ana, princesa de carbajal
we were riding through one of the innumerable valleys which are formed by the spurs of the pyrenees running almost from where the pic du midi rises up to the city of toulouse; a valley which was bordered on either side by shelving hills that were covered with woods nearly up to their summits. and now we were looking forward eagerly to meeting his eminence, the cardinal alberoni, of whose arrival in this neighbourhood we had received certain intelligence from more than one of the innumerable spies whom both the regent and cardinal dubois maintained ever in this region—a region dividing spain from france.
as for marcieu, who, as usual, rode behind the troop, he had been in such a towering rage ever since the morning of our departure from toulouse, and had used such violent language, that i for one had been obliged to tell him to keep a civil tongue in his head, while pontgibaud, who was an aristocrat to the tips of his fingers as well as captain of a troop of mousquetaires, told him he must be more respectful in his language or altogether silent. for, as naturally you have understood, it was the girl who was pleased to call herself damaris, and to assume the disguise of a wandering juggler and singer, who had ridden off that night on her mule, and was, no doubt, far enough away from us in the morning.
and she had got the late king of spain's will in her pocket! of that marcieu swore there could be no doubt—the will which, in truth, was the principal thing that brought the nations to agreeing that the duke of anjou should sit as king philippe v. on the throne of spain—the will which, if it once fell into the hands of austria, would instantly disappear for ever and set all europe alight with the flames of war again. she had got it, and when alberoni was searched it would not be found. perhaps, after all, it was not strange that marcieu's expressions were writ in a good round hand. he had missed the chance of his life!
"i know her," he stormed in the morning, when he found how abortive his attempts to arrest her had proved, "i know her. dubois sent me intelligence of everything. she is the princesa ana de carbajal, of an ancient and illustrious catalonian house, a house faithful to all the interests of austria before the days of charles v. and of philip. may the pest seize her! she came ahead of alberoni disguised thus, and never thought she would encounter us. and i do believe she has the will in that accursed red ball. such things have been used as hiding-places before. even alberoni once used his crook as a receptacle wherein to hide a slip of paper. and the late king's last will in favour of philippe was itself but a slip of paper, signed when he was close to death." then, again, he used strong language.
however, she was gone, and, on the frail chance of his being misinformed after all, and because he also had orders to meet alberoni in any circumstances, and to escort him to the mediterranean coast without allowing him to hold converse with any one, we set off to find him. for dubois' spies had met us and said that alberoni was on his way, that he was close at hand.
so we rode along, nearing rapidly the pass into spain by which he was coming, and expecting every moment to meet the cardinal's coach attended by all his servants and following. but suddenly, while we marched, there happened something which put all thoughts of the cardinal and his devoted friend, the princess ana, out of our heads—something terrible—awful—to behold.
a house, an inn, on fire, blazing fiercely, as we could see, even as we all struck spurs into our horses and galloped swiftly towards it—a house from the upper windows of which we could observe the faces of people looking. the upper windows, because all the lower part was in flames, and because they who were inside had all retreated up and up and up. only, what could that avail them! soon the house, the top floor—there were two above the ground—must fall in and—then! yes—then!
we reached that burning auberge—'twas terrible, ghastly, to see the flames bursting forth from it in the broad daylight and looking white in the glare of the warm southern sun, although 'twas winter—reached it, wondering what we could do to save those who were perishing; to save the screaming mother with her babe clasped to her breast, the white-faced man who called on god through the open window he was at to spare him and his, or, if not him, then his wife and child.
what could we do—what? bid them leap down to us, fling themselves upon us—yes, at least we might do that. one thing at least we could undoubtedly do—bid them throw down the babe into our arms. and this was done. the troopers sat close upon their horses, their arms extended; a moment later the little thing was safe in the great strong arms of the men, and being caressed and folded to the breast of our great brawny sergeant. then, even as i witnessed this, even, too, as i (dismounted now) hurried round with some mousquetaires to discover if, in god's mercy, there was any ladder behind in the outhouse or garden whereby the upper part might be reached, i myself almost screamed with horror; for, at that moment, on to the roof there had sprung a woman shrieking; a woman down whose back fell coils of long black hair; a woman, handsome, beautiful, even in her agony and fear; a woman who was the girl called damaris.
"damaris!" i called out, "damaris!" for by that name i had come to think of her, had known her for a short hour or so, "damaris! be calm, do nothing rash. we will save you; the walls will not fall in yet. be cool." but in answer to my words she could do nothing but wring her hands and shriek.
"i cannot die like this—not like this. oh, blue eyes, save me! save me! save me! you called me your sweetheart. save me!"
then, at that moment, i heard a calm, icy voice beside me say—it was the voice of marcieu—"does your highness intend to restore the late king of spain's will? answer that, or i swear, since i command here, that you shall not be saved."
in a moment i had sprung at him, would have pulled him off his horse, have struck him in the mouth, have killed him for his brutality, but that camier and two of the troopers held me back, and, even as they did so, i heard the girl's voice ring out, "yes! yes! yes! 'tis here;" while, as she spoke, she put her hand in the bag by her side, drew out the red ball, and flung it down from the roof to where we all were.
but by now, heaven in its mercy be praised! some of the others had found a ladder and brought it round, and were placing it against the walls. only, it was too short! god help her! it but reached to the sill of the top-floor window.
and now i was distraught, was mad with grief and horror, when again that cold-blooded creature, marcieu, spoke, saying, "what matter? can she not descend from the roof to the room that window is in?" and at the same moment pontgibaud called out to her to do that very thing, which she, at once understanding, prepared to accomplish.
meanwhile, some of the men, who were all now dismounted, had sprung to the ladder, eager to save, first the girl, i think, then next the woman of the house, and then the man. but i ordered them back. i alone would save her, i said, i alone. princess or stroller, noble or crafty adherent of a wronged monarchy, whichever she might be, i had taken a liking to this girl; she had called on me to save her, and i would do it. wherefore, up the ladder i went as quickly as the weight of my great riding boots and trappings would permit me, while all the time the flames were shooting out from the lower windows—up, until i stood at the top one and received her in my arms, telling the woman and the man they should be saved immediately, which they were, the troopers fetching down the woman, and the man following directly after by himself; yet none too soon either, for, even as he came down, the flames had set the lower part of the ladder afire, so that it fell down and he got singed as he came to earth. but, nevertheless, all were now saved; and damaris stood trembling by my side, and pouring out her thanks to, and blessings upon, me.
"i—i—did not mean what i said," stammered marcieu. "i meant you should be saved. but i meant also to have that will, and i have got it." while, as his eye roved around us, he saw the disgust written upon all our faces, on the faces alike of officers and men.
"you have got it," she answered contemptuously. "you have! much good may it do you, animal!" and again i saw the beautiful white teeth gleam between her lips.
"but why here, dama-se?orita?" i whispered; "why here? you came the wrong way if you wished to escape with the precious document."
she gave me somewhat of a nervous, tremulous smile, and was about to answer me, and give me some explanation, when, lo! there came an interruption to all our talk. the long-expected cardinal was approaching. alberoni had crossed the pyrenees.
but in what a way to come! we could scarcely believe our eyes. there was no coach, nor heavily-laden mules to bear him and his followers and belongings. he was on foot; so, too, were his attendants. he, a cardinal; the arbiter of spain, while ostensibly only the political agent of the duke of parma; a prince of the church; a man who had intrigued for, and almost secured, one of the greatest prizes of that church, the primacy of the land from which he had now been expelled—on foot! so that, if he had not had on his head his cardinal's hat—which he doubtless wore in his arrogance—none would have deemed him the great man he was, even in his downfall. all doffed their own hats as he came near us, marcieu doing so as respectfully as any, while, as we removed ours, i saw him steal a glance at her whom we had known as damaris. such a glance, such a sly, cunning one! then, as she sprang forward to take his hand, meaning, i think, to kiss it, he prevented her from doing so by, instead, raising that hand above her head and muttering, as i supposed, a blessing. but now, even as he looked somewhat wonderingly at the still burning house, he turned to marcieu and said—
the rescue.
"you are the man, i imagine, and those your troopers, whom philippe the regent has sent to intercept me. ha! you are surprised that i know this," he went on, seeing the start that marcieu gave when he heard those words. "are you not? if you should ever know alberoni better, you will learn that he is a match for most court spies in europe."
now the chevalier did seem so utterly taken aback at this (which caused pontgibaud to give me a quaint look of satisfaction out of the tail of his eye—for every one of us hated that man mortally) that he could do nothing but bow, uttering no sound. whereon the cardinal proceeded:
"well! what do you expect to do with me? your comrades of spain—the knaves and brigands whom the king sent after me from madrid—have pillaged me of all. some day i will pay his majesty for the outrage—let him beware lest i place austria back upon his throne. 'twas a beggarly trick!—to take my carriages and mules, my jewels and wealth—even the will of the late king, which was most lawfully and rightfully in my possession."
"what!" broke from several of our lips, "what!" while from marcieu's white and trembling ones came the words, "the late king's will! it is impossible. this girl—this lady—has handed it to me!"
for a moment the cardinal's sly glance rested on the princess, then on marcieu, and then—then—he actually laughed, not loud, but long.
"monsieur," he said at last, "you are a poor spy—easily to be tricked. you will never make a living at the calling. the will that lady gave you was a duplicate, a copy. it was meant that you should have that—that it should fall into your stupid hands. and, had i not been robbed on the other side of the mountains, you would not have seen me here."
"it is so," the princess said, striding up to where the chevalier stood; "it is so. you spy! you spy! you mouchard! if that worthless piece of paper in the red ball had been the real will, i would have perished in the burning house before letting it fall into your hands." then, sinking her voice still lower, though not so low but that some of us could hear what she said, she went on: "have a care for your future. the followers of austria have still some power left, even at the court of france. your threat to let me burn on the roof was not unmeant. it will be remembered."
and now there is no more to tell, except that the princess knew that marcieu meant to take the real will from the cardinal if he met him, and so it had been arranged that, through her, the paper which he would suppose was that real will was to fall into his hands, and alberoni would thus have been enabled to retain the original and escape with it out of france. she had preceded us to the foot of the mountains from toulouse, meaning, when we came up, to let marcieu obtain the red ball and thus be hoodwinked; and the accident of the fire at the inn only anticipated what she intended doing. the unexpected following of, and attack upon, the cardinal, ere he quitted spain and descended the pyrenees into france, had, however, spoilt all their plans.
"a friendship that eventually ripened—"
here i should attempt that which most writers of narratives are in the habit of performing, namely, conclude by telling you what was the end of ana de carbajal's adventure, of how she won and broke hearts and eventually made a brilliant match. that is what monsieur marivaux or the fair scuderi would have done, as well as some of the writers in my own native land. but i refrain, because this strange meeting between me and the beautiful and adventurous spanish lady was but the commencement of a long friendship that eventually ripened—however, no matter. some day, when my hand is not weary and the spirit is upon me, i intend to write down more of the history of the high-bred young aristocrat who first appeared before me as a wandering stroller, and passed for "a girl called damaris."
