CHAPTER V
THE COTTAGE ON THE HILL
The effect of my remark was curious. Denny flushed scarlet and flunghis whip down on the table; the others stood for a moment motionless,then turned tail and slunk back to the kitchen. Euphrosyne's faceremained invisible. On the other hand, I felt quite at my ease. I hada triumphant conviction of the importance of my capture, and adetermination that no misplaced chivalry should rob me of it.Politeness is, no doubt, a duty, but only a relative duty; and, inplain English, men's lives were at stake here. Therefore I did notmake my best bow, fling open the door, and tell the lady that she wasfree to go whither she would, but I said to her in a dry severe voice:
'You had better go, madam, to the room you usually occupy here, whilewe consider what to do with you. You know where the room is; Idon't.'
She raised her head, and said in tones that sounded almost eager:
'My own room? May I go there?'
'Certainly,' said I. 'I shall accompany you as far as the door; andwhen you've gone in, I shall lock the door.'
This programme was duly carried out, Euphrosyne not favouring me witha word during its progress. Then I returned to the hall, and said toDenny:
'Rather a trump card, isn't she?'
'Yes, but they'll be back pretty soon to look for her, I expect.'
Denny accompanied this remark with such a yawn that I suggested heshould go to bed.
'Aren't you going to bed?' he asked.
'I'll take first watch,' said I. 'It's nearly twelve now. I'll wakeyou at two, and you can wake Hogvardt at five; then Watkins will befit and fresh at breakfast-time, and can give us roast cow.'
Thus I was again left alone; and I sat reviewing the position. Wouldthe islanders fight for their lady? Or would they let us go? Theywould let us go, I felt sure, only if Constantine were out-voted, forhe could not afford to see me leave Neopalia with a head on myshoulders and a tongue in my mouth. Then probably they would fight.Well, I calculated that so long as our provisions held out, we couldnot be stormed; our stone fortress was too strong. But we could beblockaded and starved out, and should be very soon unless the lady'sinfluence could help us. I had just arrived at the conclusion that Iwould talk to her very seriously in the morning when I heard aremarkable sound.
'There never was such a place for queer noises,' said I, pricking upmy ears.
This noise seemed to come directly from above my head; it sounded asthough a light stealthy tread were passing over the roof of the hallin which I sat. The only person in the house besides ourselves was theprisoner: she had been securely locked in her room; how then could shebe on the top of the hall? For her room was in the turret above thedoorway. Yet the steps crept over my head, going towards the kitchen.I snatched up my revolver and trod, with a stealth equal to thestealth of the steps overhead, across the hall and into the kitchenbeyond. My three companions slept the sleep of tired men, but I rousedDenny ruthlessly.
'Go on guard in the hall,' said I. 'I want to have a look round.'
Denny was sleepy but obedient. I saw him start for the hall, and wenton till I reached the compound behind the house.
Here I stood deep in the shadow of the wall; the steps were now overmy head again. I glanced up cautiously, and above me, on the roof,three yards to the left, I saw the flutter of a white kilt.
'There are more ways out of this house than I know,' I thought tomyself.
I heard next a noise as though of something being pushed cautiouslyalong the flat roof. Then there protruded from between two of thebattlements the end of a ladder. I crouched closer under the wall. Thelight flight of steps was let down; it reached the ground, the kiltedfigure stepped on it and began to descend. Here was the LadyEuphrosyne again. Her eagerness to go to her own room was fullyexplained: there was a way from it across the house and out on to theroof of the kitchen; the ladder shewed that the way was kept in use. Istood still. She reached the ground, and, as she touched it, she gavethe softest possible little laugh of gleeful triumph; a pretty littlelaugh it was. Then she walked briskly across the compound, till shereached the rocks on the other side. I crept forward after her, for Iwas afraid of losing sight of her in the darkness, and yet did notdesire to arrest her progress till I saw where she was going. On shewent, skirting the perpendicular drop of rock. I was behind her now.At last she came to the angle formed by the rock running north andthat which, turning to the east, enclosed the compound.
'How's she going to get up?' I asked myself.
But up she began to go, her right foot on the north rock, her left onthe east. She ascended with such confidence that it was evident thatsteps were ready for her feet. She gained the top; I began to mount inthe same fashion, finding the steps cut in the face of the cliff. Ireached the top and saw her standing still, ten yards ahead of me. Shewent on; I followed; she stopped, looked, saw me, screamed. I rushedon her. Her arm dealt a blow at me; I caught her hand, and in her handthere was a little dagger. Seizing her other hand, I held her fast.
'Where are you going to?' I asked in a matter-of-fact tone, taking nonotice of her hasty resort to the dagger. No doubt that was merely anational trait.
Seeing that she was caught, she made no attempt to struggle.
'I was trying to escape,' she said. 'Did you hear me?'
'Yes, I heard you. Where were you going to?'
'Why should I tell you? Shall you threaten me with the whip again?'
I loosed her hands. She gave a sudden glance up the hill. She seemedto measure the distance.
'Why do you want to go to the top of the hill?' I asked. 'Have youfriends there?'
She denied the suggestion, as I thought she would.
'No, I have not. But anywhere is better than with you.'
'Yet there's some one in the cottage up there,' I observed. 'Itbelongs to Constantine, doesn't it?'
'Yes, it does,' she answered defiantly. 'Dare you go and seek himthere? Or dare you only skulk behind the walls of the house?'
'As long as we are four against a hundred I dare only skulk,' Ianswered. She did not annoy me at all by her taunts. 'But do you thinkhe's there?'
'There! No; he's in the town; and he'll come from the town to kill youto-morrow.'
'Then is nobody there?' I pursued.
'Nobody,' she answered.
'You're wrong,' said I. 'I saw somebody there to-day.'
'Oh, a peasant perhaps.'
'Well, the dress didn't look like it. Do you really want to go therenow?'
'Haven't you mocked me enough?' she burst out. 'Take me back to myprison.'
Her tragedy-air was quite delightful. But I had been leading her upto something which I thought she ought to know.
'There's a woman in that cottage,' said I. 'Not a peasant; a woman insome dark-coloured dress, who uses opera-glasses.'
I saw her draw back with a start of surprise.
'It's false,' she cried. 'There's no one there. Constantine told me noone went there except Vlacho and sometimes Demetri.'
'Do you believe all Constantine tells you?' I asked.
'Why shouldn't I? He's my cousin, and--'
'And your suitor?'
She flung her head back proudly.
'I have no shame in that,' she answered.
'You would accept his offer?'
'Since you ask, I will answer. Yes. I had promised my uncle that Iwould.'
'Good God!' said I, for I was very sorry for her.
The emphasis of my exclamation seemed to startle her afresh. I felther glance rest on me in puzzled questioning.
'Did Constantine let you see the old woman whom I sent to him?' Idemanded.
'No,' she murmured. 'He told me what she said.'
'That I told him he was his uncle's murderer?'
'Did you tell her to say that?' she asked, with a sudden inclinationof her body towards me.
'I did. Did he give you the message?'
She made no answer. I pressed my advantage.
'On my honour, I saw what I have told y
ou at the cottage,' I said. 'Iknow what it means no more than you do. But before I came here I sawConstantine in London. And there I heard a lady say she would comewith him. Did any lady come with him?'
'Are you mad?' she asked; but I could hear her breathing quickly, andI knew that her scorn was assumed. I drew suddenly away from her, andput my hands behind my back.
'Go to the cottage if you like,' said I. 'But I won't answer for whatyou'll find there.'
'You set me free?' she cried with eagerness.
'Free to go to the cottage; you must promise to come back. Or I'll goto the cottage, if you'll promise to go back to your room and waittill I return.'
She hesitated, looking towards where the cottage was; but I hadstirred suspicion and disquietude in her. She dared not face what shemight find in the cottage.
'I'll go back and wait for you,' she said. 'If I went to the cottageand--and all was well, I'm afraid I shouldn't come back.'
The tone sounded softer. I would have sworn that a smile or ahalf-smile accompanied the words, but it was too dark to be sure, andwhen I leant forward to look, Euphrosyne drew back.
'Then you mustn't go,' said I decisively; 'I can't afford to loseyou.'
'But if you let me go I could let you go,' she cried.
'Could you? Without asking Constantine? Besides, it's my island yousee.'
'It's not,' she cried, with a stamp of her foot. And without more shewalked straight by me and disappeared over the ledge of rock. Twominutes later I saw her figure defined against the sky, a black shadowon a deep grey ground; then she disappeared. I set my face straightfor the cottage under the summit of the hill. I knew that I had onlyto go straight and I must come to the little plateau scooped out ofthe hillside, on which the cottage stood. I found, not a path, but asort of rough track that led in the desired direction, and along thisI made my way very cautiously. At one point it was joined at rightangles by another track, from the side of the hill where the main roadacross the island lay. This, of course, afforded an approach to thecottage without passing by my house. In twenty minutes the cottageloomed, a blurred mass, before me. I fell on my knees and peered atit.
There was a light in one of the windows. I crawled nearer. Now I wason the plateau, a moment later I was under the wooden verandah andbeneath the window where the light glowed. My hand was on my revolver;if Constantine or Vlacho caught me here, neither side would be able tostand on trifles; even my desire for legality would fail under thestrain. But for the minute everything was quiet, and I began to fearthat I should have to return empty-handed; for it would be growinglight in another hour or so, and I must be gone before the day beganto appear. Ah, there was a sound, a sound that appealed to me after myclimb, the sound of wine poured into a glass; then came a voice Iknew.
'Probably they have caught her,' said Vlacho the innkeeper. 'What ofthat? They will not hurt her, and she'll be kept safe.'
'You mean she can't come spying about here?'
'Exactly. And that, my lord, is an advantage. If she came here--'
'Oh, the deuce!' laughed Constantine. 'But won't the men want me tofree her by letting that infernal crew go?'
'Not if they think Wheatley will go to Rhodes and get soldiers andreturn. They love the island more than her. It will all go well, mylord. And this other here?'
I strained my ears to listen. No answer came, yet Vlacho went on asthough he had received an answer.
'These cursed fellows make that difficult too,' he said. 'It would bean epidemic.' He laughed, seeming to see wit in his own remark.
'Curse them, yes. We must move cautiously,' said Constantine. 'What anuisance women are, Vlacho.'
'Ay, too many of them,' laughed Vlacho.
'I had to swear my life out that no one was here, and then, "If noone's there, why mayn't I come?" You know the sort of thing.'
'Indeed, no, my lord. You wrong me,' protested Vlacho humorously, andConstantine joined in his laugh.
'You've made up your mind which, I gather?' asked Vlacho.
'Oh, this one, beyond doubt,' answered his master.
Now I thought that I understood most of this conversation, and I wasvery sorry that Euphrosyne was not by my side to listen to it. But Ihad heard about enough for my purposes, and I had turned to crawl awaystealthily--it is not well to try fortune too far--when I heard thesound of a door opening in the house. Constantine's voice followeddirectly on the sound.
'Ah, my darling, my sweet wife,' he cried, 'not sleeping yet? Wherewill your beauty be? Vlacho and I must work and plan for your sake,but you need not spoil your eyes with sleeplessness.'
Constantine did it uncommonly well. His manner was a pattern forhusbands. I was guilty of a quiet laugh all to myself in the verandah.
'For me? You're sure it's for me?' came in that Greek with a strangeaccent, which had first fallen on my ears in the Optimum Restaurant.
'She's jealous, she's most charmingly jealous!' cried Constantine inplayful rapture. 'Does your wife pay you such compliments, Vlacho?'
'She has no cause, my lord. But my lady Francesca thinks she has causeto be jealous of the Lady Euphrosyne.'
Constantine laughed scornfully at the suggestion.
'Where is she now?' came swift and sharp from the woman. 'Where isEuphrosyne?'
'Why, she's a prisoner to that Englishman,' answered Constantine.
I suppose explanations passed at this point, for the voices fell to alower level, as is apt to happen in the telling of a long story, and Icould not catch what was said till Constantine's tones rose again ashe remarked:
'Oh, yes; we must have a try at getting her out, just to satisfy thepeople. For me, she might stay there as long as she likes, for I carefor her just as little as, between ourselves, I believe she cares forme.'
Really this fellow was a very tidy villain; as a pair, Vlacho and hewould be hard to beat--in England, at all events. About Neopalia I hadlearned to reserve my opinion. Such were my reflections as I turned toresume my interrupted crawl to safety. But in an instant I was stillagain--still, and crouching close under the wall, motionless as aninsect that feigns death, holding my breath, my hand on the trigger.For the door of the cottage was flung open, and Constantine and Vlachoappeared on the threshold.
'Ah,' said Vlacho, 'dawn is near. See, it grows lighter on thehorizon.'
A more serious matter was that, owing to the open door and the lampinside, it had grown lighter on the verandah, so light that I saw thethree figures--for the woman had come also--in the doorway, so lightthat my huddled shape would be seen if any of the three turned an eyetowards it. I could have picked off both men before they could move;but a civilised education has drawbacks; it makes a man scrupulous; Idid not fire. I lay still, hoping that I should not be noticed. And Ishould not have been noticed but for one thing. Acting up to his partin the ghastly farce which these two ruffians were playing with thewife of one of them, Constantine turned to bestow kisses on the womanbefore he parted from her. Vlacho, in a mockery that was horrible tome who knew his heart, must needs be facetious. With a laugh he drewback; he drew back farther still; he was but a couple of feet from thewall of the house; and that couple of feet I filled. In a moment, withone step backwards, he would be upon me. Perhaps he would not havemade that step; perhaps I should have gone, by grace of that narrowinterval, undetected. But the temptation was too strong for me. Thethought of the thing threatened to make me laugh. I had a pen-knife inmy pocket. I opened it, and dug it hard into that portion of Vlacho'sframe which came most conveniently and prominently to my hand. Then,leaving the pen-knife where it was, I leapt up, gave the howlingruffian a mighty shove, and with a loud laugh of triumph bolted for mylife down the hill. But when I had gone twenty yards I dropped on myknees, for bullet after bullet whistled over my head. Constantine, theoutraged Vlacho too, perhaps, carried a revolver! Their barrels werebeing emptied after me. I rose and turned one hasty glance behind me.Yes, I saw their dim shapes like moving trees. I fired once, twice,thrice, in my turn, and then went crashi
ng and rushing down the paththat I had ascended so cautiously. I cannoned against the tree trunks;I tripped over trailing branches; I stumbled over stones. Once Ipaused and fired the rest of my barrels. A yell told me I had hit--butVlacho, alas, not Constantine; I knew the voice. At the same instantmy fire was returned, and a bullet went through my hat. I wasdefenceless now, save for my heels, and to them I took again with allspeed. But as I crashed along, one at least of them came crashingafter me. Yes, it was only one! I had checked Vlacho's career. It wasConstantine alone. I suppose one of your heroes of romance would havestopped and faced him, for with them it is not etiquette to run awayfrom one man. Ah, well, I ran away. For all I knew, Constantine mightstill have a shot in the locker; I had none. And if Constantine killedme, he would kill the only man who knew all his secrets. So I ran. Andjust as I got within ten yards of the drop into my own territory, Iheard a wild cry, 'Charley! Charley! Where the devil are you,Charley?'
'Why, here, of course,' said I, coming to the top of the bank anddropping over.
I have no doubt that it was the cry uttered by Denny which gave pauseto Constantine's pursuit. He would not desire to face all four of us.At any rate the sound of his pursuing feet died away and ceased. Isuppose he went back to look after Vlacho, and show himself safe andsound to that most unhappy woman, his wife. As for me, when I foundmyself safe and sound in the compound, I said, 'Thank God!' And Imeant it too. Then I looked round. Certainly the sight that met myeyes had a touch of comedy in it.
Denny, Hogvardt and Watkins stood in the compound. Their backs weretowards me, and they were all staring up at the roof of the kitchen,with expressions which the cold light of morning revealed in all theirpuzzled foolishness. And on the top of the roof, unassailable and outof reach--for no ladder ran from roof to ground now--stood Euphrosyne,in her usual attitude of easy grace. Euphrosyne was not taking thesmallest notice of the helpless three below, but stood quite stillwith unmoved face, gazing up towards the cottage. The whole thingreminded me of nothing so much as of a pretty composed cat in a tree,with three infuriated helpless terriers barking round the trunk. Ibegan to laugh.
'What's all the shindy?' called out Denny. 'Who's doingrevolver-practice in the wood? And how the dickens did she get there,Charley?'
But when the still figure on the roof saw me, the impassivity of itvanished. Euphrosyne leant forward, clasping her hands, and said tome:
'Have you killed him?'
The question vexed me. It would have been civil to accompany it, atall events, with an inquiry as to my own health.
'Killed him?' I answered gruffly. 'No, he's sound enough.'
'And--' she began; but now she glanced, seemingly for the first time,at my friends below. 'You must come and tell me,' she said, and withthat she turned and disappeared from our gaze behind the battlements.I listened intently. No sound came from the wood that rose grey in thenew light behind us.
'What have you been doing?' demanded Denny surlily; he had not enjoyedEuphrosyne's scornful attitude.
'I have been running for my life,' said I, 'from the biggestscoundrels unhanged. Denny, make a guess who lives in that cottage.'
'Constantine?'
'I don't mean him.'
'Not Vlacho--he's at the inn.'
'No, I don't mean Vlacho.'
'Who then, man?'
'Someone you've seen.'
'Oh, I give it up. It's not the time of day for riddles.'
'The lady who dined at the next table to ours at the Optimum,' said I.
Denny jumped back in amazement, with a long low whistle.
'What, the one who was with Constantine?' he cried.
'Yes,' said I, 'the one who was with Constantine.'
They were all three round me now; and thinking that it would be betterthat they should know what I knew, and four lives instead of one standbetween a ruffian and the impunity he hoped for, I raised my voice andwent on in an emphatic tone,
'Yes. She's there, and she's his wife.'
A moment's astonished silence greeted my announcement. It was brokenby none of our party. But there came from the battlemented roof aboveus a low, long, mournful moan that made its way straight to the heart,armed with its dart of outraged pride and trust betrayed. It was notthus, boldly and abruptly, that I should have told my news. But I didnot know that Euphrosyne was still above us, hidden by thebattlements. We all looked up. The moan was not repeated. Presently weheard slow steps retreating, with a faltering tread, across the roof;and we also went into the house in silence and sorrow. For a thinglike that gets hold of a man; and when he has heard it, it is hard forhim to sit down and be merry, until the fellow that caused it has paidhis reckoning. I swore then and there that Constantine Stefanopoulosshould pay his.