All the ladies round felt that, she could see, as much as she herself did; no, not quite as much, she hoped.She surely understood him, and felt for his loneliness more than any of them.
Had she not been feeling for it through long and sad months? But it was she whom he was thinking of, she whom he was speaking to, all along.Oh, why had the tale ended so soon? She would gladly have sat and wept her eyes out till midnight over one melodious misery after another; but she was quite wise enough to keep her secret to herself; and sat behind the rest, with greedy eyes and demure lips, full of strange and new happiness--or misery; she knew not which to call it.
In the meanwhile, as it was ordained, Cary could see and hear through the window of the hall a good deal of what was going on.
"How that Spanish crocodile ogles the Rose!" whispered he to young St.Leger.
"What wonder? He is not the first by many a one.""Ay--but-- By heaven, she is ****** side-shots at him with those languishing eyes of hers, the little baggage!""What wonder? He is not the first, say I, and won't be the last.
Pass the wine, man."
"I have had enough; between sack and singing, my head is as mazed as a dizzy sheep.Let me slip out.""Not yet, man; remember you are bound for one song more."So Cary, against his will, sat and sang another song; and in the meanwhile the party had broken up, and wandered away by twos and threes, among trim gardens and pleasaunces, and clipped yew-walks--Where west-winds with musky wing About the cedarn alleys fling Nard and cassia's balmy smells--"admiring the beauty of that stately place, long since passed into other hands, and fallen to decay, but then (if old Prince speaks true) one of the noblest mansions of the West.
At last Cary got away and out; sober, but just enough flushed with wine to be ready for any quarrel; and luckily for him, had not gone twenty yards along the great terrace before he met Lady Grenville.
"Has your ladyship seen Don Guzman?"
"Yes--why, where is he? He was with me not ten minutes ago.You know he is going back to Spain.""Going! Has his ransom come?"
"Yes, and with it a governorship in the Indies.""Governorship! Much good may it do the governed.""Why not, then? He is surely a most gallant gentleman.""Gallant enough--yes," said Cary, carelessly."I must find him, and congratulate him on his honors.""I will help you to find him," said Lady Grenville, whose woman's eye and ear had already suspected something."Escort me, sir.""It is but too great an honor to squire the Queen of Bideford,"said Cary, offering his hand.
"If I am your queen, sir, I must be obeyed," answered she, in a meaning tone.Cary took the hint, and went on chattering cheerfully enough.
But Don Guzman was not to be found in garden or in pleasaunce.
"Perhaps," at last said a burgher's wife, with a toss of her head, "your ladyship may meet with him at Hankford's oak.""At Hankford's oak! what should take him there?""Pleasant company, I reckon" (with another toss)."I heard him and Mistress Salterne talking about the oak just now."Cary turned pale and drew in his breath.
"Very likely," said Lady Grenville, quietly."Will you walk with me so far, Mr.Cary?""To the world's end, if your ladyship condescends so far." And off they went, Lady Grenville wishing that they were going anywhere else, but afraid to let Cary go alone; and suspecting, too, that some one or other ought to go.
So they went down past the herds of deer, by a trim-kept path into the lonely dell where stood the fatal oak; and, as they went, Lady Grenville, to avoid more unpleasant talk, poured into Cary's unheeding ears the story (which he probably had heard fifty times before) how old Chief-justice Hankford (whom some contradictory myths make the man who committed Prince Henry to prison for striking him on the bench), weary of life and sickened at the horrors and desolations of the Wars of the Roses, went down to his house at Annery there, and bade his keeper shoot any man who, passing through the deer-park at night, should refuse to stand when challenged; and then going down into that glen himself, and hiding himself beneath that oak, met willingly by his keeper's hand the death which his own dared not inflict: but ere the story was half done, Cary grasped Lady Grenville's hand so tightly that she gave a little shriek of pain.
"There they are!" whispered he, heedless of her; and pointed to the oak, where, half hidden by the tall fern, stood Rose and the Spaniard.
Her head was on his bosom.She seemed sobbing, trembling; he talking earnestly and passionately; but Lady Grenville's little shriek made them both look up.To turn and try to escape was to confess all; and the two, collecting themselves instantly, walked towards her, Rose wishing herself fathoms deep beneath the earth.
"Mind, sir," whispered Lady Grenville as they came up; "you have seen nothing.""Madam?"
"If you are not on my ground, you are on my brother's.Obey me!"Cary bit his lip, and bowed courteously to the Don.
"I have to congratulate you, I hear, senor, on your approaching departure.""I kiss your hands, senor, in return; but I question whether it be a matter of congratulation, considering all that I leave behind.""So do I," answered Cary, bluntly enough, and the four walked back to the house, Lady Grenville taking everything for granted with the most charming good humor, and chatting to her three silent companions till they gained the terrace once more, and found four or five of the gentlemen, with Sir Richard at their head, proceeding to the bowling-green.
Lady Grenville, in an agony of fear about the quarrel which she knew must come, would have gladly whispered five words to her husband: but she dared not do it before the Spaniard, and dreaded, too, a faint or a scream from the Rose, whose father was of the party.So she walked on with her fair prisoner, commanding Cary to escort them in, and the Spaniard to go to the bowling-green.
Cary obeyed: but he gave her the slip the moment she was inside the door, and then darted off to the gentlemen.