Book 2 — Chapter XIX

Wherein Sir Hugh Richmond interrupts a Tête-á-tête between his Wife and one James Stewart

And now I resume the telling of my own story. I cannot describe the feeling of thankfulness that filled my heart when I opened the door and saw my wife crouching on the window-seat, and the King standing angry and helpless in the centre of the room. I knew exactly what had been in Lady Katharine's mind: that, rather than submit to the King, she would throw herself from the tower to the rocks below—my brave, beautiful, splendid Kate! I shuddered to think of that catastrophe, and yet I rejoiced that she had found the courage to plan it and that I had come in the nick of time to render it unnecessary.

She saw me so soon as I opened the door. The King's back was toward me, and he was not aware of my presence—he was so intent upon her as to be oblivious to everything else. He observed her gaze, which had been concentrated upon him, I imagined—and she hath since told me it was so—wander my way for a moment and, with a quickness for which I should not have given him credit, he realised his opportunity and seized it; for, in two steps he was by her side, he caught her ankle in a firm grasp, her foot being on the chair and her knee upon the window.

Whether he could have effected that or not if I had not been there, even if her gaze had wandered, I cannot say. His touch was profanation, but his present actions were of little importance in my wife's mind or in my own. Since I was there I had but one course to follow, as ever the bold one! But, then, I had followed that same course all along and with success. I had bested Jeffreys, entered the castle and killed Stenwold, and I felt no doubt but that I should triumph over the wretched Monarch, a weaker man than either of them.

There was, too, a certain grim satisfaction in my heart in the situation. It is not every day that a simple soldier and gentleman has the chance to measure himself against a man who, while he was not a great King, was, nevertheless, the appointed ruler over a great realm for the time being.

I had served King James long and well and he had requited me, after having banished me for a venial offence that any other monarch had freely pardoned, by endeavouring to take from me all that life held of sweetness and light for me—my bonny Kate, my wife. Had he not laid his hand upon her person, I think I could have waited a little while behind the tapestry enjoying the situation. My wife had ever a witty and a cutting tongue, although she uses it not now upon me—thank God!—and I doubt not that there would have been rare baiting of the King; but the clasp on her dainty ankle and his insulting laugh, his boastful statement, moved me, and I spoke as she hath written.

"Your Majesty," I added quietly, "hath it not been one of the lessons of your kingship that he laughs best who laughs last?"

At the first sound of my voice the King had released Lady Katharine and wheeled to face me. His red face went suddenly white as he saw me standing there, grim, forbidding, with a naked and bloody sword in my hand. I could not have been a very pleasant spectacle, although Lady Katharine, with a woman's fond exaggeration, has since assured me that I was the fairest thing she ever looked upon—for the nonce. I am glad I so appeared to her.

"Holy Virgin!" exclaimed the King, as soon as he could get breath. "Richmond!"

"I am glad to see that Your Majesty recognises me."

"Hugh!" cried my wife, finding voice at last. "Thank God, you have come in time."

"And did you ever doubt that I should be here, sweetheart?" I asked, in turn.

I never took my eyes off the King, though I spoke to her. I stood between him and the door, and, at a move, I could have spitted him like a fowl, and I would, too; I cared not a snap of my finger for his Majesty or his Kingship. By means of the chair, my wife sprang down from the high window and came close to my side, and, before I knew what she would be at, she seized my left hand and kissed it. That sight aroused the King; he opened his mouth to cry for assistance, but, before he could utter a sound, I was upon him fiercely.

"Be silent," I hissed at him, "or I will run you through."

It was impossible for him to turn any whiter, he was so pale already, but he shrank away from the menacing point of the red weapon in terrific agitation.

"You draw your sword against your King?" he exclaimed.

"You raise your hand against my wife?" I retorted.

"Down on your knees, sir," said the King, striving to recover his dominance, "and beg for your life. Because of your wife, I may give it to you."

"Now," mocked I, "that is a most royal clemency on the part of Your Majesty, but, if any knees press the floor in this room, they will not be mine."

"I am the King of England..."

"No one would ever imagine it from your actions."

"And you are my subject."

"Nay," said I; "here we be two men—James Stewart and Hugh Richmond—and of the two I am the master."

It was about as insulting a thing as I could say, and the King's position was about as degrading a one as he could well occupy. A moment's reflection upon it goaded the unhappy man to madness.

"Stenwold!" he cried out suddenly in a high-pitched voice.

What more he would have added I do not know, for my sword was at his throat. I even pricked him a little, for I saw a spot of blood stain the lace of his tie. I pressed him hard, too, until he shrank against the wall, helpless.

"Now I am in mind," said I fiercely, "in that you have disobeyed me in calling out, to pin you to the wainscoting and leave you there."

"Would you kill your King?" gasped out James, alarmed beyond measure.

"You are no King of mine," I answered roughly. "For one thing, you have banished me, proscribed me, I am an outlaw, and I would kill you as I would any other rat that came beneath my notice."

"But Stenwold?"

"Would it not otherwise alarm the castle, you might call on Lord Stenwold forever."

"Is he dead?"

"Ay!"

"Did you kill him?"

"Yonder, in the antechamber," I said.

"And you would murder..."

"Stop," I interposed. "I killed Lord Stenwold in fair fight."

"But I have no weapon, or..." said the King, eagerly grasping at straws to save the rags and tatters of his self-respect.

And here my wife interposed—she lifted from the chair the jewelled sword which the King had laid aside for his love-making and handed it to him.

"Now you have the means of defence!" I exclaimed, throwing her an approving look for her splendid action and the evidence of her confidence in me.

"I stand here to see fair play," said Lady Katharine fiercely.

I drew back from him a little space to give him room, and fell on guard, but the King's sword hung listlessly from his hand.

"I cannot fight with a subject; 'tis beneath me," he muttered.

"You would fight with a woman, though; you did not find that beneath you," said my wife quickly. "You would contrive to spoil her of that which is infinitely dearer than life. You hesitated not to attempt that."

"But he did not succeed, Kate!" I cried.

"I should be deader than Stenwold then," said my wife.

"If he had, his own life would not be worth a moment's purchase," said I grimly. "Your conduct passes belief, sir."

"Let us end this comedy," said the King desperately.

"'Tis not yet decided, sir," I said ironically, "from the first act of the play, whether it shall turn out a comedy or a tragedy."

"You have me in your power," returned James. "What is it you wish?"

"Freedom to depart instantly from this castle with my wife without let or hindrance by you or any one."

"Needs must," said the King. "My hour will come, but this is yours. Go! You are free, but, if you are found within my domains within the hour, God help you."

"Threats," said I mockingly, "ill become the powerless."

"Death and fury!" exclaimed the King, in futile rage.

"And this man presumed to love me," laughed Lady Katharine, "and to think that I could mate with such a coward."

I suppose that was the last straw; the King could stand no more; he tore nervously at the lace of his collar.

"Go!" he cried. "You have my word that you shall not be stopped."

"Your word," I sneered.

"My royal word."

"Your Majesty, it's not worth the breath that utters it. We will have a safe-conduct from Your Majesty in Your Majesty's own hand; we will have Your Majesty's seal to attest the writing lest any question it."

"Anything," said the unhappy King, mad to get us away.

There was a handsome writing-cabinet against the wall.

"Will it please Your Majesty to sit there," said I, pointing with my sword toward the chair before it.

The King actually reeled to the place and fell, rather than sat down, in the seat. He was so agitated he could scarcely hold the pen. I bade him calm himself and take plenty of time, as we were not likely to be interrupted, but my friendly words did not seem to have great effect. He made several ineffectual attempts to write, and finally threw the quill upon the desk.

"Write it yourself," he said, "and I will sign it."

"Nay," replied I, "that can hardly be, for I must keep good watch over you."

"Give me the charge of him, Hugh!" cried my brave Kate eagerly. "You know that I can wield the sword and I have a score of my own to pay back to this man."

"Good," said I.

I passed her my sword, and it pleased my heart to see how firmly she grasped it in her sweet hand, and how like a master she handled it. At the same time I slipped her that little pocket-pistol, of French make, that I carried ever about me in times of hazard.

"Stand up!" she cried abruptly, pointing her blade to the King.

It cut him to the heart to be thus mastered by a woman. He looked at me as if in appeal. I shrugged my shoulders.

"The lady is in command," I said. "I know her well, she's my wife; you had best do as she says, and quickly, or I'll not answer for the consequences."

There was nothing for him but obedience. The unhappy man rose slowly to his feet and stared at us, his eyes distilling hatred.

"Face the wall!" cried Lady Katharine, and perforce he had to obey again. She rested the sword-point between his shoulder-blades and tapped him lightly therewith.

"Turn but your head, move at all," she said, "and I will run you through." She looked at me for a moment and laughed. "Is it well done, my lord?" she asked.

"Excellent well."

"Behold the Royal Majesty of England!" she laughed. "Flattened against the wall of his own palace and held there at her pleasure and by a woman's hand."

Where have I heard the saying, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"? Well, there was no time for moralising. I sat down, and wrote an order without duress, granting free exit from the castle, without let or hindrance, for Sir Hugh Richmond and Lady Katharine, his wife, with whatsoever jewels and property either bore upon his or her person, and affording them immunity from capture for a space of two hours thereafter. After I had finished it, I sanded it carefully, left it upon the desk and once again resumed my weapons.

"The prisoner, sir," said my wife, with marked gravity, "hath comported himself admirably under our gentle persuasion. He hath not stirred; yea, he hath scarcely even breathed."

Then laughter overcame her.

"Your Majesty," said I, "you can sign the order now."

The King fell away from the wall and into the chair, almost like a dead man. He seized the pen and scrawled his name beneath it with a shaking hand.

"Now the Royal signet."

His hand trembled so he could scarcely drop the wax, but at last he managed to affix his seal to it.

"Leave the seal on the table," I added.

"There it is," he replied, slamming it down furiously.

"I want to play fair with you," I said. "I am not a King; you had better read over the paper you have signed."

The King glanced hastily over it and shoved it toward me.

"Take it, damn you," he said. "If I but get my hands upon you..."

"I know perfectly well what you would fain do with me," I replied coolly. "And if you catch me, you have leave, so far as I am concerned, to wreak whatever majestic vengeance you are inclined to."

"Have you finished this baiting of me now?" he choked out.

"Not yet. You have confiscated my own estates, also the property of the Earl of Clanranald, the father of my wife; we paid you ten thousand pounds for his liberty and for my wife's freedom; I will take that money, if you please."

"Do you think I carry that much upon my person?"

"Not in gold or silver perhaps," said I, "but in the stars and jewels that you wear."

"Wouldst thou rob as well as murder me?"

"I take but my own," returned I. "Off with them."

The King tore the jewels from his breast, the rings from his fingers, the pins from his tie, and heaped them down upon the desk. I gathered them together and dropped them into my pocket.

"Now," said I, "we have done with you. I served you long and served you well. My own offence was such as any noble gentleman might have forgiven; you repaid me by banishment, and then, ignobly, you tried to steal my wife. True it is that in old days you did heap benefits upon me; I requite them by sparing you now; and, with my wife, I go. Understanding that neither your spoken word nor your written pledge is worth much to me, who know you of old, I have here something I fancy which will cause you to respect what you have said and what you have written."

"What is that?"

"Your Chief Devil is locked up and under guard, his life is forfeit for mine."

"Jeffreys!" cried the King.

"Your Majesty hath wit enough to identify him from my meagre description evidently," said I.

"And what of him?"

"He is my prisoner."

"It is a lie."

"I have not rank enough to lie. Here is the evidence."

I forced into his hands Jeffreys' letter.

"'Tis forged," he protested.

"And is this, too, forged?" I asked, as I showed him my lord's signet ring.

"Does the fool believe," said the King bitterly, "that I would allow his life or anybody's to stand between me and my will?"

As for that, I could quite believe that in his present mood the King would have sacrificed Jeffreys, or anybody, or anything but his life for revenge upon me and mine, and power to work his will upon both of us.

"To tell you the truth, sir," I answered smoothly, "even he does not think that highly of you, but even Your Majesty could scarcely afford to have it known that he wilfully sacrificed his Lord Chief Justice for a woman."

"Enough," said the King; "you have what you came for; now, go!"

"But one thing more remains to be said," I began. "For the sake of the honourable gentlemen, the honest and gallant men over whom for yet a little space you are permitted to rule, and not to bring shame to them by showing them what a coward their monarch is, my wife and I will keep silent concerning the events of this night, and, if they be mooted abroad, the news will come from you, not from us. I wish Your Majesty a good-night."

"Go, go!" cried the King.

"Come, Kate," I said.

I sheathed my sword and then I kissed her before him. I confess I wanted him to see it, that kiss which he had been denied. Then I took her hand and we turned happily away. The King sank down into a chair and lay sprawled there, trembling and shaking as if in an ague, while we made toward the door. The desperate game had been played out, and I had won. I was happy, exultant, triumphant. Ten minutes would see us on the water and away, if Macleod had been faithful which I did not doubt.