CHAPTER XXXI
What was preparing, or what my lord intended by conduct soextraordinary I had no time to consider. For though I got Cassel intothe hall again undetected--which was of itself a marvel--when it cameto taking the key from the lock my hand shook so violently with fearand excitement that the first attempt failed. Before I had succeededthe steward bustled up through the crowd, and seeing what I was about,bade me desist with some roughness.
"Do you want an escape that way?" said he, bursting with importance."Leave it to me. Here, hands off, man." And he drew me into the halland locked the door.
So there I was, fixed as it were in the girl's empty place, withCassel grinning at me on one side and the steward grumbling on theother, and the crowd so thick about us that it was impossible for meto budge an inch. It amazed me that the girl's absence had not yetbeen noticed, but I knew that in no short time it must be, and mymisery was in proportion. Presently "Hallo," cried the steward,peeping first on one side of me and then on the other. "Where is thatslut that was here?"
"In with your master," said Cassel coolly.
"But Charnock is with him."
"Well, I suppose he can have two at a time if he pleases, Mr.Pudding-head! Thousand devils! Are we going to be kept in this crowdall night?"
The steward sniffed his indignation, but the answer satisfied him forthe time; and the messengers and tipstaves being engaged at thefarther end of the hall in shepherding their prisoners on the side ofthe house-door, and being crowded upon besides by gentlemen whom theyfeared to offend, had no notion of what had happened or that theirtale was not complete. Someone had lowered and lighted a roundlanthorn that hung in the middle of the hall; but the light hanginglow, and being intercepted by the heads of those before us, barelyreached the corner in which I stood. Still I knew that this was but arespite, and my relief and joy were great, when a cry of "Price!Price!" was raised, and "Price! Who is he? His Grace wants Price!"passing from lip to lip, the steward thrust me forward, and called tothe nearest to make a way for me; and this being done I was speedilypassed through the crowd to a door at the farther side of the hall,where two servants who stood on guard there, having satisfiedthemselves that I was the man, I was admitted.
I knew that I was not yet out of the wood. Moreover I had cause todoubt how I now stood in the Duke's favour, or what might be hisintentions towards me. But at least I had escaped from the hall andfrom the steward whom I had begun to regard with a mixture of fear andhatred; and I prepared to face the ordeal before me with a couragethat now seems astonishing. However, for the moment my courage was notto be proved. The room in which I found myself was large and lofty,lined for the most part with books, and adorned with marble busts,that gleamed ghostly in the obscured corners, or stood out bright andwhite where the radiance of the candles fell on them. In the middle ofthe rich dark carpet that covered the floor stood a table, furnishedwith papers, pens, and books; and this, with three inquisitorialchairs, set along the farther side of it, had a formidable air. Butthe three persons for whose accommodation the chairs had been placed,were now on their feet, standing in a group before the hearth, and sodeeply engrossed in the subject under discussion that, if they wereaware of my entrance, they took no notice of it.
The Earl of Marlborough, the more handsome and courtly of the twonoblemen whom I had seen pass through the hall, a man even then of agreat and splendid presence and address, though not what he afterwardsbecame, was speaking, when finding myself unheeded, I gathered my witsto listen. "I have no right to give advice, your Grace," he was sayingin suave and courtly accents, "But I think you will be ill-advised ifyou pay much attention to what these rogues allege, or make itpublic."
"No man will be safe!" urged his companion, with, it seemed to me, anote of anxiety in his voice.
"Better hang them out of hand," responded the Earl blandly. And hetook snuff and delicately dusted his upper lip.
"Yet I do not know," answered the Duke, who stood between the two withhis eyes on the fire, and his back towards me. "If we go too fast,people may say, my lord, that we fear what they might disclose."
The Earl laughed blandly. "You had little gain by Preston," said he,"and you kept him long enough."
"My Lord Devonshire is anxious to go into the matter thoroughly."
"Doubtless he has his reasons," Lord Marlborough answered, shrugginghis shoulders. "The question is--whether your Grace has the same."
"I know none why we should _not_ go into it," the Duke answered inmeasured tones which showed pretty clearly that in spite of hisgood-nature he was not to be led blindfold. "They can have nothing tosay that will reflect on me. And I am sure," he continued, slightlyinclining his head in courteous fashion, "that the same may be said ofLord Marlborough."
"_Cela va sans dire!_" answered the Earl in a voice so unconstrainedand with a gesture so proud and easy that if he lied--as some havebeen found ready to assert--he showed a mastery of that art alikeamazing and incredible. "And of Lord Godolphin also."
"By God, yes!" that peer exclaimed, in such a hurry to assent that hiswords tumbled over one another.
"Just so. I say so, my lord," the Earl repeated with a faint ring ofscorn in his tone, while Lord Godolphin wiped his forehead. "Butinnocence is no shield against calumny, and if these rogues canprolong their lives by a lie, do you think that they will not tellone? Or even ten?"
"Ay, by God, will they!" cried Godolphin. "Or twenty. I'll lay theelong odds to that."
My lord bowed and admitted that it was possible.
"So possible," Lord Marlborough continued, lightly and pleasantly,"that it is not long since your Grace, unless I am mistaken, sufferedafter that very fashion. I have no mind to probe your secrets,Duke--God forbid! I leave such tasks to my Lord Portland! But, unlessI am in error, when you last left office advantage was taken ofsome"--he paused, and then with an easy motion of his whitehands--"some trifling indiscretion. It was exaggerated and increasedtenfold, and placed in a light so false that"--he paused again to takea pinch of snuff from his box--"that for a time even the King wasinduced to believe--that my Lord Shrewsbury was corresponding withFrance. Most amusing!"
The Duke did not answer for a moment; then in a voice that shook alittle, "It is an age of false witnesses," he said.
"Precisely," Lord Marlborough answered, shrugging his shoulders withcharming _bonhomie_. "That is what I say. They do not greatly hurt youor me. We have clear consciences and clean hands; and can defy theseruffians. But the party must be considered."
"There is something in that," said the Duke, nodding and speaking inhis natural tone.
"And smaller men, as innocent, but more vulnerable--they too should beconsidered."
"True," said Lord Godolphin, nodding. "True, by God."
The Duke assented thoughtfully. "I will bear it in mind," he said. "Ithink it is a questionable policy."
"In any event I am sure that your Grace's prudence will steer thematter to a safe issue," Lord Marlborough answered in his courtliestfashion. "I thank Heaven that you are here in this emergency, and notPortland or Auverquerque, who see a foe to the King in everyEnglishman."
"I should be sorry to see any but an Englishman in the Secretary'soffice," the Duke said, with a little heat.
"And yet that is what we have to expect," Lord Marlborough answeredplacidly. "But we are detaining your Grace. Come, my lord, we must begoing. I suppose that Sir John is not taken?"
"Sir John Fenwick?"
"Yes."
"It has not been reported."
With that the two noblemen took a formal farewell, and the Dukebegging them to go out by his private door that they might avoid thepress in the hall, they were crossing the room in that direction, whena sudden hubbub arose outside and a cry of alarm, and before they hadmore than raised their eyebrows, asking one another politely what itmeant, the door beside which I stood was opened, and a gentleman camein. He looked with a flustered face at the Duke. "Your Grace'spardon," he said hurried
ly. "One of the prisoners has escaped!"
"Escaped!" said the Duke. "How?"
"The woman has somehow slipped away. Through the crowd it is believed,your Grace. The messenger----"
But at that moment the unfortunate official himself appeared in thedoorway, looking scared out of his life, "What is this?" said the Dukesharply.
The man whimpered. "'Fore God it is not my fault," he cried. "Shenever passed through the door! May I die if she did, your Grace."
"She may be still in the hall?"
"We have searched it through and through!" the man answereddesperately. "It remains only to search the house, your Grace--withyour permission."
"What!" the Duke cried, really or apparently startled. "Why thehouse?"
"She must have slipped into the house, for she never went out!" theman answered doggedly. "She never went out!"
The Duke shrugged his shoulders and turned to Lord Marlborough. "Whatdo you think?" said he.
The Earl raised his eyebrows. By this time half the concourse in thehall had pressed to the doorway, and were staring into the room. "CallMartin," said the Duke. "And stand back there a little, if youplease," he continued haughtily. "This is no public court, but myhouse, good people."
It seemed to me--but I, behind the door, was in a boundlessfright--that the steward would never come. He did come at last, andpushing his way through the crowd, presented himself with a bustlingconfidence that failed to hide his apprehensions. Nor was the Duke'sreception of him calculated to set him at his ease.
"Stand out, man!" he said harshly, and with a nearer approach to thetyrannical than I had hitherto seen in a man, who was perhaps thebest-natured of his species. "Stand out and answer me, and noevasions. Did I not give you an order of the strictest character, tolock the inner door and leave it for nothing, and no one--while thisbusiness was forward?"
Martin gasped. "May it please your Grace," he said, "I----"
"Answer, fool, what I ask," the Duke cried, cutting him short with theutmost asperity. "Did I not give you those orders?"
The man was astonished, and utterly terrified. "Yes," he said. "It istrue, your Grace."
"And did you obey them?"
Poor Martin, seeing that all the trouble was like to rest on his back,answered as in all probability the Duke expected. "I did, your Grace,"he said roundly. "I have not been an arm's length from the door, norhas it been unlocked. I have the key here," he continued, producing itand holding it up.
"Has anyone passed through the door while you have been on guard?"
The steward had gone too far to confess the truth now, and sworepositively and repeatedly that no one had passed through the door orcould have passed through the door; that it was impossible; that thedoor had been locked all the time, and the key in his possession:finally, that if the girl had gone through the door she must have gonethrough the keyhole, and was a witch. At which some present crossedthemselves.
"I am satisfied," said the Duke, addressing the messenger. "Doubtlessshe slipped through the crowd. But as you are responsible and willhave to answer for the girl, I would advise you to lose no time insearching such of Mr. Ferguson's haunts as are known to you. It isprobable that she will take refuge in one or other of them. However, Iwill report the matter as favourably as I can to the council. You cango. Lodge the others according to the warrants, and make no secondblunder. See these people out, Martin. And for you, my lords, I amsorry that this matter has detained you."
"_La fille--ne velait pas beaucoup?_" said the Earl curiously.
"_Pas de tout!_" my lord answered, and smiling, shrugged hisshoulders. "_Rien!_"