The King's Esquires Part 11

"Oh yes, my lord," she replied. "It is a hatch to pa.s.s dishes through into a smaller dining chamber." And she smilingly stepped to the wall, turned a carved rose at one corner of the panel, and pressed it sidewise, showing a square opening through which a similarly furnished room could be seen.

"Send away those women," said the King sternly.

The hostess started, spoke to the two girls, who stepped back with the dishes, and she closed the door after them.

"One of my followers saw that panel move," said the King sternly.

"There is some one there."

"Oh no, my lord," she cried, "The room is empty. Look."

"But the panel moved," cried Denis, "and I heard a sound."

"Impossible, sir," said the woman.

"Then what does this mean?" said the King, taking up the sc.r.a.p of paper.

The woman took it, looked at it blankly, and pa.s.sed it back.

"I don't know," she said. "It is a foreign tongue."

"Humph!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the King. "This is strange, madam. That paper lay beneath my plate, and some one must have been watching us at our meal."

"No, my lord," said the woman; "it is impossible. n.o.body could have been there. If anyone has dared--" She said no more, but angrily thrust the panel back into its place and turned the oaken rose, which gave a snap as of a bolt shooting into its socket, and then, raising her hand to the diagonal corner, she turned a fellow ornament in the oaken carving, to produce another sound as of a second bolt being shot.

"There," she cried, "it is quite fast now. One minute, and I will return."

She hurried out of the room, and the next minute they heard the sounds of knuckles rapping the panel on the other side and directly after the loud closing and locking of a door.

A few moments later, as the party stood there waiting, the woman was back at their side, to lay a large key upon the table, looking flushed and angry.

"I am very sorry, my lord and gentlemen," she cried, "and angry too"--a fact which was plainly enough marked in her countenance. "But this is a public inn, and some insolent idler, moved by curiosity, has dared to watch. I never imagined anyone would venture; and now I beg you will resume your meal."

"But there is the paper," said the King.

"Yes, yes," she said, "the paper. I do not understand."

"Ah, well," said the King, "we will not spoil our dinner; but I do not like to have hungry dogs watching while I make my meal. Sit down, gentlemen, and let us finish."

Setting the example, he recommenced, but thrust the half-finished bowl away with an impatient "Bah! The soup is cold. Here, hostess! Call those women back. And I want some wine. What have you in the house?"

"Some of the best vintages of France, my lord," said the woman eagerly, and drawing a deep breath of relief in the feeling that the trouble was at an end, though there was a twitching now and then at the corners of her eyes suggesting that she was not quite at ease.

The fresh dishes were placed upon the table as soon as the soup was removed, and soon after the hostess herself bore in a couple of rush-covered flasks of wine.

"Burgundy--Malvoisey," she said, indicating each in turn.

"The Burgundy," said the King, and as the gla.s.ses were filled, and they were once more quite alone, he made as if to tear up the paper, but altering his mind folded it quickly, and thrust it in the pouch he carried at his belt.

"Come, gentlemen," he said: "that sc.r.a.p of paper shall not spoil a pleasant meal. It is a mere molehill in our path. Here's success to our expedition.--Hah! better vine than my own."

A few minutes later the hostess returned, and smiled once more upon finding that her guests were hard at work evidently in the full enjoyment of their meal.

"Ah, madam!" cried the King, raising his gla.s.s and drinking again. "You keep good wine. I would not have wished for better; but tell me, what other guests have you in the house?"

"None, my lord," said the woman frankly. "There have been some of the country people at the market, but they have gone. There was an ordinary traveller too, earlier in the day. He came from somewhere in the south, I believe, but he has gone. You are the only guests I have, and I humbly hope that the meats are to your liking."

"Excellent, madam, excellent," said the King, looking at her fixedly.

"Then we are quite alone?"

The woman met his eye without wincing, and bowed gravely.

"Yes, my lord; quite alone."

"Then we will have no one here while we stay, madam. I like to be undisturbed. Understand me, please. I take the whole place, and you can charge me what you please."

The woman made a grave courtesy, and retired to see to the next course she had prepared, wiping her brow as soon as she was outside.

"Some great French n.o.ble," she muttered, "travelling to London, to the Court perhaps. I wonder who he is. Yes," she said to herself excitedly, "and I wonder too who dared to enter that next room. It must have been that evil-looking traveller, that starveling. I believe he was a thief. It could not have been--Oh no, I know them all by sight."

CHAPTER TEN.

HOW LEONI LOST HIS EYE.

The meal was ended, and the King in the best of tempers, in that condition of mind which a good digestion produces, and ready to be friends with all the world.

"It is absurd," he said, "to let a sc.r.a.p of paper which may mean nothing, and the curiosity of some country idiot who wanted to get a peep at me, interfere with our enjoying a comfortable rest in this excellent inn, and then going on fresh and well in the morning."

"Then you mean to stay here to-night, sir?" said Denis anxiously.

"Of course, boy."

Saint Simon shook his head as if in dissent, and the King glared at him.

"Did you hear me, sir?" he cried. "I said I mean to stay here to-night."

Saint Simon drew back respectfully, and the King, apparently mollified, continued:

"An excellent dinner. I suppose it was having such a bad night, and tossing about. It has made me feel quite drowsy." And as he spoke he settled himself down in a big chair and closed his eyes, while those of the two young men met in a wondering glance, and had they dared, as they thought of the night they too had spent, they would have burst into a roar of laughter.

But they contented themselves with just raising their brows, and then sat there for a time silent and thoughtful. They could not converse for fear of disturbing their lord and master, who now began to breathe rather heavily. And then a curious thing happened to each: Saint Simon began to think of the frightfully wearying night he had pa.s.sed, and in an instant the wind was whistling and shrieking through the rigging, the sea rising with a heavy splash against the vessel's bows, to now and then deluge the deck, and the s.h.i.+vering horses in turn were straining their muzzles towards him in the darkness as if appealing to be relieved from their miserable state.

With Denis it was on this wise. He sat back in his chair watching the King for a few minutes, before fixing his eyes upon the wall just to his left. Then he too as if in a moment was down in the dark cabin with the dim lamp swinging to and fro, and the King sleeping heavily and giving forth that deep breathing sound, while a panel seemed to have formed itself in the bulkhead of the s.h.i.+p, where it began gliding sideways till there was room for a hand to appear, holding a tiny sc.r.a.p of paper.

This was pa.s.sed through very slowly, to be followed by wrist, elbow, and then the whole of an arm so long that it stretched out like a spear-shaft, and the fingers reached the King's plate and thrust the paper underneath.

Then it gradually shrank back and grew shorter and shorter till it had all pa.s.sed through the panel, which next closed of itself with a soft dull roar. Then Denis's eyes opened and he sat up with a start, realising the fact that he had been fast asleep and that the closing of the panel was only the King's deep snore.