The dog jumped from his knees, and ran barking to the door.
'Thomas, one of you, what are you doing?' called Harry, over his shoulder, and Rockingham, rising, went to the door at the back of the hall that led to the kitchens, and flung it open. 'Hullo, there,' he cried, 'are you all asleep?' but no answer came to him, and the passage was dark and silent.
'Someone has blown the candles,' he said. 'It's as black as pitch here in the passage. Hullo, there, Thomas.'
'What orders did you give your servants, Harry?' said Godolphin, pushing back his chair. 'Did you tell them to go to bed?'
'To bed, no,' answered Harry, rising unsteadily, 'the fellows are waiting in the kitchens somewhere. Give 'em another call, Rock, can't you?'
'I tell you there's no answer,' said Rockingham, 'and there's not a light anywhere. The kitchen itself yonder is as black as a pit.'
The bell jangled for the third time, and Eustick, with an oath, strode towards the door, and began to draw back the bolts.
'It must be one of our people come to report,' said Rashleigh, 'one of the men we have posted in the woods. Someone has given us away, and the fight's begun.'
The door swung open, and Eustick stood on the threshold, calling into the darkness, 'Who asks for Navron House?'
'Jean-Benoit Aubery, at the service of all you gentlemen,' came the answer, and into the hall walked the Frenchman, a sword in his hand, and a smile on his lips. 'Don't move, Eustick,' he said, 'and the rest of you, stay where you are. I have you covered, all of you. The first man who moves will have a bullet through his brains.'
And Dona, looking up the staircase to the gallery above, saw Pierre Blanc with a pistol in his hands, and Edmond Vacquier beside him, while at the door leading to the kitchen stood William, white and inscrutable, one arm hanging useless by his side, the other with a naked cutlass pointing at Rockingham's throat.
'I pray you be seated, gentlemen,' said the Frenchman, 'and I will not keep you long. As for her ladyship, she may please herself, but first she must give me the rubies she wears in her ears, for I have had a wager about them with my cabin-boy.'
And he stood before her, bowing, playing with his sword, while twelve men stared at him in hatred and in fear.
Chapter XIX
THEY MIGHT HAVE all been dead men, frozen in their seats at the table. No one spoke a word, but every man watched the Frenchman as he stood there smiling, his hand outstretched for the jewels.
Five against twelve, but the five were armed, and the twelve had supped unwisely and too well, and the swords by their sides were sheathed. Eustick still had his hand upon the door, but Luc Dumont from La Mouette stood beside him, pointing a pistol at his ribs, and slowly Eustick closed the door, and drew the bolts into their sockets. Down the staircase from the gallery above came Pierre Blanc and his companion, and they took up positions at either end of the long hall, so that if any man's hand strayed to his sword that man would have fallen, even as their master said. Rockingham leant against the wall, watching the point of William's cutlass, and he passed his tongue over his lips and did not speak. Only the host, who had sunk once again into his chair, surveyed the scene with bland bewilderment, a glass, half-filled with wine, raised to his lips.
Dona unscrewed the rubies from her ears, and laid them in the outstretched hand before her.
'Is that all?' she said.
He pointed with his sword to the pendant around her throat.
'Won't you spare me that as well?' he said, one eyebrow raised, 'my cabin-boy will curse me otherwise. And the bracelet on your arm, I must ask you for that too.'
She unfastened the bracelet and the pendant, and without a word and without a smile she placed them in his hand.
'Thank you,' he said, 'I trust you are recovered from your fever?'
'I thought so,' she answered, 'but your presence here will doubtless bring it back again.'
'That would be a pity,' he said gravely. 'My conscience would be uneasy. My cabin-boy suffers from fever from time to time, but the sea air does wonders for him. You ought to try it.' And bowing he placed the jewels in his pocket, and turned away from her.
'Lord Godolphin I believe,' he said, standing before his lordship. 'Last time we met I relieved you of your wig. That also was the fault of a wager. This time, perhaps, I might take something a little more substantial.' He reached for the decoration on Godolphin's breast, a ribbon and a star, and cut it away with his sword.
'Your weapon also, I regret to say, is something I cannot leave upon your person,' and Godolphin's sheath clattered upon the ground. The Frenchman bowed again, and passed on to Philip Rashleigh. 'Good evening, sir,' he said, 'you are looking a trifle less warm than when I saw you last. I must thank you for the gift of the Merry Fortune. She is a splendid vessel. You would not recognise her now, I swear. They have given her a new rig on my side of the channel, and a coat of paint into the bargain. Your sword, sir, if you please. And what have you in your pockets?'
The veins stood out in Rashleigh's forehead, and his breath came quick and fast. 'You'll pay for this, God damn you,' he said.
'Possibly,' said the Frenchman, 'but in the meanwhile, it is you who are paying,' and he emptied Rashleigh's sovereigns into a bag tied at his waist.
Slowly he made the circuit of the table, and each guest in turn lost the weapon at his side, and the money from his pockets, with the rings from his fingers, and the pin from his cravat. And as the Frenchman strolled round the table, whistling a tune under his breath, he would lean, now and again, to the bowl of fruit, and pluck a grape, and once, while waiting for the stout guest from Bodmin to divest himself of the many rings on his fingers, swollen with gout, he sat on the edge of the table, amongst the silver and the dishes, and poured himself a glass of wine from a carafe.
'You have a good cellar, Sir Harry,' he said. 'I should advise you to keep this a year or so longer; it is a wine that will improve. I had some half-dozen bottles of the same vintage in my own house in Brittany, and like a fool I drank it all too soon.'
'Death and damnation,' spluttered Harry, 'of all the confounded…'
'Don't worry,' smiled the Frenchman, 'I could have the key of the cellar from William if I wanted it, but I would not deprive you of the fun of drinking this in four or five years' time.' He scratched his ear, and glanced down at the ring on Harry's finger.
'That is a very fine emerald,' he said.
For answer Harry tore it from his finger and threw it at the Frenchman's face, but he caught it in his hands, and held it to the light.
'Not a single flaw,' he said, 'which is rare in an emerald. However, I will not take it. On second thoughts, Sir Harry, I have robbed you enough.' And bowing, he handed the ring back to Dona's husband. 'And now, gentlemen,' he said, 'I have a last request to make. It is, perhaps, a little crude, but under the circumstances, very necessary. You see, I wish to return to my ship, and to have you join your fellows in the woods and give chase to me would, I fear, somewhat prejudice my plans. In short, I must ask you to take off your breeches and hand them over to my men here. Likewise your stockings, and your shoes.' One and all they stared at him in rage, and 'By heaven, no,' shouted Eustick, 'have you not made game of us enough?'
'I am sorry,' smiled the Frenchman, 'but really I must insist. The night is warm, you know, and yesterday was midsummer. Lady St. Columb, perhaps you would be good enough to go into the salon? These gentlemen will not care to undress themselves before you in public, however much they may desire to do so in private.'
And he held open the door for her to pass, and looking over his shoulder to the guests he called, 'I will give you five minutes, but no more. Pierre Blanc, Jules, Luc, William-keep a close watch upon the gentlemen, and while they are disrobing, her ladyship and I will discuss the affairs of the day.'
He followed her into the salon and shut the door.
