I praise thee while my days go on; I love thee while my days go on; Through dark and derth, through fire and frost, With empty arms and treasure lost, I thank thee while my days go on. —Mrs. Browning: De Profundis.
For two long weary days I languished in my cell without word from the King. Three times a day food was given me by an old turnkey who knew neither English nor French. Although I questioned him by signs, I could get nothing from him.
What were they doing with Solonika? Oh, the torture of those sleepless nights! I paced my cage like a restless lion in a circus. The Kingdom of Bharbazonia was burying the old King and greeting the new. There were a thousand duties demanding Nick's attention. I could scarcely blame him for having apparently forgotten me. And yet, I did blame him. Even now, as I lay helpless behind my bars, they might have tricked or forced him into giving his consent to her death. What was the life of one woman compared to the peace and prosperity of a state?
Perhaps already she had been given over to the Patriarch to suffer the last pangs in whatever manner the barbaric religion of the country demanded. If the Church's vengeance had fallen hers had been a terrible end. I was indeed a madman, locked in with my fears.
I cursed her inhuman father for trading on his child's love to bring her to her death. I railed against Nicholas for his faithlessness in yielding to the church. I railed against the General for keeping Nick away from me. The General, with his state business, must have done it, else Nick would have come. I railed against the day when first I set foot in this fearful country. But I softened my words when I remembered that I would not then have met Solonika. I was in a frightful state of rage and mental anguish when the jailor opened the door and ushered in the General.
I sprang at him like a wild animal and shook him with a torrent of wrath for greeting. He warded me off as best he could, and even the old turnkey had to come to his assistance.
"Where is she? What have you done with her?" I raved.
But he waited patiently until I stopped from exhaustion. I could see that he sympathized with me.
"Calm yourself, my boy," he said in the tone a mother uses to still a squalling infant. "There is no need of all this."
"Solonika! For God's sake, tell me, does she live?"
In my terrible frame of mind I know I should have leaped upon him and borne him to earth, had his news been bad.
"She is safe, as yet," he replied.
"Thank God," I cried, and became calmer.
"But the situation is serious," he continued, as if to drown my rising hope.
"How serious?"
"It threatens the foundation of the government. Nicholas is not firmly seated yet."
"But hurry, General, tell me what to expect for Solonika."
"Concerning her there is yet no decision. The Patriarch is firm in his demands. He has consented to imprisonment for life for the Red Fox, together with the confiscation of all his property in Bharbazonia."
"Yes."
"At Nicholas's request the Holy Father will permit you to leave the country unharmed, provided you promise never to return—"
"Tell him with my compliments that he need have no fear on that score," I interrupted.
"But he will not yield one hair's breadth concerning the woman."
"Death?"
"Death," he repeated solemnly, "in any manner the church elects. It may be by the stake, publicly, as was the fate of the Witch of Utrepect; or the slower and more painful death on the rack. I do not see how we can save her."
"Oh, my God, General, do not say that. I shall go mad. You must save her!" I cried in anguish.
"The King is fighting hard for you, Dr. Wharton—for you and your Solonika. He has surprised me at the concessions already won. You must appreciate this. The odds are great. Our Patriarch has been in communication with the Patriarch of all the Russias, the man who stands next to the Tzar. Nicholas had him wire this man, after sending his own representative in the Secret Order to state the case and plead for you. What little concessions he won came from this more enlightened Patriarch. But he, too, demands that the woman be given to the church she has wronged."
Solonika's fate seemed sealed. After our bitter fight upon the stairs, and all the heartburnings, she was lost.
"Tell Nick how much I thank him," I faltered.
"I will bear your message to the King," replied the General. "Acting under his instructions, I am here to ask you to be ready to leave at a moment's notice. Your steamer trunk and suit case at Castle Framkor have been packed, and are now aboard my yacht at Bizzett. In a few hours it will be dark. We can smuggle you out very easily without being seen."
"Why all this secrecy?" I asked, aghast at the thought of leaving Solonika to her fate.
"The peasantry will tear you limb from limb if they see you."
"The priests have that much hold over them?"
"Aye. Do not underrate the power of the Church. It is the one thing I fear."
"They are taking you away from her," was all I heard my heart say.
"Once safe on the yacht nothing can harm you. You will reach Naples and take passage to your home."
"Is that the best the King can offer?" I asked, my resolve taking form.
"Absolutely."
"Then this is my answer. Tell that King that I cannot live without Solonika. Tell him, though he banish me from Bharbazonia, I shall return when she is dead and betray myself to the populace. If the church must take her life they can have mine also. Tell him that I thank him for all he has done for me and that I do not hold him guilty for that wherein he has failed."
Palmora looked at me in amazement. "Was this man sane?" He shook his head sadly.
"I will tell him," he said.
"Furthermore, General, I give you fair warning I shall not leave this country willingly. If the King insists that I shall go, send your strongest men to the task."
"Is this woman then so much to you? Do you really mean to do what you say?" he asked.
"As sure as there is a God in heaven, I do."
"I cannot understand it," he murmured, as he departed to bear my threat to the King.
He left me alone with my bitter thoughts. Then my worst fears were realized. Solonika could not escape the outstretched hands of the Church. I fell upon the floor and wept bitterly.
But the General did not come back that day as he promised. Something may have happened to change his plans. I grasped at a straw. But I was doomed to disappointment. On the following day four stalwart Bharbazonians fell upon me suddenly as I lay asleep. They bound me securely hand and foot, placed a gag in my mouth, wrapped me in a blanket and carried me out like a log. Evidently the General had taken my advice.
They threw me none too gently into the bottom of the automobile, which was waiting with revolving engines at the Palace door. It must have been night, for I heard no sound of carts upon the road. I knew we crossed the wooden bridge that spanned the river and felt us ascend the hill on the other side. I was leaving Solonika behind in the city of Nischon.
Hour after hour we sped along the highway. At last we stopped before the gates of the fortress. My captors exchanged a few words with the guard and I heard the doors clang open. Oh, if only Nicholas had come to my aid at the tavern when I implored him to save Solonika! If I could have made him believe that I meant to risk my life to get her out of the country, how easily would the gates have swung back for us. How happy would I have been. But now—
We descended the Hill of Bizzett and thundered out on the wooden planking of the little pier where a few short weeks before we had landed full of care-free happiness. How great the change in such a short time!
They lifted me out of the car and carried me aboard the yacht. Down the companionway they lifted me and placed me on my back in one of the staterooms. Then I heard them go out and shut the door. Almost before they had time to leap ashore, I heard the grinding of the engines. The yacht was under way. The General's plans were working well. Against my will, I was leaving Bharbazonia behind. Solonika was abandoned to her fate. The vessel ground its way through the sea. Two hours later some one entered the room.
"I love a lassie, a bonnie hie-lan' lassie," sang Captain MacPherson in a hearty bass voice. He grated horribly upon my nerves.
"Weel, weel," he said, laughing till the cabin shook, "look at the lad. Is it a mummy I have for cargo?"
I had rolled the blanket from my face and lay there trying to tell him with my eyes to take the gag out of my mouth and release me. He took a huge knife from his pocket and cut my bonds. My hands and arms were numb and my tongue was so swollen that I could not speak.
"My eyes," said the Captain, looking at my blood-covered, disarrayed dress suit, "they've been showing him the country, and he's been singing 'I won't go home until morning.'"
I held out my hands in mute appeal and he understood. He rubbed me with alcohol and gave me brandy to drink. When I found my tongue I rewarded him by berating him soundly.
"Take me back to Bizzett this moment, you scoundrel," I cried.
The Captain was astonished.
"Listen to the ijit," he said. "Young fellow, you're cargo; and cargo don't gie orders. When ye land ye land at Naples."
I pleaded with him, but he laughed at me.
"Better take a bath and ye'll feel more like a mon," he said. "I know there be na bath tubs in that one horse country, but that is na excuse. They ha' water."
He drew the water in the tub for me and helped me into it. Then he got out his medicine chest and patched me up where I had been wounded. He opened my trunk and helped me dress.
"There, my lad," he observed after I was shaved and ready, "the best gal won't know ye now."
"May I go on deck?" I asked.
"Go anywhere ye please," he smiled. "Oh, I forgot. Here's a letter for ye. It came by our rural free delivery over the automobile route."
It was in Nick's familiar handwriting. I broke the seal eagerly. Perhaps there was news of Solonika.
"Dear Dale," it read, "I am sorry I cannot keep my promise to return with you, but, as you know, fate has otherwise ordained it. My place is here in Bharbazonia. My life work is cut out for me. How I shall work for the good of my people, you know full well. The time will come when it will be more like your own United States in prosperity and freedom of education.
"I have done the best I could for you. Forgive me for not coming to see you. If you ever are a king, you will know why I could not find time. Wishing you happiness in your new-found joy I am as ever,
"Your friend,"LASSIE."
Dear old Nick. I knew that his heart bled for me. I knew that he had long since conquered that bitter jealousy which had been our undoing. I sat down upon the bed and re-read the letter several times.
"I wish you happiness in your new-found joy." What could he mean by that? What happiness did the future hold for me? When the yacht touched Naples I would come back as surely as there was a sun in the sky. Happiness! The word had a mocking sound. Nick would not do that. Surely he would not make a jest of such a matter.
"Going on deck?" asked the Captain with a curious smile.
"Yes," I answered.
"All right," he replied, "but first ye must promise me not to spoil that brand new shirt by jumping overboard."
We went up the steps and came to the railing. There was nothing but the black night overhead and the deep-running sea beneath. In the east, over the darkening waters the first rosy flush of the coming day was beginning to appear. Twenty miles away were the high hills of Bharbazonia, their tops faintly visible. Behind those hills I pictured the long white highway, the ancient city of Nischon, the Palace of the King, and Solonika, my poor, doomed Solonika, lying forsaken in her dungeon.
The Captain was no longer at my elbow. He had softly crept away. I heard him chuckling as he went forward in the darkness. I walked moodily to the stern where the busy propeller was cutting the water into swirling eddies. I could not swim that distance. There was nothing left to do but watch the hated country fade from sight.
As I came to the end of the deck cabins a woman arose from her chair and threw herself into my arms.
"Dale," she cried, "Dale, my beloved!"
It was Solonika!