The King Of The Mountains Part 8

"I asked him for his money; he insisted that he had none. I shut him up in a sack with his cat; and I do not know what the cat did, but he began to cry out that his treasure was behind the house, under a huge stone."

"Thou wert wrong. The padre will incite all the village against us."

"Oh! no! In leaving him, I forgot to open the sack, and the cat ought to have fixed him by this time."

"All in good time:----But listen to me well, all of you: I do not wish anyone to trouble our neighbors. Thou mayst retire."

Our examination now began. Hadgi-Stavros, instead of having us come to him, gravely rose, came and seated himself on the ground in front of us.

This mark of deference to us seemed a favorable augury. Mrs. Simons prepared to question him herself. As for me, perceiving too well what she was capable of saying, and knowing the intemperance of her tongue, I offered my services to the King, as interpreter. He thanked me coldly, and called the Corfuan, who knew English.

"Madame," the King said to Mrs. Simons, "you seem to be in great anger.

Have you any complaints to make of the men who brought you here?"

"It is a horror!" she cried. "Your rascals have arrested, dragged me through the dirt, despoiled me, worn me out, and starved me."

"Will you accept my excuses? I am forced to employ men without education. Believe me, my dear Madame, it is not by my orders they have acted thus. You are English?"

"An Englishwoman from London."

"I have been to London; I know and esteem the English. I know that they have good appet.i.tes, and you noticed that I was moved to offer you refreshments. I know that ladies of your country do not like to run over rocks, and I regret that you were not allowed to walk your own gait. I know that people of your nation carry, while traveling, only such things as are necessary, and I have not yet pardoned Sophocles for having robbed you, above all, if you are a person of distinction."

"I belong to the best society of London!"

"Deign to take back your money. You are rich?"

"a.s.suredly."

"This traveling-case is yours, is it not?"

"It is my daughter's."

"Take, also, all that belongs to your daughter. You are very rich?"

"Very rich."

"Do these things belong to Monsieur, your son?"

"Monsieur is not my son; he is a German. Since I am English how could I have a German son?"

"That is true. Have you twenty thousand francs income?"

"More."

"A carpet for these ladies! Are you rich enough to have thirty thousand francs income?"

"We have more than that."

"Sophocles is a villain whom I shall chastise. Logothete, tell them to prepare dinner for these ladies. May it be possible, Madame, that you are a millionaire?"

"I am that."

"And I--I am annoyed at the way in which you have been treated. You have, without doubt, fine friends in Athens?"

"I know the English Minister."

"Oh! Madame! You also know some merchants, some bankers?"

"My brother, who is at Athens, knows many bankers in the city."

"I am delighted. Sophocles, come here. Ask pardon of these ladies."

Sophocles muttered some words between his teeth, I know not what excuses. The King replied:

"These ladies are Englishwomen of distinction; they are worth a million or more; they have been received by the English Amba.s.sador; their brother, who is in Athens, knows all the bankers in the city."

"That is right!" cried Mrs. Simons. The King continued:

"Thou shouldst have treated these ladies with all the regard due their fortune."

"Good!" Mrs. Simons cried.

"Have conducted them here carefully."

"For what purpose?" murmured Mary-Ann.

"And abstained from touching their baggage. When one has the honor of meeting, in the mountains, two persons of the rank of these ladies, one should salute them with respect, one should bring them to the camp with deference, one should guard them circ.u.mspectly, and one should offer them politely every necessary thing in life, until their brother or their amba.s.sador sends us a ransom of a hundred thousand francs."

Poor Mrs. Simons! dear Mary-Ann! Neither expected this termination. As for me, I was not surprised. I knew with what a crafty knave we had to do. I took up the word, and I said to him fiercely: "Thou canst keep what thy men have taken from me, because it is all that thou wilt get from me. I am poor, my father has nothing, my brothers often eat dry bread. I know neither bankers nor amba.s.sadors, and if thou keepest me with the hope of a ransom, thou wilt reap no reward. I swear it to thee!"

A murmur of incredulity was heard, but the King appeared to believe me.

"If that is true," he said to me, "I will not keep you. I will send you back to the city. Madame will give you a letter for Monsieur, her brother, and you may even leave to-day. If, however, you need to remain a day or two in the mountains, I will offer my hospitality to you; because I suppose that you have not come as far as this, with this large box, in order to look over the country."

This little speech gave me a profound feeling of relief. I looked around with satisfaction. The King, his secretaries, and his soldiers seemed less terrible; the surrounding rocks more picturesque, since I viewed them with the eye of a guest and not as a prisoner. The desire I had experienced to see Athens suddenly subsided, and I decided to pa.s.s two or three days in the mountains. I felt that my counsels would not be useless to Mary-Ann's mother. The good woman was in a state of excitement which might urge her to do something rash. If, perchance, she determined to refuse to pay the ransom! Before England could come to her aid, she would have ample time to draw dire calamity upon her charming head. I must not leave her until I had an opportunity to relate the history of Mistra's little daughters. Shall I say more? You know my pa.s.sion for botany. The flora of Parna.s.sus is very enticing at the end of April. One can find in the mountains five or six plants as rare as they are celebrated. One especially: Boryana variabilis, discovered and named by M. Bory de Saint-Vincent. Should I leave such a lacuna and present my herbarium to the Museum of Hamburg, without the boryana variabilis?

I replied to the King: "I accept thy hospitality, but on one condition."

"What is it?"

"That thou wilt return my box."

"Oh well! so be it: and the condition?"

"That is it."

"Will you tell me of what use it is to you?"

"To hold the plants which I pick."