The Spanish dancer : being a translation from the original French by Henry L. Williams of Don Caesar de Bazan (27 page)

He drew his sword, but it was to present it to the king, by the point.

"Yes, you are speaking to the King of Spain!" said the other, mastering a host of contesting emotions.

"To whom else Vvould I speak in this strain? As we cannot always subdue the will or restrain the naturally-prompted hand, I will render both powerless!" He threw away the rapier. "But there must be atonement!"

"Must? Atonement? But, go on—^your audacity amuses me!"

"Caesar," said Maritana, in a low voice, "remember that his wife loves him! and she is my patroness!"

"Yes, it is a loved king—but his subjects, his nobles, will not long love a king who 'gives up his love for unequal sharing! Your power and that of your minister are combined against this poor, weak creature and her humble champion, but she has sought the protection ol her patroness, the queen!"

This time the hearer quailed, and shook like a tower, long battered at. at last receiving the stroke which aflfects the heart.

"You see in me the queen's messenger from her palace of Aranguez."

"You, the queen's messenger "

"Better—or worse! The queen's avant courierf"

"Ha!"

"Yes, you shall hear all! The palace was strictly guarded. You should applaud her captain of guards, your governor of the castle. Denied admission, I ferreted out an entrance unknown to the uninitiated. But how useful to a traitor!"

"Oh, you ran into danger!" uttered Maritana.

"Pshaw! your husband is getting bullet-proof! I harbored myself in a Grecian temple "

"The Temple of Hercules and the Hydra "

"Yes, the same, only Caesar has killed the Hydra!"

"Csesar? No, no!"

"My story is the modem version', and will elucidate. my lord! There came to confer, in this classical Ear o^ 'Dionysius, two persons, courCier and lady oif the court, wihose remarks were worth my listening to, and you'r majesty's heeding."

"Courtiers?" said fhe interested monarch. "High degree ?"

"The highest! One was tlie First Man of the Kingdom "

"Oh, Don Jose?'

"And the other, the First Lady of the Land!"

"My queen!" dismally.

"The queen!" said Maritana, joyously.

"The minister offered in plain words to make the lady the regent until Charles of Hapsburg should assume the throne as the Eighth of Spain!"

"I will have Jose's head for this suggestion!"

"It is already at your disposal, being detached from his body very timely, it now appears."

"They plotted such treason; they twO'?"

"Oh, that was a trifle to what was next to come! The minister said that, meanwhile, by way of diversion, he would pilot the queen to this very house in the woods, where she would find that her husband was whiiing away the tedium of state in preferable company!"

"Who dared to watch my movements "

"The ex-minister of police! the late minister of state !'*

"The late? 'tis false! If it were true 1" He rusihed to the door, but Caesar held up the keys in his face, and jingled them.

"Traitor!"

"I remarked that reparation must accrue to me! Do you understand me now ?"

"On your allegiance—open that door!"

"You cannot leave, for it is just—what wrong one does another should be reflected upon himself! I learned that among my practical tutors, the gypsies, who have several such jagged saws in their workshop."

"Shall I command that door to be broken in?"

"Scandal; my lord, does not want too many witnesses'. That is how kings, who were miemorialized as saints, have been thrown off their pedestals by posterity, which such witnesses enlightened, later!"

The king buried his face in his hands.

All that he would have made Don Caesar suffer, he had turned upon his breast. He dared not cry for help. And at any moment his injured wife would condole with this other injured wife.

He rose and commanded Cassar to open the door.

The retribution was excruciating.

"Take up your sword, sir!" said he then, in a strangled voice.

He drew his own, and Maritana gathered herself to leap between.

Laughter Succeeds Sorrow, 235

"A king no longer, for your claim'—your treason equalizes us! Defend yourself, or you will make mc an assassin !"

"It will be too late!"

"Too late for what ? To save my fame unto my wife ?"

"Pish! I was not thinking of that! Too late to punish my cousin!"

"He must die, and you—but you first I Defend or I strike 1"

"When did a Spanish nobleman hesitate in revenging an insult to his king and his queen ? Think yOu I would spare even my dear relative, one who would have made my dishonor the stepping-stone to his rise, and your incarceration in a convent the smoothing of his road to the premiership of a foreigner? No, sire, I have taken your deathsman's place. Your honor is preserved, with your throne, and your fame! It is now your turn to deal with mine!"

He knelt on one knee and pointed to Maritana, who stood with firmness and eyes directed heavenward to await the decision.

Carlos did not longer hesitate; the deliverance from Jose, whom he had never liked, pleased him so that he hardened his heart to its individual loss. He did not look at Maritana, who returned him this indifference in full coin, by the way, but held out his arms to the pleader siaying graciously enough, although it was a trial:

"Rise, Count of Garofa!"

Bazan gave one key to the lady, wiho used it to enter tier own rooms, and he opened the outer door with the other.

An endless stream of courtiers poured in, and moie jvrould have come if the room had been capacious enough.

iThey seemed surprised, for the word had passed that

there mig-ht be some shocking deception in this mysterious abode.

"It is the king!" was the cry.

"Certainly, it is the king,'-' returned Charles, putting on that -summer-day face of monarchs who wish to hide contrariety, "we have inspected the country seat of our well-beloved Don Caesar, Count of Garofa, and esteem it meager accommodation for such a lady as his dame! So we desire him to move into the palace of the Governor of Valencia!"

"Governor of Valencia!" repeated the surprised courtiers, mystified.

"Yes, gentlemen," observed Don Caesar, to such as ht caught the eye of and were known to him, "the force of merit makes its m.odest way, you see!"

Then, turning to the king, and leaning on his armchair with the assurance of an old favorite, he placidly remarked :

"If the governor's mansion at Barcelona, for Catalonia, is not imm.ovable, I should prefer his residence, my goo

"Why Catalonia?" queried the king, with miare surprise than susceptibility.

"Only that it is farthest from the capital, and so for--fends my pursy creditors, ahem!"

"Your creditors? Why, you may draw on my priyj-purse to annul your debts before you take office, of course!"

"Hear, my king! }X)u do not know that that would require the state treasury!"

"You are appointed Governor of Catalonia, then, and to defray your expenses, we transfer to you all the appointments which should proceed toward our late prime minister and which, with his estate and possessions, are forfeit to the crown 1"

"The late prime minister?" muttered all voices, amazed! at the absence of the Marquis of Santarem from this peculiar "inspection."

"Why, yes," said Don Caesar, clapping his hand to his brow as if a sudden cutting recollection brought a cloud over his good fortune, "my poor cousin, while inspecting the Grecian temple at Aranjuez, fell into a hole, incautiously left open by a bungling workman, and broke his blessed neck!"

'Comment was ch>ecked tiipom this abrupt piece of new« by the entrance, at the same time, but by different issues, of the queen and Maritana, who had conjured up a toilet of surpassing brilliancy; but perhaps her sudden and un-marred happiness had something to do with that splendor.

The greeting was warm to both, and the more sincere to the beauty of the Castello-Rotondios.

The queen looked sharply at her husband, but, debon-naire as any gallant gentleman who had called on another gay and careless g'entleman to congratulate him on also finding a wife, he was joining the hands of Maritana and the new Governor-General of Catalonia.

"Between ourselves, my dear," said he to the queen, "I believe this reformed Count of Garofa is an irredeemable profligate, but I do this to get him away from our capital of temptations, and his charming wife is a protegee of your own, to whom;, for your sake, I ought not to refuse anything!"

The queen smiled on Maritana, and, to this day, until we reveal it, no one suspected that the qtieen's great amity for the Garofas sprang from her trying to make the countess her cat's-paw.

"But never mind that little insignificant gypsy," went on the king, "let us haste back to the summer palace, j^rhere we will pass the Festival of the Trinity together

236 Laughter Succeeds Sorrow.

like old lovers, for I wish to consult you on the vacancy to be filled, left by that poor Santarem, who really was useless as a statesman, since he would go poking his nose into the dust of ages over classic busts and torsos!"

Lazarillo accompanied them. When he outgrew being a page, he returned to his first love, that is, the care of arms. Curator of the arsenal, he became keeper of the royal armory, and for diversion not only defended his charge so well during a landing of the Corsairs that they fled to their ships, but, mustering all available fighting men, embarked in an improvised fleet and pursued them. Coming up with them, off Majorca, he drove some galleys ashore and sank almost all the rest.

For this exploit he was knighted.

In a local history, still in MS. in the city archives, a note sitates: "The leaden statue in the Fish Market is erected to the memory of Don Juan Lazarillo, Knight of the Order of St. Jago, captain of the coast guard, and was paid for by the ransom money of certain Turks •(Algerines, in fact), captured by this valorous soldier in the victory off Cape Formentor. Don Juan v/as the inventor of that humane plan by which, one cartridge being blank in the guns of a firing party of soldiers used at an execution, each can cherish the illusion that another hand than his fired the fatal shot."

He had the pleasure of teaching the son and heir ol his beloved niaster the manual of arms, with a "firelock," which, by his improvement, had superseded the arquebus of his boyhood.

The Count and Countess of Garofa, reigning like prince and princess in the remote couintry, had no quarrel with happiness.

But one day the lady 'said to her mate, whose justice '{ !), economy (!!) and devotion to his fireside (!!!) had eedeared him to his subjects:

Laughter Succeeds Sorrow. 237

"What could have induced you to go so far from Madrid when the king did generously wipe out your debts, Caesar?"

"Oh, the king has a long airm, saith the proverb, and it was out of his reach I wished to be. He would guess by my happiness what a treasure was escaping him in you!"

tut END.

"The Books You Like to Read at the Price You Like to Pay"

There Are Two Sides to Everything —

—including the wrapper which covers every Grosset & Dunlap book. When you feel in the mood for a good romance, refer to the carefully selected list of modern fiction comprising most of the successes by prominent writers of the day which is printed on the back of every Grosset & Dunlap book wrapper.

You will find more than five hundred titles to choose from—books for every mood and every taste and every pocket-book.

Don't forget the other side, hut in case the wrapper is lost, write to the publishert for a complete catalog.

There is a Grosset 6f Dunlap Book for every mood and for every taste

RUBY M. AYRE^S NOVELS

May bo had wheraver books ara sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlgg's list.

RICHARD CHATTERTON

A fascinating story in wiiich love and jealousy play strange tricks with women's souls.

A BACHELOR HUSBAND

Can a woman love two men at the same time?

In its solving of this particular variety of triangle " A Bachelor Husband " will particularly interest, and strangely enough, without one shock to the most conventional minded.

THE SCAR

With tine comprehension and insight the author shows a terrific contrast between the woman whose love was of the flesh and one whose love was of the spirit.

THE MARRIAGE OF BARRY WICKLOW

Here is a man and woman who, marrying for love, yet try to build their wedded life upon a gospel of hate for each other and yet win back to a greater love for each other in the end.

THE UPHILL ROAD

The heroine of this story was a consort of thieves. The man was fine, clean, fresh from the West. It is a story of strength and passion.

WINDS OF THE WORLD

Jill, a poor little typist, marries the great Henry Sturgess and inherits millions, but not happiness. Then at last—but we must leave that to Ruby M. Ayres to tell you as only she can.

THE SECOND HONEYMOON

In this story the author has produced a book which no one who has loved or hopes to love can afford to miss. The story fairly leaps from climax to climax.

THE PHAT^JTOM LOVER

Have you not olten heard of someone being in love with love rather than the person they believed the object of their affections ? That was Esther ! But she passes through the crisis into a deep and profound love.

Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York

EDGAR RICE BURROUGH'S NOVELS

Way be had wturever booKs are soid. AsK for Grosset & Dunlsp's list.

TARZAN THE UNTAMED "

Tells of Tarzan's return to the life of the ape-man in his search for vengeance on those who took from him his wife and home.

JUNGLE TALES OF TARZAN

Records the many wonderful exploits by which Tarzan proves his right to ape kingship.

A PRINCESS OF MARS

Forty-three million miles from the earth—a succession of the weirdest and most astounding adventures in fiction. John Carter, American, finds himself on the planet Mars, battling for a beautiful woman, with the Green Men of Mars, terrible creatures fifteen feet high, mounted on horses like dragons.