Across the Zodiac (39 page)

"Nevertheless, you have not shown excessive respect for my power in
the person of one of my greatest officers. If you treated the princes
of Earth as unceremoniously as the Regent of Elcavoo, I can understand
that you found it convenient to place yourself beyond their reach."

I thought that this speech afforded me an opportunity of repairing my
offence with the least possible loss of dignity.

"The proudest of Earthly princes," I replied, "would, I think, have
pardoned the roughness which forgot the duty of a subject in the first
obligations of humanity. No Sovereign whom I have served, but would
have forgiven me more readily for rough words spoken at such a moment,
than for any delay or slackness in saving the life of a woman in
danger under his own eyes. Permit me to take this opportunity of
apologizing to the Regent in your presence, and assuring him that I
was influenced by no disrespect to him, but only by overpowering
terror for another."

"The lives of a dozen women," said the Camptâ, still with that covert
irony or sarcasm in his tone, "would seem of less moment than threats
and actual violence offered to the ruler of our largest and wealthiest
dominion. The excuse which Endo Zamptâ must accept" (with a slight but
perceptible emphasis on the imperative) "is the utter difference
between our laws and ideas and your own."

The Regent, at this speech from his Sovereign, rose and made the usual
gesture of assent, inclining his head and lifting his left hand to his
mouth. But the look on his face as he turned it on me, thus partly
concealing it from the camptâ, boded no good should I ever fall into
his power. The Prince then desired me to give an account of the
motives which had induced my voyage and the adventures I had
encountered. In reply, I gave him, as briefly and clearly as I could,
a summary of all that is recorded in the earlier part of this
narrative, carefully forbearing to afford any explanation of the
manner in which the apergic force was generated. This omission the
Prince noticed at once with remarkable quickness.

"You do not choose," he said, "to tell us your secret, and of course
it is your property. Hereafter, however, I shall hope to purchase it
from you."

"Prince," I answered, "if one of your subjects-found himself in the
power of a race capable of conquering this world and destroying its
inhabitants, would you forgive him if he furnished them with the means
of reaching you?"

"I think," he replied, "my forgiveness would be of little consequence
in that case. But go on with your story."

I finished my narration among looks of surprise and incredulity from
no inconsiderable part of the audience, which, however, I noticed the
less because the Prince himself listened with profound interest;
putting in now and then a question which indicated his perfect
comprehension of my account, of the conditions of such a journey and
of the means I had employed to meet them.

"Before you were admitted," he said, "Endo Zamptâ had read to us his
report upon your vessel and her machinery, an account which in every
respect consists with and supports the truth of your relation. Indeed,
were your story untrue, you have run a greater risk in telling it here
than in the most daring adventure I have ever known or imagined. The
Court is dismissed. Reclamomortâ will please me by remaining with me
for the present."

When the assembly dispersed, I followed their Autocrat at his desire
into his private apartments, where, resting among a pile of cushions
and motioning me to take a place in immediate proximity to himself, he
continued the conversation in a tone and manner so exactly the same as
that he had employed in public as to show that the latter was not
assumed for purposes of monarchical stage-play, but was the natural
expression of his own character as developed under the influence of
unlimited and uncontradicted power. He only exchanged, for unaffected
interest and implied confidence, the tone of ironical doubt by which
he had rendered it out of the question for his courtiers to charge him
with a belief in that which public opinion might pronounce impossible,
while making it apparent to me that he regarded the bigotry of
scepticism with scarcely veiled contempt.

"I wish," he said, "I had half-a-dozen subjects capable of imagining
such an enterprise and hardy enough to undertake it. But though we all
profess to consider knowledge, and especially scientific knowledge,
the one object for which it is worth while to live, none of us would
risk his life in such an adventure for all the rewards that science
and fame could give."

"I think, Prince," I replied, "that I am in presence of one inhabitant
of this planet who would have dared at least as much as I have done."

"Possibly," he said. "Because, weary as most of us profess to be of
existence, the weariest life in this world is that of him who rules
it; living for ever under the silent criticism which he cannot answer,
and bound to devote his time and thoughts to the welfare of a race
whose utter extermination would be, on their own showing, the greatest
boon he could confer upon them. Certainly I would rather be the
discoverer of a world than its Sovereign."

He asked me numerous questions about the Earth, the races that inhabit
it, their several systems of government, and their relations to one
another; manifesting a keener interest, I thought, in the great wars
which ended while I was yet a youth, than in any other subject. At
last he permitted me to take leave. "You are," he said, "the most
welcome guest I ever have or could have received; a guest
distinguished above all others by a power independent of my own. But
what honour I can pay to courage and enterprise, what welcome I can
give such a guest, shall not be unworthy of him or of myself. Retire
now to the home you will find prepared for you. I will only ask you to
remember that I have chosen one near my own in order that I may see
you often, and learn in private all that you can tell me."

At the entrance of the apartment I was met by the officer who had
introduced me into the presence, and conducted at once to a door
opening on the interior court or peristyle of the central portion of
the Palace. This was itself a garden, but, unlike those of private
houses, a garden open to the sky and traversed by roads in lieu of
mere paths; not serving, as in private dwellings, the purposes of a
common living room. Here a carriage awaited us, and my escort
requested me to mount. I had some misgivings on Eveena's account, but
felt it necessary to imitate the reserve and affected indifference on
such subjects of those among whom I had been thrown, at least until I
somewhat better understood their ways, and had established my own
position. Traversing a vaulted passage underneath the rearward portion
of the Palace, we emerged into the outer garden, and through this into
a road lighted with a brilliancy almost equal to that of day. Our
journey occupied nearly half an hour, when we entered an enclosure
apparently of great size, the avenue of which was so wide that,
without dismounting, our carriage passed directly up to the door of a
larger house than I had yet seen.

"This," said my escort, as we dismounted, "is the residence assigned
to you by the Camptâ. Besides the grounds here enclosed, he has
awarded you, by a deed which will presently be placed in your hands,
an estate of some ten
stoltau
, which you can inspect at your
leisure, and which will afford you a revenue as large as is enjoyed by
any save by the twelve Regents. He has endeavoured to add to this
testimony of his regard by rendering your household as complete as
wealth and forethought could make it. What may be wanting to your own
tastes and habits you will find no difficulty in adding."

We now entered that first and principal chamber of the mansion wherein
it is customary to receive all visitors and transact all business. The
hall was one of unusual size and magnificence. Here, at a table not
far from the entrance, stood another official, not wearing the uniform
of the Court, with several documents in his hand. As he turned to
salute me, his face wore an expression of annoyance and discomfiture
which not a little surprised me, till, by following his sidelong,
uncomfortable glances, I perceived a veiled feminine figure, which
could be no other than Eveena's. Misreading my surprise, the official
said—

"It is no fault of mine, and I have not spoken except to remonstrate,
as far as might be allowed, against so unusual a proceeding."

He must have been astonished and annoyed indeed to take such notice of
a stranger's wife; and, above all, to take upon himself to comment on
her conduct for good or ill. I thought it best to make no reply, and
simply saluted him in form as I received the first paper handed to me,
to which, by the absence of any blank space, I perceived that my
signature was not required. This was indeed the document which
bestowed on me the house and estate presented by the Sovereign. The
next paper handed to me appeared to resemble the marriage-contract I
had already signed, save that but one blank was left therein. Unable
to decipher it, I was about to ask the official to read it aloud, when
Eveena, who had stolen up to me unperceived, caught my arm and drew me
a little way aside, indifferent to the wondering glances of the
officials; who had probably never seen a woman venture uncalled into
the public apartments of her husband's house, still less interpose in
any matter of business, and no doubt thought that she was taking
outrageous advantage of my ignorance and inexperience.

"I will scold you presently, child," I said quickly and low. "What is
it?"

"Sign at once," she whispered, "and ask no questions. Deal with me as
you will afterwards. You must take what is given you now, without
comment or objection, simply expressing your thanks."

"
Must
! Eveena?"

"It is not safe to refuse or slight gifts from such a quarter," she
answered, in the same low tone. "Trust me so far; please do what I
entreat of you now. I must bear your displeasure if I fail to satisfy
you when we are alone."

Her manner was so agitated and so anxious that it recalled to me at
once the advice of Esmo upon the same point, though the fears which
had prompted so strange an intervention were wholly incomprehensible
to me. I knew her, however, by this time too well to refuse the trust
she now for the first time claimed, and taking the documents one by
one as if I had perfectly understood them, I wrote my name in the
space left blank for it, and allowed the official to stamp the slips
without a word. I then expressed briefly but earnestly my thanks both
to the Autocrat and to the officials who had been the agents of his
kindness. They retired, and I looked round for Eveena; but as soon as
she saw that I was about to comply with her request, she had quitted
the room. Alone in my own house, knowing nothing of its geography,
having no notion how to summon the brute domestics—if, indeed, the
dwelling were furnished with those useful creatures, without whom a
Martial household would be signally incomplete—I could only look for
the spring that opened the principal door. This should lead into the
gallery which, as I judged, must divide the hall and the front
apartments from those looking into the peristyle. Having found and
pressed this spring, the door opened on a gallery longer, wider, and
more elaborately ornamented than that of the only Martial mansions
into which I had been hitherto admitted. Looking round in no little
perplexity, I observed a niche in which stood a statue of white
relieved by a scarlet background; and beside this statue, crouching
and half hidden, a slight pink object, looking at first like a bundle
of drapery, but which in a moment sprang up, and, catching my hand,
made me aware that Eveena had been waiting for me.

"I beg you," she said with an earnestness I could not understand, "I
beg you to come
this
way," leading me to the right, for I had turned
instinctively to the left in entering the gallery, perhaps because my
room in Esmo's house had lain in that direction. Reaching the end of
the gallery, she turned into one of the inner apartments; and as the
door closed behind us, I felt that she was sinking to the ground, as
if the agitation she had manifested in the hall, controlled till her
object was accomplished, had now overpowered her. I caught and carried
her to the usual pile of cushions in the corner. The room, according
to universal custom in Martial houses after sunset, was brilliantly
lighted by the electric lamp in the peristyle, and throwing back her
veil, I saw that she was pale to ghastliness and almost fainting. In
my ignorance of my own house, I could call for no help, and employ no
other restoratives than fond words and caresses. Under this treatment,
nevertheless, she recovered perhaps as quickly as under any which the
faculty might have prescribed. She was, still, however, much more
distressed than mere consciousness of the grave solecism she had
committed could explain. But I had no other clue to her trouble, and
could only hope that in repudiating this she would explain its real
cause.

"Come, bambina!" I expostulated, "we understand one another too well
by this time for you to wrong me by all this alarm. I know that you
would not have broken through the customs of your people without good
reason; and you know that, even if your reason were not sufficient, I
should not be hard upon the error."

"I am sure you would not," she said. "But this time you have to
consider others, and you cannot let it be supposed that you do not
know a wife's duty, or will allow your authority to be set at naught
in your own household."

"What matter? Do you suppose I listen in the roads?"
(care for
gossip)
, I rejoined. "Household rule is a matter of the veil, and no
one—not even your autocratic Prince—will venture to lift it."