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neglected prince who wondered over the frequent absences of his chief
counselor and secretly set spies upon him. Eglamore here will attest as much.
Or if you cannot believe poor
Eglamore any longer, I shall have other witnesses within the halfhour. Oh,
yes, they are to meet me here at noonsome twenty crophaired stalwart
cutthroats. They will come riding upon beautiful broadchested horses
covered with red velvet trappings that are hung with little silver bells
which jingle delightfully. They will come very soon, and then we will ride
back to court."
Duke Alessandro touched his big painted mouth with his forefinger as if in
fantastic mimicry of a man imparting a confidence.
"I think that I shall take you with me, Graciosa, for you are very
beautiful. You are as slim as a lily and more white, and your eyes are two
purple mirrors in each of which I see a tiny image of Duke Alessandro. The
woman I loved yesterday was a big splendid wench with cheeks like apples.
It is not desirable that women should be so large. All women should be
little creatures that fear you. They should have thin, plaintive voices,
and in shrinking from you be as slight to the touch as a cobweb. It is not
possible to love a woman ardently unless you comprehend how easy it would be
to murder her."
"God, God!" said Count Eglamore, very softly, for he was familiar with the
look which had now come into
Duke Alessandro's face. Indeed, all persons about court were quick to
notice this odd pinched look, like that of a traveler nipped at by frosts,
and people at court became obsequious within the instant in dealing with
the fortunate woman who had aroused this look, Count Eglamore remembered.
And the girl did not speak at all, but stood motionless, staring in
bewildered, pitiable, childlike fashion, and the color had ebbed from her
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countenance.
The Certain Hour
BALTHAZAR'S DAUGHTER
24
Alessandro was frankly pleased. "You fear me, do you not, Graciosa? See,
now, when I touch your hand it is soft and cold as a serpent's skin, and you
shudder. I am very tired of women who love me, of all women with bold,
hungry eyes. To you my touch will always be a martyrdom, you will always
loathe me, and therefore I
shall not weary of you for a long while. Come, Graciosa. Your father shall
have all the wealth and state that even his greedy imaginings can devise,
so long as you can contrive to loathe me. We will find you a suitable
husband. You shall have flattery and titles, gold and fine glass, soft
stuffs and superb palaces such as are your beauty's due henceforward."
He glanced at the peddler's pack, and shrugged. "So Eglamore has been wooing
you with jewels! You must see mine, dear Graciosa. It is not merely an
affair of possessing, as some emperors do, all the four kinds of sapphires,
the twelve kinds of emeralds, the three kinds of rubies, and many
extraordinary pearls, diamonds, cymophanes, beryls, green peridots, tyanos,
sandrastra, and fiery cinnamonstones"he enumerated them with the tender
voice of their lover"for the value of these may at least be estimated. Oh,
no, I have in my possession gems which have not their fellows in any other
collection, gems which have not even a name and the value of which is
incalculablestrange jewels that were shot from inaccessible mountain peaks
by means of slings, jewels engendered by the thunder, jewels taken from the
heart of the Arabian deer, jewels cut from the brain of a toad and the eyes
of serpents, and even jewels that are authentically known to have fallen
from the moon. We will select the rarest, and have a pair of slippers
encrusted with them, in which you shall dance for me."
"Highness," cried Eglamore, with anger and terror at odds in his breast,
"Highness, I love this girl!"
"Ah, then you cannot ever be her husband," Duke Alessandro returned. "You
would have suited otherwise.
No, no, we must seek out some other person of discretion. It will all be
very amusing, for I think that she is now quite innocent, as pure as the
high angels are. See, Eglamore, she cannot speak, she stays still as a lark
that has been taken in a snare. It will be very marvelous to make her as I
am. . . ." He meditated, as, obscurely aware of opposition, his shoulders
twitched fretfully, and momentarily his eyes lightened like the glare of a
cannon through its smoke. "You made a beast of me, some longfaced people
say. Beware lest the beast turn and rend you."
Count Eglamore plucked aimlessly at his chin. Then he laughed as a dog
yelps. He dropped the gloves which he had held till this, deliberately, as
if the act were a rite. His shoulders straightened and purpose seemed to
flow into the man. "No," he said quietly, "I will not have it. It was not
altogether I who made a brain sick beast of you, my prince; but even so, I
have never been too nice to profit by your vices. I have taken my thrifty
toll of abomination, I have stood by contentedly, not urging you on, yet
never trying to stay you, as you waded deeper and ever deeper into the filth
of your debaucheries, because meanwhile you left me so much power. Yes, in
some part it is my own handiwork which is my ruin. I accept it.
Nevertheless, you shall not harm this child."
"I venture to remind you, Eglamore, that I am still the master of this
duchy." Alessandro was languidly amused, and had begun to regard his
adversary with real curiosity.
"Oh, yes, but that is nothing to me. At court you are the master. At court
I have seen mothers raise the veil from their daughters' faces, with smiles
that were more loathsome than the grimaces of a fiend, because you happened
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to be passing. But here in these woods, your highness, I see only the woman
I love and the man who has insulted her."
"This is very admirable fooling," the Duke considered. "So all the world is
changed and Pandarus is transformed into Hector? These are sonorous words,
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