CHAPTER XXI
In the parlour of the Pilgrim Inn the four friends took their leave ofthe Princess. She could not part from them lightly; she spoke with afaltering voice:--
"Five days ago I was in prison at Innspruck, perpetually harassed andwith no hope of release but in you. Now I am in Bologna, and free. Icould not believe that any girl could find such friends except infairyland. You make the world very sweet and clean to me. I should thankyou. See my tears fall! Will you take them for my thanks? I have nowords which can tell as much of my thoughts towards you. My little womanI keep with me, but to you gentlemen I would gladly give a token each,so that you may know I will never forget, and so that you too may keepfor me a home within your memories." To Major Gaydon she gave a ringfrom off her finger, to Captain Misset a chain which she wore about herneck, to O'Toole, "her six feet four," as she said between laughter andtears, her watch. Each with a word of homage took his leave. Clementinaspoke to Wogan last of all, and when the room was empty but for thesetwo.
"To you, my friend," said she, "I give nothing. There is no need. But Iask for something. I would be in debt to you still deeper than I am. Iask for a handkerchief which I dropped from my shoulders one eveningunder the stars upon the road to Ala."
Wogan bowed to her without a word. He drew the handkerchief from hisbreast slowly.
"It is true," said he; "I have no right to it;" and he gave it back. Buthis voice showed that he was hurt.
"You do not understand," said she, with a great gentleness. "You haveevery right which the truest loyalty can confer. I ask you for thishandkerchief, because I think at times to wear it in memory of a whitestone on which I could safely set my foot, for the stone was not straw."
Wogan could not trust his voice to answer her. He took her hand to liftit to his lips.
"No," said she; "as at Innspruck, an honest handclasp, if you please."
Wogan joined his three companions in the road, and they stood togetherfor a little, recounting to one another the incidents of the flight.
"Here's a great work ended," said Gaydon at last.
"We shall be historical," said O'Toole. "It is my one ambition. I wantto figure in the history-books and be a great plague and nuisance tochildren at school. I would sooner be cursed daily by schoolboys thanhave any number of golden statues in galleries. It means the more solidreputation;" and then he became silent. Gaydon had, besides his joy atthe rescue of Clementina, a private satisfaction that matters which werenone of his business had had no uncomfortable issue. Misset, too, wasthankful for that his wife had come safely to the journey's end. O'Toolealone had a weight upon his mind; and when Gaydon said, "Well, we may goto bed and sleep without alarms till sundown to-morrow," he remarked,--
"There's Jenny. It was on my account she ventured with us."
"That's true," said Wogan; "but we shall put an end to her captivity,now we are safe at Bologna. I have friends here who can serve me so far,I have no doubt."
O'Toole was willing to leave the matter in Wogan's hands. If Wogan oncepledged himself to Jenny's release, why, Jenny _was_ released; and hewent to bed now with a quite equable mind. Wogan hurried off to thepalace of the Cardinal Origo, whom he found sitting at his supper. TheCardinal welcomed Wogan back very warmly.
"I trust, your Eminence," said Wogan, "that Farini is now at Bologna."
"You come in the nick of time," replied the Cardinal. "This is his lastweek. There is a great demand for the seats; but you will see to it, Mr.Wogan, that the box is in the first tier."
"There was to be a dinner, too, if I recollect aright. I have not dinedfor days. Your Eminence, I shall be extraordinarily hungry."
"You will order what you will, Mr. Wogan. I am a man of a smallappetite and have no preferences."
"Your Eminence's cook will be the better judge of what is seasonable.Your Eminence will be the more likely to secure the box in the firsttier. Shall we fix a day? To-morrow, if it please you. To-morrow I shallhave the honour, then, to be your Eminence's guest."
The Cardinal started up from the table and stared at his visitor.
"You are jesting," said he.
"So little," replied Wogan, "that her Highness, the Princess Clementina,is now at the Pilgrim Inn at Bologna."
"In Bologna!" cried the Cardinal; and he stood frowning in a greatperturbation of spirit. "This is great news," he said, but in a doubtfulvoice which Wogan did not understand. "This is great news, to be sure;"and he took a turn or two across the room.
"Not wholly pleasant news, one might almost think," said Wogan, in someperplexity.
"Never was better news," exclaimed the Cardinal, hastily,--a trifle toohastily, it seemed to Wogan. "But it surprises one. Even the King didnot expect this most desirable issue. For the King's in Spain. It isthat which troubles me. Her Highness comes to Bologna, and the King's inSpain."
"Yes," said Wogan, with a wary eye upon his Eminence. "Why is the Kingin Spain?"
"There is pressing business in Spain,--an expedition from Cadiz. TheKing's presence there was urged most earnestly. He had no hope you wouldsucceed. I myself have some share in the blame. I did not hide from youmy thought, Mr. Wogan."
Wogan was not all reassured. He could not but remember that the excusefor the King's absence which the Cardinal now made to him was preciselythat which he himself had invented to appease Clementina at Innspruck.It was the simple, natural excuse which came first of all to thetongue's tip, but--but it did not satisfy. There was, besides, too muchflurry and agitation in the Cardinal's manner. Even now that he wastaking snuff, he spilled the most of it from the trembling of hisfingers. Moreover, he must give reason upon reason for his perturbationthe while he let his supper get cold.
"Her Highness I cannot but feel will have reason to think slightly ofour welcome. A young girl, she will expect, and rightly, something moreof ceremony as her due."
"Your Eminence does not know her," interrupted Wogan, with somesharpness. His Eminence was adroit enough to seize the occasion ofending a conversation which was growing with every minute moreembarrassing.
"I shall make haste to repair my defect," said he. "I beg you to presentmy duty to her Highness and to request her to receive me to-morrow atten. By that, I will hope to have discovered a lodging more suitable toher dignity."
Wogan made his prayer for the Pope's intervention on Jenny's behalf andthen returned to the Pilgrim Inn, dashed and fallen in spirit. He hadthought that their troubles were at an end, but here was a newdifficulty at which in truth he rather feared to guess. The Chevalier'sdeparture to Spain had been a puzzle to him before; he remembered nowthat the Chevalier had agreed with reluctance to his enterprise, and hadnever been more than lukewarm in its support. That reluctance, thatlukewarmness, he had attributed to a natural habit of discouragement;but the evasiveness of Cardinal Origo seemed to propose a differentexplanation. Wogan would not guess at it.
"The King is to marry the Princess," said he, fiercely. "I brought herout of Innspruck to Bologna. The King must marry the Princess;" and,quite unawares, he set off running towards the inn. As he drew near toit, he heard a confused noise of shouting. He quickened his pace, andrushing out of the mouth of a side street into the square where the innstood, came suddenly to a stop. The square was filled with a great mobof people, and in face of the inn the crowd was so thick Wogan couldhave walked upon the shoulders. Many of the people carried blazingtorches, which they waved in the air, dropping the burning resin upontheir companions; others threw their hats skywards; here were boysbeating drums, and grown men blowing upon toy trumpets; and all wereshouting and cheering with a deafening enthusiasm. The news of thePrincess's arrival had spread like wildfire through the town. Wogan'sspirits rose at a bound. Here was a welcome very different from theCardinal's. Wogan rejoiced in the good sense of the citizens of Bolognawho could appreciate the great qualities of his chosen woman. Theirenthusiasm did them credit; he could have embraced them one by one.
He strove to push his way towards the door, but he w
ould hardly havepierced through that throng had not a man by the light of a torchrecognised him and bawled out his name. He was lifted shoulder high in asecond; he was passed from hand to hand over the heads of the people; hewas set tenderly down in the very doorway of the Pilgrim Inn, and hefound Clementina at the window of an unlighted room gazing unperceivedat the throng.
"Here's a true welcome, madam," said he, cordially, with his thoughtsaway upon that bluff of hillside where the acclamations had seemed sodistant and unreal. It is possible that they seemed of small account toClementina now, for though they rang in ears and were visible to hereyes, she sat quite unmoved by them.
"This is one tiny square in a little town," he continued. "But itsshouts will ring across Europe;" and she turned her head to him and saidquietly,--
"The King is still in Spain, is he not?"
Wogan's enthusiasm was quenched in alarm. Her voice had rung, for allits quietude, with pride. What if she guessed what he for one would notlet his wildest fancy dwell upon? Wogan repeated to himself the resolvewhich he had made, though with an alteration. "The King must marry thePrincess," he had said; now he said, "The Princess must marry the King."
He began hurriedly to assure her that the King had doubted his capacityto bring the enterprise to a favourable issue, but that now he wouldwithout doubt return. Cardinal Origo would tell her more upon that headif she would be good enough to receive him at ten in the morning; andwhile Wogan was yet speaking, a torch waved, and amongst thatclose-pressed throng of faces below him in the street, one sprang to hisview with a remarkable distinctness, a face most menacing andvindictive. It was the face of Harry Whittington. Just for a second itshone out, angles and lines so clearly revealed that it was as thoughthe crowd had vanished, and that one contorted face glared alone at thewindows in a flare of hell-fire.
Clementina saw the face too, for she drew back instinctively within thecurtains of the window.
"The man at Peri," said she, in a whisper.
"Your Highness will pardon me," exclaimed Wogan, and he made a movementtowards the door. Then he stopped, hesitated for a second, and cameback. He had a question to put, as difficult perhaps as ever lips had toframe.
"At Peri," he said in a stumbling voice, "I waked from a dream and sawthat man, bird-like and cunning, watching over the rim of the stairs. Iwas dreaming that a star out of heaven stooped towards me, that awoman's face shone out of the star's bright heart, that her lips deignedto bend downwards to my earth. And I wonder, I wonder whether thosecunning eyes had cunning enough to interpret my dream."
And Clementina answered him simply,--
"I think it very likely that they had so much skill;" and Wogan ran downthe stairs into the street. He forced his way through the crowd to thepoint where Whittington's face had shown, but his hesitation, hisquestion, had consumed time. Whittington had vanished. Nor did he appearagain for some while in Bologna. Wogan searched for him high and low.Here was another difficulty added to the reluctance of his King, thepride of his Queen. Whittington had a piece of dangerous knowledge, andcould not be found. Wogan said nothing openly of the man's treachery,though he kept very safely the paper in which that treachery wasconfessed. But he did not cease from his search. He was still engagedupon it when he received the summons from Cardinal Origo. He hurried tothe palace, wondering what new thing had befallen, and was at onceadmitted to the Cardinal. It was no bad thing, at all events, as Wogancould judge from the Cardinal's smiling face.
"Mr. Wogan," said he, "our Holy Father the Pope wishes to testify hisapprobation of your remarkable enterprise on behalf of a princess who ishis god-daughter. He bids me hand you, therefore, your patent of RomanSenator, and request you to present yourself at the Capitol in Rome onJune 15, when you will be installed with all the ancient ceremonies."
Wogan thanked his Eminence dutifully, but laid the patent on the table.
"You hardly know what you refuse," said his Eminence. "The Holy Fatherhas no greater honour to bestow, and, believe me, he bestows itcharily."
"Nay, your Eminence," said Wogan, "I do not undervalue so high adistinction. But I had three friends with me who shared every danger. Icannot accept an honour which they do not share; for indeed they riskedmore than I did. For they hold service under the King of France."
The Cardinal was pleased to compliment Wogan upon his loyalty to hisfriends.
"They shall not be the losers," said he. "I think I may promise indeedthat each will have a step in rank, and I do not doubt that when theHoly Father hears what you have said to me, I shall have three otherpatents like to this;" and he locked Wogan's away in a drawer.
"And what of the King in Spain?" asked Wogan.
"I sent a messenger thither on the night of your coming," said theCardinal; "but it is a long journey into Spain. We must wait."
To Wogan it seemed the waiting would never end. The Cardinal had founda little house set apart from the street with a great garden of lawnsand cedar-trees and laurels; and in that garden now fresh with springflowers and made private by high walls, the Princess passed her days.Wogan saw her but seldom during this time, but each occasion sent himback to his lodging in a fever of anxiety. She had grown silent, and hersilence alarmed him. She had lost the sparkling buoyancy of her spirits.Mrs. Misset, who attended her, told him that she would sit for longwhiles with a red spot burning in each cheek. Wogan feared that herpride was chafing her gentleness, that she guessed there was reluctancein the King's delay. "But she must marry the King," he still perseveredin declaring. Her hardships, her imprisonment, her perilous escape, thesnows of Innspruck,--these were known now; and if at the last the endfor which they had been endured--Wogan broke off from his reflections tohear the world laughing. The world would not think; it would laugh. "Forher own sake she must marry," he cried, as he paced about his rooms."For ours, too, for a country's sake;" and he looked northwards towardsEngland. But "for her own sake" was the reason uppermost in histhoughts.
But the days passed. The three promised patents came from Rome, andCardinal Origo unlocked the drawer and joined Wogan's to them. Hepresented all four at the same time.
"The patents carry the titles of 'Excellency,'" said he.
O'Toole beamed with delight.
"Sure," said he, "I will have a toga with the arms of the O'Toolesembroidered on the back, to appear in at the Capitol. It is on June 15,your Eminence. Upon my soul, I have not much time;" and he grewthoughtful.
"A toga will hardly take a month, even with the embroidery, which I donot greatly recommend," said the Cardinal, drily.
"I was not at the moment thinking of the toga," said O'Toole, gloomily.
"And what of the King in Spain?" asked Wogan.
"We must wait, my friend," said the Cardinal.
In a week there was brought to Wogan one morning a letter in the King'shand. He fingered it for a little, not daring to break the seal. When hedid break it, he read a great many compliments upon his success, andafter the compliments a statement that the marriage should take place atMontefiascone as soon as the King could depart from Spain, and afterthat statement, a declaration that since her Highness's position was notmeanwhile one that suited either her dignity or the love the King hadfor her, a marriage by proxy should take place at Bologna. The Chevalieradded that he had written to Cardinal Origo to make the necessaryarrangements for the ceremony, and he appointed herewith Mr. CharlesWogan to act as his proxy, in recognition of his great services.
Wogan felt a natural distaste for the part he was to take in theceremony. To stand up before the Cardinal and take Clementina's hand inhis, and speak another's marriage vows and receive hers as another'sdeputy,--there was a certain mockery in the situation for which he hadno liking. The memory of the cabin on the mountain-side was somethingtoo near. But, at all events, the King was to marry the Princess, andWogan's distaste was swallowed up in a great relief. There would be nolaughter rippling over Europe like the wind over a field of corn. Hestood by his window in the spring sunshine with a great con
tentment ofspirit, and then there came a loud rapping on his door.
He caught his breath; he grew white with a sudden fear; you would havethought it was his heart that was knocked upon. For there was anotherside to the business. The King would marry the Princess; but how wouldthe Princess take this marriage by proxy and the King's continuedabsence? She had her pride, as he knew well. The knocking was repeated.Wogan in a voice of suspense bade his visitor enter. The visitor was oneof her Highness's new servants. "Without a doubt," thought Wogan, "shehas received a letter by the same messenger who brought me mine."
The servant handed him a note from the Princess, begging him to attendon her at once. "She must marry the King," said Wogan to himself. Hetook his hat and cane, and followed the servant into the street.