Джон Стейнбек - Cup of Gold [Золотая чаша]

"That is so, sir. I remember." He turned to his friend who stood shaking in the grip of horror. "You see, such is the case, Emil. He does not like to tell us this thing because it hurts him. Perhaps he punishes himself in this manner for something he had done or failed to do. Perhaps he remembers Chagres, Emil."

"Chagres!" Sir Henry bent forward with excitement. "What happened after I sailed away? Tell me!"

"You were cursed, sir, as it is given to few men to be cursed. You were tortured in men's minds. They feasted on your heart and sent your soul to hell. I enjoyed the scene rarely, because I knew that every man there envied you while he reviled you. I was proud of you, sir."

"And they scattered?"

"They scattered and died, poor little children."

"Anyway, I should have hated to fall in with those poor little children! Tell me," Sir Henry's voice had become wistful, "tell me about Panama. We did go there, didn't we? We really captured Panama, didn't we, and looted it? It was I who led you, wasn't it?"

"It was so. It was a grand fight and an ocean of plunder-but, after all, you know more about that last than we do."

"Sometimes I doubt whether this body ever went to Panama. I am sure this brain did not. I would like to stay and talk to you of that old time, but my wife expects me. She is apt to fuss if I am late for luncheon."

He spoke jocosely. "When would you like to be hanged?"

The Burgundians were whispering together.

"Ah, there is that 'hanged' again. When would we like to be hanged? Any time, sir. We do not wish to put you to the trouble, but if you insist-any time there is a man and a rope idle." Antoine approached the table. "Emil wishes to offer one last compliment. It is a gift for your wife-a gift the history of which alone would make it valuable.

Emil has treasured this gift to the end, and of this talisman he has reaped a harvest-for talismanic it is, in truth, sir. But Emil thinks its period of duty should end, sir. He believes that by taking this means he can stop the series of events which has flowed out from his treasure. And Emil, unfortunately, will have no further use for it. Emil kisses the hand of Lady Morgan-presents his respects and dignified compliments." He dropped a rose pearl on the table and turned quickly away.

After they had been led out, Sir Henry sat at his bench and stared at the pearl. Then he put it in his pocket and walked into the street.

He came to the squat, white Palace of the Lieutenant-Governor. It was exactly as Sir Edward had left it.

Lady Morgan would not have felt right if a detail had been changed. She met Henry at the door.

"We are to have dinner with the Vaughns. And what am I to do about the coachman? He's drunk. I've told you and told you to lock your closet, but you will not pay attention to me. He sneaked into the house and got a bottle off your shelf. He must have done that."

"Open your hand, my dear. I have a gift for you."

He dropped the rose pearl into her palm.

For a moment she looked at the rosy sphere and her face flushed with pleasure, but then she searched his face suspiciously.

"What have you been up to?"

"Up to? Why, I have been holding court."

"I suppose you got this in court!" Her face lighted up. "I know! You suspected my displeasure at your actions last night. You were practically intoxicated, if you must know the truth; and all the people were staring at you and whispering.

Don't say a word. I saw them and I saw you. And now you want to bribe my feeling-my decency."

"Suspected your displeasure! My dear, I suspected it all the way home with you, and nearly all night after I got here. You are right. I strongly suspected your displeasure. In fact, I was certain of it. But I will tell you the truth about the pearl."

"You will tell the truth only because you know you cannot deceive me, Henry. When will you give up the idea that I don't know every little thought you possess?"

"But I didn't try to deceive you. You didn't give me time."

"It takes no more time to tell the truth than-"

"Listen to me, Elizabeth, please. I tried two pirates this morning and they gave it to me."

She smiled a superior smile. "They gave it to you? Why? Did you release them? It would be like you to release them. Sometimes I think you would still be one of them if it weren't for me. You never seem to realize, Henry, that it is really I who have made you what you are-a knight and a gentleman. You made yourself a buccaneer. But tell me, did you release these pirates?"

"No; I sentenced them to death."

"Ah! Then why did they give you the pearl?"

"My dear, they gave it to me because they had nothing else to do with it. They might have presented it to the hangman, but one would feel a trifle diffident about giving pearls to the man who put a rope about one's neck. Friendship isn't possible with one's hangman, I should imagine. Thus, they gave it to me, and I-" he smiled broadly and innocently, "I am giving it to you because I love you."

"Well, I can easily find out about the pirates, and as to your affection-you love me as long as I have my eye on you, and no longer. I know you thoroughly. But I am glad they are hanged. Lord Vaughn says they are a positive danger even to ourselves. He says they may stop fighting Spain at any moment and start on us. He says they are like vicious dogs, to be exterminated as soon as possible. I feel a little safer every time one of them is out of the way."

"But, my dear, Lord Vaughn knows nothing about buccaneers, while I-"

"Henry, why do you keep me here with your talking, when you know I have a thousand things to attend to. You think, because you have all the time in the world, that I can afford to help you idle. Now do see to the coachman, because I should be terribly embarrassed if he were not fit. His livery will not suit Jacob by any pinching. Did I tell you he is drunk? Get him sober for tonight if you must drown him to do it. Now hurry along. I won't feel right until I know he can sit up straight." She turned to reenter the house, then came back and kissed him on the cheek.

"It's really a nice pearl. Thank you, dear," she said. "Of course, I am going to have Monsieur Banzet value it. After what Lord Vaughn said, I have very little faith in pirates. They might have been trying to bribe you with paste, and you would never know the difference."

Sir Henry walked toward the stables. Now, as on other occasions, he was gently moved by uneasiness.

Now and then there came a vagrant feeling that, in spite of all Elizabeth 's declamation to the effect that she knew him thoroughly, perhaps she really did. It was disquieting.

Sir Henry Morgan lay in an enormous bed; a bed so wide that his body, under the coverlid, seemed a snow-covered mountain range dividing two great plains. From the walls about the room the shiny eyes of his ancestors regarded him. On their faces were smirks which said, "Ah, yes! A knight, to be sure-but we know how you bought your knighthood." The air in the room was heavy and thick and hot.

So always the air seems in a room where a man is about to die.

Sir Henry was staring at the ceiling. For an hour he had been puzzled with this mysterious ceiling.

Nothing supported it in the middle. Why did it not fall? It was late. Every one about him was silent, they went sneaking about pretending to be ghosts, he thought. They were trying to convince him that he was dead already. He closed his eyes. He was too tired or too indifferent to keep them open. He heard the doctor come in, and felt him reading the pulse. Then the big confident voice boomed: "I am sorry, Lady Morgan. There is nothing to do now. I do not even know what is the matter with him.

Some old jungle fever, perhaps. I could bleed him again, I suppose, but we have taken a great deal of blood already, and it seems to do no good. However, if he begins to sink, I shall try it again."