The Shadow of Tyburn Tree

Soon after four o'clock the sounds of shouting overhead told him that the boats bringing off the party from the Russian Embassy had come alongside. Then half an hour later there came the clanking of chains as the anchor was weighed, and a slight rolling of the ship as her unfurled sails were caught by the wind. Gradually the bustle sub­ sided and at a steady pace the ship ploughed her way out to sea.

Eight bells, terminating the second dog watch, had only just sounded when the Captain poked his head through the door of Roger's cabin, and said to him:

'Your meal will be coming down in a few minutes now, Chevalier, and the Baroness will be leaving her stateroom to sup with me. Her maid feeds below decks in a mess that I have arranged for the Russian servants; so for the next hour or so your way will be clear.'

Roger smiled his thanks and soon after the Captain had left him he was despatching a hearty meal washed down with a bottle of toler­ably good Bordeaux. Immediately lie had finished he went up on deck, loitered under the break of the poop for a few moments with apparent casualness, then stepped into the narrow passage and tiptoed along it to Natalia's stateroom. It was a low but large apartment shaped like a bow, with six small-paned windows in its curved extremity looking out onto the foaming wake of the ship. Beneath the sloping windows there ran a long curved plush-covered settee with lockers under it, and instead of the usual bunk there was a large, low, box-like bed screwed to the deck. A table occupied the middle of the room and a commodious desk was fixed to one of the walls; a Turkey carpet on the floor, and the red patterned curtains framing the windows, gave the place a com­ fortable air, which was now the greater from having Natalia's belongings scattered about it.

Roger made straight for the big cupboard that he had noticed the previous night. The four hours since they had sailed had evidently been sufficient for Natalia's unpacking, as hanging from hooks in it there were now a score or more of her dresses. But behind them there was still ample room for him to conceal himself, and appreciatively sniffing the heady scent she used, he squeezed his way through the silken screen; then he drew the door to after him and settled himself as comfortably as he could on the floor.

Some half-hour later he heard the cabin-door open and light foot­steps moving about the room. He thought it a fair bet that Natalia had returned from her supper, but he made no move to leave his hiding-place, as it might have been her maid.

After another ten minutes the door opened again and two voices came so clearly to him that he could have caught every word they said had he understood Russian; but he knew the tones of both so well that he recognised them at once as those of Natalia Andredvna and the girl who had been in her bed on his first midnight visit to the Russian Embassy.

For over an hour, he sat in the close, hot darkness, while they con­tinued a desultory conversation and moved about, evidently arranging the stateroom to Natalia's liking. Then he heard them exchange two of the Russian sentences that he had picked up on his visits to the Embassy: 'Good night; good rest,' said one; and the other replied: 'May St. Nicholas guard you while sleeping.' The door closed behind the maid with a sharp clack, and a sudden silence ensued which led him to judge that Natalia must now be in bed.

He could not see his watch but thought it to be about a quarter past ten, so that most of the ship's company, apart from the duty-watch, would have turned in; but he decided to wait a further quarter of an hour, as the fewer people who heard any commotion the little Russian might make on his appearance, the better.

This last wait seemed interminable, but at length he decided that the time had come to act, so he cautiously stood up and flexed his cramped limbs. The slight noise he made in pushing his way through the dresses and opening the door of the cupboard a crack was covered by the hissing of the sea, as it rushed past the stern of the ship, and the creaking of her timbers..

By pushing the door open a little further he could see across the cabin. It was still broad daylight outside, but the red curtains had been drawn, giving the room a warm subdued twilight. Natalia Andreovna was lying on her back in the broad box-like bed with her eyes shut.

As Roger looked across at her he wondered with grim humour if he would share it with her for the rest of the night or if she would prove adamant and drive him from her. On that, or rather, on the next half hour everything depended. He knew that he would have to fight a battle-royal with her which would require all his wits and courage if he was to emerge victorious. He had had ample time to make up his mind on the policy he meant to pursue, and intended to burn his boats by not only charging her with her perfidy but punishing her for it. Such a grasping of the nettle, he felt, offered the only chance of gaining a mental ascendancy over her; but if it failed she would have real cause to vent her spite on him, and he would find himself in the very devil of a mess when they landed in Russia.

Thrusting the door wide he stepped out into the room. Natalia was not asleep. She sat up with a start, and failing to recognise him for a moment in the dim light, cried sharply in German: 'Who are you? How did you get into my room?'

' 'Tis I, Roje Christorovitchl' he replied harshly, advancing towards the bed. 'Surely you did not think to throw off a man of my metal with impunity?'

She stared at him, her eyes widening with sudden fear; but her voice was steady as she demanded: 'How did you come to be aboard this ship?'

' 'Twas the talk of the town this noon that King Gustavus had ordered you and the staff of the Russian Embassy out of his country. I had no sooner heard it than I came off to the frigate and persuaded the Captain to give me a passage in her.'

'With what intent? What do you want with me?'

His laugh was tinged with bitterness. 'That should not be hard for you to guess.'

'Your face is hard and cold, Roje Christorovitch.' Her voice faltered a little. 'I have never seen you so before. Can it—can it be that your love for me has turned to hate; and that you have sought me out to be revenged upon me for that which occurred after our last meeting? If so, I swear to you that it was none of my fault.'

'You lie,' he said tersely.

'Nay,' she protested, her long fingers clutching nervously at the sheets. 'The commotion in the street below fetched me out onto my balcony, and I saw that you were attacked. But 'twas all over in a few moments, and I saw you rescued by the stranger in the coach. Other­wise I would have roused the Embassy and brought you aid.'

'You lie,' he repeated. 'You stood there laughing at the vile sport you had planned for your own diversion. I both saw and heard you whilst I fought. And the leader of ray attackers was Count Yagerhorn. I knew him by his voice. Believing me to have been unfaithful to you with Angelique de Pons you deliberately set your ex-lover on to give me a whipping before your eyes,'

Seeing that he knew too much for there to be any sense in deny­ing it further, she flared with sudden anger: 'Well, what if I did? I warned you when I took you for my lover that I'd give you cause to rue it if you betrayed me with another. From your first night in Stock­holm you had a fancy for that French bitch. You admitted that you had been to her birthday-party, and you failed to keep our midnight tryst. In Sweden only big functions are kept up so late; 'twas proof enough that you had remained on, or gone back afterwards. I know the Marquis to have been in Gothenborg, and 'twas too good a chance for the pair of you not to take a tumble in her bed.'

He shook his head. 'In that you wrong both myself and Angelique. 'Tis true I was unable to keep my midnight tryst with you, since the party was on the French model and a late one; yet in that lies the very proof of my innocence. We kept it up till past four o'clock, and I then returned to the city in company with the six other guests, who would vouch for dropping me at my inn. 'Twas full daylight already and, even had I left my inn again to return to the French Embassy, by the time I had got there the servants would have been up and about, so there was nought of the night left to make love in.'

'I care not,' she muttered sullenly. ' 'Tis my opinion that my suspicions were fully justified by your having failed to be at my disposal at the usual place and time. I warned you that I should take it ill should you ever fail in that.'

'I've not forgotten it,' he snapped. 'But at least you should haye had the decency to first accuse me to my face, and seek to verify your suspicions before setting your bullies on to me. To conceal your evil thoughts beneath false smiles, and let me lie with you after you had already planned to have me treated worse than a dog, was a most shameful thing to do.'.

'Nay,' she protested with an outrageous frankness that quite took him aback. 'How otherwise could I have ensured your being outside the postern-gate at dawn and getting the beating I believed you to deserve?'

'But, damn it!' Roger gasped. 'Have you no understanding of the baseness of such an act?'

She shook her head. 'I know only that I had wanted you the night before and believing you to be in the arms