Gallantry. Dizain des Fetes Galantes

'I do not think,' said the Colonel, 'that Mallison finds her so.—Yes, i'cod! I suppose that tipsy boy has turned over a table.'

'But you astound me,' Sir Gresley interrupted. 'The constant Mallison, of all persons!'

'Nevertheless, my dear, they assure me that he has made over to her the heart and lodgings until lately occupied by Mrs. Roydon—Oh, the devil!' cried Colonel Denstroude, 'they are fighting above!'

'Good for Frank!' observed Mr. Babington-Herle. 'Hip-hip! Stick young rascal! Persevorate him, by Jove!'

But the other men had run hastily up the stairway and were battering at the door of Vanringham's chamber. 'Locked!' said the Colonel. 'Oh, the unutterable cur! Open, open, I tell you, Vanringham! By God, I'll have your blood for this if you have hurt the boy!'

'Break in the door!' said a voice from below. The Colonel paused in his objurgations, and found that the Duke of Ormskirk, followed by four attendants, had entered the hallway of the Three Gudgeons. 'Benyon,' said the Duke, more sharply, and wheeled upon his men, 'you have had my orders, I believe. Break in yonder door!'

This was done. They found Mr. Francis Vanringham upon the hearthrug a tousled heap of flesh and finery, insensible, with his mouth gaping, in a great puddle of blood. To the rear of the room was a boy in pink-and-silver, beside the writing-desk he had just got into with the co-operation of a poker. Hugged to his breast he held a brown despatch-box.

Ormskirk strode toward the boy and with an inhalation paused. The Duke stood tense for a moment. Then silently he knelt beside the prostrate actor and inspected Vanringham's injury. 'You have killed him,' the Duke said at last.

'I think so,' said the boy. 'But 'twas in fair fight.'

The Duke rose. 'Benyon,' he rapped out, 'do you and Minchin take this body to the room below. Let a surgeon be sent for. Bring word if he find any sign of life. Gentlemen, I must ask you to avoid the chamber. This is a state matter. I am responsible for yonder person.'

'Then your Grace is responsible for perfectly irresponsible young villain!' said Mr. Babington-Herle. 'He's murderer Frank Vanringham, of poor dear Frank, like a brother to me, by Jove! Hang him high's Haman, your Grace, and then we'll have another bottle.'

'Colonel Denstroude,' said the Duke, 'I will ask you to assist your friend in retiring. The stairs are steep, and his conviviality, I fear, has by a pint or so exceeded his capacity. And in fine—I wish you a good-evening, gentlemen.'

VII

Ormskirk closed the door; then he turned, 'I lack words,' the Duke said. 'Oh, believe me, speech fails before this spectacle. To find you, here, at this hour! To find you—my betrothed wife's kinswoman and life-long associate,—here, in this garb! A slain man at your feet, his blood yet reeking upon that stolen sword! His papers— pardon me!'

Ormskirk sprang forward and caught the despatch-box from her grasp as she strove to empty its contents into the fire. 'Pardon me,' he repeated; 'you have unsexed yourself; do not add high treason to the list of your misdemeanors. Mr. Vanringham's papers, as I have previously had the honor to inform you, are the state's property.'

She stood with void and inefficient hands that groped vaguely. 'I could trust no one,' she said. 'I have fenced so often with Gerald. I was not afraid—at least, I was not very much afraid.. And 'twas so difficult to draw him into a quarrel,—he wanted to live, because at last he had the money his dirty little soul had craved. Ah, I had sacrificed so many things to get these papers, my Lord Duke,—and now you rob me of them. You!'

The Duke bent pitiless brows upon her. 'I rob you of them,' he said,—'ay, I am discourteous and I rob, but not for myself alone. For your confusion tells me that I hold here between my hands the salvation of England. Child, child!' he cried, in sudden tenderness, 'I trusted you to-day, and could you not trust me? I promised you the life of the man you love. I promised you—' He broke off, as if in a rivalry of rage and horror. 'And you betrayed me! You came hither, trousered and shameless, to save these hare-brained traitors! Well, but at worst your treachery has very happily released me from my promise to meddle in the fate of this Audaine. I shall not lift a finger now. And I warn you that within the week your precious Captain will have become the associate of seraphim.'

She had heard him, with defiant eyes; her head was flung back and she laughed. 'You thought I had come to destroy the Jacobite petition! Heavens, what had I to do with all such nonsense? You had promised me Frank's pardon, and the other men I had never seen. Harkee, my Lord Duke, do all you politicians jump so wildly in your guess work? Did you in truth believe that the poor fool who lies dead below would have entrusted the paper which meant life and wealth to the keeping of a flimsy despatch-box?'

'Indeed, no,' his Grace of Ormskirk replied, and appeared a thought abashed; 'I was certain it would be concealed somewhere about his person, and I have already given Benyon orders to search for it. Still, I confess that for the moment your agitation misled me into believing these were the important papers; and I admit, my dear creature, that unless you came hither prompted by a mad design somehow to destroy the incriminating documents and thereby to ensure your lover's life—why, otherwise, I repeat, I am quite unable to divine your motive.'

She was silent for a while. Presently, 'You told me this afternoon,' she began, in a dull voice, 'that you anticipated much amusement from your perusal of Mr. Vanringham's correspondence. All his papers were to be seized, you said; and they all were to be brought to you, you said. And so many love-sick misses write to actors, you said.'

'As I recall the conversation,' his Grace conceded, 'that which you have stated is quite true.' He spoke with admirable languor, but his countenance was vaguely troubled.

And now the girl came to him and laid her finger-tips ever so lightly upon his. 'Trust me,' she pleaded. 'Give me again the trust I have not merited. Ay, in spite of reason, my Lord Duke, restore to me these papers unread, that I may destroy them. For otherwise, I swear to you that without gain to yourself—without gain, O God!—you wreck alike the happiness of an innocent woman and of an honest gentleman. And otherwise—O infatuate!' she wailed, and wrung impotent hands.

But Ormskirk shook his head. 'I cannot leap in the dark.'

She found no comfort in his face, and presently lowered her eyes. He remained motionless. The girl went to the farther end of the apartment, and then, her form straightening on a sudden, turned and came back toward him.

'I think God has some grudge against you,' Dorothy said, without any emotion, 'and—hardens your heart, as of old He hardened Pharaoh's heart, to your own destruction. I have done my utmost to save you. My woman's modesty I have put aside, and death and worse than death I have dared to encounter to-night,—ah, my Lord, I have walked through hell this night for your sake and another's. And in the end 'tis yourself who rob me of what I had so nearly gained. Beyond doubt God has some grudge against you. Take your fate, then.'

'Integer vitae—' said the Duke of Ormskirk; and with more acerbity, 'Go on!' For momentarily she had paused.

'The man who lies dead below was loved by many women. God pity them! But women are not sensible like men, you know. And always the footlights made a halo about him; and when you saw him as Castalio or Romeo, all beauty and love and vigor and nobility, how was a woman to understand his splendor was a sham, taken off with his wig, removed with his pinchbeck jewelry, and as false? No, they thought it native, poor wretches. Yet one of them at least, my Lord—a young girl—found out her error before it was too late. The man was a villain through and through. God grant he sups in hell to-night!'

'Go on,' said Ormskirk. But by this time he knew all that she had to tell.

'Afterward he demanded money of her. He had letters, you understand—mad, foolish letters,—and these he offered to sell back to her at his own price. And their publicity meant ruin. And, my Lord, we had so nearly saved the money—pinching day by day, a little by a little, for his price was very high, and it was necessary the sum be got in secrecy,—and that in the end they should be read by you—' Her voice broke.

'Go on,' said Ormskirk.

But her composure was shattered. 'I would have given my life to save her,' the girl babbled. 'Ah, you know