Fair Margaret by H. Rider Haggard (page 4)

“Come!”

Then, while he followed dubiously, she led him down the length of the great room to a door with a spy-hole in the top of it, that was set in a Moorish archway at the corner.

This door she opened, and there beyond it, a drawn scimitar in his hand, stood a tall Moor on guard. Inez spoke a word to him, whereon he saluted with his scimitar and let them pass across the landing to a turret stair that lay beyond, which they descended. At its foot was another door, whereon she knocked four times. Bolts shot back, keys turned, and it was opened by a black porter, beyond whom stood a second Moor, also with drawn sword. They passed him as they had passed the first, turned down a little passage to the right, ending in some steps, and came to a third door, in front of which she halted.

“Now,” she said, “nerve yourself for the trial.”

“What trial?” he asked, supporting himself against the wall, for he found his legs still weak.

“This,” she answered, pointing to her waist, “and these,” and she touched her rich, red lips with her taper finger-points. “Would you like to practise a little, my innocent English knight, before we go out? You look as though you might seem awkward and unconvincing.”

“I think,” answered Peter drily, for the humour of the situation moved him, “that such practice is somewhat dangerous for me. It might annoy you before I had done. I will postpone my happiness until we are in the garden.”

“I thought so,” she answered; “but look now, you must play the part, or I shall suffer, who am bearing much for you.”

“I think that I may suffer also,” he murmured, but not so low that she did not catch his words.

“No, friend Pedro,” she said, turning on him, “it is the woman who suffers in this kind of farce. She pays; the man rides away to play another,” and without more ado she opened the door, which proved to be unlocked and unguarded.

Beyond the foot of some steps lay a most lovely garden. Great, tapering cypresses grew about it, with many orange-trees and flowering shrubs that filled the soft, southern air with odours. Also there were marble fountains into which water splashed from the mouths of carven lions, and here and there arbours with stone seats, whereon were laid soft cushions of many colours. It was a veritable place of Eastern delight and dreams, such as Peter had never known before he looked upon it on that languorous eve–he who had not seen the sky or flowers for so many weary weeks of sickness. It was secluded also, being surrounded by a high wall, but at one place the tall, windowless tower of some other building of red stone soared up between and beyond two lofty cypress-trees.

“This is the harem garden,” Inez whispered, “where many a painted favourite has flitted for a few happy, summer hours, till winter came and the butterfly was broken,” and, as she spoke, she dropped her veil over her face and began to descend the stairs.

CHAPTER XV

PETER PLAYS A PART

“Stop,” said Peter from the shadow of the doorway, “I fear this business, Inez, and I do not understand why it is needful. Why cannot you say what you have to say here?”

“Are you mad?” she answered almost fiercely through her veil. “Do you think that it can be any pleasure for me to seem to make love to a stone shaped like a man, for whom I care nothing at all–except as a friend?” she added quickly “I tell you, Señor Peter, that if you do not do as I tell you, you will never hear what I have to say, for I shall be held to have failed in my business, and within a few minutes shall vanish from you for ever–to my death perhaps; but what does that matter to you? Choose now, and quickly, for I cannot stand thus for long.”

“I obey you, God forgive me!” said the distraught Peter from the darkness of the doorway; “but must I really—-?”

“Yes, you must,” she answered with energy, “and some would not think that so great a penance.”

Then she lifted the corner of her veil coyly and, peeping out beneath it, called in a soft, clear voice, “Oh! forgive me, dear friend, if I have run too fast for you, forgetting that you are still so very weak. Here, lean upon me; I am frail, but it may serve.” And she passed up the steps again, to reappear in another moment with Peter’s hand resting on her shoulder.

“Be careful of these steps,” she said, “they are so slippery”–a statement to which Peter, whose pale face had grown suddenly red, murmured a hearty assent. “Do not be afraid,” she went on in her flute-like voice; “this is the secret garden, where none can hear words, however sweet, and none can see even a caress, no, not the most jealous woman. That is why in old days it was called the Sultana’s Chamber, for there at the end of it was where she bathed in the summer season. What say you of spies? Oh! yes, in the palace there are many, but to look towards this place, even for the Guardian of the Women, was always death. Here there are no witnesses, save the flowers and the birds.”

As she spoke thus they reached the central path, and passed up it slowly, Peter’s hand still upon the shoulder of Inez, and her white arm about him, while she looked up into his eyes.

“Bend closer over me,” she whispered, “for truly your face is like that of a wooden saint,” and he bent. “Now,” she went on, “listen. Your lady lives, and is well–kiss me on the lips, please, that news is worth it. If you shut your eyes you can imagine that I am she.”

Again Peter obeyed, and with a better grace than might have been expected.

“She is a prisoner in this same palace,” she went on, “and the marquis, who is mad for love of her, seeks by all means, fair or foul, to make her his wife!”

“Curse him!” exclaimed Peter with another embrace.

“Till a few days ago she thought you dead; but now she knows that you are alive and recovering. Her father, Castell, escaped from the place where he was put, and is in hiding among his friends, the Jews, where even Morella cannot find him; indeed, he believes him fled from the city. But he is not fled, and, having much gold, has opened a door between himself and his daughter.”

Here she stopped to return the embrace with much warmth. Then they passed under some trees, and came to the marble baths where the sultanas were supposed to have bathed in summer, for this place had been one of the palaces of the Kings of Granada before they lived in the Alhambra. Here Inez sat down upon a seat and loosened some garment about her throat, for the evening was very hot.

“What are you doing?” Peter asked doubtfully, for he was filled with many fears.

“Cooling myself,” she answered; “your arm was warm, and we may sit here for a few minutes.”

“Well, go on with your tale,” he said.

“I have little more to say, friend, except that if you wish to send any message, I might perhaps be able to take it.”

“You are an angel,” he exclaimed.

“That is another word for messenger, is it not? Continue.”

“Tell her–that if she hears anything of all this business, it isn’t true.”

“On that point she may form her own opinion,” replied Inez demurely. “If I were in her place I know what mine would be. Don’t waste time; we must soon begin to walk again.”

Peter stared at her, for he could understand nothing of all this play. Apparently she read his look, for she answered it in a quiet, serious voice:

“You are wondering what everything means, and why I am doing what I do. I will tell you, Señor, and you can believe me or not as you like. Perhaps you think that I am in love with you. It would not be wonderful, would it? Besides, in the old tales, that always happens–the lady who nurses the Christian knight and worships him and so forth.”

“I don’t think anything of the sort; I am not so vain.”

“I know it, Señor, you are too good a man to be vain. Well, I do all these things, not for love of you, or any one, but for hate–for hate. Yes, for hate of Morella,” and she clenched her little hand, hissing the words out between her teeth.

“I understand the feeling,” said Peter. “But–but what has he done to _you_?”

“Do not ask me, Señor. Enough that once I loved him–that accursed priest Henriques sold me into his power–oh! a long while ago, and he ruined me, making me what I am, and–I bore his child, and–and it is dead. Oh! Mother of God, my boy is dead, and since then I have been an outcast and his slave–they have slaves here in Granada, Señor– dependent on him for my bread, forced to do his bidding, forced to wait upon his other loves; I, who once was the sultana; I, of whom he has wearied. Only to-day–but why should I tell you of it? Well, he has driven me even to this, that I must kiss an unwilling stranger in a garden,” and she sobbed aloud.

“Poor girl!–poor girl!” said Peter, patting her hand kindly with his thin fingers. “Henceforth I have another score against Morella, and I will pay it too.”

“Will you?” she asked quickly. “Ah! if so, I would die for you, who now live only to be revenged upon him. And it shall be my first vengeance to rob him of that noble-looking mistress of yours, whom he has stolen away and has set his heart upon wholly, because she is the first woman who ever resisted him–him, who thinks that he is invincible.”

“Have you any plan?” asked Peter.

“As yet, none. The thing is very difficult. I go in danger of my life, for if he thought that I betrayed him he would kill me like a rat, and think no harm of it. Such things can be done in Granada without sin, Señor, and no questions asked–at least if the victim be a woman of the murderer’s household. I have told you already that if I had refused to do what I have done this evening I should certainly have been got rid of in this way or that, and another set on at the work. No, I have no plan yet, only it is I through whom the Señor Castell communicates with his daughter, and I will see him again, and see her, and we will make some plan. No, do not thank me. He pays me for my services, and I am glad to take his money, who hope to escape from this hell and live on it elsewhere. Yet, not for all the money in the world would I risk what I am risking, though in truth it matters not to me whether I live or die. Señor, I will not disguise it from you, all this scene will come to the Dona Margaret’s ears, but I will explain it to her.”

“I pray you, do,” said Peter earnestly–“explain it fully.”

“I will–I will. I will work for you and her and her father, and if I cease to work, know that I am dead or in a dungeon, and fend for yourselves as best you may. One thing I can tell you for your comfort–no harm has been done to this lady of yours. Morella loves her too well for that. He wishes to make her his wife. Or perhaps he has sworn some oath, as I know that he has sworn that he will not murder you–which he might have done a score of times while you have lain a prisoner in his power. Why, once when you were senseless he came and stood over you, a dagger in his hand, and reasoned out the case with me. I said, ‘Why do you not kill him?’ knowing that thus I could best help to save your life. He answered, ‘Because I will not take my wife with her lover’s blood upon my hands, unless I slay him in fair fight. I swore it yonder in London. It was the offering which I made to God and to my patron saint that so I might win her fairly, and if I break that oath, God will be avenged upon me here and hereafter. Do my bidding, Inez. Nurse him well, so that if he dies, he dies without sin of mine,’ No, he will not murder you or harm her. Friend Pedro, he dare not.”

“Can you think of nothing?” asked Peter.

“Nothing–as yet nothing. These walls are high, guards watch them day and night, and outside is the great city of Granada where Morella has much power, and whence no Christian may escape. But he would marry her. And there is that handsome fool-woman, her servant, who is in love with him–oh! she told me all about it in the worst Spanish I ever heard, but the story is too long to repeat; and the priest, Father Henriques–he who wished that you might be killed at the inn, and who loves money so much. Ah! now I think I see some light. But we have no more time to talk, and I must have time to think. Friend Pedro, make ready your kisses, we must go on with our game, and, in truth, you play but badly. Come now, your arm. There is a seat prepared for us yonder. Smile and look loving. I have not art enough for both. Come!–come!” And together they walked out of the dense shadow of the trees and past the marble bath of the sultanas to a certain seat beneath a bower on which were cushions, and lying among them a lute.

“Seat yourself at my feet,” she said, as she sank on to the bench. “Can you sing?”

“No more than a crow,” he answered.

“Then I must sing to you. Well, it will be better than the love-making.” Then in a very sweet voice she began to warble amorous Moorish ditties that she accompanied upon the lute, whilst Peter, who was weary in body and disturbed in mind, played a lover’s part to the best of his ability, and by degrees the darkness gathered.

At length, when they could no longer see across the garden, Inez ceased singing and rose with a sigh.

“The play is finished and the curtain down,” she said; “also it is time that you went in out of this damp. Señor Pedro, you are a very bad actor; but let us pray that the audience was compassionate, and took the will for the deed.”

“I did not see any audience,” answered Peter.

“But it saw you, as I dare say you will find out by-and-by. Follow me now back to your room, for I must be going about your business–and my own. Have you any message for the Señor Castell?”

“None, save my love and duty. Tell him that, thanks to you, although still somewhat feeble, I am recovered of my hurt upon the ship and the fever which I took from the sun, and that if he can make any plan to get us all out of this accursed city and the grip of Morella I will bless his name and yours.”

“Good, I will not forget. Now be silent. Tomorrow we will walk here again; but be not afraid, then there will be no more need for love-making.”

Margaret sat by the open window-place of her beautiful chamber in Morella’s palace. She was splendidly arrayed in a rich, Spanish dress, whereof the collar was stiff with pearls, she who must wear what it pleased her captor to give her. Her long tresses, fastened with a jewelled band, flowed down about her shoulders, and, her hand resting on her knee, from her high tower prison she gazed out across the valley at the dim and mighty mass of the Alhambra and the ten thousand lights of Granada which sparkled far below. Near to her, seated beneath a silver hanging-lamp, and also clad in rich array, was Betty.

“What is it, Cousin?” asked the girl, looking at her anxiously. “At least you should be happier than you were, for now you know that Peter is not dead, but almost recovered from his sickness and in this very palace; also, that your father is well and hidden away, plotting for our escape. Why, then, are you so sad, who should be more joyful than you were?”

“Would you learn, Betty? Then I will tell you. I am betrayed. Peter Brome, the man whom I looked upon almost as my husband, is false to me.”

“Master Peter false!” exclaimed Betty, staring at her open-mouthed. “No, it is not possible. I know him; he could not be, who will not even look at another woman, if that is what you mean.”

“You say so. Then, Betty, listen and judge. You remember this afternoon, when the marquis took us to see the wonders of this palace, and I went thinking that perhaps I might find some path by which afterwards we could escape?”

“Of course I remember, Margaret. We do not leave this cage so often that I am likely to forget.”

“Then you will remember also that high-walled garden in which we walked, where the great tower is, and how the marquis and that hateful priest Father Henriques and I went up the tower to study the prospect from its roof, I thinking that you were following me.”

“The waiting-women would not let me,” said Betty. “So soon as you had passed in they shut the door and told me to bide where I was till you returned. I went near to pulling the hair out of the head of one of them over it, since I was afraid for you alone with those two men. But she drew her knife, the cat, and I had none.”

“You must be careful, Betty,” said Margaret, “lest some of these heathen folk should do you a mischief.”

“Not they,” she answered; “they are afraid of me. Why, the other day I bundled one of them, whom I found listening at the door, head first down the stairs. She complained to the marquis, but he only laughed at her, and now she lies abed with a plaster on her nose. But tell me your tale.”

“We climbed the tower,” said Margaret, “and from its topmost room looked out through the windows that face south at all the mountains and the plain over which they dragged us from Motril. Presently the priest, who had gone to the north wall, in which there are no windows, and entered some recess there, came out with an evil smile upon his face, and whispered something to the marquis, who turned to me and said:

“‘The father tells me of an even prettier scene which we can view yonder. Come, Señora, and look.’

“So I went, who wished to learn all that I could of the building. They led me into a little chamber cut in the thickness of the stone-work, in the wall of which are slits like loop-holes for the shooting of arrows, wide within, but very narrow without, so that I think they cannot be seen from below, hidden as they are between the rough stones of the tower.

“‘This is the place,’ said the marquis, ‘where in the old days the kings of Granada, who were always jealous, used to sit to watch their women in the secret garden. It is told that thus one of them discovered his sultana making love to an astrologer, and drowned them both in the marble bath at the end of the garden. Look now, beneath us walk a couple who do not guess that we are the witnesses of their vows.’

“So I looked idly enough to pass the time, and there I saw a tall man in a Moorish dress, and with him, for their arms were about each other, a woman. As I was turning my head away who did not wish to spy upon them thus, the woman lifted her face to kiss the man, and I knew her for that beautiful Inez who has visited us here at times, as a spy I think. Presently, too, the man, after paying her back her embrace, glanced about him guiltily, and I saw his face also, and knew it.”

“Who was it?” asked Betty, for this gossip of lovers interested her.

“Peter Brome, no other,” Margaret answered calmly, but with a note of despair in her voice. “Peter Brome, pale with recent sickness, but no other man.”

“The saints save us! I did not think he had it in him!” gasped Betty with astonishment.

“They would not let me go,” went on Margaret; “they forced me to see it all. The pair tarried for a while beneath some trees by the bath and were hidden there. Then they came out again and sat them down upon a marble seat, while the woman sang songs and the man leaned against her lovingly. So it went on until the darkness fell, and we went, leaving them there. Now,” she added, with a little sob, “what say you?”

“I say,” answered Betty, “that it was not Master Peter, who has no liking for strange ladies and secret gardens.”

“It was he, and no other man, Betty.”

“Then, Cousin, he was drugged or drunk or bewitched, not the Peter whom we know.”

“Bewitched, perchance, by that bad woman, which is no excuse for him.”

Betty thought a while. She could not doubt the evidence, but from her face it was clear that she took no severe view of the offence.

“Well, at the worst,” she said, “men, as I have known them, are men. He has been shut up for a long while with that minx, who is very fair and witching, and it was scarcely right to watch him through a slit in a tower. If he were my lover, I should say nothing about it.”

“I will say nothing to him about that or any other matter,” replied Margaret sternly. “I have done with Peter Brome.”

Again Betty thought, and spoke.

“I seem to see a trick. Cousin Margaret, they told you he was dead, did they not? And then that news came to us that he was not dead, only sick, and here. So the lie failed. Now they tell you, and seem to show you, that he is faithless. May not all this have been some part played for a purpose by the woman?”

“It takes two to play such parts, Betty. If you had seen—-“

“If I had seen, _I_ should have known whether it was but a part or love made in good earnest; but you are too innocent to judge. What said the marquis all this while, and the priest?”

“Little or nothing, only smiled at each other, and at length, when it grew dark and we could see no more, asked me if I did not think that it was time to go–me! whom they had kept there all that while to be the witness of my own shame.”

“Yes, they kept you there–did they not?–and brought you there just at the right time–did they not?–and shut me out of the tower so that I might not be with you–oh! and all the rest. Now, if you have any justice in you, Cousin, you will hear Peter’s side of this story before you judge him.”

“I have judged him,” answered Margaret coldly, “and, oh! I wish that I were dead.”

Margaret rose from her seat and, stepping to the window-place in the tower which was built upon the edge of a hill, searched the giddy depth beneath with her eyes, where, two hundred feet below, the white line of a roadway showed faintly in the moonlight.

“It would be easy, would it not,” she said, with a strained laugh, “just to lean out a little too far upon this stone, and then one swift rush and darkness–or light–for ever–which, I wonder?”

“Light, I think,” said Betty, jerking her back from the window–“the light of hell fire, and plenty of it, for that would be self-murder, nothing else, and besides, what would one look like on that road? Cousin, don’t be a fool. If you are right, it isn’t you who ought to go out of that window; and if you are wrong, then you would only make a bad business worse. Time enough to die when one must, say I–which, perhaps, will be soon enough. Meanwhile, if I were you, I would try to speak to Master Peter first, if only to let him know what I thought of him.”

“Mayhap,” answered Margaret, sinking back into a chair, “but I suffer–how can you know what I suffer?”

“Why should I not know?” asked Betty. “Are you the only woman in the world who has been fool enough to fall in love? Can I not be as much in love as you are? You smile, and think to yourself that the poor relation, Betty, cannot feel like her rich cousin. But I do–I do. I know that he is a villain, but I love this marquis as much as you hate him, or as much as you love Peter, because I can’t help myself; it is my luck, that’s all. But I am not going to throw myself out of a window; I would rather throw him out and square our reckoning, and that I swear I’ll do, in this way or the other, even if it should cost me what I don’t want to lose–my life,” And Betty drew herself up beneath the silver lamp with a look upon her handsome, determined face, which was so like Margaret’s and yet so different, that, could he have seen it, might well have made Morella regret that he had chosen this woman for a tool.

While Margaret studied her wonderingly she heard a sound, and glanced up to see, standing before them, none other than the beautiful Spaniard, or Moor, for she knew not which she was, Inez, that same woman whom, from her hiding-place in the tower, she had watched with Peter in the garden.

“How did you come here?” she asked coldly.

“Through the door, Señora, that was left unlocked, which is not wise of those who wish to talk privately in such a place as this,” she answered with a humble curtsey.

“The door is still unlocked,” said Margaret, pointing towards it.

“Nay, Señora, you are mistaken; here is its key in my hand. I pray you do not tell your lady to put me out, which, being so strong, she well can do, for I have words to say to you, and if you are wise you will listen to them.”

Margaret thought a moment, then answered:

“Say on, and be brief.”

CHAPTER XVI

BETTY SHOWS HER TEETH

“Señora,” said Inez, “you think that you have something against me.”

“No,” answered Margaret, “you are–what you are; why should I blame you?”

“Well, against the Señor Brome then?”

“Perhaps, but that is between me and him. I will not discuss it with you.”

“Señora,” went on Inez, with a slow smile, “we are both innocent of what you thought you saw.”

“Indeed; then who is guilty?”

“The Marquis of Morella.”

Margaret made no answer, but her eyes said much.

“Señora, you do not believe me, nor is it wonderful. Yet I speak the truth. What you saw from the tower was a play in which the Señor Brome took his part badly enough, as you may have noticed, because I told him that my life hung on it. I have nursed him through a sore sickness, Señora, and he is not ungrateful.”

“So I judged; but I do not understand you.”

“Señora, I am a slave in this house, a discarded slave. Perhaps you can guess the rest, it is a common story here. I was offered my freedom at a price, that I should weave myself into this man’s heart, I who am held fair, and make him my lover. If I failed, then perhaps I should be sold as a slave–perhaps worse. I accepted–why should I not? It was a small thing to me. On the one hand, life, freedom, and wealth, an hidalgo of good blood and a gallant friend for a little while, and, on the other, the last shame or blackness which doubtless await me now–if I am found out. Señora, I failed, who in truth did not try hard to succeed. The man looked on me as his nurse, no more, and to me he was one very sick, no more. Also, we grew to be true friends, and in this way or in that I learned all his story, learned also why the trap was baited thus–that you might be deceived and fall into a deeper trap. Señora, I could not explain it all to him, indeed, in that chamber where we were spied on, I had but little chance. Still, it was necessary that he should seem to be what he is not, so I took him into the garden and, knowing well who watched us, made him act his part, well enough to deceive you it would seem.”

“Still I do not understand,” said Margaret more softly. “You say that your life or welfare hung on this shameful business. Then why do you reveal it to me now?”

“To save you from yourself, Señora, to save my friend the Señor Brome, and to pay back Morella in his own coin.”

“How will you do these things?”

“The first two are done, I think, but the third is difficult. It is of that I come to speak with you, at great risk. Indeed, had not my master been summoned to the court of the Moorish king I could not have come, and he may return at any time.”

“Have you some plan?” asked Margaret, leaning towards her eagerly.

“No plan as yet, only an idea.” She turned and looked at Betty, adding,

“This lady is your cousin, is she not, though of a different station, and somewhat far away?”

Margaret nodded.

“You are not unlike,” went on Inez, “of much the same height and shape, although the Señora Betty is stronger built, and her eyes are blue and her hair golden, whereas your eyes are black and your hair chestnut. Beneath a veil, or at night, it would not be easy to tell you apart if your hands were gloved and neither of you spoke above a whisper.”

“Yes,” said Margaret, “what then?”

“Now the Señora Betty comes into the play,” replied Inez. “Señora Betty, have you understood our talk?”

“Something, not quite all,” answered Betty.

“Then what you do not understand your lady must interpret, and be not angry with me, I pray you, if I seem to know more of you and your affairs than you have ever told me. Render my words now, Dona Margaret.”

Then, after this was done, and she had thought awhile, Inez continued slowly, Margaret translating from Spanish into English whenever Betty could not understand:

“Morella made love to you in England, Señora Betty–did he not?–and won your heart as he has won that of many another woman, so that you came to believe that he was carrying you off to marry you, and not your cousin?” “What affair is that of yours, woman?” asked Betty, flushing angrily.

“None at all, save that I could tell much such another story, if you cared to listen. But hear me out, and then answer me a question, or rather, answer the question first. Would you like to be avenged upon this high-born knave?”

“Avenged?” answered Betty, clenching her hands and hissing the words through her firm, white teeth. “I would risk my life for it.”

“As I do. It seems that we are of one mind there. Then I think that perhaps I can show you a way. Look now, your cousin has seen certain things which women placed as she is do not like to see. She is jealous, she is angry–or was until I told her the truth. Well, to-night or to-morrow, Morella will come to her and say, ‘Are you satisfied? Do you still refuse me in favour of a man who yields his heart to the first light-of-love who tempts him? Will you not be my wife?’ What if she answer, ‘Yes, I will,’ Nay, be silent both of you, and hear me out. What if then there should be a secret marriage, _and the Señora Betty should chance to wear the bride’s veil_, while the Dona Margaret, in the robe of Betty, was let go with the Señor Brome and her father?”

Inez paused, watching them both, and playing with the fan she held, while, the rendering of her words finished, Margaret and Betty stared at her and at each other, for the audacity and tearfulness of this plot took their breath away. It was Margaret who spoke the first.

“You must not do it, Betty,” she said. “Why, when the man found you out, he would kill you.” But Betty took no heed of her, and thought on. At length she looked up and answered:

“Cousin, it was my vain folly that brought you all into this trouble, therefore I owe something to you, do I not? I am not afraid of the man–he is afraid of me; and if it came to killing–why, let Inez lend me that knife of hers, and I think that perhaps I should give the first blow. And–well, I think I love him, rascal though he is, and, afterwards, perhaps we might make it up, who can say?–while, if not—- But tell me, you, Inez, should I be his legal wife according to the law of this land?”

“Assuredly,” answered Inez, “if a priest married you and he placed the ring upon your hand and named you wife. Then, when once the words of blessing have been said, the Pope alone can loose that knot, which may be risked, for there would be much to explain, and is this a tale that Morella, a good servant of the Church, would care to take to Rome?”

“It would be a trick,” broke in Margaret–“a very ugly trick.”

“And what was it he played on me and you?” asked Betty. “Nay, I’ll chance it, and his rage, if only I can be sure that you and Peter will go free, and your father with you.”

“But what of this Inez?” asked Margaret, bewildered.

“She will look after herself,” answered Inez. “Perchance, if all goes well, you will let me ride with you. And now I dare stop no longer, I go to see your father, the Señor Castell, and if anything can be arranged, we will talk again. Meanwhile, Dona Margaret, your affianced is nearly well again at last and sends his heart’s love to you, and, I counsel you, when Morella speaks turn a gentle ear to him.”

Then with another deep curtsey she glided to the door, unlocked it, and left the room.

* * * * *

An hour later Inez was being led by an old Jew, dressed in a Moslem robe and turban, through one of the most tortuous and crowded parts of Granada. It would seem that this Jew was known there, for his appearance, accompanied by a veiled woman, apparently caused no surprise to those followers of the Prophet that he met, some of whom, indeed, saluted him with humility.

“These children of Mahomet seem to love you, Father Israel,” said Inez.

“Yes, yes, my dear,” answered the old fellow with a chuckle; “they owe me money, that is why, and I am getting it in before the great war comes with the Spaniards, so they would sweep the streets for me with their beards–all of which is very good for the plans of our friend yonder. Ah! he who has crowns in his pocket can put a crown upon his head; there is nothing that money will not do in Granada. Give me enough of it, and I will buy his sultana from the king.”

“This Castell has plenty?” asked Inez shortly.

“Plenty, and more credit. He is one of the richest men in England. But why do you ask? He would not think of you, who is too troubled about other things.”

Inez only laughed bitterly, but did not resent the words. Why should she? It was not worth while.

“I know,” she answered, “but I mean to earn some of it all the same, and I want to be sure that there is enough for all of us.”

“There is enough, I have told you there is enough and to spare,” answered the Hebrew Israel as he tapped on a door in a dirty-looking wall.

It opened as though by magic, and they crossed a paved patio, or courtyard, to a house beyond, a tumble-down place of Moorish architecture.

“Our friend Castell, being in seclusion just now, has hired the cellar floor,” said Israel with a chuckle to Inez, “so be pleased to follow me, and take care of the rats and beetles.”

Then he led her down a rickety stair which opened out of the courtyard into vaults filled with vats of wine, and, having lit a taper, through these, shutting and locking sundry doors behind him, to what appeared to be a very damp wall covered with cobwebs, and situated in a dark corner of a wine-cave. Here he stopped and tapped again in his peculiar fashion, whereon a portion of the wall turned outwards on a pivot, leaving an opening through which they could pass.

“Well managed, isn’t it?” chuckled Israel. “Who would think of looking for an entrance here, especially if he owed the old Jew money? Come in, my pretty, come in.”

Inez followed him into this darksome hole, and the wall closed behind them. Then, taking her by the arm, he turned first to the right, next to the left, opened a door with a key which he carried, and, behold, they stood in a beautifully furnished room well lighted with lamps, for it seemed to have no windows. “Wait here,” he said to Inez, pointing to a couch on which she sat herself down, “while I fetch my lodger,” and he vanished through some curtains at the end of the room.

Presently these opened again, and Israel reappeared through them with Castell, dressed now in Moorish robes, and looking somewhat pale from his confinement underground, but otherwise well enough. Inez rose and stood before him, throwing back her veil that he might see her face. Castell searched her for a while with his keen eyes that noted everything, then said:

“You are the lady with whom I have been in communication through our friend here, are you not? Prove it to me now by repeating my messages.”

Inez obeyed, telling him everything.

“That is right,” he said, “but how do I know that I can trust you? I understand you are, or have been, the lover of this man Morella, and such an one he might well employ as a spy to bring us all to ruin.”

“Is it not too late to ask such questions, Señor? If I am not to be trusted, already you and your people are in the hollow of my hand?”

“Not at all, not at all, my dear,” said Israel. “If we see the slightest cause to doubt you, why, there are many great vats in this place, one of which, at a pinch, would serve you as a coffin, though it would be a pity to spoil the good wine.”

Inez laughed as she answered:

“Save your wine, and your time too. Morella has cast me off, and I hate him, and wish to escape from him and rob him of his prize. Also, I desire money to live on afterwards, and this you must give to me or I do not stir, or rather the promise of it, for you Jews keep your word, and I do not ask a maravedi from you until I have played my part.”

“And then how many maravedis do you ask, young woman?”

Inez named a sum, at the mention of which both of them opened their eyes, and old Israel exclaimed drily:

“Surely–surely you must be one of us.”

“No,” she answered, “but I try to follow your example, and, if I am to live at all, it shall be in comfort.”

“Quite so,” said Castell, “we understand. But now tell us, what do you propose to do for this money?”

“I propose to set you, your daughter, the Dona Margaret, and her lover, the Señor Brome, safe and free outside the walls of Granada, and to leave the Marquis of Morella married to another woman.”

“What other woman? Yourself?” asked Castell, fixing on this last point in the programme.

“No, Señor, not for all the wealth of both of you. To your dependent and your daughter’s relative, the handsome Betty.”

“How will you manage that?” exclaimed Castell, amazed.

“These cousins are not unlike, Señor, although the link of blood between them is so thin. Listen now, I will tell you.” And she explained the outlines of her plan.

“A bold scheme enough,” said Castell, when she had finished, “but even if it can be done, would that marriage hold?”

“I think so,” answered Inez, “if the priest knew–and he could be bribed–and the bride knows. But if not, what would it matter, since Rome alone can decide the question, and long before that is done the fates of all of us will be settled.”

“Rome–or death,” said Castell; and Inez read what he was afraid of in his eyes.

“Your Betty takes her chance,” she replied slowly, “as many a one has done before her with less cause. She is a woman with a mind as strong as her body. Morella made her love him and promised to marry her. Then he used her to steal your daughter, and she learned that she had been no more than a stalking-heifer, from behind which he would net the white swan. Do you not think, therefore, that she has something to pay him back, she through whom her beloved mistress and cousin has been brought into all this trouble? If she wins, she becomes the wife of a grandee of Spain, a marchioness; and if she loses, well, she has had her fling for a high stake, and perhaps her revenge. At least she is willing to take her chance, and, meanwhile, all of you can be gone.”

Castell looked doubtfully at the Jew Israel, who stroked his white beard and said:

“Let the woman set out her scheme. At any rate she is no fool, and it is worth our hearing, though I fear that at the best it must be costly.”

“I can pay,” said Castell, and motioned to Inez to proceed.

As yet, however, she had not much more to say, save that they must have good horses at hand, and send a messenger to Seville, whither the _Margaret_ had been ordered to proceed, bidding her captain hold his ship ready to sail at any hour, should they succeed in reaching him.

These things, then, they arranged, and a while later Inez and Israel departed, the former carrying with her a bag of gold.

That same night Inez sought the priest, Henriques of Motril, in that hall of Morella’s palace which was used as a private chapel, saying that she desired to speak with him under pretence of making confession, for they were old friends–or rather enemies.

As it chanced she found the holy father in a very ill humour. It appeared that Morella also was in a bad humour with Henriques, having heard that it was he who had possessed himself of the jewels in his strong-box on the _San Antonio_. Now he insisted upon his surrendering everything, and swore, moreover, that he would hold him responsible for all that his people had stolen from the ship, and this because he said that it was his fault that Peter Brome had escaped the sea and come on to Granada.

“So, Father,” said Inez, “you, who thought yourself rich, are poor again.”

“Yes, my daughter, and that is what chances to those who put their faith in princes. I have served this marquis well for many years–to my soul’s hurt, I fear me–hoping that he who stands so high in the favour of the Church would advance me to some great preferment. But instead, what does he do? He robs me of a few trinkets that, had I not found them, the sea would have swallowed or some thief would have taken, and declares me his debtor for the rest, of which I know nothing.”

“What preferment did you want, Father? I see that you have one in your mind.”

“Daughter, a friend had written to me from Seville that if I have a hundred gold doubloons to pay for it, he can secure me the place of a secretary in the Holy Office where I served before as a familiar until the marquis made me his chaplain, and gave the benefice of Motril, which proved worth nothing, and many promises that are worth less. Now those trinkets would fetch thirty, and I have saved twenty, and came here to borrow the other fifty from the marquis, to whom I have done so many good turns–as _you_ know well, Inez. You see the end of that quest,” and he groaned angrily.

“It is a pity,” said Inez thoughtfully, “since those who serve the Inquisition save many souls, do they not, including their own? For instance,” she added, and the priest winced at the words, “I remember that they saved the soul of my own sister and would have saved mine, had I been–what shall I say?–more–more prejudiced. Also, they get a percentage of the goods of wicked heretics, and so become rich and able to advance themselves.”

“That is so, Inez. It was the chance of a lifetime, especially to one who, like myself, hates heretics. But why speak of it now when that cursed, dissolute marquis—-” and he checked himself.

Inez looked at him.

“Father,” she asked, “if I happen to be able to find you those hundred gold doubloons, would you do something for me?”

The priest’s foxy face lit up.

“I wonder what there is that I would not do, my daughter!”

“Even if it brought you into a quarrel with the marquis?

“Once I was a secretary to the Inquisition of Seville, he would have more reason to fear me than I him. Aye, and fear me he should, who bear him no love,” answered the priest with a snarl.

“Then listen, Father. I have not made my confession yet; I have not told you, for instance, that I also hate this marquis, and with good cause–though perhaps you know that already. But remember that if you betray me, you will never see those hundred gold doubloons, and some other holy priest will be appointed secretary at Seville. Also worse things may happen to you.”

“Proceed, my daughter,” he said unctuously; “are we not in the confessional–or near it?”

So she told him all the plot, trusting to the man’s avarice and other matters to protect her, for Inez hated Fray Henriques bitterly, and knew him from the crown of his shaven head to the soles of his erring feet, as she had good cause to do. Only she did not tell him whence the money was to come.

“That does not seem a very difficult matter,” he said, when she had finished. “If a man and a woman, unwed and outside the prohibited degrees, appear before me to be married, I marry them, and once the ring has passed and the office is said, married they are till death or the Pope part them.”

“And suppose that the man thinks he is marrying another woman, Father?”

The priest shrugged his shoulders.

“He should know whom he is marrying; that is his affair, not the Church’s or mine. The names need not be spoken too loudly, my daughter.”

“But you would give me a writing of the marriage with them set out plain?”

“Certainly. To you or to anybody else; why should I not?–that is, if I were sure of this wedding fee.”

Inez lifted her hand, and showed beneath it a little pile of ten doubloons.

“Take them, Father,” she said; “they will not be counted in the contract. There are others where they came from, whereof twenty will be paid before the marriage, and eighty when I have that writing at Seville.”

He swept up the coins and pocketed them, saying:

“I will trust you, Inez.”

“Yes,” she answered as she left him, “we must trust each other now–must we not?–seeing that you have the money, and both our necks are in the same noose. Be here, Father, to-morrow at the same time, in case I have more confessions to make, for, alas! this is a sinful world, as you should know very well.”

CHAPTER XVII

THE PLOT

On the morning following these conversations, just after Margaret and Betty had breakfasted, Inez appeared, and, as before, locked the door behind her.

“Señoras,” she said calmly, “I have arranged that little business of which I spoke to you yesterday, or at least the first act of the play, since it remains for you to write the rest. Now I am sent to say that the noble Marquis of Morella craves leave to see you, Dona Margaret, and within an hour. So there is no time to lose.”

“Tell us what you have done, Inez?” said Margaret.

“I have seen your worshipful father, Dona Margaret; here is the token of it, which you will do well to destroy when you have read.” And she handed her a slip of paper, whereon was written in her father’s writing, and in English:

“BELOVED DAUGHTER,

“This messenger, who I think may be trusted by you, has made arrangements with me which she will explain. I approve, though the risk is great. Your cousin is a brave girl, but, understand, I do not force her to this dangerous enterprise. She must choose her own road, only I promise that if she escapes and we live I will not forget her deed. The messenger will bring me your answer. God be with us all, and farewell.

“J.C.”

Margaret read this letter first to herself and then aloud to Betty, and, having read, tore it into tiny fragments and threw them from the turret window.

“Speak now,” she said; and Inez told her everything.

“Can you trust the priest?” asked Margaret, when she had finished.

“He is a great villain, as I have reason to know; still, I think I can,” she answered, “while the cabbage is in front of the donkey’s nose–I mean until he has got all the money. Also, he has committed himself by taking some on account. But before we go further, the question is–does this lady play?” and she pointed to Betty.

“Yes, I play,” said Betty, when she understood everything. “I won’t go back upon my word; there is too much at stake. It is an ugly business for me, I know well enough, but,” she added slowly, setting her firm mouth, “I have debts to pay all round, and I am no Spanish putty to be squeezed flat–like some people,” and she glanced at the humble-looking Inez. “So, before all is done, it may be uglier for him.”

When she had mastered the meaning of this speech the soft-voiced Inez lifted her gentle eyes in admiration, and murmured a Spanish proverb as to what is supposed to occur when Satan encounters Beelzebub in a high-walled lane. Then, being a lady of resource and experience, the plot having been finally decided upon, not altogether with Margaret’s approval, who feared for Betty’s fate when it should be discovered, Inez began to instruct them both in various practical expedients, by means of which the undoubted general resemblance of these cousins might be heightened and their differences toned down. To this end she promised to furnish them with certain hair-washes, pigments, and articles of apparel.

“It is of small use,” said Betty, glancing first at herself and then at the lovely Margaret, “for even if they change skins, who can make the calf look like the fawn, though they chance to feed in the same meadow? Still, bring your stuffs and I will do my best; but I think that a thick veil and a shut mouth will help me more than any of them, also a long gown to hide my feet.”

“Surely they are charming feet,” said Inez politely, adding to herself, “to carry you whither you wish to go.” Then she turned to Margaret and reminded her that the marquis desired to see her, and waited for her answer.

“I will not meet him alone,” said Margaret decidedly.

“That is awkward,” answered Inez, “as I think he has words to say to you which he does not wish others to hear, especially the señora yonder,” and she nodded towards Betty.

“I will not meet him alone,” repeated Margaret.

“Yet, if things are to go forward as we have arranged, you must meet him, Dona Margaret, and give him that answer which he desires. Well, I think it can be arranged. The court below is large. Now, while you and the marquis talk at one end of it, the Señora Betty and I might walk out of earshot at the other. She needs more instruction in our Spanish tongue; it would be a good opportunity to begin our lessons.”

“But what am I to say to him?” asked Margaret nervously.

“I think,” answered Inez, “that you must copy the example of that wonderful actor, the Señor Peter, and play a part as well as you saw him do, or even better, if possible.”

“It must be a very different part then,” replied Margaret, stiffening visibly at certain recollections.

The gentle Inez smiled as she said:

“Yes, but surely you can seem jealous, for that is natural to us all, and you can yield by degrees, and you can make a bargain as the price of yourself in marriage.”

“What exact bargain should I make?”

“I think that you shall be securely wed by a priest of your own Church, and that letters, signed by that priest and announcing the marriage, shall be delivered to the Archbishop of Seville, and to their Majesties King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Also, of course, you must arrange that the Señor Brome and your father, the Señor Castell, and your cousin Betty here shall be escorted safe out of Granada before your marriage, and that you shall see them pass through the gate beneath your turret window, swearing that thereafter, at nightfall of the same day, you will suffer the priest to do his office and make you Morella’s wife. By that time they should be well upon their road, and, after the rite is celebrated, I will receive the signed papers from the priest and follow them, leaving the false bride to play her part as best she can.”

Again Margaret hesitated; the thing seemed too complicated and full of danger. But while she thought, a knock came on the door.

“That is to tell me that Morella awaits your answer in the court,” said Inez. “Now, which is it to be? Remember that there is no other chance of escape for you, or the others, from this guarded town–at least I can see none.”

“I accept,” said Margaret hurriedly, “and God help us all, for we shall need Him.”

“And you, Señora Betty?”

“Oh! I made up my mind long ago,” answered Betty coolly. “We can only fail, when we shall be no worse off than before.”

“Good. Then play your parts well, both of you. After all, they should not be so difficult, for the priest is safe, and the marquis will never scent such a trick as this. Fix the marriage for this day week, as I have much to think of and make ready,” and she went.

* * * * *

Half an hour later Margaret sat under the cool arcade of the marble court, and with her, Morella, while upon the further side of its splashing fountain and out of earshot, Betty and Inez walked to and fro in the shadow.

“You sent for me, Marquis,” said Margaret presently, “and, being your prisoner, I have come because I must. What is your pleasure with me?”

“Dona Margaret,” he answered gravely, “can you not guess? Well, I will tell you, lest you should guess wrong. First, it is to ask your forgiveness as I have done before, for the many crimes to which my love, my true love, for you has driven me. This time yesterday I knew well that I could expect none. To-day I dare to hope that it may be otherwise.”

“Why so, Marquis?”

“Last evening you looked into a certain garden and saw two people walking there–yonder is one of them,” and he nodded towards Inez. “Shall I go on?”

“No,” she answered in a low voice, and passing her hands before her face. “Only tell me who and what is that woman?” and in her turn she looked towards Inez.

“Is it necessary?” he asked. “Well, if you wish to know, she is a Spaniard of good blood who with her sister was taken captive by the Moors. A certain priest, who took an interest in the sister, brought her to my notice and I bought her from them; so, as her parents were dead and she had nowhere else to go, she elected to stay in my house. You must not judge such things too harshly; they are common here. Also, she has been very useful to me, being clever, for through her I have intelligence of many things. Of late, however, she has grown tired of this life, and wishes to earn her freedom, which I have promised her in return for certain services, and to leave Granada.”

“Was the nursing of my betrothed one of those services, Marquis?”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“As you will, Señora. Certainly I forgive her this indiscretion, if at last she has shown you the truth about that man for whose sake you have endured so much. Margaret, now that you know him for what he is, say, do you still cling to him?”

She rose and walked a few steps down the arcade, then came back and asked:

“Are you any better than this fallen man?”

“I think so, Margaret, for since I knew you I am a risen man; all my old self is left behind me, I am a new creature, and my sins have been for you, not against you. Hear me, I beseech you. I stole you away, it is true, but I have done you no harm, and will do you none. For your sake also I have spared your father when I had but to make a sign to remove him from my path. I suffered him to escape from the prison where he was confined, and I know the place where he thinks himself hidden to-day among the Jews of Granada. Also, I nursed Peter Brome back to life, when at any hour I could have let him die, lest afterwards I might have it on my conscience that, but for my love for you, he might perhaps still be living. Well, you have seen him as he is, and what say you now? Will you still reject me? Look on me,” and he drew up his tall and stately shape, “and tell me, am I such a man as a woman should be ashamed to own as husband? Remember, too, that I have much to give you in this land of Spain, whereof you shall become one of the greatest ladies, or perhaps in the future,” he added significantly, “even more. War draws near, Margaret; this city and all its rich territories will fall into the hands of Spain, and afterwards I shall be their governor, almost their king.”

“And if I refuse?” asked Margaret.

“Then,” he answered sternly, “you bide here, and that false lover of yours bides here, and your father bides here to take the chance of war as Christian captives with a thousand others who languish in the dungeons of the Alhambra, while, my mission ended, I go hence to play my part in battle amongst my peers, as one of the first captains of their Most Catholic Majesties. Yet it is not to your fears that I would appeal, but to your heart, for I seek your love and your dear companionship through life, and, if I can help it, desire to work you and yours no harm.”

“You desire to work them no harm. Then, if I were to fall in with your humour, would you let them go in safety?–I mean my father and the Señor Brome and my cousin Betty, whom, if you were as honest as you pretend to be, you should ask to bide with you as your wife, and not myself.”

“The last I cannot do,” he answered, flushing. “God knows I meant her no hurt, and only used her to keep near to and win news of you, thinking her, to tell truth, somewhat other than she is.”

“Are no women honest here in Spain, then, my lord Marquis?”

“A few, a very few, Dona Margaret. But I erred about Betty, whom I took for a simple serving-girl, and to whom, if need be, I am ready to make all amends.”

“Except that which is due to a woman you have asked to be your wife, and who in our country could claim the fulfilment of your promise, or declare you shamed. But you have not answered. Would they go free?”

“As free as air–especially the Señora Betty,” he added with a little smile, “for to speak truth, there is something in that woman’s eyes which frightens me at times. I think that she has a long memory. Within an hour of our marriage you shall look down from your window and see them depart under escort, every one, to go whither they will.”

“Nay,” answered Margaret, “it is not enough. I should need to see them go before, and then, if I consented, not till the sun had set would I pay the price of their ransom.”

“Then do you consent? he asked eagerly.

“My lord Marquis, it would seem that I must. My betrothed has played me false. For a month or more I have been prisoner in your palace, which I understand has no good name, and, if I refuse, you tell me that all of us will be cast into yonder dungeons to be sold as slaves or die prisoners of the Moors. My lord Marquis, fate and you leave me but little choice. On this day week I will marry you, but blame me not if you find me other than you think, as you have found my cousin whom you befooled. Till then, also, I pray you that you will leave me quite untroubled. If you have arrangements to make or commands to send, the woman Inez yonder will serve as messenger, for of her I know the worst.”

“I will obey you in all things, Dona Margaret,” he answered humbly. “Do you desire to see your father or–” and he paused.

“Neither of them,” she answered. “I will write to them and send my letters by this Inez. Why should I see them,” she added passionately, “who have done with the old days when I was free and happy, and am about to become the wife of the most noble Marquis of Morella, that honourable grandee of Spain, who tricked a poor girl by a false promise of marriage, and used her blind and loving folly to trap and steal me from my home? My lord, till this day week I bid you farewell,” and, walking from the arcade to the fountain, she called aloud to Betty to accompany her to their rooms.

The week for which Margaret had bargained had gone by. All was prepared. Inez had shown to Morella the letters that his bride to be wrote to her father and to Peter Brome; also the answers, imploring and passionate, to the same. But there were other letters and other answers which she had not shown. It was afternoon, swift horses were ready in the courtyard, and with them an escort, while, disguised as Moors, Castell and Peter waited under guard in a chamber close at hand. Betty, dressed in the robes of a Moorish woman, and thickly veiled, stood before Morella, to whom Inez had led her.

“I come to tell you,” she said, “that at sundown, three hours after we have passed beneath her window, my cousin and mistress will wait to be made your wife, but if you try to disturb her before then she will be no wife of yours, or any man’s.”

“I obey,” answered Morella; “and, Señora Betty, I pray your pardon, and that you will accept this gift from me in token of your forgiveness.” And with a low bow he handed to her a beautiful necklace of pearls.

“I take them,” said Betty, with a bitter laugh, “as they may serve to buy me a passage back to England. But forgive you I do not, Marquis of Morella, and I warn you that there is a score between us which I may yet live to settle. You seem to have won, but God in Heaven takes note of the wickedness of men, and in this way or in that He always pays His debts. Now I go to bid farewell to my cousin Margaret, but to you I do not bid farewell, for I think that we shall meet again,” and with a sob she let fall the veil which she had lifted above her lips to speak and departed with Inez, to whom she whispered as they went, “He will not linger for any more good-byes with Betty Dene.”

They entered Margaret’s room and locked the door behind them. She was seated on a low divan wrapped in a loose robe, and by her side, glittering with silver and with gems, lay her bridal veil and garments.

“Be swift,” said Inez to Betty, who stripped off her Moorish dress and the long, flowing veil that was wrapped about her head, whereon it was seen that her hair had changed greatly in colour, from yellow to dark chestnut indeed, while her eyes, ringed about with pigments, and made lustrous by drugs dropped into them, looked no longer blue, but black like Margaret’s. Yes, and wonder of wonders, on the right side of the chin and on the back of the neck were moles, or beauty-spots, just such as Margaret had borne there from her birth! In short, their stature being much the same, though Betty was more thickly built, except in the strongest light it would not have been easy to distinguish them apart, even unveiled, for at all such arts of the altering of the looks of women, Inez was an adept, and she had done her best.

Now Margaret clothed herself in the white robes and the thick head-dress that hid her face, all except a little crack left for the eyes to peep through, whilst Betty, with the help of Inez, arrayed herself in the wondrous wedding robe beset with jewels that was Morella’s bridal gift, and hid her dyed tresses beneath the pearl-sewn veil. Within ten minutes all was finished, even to the dagger that Betty had tied about her beneath her robe, and the two transformed women stood staring at each other.

“It is time to go,” said Inez.

Then Margaret broke out:

“I do not like this business; I never did. When he discovers all, that man’s rage will be terrible, and he will kill her. I repent that I have consented to the plot.”

“It is too late to repent now, Señora,” said Inez.

“Cannot Betty be got away also?” asked Margaret desperately.

“It is just possible,” answered Inez; “thus, before the marriage, according to the old custom here, I hand the cups of wine to the bridegroom and the bride. That for the marquis will be drugged, since he must not see too clear to-night. Well, I might brew it stronger so that within half an hour he would not know whether he were married or single, and then, perhaps, she might escape with me and come to join you. But it is very risky, and, of course, if we were discovered–the stitch would be out of the wineskin, and the cellar floor might be stained!”

Now Betty interrupted:

“Keep your stitches whole, Cousin; if any skins are to be pricked it can’t be helped, and at least you won’t have to wipe up the mess. I am not going to run away from the man, more likely he will run away from me. I look well in this fine dress of yours, and I mean to wear it out. Now begone–begone, before some of them come to seek me. Don’t you grieve for me; I’ll lie in the bed that I have made, and if the worst comes to the worst, I have money in my pocket–or its worth–and we will meet again in England. Come, give my love and duty to Master Peter and your father, and if I should see them no more, bid them think kindly of Betty Dene, who was such a plague to them.”

Then, taking Margaret in her strong arms, she kissed her again and again, and fairly thrust her from the room.

But when they were gone, poor Betty sat down and cried a little, till she remembered that hot tears might melt the paint upon her face, and, drying them, went to the window and watched.

A while later, from her lofty niche, she saw six Moorish horsemen riding along the white road to the embattled gate. After them came two men and a woman, all splendidly mounted, also dressed as Moors, and then six other horsemen. They passed the gate which was opened for them and began to mount the slope beyond. At the crest of it the woman halted and, turning, waved a handkerchief. Betty answered the signal, and in another minute they had vanished, and she was alone.

Never did she spend a more weary afternoon. Two hours later, still watching at her window, she saw the Moorish escort return, and knew that all was well, and that by now, Margaret, her lover, and her father were safely started on their journey. So she had not risked her life in vain.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE HOLY HERMANDAD

Down the long passages, through the great, fretted halls, across the cool marble courts, flitted Inez and Margaret. It was like a dream. They went through a room where women, idling or working at tapestries, looked at them curiously. Margaret heard one of them say to another:

“Why does the Dona Margaret’s cousin leave her?” And the answer, “Because she is in love with the marquis herself, and cannot bear to stay.”

“What a fool!” said the first woman. “She is good looking, and would only have had to wait a few weeks.”

They passed an open door, that of Morella’s own chambers. Within it he stood and watched them go by. When they were opposite to him some doubt or idea seemed to strike his mind, for he looked at them keenly, stepped forward, then, thinking better of it, or perhaps remembering Betty’s bitter tongue, halted and turned aside. That danger had gone by!

At length, none hindering them, they reached the yard where the escort and the horses waited. Here, standing under an archway, were Castell and Peter. Castell greeted Margaret in English and kissed her through her veil, while Peter, who had not seen her close since months before he rode away to Dedham, stared at her with all his eyes, and began to draw near to her, designing to find out, as he was sure he could do if once he touched her, whether indeed this were Margaret, or only Betty after all. Guessing what was in his mind, and that he might reveal everything, Inez, who held a long pin in her hand with which she was fastening her veil that had come loose, pretended to knock against him, and ran the point deep into his arm, muttering, “Fool!” as she did so. He sprang back with an oath, the guard smiled, and she began to pray his pardon.

Castell helped Margaret on to her horse, then mounted his own, as did Peter, still rubbing his arm, but not daring to look towards Margaret, whose hand Inez shook familiarly in farewell as though she were her equal, addressing her the while in terms of endearment such as Spanish women use to each other. An officer of Morella’s household came and counted them, saying:

“Two men and a woman. That is right, though I cannot see the woman’s face.”

For a moment he seemed to be about to order her to unveil, but Inez called to him that it was not decent before all these Moors, whereon he nodded and ordered the captain to proceed.

They rode through the arch of the castle along the roadway, through the great gate of the wall also, where the guard questioned their escort, stared at them, and, after receiving a present from Castell, let them go, telling them they were lucky Christians to get alive out of Granada, as indeed they were.

At the brow of the rise Margaret turned and waved her handkerchief towards that high window which she knew so well. Another handkerchief was waved in answer, and, thinking of the lonely Betty watching them there while she awaited the issue of her desperate venture, Margaret went on, weeping beneath her veil. For an hour they rode forward, speaking few words to each other, till at length they came to the cross-roads, one of which ran to Malaga, and the other towards Seville.

Here the escort halted, saying that their orders were to leave them at this point, and asking which road they intended to take. Castell answered that to Malaga, whereon the captain replied that they were wise, as they were less likely to meet bands of marauding thieves who called themselves Christian soldiers, and murdered or robbed all travellers who fell into their hands. Then Castell offered him a present, which he accepted gravely, as though he did him a great favour, and, after bows and salutations, they departed.

As soon as the Moors were gone the three rode a little way towards Malaga. Then, when there was nobody in sight, they turned across country and gained the Seville road. At last they were alone and, halting beneath the walls of a house that had been burnt in some Christian raid, they spoke together freely for the first time, and oh! what a moment was that for all of them!

Peter pushed his horse alongside that of Margaret, crying:

“Speak, beloved. Is it truly you?”

But Margaret, taking no heed of him, leant over and, throwing her arm around her father’s neck, kissed him again and again through her veil, blessing God that they had lived to meet in safety. Peter tried to kiss her also; but she caused her horse to move so that he nearly fell from his saddle.

“Have a care, Peter,” she said to him, “or your love of kissing will lead you into more trouble.” Whereon, guessing of what she spoke, he coloured furiously, and began to explain at length.

“Cease,” she said–“cease. I know all that story, for I saw you,” then, relenting, with some brief, sweet words of greeting and gratitude, gave him her hand, which he kissed often enough.

“Come,” said Castell, “we must push on, who have twenty miles to cover before we reach that inn where Israel has arranged that we should sleep to-night. We will talk as we go.” And talk they did, as well as the roughness of the road and the speed at which they must travel would allow.

Riding as hard as they were able, at length they came to the _venta_, or rough hostelry, just as the darkness closed in. At the sight of it they thanked God aloud, for this place was across the Moorish border, and now they had little to fear from Granada. The host, a half-bred Spaniard and a Christian, expected them, having received a message from Israel, with whom he had had dealings, and gave them two rooms, rude enough, but sufficient, and good food and wine, also stabling and barley for their horses, bidding them sleep well and have no fear, as he and his people would watch and warn them of any danger.

Yet it was late before they slept, who had so much to say to each other–especially Peter and Margaret–and were so happy at their escape, if only for a little while. Yet across their joy, like the sound of a funeral bell at a merry feast, came the thought of Betty and that fateful marriage in which ere now she must have played her part. Indeed, at last Margaret knelt down and offered up prayers to Heaven that the saints might protect her cousin in the great peril which she had incurred for them, nor was Peter ashamed to join her in that prayer. Then they embraced–especially Peter and Margaret–and laid them down, Castell and his daughter in one room, and Peter in the other, and slept as best they could.

Half an hour before dawn Peter was up seeing to the horses while the others breakfasted and packed the food that the landlord had made ready for their journey. Then he also swallowed some meat and wine, and at the first break of day, having discharged their reckoning and taken a letter from their host to those of other inns upon the road, they pressed on towards Seville, very thankful to find that as yet there were no signs of their being pursued.

All that day, with short pauses to rest themselves and their horses, they rode on without accident, for the most part over a fertile plain watered by several rivers which they crossed at fords or over bridges. As night fell they reached the old town of Oxuna, which for many hours they had seen set upon its hill before them, and, notwithstanding their Moorish dress, made their way almost unobserved in the darkness to that inn to which they had been recommended. Here, although he stared at their garments, on finding that they had plenty of money, the landlord received them well enough, and again they were fortunate in securing rooms to themselves. It had been their purpose to buy Spanish clothes in this town, but, as it happened, it was a feast day, and at night every shop in the place was closed, so they could get none. Now, as they greatly desired to reach Seville by the following nightfall, hoping under cover of the darkness to find and come aboard of their ship, the _Margaret_, which they knew lay safely in the river, and had been advised by messenger of their intended journey, it was necessary for them to leave Oxuna before the dawn. So, unfortunately enough as it proved, it was impossible for them to put off their Moorish robes and clothe themselves as Christians.

They had hoped, too, that here at Oxuna Inez might overtake them, as she had promised to do if she could, and give them tidings of what had happened since they left Granada. But no Inez came. So, comforting themselves with the thought that however hard she rode it would be difficult for her to reach them, who had some hours’ start, they left Oxuna in the darkness before any one was astir.

Having crossed some miles of plain, they passed up through olive groves into hills where cork-trees grew, and here stopped to eat and let the horses feed. Just as they were starting on again, Peter, looking round, saw mounted men–a dozen or more of them of very wild aspect–cantering through the trees evidently with the object of cutting them off.

“Thieves!” he said shortly. “Ride for it.”

So they began to gallop, and their horses, although somewhat jaded, being very swift, passed in front of these men before they could regain the road. The band shouted to them to surrender, and, as they did not stop, loosed a few arrows and pursued them, while they galloped down the hillside on to a plain which separated them from more hills also clothed with cork-trees. This plain was about three miles wide and boggy in places. Still they kept well ahead of the brigands, as they took them to be, hoping that they would give up the pursuit or lose sight of them amongst the trees. As they entered these, however, to their dismay they saw, drawn up in front of them and right across the road, another band of rough-looking men, perhaps twelve in all.

“Trap!” said Peter. “We must ride through them–it is our only chance,” at the same time spurring his horse to the front and drawing his sword.

Choosing the spot where their line was weakest he dashed through it easily enough but next second heard a cry from Margaret, and pulled his horse round to see that her mare had fallen, and that she and Castell were in the hands of the thieves. Indeed, already rough men had hold of her, and one of them was trying to tear the veil from her face. With a shout of rage Peter charged them, and struck so fierce a blow that his sword cut through the fellow’s helmet into his skull, so that he fell down, dying or dead, Margaret’s veil still in his hand.

Then they rushed at him, five or six of them, and, although he wounded another man, dragged him from his horse, and, as he lay upon his back, sprang at him to finish him before he could rise. Already their knives and swords were over him, and he was making his farewells to life, when he heard a voice command them to desist and bind his arms. This was quickly done, and he was suffered to rise from the ground to see before him, not Morella, as he half expected, but a man clad in fine armour beneath his rough cloak, evidently an officer of rank. “What kind of a Moor are you,” he asked, “who dare to kill the soldiers of the Holy Hermandad in the heart of the King’s country?” and he pointed to the dead man.

“I am not a Moor,” answered Peter in his rough Spanish. “I am a Christian escaped from Granada, and I cut down that man because he was trying to insult my betrothed, as you would have done, Señor. I did not know that he was a soldier of the Hermandad; I thought him a common thief of the hills.”

This speech, or as much as he could understand of it, seemed to please the officer, but before he could answer, Castell said:

“Sir Officer, the señor is an Englishman, and does not speak your language well–“

“He uses his sword well, anyhow,” interrupted the captain, glancing at the dead soldier’s cloven helm and head.

“Yes, Sir, he is of your trade and, as the scar upon his face shows, has fought in many wars. Sir, what he tells you is true. We are Christian captives escaped from Granada and flying to Seville with my daughter, to whom I pray you to do no harm, to ask for the protection of their gracious Majesties, and to find a passage back to England.”

“You do not look like an Englishman,” answered the captain; “you look like a Marano.”

“Sir, I cannot help my looks. I am a merchant of London, Castell by name. It is one well known in Seville and throughout this land, where I have large dealings, as, if I can but see him, your king himself will acknowledge. Be not deceived by our dress, which we had to put on in order to escape from Granada, but, I beseech you, let us go on to Seville.”

“Señor Castell,” answered the officer, “I am the Captain Arrano of Puebla, and, since you would not stop when we called to you, and have killed one of my best soldiers, to Seville you must certainly go, but with me, not by yourselves. You are my prisoners, but have no fear. No violence shall be done to you or the lady, who must take your trials for your deeds before the King’s court, and there tell your story, true or false.”

So, having been disarmed of their swords, they were allowed to remount their horses and taken on towards Seville as prisoners.

“At least,” said Margaret to Peter, “we have nothing more to fear from highwaymen, and have escaped these soldiers’ swords unhurt.”

“Yes,” answered Peter with a groan, “but I hoped that to-night we should have slept upon the _Margaret_ while she slipped down the river towards the open sea, and not in a Spanish jail. Now, as fate will have it, for the second time I have killed a man on your behalf, and all the business will begin again. Truly our luck is bad!”

“I think it might be worse, and I cannot blame you for that deed,” answered Margaret, remembering the rough hands of the dead soldier, whom some of his comrades had stopped behind to bury.

During all the remainder of that long day they rode on through the burning heat, across the rich, cultivated plain, towards the great city of Seville, whereof the Giralda, which once had been the minaret of a Moorish mosque, towered hundreds of feet into the air before them. At length, towards evening, they entered the eastern suburbs of the vast city and, passing through them and a great gate beyond, began to thread its tortuous streets.

“Whither go we, Captain Arrano?” asked Castell presently.

“To the prison of the Holy Hermandad to await your trial for the slaying of one of its soldiers,” answered the officer.

“I pray that we may get there soon then,” said Peter, looking at Margaret, who, overcome with fatigue, swayed upon her saddle like a flower in the wind.

“So do I,” muttered Castell, glancing round at the dark faces of the people, who, having discovered that they had killed a Spanish soldier, and taking them to be Moors, were marching alongside of them in great numbers, staring sullenly, or cursing them for infidels. Indeed, once when they passed a square, a priest in the mob cried out, “Kill them!” whereon a number of rough fellows made a rush to pull them off their horses, and were with difficulty beaten back by the soldiers.

Foiled in this attempt they began to pelt them with garbage, so that soon their white robes were stained and filthy. One fellow, too, threw a stone which struck Margaret on the wrist, causing her to cry out and drop her rein. This was too much for the hot-blooded Peter, who, spurring his horse alongside of him, before the soldiers could interfere, hit him such a buffet in the face that the man rolled upon the ground. Now Castell thought that they would certainly be killed, but to his surprise the mob only laughed and shouted such things as “Well hit, Moor!” “That infidel has a strong arm,” and so forth.

Nor was the officer angry, for when the man rose, a knife in his hand, he drew his sword and struck him down again with the flat of it, saying to Peter:

“Do not sully your hand with such street swine, Señor.”

Then he turned and commanded his men to charge the crowd ahead of them.

So they got through these people and, after many twists and turns down side streets to avoid the main avenues, came to a great and gloomy building and into a courtyard through barred gates that were opened at their approach and shut after them. Here they were ordered to dismount and their horses led away, while the officer, Arrano, entered into conversation with the governor of the prison, a man with a stern but not unkindly face, who surveyed them with much curiosity. Presently he approached and asked them if they could pay for good rooms, as if not he must put them in the common cells.

Castell answered, “Yes,” and, by way of earnest of it, produced five pieces of gold, and giving them to the Captain Arrano, begged him to distribute them among his soldiers as a thankoffering for their protection of them through the streets. Also, he said loudly enough for every one to hear, that he would be willing to compensate the relatives of the man whom Peter had killed by accident–an announcement that evidently impressed his comrades very favourably. Indeed one of them said he would bear the message to his widow, and, on behalf of the rest, thanked him for his gift. Then having bade farewell to the officer, who told them that they would meet again before the judges, they were led through the various passages of the prison to two rooms, one small and one of a fair size with heavily barred windows, given water to wash in, and told that food would be brought to them.

In due course it came, carried by jailers–meat, eggs, and wine, and glad enough were they to see it. While they ate, also the governor appeared with a notary, and, having waited till their meal was finished, began to question them.

“Our story is long,” said Castell, “but with your leave I will tell it you, only, I pray you, suffer my daughter, the Dona Margaret, to go to rest, for she is quite outworn, and if you will you can question her to-morrow.”

The governor assenting, Margaret threw off her veil to embrace her father, thus showing her beauty for the first time, whereat the governor and the notary stared amazed. Then having given Peter her hand to kiss, and curtseyed to the governor and the notary, she went to her bed in the next room, which opened out of that in which they were.

When she had gone, Castell told his story of how his daughter had been kidnapped by the Marquis of Morella, a name that caused the governor to open his eyes very wide, and brought from London to Granada, whither they, her father and her betrothed, had followed her and escaped. But of Betty and all the business of the changed bride he said nothing. Also, knowing that these must come out in any case, he told them his name and business, and those of his partners and correspondents in Seville, the firm of Bernaldez, which was one that the governor knew well enough, and prayed that the head of that firm, the Señor Juan Bernaldez, might be communicated with and allowed to visit them on the next morning. Lastly, he explained that they were no thieves or adventurers, but English subjects in misfortune, and again hinted that they were both able and willing to pay for any kindness or consideration that was shown to them, of all of which sayings the governor took note.

Also this officer said that he would communicate with his superiors, and, if no objection were made, send a messenger to ask the Señor Bernaldez to attend at the prison on the following day. Then at length he and the notary departed, and, the jailers having cleared away the food and locked the door, Castell and Peter lay down on the beds that they had made ready for them, thankful enough to find themselves at Seville, even though in a prison, where indeed they slept very well that night.

On the following morning they woke much refreshed, and, after they had breakfasted, the governor appeared, and with him none other than the Señor Juan Bernaldez, Castell’s secret correspondent and Spanish partner, whom he had last seen some years before in England, a stout man with a quiet, clever face, not over given to words.

Greeting them with a deference that was not lost upon the governor, he asked whether he had leave to speak with them alone. The governor assented and went, saying he would return within an hour. As soon as the door was closed behind him, Bernaldez said:

“This is a strange place to meet you in, John Castell, yet I am not altogether surprised, since some of your messages reached me through our friends the Jews; also your ship, the _Margaret_, lies refitted in the river, and to avoid suspicion I have been lading her slowly with a cargo for England, though how you will come aboard that ship is more than I can say. But we have no time to waste. Tell me all your story, keeping nothing back.”

So they told him everything as quickly as they could, while he listened silently. When they had done, he said, addressing Peter:

“It is a thousand pities, young sir, that you could not keep your hands off that soldier, for now the trouble that was nearly done with has begun anew, and in a worse shape. The Marquis of Morella is a very powerful man in this kingdom, as you may know from the fact that he was sent to London by their Majesties to negotiate a treaty with your English King Henry as to the Jews and their treatment, should any of them escape thither after they have been expelled from Spain. For nothing less is in the wind, and I would have you know that their Majesties hate the Jews, and especially the Maranos, whom already they burn by dozens here in Seville,” and he glanced meaningly at Castell.

“I am very sorry,” said Peter, “but the fellow handled her roughly, and I was maddened at the sight and could not help myself. This is the second time that I have come into trouble from the same cause. Also, I thought that he was but a bandit.”

“Love is a bad diplomatist,” replied Bernaldez, with a little smile, “and who can count last year’s clouds? What is done, is done. Now I will try to arrange that the three of you shall be brought straight before their Majesties when they sit to hear cases on the day after to-morrow. With the Queen you will have a better chance than at the hands of any alcalde. She has a heart, if only one can get at it–that is, except where Jews and Maranos are concerned,” and again he glanced at Castell. “Meanwhile, there is money in plenty, and in Spain we ride to heaven on gold angels,” he added, alluding to that coin and the national corruption.

Before they could say more the governor returned, saying that the Señor Bernaldez’ time was up, and asking if they had finished their talk.

“Not altogether,” said Margaret. “Noble Governor, is it permitted that the Señor Bernaldez should send me some Christian clothes to wear, for I would not appear before your judges in this soiled heathen garb, nor, I think, would my father or the Señor Brome?”

The governor laughed, and said he thought that might be arranged, and even allowed them another five minutes, while they talked of what these clothes should be. Then he departed with Bernaldez, leaving them alone.

It was not until the latter had gone, however, that they remembered that they had forgotten to ask him whether he had heard anything of the woman Inez, who had been furnished with his address, but, as he had said nothing of her, they felt sure that she could not have arrived in Seville, and once more were much afraid as to what might have happened after they had left Granada.

That night, to their grief and alarm, a new trouble fell on them. Just as they finished their supper the governor appeared and said that, by order of the Court before which they must be tried, the Señor Brome, who was accused of murder, must be separated from them. So, in spite of all they could say or do, Peter was led away to a separate cell, leaving Margaret weeping.

CHAPTER XIX

BETTY PAYS HER DEBTS

Betty Dene was not a woman afflicted with fears or apprehensions. Born of good parents, but in poverty, for six-and-twenty years she had fought her own way in a rough world and made the best of circumstances. Healthy, full-blooded, tough, affectionate, romantic, but honest in her way, she was well fitted to meet the ups and downs of life, to keep her head above the waters of a turbulent age, and to pay back as much as she received from man or woman.

Yet those long hours which she passed alone in the high turret chamber, waiting till they summoned her to play the part of a false bride, were the worst that she had ever spent. She knew that her position was, in a sense, shameful, and like to end in tragedy, and, now that she faced it in cold blood, began to wonder why she had chosen so to do. She had fallen in love with the Spaniard almost at first sight, though it is true that something like this had happened to her before with other men. Then he had played his part with her, till, quite deceived, she gave all her heart to him in good earnest, believing in her infatuation that, notwithstanding the difference of their place and rank, he desired to make her his wife for her own sake.

Afterwards came that bitter day of disillusion when she learned, as Inez had said to Castell, that she was but a stalking heifer used for the taking of the white swan, her cousin and mistress–that day when she had been beguiled by the letter which was still hid in her garments, and for her pains heard herself called a fool to her face. In her heart she had sworn to be avenged upon Morella then, and now the hour had come in which to fulfil her oath and play him back trick for cruel trick.

Did she still love the man? She could not say. He was pleasing to her as he had always been, and when that is so women forgive much. This was certain, however–love was not her guide to-night. Was it vengeance then that led her on? Perhaps; at least she longed to be able to say to him, “See what craft lies hid even in the bosom of an outwitted fool.”

Yet she would not have done it for vengeance’ sake alone, or rather she would have paid herself in some other fashion. No, her real reason was that she must discharge the debt due to Margaret and Peter, and to Castell who had sheltered her for years. She it was who had brought them into all this woe, and it seemed but just that she should bring them out again, even at the cost of her own life and womanly dignity. Or, perchance, all three of these powers drove her on,–love for the man if it still lingered, the desire to be avenged upon him, and the desire to snatch his prey from out his maw. At least she had set the game, and she would play it out to its end, however awful that might be.

The sun sank, the darkness closed about her, and she wondered whether ever again she would see the dawn. Her brave heart quailed a little, and she gripped the dagger hilt beneath her splendid, borrowed robe, thinking to herself that perhaps it might be wisest to drive it into her own breast, and not wait until a balked madman did that office for her. Yet not so, for it is always time to die when one must.

A knock came at the door, and her courage, which had sunk so low, burned up again within her. Oh! she would teach this Spaniard that the Englishwoman, whom he had made believe was his desired mistress, could be his master. At any rate, he should hear the truth before the end.

She unlocked the door, and Inez entered bearing a lamp, by the light of which she scanned her with her quiet eyes.

“The bridegroom is ready,” she said slowly that Betty might understand, “and sends me to lead you to him. Are you afraid?”

“Not I,” answered Betty. “But tell me, how will the thing be done?”

“The marquis meets us in the ante-room to that hall which is used as a chapel, and there on behalf of the household I, as the first of the women, give you both the cups of wine. Be sure that you drink of that which I hold in my left hand, passing the cup up beneath your veil so as not to show your face, and speak no word, lest he should recognise your voice. Then we shall go into the chapel, where the priest Henriques waits, also all the household. But that hall is great, and the lamps are feeble, so none will know you there. By this time also the drugged wine will have begun to work upon Morella’s brain, wherefore, provided that you use a low voice, you may safely say, ‘I, Betty, wed thee, Carlos,’ not ‘I, Margaret, wed thee.’ Then, when it is over, he will lead you away to the chambers prepared for you, where, if there is any virtue in my wine, he will sleep sound to-night, that is, as soon as the priest has given me the marriage-lines, whereof I will hand you one copy and keep the others. Afterwards—-” and she shrugged her shoulders.

“What becomes of you?” asked Betty, when she had fully mastered these instructions.

“Oh! I and the priest start to-night for a ride together to Seville, where his money awaits him; ill company for a woman who means henceforth to be honest and rich, but better than none. Perhaps we shall meet again there, or perhaps we shall not; at least, you know where to seek me and the others, at the house of the Señor Bernaldez. Now it is time. Are you ready to be made a marchioness of Spain?”

“Of course,” answered Betty coolly, and they started.

Through the empty halls and corridors they went, and oh! surely no Eastern plot that had been conceived in them was quite so bold and desperate as theirs. They reached the ante-chamber to the chapel, and took their stand outside of the circle of light that fell from its hanging lamps. Presently a door opened, and through it came Morella, attended by two of his secretaries. He was splendidly arrayed in his usual garb of black velvet, and about his neck hung chains of gold and jewels, and to his breast were fastened the glittering stars and orders pertaining to his rank. Never, or so thought Betty, had Morella seemed more magnificent and handsome. He was happy also, who was about to drink of that cup of joy which he so earnestly desired. Yes, his face showed that he was happy, and Betty, noting it, felt remorse stirring in her breast. Low he bowed before her, while she curtseyed to him, bending her tall and graceful form till her knee almost touched the ground. Then he came to her and whispered in her ear:

“Most sweet, most beloved,” he said, “I thank heaven that has led me to this joyous hour by many a rough and dangerous path. Most dear, again I beseech you to forgive all the sorrow and the ill that I have brought upon you, remembering that it was clone for your adored sake, that I love you as woman has been seldom loved, you and you only, and that to you, and you only, will I cling until my death’s day. Oh! do not tremble and shrink, for I swear that no woman in Spain shall have a better or a more loyal lord. You I will cherish alone, for you I will strive by night and day to lift you to great honour and satisfy your every wish. Many and pleasant may the years be that we shall spend side by side, and peaceful our ends when at last we lay us down side by side to sleep awhile and wake again in heaven, whereof the shadow lies on me to-night. Remembering the past, I do not ask much of you–as yet; still, if you are minded to give me a bridal gift that I shall prize above crowns or empires, say that you forgive me all that I have done amiss, and in token, lift that veil of yours and kiss me on the lips.”

Betty heard this speech, whereof she only fully understood the end, and trembled. This was a trial that she had not foreseen. Yet it must be faced, for speak she dared not. Therefore, gathering up her courage, and remembering that the light was at her back, after a little pause, as though of modesty and reluctance, she raised the pearl-embroidered veil, and, bending forward beneath its shadow, suffered Morella to kiss her on the lips.

It was over, the veil had fallen again, and the man suspected nothing.

“I am a good artist,” thought Inez to herself, “and that woman acts better than the wooden Peter. Scarcely could I have done it so well myself.”

Then, the jealousy and hate that she could not control glittering in her soft eyes, for she too had loved this man, and well, Inez lifted the golden cups that had been prepared, and, gliding forward, beautiful in her broidered, Eastern robe, fell upon her knee and held them to the bridegroom and the bride. Morella took that from her right hand, and Betty that from her left, nor, intoxicated as he was already with that first kiss of love, did he pause to note the evil purpose which was written on the face of his discarded slave. Betty, passing the cup beneath her veil, touched it with her lips and returned it to Inez; but Morella, exclaiming, “I drink to you, sweet bride, most fair and adored of women,” drained his to the dregs, and cast it back to Inez as a gift in such fashion that the red wine which clung to its rim stained her white robes like a splash of blood.

Humbly she bowed, humbly she gathered the precious vessel from the floor; but when she rose again there was triumph in her eyes–not hate.

Now Morella took his bride’s hand and, followed by his gentlemen and Inez, walked to the curtains that were drawn as they came into the great hall beyond, where had mustered all his household, perhaps a hundred of them. Between their bowing ranks they passed, a stately pair, and, whilst sweet voices sang behind some hidden screen, walked onward to the altar, where stood the waiting priest. They kneeled down upon the gold-embroidered cushions while the office of the Church was read over them. The ring was set upon Betty’s hand–scarce, it would seem, could he find her finger–the man took the woman to wife, the woman took the man for husband. His voice was thick, and hers was very low; of all that listening crowd none could hear the names they spoke.

It was over. The priest bowed and blessed them. They signed some papers, there by the light of the altar candles. Father Henriques filled in certain names and signed them also, then, casting sand upon them, placed them in the outstretched hand of Inez, who, although Morella never seemed to notice, gave one to the bride, and thrust the other two into the bosom of her robe. Then both she and the priest kissed the hands of the marquis and his wife, and asked his leave to be gone. He bowed his head vaguely, and–if any had been there to listen–within ten short minutes they might have heard two horses galloping hard towards the Seville gate.

Now, escorted by pages and torch-bearers, the new-wed pair repassed those dim and stately halls, the bride, veiled, mysterious, fateful; the bridegroom, empty-eyed, like one who wanders in his sleep. Thus they reached their chamber, and its carved doors shut behind them.

* * * * *

It was early morning, and the serving-women who waited without that room were summoned to it by the sound of a silver gong. Two of them entered and were met by Betty, no longer veiled, but wrapped in a loose robe, who said to them:

“My lord the marquis still sleeps. Come, help me dress and make ready his bath and food.”

The women stared at her, for now that she had washed the paint from her face they knew well that this was the Señora Betty and not the Dona Margaret, whom, they had understood, the marquis was to marry. But she chid them sharply in her bad Spanish, bidding them be swift, as she would be robed before her husband should awake. So they obeyed her, and when she was ready she went with them into the great hall where many of the household were gathered, waiting to do homage to the new-wed pair, and greeted them all, blushing and smiling, saying that doubtless the marquis would be among them soon, and commanding them meanwhile to go about their several tasks.

So well did Betty play her part indeed, that, although they also were bewildered, none questioned her place or authority, who remembered that after all they had not been told by their lord himself which of these two English ladies he meant to marry. Also, she distributed among the meaner of them a present of money on her husband’s behalf and her own, and then ate food and drank some wine before them all, pledging them, and receiving their salutations and good wishes.

When all this was done, still smiling, Betty returned to the marriage-chamber, closing its door behind her, sat her down on a chair near the bed, and waited for the worst struggle of all–that struggle on which hung her life. See! Morella stirred. He sat up, gazing about him