p>"Go!" he said imperatively. "And come back quickly."</p> + +<p>"I will go," said Adonis. "But I may not come back quickly, for I +believe that Doña Dolores is with his Majesty at this moment, or +with her father, unless the three are together. Since it has pleased your +Highness not to remain dead, it would have been much simpler not to die at +all, for your Highness's premature death has caused trouble which your +Highness's premature resurrection may not quickly set right."</p> + +<p>"The sooner you bring Doña Dolores, the sooner the tremble will +be over," said Don John. "Go at once, and do your best."</p> + +<p>Adonis rolled away, shaking his head and almost touching the floor with +his hands as he walked.</p> + +<p>"So the Last Trumpet is not merely another of those priests' tales!" he +muttered. "I shall meet Don Carlos on the terrace, and the Emperor in the +corridor, no doubt! They might give a man time to confess his sins. It was +unnecessary that the end of the world should come so suddenly!"</p> + +<p>The last words of his jest were spoken to himself, for he was already +outside when he uttered them, and he had no intention of wasting time in +bearing the good news to Dolores. The difficulty was to find her. He had +been a witness of the scene in the hall from the balcony, and he guessed +that when she left the hall with Ruy Gomez she would go either to her +father or the King. It would not be an easy matter to see her, and it was +by no means beyond the bounds of possibility that he might be altogether +hindered from doing so, unless he at once announced to every one he met the +astounding fact that Don John was alive after all. He was strongly tempted +to do that, without waiting, for it seemed by far the most sensible thing +to do in the disturbed state of the court; but it was his business to serve +and amuse many masters, and his office, if not his life, depended upon +obeying each in turn and finding the right jest for each. He placed the +King highest, of course, among those he had to please, and before he had +gone far in the corridor he slackened his pace to give himself time to +think over the situation. Either the King had meant to kill Don John +himself, or he had ordered Mendoza to do so. That much was clear to any one +who had known the secret of Don Carlos' death, and the dwarf had been one +of the last who had talked with the unfortunate Prince before that dark +tragedy. And on this present night he had seen everything, and knew more of +the thoughts of each of the actors in the drama than any one else, so that +he had no doubt as to his conclusions. If, then, the King had wished to get +rid of Don John, he would be very much displeased to learn that the latter +was alive after all. It would not be good to be the bearer of that news, +and it was more than likely that Philip would let Mendoza go to the +scaffold for the attempt, as he long afterwards condemned Antonio Perez to +death for the murder of Escobedo, Don John's secretary, though he himself +had ordered Perez to do that deed; as he had already allowed the +ecclesiastic Doctor Cazalla to be burned alive, though innocent, rather +than displease the judges who had condemned him. The dwarf well knew that +there was no crime, however monstrous, of which Philip was not capable, and +of the righteous necessity of which he could not persuade himself if he +chose. Nothing could possibly be more dangerous than to stand between him +and the perpetration of any evil he considered politically necessary, +except perhaps to hinder him in the pursuit of his gloomy and secret +pleasures. Adonis decided at once that he would not be the means of +enlightening the King on the present occasion. He most go to some one else. +The second person in command of his life, and whom he dreaded most after +Philip himself, was the Princess of Eboli.</p> + +<p>He knew her secret, too, as he had formerly known how she had forged the +letters that brought about the deaths of Don Carlos and of Queen Isabel; +for the Princess ruled him by fear, and knew that she could trust him as +long as he stood in terror of her. He knew, therefore, that she had not +only forgiven Don John for not yielding to her charm in former days, but +that she now hoped that he might ascend the throne in Philip's stead, by +fair means or foul, and that the news of his death must have been a +destructive blow to her hopes. He made up his mind to tell her first that +he was alive, unless he could get speech with Dolores alone, which seemed +improbable. Having decided this, he hastened his walk again.</p> + +<p>Before he reached the lower story of the palace he composed his face to +an expression of solemnity, not to say mourning, for he remembered that as +no one knew the truth but himself, he must not go about with too gay a +look. In the great vestibule of the hall he found a throng of courtiers, +talking excitedly in low tones, but neither Dolores nor Ruy Gomez was +there. He sidled up to a tall officer of the guards who was standing alone, +looking on.</p> + +<p>"Could you inform me, sir," he asked, "what became of Doña +Dolores de Mendoza when she left the hall with the Prince of Eboli?"</p> + +<p>The officer looked down at the dwarf, with whom he had never spoken +before, but who, in his way, was considered to be a personage of importance +by the less exalted members of the royal household. Indeed, Adonis was by +no means given to making acquaintance at haphazard with all those who +wished to know him in the hope that he might say a good word for them when +the King was in a pleasant humour.</p> + +<p>"I do not know, Master Adonis," answered the magnificent lieutenant, +very politely. "But if you wish it, I will enquire."</p> + +<p>"You are most kind and courteous, sir," answered the dwarf +ceremoniously. "I have a message for the lady."</p> + +<p>The officer turned away and went towards the King's apartments, leaving +the jester in the corner. Adonis knew that he might wait some time before +his informant returned, and he shrank into the shadow to avoid attracting +attention. That was easy enough, so long as the crowd was moving and did +not diminish, but before long he heard some one speaking within the hall, +as if addressing a number of persons at once, and the others began to leave +the vestibule in order to hear what was passing. Though the light did not +fall upon him directly, the dwarf, in his scarlet dress, became a +conspicuous object. Yet he did not dare to go away, for fear of missing the +officer when the latter should return. His anxiety to escape observation +was not without cause, since he really wished to give Don John's message to +Dolores before any one else knew the truth. In a few moments he saw the +Princess of Eboli coming towards him, leaning on the arm of the Duke of +Medina Sidonia. She came from the hall as if she had been listening to the +person who was still speaking near the door, and her handsome face wore a +look of profound dejection and disappointment. She had evidently seen the +dwarf, for she walked directly towards him, and at half a dozen paces she +stopped and dismissed her companion, who bowed low, kissed the tips of her +fingers, and withdrew.</p> + +<p>Adonis drew down the corners of his mouth, bent his head still lower, +and tried to look as unhappy as possible, in imitation of the Princess's +expression. She stood still before him, and spoke briefly in imperious +tones.</p> + +<p>"What is the meaning of all this?" she asked. "Tell me the truth at +once. It will be the better for you."</p> + +<p>"Madam," answered Adonis, with all the assurance he could muster, "I +think your Excellency knows the truth much better than I."</p> + +<p>The Princess bent her black brows and her eyes began to gleam angrily. +Titian would not have recognized in her stern face the smiling features of +his portrait of her--of the insolently beautiful Venus painted by order of +King Philip when the Princess was in the height of his favour.</p> + +<p>"My friend," she said, in a mocking tone, "I know nothing, and you know +everything. At the present moment your disappearance from the court will +not attract even the smallest attention compared with the things that are +happening. If you do not tell me what you know, you will not be here +to-morrow, and I will see that you are burned alive for a sorcerer next +week. Do you understand? Now tell me who killed Don John of Austria, and +why. Be quick, I have no time to lose."</p> + +<p>Adonis made up his mind very suddenly that it would be better to disobey +Don John than the angry woman who was speaking to him.</p> + +<p>"Nobody killed him," he answered bluntly.</p> + +<p>The Princess was naturally violent, especially with her inferiors, and +when she was angry she easily lost all dignity. She seized the dwarf by the +arm and shook him.</p> + +<p>"No jesting!" she cried. "He did not kill himself--who did it?"</p> + +<p>"Nobody," repeated Adonis doggedly, and quite without fear, for he knew +how glad she would be to know the truth. "His Highness is not dead at +all--"</p> + +<p>"You little hound!" The Princess shook him furiously again and +threatened to strike him with her other hand.</p> + +<p>He only laughed.</p> + +<p>"Before heaven, Madam," he said, "the Prince is alive and recovered, and +is sitting in his chair. I have just been talking with him. Will you go +with me to his Highness's apartment? If he is not there, and safe, burn me +for a heretic to-morrow."</p> + +<p>The Princess's hands dropped by her sides in sheer amazement, for she +saw that the jester was in earnest.</p> + +<p>"He had a scratch in the scuffle," he continued, "but it was the fall +that killed him, his resurrection followed soon afterwards--and I trust +that his ascension may be no further distant than your Excellency +desires."</p> + +<p>He laughed at his blasphemous jest, and the Princess laughed too, a +little wildly, for she could hardly control her joy.</p> + +<p>"And who wounded him?" she asked suddenly. "You know everything, you +must know that also."</p> + +<p>"Madam," said the dwarf, fixing his eyes on hers, "we both know the name +of the person who wounded Don John, very well indeed, I regret that I +should not be able to recall it at this moment. His Highness has forgotten +it too, I am sure."</p> + +<p>The Princess's expression did not change, but she returned his gaze +steadily during several seconds, and then nodded slowly to show that she +understood. Then she looked away and was silent for a moment.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry I was rough with you, Adonis," she said at last, +thoughtfully. "It was hard to believe you at first, and if the Prince had +been dead, as we all believed, your jesting would have been abominable. +There,"--she unclasped a diamond brooch from her bodice--"take that, +Adonis--you can turn it into money."</p> + +<p>The Princess's financial troubles were notorious, and she hardly ever +possessed any ready gold.</p> + +<p>"I shall keep it as the most precious of my possessions," answered the +dwarf readily.</p> + +<p>"No," she said quickly. "Sell it. The King--I mean--some one may see it +if you keep it."</p> + +<p>"It shall be sold to-morrow, then," replied the jester, bending his head +to hide his smile, for he understood what she meant.</p> + +<p>"One thing more," she said; "Don John did not send you down to tell this +news to the court without warning. He meant that I should know it before +any one else. You have told me--now go away and do not tell others."</p> + +<p>Adonis hesitated a moment. He wished to do Don John's bidding if he +could, but he knew his danger, and that he should be forgiven if, to save +his own head, he did not execute the commission. The Princess wished an +immediate answer, and she had no difficulty in guessing the truth.</p> + +<p>"His Highness sent you to find Doña Dolores," she said. "Is that +not true?"</p> + +<p>"It is true," replied Adonis. "But," he added, anticipating her wish out +of fear, "it is not easy to find Doña Dolores."</p> + +<p>"It is impossible. Did you expect to find her by waiting in this corner! +Adonis, it is safer for you to serve me than Don John, and in serving me +you will help his interests. You know that. Listen to me--Doña +Dolores must believe him dead till to-morrow morning. She must on no +account find out that he is alive."</p> + +<p>At that moment the officer who had offered to get information for the +dwarf returned. Seeing the latter in conversation with such a great +personage, he waited at a little distance.</p> + +<p>"If you have found out where Doña Dolores de Mendoza is at this +moment, my dear sir," said Adonis, "pray tell the Princess of Eboli, who is +very anxious to know."</p> + +<p>The officer bowed and came nearer.</p> + +<p>"Doña Dolores de Mendoza is in his Majesty's inner apartment," he +said.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XX'></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + + +<p>Dolores and Ruy Gomez had passed through the outer vestibule, and he +left her to pursue his way towards the western end of the Alcazar, which +was at a considerable distance from the royal apartments. Dolores went down +the corridor till she came to the niche and the picture before which Don +John had paused to read the Princess of Eboli's letter after supper. She +stopped a moment, for she suddenly felt that her strength was exhausted and +that she must rest or break down altogether. She leaned her weight against +the elaborately carved railing that shut off the niche like a shrine, and +looked at the painting, which was one of Raphael's smaller masterpieces, a +Holy Family so smoothly and delicately painted that it jarred upon her at +that moment as something untrue and out of all keeping with possibility. +Though most perfectly drawn and coloured, the spotlessly neat figures with +their airs of complacent satisfaction seemed horribly out of place in the +world of suffering she was condemned to dwell in, and she fancied, somewhat +irreverently and resentfully, that they would look as much out of keeping +with their surroundings in a heaven that must be won by the endurance of +pain. Their complacent smiles seemed meant for her anguish, and she turned +from the picture in displeasure, and went on.</p> + +<p>She was going back to her sister on the terrace, and she was going to +kneel once more beside the dear head of the man she had loved, and to say +one last prayer before his face was covered for ever. At the thought she +felt that she needed no rest again, for the vision drew her to the +sorrowful presence of its reality, and she could not have stopped again if +she had wished to. She must go straight on, on to the staircase, up the +long flight of steps, through the lonely corridors, and out at hist to the +moonlit terrace where Inez was waiting. She went forward in a dream, +without pausing. Since she had freed her father she had a right to go back +to her grief. But as she went along, lightly and quickly, it seemed beyond +her own belief that she should have found strength for what she had done +that night. For the strength of youth is elastic and far beyond its own +knowledge. Dolores had reached the last passage that led out upon the +terrace, when she heard hurrying footsteps behind her, and a woman in a +cloak slipped beside her, walking very easily and smoothly. It was the +Princess of Eboli. She had left the dwarf, after frightening him into +giving up his search for Dolores, and she was hastening to Don John's rooms +to make sure that the jester had not deceived her or been himself deceived +in some way she could not understand.</p> + +<p>Dolores had lost her cloak in the hall, and was bareheaded, in her court +dress. The Princess recognized her in the gloom and stopped her.</p> + +<p>"I have looked for you everywhere," she said. "Why did you run away from +me before?"</p> + +<p>"It was my blind sister who was with you," answered Dolores, who knew +her voice at once and had understood from her father what had happened. +"Where are you going now?" she asked, without giving the Princess time to +put a question.</p> + +<p>"I was looking for you. I wish you to come and stay with me +to-night--"</p> + +<p>"I will stay with my father. I thank you for your kindness, but I would +not on any account leave him now."</p> + +<p>"Your father is in prison--in the west tower--he has just been sent +there. How can you stay with him?"</p> + +<p>"You are well informed," said Dolores quietly. "But your husband is just +now gone to release him. I gave Don Ruy Gomez the order which his Majesty +had himself placed in my hands, and the Prince was kind enough to take it +to the west tower himself. My father is unconditionally free."</p> + +<p>The Princess looked fixedly at Dolores while the girl was speaking, but +it was very dark in the corridor and the lamp was flickering to go out in +the night breeze. The only explanation of Mendoza's release lay in the fact +that the King was already aware that Don John was alive and in no danger. +In that case Dolores knew it, too. It was no great matter, though she had +hoped to keep the girl out of the way of hearing the news for a day or two. +Dolores' mournful face might have told her that she was mistaken, if there +had been more light; but it was far too dark to see shades of colour or +expression.</p> + +<p>"So your father is free!" she said. "Of course, that was to be expected, +but I am glad that he has been set at liberty at once."</p> + +<p>"I do not think it was exactly to be expected," answered Dolores, in +some surprise, and wondering whether there could have been any simpler way +of getting what she had obtained by such extraordinary means.</p> + +<p>"He might have been kept under arrest until to-morrow morning, I +suppose," said the Princess quietly. "But the King is of course anxious to +destroy the unpleasant impression produced by this absurd affair, as soon +as possible."</p> + +<p>"Absurd!" Dolores' anger rose and overflowed at the word. "Do you dare +to use such a word to me to-night?"</p> + +<p>"My dear Dolores, why do you lose your temper about such a thing?" asked +the Princess, in a conciliatory tone. "Of course if it had all ended as we +expected it would, I never should use such a word--if Don John had +died--"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" Dolores held her by the wrist in an instant and the +maddest excitement was in her voice.</p> + +<p>"What I mean? Why--" the Princess stopped short, realizing that Dolores +might not know the truth after all. "What did I say?" she asked, to gain +time. "Why do you hold my hand like that?"</p> + +<p>"You called the murder of Don John an absurd affair, and then you said, +'if Don John had died'--as if he were not lying there dead in his room, +twenty paces from where you stand! Are you mad? Are you playing some +heartless comedy with me? What does it all mean?"</p> + +<p>The Princess was very worldly wise, and she saw at a glance that she +must tell Dolores the truth. If she did not, the girl would soon learn it +from some one else, but if she did, Dolores would always remember who had +told her the good news.</p> + +<p>"My dear," she said very gently, "let my wrist go and let me take your +arm. We do not understand each other, or you would not be so angry with me. +Something has happened of which you do not know--"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! I know the whole truth!" Dolores interrupted her, and resisted +being led along in a slow walk. "Let me go to him!" she cried. "I only wish +to see him once more--"</p> + +<p>"But, dearest child, listen to me--if I do not tell you everything at +once, it is because the shock might hurt you. There is some hope that he +may not die--"</p> + +<p>"Hope! Oh no, no, no! I saw him lying dead--"</p> + +<p>"He had fainted, dear. He was not dead--"</p> + +<p>"Not dead?" Dolores' voice broke. "Tell me--tell me quickly." She +pressed her hand to her side.</p> + +<p>"No. He came to himself after you had left him--he is alive. No--listen +to me--yes, dear, he is alive and not much hurt. The wound was a scratch, +and he was only stunned--he is well--to-morrow he will be as well as +ever--ah, dear, I told you so!"</p> + +<p>Dolores had borne grief, shame, torment of mind that night, as bravely +as ever a woman bore all three, but the joy of the truth that he lived +almost ended her life then and there. She fell back upon the Princess's arm +and threw out her hands wildly, as if she were fighting for breath, and the +lids of her eyes quivered violently and then were quite still, and she +uttered a short, unnatural sound that was more like a groan of pain than a +cry of happiness.</p> + +<p>The Princess was very strong, and held her, steadying herself against +the wall, thinking anything better than to let her slip to the floor and +lie swooning on the stone pavement. But the girl was not unconscious, and +in a moment her own strength returned.</p> + +<p>"Let me go!" she cried wildly. "Let me go to him, or I shall die!"</p> + +<p>"Go, child--go," said the Princess, with an accent of womanly kindness +that was rare in her voice. But Dolores did not hear it, for she was +already gone.</p> + +<p>Dolores saw nothing in the room, as she entered, but the eyes of the man +she loved, though Inez was still beside him. Dolores threw herself wildly +into his arms and hid her face, crying out incoherent words between little +showers of happy tears; and her hands softly beat upon his shoulders and +against his neck, and stole up wondering to his cheeks and touched his +hair, as she drew back her head and held him still to look at him and see +that he was whole. She had no speech left, for it was altogether beyond the +belief of any sense but touch itself that a man should rise unhurt from the +dead, to go on living as if nothing not common had happened in his life, to +have his strength at once, to look into her eyes and rain kisses on the +lids still dark with grief for his death. Sight could not believe the +sight, hearing could not but doubt the sound, yet her hands held him and +touched him, and it was he, unhurt saving for a scratch and a bruise. In +her overwhelming happiness, she had no questions, and the first syllables +that her lips could shape made broken words of love, and of thanks to +Heaven that he had been saved alive for her, while her hands still +fluttered to his face and beat gently and quickly on his shoulders and his +arms, as if fearing lest he should turn to incorporeal light, without +substance under her touch, and vanish then in air, as happiness does in a +dream, leaving only pain behind.</p> + +<p>But at last she threw back her head and let him go, and her hands +brushed away the last tears from her grey eyes, and she looked into his +face and smiled with parted lips, drinking the sight of him with her breath +and eyes and heart. One moment so, and then they kissed as only man and +woman can when there has been death between them and it is gone not to come +back again.</p> + +<p>Then memory returned, though very slowly and broken in many places, for +it seemed to her as if she had not been separated from him a moment, and as +if he must know all she had done without hearing her story in words. The +time had been so short since she had kissed him last, in the little room +beyond: there had been the minutes of waiting until the King had come, and +then the trying of the door, and then the quarrel, that had lasted a short +ten minutes to end in Don John's fall; then the half hour during which he +had lain unconscious and alone till Inez had come at the moment when +Dolores had gone down to the throne room; and after that the short few +minutes in which she had met her father, and then her interview with the +King, which had not lasted long, and now she was with him again; and it was +not two hours since they had parted--a lifetime of two hours.</p> + +<p>"I cannot believe it!" she cried, and now she laughed at last. "I +cannot, I cannot! It is impossible!"</p> + +<p>"We are both alive," he answered. "We are both flesh and blood, and +breathing. I feel as if I had been in an illness or in a sleep that had +lasted very long."</p> + +<p>"And I in an awful dream." Her face grew grave as she thought of what +was but just passed. "You must know it all--surely you know it already--oh, +yes! I need not tell it all."</p> + +<p>"Something Inez has told me," he replied, "and some things I guess, but +I do not know everything. You must try and tell me--but you should not be +here--it is late. When my servants know that I am living, they will come +back, and my gentlemen and my officers. They would have left me here all +night, if I had been really dead, lest being seen near my body should send +them to trial for my death." He laughed. "They were wise enough in their +way. But you cannot stay here."</p> + +<p>"If the whole court found me here, it would not matter," answered +Dolores. "Their tongues can take nothing from my name which my own words +have not given them to feed on."</p> + +<p>"I do not understand," he said, suddenly anxious. "What have you said? +What have you done?"</p> + +<p>Inez came near them from the window, by which she had been standing. She +laid a hand on Dolores' arm.</p> + +<p>"I will watch," she said. "If I hear anything, I will warn you, and you +can go into the small room again."</p> + +<p>She went out almost before either of them could thank her. They had, +indeed, forgotten her presence in the room, being accustomed to her being +near them; but she could no longer bear to stay, listening to their loving +words that made her loneliness so very dark. And now, too, she had memories +of her own, which she would keep secret to the end of her life,--beautiful +and happy recollections of that sweet moment when the man that seemed dead +had breathed and had clasped her in his arms, taking her for the other, and +had kissed her as he would have kissed the one he loved. She knew at last +what a kiss might be, and that was much; but she knew also what it was to +kneel by her dead love and to feel his life come back, breath by breath and +beat by beat, till he was all alive; and few women have felt that or can +guess how great it is to feel. It was better to go out into the dark and +listen, lest any one should disturb the two, than to let her memories of +short happiness be marred by hearing words that were not meant for her.</p> + +<p>"She found you?" asked Dolores, when she was gone.</p> + +<p>"Yes, she found me. You had gone down, she said, to try and save your +father. He is safe now!" he laughed.</p> + +<p>"She found you alive." Dolores lingered on the words. "I never envied +her before, I think; and it is not because if I had stayed I should have +suffered less, dear." She put up her hands upon his shoulders again. "It is +not for that, but to have thought you dead and to have seen you grow alive +again, to have watched your face, to have seen your eyes wake and the +colour come back to your cheeks and the warmth to your dear hands! I would +have given anything for that, and you would rather that I should have been +there, would you not?" She laughed low and kissed away the answer from his +lips. "If I had stayed beside you, it would have been sooner, love. You +would have felt me there even in your dream of death, and you would have +put out your hand to come back to me. Say that you would! You could not +have let me lie there many minutes longer breaking my heart over you and +wanting to die, too, so that we might be buried together. Surely my kisses +would have brought you back!"</p> + +<p>"I dreamed they did, as mine would you."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Told them all? Told whom? The King? What did you say?" His face was +grave again.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Scratched me. I was only stunned for a while."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"I see, yes. Go on!" Don John was listening breathlessly, forgetting the +pain he still suffered from time to time.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"What did you say?" asked Don John very anxiously. "What did you tell +them all? That you had been here?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"That we were married already, secretly?" he asked. "You might have said +that."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Great God!" exclaimed Don John starting. "And you did that to save your +father?"</p> + +<p>She had covered her face with her hands for a moment. Then suddenly she +rose and turned away from him, and paced the floor.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"What would have become of you?" Don John's eyes followed her in loving +wonder.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Forgive you? What? For doing the bravest thing a woman ever did?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"It was magnificent," he said at last. "But it will be hard to undo, +very hard."</p> + +<p>"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--"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" she cried, in sudden fear. "Oh, do not speak of death again +to-night! I cannot bear the word!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He was silent for a moment, and his eyes looked quickly to the door and +back to Dolores' face.</p> + +<p>"I cannot go away," she cried, nestling to him. "You will not make me +go? What does it matter?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"You have not told me," Dolores began, but her eyes laughed in his.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"It is ours already," she cried happily. "But is this wise, love? Are +you not too quick?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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 winding 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"This is the priest of the west tower, your Highness," said Adonis. "He +is a good priest, but he is a little frightened now."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"But--" the little priest hesitated--"but, your Highness--the banns--or +the bishop's license--"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"The witnesses of this," faltered the old man, seeing that he must +yield, but doubtful still.</p> + +<p>"This lady is Doña Inez de Mendoza," said Don John, "and this is +Miguel de Antona, the court jester. They are sufficient."</p> + +<p>So it chanced that the witnesses of Don John of Austria's secret +marriage were a blind girl and the King's fool.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>That was hardly done when the outer door was opened wide, and a clear, +formal voice was heard speaking outside.</p> + +<p>"His Majesty the King!" cried the chamberlain who walked before +Philip.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He paused a moment, and again the King slowly nodded, but this time he +smiled also, and seemed much pleased.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>A third time the King nodded, and this time not ungraciously, since +matters had gone well for him.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I thank your Majesty. And moreover, I desire permission to present to +your Majesty--"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"--My wedded wife," said Don John, completing the sentence.</p> + +<p>"Your wife!" exclaimed the King, in great surprise. "Are you married +already?"</p> + +<p>"Wedded man and wife, Sire," answered Don John, in tones that all could +hear.</p> + +<p>"And what does Mendoza say to this?" asked Philip, looking round at the +veteran soldier.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But there were a few who were ill pleased; for Antonio Perez said +nothing, and absently smoothed his black hair with his immaculate white +hand, and the Princess of Eboli was very silent, too, for it seemed to her +that Don John's sudden marriage, and his reconciliation with his brother, +had set back the beginning of her plan beyond the bounds of possible +accomplishment; and she was right in that, and the beginning of her +resentment against Don John for having succeeded in marrying Dolores in +spite of every one was the beginning of the chain that led her to her own +dark fate. For though she held the cards long in her hands after that, and +played for high stakes, as she had done before, fortune failed her at the +last, and she came to unutterable ruin.</p> + +<p>It may be, too, that Don John's splendid destiny was measured on that +night, and cut off beforehand, though his most daring fights were not yet +fought, nor his greatest victories won. To tell more here would be to tell +too much, and much, too, that is well told elsewhere. But this is true, +that he loved Dolores with all his heart; that the marriage remained a +court secret; and that she bore him one fair daughter, and died, and the +child grew up under another reign, a holy nun, and was abbess of the +convent of Las Huelgas whither Dolores was to have gone on the morning +after that most eventful night.</p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13243 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..086474a --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #13243 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13243) diff --git a/old/13243-8.txt b/old/13243-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0657c2a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13243-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10222 @@ +Project Gutenberg's In The Palace Of The King, by F. Marion Crawford + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: In The Palace Of The King + A Love Story Of Old Madrid + +Author: F. Marion Crawford + +Release Date: August 21, 2004 [EBook #13243] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE PALACE OF THE KING *** + + + + +Produced by Kevin Handy, John Hagerson and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + +IN THE PALACE OF THE KING + +A LOVE STORY OF OLD MADRID + +BY +F. MARION CRAWFORD + + + +1900 + + To my old friend + GEORGE P. BRETT + + New York, October, 1906 + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER I + CHAPTER II + CHAPTER III + CHAPTER IV + CHAPTER V + CHAPTER VI + CHAPTER VII + CHAPTER VIII + CHAPTER IX + CHAPTER X + CHAPTER XI + CHAPTER XII + CHAPTER XIII + CHAPTER XIV + CHAPTER XV + CHAPTER XVI + CHAPTER XVII + CHAPTER XVIII + CHAPTER XIX + CHAPTER XX + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +Two young girls sat in a high though very narrow room of the old Moorish +palace to which King Philip the Second had brought his court when he +finally made Madrid his capital. It was in the month of November, in the +afternoon, and the light was cold and grey, for the two tall windows +looked due north, and a fine rain had been falling all the morning. The +stones in the court were drying now, in patches, but the sky was like a +smooth vault of cast lead, closing over the city that lay to the +northward, dark, wet and still, as if its life had shrunk down under +ground, away from the bitter air and the penetrating damp. + +The room was scantily furnished, but the few objects it contained, the +carved table, the high-backed chairs and the chiselled bronze brazier, +bore the stamp of the time when art had not long been born again. On the +walls there were broad tapestries of bold design, showing green forests +populated by all sorts of animals in stiff attitudes, staring at one +another in perpetual surprise. Below the tapestry a carved walnut +wainscoting went round the room, and the door was panelled and flanked +by fluted doorposts of the same dark wood, on which rested corbels +fashioned into curling acanthus leaves, to hold up the cornice, which +itself made a high shelf over the door. Three painted Italian vases, +filled with last summer's rose leaves and carefully sealed lest the +faint perfume should be lost, stood symmetrically on this projection, +their contents slowly ripening for future use. The heap of white ashes, +under which the wood coals were still alive in the big brazier, diffused +a little warmth through the chilly room. + +The two girls were sitting at opposite ends of the table. The one held a +long goose-quill pen, and before her lay several large sheets of paper +covered with fine writing. Her eyes followed the lines slowly, and from +time to time she made a correction in the manuscript. As she read, her +lips moved to form words, but she made no sound. Now and then a faint +smile lent singular beauty to her face, and there was more light in her +eyes, too; then it disappeared again, and she read on, carefully and +intently, as if her soul were in the work. + +She was very fair, as Spaniards sometimes are still, and were more often +in those days, with golden hair and deep grey eyes; she had the high +features, the smooth white throat, and the finely modelled ears that +were the outward signs of the lordly Gothic race. When she was not +smiling, her face was sad, and sometimes the delicate colour left her +clear cheek and she grew softly pale, till she seemed almost delicate. +Then the sensitive nostrils quivered almost imperceptibly, and the +curving lips met closely as if to keep a secret; but that look came +seldom, and for the most part her eyes were quiet and her mouth was +kind. It was a face that expressed devotion, womanly courage, and +sensitiveness rather than an active and dominating energy. The girl was +indeed a full-grown woman, more than twenty years of age, but the early +bloom of girlhood was on her still, and if there was a little sadness in +the eyes, a man could guess well enough that it rose from the heart, and +had but one simple source, which was neither a sudden grief nor a +long-hidden sorrow, but only youth's one secret--love. Maria Dolores de +Mendoza knew all of fear for the man she loved, that any woman could +know, and much of the hope that is love's early life; but she knew +neither the grief, nor the disappointment, nor the shame for another, +nor for herself, nor any of the bitterness that love may bring. She did +not believe that such things could be wrung from hearts that were true +and faithful; and in that she was right. The man to whom she had given +her heart and soul and hope had given her his, and if she feared for +him, it was not lest he should forget her or his own honour. He was a +man among men, good and true; but he was a soldier, and a leader, who +daily threw his life to the battle, as Douglas threw the casket that +held the Bruce's heart into the thick of the fight, to win it back, or +die. The man she loved was Don John of Austria, the son of the great +dead Emperor Charles the Fifth, the uncle of dead Don Carlos and the +half brother of King Philip of Spain--the man who won glory by land and +sea, who won back Granada a second time from the Moors, as bravely as +his great grandfather Ferdinand had won it, but less cruelly, who won +Lepanto, his brother's hatred and a death by poison, the foulest stain +in Spanish history. + +It was November now, and it had been June of the preceding year when he +had ridden away from Madrid to put down the Moriscoes, who had risen +savagely against the hard Spanish rule. He had left Dolores de Mendoza +an hour before he mounted, in the freshness of the early summer morning, +where they had met many a time, on a lonely terrace above the King's +apartments. There were roses there, growing almost wild in great earthen +jars, where some Moorish woman had planted them in older days, and +Dolores could go there unseen with her blind sister, who helped her +faithfully, on pretence of taking the poor girl thither to breathe the +sweet quiet air. For Inez was painfully sensitive of her affliction, and +suffered, besides blindness, all that an over-sensitive and imaginative +being can feel. + +She was quite blind, with no memory of light, though she had been born +seeing, as other children. A scarlet fever had destroyed her sight. +Motherless from her birth, her father often absent in long campaigns, +she had been at the mercy of a heartless nurse, who had loved the fair +little Dolores and had secretly tormented the younger child, as soon as +she was able to understand, bringing her up to believe that she was so +repulsively ugly as to be almost a monster. Later, when the nurse was +gone, and Dolores was a little older, the latter had done all she could +to heal the cruel wound and to make her sister know that she had soft +dark hair, a sad and gentle face, with eyes that were quite closed, and +a delicate mouth that had a little half painful, half pathetic way of +twitching when anything hurt her,--for she was easily hurt. Very pale +always, she turned her face more upwards than do people who have sight, +and being of good average woman's height and very slender and finely +made, this gave her carriage an air of dignity that seemed almost pride +when she was offended or wounded. But the first hurt had been deep and +lasting, and she could never quite believe that she was not offensive to +the eyes of those who saw her, still less that she was sometimes almost +beautiful in a shadowy, spiritual way. The blind, of all their +sufferings, often feel most keenly the impossibility of knowing whether +the truth is told them about their own looks; and he who will try and +realize what it is to have been always sightless will understand that +this is not vanity, but rather a sort of diffidence towards which all +people should be very kind. Of all necessities of this world, of all +blessings, of all guides to truth, God made light first. There are many +sharp pains, many terrible sufferings and sorrows in life that come and +wrench body and soul, and pass at last either into alleviation or +recovery, or into the rest of death; but of those that abide a lifetime +and do not take life itself, the worst is hopeless darkness. We call +ignorance 'blindness,' and rage 'blindness,' and we say a man is 'blind' +with grief. + +Inez sat opposite her sister, at the other end of the table, listening. +She knew what Dolores was doing, how during long months her sister had +written a letter, from time to time, in little fragments, to give to the +man she loved, to slip into his hand at the first brief meeting or to +drop at his feet in her glove, or even, perhaps, to pass to him by the +blind girl's quick fingers. For Inez helped the lovers always, and Don +John was very gentle with her, talking with her when he could, and even +leading her sometimes when she was in a room she did not know. Dolores +knew that she could only hope to exchange a word with him when he came +back, and that the terrace was bleak and wet now, and the roses +withered, and that her father feared for her, and might do some +desperate thing if he found her lover talking with her where no one +could see or hear. For old Mendoza knew the world and the court, and he +foresaw that sooner or later some royal marriage would be made for Don +John of Austria, and that even if Dolores were married to him, some +tortuous means would be found to annul her marriage, whereby a great +shame would darken his house. Moreover, he was the King's man, devoted +to Philip body and soul, as his sovereign, ready to give his life ten +times for his sovereign's word, and thinking it treason to doubt a royal +thought or motive. He was a rigid old man, a Spaniard of Spain's great +days, fearless, proud, intolerant, making Spain's honour his idol, +capable of gentleness only to his children, and loving them dearly, but +with that sort of severity and hardness in all questions where his +authority was concerned which can make a father's true affection the +most intolerable burden to a girl of heart, and which, where a son is +its object, leads sooner or later to fierce quarrels and lifelong +estrangement. And so it had happened now. For the two girls had a +brother much older than they, Rodrigo; and he had borne to be treated +like a boy until he could bear no more, and then he had left his +father's house in anger to find out his own fortune in the world, as +many did in his day,--a poor gentleman seeking distinction in an army of +men as brave as himself, and as keen to win honour on every field. Then, +as if to oppose his father in everything, he had attached himself to Don +John, and was spoken of as the latter's friend, and Mendoza feared lest +his son should help Don John to a marriage with Dolores. But in this he +was mistaken, for Rodrigo was as keen, as much a Spaniard, and as much +devoted to the honour of his name as his father could be; and though he +looked upon Don John as the very ideal of what a soldier and a prince +should be, he would have cut off his own right hand rather than let it +give his leader the letter Dolores had been writing so long; and she +knew this and feared her brother, and tried to keep her secret from him. + +Inez knew all, and she also was afraid of Rodrigo and of her father, +both for her sister's sake and her own. So, in that divided house, the +father was against the son, and the daughters were allied against them +both, not in hatred, but in terror and because of Dolores' great love +for Don John of Austria. + +As they sat at the table it began to rain again, and the big drops beat +against the windows furiously for a few minutes. The panes were round +and heavy, and of a greenish yellow colour, made of blown glass, each +with a sort of knob in the middle, where the iron blowpipe had been +separated from the hot mass. It was impossible to see through them at +all distinctly, and when the sky was dark with rain they admitted only a +lurid glare into the room, which grew cold and colourless again when the +rain ceased. Inez had been sitting motionless a long time, her elbow on +the table, her chin resting upon her loosely clasped white hands, her +blind face turned upward, listening to the turning of the pages and to +the occasional scratching of her sister's pen. She sighed, moved, and +let her hands fall upon the table before her in a helpless, half +despairing way, as she leaned back in the big carved chair. Dolores +looked up at once, for she was used to helping her sister in her +slightest needs and to giving her a ready sympathy in every mood. + +"What is it?" she asked quickly. "Do you want anything, dear?" + +"Have you almost finished?" + +The girl's voice would almost have told that she was blind. It was sweet +and low, but it lacked life; though not weak, it was uncertain in +strength and full of a longing that could never be satisfied, but that +often seemed to come within possible reach of satisfaction. There was in +the tones, too, the perpetual doubt of one from whom anything might be +hidden by silence, or by the least tarn of words. Every passing hope and +fear, and every pleasure and pain, were translated into sound by its +quick changes. It trusted but could not always quite promise to believe; +it swelled and sank as the sensitive heart beat faster or slower. It +came from a world without light, in which only sound had meaning, and +only touch was certainty. + +"Yes," answered Dolores. "I have almost finished--there is only half a +page more to read over." + +"And why do you read it over?" asked Inez. "Do you change what you have +written? Do you not think now exactly as you did when you wrote?" + +"No; I feel a great deal more--I want better words! And then it all +seems so little, and so badly written, and I want to say things that no +one ever said before, many, many things. He will laugh--no, not that! +How could he? But my letter will seem childish to him. I know it will. I +wish I had never written it I Do you think I had better give it to him, +after all?" + +"How can I tell?" asked Inez hopelessly. "You have never read it to me. +I do not know what you have said to him." + +"I have said that I love him as no man was ever loved before," answered +Dolores, and the true words seemed to thrill with a life of their own as +she spoke them. + +Then she was silent for a moment, and looked down at the written pages +without seeing them. Inez did not move, and seemed hardly to breathe. +Then Dolores spoke again, pressing both her hands upon the paper before +her unconsciously. + +"I have told him that I love him, and shall love him for ever and ever," +she said; "that I will live for him, die for him, suffer for him, serve +him! I have told him all that and much more." + +"More? That is much already. But he loves you, too. There is nothing you +can promise which he will not promise, and keep, too, I think. But more! +What more can you have said than that?" + +"There is nothing I would not say if I could find words!" + +There was a fullness of life in her voice which, to the other's +uncertain tones, was as sunshine to moonlight. + +"You will find words when you see him this evening," said Inez slowly. +"And they will be better than anything you can write. Am I to give him +your letter?" + +Dolores looked at her sister quickly, for there was a little constraint +in the accent of the last phrase. + +"I do not know," she answered. "How can I tell what may happen, or how I +shall see him first?" + +"You will see him from the window presently. I can hear the guards +forming already to meet him--and you--you will be able to see him from +the window." + +Inez had stopped and had finished her speech, as if something had choked +her. She turned sideways in her chair when she had spoken, as if to +listen better, for she was seated with her back to the light. + +"I will tell you everything," said Maria Dolores softly. "It will be +almost as if you could see him, too." + +"Almost--" + +Inez spoke the one word and broke off abruptly, and rose from her chair. +In the familiar room she moved almost as securely as if she could see. +She went to the window and listened. Dolores came and stood beside her. + +"What is it, dear?" she asked. "What is the matter? What has hurt you? +Tell me!" + +"Nothing," answered the blind girl, "nothing, dear. I was thinking--how +lonely I shall be when you and he are married, and they send me to a +convent, or to our dismal old house in Valladolid." + +A faint colour came into her pale face, and feeling it she turned away +from Dolores; for she was not speaking the truth, or at least not half +of it all. + +"I will not let you go!" answered Dolores, putting one arm round her +sister's waist. "They shall never take you from me. And if in many years +from now we are married, you shall always be with us, and I will always +take care of you as I do now." + +Inez sighed and pressed her forehead and blind eyes to the cold window, +almost withdrawing herself from the pressure of Dolores' arm. Down below +there was tramping of heavy feet, as the companies of foot guards took +their places, marching across the broad space, in their wrought steel +caps and breastplates, carrying their tasselled halberds on their +shoulders. An officer's voice gave sharp commands. The gust that had +brought the rain had passed by, and a drizzling mist, caused by a sudden +chill, now completely obscured the window. + +"Can you see anything?" asked Inez suddenly, in a low voice. "I think I +hear trumpets far away." + +"I cannot see--there is mist on the glass, too. Do you hear the trumpets +clearly?" + +"I think I do. Yes--I hear them clearly now." She stopped. "He is +coming," she added under her breath. + +Dolores listened, but she had not the almost supernatural hearing of the +blind, and could distinguish nothing but the tramping of the soldiers +below, and her sister's irregular breathing beside her, as Inez held her +breath again and again in order to catch the very faint and distant +sound. + +"Open the window," she said almost sharply, "I know I hear the +trumpets." + +Her delicate fingers felt for the bolts with almost feverish anxiety. +Dolores helped her and opened the window wide. A strain of distant +clarions sounding a triumphant march came floating across the wet city. +Dolores started, and her face grew radiant, while her fresh lips opened +a little as if to drink in the sound with the wintry air. Beside her, +Inez grew slowly pale and held herself by the edge of the window frame, +gripping it hard, and neither of the two girls felt any sensation of +cold. Dolores' grey eyes grew wide and bright as she gazed fixedly +towards the city where the avenue that led to the palace began, but +Inez, bending a little, turned her ear in the same direction, as if she +could not bear to lose a single note of the music that told her how Don +John of Austria had come home in triumph, safe and whole, from his long +campaign in the south. + +Slowly it came nearer, strain upon strain, each more clear and loud and +full of rejoicing. At first only the high-pitched clarions had sent +their call to the window, but now the less shrill trumpets made rich +harmonies to the melody, and the deep bass horns gave the marching time +to the rest, in short full blasts that set the whole air shaking as with +little peak of thunder. Below, the mounted officers gave orders, +exchanged short phrases, cantered to their places, and came back again a +moment later to make some final arrangement--their splendid gold-inlaid +corslets and the rich caparisons of their horses looking like great +pieces of jewelry that moved hither and thither in the thin grey mist, +while the dark red and yellow uniforms of the household guards +surrounded the square on three sides with broad bands of colour. Dolores +could see her father, who commanded them and to whom the officers came +for orders, sitting motionless and erect on his big black horse--a stern +figure, with close-cut grey beard, clad all in black saving his heavily +gilded breastplate and the silk sash he wore across it from shoulder to +sword knot. She shrank back a little, for she would not have let him see +her looking down from an upper window to welcome the returning visitor. + +"What is it? Do you see him? Is he there?" Inez asked the questions in a +breath, as she heard her sister move. + +"No--our father is below on his horse. He must not see us." And she +moved further into the embrasure. + +"You will not be able to see," said Inez anxiously. "How can you tell +me--I mean, how can you see, where you are?" + +Dolores laughed softly, but her laugh trembled with the happiness that +was coming so soon. + +"Oh, I see very well," she answered. "The window is wide open, you +know." + +"Yes--I know." + +Inez leaned back against the wall beside the window, letting her hand +drop in a hopeless gesture. The sample answer had hurt her, who could +never see, by its mere thoughtlessness and by the joy that made her +sister's voice quaver. The music grew louder and louder, and now there +came with it the sound of a great multitude, cheering, singing the march +with the trumpets, shouting for Don John; and all at once as the throng +burst from the street to the open avenue the voices drowned the clarions +for a moment, and a vast cry of triumph filled the whole air. + +"He is there! He is there!" repeated Inez, leaning towards the window +and feeling for the stone sill. + +But Dolores could not hear for the shouting. The clouds had lifted to +the westward and northward; and as the afternoon sun sank lower they +broke away, and the level rays drank up the gloom of the wintry day in +an instant. Dolores stood motionless before the window, undazzled, like +a statue of ivory and gold in a stone niche. With the light, as the +advancing procession sent the people before it, the trumpets rang high +and clear again, and the bright breastplates of the trumpeters gleamed +like dancing fire before the lofty standard that swayed with the slow +pace of its bearer's horse. Brighter and nearer came the colours, the +blazing armour, the standard, the gorgeous procession of victorious +men-at-arms; louder and louder blew the trumpets, higher and higher the +clouds were lifted from the lowering sun. Half the people of Madrid went +before, the rest flocked behind, all cheering or singing or shouting. +The stream of colour and light became a river, the river a flood, and in +the high tide of a young victor's glory Don John of Austria rode onward +to the palace gate. The mounted trumpeters parted to each side before +him, and the standard-bearer ranged his horse to the left, opposite the +banner of the King, which held the right, and Don John, on a grey Arab +mare, stood out alone at the head of his men, saluting his royal brother +with lowered sword and bent head. A final blast from the trumpets +sounded full and high, and again and again the shout of the great throng +went up like thunder and echoed from the palace walls, as King Philip, +in his balcony above the gate, returned the salute with his hand, and +bent a little forward over the stone railing. + +Dolores de Mendoza forgot her father and all that he might say, and +stood at the open window, looking down. She had dreamed of this moment; +she had seen visions of it in the daytime; she had told herself again +and again what it would be, how it must be; but the reality was beyond +her dreams and her visions and her imaginings, for she had to the full +what few women have in any century, and what few have ever had in the +blush of maidenhood,--the sight of the man she loved, and who loved her +with all his heart, coming home in triumph from a hard-fought war, +himself the leader and the victor, himself in youth's first spring, the +young idol of a warlike nation, and the centre of military glory. + +When he had saluted the King he sat still a moment on his horse and +looked upward, as if unconsciously drawn by the eyes that, of all +others, welcomed him at that moment; and his own met them instantly and +smiled, though his face betrayed nothing. But old Mendoza, motionless in +his saddle, followed the look, and saw; and although he would have +praised the young leader with the best of his friends, and would have +fought under him and for him as well as the bravest, yet at that moment +he would gladly have seen Don John of Austria fall dead from his horse +before his eyes. + +Don John dismounted without haste, and advanced to the gate as the King +disappeared from the balcony above. He was of very graceful figure and +bearing, not short, but looking taller than he really was by the +perfection of his proportions. The short reddish brown hair grew close +and curling on his small head, but left the forehead high, while it set +off the clear skin and the mobile features. A very small moustache +shaded his lip without hiding the boyish mouth, and at that time he wore +no beard. The lips, indeed, smiled often, and the expression of the +mouth was rather careless and good-humoured than strong. The strength of +the face was in the clean-cut jaw, while its real expression was in the +deep-set, fiery blue eyes, that could turn angry and fierce at one +moment, and tender as a woman's the next. + +He wore without exaggeration the military dress of his time,--a +beautifully chiselled corslet inlaid with gold, black velvet sleeves, +loose breeches of velvet and silk, so short that they did not descend +half way to the knees, while his legs were covered by tight hose and +leather boots, made like gaiters to clasp from the knee to the ankle and +heel. Over his shoulder hung a short embroidered cloak, and his head +covering was a broad velvet cap, in which were fastened the black and +yellow plumes of the House of Austria. + +As he came near to the gate, many friends moved forward to greet him, +and he gave his hand to all, with a frank smile and words of greeting. +But old Mendoza did not dismount nor move his horse a step nearer. Don +John, looking round before he went in, saw the grim face, and waved his +hand to Dolores' father; but the old man pretended that he saw nothing, +and made no answering gesture. Some one in the crowd of courtiers +laughed lightly. Old Mendoza's face never changed; but his knees must +have pressed the saddle suddenly, for his black horse stirred uneasily, +and tried to rear a little. Don John stopped short, and his eyes +hardened and grew very light before the smile could fade from his lips, +while he tried to find the face of the man whose laugh he had heard. But +that was impossible, and his look was grave and stern as he went in +under the great gate, the multitude cheering after him. + +From her high window Dolores had seen and heard also, for she had +followed every movement he made and every change of his expression, and +had faithfully told her sister what she saw, until the laugh came, short +and light, but cutting. And Inez heard that, too, for she was leaning +far forward upon the broad stone sill to listen for the sound of Don +John's voice. She drew back with a springing movement, and a sort of cry +of pain. + +"Some one is laughing at me!" she cried. "Some one is laughing because I +am trying to see!" + +Instantly Dolores drew her sister to her, kissing her tenderly, and +soothing her as one does a frightened child. + +"No, dear, no! It was not that--I saw what it was. Nobody was looking at +you, my darling. Do you know why some one laughed? It hurt me, too. He +smiled and waved his hand to our father, who took no notice of him. The +laugh was for that--and for me, because the man knew well enough that +our father does not mean that we shall ever marry. Do you see, dear? It +was not meant for you." + +"Did he really look up at us when you said so?" asked Inez, in a +smothered voice. + +"Who? The man who laughed?" + +"No. I mean--" + +"Don John? Yes. He looked up to us and smiled--as he often does at +me--with his eyes only, while his face was quite grave. He is not +changed at all, except that he looks more determined, and handsomer, and +braver, and stronger than ever! He does each time I see him!" + +But Inez was not listening. + +"That was worth living for--worth being blind for," she said suddenly, +"to hear the people shout and cheer for him as he came along. You who +can see it all do not understand what the sound means to me. For a +moment--only for a moment--I saw light--I know I saw a bright light +before my eyes. I am not dreaming. It made my heart beat, and it made my +head dizzy. It must have been light. Do you think it could be, Dolores?" + +"I do not know, dear," answered the other gently. + +But as the day faded and they sat together in the early dusk, Dolores +looked long and thoughtfully at the blind face. Inez loved Don John, +though she did not know it, and without knowing it she had told her +sister. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +When Don John had disappeared within the palace the people lingered a +little while, hoping that something might happen which would be worth +seeing, and then, murmuring a little in perfectly unreasonable +disappointment, they slowly dispersed. After that old Mendoza gave his +orders to the officers of the guards, the men tramped away, one +detachment after another, in a regular order; the cavalry that had +ridden up with Don John wheeled at a signal from the trumpets, and began +to ride slowly back to the city, pressing hard upon the multitude, and +before it was quite dark the square before the palace was deserted +again. The sky had cleared, the pavement was dry again, and the full +moon was rising. Two tall sentinels with halberds paced silently up and +down in the shadow. + +Dolores and her sister were still sitting in the dark when the door +opened, and a grey-haired servant in red and yellow entered the room, +bearing two lighted wax candles in heavy bronze candlesticks, which he +set upon the table. A moment later he was followed by old Mendoza, still +in his breastplate, as he had dismounted, his great spurs jingling on +his heavy boots, and his long basket-hilted sword trailing on the marble +pavement. He was bareheaded now, and his short hair, smooth and +grizzled, covered his energetic head like a close-fitting skull cap of +iron-grey velvet. He stood still before the table, his bony right hand +resting upon it and holding both his long gloves. The candlelight shone +upward into his dark face, and gleamed yellow in his angry eyes. + +Both the girls rose instinctively as their father entered; but they +stood close together, their hands still linked as if to defend each +other from a common enemy, though the hard man would have given his life +for either of them at any moment since they had come into the world. +They knew it, and trembled. + +"You have made me the laughing-stock of the court," he began slowly, and +his voice shook with anger. "What have you to say in your defence?" + +He was speaking to Dolores, and she turned a little pale. There was +something so cruelly hard in his tone and bearing that she drew back a +little, not exactly in bodily fear, but as a brave man may draw back a +step when another suddenly draws a weapon upon him. Instantly Inez moved +forward, raising one white hand in protest, and turning her blind face +to her father's gleaming eyes. + +"I am not speaking to you," he said roughly, "but you," he went on, +addressing Dolores, and the heavy table shook under his hand. "What +devil possessed you that you should shame me and yourself, standing at +your window to smile at Don John, as if he were the Espadero at a bull +fight and you the beauty of the ring--with all Madrid there to look on, +from his Majesty the King to the beggar in the road? Have you no +modesty, no shame, no blood that can blush? And if not, have you not +even so much woman's sense as should tell you that you are ruining your +name and mine before the whole world?" + +"Father! For the sake of heaven do not say such words--you must not! You +shall not!" + +Dolores' face was quite white now, as she gently pushed Inez aside and +faced the angry man. The table was between them. + +"Have I said one word more than the very truth?" asked Mendoza. "Does +not the whole court know that you love Don John of Austria--" + +"Let the whole world know it!" cried the girl bravely. "Am I ashamed to +love the best and bravest man that breathes?" + +"Let the whole world know that you are willing to be his toy, his +plaything--" + +"His wife, sir!" Dolores' voice was steady and clear as she interrupted +her father. "His wife," she repeated proudly; "And to-morrow, if you and +the King will not hinder us. God made you my father, but neither God nor +man has given you the right to insult me, and you shall not be +unanswered, so long as I have strength and breath to speak. But for you, +I should be Don John of Austria's wife to-day--and then, then his 'toy,' +his 'plaything'--yes, and his slave and his servant--what you will! I +love him, and I would work for him with my hands, as I would give my +blood and my life for his, if God would grant me that happiness and +grace, since you will not let me be his wife!" + +"His wife!" exclaimed Mendoza, with a savage sneer. "His wife--to be +married to-day and cast off to-morrow by a turn of the pen and the +twisting of a word that would prove your marriage void, in order that +Don John may be made the husband of some royal widowed lady, like Queen +Mary of the Scots! His wife!" He laughed bitterly. + +"You have an exalted opinion of your King, my father, since you suppose +that he would permit such deeds in Spain!" + +Dolores had drawn herself up to her full height as she spoke, and she +remained motionless as she awaited the answer to what she had said. It +was long in coming, though Mendoza's dark eyes met hers unflinchingly, +and his lips moved more than once as if he were about to speak. She had +struck a blow that was hard to parry, and she knew it. Inez stood beside +her, silent and breathing hard as she listened. + +"You think that I have nothing to say," he began at last, and his tone +had changed and was more calm. "You are right, perhaps. What should I +say to you, since you have lost all sense of shame and all thought of +respect or obedience? Do you expect that I shall argue with you, and try +to convince you that I am right, instead of forcing you to respect me +and yourself? Thank Heaven, I have never yet questioned my King's +thoughts, nor his motives, nor his supreme right to do whatsoever may be +for the honour and glory of Spain. My life is his, and all I have is +his, to do with it all as he pleases, by grace of his divine right. That +is my creed and my law--and if I have failed to bring you up in the same +belief, I have committed a great sin, and it will be counted against me +hereafter, though I have done what I could, to the best of my +knowledge." + +Mendoza lifted his sheathed sword and laid his right hand upon the +cross-bar of the basket hilt. + +"God--the King--Spain!" he said solemnly, as he pressed his lips to it +once for each article of his faith. + +"I do not wish to shake your belief," said Dolores coldly. "I daresay +that is impossible!" + +"As impossible as it is to make me change my determination," answered +Mendoza, letting his long sword rest on the pavement again. + +"And what may your determination be?" asked the girl, still facing him. + +Something in his face forewarned her of near evil and danger, as he +looked at her long without answering. She moved a little, so as to stand +directly in front of Inez. Taking an attitude that was almost defiant, +she began to speak rapidly, holding her hands behind her and pressing +herself back against her sister to attract the latter's attention; and +in her hand she held the letter she had written to Don John, folded into +the smallest possible space, for she had kept it ready in the wrist of +her tight sleeve, not knowing what might happen any moment to give her +an opportunity of sending it. + +"What have you determined?" she asked again, and then went on without +waiting for a reply. "In what way are you going to exhibit your power +over me? Do you mean to take me away from the court to live in +Valladolid again? Are you going to put me in the charge of some sour old +woman who will never let me out of her sight from morning till morning?" +She had found her sister's hand behind hers and had thrust the letter +into the fingers that closed quickly upon it. Then she laughed a little, +almost gaily. "Do you think that a score of sour old duennas could teach +me to forget the man I love, or could prevent me from sending him a +message every day if I chose? Do you think you could hinder Don John of +Austria, who came back an hour ago from his victory the idol of all +Spain, the favourite of the people--brave, young, powerful, rich, +popular, beloved far more than the King himself, from seeing me every +day if he chose, so long as he were not away in war? And then--I will +ask you something more--do you think that father, or mother, or king, or +law, or country has power to will away the love of a woman who loves +with all her heart and soul and strength? Then answer me and tell me +what you have determined to do with me, and I will tell you my +determination, too, for I have one of my own, and shall abide by it, +come what may, and whatsoever you may do!" + +She paused, for she had heard Inez softly close the door as she went +out. The letter at least was safe, and if it were humanly possible, Inez +would find a means of delivering it; for she had all that strange +ingenuity of the blind in escaping observation which it seems impossible +that they should possess, but of which every one who has been much with +them is fully aware. Mendoza had seen Inez go out, and was glad that she +was gone, for her blind face sometimes disturbed him when he wished to +assert his authority. + +"Yes," he said, "I will tell you what I mean to do, and it is the only +thing left to me, for you have given me no choice. You are disobedient +and unruly, you have lost what little respect you ever had--or +showed--for me. But that is not all. Men have had unruly daughters +before, and yet have married them well, and to men who in the end have +ruled them. I do not speak of my affection for you both, since you have +none for me. But now, you are going beyond disobedience and lawlessness, +for you are ruining yourself and disgracing me, and I will neither +permit the one nor suffer the other." His voice rose harshly. "Do you +understand me? I intend to protect my name from you, and yours from the +world, in the only way possible. I intend to send you to Las Huelgas +to-morrow morning. I am in earnest, and unless you consent to give up +this folly and to marry as I wish, you shall stay there for the rest of +your natural life. Do you understand? And until to-morrow morning you +shall stay within these doors. We shall see whether Don John of Austria +will try to force my dwelling first and a convent of holy nuns +afterwards. You will be safe from him, I give you my word of +honour,--the word of a Spanish gentleman and of your father. You shall +be safe forever. And if Don John tries to enter here to-night, I will +kill him on the threshold. I swear that I will." + +He ceased speaking, turned, and began to walk up and down the small +room, his spurs and sword clanking heavily at every step. He had folded +his arms, and his head was bent low. + +A look of horror and fear had slowly risen in Dolores' face, for she +knew her father, and that he kept his word at every risk. She knew also +that the King held him in very high esteem, and was as firmly opposed to +her marriage as Mendoza himself, and therefore ready to help him to do +what he wished. It had never occurred to her that she could be suddenly +thrust out of sight in a religious institution, to be kept there at her +father's pleasure, even for her whole life. She was too young and too +full of life to have thought of such a possibility. She had indeed heard +that such things could be done, and had been done, but she had never +known such a case, and had never realized that she was so completely at +her father's mercy. For the first time in her life she felt real fear, +and as it fell upon her there came the sickening conviction that she +could not resist it, that her spirit was broken all at once, that in a +moment more she would throw herself at her father's feet and implore +mercy, making whatever promise he exacted, yet making it falsely, out of +sheer terror, in an utter degradation and abasement of all moral +strength, of which she had never even dreamed. She grew giddy as she +felt it coming upon her, and the lights of the two candles moved +strangely. Already she saw herself on her knees, sobbing with fear, +trying to take her father's hand, begging forgiveness, denying her love, +vowing submission and dutiful obedience in an agony of terror. For on +the other side she saw the dark corridors and gloomy cells of Las +Huelgas, the veiled and silent nuns, the abomination of despair that was +before her till she should die and escape at last,--the faint hope which +would always prevent her from taking the veil herself, yet a hope +fainter and fainter, crossed by the frightful uncertainty in which she +should be kept by those who guarded her. They would not even tell her +whether the man she loved were alive or dead, she could never know +whether he had given up her love, himself in despair, or whether, then, +as years went by, he would not lose the thread that took him back to the +memory of her, and forget--and love again. + +But then her strong nature rose again, and the vision of fear began to +fade as her faith in his love denied the last thought with scorn. Many a +time, when words could tell no more, and seemed exhausted just when +trust was strongest, he had simply said, "I love you, as you love me," +and somehow the little phrase meant all, and far more than the tender +speeches that sometimes formed themselves so gracefully, and yet +naturally and simply, because they, too, came straight from the heart. +So now, in her extreme need, the plain words came back to her in his +voice, "I love you, as you love me," with a sudden strength of faith in +him that made her live again, and made fear seem impossible. While her +father slowly paced the floor in silence, she thought what she should +do, and whether there could be anything which she would not do, if Don +John of Austria were kept a prisoner from her; and she felt sure that +she could overcome every obstacle and laugh at every danger, for the +hope of getting to him. If she would, so would he, since he loved her as +she loved him. But for all the world, he would not have her throw +herself upon her father's mercy and make false promises and sob out +denials of her love, out of fear. Death would be better than that. + +"Do as you will with me, since you have the power," she said at last, +quite calmly and steadily. + +Instantly the old man stopped in his walk, and turned towards her, +almost as if he himself were afraid now. To her amazement she saw that +his dark eyes were moist with tears that clung but half shed to the +rugged lids and rough lashes. He did not speak for some moments, while +she gazed at him in wonder, for she could not understand. Then all at +once he lifted his brown hands and covered his face with a gesture of +utter despair. + +"Dolores! My child, my little girl!" he cried, in a broken voice. + +Then he sat down, as it overcome, clasped his hands on the hilt of his +sword, and rested his forehead against them, rocking himself with a +barely perceptible motion. In twenty years, Dolores had never +understood, not even guessed, that the hard man, ever preaching of +wholesome duty and strict obedience, always rebuking, never satisfied, +ill pleased almost always, loved her with all his heart, and looked upon +her as the very jewel of his soul. She guessed it now, in a sudden burst +of understanding; but it was so new, so strange, that she could not have +told what she felt. There was at best no triumph at the thought that, of +the two, he had broken down first in the contest. Pity came first, +womanly, simple and kind, for the harsh nature that was so wounded at +last. She came to his side, and laid one hand upon his shoulder, +speaking softly. + +"I am very, very sorry that I have hurt you," she said, and waited for +him to speak, pressing his shoulder with a gentle touch. + +He did not look up, and still he rocked himself gently, leaning on his +sword. The girl suffered, too, to see him suffering so. A little while +ago he had been hard, fierce, angry, cruel, threatening her with a +living death that had filled her with horror. It had seemed quite +impossible that there could be the least tenderness in him for any +one--least of all for her. + +"God be merciful to me," he said at length in very low tones. "God +forgive me if it is my fault--you do not love me--I am nothing to you +but an unkind old man, and you are all the world to me, child!" + +He raised his head slowly and looked into her face. She was startled at +the change in his own, as well as deeply touched by what he said. His +dark cheeks had grown grey, and the tears that would not quite fall were +like a glistening mist under the lids, and almost made him look +sightless. Indeed, he scarcely saw her distinctly. His clasped hands +trembled a little on the hilt of the sword he still held. + +"How could I know?" cried Dolores, suddenly kneeling down beside him. +"How could I guess? You never let me see that you were fond of me--or I +have been blind all these years--" + +"Hush, child!" he said. "Do not hurt me any more--it must have been my +fault." + +He grew more calm, and though his face was very grave and sad, the +natural dark colour was slowly coming back to it now, and his hands were +steady again. The girl was too young, and far too different from him, to +understand his nature, but she was fast realizing that he was not the +man he had always seemed to her. + +"Oh, if I had only known!" she cried, in deep distress. "If I had only +guessed, I would have been so different! I was always frightened, always +afraid of you, since I can remember--I thought you did not care for us +and that we always displeased you--how could we know?" + +Mendoza lifted one of his hands from the sword hilt, and took hers, with +as much gentleness as was possible to him. His eyes became clear again, +and the profound emotion he had shown subsided to the depths whence it +had risen. + +"We shall never quite understand each other," he said quietly. "You +cannot see that it is a man's duty to do what is right for his children, +rather than to sacrifice that in order to make them love him." + +It seemed to Dolores that there might be a way open between the two, but +she said nothing, and left her hand in his, glad that he was kind, but +feeling, as he felt, that there could never be any real understanding +between them. The breach had existed too long, and it was far too wide. + +"You are headstrong, my dear," he said, nodding at each word. "You are +very headstrong, if you will only reflect." + +"It is not my head, it is my heart," answered Dolores. "And besides," +she added with a smile, "I am your daughter, and you are not of a very +gentle and yielding disposition, are you?" + +"No," he answered with hesitation, "perhaps not." Then his face relaxed +a little, and he almost smiled too. + +It seemed as if the peace were made and as if thereafter there need not +be trouble again. But it was even then not far off, for it was as +impossible for Mendoza to yield as it would have been for Dolores to +give up her love for Don John. She did not see this, and she fancied +that a real change had taken place in his disposition, so that he would +forget that he had threatened to send her to Las Huelgas, and not think +of it again. + +"What is done cannot be undone," he said, with renewed sadness. "You +will never quite believe that you have been everything to me during your +life. How could you not be, my child? I am very lonely. Your mother has +been dead nearly eighteen years, and Rodrigo--" + +He stopped short suddenly, for he had never spoken his son's name in the +girl's hearing since Rodrigo had left him to follow his own fortunes. + +"I think Rodrigo broke my heart," said the old man, after a short pause, +controlling his voice so that it sounded dry and indifferent. "And if +there is anything left of it, you will break the rest." + +He rose, taking his hand from hers, and turning away, with the roughness +of a strong, hard man, who has broken down once under great emotion and +is capable of any harshness in his fear of yielding to it again. Dolores +started slightly and drew back. In her the kindly impression was still +strong, but his tone and manner wounded her. + +"You are wrong," she said earnestly. "Since you have shown me that you +love me, I will indeed do my best not to hurt you or displease you. I +will do what I can--what I can." + +She repeated the last words slowly and with unconscious emphasis. He +turned his face to her again instantly. + +"Then promise me that you will never see Don John of Austria again, that +you will forget that you ever loved him, that you will put him +altogether out of your thoughts, and that you will obediently accept the +marriage I shall make for you." + +The words of refusal to any such obedience as that rose to the girl's +lips, ready and sharp. But she would not speak them this time, lest more +angry words should answer hers. She looked straight at her father's +eyes, holding her head proudly high for a moment. Then, smiling at the +impossibility of what he asked, she turned from him and went to the +window in silence. She opened it wide, leaned upon the stone sill and +looked out. The moon had risen much higher now, and the court was white. + +She had meant to cut short the discussion without rousing anger again, +but she could have taken no worse way to destroy whatever was left of +her father's kindlier mood. He did not raise his voice now, as he +followed her and spoke. + +"You refuse to do that?" he said, with an already ominous interrogation +in his tone. + +"You ask the impossible," she answered, without looking round. "I have +not refused, for I have no will in this, no choice. You can do what you +please with me, for you have power over my outward life--and if you +lacked it, the King would help you. But you have no power beyond that, +neither over my heart nor over my soul. I love him--I have loved him +long, and I shall love him till I die, and beyond that, forever and +ever, beyond everything--beyond the great to-morrow of God's last +judgment! How can I put him out of my thoughts, then? It is madness to +ask it of me." + +She paused a moment, while he stood behind her, getting his teeth and +slowly grinding the heel of one heavy boot on the pavement. + +"And as for threatening me," she continued, "you will not kill Don John, +nor even try to kill him, for he is the King's brother. If I can see him +this evening, I will--and there will be no risk for him. You would not +murder him by stealth, I suppose? No! Then you will not attack him at +all, and if I can see him, I will--I tell you so, frankly. To-morrow or +the next day, when the festivities they have for him are over, and you +yourself are at liberty, take me to Las Huelgas, if you will, and with +as little scandal as possible. But when I am there, set a strong guard +of armed men to keep me, for I shall escape unless you do. And I shall +go to Don John. That is all I have to say. That is my last word." + +"I gave you mine, and it was my word of honour," said Mendoza. "If Don +John tries to enter here, to see you, I will kill him. To-morrow, you +shall go to Las Huelgas." + +Dolores made no answer and did not even turn her head. He left her and +went out. She heard his heavy tread in the hall beyond, and she heard a +bolt slipped at the further door. She was imprisoned for the night, for +the entrance her father had fastened was the one which cut off the +portion of the apartment in which the sisters lived from the smaller +part which he had reserved for himself. These rooms, from which there +was no other exit, opened, like the sitting-room, upon the same hall. + +When Dolores knew that she was alone, she drew back from the window and +shut it. It had served its purpose as a sort of refuge from her father, +and the night air was cold. She sat down to think, and being in a +somewhat desperate mood, she smiled at the idea of being locked into her +room, supperless, like a naughty child. But her face grew grave +instantly as she tried to discover some means of escape. Inez was +certainly not in the apartment--she must have gone to the other end of +the palace, on pretence of seeing one of the court ladies, but really in +the hope of giving Don John the letter. It was more than probable that +she would not be allowed to enter when she came back, for Mendoza would +distrust her. That meant that Dolores could have no communication with +any one outside her rooms during the evening and night, and she knew her +father too well to doubt that he would send her to Las Huelgas in the +morning, as he had sworn to do. Possibly he would let her serving-woman +come to her to prepare what she needed for the journey, but even that +was unlikely, for he would suspect everybody. + +The situation looked hopeless, and the girl's face grew slowly pale as +she realized that after all she might not even exchange a word with Don +John before going to the convent--she might not even be able to tell him +whither they were sending her, and Mendoza might keep the secret for +years--and she would never be allowed to write, of course. + +She heard the further door opened again, the bolt running back with a +sharp noise. Then she heard her father's footsteps and his voice calling +to Inez, as he went from room to room. But there was no answer, and +presently he went away, bolting the door a second time. There could be +no more doubt about it now. Dolores was quite alone. Her heart beat +heavily and slowly. But it was not over yet. Again the bolt slipped in +the outer hall, and again she heard the heavy steps. They came straight +towards the door. He had perhaps changed his mind, or he had something +more to say; she held her breath, but he did not come in. As if to make +doubly sure, he bolted her into the little room, crossed the hall a last +time, and bolted it for the night, perfectly certain that Dolores was +safely shut off from the outer world. + +For some minutes she sat quite still, profoundly disturbed, and utterly +unable to find any way out of her difficulty, which was, indeed, that +she was in a very secure prison. + +Then again there was a sound at the door, but very soft this time, not +half as loud in her ears as the beating of her own heart. There was +something ghostly in it, for she had heard no footsteps. The bolt moved +very slowly and gently--she had to strain her ears to hear it move. The +sound ceased, and another followed it--that of the door being cautiously +opened. A moment later Inez was in the room--turning her head anxiously +from side to side to hear Dolores' breathing, and so to find out where +she was. Then as Dolores rose, the blind girl put her finger to her +lips, and felt for her sister's hand. + +"He has the letter," she whispered quickly. "I found him by accident, +very quickly. I am to say to you that after he has been some time in the +great hall, he will slip away and come here. You see our father will be +on duty and cannot come up." + +Dolores' hand trembled violently. + +"He swore to me that he would kill Don John if he came here," she +whispered. "He will do it, if it costs his own life! You must find him +again--go quickly, dear, for the love of Heaven!" Her anxiety increased. +"Go--go, darling--do not lose a moment--he may come sooner--save him, +save him!" + +"I cannot go," answered Inez, in terror, as she understood the +situation. "I had hidden myself, and I am locked in with you. He called +me, but I kept quiet, for I knew he would not let me stay." She buried +her face in her hands and sobbed aloud in an agony of fear. + +Dolores' lips were white, and she steadied herself against a chair. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Dolores stood leaning against the back of the chair, neither hearing nor +seeing her sister, conscious only that Don John was in danger and that +she could not warn him to be on his guard. She had not believed herself +when she had told her father that he would not dare to lift his hand +against the King's half brother. She had said the words to give herself +courage, and perhaps in a rush of certainty that the man she loved was a +match for other men, hand to hand, and something more. It was different +now. Little as she yet knew of human nature, she guessed without +reasoning that a man who has been angry, who has wavered and given way +to what he believes to be weakness, and whose anger has then burst out +again, is much more dangerous than before, because his wrath is no +longer roused against another only, but also against himself. More +follies and crimes have been committed in that second tide of passion +than under a first impulse. Even if Mendoza had not fully meant what he +had said the first time, he had meant it all, and more, when he had last +spoken. Once more the vision of fear rose before Dolores' eyes, nobler +now; because it was fear for another and not for herself, but therefore +also harder to conquer. + +Inez had ceased from sobbing now, and was sitting quietly in her +accustomed seat, in that attitude of concentrated expectancy of sounds +which is so natural to the blind, that one can almost recognize +blindness by the position of the head and body without seeing the face. +The blind rarely lean back in a chair; more often the body is quite +upright, or bent a little forward, the face is slightly turned up when +there is total silence, often turned down when a sound is already heard +distinctly; the knees are hardly ever crossed, the hands are seldom +folded together, but are generally spread out, as if ready to help the +hearing by the sense of touch--the lips are slightly parted, for the +blind know that they hear by the mouth as well as with their ears--the +expression of the face is one of expectation and extreme attention, +still, not placid, calm, but the very contrary of indifferent. It was +thus that Inez sat, as she often sat for hours, listening, always and +forever listening to the speech of things and of nature, as well as for +human words. And in listening, she thought and reasoned patiently and +continually, so that the slightest sounds had often long and accurate +meanings for her. The deaf reason little or ill, and are very +suspicious; the blind, on the contrary, are keen, thoughtful, and +ingenious, and are distrustful of themselves rather than of others. Inez +sat quite still, listening, thinking, and planning a means of helping +her sister. + +But Dolores stood motionless as if she were paralyzed, watching the +picture that «he could not chase away. For she saw the familiar figure +of the man she loved coming down the gloomy corridor, alone and unarmed, +past the deep embrasures through which the moonlight streamed, straight +towards the oak door at the end; and then, from one of the windows +another figure stood out, sword in hand, a gaunt man with a grey beard, +and there were few words, and an uncertain quick confounding of shadows +with a ray of cold light darting hither and thither, then a fall, and +then stillness. As soon as it was over, it began again, with little +change, save that it grew more distinct, till she could see Don John's +white face in the moonlight as he lay dead on the pavement of the +corridor. + +It became intolerable at last, and she slowly raised one hand and +covered her eyes to shut out the sight. + +"Listen," said Inez, as Dolores stirred. "I have been thinking. You must +see him to-night, even if you are not alone with him. There is only one +way to do that; you must dress yourself for the court and go down to the +great hall with the others and speak to him--then you can decide how to +meet to-morrow." + +"Inez--I have not told you the rest! To-morrow I am to be sent to Las +Huelgas, and kept there like a prisoner." Inez uttered a low cry of +pain. + +"To a convent!" It seemed like death. + +Dolores began to tell her all Mendoza had said, but Inez soon +interrupted her. There was a dark flush in the blind girl's face. + +"And he would have you believe that he loves you?" she cried +indignantly. "He has always been hard, and cruel, and unkind, he has +never forgiven me for being blind---he will never forgive you for being +young! The King! The King before everything and every one--before +himself, yes, that is well, but before his children, his soul, his +heart--he has no heart! What am I saying--" She stopped short. + +"And yet, in his strange way, he loves us both," said Dolores. "I cannot +understand it, but I saw his face when there were tears in his eyes, and +I heard his voice. He would give his life for us." + +"And our lives, and hearts, and hopes to feed his conscience and to save +his own soul!" + +Inez was trembling with anger, leaning far forward, her face flushed, +one slight hand clenched, the other clenching it hard. Dolores was +silent. It was not the first time that Inez had spoken in this way, for +the blind girl could be suddenly and violently angry for a good cause. +But now her tone changed. + +"I will save you," she said suddenly, "but there is no time to be lost. +He will not come back to our rooms now, and he knows well enough that +Don John cannot come here at this hour, so that he is not waiting for +him. We have this part of the place to ourselves, and the outer door +only is bolted now. It will take you an hour to dress--say +three-quarters of an hour. As soon as you get out, you must go quickly +round the palace to the Duchess Alvarez. Our father will not go there, +and you can go down with her, as usual--but tell her nothing. Our father +will be there, and he will see you, but he will not care to make an open +scandal in the court. Don John will come and speak to you; you must stay +beside the Duchess of course--but you can manage to exchange a few +words." + +Dolores listened intently, and her face brightened a little as Inez went +on, only to grow sad and hopeless again a moment later. It was all an +impossible dream. + +"That would be possible if I could once get beyond the door of the +hall," she said despondently. "It is of no use, dear! The door is +bolted." + +"They will open it for me. Old Eudaldo is always within hearing, and he +will do anything for me. Besides, I shall seem to have been shut in by +mistake, do you see? I shall say that I am hungry, thirsty, that I am +cold, that in locking you in our father locked me in, too, because I was +asleep. Then Eudaldo will open the door for me. I shall say that I am +going to the Duchess's." + +"Yes--but then?" + +"You will cover yourself entirely with my black cloak and draw it over +your head and face. We are of the same height--you only need to walk as +I do--as if you were blind--across the hall to the left. Eudaldo will +open the outer door for you. You will just nod to thank him, without +speaking, and when you are outside, touch the wall of the corridor with +your left hand, and keep close to it. I always do, for fear of running +against some one. If you meet any of the women, they will take you for +me. There is never much light in the corridor, is there? There is one +oil lamp half way down, I know, for I always smell it when I pass in the +evening." + +"Yes, it is almost dark there--it is a little lamp. Do you really think +this is possible?" + +"It is possible, not sure. If you hear footsteps in the corridor beyond +the corner, you will have time to slip into one of the embrasures. But +our father will not come now. He knows that Don John is in his own +apartments with many people. And besides, it is to be a great festival +to-night, and all the court people and officers, and the Archbishop, and +all the rest who do not live in the palace will come from the city, so +that our father will have to command the troops and give orders for the +guards to march out, and a thousand things will take his time. Don John +cannot possibly come here till after the royal supper, and if our father +can come away at all, it will be at the same time. That is the danger." + +Dolores shivered and saw the vision in the corridor again. + +"But if you are seen talking with Don John before supper, no one will +suppose that in order to meet him you would risk coming back here, where +you are sure to be caught and locked up again. Do you see?" + +"It all depends upon whether I can get out," answered Dolores, but there +was more hope in her tone. "How am I to dress without a maid?" she asked +suddenly. + +"Trust me," said Inez, with a laugh. "My hands are better than a +serving-woman's eyes. You shall look as you never looked before. I know +every lock of your hair, and just how it should be turned and curled and +fastened in place so that it cannot possibly get loose. Come, we are +wasting time. Take off your slippers as I have done, so that no one +shall hear us walking through the hall to your room, and bring the +candles with you if you choose--yes, you need them to pick out the +colours you like." + +"If you think it will be safer in the dark, it does not matter," said +Dolores. "I know where everything is." + +"It would be safer," answered Inez thoughtfully. "It is just possible +that he might be in the court and might see the light in your window, +whereas if it burns here steadily, he will suspect nothing. We will bolt +the door of this room, as I found it. If by any possibility he comes +back, he will think you are still here, and will probably not come in." + +"Pray Heaven he may not!" exclaimed Dolores, and she began to go towards +the door. + +Inez was there before her, opening it very cautiously. + +"My hands are lighter than yours," she whispered. + +They both passed out, and Inez slipped the bolt back into its place with +infinite precaution. + +"Is there light here?" she asked under her breath. + +"There is a very small lamp on the table. I can just see my door." + +"Put it out as we pass," whispered Inez. "I will lead you if you cannot +find your way." + +They moved cautiously forward, and when they reached the table, Dolores +bent down to the small wick and blew out the flame. Then she felt her +sister's hand taking hers and leading her quickly to the other door. The +blind girl was absolutely noiseless in her movements, and Dolores had +the strange impression that she was being led by a spirit through the +darkness. Inez stopped a moment, and then went slowly on; they had +entered the room though Dolores had not heard the door move, nor did she +hear it closed behind her again. Her own room was perfectly dark, for +the heavy curtain that covered the window was drawn; she made a step +alone, and cautiously, and struck her knee against a chair. + +"Do not move," whispered Inez. "You will make a noise. I can dress you +where you stand, or if you want to find anything, I will lead you to the +place where it is. Remember that it is always day for me." + +Dolores obeyed, and stood still, holding her breath a little in her +intense excitement. It seemed impossible that Inez could do all she +promised without making a mistake, and Dolores would not have been a +woman had she not been visited just then by visions of ridicule. Without +light she was utterly helpless to do anything for herself, and she had +never before then fully realized the enormous misfortune with which her +sister had to contend. She had not guessed, either, what energy and +quickness of thought Inez possessed, and the sensation of being advised, +guided, and helped by one she had always herself helped and protected +was new. + +They spoke in quick whispers of what she was to wear and of how her hair +was to be dressed, and Inez found what was wanted without noise, and +almost as quickly as Dolores could have done in broad daylight, and +placed a chair for her, making her sit down in it, and began to arrange +her hair quickly and skilfully. Dolores felt the spiritlike hands +touching her lightly and deftly in the dark--they were very slight and +soft, and did not offend her with a rough movement or a wrong turn, as +her maid's sometimes did. She felt her golden hair undone, and swiftly +drawn out and smoothed without catching, or tangling, or hurting her at +all, in a way no woman had ever combed it, and the invisible hands +gently divided it, and turned it upon her head, slipping the hairpins +into the right places as if by magic, so that they were firm at the +first trial, and there was a faint sound of little pearls tapping each +other, and Dolores felt the small string laid upon her hair and fastened +in its place,--the only ornament a young girl could wear for a +headdress,--and presently it was finished, and Inez gave a sigh of +satisfaction at her work, and lightly felt her sister's head here and +there to be sure that all was right. It felt as if soft little birds +were just touching the hair with the tips of their wings as they +fluttered round it. Dolores had no longer any fear of looking ill +dressed in the blaze of light she was to face before long. The dressing +of her hair was the most troublesome part, she knew, and though she +could not have done it herself, she had felt that every touch and turn +had been perfectly skilful. + +"What a wonderful creature you are!" she whispered, as Inez bade her +stand up. + +"You have beautiful hair," answered the blind girl, "and you are +beautiful in other ways, but to-night you must be the most beautiful of +all the court, for his sake--so that every woman may envy you, and every +man envy him, when they see you talking together. And now we must be +quick, for it has taken a long time, and I hear the soldiers marching +out again to form in the square. That is always just an hour and a half +before the King goes into the hall. Here--this is the front of the +skirt." + +"No--it is the back!" + +Inez laughed softly, a whispering laugh that Dolores could scarcely +hear. + +"It is the front," she said. "You can trust me in the dark. Put your +arms down, and let me slip it over your head so as not to touch your +hair. No---hold your arms down!" + +Dolores had instinctively lifted her hands to protect her headdress. +Then all went quickly, the silence only broken by an occasional +whispered word and by the rustle of silk, the long soft sound of the +lacing as Inez drew it through the eyelets of the bodice, the light +tapping of her hands upon the folds and gatherings of the skirt and on +the puffed velvet on the shoulders and elbows. + +"You must be beautiful, perfectly beautiful to-night," Inez repeated +more than once. + +She herself did not understand why she said it, unless it were that +Dolores' beauty was for Don John of Austria, and that nothing in the +whole world could be too perfect for him, for the hero of her thoughts, +the sun of her blindness, the immeasurably far-removed deity of her +heart. She did not know that it was not for her sister's sake, but for +his, that she had planned the escape and was taking such infinite pains +that Dolores might look her best. Yet she felt a deep and delicious +delight in what she did, like nothing she had ever felt before, for it +was the first time in her life that she had been able to do something +that could give him pleasure; and, behind that, there was the belief +that he was in danger, that she could no longer go to him nor warn him +now, and that only Dolores herself could hinder him from coming +unexpectedly against old Mendoza, sword in hand, in the corridor. + +"And now my cloak over everything," she said. "Wait here, for I must get +it, and do not move!" + +Dolores hardly knew whether Inez left the room or not, so noiselessly +did the girl move. Then she felt the cloak laid upon her shoulders and +drawn close round her to hide her dress, for skirts were short in those +days and easily hidden. Inez laid a soft silk handkerchief upon her +sister's hair, lest it should be disarranged by the hood which she +lightly drew over all, assuring herself that it would sufficiently hide +the face. + +"Now come with me," she whispered. I will lead you to the door that is +bolted and place you just where it will open. Then I will call Eudaldo +and speak to him, and beg him to let me out. If he does, bend your head +and try to walk as I do. I shall be on one side of the door, and, as the +room is dark, he cannot possibly see me. While he is opening the outer +door for you, I will slip back into my own room. Do you understand? And +remember to hide in an embrasure if you hear a man's footsteps. Are you +quite sure you understand?" + +"Yes; it will be easy if Eudaldo opens. And I thank you, dear; I wish I +knew how to thank you as I ought! It may have saved his life--" + +"And yours, too, perhaps," answered Inez, beginning to lead her away. +"You would die in the convent, and you must not come back--you must +never come back to us here--never till you are married. Good-by, +Dolores--dear sister. I have done nothing, and you have done everything +for me all your life. Good-by--one kiss--then we must go, for it is +late." + +With her soft hands she drew Dolores' head towards her, lifted the hood +a little, and kissed her tenderly. All at once there were tears on both +their faces, and the arms of each clasped the other almost desperately. + +"You must come to me, wherever I am," Dolores said. + +"Yes, I will come, wherever you are. I promise it." + +Then she disengaged herself quickly, and more than ever she seemed a +spirit as she went before, leading her sister by the hand. They reached +the door, and she made Dolores stand before the right hand panel, ready +to slip out, and once more she touched the hood to be sure it hid the +face. She listened a moment. A harsh and regular sound came from a +distance, resembling that made by a pit-saw steadily grinding its way +lengthwise through a log of soft pine wood. + +"Eudaldo is asleep," said Inez, and even at this moment she could hardly +suppress a half-hysterical laugh. "I shall have to make a tremendous +noise to wake him. The danger is that it may bring some one else,---the +women, the rest of the servants." + +"What shall we do?" asked Dolores, in a distressed whisper. + +She had braced her nerves to act the part of her sister at the dangerous +moment, and her excitement made every instant of waiting seem ten times +its length. Inez did not answer the question at once. Dolores repeated +it still more anxiously. + +"I was trying to make up my mind," said the other at last. "You could +pass Eudaldo well enough, I am sure, but it might be another matter if +the hall were full of servants, as it is certain that our father has +given a general order that you are not to be allowed to go out. We may +wait an hour for the man to wake." + +Dolores instinctively tried the door, but it was solidly fastened from +the outside. She felt hot and cold by turns as her anxiety grew more +intolerable. Each minute made it more possible that she might meet her +father somewhere outside. + +"We must decide something!" she whispered desperately. "We cannot wait +here." + +"I do not know what to do," answered Inez. "I have done all I can; I +never dreamt that Eudaldo would be asleep. At least, it is a sure sign +that our father is not in the house." + +"But he may come at any moment! We must, we must do something at once!" + +"I will knock softly," said Inez. "Any one who hears it will suppose it +is a knock at the hall door. If he does not open, some one will go and +wake him up, and then go away again so as not to be seen." + +She clenched her small hand, and knocked three times. Such a sound could +make not the slightest impression upon Eudaldo's sound sleep, but her +reasoning was good, as well as ingenious. After waiting a few moments, +she knocked again, more loudly. Dolores held her breath in the silence +that followed. Presently a door was opened, and a woman's voice was +heard, low but sharp. + +"Eudaldo, Eudaldo! Some one is knocking at the front door!" + +The woman probably shook the old man to rouse him, for his voice came +next, growling and angry. + +"Witch! Hag! Mother of malefactors! Let me alone--I am asleep. Are you +trying to tear my sleeve off with your greasy claws? Nobody is knocking; +you probably hear the wine thumping in your ears!" + +The woman, who was the drudge and had been cleaning the kitchen, was +probably used to Eudaldo's manner of expressing himself, for she only +laughed. + +"Wine makes men sleep, but it does not knock at doors," she answered. +"Some one has knocked twice. You had better go and open the door." + +A shuffling sound and a deep yawn announced that Eudaldo was getting out +of his chair. The two girls heard him moving towards the outer entrance. +Then they heard the woman go away, shutting the other door behind her, +as soon as she was sure that Eudaldo was really awake. Then Inez called +him softly. + +"Eudaldo? Here--it was I that knocked--you must let me out, please--come +nearer." + +"Doña Inez?" asked the old man, standing still. + +"Hush!" answered the girl. "Come nearer." She waited, listening while he +approached. "Listen to me," she continued. "The General has locked me +in, by mistake. He did not know I was here when he bolted the door. And +I am hungry and thirsty and very cold, Eudaldo--and you must let me out, +and I will run to the Duchess Alvarez and stay with her little girl. +Indeed, Eudaldo, the General did not mean to lock me in, too." + +"He said nothing about your ladyship to me," answered the servant +doubtfully. "But I do not know--" he hesitated. + +"Please, please, Eudaldo," pleaded Inez, "I am so cold and lonely +here--" + +"But Doña Dolores is there, too," observed Eudaldo. + +Dolores held her breath and steadied herself against the panel. + +"He shut her into the inner sitting-room. How could I dare to open the +door! You may go in and knock--she will not answer you." + +"Is your ladyship sure that Doña Dolores is within?" asked Eudaldo, in a +more yielding tone. + +"Absolutely, perfectly sure!" answered Inez, with perfect truth. "Oh, do +please let me out." + +Slowly the old man drew the bolt, while Dolores' heart stood still, and +she prepared herself for the danger; for she knew well enough that the +faithful old servant feared his master much more than he feared the +devil and all evil spirits, and would prevent her from passing, even +with force, if he recognized her. + +"Thank you, Eudaldo--thank you!" cried Inez, as the latch turned. "And +open the front door for me, please," she said, putting her lips just +where the panel was opening. + +Then she drew back into the darkness. The door was wide open now, and +Eudaldo was already shuffling towards the entrance. Dolores went +forward, bending her head, and trying to affect her sister's step. No +distance had ever seemed so long to her as that which separated her from +the hall door which Eudaldo was already opening for her. But she dared +not hasten her step, for though Inez moved with perfect certainty in the +house, she always walked with a certain deliberate caution, and often +stopped to listen, while crossing a room. The blind girl was listening +now, with all her marvellous hearing, to be sure that all went well till +Dolores should be outside. She knew exactly how many steps there were +from where she stood to the entrance, for she had often counted them. + +Dolores must have been not more than three yards from the door, when +Inez started involuntarily, for she heard a sound from without, far +off--so far that Dolores could not possibly have heard it yet, but +unmistakable to the blind girl's keener ear. She listened +intently--there were Dolores' last four steps to the open doorway, and +there were others from beyond, still very far away in the vaulted +corridors, but coming nearer. To call her sister back would have made +all further attempt at escape hopeless--to let her go on seemed almost +equally fatal--Inez could have shrieked aloud. But Dolores had already +gone out, and a moment later the heavy door swung back to its place, and +it was too late to call her. Like an immaterial spirit, Inez slipped +away from the place where she stood and went back to Dolores' room, +knowing that Eudaldo would very probably go and knock where he supposed +her sister to be a prisoner, before slipping the outer bolt again. And +so he did, muttering an imprecation upon the little lamp that had gone +out and left the small hall in darkness. Then he knocked, and spoke +through the door, offering to bring her food, or fire, and repeating his +words many times, in a supplicating tone, for he was devoted to both the +sisters, though terror of old Mendoza was the dominating element in his +existence. + +At last he shook his head and turned despondently to light the little +lamp again; and when he had done that, he went away and bolted the door +after him, convinced that Inez had gone out and that Dolores had stayed +behind in the last room. + +When she had heard him go away the last time, the blind girl threw +herself upon Dolores' bed, and buried her face in the down cushion, +sobbing bitterly in her utter loneliness; weeping, too, for something +she did not understand, but which she felt the more painfully because +she could not understand it, something that was at once like a burning +fire and an unspeakable emptiness craving to be filled, something that +longed and feared, and feared longing, something that was a strong +bodily pain but which she somehow knew might have been the source of all +earthly delight,--an element detached from thought and yet holding it, +above the body and yet binding it, touching the soul and growing upon +it, but filling the soul itself with fear and unquietness, and making +her heart cry out within her as if it were not hers and were pleading to +be free. So, as she could not understand that this was love, which, as +she had heard said, made women and men most happy, like gods and +goddesses, above their kind, she lay alone in the darkness that was +always as day to her, and wept her heart out in scalding tears. + +In the corridor outside, Dolores made a few steps, remembering to put +out her left hand to touch the wall, as Inez had told her to do; and +then she heard what had reached her sister's ears much sooner. She stood +still an instant, strained her eyes to see in the dim light of the +single lamp, saw nothing, and heard the sound coming nearer. Then she +quickly crossed the corridor to the nearest embrasure to hide herself. +To her horror she realized that the light of the full moon was streaming +in as bright as day, and that she could not be hid. Inez knew nothing of +moonlight. + +She pressed herself to the wall, on the side away from her own door, +making herself as small as she could, for it was possible that whoever +came by might pass without turning his head. Nervous and exhausted by +all she had felt and been made to feel since the afternoon, she held her +breath and waited. + +The regular tread of a man booted and spurred came relentlessly towards +her, without haste and without pause. No one who wore spurs but her +father ever came that way. She listened breathlessly to the hollow +echoes, and turned her eyes along the wall of the embrasure. In a moment +she must see his gaunt figure, and the moonlight would be white on his +short grey beard. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Dolores knew that there was no time to reflect as to what she should do, +if her father found her hiding in the embrasure, and yet in those short +seconds a hundred possibilities flashed through her disturbed thoughts. +She might slip past him and run for her life down the corridor, or she +might draw her hood over her face and try to pretend that she was some +one else,--but he would recognize the hood itself as belonging to +Inez,--or she might turn and lean upon the window-sill, indifferently, +as if she had a right to be there, and he might take her for some lady +of the court, and pass on. And yet she could not decide which to +attempt, and stood still, pressing herself against the wall of the +embrasure, and quite forgetful of the fact that the bright moonlight +fell unhindered through all the other windows upon the pavement, whereas +she cast a shadow from the one in which she was standing, and that any +one coming along the corridor would notice it and stop to see who was +there. + +There was something fateful and paralyzing in the regular footfall that +was followed instantly by the short echo from the vault above. It was +close at hand now she was sure that at the very next instant she should +see her father's face, yet nothing came, except the sound, for that +deceived her in the silence and seemed far nearer than it was. She had +heard horrible ghost stories of the old Alcazar, and as a child she had +been frightened by tales of evil things that haunted the corridors at +night, of wraiths and goblins and Moorish wizards who dwelt in secret +vaults, where no one knew, and came out in the dark, when all was still, +to wander in the moonlight, a terror to the living. The girl felt the +thrill of unearthly fear at the roots of her hair, and trembled, and the +sound seemed to be magnified till it reëchoed like thunder, though it +was only the noise of an advancing footfall, with a little jingling of +spurs. + +But at last there was no doubt. It was close to her, and she shut her +eyes involuntarily. She heard one step more on the stones, and then +there was silence. She knew that her father had seen her, had stopped +before her, and was looking at her. She knew how his rough brows were +knitting themselves together, and that even in the pale moonlight his +eyes were fierce and angry, and that his left hand was resting on the +hilt of his sword, the bony brown fingers tapping the basket nervously. +An hour earlier, or little more, she had faced him as bravely as any +man, but she could not face him now, and she dared not open her eyes. + +"Madam, are you ill, or in trouble?" asked a young voice that was soft +and deep. + +She opened her eyes with a sharp cry that was not of fear, and she threw +back her hood with one hand as the looked. + +Don John of Austria was there, a step from her, the light full on his +face, bareheaded, his cap in his hand, bending a little towards her, as +one does towards a person one does not know, but who seems to be in +distress and to need help. Against the whiteness without he could not +see her face, nor could he recognize her muffled figure. + +"Can I not help you, Madam?" asked the kind voice again, very gravely. + +Then she put out her hands towards him and made a step, and as the hood +fell quite back with the silk kerchief, he saw her golden hair in the +silver light. Slowly and in wonder, and still not quite believing, he +moved to meet her movement, took her hands in his, drew her to him, +turned her face gently, till he saw it well. Then he, too, uttered a +little sound that was neither a word nor a syllable nor a cry--a sound +that was half fierce with strong delight as his lips met hers, and his +hands were suddenly at her waist lifting her slowly to his own height, +though he did not know it, pressing her closer and closer to him, as if +that one kiss were the first and last that ever man gave woman. + +A minute passed, and yet neither he nor she could speak. She stood with +her hands clasped round his neck, and her head resting on his breast +just below the shoulder, as if she were saying tender words to the heart +she heard beating so loud through the soft black velvet. She knew that +it had never beaten in battle as it was beating now, and she loved it +because it knew her and welcomed her; but her own stood still, and now +and then it fluttered wildly, like a strong young bird in a barred cage, +and then was quite still again. Bending his face a little, he softly +kissed her hair again and again, till at last the kisses formed +themselves into syllables and words, which she felt rather than heard. + +"God in heaven, how I love you--heart of my heart--life of my life--love +of my soul!" + +And again he repeated the same words, and many more like them, with +little change, because at that moment he had neither thought nor care +for anything else in the world, not for life nor death nor kingdom nor +glory, in comparison with the woman he loved. He could not hear her +answers, for she spoke without words to his heart, hiding her face where +she heard it throbbing, while her lips pressed many kisses on the +velvet. + +Then, as thought returned, and the first thought was for him, she drew +back a little with a quick movement, and looked up to him with +frightened and imploring eyes. + +"We must go!" she cried anxiously, in a very low voice. "We cannot stay +here. My father is very angry--he swore on his word of honour that he +would kill you if you tried to see me to-night!" + +Don John laughed gently, and his eyes brightened. Before she could speak +again, he held her close once more, and his kisses were on her cheeks +and her eyes, on her forehead and on her hair, and then again upon her +lips, till they would have hurt her if she had not loved them so, and +given back every one. Then she struggled again, and he loosed his hold. + +"It is death to stay here," she said very earnestly. + +"It is worse than death to leave you," he answered. "And I will not," he +added an instant later, "neither for the King, nor for your father, nor +for any royal marriage they may try to force upon me." + +She looked into his eyes for a moment, before she spoke, and there was +deep and true trust in her own. + +"Then you must save me," she said quietly. "He has vowed that I shall be +sent to the convent of Las Huelgas to-morrow morning. He locked me into +the inner room, but Inez helped me to dress, and I got out under her +cloak." + +She told him in a few words what she had done and had meant to do, in +order to see him, and how she had taken his step for her father's. He +listened gravely, and she saw his face harden slowly in an expression +she had scarcely ever seen there. When she had finished her story he was +silent for a moment. + +"We are quite safe here," he said at last, "safer than anywhere else, I +think, for your father cannot come back until the King goes to supper. +For myself, I have an hour, but I have been so surrounded and pestered +by visitors in my apartments that I have not found time to put on a +court dress--and without vanity, I presume that I am a necessary figure +at court this evening. Your father is with Perez, who seems to be acting +as master of ceremonies and of everything else, as well as the King's +secretary--they have business together, and the General will not have a +moment. I ascertained that, before coming here, or I should not have +come at this hour. We are safe from him here, I am sure." + +"You know best," answered Dolores, who was greatly reassured by what he +said about Mendoza. + +"Let us sit down, then. You must be tired after all you have done. And +we have much to say to each other." + +"How could I be tired now?" she asked, with a loving smile; but she sat +down on the stone seat in the embrasure, close to the window. + +It was just wide enough for two to sit there, and Don John took his +place beside her, and drew one of her hands silently to him between both +his own, and kissed the tips of her fingers a great many times. But he +felt that she was watching his face, and he looked up and saw her +eyes--and then, again, many seconds passed before either could speak. +They were but a boy and girl together, loving each other in the tender +first love of early youth, for the victor of the day, the subduer of the +Moors, the man who had won back Granada, who was already High Admiral of +Spain, and who in some ten months from that time was to win a decisive +battle of the world at Lepanto, was a stripling of twenty-three +summers--and he had first seen Dolores when he was twenty and she +seventeen, and now it was nearly two years since they had met. + +He was the first to speak, for he was a man of quick and unerring +determinations that led to actions as sudden as they were bold and +brilliant, and what Dolores had told him of her quarrel with her father +was enough to rouse his whole energy at once. At all costs she must +never be allowed to pass the gates of Las Huelgas. Once within the +convent, by the King's orders, and a close prisoner, nothing short of a +sacrilegious assault and armed violence could ever bring her out into +the world again. He knew that, and that he must act instantly to prevent +it, for he knew Mendoza's character also, and had no doubt but that he +would do what he threatened. It was necessary to put Dolores beyond his +reach at once, and beyond the King's also, which was not an easy matter +within the walls of the King's own palace, and on such a night. Don John +had been but little at the court and knew next to nothing of its +intrigues, nor of the mutual relations of the ladies and high officers +who had apartments in the Alcazar. In his own train there were no women, +of course. Dolores' brother Rodrigo, who had fought by his side at +Granada, had begged to be left behind with the garrison, in order that +he might not be forced to meet his father. Doña Magdalena Quixada, Don +John's adoptive mother, was far away at Villagarcia. The Duchess +Alvarez, though fond of Dolores, was Mistress of the Robes to the young +Queen, and it was not to be hoped nor expected that she should risk the +danger of utter ruin and disgrace if it were discovered that she had +hidden the girl against the King's wishes. Yet it was absolutely +necessary that Dolores should be safely hidden within an hour, and that +she should be got out of the palace before morning, and if possible +conveyed to Villagarcia. Don John saw in a moment that there was no one +to whom he could turn. + +Again he took Dolores' hand in his, but with a sort of gravity and +protecting authority that had not been in his touch the first time. +Moreover, he did not kiss her fingers now, and he resolutely looked at +the wall opposite him. Then, in a low and quiet voice, he laid the +situation before her, while she anxiously listened. + +"You see," he said at last, "there is only one way left. Dolores, do you +altogether trust me?" + +She started a little, and her fingers pressed his hand suddenly. + +"Trust you? Ah, with all my soul!" + +"Think well before you answer," he said. "You do not quite +understand--it is a little hard to put it clearly, but I must. I know +you trust me in many ways, to love you faithfully always, to speak truth +to you always, to defend you always, to help you with my life when you +shall be in need. You know that I love you so, as you love me. Have we +not often said it? You wrote it in your letter, too--ah, dear, I thank +you for that. Yes, I have read it--I have it here, near my heart, and I +shall read it again before I sleep--" + +Without a word, and still listening, she bent down and pressed her lips +to the place where her letter lay. He touched her hair with his lips and +went on speaking, as she leaned back against the wall again. + +"You must trust me even more than that, my beloved," he said. "To save +you, you must be hidden by some one whom I myself can trust--and for +such a matter there is no one in the palace nor in all Madrid--no one to +whom I can turn and know that you will be safe--not one human being, +except myself." + +"Except yourself!" Dolores loved the words, and gently pressed his hand. + +"I thank you, dearest heart--but do you know what that means? Do you +understand that I must hide you myself, in my own apartments, and keep +you there until I can take you out of the palace, before morning?" + +She was silent for a few moments, turning her face away from him. His +heart sank. + +"No, dear," he said sadly, "you do not trust me enough for that--I see +it--what woman could?" + +Her hand trembled and started in his, then pressed it hard, and she +turned her face quite to him. + +"You are wrong," she said, with a tremor in her voice. "I love you as no +man was ever loved by any woman, far beyond all that all words can say, +and I shall love you till I die, and after that, for ever--even if I can +never be your wife. I love you as no one loves in these days, and when I +say that it is as you love me, I mean a thousand fold for every word. I +am not the child you left nearly two years ago. I am a woman now, for I +have thought and seen much since then--and I love you better and more +than then. God knows, there is enough to see and to learn in this +court--that should be hidden deep from honest women's sight! You and I +shall have a heaven on this earth, if God grants that we may be joined +together--for I will live for you, and serve you, and smooth all trouble +out of your way--and ask nothing of you but your love. And if we cannot +marry, then I will live for you in my heart, and serve you with my soul, +and pray Heaven that harm may never touch you. I will pray so fervently +that God must hear me. And so will you pray for me, as you would fight +for me, if you could. Remember, if you will, that when you are in battle +for Spain, your sword is drawn for Spain's honour, and for the honour of +every Christian Spanish woman that lives--and for mine, too!" + +The words pleased him, and his free hand was suddenly clenched. + +"You would make cowards fight like wolves, if you could speak to them +like that!" he said. + +"I am not speaking to cowards," she answered, with a loving smile. "I am +speaking to the man I love, to the best and bravest and truest man that +breathes--and not to Don John of Austria, the victorious leader, but to +you, my heart's love, my life, my all, to you who are good and brave and +true to me, as no man ever was to any woman. No--" she laughed happily, +and there were tears in her eyes--"no, there are no words for such love +as ours." + +"May I be all you would have me, and much more," he said fervently, and +his voice shook in the short speech. + +"I am giving you all I have, because it is not belief, it is certainty. +I know you are all that I say you are, and more too. And I trust you, as +you mean it, and as you need my trust to save me. Take me where you +will. Hide me in your own room if you must, and bolt and bar it if need +be. I shall be as safe with you as I should be with my mother in heaven. +I put my hands between yours." + +Again he heard her sweet low laughter, full of joy and trust, and she +laid her hands together between his and looked into his eyes, straight +and clear. Then she spoke softly and solemnly. + +"Into your hands I put my life, and my faith, and my maiden honour, +trusting them all to you alone in this world, as I trust them to God." + +Don John held her hands tightly for a moment, still looking into her +eyes as if he could see her soul there, giving itself to his keeping. +But he swore no great oath, and made no long speech; for a man who has +led men to deeds of glory, and against whom no dishonourable thing was +ever breathed, knows that his word is good. + +"You shall not regret that you trust me, and you will be quite safe," he +said. + +She wanted no more. Loving as she did, she believed in him without +promises, yet she could not always believe that he quite knew how she +loved him. + +"You are dearer to me than I knew," he said presently, breaking the +silence that followed. "I love you even more, and I thought it could +never be more, when I found you here a little while ago--because you do +really trust me." + +"You knew it," the said, nestling to him. "But you wanted me to tell +you. Yes--we are nearer now." + +"Far nearer--and a world more dear," he answered. "Do you know? In all +these months I have often and often again wondered how we should meet, +whether it would be before many people, or only with your sister Inez +there--or perhaps alone. But I did not dare hope for that." + +"Nor I. I have dreamt of meeting you a hundred times--and more than +that! But there was always some one in the way. I suppose that if we had +found each other in the court and had only been able to say a few words, +it would have been a long time before we were quite ourselves +together--but now, it seems as if we had never been parted at all, does +it not?" + +"As if we could never be parted again," he answered softly. + +For a little while there was silence, and though there was to be a great +gathering of the court, that night, all was very still where the lovers +sat at the window, for the throne room and the great halls of state were +far away on the other side of the palace, and the corridor looked upon a +court through which few persons had to pass at night. Suddenly from a +distance there came the rhythmical beat of the Spanish drums, as some +detachment of troops marched by the outer gate. Don John listened. + +"Those are my men," he said. "We must go, for now that they are below I +can send my people on errands with orders to them, until I am alone. +Then you must come in. At the end of my apartments there is a small +room, beyond my own. It is furnished to be my study, and no one will +expect to enter it at night. I must put you there, and lock the door and +take the key with me, so that no one can go in while I am at court--or +else you can lock it on the inside, yourself. That would be better, +perhaps," he added rather hurriedly. + +"No," said the girl quietly. "I prefer that you should have the key. I +shall feel even safer. But how can I get there without being seen? We +cannot go so far together without meeting some one." + +He rose, and she stood up beside him. + +"My apartments open upon the broad terrace on the south side," he said. +"At this time there will be only two or three officers there, and my two +servants. Follow me at a little distance, with your hood over your face, +and when you reach the sentry-box at the corner where I turn off, go in. +There will be no sentinel there, and the door looks outward. I shall +send away every one, on different errands, in five minutes. When every +one is gone I will come for you. Is that clear?" + +"Perfectly." She nodded, as if she had made quite sure of what he had +explained. Then she put up her hands, as if to say good-by. "Oh, if we +could only stay here in peace!" she cried. + +He said nothing, for he knew that there was still much danger, and he +was anxious for her. He only pressed her hands and then led her away. +They followed the corridor together, side by side, to the turning. Then +he whispered to her to drop behind, and she let him go on a dozen paces +and followed him. The way was long, and ill lighted at intervals by oil +lamps hung from the vault by small chains; they cast a broad black +shadow beneath them, and shed a feeble light above. Several times +persons passed them, and Dolores' heart beat furiously. A court lady, +followed by a duenna and a serving-woman, stopped with a winning smile, +and dropped a low courtesy to Don John, who lifted his cap, bowed, and +went on. They did not look at Dolores. A man in a green cloth apron and +loose slippers, carrying five lighted lamps in a greasy iron tray, +passed with perfect indifference, and without paying the least attention +to the victor of Granada. It was his business to carry lamps in that +part of the palace--he was not a human being, but a lamplighter. They +went on, down a short flight of broad steps, and then through a wider +corridor where the lights were better, though the night breeze was +blowing in and made them flicker and flare. + +A corporal's guard of the household halberdiers came swinging down at a +marching step, coming from the terrace beyond. The corporal crossed his +halberd in salute, but Don John stopped him, for he understood at once +that a sentry had been set at his door. + +"I want no guard," he said. "Take the man away." + +"The General ordered it, your Highness," answered the man, respectfully. + +"Request your captain to report to the General that I particularly +desire no sentinel at my door. I have no possessions to guard except my +reputation, and I can take care of that myself." He laughed +good-naturedly. + +The corporal grinned--he was a very dark, broad-faced man, with high +cheek bones, and ears that stuck out. He faced about with his three +soldiers, and followed Don John to the terrace--but in the distance he +had seen the hooded figure of a woman. + +Not knowing what to do, for she had heard the colloquy, Dolores stood +still a moment, for she did not care to pass the soldiers as they came +back. Then she turned and walked a little way in the other direction, to +gain time, and kept on slowly. In less than a minute they returned, +bringing the sentinel with them. She walked slowly and counted them as +they went past her--and then she started as if she had been stung, and +blushed scarlet under her hood, for she distinctly heard the big +corporal laugh to himself when he had gone by. She knew, then, how she +trusted the man she loved. + +When the soldiers had turned the corner and were out of sight, she ran +back to the terrace and hid herself in the stone sentry-box just +outside, still blushing and angry. On the side of the box towards Don +John's apartment there was a small square window just at the height of +her eyes, and she looked through it, sure that her face could not be +seen from without. She looked from mere curiosity, to see what sort of +men the officers were, and Don John's servants; for everything connected +with him or belonging to him in any way interested her most intensely. +Two tall captains came out first, magnificent in polished breastplates +with gold shoulder straps and sashes and gleaming basket-hilted swords, +that stuck up behind them as their owners pressed down the hilts and +strutted along, twisting their short black moustaches in the hope of +meeting some court lady on their way. Then another and older man passed, +also in a soldier's dress, but with bent head, apparently deep in +thought. After that no one came for some time--then a servant, who +pulled something out of his pocket and began to eat it, before he was in +the corridor. + +Then a woman came past the little window. Dolores saw her as distinctly +as she had seen the four men. She came noiselessly and stealthily, +putting down her foot delicately, like a cat. She was a lady, and she +wore a loose cloak that covered all her gown, and on her head a thick +veil, drawn fourfold across her face. Her gait told the girl that she +was young and graceful--something in the turn of the head made her sure +that she was beautiful, too--something in the whole figure and bearing +was familiar. The blood sank from Dolores' cheeks, and she felt a chill +slowly rising to her heart. The lady entered the corridor and went on +quickly, turned, and was out of sight. + +Then all at once, Dolores laughed to herself, noiselessly, and was happy +again, in spite of her danger. There was nothing to disturb her, she +reflected. The terrace was long, there were doubtless other apartments +beyond Don John's, though she had not known it. The lady had indeed +walked cautiously, but it might well be that she had reasons for not +being seen there, and that the further rooms were not hers. The Alcazar +was only an old Moorish castle, after all, restored and irregularly +enlarged, and altogether very awkwardly built, so that many of the +apartments could only be reached by crossing open terraces. + +When Don John came to get her in the sentry-box, Dolores' momentary +doubt was gone, though not all her curiosity. She smiled as she came out +of her hiding-place and met his eyes--clear and true as her own. She +even hated herself for having thought that the lady could have come from +his apartment at all. The light was streaming from his open door as he +led her quickly towards it. There were three windows beyond it, and +there the terrace ended. She looked at the front as they were passing, +and counted again three windows between the open door and the corner +where the sentry-box stood. + +"Who lives in the rooms beyond you?" she asked quickly. + +"No one--the last is the one where you are to be." He seemed surprised. + +They had reached the open door, and he stood aside to let her go in. + +"And on this side?" she asked, speaking with a painful effort. + +"My drawing-room and dining-room," he answered. + +She paused and drew breath before she spoke again, and she pressed one +hand to her side under her cloak. + +"Who was the lady who came from here when all the men were gone?" she +asked, very pale. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Don John was a man not easily taken off his guard, but he started +perceptibly at Dolores' question. He did not change colour, however, nor +did his eyes waver; he looked fixedly into her face. + +"No lady has been here," he answered quietly. + +Dolores doubted the evidence of her own senses. Her belief in the man +she loved was so great that his words seemed at first to have destroyed +and swept away what must have been a bad dream, or a horrible illusion, +and her face was quiet and happy again as she passed him and went in +through the open entrance. She found herself in a vestibule from which +doors opened to the right and left. He turned in the latter direction, +leading the way into the room. + +It was his bedchamber. Built in the Moorish manner, the vaulting began +at the height of a man's head, springing upward in bold and graceful +curves to a great height. The room was square and very large, and the +wall below the vault was hung with very beautiful tapestries +representing the battle of Pavia, the surrender of Francis the First, +and a sort of apotheosis of the Emperor Charles, the father of Don John. +There were two tall windows, which were quite covered by curtains of a +dark brocade, in which the coats of Spain and the Empire were woven in +colours at regular intervals; and opposite them, with the head to the +wall, stood a vast curtained bedstead with carved posts twice a man's +height. The vaulting had been cut on that side, in order that the foot +of the bed might stand back against the wall. The canopy had coats of +arms at the four corners, and the curtains were of dark green corded +silk, heavily embroidered with gold thread in the beautiful scrolls and +arabesques of the period of the Renascence. A carved table, dark and +polished, stood half way between the foot of the bedstead and the space +between the windows, where a magnificent kneeling-stool with red velvet +cushions was placed under a large crucifix. Half a dozen big chairs were +ranged against the long walls on each side of the room, and two +commodious folding chairs with cushions of embossed leather were beside +the table. Opposite the door by which Dolores had entered, another +communicated with the room beyond. Both were carved and ornamented with +scroll work of gilt bronze, but were without curtains. Three or four +Eastern, rugs covered the greater part of the polished marble pavement, +which here and there reflected the light of the tall wax torches that +stood on the table in silver candlesticks, and on each side of the bed +upon low stands. The vault above the tapestried walls was very dark +blue, and decorated with gilded stars in relief. Dolores thought the +room gloomy, and almost funereal. The bed looked like a catafalque, the +candles like funeral torches, and the whole place breathed the +magnificent discomfort of royalty, and seemed hardly intended for a +human habitation. + +Dolores barely glanced at it all, as her companion locked the first door +and led her on to the next room. He knew that he had not many minutes to +spare, and was anxious that she should be in her hiding-place before his +servants came back. She followed him and went in. Unlike the bedchamber, +the small study was scantily and severely furnished. It contained only a +writing-table, two simple chairs, a straight-backed divan covered with +leather, and a large chest of black oak bound with ornamented steel +work. The window was curtained with dark stuff, and two wax candles +burned steadily beside the writing-materials that were spread out ready +for use. + +"This is the room," Don John said, speaking for the first time since +they had entered the apartments. + +Dolores let her head fall back, and began to loosen her cloak at her +throat without answering him. He helped her, and laid the long garment +upon the divan. Then he turned and saw her in the full light of the +candles, looking at him, and he uttered an exclamation. + +"What is it?" she asked almost dreamily. + +"You are very beautiful," he answered in a low voice. "You are the most +beautiful woman I ever saw." + +The merest girl knows the tone of a man whose genuine admiration breaks +out unconsciously in plain words, and Dolores was a grown woman. A faint +colour rose in her cheek, and her lips parted to smile, but her eyes +were grave and anxious, for the doubt had returned, and would not be +thrust away. She had seen the lady in the cloak and veil during several +seconds, and though Dolores, who had been watching the men who passed, +had not actually seen her come out of Don John's apartments, but had +been suddenly aware of her as she glided by, it seemed out of the +question that she should have come from any other place. There was +neither niche nor embrasure between the door and the corridor, in which +the lady could have been hidden, and it was hardly conceivable that she +should have been waiting outside for some mysterious purpose, and should +not have fled as soon as she heard the two officers coming out, since +she evidently wished to escape observation. On the other hand, Don John +had quietly denied that any woman had been there, which meant at all +events that he had not seen any one. It could mean nothing else. + +Dolores was neither foolishly jealous nor at all suspicious by nature, +and the man was her ideal of truthfulness and honour. She stood looking +at him, resting one hand on the table, while he came slowly towards her, +moving almost unconsciously in the direction of her exquisite beauty, as +a plant lifts itself to the sun at morning. He was near to her, and he +stretched out his arms as if to draw her to him. She smiled then, for in +his eyes she forgot her trouble for a moment, and she would have kissed +him. But suddenly his face grew grave, and he set his teeth, and instead +of taking her into his arms, he took one of her hands and raised it to +his lips, as if it had been the hand of his brother's wife, the young +Queen. + +"Why?" she asked in surprise, and with a little start. + +"You are here under my protection," he answered. "Let me have my own +way." + +"Yes, I understand. How good you are to me!" She paused, and then went +on, seating herself upon one of the chairs by the table as she spoke. +"You must leave me now," she said. "You must lock me in and keep the +key. Then I shall know that I am safe; and in the meantime you must +decide how I am to escape--it will not be easy." She stopped again. "I +wonder who that woman was!" she exclaimed at last. + +"There was no woman here," replied Don John, as quietly and assuredly as +before. + +He was leaning upon the table at the other side, with both hands resting +upon it, looking at her beautiful hair as she bent her head. + +"Say that you did not see her," she said, "not that she was not here, +for she passed me after all the men, walking very cautiously to make no +noise; and when she was in the corridor she ran--she was young and +light-footed. I could not see her face." + +"You believe me, do you not?" asked Don John, bending over the table a +little, and speaking very anxiously. + +She turned her face up instantly, her eyes wide and bright. + +"Should I be here if I did not trust you and believe you?" she asked +almost fiercely. "Do you think--do you dare to think--that I would have +passed your door if I had supposed that another woman had been here +before me, and had been turned out to make room for me, and would have +stayed here--here in your room--if you had not sent her away? If I had +thought that, I would have left you at your door forever. I would have +gone back to my father. I would have gone to Las Huelgas to-morrow, and +not to be a prisoner, but to live and die there in the only life fit for +a broken-hearted woman. Oh, no! You dare not think that,--you who would +dare anything! If you thought that, you could not love me as I love +you,--believing, trusting, staking life and soul on your truth and +faith!" + +The generous spirit had risen in her eyes, roused not against him, but +by all his question might be made to mean; and as she met his look of +grateful gladness her anger broke away, and left only perfect love and +trust behind it. + +"A man would die for you, and wish he might die twice," he answered, +standing upright, as if a weight had been taken from him and he were +free to breathe. + +She looked up at the pale, strong features of the young fighter, who was +so great and glorious almost before the down had thickened on his lip; +and she saw something almost above nature in his face,--something high +and angelic, yet manly and well fitted to face earthly battles. He was +her sun, her young god, her perfect image of perfection, the very source +of her trust. It would have killed her to doubt him. Her whole soul went +up to him in her eyes; and as he was ready to die for her, she knew that +for him she would suffer every anguish death could hold, and not flinch. + +Then she looked down, and suddenly laughed a little oddly, and her +finger pointed towards the pens and paper. + +"She has left something behind," she said. "She was clever to get in +here and slip out again without being seen." + +Don John looked where she pointed, and saw a small letter folded round +the stems of two white carnations, and neatly tied with a bit of twisted +silk. It was laid between the paper and the bronze inkstand, and half +hidden by the broad white feather of a goose-quill pen, that seemed to +have been thrown carelessly across the flowers. It lay there as if meant +to be found, only by one who wrote, and not to attract too much +attention. + +"Oh!" he exclaimed, in a rather singular tone, as he saw it, and a +boyish blush reddened his face. + +Then he took the letter and drew out the two flowers by the blossoms +very carefully. Dolores watched him. He seemed in doubt as to what he +should do; and the blush subsided quickly, and gave way to a look of +settled annoyance. The carnations were quite fresh, and had evidently +not been plucked more than an hour. He held them up a moment and looked +at them, then laid them down again and took the note. There was no +writing on the outside. Without opening it he held it to the flame of +the candle, but Dolores caught his wrist. + +"Why do you not read it?" she asked quickly. + +"Dear, I do not know who wrote it, and I do not wish to know anything +you do not know also." + +"You have no idea who the woman is?" Dolores looked at him wonderingly. + +"Not the very least," he answered with a smile. + +"But I should like to know so much!" she cried. "Do read it and tell me. +I do not understand the thing at all." + +"I cannot do that." He shook his head. "That would be betraying a +woman's secret. I do not know who it is, and I must not let you know, +for that would not be honourable." + +"You are right," she said, after a pause. "You always are. Burn it." + +He pushed the point of a steel erasing-knife through the piece of folded +paper and held it over the flame. It turned brown, crackled and burst +into a little blaze, and in a moment the black ashes fell fluttering to +the table. + +"What do you suppose it was?" asked Dolores innocently, as Don John +brushed the ashes away. + +"Dear--it is very ridiculous--I am ashamed of it, and I do not quite +know how to explain it to you." Again he blushed a little. "It seems +strange to speak of it--I never even told my mother. At first I used to +open them, but now I generally burn them like this one." + +"Generally! Do you mean to say that you often find women's letters with +flowers in them on your table?" + +"I find them everywhere," answered Don John, with perfect simplicity. "I +have found them in my gloves, tied into the basket hilt of my +sword--often they are brought to me like ordinary letters by a messenger +who waits for an answer. Once I found one on my pillow!" + +"But"--Dolores hesitated--"but are they--are they all from the same +person?" she asked timidly. Don John laughed, and shook his head. + +"She would need to be a very persistent and industrious person," he +answered. "Do you not understand?" + +"No. Who are these women who persecute you with their writing? And why +do they write to you? Do they want you to help them?" + +"Not exactly that;" he was still smiling. "I ought not to laugh, I +suppose. They are ladies of the court sometimes, and sometimes others, +and I--I fancy that they want me to--how shall I say?--to begin by +writing them letters of the same sort." + +"What sort of letters?" + +"Why--love letters," answered Don John, driven to extremity in spite of +his resistance. + +"Love letters!" cried Dolores, understanding at last. "Do you mean to +say that there are women whom you do not know, who tell you that they +love you before you have ever spoken to them? Do you mean that a lady of +the court, whom you have probably never even seen, wrote that note and +tied it up with flowers and risked everything to bring it here, just in +the hope that you might notice her? It is horrible! It is vile! It is +shameless! It is beneath anything!" + +"You say she was a lady--you saw her. I did not. But that is what she +did, whoever she may be." + +"And there are women like that--here, in the palace! How little I know!" + +"And the less you learn about the world, the better," answered the young +soldier shortly. + +"But you have never answered one, have you?" asked Dolores, with a scorn +that showed how sure she was of his reply. + +"No." He spoke thoughtfully. "I once thought of answering one. I meant +to tell her that she was out of her senses, but I changed my mind. That +was long ago, before I knew you--when I was eighteen." + +"Ever since you were a boy!" + +The look of wonder was not quite gone from her face yet, but she was +beginning to understand more clearly, though still very far from +distinctly. It did not occur to her once that such things could be +temptations to the brilliant young leader whom every woman admired and +every man flattered, and that only his devoted love for her had kept him +out of ignoble adventures since he had grown to be a man. Had she seen +that, she would have loved him even better, if it were possible. It was +all, as she had said, shameless and abominable. She had thought that she +knew much of evil, and she had even told him so that evening, but this +was far beyond anything she had dreamt of in her innocent thoughts, and +she instinctively felt that there were lower depths of degradation to +which a woman could fall, and of which she would not try to guess the +vileness and horror. + +"Shall I burn the flowers, too?" asked Don John, taking them in his +hand. + +"The flowers? No. They are innocent and fresh. What have they to do with +her? Give them to me." + +He raised them to his lips, looking at her, and then held them out. She +took them, and kissed them, as he had done, and they both smiled +happily. Then she fastened them in her hair. + +"No one will see me to-night but you," she said. "I may wear flowers in +my hair like a peasant woman!" + +"How they make the gold gleam!" he exclaimed, as he looked. "It is +almost time that my men came back," he said sadly. "When I go down to +the court, I shall dismiss them. After the royal supper I shall try and +come here again and see you. By that time everything will be arranged. I +have thought of almost everything already. My mother will provide you +with everything you need. To-morrow evening I can leave this place +myself to go and see her, as I always do." + +He always spoke of Doña Magdalena Quixada as his mother--he had never +known his own. + +Dolores rose from her seat, for he was ready to go. + +"I trust you in everything," she said simply. "I do not need to know how +you will accomplish it all--it is enough to know that you will. Tell +Inez, if you can--protect her if my father is angry with her." + +He held out his hand to take hers, and she was going to give it, as she +had done before. But it was too little. Before he knew it she had thrown +her arms round his neck, and was kissing him, with little cries and +broken words of love. Then she drew back suddenly. + +"I could not help it," she said. "Now lock me in. No--do not say +good-by--even for two hours!" + +"I will come back as soon as I can," he answered, and with a long look +he left her, closed the door and locked it after him, leaving her alone. + +She stood a few moments looking at the panels as if her sight could +pierce them and reach him on the other side, and she tried to hold the +last look she had seen in his eyes. Hardly two minutes had elapsed +before she heard voices and footsteps in the bedchamber. Don John spoke +in short sentences now and then to his servants, and his voice was +commanding though it was kindly. It seemed strange to be so near him in +his life; she wondered whether she should some day always be near him, +as she was now, and nearer; she blushed, all alone. So many things had +happened, and he and she had found so much to say that nothing had been +said at all of what was to follow her flight to Villagarcia. She was to +leave for the Quixadas' house before morning, but Quixada and his wife +could not protect her against her father, if he found out where she was, +unless she were married. After that, neither Mendoza nor any one else, +save the King himself, would presume to interfere with the liberty of +Don John of Austria's wife. All Spain would rise to protect her--she was +sure of that. But they had said nothing about a marriage and had wasted +time over that unknown woman's abominable letter. Since she reasoned it +out to herself, she saw that in all probability the ceremony would take +place as soon as Don John reached Villagarcia. He was powerful enough to +demand the necessary permission of the Archbishop, and he would bring it +with him; but no priest, even in the absence of a written order, would +refuse to marry him if he desired it. Between the real power he +possessed and the vast popularity he enjoyed, he could command almost +anything. + +She heard his voice distinctly just then, though she was not listening +for it. He was telling a servant to bring white shoes. The fact struck +her because she had never seen him wear any that were not black or +yellow. She smiled and wished that she might bring him his white shoes +and hang his order of the Golden Fleece round his neck, and breathe on +the polished hilt of his sword and rub it with soft leather. She had +seen Eudaldo furbish her father's weapons in that way since she had been +a child. + +It had all come so suddenly in the end. Shading her eyes from the +candles with her hand, she rested one elbow on the table, and tried to +think of what should naturally have happened, of what must have happened +if the unknown voice among the courtiers had not laughed and roused her +father's anger and brought all the rest. Don John would have come to the +door, and Eudaldo would have let him in--because no one could refuse him +anything and he was the King's brother. He would have spent half an hour +with her in the little drawing-room, and it would have been a +constrained meeting, with Inez near, though she would presently have +left them alone. Then, by this time, she would have gone down with the +Duchess Alvarez and the other maids of honour, and by and by she would +have followed the Queen when she entered the throne room with the King +and Don John; and she might not have exchanged another word with the +latter for a whole day, or two days. But now it seemed almost certain +that she was to be his wife within the coming week. He was in the next +room. + +"Do not put the sword away," she heard him say. "Leave it here on the +table." + +Of course; what should he do with a sword in his court dress? But if he +had met her father in the corridor, coming to her after the supper, he +would have been unarmed. Her father, on the contrary, being on actual +duty, wore the sword of his rank, like any other officer of the guards, +and the King wore a rapier as a part of his state dress. + +She was astonished at the distinctness with which she heard what was +said in the next room. That was doubtless due to the construction of the +vault, as she vaguely guessed. It was true that Don John spoke very +clearly, but she could hear the servants' subdued answers almost as +well, when she listened. It seemed to her that he took but a very short +time to dress. + +"I have the key of that room," he said presently. "I have my papers +there. You are at liberty till midnight. My hat, my gloves. Call my +gentlemen, one of you, and tell them to meet me in the corridor." + +She could almost hear him drawing on his gloves. One of the servants +went out. + +"Fadrique," said Don John, "leave out my riding-cloak. I may like to +walk on the terrace in the moonlight, and it is cold. Have my drink +ready at midnight and wait for me. Send Gil to sleep, for he was up last +night." + +There was a strange pleasure in hearing his familiar orders and small +directions and in seeing how thoughtful he was for his servants. She +knew that he had always refused to be surrounded by valets and +gentlemen-in-waiting, and lived very simply when he could, but it was +different to be brought into such close contact with his life. There was +a wonderful gentleness in his ways that contrasted widely with her +father's despotic manner and harsh tone when he gave orders. Mendoza +believed himself the type and model of a soldier and a gentleman, and he +maintained that without rigid discipline there could be no order and no +safety at home or in the army. But between him and Don John there was +all the difference that separates the born leader of men from the mere +martinet. + +Dolores listened. It was clear that Don John was not going to send +Fadrique away in order to see her again before he went down to the +throne room, though she had almost hoped he might. + +On the contrary, some one else came. She heard Fadrique announce him. + +"The Captain Don Juan de Escobedo is in waiting, your Highness," said +the servant. "There is also Adonis." + +"Adonis!" Don John laughed, not at the name, for it was familiar to him, +but at the mere mention of the person who bore it and who was the King's +dwarf jester, Miguel de Antona, commonly known by his classic nickname. +"Bring Adonis here--he is an old friend." + +The door opened again, and Dolores heard the well-known voice of the +hunchback, clear as a woman's, scornful and full of evil laughter,--the +sort of voice that is heard instantly in a crowd, though it is not +always recognizable. The fellow came in, talking loud. + +"Ave Cæsar!" he cried from the door. "Hail, conqueror! All hail, thou +favoured of heaven, of man,--and of the ladies!" + +"The ladies too?" laughed Don John, probably amused by the dwarfs +antics. "Who told you that?" + +"The cook, sir. For as you rode up to the gate this afternoon a scullery +maid saw you from the cellar grating and has been raving mad ever since, +singing of the sun, moon, and undying love, until the kitchen is more +like a mad-house than this house would be if the Day of Judgment came +before or after Lent." + +"Do you fast in Lent, Adonis?" + +"I fast rigidly three times a day, my lord conqueror,--no, six, for I +eat nothing either just before or just after my breakfast, my dinner, +and my supper. No monk can do better than that, for at those times I eat +nothing at all." + +"If you said your prayers as often as you fast, you would be in a good +way," observed Don John. + +"I do, sir. I say a short grace before and after eating. Why have you +come to Madrid, my lord? Do you not know that Madrid is the worst, the +wickedest, the dirtiest, vilest, and most damnable habitation devised by +man for the corruption of humanity? Especially in the month of November? +Has your lordship any reasonable reason for this unreason of coming +here, when the streets are full of mud, and men's hearts are packed like +saddle-bags with all the sins they have accumulated since Easter and +mean to unload at Christmas? Even your old friends are shocked to see so +young and honest a prince in such a place!" + +"My old friends? Who?" + +"I saw Saint John the Conqueror graciously wave his hand to a most +highly respectable old nobleman this afternoon, and the nobleman was so +much shocked that he could not stir an arm to return the salutation! His +legs must have done something, though, for he seemed to kick his own +horse up from the ground under him. The shock must have been terrible. +As for me, I laughed aloud, which made both the old nobleman and Don +Julius Caesar of Austria exceedingly angry. Get before me, Don Fadrique! +I am afraid of the terror of the Moors,--and no shame to me either! A +poor dwarf, against a man who tears armies to shreds,--and sends +scullery maids into hysterics! What is a poor crippled jester compared +with a powerful scullery maid or an army of heathen Moriscoes? Give me +that sword, Fadrique, or I am a dead man!" + +But Don John was laughing good-naturedly. + +"So it was you, Adonis? I might have-known your voice, I should think." + +"No one ever knows my voice, sir. It is not a voice, it is a freak of +grammar. It is masculine, feminine, and neuter in gender, singular by +nature, and generally accusative, and it is optative in mood and full of +acute accents. If you can find such another voice in creation, sir, I +will forfeit mine in the King's councils." + +Adonis laughed now, and Dolores remembered the laughter she had heard +from the window. + +"Does his Majesty consult you on matters of state?" inquired Don John. +"Answer quickly, for I must be going." + +"It takes twice as long to tell a story to two men, as to tell it to +one,--when you have to tell them different stories," + +"Go, Fadrique," said Don John, "and shut the door." + +The dwarf, seeing the servant gone, beckoned Don John to the other side +of the room. + +"It is no great secret, being only the King's," he said. "His Majesty +bids me tell your Serene Highness that he wishes to speak with you +privately about some matters, and that he will come here soon after +supper, and begs you to be alone." + +"I will be here--alone." + +"Excellent, sir. Now there is another matter of secrecy which is just +the contrary of what I have told you, for it is a secret from the King. +A lady laid a letter and two white carnations on your writing-table. If +there is any answer to be taken, I will take it." + +"There is none," answered Don John sternly, "Tell the lady that I burned +the letter without reading it. Go, Adonis, and the next time you come +here, do not bring messages from women. Fadrique!" + +"Your Highness burned the letter without reading it?" + +"Yes. Fadrique!" + +"I am sorry," said the dwarf, in a low voice. + +No more words were spoken, and in a few moments there was deep silence, +for they were all gone, and Dolores was alone, locked into the little +room. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +The great throne room of the palace was crowded with courtiers long +before the time when the King and Queen and Don John of Austria were to +appear, and the entries and halls by which it was approached were almost +as full. Though the late November air was keen, the state apartments +were at summer heat, warmed by thousands of great wax candles that +burned in chandeliers, and in huge sconces and on high candelabra that +stood in every corner. The light was everywhere, and was very soft and +yellow, while the odour of the wax itself was perceptible in the air, +and helped the impression that the great concourse was gathered in a +wide cathedral for some solemn function rather than in a throne room to +welcome a victorious soldier. Vast tapestries, dim and rich in the thick +air, covered the walls between the tall Moorish windows, and above them +the great pointed vaulting, ornamented with the fantastically modelled +stucco of the Moors, was like the creamy crests of waves lashed into +foam by the wind, thrown upright here, and there blown forward in swift +spray, and then again breaking in the fall to thousands of light and +exquisite shapes; and the whole vault thus gathered up the light of the +candles into itself and shed it downward, distributing it into every +corner and lighting every face in a soft and golden glow. + +At the upper end, between two great doors that were like the gateways of +an eastern city, stood the vacant throne, on a platform approached by +three broad steps and covered with deep red cloth; and there stood +magnificent officers of the guard in gilded corslets and plumed steel +caps, and other garments of scarlet and gold, with their drawn swords +out. But Mendoza was not there yet, for it was his duty to enter with +the King's own guard, preceding the Majorduomo. Above the throne, a huge +canopy of velvet, red and yellow, was reared up around the royal coat of +arms. + +To the right and left, on the steps, stood carved stools with silken +cushions--those on the right for the chief ministers and nobles of the +kingdom, those on the left for the great ladies of the court. These +would all enter in the King's train and take their places. For the +throng of courtiers who filled the floor and the entries there were no +seats, for only a score of the highest and greatest personages were +suffered to sit in the royal presence. A few, who were near the windows, +rested themselves surreptitiously on the high mouldings of the +pilasters, pushing aside the curtains cautiously, and seeming from a +distance to be standing while they were in reality comfortably seated, +an object of laughing envy and of many witticisms to their less +fortunate fellow-courtiers. The throng was not so close but that it was +possible to move in the middle of the hall, and almost all the persons +there were slowly changing place, some going forward to be nearer the +throne, others searching for their friends among their many +acquaintances, that they might help the tedious hour to pass more +quickly. + +Seen from the high gallery above the arch of the great entrance the hall +was a golden cauldron full of rich hues that intermingled in streams, +and made slow eddies with deep shadows, and then little waves of light +that turned upon themselves, as the colours thrown into the dyeing vat +slowly seethe and mix together in rivulets of dark blue and crimson, and +of splendid purple that seems to turn black in places and then is +suddenly shot through with flashes of golden and opalescent light. Here +and there also a silvery gleam flashed in the darker surface, like a +pearl in wine, for a few of the court ladies were dressed all in white, +with silver and many pearls, and diamonds that shed little rays of their +own. + +The dwarf Adonis had been there for a few moments behind the lattice +which the Moors had left, and as he stood there alone, where no one ever +thought of going, he listened to the even and not unmusical sound that +came up from the great assembly--the full chorus of speaking voices +trained never to be harsh or high, and to use chosen words, with no loud +exclamations, laughing only to please and little enough out of +merriment; and they would not laugh at all after the King and Queen came +in, but would only murmur low and pleasant flatteries, the change as +sudden as when the musician at the keys closes the full organ all at +once and draws gentle harmonies from softer stops. + +The jester had stood there, and looked down with deep-set, eager eyes, +his crooked face pathetically sad and drawn, but alive with a swift and +meaning intelligence, while the thin and mobile lips expressed a sort of +ready malice which could break out in bitterness or turn to a kindly +irony according as the touch that moved the man's sensitive nature was +cruel or friendly. He was scarcely taller than a boy of ten years old, +but his full-grown arms hung down below his knees, and his man's head, +with the long, keen face, was set far forward on his shapeless body, so +that in speaking with persons of ordinary stature he looked up under his +brows, a little sideways, to see better. Smooth red hair covered his +bony head, and grew in a carefully trimmed and pointed beard on his +pointed chin. A loose doublet of crimson velvet hid the outlines of his +crooked back and projecting breastbone, and the rest of his dress was of +materials as rich, and all red. He was, moreover, extraordinarily +careful of his appearance, and no courtier had whiter or more delicately +tended hands or spent more time before the mirror in tying a shoulder +knot, and in fastening the stiffened collar of white embroidered linen +at the fashionable angle behind his neck. + +He had entered the latticed gallery on his way to Don John's apartments +with the King's message. A small and half-concealed door, known to few +except the servants of the palace, opened upon it suddenly from a niche +in one of the upper corridors. In Moorish days the ladies of the harem +had been wont to go there unseen to see the reception of ambassadors of +state, and such ceremonies, at which, even veiled, they could never be +present. + +He only stayed a few moments, and though his eyes were eager, it was by +habit rather than because they were searching for any one in the crowd. +It pleased him now and then to see the court world as a spectacle, as it +delights the hard-worked actor to be for once a spectator at another's +play. He was an integral part of the court himself, a man of whom most +was often expected when he had the least to give, to whom it was +scarcely permitted to say anything in ordinary language, but to whom +almost any license of familiar speech was freely allowed. He was not a +man, he was a tradition, a thing that had to be where it was from +generation to generation; wherever the court had lived a jester lay +buried, and often two and three, for they rarely lived an ordinary +lifetime. Adonis thought of that sometimes, when he was alone, or when +he looked down at the crowd of delicately scented and richly dressed men +and women, every one called by some noble name, who would doubtless +laugh at some jest of his before the night was over. To their eyes the +fool was a necessary servant, because there had always been a fool at +court; he was as indispensable as a chief butler, a chief cook, or a +state coachman, and much more amusing. But he was not a man, he had no +name, he had no place among men, he was not supposed to have a mother, a +wife, a home, anything that belonged to humanity. He was well lodged, +indeed, where the last fool had died, and richly clothed as the other +had been, and he fed delicately, and was given the fine wines of France +to drink, lest his brain should be clouded by stronger liquor and he +should fail to make the court laugh. But he knew well enough that +somewhere in Toledo or Valladolid the next court jester was being +trained to good manners and instructed in the art of wit, to take the +vacant place when he should die. It pleased him therefore sometimes to +look down at the great assemblies from the gallery and to reflect that +all those magnificent fine gentlemen and tenderly nurtured beauties of +Spain were to die also, and that there was scarcely one of them, man or +woman, for whose death some one was not waiting, and waiting perhaps +with evil anxiety and longing. They were splendid to see, those fair +women in their brocades and diamonds, those dark young princesses and +duchesses in velvet and in pearls. He dreamed of them sometimes, +fancying himself one of those Djin of the southern mountains of whom the +Moors told blood-curdling tales, and in the dream he flew down from the +gallery on broad, black wings and carried off the youngest and most +beautiful, straight to his magic fortress above the sea. + +They never knew that he was sometimes up there, and on this evening he +did not wait long, for he had his message to deliver and must be in +waiting on the King before the royal train entered the throne room. +After he was gone, the courtiers waited long, and more and more came in +from without. Now and then the crowd parted as best it might, to allow +some grandee who wore the order of the Golden Fleece or of some other +exalted order, to lead his lady nearer to the throne, as was his right, +advancing with measured steps, and bowing gravely to the right and left +as he passed up to the front among his peers. And just behind them, on +one aide, the young girls, of whom many were to be presented to the King +and Queen that night, drew together and talked in laughing whispers, +gathering in groups and knots of three and four, in a sort of irregular +rank behind their mothers or the elder ladies who were to lead them to +the royal presence and pronounce their names. There was more light where +they were gathered, the shadows were few and soft, the colours tender as +the tints of roses in a garden at sunset, and from the place where they +stood the sound of young voices came silvery and clear. That should have +been Inez de Mendoza's place if she had not been blind. But Inez had +never been willing to be there, though she had more than once found her +way to the gallery where the dwarf had stood, and had listened, and +smelled the odour of the wax candles and the perfumes that rose with the +heated air. + +It was long before the great doors on the right hand of the canopy were +thrown open, but courtiers are accustomed from their childhood to long +waiting, and the greater part of their occupation at court is to see and +to be seen, and those who can do both and can take pleasure in either +are rarely impatient. Moreover, many found an opportunity of exchanging +quick words and of making sudden plans for meeting, who would have found +it hard to exchange a written message, and who had few chances of seeing +each other in the ordinary course of their lives; and others had waited +long to deliver a cutting speech, well studied and tempered to hurt, and +sought their enemies in the crowd with the winning smile a woman wears +to deal her keenest thrust. There were men, too, who had great interests +at stake and sought the influence of such as lived near the King, +flattering every one who could possibly be of use, and coolly +overlooking any who had a matter of their own to press, though they were +of their own kin. Many officers of Don John's army were there, too, +bright-eyed and bronzed from their campaigning, and ready to give their +laurels for roses, leaf by leaf, with any lady of the court who would +make a fair exchange--and of these there were not a few, and the time +seemed short to them. There were also ecclesiastics, but not many, in +sober black and violet garments, and they kept together in one corner +and spoke a jargon of Latin and Spanish which the courtiers could not +understand; and all who were there, the great courtiers and the small, +the bishops and the canons, the stout princesses laced to suffocation +and to the verge of apoplexy, and fanning themselves desperately in the +heat, and their slim, dark-eyed daughters, cool and laughing--they were +all gathered together to greet Spain's youngest and greatest hero, Don +John of Austria, who had won back Granada from the Moors. + +As the doors opened at last, a distant blast of silver trumpets rang in +from without, and the full chorus of speaking voices was hushed to a +mere breathing that died away to breathless silence during a few moments +as the greatest sovereign of the age, and one of the strangest figures +of all time, appeared before his court. The Grand Master of Ceremonies +entered first, in his robe of office, bearing a long white staff. In the +stillness his voice rang out to the ends of the hall: + +"His Majesty the King! Her Majesty the Queen!" + +Then came a score of halberdiers of the guard, picked men of great +stature, marching in even steps, led by old Mendoza himself, in his +breastplate and helmet, sword in hand; and he drew up the guard at one +side in a rank, making them pass him so that he stood next to the door. + +After the guards came Philip the Second, a tall and melancholy figure; +and with him, on his left side, walked the young Queen, a small, thin +figure in white, with sad eyes and a pathetic face--wondering, perhaps, +whether she was to follow soon those other queens who had walked by the +same King to the same court, and had all died before their time--Mary of +Portugal, Mary of England, Isabel of Valois. + +The King was one of those men who seem marked by destiny rather than by +nature, fateful, sombre, almost repellent in manner, born to inspire a +vague fear at first sight, and foreordained to strange misfortune or to +extraordinary success, one of those human beings from whom all men +shrink instinctively, and before whom they easily lose their fluency of +speech and confidence of thought. Unnaturally still eyes, of an +uncertain colour, gazed with a terrifying fixedness upon a human world, +and were oddly set in the large and perfectly colourless face that was +like an exaggerated waxen mask. The pale lips did not meet evenly, the +lower one protruding, forced, outward by the phenomenal jaw that has +descended to this day in the House of Austria. A meagre beard, so fair +that it looked faded, accentuated the chin rather than concealed it, and +the hair on the head was of the same undecided tone, neither thin nor +thick, neither long nor short, but parted, and combed with the utmost +precision about the large but very finely moulded ears. The brow was +very full as well as broad, and the forehead high, the whole face too +large, even for a man so tall, and disquieting in its proportions. +Philip bent his head forward a little when at rest; when he looked about +him it moved with something of the slow, sure motion of a piece of +mechanism, stopping now and then, as the look in the eyes solidified to +a stare, and then, moving again, until curiosity was satisfied and it +resumed its first attitude, and remained motionless, whether the lips +were speaking or not. + +Very tall and thin, and narrow chested, the figure was clothed all in +cream-coloured silk and silver, relieved only by the collar of the +Golden Fleece, the solitary order the King wore. His step was ungraceful +and slow, as if his thin limbs bore his light weight with difficulty, +and he sometimes stumbled in walking. One hand rested on the hilt of his +sword as he walked, and even under the white gloves the immense length +of the fingers and the proportionate development of the long thumb were +clearly apparent. No one could have guessed that in such a figure there +could be much elasticity or strength, and yet, at rare moments and when +younger, King Philip displayed such strength and energy and quickness as +might well have made him the match of ordinary men. As a rule his anger +was slow, thoughtful, and dangerous, as all his schemes were vast and +far-reaching. + +With the utmost deliberation, and without so much as glancing at the +courtiers assembled, he advanced to the throne and sat down, resting +both hands on the gilded arms of the great chair; and the Queen took her +place beside him. But before he had settled himself, there was a low +sound of suppressed delight in the hall, a moving of heads, a +brightening of women's eyes, a little swaying of men's shoulders as they +tried to see better over those who stood before them; and voices rose +here and there above the murmur, though not loudly, and were joined by +others. Then the King's waxen face darkened, though the expression did +not change and the still eyes did not move, but as if something passed +between it and the light, leaving it grey in the shadow. He did not turn +to look, for he knew that his brother had entered the throne room and +that every eye was upon him. + +Don John was all in dazzling white--white velvet, white satin, white +silk, white lace, white shoes, and wearing neither sword nor ornament of +any kind, the most faultless vision of young and manly grace that ever +glided through a woman's dream. + +His place was on the King's right, and he passed along the platform of +the throne with an easy, unhesitating step, and an almost boyish smile +of pleasure at the sounds he heard, and at the flutter of excitement +that was in the air, rather to be felt than otherwise perceived. Coming +up the steps of the throne, he bent one knee before his brother, who +held out his ungloved hand for him to kiss--and when that was done, he +knelt again before the Queen, who did likewise. Then, bowing low as he +passed back before the King, he descended one step and took the chair +set for him in the place that was for the royal princes. + +He was alone there, for Philip was again childless at his fourth +marriage, and it was not until long afterwards that a son was born who +lived to succeed him; and there were no royal princesses in Madrid, so +that Don John was his brother's only near blood relation at the court, +and since he had been acknowledged he would have had his place by right, +even if he had not beaten the Moriscoes in the south and won back +Granada. + +After him came the high Ministers of State and the ambassadors in a rich +and stately train, led in by Don Antonio Perez, the King's new +favourite, a man of profound and evil intelligence, upon whom Philip was +to rely almost entirely during ten years, whom he almost tortured to +death for his crimes, and who in the end escaped him, outlived him, and +died a natural death, in Paris, when nearly eighty. With these came also +the court ladies, the Queen's Mistress of the Robes, and the maids of +honour, and with the ladies was Doña Ana de la Cerda, Princess of Eboli +and Melito and Duchess of Pastrana, the wife of old Don Ruy Gomez de +Silva, the Minister. It was said that she ruled her husband, and Antonio +Perez and the King himself, and that she was faithless to all three. + +She was not more than thirty years of age at that time, and she looked +younger when seen in profile. But one facing her might have thought her +older from the extraordinary and almost masculine strength of her small +head and face, compact as a young athlete's, too square for a woman's, +with high cheekbones, deep-set black eyes and eyebrows that met between +them, and a cruel red mouth that always curled a little just when she +was going to speak, and showed extraordinarily perfect little teeth, +when the lips parted. Yet she was almost beautiful when she was not +angry or in a hurtful mood. The dark complexion was as smooth as a +perfect peach, and tinged with warm colour, and her eyes could be like +black opals, and no woman in Spain or Andalusia could match her for +grace of figure and lightness of step. + +Others came after in the long train. Then, last of all, at a little +distance from the rest, the jester entered, affecting a very dejected +air. He stood still a while on the platform, looking about as if to see +whether a seat had been reserved for him, and then, shaking his head +sadly, he crouched down, a heap of scarlet velvet with a man's face, +just at Don John's feet, and turning a little towards him, so as to +watch his eyes. But Don John would not look at him, and was surprised +that he should put himself there, having just been dismissed with a +sharp reprimand for bringing women's messages. + +The ceremony, if it can be called by that name, began almost as soon as +all were seated. At a sign from the King, Don Antonio Perez rose and +read out a document which he had brought in his hand. It was a sort of +throne speech, and set forth briefly, in very measured terms, the +results of the long campaign against the Moriscoes, according high +praise to the army in general, and containing a few congratulatory +phrases addressed to Don John himself. The audience of nobles listened +attentively, and whenever the leader's name occurred, the suppressed +flutter of enthusiasm ran through the hall like a breeze that stirs +forest leaves in summer; but when the King was mentioned the silence was +dead and unbroken. Don John sat quite still, looking down a little, and +now and then his colour deepened perceptibly. The speech did not hint at +any reward or further distinction to be conferred on him. + +When Perez had finished reading, he paused a moment, and the hand that +held the paper fell to his side. Then he raised his voice to a higher +key. + +"God save his Majesty Don Philip Second!" be cried. "Long live the +King!" + +The courtiers answered the cheer, but moderately, as a matter of course, +and without enthusiasm, repeating it three times. But at the last time a +single woman's voice, high and clear above all the rest, cried out other +words. + +"God save Don John of Austria! Long live Don John of Austria!" + +The whole multitude of men and women was stirred at once, for every +heart was in the cheer, and in an instant, courtiers though they were, +the King was forgotten, the time, the place, and the cry went up all at +once, full, long and loud, shaming the one that had gone before it. + +King Philip's hands strained at the arms of his great chair, and he half +rose, as if to command silence; and Don John, suddenly pale, had half +risen, too, stretching out his open hand in a gesture of deprecation, +while the Queen watched him with timidly admiring eyes, and the dark +Princess of Eboli's dusky lids drooped to hide her own, for she was +watching him also, but with other thoughts. For a few seconds longer, +the cheers followed each other, and then they died away to a comparative +silence. The dwarf rocked himself, his head between his knees, at Don +John's feet. + +"God save the Fool!" he cried softly, mimicking the cheer, and he seemed +to shake all over, as he sat huddled together, swinging himself to and +fro. + +But no one noticed what he said, for the King had risen to his feet as +soon as there was silence. He spoke in a muffled tone that made his +words hard to understand, and those who knew him best saw that he was +very angry. The Princess of Eboli's red lips curled scornfully as she +listened, and unnoticed she exchanged a meaning glance with Antonio +Perez; for he and she were allies, and often of late they had talked +long together, and had drawn sharp comparisons between the King and his +brother, and the plan they had made was to destroy the King and to crown +Don John of Austria in his place; but the woman's plot was deeper, and +both were equally determined that Don John should not marry without +their consent, and that if he did, his marriage should not hold, unless, +as was probable, his young wife should fall ill and die of a sickness +unknown to physicians. + +All had risen with the King, and he addressed Don John amidst the most +profound silence. + +"My brother," he said, "your friends have taken upon themselves +unnecessarily to use the words we would have used, and to express to you +their enthusiasm for your success in a manner unknown at the court of +Spain. Our one voice, rendering you the thanks that are your due, can +hardly give you great satisfaction after what you have heard just now. +Yet we presume that the praise of others cannot altogether take the +place of your sovereign's at such a moment, and we formally thank you +for the admirable performance of the task entrusted to you, promising +that before long your services shall be required for an even more +arduous undertaking. It is not in our power to confer upon you any +personal distinction or public office higher than you already hold, as +our brother, and as High Admiral of Spain; but we trust the day is not +far distant when a marriage befitting your rank may place you on a level +with kings." + +Don John had moved a step forward from his place and stood before the +King, who, at the end of his short speech, put his long arms over his +brother's shoulders, and proceeded to embrace him in a formal manner by +applying one cheek to his and solemnly kissing the air behind Don John's +head, a process which the latter imitated as nearly as he could. The +court looked on in silence at the ceremony, ill satisfied with Philip's +cold words. The King drew back, and Don John returned to his place. As +he reached it the dwarf jester made a ceremonious obeisance and handed +him a glove which he had dropped as he came forward. As he took it he +felt that it contained a letter, which made a slight sound when his hand +crumpled it inside the glove. Annoyed by the fool's persistence, Don +John's eyes hardened as he looked at the crooked face, and almost +imperceptibly he shook his head. But the dwarf was as grave as he, and +slightly bent his own, clasping his hands in a gesture of supplication. +Don John reflected that the matter must be one of importance this time, +as Adonis would not otherwise have incurred the risk of passing the +letter to him under the eyes of the King and the whole court. + +Then followed the long and tedious procession of the court past the +royal pair, who remained seated, while all the rest stood up, including +Don John himself, to whom a master of ceremonies presented the persons +unknown to him, and who were by far the more numerous. To the men, old +and young, great or insignificant, he gave his hand with frank +cordiality. To the women he courteously bowed his head. A full hour +passed before it was over, and still he grasped the glove with the +crumpled letter in his hand, while the dwarf stood at a little distance, +watching in case it should fall; and as the Duchess Alvarez and the +Princess of Eboli presented the ladies of Madrid to the young Queen, the +Princess often looked at Don John and often at the jester from beneath +her half-dropped lids. But she did not make a single mistake of names +nor of etiquette, though her mind was much preoccupied with other +matters. + +The Queen was timidly gracious to every one; but Philip's face was +gloomy, and his fixed eyes hardly seemed to see the faces of the +courtiers as they passed before him, nor did he open his lips to address +a word to any of them, though some were old and faithful servants of his +own and of his father's. + +In his manner, in his silence, in the formality of the ceremony, there +was the whole spirit of the Spanish dominion. It was sombrely +magnificent, and it was gravely cruel; it adhered to the forms of +sovereignty as rigidly as to the outward practices of religion; its +power extended to the ends of the world, and the most remote countries +sent their homage and obeisance to its head; and beneath the dark +splendour that surrounded its gloomy sovereigns there was passion and +hatred and intrigue. Beside Don John of Austria stood Antonio Perez, and +under the same roof with Dolores de Mendoza dwelt Ana de la Cerda, +Princess of Eboli, and in the midst of them all Miguel de Antona, the +King's fool. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +When the ceremony was over, and every one on the platform and steps of +the throne moved a little in order to make way for the royal personages, +making a slight momentary confusion, Adonis crept up behind Don John, +and softly touched his sleeve to attract his attention. Don John looked +round quickly, and was annoyed to see the dwarf there. He did not notice +the fact that Doña Ana de la Cerda was watching them both, looking +sideways without turning her head. + +"It is a matter of importance," said the jester, in a low voice. "Read +it before supper if you can." + +Don John looked at him a moment, and turned away without answering, or +even making a sign that he understood. The dwarf met Doña Ana's eyes, +and grew slowly pale, till his face was a yellow mask; for he feared +her. + +The door on the other side of the throne was opened, and the King and +Queen, followed by Don John, and preceded by the Master of Ceremonies, +went out. The dwarf, who was privileged, went after them with his +strange, rolling step, his long arms hanging down and swinging +irregularly, as if they did not belong to his body, but were only +stuffed things that hung loose from his shoulders. + +As on all such state occasions, there were separate suppers, in separate +apartments, one for the King, and one for the ministers of state and the +high courtiers; thirdly, a vast collation was spread in a hall on the +other side of the throne room for the many nobles who were but guests at +the court and held no office nor had any special privileges. It was the +custom at that time that the supper should last an hour, after which all +reëntered the throne room to dance, except the King and Queen, who +either retired to the royal apartments, or came back for a short time +and remained standing on the floor of the hall, in order to converse +with a few of the grandees and ambassadors. + +The royal party supped in a sombre room of oval shape, dark with +tapestries and splendid with gold. The King and Queen sat side by side, +and Don John was placed opposite them at the table, of which the shape +and outline corresponded on a small scale with those of the room. Four +or five gentlemen, whose office it was, served the royal couple, +receiving the dishes and wines from the hands of the chief butler; and +he, with two other servants in state liveries, waited on Don John. +Everything was most exactly ordered according to the unchangeable rules +of the most formal court in Europe, not even excepting that of Rome. + +Philip sat in gloomy silence, eating nothing, but occasionally drinking +a little Tokay wine, brought with infinite precaution from Hungary to +Madrid. As be said nothing, neither the Queen nor Don John could speak, +it being ordained that the King must be the first to open his lips. The +Queen, however, being young and of a good constitution in spite of her +almost delicate appearance, began to taste everything that was set +before her, glancing timidly at her husband, who took no notice of her, +or pretended not to do so. Don John, soldier-like, made a sparing supper +of the first thing that was offered to him, and then sat silently +watching the other two. He understood very well that his brother wished +to see him in private, and was annoyed that the Queen should make the +meal last longer than necessary. The dwarf understood also, and smiled +to himself in the corner where he stood waiting in case the King should +wish to be amused, which on that particular evening seemed far from +likely. But sometimes he turned pale and his lips twisted a little as if +he were suffering great pain; for Don John had not yet read the letter +that was hidden in his glove; and Adonis saw in the dark corners of the +room the Princess of Eboli's cruel half-closed eyes, and he fancied he +heard her deep voice, that almost always spoke very sweetly, telling him +again and again that if Don John did not read her letter before he met +the King alone that night, Adonis should before very long cease to be +court jester, and indeed cease to be anything at all that 'eats and +drinks and sleeps and wears a coat'--as Dante had said. What Doña Ana +said she would do, was as good as done already, both then and for nine +years from that time, but thereafter she paid for all her deeds, and +more too. But this history is not concerned with those matters, being +only the story of what happened in one night at the old Alcazar of +Madrid. + +King Philip sat a little bent in his chair, apparently staring at a +point in space, and not opening his lips except to drink. But his +presence filled the shadowy room, his large and yellowish face seemed to +be all visible from every part of it, and his still eyes dominated +everything and every one, except his brother. It was as if the +possession of some supernatural and evil being were stealing slowly upon +all who were there; as if a monstrous spider sat absolutely motionless +in the midst of its web, drawing everything within reach to itself by +the unnatural fascination of its lidless sight--as if the gentlemen in +waiting were but helpless flies, circling nearer and nearer, to be +caught at last in the meshes, and the Queen a bright butterfly, and Don +John a white moth, already taken and soon to be devoured. The dwarf +thought of this in his corner, and his blood was chilled, for three +queens lay in their tombs in three dim cathedrals, and she who sat at +table was the fourth who had supped with the royal Spider in his web. +Adonis watched him, and the penetrating fear he had long known crept all +through him like the chill that shakes a man before a marsh fever, so +that he had to set his teeth with all his might, lest they should +chatter audibly. As he looked, he fancied that in the light of the waxen +torches the King's face turned by degrees to an ashy grey, and then more +slowly to a shadowy yellow again, as he had seen a spider's ugly body +change colour when the flies came nearer, and change again when one was +entangled in the threads. He thought that the faces of all the people in +the room changed, too, and that he saw in them the look that only near +and certain death can bring, which is in the eyes of him who goes out +with bound hands, at dawn, amongst other men who will see the rising sun +shine on his dead face. That fear came on the dwarf sometimes, and he +dreaded always lest at that moment the King should call to him and bid +him sing or play with words. But this had never happened yet. There were +others in the room, also, who knew something of that same terror, though +in a less degree, perhaps because they knew Philip less well than the +jester, who was almost always near him. But Don John sat quietly in his +place, no more realizing that there could be danger than if he had been +charging the Moors at the head of his cavalry, or fighting a man hand to +hand with drawn swords. + +But still the fear grew, and even the gentlemen and the servants +wondered, for it had never happened that the King had not at last broken +the silence at supper, so that all guessed trouble near at hand, and +peril for themselves. The Queen grew nervous and ceased to eat. She +looked from Philip to Don John, and more than once seemed about to +speak, but recollected herself and checked the words. Her hand shook and +her thin young nostrils quivered now and then. Evil was gathering in the +air, and she felt it approaching, though she could not tell whence it +came. A sort of tension took possession of every one, like what people +feel in southern countries when the southeast wind blows, or when, +almost without warning, the fresh sea-breeze dies away to a dead calm +and the blackness rises like a tide of pitch among the mountains of the +coast, sending up enormous clouds above it to the pale sky, and lying +quite still below; and the air grows lurid quickly, and heavy to breathe +and sultry, till the tempest breaks in lightning and-thunder and +drenching rain. + +In the midst of the brewing storm the dwarf saw only the Spider in its +web, illuminated by the unearthly glare of his own fear, and with it the +frightened butterfly and the beautiful silver moth, that had never +dreamed of danger. He shrank against the hangings, pressing backwards +till he hurt his crooked back against the stone wall behind the +tapestry, and could have shrieked with fear had not a greater fear made +him dumb. He felt that the King was going to speak to him, and that he +should not be able to answer him. A horrible thought suddenly seized +him, and he fancied that the King had seen him slip the letter into Don +John's glove, and would ask for it, and take it, and read it--and that +would be the end. Thrills of torment ran through him, and he knew how it +must feel to lie bound on the rack and to hear the executioner's hands +on the wheel, ready to turn it again at the judge's word. He had seen a +man tortured once, and remembered his face. He was sure that the King +must have seen the letter, and that meant torment and death, and the +King was angry also because the court had cheered Don John. It was +treason, and he knew it--yet it would have been certain death, too, to +refuse to obey Doña Ana. There was destruction on either side, and he +could not escape. Don John had not read the writing yet, and if the King +asked for it, he would probably give it to him without a thought, +unopened, for he was far too simple to imagine that any one could accuse +him of a treasonable thought, and too boyishly frank to fancy that his +brother could be jealous of him--above all, he was too modest to suppose +that there were thousands who would have risked their lives to set him +on the throne of Spain. He would therefore give the King the letter +unopened, unless, believing it to be a love message from some foolish +woman, he chose to tear it up unread. The wretched jester knew that +either would mean his own disgrace and death, and he quivered with agony +from head to foot. + +The lights moved up and down before his sight, the air grew heavier, the +royal Spider took gigantic proportions, and its motionless eyes were +lurid with evil It was about to turn to him; he felt it turning already, +and knew that it saw him in his corner, and meant to draw him to it, +very slowly. In a moment he should fall to the floor a senseless heap, +out of deadly fear--it would be well if his fear really killed him, but +he could not even hope for that. His hands gripped the hangings on each +side of him as he shrank and crushed his deformity against the wall. +Surely the King was taming his head. Yes--he was right. He felt his +short hair rising on his scalp and unearthly sounds screamed in his +ears. The terrible eyes were upon him now, but he could not move hand or +foot--if he had been nailed to the wall to die, he could not have been +so helpless. + +Philip eyed him with cold curiosity, for it was not an illusion, and he +was really looking steadily at the dwarf. After a long time, his +protruding lower lip moved two or three times before he spoke. The +jester should have come forward at his first glance, to answer any +question asked him. Instead, his colourless lips were parted and tightly +drawn back, and his teeth were chattering, do what he could to close +them. The Queen and Don John followed the King's gaze and looked at the +dwarf in surprise, for his agony was painfully visible. + +"He looks as if he were in an ague," observed Philip, as though he were +watching a sick dog. + +He had spoken at last, and the fear of silence was removed. An audible +sigh of relief was heard in the room. + +"Poor man!" exclaimed the Queen. "I am afraid he is very ill!" + +"It is more like--" began Don John, and then he checked himself, for he +had been on the point of saying that the dwarfs fit looked more like +physical fear than illness, for he had more than once seen men afraid of +death; but he remembered the letter in his glove and thought the words +might rouse Philip's suspicions. + +"What was your Serene Highness about to say?" enquired the King, +speaking coldly, and laying stress on the formal title which he had +himself given Don John the right to use. + +"As your Majesty says, it is very like the chill of a fever," replied +Don John. + +But it was already passing, for Adonis was not a natural coward, and the +short conversation of the royal personages had broken the spell that +held him, or had at least diminished its power. When he had entered the +room he had been quite sure that no one except the Princess had seen him +slip the letter into Don John's glove. That quieting belief began to +return, his jaw became steady, and he relaxed his hold on the +tapestries, and even advanced half a step towards the table. + +"And now he seems better," said the King, in evident surprise. "What +sort of illness is this, Fool? If you cannot explain it, you shall be +sent to bed, and the physicians shall practise experiments upon your +vile body, until they find out what your complaint is, for the +advancement of their learning." + +"They would advance me more than their science, Sire," answered Adonis, +in a voice that still quaked with past fear, "for they would send me to +paradise at once and learn nothing that they wished to know." + +"That is probable," observed Don John, thoughtfully, for he had little +belief in medicine generally, and none at all in the present case. + +"May it please your Majesty," said Adonis, taking heart a little, "there +are musk melons on the table." + +"Well, what of that?" asked the King. + +"The sight of melons on your Majesty's table almost kills me," answered +the dwarf. + +"Are you so fond of them that you cannot bear to see them? You shall +have a dozen and be made to eat them all. That will cure your abominable +greediness." + +"Provided that the King had none himself, I would eat all the rest, +until I died of a surfeit of melons like your Majesty's great-grandsire +of glorious and happy memory, the Emperor Maximilian." + +Philip turned visibly pale, for he feared illness and death as few have +feared either. + +"Why has no one ever told me that?" he asked in a muffled and angry +voice, looking round the room, so that the gentlemen and servants shrank +back a little. + +No one answered his question, for though the fact was true, it had been +long forgotten, and it would have been hard for any of those present to +realize that the King would fear a danger so far removed. But the dwarf +knew him well. + +"Let there be no more melons," said Philip, rising abruptly, and still +pale. + +Don John had suppressed a smile, and was taken unawares when the King +rose, so that in standing up instantly, as was necessary according to +the rules, his gloves slipped from his knees, where he had kept them +during supper, to the floor, and a moment passed before he realized that +they were not in his hand. He was still in his place, for the King had +not yet left his own, being engaged in saying a Latin grace in a low +tone, He crossed himself devoutly, and an instant later Don John stooped +down and picked up what he had dropped. Philip could not but notice the +action, and his suspicions were instantly roused. + +"What have you found?" he asked sharply, his eyes fixing themselves +again. + +"My gloves, Sire. I dropped them." + +"And are gloves such precious possessions that Don John of Austria must +stoop to pick them up himself?" + +Adonis began to tremble again, and all his fear returned, so that he +almost staggered against the wall. The Queen looked on in surprise, for +she had not been Philip's wife many months. Don John was unconcerned, +and laughed in reply to the question. + +"It chances that after long campaigning these are the only new white +gloves Don John of Austria possesses," he answered lightly. + +"Let me see them," said the King, extending his hand, and smiling +suddenly. + +With some deliberation Don John presented one of the gloves to his +brother, who took it and pretended to examine it critically, still +smiling. He turned it over several times, while Adonis looked on, +gasping for breath, but unnoticed. + +"The other," said Philip calmly. + +Adonis tried to suppress a groan, and his eyes were fixed on Don John's +face. Would he refuse? Would he try to extract the letter from the glove +under his brother's eyes? Would he give it up? + +Don John did none of those things, and there was not the least change of +colour in his cheek. Without any attempt at concealment he took the +letter from its hiding-place, and held out the empty glove with his +other hand. The King drew back, and his face grew very grey and shadowy +with anger. + +"What have you in your other hand?" he asked in a voice indistinct with +passion. + +"A lady's letter, Sire," replied Don John, unmoved. + +"Give it to me at once!" + +"That, your Majesty, is a request I will not grant to any gentleman in +Spain." + +He undid a button of his close-fitting doublet, thrust the letter into +the opening and fastened the button again, before the King could speak. +The dwarf's heart almost stood still with joy,--he could have crawled to +Don John's feet to kiss the dust from his shoes. The Queen smiled +nervously, between fear of the one man and admiration for the other. + +"Your Serene Highness," answered Philip, with a frightful stare, "is the +first gentleman of Spain who has disobeyed his sovereign." + +"May I be the last, your Majesty," said Don John, with a courtly gesture +which showed well enough that he had no intention of changing his mind. + +The King turned from him coldly and spoke to Adonis, who had almost got +his courage back a second time. + +"You gave my message to his Highness, Fool?" he asked, controlling his +voice, but not quite steadying it to a natural tone. + +"Yes, Sire." + +"Go and tell Don Antonio Perez to come at once to me in my own +apartments." + +The dwarf bent till his crooked back was high above his head, and he +stepped backwards towards the door through which the servants had +entered and gone out. When he had disappeared, Philip turned and, as if +nothing had happened, gave his hand to the Queen to lead her away with +all the prescribed courtesy that was her due. The servants opened wide +the door, two gentlemen placed themselves on each side of it, the chief +gentleman in waiting went before, and the royal couple passed out, +followed at a little distance by Don John, who walked unconcernedly, +swinging his right glove carelessly in his hand as he went. The four +gentlemen walked last. In the hall beyond, Mendoza was in waiting with +the guards. + +A little while after they were all gone, Adonis came back from his +errand, with his rolling step, and searched for the other glove on the +floor, where the King had dropped it. He found it there at once and hid +it in his doubtlet. No one was in the room, for the servants had +disappeared as soon as they could. The dwarf went quickly to Don John's +place, took a Venetian goblet full of untasted wine that stood there and +drank it at a draught. Then he patted himself comfortably with his other +hand and looked thoughtfully at the slices of musk melon that lay in the +golden dish flanked by other dishes full of late grapes and pears. + +"God bless the Emperor Maximilian!" he said in a devout tone. "Since he +could not live for ever, it was a special grace of Providence that his +death should be by melons." + +Then he went away again, and softly closed the door behind him, after +looking back once more to be sure that no one was there after all, and +perhaps, as people sometimes do on leaving a place where they have +escaped a great danger, fixing its details unconsciously in his memory, +with something almost akin to gratitude, as if the lifeless things had +run the risk with them and thus earned their lasting friendship. Thus +every man who has been to sea knows how, when his vessel has been hove +to in a storm for many hours, perhaps during more than one day, within a +few miles of the same spot, the sea there grows familiar to him as a +landscape to a landsman, so that when the force of the gale is broken at +last and the sea subsides to a long swell, and the ship is wore to the +wind and can lay her course once more, he looks astern at the grey water +he has learned to know so well and feels that he should know it again if +he passed that way, and he leaves it with a faint sensation of regret. +So Adonis, the jester, left the King's supper-room that night, devoutly +thanking Heaven that the Emperor Maximilian had died of eating too many +melons more than a hundred and fifty years ago. + +Meanwhile, the King had left the Queen at the door of her apartments, +and had dismissed Don John in angry silence by a gesture only, as he +went on to his study. And when there, he sent away his gentlemen and +bade that no one should disturb him, and that only Don Antonio Perez, +the new favourite, should be admitted. The supper had scarcely lasted +half an hour, and it was still early in the evening when he found +himself alone and was able to reflect upon what had happened, and upon +what it would be best to do to rid himself of his brother, the hero and +idol of Spain. + +He did not admit that Don John of Austria could be allowed to live on, +unmolested, as if he had not openly refused to obey an express command +and as if he were not secretly plotting to get possession of the throne. +That was impossible. During more than two years, Don John's popularity, +not only with the people, but with the army, which was a much more +serious matter, had been steadily growing; and with it and even faster +than it, the King's jealousy and hatred had grown also, till it had +become a matter of common discussion and jest among the soldiers when +their officers were out of hearing. + +But though it was without real cause, it was not without apparent +foundation. As Philip slowly paced the floor of his most private room, +with awkward, ungainly steps, stumbling more than once against a cushion +that lay before his great armchair, he saw clearly before him the whole +dimensions of that power to which he had unwillingly raised his brother. +The time had been short, but the means used had been great, for they had +been intended to be means of destruction, and the result was tremendous +when they turned against him who used them. Philip was old enough to +have been Don John's father, and he remembered how indifferent he had +been to the graceful boy of twelve, whom they called Juan Quixada, when +he had been brought to the old court at Valladolid and acknowledged as a +son of the Emperor Charles. Though he was his brother, Philip had not +even granted him the privilege of living in the palace then, and had +smiled at the idea that he should be addressed as "Serene Highness." +Even as a boy, he had been impatient to fight; and Philip remembered how +he was always practising with the sword or performing wild feats of +skill and strength upon half-broken horses, except when he was kept to +his books by Doña Magdalena Quixada, the only person in the world whom +he ever obeyed without question. Every one had loved the boy from the +first, and Philip's jealousy had begun from that; for he, who was loved +by none and feared by all, craved popularity and common affection, and +was filled with bitter resentment against the world that obeyed him but +refused him what he most desired. + +Little more than ten years had passed since the boy had come, and he had +neither died a natural death nor fallen in battle, and was grown up to +young manhood, and was by far the greatest man in Spain. He had been +treated as an inferior, the people had set him up as a god. He had been +sent out to command expeditions that be might fail and be disgraced; but +he had shown deeper wisdom than his elders, and had come back covered +with honour; and now he had been commanded to fight out the final battle +of Spain with the Moriscoes, in the hope that he might die in the fight, +since he could not be dishonoured, and instead he had returned in +triumph, having utterly subdued the fiercest warriors in Europe, to reap +the ripe harvest of his military glory at an age when other men were in +the leading-strings of war's school, and to be acclaimed a hero as well +as a favourite by a court that could hardly raise a voice to cheer for +its own King. Ten years had done all that. Ten more, or even five, might +do the rest. The boy could not be without ambition, and there could be +no ambition for him of which the object should be less than a throne. +And yet no word had been breathed against him,--his young reputation was +charmed, as his life was. In vain Philip had bidden Antonio Perez and +the Princess of Eboli use all their wits and skill to prove that he was +plotting to seize the crown. They answered that he loved a girl of the +court, Mendoza's daughter, and that besides war, for war's sake, he +cared for nothing in the world but Dolores and his adopted mother. + +They spoke the truth, for they had reason to know it, having used every +means in their power to find out whether he could be induced to quarrel +with Philip and enter upon a civil war, which could have had but one +issue, since all Spain would have risen to proclaim him king. He had +been tempted by questions, and led into discussions in which it seemed +certain that he must give them some hope. But they and their agents lost +heart before the insuperable obstacle of the young prince's loyalty. It +was simple, unaffected, and without exaggeration. He never drew his +sword and kissed the blade, and swore by the Blessed Virgin to give his +last drop of blood for his sovereign and his country. He never made +solemn vows to accomplish ends that looked impossible. But when the +charge sounded, he pressed his steel cap a little lower upon his brow, +and settled himself in the saddle without any words and rode at death +like the devil incarnate; and then men followed him, and the impossible +was done, and that was all. Or he could wait and watch, and manoeuvre +for weeks, until he had his foe in his hand, with a patience that would +have failed his officers and his men, had they not seen him always ready +and cheerful, and fully sure that although he might fail twenty times to +drive the foe into the pen, he should most certainly succeed in the +end,--as he always did. + +Philip paced the chamber in deep and angry thought. If at that moment +any one had offered to rid him of his brother, the reward would have +been ready, and worth a murderer's taking. But the King had long +cherished the scheme of marrying Don John to Queen Mary of +Scotland,--whose marriage with Bothwell could easily be annulled--in +order that his presumptuous ambition might be satisfied, and at the same +time that he might make of his new kingdom a powerful ally of Spain +against Elizabeth of England. It was for this reason that he had long +determined to prevent his brother's marriage with Maria Dolores de +Mendoza. Perez and Doña Ana de la Cerda, on the other hand, feared that +if Don John were allowed to marry the girl he so devotedly loved, he +would forget everything for her, give up campaigning, and settle to the +insignificance of a thoroughly happy man. For they knew the world well +from their own point of view. Happiness is often like sadness, for it +paralyzes those to whose lot it falls; but pain and danger rouse man's +strength of mind and body. + +Yet though the King and his treacherous favourite had diametrically +opposite intentions, a similar thought had crossed the minds of both, +even before Don John had ridden up to the palace gate late on that +afternoon, from his last camping ground outside the city walls. Both had +reasoned that whoever was to influence a man so straightforward and +fearless must have in his power and keeping the person for whom Don John +would make the greatest sacrifice of his life; and that person, as both +knew, was Dolores herself. Yet when Antonio Perez entered Philip's +study, neither had guessed the other's thought. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +The court had been still at supper when Adonis had summoned Don Antonio +Perez to the King, and the Secretary, as he was usually called, had been +obliged to excuse his sudden departure by explaining that the King had +sent for him unexpectedly. He was not even able to exchange a word with +Doña Ana, who was seated at another of the three long tables and at some +distance from him. She understood, however, and looked after him +anxiously. His leaving was not signal for the others, but it caused a +little stir which unhinged the solemn formality of the supper. The +Ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire presently protested that he was +suffering from an unbearable headache, and the Princess of Eboli, next +to whom he was seated, begged him not to stand upon ceremony, since +Perez was gone from the room, but to order his coach at once; she found +it hot, she said, and would be glad to escape. The two rose together, +and others followed their example, until the few who would have stayed +longer were constrained to imitate the majority. When Mendoza, relieved +at last from his duty, went towards the supper-room to take the place +that was kept for him at one of the tables, he met Doña Ana in the +private corridor through which the officers and ladies of the household +passed to the state apartments. He stood still, surprised to see her +there. + +"The supper is over," she said, stopping also, and trying to scrutinize +the hard old face by the dim light of the lamps. "May I have a word with +you, General? Let us walk together to your apartments." + +"It is far, Madam," observed Mendoza, who suspected at once that she +wished to see Dolores. + +"I shall be glad to walk a little, and breathe the air," she answered. +"Your corridor has arches open to the air, I remember." She began to +walk, and he was obliged to accompany her. "Yes," she continued +indifferently, "we have had such changeable weather to-day! This morning +it almost snowed, then it rained, then it, began to freeze, and now it +feels like summer! I hope Dolores has not taken cold? Is she ill? She +was not at court before supper." + +"The weather is indeed very changeable," replied the General, who did +not know what to say, and considered it beneath his dignity to lie +except by order of the King. + +"Yes--yes, I was saying so, was I not? But Dolores--is she ill? Please +tell me." The Princess spoke almost anxiously. + +"No, Madam, my daughters are well, so far as I know." + +"But then, my dear General, it is strange that you should not have sent +an excuse for Dolores' not appearing. That is the rule, you know. May I +ask why you ventured to break it?" Her tone grew harder by degrees. + +"It was very sudden," said Mendoza, trying to put her off. "I hope that +your Grace will excuse my daughter." + +"What was sudden?" enquired Doña Ana coldly. "You say she was not taken +ill." + +"Her--her not coming to court." Mendoza hesitated and pulled at his grey +beard as they went along. "She fully intended to come," he added, with +perfect truth. + +Doña Ana walked more slowly, glancing sideways at his face, though she +could hardly see it except when they passed by a lamp, for he was very +tall, and she was short, though exquisitely proportioned. + +"I do not understand," she said, in a clear, metallic voice. "I have a +right to an explanation, for it is quite impossible to give the ladies +of the court who live in the palace full liberty to attend upon the +Queen or not, as they please. You will be singularly fortunate if Don +Antonio Perez does not mention the matter to the King." + +Mendoza was silent, but the words had their effect upon him, and a very +unpleasant one, for they contained a threat. + +"You see," continued the Princess, pausing as they reached a flight of +steps which they would have to ascend, "every one acknowledges the +importance of your services, and that you have been very poorly rewarded +for them. But that is in a degree your own fault, for you have refused +to make friends when you might, and you have little interest with the +King." + +"I know it," said the old soldier, rather bitterly. "Princess," he +continued, without giving her time to say more, "this is a private +matter, which concerns only me and my daughter. I entreat you to +overlook the irregularity and not to question me further. I will serve +you in any way in my power--" + +"You cannot serve me in any way," answered Doña Ana cruelly. "I am +trying to help you," she added, with a sudden change of tone. "You see, +my dear General, you are no longer young. At your age, with your name +and your past services, you should have been a grandee and a rich man. +You have thrown away your opportunities of advancement, and you have +contented yourself with an office which is highly honourable--but poorly +paid, is it not? And there are younger men who court it for the honour +alone, and who are willing to be served by their friends." + +"Who is my successor?" asked Mendoza, bravely controlling his voice +though he felt that he was ruined. + +The skilful and cruel woman began to mount the steps in silence, in +order to let him suffer a few moments, before she answered. Reaching the +top, she spoke, and her voice was soft and kind. + +"No one," she answered, "and there is nothing to prevent you from +keeping your post as long as you like, even if you become infirm and +have to appoint a deputy--but if there were any serious cause of +complaint, like this extraordinary behaviour of Dolores--why, perhaps--" + +She paused to give her words weight, for she knew their value. + +"Madam," said Mendoza, "the matter I keep from you does not touch my +honour, and you may know it, so far as that is concerned. But it is one +of which I entreat you not to force me to speak." + +Doña Ana softly passed her arm through his. + +"I am not used to walking so fast," she said, by way of explanation. +"But, my dear Mendoza," she went on, pressing his arm a little, "you do +not think that I shall let what you tell me go further and reach any one +else--do you? How can I be of any use to you, if you have no confidence +in me? Are we not relatives? You must treat me as I treat you." + +Mendoza wished that he could. + +"Madam," he said almost roughly, "I have shut my daughter up in her own +room and bolted the door, and to-morrow I intend to send her to a +convent, and there she shall stay until she changes her mind, for I will +not change mine" + +"Oh!" ejaculated Doña Ana, with a long intonation, as if grasping the +position of affairs by degrees. "I understand," she said, after a long +time. "But then you and I are of the same opinion, my dear friend. Let +us talk about this." + +Mendoza did not wish to talk of the matter at all, and said nothing, as +they slowly advanced. They had at last reached the passage that ended at +his door, and he slackened his pace still more, obliging his companion, +whose arm was still in his, to keep pace with him. The moonlight no +longer shone in straight through the open embrasures, and there was a +dim twilight in the corridor. + +"You do not wish Dolores to marry Don John of Austria, then," said the +Princess presently, in very low tones. "Then the King is on your side, +and so am I. But I should like to know your reason for objecting to such +a very great marriage." + +"Simple enough, Madam. Whenever it should please his Majesty's policy to +marry his brother to a royal personage, such as Queen Mary of Scotland, +the first marriage would be proved null and void, because the King would +command that it should be so, and my daughter would be a dishonoured +woman, fit for nothing but a convent." + +"Do you call that dishonour?" asked the Princess thoughtfully. "Even if +that happened, you know that Don John would probably not abandon +Dolores. He would keep her near him--and provide for her generously--" + +"Madam!" cried the brave old soldier, interrupting her in sudden and +generous anger, "neither man nor woman shall tell me that my daughter +could ever fall to that!" + +She saw that she had made a mistake, and pressed his arm soothingly. + +"Pray, do not be angry with me, my dear friend. I was thinking what the +world would say--no, let me speak! I am quite of your opinion that +Dolores should be kept from seeing Don John, even by quiet force if +necessary, for they will certainly be married at the very first +opportunity they can find. But you cannot do such things violently, you +know. You will make a scandal. You cannot take your daughter away from +court suddenly and shut her up in a convent without doing her a great +injury. Do you not see that? People will not understand that you will +not let her marry Don John--I mean that most people would find it hard +to believe. Yes, the world is bad, I know; what can one do? The world +would say--promise me that you will not be angry, dear General! You can +guess what the world would say."' + +"I see--I see!" exclaimed the old man, in sudden terror for his +daughter's good name. "How wise you are!" + +"Yes," answered Doña Ana, stopping at ten paces from the door, "I am +wise, for I am obliged to be. Now, if instead of locking Dolores into +her room two or three hours ago, you had come to me, and told me the +truth, and put her under my protection, for our common good, I would +have made it quite impossible for her to exchange a word with Don John, +and I would have taken such good care of her that instead of gossiping +about her, the world would have said that she was high in favour, and +would have begun to pay court to her. You know that I have the power to +do that." + +"How very wise you are!" exclaimed Mendoza again, with more emphasis. + +"Very well. Will you let me take her with me now, my dear friend? I will +console her a little, for I daresay she has been crying all alone in her +room, poor girl, and I can keep her with me till Don John goes to +Villagarcia. Then we shall see." + +Old Mendoza was a very simple-hearted man, as brave men often are, and a +singularly spotless life spent chiefly in war and austere devotion had +left him more than ignorant of the ways of the world. He had few +friends, chiefly old comrades of his own age who did not live in the +palace, and he detested gossip. Had he known what the woman was with +whom he was speaking, he would have risked Dolores' life rather than +give her into the keeping of Doña Ana. But to him, the latter was simply +the wife of old Don Ruy Gomez de Silva, the Minister of State, and she +was the head of the Queen's household. No one would have thought of +repeating the story of a court intrigue to Mendoza, but it was also true +that every one feared Doña Ana, whose power was boundless, and no one +wished to be heard speaking ill of her. To him, therefore, her +proposition seemed both wise and kind. + +"I am very grateful," he said, with some emotion, for he believed that +she was helping him to save his fortune and his honour, as was perhaps +really the case, though she would have helped him to lose both with +equally persuasive skill could his ruin have served her. "Will you come +in with me, Princess?" he asked, beginning to move towards the door. + +"Yes. Take me to her room and leave me with her." + +"Indeed, I would rather not see her myself this evening," said Mendoza, +feeling his anger still not very far from the surface. "You will be able +to speak more wisely than I should." + +"I daresay," answered Doña Ana thoughtfully. "If you went with me to +her, there might be angry words again, and that would make it much +harder for me. If you will leave me at the door of her rooms, and then +go away, I will promise to manage the rest. You are not sorry that you +have told me, now, are you, my dear friend?" + +"I am most grateful to you. I shall do all I can to be of service to +you, even though you said that it was not in my power to serve you." + +"I was annoyed," said Doña Ana sweetly. "I did not mean it--please +forgive me." + +They reached the door, and as she withdrew her hand from his arm, he +took it and ceremoniously kissed her gloved fingers, while she smiled +graciously. Then he knocked three times, and presently the shuffling of +Eudaldo's slippers was heard within, and the old servant opened +sleepily. On seeing the Princess enter first, he stiffened himself in a +military fashion, for he had been a soldier and had fought under Mendoza +when both were younger. + +"Eudaldo," said the General, in the stern tone he always used when +giving orders, "her Excellency the Princess of Eboli will take Doña +Dolores to her own apartments this evening. Tell the maid to follow +later with whatever my daughter needs, and do you accompany the ladies +with a candle." + +But at this Doña Ana protested strongly. There was moonlight, there were +lamps, there was light everywhere, she said. She needed no one. Mendoza, +who had no man-servant in the house but Eudaldo, and eked out his meagre +establishment by making use of his halberdiers when he needed any one, +yielded after very little persuasion. + +"Open the door of my daughter's apartments," he said to Eudaldo. +"Madam," he said, turning to the Princess, "I have the honour to wish +you good-night. I am your Grace's most obedient servant. I must return +to my duty." + +"Good-night, my dear friend," answered Doña Ana, nodding graciously. + +Mendoza bowed low, and went out again, Eudaldo closing the door behind +him. He would not be at liberty until the last of the grandees had gone +home, and the time he had consumed in accompanying the Princess was just +what he could have spared for his supper. She gave a short sigh of +relief as she heard his spurred heels and long sword on the stone +pavement. He was gone, leaving Dolores in her power, and she meant to +use that power to the utmost. + +Eudaldo shuffled silently across the hall, to the other door, and she +followed him. He drew the bolt. + +"Wait here," she said quietly. "I wish to see Doña Dolores alone." + +"Her ladyship is in the farther room, Excellency," said the servant, +bowing and standing back. + +She entered and closed the door, and Eudaldo returned to his big chair, +to doze until she should come out. + +She had not taken two steps in the dim room, when a shadow flitted +between her and the lamp, and it was almost instantly extinguished. She +uttered an exclamation of surprise and stood still. Anywhere save in +Mendoza's house, she would have run back and tried to open the door as +quickly as possible, in fear of her life, for she had many enemies, and +was constantly on her guard. But she guessed that the shadowy figure she +had seen was Dolores. She spoke, without hesitation, in a gentle voice. + +"Dolores! Are you there?" she asked. + +A moment later she felt a small hand on her arm. + +"Who is it?" asked a whisper, which might have come from Dolores' lips +for all Doña Ana could tell. + +She had forgotten the existence of Inez, whom she had rarely seen, and +never noticed, though she knew that Mendoza had a blind daughter. + +"It is I--the Princess of Eboli," she answered in the same gentle tone. + +"Hush! Whisper to me." + +"Your father has gone back to his duty, my dear--you need not be +afraid." + +"Yes, but Eudaldo is outside--he hears everything when he is not asleep. +What is it, Princess? Why are you here?" + +"I wish to talk with you a little," replied Doña Ana, whispering now, to +please the girl. "Can we not get a light? Why did you put out the lamp? +I thought you were in another room." + +"I was frightened. I did not know who you were. We can talk in the dark, +if you do not mind. I will lead you to a chair. I know just where +everything is in this room." + +The Princess suffered herself to be led a few steps, and presently she +felt herself gently pushed into a seat. She was surprised, but realizing +the girl's fear of her father, she thought it best to humour her. So far +Inez had said nothing that could lead her visitor to suppose that she +was not Dolores. Intimate as the devoted sisters were, Inez knew almost +as much of the Princess as Dolores herself; the two girls were of the +same height, and so long as the conversation was carried on in whispers, +there was no possibility of detection by speech alone. The quick-witted +blind girl reflected that it was strange if Doña Ana had not seen +Dolores, who must have been with the court the whole evening, and she +feared some harm. That being the case, her first impulse was to help her +sister if possible, but so long as she was a prisoner in Dolores' place, +she could do nothing, and she resolved that the Princess should help her +to escape. + +Doña Ana began to speak quickly and fluently in the dark. She said that +she knew the girl's position, and had long known how tenderly she loved +Don John of Austria, and was loved by him. She sympathized deeply with +them both, and meant to do all in her power to help them. Then she told +how she had missed Dolores at court that night. + +Inez started involuntarily and drew her breath quickly, but Doña Ana +thought it natural that Dolores should give some expression to the +disappointment she must have felt at being shut up a prisoner on such an +occasion, when all the court was assembled to greet the man she loved. + +Then the Princess went on to tell how she had met Mendoza and had come +with him, and how with great difficulty she had learned the truth, and +had undertaken Dolores' care for a few days; and how Mendoza had been +satisfied, never suspecting that she really sympathized with the lovers. +That was a state secret, but of course Dolores must know it. The King +privately desired the marriage, she said, because he was jealous of his +brother and wished that he would tire of winning battles and live +quietly, as happy men do. + +"Don John will tell you, when you see him," she continued. "I sent him +two letters this evening. The first he burned unopened, because he +thought it was a love letter, but he has read the second by this time. +He had it before supper." + +"What did you write to him?" asked Inez, whispering low. + +"He will tell you. The substance was this: If he would only be prudent, +and consent to wait two days, and not attempt to see you alone, which +would make a scandal, and injure you, too, if any one knew it, the King +would arrange everything at his own pleasure, and your father would give +his consent. You have not seen Don John since he arrived, have you?" She +asked the question anxiously. + +"Oh no!" answered the blind girl, with conviction. "I have not seen him. +I wish to Heaven I had!" + +"I am glad of that," whispered the Princess. "But if you will come with +me to my apartments, and stay with me till matters are arranged--well--I +will not promise, because it might be dangerous, but perhaps you may see +him for a moment." + +"Really? Do you think that is possible?" In the dark Inez was smiling +sadly. + +"Perhaps. He might come to see me, for instance, or my husband, and I +could leave you together a moment." + +"That would be heaven!" And the whisper came from the heart. + +"Then come with me now, my dear, and I will do my best," answered the +Princess. + +"Indeed I will! But will you wait one moment while I dress? I am in my +old frock--it is hardly fit to be seen." + +This was quite true; but Inez had reflected that dressed as she was she +could not pass Eudaldo and be taken by him for her sister, even with a +hood over her head. The clothes Dolores had worn before putting on her +court dress were in her room, and Dolores' hood was there, too. Before +the Princess could answer, Inez was gone, closing the door of the +bedroom behind her. Doña Ana, a little taken by surprise again, was fain +to wait where she was, in the dark, at the risk of hurting herself +against the furniture. Then it struck her that Dolores must be dressing +in the dark, for no light had come from the door as it was opened and +shut. She remembered the blind sister then, and she wondered idly +whether those who lived continually with the blind learned from them to +move easily in the dark and to do everything without a light. The +question did not interest her much, but while she was thinking of it the +door opened again. A skirt and a bodice are soon changed. In a moment +she felt her hand taken, and she rose to her feet. + +"I am ready, Princess. I will open the door if you will come with me. I +have covered my head and face," she added carelessly, though always +whispering, "because I am afraid of the night air." + +"I was going to advise you to do it in any case, my dear. It is just as +well that neither of us should be recognized by any one in the corridors +so far from my apartments." + +The door opened and let in what seemed a flood of light by comparison +with the darkness. The Princess went forward, and Eudaldo got upon his +legs as quickly as he could to let the two ladies out, without looking +at them as they crossed the hall. Inez followed her companion's footfall +exactly, keeping one step behind her by ear, and just pausing before +passing out. The old servant saw Dolores' dress and Dolores' hood, which +he expected to see, and no more suspected anything than he had when, as +he supposed, Inez, had gone out earlier. + +But Inez herself had a far more difficult part to perform than her +sister's. Dolores had gone out alone, and no one had watched her beyond +the door, and Dolores had eyes, and could easily enough pretend that she +could not see. It was another matter to be blind and to play at seeing, +with a clever woman like the Princess at one's elbow, ready to detect +the slightest hesitation. Besides, though she had got out of the +predicament in which it had been necessary to place her, it was quite +impossible to foresee what might happen when the Princess discovered +that she had been deceived, and that catastrophe must happen sooner or +later, and might occur at any moment. The Princess walked quickly, too, +with a gliding, noiseless step that was hard to follow. Fortunately Inez +was expected to keep to the left of a superior like her companion, and +was accustomed to taking that side when she went anywhere alone in the +palace. That made it easier, but trouble might come at one of the short +flights of steps down and up which they would have to pass to reach the +Princess's apartments. And then, once there, discovery must come, to a +certainty, and then, she knew not what. + +She had not run the risk for the sake of being shut up again. She had +got out by a trick in order to help her sister, if she could find her, +and in order to be at liberty the first thing necessary was to elude her +companion. To go to the door of her apartments would be fatal, but she +had not had time to think what she should do. She thought now, with all +the concentration of her ingenuity. One chance presented itself to her +mind at once. They most pass the pillar behind which was the concealed +entrance to the Moorish gallery above the throne room, and it was not at +all likely that Doña Ana should know of its existence, for she never +came to that part of the palace, and if Inez lagged a little way behind, +before they reached the spot, she could slip noiselessly behind the +pillar and disappear. She could always trust herself not to attract +attention when she had to open and shut a door. + +The Princess spoke rarely, making little remarks now and then that +hardly required an answer, but to which Inez answered in monosyllables, +speaking in a low voice through the thick veil she had drawn over her +mantle under her hood, on pretence of fearing the cold. She thought it a +little safer to speak aloud in that way, lest her companion should +wonder at her total silence. + +She knew exactly where she was, for she touched each corner as she +passed, and counted her steps between one well-known point and the next, +and she allowed the Princess to gain a little as they neared the last +turning before reaching the place where she meant to make the attempt. +She hoped in this way, by walking quite noiselessly, and then stopping +suddenly just before she reached the pillar, to gain half a dozen paces, +and the Princess would take three more before she stopped also. Inez had +noticed that most people take at least three steps before they stop, if +any one calls them suddenly when they are walking fast. It seems to need +as much to balance the body when its speed is checked. She noticed +everything that could be heard. + +She grew nervous. It seemed to her that her companion was walking more +slowly, as if not wishing to leave her any distance behind. She +quickened her own pace again, fearing that she had excited suspicion. +Then she heard the Princess stop suddenly, and she had no choice but to +do the same. Her heart began to beat painfully, as she saw her chance +slipping from her. She waited for Doña Ana to speak, wondering what was +the matter. + +"I have mistaken the way," said the Princess, in a tone of annoyance. "I +do not know where I am. We had better go back and turn down the main +staircase, even if we meet some one. You see, I never come to this part +of the palace." + +"I think we are on the right corridor," said Inez nervously. "Let me go +as far as the corner. There is a light there, and I can tell you in a +moment." In her anxiety to seem to see, she had forgotten for the moment +to muffle her voice in her veil. + +They went on rapidly, and the Doña Ana did what most people do when a +companion offers to examine the way,--she stood still a moment and +hesitated, looking after the girl, and then followed her with the slow +step with which a person walks who is certain of having to turn back. +Inez walked lightly to the corner, hardly touching the wall, turned by +the corner, and was out of sight in a moment. The Princess walked +faster, for though she believed that Dolores trusted her, it seemed +foolish to give the girl a chance. She reached the corner, where there +was a lamp,--and she saw that the dim corridor was empty to the very +end. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +The Princess was far from suspecting, even then, that she had been +deceived about her companion's identity as well as tricked at the last, +when Inez escaped from her. She would have laughed at the idea that any +blind person could have moved as confidently as Inez, or could +afterwards have run the length of the next corridor in what had seemed +but an instant, for she did not know of the niche behind the pillar, and +there were pilasters all along, built into the wall. The construction of +the high, springing vault that covered the whole throne room required +them for its solidity, and only the one under the centre of the arch was +built as a detached pillar, in order to give access to the gallery. Seen +from either end of the passage, it looked exactly like the rest, and few +persons would have noticed that it differed from them, even in passing +it. + +Doña Ana stood looking in the direction she supposed the girl to have +taken. An angry flush rose in her cheek, she bit her lips till they +almost bled, and at last she stamped once before she turned away, so +that her little slipper sent a sharp echo along the corridor. Pursuit +was out of the question, of course, though she could run like a deer; +some one might meet her at any turning, and in an hour the whole palace +would know that she had been seen running at full speed after some +unknown person. It would be bad enough if she were recognized walking +alone at night at a distance from her own apartments. She drew her veil +over her face so closely that she could hardly see her way, and began to +retrace her steps towards the principal staircase, pondering as to what +she should say to Mendoza when he discovered that she had allowed his +daughter to escape. She was a woman of manlike intelligence and not +easily unbalanced by a single reverse, however, and before she had gone +far her mind began to work clearly. Dolores, she reasoned, would do one +of two things. She would either go straight to Don John's apartments, +wait for him, and then tell him her story, in the hope that he would +protect her, or she would go to the Duchess Alvarez and seek protection +there. Under no circumstances would she go down to the throne room +without her court dress, for her mere appearance there, dressed as she +was, would produce the most profound astonishment, and could do her no +possible good. And as for her going to the Duchess, that was impossible, +too. If she had run away from Doña Ana, she had done so because the idea +of not seeing Don John for two days was intolerable, and she meant to +try and see him at once. The Duchess was in all probability with the +Queen, in the latter's private apartments, as Dolores would know. On the +whole, it seemed far more likely that she had done the rashest thing +that had suggested itself to her, and had gone directly to the man she +loved,--a man powerful enough to protect her against all comers, at the +present time, and quite capable of facing even the King's displeasure. + +But the whole object of Doña Ana's manoeuvre had been to get possession +of Dolores' person, as a means of strongly influencing Don John's +actions, in order thus to lead him into a false position from which he +should not be able to escape without a serious quarrel with King Philip, +which would be the first step towards the execution of the plot +elaborated by Doña Ana and Perez together. Anything which could produce +an open difference between the brothers would serve to produce two +parties in Spain, of which the one that would take Don John's side would +be by far the stronger. His power would be suddenly much increased, an +organized agitation would be made throughout the country to set him on +the throne, and his popularity, like Cæsar's, would grow still more, +when he refused the crown, as he would most certainly do. But just then +King Philip would die suddenly of a fever, or a cold, or an indigestion, +as the conspirators thought best. There would be no direct male heir to +the throne but Don John himself, the acknowledged son of the Emperor +Charles; and even Don John would then be made to see that he could only +serve his country by ruling it, since it cried out for his rule and +would have no other. It was a hard and dangerous thing to lead King +Philip; it would be an easy matter to direct King John. An honest and +unsuspicious soldier would be but as a child in such skilful hands. Doña +Ana and Perez would rule Spain as they pleased, and by and by Don John +should be chosen Emperor also by the Electors of the Holy Roman Empire, +and the conspirators would rule the world, as Charles the Fifth had +ruled it. There was no limit to their ambition, and no scruple would +stand between them and any crime, and the stake was high and worth many +risks. + +The Princess walked slowly, weighing in the balance all there was to +lose or gain. When she reached the head of the main staircase, she had +not yet altogether decided how to act, and lest she should meet some one +she returned, and walked up and down the lonely corridor nearly a +quarter of an hour, in deep thought. Suddenly a plan of action flashed +upon her, and she went quickly on her way, to act at once. + +Don John, meanwhile, had read the letter she had sent him by the dwarf +jester. When the King had retired into his own apartments, Don John +found himself unexpectedly alone. Mendoza and the guard had filed into +the antechamber, the gentlemen in waiting, being temporarily at liberty, +went to the room leading out of it on one side, which was appropriated +to their use. The sentries were set at the King's door, and Mendoza +marched his halberdiers out again and off to their quarters, while the +servants disappeared, and the hero of the day was left to himself. He +smiled at his own surprise, recollecting that he should have ordered his +own attendants to be in waiting after the supper, whereas he had +dismissed them until midnight. + +He turned on his heel and walked away to find a quiet place where he +might read the paper which had suddenly become of such importance, and +paused at a Moorish niche, where Philip had caused a sacred picture to +be placed, and before which a hanging silver lamp shed a clear light. + +The small sheet of paper contained but little writing. There were half a +dozen sentences in a clear hand, without any signature--it was what has +since then come to be called an anonymous letter. But it contained +neither any threat, nor any evidence of spite; it set forth in plain +language that if, as the writer supposed, Don John wished to marry +Dolores de Mendoza, it was as necessary for her personal safety as for +the accomplishment of his desires, that he should make no attempt to see +her for at least two days, and that, if he would accept this advice, he +should have the support of every noble and minister at court, including +the very highest, with the certainty that no further hindrance would be +set in his way; it added that the letter he had burned had contained the +same words, and that the two flowers had been intended to serve as a +signal which it was now too late to use. It would be sufficient if he +told the bearer of the present letter that he agreed to take the advice +it contained. His assent in that way would, of course, be taken by the +writer to mean that he promised, on his word. That was all. + +He did not like the last sentence, for it placed him in an awkward +position, as a man of honour, since he had already seen Dolores, and +therefore could not under any circumstances agree to take advice +contrary to which he had already acted. The most he could now say to the +dwarf would be that he could give no answer and would act as carefully +as possible. For the rest, the letter contained nothing treasonable, and +was not at all what he had expected and believed it to be. It appeared +to be written in a friendly spirit, and with the exception of his own +brother and Mendoza, he was not aware that he had an enemy in Spain, in +which he was almost right. Nevertheless, bold and frank as he was by +nature, he knew enough of real warfare to distrust appearances. The +writer was attached to the King's person, or the letter might have been +composed, and even written in an assumed hand, by the King himself, for +Philip was not above using the methods of a common conspirator. The +limitation of time set upon his prudence was strange, too. If he had not +seen her and agreed to the terms, he would have supposed that Dolores +was being kept out of his way during those two days, whereas in that +time it would be possible to send her very far from Madrid, or to place +her secretly in a convent where it would be impossible to find her. It +flashed upon him that in shutting up Dolores that evening Mendoza had +been obeying the King's secret orders, as well as in telling her that +she was to be taken to Las Huelgas at dawn. No one but Philip could have +written the letter--only the dwarf's fear of Philip's displeasure could +have made him so anxious that it should be read at once. It was all as +clear as daylight now, and the King and Mendoza were acting together. +The first letter had been brought by a woman, who must have got out +through the window of the study, which was so low that she could almost +have stepped from it to the terrace without springing. She had watched +until the officers and the servants had gone out and the way was clear. +Nothing could have been simpler or easier. + +He would have burnt the letter at the lamp before the picture, had he +not feared that some one might see him do it, and he folded it again and +thrust it back under his doublet. His face was grave as he turned away, +for the position, as he understood it, was a very desperate one. He had +meant to send Dolores to Villagarcia, but it was almost impossible that +such a matter should remain unknown, and in the face of the King's +personal opposition, it would probably ruin Quixada and his wife. He, on +his side, might send Dolores to a convent, under an assumed name, and +take her out again before she was found, and marry her. But that would +be hard, too, for no places were more directly under the sovereign's +control than convents and monasteries. Somewhere she must go, for she +could not possibly remain concealed in his study more than three or four +hours. + +Suddenly he fancied that she might be in danger even now. The woman who +had brought the first letter had of course left the window unfastened. +She, or the King, or any one, might get in by that way, and Dolores was +alone. They might have taken her away already. He cursed himself for not +having looked to see that the window was bolted. The man who had won +great battles felt a chill at his heart, and he walked at the best of +his speed, careless whether he met any one or not. But no place is more +deserted than the more distant parts of a royal palace when there is a +great assembly in the state apartments. He met no one on his way, and +entered his own door alone. Ten minutes had not elapsed since the King +had left the supper-room, and it was almost at that moment that Doña Ana +met Mendoza. + +Dolores started to her feet as she heard his step in the next room and +then the key in the lock, and as he entered her hands clasped themselves +round his neck, and her eyes looked into his. He was very pale when he +saw her at last, for the belief that she had been stolen away had grown +with his speed, till it was an intolerable certainty. + +"What is it? What has happened?" she cried anxiously. "Why are you so +white? Are you ill?" + +"I was frightened," he said simply. "I was afraid you were gone. Look +here!" + +He led her to the window, and drew the curtain to one side. The cool air +rushed in, for the bolts were unfastened, and the window was ajar. He +closed it and fastened it securely, and they both came back. + +"The woman got out that way," he said, in explanation. "I understand it +all now--and some one might have come back." + +He told her quietly what had happened, and showed her the letter, which +she read slowly to the end before she gave it back to him. + +"Then the other was not a love letter, after all," she said, with a +little laugh that had more of relief in it than amusement, though she +did not know it herself. + +"No," he answered gravely. "I wish I had read it. I should at least have +shut the window before leaving you!" + +Careless of any danger to herself, she sat looking up into his anxious +face, her clasped hands lying in his and quite covered by them, as he +stood beside her. There was not a trace of fear in her own face, nor +indeed of any feeling but perfect love and confidence. Under the gaze of +her deep grey eyes his expression relaxed for a moment, and grew like +hers, so that it would have been hard to say which trusted the other the +more. + +"What does anything matter, since we are together now?" she asked. "I am +with you, can anything happen to me?" + +"Not while I am alive," he answered, but the look of anxiety for her +returned at once. "You cannot stay here." + +"No--you will take me away. I am ready--" + +"I do not mean that. You cannot stay in this room, nor in my apartments. +The King is coming here in a few minutes. I cannot tell what he may +do--he may insist on seeing whether any one is here, listening, for he +is very suspicious, and he only comes here because he does not even +trust his own apartments. He may wish to open the door--" + +"I will lock it on the inside. You can say that it is locked, and that +you have not the key. If he calls men to open it, I will escape by the +window, and hide in the old sentry-box. He will not stay talking with +you till morning!" + +She laughed, and he saw that she was right, simply because there was no +other place where she could be even as safe as where she was. He slowly +nodded as she spoke. + +"You see," she cried, with another little laugh of happy satisfaction, +"you must keep me here whether you will or not! You are really +afraid--frightened like a boy! You! How men would stare if they could +see you afraid!" + +"It is true," he answered, with a faint smile. + +"But I will give you courage!" she said. "The King cannot come yet. +Perez can only have just gone to him, you say. They will talk at least +half an hour, and it is very likely that Perez will persuade him not to +come at all, because he is angry with you. Perhaps Perez will come +instead, and he will be very smooth and flattering, and bring messages +of reconciliation, and beg to make peace. He is very clever, but I do +not like his face. He makes me think of a beautiful black fox! Even if +the King comes himself, we have more than half an hour. You can stay a +little while with me--then go into your room and sit down and read, as +if you were waiting for him. You can read my letter over, and I will sit +here and say all the things I wrote, over and over again, and you will +know that I am saying them--it will be almost as if I were with you, and +could say them quite close to you--like this--I love you!" + +She had drawn his hand gently down to her while she was speaking, and +she whispered the last words into his ear with a delicate little kiss +that sent a thrill straight to his heart. + +"You are not afraid any more now, are you?" she asked, as she let him +go, and he straightened himself suddenly as a man drawing back from +something he both fears and loves. + +He opened and shut his hands quickly two or three times, as some nervous +men do, as if trying to shake them clear from a spell, or an influence. +Then he began to walk up and down, talking to her. + +"I am at my wit's end," he said, speaking fast and not looking at her +face, as he turned and turned again. "I cannot send you to +Villagarcia--there are things that neither you nor I could do, even for +each other, things you would not have me do for you, Dolores. It would +be ruin and disgrace to my adopted mother and Quixada--it might be +worse, for the King can call anything he pleases high treason. It is +impossible to take you there without some one knowing it--can I carry +you in my arms? There are grooms, coachmen, servants, who will tell +anything under examination--under torture! How can I send you there?" + +"I would not go," answered Dolores quietly. + +"I cannot send you to a convent, either," he went on, for he had taken +her answer for granted, as lovers do who trust each other. "You would be +found in a day, for the King knows everything. There is only one place, +where I am master--" + +He stopped short, and grew very pale again, looking at the wall, but +seeing something very far away. + +"Where?" asked Dolores. "Take me there! Oh, take me where you are +master--where there is no king but you, where we can be together all our +lives, and no one can come between us!" + +He stood motionless, staring at the wall, contemplating in amazement the +vastness of the temptation that arose before him. Dolores could not +understand, but she did what a loving women does when the man she loves +seems to be in a great distress. She came and stood beside him, passing +one arm through his and pressing it tenderly, without a word. There are +times when a man needs only that to comfort him and give him strength. +But even a woman does not always know them. + +Very slowly he turned to her, almost as if he were trying to resist her +eyes and could not. He took his arm from hers and his hands framed her +face softly, and pushed the gold hair gently back on her forehead. But +she grew frightened by degrees, for there was a look in his eyes she had +never seen there, and that had never been in them before, neither in +love nor in battle. His hands were quite cold, and his face was like a +beautiful marble, but there was an evil something in it, as in a fallen +angel's, a defiance of God, an irresistible strength to do harm, a +terror such as no man would dare to meet. + +"You are worth it," he said in a tone so different from his natural +voice that Dolores started, and would have drawn back from him, but +could not, for his hands held her, shaking a little fiercely. + +"What? What is it?" she asked, growing more and more frightened--half +believing that he was going mad. + +"You are worth it," he repeated. "I tell you, you are worth that, and +much more, and the world, and all the world holds for me, and all earth +and heaven besides. You do not know how I love you--you can never +guess--" + +Her eyes grew tender again, and her hands went up and pressed his that +still framed her face. + +"As I love you--dear love!" she answered, wondering, but happy. + +"No--not now. I love you more. You cannot guess--you shall see what I +will do for your sake, and then you will understand." + +He uttered an incoherent exclamation, and his eyes dazzled her as he +seized her in his arms and pressed her to him so that she could have +cried out. And suddenly he kissed her, roughly, almost cruelly, as if he +meant to hurt her, and knew that he could. She struggled in his arms, in +an unknown terror of him, and her senses reeled. + +Then all at once, he let her go, and turned from her quickly, leaving +her half fainting, so that she leaned against the wall and pressed her +cheek to the rough hanging. She felt a storm of tears, that she could +not understand, rising in her heart and eyes and throat. He had crossed +the room, getting as far as he could from her, and stood there, turned +to the wall, his arms bent against it and his face buried in his sleeve. +He breathed hard, and spoke as if to himself in broken words. + +"Worth it? My God! What are you not worth?" + +There was such a ring of agony and struggling in his voice that Dolores +forgot herself and stood up listening, suddenly filled with anxiety for +him again. He was surely going mad. She would have gone to him again, +forgetting her terror that was barely past, the woman's instinct to help +the suffering man overruling everything else. It was for his sake that +she stayed where she was, lest if she touched him he should lose his +senses altogether. + +"Oh, there is one place, where I am master and lord!" he was saying. +"There is one thing to do--one thing--" + +"What is the thing?" she asked very gently. "Why are you suffering so? +Where is the place?" + +He turned suddenly, as he would have turned in his saddle in battle at a +trumpet call, straight and strong, with fixed eyes and set lips, that +spoke deliberately. + +"There is Granada," he said. "Do you understand now?" + +"No," she answered timidly. "I do not understand. Granada? Why there? It +is so far away--" + +He laughed harshly. + +"You do not understand? Yes, Granada is far away--far enough to be +another kingdom--so far that John of Austria is master there--so far +that with his army at his back he can be not only its master, but its +King? Do you understand now? Do you see what I will do for your sake?" + +He made one step towards her, and she was very white. + +"I will take you, and go back to-morrow. Do you think the Moors are not +men, because I beat them? I tell you that if I set up my standard in +Granada and call them to me, they will follow me--if I lead them to the +gate of Madrid. Yes--and so will more than half the Spanish army, if I +will! But I do not want that--it is not the kingdom--what should I care +for that? Could I not have taken it and held it? It is for you, dear +love--for your sake only--that we may have a world of our own--a kingdom +in which you are queen! Let there be war--why should I care? I will set +the world ablaze and let it burn to its own ashes, but I will not let +them take you from me, neither now, nor ever, while I am alive!" + +He came quickly towards her now, and she could not draw back, for the +wall was behind her. But she thrust out her hands against him to keep +him off. The gesture stopped him, just when he would have taken her in +his arms. + +"No, no!" she cried vehemently. "You must not say such things, you must +not think such thoughts! You are beside yourself, and you will drive me +mad, too!" + +"But it will be so easy--you shall see--" + +She cut his words short. + +"It must not be easy, it must not be possible, it must not be at all! Do +you believe that I love you and that I would let you do such deeds? Oh, +no! That would not be love at all--it would be hate, it would be treason +to you, and worse treason than yours against your brother!" + +The fierce light was sinking from his face. He had folded his arms and +stood very still, listening to her. + +"You!" she cried, with rising energy. "You, the brave soldier, the +spotless man, the very soul of honour made flesh and blood! You, who +have but just come back in triumph from fighting your King's +enemies--you against whom no living being has ever dared to breathe a +slander or a slighting word. Oh, no, no, no, no! I could not bear that +you should betray your faith and your country and yourself, and be +called traitor for my sake! Not for ten lives of mine shall you ruin +yours. And not because I might love you less if you had done that deed. +God help me! I think I should love you if you committed any crime! The +shame is the more to me--I know it. I am only a woman! But rather than +let my love ruin you, make a traitor of you and lose you in this world +and the next, my soul shall go first--life, soul, honour, everything! +You shall not do it! You think that you love me more than I love you, +but you do not. For to save you as you are, I love you so dearly that I +will leave you--leave you to honour, leave you to your King, leave you +to the undying glory of the life you have lived, and will live, in +memory of my love!" + +The splendid words rang from her lips like a voice from heaven, and her +eyes were divinely lightened. For they looked up, and not at him, +calling Heaven to witness that she would keep her promise. As her open +hand unconsciously went out, he took it tenderly, and felt her fingers +softly closing on his own, as if she would lift him to himself again, +and to the dear light of her own thoughts. There was silence for a +moment. + +"You are better and wiser than I," he said, and his tone told her that +the madness was past. + +"And you know that I am right? You see that I must leave you, to save +you from me?" + +"Leave me--now?" he cried. "You only said that--you meant me to +understand--you did not mean that you would leave me now?" + +"I do mean it," she said, in a great effort. "It is all I can do, to +show you how I love you. As long as I am in your life you will be in +danger--you will never be safe from yourself--I see it all now! I stand +between you and all the world would give you--I will not stand between +you and honour!" + +She was breaking down, fight as she would against the pain. He could say +nothing, for he could not believe that she really was in earnest. + +"I must!" she exclaimed suddenly. "It is all I can do for you--it is my +life--take it!" + +The tears broke from her eyes, but she held her head high, and let them +fall unheeded. + +"Take it!" she repeated. "It is all I have to give for yours and your +honour. Good-by--oh, love, I love you so dearly! Once more, before I +go--" + +She almost, fell into his arms as she buried her face on his shoulder +and clasped his throat as she was wont. He kissed her hair gently, and +from time to time her whole frame shook with the sobs she was choking +down. + +"It kills me," she said in a broken voice. "I cannot--I thought I was so +strong! Oh, I am the most miserable living woman in the world!" + +She broke away from him wildly and threw herself upon a chair, turning +from him to its cushion and hiding her face in her hands, choking, +pressing the furious tears back upon her eyes, shaking from head to +foot. + +"You cannot go! You cannot!" he cried, falling on his knees beside her +and trying to take her hands in his. "Dolores--look at me! I will do +anything--promise anything--you will believe me! Listen, love--I give +you my word--I swear before God--" + +"No--swear nothing--" she said, between the sobs that broke her voice. + +"But I will!" he insisted, drawing her hands down till she looked at +him. "I swear upon my honour that I will never raise my hand against the +King--that I will defend him, and fight for him, and be loyal to him, +whatever he may do to me--and that even for you, I will never strike a +blow in battle nor speak a word in peace that is not all honourable, +through and through,--even as I have fought and spoken until now!" + +As she listened to his words her weeping subsided, and her tearful eyes +took light and life again. She drew him close, and kissed him on the +forehead. + +"I am so glad--so happy!" she cried softly. "I should never have had +strength to really say good-by!" + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +Don John smoothed her golden hair. Never since he had known that he +loved her, had she seemed so beautiful as then, and his thought tried to +hold her as she was, that she might in memory be always the same. There +was colour in her cheeks, a soft flush of happiness that destroyed all +traces of her tears, so that they only left her grey eyes dark and +tender under the long wet lashes. + +"It was a cruel dream, dear love! It was not true!" Finding him again, +her voice was low, and sweet with joy. + +He smiled, too, and his own eyes were quiet and young, now that the +tempest had passed away, almost out of recollection. It had raged but +for a few moments, but in that time both he and she had lived and loved +as it were through years, and their love had grown better and braver. +She knew that his word was enough, and that he would die rather than +break it; but though she had called herself weak, and had seemed to +break down in despair, she would have left him for ever rather than +believe that he was still in danger through her. She did not again ask +herself whether her sudden resolution had been all for his sake, and had +not formed itself because she dreaded to think of being bound to one who +betrayed his country. She knew it and needed no further self-questioning +to satisfy her. If such a man could have committed crimes, she would +have hated them, not him, she would have pardoned him, not them, she +would still have laid her hand in his before the whole world, though it +should mean shame and infamy, because she loved him and would always +love him, and could never have left him for her own sake, come all that +might. She had said it was a shame to her that she would have loved him +still; yet if it had been so, she would have gloried in being shamed for +his sake, for even then her love might have brought him back from the +depths of evil and made him again for her in truth what he had once +seemed to the whole world. She could have done that, and if in the end +she had saved him she would have counted the price of her name as very +little to set against his salvation from himself. She would have given +that and much more, for her love, as she would freely give all for him +and even for his memory, if he were dead, and if by some unimaginable +circumstances her ruin before the world could keep his name spotless, +and his glory unsullied. For there is nothing that a true-hearted loving +woman will not give and do for him she loves and believes and trusts; +and though she will give the greatest thing last of all, she will give +it in the end, if it can save him from infamy and destruction. For it is +the woman's glory to give, as it is the man's to use strength in the +hour of battle and gentleness in the day of peace, and to follow honour +always. + +"Forget it all," answered Don John presently. "Forget it, dear, and +forgive me for it all." + +"I can forget it, because it was only a dream," she said, "and I have +nothing to forgive. Listen to me. If it were true--even if I believed +that we had not been dreaming, you and I, could I have anything to +forgive you? What?" + +"The mere thought that I could betray a trust, turn against my sovereign +and ruin my country," he answered bravely, and a blush of honest shame +rose in his boyish cheeks. + +"It was for me," said Dolores. + +That should explain all, her heart said. But he was not satisfied, and +being a man he began to insist. + +"Not even for you should I have thought of it," he said. "And there is +the thought to forgive, if nothing else." + +"No--you are wrong, love. Because it was for me, it does not need my +forgiveness. It is different--you do not understand yet. It is I who +should have never forgiven myself on earth nor expected pardon +hereafter, if I had let myself be the cause of such deeds, if I had let +my love stand between you and honour. Do you see?" + +"I see," he answered. "You are very brave and kind and good. I did not +know that a woman could be like you." + +"A woman could be anything--for you--dare anything, do anything, +sacrifice anything! Did I not tell you so, long ago? You only half +believed me, dear--perhaps you do not quite believe me now--" + +"Indeed, indeed I do, with all my soul! I believe you as I love you, as +I believe in your love--" + +"Yes. Tell me that you do--and tell me that you love me! It is so good +to hear, now that the bad dream is gone." + +"Shall I tell you?" He smiled, playing with her hand. "How can I? There +are so few words in which to say so much. But I will tell you this--I +would give my word for you. Does that sound little? You should know, for +you know at what price you would have saved my honour a while ago. I +believe in you so truly that I would stake my word, and my honour, and +my Christian oath upon your faith, and promise for you before God or man +that you will always love me as you do to-day." + +"You may pledge all three. I will, and I will give you all I have that +is not God's--and if that is not enough, I will give my soul for yours, +if I may, to suffer in your stead." + +She spoke quietly enough, but there was a little quaver of true +earnestness in her voice, that made each word a solemn promise. + +"And besides that," she added, "you see how I trust you." + +She smiled again as she looked at him, and knew how safe she was, far +safer now than when she had first come with him to the door. Something +told her that he had mastered himself--she would not have wished to +think that she had ruled him? it was enough if she had shown him the +way, and had helped him. He pressed her hand to his cheek and looked +down thoughtfully, wishing that he could find such simple words that +could say so much, but not trusting himself to speak. For though, in +love, a man speaks first, he always finds the least to say of love when +it has strongest hold of him; but a woman has words then, true and +tender, that come from her heart unsought. Yet by and by, if love is not +enduring, so that both tire of it, the man plays the better comedy, +because he has the greater strength, and sometimes what he says has the +old ring in it, because it is so well said, and the woman smiles and +wonders that his love should have lasted longer than hers, and desiring +the illusion, she finds old phrases again; yet there is no life in them, +because when love is dead she thinks of herself, and instead, it was +only of him she thought in the good days when her heart used to beat at +the sound of his footfall, and the light grew dim and unsteady as she +felt his kiss. But the love of these two was not born to tire; and +because he was so young, and knew the world little, save at his sword's +point, he was ashamed that he could not speak of love as well as she. + +"Find words for me," he said, "and I will say them, for yours are better +than mine." + +"Say, 'I love you, dear,' very softly and gently--not roughly, as you +sometimes do. I want to hear it gently now, that, and nothing else." + +She turned a little, leaning towards him, her face near his, her eyes +quiet and warm, and she took his hands and held them together before her +as if he were her prisoner--and indeed she meant that he should not +suddenly take her in his arms, as he often did. + +"I love you, dear," he repeated, smiling, and pretending to be very +docile. + +"That is not quite the way," she said, with a girlish laugh. "Say it +again--quite as softly, but more tenderly! You must be very much in +earnest, you know, but you must not be in the least violent." She +laughed again. "It is like teaching a young lion," she added. "He may +eat you up at any moment, instead of obeying you. Tell me, you have a +little lion that follows you like a dog when you are in your camp, have +you not? You have not told me about him yet. How did you teach him?" + +"I did not try to make him say 'I love you, dear,'" answered Don John, +laughing in his turn. + +As he spoke a distant sound caught his ear, and the smile vanished from +his face, for though he heard only the far off rumbling of a coach in +the great court, it recalled him to reality. + +"We are playing with life and death," he said suddenly. "It is late, the +King may be here at any moment, and we have decided nothing." He rose. + +"Is it late?" asked Dolores, passing her hand over her eyes dreamily. "I +had forgotten--it seems so short. Give me the key on my side of the +door--we had decided that, you know. Go and sit down in your room, as we +agreed. Shall you read my letter again, love? It may be half an hoar +still before the King comes. When he is gone, we shall have all the +night in which to decide, and the nights are very long now. Oh, I hate +to lose one minute of you! What shall you say to the King?" + +"I do not know what he may say to me," answered Don John. "Listen and +you shall hear--I would rather know that you hear everything I say. It +will be as if I were speaking before you, and of course I should tell +you everything the King says. He will speak of you, I think." + +"Indeed, it would be hard not to listen," said Dolores. "I should have +to stop my ears, for one cannot help hearing every word that is said in +the next room. Do you know? I heard you ask for your white shoes! I +hardly dared to breathe for fear the servants should find out that I was +here." + +"So much the better then. Sit in this chair near the door. But be +careful to make no noise, for the King is very suspicious." + +"I know. Do not be afraid; I will be as quiet as a mouse. Go, love, go! +It is time--oh, how I hate to let you leave me! You will be careful? You +will not be angry at what he says? You would be wiser if you knew I were +not hearing everything; you will want to defend me if he says the least +word you do not like, but let him say what he will! Anything is better +than an open quarrel between you and the King! Promise me to be very +moderate in what you say, and very patient. Remember that he is the +King!" + +"And my brother," said Don John, with some bitterness. "Do not fear. You +know what I have promised you. I will bear anything he may say that +concerns me as well as I can, but if he says anything slighting of +you--" + +"But he may--that is the danger. Promise me not to be angry--" + +"How can I promise that, if he insults you?" + +"No, I did not mean that exactly. Promise that you will not forget +everything and raise your hand against him. You see I know you would." + +"No, I will not raise my hand against him. That was in the promise I +made you. And as for being angry, I will do my best to keep my temper." + +"I know you will. Now you must go. Good-by, love! Good-by, for a little +while." + +"For such a little time shall we say good-by? I hate the word; it makes +me think of the day when I left you last." + +"How can I tell what may happen to you when you are out of my sight?" +asked Dolores. "And what is 'good-by' but a blessing each prays for the +other? That is all it means. It does not mean that we part for long, +love. Why, I would say it for an hour! Good-by, dear love, good-by!" + +She put up her face to kiss him, and it was so full of trust and +happiness that the word lost all the bitterness it has gathered through +ages of partings, and seemed, what she said it was, a loving blessing. +Yet she said it very tenderly, for it was hard to let him go even for +less than an hour. He said it, too, to please her; but yet the syllables +came mournfully, as if they meant a world more than hers, and the sound +of them half frightened her, so that she was sorry she had asked him for +the word. + +"Not so!" she cried, in quick alarm. "You are not keeping anything from +me? You are only going to the next room to meet the King--are you sure?" + +"That is all. You see, the word frightened you. It seems such a sad word +to me--I will not say it again." + +He kissed her gently, as if to soothe her fear, and then he opened the +door and set the key in the lock on the inside. Then when he was +outside, he lingered a moment, and their lips met once more without a +word, and they nodded and smiled to one another a last time, and he +closed the door and heard her lock it. + +When she was alone, she turned away as if he were gone from her +altogether instead of being in the next room, where she could hear him +moving now and then, as he placed his chair near the light to read and +arranged the candlesticks on the table. Then he went to the other door +and opened it and opened the one beyond upon the terrace, and she knew +that he was looking out to see if any one were there. But presently he +came back and sat down, and she distinctly heard the rustle of the +strong writing-paper as he unfolded a letter. It was hers. He was going +to read it, as they had agreed. + +So she sat down where she could look at the door, and she tried to force +her eyes to see through it, to make him feel that she was watching him, +that she came near him and stood beside him, and softly read the words +for him, but without looking at them, because she knew them all by +heart. But it was not the same as if she had seen him, and it was very +hard to be shut off from his sight by an impenetrable piece of wood, to +lose all the moments that might pass before the King chose to come. +Another hour might pass. No one could even tell whether he would come at +all after he had consulted with Antonio Perez. The skilful favourite +desired a quarrel between his master and Don John with all his heart, +but he was not ready for it yet. He must have possession of Dolores +first and hide her safely; and when the quarrel came, Don John should +believe that the King had stolen her and imprisoned her, and that she +was treated ill; and for the woman he loved, Don John would tear down +the walls of Madrid, if need be, and if at the last he found her dead, +there would be no harm done, thought Perez, and Don John would hate his +brother even to death, and all Spain would cry out in sympathy and +horror. But all this Dolores could neither know nor even suspect. She +only felt sure that the King and Perez were even now consulting together +to hinder her marriage with Don John, and that Perez might persuade the +King not to see his brother that night. + +It was almost intolerable to think that she might wait there for hours, +wasting the minutes for which she would have given drops of blood. +Surely they both were overcautious. The door could be left open, so that +they could talk, and at the first sound without, she could lock it again +and sit down. That would be quite as safe. + +She rose and was almost in the act of opening the door again when she +stopped and hesitated. It was possible that at any moment the King might +be at the door; for though she could hear every sound that came from the +next room, the thick curtains that hid the window effectually shut out +all sound from without. It struck her that she could go to the window, +however, and look out. Yet a ray of light might betray her presence in +the room to any one outside, and if she drew aside the curtain the light +would shine out upon the terrace. She listened at Don John's door, and +presently she heard him turn her letter in his hand, and all her heart +went out to him, and she stood noiselessly kissing the panels and saying +over again in her heart that she loved him more than any words could +tell. If she could only see out of the window and assure herself that no +one was coming yet, there would be time to go to him again, for one +moment only, and say the words once more. + +Then she sat down and told herself how foolish she was. She had been +separated from him for many long and empty months, and now she had been +with him and talked long with him twice in leas than three hours, and +yet she could not bear that he should be out of her sight five minutes +without wishing to risk everything to see him again. She tried to laugh +at herself, repeating over and over again that she was very, very +foolish, and that she should have a just contempt for any woman who +could be as foolish as she. For some moments she sat still, staring at +the wall. + +In the thought of him that filled her heart and soul and mind, she saw +that her own life had begun when he had first spoken to her, and she +felt that it would end with the last good-by, because if he should die +or cease to love her, there would be nothing more to live for. Her early +girlhood seemed dim and far away, dull and lifeless, as if it had not +been hers at all, and had no connection with the present. She saw +herself in the past, as she could not see herself now, and the child she +remembered seemed not herself but another--a fair-haired girl living in +the gloomy old house in Valladolid, with her blind sister and an old +maiden cousin of her father's, who had offered to bring up the two and +to teach them, being a woman of some learning, and who fulfilled her +promise in such a conscientious and austere way as made their lives +something of a burden under her strict rule. But that was all forgotten +now, and though she still lived in Valladolid she had probably changed +but little in the few years since Dolores had seen her; she was part of +the past, a relic of something that had hardly ever had a real +existence, and which it was not at all necessary to remember. There was +one great light in the girl's simple existence, it had come all at once, +and it was with her still. There was nothing dim nor dark nor forgotten +about the day when she had been presented at court by the Duchess +Alvarez, and she had first seen Don John, and he had first seen her and +had spoken to her, when he had talked with the Duchess herself. At the +first glance--and it was her first sight of the great world--she had +seen that of all the men in the great hall, there was no one at all like +him. She had no sooner looked into his face and cast her eyes upon his +slender figure, all in white then, as he was dressed to-night, than she +began to compare him with the rest. She looked so quickly from one to +another that any one might have thought her to be anxiously searching +for a friend in the crowd. But she had none then, and she was but +assuring herself once, and for all her life, that the man she was to +love was immeasurably beyond all other men, though the others were the +very flower of Spain's young chivalry. + +Of course, as she told herself now, she had not loved him then, nor even +when she heard his voice speaking to her the first time and was almost +too happy to understand his words. But she had remembered them. He had +asked her whether she lived in Madrid. She had told him that she lived +in the Alcazar itself, since her father commanded the guards and had his +quarters in the palace. And then Don John had looked at her very fixedly +for a moment, and had seemed pleased, for he smiled and said that he +hoped he might see her often, and that if it were in his power to be of +use to her father, he would do what he could. She was sure that she had +not loved him then, though she had dreamed of his winning face and voice +and had thought of little else all the next day, and the day after that, +with a sort of feverish longing to see him again, and had asked the +Duchess Alvarez so many questions about him that the Duchess had smiled +oddly, and had shaken her handsome young head a little, saying that it +was better not to think too much about Don John of Austria. Surely, she +had not loved him already, at first sight. But on the evening of the +third day, towards sunset, when she had been walking with Inez on a +deserted terrace where no one but the two sisters ever went, Don John +had suddenly appeared, sauntering idly out with one of his gentlemen on +his left, as if he expected nothing at all; and he had seemed very much +surprised to see her, and had bowed low, and somehow very soon, blind +Inez, who was little more than a child three years ago, was leading the +gentleman about the terrace, to show him where the best roses grew, +which she knew by their touch and smell, and Don John and Dolores were +seated on an old stone bench, talking earnestly together. Even to +herself she admitted that she had loved him from that evening, and +whenever she thought of it she smelt the first scent of roses, and saw +his face with the blaze of the sunset in his eyes, and heard his voice +saying that he should come to the terrace again at that hour, in which +matter he had kept his word as faithfully as he always did, and +presumably without any especial effort. So she had known him as he +really was, without the formalities of the court life, of which she was +herself a somewhat insignificant part; and it was only when he said a +few words to her before the other ladies that she took pains to say +'your Highness' to him once or twice, and he called her 'Doña Dolores,' +and enquired in a friendly manner about her father's health. But on the +terrace they managed to talk without any such formal mode of address, +and used no names at all for each other, until one day--but she would +not think of that now. If she let her memory run all its course, she +could not sit there with the door closed between him and her, for +something stronger than she would force her to go and open it, and make +sure he was there. This method, indeed, would be a very certain one, +leaving no doubt whatever, but at the present moment it would be foolish +to resort to it, and, perhaps, it would be dangerous, too. The past was +so beautiful and peaceful; she could think its history through many +times up to that point, where thinking was sure to end suddenly in +something which was too present for memory and too well remembered not +to be present. + +It came back to her so vividly that she left her seat again and went to +the curtained window, as if to get as far as possible from the +irresistible attraction. Standing there she looked back and saw the key +in the lock. It was foolish, girlish, childish, at such a time, but she +felt that as long as it was there she should want to turn it. With a +sudden resolution and a smile that was for her own weakness, she went to +the door again, listened for footsteps, and then quietly took the key +from the lock. Instantly Don John was on the other side, calling to her +softly. + +"What is it?" he asked. "For Heaven's sake do not come in, for I think I +hear him coming." + +"No," she answered through the panel. "I was afraid I should turn the +key, so I have taken it out." She paused. "I love you!" she said, so +that he could hear, and she kissed the wood, where she thought his face +must be, just above her own. + +"I love you with all my heart!" he answered gently. "Hush, dear love, he +is coming!" + +They were like two children, playing at a game; but they were playing on +the very verge of tragedy, playing at life with death at the door and +the safety of a great nation hanging in the balance. + +A moment later, Dolores heard Don John opening and shutting the other +doors again, and then there were voices. She heard her father's name +spoken in the King's unmistakable tones, at once harsh and muffled. +Every word came to her from the other room, as if she were present. + +"Mendoza," said Philip, "I have private matters to discuss with his +Highness. I desire you to wait before the entrance, on the terrace, and +to let no one pass in, as we do not wish to be disturbed." + +Her father did not speak, but she knew how he was bending a little +stiffly, before he went backwards through the open door. It closed +behind him, and the two brothers were alone. Dolores' heart beat a +little faster, and her face grew paler as she concentrated her attention +upon making no noise. If they could hear her as she heard them, a mere +rustling of her silk gown would be enough to betray her, and if then the +King bade her father take her with him, all would be over, for Don John +would certainly not use any violence to protect her. + +"This is your bedchamber," said Philip's voice. + +He was evidently examining the room, as Don John had anticipated that he +would, for he was moving about. There was no mistaking his heavy steps +for his brother's elastic tread. + +"There is no one behind the curtain," said the King, by which it was +clear that he was making search for a possible concealed listener. He +was by no means above such precautions. + +"And that door?" he said, with a question. "What is there?" + +Dolores' heart almost stood still, as she held her breath, and heard the +clumsy footfall coming nearer. + +"It is locked," said Don John, with undisturbed calm. "I have not the +key. I do not know where it is,--it is not here." + +As Dolores had taken it from the lock, even the last statement was true +to the letter, and in spite of her anxiety she smiled as she heard it, +but the next moment she trembled, for the King was trying the door, and +it shook under his hand, as if it must fly open. + +"It is certainly locked," he said, in a discontented tone. "But I do not +like locked doors, unless I know what is beyond them." + +He crossed the room again and called out to Mendoza, who answered at +once. + +"Mendoza, come here with me. There is a door here, of which his Highness +has not the key. Can you open it?" + +"I will try, your Majesty," answered the General's hard voice. + +A moment later the panels shook violently under the old man's weight, +for he was stronger than one might have thought, being lean and tough +rather than muscular. Dolores took the moment when the noise was loudest +and ran a few steps towards the window. Then the sounds ceased suddenly, +and she stood still. + +"I cannot open it, your Majesty," said Mendoza, in a disconsolate tone. + +"Then go and get the key," answered the King almost angrily. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +Inez remained hidden a quarter of an hour in the gallery over the throne +room, before she ventured to open the door noiselessly and listen for +any sound that might come from the passage. She was quite safe there, as +long as she chose to remain, for the Princess had believed that she had +fled far beyond and was altogether out of reach of any one whose dignity +would not allow of running a race. It must be remembered that at the +time she entered the gallery Mendoza had returned to his duty below, and +that some time afterwards he had accompanied the King to Don John's +apartments, and had then been sent in search of the key to the locked +door. + +The blind girl was of course wholly ignorant of his whereabouts, and +believed him to be in or about the throne room. Her instinct told her +that since Dolores had not gone to the court, as she had intended, with +the Duchess Alvarez, she must have made some last attempt to see Don +John alone. In her perfect innocence such an idea seemed natural enough +to Inez, and it at first occurred to her that the two might have +arranged to meet on the deserted terrace where they had spent so many +hours in former times. She went there first, finding her way with some +little difficulty from the corridor where the gallery was, for the +region was not the one to which she was most accustomed, though there +was hardly a corner of the upper story where she had never been. +Reaching the terrace, she went out and called softly, but there was no +answer, nor could she hear any sound. The night was not cold now, but +the breeze chilled her a little, and just then the melancholy cry of a +screech owl pierced the air, and she shivered and went in again. + +She would have gone to the Duchess Alvarez had she not been sure that +the latter was below with the Queen, and even as it was, she would have +taken refuge in the Duchess's apartments with the women, and she might +have learned something of Dolores there. But her touch reminded her that +she was dressed in her sister's clothes, and that many questions might +be asked her which it would be hard to answer. And again, it grew quite +clear to her that Dolores must be somewhere near Don John, perhaps +waiting in some concealed corner until all should be quiet. It was more +than probable that he would get her out of the palace secretly during +the night and send her to his adoptive mother at Villagarcia. She had +not believed the Princess's words in the least, but she had not +forgotten them, and had argued rightly enough to their real meaning. + +In the upper story all was still now. She and Dolores had known where +Don John was to be lodged in the palace nearly a month before he had +returned, and they had been there more than once, when no one was on the +terrace, and Dolores had made her touch the door and the six windows, +three on each side of it. She could get there without difficulty, +provided that no one stopped her. + +She went a little way in the right direction and then hesitated. There +was more danger to Dolores than to herself if she should be recognized, +and, after all, if Dolores was near Don John she was safer than she +could be anywhere else. Inez could not help her very much in any way if +she found her there, and it would be hard to find her if she had met +Mendoza at first and if he had placed her in the keeping of a third +person. She imagined what his astonishment would have been had he found +the real Dolores in her court dress a few moments after Inez had been +delivered over to the Princess disguised in Dolores' clothes, and she +almost smiled. But then a great loneliness and a sense of helplessness +came over her, and she turned back and went out upon the deserted +terrace again and sat down upon the old stone seat, listening for the +screech owl and the fluttering of the bats that flew aimlessly in and +out, attracted by the light and then scared away by it again because the +moon was at the full. + +Inez had never before then wandered about the palace at night, and +though darkness and daylight were one to her, there was something in the +air that frightened her, and made her feel how really helpless she was +in spite of her almost superhuman hearing and her wonderful sense of +touch. It was very still--it was never so still by day. It seemed as if +people must be lying in wait for her, holding their breath lest she +should hear even that. She had never felt blind before; she had never so +completely realized the difference between her life and the lives of +others. By day, she could wander where she pleased on the upper +story--it was cheerful, familiar; now and then some one passed and +perhaps spoke to her kindly, as every one did who knew her; and then +there was the warm sunlight at the windows, and the cool breath of the +living day in the corridors. The sounds guided her, the sun warmed her, +the air fanned her, the voices of the people made her feel that she was +one of them. But now, the place was like an empty church, full of tombs +and silent as the dead that lay there. She felt horribly lonely, and +cold, and miserable, and she would have given anything to be in bed in +her own room. She could not go there. Eudaldo would not understand her +return, after being told that she was to stay with the Princess, and she +would be obliged to give him some explanation. Then her voice would +betray her, and there would be terrible trouble. If only she had kept +her own cloak to cover Dolores' frock, she could have gone back and the +servant would have thought it quite natural Indeed, by this time he +would be expecting her. It would be almost better to go in after all, +and tell him some story of her having mistaken her sister's skirt for +her own, and beg him to say nothing. She could easily confuse him a +little so that he would not really understand--and then in a few minutes +she could be in her own room, safe and in bed, and far away from the +dismal place where she was sitting and shivering as she listened to the +owls. + +She rose and began to walk towards her father's quarters. But suddenly +she felt that it was cowardly to go back without accomplishing the least +part of her purpose, and without even finding out whether Dolores was in +safety after all. There was but one chance of finding her, and that lay +in searching the neighbourhood of Don John's lodging. Without hesitating +any longer, she began to find her way thither at once. She determined +that if she were stopped, either by her father or the Princess, she +would throw back her head and show her face at once. That would be the +safest way in the end. + +She reached Don John's windows unhindered at last. She had felt every +corner, and had been into the empty sentry-box; and once or twice, after +listening a long time, she had called Dolores in a very low tone. She +listened by the first window, and by the second and third, and at the +door, and then beyond, till she came to the last. There were voices +there, and her heart beat quickly for a moment. It was impossible to +distinguish the words that were spoken, through the closed window and +the heavy curtains, but the mere tones told her that Don John and +Dolores were there together. That was enough for her, and she could go +back to her room; for it seemed quite natural to her that her sister +should be in the keeping of the man she loved,--she was out of harm's +way and beyond their father's power, and that was all that was +necessary. She would go back to her room at once, and explain the matter +of her dress to Eudaldo as best she might. After all, why should he care +what she wore or where she had been, or whether in the Princess's +apartments she had for some reason exchanged gowns with Dolores. Perhaps +he would not even notice the dress at all. + +She meant to go at once, but she stood quite still, her hands resting on +the low sill of the window, while her forehead pressed against the cold +round panes of glass. Something hurt her which she could not understand, +as she tried to fancy the two beautiful young beings who were +within,--for she knew what beauty they had, and Dolores had described +Don John to her as a young god. His voice came to her like strains of +very distant sweet music, that connect themselves to an unknown melody +in the fancy of him who faintly hears. But Dolores was hearing every +word he said, and it was all for her; and Dolores not only heard, but +saw; and seeing and hearing, she was loved by the man who spoke to her, +as dearly as she loved him. + +Then utter loneliness fell upon the blind girl as she leaned against the +window. She had expected nothing, she had asked nothing, even in her +heart; and she had less than nothing, since never on earth, nor in +heaven hereafter, could Don John say a loving word to her. And yet she +felt that something had been taken from her and given to her +sister,--something that was more to her than life, and dearer than the +thought of sight to her blindness. She had taken what had not been given +her, in innocent girlish thoughts that were only dreams, and could hurt +no one. He had always spoken gently to her, and touched her hand kindly; +and many a time, sitting alone in the sun, she had set those words to +the well-remembered music of his voice, and she had let the memory of +his light touch on her fingers thrill her strangely to the very quick. +It had been but the reflection of a reflection in her darkness, wherein +the shadow of a shadow seemed as bright as day. It had been all she had +to make her feel that she was a part of the living, loving world she +could never see. Somehow she had unconsciously fancied that with a +little dreaming she could live happy in Dolores' happiness, as by a +proxy, and she had never called it love, any more than she would have +dared to hope for love in return. Yet it was that, and nothing +else,--the love that is so hopeless and starving, and yet so innocent, +that it can draw the illusion of an airy nourishment from that which to +another nature would be the fountain of all jealousy and hatred. + +But now, without reason and without warning, even that was taken from +her, and in its place something burned that she did not know, save that +it was a bad thing, and made even blackness blacker. She heard their +voices still. They were happy together, while she was alone outside, her +forehead resting against the chill glass, and her hands half numb upon +the stone; and so it would always be hereafter. They would go, and take +her life with them, and she should be left behind, alone for ever; and a +great revolt against her fate rose quickly in her breast like a flame +before the wind, and then, as if finding nothing to consume, sank down +again into its own ashes, and left her more lonely than before. The +voices had ceased now, or else the lovers were speaking very low, +fearing, perhaps, that some one might be listening at the window. If +Inez had heard their words at first, she would have stopped her ears or +gone to a distance, for the child knew what that sort of honour meant, +and had done as much before. But the unformed sound had been good to +hear, and she missed it. Perhaps they were sitting close and, hand in +hand, reading all the sweet unsaid things in one another's eyes. There +must be silent voices in eyes that could see, she thought. She took +little thought of the time, yet it seemed long to her since they had +spoken. Perhaps they had gone to another room. She moved to the next +window and listened there, but no sound came from within. Then she heard +footfalls, and one was her father's. Two men were coming out by the +corridor, and she had not time to reach the sentry-box. With her hands +out before her, she went lightly away from the windows to the outer side +of the broad terrace, and cowered down by the balustrade as she ran +against it, not knowing whether she was in the moonlight or the shade. +She had crossed like a shadow and was crouching there before Mendoza and +the King came out. She knew by their steady tread, that ended at the +door, that they had not noticed her; and as the door closed behind them, +she ran back to the window again and listened, expecting to hear loud +and angry words, for she could not doubt that the King and her father +had discovered that Dolores was there, and had come to take her away. +The Princess must have told Mendoza that Dolores had escaped. But she +only heard men's voices speaking in an ordinary tone, and she understood +that Dolores was concealed. Almost at once, and to her dismay, she heard +her father's step in the hall, and now she could neither pass the door +nor run across the terrace again. A moment later the King called him +from within. Instantly she slipped across to the other side, and +listened again. They were shaking a door,--they were in the very act of +finding Dolores. Her heart hurt her. But then the noise stopped, as if +they had given up the attempt, and presently she heard her father's step +again. Thinking that he would remain in the hall until the King called +him,--for she could not possibly guess what had happened,--she stood +quite still. + +The door opened without warning, and he was almost upon her before she +knew it. To hesitate an instant was out of the question, and for the +second time that night she fled, running madly to the corridor, which +was not ten steps from where she had been standing, and as she entered +it the light fell upon her from the swinging lamp, though she did not +know it. + +Old as he was, Mendoza sprang forward in pursuit when he saw her figure +in the dimness, flying before him, but as she reached the light of the +lamp he stopped himself, staggering one or two steps and then reeling +against the wall. He had recognized Dolores' dress and hood, and there +was not the slightest doubt in his mind but that it was herself. In that +same dress he had seen her in the late afternoon, she had been wearing +it when he had locked her into the sitting-room, and, still clad in it, +she must have come out with the Princess. And now she was running before +him from Don John's lodging. Doubtless she had been in another room and +had slipped out while he was trying the door within. + +He passed his hand over his eyes and breathed hard as he leaned against +the wall, for her appearance there could only mean one thing, and that +was ruin to her and disgrace to his name--the very end of all things in +his life, in which all had been based upon his honour and every action +had been a tribute to it. + +He was too much stunned to ask himself how the lovers had met, if there +had been any agreement between them, but the frightful conviction took +hold of him that this was not the first time, that long ago, before Don +John had led the army to Granada, Dolores had found her way to that same +door and had spent long hours with her lover when no one knew. Else she +could not have gone to him without agreement, at an instant's notice, on +the very night of his return. + +Despair took possession of the unhappy man from that moment. But that +the King was with Don John, Mendoza would have gone back at that moment +to kill his enemy and himself afterwards, if need be. He remembered his +errand then. No doubt that was the very room where Dolores had been +concealed, and she had escaped from it by some other way, of which her +father did not know. He was too dazed to think connectedly, but he had +the King's commands to execute at once. He straightened himself with a +great effort, for the weight of his years had come upon him suddenly and +bowed him like a burden. With the exertion of his will came the thirst +for the satisfaction of blood, and he saw that the sooner he returned +with the key, the sooner he should be near his enemy. But the pulses +came and went in his throbbing temples, as when a man is almost spent in +a struggle with death, and at first he walked uncertainly, as if he felt +no ground under his feet. + +By the time he had gone a hundred yards he had recovered a sort of +mechanical self-possession, such as comes upon men at very desperate +times, when they must not allow themselves to stop and think of what is +before them. They were pictures, rather than thoughts, that formed +themselves in his brain as he went along, for he saw all the past years +again, from the day when his young wife had died, he being then already +in middle age, until that afternoon. One by one the years came back, and +the central figure in each was the fair-haired little child, growing +steadily to be a woman, all coming nearer and nearer to the end he had +seen but now, which was unutterable shame and disgrace, and beyond which +there was nothing. He heard the baby voice again, and felt the little +hands upon his brow, and saw the serious grey eyes close to his own; and +then the girl, gravely lovely--and her far-off laugh that hardly ever +rippled through the room when he was there; and then the stealing +softness of grown maidenhood, winning the features one by one, and +bringing back from death to life the face he had loved best, and the +voice with long-forgotten tones that touched his soul's quick, and +dimmed his sight with a mist, so that he grew hard and stern as he +fought within him against the tenderness he loved and feared. All this +he saw and heard and felt again, knowing that each picture must end but +in one way, in the one sight he had seen and that had told his shame--a +guilty woman stealing by night from her lover's door. Not only that, +either, for there was the almost certain knowledge that she had deceived +him for years, and that while he had been fighting so hard to save her +from what seemed but a show of marriage, she had been already lost to +him for ever and ruined beyond all hope of honesty. + +They were not thoughts, but pictures of the false and of the true, that +rose and glowed an instant and then sank like the inner darkness of his +soul, leaving only that last most terrible one of all behind them, +burned into his eyes till death should put out their light and bid him +rest at last, if he could rest even in heaven with such a memory. + +It was too much, and though he walked upright and gazed before him, he +did not know his way, and his feet took him to his own door instead of +on the King's errand. His hand was raised to knock before he understood, +and it fell to his side in a helpless, hopeless way, when he saw where +he was. Then he turned stiffly, as a man turns on parade, and gathered +his strength and marched away with a measured tread. For the world and +what it held he would not have entered his dwelling then, for he felt +that his daughter was there before him, and that if he once saw her face +he should not be able to hold his hand. He would not see her again on +earth, lest he should take her life for what she had done. + +He was more aware of outward things after that, though he almost +commanded himself to do what he had to do, as he would have given orders +to one of his soldiers. He went to the chief steward's office and +demanded the key of the room in the King's name. But it was not +forthcoming, and the fact that it could not be found strengthened his +conviction that Don John had it in his keeping. Yet, for the sake of +form, he insisted sternly, saying that the King was waiting for it even +then. Servants were called and examined and threatened, but those who +knew anything about it unanimously declared that it had been left in the +door, while those who knew nothing supported their fellow-servants by +the same unhesitating assertion, till Mendoza was convinced that he had +done enough, and turned his back on them all and went out with a grey +look of despair on his face. + +He walked rapidly now, for he knew that he was going back to meet his +enemy, and he was trying not to think what he should do when he should +see Don John before him and at arm's length, but defended by the King's +presence from any sudden violence. He knew that in his heart there was +the wild resolve to tell the truth before his master and then to take +the payment of blood with one thrust and destroy himself with the next, +but though he was half mad with despair, he would not let the thought +become a resolve. In his soldier's nature, high above everything else +and dominating his austere conscience of right and wrong, as well as +every other instinct of his heart, there was the respect of his +sovereign and the loyalty to him at all costs, good or bad, which sent +self out of sight where his duty to the King was concerned. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +When he had sent away Mendoza, the King remained standing and began to +pace the floor, while Don John stood by the table watching him and +waiting for him to speak. It was clear that he was still angry, for his +anger, though sometimes suddenly roused, was very slow to reach its +height, and slower still to subside; and when at last it had cooled, it +generally left behind it an enduring hatred, such as could be satisfied +only by the final destruction of the object that had caused it. That +lasting hate was perhaps more dangerous than the sudden outburst had +been, but in moments of furious passion Philip was undoubtedly a man to +be feared. + +He was evidently not inclined to speak until he had ascertained that no +one was listening in the next room, but as he looked from time to time +at Don John his still eyes seemed to grow almost yellow, and his lower +lip moved uneasily. He knew, perhaps, that Mendoza could not at once +find the servant in whose keeping the key of the door was supposed to +be, and he grew impatient by quick degrees until his rising temper got +the better of his caution. Don John instinctively drew himself up, as a +man does who expects to be attacked. He was close to the table, and +remained almost motionless during the discussion that followed, while +Philip paced up and down, sometimes pausing before his brother for a +moment, and then turning again to resume his walk. His voice was muffled +always, and was hard to hear; now and then it became thick and +indistinct with rage, and he cleared his throat roughly, as if he were +angry with it, too. At first he maintained the outward forms of courtesy +in words if not in tone, but long before his wrath had reached its final +climax he forgot them altogether. + +"I had hoped to speak with you in privacy, on matters of great +importance. It has pleased your Highness to make that impossible by your +extraordinary behaviour." + +Don John raised his eyebrows a little incredulously, and answered with +perfect calmness. + +"I do not recollect doing anything which should seem extraordinary to +your Majesty." + +"You contradict me," retorted Philip. "That is extraordinary enough, I +should think. I am not aware that it is usual for subjects to contradict +the King. What have you to say in explanation?" + +"Nothing. The facts explain themselves well enough." + +"We are not in camp," said Philip. "Your Highness is not in command +here, and I am not your subordinate. I desire you to remember whom you +are addressing, for your words will be remembered." + +"I never said anything which I wished another to forget," answered Don +John proudly. + +"Take care, then!" The King spoke sullenly, and turned away, for he was +slow at retort until he was greatly roused. + +Don John did not answer, for he had no wish to produce such a result, +and moreover he was much more preoccupied by the serious question of +Dolores' safety than by any other consideration. So far the King had +said nothing which, but for some derogation from his dignity, might not +have been said before any one, and Don John expected that he would +maintain the same tone until Mendoza returned. It was hard to predict +what might happen then. In all probability Dolores would escape by the +window and endeavour to hide herself in the empty sentry-box until the +interview was over. He could then bring her back in safety, but the +discussion promised to be long and stormy, and meanwhile she would be in +constant danger of discovery. But there was a worse possibility, not +even quite beyond the bounds of the probable. In his present mood, +Philip, if he lost his temper altogether, would perhaps be capable of +placing Don John under arrest. He was all powerful, he hated his +brother, and he was very angry. His last words had been a menace, or had +sounded like one, and another word, when Mendoza returned, could put the +threat into execution. Don John reflected, if such thought could be +called reflection, upon the situation that must ensue, and upon the +probable fate of the woman he loved. He wondered whether she were still +in the room, for hearing that the door was to be opened, she might have +thought it best to escape at once, while her father was absent from the +terrace on his errand. If not, she could certainly go out by the window +as soon as she heard him coming back. It was clearly of the greatest +importance to prevent the King's anger from going any further. Antonio +Perez had recognized the same truth from a very different point of view, +and had spent nearly three-quarters of an hour in flattering his master +with the consummate skill which he alone possessed. He believed that he +had succeeded when the King had dismissed him, saying that he would not +see Don John until the morning. Five minutes after Perez was gone, +Philip was threading the corridors, completely disguised in a long black +cloak, with the ever-loyal Mendoza at his heels. It was not the first +time that he had deceived his deceivers. + +He paced the room in silence after he had last spoken. As soon as Don +John realized that his liberty might be endangered, he saw that he must +say what he could in honour and justice to save himself from arrest, +since nothing else could save Dolores. + +"I greatly regret having done anything to anger your Majesty," he said, +with quiet dignity. "I was placed in a very difficult position by +unforeseen circumstances. If there had been time to reflect, I might +have acted otherwise." + +"Might have acted otherwise!" repeated Philip harshly. "I do not like +those words. You might have acted otherwise than to defy your sovereign +before the Queen! I trusted you might, indeed!" + +He was silent again, his protruding lip working angrily, as if he had +tasted something he disliked. Don John's half apology had not been +received with much grace, but he saw no way open save to insist that it +was genuine. + +"It is certainly true that I have lived much in camps of late," he +answered, "and that a camp is not a school of manners, any more than the +habit of commanding others accustoms a man to courtly submission." + +"Precisely. You have learned to forget that you have a superior in +Spain, or in the world. You already begin to affect the manners and +speech of a sovereign--you will soon claim the dignity of one, too, I +have no doubt. The sooner we procure you a kingdom of your own, the +better, for your Highness will before long become an element of discord +in ours." + +"Rather than that," answered Don John, "I will live in retirement for +the rest of my life." + +"We may require it of your Highness," replied Philip, standing still and +facing his brother. "It may be necessary for our own safety that you +should spend some time at least in very close retirement--very!" He +almost laughed. + +"I should prefer that to the possibility of causing any disturbance in +your Majesty's kingdom." + +Nothing could have been more gravely submissive than Don John's tone, +but the King was apparently determined to rouse his anger. + +"Your deeds belie your words," he retorted, beginning to walk again. +"There is too much loyalty in what you say, and too much of a rebellious +spirit in what you do. The two do not agree together. You mock me." + +"God forbid that!" cried Don John. "I desire no praise for what I may +have done, but such as my deeds have been they have produced peace and +submission in your Majesty's kingdom, and not rebellion--" + +"And is it because you have beaten a handful of ill-armed Moriscoes, in +the short space of two years, that the people follow you in throngs +wherever you go, shouting for you, singing your praises, bringing +petitions to you by hundreds, as if you were King--as if you were more +than that, a sort of god before whom every one must bow down? Am I so +simple as to believe that what you have done with such leisure is enough +to rouse all Spain, and to make the whole court break out into cries of +wonder and applause as soon as you appear? If you publicly defy me and +disobey me, do I not know that you believe yourself able to do so, and +think your power equal to mine? And how could that all be brought about, +save by a party that is for you, by your secret agents everywhere, high +and low, forever praising you and telling men, and women, too, of your +graces, and your generosities, and your victories, and saying that it is +a pity so good and brave a prince should be but a leader of the King's +armies, and then contrasting the King himself with you, the cruel King, +the grasping King, the scheming King, the King who has every fault that +is not found in Don John of Austria, the people's god! Is that peace and +submission? Or is it the beginning of rebellion, and revolution, and +civil war, which is to set Don John of Austria on the throne of Spain, +and send King Philip to another world as soon as all is ready?" + +Don John listened in amazement. It had never occurred to him any one +could believe him capable of the least of the deeds Philip was +attributing to him, and in spite of his resolution his anger began to +rise. Then, suddenly, as if cold water had been dashed in his face, he +remembered that an hour had not passed since he had held Dolores in his +arms, swearing to do that of which he was now accused, and that her +words only had held him back. It all seemed monstrous now. As she had +said, it had been only a bad dream and he had wakened to himself again. +Yet the thought of rebellion had more than crossed his mind, for in a +moment it had taken possession of him and had seemed to change all his +nature from good to bad. In his own eyes he was rebuked, and he did not +answer at once. + +"You have nothing to say!" exclaimed Philip scornfully. "Is there any +reason why I should not try you for high treason?" + +Don John started at the words, but his anger was gone, and he thought +only of Dolores' safety in the near future. + +"Your Majesty is far too just to accuse an innocent man who has served +you faithfully," he answered. + +Philip stopped and looked at him curiously and long, trying to detect +some sign of anxiety if not of fear. He was accustomed to torture men +with words well enough, before he used other means, and he himself had +not believed what he had said. It had been only an experiment tried on a +mere chance, and it had failed. At the root of his anger there was only +jealousy and personal hatred of the brother who had every grace and +charm which he himself had not. + +"More kind than just, perhaps," he said, with a slight change of tone +towards condescension. "I am willing to admit that I have no proofs +against you, but the evidence of circumstances is not in your favour. +Take care, for you are observed. You are too much before the world, too +imposing a figure to escape observation." + +"My actions will bear it. I only beg that your Majesty will take account +of them rather than listen to such interpretation as may be put upon +them by other men." + +"Other men do nothing but praise you," said Philip bluntly. "Their +opinion of you is not worth having! I thought I had explained that +matter sufficiently. You are the idol of the people, and as if that were +not enough, you are the darling of the court, besides being the women's +favourite. That is too much for one man to be--take care, I say, take +care! Be at more pains for my favour, and at less trouble for your +popularity." + +"So far as that goes," answered Don John, with some pride, "I think that +if men praise me it is because I have served the King as well as I +could, and with success. If your Majesty is not satisfied with what I +have done, let me have more to do. I shall try to do even the +impossible." + +"That will please the ladies," retorted Philip, with a sneer. "You will +be overwhelmed with correspondence--your gloves will not hold it all" + +Don John did not answer, for it seemed wiser to let the King take this +ground than return to his former position. + +"You will have plenty of agreeable occupation in time of peace. But it +is better that you should be married soon, before you become so +entangled with the ladies of Madrid as to make your marriage +impossible." + +"Saving the last clause," said Don John boldly, "I am altogether of your +Majesty's opinion. But I fear no entanglements here." + +"No--you do not fear them. On the contrary, you live in them as if they +were your element." + +"No man can say that," answered Don John. + +"You contradict me again. Pray, if you have no entanglements, how comes +it that you have a lady's letter in your glove?" + +"I cannot tell whether it was a lady's letter or a man's." + +"Have you not read it?" + +"Yes." + +"And you refused to show it to me on the ground that it was a woman's +secret?" + +"I had not read it then. It was not signed, and it might well have been +written by a man." + +Don John watched the King's face. It was for from improbable, he +thought, that the King had caused it to be written, or had written it +himself, that he supposed his brother to have read it, and desired to +regain possession of it as soon as possible. Philip seemed to hesitate +whether to continue his cross-examination or not, and he looked at the +door leading into the antechamber, suddenly wondering why Mendoza had +not returned. Then he began to speak again, but he did not wish, angry +though he was, to face alone a second refusal to deliver the document to +him. His dignity would have suffered too much. + +"The facts of the case are these," he said, as if he were recapitulating +what had gone before in his mind. "It is my desire to marry you to the +widowed Queen of Scots, as you know. You are doing all you can to oppose +me, and you have determined to marry the dowerless daughter of a poor +soldier. I am equally determined that you shall not disgrace yourself by +such an alliance." + +"Disgrace!" cried Don John loudly, almost before the word had passed the +King's lips, and he made half a step forward. "You are braver than I +thought you, if you dare use that word to me!" + +Philip stepped back, growing livid, and his hand was on his rapier. Don +John was unarmed, but his sword lay on the table within his reach. +Seeing the King afraid, he stepped back. + +"No," he said scornfully, "I was mistaken. You are a coward." He laughed +as he glanced at Philip's hand, still on the hilt of his weapon and +ready to draw it. + +In the next room Dolores drew frightened breath, for the tones of the +two men's voices had changed suddenly. Yet her heart had leapt for joy +when she had heard Don John's cry of anger at the King's insulting word. +But Don John was right, for Philip was a coward at heart, and though he +inwardly resolved that his brother should be placed under arrest as soon +as Mendoza returned, his present instinct was not to rouse him further. +He was indeed in danger, between his anger and his fear, for at any +moment he might speak some bitter word, accustomed as he was to the +perpetual protection of his guards, but at the next his brother's hands +might be on his throat, for he had the coward's true instinct to +recognize the man who was quite fearless. + +"You strangely forget yourself," he said, with an appearance of dignity. +"You spring forward as if you were going to grapple with me, and then +you are surprised that I should be ready to defend myself." + +"I barely moved a step from where I stand," answered Don John, with +profound contempt. "I am unarmed, too. There lies my sword, on the +table. But since you are the King as well as my brother, I make all +excuses to your Majesty for having been the cause of your fright." + +Dolores understood what had happened, as Don John meant that she should. +She knew also that her position was growing more and more desperate and +untenable at every moment; yet she could not blame her lover for what he +had said. Even to save her, she would not have had him cringe to the +King and ask pardon for his hasty word and movement, still less could +she have borne that he should not cry out in protest at a word that +insulted her, though ever so lightly. + +"I do not desire to insist upon our kinship," said Philip coldly. "If I +chose to acknowledge it when you were a boy, it was out of respect for +the memory of the Emperor. It was not in the expectation of being called +brother by the son of a German burgher's daughter." + +Don John did not wince, for the words, being literally true and without +exaggeration, could hardly be treated as an insult, though they were +meant for one, and hurt him, as all reference to his real mother always +did. + +"Yes," he said, still scornfully. "I am the son of a German burgher's +daughter, neither better nor worse. But I am your brother, for all that, +and though I shall not forget that you are King and I am subject, when +we are before the world, yet here, we are man and man, you and I, +brother and brother, and there is neither King nor prince. But I shall +not hurt you, so you need fear nothing. I respect the brother far too +little for that, and the sovereign too much." + +There was a bad yellow light in Philip's face, and instead of walking +towards Don John and away from him, as he had done hitherto, he began to +pace up and down, crossing and recrossing before him, from the foot of +the great canopied bed to one of the curtained windows, keeping his eyes +upon his brother almost all the time. + +"I warned you when I came here that your words should be remembered," he +said. "And your actions shall not be forgotten, either. There are safe +places, even in Madrid, where you can live in the retirement you desire +so much, even in total solitude." + +"If it pleases your Majesty to imprison Don John of Austria, you have +the power. For my part, I shall make no resistance." + +"Who shall, then?" asked the King angrily. "Do you expect that there +will be a general rising of the people to liberate you, or that there +will be a revolution within the palace, brought on by your party, which +shall force me to set you free for reasons of state? We are not in Paris +that you should expect the one, nor in Constantinople where the other +might be possible. We are in Spain, and I am master, and my will shall +be done, and no one shall cry out against it. I am too gentle with you, +too kind! For the half of what you have said and done, Elizabeth of +England would have had your life to-morrow--yes, I consent to give you a +chance, the benefit of a doubt there is still in my thoughts about you, +because justice shall not be offended and turned into an instrument of +revenge. Yes--I am kind, I am clement. We shall see whether you can save +yourself. You shall have the chance." + +"What chance is that?" asked Don John, growing very quiet, for he saw +the real danger near at hand again. + +"You shall have an opportunity of proving that a subject is at liberty +to insult his sovereign, and that the King is not free to speak his mind +to a subject. Can you prove that?" + +"I cannot." + +"Then you can be convicted of high treason," answered Philip, his evil +mouth curling. "There are several methods of interrogating the accused," +he continued. "I daresay you have heard of them." + +"Do you expect to frighten me by talking of torture?" asked Don John, +with a smile at the implied suggestion. + +"Witnesses are also examined," replied the King, his voice thickening +again in anticipation of the effect he was going to produce upon the man +who would not fear him. "With them, even more painful methods are often +employed. Witnesses may be men or women, you know, my dear brother--" he +pronounced the word with a sneer--"and among the many ladies of your +acquaintance--" + +"There are very few." + +"It will be the easier to find the two or three, or perhaps the only +one, whom it will be necessary to interrogate--in your presence, most +probably, and by torture." + +"I was right to call you a coward," said Don John, slowly turning pale +till his face was almost as white as the white silks and satins of his +doublet. + +"Will you give me the letter you were reading when I came here?" + +"No." + +"Not to save yourself from the executioner's hands?" + +"No." + +"Not to save--" Philip paused, and a frightful stare of hatred fixed his +eyes on his brother. "Will you give me that letter to save Dolores de +Mendoza from being torn piecemeal?" + +"Coward!" + +By instinct Don John's hand went to the hilt of his sheathed sword this +time, as he cried out in rage, and sprang forward. Even then he would +have remembered the promise he had given and would not have raised his +hand to strike. But the first movement was enough, and Philip drew his +rapier in a flash of light, fearing for his life. Without waiting for an +attack he made a furious pass at his brother's body. Don John's hand +went out with the sheathed sword in a desperate attempt to parry the +thrust, but the weapon was entangled in the belt that hung to it, and +Philip's lunge had been strong and quick as lightning. + +With a cry of anger Don John fell straight backwards, his feet seeming +to slip from under him on the smooth marble pavement, and with his fall, +as he threw out his hands to save himself, the sword flew high into the +air, sheathed as it was, and landed far away. He lay at full length with +one arm stretched out, and for a moment the hand twitched in quick +spasms. Then it was quite still. + +At his feet stood Philip, his rapier in his hand, and blood on its fine +point. His eyes shone yellow in the candlelight, his jaw had dropped a +little, and he bent forwards, looking intently at the still, white face. + +He had longed for that moment ever since he had entered his brother's +room, though even he himself had not guessed that he wanted his +brother's life. There was not a sound in the room as he looked at what +he had done, and two or three drops of blood fell one by one, very +slowly, upon the marble. On the dazzling white of Don John's doublet +there was a small red stain. As Philip watched it, he thought it grew +wider and brighter. + +Beyond the door, Dolores had fallen upon her knees, pressing her hands +to her temples in an agony beyond thought or expression. Her fear had +risen to terror while she listened to the last words that had been +exchanged, and the King's threat had chilled her blood like ice, though +she was brave. She had longed to cry out to Don John to give up her +letter or the other, whichever the King wanted--she had almost tried to +raise her voice, in spite of every other fear, when she had heard Don +John's single word of scorn, and the quick footsteps, the drawing of the +rapier from its sheath, the desperate scuffle that had not lasted five +seconds, and then the dull fall which meant that one was hurt. + +It could only be the King,--but that was terrible enough,--and yet, if +the King had fallen, Don John would have come to the door the next +instant. All was still in the room, but her terror made wild noises in +her ears. The two men might have spoken now and she could not have heard +them,--nor the opening of a door, nor any ordinary sound. It was no +longer the fear of being heard, either, that made her silent. Her throat +was parched and her tongue paralyzed. She remembered suddenly that Don +John had been unarmed, and how he had pointed out to Philip that his +sword lay on the table. It was the King who had drawn his own, then, and +had killed his unarmed brother. She felt as if something heavy were +striking her head as the thoughts made broken words, and flashes of +light danced before her eyes. With her hands she tried to press feeling +and reason and silence back into her brain that would not be quieted, +but the certainty grew upon her that Don John was killed, and the tide +of despair rose higher with every breath. + +The sensation came upon her that she was dying, then and there, of a +pain human nature could not endure, far beyond the torments Philip had +threatened, and the thought was merciful, for she could not have lived +an hour in such agony,--something would have broken before then. She was +dying, there, on her knees before the door beyond which her lover lay +suddenly dead. It would be easy to die. In a moment more she would be +with him, for ever, and in peace. They would find her there, dead, and +perhaps they would be merciful and bury her near him. But that would +matter little, since she should be with him always now. In the first +grief that struck her, and bruised her, and numbed her as with material +blows, she had no tears, but there was a sort of choking fire in her +throat, and her eyes burned her like hot iron. + +She did not know how long she knelt, waiting for death. She was dying, +and there was no time any more, nor any outward world, nor anything but +her lover's dead body on the floor in the next room, and his soul +waiting for hers, waiting beside her for her to die also, that they +might go together. She was so sure now, that she was wondering dreamily +why it took so long to die, seeing that death had taken him so quickly. +Could one shaft be aimed so straight and could the next miss the mark? +She shook all over, as a new dread seized her. She was not dying,--her +life clung too closely to her suffering body, her heart was too young +and strong to stand still in her breast for grief. She was to live, and +bear that same pain a lifetime. She rocked herself gently on her knees, +bowing her head almost to the floor. + +She was roused by the sound of her father's voice, and the words he was +speaking sent a fresh shock of horror through her unutterable grief, for +they told her that Don John was dead, and then something else so strange +that she could not understand it. + +Philip had stood only a few moments, sword in hand, over his brother's +body, staring down at his face, when the door opened. On the threshold +stood old Mendoza, half-stunned by the sight he saw. Philip heard, stood +up, and drew back as his eyes fell upon the old soldier. He knew that +Mendoza, if no one else, knew the truth now, beyond any power of his to +conceal it. His anger had subsided, and a sort of horror that could +never be remorse, had come over him for what he had done. It must have +been in his face, for Mendoza understood, and he came forward quickly +and knelt down upon the floor to listen for the beating of the heart, +and to try whether there was any breath to dim the brightness of his +polished scabbard. Philip looked on in silence. Like many an old soldier +Mendoza had some little skill, but he saw the bright spot on the white +doublet, and the still face and the hands relaxed, and there was neither +breath nor beating of the heart to give hope. He rose silently, and +shook his head. Still looking down he saw the red drops that had fallen +upon the pavement from Philip's rapier, and looking at that, saw that +the point was dark. With a gesture of excuse he took the sword from the +King's hand and wiped it quite dry and bright upon his own handkerchief, +and gave it back to Philip, who sheathed it by his side, but never +spoke. + +Together the two looked at the body for a full minute and more, each +silently debating what should be done with it. At last Mendoza raised +his head, and there was a strange look in his old eyes and a sort of wan +greatness came over his war-worn face. It was then that he spoke the +words Dolores heard. + +"I throw myself upon your Majesty's mercy! I have killed Don John of +Austria in a private quarrel, and he was unarmed." + +Philip understood well enough, and a faint smile of satisfaction flitted +through the shadows of his face. It was out of the question that the +world should ever know who had killed his brother, and he knew the man +who offered to sacrifice himself by bearing the blame of the deed. +Mendoza would die, on the scaffold if need be, and it would be enough +for him to know that his death saved his King. No word would ever pass +his lips. The man's loyalty would bear any proof; he could feel horror +at the thought that Philip could have done such a deed, but the King's +name must be saved at all costs, and the King's divine right must be +sustained before the world. He felt no hesitation from the moment when +he saw clearly how this must be done. To accuse some unknown murderer +and let it be supposed that he had escaped would have been worse than +useless; the court and half Spain knew of the King's jealousy of his +brother, every one had seen that Philip had been very angry when the +courtiers had shouted for Don John; already the story of the quarrel +about the glove was being repeated from mouth to mouth in the throne +room, where the nobles had reassembled after supper. As soon as it was +known that Don John was dead, it would be believed by every one in the +palace that the King had killed him or had caused him to be murdered. +But if Mendoza took the blame upon himself, the court would believe him, +for many knew of Dolores' love for Don John, and knew also how bitterly +the old soldier was opposed to their marriage, on the ground that it +would be no marriage at all, but his daughter's present ruin. There was +no one else in the palace who could accuse himself of the murder and who +would be believed to have done it without the King's orders, and Mendoza +knew this, when he offered his life to shield Philip's honour. Philip +knew it, too, and while he wondered at the old man's simple devotion, he +accepted it without protest, as his vast selfishness would have +permitted the destruction of all mankind, that it might be satisfied and +filled. + +He looked once more at the motionless body at his feet, and once more at +the faithful old man. Then he bent his head with condescending gravity, +as if he were signifying his pleasure to receive kindly, for the giver's +sake, a gift of little value. + +"So be it," he said slowly. + +Mendoza bowed his head, too, as if in thanks, and then taking up the +long dark cloak which the King had thrown off on entering, he put it +upon Philip's shoulders, and went before him to the door. And Philip +followed him without looking back, and both went out upon the terrace, +leaving both doors ajar after them. They exchanged a few words more as +they walked slowly in the direction of the corridor. + +"It is necessary that your Majesty should return at once to the throne +room, as if nothing had happened," said Mendoza. "Your Majesty should be +talking unconcernedly with some ambassador or minister when the news is +brought that his Highness is dead." + +"And who shall bring the news?" asked Philip calmly, as if he were +speaking to an indifferent person. + +"I will, Sire," answered Mendoza firmly. + +"They will tear you in pieces before I can save you," returned Philip, +in a thoughtful tone. + +"So much the better. I shall die for my King, and your Majesty will be +spared the difficulty of pardoning a deed which will be unpardonable in +the eyes of the whole world." + +"That is true," said the King meditatively. "But I do not wish you to +die, Mendoza," he added, as an afterthought. "You must escape to France +or to England." + +"I could not make my escape without your Majesty's help, and that would +soon be known. It would then be believed that I had done the deed by +your Majesty's orders, and no good end would have been gained." + +"You may be right. You are a very brave man, Mendoza--the bravest I have +ever known. I thank you. If it is possible to save you, you shall be +saved." + +"It will not be possible," replied the soldier, in a low and steady +voice. "If your Majesty will return at once to the throne room, it may +be soon over. Besides, it is growing late, and it must be done before +the whole court." + +They entered the corridor, and the King walked a few steps before +Mendoza, covering his head with the hood of his cloak lest any one +should recognize him, and gradually increasing his distance as the old +man fell behind. Descending by a private staircase, Philip reëntered his +own apartments by a small door that gave access to his study without +obliging him to pass through the antechamber, and by which he often came +and went unobserved. Alone in his innermost room, and divested of his +hood and cloak, the King went to a Venetian mirror that stood upon a +pier table between the windows, and examined his face attentively. Not a +trace of excitement or emotion was visible in the features he saw, but +his hair was a little disarranged, and he smoothed it carefully and +adjusted it about his ears. From a silver box on the table he took a +little scented lozenge and put it into his mouth. No reasonable being +would have suspected from his appearance that he had been moved to +furious anger and had done a murderous deed less than twenty minutes +earlier. His still eyes were quite calm now, and the yellow gleam in +them had given place to their naturally uncertain colour. With a smile +of admiration for his own extraordinary powers, he turned and left the +room. He was enjoying one of his rare moments of satisfaction, for the +rival he had long hated and was beginning to dread was never to stand in +his way again nor to rob him of the least of his attributes of +sovereignty. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +Dolores had not understood her father's words. All that was clear to her +was that Don John was dead and that his murderers were gone. Had there +been danger still for herself, she could not have felt it; but there was +none now as she laid her hand upon the key to enter the bedchamber. At +first the lock would not open, as it had been injured in some way by +being so roughly shaken when Mendoza had tried it. But Dolores' +desperate fingers wound themselves upon the key like little ropes of +white silk, slender but very strong, and she wrenched at the thing +furiously till it turned. The door flew open, and she stood motionless a +moment on the threshold. Mendoza had said that Don John was dead, but +she had not quite believed it. + +He lay on his back as he had fallen, his feet towards her, his graceful +limbs relaxed, one arm beside him, the other thrown back beyond his +head, the colourless fingers just bent a little and showing the nervous +beauty of the hand. The beautiful young face was white as marble, and +the eyes were half open, very dark under the waxen lids. There was one +little spot of scarlet on the white satin coat, near the left breast. +Dolores saw it all in the bright light of the candles, and she neither +moved nor closed her fixed eyes as she gazed. She felt that she was at +the end of life; she stood still to see it all and to understand. But +though she tried to think, it was as if she had no mind left, no +capacity for grasping any new thought, and no power to connect those +that had disturbed her brain with the present that stared her in the +face. An earthquake might have torn the world open under her feet at +that moment, swallowing up the old Alcazar with the living and the dead, +and Dolores would have gone down to destruction as she stood, +unconscious of her fate, her eyes fixed upon Don John's dead features, +her own life already suspended and waiting to follow his. It seemed as +if she might stand there till her horror should stop the beating of her +own heart, unless something came to rouse her from the stupor she was +in. + +But gradually a change came over her face, her lids drooped and +quivered, her face turned a little upward, and she grasped the doorpost +with one hand, lest she should reel and fall. Then, knowing that she +could stand no longer, instinct made a last effort upon her; its +invisible power thrust her violently forward in a few swift steps, till +her strength broke all at once, and she fell and lay almost upon the +body of her lover, her face hidden upon his silent breast, one hand +seeking his hand, the other pressing his cold forehead. + +It was not probable that any one should find her there for a long time. +The servants and gentlemen had been dismissed, and until it was known +that Don John was dead, no one would come. Even if she could have +thought at all, she would not have cared who saw her lying there; but +thought was altogether gone now, and there was nothing left but the +ancient instinct of the primeval woman mourning her dead mate alone, +with long-drawn, hopeless weeping and blinding tears. + +They came, too, when she had lain upon his breast a little while and +when understanding had wholly ceased and given way to nature. Then her +body shook and her breast heaved strongly, almost throwing her upon her +side as she lay, and sounds that were hardly human came from her lips; +for the first dissolving of a woman's despair into tears is most like +the death agony of those who die young in their strength, when the limbs +are wrung at the joints and the light breaks in the upturned eyes, when +the bosom heaves and would take in the whole world at one breath, when +the voice makes sounds of fear that are beyond words and worse to hear +than any words could be. + +Her weeping was wild at first, measureless and violent, broken by sharp +cries that hurt her heart like jagged knives, then strangled to a +choking silence again and again, as the merciless consciousness that +could have killed, if it had prevailed, almost had her by the throat, +but was forced back again with cruel pain by the young life that would +not die, though living was agony and death would have been as welcome as +air. + +Then her loud grief subsided to a lower key, and her voice grew by +degrees monotonous and despairing as the turning tide on a quicksand, +before bad weather,--not diminished, but deeper drawn within itself; and +the low moan came regularly with each breath, while the tears flowed +steadily. The first wild tempest had swept by, and the more enduring +storm followed in its track. + +So she lay a long time weeping; and then strong hands were upon her, +lifting her up and dragging her away, without warning and without word. +She did not understand, and she fancied herself in the arms of some +supernatural being of monstrous strength that was tearing her from what +was left of life and love. She struggled senselessly, but she could find +no foothold as she was swept through the open door. She gasped for +breath, as one does in bad dreams, and bodily fear almost reached her +heart through its sevenfold armour of such grief as makes fear +ridiculous and turns mortal danger to an empty show. The time had seemed +an age since she had fallen upon dead Don John--it had measured but a +short few minutes; it seemed as if she were being dragged the whole +length of the dim palace as the strong hands bore her along, yet she was +only carried from the room to the terrace; and when her eyes could see, +she knew that she was in the open air on a stone seat in the moonlight, +the cool night breeze fanning her face, while a gentle hand supported +her head,--the same hand that had been so masterfully strong a moment +earlier. A face she knew and did not dread, though it was unlike other +faces, was just at the same height with her own, though the man was +standing beside her and she was seated; and the moonlight made very soft +shadows in the ill-drawn features of the dwarf, so that his thin and +twisted lips were kind and his deep-set eyes were overflowing with human +sympathy. When he understood that she saw him and was not fainting, he +gently drew away his hand and let her head rest against the stone +parapet. + +She was dazed still, and the tears veiled her sight. He stood before +her, as if guarding her, ready in case she should move and try to leave +him. His long arms hung by his sides, but not quite motionless, so that +he could have caught her instantly had she attempted to spring past him; +and he was wise and guessed rightly what she would do. Her eyes +brightened suddenly, and she half rose before he held her again. + +"No, no!" she said desperately. "I must go to him--let me go--let me go +back!" + +But his hands were on her shoulders in an instant, and she was in a +vise, forced back to her seat. + +"How dare you touch me!" she cried, in the furious anger of a woman +beside herself with grief. "How dare you lay hands on me!" she repeated +in a rising key, but struggling in vain against his greater strength. + +"You would have died, if I had left you there," answered the jester. +"And besides, the people will come soon, and they would have found you +there, lying on his body, and your good name would have gone forever." + +"My name! What does a name matter? Or anything? Oh, let me go! No one +must touch him--no hands that do not love him must come near him--let me +get up--let me go in again!" + +She tried to force the dwarf from her--she would have struck him, +crushed him, thrown him from the terrace, if she could. She was strong, +too, in her grief; but his vast arms were like iron bars, growing from +his misshapen body. His face was very grave and kind, and his eyes more +tender than they had ever been in his life. + +"No," he said gently. "You must not go. By and by you shall see him +again, but not now. Do not try, for I am much stronger than you, and I +will not let you go back into the room." + +Then her strength relaxed, and she turned to the stone parapet, burying +her face in her crossed arms, and her tears came again. For this the +jester was glad, knowing that tears quench the first white heat of such +sorrows as can burn out the soul and drive the brain raving mad, when +life can bear the torture. He stood still before her, watching her and +guarding her, but he felt that the worst was past, and that before very +long he could lead her away to a place of greater safety. He had indeed +taken her as far as he could from Don John's door, and out of sight of +it, where the long terrace turned to the westward, and where it was not +likely that any one should pass at that hour. It had been the impulse of +the moment, and he himself had not recovered from the shock of finding +Don John's body lifeless on the floor. He had known nothing of what had +happened, but lurking in a corner to see the King pass on his way back +from his brother's quarters, he had made sure that Don John was alone, +and had gone to his apartment to find out, if he could, how matters had +fared, and whether he himself were in further danger or not. He meant to +escape from the palace, or to take his own life, rather than be put to +the torture, if the King suspected him of being involved in a +conspiracy. He was not a common coward, but he feared bodily pain as +only such sensitive organizations can, and the vision of the rack and +the boot had been before him since he had seen Philip's face at supper. +Don John was kind, and would have warned him if he were in danger, and +so all might have been well, and by flight or death he might have +escaped being torn limb from limb. So he had gone boldly in, and had +found the door ajar and had entered the bedchamber, and when he had seen +what was there, he would have fled at once, for his own safety, not only +because Don John's murder was sure to produce terrible trouble, and many +enquiries and trials, in the course of which he was almost sure to be +lost, but also for the more immediate reason that if he were seen near +the body when it was discovered, he should certainly be put to the +question ordinary and extraordinary for his evidence. + +But he was not a common coward, and in spite of his own pardonable +terror, he thought first of the innocent girl whose name and fame would +be gone if she were found lying upon her murdered lover's body, and so +far as he could, he saved her before he thought of saving himself, +though with infinite difficulty and against her will. + +Half paralyzed by her immeasurable grief, she lay against the parapet, +and the great sobs came evenly, as if they were counted, shaking her +from her head to her waist, and just leaving her a breathing space +between each one and the next. The jester felt that he could do nothing. +So long as she had seemed unconscious, he had tried to help her a little +by supporting her head with his hand and arm, as tenderly as if she had +been his own child. So long as she did not know what he was doing, she +was only a human being in distress, and a woman, and deep down in the +jester's nature there was a marvellous depth of pity for all things that +suffered--the deeper and truer because his own sufferings in the world +were great. But it was quite different now that she knew where she was +and recognized him. She was no longer a woman now, but a high-born lady, +one of the Queen's maids of honour, a being infinitely far removed above +his sphere, and whose hand he was not worthy to touch. He would have +dared to be much more familiar with the King himself than with this +young girl whom fate had placed in his keeping for a moment. In the +moonlight he watched her, and as he gazed upon her graceful figure and +small head and slender, bending arms, it seemed to him that she had come +down from an altar to suffer in life, and that it had been almost +sacrilege to lay his hands upon her shoulders and keep her from doing +her own will. He almost wondered how he had found courage to be so rough +and commanding. He was gentle of heart, though it was his trade to make +sharp speeches, and there were wonderful delicacies of thought and +feeling far down in his suffering cripple's nature. + +"Come," he said softly, when he had waited a long time, and when he +thought she was growing more quiet. "You must let me take you away, Doña +Maria Dolores, for we cannot stay here." + +"Take me back to him," she answered. "Let me go back to him!" + +"No--to your father--I cannot take you to him. You will be safe there." + +Dolores sprang to her feet before the dwarf could prevent her. + +"To my father? oh, no, no, no! Never, as long as I live! I will go +anywhere, but not to him! Take your hands from me--do not touch me! I am +not strong, but I shall kill you if you try to take me to my father!" + +Her small hands grasped the dwarfs wrists and wrung them with desperate +energy, and she tried to push him away, so that she might pass him. But +he resisted her quietly, planting himself in a position of resistance on +his short bowed legs, and opposing the whole strength of his great arms +to her girlish violence. Her hands relaxed suddenly in despair. + +"Not to my father!" she pleaded, in a broken voice. "Oh, please, +please--not to my father!" + +The jester did not fully understand, but he yielded, for he could not +carry her to Mendoza's apartments by force. + +"But what can I do to put you in a place of safety?" he asked, in +growing distress. "You cannot stay here." + +While he was speaking a light figure glided out from the shadows, with +outstretched hands, and a low voice called Dolores' name, trembling with +terror and emotion. Dolores broke from the dwarf and clasped her sister +in her arms. + +"Is it true?" moaned Inez. "Is it true? Is he dead?" And her voice +broke. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +The courtiers had assembled again in the great throne room after supper, +and the stately dancing, for which the court of Spain was even then +famous throughout Europe, had begun. The orchestra was placed under the +great arch of the central window on a small raised platform draped with +velvets and brocades that hung from a railing, high enough to conceal +the musicians as they sat, though some of the instruments and the moving +bows of the violins could be seen above it. + +The masked dancing, if it were dancing at all, which had been general in +the days of the Emperor Maximilian, and which had not yet gone out of +fashion altogether at the imperial court of Vienna, had long been +relegated to the past in Spain, and the beautiful "pavane" dances, of +which awkward travesties survive in our day, had been introduced +instead. As now, the older ladies of the court withdrew to the sides of +the hall, leaving the polished floor free for those who danced, and sets +formed themselves in the order of their rank from the foot of the throne +dais to the lower end. As now, too, the older and graver men congregated +together in outer rooms; and there gaming-tables were set out, and the +nobles lost vast sums at games now long forgotten, by the express +authorization of the pious Philip, who saw that everything which could +injure the fortunes of the grandees must consolidate his own, by +depriving them of some of that immense wealth which was an ever-ready +element of revolution. He did everything in his power to promote the +ruin of the most powerful grandees in the kingdom by encouraging gaming +and all imaginable forms of extravagance, and he looked with suspicion +and displeasure upon those more prudent men who guarded their riches +carefully, as their fathers had done before them. But these were few, +for it was a part of a noble's dignity to lose enormous sums of money +without the slightest outward sign of emotion or annoyance. + +It had been announced that the King and Queen would not return after +supper, and the magnificent gravity of the most formal court in the +world was a little relaxed when this was known. Between the strains of +music, the voices of the courtiers rose in unbroken conversation, and +now and then there was a ripple of fresh young laughter that echoed +sweetly under the high Moorish vault, and died away just as it rose +again from below. + +Yet the dancing was a matter of state, and solemn enough, though it was +very graceful. Magnificent young nobles in scarlet, in pale green, in +straw colour, in tender shades of blue, all satin and silk and velvet +and embroidery, led lovely women slowly forward with long and gliding +steps that kept perfect time to the music, and turned and went back, and +wound mazy figures with the rest, under the waxen light of the waxen +torches, and returned to their places with deep curtsies on the one +side, and sweeping obeisance on the other. The dresses of the women were +richer by far with gold and silver, and pearls and other jewels, than +those of the men, but were generally darker in tone, for that was the +fashion then. Their skirts were straight and barely touched the floor, +being made for a time when dancing was a part of court life, and when +every one within certain limits of age was expected to dance well. There +was no exaggeration of the ruffle then, nor had the awkward hoop skirt +been introduced in Spain. Those were the earlier days of Queen +Elizabeth's reign, before Queen Mary was imprisoned; it was the time, +indeed, when the rough Bothwell had lately carried her off and married +her, after a fashion, with so little ceremony that Philip paid no +attention to the marriage at all, and deliberately proposed to make her +Don John's wife. The matter was freely talked of on that night by the +noble ladies of elder years who gossiped while they watched the dancing. + +That was indeed such a court as had not been seen before, nor was ever +seen again, whether one count beauty first, or riches and magnificence, +or the marvel of splendid ceremony and the faultless grace of studied +manners, or even the cool recklessness of great lords and ladies who +could lose a fortune at play, as if they were throwing a handful of coin +to a beggar in the street. + +The Princess of Eboli stood a little apart from the rest, having just +returned to the ball-room, and her eyes searched for Dolores in the +crowd, though she scarcely expected to see her there. It would have been +almost impossible for the girl to put on a court dress in so short a +time, though since her father had allowed her to leave her room, she +could have gone back to dress if she had chosen. The Princess had rarely +been at a loss in her evil life, and had seldom been baffled in anything +she had undertaken, since that memorable occasion on which her husband, +soon after her marriage, had forcibly shut her up in a convent for +several months, in the vain hope of cooling her indomitable temper. But +now she was nervous and uncertain of herself. Not only had Dolores +escaped her, but Don John had disappeared also, and the Princess had not +the least doubt but that the two were somewhere together, and she was +very far from being sure that they had not already left the palace. +Antonio Perez had informed her that the King had promised not to see Don +John that night, and for once she was foolish enough to believe the +King's word. Perez came up to her as she was debating what she should +do. She told him her thoughts, laughing gaily from time to time, as if +she were telling him some very witty story, for she did not wish those +who watched them to guess that the conversation was serious. Perez +laughed, too, and answered in low tones, with many gestures meant to +deceive the court. + +"The King did not take my advice," he said. "I had scarcely left him, +when he went to Don John's apartments." + +"How do you know that?" asked the Princess, with some anxiety. + +"He found the door of an inner room locked, and he sent Mendoza to find +the key. Fortunately for the old man's feelings it could not be found! +He would have had an unpleasant surprise." + +"Why?" + +"Because his daughter was in the room that was locked," laughed Perez. + +"When? How? How long ago was that?" + +"Half an hour--not more." + +"That is impossible. Half an hour ago Dolores de Mendoza was with me." + +"Then there was another lady in the room." Perez laughed again. "Better +two than one," he added. + +"You are wrong," said the Princess, and her face darkened. "Don John has +not so much as deigned to look at any other woman these two years." + +"You should know that best," returned the Secretary, with a little +malice in his smile. + +It was well known in the court that two or three years earlier, during +the horrible intrigue that ended in the death of Don Carlos, the +Princess of Eboli had done her best to bring Don John of Austria to her +feet, and had failed notoriously, because he was already in love with +Dolores. She was angry now, and the rich colour came into her handsome +dark face. + +"Don Antonio Perez," she said, "take care! I have made you. I can also +unmake you." + +Perez assumed an air of simple and innocent surprise, as if he were +quite sure that he had said nothing to annoy her, still less to wound +her deeply. He believed that she really loved him and that he could play +with her as if his own intelligence far surpassed hers. In the first +matter he was right, but he was very much mistaken in the second. + +"I do not understand," he said. "If I have done anything to offend you, +pray forgive my ignorance, and believe in the unchanging devotion of +your most faithful slave." + +His dark eyes became very expressive as he bowed a little, with a +graceful gesture of deprecation. The Princess laughed lightly, but there +was still a spark of annoyance in her look. + +"Why does Don John not come?" she asked impatiently. "We should have +danced together. Something must have happened--can you not find out?" + +Others were asking the same question in surprise, for it had been +expected that Don John would enter immediately after the supper. His +name was heard from end to end of the hall, in every conversation, +wherever two or three persons were talking together. It was in the air, +like his popularity, everywhere and in everything, and the expectation +of his coming produced a sort of tension that was felt by every one. The +men grew more witty, the younger women's eyes brightened, though they +constantly glanced towards the door of the state apartments by which Don +John should enter, and as the men's conversation became more brilliant +the women paid less attention to it, for there was hardly one of them +who did not hope that Don John might notice her before the evening was +over,--there was not one who did not fancy herself a little in love with +him, as there was hardly a man there who would not have drawn his sword +for him and fought for him with all his heart. Many, though they dared +not say so, secretly wished that some evil might befall Philip, and that +he might soon die childless, since he had destroyed his only son and +only heir, and that Don John might be King in his stead. The Princess of +Eboli and Perez knew well enough that their plan would be popular, if +they could ever bring it to maturity. + +The music swelled and softened, and rose again in those swaying strains +that inspire an irresistible bodily longing for rhythmical motion, and +which have infinite power to call up all manner of thoughts, passionate, +gentle, hopeful, regretful, by turns. In the middle of the hall, more +than a hundred dancers moved, swayed, and glided in time with the sound, +changed places, and touched hands in the measure, tripped forward and +back and sideways, and met and parted again without pause, the colours +of their dresses mingling to rich unknown hues in the soft candlelight, +as the figure brought many together, and separating into a hundred +elements again, when the next steps scattered them again; the jewels in +the women's hair, the clasps of diamonds and precious stones at throat, +and shoulder, and waist, all moved with an intricate motion, in orbits +that crossed and recrossed in the tinted sea of silk, and flashed all at +once, as the returning burden of the music brought the dancers to stand +and turn at the same beat of the measure. Yet it was all unlike the +square dancing of these days, which is either no dancing at all, but a +disorderly walk, or else is so stiffly regular and awkward that it makes +one think of a squad of recruits exercising on the drill ground. There +was not a motion, then, that lacked grace, or ease, or a certain purpose +of beauty, nor any, perhaps, that was not a phrase in the allegory of +love, from which all dancing is, and was, and always must be, drawn. +Swift, slow, by turns, now languorous, now passionate, now full of +delicious regret, singing love's triumph, breathing love's fire, sighing +in love's despair, the dance and its music were one, so was sight +intermingled with sound, and motion a part of both. And at each pause, +lips parted and glance sought glance in the light, while hearts found +words in the music that answered the language of love. Men laugh at +dancing and love it, and women, too, and no one can tell where its charm +is, but few have not felt it, or longed to feel it, and its beginnings +are very far away in primeval humanity, beyond the reach of theory, +unless instinct may explain all simply, as it well may. For light and +grace and sweet sound are things of beauty which last for ever, and love +is the source of the future and the explanation of the past; and that +which can bring into itself both love and melody, and grace and light, +must needs be a spell to charm men and women. + +There was more than that in the air on that night, for Don John's return +had set free that most intoxicating essence of victory, which turns to a +mad fire in the veins of a rejoicing people, making the least man of +them feel himself a soldier, and a conqueror, and a sharer in undying +fame. They had loved him from a child, they had seen him outgrow them in +beauty, and skill, and courage, and they had loved him still the more +for being the better man; and now he had done a great deed, and had +fulfilled and overfilled their greatest expectations, and in an instant +he leapt from the favourite's place in their hearts to the hero's height +on the altar of their wonder, to be the young god of a nation that loved +him. Not a man, on that night, but would have sworn that Don John was +braver than Alexander, wiser than Charlemagne, greater than Cæsar +himself; not a man but would have drawn his sword to prove it on the +body of any who should dare to contradict him,--not a mother was there, +who did not pray that her sons might be but ever so little like him, no +girl of Spain but dreamt she heard his soft voice speaking low in her +ear. Not often in the world's story has a man so young done such great +things as he had done and was to do before his short life was ended; +never, perhaps, was any man so honoured by his own people, so trusted, +and so loved. + +They could talk only of him, wondering more and more that he stayed away +from them on such a night, yet sure that he would come, and join the +dancing, for as he fought with a skill beyond that of other swordsmen, +so he danced with the most surpassing grace. They longed to see him, to +look into his face, to hear his voice, perhaps to touch his hand; for he +was free of manner and gentle to all, and if he came he would go from +one to another, and remember each with royal memory, and find kind words +for every one. They wanted him among them, they felt a sort of tense +desire to see him again, and even to shout for him again, as the vulgar +herd did in the streets,--as they themselves had done but an hour ago +when he had stood out beside the throne. And still the dancers danced +through the endless measures, laughing and talking at each pause, and +repeating his name till it was impossible not to hear it, wherever one +might be in the hall, and there was no one, old or young, who did not +speak it at least once in every five minutes. There was a sort of +intoxication in its very sound, and the more they heard it, the more +they wished to hear it, coupled with every word of praise that the +language possessed. From admiration they rose to enthusiasm, from +enthusiasm to a generous patriotic passion in which Spain was the world +and Don John was Spain, and all the rest of everything was but a dull +and lifeless blank which could have no possible interest for natural +people. + +Young men, darkly flushed from dancing, swore that whenever Don John +should be next sent with an army, they would go, too, and win his +battles and share in his immortal glory; and grand, grey men who wore +the Golden Fleece, men who had seen great battles in the Emperor's day, +stood together and talked of him, and praised God that Spain had another +hero of the Austrian house, to strike terror to the heart of France, to +humble England at last, and to grasp what little of the world was not +already gathered in the hollow of Spain's vast hand. + +Antonio Perez and the Princess of Eboli parted and went among the +courtiers, listening to all that was to be heard and feeding the fire of +enthusiasm, and met again to exchange glances of satisfaction, for they +were well pleased with the direction matters were taking, and the talk +grew more free from minute to minute, till many, carried away by a force +they could not understand and did not seek to question, were openly +talking of the succession to the throne, of Philip's apparent ill +health, and of the chance that they might before long be doing service +to his Majesty King John. + +The music ceased again, and the couples dispersed about the hall, to +collect again in groups. There was a momentary lull in the talk, too, as +often happens when a dance is just over, and at that moment the great +door beside the throne was opened, with a noise that attracted the +attention of all; and all believed that Don John was returning, while +all eyes were fixed upon the entrance to catch the first glimpse of him, +and every one pronounced his name at once in short, glad tones of +satisfaction. + +"Don John is coming! It is Don John of Austria! Don John is there!" + +It was almost a universal cry of welcome. An instant later a dead +silence followed as a chamberlain's clear voice announced the royal +presence, and King Philip advanced upon the platform of the throne. For +several seconds not a sound broke the stillness, and he came slowly +forward followed by half a dozen nobles in immediate attendance upon +him. But though he must have heard his brother's name in the general +chorus of voices as soon as the door had been thrown open, he seemed by +no means disconcerted; on the contrary, he smiled almost affably, and +his eyes were less fixed than usual, as he looked about him with +something like an air of satisfaction. As soon as it was clear that he +meant to descend the steps to the floor of the hall, the chief courtiers +came forward, Ruy Gomez de Silva, Prince of Eboli, Alvarez de Toledo, +the terrible Duke of Alva, the Dukes of Medina Sidonia and of Infantado, +Don Antonio Perez the chief Secretary, the Ambassadors of Queen +Elizabeth of England and of France, and a dozen others, bowing so low +that the plumes of their hats literally touched the floor beside them. + +"Why is there no dancing?" asked Philip, addressing Ruy Gomez, with a +smile. + +The Minister explained that one of the dances was but just over. + +"Let there be more at once," answered the King. "Let there be dancing +and music without end to-night. We have good reason to keep the day with +rejoicing, since the war is over, and Don John of Austria has come back +in triumph." + +The command was obeyed instantly, as Ruy Gomez made a sign to the leader +of the musicians, who was watching him intently in expectation of the +order. The King smiled again as the long strain broke the silence and +the conversation began again all through the hall, though in a far more +subdued tone than before, and with much more caution. Philip turned to +the English Ambassador. + +"It is a pity," he said, "that my sister of England cannot be here with +us on such a night as this. We saw no such sights in London in my day, +my lord." + +"There have been changes since then, Sire," answered the Ambassador. +"The Queen is very much inclined to magnificence and to great +entertainments, and does not hesitate to dance herself, being of a very +vital and pleasant temper. Nevertheless, your Majesty's court is by far +the most splendid in the world." + +"There you are right, my lord!" exclaimed the King. "And for that +matter, we have beauty also, such as is found nowhere else." + +The Princess of Eboli was close by, waiting for him to speak to her, and +his eyes fixed themselves upon her face with a sort of cold and +snakelike admiration, to which she was well accustomed, but which even +now made her nervous. The Ambassador was not slow to take up the cue of +flattery, for Englishmen still knew how to flatter in Elizabeth's day. + +"The inheritance of universal conquest," he said, bowing and smiling to +the Princess. "Even the victories of Don John of Austria must yield to +that." + +The Princess laughed carelessly. Had Perez spoken the words, she would +have frowned, but the King's eyes were watching her. + +"His Highness has fled from the field without striking a blow," she +said. "We have not seen him this evening." As she spoke she met the +King's gaze with a look of enquiry. + +"Don John will be here presently, no doubt," he said, as if answering a +question. "Has he not been here at all since supper?" + +"No, Sire; though every one expected him to come at once." + +"That is strange," said Philip, with perfect self-possession. "He is +fond of dancing, too--no one can dance better than he. Have you ever +known a man so roundly gifted as my brother, my lord?" + +"A most admirable prince," answered the Ambassador, gravely and without +enthusiasm, for he feared that the King was about to speak of his +brother's possible marriage with Queen Mary of Scots. + +"And a most affectionate and gentle nature," said Philip, musing. "I +remember from the time when he was a boy that every one loved him and +praised him, and yet he is not spoiled. He is always the same. He is my +brother--how often have I wished for such a son! Well, he may yet be +King. Who should, if not he, when I am gone?" + +"Your Majesty need not anticipate such a frightful calamity!" cried the +Princess fervently, though she was at that moment weighing the +comparative advantage of several mortal diseases by which, in appearance +at least, his exit from the world might be accelerated. + +"Life is very uncertain, Princess," observed the King. "My lord," he +turned to the English Ambassador again, "do you consider melons +indigestible in England? I have lately heard much against them." + +"A melon is a poor thing, of a watery constitution, your Majesty," +replied the Ambassador glibly. "There can be but little sustenance in a +hollow piece of water that is sucked from a marsh and enclosed in a +green rind. To tell the truth, I hear it ill spoken of by our +physicians, but I cannot well speak of the matter, for I never ate one +in my life, and please God I never will!" + +"Why not!" enquired the King, who took an extraordinary interest in the +subject. "You fear them, then! Yet you seem to be exceedingly strong and +healthy." + +"Sire, I have sometimes drunk a little water for my stomach's sake, but +I will not eat it." + +The King smiled pleasantly. + +"How wise the English are!" he said. "We may yet learn much of them." + +Philip turned away from the Ambassador and watched the dance in silence. +The courtiers now stood in a wide half circle to the right and left of +him as he faced the hall, and the dancers passed backwards and forwards +across the open space. His slow eyes followed one figure without seeing +the rest. In the set nearest to him a beautiful girl was dancing with +one of Don John's officers. She was of the rarest type of Andalusian +beauty, tall, pliant, and slenderly strong, with raven's-wing hair and +splendidly languorous eyes, her creamy cheek as smooth as velvet, and a +mouth like a small ripe fruit. As she moved she bent from the waist as +easily and naturally as a child, and every movement followed a new curve +of beauty from her white throat to the small arched foot that darted +into sight as she stepped forward now and then, to disappear instantly +under the shadow of the gold-embroidered skirt. As she glanced towards +the King, her shadowy lids half hid her eyes and the long black lashes +almost brushed her cheek. Philip could not look away from her. + +But suddenly there was a stir among the courtiers, and a shadow came +between the King and the vision he was watching. He started a little, +annoyed by the interruption and at being rudely reminded of what had +happened half an hour earlier, for the shadow was cast by Mendoza, tall +and grim in his armour, his face as grey as his grey beard, and his eyes +hard and fixed. Without bending, like a soldier on parade, he stood +there, waiting by force of habit until Philip should speak to him. The +King's brows bent together, and he almost unconsciously raised one hand +to signify that the music should cease. It stopped in the midst of a +bar, leaving the dancers at a standstill in their measure, and all the +moving sea of light and colour and gleaming jewels was arrested +instantly in its motion, while every look was turned towards the King. +The change from sound to silence, from motion to immobility, was so +sudden that every one was startled, as if some frightful accident had +happened, or as if an earthquake had shaken the Alcazar to its deep +foundation. + +Mendoza's harsh voice spoke out alone in accents that were heard to the +end of the hall. + +"Don John of Austria is dead! I, Mendoza, have killed him unarmed." + +It was long before a sound was heard, before any man or woman in the +hall had breath to utter a word. Philip's voice was heard first. + +"The man is mad," he said, with undisturbed coolness. "See to him, +Perez." + +"No, no!" cried Mendoza. "I am not mad. I have killed Don John. You +shall find him in his room as he fell, with the wound in his breast." + +One moment more the silence lasted, while Philip's stony face never +moved. A single woman's shriek rang out first, long, ear-piercing, +agonized, and then, without warning, a cry went up such as the old hall +had never heard before. It was a bad cry to hear, for it clamoured for +blood to be shed for blood, and though it was not for him, Philip turned +livid and shrank back a step. But Mendoza stood like a rock, waiting to +be taken. + +In another moment furious confusion filled the hall. From every side at +once rose women's cries, and the deep shouts of angry men, and high, +clear yells of rage and hate. The men pushed past the ladies of the +court to the front, and some came singly, but a serried rank moved up +from behind, pushing the others before them. + +"Kill him! Kill him at the King's feet! Kill him where he stands!" + +And suddenly something made blue flashes of light high over the heads of +all; a rapier was out and wheeled in quick circles from a pliant wrist. +An officer of Mendoza's guard had drawn it, and a dozen more were in the +air in an instant, and then daggers by scores, keen, short, and strong, +held high at arm's length, each shaking with the fury of the hand that +held it. + +"Sangre! Sangre!" + +Some one had screamed out the wild cry of the Spanish soldiers--'Blood! +Blood!'--and the young men took it up in a mad yell, as they pushed +forwards furiously, while the few who stood in front tried to keep a +space open round the King and Mendoza. + +The old man never winced, and disdained to turn his head, though he +heard the cry of death behind him, and the quick, soft sound of daggers +drawn from leathern sheaths, and the pressing of men who would be upon +him in another moment to tear him limb from limb with their knives. + +Tall old Ruy Gomez had stepped forwards to stem the tide of death, and +beside him the English Ambassador, quietly determined to see fair play +or to be hurt himself in preventing murder. + +"Back!" thundered Ruy Gomez, in a voice that was heard. "Back, I say! +Are you gentlemen of Spain, or are you executioners yourselves that you +would take this man's blood? Stand back!" + +"Sangre! Sangre!" echoed the hall. + +"Then take mine first!" shouted the brave old Prince, spreading his +short cloak out behind him with his hands to cover Mendoza more +completely. + +But still the crowd of splendid young nobles surged up to him, and back +a little, out of sheer respect for his station and his old age, and +forwards again, dagger in hand, with blazing eyes. + +"Sangre! Sangre! Sangre!" they cried, blind with fury. + +But meanwhile, the guards filed in, for the prudent Perez had hastened +to throw wide the doors and summon them. Weapons in hand and ready, they +formed a square round the King and Mendoza and Ruy Gomez, and at the +sight of their steel caps and breastplates and long-tasselled halberds, +the yells of the courtiers subsided a little and turned to deep curses +and execrations and oaths of vengeance. A high voice pierced the low +roar, keen and cutting as a knife, but no one knew whose it was, and +Philip almost reeled as he heard the words. + +"Remember Don Carlos! Don John of Austria is gone to join Don Carlos and +Queen Isabel!" + +Again a deadly silence fell upon the multitude, and the King leaned on +Perez' arm. Some woman's hate had bared the truth in a flash, and there +were hundreds of hands in the hall that were ready to take his life +instead of Mendoza's; and he knew it, and was afraid. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +The agonized cry that had been first heard in the hall had come from +Inez's lips. When she had fled from her father, she had regained her +hiding-place in the gallery above the throne room. She would not go to +her own room, for she felt that rest was out of the question while +Dolores was in such danger; and yet there would have been no object in +going to Don John's door again, to risk being caught by her father or +met by the King himself. She had therefore determined to let an hour +pass before attempting another move. So she slipped into the gallery +again, and sat upon the little wooden bench that had been made for the +Moorish women in old times; and she listened to the music and the sound +of the dancers' feet far below, and to the hum of voices, in which she +often distinguished the name of Don John. She had heard all,--the cries +when it was thought that he was coming, the chamberlain's voice +announcing the King, and then the change of key in the sounds that had +followed. Lastly, she had heard plainly every syllable of her father's +speech, so that when she realized what it meant, she had shrieked aloud, +and had fled from the gallery to find her sister if she could, to find +Don John's body most certainly where it lay on the marble floor, with +the death wound at the breast. Her instinct--she could not have reasoned +then--told her that her father must have found the lovers together, and +that in sudden rage he had stabbed Don John, defenceless. + +Dolores' tears answered her sister's question well enough when the two +girls were clasped in one another's arms at last. There was not a doubt +left in the mind of either. Inez spoke first. She said that she had +hidden in the gallery. + +"Our father must have come in some time after the King," she said, in +broken sentences, and almost choking. "Suddenly the music stopped. I +could hear every word. He said that he had done it,--that he had +murdered Don John,--and then I ran here, for I was afraid he had killed +you, too." + +"Would God he had!" cried Dolores. "Would to Heaven that I were dead +beside the man I love!" + +"And I!" moaned Inez pitifully, and she began to sob wildly, as Dolores +had sobbed at first. + +But Dolores was silent now, as if she had shed all her tears at once, +and had none left. She held her sister in her arms, and soothed her +almost unconsciously, as if she had been a little child. But her own +thoughts were taking shape quickly, for she was strong; and after the +first paroxysm of her grief, she saw the immediate future as clearly as +the present. When she spoke again she had the mastery of her voice, and +it was clear and low. + +"You say that our father confessed before the whole court that he had +murdered Don John?" she said, with a question. "What happened then? Did +the King speak? Was our father arrested? Can you remember?" + +"I only heard loud cries," sobbed Inez. "I came to you--as quickly as I +could--I was afraid." + +"We shall never see our father again--unless we see him on the morning +when he is to die." + +"Dolores! They will not kill him, too?" In sudden and greater fear than +before, Inez ceased sobbing. + +"He will die on the scaffold," answered Dolores, in the same clear tone, +as if she were speaking in a dream, or of things that did not come near +her. "There is no pardon possible. He will die to-morrow or the next +day." + +The present truth stood out in all its frightful distinctness. Whoever +had done the murder--since Mendoza had confessed it, he would be made to +die for it,--of that she was sure. She could not have guessed what had +really happened; and though the evidence of the sounds she had heard +through the door would have gone to show that Philip had done the deed +himself, yet there had been no doubt about Mendoza's words, spoken to +the King alone over Don John's dead body, and repeated before the great +assembly in the ball-room. If she guessed at an explanation, it was that +her father, entering the bedchamber during the quarrel, and supposing +from what he saw that Don John was about to attack the King, had drawn +and killed the Prince without hesitation. The only thing quite clear was +that Mendoza was to suffer, and seemed strangely determined to suffer, +for what he had or had not done. The dark shadow of the scaffold rose +before Dolores' eyes. + +It had seemed impossible that she could be made to bear more than she +had borne that night, when she had fallen upon Don John's body to weep +her heart out for her dead love. But she saw that there was more to +bear, and dimly she guessed that there might be something for her to do. +There was Inez first, and she must be cared for and placed in safety, +for she was beside herself with grief. It was only on that afternoon by +the window that Dolores had guessed the blind girl's secret, which Inez +herself hardly suspected even now, though she was half mad with grief +and utterly broken-hearted. + +Dolores felt almost helpless, but she understood that she and her sister +were henceforth to be more really alone in what remained of life than if +they had been orphans from their earliest childhood. The vision of the +convent, that had been unbearable but an hour since, held all her hope +of peace and safety now, unless her father could be saved from his fate +by some miracle of heaven. But that was impossible. He had given himself +up as if he were determined to die. He had been out of his mind, beside +himself, stark mad, in his fear that Don John might bring harm upon his +daughter. That was why he had killed him--there could be no other +reason, unless he had guessed that she was in the locked room, and had +judged her then and at once, and forever. The thought had not crossed +her mind till then, and it was a new torture now, so that she shrank +under it as under a bodily blow; and her grasp tightened violently upon +her sister's arm, rousing the half-fainting girl again to the full +consciousness of pain. + +It was no wonder that Mendoza should have done such a deed, since he had +believed her ruined and lost to honour beyond salvation. That explained +all. He had guessed that she had been long with Don John, who had locked +her hastily into the inner room to hide her from the King. Had the King +been Don John, had she loved Philip as she loved his brother, her father +would have killed his sovereign as unhesitatingly, and would have +suffered any death without flinching. She believed that, and there was +enough of his nature in herself to understand it. + +She was as innocent as the blind girl who lay in her arms, but suddenly +it flashed upon her that no one would believe it, since her own father +would not, and that her maiden honour and good name were gone for ever, +gone with her dead lover, who alone could have cleared her before the +world. She cared little for the court now, but she cared tenfold more +earnestly for her father's thought of her, and she knew him and the +terrible tenacity of his conviction when he believed himself to be +right. He had proved that by what he had done. Since she understood all, +she no longer doubted that he had killed Don John with the fullest +intention, to avenge her, and almost knowing that she was within +hearing, as indeed she had been. He had taken a royal life in atonement +for her honour, but he was to give his own, and was to die a shameful +death on the scaffold, within a few hours, or, at the latest, within a +few days, for her sake. + +Then she remembered how on that afternoon she had seen tears in his +eyes, and had heard the tremor in his voice when he had said that she +was everything to him, that she had been all his life since her mother +had died--he had proved that, too; and though he had killed the man she +loved, she shrank from herself again as she thought what he must have +suffered in her dishonour. For it was nothing else. There was neither +man nor woman nor girl in Spain who would believe her innocent against +such evidence. The world might have believed Don John, if he had lived, +because the world had loved him and trusted him, and could never have +heard falsehood in his voice; but it would not believe her though she +were dying, and though she should swear upon the most sacred and true +things. The world would turn from her with an unbelieving laugh, and she +was to be left alone in her dishonour, and people would judge that she +was not even a fit companion for her blind sister in their solitude. The +King would send her to Las Huelgas, or to some other distant convent of +a severe order, that she might wear out her useless life in grief and +silence and penance as quickly as possible. She bowed her head. It was +too hard to bear. + +Inez was more quiet now, and the two sat side by side in mournful +silence, leaning against the parapet. They had forgotten the dwarf, and +he had disappeared, waiting, perhaps, in the shadow at a distance, in +case he might be of use to them. But if he was within hearing, they did +not see him. At last Inez spoke, almost in a whisper, as if she were in +the presence of the dead. + +"Were you there, dear?" she asked. "Did you see?" + +"I was in the next room," Dolores answered. "I could not see, but I +heard. I heard him fall," she added almost inaudibly, and choking. + +Inez shuddered and pressed nearer to her sister, leaning against her, +but she did not begin to sob again. She was thinking. + +"Can we not help our father, at least?" she asked presently. "Is there +nothing we can say, or do? We ought to help him if we can, +Dolores--though he did it." + +"I would save him with my life, if I could. God knows, I would! He was +mad when he struck the blow. He did it for my sake, because he thought +Don John had ruined my good name. And we should have been married the +day after to-morrow! God of heaven, have mercy!" + +Her grief took hold of her again, like a material power, shaking her +from head to foot, and bowing her down upon herself and wringing her +hands together, so that Inez, calmer than she, touched her gently and +tried to comfort her without any words, for there were none to say, +since nothing mattered now, and life was over at its very beginning. +Little by little the sharp agony subsided to dull pain once more, and +Dolores sat upright. But Inez was thinking still, and even in her sorrow +and fright she was gathering all her innocent ingenuity to her aid. + +"Is there no way?" she asked, speaking more to herself than to her +sister. "Could we not say that we were there, that it was not our father +but some one else? Perhaps some one would believe us. If we told the +judges that we were quite, quite sure that he did not do it, do you not +think--but then," she checked herself--"then it could only have been the +King." + +"Only the King himself," echoed Dolores, half unconsciously, and in a +dreamy tone. + +"That would be terrible," said Inez. "But we could say that the King was +not there, you know--that it was some one else, some one we did not +know--" + +Dolores rose abruptly from the seat and laid her hand upon the parapet +steadily, as if an unnatural strength had suddenly grown up in her. Inez +went on speaking, confusing herself in the details she was trying to put +together to make a plan, and losing the thread of her idea as she +attempted to build up falsehoods, for she was truthful as their father +was. But Dolores did not hear her. + +"You can do nothing, child," she said at last, in a firm tone. "But I +may. You have made me think of something that I may do--it is just +possible--it may help a little. Let me think." + +Inez waited in silence for her to go on, and Dolores stood as motionless +as a statue, contemplating in thought the step she meant to take if it +offered the slightest hope of saving her father. The thought was worthy +of her, but the sacrifice was great even then. She had not believed that +the world still held anything with which she would not willingly part, +but there was one thing yet. It might be taken from her, though her +father had slain Don John of Austria to save it, and was to die for it +himself. She could give it before she could be robbed of it, perhaps, +and it might buy his life. She could still forfeit her good name of her +own free will, and call herself what she was not. In words she could +give her honour to the dead man, and the dead could not rise up and deny +her nor refuse the gift. And it seemed to her that when the people +should hear her, they would believe her, seeing that it was her shame, a +shame such as no maiden who had honour left would bear before the world. +But it was hard to do. For honour was her last and only possession now +that all was taken from her. + +It was not the so-called honour of society, either, based on +long-forgotten traditions, and depending on convention for its +being--not the sort of honour within which a man may ruin an honest +woman and suffer no retribution, but which decrees that he must take his +own life if he cannot pay a debt of play made on his promise to a +friend, which allows him to lie like a cheat, but ordains that he must +give or require satisfaction of blood for the imaginary insult of a +hasty word--the honour which is to chivalry what black superstition is +to the true Christian faith, which compares with real courage and truth +and honesty, as an ape compares with a man. It was not that, and Dolores +knew it, as every maiden knows it; for the honour of woman is the fact +on which the whole world turns, and has turned and will turn to the end +of things; but what is called the honour of society has been a fiction +these many centuries, and though it came first of a high parentage, of +honest thought wedded to brave deed, and though there are honourable men +yet, these are for the most part the few who talk least loudly about +honour's code, and the belief they hold has come to be a secret and a +persecuted faith, at which the common gentleman thinks fit to laugh lest +some one should presume to measure him by it and should find him +wanting. + +Dolores did not mean to hesitate, after she had decided what to do. But +she could not avoid the struggle, and it was long and hard, though she +saw the end plainly before her and did not waver. Inez did not +understand and kept silence while it lasted. + +It was only a word to say, but it was the word which would be repeated +against her as long as she lived, and which nothing she could ever say +or do afterwards could take back when it had once been spoken--it would +leave the mark that a lifetime could not efface. But she meant to speak +it. She could not see what her father would see, that he would rather +die, justly or unjustly, than let his daughter be dishonoured before the +world. That was a part of a man's code, perhaps, but it should not +hinder her from saving her father's life, or trying to, at whatever +cost. What she was fighting against was something much harder to +understand in herself. What could it matter now, that the world should +think her fallen from her maiden estate? The world was nothing to her, +surely. It held nothing, it meant nothing, it was nothing. Her world had +been her lover, and he lay dead in his room. In heaven, he knew that she +was innocent, as he was himself, and he would see that she was going to +accuse herself that she might save her father. In heaven, he had +forgiven his murderer, and he would understand. As for the world and +what it said, she knew that she must leave it instantly, and go from the +confession she was about to make to the convent where she was to die, +and whence her spotless soul would soon be wafted away to join her true +lover beyond the earth. There was no reason why she should find it hard +to do, and yet it was harder than anything she had ever dreamed of +doing. But she was fighting the deepest and strongest instinct of +woman's nature, and the fight went hard. + +She fancied the scene, the court, the grey-haired nobles, the fair and +honourable women, the brave young soldiers, the thoughtless courtiers, +the whole throng she was about to face, for she meant to speak before +them all, and to her own shame. She was as white as marble, but when she +thought of what was coming the blood sprang to her face and tingled in +her forehead, and she felt her eyes fall and her proud head bend, as the +storm of humiliation descended upon her. She could hear beforehand the +sounds that would follow her words, the sharp, short laugh of jealous +women who hated her, the murmur of surprise among the men. Then the sea +of faces would seem to rise and fall before her in waves, the lights +would dance, her cheeks would burn like flames, and she would grow +dizzy. That would be the end. Afterwards she could go out alone. Perhaps +the women would shrink from her, no man would be brave enough to lead +her kindly from the room. Yet all that she would bear, for the mere hope +of saving her father. The worst, by far the worst and hardest to endure, +would be something within herself, for which she had neither words nor +true understanding, but which was more real than anything she could +define, for it was in the very core of her heart and in the secret of +her soul, a sort of despairing shame of herself and a desolate longing +for something she could never recover. + +She closed her tired eyes and pressed her hand heavily upon the stone +coping of the parapet. It was the supreme effort, and when she looked +down at Inez again she knew that she should live to the end of the +ordeal without wavering. + +"I am going down to the throne room," she said, very quietly and gently. +"You had better go to our apartment, dear, and wait for me there. I am +going to try and save our father's life--do not ask me how. It will not +take long to say what I have to say, and then I will come to you." + +Inez had risen now, and was standing beside her, laying a hand upon her +arm. + +"Let me come, too," she said. "I can help you, I am sure I can help +you." + +"No," answered Dolores, with authority. "You cannot help me, dearest, +and it would hurt you, and you must not come." + +"Then I will stay here," said Inez sorrowfully. "I shall be nearer to +him," she added under her breath. + +"Stay here--yes. I will come back to you, and then--then we will go in +together, and say a prayer--his soul can hear us still--we will go and +say good-by to him--together." + +Her voice was almost firm, and Inez could not see the agony in her white +face. Then Dolores clasped her in her arms and kissed her forehead and +her blind eyes very lovingly, and pressed her head to her own shoulders +and patted it and smoothed the girl's dark hair. + +"I will come back," she said, "and, Inez--you know the truth, my +darling. Whatever evil they may say of me after to-night, remember that +I have said it of myself for our father's sake, and that it is not +true." + +"No one will believe it," answered Inez. "They will not believe anything +bad of you." + +"Then our father must die." + +Dolores kissed her once more and made her sit down, then turned and went +away. She walked quickly along the corridors and descended the second +staircase, to enter the throne room by the side door reserved for the +officers of the household and the maids of honour. She walked swiftly, +her head erect, one hand holding the folds of her cloak pressed to her +bosom, and the other, nervously clenched, and hanging down, as if she +were expecting to strike a blow. + +She reached the door, and for a moment her heart stopped beating, and +her eyes closed. She heard many loud voices within, and she knew that +most of the court must still be assembled. It was better that all the +world should hear her--even the King, if he were still there. She pushed +the door open and went in by the familiar way, letting the dark cloak +that covered her court dress fall to the ground as she passed the +threshold. Half a dozen young nobles, grouped near the entrance, made +way for her to pass. + +When they recognized her, their voices dropped suddenly, and they stared +after her in astonishment that she should appear at such a time. She was +doubtless in ignorance of what had happened, they thought. As for the +throng in the hall, there was no restraint upon their talk now, and +words were spoken freely which would have been high treason half an hour +earlier. There was the noise, the tension, the ceaseless talking, the +excited air, that belong to great palace revolutions. + +The press was closer near the steps of the throne, where the King and +Mendoza had stood, for after they had left the hall, surrounded and +protected by the guards, the courtiers had crowded upon one another, and +those near the further door and outside it in the outer apartments had +pressed in till there was scarcely standing room on the floor of the +hall. Dolores found it hard to advance. Some made way for her with low +exclamations of surprise, but others, not looking to see who she was, +offered a passive resistance to her movements. + +"Will you kindly let me pass?" she asked at last, in a gentle tone, "I +am Dolores de Mendoza." + +At the name the group that barred her passage started and made way, and +going through she came upon the Prince of Eboli, not far from the steps +of the throne. The English Ambassador, who meant to stay as long as +there was anything for him to observe, was still by the Prince's side. +Dolores addressed the latter without hesitation. + +"Don Ruy Gomez," she said, "I ask your help. My father is innocent, and +I can prove it. But the court must hear me--every one must hear the +truth. Will you help me? Can you make them listen?" + +Ruy Gomez looked down at Dolores' pale and determined features in +courteous astonishment. + +"I am at your service," he answered. "But what are you going to say? The +court is in a dangerous mood to-night." + +"I must speak to all," said Dolores. "I am not afraid. What I have to +say cannot be said twice--not even if I had the strength. I can save my +father--" + +"Why not go to the King at once?" argued the Prince, who feared trouble. + +"For the love of God, help me to do as I wish!" Dolores grasped his arm, +and spoke with an effort. "Let me tell them all, how I know that my +father is not guilty of the murder. After that take me to the King if +you will." + +She spoke very earnestly, and he no longer opposed her. He knew the +temper of the court well enough, and was sure that whatever proved +Mendoza innocent would be welcome just then, and though he was far too +loyal to wish the suspicion of the deed to be fixed upon the King, he +was too just not to desire Mendoza to be exculpated if he were innocent. + +"Come with me," he said briefly, and he took Dolores by the hand, and +led her up the first three steps of the platform, so that she could see +over the heads of all present. + +It was no time to think of court ceremonies or customs, for there was +danger in the air. Ruy Gomez did not stop to make any long ceremony. +Drawing himself up to his commanding height, he held up his white gloves +at arm's length to attract the attention of the courtiers, and in a few +moments there was silence. They seemed an hour of torture to Dolores. +Ruy Gomez raised his voice. + +"Grandees! The daughter of Don Diego de Mendoza stands here at my side +to prove to you that he is innocent of Don John of Austria's death!" + +The words had hardly left his lips when a shout went up, like a ringing +cheer. But again he raised his hand. + +"Hear Doña Maria Dolores de Mendoza!" he cried. + +Then he stepped a little away from Dolores, and looked towards her. She +was dead white, and her lips trembled. There was an almost glassy look +in her eyes, and still she pressed one hand to her bosom, and the other +hung by her side, the fingers twitching nervously against the folds of +her skirt. A few seconds passed before she could speak. + +"Grandees of Spain!" she began, and at the first words she found +strength in her voice so that it reached the ends of the hall, clear and +vibrating. The silence was intense, as she proceeded. + +"My father has accused himself of a fearful crime. He is innocent. He +would no more have raised his hand against Don John of Austria than +against the King's own person. I cannot tell why he wishes to sacrifice +his life by taking upon himself the guilt. But this I know. He did not +do the deed. You ask me how I know that, how I can prove it? I was +there, I, Dolores de Mendoza, his daughter, was there unseen in my +lover's chamber when he was murdered. While he was alive I gave him all, +my heart, my soul, my maiden honour; and I was there to-night, and had +been with him long. But now that he is dead, I will pay for my father's +life with my dishonour. He must not die, for he is innocent. Grandees of +Spain, as you are men of honour, he must not die, for he is one of you, +and this foul deed was not his." + +She ceased, her lids drooped till her eyes were half closed and she +swayed a little as she stood. Roy Gomez made one long stride and held +her, for he thought she was fainting. But she bit her lips, and forced +her eyes to open and face the crowd again. + +"That is all," she said in a low voice, but distinctly, "It is done. I +am a ruined woman. Help me to go out." + +The old Prince gently led her down the steps. The silence had lasted +long after she had spoken, but people were beginning to talk again in +lower tones. It was as she had foreseen it. She heard a scornful woman's +laugh, and as she passed along, she saw how the older ladies shrank from +her and how the young ones eyed her with a look of hard curiosity, as if +she were some wild creature, dangerous to approach, though worth seeing +from a distance. + +But the men pressed close to her as she passed, and she heard them tell +each other that she was a brave woman who could dare to save her father +by such means, and there were quick applauding words as she passed, and +one said audibly that he could die for a girl who had such a true heart, +and another answered that he would marry her if she could forget Don +John. And they did not speak without respect, but in earnest, and out of +the fulness of their admiration. + +At last she was at the door, and she paused to speak before going out. + +"Have I saved his life?" she asked, looking up to the old Prince's kind +face. "Will they believe me?" + +"They believe you," he answered. "But your father's life is in the +King's hands. You should go to his Majesty without wasting time. Shall I +go with you? He will see you, I think, if I ask it." + +"Why should I tell the King?" asked Dolores. "He was there--he saw it +all--he knows the truth." + +She hardly realized what she was saying. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +Ruy Gomez was as loyal, in his way, as Mendoza himself, but his loyalty +was of a very different sort, for it was tempered by a diplomatic spirit +which made it more serviceable on ordinary occasions, and its object was +altogether a principle rather than a person. Mendoza could not conceive +of monarchy, in its abstract, without a concrete individuality +represented by King Philip; but Ruy Gomez could not imagine the world +without the Spanish monarchy, though he was well able to gauge his +sovereign's weaknesses and to deplore his crimes. He himself was +somewhat easily deceived, as good men often are, and it was he who had +given the King his new secretary, Antonio Perez; yet from the moment +when Mendoza had announced Don John's death, he had been convinced that +the deed had either been done by Philip himself or by his orders, and +that Mendoza had bravely sacrificed himself to shield his master. What +Dolores had said only confirmed his previous opinion, so far as her +father's innocence was at stake. As for her own confession, he believed +it, and in spite of himself he could not help admiring the girl's heroic +courage. Dolores might have been in reality ten times worse than she had +chosen to represent herself; she would still have been a model of all +virtue compared with his own wife, though he did not know half of the +Princess's doings, and was certainly ignorant of her relations with the +King. + +He was not at all surprised when Dolores told him at the door that +Philip knew the truth about the supposed murder, but he saw how +dangerous it might be for Dolores to say as much to others of the court. +She wished to go away alone, as she had come, but he insisted on going +with her. + +"You must see his Majesty," he said authoritatively. "I will try to +arrange it at once. And I entreat you to be discreet, my dear, for your +father's sake, if not for any other reason. You have said too much +already. It was not wise of you, though it showed amazing courage. You +are your father's own daughter in that--he is one of the bravest men I +ever knew in my life." + +"It is easy to be brave when one is dead already!" said Dolores, in low +tones. + +"Courage, my dear, courage!" answered the old Prince, in a fatherly +tone, as they went along. "You are not as brave as you think, since you +talk of death. Your life is not over yet." + +"There is little left of it. I wish it were ended already." + +She could hardly speak, for an inevitable and overwhelming reaction had +followed on the great effort she had made. She put out her hand and +caught her companion's arm for support. He led her quickly to the small +entrance of the King's apartments, by which it was his privilege to pass +in. They reached a small waiting-room where there were a few chairs and +a marble table, on which two big wax candles were burning. Dolores sank +into a seat, and leaned back, closing her eyes, while Ruy Gomez went +into the antechamber beyond and exchanged a few words with the +chamberlain on duty. He came back almost immediately. + +"Your father is alone with the King," he said. "We must wait." + +Dolores scarcely heard what he said, and did not change her position nor +open her eyes. The old man looked at her, sighed, and sat down near a +brazier of wood coals, over which he slowly warmed his transparent +hands, from time to time turning his rings slowly on his fingers, as if +to warm them, too. Outside, the chamberlain in attendance walked slowly +up and down, again and again passing the open door, through which he +glanced at Dolores' face. The antechamber was little more than a short, +broad corridor, and led to the King's study. This corridor had other +doors, however, and it was through it that the King's private rooms +communicated with the hall of the royal apartments. + +As Ruy Gomez had learned, Mendoza was with Philip, but not alone. The +old officer was standing on one side of the room, erect and grave, and +King Philip sat opposite him, in a huge chair, his still eyes staring at +the fire that blazed in the vast chimney, and sent sudden flashes of +yellow through the calm atmosphere of light shed by a score of tall +candles. At a table on one side sat Antonio Perez, the Secretary. He was +provided with writing-materials and appeared to be taking down the +conversation as it proceeded. Philip asked a question from time to time, +which Mendoza answered in a strange voice unlike his own, and between +the questions there were long intervals of silence. + +"You say that you had long entertained feelings of resentment against +his Highness," said the King, "You admit that, do you?" + +"I beg your Majesty's pardon. I did not say resentment. I said that I +had long looked upon his Highness's passion for my daughter with great +anxiety." + +"Is that what he said, Perez?" asked Philip, speaking to the Secretary +without looking at him. "Read that." + +"He said: I have long resented his Highness's admiration for my +daughter," answered Perez, reading from his notes. + +"You see," said the King. "You resented it. That is resentment. I was +right. Be careful, Mendoza, for your words may be used against you +to-morrow. Say precisely what you mean, and nothing but what you mean." + +Mendoza inclined his head rather proudly, for he detested Antonio Perez, +and it appeared to him that the King was playing a sort of comedy for +the Secretary's benefit. It seemed an unworthy interlude in what was +really a solemn tragedy. + +"Why did you resent his Highness's courtship of your daughter?" enquired +Philip presently, continuing his cross-examination. + +"Because I never believed that there could be a real marriage," answered +Mendoza boldly. "I believed that my child must become the toy and +plaything of Don John of Austria, or else that if his Highness married +her, the marriage would soon be declared void, in order that he might +marry a more important personage." + +"Set that down," said the King to Perez, in a sharp tone. "Set that down +exactly. It is important." He waited till the Secretary's pen stopped +before he went on. His next question came suddenly. + +"How could a marriage consecrated by our holy religion ever be declared +null and void?" + +"Easily enough, if your Majesty wished it," answered Mendoza +unguardedly, for his temper was slowly heating. + +"Write down that answer, Perez. In other words, Mendoza, you think that +I have no respect for the sacrament of marriage, which I would at any +time cause to be revoked to suit my political purposes. Is that what you +think?" + +"I did not say that, Sire. I said that even if Don John married my +daughter--" + +"I know quite well what you said," interrupted the King suavely. "Perez +has got every word of it on paper." + +The Secretary's bad black eyes looked up from his writing, and he slowly +nodded as he looked at Mendoza. He understood the situation perfectly, +though the soldier was far too honourable to suspect the truth. + +"I have confessed publicly that I killed Don John defenceless," he said, +in rough tones. "Is not that enough?" + +"Oh, no!" Philip almost smiled, "That is not enough. We must also know +why you committed such on abominable crime. You do not seem to +understand that in taking your evidence here myself, I am sparing you +the indignity of an examination before a tribunal, and under torture--in +all probability. You ought to be very grateful, my dear Mendoza." + +"I thank your Majesty," said the brave old soldier coldly. + +"That is right. So we know that your hatred of his Highness was of long +standing, and you had probably determined some time ago that you would +murder him on his return." The King paused a moment and then continued. +"Do you deny that on this very afternoon you swore that if Don John +attempted to see your daughter, you would kill him at once?" + +Mendoza was taken by surprise, and his haggard eyes opened wide as he +stared at Philip. + +"You said that, did you not?" asked the King, insisting upon the point. +"On your honour, did you say it?" + +"Yes, I said that," answered Mendoza at last. "But how did your Majesty +know that I did?" + +The King's enormous under lip thrust itself forward, and two ugly lines +of amusement were drawn in his colourless cheeks. His jaw moved slowly, +as if he were biting something of which he found the taste agreeable. + +"I know everything," he said slowly. "I am well served in my own house. +Perez, be careful. Write down everything. We also know, I think, that +your daughter met his Highness this evening. You no doubt found that out +as others did. The girl is imprudent. Do you confess to knowing that the +two had met this evening?" + +Mendoza ground his teeth as if he were suffering bodily torture. His +brows contracted, and as Perez looked up, he faced him with such a look +of hatred and anger that the Secretary could hot meet his eyes. The King +was a sacred and semi-divine personage, privileged to ask any question +he chose and theoretically incapable of doing wrong, but it was +unbearable that this sleek black fox should have the right to hear Diego +de Mendoza confess his daughter's dishonour. Antonio Perez was not an +adventurer of low birth, as many have gratuitously supposed, for his +father had held an honourable post at court before him; but he was very +far from being the equal of one who, though poor and far removed from +the head of his own family, bore one of the most noble names in Spain. + +"Let your Majesty dismiss Don Antonio Perez," said Mendoza boldly. "I +will then tell your Majesty all I know." + +Perez smiled as he bent over his notes, for he knew what the answer +would be to such a demand. It came sharply. + +"It is not the privilege of a man convicted of murder to choose his +hearers. Answer my questions or be silent. Do you confess that you knew +of your daughter's meeting with Don John this evening?" + +Mendoza's lips set themselves tightly under his grey beard, and he +uttered no sound. He interpreted the King's words literally. + +"Well, what have you to say?" + +"Nothing, Sire, since I have your Majesty's permission to be silent." + +"It does not matter," said Philip indifferently. "Note that he refuses +to answer the question, Perez. Note that this is equivalent to +confessing the fact, since he would otherwise deny it. His silence is & +reason, however, for allowing the case to go to the tribunal to be +examined in the usual way--the usual way," he repeated, looking hard at +Mendoza and emphasizing the words strongly. + +"Since I do not deny the deed, I entreat your Majesty to let me suffer +for it quickly. I am ready to die, God knows. Let it be to-morrow +morning or to-night. Your Majesty need only sign the warrant for my +execution, which Don Antonio Perez has, no doubt, already prepared." + +"Not at all, not at all," answered the King, with horrible coolness. "I +mean that you shall have a fair and open trial and every possible +opportunity of justifying yourself. There must be nothing secret about +this. So horrible a crime must be treated in the most public manner. +Though it is very painful to me to refer to such a matter, you must +remember that after it had pleased Heaven, in its infinite justice, to +bereave me of my unfortunate son, Don Carlos, the heir to the throne, +there were not wanting ill-disposed and wicked persons who actually said +that I had caused his life to be shortened by various inhuman cruelties. +No, no! we cannot have too much publicity. Consider how terrible a thing +it would be if any one should dare to suppose that my own brother had +been murdered with my consent! You should love your country too much not +to fear such a result; for though you have murdered my brother in cold +blood, I am too just to forget that you have proved your patriotism +through a long and hitherto honourable career. It is my duty to see that +the causes of your atrocious action are perfectly clear to my subjects, +so that no doubt may exist even in the most prejudiced minds. Do you +understand? I repeat that if I have condescended to examine you alone, I +have done so only out of a merciful desire to spare an old soldier the +suffering and mortification of an examination by the tribunal that is to +judge you. Understand that." + +"I understand that and much more besides," answered Mendoza, in low and +savage tones. + +"It is not necessary that you should understand or think that you +understand anything more than what I say," returned the King coldly. "At +what time did you go to his Highness's apartments this evening?" + +"Your Majesty knows." + +"I know nothing of it," said the King, with the utmost calm. "You were +on duty after supper. You escorted me to my apartments afterwards. I had +already sent for Perez, who came at once, and we remained here, busy +with affairs, until I returned to the throne room, five minutes before +you came and confessed the murder; did we not, Perez?" + +"Most certainly, Sire," answered the Secretary gravely. "Your Majesty +must have been at work with me an hour, at least, before returning to +the throne room." + +"And your Majesty did not go with me by the private staircase to Don +John of Austria's apartment?" asked Mendoza, thunderstruck by the +enormous falsehood. + +"With you?" cried the King, in admirably feigned astonishment. "What +madness is this? Do not write that down, Perez. I really believe the man +is beside himself!" + +Mendoza groaned aloud, for he saw that he had been frightfully deceived. +In his magnificent generosity, he had assumed the guilt of the crime, +being ready and willing to die for it quickly to save the King from +blame and to put an end to his own miserable existence. But he had +expected death quickly, mercifully, within a few hours. Had he suspected +what Philip had meant to do,--that he was to be publicly tried for a +murder he had not committed, and held up to public hatred and ignominy +for days and perhaps weeks together, while a slow tribunal dragged out +its endless procedure,--neither his loyalty nor his desire for death +could have had power to bring his pride to such a sacrifice. And now he +saw that he was caught in a vise, and that no accusation he could bring +against the King could save him, even if he were willing to resort to +such a measure and so take back his word. There was no witness for him +but himself. Don John was dead, and the infamous Perez was ready to +swear that Philip had not left the room in which they had been closeted +together. There was not a living being to prove that Mendoza had not +gone alone to Don John's apartments with the deliberate intention of +killing him. He had, indeed, been to the chief steward's office in +search of a key, saying that the King desired to have it and was +waiting; but it would be said that he had used the King's authority to +try and get the key for himself because he knew that his daughter was +hidden in the locked room. He had foolishly fancied that the King would +send for him and see him alone before he died, that his sovereign would +thank him for the service that was costing his life, would embrace him +and send him to his death for the good of Spain and the divine right of +monarchy. Truly, he had been most bitterly deceived. + +"You said," continued Philip mercilessly, "that you killed his Highness +when he was unarmed. Is that true?" + +"His Highness was unarmed," said Mendoza, almost through his closed +teeth, for he was suffering beyond words. + +"Unarmed," repeated the King, nodding to Perez, who wrote rapidly. "You +might have given him a chance for his life. It would have been more +soldier-like. Had you any words before you drew upon him? Was there any +quarrel?" + +"None. We did not speak to each other." Mendoza tried to make Philip +meet his eyes, but the King would not look at him. + +"There was no altercation," said the King, looking at Perez. "That +proves that the murder was premeditated. Put it down--it is very +important. You could hardly have stabbed him in the back, I suppose. He +must have turned when he heard you enter. Where was the wound?" + +"The wound that killed his Highness will be found near the heart." + +"Cruel!" Philip looked down at his own hands, and he shook his head very +sadly. "Cruel, most cruel," he repeated in a low tone. + +"I admit that it was a very cruel deed," said Mendoza, looking at him +fixedly. "In that, your Majesty is right." + +"Did you see your daughter before or after you had committed the +murder?" asked the King calmly. + +"I have not seen my daughter since the murder was committed." + +"But you saw her before? Be careful, Perez. Write down every word. You +say that you saw your daughter before you did it." + +"I did not say that," answered Mendoza firmly. + +"It makes very little difference," said the King, "If you had seen her +with his Highness, the murder would have seemed less cold-blooded, that +is all. There would then have been something like a natural provocation +for it." + +There was a low sound, as of some one scratching at the door. That was +the usual way of asking admittance to the King's room on very urgent +matters. Perez rose instantly, the King nodded to him, and he went to +the door. On opening, someone handed him a folded paper on a gold +salver. He brought it to Philip, dropped on one knee very ceremoniously, +and presented it. Philip took the note and opened it, and Perez returned +to his seat at once. + +The King unfolded the small sheet carefully. The room was so full of +light that he could read it when he sat, without moving. His eyes +followed the lines quickly to the end, and returned to the beginning, +and he read the missive again more carefully. Not the slightest change +of expression was visible in his face, as he folded the paper neatly +again in the exact shape in which he had received it. Then he remained +silent a few moments. Perez held his pen ready to write, moving it +mechanically now and then as if he were writing in the air, and staring +at the fire, absorbed in his own thoughts, though his ear was on the +alert. + +"You refuse to admit that you found your daughter and Don John together, +then?" The King spoke with an interrogation. + +"I did not find them together," answered Mendoza. "I have said so." He +was becoming exasperated under the protracted cross-examination. + +"You have not said so. My memory is very good, but if it should fail we +have everything written down. I believe you merely refused to answer +when I asked if you knew of their meeting--which meant that you did know +of it. Is that it, Perez?" + +"Exactly so, Sire." The Secretary had already found the place among his +notes. + +"Do you persistently refuse to admit that you had positive evidence of +your daughter's guilt before the murder?" + +"I will not admit that, Sire, for it would not be true." + +"Your daughter has given her evidence since," said the King, holding up +the folded note, and fixing his eyes at last on his victim's face. If it +were possible, Mendoza turned more ashy pale than before, and he started +perceptibly at the King's words. + +"I shall never believe that!" he cried in a voice which nevertheless +betrayed his terror for his child. + +"A few moments before this note was written," said Philip calmly, "your +daughter entered the throne room, and addressed the court, standing upon +the steps of the throne--a very improper proceeding and one which Ruy +Gomez should not have allowed. Your daughter Dolores--is that the girl's +name? Yes. Your daughter Dolores, amidst the most profound silence, +confessed that she--it is so monstrous that I can hardly bring myself to +say it--that she had yielded to the importunities of his late Highness, +that she was with him in his room a long time this evening, and that, in +fact, she was actually in his bedchamber when he was murdered." + +"It is a lie!" cried Mendoza vehemently. "It is an abominable lie--she +was not in the room!" + +"She has said that she was," answered Philip. "You can hardly suppose a +girl capable of inventing such damning evidence against herself, even +for the sake of saving her own father. She added that his Highness was +not killed by you. But that is puerile. She evidently saw you do it, and +has boldly confessed that she was in the room--hidden somewhere, +perhaps, since you absolutely refuse to admit that you saw her there. It +is quite clear that you found the two together and that you killed his +Highness before your daughter's eyes. Why not admit that, Mendoza? It +makes you seem a little less cold-blooded. The provocation was great--" + +"She was not there," protested Mendoza, interrupting the King, for he +hardly knew what he was doing. + +"She was there, since she confesses to have been in the room. I do not +tolerate interruption when I am speaking. She was there, and her +evidence will be considered. Even if you did not see her, how can you be +sure that your daughter was not there? Did you search the room? Did you +look behind the curtains?" + +"I did not." The stern old man seemed to shrink bodily under the +frightful humiliation to which he was subjected. + +"Very well, then you cannot swear that she was not in the room. But you +did not see her there. Then I am sorry to say that there can have been +no extenuating circumstances. You entered his Highness's bedchamber, you +did not even speak to him, you drew your sword and you killed him. All +this shows that you went there fully determined to commit the crime. But +with regard to its motive, this strange confession of your daughter's +makes that quite clear. She had been extremely imprudent with Don John, +you were aware of the fact, and you revenged yourself in the most brutal +way. Such vengeance never can produce any but the most fatal results. +You yourself must die, in the first place, a degrading and painful death +on the scaffold, and you die leaving behind you a ruined girl, who must +bury herself in a convent and never be seen by her worldly equals again. +And besides that, you have deprived your King of a beloved brother, and +Spain of her most brilliant general. Could anything be worse?" + +"Yes. There are worse things than that, your Majesty, and worse things +have been done. It would have been a thousand times worse if I had done +the deed and cast the blame of it on a man so devoted to me that he +would bear the guilt in my stead, and a hundred thousand times worse if +I had then held up that man to the execration of mankind, and tortured +him with every distortion of evidence which great falsehoods can put +upon a little truth. That would indeed have been far worse than anything +I have done. God may find forgiveness for murderers, but there is only +hell for traitors, and the hell of hells is the place of men who betray +their friends." + +"His mind is unsettled, I fear," said the King, speaking to Perez. +"These are signs of madness." + +"Indeed I fear so, Sire," answered the smooth Secretary, shaking his +head solemnly. "He does not know what he says." + +"I am not mad, and I know what I am saying, for I am a man under the +hand of death." Mendoza's eyes glared at the King savagely as he spoke, +and then at Perez, but neither could look at him, for neither dared to +meet his gaze. "As for this confession my daughter has made, I do not +believe in it. But if she has said these things, you might have let me +die without the bitterness of knowing them, since that was in your +power. And God knows that I have staked my life freely for your Majesty +and for Spain these many years, and would again if I had it to lose +instead of having thrown it away. And God knows, too, that for what I +have done, be it good or bad, I will bear whatsoever your Majesty shall +choose to say to me alone in the way of reproach. But as I am a dying +man I will not forgive that scribbler there for having seen a Spanish +gentleman's honour torn to rags, and an old soldier's last humiliation, +and I pray Heaven with my dying breath, that he may some day be +tormented as he has seen me tormented, and worse, till he shall cry out +for mercy--as I will not!" + +The cruelly injured man's prayer was answered eight years from that day, +and even now Perez turned slowly pale as he heard the words, for they +were spoken with all the vehemence of a dying man's curse. But Philip +was unmoved. He was probably not making Mendoza suffer merely for the +pleasure of watching his pain, though others' suffering seems always to +have caused him a sort of morbid satisfaction. What he desired most was +to establish a logical reason for which Mendoza might have committed the +crime, lest in the absence of sound evidence he himself should be +suspected of having instigated it. He had no intention whatever of +allowing Mendoza to be subjected to torture during the trial that was to +ensue. On the contrary, he intended to prepare all the evidence for the +judges and to prevent Mendoza from saying anything in self-defence. To +that end it was necessary that the facts elicited should be clearly +connected from first cause to final effect, and by the skill of Antonio +Perez in writing down only the words which contributed to that end, the +King's purpose was now accomplished. He heard every word of Mendoza's +imprecation and thought it proper to rebuke him for speaking so freely. + +"You forget yourself, sir," he said coldly. "Don Antonio Perez is my +private Secretary, and you must respect him. While you belonged to the +court his position was higher and more important than your own; now that +you stand convicted of an outrageous murder in cold blood, you need not +forget that he is an innocent man. I have done, Mendoza. You will not +see me again, for you will be kept in confinement until your trial, +which can only have one issue. Come here." + +He sat upright in his chair and held out his hand, while Mendoza +approached with unsteady steps, and knelt upon one knee, as was the +custom. + +"I am not unforgiving," said the King. "Forgiveness is a very beautiful +Christian virtue, which we are taught to exercise from our earliest +childhood. You have cut off my dearly loved brother in the flower of his +youth, but you shall not die believing that I bear you any malice. So +far as I am able, I freely forgive you for what you have done, and in +token I give you my hand, that you may have that comfort at the last." + +With incredible calmness Philip took Mendoza's hand as he spoke, held it +for a moment in his, and pressed it almost warmly at the last words. The +old man's loyalty to his sovereign had been a devotion almost amounting +to real adoration, and bitterly as he had suffered throughout the +terrible interview, he well-nigh forgot every suffering as he felt the +pressure of the royal fingers. In an instant he had told himself that it +had all been but a play, necessary to deceive Perez, and to clear the +King from suspicion before the world, and that in this sense the +unbearable agony he had borne had served his sovereign. He forgot all +for a moment, and bending his iron-grey head, he kissed the thin and +yellow hand fervently, and looked up to Philip's cold face and felt that +there were tears of gratitude in his own eyes, of gratitude at being +allowed to leave the world he hated with the certainty that his death +was to serve his sovereign idol. + +"I shall be faithful to your Majesty until the end," he said simply, as +the King withdrew his fingers, and he rose to his feet. + +The King nodded slowly, and his stony look watched Mendoza with a sort +of fixed curiosity. Even he had not known that such men lived. + +"Call the guards to the door, Perez," he said coldly. "Tell the officer +to take Don Diego Mendoza to the west tower for to-night, and to treat +him with every consideration." + +Perez obeyed. A detachment of halberdiers with an officer were stationed +in the short, broad corridor that led to the room where Dolores was +waiting. Perez gave the lieutenant his orders. + +Mendoza walked backwards to the door from the King's presence, making +three low bows as he went. At the door he turned, taking no notice of +the Secretary, marched out with head erect, and gave himself up to the +soldiers. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +The halberdiers closed round their old chief, but did not press upon +him. Three went before him, three behind, and one walked on each side, +and the lieutenant led the little detachment. The men were too much +accustomed to seeing courtiers in the extremes of favour and disfavour +to be much surprised at the arrest of Mendoza, and they felt no great +sympathy for him. He had always been too rigidly exacting for their +taste, and they longed for a younger commander who should devote more +time to his own pleasure and less to inspecting uniforms and finding +fault with details. Yet Mendoza had been a very just man, and he +possessed the eminently military bearing and temper which always impose +themselves on soldiers. At the present moment, too, they were more +inclined to pity him than to treat him roughly, for if they did not +guess what had really taken place, they were quite sure that Don John of +Austria had been murdered by the King's orders, like Don Carlos and +Queen Isabel and a fair number of other unfortunate persons; and if the +King had chosen Mendoza to do the deed, the soldiers thought that he was +probably not meant to suffer for it in the end, and that before long he +would be restored to his command. It would, therefore, be the better for +them, later, if they showed him a certain deference in his misfortune. +Besides, they had heard Antonio Perez tell their officer that Mendoza +was to be treated with every consideration. + +They marched in time, with heavy tread and the swinging gait to right +and left that is natural to a soldier who carries for a weapon a long +halberd with a very heavy head. Mendoza was as tall as any of them, and +kept their step, holding his head high. He was bareheaded, but was +otherwise still in the complete uniform he wore when on duty on state +occasions. + +The corridor, which seemed short on account of its breadth and in +comparison with the great size of the halls in the palace, was some +thirty paces long and lighted by a number of chandeliers that hung from +the painted vault. The party reached the door of the waiting room and +halted a moment, while one of the King's footmen opened the doors wide. +Don Ruy Gomez and Dolores were waiting within. The servant passed +rapidly through to open the doors beyond. Ruy Gomez stood up and drew +his chair aside, somewhat surprised at the entrance of the soldiers, who +rarely passed that way. Dolores opened her eyes at the sound of +marching, but in the uncertain light of the candles she did not at first +see Mendoza, half hidden as he was by the men who guarded him. She paid +little attention, for she was accustomed to seeing such detachments of +halberdiers marching through the corridors when the sentries were +relieved, and as she had never been in the King's apartments she was not +surprised by the sudden appearance of the soldiers, as her companion +was. But as the latter made way for them he lifted his hat, which as a +Grandee he wore even in the King's presence, and he bent his head +courteously as Mendoza went by. He hoped that Dolores would not see her +father, but his own recognition of the prisoner had attracted her +attention. She sprang to her feet with a cry. Mendoza turned his head +and saw her before she could reach him, for she was moving forward. He +stood still, and the soldiers halted instinctively and parted before +her, for they all knew their commander's daughter. + +"Father!" she cried, and she tried to take his hand. + +But he pushed her away and turned his face resolutely towards the door +before him. + +"Close up! Forward--march!" he said, in his harsh tone of command. + +The men obeyed, gently forcing Dolores aside. They made two steps +forward, but Ruy Gomez stopped them by a gesture, standing in their way +and raising one hand, while he laid the other on the young lieutenant's +shoulder. Ruy Gomez was one of the greatest personages in Spain; he was +the majorduomo of the palace, and had almost unlimited authority. But +the officer had his orders directly from the King and felt bound to +carry them out to the letter. + +"His Majesty has directed me to convey Don Diego de Mendoza to the west +tower without delay," he said. "I beg your Excellency to let us +proceed." + +Ruy Gomez still held him by the shoulder with a gentle pressure. + +"That I will not," he said firmly; "and if you are blamed for being slow +in the execution of your duty, say that Ruy Gomez de Silva hindered you, +and fear nothing. It is not right that father and daughter should part +as these two are parting." + +"I have nothing to say to my daughter," said Mendoza harshly; but the +words seemed to hurt him. + +"Don Diego," answered Ruy Gomez, "the deed of which you have accused +yourself is as much worse than anything your child has done as hatred is +worse than love. By the right of mere humanity I take upon myself to say +that you shall be left here a while with your daughter, that you may +take leave of one another." He turned to the officer. "Withdraw your +men, sir," he said. "Wait at the door. You have my word for the security +of your prisoner, and my authority for what you do. I will call you when +it is time." + +He spoke in a tone that admitted of no refusal, and he was obeyed. The +officers and the men filed out, and Ruy Gomez closed the door after +them. He himself recrossed the room and went out by the other way into +the broad corridor. He meant to wait there. His orders had been carried +out so quickly that Mendoza found himself alone with Dolores, almost as +by a surprise. In his desperate mood he resented what Ruy Gomez had +done, as an interference in his family affairs, and he bent his bushy +brows together as he stood facing Dolores, with folded arms. Four hours +had not passed since they had last spoken together alone in his own +dwelling; there was a lifetime of tragedy between that moment and this. + +Dolores had not spoken since he had pushed her away. She stood beside a +chair, resting one hand upon it, dead white, with the dark shadow of +pain under her eyes, her lips almost colourless, but firm, and evenly +closed. There were lines of suffering in her young face that looked as +if they never could be effaced. It seemed to her that the worst conflict +of all was raging in her heart as she watched her father's face, waiting +for the sound of his voice; and as for him, he would rather have gone +back to the King's presence to be tormented under the eyes of Antonio +Perez than stand there, forced to see her and speak to her. In his eyes, +in the light of what he had been told, she was a ruined and shameless +woman, who had deceived him day in, day out, for more than two years. +And to her, so far as she could understand, he was the condemned +murderer of the man she had so innocently and truly loved. But yet, she +had a doubt, and for that possibility, she had cast her good name to the +winds in the hope of saving his life. At one moment, in a vision of +dread, she saw his armed hand striking at her lover--at the next she +felt that he could never have struck the blow, and that there was an +unsolved mystery behind it all. Never were two innocent human beings so +utterly deceived, each about the other. + +"Father," she said, at last, in a trembling tone, "can you not speak to +me, if I can find heart to hear you?" + +"What can we two say to each other?" he asked sternly. "Why did you stop +me? I am ready to die for killing the man who ruined you. I am glad. Why +should I say anything to you, and what words can you have for me? I hope +your end may come quickly, with such peace as you can find from your +shame at the last. That is what I wish for you, and it is a good wish, +for you have made death on the scaffold look easy to me, so that I long +for it. Do you understand?" + +"Condemned to death!" she cried out, almost incoherently, before he had +finished speaking. "But they cannot condemn you--I have told them that I +was there--that it was not you--they must believe me--O God of mercy!" + +"They believe you--yes. They believe that I found you together and +killed him. I shall be tried by judges, but I am condemned beforehand, +and I must die." He spoke calmly enough. "Your mad confession before the +court only made my conviction more certain," he said. "It gave the +reason for the deed--and it burned away the last doubt I had. If they +are slow in trying me, you will have been before the executioner, for he +will find me dead--by your hand. You might have spared me that--and +spared yourself. You still had the remnant of a good name, and your +lover being dead, you might have worn the rag of your honour still. You +have chosen to throw it away, and let me know my full disgrace before I +die a disgraceful death. And yet you wish to speak to me. Do you expect +my blessing?" + +Dolores had lost the power of speech. Passing her hand now and then +across her forehead, as though trying to brush away a material veil, she +stood half paralyzed, staring wildly at him while he spoke. But when she +saw him turn away from her towards the door, as if he would go out and +leave her there, her strength was loosed from the spell, and she sprang +before him and caught his wrists with her hands. + +"I am as innocent as when my mother bore me," she said, and her low +voice rang with the truth. "I told the lie to save your life. Do you +believe me now?" + +He gazed at her with haggard eyes for many moments before he spoke. + +"How can it be true?" he asked, but his voice shook in his throat. "You +were there--I saw you leave his room--" + +"No, that you never saw!" she cried, well knowing how impossible it was, +since she had been locked in till after he had gone away. + +"I saw your dress--not this one--what you wore this afternoon." + +"Not this one? I put on this court dress before I got out of the room in +which you had locked me up. Inez helped me--I pretended that I was she, +and wore her cloak, and slipped away, and I have not been back again. +You did not see me." + +Mendoza passed his hand over his eyes and drew back from her. If what +she said were true, the strongest link was gone from the chain of facts +by which he had argued so much sorrow and shame. Forgetting himself and +his own near fate, he looked at the court dress she wore, and a mere +glance convinced him that it was not the one he had seen. + +"But--" he was suddenly confused--"but why did you need to disguise +yourself? I left the Princess of Eboli with you, and I gave her +permission to take you away to stay with her. You needed no disguise." + +"I never saw her. She must have found Inez in the room. I was gone long +before that." + +"Gone--where?" Mendoza was fast losing the thread of it all--in his +confusion of ideas he grasped the clue of his chief sorrow, which was +far beyond any thought for himself. "But if you are innocent--pray God +you may be, as you say--how is it possible--oh, no! I cannot believe +it--I cannot! No woman could do that--no innocent girl could stand out +before a multitude of men and women, and say what you said--" + +"I hoped to save your life. I had the strength. I did it." + +Her clear grey eyes looked into his, and his doubt began to break away +before the truth. + +"Make me believe it!" he cried, his voice breaking. "Oh, God! Make me +believe it before I die!" + +"It is true," she cried, in a low, strong voice that carried belief to +his breast in spite of such reasoning as still had some power over him. +"It is true, and you shall believe it; and if you will not, the man you +have killed, the man I loved and trusted, the dead man who knows the +whole truth as I know it, will come back from the dead to prove it +true--for I swear it upon his soul in heaven, and upon yours and mine +that will not be long on earth--as I will swear it in the hour of your +death and mine, since we must die!" + +He could not take his eyes from hers that held him, and suddenly in the +pure depths he seemed to see her soul facing him without fear, and he +knew that what she said was true, and his tortured heart leapt up at the +good certainty. + +"I believe you, my child," he said at last, and then his grey lids half +closed over his eyes and he bent down to her, and put his arm round her. + +But she shuddered at the touch of his right hand, and though she knew +that he was a condemned man, and that she might never see him again, she +could not bear to receive his parting kiss upon her forehead. + +"Oh, father, why did you kill him?" she asked, turning her head away and +moving to escape from his hold. + +But Mendoza did not answer. His arm dropped by his side, and his face +grew white and stony. She was asking him to give up the King's secret, +to keep which he was giving his life. He felt that it would be treason +to tell even her. And besides, she would not keep the secret--what woman +could, what daughter would? It must go out of the world with him, if it +was to be safe. He glanced at her and saw her face ravaged by an hour's +grief. Yet she would not mourn Don John the less if she knew whose hand +had done the deed. It could make but a little difference to her, though +to himself that difference would be great, if she knew that he died +innocent. + +And then began a struggle fierce and grim, that tore his soul and +wounded his heart as no death agony could have hurt him. Since he had +judged her unjustly, since it had all been a hideous dream, since she +was still the child that had been all in all to him throughout her life, +since all was changed, he did not wish to die, he bore the dead man no +hatred, it was no soothing satisfaction to his outraged heart to know +him dead of a sword wound in the breast, far away in the room where they +had left him, there was no fierce regret that he had not driven the +thrust himself. The man was as innocent as the innocent girl, and he +himself, as innocent as both, was to be led out to die to shield the +King--no more. His life was to be taken for that only, and he no longer +set its value at naught nor wished it over. He was the mere scapegoat, +to suffer for his master's crime, since crime it was and nothing better. +And since he was willing to bear the punishment, or since there was now +no escape from it, had he not at least the human right to proclaim his +innocence to the only being he really loved? It would be monstrous to +deny it. What could she do, after all, even if she knew the truth? +Nothing. No one would dare to believe her if she accused the King. She +would be shut up in a convent as a mad woman, but in any case, she would +certainly disappear to end her life in some religious house as soon as +he was dead. Poor girl--she had loved Don John with all her heart--what +could the world hold for her, even if the disgrace of her father's death +were not to shut her out of the world altogether, as it inevitably must. +She would not live long, but she would live in the profoundest sorrow. +It would be an alleviation, almost the greatest possible, to know that +her father's hand was not stained by such a deed. + +The temptation to speak out was overwhelming, and he knew that the time +was short. At any moment Ruy Gomez might open the door, and bid him part +from her, and there would be small chance for him of seeing her again. +He stood uncertain, with bent head and folded arms, and she watched him, +trying to bring herself to touch his hand again and bear his kiss. + +His loyalty to the King, that was like a sort of madness, stood between +him and the words he longed to say. It was the habit of his long +soldier's life, unbending as the corslet he wore and enclosing his soul +as the steel encased his body, proof against every cruelty, every +unkindness, every insult. It was better to die a traitor's death for the +King's secret than to live for his own honour. So it had always seemed +to him, since he had been a boy and had learned to fight under the great +Emperor. But now he knew that he wavered as he had never done in the +most desperate charge, when life was but a missile to be flung in the +enemy's face, and found or not, when the fray was over. There was no +intoxication of fury now, there was no far ring of glory in the air, +there was no victory to be won. The hard and hideous fact stared him in +the face, that he was to die like a malefactor by the hangman's hand, +and that the sovereign who had graciously deigned to accept the +sacrifice had tortured him for nearly half an hour without mercy in the +presence of an inferior, in order to get a few facts on paper which +might help his own royal credit. And as if that were not enough, his own +daughter was to live after him, believing that he had cruelly murdered +the man she most dearly loved. It was more than humanity could bear. + +His brow unbent, his arms unfolded themselves, and he held them out to +Dolores with a smile almost gentle. + +"There is no blood on these hands, my little girl," he said tenderly. "I +did not do it, child. Let me hold you in my arms once, and kiss you +before I go. We are both innocent--we can bless one another before we +part for ever." + +The pure, grey eyes opened wide in amazement. Dolores could hardly +believe her ears, as she made a step towards him, and then stopped, +shrinking, and then made one step more. Her lips moved and wondering +words came to him, so low that he could hardly understand, save that she +questioned him. + +"You did not do it!" she breathed. "You did not kill him after all? But +then--who--why?" + +Still she hesitated, though she came slowly nearer, and a faint light +warmed her sorrowful face. + +"You must try to guess who and why," he said, in a tone as low as her +own. "I must not tell you that." + +"I cannot guess," she answered; but she was close to him now, and she +had taken one of his hands softly in both her own, while she gazed into +his eyes. "How can I understand unless you tell me? Is it so great a +secret that you must die for it, and never tell it? Oh, father, father! +Are you sure--quite sure?" + +"He was dead already when I came into the room," Mendoza answered. "I +did not even see him hurt." + +"But then--yes--then"--her voice sank to a whisper--"then it was the +King!" + +He saw the words on her lips rather than heard them, and she saw in his +face that she was right. She dropped his hand and threw her arms round +his neck, pressing her bosom to his breastplate; and suddenly her love +for him awoke, and she began to know how she might have loved him if she +had known him through all the years that were gone. + +"It cannot be that he will let you die!" she cried softly. "You shall +not die!" she cried again, with sudden strength, and her light frame +shook his as if she would wrench him back from inevitable fate. + +"My little girl," he answered, most tenderly clasping her to him, and +most thoughtfully, lest his armour should hurt her, "I can die happy +now, for I have found all of you again." + +"You shall not die! You shall not die!" she cried. "I will not let you +go--they must take me, too--" + +"No power can save me now, my darling," he answered. "But it does not +matter, since you know. It will be easy now." + +She could only hold him with her small hands, and say over and over +again that she would not let him go. + +"Ah! why have you never loved me before in all these years?" he cried. +"It was my fault--all my fault." + +"I love you now with all my heart," she answered, "and I will save you, +even from the King; and you and I and Inez will go far away, and you two +shall comfort me and love me till I go to him." + +Mendoza shook his head sadly, looking over her shoulder as he held her, +for he knew that there was no hope now. Had he known, or half guessed, +but an hour or two ago, he would have turned on his heel from the door +of Don John's chamber, and he would have left the King to bear the blame +or shift it as he could. + +"It is too late, Dolores. God bless you, my dear, dear child! It will +soon be over--two days at most, for the people will cry out for the +blood of Don John's murderer; and when they see mine they will be +satisfied. It is too late now. Good-by, my little girl, good-by! The +blessing of all heaven be on your dear head!" + +Dolores nestled against him, as she had never done before, with the +feeling that she had found something that had been wanting in her life, +at the very moment when the world, with all it held for her, was +slipping over the edge of eternity. + +"I will not leave you," she cried again. "They shall take me to your +prison, and I will stay with you and take care of you, and never leave +you; and at last I shall save your life, and then--" + +The door of the corridor opened, and she saw Ruy Gomez standing in the +entrance, as if he were waiting. His face was calm and grave as usual, +but she saw a profound pity in his eyes. + +"No, no!" she cried to him, "not yet--one moment more!" + +But Mendoza turned his head at her words, looking over his shoulder, and +he saw the Prince also. + +"I am ready," he said briefly, and he tried to take Dolores' hands from +his neck. "It is time," he said to her. "Be brave, my darling! We have +found each other at last. It will not be long before we are together for +ever." + +He kissed her tenderly once more, and loosed her hold, putting her two +hands together and kissing them also. + +"I will not say good-by," she said. "It is not good-by--it shall not be. +I shall be with you soon." + +His eyes lingered upon hers for a moment, and then he broke away, +setting his teeth lest he should choke and break down. He opened the +door and presented himself to the halberdiers. Dolores heard his +familiar voice give the words of command. + +"Close up! Forward, march!" + +The heavy tramp she knew so well began at once, and echoed along the +outer entries, growing slowly less distinct till it was only a distant +and rumbling echo, and then died away altogether. Her hand was still on +the open door, and Ruy Gomez was standing beside her. He gently drew her +away, and closed the door again. She let him lead her to a chair, and +sat down where she had sat before. But this time she did not lean back +exhausted, with half-closed eyes,--she rested her elbow on her knee and +her chin in her hand, and she tried to think connectedly to a +conclusion. She remembered all the details of the past hours one by one, +and she felt that the determination to save her father had given her +strength to live. + +"Don Ruy Gomez," she said at last, looking up to the tall old nobleman, +who stood by the brazier warming his hands again, "can I see the King +alone?" + +"That is more than I can promise," answered the Prince. "I have asked an +audience for you, and the chamberlain will bring word presently whether +his Majesty is willing to see you. But if you are admitted, I cannot +tell whether Perez will be there or not. He generally is. His presence +need make no difference to you. He is an excellent young man, full of +heart. I have great confidence in him,--so much so that I recommended +him to his Majesty as Secretary. I am sure that he will do all he can to +be of use to you." + +Dolores looked up incredulously, and with a certain wonder at the +Prince's extreme simplicity. Yet he had been married ten years to the +clever woman who ruled him and Perez and King Philip, and made each one +believe that she was devoted to him only, body and soul. Of the three, +Perez alone may have guessed the truth, but though it was degrading +enough, he would not let it stand in the way of his advancement; and in +the end it was he who escaped, leaving her to perish, the victim of the +King's implacable anger, Dolores could not help shaking her head in +answer to the Prince of Eboli's speech. + +"People are very unjust to Perez," he said. "But the King trusts him. If +he is there, try to conciliate him, for he has much influence with his +Majesty." + +Dolores said nothing, and resuming her attitude, returned to her sad +meditations, and to the study of some immediate plan. But she could +think of no way. Her only fixed intention was to see the King himself. +Ruy Gomez could do no more to help her than he had done already, and +that indeed was not little, since it was to his kindly impulse that she +owed her meeting with her father. + +"And if Perez is not inclined to help Don Diego," said the Prince, after +a long pause which had not interrupted the slow progression of, his +kindly thought, "I will request my wife to speak to him. I have often +noticed that the Princess can make Perez do almost anything she wishes. +Women are far cleverer than men, my dear--they have ways we do not +understand. Yes, I will interest my wife in the affair. It would be a +sad thing if your father--" + +The old man stopped short, and Dolores wondered vaguely what he had been +going to say. Ruy Gomez was a very strange compound of almost childlike +and most honourable simplicity, and of the experienced wisdom with +regard to the truth of matters in which he was not concerned, which +sometimes belongs to very honourable and simple men. + +"You do not believe that my father is guilty," said Dolores, boldly +asserting what she suspected. + +"My dear child," answered Ruy Gomez, twisting his rings on his fingers +as he spread his hands above the coals in the brazier, "I have lived in +this court for fifty years, and I have learned in that time that where +great matters are at stake those who do not know the whole truth are +often greatly deceived by appearances. I know nothing of the real matter +now, but it would not surprise me if a great change took place before +to-morrow night. A man who has committed a crime so horrible as the one +your father confessed before us all rarely finds it expedient to make +such a confession, and a young girl, my dear, who has really been a +little too imprudently in love with a royal Prince, would be a great +deal too wise to make a dramatic statement of her fault to the assembled +Grandees of Spain." + +He looked across at Dolores and smiled gently. But she only shook her +head gravely in answer, though she wondered at what he said, and +wondered, too, whether there might not be a great many persons in the +court who thought as he did. She was silent, too, because it hurt her to +talk when she could not draw breath without remembering that what she +had lived for was lying dead in that dim room on the upper story. + +The door opened, and a chamberlain entered the room. + +"His Majesty is pleased to receive Doña Dolores de Mendoza, in private +audience," he said. + +Ruy Gomez rose and led Dolores out into the corridor. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +Dolores had prepared no speech with which to appeal to the King, and she +had not counted upon her own feelings towards him when she found herself +in the room where Mendoza had been questioned, and heard the door closed +behind her by the chamberlain who had announced her coming. She stood +still a moment, dazzled by the brilliant lights after having been so +long in the dimmer waiting room. She had never before been in the King's +study, and she had fancied it very different from what it really was +when she had tried to picture to herself the coming interview. She had +supposed the room small, sombre, littered with books and papers, and +cold; it was, on the contrary, so spacious as to be almost a hall, it +was brightly illuminated and warmed by the big wood fire. Magnificent +tapestries covered the walls with glowing colour, and upon one of these, +in barbaric bad taste, was hung a single great picture by Titian, +Philip's favourite master. Dolores blushed as she recognized in the face +of the insolent Venus the features of the Princess of Eboli. Prom his +accustomed chair, the King could see this painting. Everywhere in the +room there were rich objects that caught and reflected the light, things +of gold and silver, of jade and lapis lazuli, in a sort of tasteless +profusion that detracted from the beauty of each, and made Dolores feel +that she had been suddenly transported out of her own element into +another that was hard to breathe and in which it was bad to live. It +oppressed her, and though her courage was undiminished, the air of the +place seemed to stifle her thought and speech. + +As she entered she saw the King in profile, seated in his great chair at +some distance from the fire, but looking at it steadily. He did not +notice her presence at first. Antonio Perez sat at the table, busily +writing, and he only glanced at Dolores sideways when he heard the door +close after her. She sank almost to the ground as she made the first +court curtsey before advancing, and she came forward into the light. As +her skirt swept the ground a second time, Philip looked slowly round, +and his dull stare followed her as she came round in a quarter of a wide +circle and curtsied a third time immediately in front of him. + +She was very beautiful, as she stood waiting for him to speak, and +meeting his gaze fearlessly with a look of cold contempt in her white +face such as no living person had ever dared to turn to him, while the +light of anger burned in her deep grey eyes. But for the presence of the +Secretary, she would have spoken first, regardless of court ceremony. +Philip looked at her attentively, mentally comparing her with his young +Queen's placidly dull personality and with the Princess of Eboli's fast +disappearing and somewhat coarse beauty. For the Princess had changed +much since Titian had painted his very flattering picture, and though +she was only thirty years of age, she was already the mother of many +children. Philip stared steadily at the beautiful girl who stood waiting +before him, and he wondered why she had never seemed so lovely to him +before. There was a half morbid, half bitter savour in what he felt, +too,--he had just condemned the beauty's father to death, and she must +therefore hate him with all her heart. It pleased him to think of that; +she was beautiful and he stared at her long. + +"Be seated, Doña Dolores," he said at last, in a muffled voice that was +not harsh. "I am glad that you have come, for I have much to say to +you." + +Without lifting his wrist from the arm of the chair on which it rested, +the King moved his hand, and his long forefinger pointed to a low +cushioned stool that was placed near him. Dolores came forward +unwillingly and sat down. Perez watched the two thoughtfully, and forgot +his writing. He did not remember that any one excepting the Princess of +Eboli had been allowed to be seated in the King's study. The Queen never +came there. Perez' work exempted him in private, of course, from much of +the tedious ceremonial upon which Philip insisted. Dolores sat upon the +edge of the stool, very erect, with her hands folded on her knees. + +"Doña Dolores is pale," observed the King. "Bring a cordial, Perez, or a +glass of Oporto wine." + +"I thank your Majesty," said the young girl quickly. "I need nothing." + +"I will be your physician," answered Philip, very suavely. "I shall +insist upon your taking the medicine I prescribe." + +He did not turn his eyes from her as Perez brought a gold salver and +offered Dolores the glass. It was impossible to refuse, so she lifted it +to her lips and sipped a little. + +"I thank your Majesty," she said again. "I thank you, sir," she said +gravely to Perez as she set down the glass, but she did not raise her +eyes to his face as she spoke any more than she would have done if he +had been a footman. + +"I have much to say to you, and some questions to ask of you," the King +began, speaking very slowly, but with extreme suavity. + +He paused, and coughed a little, but Dolores said nothing. Then he began +to look at her again, and while he spoke he steadily examined every +detail of her appearance till his inscrutable gaze had travelled from +her headdress to the points of her velvet slippers, and finally remained +fixed upon her mouth in a way that disturbed her even more than the +speech he made. Perez had resumed his seat. + +"In my life," he began, speaking of himself quite without formality, "I +have suffered more than most men, in being bereaved of the persons to +whom I have been most sincerely attached. The most fortunate and +successful sovereign in the world has been and is the most unhappy man +in his kingdom. One after another, those I have loved have been taken +from me, until I am almost alone in the world that is so largely mine. I +suppose you cannot understand that, my dear, for my sorrows began before +you were born. But they have reached their crown and culmination to-day +in the death of my dear brother." + +He paused, watching her mouth, and he saw that she was making a +superhuman effort to control herself, pressing the beautiful lips +together, though they moved gainfully in spite of her, and visibly lost +colour. + +"Perez," he said after a moment, "you may go and take some rest. I will +send for you when I need you." + +The Secretary rose, bowed low, and left the room by a small masked door +in a corner. The King waited till he saw it close before he spoke again. +His tone changed a little then and his words came quickly, as if he felt +here constraint. + +"I feel," he said, "that we are united by a common calamity, my dear. I +intend to take you under my most particular care and protection from +this very hour. Yes, I know!" he held up his hand o deprecate any +interruption, for Dolores seemed about to speak. "I know why you come to +me, you wish to intercede for your father. That is natural, and you are +right to come to me yourself, for I would rather hear your voice than +that of another speaking for you, and I would rather grant any mercy in +my power to you directly than to some personage of the court who would +be seeking his own interest as much as yours." + +"I ask justice, not mercy, Sire," said Dolores, in a firm, low voice, +and the fire lightened in her eyes. + +"Your father shall have both," answered Philip, "for they are +compatible." + +"He needs no mercy," returned the young girl, "for he has done no harm. +Your Majesty knows that as well as I." + +"If I knew that, my dear, your father would not be under arrest. I +cannot guess what you know or do not know--" + +"I know the truth." She spoke so confidently that the King's expression +changed a little. + +"I wish I did," he answered, with as much suavity as ever. "But tell me +what you think you know about this matter. You may help me to sift it, +and then I shall be the better able to help you, if such a thing be +possible. What do you know?" + +Dolores leaned forward toward him from her seat, almost rising as she +lowered her voice to a whisper, her eyes fixed on his face. + +"I was close behind the door your Majesty wished to open," she said. "I +heard every word; I heard your sword drawn and I heard Don John +fall--and then it was some time before I heard my father's voice, taking +the blame upon himself, lest it should be said that the King had +murdered his own brother in his room, unarmed. Is that the truth, or +not?" + +While she was speaking, a greenish hue overspread Philip's face, ghastly +in the candlelight. He sat upright in his chair, his hands straining on +its arms and pushing, as if he would have got farther back if he could. +He had foreseen everything except that Dolores had been in the next +room, for his secret spies had informed him through Perez that her +father had kept her a prisoner during the early part of the evening and +until after supper. + +"When you were both gone," Dolores continued, holding him under her +terrible eyes, "I came in, and I found him dead, with the wound in his +left breast, and he was unarmed, murdered without a chance for his life. +There is blood upon my dress where it touched his--the blood of the man +I loved, shed by you. Ah, he was right to call you coward, and he died +for me, because you said things of me that no loving man would bear. He +was right to call you coward--it was well said--it was the last word he +spoke, and I shall not forget it. He had borne everything you heaped +upon himself, your insults, your scorn of his mother, but he would not +let you cast a slur upon my name, and if you had not killed him out of +sheer cowardice, he would have struck you in the face. He was a man! And +then my father took the blame to save you from the monstrous accusation, +and that all might believe him guilty he told the lie that saved you +before them all. Do I know the truth? Is one word of that not true?" + +She had quite risen now and stood before him like an accusing angel. And +he, who was seldom taken unawares, and was very hard to hurt, leaned +back and suffered, slowly turning his head from side to side against the +back of the high carved chair. + +"Confess that it is true!" she cried, in concentrated tones. "Can you +not even find courage for that? You are not the King now, you are your +brother's murderer, and the murderer of the man I loved, whose wife I +should have been to-morrow. Look at me, and confess that I have told the +truth. I am a Spanish woman, and I would not see my country branded +before the world with the shame of your royal murders, and if you will +confess and save my father, I will keep your secret for my country's +sake. But if not--then you must either kill me here, as you slew him, or +by the God that made you and the mother that bore you, I will tell all +Spain what you are, and the men who loved Don John of Austria shall rise +and take your blood for his blood, though it be blood royal, and you +shall die, as you killed, like the coward you are!" + +The King's eyes were closed, and still his great pale head moved slowly +from side to side; for he was suffering, and the torture of mind he had +made Mendoza bear was avenged already. But he was silent. + +"Will you not speak?" asked the young girl, with blazing eyes. "Then +find some weapon and kill me here before I go, for I shall not wait till +you find many words." + +She was silent, and she stood upright in the act to go. He made no +sound, and she moved towards the door, stood still, then moved again and +then again, pausing for his answer at each step. He heard her, but could +not bring himself to speak the words she demanded of him. She began to +walk quickly. Her hand was almost on the door when he raised himself by +the arms of his chair, and cried out to her in a frightened voice:-- + +"No, no! Stay here--you must not go--what do you want me to say?" + +She advanced a step again, and once more stood still and met his scared +eyes as he turned his face towards her. + +"Say, 'You have spoken the truth,'" she answered, dictating to him as if +she were the sovereign and he a guilty subject. + +She waited a moment and then moved as if she would go out. + +"Stay--yes--it is true--I did it--for God's mercy do not betray me!" + +He almost screamed the words out to her, half rising, his body bent, his +face livid in his extreme fear. She came slowly back towards him, +keeping her eyes upon him as if he were some dangerous wild animal that +she controlled by her look alone. + +"That is not all," she said. "That was for me, that I might hear the +words from your own lips. There is something more." + +"What more do you want of me?" asked Philip, in thick tones, leaning +back exhausted in his chair. + +"My father's freedom and safety," answered Dolores. "I must have an +order for his instant release. He can hardly have reached his prison +yet. Send for him. Let him come here at once, as a free man." + +"That is impossible," replied Philip. "He has confessed the deed before +the whole court--he cannot possibly be set at liberty without a trial. +You forget what you are asking--indeed you forget yourself altogether +too much." + +He was gathering his dignity again, by force of habit, as his terror +subsided, but Dolores was too strong for him. + +"I am not asking anything of your Majesty; I am dictating terms to my +lover's murderer," she said proudly. + +"This is past bearing, girl!" cried Philip hoarsely. "You are out of +your mind--I shall call servants to take you away to a place of safety. +We shall see what you will do then. You shall not impose your insolence +upon me any longer." + +Dolores reflected that it was probably in his power to carry out the +threat, and to have her carried off by the private door through which +Perez had gone out. She saw in a flash how great her danger was, for she +was the only witness against him, and if he could put her out of the way +in a place of silence, he could send her father to trial and execution +without risk to himself, as he had certainly intended to do. On the +other hand, she had been able to terrify him to submission a few moments +earlier. In the instant working of her woman's mind, she recollected how +his fright had increased as she had approached the door by which she had +entered. His only chance of accomplishing her disappearance lay in +having her taken away by some secret passage, where no open scandal +could be possible. + +Before she answered his last angry speech, she had almost reached the +main entrance again. + +"Call whom you will," she said contemptuously. "You cannot save +yourself. Don Ruy Gomez is on the other side of that door, and there are +chamberlains and guards there, too. I shall have told them all the truth +before your men can lay hands on me. If you will not write the order to +release my father, I shall go out at once. In ten minutes there will be +a revolution in the palace, and to-morrow all Spain will be on fire to +avenge your brother. Spain has not forgotten Don Carlos yet! There are +those alive who saw you give Queen Isabel the draught that killed +her--with your own hand. Are you mad enough to think that no one knows +those things, that your spies, who spy on others, do not spy on you, +that you alone, of all mankind, can commit every crime with impunity?" + +"Take care, girl! Take care!" + +"Beware--Don Philip of Austria, King of Spain and half the world, lest a +girl's voice be heard above yours, and a girl's hand loosen the +foundation of your throne, lest all mankind rise up to-morrow and take +your life for the lives you have destroyed! Outside this door here, +there are men who guess the truth already, who hate you as they hate +Satan, and who loved your brother as every living being loved +him--except you. One moment more--order my father to be set free, or I +will open and speak. One moment! You will not? It is too late--you are +lost!" + +Her hand went out to open, but Philip was already on his feet, and with +quick, clumsy steps he reached the writing-table, seized the pen Perez +had thrown down, and began to scrawl words rapidly in his great angular +handwriting. He threw sand upon it to dry the ink, and then poured the +grains back into the silver sandbox, glanced at the paper and held it +out to Dolores without a word. His other hand slipped along the table to +a silver bell, used for calling his private attendants, but the girl saw +the movement and instinctively suspected his treachery. He meant her to +come to the table, when he would ring the bell and then catch her and +hold her by main force till help came. Her faculties were furiously +awake under the strain she bore, and outran his slow cunning. + +"If you ring that bell, I will open," she said imperiously. "I must have +the paper here, where I am safe, and I must read it myself before I +shall be satisfied." + +"You are a terrible woman," said the King, but she did not like his +smile as he came towards her, holding out the document. + +She took it from his hand, keeping her eyes on his, for something told +her that he would try to seize her and draw her from the door while she +was reading it. For some seconds they faced each other in silence, and +she knew by his determined attitude that she was right, and that it +would not be safe to look down. She wondered why he did not catch her in +his arms as she stood, and then she realized that her free hand was on +the latch of the door, and that he knew it. She slowly turned the +handle, and drew the door to her, and she saw his face fall. She moved +to one side so that she could have sprung out if he had tried violence, +and then at last she allowed her eyes to glance at the paper. It was in +order and would be obeyed; she saw that, at a glance, for it said that +Don Diego de Mendoza was to be set at liberty instantly and +unconditionally. + +"I humbly thank your Majesty, and take my leave," she said, throwing the +door wide open and curtseying low. + +A chamberlain who had seen the door move on its hinges stepped in to +shut it, for it opened inward. The King beckoned him in, and closed it, +but before it was quite shut, he heard Dolores' voice. + +"Don Ruy Gomez," she was saying, "this is an order to set my father at +liberty unconditionally and at once. I do not know to whom it should be +given. Will you take it for me and see to it?" + +"I will go to the west tower myself," he said, beginning to walk with +her. "Such good news is even better when a friend brings it." + +"Thank you. Tell him from me that he is safe, for his Majesty has told +me that he knows the whole truth. Will you do that? You have been very +kind to me to-night, Prince--let me thank you with all my heart now, for +we may not meet again. You will not see me at court after this, and I +trust my father will take us back to Valladolid and live with us." + +"That would be wise," answered Ruy Gomez. "As for any help I have given +you, it has been little enough and freely given. I will not keep your +father waiting for his liberty. Good-night, Doña Dolores." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +All that had happened from the time when Don John had fallen in his room +to the moment when Dolores left her sister on the terrace had occupied +little more than half an hour, during which the King had descended to +the hall, Mendoza had claimed the guilt of Don John's murder, and the +two had gone out under the protection of the guards. As soon as Dolores +was out of hearing, Inez rose and crept along the terrace to Don John's +door. In the confusion that had ensued upon the announcement of his +death no one had thought of going to him; every one took it for granted +that some one else had done what was necessary, and that his apartments +were filled with physicians and servants. It was not the first time in +history that a royal personage had thus been left alone an hour, either +dead or dying, because no one was immediately responsible, and such +things have happened since. + +Inez stole along the terrace and found the outer door open, as the dwarf +had left it when he had carried Dolores out in his arms. She remembered +that the voices she had heard earlier had come from rooms on the left of +the door, and she felt her way to the entrance of the bedchamber, and +then went in without hesitation. Bending very low, so that her hands +touched the floor from time to time, she crept along, feeling for the +body she expected to find. Suddenly she started and stood upright in an +instant. She had heard a deep sigh in the room, not far off. + +She listened intently, but even her ears could detect no sound after +that. She was a little frightened, not with any supernatural fear, for +the blind, who live in the dark for ever, are generally singularly +exempt from such terrors, but because she had thought herself alone with +the dead man, and did not wish to be discovered. + +"Who is here?" she asked quickly, but there was no answer out of the +dead stillness. + +She stood quite still a few seconds and then crept forward again, +bending down and feeling before her along the floor. A moment later her +hand touched velvet, and she knew that she had found what she sought. +With a low moan she fell upon her knees and felt for the cold hand that +lay stretched out upon the marble pavement beyond the thick carpet. Her +hand followed the arm, reached the shoulder and then the face. Her +fingers fluttered lightly upon the features, while her own heart almost +stood still She felt no horror of death, though she had never been near +a dead person before; and those who were fond of her had allowed her to +feel their features with her gentle hands, and she knew beauty through +her touch, by its shape. Though her heart was breaking, she had felt +that once, before it was too late, she must know the face she had long +loved in dreams. Her longing satisfied, her grief broke out again, and +she let herself fall her length upon the floor beside Don John, one arm +across his chest, her head resting against the motionless shoulder, her +face almost hidden against the gathered velvet and silk of his doublet. +Once or twice she sobbed convulsively, and then she lay quite still, +trying with all her might to die there, on his arm, before any one came +to disturb her. It seemed very simple, just to stop living and stay with +him for ever. + +Again she heard a sound of deep-drawn breath--but it was close to her +now, and her own arm moved with it on his chest--the dead man had moved, +he had sighed. She started up wildly, with a sharp cry, half of +paralyzing fear, and half of mad delight in a hope altogether +impossible. Then, he drew his breath again, and it issued from his lips +with a low groan. He was not quite dead yet, he might speak to her +still, he could hear her voice, perhaps, before he really died. She +could never have found courage to kiss him, even then she could have +blushed scarlet at the thought, but she bent down to his face, very +close to it, till her cheek almost touched his as she spoke in a very +trembling, low voice. + +"Not yet--not yet--come back for one moment, only for one little moment! +Oh, let it be God's miracle for me!" + +She hardly knew what she said, but the miracle was there, for she heard +his breath come again and again, and as she stared into her everlasting +night, strange flashes, like light, shot through her brain, her bosom +trembled, and her hands stiffened in the spasm of a delirious joy. + +"Come back!" she cried again. "Come back!" Her hands shook as they felt +his body move. + +His voice came again, not in a word yet, but yet not in a groan of pain. +His eyes, that had been half open and staring, closed with a look of +rest, and colour rose slowly in his cheeks. Then he felt her breath, and +his strength returned for an instant, his arms contracted and clasped +her to him violently. + +"Dolores!" he cried, and in a moment his lips rained kisses on her face, +while his eyes were still closed. + +Then he sank back again exhausted, and her arm kept his head from +striking the marble floor. The girl's cheek flushed a deep red, as she +tried to speak, and her words came broken and indistinct. + +"I am not Dolores," she managed to say. "I am Inez--" + +But he did not hear, for he was swooning again, and the painful blush +sank down again, as she realized that he was once more unconscious. She +wondered whether the room were dark or whether there were lights, or +whether he had not opened his eyes when he had kissed her. His head was +very heavy on her arm. With her other hand she drew off the hood she +wore and rolled it together, and lifting him a little she made a pillow +of it so that he rested easily. He had not recognized her, and she +believed he was dying, he had kissed her, and all eternity could not +take from her the memory of that moment. In the wild confusion of her +thoughts she was almost content that he should die now, for she had felt +what she had never dared to feel in sweetest dreams, and it had been +true, and no one could steal it away now, nor should any one ever know +it, not even Dolores herself. The jealous thought was there, in the +whirlwind of her brain, with all the rest, sudden, fierce, and strong, +as if Don John had been hers in life, and as if the sister she loved so +dearly had tried to win him from her. He was hers in death, and should +be hers for ever, and no one should ever know. It did not matter that he +had taken her for another, his kisses were her own. Once only had a +man's lips, not her father's, touched her cheek, and they had been the +lips of the fairest, and best, and bravest man in the world, her idol +and her earthly god. He might die now, and she would follow him, and in +the world beyond God would make it right somehow, and he, and she, and +her sister would all be but one loving soul for ever and ever. There was +no reasoning in all that--it was but the flash of wild thoughts that all +seemed certainties. + +But Don John of Austria was neither dead nor dying. His brother's sword +had pierced his doublet and run through the outer flesh beneath his left +arm, as he stood sideways with his right thrust forward. The wound was a +mere scratch, as soldiers count wounds, and though the young blood had +followed quickly, it had now ceased to flow. It was the fall that had +hurt him, not the stab. The carpet had slipped from under his feet, and +he had fallen backwards to his full length, as a man falls on ice, and +his head had struck the marble floor so violently that he had lain half +an hour almost in a swoon, like a dead man at first, with neither breath +nor beating of the heart to give a sign of life, till after Dolores had +left him; and then he had sighed back to consciousness by very slow +degrees, because no one was there to help him, to raise his head a few +inches from the floor, to dash a little cold water into his face. + +He stirred uneasily now, and moved his hands again, and his eyes opened +wide. Inez felt the slight motion and heard his regular breathing, and +an instinct told her that he was conscious, and not in a dream as he had +been when he had kissed her. + +"I am Inez," she said, almost mechanically, and not knowing why she had +feared that he should take her for her sister. "I found your Highness +here--they all think that you are dead." + +"Dead?" There was surprise in his voice, and his eyes looked at her and +about the room as he spoke, though he did not yet lift his head from the +hood on which it lay. "Dead?" he repeated, dazed still. "No--I must have +fallen. My head hurts me." + +He uttered a sharp sound as he moved again, more of annoyance than of +suffering, as strong men do who unexpectedly find themselves hurt or +helpless, or both. Then, as his eyes fell upon the open door of the +inner room, he forgot his pain instantly and raised himself upon his +hand with startled eyes. + +"Where is Dolores?" he cried, in utmost anxiety. "Where have they taken +her? Did she get out by the window?" + +"She is safe," answered Inez, hardly knowing what she said, for he +turned pale instantly and had barely heard her answer, when he reeled as +he half sat and almost fell against her. + +She held him as well as she could, but the position was strained and she +was not very strong. Half mad now, between fear lest he should die in +her arms and the instinctive belief that he was to live, she wished with +all her heart that some one would come and help her, or send for a +physician. He might die for lack of some simple aid she did not know how +to give him. But he had only been dizzy with the unconscious effort he +had made, and presently he rested on his own hand again. + +"Thank God Dolores is safe!" he said, in a weak voice. "Can you help me +to get to a chair, my dear child? I must have been badly stunned. I +wonder how long I have been here. I remember--" + +He paused and passed one hand over his eyes. The first instinct of +strong persons who have been unconscious is to think aloud, and to try +and recall every detail of the accident that left them unconscious. + +"I remember--the King was here--we talked and we quarrelled--oh!" + +The short exclamation ended his speech, as complete recollection +returned, and he knew that the secret must be kept, for his brother's +sake. He laid one head on the slight girl's shoulder to steady himself, +and with his other he helped himself to kneel on one knee. + +"I am very dizzy," he said. "Try and help me to a chair, Inez." + +She rose swiftly, holding his hand, and then putting one arm round him +under his own. He struggled to his feet and leaned his weight upon her, +and breathed hard. The effort hurt him where the flesh was torn. + +"I am wounded, too," he said quietly, as he glanced at the blood on his +vest. "But it is nothing serious, I think." + +With the instinct of the soldier hurt in the chest, he brushed his lips +with the small lace ruffle of his sleeve, and looked at it, expecting to +see the bright red stains that might mean death. There was nothing. + +"It is only a scratch," he said, with an accent of indifference. "Help +me to the chair, my dear." + +"Where?" she asked. "I do not know the room." + +"One forgets that you are blind," he answered, with a smile, and leaning +heavily upon her, he led her by his weight, till he could touch the +chair in which he had sat reading Dolores' letter when the King had +entered an hour earlier. + +He sat down with a sigh of relief, and stretched first one leg and then +the other, and leaned back with half-closed eyes. + +"Where is Dolores?" he asked at last. "Why did she go away?" + +"The jester took her away, I think," answered Inez. "I found them +together on the terrace. She was trying to come back to you, but he +prevented her. They thought you were dead." + +"That was wise of him." He spoke faintly still, and when he opened his +eyes, the room swam with him. "And then?" + +"Then I told her what had happened at court; I had heard everything from +the gallery. And Dolores went down alone. I could not understand what +she was going to do, but she is trying to save our father." + +"Your father!" Don John looked at her in surprise, forgetting his hurt, +but it was as if some one had struck his head again, and he closed his +eyes. "What has happened?" he asked faintly. "Try and tell me. I do not +understand." + +"My father thought he had killed you," answered Inez, in surprise. "He +came into the great hall when the King was there, and he cried out in a +loud voice that he had killed you, unarmed." + +"Your father?" He forgot his suffering altogether now. "Your father was +not even in the room when--when I fell! And did the King say nothing? +Tell me quickly!" + +"There was a great uproar, and I ran away to find Dolores. I do not know +what happened afterwards." + +Don John turned painfully in his chair and lifted his hand to the back +of his head. But he said nothing at first, for he was beginning to +understand, and he would not betray the secret of his accident even to +Inez. + +"I knew he could not have done it! I thought he was mad--he most have +been! But I also thought your Highness was dead." + +"Dear child!" Don John's voice was very kind. "You brought me to life. +Your father was not here. It was some one else who hurt me. Do you think +you could find Dolores or send some one to tell her--to tell every one +that I am alive? Say that I had a bad fall and was stunned for a while. +Never mind the scratch--it is nothing--do not speak of it. If you could +find Adonis, he could go." + +He groaned now, for the pain of speaking was almost intolerable. Inez +put out her hand towards him. + +"Does it hurt very much?" she asked, with a sort of pathetic, childlike +sympathy. + +"Yes, my head hurts, but I shall not faint. There is something to drink +by the bed, I think--on this side. If you could only find it. I cannot +walk there yet, I am so giddy." + +"Some one is coming!" exclaimed Inez, instead of answering him. "I hear +some one on the terrace. Hark!" she listened with bent head. "It is +Adonis. I know his step. There he is!" + +Almost as she spoke the last words the dwarf was in the doorway. He +stood still, transfixed with astonishment. + +"Mercy of heaven!" he exclaimed devoutly. "His Highness is alive after +all!" + +"Yes," said Inez, in a glad tone. "The Prince was only stunned by the +fall. Go and tell Dolores--go out and tell every one--bring every one +here to me!" + +"No!" cried Don John. "Try and bring Doña Dolores alone, and let no one +else know. The rest can wait." + +"But your Highness needs a physician," protested the dwarf, not yet +recovered from his astonishment. "Your Highness is wounded, and must +therefore be bled at once. I will call the Doctor Galdos--" + +"I tell you it is nothing," interrupted Don John. "Do as I order you, +and bring Doña Dolores. Give me that drink there, first--from the little +table. In a quarter of an hour I shall be quite well again. I have been +as badly stunned before when my horse has fallen with me at a barrier." + +The jester swung quickly to the table, in his awkward, bow-legged gait, +and brought the beaker that stood there. Don John drank eagerly, for his +lips were parched with pain. + +"Go!" he said imperatively. "And come back quickly." + +"I will go," said Adonis. "But I may not come back quickly, for I +believe that Doña Dolores is with his Majesty at this moment, or with +her father, unless the three are together. Since it has pleased your +Highness not to remain dead, it would have been much simpler not to die +at all, for your Highness's premature death has caused trouble which +your Highness's premature resurrection may not quickly set right." + +"The sooner you bring Doña Dolores, the sooner the tremble will be +over," said Don John. "Go at once, and do your best." + +Adonis rolled away, shaking his head and almost touching the floor with +his hands as he walked. + +"So the Last Trumpet is not merely another of those priests' tales!" he +muttered. "I shall meet Don Carlos on the terrace, and the Emperor in +the corridor, no doubt! They might give a man time to confess his sins. +It was unnecessary that the end of the world should come so suddenly!" + +The last words of his jest were spoken to himself, for he was already +outside when he uttered them, and he had no intention of wasting time in +bearing the good news to Dolores. The difficulty was to find her. He had +been a witness of the scene in the hall from the balcony, and he guessed +that when she left the hall with Ruy Gomez she would go either to her +father or the King. It would not be an easy matter to see her, and it +was by no means beyond the bounds of possibility that he might be +altogether hindered from doing so, unless he at once announced to every +one he met the astounding fact that Don John was alive after all. He was +strongly tempted to do that, without waiting, for it seemed by far the +most sensible thing to do in the disturbed state of the court; but it +was his business to serve and amuse many masters, and his office, if not +his life, depended upon obeying each in turn and finding the right jest +for each. He placed the King highest, of course, among those he had to +please, and before he had gone far in the corridor he slackened his pace +to give himself time to think over the situation. Either the King had +meant to kill Don John himself, or he had ordered Mendoza to do so. That +much was clear to any one who had known the secret of Don Carlos' death, +and the dwarf had been one of the last who had talked with the +unfortunate Prince before that dark tragedy. And on this present night +he had seen everything, and knew more of the thoughts of each of the +actors in the drama than any one else, so that he had no doubt as to his +conclusions. If, then, the King had wished to get rid of Don John, he +would be very much displeased to learn that the latter was alive after +all. It would not be good to be the bearer of that news, and it was more +than likely that Philip would let Mendoza go to the scaffold for the +attempt, as he long afterwards condemned Antonio Perez to death for the +murder of Escobedo, Don John's secretary, though he himself had ordered +Perez to do that deed; as he had already allowed the ecclesiastic Doctor +Cazalla to be burned alive, though innocent, rather than displease the +judges who had condemned him. The dwarf well knew that there was no +crime, however monstrous, of which Philip was not capable, and of the +righteous necessity of which he could not persuade himself if he chose. +Nothing could possibly be more dangerous than to stand between him and +the perpetration of any evil he considered politically necessary, except +perhaps to hinder him in the pursuit of his gloomy and secret pleasures. +Adonis decided at once that he would not be the means of enlightening +the King on the present occasion. He most go to some one else. The +second person in command of his life, and whom he dreaded most after +Philip himself, was the Princess of Eboli. + +He knew her secret, too, as he had formerly known how she had forged the +letters that brought about the deaths of Don Carlos and of Queen Isabel; +for the Princess ruled him by fear, and knew that she could trust him as +long as he stood in terror of her. He knew, therefore, that she had not +only forgiven Don John for not yielding to her charm in former days, but +that she now hoped that he might ascend the throne in Philip's stead, by +fair means or foul, and that the news of his death must have been a +destructive blow to her hopes. He made up his mind to tell her first +that he was alive, unless he could get speech with Dolores alone, which +seemed improbable. Having decided this, he hastened his walk again. + +Before he reached the lower story of the palace he composed his face to +an expression of solemnity, not to say mourning, for he remembered that +as no one knew the truth but himself, he must not go about with too gay +a look. In the great vestibule of the hall he found a throng of +courtiers, talking excitedly in low tones, but neither Dolores nor Ruy +Gomez was there. He sidled up to a tall officer of the guards who was +standing alone, looking on. + +"Could you inform me, sir," he asked, "what became of Doña Dolores de +Mendoza when she left the hall with the Prince of Eboli?" + +The officer looked down at the dwarf, with whom he had never spoken +before, but who, in his way, was considered to be a personage of +importance by the less exalted members of the royal household. Indeed, +Adonis was by no means given to making acquaintance at haphazard with +all those who wished to know him in the hope that he might say a good +word for them when the King was in a pleasant humour. + +"I do not know, Master Adonis," answered the magnificent lieutenant, +very politely. "But if you wish it, I will enquire." + +"You are most kind and courteous, sir," answered the dwarf +ceremoniously. "I have a message for the lady." + +The officer turned away and went towards the King's apartments, leaving +the jester in the corner. Adonis knew that he might wait some time +before his informant returned, and he shrank into the shadow to avoid +attracting attention. That was easy enough, so long as the crowd was +moving and did not diminish, but before long he heard some one speaking +within the hall, as if addressing a number of persons at once, and the +others began to leave the vestibule in order to hear what was passing. +Though the light did not fall upon him directly, the dwarf, in his +scarlet dress, became a conspicuous object. Yet he did not dare to go +away, for fear of missing the officer when the latter should return. His +anxiety to escape observation was not without cause, since he really +wished to give Don John's message to Dolores before any one else knew +the truth. In a few moments he saw the Princess of Eboli coming towards +him, leaning on the arm of the Duke of Medina Sidonia. She came from the +hall as if she had been listening to the person who was still speaking +near the door, and her handsome face wore a look of profound dejection +and disappointment. She had evidently seen the dwarf, for she walked +directly towards him, and at half a dozen paces she stopped and +dismissed her companion, who bowed low, kissed the tips of her fingers, +and withdrew. + +Adonis drew down the corners of his mouth, bent his head still lower, +and tried to look as unhappy as possible, in imitation of the Princess's +expression. She stood still before him, and spoke briefly in imperious +tones. + +"What is the meaning of all this?" she asked. "Tell me the truth at +once. It will be the better for you." + +"Madam," answered Adonis, with all the assurance he could muster, "I +think your Excellency knows the truth much better than I." + +The Princess bent her black brows and her eyes began to gleam angrily. +Titian would not have recognized in her stern face the smiling features +of his portrait of her--of the insolently beautiful Venus painted by +order of King Philip when the Princess was in the height of his favour. + +"My friend," she said, in a mocking tone, "I know nothing, and you know +everything. At the present moment your disappearance from the court will +not attract even the smallest attention compared with the things that +are happening. If you do not tell me what you know, you will not be here +to-morrow, and I will see that you are burned alive for a sorcerer next +week. Do you understand? Now tell me who killed Don John of Austria, and +why. Be quick, I have no time to lose." + +Adonis made up his mind very suddenly that it would be better to disobey +Don John than the angry woman who was speaking to him. + +"Nobody killed him," he answered bluntly. + +The Princess was naturally violent, especially with her inferiors, and +when she was angry she easily lost all dignity. She seized the dwarf by +the arm and shook him. + +"No jesting!" she cried. "He did not kill himself--who did it?" + +"Nobody," repeated Adonis doggedly, and quite without fear, for he knew +how glad she would be to know the truth. "His Highness is not dead at +all--" + +"You little hound!" The Princess shook him furiously again and +threatened to strike him with her other hand. + +He only laughed. + +"Before heaven, Madam," he said, "the Prince is alive and recovered, and +is sitting in his chair. I have just been talking with him. Will you go +with me to his Highness's apartment? If he is not there, and safe, burn +me for a heretic to-morrow." + +The Princess's hands dropped by her sides in sheer amazement, for she +saw that the jester was in earnest. + +"He had a scratch in the scuffle," he continued, "but it was the fall +that killed him, his resurrection followed soon afterwards--and I trust +that his ascension may be no further distant than your Excellency +desires." + +He laughed at his blasphemous jest, and the Princess laughed too, a +little wildly, for she could hardly control her joy. + +"And who wounded him?" she asked suddenly. "You know everything, you +must know that also." + +"Madam," said the dwarf, fixing his eyes on hers, "we both know the name +of the person who wounded Don John, very well indeed, I regret that I +should not be able to recall it at this moment. His Highness has +forgotten it too, I am sure." + +The Princess's expression did not change, but she returned his gaze +steadily during several seconds, and then nodded slowly to show that she +understood. Then she looked away and was silent for a moment. + +"I am sorry I was rough with you, Adonis," she said at last, +thoughtfully. "It was hard to believe you at first, and if the Prince +had been dead, as we all believed, your jesting would have been +abominable. There,"--she unclasped a diamond brooch from her +bodice--"take that, Adonis--you can turn it into money." + +The Princess's financial troubles were notorious, and she hardly ever +possessed any ready gold. + +"I shall keep it as the most precious of my possessions," answered the +dwarf readily. + +"No," she said quickly. "Sell it. The King--I mean--some one may see it +if you keep it." + +"It shall be sold to-morrow, then," replied the jester, bending his head +to hide his smile, for he understood what she meant. + +"One thing more," she said; "Don John did not send you down to tell this +news to the court without warning. He meant that I should know it before +any one else. You have told me--now go away and do not tell others." + +Adonis hesitated a moment. He wished to do Don John's bidding if he +could, but he knew his danger, and that he should be forgiven if, to +save his own head, he did not execute the commission. The Princess +wished an immediate answer, and she had no difficulty in guessing the +truth. + +"His Highness sent you to find Doña Dolores," she said. "Is that not +true?" + +"It is true," replied Adonis. "But," he added, anticipating her wish out +of fear, "it is not easy to find Doña Dolores." + +"It is impossible. Did you expect to find her by waiting in this corner! +Adonis, it is safer for you to serve me than Don John, and in serving me +you will help his interests. You know that. Listen to me--Doña Dolores +must believe him dead till to-morrow morning. She must on no account +find out that he is alive." + +At that moment the officer who had offered to get information for the +dwarf returned. Seeing the latter in conversation with such a great +personage, he waited at a little distance. + +"If you have found out where Doña Dolores de Mendoza is at this moment, +my dear sir," said Adonis, "pray tell the Princess of Eboli, who is very +anxious to know." + +The officer bowed and came nearer. + +"Doña Dolores de Mendoza is in his Majesty's inner apartment," he said. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +Dolores and Ruy Gomez had passed through the outer vestibule, and he +left her to pursue his way towards the western end of the Alcazar, which +was at a considerable distance from the royal apartments. Dolores went +down the corridor till she came to the niche and the picture before +which Don John had paused to read the Princess of Eboli's letter after +supper. She stopped a moment, for she suddenly felt that her strength +was exhausted and that she must rest or break down altogether. She +leaned her weight against the elaborately carved railing that shut off +the niche like a shrine, and looked at the painting, which was one of +Raphael's smaller masterpieces, a Holy Family so smoothly and delicately +painted that it jarred upon her at that moment as something untrue and +out of all keeping with possibility. Though most perfectly drawn and +coloured, the spotlessly neat figures with their airs of complacent +satisfaction seemed horribly out of place in the world of suffering she +was condemned to dwell in, and she fancied, somewhat irreverently and +resentfully, that they would look as much out of keeping with their +surroundings in a heaven that must be won by the endurance of pain. +Their complacent smiles seemed meant for her anguish, and she turned +from the picture in displeasure, and went on. + +She was going back to her sister on the terrace, and she was going to +kneel once more beside the dear head of the man she had loved, and to +say one last prayer before his face was covered for ever. At the thought +she felt that she needed no rest again, for the vision drew her to the +sorrowful presence of its reality, and she could not have stopped again +if she had wished to. She must go straight on, on to the staircase, up +the long flight of steps, through the lonely corridors, and out at hist +to the moonlit terrace where Inez was waiting. She went forward in a +dream, without pausing. Since she had freed her father she had a right +to go back to her grief. But as she went along, lightly and quickly, it +seemed beyond her own belief that she should have found strength for +what she had done that night. For the strength of youth is elastic and +far beyond its own knowledge. Dolores had reached the last passage that +led out upon the terrace, when she heard hurrying footsteps behind her, +and a woman in a cloak slipped beside her, walking very easily and +smoothly. It was the Princess of Eboli. She had left the dwarf, after +frightening him into giving up his search for Dolores, and she was +hastening to Don John's rooms to make sure that the jester had not +deceived her or been himself deceived in some way she could not +understand. + +Dolores had lost her cloak in the hall, and was bareheaded, in her court +dress. The Princess recognized her in the gloom and stopped her. + +"I have looked for you everywhere," she said. "Why did you run away from +me before?" + +"It was my blind sister who was with you," answered Dolores, who knew +her voice at once and had understood from her father what had happened. +"Where are you going now?" she asked, without giving the Princess time +to put a question. + +"I was looking for you. I wish you to come and stay with me to-night--" + +"I will stay with my father. I thank you for your kindness, but I would +not on any account leave him now." + +"Your father is in prison--in the west tower--he has just been sent +there. How can you stay with him?" + +"You are well informed," said Dolores quietly. "But your husband is just +now gone to release him. I gave Don Ruy Gomez the order which his +Majesty had himself placed in my hands, and the Prince was kind enough +to take it to the west tower himself. My father is unconditionally +free." + +The Princess looked fixedly at Dolores while the girl was speaking, but +it was very dark in the corridor and the lamp was flickering to go out +in the night breeze. The only explanation of Mendoza's release lay in +the fact that the King was already aware that Don John was alive and in +no danger. In that case Dolores knew it, too. It was no great matter, +though she had hoped to keep the girl out of the way of hearing the news +for a day or two. Dolores' mournful face might have told her that she +was mistaken, if there had been more light; but it was far too dark to +see shades of colour or expression. + +"So your father is free!" she said. "Of course, that was to be expected, +but I am glad that he has been set at liberty at once." + +"I do not think it was exactly to be expected," answered Dolores, in +some surprise, and wondering whether there could have been any simpler +way of getting what she had obtained by such extraordinary means. + +"He might have been kept under arrest until to-morrow morning, I +suppose," said the Princess quietly. "But the King is of course anxious +to destroy the unpleasant impression produced by this absurd affair, as +soon as possible." + +"Absurd!" Dolores' anger rose and overflowed at the word. "Do you dare +to use such a word to me to-night?" + +"My dear Dolores, why do you lose your temper about such a thing?" asked +the Princess, in a conciliatory tone. "Of course if it had all ended as +we expected it would, I never should use such a word--if Don John had +died--" + +"What do you mean?" Dolores held her by the wrist in an instant and the +maddest excitement was in her voice. + +"What I mean? Why--" the Princess stopped short, realizing that Dolores +might not know the truth after all. "What did I say?" she asked, to gain +time. "Why do you hold my hand like that?" + +"You called the murder of Don John an absurd affair, and then you said, +'if Don John had died'--as if he were not lying there dead in his room, +twenty paces from where you stand! Are you mad? Are you playing some +heartless comedy with me? What does it all mean?" + +The Princess was very worldly wise, and she saw at a glance that she +must tell Dolores the truth. If she did not, the girl would soon learn +it from some one else, but if she did, Dolores would always remember who +had told her the good news. + +"My dear," she said very gently, "let my wrist go and let me take your +arm. We do not understand each other, or you would not be so angry with +me. Something has happened of which you do not know--" + +"Oh, no! I know the whole truth!" Dolores interrupted her, and resisted +being led along in a slow walk. "Let me go to him!" she cried. "I only +wish to see him once more--" + +"But, dearest child, listen to me--if I do not tell you everything at +once, it is because the shock might hurt you. There is some hope that he +may not die--" + +"Hope! Oh no, no, no! I saw him lying dead--" + +"He had fainted, dear. He was not dead--" + +"Not dead?" Dolores' voice broke. "Tell me--tell me quickly." She +pressed her hand to her side. + +"No. He came to himself after you had left him--he is alive. No--listen +to me--yes, dear, he is alive and not much hurt. The wound was a +scratch, and he was only stunned--he is well--to-morrow he will be as +well as ever--ah, dear, I told you so!" + +Dolores had borne grief, shame, torment of mind that night, as bravely +as ever a woman bore all three, but the joy of the truth that he lived +almost ended her life then and there. She fell back upon the Princess's +arm and threw out her hands wildly, as if she were fighting for breath, +and the lids of her eyes quivered violently and then were quite still, +and she uttered a short, unnatural sound that was more like a groan of +pain than a cry of happiness. + +The Princess was very strong, and held her, steadying herself against +the wall, thinking anything better than to let her slip to the floor and +lie swooning on the stone pavement. But the girl was not unconscious, +and in a moment her own strength returned. + +"Let me go!" she cried wildly. "Let me go to him, or I shall die!" + +"Go, child--go," said the Princess, with an accent of womanly kindness +that was rare in her voice. But Dolores did not hear it, for she was +already gone. + +Dolores saw nothing in the room, as she entered, but the eyes of the man +she loved, though Inez was still beside him. Dolores threw herself +wildly into his arms and hid her face, crying out incoherent words +between little showers of happy tears; and her hands softly beat upon +his shoulders and against his neck, and stole up wondering to his cheeks +and touched his hair, as she drew back her head and held him still to +look at him and see that he was whole. She had no speech left, for it +was altogether beyond the belief of any sense but touch itself that a +man should rise unhurt from the dead, to go on living as if nothing not +common had happened in his life, to have his strength at once, to look +into her eyes and rain kisses on the lids still dark with grief for his +death. Sight could not believe the sight, hearing could not but doubt +the sound, yet her hands held him and touched him, and it was he, unhurt +saving for a scratch and a bruise. In her overwhelming happiness, she +had no questions, and the first syllables that her lips could shape made +broken words of love, and of thanks to Heaven that he had been saved +alive for her, while her hands still fluttered to his face and beat +gently and quickly on his shoulders and his arms, as if fearing lest he +should turn to incorporeal light, without substance under her touch, and +vanish then in air, as happiness does in a dream, leaving only pain +behind. + +But at last she threw back her head and let him go, and her hands +brushed away the last tears from her grey eyes, and she looked into his +face and smiled with parted lips, drinking the sight of him with her +breath and eyes and heart. One moment so, and then they kissed as only +man and woman can when there has been death between them and it is gone +not to come back again. + +Then memory returned, though very slowly and broken in many places, for +it seemed to her as if she had not been separated from him a moment, and +as if he must know all she had done without hearing her story in words. +The time had been so short since she had kissed him last, in the little +room beyond: there had been the minutes of waiting until the King had +come, and then the trying of the door, and then the quarrel, that had +lasted a short ten minutes to end in Don John's fall; then the half hour +during which he had lain unconscious and alone till Inez had come at the +moment when Dolores had gone down to the throne room; and after that the +short few minutes in which she had met her father, and then her +interview with the King, which had not lasted long, and now she was with +him again; and it was not two hours since they had parted--a lifetime of +two hours. + +"I cannot believe it!" she cried, and now she laughed at last. "I +cannot, I cannot! It is impossible!" + +"We are both alive," he answered. "We are both flesh and blood, and +breathing. I feel as if I had been in an illness or in a sleep that had +lasted very long." + +"And I in an awful dream." Her face grew grave as she thought of what +was but just passed. "You must know it all--surely you know it +already--oh, yes! I need not tell it all." + +"Something Inez has told me," he replied, "and some things I guess, but +I do not know everything. You must try and tell me--but you should not +be here--it is late. When my servants know that I am living, they will +come back, and my gentlemen and my officers. They would have left me +here all night, if I had been really dead, lest being seen near my body +should send them to trial for my death." He laughed. "They were wise +enough in their way. But you cannot stay here." + +"If the whole court found me here, it would not matter," answered +Dolores. "Their tongues can take nothing from my name which my own words +have not given them to feed on." + +"I do not understand," he said, suddenly anxious. "What have you said? +What have you done?" + +Inez came near them from the window, by which she had been standing. She +laid a hand on Dolores' arm. + +"I will watch," she said. "If I hear anything, I will warn you, and you +can go into the small room again." + +She went out almost before either of them could thank her. They had, +indeed, forgotten her presence in the room, being accustomed to her +being near them; but she could no longer bear to stay, listening to +their loving words that made her loneliness so very dark. And now, too, +she had memories of her own, which she would keep secret to the end of +her life,--beautiful and happy recollections of that sweet moment when +the man that seemed dead had breathed and had clasped her in his arms, +taking her for the other, and had kissed her as he would have kissed the +one he loved. She knew at last what a kiss might be, and that was much; +but she knew also what it was to kneel by her dead love and to feel his +life come back, breath by breath and beat by beat, till he was all +alive; and few women have felt that or can guess how great it is to +feel. It was better to go out into the dark and listen, lest any one +should disturb the two, than to let her memories of short happiness be +marred by hearing words that were not meant for her. + +"She found you?" asked Dolores, when she was gone. + +"Yes, she found me. You had gone down, she said, to try and save your +father. He is safe now!" he laughed. + +"She found you alive." Dolores lingered on the words. "I never envied +her before, I think; and it is not because if I had stayed I should have +suffered less, dear." She put up her hands upon his shoulders again. "It +is not for that, but to have thought you dead and to have seen you grow +alive again, to have watched your face, to have seen your eyes wake and +the colour come back to your cheeks and the warmth to your dear hands! I +would have given anything for that, and you would rather that I should +have been there, would you not?" She laughed low and kissed away the +answer from his lips. "If I had stayed beside you, it would have been +sooner, love. You would have felt me there even in your dream of death, +and you would have put out your hand to come back to me. Say that you +would! You could not have let me lie there many minutes longer breaking +my heart over you and wanting to die, too, so that we might be buried +together. Surely my kisses would have brought you back!" + +"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 winding 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. + +But there were a few who were ill pleased; for Antonio Perez said +nothing, and absently smoothed his black hair with his immaculate white +hand, and the Princess of Eboli was very silent, too, for it seemed to +her that Don John's sudden marriage, and his reconciliation with his +brother, had set back the beginning of her plan beyond the bounds of +possible accomplishment; and she was right in that, and the beginning of +her resentment against Don John for having succeeded in marrying Dolores +in spite of every one was the beginning of the chain that led her to her +own dark fate. For though she held the cards long in her hands after +that, and played for high stakes, as she had done before, fortune failed +her at the last, and she came to unutterable ruin. + +It may be, too, that Don John's splendid destiny was measured on that +night, and cut off beforehand, though his most daring fights were not +yet fought, nor his greatest victories won. To tell more here would be +to tell too much, and much, too, that is well told elsewhere. But this +is true, that he loved Dolores with all his heart; that the marriage +remained a court secret; and that she bore him one fair daughter, and +died, and the child grew up under another reign, a holy nun, and was +abbess of the convent of Las Huelgas whither Dolores was to have gone on +the morning after that most eventful night. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's In The Palace Of The King, by F. 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Marion Crawford + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: In The Palace Of The King + A Love Story Of Old Madrid + +Author: F. Marion Crawford + +Release Date: August 21, 2004 [EBook #13243] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE PALACE OF THE KING *** + + + + +Produced by Kevin Handy, John Hagerson and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>In the Palace of the King</h1><br /> +<h2>A Love Story of Old Madrid</h2><br /> +<br /> +<h3>BY</h3> +<h3>F. MARION CRAWFORD</h3><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h4>COPYRIGHT 1900</h4> +<h4>BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</h4><br /> + +<hr /> + +<center> +To my old friend<br /> +GEORGE P. BRETT<br /> +<br /> +New York, October, 1906<br /> +</center> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CONTENTS'></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<blockquote> +<a href='#CHAPTER_I'>CHAPTER I</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_II'>CHAPTER II</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_III'>CHAPTER III</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_IV'>CHAPTER IV</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_V'>CHAPTER V</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_VI'>CHAPTER VI</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_VII'>CHAPTER VII</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_VIII'>CHAPTER VIII</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_IX'>CHAPTER IX</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_X'>CHAPTER X</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XI'>CHAPTER XI</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XII'>CHAPTER XII</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XIII'>CHAPTER XIII</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XIV'>CHAPTER XIV</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XV'>CHAPTER XV</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XVI'>CHAPTER XVI</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XVII'>CHAPTER XVII</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XVIII'>CHAPTER XVIII</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XIX'>CHAPTER XIX</a><br /> +<a href='#CHAPTER_XX'>CHAPTER XX</a><br /> +</blockquote> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_I'></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + + +<p>Two young girls sat in a high though very narrow room of the old Moorish +palace to which King Philip the Second had brought his court when he +finally made Madrid his capital. It was in the month of November, in the +afternoon, and the light was cold and grey, for the two tall windows looked +due north, and a fine rain had been falling all the morning. The stones in +the court were drying now, in patches, but the sky was like a smooth vault +of cast lead, closing over the city that lay to the northward, dark, wet +and still, as if its life had shrunk down under ground, away from the +bitter air and the penetrating damp.</p> + +<p>The room was scantily furnished, but the few objects it contained, the +carved table, the high-backed chairs and the chiselled bronze brazier, bore +the stamp of the time when art had not long been born again. On the walls +there were broad tapestries of bold design, showing green forests populated +by all sorts of animals in stiff attitudes, staring at one another in +perpetual surprise. Below the tapestry a carved walnut wainscoting went +round the room, and the door was panelled and flanked by fluted doorposts +of the same dark wood, on which rested corbels fashioned into curling +acanthus leaves, to hold up the cornice, which itself made a high shelf +over the door. Three painted Italian vases, filled with last summer's rose +leaves and carefully sealed lest the faint perfume should be lost, stood +symmetrically on this projection, their contents slowly ripening for future +use. The heap of white ashes, under which the wood coals were still alive +in the big brazier, diffused a little warmth through the chilly room.</p> + +<p>The two girls were sitting at opposite ends of the table. The one held a +long goose-quill pen, and before her lay several large sheets of paper +covered with fine writing. Her eyes followed the lines slowly, and from +time to time she made a correction in the manuscript. As she read, her lips +moved to form words, but she made no sound. Now and then a faint smile lent +singular beauty to her face, and there was more light in her eyes, too; +then it disappeared again, and she read on, carefully and intently, as if +her soul were in the work.</p> + +<p>She was very fair, as Spaniards sometimes are still, and were more often +in those days, with golden hair and deep grey eyes; she had the high +features, the smooth white throat, and the finely modelled ears that were +the outward signs of the lordly Gothic race. When she was not smiling, her +face was sad, and sometimes the delicate colour left her clear cheek and +she grew softly pale, till she seemed almost delicate. Then the sensitive +nostrils quivered almost imperceptibly, and the curving lips met closely as +if to keep a secret; but that look came seldom, and for the most part her +eyes were quiet and her mouth was kind. It was a face that expressed +devotion, womanly courage, and sensitiveness rather than an active and +dominating energy. The girl was indeed a full-grown woman, more than twenty +years of age, but the early bloom of girlhood was on her still, and if +there was a little sadness in the eyes, a man could guess well enough that +it rose from the heart, and had but one simple source, which was neither a +sudden grief nor a long-hidden sorrow, but only youth's one secret--love. +Maria Dolores de Mendoza knew all of fear for the man she loved, that any +woman could know, and much of the hope that is love's early life; but she +knew neither the grief, nor the disappointment, nor the shame for another, +nor for herself, nor any of the bitterness that love may bring. She did not +believe that such things could be wrung from hearts that were true and +faithful; and in that she was right. The man to whom she had given her +heart and soul and hope had given her his, and if she feared for him, it +was not lest he should forget her or his own honour. He was a man among +men, good and true; but he was a soldier, and a leader, who daily threw his +life to the battle, as Douglas threw the casket that held the Bruce's heart +into the thick of the fight, to win it back, or die. The man she loved was +Don John of Austria, the son of the great dead Emperor Charles the Fifth, +the uncle of dead Don Carlos and the half brother of King Philip of +Spain--the man who won glory by land and sea, who won back Granada a second +time from the Moors, as bravely as his great grandfather Ferdinand had won +it, but less cruelly, who won Lepanto, his brother's hatred and a death by +poison, the foulest stain in Spanish history.</p> + +<p>It was November now, and it had been June of the preceding year when he +had ridden away from Madrid to put down the Moriscoes, who had risen +savagely against the hard Spanish rule. He had left Dolores de Mendoza an +hour before he mounted, in the freshness of the early summer morning, where +they had met many a time, on a lonely terrace above the King's apartments. +There were roses there, growing almost wild in great earthen jars, where +some Moorish woman had planted them in older days, and Dolores could go +there unseen with her blind sister, who helped her faithfully, on pretence +of taking the poor girl thither to breathe the sweet quiet air. For Inez +was painfully sensitive of her affliction, and suffered, besides blindness, +all that an over-sensitive and imaginative being can feel.</p> + +<p>She was quite blind, with no memory of light, though she had been born +seeing, as other children. A scarlet fever had destroyed her sight. +Motherless from her birth, her father often absent in long campaigns, she +had been at the mercy of a heartless nurse, who had loved the fair little +Dolores and had secretly tormented the younger child, as soon as she was +able to understand, bringing her up to believe that she was so repulsively +ugly as to be almost a monster. Later, when the nurse was gone, and Dolores +was a little older, the latter had done all she could to heal the cruel +wound and to make her sister know that she had soft dark hair, a sad and +gentle face, with eyes that were quite closed, and a delicate mouth that +had a little half painful, half pathetic way of twitching when anything +hurt her,--for she was easily hurt. Very pale always, she turned her face +more upwards than do people who have sight, and being of good average +woman's height and very slender and finely made, this gave her carriage an +air of dignity that seemed almost pride when she was offended or wounded. +But the first hurt had been deep and lasting, and she could never quite +believe that she was not offensive to the eyes of those who saw her, still +less that she was sometimes almost beautiful in a shadowy, spiritual way. +The blind, of all their sufferings, often feel most keenly the +impossibility of knowing whether the truth is told them about their own +looks; and he who will try and realize what it is to have been always +sightless will understand that this is not vanity, but rather a sort of +diffidence towards which all people should be very kind. Of all necessities +of this world, of all blessings, of all guides to truth, God made light +first. There are many sharp pains, many terrible sufferings and sorrows in +life that come and wrench body and soul, and pass at last either into +alleviation or recovery, or into the rest of death; but of those that abide +a lifetime and do not take life itself, the worst is hopeless darkness. We +call ignorance 'blindness,' and rage 'blindness,' and we say a man is +'blind' with grief.</p> + +<p>Inez sat opposite her sister, at the other end of the table, listening. +She knew what Dolores was doing, how during long months her sister had +written a letter, from time to time, in little fragments, to give to the +man she loved, to slip into his hand at the first brief meeting or to drop +at his feet in her glove, or even, perhaps, to pass to him by the blind +girl's quick fingers. For Inez helped the lovers always, and Don John was +very gentle with her, talking with her when he could, and even leading her +sometimes when she was in a room she did not know. Dolores knew that she +could only hope to exchange a word with him when he came back, and that the +terrace was bleak and wet now, and the roses withered, and that her father +feared for her, and might do some desperate thing if he found her lover +talking with her where no one could see or hear. For old Mendoza knew the +world and the court, and he foresaw that sooner or later some royal +marriage would be made for Don John of Austria, and that even if Dolores +were married to him, some tortuous means would be found to annul her +marriage, whereby a great shame would darken his house. Moreover, he was +the King's man, devoted to Philip body and soul, as his sovereign, ready to +give his life ten times for his sovereign's word, and thinking it treason +to doubt a royal thought or motive. He was a rigid old man, a Spaniard of +Spain's great days, fearless, proud, intolerant, making Spain's honour his +idol, capable of gentleness only to his children, and loving them dearly, +but with that sort of severity and hardness in all questions where his +authority was concerned which can make a father's true affection the most +intolerable burden to a girl of heart, and which, where a son is its +object, leads sooner or later to fierce quarrels and lifelong estrangement. +And so it had happened now. For the two girls had a brother much older than +they, Rodrigo; and he had borne to be treated like a boy until he could +bear no more, and then he had left his father's house in anger to find out +his own fortune in the world, as many did in his day,--a poor gentleman +seeking distinction in an army of men as brave as himself, and as keen to +win honour on every field. Then, as if to oppose his father in everything, +he had attached himself to Don John, and was spoken of as the latter's +friend, and Mendoza feared lest his son should help Don John to a marriage +with Dolores. But in this he was mistaken, for Rodrigo was as keen, as much +a Spaniard, and as much devoted to the honour of his name as his father +could be; and though he looked upon Don John as the very ideal of what a +soldier and a prince should be, he would have cut off his own right hand +rather than let it give his leader the letter Dolores had been writing so +long; and she knew this and feared her brother, and tried to keep her +secret from him.</p> + +<p>Inez knew all, and she also was afraid of Rodrigo and of her father, +both for her sister's sake and her own. So, in that divided house, the +father was against the son, and the daughters were allied against them +both, not in hatred, but in terror and because of Dolores' great love for +Don John of Austria.</p> + +<p>As they sat at the table it began to rain again, and the big drops beat +against the windows furiously for a few minutes. The panes were round and +heavy, and of a greenish yellow colour, made of blown glass, each with a +sort of knob in the middle, where the iron blowpipe had been separated from +the hot mass. It was impossible to see through them at all distinctly, and +when the sky was dark with rain they admitted only a lurid glare into the +room, which grew cold and colourless again when the rain ceased. Inez had +been sitting motionless a long time, her elbow on the table, her chin +resting upon her loosely clasped white hands, her blind face turned upward, +listening to the turning of the pages and to the occasional scratching of +her sister's pen. She sighed, moved, and let her hands fall upon the table +before her in a helpless, half despairing way, as she leaned back in the +big carved chair. Dolores looked up at once, for she was used to helping +her sister in her slightest needs and to giving her a ready sympathy in +every mood.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" she asked quickly. "Do you want anything, dear?"</p> + +<p>"Have you almost finished?"</p> + +<p>The girl's voice would almost have told that she was blind. It was sweet +and low, but it lacked life; though not weak, it was uncertain in strength +and full of a longing that could never be satisfied, but that often seemed +to come within possible reach of satisfaction. There was in the tones, too, +the perpetual doubt of one from whom anything might be hidden by silence, +or by the least tarn of words. Every passing hope and fear, and every +pleasure and pain, were translated into sound by its quick changes. It +trusted but could not always quite promise to believe; it swelled and sank +as the sensitive heart beat faster or slower. It came from a world without +light, in which only sound had meaning, and only touch was certainty.</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Dolores. "I have almost finished--there is only half a +page more to read over."</p> + +<p>"And why do you read it over?" asked Inez. "Do you change what you have +written? Do you not think now exactly as you did when you wrote?"</p> + +<p>"No; I feel a great deal more--I want better words! And then it all +seems so little, and so badly written, and I want to say things that no one +ever said before, many, many things. He will laugh--no, not that! How could +he? But my letter will seem childish to him. I know it will. I wish I had +never written it I Do you think I had better give it to him, after +all?"</p> + +<p>"How can I tell?" asked Inez hopelessly. "You have never read it to me. +I do not know what you have said to him."</p> + +<p>"I have said that I love him as no man was ever loved before," answered +Dolores, and the true words seemed to thrill with a life of their own as +she spoke them.</p> + +<p>Then she was silent for a moment, and looked down at the written pages +without seeing them. Inez did not move, and seemed hardly to breathe. Then +Dolores spoke again, pressing both her hands upon the paper before her +unconsciously.</p> + +<p>"I have told him that I love him, and shall love him for ever and ever," +she said; "that I will live for him, die for him, suffer for him, serve +him! I have told him all that and much more."</p> + +<p>"More? That is much already. But he loves you, too. There is nothing you +can promise which he will not promise, and keep, too, I think. But more! +What more can you have said than that?"</p> + +<p>"There is nothing I would not say if I could find words!"</p> + +<p>There was a fullness of life in her voice which, to the other's +uncertain tones, was as sunshine to moonlight.</p> + +<p>"You will find words when you see him this evening," said Inez slowly. +"And they will be better than anything you can write. Am I to give him your +letter?"</p> + +<p>Dolores looked at her sister quickly, for there was a little constraint +in the accent of the last phrase.</p> + +<p>"I do not know," she answered. "How can I tell what may happen, or how I +shall see him first?"</p> + +<p>"You will see him from the window presently. I can hear the guards +forming already to meet him--and you--you will be able to see him from the +window."</p> + +<p>Inez had stopped and had finished her speech, as if something had choked +her. She turned sideways in her chair when she had spoken, as if to listen +better, for she was seated with her back to the light.</p> + +<p>"I will tell you everything," said Maria Dolores softly. "It will be +almost as if you could see him, too."</p> + +<p>"Almost--"</p> + +<p>Inez spoke the one word and broke off abruptly, and rose from her chair. +In the familiar room she moved almost as securely as if she could see. She +went to the window and listened. Dolores came and stood beside her.</p> + +<p>"What is it, dear?" she asked. "What is the matter? What has hurt you? +Tell me!"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," answered the blind girl, "nothing, dear. I was thinking--how +lonely I shall be when you and he are married, and they send me to a +convent, or to our dismal old house in Valladolid."</p> + +<p>A faint colour came into her pale face, and feeling it she turned away +from Dolores; for she was not speaking the truth, or at least not half of +it all.</p> + +<p>"I will not let you go!" answered Dolores, putting one arm round her +sister's waist. "They shall never take you from me. And if in many years +from now we are married, you shall always be with us, and I will always +take care of you as I do now."</p> + +<p>Inez sighed and pressed her forehead and blind eyes to the cold window, +almost withdrawing herself from the pressure of Dolores' arm. Down below +there was tramping of heavy feet, as the companies of foot guards took +their places, marching across the broad space, in their wrought steel caps +and breastplates, carrying their tasselled halberds on their shoulders. An +officer's voice gave sharp commands. The gust that had brought the rain had +passed by, and a drizzling mist, caused by a sudden chill, now completely +obscured the window.</p> + +<p>"Can you see anything?" asked Inez suddenly, in a low voice. "I think I +hear trumpets far away."</p> + +<p>"I cannot see--there is mist on the glass, too. Do you hear the trumpets +clearly?"</p> + +<p>"I think I do. Yes--I hear them clearly now." She stopped. "He is +coming," she added under her breath.</p> + +<p>Dolores listened, but she had not the almost supernatural hearing of the +blind, and could distinguish nothing but the tramping of the soldiers +below, and her sister's irregular breathing beside her, as Inez held her +breath again and again in order to catch the very faint and distant +sound.</p> + +<p>"Open the window," she said almost sharply, "I know I hear the +trumpets."</p> + +<p>Her delicate fingers felt for the bolts with almost feverish anxiety. +Dolores helped her and opened the window wide. A strain of distant clarions +sounding a triumphant march came floating across the wet city. Dolores +started, and her face grew radiant, while her fresh lips opened a little as +if to drink in the sound with the wintry air. Beside her, Inez grew slowly +pale and held herself by the edge of the window frame, gripping it hard, +and neither of the two girls felt any sensation of cold. Dolores' grey eyes +grew wide and bright as she gazed fixedly towards the city where the avenue +that led to the palace began, but Inez, bending a little, turned her ear in +the same direction, as if she could not bear to lose a single note of the +music that told her how Don John of Austria had come home in triumph, safe +and whole, from his long campaign in the south.</p> + +<p>Slowly it came nearer, strain upon strain, each more clear and loud and +full of rejoicing. At first only the high-pitched clarions had sent their +call to the window, but now the less shrill trumpets made rich harmonies to +the melody, and the deep bass horns gave the marching time to the rest, in +short full blasts that set the whole air shaking as with little peak of +thunder. Below, the mounted officers gave orders, exchanged short phrases, +cantered to their places, and came back again a moment later to make some +final arrangement--their splendid gold-inlaid corslets and the rich +caparisons of their horses looking like great pieces of jewelry that moved +hither and thither in the thin grey mist, while the dark red and yellow +uniforms of the household guards surrounded the square on three sides with +broad bands of colour. Dolores could see her father, who commanded them and +to whom the officers came for orders, sitting motionless and erect on his +big black horse--a stern figure, with close-cut grey beard, clad all in +black saving his heavily gilded breastplate and the silk sash he wore +across it from shoulder to sword knot. She shrank back a little, for she +would not have let him see her looking down from an upper window to welcome +the returning visitor.</p> + +<p>"What is it? Do you see him? Is he there?" Inez asked the questions in a +breath, as she heard her sister move.</p> + +<p>"No--our father is below on his horse. He must not see us." And she +moved further into the embrasure.</p> + +<p>"You will not be able to see," said Inez anxiously. "How can you tell +me--I mean, how can you see, where you are?"</p> + +<p>Dolores laughed softly, but her laugh trembled with the happiness that +was coming so soon.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see very well," she answered. "The window is wide open, you +know."</p> + +<p>"Yes--I know."</p> + +<p>Inez leaned back against the wall beside the window, letting her hand +drop in a hopeless gesture. The sample answer had hurt her, who could never +see, by its mere thoughtlessness and by the joy that made her sister's +voice quaver. The music grew louder and louder, and now there came with it +the sound of a great multitude, cheering, singing the march with the +trumpets, shouting for Don John; and all at once as the throng burst from +the street to the open avenue the voices drowned the clarions for a moment, +and a vast cry of triumph filled the whole air.</p> + +<p>"He is there! He is there!" repeated Inez, leaning towards the window +and feeling for the stone sill.</p> + +<p>But Dolores could not hear for the shouting. The clouds had lifted to +the westward and northward; and as the afternoon sun sank lower they broke +away, and the level rays drank up the gloom of the wintry day in an +instant. Dolores stood motionless before the window, undazzled, like a +statue of ivory and gold in a stone niche. With the light, as the advancing +procession sent the people before it, the trumpets rang high and clear +again, and the bright breastplates of the trumpeters gleamed like dancing +fire before the lofty standard that swayed with the slow pace of its +bearer's horse. Brighter and nearer came the colours, the blazing armour, +the standard, the gorgeous procession of victorious men-at-arms; louder and +louder blew the trumpets, higher and higher the clouds were lifted from the +lowering sun. Half the people of Madrid went before, the rest flocked +behind, all cheering or singing or shouting. The stream of colour and light +became a river, the river a flood, and in the high tide of a young victor's +glory Don John of Austria rode onward to the palace gate. The mounted +trumpeters parted to each side before him, and the standard-bearer ranged +his horse to the left, opposite the banner of the King, which held the +right, and Don John, on a grey Arab mare, stood out alone at the head of +his men, saluting his royal brother with lowered sword and bent head. A +final blast from the trumpets sounded full and high, and again and again +the shout of the great throng went up like thunder and echoed from the +palace walls, as King Philip, in his balcony above the gate, returned the +salute with his hand, and bent a little forward over the stone railing.</p> + +<p>Dolores de Mendoza forgot her father and all that he might say, and +stood at the open window, looking down. She had dreamed of this moment; she +had seen visions of it in the daytime; she had told herself again and again +what it would be, how it must be; but the reality was beyond her dreams and +her visions and her imaginings, for she had to the full what few women have +in any century, and what few have ever had in the blush of maidenhood,--the +sight of the man she loved, and who loved her with all his heart, coming +home in triumph from a hard-fought war, himself the leader and the victor, +himself in youth's first spring, the young idol of a warlike nation, and +the centre of military glory.</p> + +<p>When he had saluted the King he sat still a moment on his horse and +looked upward, as if unconsciously drawn by the eyes that, of all others, +welcomed him at that moment; and his own met them instantly and smiled, +though his face betrayed nothing. But old Mendoza, motionless in his +saddle, followed the look, and saw; and although he would have praised the +young leader with the best of his friends, and would have fought under him +and for him as well as the bravest, yet at that moment he would gladly have +seen Don John of Austria fall dead from his horse before his eyes.</p> + +<p>Don John dismounted without haste, and advanced to the gate as the King +disappeared from the balcony above. He was of very graceful figure and +bearing, not short, but looking taller than he really was by the perfection +of his proportions. The short reddish brown hair grew close and curling on +his small head, but left the forehead high, while it set off the clear skin +and the mobile features. A very small moustache shaded his lip without +hiding the boyish mouth, and at that time he wore no beard. The lips, +indeed, smiled often, and the expression of the mouth was rather careless +and good-humoured than strong. The strength of the face was in the +clean-cut jaw, while its real expression was in the deep-set, fiery blue +eyes, that could turn angry and fierce at one moment, and tender as a +woman's the next.</p> + +<p>He wore without exaggeration the military dress of his time,--a +beautifully chiselled corslet inlaid with gold, black velvet sleeves, loose +breeches of velvet and silk, so short that they did not descend half way to +the knees, while his legs were covered by tight hose and leather boots, +made like gaiters to clasp from the knee to the ankle and heel. Over his +shoulder hung a short embroidered cloak, and his head covering was a broad +velvet cap, in which were fastened the black and yellow plumes of the House +of Austria.</p> + +<p>As he came near to the gate, many friends moved forward to greet him, +and he gave his hand to all, with a frank smile and words of greeting. But +old Mendoza did not dismount nor move his horse a step nearer. Don John, +looking round before he went in, saw the grim face, and waved his hand to +Dolores' father; but the old man pretended that he saw nothing, and made no +answering gesture. Some one in the crowd of courtiers laughed lightly. Old +Mendoza's face never changed; but his knees must have pressed the saddle +suddenly, for his black horse stirred uneasily, and tried to rear a little. +Don John stopped short, and his eyes hardened and grew very light before +the smile could fade from his lips, while he tried to find the face of the +man whose laugh he had heard. But that was impossible, and his look was +grave and stern as he went in under the great gate, the multitude cheering +after him.</p> + +<p>From her high window Dolores had seen and heard also, for she had +followed every movement he made and every change of his expression, and had +faithfully told her sister what she saw, until the laugh came, short and +light, but cutting. And Inez heard that, too, for she was leaning far +forward upon the broad stone sill to listen for the sound of Don John's +voice. She drew back with a springing movement, and a sort of cry of +pain.</p> + +<p>"Some one is laughing at me!" she cried. "Some one is laughing because I +am trying to see!"</p> + +<p>Instantly Dolores drew her sister to her, kissing her tenderly, and +soothing her as one does a frightened child.</p> + +<p>"No, dear, no! It was not that--I saw what it was. Nobody was looking at +you, my darling. Do you know why some one laughed? It hurt me, too. He +smiled and waved his hand to our father, who took no notice of him. The +laugh was for that--and for me, because the man knew well enough that our +father does not mean that we shall ever marry. Do you see, dear? It was not +meant for you."</p> + +<p>"Did he really look up at us when you said so?" asked Inez, in a +smothered voice.</p> + +<p>"Who? The man who laughed?"</p> + +<p>"No. I mean--"</p> + +<p>"Don John? Yes. He looked up to us and smiled--as he often does at +me--with his eyes only, while his face was quite grave. He is not changed +at all, except that he looks more determined, and handsomer, and braver, +and stronger than ever! He does each time I see him!"</p> + +<p>But Inez was not listening.</p> + +<p>"That was worth living for--worth being blind for," she said suddenly, +"to hear the people shout and cheer for him as he came along. You who can +see it all do not understand what the sound means to me. For a moment--only +for a moment--I saw light--I know I saw a bright light before my eyes. I am +not dreaming. It made my heart beat, and it made my head dizzy. It must +have been light. Do you think it could be, Dolores?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know, dear," answered the other gently.</p> + +<p>But as the day faded and they sat together in the early dusk, Dolores +looked long and thoughtfully at the blind face. Inez loved Don John, though +she did not know it, and without knowing it she had told her sister.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_II'></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + + +<p>When Don John had disappeared within the palace the people lingered a +little while, hoping that something might happen which would be worth +seeing, and then, murmuring a little in perfectly unreasonable +disappointment, they slowly dispersed. After that old Mendoza gave his +orders to the officers of the guards, the men tramped away, one detachment +after another, in a regular order; the cavalry that had ridden up with Don +John wheeled at a signal from the trumpets, and began to ride slowly back +to the city, pressing hard upon the multitude, and before it was quite dark +the square before the palace was deserted again. The sky had cleared, the +pavement was dry again, and the full moon was rising. Two tall sentinels +with halberds paced silently up and down in the shadow.</p> + +<p>Dolores and her sister were still sitting in the dark when the door +opened, and a grey-haired servant in red and yellow entered the room, +bearing two lighted wax candles in heavy bronze candlesticks, which he set +upon the table. A moment later he was followed by old Mendoza, still in his +breastplate, as he had dismounted, his great spurs jingling on his heavy +boots, and his long basket-hilted sword trailing on the marble pavement. He +was bareheaded now, and his short hair, smooth and grizzled, covered his +energetic head like a close-fitting skull cap of iron-grey velvet. He stood +still before the table, his bony right hand resting upon it and holding +both his long gloves. The candlelight shone upward into his dark face, and +gleamed yellow in his angry eyes.</p> + +<p>Both the girls rose instinctively as their father entered; but they +stood close together, their hands still linked as if to defend each other +from a common enemy, though the hard man would have given his life for +either of them at any moment since they had come into the world. They knew +it, and trembled.</p> + +<p>"You have made me the laughing-stock of the court," he began slowly, and +his voice shook with anger. "What have you to say in your defence?"</p> + +<p>He was speaking to Dolores, and she turned a little pale. There was +something so cruelly hard in his tone and bearing that she drew back a +little, not exactly in bodily fear, but as a brave man may draw back a step +when another suddenly draws a weapon upon him. Instantly Inez moved +forward, raising one white hand in protest, and turning her blind face to +her father's gleaming eyes.</p> + +<p>"I am not speaking to you," he said roughly, "but you," he went on, +addressing Dolores, and the heavy table shook under his hand. "What devil +possessed you that you should shame me and yourself, standing at your +window to smile at Don John, as if he were the Espadero at a bull fight and +you the beauty of the ring--with all Madrid there to look on, from his +Majesty the King to the beggar in the road? Have you no modesty, no shame, +no blood that can blush? And if not, have you not even so much woman's +sense as should tell you that you are ruining your name and mine before the +whole world?"</p> + +<p>"Father! For the sake of heaven do not say such words--you must not! You +shall not!"</p> + +<p>Dolores' face was quite white now, as she gently pushed Inez aside and +faced the angry man. The table was between them.</p> + +<p>"Have I said one word more than the very truth?" asked Mendoza. "Does +not the whole court know that you love Don John of Austria--"</p> + +<p>"Let the whole world know it!" cried the girl bravely. "Am I ashamed to +love the best and bravest man that breathes?"</p> + +<p>"Let the whole world know that you are willing to be his toy, his +plaything--"</p> + +<p>"His wife, sir!" Dolores' voice was steady and clear as she interrupted +her father. "His wife," she repeated proudly; "And to-morrow, if you and +the King will not hinder us. God made you my father, but neither God nor +man has given you the right to insult me, and you shall not be unanswered, +so long as I have strength and breath to speak. But for you, I should be +Don John of Austria's wife to-day--and then, then his 'toy,' his +'plaything'--yes, and his slave and his servant--what you will! I love him, +and I would work for him with my hands, as I would give my blood and my +life for his, if God would grant me that happiness and grace, since you +will not let me be his wife!"</p> + +<p>"His wife!" exclaimed Mendoza, with a savage sneer. "His wife--to be +married to-day and cast off to-morrow by a turn of the pen and the twisting +of a word that would prove your marriage void, in order that Don John may +be made the husband of some royal widowed lady, like Queen Mary of the +Scots! His wife!" He laughed bitterly.</p> + +<p>"You have an exalted opinion of your King, my father, since you suppose +that he would permit such deeds in Spain!"</p> + +<p>Dolores had drawn herself up to her full height as she spoke, and she +remained motionless as she awaited the answer to what she had said. It was +long in coming, though Mendoza's dark eyes met hers unflinchingly, and his +lips moved more than once as if he were about to speak. She had struck a +blow that was hard to parry, and she knew it. Inez stood beside her, silent +and breathing hard as she listened.</p> + +<p>"You think that I have nothing to say," he began at last, and his tone +had changed and was more calm. "You are right, perhaps. What should I say +to you, since you have lost all sense of shame and all thought of respect +or obedience? Do you expect that I shall argue with you, and try to +convince you that I am right, instead of forcing you to respect me and +yourself? Thank Heaven, I have never yet questioned my King's thoughts, nor +his motives, nor his supreme right to do whatsoever may be for the honour +and glory of Spain. My life is his, and all I have is his, to do with it +all as he pleases, by grace of his divine right. That is my creed and my +law--and if I have failed to bring you up in the same belief, I have +committed a great sin, and it will be counted against me hereafter, though +I have done what I could, to the best of my knowledge."</p> + +<p>Mendoza lifted his sheathed sword and laid his right hand upon the +cross-bar of the basket hilt.</p> + +<p>"God--the King--Spain!" he said solemnly, as he pressed his lips to it +once for each article of his faith.</p> + +<p>"I do not wish to shake your belief," said Dolores coldly. "I daresay +that is impossible!"</p> + +<p>"As impossible as it is to make me change my determination," answered +Mendoza, letting his long sword rest on the pavement again.</p> + +<p>"And what may your determination be?" asked the girl, still facing +him.</p> + +<p>Something in his face forewarned her of near evil and danger, as he +looked at her long without answering. She moved a little, so as to stand +directly in front of Inez. Taking an attitude that was almost defiant, she +began to speak rapidly, holding her hands behind her and pressing herself +back against her sister to attract the latter's attention; and in her hand +she held the letter she had written to Don John, folded into the smallest +possible space, for she had kept it ready in the wrist of her tight sleeve, +not knowing what might happen any moment to give her an opportunity of +sending it.</p> + +<p>"What have you determined?" she asked again, and then went on without +waiting for a reply. "In what way are you going to exhibit your power over +me? Do you mean to take me away from the court to live in Valladolid again? +Are you going to put me in the charge of some sour old woman who will never +let me out of her sight from morning till morning?" She had found her +sister's hand behind hers and had thrust the letter into the fingers that +closed quickly upon it. Then she laughed a little, almost gaily. "Do you +think that a score of sour old duennas could teach me to forget the man I +love, or could prevent me from sending him a message every day if I chose? +Do you think you could hinder Don John of Austria, who came back an hour +ago from his victory the idol of all Spain, the favourite of the +people--brave, young, powerful, rich, popular, beloved far more than the +King himself, from seeing me every day if he chose, so long as he were not +away in war? And then--I will ask you something more--do you think that +father, or mother, or king, or law, or country has power to will away the +love of a woman who loves with all her heart and soul and strength? Then +answer me and tell me what you have determined to do with me, and I will +tell you my determination, too, for I have one of my own, and shall abide +by it, come what may, and whatsoever you may do!"</p> + +<p>She paused, for she had heard Inez softly close the door as she went +out. The letter at least was safe, and if it were humanly possible, Inez +would find a means of delivering it; for she had all that strange ingenuity +of the blind in escaping observation which it seems impossible that they +should possess, but of which every one who has been much with them is fully +aware. Mendoza had seen Inez go out, and was glad that she was gone, for +her blind face sometimes disturbed him when he wished to assert his +authority.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "I will tell you what I mean to do, and it is the only +thing left to me, for you have given me no choice. You are disobedient and +unruly, you have lost what little respect you ever had--or showed--for me. +But that is not all. Men have had unruly daughters before, and yet have +married them well, and to men who in the end have ruled them. I do not +speak of my affection for you both, since you have none for me. But now, +you are going beyond disobedience and lawlessness, for you are ruining +yourself and disgracing me, and I will neither permit the one nor suffer +the other." His voice rose harshly. "Do you understand me? I intend to +protect my name from you, and yours from the world, in the only way +possible. I intend to send you to Las Huelgas to-morrow morning. I am in +earnest, and unless you consent to give up this folly and to marry as I +wish, you shall stay there for the rest of your natural life. Do you +understand? And until to-morrow morning you shall stay within these doors. +We shall see whether Don John of Austria will try to force my dwelling +first and a convent of holy nuns afterwards. You will be safe from him, I +give you my word of honour,--the word of a Spanish gentleman and of your +father. You shall be safe forever. And if Don John tries to enter here +to-night, I will kill him on the threshold. I swear that I will."</p> + +<p>He ceased speaking, turned, and began to walk up and down the small +room, his spurs and sword clanking heavily at every step. He had folded his +arms, and his head was bent low.</p> + +<p>A look of horror and fear had slowly risen in Dolores' face, for she +knew her father, and that he kept his word at every risk. She knew also +that the King held him in very high esteem, and was as firmly opposed to +her marriage as Mendoza himself, and therefore ready to help him to do what +he wished. It had never occurred to her that she could be suddenly thrust +out of sight in a religious institution, to be kept there at her father's +pleasure, even for her whole life. She was too young and too full of life +to have thought of such a possibility. She had indeed heard that such +things could be done, and had been done, but she had never known such a +case, and had never realized that she was so completely at her father's +mercy. For the first time in her life she felt real fear, and as it fell +upon her there came the sickening conviction that she could not resist it, +that her spirit was broken all at once, that in a moment more she would +throw herself at her father's feet and implore mercy, making whatever +promise he exacted, yet making it falsely, out of sheer terror, in an utter +degradation and abasement of all moral strength, of which she had never +even dreamed. She grew giddy as she felt it coming upon her, and the lights +of the two candles moved strangely. Already she saw herself on her knees, +sobbing with fear, trying to take her father's hand, begging forgiveness, +denying her love, vowing submission and dutiful obedience in an agony of +terror. For on the other side she saw the dark corridors and gloomy cells +of Las Huelgas, the veiled and silent nuns, the abomination of despair that +was before her till she should die and escape at last,--the faint hope +which would always prevent her from taking the veil herself, yet a hope +fainter and fainter, crossed by the frightful uncertainty in which she +should be kept by those who guarded her. They would not even tell her +whether the man she loved were alive or dead, she could never know whether +he had given up her love, himself in despair, or whether, then, as years +went by, he would not lose the thread that took him back to the memory of +her, and forget--and love again.</p> + +<p>But then her strong nature rose again, and the vision of fear began to +fade as her faith in his love denied the last thought with scorn. Many a +time, when words could tell no more, and seemed exhausted just when trust +was strongest, he had simply said, "I love you, as you love me," and +somehow the little phrase meant all, and far more than the tender speeches +that sometimes formed themselves so gracefully, and yet naturally and +simply, because they, too, came straight from the heart. So now, in her +extreme need, the plain words came back to her in his voice, "I love you, +as you love me," with a sudden strength of faith in him that made her live +again, and made fear seem impossible. While her father slowly paced the +floor in silence, she thought what she should do, and whether there could +be anything which she would not do, if Don John of Austria were kept a +prisoner from her; and she felt sure that she could overcome every obstacle +and laugh at every danger, for the hope of getting to him. If she would, so +would he, since he loved her as she loved him. But for all the world, he +would not have her throw herself upon her father's mercy and make false +promises and sob out denials of her love, out of fear. Death would be +better than that.</p> + +<p>"Do as you will with me, since you have the power," she said at last, +quite calmly and steadily.</p> + +<p>Instantly the old man stopped in his walk, and turned towards her, +almost as if he himself were afraid now. To her amazement she saw that his +dark eyes were moist with tears that clung but half shed to the rugged lids +and rough lashes. He did not speak for some moments, while she gazed at him +in wonder, for she could not understand. Then all at once he lifted his +brown hands and covered his face with a gesture of utter despair.</p> + +<p>"Dolores! My child, my little girl!" he cried, in a broken voice.</p> + +<p>Then he sat down, as it overcome, clasped his hands on the hilt of his +sword, and rested his forehead against them, rocking himself with a barely +perceptible motion. In twenty years, Dolores had never understood, not even +guessed, that the hard man, ever preaching of wholesome duty and strict +obedience, always rebuking, never satisfied, ill pleased almost always, +loved her with all his heart, and looked upon her as the very jewel of his +soul. She guessed it now, in a sudden burst of understanding; but it was so +new, so strange, that she could not have told what she felt. There was at +best no triumph at the thought that, of the two, he had broken down first +in the contest. Pity came first, womanly, simple and kind, for the harsh +nature that was so wounded at last. She came to his side, and laid one hand +upon his shoulder, speaking softly.</p> + +<p>"I am very, very sorry that I have hurt you," she said, and waited for +him to speak, pressing his shoulder with a gentle touch.</p> + +<p>He did not look up, and still he rocked himself gently, leaning on his +sword. The girl suffered, too, to see him suffering so. A little while ago +he had been hard, fierce, angry, cruel, threatening her with a living death +that had filled her with horror. It had seemed quite impossible that there +could be the least tenderness in him for any one--least of all for her.</p> + +<p>"God be merciful to me," he said at length in very low tones. "God +forgive me if it is my fault--you do not love me--I am nothing to you but +an unkind old man, and you are all the world to me, child!"</p> + +<p>He raised his head slowly and looked into her face. She was startled at +the change in his own, as well as deeply touched by what he said. His dark +cheeks had grown grey, and the tears that would not quite fall were like a +glistening mist under the lids, and almost made him look sightless. Indeed, +he scarcely saw her distinctly. His clasped hands trembled a little on the +hilt of the sword he still held.</p> + +<p>"How could I know?" cried Dolores, suddenly kneeling down beside him. +"How could I guess? You never let me see that you were fond of me--or I +have been blind all these years--"</p> + +<p>"Hush, child!" he said. "Do not hurt me any more--it must have been my +fault."</p> + +<p>He grew more calm, and though his face was very grave and sad, the +natural dark colour was slowly coming back to it now, and his hands were +steady again. The girl was too young, and far too different from him, to +understand his nature, but she was fast realizing that he was not the man +he had always seemed to her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if I had only known!" she cried, in deep distress. "If I had only +guessed, I would have been so different! I was always frightened, always +afraid of you, since I can remember--I thought you did not care for us and +that we always displeased you--how could we know?"</p> + +<p>Mendoza lifted one of his hands from the sword hilt, and took hers, with +as much gentleness as was possible to him. His eyes became clear again, and +the profound emotion he had shown subsided to the depths whence it had +risen.</p> + +<p>"We shall never quite understand each other," he said quietly. "You +cannot see that it is a man's duty to do what is right for his children, +rather than to sacrifice that in order to make them love him."</p> + +<p>It seemed to Dolores that there might be a way open between the two, but +she said nothing, and left her hand in his, glad that he was kind, but +feeling, as he felt, that there could never be any real understanding +between them. The breach had existed too long, and it was far too wide.</p> + +<p>"You are headstrong, my dear," he said, nodding at each word. "You are +very headstrong, if you will only reflect."</p> + +<p>"It is not my head, it is my heart," answered Dolores. "And besides," +she added with a smile, "I am your daughter, and you are not of a very +gentle and yielding disposition, are you?"</p> + +<p>"No," he answered with hesitation, "perhaps not." Then his face relaxed +a little, and he almost smiled too.</p> + +<p>It seemed as if the peace were made and as if thereafter there need not +be trouble again. But it was even then not far off, for it was as +impossible for Mendoza to yield as it would have been for Dolores to give +up her love for Don John. She did not see this, and she fancied that a real +change had taken place in his disposition, so that he would forget that he +had threatened to send her to Las Huelgas, and not think of it again.</p> + +<p>"What is done cannot be undone," he said, with renewed sadness. "You +will never quite believe that you have been everything to me during your +life. How could you not be, my child? I am very lonely. Your mother has +been dead nearly eighteen years, and Rodrigo--"</p> + +<p>He stopped short suddenly, for he had never spoken his son's name in the +girl's hearing since Rodrigo had left him to follow his own fortunes.</p> + +<p>"I think Rodrigo broke my heart," said the old man, after a short pause, +controlling his voice so that it sounded dry and indifferent. "And if there +is anything left of it, you will break the rest."</p> + +<p>He rose, taking his hand from hers, and turning away, with the roughness +of a strong, hard man, who has broken down once under great emotion and is +capable of any harshness in his fear of yielding to it again. Dolores +started slightly and drew back. In her the kindly impression was still +strong, but his tone and manner wounded her.</p> + +<p>"You are wrong," she said earnestly. "Since you have shown me that you +love me, I will indeed do my best not to hurt you or displease you. I will +do what I can--what I can."</p> + +<p>She repeated the last words slowly and with unconscious emphasis. He +turned his face to her again instantly.</p> + +<p>"Then promise me that you will never see Don John of Austria again, that +you will forget that you ever loved him, that you will put him altogether +out of your thoughts, and that you will obediently accept the marriage I +shall make for you."</p> + +<p>The words of refusal to any such obedience as that rose to the girl's +lips, ready and sharp. But she would not speak them this time, lest more +angry words should answer hers. She looked straight at her father's eyes, +holding her head proudly high for a moment. Then, smiling at the +impossibility of what he asked, she turned from him and went to the window +in silence. She opened it wide, leaned upon the stone sill and looked out. +The moon had risen much higher now, and the court was white.</p> + +<p>She had meant to cut short the discussion without rousing anger again, +but she could have taken no worse way to destroy whatever was left of her +father's kindlier mood. He did not raise his voice now, as he followed her +and spoke.</p> + +<p>"You refuse to do that?" he said, with an already ominous interrogation +in his tone.</p> + +<p>"You ask the impossible," she answered, without looking round. "I have +not refused, for I have no will in this, no choice. You can do what you +please with me, for you have power over my outward life--and if you lacked +it, the King would help you. But you have no power beyond that, neither +over my heart nor over my soul. I love him--I have loved him long, and I +shall love him till I die, and beyond that, forever and ever, beyond +everything--beyond the great to-morrow of God's last judgment! How can I +put him out of my thoughts, then? It is madness to ask it of me."</p> + +<p>She paused a moment, while he stood behind her, getting his teeth and +slowly grinding the heel of one heavy boot on the pavement.</p> + +<p>"And as for threatening me," she continued, "you will not kill Don John, +nor even try to kill him, for he is the King's brother. If I can see him +this evening, I will--and there will be no risk for him. You would not +murder him by stealth, I suppose? No! Then you will not attack him at all, +and if I can see him, I will--I tell you so, frankly. To-morrow or the next +day, when the festivities they have for him are over, and you yourself are +at liberty, take me to Las Huelgas, if you will, and with as little scandal +as possible. But when I am there, set a strong guard of armed men to keep +me, for I shall escape unless you do. And I shall go to Don John. That is +all I have to say. That is my last word."</p> + +<p>"I gave you mine, and it was my word of honour," said Mendoza. "If Don +John tries to enter here, to see you, I will kill him. To-morrow, you shall +go to Las Huelgas."</p> + +<p>Dolores made no answer and did not even turn her head. He left her and +went out. She heard his heavy tread in the hall beyond, and she heard a +bolt slipped at the further door. She was imprisoned for the night, for the +entrance her father had fastened was the one which cut off the portion of +the apartment in which the sisters lived from the smaller part which he had +reserved for himself. These rooms, from which there was no other exit, +opened, like the sitting-room, upon the same hall.</p> + +<p>When Dolores knew that she was alone, she drew back from the window and +shut it. It had served its purpose as a sort of refuge from her father, and +the night air was cold. She sat down to think, and being in a somewhat +desperate mood, she smiled at the idea of being locked into her room, +supperless, like a naughty child. But her face grew grave instantly as she +tried to discover some means of escape. Inez was certainly not in the +apartment--she must have gone to the other end of the palace, on pretence +of seeing one of the court ladies, but really in the hope of giving Don +John the letter. It was more than probable that she would not be allowed to +enter when she came back, for Mendoza would distrust her. That meant that +Dolores could have no communication with any one outside her rooms during +the evening and night, and she knew her father too well to doubt that he +would send her to Las Huelgas in the morning, as he had sworn to do. +Possibly he would let her serving-woman come to her to prepare what she +needed for the journey, but even that was unlikely, for he would suspect +everybody.</p> + +<p>The situation looked hopeless, and the girl's face grew slowly pale as +she realized that after all she might not even exchange a word with Don +John before going to the convent--she might not even be able to tell him +whither they were sending her, and Mendoza might keep the secret for +years--and she would never be allowed to write, of course.</p> + +<p>She heard the further door opened again, the bolt running back with a +sharp noise. Then she heard her father's footsteps and his voice calling to +Inez, as he went from room to room. But there was no answer, and presently +he went away, bolting the door a second time. There could be no more doubt +about it now. Dolores was quite alone. Her heart beat heavily and slowly. +But it was not over yet. Again the bolt slipped in the outer hall, and +again she heard the heavy steps. They came straight towards the door. He +had perhaps changed his mind, or he had something more to say; she held her +breath, but he did not come in. As if to make doubly sure, he bolted her +into the little room, crossed the hall a last time, and bolted it for the +night, perfectly certain that Dolores was safely shut off from the outer +world.</p> + +<p>For some minutes she sat quite still, profoundly disturbed, and utterly +unable to find any way out of her difficulty, which was, indeed, that she +was in a very secure prison.</p> + +<p>Then again there was a sound at the door, but very soft this time, not +half as loud in her ears as the beating of her own heart. There was +something ghostly in it, for she had heard no footsteps. The bolt moved +very slowly and gently--she had to strain her ears to hear it move. The +sound ceased, and another followed it--that of the door being cautiously +opened. A moment later Inez was in the room--turning her head anxiously +from side to side to hear Dolores' breathing, and so to find out where she +was. Then as Dolores rose, the blind girl put her finger to her lips, and +felt for her sister's hand.</p> + +<p>"He has the letter," she whispered quickly. "I found him by accident, +very quickly. I am to say to you that after he has been some time in the +great hall, he will slip away and come here. You see our father will be on +duty and cannot come up."</p> + +<p>Dolores' hand trembled violently.</p> + +<p>"He swore to me that he would kill Don John if he came here," she +whispered. "He will do it, if it costs his own life! You must find him +again--go quickly, dear, for the love of Heaven!" Her anxiety increased. +"Go--go, darling--do not lose a moment--he may come sooner--save him, save +him!"</p> + +<p>"I cannot go," answered Inez, in terror, as she understood the +situation. "I had hidden myself, and I am locked in with you. He called me, +but I kept quiet, for I knew he would not let me stay." She buried her face +in her hands and sobbed aloud in an agony of fear.</p> + +<p>Dolores' lips were white, and she steadied herself against a chair.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_III'></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + + +<p>Dolores stood leaning against the back of the chair, neither hearing nor +seeing her sister, conscious only that Don John was in danger and that she +could not warn him to be on his guard. She had not believed herself when +she had told her father that he would not dare to lift his hand against the +King's half brother. She had said the words to give herself courage, and +perhaps in a rush of certainty that the man she loved was a match for other +men, hand to hand, and something more. It was different now. Little as she +yet knew of human nature, she guessed without reasoning that a man who has +been angry, who has wavered and given way to what he believes to be +weakness, and whose anger has then burst out again, is much more dangerous +than before, because his wrath is no longer roused against another only, +but also against himself. More follies and crimes have been committed in +that second tide of passion than under a first impulse. Even if Mendoza had +not fully meant what he had said the first time, he had meant it all, and +more, when he had last spoken. Once more the vision of fear rose before +Dolores' eyes, nobler now; because it was fear for another and not for +herself, but therefore also harder to conquer.</p> + +<p>Inez had ceased from sobbing now, and was sitting quietly in her +accustomed seat, in that attitude of concentrated expectancy of sounds +which is so natural to the blind, that one can almost recognize blindness +by the position of the head and body without seeing the face. The blind +rarely lean back in a chair; more often the body is quite upright, or bent +a little forward, the face is slightly turned up when there is total +silence, often turned down when a sound is already heard distinctly; the +knees are hardly ever crossed, the hands are seldom folded together, but +are generally spread out, as if ready to help the hearing by the sense of +touch--the lips are slightly parted, for the blind know that they hear by +the mouth as well as with their ears--the expression of the face is one of +expectation and extreme attention, still, not placid, calm, but the very +contrary of indifferent. It was thus that Inez sat, as she often sat for +hours, listening, always and forever listening to the speech of things and +of nature, as well as for human words. And in listening, she thought and +reasoned patiently and continually, so that the slightest sounds had often +long and accurate meanings for her. The deaf reason little or ill, and are +very suspicious; the blind, on the contrary, are keen, thoughtful, and +ingenious, and are distrustful of themselves rather than of others. Inez +sat quite still, listening, thinking, and planning a means of helping her +sister.</p> + +<p>But Dolores stood motionless as if she were paralyzed, watching the +picture that «he could not chase away. For she saw the familiar figure of +the man she loved coming down the gloomy corridor, alone and unarmed, past +the deep embrasures through which the moonlight streamed, straight towards +the oak door at the end; and then, from one of the windows another figure +stood out, sword in hand, a gaunt man with a grey beard, and there were few +words, and an uncertain quick confounding of shadows with a ray of cold +light darting hither and thither, then a fall, and then stillness. As soon +as it was over, it began again, with little change, save that it grew more +distinct, till she could see Don John's white face in the moonlight as he +lay dead on the pavement of the corridor.</p> + +<p>It became intolerable at last, and she slowly raised one hand and +covered her eyes to shut out the sight.</p> + +<p>"Listen," said Inez, as Dolores stirred. "I have been thinking. You must +see him to-night, even if you are not alone with him. There is only one way +to do that; you must dress yourself for the court and go down to the great +hall with the others and speak to him--then you can decide how to meet +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Inez--I have not told you the rest! To-morrow I am to be sent to Las +Huelgas, and kept there like a prisoner." Inez uttered a low cry of +pain.</p> + +<p>"To a convent!" It seemed like death.</p> + +<p>Dolores began to tell her all Mendoza had said, but Inez soon +interrupted her. There was a dark flush in the blind girl's face.</p> + +<p>"And he would have you believe that he loves you?" she cried +indignantly. "He has always been hard, and cruel, and unkind, he has never +forgiven me for being blind---he will never forgive you for being young! +The King! The King before everything and every one--before himself, yes, +that is well, but before his children, his soul, his heart--he has no +heart! What am I saying--" She stopped short.</p> + +<p>"And yet, in his strange way, he loves us both," said Dolores. "I cannot +understand it, but I saw his face when there were tears in his eyes, and I +heard his voice. He would give his life for us."</p> + +<p>"And our lives, and hearts, and hopes to feed his conscience and to save +his own soul!"</p> + +<p>Inez was trembling with anger, leaning far forward, her face flushed, +one slight hand clenched, the other clenching it hard. Dolores was silent. +It was not the first time that Inez had spoken in this way, for the blind +girl could be suddenly and violently angry for a good cause. But now her +tone changed.</p> + +<p>"I will save you," she said suddenly, "but there is no time to be lost. +He will not come back to our rooms now, and he knows well enough that Don +John cannot come here at this hour, so that he is not waiting for him. We +have this part of the place to ourselves, and the outer door only is bolted +now. It will take you an hour to dress--say three-quarters of an hour. As +soon as you get out, you must go quickly round the palace to the Duchess +Alvarez. Our father will not go there, and you can go down with her, as +usual--but tell her nothing. Our father will be there, and he will see you, +but he will not care to make an open scandal in the court. Don John will +come and speak to you; you must stay beside the Duchess of course--but you +can manage to exchange a few words."</p> + +<p>Dolores listened intently, and her face brightened a little as Inez went +on, only to grow sad and hopeless again a moment later. It was all an +impossible dream.</p> + +<p>"That would be possible if I could once get beyond the door of the +hall," she said despondently. "It is of no use, dear! The door is +bolted."</p> + +<p>"They will open it for me. Old Eudaldo is always within hearing, and he +will do anything for me. Besides, I shall seem to have been shut in by +mistake, do you see? I shall say that I am hungry, thirsty, that I am cold, +that in locking you in our father locked me in, too, because I was asleep. +Then Eudaldo will open the door for me. I shall say that I am going to the +Duchess's."</p> + +<p>"Yes--but then?"</p> + +<p>"You will cover yourself entirely with my black cloak and draw it over +your head and face. We are of the same height--you only need to walk as I +do--as if you were blind--across the hall to the left. Eudaldo will open +the outer door for you. You will just nod to thank him, without speaking, +and when you are outside, touch the wall of the corridor with your left +hand, and keep close to it. I always do, for fear of running against some +one. If you meet any of the women, they will take you for me. There is +never much light in the corridor, is there? There is one oil lamp half way +down, I know, for I always smell it when I pass in the evening."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is almost dark there--it is a little lamp. Do you really think +this is possible?"</p> + +<p>"It is possible, not sure. If you hear footsteps in the corridor beyond +the corner, you will have time to slip into one of the embrasures. But our +father will not come now. He knows that Don John is in his own apartments +with many people. And besides, it is to be a great festival to-night, and +all the court people and officers, and the Archbishop, and all the rest who +do not live in the palace will come from the city, so that our father will +have to command the troops and give orders for the guards to march out, and +a thousand things will take his time. Don John cannot possibly come here +till after the royal supper, and if our father can come away at all, it +will be at the same time. That is the danger."</p> + +<p>Dolores shivered and saw the vision in the corridor again.</p> + +<p>"But if you are seen talking with Don John before supper, no one will +suppose that in order to meet him you would risk coming back here, where +you are sure to be caught and locked up again. Do you see?"</p> + +<p>"It all depends upon whether I can get out," answered Dolores, but there +was more hope in her tone. "How am I to dress without a maid?" she asked +suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Trust me," said Inez, with a laugh. "My hands are better than a +serving-woman's eyes. You shall look as you never looked before. I know +every lock of your hair, and just how it should be turned and curled and +fastened in place so that it cannot possibly get loose. Come, we are +wasting time. Take off your slippers as I have done, so that no one shall +hear us walking through the hall to your room, and bring the candles with +you if you choose--yes, you need them to pick out the colours you +like."</p> + +<p>"If you think it will be safer in the dark, it does not matter," said +Dolores. "I know where everything is."</p> + +<p>"It would be safer," answered Inez thoughtfully. "It is just possible +that he might be in the court and might see the light in your window, +whereas if it burns here steadily, he will suspect nothing. We will bolt +the door of this room, as I found it. If by any possibility he comes back, +he will think you are still here, and will probably not come in."</p> + +<p>"Pray Heaven he may not!" exclaimed Dolores, and she began to go towards +the door.</p> + +<p>Inez was there before her, opening it very cautiously.</p> + +<p>"My hands are lighter than yours," she whispered.</p> + +<p>They both passed out, and Inez slipped the bolt back into its place with +infinite precaution.</p> + +<p>"Is there light here?" she asked under her breath.</p> + +<p>"There is a very small lamp on the table. I can just see my door."</p> + +<p>"Put it out as we pass," whispered Inez. "I will lead you if you cannot +find your way."</p> + +<p>They moved cautiously forward, and when they reached the table, Dolores +bent down to the small wick and blew out the flame. Then she felt her +sister's hand taking hers and leading her quickly to the other door. The +blind girl was absolutely noiseless in her movements, and Dolores had the +strange impression that she was being led by a spirit through the darkness. +Inez stopped a moment, and then went slowly on; they had entered the room +though Dolores had not heard the door move, nor did she hear it closed +behind her again. Her own room was perfectly dark, for the heavy curtain +that covered the window was drawn; she made a step alone, and cautiously, +and struck her knee against a chair.</p> + +<p>"Do not move," whispered Inez. "You will make a noise. I can dress you +where you stand, or if you want to find anything, I will lead you to the +place where it is. Remember that it is always day for me."</p> + +<p>Dolores obeyed, and stood still, holding her breath a little in her +intense excitement. It seemed impossible that Inez could do all she +promised without making a mistake, and Dolores would not have been a woman +had she not been visited just then by visions of ridicule. Without light +she was utterly helpless to do anything for herself, and she had never +before then fully realized the enormous misfortune with which her sister +had to contend. She had not guessed, either, what energy and quickness of +thought Inez possessed, and the sensation of being advised, guided, and +helped by one she had always herself helped and protected was new.</p> + +<p>They spoke in quick whispers of what she was to wear and of how her hair +was to be dressed, and Inez found what was wanted without noise, and almost +as quickly as Dolores could have done in broad daylight, and placed a chair +for her, making her sit down in it, and began to arrange her hair quickly +and skilfully. Dolores felt the spiritlike hands touching her lightly and +deftly in the dark--they were very slight and soft, and did not offend her +with a rough movement or a wrong turn, as her maid's sometimes did. She +felt her golden hair undone, and swiftly drawn out and smoothed without +catching, or tangling, or hurting her at all, in a way no woman had ever +combed it, and the invisible hands gently divided it, and turned it upon +her head, slipping the hairpins into the right places as if by magic, so +that they were firm at the first trial, and there was a faint sound of +little pearls tapping each other, and Dolores felt the small string laid +upon her hair and fastened in its place,--the only ornament a young girl +could wear for a headdress,--and presently it was finished, and Inez gave a +sigh of satisfaction at her work, and lightly felt her sister's head here +and there to be sure that all was right. It felt as if soft little birds +were just touching the hair with the tips of their wings as they fluttered +round it. Dolores had no longer any fear of looking ill dressed in the +blaze of light she was to face before long. The dressing of her hair was +the most troublesome part, she knew, and though she could not have done it +herself, she had felt that every touch and turn had been perfectly +skilful.</p> + +<p>"What a wonderful creature you are!" she whispered, as Inez bade her +stand up.</p> + +<p>"You have beautiful hair," answered the blind girl, "and you are +beautiful in other ways, but to-night you must be the most beautiful of all +the court, for his sake--so that every woman may envy you, and every man +envy him, when they see you talking together. And now we must be quick, for +it has taken a long time, and I hear the soldiers marching out again to +form in the square. That is always just an hour and a half before the King +goes into the hall. Here--this is the front of the skirt."</p> + +<p>"No--it is the back!"</p> + +<p>Inez laughed softly, a whispering laugh that Dolores could scarcely +hear.</p> + +<p>"It is the front," she said. "You can trust me in the dark. Put your +arms down, and let me slip it over your head so as not to touch your hair. +No---hold your arms down!"</p> + +<p>Dolores had instinctively lifted her hands to protect her headdress. +Then all went quickly, the silence only broken by an occasional whispered +word and by the rustle of silk, the long soft sound of the lacing as Inez +drew it through the eyelets of the bodice, the light tapping of her hands +upon the folds and gatherings of the skirt and on the puffed velvet on the +shoulders and elbows.</p> + +<p>"You must be beautiful, perfectly beautiful to-night," Inez repeated +more than once.</p> + +<p>She herself did not understand why she said it, unless it were that +Dolores' beauty was for Don John of Austria, and that nothing in the whole +world could be too perfect for him, for the hero of her thoughts, the sun +of her blindness, the immeasurably far-removed deity of her heart. She did +not know that it was not for her sister's sake, but for his, that she had +planned the escape and was taking such infinite pains that Dolores might +look her best. Yet she felt a deep and delicious delight in what she did, +like nothing she had ever felt before, for it was the first time in her +life that she had been able to do something that could give him pleasure; +and, behind that, there was the belief that he was in danger, that she +could no longer go to him nor warn him now, and that only Dolores herself +could hinder him from coming unexpectedly against old Mendoza, sword in +hand, in the corridor.</p> + +<p>"And now my cloak over everything," she said. "Wait here, for I must get +it, and do not move!"</p> + +<p>Dolores hardly knew whether Inez left the room or not, so noiselessly +did the girl move. Then she felt the cloak laid upon her shoulders and +drawn close round her to hide her dress, for skirts were short in those +days and easily hidden. Inez laid a soft silk handkerchief upon her +sister's hair, lest it should be disarranged by the hood which she lightly +drew over all, assuring herself that it would sufficiently hide the +face.</p> + +<p>"Now come with me," she whispered. I will lead you to the door that is +bolted and place you just where it will open. Then I will call Eudaldo and +speak to him, and beg him to let me out. If he does, bend your head and try +to walk as I do. I shall be on one side of the door, and, as the room is +dark, he cannot possibly see me. While he is opening the outer door for +you, I will slip back into my own room. Do you understand? And remember to +hide in an embrasure if you hear a man's footsteps. Are you quite sure you +understand?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; it will be easy if Eudaldo opens. And I thank you, dear; I wish I +knew how to thank you as I ought! It may have saved his life--"</p> + +<p>"And yours, too, perhaps," answered Inez, beginning to lead her away. +"You would die in the convent, and you must not come back--you must never +come back to us here--never till you are married. Good-by, Dolores--dear +sister. I have done nothing, and you have done everything for me all your +life. Good-by--one kiss--then we must go, for it is late."</p> + +<p>With her soft hands she drew Dolores' head towards her, lifted the hood +a little, and kissed her tenderly. All at once there were tears on both +their faces, and the arms of each clasped the other almost desperately.</p> + +<p>"You must come to me, wherever I am," Dolores said.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I will come, wherever you are. I promise it."</p> + +<p>Then she disengaged herself quickly, and more than ever she seemed a +spirit as she went before, leading her sister by the hand. They reached the +door, and she made Dolores stand before the right hand panel, ready to slip +out, and once more she touched the hood to be sure it hid the face. She +listened a moment. A harsh and regular sound came from a distance, +resembling that made by a pit-saw steadily grinding its way lengthwise +through a log of soft pine wood.</p> + +<p>"Eudaldo is asleep," said Inez, and even at this moment she could hardly +suppress a half-hysterical laugh. "I shall have to make a tremendous noise +to wake him. The danger is that it may bring some one else,---the women, +the rest of the servants."</p> + +<p>"What shall we do?" asked Dolores, in a distressed whisper.</p> + +<p>She had braced her nerves to act the part of her sister at the dangerous +moment, and her excitement made every instant of waiting seem ten times its +length. Inez did not answer the question at once. Dolores repeated it still +more anxiously.</p> + +<p>"I was trying to make up my mind," said the other at last. "You could +pass Eudaldo well enough, I am sure, but it might be another matter if the +hall were full of servants, as it is certain that our father has given a +general order that you are not to be allowed to go out. We may wait an hour +for the man to wake."</p> + +<p>Dolores instinctively tried the door, but it was solidly fastened from +the outside. She felt hot and cold by turns as her anxiety grew more +intolerable. Each minute made it more possible that she might meet her +father somewhere outside.</p> + +<p>"We must decide something!" she whispered desperately. "We cannot wait +here."</p> + +<p>"I do not know what to do," answered Inez. "I have done all I can; I +never dreamt that Eudaldo would be asleep. At least, it is a sure sign that +our father is not in the house."</p> + +<p>"But he may come at any moment! We must, we must do something at +once!"</p> + +<p>"I will knock softly," said Inez. "Any one who hears it will suppose it +is a knock at the hall door. If he does not open, some one will go and wake +him up, and then go away again so as not to be seen."</p> + +<p>She clenched her small hand, and knocked three times. Such a sound could +make not the slightest impression upon Eudaldo's sound sleep, but her +reasoning was good, as well as ingenious. After waiting a few moments, she +knocked again, more loudly. Dolores held her breath in the silence that +followed. Presently a door was opened, and a woman's voice was heard, low +but sharp.</p> + +<p>"Eudaldo, Eudaldo! Some one is knocking at the front door!"</p> + +<p>The woman probably shook the old man to rouse him, for his voice came +next, growling and angry.</p> + +<p>"Witch! Hag! Mother of malefactors! Let me alone--I am asleep. Are you +trying to tear my sleeve off with your greasy claws? Nobody is knocking; +you probably hear the wine thumping in your ears!"</p> + +<p>The woman, who was the drudge and had been cleaning the kitchen, was +probably used to Eudaldo's manner of expressing himself, for she only +laughed.</p> + +<p>"Wine makes men sleep, but it does not knock at doors," she answered. +"Some one has knocked twice. You had better go and open the door."</p> + +<p>A shuffling sound and a deep yawn announced that Eudaldo was getting out +of his chair. The two girls heard him moving towards the outer entrance. +Then they heard the woman go away, shutting the other door behind her, as +soon as she was sure that Eudaldo was really awake. Then Inez called him +softly.</p> + +<p>"Eudaldo? Here--it was I that knocked--you must let me out, please--come +nearer."</p> + +<p>"Doña Inez?" asked the old man, standing still.</p> + +<p>"Hush!" answered the girl. "Come nearer." She waited, listening while he +approached. "Listen to me," she continued. "The General has locked me in, +by mistake. He did not know I was here when he bolted the door. And I am +hungry and thirsty and very cold, Eudaldo--and you must let me out, and I +will run to the Duchess Alvarez and stay with her little girl. Indeed, +Eudaldo, the General did not mean to lock me in, too."</p> + +<p>"He said nothing about your ladyship to me," answered the servant +doubtfully. "But I do not know--" he hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Please, please, Eudaldo," pleaded Inez, "I am so cold and lonely +here--"</p> + +<p>"But Doña Dolores is there, too," observed Eudaldo.</p> + +<p>Dolores held her breath and steadied herself against the panel.</p> + +<p>"He shut her into the inner sitting-room. How could I dare to open the +door! You may go in and knock--she will not answer you."</p> + +<p>"Is your ladyship sure that Doña Dolores is within?" asked +Eudaldo, in a more yielding tone.</p> + +<p>"Absolutely, perfectly sure!" answered Inez, with perfect truth. "Oh, do +please let me out."</p> + +<p>Slowly the old man drew the bolt, while Dolores' heart stood still, and +she prepared herself for the danger; for she knew well enough that the +faithful old servant feared his master much more than he feared the devil +and all evil spirits, and would prevent her from passing, even with force, +if he recognized her.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Eudaldo--thank you!" cried Inez, as the latch turned. "And +open the front door for me, please," she said, putting her lips just where +the panel was opening.</p> + +<p>Then she drew back into the darkness. The door was wide open now, and +Eudaldo was already shuffling towards the entrance. Dolores went forward, +bending her head, and trying to affect her sister's step. No distance had +ever seemed so long to her as that which separated her from the hall door +which Eudaldo was already opening for her. But she dared not hasten her +step, for though Inez moved with perfect certainty in the house, she always +walked with a certain deliberate caution, and often stopped to listen, +while crossing a room. The blind girl was listening now, with all her +marvellous hearing, to be sure that all went well till Dolores should be +outside. She knew exactly how many steps there were from where she stood to +the entrance, for she had often counted them.</p> + +<p>Dolores must have been not more than three yards from the door, when +Inez started involuntarily, for she heard a sound from without, far off--so +far that Dolores could not possibly have heard it yet, but unmistakable to +the blind girl's keener ear. She listened intently--there were Dolores' +last four steps to the open doorway, and there were others from beyond, +still very far away in the vaulted corridors, but coming nearer. To call +her sister back would have made all further attempt at escape hopeless--to +let her go on seemed almost equally fatal--Inez could have shrieked aloud. +But Dolores had already gone out, and a moment later the heavy door swung +back to its place, and it was too late to call her. Like an immaterial +spirit, Inez slipped away from the place where she stood and went back to +Dolores' room, knowing that Eudaldo would very probably go and knock where +he supposed her sister to be a prisoner, before slipping the outer bolt +again. And so he did, muttering an imprecation upon the little lamp that +had gone out and left the small hall in darkness. Then he knocked, and +spoke through the door, offering to bring her food, or fire, and repeating +his words many times, in a supplicating tone, for he was devoted to both +the sisters, though terror of old Mendoza was the dominating element in his +existence.</p> + +<p>At last he shook his head and turned despondently to light the little +lamp again; and when he had done that, he went away and bolted the door +after him, convinced that Inez had gone out and that Dolores had stayed +behind in the last room.</p> + +<p>When she had heard him go away the last time, the blind girl threw +herself upon Dolores' bed, and buried her face in the down cushion, sobbing +bitterly in her utter loneliness; weeping, too, for something she did not +understand, but which she felt the more painfully because she could not +understand it, something that was at once like a burning fire and an +unspeakable emptiness craving to be filled, something that longed and +feared, and feared longing, something that was a strong bodily pain but +which she somehow knew might have been the source of all earthly +delight,--an element detached from thought and yet holding it, above the +body and yet binding it, touching the soul and growing upon it, but filling +the soul itself with fear and unquietness, and making her heart cry out +within her as if it were not hers and were pleading to be free. So, as she +could not understand that this was love, which, as she had heard said, made +women and men most happy, like gods and goddesses, above their kind, she +lay alone in the darkness that was always as day to her, and wept her heart +out in scalding tears.</p> + +<p>In the corridor outside, Dolores made a few steps, remembering to put +out her left hand to touch the wall, as Inez had told her to do; and then +she heard what had reached her sister's ears much sooner. She stood still +an instant, strained her eyes to see in the dim light of the single lamp, +saw nothing, and heard the sound coming nearer. Then she quickly crossed +the corridor to the nearest embrasure to hide herself. To her horror she +realized that the light of the full moon was streaming in as bright as day, +and that she could not be hid. Inez knew nothing of moonlight.</p> + +<p>She pressed herself to the wall, on the side away from her own door, +making herself as small as she could, for it was possible that whoever came +by might pass without turning his head. Nervous and exhausted by all she +had felt and been made to feel since the afternoon, she held her breath and +waited.</p> + +<p>The regular tread of a man booted and spurred came relentlessly towards +her, without haste and without pause. No one who wore spurs but her father +ever came that way. She listened breathlessly to the hollow echoes, and +turned her eyes along the wall of the embrasure. In a moment she must see +his gaunt figure, and the moonlight would be white on his short grey +beard.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_IV'></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + + +<p>Dolores knew that there was no time to reflect as to what she should do, +if her father found her hiding in the embrasure, and yet in those short +seconds a hundred possibilities flashed through her disturbed thoughts. She +might slip past him and run for her life down the corridor, or she might +draw her hood over her face and try to pretend that she was some one +else,--but he would recognize the hood itself as belonging to Inez,--or she +might turn and lean upon the window-sill, indifferently, as if she had a +right to be there, and he might take her for some lady of the court, and +pass on. And yet she could not decide which to attempt, and stood still, +pressing herself against the wall of the embrasure, and quite forgetful of +the fact that the bright moonlight fell unhindered through all the other +windows upon the pavement, whereas she cast a shadow from the one in which +she was standing, and that any one coming along the corridor would notice +it and stop to see who was there.</p> + +<p>There was something fateful and paralyzing in the regular footfall that +was followed instantly by the short echo from the vault above. It was close +at hand now she was sure that at the very next instant she should see her +father's face, yet nothing came, except the sound, for that deceived her in +the silence and seemed far nearer than it was. She had heard horrible ghost +stories of the old Alcazar, and as a child she had been frightened by tales +of evil things that haunted the corridors at night, of wraiths and goblins +and Moorish wizards who dwelt in secret vaults, where no one knew, and came +out in the dark, when all was still, to wander in the moonlight, a terror +to the living. The girl felt the thrill of unearthly fear at the roots of +her hair, and trembled, and the sound seemed to be magnified till it +reëchoed like thunder, though it was only the noise of an advancing +footfall, with a little jingling of spurs.</p> + +<p>But at last there was no doubt. It was close to her, and she shut her +eyes involuntarily. She heard one step more on the stones, and then there +was silence. She knew that her father had seen her, had stopped before her, +and was looking at her. She knew how his rough brows were knitting +themselves together, and that even in the pale moonlight his eyes were +fierce and angry, and that his left hand was resting on the hilt of his +sword, the bony brown fingers tapping the basket nervously. An hour +earlier, or little more, she had faced him as bravely as any man, but she +could not face him now, and she dared not open her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Madam, are you ill, or in trouble?" asked a young voice that was soft +and deep.</p> + +<p>She opened her eyes with a sharp cry that was not of fear, and she threw +back her hood with one hand as the looked.</p> + +<p>Don John of Austria was there, a step from her, the light full on his +face, bareheaded, his cap in his hand, bending a little towards her, as one +does towards a person one does not know, but who seems to be in distress +and to need help. Against the whiteness without he could not see her face, +nor could he recognize her muffled figure.</p> + +<p>"Can I not help you, Madam?" asked the kind voice again, very +gravely.</p> + +<p>Then she put out her hands towards him and made a step, and as the hood +fell quite back with the silk kerchief, he saw her golden hair in the +silver light. Slowly and in wonder, and still not quite believing, he moved +to meet her movement, took her hands in his, drew her to him, turned her +face gently, till he saw it well. Then he, too, uttered a little sound that +was neither a word nor a syllable nor a cry--a sound that was half fierce +with strong delight as his lips met hers, and his hands were suddenly at +her waist lifting her slowly to his own height, though he did not know it, +pressing her closer and closer to him, as if that one kiss were the first +and last that ever man gave woman.</p> + +<p>A minute passed, and yet neither he nor she could speak. She stood with +her hands clasped round his neck, and her head resting on his breast just +below the shoulder, as if she were saying tender words to the heart she +heard beating so loud through the soft black velvet. She knew that it had +never beaten in battle as it was beating now, and she loved it because it +knew her and welcomed her; but her own stood still, and now and then it +fluttered wildly, like a strong young bird in a barred cage, and then was +quite still again. Bending his face a little, he softly kissed her hair +again and again, till at last the kisses formed themselves into syllables +and words, which she felt rather than heard.</p> + +<p>"God in heaven, how I love you--heart of my heart--life of my life--love +of my soul!"</p> + +<p>And again he repeated the same words, and many more like them, with +little change, because at that moment he had neither thought nor care for +anything else in the world, not for life nor death nor kingdom nor glory, +in comparison with the woman he loved. He could not hear her answers, for +she spoke without words to his heart, hiding her face where she heard it +throbbing, while her lips pressed many kisses on the velvet.</p> + +<p>Then, as thought returned, and the first thought was for him, she drew +back a little with a quick movement, and looked up to him with frightened +and imploring eyes.</p> + +<p>"We must go!" she cried anxiously, in a very low voice. "We cannot stay +here. My father is very angry--he swore on his word of honour that he would +kill you if you tried to see me to-night!"</p> + +<p>Don John laughed gently, and his eyes brightened. Before she could speak +again, he held her close once more, and his kisses were on her cheeks and +her eyes, on her forehead and on her hair, and then again upon her lips, +till they would have hurt her if she had not loved them so, and given back +every one. Then she struggled again, and he loosed his hold.</p> + +<p>"It is death to stay here," she said very earnestly.</p> + +<p>"It is worse than death to leave you," he answered. "And I will not," he +added an instant later, "neither for the King, nor for your father, nor for +any royal marriage they may try to force upon me."</p> + +<p>She looked into his eyes for a moment, before she spoke, and there was +deep and true trust in her own.</p> + +<p>"Then you must save me," she said quietly. "He has vowed that I shall be +sent to the convent of Las Huelgas to-morrow morning. He locked me into the +inner room, but Inez helped me to dress, and I got out under her +cloak."</p> + +<p>She told him in a few words what she had done and had meant to do, in +order to see him, and how she had taken his step for her father's. He +listened gravely, and she saw his face harden slowly in an expression she +had scarcely ever seen there. When she had finished her story he was silent +for a moment.</p> + +<p>"We are quite safe here," he said at last, "safer than anywhere else, I +think, for your father cannot come back until the King goes to supper. For +myself, I have an hour, but I have been so surrounded and pestered by +visitors in my apartments that I have not found time to put on a court +dress--and without vanity, I presume that I am a necessary figure at court +this evening. Your father is with Perez, who seems to be acting as master +of ceremonies and of everything else, as well as the King's secretary--they +have business together, and the General will not have a moment. I +ascertained that, before coming here, or I should not have come at this +hour. We are safe from him here, I am sure."</p> + +<p>"You know best," answered Dolores, who was greatly reassured by what he +said about Mendoza.</p> + +<p>"Let us sit down, then. You must be tired after all you have done. And +we have much to say to each other."</p> + +<p>"How could I be tired now?" she asked, with a loving smile; but she sat +down on the stone seat in the embrasure, close to the window.</p> + +<p>It was just wide enough for two to sit there, and Don John took his +place beside her, and drew one of her hands silently to him between both +his own, and kissed the tips of her fingers a great many times. But he felt +that she was watching his face, and he looked up and saw her eyes--and +then, again, many seconds passed before either could speak. They were but a +boy and girl together, loving each other in the tender first love of early +youth, for the victor of the day, the subduer of the Moors, the man who had +won back Granada, who was already High Admiral of Spain, and who in some +ten months from that time was to win a decisive battle of the world at +Lepanto, was a stripling of twenty-three summers--and he had first seen +Dolores when he was twenty and she seventeen, and now it was nearly two +years since they had met.</p> + +<p>He was the first to speak, for he was a man of quick and unerring +determinations that led to actions as sudden as they were bold and +brilliant, and what Dolores had told him of her quarrel with her father was +enough to rouse his whole energy at once. At all costs she must never be +allowed to pass the gates of Las Huelgas. Once within the convent, by the +King's orders, and a close prisoner, nothing short of a sacrilegious +assault and armed violence could ever bring her out into the world again. +He knew that, and that he must act instantly to prevent it, for he knew +Mendoza's character also, and had no doubt but that he would do what he +threatened. It was necessary to put Dolores beyond his reach at once, and +beyond the King's also, which was not an easy matter within the walls of +the King's own palace, and on such a night. Don John had been but little at +the court and knew next to nothing of its intrigues, nor of the mutual +relations of the ladies and high officers who had apartments in the +Alcazar. In his own train there were no women, of course. Dolores' brother +Rodrigo, who had fought by his side at Granada, had begged to be left +behind with the garrison, in order that he might not be forced to meet his +father. Doña Magdalena Quixada, Don John's adoptive mother, was far +away at Villagarcia. The Duchess Alvarez, though fond of Dolores, was +Mistress of the Robes to the young Queen, and it was not to be hoped nor +expected that she should risk the danger of utter ruin and disgrace if it +were discovered that she had hidden the girl against the King's wishes. Yet +it was absolutely necessary that Dolores should be safely hidden within an +hour, and that she should be got out of the palace before morning, and if +possible conveyed to Villagarcia. Don John saw in a moment that there was +no one to whom he could turn.</p> + +<p>Again he took Dolores' hand in his, but with a sort of gravity and +protecting authority that had not been in his touch the first time. +Moreover, he did not kiss her fingers now, and he resolutely looked at the +wall opposite him. Then, in a low and quiet voice, he laid the situation +before her, while she anxiously listened.</p> + +<p>"You see," he said at last, "there is only one way left. Dolores, do you +altogether trust me?"</p> + +<p>She started a little, and her fingers pressed his hand suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Trust you? Ah, with all my soul!"</p> + +<p>"Think well before you answer," he said. "You do not quite +understand--it is a little hard to put it clearly, but I must. I know you +trust me in many ways, to love you faithfully always, to speak truth to you +always, to defend you always, to help you with my life when you shall be in +need. You know that I love you so, as you love me. Have we not often said +it? You wrote it in your letter, too--ah, dear, I thank you for that. Yes, +I have read it--I have it here, near my heart, and I shall read it again +before I sleep--"</p> + +<p>Without a word, and still listening, she bent down and pressed her lips +to the place where her letter lay. He touched her hair with his lips and +went on speaking, as she leaned back against the wall again.</p> + +<p>"You must trust me even more than that, my beloved," he said. "To save +you, you must be hidden by some one whom I myself can trust--and for such a +matter there is no one in the palace nor in all Madrid--no one to whom I +can turn and know that you will be safe--not one human being, except +myself."</p> + +<p>"Except yourself!" Dolores loved the words, and gently pressed his +hand.</p> + +<p>"I thank you, dearest heart--but do you know what that means? Do you +understand that I must hide you myself, in my own apartments, and keep you +there until I can take you out of the palace, before morning?"</p> + +<p>She was silent for a few moments, turning her face away from him. His +heart sank.</p> + +<p>"No, dear," he said sadly, "you do not trust me enough for that--I see +it--what woman could?"</p> + +<p>Her hand trembled and started in his, then pressed it hard, and she +turned her face quite to him.</p> + +<p>"You are wrong," she said, with a tremor in her voice. "I love you as no +man was ever loved by any woman, far beyond all that all words can say, and +I shall love you till I die, and after that, for ever--even if I can never +be your wife. I love you as no one loves in these days, and when I say that +it is as you love me, I mean a thousand fold for every word. I am not the +child you left nearly two years ago. I am a woman now, for I have thought +and seen much since then--and I love you better and more than then. God +knows, there is enough to see and to learn in this court--that should be +hidden deep from honest women's sight! You and I shall have a heaven on +this earth, if God grants that we may be joined together--for I will live +for you, and serve you, and smooth all trouble out of your way--and ask +nothing of you but your love. And if we cannot marry, then I will live for +you in my heart, and serve you with my soul, and pray Heaven that harm may +never touch you. I will pray so fervently that God must hear me. And so +will you pray for me, as you would fight for me, if you could. Remember, if +you will, that when you are in battle for Spain, your sword is drawn for +Spain's honour, and for the honour of every Christian Spanish woman that +lives--and for mine, too!"</p> + +<p>The words pleased him, and his free hand was suddenly clenched.</p> + +<p>"You would make cowards fight like wolves, if you could speak to them +like that!" he said.</p> + +<p>"I am not speaking to cowards," she answered, with a loving smile. "I am +speaking to the man I love, to the best and bravest and truest man that +breathes--and not to Don John of Austria, the victorious leader, but to +you, my heart's love, my life, my all, to you who are good and brave and +true to me, as no man ever was to any woman. No--" she laughed happily, and +there were tears in her eyes--"no, there are no words for such love as +ours."</p> + +<p>"May I be all you would have me, and much more," he said fervently, and +his voice shook in the short speech.</p> + +<p>"I am giving you all I have, because it is not belief, it is certainty. +I know you are all that I say you are, and more too. And I trust you, as +you mean it, and as you need my trust to save me. Take me where you will. +Hide me in your own room if you must, and bolt and bar it if need be. I +shall be as safe with you as I should be with my mother in heaven. I put my +hands between yours."</p> + +<p>Again he heard her sweet low laughter, full of joy and trust, and she +laid her hands together between his and looked into his eyes, straight and +clear. Then she spoke softly and solemnly.</p> + +<p>"Into your hands I put my life, and my faith, and my maiden honour, +trusting them all to you alone in this world, as I trust them to God."</p> + +<p>Don John held her hands tightly for a moment, still looking into her +eyes as if he could see her soul there, giving itself to his keeping. But +he swore no great oath, and made no long speech; for a man who has led men +to deeds of glory, and against whom no dishonourable thing was ever +breathed, knows that his word is good.</p> + +<p>"You shall not regret that you trust me, and you will be quite safe," he +said.</p> + +<p>She wanted no more. Loving as she did, she believed in him without +promises, yet she could not always believe that he quite knew how she loved +him.</p> + +<p>"You are dearer to me than I knew," he said presently, breaking the +silence that followed. "I love you even more, and I thought it could never +be more, when I found you here a little while ago--because you do really +trust me."</p> + +<p>"You knew it," the said, nestling to him. "But you wanted me to tell +you. Yes--we are nearer now."</p> + +<p>"Far nearer--and a world more dear," he answered. "Do you know? In all +these months I have often and often again wondered how we should meet, +whether it would be before many people, or only with your sister Inez +there--or perhaps alone. But I did not dare hope for that."</p> + +<p>"Nor I. I have dreamt of meeting you a hundred times--and more than +that! But there was always some one in the way. I suppose that if we had +found each other in the court and had only been able to say a few words, it +would have been a long time before we were quite ourselves together--but +now, it seems as if we had never been parted at all, does it not?"</p> + +<p>"As if we could never be parted again," he answered softly.</p> + +<p>For a little while there was silence, and though there was to be a great +gathering of the court, that night, all was very still where the lovers sat +at the window, for the throne room and the great halls of state were far +away on the other side of the palace, and the corridor looked upon a court +through which few persons had to pass at night. Suddenly from a distance +there came the rhythmical beat of the Spanish drums, as some detachment of +troops marched by the outer gate. Don John listened.</p> + +<p>"Those are my men," he said. "We must go, for now that they are below I +can send my people on errands with orders to them, until I am alone. Then +you must come in. At the end of my apartments there is a small room, beyond +my own. It is furnished to be my study, and no one will expect to enter it +at night. I must put you there, and lock the door and take the key with me, +so that no one can go in while I am at court--or else you can lock it on +the inside, yourself. That would be better, perhaps," he added rather +hurriedly.</p> + +<p>"No," said the girl quietly. "I prefer that you should have the key. I +shall feel even safer. But how can I get there without being seen? We +cannot go so far together without meeting some one."</p> + +<p>He rose, and she stood up beside him.</p> + +<p>"My apartments open upon the broad terrace on the south side," he said. +"At this time there will be only two or three officers there, and my two +servants. Follow me at a little distance, with your hood over your face, +and when you reach the sentry-box at the corner where I turn off, go in. +There will be no sentinel there, and the door looks outward. I shall send +away every one, on different errands, in five minutes. When every one is +gone I will come for you. Is that clear?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly." She nodded, as if she had made quite sure of what he had +explained. Then she put up her hands, as if to say good-by. "Oh, if we +could only stay here in peace!" she cried.</p> + +<p>He said nothing, for he knew that there was still much danger, and he +was anxious for her. He only pressed her hands and then led her away. They +followed the corridor together, side by side, to the turning. Then he +whispered to her to drop behind, and she let him go on a dozen paces and +followed him. The way was long, and ill lighted at intervals by oil lamps +hung from the vault by small chains; they cast a broad black shadow beneath +them, and shed a feeble light above. Several times persons passed them, and +Dolores' heart beat furiously. A court lady, followed by a duenna and a +serving-woman, stopped with a winning smile, and dropped a low courtesy to +Don John, who lifted his cap, bowed, and went on. They did not look at +Dolores. A man in a green cloth apron and loose slippers, carrying five +lighted lamps in a greasy iron tray, passed with perfect indifference, and +without paying the least attention to the victor of Granada. It was his +business to carry lamps in that part of the palace--he was not a human +being, but a lamplighter. They went on, down a short flight of broad steps, +and then through a wider corridor where the lights were better, though the +night breeze was blowing in and made them flicker and flare.</p> + +<p>A corporal's guard of the household halberdiers came swinging down at a +marching step, coming from the terrace beyond. The corporal crossed his +halberd in salute, but Don John stopped him, for he understood at once that +a sentry had been set at his door.</p> + +<p>"I want no guard," he said. "Take the man away."</p> + +<p>"The General ordered it, your Highness," answered the man, +respectfully.</p> + +<p>"Request your captain to report to the General that I particularly +desire no sentinel at my door. I have no possessions to guard except my +reputation, and I can take care of that myself." He laughed +good-naturedly.</p> + +<p>The corporal grinned--he was a very dark, broad-faced man, with high +cheek bones, and ears that stuck out. He faced about with his three +soldiers, and followed Don John to the terrace--but in the distance he had +seen the hooded figure of a woman.</p> + +<p>Not knowing what to do, for she had heard the colloquy, Dolores stood +still a moment, for she did not care to pass the soldiers as they came +back. Then she turned and walked a little way in the other direction, to +gain time, and kept on slowly. In less than a minute they returned, +bringing the sentinel with them. She walked slowly and counted them as they +went past her--and then she started as if she had been stung, and blushed +scarlet under her hood, for she distinctly heard the big corporal laugh to +himself when he had gone by. She knew, then, how she trusted the man she +loved.</p> + +<p>When the soldiers had turned the corner and were out of sight, she ran +back to the terrace and hid herself in the stone sentry-box just outside, +still blushing and angry. On the side of the box towards Don John's +apartment there was a small square window just at the height of her eyes, +and she looked through it, sure that her face could not be seen from +without. She looked from mere curiosity, to see what sort of men the +officers were, and Don John's servants; for everything connected with him +or belonging to him in any way interested her most intensely. Two tall +captains came out first, magnificent in polished breastplates with gold +shoulder straps and sashes and gleaming basket-hilted swords, that stuck up +behind them as their owners pressed down the hilts and strutted along, +twisting their short black moustaches in the hope of meeting some court +lady on their way. Then another and older man passed, also in a soldier's +dress, but with bent head, apparently deep in thought. After that no one +came for some time--then a servant, who pulled something out of his pocket +and began to eat it, before he was in the corridor.</p> + +<p>Then a woman came past the little window. Dolores saw her as distinctly +as she had seen the four men. She came noiselessly and stealthily, putting +down her foot delicately, like a cat. She was a lady, and she wore a loose +cloak that covered all her gown, and on her head a thick veil, drawn +fourfold across her face. Her gait told the girl that she was young and +graceful--something in the turn of the head made her sure that she was +beautiful, too--something in the whole figure and bearing was familiar. The +blood sank from Dolores' cheeks, and she felt a chill slowly rising to her +heart. The lady entered the corridor and went on quickly, turned, and was +out of sight.</p> + +<p>Then all at once, Dolores laughed to herself, noiselessly, and was happy +again, in spite of her danger. There was nothing to disturb her, she +reflected. The terrace was long, there were doubtless other apartments +beyond Don John's, though she had not known it. The lady had indeed walked +cautiously, but it might well be that she had reasons for not being seen +there, and that the further rooms were not hers. The Alcazar was only an +old Moorish castle, after all, restored and irregularly enlarged, and +altogether very awkwardly built, so that many of the apartments could only +be reached by crossing open terraces.</p> + +<p>When Don John came to get her in the sentry-box, Dolores' momentary +doubt was gone, though not all her curiosity. She smiled as she came out of +her hiding-place and met his eyes--clear and true as her own. She even +hated herself for having thought that the lady could have come from his +apartment at all. The light was streaming from his open door as he led her +quickly towards it. There were three windows beyond it, and there the +terrace ended. She looked at the front as they were passing, and counted +again three windows between the open door and the corner where the +sentry-box stood.</p> + +<p>"Who lives in the rooms beyond you?" she asked quickly.</p> + +<p>"No one--the last is the one where you are to be." He seemed +surprised.</p> + +<p>They had reached the open door, and he stood aside to let her go in.</p> + +<p>"And on this side?" she asked, speaking with a painful effort.</p> + +<p>"My drawing-room and dining-room," he answered.</p> + +<p>She paused and drew breath before she spoke again, and she pressed one +hand to her side under her cloak.</p> + +<p>"Who was the lady who came from here when all the men were gone?" she +asked, very pale.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_V'></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + + +<p>Don John was a man not easily taken off his guard, but he started +perceptibly at Dolores' question. He did not change colour, however, nor +did his eyes waver; he looked fixedly into her face.</p> + +<p>"No lady has been here," he answered quietly.</p> + +<p>Dolores doubted the evidence of her own senses. Her belief in the man +she loved was so great that his words seemed at first to have destroyed and +swept away what must have been a bad dream, or a horrible illusion, and her +face was quiet and happy again as she passed him and went in through the +open entrance. She found herself in a vestibule from which doors opened to +the right and left. He turned in the latter direction, leading the way into +the room.</p> + +<p>It was his bedchamber. Built in the Moorish manner, the vaulting began +at the height of a man's head, springing upward in bold and graceful curves +to a great height. The room was square and very large, and the wall below +the vault was hung with very beautiful tapestries representing the battle +of Pavia, the surrender of Francis the First, and a sort of apotheosis of +the Emperor Charles, the father of Don John. There were two tall windows, +which were quite covered by curtains of a dark brocade, in which the coats +of Spain and the Empire were woven in colours at regular intervals; and +opposite them, with the head to the wall, stood a vast curtained bedstead +with carved posts twice a man's height. The vaulting had been cut on that +side, in order that the foot of the bed might stand back against the wall. +The canopy had coats of arms at the four corners, and the curtains were of +dark green corded silk, heavily embroidered with gold thread in the +beautiful scrolls and arabesques of the period of the Renascence. A carved +table, dark and polished, stood half way between the foot of the bedstead +and the space between the windows, where a magnificent kneeling-stool with +red velvet cushions was placed under a large crucifix. Half a dozen big +chairs were ranged against the long walls on each side of the room, and two +commodious folding chairs with cushions of embossed leather were beside the +table. Opposite the door by which Dolores had entered, another communicated +with the room beyond. Both were carved and ornamented with scroll work of +gilt bronze, but were without curtains. Three or four Eastern, rugs covered +the greater part of the polished marble pavement, which here and there +reflected the light of the tall wax torches that stood on the table in +silver candlesticks, and on each side of the bed upon low stands. The vault +above the tapestried walls was very dark blue, and decorated with gilded +stars in relief. Dolores thought the room gloomy, and almost funereal. The +bed looked like a catafalque, the candles like funeral torches, and the +whole place breathed the magnificent discomfort of royalty, and seemed +hardly intended for a human habitation.</p> + +<p>Dolores barely glanced at it all, as her companion locked the first door +and led her on to the next room. He knew that he had not many minutes to +spare, and was anxious that she should be in her hiding-place before his +servants came back. She followed him and went in. Unlike the bedchamber, +the small study was scantily and severely furnished. It contained only a +writing-table, two simple chairs, a straight-backed divan covered with +leather, and a large chest of black oak bound with ornamented steel work. +The window was curtained with dark stuff, and two wax candles burned +steadily beside the writing-materials that were spread out ready for +use.</p> + +<p>"This is the room," Don John said, speaking for the first time since +they had entered the apartments.</p> + +<p>Dolores let her head fall back, and began to loosen her cloak at her +throat without answering him. He helped her, and laid the long garment upon +the divan. Then he turned and saw her in the full light of the candles, +looking at him, and he uttered an exclamation.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" she asked almost dreamily.</p> + +<p>"You are very beautiful," he answered in a low voice. "You are the most +beautiful woman I ever saw."</p> + +<p>The merest girl knows the tone of a man whose genuine admiration breaks +out unconsciously in plain words, and Dolores was a grown woman. A faint +colour rose in her cheek, and her lips parted to smile, but her eyes were +grave and anxious, for the doubt had returned, and would not be thrust +away. She had seen the lady in the cloak and veil during several seconds, +and though Dolores, who had been watching the men who passed, had not +actually seen her come out of Don John's apartments, but had been suddenly +aware of her as she glided by, it seemed out of the question that she +should have come from any other place. There was neither niche nor +embrasure between the door and the corridor, in which the lady could have +been hidden, and it was hardly conceivable that she should have been +waiting outside for some mysterious purpose, and should not have fled as +soon as she heard the two officers coming out, since she evidently wished +to escape observation. On the other hand, Don John had quietly denied that +any woman had been there, which meant at all events that he had not seen +any one. It could mean nothing else.</p> + +<p>Dolores was neither foolishly jealous nor at all suspicious by nature, +and the man was her ideal of truthfulness and honour. She stood looking at +him, resting one hand on the table, while he came slowly towards her, +moving almost unconsciously in the direction of her exquisite beauty, as a +plant lifts itself to the sun at morning. He was near to her, and he +stretched out his arms as if to draw her to him. She smiled then, for in +his eyes she forgot her trouble for a moment, and she would have kissed +him. But suddenly his face grew grave, and he set his teeth, and instead of +taking her into his arms, he took one of her hands and raised it to his +lips, as if it had been the hand of his brother's wife, the young +Queen.</p> + +<p>"Why?" she asked in surprise, and with a little start.</p> + +<p>"You are here under my protection," he answered. "Let me have my own +way."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I understand. How good you are to me!" She paused, and then went +on, seating herself upon one of the chairs by the table as she spoke. "You +must leave me now," she said. "You must lock me in and keep the key. Then I +shall know that I am safe; and in the meantime you must decide how I am to +escape--it will not be easy." She stopped again. "I wonder who that woman +was!" she exclaimed at last.</p> + +<p>"There was no woman here," replied Don John, as quietly and assuredly as +before.</p> + +<p>He was leaning upon the table at the other side, with both hands resting +upon it, looking at her beautiful hair as she bent her head.</p> + +<p>"Say that you did not see her," she said, "not that she was not here, +for she passed me after all the men, walking very cautiously to make no +noise; and when she was in the corridor she ran--she was young and +light-footed. I could not see her face."</p> + +<p>"You believe me, do you not?" asked Don John, bending over the table a +little, and speaking very anxiously.</p> + +<p>She turned her face up instantly, her eyes wide and bright.</p> + +<p>"Should I be here if I did not trust you and believe you?" she asked +almost fiercely. "Do you think--do you dare to think--that I would have +passed your door if I had supposed that another woman had been here before +me, and had been turned out to make room for me, and would have stayed +here--here in your room--if you had not sent her away? If I had thought +that, I would have left you at your door forever. I would have gone back to +my father. I would have gone to Las Huelgas to-morrow, and not to be a +prisoner, but to live and die there in the only life fit for a +broken-hearted woman. Oh, no! You dare not think that,--you who would dare +anything! If you thought that, you could not love me as I love +you,--believing, trusting, staking life and soul on your truth and +faith!"</p> + +<p>The generous spirit had risen in her eyes, roused not against him, but +by all his question might be made to mean; and as she met his look of +grateful gladness her anger broke away, and left only perfect love and +trust behind it.</p> + +<p>"A man would die for you, and wish he might die twice," he answered, +standing upright, as if a weight had been taken from him and he were free +to breathe.</p> + +<p>She looked up at the pale, strong features of the young fighter, who was +so great and glorious almost before the down had thickened on his lip; and +she saw something almost above nature in his face,--something high and +angelic, yet manly and well fitted to face earthly battles. He was her sun, +her young god, her perfect image of perfection, the very source of her +trust. It would have killed her to doubt him. Her whole soul went up to him +in her eyes; and as he was ready to die for her, she knew that for him she +would suffer every anguish death could hold, and not flinch.</p> + +<p>Then she looked down, and suddenly laughed a little oddly, and her +finger pointed towards the pens and paper.</p> + +<p>"She has left something behind," she said. "She was clever to get in +here and slip out again without being seen."</p> + +<p>Don John looked where she pointed, and saw a small letter folded round +the stems of two white carnations, and neatly tied with a bit of twisted +silk. It was laid between the paper and the bronze inkstand, and half +hidden by the broad white feather of a goose-quill pen, that seemed to have +been thrown carelessly across the flowers. It lay there as if meant to be +found, only by one who wrote, and not to attract too much attention.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" he exclaimed, in a rather singular tone, as he saw it, and a +boyish blush reddened his face.</p> + +<p>Then he took the letter and drew out the two flowers by the blossoms +very carefully. Dolores watched him. He seemed in doubt as to what he +should do; and the blush subsided quickly, and gave way to a look of +settled annoyance. The carnations were quite fresh, and had evidently not +been plucked more than an hour. He held them up a moment and looked at +them, then laid them down again and took the note. There was no writing on +the outside. Without opening it he held it to the flame of the candle, but +Dolores caught his wrist.</p> + +<p>"Why do you not read it?" she asked quickly.</p> + +<p>"Dear, I do not know who wrote it, and I do not wish to know anything +you do not know also."</p> + +<p>"You have no idea who the woman is?" Dolores looked at him +wonderingly.</p> + +<p>"Not the very least," he answered with a smile.</p> + +<p>"But I should like to know so much!" she cried. "Do read it and tell me. +I do not understand the thing at all."</p> + +<p>"I cannot do that." He shook his head. "That would be betraying a +woman's secret. I do not know who it is, and I must not let you know, for +that would not be honourable."</p> + +<p>"You are right," she said, after a pause. "You always are. Burn it."</p> + +<p>He pushed the point of a steel erasing-knife through the piece of folded +paper and held it over the flame. It turned brown, crackled and burst into +a little blaze, and in a moment the black ashes fell fluttering to the +table.</p> + +<p>"What do you suppose it was?" asked Dolores innocently, as Don John +brushed the ashes away.</p> + +<p>"Dear--it is very ridiculous--I am ashamed of it, and I do not quite +know how to explain it to you." Again he blushed a little. "It seems +strange to speak of it--I never even told my mother. At first I used to +open them, but now I generally burn them like this one."</p> + +<p>"Generally! Do you mean to say that you often find women's letters with +flowers in them on your table?"</p> + +<p>"I find them everywhere," answered Don John, with perfect simplicity. "I +have found them in my gloves, tied into the basket hilt of my sword--often +they are brought to me like ordinary letters by a messenger who waits for +an answer. Once I found one on my pillow!"</p> + +<p>"But"--Dolores hesitated--"but are they--are they all from the same +person?" she asked timidly. Don John laughed, and shook his head.</p> + +<p>"She would need to be a very persistent and industrious person," he +answered. "Do you not understand?"</p> + +<p>"No. Who are these women who persecute you with their writing? And why +do they write to you? Do they want you to help them?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly that;" he was still smiling. "I ought not to laugh, I +suppose. They are ladies of the court sometimes, and sometimes others, and +I--I fancy that they want me to--how shall I say?--to begin by writing them +letters of the same sort."</p> + +<p>"What sort of letters?"</p> + +<p>"Why--love letters," answered Don John, driven to extremity in spite of +his resistance.</p> + +<p>"Love letters!" cried Dolores, understanding at last. "Do you mean to +say that there are women whom you do not know, who tell you that they love +you before you have ever spoken to them? Do you mean that a lady of the +court, whom you have probably never even seen, wrote that note and tied it +up with flowers and risked everything to bring it here, just in the hope +that you might notice her? It is horrible! It is vile! It is shameless! It +is beneath anything!"</p> + +<p>"You say she was a lady--you saw her. I did not. But that is what she +did, whoever she may be."</p> + +<p>"And there are women like that--here, in the palace! How little I +know!"</p> + +<p>"And the less you learn about the world, the better," answered the young +soldier shortly.</p> + +<p>"But you have never answered one, have you?" asked Dolores, with a scorn +that showed how sure she was of his reply.</p> + +<p>"No." He spoke thoughtfully. "I once thought of answering one. I meant +to tell her that she was out of her senses, but I changed my mind. That was +long ago, before I knew you--when I was eighteen."</p> + +<p>"Ever since you were a boy!"</p> + +<p>The look of wonder was not quite gone from her face yet, but she was +beginning to understand more clearly, though still very far from +distinctly. It did not occur to her once that such things could be +temptations to the brilliant young leader whom every woman admired and +every man flattered, and that only his devoted love for her had kept him +out of ignoble adventures since he had grown to be a man. Had she seen +that, she would have loved him even better, if it were possible. It was +all, as she had said, shameless and abominable. She had thought that she +knew much of evil, and she had even told him so that evening, but this was +far beyond anything she had dreamt of in her innocent thoughts, and she +instinctively felt that there were lower depths of degradation to which a +woman could fall, and of which she would not try to guess the vileness and +horror.</p> + +<p>"Shall I burn the flowers, too?" asked Don John, taking them in his +hand.</p> + +<p>"The flowers? No. They are innocent and fresh. What have they to do with +her? Give them to me."</p> + +<p>He raised them to his lips, looking at her, and then held them out. She +took them, and kissed them, as he had done, and they both smiled happily. +Then she fastened them in her hair.</p> + +<p>"No one will see me to-night but you," she said. "I may wear flowers in +my hair like a peasant woman!"</p> + +<p>"How they make the gold gleam!" he exclaimed, as he looked. "It is +almost time that my men came back," he said sadly. "When I go down to the +court, I shall dismiss them. After the royal supper I shall try and come +here again and see you. By that time everything will be arranged. I have +thought of almost everything already. My mother will provide you with +everything you need. To-morrow evening I can leave this place myself to go +and see her, as I always do."</p> + +<p>He always spoke of Doña Magdalena Quixada as his mother--he had +never known his own.</p> + +<p>Dolores rose from her seat, for he was ready to go.</p> + +<p>"I trust you in everything," she said simply. "I do not need to know how +you will accomplish it all--it is enough to know that you will. Tell Inez, +if you can--protect her if my father is angry with her."</p> + +<p>He held out his hand to take hers, and she was going to give it, as she +had done before. But it was too little. Before he knew it she had thrown +her arms round his neck, and was kissing him, with little cries and broken +words of love. Then she drew back suddenly.</p> + +<p>"I could not help it," she said. "Now lock me in. No--do not say +good-by--even for two hours!"</p> + +<p>"I will come back as soon as I can," he answered, and with a long look +he left her, closed the door and locked it after him, leaving her +alone.</p> + +<p>She stood a few moments looking at the panels as if her sight could +pierce them and reach him on the other side, and she tried to hold the last +look she had seen in his eyes. Hardly two minutes had elapsed before she +heard voices and footsteps in the bedchamber. Don John spoke in short +sentences now and then to his servants, and his voice was commanding though +it was kindly. It seemed strange to be so near him in his life; she +wondered whether she should some day always be near him, as she was now, +and nearer; she blushed, all alone. So many things had happened, and he and +she had found so much to say that nothing had been said at all of what was +to follow her flight to Villagarcia. She was to leave for the Quixadas' +house before morning, but Quixada and his wife could not protect her +against her father, if he found out where she was, unless she were married. +After that, neither Mendoza nor any one else, save the King himself, would +presume to interfere with the liberty of Don John of Austria's wife. All +Spain would rise to protect her--she was sure of that. But they had said +nothing about a marriage and had wasted time over that unknown woman's +abominable letter. Since she reasoned it out to herself, she saw that in +all probability the ceremony would take place as soon as Don John reached +Villagarcia. He was powerful enough to demand the necessary permission of +the Archbishop, and he would bring it with him; but no priest, even in the +absence of a written order, would refuse to marry him if he desired it. +Between the real power he possessed and the vast popularity he enjoyed, he +could command almost anything.</p> + +<p>She heard his voice distinctly just then, though she was not listening +for it. He was telling a servant to bring white shoes. The fact struck her +because she had never seen him wear any that were not black or yellow. She +smiled and wished that she might bring him his white shoes and hang his +order of the Golden Fleece round his neck, and breathe on the polished hilt +of his sword and rub it with soft leather. She had seen Eudaldo furbish her +father's weapons in that way since she had been a child.</p> + +<p>It had all come so suddenly in the end. Shading her eyes from the +candles with her hand, she rested one elbow on the table, and tried to +think of what should naturally have happened, of what must have happened if +the unknown voice among the courtiers had not laughed and roused her +father's anger and brought all the rest. Don John would have come to the +door, and Eudaldo would have let him in--because no one could refuse him +anything and he was the King's brother. He would have spent half an hour +with her in the little drawing-room, and it would have been a constrained +meeting, with Inez near, though she would presently have left them alone. +Then, by this time, she would have gone down with the Duchess Alvarez and +the other maids of honour, and by and by she would have followed the Queen +when she entered the throne room with the King and Don John; and she might +not have exchanged another word with the latter for a whole day, or two +days. But now it seemed almost certain that she was to be his wife within +the coming week. He was in the next room.</p> + +<p>"Do not put the sword away," she heard him say. "Leave it here on the +table."</p> + +<p>Of course; what should he do with a sword in his court dress? But if he +had met her father in the corridor, coming to her after the supper, he +would have been unarmed. Her father, on the contrary, being on actual duty, +wore the sword of his rank, like any other officer of the guards, and the +King wore a rapier as a part of his state dress.</p> + +<p>She was astonished at the distinctness with which she heard what was +said in the next room. That was doubtless due to the construction of the +vault, as she vaguely guessed. It was true that Don John spoke very +clearly, but she could hear the servants' subdued answers almost as well, +when she listened. It seemed to her that he took but a very short time to +dress.</p> + +<p>"I have the key of that room," he said presently. "I have my papers +there. You are at liberty till midnight. My hat, my gloves. Call my +gentlemen, one of you, and tell them to meet me in the corridor."</p> + +<p>She could almost hear him drawing on his gloves. One of the servants +went out.</p> + +<p>"Fadrique," said Don John, "leave out my riding-cloak. I may like to +walk on the terrace in the moonlight, and it is cold. Have my drink ready +at midnight and wait for me. Send Gil to sleep, for he was up last +night."</p> + +<p>There was a strange pleasure in hearing his familiar orders and small +directions and in seeing how thoughtful he was for his servants. She knew +that he had always refused to be surrounded by valets and +gentlemen-in-waiting, and lived very simply when he could, but it was +different to be brought into such close contact with his life. There was a +wonderful gentleness in his ways that contrasted widely with her father's +despotic manner and harsh tone when he gave orders. Mendoza believed +himself the type and model of a soldier and a gentleman, and he maintained +that without rigid discipline there could be no order and no safety at home +or in the army. But between him and Don John there was all the difference +that separates the born leader of men from the mere martinet.</p> + +<p>Dolores listened. It was clear that Don John was not going to send +Fadrique away in order to see her again before he went down to the throne +room, though she had almost hoped he might.</p> + +<p>On the contrary, some one else came. She heard Fadrique announce +him.</p> + +<p>"The Captain Don Juan de Escobedo is in waiting, your Highness," said +the servant. "There is also Adonis."</p> + +<p>"Adonis!" Don John laughed, not at the name, for it was familiar to him, +but at the mere mention of the person who bore it and who was the King's +dwarf jester, Miguel de Antona, commonly known by his classic nickname. +"Bring Adonis here--he is an old friend."</p> + +<p>The door opened again, and Dolores heard the well-known voice of the +hunchback, clear as a woman's, scornful and full of evil laughter,--the +sort of voice that is heard instantly in a crowd, though it is not always +recognizable. The fellow came in, talking loud.</p> + +<p>"Ave Cæsar!" he cried from the door. "Hail, conqueror! All hail, +thou favoured of heaven, of man,--and of the ladies!"</p> + +<p>"The ladies too?" laughed Don John, probably amused by the dwarfs +antics. "Who told you that?"</p> + +<p>"The cook, sir. For as you rode up to the gate this afternoon a scullery +maid saw you from the cellar grating and has been raving mad ever since, +singing of the sun, moon, and undying love, until the kitchen is more like +a mad-house than this house would be if the Day of Judgment came before or +after Lent."</p> + +<p>"Do you fast in Lent, Adonis?"</p> + +<p>"I fast rigidly three times a day, my lord conqueror,--no, six, for I +eat nothing either just before or just after my breakfast, my dinner, and +my supper. No monk can do better than that, for at those times I eat +nothing at all."</p> + +<p>"If you said your prayers as often as you fast, you would be in a good +way," observed Don John.</p> + +<p>"I do, sir. I say a short grace before and after eating. Why have you +come to Madrid, my lord? Do you not know that Madrid is the worst, the +wickedest, the dirtiest, vilest, and most damnable habitation devised by +man for the corruption of humanity? Especially in the month of November? +Has your lordship any reasonable reason for this unreason of coming here, +when the streets are full of mud, and men's hearts are packed like +saddle-bags with all the sins they have accumulated since Easter and mean +to unload at Christmas? Even your old friends are shocked to see so young +and honest a prince in such a place!"</p> + +<p>"My old friends? Who?"</p> + +<p>"I saw Saint John the Conqueror graciously wave his hand to a most +highly respectable old nobleman this afternoon, and the nobleman was so +much shocked that he could not stir an arm to return the salutation! His +legs must have done something, though, for he seemed to kick his own horse +up from the ground under him. The shock must have been terrible. As for me, +I laughed aloud, which made both the old nobleman and Don Julius Caesar of +Austria exceedingly angry. Get before me, Don Fadrique! I am afraid of the +terror of the Moors,--and no shame to me either! A poor dwarf, against a +man who tears armies to shreds,--and sends scullery maids into hysterics! +What is a poor crippled jester compared with a powerful scullery maid or an +army of heathen Moriscoes? Give me that sword, Fadrique, or I am a dead +man!"</p> + +<p>But Don John was laughing good-naturedly.</p> + +<p>"So it was you, Adonis? I might have-known your voice, I should +think."</p> + +<p>"No one ever knows my voice, sir. It is not a voice, it is a freak of +grammar. It is masculine, feminine, and neuter in gender, singular by +nature, and generally accusative, and it is optative in mood and full of +acute accents. If you can find such another voice in creation, sir, I will +forfeit mine in the King's councils."</p> + +<p>Adonis laughed now, and Dolores remembered the laughter she had heard +from the window.</p> + +<p>"Does his Majesty consult you on matters of state?" inquired Don John. +"Answer quickly, for I must be going."</p> + +<p>"It takes twice as long to tell a story to two men, as to tell it to +one,--when you have to tell them different stories,"</p> + +<p>"Go, Fadrique," said Don John, "and shut the door."</p> + +<p>The dwarf, seeing the servant gone, beckoned Don John to the other side +of the room.</p> + +<p>"It is no great secret, being only the King's," he said. "His Majesty +bids me tell your Serene Highness that he wishes to speak with you +privately about some matters, and that he will come here soon after supper, +and begs you to be alone."</p> + +<p>"I will be here--alone."</p> + +<p>"Excellent, sir. Now there is another matter of secrecy which is just +the contrary of what I have told you, for it is a secret from the King. A +lady laid a letter and two white carnations on your writing-table. If there +is any answer to be taken, I will take it."</p> + +<p>"There is none," answered Don John sternly, "Tell the lady that I burned +the letter without reading it. Go, Adonis, and the next time you come here, +do not bring messages from women. Fadrique!"</p> + +<p>"Your Highness burned the letter without reading it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Fadrique!"</p> + +<p>"I am sorry," said the dwarf, in a low voice.</p> + +<p>No more words were spoken, and in a few moments there was deep silence, +for they were all gone, and Dolores was alone, locked into the little +room.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_VI'></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + + +<p>The great throne room of the palace was crowded with courtiers long +before the time when the King and Queen and Don John of Austria were to +appear, and the entries and halls by which it was approached were almost as +full. Though the late November air was keen, the state apartments were at +summer heat, warmed by thousands of great wax candles that burned in +chandeliers, and in huge sconces and on high candelabra that stood in every +corner. The light was everywhere, and was very soft and yellow, while the +odour of the wax itself was perceptible in the air, and helped the +impression that the great concourse was gathered in a wide cathedral for +some solemn function rather than in a throne room to welcome a victorious +soldier. Vast tapestries, dim and rich in the thick air, covered the walls +between the tall Moorish windows, and above them the great pointed +vaulting, ornamented with the fantastically modelled stucco of the Moors, +was like the creamy crests of waves lashed into foam by the wind, thrown +upright here, and there blown forward in swift spray, and then again +breaking in the fall to thousands of light and exquisite shapes; and the +whole vault thus gathered up the light of the candles into itself and shed +it downward, distributing it into every corner and lighting every face in a +soft and golden glow.</p> + +<p>At the upper end, between two great doors that were like the gateways of +an eastern city, stood the vacant throne, on a platform approached by three +broad steps and covered with deep red cloth; and there stood magnificent +officers of the guard in gilded corslets and plumed steel caps, and other +garments of scarlet and gold, with their drawn swords out. But Mendoza was +not there yet, for it was his duty to enter with the King's own guard, +preceding the Majorduomo. Above the throne, a huge canopy of velvet, red +and yellow, was reared up around the royal coat of arms.</p> + +<p>To the right and left, on the steps, stood carved stools with silken +cushions--those on the right for the chief ministers and nobles of the +kingdom, those on the left for the great ladies of the court. These would +all enter in the King's train and take their places. For the throng of +courtiers who filled the floor and the entries there were no seats, for +only a score of the highest and greatest personages were suffered to sit in +the royal presence. A few, who were near the windows, rested themselves +surreptitiously on the high mouldings of the pilasters, pushing aside the +curtains cautiously, and seeming from a distance to be standing while they +were in reality comfortably seated, an object of laughing envy and of many +witticisms to their less fortunate fellow-courtiers. The throng was not so +close but that it was possible to move in the middle of the hall, and +almost all the persons there were slowly changing place, some going forward +to be nearer the throne, others searching for their friends among their +many acquaintances, that they might help the tedious hour to pass more +quickly.</p> + +<p>Seen from the high gallery above the arch of the great entrance the hall +was a golden cauldron full of rich hues that intermingled in streams, and +made slow eddies with deep shadows, and then little waves of light that +turned upon themselves, as the colours thrown into the dyeing vat slowly +seethe and mix together in rivulets of dark blue and crimson, and of +splendid purple that seems to turn black in places and then is suddenly +shot through with flashes of golden and opalescent light. Here and there +also a silvery gleam flashed in the darker surface, like a pearl in wine, +for a few of the court ladies were dressed all in white, with silver and +many pearls, and diamonds that shed little rays of their own.</p> + +<p>The dwarf Adonis had been there for a few moments behind the lattice +which the Moors had left, and as he stood there alone, where no one ever +thought of going, he listened to the even and not unmusical sound that came +up from the great assembly--the full chorus of speaking voices trained +never to be harsh or high, and to use chosen words, with no loud +exclamations, laughing only to please and little enough out of merriment; +and they would not laugh at all after the King and Queen came in, but would +only murmur low and pleasant flatteries, the change as sudden as when the +musician at the keys closes the full organ all at once and draws gentle +harmonies from softer stops.</p> + +<p>The jester had stood there, and looked down with deep-set, eager eyes, +his crooked face pathetically sad and drawn, but alive with a swift and +meaning intelligence, while the thin and mobile lips expressed a sort of +ready malice which could break out in bitterness or turn to a kindly irony +according as the touch that moved the man's sensitive nature was cruel or +friendly. He was scarcely taller than a boy of ten years old, but his +full-grown arms hung down below his knees, and his man's head, with the +long, keen face, was set far forward on his shapeless body, so that in +speaking with persons of ordinary stature he looked up under his brows, a +little sideways, to see better. Smooth red hair covered his bony head, and +grew in a carefully trimmed and pointed beard on his pointed chin. A loose +doublet of crimson velvet hid the outlines of his crooked back and +projecting breastbone, and the rest of his dress was of materials as rich, +and all red. He was, moreover, extraordinarily careful of his appearance, +and no courtier had whiter or more delicately tended hands or spent more +time before the mirror in tying a shoulder knot, and in fastening the +stiffened collar of white embroidered linen at the fashionable angle behind +his neck.</p> + +<p>He had entered the latticed gallery on his way to Don John's apartments +with the King's message. A small and half-concealed door, known to few +except the servants of the palace, opened upon it suddenly from a niche in +one of the upper corridors. In Moorish days the ladies of the harem had +been wont to go there unseen to see the reception of ambassadors of state, +and such ceremonies, at which, even veiled, they could never be +present.</p> + +<p>He only stayed a few moments, and though his eyes were eager, it was by +habit rather than because they were searching for any one in the crowd. It +pleased him now and then to see the court world as a spectacle, as it +delights the hard-worked actor to be for once a spectator at another's +play. He was an integral part of the court himself, a man of whom most was +often expected when he had the least to give, to whom it was scarcely +permitted to say anything in ordinary language, but to whom almost any +license of familiar speech was freely allowed. He was not a man, he was a +tradition, a thing that had to be where it was from generation to +generation; wherever the court had lived a jester lay buried, and often two +and three, for they rarely lived an ordinary lifetime. Adonis thought of +that sometimes, when he was alone, or when he looked down at the crowd of +delicately scented and richly dressed men and women, every one called by +some noble name, who would doubtless laugh at some jest of his before the +night was over. To their eyes the fool was a necessary servant, because +there had always been a fool at court; he was as indispensable as a chief +butler, a chief cook, or a state coachman, and much more amusing. But he +was not a man, he had no name, he had no place among men, he was not +supposed to have a mother, a wife, a home, anything that belonged to +humanity. He was well lodged, indeed, where the last fool had died, and +richly clothed as the other had been, and he fed delicately, and was given +the fine wines of France to drink, lest his brain should be clouded by +stronger liquor and he should fail to make the court laugh. But he knew +well enough that somewhere in Toledo or Valladolid the next court jester +was being trained to good manners and instructed in the art of wit, to take +the vacant place when he should die. It pleased him therefore sometimes to +look down at the great assemblies from the gallery and to reflect that all +those magnificent fine gentlemen and tenderly nurtured beauties of Spain +were to die also, and that there was scarcely one of them, man or woman, +for whose death some one was not waiting, and waiting perhaps with evil +anxiety and longing. They were splendid to see, those fair women in their +brocades and diamonds, those dark young princesses and duchesses in velvet +and in pearls. He dreamed of them sometimes, fancying himself one of those +Djin of the southern mountains of whom the Moors told blood-curdling tales, +and in the dream he flew down from the gallery on broad, black wings and +carried off the youngest and most beautiful, straight to his magic fortress +above the sea.</p> + +<p>They never knew that he was sometimes up there, and on this evening he +did not wait long, for he had his message to deliver and must be in waiting +on the King before the royal train entered the throne room. After he was +gone, the courtiers waited long, and more and more came in from without. +Now and then the crowd parted as best it might, to allow some grandee who +wore the order of the Golden Fleece or of some other exalted order, to lead +his lady nearer to the throne, as was his right, advancing with measured +steps, and bowing gravely to the right and left as he passed up to the +front among his peers. And just behind them, on one aide, the young girls, +of whom many were to be presented to the King and Queen that night, drew +together and talked in laughing whispers, gathering in groups and knots of +three and four, in a sort of irregular rank behind their mothers or the +elder ladies who were to lead them to the royal presence and pronounce +their names. There was more light where they were gathered, the shadows +were few and soft, the colours tender as the tints of roses in a garden at +sunset, and from the place where they stood the sound of young voices came +silvery and clear. That should have been Inez de Mendoza's place if she had +not been blind. But Inez had never been willing to be there, though she had +more than once found her way to the gallery where the dwarf had stood, and +had listened, and smelled the odour of the wax candles and the perfumes +that rose with the heated air.</p> + +<p>It was long before the great doors on the right hand of the canopy were +thrown open, but courtiers are accustomed from their childhood to long +waiting, and the greater part of their occupation at court is to see and to +be seen, and those who can do both and can take pleasure in either are +rarely impatient. Moreover, many found an opportunity of exchanging quick +words and of making sudden plans for meeting, who would have found it hard +to exchange a written message, and who had few chances of seeing each other +in the ordinary course of their lives; and others had waited long to +deliver a cutting speech, well studied and tempered to hurt, and sought +their enemies in the crowd with the winning smile a woman wears to deal her +keenest thrust. There were men, too, who had great interests at stake and +sought the influence of such as lived near the King, flattering every one +who could possibly be of use, and coolly overlooking any who had a matter +of their own to press, though they were of their own kin. Many officers of +Don John's army were there, too, bright-eyed and bronzed from their +campaigning, and ready to give their laurels for roses, leaf by leaf, with +any lady of the court who would make a fair exchange--and of these there +were not a few, and the time seemed short to them. There were also +ecclesiastics, but not many, in sober black and violet garments, and they +kept together in one corner and spoke a jargon of Latin and Spanish which +the courtiers could not understand; and all who were there, the great +courtiers and the small, the bishops and the canons, the stout princesses +laced to suffocation and to the verge of apoplexy, and fanning themselves +desperately in the heat, and their slim, dark-eyed daughters, cool and +laughing--they were all gathered together to greet Spain's youngest and +greatest hero, Don John of Austria, who had won back Granada from the +Moors.</p> + +<p>As the doors opened at last, a distant blast of silver trumpets rang in +from without, and the full chorus of speaking voices was hushed to a mere +breathing that died away to breathless silence during a few moments as the +greatest sovereign of the age, and one of the strangest figures of all +time, appeared before his court. The Grand Master of Ceremonies entered +first, in his robe of office, bearing a long white staff. In the stillness +his voice rang out to the ends of the hall:</p> + +<p>"His Majesty the King! Her Majesty the Queen!"</p> + +<p>Then came a score of halberdiers of the guard, picked men of great +stature, marching in even steps, led by old Mendoza himself, in his +breastplate and helmet, sword in hand; and he drew up the guard at one side +in a rank, making them pass him so that he stood next to the door.</p> + +<p>After the guards came Philip the Second, a tall and melancholy figure; +and with him, on his left side, walked the young Queen, a small, thin +figure in white, with sad eyes and a pathetic face--wondering, perhaps, +whether she was to follow soon those other queens who had walked by the +same King to the same court, and had all died before their time--Mary of +Portugal, Mary of England, Isabel of Valois.</p> + +<p>The King was one of those men who seem marked by destiny rather than by +nature, fateful, sombre, almost repellent in manner, born to inspire a +vague fear at first sight, and foreordained to strange misfortune or to +extraordinary success, one of those human beings from whom all men shrink +instinctively, and before whom they easily lose their fluency of speech and +confidence of thought. Unnaturally still eyes, of an uncertain colour, +gazed with a terrifying fixedness upon a human world, and were oddly set in +the large and perfectly colourless face that was like an exaggerated waxen +mask. The pale lips did not meet evenly, the lower one protruding, forced, +outward by the phenomenal jaw that has descended to this day in the House +of Austria. A meagre beard, so fair that it looked faded, accentuated the +chin rather than concealed it, and the hair on the head was of the same +undecided tone, neither thin nor thick, neither long nor short, but parted, +and combed with the utmost precision about the large but very finely +moulded ears. The brow was very full as well as broad, and the forehead +high, the whole face too large, even for a man so tall, and disquieting in +its proportions. Philip bent his head forward a little when at rest; when +he looked about him it moved with something of the slow, sure motion of a +piece of mechanism, stopping now and then, as the look in the eyes +solidified to a stare, and then, moving again, until curiosity was +satisfied and it resumed its first attitude, and remained motionless, +whether the lips were speaking or not.</p> + +<p>Very tall and thin, and narrow chested, the figure was clothed all in +cream-coloured silk and silver, relieved only by the collar of the Golden +Fleece, the solitary order the King wore. His step was ungraceful and slow, +as if his thin limbs bore his light weight with difficulty, and he +sometimes stumbled in walking. One hand rested on the hilt of his sword as +he walked, and even under the white gloves the immense length of the +fingers and the proportionate development of the long thumb were clearly +apparent. No one could have guessed that in such a figure there could be +much elasticity or strength, and yet, at rare moments and when younger, +King Philip displayed such strength and energy and quickness as might well +have made him the match of ordinary men. As a rule his anger was slow, +thoughtful, and dangerous, as all his schemes were vast and +far-reaching.</p> + +<p>With the utmost deliberation, and without so much as glancing at the +courtiers assembled, he advanced to the throne and sat down, resting both +hands on the gilded arms of the great chair; and the Queen took her place +beside him. But before he had settled himself, there was a low sound of +suppressed delight in the hall, a moving of heads, a brightening of women's +eyes, a little swaying of men's shoulders as they tried to see better over +those who stood before them; and voices rose here and there above the +murmur, though not loudly, and were joined by others. Then the King's waxen +face darkened, though the expression did not change and the still eyes did +not move, but as if something passed between it and the light, leaving it +grey in the shadow. He did not turn to look, for he knew that his brother +had entered the throne room and that every eye was upon him.</p> + +<p>Don John was all in dazzling white--white velvet, white satin, white +silk, white lace, white shoes, and wearing neither sword nor ornament of +any kind, the most faultless vision of young and manly grace that ever +glided through a woman's dream.</p> + +<p>His place was on the King's right, and he passed along the platform of +the throne with an easy, unhesitating step, and an almost boyish smile of +pleasure at the sounds he heard, and at the flutter of excitement that was +in the air, rather to be felt than otherwise perceived. Coming up the steps +of the throne, he bent one knee before his brother, who held out his +ungloved hand for him to kiss--and when that was done, he knelt again +before the Queen, who did likewise. Then, bowing low as he passed back +before the King, he descended one step and took the chair set for him in +the place that was for the royal princes.</p> + +<p>He was alone there, for Philip was again childless at his fourth +marriage, and it was not until long afterwards that a son was born who +lived to succeed him; and there were no royal princesses in Madrid, so that +Don John was his brother's only near blood relation at the court, and since +he had been acknowledged he would have had his place by right, even if he +had not beaten the Moriscoes in the south and won back Granada.</p> + +<p>After him came the high Ministers of State and the ambassadors in a rich +and stately train, led in by Don Antonio Perez, the King's new favourite, a +man of profound and evil intelligence, upon whom Philip was to rely almost +entirely during ten years, whom he almost tortured to death for his crimes, +and who in the end escaped him, outlived him, and died a natural death, in +Paris, when nearly eighty. With these came also the court ladies, the +Queen's Mistress of the Robes, and the maids of honour, and with the ladies +was Doña Ana de la Cerda, Princess of Eboli and Melito and Duchess +of Pastrana, the wife of old Don Ruy Gomez de Silva, the Minister. It was +said that she ruled her husband, and Antonio Perez and the King himself, +and that she was faithless to all three.</p> + +<p>She was not more than thirty years of age at that time, and she looked +younger when seen in profile. But one facing her might have thought her +older from the extraordinary and almost masculine strength of her small +head and face, compact as a young athlete's, too square for a woman's, with +high cheekbones, deep-set black eyes and eyebrows that met between them, +and a cruel red mouth that always curled a little just when she was going +to speak, and showed extraordinarily perfect little teeth, when the lips +parted. Yet she was almost beautiful when she was not angry or in a hurtful +mood. The dark complexion was as smooth as a perfect peach, and tinged with +warm colour, and her eyes could be like black opals, and no woman in Spain +or Andalusia could match her for grace of figure and lightness of step.</p> + +<p>Others came after in the long train. Then, last of all, at a little +distance from the rest, the jester entered, affecting a very dejected air. +He stood still a while on the platform, looking about as if to see whether +a seat had been reserved for him, and then, shaking his head sadly, he +crouched down, a heap of scarlet velvet with a man's face, just at Don +John's feet, and turning a little towards him, so as to watch his eyes. But +Don John would not look at him, and was surprised that he should put +himself there, having just been dismissed with a sharp reprimand for +bringing women's messages.</p> + +<p>The ceremony, if it can be called by that name, began almost as soon as +all were seated. At a sign from the King, Don Antonio Perez rose and read +out a document which he had brought in his hand. It was a sort of throne +speech, and set forth briefly, in very measured terms, the results of the +long campaign against the Moriscoes, according high praise to the army in +general, and containing a few congratulatory phrases addressed to Don John +himself. The audience of nobles listened attentively, and whenever the +leader's name occurred, the suppressed flutter of enthusiasm ran through +the hall like a breeze that stirs forest leaves in summer; but when the +King was mentioned the silence was dead and unbroken. Don John sat quite +still, looking down a little, and now and then his colour deepened +perceptibly. The speech did not hint at any reward or further distinction +to be conferred on him.</p> + +<p>When Perez had finished reading, he paused a moment, and the hand that +held the paper fell to his side. Then he raised his voice to a higher +key.</p> + +<p>"God save his Majesty Don Philip Second!" be cried. "Long live the +King!"</p> + +<p>The courtiers answered the cheer, but moderately, as a matter of course, +and without enthusiasm, repeating it three times. But at the last time a +single woman's voice, high and clear above all the rest, cried out other +words.</p> + +<p>"God save Don John of Austria! Long live Don John of Austria!"</p> + +<p>The whole multitude of men and women was stirred at once, for every +heart was in the cheer, and in an instant, courtiers though they were, the +King was forgotten, the time, the place, and the cry went up all at once, +full, long and loud, shaming the one that had gone before it.</p> + +<p>King Philip's hands strained at the arms of his great chair, and he half +rose, as if to command silence; and Don John, suddenly pale, had half +risen, too, stretching out his open hand in a gesture of deprecation, while +the Queen watched him with timidly admiring eyes, and the dark Princess of +Eboli's dusky lids drooped to hide her own, for she was watching him also, +but with other thoughts. For a few seconds longer, the cheers followed each +other, and then they died away to a comparative silence. The dwarf rocked +himself, his head between his knees, at Don John's feet.</p> + +<p>"God save the Fool!" he cried softly, mimicking the cheer, and he seemed +to shake all over, as he sat huddled together, swinging himself to and +fro.</p> + +<p>But no one noticed what he said, for the King had risen to his feet as +soon as there was silence. He spoke in a muffled tone that made his words +hard to understand, and those who knew him best saw that he was very angry. +The Princess of Eboli's red lips curled scornfully as she listened, and +unnoticed she exchanged a meaning glance with Antonio Perez; for he and she +were allies, and often of late they had talked long together, and had drawn +sharp comparisons between the King and his brother, and the plan they had +made was to destroy the King and to crown Don John of Austria in his place; +but the woman's plot was deeper, and both were equally determined that Don +John should not marry without their consent, and that if he did, his +marriage should not hold, unless, as was probable, his young wife should +fall ill and die of a sickness unknown to physicians.</p> + +<p>All had risen with the King, and he addressed Don John amidst the most +profound silence.</p> + +<p>"My brother," he said, "your friends have taken upon themselves +unnecessarily to use the words we would have used, and to express to you +their enthusiasm for your success in a manner unknown at the court of +Spain. Our one voice, rendering you the thanks that are your due, can +hardly give you great satisfaction after what you have heard just now. Yet +we presume that the praise of others cannot altogether take the place of +your sovereign's at such a moment, and we formally thank you for the +admirable performance of the task entrusted to you, promising that before +long your services shall be required for an even more arduous undertaking. +It is not in our power to confer upon you any personal distinction or +public office higher than you already hold, as our brother, and as High +Admiral of Spain; but we trust the day is not far distant when a marriage +befitting your rank may place you on a level with kings."</p> + +<p>Don John had moved a step forward from his place and stood before the +King, who, at the end of his short speech, put his long arms over his +brother's shoulders, and proceeded to embrace him in a formal manner by +applying one cheek to his and solemnly kissing the air behind Don John's +head, a process which the latter imitated as nearly as he could. The court +looked on in silence at the ceremony, ill satisfied with Philip's cold +words. The King drew back, and Don John returned to his place. As he +reached it the dwarf jester made a ceremonious obeisance and handed him a +glove which he had dropped as he came forward. As he took it he felt that +it contained a letter, which made a slight sound when his hand crumpled it +inside the glove. Annoyed by the fool's persistence, Don John's eyes +hardened as he looked at the crooked face, and almost imperceptibly he +shook his head. But the dwarf was as grave as he, and slightly bent his +own, clasping his hands in a gesture of supplication. Don John reflected +that the matter must be one of importance this time, as Adonis would not +otherwise have incurred the risk of passing the letter to him under the +eyes of the King and the whole court.</p> + +<p>Then followed the long and tedious procession of the court past the +royal pair, who remained seated, while all the rest stood up, including Don +John himself, to whom a master of ceremonies presented the persons unknown +to him, and who were by far the more numerous. To the men, old and young, +great or insignificant, he gave his hand with frank cordiality. To the +women he courteously bowed his head. A full hour passed before it was over, +and still he grasped the glove with the crumpled letter in his hand, while +the dwarf stood at a little distance, watching in case it should fall; and +as the Duchess Alvarez and the Princess of Eboli presented the ladies of +Madrid to the young Queen, the Princess often looked at Don John and often +at the jester from beneath her half-dropped lids. But she did not make a +single mistake of names nor of etiquette, though her mind was much +preoccupied with other matters.</p> + +<p>The Queen was timidly gracious to every one; but Philip's face was +gloomy, and his fixed eyes hardly seemed to see the faces of the courtiers +as they passed before him, nor did he open his lips to address a word to +any of them, though some were old and faithful servants of his own and of +his father's.</p> + +<p>In his manner, in his silence, in the formality of the ceremony, there +was the whole spirit of the Spanish dominion. It was sombrely magnificent, +and it was gravely cruel; it adhered to the forms of sovereignty as rigidly +as to the outward practices of religion; its power extended to the ends of +the world, and the most remote countries sent their homage and obeisance to +its head; and beneath the dark splendour that surrounded its gloomy +sovereigns there was passion and hatred and intrigue. Beside Don John of +Austria stood Antonio Perez, and under the same roof with Dolores de +Mendoza dwelt Ana de la Cerda, Princess of Eboli, and in the midst of them +all Miguel de Antona, the King's fool.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_VII'></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + + +<p>When the ceremony was over, and every one on the platform and steps of +the throne moved a little in order to make way for the royal personages, +making a slight momentary confusion, Adonis crept up behind Don John, and +softly touched his sleeve to attract his attention. Don John looked round +quickly, and was annoyed to see the dwarf there. He did not notice the fact +that Doña Ana de la Cerda was watching them both, looking sideways +without turning her head.</p> + +<p>"It is a matter of importance," said the jester, in a low voice. "Read +it before supper if you can."</p> + +<p>Don John looked at him a moment, and turned away without answering, or +even making a sign that he understood. The dwarf met Doña Ana's +eyes, and grew slowly pale, till his face was a yellow mask; for he feared +her.</p> + +<p>The door on the other side of the throne was opened, and the King and +Queen, followed by Don John, and preceded by the Master of Ceremonies, went +out. The dwarf, who was privileged, went after them with his strange, +rolling step, his long arms hanging down and swinging irregularly, as if +they did not belong to his body, but were only stuffed things that hung +loose from his shoulders.</p> + +<p>As on all such state occasions, there were separate suppers, in separate +apartments, one for the King, and one for the ministers of state and the +high courtiers; thirdly, a vast collation was spread in a hall on the other +side of the throne room for the many nobles who were but guests at the +court and held no office nor had any special privileges. It was the custom +at that time that the supper should last an hour, after which all +reëntered the throne room to dance, except the King and Queen, who +either retired to the royal apartments, or came back for a short time and +remained standing on the floor of the hall, in order to converse with a few +of the grandees and ambassadors.</p> + +<p>The royal party supped in a sombre room of oval shape, dark with +tapestries and splendid with gold. The King and Queen sat side by side, and +Don John was placed opposite them at the table, of which the shape and +outline corresponded on a small scale with those of the room. Four or five +gentlemen, whose office it was, served the royal couple, receiving the +dishes and wines from the hands of the chief butler; and he, with two other +servants in state liveries, waited on Don John. Everything was most exactly +ordered according to the unchangeable rules of the most formal court in +Europe, not even excepting that of Rome.</p> + +<p>Philip sat in gloomy silence, eating nothing, but occasionally drinking +a little Tokay wine, brought with infinite precaution from Hungary to +Madrid. As be said nothing, neither the Queen nor Don John could speak, it +being ordained that the King must be the first to open his lips. The Queen, +however, being young and of a good constitution in spite of her almost +delicate appearance, began to taste everything that was set before her, +glancing timidly at her husband, who took no notice of her, or pretended +not to do so. Don John, soldier-like, made a sparing supper of the first +thing that was offered to him, and then sat silently watching the other +two. He understood very well that his brother wished to see him in private, +and was annoyed that the Queen should make the meal last longer than +necessary. The dwarf understood also, and smiled to himself in the corner +where he stood waiting in case the King should wish to be amused, which on +that particular evening seemed far from likely. But sometimes he turned +pale and his lips twisted a little as if he were suffering great pain; for +Don John had not yet read the letter that was hidden in his glove; and +Adonis saw in the dark corners of the room the Princess of Eboli's cruel +half-closed eyes, and he fancied he heard her deep voice, that almost +always spoke very sweetly, telling him again and again that if Don John did +not read her letter before he met the King alone that night, Adonis should +before very long cease to be court jester, and indeed cease to be anything +at all that 'eats and drinks and sleeps and wears a coat'--as Dante had +said. What Doña Ana said she would do, was as good as done already, +both then and for nine years from that time, but thereafter she paid for +all her deeds, and more too. But this history is not concerned with those +matters, being only the story of what happened in one night at the old +Alcazar of Madrid.</p> + +<p>King Philip sat a little bent in his chair, apparently staring at a +point in space, and not opening his lips except to drink. But his presence +filled the shadowy room, his large and yellowish face seemed to be all +visible from every part of it, and his still eyes dominated everything and +every one, except his brother. It was as if the possession of some +supernatural and evil being were stealing slowly upon all who were there; +as if a monstrous spider sat absolutely motionless in the midst of its web, +drawing everything within reach to itself by the unnatural fascination of +its lidless sight--as if the gentlemen in waiting were but helpless flies, +circling nearer and nearer, to be caught at last in the meshes, and the +Queen a bright butterfly, and Don John a white moth, already taken and soon +to be devoured. The dwarf thought of this in his corner, and his blood was +chilled, for three queens lay in their tombs in three dim cathedrals, and +she who sat at table was the fourth who had supped with the royal Spider in +his web. Adonis watched him, and the penetrating fear he had long known +crept all through him like the chill that shakes a man before a marsh +fever, so that he had to set his teeth with all his might, lest they should +chatter audibly. As he looked, he fancied that in the light of the waxen +torches the King's face turned by degrees to an ashy grey, and then more +slowly to a shadowy yellow again, as he had seen a spider's ugly body +change colour when the flies came nearer, and change again when one was +entangled in the threads. He thought that the faces of all the people in +the room changed, too, and that he saw in them the look that only near and +certain death can bring, which is in the eyes of him who goes out with +bound hands, at dawn, amongst other men who will see the rising sun shine +on his dead face. That fear came on the dwarf sometimes, and he dreaded +always lest at that moment the King should call to him and bid him sing or +play with words. But this had never happened yet. There were others in the +room, also, who knew something of that same terror, though in a less +degree, perhaps because they knew Philip less well than the jester, who was +almost always near him. But Don John sat quietly in his place, no more +realizing that there could be danger than if he had been charging the Moors +at the head of his cavalry, or fighting a man hand to hand with drawn +swords.</p> + +<p>But still the fear grew, and even the gentlemen and the servants +wondered, for it had never happened that the King had not at last broken +the silence at supper, so that all guessed trouble near at hand, and peril +for themselves. The Queen grew nervous and ceased to eat. She looked from +Philip to Don John, and more than once seemed about to speak, but +recollected herself and checked the words. Her hand shook and her thin +young nostrils quivered now and then. Evil was gathering in the air, and +she felt it approaching, though she could not tell whence it came. A sort +of tension took possession of every one, like what people feel in southern +countries when the southeast wind blows, or when, almost without warning, +the fresh sea-breeze dies away to a dead calm and the blackness rises like +a tide of pitch among the mountains of the coast, sending up enormous +clouds above it to the pale sky, and lying quite still below; and the air +grows lurid quickly, and heavy to breathe and sultry, till the tempest +breaks in lightning and-thunder and drenching rain.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the brewing storm the dwarf saw only the Spider in its +web, illuminated by the unearthly glare of his own fear, and with it the +frightened butterfly and the beautiful silver moth, that had never dreamed +of danger. He shrank against the hangings, pressing backwards till he hurt +his crooked back against the stone wall behind the tapestry, and could have +shrieked with fear had not a greater fear made him dumb. He felt that the +King was going to speak to him, and that he should not be able to answer +him. A horrible thought suddenly seized him, and he fancied that the King +had seen him slip the letter into Don John's glove, and would ask for it, +and take it, and read it--and that would be the end. Thrills of torment ran +through him, and he knew how it must feel to lie bound on the rack and to +hear the executioner's hands on the wheel, ready to turn it again at the +judge's word. He had seen a man tortured once, and remembered his face. He +was sure that the King must have seen the letter, and that meant torment +and death, and the King was angry also because the court had cheered Don +John. It was treason, and he knew it--yet it would have been certain death, +too, to refuse to obey Doña Ana. There was destruction on either +side, and he could not escape. Don John had not read the writing yet, and +if the King asked for it, he would probably give it to him without a +thought, unopened, for he was far too simple to imagine that any one could +accuse him of a treasonable thought, and too boyishly frank to fancy that +his brother could be jealous of him--above all, he was too modest to +suppose that there were thousands who would have risked their lives to set +him on the throne of Spain. He would therefore give the King the letter +unopened, unless, believing it to be a love message from some foolish +woman, he chose to tear it up unread. The wretched jester knew that either +would mean his own disgrace and death, and he quivered with agony from head +to foot.</p> + +<p>The lights moved up and down before his sight, the air grew heavier, the +royal Spider took gigantic proportions, and its motionless eyes were lurid +with evil It was about to turn to him; he felt it turning already, and knew +that it saw him in his corner, and meant to draw him to it, very slowly. In +a moment he should fall to the floor a senseless heap, out of deadly +fear--it would be well if his fear really killed him, but he could not even +hope for that. His hands gripped the hangings on each side of him as he +shrank and crushed his deformity against the wall. Surely the King was +taming his head. Yes--he was right. He felt his short hair rising on his +scalp and unearthly sounds screamed in his ears. The terrible eyes were +upon him now, but he could not move hand or foot--if he had been nailed to +the wall to die, he could not have been so helpless.</p> + +<p>Philip eyed him with cold curiosity, for it was not an illusion, and he +was really looking steadily at the dwarf. After a long time, his protruding +lower lip moved two or three times before he spoke. The jester should have +come forward at his first glance, to answer any question asked him. +Instead, his colourless lips were parted and tightly drawn back, and his +teeth were chattering, do what he could to close them. The Queen and Don +John followed the King's gaze and looked at the dwarf in surprise, for his +agony was painfully visible.</p> + +<p>"He looks as if he were in an ague," observed Philip, as though he were +watching a sick dog.</p> + +<p>He had spoken at last, and the fear of silence was removed. An audible +sigh of relief was heard in the room.</p> + +<p>"Poor man!" exclaimed the Queen. "I am afraid he is very ill!"</p> + +<p>"It is more like--" began Don John, and then he checked himself, for he +had been on the point of saying that the dwarfs fit looked more like +physical fear than illness, for he had more than once seen men afraid of +death; but he remembered the letter in his glove and thought the words +might rouse Philip's suspicions.</p> + +<p>"What was your Serene Highness about to say?" enquired the King, +speaking coldly, and laying stress on the formal title which he had himself +given Don John the right to use.</p> + +<p>"As your Majesty says, it is very like the chill of a fever," replied +Don John.</p> + +<p>But it was already passing, for Adonis was not a natural coward, and the +short conversation of the royal personages had broken the spell that held +him, or had at least diminished its power. When he had entered the room he +had been quite sure that no one except the Princess had seen him slip the +letter into Don John's glove. That quieting belief began to return, his jaw +became steady, and he relaxed his hold on the tapestries, and even advanced +half a step towards the table.</p> + +<p>"And now he seems better," said the King, in evident surprise. "What +sort of illness is this, Fool? If you cannot explain it, you shall be sent +to bed, and the physicians shall practise experiments upon your vile body, +until they find out what your complaint is, for the advancement of their +learning."</p> + +<p>"They would advance me more than their science, Sire," answered Adonis, +in a voice that still quaked with past fear, "for they would send me to +paradise at once and learn nothing that they wished to know."</p> + +<p>"That is probable," observed Don John, thoughtfully, for he had little +belief in medicine generally, and none at all in the present case.</p> + +<p>"May it please your Majesty," said Adonis, taking heart a little, "there +are musk melons on the table."</p> + +<p>"Well, what of that?" asked the King.</p> + +<p>"The sight of melons on your Majesty's table almost kills me," answered +the dwarf.</p> + +<p>"Are you so fond of them that you cannot bear to see them? You shall +have a dozen and be made to eat them all. That will cure your abominable +greediness."</p> + +<p>"Provided that the King had none himself, I would eat all the rest, +until I died of a surfeit of melons like your Majesty's great-grandsire of +glorious and happy memory, the Emperor Maximilian."</p> + +<p>Philip turned visibly pale, for he feared illness and death as few have +feared either.</p> + +<p>"Why has no one ever told me that?" he asked in a muffled and angry +voice, looking round the room, so that the gentlemen and servants shrank +back a little.</p> + +<p>No one answered his question, for though the fact was true, it had been +long forgotten, and it would have been hard for any of those present to +realize that the King would fear a danger so far removed. But the dwarf +knew him well.</p> + +<p>"Let there be no more melons," said Philip, rising abruptly, and still +pale.</p> + +<p>Don John had suppressed a smile, and was taken unawares when the King +rose, so that in standing up instantly, as was necessary according to the +rules, his gloves slipped from his knees, where he had kept them during +supper, to the floor, and a moment passed before he realized that they were +not in his hand. He was still in his place, for the King had not yet left +his own, being engaged in saying a Latin grace in a low tone, He crossed +himself devoutly, and an instant later Don John stooped down and picked up +what he had dropped. Philip could not but notice the action, and his +suspicions were instantly roused.</p> + +<p>"What have you found?" he asked sharply, his eyes fixing themselves +again.</p> + +<p>"My gloves, Sire. I dropped them."</p> + +<p>"And are gloves such precious possessions that Don John of Austria must +stoop to pick them up himself?"</p> + +<p>Adonis began to tremble again, and all his fear returned, so that he +almost staggered against the wall. The Queen looked on in surprise, for she +had not been Philip's wife many months. Don John was unconcerned, and +laughed in reply to the question.</p> + +<p>"It chances that after long campaigning these are the only new white +gloves Don John of Austria possesses," he answered lightly.</p> + +<p>"Let me see them," said the King, extending his hand, and smiling +suddenly.</p> + +<p>With some deliberation Don John presented one of the gloves to his +brother, who took it and pretended to examine it critically, still smiling. +He turned it over several times, while Adonis looked on, gasping for +breath, but unnoticed.</p> + +<p>"The other," said Philip calmly.</p> + +<p>Adonis tried to suppress a groan, and his eyes were fixed on Don John's +face. Would he refuse? Would he try to extract the letter from the glove +under his brother's eyes? Would he give it up?</p> + +<p>Don John did none of those things, and there was not the least change of +colour in his cheek. Without any attempt at concealment he took the letter +from its hiding-place, and held out the empty glove with his other hand. +The King drew back, and his face grew very grey and shadowy with anger.</p> + +<p>"What have you in your other hand?" he asked in a voice indistinct with +passion.</p> + +<p>"A lady's letter, Sire," replied Don John, unmoved.</p> + +<p>"Give it to me at once!"</p> + +<p>"That, your Majesty, is a request I will not grant to any gentleman in +Spain."</p> + +<p>He undid a button of his close-fitting doublet, thrust the letter into +the opening and fastened the button again, before the King could speak. The +dwarf's heart almost stood still with joy,--he could have crawled to Don +John's feet to kiss the dust from his shoes. The Queen smiled nervously, +between fear of the one man and admiration for the other.</p> + +<p>"Your Serene Highness," answered Philip, with a frightful stare, "is the +first gentleman of Spain who has disobeyed his sovereign."</p> + +<p>"May I be the last, your Majesty," said Don John, with a courtly gesture +which showed well enough that he had no intention of changing his mind.</p> + +<p>The King turned from him coldly and spoke to Adonis, who had almost got +his courage back a second time.</p> + +<p>"You gave my message to his Highness, Fool?" he asked, controlling his +voice, but not quite steadying it to a natural tone.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sire."</p> + +<p>"Go and tell Don Antonio Perez to come at once to me in my own +apartments."</p> + +<p>The dwarf bent till his crooked back was high above his head, and he +stepped backwards towards the door through which the servants had entered +and gone out. When he had disappeared, Philip turned and, as if nothing had +happened, gave his hand to the Queen to lead her away with all the +prescribed courtesy that was her due. The servants opened wide the door, +two gentlemen placed themselves on each side of it, the chief gentleman in +waiting went before, and the royal couple passed out, followed at a little +distance by Don John, who walked unconcernedly, swinging his right glove +carelessly in his hand as he went. The four gentlemen walked last. In the +hall beyond, Mendoza was in waiting with the guards.</p> + +<p>A little while after they were all gone, Adonis came back from his +errand, with his rolling step, and searched for the other glove on the +floor, where the King had dropped it. He found it there at once and hid it +in his doubtlet. No one was in the room, for the servants had disappeared +as soon as they could. The dwarf went quickly to Don John's place, took a +Venetian goblet full of untasted wine that stood there and drank it at a +draught. Then he patted himself comfortably with his other hand and looked +thoughtfully at the slices of musk melon that lay in the golden dish +flanked by other dishes full of late grapes and pears.</p> + +<p>"God bless the Emperor Maximilian!" he said in a devout tone. "Since he +could not live for ever, it was a special grace of Providence that his +death should be by melons."</p> + +<p>Then he went away again, and softly closed the door behind him, after +looking back once more to be sure that no one was there after all, and +perhaps, as people sometimes do on leaving a place where they have escaped +a great danger, fixing its details unconsciously in his memory, with +something almost akin to gratitude, as if the lifeless things had run the +risk with them and thus earned their lasting friendship. Thus every man who +has been to sea knows how, when his vessel has been hove to in a storm for +many hours, perhaps during more than one day, within a few miles of the +same spot, the sea there grows familiar to him as a landscape to a +landsman, so that when the force of the gale is broken at last and the sea +subsides to a long swell, and the ship is wore to the wind and can lay her +course once more, he looks astern at the grey water he has learned to know +so well and feels that he should know it again if he passed that way, and +he leaves it with a faint sensation of regret. So Adonis, the jester, left +the King's supper-room that night, devoutly thanking Heaven that the +Emperor Maximilian had died of eating too many melons more than a hundred +and fifty years ago.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the King had left the Queen at the door of her apartments, +and had dismissed Don John in angry silence by a gesture only, as he went +on to his study. And when there, he sent away his gentlemen and bade that +no one should disturb him, and that only Don Antonio Perez, the new +favourite, should be admitted. The supper had scarcely lasted half an hour, +and it was still early in the evening when he found himself alone and was +able to reflect upon what had happened, and upon what it would be best to +do to rid himself of his brother, the hero and idol of Spain.</p> + +<p>He did not admit that Don John of Austria could be allowed to live on, +unmolested, as if he had not openly refused to obey an express command and +as if he were not secretly plotting to get possession of the throne. That +was impossible. During more than two years, Don John's popularity, not only +with the people, but with the army, which was a much more serious matter, +had been steadily growing; and with it and even faster than it, the King's +jealousy and hatred had grown also, till it had become a matter of common +discussion and jest among the soldiers when their officers were out of +hearing.</p> + +<p>But though it was without real cause, it was not without apparent +foundation. As Philip slowly paced the floor of his most private room, with +awkward, ungainly steps, stumbling more than once against a cushion that +lay before his great armchair, he saw clearly before him the whole +dimensions of that power to which he had unwillingly raised his brother. +The time had been short, but the means used had been great, for they had +been intended to be means of destruction, and the result was tremendous +when they turned against him who used them. Philip was old enough to have +been Don John's father, and he remembered how indifferent he had been to +the graceful boy of twelve, whom they called Juan Quixada, when he had been +brought to the old court at Valladolid and acknowledged as a son of the +Emperor Charles. Though he was his brother, Philip had not even granted him +the privilege of living in the palace then, and had smiled at the idea that +he should be addressed as "Serene Highness." Even as a boy, he had been +impatient to fight; and Philip remembered how he was always practising with +the sword or performing wild feats of skill and strength upon half-broken +horses, except when he was kept to his books by Doña Magdalena +Quixada, the only person in the world whom he ever obeyed without question. +Every one had loved the boy from the first, and Philip's jealousy had begun +from that; for he, who was loved by none and feared by all, craved +popularity and common affection, and was filled with bitter resentment +against the world that obeyed him but refused him what he most desired.</p> + +<p>Little more than ten years had passed since the boy had come, and he had +neither died a natural death nor fallen in battle, and was grown up to +young manhood, and was by far the greatest man in Spain. He had been +treated as an inferior, the people had set him up as a god. He had been +sent out to command expeditions that be might fail and be disgraced; but he +had shown deeper wisdom than his elders, and had come back covered with +honour; and now he had been commanded to fight out the final battle of +Spain with the Moriscoes, in the hope that he might die in the fight, since +he could not be dishonoured, and instead he had returned in triumph, having +utterly subdued the fiercest warriors in Europe, to reap the ripe harvest +of his military glory at an age when other men were in the leading-strings +of war's school, and to be acclaimed a hero as well as a favourite by a +court that could hardly raise a voice to cheer for its own King. Ten years +had done all that. Ten more, or even five, might do the rest. The boy could +not be without ambition, and there could be no ambition for him of which +the object should be less than a throne. And yet no word had been breathed +against him,--his young reputation was charmed, as his life was. In vain +Philip had bidden Antonio Perez and the Princess of Eboli use all their +wits and skill to prove that he was plotting to seize the crown. They +answered that he loved a girl of the court, Mendoza's daughter, and that +besides war, for war's sake, he cared for nothing in the world but Dolores +and his adopted mother.</p> + +<p>They spoke the truth, for they had reason to know it, having used every +means in their power to find out whether he could be induced to quarrel +with Philip and enter upon a civil war, which could have had but one issue, +since all Spain would have risen to proclaim him king. He had been tempted +by questions, and led into discussions in which it seemed certain that he +must give them some hope. But they and their agents lost heart before the +insuperable obstacle of the young prince's loyalty. It was simple, +unaffected, and without exaggeration. He never drew his sword and kissed +the blade, and swore by the Blessed Virgin to give his last drop of blood +for his sovereign and his country. He never made solemn vows to accomplish +ends that looked impossible. But when the charge sounded, he pressed his +steel cap a little lower upon his brow, and settled himself in the saddle +without any words and rode at death like the devil incarnate; and then men +followed him, and the impossible was done, and that was all. Or he could +wait and watch, and manoeuvre for weeks, until he had his foe in his hand, +with a patience that would have failed his officers and his men, had they +not seen him always ready and cheerful, and fully sure that although he +might fail twenty times to drive the foe into the pen, he should most +certainly succeed in the end,--as he always did.</p> + +<p>Philip paced the chamber in deep and angry thought. If at that moment +any one had offered to rid him of his brother, the reward would have been +ready, and worth a murderer's taking. But the King had long cherished the +scheme of marrying Don John to Queen Mary of Scotland,--whose marriage with +Bothwell could easily be annulled--in order that his presumptuous ambition +might be satisfied, and at the same time that he might make of his new +kingdom a powerful ally of Spain against Elizabeth of England. It was for +this reason that he had long determined to prevent his brother's marriage +with Maria Dolores de Mendoza. Perez and Doña Ana de la Cerda, on +the other hand, feared that if Don John were allowed to marry the girl he +so devotedly loved, he would forget everything for her, give up +campaigning, and settle to the insignificance of a thoroughly happy man. +For they knew the world well from their own point of view. Happiness is +often like sadness, for it paralyzes those to whose lot it falls; but pain +and danger rouse man's strength of mind and body.</p> + +<p>Yet though the King and his treacherous favourite had diametrically +opposite intentions, a similar thought had crossed the minds of both, even +before Don John had ridden up to the palace gate late on that afternoon, +from his last camping ground outside the city walls. Both had reasoned that +whoever was to influence a man so straightforward and fearless must have in +his power and keeping the person for whom Don John would make the greatest +sacrifice of his life; and that person, as both knew, was Dolores herself. +Yet when Antonio Perez entered Philip's study, neither had guessed the +other's thought.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_VIII'></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + + +<p>The court had been still at supper when Adonis had summoned Don Antonio +Perez to the King, and the Secretary, as he was usually called, had been +obliged to excuse his sudden departure by explaining that the King had sent +for him unexpectedly. He was not even able to exchange a word with +Doña Ana, who was seated at another of the three long tables and at +some distance from him. She understood, however, and looked after him +anxiously. His leaving was not signal for the others, but it caused a +little stir which unhinged the solemn formality of the supper. The +Ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire presently protested that he was +suffering from an unbearable headache, and the Princess of Eboli, next to +whom he was seated, begged him not to stand upon ceremony, since Perez was +gone from the room, but to order his coach at once; she found it hot, she +said, and would be glad to escape. The two rose together, and others +followed their example, until the few who would have stayed longer were +constrained to imitate the majority. When Mendoza, relieved at last from +his duty, went towards the supper-room to take the place that was kept for +him at one of the tables, he met Doña Ana in the private corridor +through which the officers and ladies of the household passed to the state +apartments. He stood still, surprised to see her there.</p> + +<p>"The supper is over," she said, stopping also, and trying to scrutinize +the hard old face by the dim light of the lamps. "May I have a word with +you, General? Let us walk together to your apartments."</p> + +<p>"It is far, Madam," observed Mendoza, who suspected at once that she +wished to see Dolores.</p> + +<p>"I shall be glad to walk a little, and breathe the air," she answered. +"Your corridor has arches open to the air, I remember." She began to walk, +and he was obliged to accompany her. "Yes," she continued indifferently, +"we have had such changeable weather to-day! This morning it almost snowed, +then it rained, then it, began to freeze, and now it feels like summer! I +hope Dolores has not taken cold? Is she ill? She was not at court before +supper."</p> + +<p>"The weather is indeed very changeable," replied the General, who did +not know what to say, and considered it beneath his dignity to lie except +by order of the King.</p> + +<p>"Yes--yes, I was saying so, was I not? But Dolores--is she ill? Please +tell me." The Princess spoke almost anxiously.</p> + +<p>"No, Madam, my daughters are well, so far as I know."</p> + +<p>"But then, my dear General, it is strange that you should not have sent +an excuse for Dolores' not appearing. That is the rule, you know. May I ask +why you ventured to break it?" Her tone grew harder by degrees.</p> + +<p>"It was very sudden," said Mendoza, trying to put her off. "I hope that +your Grace will excuse my daughter."</p> + +<p>"What was sudden?" enquired Doña Ana coldly. "You say she was not +taken ill."</p> + +<p>"Her--her not coming to court." Mendoza hesitated and pulled at his grey +beard as they went along. "She fully intended to come," he added, with +perfect truth.</p> + +<p>Doña Ana walked more slowly, glancing sideways at his face, +though she could hardly see it except when they passed by a lamp, for he +was very tall, and she was short, though exquisitely proportioned.</p> + +<p>"I do not understand," she said, in a clear, metallic voice. "I have a +right to an explanation, for it is quite impossible to give the ladies of +the court who live in the palace full liberty to attend upon the Queen or +not, as they please. You will be singularly fortunate if Don Antonio Perez +does not mention the matter to the King."</p> + +<p>Mendoza was silent, but the words had their effect upon him, and a very +unpleasant one, for they contained a threat.</p> + +<p>"You see," continued the Princess, pausing as they reached a flight of +steps which they would have to ascend, "every one acknowledges the +importance of your services, and that you have been very poorly rewarded +for them. But that is in a degree your own fault, for you have refused to +make friends when you might, and you have little interest with the +King."</p> + +<p>"I know it," said the old soldier, rather bitterly. "Princess," he +continued, without giving her time to say more, "this is a private matter, +which concerns only me and my daughter. I entreat you to overlook the +irregularity and not to question me further. I will serve you in any way in +my power--"</p> + +<p>"You cannot serve me in any way," answered Doña Ana cruelly. "I +am trying to help you," she added, with a sudden change of tone. "You see, +my dear General, you are no longer young. At your age, with your name and +your past services, you should have been a grandee and a rich man. You have +thrown away your opportunities of advancement, and you have contented +yourself with an office which is highly honourable--but poorly paid, is it +not? And there are younger men who court it for the honour alone, and who +are willing to be served by their friends."</p> + +<p>"Who is my successor?" asked Mendoza, bravely controlling his voice +though he felt that he was ruined.</p> + +<p>The skilful and cruel woman began to mount the steps in silence, in +order to let him suffer a few moments, before she answered. Reaching the +top, she spoke, and her voice was soft and kind.</p> + +<p>"No one," she answered, "and there is nothing to prevent you from +keeping your post as long as you like, even if you become infirm and have +to appoint a deputy--but if there were any serious cause of complaint, like +this extraordinary behaviour of Dolores--why, perhaps--"</p> + +<p>She paused to give her words weight, for she knew their value.</p> + +<p>"Madam," said Mendoza, "the matter I keep from you does not touch my +honour, and you may know it, so far as that is concerned. But it is one of +which I entreat you not to force me to speak."</p> + +<p>Doña Ana softly passed her arm through his.</p> + +<p>"I am not used to walking so fast," she said, by way of explanation. +"But, my dear Mendoza," she went on, pressing his arm a little, "you do not +think that I shall let what you tell me go further and reach any one +else--do you? How can I be of any use to you, if you have no confidence in +me? Are we not relatives? You must treat me as I treat you."</p> + +<p>Mendoza wished that he could.</p> + +<p>"Madam," he said almost roughly, "I have shut my daughter up in her own +room and bolted the door, and to-morrow I intend to send her to a convent, +and there she shall stay until she changes her mind, for I will not change +mine"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" ejaculated Doña Ana, with a long intonation, as if grasping +the position of affairs by degrees. "I understand," she said, after a long +time. "But then you and I are of the same opinion, my dear friend. Let us +talk about this."</p> + +<p>Mendoza did not wish to talk of the matter at all, and said nothing, as +they slowly advanced. They had at last reached the passage that ended at +his door, and he slackened his pace still more, obliging his companion, +whose arm was still in his, to keep pace with him. The moonlight no longer +shone in straight through the open embrasures, and there was a dim twilight +in the corridor.</p> + +<p>"You do not wish Dolores to marry Don John of Austria, then," said the +Princess presently, in very low tones. "Then the King is on your side, and +so am I. But I should like to know your reason for objecting to such a very +great marriage."</p> + +<p>"Simple enough, Madam. Whenever it should please his Majesty's policy to +marry his brother to a royal personage, such as Queen Mary of Scotland, the +first marriage would be proved null and void, because the King would +command that it should be so, and my daughter would be a dishonoured woman, +fit for nothing but a convent."</p> + +<p>"Do you call that dishonour?" asked the Princess thoughtfully. "Even if +that happened, you know that Don John would probably not abandon Dolores. +He would keep her near him--and provide for her generously--"</p> + +<p>"Madam!" cried the brave old soldier, interrupting her in sudden and +generous anger, "neither man nor woman shall tell me that my daughter could +ever fall to that!"</p> + +<p>She saw that she had made a mistake, and pressed his arm soothingly.</p> + +<p>"Pray, do not be angry with me, my dear friend. I was thinking what the +world would say--no, let me speak! I am quite of your opinion that Dolores +should be kept from seeing Don John, even by quiet force if necessary, for +they will certainly be married at the very first opportunity they can find. +But you cannot do such things violently, you know. You will make a scandal. +You cannot take your daughter away from court suddenly and shut her up in a +convent without doing her a great injury. Do you not see that? People will +not understand that you will not let her marry Don John--I mean that most +people would find it hard to believe. Yes, the world is bad, I know; what +can one do? The world would say--promise me that you will not be angry, +dear General! You can guess what the world would say."'</p> + +<p>"I see--I see!" exclaimed the old man, in sudden terror for his +daughter's good name. "How wise you are!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Doña Ana, stopping at ten paces from the door, "I +am wise, for I am obliged to be. Now, if instead of locking Dolores into +her room two or three hours ago, you had come to me, and told me the truth, +and put her under my protection, for our common good, I would have made it +quite impossible for her to exchange a word with Don John, and I would have +taken such good care of her that instead of gossiping about her, the world +would have said that she was high in favour, and would have begun to pay +court to her. You know that I have the power to do that."</p> + +<p>"How very wise you are!" exclaimed Mendoza again, with more +emphasis.</p> + +<p>"Very well. Will you let me take her with me now, my dear friend? I will +console her a little, for I daresay she has been crying all alone in her +room, poor girl, and I can keep her with me till Don John goes to +Villagarcia. Then we shall see."</p> + +<p>Old Mendoza was a very simple-hearted man, as brave men often are, and a +singularly spotless life spent chiefly in war and austere devotion had left +him more than ignorant of the ways of the world. He had few friends, +chiefly old comrades of his own age who did not live in the palace, and he +detested gossip. Had he known what the woman was with whom he was speaking, +he would have risked Dolores' life rather than give her into the keeping of +Doña Ana. But to him, the latter was simply the wife of old Don Ruy +Gomez de Silva, the Minister of State, and she was the head of the Queen's +household. No one would have thought of repeating the story of a court +intrigue to Mendoza, but it was also true that every one feared Doña +Ana, whose power was boundless, and no one wished to be heard speaking ill +of her. To him, therefore, her proposition seemed both wise and kind.</p> + +<p>"I am very grateful," he said, with some emotion, for he believed that +she was helping him to save his fortune and his honour, as was perhaps +really the case, though she would have helped him to lose both with equally +persuasive skill could his ruin have served her. "Will you come in with me, +Princess?" he asked, beginning to move towards the door.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Take me to her room and leave me with her."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I would rather not see her myself this evening," said Mendoza, +feeling his anger still not very far from the surface. "You will be able to +speak more wisely than I should."</p> + +<p>"I daresay," answered Doña Ana thoughtfully. "If you went with me +to her, there might be angry words again, and that would make it much +harder for me. If you will leave me at the door of her rooms, and then go +away, I will promise to manage the rest. You are not sorry that you have +told me, now, are you, my dear friend?"</p> + +<p>"I am most grateful to you. I shall do all I can to be of service to +you, even though you said that it was not in my power to serve you."</p> + +<p>"I was annoyed," said Doña Ana sweetly. "I did not mean +it--please forgive me."</p> + +<p>They reached the door, and as she withdrew her hand from his arm, he +took it and ceremoniously kissed her gloved fingers, while she smiled +graciously. Then he knocked three times, and presently the shuffling of +Eudaldo's slippers was heard within, and the old servant opened sleepily. +On seeing the Princess enter first, he stiffened himself in a military +fashion, for he had been a soldier and had fought under Mendoza when both +were younger.</p> + +<p>"Eudaldo," said the General, in the stern tone he always used when +giving orders, "her Excellency the Princess of Eboli will take Doña +Dolores to her own apartments this evening. Tell the maid to follow later +with whatever my daughter needs, and do you accompany the ladies with a +candle."</p> + +<p>But at this Doña Ana protested strongly. There was moonlight, +there were lamps, there was light everywhere, she said. She needed no one. +Mendoza, who had no man-servant in the house but Eudaldo, and eked out his +meagre establishment by making use of his halberdiers when he needed any +one, yielded after very little persuasion.</p> + +<p>"Open the door of my daughter's apartments," he said to Eudaldo. +"Madam," he said, turning to the Princess, "I have the honour to wish you +good-night. I am your Grace's most obedient servant. I must return to my +duty."</p> + +<p>"Good-night, my dear friend," answered Doña Ana, nodding +graciously.</p> + +<p>Mendoza bowed low, and went out again, Eudaldo closing the door behind +him. He would not be at liberty until the last of the grandees had gone +home, and the time he had consumed in accompanying the Princess was just +what he could have spared for his supper. She gave a short sigh of relief +as she heard his spurred heels and long sword on the stone pavement. He was +gone, leaving Dolores in her power, and she meant to use that power to the +utmost.</p> + +<p>Eudaldo shuffled silently across the hall, to the other door, and she +followed him. He drew the bolt.</p> + +<p>"Wait here," she said quietly. "I wish to see Doña Dolores +alone."</p> + +<p>"Her ladyship is in the farther room, Excellency," said the servant, +bowing and standing back.</p> + +<p>She entered and closed the door, and Eudaldo returned to his big chair, +to doze until she should come out.</p> + +<p>She had not taken two steps in the dim room, when a shadow flitted +between her and the lamp, and it was almost instantly extinguished. She +uttered an exclamation of surprise and stood still. Anywhere save in +Mendoza's house, she would have run back and tried to open the door as +quickly as possible, in fear of her life, for she had many enemies, and was +constantly on her guard. But she guessed that the shadowy figure she had +seen was Dolores. She spoke, without hesitation, in a gentle voice.</p> + +<p>"Dolores! Are you there?" she asked.</p> + +<p>A moment later she felt a small hand on her arm.</p> + +<p>"Who is it?" asked a whisper, which might have come from Dolores' lips +for all Doña Ana could tell.</p> + +<p>She had forgotten the existence of Inez, whom she had rarely seen, and +never noticed, though she knew that Mendoza had a blind daughter.</p> + +<p>"It is I--the Princess of Eboli," she answered in the same gentle +tone.</p> + +<p>"Hush! Whisper to me."</p> + +<p>"Your father has gone back to his duty, my dear--you need not be +afraid."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but Eudaldo is outside--he hears everything when he is not asleep. +What is it, Princess? Why are you here?"</p> + +<p>"I wish to talk with you a little," replied Doña Ana, whispering +now, to please the girl. "Can we not get a light? Why did you put out the +lamp? I thought you were in another room."</p> + +<p>"I was frightened. I did not know who you were. We can talk in the dark, +if you do not mind. I will lead you to a chair. I know just where +everything is in this room."</p> + +<p>The Princess suffered herself to be led a few steps, and presently she +felt herself gently pushed into a seat. She was surprised, but realizing +the girl's fear of her father, she thought it best to humour her. So far +Inez had said nothing that could lead her visitor to suppose that she was +not Dolores. Intimate as the devoted sisters were, Inez knew almost as much +of the Princess as Dolores herself; the two girls were of the same height, +and so long as the conversation was carried on in whispers, there was no +possibility of detection by speech alone. The quick-witted blind girl +reflected that it was strange if Doña Ana had not seen Dolores, who +must have been with the court the whole evening, and she feared some harm. +That being the case, her first impulse was to help her sister if possible, +but so long as she was a prisoner in Dolores' place, she could do nothing, +and she resolved that the Princess should help her to escape.</p> + +<p>Doña Ana began to speak quickly and fluently in the dark. She +said that she knew the girl's position, and had long known how tenderly she +loved Don John of Austria, and was loved by him. She sympathized deeply +with them both, and meant to do all in her power to help them. Then she +told how she had missed Dolores at court that night.</p> + +<p>Inez started involuntarily and drew her breath quickly, but Doña +Ana thought it natural that Dolores should give some expression to the +disappointment she must have felt at being shut up a prisoner on such an +occasion, when all the court was assembled to greet the man she loved.</p> + +<p>Then the Princess went on to tell how she had met Mendoza and had come +with him, and how with great difficulty she had learned the truth, and had +undertaken Dolores' care for a few days; and how Mendoza had been +satisfied, never suspecting that she really sympathized with the lovers. +That was a state secret, but of course Dolores must know it. The King +privately desired the marriage, she said, because he was jealous of his +brother and wished that he would tire of winning battles and live quietly, +as happy men do.</p> + +<p>"Don John will tell you, when you see him," she continued. "I sent him +two letters this evening. The first he burned unopened, because he thought +it was a love letter, but he has read the second by this time. He had it +before supper."</p> + +<p>"What did you write to him?" asked Inez, whispering low.</p> + +<p>"He will tell you. The substance was this: If he would only be prudent, +and consent to wait two days, and not attempt to see you alone, which would +make a scandal, and injure you, too, if any one knew it, the King would +arrange everything at his own pleasure, and your father would give his +consent. You have not seen Don John since he arrived, have you?" She asked +the question anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh no!" answered the blind girl, with conviction. "I have not seen him. +I wish to Heaven I had!"</p> + +<p>"I am glad of that," whispered the Princess. "But if you will come with +me to my apartments, and stay with me till matters are arranged--well--I +will not promise, because it might be dangerous, but perhaps you may see +him for a moment."</p> + +<p>"Really? Do you think that is possible?" In the dark Inez was smiling +sadly.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. He might come to see me, for instance, or my husband, and I +could leave you together a moment."</p> + +<p>"That would be heaven!" And the whisper came from the heart.</p> + +<p>"Then come with me now, my dear, and I will do my best," answered the +Princess.</p> + +<p>"Indeed I will! But will you wait one moment while I dress? I am in my +old frock--it is hardly fit to be seen."</p> + +<p>This was quite true; but Inez had reflected that dressed as she was she +could not pass Eudaldo and be taken by him for her sister, even with a hood +over her head. The clothes Dolores had worn before putting on her court +dress were in her room, and Dolores' hood was there, too. Before the +Princess could answer, Inez was gone, closing the door of the bedroom +behind her. Doña Ana, a little taken by surprise again, was fain to +wait where she was, in the dark, at the risk of hurting herself against the +furniture. Then it struck her that Dolores must be dressing in the dark, +for no light had come from the door as it was opened and shut. She +remembered the blind sister then, and she wondered idly whether those who +lived continually with the blind learned from them to move easily in the +dark and to do everything without a light. The question did not interest +her much, but while she was thinking of it the door opened again. A skirt +and a bodice are soon changed. In a moment she felt her hand taken, and she +rose to her feet.</p> + +<p>"I am ready, Princess. I will open the door if you will come with me. I +have covered my head and face," she added carelessly, though always +whispering, "because I am afraid of the night air."</p> + +<p>"I was going to advise you to do it in any case, my dear. It is just as +well that neither of us should be recognized by any one in the corridors so +far from my apartments."</p> + +<p>The door opened and let in what seemed a flood of light by comparison +with the darkness. The Princess went forward, and Eudaldo got upon his legs +as quickly as he could to let the two ladies out, without looking at them +as they crossed the hall. Inez followed her companion's footfall exactly, +keeping one step behind her by ear, and just pausing before passing out. +The old servant saw Dolores' dress and Dolores' hood, which he expected to +see, and no more suspected anything than he had when, as he supposed, Inez, +had gone out earlier.</p> + +<p>But Inez herself had a far more difficult part to perform than her +sister's. Dolores had gone out alone, and no one had watched her beyond the +door, and Dolores had eyes, and could easily enough pretend that she could +not see. It was another matter to be blind and to play at seeing, with a +clever woman like the Princess at one's elbow, ready to detect the +slightest hesitation. Besides, though she had got out of the predicament in +which it had been necessary to place her, it was quite impossible to +foresee what might happen when the Princess discovered that she had been +deceived, and that catastrophe must happen sooner or later, and might occur +at any moment. The Princess walked quickly, too, with a gliding, noiseless +step that was hard to follow. Fortunately Inez was expected to keep to the +left of a superior like her companion, and was accustomed to taking that +side when she went anywhere alone in the palace. That made it easier, but +trouble might come at one of the short flights of steps down and up which +they would have to pass to reach the Princess's apartments. And then, once +there, discovery must come, to a certainty, and then, she knew not +what.</p> + +<p>She had not run the risk for the sake of being shut up again. She had +got out by a trick in order to help her sister, if she could find her, and +in order to be at liberty the first thing necessary was to elude her +companion. To go to the door of her apartments would be fatal, but she had +not had time to think what she should do. She thought now, with all the +concentration of her ingenuity. One chance presented itself to her mind at +once. They most pass the pillar behind which was the concealed entrance to +the Moorish gallery above the throne room, and it was not at all likely +that Doña Ana should know of its existence, for she never came to +that part of the palace, and if Inez lagged a little way behind, before +they reached the spot, she could slip noiselessly behind the pillar and +disappear. She could always trust herself not to attract attention when she +had to open and shut a door.</p> + +<p>The Princess spoke rarely, making little remarks now and then that +hardly required an answer, but to which Inez answered in monosyllables, +speaking in a low voice through the thick veil she had drawn over her +mantle under her hood, on pretence of fearing the cold. She thought it a +little safer to speak aloud in that way, lest her companion should wonder +at her total silence.</p> + +<p>She knew exactly where she was, for she touched each corner as she +passed, and counted her steps between one well-known point and the next, +and she allowed the Princess to gain a little as they neared the last +turning before reaching the place where she meant to make the attempt. She +hoped in this way, by walking quite noiselessly, and then stopping suddenly +just before she reached the pillar, to gain half a dozen paces, and the +Princess would take three more before she stopped also. Inez had noticed +that most people take at least three steps before they stop, if any one +calls them suddenly when they are walking fast. It seems to need as much to +balance the body when its speed is checked. She noticed everything that +could be heard.</p> + +<p>She grew nervous. It seemed to her that her companion was walking more +slowly, as if not wishing to leave her any distance behind. She quickened +her own pace again, fearing that she had excited suspicion. Then she heard +the Princess stop suddenly, and she had no choice but to do the same. Her +heart began to beat painfully, as she saw her chance slipping from her. She +waited for Doña Ana to speak, wondering what was the matter.</p> + +<p>"I have mistaken the way," said the Princess, in a tone of annoyance. "I +do not know where I am. We had better go back and turn down the main +staircase, even if we meet some one. You see, I never come to this part of +the palace."</p> + +<p>"I think we are on the right corridor," said Inez nervously. "Let me go +as far as the corner. There is a light there, and I can tell you in a +moment." In her anxiety to seem to see, she had forgotten for the moment to +muffle her voice in her veil.</p> + +<p>They went on rapidly, and the Doña Ana did what most people do +when a companion offers to examine the way,--she stood still a moment and +hesitated, looking after the girl, and then followed her with the slow step +with which a person walks who is certain of having to turn back. Inez +walked lightly to the corner, hardly touching the wall, turned by the +corner, and was out of sight in a moment. The Princess walked faster, for +though she believed that Dolores trusted her, it seemed foolish to give the +girl a chance. She reached the corner, where there was a lamp,--and she saw +that the dim corridor was empty to the very end.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_IX'></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + + +<p>The Princess was far from suspecting, even then, that she had been +deceived about her companion's identity as well as tricked at the last, +when Inez escaped from her. She would have laughed at the idea that any +blind person could have moved as confidently as Inez, or could afterwards +have run the length of the next corridor in what had seemed but an instant, +for she did not know of the niche behind the pillar, and there were +pilasters all along, built into the wall. The construction of the high, +springing vault that covered the whole throne room required them for its +solidity, and only the one under the centre of the arch was built as a +detached pillar, in order to give access to the gallery. Seen from either +end of the passage, it looked exactly like the rest, and few persons would +have noticed that it differed from them, even in passing it.</p> + +<p>Doña Ana stood looking in the direction she supposed the girl to +have taken. An angry flush rose in her cheek, she bit her lips till they +almost bled, and at last she stamped once before she turned away, so that +her little slipper sent a sharp echo along the corridor. Pursuit was out of +the question, of course, though she could run like a deer; some one might +meet her at any turning, and in an hour the whole palace would know that +she had been seen running at full speed after some unknown person. It would +be bad enough if she were recognized walking alone at night at a distance +from her own apartments. She drew her veil over her face so closely that +she could hardly see her way, and began to retrace her steps towards the +principal staircase, pondering as to what she should say to Mendoza when he +discovered that she had allowed his daughter to escape. She was a woman of +manlike intelligence and not easily unbalanced by a single reverse, +however, and before she had gone far her mind began to work clearly. +Dolores, she reasoned, would do one of two things. She would either go +straight to Don John's apartments, wait for him, and then tell him her +story, in the hope that he would protect her, or she would go to the +Duchess Alvarez and seek protection there. Under no circumstances would she +go down to the throne room without her court dress, for her mere appearance +there, dressed as she was, would produce the most profound astonishment, +and could do her no possible good. And as for her going to the Duchess, +that was impossible, too. If she had run away from Doña Ana, she had +done so because the idea of not seeing Don John for two days was +intolerable, and she meant to try and see him at once. The Duchess was in +all probability with the Queen, in the latter's private apartments, as +Dolores would know. On the whole, it seemed far more likely that she had +done the rashest thing that had suggested itself to her, and had gone +directly to the man she loved,--a man powerful enough to protect her +against all comers, at the present time, and quite capable of facing even +the King's displeasure.</p> + +<p>But the whole object of Doña Ana's manoeuvre had been to get +possession of Dolores' person, as a means of strongly influencing Don +John's actions, in order thus to lead him into a false position from which +he should not be able to escape without a serious quarrel with King Philip, +which would be the first step towards the execution of the plot elaborated +by Doña Ana and Perez together. Anything which could produce an open +difference between the brothers would serve to produce two parties in +Spain, of which the one that would take Don John's side would be by far the +stronger. His power would be suddenly much increased, an organized +agitation would be made throughout the country to set him on the throne, +and his popularity, like Cæsar's, would grow still more, when he +refused the crown, as he would most certainly do. But just then King Philip +would die suddenly of a fever, or a cold, or an indigestion, as the +conspirators thought best. There would be no direct male heir to the throne +but Don John himself, the acknowledged son of the Emperor Charles; and even +Don John would then be made to see that he could only serve his country by +ruling it, since it cried out for his rule and would have no other. It was +a hard and dangerous thing to lead King Philip; it would be an easy matter +to direct King John. An honest and unsuspicious soldier would be but as a +child in such skilful hands. Doña Ana and Perez would rule Spain as +they pleased, and by and by Don John should be chosen Emperor also by the +Electors of the Holy Roman Empire, and the conspirators would rule the +world, as Charles the Fifth had ruled it. There was no limit to their +ambition, and no scruple would stand between them and any crime, and the +stake was high and worth many risks.</p> + +<p>The Princess walked slowly, weighing in the balance all there was to +lose or gain. When she reached the head of the main staircase, she had not +yet altogether decided how to act, and lest she should meet some one she +returned, and walked up and down the lonely corridor nearly a quarter of an +hour, in deep thought. Suddenly a plan of action flashed upon her, and she +went quickly on her way, to act at once.</p> + +<p>Don John, meanwhile, had read the letter she had sent him by the dwarf +jester. When the King had retired into his own apartments, Don John found +himself unexpectedly alone. Mendoza and the guard had filed into the +antechamber, the gentlemen in waiting, being temporarily at liberty, went +to the room leading out of it on one side, which was appropriated to their +use. The sentries were set at the King's door, and Mendoza marched his +halberdiers out again and off to their quarters, while the servants +disappeared, and the hero of the day was left to himself. He smiled at his +own surprise, recollecting that he should have ordered his own attendants +to be in waiting after the supper, whereas he had dismissed them until +midnight.</p> + +<p>He turned on his heel and walked away to find a quiet place where he +might read the paper which had suddenly become of such importance, and +paused at a Moorish niche, where Philip had caused a sacred picture to be +placed, and before which a hanging silver lamp shed a clear light.</p> + +<p>The small sheet of paper contained but little writing. There were half a +dozen sentences in a clear hand, without any signature--it was what has +since then come to be called an anonymous letter. But it contained neither +any threat, nor any evidence of spite; it set forth in plain language that +if, as the writer supposed, Don John wished to marry Dolores de Mendoza, it +was as necessary for her personal safety as for the accomplishment of his +desires, that he should make no attempt to see her for at least two days, +and that, if he would accept this advice, he should have the support of +every noble and minister at court, including the very highest, with the +certainty that no further hindrance would be set in his way; it added that +the letter he had burned had contained the same words, and that the two +flowers had been intended to serve as a signal which it was now too late to +use. It would be sufficient if he told the bearer of the present letter +that he agreed to take the advice it contained. His assent in that way +would, of course, be taken by the writer to mean that he promised, on his +word. That was all.</p> + +<p>He did not like the last sentence, for it placed him in an awkward +position, as a man of honour, since he had already seen Dolores, and +therefore could not under any circumstances agree to take advice contrary +to which he had already acted. The most he could now say to the dwarf would +be that he could give no answer and would act as carefully as possible. For +the rest, the letter contained nothing treasonable, and was not at all what +he had expected and believed it to be. It appeared to be written in a +friendly spirit, and with the exception of his own brother and Mendoza, he +was not aware that he had an enemy in Spain, in which he was almost right. +Nevertheless, bold and frank as he was by nature, he knew enough of real +warfare to distrust appearances. The writer was attached to the King's +person, or the letter might have been composed, and even written in an +assumed hand, by the King himself, for Philip was not above using the +methods of a common conspirator. The limitation of time set upon his +prudence was strange, too. If he had not seen her and agreed to the terms, +he would have supposed that Dolores was being kept out of his way during +those two days, whereas in that time it would be possible to send her very +far from Madrid, or to place her secretly in a convent where it would be +impossible to find her. It flashed upon him that in shutting up Dolores +that evening Mendoza had been obeying the King's secret orders, as well as +in telling her that she was to be taken to Las Huelgas at dawn. No one but +Philip could have written the letter--only the dwarf's fear of Philip's +displeasure could have made him so anxious that it should be read at once. +It was all as clear as daylight now, and the King and Mendoza were acting +together. The first letter had been brought by a woman, who must have got +out through the window of the study, which was so low that she could almost +have stepped from it to the terrace without springing. She had watched +until the officers and the servants had gone out and the way was clear. +Nothing could have been simpler or easier.</p> + +<p>He would have burnt the letter at the lamp before the picture, had he +not feared that some one might see him do it, and he folded it again and +thrust it back under his doublet. His face was grave as he turned away, for +the position, as he understood it, was a very desperate one. He had meant +to send Dolores to Villagarcia, but it was almost impossible that such a +matter should remain unknown, and in the face of the King's personal +opposition, it would probably ruin Quixada and his wife. He, on his side, +might send Dolores to a convent, under an assumed name, and take her out +again before she was found, and marry her. But that would be hard, too, for +no places were more directly under the sovereign's control than convents +and monasteries. Somewhere she must go, for she could not possibly remain +concealed in his study more than three or four hours.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he fancied that she might be in danger even now. The woman who +had brought the first letter had of course left the window unfastened. She, +or the King, or any one, might get in by that way, and Dolores was alone. +They might have taken her away already. He cursed himself for not having +looked to see that the window was bolted. The man who had won great battles +felt a chill at his heart, and he walked at the best of his speed, careless +whether he met any one or not. But no place is more deserted than the more +distant parts of a royal palace when there is a great assembly in the state +apartments. He met no one on his way, and entered his own door alone. Ten +minutes had not elapsed since the King had left the supper-room, and it was +almost at that moment that Doña Ana met Mendoza.</p> + +<p>Dolores started to her feet as she heard his step in the next room and +then the key in the lock, and as he entered her hands clasped themselves +round his neck, and her eyes looked into his. He was very pale when he saw +her at last, for the belief that she had been stolen away had grown with +his speed, till it was an intolerable certainty.</p> + +<p>"What is it? What has happened?" she cried anxiously. "Why are you so +white? Are you ill?"</p> + +<p>"I was frightened," he said simply. "I was afraid you were gone. Look +here!"</p> + +<p>He led her to the window, and drew the curtain to one side. The cool air +rushed in, for the bolts were unfastened, and the window was ajar. He +closed it and fastened it securely, and they both came back.</p> + +<p>"The woman got out that way," he said, in explanation. "I understand it +all now--and some one might have come back."</p> + +<p>He told her quietly what had happened, and showed her the letter, which +she read slowly to the end before she gave it back to him.</p> + +<p>"Then the other was not a love letter, after all," she said, with a +little laugh that had more of relief in it than amusement, though she did +not know it herself.</p> + +<p>"No," he answered gravely. "I wish I had read it. I should at least have +shut the window before leaving you!"</p> + +<p>Careless of any danger to herself, she sat looking up into his anxious +face, her clasped hands lying in his and quite covered by them, as he stood +beside her. There was not a trace of fear in her own face, nor indeed of +any feeling but perfect love and confidence. Under the gaze of her deep +grey eyes his expression relaxed for a moment, and grew like hers, so that +it would have been hard to say which trusted the other the more.</p> + +<p>"What does anything matter, since we are together now?" she asked. "I am +with you, can anything happen to me?"</p> + +<p>"Not while I am alive," he answered, but the look of anxiety for her +returned at once. "You cannot stay here."</p> + +<p>"No--you will take me away. I am ready--"</p> + +<p>"I do not mean that. You cannot stay in this room, nor in my apartments. +The King is coming here in a few minutes. I cannot tell what he may do--he +may insist on seeing whether any one is here, listening, for he is very +suspicious, and he only comes here because he does not even trust his own +apartments. He may wish to open the door--"</p> + +<p>"I will lock it on the inside. You can say that it is locked, and that +you have not the key. If he calls men to open it, I will escape by the +window, and hide in the old sentry-box. He will not stay talking with you +till morning!"</p> + +<p>She laughed, and he saw that she was right, simply because there was no +other place where she could be even as safe as where she was. He slowly +nodded as she spoke.</p> + +<p>"You see," she cried, with another little laugh of happy satisfaction, +"you must keep me here whether you will or not! You are really +afraid--frightened like a boy! You! How men would stare if they could see +you afraid!"</p> + +<p>"It is true," he answered, with a faint smile.</p> + +<p>"But I will give you courage!" she said. "The King cannot come yet. +Perez can only have just gone to him, you say. They will talk at least half +an hour, and it is very likely that Perez will persuade him not to come at +all, because he is angry with you. Perhaps Perez will come instead, and he +will be very smooth and flattering, and bring messages of reconciliation, +and beg to make peace. He is very clever, but I do not like his face. He +makes me think of a beautiful black fox! Even if the King comes himself, we +have more than half an hour. You can stay a little while with me--then go +into your room and sit down and read, as if you were waiting for him. You +can read my letter over, and I will sit here and say all the things I +wrote, over and over again, and you will know that I am saying them--it +will be almost as if I were with you, and could say them quite close to +you--like this--I love you!"</p> + +<p>She had drawn his hand gently down to her while she was speaking, and +she whispered the last words into his ear with a delicate little kiss that +sent a thrill straight to his heart.</p> + +<p>"You are not afraid any more now, are you?" she asked, as she let him +go, and he straightened himself suddenly as a man drawing back from +something he both fears and loves.</p> + +<p>He opened and shut his hands quickly two or three times, as some nervous +men do, as if trying to shake them clear from a spell, or an influence. +Then he began to walk up and down, talking to her.</p> + +<p>"I am at my wit's end," he said, speaking fast and not looking at her +face, as he turned and turned again. "I cannot send you to +Villagarcia--there are things that neither you nor I could do, even for +each other, things you would not have me do for you, Dolores. It would be +ruin and disgrace to my adopted mother and Quixada--it might be worse, for +the King can call anything he pleases high treason. It is impossible to +take you there without some one knowing it--can I carry you in my arms? +There are grooms, coachmen, servants, who will tell anything under +examination--under torture! How can I send you there?"</p> + +<p>"I would not go," answered Dolores quietly.</p> + +<p>"I cannot send you to a convent, either," he went on, for he had taken +her answer for granted, as lovers do who trust each other. "You would be +found in a day, for the King knows everything. There is only one place, +where I am master--"</p> + +<p>He stopped short, and grew very pale again, looking at the wall, but +seeing something very far away.</p> + +<p>"Where?" asked Dolores. "Take me there! Oh, take me where you are +master--where there is no king but you, where we can be together all our +lives, and no one can come between us!"</p> + +<p>He stood motionless, staring at the wall, contemplating in amazement the +vastness of the temptation that arose before him. Dolores could not +understand, but she did what a loving women does when the man she loves +seems to be in a great distress. She came and stood beside him, passing one +arm through his and pressing it tenderly, without a word. There are times +when a man needs only that to comfort him and give him strength. But even a +woman does not always know them.</p> + +<p>Very slowly he turned to her, almost as if he were trying to resist her +eyes and could not. He took his arm from hers and his hands framed her face +softly, and pushed the gold hair gently back on her forehead. But she grew +frightened by degrees, for there was a look in his eyes she had never seen +there, and that had never been in them before, neither in love nor in +battle. His hands were quite cold, and his face was like a beautiful +marble, but there was an evil something in it, as in a fallen angel's, a +defiance of God, an irresistible strength to do harm, a terror such as no +man would dare to meet.</p> + +<p>"You are worth it," he said in a tone so different from his natural +voice that Dolores started, and would have drawn back from him, but could +not, for his hands held her, shaking a little fiercely.</p> + +<p>"What? What is it?" she asked, growing more and more frightened--half +believing that he was going mad.</p> + +<p>"You are worth it," he repeated. "I tell you, you are worth that, and +much more, and the world, and all the world holds for me, and all earth and +heaven besides. You do not know how I love you--you can never guess--"</p> + +<p>Her eyes grew tender again, and her hands went up and pressed his that +still framed her face.</p> + +<p>"As I love you--dear love!" she answered, wondering, but happy.</p> + +<p>"No--not now. I love you more. You cannot guess--you shall see what I +will do for your sake, and then you will understand."</p> + +<p>He uttered an incoherent exclamation, and his eyes dazzled her as he +seized her in his arms and pressed her to him so that she could have cried +out. And suddenly he kissed her, roughly, almost cruelly, as if he meant to +hurt her, and knew that he could. She struggled in his arms, in an unknown +terror of him, and her senses reeled.</p> + +<p>Then all at once, he let her go, and turned from her quickly, leaving +her half fainting, so that she leaned against the wall and pressed her +cheek to the rough hanging. She felt a storm of tears, that she could not +understand, rising in her heart and eyes and throat. He had crossed the +room, getting as far as he could from her, and stood there, turned to the +wall, his arms bent against it and his face buried in his sleeve. He +breathed hard, and spoke as if to himself in broken words.</p> + +<p>"Worth it? My God! What are you not worth?"</p> + +<p>There was such a ring of agony and struggling in his voice that Dolores +forgot herself and stood up listening, suddenly filled with anxiety for him +again. He was surely going mad. She would have gone to him again, +forgetting her terror that was barely past, the woman's instinct to help +the suffering man overruling everything else. It was for his sake that she +stayed where she was, lest if she touched him he should lose his senses +altogether.</p> + +<p>"Oh, there is one place, where I am master and lord!" he was saying. +"There is one thing to do--one thing--"</p> + +<p>"What is the thing?" she asked very gently. "Why are you suffering so? +Where is the place?"</p> + +<p>He turned suddenly, as he would have turned in his saddle in battle at a +trumpet call, straight and strong, with fixed eyes and set lips, that spoke +deliberately.</p> + +<p>"There is Granada," he said. "Do you understand now?"</p> + +<p>"No," she answered timidly. "I do not understand. Granada? Why there? It +is so far away--"</p> + +<p>He laughed harshly.</p> + +<p>"You do not understand? Yes, Granada is far away--far enough to be +another kingdom--so far that John of Austria is master there--so far that +with his army at his back he can be not only its master, but its King? Do +you understand now? Do you see what I will do for your sake?"</p> + +<p>He made one step towards her, and she was very white.</p> + +<p>"I will take you, and go back to-morrow. Do you think the Moors are not +men, because I beat them? I tell you that if I set up my standard in +Granada and call them to me, they will follow me--if I lead them to the +gate of Madrid. Yes--and so will more than half the Spanish army, if I +will! But I do not want that--it is not the kingdom--what should I care for +that? Could I not have taken it and held it? It is for you, dear love--for +your sake only--that we may have a world of our own--a kingdom in which you +are queen! Let there be war--why should I care? I will set the world ablaze +and let it burn to its own ashes, but I will not let them take you from me, +neither now, nor ever, while I am alive!"</p> + +<p>He came quickly towards her now, and she could not draw back, for the +wall was behind her. But she thrust out her hands against him to keep him +off. The gesture stopped him, just when he would have taken her in his +arms.</p> + +<p>"No, no!" she cried vehemently. "You must not say such things, you must +not think such thoughts! You are beside yourself, and you will drive me +mad, too!"</p> + +<p>"But it will be so easy--you shall see--"</p> + +<p>She cut his words short.</p> + +<p>"It must not be easy, it must not be possible, it must not be at all! Do +you believe that I love you and that I would let you do such deeds? Oh, no! +That would not be love at all--it would be hate, it would be treason to +you, and worse treason than yours against your brother!"</p> + +<p>The fierce light was sinking from his face. He had folded his arms and +stood very still, listening to her.</p> + +<p>"You!" she cried, with rising energy. "You, the brave soldier, the +spotless man, the very soul of honour made flesh and blood! You, who have +but just come back in triumph from fighting your King's enemies--you +against whom no living being has ever dared to breathe a slander or a +slighting word. Oh, no, no, no, no! I could not bear that you should betray +your faith and your country and yourself, and be called traitor for my +sake! Not for ten lives of mine shall you ruin yours. And not because I +might love you less if you had done that deed. God help me! I think I +should love you if you committed any crime! The shame is the more to me--I +know it. I am only a woman! But rather than let my love ruin you, make a +traitor of you and lose you in this world and the next, my soul shall go +first--life, soul, honour, everything! You shall not do it! You think that +you love me more than I love you, but you do not. For to save you as you +are, I love you so dearly that I will leave you--leave you to honour, leave +you to your King, leave you to the undying glory of the life you have +lived, and will live, in memory of my love!"</p> + +<p>The splendid words rang from her lips like a voice from heaven, and her +eyes were divinely lightened. For they looked up, and not at him, calling +Heaven to witness that she would keep her promise. As her open hand +unconsciously went out, he took it tenderly, and felt her fingers softly +closing on his own, as if she would lift him to himself again, and to the +dear light of her own thoughts. There was silence for a moment.</p> + +<p>"You are better and wiser than I," he said, and his tone told her that +the madness was past.</p> + +<p>"And you know that I am right? You see that I must leave you, to save +you from me?"</p> + +<p>"Leave me--now?" he cried. "You only said that--you meant me to +understand--you did not mean that you would leave me now?"</p> + +<p>"I do mean it," she said, in a great effort. "It is all I can do, to +show you how I love you. As long as I am in your life you will be in +danger--you will never be safe from yourself--I see it all now! I stand +between you and all the world would give you--I will not stand between you +and honour!"</p> + +<p>She was breaking down, fight as she would against the pain. He could say +nothing, for he could not believe that she really was in earnest.</p> + +<p>"I must!" she exclaimed suddenly. "It is all I can do for you--it is my +life--take it!"</p> + +<p>The tears broke from her eyes, but she held her head high, and let them +fall unheeded.</p> + +<p>"Take it!" she repeated. "It is all I have to give for yours and your +honour. Good-by--oh, love, I love you so dearly! Once more, before I +go--"</p> + +<p>She almost, fell into his arms as she buried her face on his shoulder +and clasped his throat as she was wont. He kissed her hair gently, and from +time to time her whole frame shook with the sobs she was choking down.</p> + +<p>"It kills me," she said in a broken voice. "I cannot--I thought I was so +strong! Oh, I am the most miserable living woman in the world!"</p> + +<p>She broke away from him wildly and threw herself upon a chair, turning +from him to its cushion and hiding her face in her hands, choking, pressing +the furious tears back upon her eyes, shaking from head to foot.</p> + +<p>"You cannot go! You cannot!" he cried, falling on his knees beside her +and trying to take her hands in his. "Dolores--look at me! I will do +anything--promise anything--you will believe me! Listen, love--I give you +my word--I swear before God--"</p> + +<p>"No--swear nothing--" she said, between the sobs that broke her +voice.</p> + +<p>"But I will!" he insisted, drawing her hands down till she looked at +him. "I swear upon my honour that I will never raise my hand against the +King--that I will defend him, and fight for him, and be loyal to him, +whatever he may do to me--and that even for you, I will never strike a blow +in battle nor speak a word in peace that is not all honourable, through and +through,--even as I have fought and spoken until now!"</p> + +<p>As she listened to his words her weeping subsided, and her tearful eyes +took light and life again. She drew him close, and kissed him on the +forehead.</p> + +<p>"I am so glad--so happy!" she cried softly. "I should never have had +strength to really say good-by!"</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_X'></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + + +<p>Don John smoothed her golden hair. Never since he had known that he +loved her, had she seemed so beautiful as then, and his thought tried to +hold her as she was, that she might in memory be always the same. There was +colour in her cheeks, a soft flush of happiness that destroyed all traces +of her tears, so that they only left her grey eyes dark and tender under +the long wet lashes.</p> + +<p>"It was a cruel dream, dear love! It was not true!" Finding him again, +her voice was low, and sweet with joy.</p> + +<p>He smiled, too, and his own eyes were quiet and young, now that the +tempest had passed away, almost out of recollection. It had raged but for a +few moments, but in that time both he and she had lived and loved as it +were through years, and their love had grown better and braver. She knew +that his word was enough, and that he would die rather than break it; but +though she had called herself weak, and had seemed to break down in +despair, she would have left him for ever rather than believe that he was +still in danger through her. She did not again ask herself whether her +sudden resolution had been all for his sake, and had not formed itself +because she dreaded to think of being bound to one who betrayed his +country. She knew it and needed no further self-questioning to satisfy her. +If such a man could have committed crimes, she would have hated them, not +him, she would have pardoned him, not them, she would still have laid her +hand in his before the whole world, though it should mean shame and infamy, +because she loved him and would always love him, and could never have left +him for her own sake, come all that might. She had said it was a shame to +her that she would have loved him still; yet if it had been so, she would +have gloried in being shamed for his sake, for even then her love might +have brought him back from the depths of evil and made him again for her in +truth what he had once seemed to the whole world. She could have done that, +and if in the end she had saved him she would have counted the price of her +name as very little to set against his salvation from himself. She would +have given that and much more, for her love, as she would freely give all +for him and even for his memory, if he were dead, and if by some +unimaginable circumstances her ruin before the world could keep his name +spotless, and his glory unsullied. For there is nothing that a true-hearted +loving woman will not give and do for him she loves and believes and +trusts; and though she will give the greatest thing last of all, she will +give it in the end, if it can save him from infamy and destruction. For it +is the woman's glory to give, as it is the man's to use strength in the +hour of battle and gentleness in the day of peace, and to follow honour +always.</p> + +<p>"Forget it all," answered Don John presently. "Forget it, dear, and +forgive me for it all."</p> + +<p>"I can forget it, because it was only a dream," she said, "and I have +nothing to forgive. Listen to me. If it were true--even if I believed that +we had not been dreaming, you and I, could I have anything to forgive you? +What?"</p> + +<p>"The mere thought that I could betray a trust, turn against my sovereign +and ruin my country," he answered bravely, and a blush of honest shame rose +in his boyish cheeks.</p> + +<p>"It was for me," said Dolores.</p> + +<p>That should explain all, her heart said. But he was not satisfied, and +being a man he began to insist.</p> + +<p>"Not even for you should I have thought of it," he said. "And there is +the thought to forgive, if nothing else."</p> + +<p>"No--you are wrong, love. Because it was for me, it does not need my +forgiveness. It is different--you do not understand yet. It is I who should +have never forgiven myself on earth nor expected pardon hereafter, if I had +let myself be the cause of such deeds, if I had let my love stand between +you and honour. Do you see?"</p> + +<p>"I see," he answered. "You are very brave and kind and good. I did not +know that a woman could be like you."</p> + +<p>"A woman could be anything--for you--dare anything, do anything, +sacrifice anything! Did I not tell you so, long ago? You only half believed +me, dear--perhaps you do not quite believe me now--"</p> + +<p>"Indeed, indeed I do, with all my soul! I believe you as I love you, as +I believe in your love--"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Tell me that you do--and tell me that you love me! It is so good +to hear, now that the bad dream is gone."</p> + +<p>"Shall I tell you?" He smiled, playing with her hand. "How can I? There +are so few words in which to say so much. But I will tell you this--I would +give my word for you. Does that sound little? You should know, for you know +at what price you would have saved my honour a while ago. I believe in you +so truly that I would stake my word, and my honour, and my Christian oath +upon your faith, and promise for you before God or man that you will always +love me as you do to-day."</p> + +<p>"You may pledge all three. I will, and I will give you all I have that +is not God's--and if that is not enough, I will give my soul for yours, if +I may, to suffer in your stead."</p> + +<p>She spoke quietly enough, but there was a little quaver of true +earnestness in her voice, that made each word a solemn promise.</p> + +<p>"And besides that," she added, "you see how I trust you."</p> + +<p>She smiled again as she looked at him, and knew how safe she was, far +safer now than when she had first come with him to the door. Something told +her that he had mastered himself--she would not have wished to think that +she had ruled him? it was enough if she had shown him the way, and had +helped him. He pressed her hand to his cheek and looked down thoughtfully, +wishing that he could find such simple words that could say so much, but +not trusting himself to speak. For though, in love, a man speaks first, he +always finds the least to say of love when it has strongest hold of him; +but a woman has words then, true and tender, that come from her heart +unsought. Yet by and by, if love is not enduring, so that both tire of it, +the man plays the better comedy, because he has the greater strength, and +sometimes what he says has the old ring in it, because it is so well said, +and the woman smiles and wonders that his love should have lasted longer +than hers, and desiring the illusion, she finds old phrases again; yet +there is no life in them, because when love is dead she thinks of herself, +and instead, it was only of him she thought in the good days when her heart +used to beat at the sound of his footfall, and the light grew dim and +unsteady as she felt his kiss. But the love of these two was not born to +tire; and because he was so young, and knew the world little, save at his +sword's point, he was ashamed that he could not speak of love as well as +she.</p> + +<p>"Find words for me," he said, "and I will say them, for yours are better +than mine."</p> + +<p>"Say, 'I love you, dear,' very softly and gently--not roughly, as you +sometimes do. I want to hear it gently now, that, and nothing else."</p> + +<p>She turned a little, leaning towards him, her face near his, her eyes +quiet and warm, and she took his hands and held them together before her as +if he were her prisoner--and indeed she meant that he should not suddenly +take her in his arms, as he often did.</p> + +<p>"I love you, dear," he repeated, smiling, and pretending to be very +docile.</p> + +<p>"That is not quite the way," she said, with a girlish laugh. "Say it +again--quite as softly, but more tenderly! You must be very much in +earnest, you know, but you must not be in the least violent." She laughed +again. "It is like teaching a young lion," she added. "He may eat you up at +any moment, instead of obeying you. Tell me, you have a little lion that +follows you like a dog when you are in your camp, have you not? You have +not told me about him yet. How did you teach him?"</p> + +<p>"I did not try to make him say 'I love you, dear,'" answered Don John, +laughing in his turn.</p> + +<p>As he spoke a distant sound caught his ear, and the smile vanished from +his face, for though he heard only the far off rumbling of a coach in the +great court, it recalled him to reality.</p> + +<p>"We are playing with life and death," he said suddenly. "It is late, the +King may be here at any moment, and we have decided nothing." He rose.</p> + +<p>"Is it late?" asked Dolores, passing her hand over her eyes dreamily. "I +had forgotten--it seems so short. Give me the key on my side of the +door--we had decided that, you know. Go and sit down in your room, as we +agreed. Shall you read my letter again, love? It may be half an hoar still +before the King comes. When he is gone, we shall have all the night in +which to decide, and the nights are very long now. Oh, I hate to lose one +minute of you! What shall you say to the King?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know what he may say to me," answered Don John. "Listen and +you shall hear--I would rather know that you hear everything I say. It will +be as if I were speaking before you, and of course I should tell you +everything the King says. He will speak of you, I think."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, it would be hard not to listen," said Dolores. "I should have +to stop my ears, for one cannot help hearing every word that is said in the +next room. Do you know? I heard you ask for your white shoes! I hardly +dared to breathe for fear the servants should find out that I was +here."</p> + +<p>"So much the better then. Sit in this chair near the door. But be +careful to make no noise, for the King is very suspicious."</p> + +<p>"I know. Do not be afraid; I will be as quiet as a mouse. Go, love, go! +It is time--oh, how I hate to let you leave me! You will be careful? You +will not be angry at what he says? You would be wiser if you knew I were +not hearing everything; you will want to defend me if he says the least +word you do not like, but let him say what he will! Anything is better than +an open quarrel between you and the King! Promise me to be very moderate in +what you say, and very patient. Remember that he is the King!"</p> + +<p>"And my brother," said Don John, with some bitterness. "Do not fear. You +know what I have promised you. I will bear anything he may say that +concerns me as well as I can, but if he says anything slighting of +you--"</p> + +<p>"But he may--that is the danger. Promise me not to be angry--"</p> + +<p>"How can I promise that, if he insults you?"</p> + +<p>"No, I did not mean that exactly. Promise that you will not forget +everything and raise your hand against him. You see I know you would."</p> + +<p>"No, I will not raise my hand against him. That was in the promise I +made you. And as for being angry, I will do my best to keep my temper."</p> + +<p>"I know you will. Now you must go. Good-by, love! Good-by, for a little +while."</p> + +<p>"For such a little time shall we say good-by? I hate the word; it makes +me think of the day when I left you last."</p> + +<p>"How can I tell what may happen to you when you are out of my sight?" +asked Dolores. "And what is 'good-by' but a blessing each prays for the +other? That is all it means. It does not mean that we part for long, love. +Why, I would say it for an hour! Good-by, dear love, good-by!"</p> + +<p>She put up her face to kiss him, and it was so full of trust and +happiness that the word lost all the bitterness it has gathered through +ages of partings, and seemed, what she said it was, a loving blessing. Yet +she said it very tenderly, for it was hard to let him go even for less than +an hour. He said it, too, to please her; but yet the syllables came +mournfully, as if they meant a world more than hers, and the sound of them +half frightened her, so that she was sorry she had asked him for the +word.</p> + +<p>"Not so!" she cried, in quick alarm. "You are not keeping anything from +me? You are only going to the next room to meet the King--are you +sure?"</p> + +<p>"That is all. You see, the word frightened you. It seems such a sad word +to me--I will not say it again."</p> + +<p>He kissed her gently, as if to soothe her fear, and then he opened the +door and set the key in the lock on the inside. Then when he was outside, +he lingered a moment, and their lips met once more without a word, and they +nodded and smiled to one another a last time, and he closed the door and +heard her lock it.</p> + +<p>When she was alone, she turned away as if he were gone from her +altogether instead of being in the next room, where she could hear him +moving now and then, as he placed his chair near the light to read and +arranged the candlesticks on the table. Then he went to the other door and +opened it and opened the one beyond upon the terrace, and she knew that he +was looking out to see if any one were there. But presently he came back +and sat down, and she distinctly heard the rustle of the strong +writing-paper as he unfolded a letter. It was hers. He was going to read +it, as they had agreed.</p> + +<p>So she sat down where she could look at the door, and she tried to force +her eyes to see through it, to make him feel that she was watching him, +that she came near him and stood beside him, and softly read the words for +him, but without looking at them, because she knew them all by heart. But +it was not the same as if she had seen him, and it was very hard to be shut +off from his sight by an impenetrable piece of wood, to lose all the +moments that might pass before the King chose to come. Another hour might +pass. No one could even tell whether he would come at all after he had +consulted with Antonio Perez. The skilful favourite desired a quarrel +between his master and Don John with all his heart, but he was not ready +for it yet. He must have possession of Dolores first and hide her safely; +and when the quarrel came, Don John should believe that the King had stolen +her and imprisoned her, and that she was treated ill; and for the woman he +loved, Don John would tear down the walls of Madrid, if need be, and if at +the last he found her dead, there would be no harm done, thought Perez, and +Don John would hate his brother even to death, and all Spain would cry out +in sympathy and horror. But all this Dolores could neither know nor even +suspect. She only felt sure that the King and Perez were even now +consulting together to hinder her marriage with Don John, and that Perez +might persuade the King not to see his brother that night.</p> + +<p>It was almost intolerable to think that she might wait there for hours, +wasting the minutes for which she would have given drops of blood. Surely +they both were overcautious. The door could be left open, so that they +could talk, and at the first sound without, she could lock it again and sit +down. That would be quite as safe.</p> + +<p>She rose and was almost in the act of opening the door again when she +stopped and hesitated. It was possible that at any moment the King might be +at the door; for though she could hear every sound that came from the next +room, the thick curtains that hid the window effectually shut out all sound +from without. It struck her that she could go to the window, however, and +look out. Yet a ray of light might betray her presence in the room to any +one outside, and if she drew aside the curtain the light would shine out +upon the terrace. She listened at Don John's door, and presently she heard +him turn her letter in his hand, and all her heart went out to him, and she +stood noiselessly kissing the panels and saying over again in her heart +that she loved him more than any words could tell. If she could only see +out of the window and assure herself that no one was coming yet, there +would be time to go to him again, for one moment only, and say the words +once more.</p> + +<p>Then she sat down and told herself how foolish she was. She had been +separated from him for many long and empty months, and now she had been +with him and talked long with him twice in leas than three hours, and yet +she could not bear that he should be out of her sight five minutes without +wishing to risk everything to see him again. She tried to laugh at herself, +repeating over and over again that she was very, very foolish, and that she +should have a just contempt for any woman who could be as foolish as she. +For some moments she sat still, staring at the wall.</p> + +<p>In the thought of him that filled her heart and soul and mind, she saw +that her own life had begun when he had first spoken to her, and she felt +that it would end with the last good-by, because if he should die or cease +to love her, there would be nothing more to live for. Her early girlhood +seemed dim and far away, dull and lifeless, as if it had not been hers at +all, and had no connection with the present. She saw herself in the past, +as she could not see herself now, and the child she remembered seemed not +herself but another--a fair-haired girl living in the gloomy old house in +Valladolid, with her blind sister and an old maiden cousin of her father's, +who had offered to bring up the two and to teach them, being a woman of +some learning, and who fulfilled her promise in such a conscientious and +austere way as made their lives something of a burden under her strict +rule. But that was all forgotten now, and though she still lived in +Valladolid she had probably changed but little in the few years since +Dolores had seen her; she was part of the past, a relic of something that +had hardly ever had a real existence, and which it was not at all necessary +to remember. There was one great light in the girl's simple existence, it +had come all at once, and it was with her still. There was nothing dim nor +dark nor forgotten about the day when she had been presented at court by +the Duchess Alvarez, and she had first seen Don John, and he had first seen +her and had spoken to her, when he had talked with the Duchess herself. At +the first glance--and it was her first sight of the great world--she had +seen that of all the men in the great hall, there was no one at all like +him. She had no sooner looked into his face and cast her eyes upon his +slender figure, all in white then, as he was dressed to-night, than she +began to compare him with the rest. She looked so quickly from one to +another that any one might have thought her to be anxiously searching for a +friend in the crowd. But she had none then, and she was but assuring +herself once, and for all her life, that the man she was to love was +immeasurably beyond all other men, though the others were the very flower +of Spain's young chivalry.</p> + +<p>Of course, as she told herself now, she had not loved him then, nor even +when she heard his voice speaking to her the first time and was almost too +happy to understand his words. But she had remembered them. He had asked +her whether she lived in Madrid. She had told him that she lived in the +Alcazar itself, since her father commanded the guards and had his quarters +in the palace. And then Don John had looked at her very fixedly for a +moment, and had seemed pleased, for he smiled and said that he hoped he +might see her often, and that if it were in his power to be of use to her +father, he would do what he could. She was sure that she had not loved him +then, though she had dreamed of his winning face and voice and had thought +of little else all the next day, and the day after that, with a sort of +feverish longing to see him again, and had asked the Duchess Alvarez so +many questions about him that the Duchess had smiled oddly, and had shaken +her handsome young head a little, saying that it was better not to think +too much about Don John of Austria. Surely, she had not loved him already, +at first sight. But on the evening of the third day, towards sunset, when +she had been walking with Inez on a deserted terrace where no one but the +two sisters ever went, Don John had suddenly appeared, sauntering idly out +with one of his gentlemen on his left, as if he expected nothing at all; +and he had seemed very much surprised to see her, and had bowed low, and +somehow very soon, blind Inez, who was little more than a child three years +ago, was leading the gentleman about the terrace, to show him where the +best roses grew, which she knew by their touch and smell, and Don John and +Dolores were seated on an old stone bench, talking earnestly together. Even +to herself she admitted that she had loved him from that evening, and +whenever she thought of it she smelt the first scent of roses, and saw his +face with the blaze of the sunset in his eyes, and heard his voice saying +that he should come to the terrace again at that hour, in which matter he +had kept his word as faithfully as he always did, and presumably without +any especial effort. So she had known him as he really was, without the +formalities of the court life, of which she was herself a somewhat +insignificant part; and it was only when he said a few words to her before +the other ladies that she took pains to say 'your Highness' to him once or +twice, and he called her 'Doña Dolores,' and enquired in a friendly +manner about her father's health. But on the terrace they managed to talk +without any such formal mode of address, and used no names at all for each +other, until one day--but she would not think of that now. If she let her +memory run all its course, she could not sit there with the door closed +between him and her, for something stronger than she would force her to go +and open it, and make sure he was there. This method, indeed, would be a +very certain one, leaving no doubt whatever, but at the present moment it +would be foolish to resort to it, and, perhaps, it would be dangerous, too. +The past was so beautiful and peaceful; she could think its history through +many times up to that point, where thinking was sure to end suddenly in +something which was too present for memory and too well remembered not to +be present.</p> + +<p>It came back to her so vividly that she left her seat again and went to +the curtained window, as if to get as far as possible from the irresistible +attraction. Standing there she looked back and saw the key in the lock. It +was foolish, girlish, childish, at such a time, but she felt that as long +as it was there she should want to turn it. With a sudden resolution and a +smile that was for her own weakness, she went to the door again, listened +for footsteps, and then quietly took the key from the lock. Instantly Don +John was on the other side, calling to her softly.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" he asked. "For Heaven's sake do not come in, for I think I +hear him coming."</p> + +<p>"No," she answered through the panel. "I was afraid I should turn the +key, so I have taken it out." She paused. "I love you!" she said, so that +he could hear, and she kissed the wood, where she thought his face must be, +just above her own.</p> + +<p>"I love you with all my heart!" he answered gently. "Hush, dear love, he +is coming!"</p> + +<p>They were like two children, playing at a game; but they were playing on +the very verge of tragedy, playing at life with death at the door and the +safety of a great nation hanging in the balance.</p> + +<p>A moment later, Dolores heard Don John opening and shutting the other +doors again, and then there were voices. She heard her father's name spoken +in the King's unmistakable tones, at once harsh and muffled. Every word +came to her from the other room, as if she were present.</p> + +<p>"Mendoza," said Philip, "I have private matters to discuss with his +Highness. I desire you to wait before the entrance, on the terrace, and to +let no one pass in, as we do not wish to be disturbed."</p> + +<p>Her father did not speak, but she knew how he was bending a little +stiffly, before he went backwards through the open door. It closed behind +him, and the two brothers were alone. Dolores' heart beat a little faster, +and her face grew paler as she concentrated her attention upon making no +noise. If they could hear her as she heard them, a mere rustling of her +silk gown would be enough to betray her, and if then the King bade her +father take her with him, all would be over, for Don John would certainly +not use any violence to protect her.</p> + +<p>"This is your bedchamber," said Philip's voice.</p> + +<p>He was evidently examining the room, as Don John had anticipated that he +would, for he was moving about. There was no mistaking his heavy steps for +his brother's elastic tread.</p> + +<p>"There is no one behind the curtain," said the King, by which it was +clear that he was making search for a possible concealed listener. He was +by no means above such precautions.</p> + +<p>"And that door?" he said, with a question. "What is there?"</p> + +<p>Dolores' heart almost stood still, as she held her breath, and heard the +clumsy footfall coming nearer.</p> + +<p>"It is locked," said Don John, with undisturbed calm. "I have not the +key. I do not know where it is,--it is not here."</p> + +<p>As Dolores had taken it from the lock, even the last statement was true +to the letter, and in spite of her anxiety she smiled as she heard it, but +the next moment she trembled, for the King was trying the door, and it +shook under his hand, as if it must fly open.</p> + +<p>"It is certainly locked," he said, in a discontented tone. "But I do not +like locked doors, unless I know what is beyond them."</p> + +<p>He crossed the room again and called out to Mendoza, who answered at +once.</p> + +<p>"Mendoza, come here with me. There is a door here, of which his Highness +has not the key. Can you open it?"</p> + +<p>"I will try, your Majesty," answered the General's hard voice.</p> + +<p>A moment later the panels shook violently under the old man's weight, +for he was stronger than one might have thought, being lean and tough +rather than muscular. Dolores took the moment when the noise was loudest +and ran a few steps towards the window. Then the sounds ceased suddenly, +and she stood still.</p> + +<p>"I cannot open it, your Majesty," said Mendoza, in a disconsolate +tone.</p> + +<p>"Then go and get the key," answered the King almost angrily.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XI'></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + + +<p>Inez remained hidden a quarter of an hour in the gallery over the throne +room, before she ventured to open the door noiselessly and listen for any +sound that might come from the passage. She was quite safe there, as long +as she chose to remain, for the Princess had believed that she had fled far +beyond and was altogether out of reach of any one whose dignity would not +allow of running a race. It must be remembered that at the time she entered +the gallery Mendoza had returned to his duty below, and that some time +afterwards he had accompanied the King to Don John's apartments, and had +then been sent in search of the key to the locked door.</p> + +<p>The blind girl was of course wholly ignorant of his whereabouts, and +believed him to be in or about the throne room. Her instinct told her that +since Dolores had not gone to the court, as she had intended, with the +Duchess Alvarez, she must have made some last attempt to see Don John +alone. In her perfect innocence such an idea seemed natural enough to Inez, +and it at first occurred to her that the two might have arranged to meet on +the deserted terrace where they had spent so many hours in former times. +She went there first, finding her way with some little difficulty from the +corridor where the gallery was, for the region was not the one to which she +was most accustomed, though there was hardly a corner of the upper story +where she had never been. Reaching the terrace, she went out and called +softly, but there was no answer, nor could she hear any sound. The night +was not cold now, but the breeze chilled her a little, and just then the +melancholy cry of a screech owl pierced the air, and she shivered and went +in again.</p> + +<p>She would have gone to the Duchess Alvarez had she not been sure that +the latter was below with the Queen, and even as it was, she would have +taken refuge in the Duchess's apartments with the women, and she might have +learned something of Dolores there. But her touch reminded her that she was +dressed in her sister's clothes, and that many questions might be asked her +which it would be hard to answer. And again, it grew quite clear to her +that Dolores must be somewhere near Don John, perhaps waiting in some +concealed corner until all should be quiet. It was more than probable that +he would get her out of the palace secretly during the night and send her +to his adoptive mother at Villagarcia. She had not believed the Princess's +words in the least, but she had not forgotten them, and had argued rightly +enough to their real meaning.</p> + +<p>In the upper story all was still now. She and Dolores had known where +Don John was to be lodged in the palace nearly a month before he had +returned, and they had been there more than once, when no one was on the +terrace, and Dolores had made her touch the door and the six windows, three +on each side of it. She could get there without difficulty, provided that +no one stopped her.</p> + +<p>She went a little way in the right direction and then hesitated. There +was more danger to Dolores than to herself if she should be recognized, +and, after all, if Dolores was near Don John she was safer than she could +be anywhere else. Inez could not help her very much in any way if she found +her there, and it would be hard to find her if she had met Mendoza at first +and if he had placed her in the keeping of a third person. She imagined +what his astonishment would have been had he found the real Dolores in her +court dress a few moments after Inez had been delivered over to the +Princess disguised in Dolores' clothes, and she almost smiled. But then a +great loneliness and a sense of helplessness came over her, and she turned +back and went out upon the deserted terrace again and sat down upon the old +stone seat, listening for the screech owl and the fluttering of the bats +that flew aimlessly in and out, attracted by the light and then scared away +by it again because the moon was at the full.</p> + +<p>Inez had never before then wandered about the palace at night, and +though darkness and daylight were one to her, there was something in the +air that frightened her, and made her feel how really helpless she was in +spite of her almost superhuman hearing and her wonderful sense of touch. It +was very still--it was never so still by day. It seemed as if people must +be lying in wait for her, holding their breath lest she should hear even +that. She had never felt blind before; she had never so completely realized +the difference between her life and the lives of others. By day, she could +wander where she pleased on the upper story--it was cheerful, familiar; now +and then some one passed and perhaps spoke to her kindly, as every one did +who knew her; and then there was the warm sunlight at the windows, and the +cool breath of the living day in the corridors. The sounds guided her, the +sun warmed her, the air fanned her, the voices of the people made her feel +that she was one of them. But now, the place was like an empty church, full +of tombs and silent as the dead that lay there. She felt horribly lonely, +and cold, and miserable, and she would have given anything to be in bed in +her own room. She could not go there. Eudaldo would not understand her +return, after being told that she was to stay with the Princess, and she +would be obliged to give him some explanation. Then her voice would betray +her, and there would be terrible trouble. If only she had kept her own +cloak to cover Dolores' frock, she could have gone back and the servant +would have thought it quite natural Indeed, by this time he would be +expecting her. It would be almost better to go in after all, and tell him +some story of her having mistaken her sister's skirt for her own, and beg +him to say nothing. She could easily confuse him a little so that he would +not really understand--and then in a few minutes she could be in her own +room, safe and in bed, and far away from the dismal place where she was +sitting and shivering as she listened to the owls.</p> + +<p>She rose and began to walk towards her father's quarters. But suddenly +she felt that it was cowardly to go back without accomplishing the least +part of her purpose, and without even finding out whether Dolores was in +safety after all. There was but one chance of finding her, and that lay in +searching the neighbourhood of Don John's lodging. Without hesitating any +longer, she began to find her way thither at once. She determined that if +she were stopped, either by her father or the Princess, she would throw +back her head and show her face at once. That would be the safest way in +the end.</p> + +<p>She reached Don John's windows unhindered at last. She had felt every +corner, and had been into the empty sentry-box; and once or twice, after +listening a long time, she had called Dolores in a very low tone. She +listened by the first window, and by the second and third, and at the door, +and then beyond, till she came to the last. There were voices there, and +her heart beat quickly for a moment. It was impossible to distinguish the +words that were spoken, through the closed window and the heavy curtains, +but the mere tones told her that Don John and Dolores were there together. +That was enough for her, and she could go back to her room; for it seemed +quite natural to her that her sister should be in the keeping of the man +she loved,--she was out of harm's way and beyond their father's power, and +that was all that was necessary. She would go back to her room at once, and +explain the matter of her dress to Eudaldo as best she might. After all, +why should he care what she wore or where she had been, or whether in the +Princess's apartments she had for some reason exchanged gowns with Dolores. +Perhaps he would not even notice the dress at all.</p> + +<p>She meant to go at once, but she stood quite still, her hands resting on +the low sill of the window, while her forehead pressed against the cold +round panes of glass. Something hurt her which she could not understand, as +she tried to fancy the two beautiful young beings who were within,--for she +knew what beauty they had, and Dolores had described Don John to her as a +young god. His voice came to her like strains of very distant sweet music, +that connect themselves to an unknown melody in the fancy of him who +faintly hears. But Dolores was hearing every word he said, and it was all +for her; and Dolores not only heard, but saw; and seeing and hearing, she +was loved by the man who spoke to her, as dearly as she loved him.</p> + +<p>Then utter loneliness fell upon the blind girl as she leaned against the +window. She had expected nothing, she had asked nothing, even in her heart; +and she had less than nothing, since never on earth, nor in heaven +hereafter, could Don John say a loving word to her. And yet she felt that +something had been taken from her and given to her sister,--something that +was more to her than life, and dearer than the thought of sight to her +blindness. She had taken what had not been given her, in innocent girlish +thoughts that were only dreams, and could hurt no one. He had always spoken +gently to her, and touched her hand kindly; and many a time, sitting alone +in the sun, she had set those words to the well-remembered music of his +voice, and she had let the memory of his light touch on her fingers thrill +her strangely to the very quick. It had been but the reflection of a +reflection in her darkness, wherein the shadow of a shadow seemed as bright +as day. It had been all she had to make her feel that she was a part of the +living, loving world she could never see. Somehow she had unconsciously +fancied that with a little dreaming she could live happy in Dolores' +happiness, as by a proxy, and she had never called it love, any more than +she would have dared to hope for love in return. Yet it was that, and +nothing else,--the love that is so hopeless and starving, and yet so +innocent, that it can draw the illusion of an airy nourishment from that +which to another nature would be the fountain of all jealousy and +hatred.</p> + +<p>But now, without reason and without warning, even that was taken from +her, and in its place something burned that she did not know, save that it +was a bad thing, and made even blackness blacker. She heard their voices +still. They were happy together, while she was alone outside, her forehead +resting against the chill glass, and her hands half numb upon the stone; +and so it would always be hereafter. They would go, and take her life with +them, and she should be left behind, alone for ever; and a great revolt +against her fate rose quickly in her breast like a flame before the wind, +and then, as if finding nothing to consume, sank down again into its own +ashes, and left her more lonely than before. The voices had ceased now, or +else the lovers were speaking very low, fearing, perhaps, that some one +might be listening at the window. If Inez had heard their words at first, +she would have stopped her ears or gone to a distance, for the child knew +what that sort of honour meant, and had done as much before. But the +unformed sound had been good to hear, and she missed it. Perhaps they were +sitting close and, hand in hand, reading all the sweet unsaid things in one +another's eyes. There must be silent voices in eyes that could see, she +thought. She took little thought of the time, yet it seemed long to her +since they had spoken. Perhaps they had gone to another room. She moved to +the next window and listened there, but no sound came from within. Then she +heard footfalls, and one was her father's. Two men were coming out by the +corridor, and she had not time to reach the sentry-box. With her hands out +before her, she went lightly away from the windows to the outer side of the +broad terrace, and cowered down by the balustrade as she ran against it, +not knowing whether she was in the moonlight or the shade. She had crossed +like a shadow and was crouching there before Mendoza and the King came out. +She knew by their steady tread, that ended at the door, that they had not +noticed her; and as the door closed behind them, she ran back to the window +again and listened, expecting to hear loud and angry words, for she could +not doubt that the King and her father had discovered that Dolores was +there, and had come to take her away. The Princess must have told Mendoza +that Dolores had escaped. But she only heard men's voices speaking in an +ordinary tone, and she understood that Dolores was concealed. Almost at +once, and to her dismay, she heard her father's step in the hall, and now +she could neither pass the door nor run across the terrace again. A moment +later the King called him from within. Instantly she slipped across to the +other side, and listened again. They were shaking a door,--they were in the +very act of finding Dolores. Her heart hurt her. But then the noise +stopped, as if they had given up the attempt, and presently she heard her +father's step again. Thinking that he would remain in the hall until the +King called him,--for she could not possibly guess what had happened,--she +stood quite still.</p> + +<p>The door opened without warning, and he was almost upon her before she +knew it. To hesitate an instant was out of the question, and for the second +time that night she fled, running madly to the corridor, which was not ten +steps from where she had been standing, and as she entered it the light +fell upon her from the swinging lamp, though she did not know it.</p> + +<p>Old as he was, Mendoza sprang forward in pursuit when he saw her figure +in the dimness, flying before him, but as she reached the light of the lamp +he stopped himself, staggering one or two steps and then reeling against +the wall. He had recognized Dolores' dress and hood, and there was not the +slightest doubt in his mind but that it was herself. In that same dress he +had seen her in the late afternoon, she had been wearing it when he had +locked her into the sitting-room, and, still clad in it, she must have come +out with the Princess. And now she was running before him from Don John's +lodging. Doubtless she had been in another room and had slipped out while +he was trying the door within.</p> + +<p>He passed his hand over his eyes and breathed hard as he leaned against +the wall, for her appearance there could only mean one thing, and that was +ruin to her and disgrace to his name--the very end of all things in his +life, in which all had been based upon his honour and every action had been +a tribute to it.</p> + +<p>He was too much stunned to ask himself how the lovers had met, if there +had been any agreement between them, but the frightful conviction took hold +of him that this was not the first time, that long ago, before Don John had +led the army to Granada, Dolores had found her way to that same door and +had spent long hours with her lover when no one knew. Else she could not +have gone to him without agreement, at an instant's notice, on the very +night of his return.</p> + +<p>Despair took possession of the unhappy man from that moment. But that +the King was with Don John, Mendoza would have gone back at that moment to +kill his enemy and himself afterwards, if need be. He remembered his errand +then. No doubt that was the very room where Dolores had been concealed, and +she had escaped from it by some other way, of which her father did not +know. He was too dazed to think connectedly, but he had the King's commands +to execute at once. He straightened himself with a great effort, for the +weight of his years had come upon him suddenly and bowed him like a burden. +With the exertion of his will came the thirst for the satisfaction of +blood, and he saw that the sooner he returned with the key, the sooner he +should be near his enemy. But the pulses came and went in his throbbing +temples, as when a man is almost spent in a struggle with death, and at +first he walked uncertainly, as if he felt no ground under his feet.</p> + +<p>By the time he had gone a hundred yards he had recovered a sort of +mechanical self-possession, such as comes upon men at very desperate times, +when they must not allow themselves to stop and think of what is before +them. They were pictures, rather than thoughts, that formed themselves in +his brain as he went along, for he saw all the past years again, from the +day when his young wife had died, he being then already in middle age, +until that afternoon. One by one the years came back, and the central +figure in each was the fair-haired little child, growing steadily to be a +woman, all coming nearer and nearer to the end he had seen but now, which +was unutterable shame and disgrace, and beyond which there was nothing. He +heard the baby voice again, and felt the little hands upon his brow, and +saw the serious grey eyes close to his own; and then the girl, gravely +lovely--and her far-off laugh that hardly ever rippled through the room +when he was there; and then the stealing softness of grown maidenhood, +winning the features one by one, and bringing back from death to life the +face he had loved best, and the voice with long-forgotten tones that +touched his soul's quick, and dimmed his sight with a mist, so that he grew +hard and stern as he fought within him against the tenderness he loved and +feared. All this he saw and heard and felt again, knowing that each picture +must end but in one way, in the one sight he had seen and that had told his +shame--a guilty woman stealing by night from her lover's door. Not only +that, either, for there was the almost certain knowledge that she had +deceived him for years, and that while he had been fighting so hard to save +her from what seemed but a show of marriage, she had been already lost to +him for ever and ruined beyond all hope of honesty.</p> + +<p>They were not thoughts, but pictures of the false and of the true, that +rose and glowed an instant and then sank like the inner darkness of his +soul, leaving only that last most terrible one of all behind them, burned +into his eyes till death should put out their light and bid him rest at +last, if he could rest even in heaven with such a memory.</p> + +<p>It was too much, and though he walked upright and gazed before him, he +did not know his way, and his feet took him to his own door instead of on +the King's errand. His hand was raised to knock before he understood, and +it fell to his side in a helpless, hopeless way, when he saw where he was. +Then he turned stiffly, as a man turns on parade, and gathered his strength +and marched away with a measured tread. For the world and what it held he +would not have entered his dwelling then, for he felt that his daughter was +there before him, and that if he once saw her face he should not be able to +hold his hand. He would not see her again on earth, lest he should take her +life for what she had done.</p> + +<p>He was more aware of outward things after that, though he almost +commanded himself to do what he had to do, as he would have given orders to +one of his soldiers. He went to the chief steward's office and demanded the +key of the room in the King's name. But it was not forthcoming, and the +fact that it could not be found strengthened his conviction that Don John +had it in his keeping. Yet, for the sake of form, he insisted sternly, +saying that the King was waiting for it even then. Servants were called and +examined and threatened, but those who knew anything about it unanimously +declared that it had been left in the door, while those who knew nothing +supported their fellow-servants by the same unhesitating assertion, till +Mendoza was convinced that he had done enough, and turned his back on them +all and went out with a grey look of despair on his face.</p> + +<p>He walked rapidly now, for he knew that he was going back to meet his +enemy, and he was trying not to think what he should do when he should see +Don John before him and at arm's length, but defended by the King's +presence from any sudden violence. He knew that in his heart there was the +wild resolve to tell the truth before his master and then to take the +payment of blood with one thrust and destroy himself with the next, but +though he was half mad with despair, he would not let the thought become a +resolve. In his soldier's nature, high above everything else and dominating +his austere conscience of right and wrong, as well as every other instinct +of his heart, there was the respect of his sovereign and the loyalty to him +at all costs, good or bad, which sent self out of sight where his duty to +the King was concerned.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XII'></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + + +<p>When he had sent away Mendoza, the King remained standing and began to +pace the floor, while Don John stood by the table watching him and waiting +for him to speak. It was clear that he was still angry, for his anger, +though sometimes suddenly roused, was very slow to reach its height, and +slower still to subside; and when at last it had cooled, it generally left +behind it an enduring hatred, such as could be satisfied only by the final +destruction of the object that had caused it. That lasting hate was perhaps +more dangerous than the sudden outburst had been, but in moments of furious +passion Philip was undoubtedly a man to be feared.</p> + +<p>He was evidently not inclined to speak until he had ascertained that no +one was listening in the next room, but as he looked from time to time at +Don John his still eyes seemed to grow almost yellow, and his lower lip +moved uneasily. He knew, perhaps, that Mendoza could not at once find the +servant in whose keeping the key of the door was supposed to be, and he +grew impatient by quick degrees until his rising temper got the better of +his caution. Don John instinctively drew himself up, as a man does who +expects to be attacked. He was close to the table, and remained almost +motionless during the discussion that followed, while Philip paced up and +down, sometimes pausing before his brother for a moment, and then turning +again to resume his walk. His voice was muffled always, and was hard to +hear; now and then it became thick and indistinct with rage, and he cleared +his throat roughly, as if he were angry with it, too. At first he +maintained the outward forms of courtesy in words if not in tone, but long +before his wrath had reached its final climax he forgot them +altogether.</p> + +<p>"I had hoped to speak with you in privacy, on matters of great +importance. It has pleased your Highness to make that impossible by your +extraordinary behaviour."</p> + +<p>Don John raised his eyebrows a little incredulously, and answered with +perfect calmness.</p> + +<p>"I do not recollect doing anything which should seem extraordinary to +your Majesty."</p> + +<p>"You contradict me," retorted Philip. "That is extraordinary enough, I +should think. I am not aware that it is usual for subjects to contradict +the King. What have you to say in explanation?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing. The facts explain themselves well enough."</p> + +<p>"We are not in camp," said Philip. "Your Highness is not in command +here, and I am not your subordinate. I desire you to remember whom you are +addressing, for your words will be remembered."</p> + +<p>"I never said anything which I wished another to forget," answered Don +John proudly.</p> + +<p>"Take care, then!" The King spoke sullenly, and turned away, for he was +slow at retort until he was greatly roused.</p> + +<p>Don John did not answer, for he had no wish to produce such a result, +and moreover he was much more preoccupied by the serious question of +Dolores' safety than by any other consideration. So far the King had said +nothing which, but for some derogation from his dignity, might not have +been said before any one, and Don John expected that he would maintain the +same tone until Mendoza returned. It was hard to predict what might happen +then. In all probability Dolores would escape by the window and endeavour +to hide herself in the empty sentry-box until the interview was over. He +could then bring her back in safety, but the discussion promised to be long +and stormy, and meanwhile she would be in constant danger of discovery. But +there was a worse possibility, not even quite beyond the bounds of the +probable. In his present mood, Philip, if he lost his temper altogether, +would perhaps be capable of placing Don John under arrest. He was all +powerful, he hated his brother, and he was very angry. His last words had +been a menace, or had sounded like one, and another word, when Mendoza +returned, could put the threat into execution. Don John reflected, if such +thought could be called reflection, upon the situation that must ensue, and +upon the probable fate of the woman he loved. He wondered whether she were +still in the room, for hearing that the door was to be opened, she might +have thought it best to escape at once, while her father was absent from +the terrace on his errand. If not, she could certainly go out by the window +as soon as she heard him coming back. It was clearly of the greatest +importance to prevent the King's anger from going any further. Antonio +Perez had recognized the same truth from a very different point of view, +and had spent nearly three-quarters of an hour in flattering his master +with the consummate skill which he alone possessed. He believed that he had +succeeded when the King had dismissed him, saying that he would not see Don +John until the morning. Five minutes after Perez was gone, Philip was +threading the corridors, completely disguised in a long black cloak, with +the ever-loyal Mendoza at his heels. It was not the first time that he had +deceived his deceivers.</p> + +<p>He paced the room in silence after he had last spoken. As soon as Don +John realized that his liberty might be endangered, he saw that he must say +what he could in honour and justice to save himself from arrest, since +nothing else could save Dolores.</p> + +<p>"I greatly regret having done anything to anger your Majesty," he said, +with quiet dignity. "I was placed in a very difficult position by +unforeseen circumstances. If there had been time to reflect, I might have +acted otherwise."</p> + +<p>"Might have acted otherwise!" repeated Philip harshly. "I do not like +those words. You might have acted otherwise than to defy your sovereign +before the Queen! I trusted you might, indeed!"</p> + +<p>He was silent again, his protruding lip working angrily, as if he had +tasted something he disliked. Don John's half apology had not been received +with much grace, but he saw no way open save to insist that it was +genuine.</p> + +<p>"It is certainly true that I have lived much in camps of late," he +answered, "and that a camp is not a school of manners, any more than the +habit of commanding others accustoms a man to courtly submission."</p> + +<p>"Precisely. You have learned to forget that you have a superior in +Spain, or in the world. You already begin to affect the manners and speech +of a sovereign--you will soon claim the dignity of one, too, I have no +doubt. The sooner we procure you a kingdom of your own, the better, for +your Highness will before long become an element of discord in ours."</p> + +<p>"Rather than that," answered Don John, "I will live in retirement for +the rest of my life."</p> + +<p>"We may require it of your Highness," replied Philip, standing still and +facing his brother. "It may be necessary for our own safety that you should +spend some time at least in very close retirement--very!" He almost +laughed.</p> + +<p>"I should prefer that to the possibility of causing any disturbance in +your Majesty's kingdom."</p> + +<p>Nothing could have been more gravely submissive than Don John's tone, +but the King was apparently determined to rouse his anger.</p> + +<p>"Your deeds belie your words," he retorted, beginning to walk again. +"There is too much loyalty in what you say, and too much of a rebellious +spirit in what you do. The two do not agree together. You mock me."</p> + +<p>"God forbid that!" cried Don John. "I desire no praise for what I may +have done, but such as my deeds have been they have produced peace and +submission in your Majesty's kingdom, and not rebellion--"</p> + +<p>"And is it because you have beaten a handful of ill-armed Moriscoes, in +the short space of two years, that the people follow you in throngs +wherever you go, shouting for you, singing your praises, bringing petitions +to you by hundreds, as if you were King--as if you were more than that, a +sort of god before whom every one must bow down? Am I so simple as to +believe that what you have done with such leisure is enough to rouse all +Spain, and to make the whole court break out into cries of wonder and +applause as soon as you appear? If you publicly defy me and disobey me, do +I not know that you believe yourself able to do so, and think your power +equal to mine? And how could that all be brought about, save by a party +that is for you, by your secret agents everywhere, high and low, forever +praising you and telling men, and women, too, of your graces, and your +generosities, and your victories, and saying that it is a pity so good and +brave a prince should be but a leader of the King's armies, and then +contrasting the King himself with you, the cruel King, the grasping King, +the scheming King, the King who has every fault that is not found in Don +John of Austria, the people's god! Is that peace and submission? Or is it +the beginning of rebellion, and revolution, and civil war, which is to set +Don John of Austria on the throne of Spain, and send King Philip to another +world as soon as all is ready?"</p> + +<p>Don John listened in amazement. It had never occurred to him any one +could believe him capable of the least of the deeds Philip was attributing +to him, and in spite of his resolution his anger began to rise. Then, +suddenly, as if cold water had been dashed in his face, he remembered that +an hour had not passed since he had held Dolores in his arms, swearing to +do that of which he was now accused, and that her words only had held him +back. It all seemed monstrous now. As she had said, it had been only a bad +dream and he had wakened to himself again. Yet the thought of rebellion had +more than crossed his mind, for in a moment it had taken possession of him +and had seemed to change all his nature from good to bad. In his own eyes +he was rebuked, and he did not answer at once.</p> + +<p>"You have nothing to say!" exclaimed Philip scornfully. "Is there any +reason why I should not try you for high treason?"</p> + +<p>Don John started at the words, but his anger was gone, and he thought +only of Dolores' safety in the near future.</p> + +<p>"Your Majesty is far too just to accuse an innocent man who has served +you faithfully," he answered.</p> + +<p>Philip stopped and looked at him curiously and long, trying to detect +some sign of anxiety if not of fear. He was accustomed to torture men with +words well enough, before he used other means, and he himself had not +believed what he had said. It had been only an experiment tried on a mere +chance, and it had failed. At the root of his anger there was only jealousy +and personal hatred of the brother who had every grace and charm which he +himself had not.</p> + +<p>"More kind than just, perhaps," he said, with a slight change of tone +towards condescension. "I am willing to admit that I have no proofs against +you, but the evidence of circumstances is not in your favour. Take care, +for you are observed. You are too much before the world, too imposing a +figure to escape observation."</p> + +<p>"My actions will bear it. I only beg that your Majesty will take account +of them rather than listen to such interpretation as may be put upon them +by other men."</p> + +<p>"Other men do nothing but praise you," said Philip bluntly. "Their +opinion of you is not worth having! I thought I had explained that matter +sufficiently. You are the idol of the people, and as if that were not +enough, you are the darling of the court, besides being the women's +favourite. That is too much for one man to be--take care, I say, take care! +Be at more pains for my favour, and at less trouble for your +popularity."</p> + +<p>"So far as that goes," answered Don John, with some pride, "I think that +if men praise me it is because I have served the King as well as I could, +and with success. If your Majesty is not satisfied with what I have done, +let me have more to do. I shall try to do even the impossible."</p> + +<p>"That will please the ladies," retorted Philip, with a sneer. "You will +be overwhelmed with correspondence--your gloves will not hold it all"</p> + +<p>Don John did not answer, for it seemed wiser to let the King take this +ground than return to his former position.</p> + +<p>"You will have plenty of agreeable occupation in time of peace. But it +is better that you should be married soon, before you become so entangled +with the ladies of Madrid as to make your marriage impossible."</p> + +<p>"Saving the last clause," said Don John boldly, "I am altogether of your +Majesty's opinion. But I fear no entanglements here."</p> + +<p>"No--you do not fear them. On the contrary, you live in them as if they +were your element."</p> + +<p>"No man can say that," answered Don John.</p> + +<p>"You contradict me again. Pray, if you have no entanglements, how comes +it that you have a lady's letter in your glove?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell whether it was a lady's letter or a man's."</p> + +<p>"Have you not read it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And you refused to show it to me on the ground that it was a woman's +secret?"</p> + +<p>"I had not read it then. It was not signed, and it might well have been +written by a man."</p> + +<p>Don John watched the King's face. It was for from improbable, he +thought, that the King had caused it to be written, or had written it +himself, that he supposed his brother to have read it, and desired to +regain possession of it as soon as possible. Philip seemed to hesitate +whether to continue his cross-examination or not, and he looked at the door +leading into the antechamber, suddenly wondering why Mendoza had not +returned. Then he began to speak again, but he did not wish, angry though +he was, to face alone a second refusal to deliver the document to him. His +dignity would have suffered too much.</p> + +<p>"The facts of the case are these," he said, as if he were recapitulating +what had gone before in his mind. "It is my desire to marry you to the +widowed Queen of Scots, as you know. You are doing all you can to oppose +me, and you have determined to marry the dowerless daughter of a poor +soldier. I am equally determined that you shall not disgrace yourself by +such an alliance."</p> + +<p>"Disgrace!" cried Don John loudly, almost before the word had passed the +King's lips, and he made half a step forward. "You are braver than I +thought you, if you dare use that word to me!"</p> + +<p>Philip stepped back, growing livid, and his hand was on his rapier. Don +John was unarmed, but his sword lay on the table within his reach. Seeing +the King afraid, he stepped back.</p> + +<p>"No," he said scornfully, "I was mistaken. You are a coward." He laughed +as he glanced at Philip's hand, still on the hilt of his weapon and ready +to draw it.</p> + +<p>In the next room Dolores drew frightened breath, for the tones of the +two men's voices had changed suddenly. Yet her heart had leapt for joy when +she had heard Don John's cry of anger at the King's insulting word. But Don +John was right, for Philip was a coward at heart, and though he inwardly +resolved that his brother should be placed under arrest as soon as Mendoza +returned, his present instinct was not to rouse him further. He was indeed +in danger, between his anger and his fear, for at any moment he might speak +some bitter word, accustomed as he was to the perpetual protection of his +guards, but at the next his brother's hands might be on his throat, for he +had the coward's true instinct to recognize the man who was quite +fearless.</p> + +<p>"You strangely forget yourself," he said, with an appearance of dignity. +"You spring forward as if you were going to grapple with me, and then you +are surprised that I should be ready to defend myself."</p> + +<p>"I barely moved a step from where I stand," answered Don John, with +profound contempt. "I am unarmed, too. There lies my sword, on the table. +But since you are the King as well as my brother, I make all excuses to +your Majesty for having been the cause of your fright."</p> + +<p>Dolores understood what had happened, as Don John meant that she should. +She knew also that her position was growing more and more desperate and +untenable at every moment; yet she could not blame her lover for what he +had said. Even to save her, she would not have had him cringe to the King +and ask pardon for his hasty word and movement, still less could she have +borne that he should not cry out in protest at a word that insulted her, +though ever so lightly.</p> + +<p>"I do not desire to insist upon our kinship," said Philip coldly. "If I +chose to acknowledge it when you were a boy, it was out of respect for the +memory of the Emperor. It was not in the expectation of being called +brother by the son of a German burgher's daughter."</p> + +<p>Don John did not wince, for the words, being literally true and without +exaggeration, could hardly be treated as an insult, though they were meant +for one, and hurt him, as all reference to his real mother always did.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, still scornfully. "I am the son of a German burgher's +daughter, neither better nor worse. But I am your brother, for all that, +and though I shall not forget that you are King and I am subject, when we +are before the world, yet here, we are man and man, you and I, brother and +brother, and there is neither King nor prince. But I shall not hurt you, so +you need fear nothing. I respect the brother far too little for that, and +the sovereign too much."</p> + +<p>There was a bad yellow light in Philip's face, and instead of walking +towards Don John and away from him, as he had done hitherto, he began to +pace up and down, crossing and recrossing before him, from the foot of the +great canopied bed to one of the curtained windows, keeping his eyes upon +his brother almost all the time.</p> + +<p>"I warned you when I came here that your words should be remembered," he +said. "And your actions shall not be forgotten, either. There are safe +places, even in Madrid, where you can live in the retirement you desire so +much, even in total solitude."</p> + +<p>"If it pleases your Majesty to imprison Don John of Austria, you have +the power. For my part, I shall make no resistance."</p> + +<p>"Who shall, then?" asked the King angrily. "Do you expect that there +will be a general rising of the people to liberate you, or that there will +be a revolution within the palace, brought on by your party, which shall +force me to set you free for reasons of state? We are not in Paris that you +should expect the one, nor in Constantinople where the other might be +possible. We are in Spain, and I am master, and my will shall be done, and +no one shall cry out against it. I am too gentle with you, too kind! For +the half of what you have said and done, Elizabeth of England would have +had your life to-morrow--yes, I consent to give you a chance, the benefit +of a doubt there is still in my thoughts about you, because justice shall +not be offended and turned into an instrument of revenge. Yes--I am kind, I +am clement. We shall see whether you can save yourself. You shall have the +chance."</p> + +<p>"What chance is that?" asked Don John, growing very quiet, for he saw +the real danger near at hand again.</p> + +<p>"You shall have an opportunity of proving that a subject is at liberty +to insult his sovereign, and that the King is not free to speak his mind to +a subject. Can you prove that?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot."</p> + +<p>"Then you can be convicted of high treason," answered Philip, his evil +mouth curling. "There are several methods of interrogating the accused," he +continued. "I daresay you have heard of them."</p> + +<p>"Do you expect to frighten me by talking of torture?" asked Don John, +with a smile at the implied suggestion.</p> + +<p>"Witnesses are also examined," replied the King, his voice thickening +again in anticipation of the effect he was going to produce upon the man +who would not fear him. "With them, even more painful methods are often +employed. Witnesses may be men or women, you know, my dear brother--" he +pronounced the word with a sneer--"and among the many ladies of your +acquaintance--"</p> + +<p>"There are very few."</p> + +<p>"It will be the easier to find the two or three, or perhaps the only +one, whom it will be necessary to interrogate--in your presence, most +probably, and by torture."</p> + +<p>"I was right to call you a coward," said Don John, slowly turning pale +till his face was almost as white as the white silks and satins of his +doublet.</p> + +<p>"Will you give me the letter you were reading when I came here?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Not to save yourself from the executioner's hands?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Not to save--" Philip paused, and a frightful stare of hatred fixed his +eyes on his brother. "Will you give me that letter to save Dolores de +Mendoza from being torn piecemeal?"</p> + +<p>"Coward!"</p> + +<p>By instinct Don John's hand went to the hilt of his sheathed sword this +time, as he cried out in rage, and sprang forward. Even then he would have +remembered the promise he had given and would not have raised his hand to +strike. But the first movement was enough, and Philip drew his rapier in a +flash of light, fearing for his life. Without waiting for an attack he made +a furious pass at his brother's body. Don John's hand went out with the +sheathed sword in a desperate attempt to parry the thrust, but the weapon +was entangled in the belt that hung to it, and Philip's lunge had been +strong and quick as lightning.</p> + +<p>With a cry of anger Don John fell straight backwards, his feet seeming +to slip from under him on the smooth marble pavement, and with his fall, as +he threw out his hands to save himself, the sword flew high into the air, +sheathed as it was, and landed far away. He lay at full length with one arm +stretched out, and for a moment the hand twitched in quick spasms. Then it +was quite still.</p> + +<p>At his feet stood Philip, his rapier in his hand, and blood on its fine +point. His eyes shone yellow in the candlelight, his jaw had dropped a +little, and he bent forwards, looking intently at the still, white +face.</p> + +<p>He had longed for that moment ever since he had entered his brother's +room, though even he himself had not guessed that he wanted his brother's +life. There was not a sound in the room as he looked at what he had done, +and two or three drops of blood fell one by one, very slowly, upon the +marble. On the dazzling white of Don John's doublet there was a small red +stain. As Philip watched it, he thought it grew wider and brighter.</p> + +<p>Beyond the door, Dolores had fallen upon her knees, pressing her hands +to her temples in an agony beyond thought or expression. Her fear had risen +to terror while she listened to the last words that had been exchanged, and +the King's threat had chilled her blood like ice, though she was brave. She +had longed to cry out to Don John to give up her letter or the other, +whichever the King wanted--she had almost tried to raise her voice, in +spite of every other fear, when she had heard Don John's single word of +scorn, and the quick footsteps, the drawing of the rapier from its sheath, +the desperate scuffle that had not lasted five seconds, and then the dull +fall which meant that one was hurt.</p> + +<p>It could only be the King,--but that was terrible enough,--and yet, if +the King had fallen, Don John would have come to the door the next instant. +All was still in the room, but her terror made wild noises in her ears. The +two men might have spoken now and she could not have heard them,--nor the +opening of a door, nor any ordinary sound. It was no longer the fear of +being heard, either, that made her silent. Her throat was parched and her +tongue paralyzed. She remembered suddenly that Don John had been unarmed, +and how he had pointed out to Philip that his sword lay on the table. It +was the King who had drawn his own, then, and had killed his unarmed +brother. She felt as if something heavy were striking her head as the +thoughts made broken words, and flashes of light danced before her eyes. +With her hands she tried to press feeling and reason and silence back into +her brain that would not be quieted, but the certainty grew upon her that +Don John was killed, and the tide of despair rose higher with every +breath.</p> + +<p>The sensation came upon her that she was dying, then and there, of a +pain human nature could not endure, far beyond the torments Philip had +threatened, and the thought was merciful, for she could not have lived an +hour in such agony,--something would have broken before then. She was +dying, there, on her knees before the door beyond which her lover lay +suddenly dead. It would be easy to die. In a moment more she would be with +him, for ever, and in peace. They would find her there, dead, and perhaps +they would be merciful and bury her near him. But that would matter little, +since she should be with him always now. In the first grief that struck +her, and bruised her, and numbed her as with material blows, she had no +tears, but there was a sort of choking fire in her throat, and her eyes +burned her like hot iron.</p> + +<p>She did not know how long she knelt, waiting for death. She was dying, +and there was no time any more, nor any outward world, nor anything but her +lover's dead body on the floor in the next room, and his soul waiting for +hers, waiting beside her for her to die also, that they might go together. +She was so sure now, that she was wondering dreamily why it took so long to +die, seeing that death had taken him so quickly. Could one shaft be aimed +so straight and could the next miss the mark? She shook all over, as a new +dread seized her. She was not dying,--her life clung too closely to her +suffering body, her heart was too young and strong to stand still in her +breast for grief. She was to live, and bear that same pain a lifetime. She +rocked herself gently on her knees, bowing her head almost to the +floor.</p> + +<p>She was roused by the sound of her father's voice, and the words he was +speaking sent a fresh shock of horror through her unutterable grief, for +they told her that Don John was dead, and then something else so strange +that she could not understand it.</p> + +<p>Philip had stood only a few moments, sword in hand, over his brother's +body, staring down at his face, when the door opened. On the threshold +stood old Mendoza, half-stunned by the sight he saw. Philip heard, stood +up, and drew back as his eyes fell upon the old soldier. He knew that +Mendoza, if no one else, knew the truth now, beyond any power of his to +conceal it. His anger had subsided, and a sort of horror that could never +be remorse, had come over him for what he had done. It must have been in +his face, for Mendoza understood, and he came forward quickly and knelt +down upon the floor to listen for the beating of the heart, and to try +whether there was any breath to dim the brightness of his polished +scabbard. Philip looked on in silence. Like many an old soldier Mendoza had +some little skill, but he saw the bright spot on the white doublet, and the +still face and the hands relaxed, and there was neither breath nor beating +of the heart to give hope. He rose silently, and shook his head. Still +looking down he saw the red drops that had fallen upon the pavement from +Philip's rapier, and looking at that, saw that the point was dark. With a +gesture of excuse he took the sword from the King's hand and wiped it quite +dry and bright upon his own handkerchief, and gave it back to Philip, who +sheathed it by his side, but never spoke.</p> + +<p>Together the two looked at the body for a full minute and more, each +silently debating what should be done with it. At last Mendoza raised his +head, and there was a strange look in his old eyes and a sort of wan +greatness came over his war-worn face. It was then that he spoke the words +Dolores heard.</p> + +<p>"I throw myself upon your Majesty's mercy! I have killed Don John of +Austria in a private quarrel, and he was unarmed."</p> + +<p>Philip understood well enough, and a faint smile of satisfaction flitted +through the shadows of his face. It was out of the question that the world +should ever know who had killed his brother, and he knew the man who +offered to sacrifice himself by bearing the blame of the deed. Mendoza +would die, on the scaffold if need be, and it would be enough for him to +know that his death saved his King. No word would ever pass his lips. The +man's loyalty would bear any proof; he could feel horror at the thought +that Philip could have done such a deed, but the King's name must be saved +at all costs, and the King's divine right must be sustained before the +world. He felt no hesitation from the moment when he saw clearly how this +must be done. To accuse some unknown murderer and let it be supposed that +he had escaped would have been worse than useless; the court and half Spain +knew of the King's jealousy of his brother, every one had seen that Philip +had been very angry when the courtiers had shouted for Don John; already +the story of the quarrel about the glove was being repeated from mouth to +mouth in the throne room, where the nobles had reassembled after supper. As +soon as it was known that Don John was dead, it would be believed by every +one in the palace that the King had killed him or had caused him to be +murdered. But if Mendoza took the blame upon himself, the court would +believe him, for many knew of Dolores' love for Don John, and knew also how +bitterly the old soldier was opposed to their marriage, on the ground that +it would be no marriage at all, but his daughter's present ruin. There was +no one else in the palace who could accuse himself of the murder and who +would be believed to have done it without the King's orders, and Mendoza +knew this, when he offered his life to shield Philip's honour. Philip knew +it, too, and while he wondered at the old man's simple devotion, he +accepted it without protest, as his vast selfishness would have permitted +the destruction of all mankind, that it might be satisfied and filled.</p> + +<p>He looked once more at the motionless body at his feet, and once more at +the faithful old man. Then he bent his head with condescending gravity, as +if he were signifying his pleasure to receive kindly, for the giver's sake, +a gift of little value.</p> + +<p>"So be it," he said slowly.</p> + +<p>Mendoza bowed his head, too, as if in thanks, and then taking up the +long dark cloak which the King had thrown off on entering, he put it upon +Philip's shoulders, and went before him to the door. And Philip followed +him without looking back, and both went out upon the terrace, leaving both +doors ajar after them. They exchanged a few words more as they walked +slowly in the direction of the corridor.</p> + +<p>"It is necessary that your Majesty should return at once to the throne +room, as if nothing had happened," said Mendoza. "Your Majesty should be +talking unconcernedly with some ambassador or minister when the news is +brought that his Highness is dead."</p> + +<p>"And who shall bring the news?" asked Philip calmly, as if he were +speaking to an indifferent person.</p> + +<p>"I will, Sire," answered Mendoza firmly.</p> + +<p>"They will tear you in pieces before I can save you," returned Philip, +in a thoughtful tone.</p> + +<p>"So much the better. I shall die for my King, and your Majesty will be +spared the difficulty of pardoning a deed which will be unpardonable in the +eyes of the whole world."</p> + +<p>"That is true," said the King meditatively. "But I do not wish you to +die, Mendoza," he added, as an afterthought. "You must escape to France or +to England."</p> + +<p>"I could not make my escape without your Majesty's help, and that would +soon be known. It would then be believed that I had done the deed by your +Majesty's orders, and no good end would have been gained."</p> + +<p>"You may be right. You are a very brave man, Mendoza--the bravest I have +ever known. I thank you. If it is possible to save you, you shall be +saved."</p> + +<p>"It will not be possible," replied the soldier, in a low and steady +voice. "If your Majesty will return at once to the throne room, it may be +soon over. Besides, it is growing late, and it must be done before the +whole court."</p> + +<p>They entered the corridor, and the King walked a few steps before +Mendoza, covering his head with the hood of his cloak lest any one should +recognize him, and gradually increasing his distance as the old man fell +behind. Descending by a private staircase, Philip reëntered his own +apartments by a small door that gave access to his study without obliging +him to pass through the antechamber, and by which he often came and went +unobserved. Alone in his innermost room, and divested of his hood and +cloak, the King went to a Venetian mirror that stood upon a pier table +between the windows, and examined his face attentively. Not a trace of +excitement or emotion was visible in the features he saw, but his hair was +a little disarranged, and he smoothed it carefully and adjusted it about +his ears. From a silver box on the table he took a little scented lozenge +and put it into his mouth. No reasonable being would have suspected from +his appearance that he had been moved to furious anger and had done a +murderous deed less than twenty minutes earlier. His still eyes were quite +calm now, and the yellow gleam in them had given place to their naturally +uncertain colour. With a smile of admiration for his own extraordinary +powers, he turned and left the room. He was enjoying one of his rare +moments of satisfaction, for the rival he had long hated and was beginning +to dread was never to stand in his way again nor to rob him of the least of +his attributes of sovereignty.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XIII'></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + + +<p>Dolores had not understood her father's words. All that was clear to her +was that Don John was dead and that his murderers were gone. Had there been +danger still for herself, she could not have felt it; but there was none +now as she laid her hand upon the key to enter the bedchamber. At first the +lock would not open, as it had been injured in some way by being so roughly +shaken when Mendoza had tried it. But Dolores' desperate fingers wound +themselves upon the key like little ropes of white silk, slender but very +strong, and she wrenched at the thing furiously till it turned. The door +flew open, and she stood motionless a moment on the threshold. Mendoza had +said that Don John was dead, but she had not quite believed it.</p> + +<p>He lay on his back as he had fallen, his feet towards her, his graceful +limbs relaxed, one arm beside him, the other thrown back beyond his head, +the colourless fingers just bent a little and showing the nervous beauty of +the hand. The beautiful young face was white as marble, and the eyes were +half open, very dark under the waxen lids. There was one little spot of +scarlet on the white satin coat, near the left breast. Dolores saw it all +in the bright light of the candles, and she neither moved nor closed her +fixed eyes as she gazed. She felt that she was at the end of life; she +stood still to see it all and to understand. But though she tried to think, +it was as if she had no mind left, no capacity for grasping any new +thought, and no power to connect those that had disturbed her brain with +the present that stared her in the face. An earthquake might have torn the +world open under her feet at that moment, swallowing up the old Alcazar +with the living and the dead, and Dolores would have gone down to +destruction as she stood, unconscious of her fate, her eyes fixed upon Don +John's dead features, her own life already suspended and waiting to follow +his. It seemed as if she might stand there till her horror should stop the +beating of her own heart, unless something came to rouse her from the +stupor she was in.</p> + +<p>But gradually a change came over her face, her lids drooped and +quivered, her face turned a little upward, and she grasped the doorpost +with one hand, lest she should reel and fall. Then, knowing that she could +stand no longer, instinct made a last effort upon her; its invisible power +thrust her violently forward in a few swift steps, till her strength broke +all at once, and she fell and lay almost upon the body of her lover, her +face hidden upon his silent breast, one hand seeking his hand, the other +pressing his cold forehead.</p> + +<p>It was not probable that any one should find her there for a long time. +The servants and gentlemen had been dismissed, and until it was known that +Don John was dead, no one would come. Even if she could have thought at +all, she would not have cared who saw her lying there; but thought was +altogether gone now, and there was nothing left but the ancient instinct of +the primeval woman mourning her dead mate alone, with long-drawn, hopeless +weeping and blinding tears.</p> + +<p>They came, too, when she had lain upon his breast a little while and +when understanding had wholly ceased and given way to nature. Then her body +shook and her breast heaved strongly, almost throwing her upon her side as +she lay, and sounds that were hardly human came from her lips; for the +first dissolving of a woman's despair into tears is most like the death +agony of those who die young in their strength, when the limbs are wrung at +the joints and the light breaks in the upturned eyes, when the bosom heaves +and would take in the whole world at one breath, when the voice makes +sounds of fear that are beyond words and worse to hear than any words could +be.</p> + +<p>Her weeping was wild at first, measureless and violent, broken by sharp +cries that hurt her heart like jagged knives, then strangled to a choking +silence again and again, as the merciless consciousness that could have +killed, if it had prevailed, almost had her by the throat, but was forced +back again with cruel pain by the young life that would not die, though +living was agony and death would have been as welcome as air.</p> + +<p>Then her loud grief subsided to a lower key, and her voice grew by +degrees monotonous and despairing as the turning tide on a quicksand, +before bad weather,--not diminished, but deeper drawn within itself; and +the low moan came regularly with each breath, while the tears flowed +steadily. The first wild tempest had swept by, and the more enduring storm +followed in its track.</p> + +<p>So she lay a long time weeping; and then strong hands were upon her, +lifting her up and dragging her away, without warning and without word. She +did not understand, and she fancied herself in the arms of some +supernatural being of monstrous strength that was tearing her from what was +left of life and love. She struggled senselessly, but she could find no +foothold as she was swept through the open door. She gasped for breath, as +one does in bad dreams, and bodily fear almost reached her heart through +its sevenfold armour of such grief as makes fear ridiculous and turns +mortal danger to an empty show. The time had seemed an age since she had +fallen upon dead Don John--it had measured but a short few minutes; it +seemed as if she were being dragged the whole length of the dim palace as +the strong hands bore her along, yet she was only carried from the room to +the terrace; and when her eyes could see, she knew that she was in the open +air on a stone seat in the moonlight, the cool night breeze fanning her +face, while a gentle hand supported her head,--the same hand that had been +so masterfully strong a moment earlier. A face she knew and did not dread, +though it was unlike other faces, was just at the same height with her own, +though the man was standing beside her and she was seated; and the +moonlight made very soft shadows in the ill-drawn features of the dwarf, so +that his thin and twisted lips were kind and his deep-set eyes were +overflowing with human sympathy. When he understood that she saw him and +was not fainting, he gently drew away his hand and let her head rest +against the stone parapet.</p> + +<p>She was dazed still, and the tears veiled her sight. He stood before +her, as if guarding her, ready in case she should move and try to leave +him. His long arms hung by his sides, but not quite motionless, so that he +could have caught her instantly had she attempted to spring past him; and +he was wise and guessed rightly what she would do. Her eyes brightened +suddenly, and she half rose before he held her again.</p> + +<p>"No, no!" she said desperately. "I must go to him--let me go--let me go +back!"</p> + +<p>But his hands were on her shoulders in an instant, and she was in a +vise, forced back to her seat.</p> + +<p>"How dare you touch me!" she cried, in the furious anger of a woman +beside herself with grief. "How dare you lay hands on me!" she repeated in +a rising key, but struggling in vain against his greater strength.</p> + +<p>"You would have died, if I had left you there," answered the jester. +"And besides, the people will come soon, and they would have found you +there, lying on his body, and your good name would have gone forever."</p> + +<p>"My name! What does a name matter? Or anything? Oh, let me go! No one +must touch him--no hands that do not love him must come near him--let me +get up--let me go in again!"</p> + +<p>She tried to force the dwarf from her--she would have struck him, +crushed him, thrown him from the terrace, if she could. She was strong, +too, in her grief; but his vast arms were like iron bars, growing from his +misshapen body. His face was very grave and kind, and his eyes more tender +than they had ever been in his life.</p> + +<p>"No," he said gently. "You must not go. By and by you shall see him +again, but not now. Do not try, for I am much stronger than you, and I will +not let you go back into the room."</p> + +<p>Then her strength relaxed, and she turned to the stone parapet, burying +her face in her crossed arms, and her tears came again. For this the jester +was glad, knowing that tears quench the first white heat of such sorrows as +can burn out the soul and drive the brain raving mad, when life can bear +the torture. He stood still before her, watching her and guarding her, but +he felt that the worst was past, and that before very long he could lead +her away to a place of greater safety. He had indeed taken her as far as he +could from Don John's door, and out of sight of it, where the long terrace +turned to the westward, and where it was not likely that any one should +pass at that hour. It had been the impulse of the moment, and he himself +had not recovered from the shock of finding Don John's body lifeless on the +floor. He had known nothing of what had happened, but lurking in a corner +to see the King pass on his way back from his brother's quarters, he had +made sure that Don John was alone, and had gone to his apartment to find +out, if he could, how matters had fared, and whether he himself were in +further danger or not. He meant to escape from the palace, or to take his +own life, rather than be put to the torture, if the King suspected him of +being involved in a conspiracy. He was not a common coward, but he feared +bodily pain as only such sensitive organizations can, and the vision of the +rack and the boot had been before him since he had seen Philip's face at +supper. Don John was kind, and would have warned him if he were in danger, +and so all might have been well, and by flight or death he might have +escaped being torn limb from limb. So he had gone boldly in, and had found +the door ajar and had entered the bedchamber, and when he had seen what was +there, he would have fled at once, for his own safety, not only because Don +John's murder was sure to produce terrible trouble, and many enquiries and +trials, in the course of which he was almost sure to be lost, but also for +the more immediate reason that if he were seen near the body when it was +discovered, he should certainly be put to the question ordinary and +extraordinary for his evidence.</p> + +<p>But he was not a common coward, and in spite of his own pardonable +terror, he thought first of the innocent girl whose name and fame would be +gone if she were found lying upon her murdered lover's body, and so far as +he could, he saved her before he thought of saving himself, though with +infinite difficulty and against her will.</p> + +<p>Half paralyzed by her immeasurable grief, she lay against the parapet, +and the great sobs came evenly, as if they were counted, shaking her from +her head to her waist, and just leaving her a breathing space between each +one and the next. The jester felt that he could do nothing. So long as she +had seemed unconscious, he had tried to help her a little by supporting her +head with his hand and arm, as tenderly as if she had been his own child. +So long as she did not know what he was doing, she was only a human being +in distress, and a woman, and deep down in the jester's nature there was a +marvellous depth of pity for all things that suffered--the deeper and truer +because his own sufferings in the world were great. But it was quite +different now that she knew where she was and recognized him. She was no +longer a woman now, but a high-born lady, one of the Queen's maids of +honour, a being infinitely far removed above his sphere, and whose hand he +was not worthy to touch. He would have dared to be much more familiar with +the King himself than with this young girl whom fate had placed in his +keeping for a moment. In the moonlight he watched her, and as he gazed upon +her graceful figure and small head and slender, bending arms, it seemed to +him that she had come down from an altar to suffer in life, and that it had +been almost sacrilege to lay his hands upon her shoulders and keep her from +doing her own will. He almost wondered how he had found courage to be so +rough and commanding. He was gentle of heart, though it was his trade to +make sharp speeches, and there were wonderful delicacies of thought and +feeling far down in his suffering cripple's nature.</p> + +<p>"Come," he said softly, when he had waited a long time, and when he +thought she was growing more quiet. "You must let me take you away, +Doña Maria Dolores, for we cannot stay here."</p> + +<p>"Take me back to him," she answered. "Let me go back to him!"</p> + +<p>"No--to your father--I cannot take you to him. You will be safe +there."</p> + +<p>Dolores sprang to her feet before the dwarf could prevent her.</p> + +<p>"To my father? oh, no, no, no! Never, as long as I live! I will go +anywhere, but not to him! Take your hands from me--do not touch me! I am +not strong, but I shall kill you if you try to take me to my father!"</p> + +<p>Her small hands grasped the dwarfs wrists and wrung them with desperate +energy, and she tried to push him away, so that she might pass him. But he +resisted her quietly, planting himself in a position of resistance on his +short bowed legs, and opposing the whole strength of his great arms to her +girlish violence. Her hands relaxed suddenly in despair.</p> + +<p>"Not to my father!" she pleaded, in a broken voice. "Oh, please, +please--not to my father!"</p> + +<p>The jester did not fully understand, but he yielded, for he could not +carry her to Mendoza's apartments by force.</p> + +<p>"But what can I do to put you in a place of safety?" he asked, in +growing distress. "You cannot stay here."</p> + +<p>While he was speaking a light figure glided out from the shadows, with +outstretched hands, and a low voice called Dolores' name, trembling with +terror and emotion. Dolores broke from the dwarf and clasped her sister in +her arms.</p> + +<p>"Is it true?" moaned Inez. "Is it true? Is he dead?" And her voice +broke.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XIV'></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + + +<p>The courtiers had assembled again in the great throne room after supper, +and the stately dancing, for which the court of Spain was even then famous +throughout Europe, had begun. The orchestra was placed under the great arch +of the central window on a small raised platform draped with velvets and +brocades that hung from a railing, high enough to conceal the musicians as +they sat, though some of the instruments and the moving bows of the violins +could be seen above it.</p> + +<p>The masked dancing, if it were dancing at all, which had been general in +the days of the Emperor Maximilian, and which had not yet gone out of +fashion altogether at the imperial court of Vienna, had long been relegated +to the past in Spain, and the beautiful "pavane" dances, of which awkward +travesties survive in our day, had been introduced instead. As now, the +older ladies of the court withdrew to the sides of the hall, leaving the +polished floor free for those who danced, and sets formed themselves in the +order of their rank from the foot of the throne dais to the lower end. As +now, too, the older and graver men congregated together in outer rooms; and +there gaming-tables were set out, and the nobles lost vast sums at games +now long forgotten, by the express authorization of the pious Philip, who +saw that everything which could injure the fortunes of the grandees must +consolidate his own, by depriving them of some of that immense wealth which +was an ever-ready element of revolution. He did everything in his power to +promote the ruin of the most powerful grandees in the kingdom by +encouraging gaming and all imaginable forms of extravagance, and he looked +with suspicion and displeasure upon those more prudent men who guarded +their riches carefully, as their fathers had done before them. But these +were few, for it was a part of a noble's dignity to lose enormous sums of +money without the slightest outward sign of emotion or annoyance.</p> + +<p>It had been announced that the King and Queen would not return after +supper, and the magnificent gravity of the most formal court in the world +was a little relaxed when this was known. Between the strains of music, the +voices of the courtiers rose in unbroken conversation, and now and then +there was a ripple of fresh young laughter that echoed sweetly under the +high Moorish vault, and died away just as it rose again from below.</p> + +<p>Yet the dancing was a matter of state, and solemn enough, though it was +very graceful. Magnificent young nobles in scarlet, in pale green, in straw +colour, in tender shades of blue, all satin and silk and velvet and +embroidery, led lovely women slowly forward with long and gliding steps +that kept perfect time to the music, and turned and went back, and wound +mazy figures with the rest, under the waxen light of the waxen torches, and +returned to their places with deep curtsies on the one side, and sweeping +obeisance on the other. The dresses of the women were richer by far with +gold and silver, and pearls and other jewels, than those of the men, but +were generally darker in tone, for that was the fashion then. Their skirts +were straight and barely touched the floor, being made for a time when +dancing was a part of court life, and when every one within certain limits +of age was expected to dance well. There was no exaggeration of the ruffle +then, nor had the awkward hoop skirt been introduced in Spain. Those were +the earlier days of Queen Elizabeth's reign, before Queen Mary was +imprisoned; it was the time, indeed, when the rough Bothwell had lately +carried her off and married her, after a fashion, with so little ceremony +that Philip paid no attention to the marriage at all, and deliberately +proposed to make her Don John's wife. The matter was freely talked of on +that night by the noble ladies of elder years who gossiped while they +watched the dancing.</p> + +<p>That was indeed such a court as had not been seen before, nor was ever +seen again, whether one count beauty first, or riches and magnificence, or +the marvel of splendid ceremony and the faultless grace of studied manners, +or even the cool recklessness of great lords and ladies who could lose a +fortune at play, as if they were throwing a handful of coin to a beggar in +the street.</p> + +<p>The Princess of Eboli stood a little apart from the rest, having just +returned to the ball-room, and her eyes searched for Dolores in the crowd, +though she scarcely expected to see her there. It would have been almost +impossible for the girl to put on a court dress in so short a time, though +since her father had allowed her to leave her room, she could have gone +back to dress if she had chosen. The Princess had rarely been at a loss in +her evil life, and had seldom been baffled in anything she had undertaken, +since that memorable occasion on which her husband, soon after her +marriage, had forcibly shut her up in a convent for several months, in the +vain hope of cooling her indomitable temper. But now she was nervous and +uncertain of herself. Not only had Dolores escaped her, but Don John had +disappeared also, and the Princess had not the least doubt but that the two +were somewhere together, and she was very far from being sure that they had +not already left the palace. Antonio Perez had informed her that the King +had promised not to see Don John that night, and for once she was foolish +enough to believe the King's word. Perez came up to her as she was debating +what she should do. She told him her thoughts, laughing gaily from time to +time, as if she were telling him some very witty story, for she did not +wish those who watched them to guess that the conversation was serious. +Perez laughed, too, and answered in low tones, with many gestures meant to +deceive the court.</p> + +<p>"The King did not take my advice," he said. "I had scarcely left him, +when he went to Don John's apartments."</p> + +<p>"How do you know that?" asked the Princess, with some anxiety.</p> + +<p>"He found the door of an inner room locked, and he sent Mendoza to find +the key. Fortunately for the old man's feelings it could not be found! He +would have had an unpleasant surprise."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because his daughter was in the room that was locked," laughed +Perez.</p> + +<p>"When? How? How long ago was that?"</p> + +<p>"Half an hour--not more."</p> + +<p>"That is impossible. Half an hour ago Dolores de Mendoza was with +me."</p> + +<p>"Then there was another lady in the room." Perez laughed again. "Better +two than one," he added.</p> + +<p>"You are wrong," said the Princess, and her face darkened. "Don John has +not so much as deigned to look at any other woman these two years."</p> + +<p>"You should know that best," returned the Secretary, with a little +malice in his smile.</p> + +<p>It was well known in the court that two or three years earlier, during +the horrible intrigue that ended in the death of Don Carlos, the Princess +of Eboli had done her best to bring Don John of Austria to her feet, and +had failed notoriously, because he was already in love with Dolores. She +was angry now, and the rich colour came into her handsome dark face.</p> + +<p>"Don Antonio Perez," she said, "take care! I have made you. I can also +unmake you."</p> + +<p>Perez assumed an air of simple and innocent surprise, as if he were +quite sure that he had said nothing to annoy her, still less to wound her +deeply. He believed that she really loved him and that he could play with +her as if his own intelligence far surpassed hers. In the first matter he +was right, but he was very much mistaken in the second.</p> + +<p>"I do not understand," he said. "If I have done anything to offend you, +pray forgive my ignorance, and believe in the unchanging devotion of your +most faithful slave."</p> + +<p>His dark eyes became very expressive as he bowed a little, with a +graceful gesture of deprecation. The Princess laughed lightly, but there +was still a spark of annoyance in her look.</p> + +<p>"Why does Don John not come?" she asked impatiently. "We should have +danced together. Something must have happened--can you not find out?"</p> + +<p>Others were asking the same question in surprise, for it had been +expected that Don John would enter immediately after the supper. His name +was heard from end to end of the hall, in every conversation, wherever two +or three persons were talking together. It was in the air, like his +popularity, everywhere and in everything, and the expectation of his coming +produced a sort of tension that was felt by every one. The men grew more +witty, the younger women's eyes brightened, though they constantly glanced +towards the door of the state apartments by which Don John should enter, +and as the men's conversation became more brilliant the women paid less +attention to it, for there was hardly one of them who did not hope that Don +John might notice her before the evening was over,--there was not one who +did not fancy herself a little in love with him, as there was hardly a man +there who would not have drawn his sword for him and fought for him with +all his heart. Many, though they dared not say so, secretly wished that +some evil might befall Philip, and that he might soon die childless, since +he had destroyed his only son and only heir, and that Don John might be +King in his stead. The Princess of Eboli and Perez knew well enough that +their plan would be popular, if they could ever bring it to maturity.</p> + +<p>The music swelled and softened, and rose again in those swaying strains +that inspire an irresistible bodily longing for rhythmical motion, and +which have infinite power to call up all manner of thoughts, passionate, +gentle, hopeful, regretful, by turns. In the middle of the hall, more than +a hundred dancers moved, swayed, and glided in time with the sound, changed +places, and touched hands in the measure, tripped forward and back and +sideways, and met and parted again without pause, the colours of their +dresses mingling to rich unknown hues in the soft candlelight, as the +figure brought many together, and separating into a hundred elements again, +when the next steps scattered them again; the jewels in the women's hair, +the clasps of diamonds and precious stones at throat, and shoulder, and +waist, all moved with an intricate motion, in orbits that crossed and +recrossed in the tinted sea of silk, and flashed all at once, as the +returning burden of the music brought the dancers to stand and turn at the +same beat of the measure. Yet it was all unlike the square dancing of these +days, which is either no dancing at all, but a disorderly walk, or else is +so stiffly regular and awkward that it makes one think of a squad of +recruits exercising on the drill ground. There was not a motion, then, that +lacked grace, or ease, or a certain purpose of beauty, nor any, perhaps, +that was not a phrase in the allegory of love, from which all dancing is, +and was, and always must be, drawn. Swift, slow, by turns, now languorous, +now passionate, now full of delicious regret, singing love's triumph, +breathing love's fire, sighing in love's despair, the dance and its music +were one, so was sight intermingled with sound, and motion a part of both. +And at each pause, lips parted and glance sought glance in the light, while +hearts found words in the music that answered the language of love. Men +laugh at dancing and love it, and women, too, and no one can tell where its +charm is, but few have not felt it, or longed to feel it, and its +beginnings are very far away in primeval humanity, beyond the reach of +theory, unless instinct may explain all simply, as it well may. For light +and grace and sweet sound are things of beauty which last for ever, and +love is the source of the future and the explanation of the past; and that +which can bring into itself both love and melody, and grace and light, must +needs be a spell to charm men and women.</p> + +<p>There was more than that in the air on that night, for Don John's return +had set free that most intoxicating essence of victory, which turns to a +mad fire in the veins of a rejoicing people, making the least man of them +feel himself a soldier, and a conqueror, and a sharer in undying fame. They +had loved him from a child, they had seen him outgrow them in beauty, and +skill, and courage, and they had loved him still the more for being the +better man; and now he had done a great deed, and had fulfilled and +overfilled their greatest expectations, and in an instant he leapt from the +favourite's place in their hearts to the hero's height on the altar of +their wonder, to be the young god of a nation that loved him. Not a man, on +that night, but would have sworn that Don John was braver than Alexander, +wiser than Charlemagne, greater than Cæsar himself; not a man but +would have drawn his sword to prove it on the body of any who should dare +to contradict him,--not a mother was there, who did not pray that her sons +might be but ever so little like him, no girl of Spain but dreamt she heard +his soft voice speaking low in her ear. Not often in the world's story has +a man so young done such great things as he had done and was to do before +his short life was ended; never, perhaps, was any man so honoured by his +own people, so trusted, and so loved.</p> + +<p>They could talk only of him, wondering more and more that he stayed away +from them on such a night, yet sure that he would come, and join the +dancing, for as he fought with a skill beyond that of other swordsmen, so +he danced with the most surpassing grace. They longed to see him, to look +into his face, to hear his voice, perhaps to touch his hand; for he was +free of manner and gentle to all, and if he came he would go from one to +another, and remember each with royal memory, and find kind words for every +one. They wanted him among them, they felt a sort of tense desire to see +him again, and even to shout for him again, as the vulgar herd did in the +streets,--as they themselves had done but an hour ago when he had stood out +beside the throne. And still the dancers danced through the endless +measures, laughing and talking at each pause, and repeating his name till +it was impossible not to hear it, wherever one might be in the hall, and +there was no one, old or young, who did not speak it at least once in every +five minutes. There was a sort of intoxication in its very sound, and the +more they heard it, the more they wished to hear it, coupled with every +word of praise that the language possessed. From admiration they rose to +enthusiasm, from enthusiasm to a generous patriotic passion in which Spain +was the world and Don John was Spain, and all the rest of everything was +but a dull and lifeless blank which could have no possible interest for +natural people.</p> + +<p>Young men, darkly flushed from dancing, swore that whenever Don John +should be next sent with an army, they would go, too, and win his battles +and share in his immortal glory; and grand, grey men who wore the Golden +Fleece, men who had seen great battles in the Emperor's day, stood together +and talked of him, and praised God that Spain had another hero of the +Austrian house, to strike terror to the heart of France, to humble England +at last, and to grasp what little of the world was not already gathered in +the hollow of Spain's vast hand.</p> + +<p>Antonio Perez and the Princess of Eboli parted and went among the +courtiers, listening to all that was to be heard and feeding the fire of +enthusiasm, and met again to exchange glances of satisfaction, for they +were well pleased with the direction matters were taking, and the talk grew +more free from minute to minute, till many, carried away by a force they +could not understand and did not seek to question, were openly talking of +the succession to the throne, of Philip's apparent ill health, and of the +chance that they might before long be doing service to his Majesty King +John.</p> + +<p>The music ceased again, and the couples dispersed about the hall, to +collect again in groups. There was a momentary lull in the talk, too, as +often happens when a dance is just over, and at that moment the great door +beside the throne was opened, with a noise that attracted the attention of +all; and all believed that Don John was returning, while all eyes were +fixed upon the entrance to catch the first glimpse of him, and every one +pronounced his name at once in short, glad tones of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Don John is coming! It is Don John of Austria! Don John is there!"</p> + +<p>It was almost a universal cry of welcome. An instant later a dead +silence followed as a chamberlain's clear voice announced the royal +presence, and King Philip advanced upon the platform of the throne. For +several seconds not a sound broke the stillness, and he came slowly forward +followed by half a dozen nobles in immediate attendance upon him. But +though he must have heard his brother's name in the general chorus of +voices as soon as the door had been thrown open, he seemed by no means +disconcerted; on the contrary, he smiled almost affably, and his eyes were +less fixed than usual, as he looked about him with something like an air of +satisfaction. As soon as it was clear that he meant to descend the steps to +the floor of the hall, the chief courtiers came forward, Ruy Gomez de +Silva, Prince of Eboli, Alvarez de Toledo, the terrible Duke of Alva, the +Dukes of Medina Sidonia and of Infantado, Don Antonio Perez the chief +Secretary, the Ambassadors of Queen Elizabeth of England and of France, and +a dozen others, bowing so low that the plumes of their hats literally +touched the floor beside them.</p> + +<p>"Why is there no dancing?" asked Philip, addressing Ruy Gomez, with a +smile.</p> + +<p>The Minister explained that one of the dances was but just over.</p> + +<p>"Let there be more at once," answered the King. "Let there be dancing +and music without end to-night. We have good reason to keep the day with +rejoicing, since the war is over, and Don John of Austria has come back in +triumph."</p> + +<p>The command was obeyed instantly, as Ruy Gomez made a sign to the leader +of the musicians, who was watching him intently in expectation of the +order. The King smiled again as the long strain broke the silence and the +conversation began again all through the hall, though in a far more subdued +tone than before, and with much more caution. Philip turned to the English +Ambassador.</p> + +<p>"It is a pity," he said, "that my sister of England cannot be here with +us on such a night as this. We saw no such sights in London in my day, my +lord."</p> + +<p>"There have been changes since then, Sire," answered the Ambassador. +"The Queen is very much inclined to magnificence and to great +entertainments, and does not hesitate to dance herself, being of a very +vital and pleasant temper. Nevertheless, your Majesty's court is by far the +most splendid in the world."</p> + +<p>"There you are right, my lord!" exclaimed the King. "And for that +matter, we have beauty also, such as is found nowhere else."</p> + +<p>The Princess of Eboli was close by, waiting for him to speak to her, and +his eyes fixed themselves upon her face with a sort of cold and snakelike +admiration, to which she was well accustomed, but which even now made her +nervous. The Ambassador was not slow to take up the cue of flattery, for +Englishmen still knew how to flatter in Elizabeth's day.</p> + +<p>"The inheritance of universal conquest," he said, bowing and smiling to +the Princess. "Even the victories of Don John of Austria must yield to +that."</p> + +<p>The Princess laughed carelessly. Had Perez spoken the words, she would +have frowned, but the King's eyes were watching her.</p> + +<p>"His Highness has fled from the field without striking a blow," she +said. "We have not seen him this evening." As she spoke she met the King's +gaze with a look of enquiry.</p> + +<p>"Don John will be here presently, no doubt," he said, as if answering a +question. "Has he not been here at all since supper?"</p> + +<p>"No, Sire; though every one expected him to come at once."</p> + +<p>"That is strange," said Philip, with perfect self-possession. "He is +fond of dancing, too--no one can dance better than he. Have you ever known +a man so roundly gifted as my brother, my lord?"</p> + +<p>"A most admirable prince," answered the Ambassador, gravely and without +enthusiasm, for he feared that the King was about to speak of his brother's +possible marriage with Queen Mary of Scots.</p> + +<p>"And a most affectionate and gentle nature," said Philip, musing. "I +remember from the time when he was a boy that every one loved him and +praised him, and yet he is not spoiled. He is always the same. He is my +brother--how often have I wished for such a son! Well, he may yet be King. +Who should, if not he, when I am gone?"</p> + +<p>"Your Majesty need not anticipate such a frightful calamity!" cried the +Princess fervently, though she was at that moment weighing the comparative +advantage of several mortal diseases by which, in appearance at least, his +exit from the world might be accelerated.</p> + +<p>"Life is very uncertain, Princess," observed the King. "My lord," he +turned to the English Ambassador again, "do you consider melons +indigestible in England? I have lately heard much against them."</p> + +<p>"A melon is a poor thing, of a watery constitution, your Majesty," +replied the Ambassador glibly. "There can be but little sustenance in a +hollow piece of water that is sucked from a marsh and enclosed in a green +rind. To tell the truth, I hear it ill spoken of by our physicians, but I +cannot well speak of the matter, for I never ate one in my life, and please +God I never will!"</p> + +<p>"Why not!" enquired the King, who took an extraordinary interest in the +subject. "You fear them, then! Yet you seem to be exceedingly strong and +healthy."</p> + +<p>"Sire, I have sometimes drunk a little water for my stomach's sake, but +I will not eat it."</p> + +<p>The King smiled pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"How wise the English are!" he said. "We may yet learn much of +them."</p> + +<p>Philip turned away from the Ambassador and watched the dance in silence. +The courtiers now stood in a wide half circle to the right and left of him +as he faced the hall, and the dancers passed backwards and forwards across +the open space. His slow eyes followed one figure without seeing the rest. +In the set nearest to him a beautiful girl was dancing with one of Don +John's officers. She was of the rarest type of Andalusian beauty, tall, +pliant, and slenderly strong, with raven's-wing hair and splendidly +languorous eyes, her creamy cheek as smooth as velvet, and a mouth like a +small ripe fruit. As she moved she bent from the waist as easily and +naturally as a child, and every movement followed a new curve of beauty +from her white throat to the small arched foot that darted into sight as +she stepped forward now and then, to disappear instantly under the shadow +of the gold-embroidered skirt. As she glanced towards the King, her shadowy +lids half hid her eyes and the long black lashes almost brushed her cheek. +Philip could not look away from her.</p> + +<p>But suddenly there was a stir among the courtiers, and a shadow came +between the King and the vision he was watching. He started a little, +annoyed by the interruption and at being rudely reminded of what had +happened half an hour earlier, for the shadow was cast by Mendoza, tall and +grim in his armour, his face as grey as his grey beard, and his eyes hard +and fixed. Without bending, like a soldier on parade, he stood there, +waiting by force of habit until Philip should speak to him. The King's +brows bent together, and he almost unconsciously raised one hand to signify +that the music should cease. It stopped in the midst of a bar, leaving the +dancers at a standstill in their measure, and all the moving sea of light +and colour and gleaming jewels was arrested instantly in its motion, while +every look was turned towards the King. The change from sound to silence, +from motion to immobility, was so sudden that every one was startled, as if +some frightful accident had happened, or as if an earthquake had shaken the +Alcazar to its deep foundation.</p> + +<p>Mendoza's harsh voice spoke out alone in accents that were heard to the +end of the hall.</p> + +<p>"Don John of Austria is dead! I, Mendoza, have killed him unarmed."</p> + +<p>It was long before a sound was heard, before any man or woman in the +hall had breath to utter a word. Philip's voice was heard first.</p> + +<p>"The man is mad," he said, with undisturbed coolness. "See to him, +Perez."</p> + +<p>"No, no!" cried Mendoza. "I am not mad. I have killed Don John. You +shall find him in his room as he fell, with the wound in his breast."</p> + +<p>One moment more the silence lasted, while Philip's stony face never +moved. A single woman's shriek rang out first, long, ear-piercing, +agonized, and then, without warning, a cry went up such as the old hall had +never heard before. It was a bad cry to hear, for it clamoured for blood to +be shed for blood, and though it was not for him, Philip turned livid and +shrank back a step. But Mendoza stood like a rock, waiting to be taken.</p> + +<p>In another moment furious confusion filled the hall. From every side at +once rose women's cries, and the deep shouts of angry men, and high, clear +yells of rage and hate. The men pushed past the ladies of the court to the +front, and some came singly, but a serried rank moved up from behind, +pushing the others before them.</p> + +<p>"Kill him! Kill him at the King's feet! Kill him where he stands!"</p> + +<p>And suddenly something made blue flashes of light high over the heads of +all; a rapier was out and wheeled in quick circles from a pliant wrist. An +officer of Mendoza's guard had drawn it, and a dozen more were in the air +in an instant, and then daggers by scores, keen, short, and strong, held +high at arm's length, each shaking with the fury of the hand that held +it.</p> + +<p>"Sangre! Sangre!"</p> + +<p>Some one had screamed out the wild cry of the Spanish soldiers--'Blood! +Blood!'--and the young men took it up in a mad yell, as they pushed +forwards furiously, while the few who stood in front tried to keep a space +open round the King and Mendoza.</p> + +<p>The old man never winced, and disdained to turn his head, though he +heard the cry of death behind him, and the quick, soft sound of daggers +drawn from leathern sheaths, and the pressing of men who would be upon him +in another moment to tear him limb from limb with their knives.</p> + +<p>Tall old Ruy Gomez had stepped forwards to stem the tide of death, and +beside him the English Ambassador, quietly determined to see fair play or +to be hurt himself in preventing murder.</p> + +<p>"Back!" thundered Ruy Gomez, in a voice that was heard. "Back, I say! +Are you gentlemen of Spain, or are you executioners yourselves that you +would take this man's blood? Stand back!"</p> + +<p>"Sangre! Sangre!" echoed the hall.</p> + +<p>"Then take mine first!" shouted the brave old Prince, spreading his +short cloak out behind him with his hands to cover Mendoza more +completely.</p> + +<p>But still the crowd of splendid young nobles surged up to him, and back +a little, out of sheer respect for his station and his old age, and +forwards again, dagger in hand, with blazing eyes.</p> + +<p>"Sangre! Sangre! Sangre!" they cried, blind with fury.</p> + +<p>But meanwhile, the guards filed in, for the prudent Perez had hastened +to throw wide the doors and summon them. Weapons in hand and ready, they +formed a square round the King and Mendoza and Ruy Gomez, and at the sight +of their steel caps and breastplates and long-tasselled halberds, the yells +of the courtiers subsided a little and turned to deep curses and +execrations and oaths of vengeance. A high voice pierced the low roar, keen +and cutting as a knife, but no one knew whose it was, and Philip almost +reeled as he heard the words.</p> + +<p>"Remember Don Carlos! Don John of Austria is gone to join Don Carlos and +Queen Isabel!"</p> + +<p>Again a deadly silence fell upon the multitude, and the King leaned on +Perez' arm. Some woman's hate had bared the truth in a flash, and there +were hundreds of hands in the hall that were ready to take his life instead +of Mendoza's; and he knew it, and was afraid.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XV'></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + + +<p>The agonized cry that had been first heard in the hall had come from +Inez's lips. When she had fled from her father, she had regained her +hiding-place in the gallery above the throne room. She would not go to her +own room, for she felt that rest was out of the question while Dolores was +in such danger; and yet there would have been no object in going to Don +John's door again, to risk being caught by her father or met by the King +himself. She had therefore determined to let an hour pass before attempting +another move. So she slipped into the gallery again, and sat upon the +little wooden bench that had been made for the Moorish women in old times; +and she listened to the music and the sound of the dancers' feet far below, +and to the hum of voices, in which she often distinguished the name of Don +John. She had heard all,--the cries when it was thought that he was coming, +the chamberlain's voice announcing the King, and then the change of key in +the sounds that had followed. Lastly, she had heard plainly every syllable +of her father's speech, so that when she realized what it meant, she had +shrieked aloud, and had fled from the gallery to find her sister if she +could, to find Don John's body most certainly where it lay on the marble +floor, with the death wound at the breast. Her instinct--she could not have +reasoned then--told her that her father must have found the lovers +together, and that in sudden rage he had stabbed Don John, defenceless.</p> + +<p>Dolores' tears answered her sister's question well enough when the two +girls were clasped in one another's arms at last. There was not a doubt +left in the mind of either. Inez spoke first. She said that she had hidden +in the gallery.</p> + +<p>"Our father must have come in some time after the King," she said, in +broken sentences, and almost choking. "Suddenly the music stopped. I could +hear every word. He said that he had done it,--that he had murdered Don +John,--and then I ran here, for I was afraid he had killed you, too."</p> + +<p>"Would God he had!" cried Dolores. "Would to Heaven that I were dead +beside the man I love!"</p> + +<p>"And I!" moaned Inez pitifully, and she began to sob wildly, as Dolores +had sobbed at first.</p> + +<p>But Dolores was silent now, as if she had shed all her tears at once, +and had none left. She held her sister in her arms, and soothed her almost +unconsciously, as if she had been a little child. But her own thoughts were +taking shape quickly, for she was strong; and after the first paroxysm of +her grief, she saw the immediate future as clearly as the present. When she +spoke again she had the mastery of her voice, and it was clear and low.</p> + +<p>"You say that our father confessed before the whole court that he had +murdered Don John?" she said, with a question. "What happened then? Did the +King speak? Was our father arrested? Can you remember?"</p> + +<p>"I only heard loud cries," sobbed Inez. "I came to you--as quickly as I +could--I was afraid."</p> + +<p>"We shall never see our father again--unless we see him on the morning +when he is to die."</p> + +<p>"Dolores! They will not kill him, too?" In sudden and greater fear than +before, Inez ceased sobbing.</p> + +<p>"He will die on the scaffold," answered Dolores, in the same clear tone, +as if she were speaking in a dream, or of things that did not come near +her. "There is no pardon possible. He will die to-morrow or the next +day."</p> + +<p>The present truth stood out in all its frightful distinctness. Whoever +had done the murder--since Mendoza had confessed it, he would be made to +die for it,--of that she was sure. She could not have guessed what had +really happened; and though the evidence of the sounds she had heard +through the door would have gone to show that Philip had done the deed +himself, yet there had been no doubt about Mendoza's words, spoken to the +King alone over Don John's dead body, and repeated before the great +assembly in the ball-room. If she guessed at an explanation, it was that +her father, entering the bedchamber during the quarrel, and supposing from +what he saw that Don John was about to attack the King, had drawn and +killed the Prince without hesitation. The only thing quite clear was that +Mendoza was to suffer, and seemed strangely determined to suffer, for what +he had or had not done. The dark shadow of the scaffold rose before +Dolores' eyes.</p> + +<p>It had seemed impossible that she could be made to bear more than she +had borne that night, when she had fallen upon Don John's body to weep her +heart out for her dead love. But she saw that there was more to bear, and +dimly she guessed that there might be something for her to do. There was +Inez first, and she must be cared for and placed in safety, for she was +beside herself with grief. It was only on that afternoon by the window that +Dolores had guessed the blind girl's secret, which Inez herself hardly +suspected even now, though she was half mad with grief and utterly +broken-hearted.</p> + +<p>Dolores felt almost helpless, but she understood that she and her sister +were henceforth to be more really alone in what remained of life than if +they had been orphans from their earliest childhood. The vision of the +convent, that had been unbearable but an hour since, held all her hope of +peace and safety now, unless her father could be saved from his fate by +some miracle of heaven. But that was impossible. He had given himself up as +if he were determined to die. He had been out of his mind, beside himself, +stark mad, in his fear that Don John might bring harm upon his daughter. +That was why he had killed him--there could be no other reason, unless he +had guessed that she was in the locked room, and had judged her then and at +once, and forever. The thought had not crossed her mind till then, and it +was a new torture now, so that she shrank under it as under a bodily blow; +and her grasp tightened violently upon her sister's arm, rousing the +half-fainting girl again to the full consciousness of pain.</p> + +<p>It was no wonder that Mendoza should have done such a deed, since he had +believed her ruined and lost to honour beyond salvation. That explained +all. He had guessed that she had been long with Don John, who had locked +her hastily into the inner room to hide her from the King. Had the King +been Don John, had she loved Philip as she loved his brother, her father +would have killed his sovereign as unhesitatingly, and would have suffered +any death without flinching. She believed that, and there was enough of his +nature in herself to understand it.</p> + +<p>She was as innocent as the blind girl who lay in her arms, but suddenly +it flashed upon her that no one would believe it, since her own father +would not, and that her maiden honour and good name were gone for ever, +gone with her dead lover, who alone could have cleared her before the +world. She cared little for the court now, but she cared tenfold more +earnestly for her father's thought of her, and she knew him and the +terrible tenacity of his conviction when he believed himself to be right. +He had proved that by what he had done. Since she understood all, she no +longer doubted that he had killed Don John with the fullest intention, to +avenge her, and almost knowing that she was within hearing, as indeed she +had been. He had taken a royal life in atonement for her honour, but he was +to give his own, and was to die a shameful death on the scaffold, within a +few hours, or, at the latest, within a few days, for her sake.</p> + +<p>Then she remembered how on that afternoon she had seen tears in his +eyes, and had heard the tremor in his voice when he had said that she was +everything to him, that she had been all his life since her mother had +died--he had proved that, too; and though he had killed the man she loved, +she shrank from herself again as she thought what he must have suffered in +her dishonour. For it was nothing else. There was neither man nor woman nor +girl in Spain who would believe her innocent against such evidence. The +world might have believed Don John, if he had lived, because the world had +loved him and trusted him, and could never have heard falsehood in his +voice; but it would not believe her though she were dying, and though she +should swear upon the most sacred and true things. The world would turn +from her with an unbelieving laugh, and she was to be left alone in her +dishonour, and people would judge that she was not even a fit companion for +her blind sister in their solitude. The King would send her to Las Huelgas, +or to some other distant convent of a severe order, that she might wear out +her useless life in grief and silence and penance as quickly as possible. +She bowed her head. It was too hard to bear.</p> + +<p>Inez was more quiet now, and the two sat side by side in mournful +silence, leaning against the parapet. They had forgotten the dwarf, and he +had disappeared, waiting, perhaps, in the shadow at a distance, in case he +might be of use to them. But if he was within hearing, they did not see +him. At last Inez spoke, almost in a whisper, as if she were in the +presence of the dead.</p> + +<p>"Were you there, dear?" she asked. "Did you see?"</p> + +<p>"I was in the next room," Dolores answered. "I could not see, but I +heard. I heard him fall," she added almost inaudibly, and choking.</p> + +<p>Inez shuddered and pressed nearer to her sister, leaning against her, +but she did not begin to sob again. She was thinking.</p> + +<p>"Can we not help our father, at least?" she asked presently. "Is there +nothing we can say, or do? We ought to help him if we can, Dolores--though +he did it."</p> + +<p>"I would save him with my life, if I could. God knows, I would! He was +mad when he struck the blow. He did it for my sake, because he thought Don +John had ruined my good name. And we should have been married the day after +to-morrow! God of heaven, have mercy!"</p> + +<p>Her grief took hold of her again, like a material power, shaking her +from head to foot, and bowing her down upon herself and wringing her hands +together, so that Inez, calmer than she, touched her gently and tried to +comfort her without any words, for there were none to say, since nothing +mattered now, and life was over at its very beginning. Little by little the +sharp agony subsided to dull pain once more, and Dolores sat upright. But +Inez was thinking still, and even in her sorrow and fright she was +gathering all her innocent ingenuity to her aid.</p> + +<p>"Is there no way?" she asked, speaking more to herself than to her +sister. "Could we not say that we were there, that it was not our father +but some one else? Perhaps some one would believe us. If we told the judges +that we were quite, quite sure that he did not do it, do you not think--but +then," she checked herself--"then it could only have been the King."</p> + +<p>"Only the King himself," echoed Dolores, half unconsciously, and in a +dreamy tone.</p> + +<p>"That would be terrible," said Inez. "But we could say that the King was +not there, you know--that it was some one else, some one we did not +know--"</p> + +<p>Dolores rose abruptly from the seat and laid her hand upon the parapet +steadily, as if an unnatural strength had suddenly grown up in her. Inez +went on speaking, confusing herself in the details she was trying to put +together to make a plan, and losing the thread of her idea as she attempted +to build up falsehoods, for she was truthful as their father was. But +Dolores did not hear her.</p> + +<p>"You can do nothing, child," she said at last, in a firm tone. "But I +may. You have made me think of something that I may do--it is just +possible--it may help a little. Let me think."</p> + +<p>Inez waited in silence for her to go on, and Dolores stood as motionless +as a statue, contemplating in thought the step she meant to take if it +offered the slightest hope of saving her father. The thought was worthy of +her, but the sacrifice was great even then. She had not believed that the +world still held anything with which she would not willingly part, but +there was one thing yet. It might be taken from her, though her father had +slain Don John of Austria to save it, and was to die for it himself. She +could give it before she could be robbed of it, perhaps, and it might buy +his life. She could still forfeit her good name of her own free will, and +call herself what she was not. In words she could give her honour to the +dead man, and the dead could not rise up and deny her nor refuse the gift. +And it seemed to her that when the people should hear her, they would +believe her, seeing that it was her shame, a shame such as no maiden who +had honour left would bear before the world. But it was hard to do. For +honour was her last and only possession now that all was taken from +her.</p> + +<p>It was not the so-called honour of society, either, based on +long-forgotten traditions, and depending on convention for its being--not +the sort of honour within which a man may ruin an honest woman and suffer +no retribution, but which decrees that he must take his own life if he +cannot pay a debt of play made on his promise to a friend, which allows him +to lie like a cheat, but ordains that he must give or require satisfaction +of blood for the imaginary insult of a hasty word--the honour which is to +chivalry what black superstition is to the true Christian faith, which +compares with real courage and truth and honesty, as an ape compares with a +man. It was not that, and Dolores knew it, as every maiden knows it; for +the honour of woman is the fact on which the whole world turns, and has +turned and will turn to the end of things; but what is called the honour of +society has been a fiction these many centuries, and though it came first +of a high parentage, of honest thought wedded to brave deed, and though +there are honourable men yet, these are for the most part the few who talk +least loudly about honour's code, and the belief they hold has come to be a +secret and a persecuted faith, at which the common gentleman thinks fit to +laugh lest some one should presume to measure him by it and should find him +wanting.</p> + +<p>Dolores did not mean to hesitate, after she had decided what to do. But +she could not avoid the struggle, and it was long and hard, though she saw +the end plainly before her and did not waver. Inez did not understand and +kept silence while it lasted.</p> + +<p>It was only a word to say, but it was the word which would be repeated +against her as long as she lived, and which nothing she could ever say or +do afterwards could take back when it had once been spoken--it would leave +the mark that a lifetime could not efface. But she meant to speak it. She +could not see what her father would see, that he would rather die, justly +or unjustly, than let his daughter be dishonoured before the world. That +was a part of a man's code, perhaps, but it should not hinder her from +saving her father's life, or trying to, at whatever cost. What she was +fighting against was something much harder to understand in herself. What +could it matter now, that the world should think her fallen from her maiden +estate? The world was nothing to her, surely. It held nothing, it meant +nothing, it was nothing. Her world had been her lover, and he lay dead in +his room. In heaven, he knew that she was innocent, as he was himself, and +he would see that she was going to accuse herself that she might save her +father. In heaven, he had forgiven his murderer, and he would understand. +As for the world and what it said, she knew that she must leave it +instantly, and go from the confession she was about to make to the convent +where she was to die, and whence her spotless soul would soon be wafted +away to join her true lover beyond the earth. There was no reason why she +should find it hard to do, and yet it was harder than anything she had ever +dreamed of doing. But she was fighting the deepest and strongest instinct +of woman's nature, and the fight went hard.</p> + +<p>She fancied the scene, the court, the grey-haired nobles, the fair and +honourable women, the brave young soldiers, the thoughtless courtiers, the +whole throng she was about to face, for she meant to speak before them all, +and to her own shame. She was as white as marble, but when she thought of +what was coming the blood sprang to her face and tingled in her forehead, +and she felt her eyes fall and her proud head bend, as the storm of +humiliation descended upon her. She could hear beforehand the sounds that +would follow her words, the sharp, short laugh of jealous women who hated +her, the murmur of surprise among the men. Then the sea of faces would seem +to rise and fall before her in waves, the lights would dance, her cheeks +would burn like flames, and she would grow dizzy. That would be the end. +Afterwards she could go out alone. Perhaps the women would shrink from her, +no man would be brave enough to lead her kindly from the room. Yet all that +she would bear, for the mere hope of saving her father. The worst, by far +the worst and hardest to endure, would be something within herself, for +which she had neither words nor true understanding, but which was more real +than anything she could define, for it was in the very core of her heart +and in the secret of her soul, a sort of despairing shame of herself and a +desolate longing for something she could never recover.</p> + +<p>She closed her tired eyes and pressed her hand heavily upon the stone +coping of the parapet. It was the supreme effort, and when she looked down +at Inez again she knew that she should live to the end of the ordeal +without wavering.</p> + +<p>"I am going down to the throne room," she said, very quietly and gently. +"You had better go to our apartment, dear, and wait for me there. I am +going to try and save our father's life--do not ask me how. It will not +take long to say what I have to say, and then I will come to you."</p> + +<p>Inez had risen now, and was standing beside her, laying a hand upon her +arm.</p> + +<p>"Let me come, too," she said. "I can help you, I am sure I can help +you."</p> + +<p>"No," answered Dolores, with authority. "You cannot help me, dearest, +and it would hurt you, and you must not come."</p> + +<p>"Then I will stay here," said Inez sorrowfully. "I shall be nearer to +him," she added under her breath.</p> + +<p>"Stay here--yes. I will come back to you, and then--then we will go in +together, and say a prayer--his soul can hear us still--we will go and say +good-by to him--together."</p> + +<p>Her voice was almost firm, and Inez could not see the agony in her white +face. Then Dolores clasped her in her arms and kissed her forehead and her +blind eyes very lovingly, and pressed her head to her own shoulders and +patted it and smoothed the girl's dark hair.</p> + +<p>"I will come back," she said, "and, Inez--you know the truth, my +darling. Whatever evil they may say of me after to-night, remember that I +have said it of myself for our father's sake, and that it is not true."</p> + +<p>"No one will believe it," answered Inez. "They will not believe anything +bad of you."</p> + +<p>"Then our father must die."</p> + +<p>Dolores kissed her once more and made her sit down, then turned and went +away. She walked quickly along the corridors and descended the second +staircase, to enter the throne room by the side door reserved for the +officers of the household and the maids of honour. She walked swiftly, her +head erect, one hand holding the folds of her cloak pressed to her bosom, +and the other, nervously clenched, and hanging down, as if she were +expecting to strike a blow.</p> + +<p>She reached the door, and for a moment her heart stopped beating, and +her eyes closed. She heard many loud voices within, and she knew that most +of the court must still be assembled. It was better that all the world +should hear her--even the King, if he were still there. She pushed the door +open and went in by the familiar way, letting the dark cloak that covered +her court dress fall to the ground as she passed the threshold. Half a +dozen young nobles, grouped near the entrance, made way for her to +pass.</p> + +<p>When they recognized her, their voices dropped suddenly, and they stared +after her in astonishment that she should appear at such a time. She was +doubtless in ignorance of what had happened, they thought. As for the +throng in the hall, there was no restraint upon their talk now, and words +were spoken freely which would have been high treason half an hour earlier. +There was the noise, the tension, the ceaseless talking, the excited air, +that belong to great palace revolutions.</p> + +<p>The press was closer near the steps of the throne, where the King and +Mendoza had stood, for after they had left the hall, surrounded and +protected by the guards, the courtiers had crowded upon one another, and +those near the further door and outside it in the outer apartments had +pressed in till there was scarcely standing room on the floor of the hall. +Dolores found it hard to advance. Some made way for her with low +exclamations of surprise, but others, not looking to see who she was, +offered a passive resistance to her movements.</p> + +<p>"Will you kindly let me pass?" she asked at last, in a gentle tone, "I +am Dolores de Mendoza."</p> + +<p>At the name the group that barred her passage started and made way, and +going through she came upon the Prince of Eboli, not far from the steps of +the throne. The English Ambassador, who meant to stay as long as there was +anything for him to observe, was still by the Prince's side. Dolores +addressed the latter without hesitation.</p> + +<p>"Don Ruy Gomez," she said, "I ask your help. My father is innocent, and +I can prove it. But the court must hear me--every one must hear the truth. +Will you help me? Can you make them listen?"</p> + +<p>Ruy Gomez looked down at Dolores' pale and determined features in +courteous astonishment.</p> + +<p>"I am at your service," he answered. "But what are you going to say? The +court is in a dangerous mood to-night."</p> + +<p>"I must speak to all," said Dolores. "I am not afraid. What I have to +say cannot be said twice--not even if I had the strength. I can save my +father--"</p> + +<p>"Why not go to the King at once?" argued the Prince, who feared +trouble.</p> + +<p>"For the love of God, help me to do as I wish!" Dolores grasped his arm, +and spoke with an effort. "Let me tell them all, how I know that my father +is not guilty of the murder. After that take me to the King if you +will."</p> + +<p>She spoke very earnestly, and he no longer opposed her. He knew the +temper of the court well enough, and was sure that whatever proved Mendoza +innocent would be welcome just then, and though he was far too loyal to +wish the suspicion of the deed to be fixed upon the King, he was too just +not to desire Mendoza to be exculpated if he were innocent.</p> + +<p>"Come with me," he said briefly, and he took Dolores by the hand, and +led her up the first three steps of the platform, so that she could see +over the heads of all present.</p> + +<p>It was no time to think of court ceremonies or customs, for there was +danger in the air. Ruy Gomez did not stop to make any long ceremony. +Drawing himself up to his commanding height, he held up his white gloves at +arm's length to attract the attention of the courtiers, and in a few +moments there was silence. They seemed an hour of torture to Dolores. Ruy +Gomez raised his voice.</p> + +<p>"Grandees! The daughter of Don Diego de Mendoza stands here at my side +to prove to you that he is innocent of Don John of Austria's death!"</p> + +<p>The words had hardly left his lips when a shout went up, like a ringing +cheer. But again he raised his hand.</p> + +<p>"Hear Doña Maria Dolores de Mendoza!" he cried.</p> + +<p>Then he stepped a little away from Dolores, and looked towards her. She +was dead white, and her lips trembled. There was an almost glassy look in +her eyes, and still she pressed one hand to her bosom, and the other hung +by her side, the fingers twitching nervously against the folds of her +skirt. A few seconds passed before she could speak.</p> + +<p>"Grandees of Spain!" she began, and at the first words she found +strength in her voice so that it reached the ends of the hall, clear and +vibrating. The silence was intense, as she proceeded.</p> + +<p>"My father has accused himself of a fearful crime. He is innocent. He +would no more have raised his hand against Don John of Austria than against +the King's own person. I cannot tell why he wishes to sacrifice his life by +taking upon himself the guilt. But this I know. He did not do the deed. You +ask me how I know that, how I can prove it? I was there, I, Dolores de +Mendoza, his daughter, was there unseen in my lover's chamber when he was +murdered. While he was alive I gave him all, my heart, my soul, my maiden +honour; and I was there to-night, and had been with him long. But now that +he is dead, I will pay for my father's life with my dishonour. He must not +die, for he is innocent. Grandees of Spain, as you are men of honour, he +must not die, for he is one of you, and this foul deed was not his."</p> + +<p>She ceased, her lids drooped till her eyes were half closed and she +swayed a little as she stood. Roy Gomez made one long stride and held her, +for he thought she was fainting. But she bit her lips, and forced her eyes +to open and face the crowd again.</p> + +<p>"That is all," she said in a low voice, but distinctly, "It is done. I +am a ruined woman. Help me to go out."</p> + +<p>The old Prince gently led her down the steps. The silence had lasted +long after she had spoken, but people were beginning to talk again in lower +tones. It was as she had foreseen it. She heard a scornful woman's laugh, +and as she passed along, she saw how the older ladies shrank from her and +how the young ones eyed her with a look of hard curiosity, as if she were +some wild creature, dangerous to approach, though worth seeing from a +distance.</p> + +<p>But the men pressed close to her as she passed, and she heard them tell +each other that she was a brave woman who could dare to save her father by +such means, and there were quick applauding words as she passed, and one +said audibly that he could die for a girl who had such a true heart, and +another answered that he would marry her if she could forget Don John. And +they did not speak without respect, but in earnest, and out of the fulness +of their admiration.</p> + +<p>At last she was at the door, and she paused to speak before going +out.</p> + +<p>"Have I saved his life?" she asked, looking up to the old Prince's kind +face. "Will they believe me?"</p> + +<p>"They believe you," he answered. "But your father's life is in the +King's hands. You should go to his Majesty without wasting time. Shall I go +with you? He will see you, I think, if I ask it."</p> + +<p>"Why should I tell the King?" asked Dolores. "He was there--he saw it +all--he knows the truth."</p> + +<p>She hardly realized what she was saying.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XVI'></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + + +<p>Ruy Gomez was as loyal, in his way, as Mendoza himself, but his loyalty +was of a very different sort, for it was tempered by a diplomatic spirit +which made it more serviceable on ordinary occasions, and its object was +altogether a principle rather than a person. Mendoza could not conceive of +monarchy, in its abstract, without a concrete individuality represented by +King Philip; but Ruy Gomez could not imagine the world without the Spanish +monarchy, though he was well able to gauge his sovereign's weaknesses and +to deplore his crimes. He himself was somewhat easily deceived, as good men +often are, and it was he who had given the King his new secretary, Antonio +Perez; yet from the moment when Mendoza had announced Don John's death, he +had been convinced that the deed had either been done by Philip himself or +by his orders, and that Mendoza had bravely sacrificed himself to shield +his master. What Dolores had said only confirmed his previous opinion, so +far as her father's innocence was at stake. As for her own confession, he +believed it, and in spite of himself he could not help admiring the girl's +heroic courage. Dolores might have been in reality ten times worse than she +had chosen to represent herself; she would still have been a model of all +virtue compared with his own wife, though he did not know half of the +Princess's doings, and was certainly ignorant of her relations with the +King.</p> + +<p>He was not at all surprised when Dolores told him at the door that +Philip knew the truth about the supposed murder, but he saw how dangerous +it might be for Dolores to say as much to others of the court. She wished +to go away alone, as she had come, but he insisted on going with her.</p> + +<p>"You must see his Majesty," he said authoritatively. "I will try to +arrange it at once. And I entreat you to be discreet, my dear, for your +father's sake, if not for any other reason. You have said too much already. +It was not wise of you, though it showed amazing courage. You are your +father's own daughter in that--he is one of the bravest men I ever knew in +my life."</p> + +<p>"It is easy to be brave when one is dead already!" said Dolores, in low +tones.</p> + +<p>"Courage, my dear, courage!" answered the old Prince, in a fatherly +tone, as they went along. "You are not as brave as you think, since you +talk of death. Your life is not over yet."</p> + +<p>"There is little left of it. I wish it were ended already."</p> + +<p>She could hardly speak, for an inevitable and overwhelming reaction had +followed on the great effort she had made. She put out her hand and caught +her companion's arm for support. He led her quickly to the small entrance +of the King's apartments, by which it was his privilege to pass in. They +reached a small waiting-room where there were a few chairs and a marble +table, on which two big wax candles were burning. Dolores sank into a seat, +and leaned back, closing her eyes, while Ruy Gomez went into the +antechamber beyond and exchanged a few words with the chamberlain on duty. +He came back almost immediately.</p> + +<p>"Your father is alone with the King," he said. "We must wait."</p> + +<p>Dolores scarcely heard what he said, and did not change her position nor +open her eyes. The old man looked at her, sighed, and sat down near a +brazier of wood coals, over which he slowly warmed his transparent hands, +from time to time turning his rings slowly on his fingers, as if to warm +them, too. Outside, the chamberlain in attendance walked slowly up and +down, again and again passing the open door, through which he glanced at +Dolores' face. The antechamber was little more than a short, broad +corridor, and led to the King's study. This corridor had other doors, +however, and it was through it that the King's private rooms communicated +with the hall of the royal apartments.</p> + +<p>As Ruy Gomez had learned, Mendoza was with Philip, but not alone. The +old officer was standing on one side of the room, erect and grave, and King +Philip sat opposite him, in a huge chair, his still eyes staring at the +fire that blazed in the vast chimney, and sent sudden flashes of yellow +through the calm atmosphere of light shed by a score of tall candles. At a +table on one side sat Antonio Perez, the Secretary. He was provided with +writing-materials and appeared to be taking down the conversation as it +proceeded. Philip asked a question from time to time, which Mendoza +answered in a strange voice unlike his own, and between the questions there +were long intervals of silence.</p> + +<p>"You say that you had long entertained feelings of resentment against +his Highness," said the King, "You admit that, do you?"</p> + +<p>"I beg your Majesty's pardon. I did not say resentment. I said that I +had long looked upon his Highness's passion for my daughter with great +anxiety."</p> + +<p>"Is that what he said, Perez?" asked Philip, speaking to the Secretary +without looking at him. "Read that."</p> + +<p>"He said: I have long resented his Highness's admiration for my +daughter," answered Perez, reading from his notes.</p> + +<p>"You see," said the King. "You resented it. That is resentment. I was +right. Be careful, Mendoza, for your words may be used against you +to-morrow. Say precisely what you mean, and nothing but what you mean."</p> + +<p>Mendoza inclined his head rather proudly, for he detested Antonio Perez, +and it appeared to him that the King was playing a sort of comedy for the +Secretary's benefit. It seemed an unworthy interlude in what was really a +solemn tragedy.</p> + +<p>"Why did you resent his Highness's courtship of your daughter?" enquired +Philip presently, continuing his cross-examination.</p> + +<p>"Because I never believed that there could be a real marriage," answered +Mendoza boldly. "I believed that my child must become the toy and plaything +of Don John of Austria, or else that if his Highness married her, the +marriage would soon be declared void, in order that he might marry a more +important personage."</p> + +<p>"Set that down," said the King to Perez, in a sharp tone. "Set that down +exactly. It is important." He waited till the Secretary's pen stopped +before he went on. His next question came suddenly.</p> + +<p>"How could a marriage consecrated by our holy religion ever be declared +null and void?"</p> + +<p>"Easily enough, if your Majesty wished it," answered Mendoza +unguardedly, for his temper was slowly heating.</p> + +<p>"Write down that answer, Perez. In other words, Mendoza, you think that +I have no respect for the sacrament of marriage, which I would at any time +cause to be revoked to suit my political purposes. Is that what you +think?"</p> + +<p>"I did not say that, Sire. I said that even if Don John married my +daughter--"</p> + +<p>"I know quite well what you said," interrupted the King suavely. "Perez +has got every word of it on paper."</p> + +<p>The Secretary's bad black eyes looked up from his writing, and he slowly +nodded as he looked at Mendoza. He understood the situation perfectly, +though the soldier was far too honourable to suspect the truth.</p> + +<p>"I have confessed publicly that I killed Don John defenceless," he said, +in rough tones. "Is not that enough?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" Philip almost smiled, "That is not enough. We must also know +why you committed such on abominable crime. You do not seem to understand +that in taking your evidence here myself, I am sparing you the indignity of +an examination before a tribunal, and under torture--in all probability. +You ought to be very grateful, my dear Mendoza."</p> + +<p>"I thank your Majesty," said the brave old soldier coldly.</p> + +<p>"That is right. So we know that your hatred of his Highness was of long +standing, and you had probably determined some time ago that you would +murder him on his return." The King paused a moment and then continued. "Do +you deny that on this very afternoon you swore that if Don John attempted +to see your daughter, you would kill him at once?"</p> + +<p>Mendoza was taken by surprise, and his haggard eyes opened wide as he +stared at Philip.</p> + +<p>"You said that, did you not?" asked the King, insisting upon the point. +"On your honour, did you say it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I said that," answered Mendoza at last. "But how did your Majesty +know that I did?"</p> + +<p>The King's enormous under lip thrust itself forward, and two ugly lines +of amusement were drawn in his colourless cheeks. His jaw moved slowly, as +if he were biting something of which he found the taste agreeable.</p> + +<p>"I know everything," he said slowly. "I am well served in my own house. +Perez, be careful. Write down everything. We also know, I think, that your +daughter met his Highness this evening. You no doubt found that out as +others did. The girl is imprudent. Do you confess to knowing that the two +had met this evening?"</p> + +<p>Mendoza ground his teeth as if he were suffering bodily torture. His +brows contracted, and as Perez looked up, he faced him with such a look of +hatred and anger that the Secretary could hot meet his eyes. The King was a +sacred and semi-divine personage, privileged to ask any question he chose +and theoretically incapable of doing wrong, but it was unbearable that this +sleek black fox should have the right to hear Diego de Mendoza confess his +daughter's dishonour. Antonio Perez was not an adventurer of low birth, as +many have gratuitously supposed, for his father had held an honourable post +at court before him; but he was very far from being the equal of one who, +though poor and far removed from the head of his own family, bore one of +the most noble names in Spain.</p> + +<p>"Let your Majesty dismiss Don Antonio Perez," said Mendoza boldly. "I +will then tell your Majesty all I know."</p> + +<p>Perez smiled as he bent over his notes, for he knew what the answer +would be to such a demand. It came sharply.</p> + +<p>"It is not the privilege of a man convicted of murder to choose his +hearers. Answer my questions or be silent. Do you confess that you knew of +your daughter's meeting with Don John this evening?"</p> + +<p>Mendoza's lips set themselves tightly under his grey beard, and he +uttered no sound. He interpreted the King's words literally.</p> + +<p>"Well, what have you to say?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, Sire, since I have your Majesty's permission to be +silent."</p> + +<p>"It does not matter," said Philip indifferently. "Note that he refuses +to answer the question, Perez. Note that this is equivalent to confessing +the fact, since he would otherwise deny it. His silence is & reason, +however, for allowing the case to go to the tribunal to be examined in the +usual way--the usual way," he repeated, looking hard at Mendoza and +emphasizing the words strongly.</p> + +<p>"Since I do not deny the deed, I entreat your Majesty to let me suffer +for it quickly. I am ready to die, God knows. Let it be to-morrow morning +or to-night. Your Majesty need only sign the warrant for my execution, +which Don Antonio Perez has, no doubt, already prepared."</p> + +<p>"Not at all, not at all," answered the King, with horrible coolness. "I +mean that you shall have a fair and open trial and every possible +opportunity of justifying yourself. There must be nothing secret about +this. So horrible a crime must be treated in the most public manner. Though +it is very painful to me to refer to such a matter, you must remember that +after it had pleased Heaven, in its infinite justice, to bereave me of my +unfortunate son, Don Carlos, the heir to the throne, there were not wanting +ill-disposed and wicked persons who actually said that I had caused his +life to be shortened by various inhuman cruelties. No, no! we cannot have +too much publicity. Consider how terrible a thing it would be if any one +should dare to suppose that my own brother had been murdered with my +consent! You should love your country too much not to fear such a result; +for though you have murdered my brother in cold blood, I am too just to +forget that you have proved your patriotism through a long and hitherto +honourable career. It is my duty to see that the causes of your atrocious +action are perfectly clear to my subjects, so that no doubt may exist even +in the most prejudiced minds. Do you understand? I repeat that if I have +condescended to examine you alone, I have done so only out of a merciful +desire to spare an old soldier the suffering and mortification of an +examination by the tribunal that is to judge you. Understand that."</p> + +<p>"I understand that and much more besides," answered Mendoza, in low and +savage tones.</p> + +<p>"It is not necessary that you should understand or think that you +understand anything more than what I say," returned the King coldly. "At +what time did you go to his Highness's apartments this evening?"</p> + +<p>"Your Majesty knows."</p> + +<p>"I know nothing of it," said the King, with the utmost calm. "You were +on duty after supper. You escorted me to my apartments afterwards. I had +already sent for Perez, who came at once, and we remained here, busy with +affairs, until I returned to the throne room, five minutes before you came +and confessed the murder; did we not, Perez?"</p> + +<p>"Most certainly, Sire," answered the Secretary gravely. "Your Majesty +must have been at work with me an hour, at least, before returning to the +throne room."</p> + +<p>"And your Majesty did not go with me by the private staircase to Don +John of Austria's apartment?" asked Mendoza, thunderstruck by the enormous +falsehood.</p> + +<p>"With you?" cried the King, in admirably feigned astonishment. "What +madness is this? Do not write that down, Perez. I really believe the man is +beside himself!"</p> + +<p>Mendoza groaned aloud, for he saw that he had been frightfully deceived. +In his magnificent generosity, he had assumed the guilt of the crime, being +ready and willing to die for it quickly to save the King from blame and to +put an end to his own miserable existence. But he had expected death +quickly, mercifully, within a few hours. Had he suspected what Philip had +meant to do,--that he was to be publicly tried for a murder he had not +committed, and held up to public hatred and ignominy for days and perhaps +weeks together, while a slow tribunal dragged out its endless +procedure,--neither his loyalty nor his desire for death could have had +power to bring his pride to such a sacrifice. And now he saw that he was +caught in a vise, and that no accusation he could bring against the King +could save him, even if he were willing to resort to such a measure and so +take back his word. There was no witness for him but himself. Don John was +dead, and the infamous Perez was ready to swear that Philip had not left +the room in which they had been closeted together. There was not a living +being to prove that Mendoza had not gone alone to Don John's apartments +with the deliberate intention of killing him. He had, indeed, been to the +chief steward's office in search of a key, saying that the King desired to +have it and was waiting; but it would be said that he had used the King's +authority to try and get the key for himself because he knew that his +daughter was hidden in the locked room. He had foolishly fancied that the +King would send for him and see him alone before he died, that his +sovereign would thank him for the service that was costing his life, would +embrace him and send him to his death for the good of Spain and the divine +right of monarchy. Truly, he had been most bitterly deceived.</p> + +<p>"You said," continued Philip mercilessly, "that you killed his Highness +when he was unarmed. Is that true?"</p> + +<p>"His Highness was unarmed," said Mendoza, almost through his closed +teeth, for he was suffering beyond words.</p> + +<p>"Unarmed," repeated the King, nodding to Perez, who wrote rapidly. "You +might have given him a chance for his life. It would have been more +soldier-like. Had you any words before you drew upon him? Was there any +quarrel?"</p> + +<p>"None. We did not speak to each other." Mendoza tried to make Philip +meet his eyes, but the King would not look at him.</p> + +<p>"There was no altercation," said the King, looking at Perez. "That +proves that the murder was premeditated. Put it down--it is very important. +You could hardly have stabbed him in the back, I suppose. He must have +turned when he heard you enter. Where was the wound?"</p> + +<p>"The wound that killed his Highness will be found near the heart."</p> + +<p>"Cruel!" Philip looked down at his own hands, and he shook his head very +sadly. "Cruel, most cruel," he repeated in a low tone.</p> + +<p>"I admit that it was a very cruel deed," said Mendoza, looking at him +fixedly. "In that, your Majesty is right."</p> + +<p>"Did you see your daughter before or after you had committed the +murder?" asked the King calmly.</p> + +<p>"I have not seen my daughter since the murder was committed."</p> + +<p>"But you saw her before? Be careful, Perez. Write down every word. You +say that you saw your daughter before you did it."</p> + +<p>"I did not say that," answered Mendoza firmly.</p> + +<p>"It makes very little difference," said the King, "If you had seen her +with his Highness, the murder would have seemed less cold-blooded, that is +all. There would then have been something like a natural provocation for +it."</p> + +<p>There was a low sound, as of some one scratching at the door. That was +the usual way of asking admittance to the King's room on very urgent +matters. Perez rose instantly, the King nodded to him, and he went to the +door. On opening, someone handed him a folded paper on a gold salver. He +brought it to Philip, dropped on one knee very ceremoniously, and presented +it. Philip took the note and opened it, and Perez returned to his seat at +once.</p> + +<p>The King unfolded the small sheet carefully. The room was so full of +light that he could read it when he sat, without moving. His eyes followed +the lines quickly to the end, and returned to the beginning, and he read +the missive again more carefully. Not the slightest change of expression +was visible in his face, as he folded the paper neatly again in the exact +shape in which he had received it. Then he remained silent a few moments. +Perez held his pen ready to write, moving it mechanically now and then as +if he were writing in the air, and staring at the fire, absorbed in his own +thoughts, though his ear was on the alert.</p> + +<p>"You refuse to admit that you found your daughter and Don John together, +then?" The King spoke with an interrogation.</p> + +<p>"I did not find them together," answered Mendoza. "I have said so." He +was becoming exasperated under the protracted cross-examination.</p> + +<p>"You have not said so. My memory is very good, but if it should fail we +have everything written down. I believe you merely refused to answer when I +asked if you knew of their meeting--which meant that you did know of it. Is +that it, Perez?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly so, Sire." The Secretary had already found the place among his +notes.</p> + +<p>"Do you persistently refuse to admit that you had positive evidence of +your daughter's guilt before the murder?"</p> + +<p>"I will not admit that, Sire, for it would not be true."</p> + +<p>"Your daughter has given her evidence since," said the King, holding up +the folded note, and fixing his eyes at last on his victim's face. If it +were possible, Mendoza turned more ashy pale than before, and he started +perceptibly at the King's words.</p> + +<p>"I shall never believe that!" he cried in a voice which nevertheless +betrayed his terror for his child.</p> + +<p>"A few moments before this note was written," said Philip calmly, "your +daughter entered the throne room, and addressed the court, standing upon +the steps of the throne--a very improper proceeding and one which Ruy Gomez +should not have allowed. Your daughter Dolores--is that the girl's name? +Yes. Your daughter Dolores, amidst the most profound silence, confessed +that she--it is so monstrous that I can hardly bring myself to say it--that +she had yielded to the importunities of his late Highness, that she was +with him in his room a long time this evening, and that, in fact, she was +actually in his bedchamber when he was murdered."</p> + +<p>"It is a lie!" cried Mendoza vehemently. "It is an abominable lie--she +was not in the room!"</p> + +<p>"She has said that she was," answered Philip. "You can hardly suppose a +girl capable of inventing such damning evidence against herself, even for +the sake of saving her own father. She added that his Highness was not +killed by you. But that is puerile. She evidently saw you do it, and has +boldly confessed that she was in the room--hidden somewhere, perhaps, since +you absolutely refuse to admit that you saw her there. It is quite clear +that you found the two together and that you killed his Highness before +your daughter's eyes. Why not admit that, Mendoza? It makes you seem a +little less cold-blooded. The provocation was great--"</p> + +<p>"She was not there," protested Mendoza, interrupting the King, for he +hardly knew what he was doing.</p> + +<p>"She was there, since she confesses to have been in the room. I do not +tolerate interruption when I am speaking. She was there, and her evidence +will be considered. Even if you did not see her, how can you be sure that +your daughter was not there? Did you search the room? Did you look behind +the curtains?"</p> + +<p>"I did not." The stern old man seemed to shrink bodily under the +frightful humiliation to which he was subjected.</p> + +<p>"Very well, then you cannot swear that she was not in the room. But you +did not see her there. Then I am sorry to say that there can have been no +extenuating circumstances. You entered his Highness's bedchamber, you did +not even speak to him, you drew your sword and you killed him. All this +shows that you went there fully determined to commit the crime. But with +regard to its motive, this strange confession of your daughter's makes that +quite clear. She had been extremely imprudent with Don John, you were aware +of the fact, and you revenged yourself in the most brutal way. Such +vengeance never can produce any but the most fatal results. You yourself +must die, in the first place, a degrading and painful death on the +scaffold, and you die leaving behind you a ruined girl, who must bury +herself in a convent and never be seen by her worldly equals again. And +besides that, you have deprived your King of a beloved brother, and Spain +of her most brilliant general. Could anything be worse?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. There are worse things than that, your Majesty, and worse things +have been done. It would have been a thousand times worse if I had done the +deed and cast the blame of it on a man so devoted to me that he would bear +the guilt in my stead, and a hundred thousand times worse if I had then +held up that man to the execration of mankind, and tortured him with every +distortion of evidence which great falsehoods can put upon a little truth. +That would indeed have been far worse than anything I have done. God may +find forgiveness for murderers, but there is only hell for traitors, and +the hell of hells is the place of men who betray their friends."</p> + +<p>"His mind is unsettled, I fear," said the King, speaking to Perez. +"These are signs of madness."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I fear so, Sire," answered the smooth Secretary, shaking his +head solemnly. "He does not know what he says."</p> + +<p>"I am not mad, and I know what I am saying, for I am a man under the +hand of death." Mendoza's eyes glared at the King savagely as he spoke, and +then at Perez, but neither could look at him, for neither dared to meet his +gaze. "As for this confession my daughter has made, I do not believe in it. +But if she has said these things, you might have let me die without the +bitterness of knowing them, since that was in your power. And God knows +that I have staked my life freely for your Majesty and for Spain these many +years, and would again if I had it to lose instead of having thrown it +away. And God knows, too, that for what I have done, be it good or bad, I +will bear whatsoever your Majesty shall choose to say to me alone in the +way of reproach. But as I am a dying man I will not forgive that scribbler +there for having seen a Spanish gentleman's honour torn to rags, and an old +soldier's last humiliation, and I pray Heaven with my dying breath, that he +may some day be tormented as he has seen me tormented, and worse, till he +shall cry out for mercy--as I will not!"</p> + +<p>The cruelly injured man's prayer was answered eight years from that day, +and even now Perez turned slowly pale as he heard the words, for they were +spoken with all the vehemence of a dying man's curse. But Philip was +unmoved. He was probably not making Mendoza suffer merely for the pleasure +of watching his pain, though others' suffering seems always to have caused +him a sort of morbid satisfaction. What he desired most was to establish a +logical reason for which Mendoza might have committed the crime, lest in +the absence of sound evidence he himself should be suspected of having +instigated it. He had no intention whatever of allowing Mendoza to be +subjected to torture during the trial that was to ensue. On the contrary, +he intended to prepare all the evidence for the judges and to prevent +Mendoza from saying anything in self-defence. To that end it was necessary +that the facts elicited should be clearly connected from first cause to +final effect, and by the skill of Antonio Perez in writing down only the +words which contributed to that end, the King's purpose was now +accomplished. He heard every word of Mendoza's imprecation and thought it +proper to rebuke him for speaking so freely.</p> + +<p>"You forget yourself, sir," he said coldly. "Don Antonio Perez is my +private Secretary, and you must respect him. While you belonged to the +court his position was higher and more important than your own; now that +you stand convicted of an outrageous murder in cold blood, you need not +forget that he is an innocent man. I have done, Mendoza. You will not see +me again, for you will be kept in confinement until your trial, which can +only have one issue. Come here."</p> + +<p>He sat upright in his chair and held out his hand, while Mendoza +approached with unsteady steps, and knelt upon one knee, as was the +custom.</p> + +<p>"I am not unforgiving," said the King. "Forgiveness is a very beautiful +Christian virtue, which we are taught to exercise from our earliest +childhood. You have cut off my dearly loved brother in the flower of his +youth, but you shall not die believing that I bear you any malice. So far +as I am able, I freely forgive you for what you have done, and in token I +give you my hand, that you may have that comfort at the last."</p> + +<p>With incredible calmness Philip took Mendoza's hand as he spoke, held it +for a moment in his, and pressed it almost warmly at the last words. The +old man's loyalty to his sovereign had been a devotion almost amounting to +real adoration, and bitterly as he had suffered throughout the terrible +interview, he well-nigh forgot every suffering as he felt the pressure of +the royal fingers. In an instant he had told himself that it had all been +but a play, necessary to deceive Perez, and to clear the King from +suspicion before the world, and that in this sense the unbearable agony he +had borne had served his sovereign. He forgot all for a moment, and bending +his iron-grey head, he kissed the thin and yellow hand fervently, and +looked up to Philip's cold face and felt that there were tears of gratitude +in his own eyes, of gratitude at being allowed to leave the world he hated +with the certainty that his death was to serve his sovereign idol.</p> + +<p>"I shall be faithful to your Majesty until the end," he said simply, as +the King withdrew his fingers, and he rose to his feet.</p> + +<p>The King nodded slowly, and his stony look watched Mendoza with a sort +of fixed curiosity. Even he had not known that such men lived.</p> + +<p>"Call the guards to the door, Perez," he said coldly. "Tell the officer +to take Don Diego Mendoza to the west tower for to-night, and to treat him +with every consideration."</p> + +<p>Perez obeyed. A detachment of halberdiers with an officer were stationed +in the short, broad corridor that led to the room where Dolores was +waiting. Perez gave the lieutenant his orders.</p> + +<p>Mendoza walked backwards to the door from the King's presence, making +three low bows as he went. At the door he turned, taking no notice of the +Secretary, marched out with head erect, and gave himself up to the +soldiers.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XVII'></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + + +<p>The halberdiers closed round their old chief, but did not press upon +him. Three went before him, three behind, and one walked on each side, and +the lieutenant led the little detachment. The men were too much accustomed +to seeing courtiers in the extremes of favour and disfavour to be much +surprised at the arrest of Mendoza, and they felt no great sympathy for +him. He had always been too rigidly exacting for their taste, and they +longed for a younger commander who should devote more time to his own +pleasure and less to inspecting uniforms and finding fault with details. +Yet Mendoza had been a very just man, and he possessed the eminently +military bearing and temper which always impose themselves on soldiers. At +the present moment, too, they were more inclined to pity him than to treat +him roughly, for if they did not guess what had really taken place, they +were quite sure that Don John of Austria had been murdered by the King's +orders, like Don Carlos and Queen Isabel and a fair number of other +unfortunate persons; and if the King had chosen Mendoza to do the deed, the +soldiers thought that he was probably not meant to suffer for it in the +end, and that before long he would be restored to his command. It would, +therefore, be the better for them, later, if they showed him a certain +deference in his misfortune. Besides, they had heard Antonio Perez tell +their officer that Mendoza was to be treated with every consideration.</p> + +<p>They marched in time, with heavy tread and the swinging gait to right +and left that is natural to a soldier who carries for a weapon a long +halberd with a very heavy head. Mendoza was as tall as any of them, and +kept their step, holding his head high. He was bareheaded, but was +otherwise still in the complete uniform he wore when on duty on state +occasions.</p> + +<p>The corridor, which seemed short on account of its breadth and in +comparison with the great size of the halls in the palace, was some thirty +paces long and lighted by a number of chandeliers that hung from the +painted vault. The party reached the door of the waiting room and halted a +moment, while one of the King's footmen opened the doors wide. Don Ruy +Gomez and Dolores were waiting within. The servant passed rapidly through +to open the doors beyond. Ruy Gomez stood up and drew his chair aside, +somewhat surprised at the entrance of the soldiers, who rarely passed that +way. Dolores opened her eyes at the sound of marching, but in the uncertain +light of the candles she did not at first see Mendoza, half hidden as he +was by the men who guarded him. She paid little attention, for she was +accustomed to seeing such detachments of halberdiers marching through the +corridors when the sentries were relieved, and as she had never been in the +King's apartments she was not surprised by the sudden appearance of the +soldiers, as her companion was. But as the latter made way for them he +lifted his hat, which as a Grandee he wore even in the King's presence, and +he bent his head courteously as Mendoza went by. He hoped that Dolores +would not see her father, but his own recognition of the prisoner had +attracted her attention. She sprang to her feet with a cry. Mendoza turned +his head and saw her before she could reach him, for she was moving +forward. He stood still, and the soldiers halted instinctively and parted +before her, for they all knew their commander's daughter.</p> + +<p>"Father!" she cried, and she tried to take his hand.</p> + +<p>But he pushed her away and turned his face resolutely towards the door +before him.</p> + +<p>"Close up! Forward--march!" he said, in his harsh tone of command.</p> + +<p>The men obeyed, gently forcing Dolores aside. They made two steps +forward, but Ruy Gomez stopped them by a gesture, standing in their way and +raising one hand, while he laid the other on the young lieutenant's +shoulder. Ruy Gomez was one of the greatest personages in Spain; he was the +majorduomo of the palace, and had almost unlimited authority. But the +officer had his orders directly from the King and felt bound to carry them +out to the letter.</p> + +<p>"His Majesty has directed me to convey Don Diego de Mendoza to the west +tower without delay," he said. "I beg your Excellency to let us +proceed."</p> + +<p>Ruy Gomez still held him by the shoulder with a gentle pressure.</p> + +<p>"That I will not," he said firmly; "and if you are blamed for being slow +in the execution of your duty, say that Ruy Gomez de Silva hindered you, +and fear nothing. It is not right that father and daughter should part as +these two are parting."</p> + +<p>"I have nothing to say to my daughter," said Mendoza harshly; but the +words seemed to hurt him.</p> + +<p>"Don Diego," answered Ruy Gomez, "the deed of which you have accused +yourself is as much worse than anything your child has done as hatred is +worse than love. By the right of mere humanity I take upon myself to say +that you shall be left here a while with your daughter, that you may take +leave of one another." He turned to the officer. "Withdraw your men, sir," +he said. "Wait at the door. You have my word for the security of your +prisoner, and my authority for what you do. I will call you when it is +time."</p> + +<p>He spoke in a tone that admitted of no refusal, and he was obeyed. The +officers and the men filed out, and Ruy Gomez closed the door after them. +He himself recrossed the room and went out by the other way into the broad +corridor. He meant to wait there. His orders had been carried out so +quickly that Mendoza found himself alone with Dolores, almost as by a +surprise. In his desperate mood he resented what Ruy Gomez had done, as an +interference in his family affairs, and he bent his bushy brows together as +he stood facing Dolores, with folded arms. Four hours had not passed since +they had last spoken together alone in his own dwelling; there was a +lifetime of tragedy between that moment and this.</p> + +<p>Dolores had not spoken since he had pushed her away. She stood beside a +chair, resting one hand upon it, dead white, with the dark shadow of pain +under her eyes, her lips almost colourless, but firm, and evenly closed. +There were lines of suffering in her young face that looked as if they +never could be effaced. It seemed to her that the worst conflict of all was +raging in her heart as she watched her father's face, waiting for the sound +of his voice; and as for him, he would rather have gone back to the King's +presence to be tormented under the eyes of Antonio Perez than stand there, +forced to see her and speak to her. In his eyes, in the light of what he +had been told, she was a ruined and shameless woman, who had deceived him +day in, day out, for more than two years. And to her, so far as she could +understand, he was the condemned murderer of the man she had so innocently +and truly loved. But yet, she had a doubt, and for that possibility, she +had cast her good name to the winds in the hope of saving his life. At one +moment, in a vision of dread, she saw his armed hand striking at her +lover--at the next she felt that he could never have struck the blow, and +that there was an unsolved mystery behind it all. Never were two innocent +human beings so utterly deceived, each about the other.</p> + +<p>"Father," she said, at last, in a trembling tone, "can you not speak to +me, if I can find heart to hear you?"</p> + +<p>"What can we two say to each other?" he asked sternly. "Why did you stop +me? I am ready to die for killing the man who ruined you. I am glad. Why +should I say anything to you, and what words can you have for me? I hope +your end may come quickly, with such peace as you can find from your shame +at the last. That is what I wish for you, and it is a good wish, for you +have made death on the scaffold look easy to me, so that I long for it. Do +you understand?"</p> + +<p>"Condemned to death!" she cried out, almost incoherently, before he had +finished speaking. "But they cannot condemn you--I have told them that I +was there--that it was not you--they must believe me--O God of mercy!"</p> + +<p>"They believe you--yes. They believe that I found you together and +killed him. I shall be tried by judges, but I am condemned beforehand, and +I must die." He spoke calmly enough. "Your mad confession before the court +only made my conviction more certain," he said. "It gave the reason for the +deed--and it burned away the last doubt I had. If they are slow in trying +me, you will have been before the executioner, for he will find me dead--by +your hand. You might have spared me that--and spared yourself. You still +had the remnant of a good name, and your lover being dead, you might have +worn the rag of your honour still. You have chosen to throw it away, and +let me know my full disgrace before I die a disgraceful death. And yet you +wish to speak to me. Do you expect my blessing?"</p> + +<p>Dolores had lost the power of speech. Passing her hand now and then +across her forehead, as though trying to brush away a material veil, she +stood half paralyzed, staring wildly at him while he spoke. But when she +saw him turn away from her towards the door, as if he would go out and +leave her there, her strength was loosed from the spell, and she sprang +before him and caught his wrists with her hands.</p> + +<p>"I am as innocent as when my mother bore me," she said, and her low +voice rang with the truth. "I told the lie to save your life. Do you +believe me now?"</p> + +<p>He gazed at her with haggard eyes for many moments before he spoke.</p> + +<p>"How can it be true?" he asked, but his voice shook in his throat. "You +were there--I saw you leave his room--"</p> + +<p>"No, that you never saw!" she cried, well knowing how impossible it was, +since she had been locked in till after he had gone away.</p> + +<p>"I saw your dress--not this one--what you wore this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"Not this one? I put on this court dress before I got out of the room in +which you had locked me up. Inez helped me--I pretended that I was she, and +wore her cloak, and slipped away, and I have not been back again. You did +not see me."</p> + +<p>Mendoza passed his hand over his eyes and drew back from her. If what +she said were true, the strongest link was gone from the chain of facts by +which he had argued so much sorrow and shame. Forgetting himself and his +own near fate, he looked at the court dress she wore, and a mere glance +convinced him that it was not the one he had seen.</p> + +<p>"But--" he was suddenly confused--"but why did you need to disguise +yourself? I left the Princess of Eboli with you, and I gave her permission +to take you away to stay with her. You needed no disguise."</p> + +<p>"I never saw her. She must have found Inez in the room. I was gone long +before that."</p> + +<p>"Gone--where?" Mendoza was fast losing the thread of it all--in his +confusion of ideas he grasped the clue of his chief sorrow, which was far +beyond any thought for himself. "But if you are innocent--pray God you may +be, as you say--how is it possible--oh, no! I cannot believe it--I cannot! +No woman could do that--no innocent girl could stand out before a multitude +of men and women, and say what you said--"</p> + +<p>"I hoped to save your life. I had the strength. I did it."</p> + +<p>Her clear grey eyes looked into his, and his doubt began to break away +before the truth.</p> + +<p>"Make me believe it!" he cried, his voice breaking. "Oh, God! Make me +believe it before I die!"</p> + +<p>"It is true," she cried, in a low, strong voice that carried belief to +his breast in spite of such reasoning as still had some power over him. "It +is true, and you shall believe it; and if you will not, the man you have +killed, the man I loved and trusted, the dead man who knows the whole truth +as I know it, will come back from the dead to prove it true--for I swear it +upon his soul in heaven, and upon yours and mine that will not be long on +earth--as I will swear it in the hour of your death and mine, since we must +die!"</p> + +<p>He could not take his eyes from hers that held him, and suddenly in the +pure depths he seemed to see her soul facing him without fear, and he knew +that what she said was true, and his tortured heart leapt up at the good +certainty.</p> + +<p>"I believe you, my child," he said at last, and then his grey lids half +closed over his eyes and he bent down to her, and put his arm round +her.</p> + +<p>But she shuddered at the touch of his right hand, and though she knew +that he was a condemned man, and that she might never see him again, she +could not bear to receive his parting kiss upon her forehead.</p> + +<p>"Oh, father, why did you kill him?" she asked, turning her head away and +moving to escape from his hold.</p> + +<p>But Mendoza did not answer. His arm dropped by his side, and his face +grew white and stony. She was asking him to give up the King's secret, to +keep which he was giving his life. He felt that it would be treason to tell +even her. And besides, she would not keep the secret--what woman could, +what daughter would? It must go out of the world with him, if it was to be +safe. He glanced at her and saw her face ravaged by an hour's grief. Yet +she would not mourn Don John the less if she knew whose hand had done the +deed. It could make but a little difference to her, though to himself that +difference would be great, if she knew that he died innocent.</p> + +<p>And then began a struggle fierce and grim, that tore his soul and +wounded his heart as no death agony could have hurt him. Since he had +judged her unjustly, since it had all been a hideous dream, since she was +still the child that had been all in all to him throughout her life, since +all was changed, he did not wish to die, he bore the dead man no hatred, it +was no soothing satisfaction to his outraged heart to know him dead of a +sword wound in the breast, far away in the room where they had left him, +there was no fierce regret that he had not driven the thrust himself. The +man was as innocent as the innocent girl, and he himself, as innocent as +both, was to be led out to die to shield the King--no more. His life was to +be taken for that only, and he no longer set its value at naught nor wished +it over. He was the mere scapegoat, to suffer for his master's crime, since +crime it was and nothing better. And since he was willing to bear the +punishment, or since there was now no escape from it, had he not at least +the human right to proclaim his innocence to the only being he really +loved? It would be monstrous to deny it. What could she do, after all, even +if she knew the truth? Nothing. No one would dare to believe her if she +accused the King. She would be shut up in a convent as a mad woman, but in +any case, she would certainly disappear to end her life in some religious +house as soon as he was dead. Poor girl--she had loved Don John with all +her heart--what could the world hold for her, even if the disgrace of her +father's death were not to shut her out of the world altogether, as it +inevitably must. She would not live long, but she would live in the +profoundest sorrow. It would be an alleviation, almost the greatest +possible, to know that her father's hand was not stained by such a +deed.</p> + +<p>The temptation to speak out was overwhelming, and he knew that the time +was short. At any moment Ruy Gomez might open the door, and bid him part +from her, and there would be small chance for him of seeing her again. He +stood uncertain, with bent head and folded arms, and she watched him, +trying to bring herself to touch his hand again and bear his kiss.</p> + +<p>His loyalty to the King, that was like a sort of madness, stood between +him and the words he longed to say. It was the habit of his long soldier's +life, unbending as the corslet he wore and enclosing his soul as the steel +encased his body, proof against every cruelty, every unkindness, every +insult. It was better to die a traitor's death for the King's secret than +to live for his own honour. So it had always seemed to him, since he had +been a boy and had learned to fight under the great Emperor. But now he +knew that he wavered as he had never done in the most desperate charge, +when life was but a missile to be flung in the enemy's face, and found or +not, when the fray was over. There was no intoxication of fury now, there +was no far ring of glory in the air, there was no victory to be won. The +hard and hideous fact stared him in the face, that he was to die like a +malefactor by the hangman's hand, and that the sovereign who had graciously +deigned to accept the sacrifice had tortured him for nearly half an hour +without mercy in the presence of an inferior, in order to get a few facts +on paper which might help his own royal credit. And as if that were not +enough, his own daughter was to live after him, believing that he had +cruelly murdered the man she most dearly loved. It was more than humanity +could bear.</p> + +<p>His brow unbent, his arms unfolded themselves, and he held them out to +Dolores with a smile almost gentle.</p> + +<p>"There is no blood on these hands, my little girl," he said tenderly. "I +did not do it, child. Let me hold you in my arms once, and kiss you before +I go. We are both innocent--we can bless one another before we part for +ever."</p> + +<p>The pure, grey eyes opened wide in amazement. Dolores could hardly +believe her ears, as she made a step towards him, and then stopped, +shrinking, and then made one step more. Her lips moved and wondering words +came to him, so low that he could hardly understand, save that she +questioned him.</p> + +<p>"You did not do it!" she breathed. "You did not kill him after all? But +then--who--why?"</p> + +<p>Still she hesitated, though she came slowly nearer, and a faint light +warmed her sorrowful face.</p> + +<p>"You must try to guess who and why," he said, in a tone as low as her +own. "I must not tell you that."</p> + +<p>"I cannot guess," she answered; but she was close to him now, and she +had taken one of his hands softly in both her own, while she gazed into his +eyes. "How can I understand unless you tell me? Is it so great a secret +that you must die for it, and never tell it? Oh, father, father! Are you +sure--quite sure?"</p> + +<p>"He was dead already when I came into the room," Mendoza answered. "I +did not even see him hurt."</p> + +<p>"But then--yes--then"--her voice sank to a whisper--"then it was the +King!"</p> + +<p>He saw the words on her lips rather than heard them, and she saw in his +face that she was right. She dropped his hand and threw her arms round his +neck, pressing her bosom to his breastplate; and suddenly her love for him +awoke, and she began to know how she might have loved him if she had known +him through all the years that were gone.</p> + +<p>"It cannot be that he will let you die!" she cried softly. "You shall +not die!" she cried again, with sudden strength, and her light frame shook +his as if she would wrench him back from inevitable fate.</p> + +<p>"My little girl," he answered, most tenderly clasping her to him, and +most thoughtfully, lest his armour should hurt her, "I can die happy now, +for I have found all of you again."</p> + +<p>"You shall not die! You shall not die!" she cried. "I will not let you +go--they must take me, too--"</p> + +<p>"No power can save me now, my darling," he answered. "But it does not +matter, since you know. It will be easy now."</p> + +<p>She could only hold him with her small hands, and say over and over +again that she would not let him go.</p> + +<p>"Ah! why have you never loved me before in all these years?" he cried. +"It was my fault--all my fault."</p> + +<p>"I love you now with all my heart," she answered, "and I will save you, +even from the King; and you and I and Inez will go far away, and you two +shall comfort me and love me till I go to him."</p> + +<p>Mendoza shook his head sadly, looking over her shoulder as he held her, +for he knew that there was no hope now. Had he known, or half guessed, but +an hour or two ago, he would have turned on his heel from the door of Don +John's chamber, and he would have left the King to bear the blame or shift +it as he could.</p> + +<p>"It is too late, Dolores. God bless you, my dear, dear child! It will +soon be over--two days at most, for the people will cry out for the blood +of Don John's murderer; and when they see mine they will be satisfied. It +is too late now. Good-by, my little girl, good-by! The blessing of all +heaven be on your dear head!"</p> + +<p>Dolores nestled against him, as she had never done before, with the +feeling that she had found something that had been wanting in her life, at +the very moment when the world, with all it held for her, was slipping over +the edge of eternity.</p> + +<p>"I will not leave you," she cried again. "They shall take me to your +prison, and I will stay with you and take care of you, and never leave you; +and at last I shall save your life, and then--"</p> + +<p>The door of the corridor opened, and she saw Ruy Gomez standing in the +entrance, as if he were waiting. His face was calm and grave as usual, but +she saw a profound pity in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"No, no!" she cried to him, "not yet--one moment more!"</p> + +<p>But Mendoza turned his head at her words, looking over his shoulder, and +he saw the Prince also.</p> + +<p>"I am ready," he said briefly, and he tried to take Dolores' hands from +his neck. "It is time," he said to her. "Be brave, my darling! We have +found each other at last. It will not be long before we are together for +ever."</p> + +<p>He kissed her tenderly once more, and loosed her hold, putting her two +hands together and kissing them also.</p> + +<p>"I will not say good-by," she said. "It is not good-by--it shall not be. +I shall be with you soon."</p> + +<p>His eyes lingered upon hers for a moment, and then he broke away, +setting his teeth lest he should choke and break down. He opened the door +and presented himself to the halberdiers. Dolores heard his familiar voice +give the words of command.</p> + +<p>"Close up! Forward, march!"</p> + +<p>The heavy tramp she knew so well began at once, and echoed along the +outer entries, growing slowly less distinct till it was only a distant and +rumbling echo, and then died away altogether. Her hand was still on the +open door, and Ruy Gomez was standing beside her. He gently drew her away, +and closed the door again. She let him lead her to a chair, and sat down +where she had sat before. But this time she did not lean back exhausted, +with half-closed eyes,--she rested her elbow on her knee and her chin in +her hand, and she tried to think connectedly to a conclusion. She +remembered all the details of the past hours one by one, and she felt that +the determination to save her father had given her strength to live.</p> + +<p>"Don Ruy Gomez," she said at last, looking up to the tall old nobleman, +who stood by the brazier warming his hands again, "can I see the King +alone?"</p> + +<p>"That is more than I can promise," answered the Prince. "I have asked an +audience for you, and the chamberlain will bring word presently whether his +Majesty is willing to see you. But if you are admitted, I cannot tell +whether Perez will be there or not. He generally is. His presence need make +no difference to you. He is an excellent young man, full of heart. I have +great confidence in him,--so much so that I recommended him to his Majesty +as Secretary. I am sure that he will do all he can to be of use to +you."</p> + +<p>Dolores looked up incredulously, and with a certain wonder at the +Prince's extreme simplicity. Yet he had been married ten years to the +clever woman who ruled him and Perez and King Philip, and made each one +believe that she was devoted to him only, body and soul. Of the three, +Perez alone may have guessed the truth, but though it was degrading enough, +he would not let it stand in the way of his advancement; and in the end it +was he who escaped, leaving her to perish, the victim of the King's +implacable anger, Dolores could not help shaking her head in answer to the +Prince of Eboli's speech.</p> + +<p>"People are very unjust to Perez," he said. "But the King trusts him. If +he is there, try to conciliate him, for he has much influence with his +Majesty."</p> + +<p>Dolores said nothing, and resuming her attitude, returned to her sad +meditations, and to the study of some immediate plan. But she could think +of no way. Her only fixed intention was to see the King himself. Ruy Gomez +could do no more to help her than he had done already, and that indeed was +not little, since it was to his kindly impulse that she owed her meeting +with her father.</p> + +<p>"And if Perez is not inclined to help Don Diego," said the Prince, after +a long pause which had not interrupted the slow progression of, his kindly +thought, "I will request my wife to speak to him. I have often noticed that +the Princess can make Perez do almost anything she wishes. Women are far +cleverer than men, my dear--they have ways we do not understand. Yes, I +will interest my wife in the affair. It would be a sad thing if your +father--"</p> + +<p>The old man stopped short, and Dolores wondered vaguely what he had been +going to say. Ruy Gomez was a very strange compound of almost childlike and +most honourable simplicity, and of the experienced wisdom with regard to +the truth of matters in which he was not concerned, which sometimes belongs +to very honourable and simple men.</p> + +<p>"You do not believe that my father is guilty," said Dolores, boldly +asserting what she suspected.</p> + +<p>"My dear child," answered Ruy Gomez, twisting his rings on his fingers +as he spread his hands above the coals in the brazier, "I have lived in +this court for fifty years, and I have learned in that time that where +great matters are at stake those who do not know the whole truth are often +greatly deceived by appearances. I know nothing of the real matter now, but +it would not surprise me if a great change took place before to-morrow +night. A man who has committed a crime so horrible as the one your father +confessed before us all rarely finds it expedient to make such a +confession, and a young girl, my dear, who has really been a little too +imprudently in love with a royal Prince, would be a great deal too wise to +make a dramatic statement of her fault to the assembled Grandees of +Spain."</p> + +<p>He looked across at Dolores and smiled gently. But she only shook her +head gravely in answer, though she wondered at what he said, and wondered, +too, whether there might not be a great many persons in the court who +thought as he did. She was silent, too, because it hurt her to talk when +she could not draw breath without remembering that what she had lived for +was lying dead in that dim room on the upper story.</p> + +<p>The door opened, and a chamberlain entered the room.</p> + +<p>"His Majesty is pleased to receive Doña Dolores de Mendoza, in +private audience," he said.</p> + +<p>Ruy Gomez rose and led Dolores out into the corridor.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XVIII'></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + + +<p>Dolores had prepared no speech with which to appeal to the King, and she +had not counted upon her own feelings towards him when she found herself in +the room where Mendoza had been questioned, and heard the door closed +behind her by the chamberlain who had announced her coming. She stood still +a moment, dazzled by the brilliant lights after having been so long in the +dimmer waiting room. She had never before been in the King's study, and she +had fancied it very different from what it really was when she had tried to +picture to herself the coming interview. She had supposed the room small, +sombre, littered with books and papers, and cold; it was, on the contrary, +so spacious as to be almost a hall, it was brightly illuminated and warmed +by the big wood fire. Magnificent tapestries covered the walls with glowing +colour, and upon one of these, in barbaric bad taste, was hung a single +great picture by Titian, Philip's favourite master. Dolores blushed as she +recognized in the face of the insolent Venus the features of the Princess +of Eboli. Prom his accustomed chair, the King could see this painting. +Everywhere in the room there were rich objects that caught and reflected +the light, things of gold and silver, of jade and lapis lazuli, in a sort +of tasteless profusion that detracted from the beauty of each, and made +Dolores feel that she had been suddenly transported out of her own element +into another that was hard to breathe and in which it was bad to live. It +oppressed her, and though her courage was undiminished, the air of the +place seemed to stifle her thought and speech.</p> + +<p>As she entered she saw the King in profile, seated in his great chair at +some distance from the fire, but looking at it steadily. He did not notice +her presence at first. Antonio Perez sat at the table, busily writing, and +he only glanced at Dolores sideways when he heard the door close after her. +She sank almost to the ground as she made the first court curtsey before +advancing, and she came forward into the light. As her skirt swept the +ground a second time, Philip looked slowly round, and his dull stare +followed her as she came round in a quarter of a wide circle and curtsied a +third time immediately in front of him.</p> + +<p>She was very beautiful, as she stood waiting for him to speak, and +meeting his gaze fearlessly with a look of cold contempt in her white face +such as no living person had ever dared to turn to him, while the light of +anger burned in her deep grey eyes. But for the presence of the Secretary, +she would have spoken first, regardless of court ceremony. Philip looked at +her attentively, mentally comparing her with his young Queen's placidly +dull personality and with the Princess of Eboli's fast disappearing and +somewhat coarse beauty. For the Princess had changed much since Titian had +painted his very flattering picture, and though she was only thirty years +of age, she was already the mother of many children. Philip stared steadily +at the beautiful girl who stood waiting before him, and he wondered why she +had never seemed so lovely to him before. There was a half morbid, half +bitter savour in what he felt, too,--he had just condemned the beauty's +father to death, and she must therefore hate him with all her heart. It +pleased him to think of that; she was beautiful and he stared at her +long.</p> + +<p>"Be seated, Doña Dolores," he said at last, in a muffled voice +that was not harsh. "I am glad that you have come, for I have much to say +to you."</p> + +<p>Without lifting his wrist from the arm of the chair on which it rested, +the King moved his hand, and his long forefinger pointed to a low cushioned +stool that was placed near him. Dolores came forward unwillingly and sat +down. Perez watched the two thoughtfully, and forgot his writing. He did +not remember that any one excepting the Princess of Eboli had been allowed +to be seated in the King's study. The Queen never came there. Perez' work +exempted him in private, of course, from much of the tedious ceremonial +upon which Philip insisted. Dolores sat upon the edge of the stool, very +erect, with her hands folded on her knees.</p> + +<p>"Doña Dolores is pale," observed the King. "Bring a cordial, +Perez, or a glass of Oporto wine."</p> + +<p>"I thank your Majesty," said the young girl quickly. "I need +nothing."</p> + +<p>"I will be your physician," answered Philip, very suavely. "I shall +insist upon your taking the medicine I prescribe."</p> + +<p>He did not turn his eyes from her as Perez brought a gold salver and +offered Dolores the glass. It was impossible to refuse, so she lifted it to +her lips and sipped a little.</p> + +<p>"I thank your Majesty," she said again. "I thank you, sir," she said +gravely to Perez as she set down the glass, but she did not raise her eyes +to his face as she spoke any more than she would have done if he had been a +footman.</p> + +<p>"I have much to say to you, and some questions to ask of you," the King +began, speaking very slowly, but with extreme suavity.</p> + +<p>He paused, and coughed a little, but Dolores said nothing. Then he began +to look at her again, and while he spoke he steadily examined every detail +of her appearance till his inscrutable gaze had travelled from her +headdress to the points of her velvet slippers, and finally remained fixed +upon her mouth in a way that disturbed her even more than the speech he +made. Perez had resumed his seat.</p> + +<p>"In my life," he began, speaking of himself quite without formality, "I +have suffered more than most men, in being bereaved of the persons to whom +I have been most sincerely attached. The most fortunate and successful +sovereign in the world has been and is the most unhappy man in his kingdom. +One after another, those I have loved have been taken from me, until I am +almost alone in the world that is so largely mine. I suppose you cannot +understand that, my dear, for my sorrows began before you were born. But +they have reached their crown and culmination to-day in the death of my +dear brother."</p> + +<p>He paused, watching her mouth, and he saw that she was making a +superhuman effort to control herself, pressing the beautiful lips together, +though they moved gainfully in spite of her, and visibly lost colour.</p> + +<p>"Perez," he said after a moment, "you may go and take some rest. I will +send for you when I need you."</p> + +<p>The Secretary rose, bowed low, and left the room by a small masked door +in a corner. The King waited till he saw it close before he spoke again. +His tone changed a little then and his words came quickly, as if he felt +here constraint.</p> + +<p>"I feel," he said, "that we are united by a common calamity, my dear. I +intend to take you under my most particular care and protection from this +very hour. Yes, I know!" he held up his hand o deprecate any interruption, +for Dolores seemed about to speak. "I know why you come to me, you wish to +intercede for your father. That is natural, and you are right to come to me +yourself, for I would rather hear your voice than that of another speaking +for you, and I would rather grant any mercy in my power to you directly +than to some personage of the court who would be seeking his own interest +as much as yours."</p> + +<p>"I ask justice, not mercy, Sire," said Dolores, in a firm, low voice, +and the fire lightened in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Your father shall have both," answered Philip, "for they are +compatible."</p> + +<p>"He needs no mercy," returned the young girl, "for he has done no harm. +Your Majesty knows that as well as I."</p> + +<p>"If I knew that, my dear, your father would not be under arrest. I +cannot guess what you know or do not know--"</p> + +<p>"I know the truth." She spoke so confidently that the King's expression +changed a little.</p> + +<p>"I wish I did," he answered, with as much suavity as ever. "But tell me +what you think you know about this matter. You may help me to sift it, and +then I shall be the better able to help you, if such a thing be possible. +What do you know?"</p> + +<p>Dolores leaned forward toward him from her seat, almost rising as she +lowered her voice to a whisper, her eyes fixed on his face.</p> + +<p>"I was close behind the door your Majesty wished to open," she said. "I +heard every word; I heard your sword drawn and I heard Don John fall--and +then it was some time before I heard my father's voice, taking the blame +upon himself, lest it should be said that the King had murdered his own +brother in his room, unarmed. Is that the truth, or not?"</p> + +<p>While she was speaking, a greenish hue overspread Philip's face, ghastly +in the candlelight. He sat upright in his chair, his hands straining on its +arms and pushing, as if he would have got farther back if he could. He had +foreseen everything except that Dolores had been in the next room, for his +secret spies had informed him through Perez that her father had kept her a +prisoner during the early part of the evening and until after supper.</p> + +<p>"When you were both gone," Dolores continued, holding him under her +terrible eyes, "I came in, and I found him dead, with the wound in his left +breast, and he was unarmed, murdered without a chance for his life. There +is blood upon my dress where it touched his--the blood of the man I loved, +shed by you. Ah, he was right to call you coward, and he died for me, +because you said things of me that no loving man would bear. He was right +to call you coward--it was well said--it was the last word he spoke, and I +shall not forget it. He had borne everything you heaped upon himself, your +insults, your scorn of his mother, but he would not let you cast a slur +upon my name, and if you had not killed him out of sheer cowardice, he +would have struck you in the face. He was a man! And then my father took +the blame to save you from the monstrous accusation, and that all might +believe him guilty he told the lie that saved you before them all. Do I +know the truth? Is one word of that not true?"</p> + +<p>She had quite risen now and stood before him like an accusing angel. And +he, who was seldom taken unawares, and was very hard to hurt, leaned back +and suffered, slowly turning his head from side to side against the back of +the high carved chair.</p> + +<p>"Confess that it is true!" she cried, in concentrated tones. "Can you +not even find courage for that? You are not the King now, you are your +brother's murderer, and the murderer of the man I loved, whose wife I +should have been to-morrow. Look at me, and confess that I have told the +truth. I am a Spanish woman, and I would not see my country branded before +the world with the shame of your royal murders, and if you will confess and +save my father, I will keep your secret for my country's sake. But if +not--then you must either kill me here, as you slew him, or by the God that +made you and the mother that bore you, I will tell all Spain what you are, +and the men who loved Don John of Austria shall rise and take your blood +for his blood, though it be blood royal, and you shall die, as you killed, +like the coward you are!"</p> + +<p>The King's eyes were closed, and still his great pale head moved slowly +from side to side; for he was suffering, and the torture of mind he had +made Mendoza bear was avenged already. But he was silent.</p> + +<p>"Will you not speak?" asked the young girl, with blazing eyes. "Then +find some weapon and kill me here before I go, for I shall not wait till +you find many words."</p> + +<p>She was silent, and she stood upright in the act to go. He made no +sound, and she moved towards the door, stood still, then moved again and +then again, pausing for his answer at each step. He heard her, but could +not bring himself to speak the words she demanded of him. She began to walk +quickly. Her hand was almost on the door when he raised himself by the arms +of his chair, and cried out to her in a frightened voice:--</p> + +<p>"No, no! Stay here--you must not go--what do you want me to say?"</p> + +<p>She advanced a step again, and once more stood still and met his scared +eyes as he turned his face towards her.</p> + +<p>"Say, 'You have spoken the truth,'" she answered, dictating to him as if +she were the sovereign and he a guilty subject.</p> + +<p>She waited a moment and then moved as if she would go out.</p> + +<p>"Stay--yes--it is true--I did it--for God's mercy do not betray me!"</p> + +<p>He almost screamed the words out to her, half rising, his body bent, his +face livid in his extreme fear. She came slowly back towards him, keeping +her eyes upon him as if he were some dangerous wild animal that she +controlled by her look alone.</p> + +<p>"That is not all," she said. "That was for me, that I might hear the +words from your own lips. There is something more."</p> + +<p>"What more do you want of me?" asked Philip, in thick tones, leaning +back exhausted in his chair.</p> + +<p>"My father's freedom and safety," answered Dolores. "I must have an +order for his instant release. He can hardly have reached his prison yet. +Send for him. Let him come here at once, as a free man."</p> + +<p>"That is impossible," replied Philip. "He has confessed the deed before +the whole court--he cannot possibly be set at liberty without a trial. You +forget what you are asking--indeed you forget yourself altogether too +much."</p> + +<p>He was gathering his dignity again, by force of habit, as his terror +subsided, but Dolores was too strong for him.</p> + +<p>"I am not asking anything of your Majesty; I am dictating terms to my +lover's murderer," she said proudly.</p> + +<p>"This is past bearing, girl!" cried Philip hoarsely. "You are out of +your mind--I shall call servants to take you away to a place of safety. We +shall see what you will do then. You shall not impose your insolence upon +me any longer."</p> + +<p>Dolores reflected that it was probably in his power to carry out the +threat, and to have her carried off by the private door through which Perez +had gone out. She saw in a flash how great her danger was, for she was the +only witness against him, and if he could put her out of the way in a place +of silence, he could send her father to trial and execution without risk to +himself, as he had certainly intended to do. On the other hand, she had +been able to terrify him to submission a few moments earlier. In the +instant working of her woman's mind, she recollected how his fright had +increased as she had approached the door by which she had entered. His only +chance of accomplishing her disappearance lay in having her taken away by +some secret passage, where no open scandal could be possible.</p> + +<p>Before she answered his last angry speech, she had almost reached the +main entrance again.</p> + +<p>"Call whom you will," she said contemptuously. "You cannot save +yourself. Don Ruy Gomez is on the other side of that door, and there are +chamberlains and guards there, too. I shall have told them all the truth +before your men can lay hands on me. If you will not write the order to +release my father, I shall go out at once. In ten minutes there will be a +revolution in the palace, and to-morrow all Spain will be on fire to avenge +your brother. Spain has not forgotten Don Carlos yet! There are those alive +who saw you give Queen Isabel the draught that killed her--with your own +hand. Are you mad enough to think that no one knows those things, that your +spies, who spy on others, do not spy on you, that you alone, of all +mankind, can commit every crime with impunity?"</p> + +<p>"Take care, girl! Take care!"</p> + +<p>"Beware--Don Philip of Austria, King of Spain and half the world, lest a +girl's voice be heard above yours, and a girl's hand loosen the foundation +of your throne, lest all mankind rise up to-morrow and take your life for +the lives you have destroyed! Outside this door here, there are men who +guess the truth already, who hate you as they hate Satan, and who loved +your brother as every living being loved him--except you. One moment +more--order my father to be set free, or I will open and speak. One moment! +You will not? It is too late--you are lost!"</p> + +<p>Her hand went out to open, but Philip was already on his feet, and with +quick, clumsy steps he reached the writing-table, seized the pen Perez had +thrown down, and began to scrawl words rapidly in his great angular +handwriting. He threw sand upon it to dry the ink, and then poured the +grains back into the silver sandbox, glanced at the paper and held it out +to Dolores without a word. His other hand slipped along the table to a +silver bell, used for calling his private attendants, but the girl saw the +movement and instinctively suspected his treachery. He meant her to come to +the table, when he would ring the bell and then catch her and hold her by +main force till help came. Her faculties were furiously awake under the +strain she bore, and outran his slow cunning.</p> + +<p>"If you ring that bell, I will open," she said imperiously. "I must have +the paper here, where I am safe, and I must read it myself before I shall +be satisfied."</p> + +<p>"You are a terrible woman," said the King, but she did not like his +smile as he came towards her, holding out the document.</p> + +<p>She took it from his hand, keeping her eyes on his, for something told +her that he would try to seize her and draw her from the door while she was +reading it. For some seconds they faced each other in silence, and she knew +by his determined attitude that she was right, and that it would not be +safe to look down. She wondered why he did not catch her in his arms as she +stood, and then she realized that her free hand was on the latch of the +door, and that he knew it. She slowly turned the handle, and drew the door +to her, and she saw his face fall. She moved to one side so that she could +have sprung out if he had tried violence, and then at last she allowed her +eyes to glance at the paper. It was in order and would be obeyed; she saw +that, at a glance, for it said that Don Diego de Mendoza was to be set at +liberty instantly and unconditionally.</p> + +<p>"I humbly thank your Majesty, and take my leave," she said, throwing the +door wide open and curtseying low.</p> + +<p>A chamberlain who had seen the door move on its hinges stepped in to +shut it, for it opened inward. The King beckoned him in, and closed it, but +before it was quite shut, he heard Dolores' voice.</p> + +<p>"Don Ruy Gomez," she was saying, "this is an order to set my father at +liberty unconditionally and at once. I do not know to whom it should be +given. Will you take it for me and see to it?"</p> + +<p>"I will go to the west tower myself," he said, beginning to walk with +her. "Such good news is even better when a friend brings it."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. Tell him from me that he is safe, for his Majesty has told +me that he knows the whole truth. Will you do that? You have been very kind +to me to-night, Prince--let me thank you with all my heart now, for we may +not meet again. You will not see me at court after this, and I trust my +father will take us back to Valladolid and live with us."</p> + +<p>"That would be wise," answered Ruy Gomez. "As for any help I have given +you, it has been little enough and freely given. I will not keep your +father waiting for his liberty. Good-night, Doña Dolores."</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XIX'></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + + +<p>All that had happened from the time when Don John had fallen in his room +to the moment when Dolores left her sister on the terrace had occupied +little more than half an hour, during which the King had descended to the +hall, Mendoza had claimed the guilt of Don John's murder, and the two had +gone out under the protection of the guards. As soon as Dolores was out of +hearing, Inez rose and crept along the terrace to Don John's door. In the +confusion that had ensued upon the announcement of his death no one had +thought of going to him; every one took it for granted that some one else +had done what was necessary, and that his apartments were filled with +physicians and servants. It was not the first time in history that a royal +personage had thus been left alone an hour, either dead or dying, because +no one was immediately responsible, and such things have happened +since.</p> + +<p>Inez stole along the terrace and found the outer door open, as the dwarf +had left it when he had carried Dolores out in his arms. She remembered +that the voices she had heard earlier had come from rooms on the left of +the door, and she felt her way to the entrance of the bedchamber, and then +went in without hesitation. Bending very low, so that her hands touched the +floor from time to time, she crept along, feeling for the body she expected +to find. Suddenly she started and stood upright in an instant. She had +heard a deep sigh in the room, not far off.</p> + +<p>She listened intently, but even her ears could detect no sound after +that. She was a little frightened, not with any supernatural fear, for the +blind, who live in the dark for ever, are generally singularly exempt from +such terrors, but because she had thought herself alone with the dead man, +and did not wish to be discovered.</p> + +<p>"Who is here?" she asked quickly, but there was no answer out of the +dead stillness.</p> + +<p>She stood quite still a few seconds and then crept forward again, +bending down and feeling before her along the floor. A moment later her +hand touched velvet, and she knew that she had found what she sought. With +a low moan she fell upon her knees and felt for the cold hand that lay +stretched out upon the marble pavement beyond the thick carpet. Her hand +followed the arm, reached the shoulder and then the face. Her fingers +fluttered lightly upon the features, while her own heart almost stood still +She felt no horror of death, though she had never been near a dead person +before; and those who were fond of her had allowed her to feel their +features with her gentle hands, and she knew beauty through her touch, by +its shape. Though her heart was breaking, she had felt that once, before it +was too late, she must know the face she had long loved in dreams. Her +longing satisfied, her grief broke out again, and she let herself fall her +length upon the floor beside Don John, one arm across his chest, her head +resting against the motionless shoulder, her face almost hidden against the +gathered velvet and silk of his doublet. Once or twice she sobbed +convulsively, and then she lay quite still, trying with all her might to +die there, on his arm, before any one came to disturb her. It seemed very +simple, just to stop living and stay with him for ever.</p> + +<p>Again she heard a sound of deep-drawn breath--but it was close to her +now, and her own arm moved with it on his chest--the dead man had moved, he +had sighed. She started up wildly, with a sharp cry, half of paralyzing +fear, and half of mad delight in a hope altogether impossible. Then, he +drew his breath again, and it issued from his lips with a low groan. He was +not quite dead yet, he might speak to her still, he could hear her voice, +perhaps, before he really died. She could never have found courage to kiss +him, even then she could have blushed scarlet at the thought, but she bent +down to his face, very close to it, till her cheek almost touched his as +she spoke in a very trembling, low voice.</p> + +<p>"Not yet--not yet--come back for one moment, only for one little moment! +Oh, let it be God's miracle for me!"</p> + +<p>She hardly knew what she said, but the miracle was there, for she heard +his breath come again and again, and as she stared into her everlasting +night, strange flashes, like light, shot through her brain, her bosom +trembled, and her hands stiffened in the spasm of a delirious joy.</p> + +<p>"Come back!" she cried again. "Come back!" Her hands shook as they felt +his body move.</p> + +<p>His voice came again, not in a word yet, but yet not in a groan of pain. +His eyes, that had been half open and staring, closed with a look of rest, +and colour rose slowly in his cheeks. Then he felt her breath, and his +strength returned for an instant, his arms contracted and clasped her to +him violently.</p> + +<p>"Dolores!" he cried, and in a moment his lips rained kisses on her face, +while his eyes were still closed.</p> + +<p>Then he sank back again exhausted, and her arm kept his head from +striking the marble floor. The girl's cheek flushed a deep red, as she +tried to speak, and her words came broken and indistinct.</p> + +<p>"I am not Dolores," she managed to say. "I am Inez--"</p> + +<p>But he did not hear, for he was swooning again, and the painful blush +sank down again, as she realized that he was once more unconscious. She +wondered whether the room were dark or whether there were lights, or +whether he had not opened his eyes when he had kissed her. His head was +very heavy on her arm. With her other hand she drew off the hood she wore +and rolled it together, and lifting him a little she made a pillow of it so +that he rested easily. He had not recognized her, and she believed he was +dying, he had kissed her, and all eternity could not take from her the +memory of that moment. In the wild confusion of her thoughts she was almost +content that he should die now, for she had felt what she had never dared +to feel in sweetest dreams, and it had been true, and no one could steal it +away now, nor should any one ever know it, not even Dolores herself. The +jealous thought was there, in the whirlwind of her brain, with all the +rest, sudden, fierce, and strong, as if Don John had been hers in life, and +as if the sister she loved so dearly had tried to win him from her. He was +hers in death, and should be hers for ever, and no one should ever know. It +did not matter that he had taken her for another, his kisses were her own. +Once only had a man's lips, not her father's, touched her cheek, and they +had been the lips of the fairest, and best, and bravest man in the world, +her idol and her earthly god. He might die now, and she would follow him, +and in the world beyond God would make it right somehow, and he, and she, +and her sister would all be but one loving soul for ever and ever. There +was no reasoning in all that--it was but the flash of wild thoughts that +all seemed certainties.</p> + +<p>But Don John of Austria was neither dead nor dying. His brother's sword +had pierced his doublet and run through the outer flesh beneath his left +arm, as he stood sideways with his right thrust forward. The wound was a +mere scratch, as soldiers count wounds, and though the young blood had +followed quickly, it had now ceased to flow. It was the fall that had hurt +him, not the stab. The carpet had slipped from under his feet, and he had +fallen backwards to his full length, as a man falls on ice, and his head +had struck the marble floor so violently that he had lain half an hour +almost in a swoon, like a dead man at first, with neither breath nor +beating of the heart to give a sign of life, till after Dolores had left +him; and then he had sighed back to consciousness by very slow degrees, +because no one was there to help him, to raise his head a few inches from +the floor, to dash a little cold water into his face.</p> + +<p>He stirred uneasily now, and moved his hands again, and his eyes opened +wide. Inez felt the slight motion and heard his regular breathing, and an +instinct told her that he was conscious, and not in a dream as he had been +when he had kissed her.</p> + +<p>"I am Inez," she said, almost mechanically, and not knowing why she had +feared that he should take her for her sister. "I found your Highness +here--they all think that you are dead."</p> + +<p>"Dead?" There was surprise in his voice, and his eyes looked at her and +about the room as he spoke, though he did not yet lift his head from the +hood on which it lay. "Dead?" he repeated, dazed still. "No--I must have +fallen. My head hurts me."</p> + +<p>He uttered a sharp sound as he moved again, more of annoyance than of +suffering, as strong men do who unexpectedly find themselves hurt or +helpless, or both. Then, as his eyes fell upon the open door of the inner +room, he forgot his pain instantly and raised himself upon his hand with +startled eyes.</p> + +<p>"Where is Dolores?" he cried, in utmost anxiety. "Where have they taken +her? Did she get out by the window?"</p> + +<p>"She is safe," answered Inez, hardly knowing what she said, for he +turned pale instantly and had barely heard her answer, when he reeled as he +half sat and almost fell against her.</p> + +<p>She held him as well as she could, but the position was strained and she +was not very strong. Half mad now, between fear lest he should die in her +arms and the instinctive belief that he was to live, she wished with all +her heart that some one would come and help her, or send for a physician. +He might die for lack of some simple aid she did not know how to give him. +But he had only been dizzy with the unconscious effort he had made, and +presently he rested on his own hand again.</p> + +<p>"Thank God Dolores is safe!" he said, in a weak voice. "Can you help me +to get to a chair, my dear child? I must have been badly stunned. I wonder +how long I have been here. I remember--"</p> + +<p>He paused and passed one hand over his eyes. The first instinct of +strong persons who have been unconscious is to think aloud, and to try and +recall every detail of the accident that left them unconscious.</p> + +<p>"I remember--the King was here--we talked and we quarrelled--oh!"</p> + +<p>The short exclamation ended his speech, as complete recollection +returned, and he knew that the secret must be kept, for his brother's sake. +He laid one head on the slight girl's shoulder to steady himself, and with +his other he helped himself to kneel on one knee.</p> + +<p>"I am very dizzy," he said. "Try and help me to a chair, Inez."</p> + +<p>She rose swiftly, holding his hand, and then putting one arm round him +under his own. He struggled to his feet and leaned his weight upon her, and +breathed hard. The effort hurt him where the flesh was torn.</p> + +<p>"I am wounded, too," he said quietly, as he glanced at the blood on his +vest. "But it is nothing serious, I think."</p> + +<p>With the instinct of the soldier hurt in the chest, he brushed his lips +with the small lace ruffle of his sleeve, and looked at it, expecting to +see the bright red stains that might mean death. There was nothing.</p> + +<p>"It is only a scratch," he said, with an accent of indifference. "Help +me to the chair, my dear."</p> + +<p>"Where?" she asked. "I do not know the room."</p> + +<p>"One forgets that you are blind," he answered, with a smile, and leaning +heavily upon her, he led her by his weight, till he could touch the chair +in which he had sat reading Dolores' letter when the King had entered an +hour earlier.</p> + +<p>He sat down with a sigh of relief, and stretched first one leg and then +the other, and leaned back with half-closed eyes.</p> + +<p>"Where is Dolores?" he asked at last. "Why did she go away?"</p> + +<p>"The jester took her away, I think," answered Inez. "I found them +together on the terrace. She was trying to come back to you, but he +prevented her. They thought you were dead."</p> + +<p>"That was wise of him." He spoke faintly still, and when he opened his +eyes, the room swam with him. "And then?"</p> + +<p>"Then I told her what had happened at court; I had heard everything from +the gallery. And Dolores went down alone. I could not understand what she +was going to do, but she is trying to save our father."</p> + +<p>"Your father!" Don John looked at her in surprise, forgetting his hurt, +but it was as if some one had struck his head again, and he closed his +eyes. "What has happened?" he asked faintly. "Try and tell me. I do not +understand."</p> + +<p>"My father thought he had killed you," answered Inez, in surprise. "He +came into the great hall when the King was there, and he cried out in a +loud voice that he had killed you, unarmed."</p> + +<p>"Your father?" He forgot his suffering altogether now. "Your father was +not even in the room when--when I fell! And did the King say nothing? Tell +me quickly!"</p> + +<p>"There was a great uproar, and I ran away to find Dolores. I do not know +what happened afterwards."</p> + +<p>Don John turned painfully in his chair and lifted his hand to the back +of his head. But he said nothing at first, for he was beginning to +understand, and he would not betray the secret of his accident even to +Inez.</p> + +<p>"I knew he could not have done it! I thought he was mad--he most have +been! But I also thought your Highness was dead."</p> + +<p>"Dear child!" Don John's voice was very kind. "You brought me to life. +Your father was not here. It was some one else who hurt me. Do you think +you could find Dolores or send some one to tell her--to tell every one that +I am alive? Say that I had a bad fall and was stunned for a while. Never +mind the scratch--it is nothing--do not speak of it. If you could find +Adonis, he could go."</p> + +<p>He groaned now, for the pain of speaking was almost intolerable. Inez +put out her hand towards him.</p> + +<p>"Does it hurt very much?" she asked, with a sort of pathetic, childlike +sympathy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my head hurts, but I shall not faint. There is something to drink +by the bed, I think--on this side. If you could only find it. I cannot walk +there yet, I am so giddy."</p> + +<p>"Some one is coming!" exclaimed Inez, instead of answering him. "I hear +some one on the terrace. Hark!" she listened with bent head. "It is Adonis. +I know his step. There he is!"</p> + +<p>Almost as she spoke the last words the dwarf was in the doorway. He +stood still, transfixed with astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Mercy of heaven!" he exclaimed devoutly. "His Highness is alive after +all!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Inez, in a glad tone. "The Prince was only stunned by the +fall. Go and tell Dolores--go out and tell every one--bring every one here +to me!"</p> + +<p>"No!" cried Don John. "Try and bring Doña Dolores alone, and let +no one else know. The rest can wait."</p> + +<p>"But your Highness needs a physician," protested the dwarf, not yet +recovered from his astonishment. "Your Highness is wounded, and must +therefore be bled at once. I will call the Doctor Galdos--"</p> + +<p>"I tell you it is nothing," interrupted Don John. "Do as I order you, +and bring Doña Dolores. Give me that drink there, first--from the +little table. In a quarter of an hour I shall be quite well again. I have +been as badly stunned before when my horse has fallen with me at a +barrier."</p> + +<p>The jester swung quickly to the table, in his awkward, bow-legged gait, +and brought the beaker that stood there. Don John drank eagerly, for his +lips were parched with pain.</p> + +<p>"Go!" he said imperatively. "And come back quickly."</p> + +<p>"I will go," said Adonis. "But I may not come back quickly, for I +believe that Doña Dolores is with his Majesty at this moment, or +with her father, unless the three are together. Since it has pleased your +Highness not to remain dead, it would have been much simpler not to die at +all, for your Highness's premature death has caused trouble which your +Highness's premature resurrection may not quickly set right."</p> + +<p>"The sooner you bring Doña Dolores, the sooner the tremble will +be over," said Don John. "Go at once, and do your best."</p> + +<p>Adonis rolled away, shaking his head and almost touching the floor with +his hands as he walked.</p> + +<p>"So the Last Trumpet is not merely another of those priests' tales!" he +muttered. "I shall meet Don Carlos on the terrace, and the Emperor in the +corridor, no doubt! They might give a man time to confess his sins. It was +unnecessary that the end of the world should come so suddenly!"</p> + +<p>The last words of his jest were spoken to himself, for he was already +outside when he uttered them, and he had no intention of wasting time in +bearing the good news to Dolores. The difficulty was to find her. He had +been a witness of the scene in the hall from the balcony, and he guessed +that when she left the hall with Ruy Gomez she would go either to her +father or the King. It would not be an easy matter to see her, and it was +by no means beyond the bounds of possibility that he might be altogether +hindered from doing so, unless he at once announced to every one he met the +astounding fact that Don John was alive after all. He was strongly tempted +to do that, without waiting, for it seemed by far the most sensible thing +to do in the disturbed state of the court; but it was his business to serve +and amuse many masters, and his office, if not his life, depended upon +obeying each in turn and finding the right jest for each. He placed the +King highest, of course, among those he had to please, and before he had +gone far in the corridor he slackened his pace to give himself time to +think over the situation. Either the King had meant to kill Don John +himself, or he had ordered Mendoza to do so. That much was clear to any one +who had known the secret of Don Carlos' death, and the dwarf had been one +of the last who had talked with the unfortunate Prince before that dark +tragedy. And on this present night he had seen everything, and knew more of +the thoughts of each of the actors in the drama than any one else, so that +he had no doubt as to his conclusions. If, then, the King had wished to get +rid of Don John, he would be very much displeased to learn that the latter +was alive after all. It would not be good to be the bearer of that news, +and it was more than likely that Philip would let Mendoza go to the +scaffold for the attempt, as he long afterwards condemned Antonio Perez to +death for the murder of Escobedo, Don John's secretary, though he himself +had ordered Perez to do that deed; as he had already allowed the +ecclesiastic Doctor Cazalla to be burned alive, though innocent, rather +than displease the judges who had condemned him. The dwarf well knew that +there was no crime, however monstrous, of which Philip was not capable, and +of the righteous necessity of which he could not persuade himself if he +chose. Nothing could possibly be more dangerous than to stand between him +and the perpetration of any evil he considered politically necessary, +except perhaps to hinder him in the pursuit of his gloomy and secret +pleasures. Adonis decided at once that he would not be the means of +enlightening the King on the present occasion. He most go to some one else. +The second person in command of his life, and whom he dreaded most after +Philip himself, was the Princess of Eboli.</p> + +<p>He knew her secret, too, as he had formerly known how she had forged the +letters that brought about the deaths of Don Carlos and of Queen Isabel; +for the Princess ruled him by fear, and knew that she could trust him as +long as he stood in terror of her. He knew, therefore, that she had not +only forgiven Don John for not yielding to her charm in former days, but +that she now hoped that he might ascend the throne in Philip's stead, by +fair means or foul, and that the news of his death must have been a +destructive blow to her hopes. He made up his mind to tell her first that +he was alive, unless he could get speech with Dolores alone, which seemed +improbable. Having decided this, he hastened his walk again.</p> + +<p>Before he reached the lower story of the palace he composed his face to +an expression of solemnity, not to say mourning, for he remembered that as +no one knew the truth but himself, he must not go about with too gay a +look. In the great vestibule of the hall he found a throng of courtiers, +talking excitedly in low tones, but neither Dolores nor Ruy Gomez was +there. He sidled up to a tall officer of the guards who was standing alone, +looking on.</p> + +<p>"Could you inform me, sir," he asked, "what became of Doña +Dolores de Mendoza when she left the hall with the Prince of Eboli?"</p> + +<p>The officer looked down at the dwarf, with whom he had never spoken +before, but who, in his way, was considered to be a personage of importance +by the less exalted members of the royal household. Indeed, Adonis was by +no means given to making acquaintance at haphazard with all those who +wished to know him in the hope that he might say a good word for them when +the King was in a pleasant humour.</p> + +<p>"I do not know, Master Adonis," answered the magnificent lieutenant, +very politely. "But if you wish it, I will enquire."</p> + +<p>"You are most kind and courteous, sir," answered the dwarf +ceremoniously. "I have a message for the lady."</p> + +<p>The officer turned away and went towards the King's apartments, leaving +the jester in the corner. Adonis knew that he might wait some time before +his informant returned, and he shrank into the shadow to avoid attracting +attention. That was easy enough, so long as the crowd was moving and did +not diminish, but before long he heard some one speaking within the hall, +as if addressing a number of persons at once, and the others began to leave +the vestibule in order to hear what was passing. Though the light did not +fall upon him directly, the dwarf, in his scarlet dress, became a +conspicuous object. Yet he did not dare to go away, for fear of missing the +officer when the latter should return. His anxiety to escape observation +was not without cause, since he really wished to give Don John's message to +Dolores before any one else knew the truth. In a few moments he saw the +Princess of Eboli coming towards him, leaning on the arm of the Duke of +Medina Sidonia. She came from the hall as if she had been listening to the +person who was still speaking near the door, and her handsome face wore a +look of profound dejection and disappointment. She had evidently seen the +dwarf, for she walked directly towards him, and at half a dozen paces she +stopped and dismissed her companion, who bowed low, kissed the tips of her +fingers, and withdrew.</p> + +<p>Adonis drew down the corners of his mouth, bent his head still lower, +and tried to look as unhappy as possible, in imitation of the Princess's +expression. She stood still before him, and spoke briefly in imperious +tones.</p> + +<p>"What is the meaning of all this?" she asked. "Tell me the truth at +once. It will be the better for you."</p> + +<p>"Madam," answered Adonis, with all the assurance he could muster, "I +think your Excellency knows the truth much better than I."</p> + +<p>The Princess bent her black brows and her eyes began to gleam angrily. +Titian would not have recognized in her stern face the smiling features of +his portrait of her--of the insolently beautiful Venus painted by order of +King Philip when the Princess was in the height of his favour.</p> + +<p>"My friend," she said, in a mocking tone, "I know nothing, and you know +everything. At the present moment your disappearance from the court will +not attract even the smallest attention compared with the things that are +happening. If you do not tell me what you know, you will not be here +to-morrow, and I will see that you are burned alive for a sorcerer next +week. Do you understand? Now tell me who killed Don John of Austria, and +why. Be quick, I have no time to lose."</p> + +<p>Adonis made up his mind very suddenly that it would be better to disobey +Don John than the angry woman who was speaking to him.</p> + +<p>"Nobody killed him," he answered bluntly.</p> + +<p>The Princess was naturally violent, especially with her inferiors, and +when she was angry she easily lost all dignity. She seized the dwarf by the +arm and shook him.</p> + +<p>"No jesting!" she cried. "He did not kill himself--who did it?"</p> + +<p>"Nobody," repeated Adonis doggedly, and quite without fear, for he knew +how glad she would be to know the truth. "His Highness is not dead at +all--"</p> + +<p>"You little hound!" The Princess shook him furiously again and +threatened to strike him with her other hand.</p> + +<p>He only laughed.</p> + +<p>"Before heaven, Madam," he said, "the Prince is alive and recovered, and +is sitting in his chair. I have just been talking with him. Will you go +with me to his Highness's apartment? If he is not there, and safe, burn me +for a heretic to-morrow."</p> + +<p>The Princess's hands dropped by her sides in sheer amazement, for she +saw that the jester was in earnest.</p> + +<p>"He had a scratch in the scuffle," he continued, "but it was the fall +that killed him, his resurrection followed soon afterwards--and I trust +that his ascension may be no further distant than your Excellency +desires."</p> + +<p>He laughed at his blasphemous jest, and the Princess laughed too, a +little wildly, for she could hardly control her joy.</p> + +<p>"And who wounded him?" she asked suddenly. "You know everything, you +must know that also."</p> + +<p>"Madam," said the dwarf, fixing his eyes on hers, "we both know the name +of the person who wounded Don John, very well indeed, I regret that I +should not be able to recall it at this moment. His Highness has forgotten +it too, I am sure."</p> + +<p>The Princess's expression did not change, but she returned his gaze +steadily during several seconds, and then nodded slowly to show that she +understood. Then she looked away and was silent for a moment.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry I was rough with you, Adonis," she said at last, +thoughtfully. "It was hard to believe you at first, and if the Prince had +been dead, as we all believed, your jesting would have been abominable. +There,"--she unclasped a diamond brooch from her bodice--"take that, +Adonis--you can turn it into money."</p> + +<p>The Princess's financial troubles were notorious, and she hardly ever +possessed any ready gold.</p> + +<p>"I shall keep it as the most precious of my possessions," answered the +dwarf readily.</p> + +<p>"No," she said quickly. "Sell it. The King--I mean--some one may see it +if you keep it."</p> + +<p>"It shall be sold to-morrow, then," replied the jester, bending his head +to hide his smile, for he understood what she meant.</p> + +<p>"One thing more," she said; "Don John did not send you down to tell this +news to the court without warning. He meant that I should know it before +any one else. You have told me--now go away and do not tell others."</p> + +<p>Adonis hesitated a moment. He wished to do Don John's bidding if he +could, but he knew his danger, and that he should be forgiven if, to save +his own head, he did not execute the commission. The Princess wished an +immediate answer, and she had no difficulty in guessing the truth.</p> + +<p>"His Highness sent you to find Doña Dolores," she said. "Is that +not true?"</p> + +<p>"It is true," replied Adonis. "But," he added, anticipating her wish out +of fear, "it is not easy to find Doña Dolores."</p> + +<p>"It is impossible. Did you expect to find her by waiting in this corner! +Adonis, it is safer for you to serve me than Don John, and in serving me +you will help his interests. You know that. Listen to me--Doña +Dolores must believe him dead till to-morrow morning. She must on no +account find out that he is alive."</p> + +<p>At that moment the officer who had offered to get information for the +dwarf returned. Seeing the latter in conversation with such a great +personage, he waited at a little distance.</p> + +<p>"If you have found out where Doña Dolores de Mendoza is at this +moment, my dear sir," said Adonis, "pray tell the Princess of Eboli, who is +very anxious to know."</p> + +<p>The officer bowed and came nearer.</p> + +<p>"Doña Dolores de Mendoza is in his Majesty's inner apartment," he +said.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + +<h2><a name='CHAPTER_XX'></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + + +<p>Dolores and Ruy Gomez had passed through the outer vestibule, and he +left her to pursue his way towards the western end of the Alcazar, which +was at a considerable distance from the royal apartments. Dolores went down +the corridor till she came to the niche and the picture before which Don +John had paused to read the Princess of Eboli's letter after supper. She +stopped a moment, for she suddenly felt that her strength was exhausted and +that she must rest or break down altogether. She leaned her weight against +the elaborately carved railing that shut off the niche like a shrine, and +looked at the painting, which was one of Raphael's smaller masterpieces, a +Holy Family so smoothly and delicately painted that it jarred upon her at +that moment as something untrue and out of all keeping with possibility. +Though most perfectly drawn and coloured, the spotlessly neat figures with +their airs of complacent satisfaction seemed horribly out of place in the +world of suffering she was condemned to dwell in, and she fancied, somewhat +irreverently and resentfully, that they would look as much out of keeping +with their surroundings in a heaven that must be won by the endurance of +pain. Their complacent smiles seemed meant for her anguish, and she turned +from the picture in displeasure, and went on.</p> + +<p>She was going back to her sister on the terrace, and she was going to +kneel once more beside the dear head of the man she had loved, and to say +one last prayer before his face was covered for ever. At the thought she +felt that she needed no rest again, for the vision drew her to the +sorrowful presence of its reality, and she could not have stopped again if +she had wished to. She must go straight on, on to the staircase, up the +long flight of steps, through the lonely corridors, and out at hist to the +moonlit terrace where Inez was waiting. She went forward in a dream, +without pausing. Since she had freed her father she had a right to go back +to her grief. But as she went along, lightly and quickly, it seemed beyond +her own belief that she should have found strength for what she had done +that night. For the strength of youth is elastic and far beyond its own +knowledge. Dolores had reached the last passage that led out upon the +terrace, when she heard hurrying footsteps behind her, and a woman in a +cloak slipped beside her, walking very easily and smoothly. It was the +Princess of Eboli. She had left the dwarf, after frightening him into +giving up his search for Dolores, and she was hastening to Don John's rooms +to make sure that the jester had not deceived her or been himself deceived +in some way she could not understand.</p> + +<p>Dolores had lost her cloak in the hall, and was bareheaded, in her court +dress. The Princess recognized her in the gloom and stopped her.</p> + +<p>"I have looked for you everywhere," she said. "Why did you run away from +me before?"</p> + +<p>"It was my blind sister who was with you," answered Dolores, who knew +her voice at once and had understood from her father what had happened. +"Where are you going now?" she asked, without giving the Princess time to +put a question.</p> + +<p>"I was looking for you. I wish you to come and stay with me +to-night--"</p> + +<p>"I will stay with my father. I thank you for your kindness, but I would +not on any account leave him now."</p> + +<p>"Your father is in prison--in the west tower--he has just been sent +there. How can you stay with him?"</p> + +<p>"You are well informed," said Dolores quietly. "But your husband is just +now gone to release him. I gave Don Ruy Gomez the order which his Majesty +had himself placed in my hands, and the Prince was kind enough to take it +to the west tower himself. My father is unconditionally free."</p> + +<p>The Princess looked fixedly at Dolores while the girl was speaking, but +it was very dark in the corridor and the lamp was flickering to go out in +the night breeze. The only explanation of Mendoza's release lay in the fact +that the King was already aware that Don John was alive and in no danger. +In that case Dolores knew it, too. It was no great matter, though she had +hoped to keep the girl out of the way of hearing the news for a day or two. +Dolores' mournful face might have told her that she was mistaken, if there +had been more light; but it was far too dark to see shades of colour or +expression.</p> + +<p>"So your father is free!" she said. "Of course, that was to be expected, +but I am glad that he has been set at liberty at once."</p> + +<p>"I do not think it was exactly to be expected," answered Dolores, in +some surprise, and wondering whether there could have been any simpler way +of getting what she had obtained by such extraordinary means.</p> + +<p>"He might have been kept under arrest until to-morrow morning, I +suppose," said the Princess quietly. "But the King is of course anxious to +destroy the unpleasant impression produced by this absurd affair, as soon +as possible."</p> + +<p>"Absurd!" Dolores' anger rose and overflowed at the word. "Do you dare +to use such a word to me to-night?"</p> + +<p>"My dear Dolores, why do you lose your temper about such a thing?" asked +the Princess, in a conciliatory tone. "Of course if it had all ended as we +expected it would, I never should use such a word--if Don John had +died--"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" Dolores held her by the wrist in an instant and the +maddest excitement was in her voice.</p> + +<p>"What I mean? Why--" the Princess stopped short, realizing that Dolores +might not know the truth after all. "What did I say?" she asked, to gain +time. "Why do you hold my hand like that?"</p> + +<p>"You called the murder of Don John an absurd affair, and then you said, +'if Don John had died'--as if he were not lying there dead in his room, +twenty paces from where you stand! Are you mad? Are you playing some +heartless comedy with me? What does it all mean?"</p> + +<p>The Princess was very worldly wise, and she saw at a glance that she +must tell Dolores the truth. If she did not, the girl would soon learn it +from some one else, but if she did, Dolores would always remember who had +told her the good news.</p> + +<p>"My dear," she said very gently, "let my wrist go and let me take your +arm. We do not understand each other, or you would not be so angry with me. +Something has happened of which you do not know--"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! I know the whole truth!" Dolores interrupted her, and resisted +being led along in a slow walk. "Let me go to him!" she cried. "I only wish +to see him once more--"</p> + +<p>"But, dearest child, listen to me--if I do not tell you everything at +once, it is because the shock might hurt you. There is some hope that he +may not die--"</p> + +<p>"Hope! Oh no, no, no! I saw him lying dead--"</p> + +<p>"He had fainted, dear. He was not dead--"</p> + +<p>"Not dead?" Dolores' voice broke. "Tell me--tell me quickly." She +pressed her hand to her side.</p> + +<p>"No. He came to himself after you had left him--he is alive. No--listen +to me--yes, dear, he is alive and not much hurt. The wound was a scratch, +and he was only stunned--he is well--to-morrow he will be as well as +ever--ah, dear, I told you so!"</p> + +<p>Dolores had borne grief, shame, torment of mind that night, as bravely +as ever a woman bore all three, but the joy of the truth that he lived +almost ended her life then and there. She fell back upon the Princess's arm +and threw out her hands wildly, as if she were fighting for breath, and the +lids of her eyes quivered violently and then were quite still, and she +uttered a short, unnatural sound that was more like a groan of pain than a +cry of happiness.</p> + +<p>The Princess was very strong, and held her, steadying herself against +the wall, thinking anything better than to let her slip to the floor and +lie swooning on the stone pavement. But the girl was not unconscious, and +in a moment her own strength returned.</p> + +<p>"Let me go!" she cried wildly. "Let me go to him, or I shall die!"</p> + +<p>"Go, child--go," said the Princess, with an accent of womanly kindness +that was rare in her voice. But Dolores did not hear it, for she was +already gone.</p> + +<p>Dolores saw nothing in the room, as she entered, but the eyes of the man +she loved, though Inez was still beside him. Dolores threw herself wildly +into his arms and hid her face, crying out incoherent words between little +showers of happy tears; and her hands softly beat upon his shoulders and +against his neck, and stole up wondering to his cheeks and touched his +hair, as she drew back her head and held him still to look at him and see +that he was whole. She had no speech left, for it was altogether beyond the +belief of any sense but touch itself that a man should rise unhurt from the +dead, to go on living as if nothing not common had happened in his life, to +have his strength at once, to look into her eyes and rain kisses on the +lids still dark with grief for his death. Sight could not believe the +sight, hearing could not but doubt the sound, yet her hands held him and +touched him, and it was he, unhurt saving for a scratch and a bruise. In +her overwhelming happiness, she had no questions, and the first syllables +that her lips could shape made broken words of love, and of thanks to +Heaven that he had been saved alive for her, while her hands still +fluttered to his face and beat gently and quickly on his shoulders and his +arms, as if fearing lest he should turn to incorporeal light, without +substance under her touch, and vanish then in air, as happiness does in a +dream, leaving only pain behind.</p> + +<p>But at last she threw back her head and let him go, and her hands +brushed away the last tears from her grey eyes, and she looked into his +face and smiled with parted lips, drinking the sight of him with her breath +and eyes and heart. One moment so, and then they kissed as only man and +woman can when there has been death between them and it is gone not to come +back again.</p> + +<p>Then memory returned, though very slowly and broken in many places, for +it seemed to her as if she had not been separated from him a moment, and as +if he must know all she had done without hearing her story in words. The +time had been so short since she had kissed him last, in the little room +beyond: there had been the minutes of waiting until the King had come, and +then the trying of the door, and then the quarrel, that had lasted a short +ten minutes to end in Don John's fall; then the half hour during which he +had lain unconscious and alone till Inez had come at the moment when +Dolores had gone down to the throne room; and after that the short few +minutes in which she had met her father, and then her interview with the +King, which had not lasted long, and now she was with him again; and it was +not two hours since they had parted--a lifetime of two hours.</p> + +<p>"I cannot believe it!" she cried, and now she laughed at last. "I +cannot, I cannot! It is impossible!"</p> + +<p>"We are both alive," he answered. "We are both flesh and blood, and +breathing. I feel as if I had been in an illness or in a sleep that had +lasted very long."</p> + +<p>"And I in an awful dream." Her face grew grave as she thought of what +was but just passed. "You must know it all--surely you know it already--oh, +yes! I need not tell it all."</p> + +<p>"Something Inez has told me," he replied, "and some things I guess, but +I do not know everything. You must try and tell me--but you should not be +here--it is late. When my servants know that I am living, they will come +back, and my gentlemen and my officers. They would have left me here all +night, if I had been really dead, lest being seen near my body should send +them to trial for my death." He laughed. "They were wise enough in their +way. But you cannot stay here."</p> + +<p>"If the whole court found me here, it would not matter," answered +Dolores. "Their tongues can take nothing from my name which my own words +have not given them to feed on."</p> + +<p>"I do not understand," he said, suddenly anxious. "What have you said? +What have you done?"</p> + +<p>Inez came near them from the window, by which she had been standing. She +laid a hand on Dolores' arm.</p> + +<p>"I will watch," she said. "If I hear anything, I will warn you, and you +can go into the small room again."</p> + +<p>She went out almost before either of them could thank her. They had, +indeed, forgotten her presence in the room, being accustomed to her being +near them; but she could no longer bear to stay, listening to their loving +words that made her loneliness so very dark. And now, too, she had memories +of her own, which she would keep secret to the end of her life,--beautiful +and happy recollections of that sweet moment when the man that seemed dead +had breathed and had clasped her in his arms, taking her for the other, and +had kissed her as he would have kissed the one he loved. She knew at last +what a kiss might be, and that was much; but she knew also what it was to +kneel by her dead love and to feel his life come back, breath by breath and +beat by beat, till he was all alive; and few women have felt that or can +guess how great it is to feel. It was better to go out into the dark and +listen, lest any one should disturb the two, than to let her memories of +short happiness be marred by hearing words that were not meant for her.</p> + +<p>"She found you?" asked Dolores, when she was gone.</p> + +<p>"Yes, she found me. You had gone down, she said, to try and save your +father. He is safe now!" he laughed.</p> + +<p>"She found you alive." Dolores lingered on the words. "I never envied +her before, I think; and it is not because if I had stayed I should have +suffered less, dear." She put up her hands upon his shoulders again. "It is +not for that, but to have thought you dead and to have seen you grow alive +again, to have watched your face, to have seen your eyes wake and the +colour come back to your cheeks and the warmth to your dear hands! I would +have given anything for that, and you would rather that I should have been +there, would you not?" She laughed low and kissed away the answer from his +lips. "If I had stayed beside you, it would have been sooner, love. You +would have felt me there even in your dream of death, and you would have +put out your hand to come back to me. Say that you would! You could not +have let me lie there many minutes longer breaking my heart over you and +wanting to die, too, so that we might be buried together. Surely my kisses +would have brought you back!"</p> + +<p>"I dreamed they did, as mine would you."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Told them all? Told whom? The King? What did you say?" His face was +grave again.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Scratched me. I was only stunned for a while."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"I see, yes. Go on!" Don John was listening breathlessly, forgetting the +pain he still suffered from time to time.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"What did you say?" asked Don John very anxiously. "What did you tell +them all? That you had been here?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"That we were married already, secretly?" he asked. "You might have said +that."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Great God!" exclaimed Don John starting. "And you did that to save your +father?"</p> + +<p>She had covered her face with her hands for a moment. Then suddenly she +rose and turned away from him, and paced the floor.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"What would have become of you?" Don John's eyes followed her in loving +wonder.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Forgive you? What? For doing the bravest thing a woman ever did?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"It was magnificent," he said at last. "But it will be hard to undo, +very hard."</p> + +<p>"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--"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" she cried, in sudden fear. "Oh, do not speak of death again +to-night! I cannot bear the word!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He was silent for a moment, and his eyes looked quickly to the door and +back to Dolores' face.</p> + +<p>"I cannot go away," she cried, nestling to him. "You will not make me +go? What does it matter?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"You have not told me," Dolores began, but her eyes laughed in his.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"It is ours already," she cried happily. "But is this wise, love? Are +you not too quick?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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 winding 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"This is the priest of the west tower, your Highness," said Adonis. "He +is a good priest, but he is a little frightened now."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"But--" the little priest hesitated--"but, your Highness--the banns--or +the bishop's license--"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"The witnesses of this," faltered the old man, seeing that he must +yield, but doubtful still.</p> + +<p>"This lady is Doña Inez de Mendoza," said Don John, "and this is +Miguel de Antona, the court jester. They are sufficient."</p> + +<p>So it chanced that the witnesses of Don John of Austria's secret +marriage were a blind girl and the King's fool.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>That was hardly done when the outer door was opened wide, and a clear, +formal voice was heard speaking outside.</p> + +<p>"His Majesty the King!" cried the chamberlain who walked before +Philip.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He paused a moment, and again the King slowly nodded, but this time he +smiled also, and seemed much pleased.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>A third time the King nodded, and this time not ungraciously, since +matters had gone well for him.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I thank your Majesty. And moreover, I desire permission to present to +your Majesty--"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"--My wedded wife," said Don John, completing the sentence.</p> + +<p>"Your wife!" exclaimed the King, in great surprise. "Are you married +already?"</p> + +<p>"Wedded man and wife, Sire," answered Don John, in tones that all could +hear.</p> + +<p>"And what does Mendoza say to this?" asked Philip, looking round at the +veteran soldier.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But there were a few who were ill pleased; for Antonio Perez said +nothing, and absently smoothed his black hair with his immaculate white +hand, and the Princess of Eboli was very silent, too, for it seemed to her +that Don John's sudden marriage, and his reconciliation with his brother, +had set back the beginning of her plan beyond the bounds of possible +accomplishment; and she was right in that, and the beginning of her +resentment against Don John for having succeeded in marrying Dolores in +spite of every one was the beginning of the chain that led her to her own +dark fate. For though she held the cards long in her hands after that, and +played for high stakes, as she had done before, fortune failed her at the +last, and she came to unutterable ruin.</p> + +<p>It may be, too, that Don John's splendid destiny was measured on that +night, and cut off beforehand, though his most daring fights were not yet +fought, nor his greatest victories won. To tell more here would be to tell +too much, and much, too, that is well told elsewhere. But this is true, +that he loved Dolores with all his heart; that the marriage remained a +court secret; and that she bore him one fair daughter, and died, and the +child grew up under another reign, a holy nun, and was abbess of the +convent of Las Huelgas whither Dolores was to have gone on the morning +after that most eventful night.</p> + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's In The Palace Of The King, by F. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: In The Palace Of The King + A Love Story Of Old Madrid + +Author: F. Marion Crawford + +Release Date: August 21, 2004 [EBook #13243] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE PALACE OF THE KING *** + + + + +Produced by Kevin Handy, John Hagerson and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + +IN THE PALACE OF THE KING + +A LOVE STORY OF OLD MADRID + +BY +F. MARION CRAWFORD + + + +1900 + + To my old friend + GEORGE P. BRETT + + New York, October, 1906 + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER I + CHAPTER II + CHAPTER III + CHAPTER IV + CHAPTER V + CHAPTER VI + CHAPTER VII + CHAPTER VIII + CHAPTER IX + CHAPTER X + CHAPTER XI + CHAPTER XII + CHAPTER XIII + CHAPTER XIV + CHAPTER XV + CHAPTER XVI + CHAPTER XVII + CHAPTER XVIII + CHAPTER XIX + CHAPTER XX + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +Two young girls sat in a high though very narrow room of the old Moorish +palace to which King Philip the Second had brought his court when he +finally made Madrid his capital. It was in the month of November, in the +afternoon, and the light was cold and grey, for the two tall windows +looked due north, and a fine rain had been falling all the morning. The +stones in the court were drying now, in patches, but the sky was like a +smooth vault of cast lead, closing over the city that lay to the +northward, dark, wet and still, as if its life had shrunk down under +ground, away from the bitter air and the penetrating damp. + +The room was scantily furnished, but the few objects it contained, the +carved table, the high-backed chairs and the chiselled bronze brazier, +bore the stamp of the time when art had not long been born again. On the +walls there were broad tapestries of bold design, showing green forests +populated by all sorts of animals in stiff attitudes, staring at one +another in perpetual surprise. Below the tapestry a carved walnut +wainscoting went round the room, and the door was panelled and flanked +by fluted doorposts of the same dark wood, on which rested corbels +fashioned into curling acanthus leaves, to hold up the cornice, which +itself made a high shelf over the door. Three painted Italian vases, +filled with last summer's rose leaves and carefully sealed lest the +faint perfume should be lost, stood symmetrically on this projection, +their contents slowly ripening for future use. The heap of white ashes, +under which the wood coals were still alive in the big brazier, diffused +a little warmth through the chilly room. + +The two girls were sitting at opposite ends of the table. The one held a +long goose-quill pen, and before her lay several large sheets of paper +covered with fine writing. Her eyes followed the lines slowly, and from +time to time she made a correction in the manuscript. As she read, her +lips moved to form words, but she made no sound. Now and then a faint +smile lent singular beauty to her face, and there was more light in her +eyes, too; then it disappeared again, and she read on, carefully and +intently, as if her soul were in the work. + +She was very fair, as Spaniards sometimes are still, and were more often +in those days, with golden hair and deep grey eyes; she had the high +features, the smooth white throat, and the finely modelled ears that +were the outward signs of the lordly Gothic race. When she was not +smiling, her face was sad, and sometimes the delicate colour left her +clear cheek and she grew softly pale, till she seemed almost delicate. +Then the sensitive nostrils quivered almost imperceptibly, and the +curving lips met closely as if to keep a secret; but that look came +seldom, and for the most part her eyes were quiet and her mouth was +kind. It was a face that expressed devotion, womanly courage, and +sensitiveness rather than an active and dominating energy. The girl was +indeed a full-grown woman, more than twenty years of age, but the early +bloom of girlhood was on her still, and if there was a little sadness in +the eyes, a man could guess well enough that it rose from the heart, and +had but one simple source, which was neither a sudden grief nor a +long-hidden sorrow, but only youth's one secret--love. Maria Dolores de +Mendoza knew all of fear for the man she loved, that any woman could +know, and much of the hope that is love's early life; but she knew +neither the grief, nor the disappointment, nor the shame for another, +nor for herself, nor any of the bitterness that love may bring. She did +not believe that such things could be wrung from hearts that were true +and faithful; and in that she was right. The man to whom she had given +her heart and soul and hope had given her his, and if she feared for +him, it was not lest he should forget her or his own honour. He was a +man among men, good and true; but he was a soldier, and a leader, who +daily threw his life to the battle, as Douglas threw the casket that +held the Bruce's heart into the thick of the fight, to win it back, or +die. The man she loved was Don John of Austria, the son of the great +dead Emperor Charles the Fifth, the uncle of dead Don Carlos and the +half brother of King Philip of Spain--the man who won glory by land and +sea, who won back Granada a second time from the Moors, as bravely as +his great grandfather Ferdinand had won it, but less cruelly, who won +Lepanto, his brother's hatred and a death by poison, the foulest stain +in Spanish history. + +It was November now, and it had been June of the preceding year when he +had ridden away from Madrid to put down the Moriscoes, who had risen +savagely against the hard Spanish rule. He had left Dolores de Mendoza +an hour before he mounted, in the freshness of the early summer morning, +where they had met many a time, on a lonely terrace above the King's +apartments. There were roses there, growing almost wild in great earthen +jars, where some Moorish woman had planted them in older days, and +Dolores could go there unseen with her blind sister, who helped her +faithfully, on pretence of taking the poor girl thither to breathe the +sweet quiet air. For Inez was painfully sensitive of her affliction, and +suffered, besides blindness, all that an over-sensitive and imaginative +being can feel. + +She was quite blind, with no memory of light, though she had been born +seeing, as other children. A scarlet fever had destroyed her sight. +Motherless from her birth, her father often absent in long campaigns, +she had been at the mercy of a heartless nurse, who had loved the fair +little Dolores and had secretly tormented the younger child, as soon as +she was able to understand, bringing her up to believe that she was so +repulsively ugly as to be almost a monster. Later, when the nurse was +gone, and Dolores was a little older, the latter had done all she could +to heal the cruel wound and to make her sister know that she had soft +dark hair, a sad and gentle face, with eyes that were quite closed, and +a delicate mouth that had a little half painful, half pathetic way of +twitching when anything hurt her,--for she was easily hurt. Very pale +always, she turned her face more upwards than do people who have sight, +and being of good average woman's height and very slender and finely +made, this gave her carriage an air of dignity that seemed almost pride +when she was offended or wounded. But the first hurt had been deep and +lasting, and she could never quite believe that she was not offensive to +the eyes of those who saw her, still less that she was sometimes almost +beautiful in a shadowy, spiritual way. The blind, of all their +sufferings, often feel most keenly the impossibility of knowing whether +the truth is told them about their own looks; and he who will try and +realize what it is to have been always sightless will understand that +this is not vanity, but rather a sort of diffidence towards which all +people should be very kind. Of all necessities of this world, of all +blessings, of all guides to truth, God made light first. There are many +sharp pains, many terrible sufferings and sorrows in life that come and +wrench body and soul, and pass at last either into alleviation or +recovery, or into the rest of death; but of those that abide a lifetime +and do not take life itself, the worst is hopeless darkness. We call +ignorance 'blindness,' and rage 'blindness,' and we say a man is 'blind' +with grief. + +Inez sat opposite her sister, at the other end of the table, listening. +She knew what Dolores was doing, how during long months her sister had +written a letter, from time to time, in little fragments, to give to the +man she loved, to slip into his hand at the first brief meeting or to +drop at his feet in her glove, or even, perhaps, to pass to him by the +blind girl's quick fingers. For Inez helped the lovers always, and Don +John was very gentle with her, talking with her when he could, and even +leading her sometimes when she was in a room she did not know. Dolores +knew that she could only hope to exchange a word with him when he came +back, and that the terrace was bleak and wet now, and the roses +withered, and that her father feared for her, and might do some +desperate thing if he found her lover talking with her where no one +could see or hear. For old Mendoza knew the world and the court, and he +foresaw that sooner or later some royal marriage would be made for Don +John of Austria, and that even if Dolores were married to him, some +tortuous means would be found to annul her marriage, whereby a great +shame would darken his house. Moreover, he was the King's man, devoted +to Philip body and soul, as his sovereign, ready to give his life ten +times for his sovereign's word, and thinking it treason to doubt a royal +thought or motive. He was a rigid old man, a Spaniard of Spain's great +days, fearless, proud, intolerant, making Spain's honour his idol, +capable of gentleness only to his children, and loving them dearly, but +with that sort of severity and hardness in all questions where his +authority was concerned which can make a father's true affection the +most intolerable burden to a girl of heart, and which, where a son is +its object, leads sooner or later to fierce quarrels and lifelong +estrangement. And so it had happened now. For the two girls had a +brother much older than they, Rodrigo; and he had borne to be treated +like a boy until he could bear no more, and then he had left his +father's house in anger to find out his own fortune in the world, as +many did in his day,--a poor gentleman seeking distinction in an army of +men as brave as himself, and as keen to win honour on every field. Then, +as if to oppose his father in everything, he had attached himself to Don +John, and was spoken of as the latter's friend, and Mendoza feared lest +his son should help Don John to a marriage with Dolores. But in this he +was mistaken, for Rodrigo was as keen, as much a Spaniard, and as much +devoted to the honour of his name as his father could be; and though he +looked upon Don John as the very ideal of what a soldier and a prince +should be, he would have cut off his own right hand rather than let it +give his leader the letter Dolores had been writing so long; and she +knew this and feared her brother, and tried to keep her secret from him. + +Inez knew all, and she also was afraid of Rodrigo and of her father, +both for her sister's sake and her own. So, in that divided house, the +father was against the son, and the daughters were allied against them +both, not in hatred, but in terror and because of Dolores' great love +for Don John of Austria. + +As they sat at the table it began to rain again, and the big drops beat +against the windows furiously for a few minutes. The panes were round +and heavy, and of a greenish yellow colour, made of blown glass, each +with a sort of knob in the middle, where the iron blowpipe had been +separated from the hot mass. It was impossible to see through them at +all distinctly, and when the sky was dark with rain they admitted only a +lurid glare into the room, which grew cold and colourless again when the +rain ceased. Inez had been sitting motionless a long time, her elbow on +the table, her chin resting upon her loosely clasped white hands, her +blind face turned upward, listening to the turning of the pages and to +the occasional scratching of her sister's pen. She sighed, moved, and +let her hands fall upon the table before her in a helpless, half +despairing way, as she leaned back in the big carved chair. Dolores +looked up at once, for she was used to helping her sister in her +slightest needs and to giving her a ready sympathy in every mood. + +"What is it?" she asked quickly. "Do you want anything, dear?" + +"Have you almost finished?" + +The girl's voice would almost have told that she was blind. It was sweet +and low, but it lacked life; though not weak, it was uncertain in +strength and full of a longing that could never be satisfied, but that +often seemed to come within possible reach of satisfaction. There was in +the tones, too, the perpetual doubt of one from whom anything might be +hidden by silence, or by the least tarn of words. Every passing hope and +fear, and every pleasure and pain, were translated into sound by its +quick changes. It trusted but could not always quite promise to believe; +it swelled and sank as the sensitive heart beat faster or slower. It +came from a world without light, in which only sound had meaning, and +only touch was certainty. + +"Yes," answered Dolores. "I have almost finished--there is only half a +page more to read over." + +"And why do you read it over?" asked Inez. "Do you change what you have +written? Do you not think now exactly as you did when you wrote?" + +"No; I feel a great deal more--I want better words! And then it all +seems so little, and so badly written, and I want to say things that no +one ever said before, many, many things. He will laugh--no, not that! +How could he? But my letter will seem childish to him. I know it will. I +wish I had never written it I Do you think I had better give it to him, +after all?" + +"How can I tell?" asked Inez hopelessly. "You have never read it to me. +I do not know what you have said to him." + +"I have said that I love him as no man was ever loved before," answered +Dolores, and the true words seemed to thrill with a life of their own as +she spoke them. + +Then she was silent for a moment, and looked down at the written pages +without seeing them. Inez did not move, and seemed hardly to breathe. +Then Dolores spoke again, pressing both her hands upon the paper before +her unconsciously. + +"I have told him that I love him, and shall love him for ever and ever," +she said; "that I will live for him, die for him, suffer for him, serve +him! I have told him all that and much more." + +"More? That is much already. But he loves you, too. There is nothing you +can promise which he will not promise, and keep, too, I think. But more! +What more can you have said than that?" + +"There is nothing I would not say if I could find words!" + +There was a fullness of life in her voice which, to the other's +uncertain tones, was as sunshine to moonlight. + +"You will find words when you see him this evening," said Inez slowly. +"And they will be better than anything you can write. Am I to give him +your letter?" + +Dolores looked at her sister quickly, for there was a little constraint +in the accent of the last phrase. + +"I do not know," she answered. "How can I tell what may happen, or how I +shall see him first?" + +"You will see him from the window presently. I can hear the guards +forming already to meet him--and you--you will be able to see him from +the window." + +Inez had stopped and had finished her speech, as if something had choked +her. She turned sideways in her chair when she had spoken, as if to +listen better, for she was seated with her back to the light. + +"I will tell you everything," said Maria Dolores softly. "It will be +almost as if you could see him, too." + +"Almost--" + +Inez spoke the one word and broke off abruptly, and rose from her chair. +In the familiar room she moved almost as securely as if she could see. +She went to the window and listened. Dolores came and stood beside her. + +"What is it, dear?" she asked. "What is the matter? What has hurt you? +Tell me!" + +"Nothing," answered the blind girl, "nothing, dear. I was thinking--how +lonely I shall be when you and he are married, and they send me to a +convent, or to our dismal old house in Valladolid." + +A faint colour came into her pale face, and feeling it she turned away +from Dolores; for she was not speaking the truth, or at least not half +of it all. + +"I will not let you go!" answered Dolores, putting one arm round her +sister's waist. "They shall never take you from me. And if in many years +from now we are married, you shall always be with us, and I will always +take care of you as I do now." + +Inez sighed and pressed her forehead and blind eyes to the cold window, +almost withdrawing herself from the pressure of Dolores' arm. Down below +there was tramping of heavy feet, as the companies of foot guards took +their places, marching across the broad space, in their wrought steel +caps and breastplates, carrying their tasselled halberds on their +shoulders. An officer's voice gave sharp commands. The gust that had +brought the rain had passed by, and a drizzling mist, caused by a sudden +chill, now completely obscured the window. + +"Can you see anything?" asked Inez suddenly, in a low voice. "I think I +hear trumpets far away." + +"I cannot see--there is mist on the glass, too. Do you hear the trumpets +clearly?" + +"I think I do. Yes--I hear them clearly now." She stopped. "He is +coming," she added under her breath. + +Dolores listened, but she had not the almost supernatural hearing of the +blind, and could distinguish nothing but the tramping of the soldiers +below, and her sister's irregular breathing beside her, as Inez held her +breath again and again in order to catch the very faint and distant +sound. + +"Open the window," she said almost sharply, "I know I hear the +trumpets." + +Her delicate fingers felt for the bolts with almost feverish anxiety. +Dolores helped her and opened the window wide. A strain of distant +clarions sounding a triumphant march came floating across the wet city. +Dolores started, and her face grew radiant, while her fresh lips opened +a little as if to drink in the sound with the wintry air. Beside her, +Inez grew slowly pale and held herself by the edge of the window frame, +gripping it hard, and neither of the two girls felt any sensation of +cold. Dolores' grey eyes grew wide and bright as she gazed fixedly +towards the city where the avenue that led to the palace began, but +Inez, bending a little, turned her ear in the same direction, as if she +could not bear to lose a single note of the music that told her how Don +John of Austria had come home in triumph, safe and whole, from his long +campaign in the south. + +Slowly it came nearer, strain upon strain, each more clear and loud and +full of rejoicing. At first only the high-pitched clarions had sent +their call to the window, but now the less shrill trumpets made rich +harmonies to the melody, and the deep bass horns gave the marching time +to the rest, in short full blasts that set the whole air shaking as with +little peak of thunder. Below, the mounted officers gave orders, +exchanged short phrases, cantered to their places, and came back again a +moment later to make some final arrangement--their splendid gold-inlaid +corslets and the rich caparisons of their horses looking like great +pieces of jewelry that moved hither and thither in the thin grey mist, +while the dark red and yellow uniforms of the household guards +surrounded the square on three sides with broad bands of colour. Dolores +could see her father, who commanded them and to whom the officers came +for orders, sitting motionless and erect on his big black horse--a stern +figure, with close-cut grey beard, clad all in black saving his heavily +gilded breastplate and the silk sash he wore across it from shoulder to +sword knot. She shrank back a little, for she would not have let him see +her looking down from an upper window to welcome the returning visitor. + +"What is it? Do you see him? Is he there?" Inez asked the questions in a +breath, as she heard her sister move. + +"No--our father is below on his horse. He must not see us." And she +moved further into the embrasure. + +"You will not be able to see," said Inez anxiously. "How can you tell +me--I mean, how can you see, where you are?" + +Dolores laughed softly, but her laugh trembled with the happiness that +was coming so soon. + +"Oh, I see very well," she answered. "The window is wide open, you +know." + +"Yes--I know." + +Inez leaned back against the wall beside the window, letting her hand +drop in a hopeless gesture. The sample answer had hurt her, who could +never see, by its mere thoughtlessness and by the joy that made her +sister's voice quaver. The music grew louder and louder, and now there +came with it the sound of a great multitude, cheering, singing the march +with the trumpets, shouting for Don John; and all at once as the throng +burst from the street to the open avenue the voices drowned the clarions +for a moment, and a vast cry of triumph filled the whole air. + +"He is there! He is there!" repeated Inez, leaning towards the window +and feeling for the stone sill. + +But Dolores could not hear for the shouting. The clouds had lifted to +the westward and northward; and as the afternoon sun sank lower they +broke away, and the level rays drank up the gloom of the wintry day in +an instant. Dolores stood motionless before the window, undazzled, like +a statue of ivory and gold in a stone niche. With the light, as the +advancing procession sent the people before it, the trumpets rang high +and clear again, and the bright breastplates of the trumpeters gleamed +like dancing fire before the lofty standard that swayed with the slow +pace of its bearer's horse. Brighter and nearer came the colours, the +blazing armour, the standard, the gorgeous procession of victorious +men-at-arms; louder and louder blew the trumpets, higher and higher the +clouds were lifted from the lowering sun. Half the people of Madrid went +before, the rest flocked behind, all cheering or singing or shouting. +The stream of colour and light became a river, the river a flood, and in +the high tide of a young victor's glory Don John of Austria rode onward +to the palace gate. The mounted trumpeters parted to each side before +him, and the standard-bearer ranged his horse to the left, opposite the +banner of the King, which held the right, and Don John, on a grey Arab +mare, stood out alone at the head of his men, saluting his royal brother +with lowered sword and bent head. A final blast from the trumpets +sounded full and high, and again and again the shout of the great throng +went up like thunder and echoed from the palace walls, as King Philip, +in his balcony above the gate, returned the salute with his hand, and +bent a little forward over the stone railing. + +Dolores de Mendoza forgot her father and all that he might say, and +stood at the open window, looking down. She had dreamed of this moment; +she had seen visions of it in the daytime; she had told herself again +and again what it would be, how it must be; but the reality was beyond +her dreams and her visions and her imaginings, for she had to the full +what few women have in any century, and what few have ever had in the +blush of maidenhood,--the sight of the man she loved, and who loved her +with all his heart, coming home in triumph from a hard-fought war, +himself the leader and the victor, himself in youth's first spring, the +young idol of a warlike nation, and the centre of military glory. + +When he had saluted the King he sat still a moment on his horse and +looked upward, as if unconsciously drawn by the eyes that, of all +others, welcomed him at that moment; and his own met them instantly and +smiled, though his face betrayed nothing. But old Mendoza, motionless in +his saddle, followed the look, and saw; and although he would have +praised the young leader with the best of his friends, and would have +fought under him and for him as well as the bravest, yet at that moment +he would gladly have seen Don John of Austria fall dead from his horse +before his eyes. + +Don John dismounted without haste, and advanced to the gate as the King +disappeared from the balcony above. He was of very graceful figure and +bearing, not short, but looking taller than he really was by the +perfection of his proportions. The short reddish brown hair grew close +and curling on his small head, but left the forehead high, while it set +off the clear skin and the mobile features. A very small moustache +shaded his lip without hiding the boyish mouth, and at that time he wore +no beard. The lips, indeed, smiled often, and the expression of the +mouth was rather careless and good-humoured than strong. The strength of +the face was in the clean-cut jaw, while its real expression was in the +deep-set, fiery blue eyes, that could turn angry and fierce at one +moment, and tender as a woman's the next. + +He wore without exaggeration the military dress of his time,--a +beautifully chiselled corslet inlaid with gold, black velvet sleeves, +loose breeches of velvet and silk, so short that they did not descend +half way to the knees, while his legs were covered by tight hose and +leather boots, made like gaiters to clasp from the knee to the ankle and +heel. Over his shoulder hung a short embroidered cloak, and his head +covering was a broad velvet cap, in which were fastened the black and +yellow plumes of the House of Austria. + +As he came near to the gate, many friends moved forward to greet him, +and he gave his hand to all, with a frank smile and words of greeting. +But old Mendoza did not dismount nor move his horse a step nearer. Don +John, looking round before he went in, saw the grim face, and waved his +hand to Dolores' father; but the old man pretended that he saw nothing, +and made no answering gesture. Some one in the crowd of courtiers +laughed lightly. Old Mendoza's face never changed; but his knees must +have pressed the saddle suddenly, for his black horse stirred uneasily, +and tried to rear a little. Don John stopped short, and his eyes +hardened and grew very light before the smile could fade from his lips, +while he tried to find the face of the man whose laugh he had heard. But +that was impossible, and his look was grave and stern as he went in +under the great gate, the multitude cheering after him. + +From her high window Dolores had seen and heard also, for she had +followed every movement he made and every change of his expression, and +had faithfully told her sister what she saw, until the laugh came, short +and light, but cutting. And Inez heard that, too, for she was leaning +far forward upon the broad stone sill to listen for the sound of Don +John's voice. She drew back with a springing movement, and a sort of cry +of pain. + +"Some one is laughing at me!" she cried. "Some one is laughing because I +am trying to see!" + +Instantly Dolores drew her sister to her, kissing her tenderly, and +soothing her as one does a frightened child. + +"No, dear, no! It was not that--I saw what it was. Nobody was looking at +you, my darling. Do you know why some one laughed? It hurt me, too. He +smiled and waved his hand to our father, who took no notice of him. The +laugh was for that--and for me, because the man knew well enough that +our father does not mean that we shall ever marry. Do you see, dear? It +was not meant for you." + +"Did he really look up at us when you said so?" asked Inez, in a +smothered voice. + +"Who? The man who laughed?" + +"No. I mean--" + +"Don John? Yes. He looked up to us and smiled--as he often does at +me--with his eyes only, while his face was quite grave. He is not +changed at all, except that he looks more determined, and handsomer, and +braver, and stronger than ever! He does each time I see him!" + +But Inez was not listening. + +"That was worth living for--worth being blind for," she said suddenly, +"to hear the people shout and cheer for him as he came along. You who +can see it all do not understand what the sound means to me. For a +moment--only for a moment--I saw light--I know I saw a bright light +before my eyes. I am not dreaming. It made my heart beat, and it made my +head dizzy. It must have been light. Do you think it could be, Dolores?" + +"I do not know, dear," answered the other gently. + +But as the day faded and they sat together in the early dusk, Dolores +looked long and thoughtfully at the blind face. Inez loved Don John, +though she did not know it, and without knowing it she had told her +sister. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +When Don John had disappeared within the palace the people lingered a +little while, hoping that something might happen which would be worth +seeing, and then, murmuring a little in perfectly unreasonable +disappointment, they slowly dispersed. After that old Mendoza gave his +orders to the officers of the guards, the men tramped away, one +detachment after another, in a regular order; the cavalry that had +ridden up with Don John wheeled at a signal from the trumpets, and began +to ride slowly back to the city, pressing hard upon the multitude, and +before it was quite dark the square before the palace was deserted +again. The sky had cleared, the pavement was dry again, and the full +moon was rising. Two tall sentinels with halberds paced silently up and +down in the shadow. + +Dolores and her sister were still sitting in the dark when the door +opened, and a grey-haired servant in red and yellow entered the room, +bearing two lighted wax candles in heavy bronze candlesticks, which he +set upon the table. A moment later he was followed by old Mendoza, still +in his breastplate, as he had dismounted, his great spurs jingling on +his heavy boots, and his long basket-hilted sword trailing on the marble +pavement. He was bareheaded now, and his short hair, smooth and +grizzled, covered his energetic head like a close-fitting skull cap of +iron-grey velvet. He stood still before the table, his bony right hand +resting upon it and holding both his long gloves. The candlelight shone +upward into his dark face, and gleamed yellow in his angry eyes. + +Both the girls rose instinctively as their father entered; but they +stood close together, their hands still linked as if to defend each +other from a common enemy, though the hard man would have given his life +for either of them at any moment since they had come into the world. +They knew it, and trembled. + +"You have made me the laughing-stock of the court," he began slowly, and +his voice shook with anger. "What have you to say in your defence?" + +He was speaking to Dolores, and she turned a little pale. There was +something so cruelly hard in his tone and bearing that she drew back a +little, not exactly in bodily fear, but as a brave man may draw back a +step when another suddenly draws a weapon upon him. Instantly Inez moved +forward, raising one white hand in protest, and turning her blind face +to her father's gleaming eyes. + +"I am not speaking to you," he said roughly, "but you," he went on, +addressing Dolores, and the heavy table shook under his hand. "What +devil possessed you that you should shame me and yourself, standing at +your window to smile at Don John, as if he were the Espadero at a bull +fight and you the beauty of the ring--with all Madrid there to look on, +from his Majesty the King to the beggar in the road? Have you no +modesty, no shame, no blood that can blush? And if not, have you not +even so much woman's sense as should tell you that you are ruining your +name and mine before the whole world?" + +"Father! For the sake of heaven do not say such words--you must not! You +shall not!" + +Dolores' face was quite white now, as she gently pushed Inez aside and +faced the angry man. The table was between them. + +"Have I said one word more than the very truth?" asked Mendoza. "Does +not the whole court know that you love Don John of Austria--" + +"Let the whole world know it!" cried the girl bravely. "Am I ashamed to +love the best and bravest man that breathes?" + +"Let the whole world know that you are willing to be his toy, his +plaything--" + +"His wife, sir!" Dolores' voice was steady and clear as she interrupted +her father. "His wife," she repeated proudly; "And to-morrow, if you and +the King will not hinder us. God made you my father, but neither God nor +man has given you the right to insult me, and you shall not be +unanswered, so long as I have strength and breath to speak. But for you, +I should be Don John of Austria's wife to-day--and then, then his 'toy,' +his 'plaything'--yes, and his slave and his servant--what you will! I +love him, and I would work for him with my hands, as I would give my +blood and my life for his, if God would grant me that happiness and +grace, since you will not let me be his wife!" + +"His wife!" exclaimed Mendoza, with a savage sneer. "His wife--to be +married to-day and cast off to-morrow by a turn of the pen and the +twisting of a word that would prove your marriage void, in order that +Don John may be made the husband of some royal widowed lady, like Queen +Mary of the Scots! His wife!" He laughed bitterly. + +"You have an exalted opinion of your King, my father, since you suppose +that he would permit such deeds in Spain!" + +Dolores had drawn herself up to her full height as she spoke, and she +remained motionless as she awaited the answer to what she had said. It +was long in coming, though Mendoza's dark eyes met hers unflinchingly, +and his lips moved more than once as if he were about to speak. She had +struck a blow that was hard to parry, and she knew it. Inez stood beside +her, silent and breathing hard as she listened. + +"You think that I have nothing to say," he began at last, and his tone +had changed and was more calm. "You are right, perhaps. What should I +say to you, since you have lost all sense of shame and all thought of +respect or obedience? Do you expect that I shall argue with you, and try +to convince you that I am right, instead of forcing you to respect me +and yourself? Thank Heaven, I have never yet questioned my King's +thoughts, nor his motives, nor his supreme right to do whatsoever may be +for the honour and glory of Spain. My life is his, and all I have is +his, to do with it all as he pleases, by grace of his divine right. That +is my creed and my law--and if I have failed to bring you up in the same +belief, I have committed a great sin, and it will be counted against me +hereafter, though I have done what I could, to the best of my +knowledge." + +Mendoza lifted his sheathed sword and laid his right hand upon the +cross-bar of the basket hilt. + +"God--the King--Spain!" he said solemnly, as he pressed his lips to it +once for each article of his faith. + +"I do not wish to shake your belief," said Dolores coldly. "I daresay +that is impossible!" + +"As impossible as it is to make me change my determination," answered +Mendoza, letting his long sword rest on the pavement again. + +"And what may your determination be?" asked the girl, still facing him. + +Something in his face forewarned her of near evil and danger, as he +looked at her long without answering. She moved a little, so as to stand +directly in front of Inez. Taking an attitude that was almost defiant, +she began to speak rapidly, holding her hands behind her and pressing +herself back against her sister to attract the latter's attention; and +in her hand she held the letter she had written to Don John, folded into +the smallest possible space, for she had kept it ready in the wrist of +her tight sleeve, not knowing what might happen any moment to give her +an opportunity of sending it. + +"What have you determined?" she asked again, and then went on without +waiting for a reply. "In what way are you going to exhibit your power +over me? Do you mean to take me away from the court to live in +Valladolid again? Are you going to put me in the charge of some sour old +woman who will never let me out of her sight from morning till morning?" +She had found her sister's hand behind hers and had thrust the letter +into the fingers that closed quickly upon it. Then she laughed a little, +almost gaily. "Do you think that a score of sour old duennas could teach +me to forget the man I love, or could prevent me from sending him a +message every day if I chose? Do you think you could hinder Don John of +Austria, who came back an hour ago from his victory the idol of all +Spain, the favourite of the people--brave, young, powerful, rich, +popular, beloved far more than the King himself, from seeing me every +day if he chose, so long as he were not away in war? And then--I will +ask you something more--do you think that father, or mother, or king, or +law, or country has power to will away the love of a woman who loves +with all her heart and soul and strength? Then answer me and tell me +what you have determined to do with me, and I will tell you my +determination, too, for I have one of my own, and shall abide by it, +come what may, and whatsoever you may do!" + +She paused, for she had heard Inez softly close the door as she went +out. The letter at least was safe, and if it were humanly possible, Inez +would find a means of delivering it; for she had all that strange +ingenuity of the blind in escaping observation which it seems impossible +that they should possess, but of which every one who has been much with +them is fully aware. Mendoza had seen Inez go out, and was glad that she +was gone, for her blind face sometimes disturbed him when he wished to +assert his authority. + +"Yes," he said, "I will tell you what I mean to do, and it is the only +thing left to me, for you have given me no choice. You are disobedient +and unruly, you have lost what little respect you ever had--or +showed--for me. But that is not all. Men have had unruly daughters +before, and yet have married them well, and to men who in the end have +ruled them. I do not speak of my affection for you both, since you have +none for me. But now, you are going beyond disobedience and lawlessness, +for you are ruining yourself and disgracing me, and I will neither +permit the one nor suffer the other." His voice rose harshly. "Do you +understand me? I intend to protect my name from you, and yours from the +world, in the only way possible. I intend to send you to Las Huelgas +to-morrow morning. I am in earnest, and unless you consent to give up +this folly and to marry as I wish, you shall stay there for the rest of +your natural life. Do you understand? And until to-morrow morning you +shall stay within these doors. We shall see whether Don John of Austria +will try to force my dwelling first and a convent of holy nuns +afterwards. You will be safe from him, I give you my word of +honour,--the word of a Spanish gentleman and of your father. You shall +be safe forever. And if Don John tries to enter here to-night, I will +kill him on the threshold. I swear that I will." + +He ceased speaking, turned, and began to walk up and down the small +room, his spurs and sword clanking heavily at every step. He had folded +his arms, and his head was bent low. + +A look of horror and fear had slowly risen in Dolores' face, for she +knew her father, and that he kept his word at every risk. She knew also +that the King held him in very high esteem, and was as firmly opposed to +her marriage as Mendoza himself, and therefore ready to help him to do +what he wished. It had never occurred to her that she could be suddenly +thrust out of sight in a religious institution, to be kept there at her +father's pleasure, even for her whole life. She was too young and too +full of life to have thought of such a possibility. She had indeed heard +that such things could be done, and had been done, but she had never +known such a case, and had never realized that she was so completely at +her father's mercy. For the first time in her life she felt real fear, +and as it fell upon her there came the sickening conviction that she +could not resist it, that her spirit was broken all at once, that in a +moment more she would throw herself at her father's feet and implore +mercy, making whatever promise he exacted, yet making it falsely, out of +sheer terror, in an utter degradation and abasement of all moral +strength, of which she had never even dreamed. She grew giddy as she +felt it coming upon her, and the lights of the two candles moved +strangely. Already she saw herself on her knees, sobbing with fear, +trying to take her father's hand, begging forgiveness, denying her love, +vowing submission and dutiful obedience in an agony of terror. For on +the other side she saw the dark corridors and gloomy cells of Las +Huelgas, the veiled and silent nuns, the abomination of despair that was +before her till she should die and escape at last,--the faint hope which +would always prevent her from taking the veil herself, yet a hope +fainter and fainter, crossed by the frightful uncertainty in which she +should be kept by those who guarded her. They would not even tell her +whether the man she loved were alive or dead, she could never know +whether he had given up her love, himself in despair, or whether, then, +as years went by, he would not lose the thread that took him back to the +memory of her, and forget--and love again. + +But then her strong nature rose again, and the vision of fear began to +fade as her faith in his love denied the last thought with scorn. Many a +time, when words could tell no more, and seemed exhausted just when +trust was strongest, he had simply said, "I love you, as you love me," +and somehow the little phrase meant all, and far more than the tender +speeches that sometimes formed themselves so gracefully, and yet +naturally and simply, because they, too, came straight from the heart. +So now, in her extreme need, the plain words came back to her in his +voice, "I love you, as you love me," with a sudden strength of faith in +him that made her live again, and made fear seem impossible. While her +father slowly paced the floor in silence, she thought what she should +do, and whether there could be anything which she would not do, if Don +John of Austria were kept a prisoner from her; and she felt sure that +she could overcome every obstacle and laugh at every danger, for the +hope of getting to him. If she would, so would he, since he loved her as +she loved him. But for all the world, he would not have her throw +herself upon her father's mercy and make false promises and sob out +denials of her love, out of fear. Death would be better than that. + +"Do as you will with me, since you have the power," she said at last, +quite calmly and steadily. + +Instantly the old man stopped in his walk, and turned towards her, +almost as if he himself were afraid now. To her amazement she saw that +his dark eyes were moist with tears that clung but half shed to the +rugged lids and rough lashes. He did not speak for some moments, while +she gazed at him in wonder, for she could not understand. Then all at +once he lifted his brown hands and covered his face with a gesture of +utter despair. + +"Dolores! My child, my little girl!" he cried, in a broken voice. + +Then he sat down, as it overcome, clasped his hands on the hilt of his +sword, and rested his forehead against them, rocking himself with a +barely perceptible motion. In twenty years, Dolores had never +understood, not even guessed, that the hard man, ever preaching of +wholesome duty and strict obedience, always rebuking, never satisfied, +ill pleased almost always, loved her with all his heart, and looked upon +her as the very jewel of his soul. She guessed it now, in a sudden burst +of understanding; but it was so new, so strange, that she could not have +told what she felt. There was at best no triumph at the thought that, of +the two, he had broken down first in the contest. Pity came first, +womanly, simple and kind, for the harsh nature that was so wounded at +last. She came to his side, and laid one hand upon his shoulder, +speaking softly. + +"I am very, very sorry that I have hurt you," she said, and waited for +him to speak, pressing his shoulder with a gentle touch. + +He did not look up, and still he rocked himself gently, leaning on his +sword. The girl suffered, too, to see him suffering so. A little while +ago he had been hard, fierce, angry, cruel, threatening her with a +living death that had filled her with horror. It had seemed quite +impossible that there could be the least tenderness in him for any +one--least of all for her. + +"God be merciful to me," he said at length in very low tones. "God +forgive me if it is my fault--you do not love me--I am nothing to you +but an unkind old man, and you are all the world to me, child!" + +He raised his head slowly and looked into her face. She was startled at +the change in his own, as well as deeply touched by what he said. His +dark cheeks had grown grey, and the tears that would not quite fall were +like a glistening mist under the lids, and almost made him look +sightless. Indeed, he scarcely saw her distinctly. His clasped hands +trembled a little on the hilt of the sword he still held. + +"How could I know?" cried Dolores, suddenly kneeling down beside him. +"How could I guess? You never let me see that you were fond of me--or I +have been blind all these years--" + +"Hush, child!" he said. "Do not hurt me any more--it must have been my +fault." + +He grew more calm, and though his face was very grave and sad, the +natural dark colour was slowly coming back to it now, and his hands were +steady again. The girl was too young, and far too different from him, to +understand his nature, but she was fast realizing that he was not the +man he had always seemed to her. + +"Oh, if I had only known!" she cried, in deep distress. "If I had only +guessed, I would have been so different! I was always frightened, always +afraid of you, since I can remember--I thought you did not care for us +and that we always displeased you--how could we know?" + +Mendoza lifted one of his hands from the sword hilt, and took hers, with +as much gentleness as was possible to him. His eyes became clear again, +and the profound emotion he had shown subsided to the depths whence it +had risen. + +"We shall never quite understand each other," he said quietly. "You +cannot see that it is a man's duty to do what is right for his children, +rather than to sacrifice that in order to make them love him." + +It seemed to Dolores that there might be a way open between the two, but +she said nothing, and left her hand in his, glad that he was kind, but +feeling, as he felt, that there could never be any real understanding +between them. The breach had existed too long, and it was far too wide. + +"You are headstrong, my dear," he said, nodding at each word. "You are +very headstrong, if you will only reflect." + +"It is not my head, it is my heart," answered Dolores. "And besides," +she added with a smile, "I am your daughter, and you are not of a very +gentle and yielding disposition, are you?" + +"No," he answered with hesitation, "perhaps not." Then his face relaxed +a little, and he almost smiled too. + +It seemed as if the peace were made and as if thereafter there need not +be trouble again. But it was even then not far off, for it was as +impossible for Mendoza to yield as it would have been for Dolores to +give up her love for Don John. She did not see this, and she fancied +that a real change had taken place in his disposition, so that he would +forget that he had threatened to send her to Las Huelgas, and not think +of it again. + +"What is done cannot be undone," he said, with renewed sadness. "You +will never quite believe that you have been everything to me during your +life. How could you not be, my child? I am very lonely. Your mother has +been dead nearly eighteen years, and Rodrigo--" + +He stopped short suddenly, for he had never spoken his son's name in the +girl's hearing since Rodrigo had left him to follow his own fortunes. + +"I think Rodrigo broke my heart," said the old man, after a short pause, +controlling his voice so that it sounded dry and indifferent. "And if +there is anything left of it, you will break the rest." + +He rose, taking his hand from hers, and turning away, with the roughness +of a strong, hard man, who has broken down once under great emotion and +is capable of any harshness in his fear of yielding to it again. Dolores +started slightly and drew back. In her the kindly impression was still +strong, but his tone and manner wounded her. + +"You are wrong," she said earnestly. "Since you have shown me that you +love me, I will indeed do my best not to hurt you or displease you. I +will do what I can--what I can." + +She repeated the last words slowly and with unconscious emphasis. He +turned his face to her again instantly. + +"Then promise me that you will never see Don John of Austria again, that +you will forget that you ever loved him, that you will put him +altogether out of your thoughts, and that you will obediently accept the +marriage I shall make for you." + +The words of refusal to any such obedience as that rose to the girl's +lips, ready and sharp. But she would not speak them this time, lest more +angry words should answer hers. She looked straight at her father's +eyes, holding her head proudly high for a moment. Then, smiling at the +impossibility of what he asked, she turned from him and went to the +window in silence. She opened it wide, leaned upon the stone sill and +looked out. The moon had risen much higher now, and the court was white. + +She had meant to cut short the discussion without rousing anger again, +but she could have taken no worse way to destroy whatever was left of +her father's kindlier mood. He did not raise his voice now, as he +followed her and spoke. + +"You refuse to do that?" he said, with an already ominous interrogation +in his tone. + +"You ask the impossible," she answered, without looking round. "I have +not refused, for I have no will in this, no choice. You can do what you +please with me, for you have power over my outward life--and if you +lacked it, the King would help you. But you have no power beyond that, +neither over my heart nor over my soul. I love him--I have loved him +long, and I shall love him till I die, and beyond that, forever and +ever, beyond everything--beyond the great to-morrow of God's last +judgment! How can I put him out of my thoughts, then? It is madness to +ask it of me." + +She paused a moment, while he stood behind her, getting his teeth and +slowly grinding the heel of one heavy boot on the pavement. + +"And as for threatening me," she continued, "you will not kill Don John, +nor even try to kill him, for he is the King's brother. If I can see him +this evening, I will--and there will be no risk for him. You would not +murder him by stealth, I suppose? No! Then you will not attack him at +all, and if I can see him, I will--I tell you so, frankly. To-morrow or +the next day, when the festivities they have for him are over, and you +yourself are at liberty, take me to Las Huelgas, if you will, and with +as little scandal as possible. But when I am there, set a strong guard +of armed men to keep me, for I shall escape unless you do. And I shall +go to Don John. That is all I have to say. That is my last word." + +"I gave you mine, and it was my word of honour," said Mendoza. "If Don +John tries to enter here, to see you, I will kill him. To-morrow, you +shall go to Las Huelgas." + +Dolores made no answer and did not even turn her head. He left her and +went out. She heard his heavy tread in the hall beyond, and she heard a +bolt slipped at the further door. She was imprisoned for the night, for +the entrance her father had fastened was the one which cut off the +portion of the apartment in which the sisters lived from the smaller +part which he had reserved for himself. These rooms, from which there +was no other exit, opened, like the sitting-room, upon the same hall. + +When Dolores knew that she was alone, she drew back from the window and +shut it. It had served its purpose as a sort of refuge from her father, +and the night air was cold. She sat down to think, and being in a +somewhat desperate mood, she smiled at the idea of being locked into her +room, supperless, like a naughty child. But her face grew grave +instantly as she tried to discover some means of escape. Inez was +certainly not in the apartment--she must have gone to the other end of +the palace, on pretence of seeing one of the court ladies, but really in +the hope of giving Don John the letter. It was more than probable that +she would not be allowed to enter when she came back, for Mendoza would +distrust her. That meant that Dolores could have no communication with +any one outside her rooms during the evening and night, and she knew her +father too well to doubt that he would send her to Las Huelgas in the +morning, as he had sworn to do. Possibly he would let her serving-woman +come to her to prepare what she needed for the journey, but even that +was unlikely, for he would suspect everybody. + +The situation looked hopeless, and the girl's face grew slowly pale as +she realized that after all she might not even exchange a word with Don +John before going to the convent--she might not even be able to tell him +whither they were sending her, and Mendoza might keep the secret for +years--and she would never be allowed to write, of course. + +She heard the further door opened again, the bolt running back with a +sharp noise. Then she heard her father's footsteps and his voice calling +to Inez, as he went from room to room. But there was no answer, and +presently he went away, bolting the door a second time. There could be +no more doubt about it now. Dolores was quite alone. Her heart beat +heavily and slowly. But it was not over yet. Again the bolt slipped in +the outer hall, and again she heard the heavy steps. They came straight +towards the door. He had perhaps changed his mind, or he had something +more to say; she held her breath, but he did not come in. As if to make +doubly sure, he bolted her into the little room, crossed the hall a last +time, and bolted it for the night, perfectly certain that Dolores was +safely shut off from the outer world. + +For some minutes she sat quite still, profoundly disturbed, and utterly +unable to find any way out of her difficulty, which was, indeed, that +she was in a very secure prison. + +Then again there was a sound at the door, but very soft this time, not +half as loud in her ears as the beating of her own heart. There was +something ghostly in it, for she had heard no footsteps. The bolt moved +very slowly and gently--she had to strain her ears to hear it move. The +sound ceased, and another followed it--that of the door being cautiously +opened. A moment later Inez was in the room--turning her head anxiously +from side to side to hear Dolores' breathing, and so to find out where +she was. Then as Dolores rose, the blind girl put her finger to her +lips, and felt for her sister's hand. + +"He has the letter," she whispered quickly. "I found him by accident, +very quickly. I am to say to you that after he has been some time in the +great hall, he will slip away and come here. You see our father will be +on duty and cannot come up." + +Dolores' hand trembled violently. + +"He swore to me that he would kill Don John if he came here," she +whispered. "He will do it, if it costs his own life! You must find him +again--go quickly, dear, for the love of Heaven!" Her anxiety increased. +"Go--go, darling--do not lose a moment--he may come sooner--save him, +save him!" + +"I cannot go," answered Inez, in terror, as she understood the +situation. "I had hidden myself, and I am locked in with you. He called +me, but I kept quiet, for I knew he would not let me stay." She buried +her face in her hands and sobbed aloud in an agony of fear. + +Dolores' lips were white, and she steadied herself against a chair. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Dolores stood leaning against the back of the chair, neither hearing nor +seeing her sister, conscious only that Don John was in danger and that +she could not warn him to be on his guard. She had not believed herself +when she had told her father that he would not dare to lift his hand +against the King's half brother. She had said the words to give herself +courage, and perhaps in a rush of certainty that the man she loved was a +match for other men, hand to hand, and something more. It was different +now. Little as she yet knew of human nature, she guessed without +reasoning that a man who has been angry, who has wavered and given way +to what he believes to be weakness, and whose anger has then burst out +again, is much more dangerous than before, because his wrath is no +longer roused against another only, but also against himself. More +follies and crimes have been committed in that second tide of passion +than under a first impulse. Even if Mendoza had not fully meant what he +had said the first time, he had meant it all, and more, when he had last +spoken. Once more the vision of fear rose before Dolores' eyes, nobler +now; because it was fear for another and not for herself, but therefore +also harder to conquer. + +Inez had ceased from sobbing now, and was sitting quietly in her +accustomed seat, in that attitude of concentrated expectancy of sounds +which is so natural to the blind, that one can almost recognize +blindness by the position of the head and body without seeing the face. +The blind rarely lean back in a chair; more often the body is quite +upright, or bent a little forward, the face is slightly turned up when +there is total silence, often turned down when a sound is already heard +distinctly; the knees are hardly ever crossed, the hands are seldom +folded together, but are generally spread out, as if ready to help the +hearing by the sense of touch--the lips are slightly parted, for the +blind know that they hear by the mouth as well as with their ears--the +expression of the face is one of expectation and extreme attention, +still, not placid, calm, but the very contrary of indifferent. It was +thus that Inez sat, as she often sat for hours, listening, always and +forever listening to the speech of things and of nature, as well as for +human words. And in listening, she thought and reasoned patiently and +continually, so that the slightest sounds had often long and accurate +meanings for her. The deaf reason little or ill, and are very +suspicious; the blind, on the contrary, are keen, thoughtful, and +ingenious, and are distrustful of themselves rather than of others. Inez +sat quite still, listening, thinking, and planning a means of helping +her sister. + +But Dolores stood motionless as if she were paralyzed, watching the +picture that "he could not chase away. For she saw the familiar figure +of the man she loved coming down the gloomy corridor, alone and unarmed, +past the deep embrasures through which the moonlight streamed, straight +towards the oak door at the end; and then, from one of the windows +another figure stood out, sword in hand, a gaunt man with a grey beard, +and there were few words, and an uncertain quick confounding of shadows +with a ray of cold light darting hither and thither, then a fall, and +then stillness. As soon as it was over, it began again, with little +change, save that it grew more distinct, till she could see Don John's +white face in the moonlight as he lay dead on the pavement of the +corridor. + +It became intolerable at last, and she slowly raised one hand and +covered her eyes to shut out the sight. + +"Listen," said Inez, as Dolores stirred. "I have been thinking. You must +see him to-night, even if you are not alone with him. There is only one +way to do that; you must dress yourself for the court and go down to the +great hall with the others and speak to him--then you can decide how to +meet to-morrow." + +"Inez--I have not told you the rest! To-morrow I am to be sent to Las +Huelgas, and kept there like a prisoner." Inez uttered a low cry of +pain. + +"To a convent!" It seemed like death. + +Dolores began to tell her all Mendoza had said, but Inez soon +interrupted her. There was a dark flush in the blind girl's face. + +"And he would have you believe that he loves you?" she cried +indignantly. "He has always been hard, and cruel, and unkind, he has +never forgiven me for being blind---he will never forgive you for being +young! The King! The King before everything and every one--before +himself, yes, that is well, but before his children, his soul, his +heart--he has no heart! What am I saying--" She stopped short. + +"And yet, in his strange way, he loves us both," said Dolores. "I cannot +understand it, but I saw his face when there were tears in his eyes, and +I heard his voice. He would give his life for us." + +"And our lives, and hearts, and hopes to feed his conscience and to save +his own soul!" + +Inez was trembling with anger, leaning far forward, her face flushed, +one slight hand clenched, the other clenching it hard. Dolores was +silent. It was not the first time that Inez had spoken in this way, for +the blind girl could be suddenly and violently angry for a good cause. +But now her tone changed. + +"I will save you," she said suddenly, "but there is no time to be lost. +He will not come back to our rooms now, and he knows well enough that +Don John cannot come here at this hour, so that he is not waiting for +him. We have this part of the place to ourselves, and the outer door +only is bolted now. It will take you an hour to dress--say +three-quarters of an hour. As soon as you get out, you must go quickly +round the palace to the Duchess Alvarez. Our father will not go there, +and you can go down with her, as usual--but tell her nothing. Our father +will be there, and he will see you, but he will not care to make an open +scandal in the court. Don John will come and speak to you; you must stay +beside the Duchess of course--but you can manage to exchange a few +words." + +Dolores listened intently, and her face brightened a little as Inez went +on, only to grow sad and hopeless again a moment later. It was all an +impossible dream. + +"That would be possible if I could once get beyond the door of the +hall," she said despondently. "It is of no use, dear! The door is +bolted." + +"They will open it for me. Old Eudaldo is always within hearing, and he +will do anything for me. Besides, I shall seem to have been shut in by +mistake, do you see? I shall say that I am hungry, thirsty, that I am +cold, that in locking you in our father locked me in, too, because I was +asleep. Then Eudaldo will open the door for me. I shall say that I am +going to the Duchess's." + +"Yes--but then?" + +"You will cover yourself entirely with my black cloak and draw it over +your head and face. We are of the same height--you only need to walk as +I do--as if you were blind--across the hall to the left. Eudaldo will +open the outer door for you. You will just nod to thank him, without +speaking, and when you are outside, touch the wall of the corridor with +your left hand, and keep close to it. I always do, for fear of running +against some one. If you meet any of the women, they will take you for +me. There is never much light in the corridor, is there? There is one +oil lamp half way down, I know, for I always smell it when I pass in the +evening." + +"Yes, it is almost dark there--it is a little lamp. Do you really think +this is possible?" + +"It is possible, not sure. If you hear footsteps in the corridor beyond +the corner, you will have time to slip into one of the embrasures. But +our father will not come now. He knows that Don John is in his own +apartments with many people. And besides, it is to be a great festival +to-night, and all the court people and officers, and the Archbishop, and +all the rest who do not live in the palace will come from the city, so +that our father will have to command the troops and give orders for the +guards to march out, and a thousand things will take his time. Don John +cannot possibly come here till after the royal supper, and if our father +can come away at all, it will be at the same time. That is the danger." + +Dolores shivered and saw the vision in the corridor again. + +"But if you are seen talking with Don John before supper, no one will +suppose that in order to meet him you would risk coming back here, where +you are sure to be caught and locked up again. Do you see?" + +"It all depends upon whether I can get out," answered Dolores, but there +was more hope in her tone. "How am I to dress without a maid?" she asked +suddenly. + +"Trust me," said Inez, with a laugh. "My hands are better than a +serving-woman's eyes. You shall look as you never looked before. I know +every lock of your hair, and just how it should be turned and curled and +fastened in place so that it cannot possibly get loose. Come, we are +wasting time. Take off your slippers as I have done, so that no one +shall hear us walking through the hall to your room, and bring the +candles with you if you choose--yes, you need them to pick out the +colours you like." + +"If you think it will be safer in the dark, it does not matter," said +Dolores. "I know where everything is." + +"It would be safer," answered Inez thoughtfully. "It is just possible +that he might be in the court and might see the light in your window, +whereas if it burns here steadily, he will suspect nothing. We will bolt +the door of this room, as I found it. If by any possibility he comes +back, he will think you are still here, and will probably not come in." + +"Pray Heaven he may not!" exclaimed Dolores, and she began to go towards +the door. + +Inez was there before her, opening it very cautiously. + +"My hands are lighter than yours," she whispered. + +They both passed out, and Inez slipped the bolt back into its place with +infinite precaution. + +"Is there light here?" she asked under her breath. + +"There is a very small lamp on the table. I can just see my door." + +"Put it out as we pass," whispered Inez. "I will lead you if you cannot +find your way." + +They moved cautiously forward, and when they reached the table, Dolores +bent down to the small wick and blew out the flame. Then she felt her +sister's hand taking hers and leading her quickly to the other door. The +blind girl was absolutely noiseless in her movements, and Dolores had +the strange impression that she was being led by a spirit through the +darkness. Inez stopped a moment, and then went slowly on; they had +entered the room though Dolores had not heard the door move, nor did she +hear it closed behind her again. Her own room was perfectly dark, for +the heavy curtain that covered the window was drawn; she made a step +alone, and cautiously, and struck her knee against a chair. + +"Do not move," whispered Inez. "You will make a noise. I can dress you +where you stand, or if you want to find anything, I will lead you to the +place where it is. Remember that it is always day for me." + +Dolores obeyed, and stood still, holding her breath a little in her +intense excitement. It seemed impossible that Inez could do all she +promised without making a mistake, and Dolores would not have been a +woman had she not been visited just then by visions of ridicule. Without +light she was utterly helpless to do anything for herself, and she had +never before then fully realized the enormous misfortune with which her +sister had to contend. She had not guessed, either, what energy and +quickness of thought Inez possessed, and the sensation of being advised, +guided, and helped by one she had always herself helped and protected +was new. + +They spoke in quick whispers of what she was to wear and of how her hair +was to be dressed, and Inez found what was wanted without noise, and +almost as quickly as Dolores could have done in broad daylight, and +placed a chair for her, making her sit down in it, and began to arrange +her hair quickly and skilfully. Dolores felt the spiritlike hands +touching her lightly and deftly in the dark--they were very slight and +soft, and did not offend her with a rough movement or a wrong turn, as +her maid's sometimes did. She felt her golden hair undone, and swiftly +drawn out and smoothed without catching, or tangling, or hurting her at +all, in a way no woman had ever combed it, and the invisible hands +gently divided it, and turned it upon her head, slipping the hairpins +into the right places as if by magic, so that they were firm at the +first trial, and there was a faint sound of little pearls tapping each +other, and Dolores felt the small string laid upon her hair and fastened +in its place,--the only ornament a young girl could wear for a +headdress,--and presently it was finished, and Inez gave a sigh of +satisfaction at her work, and lightly felt her sister's head here and +there to be sure that all was right. It felt as if soft little birds +were just touching the hair with the tips of their wings as they +fluttered round it. Dolores had no longer any fear of looking ill +dressed in the blaze of light she was to face before long. The dressing +of her hair was the most troublesome part, she knew, and though she +could not have done it herself, she had felt that every touch and turn +had been perfectly skilful. + +"What a wonderful creature you are!" she whispered, as Inez bade her +stand up. + +"You have beautiful hair," answered the blind girl, "and you are +beautiful in other ways, but to-night you must be the most beautiful of +all the court, for his sake--so that every woman may envy you, and every +man envy him, when they see you talking together. And now we must be +quick, for it has taken a long time, and I hear the soldiers marching +out again to form in the square. That is always just an hour and a half +before the King goes into the hall. Here--this is the front of the +skirt." + +"No--it is the back!" + +Inez laughed softly, a whispering laugh that Dolores could scarcely +hear. + +"It is the front," she said. "You can trust me in the dark. Put your +arms down, and let me slip it over your head so as not to touch your +hair. No---hold your arms down!" + +Dolores had instinctively lifted her hands to protect her headdress. +Then all went quickly, the silence only broken by an occasional +whispered word and by the rustle of silk, the long soft sound of the +lacing as Inez drew it through the eyelets of the bodice, the light +tapping of her hands upon the folds and gatherings of the skirt and on +the puffed velvet on the shoulders and elbows. + +"You must be beautiful, perfectly beautiful to-night," Inez repeated +more than once. + +She herself did not understand why she said it, unless it were that +Dolores' beauty was for Don John of Austria, and that nothing in the +whole world could be too perfect for him, for the hero of her thoughts, +the sun of her blindness, the immeasurably far-removed deity of her +heart. She did not know that it was not for her sister's sake, but for +his, that she had planned the escape and was taking such infinite pains +that Dolores might look her best. Yet she felt a deep and delicious +delight in what she did, like nothing she had ever felt before, for it +was the first time in her life that she had been able to do something +that could give him pleasure; and, behind that, there was the belief +that he was in danger, that she could no longer go to him nor warn him +now, and that only Dolores herself could hinder him from coming +unexpectedly against old Mendoza, sword in hand, in the corridor. + +"And now my cloak over everything," she said. "Wait here, for I must get +it, and do not move!" + +Dolores hardly knew whether Inez left the room or not, so noiselessly +did the girl move. Then she felt the cloak laid upon her shoulders and +drawn close round her to hide her dress, for skirts were short in those +days and easily hidden. Inez laid a soft silk handkerchief upon her +sister's hair, lest it should be disarranged by the hood which she +lightly drew over all, assuring herself that it would sufficiently hide +the face. + +"Now come with me," she whispered. I will lead you to the door that is +bolted and place you just where it will open. Then I will call Eudaldo +and speak to him, and beg him to let me out. If he does, bend your head +and try to walk as I do. I shall be on one side of the door, and, as the +room is dark, he cannot possibly see me. While he is opening the outer +door for you, I will slip back into my own room. Do you understand? And +remember to hide in an embrasure if you hear a man's footsteps. Are you +quite sure you understand?" + +"Yes; it will be easy if Eudaldo opens. And I thank you, dear; I wish I +knew how to thank you as I ought! It may have saved his life--" + +"And yours, too, perhaps," answered Inez, beginning to lead her away. +"You would die in the convent, and you must not come back--you must +never come back to us here--never till you are married. Good-by, +Dolores--dear sister. I have done nothing, and you have done everything +for me all your life. Good-by--one kiss--then we must go, for it is +late." + +With her soft hands she drew Dolores' head towards her, lifted the hood +a little, and kissed her tenderly. All at once there were tears on both +their faces, and the arms of each clasped the other almost desperately. + +"You must come to me, wherever I am," Dolores said. + +"Yes, I will come, wherever you are. I promise it." + +Then she disengaged herself quickly, and more than ever she seemed a +spirit as she went before, leading her sister by the hand. They reached +the door, and she made Dolores stand before the right hand panel, ready +to slip out, and once more she touched the hood to be sure it hid the +face. She listened a moment. A harsh and regular sound came from a +distance, resembling that made by a pit-saw steadily grinding its way +lengthwise through a log of soft pine wood. + +"Eudaldo is asleep," said Inez, and even at this moment she could hardly +suppress a half-hysterical laugh. "I shall have to make a tremendous +noise to wake him. The danger is that it may bring some one else,---the +women, the rest of the servants." + +"What shall we do?" asked Dolores, in a distressed whisper. + +She had braced her nerves to act the part of her sister at the dangerous +moment, and her excitement made every instant of waiting seem ten times +its length. Inez did not answer the question at once. Dolores repeated +it still more anxiously. + +"I was trying to make up my mind," said the other at last. "You could +pass Eudaldo well enough, I am sure, but it might be another matter if +the hall were full of servants, as it is certain that our father has +given a general order that you are not to be allowed to go out. We may +wait an hour for the man to wake." + +Dolores instinctively tried the door, but it was solidly fastened from +the outside. She felt hot and cold by turns as her anxiety grew more +intolerable. Each minute made it more possible that she might meet her +father somewhere outside. + +"We must decide something!" she whispered desperately. "We cannot wait +here." + +"I do not know what to do," answered Inez. "I have done all I can; I +never dreamt that Eudaldo would be asleep. At least, it is a sure sign +that our father is not in the house." + +"But he may come at any moment! We must, we must do something at once!" + +"I will knock softly," said Inez. "Any one who hears it will suppose it +is a knock at the hall door. If he does not open, some one will go and +wake him up, and then go away again so as not to be seen." + +She clenched her small hand, and knocked three times. Such a sound could +make not the slightest impression upon Eudaldo's sound sleep, but her +reasoning was good, as well as ingenious. After waiting a few moments, +she knocked again, more loudly. Dolores held her breath in the silence +that followed. Presently a door was opened, and a woman's voice was +heard, low but sharp. + +"Eudaldo, Eudaldo! Some one is knocking at the front door!" + +The woman probably shook the old man to rouse him, for his voice came +next, growling and angry. + +"Witch! Hag! Mother of malefactors! Let me alone--I am asleep. Are you +trying to tear my sleeve off with your greasy claws? Nobody is knocking; +you probably hear the wine thumping in your ears!" + +The woman, who was the drudge and had been cleaning the kitchen, was +probably used to Eudaldo's manner of expressing himself, for she only +laughed. + +"Wine makes men sleep, but it does not knock at doors," she answered. +"Some one has knocked twice. You had better go and open the door." + +A shuffling sound and a deep yawn announced that Eudaldo was getting out +of his chair. The two girls heard him moving towards the outer entrance. +Then they heard the woman go away, shutting the other door behind her, +as soon as she was sure that Eudaldo was really awake. Then Inez called +him softly. + +"Eudaldo? Here--it was I that knocked--you must let me out, please--come +nearer." + +"Dona Inez?" asked the old man, standing still. + +"Hush!" answered the girl. "Come nearer." She waited, listening while he +approached. "Listen to me," she continued. "The General has locked me +in, by mistake. He did not know I was here when he bolted the door. And +I am hungry and thirsty and very cold, Eudaldo--and you must let me out, +and I will run to the Duchess Alvarez and stay with her little girl. +Indeed, Eudaldo, the General did not mean to lock me in, too." + +"He said nothing about your ladyship to me," answered the servant +doubtfully. "But I do not know--" he hesitated. + +"Please, please, Eudaldo," pleaded Inez, "I am so cold and lonely +here--" + +"But Dona Dolores is there, too," observed Eudaldo. + +Dolores held her breath and steadied herself against the panel. + +"He shut her into the inner sitting-room. How could I dare to open the +door! You may go in and knock--she will not answer you." + +"Is your ladyship sure that Dona Dolores is within?" asked Eudaldo, in a +more yielding tone. + +"Absolutely, perfectly sure!" answered Inez, with perfect truth. "Oh, do +please let me out." + +Slowly the old man drew the bolt, while Dolores' heart stood still, and +she prepared herself for the danger; for she knew well enough that the +faithful old servant feared his master much more than he feared the +devil and all evil spirits, and would prevent her from passing, even +with force, if he recognized her. + +"Thank you, Eudaldo--thank you!" cried Inez, as the latch turned. "And +open the front door for me, please," she said, putting her lips just +where the panel was opening. + +Then she drew back into the darkness. The door was wide open now, and +Eudaldo was already shuffling towards the entrance. Dolores went +forward, bending her head, and trying to affect her sister's step. No +distance had ever seemed so long to her as that which separated her from +the hall door which Eudaldo was already opening for her. But she dared +not hasten her step, for though Inez moved with perfect certainty in the +house, she always walked with a certain deliberate caution, and often +stopped to listen, while crossing a room. The blind girl was listening +now, with all her marvellous hearing, to be sure that all went well till +Dolores should be outside. She knew exactly how many steps there were +from where she stood to the entrance, for she had often counted them. + +Dolores must have been not more than three yards from the door, when +Inez started involuntarily, for she heard a sound from without, far +off--so far that Dolores could not possibly have heard it yet, but +unmistakable to the blind girl's keener ear. She listened +intently--there were Dolores' last four steps to the open doorway, and +there were others from beyond, still very far away in the vaulted +corridors, but coming nearer. To call her sister back would have made +all further attempt at escape hopeless--to let her go on seemed almost +equally fatal--Inez could have shrieked aloud. But Dolores had already +gone out, and a moment later the heavy door swung back to its place, and +it was too late to call her. Like an immaterial spirit, Inez slipped +away from the place where she stood and went back to Dolores' room, +knowing that Eudaldo would very probably go and knock where he supposed +her sister to be a prisoner, before slipping the outer bolt again. And +so he did, muttering an imprecation upon the little lamp that had gone +out and left the small hall in darkness. Then he knocked, and spoke +through the door, offering to bring her food, or fire, and repeating his +words many times, in a supplicating tone, for he was devoted to both the +sisters, though terror of old Mendoza was the dominating element in his +existence. + +At last he shook his head and turned despondently to light the little +lamp again; and when he had done that, he went away and bolted the door +after him, convinced that Inez had gone out and that Dolores had stayed +behind in the last room. + +When she had heard him go away the last time, the blind girl threw +herself upon Dolores' bed, and buried her face in the down cushion, +sobbing bitterly in her utter loneliness; weeping, too, for something +she did not understand, but which she felt the more painfully because +she could not understand it, something that was at once like a burning +fire and an unspeakable emptiness craving to be filled, something that +longed and feared, and feared longing, something that was a strong +bodily pain but which she somehow knew might have been the source of all +earthly delight,--an element detached from thought and yet holding it, +above the body and yet binding it, touching the soul and growing upon +it, but filling the soul itself with fear and unquietness, and making +her heart cry out within her as if it were not hers and were pleading to +be free. So, as she could not understand that this was love, which, as +she had heard said, made women and men most happy, like gods and +goddesses, above their kind, she lay alone in the darkness that was +always as day to her, and wept her heart out in scalding tears. + +In the corridor outside, Dolores made a few steps, remembering to put +out her left hand to touch the wall, as Inez had told her to do; and +then she heard what had reached her sister's ears much sooner. She stood +still an instant, strained her eyes to see in the dim light of the +single lamp, saw nothing, and heard the sound coming nearer. Then she +quickly crossed the corridor to the nearest embrasure to hide herself. +To her horror she realized that the light of the full moon was streaming +in as bright as day, and that she could not be hid. Inez knew nothing of +moonlight. + +She pressed herself to the wall, on the side away from her own door, +making herself as small as she could, for it was possible that whoever +came by might pass without turning his head. Nervous and exhausted by +all she had felt and been made to feel since the afternoon, she held her +breath and waited. + +The regular tread of a man booted and spurred came relentlessly towards +her, without haste and without pause. No one who wore spurs but her +father ever came that way. She listened breathlessly to the hollow +echoes, and turned her eyes along the wall of the embrasure. In a moment +she must see his gaunt figure, and the moonlight would be white on his +short grey beard. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Dolores knew that there was no time to reflect as to what she should do, +if her father found her hiding in the embrasure, and yet in those short +seconds a hundred possibilities flashed through her disturbed thoughts. +She might slip past him and run for her life down the corridor, or she +might draw her hood over her face and try to pretend that she was some +one else,--but he would recognize the hood itself as belonging to +Inez,--or she might turn and lean upon the window-sill, indifferently, +as if she had a right to be there, and he might take her for some lady +of the court, and pass on. And yet she could not decide which to +attempt, and stood still, pressing herself against the wall of the +embrasure, and quite forgetful of the fact that the bright moonlight +fell unhindered through all the other windows upon the pavement, whereas +she cast a shadow from the one in which she was standing, and that any +one coming along the corridor would notice it and stop to see who was +there. + +There was something fateful and paralyzing in the regular footfall that +was followed instantly by the short echo from the vault above. It was +close at hand now she was sure that at the very next instant she should +see her father's face, yet nothing came, except the sound, for that +deceived her in the silence and seemed far nearer than it was. She had +heard horrible ghost stories of the old Alcazar, and as a child she had +been frightened by tales of evil things that haunted the corridors at +night, of wraiths and goblins and Moorish wizards who dwelt in secret +vaults, where no one knew, and came out in the dark, when all was still, +to wander in the moonlight, a terror to the living. The girl felt the +thrill of unearthly fear at the roots of her hair, and trembled, and the +sound seemed to be magnified till it reechoed like thunder, though it +was only the noise of an advancing footfall, with a little jingling of +spurs. + +But at last there was no doubt. It was close to her, and she shut her +eyes involuntarily. She heard one step more on the stones, and then +there was silence. She knew that her father had seen her, had stopped +before her, and was looking at her. She knew how his rough brows were +knitting themselves together, and that even in the pale moonlight his +eyes were fierce and angry, and that his left hand was resting on the +hilt of his sword, the bony brown fingers tapping the basket nervously. +An hour earlier, or little more, she had faced him as bravely as any +man, but she could not face him now, and she dared not open her eyes. + +"Madam, are you ill, or in trouble?" asked a young voice that was soft +and deep. + +She opened her eyes with a sharp cry that was not of fear, and she threw +back her hood with one hand as the looked. + +Don John of Austria was there, a step from her, the light full on his +face, bareheaded, his cap in his hand, bending a little towards her, as +one does towards a person one does not know, but who seems to be in +distress and to need help. Against the whiteness without he could not +see her face, nor could he recognize her muffled figure. + +"Can I not help you, Madam?" asked the kind voice again, very gravely. + +Then she put out her hands towards him and made a step, and as the hood +fell quite back with the silk kerchief, he saw her golden hair in the +silver light. Slowly and in wonder, and still not quite believing, he +moved to meet her movement, took her hands in his, drew her to him, +turned her face gently, till he saw it well. Then he, too, uttered a +little sound that was neither a word nor a syllable nor a cry--a sound +that was half fierce with strong delight as his lips met hers, and his +hands were suddenly at her waist lifting her slowly to his own height, +though he did not know it, pressing her closer and closer to him, as if +that one kiss were the first and last that ever man gave woman. + +A minute passed, and yet neither he nor she could speak. She stood with +her hands clasped round his neck, and her head resting on his breast +just below the shoulder, as if she were saying tender words to the heart +she heard beating so loud through the soft black velvet. She knew that +it had never beaten in battle as it was beating now, and she loved it +because it knew her and welcomed her; but her own stood still, and now +and then it fluttered wildly, like a strong young bird in a barred cage, +and then was quite still again. Bending his face a little, he softly +kissed her hair again and again, till at last the kisses formed +themselves into syllables and words, which she felt rather than heard. + +"God in heaven, how I love you--heart of my heart--life of my life--love +of my soul!" + +And again he repeated the same words, and many more like them, with +little change, because at that moment he had neither thought nor care +for anything else in the world, not for life nor death nor kingdom nor +glory, in comparison with the woman he loved. He could not hear her +answers, for she spoke without words to his heart, hiding her face where +she heard it throbbing, while her lips pressed many kisses on the +velvet. + +Then, as thought returned, and the first thought was for him, she drew +back a little with a quick movement, and looked up to him with +frightened and imploring eyes. + +"We must go!" she cried anxiously, in a very low voice. "We cannot stay +here. My father is very angry--he swore on his word of honour that he +would kill you if you tried to see me to-night!" + +Don John laughed gently, and his eyes brightened. Before she could speak +again, he held her close once more, and his kisses were on her cheeks +and her eyes, on her forehead and on her hair, and then again upon her +lips, till they would have hurt her if she had not loved them so, and +given back every one. Then she struggled again, and he loosed his hold. + +"It is death to stay here," she said very earnestly. + +"It is worse than death to leave you," he answered. "And I will not," he +added an instant later, "neither for the King, nor for your father, nor +for any royal marriage they may try to force upon me." + +She looked into his eyes for a moment, before she spoke, and there was +deep and true trust in her own. + +"Then you must save me," she said quietly. "He has vowed that I shall be +sent to the convent of Las Huelgas to-morrow morning. He locked me into +the inner room, but Inez helped me to dress, and I got out under her +cloak." + +She told him in a few words what she had done and had meant to do, in +order to see him, and how she had taken his step for her father's. He +listened gravely, and she saw his face harden slowly in an expression +she had scarcely ever seen there. When she had finished her story he was +silent for a moment. + +"We are quite safe here," he said at last, "safer than anywhere else, I +think, for your father cannot come back until the King goes to supper. +For myself, I have an hour, but I have been so surrounded and pestered +by visitors in my apartments that I have not found time to put on a +court dress--and without vanity, I presume that I am a necessary figure +at court this evening. Your father is with Perez, who seems to be acting +as master of ceremonies and of everything else, as well as the King's +secretary--they have business together, and the General will not have a +moment. I ascertained that, before coming here, or I should not have +come at this hour. We are safe from him here, I am sure." + +"You know best," answered Dolores, who was greatly reassured by what he +said about Mendoza. + +"Let us sit down, then. You must be tired after all you have done. And +we have much to say to each other." + +"How could I be tired now?" she asked, with a loving smile; but she sat +down on the stone seat in the embrasure, close to the window. + +It was just wide enough for two to sit there, and Don John took his +place beside her, and drew one of her hands silently to him between both +his own, and kissed the tips of her fingers a great many times. But he +felt that she was watching his face, and he looked up and saw her +eyes--and then, again, many seconds passed before either could speak. +They were but a boy and girl together, loving each other in the tender +first love of early youth, for the victor of the day, the subduer of the +Moors, the man who had won back Granada, who was already High Admiral of +Spain, and who in some ten months from that time was to win a decisive +battle of the world at Lepanto, was a stripling of twenty-three +summers--and he had first seen Dolores when he was twenty and she +seventeen, and now it was nearly two years since they had met. + +He was the first to speak, for he was a man of quick and unerring +determinations that led to actions as sudden as they were bold and +brilliant, and what Dolores had told him of her quarrel with her father +was enough to rouse his whole energy at once. At all costs she must +never be allowed to pass the gates of Las Huelgas. Once within the +convent, by the King's orders, and a close prisoner, nothing short of a +sacrilegious assault and armed violence could ever bring her out into +the world again. He knew that, and that he must act instantly to prevent +it, for he knew Mendoza's character also, and had no doubt but that he +would do what he threatened. It was necessary to put Dolores beyond his +reach at once, and beyond the King's also, which was not an easy matter +within the walls of the King's own palace, and on such a night. Don John +had been but little at the court and knew next to nothing of its +intrigues, nor of the mutual relations of the ladies and high officers +who had apartments in the Alcazar. In his own train there were no women, +of course. Dolores' brother Rodrigo, who had fought by his side at +Granada, had begged to be left behind with the garrison, in order that +he might not be forced to meet his father. Dona Magdalena Quixada, Don +John's adoptive mother, was far away at Villagarcia. The Duchess +Alvarez, though fond of Dolores, was Mistress of the Robes to the young +Queen, and it was not to be hoped nor expected that she should risk the +danger of utter ruin and disgrace if it were discovered that she had +hidden the girl against the King's wishes. Yet it was absolutely +necessary that Dolores should be safely hidden within an hour, and that +she should be got out of the palace before morning, and if possible +conveyed to Villagarcia. Don John saw in a moment that there was no one +to whom he could turn. + +Again he took Dolores' hand in his, but with a sort of gravity and +protecting authority that had not been in his touch the first time. +Moreover, he did not kiss her fingers now, and he resolutely looked at +the wall opposite him. Then, in a low and quiet voice, he laid the +situation before her, while she anxiously listened. + +"You see," he said at last, "there is only one way left. Dolores, do you +altogether trust me?" + +She started a little, and her fingers pressed his hand suddenly. + +"Trust you? Ah, with all my soul!" + +"Think well before you answer," he said. "You do not quite +understand--it is a little hard to put it clearly, but I must. I know +you trust me in many ways, to love you faithfully always, to speak truth +to you always, to defend you always, to help you with my life when you +shall be in need. You know that I love you so, as you love me. Have we +not often said it? You wrote it in your letter, too--ah, dear, I thank +you for that. Yes, I have read it--I have it here, near my heart, and I +shall read it again before I sleep--" + +Without a word, and still listening, she bent down and pressed her lips +to the place where her letter lay. He touched her hair with his lips and +went on speaking, as she leaned back against the wall again. + +"You must trust me even more than that, my beloved," he said. "To save +you, you must be hidden by some one whom I myself can trust--and for +such a matter there is no one in the palace nor in all Madrid--no one to +whom I can turn and know that you will be safe--not one human being, +except myself." + +"Except yourself!" Dolores loved the words, and gently pressed his hand. + +"I thank you, dearest heart--but do you know what that means? Do you +understand that I must hide you myself, in my own apartments, and keep +you there until I can take you out of the palace, before morning?" + +She was silent for a few moments, turning her face away from him. His +heart sank. + +"No, dear," he said sadly, "you do not trust me enough for that--I see +it--what woman could?" + +Her hand trembled and started in his, then pressed it hard, and she +turned her face quite to him. + +"You are wrong," she said, with a tremor in her voice. "I love you as no +man was ever loved by any woman, far beyond all that all words can say, +and I shall love you till I die, and after that, for ever--even if I can +never be your wife. I love you as no one loves in these days, and when I +say that it is as you love me, I mean a thousand fold for every word. I +am not the child you left nearly two years ago. I am a woman now, for I +have thought and seen much since then--and I love you better and more +than then. God knows, there is enough to see and to learn in this +court--that should be hidden deep from honest women's sight! You and I +shall have a heaven on this earth, if God grants that we may be joined +together--for I will live for you, and serve you, and smooth all trouble +out of your way--and ask nothing of you but your love. And if we cannot +marry, then I will live for you in my heart, and serve you with my soul, +and pray Heaven that harm may never touch you. I will pray so fervently +that God must hear me. And so will you pray for me, as you would fight +for me, if you could. Remember, if you will, that when you are in battle +for Spain, your sword is drawn for Spain's honour, and for the honour of +every Christian Spanish woman that lives--and for mine, too!" + +The words pleased him, and his free hand was suddenly clenched. + +"You would make cowards fight like wolves, if you could speak to them +like that!" he said. + +"I am not speaking to cowards," she answered, with a loving smile. "I am +speaking to the man I love, to the best and bravest and truest man that +breathes--and not to Don John of Austria, the victorious leader, but to +you, my heart's love, my life, my all, to you who are good and brave and +true to me, as no man ever was to any woman. No--" she laughed happily, +and there were tears in her eyes--"no, there are no words for such love +as ours." + +"May I be all you would have me, and much more," he said fervently, and +his voice shook in the short speech. + +"I am giving you all I have, because it is not belief, it is certainty. +I know you are all that I say you are, and more too. And I trust you, as +you mean it, and as you need my trust to save me. Take me where you +will. Hide me in your own room if you must, and bolt and bar it if need +be. I shall be as safe with you as I should be with my mother in heaven. +I put my hands between yours." + +Again he heard her sweet low laughter, full of joy and trust, and she +laid her hands together between his and looked into his eyes, straight +and clear. Then she spoke softly and solemnly. + +"Into your hands I put my life, and my faith, and my maiden honour, +trusting them all to you alone in this world, as I trust them to God." + +Don John held her hands tightly for a moment, still looking into her +eyes as if he could see her soul there, giving itself to his keeping. +But he swore no great oath, and made no long speech; for a man who has +led men to deeds of glory, and against whom no dishonourable thing was +ever breathed, knows that his word is good. + +"You shall not regret that you trust me, and you will be quite safe," he +said. + +She wanted no more. Loving as she did, she believed in him without +promises, yet she could not always believe that he quite knew how she +loved him. + +"You are dearer to me than I knew," he said presently, breaking the +silence that followed. "I love you even more, and I thought it could +never be more, when I found you here a little while ago--because you do +really trust me." + +"You knew it," the said, nestling to him. "But you wanted me to tell +you. Yes--we are nearer now." + +"Far nearer--and a world more dear," he answered. "Do you know? In all +these months I have often and often again wondered how we should meet, +whether it would be before many people, or only with your sister Inez +there--or perhaps alone. But I did not dare hope for that." + +"Nor I. I have dreamt of meeting you a hundred times--and more than +that! But there was always some one in the way. I suppose that if we had +found each other in the court and had only been able to say a few words, +it would have been a long time before we were quite ourselves +together--but now, it seems as if we had never been parted at all, does +it not?" + +"As if we could never be parted again," he answered softly. + +For a little while there was silence, and though there was to be a great +gathering of the court, that night, all was very still where the lovers +sat at the window, for the throne room and the great halls of state were +far away on the other side of the palace, and the corridor looked upon a +court through which few persons had to pass at night. Suddenly from a +distance there came the rhythmical beat of the Spanish drums, as some +detachment of troops marched by the outer gate. Don John listened. + +"Those are my men," he said. "We must go, for now that they are below I +can send my people on errands with orders to them, until I am alone. +Then you must come in. At the end of my apartments there is a small +room, beyond my own. It is furnished to be my study, and no one will +expect to enter it at night. I must put you there, and lock the door and +take the key with me, so that no one can go in while I am at court--or +else you can lock it on the inside, yourself. That would be better, +perhaps," he added rather hurriedly. + +"No," said the girl quietly. "I prefer that you should have the key. I +shall feel even safer. But how can I get there without being seen? We +cannot go so far together without meeting some one." + +He rose, and she stood up beside him. + +"My apartments open upon the broad terrace on the south side," he said. +"At this time there will be only two or three officers there, and my two +servants. Follow me at a little distance, with your hood over your face, +and when you reach the sentry-box at the corner where I turn off, go in. +There will be no sentinel there, and the door looks outward. I shall +send away every one, on different errands, in five minutes. When every +one is gone I will come for you. Is that clear?" + +"Perfectly." She nodded, as if she had made quite sure of what he had +explained. Then she put up her hands, as if to say good-by. "Oh, if we +could only stay here in peace!" she cried. + +He said nothing, for he knew that there was still much danger, and he +was anxious for her. He only pressed her hands and then led her away. +They followed the corridor together, side by side, to the turning. Then +he whispered to her to drop behind, and she let him go on a dozen paces +and followed him. The way was long, and ill lighted at intervals by oil +lamps hung from the vault by small chains; they cast a broad black +shadow beneath them, and shed a feeble light above. Several times +persons passed them, and Dolores' heart beat furiously. A court lady, +followed by a duenna and a serving-woman, stopped with a winning smile, +and dropped a low courtesy to Don John, who lifted his cap, bowed, and +went on. They did not look at Dolores. A man in a green cloth apron and +loose slippers, carrying five lighted lamps in a greasy iron tray, +passed with perfect indifference, and without paying the least attention +to the victor of Granada. It was his business to carry lamps in that +part of the palace--he was not a human being, but a lamplighter. They +went on, down a short flight of broad steps, and then through a wider +corridor where the lights were better, though the night breeze was +blowing in and made them flicker and flare. + +A corporal's guard of the household halberdiers came swinging down at a +marching step, coming from the terrace beyond. The corporal crossed his +halberd in salute, but Don John stopped him, for he understood at once +that a sentry had been set at his door. + +"I want no guard," he said. "Take the man away." + +"The General ordered it, your Highness," answered the man, respectfully. + +"Request your captain to report to the General that I particularly +desire no sentinel at my door. I have no possessions to guard except my +reputation, and I can take care of that myself." He laughed +good-naturedly. + +The corporal grinned--he was a very dark, broad-faced man, with high +cheek bones, and ears that stuck out. He faced about with his three +soldiers, and followed Don John to the terrace--but in the distance he +had seen the hooded figure of a woman. + +Not knowing what to do, for she had heard the colloquy, Dolores stood +still a moment, for she did not care to pass the soldiers as they came +back. Then she turned and walked a little way in the other direction, to +gain time, and kept on slowly. In less than a minute they returned, +bringing the sentinel with them. She walked slowly and counted them as +they went past her--and then she started as if she had been stung, and +blushed scarlet under her hood, for she distinctly heard the big +corporal laugh to himself when he had gone by. She knew, then, how she +trusted the man she loved. + +When the soldiers had turned the corner and were out of sight, she ran +back to the terrace and hid herself in the stone sentry-box just +outside, still blushing and angry. On the side of the box towards Don +John's apartment there was a small square window just at the height of +her eyes, and she looked through it, sure that her face could not be +seen from without. She looked from mere curiosity, to see what sort of +men the officers were, and Don John's servants; for everything connected +with him or belonging to him in any way interested her most intensely. +Two tall captains came out first, magnificent in polished breastplates +with gold shoulder straps and sashes and gleaming basket-hilted swords, +that stuck up behind them as their owners pressed down the hilts and +strutted along, twisting their short black moustaches in the hope of +meeting some court lady on their way. Then another and older man passed, +also in a soldier's dress, but with bent head, apparently deep in +thought. After that no one came for some time--then a servant, who +pulled something out of his pocket and began to eat it, before he was in +the corridor. + +Then a woman came past the little window. Dolores saw her as distinctly +as she had seen the four men. She came noiselessly and stealthily, +putting down her foot delicately, like a cat. She was a lady, and she +wore a loose cloak that covered all her gown, and on her head a thick +veil, drawn fourfold across her face. Her gait told the girl that she +was young and graceful--something in the turn of the head made her sure +that she was beautiful, too--something in the whole figure and bearing +was familiar. The blood sank from Dolores' cheeks, and she felt a chill +slowly rising to her heart. The lady entered the corridor and went on +quickly, turned, and was out of sight. + +Then all at once, Dolores laughed to herself, noiselessly, and was happy +again, in spite of her danger. There was nothing to disturb her, she +reflected. The terrace was long, there were doubtless other apartments +beyond Don John's, though she had not known it. The lady had indeed +walked cautiously, but it might well be that she had reasons for not +being seen there, and that the further rooms were not hers. The Alcazar +was only an old Moorish castle, after all, restored and irregularly +enlarged, and altogether very awkwardly built, so that many of the +apartments could only be reached by crossing open terraces. + +When Don John came to get her in the sentry-box, Dolores' momentary +doubt was gone, though not all her curiosity. She smiled as she came out +of her hiding-place and met his eyes--clear and true as her own. She +even hated herself for having thought that the lady could have come from +his apartment at all. The light was streaming from his open door as he +led her quickly towards it. There were three windows beyond it, and +there the terrace ended. She looked at the front as they were passing, +and counted again three windows between the open door and the corner +where the sentry-box stood. + +"Who lives in the rooms beyond you?" she asked quickly. + +"No one--the last is the one where you are to be." He seemed surprised. + +They had reached the open door, and he stood aside to let her go in. + +"And on this side?" she asked, speaking with a painful effort. + +"My drawing-room and dining-room," he answered. + +She paused and drew breath before she spoke again, and she pressed one +hand to her side under her cloak. + +"Who was the lady who came from here when all the men were gone?" she +asked, very pale. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Don John was a man not easily taken off his guard, but he started +perceptibly at Dolores' question. He did not change colour, however, nor +did his eyes waver; he looked fixedly into her face. + +"No lady has been here," he answered quietly. + +Dolores doubted the evidence of her own senses. Her belief in the man +she loved was so great that his words seemed at first to have destroyed +and swept away what must have been a bad dream, or a horrible illusion, +and her face was quiet and happy again as she passed him and went in +through the open entrance. She found herself in a vestibule from which +doors opened to the right and left. He turned in the latter direction, +leading the way into the room. + +It was his bedchamber. Built in the Moorish manner, the vaulting began +at the height of a man's head, springing upward in bold and graceful +curves to a great height. The room was square and very large, and the +wall below the vault was hung with very beautiful tapestries +representing the battle of Pavia, the surrender of Francis the First, +and a sort of apotheosis of the Emperor Charles, the father of Don John. +There were two tall windows, which were quite covered by curtains of a +dark brocade, in which the coats of Spain and the Empire were woven in +colours at regular intervals; and opposite them, with the head to the +wall, stood a vast curtained bedstead with carved posts twice a man's +height. The vaulting had been cut on that side, in order that the foot +of the bed might stand back against the wall. The canopy had coats of +arms at the four corners, and the curtains were of dark green corded +silk, heavily embroidered with gold thread in the beautiful scrolls and +arabesques of the period of the Renascence. A carved table, dark and +polished, stood half way between the foot of the bedstead and the space +between the windows, where a magnificent kneeling-stool with red velvet +cushions was placed under a large crucifix. Half a dozen big chairs were +ranged against the long walls on each side of the room, and two +commodious folding chairs with cushions of embossed leather were beside +the table. Opposite the door by which Dolores had entered, another +communicated with the room beyond. Both were carved and ornamented with +scroll work of gilt bronze, but were without curtains. Three or four +Eastern, rugs covered the greater part of the polished marble pavement, +which here and there reflected the light of the tall wax torches that +stood on the table in silver candlesticks, and on each side of the bed +upon low stands. The vault above the tapestried walls was very dark +blue, and decorated with gilded stars in relief. Dolores thought the +room gloomy, and almost funereal. The bed looked like a catafalque, the +candles like funeral torches, and the whole place breathed the +magnificent discomfort of royalty, and seemed hardly intended for a +human habitation. + +Dolores barely glanced at it all, as her companion locked the first door +and led her on to the next room. He knew that he had not many minutes to +spare, and was anxious that she should be in her hiding-place before his +servants came back. She followed him and went in. Unlike the bedchamber, +the small study was scantily and severely furnished. It contained only a +writing-table, two simple chairs, a straight-backed divan covered with +leather, and a large chest of black oak bound with ornamented steel +work. The window was curtained with dark stuff, and two wax candles +burned steadily beside the writing-materials that were spread out ready +for use. + +"This is the room," Don John said, speaking for the first time since +they had entered the apartments. + +Dolores let her head fall back, and began to loosen her cloak at her +throat without answering him. He helped her, and laid the long garment +upon the divan. Then he turned and saw her in the full light of the +candles, looking at him, and he uttered an exclamation. + +"What is it?" she asked almost dreamily. + +"You are very beautiful," he answered in a low voice. "You are the most +beautiful woman I ever saw." + +The merest girl knows the tone of a man whose genuine admiration breaks +out unconsciously in plain words, and Dolores was a grown woman. A faint +colour rose in her cheek, and her lips parted to smile, but her eyes +were grave and anxious, for the doubt had returned, and would not be +thrust away. She had seen the lady in the cloak and veil during several +seconds, and though Dolores, who had been watching the men who passed, +had not actually seen her come out of Don John's apartments, but had +been suddenly aware of her as she glided by, it seemed out of the +question that she should have come from any other place. There was +neither niche nor embrasure between the door and the corridor, in which +the lady could have been hidden, and it was hardly conceivable that she +should have been waiting outside for some mysterious purpose, and should +not have fled as soon as she heard the two officers coming out, since +she evidently wished to escape observation. On the other hand, Don John +had quietly denied that any woman had been there, which meant at all +events that he had not seen any one. It could mean nothing else. + +Dolores was neither foolishly jealous nor at all suspicious by nature, +and the man was her ideal of truthfulness and honour. She stood looking +at him, resting one hand on the table, while he came slowly towards her, +moving almost unconsciously in the direction of her exquisite beauty, as +a plant lifts itself to the sun at morning. He was near to her, and he +stretched out his arms as if to draw her to him. She smiled then, for in +his eyes she forgot her trouble for a moment, and she would have kissed +him. But suddenly his face grew grave, and he set his teeth, and instead +of taking her into his arms, he took one of her hands and raised it to +his lips, as if it had been the hand of his brother's wife, the young +Queen. + +"Why?" she asked in surprise, and with a little start. + +"You are here under my protection," he answered. "Let me have my own +way." + +"Yes, I understand. How good you are to me!" She paused, and then went +on, seating herself upon one of the chairs by the table as she spoke. +"You must leave me now," she said. "You must lock me in and keep the +key. Then I shall know that I am safe; and in the meantime you must +decide how I am to escape--it will not be easy." She stopped again. "I +wonder who that woman was!" she exclaimed at last. + +"There was no woman here," replied Don John, as quietly and assuredly as +before. + +He was leaning upon the table at the other side, with both hands resting +upon it, looking at her beautiful hair as she bent her head. + +"Say that you did not see her," she said, "not that she was not here, +for she passed me after all the men, walking very cautiously to make no +noise; and when she was in the corridor she ran--she was young and +light-footed. I could not see her face." + +"You believe me, do you not?" asked Don John, bending over the table a +little, and speaking very anxiously. + +She turned her face up instantly, her eyes wide and bright. + +"Should I be here if I did not trust you and believe you?" she asked +almost fiercely. "Do you think--do you dare to think--that I would have +passed your door if I had supposed that another woman had been here +before me, and had been turned out to make room for me, and would have +stayed here--here in your room--if you had not sent her away? If I had +thought that, I would have left you at your door forever. I would have +gone back to my father. I would have gone to Las Huelgas to-morrow, and +not to be a prisoner, but to live and die there in the only life fit for +a broken-hearted woman. Oh, no! You dare not think that,--you who would +dare anything! If you thought that, you could not love me as I love +you,--believing, trusting, staking life and soul on your truth and +faith!" + +The generous spirit had risen in her eyes, roused not against him, but +by all his question might be made to mean; and as she met his look of +grateful gladness her anger broke away, and left only perfect love and +trust behind it. + +"A man would die for you, and wish he might die twice," he answered, +standing upright, as if a weight had been taken from him and he were +free to breathe. + +She looked up at the pale, strong features of the young fighter, who was +so great and glorious almost before the down had thickened on his lip; +and she saw something almost above nature in his face,--something high +and angelic, yet manly and well fitted to face earthly battles. He was +her sun, her young god, her perfect image of perfection, the very source +of her trust. It would have killed her to doubt him. Her whole soul went +up to him in her eyes; and as he was ready to die for her, she knew that +for him she would suffer every anguish death could hold, and not flinch. + +Then she looked down, and suddenly laughed a little oddly, and her +finger pointed towards the pens and paper. + +"She has left something behind," she said. "She was clever to get in +here and slip out again without being seen." + +Don John looked where she pointed, and saw a small letter folded round +the stems of two white carnations, and neatly tied with a bit of twisted +silk. It was laid between the paper and the bronze inkstand, and half +hidden by the broad white feather of a goose-quill pen, that seemed to +have been thrown carelessly across the flowers. It lay there as if meant +to be found, only by one who wrote, and not to attract too much +attention. + +"Oh!" he exclaimed, in a rather singular tone, as he saw it, and a +boyish blush reddened his face. + +Then he took the letter and drew out the two flowers by the blossoms +very carefully. Dolores watched him. He seemed in doubt as to what he +should do; and the blush subsided quickly, and gave way to a look of +settled annoyance. The carnations were quite fresh, and had evidently +not been plucked more than an hour. He held them up a moment and looked +at them, then laid them down again and took the note. There was no +writing on the outside. Without opening it he held it to the flame of +the candle, but Dolores caught his wrist. + +"Why do you not read it?" she asked quickly. + +"Dear, I do not know who wrote it, and I do not wish to know anything +you do not know also." + +"You have no idea who the woman is?" Dolores looked at him wonderingly. + +"Not the very least," he answered with a smile. + +"But I should like to know so much!" she cried. "Do read it and tell me. +I do not understand the thing at all." + +"I cannot do that." He shook his head. "That would be betraying a +woman's secret. I do not know who it is, and I must not let you know, +for that would not be honourable." + +"You are right," she said, after a pause. "You always are. Burn it." + +He pushed the point of a steel erasing-knife through the piece of folded +paper and held it over the flame. It turned brown, crackled and burst +into a little blaze, and in a moment the black ashes fell fluttering to +the table. + +"What do you suppose it was?" asked Dolores innocently, as Don John +brushed the ashes away. + +"Dear--it is very ridiculous--I am ashamed of it, and I do not quite +know how to explain it to you." Again he blushed a little. "It seems +strange to speak of it--I never even told my mother. At first I used to +open them, but now I generally burn them like this one." + +"Generally! Do you mean to say that you often find women's letters with +flowers in them on your table?" + +"I find them everywhere," answered Don John, with perfect simplicity. "I +have found them in my gloves, tied into the basket hilt of my +sword--often they are brought to me like ordinary letters by a messenger +who waits for an answer. Once I found one on my pillow!" + +"But"--Dolores hesitated--"but are they--are they all from the same +person?" she asked timidly. Don John laughed, and shook his head. + +"She would need to be a very persistent and industrious person," he +answered. "Do you not understand?" + +"No. Who are these women who persecute you with their writing? And why +do they write to you? Do they want you to help them?" + +"Not exactly that;" he was still smiling. "I ought not to laugh, I +suppose. They are ladies of the court sometimes, and sometimes others, +and I--I fancy that they want me to--how shall I say?--to begin by +writing them letters of the same sort." + +"What sort of letters?" + +"Why--love letters," answered Don John, driven to extremity in spite of +his resistance. + +"Love letters!" cried Dolores, understanding at last. "Do you mean to +say that there are women whom you do not know, who tell you that they +love you before you have ever spoken to them? Do you mean that a lady of +the court, whom you have probably never even seen, wrote that note and +tied it up with flowers and risked everything to bring it here, just in +the hope that you might notice her? It is horrible! It is vile! It is +shameless! It is beneath anything!" + +"You say she was a lady--you saw her. I did not. But that is what she +did, whoever she may be." + +"And there are women like that--here, in the palace! How little I know!" + +"And the less you learn about the world, the better," answered the young +soldier shortly. + +"But you have never answered one, have you?" asked Dolores, with a scorn +that showed how sure she was of his reply. + +"No." He spoke thoughtfully. "I once thought of answering one. I meant +to tell her that she was out of her senses, but I changed my mind. That +was long ago, before I knew you--when I was eighteen." + +"Ever since you were a boy!" + +The look of wonder was not quite gone from her face yet, but she was +beginning to understand more clearly, though still very far from +distinctly. It did not occur to her once that such things could be +temptations to the brilliant young leader whom every woman admired and +every man flattered, and that only his devoted love for her had kept him +out of ignoble adventures since he had grown to be a man. Had she seen +that, she would have loved him even better, if it were possible. It was +all, as she had said, shameless and abominable. She had thought that she +knew much of evil, and she had even told him so that evening, but this +was far beyond anything she had dreamt of in her innocent thoughts, and +she instinctively felt that there were lower depths of degradation to +which a woman could fall, and of which she would not try to guess the +vileness and horror. + +"Shall I burn the flowers, too?" asked Don John, taking them in his +hand. + +"The flowers? No. They are innocent and fresh. What have they to do with +her? Give them to me." + +He raised them to his lips, looking at her, and then held them out. She +took them, and kissed them, as he had done, and they both smiled +happily. Then she fastened them in her hair. + +"No one will see me to-night but you," she said. "I may wear flowers in +my hair like a peasant woman!" + +"How they make the gold gleam!" he exclaimed, as he looked. "It is +almost time that my men came back," he said sadly. "When I go down to +the court, I shall dismiss them. After the royal supper I shall try and +come here again and see you. By that time everything will be arranged. I +have thought of almost everything already. My mother will provide you +with everything you need. To-morrow evening I can leave this place +myself to go and see her, as I always do." + +He always spoke of Dona Magdalena Quixada as his mother--he had never +known his own. + +Dolores rose from her seat, for he was ready to go. + +"I trust you in everything," she said simply. "I do not need to know how +you will accomplish it all--it is enough to know that you will. Tell +Inez, if you can--protect her if my father is angry with her." + +He held out his hand to take hers, and she was going to give it, as she +had done before. But it was too little. Before he knew it she had thrown +her arms round his neck, and was kissing him, with little cries and +broken words of love. Then she drew back suddenly. + +"I could not help it," she said. "Now lock me in. No--do not say +good-by--even for two hours!" + +"I will come back as soon as I can," he answered, and with a long look +he left her, closed the door and locked it after him, leaving her alone. + +She stood a few moments looking at the panels as if her sight could +pierce them and reach him on the other side, and she tried to hold the +last look she had seen in his eyes. Hardly two minutes had elapsed +before she heard voices and footsteps in the bedchamber. Don John spoke +in short sentences now and then to his servants, and his voice was +commanding though it was kindly. It seemed strange to be so near him in +his life; she wondered whether she should some day always be near him, +as she was now, and nearer; she blushed, all alone. So many things had +happened, and he and she had found so much to say that nothing had been +said at all of what was to follow her flight to Villagarcia. She was to +leave for the Quixadas' house before morning, but Quixada and his wife +could not protect her against her father, if he found out where she was, +unless she were married. After that, neither Mendoza nor any one else, +save the King himself, would presume to interfere with the liberty of +Don John of Austria's wife. All Spain would rise to protect her--she was +sure of that. But they had said nothing about a marriage and had wasted +time over that unknown woman's abominable letter. Since she reasoned it +out to herself, she saw that in all probability the ceremony would take +place as soon as Don John reached Villagarcia. He was powerful enough to +demand the necessary permission of the Archbishop, and he would bring it +with him; but no priest, even in the absence of a written order, would +refuse to marry him if he desired it. Between the real power he +possessed and the vast popularity he enjoyed, he could command almost +anything. + +She heard his voice distinctly just then, though she was not listening +for it. He was telling a servant to bring white shoes. The fact struck +her because she had never seen him wear any that were not black or +yellow. She smiled and wished that she might bring him his white shoes +and hang his order of the Golden Fleece round his neck, and breathe on +the polished hilt of his sword and rub it with soft leather. She had +seen Eudaldo furbish her father's weapons in that way since she had been +a child. + +It had all come so suddenly in the end. Shading her eyes from the +candles with her hand, she rested one elbow on the table, and tried to +think of what should naturally have happened, of what must have happened +if the unknown voice among the courtiers had not laughed and roused her +father's anger and brought all the rest. Don John would have come to the +door, and Eudaldo would have let him in--because no one could refuse him +anything and he was the King's brother. He would have spent half an hour +with her in the little drawing-room, and it would have been a +constrained meeting, with Inez near, though she would presently have +left them alone. Then, by this time, she would have gone down with the +Duchess Alvarez and the other maids of honour, and by and by she would +have followed the Queen when she entered the throne room with the King +and Don John; and she might not have exchanged another word with the +latter for a whole day, or two days. But now it seemed almost certain +that she was to be his wife within the coming week. He was in the next +room. + +"Do not put the sword away," she heard him say. "Leave it here on the +table." + +Of course; what should he do with a sword in his court dress? But if he +had met her father in the corridor, coming to her after the supper, he +would have been unarmed. Her father, on the contrary, being on actual +duty, wore the sword of his rank, like any other officer of the guards, +and the King wore a rapier as a part of his state dress. + +She was astonished at the distinctness with which she heard what was +said in the next room. That was doubtless due to the construction of the +vault, as she vaguely guessed. It was true that Don John spoke very +clearly, but she could hear the servants' subdued answers almost as +well, when she listened. It seemed to her that he took but a very short +time to dress. + +"I have the key of that room," he said presently. "I have my papers +there. You are at liberty till midnight. My hat, my gloves. Call my +gentlemen, one of you, and tell them to meet me in the corridor." + +She could almost hear him drawing on his gloves. One of the servants +went out. + +"Fadrique," said Don John, "leave out my riding-cloak. I may like to +walk on the terrace in the moonlight, and it is cold. Have my drink +ready at midnight and wait for me. Send Gil to sleep, for he was up last +night." + +There was a strange pleasure in hearing his familiar orders and small +directions and in seeing how thoughtful he was for his servants. She +knew that he had always refused to be surrounded by valets and +gentlemen-in-waiting, and lived very simply when he could, but it was +different to be brought into such close contact with his life. There was +a wonderful gentleness in his ways that contrasted widely with her +father's despotic manner and harsh tone when he gave orders. Mendoza +believed himself the type and model of a soldier and a gentleman, and he +maintained that without rigid discipline there could be no order and no +safety at home or in the army. But between him and Don John there was +all the difference that separates the born leader of men from the mere +martinet. + +Dolores listened. It was clear that Don John was not going to send +Fadrique away in order to see her again before he went down to the +throne room, though she had almost hoped he might. + +On the contrary, some one else came. She heard Fadrique announce him. + +"The Captain Don Juan de Escobedo is in waiting, your Highness," said +the servant. "There is also Adonis." + +"Adonis!" Don John laughed, not at the name, for it was familiar to him, +but at the mere mention of the person who bore it and who was the King's +dwarf jester, Miguel de Antona, commonly known by his classic nickname. +"Bring Adonis here--he is an old friend." + +The door opened again, and Dolores heard the well-known voice of the +hunchback, clear as a woman's, scornful and full of evil laughter,--the +sort of voice that is heard instantly in a crowd, though it is not +always recognizable. The fellow came in, talking loud. + +"Ave Caesar!" he cried from the door. "Hail, conqueror! All hail, thou +favoured of heaven, of man,--and of the ladies!" + +"The ladies too?" laughed Don John, probably amused by the dwarfs +antics. "Who told you that?" + +"The cook, sir. For as you rode up to the gate this afternoon a scullery +maid saw you from the cellar grating and has been raving mad ever since, +singing of the sun, moon, and undying love, until the kitchen is more +like a mad-house than this house would be if the Day of Judgment came +before or after Lent." + +"Do you fast in Lent, Adonis?" + +"I fast rigidly three times a day, my lord conqueror,--no, six, for I +eat nothing either just before or just after my breakfast, my dinner, +and my supper. No monk can do better than that, for at those times I eat +nothing at all." + +"If you said your prayers as often as you fast, you would be in a good +way," observed Don John. + +"I do, sir. I say a short grace before and after eating. Why have you +come to Madrid, my lord? Do you not know that Madrid is the worst, the +wickedest, the dirtiest, vilest, and most damnable habitation devised by +man for the corruption of humanity? Especially in the month of November? +Has your lordship any reasonable reason for this unreason of coming +here, when the streets are full of mud, and men's hearts are packed like +saddle-bags with all the sins they have accumulated since Easter and +mean to unload at Christmas? Even your old friends are shocked to see so +young and honest a prince in such a place!" + +"My old friends? Who?" + +"I saw Saint John the Conqueror graciously wave his hand to a most +highly respectable old nobleman this afternoon, and the nobleman was so +much shocked that he could not stir an arm to return the salutation! His +legs must have done something, though, for he seemed to kick his own +horse up from the ground under him. The shock must have been terrible. +As for me, I laughed aloud, which made both the old nobleman and Don +Julius Caesar of Austria exceedingly angry. Get before me, Don Fadrique! +I am afraid of the terror of the Moors,--and no shame to me either! A +poor dwarf, against a man who tears armies to shreds,--and sends +scullery maids into hysterics! What is a poor crippled jester compared +with a powerful scullery maid or an army of heathen Moriscoes? Give me +that sword, Fadrique, or I am a dead man!" + +But Don John was laughing good-naturedly. + +"So it was you, Adonis? I might have-known your voice, I should think." + +"No one ever knows my voice, sir. It is not a voice, it is a freak of +grammar. It is masculine, feminine, and neuter in gender, singular by +nature, and generally accusative, and it is optative in mood and full of +acute accents. If you can find such another voice in creation, sir, I +will forfeit mine in the King's councils." + +Adonis laughed now, and Dolores remembered the laughter she had heard +from the window. + +"Does his Majesty consult you on matters of state?" inquired Don John. +"Answer quickly, for I must be going." + +"It takes twice as long to tell a story to two men, as to tell it to +one,--when you have to tell them different stories," + +"Go, Fadrique," said Don John, "and shut the door." + +The dwarf, seeing the servant gone, beckoned Don John to the other side +of the room. + +"It is no great secret, being only the King's," he said. "His Majesty +bids me tell your Serene Highness that he wishes to speak with you +privately about some matters, and that he will come here soon after +supper, and begs you to be alone." + +"I will be here--alone." + +"Excellent, sir. Now there is another matter of secrecy which is just +the contrary of what I have told you, for it is a secret from the King. +A lady laid a letter and two white carnations on your writing-table. If +there is any answer to be taken, I will take it." + +"There is none," answered Don John sternly, "Tell the lady that I burned +the letter without reading it. Go, Adonis, and the next time you come +here, do not bring messages from women. Fadrique!" + +"Your Highness burned the letter without reading it?" + +"Yes. Fadrique!" + +"I am sorry," said the dwarf, in a low voice. + +No more words were spoken, and in a few moments there was deep silence, +for they were all gone, and Dolores was alone, locked into the little +room. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +The great throne room of the palace was crowded with courtiers long +before the time when the King and Queen and Don John of Austria were to +appear, and the entries and halls by which it was approached were almost +as full. Though the late November air was keen, the state apartments +were at summer heat, warmed by thousands of great wax candles that +burned in chandeliers, and in huge sconces and on high candelabra that +stood in every corner. The light was everywhere, and was very soft and +yellow, while the odour of the wax itself was perceptible in the air, +and helped the impression that the great concourse was gathered in a +wide cathedral for some solemn function rather than in a throne room to +welcome a victorious soldier. Vast tapestries, dim and rich in the thick +air, covered the walls between the tall Moorish windows, and above them +the great pointed vaulting, ornamented with the fantastically modelled +stucco of the Moors, was like the creamy crests of waves lashed into +foam by the wind, thrown upright here, and there blown forward in swift +spray, and then again breaking in the fall to thousands of light and +exquisite shapes; and the whole vault thus gathered up the light of the +candles into itself and shed it downward, distributing it into every +corner and lighting every face in a soft and golden glow. + +At the upper end, between two great doors that were like the gateways of +an eastern city, stood the vacant throne, on a platform approached by +three broad steps and covered with deep red cloth; and there stood +magnificent officers of the guard in gilded corslets and plumed steel +caps, and other garments of scarlet and gold, with their drawn swords +out. But Mendoza was not there yet, for it was his duty to enter with +the King's own guard, preceding the Majorduomo. Above the throne, a huge +canopy of velvet, red and yellow, was reared up around the royal coat of +arms. + +To the right and left, on the steps, stood carved stools with silken +cushions--those on the right for the chief ministers and nobles of the +kingdom, those on the left for the great ladies of the court. These +would all enter in the King's train and take their places. For the +throng of courtiers who filled the floor and the entries there were no +seats, for only a score of the highest and greatest personages were +suffered to sit in the royal presence. A few, who were near the windows, +rested themselves surreptitiously on the high mouldings of the +pilasters, pushing aside the curtains cautiously, and seeming from a +distance to be standing while they were in reality comfortably seated, +an object of laughing envy and of many witticisms to their less +fortunate fellow-courtiers. The throng was not so close but that it was +possible to move in the middle of the hall, and almost all the persons +there were slowly changing place, some going forward to be nearer the +throne, others searching for their friends among their many +acquaintances, that they might help the tedious hour to pass more +quickly. + +Seen from the high gallery above the arch of the great entrance the hall +was a golden cauldron full of rich hues that intermingled in streams, +and made slow eddies with deep shadows, and then little waves of light +that turned upon themselves, as the colours thrown into the dyeing vat +slowly seethe and mix together in rivulets of dark blue and crimson, and +of splendid purple that seems to turn black in places and then is +suddenly shot through with flashes of golden and opalescent light. Here +and there also a silvery gleam flashed in the darker surface, like a +pearl in wine, for a few of the court ladies were dressed all in white, +with silver and many pearls, and diamonds that shed little rays of their +own. + +The dwarf Adonis had been there for a few moments behind the lattice +which the Moors had left, and as he stood there alone, where no one ever +thought of going, he listened to the even and not unmusical sound that +came up from the great assembly--the full chorus of speaking voices +trained never to be harsh or high, and to use chosen words, with no loud +exclamations, laughing only to please and little enough out of +merriment; and they would not laugh at all after the King and Queen came +in, but would only murmur low and pleasant flatteries, the change as +sudden as when the musician at the keys closes the full organ all at +once and draws gentle harmonies from softer stops. + +The jester had stood there, and looked down with deep-set, eager eyes, +his crooked face pathetically sad and drawn, but alive with a swift and +meaning intelligence, while the thin and mobile lips expressed a sort of +ready malice which could break out in bitterness or turn to a kindly +irony according as the touch that moved the man's sensitive nature was +cruel or friendly. He was scarcely taller than a boy of ten years old, +but his full-grown arms hung down below his knees, and his man's head, +with the long, keen face, was set far forward on his shapeless body, so +that in speaking with persons of ordinary stature he looked up under his +brows, a little sideways, to see better. Smooth red hair covered his +bony head, and grew in a carefully trimmed and pointed beard on his +pointed chin. A loose doublet of crimson velvet hid the outlines of his +crooked back and projecting breastbone, and the rest of his dress was of +materials as rich, and all red. He was, moreover, extraordinarily +careful of his appearance, and no courtier had whiter or more delicately +tended hands or spent more time before the mirror in tying a shoulder +knot, and in fastening the stiffened collar of white embroidered linen +at the fashionable angle behind his neck. + +He had entered the latticed gallery on his way to Don John's apartments +with the King's message. A small and half-concealed door, known to few +except the servants of the palace, opened upon it suddenly from a niche +in one of the upper corridors. In Moorish days the ladies of the harem +had been wont to go there unseen to see the reception of ambassadors of +state, and such ceremonies, at which, even veiled, they could never be +present. + +He only stayed a few moments, and though his eyes were eager, it was by +habit rather than because they were searching for any one in the crowd. +It pleased him now and then to see the court world as a spectacle, as it +delights the hard-worked actor to be for once a spectator at another's +play. He was an integral part of the court himself, a man of whom most +was often expected when he had the least to give, to whom it was +scarcely permitted to say anything in ordinary language, but to whom +almost any license of familiar speech was freely allowed. He was not a +man, he was a tradition, a thing that had to be where it was from +generation to generation; wherever the court had lived a jester lay +buried, and often two and three, for they rarely lived an ordinary +lifetime. Adonis thought of that sometimes, when he was alone, or when +he looked down at the crowd of delicately scented and richly dressed men +and women, every one called by some noble name, who would doubtless +laugh at some jest of his before the night was over. To their eyes the +fool was a necessary servant, because there had always been a fool at +court; he was as indispensable as a chief butler, a chief cook, or a +state coachman, and much more amusing. But he was not a man, he had no +name, he had no place among men, he was not supposed to have a mother, a +wife, a home, anything that belonged to humanity. He was well lodged, +indeed, where the last fool had died, and richly clothed as the other +had been, and he fed delicately, and was given the fine wines of France +to drink, lest his brain should be clouded by stronger liquor and he +should fail to make the court laugh. But he knew well enough that +somewhere in Toledo or Valladolid the next court jester was being +trained to good manners and instructed in the art of wit, to take the +vacant place when he should die. It pleased him therefore sometimes to +look down at the great assemblies from the gallery and to reflect that +all those magnificent fine gentlemen and tenderly nurtured beauties of +Spain were to die also, and that there was scarcely one of them, man or +woman, for whose death some one was not waiting, and waiting perhaps +with evil anxiety and longing. They were splendid to see, those fair +women in their brocades and diamonds, those dark young princesses and +duchesses in velvet and in pearls. He dreamed of them sometimes, +fancying himself one of those Djin of the southern mountains of whom the +Moors told blood-curdling tales, and in the dream he flew down from the +gallery on broad, black wings and carried off the youngest and most +beautiful, straight to his magic fortress above the sea. + +They never knew that he was sometimes up there, and on this evening he +did not wait long, for he had his message to deliver and must be in +waiting on the King before the royal train entered the throne room. +After he was gone, the courtiers waited long, and more and more came in +from without. Now and then the crowd parted as best it might, to allow +some grandee who wore the order of the Golden Fleece or of some other +exalted order, to lead his lady nearer to the throne, as was his right, +advancing with measured steps, and bowing gravely to the right and left +as he passed up to the front among his peers. And just behind them, on +one aide, the young girls, of whom many were to be presented to the King +and Queen that night, drew together and talked in laughing whispers, +gathering in groups and knots of three and four, in a sort of irregular +rank behind their mothers or the elder ladies who were to lead them to +the royal presence and pronounce their names. There was more light where +they were gathered, the shadows were few and soft, the colours tender as +the tints of roses in a garden at sunset, and from the place where they +stood the sound of young voices came silvery and clear. That should have +been Inez de Mendoza's place if she had not been blind. But Inez had +never been willing to be there, though she had more than once found her +way to the gallery where the dwarf had stood, and had listened, and +smelled the odour of the wax candles and the perfumes that rose with the +heated air. + +It was long before the great doors on the right hand of the canopy were +thrown open, but courtiers are accustomed from their childhood to long +waiting, and the greater part of their occupation at court is to see and +to be seen, and those who can do both and can take pleasure in either +are rarely impatient. Moreover, many found an opportunity of exchanging +quick words and of making sudden plans for meeting, who would have found +it hard to exchange a written message, and who had few chances of seeing +each other in the ordinary course of their lives; and others had waited +long to deliver a cutting speech, well studied and tempered to hurt, and +sought their enemies in the crowd with the winning smile a woman wears +to deal her keenest thrust. There were men, too, who had great interests +at stake and sought the influence of such as lived near the King, +flattering every one who could possibly be of use, and coolly +overlooking any who had a matter of their own to press, though they were +of their own kin. Many officers of Don John's army were there, too, +bright-eyed and bronzed from their campaigning, and ready to give their +laurels for roses, leaf by leaf, with any lady of the court who would +make a fair exchange--and of these there were not a few, and the time +seemed short to them. There were also ecclesiastics, but not many, in +sober black and violet garments, and they kept together in one corner +and spoke a jargon of Latin and Spanish which the courtiers could not +understand; and all who were there, the great courtiers and the small, +the bishops and the canons, the stout princesses laced to suffocation +and to the verge of apoplexy, and fanning themselves desperately in the +heat, and their slim, dark-eyed daughters, cool and laughing--they were +all gathered together to greet Spain's youngest and greatest hero, Don +John of Austria, who had won back Granada from the Moors. + +As the doors opened at last, a distant blast of silver trumpets rang in +from without, and the full chorus of speaking voices was hushed to a +mere breathing that died away to breathless silence during a few moments +as the greatest sovereign of the age, and one of the strangest figures +of all time, appeared before his court. The Grand Master of Ceremonies +entered first, in his robe of office, bearing a long white staff. In the +stillness his voice rang out to the ends of the hall: + +"His Majesty the King! Her Majesty the Queen!" + +Then came a score of halberdiers of the guard, picked men of great +stature, marching in even steps, led by old Mendoza himself, in his +breastplate and helmet, sword in hand; and he drew up the guard at one +side in a rank, making them pass him so that he stood next to the door. + +After the guards came Philip the Second, a tall and melancholy figure; +and with him, on his left side, walked the young Queen, a small, thin +figure in white, with sad eyes and a pathetic face--wondering, perhaps, +whether she was to follow soon those other queens who had walked by the +same King to the same court, and had all died before their time--Mary of +Portugal, Mary of England, Isabel of Valois. + +The King was one of those men who seem marked by destiny rather than by +nature, fateful, sombre, almost repellent in manner, born to inspire a +vague fear at first sight, and foreordained to strange misfortune or to +extraordinary success, one of those human beings from whom all men +shrink instinctively, and before whom they easily lose their fluency of +speech and confidence of thought. Unnaturally still eyes, of an +uncertain colour, gazed with a terrifying fixedness upon a human world, +and were oddly set in the large and perfectly colourless face that was +like an exaggerated waxen mask. The pale lips did not meet evenly, the +lower one protruding, forced, outward by the phenomenal jaw that has +descended to this day in the House of Austria. A meagre beard, so fair +that it looked faded, accentuated the chin rather than concealed it, and +the hair on the head was of the same undecided tone, neither thin nor +thick, neither long nor short, but parted, and combed with the utmost +precision about the large but very finely moulded ears. The brow was +very full as well as broad, and the forehead high, the whole face too +large, even for a man so tall, and disquieting in its proportions. +Philip bent his head forward a little when at rest; when he looked about +him it moved with something of the slow, sure motion of a piece of +mechanism, stopping now and then, as the look in the eyes solidified to +a stare, and then, moving again, until curiosity was satisfied and it +resumed its first attitude, and remained motionless, whether the lips +were speaking or not. + +Very tall and thin, and narrow chested, the figure was clothed all in +cream-coloured silk and silver, relieved only by the collar of the +Golden Fleece, the solitary order the King wore. His step was ungraceful +and slow, as if his thin limbs bore his light weight with difficulty, +and he sometimes stumbled in walking. One hand rested on the hilt of his +sword as he walked, and even under the white gloves the immense length +of the fingers and the proportionate development of the long thumb were +clearly apparent. No one could have guessed that in such a figure there +could be much elasticity or strength, and yet, at rare moments and when +younger, King Philip displayed such strength and energy and quickness as +might well have made him the match of ordinary men. As a rule his anger +was slow, thoughtful, and dangerous, as all his schemes were vast and +far-reaching. + +With the utmost deliberation, and without so much as glancing at the +courtiers assembled, he advanced to the throne and sat down, resting +both hands on the gilded arms of the great chair; and the Queen took her +place beside him. But before he had settled himself, there was a low +sound of suppressed delight in the hall, a moving of heads, a +brightening of women's eyes, a little swaying of men's shoulders as they +tried to see better over those who stood before them; and voices rose +here and there above the murmur, though not loudly, and were joined by +others. Then the King's waxen face darkened, though the expression did +not change and the still eyes did not move, but as if something passed +between it and the light, leaving it grey in the shadow. He did not turn +to look, for he knew that his brother had entered the throne room and +that every eye was upon him. + +Don John was all in dazzling white--white velvet, white satin, white +silk, white lace, white shoes, and wearing neither sword nor ornament of +any kind, the most faultless vision of young and manly grace that ever +glided through a woman's dream. + +His place was on the King's right, and he passed along the platform of +the throne with an easy, unhesitating step, and an almost boyish smile +of pleasure at the sounds he heard, and at the flutter of excitement +that was in the air, rather to be felt than otherwise perceived. Coming +up the steps of the throne, he bent one knee before his brother, who +held out his ungloved hand for him to kiss--and when that was done, he +knelt again before the Queen, who did likewise. Then, bowing low as he +passed back before the King, he descended one step and took the chair +set for him in the place that was for the royal princes. + +He was alone there, for Philip was again childless at his fourth +marriage, and it was not until long afterwards that a son was born who +lived to succeed him; and there were no royal princesses in Madrid, so +that Don John was his brother's only near blood relation at the court, +and since he had been acknowledged he would have had his place by right, +even if he had not beaten the Moriscoes in the south and won back +Granada. + +After him came the high Ministers of State and the ambassadors in a rich +and stately train, led in by Don Antonio Perez, the King's new +favourite, a man of profound and evil intelligence, upon whom Philip was +to rely almost entirely during ten years, whom he almost tortured to +death for his crimes, and who in the end escaped him, outlived him, and +died a natural death, in Paris, when nearly eighty. With these came also +the court ladies, the Queen's Mistress of the Robes, and the maids of +honour, and with the ladies was Dona Ana de la Cerda, Princess of Eboli +and Melito and Duchess of Pastrana, the wife of old Don Ruy Gomez de +Silva, the Minister. It was said that she ruled her husband, and Antonio +Perez and the King himself, and that she was faithless to all three. + +She was not more than thirty years of age at that time, and she looked +younger when seen in profile. But one facing her might have thought her +older from the extraordinary and almost masculine strength of her small +head and face, compact as a young athlete's, too square for a woman's, +with high cheekbones, deep-set black eyes and eyebrows that met between +them, and a cruel red mouth that always curled a little just when she +was going to speak, and showed extraordinarily perfect little teeth, +when the lips parted. Yet she was almost beautiful when she was not +angry or in a hurtful mood. The dark complexion was as smooth as a +perfect peach, and tinged with warm colour, and her eyes could be like +black opals, and no woman in Spain or Andalusia could match her for +grace of figure and lightness of step. + +Others came after in the long train. Then, last of all, at a little +distance from the rest, the jester entered, affecting a very dejected +air. He stood still a while on the platform, looking about as if to see +whether a seat had been reserved for him, and then, shaking his head +sadly, he crouched down, a heap of scarlet velvet with a man's face, +just at Don John's feet, and turning a little towards him, so as to +watch his eyes. But Don John would not look at him, and was surprised +that he should put himself there, having just been dismissed with a +sharp reprimand for bringing women's messages. + +The ceremony, if it can be called by that name, began almost as soon as +all were seated. At a sign from the King, Don Antonio Perez rose and +read out a document which he had brought in his hand. It was a sort of +throne speech, and set forth briefly, in very measured terms, the +results of the long campaign against the Moriscoes, according high +praise to the army in general, and containing a few congratulatory +phrases addressed to Don John himself. The audience of nobles listened +attentively, and whenever the leader's name occurred, the suppressed +flutter of enthusiasm ran through the hall like a breeze that stirs +forest leaves in summer; but when the King was mentioned the silence was +dead and unbroken. Don John sat quite still, looking down a little, and +now and then his colour deepened perceptibly. The speech did not hint at +any reward or further distinction to be conferred on him. + +When Perez had finished reading, he paused a moment, and the hand that +held the paper fell to his side. Then he raised his voice to a higher +key. + +"God save his Majesty Don Philip Second!" be cried. "Long live the +King!" + +The courtiers answered the cheer, but moderately, as a matter of course, +and without enthusiasm, repeating it three times. But at the last time a +single woman's voice, high and clear above all the rest, cried out other +words. + +"God save Don John of Austria! Long live Don John of Austria!" + +The whole multitude of men and women was stirred at once, for every +heart was in the cheer, and in an instant, courtiers though they were, +the King was forgotten, the time, the place, and the cry went up all at +once, full, long and loud, shaming the one that had gone before it. + +King Philip's hands strained at the arms of his great chair, and he half +rose, as if to command silence; and Don John, suddenly pale, had half +risen, too, stretching out his open hand in a gesture of deprecation, +while the Queen watched him with timidly admiring eyes, and the dark +Princess of Eboli's dusky lids drooped to hide her own, for she was +watching him also, but with other thoughts. For a few seconds longer, +the cheers followed each other, and then they died away to a comparative +silence. The dwarf rocked himself, his head between his knees, at Don +John's feet. + +"God save the Fool!" he cried softly, mimicking the cheer, and he seemed +to shake all over, as he sat huddled together, swinging himself to and +fro. + +But no one noticed what he said, for the King had risen to his feet as +soon as there was silence. He spoke in a muffled tone that made his +words hard to understand, and those who knew him best saw that he was +very angry. The Princess of Eboli's red lips curled scornfully as she +listened, and unnoticed she exchanged a meaning glance with Antonio +Perez; for he and she were allies, and often of late they had talked +long together, and had drawn sharp comparisons between the King and his +brother, and the plan they had made was to destroy the King and to crown +Don John of Austria in his place; but the woman's plot was deeper, and +both were equally determined that Don John should not marry without +their consent, and that if he did, his marriage should not hold, unless, +as was probable, his young wife should fall ill and die of a sickness +unknown to physicians. + +All had risen with the King, and he addressed Don John amidst the most +profound silence. + +"My brother," he said, "your friends have taken upon themselves +unnecessarily to use the words we would have used, and to express to you +their enthusiasm for your success in a manner unknown at the court of +Spain. Our one voice, rendering you the thanks that are your due, can +hardly give you great satisfaction after what you have heard just now. +Yet we presume that the praise of others cannot altogether take the +place of your sovereign's at such a moment, and we formally thank you +for the admirable performance of the task entrusted to you, promising +that before long your services shall be required for an even more +arduous undertaking. It is not in our power to confer upon you any +personal distinction or public office higher than you already hold, as +our brother, and as High Admiral of Spain; but we trust the day is not +far distant when a marriage befitting your rank may place you on a level +with kings." + +Don John had moved a step forward from his place and stood before the +King, who, at the end of his short speech, put his long arms over his +brother's shoulders, and proceeded to embrace him in a formal manner by +applying one cheek to his and solemnly kissing the air behind Don John's +head, a process which the latter imitated as nearly as he could. The +court looked on in silence at the ceremony, ill satisfied with Philip's +cold words. The King drew back, and Don John returned to his place. As +he reached it the dwarf jester made a ceremonious obeisance and handed +him a glove which he had dropped as he came forward. As he took it he +felt that it contained a letter, which made a slight sound when his hand +crumpled it inside the glove. Annoyed by the fool's persistence, Don +John's eyes hardened as he looked at the crooked face, and almost +imperceptibly he shook his head. But the dwarf was as grave as he, and +slightly bent his own, clasping his hands in a gesture of supplication. +Don John reflected that the matter must be one of importance this time, +as Adonis would not otherwise have incurred the risk of passing the +letter to him under the eyes of the King and the whole court. + +Then followed the long and tedious procession of the court past the +royal pair, who remained seated, while all the rest stood up, including +Don John himself, to whom a master of ceremonies presented the persons +unknown to him, and who were by far the more numerous. To the men, old +and young, great or insignificant, he gave his hand with frank +cordiality. To the women he courteously bowed his head. A full hour +passed before it was over, and still he grasped the glove with the +crumpled letter in his hand, while the dwarf stood at a little distance, +watching in case it should fall; and as the Duchess Alvarez and the +Princess of Eboli presented the ladies of Madrid to the young Queen, the +Princess often looked at Don John and often at the jester from beneath +her half-dropped lids. But she did not make a single mistake of names +nor of etiquette, though her mind was much preoccupied with other +matters. + +The Queen was timidly gracious to every one; but Philip's face was +gloomy, and his fixed eyes hardly seemed to see the faces of the +courtiers as they passed before him, nor did he open his lips to address +a word to any of them, though some were old and faithful servants of his +own and of his father's. + +In his manner, in his silence, in the formality of the ceremony, there +was the whole spirit of the Spanish dominion. It was sombrely +magnificent, and it was gravely cruel; it adhered to the forms of +sovereignty as rigidly as to the outward practices of religion; its +power extended to the ends of the world, and the most remote countries +sent their homage and obeisance to its head; and beneath the dark +splendour that surrounded its gloomy sovereigns there was passion and +hatred and intrigue. Beside Don John of Austria stood Antonio Perez, and +under the same roof with Dolores de Mendoza dwelt Ana de la Cerda, +Princess of Eboli, and in the midst of them all Miguel de Antona, the +King's fool. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +When the ceremony was over, and every one on the platform and steps of +the throne moved a little in order to make way for the royal personages, +making a slight momentary confusion, Adonis crept up behind Don John, +and softly touched his sleeve to attract his attention. Don John looked +round quickly, and was annoyed to see the dwarf there. He did not notice +the fact that Dona Ana de la Cerda was watching them both, looking +sideways without turning her head. + +"It is a matter of importance," said the jester, in a low voice. "Read +it before supper if you can." + +Don John looked at him a moment, and turned away without answering, or +even making a sign that he understood. The dwarf met Dona Ana's eyes, +and grew slowly pale, till his face was a yellow mask; for he feared +her. + +The door on the other side of the throne was opened, and the King and +Queen, followed by Don John, and preceded by the Master of Ceremonies, +went out. The dwarf, who was privileged, went after them with his +strange, rolling step, his long arms hanging down and swinging +irregularly, as if they did not belong to his body, but were only +stuffed things that hung loose from his shoulders. + +As on all such state occasions, there were separate suppers, in separate +apartments, one for the King, and one for the ministers of state and the +high courtiers; thirdly, a vast collation was spread in a hall on the +other side of the throne room for the many nobles who were but guests at +the court and held no office nor had any special privileges. It was the +custom at that time that the supper should last an hour, after which all +reentered the throne room to dance, except the King and Queen, who +either retired to the royal apartments, or came back for a short time +and remained standing on the floor of the hall, in order to converse +with a few of the grandees and ambassadors. + +The royal party supped in a sombre room of oval shape, dark with +tapestries and splendid with gold. The King and Queen sat side by side, +and Don John was placed opposite them at the table, of which the shape +and outline corresponded on a small scale with those of the room. Four +or five gentlemen, whose office it was, served the royal couple, +receiving the dishes and wines from the hands of the chief butler; and +he, with two other servants in state liveries, waited on Don John. +Everything was most exactly ordered according to the unchangeable rules +of the most formal court in Europe, not even excepting that of Rome. + +Philip sat in gloomy silence, eating nothing, but occasionally drinking +a little Tokay wine, brought with infinite precaution from Hungary to +Madrid. As be said nothing, neither the Queen nor Don John could speak, +it being ordained that the King must be the first to open his lips. The +Queen, however, being young and of a good constitution in spite of her +almost delicate appearance, began to taste everything that was set +before her, glancing timidly at her husband, who took no notice of her, +or pretended not to do so. Don John, soldier-like, made a sparing supper +of the first thing that was offered to him, and then sat silently +watching the other two. He understood very well that his brother wished +to see him in private, and was annoyed that the Queen should make the +meal last longer than necessary. The dwarf understood also, and smiled +to himself in the corner where he stood waiting in case the King should +wish to be amused, which on that particular evening seemed far from +likely. But sometimes he turned pale and his lips twisted a little as if +he were suffering great pain; for Don John had not yet read the letter +that was hidden in his glove; and Adonis saw in the dark corners of the +room the Princess of Eboli's cruel half-closed eyes, and he fancied he +heard her deep voice, that almost always spoke very sweetly, telling him +again and again that if Don John did not read her letter before he met +the King alone that night, Adonis should before very long cease to be +court jester, and indeed cease to be anything at all that 'eats and +drinks and sleeps and wears a coat'--as Dante had said. What Dona Ana +said she would do, was as good as done already, both then and for nine +years from that time, but thereafter she paid for all her deeds, and +more too. But this history is not concerned with those matters, being +only the story of what happened in one night at the old Alcazar of +Madrid. + +King Philip sat a little bent in his chair, apparently staring at a +point in space, and not opening his lips except to drink. But his +presence filled the shadowy room, his large and yellowish face seemed to +be all visible from every part of it, and his still eyes dominated +everything and every one, except his brother. It was as if the +possession of some supernatural and evil being were stealing slowly upon +all who were there; as if a monstrous spider sat absolutely motionless +in the midst of its web, drawing everything within reach to itself by +the unnatural fascination of its lidless sight--as if the gentlemen in +waiting were but helpless flies, circling nearer and nearer, to be +caught at last in the meshes, and the Queen a bright butterfly, and Don +John a white moth, already taken and soon to be devoured. The dwarf +thought of this in his corner, and his blood was chilled, for three +queens lay in their tombs in three dim cathedrals, and she who sat at +table was the fourth who had supped with the royal Spider in his web. +Adonis watched him, and the penetrating fear he had long known crept all +through him like the chill that shakes a man before a marsh fever, so +that he had to set his teeth with all his might, lest they should +chatter audibly. As he looked, he fancied that in the light of the waxen +torches the King's face turned by degrees to an ashy grey, and then more +slowly to a shadowy yellow again, as he had seen a spider's ugly body +change colour when the flies came nearer, and change again when one was +entangled in the threads. He thought that the faces of all the people in +the room changed, too, and that he saw in them the look that only near +and certain death can bring, which is in the eyes of him who goes out +with bound hands, at dawn, amongst other men who will see the rising sun +shine on his dead face. That fear came on the dwarf sometimes, and he +dreaded always lest at that moment the King should call to him and bid +him sing or play with words. But this had never happened yet. There were +others in the room, also, who knew something of that same terror, though +in a less degree, perhaps because they knew Philip less well than the +jester, who was almost always near him. But Don John sat quietly in his +place, no more realizing that there could be danger than if he had been +charging the Moors at the head of his cavalry, or fighting a man hand to +hand with drawn swords. + +But still the fear grew, and even the gentlemen and the servants +wondered, for it had never happened that the King had not at last broken +the silence at supper, so that all guessed trouble near at hand, and +peril for themselves. The Queen grew nervous and ceased to eat. She +looked from Philip to Don John, and more than once seemed about to +speak, but recollected herself and checked the words. Her hand shook and +her thin young nostrils quivered now and then. Evil was gathering in the +air, and she felt it approaching, though she could not tell whence it +came. A sort of tension took possession of every one, like what people +feel in southern countries when the southeast wind blows, or when, +almost without warning, the fresh sea-breeze dies away to a dead calm +and the blackness rises like a tide of pitch among the mountains of the +coast, sending up enormous clouds above it to the pale sky, and lying +quite still below; and the air grows lurid quickly, and heavy to breathe +and sultry, till the tempest breaks in lightning and-thunder and +drenching rain. + +In the midst of the brewing storm the dwarf saw only the Spider in its +web, illuminated by the unearthly glare of his own fear, and with it the +frightened butterfly and the beautiful silver moth, that had never +dreamed of danger. He shrank against the hangings, pressing backwards +till he hurt his crooked back against the stone wall behind the +tapestry, and could have shrieked with fear had not a greater fear made +him dumb. He felt that the King was going to speak to him, and that he +should not be able to answer him. A horrible thought suddenly seized +him, and he fancied that the King had seen him slip the letter into Don +John's glove, and would ask for it, and take it, and read it--and that +would be the end. Thrills of torment ran through him, and he knew how it +must feel to lie bound on the rack and to hear the executioner's hands +on the wheel, ready to turn it again at the judge's word. He had seen a +man tortured once, and remembered his face. He was sure that the King +must have seen the letter, and that meant torment and death, and the +King was angry also because the court had cheered Don John. It was +treason, and he knew it--yet it would have been certain death, too, to +refuse to obey Dona Ana. There was destruction on either side, and he +could not escape. Don John had not read the writing yet, and if the King +asked for it, he would probably give it to him without a thought, +unopened, for he was far too simple to imagine that any one could accuse +him of a treasonable thought, and too boyishly frank to fancy that his +brother could be jealous of him--above all, he was too modest to suppose +that there were thousands who would have risked their lives to set him +on the throne of Spain. He would therefore give the King the letter +unopened, unless, believing it to be a love message from some foolish +woman, he chose to tear it up unread. The wretched jester knew that +either would mean his own disgrace and death, and he quivered with agony +from head to foot. + +The lights moved up and down before his sight, the air grew heavier, the +royal Spider took gigantic proportions, and its motionless eyes were +lurid with evil It was about to turn to him; he felt it turning already, +and knew that it saw him in his corner, and meant to draw him to it, +very slowly. In a moment he should fall to the floor a senseless heap, +out of deadly fear--it would be well if his fear really killed him, but +he could not even hope for that. His hands gripped the hangings on each +side of him as he shrank and crushed his deformity against the wall. +Surely the King was taming his head. Yes--he was right. He felt his +short hair rising on his scalp and unearthly sounds screamed in his +ears. The terrible eyes were upon him now, but he could not move hand or +foot--if he had been nailed to the wall to die, he could not have been +so helpless. + +Philip eyed him with cold curiosity, for it was not an illusion, and he +was really looking steadily at the dwarf. After a long time, his +protruding lower lip moved two or three times before he spoke. The +jester should have come forward at his first glance, to answer any +question asked him. Instead, his colourless lips were parted and tightly +drawn back, and his teeth were chattering, do what he could to close +them. The Queen and Don John followed the King's gaze and looked at the +dwarf in surprise, for his agony was painfully visible. + +"He looks as if he were in an ague," observed Philip, as though he were +watching a sick dog. + +He had spoken at last, and the fear of silence was removed. An audible +sigh of relief was heard in the room. + +"Poor man!" exclaimed the Queen. "I am afraid he is very ill!" + +"It is more like--" began Don John, and then he checked himself, for he +had been on the point of saying that the dwarfs fit looked more like +physical fear than illness, for he had more than once seen men afraid of +death; but he remembered the letter in his glove and thought the words +might rouse Philip's suspicions. + +"What was your Serene Highness about to say?" enquired the King, +speaking coldly, and laying stress on the formal title which he had +himself given Don John the right to use. + +"As your Majesty says, it is very like the chill of a fever," replied +Don John. + +But it was already passing, for Adonis was not a natural coward, and the +short conversation of the royal personages had broken the spell that +held him, or had at least diminished its power. When he had entered the +room he had been quite sure that no one except the Princess had seen him +slip the letter into Don John's glove. That quieting belief began to +return, his jaw became steady, and he relaxed his hold on the +tapestries, and even advanced half a step towards the table. + +"And now he seems better," said the King, in evident surprise. "What +sort of illness is this, Fool? If you cannot explain it, you shall be +sent to bed, and the physicians shall practise experiments upon your +vile body, until they find out what your complaint is, for the +advancement of their learning." + +"They would advance me more than their science, Sire," answered Adonis, +in a voice that still quaked with past fear, "for they would send me to +paradise at once and learn nothing that they wished to know." + +"That is probable," observed Don John, thoughtfully, for he had little +belief in medicine generally, and none at all in the present case. + +"May it please your Majesty," said Adonis, taking heart a little, "there +are musk melons on the table." + +"Well, what of that?" asked the King. + +"The sight of melons on your Majesty's table almost kills me," answered +the dwarf. + +"Are you so fond of them that you cannot bear to see them? You shall +have a dozen and be made to eat them all. That will cure your abominable +greediness." + +"Provided that the King had none himself, I would eat all the rest, +until I died of a surfeit of melons like your Majesty's great-grandsire +of glorious and happy memory, the Emperor Maximilian." + +Philip turned visibly pale, for he feared illness and death as few have +feared either. + +"Why has no one ever told me that?" he asked in a muffled and angry +voice, looking round the room, so that the gentlemen and servants shrank +back a little. + +No one answered his question, for though the fact was true, it had been +long forgotten, and it would have been hard for any of those present to +realize that the King would fear a danger so far removed. But the dwarf +knew him well. + +"Let there be no more melons," said Philip, rising abruptly, and still +pale. + +Don John had suppressed a smile, and was taken unawares when the King +rose, so that in standing up instantly, as was necessary according to +the rules, his gloves slipped from his knees, where he had kept them +during supper, to the floor, and a moment passed before he realized that +they were not in his hand. He was still in his place, for the King had +not yet left his own, being engaged in saying a Latin grace in a low +tone, He crossed himself devoutly, and an instant later Don John stooped +down and picked up what he had dropped. Philip could not but notice the +action, and his suspicions were instantly roused. + +"What have you found?" he asked sharply, his eyes fixing themselves +again. + +"My gloves, Sire. I dropped them." + +"And are gloves such precious possessions that Don John of Austria must +stoop to pick them up himself?" + +Adonis began to tremble again, and all his fear returned, so that he +almost staggered against the wall. The Queen looked on in surprise, for +she had not been Philip's wife many months. Don John was unconcerned, +and laughed in reply to the question. + +"It chances that after long campaigning these are the only new white +gloves Don John of Austria possesses," he answered lightly. + +"Let me see them," said the King, extending his hand, and smiling +suddenly. + +With some deliberation Don John presented one of the gloves to his +brother, who took it and pretended to examine it critically, still +smiling. He turned it over several times, while Adonis looked on, +gasping for breath, but unnoticed. + +"The other," said Philip calmly. + +Adonis tried to suppress a groan, and his eyes were fixed on Don John's +face. Would he refuse? Would he try to extract the letter from the glove +under his brother's eyes? Would he give it up? + +Don John did none of those things, and there was not the least change of +colour in his cheek. Without any attempt at concealment he took the +letter from its hiding-place, and held out the empty glove with his +other hand. The King drew back, and his face grew very grey and shadowy +with anger. + +"What have you in your other hand?" he asked in a voice indistinct with +passion. + +"A lady's letter, Sire," replied Don John, unmoved. + +"Give it to me at once!" + +"That, your Majesty, is a request I will not grant to any gentleman in +Spain." + +He undid a button of his close-fitting doublet, thrust the letter into +the opening and fastened the button again, before the King could speak. +The dwarf's heart almost stood still with joy,--he could have crawled to +Don John's feet to kiss the dust from his shoes. The Queen smiled +nervously, between fear of the one man and admiration for the other. + +"Your Serene Highness," answered Philip, with a frightful stare, "is the +first gentleman of Spain who has disobeyed his sovereign." + +"May I be the last, your Majesty," said Don John, with a courtly gesture +which showed well enough that he had no intention of changing his mind. + +The King turned from him coldly and spoke to Adonis, who had almost got +his courage back a second time. + +"You gave my message to his Highness, Fool?" he asked, controlling his +voice, but not quite steadying it to a natural tone. + +"Yes, Sire." + +"Go and tell Don Antonio Perez to come at once to me in my own +apartments." + +The dwarf bent till his crooked back was high above his head, and he +stepped backwards towards the door through which the servants had +entered and gone out. When he had disappeared, Philip turned and, as if +nothing had happened, gave his hand to the Queen to lead her away with +all the prescribed courtesy that was her due. The servants opened wide +the door, two gentlemen placed themselves on each side of it, the chief +gentleman in waiting went before, and the royal couple passed out, +followed at a little distance by Don John, who walked unconcernedly, +swinging his right glove carelessly in his hand as he went. The four +gentlemen walked last. In the hall beyond, Mendoza was in waiting with +the guards. + +A little while after they were all gone, Adonis came back from his +errand, with his rolling step, and searched for the other glove on the +floor, where the King had dropped it. He found it there at once and hid +it in his doubtlet. No one was in the room, for the servants had +disappeared as soon as they could. The dwarf went quickly to Don John's +place, took a Venetian goblet full of untasted wine that stood there and +drank it at a draught. Then he patted himself comfortably with his other +hand and looked thoughtfully at the slices of musk melon that lay in the +golden dish flanked by other dishes full of late grapes and pears. + +"God bless the Emperor Maximilian!" he said in a devout tone. "Since he +could not live for ever, it was a special grace of Providence that his +death should be by melons." + +Then he went away again, and softly closed the door behind him, after +looking back once more to be sure that no one was there after all, and +perhaps, as people sometimes do on leaving a place where they have +escaped a great danger, fixing its details unconsciously in his memory, +with something almost akin to gratitude, as if the lifeless things had +run the risk with them and thus earned their lasting friendship. Thus +every man who has been to sea knows how, when his vessel has been hove +to in a storm for many hours, perhaps during more than one day, within a +few miles of the same spot, the sea there grows familiar to him as a +landscape to a landsman, so that when the force of the gale is broken at +last and the sea subsides to a long swell, and the ship is wore to the +wind and can lay her course once more, he looks astern at the grey water +he has learned to know so well and feels that he should know it again if +he passed that way, and he leaves it with a faint sensation of regret. +So Adonis, the jester, left the King's supper-room that night, devoutly +thanking Heaven that the Emperor Maximilian had died of eating too many +melons more than a hundred and fifty years ago. + +Meanwhile, the King had left the Queen at the door of her apartments, +and had dismissed Don John in angry silence by a gesture only, as he +went on to his study. And when there, he sent away his gentlemen and +bade that no one should disturb him, and that only Don Antonio Perez, +the new favourite, should be admitted. The supper had scarcely lasted +half an hour, and it was still early in the evening when he found +himself alone and was able to reflect upon what had happened, and upon +what it would be best to do to rid himself of his brother, the hero and +idol of Spain. + +He did not admit that Don John of Austria could be allowed to live on, +unmolested, as if he had not openly refused to obey an express command +and as if he were not secretly plotting to get possession of the throne. +That was impossible. During more than two years, Don John's popularity, +not only with the people, but with the army, which was a much more +serious matter, had been steadily growing; and with it and even faster +than it, the King's jealousy and hatred had grown also, till it had +become a matter of common discussion and jest among the soldiers when +their officers were out of hearing. + +But though it was without real cause, it was not without apparent +foundation. As Philip slowly paced the floor of his most private room, +with awkward, ungainly steps, stumbling more than once against a cushion +that lay before his great armchair, he saw clearly before him the whole +dimensions of that power to which he had unwillingly raised his brother. +The time had been short, but the means used had been great, for they had +been intended to be means of destruction, and the result was tremendous +when they turned against him who used them. Philip was old enough to +have been Don John's father, and he remembered how indifferent he had +been to the graceful boy of twelve, whom they called Juan Quixada, when +he had been brought to the old court at Valladolid and acknowledged as a +son of the Emperor Charles. Though he was his brother, Philip had not +even granted him the privilege of living in the palace then, and had +smiled at the idea that he should be addressed as "Serene Highness." +Even as a boy, he had been impatient to fight; and Philip remembered how +he was always practising with the sword or performing wild feats of +skill and strength upon half-broken horses, except when he was kept to +his books by Dona Magdalena Quixada, the only person in the world whom +he ever obeyed without question. Every one had loved the boy from the +first, and Philip's jealousy had begun from that; for he, who was loved +by none and feared by all, craved popularity and common affection, and +was filled with bitter resentment against the world that obeyed him but +refused him what he most desired. + +Little more than ten years had passed since the boy had come, and he had +neither died a natural death nor fallen in battle, and was grown up to +young manhood, and was by far the greatest man in Spain. He had been +treated as an inferior, the people had set him up as a god. He had been +sent out to command expeditions that be might fail and be disgraced; but +he had shown deeper wisdom than his elders, and had come back covered +with honour; and now he had been commanded to fight out the final battle +of Spain with the Moriscoes, in the hope that he might die in the fight, +since he could not be dishonoured, and instead he had returned in +triumph, having utterly subdued the fiercest warriors in Europe, to reap +the ripe harvest of his military glory at an age when other men were in +the leading-strings of war's school, and to be acclaimed a hero as well +as a favourite by a court that could hardly raise a voice to cheer for +its own King. Ten years had done all that. Ten more, or even five, might +do the rest. The boy could not be without ambition, and there could be +no ambition for him of which the object should be less than a throne. +And yet no word had been breathed against him,--his young reputation was +charmed, as his life was. In vain Philip had bidden Antonio Perez and +the Princess of Eboli use all their wits and skill to prove that he was +plotting to seize the crown. They answered that he loved a girl of the +court, Mendoza's daughter, and that besides war, for war's sake, he +cared for nothing in the world but Dolores and his adopted mother. + +They spoke the truth, for they had reason to know it, having used every +means in their power to find out whether he could be induced to quarrel +with Philip and enter upon a civil war, which could have had but one +issue, since all Spain would have risen to proclaim him king. He had +been tempted by questions, and led into discussions in which it seemed +certain that he must give them some hope. But they and their agents lost +heart before the insuperable obstacle of the young prince's loyalty. It +was simple, unaffected, and without exaggeration. He never drew his +sword and kissed the blade, and swore by the Blessed Virgin to give his +last drop of blood for his sovereign and his country. He never made +solemn vows to accomplish ends that looked impossible. But when the +charge sounded, he pressed his steel cap a little lower upon his brow, +and settled himself in the saddle without any words and rode at death +like the devil incarnate; and then men followed him, and the impossible +was done, and that was all. Or he could wait and watch, and manoeuvre +for weeks, until he had his foe in his hand, with a patience that would +have failed his officers and his men, had they not seen him always ready +and cheerful, and fully sure that although he might fail twenty times to +drive the foe into the pen, he should most certainly succeed in the +end,--as he always did. + +Philip paced the chamber in deep and angry thought. If at that moment +any one had offered to rid him of his brother, the reward would have +been ready, and worth a murderer's taking. But the King had long +cherished the scheme of marrying Don John to Queen Mary of +Scotland,--whose marriage with Bothwell could easily be annulled--in +order that his presumptuous ambition might be satisfied, and at the same +time that he might make of his new kingdom a powerful ally of Spain +against Elizabeth of England. It was for this reason that he had long +determined to prevent his brother's marriage with Maria Dolores de +Mendoza. Perez and Dona Ana de la Cerda, on the other hand, feared that +if Don John were allowed to marry the girl he so devotedly loved, he +would forget everything for her, give up campaigning, and settle to the +insignificance of a thoroughly happy man. For they knew the world well +from their own point of view. Happiness is often like sadness, for it +paralyzes those to whose lot it falls; but pain and danger rouse man's +strength of mind and body. + +Yet though the King and his treacherous favourite had diametrically +opposite intentions, a similar thought had crossed the minds of both, +even before Don John had ridden up to the palace gate late on that +afternoon, from his last camping ground outside the city walls. Both had +reasoned that whoever was to influence a man so straightforward and +fearless must have in his power and keeping the person for whom Don John +would make the greatest sacrifice of his life; and that person, as both +knew, was Dolores herself. Yet when Antonio Perez entered Philip's +study, neither had guessed the other's thought. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +The court had been still at supper when Adonis had summoned Don Antonio +Perez to the King, and the Secretary, as he was usually called, had been +obliged to excuse his sudden departure by explaining that the King had +sent for him unexpectedly. He was not even able to exchange a word with +Dona Ana, who was seated at another of the three long tables and at some +distance from him. She understood, however, and looked after him +anxiously. His leaving was not signal for the others, but it caused a +little stir which unhinged the solemn formality of the supper. The +Ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire presently protested that he was +suffering from an unbearable headache, and the Princess of Eboli, next +to whom he was seated, begged him not to stand upon ceremony, since +Perez was gone from the room, but to order his coach at once; she found +it hot, she said, and would be glad to escape. The two rose together, +and others followed their example, until the few who would have stayed +longer were constrained to imitate the majority. When Mendoza, relieved +at last from his duty, went towards the supper-room to take the place +that was kept for him at one of the tables, he met Dona Ana in the +private corridor through which the officers and ladies of the household +passed to the state apartments. He stood still, surprised to see her +there. + +"The supper is over," she said, stopping also, and trying to scrutinize +the hard old face by the dim light of the lamps. "May I have a word with +you, General? Let us walk together to your apartments." + +"It is far, Madam," observed Mendoza, who suspected at once that she +wished to see Dolores. + +"I shall be glad to walk a little, and breathe the air," she answered. +"Your corridor has arches open to the air, I remember." She began to +walk, and he was obliged to accompany her. "Yes," she continued +indifferently, "we have had such changeable weather to-day! This morning +it almost snowed, then it rained, then it, began to freeze, and now it +feels like summer! I hope Dolores has not taken cold? Is she ill? She +was not at court before supper." + +"The weather is indeed very changeable," replied the General, who did +not know what to say, and considered it beneath his dignity to lie +except by order of the King. + +"Yes--yes, I was saying so, was I not? But Dolores--is she ill? Please +tell me." The Princess spoke almost anxiously. + +"No, Madam, my daughters are well, so far as I know." + +"But then, my dear General, it is strange that you should not have sent +an excuse for Dolores' not appearing. That is the rule, you know. May I +ask why you ventured to break it?" Her tone grew harder by degrees. + +"It was very sudden," said Mendoza, trying to put her off. "I hope that +your Grace will excuse my daughter." + +"What was sudden?" enquired Dona Ana coldly. "You say she was not taken +ill." + +"Her--her not coming to court." Mendoza hesitated and pulled at his grey +beard as they went along. "She fully intended to come," he added, with +perfect truth. + +Dona Ana walked more slowly, glancing sideways at his face, though she +could hardly see it except when they passed by a lamp, for he was very +tall, and she was short, though exquisitely proportioned. + +"I do not understand," she said, in a clear, metallic voice. "I have a +right to an explanation, for it is quite impossible to give the ladies +of the court who live in the palace full liberty to attend upon the +Queen or not, as they please. You will be singularly fortunate if Don +Antonio Perez does not mention the matter to the King." + +Mendoza was silent, but the words had their effect upon him, and a very +unpleasant one, for they contained a threat. + +"You see," continued the Princess, pausing as they reached a flight of +steps which they would have to ascend, "every one acknowledges the +importance of your services, and that you have been very poorly rewarded +for them. But that is in a degree your own fault, for you have refused +to make friends when you might, and you have little interest with the +King." + +"I know it," said the old soldier, rather bitterly. "Princess," he +continued, without giving her time to say more, "this is a private +matter, which concerns only me and my daughter. I entreat you to +overlook the irregularity and not to question me further. I will serve +you in any way in my power--" + +"You cannot serve me in any way," answered Dona Ana cruelly. "I am +trying to help you," she added, with a sudden change of tone. "You see, +my dear General, you are no longer young. At your age, with your name +and your past services, you should have been a grandee and a rich man. +You have thrown away your opportunities of advancement, and you have +contented yourself with an office which is highly honourable--but poorly +paid, is it not? And there are younger men who court it for the honour +alone, and who are willing to be served by their friends." + +"Who is my successor?" asked Mendoza, bravely controlling his voice +though he felt that he was ruined. + +The skilful and cruel woman began to mount the steps in silence, in +order to let him suffer a few moments, before she answered. Reaching the +top, she spoke, and her voice was soft and kind. + +"No one," she answered, "and there is nothing to prevent you from +keeping your post as long as you like, even if you become infirm and +have to appoint a deputy--but if there were any serious cause of +complaint, like this extraordinary behaviour of Dolores--why, perhaps--" + +She paused to give her words weight, for she knew their value. + +"Madam," said Mendoza, "the matter I keep from you does not touch my +honour, and you may know it, so far as that is concerned. But it is one +of which I entreat you not to force me to speak." + +Dona Ana softly passed her arm through his. + +"I am not used to walking so fast," she said, by way of explanation. +"But, my dear Mendoza," she went on, pressing his arm a little, "you do +not think that I shall let what you tell me go further and reach any one +else--do you? How can I be of any use to you, if you have no confidence +in me? Are we not relatives? You must treat me as I treat you." + +Mendoza wished that he could. + +"Madam," he said almost roughly, "I have shut my daughter up in her own +room and bolted the door, and to-morrow I intend to send her to a +convent, and there she shall stay until she changes her mind, for I will +not change mine" + +"Oh!" ejaculated Dona Ana, with a long intonation, as if grasping the +position of affairs by degrees. "I understand," she said, after a long +time. "But then you and I are of the same opinion, my dear friend. Let +us talk about this." + +Mendoza did not wish to talk of the matter at all, and said nothing, as +they slowly advanced. They had at last reached the passage that ended at +his door, and he slackened his pace still more, obliging his companion, +whose arm was still in his, to keep pace with him. The moonlight no +longer shone in straight through the open embrasures, and there was a +dim twilight in the corridor. + +"You do not wish Dolores to marry Don John of Austria, then," said the +Princess presently, in very low tones. "Then the King is on your side, +and so am I. But I should like to know your reason for objecting to such +a very great marriage." + +"Simple enough, Madam. Whenever it should please his Majesty's policy to +marry his brother to a royal personage, such as Queen Mary of Scotland, +the first marriage would be proved null and void, because the King would +command that it should be so, and my daughter would be a dishonoured +woman, fit for nothing but a convent." + +"Do you call that dishonour?" asked the Princess thoughtfully. "Even if +that happened, you know that Don John would probably not abandon +Dolores. He would keep her near him--and provide for her generously--" + +"Madam!" cried the brave old soldier, interrupting her in sudden and +generous anger, "neither man nor woman shall tell me that my daughter +could ever fall to that!" + +She saw that she had made a mistake, and pressed his arm soothingly. + +"Pray, do not be angry with me, my dear friend. I was thinking what the +world would say--no, let me speak! I am quite of your opinion that +Dolores should be kept from seeing Don John, even by quiet force if +necessary, for they will certainly be married at the very first +opportunity they can find. But you cannot do such things violently, you +know. You will make a scandal. You cannot take your daughter away from +court suddenly and shut her up in a convent without doing her a great +injury. Do you not see that? People will not understand that you will +not let her marry Don John--I mean that most people would find it hard +to believe. Yes, the world is bad, I know; what can one do? The world +would say--promise me that you will not be angry, dear General! You can +guess what the world would say."' + +"I see--I see!" exclaimed the old man, in sudden terror for his +daughter's good name. "How wise you are!" + +"Yes," answered Dona Ana, stopping at ten paces from the door, "I am +wise, for I am obliged to be. Now, if instead of locking Dolores into +her room two or three hours ago, you had come to me, and told me the +truth, and put her under my protection, for our common good, I would +have made it quite impossible for her to exchange a word with Don John, +and I would have taken such good care of her that instead of gossiping +about her, the world would have said that she was high in favour, and +would have begun to pay court to her. You know that I have the power to +do that." + +"How very wise you are!" exclaimed Mendoza again, with more emphasis. + +"Very well. Will you let me take her with me now, my dear friend? I will +console her a little, for I daresay she has been crying all alone in her +room, poor girl, and I can keep her with me till Don John goes to +Villagarcia. Then we shall see." + +Old Mendoza was a very simple-hearted man, as brave men often are, and a +singularly spotless life spent chiefly in war and austere devotion had +left him more than ignorant of the ways of the world. He had few +friends, chiefly old comrades of his own age who did not live in the +palace, and he detested gossip. Had he known what the woman was with +whom he was speaking, he would have risked Dolores' life rather than +give her into the keeping of Dona Ana. But to him, the latter was simply +the wife of old Don Ruy Gomez de Silva, the Minister of State, and she +was the head of the Queen's household. No one would have thought of +repeating the story of a court intrigue to Mendoza, but it was also true +that every one feared Dona Ana, whose power was boundless, and no one +wished to be heard speaking ill of her. To him, therefore, her +proposition seemed both wise and kind. + +"I am very grateful," he said, with some emotion, for he believed that +she was helping him to save his fortune and his honour, as was perhaps +really the case, though she would have helped him to lose both with +equally persuasive skill could his ruin have served her. "Will you come +in with me, Princess?" he asked, beginning to move towards the door. + +"Yes. Take me to her room and leave me with her." + +"Indeed, I would rather not see her myself this evening," said Mendoza, +feeling his anger still not very far from the surface. "You will be able +to speak more wisely than I should." + +"I daresay," answered Dona Ana thoughtfully. "If you went with me to +her, there might be angry words again, and that would make it much +harder for me. If you will leave me at the door of her rooms, and then +go away, I will promise to manage the rest. You are not sorry that you +have told me, now, are you, my dear friend?" + +"I am most grateful to you. I shall do all I can to be of service to +you, even though you said that it was not in my power to serve you." + +"I was annoyed," said Dona Ana sweetly. "I did not mean it--please +forgive me." + +They reached the door, and as she withdrew her hand from his arm, he +took it and ceremoniously kissed her gloved fingers, while she smiled +graciously. Then he knocked three times, and presently the shuffling of +Eudaldo's slippers was heard within, and the old servant opened +sleepily. On seeing the Princess enter first, he stiffened himself in a +military fashion, for he had been a soldier and had fought under Mendoza +when both were younger. + +"Eudaldo," said the General, in the stern tone he always used when +giving orders, "her Excellency the Princess of Eboli will take Dona +Dolores to her own apartments this evening. Tell the maid to follow +later with whatever my daughter needs, and do you accompany the ladies +with a candle." + +But at this Dona Ana protested strongly. There was moonlight, there were +lamps, there was light everywhere, she said. She needed no one. Mendoza, +who had no man-servant in the house but Eudaldo, and eked out his meagre +establishment by making use of his halberdiers when he needed any one, +yielded after very little persuasion. + +"Open the door of my daughter's apartments," he said to Eudaldo. +"Madam," he said, turning to the Princess, "I have the honour to wish +you good-night. I am your Grace's most obedient servant. I must return +to my duty." + +"Good-night, my dear friend," answered Dona Ana, nodding graciously. + +Mendoza bowed low, and went out again, Eudaldo closing the door behind +him. He would not be at liberty until the last of the grandees had gone +home, and the time he had consumed in accompanying the Princess was just +what he could have spared for his supper. She gave a short sigh of +relief as she heard his spurred heels and long sword on the stone +pavement. He was gone, leaving Dolores in her power, and she meant to +use that power to the utmost. + +Eudaldo shuffled silently across the hall, to the other door, and she +followed him. He drew the bolt. + +"Wait here," she said quietly. "I wish to see Dona Dolores alone." + +"Her ladyship is in the farther room, Excellency," said the servant, +bowing and standing back. + +She entered and closed the door, and Eudaldo returned to his big chair, +to doze until she should come out. + +She had not taken two steps in the dim room, when a shadow flitted +between her and the lamp, and it was almost instantly extinguished. She +uttered an exclamation of surprise and stood still. Anywhere save in +Mendoza's house, she would have run back and tried to open the door as +quickly as possible, in fear of her life, for she had many enemies, and +was constantly on her guard. But she guessed that the shadowy figure she +had seen was Dolores. She spoke, without hesitation, in a gentle voice. + +"Dolores! Are you there?" she asked. + +A moment later she felt a small hand on her arm. + +"Who is it?" asked a whisper, which might have come from Dolores' lips +for all Dona Ana could tell. + +She had forgotten the existence of Inez, whom she had rarely seen, and +never noticed, though she knew that Mendoza had a blind daughter. + +"It is I--the Princess of Eboli," she answered in the same gentle tone. + +"Hush! Whisper to me." + +"Your father has gone back to his duty, my dear--you need not be +afraid." + +"Yes, but Eudaldo is outside--he hears everything when he is not asleep. +What is it, Princess? Why are you here?" + +"I wish to talk with you a little," replied Dona Ana, whispering now, to +please the girl. "Can we not get a light? Why did you put out the lamp? +I thought you were in another room." + +"I was frightened. I did not know who you were. We can talk in the dark, +if you do not mind. I will lead you to a chair. I know just where +everything is in this room." + +The Princess suffered herself to be led a few steps, and presently she +felt herself gently pushed into a seat. She was surprised, but realizing +the girl's fear of her father, she thought it best to humour her. So far +Inez had said nothing that could lead her visitor to suppose that she +was not Dolores. Intimate as the devoted sisters were, Inez knew almost +as much of the Princess as Dolores herself; the two girls were of the +same height, and so long as the conversation was carried on in whispers, +there was no possibility of detection by speech alone. The quick-witted +blind girl reflected that it was strange if Dona Ana had not seen +Dolores, who must have been with the court the whole evening, and she +feared some harm. That being the case, her first impulse was to help her +sister if possible, but so long as she was a prisoner in Dolores' place, +she could do nothing, and she resolved that the Princess should help her +to escape. + +Dona Ana began to speak quickly and fluently in the dark. She said that +she knew the girl's position, and had long known how tenderly she loved +Don John of Austria, and was loved by him. She sympathized deeply with +them both, and meant to do all in her power to help them. Then she told +how she had missed Dolores at court that night. + +Inez started involuntarily and drew her breath quickly, but Dona Ana +thought it natural that Dolores should give some expression to the +disappointment she must have felt at being shut up a prisoner on such an +occasion, when all the court was assembled to greet the man she loved. + +Then the Princess went on to tell how she had met Mendoza and had come +with him, and how with great difficulty she had learned the truth, and +had undertaken Dolores' care for a few days; and how Mendoza had been +satisfied, never suspecting that she really sympathized with the lovers. +That was a state secret, but of course Dolores must know it. The King +privately desired the marriage, she said, because he was jealous of his +brother and wished that he would tire of winning battles and live +quietly, as happy men do. + +"Don John will tell you, when you see him," she continued. "I sent him +two letters this evening. The first he burned unopened, because he +thought it was a love letter, but he has read the second by this time. +He had it before supper." + +"What did you write to him?" asked Inez, whispering low. + +"He will tell you. The substance was this: If he would only be prudent, +and consent to wait two days, and not attempt to see you alone, which +would make a scandal, and injure you, too, if any one knew it, the King +would arrange everything at his own pleasure, and your father would give +his consent. You have not seen Don John since he arrived, have you?" She +asked the question anxiously. + +"Oh no!" answered the blind girl, with conviction. "I have not seen him. +I wish to Heaven I had!" + +"I am glad of that," whispered the Princess. "But if you will come with +me to my apartments, and stay with me till matters are arranged--well--I +will not promise, because it might be dangerous, but perhaps you may see +him for a moment." + +"Really? Do you think that is possible?" In the dark Inez was smiling +sadly. + +"Perhaps. He might come to see me, for instance, or my husband, and I +could leave you together a moment." + +"That would be heaven!" And the whisper came from the heart. + +"Then come with me now, my dear, and I will do my best," answered the +Princess. + +"Indeed I will! But will you wait one moment while I dress? I am in my +old frock--it is hardly fit to be seen." + +This was quite true; but Inez had reflected that dressed as she was she +could not pass Eudaldo and be taken by him for her sister, even with a +hood over her head. The clothes Dolores had worn before putting on her +court dress were in her room, and Dolores' hood was there, too. Before +the Princess could answer, Inez was gone, closing the door of the +bedroom behind her. Dona Ana, a little taken by surprise again, was fain +to wait where she was, in the dark, at the risk of hurting herself +against the furniture. Then it struck her that Dolores must be dressing +in the dark, for no light had come from the door as it was opened and +shut. She remembered the blind sister then, and she wondered idly +whether those who lived continually with the blind learned from them to +move easily in the dark and to do everything without a light. The +question did not interest her much, but while she was thinking of it the +door opened again. A skirt and a bodice are soon changed. In a moment +she felt her hand taken, and she rose to her feet. + +"I am ready, Princess. I will open the door if you will come with me. I +have covered my head and face," she added carelessly, though always +whispering, "because I am afraid of the night air." + +"I was going to advise you to do it in any case, my dear. It is just as +well that neither of us should be recognized by any one in the corridors +so far from my apartments." + +The door opened and let in what seemed a flood of light by comparison +with the darkness. The Princess went forward, and Eudaldo got upon his +legs as quickly as he could to let the two ladies out, without looking +at them as they crossed the hall. Inez followed her companion's footfall +exactly, keeping one step behind her by ear, and just pausing before +passing out. The old servant saw Dolores' dress and Dolores' hood, which +he expected to see, and no more suspected anything than he had when, as +he supposed, Inez, had gone out earlier. + +But Inez herself had a far more difficult part to perform than her +sister's. Dolores had gone out alone, and no one had watched her beyond +the door, and Dolores had eyes, and could easily enough pretend that she +could not see. It was another matter to be blind and to play at seeing, +with a clever woman like the Princess at one's elbow, ready to detect +the slightest hesitation. Besides, though she had got out of the +predicament in which it had been necessary to place her, it was quite +impossible to foresee what might happen when the Princess discovered +that she had been deceived, and that catastrophe must happen sooner or +later, and might occur at any moment. The Princess walked quickly, too, +with a gliding, noiseless step that was hard to follow. Fortunately Inez +was expected to keep to the left of a superior like her companion, and +was accustomed to taking that side when she went anywhere alone in the +palace. That made it easier, but trouble might come at one of the short +flights of steps down and up which they would have to pass to reach the +Princess's apartments. And then, once there, discovery must come, to a +certainty, and then, she knew not what. + +She had not run the risk for the sake of being shut up again. She had +got out by a trick in order to help her sister, if she could find her, +and in order to be at liberty the first thing necessary was to elude her +companion. To go to the door of her apartments would be fatal, but she +had not had time to think what she should do. She thought now, with all +the concentration of her ingenuity. One chance presented itself to her +mind at once. They most pass the pillar behind which was the concealed +entrance to the Moorish gallery above the throne room, and it was not at +all likely that Dona Ana should know of its existence, for she never +came to that part of the palace, and if Inez lagged a little way behind, +before they reached the spot, she could slip noiselessly behind the +pillar and disappear. She could always trust herself not to attract +attention when she had to open and shut a door. + +The Princess spoke rarely, making little remarks now and then that +hardly required an answer, but to which Inez answered in monosyllables, +speaking in a low voice through the thick veil she had drawn over her +mantle under her hood, on pretence of fearing the cold. She thought it a +little safer to speak aloud in that way, lest her companion should +wonder at her total silence. + +She knew exactly where she was, for she touched each corner as she +passed, and counted her steps between one well-known point and the next, +and she allowed the Princess to gain a little as they neared the last +turning before reaching the place where she meant to make the attempt. +She hoped in this way, by walking quite noiselessly, and then stopping +suddenly just before she reached the pillar, to gain half a dozen paces, +and the Princess would take three more before she stopped also. Inez had +noticed that most people take at least three steps before they stop, if +any one calls them suddenly when they are walking fast. It seems to need +as much to balance the body when its speed is checked. She noticed +everything that could be heard. + +She grew nervous. It seemed to her that her companion was walking more +slowly, as if not wishing to leave her any distance behind. She +quickened her own pace again, fearing that she had excited suspicion. +Then she heard the Princess stop suddenly, and she had no choice but to +do the same. Her heart began to beat painfully, as she saw her chance +slipping from her. She waited for Dona Ana to speak, wondering what was +the matter. + +"I have mistaken the way," said the Princess, in a tone of annoyance. "I +do not know where I am. We had better go back and turn down the main +staircase, even if we meet some one. You see, I never come to this part +of the palace." + +"I think we are on the right corridor," said Inez nervously. "Let me go +as far as the corner. There is a light there, and I can tell you in a +moment." In her anxiety to seem to see, she had forgotten for the moment +to muffle her voice in her veil. + +They went on rapidly, and the Dona Ana did what most people do when a +companion offers to examine the way,--she stood still a moment and +hesitated, looking after the girl, and then followed her with the slow +step with which a person walks who is certain of having to turn back. +Inez walked lightly to the corner, hardly touching the wall, turned by +the corner, and was out of sight in a moment. The Princess walked +faster, for though she believed that Dolores trusted her, it seemed +foolish to give the girl a chance. She reached the corner, where there +was a lamp,--and she saw that the dim corridor was empty to the very +end. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +The Princess was far from suspecting, even then, that she had been +deceived about her companion's identity as well as tricked at the last, +when Inez escaped from her. She would have laughed at the idea that any +blind person could have moved as confidently as Inez, or could +afterwards have run the length of the next corridor in what had seemed +but an instant, for she did not know of the niche behind the pillar, and +there were pilasters all along, built into the wall. The construction of +the high, springing vault that covered the whole throne room required +them for its solidity, and only the one under the centre of the arch was +built as a detached pillar, in order to give access to the gallery. Seen +from either end of the passage, it looked exactly like the rest, and few +persons would have noticed that it differed from them, even in passing +it. + +Dona Ana stood looking in the direction she supposed the girl to have +taken. An angry flush rose in her cheek, she bit her lips till they +almost bled, and at last she stamped once before she turned away, so +that her little slipper sent a sharp echo along the corridor. Pursuit +was out of the question, of course, though she could run like a deer; +some one might meet her at any turning, and in an hour the whole palace +would know that she had been seen running at full speed after some +unknown person. It would be bad enough if she were recognized walking +alone at night at a distance from her own apartments. She drew her veil +over her face so closely that she could hardly see her way, and began to +retrace her steps towards the principal staircase, pondering as to what +she should say to Mendoza when he discovered that she had allowed his +daughter to escape. She was a woman of manlike intelligence and not +easily unbalanced by a single reverse, however, and before she had gone +far her mind began to work clearly. Dolores, she reasoned, would do one +of two things. She would either go straight to Don John's apartments, +wait for him, and then tell him her story, in the hope that he would +protect her, or she would go to the Duchess Alvarez and seek protection +there. Under no circumstances would she go down to the throne room +without her court dress, for her mere appearance there, dressed as she +was, would produce the most profound astonishment, and could do her no +possible good. And as for her going to the Duchess, that was impossible, +too. If she had run away from Dona Ana, she had done so because the idea +of not seeing Don John for two days was intolerable, and she meant to +try and see him at once. The Duchess was in all probability with the +Queen, in the latter's private apartments, as Dolores would know. On the +whole, it seemed far more likely that she had done the rashest thing +that had suggested itself to her, and had gone directly to the man she +loved,--a man powerful enough to protect her against all comers, at the +present time, and quite capable of facing even the King's displeasure. + +But the whole object of Dona Ana's manoeuvre had been to get possession +of Dolores' person, as a means of strongly influencing Don John's +actions, in order thus to lead him into a false position from which he +should not be able to escape without a serious quarrel with King Philip, +which would be the first step towards the execution of the plot +elaborated by Dona Ana and Perez together. Anything which could produce +an open difference between the brothers would serve to produce two +parties in Spain, of which the one that would take Don John's side would +be by far the stronger. His power would be suddenly much increased, an +organized agitation would be made throughout the country to set him on +the throne, and his popularity, like Caesar's, would grow still more, +when he refused the crown, as he would most certainly do. But just then +King Philip would die suddenly of a fever, or a cold, or an indigestion, +as the conspirators thought best. There would be no direct male heir to +the throne but Don John himself, the acknowledged son of the Emperor +Charles; and even Don John would then be made to see that he could only +serve his country by ruling it, since it cried out for his rule and +would have no other. It was a hard and dangerous thing to lead King +Philip; it would be an easy matter to direct King John. An honest and +unsuspicious soldier would be but as a child in such skilful hands. Dona +Ana and Perez would rule Spain as they pleased, and by and by Don John +should be chosen Emperor also by the Electors of the Holy Roman Empire, +and the conspirators would rule the world, as Charles the Fifth had +ruled it. There was no limit to their ambition, and no scruple would +stand between them and any crime, and the stake was high and worth many +risks. + +The Princess walked slowly, weighing in the balance all there was to +lose or gain. When she reached the head of the main staircase, she had +not yet altogether decided how to act, and lest she should meet some one +she returned, and walked up and down the lonely corridor nearly a +quarter of an hour, in deep thought. Suddenly a plan of action flashed +upon her, and she went quickly on her way, to act at once. + +Don John, meanwhile, had read the letter she had sent him by the dwarf +jester. When the King had retired into his own apartments, Don John +found himself unexpectedly alone. Mendoza and the guard had filed into +the antechamber, the gentlemen in waiting, being temporarily at liberty, +went to the room leading out of it on one side, which was appropriated +to their use. The sentries were set at the King's door, and Mendoza +marched his halberdiers out again and off to their quarters, while the +servants disappeared, and the hero of the day was left to himself. He +smiled at his own surprise, recollecting that he should have ordered his +own attendants to be in waiting after the supper, whereas he had +dismissed them until midnight. + +He turned on his heel and walked away to find a quiet place where he +might read the paper which had suddenly become of such importance, and +paused at a Moorish niche, where Philip had caused a sacred picture to +be placed, and before which a hanging silver lamp shed a clear light. + +The small sheet of paper contained but little writing. There were half a +dozen sentences in a clear hand, without any signature--it was what has +since then come to be called an anonymous letter. But it contained +neither any threat, nor any evidence of spite; it set forth in plain +language that if, as the writer supposed, Don John wished to marry +Dolores de Mendoza, it was as necessary for her personal safety as for +the accomplishment of his desires, that he should make no attempt to see +her for at least two days, and that, if he would accept this advice, he +should have the support of every noble and minister at court, including +the very highest, with the certainty that no further hindrance would be +set in his way; it added that the letter he had burned had contained the +same words, and that the two flowers had been intended to serve as a +signal which it was now too late to use. It would be sufficient if he +told the bearer of the present letter that he agreed to take the advice +it contained. His assent in that way would, of course, be taken by the +writer to mean that he promised, on his word. That was all. + +He did not like the last sentence, for it placed him in an awkward +position, as a man of honour, since he had already seen Dolores, and +therefore could not under any circumstances agree to take advice +contrary to which he had already acted. The most he could now say to the +dwarf would be that he could give no answer and would act as carefully +as possible. For the rest, the letter contained nothing treasonable, and +was not at all what he had expected and believed it to be. It appeared +to be written in a friendly spirit, and with the exception of his own +brother and Mendoza, he was not aware that he had an enemy in Spain, in +which he was almost right. Nevertheless, bold and frank as he was by +nature, he knew enough of real warfare to distrust appearances. The +writer was attached to the King's person, or the letter might have been +composed, and even written in an assumed hand, by the King himself, for +Philip was not above using the methods of a common conspirator. The +limitation of time set upon his prudence was strange, too. If he had not +seen her and agreed to the terms, he would have supposed that Dolores +was being kept out of his way during those two days, whereas in that +time it would be possible to send her very far from Madrid, or to place +her secretly in a convent where it would be impossible to find her. It +flashed upon him that in shutting up Dolores that evening Mendoza had +been obeying the King's secret orders, as well as in telling her that +she was to be taken to Las Huelgas at dawn. No one but Philip could have +written the letter--only the dwarf's fear of Philip's displeasure could +have made him so anxious that it should be read at once. It was all as +clear as daylight now, and the King and Mendoza were acting together. +The first letter had been brought by a woman, who must have got out +through the window of the study, which was so low that she could almost +have stepped from it to the terrace without springing. She had watched +until the officers and the servants had gone out and the way was clear. +Nothing could have been simpler or easier. + +He would have burnt the letter at the lamp before the picture, had he +not feared that some one might see him do it, and he folded it again and +thrust it back under his doublet. His face was grave as he turned away, +for the position, as he understood it, was a very desperate one. He had +meant to send Dolores to Villagarcia, but it was almost impossible that +such a matter should remain unknown, and in the face of the King's +personal opposition, it would probably ruin Quixada and his wife. He, on +his side, might send Dolores to a convent, under an assumed name, and +take her out again before she was found, and marry her. But that would +be hard, too, for no places were more directly under the sovereign's +control than convents and monasteries. Somewhere she must go, for she +could not possibly remain concealed in his study more than three or four +hours. + +Suddenly he fancied that she might be in danger even now. The woman who +had brought the first letter had of course left the window unfastened. +She, or the King, or any one, might get in by that way, and Dolores was +alone. They might have taken her away already. He cursed himself for not +having looked to see that the window was bolted. The man who had won +great battles felt a chill at his heart, and he walked at the best of +his speed, careless whether he met any one or not. But no place is more +deserted than the more distant parts of a royal palace when there is a +great assembly in the state apartments. He met no one on his way, and +entered his own door alone. Ten minutes had not elapsed since the King +had left the supper-room, and it was almost at that moment that Dona Ana +met Mendoza. + +Dolores started to her feet as she heard his step in the next room and +then the key in the lock, and as he entered her hands clasped themselves +round his neck, and her eyes looked into his. He was very pale when he +saw her at last, for the belief that she had been stolen away had grown +with his speed, till it was an intolerable certainty. + +"What is it? What has happened?" she cried anxiously. "Why are you so +white? Are you ill?" + +"I was frightened," he said simply. "I was afraid you were gone. Look +here!" + +He led her to the window, and drew the curtain to one side. The cool air +rushed in, for the bolts were unfastened, and the window was ajar. He +closed it and fastened it securely, and they both came back. + +"The woman got out that way," he said, in explanation. "I understand it +all now--and some one might have come back." + +He told her quietly what had happened, and showed her the letter, which +she read slowly to the end before she gave it back to him. + +"Then the other was not a love letter, after all," she said, with a +little laugh that had more of relief in it than amusement, though she +did not know it herself. + +"No," he answered gravely. "I wish I had read it. I should at least have +shut the window before leaving you!" + +Careless of any danger to herself, she sat looking up into his anxious +face, her clasped hands lying in his and quite covered by them, as he +stood beside her. There was not a trace of fear in her own face, nor +indeed of any feeling but perfect love and confidence. Under the gaze of +her deep grey eyes his expression relaxed for a moment, and grew like +hers, so that it would have been hard to say which trusted the other the +more. + +"What does anything matter, since we are together now?" she asked. "I am +with you, can anything happen to me?" + +"Not while I am alive," he answered, but the look of anxiety for her +returned at once. "You cannot stay here." + +"No--you will take me away. I am ready--" + +"I do not mean that. You cannot stay in this room, nor in my apartments. +The King is coming here in a few minutes. I cannot tell what he may +do--he may insist on seeing whether any one is here, listening, for he +is very suspicious, and he only comes here because he does not even +trust his own apartments. He may wish to open the door--" + +"I will lock it on the inside. You can say that it is locked, and that +you have not the key. If he calls men to open it, I will escape by the +window, and hide in the old sentry-box. He will not stay talking with +you till morning!" + +She laughed, and he saw that she was right, simply because there was no +other place where she could be even as safe as where she was. He slowly +nodded as she spoke. + +"You see," she cried, with another little laugh of happy satisfaction, +"you must keep me here whether you will or not! You are really +afraid--frightened like a boy! You! How men would stare if they could +see you afraid!" + +"It is true," he answered, with a faint smile. + +"But I will give you courage!" she said. "The King cannot come yet. +Perez can only have just gone to him, you say. They will talk at least +half an hour, and it is very likely that Perez will persuade him not to +come at all, because he is angry with you. Perhaps Perez will come +instead, and he will be very smooth and flattering, and bring messages +of reconciliation, and beg to make peace. He is very clever, but I do +not like his face. He makes me think of a beautiful black fox! Even if +the King comes himself, we have more than half an hour. You can stay a +little while with me--then go into your room and sit down and read, as +if you were waiting for him. You can read my letter over, and I will sit +here and say all the things I wrote, over and over again, and you will +know that I am saying them--it will be almost as if I were with you, and +could say them quite close to you--like this--I love you!" + +She had drawn his hand gently down to her while she was speaking, and +she whispered the last words into his ear with a delicate little kiss +that sent a thrill straight to his heart. + +"You are not afraid any more now, are you?" she asked, as she let him +go, and he straightened himself suddenly as a man drawing back from +something he both fears and loves. + +He opened and shut his hands quickly two or three times, as some nervous +men do, as if trying to shake them clear from a spell, or an influence. +Then he began to walk up and down, talking to her. + +"I am at my wit's end," he said, speaking fast and not looking at her +face, as he turned and turned again. "I cannot send you to +Villagarcia--there are things that neither you nor I could do, even for +each other, things you would not have me do for you, Dolores. It would +be ruin and disgrace to my adopted mother and Quixada--it might be +worse, for the King can call anything he pleases high treason. It is +impossible to take you there without some one knowing it--can I carry +you in my arms? There are grooms, coachmen, servants, who will tell +anything under examination--under torture! How can I send you there?" + +"I would not go," answered Dolores quietly. + +"I cannot send you to a convent, either," he went on, for he had taken +her answer for granted, as lovers do who trust each other. "You would be +found in a day, for the King knows everything. There is only one place, +where I am master--" + +He stopped short, and grew very pale again, looking at the wall, but +seeing something very far away. + +"Where?" asked Dolores. "Take me there! Oh, take me where you are +master--where there is no king but you, where we can be together all our +lives, and no one can come between us!" + +He stood motionless, staring at the wall, contemplating in amazement the +vastness of the temptation that arose before him. Dolores could not +understand, but she did what a loving women does when the man she loves +seems to be in a great distress. She came and stood beside him, passing +one arm through his and pressing it tenderly, without a word. There are +times when a man needs only that to comfort him and give him strength. +But even a woman does not always know them. + +Very slowly he turned to her, almost as if he were trying to resist her +eyes and could not. He took his arm from hers and his hands framed her +face softly, and pushed the gold hair gently back on her forehead. But +she grew frightened by degrees, for there was a look in his eyes she had +never seen there, and that had never been in them before, neither in +love nor in battle. His hands were quite cold, and his face was like a +beautiful marble, but there was an evil something in it, as in a fallen +angel's, a defiance of God, an irresistible strength to do harm, a +terror such as no man would dare to meet. + +"You are worth it," he said in a tone so different from his natural +voice that Dolores started, and would have drawn back from him, but +could not, for his hands held her, shaking a little fiercely. + +"What? What is it?" she asked, growing more and more frightened--half +believing that he was going mad. + +"You are worth it," he repeated. "I tell you, you are worth that, and +much more, and the world, and all the world holds for me, and all earth +and heaven besides. You do not know how I love you--you can never +guess--" + +Her eyes grew tender again, and her hands went up and pressed his that +still framed her face. + +"As I love you--dear love!" she answered, wondering, but happy. + +"No--not now. I love you more. You cannot guess--you shall see what I +will do for your sake, and then you will understand." + +He uttered an incoherent exclamation, and his eyes dazzled her as he +seized her in his arms and pressed her to him so that she could have +cried out. And suddenly he kissed her, roughly, almost cruelly, as if he +meant to hurt her, and knew that he could. She struggled in his arms, in +an unknown terror of him, and her senses reeled. + +Then all at once, he let her go, and turned from her quickly, leaving +her half fainting, so that she leaned against the wall and pressed her +cheek to the rough hanging. She felt a storm of tears, that she could +not understand, rising in her heart and eyes and throat. He had crossed +the room, getting as far as he could from her, and stood there, turned +to the wall, his arms bent against it and his face buried in his sleeve. +He breathed hard, and spoke as if to himself in broken words. + +"Worth it? My God! What are you not worth?" + +There was such a ring of agony and struggling in his voice that Dolores +forgot herself and stood up listening, suddenly filled with anxiety for +him again. He was surely going mad. She would have gone to him again, +forgetting her terror that was barely past, the woman's instinct to help +the suffering man overruling everything else. It was for his sake that +she stayed where she was, lest if she touched him he should lose his +senses altogether. + +"Oh, there is one place, where I am master and lord!" he was saying. +"There is one thing to do--one thing--" + +"What is the thing?" she asked very gently. "Why are you suffering so? +Where is the place?" + +He turned suddenly, as he would have turned in his saddle in battle at a +trumpet call, straight and strong, with fixed eyes and set lips, that +spoke deliberately. + +"There is Granada," he said. "Do you understand now?" + +"No," she answered timidly. "I do not understand. Granada? Why there? It +is so far away--" + +He laughed harshly. + +"You do not understand? Yes, Granada is far away--far enough to be +another kingdom--so far that John of Austria is master there--so far +that with his army at his back he can be not only its master, but its +King? Do you understand now? Do you see what I will do for your sake?" + +He made one step towards her, and she was very white. + +"I will take you, and go back to-morrow. Do you think the Moors are not +men, because I beat them? I tell you that if I set up my standard in +Granada and call them to me, they will follow me--if I lead them to the +gate of Madrid. Yes--and so will more than half the Spanish army, if I +will! But I do not want that--it is not the kingdom--what should I care +for that? Could I not have taken it and held it? It is for you, dear +love--for your sake only--that we may have a world of our own--a kingdom +in which you are queen! Let there be war--why should I care? I will set +the world ablaze and let it burn to its own ashes, but I will not let +them take you from me, neither now, nor ever, while I am alive!" + +He came quickly towards her now, and she could not draw back, for the +wall was behind her. But she thrust out her hands against him to keep +him off. The gesture stopped him, just when he would have taken her in +his arms. + +"No, no!" she cried vehemently. "You must not say such things, you must +not think such thoughts! You are beside yourself, and you will drive me +mad, too!" + +"But it will be so easy--you shall see--" + +She cut his words short. + +"It must not be easy, it must not be possible, it must not be at all! Do +you believe that I love you and that I would let you do such deeds? Oh, +no! That would not be love at all--it would be hate, it would be treason +to you, and worse treason than yours against your brother!" + +The fierce light was sinking from his face. He had folded his arms and +stood very still, listening to her. + +"You!" she cried, with rising energy. "You, the brave soldier, the +spotless man, the very soul of honour made flesh and blood! You, who +have but just come back in triumph from fighting your King's +enemies--you against whom no living being has ever dared to breathe a +slander or a slighting word. Oh, no, no, no, no! I could not bear that +you should betray your faith and your country and yourself, and be +called traitor for my sake! Not for ten lives of mine shall you ruin +yours. And not because I might love you less if you had done that deed. +God help me! I think I should love you if you committed any crime! The +shame is the more to me--I know it. I am only a woman! But rather than +let my love ruin you, make a traitor of you and lose you in this world +and the next, my soul shall go first--life, soul, honour, everything! +You shall not do it! You think that you love me more than I love you, +but you do not. For to save you as you are, I love you so dearly that I +will leave you--leave you to honour, leave you to your King, leave you +to the undying glory of the life you have lived, and will live, in +memory of my love!" + +The splendid words rang from her lips like a voice from heaven, and her +eyes were divinely lightened. For they looked up, and not at him, +calling Heaven to witness that she would keep her promise. As her open +hand unconsciously went out, he took it tenderly, and felt her fingers +softly closing on his own, as if she would lift him to himself again, +and to the dear light of her own thoughts. There was silence for a +moment. + +"You are better and wiser than I," he said, and his tone told her that +the madness was past. + +"And you know that I am right? You see that I must leave you, to save +you from me?" + +"Leave me--now?" he cried. "You only said that--you meant me to +understand--you did not mean that you would leave me now?" + +"I do mean it," she said, in a great effort. "It is all I can do, to +show you how I love you. As long as I am in your life you will be in +danger--you will never be safe from yourself--I see it all now! I stand +between you and all the world would give you--I will not stand between +you and honour!" + +She was breaking down, fight as she would against the pain. He could say +nothing, for he could not believe that she really was in earnest. + +"I must!" she exclaimed suddenly. "It is all I can do for you--it is my +life--take it!" + +The tears broke from her eyes, but she held her head high, and let them +fall unheeded. + +"Take it!" she repeated. "It is all I have to give for yours and your +honour. Good-by--oh, love, I love you so dearly! Once more, before I +go--" + +She almost, fell into his arms as she buried her face on his shoulder +and clasped his throat as she was wont. He kissed her hair gently, and +from time to time her whole frame shook with the sobs she was choking +down. + +"It kills me," she said in a broken voice. "I cannot--I thought I was so +strong! Oh, I am the most miserable living woman in the world!" + +She broke away from him wildly and threw herself upon a chair, turning +from him to its cushion and hiding her face in her hands, choking, +pressing the furious tears back upon her eyes, shaking from head to +foot. + +"You cannot go! You cannot!" he cried, falling on his knees beside her +and trying to take her hands in his. "Dolores--look at me! I will do +anything--promise anything--you will believe me! Listen, love--I give +you my word--I swear before God--" + +"No--swear nothing--" she said, between the sobs that broke her voice. + +"But I will!" he insisted, drawing her hands down till she looked at +him. "I swear upon my honour that I will never raise my hand against the +King--that I will defend him, and fight for him, and be loyal to him, +whatever he may do to me--and that even for you, I will never strike a +blow in battle nor speak a word in peace that is not all honourable, +through and through,--even as I have fought and spoken until now!" + +As she listened to his words her weeping subsided, and her tearful eyes +took light and life again. She drew him close, and kissed him on the +forehead. + +"I am so glad--so happy!" she cried softly. "I should never have had +strength to really say good-by!" + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +Don John smoothed her golden hair. Never since he had known that he +loved her, had she seemed so beautiful as then, and his thought tried to +hold her as she was, that she might in memory be always the same. There +was colour in her cheeks, a soft flush of happiness that destroyed all +traces of her tears, so that they only left her grey eyes dark and +tender under the long wet lashes. + +"It was a cruel dream, dear love! It was not true!" Finding him again, +her voice was low, and sweet with joy. + +He smiled, too, and his own eyes were quiet and young, now that the +tempest had passed away, almost out of recollection. It had raged but +for a few moments, but in that time both he and she had lived and loved +as it were through years, and their love had grown better and braver. +She knew that his word was enough, and that he would die rather than +break it; but though she had called herself weak, and had seemed to +break down in despair, she would have left him for ever rather than +believe that he was still in danger through her. She did not again ask +herself whether her sudden resolution had been all for his sake, and had +not formed itself because she dreaded to think of being bound to one who +betrayed his country. She knew it and needed no further self-questioning +to satisfy her. If such a man could have committed crimes, she would +have hated them, not him, she would have pardoned him, not them, she +would still have laid her hand in his before the whole world, though it +should mean shame and infamy, because she loved him and would always +love him, and could never have left him for her own sake, come all that +might. She had said it was a shame to her that she would have loved him +still; yet if it had been so, she would have gloried in being shamed for +his sake, for even then her love might have brought him back from the +depths of evil and made him again for her in truth what he had once +seemed to the whole world. She could have done that, and if in the end +she had saved him she would have counted the price of her name as very +little to set against his salvation from himself. She would have given +that and much more, for her love, as she would freely give all for him +and even for his memory, if he were dead, and if by some unimaginable +circumstances her ruin before the world could keep his name spotless, +and his glory unsullied. For there is nothing that a true-hearted loving +woman will not give and do for him she loves and believes and trusts; +and though she will give the greatest thing last of all, she will give +it in the end, if it can save him from infamy and destruction. For it is +the woman's glory to give, as it is the man's to use strength in the +hour of battle and gentleness in the day of peace, and to follow honour +always. + +"Forget it all," answered Don John presently. "Forget it, dear, and +forgive me for it all." + +"I can forget it, because it was only a dream," she said, "and I have +nothing to forgive. Listen to me. If it were true--even if I believed +that we had not been dreaming, you and I, could I have anything to +forgive you? What?" + +"The mere thought that I could betray a trust, turn against my sovereign +and ruin my country," he answered bravely, and a blush of honest shame +rose in his boyish cheeks. + +"It was for me," said Dolores. + +That should explain all, her heart said. But he was not satisfied, and +being a man he began to insist. + +"Not even for you should I have thought of it," he said. "And there is +the thought to forgive, if nothing else." + +"No--you are wrong, love. Because it was for me, it does not need my +forgiveness. It is different--you do not understand yet. It is I who +should have never forgiven myself on earth nor expected pardon +hereafter, if I had let myself be the cause of such deeds, if I had let +my love stand between you and honour. Do you see?" + +"I see," he answered. "You are very brave and kind and good. I did not +know that a woman could be like you." + +"A woman could be anything--for you--dare anything, do anything, +sacrifice anything! Did I not tell you so, long ago? You only half +believed me, dear--perhaps you do not quite believe me now--" + +"Indeed, indeed I do, with all my soul! I believe you as I love you, as +I believe in your love--" + +"Yes. Tell me that you do--and tell me that you love me! It is so good +to hear, now that the bad dream is gone." + +"Shall I tell you?" He smiled, playing with her hand. "How can I? There +are so few words in which to say so much. But I will tell you this--I +would give my word for you. Does that sound little? You should know, for +you know at what price you would have saved my honour a while ago. I +believe in you so truly that I would stake my word, and my honour, and +my Christian oath upon your faith, and promise for you before God or man +that you will always love me as you do to-day." + +"You may pledge all three. I will, and I will give you all I have that +is not God's--and if that is not enough, I will give my soul for yours, +if I may, to suffer in your stead." + +She spoke quietly enough, but there was a little quaver of true +earnestness in her voice, that made each word a solemn promise. + +"And besides that," she added, "you see how I trust you." + +She smiled again as she looked at him, and knew how safe she was, far +safer now than when she had first come with him to the door. Something +told her that he had mastered himself--she would not have wished to +think that she had ruled him? it was enough if she had shown him the +way, and had helped him. He pressed her hand to his cheek and looked +down thoughtfully, wishing that he could find such simple words that +could say so much, but not trusting himself to speak. For though, in +love, a man speaks first, he always finds the least to say of love when +it has strongest hold of him; but a woman has words then, true and +tender, that come from her heart unsought. Yet by and by, if love is not +enduring, so that both tire of it, the man plays the better comedy, +because he has the greater strength, and sometimes what he says has the +old ring in it, because it is so well said, and the woman smiles and +wonders that his love should have lasted longer than hers, and desiring +the illusion, she finds old phrases again; yet there is no life in them, +because when love is dead she thinks of herself, and instead, it was +only of him she thought in the good days when her heart used to beat at +the sound of his footfall, and the light grew dim and unsteady as she +felt his kiss. But the love of these two was not born to tire; and +because he was so young, and knew the world little, save at his sword's +point, he was ashamed that he could not speak of love as well as she. + +"Find words for me," he said, "and I will say them, for yours are better +than mine." + +"Say, 'I love you, dear,' very softly and gently--not roughly, as you +sometimes do. I want to hear it gently now, that, and nothing else." + +She turned a little, leaning towards him, her face near his, her eyes +quiet and warm, and she took his hands and held them together before her +as if he were her prisoner--and indeed she meant that he should not +suddenly take her in his arms, as he often did. + +"I love you, dear," he repeated, smiling, and pretending to be very +docile. + +"That is not quite the way," she said, with a girlish laugh. "Say it +again--quite as softly, but more tenderly! You must be very much in +earnest, you know, but you must not be in the least violent." She +laughed again. "It is like teaching a young lion," she added. "He may +eat you up at any moment, instead of obeying you. Tell me, you have a +little lion that follows you like a dog when you are in your camp, have +you not? You have not told me about him yet. How did you teach him?" + +"I did not try to make him say 'I love you, dear,'" answered Don John, +laughing in his turn. + +As he spoke a distant sound caught his ear, and the smile vanished from +his face, for though he heard only the far off rumbling of a coach in +the great court, it recalled him to reality. + +"We are playing with life and death," he said suddenly. "It is late, the +King may be here at any moment, and we have decided nothing." He rose. + +"Is it late?" asked Dolores, passing her hand over her eyes dreamily. "I +had forgotten--it seems so short. Give me the key on my side of the +door--we had decided that, you know. Go and sit down in your room, as we +agreed. Shall you read my letter again, love? It may be half an hoar +still before the King comes. When he is gone, we shall have all the +night in which to decide, and the nights are very long now. Oh, I hate +to lose one minute of you! What shall you say to the King?" + +"I do not know what he may say to me," answered Don John. "Listen and +you shall hear--I would rather know that you hear everything I say. It +will be as if I were speaking before you, and of course I should tell +you everything the King says. He will speak of you, I think." + +"Indeed, it would be hard not to listen," said Dolores. "I should have +to stop my ears, for one cannot help hearing every word that is said in +the next room. Do you know? I heard you ask for your white shoes! I +hardly dared to breathe for fear the servants should find out that I was +here." + +"So much the better then. Sit in this chair near the door. But be +careful to make no noise, for the King is very suspicious." + +"I know. Do not be afraid; I will be as quiet as a mouse. Go, love, go! +It is time--oh, how I hate to let you leave me! You will be careful? You +will not be angry at what he says? You would be wiser if you knew I were +not hearing everything; you will want to defend me if he says the least +word you do not like, but let him say what he will! Anything is better +than an open quarrel between you and the King! Promise me to be very +moderate in what you say, and very patient. Remember that he is the +King!" + +"And my brother," said Don John, with some bitterness. "Do not fear. You +know what I have promised you. I will bear anything he may say that +concerns me as well as I can, but if he says anything slighting of +you--" + +"But he may--that is the danger. Promise me not to be angry--" + +"How can I promise that, if he insults you?" + +"No, I did not mean that exactly. Promise that you will not forget +everything and raise your hand against him. You see I know you would." + +"No, I will not raise my hand against him. That was in the promise I +made you. And as for being angry, I will do my best to keep my temper." + +"I know you will. Now you must go. Good-by, love! Good-by, for a little +while." + +"For such a little time shall we say good-by? I hate the word; it makes +me think of the day when I left you last." + +"How can I tell what may happen to you when you are out of my sight?" +asked Dolores. "And what is 'good-by' but a blessing each prays for the +other? That is all it means. It does not mean that we part for long, +love. Why, I would say it for an hour! Good-by, dear love, good-by!" + +She put up her face to kiss him, and it was so full of trust and +happiness that the word lost all the bitterness it has gathered through +ages of partings, and seemed, what she said it was, a loving blessing. +Yet she said it very tenderly, for it was hard to let him go even for +less than an hour. He said it, too, to please her; but yet the syllables +came mournfully, as if they meant a world more than hers, and the sound +of them half frightened her, so that she was sorry she had asked him for +the word. + +"Not so!" she cried, in quick alarm. "You are not keeping anything from +me? You are only going to the next room to meet the King--are you sure?" + +"That is all. You see, the word frightened you. It seems such a sad word +to me--I will not say it again." + +He kissed her gently, as if to soothe her fear, and then he opened the +door and set the key in the lock on the inside. Then when he was +outside, he lingered a moment, and their lips met once more without a +word, and they nodded and smiled to one another a last time, and he +closed the door and heard her lock it. + +When she was alone, she turned away as if he were gone from her +altogether instead of being in the next room, where she could hear him +moving now and then, as he placed his chair near the light to read and +arranged the candlesticks on the table. Then he went to the other door +and opened it and opened the one beyond upon the terrace, and she knew +that he was looking out to see if any one were there. But presently he +came back and sat down, and she distinctly heard the rustle of the +strong writing-paper as he unfolded a letter. It was hers. He was going +to read it, as they had agreed. + +So she sat down where she could look at the door, and she tried to force +her eyes to see through it, to make him feel that she was watching him, +that she came near him and stood beside him, and softly read the words +for him, but without looking at them, because she knew them all by +heart. But it was not the same as if she had seen him, and it was very +hard to be shut off from his sight by an impenetrable piece of wood, to +lose all the moments that might pass before the King chose to come. +Another hour might pass. No one could even tell whether he would come at +all after he had consulted with Antonio Perez. The skilful favourite +desired a quarrel between his master and Don John with all his heart, +but he was not ready for it yet. He must have possession of Dolores +first and hide her safely; and when the quarrel came, Don John should +believe that the King had stolen her and imprisoned her, and that she +was treated ill; and for the woman he loved, Don John would tear down +the walls of Madrid, if need be, and if at the last he found her dead, +there would be no harm done, thought Perez, and Don John would hate his +brother even to death, and all Spain would cry out in sympathy and +horror. But all this Dolores could neither know nor even suspect. She +only felt sure that the King and Perez were even now consulting together +to hinder her marriage with Don John, and that Perez might persuade the +King not to see his brother that night. + +It was almost intolerable to think that she might wait there for hours, +wasting the minutes for which she would have given drops of blood. +Surely they both were overcautious. The door could be left open, so that +they could talk, and at the first sound without, she could lock it again +and sit down. That would be quite as safe. + +She rose and was almost in the act of opening the door again when she +stopped and hesitated. It was possible that at any moment the King might +be at the door; for though she could hear every sound that came from the +next room, the thick curtains that hid the window effectually shut out +all sound from without. It struck her that she could go to the window, +however, and look out. Yet a ray of light might betray her presence in +the room to any one outside, and if she drew aside the curtain the light +would shine out upon the terrace. She listened at Don John's door, and +presently she heard him turn her letter in his hand, and all her heart +went out to him, and she stood noiselessly kissing the panels and saying +over again in her heart that she loved him more than any words could +tell. If she could only see out of the window and assure herself that no +one was coming yet, there would be time to go to him again, for one +moment only, and say the words once more. + +Then she sat down and told herself how foolish she was. She had been +separated from him for many long and empty months, and now she had been +with him and talked long with him twice in leas than three hours, and +yet she could not bear that he should be out of her sight five minutes +without wishing to risk everything to see him again. She tried to laugh +at herself, repeating over and over again that she was very, very +foolish, and that she should have a just contempt for any woman who +could be as foolish as she. For some moments she sat still, staring at +the wall. + +In the thought of him that filled her heart and soul and mind, she saw +that her own life had begun when he had first spoken to her, and she +felt that it would end with the last good-by, because if he should die +or cease to love her, there would be nothing more to live for. Her early +girlhood seemed dim and far away, dull and lifeless, as if it had not +been hers at all, and had no connection with the present. She saw +herself in the past, as she could not see herself now, and the child she +remembered seemed not herself but another--a fair-haired girl living in +the gloomy old house in Valladolid, with her blind sister and an old +maiden cousin of her father's, who had offered to bring up the two and +to teach them, being a woman of some learning, and who fulfilled her +promise in such a conscientious and austere way as made their lives +something of a burden under her strict rule. But that was all forgotten +now, and though she still lived in Valladolid she had probably changed +but little in the few years since Dolores had seen her; she was part of +the past, a relic of something that had hardly ever had a real +existence, and which it was not at all necessary to remember. There was +one great light in the girl's simple existence, it had come all at once, +and it was with her still. There was nothing dim nor dark nor forgotten +about the day when she had been presented at court by the Duchess +Alvarez, and she had first seen Don John, and he had first seen her and +had spoken to her, when he had talked with the Duchess herself. At the +first glance--and it was her first sight of the great world--she had +seen that of all the men in the great hall, there was no one at all like +him. She had no sooner looked into his face and cast her eyes upon his +slender figure, all in white then, as he was dressed to-night, than she +began to compare him with the rest. She looked so quickly from one to +another that any one might have thought her to be anxiously searching +for a friend in the crowd. But she had none then, and she was but +assuring herself once, and for all her life, that the man she was to +love was immeasurably beyond all other men, though the others were the +very flower of Spain's young chivalry. + +Of course, as she told herself now, she had not loved him then, nor even +when she heard his voice speaking to her the first time and was almost +too happy to understand his words. But she had remembered them. He had +asked her whether she lived in Madrid. She had told him that she lived +in the Alcazar itself, since her father commanded the guards and had his +quarters in the palace. And then Don John had looked at her very fixedly +for a moment, and had seemed pleased, for he smiled and said that he +hoped he might see her often, and that if it were in his power to be of +use to her father, he would do what he could. She was sure that she had +not loved him then, though she had dreamed of his winning face and voice +and had thought of little else all the next day, and the day after that, +with a sort of feverish longing to see him again, and had asked the +Duchess Alvarez so many questions about him that the Duchess had smiled +oddly, and had shaken her handsome young head a little, saying that it +was better not to think too much about Don John of Austria. Surely, she +had not loved him already, at first sight. But on the evening of the +third day, towards sunset, when she had been walking with Inez on a +deserted terrace where no one but the two sisters ever went, Don John +had suddenly appeared, sauntering idly out with one of his gentlemen on +his left, as if he expected nothing at all; and he had seemed very much +surprised to see her, and had bowed low, and somehow very soon, blind +Inez, who was little more than a child three years ago, was leading the +gentleman about the terrace, to show him where the best roses grew, +which she knew by their touch and smell, and Don John and Dolores were +seated on an old stone bench, talking earnestly together. Even to +herself she admitted that she had loved him from that evening, and +whenever she thought of it she smelt the first scent of roses, and saw +his face with the blaze of the sunset in his eyes, and heard his voice +saying that he should come to the terrace again at that hour, in which +matter he had kept his word as faithfully as he always did, and +presumably without any especial effort. So she had known him as he +really was, without the formalities of the court life, of which she was +herself a somewhat insignificant part; and it was only when he said a +few words to her before the other ladies that she took pains to say +'your Highness' to him once or twice, and he called her 'Dona Dolores,' +and enquired in a friendly manner about her father's health. But on the +terrace they managed to talk without any such formal mode of address, +and used no names at all for each other, until one day--but she would +not think of that now. If she let her memory run all its course, she +could not sit there with the door closed between him and her, for +something stronger than she would force her to go and open it, and make +sure he was there. This method, indeed, would be a very certain one, +leaving no doubt whatever, but at the present moment it would be foolish +to resort to it, and, perhaps, it would be dangerous, too. The past was +so beautiful and peaceful; she could think its history through many +times up to that point, where thinking was sure to end suddenly in +something which was too present for memory and too well remembered not +to be present. + +It came back to her so vividly that she left her seat again and went to +the curtained window, as if to get as far as possible from the +irresistible attraction. Standing there she looked back and saw the key +in the lock. It was foolish, girlish, childish, at such a time, but she +felt that as long as it was there she should want to turn it. With a +sudden resolution and a smile that was for her own weakness, she went to +the door again, listened for footsteps, and then quietly took the key +from the lock. Instantly Don John was on the other side, calling to her +softly. + +"What is it?" he asked. "For Heaven's sake do not come in, for I think I +hear him coming." + +"No," she answered through the panel. "I was afraid I should turn the +key, so I have taken it out." She paused. "I love you!" she said, so +that he could hear, and she kissed the wood, where she thought his face +must be, just above her own. + +"I love you with all my heart!" he answered gently. "Hush, dear love, he +is coming!" + +They were like two children, playing at a game; but they were playing on +the very verge of tragedy, playing at life with death at the door and +the safety of a great nation hanging in the balance. + +A moment later, Dolores heard Don John opening and shutting the other +doors again, and then there were voices. She heard her father's name +spoken in the King's unmistakable tones, at once harsh and muffled. +Every word came to her from the other room, as if she were present. + +"Mendoza," said Philip, "I have private matters to discuss with his +Highness. I desire you to wait before the entrance, on the terrace, and +to let no one pass in, as we do not wish to be disturbed." + +Her father did not speak, but she knew how he was bending a little +stiffly, before he went backwards through the open door. It closed +behind him, and the two brothers were alone. Dolores' heart beat a +little faster, and her face grew paler as she concentrated her attention +upon making no noise. If they could hear her as she heard them, a mere +rustling of her silk gown would be enough to betray her, and if then the +King bade her father take her with him, all would be over, for Don John +would certainly not use any violence to protect her. + +"This is your bedchamber," said Philip's voice. + +He was evidently examining the room, as Don John had anticipated that he +would, for he was moving about. There was no mistaking his heavy steps +for his brother's elastic tread. + +"There is no one behind the curtain," said the King, by which it was +clear that he was making search for a possible concealed listener. He +was by no means above such precautions. + +"And that door?" he said, with a question. "What is there?" + +Dolores' heart almost stood still, as she held her breath, and heard the +clumsy footfall coming nearer. + +"It is locked," said Don John, with undisturbed calm. "I have not the +key. I do not know where it is,--it is not here." + +As Dolores had taken it from the lock, even the last statement was true +to the letter, and in spite of her anxiety she smiled as she heard it, +but the next moment she trembled, for the King was trying the door, and +it shook under his hand, as if it must fly open. + +"It is certainly locked," he said, in a discontented tone. "But I do not +like locked doors, unless I know what is beyond them." + +He crossed the room again and called out to Mendoza, who answered at +once. + +"Mendoza, come here with me. There is a door here, of which his Highness +has not the key. Can you open it?" + +"I will try, your Majesty," answered the General's hard voice. + +A moment later the panels shook violently under the old man's weight, +for he was stronger than one might have thought, being lean and tough +rather than muscular. Dolores took the moment when the noise was loudest +and ran a few steps towards the window. Then the sounds ceased suddenly, +and she stood still. + +"I cannot open it, your Majesty," said Mendoza, in a disconsolate tone. + +"Then go and get the key," answered the King almost angrily. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +Inez remained hidden a quarter of an hour in the gallery over the throne +room, before she ventured to open the door noiselessly and listen for +any sound that might come from the passage. She was quite safe there, as +long as she chose to remain, for the Princess had believed that she had +fled far beyond and was altogether out of reach of any one whose dignity +would not allow of running a race. It must be remembered that at the +time she entered the gallery Mendoza had returned to his duty below, and +that some time afterwards he had accompanied the King to Don John's +apartments, and had then been sent in search of the key to the locked +door. + +The blind girl was of course wholly ignorant of his whereabouts, and +believed him to be in or about the throne room. Her instinct told her +that since Dolores had not gone to the court, as she had intended, with +the Duchess Alvarez, she must have made some last attempt to see Don +John alone. In her perfect innocence such an idea seemed natural enough +to Inez, and it at first occurred to her that the two might have +arranged to meet on the deserted terrace where they had spent so many +hours in former times. She went there first, finding her way with some +little difficulty from the corridor where the gallery was, for the +region was not the one to which she was most accustomed, though there +was hardly a corner of the upper story where she had never been. +Reaching the terrace, she went out and called softly, but there was no +answer, nor could she hear any sound. The night was not cold now, but +the breeze chilled her a little, and just then the melancholy cry of a +screech owl pierced the air, and she shivered and went in again. + +She would have gone to the Duchess Alvarez had she not been sure that +the latter was below with the Queen, and even as it was, she would have +taken refuge in the Duchess's apartments with the women, and she might +have learned something of Dolores there. But her touch reminded her that +she was dressed in her sister's clothes, and that many questions might +be asked her which it would be hard to answer. And again, it grew quite +clear to her that Dolores must be somewhere near Don John, perhaps +waiting in some concealed corner until all should be quiet. It was more +than probable that he would get her out of the palace secretly during +the night and send her to his adoptive mother at Villagarcia. She had +not believed the Princess's words in the least, but she had not +forgotten them, and had argued rightly enough to their real meaning. + +In the upper story all was still now. She and Dolores had known where +Don John was to be lodged in the palace nearly a month before he had +returned, and they had been there more than once, when no one was on the +terrace, and Dolores had made her touch the door and the six windows, +three on each side of it. She could get there without difficulty, +provided that no one stopped her. + +She went a little way in the right direction and then hesitated. There +was more danger to Dolores than to herself if she should be recognized, +and, after all, if Dolores was near Don John she was safer than she +could be anywhere else. Inez could not help her very much in any way if +she found her there, and it would be hard to find her if she had met +Mendoza at first and if he had placed her in the keeping of a third +person. She imagined what his astonishment would have been had he found +the real Dolores in her court dress a few moments after Inez had been +delivered over to the Princess disguised in Dolores' clothes, and she +almost smiled. But then a great loneliness and a sense of helplessness +came over her, and she turned back and went out upon the deserted +terrace again and sat down upon the old stone seat, listening for the +screech owl and the fluttering of the bats that flew aimlessly in and +out, attracted by the light and then scared away by it again because the +moon was at the full. + +Inez had never before then wandered about the palace at night, and +though darkness and daylight were one to her, there was something in the +air that frightened her, and made her feel how really helpless she was +in spite of her almost superhuman hearing and her wonderful sense of +touch. It was very still--it was never so still by day. It seemed as if +people must be lying in wait for her, holding their breath lest she +should hear even that. She had never felt blind before; she had never so +completely realized the difference between her life and the lives of +others. By day, she could wander where she pleased on the upper +story--it was cheerful, familiar; now and then some one passed and +perhaps spoke to her kindly, as every one did who knew her; and then +there was the warm sunlight at the windows, and the cool breath of the +living day in the corridors. The sounds guided her, the sun warmed her, +the air fanned her, the voices of the people made her feel that she was +one of them. But now, the place was like an empty church, full of tombs +and silent as the dead that lay there. She felt horribly lonely, and +cold, and miserable, and she would have given anything to be in bed in +her own room. She could not go there. Eudaldo would not understand her +return, after being told that she was to stay with the Princess, and she +would be obliged to give him some explanation. Then her voice would +betray her, and there would be terrible trouble. If only she had kept +her own cloak to cover Dolores' frock, she could have gone back and the +servant would have thought it quite natural Indeed, by this time he +would be expecting her. It would be almost better to go in after all, +and tell him some story of her having mistaken her sister's skirt for +her own, and beg him to say nothing. She could easily confuse him a +little so that he would not really understand--and then in a few minutes +she could be in her own room, safe and in bed, and far away from the +dismal place where she was sitting and shivering as she listened to the +owls. + +She rose and began to walk towards her father's quarters. But suddenly +she felt that it was cowardly to go back without accomplishing the least +part of her purpose, and without even finding out whether Dolores was in +safety after all. There was but one chance of finding her, and that lay +in searching the neighbourhood of Don John's lodging. Without hesitating +any longer, she began to find her way thither at once. She determined +that if she were stopped, either by her father or the Princess, she +would throw back her head and show her face at once. That would be the +safest way in the end. + +She reached Don John's windows unhindered at last. She had felt every +corner, and had been into the empty sentry-box; and once or twice, after +listening a long time, she had called Dolores in a very low tone. She +listened by the first window, and by the second and third, and at the +door, and then beyond, till she came to the last. There were voices +there, and her heart beat quickly for a moment. It was impossible to +distinguish the words that were spoken, through the closed window and +the heavy curtains, but the mere tones told her that Don John and +Dolores were there together. That was enough for her, and she could go +back to her room; for it seemed quite natural to her that her sister +should be in the keeping of the man she loved,--she was out of harm's +way and beyond their father's power, and that was all that was +necessary. She would go back to her room at once, and explain the matter +of her dress to Eudaldo as best she might. After all, why should he care +what she wore or where she had been, or whether in the Princess's +apartments she had for some reason exchanged gowns with Dolores. Perhaps +he would not even notice the dress at all. + +She meant to go at once, but she stood quite still, her hands resting on +the low sill of the window, while her forehead pressed against the cold +round panes of glass. Something hurt her which she could not understand, +as she tried to fancy the two beautiful young beings who were +within,--for she knew what beauty they had, and Dolores had described +Don John to her as a young god. His voice came to her like strains of +very distant sweet music, that connect themselves to an unknown melody +in the fancy of him who faintly hears. But Dolores was hearing every +word he said, and it was all for her; and Dolores not only heard, but +saw; and seeing and hearing, she was loved by the man who spoke to her, +as dearly as she loved him. + +Then utter loneliness fell upon the blind girl as she leaned against the +window. She had expected nothing, she had asked nothing, even in her +heart; and she had less than nothing, since never on earth, nor in +heaven hereafter, could Don John say a loving word to her. And yet she +felt that something had been taken from her and given to her +sister,--something that was more to her than life, and dearer than the +thought of sight to her blindness. She had taken what had not been given +her, in innocent girlish thoughts that were only dreams, and could hurt +no one. He had always spoken gently to her, and touched her hand kindly; +and many a time, sitting alone in the sun, she had set those words to +the well-remembered music of his voice, and she had let the memory of +his light touch on her fingers thrill her strangely to the very quick. +It had been but the reflection of a reflection in her darkness, wherein +the shadow of a shadow seemed as bright as day. It had been all she had +to make her feel that she was a part of the living, loving world she +could never see. Somehow she had unconsciously fancied that with a +little dreaming she could live happy in Dolores' happiness, as by a +proxy, and she had never called it love, any more than she would have +dared to hope for love in return. Yet it was that, and nothing +else,--the love that is so hopeless and starving, and yet so innocent, +that it can draw the illusion of an airy nourishment from that which to +another nature would be the fountain of all jealousy and hatred. + +But now, without reason and without warning, even that was taken from +her, and in its place something burned that she did not know, save that +it was a bad thing, and made even blackness blacker. She heard their +voices still. They were happy together, while she was alone outside, her +forehead resting against the chill glass, and her hands half numb upon +the stone; and so it would always be hereafter. They would go, and take +her life with them, and she should be left behind, alone for ever; and a +great revolt against her fate rose quickly in her breast like a flame +before the wind, and then, as if finding nothing to consume, sank down +again into its own ashes, and left her more lonely than before. The +voices had ceased now, or else the lovers were speaking very low, +fearing, perhaps, that some one might be listening at the window. If +Inez had heard their words at first, she would have stopped her ears or +gone to a distance, for the child knew what that sort of honour meant, +and had done as much before. But the unformed sound had been good to +hear, and she missed it. Perhaps they were sitting close and, hand in +hand, reading all the sweet unsaid things in one another's eyes. There +must be silent voices in eyes that could see, she thought. She took +little thought of the time, yet it seemed long to her since they had +spoken. Perhaps they had gone to another room. She moved to the next +window and listened there, but no sound came from within. Then she heard +footfalls, and one was her father's. Two men were coming out by the +corridor, and she had not time to reach the sentry-box. With her hands +out before her, she went lightly away from the windows to the outer side +of the broad terrace, and cowered down by the balustrade as she ran +against it, not knowing whether she was in the moonlight or the shade. +She had crossed like a shadow and was crouching there before Mendoza and +the King came out. She knew by their steady tread, that ended at the +door, that they had not noticed her; and as the door closed behind them, +she ran back to the window again and listened, expecting to hear loud +and angry words, for she could not doubt that the King and her father +had discovered that Dolores was there, and had come to take her away. +The Princess must have told Mendoza that Dolores had escaped. But she +only heard men's voices speaking in an ordinary tone, and she understood +that Dolores was concealed. Almost at once, and to her dismay, she heard +her father's step in the hall, and now she could neither pass the door +nor run across the terrace again. A moment later the King called him +from within. Instantly she slipped across to the other side, and +listened again. They were shaking a door,--they were in the very act of +finding Dolores. Her heart hurt her. But then the noise stopped, as if +they had given up the attempt, and presently she heard her father's step +again. Thinking that he would remain in the hall until the King called +him,--for she could not possibly guess what had happened,--she stood +quite still. + +The door opened without warning, and he was almost upon her before she +knew it. To hesitate an instant was out of the question, and for the +second time that night she fled, running madly to the corridor, which +was not ten steps from where she had been standing, and as she entered +it the light fell upon her from the swinging lamp, though she did not +know it. + +Old as he was, Mendoza sprang forward in pursuit when he saw her figure +in the dimness, flying before him, but as she reached the light of the +lamp he stopped himself, staggering one or two steps and then reeling +against the wall. He had recognized Dolores' dress and hood, and there +was not the slightest doubt in his mind but that it was herself. In that +same dress he had seen her in the late afternoon, she had been wearing +it when he had locked her into the sitting-room, and, still clad in it, +she must have come out with the Princess. And now she was running before +him from Don John's lodging. Doubtless she had been in another room and +had slipped out while he was trying the door within. + +He passed his hand over his eyes and breathed hard as he leaned against +the wall, for her appearance there could only mean one thing, and that +was ruin to her and disgrace to his name--the very end of all things in +his life, in which all had been based upon his honour and every action +had been a tribute to it. + +He was too much stunned to ask himself how the lovers had met, if there +had been any agreement between them, but the frightful conviction took +hold of him that this was not the first time, that long ago, before Don +John had led the army to Granada, Dolores had found her way to that same +door and had spent long hours with her lover when no one knew. Else she +could not have gone to him without agreement, at an instant's notice, on +the very night of his return. + +Despair took possession of the unhappy man from that moment. But that +the King was with Don John, Mendoza would have gone back at that moment +to kill his enemy and himself afterwards, if need be. He remembered his +errand then. No doubt that was the very room where Dolores had been +concealed, and she had escaped from it by some other way, of which her +father did not know. He was too dazed to think connectedly, but he had +the King's commands to execute at once. He straightened himself with a +great effort, for the weight of his years had come upon him suddenly and +bowed him like a burden. With the exertion of his will came the thirst +for the satisfaction of blood, and he saw that the sooner he returned +with the key, the sooner he should be near his enemy. But the pulses +came and went in his throbbing temples, as when a man is almost spent in +a struggle with death, and at first he walked uncertainly, as if he felt +no ground under his feet. + +By the time he had gone a hundred yards he had recovered a sort of +mechanical self-possession, such as comes upon men at very desperate +times, when they must not allow themselves to stop and think of what is +before them. They were pictures, rather than thoughts, that formed +themselves in his brain as he went along, for he saw all the past years +again, from the day when his young wife had died, he being then already +in middle age, until that afternoon. One by one the years came back, and +the central figure in each was the fair-haired little child, growing +steadily to be a woman, all coming nearer and nearer to the end he had +seen but now, which was unutterable shame and disgrace, and beyond which +there was nothing. He heard the baby voice again, and felt the little +hands upon his brow, and saw the serious grey eyes close to his own; and +then the girl, gravely lovely--and her far-off laugh that hardly ever +rippled through the room when he was there; and then the stealing +softness of grown maidenhood, winning the features one by one, and +bringing back from death to life the face he had loved best, and the +voice with long-forgotten tones that touched his soul's quick, and +dimmed his sight with a mist, so that he grew hard and stern as he +fought within him against the tenderness he loved and feared. All this +he saw and heard and felt again, knowing that each picture must end but +in one way, in the one sight he had seen and that had told his shame--a +guilty woman stealing by night from her lover's door. Not only that, +either, for there was the almost certain knowledge that she had deceived +him for years, and that while he had been fighting so hard to save her +from what seemed but a show of marriage, she had been already lost to +him for ever and ruined beyond all hope of honesty. + +They were not thoughts, but pictures of the false and of the true, that +rose and glowed an instant and then sank like the inner darkness of his +soul, leaving only that last most terrible one of all behind them, +burned into his eyes till death should put out their light and bid him +rest at last, if he could rest even in heaven with such a memory. + +It was too much, and though he walked upright and gazed before him, he +did not know his way, and his feet took him to his own door instead of +on the King's errand. His hand was raised to knock before he understood, +and it fell to his side in a helpless, hopeless way, when he saw where +he was. Then he turned stiffly, as a man turns on parade, and gathered +his strength and marched away with a measured tread. For the world and +what it held he would not have entered his dwelling then, for he felt +that his daughter was there before him, and that if he once saw her face +he should not be able to hold his hand. He would not see her again on +earth, lest he should take her life for what she had done. + +He was more aware of outward things after that, though he almost +commanded himself to do what he had to do, as he would have given orders +to one of his soldiers. He went to the chief steward's office and +demanded the key of the room in the King's name. But it was not +forthcoming, and the fact that it could not be found strengthened his +conviction that Don John had it in his keeping. Yet, for the sake of +form, he insisted sternly, saying that the King was waiting for it even +then. Servants were called and examined and threatened, but those who +knew anything about it unanimously declared that it had been left in the +door, while those who knew nothing supported their fellow-servants by +the same unhesitating assertion, till Mendoza was convinced that he had +done enough, and turned his back on them all and went out with a grey +look of despair on his face. + +He walked rapidly now, for he knew that he was going back to meet his +enemy, and he was trying not to think what he should do when he should +see Don John before him and at arm's length, but defended by the King's +presence from any sudden violence. He knew that in his heart there was +the wild resolve to tell the truth before his master and then to take +the payment of blood with one thrust and destroy himself with the next, +but though he was half mad with despair, he would not let the thought +become a resolve. In his soldier's nature, high above everything else +and dominating his austere conscience of right and wrong, as well as +every other instinct of his heart, there was the respect of his +sovereign and the loyalty to him at all costs, good or bad, which sent +self out of sight where his duty to the King was concerned. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +When he had sent away Mendoza, the King remained standing and began to +pace the floor, while Don John stood by the table watching him and +waiting for him to speak. It was clear that he was still angry, for his +anger, though sometimes suddenly roused, was very slow to reach its +height, and slower still to subside; and when at last it had cooled, it +generally left behind it an enduring hatred, such as could be satisfied +only by the final destruction of the object that had caused it. That +lasting hate was perhaps more dangerous than the sudden outburst had +been, but in moments of furious passion Philip was undoubtedly a man to +be feared. + +He was evidently not inclined to speak until he had ascertained that no +one was listening in the next room, but as he looked from time to time +at Don John his still eyes seemed to grow almost yellow, and his lower +lip moved uneasily. He knew, perhaps, that Mendoza could not at once +find the servant in whose keeping the key of the door was supposed to +be, and he grew impatient by quick degrees until his rising temper got +the better of his caution. Don John instinctively drew himself up, as a +man does who expects to be attacked. He was close to the table, and +remained almost motionless during the discussion that followed, while +Philip paced up and down, sometimes pausing before his brother for a +moment, and then turning again to resume his walk. His voice was muffled +always, and was hard to hear; now and then it became thick and +indistinct with rage, and he cleared his throat roughly, as if he were +angry with it, too. At first he maintained the outward forms of courtesy +in words if not in tone, but long before his wrath had reached its final +climax he forgot them altogether. + +"I had hoped to speak with you in privacy, on matters of great +importance. It has pleased your Highness to make that impossible by your +extraordinary behaviour." + +Don John raised his eyebrows a little incredulously, and answered with +perfect calmness. + +"I do not recollect doing anything which should seem extraordinary to +your Majesty." + +"You contradict me," retorted Philip. "That is extraordinary enough, I +should think. I am not aware that it is usual for subjects to contradict +the King. What have you to say in explanation?" + +"Nothing. The facts explain themselves well enough." + +"We are not in camp," said Philip. "Your Highness is not in command +here, and I am not your subordinate. I desire you to remember whom you +are addressing, for your words will be remembered." + +"I never said anything which I wished another to forget," answered Don +John proudly. + +"Take care, then!" The King spoke sullenly, and turned away, for he was +slow at retort until he was greatly roused. + +Don John did not answer, for he had no wish to produce such a result, +and moreover he was much more preoccupied by the serious question of +Dolores' safety than by any other consideration. So far the King had +said nothing which, but for some derogation from his dignity, might not +have been said before any one, and Don John expected that he would +maintain the same tone until Mendoza returned. It was hard to predict +what might happen then. In all probability Dolores would escape by the +window and endeavour to hide herself in the empty sentry-box until the +interview was over. He could then bring her back in safety, but the +discussion promised to be long and stormy, and meanwhile she would be in +constant danger of discovery. But there was a worse possibility, not +even quite beyond the bounds of the probable. In his present mood, +Philip, if he lost his temper altogether, would perhaps be capable of +placing Don John under arrest. He was all powerful, he hated his +brother, and he was very angry. His last words had been a menace, or had +sounded like one, and another word, when Mendoza returned, could put the +threat into execution. Don John reflected, if such thought could be +called reflection, upon the situation that must ensue, and upon the +probable fate of the woman he loved. He wondered whether she were still +in the room, for hearing that the door was to be opened, she might have +thought it best to escape at once, while her father was absent from the +terrace on his errand. If not, she could certainly go out by the window +as soon as she heard him coming back. It was clearly of the greatest +importance to prevent the King's anger from going any further. Antonio +Perez had recognized the same truth from a very different point of view, +and had spent nearly three-quarters of an hour in flattering his master +with the consummate skill which he alone possessed. He believed that he +had succeeded when the King had dismissed him, saying that he would not +see Don John until the morning. Five minutes after Perez was gone, +Philip was threading the corridors, completely disguised in a long black +cloak, with the ever-loyal Mendoza at his heels. It was not the first +time that he had deceived his deceivers. + +He paced the room in silence after he had last spoken. As soon as Don +John realized that his liberty might be endangered, he saw that he must +say what he could in honour and justice to save himself from arrest, +since nothing else could save Dolores. + +"I greatly regret having done anything to anger your Majesty," he said, +with quiet dignity. "I was placed in a very difficult position by +unforeseen circumstances. If there had been time to reflect, I might +have acted otherwise." + +"Might have acted otherwise!" repeated Philip harshly. "I do not like +those words. You might have acted otherwise than to defy your sovereign +before the Queen! I trusted you might, indeed!" + +He was silent again, his protruding lip working angrily, as if he had +tasted something he disliked. Don John's half apology had not been +received with much grace, but he saw no way open save to insist that it +was genuine. + +"It is certainly true that I have lived much in camps of late," he +answered, "and that a camp is not a school of manners, any more than the +habit of commanding others accustoms a man to courtly submission." + +"Precisely. You have learned to forget that you have a superior in +Spain, or in the world. You already begin to affect the manners and +speech of a sovereign--you will soon claim the dignity of one, too, I +have no doubt. The sooner we procure you a kingdom of your own, the +better, for your Highness will before long become an element of discord +in ours." + +"Rather than that," answered Don John, "I will live in retirement for +the rest of my life." + +"We may require it of your Highness," replied Philip, standing still and +facing his brother. "It may be necessary for our own safety that you +should spend some time at least in very close retirement--very!" He +almost laughed. + +"I should prefer that to the possibility of causing any disturbance in +your Majesty's kingdom." + +Nothing could have been more gravely submissive than Don John's tone, +but the King was apparently determined to rouse his anger. + +"Your deeds belie your words," he retorted, beginning to walk again. +"There is too much loyalty in what you say, and too much of a rebellious +spirit in what you do. The two do not agree together. You mock me." + +"God forbid that!" cried Don John. "I desire no praise for what I may +have done, but such as my deeds have been they have produced peace and +submission in your Majesty's kingdom, and not rebellion--" + +"And is it because you have beaten a handful of ill-armed Moriscoes, in +the short space of two years, that the people follow you in throngs +wherever you go, shouting for you, singing your praises, bringing +petitions to you by hundreds, as if you were King--as if you were more +than that, a sort of god before whom every one must bow down? Am I so +simple as to believe that what you have done with such leisure is enough +to rouse all Spain, and to make the whole court break out into cries of +wonder and applause as soon as you appear? If you publicly defy me and +disobey me, do I not know that you believe yourself able to do so, and +think your power equal to mine? And how could that all be brought about, +save by a party that is for you, by your secret agents everywhere, high +and low, forever praising you and telling men, and women, too, of your +graces, and your generosities, and your victories, and saying that it is +a pity so good and brave a prince should be but a leader of the King's +armies, and then contrasting the King himself with you, the cruel King, +the grasping King, the scheming King, the King who has every fault that +is not found in Don John of Austria, the people's god! Is that peace and +submission? Or is it the beginning of rebellion, and revolution, and +civil war, which is to set Don John of Austria on the throne of Spain, +and send King Philip to another world as soon as all is ready?" + +Don John listened in amazement. It had never occurred to him any one +could believe him capable of the least of the deeds Philip was +attributing to him, and in spite of his resolution his anger began to +rise. Then, suddenly, as if cold water had been dashed in his face, he +remembered that an hour had not passed since he had held Dolores in his +arms, swearing to do that of which he was now accused, and that her +words only had held him back. It all seemed monstrous now. As she had +said, it had been only a bad dream and he had wakened to himself again. +Yet the thought of rebellion had more than crossed his mind, for in a +moment it had taken possession of him and had seemed to change all his +nature from good to bad. In his own eyes he was rebuked, and he did not +answer at once. + +"You have nothing to say!" exclaimed Philip scornfully. "Is there any +reason why I should not try you for high treason?" + +Don John started at the words, but his anger was gone, and he thought +only of Dolores' safety in the near future. + +"Your Majesty is far too just to accuse an innocent man who has served +you faithfully," he answered. + +Philip stopped and looked at him curiously and long, trying to detect +some sign of anxiety if not of fear. He was accustomed to torture men +with words well enough, before he used other means, and he himself had +not believed what he had said. It had been only an experiment tried on a +mere chance, and it had failed. At the root of his anger there was only +jealousy and personal hatred of the brother who had every grace and +charm which he himself had not. + +"More kind than just, perhaps," he said, with a slight change of tone +towards condescension. "I am willing to admit that I have no proofs +against you, but the evidence of circumstances is not in your favour. +Take care, for you are observed. You are too much before the world, too +imposing a figure to escape observation." + +"My actions will bear it. I only beg that your Majesty will take account +of them rather than listen to such interpretation as may be put upon +them by other men." + +"Other men do nothing but praise you," said Philip bluntly. "Their +opinion of you is not worth having! I thought I had explained that +matter sufficiently. You are the idol of the people, and as if that were +not enough, you are the darling of the court, besides being the women's +favourite. That is too much for one man to be--take care, I say, take +care! Be at more pains for my favour, and at less trouble for your +popularity." + +"So far as that goes," answered Don John, with some pride, "I think that +if men praise me it is because I have served the King as well as I +could, and with success. If your Majesty is not satisfied with what I +have done, let me have more to do. I shall try to do even the +impossible." + +"That will please the ladies," retorted Philip, with a sneer. "You will +be overwhelmed with correspondence--your gloves will not hold it all" + +Don John did not answer, for it seemed wiser to let the King take this +ground than return to his former position. + +"You will have plenty of agreeable occupation in time of peace. But it +is better that you should be married soon, before you become so +entangled with the ladies of Madrid as to make your marriage +impossible." + +"Saving the last clause," said Don John boldly, "I am altogether of your +Majesty's opinion. But I fear no entanglements here." + +"No--you do not fear them. On the contrary, you live in them as if they +were your element." + +"No man can say that," answered Don John. + +"You contradict me again. Pray, if you have no entanglements, how comes +it that you have a lady's letter in your glove?" + +"I cannot tell whether it was a lady's letter or a man's." + +"Have you not read it?" + +"Yes." + +"And you refused to show it to me on the ground that it was a woman's +secret?" + +"I had not read it then. It was not signed, and it might well have been +written by a man." + +Don John watched the King's face. It was for from improbable, he +thought, that the King had caused it to be written, or had written it +himself, that he supposed his brother to have read it, and desired to +regain possession of it as soon as possible. Philip seemed to hesitate +whether to continue his cross-examination or not, and he looked at the +door leading into the antechamber, suddenly wondering why Mendoza had +not returned. Then he began to speak again, but he did not wish, angry +though he was, to face alone a second refusal to deliver the document to +him. His dignity would have suffered too much. + +"The facts of the case are these," he said, as if he were recapitulating +what had gone before in his mind. "It is my desire to marry you to the +widowed Queen of Scots, as you know. You are doing all you can to oppose +me, and you have determined to marry the dowerless daughter of a poor +soldier. I am equally determined that you shall not disgrace yourself by +such an alliance." + +"Disgrace!" cried Don John loudly, almost before the word had passed the +King's lips, and he made half a step forward. "You are braver than I +thought you, if you dare use that word to me!" + +Philip stepped back, growing livid, and his hand was on his rapier. Don +John was unarmed, but his sword lay on the table within his reach. +Seeing the King afraid, he stepped back. + +"No," he said scornfully, "I was mistaken. You are a coward." He laughed +as he glanced at Philip's hand, still on the hilt of his weapon and +ready to draw it. + +In the next room Dolores drew frightened breath, for the tones of the +two men's voices had changed suddenly. Yet her heart had leapt for joy +when she had heard Don John's cry of anger at the King's insulting word. +But Don John was right, for Philip was a coward at heart, and though he +inwardly resolved that his brother should be placed under arrest as soon +as Mendoza returned, his present instinct was not to rouse him further. +He was indeed in danger, between his anger and his fear, for at any +moment he might speak some bitter word, accustomed as he was to the +perpetual protection of his guards, but at the next his brother's hands +might be on his throat, for he had the coward's true instinct to +recognize the man who was quite fearless. + +"You strangely forget yourself," he said, with an appearance of dignity. +"You spring forward as if you were going to grapple with me, and then +you are surprised that I should be ready to defend myself." + +"I barely moved a step from where I stand," answered Don John, with +profound contempt. "I am unarmed, too. There lies my sword, on the +table. But since you are the King as well as my brother, I make all +excuses to your Majesty for having been the cause of your fright." + +Dolores understood what had happened, as Don John meant that she should. +She knew also that her position was growing more and more desperate and +untenable at every moment; yet she could not blame her lover for what he +had said. Even to save her, she would not have had him cringe to the +King and ask pardon for his hasty word and movement, still less could +she have borne that he should not cry out in protest at a word that +insulted her, though ever so lightly. + +"I do not desire to insist upon our kinship," said Philip coldly. "If I +chose to acknowledge it when you were a boy, it was out of respect for +the memory of the Emperor. It was not in the expectation of being called +brother by the son of a German burgher's daughter." + +Don John did not wince, for the words, being literally true and without +exaggeration, could hardly be treated as an insult, though they were +meant for one, and hurt him, as all reference to his real mother always +did. + +"Yes," he said, still scornfully. "I am the son of a German burgher's +daughter, neither better nor worse. But I am your brother, for all that, +and though I shall not forget that you are King and I am subject, when +we are before the world, yet here, we are man and man, you and I, +brother and brother, and there is neither King nor prince. But I shall +not hurt you, so you need fear nothing. I respect the brother far too +little for that, and the sovereign too much." + +There was a bad yellow light in Philip's face, and instead of walking +towards Don John and away from him, as he had done hitherto, he began to +pace up and down, crossing and recrossing before him, from the foot of +the great canopied bed to one of the curtained windows, keeping his eyes +upon his brother almost all the time. + +"I warned you when I came here that your words should be remembered," he +said. "And your actions shall not be forgotten, either. There are safe +places, even in Madrid, where you can live in the retirement you desire +so much, even in total solitude." + +"If it pleases your Majesty to imprison Don John of Austria, you have +the power. For my part, I shall make no resistance." + +"Who shall, then?" asked the King angrily. "Do you expect that there +will be a general rising of the people to liberate you, or that there +will be a revolution within the palace, brought on by your party, which +shall force me to set you free for reasons of state? We are not in Paris +that you should expect the one, nor in Constantinople where the other +might be possible. We are in Spain, and I am master, and my will shall +be done, and no one shall cry out against it. I am too gentle with you, +too kind! For the half of what you have said and done, Elizabeth of +England would have had your life to-morrow--yes, I consent to give you a +chance, the benefit of a doubt there is still in my thoughts about you, +because justice shall not be offended and turned into an instrument of +revenge. Yes--I am kind, I am clement. We shall see whether you can save +yourself. You shall have the chance." + +"What chance is that?" asked Don John, growing very quiet, for he saw +the real danger near at hand again. + +"You shall have an opportunity of proving that a subject is at liberty +to insult his sovereign, and that the King is not free to speak his mind +to a subject. Can you prove that?" + +"I cannot." + +"Then you can be convicted of high treason," answered Philip, his evil +mouth curling. "There are several methods of interrogating the accused," +he continued. "I daresay you have heard of them." + +"Do you expect to frighten me by talking of torture?" asked Don John, +with a smile at the implied suggestion. + +"Witnesses are also examined," replied the King, his voice thickening +again in anticipation of the effect he was going to produce upon the man +who would not fear him. "With them, even more painful methods are often +employed. Witnesses may be men or women, you know, my dear brother--" he +pronounced the word with a sneer--"and among the many ladies of your +acquaintance--" + +"There are very few." + +"It will be the easier to find the two or three, or perhaps the only +one, whom it will be necessary to interrogate--in your presence, most +probably, and by torture." + +"I was right to call you a coward," said Don John, slowly turning pale +till his face was almost as white as the white silks and satins of his +doublet. + +"Will you give me the letter you were reading when I came here?" + +"No." + +"Not to save yourself from the executioner's hands?" + +"No." + +"Not to save--" Philip paused, and a frightful stare of hatred fixed his +eyes on his brother. "Will you give me that letter to save Dolores de +Mendoza from being torn piecemeal?" + +"Coward!" + +By instinct Don John's hand went to the hilt of his sheathed sword this +time, as he cried out in rage, and sprang forward. Even then he would +have remembered the promise he had given and would not have raised his +hand to strike. But the first movement was enough, and Philip drew his +rapier in a flash of light, fearing for his life. Without waiting for an +attack he made a furious pass at his brother's body. Don John's hand +went out with the sheathed sword in a desperate attempt to parry the +thrust, but the weapon was entangled in the belt that hung to it, and +Philip's lunge had been strong and quick as lightning. + +With a cry of anger Don John fell straight backwards, his feet seeming +to slip from under him on the smooth marble pavement, and with his fall, +as he threw out his hands to save himself, the sword flew high into the +air, sheathed as it was, and landed far away. He lay at full length with +one arm stretched out, and for a moment the hand twitched in quick +spasms. Then it was quite still. + +At his feet stood Philip, his rapier in his hand, and blood on its fine +point. His eyes shone yellow in the candlelight, his jaw had dropped a +little, and he bent forwards, looking intently at the still, white face. + +He had longed for that moment ever since he had entered his brother's +room, though even he himself had not guessed that he wanted his +brother's life. There was not a sound in the room as he looked at what +he had done, and two or three drops of blood fell one by one, very +slowly, upon the marble. On the dazzling white of Don John's doublet +there was a small red stain. As Philip watched it, he thought it grew +wider and brighter. + +Beyond the door, Dolores had fallen upon her knees, pressing her hands +to her temples in an agony beyond thought or expression. Her fear had +risen to terror while she listened to the last words that had been +exchanged, and the King's threat had chilled her blood like ice, though +she was brave. She had longed to cry out to Don John to give up her +letter or the other, whichever the King wanted--she had almost tried to +raise her voice, in spite of every other fear, when she had heard Don +John's single word of scorn, and the quick footsteps, the drawing of the +rapier from its sheath, the desperate scuffle that had not lasted five +seconds, and then the dull fall which meant that one was hurt. + +It could only be the King,--but that was terrible enough,--and yet, if +the King had fallen, Don John would have come to the door the next +instant. All was still in the room, but her terror made wild noises in +her ears. The two men might have spoken now and she could not have heard +them,--nor the opening of a door, nor any ordinary sound. It was no +longer the fear of being heard, either, that made her silent. Her throat +was parched and her tongue paralyzed. She remembered suddenly that Don +John had been unarmed, and how he had pointed out to Philip that his +sword lay on the table. It was the King who had drawn his own, then, and +had killed his unarmed brother. She felt as if something heavy were +striking her head as the thoughts made broken words, and flashes of +light danced before her eyes. With her hands she tried to press feeling +and reason and silence back into her brain that would not be quieted, +but the certainty grew upon her that Don John was killed, and the tide +of despair rose higher with every breath. + +The sensation came upon her that she was dying, then and there, of a +pain human nature could not endure, far beyond the torments Philip had +threatened, and the thought was merciful, for she could not have lived +an hour in such agony,--something would have broken before then. She was +dying, there, on her knees before the door beyond which her lover lay +suddenly dead. It would be easy to die. In a moment more she would be +with him, for ever, and in peace. They would find her there, dead, and +perhaps they would be merciful and bury her near him. But that would +matter little, since she should be with him always now. In the first +grief that struck her, and bruised her, and numbed her as with material +blows, she had no tears, but there was a sort of choking fire in her +throat, and her eyes burned her like hot iron. + +She did not know how long she knelt, waiting for death. She was dying, +and there was no time any more, nor any outward world, nor anything but +her lover's dead body on the floor in the next room, and his soul +waiting for hers, waiting beside her for her to die also, that they +might go together. She was so sure now, that she was wondering dreamily +why it took so long to die, seeing that death had taken him so quickly. +Could one shaft be aimed so straight and could the next miss the mark? +She shook all over, as a new dread seized her. She was not dying,--her +life clung too closely to her suffering body, her heart was too young +and strong to stand still in her breast for grief. She was to live, and +bear that same pain a lifetime. She rocked herself gently on her knees, +bowing her head almost to the floor. + +She was roused by the sound of her father's voice, and the words he was +speaking sent a fresh shock of horror through her unutterable grief, for +they told her that Don John was dead, and then something else so strange +that she could not understand it. + +Philip had stood only a few moments, sword in hand, over his brother's +body, staring down at his face, when the door opened. On the threshold +stood old Mendoza, half-stunned by the sight he saw. Philip heard, stood +up, and drew back as his eyes fell upon the old soldier. He knew that +Mendoza, if no one else, knew the truth now, beyond any power of his to +conceal it. His anger had subsided, and a sort of horror that could +never be remorse, had come over him for what he had done. It must have +been in his face, for Mendoza understood, and he came forward quickly +and knelt down upon the floor to listen for the beating of the heart, +and to try whether there was any breath to dim the brightness of his +polished scabbard. Philip looked on in silence. Like many an old soldier +Mendoza had some little skill, but he saw the bright spot on the white +doublet, and the still face and the hands relaxed, and there was neither +breath nor beating of the heart to give hope. He rose silently, and +shook his head. Still looking down he saw the red drops that had fallen +upon the pavement from Philip's rapier, and looking at that, saw that +the point was dark. With a gesture of excuse he took the sword from the +King's hand and wiped it quite dry and bright upon his own handkerchief, +and gave it back to Philip, who sheathed it by his side, but never +spoke. + +Together the two looked at the body for a full minute and more, each +silently debating what should be done with it. At last Mendoza raised +his head, and there was a strange look in his old eyes and a sort of wan +greatness came over his war-worn face. It was then that he spoke the +words Dolores heard. + +"I throw myself upon your Majesty's mercy! I have killed Don John of +Austria in a private quarrel, and he was unarmed." + +Philip understood well enough, and a faint smile of satisfaction flitted +through the shadows of his face. It was out of the question that the +world should ever know who had killed his brother, and he knew the man +who offered to sacrifice himself by bearing the blame of the deed. +Mendoza would die, on the scaffold if need be, and it would be enough +for him to know that his death saved his King. No word would ever pass +his lips. The man's loyalty would bear any proof; he could feel horror +at the thought that Philip could have done such a deed, but the King's +name must be saved at all costs, and the King's divine right must be +sustained before the world. He felt no hesitation from the moment when +he saw clearly how this must be done. To accuse some unknown murderer +and let it be supposed that he had escaped would have been worse than +useless; the court and half Spain knew of the King's jealousy of his +brother, every one had seen that Philip had been very angry when the +courtiers had shouted for Don John; already the story of the quarrel +about the glove was being repeated from mouth to mouth in the throne +room, where the nobles had reassembled after supper. As soon as it was +known that Don John was dead, it would be believed by every one in the +palace that the King had killed him or had caused him to be murdered. +But if Mendoza took the blame upon himself, the court would believe him, +for many knew of Dolores' love for Don John, and knew also how bitterly +the old soldier was opposed to their marriage, on the ground that it +would be no marriage at all, but his daughter's present ruin. There was +no one else in the palace who could accuse himself of the murder and who +would be believed to have done it without the King's orders, and Mendoza +knew this, when he offered his life to shield Philip's honour. Philip +knew it, too, and while he wondered at the old man's simple devotion, he +accepted it without protest, as his vast selfishness would have +permitted the destruction of all mankind, that it might be satisfied and +filled. + +He looked once more at the motionless body at his feet, and once more at +the faithful old man. Then he bent his head with condescending gravity, +as if he were signifying his pleasure to receive kindly, for the giver's +sake, a gift of little value. + +"So be it," he said slowly. + +Mendoza bowed his head, too, as if in thanks, and then taking up the +long dark cloak which the King had thrown off on entering, he put it +upon Philip's shoulders, and went before him to the door. And Philip +followed him without looking back, and both went out upon the terrace, +leaving both doors ajar after them. They exchanged a few words more as +they walked slowly in the direction of the corridor. + +"It is necessary that your Majesty should return at once to the throne +room, as if nothing had happened," said Mendoza. "Your Majesty should be +talking unconcernedly with some ambassador or minister when the news is +brought that his Highness is dead." + +"And who shall bring the news?" asked Philip calmly, as if he were +speaking to an indifferent person. + +"I will, Sire," answered Mendoza firmly. + +"They will tear you in pieces before I can save you," returned Philip, +in a thoughtful tone. + +"So much the better. I shall die for my King, and your Majesty will be +spared the difficulty of pardoning a deed which will be unpardonable in +the eyes of the whole world." + +"That is true," said the King meditatively. "But I do not wish you to +die, Mendoza," he added, as an afterthought. "You must escape to France +or to England." + +"I could not make my escape without your Majesty's help, and that would +soon be known. It would then be believed that I had done the deed by +your Majesty's orders, and no good end would have been gained." + +"You may be right. You are a very brave man, Mendoza--the bravest I have +ever known. I thank you. If it is possible to save you, you shall be +saved." + +"It will not be possible," replied the soldier, in a low and steady +voice. "If your Majesty will return at once to the throne room, it may +be soon over. Besides, it is growing late, and it must be done before +the whole court." + +They entered the corridor, and the King walked a few steps before +Mendoza, covering his head with the hood of his cloak lest any one +should recognize him, and gradually increasing his distance as the old +man fell behind. Descending by a private staircase, Philip reentered his +own apartments by a small door that gave access to his study without +obliging him to pass through the antechamber, and by which he often came +and went unobserved. Alone in his innermost room, and divested of his +hood and cloak, the King went to a Venetian mirror that stood upon a +pier table between the windows, and examined his face attentively. Not a +trace of excitement or emotion was visible in the features he saw, but +his hair was a little disarranged, and he smoothed it carefully and +adjusted it about his ears. From a silver box on the table he took a +little scented lozenge and put it into his mouth. No reasonable being +would have suspected from his appearance that he had been moved to +furious anger and had done a murderous deed less than twenty minutes +earlier. His still eyes were quite calm now, and the yellow gleam in +them had given place to their naturally uncertain colour. With a smile +of admiration for his own extraordinary powers, he turned and left the +room. He was enjoying one of his rare moments of satisfaction, for the +rival he had long hated and was beginning to dread was never to stand in +his way again nor to rob him of the least of his attributes of +sovereignty. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +Dolores had not understood her father's words. All that was clear to her +was that Don John was dead and that his murderers were gone. Had there +been danger still for herself, she could not have felt it; but there was +none now as she laid her hand upon the key to enter the bedchamber. At +first the lock would not open, as it had been injured in some way by +being so roughly shaken when Mendoza had tried it. But Dolores' +desperate fingers wound themselves upon the key like little ropes of +white silk, slender but very strong, and she wrenched at the thing +furiously till it turned. The door flew open, and she stood motionless a +moment on the threshold. Mendoza had said that Don John was dead, but +she had not quite believed it. + +He lay on his back as he had fallen, his feet towards her, his graceful +limbs relaxed, one arm beside him, the other thrown back beyond his +head, the colourless fingers just bent a little and showing the nervous +beauty of the hand. The beautiful young face was white as marble, and +the eyes were half open, very dark under the waxen lids. There was one +little spot of scarlet on the white satin coat, near the left breast. +Dolores saw it all in the bright light of the candles, and she neither +moved nor closed her fixed eyes as she gazed. She felt that she was at +the end of life; she stood still to see it all and to understand. But +though she tried to think, it was as if she had no mind left, no +capacity for grasping any new thought, and no power to connect those +that had disturbed her brain with the present that stared her in the +face. An earthquake might have torn the world open under her feet at +that moment, swallowing up the old Alcazar with the living and the dead, +and Dolores would have gone down to destruction as she stood, +unconscious of her fate, her eyes fixed upon Don John's dead features, +her own life already suspended and waiting to follow his. It seemed as +if she might stand there till her horror should stop the beating of her +own heart, unless something came to rouse her from the stupor she was +in. + +But gradually a change came over her face, her lids drooped and +quivered, her face turned a little upward, and she grasped the doorpost +with one hand, lest she should reel and fall. Then, knowing that she +could stand no longer, instinct made a last effort upon her; its +invisible power thrust her violently forward in a few swift steps, till +her strength broke all at once, and she fell and lay almost upon the +body of her lover, her face hidden upon his silent breast, one hand +seeking his hand, the other pressing his cold forehead. + +It was not probable that any one should find her there for a long time. +The servants and gentlemen had been dismissed, and until it was known +that Don John was dead, no one would come. Even if she could have +thought at all, she would not have cared who saw her lying there; but +thought was altogether gone now, and there was nothing left but the +ancient instinct of the primeval woman mourning her dead mate alone, +with long-drawn, hopeless weeping and blinding tears. + +They came, too, when she had lain upon his breast a little while and +when understanding had wholly ceased and given way to nature. Then her +body shook and her breast heaved strongly, almost throwing her upon her +side as she lay, and sounds that were hardly human came from her lips; +for the first dissolving of a woman's despair into tears is most like +the death agony of those who die young in their strength, when the limbs +are wrung at the joints and the light breaks in the upturned eyes, when +the bosom heaves and would take in the whole world at one breath, when +the voice makes sounds of fear that are beyond words and worse to hear +than any words could be. + +Her weeping was wild at first, measureless and violent, broken by sharp +cries that hurt her heart like jagged knives, then strangled to a +choking silence again and again, as the merciless consciousness that +could have killed, if it had prevailed, almost had her by the throat, +but was forced back again with cruel pain by the young life that would +not die, though living was agony and death would have been as welcome as +air. + +Then her loud grief subsided to a lower key, and her voice grew by +degrees monotonous and despairing as the turning tide on a quicksand, +before bad weather,--not diminished, but deeper drawn within itself; and +the low moan came regularly with each breath, while the tears flowed +steadily. The first wild tempest had swept by, and the more enduring +storm followed in its track. + +So she lay a long time weeping; and then strong hands were upon her, +lifting her up and dragging her away, without warning and without word. +She did not understand, and she fancied herself in the arms of some +supernatural being of monstrous strength that was tearing her from what +was left of life and love. She struggled senselessly, but she could find +no foothold as she was swept through the open door. She gasped for +breath, as one does in bad dreams, and bodily fear almost reached her +heart through its sevenfold armour of such grief as makes fear +ridiculous and turns mortal danger to an empty show. The time had seemed +an age since she had fallen upon dead Don John--it had measured but a +short few minutes; it seemed as if she were being dragged the whole +length of the dim palace as the strong hands bore her along, yet she was +only carried from the room to the terrace; and when her eyes could see, +she knew that she was in the open air on a stone seat in the moonlight, +the cool night breeze fanning her face, while a gentle hand supported +her head,--the same hand that had been so masterfully strong a moment +earlier. A face she knew and did not dread, though it was unlike other +faces, was just at the same height with her own, though the man was +standing beside her and she was seated; and the moonlight made very soft +shadows in the ill-drawn features of the dwarf, so that his thin and +twisted lips were kind and his deep-set eyes were overflowing with human +sympathy. When he understood that she saw him and was not fainting, he +gently drew away his hand and let her head rest against the stone +parapet. + +She was dazed still, and the tears veiled her sight. He stood before +her, as if guarding her, ready in case she should move and try to leave +him. His long arms hung by his sides, but not quite motionless, so that +he could have caught her instantly had she attempted to spring past him; +and he was wise and guessed rightly what she would do. Her eyes +brightened suddenly, and she half rose before he held her again. + +"No, no!" she said desperately. "I must go to him--let me go--let me go +back!" + +But his hands were on her shoulders in an instant, and she was in a +vise, forced back to her seat. + +"How dare you touch me!" she cried, in the furious anger of a woman +beside herself with grief. "How dare you lay hands on me!" she repeated +in a rising key, but struggling in vain against his greater strength. + +"You would have died, if I had left you there," answered the jester. +"And besides, the people will come soon, and they would have found you +there, lying on his body, and your good name would have gone forever." + +"My name! What does a name matter? Or anything? Oh, let me go! No one +must touch him--no hands that do not love him must come near him--let me +get up--let me go in again!" + +She tried to force the dwarf from her--she would have struck him, +crushed him, thrown him from the terrace, if she could. She was strong, +too, in her grief; but his vast arms were like iron bars, growing from +his misshapen body. His face was very grave and kind, and his eyes more +tender than they had ever been in his life. + +"No," he said gently. "You must not go. By and by you shall see him +again, but not now. Do not try, for I am much stronger than you, and I +will not let you go back into the room." + +Then her strength relaxed, and she turned to the stone parapet, burying +her face in her crossed arms, and her tears came again. For this the +jester was glad, knowing that tears quench the first white heat of such +sorrows as can burn out the soul and drive the brain raving mad, when +life can bear the torture. He stood still before her, watching her and +guarding her, but he felt that the worst was past, and that before very +long he could lead her away to a place of greater safety. He had indeed +taken her as far as he could from Don John's door, and out of sight of +it, where the long terrace turned to the westward, and where it was not +likely that any one should pass at that hour. It had been the impulse of +the moment, and he himself had not recovered from the shock of finding +Don John's body lifeless on the floor. He had known nothing of what had +happened, but lurking in a corner to see the King pass on his way back +from his brother's quarters, he had made sure that Don John was alone, +and had gone to his apartment to find out, if he could, how matters had +fared, and whether he himself were in further danger or not. He meant to +escape from the palace, or to take his own life, rather than be put to +the torture, if the King suspected him of being involved in a +conspiracy. He was not a common coward, but he feared bodily pain as +only such sensitive organizations can, and the vision of the rack and +the boot had been before him since he had seen Philip's face at supper. +Don John was kind, and would have warned him if he were in danger, and +so all might have been well, and by flight or death he might have +escaped being torn limb from limb. So he had gone boldly in, and had +found the door ajar and had entered the bedchamber, and when he had seen +what was there, he would have fled at once, for his own safety, not only +because Don John's murder was sure to produce terrible trouble, and many +enquiries and trials, in the course of which he was almost sure to be +lost, but also for the more immediate reason that if he were seen near +the body when it was discovered, he should certainly be put to the +question ordinary and extraordinary for his evidence. + +But he was not a common coward, and in spite of his own pardonable +terror, he thought first of the innocent girl whose name and fame would +be gone if she were found lying upon her murdered lover's body, and so +far as he could, he saved her before he thought of saving himself, +though with infinite difficulty and against her will. + +Half paralyzed by her immeasurable grief, she lay against the parapet, +and the great sobs came evenly, as if they were counted, shaking her +from her head to her waist, and just leaving her a breathing space +between each one and the next. The jester felt that he could do nothing. +So long as she had seemed unconscious, he had tried to help her a little +by supporting her head with his hand and arm, as tenderly as if she had +been his own child. So long as she did not know what he was doing, she +was only a human being in distress, and a woman, and deep down in the +jester's nature there was a marvellous depth of pity for all things that +suffered--the deeper and truer because his own sufferings in the world +were great. But it was quite different now that she knew where she was +and recognized him. She was no longer a woman now, but a high-born lady, +one of the Queen's maids of honour, a being infinitely far removed above +his sphere, and whose hand he was not worthy to touch. He would have +dared to be much more familiar with the King himself than with this +young girl whom fate had placed in his keeping for a moment. In the +moonlight he watched her, and as he gazed upon her graceful figure and +small head and slender, bending arms, it seemed to him that she had come +down from an altar to suffer in life, and that it had been almost +sacrilege to lay his hands upon her shoulders and keep her from doing +her own will. He almost wondered how he had found courage to be so rough +and commanding. He was gentle of heart, though it was his trade to make +sharp speeches, and there were wonderful delicacies of thought and +feeling far down in his suffering cripple's nature. + +"Come," he said softly, when he had waited a long time, and when he +thought she was growing more quiet. "You must let me take you away, Dona +Maria Dolores, for we cannot stay here." + +"Take me back to him," she answered. "Let me go back to him!" + +"No--to your father--I cannot take you to him. You will be safe there." + +Dolores sprang to her feet before the dwarf could prevent her. + +"To my father? oh, no, no, no! Never, as long as I live! I will go +anywhere, but not to him! Take your hands from me--do not touch me! I am +not strong, but I shall kill you if you try to take me to my father!" + +Her small hands grasped the dwarfs wrists and wrung them with desperate +energy, and she tried to push him away, so that she might pass him. But +he resisted her quietly, planting himself in a position of resistance on +his short bowed legs, and opposing the whole strength of his great arms +to her girlish violence. Her hands relaxed suddenly in despair. + +"Not to my father!" she pleaded, in a broken voice. "Oh, please, +please--not to my father!" + +The jester did not fully understand, but he yielded, for he could not +carry her to Mendoza's apartments by force. + +"But what can I do to put you in a place of safety?" he asked, in +growing distress. "You cannot stay here." + +While he was speaking a light figure glided out from the shadows, with +outstretched hands, and a low voice called Dolores' name, trembling with +terror and emotion. Dolores broke from the dwarf and clasped her sister +in her arms. + +"Is it true?" moaned Inez. "Is it true? Is he dead?" And her voice +broke. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +The courtiers had assembled again in the great throne room after supper, +and the stately dancing, for which the court of Spain was even then +famous throughout Europe, had begun. The orchestra was placed under the +great arch of the central window on a small raised platform draped with +velvets and brocades that hung from a railing, high enough to conceal +the musicians as they sat, though some of the instruments and the moving +bows of the violins could be seen above it. + +The masked dancing, if it were dancing at all, which had been general in +the days of the Emperor Maximilian, and which had not yet gone out of +fashion altogether at the imperial court of Vienna, had long been +relegated to the past in Spain, and the beautiful "pavane" dances, of +which awkward travesties survive in our day, had been introduced +instead. As now, the older ladies of the court withdrew to the sides of +the hall, leaving the polished floor free for those who danced, and sets +formed themselves in the order of their rank from the foot of the throne +dais to the lower end. As now, too, the older and graver men congregated +together in outer rooms; and there gaming-tables were set out, and the +nobles lost vast sums at games now long forgotten, by the express +authorization of the pious Philip, who saw that everything which could +injure the fortunes of the grandees must consolidate his own, by +depriving them of some of that immense wealth which was an ever-ready +element of revolution. He did everything in his power to promote the +ruin of the most powerful grandees in the kingdom by encouraging gaming +and all imaginable forms of extravagance, and he looked with suspicion +and displeasure upon those more prudent men who guarded their riches +carefully, as their fathers had done before them. But these were few, +for it was a part of a noble's dignity to lose enormous sums of money +without the slightest outward sign of emotion or annoyance. + +It had been announced that the King and Queen would not return after +supper, and the magnificent gravity of the most formal court in the +world was a little relaxed when this was known. Between the strains of +music, the voices of the courtiers rose in unbroken conversation, and +now and then there was a ripple of fresh young laughter that echoed +sweetly under the high Moorish vault, and died away just as it rose +again from below. + +Yet the dancing was a matter of state, and solemn enough, though it was +very graceful. Magnificent young nobles in scarlet, in pale green, in +straw colour, in tender shades of blue, all satin and silk and velvet +and embroidery, led lovely women slowly forward with long and gliding +steps that kept perfect time to the music, and turned and went back, and +wound mazy figures with the rest, under the waxen light of the waxen +torches, and returned to their places with deep curtsies on the one +side, and sweeping obeisance on the other. The dresses of the women were +richer by far with gold and silver, and pearls and other jewels, than +those of the men, but were generally darker in tone, for that was the +fashion then. Their skirts were straight and barely touched the floor, +being made for a time when dancing was a part of court life, and when +every one within certain limits of age was expected to dance well. There +was no exaggeration of the ruffle then, nor had the awkward hoop skirt +been introduced in Spain. Those were the earlier days of Queen +Elizabeth's reign, before Queen Mary was imprisoned; it was the time, +indeed, when the rough Bothwell had lately carried her off and married +her, after a fashion, with so little ceremony that Philip paid no +attention to the marriage at all, and deliberately proposed to make her +Don John's wife. The matter was freely talked of on that night by the +noble ladies of elder years who gossiped while they watched the dancing. + +That was indeed such a court as had not been seen before, nor was ever +seen again, whether one count beauty first, or riches and magnificence, +or the marvel of splendid ceremony and the faultless grace of studied +manners, or even the cool recklessness of great lords and ladies who +could lose a fortune at play, as if they were throwing a handful of coin +to a beggar in the street. + +The Princess of Eboli stood a little apart from the rest, having just +returned to the ball-room, and her eyes searched for Dolores in the +crowd, though she scarcely expected to see her there. It would have been +almost impossible for the girl to put on a court dress in so short a +time, though since her father had allowed her to leave her room, she +could have gone back to dress if she had chosen. The Princess had rarely +been at a loss in her evil life, and had seldom been baffled in anything +she had undertaken, since that memorable occasion on which her husband, +soon after her marriage, had forcibly shut her up in a convent for +several months, in the vain hope of cooling her indomitable temper. But +now she was nervous and uncertain of herself. Not only had Dolores +escaped her, but Don John had disappeared also, and the Princess had not +the least doubt but that the two were somewhere together, and she was +very far from being sure that they had not already left the palace. +Antonio Perez had informed her that the King had promised not to see Don +John that night, and for once she was foolish enough to believe the +King's word. Perez came up to her as she was debating what she should +do. She told him her thoughts, laughing gaily from time to time, as if +she were telling him some very witty story, for she did not wish those +who watched them to guess that the conversation was serious. Perez +laughed, too, and answered in low tones, with many gestures meant to +deceive the court. + +"The King did not take my advice," he said. "I had scarcely left him, +when he went to Don John's apartments." + +"How do you know that?" asked the Princess, with some anxiety. + +"He found the door of an inner room locked, and he sent Mendoza to find +the key. Fortunately for the old man's feelings it could not be found! +He would have had an unpleasant surprise." + +"Why?" + +"Because his daughter was in the room that was locked," laughed Perez. + +"When? How? How long ago was that?" + +"Half an hour--not more." + +"That is impossible. Half an hour ago Dolores de Mendoza was with me." + +"Then there was another lady in the room." Perez laughed again. "Better +two than one," he added. + +"You are wrong," said the Princess, and her face darkened. "Don John has +not so much as deigned to look at any other woman these two years." + +"You should know that best," returned the Secretary, with a little +malice in his smile. + +It was well known in the court that two or three years earlier, during +the horrible intrigue that ended in the death of Don Carlos, the +Princess of Eboli had done her best to bring Don John of Austria to her +feet, and had failed notoriously, because he was already in love with +Dolores. She was angry now, and the rich colour came into her handsome +dark face. + +"Don Antonio Perez," she said, "take care! I have made you. I can also +unmake you." + +Perez assumed an air of simple and innocent surprise, as if he were +quite sure that he had said nothing to annoy her, still less to wound +her deeply. He believed that she really loved him and that he could play +with her as if his own intelligence far surpassed hers. In the first +matter he was right, but he was very much mistaken in the second. + +"I do not understand," he said. "If I have done anything to offend you, +pray forgive my ignorance, and believe in the unchanging devotion of +your most faithful slave." + +His dark eyes became very expressive as he bowed a little, with a +graceful gesture of deprecation. The Princess laughed lightly, but there +was still a spark of annoyance in her look. + +"Why does Don John not come?" she asked impatiently. "We should have +danced together. Something must have happened--can you not find out?" + +Others were asking the same question in surprise, for it had been +expected that Don John would enter immediately after the supper. His +name was heard from end to end of the hall, in every conversation, +wherever two or three persons were talking together. It was in the air, +like his popularity, everywhere and in everything, and the expectation +of his coming produced a sort of tension that was felt by every one. The +men grew more witty, the younger women's eyes brightened, though they +constantly glanced towards the door of the state apartments by which Don +John should enter, and as the men's conversation became more brilliant +the women paid less attention to it, for there was hardly one of them +who did not hope that Don John might notice her before the evening was +over,--there was not one who did not fancy herself a little in love with +him, as there was hardly a man there who would not have drawn his sword +for him and fought for him with all his heart. Many, though they dared +not say so, secretly wished that some evil might befall Philip, and that +he might soon die childless, since he had destroyed his only son and +only heir, and that Don John might be King in his stead. The Princess of +Eboli and Perez knew well enough that their plan would be popular, if +they could ever bring it to maturity. + +The music swelled and softened, and rose again in those swaying strains +that inspire an irresistible bodily longing for rhythmical motion, and +which have infinite power to call up all manner of thoughts, passionate, +gentle, hopeful, regretful, by turns. In the middle of the hall, more +than a hundred dancers moved, swayed, and glided in time with the sound, +changed places, and touched hands in the measure, tripped forward and +back and sideways, and met and parted again without pause, the colours +of their dresses mingling to rich unknown hues in the soft candlelight, +as the figure brought many together, and separating into a hundred +elements again, when the next steps scattered them again; the jewels in +the women's hair, the clasps of diamonds and precious stones at throat, +and shoulder, and waist, all moved with an intricate motion, in orbits +that crossed and recrossed in the tinted sea of silk, and flashed all at +once, as the returning burden of the music brought the dancers to stand +and turn at the same beat of the measure. Yet it was all unlike the +square dancing of these days, which is either no dancing at all, but a +disorderly walk, or else is so stiffly regular and awkward that it makes +one think of a squad of recruits exercising on the drill ground. There +was not a motion, then, that lacked grace, or ease, or a certain purpose +of beauty, nor any, perhaps, that was not a phrase in the allegory of +love, from which all dancing is, and was, and always must be, drawn. +Swift, slow, by turns, now languorous, now passionate, now full of +delicious regret, singing love's triumph, breathing love's fire, sighing +in love's despair, the dance and its music were one, so was sight +intermingled with sound, and motion a part of both. And at each pause, +lips parted and glance sought glance in the light, while hearts found +words in the music that answered the language of love. Men laugh at +dancing and love it, and women, too, and no one can tell where its charm +is, but few have not felt it, or longed to feel it, and its beginnings +are very far away in primeval humanity, beyond the reach of theory, +unless instinct may explain all simply, as it well may. For light and +grace and sweet sound are things of beauty which last for ever, and love +is the source of the future and the explanation of the past; and that +which can bring into itself both love and melody, and grace and light, +must needs be a spell to charm men and women. + +There was more than that in the air on that night, for Don John's return +had set free that most intoxicating essence of victory, which turns to a +mad fire in the veins of a rejoicing people, making the least man of +them feel himself a soldier, and a conqueror, and a sharer in undying +fame. They had loved him from a child, they had seen him outgrow them in +beauty, and skill, and courage, and they had loved him still the more +for being the better man; and now he had done a great deed, and had +fulfilled and overfilled their greatest expectations, and in an instant +he leapt from the favourite's place in their hearts to the hero's height +on the altar of their wonder, to be the young god of a nation that loved +him. Not a man, on that night, but would have sworn that Don John was +braver than Alexander, wiser than Charlemagne, greater than Caesar +himself; not a man but would have drawn his sword to prove it on the +body of any who should dare to contradict him,--not a mother was there, +who did not pray that her sons might be but ever so little like him, no +girl of Spain but dreamt she heard his soft voice speaking low in her +ear. Not often in the world's story has a man so young done such great +things as he had done and was to do before his short life was ended; +never, perhaps, was any man so honoured by his own people, so trusted, +and so loved. + +They could talk only of him, wondering more and more that he stayed away +from them on such a night, yet sure that he would come, and join the +dancing, for as he fought with a skill beyond that of other swordsmen, +so he danced with the most surpassing grace. They longed to see him, to +look into his face, to hear his voice, perhaps to touch his hand; for he +was free of manner and gentle to all, and if he came he would go from +one to another, and remember each with royal memory, and find kind words +for every one. They wanted him among them, they felt a sort of tense +desire to see him again, and even to shout for him again, as the vulgar +herd did in the streets,--as they themselves had done but an hour ago +when he had stood out beside the throne. And still the dancers danced +through the endless measures, laughing and talking at each pause, and +repeating his name till it was impossible not to hear it, wherever one +might be in the hall, and there was no one, old or young, who did not +speak it at least once in every five minutes. There was a sort of +intoxication in its very sound, and the more they heard it, the more +they wished to hear it, coupled with every word of praise that the +language possessed. From admiration they rose to enthusiasm, from +enthusiasm to a generous patriotic passion in which Spain was the world +and Don John was Spain, and all the rest of everything was but a dull +and lifeless blank which could have no possible interest for natural +people. + +Young men, darkly flushed from dancing, swore that whenever Don John +should be next sent with an army, they would go, too, and win his +battles and share in his immortal glory; and grand, grey men who wore +the Golden Fleece, men who had seen great battles in the Emperor's day, +stood together and talked of him, and praised God that Spain had another +hero of the Austrian house, to strike terror to the heart of France, to +humble England at last, and to grasp what little of the world was not +already gathered in the hollow of Spain's vast hand. + +Antonio Perez and the Princess of Eboli parted and went among the +courtiers, listening to all that was to be heard and feeding the fire of +enthusiasm, and met again to exchange glances of satisfaction, for they +were well pleased with the direction matters were taking, and the talk +grew more free from minute to minute, till many, carried away by a force +they could not understand and did not seek to question, were openly +talking of the succession to the throne, of Philip's apparent ill +health, and of the chance that they might before long be doing service +to his Majesty King John. + +The music ceased again, and the couples dispersed about the hall, to +collect again in groups. There was a momentary lull in the talk, too, as +often happens when a dance is just over, and at that moment the great +door beside the throne was opened, with a noise that attracted the +attention of all; and all believed that Don John was returning, while +all eyes were fixed upon the entrance to catch the first glimpse of him, +and every one pronounced his name at once in short, glad tones of +satisfaction. + +"Don John is coming! It is Don John of Austria! Don John is there!" + +It was almost a universal cry of welcome. An instant later a dead +silence followed as a chamberlain's clear voice announced the royal +presence, and King Philip advanced upon the platform of the throne. For +several seconds not a sound broke the stillness, and he came slowly +forward followed by half a dozen nobles in immediate attendance upon +him. But though he must have heard his brother's name in the general +chorus of voices as soon as the door had been thrown open, he seemed by +no means disconcerted; on the contrary, he smiled almost affably, and +his eyes were less fixed than usual, as he looked about him with +something like an air of satisfaction. As soon as it was clear that he +meant to descend the steps to the floor of the hall, the chief courtiers +came forward, Ruy Gomez de Silva, Prince of Eboli, Alvarez de Toledo, +the terrible Duke of Alva, the Dukes of Medina Sidonia and of Infantado, +Don Antonio Perez the chief Secretary, the Ambassadors of Queen +Elizabeth of England and of France, and a dozen others, bowing so low +that the plumes of their hats literally touched the floor beside them. + +"Why is there no dancing?" asked Philip, addressing Ruy Gomez, with a +smile. + +The Minister explained that one of the dances was but just over. + +"Let there be more at once," answered the King. "Let there be dancing +and music without end to-night. We have good reason to keep the day with +rejoicing, since the war is over, and Don John of Austria has come back +in triumph." + +The command was obeyed instantly, as Ruy Gomez made a sign to the leader +of the musicians, who was watching him intently in expectation of the +order. The King smiled again as the long strain broke the silence and +the conversation began again all through the hall, though in a far more +subdued tone than before, and with much more caution. Philip turned to +the English Ambassador. + +"It is a pity," he said, "that my sister of England cannot be here with +us on such a night as this. We saw no such sights in London in my day, +my lord." + +"There have been changes since then, Sire," answered the Ambassador. +"The Queen is very much inclined to magnificence and to great +entertainments, and does not hesitate to dance herself, being of a very +vital and pleasant temper. Nevertheless, your Majesty's court is by far +the most splendid in the world." + +"There you are right, my lord!" exclaimed the King. "And for that +matter, we have beauty also, such as is found nowhere else." + +The Princess of Eboli was close by, waiting for him to speak to her, and +his eyes fixed themselves upon her face with a sort of cold and +snakelike admiration, to which she was well accustomed, but which even +now made her nervous. The Ambassador was not slow to take up the cue of +flattery, for Englishmen still knew how to flatter in Elizabeth's day. + +"The inheritance of universal conquest," he said, bowing and smiling to +the Princess. "Even the victories of Don John of Austria must yield to +that." + +The Princess laughed carelessly. Had Perez spoken the words, she would +have frowned, but the King's eyes were watching her. + +"His Highness has fled from the field without striking a blow," she +said. "We have not seen him this evening." As she spoke she met the +King's gaze with a look of enquiry. + +"Don John will be here presently, no doubt," he said, as if answering a +question. "Has he not been here at all since supper?" + +"No, Sire; though every one expected him to come at once." + +"That is strange," said Philip, with perfect self-possession. "He is +fond of dancing, too--no one can dance better than he. Have you ever +known a man so roundly gifted as my brother, my lord?" + +"A most admirable prince," answered the Ambassador, gravely and without +enthusiasm, for he feared that the King was about to speak of his +brother's possible marriage with Queen Mary of Scots. + +"And a most affectionate and gentle nature," said Philip, musing. "I +remember from the time when he was a boy that every one loved him and +praised him, and yet he is not spoiled. He is always the same. He is my +brother--how often have I wished for such a son! Well, he may yet be +King. Who should, if not he, when I am gone?" + +"Your Majesty need not anticipate such a frightful calamity!" cried the +Princess fervently, though she was at that moment weighing the +comparative advantage of several mortal diseases by which, in appearance +at least, his exit from the world might be accelerated. + +"Life is very uncertain, Princess," observed the King. "My lord," he +turned to the English Ambassador again, "do you consider melons +indigestible in England? I have lately heard much against them." + +"A melon is a poor thing, of a watery constitution, your Majesty," +replied the Ambassador glibly. "There can be but little sustenance in a +hollow piece of water that is sucked from a marsh and enclosed in a +green rind. To tell the truth, I hear it ill spoken of by our +physicians, but I cannot well speak of the matter, for I never ate one +in my life, and please God I never will!" + +"Why not!" enquired the King, who took an extraordinary interest in the +subject. "You fear them, then! Yet you seem to be exceedingly strong and +healthy." + +"Sire, I have sometimes drunk a little water for my stomach's sake, but +I will not eat it." + +The King smiled pleasantly. + +"How wise the English are!" he said. "We may yet learn much of them." + +Philip turned away from the Ambassador and watched the dance in silence. +The courtiers now stood in a wide half circle to the right and left of +him as he faced the hall, and the dancers passed backwards and forwards +across the open space. His slow eyes followed one figure without seeing +the rest. In the set nearest to him a beautiful girl was dancing with +one of Don John's officers. She was of the rarest type of Andalusian +beauty, tall, pliant, and slenderly strong, with raven's-wing hair and +splendidly languorous eyes, her creamy cheek as smooth as velvet, and a +mouth like a small ripe fruit. As she moved she bent from the waist as +easily and naturally as a child, and every movement followed a new curve +of beauty from her white throat to the small arched foot that darted +into sight as she stepped forward now and then, to disappear instantly +under the shadow of the gold-embroidered skirt. As she glanced towards +the King, her shadowy lids half hid her eyes and the long black lashes +almost brushed her cheek. Philip could not look away from her. + +But suddenly there was a stir among the courtiers, and a shadow came +between the King and the vision he was watching. He started a little, +annoyed by the interruption and at being rudely reminded of what had +happened half an hour earlier, for the shadow was cast by Mendoza, tall +and grim in his armour, his face as grey as his grey beard, and his eyes +hard and fixed. Without bending, like a soldier on parade, he stood +there, waiting by force of habit until Philip should speak to him. The +King's brows bent together, and he almost unconsciously raised one hand +to signify that the music should cease. It stopped in the midst of a +bar, leaving the dancers at a standstill in their measure, and all the +moving sea of light and colour and gleaming jewels was arrested +instantly in its motion, while every look was turned towards the King. +The change from sound to silence, from motion to immobility, was so +sudden that every one was startled, as if some frightful accident had +happened, or as if an earthquake had shaken the Alcazar to its deep +foundation. + +Mendoza's harsh voice spoke out alone in accents that were heard to the +end of the hall. + +"Don John of Austria is dead! I, Mendoza, have killed him unarmed." + +It was long before a sound was heard, before any man or woman in the +hall had breath to utter a word. Philip's voice was heard first. + +"The man is mad," he said, with undisturbed coolness. "See to him, +Perez." + +"No, no!" cried Mendoza. "I am not mad. I have killed Don John. You +shall find him in his room as he fell, with the wound in his breast." + +One moment more the silence lasted, while Philip's stony face never +moved. A single woman's shriek rang out first, long, ear-piercing, +agonized, and then, without warning, a cry went up such as the old hall +had never heard before. It was a bad cry to hear, for it clamoured for +blood to be shed for blood, and though it was not for him, Philip turned +livid and shrank back a step. But Mendoza stood like a rock, waiting to +be taken. + +In another moment furious confusion filled the hall. From every side at +once rose women's cries, and the deep shouts of angry men, and high, +clear yells of rage and hate. The men pushed past the ladies of the +court to the front, and some came singly, but a serried rank moved up +from behind, pushing the others before them. + +"Kill him! Kill him at the King's feet! Kill him where he stands!" + +And suddenly something made blue flashes of light high over the heads of +all; a rapier was out and wheeled in quick circles from a pliant wrist. +An officer of Mendoza's guard had drawn it, and a dozen more were in the +air in an instant, and then daggers by scores, keen, short, and strong, +held high at arm's length, each shaking with the fury of the hand that +held it. + +"Sangre! Sangre!" + +Some one had screamed out the wild cry of the Spanish soldiers--'Blood! +Blood!'--and the young men took it up in a mad yell, as they pushed +forwards furiously, while the few who stood in front tried to keep a +space open round the King and Mendoza. + +The old man never winced, and disdained to turn his head, though he +heard the cry of death behind him, and the quick, soft sound of daggers +drawn from leathern sheaths, and the pressing of men who would be upon +him in another moment to tear him limb from limb with their knives. + +Tall old Ruy Gomez had stepped forwards to stem the tide of death, and +beside him the English Ambassador, quietly determined to see fair play +or to be hurt himself in preventing murder. + +"Back!" thundered Ruy Gomez, in a voice that was heard. "Back, I say! +Are you gentlemen of Spain, or are you executioners yourselves that you +would take this man's blood? Stand back!" + +"Sangre! Sangre!" echoed the hall. + +"Then take mine first!" shouted the brave old Prince, spreading his +short cloak out behind him with his hands to cover Mendoza more +completely. + +But still the crowd of splendid young nobles surged up to him, and back +a little, out of sheer respect for his station and his old age, and +forwards again, dagger in hand, with blazing eyes. + +"Sangre! Sangre! Sangre!" they cried, blind with fury. + +But meanwhile, the guards filed in, for the prudent Perez had hastened +to throw wide the doors and summon them. Weapons in hand and ready, they +formed a square round the King and Mendoza and Ruy Gomez, and at the +sight of their steel caps and breastplates and long-tasselled halberds, +the yells of the courtiers subsided a little and turned to deep curses +and execrations and oaths of vengeance. A high voice pierced the low +roar, keen and cutting as a knife, but no one knew whose it was, and +Philip almost reeled as he heard the words. + +"Remember Don Carlos! Don John of Austria is gone to join Don Carlos and +Queen Isabel!" + +Again a deadly silence fell upon the multitude, and the King leaned on +Perez' arm. Some woman's hate had bared the truth in a flash, and there +were hundreds of hands in the hall that were ready to take his life +instead of Mendoza's; and he knew it, and was afraid. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +The agonized cry that had been first heard in the hall had come from +Inez's lips. When she had fled from her father, she had regained her +hiding-place in the gallery above the throne room. She would not go to +her own room, for she felt that rest was out of the question while +Dolores was in such danger; and yet there would have been no object in +going to Don John's door again, to risk being caught by her father or +met by the King himself. She had therefore determined to let an hour +pass before attempting another move. So she slipped into the gallery +again, and sat upon the little wooden bench that had been made for the +Moorish women in old times; and she listened to the music and the sound +of the dancers' feet far below, and to the hum of voices, in which she +often distinguished the name of Don John. She had heard all,--the cries +when it was thought that he was coming, the chamberlain's voice +announcing the King, and then the change of key in the sounds that had +followed. Lastly, she had heard plainly every syllable of her father's +speech, so that when she realized what it meant, she had shrieked aloud, +and had fled from the gallery to find her sister if she could, to find +Don John's body most certainly where it lay on the marble floor, with +the death wound at the breast. Her instinct--she could not have reasoned +then--told her that her father must have found the lovers together, and +that in sudden rage he had stabbed Don John, defenceless. + +Dolores' tears answered her sister's question well enough when the two +girls were clasped in one another's arms at last. There was not a doubt +left in the mind of either. Inez spoke first. She said that she had +hidden in the gallery. + +"Our father must have come in some time after the King," she said, in +broken sentences, and almost choking. "Suddenly the music stopped. I +could hear every word. He said that he had done it,--that he had +murdered Don John,--and then I ran here, for I was afraid he had killed +you, too." + +"Would God he had!" cried Dolores. "Would to Heaven that I were dead +beside the man I love!" + +"And I!" moaned Inez pitifully, and she began to sob wildly, as Dolores +had sobbed at first. + +But Dolores was silent now, as if she had shed all her tears at once, +and had none left. She held her sister in her arms, and soothed her +almost unconsciously, as if she had been a little child. But her own +thoughts were taking shape quickly, for she was strong; and after the +first paroxysm of her grief, she saw the immediate future as clearly as +the present. When she spoke again she had the mastery of her voice, and +it was clear and low. + +"You say that our father confessed before the whole court that he had +murdered Don John?" she said, with a question. "What happened then? Did +the King speak? Was our father arrested? Can you remember?" + +"I only heard loud cries," sobbed Inez. "I came to you--as quickly as I +could--I was afraid." + +"We shall never see our father again--unless we see him on the morning +when he is to die." + +"Dolores! They will not kill him, too?" In sudden and greater fear than +before, Inez ceased sobbing. + +"He will die on the scaffold," answered Dolores, in the same clear tone, +as if she were speaking in a dream, or of things that did not come near +her. "There is no pardon possible. He will die to-morrow or the next +day." + +The present truth stood out in all its frightful distinctness. Whoever +had done the murder--since Mendoza had confessed it, he would be made to +die for it,--of that she was sure. She could not have guessed what had +really happened; and though the evidence of the sounds she had heard +through the door would have gone to show that Philip had done the deed +himself, yet there had been no doubt about Mendoza's words, spoken to +the King alone over Don John's dead body, and repeated before the great +assembly in the ball-room. If she guessed at an explanation, it was that +her father, entering the bedchamber during the quarrel, and supposing +from what he saw that Don John was about to attack the King, had drawn +and killed the Prince without hesitation. The only thing quite clear was +that Mendoza was to suffer, and seemed strangely determined to suffer, +for what he had or had not done. The dark shadow of the scaffold rose +before Dolores' eyes. + +It had seemed impossible that she could be made to bear more than she +had borne that night, when she had fallen upon Don John's body to weep +her heart out for her dead love. But she saw that there was more to +bear, and dimly she guessed that there might be something for her to do. +There was Inez first, and she must be cared for and placed in safety, +for she was beside herself with grief. It was only on that afternoon by +the window that Dolores had guessed the blind girl's secret, which Inez +herself hardly suspected even now, though she was half mad with grief +and utterly broken-hearted. + +Dolores felt almost helpless, but she understood that she and her sister +were henceforth to be more really alone in what remained of life than if +they had been orphans from their earliest childhood. The vision of the +convent, that had been unbearable but an hour since, held all her hope +of peace and safety now, unless her father could be saved from his fate +by some miracle of heaven. But that was impossible. He had given himself +up as if he were determined to die. He had been out of his mind, beside +himself, stark mad, in his fear that Don John might bring harm upon his +daughter. That was why he had killed him--there could be no other +reason, unless he had guessed that she was in the locked room, and had +judged her then and at once, and forever. The thought had not crossed +her mind till then, and it was a new torture now, so that she shrank +under it as under a bodily blow; and her grasp tightened violently upon +her sister's arm, rousing the half-fainting girl again to the full +consciousness of pain. + +It was no wonder that Mendoza should have done such a deed, since he had +believed her ruined and lost to honour beyond salvation. That explained +all. He had guessed that she had been long with Don John, who had locked +her hastily into the inner room to hide her from the King. Had the King +been Don John, had she loved Philip as she loved his brother, her father +would have killed his sovereign as unhesitatingly, and would have +suffered any death without flinching. She believed that, and there was +enough of his nature in herself to understand it. + +She was as innocent as the blind girl who lay in her arms, but suddenly +it flashed upon her that no one would believe it, since her own father +would not, and that her maiden honour and good name were gone for ever, +gone with her dead lover, who alone could have cleared her before the +world. She cared little for the court now, but she cared tenfold more +earnestly for her father's thought of her, and she knew him and the +terrible tenacity of his conviction when he believed himself to be +right. He had proved that by what he had done. Since she understood all, +she no longer doubted that he had killed Don John with the fullest +intention, to avenge her, and almost knowing that she was within +hearing, as indeed she had been. He had taken a royal life in atonement +for her honour, but he was to give his own, and was to die a shameful +death on the scaffold, within a few hours, or, at the latest, within a +few days, for her sake. + +Then she remembered how on that afternoon she had seen tears in his +eyes, and had heard the tremor in his voice when he had said that she +was everything to him, that she had been all his life since her mother +had died--he had proved that, too; and though he had killed the man she +loved, she shrank from herself again as she thought what he must have +suffered in her dishonour. For it was nothing else. There was neither +man nor woman nor girl in Spain who would believe her innocent against +such evidence. The world might have believed Don John, if he had lived, +because the world had loved him and trusted him, and could never have +heard falsehood in his voice; but it would not believe her though she +were dying, and though she should swear upon the most sacred and true +things. The world would turn from her with an unbelieving laugh, and she +was to be left alone in her dishonour, and people would judge that she +was not even a fit companion for her blind sister in their solitude. The +King would send her to Las Huelgas, or to some other distant convent of +a severe order, that she might wear out her useless life in grief and +silence and penance as quickly as possible. She bowed her head. It was +too hard to bear. + +Inez was more quiet now, and the two sat side by side in mournful +silence, leaning against the parapet. They had forgotten the dwarf, and +he had disappeared, waiting, perhaps, in the shadow at a distance, in +case he might be of use to them. But if he was within hearing, they did +not see him. At last Inez spoke, almost in a whisper, as if she were in +the presence of the dead. + +"Were you there, dear?" she asked. "Did you see?" + +"I was in the next room," Dolores answered. "I could not see, but I +heard. I heard him fall," she added almost inaudibly, and choking. + +Inez shuddered and pressed nearer to her sister, leaning against her, +but she did not begin to sob again. She was thinking. + +"Can we not help our father, at least?" she asked presently. "Is there +nothing we can say, or do? We ought to help him if we can, +Dolores--though he did it." + +"I would save him with my life, if I could. God knows, I would! He was +mad when he struck the blow. He did it for my sake, because he thought +Don John had ruined my good name. And we should have been married the +day after to-morrow! God of heaven, have mercy!" + +Her grief took hold of her again, like a material power, shaking her +from head to foot, and bowing her down upon herself and wringing her +hands together, so that Inez, calmer than she, touched her gently and +tried to comfort her without any words, for there were none to say, +since nothing mattered now, and life was over at its very beginning. +Little by little the sharp agony subsided to dull pain once more, and +Dolores sat upright. But Inez was thinking still, and even in her sorrow +and fright she was gathering all her innocent ingenuity to her aid. + +"Is there no way?" she asked, speaking more to herself than to her +sister. "Could we not say that we were there, that it was not our father +but some one else? Perhaps some one would believe us. If we told the +judges that we were quite, quite sure that he did not do it, do you not +think--but then," she checked herself--"then it could only have been the +King." + +"Only the King himself," echoed Dolores, half unconsciously, and in a +dreamy tone. + +"That would be terrible," said Inez. "But we could say that the King was +not there, you know--that it was some one else, some one we did not +know--" + +Dolores rose abruptly from the seat and laid her hand upon the parapet +steadily, as if an unnatural strength had suddenly grown up in her. Inez +went on speaking, confusing herself in the details she was trying to put +together to make a plan, and losing the thread of her idea as she +attempted to build up falsehoods, for she was truthful as their father +was. But Dolores did not hear her. + +"You can do nothing, child," she said at last, in a firm tone. "But I +may. You have made me think of something that I may do--it is just +possible--it may help a little. Let me think." + +Inez waited in silence for her to go on, and Dolores stood as motionless +as a statue, contemplating in thought the step she meant to take if it +offered the slightest hope of saving her father. The thought was worthy +of her, but the sacrifice was great even then. She had not believed that +the world still held anything with which she would not willingly part, +but there was one thing yet. It might be taken from her, though her +father had slain Don John of Austria to save it, and was to die for it +himself. She could give it before she could be robbed of it, perhaps, +and it might buy his life. She could still forfeit her good name of her +own free will, and call herself what she was not. In words she could +give her honour to the dead man, and the dead could not rise up and deny +her nor refuse the gift. And it seemed to her that when the people +should hear her, they would believe her, seeing that it was her shame, a +shame such as no maiden who had honour left would bear before the world. +But it was hard to do. For honour was her last and only possession now +that all was taken from her. + +It was not the so-called honour of society, either, based on +long-forgotten traditions, and depending on convention for its +being--not the sort of honour within which a man may ruin an honest +woman and suffer no retribution, but which decrees that he must take his +own life if he cannot pay a debt of play made on his promise to a +friend, which allows him to lie like a cheat, but ordains that he must +give or require satisfaction of blood for the imaginary insult of a +hasty word--the honour which is to chivalry what black superstition is +to the true Christian faith, which compares with real courage and truth +and honesty, as an ape compares with a man. It was not that, and Dolores +knew it, as every maiden knows it; for the honour of woman is the fact +on which the whole world turns, and has turned and will turn to the end +of things; but what is called the honour of society has been a fiction +these many centuries, and though it came first of a high parentage, of +honest thought wedded to brave deed, and though there are honourable men +yet, these are for the most part the few who talk least loudly about +honour's code, and the belief they hold has come to be a secret and a +persecuted faith, at which the common gentleman thinks fit to laugh lest +some one should presume to measure him by it and should find him +wanting. + +Dolores did not mean to hesitate, after she had decided what to do. But +she could not avoid the struggle, and it was long and hard, though she +saw the end plainly before her and did not waver. Inez did not +understand and kept silence while it lasted. + +It was only a word to say, but it was the word which would be repeated +against her as long as she lived, and which nothing she could ever say +or do afterwards could take back when it had once been spoken--it would +leave the mark that a lifetime could not efface. But she meant to speak +it. She could not see what her father would see, that he would rather +die, justly or unjustly, than let his daughter be dishonoured before the +world. That was a part of a man's code, perhaps, but it should not +hinder her from saving her father's life, or trying to, at whatever +cost. What she was fighting against was something much harder to +understand in herself. What could it matter now, that the world should +think her fallen from her maiden estate? The world was nothing to her, +surely. It held nothing, it meant nothing, it was nothing. Her world had +been her lover, and he lay dead in his room. In heaven, he knew that she +was innocent, as he was himself, and he would see that she was going to +accuse herself that she might save her father. In heaven, he had +forgiven his murderer, and he would understand. As for the world and +what it said, she knew that she must leave it instantly, and go from the +confession she was about to make to the convent where she was to die, +and whence her spotless soul would soon be wafted away to join her true +lover beyond the earth. There was no reason why she should find it hard +to do, and yet it was harder than anything she had ever dreamed of +doing. But she was fighting the deepest and strongest instinct of +woman's nature, and the fight went hard. + +She fancied the scene, the court, the grey-haired nobles, the fair and +honourable women, the brave young soldiers, the thoughtless courtiers, +the whole throng she was about to face, for she meant to speak before +them all, and to her own shame. She was as white as marble, but when she +thought of what was coming the blood sprang to her face and tingled in +her forehead, and she felt her eyes fall and her proud head bend, as the +storm of humiliation descended upon her. She could hear beforehand the +sounds that would follow her words, the sharp, short laugh of jealous +women who hated her, the murmur of surprise among the men. Then the sea +of faces would seem to rise and fall before her in waves, the lights +would dance, her cheeks would burn like flames, and she would grow +dizzy. That would be the end. Afterwards she could go out alone. Perhaps +the women would shrink from her, no man would be brave enough to lead +her kindly from the room. Yet all that she would bear, for the mere hope +of saving her father. The worst, by far the worst and hardest to endure, +would be something within herself, for which she had neither words nor +true understanding, but which was more real than anything she could +define, for it was in the very core of her heart and in the secret of +her soul, a sort of despairing shame of herself and a desolate longing +for something she could never recover. + +She closed her tired eyes and pressed her hand heavily upon the stone +coping of the parapet. It was the supreme effort, and when she looked +down at Inez again she knew that she should live to the end of the +ordeal without wavering. + +"I am going down to the throne room," she said, very quietly and gently. +"You had better go to our apartment, dear, and wait for me there. I am +going to try and save our father's life--do not ask me how. It will not +take long to say what I have to say, and then I will come to you." + +Inez had risen now, and was standing beside her, laying a hand upon her +arm. + +"Let me come, too," she said. "I can help you, I am sure I can help +you." + +"No," answered Dolores, with authority. "You cannot help me, dearest, +and it would hurt you, and you must not come." + +"Then I will stay here," said Inez sorrowfully. "I shall be nearer to +him," she added under her breath. + +"Stay here--yes. I will come back to you, and then--then we will go in +together, and say a prayer--his soul can hear us still--we will go and +say good-by to him--together." + +Her voice was almost firm, and Inez could not see the agony in her white +face. Then Dolores clasped her in her arms and kissed her forehead and +her blind eyes very lovingly, and pressed her head to her own shoulders +and patted it and smoothed the girl's dark hair. + +"I will come back," she said, "and, Inez--you know the truth, my +darling. Whatever evil they may say of me after to-night, remember that +I have said it of myself for our father's sake, and that it is not +true." + +"No one will believe it," answered Inez. "They will not believe anything +bad of you." + +"Then our father must die." + +Dolores kissed her once more and made her sit down, then turned and went +away. She walked quickly along the corridors and descended the second +staircase, to enter the throne room by the side door reserved for the +officers of the household and the maids of honour. She walked swiftly, +her head erect, one hand holding the folds of her cloak pressed to her +bosom, and the other, nervously clenched, and hanging down, as if she +were expecting to strike a blow. + +She reached the door, and for a moment her heart stopped beating, and +her eyes closed. She heard many loud voices within, and she knew that +most of the court must still be assembled. It was better that all the +world should hear her--even the King, if he were still there. She pushed +the door open and went in by the familiar way, letting the dark cloak +that covered her court dress fall to the ground as she passed the +threshold. Half a dozen young nobles, grouped near the entrance, made +way for her to pass. + +When they recognized her, their voices dropped suddenly, and they stared +after her in astonishment that she should appear at such a time. She was +doubtless in ignorance of what had happened, they thought. As for the +throng in the hall, there was no restraint upon their talk now, and +words were spoken freely which would have been high treason half an hour +earlier. There was the noise, the tension, the ceaseless talking, the +excited air, that belong to great palace revolutions. + +The press was closer near the steps of the throne, where the King and +Mendoza had stood, for after they had left the hall, surrounded and +protected by the guards, the courtiers had crowded upon one another, and +those near the further door and outside it in the outer apartments had +pressed in till there was scarcely standing room on the floor of the +hall. Dolores found it hard to advance. Some made way for her with low +exclamations of surprise, but others, not looking to see who she was, +offered a passive resistance to her movements. + +"Will you kindly let me pass?" she asked at last, in a gentle tone, "I +am Dolores de Mendoza." + +At the name the group that barred her passage started and made way, and +going through she came upon the Prince of Eboli, not far from the steps +of the throne. The English Ambassador, who meant to stay as long as +there was anything for him to observe, was still by the Prince's side. +Dolores addressed the latter without hesitation. + +"Don Ruy Gomez," she said, "I ask your help. My father is innocent, and +I can prove it. But the court must hear me--every one must hear the +truth. Will you help me? Can you make them listen?" + +Ruy Gomez looked down at Dolores' pale and determined features in +courteous astonishment. + +"I am at your service," he answered. "But what are you going to say? The +court is in a dangerous mood to-night." + +"I must speak to all," said Dolores. "I am not afraid. What I have to +say cannot be said twice--not even if I had the strength. I can save my +father--" + +"Why not go to the King at once?" argued the Prince, who feared trouble. + +"For the love of God, help me to do as I wish!" Dolores grasped his arm, +and spoke with an effort. "Let me tell them all, how I know that my +father is not guilty of the murder. After that take me to the King if +you will." + +She spoke very earnestly, and he no longer opposed her. He knew the +temper of the court well enough, and was sure that whatever proved +Mendoza innocent would be welcome just then, and though he was far too +loyal to wish the suspicion of the deed to be fixed upon the King, he +was too just not to desire Mendoza to be exculpated if he were innocent. + +"Come with me," he said briefly, and he took Dolores by the hand, and +led her up the first three steps of the platform, so that she could see +over the heads of all present. + +It was no time to think of court ceremonies or customs, for there was +danger in the air. Ruy Gomez did not stop to make any long ceremony. +Drawing himself up to his commanding height, he held up his white gloves +at arm's length to attract the attention of the courtiers, and in a few +moments there was silence. They seemed an hour of torture to Dolores. +Ruy Gomez raised his voice. + +"Grandees! The daughter of Don Diego de Mendoza stands here at my side +to prove to you that he is innocent of Don John of Austria's death!" + +The words had hardly left his lips when a shout went up, like a ringing +cheer. But again he raised his hand. + +"Hear Dona Maria Dolores de Mendoza!" he cried. + +Then he stepped a little away from Dolores, and looked towards her. She +was dead white, and her lips trembled. There was an almost glassy look +in her eyes, and still she pressed one hand to her bosom, and the other +hung by her side, the fingers twitching nervously against the folds of +her skirt. A few seconds passed before she could speak. + +"Grandees of Spain!" she began, and at the first words she found +strength in her voice so that it reached the ends of the hall, clear and +vibrating. The silence was intense, as she proceeded. + +"My father has accused himself of a fearful crime. He is innocent. He +would no more have raised his hand against Don John of Austria than +against the King's own person. I cannot tell why he wishes to sacrifice +his life by taking upon himself the guilt. But this I know. He did not +do the deed. You ask me how I know that, how I can prove it? I was +there, I, Dolores de Mendoza, his daughter, was there unseen in my +lover's chamber when he was murdered. While he was alive I gave him all, +my heart, my soul, my maiden honour; and I was there to-night, and had +been with him long. But now that he is dead, I will pay for my father's +life with my dishonour. He must not die, for he is innocent. Grandees of +Spain, as you are men of honour, he must not die, for he is one of you, +and this foul deed was not his." + +She ceased, her lids drooped till her eyes were half closed and she +swayed a little as she stood. Roy Gomez made one long stride and held +her, for he thought she was fainting. But she bit her lips, and forced +her eyes to open and face the crowd again. + +"That is all," she said in a low voice, but distinctly, "It is done. I +am a ruined woman. Help me to go out." + +The old Prince gently led her down the steps. The silence had lasted +long after she had spoken, but people were beginning to talk again in +lower tones. It was as she had foreseen it. She heard a scornful woman's +laugh, and as she passed along, she saw how the older ladies shrank from +her and how the young ones eyed her with a look of hard curiosity, as if +she were some wild creature, dangerous to approach, though worth seeing +from a distance. + +But the men pressed close to her as she passed, and she heard them tell +each other that she was a brave woman who could dare to save her father +by such means, and there were quick applauding words as she passed, and +one said audibly that he could die for a girl who had such a true heart, +and another answered that he would marry her if she could forget Don +John. And they did not speak without respect, but in earnest, and out of +the fulness of their admiration. + +At last she was at the door, and she paused to speak before going out. + +"Have I saved his life?" she asked, looking up to the old Prince's kind +face. "Will they believe me?" + +"They believe you," he answered. "But your father's life is in the +King's hands. You should go to his Majesty without wasting time. Shall I +go with you? He will see you, I think, if I ask it." + +"Why should I tell the King?" asked Dolores. "He was there--he saw it +all--he knows the truth." + +She hardly realized what she was saying. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +Ruy Gomez was as loyal, in his way, as Mendoza himself, but his loyalty +was of a very different sort, for it was tempered by a diplomatic spirit +which made it more serviceable on ordinary occasions, and its object was +altogether a principle rather than a person. Mendoza could not conceive +of monarchy, in its abstract, without a concrete individuality +represented by King Philip; but Ruy Gomez could not imagine the world +without the Spanish monarchy, though he was well able to gauge his +sovereign's weaknesses and to deplore his crimes. He himself was +somewhat easily deceived, as good men often are, and it was he who had +given the King his new secretary, Antonio Perez; yet from the moment +when Mendoza had announced Don John's death, he had been convinced that +the deed had either been done by Philip himself or by his orders, and +that Mendoza had bravely sacrificed himself to shield his master. What +Dolores had said only confirmed his previous opinion, so far as her +father's innocence was at stake. As for her own confession, he believed +it, and in spite of himself he could not help admiring the girl's heroic +courage. Dolores might have been in reality ten times worse than she had +chosen to represent herself; she would still have been a model of all +virtue compared with his own wife, though he did not know half of the +Princess's doings, and was certainly ignorant of her relations with the +King. + +He was not at all surprised when Dolores told him at the door that +Philip knew the truth about the supposed murder, but he saw how +dangerous it might be for Dolores to say as much to others of the court. +She wished to go away alone, as she had come, but he insisted on going +with her. + +"You must see his Majesty," he said authoritatively. "I will try to +arrange it at once. And I entreat you to be discreet, my dear, for your +father's sake, if not for any other reason. You have said too much +already. It was not wise of you, though it showed amazing courage. You +are your father's own daughter in that--he is one of the bravest men I +ever knew in my life." + +"It is easy to be brave when one is dead already!" said Dolores, in low +tones. + +"Courage, my dear, courage!" answered the old Prince, in a fatherly +tone, as they went along. "You are not as brave as you think, since you +talk of death. Your life is not over yet." + +"There is little left of it. I wish it were ended already." + +She could hardly speak, for an inevitable and overwhelming reaction had +followed on the great effort she had made. She put out her hand and +caught her companion's arm for support. He led her quickly to the small +entrance of the King's apartments, by which it was his privilege to pass +in. They reached a small waiting-room where there were a few chairs and +a marble table, on which two big wax candles were burning. Dolores sank +into a seat, and leaned back, closing her eyes, while Ruy Gomez went +into the antechamber beyond and exchanged a few words with the +chamberlain on duty. He came back almost immediately. + +"Your father is alone with the King," he said. "We must wait." + +Dolores scarcely heard what he said, and did not change her position nor +open her eyes. The old man looked at her, sighed, and sat down near a +brazier of wood coals, over which he slowly warmed his transparent +hands, from time to time turning his rings slowly on his fingers, as if +to warm them, too. Outside, the chamberlain in attendance walked slowly +up and down, again and again passing the open door, through which he +glanced at Dolores' face. The antechamber was little more than a short, +broad corridor, and led to the King's study. This corridor had other +doors, however, and it was through it that the King's private rooms +communicated with the hall of the royal apartments. + +As Ruy Gomez had learned, Mendoza was with Philip, but not alone. The +old officer was standing on one side of the room, erect and grave, and +King Philip sat opposite him, in a huge chair, his still eyes staring at +the fire that blazed in the vast chimney, and sent sudden flashes of +yellow through the calm atmosphere of light shed by a score of tall +candles. At a table on one side sat Antonio Perez, the Secretary. He was +provided with writing-materials and appeared to be taking down the +conversation as it proceeded. Philip asked a question from time to time, +which Mendoza answered in a strange voice unlike his own, and between +the questions there were long intervals of silence. + +"You say that you had long entertained feelings of resentment against +his Highness," said the King, "You admit that, do you?" + +"I beg your Majesty's pardon. I did not say resentment. I said that I +had long looked upon his Highness's passion for my daughter with great +anxiety." + +"Is that what he said, Perez?" asked Philip, speaking to the Secretary +without looking at him. "Read that." + +"He said: I have long resented his Highness's admiration for my +daughter," answered Perez, reading from his notes. + +"You see," said the King. "You resented it. That is resentment. I was +right. Be careful, Mendoza, for your words may be used against you +to-morrow. Say precisely what you mean, and nothing but what you mean." + +Mendoza inclined his head rather proudly, for he detested Antonio Perez, +and it appeared to him that the King was playing a sort of comedy for +the Secretary's benefit. It seemed an unworthy interlude in what was +really a solemn tragedy. + +"Why did you resent his Highness's courtship of your daughter?" enquired +Philip presently, continuing his cross-examination. + +"Because I never believed that there could be a real marriage," answered +Mendoza boldly. "I believed that my child must become the toy and +plaything of Don John of Austria, or else that if his Highness married +her, the marriage would soon be declared void, in order that he might +marry a more important personage." + +"Set that down," said the King to Perez, in a sharp tone. "Set that down +exactly. It is important." He waited till the Secretary's pen stopped +before he went on. His next question came suddenly. + +"How could a marriage consecrated by our holy religion ever be declared +null and void?" + +"Easily enough, if your Majesty wished it," answered Mendoza +unguardedly, for his temper was slowly heating. + +"Write down that answer, Perez. In other words, Mendoza, you think that +I have no respect for the sacrament of marriage, which I would at any +time cause to be revoked to suit my political purposes. Is that what you +think?" + +"I did not say that, Sire. I said that even if Don John married my +daughter--" + +"I know quite well what you said," interrupted the King suavely. "Perez +has got every word of it on paper." + +The Secretary's bad black eyes looked up from his writing, and he slowly +nodded as he looked at Mendoza. He understood the situation perfectly, +though the soldier was far too honourable to suspect the truth. + +"I have confessed publicly that I killed Don John defenceless," he said, +in rough tones. "Is not that enough?" + +"Oh, no!" Philip almost smiled, "That is not enough. We must also know +why you committed such on abominable crime. You do not seem to +understand that in taking your evidence here myself, I am sparing you +the indignity of an examination before a tribunal, and under torture--in +all probability. You ought to be very grateful, my dear Mendoza." + +"I thank your Majesty," said the brave old soldier coldly. + +"That is right. So we know that your hatred of his Highness was of long +standing, and you had probably determined some time ago that you would +murder him on his return." The King paused a moment and then continued. +"Do you deny that on this very afternoon you swore that if Don John +attempted to see your daughter, you would kill him at once?" + +Mendoza was taken by surprise, and his haggard eyes opened wide as he +stared at Philip. + +"You said that, did you not?" asked the King, insisting upon the point. +"On your honour, did you say it?" + +"Yes, I said that," answered Mendoza at last. "But how did your Majesty +know that I did?" + +The King's enormous under lip thrust itself forward, and two ugly lines +of amusement were drawn in his colourless cheeks. His jaw moved slowly, +as if he were biting something of which he found the taste agreeable. + +"I know everything," he said slowly. "I am well served in my own house. +Perez, be careful. Write down everything. We also know, I think, that +your daughter met his Highness this evening. You no doubt found that out +as others did. The girl is imprudent. Do you confess to knowing that the +two had met this evening?" + +Mendoza ground his teeth as if he were suffering bodily torture. His +brows contracted, and as Perez looked up, he faced him with such a look +of hatred and anger that the Secretary could hot meet his eyes. The King +was a sacred and semi-divine personage, privileged to ask any question +he chose and theoretically incapable of doing wrong, but it was +unbearable that this sleek black fox should have the right to hear Diego +de Mendoza confess his daughter's dishonour. Antonio Perez was not an +adventurer of low birth, as many have gratuitously supposed, for his +father had held an honourable post at court before him; but he was very +far from being the equal of one who, though poor and far removed from +the head of his own family, bore one of the most noble names in Spain. + +"Let your Majesty dismiss Don Antonio Perez," said Mendoza boldly. "I +will then tell your Majesty all I know." + +Perez smiled as he bent over his notes, for he knew what the answer +would be to such a demand. It came sharply. + +"It is not the privilege of a man convicted of murder to choose his +hearers. Answer my questions or be silent. Do you confess that you knew +of your daughter's meeting with Don John this evening?" + +Mendoza's lips set themselves tightly under his grey beard, and he +uttered no sound. He interpreted the King's words literally. + +"Well, what have you to say?" + +"Nothing, Sire, since I have your Majesty's permission to be silent." + +"It does not matter," said Philip indifferently. "Note that he refuses +to answer the question, Perez. Note that this is equivalent to +confessing the fact, since he would otherwise deny it. His silence is & +reason, however, for allowing the case to go to the tribunal to be +examined in the usual way--the usual way," he repeated, looking hard at +Mendoza and emphasizing the words strongly. + +"Since I do not deny the deed, I entreat your Majesty to let me suffer +for it quickly. I am ready to die, God knows. Let it be to-morrow +morning or to-night. Your Majesty need only sign the warrant for my +execution, which Don Antonio Perez has, no doubt, already prepared." + +"Not at all, not at all," answered the King, with horrible coolness. "I +mean that you shall have a fair and open trial and every possible +opportunity of justifying yourself. There must be nothing secret about +this. So horrible a crime must be treated in the most public manner. +Though it is very painful to me to refer to such a matter, you must +remember that after it had pleased Heaven, in its infinite justice, to +bereave me of my unfortunate son, Don Carlos, the heir to the throne, +there were not wanting ill-disposed and wicked persons who actually said +that I had caused his life to be shortened by various inhuman cruelties. +No, no! we cannot have too much publicity. Consider how terrible a thing +it would be if any one should dare to suppose that my own brother had +been murdered with my consent! You should love your country too much not +to fear such a result; for though you have murdered my brother in cold +blood, I am too just to forget that you have proved your patriotism +through a long and hitherto honourable career. It is my duty to see that +the causes of your atrocious action are perfectly clear to my subjects, +so that no doubt may exist even in the most prejudiced minds. Do you +understand? I repeat that if I have condescended to examine you alone, I +have done so only out of a merciful desire to spare an old soldier the +suffering and mortification of an examination by the tribunal that is to +judge you. Understand that." + +"I understand that and much more besides," answered Mendoza, in low and +savage tones. + +"It is not necessary that you should understand or think that you +understand anything more than what I say," returned the King coldly. "At +what time did you go to his Highness's apartments this evening?" + +"Your Majesty knows." + +"I know nothing of it," said the King, with the utmost calm. "You were +on duty after supper. You escorted me to my apartments afterwards. I had +already sent for Perez, who came at once, and we remained here, busy +with affairs, until I returned to the throne room, five minutes before +you came and confessed the murder; did we not, Perez?" + +"Most certainly, Sire," answered the Secretary gravely. "Your Majesty +must have been at work with me an hour, at least, before returning to +the throne room." + +"And your Majesty did not go with me by the private staircase to Don +John of Austria's apartment?" asked Mendoza, thunderstruck by the +enormous falsehood. + +"With you?" cried the King, in admirably feigned astonishment. "What +madness is this? Do not write that down, Perez. I really believe the man +is beside himself!" + +Mendoza groaned aloud, for he saw that he had been frightfully deceived. +In his magnificent generosity, he had assumed the guilt of the crime, +being ready and willing to die for it quickly to save the King from +blame and to put an end to his own miserable existence. But he had +expected death quickly, mercifully, within a few hours. Had he suspected +what Philip had meant to do,--that he was to be publicly tried for a +murder he had not committed, and held up to public hatred and ignominy +for days and perhaps weeks together, while a slow tribunal dragged out +its endless procedure,--neither his loyalty nor his desire for death +could have had power to bring his pride to such a sacrifice. And now he +saw that he was caught in a vise, and that no accusation he could bring +against the King could save him, even if he were willing to resort to +such a measure and so take back his word. There was no witness for him +but himself. Don John was dead, and the infamous Perez was ready to +swear that Philip had not left the room in which they had been closeted +together. There was not a living being to prove that Mendoza had not +gone alone to Don John's apartments with the deliberate intention of +killing him. He had, indeed, been to the chief steward's office in +search of a key, saying that the King desired to have it and was +waiting; but it would be said that he had used the King's authority to +try and get the key for himself because he knew that his daughter was +hidden in the locked room. He had foolishly fancied that the King would +send for him and see him alone before he died, that his sovereign would +thank him for the service that was costing his life, would embrace him +and send him to his death for the good of Spain and the divine right of +monarchy. Truly, he had been most bitterly deceived. + +"You said," continued Philip mercilessly, "that you killed his Highness +when he was unarmed. Is that true?" + +"His Highness was unarmed," said Mendoza, almost through his closed +teeth, for he was suffering beyond words. + +"Unarmed," repeated the King, nodding to Perez, who wrote rapidly. "You +might have given him a chance for his life. It would have been more +soldier-like. Had you any words before you drew upon him? Was there any +quarrel?" + +"None. We did not speak to each other." Mendoza tried to make Philip +meet his eyes, but the King would not look at him. + +"There was no altercation," said the King, looking at Perez. "That +proves that the murder was premeditated. Put it down--it is very +important. You could hardly have stabbed him in the back, I suppose. He +must have turned when he heard you enter. Where was the wound?" + +"The wound that killed his Highness will be found near the heart." + +"Cruel!" Philip looked down at his own hands, and he shook his head very +sadly. "Cruel, most cruel," he repeated in a low tone. + +"I admit that it was a very cruel deed," said Mendoza, looking at him +fixedly. "In that, your Majesty is right." + +"Did you see your daughter before or after you had committed the +murder?" asked the King calmly. + +"I have not seen my daughter since the murder was committed." + +"But you saw her before? Be careful, Perez. Write down every word. You +say that you saw your daughter before you did it." + +"I did not say that," answered Mendoza firmly. + +"It makes very little difference," said the King, "If you had seen her +with his Highness, the murder would have seemed less cold-blooded, that +is all. There would then have been something like a natural provocation +for it." + +There was a low sound, as of some one scratching at the door. That was +the usual way of asking admittance to the King's room on very urgent +matters. Perez rose instantly, the King nodded to him, and he went to +the door. On opening, someone handed him a folded paper on a gold +salver. He brought it to Philip, dropped on one knee very ceremoniously, +and presented it. Philip took the note and opened it, and Perez returned +to his seat at once. + +The King unfolded the small sheet carefully. The room was so full of +light that he could read it when he sat, without moving. His eyes +followed the lines quickly to the end, and returned to the beginning, +and he read the missive again more carefully. Not the slightest change +of expression was visible in his face, as he folded the paper neatly +again in the exact shape in which he had received it. Then he remained +silent a few moments. Perez held his pen ready to write, moving it +mechanically now and then as if he were writing in the air, and staring +at the fire, absorbed in his own thoughts, though his ear was on the +alert. + +"You refuse to admit that you found your daughter and Don John together, +then?" The King spoke with an interrogation. + +"I did not find them together," answered Mendoza. "I have said so." He +was becoming exasperated under the protracted cross-examination. + +"You have not said so. My memory is very good, but if it should fail we +have everything written down. I believe you merely refused to answer +when I asked if you knew of their meeting--which meant that you did know +of it. Is that it, Perez?" + +"Exactly so, Sire." The Secretary had already found the place among his +notes. + +"Do you persistently refuse to admit that you had positive evidence of +your daughter's guilt before the murder?" + +"I will not admit that, Sire, for it would not be true." + +"Your daughter has given her evidence since," said the King, holding up +the folded note, and fixing his eyes at last on his victim's face. If it +were possible, Mendoza turned more ashy pale than before, and he started +perceptibly at the King's words. + +"I shall never believe that!" he cried in a voice which nevertheless +betrayed his terror for his child. + +"A few moments before this note was written," said Philip calmly, "your +daughter entered the throne room, and addressed the court, standing upon +the steps of the throne--a very improper proceeding and one which Ruy +Gomez should not have allowed. Your daughter Dolores--is that the girl's +name? Yes. Your daughter Dolores, amidst the most profound silence, +confessed that she--it is so monstrous that I can hardly bring myself to +say it--that she had yielded to the importunities of his late Highness, +that she was with him in his room a long time this evening, and that, in +fact, she was actually in his bedchamber when he was murdered." + +"It is a lie!" cried Mendoza vehemently. "It is an abominable lie--she +was not in the room!" + +"She has said that she was," answered Philip. "You can hardly suppose a +girl capable of inventing such damning evidence against herself, even +for the sake of saving her own father. She added that his Highness was +not killed by you. But that is puerile. She evidently saw you do it, and +has boldly confessed that she was in the room--hidden somewhere, +perhaps, since you absolutely refuse to admit that you saw her there. It +is quite clear that you found the two together and that you killed his +Highness before your daughter's eyes. Why not admit that, Mendoza? It +makes you seem a little less cold-blooded. The provocation was great--" + +"She was not there," protested Mendoza, interrupting the King, for he +hardly knew what he was doing. + +"She was there, since she confesses to have been in the room. I do not +tolerate interruption when I am speaking. She was there, and her +evidence will be considered. Even if you did not see her, how can you be +sure that your daughter was not there? Did you search the room? Did you +look behind the curtains?" + +"I did not." The stern old man seemed to shrink bodily under the +frightful humiliation to which he was subjected. + +"Very well, then you cannot swear that she was not in the room. But you +did not see her there. Then I am sorry to say that there can have been +no extenuating circumstances. You entered his Highness's bedchamber, you +did not even speak to him, you drew your sword and you killed him. All +this shows that you went there fully determined to commit the crime. But +with regard to its motive, this strange confession of your daughter's +makes that quite clear. She had been extremely imprudent with Don John, +you were aware of the fact, and you revenged yourself in the most brutal +way. Such vengeance never can produce any but the most fatal results. +You yourself must die, in the first place, a degrading and painful death +on the scaffold, and you die leaving behind you a ruined girl, who must +bury herself in a convent and never be seen by her worldly equals again. +And besides that, you have deprived your King of a beloved brother, and +Spain of her most brilliant general. Could anything be worse?" + +"Yes. There are worse things than that, your Majesty, and worse things +have been done. It would have been a thousand times worse if I had done +the deed and cast the blame of it on a man so devoted to me that he +would bear the guilt in my stead, and a hundred thousand times worse if +I had then held up that man to the execration of mankind, and tortured +him with every distortion of evidence which great falsehoods can put +upon a little truth. That would indeed have been far worse than anything +I have done. God may find forgiveness for murderers, but there is only +hell for traitors, and the hell of hells is the place of men who betray +their friends." + +"His mind is unsettled, I fear," said the King, speaking to Perez. +"These are signs of madness." + +"Indeed I fear so, Sire," answered the smooth Secretary, shaking his +head solemnly. "He does not know what he says." + +"I am not mad, and I know what I am saying, for I am a man under the +hand of death." Mendoza's eyes glared at the King savagely as he spoke, +and then at Perez, but neither could look at him, for neither dared to +meet his gaze. "As for this confession my daughter has made, I do not +believe in it. But if she has said these things, you might have let me +die without the bitterness of knowing them, since that was in your +power. And God knows that I have staked my life freely for your Majesty +and for Spain these many years, and would again if I had it to lose +instead of having thrown it away. And God knows, too, that for what I +have done, be it good or bad, I will bear whatsoever your Majesty shall +choose to say to me alone in the way of reproach. But as I am a dying +man I will not forgive that scribbler there for having seen a Spanish +gentleman's honour torn to rags, and an old soldier's last humiliation, +and I pray Heaven with my dying breath, that he may some day be +tormented as he has seen me tormented, and worse, till he shall cry out +for mercy--as I will not!" + +The cruelly injured man's prayer was answered eight years from that day, +and even now Perez turned slowly pale as he heard the words, for they +were spoken with all the vehemence of a dying man's curse. But Philip +was unmoved. He was probably not making Mendoza suffer merely for the +pleasure of watching his pain, though others' suffering seems always to +have caused him a sort of morbid satisfaction. What he desired most was +to establish a logical reason for which Mendoza might have committed the +crime, lest in the absence of sound evidence he himself should be +suspected of having instigated it. He had no intention whatever of +allowing Mendoza to be subjected to torture during the trial that was to +ensue. On the contrary, he intended to prepare all the evidence for the +judges and to prevent Mendoza from saying anything in self-defence. To +that end it was necessary that the facts elicited should be clearly +connected from first cause to final effect, and by the skill of Antonio +Perez in writing down only the words which contributed to that end, the +King's purpose was now accomplished. He heard every word of Mendoza's +imprecation and thought it proper to rebuke him for speaking so freely. + +"You forget yourself, sir," he said coldly. "Don Antonio Perez is my +private Secretary, and you must respect him. While you belonged to the +court his position was higher and more important than your own; now that +you stand convicted of an outrageous murder in cold blood, you need not +forget that he is an innocent man. I have done, Mendoza. You will not +see me again, for you will be kept in confinement until your trial, +which can only have one issue. Come here." + +He sat upright in his chair and held out his hand, while Mendoza +approached with unsteady steps, and knelt upon one knee, as was the +custom. + +"I am not unforgiving," said the King. "Forgiveness is a very beautiful +Christian virtue, which we are taught to exercise from our earliest +childhood. You have cut off my dearly loved brother in the flower of his +youth, but you shall not die believing that I bear you any malice. So +far as I am able, I freely forgive you for what you have done, and in +token I give you my hand, that you may have that comfort at the last." + +With incredible calmness Philip took Mendoza's hand as he spoke, held it +for a moment in his, and pressed it almost warmly at the last words. The +old man's loyalty to his sovereign had been a devotion almost amounting +to real adoration, and bitterly as he had suffered throughout the +terrible interview, he well-nigh forgot every suffering as he felt the +pressure of the royal fingers. In an instant he had told himself that it +had all been but a play, necessary to deceive Perez, and to clear the +King from suspicion before the world, and that in this sense the +unbearable agony he had borne had served his sovereign. He forgot all +for a moment, and bending his iron-grey head, he kissed the thin and +yellow hand fervently, and looked up to Philip's cold face and felt that +there were tears of gratitude in his own eyes, of gratitude at being +allowed to leave the world he hated with the certainty that his death +was to serve his sovereign idol. + +"I shall be faithful to your Majesty until the end," he said simply, as +the King withdrew his fingers, and he rose to his feet. + +The King nodded slowly, and his stony look watched Mendoza with a sort +of fixed curiosity. Even he had not known that such men lived. + +"Call the guards to the door, Perez," he said coldly. "Tell the officer +to take Don Diego Mendoza to the west tower for to-night, and to treat +him with every consideration." + +Perez obeyed. A detachment of halberdiers with an officer were stationed +in the short, broad corridor that led to the room where Dolores was +waiting. Perez gave the lieutenant his orders. + +Mendoza walked backwards to the door from the King's presence, making +three low bows as he went. At the door he turned, taking no notice of +the Secretary, marched out with head erect, and gave himself up to the +soldiers. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +The halberdiers closed round their old chief, but did not press upon +him. Three went before him, three behind, and one walked on each side, +and the lieutenant led the little detachment. The men were too much +accustomed to seeing courtiers in the extremes of favour and disfavour +to be much surprised at the arrest of Mendoza, and they felt no great +sympathy for him. He had always been too rigidly exacting for their +taste, and they longed for a younger commander who should devote more +time to his own pleasure and less to inspecting uniforms and finding +fault with details. Yet Mendoza had been a very just man, and he +possessed the eminently military bearing and temper which always impose +themselves on soldiers. At the present moment, too, they were more +inclined to pity him than to treat him roughly, for if they did not +guess what had really taken place, they were quite sure that Don John of +Austria had been murdered by the King's orders, like Don Carlos and +Queen Isabel and a fair number of other unfortunate persons; and if the +King had chosen Mendoza to do the deed, the soldiers thought that he was +probably not meant to suffer for it in the end, and that before long he +would be restored to his command. It would, therefore, be the better for +them, later, if they showed him a certain deference in his misfortune. +Besides, they had heard Antonio Perez tell their officer that Mendoza +was to be treated with every consideration. + +They marched in time, with heavy tread and the swinging gait to right +and left that is natural to a soldier who carries for a weapon a long +halberd with a very heavy head. Mendoza was as tall as any of them, and +kept their step, holding his head high. He was bareheaded, but was +otherwise still in the complete uniform he wore when on duty on state +occasions. + +The corridor, which seemed short on account of its breadth and in +comparison with the great size of the halls in the palace, was some +thirty paces long and lighted by a number of chandeliers that hung from +the painted vault. The party reached the door of the waiting room and +halted a moment, while one of the King's footmen opened the doors wide. +Don Ruy Gomez and Dolores were waiting within. The servant passed +rapidly through to open the doors beyond. Ruy Gomez stood up and drew +his chair aside, somewhat surprised at the entrance of the soldiers, who +rarely passed that way. Dolores opened her eyes at the sound of +marching, but in the uncertain light of the candles she did not at first +see Mendoza, half hidden as he was by the men who guarded him. She paid +little attention, for she was accustomed to seeing such detachments of +halberdiers marching through the corridors when the sentries were +relieved, and as she had never been in the King's apartments she was not +surprised by the sudden appearance of the soldiers, as her companion +was. But as the latter made way for them he lifted his hat, which as a +Grandee he wore even in the King's presence, and he bent his head +courteously as Mendoza went by. He hoped that Dolores would not see her +father, but his own recognition of the prisoner had attracted her +attention. She sprang to her feet with a cry. Mendoza turned his head +and saw her before she could reach him, for she was moving forward. He +stood still, and the soldiers halted instinctively and parted before +her, for they all knew their commander's daughter. + +"Father!" she cried, and she tried to take his hand. + +But he pushed her away and turned his face resolutely towards the door +before him. + +"Close up! Forward--march!" he said, in his harsh tone of command. + +The men obeyed, gently forcing Dolores aside. They made two steps +forward, but Ruy Gomez stopped them by a gesture, standing in their way +and raising one hand, while he laid the other on the young lieutenant's +shoulder. Ruy Gomez was one of the greatest personages in Spain; he was +the majorduomo of the palace, and had almost unlimited authority. But +the officer had his orders directly from the King and felt bound to +carry them out to the letter. + +"His Majesty has directed me to convey Don Diego de Mendoza to the west +tower without delay," he said. "I beg your Excellency to let us +proceed." + +Ruy Gomez still held him by the shoulder with a gentle pressure. + +"That I will not," he said firmly; "and if you are blamed for being slow +in the execution of your duty, say that Ruy Gomez de Silva hindered you, +and fear nothing. It is not right that father and daughter should part +as these two are parting." + +"I have nothing to say to my daughter," said Mendoza harshly; but the +words seemed to hurt him. + +"Don Diego," answered Ruy Gomez, "the deed of which you have accused +yourself is as much worse than anything your child has done as hatred is +worse than love. By the right of mere humanity I take upon myself to say +that you shall be left here a while with your daughter, that you may +take leave of one another." He turned to the officer. "Withdraw your +men, sir," he said. "Wait at the door. You have my word for the security +of your prisoner, and my authority for what you do. I will call you when +it is time." + +He spoke in a tone that admitted of no refusal, and he was obeyed. The +officers and the men filed out, and Ruy Gomez closed the door after +them. He himself recrossed the room and went out by the other way into +the broad corridor. He meant to wait there. His orders had been carried +out so quickly that Mendoza found himself alone with Dolores, almost as +by a surprise. In his desperate mood he resented what Ruy Gomez had +done, as an interference in his family affairs, and he bent his bushy +brows together as he stood facing Dolores, with folded arms. Four hours +had not passed since they had last spoken together alone in his own +dwelling; there was a lifetime of tragedy between that moment and this. + +Dolores had not spoken since he had pushed her away. She stood beside a +chair, resting one hand upon it, dead white, with the dark shadow of +pain under her eyes, her lips almost colourless, but firm, and evenly +closed. There were lines of suffering in her young face that looked as +if they never could be effaced. It seemed to her that the worst conflict +of all was raging in her heart as she watched her father's face, waiting +for the sound of his voice; and as for him, he would rather have gone +back to the King's presence to be tormented under the eyes of Antonio +Perez than stand there, forced to see her and speak to her. In his eyes, +in the light of what he had been told, she was a ruined and shameless +woman, who had deceived him day in, day out, for more than two years. +And to her, so far as she could understand, he was the condemned +murderer of the man she had so innocently and truly loved. But yet, she +had a doubt, and for that possibility, she had cast her good name to the +winds in the hope of saving his life. At one moment, in a vision of +dread, she saw his armed hand striking at her lover--at the next she +felt that he could never have struck the blow, and that there was an +unsolved mystery behind it all. Never were two innocent human beings so +utterly deceived, each about the other. + +"Father," she said, at last, in a trembling tone, "can you not speak to +me, if I can find heart to hear you?" + +"What can we two say to each other?" he asked sternly. "Why did you stop +me? I am ready to die for killing the man who ruined you. I am glad. Why +should I say anything to you, and what words can you have for me? I hope +your end may come quickly, with such peace as you can find from your +shame at the last. That is what I wish for you, and it is a good wish, +for you have made death on the scaffold look easy to me, so that I long +for it. Do you understand?" + +"Condemned to death!" she cried out, almost incoherently, before he had +finished speaking. "But they cannot condemn you--I have told them that I +was there--that it was not you--they must believe me--O God of mercy!" + +"They believe you--yes. They believe that I found you together and +killed him. I shall be tried by judges, but I am condemned beforehand, +and I must die." He spoke calmly enough. "Your mad confession before the +court only made my conviction more certain," he said. "It gave the +reason for the deed--and it burned away the last doubt I had. If they +are slow in trying me, you will have been before the executioner, for he +will find me dead--by your hand. You might have spared me that--and +spared yourself. You still had the remnant of a good name, and your +lover being dead, you might have worn the rag of your honour still. You +have chosen to throw it away, and let me know my full disgrace before I +die a disgraceful death. And yet you wish to speak to me. Do you expect +my blessing?" + +Dolores had lost the power of speech. Passing her hand now and then +across her forehead, as though trying to brush away a material veil, she +stood half paralyzed, staring wildly at him while he spoke. But when she +saw him turn away from her towards the door, as if he would go out and +leave her there, her strength was loosed from the spell, and she sprang +before him and caught his wrists with her hands. + +"I am as innocent as when my mother bore me," she said, and her low +voice rang with the truth. "I told the lie to save your life. Do you +believe me now?" + +He gazed at her with haggard eyes for many moments before he spoke. + +"How can it be true?" he asked, but his voice shook in his throat. "You +were there--I saw you leave his room--" + +"No, that you never saw!" she cried, well knowing how impossible it was, +since she had been locked in till after he had gone away. + +"I saw your dress--not this one--what you wore this afternoon." + +"Not this one? I put on this court dress before I got out of the room in +which you had locked me up. Inez helped me--I pretended that I was she, +and wore her cloak, and slipped away, and I have not been back again. +You did not see me." + +Mendoza passed his hand over his eyes and drew back from her. If what +she said were true, the strongest link was gone from the chain of facts +by which he had argued so much sorrow and shame. Forgetting himself and +his own near fate, he looked at the court dress she wore, and a mere +glance convinced him that it was not the one he had seen. + +"But--" he was suddenly confused--"but why did you need to disguise +yourself? I left the Princess of Eboli with you, and I gave her +permission to take you away to stay with her. You needed no disguise." + +"I never saw her. She must have found Inez in the room. I was gone long +before that." + +"Gone--where?" Mendoza was fast losing the thread of it all--in his +confusion of ideas he grasped the clue of his chief sorrow, which was +far beyond any thought for himself. "But if you are innocent--pray God +you may be, as you say--how is it possible--oh, no! I cannot believe +it--I cannot! No woman could do that--no innocent girl could stand out +before a multitude of men and women, and say what you said--" + +"I hoped to save your life. I had the strength. I did it." + +Her clear grey eyes looked into his, and his doubt began to break away +before the truth. + +"Make me believe it!" he cried, his voice breaking. "Oh, God! Make me +believe it before I die!" + +"It is true," she cried, in a low, strong voice that carried belief to +his breast in spite of such reasoning as still had some power over him. +"It is true, and you shall believe it; and if you will not, the man you +have killed, the man I loved and trusted, the dead man who knows the +whole truth as I know it, will come back from the dead to prove it +true--for I swear it upon his soul in heaven, and upon yours and mine +that will not be long on earth--as I will swear it in the hour of your +death and mine, since we must die!" + +He could not take his eyes from hers that held him, and suddenly in the +pure depths he seemed to see her soul facing him without fear, and he +knew that what she said was true, and his tortured heart leapt up at the +good certainty. + +"I believe you, my child," he said at last, and then his grey lids half +closed over his eyes and he bent down to her, and put his arm round her. + +But she shuddered at the touch of his right hand, and though she knew +that he was a condemned man, and that she might never see him again, she +could not bear to receive his parting kiss upon her forehead. + +"Oh, father, why did you kill him?" she asked, turning her head away and +moving to escape from his hold. + +But Mendoza did not answer. His arm dropped by his side, and his face +grew white and stony. She was asking him to give up the King's secret, +to keep which he was giving his life. He felt that it would be treason +to tell even her. And besides, she would not keep the secret--what woman +could, what daughter would? It must go out of the world with him, if it +was to be safe. He glanced at her and saw her face ravaged by an hour's +grief. Yet she would not mourn Don John the less if she knew whose hand +had done the deed. It could make but a little difference to her, though +to himself that difference would be great, if she knew that he died +innocent. + +And then began a struggle fierce and grim, that tore his soul and +wounded his heart as no death agony could have hurt him. Since he had +judged her unjustly, since it had all been a hideous dream, since she +was still the child that had been all in all to him throughout her life, +since all was changed, he did not wish to die, he bore the dead man no +hatred, it was no soothing satisfaction to his outraged heart to know +him dead of a sword wound in the breast, far away in the room where they +had left him, there was no fierce regret that he had not driven the +thrust himself. The man was as innocent as the innocent girl, and he +himself, as innocent as both, was to be led out to die to shield the +King--no more. His life was to be taken for that only, and he no longer +set its value at naught nor wished it over. He was the mere scapegoat, +to suffer for his master's crime, since crime it was and nothing better. +And since he was willing to bear the punishment, or since there was now +no escape from it, had he not at least the human right to proclaim his +innocence to the only being he really loved? It would be monstrous to +deny it. What could she do, after all, even if she knew the truth? +Nothing. No one would dare to believe her if she accused the King. She +would be shut up in a convent as a mad woman, but in any case, she would +certainly disappear to end her life in some religious house as soon as +he was dead. Poor girl--she had loved Don John with all her heart--what +could the world hold for her, even if the disgrace of her father's death +were not to shut her out of the world altogether, as it inevitably must. +She would not live long, but she would live in the profoundest sorrow. +It would be an alleviation, almost the greatest possible, to know that +her father's hand was not stained by such a deed. + +The temptation to speak out was overwhelming, and he knew that the time +was short. At any moment Ruy Gomez might open the door, and bid him part +from her, and there would be small chance for him of seeing her again. +He stood uncertain, with bent head and folded arms, and she watched him, +trying to bring herself to touch his hand again and bear his kiss. + +His loyalty to the King, that was like a sort of madness, stood between +him and the words he longed to say. It was the habit of his long +soldier's life, unbending as the corslet he wore and enclosing his soul +as the steel encased his body, proof against every cruelty, every +unkindness, every insult. It was better to die a traitor's death for the +King's secret than to live for his own honour. So it had always seemed +to him, since he had been a boy and had learned to fight under the great +Emperor. But now he knew that he wavered as he had never done in the +most desperate charge, when life was but a missile to be flung in the +enemy's face, and found or not, when the fray was over. There was no +intoxication of fury now, there was no far ring of glory in the air, +there was no victory to be won. The hard and hideous fact stared him in +the face, that he was to die like a malefactor by the hangman's hand, +and that the sovereign who had graciously deigned to accept the +sacrifice had tortured him for nearly half an hour without mercy in the +presence of an inferior, in order to get a few facts on paper which +might help his own royal credit. And as if that were not enough, his own +daughter was to live after him, believing that he had cruelly murdered +the man she most dearly loved. It was more than humanity could bear. + +His brow unbent, his arms unfolded themselves, and he held them out to +Dolores with a smile almost gentle. + +"There is no blood on these hands, my little girl," he said tenderly. "I +did not do it, child. Let me hold you in my arms once, and kiss you +before I go. We are both innocent--we can bless one another before we +part for ever." + +The pure, grey eyes opened wide in amazement. Dolores could hardly +believe her ears, as she made a step towards him, and then stopped, +shrinking, and then made one step more. Her lips moved and wondering +words came to him, so low that he could hardly understand, save that she +questioned him. + +"You did not do it!" she breathed. "You did not kill him after all? But +then--who--why?" + +Still she hesitated, though she came slowly nearer, and a faint light +warmed her sorrowful face. + +"You must try to guess who and why," he said, in a tone as low as her +own. "I must not tell you that." + +"I cannot guess," she answered; but she was close to him now, and she +had taken one of his hands softly in both her own, while she gazed into +his eyes. "How can I understand unless you tell me? Is it so great a +secret that you must die for it, and never tell it? Oh, father, father! +Are you sure--quite sure?" + +"He was dead already when I came into the room," Mendoza answered. "I +did not even see him hurt." + +"But then--yes--then"--her voice sank to a whisper--"then it was the +King!" + +He saw the words on her lips rather than heard them, and she saw in his +face that she was right. She dropped his hand and threw her arms round +his neck, pressing her bosom to his breastplate; and suddenly her love +for him awoke, and she began to know how she might have loved him if she +had known him through all the years that were gone. + +"It cannot be that he will let you die!" she cried softly. "You shall +not die!" she cried again, with sudden strength, and her light frame +shook his as if she would wrench him back from inevitable fate. + +"My little girl," he answered, most tenderly clasping her to him, and +most thoughtfully, lest his armour should hurt her, "I can die happy +now, for I have found all of you again." + +"You shall not die! You shall not die!" she cried. "I will not let you +go--they must take me, too--" + +"No power can save me now, my darling," he answered. "But it does not +matter, since you know. It will be easy now." + +She could only hold him with her small hands, and say over and over +again that she would not let him go. + +"Ah! why have you never loved me before in all these years?" he cried. +"It was my fault--all my fault." + +"I love you now with all my heart," she answered, "and I will save you, +even from the King; and you and I and Inez will go far away, and you two +shall comfort me and love me till I go to him." + +Mendoza shook his head sadly, looking over her shoulder as he held her, +for he knew that there was no hope now. Had he known, or half guessed, +but an hour or two ago, he would have turned on his heel from the door +of Don John's chamber, and he would have left the King to bear the blame +or shift it as he could. + +"It is too late, Dolores. God bless you, my dear, dear child! It will +soon be over--two days at most, for the people will cry out for the +blood of Don John's murderer; and when they see mine they will be +satisfied. It is too late now. Good-by, my little girl, good-by! The +blessing of all heaven be on your dear head!" + +Dolores nestled against him, as she had never done before, with the +feeling that she had found something that had been wanting in her life, +at the very moment when the world, with all it held for her, was +slipping over the edge of eternity. + +"I will not leave you," she cried again. "They shall take me to your +prison, and I will stay with you and take care of you, and never leave +you; and at last I shall save your life, and then--" + +The door of the corridor opened, and she saw Ruy Gomez standing in the +entrance, as if he were waiting. His face was calm and grave as usual, +but she saw a profound pity in his eyes. + +"No, no!" she cried to him, "not yet--one moment more!" + +But Mendoza turned his head at her words, looking over his shoulder, and +he saw the Prince also. + +"I am ready," he said briefly, and he tried to take Dolores' hands from +his neck. "It is time," he said to her. "Be brave, my darling! We have +found each other at last. It will not be long before we are together for +ever." + +He kissed her tenderly once more, and loosed her hold, putting her two +hands together and kissing them also. + +"I will not say good-by," she said. "It is not good-by--it shall not be. +I shall be with you soon." + +His eyes lingered upon hers for a moment, and then he broke away, +setting his teeth lest he should choke and break down. He opened the +door and presented himself to the halberdiers. Dolores heard his +familiar voice give the words of command. + +"Close up! Forward, march!" + +The heavy tramp she knew so well began at once, and echoed along the +outer entries, growing slowly less distinct till it was only a distant +and rumbling echo, and then died away altogether. Her hand was still on +the open door, and Ruy Gomez was standing beside her. He gently drew her +away, and closed the door again. She let him lead her to a chair, and +sat down where she had sat before. But this time she did not lean back +exhausted, with half-closed eyes,--she rested her elbow on her knee and +her chin in her hand, and she tried to think connectedly to a +conclusion. She remembered all the details of the past hours one by one, +and she felt that the determination to save her father had given her +strength to live. + +"Don Ruy Gomez," she said at last, looking up to the tall old nobleman, +who stood by the brazier warming his hands again, "can I see the King +alone?" + +"That is more than I can promise," answered the Prince. "I have asked an +audience for you, and the chamberlain will bring word presently whether +his Majesty is willing to see you. But if you are admitted, I cannot +tell whether Perez will be there or not. He generally is. His presence +need make no difference to you. He is an excellent young man, full of +heart. I have great confidence in him,--so much so that I recommended +him to his Majesty as Secretary. I am sure that he will do all he can to +be of use to you." + +Dolores looked up incredulously, and with a certain wonder at the +Prince's extreme simplicity. Yet he had been married ten years to the +clever woman who ruled him and Perez and King Philip, and made each one +believe that she was devoted to him only, body and soul. Of the three, +Perez alone may have guessed the truth, but though it was degrading +enough, he would not let it stand in the way of his advancement; and in +the end it was he who escaped, leaving her to perish, the victim of the +King's implacable anger, Dolores could not help shaking her head in +answer to the Prince of Eboli's speech. + +"People are very unjust to Perez," he said. "But the King trusts him. If +he is there, try to conciliate him, for he has much influence with his +Majesty." + +Dolores said nothing, and resuming her attitude, returned to her sad +meditations, and to the study of some immediate plan. But she could +think of no way. Her only fixed intention was to see the King himself. +Ruy Gomez could do no more to help her than he had done already, and +that indeed was not little, since it was to his kindly impulse that she +owed her meeting with her father. + +"And if Perez is not inclined to help Don Diego," said the Prince, after +a long pause which had not interrupted the slow progression of, his +kindly thought, "I will request my wife to speak to him. I have often +noticed that the Princess can make Perez do almost anything she wishes. +Women are far cleverer than men, my dear--they have ways we do not +understand. Yes, I will interest my wife in the affair. It would be a +sad thing if your father--" + +The old man stopped short, and Dolores wondered vaguely what he had been +going to say. Ruy Gomez was a very strange compound of almost childlike +and most honourable simplicity, and of the experienced wisdom with +regard to the truth of matters in which he was not concerned, which +sometimes belongs to very honourable and simple men. + +"You do not believe that my father is guilty," said Dolores, boldly +asserting what she suspected. + +"My dear child," answered Ruy Gomez, twisting his rings on his fingers +as he spread his hands above the coals in the brazier, "I have lived in +this court for fifty years, and I have learned in that time that where +great matters are at stake those who do not know the whole truth are +often greatly deceived by appearances. I know nothing of the real matter +now, but it would not surprise me if a great change took place before +to-morrow night. A man who has committed a crime so horrible as the one +your father confessed before us all rarely finds it expedient to make +such a confession, and a young girl, my dear, who has really been a +little too imprudently in love with a royal Prince, would be a great +deal too wise to make a dramatic statement of her fault to the assembled +Grandees of Spain." + +He looked across at Dolores and smiled gently. But she only shook her +head gravely in answer, though she wondered at what he said, and +wondered, too, whether there might not be a great many persons in the +court who thought as he did. She was silent, too, because it hurt her to +talk when she could not draw breath without remembering that what she +had lived for was lying dead in that dim room on the upper story. + +The door opened, and a chamberlain entered the room. + +"His Majesty is pleased to receive Dona Dolores de Mendoza, in private +audience," he said. + +Ruy Gomez rose and led Dolores out into the corridor. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +Dolores had prepared no speech with which to appeal to the King, and she +had not counted upon her own feelings towards him when she found herself +in the room where Mendoza had been questioned, and heard the door closed +behind her by the chamberlain who had announced her coming. She stood +still a moment, dazzled by the brilliant lights after having been so +long in the dimmer waiting room. She had never before been in the King's +study, and she had fancied it very different from what it really was +when she had tried to picture to herself the coming interview. She had +supposed the room small, sombre, littered with books and papers, and +cold; it was, on the contrary, so spacious as to be almost a hall, it +was brightly illuminated and warmed by the big wood fire. Magnificent +tapestries covered the walls with glowing colour, and upon one of these, +in barbaric bad taste, was hung a single great picture by Titian, +Philip's favourite master. Dolores blushed as she recognized in the face +of the insolent Venus the features of the Princess of Eboli. Prom his +accustomed chair, the King could see this painting. Everywhere in the +room there were rich objects that caught and reflected the light, things +of gold and silver, of jade and lapis lazuli, in a sort of tasteless +profusion that detracted from the beauty of each, and made Dolores feel +that she had been suddenly transported out of her own element into +another that was hard to breathe and in which it was bad to live. It +oppressed her, and though her courage was undiminished, the air of the +place seemed to stifle her thought and speech. + +As she entered she saw the King in profile, seated in his great chair at +some distance from the fire, but looking at it steadily. He did not +notice her presence at first. Antonio Perez sat at the table, busily +writing, and he only glanced at Dolores sideways when he heard the door +close after her. She sank almost to the ground as she made the first +court curtsey before advancing, and she came forward into the light. As +her skirt swept the ground a second time, Philip looked slowly round, +and his dull stare followed her as she came round in a quarter of a wide +circle and curtsied a third time immediately in front of him. + +She was very beautiful, as she stood waiting for him to speak, and +meeting his gaze fearlessly with a look of cold contempt in her white +face such as no living person had ever dared to turn to him, while the +light of anger burned in her deep grey eyes. But for the presence of the +Secretary, she would have spoken first, regardless of court ceremony. +Philip looked at her attentively, mentally comparing her with his young +Queen's placidly dull personality and with the Princess of Eboli's fast +disappearing and somewhat coarse beauty. For the Princess had changed +much since Titian had painted his very flattering picture, and though +she was only thirty years of age, she was already the mother of many +children. Philip stared steadily at the beautiful girl who stood waiting +before him, and he wondered why she had never seemed so lovely to him +before. There was a half morbid, half bitter savour in what he felt, +too,--he had just condemned the beauty's father to death, and she must +therefore hate him with all her heart. It pleased him to think of that; +she was beautiful and he stared at her long. + +"Be seated, Dona Dolores," he said at last, in a muffled voice that was +not harsh. "I am glad that you have come, for I have much to say to +you." + +Without lifting his wrist from the arm of the chair on which it rested, +the King moved his hand, and his long forefinger pointed to a low +cushioned stool that was placed near him. Dolores came forward +unwillingly and sat down. Perez watched the two thoughtfully, and forgot +his writing. He did not remember that any one excepting the Princess of +Eboli had been allowed to be seated in the King's study. The Queen never +came there. Perez' work exempted him in private, of course, from much of +the tedious ceremonial upon which Philip insisted. Dolores sat upon the +edge of the stool, very erect, with her hands folded on her knees. + +"Dona Dolores is pale," observed the King. "Bring a cordial, Perez, or a +glass of Oporto wine." + +"I thank your Majesty," said the young girl quickly. "I need nothing." + +"I will be your physician," answered Philip, very suavely. "I shall +insist upon your taking the medicine I prescribe." + +He did not turn his eyes from her as Perez brought a gold salver and +offered Dolores the glass. It was impossible to refuse, so she lifted it +to her lips and sipped a little. + +"I thank your Majesty," she said again. "I thank you, sir," she said +gravely to Perez as she set down the glass, but she did not raise her +eyes to his face as she spoke any more than she would have done if he +had been a footman. + +"I have much to say to you, and some questions to ask of you," the King +began, speaking very slowly, but with extreme suavity. + +He paused, and coughed a little, but Dolores said nothing. Then he began +to look at her again, and while he spoke he steadily examined every +detail of her appearance till his inscrutable gaze had travelled from +her headdress to the points of her velvet slippers, and finally remained +fixed upon her mouth in a way that disturbed her even more than the +speech he made. Perez had resumed his seat. + +"In my life," he began, speaking of himself quite without formality, "I +have suffered more than most men, in being bereaved of the persons to +whom I have been most sincerely attached. The most fortunate and +successful sovereign in the world has been and is the most unhappy man +in his kingdom. One after another, those I have loved have been taken +from me, until I am almost alone in the world that is so largely mine. I +suppose you cannot understand that, my dear, for my sorrows began before +you were born. But they have reached their crown and culmination to-day +in the death of my dear brother." + +He paused, watching her mouth, and he saw that she was making a +superhuman effort to control herself, pressing the beautiful lips +together, though they moved gainfully in spite of her, and visibly lost +colour. + +"Perez," he said after a moment, "you may go and take some rest. I will +send for you when I need you." + +The Secretary rose, bowed low, and left the room by a small masked door +in a corner. The King waited till he saw it close before he spoke again. +His tone changed a little then and his words came quickly, as if he felt +here constraint. + +"I feel," he said, "that we are united by a common calamity, my dear. I +intend to take you under my most particular care and protection from +this very hour. Yes, I know!" he held up his hand o deprecate any +interruption, for Dolores seemed about to speak. "I know why you come to +me, you wish to intercede for your father. That is natural, and you are +right to come to me yourself, for I would rather hear your voice than +that of another speaking for you, and I would rather grant any mercy in +my power to you directly than to some personage of the court who would +be seeking his own interest as much as yours." + +"I ask justice, not mercy, Sire," said Dolores, in a firm, low voice, +and the fire lightened in her eyes. + +"Your father shall have both," answered Philip, "for they are +compatible." + +"He needs no mercy," returned the young girl, "for he has done no harm. +Your Majesty knows that as well as I." + +"If I knew that, my dear, your father would not be under arrest. I +cannot guess what you know or do not know--" + +"I know the truth." She spoke so confidently that the King's expression +changed a little. + +"I wish I did," he answered, with as much suavity as ever. "But tell me +what you think you know about this matter. You may help me to sift it, +and then I shall be the better able to help you, if such a thing be +possible. What do you know?" + +Dolores leaned forward toward him from her seat, almost rising as she +lowered her voice to a whisper, her eyes fixed on his face. + +"I was close behind the door your Majesty wished to open," she said. "I +heard every word; I heard your sword drawn and I heard Don John +fall--and then it was some time before I heard my father's voice, taking +the blame upon himself, lest it should be said that the King had +murdered his own brother in his room, unarmed. Is that the truth, or +not?" + +While she was speaking, a greenish hue overspread Philip's face, ghastly +in the candlelight. He sat upright in his chair, his hands straining on +its arms and pushing, as if he would have got farther back if he could. +He had foreseen everything except that Dolores had been in the next +room, for his secret spies had informed him through Perez that her +father had kept her a prisoner during the early part of the evening and +until after supper. + +"When you were both gone," Dolores continued, holding him under her +terrible eyes, "I came in, and I found him dead, with the wound in his +left breast, and he was unarmed, murdered without a chance for his life. +There is blood upon my dress where it touched his--the blood of the man +I loved, shed by you. Ah, he was right to call you coward, and he died +for me, because you said things of me that no loving man would bear. He +was right to call you coward--it was well said--it was the last word he +spoke, and I shall not forget it. He had borne everything you heaped +upon himself, your insults, your scorn of his mother, but he would not +let you cast a slur upon my name, and if you had not killed him out of +sheer cowardice, he would have struck you in the face. He was a man! And +then my father took the blame to save you from the monstrous accusation, +and that all might believe him guilty he told the lie that saved you +before them all. Do I know the truth? Is one word of that not true?" + +She had quite risen now and stood before him like an accusing angel. And +he, who was seldom taken unawares, and was very hard to hurt, leaned +back and suffered, slowly turning his head from side to side against the +back of the high carved chair. + +"Confess that it is true!" she cried, in concentrated tones. "Can you +not even find courage for that? You are not the King now, you are your +brother's murderer, and the murderer of the man I loved, whose wife I +should have been to-morrow. Look at me, and confess that I have told the +truth. I am a Spanish woman, and I would not see my country branded +before the world with the shame of your royal murders, and if you will +confess and save my father, I will keep your secret for my country's +sake. But if not--then you must either kill me here, as you slew him, or +by the God that made you and the mother that bore you, I will tell all +Spain what you are, and the men who loved Don John of Austria shall rise +and take your blood for his blood, though it be blood royal, and you +shall die, as you killed, like the coward you are!" + +The King's eyes were closed, and still his great pale head moved slowly +from side to side; for he was suffering, and the torture of mind he had +made Mendoza bear was avenged already. But he was silent. + +"Will you not speak?" asked the young girl, with blazing eyes. "Then +find some weapon and kill me here before I go, for I shall not wait till +you find many words." + +She was silent, and she stood upright in the act to go. He made no +sound, and she moved towards the door, stood still, then moved again and +then again, pausing for his answer at each step. He heard her, but could +not bring himself to speak the words she demanded of him. She began to +walk quickly. Her hand was almost on the door when he raised himself by +the arms of his chair, and cried out to her in a frightened voice:-- + +"No, no! Stay here--you must not go--what do you want me to say?" + +She advanced a step again, and once more stood still and met his scared +eyes as he turned his face towards her. + +"Say, 'You have spoken the truth,'" she answered, dictating to him as if +she were the sovereign and he a guilty subject. + +She waited a moment and then moved as if she would go out. + +"Stay--yes--it is true--I did it--for God's mercy do not betray me!" + +He almost screamed the words out to her, half rising, his body bent, his +face livid in his extreme fear. She came slowly back towards him, +keeping her eyes upon him as if he were some dangerous wild animal that +she controlled by her look alone. + +"That is not all," she said. "That was for me, that I might hear the +words from your own lips. There is something more." + +"What more do you want of me?" asked Philip, in thick tones, leaning +back exhausted in his chair. + +"My father's freedom and safety," answered Dolores. "I must have an +order for his instant release. He can hardly have reached his prison +yet. Send for him. Let him come here at once, as a free man." + +"That is impossible," replied Philip. "He has confessed the deed before +the whole court--he cannot possibly be set at liberty without a trial. +You forget what you are asking--indeed you forget yourself altogether +too much." + +He was gathering his dignity again, by force of habit, as his terror +subsided, but Dolores was too strong for him. + +"I am not asking anything of your Majesty; I am dictating terms to my +lover's murderer," she said proudly. + +"This is past bearing, girl!" cried Philip hoarsely. "You are out of +your mind--I shall call servants to take you away to a place of safety. +We shall see what you will do then. You shall not impose your insolence +upon me any longer." + +Dolores reflected that it was probably in his power to carry out the +threat, and to have her carried off by the private door through which +Perez had gone out. She saw in a flash how great her danger was, for she +was the only witness against him, and if he could put her out of the way +in a place of silence, he could send her father to trial and execution +without risk to himself, as he had certainly intended to do. On the +other hand, she had been able to terrify him to submission a few moments +earlier. In the instant working of her woman's mind, she recollected how +his fright had increased as she had approached the door by which she had +entered. His only chance of accomplishing her disappearance lay in +having her taken away by some secret passage, where no open scandal +could be possible. + +Before she answered his last angry speech, she had almost reached the +main entrance again. + +"Call whom you will," she said contemptuously. "You cannot save +yourself. Don Ruy Gomez is on the other side of that door, and there are +chamberlains and guards there, too. I shall have told them all the truth +before your men can lay hands on me. If you will not write the order to +release my father, I shall go out at once. In ten minutes there will be +a revolution in the palace, and to-morrow all Spain will be on fire to +avenge your brother. Spain has not forgotten Don Carlos yet! There are +those alive who saw you give Queen Isabel the draught that killed +her--with your own hand. Are you mad enough to think that no one knows +those things, that your spies, who spy on others, do not spy on you, +that you alone, of all mankind, can commit every crime with impunity?" + +"Take care, girl! Take care!" + +"Beware--Don Philip of Austria, King of Spain and half the world, lest a +girl's voice be heard above yours, and a girl's hand loosen the +foundation of your throne, lest all mankind rise up to-morrow and take +your life for the lives you have destroyed! Outside this door here, +there are men who guess the truth already, who hate you as they hate +Satan, and who loved your brother as every living being loved +him--except you. One moment more--order my father to be set free, or I +will open and speak. One moment! You will not? It is too late--you are +lost!" + +Her hand went out to open, but Philip was already on his feet, and with +quick, clumsy steps he reached the writing-table, seized the pen Perez +had thrown down, and began to scrawl words rapidly in his great angular +handwriting. He threw sand upon it to dry the ink, and then poured the +grains back into the silver sandbox, glanced at the paper and held it +out to Dolores without a word. His other hand slipped along the table to +a silver bell, used for calling his private attendants, but the girl saw +the movement and instinctively suspected his treachery. He meant her to +come to the table, when he would ring the bell and then catch her and +hold her by main force till help came. Her faculties were furiously +awake under the strain she bore, and outran his slow cunning. + +"If you ring that bell, I will open," she said imperiously. "I must have +the paper here, where I am safe, and I must read it myself before I +shall be satisfied." + +"You are a terrible woman," said the King, but she did not like his +smile as he came towards her, holding out the document. + +She took it from his hand, keeping her eyes on his, for something told +her that he would try to seize her and draw her from the door while she +was reading it. For some seconds they faced each other in silence, and +she knew by his determined attitude that she was right, and that it +would not be safe to look down. She wondered why he did not catch her in +his arms as she stood, and then she realized that her free hand was on +the latch of the door, and that he knew it. She slowly turned the +handle, and drew the door to her, and she saw his face fall. She moved +to one side so that she could have sprung out if he had tried violence, +and then at last she allowed her eyes to glance at the paper. It was in +order and would be obeyed; she saw that, at a glance, for it said that +Don Diego de Mendoza was to be set at liberty instantly and +unconditionally. + +"I humbly thank your Majesty, and take my leave," she said, throwing the +door wide open and curtseying low. + +A chamberlain who had seen the door move on its hinges stepped in to +shut it, for it opened inward. The King beckoned him in, and closed it, +but before it was quite shut, he heard Dolores' voice. + +"Don Ruy Gomez," she was saying, "this is an order to set my father at +liberty unconditionally and at once. I do not know to whom it should be +given. Will you take it for me and see to it?" + +"I will go to the west tower myself," he said, beginning to walk with +her. "Such good news is even better when a friend brings it." + +"Thank you. Tell him from me that he is safe, for his Majesty has told +me that he knows the whole truth. Will you do that? You have been very +kind to me to-night, Prince--let me thank you with all my heart now, for +we may not meet again. You will not see me at court after this, and I +trust my father will take us back to Valladolid and live with us." + +"That would be wise," answered Ruy Gomez. "As for any help I have given +you, it has been little enough and freely given. I will not keep your +father waiting for his liberty. Good-night, Dona Dolores." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +All that had happened from the time when Don John had fallen in his room +to the moment when Dolores left her sister on the terrace had occupied +little more than half an hour, during which the King had descended to +the hall, Mendoza had claimed the guilt of Don John's murder, and the +two had gone out under the protection of the guards. As soon as Dolores +was out of hearing, Inez rose and crept along the terrace to Don John's +door. In the confusion that had ensued upon the announcement of his +death no one had thought of going to him; every one took it for granted +that some one else had done what was necessary, and that his apartments +were filled with physicians and servants. It was not the first time in +history that a royal personage had thus been left alone an hour, either +dead or dying, because no one was immediately responsible, and such +things have happened since. + +Inez stole along the terrace and found the outer door open, as the dwarf +had left it when he had carried Dolores out in his arms. She remembered +that the voices she had heard earlier had come from rooms on the left of +the door, and she felt her way to the entrance of the bedchamber, and +then went in without hesitation. Bending very low, so that her hands +touched the floor from time to time, she crept along, feeling for the +body she expected to find. Suddenly she started and stood upright in an +instant. She had heard a deep sigh in the room, not far off. + +She listened intently, but even her ears could detect no sound after +that. She was a little frightened, not with any supernatural fear, for +the blind, who live in the dark for ever, are generally singularly +exempt from such terrors, but because she had thought herself alone with +the dead man, and did not wish to be discovered. + +"Who is here?" she asked quickly, but there was no answer out of the +dead stillness. + +She stood quite still a few seconds and then crept forward again, +bending down and feeling before her along the floor. A moment later her +hand touched velvet, and she knew that she had found what she sought. +With a low moan she fell upon her knees and felt for the cold hand that +lay stretched out upon the marble pavement beyond the thick carpet. Her +hand followed the arm, reached the shoulder and then the face. Her +fingers fluttered lightly upon the features, while her own heart almost +stood still She felt no horror of death, though she had never been near +a dead person before; and those who were fond of her had allowed her to +feel their features with her gentle hands, and she knew beauty through +her touch, by its shape. Though her heart was breaking, she had felt +that once, before it was too late, she must know the face she had long +loved in dreams. Her longing satisfied, her grief broke out again, and +she let herself fall her length upon the floor beside Don John, one arm +across his chest, her head resting against the motionless shoulder, her +face almost hidden against the gathered velvet and silk of his doublet. +Once or twice she sobbed convulsively, and then she lay quite still, +trying with all her might to die there, on his arm, before any one came +to disturb her. It seemed very simple, just to stop living and stay with +him for ever. + +Again she heard a sound of deep-drawn breath--but it was close to her +now, and her own arm moved with it on his chest--the dead man had moved, +he had sighed. She started up wildly, with a sharp cry, half of +paralyzing fear, and half of mad delight in a hope altogether +impossible. Then, he drew his breath again, and it issued from his lips +with a low groan. He was not quite dead yet, he might speak to her +still, he could hear her voice, perhaps, before he really died. She +could never have found courage to kiss him, even then she could have +blushed scarlet at the thought, but she bent down to his face, very +close to it, till her cheek almost touched his as she spoke in a very +trembling, low voice. + +"Not yet--not yet--come back for one moment, only for one little moment! +Oh, let it be God's miracle for me!" + +She hardly knew what she said, but the miracle was there, for she heard +his breath come again and again, and as she stared into her everlasting +night, strange flashes, like light, shot through her brain, her bosom +trembled, and her hands stiffened in the spasm of a delirious joy. + +"Come back!" she cried again. "Come back!" Her hands shook as they felt +his body move. + +His voice came again, not in a word yet, but yet not in a groan of pain. +His eyes, that had been half open and staring, closed with a look of +rest, and colour rose slowly in his cheeks. Then he felt her breath, and +his strength returned for an instant, his arms contracted and clasped +her to him violently. + +"Dolores!" he cried, and in a moment his lips rained kisses on her face, +while his eyes were still closed. + +Then he sank back again exhausted, and her arm kept his head from +striking the marble floor. The girl's cheek flushed a deep red, as she +tried to speak, and her words came broken and indistinct. + +"I am not Dolores," she managed to say. "I am Inez--" + +But he did not hear, for he was swooning again, and the painful blush +sank down again, as she realized that he was once more unconscious. She +wondered whether the room were dark or whether there were lights, or +whether he had not opened his eyes when he had kissed her. His head was +very heavy on her arm. With her other hand she drew off the hood she +wore and rolled it together, and lifting him a little she made a pillow +of it so that he rested easily. He had not recognized her, and she +believed he was dying, he had kissed her, and all eternity could not +take from her the memory of that moment. In the wild confusion of her +thoughts she was almost content that he should die now, for she had felt +what she had never dared to feel in sweetest dreams, and it had been +true, and no one could steal it away now, nor should any one ever know +it, not even Dolores herself. The jealous thought was there, in the +whirlwind of her brain, with all the rest, sudden, fierce, and strong, +as if Don John had been hers in life, and as if the sister she loved so +dearly had tried to win him from her. He was hers in death, and should +be hers for ever, and no one should ever know. It did not matter that he +had taken her for another, his kisses were her own. Once only had a +man's lips, not her father's, touched her cheek, and they had been the +lips of the fairest, and best, and bravest man in the world, her idol +and her earthly god. He might die now, and she would follow him, and in +the world beyond God would make it right somehow, and he, and she, and +her sister would all be but one loving soul for ever and ever. There was +no reasoning in all that--it was but the flash of wild thoughts that all +seemed certainties. + +But Don John of Austria was neither dead nor dying. His brother's sword +had pierced his doublet and run through the outer flesh beneath his left +arm, as he stood sideways with his right thrust forward. The wound was a +mere scratch, as soldiers count wounds, and though the young blood had +followed quickly, it had now ceased to flow. It was the fall that had +hurt him, not the stab. The carpet had slipped from under his feet, and +he had fallen backwards to his full length, as a man falls on ice, and +his head had struck the marble floor so violently that he had lain half +an hour almost in a swoon, like a dead man at first, with neither breath +nor beating of the heart to give a sign of life, till after Dolores had +left him; and then he had sighed back to consciousness by very slow +degrees, because no one was there to help him, to raise his head a few +inches from the floor, to dash a little cold water into his face. + +He stirred uneasily now, and moved his hands again, and his eyes opened +wide. Inez felt the slight motion and heard his regular breathing, and +an instinct told her that he was conscious, and not in a dream as he had +been when he had kissed her. + +"I am Inez," she said, almost mechanically, and not knowing why she had +feared that he should take her for her sister. "I found your Highness +here--they all think that you are dead." + +"Dead?" There was surprise in his voice, and his eyes looked at her and +about the room as he spoke, though he did not yet lift his head from the +hood on which it lay. "Dead?" he repeated, dazed still. "No--I must have +fallen. My head hurts me." + +He uttered a sharp sound as he moved again, more of annoyance than of +suffering, as strong men do who unexpectedly find themselves hurt or +helpless, or both. Then, as his eyes fell upon the open door of the +inner room, he forgot his pain instantly and raised himself upon his +hand with startled eyes. + +"Where is Dolores?" he cried, in utmost anxiety. "Where have they taken +her? Did she get out by the window?" + +"She is safe," answered Inez, hardly knowing what she said, for he +turned pale instantly and had barely heard her answer, when he reeled as +he half sat and almost fell against her. + +She held him as well as she could, but the position was strained and she +was not very strong. Half mad now, between fear lest he should die in +her arms and the instinctive belief that he was to live, she wished with +all her heart that some one would come and help her, or send for a +physician. He might die for lack of some simple aid she did not know how +to give him. But he had only been dizzy with the unconscious effort he +had made, and presently he rested on his own hand again. + +"Thank God Dolores is safe!" he said, in a weak voice. "Can you help me +to get to a chair, my dear child? I must have been badly stunned. I +wonder how long I have been here. I remember--" + +He paused and passed one hand over his eyes. The first instinct of +strong persons who have been unconscious is to think aloud, and to try +and recall every detail of the accident that left them unconscious. + +"I remember--the King was here--we talked and we quarrelled--oh!" + +The short exclamation ended his speech, as complete recollection +returned, and he knew that the secret must be kept, for his brother's +sake. He laid one head on the slight girl's shoulder to steady himself, +and with his other he helped himself to kneel on one knee. + +"I am very dizzy," he said. "Try and help me to a chair, Inez." + +She rose swiftly, holding his hand, and then putting one arm round him +under his own. He struggled to his feet and leaned his weight upon her, +and breathed hard. The effort hurt him where the flesh was torn. + +"I am wounded, too," he said quietly, as he glanced at the blood on his +vest. "But it is nothing serious, I think." + +With the instinct of the soldier hurt in the chest, he brushed his lips +with the small lace ruffle of his sleeve, and looked at it, expecting to +see the bright red stains that might mean death. There was nothing. + +"It is only a scratch," he said, with an accent of indifference. "Help +me to the chair, my dear." + +"Where?" she asked. "I do not know the room." + +"One forgets that you are blind," he answered, with a smile, and leaning +heavily upon her, he led her by his weight, till he could touch the +chair in which he had sat reading Dolores' letter when the King had +entered an hour earlier. + +He sat down with a sigh of relief, and stretched first one leg and then +the other, and leaned back with half-closed eyes. + +"Where is Dolores?" he asked at last. "Why did she go away?" + +"The jester took her away, I think," answered Inez. "I found them +together on the terrace. She was trying to come back to you, but he +prevented her. They thought you were dead." + +"That was wise of him." He spoke faintly still, and when he opened his +eyes, the room swam with him. "And then?" + +"Then I told her what had happened at court; I had heard everything from +the gallery. And Dolores went down alone. I could not understand what +she was going to do, but she is trying to save our father." + +"Your father!" Don John looked at her in surprise, forgetting his hurt, +but it was as if some one had struck his head again, and he closed his +eyes. "What has happened?" he asked faintly. "Try and tell me. I do not +understand." + +"My father thought he had killed you," answered Inez, in surprise. "He +came into the great hall when the King was there, and he cried out in a +loud voice that he had killed you, unarmed." + +"Your father?" He forgot his suffering altogether now. "Your father was +not even in the room when--when I fell! And did the King say nothing? +Tell me quickly!" + +"There was a great uproar, and I ran away to find Dolores. I do not know +what happened afterwards." + +Don John turned painfully in his chair and lifted his hand to the back +of his head. But he said nothing at first, for he was beginning to +understand, and he would not betray the secret of his accident even to +Inez. + +"I knew he could not have done it! I thought he was mad--he most have +been! But I also thought your Highness was dead." + +"Dear child!" Don John's voice was very kind. "You brought me to life. +Your father was not here. It was some one else who hurt me. Do you think +you could find Dolores or send some one to tell her--to tell every one +that I am alive? Say that I had a bad fall and was stunned for a while. +Never mind the scratch--it is nothing--do not speak of it. If you could +find Adonis, he could go." + +He groaned now, for the pain of speaking was almost intolerable. Inez +put out her hand towards him. + +"Does it hurt very much?" she asked, with a sort of pathetic, childlike +sympathy. + +"Yes, my head hurts, but I shall not faint. There is something to drink +by the bed, I think--on this side. If you could only find it. I cannot +walk there yet, I am so giddy." + +"Some one is coming!" exclaimed Inez, instead of answering him. "I hear +some one on the terrace. Hark!" she listened with bent head. "It is +Adonis. I know his step. There he is!" + +Almost as she spoke the last words the dwarf was in the doorway. He +stood still, transfixed with astonishment. + +"Mercy of heaven!" he exclaimed devoutly. "His Highness is alive after +all!" + +"Yes," said Inez, in a glad tone. "The Prince was only stunned by the +fall. Go and tell Dolores--go out and tell every one--bring every one +here to me!" + +"No!" cried Don John. "Try and bring Dona Dolores alone, and let no one +else know. The rest can wait." + +"But your Highness needs a physician," protested the dwarf, not yet +recovered from his astonishment. "Your Highness is wounded, and must +therefore be bled at once. I will call the Doctor Galdos--" + +"I tell you it is nothing," interrupted Don John. "Do as I order you, +and bring Dona Dolores. Give me that drink there, first--from the little +table. In a quarter of an hour I shall be quite well again. I have been +as badly stunned before when my horse has fallen with me at a barrier." + +The jester swung quickly to the table, in his awkward, bow-legged gait, +and brought the beaker that stood there. Don John drank eagerly, for his +lips were parched with pain. + +"Go!" he said imperatively. "And come back quickly." + +"I will go," said Adonis. "But I may not come back quickly, for I +believe that Dona Dolores is with his Majesty at this moment, or with +her father, unless the three are together. Since it has pleased your +Highness not to remain dead, it would have been much simpler not to die +at all, for your Highness's premature death has caused trouble which +your Highness's premature resurrection may not quickly set right." + +"The sooner you bring Dona Dolores, the sooner the tremble will be +over," said Don John. "Go at once, and do your best." + +Adonis rolled away, shaking his head and almost touching the floor with +his hands as he walked. + +"So the Last Trumpet is not merely another of those priests' tales!" he +muttered. "I shall meet Don Carlos on the terrace, and the Emperor in +the corridor, no doubt! They might give a man time to confess his sins. +It was unnecessary that the end of the world should come so suddenly!" + +The last words of his jest were spoken to himself, for he was already +outside when he uttered them, and he had no intention of wasting time in +bearing the good news to Dolores. The difficulty was to find her. He had +been a witness of the scene in the hall from the balcony, and he guessed +that when she left the hall with Ruy Gomez she would go either to her +father or the King. It would not be an easy matter to see her, and it +was by no means beyond the bounds of possibility that he might be +altogether hindered from doing so, unless he at once announced to every +one he met the astounding fact that Don John was alive after all. He was +strongly tempted to do that, without waiting, for it seemed by far the +most sensible thing to do in the disturbed state of the court; but it +was his business to serve and amuse many masters, and his office, if not +his life, depended upon obeying each in turn and finding the right jest +for each. He placed the King highest, of course, among those he had to +please, and before he had gone far in the corridor he slackened his pace +to give himself time to think over the situation. Either the King had +meant to kill Don John himself, or he had ordered Mendoza to do so. That +much was clear to any one who had known the secret of Don Carlos' death, +and the dwarf had been one of the last who had talked with the +unfortunate Prince before that dark tragedy. And on this present night +he had seen everything, and knew more of the thoughts of each of the +actors in the drama than any one else, so that he had no doubt as to his +conclusions. If, then, the King had wished to get rid of Don John, he +would be very much displeased to learn that the latter was alive after +all. It would not be good to be the bearer of that news, and it was more +than likely that Philip would let Mendoza go to the scaffold for the +attempt, as he long afterwards condemned Antonio Perez to death for the +murder of Escobedo, Don John's secretary, though he himself had ordered +Perez to do that deed; as he had already allowed the ecclesiastic Doctor +Cazalla to be burned alive, though innocent, rather than displease the +judges who had condemned him. The dwarf well knew that there was no +crime, however monstrous, of which Philip was not capable, and of the +righteous necessity of which he could not persuade himself if he chose. +Nothing could possibly be more dangerous than to stand between him and +the perpetration of any evil he considered politically necessary, except +perhaps to hinder him in the pursuit of his gloomy and secret pleasures. +Adonis decided at once that he would not be the means of enlightening +the King on the present occasion. He most go to some one else. The +second person in command of his life, and whom he dreaded most after +Philip himself, was the Princess of Eboli. + +He knew her secret, too, as he had formerly known how she had forged the +letters that brought about the deaths of Don Carlos and of Queen Isabel; +for the Princess ruled him by fear, and knew that she could trust him as +long as he stood in terror of her. He knew, therefore, that she had not +only forgiven Don John for not yielding to her charm in former days, but +that she now hoped that he might ascend the throne in Philip's stead, by +fair means or foul, and that the news of his death must have been a +destructive blow to her hopes. He made up his mind to tell her first +that he was alive, unless he could get speech with Dolores alone, which +seemed improbable. Having decided this, he hastened his walk again. + +Before he reached the lower story of the palace he composed his face to +an expression of solemnity, not to say mourning, for he remembered that +as no one knew the truth but himself, he must not go about with too gay +a look. In the great vestibule of the hall he found a throng of +courtiers, talking excitedly in low tones, but neither Dolores nor Ruy +Gomez was there. He sidled up to a tall officer of the guards who was +standing alone, looking on. + +"Could you inform me, sir," he asked, "what became of Dona Dolores de +Mendoza when she left the hall with the Prince of Eboli?" + +The officer looked down at the dwarf, with whom he had never spoken +before, but who, in his way, was considered to be a personage of +importance by the less exalted members of the royal household. Indeed, +Adonis was by no means given to making acquaintance at haphazard with +all those who wished to know him in the hope that he might say a good +word for them when the King was in a pleasant humour. + +"I do not know, Master Adonis," answered the magnificent lieutenant, +very politely. "But if you wish it, I will enquire." + +"You are most kind and courteous, sir," answered the dwarf +ceremoniously. "I have a message for the lady." + +The officer turned away and went towards the King's apartments, leaving +the jester in the corner. Adonis knew that he might wait some time +before his informant returned, and he shrank into the shadow to avoid +attracting attention. That was easy enough, so long as the crowd was +moving and did not diminish, but before long he heard some one speaking +within the hall, as if addressing a number of persons at once, and the +others began to leave the vestibule in order to hear what was passing. +Though the light did not fall upon him directly, the dwarf, in his +scarlet dress, became a conspicuous object. Yet he did not dare to go +away, for fear of missing the officer when the latter should return. His +anxiety to escape observation was not without cause, since he really +wished to give Don John's message to Dolores before any one else knew +the truth. In a few moments he saw the Princess of Eboli coming towards +him, leaning on the arm of the Duke of Medina Sidonia. She came from the +hall as if she had been listening to the person who was still speaking +near the door, and her handsome face wore a look of profound dejection +and disappointment. She had evidently seen the dwarf, for she walked +directly towards him, and at half a dozen paces she stopped and +dismissed her companion, who bowed low, kissed the tips of her fingers, +and withdrew. + +Adonis drew down the corners of his mouth, bent his head still lower, +and tried to look as unhappy as possible, in imitation of the Princess's +expression. She stood still before him, and spoke briefly in imperious +tones. + +"What is the meaning of all this?" she asked. "Tell me the truth at +once. It will be the better for you." + +"Madam," answered Adonis, with all the assurance he could muster, "I +think your Excellency knows the truth much better than I." + +The Princess bent her black brows and her eyes began to gleam angrily. +Titian would not have recognized in her stern face the smiling features +of his portrait of her--of the insolently beautiful Venus painted by +order of King Philip when the Princess was in the height of his favour. + +"My friend," she said, in a mocking tone, "I know nothing, and you know +everything. At the present moment your disappearance from the court will +not attract even the smallest attention compared with the things that +are happening. If you do not tell me what you know, you will not be here +to-morrow, and I will see that you are burned alive for a sorcerer next +week. Do you understand? Now tell me who killed Don John of Austria, and +why. Be quick, I have no time to lose." + +Adonis made up his mind very suddenly that it would be better to disobey +Don John than the angry woman who was speaking to him. + +"Nobody killed him," he answered bluntly. + +The Princess was naturally violent, especially with her inferiors, and +when she was angry she easily lost all dignity. She seized the dwarf by +the arm and shook him. + +"No jesting!" she cried. "He did not kill himself--who did it?" + +"Nobody," repeated Adonis doggedly, and quite without fear, for he knew +how glad she would be to know the truth. "His Highness is not dead at +all--" + +"You little hound!" The Princess shook him furiously again and +threatened to strike him with her other hand. + +He only laughed. + +"Before heaven, Madam," he said, "the Prince is alive and recovered, and +is sitting in his chair. I have just been talking with him. Will you go +with me to his Highness's apartment? If he is not there, and safe, burn +me for a heretic to-morrow." + +The Princess's hands dropped by her sides in sheer amazement, for she +saw that the jester was in earnest. + +"He had a scratch in the scuffle," he continued, "but it was the fall +that killed him, his resurrection followed soon afterwards--and I trust +that his ascension may be no further distant than your Excellency +desires." + +He laughed at his blasphemous jest, and the Princess laughed too, a +little wildly, for she could hardly control her joy. + +"And who wounded him?" she asked suddenly. "You know everything, you +must know that also." + +"Madam," said the dwarf, fixing his eyes on hers, "we both know the name +of the person who wounded Don John, very well indeed, I regret that I +should not be able to recall it at this moment. His Highness has +forgotten it too, I am sure." + +The Princess's expression did not change, but she returned his gaze +steadily during several seconds, and then nodded slowly to show that she +understood. Then she looked away and was silent for a moment. + +"I am sorry I was rough with you, Adonis," she said at last, +thoughtfully. "It was hard to believe you at first, and if the Prince +had been dead, as we all believed, your jesting would have been +abominable. There,"--she unclasped a diamond brooch from her +bodice--"take that, Adonis--you can turn it into money." + +The Princess's financial troubles were notorious, and she hardly ever +possessed any ready gold. + +"I shall keep it as the most precious of my possessions," answered the +dwarf readily. + +"No," she said quickly. "Sell it. The King--I mean--some one may see it +if you keep it." + +"It shall be sold to-morrow, then," replied the jester, bending his head +to hide his smile, for he understood what she meant. + +"One thing more," she said; "Don John did not send you down to tell this +news to the court without warning. He meant that I should know it before +any one else. You have told me--now go away and do not tell others." + +Adonis hesitated a moment. He wished to do Don John's bidding if he +could, but he knew his danger, and that he should be forgiven if, to +save his own head, he did not execute the commission. The Princess +wished an immediate answer, and she had no difficulty in guessing the +truth. + +"His Highness sent you to find Dona Dolores," she said. "Is that not +true?" + +"It is true," replied Adonis. "But," he added, anticipating her wish out +of fear, "it is not easy to find Dona Dolores." + +"It is impossible. Did you expect to find her by waiting in this corner! +Adonis, it is safer for you to serve me than Don John, and in serving me +you will help his interests. You know that. Listen to me--Dona Dolores +must believe him dead till to-morrow morning. She must on no account +find out that he is alive." + +At that moment the officer who had offered to get information for the +dwarf returned. Seeing the latter in conversation with such a great +personage, he waited at a little distance. + +"If you have found out where Dona Dolores de Mendoza is at this moment, +my dear sir," said Adonis, "pray tell the Princess of Eboli, who is very +anxious to know." + +The officer bowed and came nearer. + +"Dona Dolores de Mendoza is in his Majesty's inner apartment," he said. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +Dolores and Ruy Gomez had passed through the outer vestibule, and he +left her to pursue his way towards the western end of the Alcazar, which +was at a considerable distance from the royal apartments. Dolores went +down the corridor till she came to the niche and the picture before +which Don John had paused to read the Princess of Eboli's letter after +supper. She stopped a moment, for she suddenly felt that her strength +was exhausted and that she must rest or break down altogether. She +leaned her weight against the elaborately carved railing that shut off +the niche like a shrine, and looked at the painting, which was one of +Raphael's smaller masterpieces, a Holy Family so smoothly and delicately +painted that it jarred upon her at that moment as something untrue and +out of all keeping with possibility. Though most perfectly drawn and +coloured, the spotlessly neat figures with their airs of complacent +satisfaction seemed horribly out of place in the world of suffering she +was condemned to dwell in, and she fancied, somewhat irreverently and +resentfully, that they would look as much out of keeping with their +surroundings in a heaven that must be won by the endurance of pain. +Their complacent smiles seemed meant for her anguish, and she turned +from the picture in displeasure, and went on. + +She was going back to her sister on the terrace, and she was going to +kneel once more beside the dear head of the man she had loved, and to +say one last prayer before his face was covered for ever. At the thought +she felt that she needed no rest again, for the vision drew her to the +sorrowful presence of its reality, and she could not have stopped again +if she had wished to. She must go straight on, on to the staircase, up +the long flight of steps, through the lonely corridors, and out at hist +to the moonlit terrace where Inez was waiting. She went forward in a +dream, without pausing. Since she had freed her father she had a right +to go back to her grief. But as she went along, lightly and quickly, it +seemed beyond her own belief that she should have found strength for +what she had done that night. For the strength of youth is elastic and +far beyond its own knowledge. Dolores had reached the last passage that +led out upon the terrace, when she heard hurrying footsteps behind her, +and a woman in a cloak slipped beside her, walking very easily and +smoothly. It was the Princess of Eboli. She had left the dwarf, after +frightening him into giving up his search for Dolores, and she was +hastening to Don John's rooms to make sure that the jester had not +deceived her or been himself deceived in some way she could not +understand. + +Dolores had lost her cloak in the hall, and was bareheaded, in her court +dress. The Princess recognized her in the gloom and stopped her. + +"I have looked for you everywhere," she said. "Why did you run away from +me before?" + +"It was my blind sister who was with you," answered Dolores, who knew +her voice at once and had understood from her father what had happened. +"Where are you going now?" she asked, without giving the Princess time +to put a question. + +"I was looking for you. I wish you to come and stay with me to-night--" + +"I will stay with my father. I thank you for your kindness, but I would +not on any account leave him now." + +"Your father is in prison--in the west tower--he has just been sent +there. How can you stay with him?" + +"You are well informed," said Dolores quietly. "But your husband is just +now gone to release him. I gave Don Ruy Gomez the order which his +Majesty had himself placed in my hands, and the Prince was kind enough +to take it to the west tower himself. My father is unconditionally +free." + +The Princess looked fixedly at Dolores while the girl was speaking, but +it was very dark in the corridor and the lamp was flickering to go out +in the night breeze. The only explanation of Mendoza's release lay in +the fact that the King was already aware that Don John was alive and in +no danger. In that case Dolores knew it, too. It was no great matter, +though she had hoped to keep the girl out of the way of hearing the news +for a day or two. Dolores' mournful face might have told her that she +was mistaken, if there had been more light; but it was far too dark to +see shades of colour or expression. + +"So your father is free!" she said. "Of course, that was to be expected, +but I am glad that he has been set at liberty at once." + +"I do not think it was exactly to be expected," answered Dolores, in +some surprise, and wondering whether there could have been any simpler +way of getting what she had obtained by such extraordinary means. + +"He might have been kept under arrest until to-morrow morning, I +suppose," said the Princess quietly. "But the King is of course anxious +to destroy the unpleasant impression produced by this absurd affair, as +soon as possible." + +"Absurd!" Dolores' anger rose and overflowed at the word. "Do you dare +to use such a word to me to-night?" + +"My dear Dolores, why do you lose your temper about such a thing?" asked +the Princess, in a conciliatory tone. "Of course if it had all ended as +we expected it would, I never should use such a word--if Don John had +died--" + +"What do you mean?" Dolores held her by the wrist in an instant and the +maddest excitement was in her voice. + +"What I mean? Why--" the Princess stopped short, realizing that Dolores +might not know the truth after all. "What did I say?" she asked, to gain +time. "Why do you hold my hand like that?" + +"You called the murder of Don John an absurd affair, and then you said, +'if Don John had died'--as if he were not lying there dead in his room, +twenty paces from where you stand! Are you mad? Are you playing some +heartless comedy with me? What does it all mean?" + +The Princess was very worldly wise, and she saw at a glance that she +must tell Dolores the truth. If she did not, the girl would soon learn +it from some one else, but if she did, Dolores would always remember who +had told her the good news. + +"My dear," she said very gently, "let my wrist go and let me take your +arm. We do not understand each other, or you would not be so angry with +me. Something has happened of which you do not know--" + +"Oh, no! I know the whole truth!" Dolores interrupted her, and resisted +being led along in a slow walk. "Let me go to him!" she cried. "I only +wish to see him once more--" + +"But, dearest child, listen to me--if I do not tell you everything at +once, it is because the shock might hurt you. There is some hope that he +may not die--" + +"Hope! Oh no, no, no! I saw him lying dead--" + +"He had fainted, dear. He was not dead--" + +"Not dead?" Dolores' voice broke. "Tell me--tell me quickly." She +pressed her hand to her side. + +"No. He came to himself after you had left him--he is alive. No--listen +to me--yes, dear, he is alive and not much hurt. The wound was a +scratch, and he was only stunned--he is well--to-morrow he will be as +well as ever--ah, dear, I told you so!" + +Dolores had borne grief, shame, torment of mind that night, as bravely +as ever a woman bore all three, but the joy of the truth that he lived +almost ended her life then and there. She fell back upon the Princess's +arm and threw out her hands wildly, as if she were fighting for breath, +and the lids of her eyes quivered violently and then were quite still, +and she uttered a short, unnatural sound that was more like a groan of +pain than a cry of happiness. + +The Princess was very strong, and held her, steadying herself against +the wall, thinking anything better than to let her slip to the floor and +lie swooning on the stone pavement. But the girl was not unconscious, +and in a moment her own strength returned. + +"Let me go!" she cried wildly. "Let me go to him, or I shall die!" + +"Go, child--go," said the Princess, with an accent of womanly kindness +that was rare in her voice. But Dolores did not hear it, for she was +already gone. + +Dolores saw nothing in the room, as she entered, but the eyes of the man +she loved, though Inez was still beside him. Dolores threw herself +wildly into his arms and hid her face, crying out incoherent words +between little showers of happy tears; and her hands softly beat upon +his shoulders and against his neck, and stole up wondering to his cheeks +and touched his hair, as she drew back her head and held him still to +look at him and see that he was whole. She had no speech left, for it +was altogether beyond the belief of any sense but touch itself that a +man should rise unhurt from the dead, to go on living as if nothing not +common had happened in his life, to have his strength at once, to look +into her eyes and rain kisses on the lids still dark with grief for his +death. Sight could not believe the sight, hearing could not but doubt +the sound, yet her hands held him and touched him, and it was he, unhurt +saving for a scratch and a bruise. In her overwhelming happiness, she +had no questions, and the first syllables that her lips could shape made +broken words of love, and of thanks to Heaven that he had been saved +alive for her, while her hands still fluttered to his face and beat +gently and quickly on his shoulders and his arms, as if fearing lest he +should turn to incorporeal light, without substance under her touch, and +vanish then in air, as happiness does in a dream, leaving only pain +behind. + +But at last she threw back her head and let him go, and her hands +brushed away the last tears from her grey eyes, and she looked into his +face and smiled with parted lips, drinking the sight of him with her +breath and eyes and heart. One moment so, and then they kissed as only +man and woman can when there has been death between them and it is gone +not to come back again. + +Then memory returned, though very slowly and broken in many places, for +it seemed to her as if she had not been separated from him a moment, and +as if he must know all she had done without hearing her story in words. +The time had been so short since she had kissed him last, in the little +room beyond: there had been the minutes of waiting until the King had +come, and then the trying of the door, and then the quarrel, that had +lasted a short ten minutes to end in Don John's fall; then the half hour +during which he had lain unconscious and alone till Inez had come at the +moment when Dolores had gone down to the throne room; and after that the +short few minutes in which she had met her father, and then her +interview with the King, which had not lasted long, and now she was with +him again; and it was not two hours since they had parted--a lifetime of +two hours. + +"I cannot believe it!" she cried, and now she laughed at last. "I +cannot, I cannot! It is impossible!" + +"We are both alive," he answered. "We are both flesh and blood, and +breathing. I feel as if I had been in an illness or in a sleep that had +lasted very long." + +"And I in an awful dream." Her face grew grave as she thought of what +was but just passed. "You must know it all--surely you know it +already--oh, yes! I need not tell it all." + +"Something Inez has told me," he replied, "and some things I guess, but +I do not know everything. You must try and tell me--but you should not +be here--it is late. When my servants know that I am living, they will +come back, and my gentlemen and my officers. They would have left me +here all night, if I had been really dead, lest being seen near my body +should send them to trial for my death." He laughed. "They were wise +enough in their way. But you cannot stay here." + +"If the whole court found me here, it would not matter," answered +Dolores. "Their tongues can take nothing from my name which my own words +have not given them to feed on." + +"I do not understand," he said, suddenly anxious. "What have you said? +What have you done?" + +Inez came near them from the window, by which she had been standing. She +laid a hand on Dolores' arm. + +"I will watch," she said. "If I hear anything, I will warn you, and you +can go into the small room again." + +She went out almost before either of them could thank her. They had, +indeed, forgotten her presence in the room, being accustomed to her +being near them; but she could no longer bear to stay, listening to +their loving words that made her loneliness so very dark. And now, too, +she had memories of her own, which she would keep secret to the end of +her life,--beautiful and happy recollections of that sweet moment when +the man that seemed dead had breathed and had clasped her in his arms, +taking her for the other, and had kissed her as he would have kissed the +one he loved. She knew at last what a kiss might be, and that was much; +but she knew also what it was to kneel by her dead love and to feel his +life come back, breath by breath and beat by beat, till he was all +alive; and few women have felt that or can guess how great it is to +feel. It was better to go out into the dark and listen, lest any one +should disturb the two, than to let her memories of short happiness be +marred by hearing words that were not meant for her. + +"She found you?" asked Dolores, when she was gone. + +"Yes, she found me. You had gone down, she said, to try and save your +father. He is safe now!" he laughed. + +"She found you alive." Dolores lingered on the words. "I never envied +her before, I think; and it is not because if I had stayed I should have +suffered less, dear." She put up her hands upon his shoulders again. "It +is not for that, but to have thought you dead and to have seen you grow +alive again, to have watched your face, to have seen your eyes wake and +the colour come back to your cheeks and the warmth to your dear hands! I +would have given anything for that, and you would rather that I should +have been there, would you not?" She laughed low and kissed away the +answer from his lips. "If I had stayed beside you, it would have been +sooner, love. You would have felt me there even in your dream of death, +and you would have put out your hand to come back to me. Say that you +would! You could not have let me lie there many minutes longer breaking +my heart over you and wanting to die, too, so that we might be buried +together. Surely my kisses would have brought you back!" + +"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 winding 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 Dona 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 Dona 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. + +But there were a few who were ill pleased; for Antonio Perez said +nothing, and absently smoothed his black hair with his immaculate white +hand, and the Princess of Eboli was very silent, too, for it seemed to +her that Don John's sudden marriage, and his reconciliation with his +brother, had set back the beginning of her plan beyond the bounds of +possible accomplishment; and she was right in that, and the beginning of +her resentment against Don John for having succeeded in marrying Dolores +in spite of every one was the beginning of the chain that led her to her +own dark fate. For though she held the cards long in her hands after +that, and played for high stakes, as she had done before, fortune failed +her at the last, and she came to unutterable ruin. + +It may be, too, that Don John's splendid destiny was measured on that +night, and cut off beforehand, though his most daring fights were not +yet fought, nor his greatest victories won. To tell more here would be +to tell too much, and much, too, that is well told elsewhere. But this +is true, that he loved Dolores with all his heart; that the marriage +remained a court secret; and that she bore him one fair daughter, and +died, and the child grew up under another reign, a holy nun, and was +abbess of the convent of Las Huelgas whither Dolores was to have gone on +the morning after that most eventful night. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's In The Palace Of The King, by F. 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