thoughtand
hoped
that
with
one
moment
more
the
Jew
would
be
dashed
down
at
his
feet
with
the
lie
branded
on
his
mouth
by
the
fiery
blow
of
a
slandered
and
outraged
honour
.
The
action
was
repressed
;
the
extraordinary
quiescence
,
more
hopeless
,
because
more
resigned
than
any
sign
of
pain
or
of
passion
,
returned
either
by
force
of
self-control
or
by
the
stupor
of
despair
.
The
Seraph
gazed
at
him
with
a
fixed
,
astounded
horror
;
he
could
not
believe
his
senses
;
he
could
not
realise
what
he
saw
.
His
dearest
friend
stood
mute
beneath
the
charge
of
lowest
villany
—
stood
powerless
before
the
falsehoods
of
a
Jew
extortioner
!
"
Bertie
!
Great
Heaven
!
"
he
cried
,
well-nigh
beside
himself
,
"
how
can
you
stand
silent
there
?
Do
you
hear
—
do
you
hear
aright
?
Do
you
know
the
accursed
thing
this
conspiracy
has
tried
to
charge
you
with
?
Say
something
,
for
the
love
of
God
!
I
will
have
vengeance
on
your
slanderer
,
if
you
take
none
.
"
He
had
looked
for
the
rise
of
the
same
passion
that
rang
in
his
own
imperious
words
,
for
the
fearless
wrath
of
an
insulted
gentleman
,
the
instantaneous
outburst
of
a
contemptuous
denial
,
the
fire
of
scorn
,
the
lightning
flash
of
fury
—
all
that
he
gave
himself
,
all
that
must
be
so
naturally
given
by
a
slandered
man
under
a
libel
that
brands
him
with
disgrace
.
He
had
looked
for
these
as
surely
as
he
looked
for
the
setting
of
one
sun
and
the
rise
of
another
;
he
would
have
staked
his
life
on
the
course
of
his
friend
's
conduct
as
he
would
upon
his
own
,
and
a
ghastly
terror
sent
a
pang
to
his
heart
.
Still
—
Cecil
stood
silent
;
there
was
a
strange
,
set
,
repressed
anguish
on
his
face
that
made
it
chill
as
stone
;
there
was
an
unnatural
calm
upon
him
;
yet
he
lifted
his
head
with
a
gesture
haughty
for
the
moment
as
any
action
that
his
defender
could
have
wished
.
"
I
am
not
guilty
,
"
he
said
,
simply
.
The
Seraph
's
hands
were
on
his
own
in
a
close
,
eager
grasp
almost
ere
the
words
were
spoken
.
"
Beauty
,
Beauty
!
never
say
that
to
me
.
Do
you
think
I
can
ever
doubt
you
?
"
For
a
moment
Cecil
's
head
sank
,
the
dignity
with
which
he
had
spoken
remained
on
him
,
but
the
scorn
of
his
defiance
and
his
denial
faded
.
"
No
,
you
cannot
;
you
never
will
.
"
The
words
were
spoken
almost
mechanically
,
like
a
man
in
a
dream
.
Ezra
Baroni
,
standing
calmly
there
with
the
tranquillity
that
an
assured
power
alone
confers
,
smiled
slightly
once
more
.
"
You
are
not
guilty
,
Mr.
Cecil
?
I
shall
be
charmed
if
we
can
find
it
so
.
Your
proofs
?
"
"
Proof
?
I
give
you
my
word
.
"
Baroni
bowed
,
with
a
sneer
at
once
insolent
but
subdued
.
"
We
men
of
business
,
sir
,
are
—
perhaps
inconveniently
for
gentlemen
—
given
to
a
preference
in
favour
of
something
more
substantial
.
Your
word
,
doubtless
,
is
your
bond
among
your
acquaintance
;
it
is
a
pity
for
you
that
your
friend
's
name
should
have
been
added
to
the
bond
you
placed
with
us
.
Business
men
's
pertinacity
is
a
little
wearisome
,
no
doubt
,
to
officers
and
members
of
the
aristocracy
like
yourself
;
but
all
the
same
I
must
persist
—
how
can
you
disprove
this
charge
?
"
The
Seraph
turned
on
him
with
the
fierceness
of
a
bloodhound
.
"
You
dog
!
If
you
use
that
tone
again
in
my
presence
,
I
will
double-thong
you
till
you
cannot
breathe
!
"
Baroni
laughed
a
little
;
he
felt
secure
now
,
and
could
not
resist
the
pleasure
of
braving
and
of
torturing
the
"
aristocrats
.
"
"
I
do
n't
doubt
your
will
or
your
strength
,
my
Lord
;
but
neither
do
I
doubt
the
force
of
the
law
to
make
you
account
for
any
brutality
of
the
prize-ring
your
Lordship
may
please
to
exert
on
me
.
"
The
Seraph
ground
his
heel
into
the
carpet
.
"
We
waste
words
on
the
wretch
,
"
he
said
abruptly
to
Cecil
.
"
Prove
his
insolence
the
lie
it
is
,
and
we
will
deal
with
him
later
on
.
"
"
Precisely
what
I
said
,
my
Lord
,
"
murmured
Baroni
.
"
Let
Mr.
Cecil
prove
his
innocence
.
"
Into
Bertie
's
eyes
came
a
hunted
,
driven
desperation
.
He
turned
them
on
Rockingham
with
a
look
that
cut
him
to
the
heart
;
yet
the
abhorrent
thought
crossed
him
—
was
it
thus
that
men
guiltless
looked
?
"
Mr.
Cecil
was
with
my
partner
at
7.50
on
the
evening
of
the
15th
.
It
was
long
over
business
hours
,
but
my
partner
to
oblige
him
stretched
a
point
,
"
pursued
the
soft
,
bland
,
malicious
voice
of
the
German
Jew
.
"
If
he
were
not
at
our
office
—
where
was
he
?
That
is
simple
enough
.
"
"
Answered
in
a
moment
!
"
said
the
Seraph
,
with
impetuous
certainty
.
"
Cecil
!
—
to
prove
this
man
what
he
is
,
not
for
an
instant
to
satisfy
me
—
where
were
you
at
that
time
on
the
15th
?
"
"
The
15th
!
"
"
Where
were
you
?
"
pursued
his
friend
.
"
Were
you
at
mess
?
at
the
clubs
?
dressing
for
dinner
?
—
where
?
where
?
There
must
be
thousands
of
ways
of
remembering
—
thousands
of
people
who
'll
prove
it
for
you
?
"
Cecil
stood
mute
still
;
his
teeth
clenched
on
his
under
lip
;
he
could
not
speak
;
—
a
woman
's
reputation
lay
in
his
silence
.
"
Ca
n't
you
remember
?
"
implored
the
Seraph
.
"
You
will
think
—
you
must
think
!
"
There
was
a
feverish
entreaty
in
his
voice
.
That
hunted
helplessness
with
which
a
question
so
slight
yet
so
momentous
was
received
,
was
forcing
in
on
him
a
thought
that
he
flung
away
like
an
asp
.
Cecil
looked
both
of
them
full
in
the
eyes
—
both
his
accuser
and
his
friend
.
He
was
held
as
speechless
as
though
his
tongue
were
paralysed
;
he
was
bound
by
his
word
of
honour
;
he
was
weighted
with
a
woman
's
secret
.
"
Do
n't
look
at
me
so
,
Bertie
,
for
mercy
's
sake
!
Speak
!
where
where
you
?
"
"
I
cannot
tell
you
;
but
I
was
not
there
.
"
The
words
were
calm
;
there
was
a
great
resolve
in
them
,
moreover
;
but
his
voice
was
hoarse
and
his
lips
shook
.
He
paid
a
bitter
price
for
the
butterfly
pleasure
of
a
summer-day
love
.
"
Cannot
tell
me
?
—
cannot
?
You
mean
you
have
forgotten
!
"
"
I
cannot
tell
you
;
it
is
enough
.
"
There
was
an
almost
fierce
and
sullen
desperation
in
the
answer
;
its
firmness
was
not
shaken
,
but
the
ordeal
was
severe
.
A
woman
's
reputation
,
—
a
thing
so
lightly
thrown
away
with
an
idler
's
word
,
a
Lovelace
's
smile
!
—
that
was
all
he
had
to
sacrifice
to
clear
himself
from
the
toils
gathering
around
him
.
That
was
all
!
And
his
word
of
honour
.
Baroni
bent
his
head
with
an
ironic
mockery
of
sympathy
.
"
I
feared
so
,
my
Lord
.
Mr.
Cecil
'
cannot
tell
.
'
As
it
happens
,
my
partner
can
tell
.
Mr.
Cecil
was
with
him
at
the
hour
and
on
the
day
I
specify
;
and
Mr.
Cecil
transacted
with
him
the
bill
that
I
have
had
the
honour
of
showing
you
—
—
"
"
Let
me
see
it
.
"
The
request
was
peremptory
to
imperiousness
,
yet
Cecil
would
have
faced
his
death
far
sooner
than
he
would
have
looked
upon
that
piece
of
paper
.
Baroni
smiled
.
"
It
is
not
often
that
we
treat
gentlemen
under
misfortune
in
the
manner
we
treat
you
,
sir
;
they
are
usually
dealt
with
more
summarily
,
less
mercifully
.
You
must
excuse
altogether
my
showing
you
the
document
;
both
you
and
his
Lordship
are
officers
skilled
,
I
believe
,
in
the
patrician
science
of
fist-attack
.
"
He
could
not
deny
himself
the
pleasure
and
the
rarity
of
insolence
to
the
men
before
him
,
so
far
above
him
in
social
rank
,
yet
at
that
juncture
so
utterly
at
his
mercy
.
"
You
mean
that
we
should
fall
foul
of
you
and
seize
it
?
"
thundered
Rockingham
in
the
magnificence
of
his
wrath
.
"
Do
you
judge
the
world
by
your
own
wretched
villanies
?
Let
him
see
the
paper
;
lay
it
there
,
or
,
as
there
is
truth
on
earth
,
I
will
kill
you
where
you
stand
.
"
The
Jew
quailed
under
the
fierce
flashing
of
those
leonine
eyes
.
He
bowed
with
that
tact
which
never
forsook
him
.
"
I
confide
it
to
your
honour
,
my
Lord
Marquis
,
"
he
said
,
as
he
spread
out
the
bill
on
the
console
.
He
was
an
able
diplomatist
.
Cecil
leaned
forward
and
looked
at
the
signatures
dashed
across
the
paper
;
both
who
saw
him
saw
also
the
shiver
,
like
a
shiver
of
intense
cold
,
that
ran
through
him
as
he
did
so
,
and
saw
his
teeth
clench
tight
,
in
the
extremity
of
rage
,
in
the
excess
of
pain
,
or
—
to
hold
in
all
utterance
that
might
be
on
his
lips
.
"
Well
?
"
asked
the
Seraph
,
in
a
breathless
anxiety
.
He
knew
not
what
to
believe
,
what
to
do
,
whom
to
accuse
,
or
how
to
unravel
this
mystery
of
villany
and
darkness
;
but
he
felt
,
with
a
sickening
reluctance
which
drove
him
wild
,
that
his
friend
did
not
act
in
this
thing
as
he
should
have
acted
;
not
as
men
of
assured
innocence
and
secure
honour
act
beneath
such
a
charge
.
Cecil
was
unlike
himself
,
unlike
every
deed
and
word
of
his
life
,
unlike
every
thought
of
the
Seraph
's
fearless
expectance
,
when
he
had
looked
for
the
coming
of
the
accused
as
the
signal
for
the
sure
and
instant
unmasking
,
condemnation
,
and
chastisement
of
the
false
accuser
.
"
Do
you
still
persist
in
denying
your
criminality
in
the
face
of
that
bill
,
Mr.
Cecil
?
"
asked
the
bland
,
sneering
,
courteous
voice
of
Ezra
Baroni
.
"
I
do
.
I
never
wrote
either
of
these
signatures
;
I
never
saw
that
document
until
to-night
.
"
The
answer
was
firmly
given
,
the
old
blaze
of
scorn
came
again
in
his
weary
eyes
,
and
his
regard
met
calmly
and
unflinchingly
the
looks
fastened
on
him
;
but
the
nerves
of
his
lips
twitched
,
his
face
was
haggard
as
by
a
night
's
deep
gambling
;
there
was
a
heavy
dew
on
his
forehead
;
—
it
was
not
the
face
of
a
wholly
guiltless
,
of
a
wholly
unconscious
man
;
often
even
as
innocence
may
be
unwittingly
betrayed
into
what
wears
the
semblance
of
self-condemnation
.
"
And
yet
you
equally
persist
in
refusing
to
account
for
your
occupation
of
the
early
evening
hours
of
the
15th
?
Unfortunate
!
"
"
I
do
;
but
in
your
account
of
them
you
lie
.
"
There
was
a
sternness
inflexible
as
steel
in
the
brief
sentence
.
Under
it
for
an
instant
,
though
not
visibly
,
Baroni
flinched
;
and
a
fear
of
the
man
he
accused
smote
him
,
more
deep
,
more
keen
than
that
with
which
the
sweeping
might
of
the
Seraph
's
fury
had
moved
him
.
He
knew
now
why
Ben
Davis
had
hated
with
so
deadly
a
hatred
the
latent
strength
that
slept
under
the
Quietist
languor
and
nonchalance
of
"
the
d
—
d
Guards
'
swell
.
"
What
he
felt
,
however
,
did
not
escape
him
by
the
slightest
sign
.
"
As
a
matter
of
course
,
you
deny
it
!
"
he
said
,
with
a
polite
wave
of
his
hand
.
"
Quite
right
;
you
are
not
required
to
criminate
yourself
.
I
wish
sincerely
we
were
not
compelled
to
criminate
you
.
"
The
Seraph
's
grand
rolling
voice
broke
in
;
he
had
stood
chafing
,
chained
,
panting
,
in
agonies
of
passion
and
of
misery
.
"
M
.
Baroni
!
"
he
said
,
hotly
,
the
furious
vehemence
of
his
anger
and
his
bewilderment
obscuring
in
him
all
memory
of
either
law
or
fact
,
"
you
have
heard
his
signature
and
your
statements
alike
denied
once
for
all
by
Mr.
Cecil
.
Your
document
is
a
libel
and
a
conspiracy
,
like
your
charge
;
it
is
false
,
and
you
are
swindling
;
it
is
an
outrage
,
and
you
are
a
scoundrel
;
you
have
schemed
this
infamy
for
the
sake
of
extortion
;
not
a
sovereign
will
you
obtain
through
it
.
Were
the
accusation
you
dare
to
make
true
,
I
am
the
only
one
whom
it
can
concern
,
since
it
is
my
name
which
is
involved
.
Were
it
true
,
—
could
it
possibly
be
true
,
—
I
should
forbid
any
steps
to
be
taken
in
it
;
I
should
desire
it
ended
once
and
for
ever
.
It
shall
be
so
now
,
by
God
!
"
He
scarcely
knew
what
he
was
saying
,
yet
what
he
did
say
,
utterly
as
it
defied
all
checks
of
law
or
circumstance
,
had
so
gallant
a
ring
,
had
so
kingly
a
wrath
,
that
it
awed
and
impressed
even
Baroni
in
the
instant
of
its
utterance
.
"
They
say
that
those
fine
gentlemen
fight
like
a
thousand
lions
when
they
are
once
roused
,
"
he
thought
.
"
I
can
believe
it
.
"
"
My
Lord
,
"
he
said
,
softly
,
"
you
have
called
me
by
many
epithets
,
and
menaced
me
with
many
threats
,
since
I
have
entered
this
chamber
;
it
is
not
a
wise
thing
to
do
with
a
man
who
knows
the
low
.
However
,
I
can
allow
for
the
heat
of
your
excitement
.
As
regards
the
rest
of
your
speech
,
you
will
permit
me
to
say
that
its
wildness
of
language
is
only
equalled
by
the
utter
irrationality
of
your
deductions
,
and
your
absolute
ignorance
of
all
legalities
.
Were
you
alone
concerned
and
alone
the
discoverer
of
this
fraud
,
you
could
prosecute
or
not
,
as
you
please
;
but
we
are
the
subjects
of
its
imposition
,
ours
is
the
money
that
he
has
obtained
by
that
forgery
,
and
we
shall
in
consequence
open
the
prosecution
.
"
"
Prosecution
?
"
The
echo
rang
in
an
absolute
agony
from
his
hearer
;
he
had
thought
of
it
as
,
at
its
worst
,
only
a
question
between
himself
and
Cecil
.
The
accused
gave
no
sign
,
the
rigidity
and
composure
he
had
sustained
throughout
did
not
change
;
but
at
the
Seraph
's
accent
the
hunted
and
pathetic
misery
which
had
once
before
gleamed
in
his
eyes
came
there
again
;
he
held
his
comrade
in
a
loyal
and
exceeding
love
.
He
would
have
let
all
the
world
stone
him
,
but
he
could
not
have
borne
that
his
friend
should
cast
even
a
look
of
contempt
.
"
Prosecution
!
"
replied
Baroni
,
quietly
.
"
It
is
a
matter
of
course
,
my
Lord
,
that
Mr.
Cecil
denies
the
accusation
;
it
is
very
wise
;
the
law
specially
cautions
the
accused
to
say
nothing
to
criminate
themselves
.
But
we
waste
time
in
words
;
and
,
pardon
me
,
if
you
have
your
friend
's
interest
at
heart
,
you
will
withdraw
this
very
stormy
championship
,
this
utterly
useless
opposition
to
an
inevitable
line
of
action
.
I
must
arrest
Mr.
Cecil
;
but
I
am
willing
—
for
I
know
to
high
families
these
misfortunes
are
terribly
distressing
—
to
conduct
everything
with
the
strictest
privacy
and
delicacy
.
In
a
word
,
if
you
and
he
consult
his
interests
he
will
accompany
me
unresistingly
;
otherwise
I
must
summon
legal
force
.
Any
opposition
will
only
compel
a
very
unseemly
encounter
of
physical
force
,
and
with
it
the
publicity
I
am
desirous
for
the
sake
of
his
relatives
and
position
to
spare
him
.
"
A
dead
silence
followed
his
words
,
the
silence
that
follows
on
an
insult
that
cannot
be
averted
or
avenged
,
on
a
thing
too
hideously
shameful
for
the
thoughts
to
grasp
it
as
reality
.
In
the
first
moment
of
Baroni
's
words
,
Cecil
's
eyes
had
gleamed
again
with
that
dark
and
desperate
flash
of
a
passion
that
would
have
been
worse
to
face
even
than
his
comrade
's
wrath
;
it
died
,
however
,
well-nigh
instantly
,
repressed
by
a
marvellous
strength
of
control
,
whatever
its
motive
.
He
was
simply
,
as
he
had
been
throughout
,
passive
;
so
passive
that
even
Ezra
Baroni
,
who
knew
what
the
Seraph
never
dreamt
,
looked
at
him
in
wonder
,
and
felt
a
faint
sickly
fear
of
that
singular
unbroken
calm
.
It
perplexed
him
;
the
first
thing
which
had
ever
done
so
in
his
own
peculiar
paths
of
finesse
and
of
intrigue
.
The
one
placed
in
ignorance
between
them
,
at
once
as
it
were
the
judge
and
champion
of
his
brother-at-arms
,
felt
wild
and
blind
under
this
unutterable
shame
,
which
seemed
to
net
them
both
in
such
close
and
hopeless
meshes
.
He
,
heir
to
one
of
the
greatest
coronets
in
the
world
,
must
see
his
friend
branded
as
a
common
felon
,
and
could
do
no
more
to
aid
or
to
avenge
him
than
if
he
were
a
charcoal-burner
toiling
yonder
in
the
pine
woods
!
His
words
were
hoarse
and
broken
as
he
spoke
:
"
Cecil
,
—
tell
me
,
—
what
is
to
be
done
?
This
infamous
outrage
cannot
pass
!
cannot
go
on
!
I
will
send
for
the
Duke
,
for
—
—
"
"
Send
for
no
one
.
"
Bertie
's
voice
was
slightly
weaker
,
like
that
of
a
man
exhausted
by
a
long
struggle
,
but
it
was
firm
and
very
quiet
.
Its
composure
fell
on
Rockingham
's
tempestuous
grief
and
rage
with
a
sickly
,
silencing
awe
,
with
a
sense
of
some
evil
here
beyond
his
knowledge
and
ministering
,
and
of
an
impotence
alike
to
act
and
to
serve
,
to
defend
and
to
avenge
—
the
deadliest
thing
his
fearless
life
had
ever
known
.
"
Pardon
me
,
my
Lord
,
"
interposed
Baroni
,
"
I
can
waste
time
no
more
.
You
must
be
now
convinced
yourself
of
your
friend
's
implication
in
this
very
distressing
affair
.
"
"
I
!
"
The
Seraph
's
majesty
of
haughtiest
amaze
and
scorn
blazed
from
his
azure
eyes
on
the
man
who
dared
say
this
thing
to
him
.
"
I
!
If
you
dare
hint
such
a
damnable
shame
to
my
face
again
,
I
will
wring
your
neck
with
as
little
remorse
as
I
would
a
kite
's
.
I
believe
in
his
guilt
?
Forgive
me
,
Cecil
,
that
I
can
even
repeat
the
word
!
I
believe
in
it
?
I
would
as
soon
believe
in
my
own
disgrace
—
in
my
father
's
dishonour
!
"
"
How
will
your
Lordship
account
,
then
,
for
Mr.
Cecil
's
total
inability
to
tell
us
how
he
spent
the
hours
between
six
and
nine
on
the
15th
?
"
"
Unable
?
He
is
not
unable
;
he
declines
!
Bertie
,
tell
me
what
you
did
that
one
cursed
evening
?
Whatever
it
was
—
wherever
it
was
—
say
it
for
my
sake
and
shame
this
devil
.
"
Cecil
would
more
willingly
have
stood
a
line
of
levelled
rifle-tubes
aimed
at
his
heart
than
that
passionate
entreaty
from
the
man
he
loved
best
on
earth
.
He
staggered
slightly
,
as
if
he
were
about
to
fall
,
and
a
faint
white
foam
came
on
his
lips
;
but
he
recovered
himself
almost
instantly
.
It
was
so
natural
to
him
to
repress
every
emotion
,
that
it
was
simply
old
habit
to
do
so
now
.
"
I
have
answered
,
"
he
said
very
low
,
each
word
a
pang
—
"
I
cannot
.
"
Baroni
waved
his
hand
again
,
with
the
same
polite
,
significant
gesture
.
"
In
that
case
,
then
,
there
is
but
one
alternative
.
Will
you
follow
me
quietly
,
sir
,
or
must
force
be
employed
?
"
"
I
will
go
with
you
.
"
The
reply
was
very
tranquil
,
but
in
the
look
that
met
his
own
as
it
was
given
,
Baroni
saw
that
some
other
motive
than
that
of
any
fear
was
its
spring
;
that
some
cause
beyond
the
mere
abhorrence
of
"
a
scene
"
was
at
the
root
of
the
quiescence
.
"
It
must
be
so
,
"
said
Cecil
huskily
to
his
friend
.
"
This
man
is
right
,
so
far
as
he
knows
.
He
is
only
acting
on
his
own
convictions
.
We
cannot
blame
him
.
The
whole
is
—
a
mystery
,
an
error
.
But
as
it
stands
there
is
no
resistance
.
"
"
Resistance
!
By
God
!
I
would
resist
if
I
shot
him
dead
,
or
shot
myself
.
Stay
—
wait
—
one
moment
!
If
it
be
an
error
in
the
sense
you
mean
,
it
must
be
a
forgery
of
your
name
as
of
mine
.
You
think
that
?
"
"
I
did
not
say
so
.
"
The
Seraph
gave
him
a
rapid
,
shuddering
glance
;
for
once
the
suspicion
crept
in
on
him
—
was
this
guilt
?
Yet
even
now
the
doubt
would
not
be
harboured
by
him
.
"
Say
so
—
you
must
mean
so
!
You
deny
them
as
yours
;
what
can
they
be
but
forgeries
?
There
is
no
other
explanation
.
I
think
the
whole
matter
a
conspiracy
to
extort
money
;
but
I
may
be
wrong
—
let
that
pass
.
If
it
be
,
on
the
contrary
,
an
imitation
of
both
our
signatures
that
has
been
palmed
off
upon
these
usurers
,
it
is
open
to
other
treatment
.
Compensated
for
their
pecuniary
loss
,
they
can
have
no
need
to
press
the
matter
further
,
unless
they
find
out
the
delinquent
.
See
here
!
"
—
he
went
to
a
writing-cabinet
at
the
end
of
the
room
,
flung
the
lid
back
,
swept
out
a
herd
of
papers
,
and
wrenching
a
blank
cheque
from
its
book
,
threw
it
down
before
Baroni
;
"
here
!
fill
it
up
as
you
like
,
and
I
will
sign
it
,
in
exchange
for
the
forged
sheet
.
Baroni
paused
a
moment
.
Money
he
loved
with
an
adoration
that
excluded
every
other
passion
;
that
blank
cheque
,
that
limitless
carte
blanche
,
that
vast
exchequer
from
which
to
draw
!
—
it
was
a
sore
temptation
.
He
thought
wistfully
of
the
Welsher
's
peremptory
forbiddance
of
all
compromise
—
of
the
Welsher
's
inexorable
command
to
"
wring
the
fine-feathered
bird
,
"
lose
whatever
might
be
lost
by
it
.
Cecil
,
ere
the
Hebrew
could
speak
,
leant
forward
,
took
the
cheque
,
and
tore
it
in
two
.
"
God
bless
you
,
Rock
,
"
he
said
,
so
low
that
it
only
reached
the
Seraph
's
ear
,
"
but
you
must
not
do
that
.
"
"
Beauty
,
are
you
mad
?
"
cried
the
Marquis
,
passionately
.
"
If
this
villanous
thing
be
a
forgery
,
you
are
its
victim
as
much
as
I
—
tenfold
more
than
I
.
If
this
Jew
choose
to
sell
the
paper
to
me
,
naming
his
own
compensation
,
whose
affair
is
it
except
his
and
mine
?
They
have
been
losers
,
we
indemnify
them
.
It
rests
with
us
to
find
out
the
criminal
.
M
.
Baroni
,
there
are
a
hundred
more
cheques
in
that
book
,
name
your
price
,
and
you
shall
have
it
;
or
,
if
you
prefer
my
father
's
,
I
will
send
to
him
for
it
.
His
Grace
will
sign
one
without
a
question
of
its
errand
,
if
I
ask
him
,
Come
!
—
your
price
?
"
Baroni
had
recovered
the
momentary
temptation
,
and
was
strong
in
the
austerity
of
virtue
,
in
the
unassailability
of
social
duty
.
"
You
behave
most
nobly
,
most
generously
by
your
friend
,
my
Lord
,
"
he
said
,
politely
.
"
I
am
glad
such
friendship
exists
on
earth
.
But
you
really
ask
me
what
is
not
in
my
power
.
In
the
first
place
,
I
am
but
one
of
a
firm
,
and
have
no
authority
to
act
alone
;
in
the
second
,
I
most
certainly
,
were
I
alone
,
should
decline
totally
any
pecuniary
compromise
.
A
great
criminal
action
is
not
to
be
hushed
up
by
any
monetary
arrangement
.
You
,
my
Lord
Marquis
,
may
be
ignorant
,
in
the
Guards
,
of
a
very
coarse
term
used
in
law
called
'
compounding
with
felony
.
'
That
is
to
what
you
tempt
me
now
.
"
The
Seraph
,
with
one
of
those
oaths
that
made
the
Hebrew
's
blood
run
cold
,
though
he
was
no
coward
,
opened
his
lips
to
speak
;
Cecil
arrested
him
with
that
singular
impassiveness
,
that
apathy
of
resignation
which
had
characterised
his
whole
conduct
throughout
,
save
at
a
few
brief
moments
.
"
Make
no
opposition
.
The
man
is
acting
but
in
his
own
justification
.
I
will
wait
for
mine
.
To
resist
would
be
to
degrade
us
with
a
bully
's
brawl
;
they
have
the
law
with
them
.
Let
it
take
its
course
.
"
The
Seraph
dashed
his
hand
across
his
eyes
;
he
felt
blind
—
the
room
seemed
to
reel
with
him
.
"
Oh
,
God
!
that
you
—
—
"
He
could
not
finish
the
words
.
That
his
comrade
,
his
friend
,
one
of
his
own
corps
,
of
his
own
world
,
should
be
arrested
like
the
blackest
thief
in
White-chapel
,
or
in
the
Rue
du
Temple
!
Cecil
glanced
at
him
,
and
his
eyes
grew
infinitely
yearning
—
infinitely
gentle
;
a
shudder
shook
him
all
through
his
limbs
.
He
hesitated
a
moment
,
then
he
stretched
out
his
hand
.
"
Will
you
take
it
—
still
?
"
Almost
before
the
words
were
spoken
,
his
hand
was
held
in
both
of
the
Seraph
's
.
"
Take
it
?
—
Before
all
the
world
—
always
,
—
come
what
will
.
"
His
eyes
were
dim
as
he
spoke
,
and
his
rich
voice
rang
clear
as
the
ring
of
silver
,
though
there
was
the
tremor
of
emotion
in
it
.
He
had
forgotten
the
Hebrew
's
presence
;
he
had
forgotten
all
save
his
friend
and
his
friend
's
extremity
.
Cecil
did
not
answer
;
if
he
had
done
so
,
all
the
courage
,
all
the
calm
,
all
the
control
that
pride
and
breeding
alike
sustained
in
him
,
would
have
been
shattered
down
to
weakness
;
his
hand
closed
fast
in
his
companion
's
,
his
eyes
met
his
once
in
a
look
of
gratitude
that
pierced
the
heart
of
the
other
like
a
knife
;
then
he
turned
to
the
Jew
with
a
haughty
serenity
.
"
M
.
Baroni
,
I
am
ready
.
"
"
Wait
!
"
cried
Rockingham
.
"
Where
you
go
,
I
come
.
"
The
Hebrew
interposed
demurely
.
"
Forgive
me
,
my
Lord
—
not
now
.
You
can
take
what
steps
you
will
as
regards
your
friend
later
on
;
and
you
may
rest
assured
he
will
be
treated
with
all
delicacy
compatible
with
the
case
,
but
you
cannot
accompany
him
now
.
I
rely
on
his
word
to
go
with
me
quietly
,
but
I
now
regard
him
,
and
you
must
remember
this
,
as
not
the
son
of
Viscount
Royallieu
—
not
the
Honourable
Bertie
Cecil
,
of
the
Life
Guards
—
not
the
friend
of
one
so
distinguished
as
yourself
,
—
but
as
simply
an
arrested
forger
.
"
Baroni
could
not
deny
himself
that
last
sting
of
his
vengeance
,
yet
,
as
he
saw
the
faces
of
the
men
on
whom
he
flung
the
insult
,
he
felt
for
the
moment
that
he
might
pay
for
his
temerity
with
his
life
.
He
put
his
hand
above
his
eyes
with
a
quick
,
involuntary
movement
,
like
a
man
who
wards
off
a
blow
.
"
Gentlemen
,
"
and
his
teeth
chattered
as
he
spoke
,
"
one
sign
of
violence
,
and
I
shall
summon
legal
force
.
"
Cecil
caught
the
Seraph
's
lifted
arm
,
and
stayed
it
in
its
vengeance
.
His
own
teeth
were
clenched
tight
as
a
vice
,
and
over
the
haggard
whiteness
of
his
face
a
deep
red
flush
had
come
.
"
We
degrade
ourselves
by
resistance
.
Let
me
go
—
they
must
do
what
they
will
.
My
reckoning
must
wait
,
and
my
justification
.
One
word
only
:
take
the
King
,
and
keep
him
for
my
sake
.
"
Another
moment
,
and
the
door
had
closed
;
he
was
gone
out
to
his
fate
,
and
the
Seraph
,
with
no
eyes
on
him
,
bowed
down
his
head
upon
his
arms
where
he
leaned
against
the
marble
table
,
and
,
for
the
first
time
in
all
his
life
,
felt
the
hot
tears
roll
down
his
face
like
rain
,
as
the
weakness
of
a
woman
mastered
and
unmanned
him
;
—
he
would
sooner
a
thousand
times
have
laid
his
friend
down
in
his
grave
than
have
seen
him
live
for
this
.
Cecil
went
slowly
out
beside
his
accuser
.
The
keen
bright
eyes
of
the
Jew
kept
vigilant
watch
and
ward
on
him
;
a
single
sign
of
any
effort
to
evade
him
would
have
been
arrested
by
him
in
an
instant
with
preconcerted
skill
.
He
looked
,
and
saw
that
no
thought
of
escape
was
in
his
prisoner
's
mind
.
Cecil
had
surrendered
himself
,
and
he
went
to
his
doom
;
he
laid
no
blame
on
Baroni
,
and
he
scarce
gave
him
a
remembrance
.
The
Hebrew
did
not
stand
to
him
in
the
colours
he
wore
to
Rockingham
,
who
beheld
this
thing
but
on
its
surface
:
Baroni
was
to
him
only
the
agent
of
an
inevitable
shame
,
of
a
helpless
fate
that
closed
him
in
,
netting
him
tight
with
the
web
of
his
own
past
actions
;
no
more
than
the
irresponsible
executioner
of
what
was
in
the
Jew
's
sight
and
in
knowledge
a
just
sentence
.
He
condemned
his
accuser
in
nothing
;
no
more
than
the
conscience
of
a
guilty
man
can
condemn
the
discoverers
and
the
instruments
of
his
chastisement
.
Was
he
guilty
?
Any
judge
might
have
said
that
he
knew
himself
to
be
so
as
he
passed
down
the
staircase
and
outward
to
the
entrance
with
that
dead
resignation
on
his
face
,
that
brooding
,
rigid
look
set
on
his
features
,
and
gazing
almost
in
stupefaction
out
from
the
dark
hazel
depths
of
eyes
that
women
had
loved
for
their
lustre
,
their
languor
,
and
the
softness
of
their
smile
.
They
walked
out
into
the
evening
air
unnoticed
:
he
had
given
his
consent
to
follow
the
bill-discounter
without
resistance
,
and
he
had
no
thought
to
break
his
word
;
he
had
submitted
himself
to
the
inevitable
course
of
this
fate
that
had
fallen
on
him
,
and
the
whole
tone
of
his
temper
and
his
breeding
lent
him
the
quiescence
,
though
he
had
none
of
the
doctrine
,
of
a
supreme
fatalist
.
There
were
carriages
standing
before
the
hotel
,
waiting
for
those
who
were
going
to
the
ball-room
,
to
the
theatre
,
to
an
Archduke
's
dinner
,
to
a
Princess
's
entertainment
;
he
looked
at
them
with
a
vague
,
strange
sense
of
unreality
—
these
things
of
the
life
from
which
he
was
now
barred
out
for
ever
.
The
sparkling
tide
of
existence
in
Baden
was
flowing
on
its
way
,
and
he
went
out
an
accused
felon
,
branded
,
and
outlawed
,
and
dishonoured
from
all
place
in
the
world
that
he
had
led
,
and
been
caressed
by
,
and
beguiled
with
for
so
long
.
To-night
,
at
this
hour
,
he
should
have
been
amongst
all
that
was
highest
and
gayest
and
fairest
in
Europe
at
the
banquet
of
a
Prince
—
and
he
went
by
his
captor
's
side
a
convicted
criminal
.
Once
out
in
the
air
,
the
Hebrew
laid
his
hand
on
his
arm
:
he
started
—
it
was
the
first
sign
that
his
liberty
was
gone
!
He
restrained
himself
from
all
resistance
still
,
and
passed
onward
,
down
where
Baroni
motioned
him
out
of
the
noise
of
the
carriages
,
out
of
the
glare
of
the
light
,
into
the
narrow
,
darkened
turning
of
a
side-street
.
He
went
passively
;
for
this
man
trusted
to
his
honour
.
In
the
gloom
stood
three
figures
,
looming
indistinctly
in
the
shadow
of
the
houses
;
one
was
a
Huissier
of
the
Staats-Procurator
,
beside
whom
stood
the
Commissary
of
Police
of
the
district
;
the
third
was
an
English
detective
.
Ere
he
saw
them
,
their
hands
were
on
his
shoulders
,
and
the
cold
chill
of
steel
touched
his
wrists
.
The
Hebrew
had
betrayed
him
,
and
arrested
him
in
the
open
street
.
In
an
instant
,
as
the
ring
of
the
rifle
rouses
the
slumbering
tiger
,
all
the
life
and
the
soul
that
were
in
him
rose
in
revolt
as
the
icy
glide
of
the
handcuffs
sought
their
hold
on
his
arms
.
In
an
instant
,
all
the
wild
blood
of
his
race
,
all
the
pride
of
his
breeding
,
all
the
honour
of
his
service
,
flashed
into
fire
and
leapt
into
action
.
Trusted
,
he
would
have
been
true
to
his
accuser
;
deceived
,
the
chains
of
his
promise
were
loosened
,
and
all
he
thought
,
all
he
felt
,
all
he
knew
,
were
the
lion
impulses
,
the
knightly
instincts
,
the
resolute
choice
to
lose
life
rather
than
to
lose
freedom
,
of
a
soldier
and
a
gentleman
.
All
he
remembered
was
that
he
would
fight
to
the
death
rather
than
be
taken
alive
;
that
they
should
kill
him
where
he
stood
,
in
the
starlight
,
rather
than
lead
him
in
the
sight
of
men
as
a
felon
.
With
the
strength
that
laid
beneath
all
the
gentle
languor
of
his
habits
and
with
the
science
of
the
Eton
Playing
Fields
of
his
boyhood
,
he
wrenched
his
wrists
free
ere
the
steel
had
closed
,
and
with
the
single
straightening
of
his
left
arm
felled
the
detective
to
earth
like
a
bullock
,
with
a
crashing
blow
that
sounded
through
the
stillness
like
some
heavy
timber
stove
in
;
flinging
himself
like
lightning
on
the
Huissier
,
he
twisted
out
of
his
grasp
the
metal
weight
of
the
handcuffs
,
and
wrestling
with
him
was
woven
for
a
second
in
that
close-knit
struggle
which
is
only
seen
when
the
wrestlers
wrestle
for
life
and
death
.
The
German
was
a
powerful
and
firmly-built
man
,
but
Cecil
's
science
was
the
finer
and
the
more
masterly
.
His
long
,
slender
,
delicate
limbs
seemed
to
twine
and
writhe
around
the
massive
form
of
his
antagonist
like
the
coils
of
a
cobra
:
they
rocked
and
swayed
to
and
fro
on
the
stones
,
while
the
shrill
,
shrieking
voice
of
Baroni
filled
the
night
with
its
clamour
.
The
vice-like
pressure
of
the
stalwart
arms
of
his
opponent
crushed
him
in
till
his
ribs
seemed
to
bend
and
break
under
the
breathless
oppression
,
the
iron
force
;
but
desperation
nerved
him
,
the
Royallieu
blood
,
that
never
took
defeat
,
was
roused
now
,
for
the
first
time
in
his
careless
life
;
his
skill
and
his
nerve
were
unrivalled
,
and
with
a
last
effort
he
dashed
the
Huissier
off
him
,
and
lifting
him
up
—
he
never
knew
how
—
as
he
would
have
lifted
a
log
of
wood
,
hurled
him
down
in
the
white
streak
of
moonlight
that
alone
slanted
through
the
peaked
roofs
of
the
crooked
by-street
.
The
cries
of
Baroni
had
already
been
heard
;
a
crowd
drawn
by
their
shrieking
appeals
were
bearing
towards
the
place
in
tumult
.
The
Jew
had
the
quick
wit
to
give
them
,
as
call-word
,
that
it
was
a
croupier
who
had
been
found
cheating
and
fled
;
it
sufficed
to
inflame
the
whole
mob
against
the
fugitive
.
Cecil
looked
round
him
once
—
such
a
glance
as
a
Royal
gives
when
the
gaze-hounds
are
panting
about
him
,
and
the
fangs
are
in
his
throat
;
then
with
the
swiftness
of
the
deer
itself
he
dashed
downward
into
the
gloom
of
the
winding
passage
at
the
speed
which
had
carried
him
,
in
many
a
foot-race
,
victor
in
the
old
green
Eton
meadows
.
There
was
scarce
a
man
in
the
Queen
's
Service
who
could
rival
him
for
lightness
of
limb
,
for
power
of
endurance
in
every
sport
of
field
and
fell
,
of
the
moor
and
the
gymnasium
;
and
the
athletic
pleasures
of
many
a
happy
hour
stood
him
in
good
stead
now
,
in
the
emergence
of
his
terrible
extremity
.
Flight
!
—
for
the
instant
the
word
thrilled
through
him
with
a
loathing
sense
.
Flight
!
—
the
craven
's
refuge
,
the
criminal
's
resource
.
He
wished
in
the
moment
's
agony
that
they
would
send
a
bullet
through
his
brain
as
he
ran
,
rather
than
drive
him
out
to
this
.
Flight
!
—
he
felt
a
coward
and
a
felon
as
he
fled
;
fled
from
every
fairer
thing
,
from
every
peaceful
hour
,
from
the
friendship
and
good
will
of
men
,
from
the
fame
of
his
ancient
race
,
from
the
smile
of
the
women
that
loved
him
,
from
all
that
makes
life
rich
and
fair
,
from
all
that
men
call
honour
;
fled
,
to
leave
his
name
disgraced
in
the
service
he
adored
;
fled
,
to
leave
the
world
to
think
him
a
guilty
dastard
who
dared
not
face
his
trial
;
fled
,
to
bid
his
closest
friend
believe
him
low
sunk
in
the
depths
of
foulest
felony
,
branded
for
ever
with
a
criminal
's
shame
,
—
by
his
own
act
,
by
his
own
hand
.
Flight
!
—
it
has
bitter
pangs
that
make
brave
men
feel
cowards
when
they
fly
from
tyranny
and
danger
and
death
to
a
land
of
peace
and
promise
;
but
in
his
flight
he
left
behind
him
all
that
made
life
worth
the
living
,
and
went
out
to
meet
eternal
misery
,
renouncing
every
hope
,
yielding
up
all
his
future
.
"
It
is
for
her
sake
—
and
his
,
"
he
thought
:
and
without
a
moment
's
pause
,
without
a
backward
look
,
he
ran
,
as
the
stag
runs
with
the
bay
of
the
pack
behind
it
,
down
into
the
shadows
of
the
night
.
The
hue
and
cry
was
after
him
;
the
tumult
of
a
crowd
's
excitement
raised
it
knows
not
why
or
wherefore
,
was
on
his
steps
,
joined
with
the
steadier
and
keener
pursuit
of
men
organised
for
the
hunters
'
work
,
and
trained
to
follow
the
faintest
track
,
the
slightest
clue
.
The
moon
was
out
,
and
they
saw
him
clearly
,
though
the
marvellous
fleetness
of
his
stride
had
borne
him
far
ahead
in
the
few
moments
'
start
he
had
gained
.
He
heard
the
beat
of
their
many
feet
on
the
stones
,
the
dull
thud
of
their
running
,
the
loud
clamour
of
the
mob
,
the
shrill
cries
of
the
Hebrew
offering
gold
with
frantic
lavishness
to
whoever
should
stop
his
prey
.
All
the
breathless
excitation
,
all
the
keen
and
desperate
straining
,
all
the
tension
of
the
neck-and-neck
struggle
that
he
had
known
so
often
over
the
brown
autumn
country
of
the
Shires
at
home
,
he
knew
now
,
intensified
to
horror
,
made
deadly
with
despair
,
changed
into
a
race
for
life
and
death
.
Yet
,
with
it
the
wild
blood
in
him
woke
;
the
recklessness
of
peril
,
the
daring
and
defiant
courage
that
lay
beneath
his
levity
and
languor
heated
his
veins
and
spurred
his
strength
;
he
was
ready
to
die
if
they
chose
to
slaughter
him
;
but
for
his
freedom
he
strove
as
men
will
strive
for
life
;
to
distance
them
,
to
escape
them
,
he
would
have
breathed
his
last
at
the
goal
;
they
might
fire
him
down
if
they
would
,
but
he
swore
in
his
teeth
to
die
free
.
Some
Germans
in
his
path
hearing
the
shouts
that
thundered
after
him
in
the
night
,
drew
their
mule-cart
across
the
pent-up
passage-way
down
which
he
turned
,
and
blocked
the
narrow
road
.
He
saw
it
in
time
:
a
second
later
,
and
it
would
have
been
instant
death
to
him
at
the
pace
he
went
;
he
saw
it
,
and
gathered
all
the
force
and
nervous
impetus
in
his
frame
to
the
trial
as
he
came
rushing
downward
along
the
slope
of
the
lane
,
with
his
elbows
back
,
and
his
body
straight
,
as
prize-runners
run
.
The
waggon
,
side-ways
,
stretched
across
—
a
solid
barrier
,
heaped
up
with
fir-boughs
brought
for
firing
from
the
forests
,
the
mules
stood
abreast
,
yoked
together
.
The
mob
following
saw
too
,
and
gave
a
hoot
and
yell
of
brutal
triumph
;
their
prey
was
in
their
clutches
;
the
cart
barred
his
progress
,
and
he
must
double
like
a
fox
faced
with
a
stone
wall
.
Scarcely
!
—
they
did
not
know
the
man
with
whom
they
had
to
deal
—
the
daring
and
the
coolness
that
the
languid
surface
of
indolent
fashion
had
covered
.
Even
in
the
imminence
of
supreme
peril
,
of
breathless
jeopardy
,
he
measured
with
unerring
eye
the
distance
and
the
need
,
rose
as
lightly
in
the
air
as
Forest
King
had
risen
with
him
over
fence
and
hedge
,
and
with
a
single
running
leap
cleared
the
width
of
the
mules
'
backs
,
and
landing
safely
on
the
farther
side
,
dashed
on
,
scarcely
pausing
for
breath
.
The
yell
that
hissed
in
his
wake
,
as
the
throng
saw
him
escape
,
by
what
to
their
slow
Teutonic
instincts
seemed
a
devil
's
miracle
,
was
on
his
ear
like
the
bay
of
the
slot-hounds
to
the
deer
.
They
might
kill
him
if
they
could
,
but
they
should
never
take
him
captive
.
And
the
moon
was
so
brightly
,
so
pitilessly
clear
,
shining
down
in
the
summer
light
,
as
though
in
love
with
the
beauty
of
earth
!
He
looked
up
once
;
the
stars
seemed
reeling
round
him
in
disordered
riot
;
the
chill
face
of
the
moon
looked
unpitying
as
death
.
All
this
loveliness
was
round
him
;
this
glory
of
sailing
cloud
and
shadowy
forest
and
tranquil
planet
,
and
there
was
no
help
for
him
.
A
gay
burst
of
music
broke
on
the
stillness
from
the
distance
;
he
had
left
the
brilliance
of
the
town
behind
him
,
and
was
now
in
its
by-streets
and
outskirts
.
The
sound
seemed
to
thrill
him
to
the
bone
;
it
was
like
the
echo
of
the
lost
life
he
was
leaving
for
ever
.
He
saw
,
he
felt
,
he
heard
,
he
thought
;
feeling
and
sense
were
quickened
in
him
as
they
had
never
been
before
,
yet
he
never
slackened
his
pace
save
once
or
twice
,
when
he
paused
for
breath
;
he
ran
as
swiftly
,
he
ran
as
keenly
,
as
ever
stag
or
fox
had
run
before
him
,
doubling
with
their
skill
,
taking
the
shadow
as
they
took
the
covert
,
noting
with
their
rapid
eye
the
safest
track
,
outracing
with
their
rapid
speed
the
pursuit
that
thundered
in
his
wake
.
The
by-lanes
he
took
were
deserted
,
and
he
was
now
well-nigh
out
of
the
town
,
with
the
open
country
and
forest
lying
before
him
.
The
people
whom
he
met
rushed
out
of
his
path
;
happily
for
him
they
were
few
,
and
were
terrified
,
because
they
thought
him
a
madman
broken
loose
from
his
keepers
.
He
never
looked
back
;
but
he
could
tell
that
the
pursuit
was
falling
farther
and
farther
behind
him
;
that
the
speed
at
which
he
went
was
breaking
the
powers
of
his
hunters
;
fresh
throngs
added
indeed
to
the
first
pursuers
as
they
tore
down
through
the
starlit
night
,
but
none
had
the
science
with
which
he
went
,
the
trained
matchless
skill
of
the
University
foot-race
.
He
left
them
more
and
more
behind
him
each
second
of
the
breathless
chase
,
that
endless
as
it
seemed
had
lasted
bare
three
minutes
.
If
the
night
were
but
dark
!
—
he
felt
that
pitiless
luminance
glistening
bright
about
him
,
everywhere
,
shining
over
all
the
summer
world
,
and
leaving
scarce
a
shadow
to
fall
athwart
his
way
.
The
silver
glory
of
the
radiance
was
shed
on
every
rood
of
ground
;
one
hour
of
a
winter
night
,
one
hour
of
the
sweeping
ink-black
rain
of
an
autumn
storm
,
and
he
could
have
made
for
shelter
as
the
stag
makes
for
it
across
the
broad
brown
highland
water
.
Before
him
stretched
indeed
the
gloom
of
the
masses
of
pine
,
the
upward
slopes
of
tree-stocked
hills
,
the
vastness
of
the
Black
Forest
—
but
they
were
like
the
mirage
to
a
man
who
dies
in
a
desert
;
he
knew
at
the
pace
he
went
he
could
not
live
to
reach
them
.
The
blood
was
beating
in
his
brain
,
and
pumping
from
his
heart
;
a
tightness
like
an
iron
band
seemed
girt
about
his
loins
,
his
lips
began
to
draw
his
breath
in
with
loud
gasping
spasms
;
he
knew
that
in
a
little
space
his
speed
must
slacken
;
—
he
knew
it
by
the
roar
like
the
noise
of
waters
that
was
rushing
on
his
ear
,
and
the
oppression
like
a
hand
's
hard
grip
that
seemed
above
his
heart
.
But
he
would
go
till
he
died
;
go
till
they
fired
on
him
;
go
though
the
skies
felt
swirling
round
like
a
sea
of
fire
,
and
the
hard
hot
earth
beneath
his
feet
jarred
his
whole
frame
as
his
feet
struck
it
flying
.
The
angle
of
an
old
wood-house
,
with
towering
roof
and
high-peaked
gables
,
threw
a
depth
of
shadow
at
last
across
his
road
;
a
shadow
black
and
rayless
,
darker
for
the
white
glisten
of
the
moon
around
.
Built
more
in
the
Swiss
than
the
German
style
,
a
massive
balcony
of
wood
ran
round
it
,
upon
and
beneath
which
in
its
heavy
shade
was
an
impenetrable
gloom
,
while
the
twisted
wooden
pillars
ran
upward
to
the
gallery
,
loggia-like
.
With
rapid
perception
and
intuition
he
divined
rather
than
saw
these
things
,
and
swinging
himself
up
with
noiseless
lightness
,
he
threw
himself
full
length
down
on
the
rough
flooring
of
the
balcony
.
If
they
passed
,
he
was
safe
for
a
brief
time
more
at
least
;
if
they
found
him
—
his
teeth
clenched
like
a
mastiff
's
where
he
lay
—
he
had
the
strength
in
him
still
to
sell
his
life
dearly
.
The
pursuers
came
closer
and
closer
,
and
by
the
clamours
that
floated
up
in
indistinct
and
broken
fragments
,
he
knew
that
they
had
tracked
him
.
He
heard
the
tramp
of
their
feet
as
they
came
under
the
loggia
;
he
heard
the
click
of
the
pistols
—
they
were
close
upon
him
at
last
in
the
blackness
of
night
.
CHAPTER
XII
.
THE
KING
'S
LAST
SERVICE
.
"
Is
he
up
there
?
"
asked
a
voice
in
the
darkness
.
"
Not
likely
.
A
cat
could
n't
scramble
up
that
woodwork
,
"
answered
a
second
.
"
Send
a
shot
,
and
try
,
"
suggested
a
third
.
There
he
lay
,
stretched
motionless
on
the
flat
roof
of
the
verandah
.
He
heard
the
words
as
the
thronging
mob
surged
,
and
trampled
,
and
swore
,
and
quarrelled
beneath
him
,
in
the
blackness
of
the
gloom
,
balked
of
their
prey
,
and
savage
for
some
amends
.
There
was
a
moment
's
pause
,
a
hurried
,
eager
consultation
,
then
he
heard
the
well-known
sound
of
a
charge
being
rammed
down
,
and
the
sharp
drawing
out
of
a
ramrod
;
there
was
a
flash
,
a
report
,
a
line
of
light
flamed
a
second
in
his
sight
,
a
ball
hissed
past
him
with
a
loud
singing
rush
,
and
bedded
itself
in
the
timber
a
few
inches
above
his
uncovered
hair
.
A
dead
silence
followed
;
then
the
muttering
of
many
voices
broke
out
afresh
.
"
He
's
not
there
,
at
any
rate
,
"
said
one
,
who
seemed
the
chief
;
"
he
could
n't
have
kept
as
still
as
that
with
a
shot
so
near
him
.
He
's
made
for
the
open
country
and
the
forest
,
I
'll
take
my
oath
.
"
Then
the
treading
of
many
feet
trampled
their
way
out
from
beneath
the
loggia
;
their
voices
and
their
rapid
steps
grew
fainter
and
fainter
as
they
hurried
away
through
the
night
.
For
a
while
,
at
least
,
he
was
safe
.
For
some
moments
he
lay
prostrated
there
;
the
rushing
of
the
blood
on
his
brain
,
the
beating
of
his
heart
,
the
panting
of
his
breath
,
the
quivering
of
his
limbs
after
the
intense
muscular
effort
he
had
gone
through
,
mastered
him
,
and
flung
him
down
there
beaten
and
powerless
.
He
felt
the
foam
on
his
lips
,
and
he
thought
with
every
instant
that
the
surcharged
veins
would
burst
;
hands
of
steel
seemed
to
crush
in
upon
his
chest
,
knotted
cords
to
tighten
in
excruciating
pain
about
his
loins
;
he
breathed
in
short
convulsive
gasps
;
his
eyes
were
blind
,
and
his
head
swam
.
A
dreaming
fancy
that
this
was
death
vaguely
came
on
him
,
and
he
was
glad
it
should
be
so
.
His
eyelids
closed
unconsciously
,
weighed
down
as
by
the
weight
of
lead
;
he
saw
the
starry
skies
above
him
no
more
,
and
the
distant
noise
of
the
pursuit
waxed
duller
and
duller
on
his
ear
;
then
he
lost
all
sense
and
memory
—
he
ceased
even
to
feel
the
night
air
on
his
face
.
How
long
he
lay
there
he
never
knew
;
when
consciousness
returned
to
him
all
was
still
;
the
moon
was
shining
down
clear
as
the
day
,
the
west
wind
was
blowing
softly
amongst
his
hair
.
He
staggered
to
his
feet
and
leaned
against
the
timber
of
the
upper
wall
;
the
shelving
,
impenetrable
darkness
sloped
below
;
above
were
the
glories
of
a
summer
sky
at
midnight
,
around
him
the
hills
and
woods
were
bathed
in
the
silver
light
;
—
he
looked
,
and
he
remembered
all
.
He
had
escaped
his
captors
;
but
for
how
long
?
While
yet
there
were
some
hours
of
the
night
left
,
he
must
find
some
surer
refuge
,
or
fall
into
their
hands
again
.
Yet
it
was
strange
that
in
this
moment
his
own
misery
and
his
own
peril
were
less
upon
him
than
a
longing
to
see
once
more
—
and
for
the
last
time
—
the
woman
for
whose
sake
he
suffered
this
.
Their
love
had
had
the
lightness
and
the
languor
of
their
world
,
and
had
had
but
little
depth
in
it
;
yet
in
that
hour
of
his
supreme
sacrifice
to
her
he
loved
her
as
he
had
not
loved
in
his
life
.
Recklessness
had
always
been
latent
in
him
,
with
all
his
serenity
and
impassiveness
;
a
reckless
resolve
entered
him
now
—
reckless
to
madness
.
Lightly
and
cautiously
,
though
his
sinews
still
ached
,
and
his
nerves
still
throbbed
with
the
past
strain
,
he
let
himself
fall
,
hand
over
hand
,
as
men
go
down
a
rope
,
along
the
woodwork
to
the
ground
.
Once
touching
earth
,
off
he
glided
,
swiftly
and
noiselessly
,
keeping
in
the
shadow
of
the
walls
all
the
length
of
the
streets
he
took
,
and
shunning
every
place
where
any
sort
of
tumult
could
suggest
the
neighbourhood
of
those
who
were
out
and
hunting
him
down
.
As
it
chanced
,
they
had
taken
to
the
open
country
;
he
passed
on
unquestioned
,
and
wound
his
way
to
the
Kursaal
.
He
remembered
that
to-night
there
was
a
masked
ball
,
at
which
all
the
princely
and
titled
world
of
Baden
were
present
;
to
which
he
would
himself
have
gone
after
the
Russian
dinner
.
By
the
look
of
the
stars
he
saw
that
it
must
be
midnight
or
past
,
the
ball
would
be
now
at
its
height
.
The
dare-devil
wildness
and
the
cool
quietude
that
were
so
intimately
and
intricately
mingled
in
his
nature
could
alone
have
prompted
and
projected
such
a
thought
and
such
an
action
as
suggested
themselves
to
him
now
;
in
the
moment
of
his
direst
extremity
,
of
his
utter
hopelessness
,
of
his
most
imminent
peril
,
he
went
—
to
take
a
last
look
at
his
mistress
!
Baden
,
for
aught
he
knew
,
might
be
but
one
vast
network
to
mesh
in
and
to
capture
him
;
yet
he
ran
the
risk
with
the
dauntless
temerity
that
had
ever
laid
underneath
the
indifferentism
and
the
indolence
of
his
habits
.
Keeping
always
in
the
shadow
,
and
moving
slowly
,
so
as
to
attract
no
notice
from
those
he
passed
,
he
made
his
way
,
deliberately
,
straight
towards
the
blaze
of
light
where
all
the
gaiety
of
the
town
was
centred
;
he
reckoned
,
and
rightly
,
as
it
proved
,
that
the
rumour
of
his
story
,
the
noise
of
his
pursuit
,
would
not
have
penetrated
here
as
yet
;
his
own
world
would
be
still
in
ignorance
.
A
moment
,
that
was
all
he
wanted
,
just
to
look
upon
a
woman
's
beauty
;
he
went
forward
daringly
and
tranquilly
to
its
venture
.
If
any
had
told
him
that
a
vein
of
romance
was
in
him
,
he
would
have
stared
,
and
thought
them
madmen
;
yet
something
almost
as
wild
was
in
his
instinct
now
.
He
had
lost
so
much
to
keep
her
honour
from
attainder
;
—
he
wished
to
meet
the
gaze
of
her
fair
eyes
once
more
before
he
went
out
to
his
exile
.
In
one
of
the
string
of
waiting
carriages
he
saw
a
loose
domino
lying
on
the
seat
;
he
knew
the
liveries
and
the
footmen
,
and
he
signed
them
to
open
the
door
.
"
Tell
Count
Carl
I
have
borrowed
these
,
"
he
said
to
the
servant
,
as
he
sprang
into
the
vehicle
,
slipped
the
scarlet
and
black
domino
on
,
took
the
mask
,
and
left
the
carriage
.
The
man
touched
his
hat
,
and
said
nothing
;
he
knew
Cecil
well
,
as
an
intimate
friend
of
his
young
Austrian
master
.
In
that
masquerade
guise
he
was
safe
,
for
the
few
minutes
,
at
least
,
which
were
all
he
dared
take
.
He
went
on
,
mingled
among
the
glittering
throng
,
and
pierced
his
way
to
the
ball-room
,
the
Venetian
mask
covering
his
features
.
Many
spoke
to
him
;
by
the
scarlet
and
black
colours
they
took
him
for
the
Austrian
;
he
answered
none
,
and
threaded
his
way
among
the
blaze
of
hues
,
the
joyous
echoes
of
the
music
,
the
flutter
of
the
silk
and
satin
dominoes
,
the
mischievous
challenge
of
whispers
.
His
eyes
sought
only
one
;
he
soon
saw
her
,
in
the
white
and
silver
mask-dress
,
with
the
spray
of
carmine-hued
eastern
flowers
,
by
which
he
had
been
told
days
ago
to
recognise
her
.
A
crowd
of
dominoes
were
about
her
,
some
masked
,
some
not
.
Her
eyes
glanced
through
the
envious
disguise
,
and
her
lips
were
laughing
.
He
approached
her
with
all
his
old
tact
in
the
art
d'arborer
le
cotillon
;
not
hurriedly
,
so
as
to
attract
notice
,
but
carefully
,
so
as
to
glide
into
a
place
near
her
.
"
You
promised
me
this
waltz
,
"
he
said
very
gently
in
her
ear
.
"
