Mistress Penwick Part 6

Some lithe creature came forth to dance, in bright scarlet, the pa.s.sacaglia. The gla.s.ses were refilled and the noise became more boisterous; and the scandal more flagrant. The candles were set aglow again and tables were brought for those wis.h.i.+ng to gamble. And one richly dressed and full of wine sprung upon a table and held aloft a gla.s.s and called forth:

"Here, here is to his Lords.h.i.+p of Crandlemar and to a long life of free and easy celibacy." Now 'twas said Lord Cedric could drink more without becoming undignified than any other man of his company, but it seemed he gave himself to the spirit of the moment and had drunk deep.

When the young blood upon the table offered the toast, Cedric sprung as if shot to the table, where he staggered and would have fallen, had it not been for the youth who bore him up. Holtcolm, in his drunken anxiety for his neighbour's steadiness, stood near him and with tender, maudlin solicitude began to flick the grains of bergamot scented snuff from the lace of Lord Cedric's steenkirk. At the same time from the gla.s.s he held there spilled on his Lords.h.i.+p's brocaded coat of blue and silver a good half-pint of wine. Cedric upon being balanced had forgotten what he wanted to say, and turned to his supporter.

"What was it Holt-colm--I was goin' to shay?" Neither could remember, so his Lords.h.i.+p continued with what seemed to weigh upon his mind:

"'Tis thish: 'tis my des.h.i.+re thish should be made a memorable--a night worthy of remembrance. I'm about to espoushe my fair ward--and this is positively my lasht appearance _en bout_--I know and am fully aware _abondance de bien ne nuit_ until a better comes. To-night will be my finale de-bauch--sho; tell the red beauty to come here." He sat down upon the table and gazed with heavy, drooping lids upon the dancing girl that came toward him. "Thou art a saucy baggage; but--hic--thou art false of colour and--hic--flesh. Thy lips and cheeks are stained with rouge--hic--and thy flesh--is--hic--pushed to prominence by high stays--by G.o.d, it turns my stomach to--nausea." And he turned over and lay flat upon the table. "Bring on another--shay--we must have the moonlight beauty again." Katherine was well frightened and made several efforts to persuade her companion to go away. It was part of Constance' programme to cause Katherine's disgust at sight of Cedric's wantonness. She felt it had been accomplished, and as there were other matters to be about, she turned with her and together they groped back up the stairs in the darkness, and found Janet feigning sleep in a chair before the fire, Constance yawned and declared herself to be tired out, and bade Katherine _adieu_. Janet closed the door after her and in haste began putting her mistress to bed. And after giving her a bath and rubbing, she snuffed the candles and went to her own room to slip out again and go below stairs and find the curtained doorway, there to watch and wait for that which was to come. She had seen as much as Constance and Katherine, and she determined to see even more.

She would know how Lord Cedric appeared in his cups. There was nothing anomalous in what was before her; 'twas as she had often seen in the grand house in which she had served as maid; the same licentiousness, wild riot and debaucheries that have been since the world stood. She saw 'twas Cedric that drank as deep as any, and could rip out oaths as trippingly as his swollen tongue would allow; but he was neither vulgar nor lewd. Janet looked with pride at his clear flushed face, so handsomely featured; his jewelled hands and fine round legs that tapered to slender ankles. 'Twould be a fine pair when he espoused her mistress, and she would help him to it as soon as he liked. Her heart went out to him the more when she saw he cared not for the favours offered him by the dancing wenches as they touched his flowing black curls with caressing hands. He turned upon his stomach on the table and hid his face in his hands and remained thus until the candles were again snuffed and a maid came out into the improvised moonlight in gipsy dress and a fortune-teller's cup and wand. She wore a masque and veil tight wrapped about her head. She danced with less skill than any that had come before. She lisped forth 'twas her trade to tell fortunes, and thereupon a fop reached forth and pulled her to him, and she began a startling story that had somewhat of truth in it; and to each one her a.s.sertions or predictions had so much of truth in them it provoked interest among them all. Lord Cedric called from the table:

"The wench tells ear-splitting truths; send her here, she shall give my pasht, present--and future." If they had not been so blinded by wine, they might have noticed her haste to go to his bidding. She looked closely at his hand and the sediment of his wine-cup.

"Thou art madly and blindly in love!" said she, lispingly.

"Good! good!" was sent forth from those about; and Cedric struck his fist upon the table,--

"'Madly'--yes; but by G.o.d not 'blindly'! haste on, wench."

"She loves admiration--"

"She would not be half a woman if she--"

"She is in love with one of Russian birth," went on the gipsy. Cedric frowned and held quiet. "There is one who hast loved thee from early childhood--a--a kinswoman--she would make thee a n.o.ble spouse and love thee well with a warm nature to match thine own."

"Thou tellest false, for I know not such an one. I have loved many kinswomen since childhood, and they have loved me, but not to espousal!"

"'Tis here--her name--'tis--C-o-n-s--"

"Constance, by G.o.d! but there thy lisping tongue prattles ill, for she loves me as a brother, and I love her as if she were my sister." Now the gipsy drew back as if the man before her had stricken her, then hastened to cover her emotion with a sudden look into the cup and an exclamation of--

"Ah! ah!"

"What seest thou?" said Cedric.

"A thing that means more to thee than aught else; 'tis an awful thing if thou shouldst choose wrong!"

"Haste, wench, what is it?" Cedric was growing impatient.

"Thy kinswoman will bring thee a fine heir--"

"By G.o.d, the other will bring me a dozen then!"

"Nay, 'tis not so, she--" She stepped close to his ear and whispered.

"Thousand devils, thou infernal, lying pot-house brawler--" and Cedric glared fiercely upon her and bent forward, his hand falling upon his sword-hilt; then he grew red at his hot action, and looked about to see if 'twas noticed. "Get thee gone, thou saucy, lisping minx." The poor thing was well-nigh distraught with fear of this man whose anger came like a thunderbolt, and she fell heavy upon the lackey who conducted her forth. She slipped through the corridors like a fast fleeting shadow, and Janet followed her close and saw her enter a certain chamber apart where she was met by one of the dancers; and 'twas Lady Constance that threw from her the gipsy attire and put a bag of gold in the celebrated Babbet's waiting fingers; and with a warning pressure of finger-on-lip, she came forth and fled to her own grand apartments, and Janet watched until the latch clicked upon this great mistress of beauty, t.i.tle, wealth and virtue.

CHAPTER VI

JANET'S PHILOSOPHY

"This world of ours hangs midway 'twixt zenith and nadir: the superior and inferior: the positive and negative; and 'tis a pertinent thought that susceptible human nature takes on the characteristic of the one or the other. One is away up in zenithdom or away down in nadirdom, one is not content to go along the halfway place and see the good that lies ever before them. But, again, there are natures that are not susceptible to extremes; as a simile: a maid whose soul is ever vibrant with the ineffable joys of the world to come, walks by the seash.o.r.e and mayhap beholds the full moon rise from the water and cast to her very feet a pathway of gold, and she will quickly join herself to those who see like visions, and pathway will lie against pathway and produce a sea of gold; on the other hand, if she be a foolish virgin and looks not before her, but tosses high head in pride or walks with downcast eyes and smiles and blushes and smirks and flings aside thoughts of deity, until she becomes submerged; on a sudden Gabriel will blow and the world will cease revolving, and then--where wilt thou be, oh, maid that hath fluttered from sweet to sweet and forgotten thy prayers?" There came a great happy sigh from the testered bed--

"Thou hast powerful breath, Janet, and 'twas an immense bitterwort bush thou were beating about. I am sorry I forgot my prayers. I will say them twenty times to-day, to make up."

"And it's the heathen that repeateth a prayer oft; thou hadst better say 'G.o.d, have mercy upon my untowardness!' once, from thy heart, than to say thy rosary from now until doom with thy mind upon a b.u.mptious Russian."

"What is the day, Janet?"

"'Tis as bleak and stormy as one could wish."

"What is the hour?"

"Eleven."

"Eleven? and I was to meet Count Adrian at this very hour. He is to teach me battledore and shuttlec.o.c.k."

"'Tis a fussy game, played more with the heart than hand; canst give it up; let me rub thee to sleep again?"

"Nay, for I would not disappoint him or--myself."

An hour later she stood opposite the count in the great library, swinging the battledore with grace. There was much soft laughter and gay repartee; and Adrian followed the movements of Katherine's lithe form, clad in the soft, clinging grey of the convent. She became remiss; for Adrian's glances were confusing, and intentional laches were made by him, that he might come near her, almost touching her hair in bending to recover the ball. She was flushed and eager, triumphant of a fine return, when the door flew open and in came a number of gallants, among whom was Lord Cedric. His face flushed a warm red and he shot a glance of jealousy at Adrian as he bent low over Katherine's hand. After a few commonplace remarks, they pa.s.sed on up the stairway to the broad landing, on which was an arched door that led to the pa.s.sage opening into the organ loft of the chapel. In a few moments there came the sound of the organ. Katherine swung low her battledore and breathed forth:

"Let us listen; 'tis sweet, who plays, dost know?"

"'Tis St. Mar, a fine fellow; a soldier, duelist and gallant."

"'Thou dost flank duelist by two words that should scorn being so separated!'"

"'Twas a happy wording; for if thou shouldst meet him, thou wilt fall but two-thirds in love, whereas, if otherwise worded 'twould be altogether."

"Thou art giving my heart an evil reputation; for after all 'tis not so easy won."

"'Tis true, as I know, more than any one else, for my heart misgave me from the moment I first set eyes on thy beauteous countenance; and since I have been in wild despair, not knowing if thou hast a heart for any save thy nurse and my Lord Cedric; for 'tis to them thy heart seems bent." There was neither shadow nor movement of fair expression on Mistress Penwick's face, as she answered calmly,--

"Thou sayest well. I love my nurse--she has been mother too, and I honour Lord Cedric as a good man should be honoured, and one whom my father chose to be his daughter's guardian and holder in trust of her estates."

"Estates"--'twas a grand word and went straight to Cantemir's heart; for 'twas something to espouse so beautiful a maiden that had demesne as well.

Katherine was listening to the chords of the organ, and she bent forward eagerly. Her thoughts flew back to the convent where she had enjoyed a pure religious life undisturbed by the trammels of the great outer world.

"Let us go," said she, "I would see who 'tis that plays!"

She led the way up the broad stairs and through the pa.s.sage into the organ loft, and at first sight of her Cedric was well-nigh beside himself with delight; for he took it, she had come to be with him.

There was a young fop at the organ in rich and modish attire, but otherwise of unattractive and common appearance.

Katherine cast upon him her entire attention, and there came that in her face that drew the glance of every eye. 'Twas as if she was entranced with the player, as well as the sounds he brought forth from the organ. Cedric be-thought him 'twas an unfortunate oversight to have learnt not to thrum upon some sort of thing wherewith to draw the attention if not admiration of such a maid as this. And he straightway made avowal to send at once for tutor and instrument; a violin, when played as he might learn to, would perhaps be as successful in its lodestone requirements as any other thrumming machine. "'Twas an instrument could be handled to such an effect. A man could so well show white, jewelled fingers; display a rare steenkirk to pillow it upon; and withal, a man could stand free and sway his body gracefully this way and that; yes, 'tis the thing to do; she may yet look at me as she now looks at St. Mar!" so thought Cedric. The piece was soft and gentle, with a pathetic motif running through it. Katherine became so rapt she drew closer and closer, until at last she stood beside St.