Prisoners of Chance

He stroked his moustache, gazing at me in apparent surprise.

"Nay, friend Benteen; you must be the very soul of innocence to make such hasty guess. I rested beneath the same roof with her, so I was informed, yet she who spake thus regarding the plight of the Puritan chanced to be the fair Queen, Naladi."

"Naladi? But you speak no Spanish,--how could you hold converse with her?"

"There are always ways, if the lady be fair. The hands, eyes, lips can all be made into messengers of speech. But in this case she brought forth a black boy--a most mischievous imp--who managed to convey her words in my own tongue. Still it was difficult to do justice in such a way to so charming a woman; much came to my lips which I hesitated to utter through the medium of that interpreter."

I looked at him in speechless amazement at this revelation of his supreme conceit, his reckless vanity. Anxiety alone prompted me to smother my resentment, hoping thus to obtain information.

"But your wife, Madame de Noyan? You say she was beneath the same roof, and yet you saw her not? Do you mean you made no effort to obtain speech with her?"

He leaned back against the wall of the hut, crossing his long limbs negligently over the soft fur of the robe beneath, drawing from his pocket a small mirror.

"Ay, I mentioned it; but la reine Naladi appeared not overly well pleased with the suggestion, so I concluded not to press the matter unduly. One never gains by being ungallant at such a time. Besides, there is no doubt Eloise is well attended; the Queen referred to her most kindly."

"The preacher told me," I broke forth indignantly, determined to test him to the full, "that this same sweet Naladi compelled her savage minions to drag Madame harshly forth from the altar-house, despite her pleadings. Perchance this tender-spoken Queen has little of the angel beneath her fairness of skin."

"Sacre! I hope not. I opine an angel would prove wearisome to company with for long. My own taste inclines toward flesh and blood. You say Master Cairnes told you this sad tale?"

"Ay, adding that the pitiful Naladi only laughed at the sobs of Madame."

"Pish! between the two, her word has most weight with me. No doubt 'twas a vision born of his own temper. The Queen assured me most graciously of the welfare and contentment of Eloise. It would have been boorish to question her further. Besides, she took my thought from other things, repeating to me the strange tale of these savages, although the black made poor enough work with her words."