The Coming of the King Part 18

"I have seen a man having a wondrous likeness to Sir Charles Denman," I replied, drawing a bow at a venture.

"Ay, and he sent his pretty Constance to me. He thought to befool me with his ill-thought-out plans--me who learnt wisdom before he was born.

Ay, and you saw the pretty Constance too, did you? But she hath told you naught, no--she hath told you naught. How could she? He did not know, she did not know, and you, you do not know."

He laughed like a man in great glee; nevertheless I saw that his eyes were full of fear. Twenty years before he would have been a strong resolute man, whom it would have been difficult to bend, but now age had dimmed his powers and made him incapable of grasping wide issues.

"If you know where it is--tell me," I said, making a false step, as I knew before the words had escaped my lips.

"Ah, now I see why you have come! Ha, ha! What fools men are! You think crowns are played for with plans no weightier than boys' dice, do you?

Oh, I know what I know."

"So do I," I said, trying to bluff him.

"And what do you know?" he questioned eagerly.

"Since you are so chary of imparting knowledge, so will I be," I said quietly. "Doubtless you are an old player, Master Pycroft, therefore you know it takes two to make a game. Besides, great enterprises are dangerous when they are taken alone."

"Ah, like Sir Charles, you would go into partners.h.i.+p with me. And I laugh at him, laugh at him! Oh, I have more at stake than you know, young master. Therefore think you I make terms with a nameless boy?"

"I think you will," I replied.

Again he stared at me incredulously. I could see that he was wondering who I was and how much I knew.

"My armour is invulnerable," he cried, "invulnerable, I tell you. You may do your worst, but I can gain the ear of the king, and then--pouf!--what can you do?"

"In two days the king may land at Dover," I replied. "What is to hinder me from going to the king, and saying to him, 'Sire, an old man who lives at Pycroft professes to have proof that you married Lucy Walters: by this means he hopes to have power over you.' What do you think the king will say? What will he do?"

His eyes burned with mad anger, but he saw that I was on guard; he saw, too, that I was young and lithe and strong.

"But you would not do this?" he cried.

"Why not?" I asked quietly.

"But what could he do?" he asked almost helplessly.

"That depends," I replied. "If the thing is true, he will take summary measures with Master Elijah Pycroft. He would know that the proof of such an event would throw the country into civil war. Lucy Walters' son lives at Paris, and if the marriage can be proved he is the next heir to the English throne. But what would that mean? You know, Father Solomon.

Besides, think you that James, Duke of York, would be idle? Then let us suppose the thing is not true. Do you think Charles Stuart would take no steps to punish the man who gave birth to such a lie?"

He sat with his chin resting on his chest for some time without speaking. Occasionally he would take a furtive glance at me, and again he seemed to be trying to understand the bearings of what I had said.

"Would you do this?" he asked again presently.

"When one can do a thing, there is always a danger that he will," I replied.

Again he gave me a searching glance, and again he seemed to be trying to see his way through a difficulty.

"Tell me what interest you have in all this?" he said presently.

"Oh, I am a young blood on the look-out for adventures," I replied.

He saw that I had not answered him fully, and it was not difficult to believe that he suspected me of having an interest in the matter which I had not revealed to him. After all, a man would not come to him in such a way as I had come without sufficient reason, and it was not likely that he would reveal to me a valuable secret simply because I had asked for it. On the other hand, he had seen that I was not to be frightened easily, nor to be put off with a weak excuse. I had done what others had not dared to do. I had entered a house of evil omen at a time when others would not dare to approach it. For although through my father's training I had been able to make light of the stories I had heard, there can be no doubt that tales such as I have told about Pycroft were believed by both gentle and simple alike. More than one house in England was tenantless at this time because of its ill fame, and tales of the appearances of the departed dead were believed in by both clergy and people alike. Such Catholic priests as were in England taught people to believe in such things, while even the Puritan and Presbyterian clergy gave credence to belief in the power of the devil and his emissaries.

For years Pycroft Hall had been neglected and avoided; and thus it was no light matter that I had dared to try and penetrate its secrets, and I doubt not that the old man weighed these matters well, as he furtively glanced at me from beneath his overhanging brows and s.h.a.ggy eyebrows.

At last he seemed to have made up his mind to something. He rose suddenly to his feet, gazed furtively around the room as if he even suspected that some one might be near, and then came up close to me.

"Let us understand each other, young master," he said.

"That is well," I replied, as I waited for him to proceed.

CHAPTER X

THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON

"I am not sure," he said, "that you are not a youth worth considering. I am not sure, I say. There are not six people in England who know my secret, not one who knows it fully; but among those who do there is not one that I would go hand in glove with. But you may be of a different order. You may be, but I have not made up my mind. It may be," and he looked furtively around him again, "it may be that I shall make short work of you, and that your father and mother, if you possess them, may have to mourn the untimely loss of a promising son."

I laughed quietly, as though I were amused, but as I did so I had a sense of uneasiness as to what was in his mind.

"Oh, you laugh, do you?" he snarled; "but wait a little, young master, and you will see that you have nothing to laugh at. Not that you are not a youth of courage. I do not deny that. Nay, more: for one so young you have some sense. I saw that at the start, else you would not be alive now."

Again I laughed; partly because the laugh seemed natural, and partly because I was anxious to impress him with the fact that I had no fear of him.

"I tell you the truth," he cried angrily, "and I bid you not to provoke me too far, for I am somewhat short of temper. There is more than one who has dared to brave me here, and have never been heard of again.

What, you defy me! Look. If I put this handful of dust," and he took a small packet from a drawer which contained perhaps an ounce of brown-coloured powder, "I say, if I put this handful of dust in that pot, you would in three minutes be asleep--asleep, ay, with a sleep like unto death. And then what would your swords and pistols avail, my young bantam?"

"Methinks if I fell asleep so would you," I replied, "so we should sleep together, Father Solomon, and perchance I might awake as soon as you."

"But think you that I have not other potions, potions which would resist the action of the fumes which would arise from the pot?"

"Possibly; but let me tell you this, Father Solomon: before the sleep mastered me I would give good account of you."

I spoke like a man deadly in earnest, as in truth I was, for his words had made me feel that my position might be more serious than I had imagined. My earnestness impressed him too, for he turned somewhat hurriedly to me and said--

"Have I not said that you may be a youth worth considering? But, look you, before we go further into this matter I must know with a.s.surance how we stand. For, let me tell you this: if you play the game which is in your mind it will not be for boys' stakes. Neither will it be a game easy to play."

At this I was silent, for I did not wish to use a word which might give him the mastery over me.

"And so, young master, before I tell you the things you are longing to know, I must first know who you are, how you came to know of me, how you fell in with Lucy Walters' mother, and how much you know of the matter which brings you here."

"If I told you these things you would be but little wiser," I replied; "besides, I may not tell them till I know who you are, and whether it is worth my while."

"How old are you?"

"But twenty-three."