CHAPTER XXIII
THE JOY OF TEMPTATION
The revolting details were kept from the women. They were not permittedto know of the ugly thing that sweltered in the dark corridor belowtheir very feet. Late in the night, a small body of men, acting underorders, carried the unfortunate guard down into the valley and buriedhim. Only the most positive stand on the part of the white men preventedthe massacre of the prisoners by the friends and fellow-servants of themurdered man. A secret trial by jury, at a later day, was promised byLord Deppingham.
There was but little sleep in the chateau that night. The charity ballwas forgotten--or if recalled at all, only in connection with thethought of what it came so near to costing its promoters.
No further disturbances occurred. A strict watch was preserved; thepicturesque drawbridge was lifted and there were lights on the terraceand galleries; men slept within easy reach of their weapons. The siegehad begun in earnest. Men had been slain and their blood was crying outfor vengeance; the voice of justice was lost in the clamourings of rage.
Breakfast found no laggards; the lazy comforts of the habitually latewere abandoned for the more stirring interests that had come to occupythe time and thoughts of all concerned. The Princess was quite serene.She lightly announced that the present state of affairs was no worsethan that which she was accustomed to at home. The court ofRapp-Thorberg was ever in a state of unrest, despite its outwardsuggestion of security. Outbreaks were common among the masses; somehow,they were suppressed before they grew large enough to be noticed by thewide world.
"We invariably come out on top," she philosophised, "and so shall wehere. At home we always eat, drink and make merry, for to-morrow nevercomes."
"That's all very nice," said Lady Agnes plaintively, "but I'm thinkingof yesterday. Those fellows who were killed can't die to-morrow, youknow; it occurred to them yesterday. It's always yesterday after onedies."
Soon after breakfast was over, Chase announced his intention to visiteach of the gates in turn. The Princess strolled with him as far as thebridge at the foot of the terrace. They stopped in the shade of a clumpof trees that hung upon the edge of the stream. As they were gravelydiscussing the events of the night, Neenah came up to them from beyondthe bridge. Her dark, brilliant face was glowing with excitement; thecheerful adoration that one sees in a dog's eyes shone in hers as shesalaamed gracefully to the "Sahib." She had no eyes for royalty.
"Excellency," she began breathlessly, "it is Selim who would haveprivate speech with the most gracious sahib. It is to be quick,excellency. Selim is under the ground, excellency."
"In the cellars?"
"Yes, excellency. It is so dark there that one cannot see, but Neenahwill lead you. Selim has sent me. But come now!"
Chase felt his ears burn when he turned to find a delicate, significantsmile on Genevra's lips. "Don't let me detain you," she said, ever sopolitely.
"Wait, please!" he exclaimed. "Is Selim hurt?" he demanded of Neenah,who shook her head vigorously.
"Then, there is no reason why you should not accompany us. Princess."
"I am not at all necessary to the undertaking," she said coldly, turningto leave him.
"Selim has found fuses and gunpowder laid in the cellars, excellency--inthe secret vaults," began Neenah eagerly, divining the cause of thewhite lady's hesitation.
This astounding piece of news swept away the feeble barrier Genevrawould have erected in her pique. Eagerly she joined in questioning thePersian girl, but Neenah would only reply that Selim was waiting for thesahib. The Princess was immeasurably consoled to find that thebody-servant had destroyed the fuses and that they were in no immediatedanger of being blown to pieces. She consented to accompany Chase intothe cellars, a spirit of adventure overcoming certain scruples whichmight have restrained her under other conditions.
Neenah led them through the wine cellars and down into the vaults beyondthe dungeons. They descended three steep flights of stone steps, intothe cold, damp corridors of the lowermost cellars. Neenah explained thatit was necessary to move cautiously and without lights. Selim wasconfident that there was at least one traitor among the servants. ThePrincess clutched Chase's hand tightly as they stole through the bleak,chill corridor; she found herself wondering if the girl was to betrusted. What if she were leading them into a trap? She would havewhispered her fears into Chase's ear had not a sharp "sh!" come from thegirl who was leading. Genevra felt a queer little throb of hatred forthe girl--she could not explain it.
The dungeon was off to the right. They could hear the insistent murmurof voices, with now and then a laugh from the distant cells. The guardcould be heard scoffing at his charges. With a caution that seemedwholly absurd to the two white people, Neenah guided them through themaze of narrow passages, dark as Erebus and chill as the grave. Chasechecked a hysterical impulse to laugh aloud at the proceedings; it waslike playing at a children's game.
He was walking between the two women, Neenah ahead, Genevra behind; eachclasped one of his hands. Suddenly he found himself experiencing anoverpowering desire to exert the strength of his arm to draw thePrincess close--close to his insistent body. The touch of her flesh, theclutch of her cold little hand, filled him with the most exquisite senseof possession; the magnetism of life charged from one to the other,striking fire to the blood; sex tingled in this delicious riot of thesenses; all went to inspire and encourage the reckless joy that wasmastering him. He felt his arm grow taut with the irresistible impulse.He was forgetting Neenah, forgetting himself--thinking only of theopportunity and its fascination. In another instant he would have drawnher hand to his lips: Neenah came to a standstill and uttered a warningwhisper. Chase recovered himself with a mighty start, a chill as of oneavoiding an unseen peril sweeping over him. Genevra heard the sharp,painful intake of his breath and felt the sudden relaxation of hisfingers. She was not puzzled; she, too, had felt the magic of the touchand her blood was surging red; she knew, then, that she had beenclasping his hand with a fervour that was as unmistakable as it wasshameless.
She was again forgetting that princesses should dwell in the narrowrealm of self.
Neenah may have felt the magnetic current that coursed through thesesurcharged creatures: she was smiling mysteriously to herself.
"Wait here," she whispered to Chase, ever so softly. She released hishand and moved off in the blackness of the passage. "I will bringSelim," came back to them.
"Oh!" fell faintly, tremulously from Genevra's lips. It was a trap,after all! But it was not the trap laid by a traitor. She fell alla-quiver. Her heart fluttered violently, her breath came quickly. Alonewith him--and their blood leaping to the touch that thrilled!
Chase could no more have restrained the hand that went out suddenly inquest of hers than he could have checked his own heart throbs. A wave ofexquisite joy swept over him--the joy of a temptation that knew no fearor conscience. He found her cold little hand and clasped it in tensefingers--fingers that throbbed with the call to passion. He drew herclose--their bodies touched and sweetly trembled. His lips were close toher ear--the smell of her hair was in his quivering nostrils. He heardher quick, sharp breathing.
"Are you afraid?" he whispered in tones he had never heard before.
"Yes," she murmured convulsively--"of you! Please, please, don't!" Atthe same time, she tightened her clutch upon his hand and crept closerto him, governed by an unconquerable craving. Chase had the sensation ofsmothering; he could not believe the senses which told him that she wasresponding to his appeal. His brain was whirling, his heart boundinglike mad. Her voice, soft and appealing, turned his blood to fire.
"Genevra!" he murmured--almost gasped--in his delirium. Their bodieswere pressed close to each other--his arms went about her slender figuresuddenly and she was strained to his breast, locked to him with bondsthat seemed unbreakable. Her face was lifted to his. The blackness ofthe passage was impenetrable, but love was the guide. He found her lipsin one wild, glorious kiss.
A door creaked sharp
ly. He released her. Their quivering arms fell away;they drew ever so slightly apart, still under the control of theinfluence which had held them for that brief moment. She was tremblingviolently. A soft, wailing sigh, as of pain, came from her lips.
Then the glimmer of a light came to them through the half open door atthe end of the passage. They gazed at it without comprehension, dumb intheir sudden weakness. A shadowy figure came out through the door andSelim's voice, low and tense, called to them.
Still speechless, they moved forward involuntarily. He did not attemptto take her hand. He was afraid--vastly afraid of what he had done,unaccountable as it may seem. That piteous sigh wrought shame in hisheart. He felt that he had wronged her--had seized upon a willing,hapless victim when she had not the power to defend herself against herown impulses.
"Forgive me," he murmured.
"It is too late," she replied. Then his hand sought hers again and,dizzy with emotion, he led her up to the open door. As they passed intothe huge, dimly lighted chamber, he turned to look into her face. Shemet his gaze and there were tears in her eyes. Selim was ahead of them.She shook her head sadly and he understood.
"Can we ever forget?" she murmured plaintively.
"Never!" he whispered.
"Then we shall always regret--always regret!" she said, withdrawing herhand. "It was the beginning and the end."
"Not the end, dearest one--if we are always to regret," he interposedeagerly. "But why the end? You _do_ love me! I know it! And I worshipyou--oh, you don't know how I worship you, Genevra! I--"
"Hush! We were fools! Don't, please! I do _not_ love you. I was carriedaway by--Oh, can't you understand? Remember what I am! You knew and yethave degraded me in my own eyes. Is my own self-respect nothing? Youwill laugh and you may boast after I am married to--"
"Genevra!" he protested as if in great pain.
"Excellency," came from the lips of Selim, at the lower end of thechamber, breaking in sharply upon their little world. "There is no timeto be lost." Time to be lost! And he had held her in his arms! Time tobe lost! All the rest of Time was to be lost! "They may return at anymoment."
Chase pulled himself together. He looked into her eyes for a moment,finding nothing there but a command to go. She stood straight andunyielding on the very spot which had seen her trembling with emotionbut a moment before.
"Coming, Selim," he said, and moved away from her side as Neenah cametoward them from the opposite wall. Genevra did not move. She stoodquite still and numb, watching his tall figure crossing the stone floor.Ah, what a man he was! The little Persian wife of Selim, after waitingfor a full minute, gently touched the arm of the Princess. Genevrastarted and looked down into the dark, accusing, smiling eyes. Sheflushed deeply and hated herself.
"Shall we go back?" she asked nervously. "I--I have seen enough. Come,Neenah. Lead me back to--"
"Most glorious excellency," said Neenah, shaking her pretty head, "weare to wait here. The sahib and Selim will join us soon."
"Where are they going?" demanded the Princess, a feeling of awe comingover her. "I don't want to be left here alone." Chase and Selim hadopened a low, heavy iron door at the lower end and were peering into thedarkness beyond.
"Selim will explain. He has learned much. It is the secret passage tothe coast. Be not afraid."
Genevra looked about her for the first time. They were standing in along, low room, the walls of which reeked with dampness and gave out anoxious odour. A single electric light provided a faint, almostunnatural light. Selim raised a lighted lantern as he led Chase throughthe squat door. Behind Genevra were enormous casks, a dozen or more,reaching almost to the ceiling. A number of boxes stood close by, whileon the opposite side of the chamber four small iron chests were to beseen, dragged out from recesses in the distant corner. It was not unlikethe mysterious treasure cave of the pirates that her brother hadstealthily read about to her in childhood days. Observing her look ofwonder, Neenah vouchsafed a casual explanation.
"It is the wine cellar and the storeroom. The iron chests contain thesilver and gold plate that came from the great Rajah of Murpat inexchange for the five huge rubies which now adorn his crown. The Rajahbartered his entire service of gold and silver for those wonderful gems.The old sahibs stored the chests here many years ago. But few know oftheir existence. See! They were hidden in the walls over there. VonBlitz has found them."
"Von Blitz!" in amazement.
"He has been here. He has carried away many chests. There were twenty inall."
"And--and he will return for these?" queried the Princess in alarm.
"Assuredly, most glorious one. Soon, perhaps. But be not afraid. Selimcan close the passage door. He cannot get in. He will be fooled, eh? Whyshould you be afraid? Have you not with you the most wonderful, the mostbrave sahib? Would he not give his life for you?" The dark eyes sparkledwith understanding--aye, even mischief. Genevra felt that this Orientalwitch knew everything. For a long time she looked in uncertain mood uponthat smiling, wistful face. Then she said softly, moved by anirresistible impulse to confess something, even obscurely:
"Oh, if only I were such as you, Neenah, and could live forever on thisdear island!"
Neenah's smile deepened, her eyes glowed with discernment. With ameaning gleam in their depths, she said: "But, most high, there are noprinces here. There is no one to whom the most gracious one could besold. No one who could pay more than a dozen rubies. Women are cheaphere, and you would be a woman, not a most beautiful princess."
"I would not care to be a princess, perhaps."
"You love my Sahib Chase?" demanded Neenah abruptly, eagerly.
"Neenah!" gasped Genevra, with a startled look. Neenah looked intentlyinto the unsteady, blue-grey eyes and then bent over to kiss the hand ofthe Princess. The latter laughed almost aloud in her confusion. Shecaught herself up quickly and said with some asperity: "You foolishchild, I am to become a prince's wife. How can I love your sahib? Whatnonsense! I am to marry a prince and he is not to pay for me in rubies."
"Ah, how wonderful!" cried Neenah, with ravishing candour. "A prince fora husband and the glorious Sahib Chase for a lover all your life! Ah!"The exclamation was no less than a sigh of rapturous endorsement.
The Princess stared at her first in consternation, then in dismay.Before she could find words to combat this alarming prophecy, soingenuously presented to her reflections, Selim and Hollingsworth Chasereturned to the chamber. She was distressed, even confounded, to findthat she was staring at Chase with a strange, abashed curiosity growingin her eyes--a stare that she suddenly was afraid he might observe andappreciate. A wave of revulsion, of shame, spread over her whole being.She shuddered slightly as she turned her face away from his eager gaze:it was as if she recognised the fear that he was even now contemplatingthe future as Neenah had painted it for her.
She caught and checked a horrid arraignment of herself. Such conditionsas Neenah presented were not unknown to her. With the swiftness oflightning, she recalled the things that had been said of more than onegrand dame in Europe--aye, of women at her own court. Even a princessshe had known who--but for shame! she cried in her heart. It could notbe! Despite herself, a cruel, distressing shyness came over her as heapproached, his eyes glowing with the light she feared yet craved. Wasthis man to remain in her life? _Was he?_ Would he come to her and wagethe unfair war? Was he honest? Was he even now coveting her as other menhad coveted the women she knew and despised? She found herselfconfronted by the shocking conviction that he _knew_ she could never behis wife. He _knew_ she was to wed another, and yet--It wasunbelievable!
She met his eager advance with a quick, shrill laugh of defiance, andnoted the surprise in his eyes. Dim as the light was, she could havesworn that the look in those eyes was honest. Ah, that silly Neenah! Thereaction was as sudden as the revolt had been. Her smile grew warm andshy.
"Von Blitz has been here," he was saying, half diffidently, stillsearching deep in her eyes. "He's played hob. And he's likely to returnat any
minute."
"Then let us go quickly. I have no desire to meet the objectionable Mr.Von Blitz. Isn't it dreadfully dangerous here, Mr. Chase?" He mistookthe slight tremour in her voice for that of fear. A quaint look cameinto his face, the lines about the corners of his mouth droopingdolefully.
"Mr. Chase?" he said, with his winning smile. "Now?"
"Yes, now and always, Mr. Chase," she said steadily. "You know that itcannot be otherwise. I can't always be a fool."
His face turned a deep red; his lips parted for retort to this truculentestimate, but he controlled himself.
"Yes, it is dangerous here," he said quietly, answering her question."As soon as Selim bars that door upon the inside, we'll go. I was a foolto bring you here."
"How could you know what the dangers would be?" she asked.
"I'll confess I didn't expect Von Blitz," he said drily.
"But you did expect--" she began, with a start, biting her lips.
"There's a vast difference between expectation and hope, Princess."Neenah had joined Selim at the door when the men re-entered the chamber.Now she was approaching with her husband.
"May Allah bless you and profit for Himself, excellencies," said thegood Selim. Neenah plainly had advanced her suspicions to the brownbody-servant. Genevra blushed and then her eyes blazed. She gave thegirl a scornful look; Neenah smiled happily, unreservedly in return.
"Allah help us, you should say, if Von Blitz returns," interposed Chasehastily. "Is the door barred?"
"No, excellency. The bars have sprung, I cannot drop them in place. Asyou know, the lock has been blown away. The charge sprung the bolts. Wemust go at once."
"Then there is no way to keep them out of the chateau?" cried Genevraanxiously.
"They can go no farther than this room," explained Selim. "We lock thedouble iron doors from the other side--the door through which you came,most glorious excellency--and they cannot enter the cellars above. Thisis the chamber which opens into the underground passage to the coast.The passage was made for escape from the chateau in case of trouble andwas known to but few. My father was the servant of Sahib Wyckholme, andI used to live in the chateau. We came to the island when I was a baby.My father had been with the sahib in Africa. I came to know of thispassage, for my father and my mother were to go with the masters ifthere was an attack. Five years ago I was given a place in the company'soffice, and I never came up here after my parents died of the plague. Wewere--"
"The plague!" cried the Princess.
"It was said to have been the plague," said Selim bitterly. "They diedin great convulsions while spending the night in the Khan. That's theinn of Aratat, excellencies. The great sahibs sent their stomachs awayto be examined--"
"Never mind, Selim," said Chase. "Tell us about the passage there."
"Once there was a boat--a launch, which lay hidden below the cliffs onthe north coast. The passage led to this boat. It was always ready toput out to sea. But one night it was destroyed by the great rocks whichfell from the cliffs in an earthquake. When I came here, I at oncethought of the passage. You will see that the doors into the cellarcannot be opened from this chamber; the locks and bolts are on the otherside. I knew where the keys were hidden. It was easy to unlock the doorsand come into this room. I found that some one had been here before me.The door to the passage had been forced open from without--cracked bydynamite. Many of the treasure boxes have been removed. Von Blitz washere not an hour ago. He wears boots. I saw the footprints among thenaked ones in the passage. They will come back for the other chests.Then they will blow up the passage way with powder and escape from thechateau through it will be cut off. I have found the kegs of powder inthe passage and have destroyed the fuses. It will be of no avail, sahib.They will blow it up at the other end, which will be just the same."
"There's no time to be lost," cried Chase. "We must bring enough mendown here to capture them when they return--shoot 'em if necessary. Comeon! We can surprise them if we hurry."
They were starting across the chamber toward the door, when a gruff,sepulchral oath came rolling up to the chamber through the secretpassage. Quick as a flash Selim, who realised that they could not reachand open the door leading to the stairs, turned in among the huge winecasks, first blinding his lantern. He whispered for the others tofollow. In a moment they were squeezing themselves through the narrowspaces between the dark, strong-smelling casks, back into a darkness soopaque that it seemed lifeless. Selim halted them in a recess near thewall and there they huddled, breathlessly awaiting the approach of theinvaders.
"They won't suspect that we are here," whispered Selim as the door tothe passage creaked. "Keep quiet! Don't breathe!"
The single electric light was still burning, as Selim had found it whenhe first came. The door swung open slowly, heavily, and Jacob von Blitz,half naked, mud-covered, reeking with perspiration, and pantingsavagely, stepped into the light. Behind him came a man with a lantern,and behind him two others.
They were white men, all. Von Blitz turned suddenly and cursed the manwith the lantern. The fellow was ready to drop with exhaustion.Evidently it had been no easy task to remove the chests.