Part 8 (1/2)
”Papa has been duped, and everybody,” said Elaine. ”Papa's French wine----”
”They swore to me in Flanders I should find a real dragon here,” he continued, raging up and down, and giving to the young lady no part of his attention. She began to fear he was not thinking of her.
”Geoffrey----” she ventured.
”They swore it. They had invited me to hunt a dragon with them in Flanders,--Count Faux Pas and his Walloons. We hunted day and night, and the quest was barren. They then directed me to this island of Britain, in which they declared a dragon might be found by any man who so desired. They lied in their throats. I have come leagues for nothing.” Here he looked viciously at the distant hide of the crocodile. ”But I shall slay the monk,” he added. ”A masquerading caitiff! Lying varlets! And all for nothing! The monk shall die, however.”
”Have you come for nothing, Geoffrey?” murmured Elaine.
”Three years have I been seeking dragons in all countries, chasing deceit over land and sea. And now once more my dearest hope falls empty and stale. Why, what's this?” A choking sound beside him stopped the flow of his complaints.
”Oh, Geoffrey,--oh, miserable me!” The young lady was dissolved in tears.
”Elaine--dearest--don't.”
”You said you had come for n--nothing, and it was all st--stale.”
”Ha, I am a fool, indeed! But it was the Dragon, dearest. I had made so sure of an honest one in this adventure.”
”Oh, oh!” went Miss Elaine, with her head against his shoulder.
”There, there! You're sweeter than all the dragons in the world, my little girl,” said he. And although this does not appear to be a great compliment, it comforted her wonderfully in the end; for he said it in her ear several times without taking his lips away. ”Yes,” he continued, ”I was a fool. By your father's own word you're mine. I have caught the Dragon. Come, my girl! We'll down to the refectory forthwith and denounce him.”
With this, he seized Elaine's hand and hastily made for the stairs.
”But hold, Geoffrey, hold! Oh--I am driven to act not as maidens should,” sighed Elaine. ”He it is who ought to do the thinking. But, dear me! he does not know how. Do you not see we should both be lost, were you to try any such wild plan?”
”Not at all. Your father would give you to me.”
”Oh, no, no, Geoffrey; indeed, papa would not. His promise was about a dragon. A live or a dead dragon must be brought to him. Even if he believed you now, even if that dreadful Father Anselm could not invent some lie to put us in the wrong, you and I could never--that is--papa would not feel bound by his promise simply because you did that. There must be a dragon somehow.”
”How can there be a dragon if there is not a dragon?” asked Geoffrey.
”Wait, wait, Geoffrey! Oh, how can I think of everything all at once?” and Elaine pressed her hands to her temples.
”Darling,” said the knight, with his arms once more around her, ”let us fly now.”
”Now? They would catch us at once.”
”Catch us! not they! with my sword----”
”Now, Geoffrey, of course you are brave. But do be sensible. You are only one. No! I won't even argue such nonsense. They must never know about what we have been doing up here; and you must go back into that cage at once.”
”What, and be locked up, and perhaps murdered to-night, and never see your face again?”
”But you shall see me again, and soon. That is what I am thinking about.”
”How can you come in here, Elaine?”
”You must come to me. I have it! To-night, at half-past eleven, come to the cellar-door at the Manor, and I will be there to let you in.