The Laughing Cavalier by Baroness Orczy (best 7 inch ereader .TXT) 📕

“But to Gilda?” insisted Stoutenburg. “Would Gilda know it if she saw it?”

“She could not be certain of it⁠ ⁠… though, of course, she might guess. Schwarzer Kato is the name of a tulip raised by my father, and the triangle is a sign used sometimes by our house in business. But it would be mere conjecture on her part.”

“Then everything will still be for the best, never fear, my good Beresteyn,” exclaimed Stoutenburg, whose hard, cruel face was glowing with excitement. “Chance indeed has been on our side throughout this business. An you will trust me to finish it now; you’ll have no cause for anxiety or regrets. Come! let us find Jan at once! I have a few orders to give him, and then mean to be on my way to Ryswyk tonight.”

He rose to his feet and now the glitter in his hollow eyes appeared almost inhuman. He was a man whose whole soul fed upon hatred, upon vengeance planned and accomplished, upon desire for supreme power; and at this moment his scheme for murdering the Stadtholder was backed by one for obtaining possession of the woman he loved, and being revenged on the man who had insulted and jeered at him.

Beresteyn, always ready to accept the leadership of his friend, followed him in silence down the street. After awhile they once more came upon Jan, who apparently had never moved all this while from his post of observation.

“Well?” asked Stoutenburg in a scarce audible whisper, “has he not gone yet?”

“Not yet,” replied Jan.

Stoutenburg cast a quick, almost furtive glance in the direction of the house where he had experienced such dire humiliation a brief half hour ago. A curious whistling sound escaped through his clenched teeth, a sound such as many a wild beast makes when expectant of prey. Then he drew Jan further away from the house, fearful lest his words were wafted toward it on the wind.

“Keep him in sight, Jan,” he commanded, “until he goes to the house of Mynheer Hals in the Peuselaarsteg, whither he means to go for supper. There you may safely leave him for an hour, and go directly to the house of my Lord of Heemskerk whom you know. Ask him for half a dozen of his foreign mercenaries; tell him they are for my immediate service. These men will then help you to keep our knave in sight. He will leave Haarlem at moonrise, and you must never lose his track for a moment. Presently he should be escorting a lady in the direction of Rotterdam. If he does this⁠—if he travel south toward that city, do not molest him, only keep him in sight, and the moment he arrives at Rotterdam come and report to me at Ryswyk. But,” he added more emphatically, “if at any time it appears to you that he is turning back with the lady toward Haarlem come upon him at once with your men and seize him together with any companions he may have with him. You understand?”

“Perfectly, my lord. While he travels southwards with the lady, we are only to keep him in sight; when he and the lady arrive at Rotterdam we must report to you at Ryswyk, but the moment he turns back toward Haarlem we are to fall on him and seize him and his companions.”

“The lady you will treat with the utmost respect,” resumed Stoutenburg with an approving nod, “the rascal and his companions you may mishandle as much as you like, without, however, doing them mortal injury. But, having taken the whole party prisoner, you will forthwith convey them to the molens at Ryswyk, where you will find me. Now is all that clear?”

“Nothing could be clearer, my lord,” repeated Jan firmly. “We follow him while he travels south, but seize him with his company and the lady if he turn back toward Haarlem. Nothing could be easier.”

“You will not let him slip through your fingers, Jan?” said Stoutenburg earnestly.

Jan laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

“You said that this work would help to forward our cause,” he said simply. “I ask no questions. I believe you and obey.”

“That’s brave! And you will take great care of the lady, when she falls into your hands?”

“I understand that she is my lord’s future lady,” rejoined Jan, with the same calm simplicity which makes the perfect soldier and the perfect servant, and which promised obedience without murmur and without question.

“Yes, Jan. The lady is my future wife,” said Stoutenburg. “Treat her as such. As for the man⁠ ⁠… I want him alive⁠ ⁠… do not kill him, Jan, even if he provoke you. And he will do that by his insolence, I know.”

“My lord shall have his enemy alive,” said Jan, “a helpless prisoner⁠ ⁠… but alive.”

“Then good luck to you, Jan,” concluded Stoutenburg with a sigh of satisfaction. “I am well pleased with you. In the near future I shall be happy to remember that the high offices of State and those around my person must be filled by those who have well deserved of them.”

He put out his thin, nervy hand and Jan fell on one knee in order to kiss it with fervour and respect. The son of John of Barneveld could still count on the loyalty of a few who believed in him, and who looked on his crimes as a necessary means to a glorious end.

A few moments later Beresteyn and Stoutenburg had disappeared in the darkness of the narrow street, and Jan remained alone at his post of observation.

And now back once more in the kingdom of the night and of the frost, of the darkness and of silence, back along the ice ways on a swift and uninterrupted flight.

The moon is less kind now, fitful and coy; she will not peep out from behind the banks of clouds save at rare intervals; and the clouds are heavy; great billows, clumsy in shape as if