«You have not told us how. You must tell us how,» the Governor interrupted him.
Don Pedro waved a hand disdainfully. «It is no great matter, and I soon weary of talking of myself. But … if you insist … some other time. At present I am to tell you of Rodrigo. He remains a prisoner in the hands of Captain Blood. But do not be unduly alarmed.»
There was need for his reassuring tone. Dona Hernanda, who had been hanging on his words, had turned deathly white.
«Do not be alarmed. Rodrigo is in good health, and his life is safe. Also, from my own experience, I know that this Blood, infamous pirate though he be, is not without chivalrous ideals, and, piracy apart, he is a man of honour.»
«Piracy apart?» Laughter exploded from Don Jayme. «On my soul, that's humorous! You deal in paradox, Don Pedro. Eh, Frey Alonso?»
The lean friar smiled mechanically. Dona Hernanda, pale and piteous, suffered in silence the interruption. Don Pedro frowned.
«The paradox is not in me, but in Captain Blood. An indemoniated robber, yet he practises no wanton cruelty, and he keeps his word. Therefore, I say you need have no apprehension on the score of Don Rodrigo's fate. His ransom has been agreed between himself and Captain Blood, and I have undertaken to procure it. Meanwhile, he is well and courteously entreated, and, indeed, a sort of friendship has come to exist between himself and his pirate captor.»
«Faith, that I can believe,» cried the Governor, whilst Dona Hernanda sank back in her chair with a sigh of relief. «Rodrigo was ever ready to consort with rogues. Was he not, Hernanda?»
«I …» She bridled indignantly; then curbed herself. «I never observed it.»
«You never observed it! I ask myself have you ever observed anything. Well, well, and so Rodrigo's to be ransomed. At what is his ransom fixed?»
«You desire to contribute?» cried Don Pedro, with a certain friendly eagerness.
The Governor started as if he had been stung. His countenance became gravely blank. «Not I, by the Virgin! Not I. That is entirely a matter for the family of Queiroz.»
Don Pedro's smile perished. He sighed. «True! True! And yet … I've a notion you'll come to contribute something before all is ended.»
«Dismiss it,» laughed Don Jayme, «for that way lies disappointment.»
They rose from table soon thereafter and withdrew to the noontide rest the heat made necessary.
They did not come together again until supper, which was served in that same room, in the comparative cool of eventide and by the light of a score of candles in heavy silver branches brought from Spain.
The Governor's satisfaction at the signal honour of which he was the recipient appeared to have grown with contemplation of it. He was increasingly jovial and facetious, but not on this account did he spare Dona Hernanda his sneers. Rather did he make her the butt of coarse humours, inviting the two men to laugh with him at the shortcomings he indicated in her. Don Pedro, however, did not laugh. He remained preternaturally grave, indeed almost compassionate as he observed the tragic patience on that long–suffering wife's sweet face.
She looked so slight and frail in her stiff black satin gown, which rendered more dazzling by contrast the whiteness of her neck and shoulders, even as her lustrous, smoothly dressed black hair stressed the warm pallor of her gentle countenance. — A little statue in ebony and ivory she seemed to Don Pedro's fancy, and almost as lifeless until after supper he found himself alone with her in the deep jessamine–clad galleries that stood open to the cool night breezes blowing from the sea.
His Excellency had gone off to indite a letter of grateful acknowledgment to the King, and had taken the friar to assist him. He had commended his guest to the attention of his wife, whilst commiserating with him upon the necessity. She had led Don Pedro out into the scented purple tropic night, and stepping now beside him came at last to life, and addressed him in a breathless anxiety.
«What you told us to–day of Don Rodrigo de Queiroz, is it true? That he is a prisoner in the hands of Captain Blood, but unhurt and safe, awaiting ransom?»
«Most scrupulously true in all particulars.»
«You … You pledge your word for that? Your honour as a gentleman? For I must assume you a gentleman, since you bear commissions from the King.»
«And on no other ground?» quoth he, a little taken aback.
«Do you pledge me your word?» she insisted.
«Unhesitatingly. My word of honour. Why should you doubt me?»
«You give me cause. You are not truthful in all things. Why, for instance, do you say you are my cousin?»
«You do not, then, remember me?»
«I remember Pedro de Queiroz. The years might have given you height and slenderness; the sun might have tanned your face, and under your black periwig your hair may still be fair, though I take leave to doubt it. But what, I ask myself, could have changed the colour of your eyes? For your eyes are blue, and Pedro's were dark brown.»
He was silent a moment, like a man considering, and she watched his stern, handsome face, made plain by the light beating upon it from the windows of the house. He did not meet her glance. Instead his eyes sought the sea, gleaming under the bright stars and reflecting the twinkling lights of ships in the roadstead, watched the fireflies flitting among the bushes in pursuit of moths, looked anywhere but at the little figure at his side.
At last he spoke, quietly, almost humorously, in admission of the imposture. «We hoped you would have forgotten such a detail.»
«We?» she questioned him.
«Rodrigo and I. He is at least my friend. He was hastening to you when this thing befell him. That is how we came to be on the same ship.»
«And he desired you to do this?»
«He shall tell you so himself when he arrives. He will be here in a few days, depend on it. As soon as I can ransom him, which will be very soon after my departure. When I was escaping — for, unlike him, I had given no parole — he desired that if I came here, I should claim to be your cousin, so as to stand at need in his place until he comes.»
She was thoughtful, and her bosom rose and fell in agitation. In silence they moved a little way in step.
«You took a foolish risk,» she said, thereby showing her acceptance of his explanation.
«A gentleman,» said he sententiously, «will always take a risk to serve a lady.»
«Were you serving me?»
«Does it seem to you that I could be serving myself?»
«No. You could not have been doing that.»
«Why question further, then? Rodrigo wished it so. He will explain his motives fully when he comes. Meanwhile, as your cousin, I am in his place. If this boorish husband burdens you overmuch …»
«What are you saying?» Her voice rang with alarm.
«That I am Rodrigo's deputy. So that you remember it, that is all I ask.»
«I thank you, cousin,» she said, and left him.
Three days Don Pedro continued as the guest of the Governor of Porto Rico, and they were much as that first day, saving that daily Don Jayme continued to increase in consciousness of his new dignity as a Knight of Saint James of Compostella, and became, consequently, daily more insufferable. Yet Don Pedro suffered him with exemplary fortitude, and at times seemed even disposed to feed the Governor's egregious vanity. Thus, on the third night at supper, Don Pedro cast out the suggestion that his Excellency should signalize the honour with which the King had distinguished him by some gesture that should mark the occasion and render it memorable in the annals of the island.
Don Jayme swallowed the suggestion avidly. «Ah, yes! That is an admirable thought. What do you counsel that I do?»
Don Pedro smiled with flattering deprecation. «Not for me to counsel Don Jayme de Villamarga. But the gesture should be worthy of the occasion.»