Fever made him submissive; her eyes gave him confidence; her voice
soothed his fears, if he possessed them. Leaning from the window, he
called his men together. Beverly looked on in wonder as these strange
men bade farewell to their leader. Many of them were weeping, and most
of them kissed his hand. There were broken sentences, tear-choked
promises, anxious inquiries, and the parting was over.
"Where are they going?" Beverly whispered, as they moved away in the
dusk.
"Back into the mountains to starve, poor fellows. God be kind to them,
God be good to them," he half sobbed, his chin dropping to his
breast. He was trembling like a leaf.
"Starve?" she whispered. "Have they no money?"
"We are penniless," came in muffled tones from the stricken leader.
Beverly leaned from the window and called to the departing ones. Ravone
and one other reluctantly approached. Without a word she opened a small
traveling bag and drew forth a heavy purse. This she pressed into the
hand of the student. It was filled with Graustark gavvos, for which she
had exchanged American gold in Russia.
"God be with you," she fervently cried. He kissed her hand, and the two
stood aside to let the coach roll on into the dusky shadows that
separated them from the gates of Ganlook, old Franz still driving--the
only one of the company left to serve his leader to the very end.
"Well, we have left them," muttered Baldos, as though to himself. "I may
never see them again--never see them again. God, how true they have
been!"
"I shall send for them the moment I get to Ganlook and I'll promise
pardons for them all," she cried rashly, in her compassion.
"No!" he exclaimed fiercely. "You are not to disturb them. Better that
they should starve."
Beverly was sufficiently subdued. As they drew nearer the city gates her
heart began to fail her. This man's life was in her weak, incapable
hands and the time was nearing when she must stand between him and
disaster.
"Where are these vaunted soldiers of yours?" he suddenly asked, infinite
irony in his voice.
"My soldiers?" she said faintly.
"Isn't it rather unusual that, in time of trouble and uncertainty, we
should be able to approach within a mile of one of your most important
cities without even so much as seeing a soldier of Graustark?"
She felt that he was scoffing, but it mattered little to her.
"It is a bit odd, isn't it?" she agreed.
"Worse than that, your highness."
"I shall speak to Dangloss about it," she said serenely, and he looked
up in new surprise. Truly, she was an extraordinary princess.
Fully three-quarters of an hour passed before the coach was
checked. Beverly, looking from the windows, had seem the lighted windows
of cottages growing closer and closer together. The barking of roadside
dogs was the only sound that could be heard above the rattle of the
wheels. It was too dark inside the coach to see the face of the man
beside her, but something told her that he was staring intently into the
night, alert and anxious. The responsibility of her position swooped
down upon her like an avalanche as she thought of what the next few
minutes were to bring forth. It was the sudden stopping of the coach and
the sharp commands from the outside that told her probation was at an
end. She could no longer speculate; it was high time to act.