Under the Witches' Moon: A Romantic Tale of Mediaeval Rome
that which lies closest to our heart, and the time is brief--"
"I cannot even guess your tidings," replied Theodora, withdrawing
herself a little from his burning gaze. "For days mischance has emptied
all her quivers at me, leaving me not a dart wherewith to strike."
"It is as a bolt from the clear blue," interposed the Grand
Chamberlain. "Yet--how were we to reckon with that which did happen?
Every detail had been carefully planned. In the excitement and turmoil
which roared and surged over the Navona the task could not fail of its
accomplishment and he who was to speed the holy man to his doom had but
to plunge into that seething vortex of humanity to make his escape.
Surely the foul fiend was abroad on that night and stalked about
visibly to our undoing. For not a word have I been able to get out of
Il Gobbo who raves that at the very moment when he was about to strike,
St. John himself towered over him, paralyzed his efforts, and gave him
such a blow as sent him reeling upon the turf. Some say,"--the speaker
added meditatively, "it was a pilgrim--"
"A pilgrim?" Theodora interposed, a sudden gleam in her eyes. "A
pilgrim? What was he like?"
"To Il Gobbo he appeared no doubt of superhuman height, else had he not
affrighted him. For the bravo is no coward--"
"A pilgrim, you say," Theodora repeated, meditatively.
"Whosoever he is," Basil continued after a pause, "he seems to scent
ample entertainment in this godly city. For, no doubt it was the same
who thwarted by his timely appearance the abduction of the Pontiff by
certain ruffians, earning thereby much distinction in the eyes of the
Senator of Rome who has appointed him captain of Castel San Angelo--and
Gamba in whom we placed our trust has fled. If he is captured--if he
should confess--"
The color had died out of Theodora's cheeks and she sat bolt upright as
a statue of marble, gazing into the shadows with great wide eyes, as in
a low voice, hardly audible even to her visitor, she said:
"God! Will this uncertainty never cease? What is to be done?
Speak!--For I confess, I am not myself today."--
Basil hesitated, and a sudden flame leaped into his eyes as they
devoured the beauty of the woman beside him, and raising to his lips
the hand that lay inert on the saffron-hued cushion, he replied:
"The lady Theodora has many who do her bidding, yet is the heart of
none as true as his, who is even now sitting beside her. Therefore ask
of me whatever you will and, if a blade be needed, your slightest favor
will fire me to any deed,--however unnameable."--
Lower the man bent, until his hot breath scorched her pale cheeks. But
neither by word nor gesture did she betray that she was conscious of
his nearer approach as, in a calm voice, she replied:
"Full well do I know your zeal and devotion, my lord Basil. Yet there
hangs in the balance the keen and timely stroke that shall secure for
me the dominion of the Seven Hills and the Emperor's Tomb. For failure
would bring in its wake that which would be harder to endure than
death itself. Therefore," she added slowly, "I would choose one whose
devotion is only equalled by his blind indifference to that which I am
minded to bring about; not one only fired with a passion, which when
cooled might leave nothing but fear and hesitation behind."--
"Has all that has passed between us left you with so ill an opinion
of me?" Basil replied, drawing back somewhat ostentatiously. "There
are few that can be trusted with that which must be done--and trusted
blades are scarce."
"The more reason that we choose wisely and well," came the reply in
deliberate tones. "How much longer must I suffer the indignity which
this stripling dares to put upon his own flesh and blood,--upon myself,
who has striven for this dominion with all the fire of this restless
soul? How much longer must I sit idly by, pondering over the mystery
that enshrouds Marozia's untimely end? How much longer must I tremble
in abject fear of him whom the Tuscan's churlishness has set up in
yonder castello and who conspires with my rival to gain his sinister
ends?"
"By what sorcery she holds him captive, I cannot tell," Basil
interposed. "Yet, if we are not on our guard, we shall awaken one day
to the realization that even the faint chance which remains to us now
has passed from our hands. I doubt not but that Roxana will enlist the
services of the stranger who in the space of a week, during the lord
Alberic's absence, will lord it over the city of Rome!"
With a smothered cry of hate, that drove from Theodora's face every
trace of her former mood, she bounded upright.
"What demon of madness possesses you, my lord Basil, to taunt me with
your suspicions?" she flashed.
Basil had sped his shaft at random, but he had hit the mark.
In suave and insinuating tones, without relinquishing his gaze upon the
woman, he replied:
"I voice but my fears, Lady Theodora, and the urgency of assembling
your friends under the banners of your house. What is more natural," he
continued with slow and sinister emphasis, "than for a beautiful woman
to harbor the desire for conquest, and to profit from so auspicious a
throw of fate as the stranger's espousing her part against an equally
beautiful, hated rival? Is not the inference justified, that, ignorant
of the merits of the feud, which has been raging these many months, he
will take the part of the one whose beauty had compelled the Senator's
unwitting tribute--as it were?"
He paused for a moment, watching the woman before him from under
half-shut lids, then continued slowly:
"Roxana is consumed with the desire to stake soul and body upon
attaining her ends, humbling her rival in the dust and set her foot
upon her neck. Time and again has she defied you! At the banquet she
gave in honor of the Senator of Rome, when one of the guests lamented
the Lady Theodora's absence from the festal board, she openly boasted,
that in youth as well as in beauty, in strength as in love,
she would vanquish Marozia's sister utterly--and when one of the
guests, commenting upon her boast, suggested with a smile that in the
time of the Emperor Gallus women fought in the arena, she bared her
arms and replied: 'Are there no chambers in this demesne where a woman
may strangle her rival?'"
Theodora had listened to Basil's recital, white to the lips. Her bosom
heaved and a strange fire burnt in her eyes as she replied:
"Dares she utter this boast, woman to woman?"--
Basil, checking himself, gave a shrug.
"Misinterpret not my words, dearest lady," he said solicitously. "It
is to warn you that I came. Alberic's attitude is no longer a secret.
Roxana is leaving no stone unturned to drive you from the city, to
encompass your death--and Alberic is swayed by strange moods. Roxana
is growing bolder each day and the woman who dares challenge the Lady
Theodora is no coward."
A strange look passed into Theodora's eyes.
"Three days hence," she said, "I mean to give a feast to my friends,
if," she continued with lurid mockery, "I can still number such among
those who flock to my bowers. I shall ask the Lady Roxana to grace the
feast with her presence--"
A puzzled look passed into Basil's eyes.
"Deem you she will come?"
Theodora's lips curved in a smile.
"You said but just now, my lord, the woman who dares challenge Theodora
is no coward--"
"Yet--as your guest--suspecting--knowing--"
"I doubt not, my lord, she is well informed," Theodora interposed
with the same inscrutable smile. "Yet--if she is as brave as she is
beautiful--she will come--doubt not, my lord--she will come--"
"Nevertheless, I question the wisdom," Basil ventured to interpose. "A
sudden spark--from nowhere--who will quench the holocaust?"
"When Roxana and Theodora meet,--woman to woman--ah, trust me, my lord,
it will be a festive occasion--one long to be remembered. Perchance
you, my lord, who boast of a large circle know young Fabio of the
Cavalli--a comely youth with the air and manners of a girl. Persephoné,
my Circassian, could strangle him."
"I know the youth, Lady Theodora," Basil interposed with a puzzled air.
"What of him?"
"He once did me the honor to imagine himself in love with me. Did he
not pursue me with amorous sighs and burning glances and oaths--my
lord--such oaths! Cerberus would wince in Tartarus could he hear but
one of them--"
Basil's lips straightened and his eyelids narrowed.
"Pardon, Lady Theodora, if I do not quite follow the trend of your
reminiscent mood--"
Theodora smiled.
"You will presently, my lord--believe me--you will presently. When
I became satiated with him I sent him on his way and straightway he
sought my beautiful rival. I am told she is very fond of him--"
A strange nervousness had seized Basil.
"I shall bid him to the feast," Theodora continued. "'Twere scant
courtesy to request the Lady Roxaná's presence without that of her
lover. And more, my lord. Since you boast your devotion to me in such
unequivocal terms--your task it shall be to bring as your honored
guest the valiant stranger who took so brave a part in aiding the Lord
Alberic to regain his prisoner, and who, within a week, is to be the
new captain of Castel San Angelo."--
Basil was twitching nervously.
"Lady Theodora, without attempting to fathom the mood which prompts
the request, am I to traverse the city in quest of a churl who has
hypnotized the Lord Alberic and has destroyed our fondest hopes?"--
"That it shall be for myself to decide, my Lord Basil," Theodora
replied with her inscrutable smile. "I do not desire you to fathom my
mood, but to bring to me this man. And believe me, my Lord Basil--as
you value my favor--you will find and bring him to me!"
Half turning she flung a light vesture from off her bosom and the faint
light showed not the set Medusa face that meditated unnameable things,
but eyes alight with desire and a mouth quivering for kisses.
As he gazed, Basil was suddenly caught in the throes of his passion.
He clutched at the ottoman's carved arms, striving to resist the tide
of emotion that tossed him like a helpless bark in its clutches and,
suddenly bearing down every restraint, his arms went round the supple
form as he crushed her to him with a wild uncontrolled passion, bending
her back, and his eyes blazed with a baleful fire into her own, while
his hot kisses scorched her lips.
She struggled violently, desperately in his embrace, and at last
succeeded, bruised and crushed, in releasing herself.
"Beast! Coward!" she flashed, "Can you not bridle the animal within
you? I have it in mind to kill you here and now."
Basil's face was ashen. His eyes were bloodshot. The touch of her lips,
of her hands, had maddened him. He groaned, and his arms fell limply by
his side. Presently he raised his head and, his eyes aflame with the
madness of jealousy, he snarled:
"So I did not go amiss, when I long suspected another in the bower of
roses. Who is he? Tell me quickly, that I may at least assuage this
hatred of mine, for its measure overflows."
His hand closed on his dagger's hilt that was hidden by his tunic, but
Theodora rose and her own eyes flashed like naked swords as with set
face she said:
"Have you not yet learned, my lord, how vain it is to probe the
clouds of my mind for the unseen wind that stirs behind its curtains?
Aye--crouch at my feet, you miserable slave, gone mad with the dream of
my favor possessed and wake to learn, that, as Theodora's enchantments
compel all living men, nevertheless she gives herself unto him she
pleases. I tell you, you jealous fool, that, although I serve the
goddess of night yonder, never till yesterday was my heart touched by