The Argosy, March 27, 1920 — page 79: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE GREAT prospect of that personal advantage accru- ing to the one who places a monarch on his throne influence his actions. He loved Spain and her interests far more than he did himself! It was to insure a ruler for his dear coun- try that he had aided old Tobit (then a young retainer, faithful unto death to Elea- nor of Durham) to escape with the baby prince. This he had done immediately upon discovering that the inhuman grandfather was planning to destroy both parents, As long as the old grandfather lived, San- sito had preserved the helpless little heir. And when Ferdinand came to the throne, still he had presérved the young hope, while he watched and waited to see how fair and just to Spain this new monarch would be. And the King of Aragon had ruled better and more wisely than any prince that the peninsula had even had. Sansito, then, seeing useless danger in the existence of the little prince, whose dead father had been the people’s hero, decided upon the secret trip to Dover, where he ex- pected to buy Tobit’s silence and all the proofs of the youth’s identity. To establish himself in the old servant’s eyes, he had taken the dead Prince of Viana’s ring, It was a token agreed upon when the baby was spirited away. For little could any one have foreseen that this jewel would become a valued possession of the old king who had poisoned its owner. But King John had always refused to part with the ring, and had ultimately left it to Ferdi- nand. After deciding to go to Dover, San- sito had to wait; for months vainly seeking an opportunity to steal this rng. King Fer- dinand was as tenacious of it as his father had been, and the jewel always adorned his hand. Finally, the count had secured it, and then hastily departed, supposedly for Portugal, really for Dover. Never had he calculated upon the stub- born refusal of Tobit to be a party to the obliterating of the prince’s identity. “Tf he hadn’t angered me,” Sansito mut- tered, ‘‘ I should never have murdered the old fellow. And then, all these other events would not have come crowding upon me— so fast—so fast that I cannot think. What am I to do? What will happen next?” DISCOVERY, 229 The sick man tossed helplessly. A cold sweat broke out upon him, “If Ferdinand discovered that fer years I fostered this son of Charles of Viana!’ Sansite shuddered. ‘‘ But can he ever dis- cover this?” The power to reason was slipping from _ his fevered brain. His head seemed to ex- pand and contract with painful persistence. The count moaned aloud, and the blackness that had seemed to be creeping upon him now engulfed him and Juan de Seseca sank into a stupor. The night passed, and, from daybreak on, the sick man grew steadily worse. His doc- tor did not return, and the servants became panic-stricken. In vain they tried to get another doctor, but physicians were very © scarce, for the two races, Moors and Jews, representing almost the entire medical skill of the day, were being expelled in droves frorn the kingdom. News of the secretary’s illness was taken to the palace, and King Ferdinand seemed as deeply concerned as he ever was by an- other’s affairs, and, learning that Sansito was without medical care, he sent -his own doctor. This man of science returned to his mas- ter with the report that, in his estimation, the Count of Sansito would never recover! Six days passed, and the patient’s condi- tion continued desperate, but on the seventh day he showed signs of mending. All this time nothing had been heard of Don Luis Levy, and the reason was, that the Jew had made no effort to return! Indeed, he had made every endeavor to dis- guise his whereabouts from the Sansito household, On the morning that his master had been summoned te the interview with the king and Sir Thomas Merton, Don Luis had gone to visit the prison, as instructed by the count. He had discovered nothing from the jailors except that Arthur, in what seemed to be a miraculous fashion, had escaped through locked doors! Don Luis was presented with the confis- cated letter addressed to Columbus, but no mention was made of the three bags of gold, The little doctor had departed in despair, and spent the remainer of the day in fren- ConnralooolkS.cCotin