"Of me?" she had answered. "Why, of me they talk already - talk their fill. I must pretend blindness to the leering eyes that watch me each time I come to Pau; feign unconsciousness of the impertinent glances of the captain of the castle there as I ride in.""Then why do you come?" he had asked point-blank. But before her sudden change of countenance he had been quick to add: "Oh, madame, I am full conscious of the charity that brings you, and I am deeply, deeply grateful; but - ""Charity?" she had interrupted sharply, on a laugh that was self-mocking. "Charity?""What else, madame?"
"Ask yourself," she had answered, reddening and averting her face from his questioning eyes.
"Madame," he had faltered, "I dare not."
"Dare not?"
"Madame, how should I? I am an old man, broken by sickness, disheartened by misfortune, daunted by tribulation - a mere husk cast aside by Fortune, whilst you are lovely as one of the angels about the Throne of Heaven."She had looked into the haggard face, into the scars of suffering that seared it, and she had answered gently: "Tomorrow you shall come to me at Chantenac, my friend.""I am a Spaniard, for whom to-morrow never comes.""But it will this time. To-morrow I shall expect you."He looked up at her sitting her great black horse beside which he had been pacing.
"Better not, madame! Better not!" he had said.
And then he saw the eyes that had been tender grow charged with scorn; then came her angry taunt:
"You a Spaniard of Spain! I do not believe it!"Oh, there was no doubt that he had angered her. Women of her temperament are quick to anger as to every emotion. But he had not wished to anger her. God knows it was never the way of Antonio Perez to anger lovely women - at least not in this fashion. And it was an ill return for her gentleness and attention to himself.
Considering this as he sat there now, he resolved that he must make amends - the only amends it was possible to make.
An hour later, in one of the regal rooms of the castle, where he enjoyed the hospitality of King Henri IV of France and Navarre, he announced to that most faithful equerry, Gil de Mesa, his intention of riding to Chantenac to-morrow.
"Is it prudent?" quoth Mesa, frowning.
"Most imprudent," answered Don Antonio. "That is why I go."And on the morrow he went, escorted by a single groom. Gil de Mesa had begged at first to be allowed to accompany him. But for Gil he had other work, of which the instructions he left were very full.
The distance was short - three miles along the Gave de Pau - and Don Antonio covered it on a gently ambling mule, such as might have been bred to bear some aged dignitary of Holy Church.
The lords of Chantenac were as noble, as proud, and as poor as most great lords of Bearn. Their lineage was long, their rent-rolls short. And the last marquis had suffered more from this dual complaint than any of his forbears, and he had not at all improved matters by a certain habit of gaming contracted in youth. The chateau bore abundant signs of it. It was a burnt red pile standing four-square on a little eminence, about the base of which the river went winding turbulently; it was turreted at each of its four angles, imposing in its way, but in a sad state of dilapidation and disrepair.
The interior, when Don Antonio reached it, was rather better; the furnishings, though sparse, were massive and imposing; the tapestries on the walls, if old, were rich and choice. But everywhere the ill-assorted marriage of pretentiousness and neediness was apparent.
The floors of hall and living-room were strewn with fresh-cut rushes, an obsolescent custom which served here alike to save the heavy cost of carpets and to lend the place an ancient baronial dignity. Whilst pretence was made of keeping state, the servitors were all old, and insufficient in number to warrant the retention of the infirm seneschal by whom Don Antonio was ceremoniously received. A single groom, aged and without livery, took charge at once of Don Antonio's mule, his servant's horse, and the servant himself.
The seneschal, hobbling before him, conducted our Spaniard across the great hall, gloomy and half denuded, through the main living-room of the chateau into a smaller, more intimate apartment, holding some trace of luxury, which he announced as madame's own room. And there he left him to await the coming of the chatelaine.
She, at least, showed none of the outward disrepair of her surroundings. She came to him sheathed in a gown of shimmering silk that was of the golden brown of autumn tints, caught to her waist by a slender girdle of hammered gold. Eyes of deepest blue pondered him questioningly, whilst red lips smiled their welcome. "So you have come in spite of all?" she greeted him. "Be very welcome to my poor house, Don Antonio."And regally she proffered her hand to his homage.
He took it, observing the shapely, pointed fingers, the delicately curving nails. Reluctantly, almost, he admitted to himself how complete was her beauty, how absolute her charm. He sighed - a sigh for that lost youth of his, perhaps - as he bowed from his fine, lean height to press cold lips of formal duty on that hand.
"Your will, madame, was stronger than my prudence," said he.
"Prudence?" quoth she, and almost sneered. "Since when has Antonio Perez stooped to prudence?""Since paying the bitter price of imprudence. You know my story?""A little. I know, for instance, that you murdered Escovedo - all the world knows that. Is that the imprudence of which you speak?
I have heard it said that it was for love of a woman that you did it.""You have heard that, too?" he said. He had paled a little. "You have heard a deal, Marquise. I wonder would it amuse you to hear more, to hear from my own lips this story of mine which all Europe garbles? Would it?"There was a faint note of anxiety in his voice, a look faintly anxious in his eyes.
She scanned him a moment gravely, almost inscrutably. "What purpose can it serve?" she asked; and her tone was forbidding - almost a tone of fear.
"It will explain," he insisted.
