CHAPTER XXVII
MY LORD ENTERS BY THE WINDOW
His Grace of Andover made a sign to the footmen, and with a sinkingheart Diana watched them leave the room, discreetly closing the doorbehind them. She affected to eat a peach, skinning it with fingers thatwere stiff and wooden. Tracy leaned back in his chair, surveying herthrough half-shut eyelids. He watched her eat her peach and rise to herfeet standing with her hand on the back of the high, carved chair. Sheaddressed him nervously and with would-be lightness.
"Well, sir, I have eaten, and I protest I am fatigued. Pray have thegoodness to conduct me to your housekeeper."
"My dear," he drawled, "nothing would give me greater pleasure--alwayssupposing that I possessed one."
She raised her eyebrows haughtily.
"I presume you have at least a maidservant," she inquired. "If I am toremain here, I would retire."
"You shall, child, all in good time. But do not be in a hurry to depriveme of your fair company." He rose as he spoke, and taking her hand, ledher dumbly to a low-backed settee at the other end of the great room.
"If you have aught to say to me, your Grace, I beg that you will reserveit until to-morrow. I am not in the humour to-night."
He laughed at her.
"Still so cold, child?"
"I am not like to be different, sir."
His eyes glinted.
"You think so? I shall show you that you are wrong, my dear. You mayloathe me, you may love me, but I think you will lose something of thaticy indifference. Allow me to point out to you that there is a couchbehind you."
"I perceive it, sir."
"Then be seated."
"It is not worth the while, sir. I am not staying." He advanced one steptowards her with that in his face that made her sink hurriedly on to thecouch.
He nodded smiling.
"You are wise, Diana."
"Why so free with my name, sir?" This with icy sweetness.
Tracy flung himself down beside her, his arm over the back of the setteeand the fingers of his drooping hand just touching her shoulder. It wasall the girl could do to keep from screaming. She felt trapped andhelpless, and her nerve was in pieces.
"Nay, sweet! An end to this quibbling. Bethink you, is it worth yourwhile to anger me?"
She sat rigid and silent.
"I love you--ay, you shudder. One day you will not do that."
"You call this love, your Grace?" she cried out, between scorn andmisery.
"Something near it," he answered imperturbably.
"God help you then!" she shivered, thinking of one other who had lovedher so differently.
"Belike He will," was the pleasant rejoinder. "But we wander from thepoint. It is this: you shall retire to your chamber at once--er--armedwith the key--an you will swear to marry me to-morrow."
Very white, she made as if to rise. The thin fingers closed over hershoulders, forcing her to remain.
"No, my dear. Sit still."
Her self-control was slipping away from her; she struggled to be free ofthat hateful hand.
"Oh, you brute, you brute! Let me go!"
"When you have given me your answer, sweetheart."
"It is no!" she cried. "A thousand times no!"
"Think...."
"I have thought! I would rather die than wed you!"
"Very possibly. But death will not be your lot, my pretty one," purredthe sinister voice in her ear. "Think carefully before you answer; wereit not better to marry me with all honour than to--"
"You devil!" she panted, and looked wildly round for some means ofescape. The long window was open, she knew, for the curtain blew outinto the room. But his Grace was between it and her.
"You begin to think better of it, child? Remember, to-morrow will be toolate. This is your chance, now. In truth," he took a pinch of snuff, "intruth, it matters not to me whether you will be a bride or no."
With a sudden movement she wrenched herself free and darted to thewindow. In a flash he was up and had caught her as she reached it,swinging her round to face him.
"Not so fast, my dear. You do not escape me so."
His arm was about her waist, drawing her irresistibly towards him. Sickwith fear, she struck madly at the face bent close to hers.
"Let me go! How dare you insult me so? Oh, for God's sake let me go!"
He was pressing her against him, one hand holding her wrists behind herin a grip of iron, his other arm about her shoulders.
"For my own sake I will keep you," he smiled, and looked gloatingly downat her beautiful, agonised countenance, with its wonderful eyes gazingimploringly at him, and the sensitive mouth a-quiver. For one instant heheld her so, and then swiftly bent his head and pressed his lips tohers.
She could neither struggle nor cry out. A deadly faintness assailed her,and she could scarcely breathe.
"By God, it is too late!" he swore. "You had best give in, madam--noughtcan avail you now."
And then the unexpected happened. Even as in her last desperate effortto free herself she moaned the name of him whom she deemed hundreds ofmiles away across the sea, a crisp voice, vibrating with a species ofcold fury, sounded directly behind them.
"You delude yourself, Belmanoir," it said with deadly quiet.
With an oath Tracy released the girl and wheeled to face the intruder.
Framed by the dark curtains, drawn sword in hand, murder in his blueeyes, stood my lord.
Tracy's snarl died slowly away as he stared, and a look of blankamazement took its place.
Diana, almost unable to believe her eyes, dizzy with the suddenness ofit all, stumbled blindly towards him, crying:
"Thank God! Thank God! Oh, Jack!"
He caught her in his arms, drawing her gently to the couch.
"Dear heart, you never doubted I should come?"
"I thought you in France!" she sobbed, and sank down amongst thecushions.
Carstares turned to meet his Grace.
Tracy had recovered from the first shock of surprise and was eyeing himthough his quizzing glass.
"This is an unexpected pleasure, my lord," he drawled with easyinsolence.
Diana started at the mode of address and looked up at Carstares,bewildered.
"I perceive your sword in the corner behind you, your Grace!" snappedJack, and flung over to the door, twisting the key round in the lock andslipping it into his breeches pocket.
To Diana he was as a stranger, with no laugh in the glittering blueeyes, and none of the almost finicking politeness that usuallycharacterised his bearing. He was very white, with lips set in a hardstraight line, and his nostrils slightly expanded.
His Grace shrugged a careless refusal.
"My dear Carstares, why should I fight you?" he inquired, seemingly notin the least annoyed by the other's intrusion.
"I had anticipated that answer, your Grace. So I brought _this_!"
As he spoke Jack drove the sword he held into the wood floor, where itstayed, quivering.
Nonchalantly Tracy took it in his hand and glanced at the hilt.
His fingers tightened on it convulsively, and he shot a piercing glanceat Jack.
"I am entirely at your service," he said very smoothly, and laid thesword on the table.
Some of the glare died out of my lord's eyes, and a little triumphantsmile curved the corners of his mouth. Quickly he divested himself ofhis fine velvet coat, his waistcoat and his scabbard, and pulled offthe heavy riding boots, caked with mud. He proceeded to tuck up hisruffles, awaiting his Grace's convenience.
As one in a dream, Diana saw the table pushed back, the paces measured,and heard the ring of steel against steel.
My lord opened the attack after a few moments' cautious circling,lunging swiftly and recovering, even as the Duke countered and delivereda lightning _riposte en quinte_. My lord parried gracefully in tierce,and chuckled softly to himself.
With parted lips and wide eyes, the girl on the couch watched each freshlunge. A dozen times it seemed as t
hough Carstares must be run through,but each time, by some miraculous means, he regained his opposition, andthe Duke's blade met steel.
Once, indeed, thrusting in _quarte_, Tracy's point, aimed too high,flashed above the other's guard and ripped the cambric shirt at thesleeve. My lord retired his foot nimbly, parried, and _riposted_ with astraight thrust, wrist held high, before Tracy could recover hisopposition. The blades clashed as forte met foible, and my lord lungedstraight at his opponent's breast.
Diana shut her eyes, expecting every moment to hear the dull thud ofTracy's body as it should fall to the ground. It did not come, butinstead there sounded a confused stamping, and scraping of blades, andshe looked again to find the Duke disengaging over my lord's supplewrist and being parried with the utmost ease and dexterity.
Carstares knew that he would not be able to last long, however. Hisshoulder, fretted by the long ride, was aching intolerably, and hiswrist seemed to have lost some of its cunning. He was conscious of asinging in his head which he tried, in vain, to ignore. But his eyesglowed and sparkled with the light of battle and the primitive lust tokill.
The Duke was fencing with almost superhuman skill, moving heavily anddeliberately, seemingly tireless.
Carstares, on the other hand, was as swift and light as a panther, gracein every turn of his slim body.
He feinted suddenly inside the arm, deceiving the parade of tierce. HisGrace fell back a pace, parrying in _quarte_, and as John with a quicktwist changed to _quarte_ also and the blades crossed, Tracy lungedforward the length of his arm, and a deep red splash stained thewhiteness of my lord's sleeve at the shoulder.
Diana gave a choked cry, knowing it to be the old wound, and the Duke'sblade came to rest upon the ground.
"You are--satisfied?" he asked coolly, but panting a little.
My lord reeled slightly, controlled himself and brushed his left handacross his eyes.
"On guard!" was all he replied, ignoring a pleading murmur from thegirl.
Tracy shrugged, meeting Carstares' blade with his, and the fight wenton.
Tracy's eyes were almost shut, it appeared to Diana, his chin thrustforward, his teeth gripping the thin lower lip.
To her horror she saw that Carstares was breathing in gasps, and thathis face was ashen in hue. It was torture to her to sit impotent, butshe held herself in readiness to fly to his rescue should the needarise. Suddenly my lord feinted on both sides of the arm and ripped openthe Duke's sleeve, causing a steady trickle of blood to drip down on tothe floor.
Tracy took no notice, but countered so deftly that John's blade wavered,and he staggered back. For an instant it seemed as though the end hadcome, but somehow he steadied himself, recovering his guard.
Diana was on her feet now, nearly as white as her lover, her handspressed to her breast. She saw that John's point was no longer sopurposeful, and the smile had gone from his lips. They were parted now,the upper one rigid, and a deep furrow cut into his brow.
Then, startling in the stillness of the great house, came the clangingof a bell, pulled with some violence.
Carstares' white lips moved soundlessly, and Diana, guessing it to beher father, moved, clinging to the wall, towards the door.
A moment later along the passage came the sound of steps; a gay,boisterous voice was raised, followed by a deeper, graver one.
His Grace's face became devilish in its expression, but Carstares tookno notice, seeming not to hear. Only he thrust with such skill that hisGrace was forced to fall back a pace. The loud voices demanded to knowwhat was toward in the locked room, and Diana, knowing that my lord wasnearly spent, beat upon the panels.
"Quickly, quickly!" she cried. "Break through, for heaven's sake,whoever you are! 'Tis locked!"
"Good Gad! 'tis a woman!" exclaimed the voice. "Listen,Dick!--why--why--'tis a fight!"
"Oh, be _quick_!" implored poor Diana.
And then came the deeper voice: "Stand away, madam, we will burst thelock."
She moved quickly aside, turning her attention once more to the duel bythe window, as Andrew flung his shoulder against the stout wood. At thethird blow the lock gave, the door flew wide, and Lord Andrew wasprecipitated into the room.
And the two by the window fought on unheeding, faster and faster.
"Well, I'm damned!" said Andrew, surveying them. He walked forwardinterestedly, and at the same moment caught sight of Jack's face. Hestared in amazement, and called to Richard.
"Good Lord! Here! Dick! Come here! Surely it's--_who_ is that man?"
Diana saw the tall gentleman, so like her lover in appearance, stepforward to the young rake's side. The next events happened in a flash.She heard a great cry, and before she had time to know what he wasdoing, Richard had whipped his sword from its scabbard and had struck upthe two blades. In that moment the years rolled back, and, recognisinghis brother, Jack gasped furiously:
"Damn--you--Dick! Out--of--the way!"
Tracy stood leaning on his sword, watching, his breath coming in gasps,but still with that cynical smile on his lips.
Richard, seeing that his brother would fly at the Duke again, closedwith him, struggling to wrest the rapier from his weakened grasp.
"You fool, John, leave go! Leave go, I say!"
With a twist he had the sword in his hand and sent it spinning acrossthe room as without a sound my lord crumpled up and fell with a thud tothe floor.