CHAPTER XXVIII
SPEECH WITH NALADI
If you were ever rudely aroused from pleasant dreams by a sudden dashof cold water in your face, you may partially comprehend my emotionsupon hearing these words of greeting, and realizing that I was lookinginto the beautiful, pitiless eyes of the Daughter of the Sun, nowsitting upright on the couch, happily smiling at my embarrassment.
"Nay, Geoffrey Benteen," she exclaimed, significantly waving her whitehand as she noted my swift glance backward, "retire not thus suddenly.You must be a marvellous woodsman to have attained this place throughthe watchful cordon of my guards, but 'tis not likely you would sosafely run the gantlet of return. You are not so fair of visage asyour gay companion the Chevalier, yet now you are here I will enjoy ashort time with you. Yet first let us understand each other. For whatpurpose do you invade my apartment so boldly?"
"I came," I replied, believing frankness would prove my best play inthis crisis, "expecting to find not you, but your prisoner."
"Ah! you are honest, if not complimentary," a quick flash ofunderstanding in her bright eyes. "So it was another woman for whosesake you came creeping recklessly through the night! God's mercy! Ieven ventured to dream my charms had pierced the dull armor of yourcold English heart, yet here you merely stand and laugh at me,--wouldeven flee my presence as though pestilence were upon my breath. Why, Iwonder? am I not also fair? Why then flout me thus disdainfully?Naladi has not been accustomed to such harsh treatment at the hands ofyour sex."
"You are, indeed, beautiful both in form and face," I answered, seekingto avoid quarrel, "but it is not for a mere adventurer of the woods toutter words of love to such as you."
Her lips curled in sarcastic smile.
"Pish! you grow marvellously modest all at once. I bid you note thatthe passion of love cares nothing for a registry of birth--it looks toflesh and blood, not records. There is more hidden in your secretheart to-night than finds utterance upon the lips. You have the softspeech of a diplomat, full of guile and cunning. Come, I bid you tellme the whole truth. Do you think me an untutored savage, that you denyme in such disdain?"
"I know not how it may prove regarding your heart," I said boldly, nothesitating to meet her questioning eyes, "but in manner and graces youexhibit the gloss of courts."
She smiled mockingly, rising to her feet and saluting me with a lowcurtsy.
"Ah! very prettily said, senor. I perceive your objection then: youthink me fairer without than within. I dare not contend you arealtogether wrong in such conjecture. Faith, why not, senor? It wouldbe strange otherwise. All lives do not flow gently amid prosaicroutine, and my ship has been often enough upon the rocks. I havelearned reasons of deceit and cruelty in the hard school of experience.If, in years of trial, I have grown hard of judgment, reckless ofaction, it is because others have been harsh with me. Power isnaturally tyrannical. But then what use for us to dwell upon the past?So you came to-night to meet another? 'T is strange the risks a manwill run for so infinitesimal a reward. Yet, Mother of God, it givesme a pleasant tale to pour into the ears of him you call De Noyan whenwe meet again to-morrow. If I mistake not, the one you seek in secretbears the name of that gay gallant. At least, she masquerades in thiswilderness under the title of Madame de Noyan. But 'tis you, not he,her reputed husband, forsooth, who seeks her chamber in the midnight.Truly 'tis a pretty tale of romance."
It flashed upon me, as she thus lightly spoke, what infernal use anunscrupulous woman might easily make of this. The imputation lurkingin her words aroused me to defiant anger, yet before I could collect mythought to make reply, she marked my hesitancy and continued withbitter sarcasm.
"Madame possesses so sweetly innocent a face I should never havesuspected her of being an immodest wanton, were it not for the evidenceof my own eyes. 'T is a strange world, senor. Yet I have often heardthis is the way with these _grandes dames_ of France."
"It is only your own foulness of thought which places such constructionupon my coming here," I broke forth, determined I would face her downat every hazard. "You know well my purpose; I came seeking to aid oneyou held prisoner. It is all because of your sin, not ours. You haverobbed this Chevalier de Noyan of all his manhood by your cursed smilesand honeyed speech. You have made him forget his sworn duty unto herwho is his wife."
"How interesting you grow," she interrupted, her lips curling, her eyeshardening. "Senor, you grow almost handsome when your eyes flash. Soyou felt called upon to devote yourself to this poor, misused,neglected wife? I trust you have not found it an unpleasant service,or entirely without reward?"
"I felt called upon to aid her in escaping from your grip."
"Ah, indeed? Would you kindly, senor, tell me how you proposedperforming such a miracle? It remains in my memory some such effort atrelease has been made before," her eyes hardening like diamonds. "Downyonder stands a blackened post which tells how Naladi deals with thosedaring to mock her will."
"You may spare threats," I retorted, gathering courage from risinganger, "as I care nothing for your good will, nor shall I swerve aninch in the hope of escaping your savage vengeance. Madame de Noyan isso far above you in every attribute of unsullied womanhood that nowords of yours can ever besmirch her reputation; while, as to myself, Iremain so certain of my own rectitude in the action of this night, Ichallenge you to do your worst."
"No doubt the Chevalier will also feel confidence in all you say," sheadded maliciously. "I understand it is the way with the French."
"With whom your previous acquaintance seems to have rendered you mostfamiliar."
It was a wild, chance shot, for firing which I had no reason exceptingthat twice she had openly sneered at that people, and once had spokenof ships in a way strange to an inland savage. It was worth trying,however, and I marked her slight start of surprise at my insinuatingtone, and the dark shadow sweeping across her face.
"Think you so, senor? It is passing strange, then, that I should beignorant of the tongue."
"Yes, were it true," I made quick reply, encouraged by her manner,determined now to press this guessing home, and abide results. "Butyou had small difficulty comprehending the language a moment back.Permit me to remind you that it chanced to be French I spoke when firstkneeling at your bedside."
She savagely bit her red lips in rage at my words; yet more, I thought,at her own forgetfulness.
"Pish! perhaps so;" and she stamped her foot angrily on the stone slabsof the floor. "What does that prove to my discredit for you to harpupon?"
Why my accidental words should thus worry her I could not even guess.Yet, clearly enough, there lay hidden some secret here--a hideoussecret I had harshly probed. Believing this, I felt that I couldenhance my power over her by pressing it relentlessly home withwhatsoever directness of speech I dared to venture. With me, at such acrisis, decision meant action, and I advanced a step nearer, lookingher directly in the eyes. A single moment she met me with a haughtystare; then defiance faded away into pleading, and her glance wavered.Whatever the cause, she was clearly afraid.
"Who--who are you?" she faltered. "Surely we have never met before?"
"As you know already, I am Geoffrey Benteen. I only regret that yourmemory is so faulty."
"What is it you know of me?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing, Madame," and I threw into the utterance of thesewords all the irony possible. "It is not altogether strange Madameshould forget acquaintances of other days, even her native tongue,living so long in the wilderness."
It was a reckless shot, but somehow it struck the mark.
"I am a Toltec!" she cried wildly. "You speak to the Daughter of theSun."
"No doubt; 'tis a neat superstition with which to overawe savages, yetthere was one once across the water greatly resembling you,--a bityounger, perhaps,--yet who was content then with a title not nearly sohigh-sounding, until--oh, well, what need to tell the rest? Of course,it was not you?"
I would never have believed
so sudden a change could come over thecountenance of a human being, had I not witnessed it with these eyes.She had sunk back against the couch, her hands pressing her breast asif to still the wild throbbing of the heart, her great eyes staring atme in silent horror. Twice her lips moved as if attempting speech, yetno articulated sound issued from between them.
"Are you a fiend from hell?" she sobbed at last. "Why have you pursuedme here?"
"You do me far too great an honor." I made her a low bow, thoroughlyconfident I held the whip hand, provided only I did not overplay mypart. "It is the merest accident of fate which has thus thrown meagain across your path. Nor have I the slightest desire to cause youtrouble, only that through your power may come our safety."
"You--you have not followed me, then?"
"No."
I saw she was diligently studying my face in the dim light, vainlyendeavoring to recall where, under what circumstances, we had metbefore.
"Who are you?"
"Bah! what difference can a name make? Surely you are careless enoughabout your own to be lenient with another choosing to forget."
"You also are a fugitive?" I caught the sudden ring of hope in hervoice, saw a new light flash into her eyes.
"I have fled the Spaniards," I answered carelessly enough. "What oddsis that, so long as what I did has been for France? Still, as I say, Ihave no desire to play you harm provided you deal justly with us all."
"Harm? You? How could you harm me?" she questioned, evidently more atease from the change in my tone of speech. "You presume, senor; surelyyou forget you address the Queen of the Nahuacs; that even in ourremnant there remain more than a hundred warriors to do my bidding! Ican laugh at threats, senor."
I stared at her coldly.
"As you please, Madame _la reine_ Naladi, Daughter of the Sun, formerlywoman of--ah! so you do not care for me to speak that accursed word?Well, I thought you might not, so I spare you the shame. 'T is nothingto me your past, yet I would have you remember there is a people weboth know to whom your miserable horde of savages would be but amouthful. This tribe has already tested the sharpness of the Frenchsword."
Her troubled eyes fell before mine, the last faint gleam of defiancedying from her face. She glanced about the apartment, evidentlymeditating retreat from my presence, or the swift summoning of herguards. Whichever it might have been, she as evidently thought betterof it, turning toward me once more, no longer a frightened, angryAmazon, but instead a smiling, pleasant-faced woman.
"We have surely jested long enough, senor," she exclaimed with apparentlightness of demeanor. "It can never be best for us to be other thangood friends. I doubt not you are a bold man, loyal to those trustingyou, and I honor you for it. Take me, also, into that charmed circle,yet never forget I am a woman capable of doing great harm if I choose,for I have those at my command here who would die gladly at my bidding.The threat of French vengeance moves me little, senor; France isstrong, cruel, relentless; but France is not here."
"Quite true," I replied, feeling best now to permit her to enjoy herown way. "But France never forgets, never pardons, and Francepossesses arms which reach across the seas, even into this wilderness.All she needs is a guide, and I could become that. Yet if you grant myrequest I pledge that no words of mine shall result in your injury."
"Your half threat does not greatly trouble me, senor. I am no frailreed fearing a puff of air. I merely seek that duty which seems mostfair to all concerned. Pray tell me then what it is you would ask atmy hands. Nay, wait; before we go into this business be seated here,so we may more easily converse together."
It was a low stool beside the couch she indicated, and I could do noless than silently accept her courtesy, the soft, mysterious charm ofthe woman blunting my prejudice.
"Now, senor," an engaging smile rendering more beautiful the faceturned toward me. "I pray you trust me fully, and state frankly yourdemands upon Naladi."
If slightest sarcasm lurked in these softly spoken words I acknowledgetotal oblivion to it. Her fair face was the picture of earnestness,her eyes gazed frankly into mine.
"Our release, Madame."
She lifted her white hands in a sudden gesture of expostulation.
"Why ask that? It is utterly beyond my power, senor--at least, atonce," in a tone of despair, convincing me she spoke truly. "We haveour laws, which must be obeyed. It was the tribe who in battle tookyou prisoners, not I; it would cost me my position did I endeavor togive you immediate release."
"Could it be accomplished later?"
"Possibly it might."
"Will you promise me it shall?"
She hesitated, her eyes downcast, her bosom rising and falling totumultuous breathing.
"Yes," at last slowly, as if she had weighed the problem with care. "Iwill pledge you my utmost help to that end."
"There is one thing more, Queen Naladi," I contended earnestly. "It isthat Madame de Noyan be permitted meanwhile to abide with her husband."
The fair face darkened ominously. Instead of immediately answering shestepped across the room; returning, she held in her hands a small boxin which I perceived papers.
"One moment, senor; move your stool here; yes, a trifle to the leftwhere we may have clearer light shed upon these documents."
I drew it unsuspectingly to the spot indicated by her gesture, bendingforward, wondering what it might be of importance she held in her hands.
"This, senor," she began calmly, slightly unrolling a written sheet,"is, as you will easily comprehend, the very document causing myunfortunate exile in this wilderness. You will take notice--"
As she spoke, I felt myself falling. She sprang hastily back, barelyin time to escape my frenzied clutch upon her draperies; for oneinstant I clung to the stone slab of the floor desperately. Then shelaughed, her heel crunched on my gripping fingers, and, with onemuffled cry of despair, I went plunging down into the blackness.