The Mercenary Part 40

There he lay listening with both ears, trying to get used to the whispering of the branches till he could distinguish the tones of human murmuring. Then he dragged himself along a few more yards.

Pastor Rad felt that Providence was with him. His motive was excellent in his own eyes. He was engaged in the pursuit of the evil-doer. What he should do when he had found him was not at present clear. Providence would point out by process of revelation what the next step should be.

For the time being he crawled to the detriment of his clothing along the wall. His patience and his stealth, the latter not usually mentioned in connection with Providence, were rewarded. He heard voices, a man's and a woman's.

The one was that of the ruthless Catholic Scotsman, the betrayer of Elspeth Reinheit. Had he not cause to remember its deep tones? The other was not Elspeth's. For a few instants he was at a loss. They were also deep and rich and aristocratic; the words they uttered were choice rather than homely. Then something in them recalled the very woman he was seeking, Ottilie von Thuringen.

At this moment when he waited for the inspiration he expected, an untoward interruption befell. He dislodged a large stone, which fell with a very noticeable thud on the inner side of the wall, and he was at the same time clutched by the leg, and very unceremoniously pulled to the ground on the outside of the wall by a pair of ruffians, who, with a choice garnishment of oaths growled under their breaths, proceeded first to rifle his pockets quite thoroughly, and then to bind his arms behind his back, his legs together, and to lay him, so trussed, on his back.

Then they began to clamber up the wall, only to find that the love-birds they had come to seek had flown.

Pastor Rad wriggled in vain while his captors explored the orchard close, and at the end of their fruitless search they returned, untied his legs and marched him firmly and rudely towards the palace, where they placed him in a guard-room, satisfied that if they had missed a salmon they had at least caught a dog-fish.

CHAPTER x.x.xIV.

LUTHERAN AND JESUIT.

The officer of the guard at the palace was not clear as to what he was to do with his unintended catch. The fact that he was, or styled himself, a Lutheran pastor, was, in Vienna, in the eyes of such an officer, a criminal offence in itself. In addition, he had been caught upon the wall of the orchard close in the gardens of the palace.

Upon examination he proved to be reticent even to moroseness. His only explanation was that he had come to Vienna in search of a high-born lady, the Countess Ottilie von Thuringen. The officer of the guard had never heard of her, and till the morning had no one to consult. So Pastor Rad spent an uncomfortable night. His supper was meagre. The stone floor of the guard-room was hard, and the wind swept in under the ma.s.sive door and up the capacious chimney, incidentally swirling round the Pastor's head and shoulders on its way. Half a dozen soldiers, who smelt very vilely, sat round the fire and played cards with great zest, and with oaths the most blood-curdling that Pastor Rad, who had heard many things spoken in his lifetime, had ever heard. He slept badly.

The next day Father Lamormain, who heard of everything, heard of this incident and sent for Pastor Rad.

It was the mark of Father Lamormain that he was uniformly courteous. He kept all his hatred under lock and key. And his hatred of Lutheranism was perhaps the profoundest pa.s.sion of his life, next to the love he bore to his own order of the regular priests. If Father Lamormain could have gathered all the Lutheran ministry together, and compounded them into one man, and severed that man's head from his body, he would have acquiesced in that monstrous execution, without personal gratification, but with a sense that the most desirable of events had come to pa.s.s. But to address an individual Lutheran (minister and layman were alike to him) with a frown, with harsh speech, or even with mild contempt, was impossible to him.

Pastor Rad, unkempt as to his abundant yellow hair, muddy as to his raiment, presented an object for easy ridicule. Father Lamormain's secretary led him in with an air of apology. The Emperor's confessor requested him to be seated, and asked him if he had broken his fast.

Pastor Rad, much taken aback by his reception at the hands of this renowned enemy of his faith, said No! Father Lamormain bade his secretary give him what he needed, and bring him back in an hour.

The secretary, understanding all his instructions implied, brought him back washed, combed, brushed, and recognisable as a Lutheran pastor as far as externals went.

Pastor Rad was greatly mollified by these attentions, and found grace enough to return thanks.

"And now," said Father Lamormain, "you will pardon me, Pastor Rad, if I ask you a few questions. You came to Vienna from Prague?"

"Yes!" said the pastor.

"At Prague, I understand, you found it necessary to speed some of the Catholic fugitives with exhortations?"

Pastor Rad admitted it. On reflection this seemed to be a gentle description of his sonorous revilings; but he wondered how much Father Lamormain knew and how he knew it. He also considered that it behoved him to be careful.

"May I ask you what brought you to Prague?"

"In search of one, a maiden, named Elspeth Reinheit, a member of my flock from Eisenach."

"How did she come thither?"

"I had learned that she set out for Prague in company of a certain Countess Ottilie von Thuringen."

"Yes?"

"I learned that the Countess had set out for Vienna, and followed."

"Truly a good shepherd!" said Father Lamormain pleasantly. "You left the ninety-and-nine at Eisenach to discover your one lost lamb in Vienna!"

"And this Countess?"

"No one knows her in Vienna!"

"So you went to look for her in the orchard close in the palace gardens?"

Pastor Rad hesitated. Then he said--

"I did not seek her there. But she was there!"

"Yes!" said Father Lamormain. "You saw her!"

"No, I heard her voice!"

"So you knew her voice?"

"Yes, I had met her in Magdeburg during the siege!"

"She is a Lutheran also?"

"She consorted with the Lutherans! I know nothing of her except that she has been at the Wartburg staying with the Landgrave's family."

Pastor Rad suddenly began to suspect that he was too confidential.

"She is evidently a lady of rank!" said the Jesuit. "She was alone in the orchard?"

"No! She was with a cavalier."

"Ah! You knew him also?"

"Yes! I do not know his name! I saw him first at Magdeburg. He was a fierce fighter. He is a foreigner. I saw him yesterday as he rode away from the palace, and he lodges in the Fremdenga.s.se. He is an officer."

"You seemed to have followed him! Did you suspect him of stealing your lamb?"

"Yes!" said Pastor Rad with an indignation which was not fict.i.tious.

"And instead you found him with this strange Countess! Can you describe her to me?"

"She is very tall. She has dark hair, dark eyes, red lips, a pale complexion, and bears herself proudly!"

"Ah! Such a one can hardly escape notice in Vienna!" said the Jesuit.

"And what is your purpose with this maiden--this Elspeth Reinheit?"