"To die is easy, your highness. You have but to ask it of me," said
Baldos, whose face was white and drawn.
"She has no intention of demanding such a pleasant sacrifice" observed
Count Marlanx, covering his failure skilfully. "Later on, perhaps, she
may sign your death warrant. I am proud to hear, sir, that a member of
my corps has the courage to face the inevitable, even though he be an
alien and unwilling to die on the field of battle. You have my
compliments, sir. You have been on irksome duty for several hours and
must be fatigued as well as hungry. A soldier suffers many deprivations,
not the least of which is starvation in pursuit of his calling. Mess is
not an unwelcome relief to you after all these arduous hours. You may
return to the barracks at once. The princess is under my care for the
remainder of the campaign."
Baldos looked first at her and then at the sarcastic old general. Yetive
and her companions were waiting for them at the fountain, a hundred
yards ahead.
"You may go, Baldos," said Beverly in low tones.
"I am not fatigued nor--" he began eagerly.
"Go!" snarled Marlanx. "Am I to repeat a command to you? Do you ignore
the word of your mistress?" There was a significant sneer in the way he
said it.
"Mistress?" gasped Baldos, his eye blazing, his arm half raised.
"Count Marlanx!" implored Beverly, drawing herself to her full height
and staring at him like a wounded thing.
"I humbly implore you not to misconstrue the meaning of the term, your
highness," said the Count affably, "Ah, you have dropped
something. Permit me. It is a note of some description, I think."
He stooped quickly--too quickly--and recovered from the ground at her
feet the bit of paper which had fallen from her hand. It was the note
from Ravone to Baldos which Beverly had forgotten in the excitement of
the encounter.
"Count Marlanx, give me that paper!" demanded Beverly breathlessly.
"Is it a love-letter? Perhaps it is intended for me. At any rate, your
highness, it is safe against my heart for the time being. When we reach
the castle I shall be happy to restore it. It is safer with me. Come, we
go one way and--have you not gone, sir?" in his most sarcastic tone to
the guard. Beverly was trembling.
"No, I have not; and I shall not go until I see you obey the command of
her highness. She has asked you for that piece of paper," said Baldos,
standing squarely in front of Marlanx.
"Insolent dog! Do you mean to question my--"
"Give over that paper!"
"If you strike me, fellow, it will be--"
"If I strike you it will be to kill, Count Marlanx. The paper, sir."
Baldos towered over the Iron Count and there was danger in his
dare-devil voice. "Surely, sir, I am but obeying your own
instructions. 'Protect the princess and all that is hers, with your
life,' you have said to me."