The Salamanca Corpus: Yeoman Fleetwood (1900 ... - Gredos

The Salamanca Corpus: Yeoman Fleetwood (1900)
drawn back in a kind of fixed and horrible smile; he saw the hands, the little hands
which he had so loved to clasp and kiss, feverishly clutching a dice-box.
He had meant to advance boldly, to summon her imperatively, yet he found himself as it
were paralysed, incapable of speech or movement. Then as by magic,
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every detail of the room became present to him: the candles guttering in their sockets,
the air sickly with divers scents, in which the smell of wine predominated; the group of
which Rachel formed the centre: men with coarse, flushed faces, and voices which
clearly betokened an advanced stage of intoxication. A convincing proof of their
condition — if proof were needed — was given by the fact that not one of them had
noticed Simon's entrance. Sitting close beside the girl, with his arm resting on the back
of her chair, was the Prince of Wales, not a whit more sober than his companions. It was
thus Simon found her, his star, his queen, of whom not twenty-four hours before he had
said that she would ever be to him the first of women. Now she was speaking, her voice
sounding sharp and distinct even in the midst of the medley of coarse jests and laughter.
“No, I will not give up! I want to win — I must win."
“Nay, lovely Rachel, you will not win to-night," returned the Prince, leering at her with
his blood-shot eyes. "You have won too much already. To-night it is your turn to lose
—to pay. The time of reckoning comes at last; you must pay up, my charming madam."
“By Heavens, sir!" broke in another, "you are not the only one to whom this lady is in
debt. I have here a number of her I.O.U.s."
"Nay, you will not deny my precedence, I trust," retorted the royal host “I.O.U.s,
forsooth! I have lost my heart, gentlemen; I must be paid for that."
He leaned forward, making as if he would take her hand; and she, startled, drew back,
half rising from her chair. In another moment her eyes met those of her husband. With a
half hysterical cry of joy and relief she sprang to her feet and ran towards him.
"Simon! oh, Simon! Thank God!"
Before she reached him, however, her outstretched