Part 23 (1/2)

Thus persuaded, Rene Ronsard could only bow a respectful a.s.sent, and obey the request, which from Royalty was tantamount to a command.

Signing to the other members of the party, who had stood till now at a little distance, the Queen bade them all accompany her.

”The King will stay here till we return,” she said, ”And Sir Roger will stay with him!”

With these words, and a flas.h.i.+ng glance at De Launay, she stepped across the lawn, followed by her ladies-in-waiting, with Sir Walter Langton and the other gentlemen; and in another moment the brilliant little group had disappeared behind the trailing roses and clematis, which hung in profusion from the oaken projections of the wide verandah round Ronsard's picturesque dwelling. Standing still for a moment, with Sir Roger a pace behind him, the King watched them enter the house--then quickly turning round on his heel, faced his equerry with a broad smile.

”Now, De Launay,” he said, ”let us find Von Glauben!”

Sir Roger started with surprise, and not a little apprehension.

”Von Glauben, Sir?”

”Yes--Von Glauben! He is here! I saw his face two minutes ago, peering through those trees!” And he pointed down a shadowy path, dark with the intertwisted gloom of untrained pine-boughs. ”I am not dreaming, nor am I accustomed to imagine spectres! I am on the track of a mystery, Roger!

There is a beautiful girl here named Gloria. The beautiful girl is married--possibly to a jealous husband, for she is apparently hidden away from all likely admirers, including myself! Now suppose Von Glauben is that husband!”

He broke off and laughed. Sir Roger de Launay laughed with him; the idea was too irresistibly droll. But the King was bent on mischief, and determined to lose no time in compa.s.sing it.

”Come along!” he said. ”If this tangled path holds a secret, it shall be discovered before we are many minutes older! I am confident I saw Von Glauben; and what he can be doing here pa.s.ses my comprehension!

Follow me, Roger! If our worthy Professor has a wife, and his wife is beautiful, we will pardon him for keeping her existence a secret from us so long!”

He laughed again; and turning into the path he had previously indicated, began walking down it rapidly, Sir Roger following closely, and revolving in his own perplexed mind the scene of the morning, when Von Glauben had expressed such a strong desire to get away to The Islands, and had admitted that there was ”a lady in the case.”

”Really, it is most extraordinary!” he thought. ”The King no sooner decides to break through conventional forms, than all things seem loosened from their moorings! A week ago, we were all apparently fixed in our orbits of exact routine and work--the King most fixed of all--but now, who can say what may happen next!”

At that moment the monarch turned round.

”This path seems interminable, Roger,” he said; ”It gets darker, closer and narrower. It thickens, in fact, like, the mystery we are probing!”

Sir Roger glanced about him. A straight band of trees hemmed them in on either side, and the daylight filtered through their stems pallidly, while, as the King had said, there seemed to be no end to the path they were following. They walked on swiftly, however, exchanging no further word, when suddenly an unexpected sound came sweeping up through the heavy branches. It was the rush and roar of the sea,--a surging, natural psalmody that filled the air, and quivered through the trees with the measured beat of an almost human chorus.

”This must be another way to the sh.o.r.e,” said the King, coming to a standstill; ”And there must be rocks or caverns near. Hark how the waves thunder and reverberate through some deep hollow!”

Sir Roger listened, and heard the boom of water rolling in and rolling out again, with the regularity and rhythm of an organ swell, but he caught an echo of something else besides, which piqued his curiosity and provoked him to a touch of unusual excitement,--it was the sweet and apparently quickly suppressed sound of a woman's laughter. He glanced at his Royal master, and saw at once that he, too, had sharp ears for that silvery cadence of mirth, for his eyes flashed into a smile.

”On, Roger,” he said softly; ”We are close on the heels of the problem!”

But they had only pressed forward a few steps when they were again brought to a sudden pause. A voice, whose gruffly mellow accents were familiar to both of them, was speaking within evidently close range, and the King, with a warning look, motioned De Launay back a pace or two, himself withdrawing a little into the shadow of the trees.

”Ach! Do not sing, my princess!” said the voice; ”For if you open your rosy mouth of music, all the birds of the air, and all the little fishes of the sea will come to listen! And, who knows! Someone more dangerous than either a bird or a fish may listen also!”

The King grasped De Launay by the arm.

”Was I not right?” he whispered. ”There is no mistaking Von Glauben's accent!”

Sir Roger looked, as he felt, utterly bewildered. In his own mind he felt it very difficult to a.s.sociate the Professor with a love affair.

Yet things certainly seemed pointing to some entanglement of the sort.

Suddenly the King held up an admonitory finger.

”Listen!” he said.