Part 28 (1/2)
”Indeed, sir, I know not thy meaning.”
”My meaning? Dost not thou know what love is? Of course thou dost not--if thou didst, it might be I should not care to be thy tutor.
Come, I will teach thee this night--now, my Pretty,--now. Come, come with me.” He arose and essayed to draw her toward the door that led to an inner chamber. Katherine was well nigh to swooning, and perhaps would have, had not there fell upon her ear the sound of some one entering the house. ”Ah, heaven!” she thought, ”if it were only Father La Fosse or Sir Julian or even--ah!” She did hear Constance' voice.
”Aye, even Constance could think of some way for her to escape.” She knew Janet was behind her chair, but she might have lost her usual wit and have become incapable of helping at the very moment she was most needed. Monmouth drank another gla.s.s of wine, then withdrew from his chair and leant over that of the maid, drawing her close in his embrace. He was now so drunk he did not hear the door creak as Janet and Katherine did; the former, seeing the pale, triumphant face of Constance reflected in a mirror, as she stood half-way inside the door. Katherine tried to disengage herself by reaching for another gla.s.s of wine. The Duke reached it for her and would hold it to her lips; but she, looking up at him with a feint of a smile, said in coaxing tones,--
”I was getting it for thee; your Highness will drink it?”
”Could I refuse--there!--there! Come!--” He put his arms about her and was carrying her forth, when Janet plucked him by the sleeve and whispered something in his ear. He loosed for a moment her trembling form and she began to weep. These tears made him forget Janet's words, and he turned again to Katherine.
”There, there, my wife; thou dost break my heart at each sob. Here, see here what I brought thee,” and he placed on her arm a circlet of rubies. ”There, hush thy tears. I will not teach thee anything but how kind I may be--there, sit thee down. I will let thee wait until thou art accustomed to man's caresses.” Monmouth's heavy drinking trended to strengthen his good humour, else he might have resented roundly the interruption of his love-making by the entrance of Lady Constance. He held out his hand to her, saying,--
”Come, my lady; see my poor dear. The poor child is affrighted at my love-making. Thou wouldst not be so frightened, Constance,--eh?”
”I am not a child, your Highness, to fall to weeping if so honourable a gentleman as some should choose to kiss my hand.” The Duke reached to the table and pressed another cup of wine to his lips, that were already stiffened by excess.
”Come, Sweet; give me one kiss--” and he bent over her close.
”Nay, nay, I'll not suffer thee.” And Katherine drew from him with flas.h.i.+ng eyes.
”Come, silly child; one, just one.” She fled from his reach. He sought to catch her but was stopped by Constance who whispered something hurriedly. The Duke turned upon Janet and frowned, then broke into a mocking laugh, and with a sly wink at Constance, said,--
”Thou art a trickster, good nurse; thou didst play upon me foully.
Good, good nurse! Come, go quickly. Thou shalt see no more love-making; I forbid thee; kiss thy nestling and go. I will watch over her. Come, my sweet, come!” His Grace took the maid in his strong arms, and though his legs threatened collapse, bore her toward the door.
Janet saw the look of devilish menace and triumph upon Lady Constance'
face and--beyond--what did she see behind the curtain of the window that looked upon the garden? Surely 'twas something more than the evening breeze that stirred those hangings. 'Twas a familiar face that looked from behind the folds; aye, of a truth, 'twas Sir Julian Pomphrey's. When Monmouth, half carrying Katherine, reached the door and stood some little way beyond its deep embrazure, he turned to Janet again, saying,--
”Go, good nurse. I wait for thine exit. Come, begone!”
”I beg your Grace to forgive the lie I told and give pledge of thy forgiveness by taking this.” She handed him a br.i.m.m.i.n.g cup.
”Then, good nurse, I forgive thee. Here is to the maid thou dost let go and to the woman I shall bring back.” He threw back his head and lifted the cup. As it touched his lips a handkerchief fell about his eyes and a strong hand covered his mouth and the Duke lay helpless upon the floor.
Janet carried the half-fainting maid from the room. As she did so, Sir Julian and Lord Cedric, who had also come through the window, carried the young Duke to another chamber; binding him fast; keeping his eyes well blindfolded and their own tongues still. Constance was left standing in the middle of the floor in dumb surprise and chagrin. In a moment Lord Cedric returned, and his voice rang steel as he faced her, nor was there shadow of pity as he saw her white face grow ghastly in fear.
”Thou, Constance, art the receptacle of all the d.a.m.ned ills flung from mortals, whether of the mind or body. As for soul, that unknown thing to thee--thou canst not recognize in another and therefore canst take on nothing of it save its punishment hereafter, when thou shalt have no choice of condiment. Thy heart lies festering in the rheum that exuviates from its foul surroundings. Conscience thou art bankrupt of, and in its place doth lurk the bawd that envenoms thy senses and turns thy narrow body into prodigious corruption--”
”Cedric,--my G.o.d; stay thy tongue!”
”Nay, nay; my tongue is a well-matched Jehu for thy devil's race. I would I might scorch thee with it, to give thee foretaste of that to come; perchance 'twould seethe thy rottenness to the quick--if thou of that art not also bereft--and turn thee from thy course. Thou dost pander for the King's son and steal an innocent maid of unripe years to gratify his l.u.s.t--ah, 'sdeath! thou art but a pernicious wench, as false as h.e.l.l. And when the nurse whispered that 'twould save the child from shame, thy protrusile tang-of-a-serpent didst sibilate in his ready ear a denial--”
”Cedric, Cedric; cease, I pray!” And Constance fell upon her knees sobbing. But the young lord's storm had not yet spent itself, and he sped on in fury:
”I would thy noxious blood had all run out ere mingling with its better, and I had naught of so foul a taint within. If I held the apothecary's skill, I would open my veins and purge from them thy jaundiced blood and let in slime of snakes and putrid matter to sweeten the vessel thus set free--”
”My lord, we must hasten. The maid is ready to depart with her nurse,” said Sir Julian. As the young lord turned to him, Lady Constance--crushed and broken--said,--