The Tangled Skein Part 24

PART III

A GAME OF CHESS

CHAPTER XIX

THE p.a.w.nS

The evening banquet had been anything but gay.

The Queen, as was oft her wont, had hardly said a word. The Cardinal de Moreno looked thoughtful and His Grace of Wess.e.x was singularly silent.

Directly after supper Her Majesty retired to her own apartments, accompanied by her ladies, leaving behind her that desultory atmosphere of dull and purposeless conversation, which hangs round a supper table in the absence of the fair s.e.x.

The brilliant a.s.sembly broke up into small groups. The Earl of Pembroke and two or three other lords were leaving for Scotland towards midnight; their friends gathered round them to bid them G.o.d-speed. In the deep embrasure of the great bay His Grace of Wess.e.x was in earnest conference with Lord Winchester and Sir William Drury, whilst at one end of the long centre table half a dozen young gallants were idling over a game of hazard.

But there was a feeling of obsession in the air--a sense as if something momentous was about to happen. Whispered rumours, more or less conflicting, were afloat, yet nothing definite was known. On the other hand, idle, far-stretched gossip was rife and was even growing in extravagance as the evening wore on.

No one had been present on the terrace to witness the little incident which occurred there earlier in the afternoon save the three distinguished actors in the brief comedy scene. Obviously from them nothing could be gleaned. The Queen and the Cardinal would not be like to enlighten the curious, whilst the Duke of Wess.e.x, at all times reserved and unapproachable, could not be asked to give his version of the event.

The foreign envoys had very soon followed the example set by Her Majesty and withdrawn from the circle, which seemed more hostile to them than usual to-night. The Cardinal de Moreno and the Marquis de Suarez were the first to go. They occupied the magnificent suite of chambers wherein ill-fated Wolsey had lived, schemed, and fallen. The more sumptuous series of rooms beyond--those built with lavish extravagance by King Henry VIII for his own personal use--had been placed at the disposal of His Grace of Wess.e.x and his numerous retinue.

Between the Duke's apartments and those allotted to the envoys of the King of Spain was the fine audience chamber, used by the Queen herself or by her more distinguished guests for the reception of important visitors. It was here that Lord Everingham, anxious, perturbed, vaguely ashamed of his own actions, had sought out the Cardinal de Moreno after the banquet and begged for an interview.

His Eminence, suave, urbane, a veritable mirror of benevolence, had received him with a smile of welcome on his lips and a wealth of kindly reproach in his eyes.

"Ah, my lord!" he said to the young man, as soon as the servants had withdrawn, "Nature, I fear me, hath not intended you for a diplomatist."

"How so?"

"This interview to-night, with me--was it necessary?"

"I could not rest," said Everingham impulsively, "until----"

"Until you had proclaimed it to the entire Court in general, and to His Grace of Wess.e.x in particular, that you had a secret understanding with his political rival, the Spanish amba.s.sador," rejoined His Eminence drily.

"An interview . . ."

"Have you ever honoured me thus before, my lord?--you or any of your friends?"

"No . . . perhaps not . . . I only requested a brief _tete-a-tete_.

"And had I refused that dangerous _tete-a-tete_, what would you have done?"

"Demanded it," replied Everingham hotly. "I must know what has happened, and what you intend to do."

His Eminence threw a quick look at the young man, a look half of pity, half of contempt. For a moment it seemed as if an angry retort hovered upon his lips. But he merely shrugged his shoulders and said blandly--

"You are very expert at the game of chess, my lord, so they tell me."

"I have played it a great many times," rejoined Everingham, a little astonished at the sudden transition.

"Ah! and have become very proficient, I understand. Will you honour me by playing a game with me?"

"Now?"

"Why not?"

"The lateness of the hour . . . I start for Scotland almost directly."

"Yet in spite of these difficulties you sought a casual interview with an avowed political enemy."

"No one need know . . ." stammered the young man, slightly abashed.

"Every one inside this Palace knows by now that my lord of Everingham, the intimate friend at His Grace of Wess.e.x, is closeted alone with the envoy of His Majesty the King of Spain," rejoined His Eminence with slow emphasis. "Believe me, my lord, a game of chess is the wisest course."

"Will you tell me first . . ."

"I can tell your lordship nothing, except across the chess board."

"Well! . . . since you wish it . . ."

"My wishes have naught to do with this matter. I was following the most elementary dictates of prudence."

He touched the handbell and rang. A liveried servant appeared.

"Had I not told thee, sirrah," said His Eminence, "that my lord Everingham had kindly consented to give me my _revanche_ at chess ere he departed? How is it that the board has not been prepared?"

"I crave Your Eminence's most humble pardon," protested the man in confusion. "I had not understood . . ."

"Not understood?" laughed the Cardinal good-naturedly. "Marry! the knave doth impugn my knowledge of the English tongue."

"I would not presume, Your Eminence . . ."

"Tush, man! hold thy tongue and repair thy negligence. Where's the board? His lordship hath but an hour to spare."

Everingham watched with ill-concealed impatience the elaborate preparations made for the game. He thought it quite unnecessary, and had he dared he would have refused to join in the senseless deception. But in this matter he had ceased to trust his own judgment, and, much against his will, was allowing the Cardinal to take the lead. He felt out of his own intellectual depths in this slough of intrigue wherein he had so impulsively ventured, and out of which he now felt incapable of extricating himself.

Simple-minded and loyal to the core, he had a horror of any treachery against his friend. No other consideration would ever have prompted him to join in an underhand scheme with the Spanish Cardinal, save his own earnest faith in the ultimate good which would accrue therefrom, both to the country at large and to Wess.e.x himself. With his whole heart and soul he believed that, at this moment, the Duke's marriage with Lady Ursula Glynde would be nothing short of a national calamity.

Reluctantly, he sat down to the board at last. His Eminence, opposite to him, was shading his face with his delicate white hand, and at first seemed absorbed in the intricacies of the game. Two servitors were still busy about the room. One of them asked if His Eminence would desire more light.

But the Cardinal preferred the fitful flicker of a few wax tapers. He liked the fantastic shadows which left the greater part of the vast chamber in gloom. Lord Everingham was a noted and very proficient player; His Eminence was enjoying the game thoroughly.