He followed her to the Panelled Parlour,the one to which she had taken Osmonde on the day of their bliss,the one in which in the afternoon she received those who came to pay court to her over a dish of tea.In the mornings none entered it but herself or some invited guest.'Twas not the room she would have chosen for him;but when he said to her,"'Twere best your ladyship took me to some private place,"she had known there was no other so safe.
When the door was closed behind them,and they stood face to face,they were a strange pair to behold--she with mad defiance battling with mad despair in her face;he with the mocking which every woman who had ever trusted him or loved him had lived to see in his face when all was lost.Few men there lived who were as vile as he,his power of villainy lying in that he knew not the meaning of man's shame or honour.
"Now,"she said,"tell me the worst."
"'Tis not so bad,"he answered,"that a man should claim his own,and swear that no other man shall take it from him.That I have sworn,and that I will hold to.""Your own!"she said--"your own you call it--villain!""My own,since I can keep it,"quoth he."Before you were my Lord of Dunstanwolde's you were mine--of your own free will.""Nay,nay,"she cried."God!through some madness I knew not the awfulness of--because I was so young and had known naught but evil--and you were so base and wise."
"Was your ladyship an innocent?"he answered."It seemed not so to me.""An innocent of all good,"she cried--"of all things good on earth--of all that I know now,having seen manhood and honour.""His Grace of Osmonde has not been told this,"he said;"and Ishould make it all plain to him."
"What do you ask,devil?"she broke forth."What is't you ask?""That you shall not be the Duchess of Osmonde,"he said,drawing near to her;"that you shall be the wife of Sir John Oxon,as you once called yourself for a brief space,though no priest had mumbled over us--""Who was't divorced us?"she said,gasping;"for I was an honest thing,though I knew no other virtue.Who was't divorced us?""I confess,"he answered,bowing,"that 'twas I--for the time being.
I was young,and perhaps fickle--"
"And you left me,"she cried,"and I found that you had come but for a bet--and since I so bore myself that you could not boast,and since I was not a rich woman whose fortune would be of use to you,you followed another and left me--me!""As his Grace of Osmonde will when I tell him my story,"he answered."He is not one to brook that such things can be told of the mother of his heirs."She would have shrieked aloud but that she clutched her throat in time.
"Tell him!"she cried,"tell him,and see if he will hear you.Your word against mine!""Think you I do not know that full well,"he answered,and he brought forth a little package folded in silk."Why have I done naught but threaten till this time?If I went to him without proof,he would run me through with his sword as I were a mad dog.But is there another woman in England from whose head her lover could ravish a lock as long and black as this?"He unfolded the silk,and let other silk unfold itself,a great and thick ring of raven hair which uncoiled its serpent length,and though he held it high,was long enough after surging from his hand to lie upon the floor.
"Merciful God!"she cried,and shuddering,hid her face.
"'Twas a bet,I own,"he said;"I heard too much of the mad beauty and her disdain of men not to be fired by a desire to prove to her and others,that she was but a woman after all,and so was to be won.I took an oath that I would come back some day with a trophy--and this I cut when you knew not that I did it."She clutched her throat again to keep from shrieking in her--impotent horror.
"Devil,craven,and loathsome--and he knows not what he is!"she gasped."He is a mad thing who knows not that all his thoughts are of hell."'Twas,in sooth,a strange and monstrous thing to see him so unwavering and bold,flinching before no ignominy,shrinking not to speak openly the thing before the mere accusation of which other men's blood would have boiled.
"When I bore it away with me,"he said,"I lived wildly for a space,and in those days put it in a place of safety,and when I was sober again I had forgot where.Yesterday,by a strange chance,I came upon it.Think you it can be mistaken for any other woman's hair?"At this she held up her hand.
"Wait,"she said."You will go to Osmonde,you will tell him this,you will--""I will tell him all the story of the rose garden and of the sun-dial,and the beauty who had wit enough to scorn a man in public that she might more safely hold tryst with him alone.She had great wit and cunning for a beauty of sixteen.'Twould be well for her lord to have keen eyes when she is twenty."He should have seen the warning in her eyes,for there was warning enough in their flaming depths.
"All that you can say I know,"she said--"all that you can say!And I love him.There is no other man on earth.Were he a beggar,Iwould tramp the highroad by his side and go hungered with him.He is my lord,and I his mate--his mate!""That you will not be,"he answered,made devilish by her words.
"He is a high and noble gentleman,and wants no man's cast-off plaything for his wife."Her breast leaped up and down in her panting as she pressed her hand upon it;her breath came in sharp puffs through her nostrils.
"And once,"she breathed--"and once--I LOVED thee--cur!"He was mad with exultant villainy and passion,and he broke into a laugh.
"Loved me!"he said."Thou!As thou lovedst me--and as thou lovest him--so will Moll Easy love any man--for a crown."Her whip lay upon the table,she caught and whirled it in the air.
She was blind with the surging of her blood,and saw not how she caught or held it,or what she did--only that she struck!
And 'twas his temple that the loaded weapon met,and 'twas wielded by a wrist whose sinews were of steel,and even as it struck he gasped,casting up his hands,and thereupon fell,and lay stretched at her feet!
