fell to one knee. The steps led to a passage, the divisions filled in between tumbled rocks, an opening here and there into smaller caves, which however they passed by. But there came at last a mat of plaited rushes hung like a curtain; and one of the two girls pushed it aside and ushered the lady in.
A fire burned in a brazier and gave a golden glow to the tapestries which covered the walls from the low ceiling to rock floor; on which floor were thrown down fur carriage rugs that had no doubt once served to keep warm some voyager’s silk-stockinged knees. On a table, damask covered, stood a lady’s dressing case, fitted in tortoiseshell and gold, a lovely gilt mirror to one side of it. There was a stool before it and a sort of rack had been fashioned where fine clothes might be hung; on another table stood a little china basin with a tiny jug, filched from a travelling toilet set. And against the centre of one wall was a bed, hugely piled with straw, softened at the top with hay, the whole covered with the finest of linen sheets, the warmest of fleecy rugs, with an overlay of fur. No lady of quality need lie more softly, sleep more sweetly tonight than the Countess of Tregaron, should she so choose, between the sweet cool linen of the sheets in her scented nest of hay.
And tomorrow my lord would send messengers to Castell Cothi for the ransom money and they could proceed upon their way. Would she be more content than this, she wondered, when the crimson and gold magnificence of her second home closed in upon her? Would a bed of down rest her more deeply, would light burn more brightly, could water be more soft and cool than this in which she now bathed her white hands? She said to Catti: ‘How can this be?’
‘It’s the room of Y Cadno’s woman, milady, they say; which she now gives up to your ladyship.’
Willy nilly, thought her ladyship; and reflected that it was perhaps a good thing for her own comfort at the hands of Y Cadno’s woman, that by tomorrow the affair would be settled and she would be gone.
Lord Tregaron came to her in the little room. ‘Thank heaven you’re safe! I’ve been anxious about you — but they kept me, dragged me to the presence of Y Cadno. He’s a sick man.’
‘I’ve seen him,’ she said; sick he might be, hardly able to stand, but could yet hold in command all these rough men and women.
He reflected her thought. ‘Sick he may be, yet still, he drives a hard bargain. I’ve agreed of course; the sum is enormous but it must be paid, we won’t remain one hour here more than may be avoided.’ He roamed restlessly about the little room, blind to its beauties, bent only on their ultimate safety. ‘The trouble is…’ He broke off anxiously. ‘My bankers will never, upon a mere note from me, release so huge a sum; indeed I doubt if, without much complicated business, I can produce it. My mother’s abroad and so would my brother be, but that he returned early. And my brother…’ He shrugged rather hopelessly. ‘I’ve written off letters already, to my lawyers, they smuggle them somehow out of this place; but I’ve been obliged to apply also to him. I wonder…’ He stopped pacing, he faced her, gloomily. ‘I wonder if he’s capable of — refusing.’
‘Of course he won’t refuse,’ she said sharply.
‘You don’t know him,’ he said. ‘He’s a man very sweet-tempered with those he loves; but also very implacable in his hatreds.’
‘If he knows I’m here—’ she began.
‘If he knows… Ah!’ he said. ‘That’s it, isn’t it? What he wouldn’t do for his brother, he’d do for his brother’s wife — wouldn’t he?’
‘Your brother is a gentleman: he wouldn’t leave any woman in such a place as this.’
‘You know nothing about him,’ he said shortly.
‘One has only to look at him—’
‘Ay, and you have looked at him, haven’t you?’ He caught her arm roughly; the little, dandified, dancing master fellow, who could yet show cool
A fire burned in a brazier and gave a golden glow to the tapestries which covered the walls from the low ceiling to rock floor; on which floor were thrown down fur carriage rugs that had no doubt once served to keep warm some voyager’s silk-stockinged knees. On a table, damask covered, stood a lady’s dressing case, fitted in tortoiseshell and gold, a lovely gilt mirror to one side of it. There was a stool before it and a sort of rack had been fashioned where fine clothes might be hung; on another table stood a little china basin with a tiny jug, filched from a travelling toilet set. And against the centre of one wall was a bed, hugely piled with straw, softened at the top with hay, the whole covered with the finest of linen sheets, the warmest of fleecy rugs, with an overlay of fur. No lady of quality need lie more softly, sleep more sweetly tonight than the Countess of Tregaron, should she so choose, between the sweet cool linen of the sheets in her scented nest of hay.
And tomorrow my lord would send messengers to Castell Cothi for the ransom money and they could proceed upon their way. Would she be more content than this, she wondered, when the crimson and gold magnificence of her second home closed in upon her? Would a bed of down rest her more deeply, would light burn more brightly, could water be more soft and cool than this in which she now bathed her white hands? She said to Catti: ‘How can this be?’
‘It’s the room of Y Cadno’s woman, milady, they say; which she now gives up to your ladyship.’
Willy nilly, thought her ladyship; and reflected that it was perhaps a good thing for her own comfort at the hands of Y Cadno’s woman, that by tomorrow the affair would be settled and she would be gone.
Lord Tregaron came to her in the little room. ‘Thank heaven you’re safe! I’ve been anxious about you — but they kept me, dragged me to the presence of Y Cadno. He’s a sick man.’
‘I’ve seen him,’ she said; sick he might be, hardly able to stand, but could yet hold in command all these rough men and women.
He reflected her thought. ‘Sick he may be, yet still, he drives a hard bargain. I’ve agreed of course; the sum is enormous but it must be paid, we won’t remain one hour here more than may be avoided.’ He roamed restlessly about the little room, blind to its beauties, bent only on their ultimate safety. ‘The trouble is…’ He broke off anxiously. ‘My bankers will never, upon a mere note from me, release so huge a sum; indeed I doubt if, without much complicated business, I can produce it. My mother’s abroad and so would my brother be, but that he returned early. And my brother…’ He shrugged rather hopelessly. ‘I’ve written off letters already, to my lawyers, they smuggle them somehow out of this place; but I’ve been obliged to apply also to him. I wonder…’ He stopped pacing, he faced her, gloomily. ‘I wonder if he’s capable of — refusing.’
‘Of course he won’t refuse,’ she said sharply.
‘You don’t know him,’ he said. ‘He’s a man very sweet-tempered with those he loves; but also very implacable in his hatreds.’
‘If he knows I’m here—’ she began.
‘If he knows… Ah!’ he said. ‘That’s it, isn’t it? What he wouldn’t do for his brother, he’d do for his brother’s wife — wouldn’t he?’
‘Your brother is a gentleman: he wouldn’t leave any woman in such a place as this.’
‘You know nothing about him,’ he said shortly.
‘One has only to look at him—’
‘Ay, and you have looked at him, haven’t you?’ He caught her arm roughly; the little, dandified, dancing master fellow, who could yet show cool
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