Beverly of Graustark Part 27

"Is it necessary for me to ask you to double the number of lessons I am to have?" Marlanx asked. He was quite too close to her side to please Beverly.

"Can't you learn in one lesson? Most Americans think they know all about poker after the first game."

"I am not so quick-witted, your highness."

"Far be it from me to accelerate your wits, Count Marlanx. It might not be profitable."

"You might profit by losing, you know," he ventured, leaning still closer, "Poker is not the only game of chance. It was chance that gave me a winning hand this evening."

"I don't understand."

"It shall be my pleasure to teach you in return for instructions I am to have. I have tried to teach your excellent guard one phase of the game. He has not profited, I fear. He has been blind enough to pick a losing hand in spite of my advice. It is the game of hearts." Beverly could not but understand. She shrank away with a shudder. Her wits did not desert her, however.

"I know the game," she said steadily. "One's object is to cast off all the hearts. I have been very lucky at the game, Count Marlanx."

"Umph!" was his ironical comment. "Ah, isn't this a night for lovers?"

he went on, changing tack suddenly. "To stroll in the shadows, where even the moon is blind, is a joy that love alone provides. Come, fair mistress, share this joy with me."

With that his hand closed over her soft arm above the elbow and she was drawn close to his side. Beverly's first shock of revulsion was succeeded by the distressing certainty that Baldos was a helpless witness of this indignity. She tried to jerk her arm away, but he held it tight.

"Release my arm, sir!" she cried, hoa.r.s.e with pa.s.sion.

"Call your champion, my lady. It will mean his death. I have evidence that will insure his conviction and execution within an hour. Nothing could Call him, I say, and--"

"I _will_ call him. He is my sworn protector, and I will command him to knock you down if you don't go away," she flared, stopping decisively.

"At his peril--"

"Baldos!" she called, without a second's hesitation. The guard came up with a rush just as Marlanx released her arm and fell away with a muttered imprecation.

"Your highness!" cried Baldos, who had witnessed everything.

"Are you afraid to die?" she demanded briefly; and clearly.

"No!"

"That is all," she said, suddenly calm. "I merely wanted to prove it to Count Marlanx." Tact had come to her relief most opportunely. Like a flash she saw that a conflict between the commander of the army and a guard could have but one result and that disastrous to the latter. One word from her would have ended everything for Baldos. She saw through the Iron Count's ruse as if by divine inspiration and profited where he least expected her to excel in shrewdness. Marlanx had deliberately invited the a.s.sault by the guard. His object had been to snare Baldos into his own undoing, and a horrible undoing it would have been. One blow would have secured the desired result. Nothing could have saved the guard who had struck his superior officer. But Beverly thought in time.

"To die is easy, your highness. You have but to ask it of me," said Baldos, whose face was white and drawn.

"She has no intention of demanding such a pleasant sacrifice" observed Count Marlanx, covering his failure skilfully. "Later on, perhaps, she may sign your death warrant. I am proud to hear, sir, that a member of my corps has the courage to face the inevitable, even though he be an alien and unwilling to die on the field of battle. You have my compliments, sir. You have been on irksome duty for several hours and must be fatigued as well as hungry. A soldier suffers many deprivations, not the least of which is starvation in pursuit of his calling. Mess is not an unwelcome relief to you after all these arduous hours. You may return to the barracks at once. The princess is under my care for the remainder of the campaign."

Baldos looked first at her and then at the sarcastic old general. Yetive and her companions were waiting for them at the fountain, a hundred yards ahead.

"You may go, Baldos," said Beverly in low tones.

"I am not fatigued nor--" he began eagerly.

"Go!" snarled Marlanx. "Am I to repeat a command to you? Do you ignore the word of your mistress?" There was a significant sneer in the way he said it.

"Mistress?" gasped Baldos, his eye blazing, his arm half raised.

"Count Marlanx!" implored Beverly, drawing herself to her full height and staring at him like a wounded thing.

"I humbly implore you not to misconstrue the meaning of the term, your highness," said the Count affably, "Ah, you have dropped something. Permit me. It is a note of some description, I think."

He stooped quickly--too quickly--and recovered from the ground at her feet the bit of paper which had fallen from her hand. It was the note from Ravone to Baldos which Beverly had forgotten in the excitement of the encounter.

"Count Marlanx, give me that paper!" demanded Beverly breathlessly.

"Is it a love-letter? Perhaps it is intended for me. At any rate, your highness, it is safe against my heart for the time being. When we reach the castle I shall be happy to restore it. It is safer with me. Come, we go one way and--have you not gone, sir?" in his most sarcastic tone to the guard. Beverly was trembling.

"No, I have not; and I shall not go until I see you obey the command of her highness. She has asked you for that piece of paper," said Baldos, standing squarely in front of Marlanx.

"Insolent dog! Do you mean to question my--"

"Give over that paper!"

"If you strike me, fellow, it will be--"

"If I strike you it will be to kill, Count Marlanx. The paper, sir."

Baldos towered over the Iron Count and there was danger in his dare-devil voice. "Surely, sir, I am but obeying your own instructions. 'Protect the princess and all that is hers, with your life,' you have said to me."

"Oh, I wish you hadn't done this, Baldos," cried Beverly, panic-stricken.

"You have threatened my life. I shall not forget it, fool. Here is the precious note, your highness, with my condolences to the writer."

Marlanx pa.s.sed the note to her and then looked triumphantly at the guard. "I daresay you have done all you can, sir. Do you wish to add anything more?"

"What can one do when dealing with his superior and finds him a despicable coward?" said Baldos, with cool irony. "You are reputed to be a brave soldier. I know that to be false or I would ask you to draw the sword you carry and--" He was drawing his sword as he spoke.

"Baldos!" implored Beverly. Her evident concern infuriated Marlanx. In his heart he knew Baldos to be a man of superior birth and a foeman not to be despised from his own station. Carried away by pa.s.sion, he flashed his sword from its sheath.

"You have drawn on me, sir," he snarled. "I must defend myself against even such as you. You will find that I am no coward. Time is short for your gallant lover, madam."

Before she could utter a word of protest the blades had clashed and they were hungry for blood. It was dark in the shadows of the trees and the trio were quite alone with their tragedy. She heard Baldos laugh recklessly in response to Marlanx's cry of:

"Oh, the shame of fighting with such carrion as you!"

"Don't jest at a time like this, count," said the guard, softly. "Remember that I lose, no matter which way it goes. If you kill me I lose, if I beat you I lose. Remember, you can still have me shot for insubordination and conduct unbecoming--"

"Stop!" almost shrieked Beverly. At risk of personal injury she rushed between the two swordsmen. Both drew back and dropped their points. Not a dozen pa.s.ses had been made.

"I beg your highness's pardon," murmured Baldos, but he did not sheathe his sword.

"He forced it upon me," cried Marlanx triumphantly. "You were witness to it all. I was a fool to let it go as far as this. Put up your sword until another day--if that day ever comes to you."

"He will have you shot for this, Baldos," cried Beverly in her terror. Baldos laughed bitterly.