A Modern Mercenary Read online

  CHAPTER VI.

  THE CLOISTER OF ST. ANTHONY.

  The night was drawing to a close. The long supper room was almostdeserted. Amongst the lingerers were a few officers in the uniform ofthe Guard, who stood talking together in one corner.

  'The fellow has given you no chance,' Adolf was saying gloomily.

  'Have him in here! Kick him in here, if necessary!' said Colendorp.

  'I don't think you will find him reluctant, drawled Unziar. 'I havespoken with him already this evening, and I--ah--rather liked what hesaid.'

  'Then why haven't you arranged it? To-morrow he joins--and he must neverbe permitted to join the Guard! We might have asked Abenfeldt to removehim, but the Guard has up to the present day been able to set its ownhouse in order,' added Colendorp with a sour glance at Unziar. 'Has hisExcellency the Chancellor thrown out too powerful a hint about thefellow?--I saw Mademoiselle dancing with him this evening--I mean a hinttoo powerful to be disregarded by those who wish to retain the goodopinion of M. Selpdorf!'

  Unziar scowled.

  'I permit no one--not one of my own regiment--to insult me,' he rejoinedwith a white blaze of anger on his pale face, and the wine in his handtrembled.

  Adolf suddenly stretched across to take up a decanter, and catching theglass with the edge of his heavy epaulet, knocked it from Unziar'sfingers.

  'We are losing sight of the main question,' he said. 'May I suggest,sir,' to Colendorp, who happened to be the captain of his own squadron,'that it is unusual to be obliged to act so carefully as we have beenadvised to do in this case?'

  Colendorp's dark face grew darker, but the honour of the Guard over-rodeall personal considerations.

  'I have been hasty, Unziar,' he said in a stifled voice after a slightpause.

  Unziar bowed and continued as if the interlude with its covert allusionshad not taken place.

  'It has been difficult to get at Rallywood this evening. Yet let us seehow he shoots before we conclude that he has any rooted objection tohandling a pistol. I agree with Captain Colendorp, that the affairshould be brought off to-night. I will go and find the Englishman.'

  He had already walked towards the broad arched doorway, when among thepalms and the hangings which shrouded it two men appeared. One wasCounsellor, in his blazing red uniform, beside him Rallywood's tallfigure, clad in soft brown tones of velveteen, looked almost black.

  Behind them again appeared other faces.

  Rallywood took in the meaning of the situation at a glance. Without anyperceptible pause he held out his hand to Counsellor.

  'Well, good-bye, Major, since you are going. I will turn up to-morrow asearly as I can,' he said.

  Counsellor understood also. In his position it was impossible to doanything for Rallywood. As an agent secretly accredited by the Court ofSt. James's, he must hold aloof and neutral in all personal quarrels. Heappreciated the tact with which Rallywood dismissed him from a scenewhich promised to be distinctly awkward, but his hand itched to shootdown the flower of the Guard of Maasau for the insolence that dared todoubt the worthiness of an Englishman of birth to hold a place amongthem.

  'Good-bye, Rallywood,' he said gruffly, and turned on his heel to findhimself face to face with Baron von Elmur and one or two officers of theFrontier Cavalry.

  'There is about to be a storm, Major, observed Elmur, passing Counsellorwith a cool nod.

  'So it seems. A storm in a teacup!' retorted the Major derisively.

  Meanwhile Rallywood, with the men of the Cavalry, his oldbrother-officers, behind him, advanced to meet Unziar.

  'We of the Guard are hoping to break glasses with you gentlemen of theCavalry before the night is over,' began Unziar, alluding to a fashionamongst the military contingent in Maasau of taking wine together andbreaking the glasses afterwards as a sign of unalterable good feelingand mutual loyalty. Unziar included Rallywood with the two officersbeside him in this invitation, by a slight inclination of the head.

  The three men accepted, but there was a little stiffening in theattitude of each, for Rallywood had friends here who were resolved, ifonly for the honour of the Frontier Corps, to see their late comradethrough the coming trouble.

  Before the wine filled the glasses, Adolf was already deep in the storyof Unziar's shooting-match with Abenfeldt.

  'Allow me the honour of drinking with you, Monsieur,' said Colendorp toRallywood. 'It was in truth a notable performance; we have never hadeven in the Guard a surer shot than Unziar,' he added, alluding to theanecdote.

  Rallywood had just time to make up his mind and determine upon hiscourse of action.

  The glasses clinked together, and then clashed upon the floor, where themen set their heels upon them. Then Rallywood turned to Unziar:

  'I compliment you, Lieutenant Unziar,' he said. 'I already knew that youwere a swordsman not easily to be matched; since, in fact, the littleaffair at Alfau, when I had the pleasure of acting as your second. Butthe pistol is, I venture to say, another matter.'

  Unziar set his shoulders back with an indescribable suggestion ofscornful defiance.

  'May I ask you to state precisely what you mean, Monsieur?' he answered.

  'I mean that although a man may shoot any number of swallows of amorning before breakfast, it does not follow that he can hit a man at,say, twenty paces.' Rallywood spoke deliberately.

  The whole group of men listened in silence. Then Unziar leant towardsRallywood with a smile.

  'We can but try, Captain Rallywood,' he said gently.

  Although everyone in their immediate neighbourhood was listening, fromthe other side of the hall they looked, no doubt, like a group of tallmen engaged in the ordinary conversation and common amenities ofsociety, the only noticeable difference being that Unziar was a littlemore deprecating and low-voiced than usual. Elmur, standing near by,filled his glass and drank, with a silent nod at Unziar.

  'I shall be delighted to assist you in settling the question,' returnedRallywood; then, consulting his card, he added, I find I have anengagement for the last dance, some twenty minutes hence. May Irecommend the interval to your consideration?'

  The two frontier men stepped forward simultaneously to offer theirservices to Rallywood. He thanked them, and was about to accept, whenCaptain Adiron interposed.

  'If either of these gentlemen will resign in my favour I shall feel itan obligation, as I can then offer myself to Captain Rallywood as one ofhis seconds.'

  Courtesy demanded that Rallywood and his friends should fall in withthis proposal, and Rallywood, replying to Adiron, added:

  'You have heard exactly what passed between Lieutenant Unziar andmyself, and I am sure I cannot do better than leave the matter in yourhands in conjunction with my friend, Colonel Jenard.'

  Colendorp and Adolf, as representing Unziar, accompanied Rallywood'sseconds to make the necessary arrangements. Meanwhile, Rallywoodstrolled back to the gallery above the ballroom, and looked down at thedancers. He could not see Valerie, but he remembered Selpdorf and hisinjunctions to avoid a quarrel, and smiled as he thought over the words,since the Chancellor must have been perfectly aware that he had pushedan unwelcome foreigner into a position that could only be held by forceof arms, even in the case of a Maasaun candidate of noble blood. At thatmoment he saw his own position clearly. He knew himself to be anunconsidered unit in the big game of diplomacy that was being playedover his head, and he remembered that the day of human sacrifices is notyet, as many suppose, quite a thing of the past. The gods are changed,or called by other names, and the high priest no longer dips his handsin the actual blood of the victim; but the whole deadly drama goes onrepeating itself as it always must while the generations of men havetheir being under various modifications of the primeval system of thestrong hand. That his life might be deliberately requisitioned bySelpdorf to forward some secret policy of his own was by no means animpossible supposition. Rallywood glanced at the clock. In anotherquarter of an hour he must either be dancing with Valerie Selpdorf orlying dead in the fam
ous Cloister of St. Anthony, which overlooked theriver, and where many another man had died under much the samecircumstances.

  Rallywood laughed again and turned on his heel. At that period it didnot seem to matter greatly which way it ended, but he was going to carrythe undertaking through with what credit his wits afforded him.

  In the meantime the Cloister of St. Anthony had been lit up from end toend with a brilliant light, and while the other two seconds went tofetch their respective principals to the spot, Adiron and Adolfexchanged a word or two as they waited.

  'The Englishman took it very well,' remarked Adiron.

  'Devilish well,' lisped little Adolf; 'he made rather a favour, of itjust to satisfy Unziar, you know! He's too sure of himself, thisRallywood. If he kills Unziar, which is unlikely, I shall have to finishthe affair myself!' with a frowning importance that sent Adiron into oneof his ready roars of laughter.

  The Cloister was still echoing with the sound when Rallywood,accompanied by Jenard, arrived from the other side of the palace, wherethe state rooms were situated. On the way Jenard explained to Rallywoodthat the procedure decided upon as being best suited to the requirementsof the case was simply alternate shots at twenty paces.

  Rallywood and Unziar being placed, one of the men sent a coin spinningup into the air. Then followed a long minute of silence.

  St. Anthony's Cloister looks inward towards a quadrangle; the outer sidebordering the river has been glazed in, but in the interval of waitingRallywood could hear the water plashing and sobbing against thefoundations of the old walls, and the wild sound of the _tsa_, sweepingdown from the snowy frontier above Kofn Ford, as it wailed and howleddrearily along the dark waters. He almost started when Adiron,approaching him, said:

  'You have won the first shot, Captain Rallywood.'

  'Then I am afraid I must beg of you to do me the great favour ofrearranging the affair,' replied Rallywood; 'for if I should beunfortunate enough to kill Lieutenant Unziar, or even to disable him,the question at issue between us must remain undecided for at the bestan indefinite time, and possibly for ever. If you recollect, the matterover which he was pleased to differ with me was my expressed opinionthat though a good shot may bring down swallows to perfection, he mightmiss a man at a moderate distance.'

  'You have won the toss,' remonstrated Adiron.

  'Yes, unluckily. But I feel sure that Lieutenant Unziar will be kindenough not to hold me to that, since it is evident that the first shotshould be his.'

  Adiron grinned. It was his way of showing many mixed emotions.

  'I like your way of conducting a dispute, Captain Rallywood,' he said;'but as your second I must warn you that it is the worst luck in theworld to refuse luck. You have won the toss. In declining to profit byit you are paying court to death.'

  Rallywood shrugged his shoulders.

  'I may prove my point,' he retorted, smiling.

  'As for that, it might be decided on a different basis later on,' urgedAdiron.

  For the second time that night Rallywood looked at his watch.

  'I have an engagement in seven minutes,' he said. 'I shall be glad ifyou will convey my meaning to Lieutenant Unziar.'

  'As you like,' said Adiron; 'but in case of accident I should like totake the opportunity of saying to you now, that in the whole range of myexperience I have never derived more pleasure from the attitude of aprincipal than I have on this occasion from yours.'

  Adiron concluded with a bow and recrossed to the other second. Since theEnglishman was determined to go to his grave in so excellent and gallanta fashion, by heaven, it was Victor St. Just Adiron who would escort himto its brink with all the honours of a fine and hereditary courtesy! Hewas a man quite capable of losing himself in a cause; therefore, as heapproached the other seconds, he came as a partisan of Rallywood's,resolved that his man should have his will in spite of all or anyopposition.

  'My principal,' he began, 'has just pointed out that this meeting israther in the nature of the justification of an opinion than a quarrelin the ordinary sense;' then, repeating Rallywood's contention, headded, 'You will see that it remains for Lieutenant Unziar to provehimself in the right.'

  Colendorp threw out a bitter oath, Adolf objected softly, and Jenardstood silent and in dismay. What could Rallywood mean by throwing awayhis life? But Adiron backed up Rallywood; he was going to bring thisthing to pass! Rallywood should have a last satisfaction in this life,because he was worthy of it.

  'If Lieutenant Unziar chooses to withdraw his opinion,' he said, 'ofcourse Captain Rallywood will not go any further into the matter. Forthe rest, he has an appointment in less than seven minutes. On hisbehalf I can but insist that his suggestion affords the only possibleway out of the difficulty.'

  Reluctantly the other men yielded. Rallywood had gained a moraladvantage. If he were destined to die, he would die in a manner thatwould go down into the history of the Guard. Hastily and in accordancewith the request of Rallywood, the change of procedure was explained toUnziar.

  The two opponents stood absolutely still, Rallywood's face wearing theexpression of one who is politely interested in something that ishappening to somebody else.

  At the signal Unziar raised his pistol and fired.

  Rallywood stood in his place for some thirty seconds, while there was asound of splintering glass as the bullet rushed out into the darknessabove the river; then he advanced smiling.

  'It seems,' he said,'that I was right.'

  Unziar stared at him.

  Rallywood handed his pistol to Jenard, and bowing to the assembled menceremoniously, he went on:

  'I hope we may consider the affair concluded, and as I am engaged forthe dance that is about to begin, I trust you will excuse me.'

  And with another bow he was gone. No one spoke for a little while, thenUnziar walked towards the others with no very pleasant face. ThatRallywood had done a thing above reproach, and in a manner abovereproach, made it none the easier for his pride to accept the result.But he was above all considerations and before all considerations trueto himself--to Anthony Unziar.

  'Captain Rallywood has made his point and a reputation,' he said atlast. 'I think, Colendorp, you will agree with me that as men of honourwe must consider the matter ended.'

  'And in Captain Rallywood's favour?' asked Colendorp suddenly.

  'Certainly. What do you say, gentlemen?' Adiron spoke with warmth.

  'I suppose we must concede that it was neatly done, and that CaptainRallywood deserves his success,' agreed Adolf with some constraint.

  Unziar's generosity rose to the occasion.

  'Our gain in the Guard is your loss in the Cavalry, Colonel Jenard,' hesaid handsomely.

  Jenard acknowledged the implied compliment, and went off leaving thethree Guardsmen together.

  'We shall have to swallow the Englishman after all,' said Colendorpblackly. 'How came you to miss him, Unziar?'

  Unziar raised his eyebrows.

  'Who can tell? Luck, I suppose,' replied he. 'But I, for one, am notsorry. The man's worth keeping.'

  'He shapes well,' commented Adolf. 'But how will the chief take it?'

  'I am going to find the Colonel and tell him what has happened,' saidUnziar. 'I don't know how you fellows feel about it, but I say formyself that the Guard might have done a good deal worse.'

  Colonel Wallenloup was at that moment engaged in promenading theballroom with Valerie Selpdorf on his arm. She belonged to thatsufficiently rare type of girl whose society is sought and enjoyed bythose older men who, as a rule, are content to stand by and watch thecurrent of younger life sweep by them, men who are in no sense gallants,but who find a strong attraction in talking to a young and clever womanon all kinds of subjects that too often lie outside the domain of thethoughts of youth. Youth, engrossed in the problem of self, persistentlyignores those far more varied and profound problems to be found hiddenin more experienced hearts and lives.

  Wallenloup, who distrusted all women and was accordingly disliked by nota
few, always claimed a waltz with Valerie whenever he had the goodfortune to meet her. To him she was a woman worth talking to first, anda pretty girl afterwards.

  Their dance having concluded, Wallenloup walked down the room with hispartner, continuing his monologue. Valerie had been very silent, but theColonel had more to say than usual, and his subject happened to be avery scathing condemnation of outside interference with the affairs ofthe Guard. Valerie listened without words. Perhaps her heart beat morequickly, and there may have been more anxiety in her mind as to thefinal upshot of the case in point than her companion could have guessed.But she showed a flattering amount of interest in his opinion, althoughshe was well aware that the question was probably being settled once forall, as far as Rallywood was concerned, in St. Anthony's Cloister,without the help of Colonel Wallenloup.

  Suddenly she leant a little more heavily on his arm.

  'My dear Mademoiselle, what is the matter?' exclaimed the Colonel. 'Youare pale. What is it?'

  'I am tired, and the saloon has become so hot, but--thanks, I see mynext partner coming,' she answered as Rallywood came towards them.

  Wallenloup looked down at her with some reproach.

  'This fellow?' he said.

  'But why not?' she replied with a little smile. 'Is he not one of theGuard? Can I aspire to anything higher?'

  'Captain Rallywood is not yet of the Guard!' said the old soldier; thenhe bowed coldly and turned on his heel, without giving any symptom ofhaving recognized Rallywood beyond his scornful words.

  'I have come, Mademoiselle,' said Rallywood.

  The girl's pale cheeks were now touched with a delicate carmine, such asshines between the fingers of a hand held up against a light. The flushseemed to heighten and enhance her beauty, or rather it lent her a novelkindling charm that struck home upon Rallywood's mood.

  'What have you been doing?' she asked with interest.

  'Breaking glasses with the Guard,' he replied.

  'That ceremony occasionally includes the use of a sword or a pistol.'

  'I have used neither,' he replied.

  'Are you then also a diplomatist?' she asked with quick scorn.

  Rallywood pulled his moustache. He did not pretend to understand women,but that Mademoiselle Selpdorf should now despise him for escaping adanger she had half an hour ago trembled over and prayed to avert,seemed at best rather inconsistent.

  'I have attempted to be diplomatic now and then, perhaps,' he said, 'butnot always with conspicuous success.'

  'Diplomacy was never meant,' she said, looking frowningly at him throughher black lashes, 'never meant to be a private virtue. Its only excuselies in a national necessity.'

  'M. Selpdorf instructed me to avoid a quarrel,' rejoined Rallywood.

  'What do you suppose he meant,' she asked bitterly, 'knowing you had todeal with the Guard?'

  'Ah!' and a slow smile dawned in his eyes; 'now I wonder what he meantknowing I had to deal with the Guard?'

  Valerie frowned again; her words were not particularly expedient underthe circumstances, but she disliked having them flung back at her.

  'I beg your pardon. Of course I know nothing of--of these things. Thematter concerns you only. But I thought, and I am sorry for the mistake,that you looked like a man!'

  There was a jingle of spurs behind her as she was about to turn away,and Colonel Wallenloup strode up hurriedly.

  'Captain Rallywood, why are you not wearing the uniform of yourregiment--of the Guard?' he asked in a loud tone.

  There was a stir amongst the people about them; many stopped and drewnearer to hear the end of this unprecedented conversation.

  'Because I intend to resign my commission to-morrow, sir,' repliedRallywood haughtily.

  'On the part of the Guard, I beg of you to reconsider that decision,'urged Wallenloup.

  He shook hands gravely with the young man, then detaching a star ofgun-metal from his breast, he awkwardly attempted to fasten it to thelapel of Rallywood's coat. 'I see you have not the star of the Guard.May I give you mine? Unziar, see to this; I cannot attach it.'

  'No, Colonel Wallenloup; that should rather be my duty,' said theCountess Sagan, who happened to be standing by.

  Wallenloup grunted.

  'As the wife of our colonel-in-chief, madame, I feel sure your kindnesswill be appreciated,' he said grimly.

  Madame de Sagan's blue eyes glanced up into Rallywood's face as herfingers touched his breast.

  'No, as your friend,' she said softly.

  Then all at once Rallywood discovered how numerous were his friends andwell-wishers in Maasau. He was overwhelmed with congratulations andintroductions, but the memory of that night which lingered longest withhim was the tall figure of Valerie Selpdorf standing aside and lookingcoldly on. She expressed no pleasure at the turn events had taken, sheoffered no congratulations, but she met Unziar with what was only tooplainly a mocking comment on the little scene, and the next moment wasfloating down the long room in the young Maasaun's arms to the music ofthe last waltz.