Frenchman's Creek

A quarter to midnight, ten minutes, five minutes to midnight, and there was young Tremayne discussing cock-fighting with Penrose of Tregonny, and a man from Bodmin whose name she had not heard was digging Rockingham in the ribs, whispering some bawdy story behind his hand, and Carnethick was leering at her across the table, and Philip Rashleigh was picking off grapes with a wrinkled hairy hand, and Harry, half lolling in his chair, was singing a song to himself that had no tune, one hand caressing his glass, and the other fondling the spaniel on his lap. But suddenly, Eustick, glancing at the clock, leapt to his feet and called in a voice of thunder, "Gentlemen, we have wasted time enough. Have you all forgotten we have met tonight on very desperate business?"

There was silence at once. Tremayne looked down at his plate, blushing, and Carnethick wiped his mouth with a lace handkerchief, gazing straight in front of him. Someone coughed awkwardly, someone shuffled with his feet under the table, and only Harry continued smiling, humming his tuneless drunken song, and out in the courtyard the stable clock struck midnight. Eustick looked meaningly at his hostess. Dona rose to her feet at once, and "You wish me to go?" she said.

"Nonsense," called Harry, opening one eye, "let my wife stay at her own table, damme. The party will fall flat without her, parties always do. Here's your health, my beautiful, even if you do permit servants in and out of your bedroom."

"Harry, the time for jesting is over," said Godolphin, and turning to Dona, "We could talk more freely if you were not here. As Eustick has just observed, we have all become a little forgetful of our purpose."

"But of course I understand," said Dona, "I would not dream of hindering you in any way," and as they all stood to let her pass, the great bell jangled in the court outside.

"Who the devil's that?" yawned Harry. "Someone two-and-a-half hours late for supper? Let's open another bottle of wine."

"We are all here," said Eustick, "we expect none other. What about you, Godolphin?"

"No, I have warned no one else," frowned Godolphin. "The meeting was a secret one in any case."

Once again the bell jangled. "Go and open the door, someone," shouted Harry. "Where the deuce are all the servants?"

The dog jumped from his knees, and ran barking to the door.

"Thomas, one of you, what are you doing?" called Harry, over his shoulder, and Rockingham, rising, went to the door at the back of the hall that led to the kitchens, and flung it open. "Hullo, there," he cried, "are you all asleep?" but no answer came to him, and the passage was dark and silent.

"Someone has blown the candles," he said. "It's as black as pitch here in the passage. Hullo, there, Thomas."

"What orders did you give your servants, Harry?" said Godolphin, pushing back his chair. "Did you tell them to go to bed?"

"To bed, no," answered Harry, rising unsteadily, "the fellows are waiting in the kitchens somewhere. Give 'em another call, Rock, can't you?"

"I tell you there's no answer," said Rockingham, "and there's not a light anywhere. The kitchen itself yonder is as black as a pit."

The bell jangled for the third time, and Eustick, with an oath, strode towards the door, and began to draw back the bolts.

"It must be one of our people come to report," said Rashleigh, "one of the men we have posted in the woods. Someone has given us away, and the fight's begun."

The door swung open, and Eustick stood on the threshold, calling into the darkness, "Who asks for Navron House?"

"Jean-Benoit Aubery, at the service of all you gentlemen," came the answer, and into the hall walked the Frenchman, a sword in his hand, and a smile on his lips. "Don't move, Eustick," he said, "and the rest of you, stay where you are. I have you covered, all of you. The first man who moves will have a bullet through his brains."

And Dona, looking up the staircase to the gallery above, saw Pierre Blanc with a pistol in his hands, and Edmond Vacquier beside him, while at the door leading to the kitchen stood William, white and inscrutable, one arm hanging useless by his side, the other with a naked cutlass pointing at Rockingham's throat.

"I pray you be seated, gentlemen," said the Frenchman, "and I will not keep you long. As for her ladyship, she may please herself, but first she must give me the rubies she wears in her ears, for I have had a wager about them with my cabin-boy."

And he stood before her, bowing, playing with his sword, while twelve men stared at him in hatred and in fear.

CHAPTER XIX

They might have all been dead men, frozen in their seats at the table. No one spoke a word, but every man watched the Frenchman as he stood there smiling, his hand outstretched for the jewels.