Adventure stories; Spain -- History -- Ferdinand and Isabella, 1479-1516 -- Fiction
So they witnessed in a great hurry, and left the room. Betty left with
them, holding the paper in her hand, and when she reached the large
hall where the household were gathered waiting to greet their lord, she
commanded one of the secretaries to read it out to all of them, also to
translate it into the Moorish tongue that every one might understand.
Then she hid it away with the marriage lines, and, seating herself in
the midst of the household, ordered them to prepare to receive the most
noble marquis.
They had not long to wait, for presently he came out of the room like a
bull into the arena, whereon Betty rose and curtseyed to him, and at
her word all his servants bowed themselves down in the Eastern fashion.
For a moment he paused, again like the bull when he sees the picadors
and is about to charge. Then he thought better of it, and, with a
muttered curse, strode past them.
Ten minutes later, for the third time within twenty-four hours, horses
galloped from the palace and through the Seville gate.
“Friends,” said Betty in her awkward Spanish, when she knew that he had
gone, “a sad thing has happened to my husband, the marquis. The woman
Inez, whom it seems he trusted very much, has departed, stealing a
treasure that he valued above everything on earth, and so I, his
new-made wife, am left desolate while he tries to find her.”
CHAPTER XX.
ISABELLA OF SPAIN.
On the afternoon following his first visit, Castell’s agent, Bernaldez,
arrived again at the prison of the Hermandad at Seville accompanied by
a tailor, a woman, and a chest full of clothes. The governor ordered
these two persons to wait while the garments were searched under his
own eye, but Bernaldez he permitted to be led at once to the prisoners.
As soon as he was with them he said:
“Your marquis has been married fast enough.”
“How do you know that?” asked Castell.
“From the woman Inez, who arrived with the priest last night, and gave
me the certificates of his union with Betty Dene signed by himself. I
have not brought them with me lest I should be searched, when they
might have been taken away; but Inez has come disguised as a
sempstress, so show no surprise when you see her, if she is admitted.
Perhaps she will be able to tell the Dona Margaret something of what
passed if she is allowed to fit her robes alone. After that she must
lie hidden for fear of the vengeance of Morella; but I shall know where
to put my hand upon her if she is wanted. You will all of you be
brought before the queen to-morrow, and then I, who shall be there,
will produce the writings.” Scarcely were the words out of his mouth
when the governor appeared, and with him the tailor and Inez, who
curtseyed and glanced at Margaret out of the corners of her soft eyes,
looking at them all as though with curiosity, like one who had never
seen or heard of them before.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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