One Maid's Mischief Part 82

"Yes; they believe you dead, and so you are to them. Helen the Englishwoman is dead, and this a beautiful Malay--my wife."

"Dead?" she cried again, for his announcement came like a terrible shock.

"Yes; they found a boat down the river far below the station. They think you went with two of your lovers on the water, and that the boat filled and sank, to be washed up on a bank. It was well managed, and Helen and three of her friends or lovers are mourned as dead."

"Mr Harley is not imprisoned too?" cried Helen.

"No; he is not a lover," said the Sultan, smiling.

"Oh, Heaven help me!" muttered Helen.

"So you are dead to them," he said, quietly. "Helen Perowne, the beautiful English girl, is no more, and in her place lives the Malay princess I see before me now. Ah, Helen, no one would know you. It is only I who have the knowledge of the change. What is it to be--my honoured wife or slave?"

"It is horrible!" thought Helen, as now she realised more fully the extent of the iniquitous plot of which she had been made the victim. By Murad's words the hopes of succour she had nurtured had been swept one by one away, for she did not doubt him in the least, but felt her heart sink as she realised how helpless her position was, for his words seemed to carry truth with them, and she knew that she alone was to blame.

Then she started violently, and shrank back towards the wall, for he had taken a step or two towards her and stretched out his hands.

VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.

AT BAY.

The Rajah stopped when Helen shrank away, as if he did not wish to alarm her unduly.

"Why do you shrink from me?" he said, with a laugh. "You were not so timid when I talked with you after dinner, and you invited me with smiles to stay by your side. Did you think when you began to play with my love that it was of the same cold stuff as that of your poor, weak English wooers?"

Helen made no reply, but gazed at him watchfully, meaning to elude his grasp and run to the door should he approach her again.

"Your English wooers' hearts are like ice, and their love is cold; while that of a Malay, under his calm, quiet demeanour, glows like fire, and once kindled, is never more extinct. Do you hear me, Helen? Once you set it burning with the light of love, his heart flames until it ceases to beat. There, why be angry with me, and try to wither me with those cruel looks? I took you because you made me love you; and as you did make me love you, I shall never believe that you are anything but glad that I forced you to be my wife."

"Be your wife?" she cried, pa.s.sionately, in spite of her determination not to speak. "I would sooner die!"

"Yes," he replied with a contemptuous laugh, "that is what all women say. The girls who waited upon you said just the same. They told me they hated me, and ended by hanging upon my neck and calling me husband and their own. Tell me you hate me!" he cried, with his dark eyes seeming to flash; "tell me you will have me killed for what I have done--tell me you will never look upon my face again, and make those beautiful eyes dart anger at me. It makes me happier than I can tell you, for I know that the storm will pa.s.s away; and when the lightning of your eyes and their rain of tears have gone, the sunshine of your love will gladden my heart. Helen, I have waited for you--oh, so long!"

He took another step or two forward, and was about to catch her hand in his, but she avoided his touch and fled to the window.

"Come a step nearer to me," she panted, her face convulsed with dread, "and I will call for help."

"Nonsense!" he said, with a smile. "Why should you call? Is it for the birds to hear? The tigers will not awaken till 'tis night. Why should you weary yourself and hurt that sweet-tuned throat? Call for help?

Who would hear you call?"

"Your people!" she panted, as her dread increased. "They are here below!"

"Yes," he said, "they are here below and about the place, but they are deaf. You forget that I am not the poor Malay, looked down upon with disdain by your proud English friends, but Prince and Rajah. You would make my servants and my slaves hear, but not one would stir. You do not understand my power, Helen--the power of the man you scorned! Should one of my people dare to come here ere I summoned him, he would die!"

"It is not true!" cried Helen, with spirit. "Knowing who I am, they would come, and if I appealed to them, protect me."

Murad laughed a contemptuous, cynical laugh.

"You forget where you are," he said. "This is one of my homes, and this is my land. I am poor Rajah Murad whom you look upon with contempt at Sindang station; but here I am the people's Lord. Who dare contradict me or disobey commands? No one. For the life or death of my people rests with me. So you may leave that window and accept your lot."

Helen did not move.

"There, put away all that silly woman's play!" he cried. "I tell you it is like my foolish native girls behave. You are an English lady, and should be wiser. Come, let us be friends at once, and I will become more English for your sake. You will forgive me for bringing you away; it was the love I bore you made me act as I did. You will forgive me, will you not? Have I not had you made ten times more beautiful than you were before?"

He made a feint, and then a couple of quick strides towards her, and this time caught her by the wrist; but in her dread and horror she wrenched it away, and struck him sharply across the face as she would have struck at some noxious beast; and as he started back in surprise, she bounded to the door, and tried to wrench it open.

Murad's love appeared to turn in a moment to furious hate; his eyes darkened and seemed to emit a lurid light; his teeth appeared between his lips, which were drawn apart like those of some wild beast, and the man's savage nature blazed out in a moment under the affront. In an instant his hand sought the hilt of his kris, and tearing the weapon from its sheath, he pursued his prisoner as she fled from him shrieking round the room.

Helen fled from him but for a few moments, and then she stopped short and faced him, offering herself to his blow.

This brave act disarmed him, checking his rage, which seemed to have flashed out, and his English education began to tell. Muttering impatiently, he thrust the kris back into its sheath, and uttered a forced laugh.

"Foolish girl!" he cried, "why did you strike me? It is folly! It makes me angry. A Malay never forgives a blow; but you have made me English, and I forgive you because--because you make me fond. But it was wild and foolish. I give you my love, you play with me and strike me a blow. A woman should not strike the man she loves."

Helen did not reply, but rushed to and tore furiously at the door.

"Why do you tire yourself?" he cried, with a contemptuous laugh. "What good can you do? I tell you once again my people dare not stir to help you, even if you wished; and I know enough of woman's nature to tell that, from such a finished coquette as you have always been, this is but a false show of dread."

Helen's despair grew deeper as she listened to the Rajah's words, and reading her thoughts aright, he went on calmly enough:

"I do not mind. You know I love you, and at heart I believe you love me. But what matter if you do not? You will when you are my wife. You will be quite contented here, and very soon forget your own people and their ways. It will be a change for an English beauty to become a Malay princess, and you shall even have a new name. Still angry? There, pray calm down. It is because I had you fetched so suddenly away; for I know you, Helen. You are not weeping for any other lover. Out of so many you could care for none more than for me."

Still Helen did not reply, but stood at bay, her eyes dilated, and backing from him whenever he made as if to approach her, till, with a scornful laugh, he gave up the pursuit and threw himself carelessly upon one of the divans.

"Why should I weary myself by running after you?" he said, with a mocking laugh. "That is all past, and you must plead to me. Foolish girl, how could you return even if you wished! They think you dead, and who would know Helen Perowne in you?"

She started a little here, and he noted it and smiled.

"I have waited and can wait still, for I know that as soon as this fit is over you will creep to my feet like any other slave I have. I know what you are thinking--that you will escape."

"And mark my words, I shall!" cried Helen, impetuously.

"Don't try it," he said, smiling. "Don't try it, for your own sake as well as mine. It sounds cruel, but it is a custom of this country to spear a slave who is seen to run away; and if my people fail to take you, and I do not think they would, the tigers would prove less merciful. You must have heard them when the night has come; they roam about this place, and the more I kill them the more they seem to come.

"What!" he said, laughing, "you would rather trust to the tender mercies of the beasts than trust to me! I read it in your scornful eyes, but that is not true, or a time back you would not have looked tenderly in mine and sighed and pressed my hand at parting."

He laughed aloud as he saw her shrink and cower away in her abas.e.m.e.nt for very shame. She was reaping now the fruits of her career of folly; and if ever woman bitterly repented her weakness and the trifling of which she had been guilty in her love of admiration, that woman was Helen Perowne, as she stood there shamefaced and crushed as it were by the thoughts of the past.

"That is right," he said, quietly. "You are thinking of the past. But never mind; that is all gone now. It was English Helen who was so weak; it is Malay Helen who will become strong. My people have done well, and how it becomes you! Your friends would never know you now."

What should she do?

Helen's hands closed, and her fingers were tightly enlaced as she tried to find a way out of her difficulties. She knew that threats would be in vain, and supplication to him to set her free like so many wasted words. There was no way out but by gaining the mastery over her enemy once more. Her enemy! But he must be treated like a friend. Only a few brief months back, and this man, at whose mercy she now was, seemed the veriest slave. Well, why not once again? she asked herself. She was as young and beautiful as ever they said. He loved her--he must love her--and why should she not sway him by this love? It was her only hope, and she grasped at it to try.

"Well," he said, smiling mockingly, "will you not find a place here by my side?"

She was silent for a few moments, and then, making an effort: