De Richleau lowered his glance. 'You could not pay me a greater compliment, Jose. In fact you overwhelm me. May I . . . may I take it then . . . ?'
'That I will not act harshly towards Gulia? Yes, you may rest content about that. She has tnade a punishment for herself, in that she is certain to suffer for some time to come from having lost you. But now she carries the child that is to bear my name I shall lose no opportunity to cherish her.'
Side by side they left the golden sands and walked up the slope. At its top they shook hands and, having wished one another good fortune, parted, the Conde to go into the house, the Duke to collect his mount from the orchard.
As he rode away from the villa, now that all the tension and uncertainty were over, a terrible depression descended on him. The thought that never again would he hold Gulia in his arms distressed him beyond measure. Yet he knew that de Cordoba had been right, and that her prospects of future happiness were far brighter if she remained with her husband than if he had taken her away. In fact, with this new bond of the child to bring them together there was every hope that in due course they would achieve as great a state of contentment as fell to most married couples.
It was he who was left in the air. Angela and the prospect of having a child by her had been taken from him; now he had been thrown back into much the same state of loneliness and indecision as he had been shortly after her death. He had many friends and innumerable acquaintances, but no family. He owned a fine property and a great mansion, but they were situated in the most sparsely populated area of Central Europe, far from any city or cheerful community of neighbours. He was a highly trained officer, with experience of many forms of warfare, but no army worthy of the name was open to him. He was intelligent, wealthy and ambitious, but his life as a soldier had left him ill-equipped to enter on any other career. Yet he loathed the thought of idling away his life in one pleasure resort after another.
In this unhappy state of mind, he had ridden only about half a mile towards San Sebastian when he saw two other horsemen cantering towards him. As they came nearer he recognized Don
Alfonso, evidently out on an early morning ride attended only by a groom.
With a cheerful shout of recognition, the young King reined in his horse. De Richleau dutifully made his service. The King gave an amused glance first at his face, then towards the villa, and said with a smile:
'From your unshaven chin, Duke, it looks as though you have given up keeping butterflies for your friend, and been out all night giving your attention to a beautiful moth.'
There could be no mistaking the King's meaning, and it would have been churlish to pretend not to respond to his gay rallying; so with a wan smile in reply, the Duke said:
'Alas, Your Majesty, I have had to surrender my enchanting charge into the hands of the friend for whom I was looking after it.'
'What!' exclaimed the King. 'Is Jose de Cordoba back from South America, then?'
'Yes, Sir. He returned last night.'
'And you? I fear the cessation of your duties as custodian will leave a sad gap in the pleasant life you have been leading in San Sebastian.'
'It will indeed, Sir. In fact I fear to find this place so dull that I intend to leave it not later than tonight. Permit me, therefore, to take this opportunity of asking Your Majesty for my conge'
'I am sorry that you are leaving us, Duke. Where do you intend to go?'
De Richleau shrugged. 'I hardly know. I am at a loose end. I may pay a visit to my late in-laws in England and shoot pheasants with them. Or perhaps I'll return to Central America and shoot some more unfortunate Indians. I expect that is where I shall end up.'
For a moment Don Alfonso remained thoughtful, then he said, 'The advice you gave us at that conference of Generals I asked you to attend was taken. I am forming another Cavalry Division. Although you are a British subject, as a Knight of the Fleece you also owe allegiance to the Crown of Spain. It has just occurred to me that I could find no man better fitted to command it.'
'A Cavalry Division!' gasped the Duke, his face suddenly lighting up. 'Can Your Majesty possibly mean it? To command a Cavalry Division has been the ambition of my life.'
A new and bright horizon had opened for him.