My Lady Rotha: A Romance

  CHAPTER XI.

  STOLEN!

  The night was still young, and when I had seen my mistress and herwomen comfortably settled, I sauntered back towards the middle of thecamp. The three fires stood here, and there, and there, among thetrees, like the feet of a three-legged stool; while between them lay amiddle space which partook of the light of all, and yet remainedshadowy and ill-defined. A single beech which stood in this space, andserved in some degree to screen our fire from observation, added tothe darkness of the borderland. At times the flames blazed up,disclosing trunk and branches; again they waned, and only a shadowymass filled the middle space.

  I went and stood under this tree and looked about me. The Waldgravehad disappeared, probably to his couch. So had Von Werder. OnlyGeneral Tzerclas remained beside the fire at which we had supped, andhe no longer sat erect. Covered with a great cloak he lay at his easeon a pile of furs, reading by the light of the fire in a small fatbook, which even at that distance I could see was thumbed anddog's-eared. Such an employment in such a man--in huge contrast withthe noisy brawling and laughter of his following--struck me asremarkable. I felt a great curiosity to know what he was studying, andin particular whether it was the Bible. But the distance between uswas too great and the light too uncertain; and after straining my eyesawhile I gave up the attempt, consoling myself with the thought thathad I been nearer I had perhaps been no wiser.

  I was about to withdraw, tolerably satisfied, to seek my own rest,when a stick snapped sharply behind me. Unwilling to be caught spying,I turned quickly and found myself face to face with a tall figure,which had come up noiselessly behind me. The unknown was so close tome, I recoiled in alarm; but the next moment he lowered his cloak fromhis face, and I saw that it was Von Werder.

  'Hush, man!' he said, raising his hand to enforce caution. 'A wordwith you. Come this way.'

  He gave me no time to demur or ask questions, but taking obedience forgranted, turned and led the way down a narrow path, proceedingsteadily onwards until the glare of the fire sank into a distant gleambehind us. Then he stopped suddenly and faced me, but the darkness inwhich we stood among the tree-trunks still prevented me seeing hisfeatures, and gave to the whole interview an air of mystery.

  'You are the Countess of Heritzburg's steward?' he said abruptly.

  'I am,' I answered, wondering at the change in his tone, which, deepbefore, had become on a sudden imperative. By the fire and inTzerclas' company he had spoken with a kind of diffidence, an air ofacknowledged inferiority. Not a trace of that remained.

  'The Waldgrave Rupert,' he continued--'he is a new acquaintance?'

  'He is not an old friend,' I replied. I could not think what he wouldbe at with his questions. All my instincts were on the side ofrefusing to answer them. But his manner imposed upon me, though hisfigure and face were hidden; and though I wondered, I answered.

  'He is young,' he said, as if to himself.

  'Yes, he is young,' I answered dryly. 'He will grow older.'

  He remained silent a moment, apparently in thought. Then he spokesuddenly and bluntly. 'You are an honest man, I believe,' he said. 'Iwatched you at supper, and I think I can trust you. I will be plainwith you. Your mistress had better have stayed at Heritzburg,steward.'

  'It is possible,' I said. I was more than half inclined to think somyself.

  'She has come abroad, however. That being so, the sooner she is inCassel, the better.'

  'We are going thither,' I answered.

  'You were!' he replied; and the meaning in his voice gave me a start.'You were, I say?' he continued strenuously. 'Whither you are goingnow will depend, unless you exert yourself and are careful, on GeneralJohn Tzerclas of the Saxon service. You visit his camp to-morrow. Takea hint. Get your mistress out of it and inside the walls of Cassel assoon as you can.'

  'Why?' I said stubbornly. 'Why?' For it seemed to me that I was beingasked all and told nothing. The man's vague warnings chimed in with myown fears, and yet I resented them coming from a stranger. I tried topierce the darkness, to read his face, to solve the mystery of hisaltered tone. But the night baffled me; I could see nothing save atall, dark form, and I fell back upon words and obstruction. 'Why?' Iasked jealously. 'He is my lady's cousin.'

  'After a fashion,' the stranger rejoined coldly and slowly, and not atall as if he meant to argue with me. 'I should be better content, man,if he were her uncle. However, I have said enough. Do you bear it inmind, and as you are faithful, be wary. So much for that. And now,' hecontinued, in a different tone, a tone in which a note of anxietylurked whether he would or no, 'I have a question to ask on my ownaccount, friend. Have you heard at any time within the last twelvemonths of a lost child being picked up to the north of this, inHeritzburg or the neighbourhood?'

  'A lost child?' I repeated in astonishment.

  'Yes!' he retorted impatiently. And I felt, though I could not see,that he was peering at me as I had lately peered at him. 'Isn't thatplain German? A lost child, man? There is nothing hard to understandin it. Such a thing has been heard of before--and found, I suppose. Alittle boy, two years old.'

  'No,' I said, 'I have heard nothing of one. A child two years old?Why, it could not go alone; it could not walk!'

  In the darkness, which is a wonderful sharpener of ears, I heard theman move hastily. 'No,' he said with a stern note in his voice, 'Isuppose not; I suppose it could not. At any rate, you have not heardof it?'

  'No,' I said, 'certainly not.'

  'If it had been found Heritzburg way,' he continued jealously, 'youwould have, I suppose?'

  'I should have--if any one,' I answered.

  'Thank you,' he said curtly. 'That is all now. Good night.'

  And suddenly, with that only, and no warning or further farewell, heturned and strode off. I heard him go plunging through the last year'sleaves, and the noise told me that he trod them sternly and heavily,with the foot of a man disappointed, and not for the first time.

  'It must be his child,' I thought, looking after him.

  I waited until the last sound of his retreat had died away, and then Imade my own way back to the camp. As chance would have it, I hit itclose to the servants' fire, and before I could turn was espied bysome of those who sat at it. One, a stout, swarthy fellow, with brightblack eyes, and a small feather in his cap, sprang up and came towardsme.

  'Why so shy, comrade?' he cried, with a hiccough in his voice.'Himmel! There are a pair of us!' And he raised his hand and laid iton my head--with an effort, for I am six feet and two inches. 'Peace!'and he touched me on the breast. 'War!' and he touched himself. 'And agood broad piece you are, and a big piece, and a heavy piece, I'llwarrant!' he continued.

  'I might say the same for you!' I retorted, suffering him to lead meto the fire.

  'Oh, I?' he cried with a drunken swagger. 'I am a double gold ducat,true metal, stamped with the Emperor's man-at-arms! Melted in the LowCountries under Spinola--that is, these thirteen years back--minted byWallenstein, tried by the noble general!

  "Clink! Clink! Clink! Sword and stirrup and spur. Ride! Ride! Ride! Fast as feather or fur!"

  That is my sort! But come, welcome! Will you drink? Will you play?Will you 'list? Come, the night is young,

  "For the night-sky is red, And the burgher's abed, And bold Pappenheim's raiding the lea!"

  Which shall it be, friend?'

  'I will drink with you or play with you, captain,' I answered, seeingnothing else for it, 'so far as a poor man may; but as for enlisting,I am satisfied with my present service.'

  'Ha! ha! I can quite understand that!' he answered, winking tipsily.'Woman, lovely woman! Here's to her! Here's to her! Here's to her,lads of the free company!

  "Drink, lads, drink! Firkin and flagon and flask. Hands, lads, hands! A round to the maid in the mask!"

&nbsp
; Why, man, you look like a death's head! You are too sober! Shame onyou, and you a German!'

  'An Italian were as good a toper!' one of the men beside him growled.

  'Or a whey-fed Switzer!'

  'Perhaps you are better with the dice!' the captain, intendant, orwhat he was, continued. 'You will throw a main? Come, for the honourof your mistress!'

  I had nearly a score of ducats of my own in my pouch, and so far Icould pay if I lost. I thought that I might get some clue to Tzerclas'nature and plans by humouring the man, and I assented.

  'The dice, lads, the dice!' he cried. Ludwig, the others called him.

  '"Ho, the roof shall be red O'er the heretic's head, For bold Pappenheim's raiding the lea!"

  The dice, the dice!'

  'Your guest looks scared,' one said, looking at me grimly. 'Perhaps heis a heretic!'

  'Chut! we are all heretics for the present!' Ludwig answeredrecklessly. 'A fig for a credo and a fig for a psalm! Give me a goodhorse and a good sword and fat farmhouses. I ask no more. Shall it bea short life and a merry one? The highest to have it?'

  'Content,' I said, trying to fall into his humour.

  'A ducat a throw?' he asked, posing the caster. A man, as he spoke,placed a saddle between us, while half a dozen others pressed round towatch us. The flame leaping up shone on their dark, lean faces andgleaming eyes, or picked out here and there the haft of a knife or thebutt of a pistol. Some wore steel caps, some caps of fur, some gaudyhandkerchiefs twisted round their heads. There were Spaniards,Bohemians, Walloons among them; a Croat or two; a few Saxons. 'Come,'cried the captain, rattling the dice-box. 'A ducat a throw, MasterPeace? Between gentlemen?'

  'Content,' I said, though my heart beat fast. I had never even seenmen play so high.

  'So!' growled a German who crouched beside me--a one-eyed man, fat andfair, the one fair-faced man in the company; ''tis a cock of a finehackle!'

  'See me strip him!' Captain Ludwig rejoined gleefully. And he threwand I threw, and I won; while the flame, leaping and sinking, flungits ruddy light on the walls of our huge, leafy chamber. Then he won.Then I won. I won again, again, again!

  'He has the fiend's own luck!' a Pole cried with a curse.

  'Steady, Ludwig!' quoth another. 'Will you be beaten by a clod-pate?'

  'Fill his cup!' my opponent cried hardily. 'He has the knack of it!But I will strip him! Beat up the fire there! I can't see the spots.That is nine ducats you have won, good broad-piece! Throw away!'

  I threw, and at it we went again, but now luck began to run againstme, though slowly. The hollow rattle of the dice, the voices callingthe numbers, the oath and the cry of triumph want on monotonously:went on--and I think the spirit of play had fairly got hold ofme--when a stern voice suddenly broke in on our game.

  'Put up, there, you rascals!' Tzerclas cried from his fire. 'Havedone, do you hear, or it will be the worse for you! Kennel, I say!'

  Captain Ludwig swore under his breath. 'Ugh!' he muttered, 'just as Iwas getting my hand in! What is the score? Seven ducats to me; andlittle enough for the trouble. Hand over, comrade. You know theproverb.'

  In haste to be gone after the warning we had received, I plunged myhand into my pouch, and drew out in a hurry, not a fistful of ducatsas I intended, but a score of links of gold chain, which for a momentglittered in the firelight. As quickly as I could I thrust thechain--it was Marie Wort's, of course--back into my pocket, but notbefore the German sitting beside me had seen it. I looked at himguiltily while I fumbled for the money, and he tried to look as if hehad seen nothing. But his one eye sparkled evilly, and I saw his lipstremble with greed. He made no remark, however, and in a moment Ifound the money and paid my debt.

  Most of the men had already laid themselves down and were snoring,with their feet to the fire. I muttered good night, and seizing my capwent off. To gain my quarters, I had to walk across the open under thebeech-tree. I had just reached this tree, and was passing through theshadow under the branches, when the sound of a light footstep at myheels startled me, and turning in my tracks I surprised the one-eyedGerman.

  'Well,' I said wrathfully--I was not in the best of tempers atlosing--'what do you want?'

  The action and the challenge took him aback. 'Want?' he grumbled,recoiling a step. 'Nothing. Is this your private property?'

  He had _thief_ written all over his fat, pale face, and I knew verywell what private property he wanted. If I ever saw a sneaking,hang-dog visage it was his! The more I looked at him the more Iloathed him.

  'Go!' I said; 'get home, you cur! or I will break every bone in yourbody.'

  He glared at me with a curse in his one eye, but he saw that I was toobig for him. Besides, General Tzerclas lay reading by his fire thirtypaces away. Baffled and furious, the rascal slunk off with a mutteredword, and went back the way he had come.

  I found Ernst on guard, and after seeing to the fire and hearing thatall was well, I lay down beside him in my cloak. But I found it lesseasy to sleep. The firelight, playing among the leaves and branchesoverhead, formed likenesses of the men I had left, now grotesquemasks, and now scowling faces, fierce-eyed and grim. Von Werder'swarning, too, recurred to me with added weight and would not leave meat peace. I wondered what he meant; I wondered what he suspected,still more, what he knew.

  And yet had I need to wonder, or do more than look round and use mywits? What was our position? How were we situate? In the camp and inthe hands of a soldier of fortune; a man cold and polite, probablycruel and possibly brutal, lacking enthusiasm, lacking, or I wasmistaken, religion, without any check save such as his ambition orfears imposed upon him. And for his power, I saw him surrounded bydesperadoes, soldiers in name, banditti in fact, savage, reckless, andunscrupulous; the men, or the twin-brothers of the men, who underanother banner had sacked Magdeburg and ravaged Halle.

  What was to prevent such a man making his advantage out of us? Whatwas to prevent him marching back to Heritzburg and seizing town andcastle under cover of my lady's name, or detaining us as long as hesaw fit, or as suited his purpose? The Landgrave and his Minister werefar away, plunged in the turmoil of a great war. The Emperor'sauthority was at an end. The Saxon circle to which we belonged wasdisorganized. All law, all order, all administration outside the wallsof the cities were in abeyance. In his own camp and as far beyond itas his sword could reach the soldier of fortune was lord, absolute anduncontrolled.

  This trouble kept me turning and tossing for a good hour. At onemoment, I made up my mind to rouse my lady before it was light and begone with the dawn, if I could persuade her; at another, I judged itbetter to wait until the camp was struck and the horses were saddled,and then to bid Tzerclas, while our numbers were something like equal,go his way and let us go ours--to Frankfort or Cassel, or whereverstrong walls and honest citizens, with wives and daughters of theirown, held out a prospect of safety.

  The mind once roused to activity works, whether a man will or no. WhenI had thought that matter threadbare, I fell, in my own despite and tomy great torment, on another; the gold necklace. Through the day, andpending some opportunity of restoring the chain by stealth, I hadshunned its owner. Her dejection, her silence, the way in which shedrooped in the saddle, all had reproached me. To avoid that reproach,still more to avoid the meekness of her eyes, I had ridden at adistance from her, sometimes at the head of our company, sometimes atthe tail, but never where she rode. And all day I had had a dozenthings to consider.

  Yet, in spite of this care and preoccupation, I had not succeeded inkeeping her out of my mind. At fords and broken bits of the road, orat steep places where the track wound above the Werra, the thought,'How will she cross this?' had occurred to me, so that I had found ithard to hold off from her at such places. And, then, there was thenecklace. It burned in my pocket. It made me feel, whenever my handlighted on it, like a thief, and as mean as the meanest. For a time,it is true, after our meeting with Tzerclas, I had managed to forgetit; but now, in the watches of th
e night, I was consumed with longingto be rid of the thing, to see it back in her possession, to close thematter before some inconceivable trick of spiteful fortune put it outof my power to do so. For, what if an accident happened to me and thechain were found in my pocket? What would she think of me then? Or ifthe last accident of all befell me, and she never got her own?

  These imaginations, working in a mind already fevered, spurred me sopainfully that I felt I could hardly wait till morning. Two or threetimes in the night I rose on my elbow and looked round the sleepingcamp, and wished that I could return the chain to her then and there.

  I could not. And at last, not long before daybreak, I fell asleep. Buteven then the chain did not leave me at peace. It haunted my dreams.It slid through my fingers and fell away into unfathomable depths. Ora man with his face hidden dangled it before my eyes, and went away,away, away, while I stood unable to move hand or foot. Or I wasdigging in a pit for it, digging with nails and bleeding fingers,believing it to be another inch, always another inch below, yet neverable to reach it however hard I worked.

  I awoke at last, bathed in perspiration and unrefreshed, to find thesun an hour up and the camp beginning to stir itself. Here and there aman was renewing the fires, while his fellows sat up yawning, or,crouching chin and knees together, looked on drowsily. The chillmorning air, the curling smoke, the song of the lark as it soared intothe blue heaven, the snort and neigh of the tethered horses, thesounds of waking life and reality seemed to bless me. I thanked Heavenit was a dream.

  Young Jacob was tending our fire, and I sat awhile, watching himsleepily. 'It will be a fine day,' I said at last, preparing to get tomy feet.

  'For certain,' he answered. Then he looked at me shyly. 'You were inthe wars, last night, Master Martin?' he said.

  'In the wars?' I exclaimed. 'What do you mean?' And I stared at him;waiting, with one knee and one foot on the ground for his answer.

  He pointed to my cloak. I looked down, and saw to my surprise a greatslit in it--a clean cut in the stuff, a foot long. For a moment Ilooked at the slit, wondering stupidly and trying to remember how Icould have done it. Then a sudden flash, of intelligence entered mymind, and with a dreadful pang of terror, I thrust my hand into mypouch. The chain was gone!

  I sprang to my feet. I tore off the pouch and peered into it. I shookmy clothes like one possessed. I stooped and searched the ground whereI had lain. But all fruitlessly. The chain was gone!

  As soon as I knew this for certain, I turned on Jacob, and seizing himby the throat, shook him to and fro. 'Wretch!' I said. 'You haveslept! You have slept and let us be robbed! You have ruined me!'

  He gurgled out a startled denial, and the others came round us and gothim from me. But my outcry had roused all our part of the camp; evenmy lady put her head out of the tent and asked what was the matter.Some one told her.

  'That is bad,' she said kindly. 'What is it you have lost, Martin?'

  Over her shoulder I saw a pale face peer out--Marie Wort's; and on theinstant I felt my rage die down into a miserable chill, the chill ofdespair.

  'Seven ducats,' I said sullenly, looking down at the ground, for thetruth, at sight of her, crushed me. I was a thief! This had made meone. Who was I to cry out that I was robbed?

  'It must be one of the strangers,' my lady said in a low voice andwith an air of disturbance. 'Do you----'

  I sprang away without waiting to hear more--they must have thought memad. I tore to the spot where I had diced the night before. Three orfour men sat round the fire, swearing and grumbling, as is the mannerof their kind in the morning; but the man I wanted was not among them.

  'Where is Ludwig?' I panted. 'Where is he?'

  A form, wrapped head and all in a cloak, struggled for a moment withits coverings, and freeing itself at last, rose to a sitting posture.It was Captain Ludwig.

  'Who wants me?' he muttered sleepily.

  'I!' I cried, stooping and seizing him by the shoulder. I wastrembling with excitement. 'I have been robbed! Do you hear, man? Ihave been robbed! In the night!'

  He shook me off impatiently. 'Well, what is that to me?' he grunted.And he turned to warm himself.

  'Where is the Saxon who sat by me last night?' I demanded, almostbeside myself with fury.

  'How do I know?' he answered, shrugging his shoulders peevishly.'Robbed? Well, you are not the first person that has been robbed. Youneed not make such an outcry about it. There is more than one thiefabout, eh, Taddeo?' And he winked cunningly at his comrade.

  The man's indifference maddened me. I could scarcely keep my hands offhim. Fortunately, Taddeo's answer put an end to my doubts.

  . . . Ludwig, all his indifference cast to the winds,continued to stamp and scream . . .]

  'There is one less, at any rate, captain,' he said carelessly,stooping forward to stir the embers. 'The Saxon is gone.'

  'Himmel! He has, has he? Without leave?' Ludwig answered. 'The worsefor him if we catch him, that is all!'

  'He went off with the German and his servants an hour before sunrise,'Taddeo said with a yawn.

  'He had better not let our noble general overtake him!' Ludwiganswered grimly, while I stood still, stricken dumb by the news. 'Butenough of that. Where is my cap?'

  Taddeo pushed it towards him with his foot, and he took it up and putit on. He had no sooner done so, however, than a thought seemed tostrike him. He snatched the cap off again, and, plunging his hand intoit, groped in the lining. The next instant he sprang to his feet witha howl of rage.

  Taddeo looked at him in astonishment. 'What is it?' he asked.

  For answer, Ludwig ran at him and dealt him a tremendous kick. 'There,pig, that is for you!' he cried vengefully, his eyes almost startingfrom his head. 'You will not ask what it is next time! That Saxonhound has robbed me--that is what it is. But he shall pay for it. Heshall hang before night! Every ducat I had he has taken, pig, dog,vermin that he is! But I'll be even with him. I'll lash----'

  And Master Ludwig, all his indifference cast to the winds, continuedto stamp and scream so loudly that in the end Tzerclas overheard him,and appeared.

  'What is this?' the general said harshly. 'Is that man mad?'

  Ludwig grew a little calmer at sight of him. 'The Saxon, Heller,' heanswered, scowling. 'He has deserted with fifty ducats of mine,general; good honest money!'

  'The worse for you,' Tzerclas answered cynically. 'And the worse forhim, if I catch him. He will hang.'

  'He has taken a gold chain of mine also,' I said, thrusting myselfforward.

  The general looked hard at me. 'Umph!' he said. 'Which way has hegone?'

  'He left with the German gentleman and his two servants at daybreak,'Taddeo answered, rubbing himself. 'I thought that he had orders to gowith them.'

  'He has gone north, then?'

  'North they started,' Taddeo whimpered.

  The general turned to Ludwig. 'Take two men,' he said curtly, 'andfollow him. But, whether you catch him or not, see that you are backtwo hours before noon. And let me have no more noise.'

  Ludwig saluted hastily, and, it will be believed, lost no time inobeying his orders. In two minutes he was in the saddle, and dashedout of camp, followed by two of his men and one of my lady's, whom Itook leave to add to the party for the better care of my property,should it be recovered. I looked after them with longing eyes, andlistened to the last beat of the hoofs as they passed through theforest. And then for three hours I had to wait in a dreadful state ofsuspense and inaction. At the end of that time the party rode inagain, the horses bloody with spurring, the riders gloomy andchapfallen. They had galloped four leagues without coming on theslightest trace of the fugitive or his companions.

  'The German never went north,' Ludwig said, looking darkly at hischief.

  Tzerclas smoothed his chin with his thumb and forefinger. 'Are yousure of that?' he asked.

  'Quite, general. They have all gone south together,' Ludwig answered,'and are far enough away by this time.'

  'Umph! Well, we
start in an hour.'

  And that was all! I wandered away and stood staring at the ground. Iremembered that Peter the locksmith had valued the chain at twohundred ducats, a sum exceeding any I could pay. But that was not theworst. What was I to say to the girl? How was I to explain a piece offolly, mischief, call it what you will, that had turned out so badly?If I told her the truth, would she believe me?

  At that thought I started. Why tell her the truth at all? Why notleave her in ignorance? She would be none the worse, for the chain wasgone. And I, who had never meant to steal it, should be the better,seeing that I should escape the humiliation of confessing what I haddone. Confession could do no good to her. And in what a position itwould place me!

  Leaning against a tree and driving my heel moodily into the soil, Iwas still battling with this temptation--for a temptation I knew itwas, even then--when a light touch fell on my sleeve. I turned, andthere was the girl herself, waiting to speak to me!