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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Yellow Crayon, by E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Yellow Crayon
+
+Author: E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+Posting Date: November 25, 2008 [EBook #1849]
+Release Date: August, 1999
+[Last updated: March 16, 2012]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YELLOW CRAYON ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by An Anonymous Project Gutenberg Volunteer
+
+
+
+
+
+THE YELLOW CRAYON
+
+By E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+It was late summer-time, and the perfume of flowers stole into the
+darkened room through the half-opened window. The sunlight forced its
+way through a chink in the blind, and stretched across the floor in
+strange zigzag fashion. From without came the pleasant murmur of bees
+and many lazier insects floating over the gorgeous flower beds, resting
+for a while on the clematis which had made the piazza a blaze of purple
+splendour. And inside, in a high-backed chair, there sat a man, his arms
+folded, his eyes fixed steadily upon vacancy. As he sat then, so had he
+sat for a whole day and a whole night. The faint sweet chorus of glad
+living things, which alone broke the deep silence of the house, seemed
+neither to disturb nor interest him. He sat there like a man turned to
+stone, his forehead riven by one deep line, his straight firm mouth set
+close and hard. His servant, the only living being who had approached
+him, had set food by his side, which now and then he had mechanically
+taken. Changeless as a sphinx, he had sat there in darkness and in
+light, whilst sunlight had changed to moonlight, and the songs of the
+birds had given place to the low murmuring of frogs from a lake below
+the lawns.
+
+At last it seemed that his unnatural fit had passed away. He stretched
+out his hand and struck a silver gong which had been left within his
+reach. Almost immediately a man, pale-faced, with full dark eyes and
+olive complexion, dressed in the sombre garb of an indoor servant, stood
+at his elbow.
+
+"Duson."
+
+"Your Grace!"
+
+"Bring wine--Burgundy."
+
+It was before him, served with almost incredible despatch--a small
+cobwebbed bottle and a glass of quaint shape, on which were beautifully
+emblazoned a coronet and fleur-de-lis. He drank slowly and deliberately.
+When he set the glass down it was empty.
+
+"Duson!"
+
+"Your Grace!"
+
+"You will pack my things and your own. We shall leave for New York this
+evening. Telegraph to the Holland House for rooms."
+
+"For how many days, your Grace?"
+
+"We shall not return here. Pay off all the servants save two of the most
+trustworthy, who will remain as caretakers."
+
+The man's face was as immovable as his master's.
+
+"And Madame?"
+
+"Madame will not be returning. She will have no further use for her
+maid. See, however, that her clothes and all her personal belongings
+remain absolutely undisturbed."
+
+"Has your Grace any further orders?"
+
+"Take pencil and paper. Send this cablegram. Are you ready?"
+
+The man's head moved in respectful assent.
+
+     "To Felix,
+       "No 27, Rue de St.  Pierre,
+         "Avenue de L'Opera, Paris.
+    "Meet me at Sherry's Restaurant, New York, one month to-day, eleven
+     p.m.--V.  S."
+
+"It shall be sent immediately, your Grace. The train for New York leaves
+at seven-ten. A carriage will be here in one hour and five minutes."
+
+The man moved towards the door. His master looked up.
+
+"Duson!"
+
+"Your Grace!"
+
+"The Duc de Souspennier remains here--or at the bottom of the lake--what
+matters! It is Mr. Sabin who travels to New York, and for whom you
+engage rooms at the Holland House. Mr. Sabin is a cosmopolitan of
+English proclivities."
+
+"Very good, sir!"
+
+"Lock this door. Bring my coat and hat five minutes before the carriage
+starts. Let the servants be well paid. Let none of them attempt to see
+me."
+
+The man bowed and disappeared. Left to himself, Mr. Sabin rose from his
+chair, and pushing open the windows, stood upon the verandah. He leaned
+heavily upon his stick with both hands, holding it before him. Slowly
+his eyes traveled over the landscape.
+
+It was a very beautiful home which he was leaving. Before him stretched
+the gardens--Italian in design, brilliant with flowers, with here and
+there a dark cedar-tree drooping low upon the lawn. A yew hedge bordered
+the rose-garden, a fountain was playing in the middle of a lake. A
+wooden fence encircled the grounds, and beyond was a smooth rolling
+park, with little belts of pine plantations and a few larger trees here
+and there. In the far distance the red flag was waving on one of the
+putting greens. Archie Green was strolling up the hillside,--his pipe
+in his mouth, and his driver under his arm. Mr. Sabin watched, and the
+lines in his face grew deeper and deeper.
+
+"I am an old man," he said softly, "but I will live to see them suffer
+who have done this evil thing."
+
+He turned slowly back into the room, and limping rather more than was
+usual with him, he pushed aside a portiere and passed into a charmingly
+furnished country drawing-room. Only the flowers hung dead in their
+vases; everything else was fresh and sweet and dainty. Slowly he
+threaded his way amongst the elegant Louis Quinze furniture, examining
+as though for the first time the beautiful old tapestry, the Sevres
+china, the Chippendale table, which was priceless, the exquisite
+portraits painted by Greuze, and the mysterious green twilights and
+grey dawns of Corot. Everywhere treasures of art, yet everywhere the
+restraining hand of the artist. The faint smell of dead rose leaves hung
+about the room. Already one seemed conscious of a certain emptiness as
+though the genius of the place had gone. Mr. Sabin leaned heavily upon
+his stick, and his head drooped lower and lower. A soft, respectful
+voice came to him from the other room.
+
+"In five minutes, sir, the carriage will be at the door. I have your
+coat and hat here."
+
+Mr. Sabin looked up.
+
+"I am quite ready, Duson!" he said.
+
+      *           *           *           *           *
+
+The servants in the hall stood respectfully aside to let him pass. On
+the way to the depot he saw nothing of those who saluted him. In the car
+he sat with folded arms in the most retired seat, looking steadfastly
+out of the window at the dying day. There were mountains away westwards,
+touched with golden light; sometimes for long minutes together the train
+was rushing through forests whose darkness was like that of a tunnel.
+Mr. Sabin seemed indifferent to these changes. The coming of night did
+not disturb him. His brain was at work, and the things which he saw were
+hidden from other men.
+
+Duson, with a murmur of apology, broke in upon his meditations.
+
+"You will pardon me, sir, but the second dinner is now being served. The
+restaurant car will be detached at the next stop."
+
+"What of it?" Mr. Sabin asked calmly.
+
+"I have taken the liberty of ordering dinner for you, sir. It is thirty
+hours since you ate anything save biscuits."
+
+Mr. Sabin rose to his feet.
+
+"You are quite right, Duson," he said. "I will dine."
+
+In half-an-hour he was back again. Duson placed before him silently a
+box of cigarettes and matches. Mr. Sabin smoked.
+
+Soon the lights of the great city flared in the sky, the train stopped
+more frequently, the express men and newspaper boys came into evidence.
+Mr. Sabin awoke from his long spell of thought. He bought a newspaper,
+and glanced through the list of steamers which had sailed during the
+week. When the train glided into the depot he was on his feet and ready
+to leave it.
+
+"You will reserve our rooms, Duson, for one month," he said on the way
+to the hotel. "We shall probably leave for Europe a month to-morrow."
+
+"Very good, sir."
+
+"You were Mrs. Peterson's servant, Duson, before you were mine!"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"You have been with her, I believe, for many years. You are doubtless
+much attached to her!"
+
+"Indeed I am, sir!"
+
+"You may have surmised, Duson, that she has left me. I desire to ensure
+your absolute fidelity, so I take you into my confidence to this extent.
+Your mistress is in the hands of those who have some power over her. Her
+absence is involuntary so far as she is concerned. It has been a great
+blow to me. I am prepared to run all risks to discover her whereabouts.
+It is late in my life for adventures, but it is very certain that
+adventures and dangers are before us. In accompanying me you will
+associate yourself with many risks. Therefore--"
+
+Duson held up his hand.
+
+"I beg, sir," he exclaimed, "that you will not suggest for a moment my
+leaving your service on that account. I beg most humbly, sir, that you
+will not do me that injustice."
+
+Mr. Sabin paused. His eyes, like lightning, read the other's face.
+
+"It is settled then, Duson," he said. "Kindly pay this cabman, and
+follow me as quickly as possible."
+
+Mr. Sabin passed across the marble hall, leaning heavily upon his stick.
+Yet for all his slow movements there was a new alertness in his eyes and
+bearing. He was once more taking keen note of everybody and everything
+about him. Only a few days ago she had been here.
+
+He claimed his rooms at the office, and handed the keys to Duson, who by
+this time had rejoined him. At the moment of turning away he addressed
+an inquiry to the clerk behind the counter.
+
+"Can you tell me if the Duchess of Souspennier is staying here?" he
+inquired.
+
+The young man glanced up.
+
+"Been here, I guess. Left on Tuesday."
+
+Mr. Sabin turned away. He did not speak again until Duson and he were
+alone in the sitting-room. Then he drew out a five dollar bill.
+
+"Duson," he said, "take this to the head luggage porter. Tell him to
+bring his departure book up here at once, and there is another waiting
+for him. You understand?"
+
+"Certainly, sir!"
+
+Mr. Sabin turned to enter his bed-chamber. His attention was attracted,
+however, by a letter lying flat upon the table. He took it up. It was
+addressed to Mr. Sabin.
+
+"This is very clever," he mused, hesitating for a moment before opening
+it. "I wired for rooms only a few hours ago--and I find a letter. It is
+the commencement."
+
+He tore open the envelope, and drew out a single half-sheet of
+note-paper. Across it was scrawled a single sentence only.
+
+"Go back to Lenox."
+
+There was no signature, nor any date. The only noticeable thing about
+this brief communication was that it was written in yellow pencil of a
+peculiar shade. Mr. Sabin's eyes glittered as he read.
+
+"The yellow crayon!" he muttered.
+
+Duson knocked softly at the door. Mr. Sabin thrust the letter and
+envelope into his breast coat pocket.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+"This is the luggage porter, sir," Duson announced. "He is prepared to
+answer any questions."
+
+The man took out his book. Mr. Sabin, who was sitting in an easy-chair,
+turned sideways towards him.
+
+"The Duchess of Souspennier was staying here last week," he said. "She
+left, I believe, on Thursday or Friday. Can you tell me whether her
+baggage went through your hands?"
+
+The man set down his hat upon a vacant chair, and turned over the leaves
+of his book.
+
+"Guess I can fix that for you," he remarked, running his forefinger
+down one of the pages. "Here we are. The Duchess left on Friday, and
+we checked her baggage through to Lenox by the New York, New Haven &
+Hartford."
+
+Mr. Sabin nodded.
+
+"Thank you," he said. "She would probably take a carriage to the
+station. It will be worth another ten dollars to you if you can find me
+the man who drove her."
+
+"Well, we ought to manage that for you," the man remarked encouragingly.
+"It was one of Steve Hassell's carriages, I guess, unless the lady took
+a hansom."
+
+"Very good," Mr. Sabin said. "See if you can find him. Keep my inquiries
+entirely to yourself. It will pay you."
+
+"That's all right," the man remarked. "Don't you go to bed for
+half-an-hour, and I guess you'll hear from me again."
+
+Duson busied himself in the bed-chamber, Mr. Sabin sat motionless in
+his easy chair. Soon there came a tap at the door. The porter reappeared
+ushering in a smart-looking young man, who carried a shiny coachman's
+hat in his hand.
+
+"Struck it right fust time," the porter remarked cheerfully. "This is
+the man, sir."
+
+Mr. Sabin turned his head.
+
+"You drove a lady from here to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Depot
+last Friday?" he asked.
+
+"Well, not exactly, sir," the man answered. "The Duchess took my cab,
+and the first address she gave was the New York, New Haven &
+Hartford Depot, but before we'd driven a hundred yards she pulled the
+check-string and ordered me to go to the Waldorf. She paid me there, and
+went into the hotel."
+
+"You have not seen her since?"
+
+"No, sir!"
+
+"You knew her by sight, you say. Was there anything special about her
+appearance?"
+
+The man hesitated.
+
+"She'd a pretty thick veil on, sir, but she raised it to pay me, and I
+should say she'd been crying. She was much paler, too, than last time I
+drove her."
+
+"When was that?" Mr. Sabin asked.
+
+"In the spring, sir,--with you, begging your pardon. You were at the
+Netherlands, and I drove you out several times."
+
+"You seem," Mr. Sabin said, "to be a person with some powers of
+observation. It would pay you very well indeed if you would ascertain
+from any of your mates at the Waldorf when and with whom the lady in
+question left that hotel."
+
+"I'll have a try, sir," the man answered. "The Duchess was better known
+here, but some of them may have recognised her."
+
+"She had no luggage, I presume?" Mr. Sabin asked.
+
+"Her dressing-case and jewel-case only, sir."
+
+"So you see," Mr. Sabin continued, "it is probable that she did not
+remain at the Waldorf for the night. Base your inquiries on that
+supposition."
+
+"Very good, sir."
+
+"From your manners and speech," Mr. Sabin said, raising his head, "I
+should take you to be an Englishman."
+
+"Quite correct, sir," the man answered. "I drove a hansom in London for
+eight years."
+
+"You will understand me then," Mr. Sabin continued, "when I say that I
+have no great confidence in the police of this country. I do not wish
+to be blackmailed or bullied. I would ask you, therefore, to make your
+inquiries with discretion."
+
+"I'll be careful, sir," the man answered.
+
+Mr. Sabin handed to each of them a roll of notes. The cabdriver lingered
+upon the threshold. Mr. Sabin looked up.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Could I speak a word to you--in private, sir?"
+
+Mr. Sabin motioned Duson to leave the room. The baggage porter had
+already departed.
+
+"When I cleaned out my cab at night, sir, I found this. I didn't reckon
+it was of any consequence at first, but from the questions you have been
+asking it may be useful to you."
+
+Mr. Sabin took the half-sheet of note-paper in silence. It was the
+ordinary stationery of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, and the following
+words were written upon it in a faint delicate handwriting, but in
+yellow pencil:--
+
+                                                  "Sept.  10th.
+  "To LUCILLE, Duchesse de SOUSPENNIER.--
+  "You will be at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in the main corridor
+   at four o'clock this afternoon."
+
+The thin paper shook in Mr. Sabin's fingers. There was no signature,
+but he fancied that the handwriting was not wholly unfamiliar to him. He
+looked slowly up towards the cabman.
+
+"I am much obliged to you," he said. "This is of interest to me."
+
+He stretched out his hand to the little wad of notes which Duson had
+left upon the table, but the cabdriver backed away.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," he said. "You've given me plenty. The letter's of no
+value to me. I came very near tearing it up, but for the peculiar colour
+pencil it's written with. Kinder took my fancy, sir."
+
+"The letter is of value," Mr. Sabin said. "It tells me much more than I
+hoped to discover. It is our good fortune."
+
+The man accepted the little roll of bills and departed. Mr. Sabin
+touched the bell.
+
+"Duson, what time is it?"
+
+"Nearly midnight, sir!"
+
+"I will go to bed!"
+
+"Very good, sir!"
+
+"Mix me a sleeping draught, Duson. I need rest. See that I am not
+disturbed until ten o'clock to-morrow morning."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+At precisely ten o'clock on the following morning Duson brought
+chocolate, which he had prepared himself, and some dry toast to his
+master's bedside. Upon the tray was a single letter. Mr. Sabin sat up in
+bed and tore open the envelope. The following words were written upon
+a sheet of the Holland House notepaper in the same peculiar coloured
+crayon.
+
+"The first warning addressed to you yesterday was a friendly one. Profit
+by it. Go back to Lenox. You are only exposing yourself to danger and
+the person you seek to discomfort. Wait there, and some one shall come
+to you shortly who will explain what has happened, and the necessity for
+it."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled, a slow contemplative smile. He sipped his chocolate
+and lit a cigarette.
+
+"Our friends, then," he said softly, "do not care about pursuit and
+inquiries. It is ridiculous to suppose that their warning is given out
+of any consideration to me. Duson!"
+
+"Yes, sir!"
+
+"My bath. I shall rise now."
+
+Mr. Sabin made his toilet with something of the same deliberation which
+characterised all his movements. Then he descended into the hall, bought
+a newspaper, and from a convenient easy-chair kept a close observation
+upon every one who passed to and fro for about an hour. Later on he
+ordered a carriage, and made several calls down town.
+
+At a few minutes past twelve he entered the bar of the Fifth Avenue
+Hotel, and ordering a drink sat down at one of the small tables. The
+room was full, but Mr. Sabin's attention was directed solely to one
+group of men who stood a short distance away before the counter drinking
+champagne. The central person of the group was a big man, with an
+unusually large neck, a fat pale face, a brown moustache tinged with
+grey, and a voice and laugh like a fog-horn. It was he apparently who
+was paying for the champagne, and he was clearly on intimate terms with
+all the party. Mr. Sabin watched for his opportunity, and then rising
+from his seat touched him on the shoulder.
+
+"Mr. Skinner, I believe?" he said quietly.
+
+The big man looked down upon Mr. Sabin with the sullen offensiveness of
+the professional bully.
+
+"You've hit it first time," he admitted. "Who are you, anyway?"
+
+Mr. Sabin produced a card.
+
+"I called this morning," he said, "upon the gentleman whose name you
+will see there. He directed me to you, and told me to come here."
+
+The man tore the card into small pieces.
+
+"So long, boys," he said, addressing his late companions. "See you
+to-night."
+
+They accepted his departure in silence, and one and all favoured Mr.
+Sabin with a stare of blatant curiosity.
+
+"I should be glad to speak with you," Mr. Sabin said, "in a place where
+we are likely to be neither disturbed nor overheard."
+
+"You come right across to my office," was the prompt reply. "I guess we
+can fix it up there."
+
+Mr. Sabin motioned to his coachman, and they crossed Broadway. His
+companion led him into a tall building, talking noisily all the time
+about the pals whom he had just left. An elevator transported them to
+the twelfth floor in little more than as many seconds, and Mr. Skinner
+ushered his visitor into a somewhat bare-looking office, smelling
+strongly of stale tobacco smoke. Mr. Skinner at once lit a cigar, and
+seating himself before his desk, folded his arms and leaned over towards
+Mr. Sabin.
+
+"Smoke one?" he asked, pointing to the open box.
+
+Mr. Sabin declined.
+
+"Get right ahead then."
+
+"I am an Englishman," Mr. Sabin said slowly, "and consequently am not
+altogether at home with your ways over here. I have always understood,
+however, that if you are in need of any special information such as we
+should in England apply to the police for, over here there is a quicker
+and more satisfactory method of procedure."
+
+"You've come a long way round," Mr. Skinner remarked, spitting upon the
+floor, "but you're dead right."
+
+"I am in need of some information," Mr. Sabin continued, "and
+accordingly I called this morning on Mr.--"
+
+Mr. Skinner held up his hand.
+
+"All right," he said. "We don't mention names more than we can help.
+Call him the boss."
+
+"He assured me that the information I was in need of was easily to be
+obtained, and gave me a card to you."
+
+"Go right on," Mr. Skinner said. "What is it?"
+
+"On Friday last," Mr. Sabin said, "at four o'clock, the Duchess of
+Souspennier, whose picture I will presently show you, left the Holland
+House Hotel for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Depot, presumably for
+her home at Lenox, to which place her baggage had already been checked.
+On the way she ordered the cabman to set her down at the Waldorf-Astoria
+Hotel, which he did at a few minutes past four. The Duchess has not
+returned home or been directly heard from since. I wish to ascertain her
+movements since she arrived at the Waldorf."
+
+"Sounds dead easy," Mr. Skinner remarked reassuringly. "Got the
+picture?"
+
+Mr. Sabin touched the spring of a small gold locket which he drew
+from an inside waistcoat pocket, and disclosed a beautifully painted
+miniature. Mr. Skinner's thick lips were pursed into a whistle. He
+was on the point of making a remark when he chanced to glance into Mr.
+Sabin's face. The remark remained unspoken.
+
+He drew a sheet of note-paper towards him and made a few notes upon it.
+
+"The Duchess many friends in New York?"
+
+"At present none. The few people whom she knows here are at Newport or
+in Europe just now."
+
+"Any idea whom she went to the Waldorf to see? More we know the better."
+
+Mr. Sabin handed him the letter which had been picked up in the cab. Mr.
+Skinner read it through, and spat once more upon the floor.
+
+"What the h---'s this funny coloured pencil mean?"
+
+"I do not know," Mr. Sabin answered. "You will see that the two
+anonymous communications which I have received since arriving in New
+York yesterday are written in the same manner."
+
+Mr. Sabin handed him the other two letters, which Mr. Skinner carefully
+perused.
+
+"I guess you'd better tell me who you are," he suggested.
+
+"I am the husband of the Duchess of Souspennier," Mr. Sabin answered.
+
+"The Duchess send any word home at all?" Mr. Skinner asked.
+
+Mr. Sabin produced a worn telegraph form. It was handed in at Fifth
+Avenue, New York, at six o'clock on Friday. It contained the single word
+'Good-bye.'
+
+"H'm," Mr. Skinner remarked. "We'll find all you want to know by
+to-morrow sure."
+
+"What do you make of the two letters which I received?" Mr. Sabin asked.
+
+"Bunkum!" Mr. Skinner replied confidently.
+
+Mr. Sabin nodded his head.
+
+"You have no secret societies over here, I suppose?" he said.
+
+Mr. Skinner laughed loudly and derisively.
+
+"I guess not," he answered. "They keep that sort of rubbish on the other
+side of the pond."
+
+"Ah!"
+
+Mr. Sabin was thoughtful for a moment. "You expect to find, then," he
+remarked, "some other cause for my wife's disappearance?"
+
+"There don't seem much room for doubt concerning that, sir," Mr. Skinner
+said; "but I never speculate. I will bring you the facts to-night
+between eight and eleven. Now as to the business side of it."
+
+Mr. Sabin was for a moment puzzled.
+
+"What's the job worth to you?" Mr. Skinner asked. "I am willing to pay,"
+Mr. Sabin answered, "according to your demands."
+
+"It's a simple case," Mr. Skinner admitted, "but our man at the Waldorf
+is expensive. If you get all your facts, I guess five hundred dollars
+will about see you through."
+
+"I will pay that," Mr. Sabin answered.
+
+"I will bring you the letters back to-night," Mr. Skinner said. "I guess
+I'll borrow that locket of yours, too."
+
+Mr. Sabin shook his head.
+
+"That," he said firmly, "I do not part with." Mr. Skinner scratched his
+ear with his penholder. "It's the only scrap of identifying matter
+we've got," he remarked. "Of course it's a dead simple case, and we can
+probably manage without it. But I guess it's as well to fix the thing
+right down."
+
+"If you will give me a piece of paper," Mr. Sabin said, "I will make you
+a sketch of the Duchess. The larger the better. I can give you an idea
+of the sort of clothes she would probably be wearing."
+
+Mr. Skinner furnished him with a double sheet of paper, and Mr. Sabin,
+with set face and unflinching figures, reproduced in a few simple
+strokes a wonderful likeness of the woman he loved. He pushed it away
+from him when he had finished without remark. Mr. Skinner was loud in
+its praises.
+
+"I guess you're an artist, sir, for sure," he remarked. "This'll fix the
+thing. Shall I come to your hotel?"
+
+"If you please," Mr. Sabin answered. "I shall be there for the rest of
+the day."
+
+Mr. Skinner took up his hat.
+
+"Guess I'll take my dinner and get right to work," he remarked. "Say,
+you come along, Mr. Sabin. I'll take you where they'll fix you such a
+beefsteak as you never tasted in your life."
+
+"I thank you very much," Mr. Sabin said, "but I must beg to be excused.
+I am expecting some despatches at my hotel. If you are successful this
+afternoon you will perhaps do me the honour of dining with me to-night.
+I will wait until eight-thirty."
+
+The two men parted upon the pavement. Mr. Skinner, with his small bowler
+hat on the back of his head, a fresh cigar in the corner of his mouth,
+and his thumbs in the armholes of his waistcoat, strolled along Broadway
+with something akin to a smile parting his lips, and showing his yellow
+teeth.
+
+"Darned old fool," he muttered. "To marry a slap-up handsome woman like
+that, and then pretend not to know what it means when she bolts. Guess
+I'll spoil his supper to-night."
+
+Mr. Sabin, however, was recovering his spirits. He, too, was leaning
+back in the corner of his carriage with a faint smile brightening his
+hard, stern face. But, unlike Mr. Skinner, he did not talk to himself.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+R. Sabin, who was never, for its own sake, fond of solitude, had ordered
+dinner for two at eight-thirty in the general dining-room. At a few
+minutes previous to that hour Mr. Skinner presented himself.
+
+Mr. Skinner was not in the garb usually affected by men of the world
+who are invited to dine out. The long day's exertion, too, had had its
+effect upon his linen. His front, indeed, through a broad gap,
+confessed to a foundation of blue, and one of his cuffs showed a marked
+inclination to escape from his wrist over his knuckles. His face
+was flushed, and he exhaled a strong odour of cigars and cocktails.
+Nevertheless, Mr. Sabin was very glad to see him, and to receive the
+folded sheet of paper which he at once produced.
+
+"I have taken the liberty," Mr. Sabin remarked, on his part, "of adding
+a trifle to the amount we first spoke of, which I beg you will accept
+from me as a mark of my gratitude for your promptness."
+
+"Sure!" Mr. Skinner answered tersely, receiving the little roll of
+bills without hesitation, and retreating into a quiet corner, where
+he carefully counted and examined every one. "That's all right!" he
+announced at the conclusion of his task. "Come and have one with me now
+before you read your little billet-doux, eh?"
+
+"I shall not read your report until after dinner," Mr. Sabin said,
+"and I think if you are ready that we might as well go in. At the
+head-waiter's suggestion I have ordered a cocktail with the oysters,
+and if we are much later he seemed to fear that it might affect the
+condition of the--I think it was terrapin, he said."
+
+Mr. Skinner stopped short. His tone betrayed emotion.
+
+"Did you say terrapin, sir?"
+
+Mr. Sabin nodded. Mr. Skinner at once took his arm.
+
+"Guess we'll go right in," he declared. "I hate to have a good meal
+spoiled."
+
+They were an old-looking couple. Mr. Sabin quietly but faultlessly
+attired in the usual evening dinner garb, Mr. Skinner ill-dressed,
+untidy, unwashed and frowsy. But here at least Mr. Sabin's incognito
+had been unavailing, for he had stayed at the hotel several times--as he
+remembered with an odd little pang--with Lucille, and the head-waiter,
+with a low bow, ushered them to their table. Mr. Skinner saw the
+preparations for their repast, the oysters, the cocktails in tall
+glasses, the magnum of champagne in ice, and chuckled. To take supper
+with a duke was a novelty to him, but he was not shy. He sat down and
+tucked his serviette into his waistcoat, raised his glass, and suddenly
+set it down again.
+
+"The boss!" he exclaimed in amazement.
+
+Mr. Sabin turned his head in the direction which his companion had
+indicated. Coming hastily across the room towards them, already out of
+breath as though with much hurrying, was a thick-set, powerful man, with
+the brutal face and coarse lips of a prizefighter; a beard cropped so
+short as to seem the growth of a few days only covered his chin, and his
+moustache, treated in the same way, was not thick enough to conceal
+a cruel mouth. He was carefully enough dressed, and a great diamond
+flashed from his tie. There was a red mark round his forehead where his
+hat had been, and the perspiration was streaming from his forehead. He
+strode without hesitation to the table where Mr. Sabin and his guest
+were sitting, and without even a glance at the former turned upon his
+myrmidon.
+
+"Where's that report?" he cried roughly. "Where is it?"
+
+Mr. Skinner seemed to have shrunk into a smaller man. He pointed across
+the table.
+
+"I've given it to him," he said. "What's wrong, boss?"
+
+The newcomer raised his hand as though to strike Skinner. He gnashed his
+teeth with the effort to control himself.
+
+"You damned blithering idiot," he said hoarsely, gripping the side of
+the table. "Why wasn't it presented to me first?"
+
+"Guess it didn't seem worth while," Skinner answered. "There's nothing
+in the darned thing."
+
+"You ignorant fool, hold your tongue," was the fierce reply.
+
+The newcomer sank into a chair and wiped the perspiration from his
+streaming forehead. Mr. Sabin signaled to a waiter.
+
+"You seem upset, Mr. Horser," he remarked politely. "Allow me to offer
+you a glass of wine."
+
+Mr. Horser did not immediately reply, but he accepted the glass which
+the waiter brought him, and after a moment's hesitation drained its
+contents. Then he turned to Mr. Sabin.
+
+"You said nothing about those letters you had had when you came to see
+me this morning!"
+
+"It was you yourself," Mr. Sabin reminded him, "who begged me not
+to enter into particulars. You sent me on to Mr. Skinner. I told him
+everything."
+
+Mr. Horser leaned over the table. His eyes were bloodshot, his tone was
+fierce and threatening. Mr. Sabin was coldly courteous. The difference
+between the demeanour of the two men was remarkable.
+
+"You knew what those letters meant! This is a plot! Where is Skinner's
+report?"
+
+Mr. Sabin raised his eyebrows. He signaled to the head-waiter.
+
+"Be so good as to continue the service of my dinner," he ordered. "The
+champagne is a trifle too chilled. You can take it out of the cooler."
+
+The man bowed, with a curious side glance at Horser.
+
+"Certainly, your Grace!"
+
+Horser was almost speechless with anger.
+
+"Are you going to answer my questions?" he demanded thickly.
+
+"I have no particular objection to doing so," Mr. Sabin answered, "but
+until you can sit up and compose yourself like an ordinary individual, I
+decline to enter into any conversation with you at all."
+
+Again Mr. Horser raised his voice, and the glare in his eyes was like
+the glare of a wild beast.
+
+"Do you know who I am?" he asked. "Do you know who you're talking to?"
+
+Mr. Sabin looked at him coolly, and fingered his wineglass.
+
+"Well," he said, "I've a shocking memory for names, but yours is--Mr.
+Horser, isn't it? I heard it for the first time this morning, and my
+memory will generally carry me through four-and-twenty hours."
+
+There was a moment's silence. Horser was no fool. He accepted his defeat
+and dropped the bully.
+
+"You're a stranger in this city, Mr. Sabin, and I guess you aren't
+altogether acquainted with our ways yet," he said. "But I want you
+to understand this. The report which is in your pocket has got to be
+returned to me. If I'd known what I was meddling with I wouldn't have
+touched your business for a hundred thousand dollars. It's got to be
+returned to me, I say!" he repeated in a more threatening tone.
+
+Mr. Sabin helped himself to fish, and made a careful examination of the
+sauce.
+
+"After all," he said meditatively, "I am not sure that I was wise in
+insisting upon a sauce piquante. I beg your pardon, Mr. Horser. Please
+do not think me inattentive, but I am very hungry. So, I believe, is my
+friend, Mr. Skinner. Will you not join us--or perhaps you have already
+dined?"
+
+There was an ugly flush in Mr. Horser's cheeks, but he struggled to keep
+his composure.
+
+"Will you give me back that report?"
+
+"When I have read it, with pleasure," Mr. Sabin answered. "Before, no."
+
+Mr. Horser swallowed an exceedingly vicious oath. He struck the table
+lightly with his forefinger.
+
+"Look here," he said. "If you'd lived in New York a couple of years,
+even a couple of months, you wouldn't talk like that. I tell you that
+I hold the government of this city in my right hand. I don't want to be
+unpleasant, but if that paper is not in my hands by the time you leave
+this table I shall have you arrested as you leave this room, and the
+papers taken from you."
+
+"Dear me," Mr. Sabin said, "this is serious. On what charge may I ask
+should I be exposed to this inconvenience?"
+
+"Charge be damned!" Mr. Horser answered. "The police don't want
+particulars from me. When I say do a thing they do it. They know that if
+they declined it would be their last day on the force."
+
+Mr. Sabin filled his glass and leaned back in his chair.
+
+"This," he remarked, "is interesting. I am always glad to have the
+opportunity of gaining an insight into the customs of different
+countries. I had an idea that America was a country remarkable for the
+amount of liberty enjoyed by its inhabitants. Your proposed course of
+action seems scarcely in keeping with this."
+
+"What are you going to do? Come, I've got to have an answer."
+
+"I don't quite understand," Mr. Sabin remarked, with a puzzled look,
+"what your official position is in connection with the police."
+
+Mr. Horser's face was a very ugly sight. "Oh, curse my official
+position," he exclaimed thickly. "If you want proof of what I say you
+shall have it in less than five minutes. Skinner, be off and fetch a
+couple of constables."
+
+"I really must protest," Mr. Sabin said. "Mr. Skinner is my guest, and
+I will not have him treated in this fashion, just as the terrapin is
+coming in, too. Sit down, Mr. Skinner, sit down. I will settle this
+matter with you in my room, Mr. Horser, after I have dined. I will not
+even discuss it before."
+
+Mr. Horser opened his mouth twice, and closed it again. He knew that his
+opponent was simply playing to gain time, but, after all, he held the
+trump card. He could afford to wait. He turned to a waiter and ordered a
+cigar. Mr. Sabin and Mr. Skinner continued their dinner.
+
+Conversation was a little difficult, though Mr. Sabin showed no signs of
+an impaired appetite. Skinner was white with fear, and glanced every now
+and then nervously at his chief. Mr. Horser smoked without ceasing, and
+maintained an ominous silence. Mr. Sabin at last, with a sigh, rose,
+and lighting a cigarette, took his stick from the waiter and prepared to
+leave.
+
+"I fear, Mr. Horser," he remarked, "that your presence has scarcely
+contributed to the cheerfulness of our repast. Mr. Skinner, am I to be
+favoured with your company also upstairs?"
+
+Horser clutched that gentleman's arm and whispered a few words in his
+ear.
+
+"Mr. Skinner," he said, "will join us presently. What is your number?"
+
+"336," Mr. Sabin answered. "You will excuse my somewhat slow progress."
+
+They crossed the hall and entered the elevator. Mr. Horser's face
+began to clear. In a moment or two they would be in Mr. Sabin's
+sitting-room-alone. He regarded with satisfaction the other's slim,
+delicate figure and the limp with which he moved. He felt that the
+danger was already over.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+BUT, after all, things did not exactly turn out as Mr. Horser had
+imagined. The sight of the empty room and the closed door were
+satisfactory enough, and he did not hesitate for a moment.
+
+"Look here, sir," he said, "you and I are going to settle this matter
+quick. Whatever you paid Skinner you can have back again. But I'm going
+to have that report."
+
+He took a quick step forward with uplifted hand--and looked into the
+shining muzzle of a tiny revolver. Behind it Mr. Sabin's face, no longer
+pleasant and courteous, had taken to itself some very grim lines.
+
+"I am a weak man, Mr. Horser, but I am never without the means of
+self-defence," Mr. Sabin said in a still, cold tone. "Be so good as to
+sit down in that easy-chair."
+
+Mr. Horser hesitated. For one moment he stood as though about to carry
+out his first intention. He stood glaring at his opponent, his face
+contracted into a snarl, his whole appearance hideous, almost bestial.
+Mr. Sabin smiled upon him contemptuously--the maddening, compelling
+smile of the born aristocrat.
+
+"Sit down!"
+
+Mr. Horser sat down, whereupon Mr. Sabin followed suit.
+
+"Now what have you to say to me?" Mr. Sabin asked quietly.
+
+"I want that report," was the dogged answer.
+
+"You will not have it," Mr. Sabin answered. "You can take that for
+granted. You shall not take it from me by force, and I will see that you
+do not charm it out of my pocket by other means. The information which
+it contains is of the utmost possible importance to me. I have bought it
+and paid for it, and I shall use it."
+
+Mr. Horser moistened his dry lips.
+
+"I will give you," he said, "twenty thousand dollars for its return."
+
+Mr. Sabin laughed softly.
+
+"You bid high," he said. "I begin to suspect that our friends on the
+other side of the water have been more than ordinarily kind to you."
+
+"I will give you--forty thousand dollars."
+
+Mr. Sabin raised his eyebrows.
+
+"So much? After all, that sounds more like fear than anything. You
+cannot hope to make a profitable deal out of that. Dear me! It seems
+only a few minutes ago that I heard your interesting friend, Mr.
+Skinner, shake with laughter at the mention of such a thing as a secret
+society."
+
+"Skinner is a blasted fool," Horser exclaimed fiercely. "Listen here,
+Mr. Sabin. You can read that report if you must, but, as I'm a living
+man you'll not stir from New York if you do. I'll make your life a hell
+for you. Don't you understand that no one but a born fool would dare
+to quarrel with me in this city? I hold the prison keys, the police
+are mine. I shall make my own charge, whatever I choose, and they shall
+prove it for me."
+
+Mr. Sabin shook his head.
+
+"This sounds very shocking," he remarked. "I had no idea that the
+largest city of the most enlightened country in the world was in such a
+sorry plight."
+
+"Oh, curse your sarcasm," Mr. Horser said. "I'm talking facts, and
+you've got to know them. Will you give up that report? You can find out
+all there is in it for yourself. But I'm going to give it you straight.
+If I don't have that report back unread, you'll never leave New York."
+
+Mr. Sabin was genuinely amused.
+
+"My good fellow," he said, "you have made yourself a notorious person in
+this country by dint of incessant bullying and bribing and corruption of
+every sort. You may possess all the powers you claim. Your only
+mistake seems to be that you are too thick-headed to know when you are
+overmatched. I have been a diplomatist all my life," Mr. Sabin said,
+rising slowly to his feet, and with a sudden intent look upon his face,
+"and if I were to be outwitted by such a novice as you I should deserve
+to end my days--in New York."
+
+Mr. Horser rose also to his feet. A smile of triumph was on his lips.
+
+"Well," he said, "we-- Come in! Come in!" The door was thrown open.
+Skinner and two policemen entered. Mr. Sabin leaned towards the wall,
+and in a second the room was plunged in darkness.
+
+"Turn on the lights!" Skinner shouted. "Seize him! He's in that
+corner. Use your clubs!" Horser bawled. "Stand by the door one of you.
+Damnation, where is that switch?"
+
+He found it with a shout of triumph. Lights flared out in the room. They
+stared around into every corner. Mr. Sabin was not there. Then Horser
+saw the door leading into the bed-chamber, and flung himself against it
+with a hoarse cry of rage.
+
+"Break it open!" he cried to the policemen.
+
+They hammered upon it with their clubs. Mr. Sabin's quiet voice came to
+them from the other side.
+
+"Pray do not disturb me, gentlemen," he said. "I am reading."
+
+"Break it open, you damned fools!" Horser cried. They battered at it
+sturdily, but the door was a solid one. Suddenly they heard the key turn
+in the lock. Mr. Sabin stood upon the threshold.
+
+"Gentlemen!" he exclaimed. "These are my private apartments. Why this
+violence?"
+
+He held out the paper.
+
+"This is mine," he said. "The information which it contains is bought
+and paid for. But if the giving it up will procure me the privilege of
+your departure, pray take it."
+
+Horser was purple with rage. He pointed with shaking fist to the still,
+calm figure.
+
+"Arrest him," he ordered. "Take him to the cells."
+
+Mr. Sabin shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I am ready," he said, "but it is only fair to give you this warning. I
+am the Duke of Souspennier, and I am well known in England and France.
+The paper which you saw me hand to the porter in the hall as we stepped
+into the elevator was a despatch in cipher to the English Ambassador at
+Washington, claiming his protection. If you take me to prison to-night
+you will have him to deal with to-morrow."
+
+Mr. Horser bore himself in defeat better than at any time during the
+encounter. He turned to the constables.
+
+"Go down stairs and wait for me in the hall," he ordered. "You too,
+Skinner."
+
+They left the room. Horser turned to Mr. Sabin, and the veins on his
+forehead stood out like whipcord.
+
+"I know when I'm beaten," he said. "Keep your report, and be damned to
+you. But remember that you and I have a score to settle, and you can ask
+those who know me how often Dick Horser comes out underneath in the long
+run."
+
+He followed the others. Mr. Sabin sat down in his easy-chair with
+a quiet smile upon his lips. Once more he glanced through the brief
+report. Then his eyes half closed, and he sat quite still--a tired,
+weary-looking man, almost unnaturally pale.
+
+"They have kept their word," he said softly to himself, "after many
+years. After many years!"
+
+      *           *           *           *           *
+
+Duson came in to undress him shortly afterwards. He saw signs of the
+struggle, but made no comment. Mr. Sabin, after a moment's hesitation,
+took a phial from his pocket and poured a few drops into a wineglassful
+of water.
+
+"Duson," he said, "bring me some despatch forms and a pencil."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+Mr. Sabin wrote for several moments. Then he placed the forms in an
+envelope, sealed it, and handed it to Duson.
+
+"Duson," he said, "that fellow Horser is annoyed with me. If I should
+be arrested on any charge, or should fail to return to the hotel within
+reasonable time, break that seal and send off the telegrams."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+Mr. Sabin yawned.
+
+"I need sleep," he said. "Do not call me to-morrow morning until I ring.
+And, Duson!"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"The Campania will sail from New York somewhere about the tenth of
+October. I wish to secure the whole of stateroom number twenty-eight. Go
+round to the office as soon as they open, secure that room if possible,
+and pay a deposit. No other will do. Also one for yourself."
+
+"Very good, sir."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+"Here's a lady inquiring for you, sir--just gone up to your room in the
+elevator," the hotel clerk remarked to Mr. Sabin as he paused on his way
+to the door to hand in his key. "Shall I send a boy up?"
+
+Mr. Sabin hesitated.
+
+"A lady?" he remarked tentatively.
+
+The hotel clerk nodded.
+
+"Yes. I didn't notice the name, but she was an Englishwoman. I'll send
+up."
+
+"Thank you, I will return," Mr. Sabin said. "If I should miss her on the
+way perhaps you will kindly redirect her to my rooms."
+
+He rang for the elevator, and was swiftly transported to his own floor.
+The door of his sitting-room was open. Duson was talking to a tall fair
+woman, who turned swiftly round at the sound of his approach.
+
+"Ah, they found you, then!" she exclaimed, coming towards him with
+outstretched hands. "Isn't this a strange place and a strange country
+for us to meet once more in?"
+
+He greeted her gallantly, but with a certain reserve, of which she was
+at once aware.
+
+"Are there any countries in the world left which are strange to so great
+a traveler as Lady Muriel Carey?" he said. "The papers here have been
+full of your wonderful adventures in South Africa."
+
+She laughed.
+
+"Everything shockingly exaggerated, of course," she declared. "I have
+really been plagued to death since I got here with interviewers, and
+that sort of person. I wonder if you know how glad I am to see you
+again?"
+
+"You are very kind, indeed," he said. "Certainly there was no one whom
+I expected less to see over here. You have come for the yacht races, I
+suppose?"
+
+She looked at him with a faint smile and raised eyebrows.
+
+"Come," she said, "shall we lie to one another? Is it worth while?
+Candour is so much more original."
+
+"Candour by all means then, I beg," he answered.
+
+"I have come over with the Dalkeiths, ostensibly to see the yacht races.
+Really I have come to see you."
+
+Mr. Sabin bowed.
+
+"I am delightfully flattered," he murmured.
+
+"I don't exactly mean for the pleasure of gazing into your face once
+more," she continued. "I have a mission!"
+
+Mr. Sabin looked up quickly.
+
+"Great heavens! You, too!" he exclaimed.
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Why not?" she asked coolly. "I have been in it for years, you know,
+and when I got back from South Africa everything seemed so terribly slow
+that I begged for some work to do."
+
+"And they sent you here--to me?"
+
+"Yes," she answered, "and I was here also a few weeks ago, but you must
+not ask me anything about that."
+
+Mr. Sabin's eyebrows contracted, his face darkened. She shrank a little
+away from him.
+
+"So it is you who have robbed me of her, then," he said slowly. "Yes,
+the description fits you well enough. I ask you, Lady Carey, to remember
+the last time when chance brought you and me together. Have I deserved
+this from you?"
+
+She made a little gesture of impotence.
+
+"Do be reasonable!" she begged. "What choice had I?"
+
+He looked at her steadfastly.
+
+"The folly of women--of clever women such as you," he said, "is
+absolutely amazing. You have deliberately made a slave of yourself--"
+
+"One must have distraction," she murmured.
+
+"Distraction! And so you play at this sort of thing. Is it worth while?"
+
+Her eyes for a moment clouded over with weariness.
+
+"When one has filled the cup of life to the brim for many years," she
+said, "what remains that is worth while?"
+
+He bowed.
+
+"You are a young woman," he said. "You should not yet have learned to
+speak with such bitterness. As for me--well, I am old indeed. In youth
+and age the affections claim us. I am approaching my second childhood."
+
+She laughed derisively, yet not unkindly. "What folly!" she exclaimed.
+
+"You are right," he admitted. "I suppose it is the fault of old
+associations."
+
+"In a few minutes," she said, smiling at him, "we should have become
+sentimental."
+
+"I," he admitted, "was floundering already."
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"You talk as though sentiment were a bog."
+
+"There have been worse similes," he declared.
+
+"How horrid! And do you know, sir, for all your indignation you have not
+yet even inquired after your wife's health."
+
+"I trust," he said, "that she is well."
+
+"She is in excellent health."
+
+"Your second visit to this country," he remarked, "follows very swiftly
+upon your first."
+
+She nodded.
+
+"I am here," she said, "on your account."
+
+"You excite my interest," he declared. "May I know your mission?"
+
+"I have to remind you of your pledge," she said, "to assure you of
+Lucille's welfare, and to prevent your leaving the country."
+
+"Marvelous!" he exclaimed, with a slight mocking smile. "And may I ask
+what means you intend to employ to keep me here?"
+
+"Well," she said, "I have large discretionary powers. We have a very
+strong branch over on this side, but I would very much rather induce you
+to stay here without applying to them."
+
+"And the inducements?" he asked.
+
+She took a cigarette from a box which stood on the table and lit one.
+
+"Well," she said, "I might appeal to your hospitality, might I not? I am
+in a strange country which you have made your home. I want to be shown
+round. Do you remember dining with me one night at the Ambassador's? It
+was very hot, even for Paris, and we drove afterwards in the Bois. Ask
+me to dine with you here, won't you? I have never quite forgotten the
+last time."
+
+Mr. Sabin laughed softly, but with undisguised mirth.
+
+"Come," he said, "this is an excellent start. You are to play the Circe
+up to date, and I am to be beguiled. How ought I to answer you? I do
+remember the Ambassador's, and I do remember driving down the Bois in
+your victoria, and holding--I believe I am right--your hand. You have no
+right to disturb those charming memories by attempting to turn them into
+bathos."
+
+She blew out a little cloud of tobacco smoke, and watched it
+thoughtfully.
+
+"Ah!" she remarked. "I wonder who is better at that, you or I? I may not
+be exactly a sentimental person, but you--you are a flint."
+
+"On the contrary," Mr. Sabin assured her earnestly, "I am very much in
+love with my wife."
+
+"Dear me!" she exclaimed. "You carry originality to quixoticism. I have
+met several men before in my life whom I have suspected of such a thing,
+but I never heard any one confess it. This little domestic contretemps
+is then, I presume, disagreeable to you!"
+
+"To the last degree," Mr. Sabin asserted. "So much so that I leave for
+England by the Campania."
+
+She shook her head slowly.
+
+"I wouldn't if I were you."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+Lady Carey threw away the end of her cigarette, and looked for a moment
+thoughtfully at her long white fingers glittering with rings. Then she
+began to draw on her gloves.
+
+"Well, in the first place," she said, "Lucille will have no time
+to spare for you. You will be de trop in decidedly an uncomfortable
+position. You wouldn't find London at all a good place to live in just
+now, even if you ever got there--which I am inclined to doubt. And
+secondly, here am I--"
+
+"Circe!" he murmured.
+
+"Waiting to be entertained, in a strange country, almost friendless.
+I want to be shown everything, taken everywhere. And I am dying to see
+your home at Lenox. I do not think your attitude towards me in the least
+hospitable."
+
+"Come, you are judging me very quickly," he declared. "What
+opportunities have I had?"
+
+"What opportunities can there be if you sail by the Campania?"
+
+"You might dine with me to-night at least."
+
+"Impossible! The Dalkeiths have a party to meet me. Come too, won't you?
+They love dukes--even French ones."
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"There is no attraction for me in a large party," he answered. "I am
+getting to an age when to make conversation in return for a dinner seems
+scarcely a fair exchange."
+
+"From your host's point of view, or yours?"
+
+"From both! Besides, one's digestion suffers."
+
+"You are certainly getting old," she declared. "Come, I must go. You
+haven't been a bit nice to me. When shall I see you again?"
+
+"It is," he answered, "for you to say."
+
+She looked at him for a moment thoughtfully.
+
+"Supposing," she said, "that I cried off the yacht race to-day. Would
+you take me out to lunch?"
+
+He smiled.
+
+"My dear lady," he said, "it is for Circe to command--and for me to
+obey."
+
+"And you'll come and have tea with me afterwards at the Waldorf?"
+
+"That," Mr. Sabin declared, "will add still further to my happiness."
+
+"Will you call for me, then--and where shall we have lunch, and at
+what time? I must go and develop a headache at once, or that tiresome
+Dalkeith boy will be pounding at my door."
+
+"I will call for you at the Waldorf at half-past one," Mr. Sabin said.
+"Unless you have any choice, I will take you to a little place downtown
+where we can imagine ourselves back on the Continent, and where we shall
+be spared the horror of green corn."
+
+"Delightful," she murmured, buttoning her glove. "Then you shall take
+me for a drive to Fifth Avenue, or to see somebody's tomb, and my woman
+shall make some real Russian tea for us in my sitting-room. Really, I
+think I'm doing very well for the first day. Is the spell beginning to
+work?"
+
+"Hideously," he assured her. "I feel already that the only thing I dread
+in life are these two hours before luncheon."
+
+She nodded.
+
+"That is quite as it should be. Don't trouble to come down with me. I
+believe that Dalkeith pere is hanging round somewhere, and in view of my
+headache perhaps you had better remain in the background for the moment.
+At one-thirty, then!"
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled as she passed out of the room, and lit a cigarette.
+
+"I think," he said to himself, "that the arrival of Felix is opportune."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+They sat together at a small table, looking upon a scene which was
+probably unique in the history of the great restaurant. The younger man
+was both frankly interested and undoubtedly curious. Mr. Sabin, though
+his eyes seemed everywhere, retained to the full extent that nonchalance
+of manner which all his life he had so assiduously cultivated.
+
+"It is wonderful, my dear Felix," he said, leisurely drawing his
+cigarette-case from his pocket, "wonderful what good fellowship can
+be evolved by a kindred interest in sport, and a bottle or so of good
+champagne. But, after all, this is not to be taken seriously."
+
+"Shamrock the fourth! Shamrock the fourth!"
+
+A tall young American, his thick head of hair, which had once been
+carefully parted in the middle, a little disheveled, his hard, clean-cut
+face flushed with enthusiasm, had risen to his feet and stood with a
+brimming glass of champagne high over his head. Almost every one in the
+room rose to their feet. A college boy sprang upon a table with extended
+arms. The Yale shout split the room. The very glasses on the table
+rattled.
+
+"Columbia! Columbia!"
+
+It was an Englishman now who had leaped upon a vacant table with
+upraised glass. There was an answering roar of enthusiasm. Every one
+drank, and every one sat down again with a pleasant thrill of excitement
+at this unique scene. Felix leaned back in his chair and marveled.
+
+"One would have imagined," he murmured, "that America and England
+together were at war with the rest of the world and had won a great
+victory. To think that this is all the result of a yacht race. It is
+incredible!"
+
+"All your life, my dear Felix," Mr. Sabin remarked, "you have underrated
+the sporting instinct. It has a great place amongst the impulses of the
+world. See how it has brought these people together."
+
+"But they are already of the same kin," Felix remarked. "Their interests
+and aims are alike. Their destinies are surely identical."
+
+Mr. Sabin, who had lit his cigarette, watched the blue smoke curl
+upwards, and was thoughtful for a moment.
+
+"My dear Felix!" he said. "You are very, very young. The interests of
+two great nations such as America and England can never be alike. It is
+the language of diplomacy, but it is also the language of fools."
+
+Their conversation was for the moment interrupted by a fresh murmur of
+applause, rising above the loved hum of conversation, the laughter of
+women, and the popping of corks. A little troop of waiters had just
+wheeled into the room two magnificent models of yachts hewn out of
+blocks of solid ice and crowned with flowers. On the one were the Stars
+and Stripes, on the other the Shamrock and Thistle. There was much
+clapping of hands and cheering. Lady Carey, who was sitting at the next
+table with her back to them, joined in the applause so heartily that
+a tiny gold pencil attached to her bracelet became detached and rolled
+unobserved to Mr. Sabin's side. Felix half rose to pick it up, but was
+suddenly checked by a quick gesture from his companion.
+
+"Leave it," Mr. Sabin whispered. "I wish to return it myself."
+
+He stooped and picked it up, a certain stealthiness apparent in his
+movement. Felix watched him in amazement.
+
+"It is Lady Carey's, is it not?" he asked.
+
+"Yes. Be silent. I will give it back to her presently."
+
+A waiter served them with coffee. Mr. Sabin was idly sketching something
+on the back of his menu card. Felix broke into a little laugh as the man
+retired.
+
+"Mysterious as ever," he remarked.
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled quietly. He went on with his sketch.
+
+"I do not want," Felix said, "to seem impatient, but you must remember
+that I have come all the way from Europe in response to a very urgent
+message. As yet I have done nothing except form a very uncomfortable
+third at a luncheon and tea party, and listen to a good deal of
+enigmatic conversation between you and the charming Lady Carey. This
+evening I made sure that I should be enlightened. But no! You have given
+me a wonderful dinner--from you I expected it. We have eaten terrapin,
+canvas-back duck, and many other things the names of which alone were
+known to me. But of the reason for which you have summoned me here--I
+know nothing. Not one word have you spoken. I am beginning to fear from
+your avoidance of the subject that there is some trouble between you and
+Lucille. I beg that you will set my anxiety at rest."
+
+Mr. Sabin nodded.
+
+"It is reasonable," he said. "Look here!"
+
+He turned the menu card round. On the back he had sketched some sort of
+a device with the pencil which he had picked up, and which instead of
+black-lead contained a peculiar shade of yellow crayon. Felix sat as
+though turned to stone.
+
+"Try," Mr. Sabin said smoothly, "and avoid that air of tragedy. Some of
+these good people might be curious."
+
+Felix leaned across the table. He pointed to the menu card.
+
+"What does that mean?" he muttered.
+
+Mr. Sabin contemplated it himself thoughtfully. "Well," he said, "I
+rather thought that you might be able to explain that to me. I have
+an idea that there is a society in Europe--sort of aristocratic
+odd-fellows, you know--who had adopted it for their crest. Am I not
+right?"
+
+Felix looked at him steadfastly.
+
+"Tell me two things," he said. "First, why you sent for me, and
+secondly, what do you mean--by that?"
+
+"Lucille," Mr. Sabin said, "has been taken away from me."
+
+"Lucille! Great God!"
+
+"She has been taken away from me," Mr. Sabin said, "without a single
+word of warning."
+
+Felix pointed to the menu card.
+
+"By them?" he asked.
+
+"By them. It was a month ago. Two days before my cable."
+
+Felix was silent for several moments. He had not the self-command of his
+companion, and he feared to trust himself to speech.
+
+"She has been taken to Europe," Mr. Sabin continued. "I do not know, I
+cannot even guess at the reason. She left no word. I have been warned
+not to follow her."
+
+"You obey?"
+
+"I sail to-morrow."
+
+"And I?" Felix asked.
+
+Mr. Sabin looked for, a moment at the drawing on the back of the menu
+card, and up at Felix. Felix shook his head.
+
+"You must know," he said, "that I am powerless."
+
+"You may be able to help me," Mr. Sabin said, "without compromising
+yourself."
+
+"Impossible!" Felix declared. "But what did they want with Lucille?"
+
+"That," Mr. Sabin said, "is what I am desirous of knowing. It is what I
+trust that you, my dear Felix, may assist me to discover."
+
+"You are determined, then, to follow her?"
+
+Mr. Sabin helped himself to a liqueur from the bottle by his side.
+
+"My dear Felix," he said reproachfully, "you should know me better than
+to ask me such a question."
+
+Felix moved uneasily in his chair.
+
+"Of course," he said, "it depends upon how much they want to keep you
+apart. But you know that you are running great risks?"
+
+"Why, no," Mr. Sabin said. "I scarcely thought that. I have understood
+that the society was by no means in its former flourishing condition."
+
+Felix laughed scornfully.
+
+"They have never been," he answered, "richer or more powerful. During
+the last twelve months they have been active in every part of Europe."
+
+Mr. Sabin's face hardened.
+
+"Very well!" he said. "We will try their strength."
+
+"We!" Felix laughed shortly. "You forget that my hands are tied. I
+cannot help you or Lucille. You must know that."
+
+"You cannot interfere directly," Mr. Sabin admitted. "Yet you are
+Lucille's brother, and I am forced to appeal to you. If you will be my
+companion for a little while I think I can show you how you can help
+Lucille at any rate, and yet run no risk."
+
+The little party at the next table were breaking up at last. Lady Carey,
+pale and bored, with tired, swollen eyes--they were always a little
+prominent--rose languidly and began to gather together her belongings.
+As she did so she looked over the back of her chair and met Mr. Sabin's
+eyes. He rose at once and bowed. She cast a quick sidelong glance at her
+companions, which he at once understood.
+
+"I have the honour, Lady Carey," he said, "of recalling myself to your
+recollection. We met in Paris and London not so very many years ago. You
+perhaps remember the cardinal's dinner?"
+
+A slight smile flickered upon her lips. The man's adroitness always
+excited her admiration.
+
+"I remember it perfectly, and you, Duke," she answered. "Have you made
+your home on this side of the water?"
+
+Mr. Sabin shook his head slowly.
+
+"Home!" he repeated. "Ah, I was always a bird of passage, you remember.
+Yet I have spent three very delightful years in this country."
+
+"And I," she said, lowering her tone and leaning towards him, "one very
+stupid, idiotic day."
+
+Mr. Sabin assumed the look of a man who denies any personal
+responsibility in an unfortunate happening.
+
+"It was regrettable," he murmured, "but I assure you that it was
+unavoidable. Lucille's brother must have a certain claim upon me, and it
+was his first day in America."
+
+She was silent for a moment. Then she turned abruptly towards the door.
+Her friends were already on the way.
+
+"Come with me," she said. "I want to speak to you."
+
+He followed her out into the lobby. Felix came a few paces behind. The
+restaurant was still full of people, the hum of conversation almost
+drowning the music. Every one glanced curiously at Lady Carey, who was a
+famous woman. She carried herself with a certain insolent indifference,
+the national deportment of her sex and rank. The women whispered
+together that she was "very English."
+
+In the lobby she turned suddenly upon Mr. Sabin.
+
+"Will you take me back to my hotel?" she asked pointedly.
+
+"I regret that I cannot," he answered. "I have promised to show Felix
+some of the wonders of New York by night."
+
+"You can take him to-morrow."
+
+"To-morrow," Mr. Sabin said, "he leaves for the West."
+
+She looked closely into his impassive face.
+
+"I suppose that you are lying," she said shortly.
+
+"Your candour," he answered coldly, "sometimes approaches brutality."
+
+She leaned towards him, her face suddenly softened.
+
+"We are playing a foolish game with one another," she murmured. "I offer
+you an alliance, my friendship, perhaps my help."
+
+"What can I do," he answered gravely, "save be grateful--and accept?"
+
+"Then--"
+
+She stopped short. It was Mr. Sabin's luck which had intervened. Herbert
+Daikeith stood at her elbow.
+
+"Lady Carey," he said, "they're all gone but the mater and I. Forgive my
+interrupting you," he added hastily.
+
+"You can go on, Herbert," she added. "The Duc de Souspennier will bring
+me."
+
+Mr. Sabin, who had no intention of doing anything of the sort, turned
+towards the young man with a smile.
+
+"Lady Carey has not introduced us," he said, "but I have seen you at
+Ranelagh quite often. If you are still keen on polo you should have a
+try over here. I fancy you would find that these American youngsters can
+hold their own. All right, Felix, I am ready now. Lady Carey, I shall do
+myself the honour of waiting upon you early to-morrow morning, as I have
+a little excursion to propose. Good-night."
+
+She shrugged her shoulders ever so slightly as she turned away. Mr.
+Sabin smiled--faintly amused. He turned to Felix.
+
+"Come," he said, "we have no time to lose."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+"I regret," Mr. Sabin said to Felix as they sat side by side in the
+small coupe, "that your stay in this country will be so brief."
+
+"Indeed," Felix answered. "May I ask what you call brief?"
+
+Mr. Sabin looked out of the carriage window.
+
+"We are already," he said, "on the way to England."
+
+Felix laughed.
+
+"This," he said, "is like old times."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled.
+
+"The system of espionage here," he remarked, "is painfully primitive. It
+lacks finesse and judgment. The fact that I have taken expensive rooms
+on the Campania, and that I have sent many packages there, that my
+own belongings are still in my rooms untouched, seems to our friends
+conclusive evidence that I am going to attempt to leave America by that
+boat. They have, I believe, a warrant for my arrest on some ridiculous
+charge which they intend to present at the last moment. They will not
+have the opportunity."
+
+"But there is no other steamer sailing to-morrow, is there?" Felix
+asked.
+
+"Not from New York," Mr. Sabin answered, "but it was never my intention
+to sail from New York. We are on our way to Boston now, and we sail in
+the Saxonia at six o'clock to-morrow morning."
+
+"We appear to be stopping at the Waldorf," Felix remarked.
+
+"It is quite correct," Mr. Sabin answered. "Follow me through the hall
+as quickly as possible. There is another carriage waiting at the other
+entrance, and I expect to find in it Duson and my dressing-case."
+
+They alighted and made their way though the crowded vestibules. At
+the Thirty-fourth Street entrance a carriage was drawn up. Duson was
+standing upon the pavement, his pale, nervous face whiter than ever
+under the electric light. Mr. Sabin stopped short.
+
+"Felix," he said, "one word. If by any chance things have gone wrong
+they will not have made any arrangements to detain you. Catch the
+midnight train to Boston and embark on the Saxonia. There will be
+a cable for you at Liverpool. But the moment you leave me send this
+despatch."
+
+Felix nodded and put the crumpled-up piece of paper in his pocket.
+The two men passed on. Duson took off his hat, but his fingers were
+trembling. The carriage door was opened and a tall, spare man descended.
+
+"This is Mr. Sabin?" he remarked.
+
+Mr. Sabin bowed.
+
+"That is my name," he admitted, "by which I have been generally called
+in this democratic country. What is your business with me?"
+
+"I rather guess that you're my prisoner," the man answered. "If you'll
+step right in here we can get away quietly."
+
+"The suggestion," Mr. Sabin remarked, "sounds inviting, but I am
+somewhat pressed for time. Might I inquire the nature of the charge you
+have against me?"
+
+"They'll tell you that at the office," the man answered. "Get in,
+please."
+
+Mr. Sabin looked around for Felix, but he had disappeared. He took out
+his cigarette-case.
+
+"You will permit me first to light a cigarette," he remarked.
+
+"All right! Only look sharp."
+
+Mr. Sabin kept silence in the carriage. The drive was a long one. When
+they descended he looked up at Duson, who sat upon the box.
+
+"Duson," he said, and his voice, though low, was terrible, "I see that I
+can be mistaken in men. You are a villain."
+
+The man sprung to his feet, hat in hand. His face was wrung with
+emotion.
+
+"Your Grace," he said, "it is true that I betrayed you. But I did it
+without reward. I am a ruined man. I did it because the orders which
+came to me were such as I dare not disobey. Here are your keys, your
+Grace, and money."
+
+Mr. Sabin looked at him steadily.
+
+"You, too, Duson?"
+
+"I too, alas, your Grace!"
+
+Mr. Sabin considered for a moment.
+
+"Duson," he said, "I retain you in my service. Take my luggage on board
+the Campania to-morrow afternoon, and pay the bill at the hotel. I shall
+join you on the boat."
+
+Duson was amazed. The man who was standing by laughed.
+
+"If you take my advice, sir," he remarked, "you'll order your clothes
+to be sent here. I've a kind of fancy the Campania will sail without you
+to-morrow."
+
+"You have my orders, Duson," Mr. Sabin said. "You can rely upon seeing
+me."
+
+The detective led the way into the building, and opened the door leading
+into a large, barely furnished office.
+
+"Chief's gone home for the night, I guess," he remarked. "We can fix up
+a shakedown for you in one of the rooms behind."
+
+"I thank you," Mr. Sabin said, sitting down in a high-backed wooden
+chair; "I decline to move until the charge against me is properly
+explained."
+
+"There is no one here to do it just now," the man answered. "Better make
+yourself comfortable for a bit."
+
+"You detain me here, then," Mr. Sabin said, "without even a sight of
+your warrant or any intimation as to the charge against me?"
+
+"Oh, the chief'll fix all that," the man answered. "Don't you worry."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled.
+
+In a magnificently furnished apartment somewhere in the neighbourhood of
+Fifth Avenue a small party of men were seated round a card table piled
+with chips and rolls of bills. On the sideboard there was a great
+collection of empty bottles, spirit decanters and Vichy syphons. Mr.
+Horser was helping himself to brandy and water with one hand and holding
+himself up with the other. There was a knock at the door.
+
+A man who was still playing looked up. He was about fifty years of age,
+clean shaven, with vacuous eyes and a weak mouth. He was the host of the
+party.
+
+"Come in!" he shouted.
+
+A young man entered in a long black overcoat and soft hat. He looked
+about him without surprise, but he seemed to note Mr. Horser's presence
+with some concern. The man at the table threw down his cards.
+
+"What the devil do you want, Smith?"
+
+"An important despatch from Washington has just arrived, sir. I have
+brought it up with the codebook."
+
+"From Washington at this time of the night," he exclaimed thickly. "Come
+in here, Smith."
+
+He raised the curtains leading into a small anteroom, and turned up the
+electric light. His clerk laid the message down on the table before him.
+
+"Here is the despatch, Mr. Mace," he said, "and here is the
+translation."
+
+"English Ambassador demands immediate explanation of arrest of Duke
+Souspennier at Waldorf to-night. Reply immediately what charge and
+evidence. Souspennier naturalised Englishman."
+
+Mr. Mace sprang to his feet with an oath. He threw aside the curtain
+which shielded the room from the larger apartment.
+
+"Horser, come here, you damned fool!"
+
+Horser, with a stream of magnificent invectives, obeyed the summons. His
+host pointed to the message.
+
+"Read that!"
+
+Mr. Horser read and his face grew even more repulsive. A dull purple
+flush suffused his cheeks, his eyes were bloodshot, and the veins on his
+forehead stood out like cords. He leaned for several moments against the
+table and steadily cursed Mr. Sabin, the government at Washington, and
+something under his breath which he did not dare to name openly.
+
+"Oh, shut up!" his host said at last. "How the devil are we going to get
+out of this?"
+
+Mr. Horser left the room and returned with a tumbler full of brandy and
+a very little water.
+
+"Take a drink yourself," he said. "It'll steady you."
+
+"Oh, I'm steady enough," Mr. Mace replied impatiently. "I want to know
+how you're going to get us out of this. What was the charge, anyhow?"
+
+"Passing forged bills," Horser answered. "Parsons fixed it up."
+
+Mr. Mace turned a shade paler.
+
+"Where the devil's the sense in a charge like that?" he answered
+fiercely. "The man's a millionaire. He'll turn the tables on us nicely."
+
+"We've got to keep him till after the Campania sails, anyhow," Horser
+said doggedly.
+
+"We're not going to keep him ten minutes," Mace replied. "I'm going to
+sign the order for his release."
+
+Horser's speech was thick with drunken fury. "By --- I'll see that you
+don't!" he exclaimed.
+
+Mace turned upon him angrily.
+
+"You selfish fool!" he muttered. "You're not in the thing, anyhow. If
+you think I'm going to risk my position for the sake of one little job
+you're wrong. I shall go down myself and release him, with an apology."
+
+"He'll have his revenge all the same," Horser answered. "It's too late
+now to funk the thing. They can't budge you. We'll see to that. We hold
+New York in our hands. Be a man, Mace, and run a little risk. It's fifty
+thousand."
+
+Mace looked up at him curiously.
+
+"What do you get out of it, Horser?"
+
+Horser's face hardened.
+
+"Not one cent!" he declared fiercely. "Only if I fail it might be
+unpleasant for me next time I crossed."
+
+"I don't know!" Mace declared weakly. "I don't know what to do. It's
+twelve hours, Horser, and the charge is ridiculous."
+
+"You have me behind you."
+
+"I can't tell them that at Washington," Mace said.
+
+"It's a fact, all the same. Don't be so damned nervous."
+
+Mace dismissed his clerk, and found his other guests, too, on the point
+of departure. But the last had scarcely left before a servant entered
+with another despatch.
+
+"Release Souspennier."
+
+Mace handed it to his companion.
+
+"This settles it," he declared. "I shall go round and try and make my
+peace with the fellow."
+
+Horser stood in the way, burly, half-drunk and vicious. He struck his
+host in the face with clenched fist. Mace went down with scarcely a
+groan. A servant, hearing the fall, came hurrying back.
+
+"Your master is drunk and he has fallen down," Horser said. "Put him to
+bed--give him a sleeping draught if you've got one."
+
+The servant bent over the unconscious man.
+
+"Hadn't I better fetch a doctor, sir?" he asked. "I'm afraid he's hurt."
+
+"Not he!" Horser answered contemptuously. "He's cut his cheek a little,
+that's all. Put him to bed. Say I shall be round again by nine o'clock."
+
+Horser put on his coat and left the house. The morning sunlight was
+flooding the streets. Away down town Mr. Sabin was dozing in his
+high-backed chair.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+Felix, after an uneventful voyage, landed duly at Liverpool. To his
+amazement the first person he saw upon the quay was Mr. Sabin, leaning
+upon his stick and smoking a cigarette.
+
+"Come, come, Felix!" he exclaimed. "Don't look at me as though I were a
+ghost. You have very little confidence in me, after all, I see."
+
+"But--how did you get here?"
+
+"The Campania, of course. I had plenty of time. It was easy enough for
+those fellows to arrest me, but they never had a chance of holding me."
+
+"But how did you get away in time?"
+
+Mr. Sabin sighed.
+
+"It was very simple," he said. "One day, while one of those wonderful
+spies was sleeping on my doormat I slipped away and went over to
+Washington, saw the English Ambassador, convinced him of my bonafides,
+told him very nearly the whole truth. He promised if I wired him that I
+was arrested to take my case up at once. You sent the despatch, and he
+kept his word. I breakfasted on Saturday morning at the Waldorf, and
+though a great dray was driven into my carriage on the way to the boat,
+I escaped, as I always do--and here I am."
+
+"Unhurt!" Felix remarked with a smile, "as usual!"
+
+Mr. Sabin nodded.
+
+"The driver of my carriage was killed, and Duson had his arm broken,"
+he said. "I stepped out of the debris without a scratch. Come into the
+Customs House now and get your baggage through. I have taken a coupe on
+the special train and ordered lunch."
+
+Before long they were on the way to London. Mr. Sabin, whilst luncheon
+was being served, talked only of the lightest matters. But afterwards,
+when coffee was served and he had lit a cigarette, he leaned over
+towards Felix.
+
+"Felix," he said, "your sister is dear to you?"
+
+"She is the only creature on earth," Felix said, "whom I care for. She
+is very dear to me, indeed."
+
+"Am I right," Mr. Sabin asked, "in assuming that the old enmity between
+us is dead, that the last few years has wiped away the old soreness.
+
+"Yes," Felix answered. "I know that she was happy with you. That is
+enough for me."
+
+"You and I," Mr. Sabin continued, "must work out her salvation. Do not
+be afraid that I am going to ask you impossibilities. I know that our
+ways must lie apart. You can go to her at once. It may be many, many
+months before I can catch even a glimpse of her. Never mind. Let me
+feel that she has you within the circle, and I without, with our lives
+devoted to her."
+
+"You may rely upon that," Felix answered. "Wherever she is I am going. I
+shall be there. I will watch over her."
+
+Mr. Sabin sighed.
+
+"The more difficult task is mine," he said, "but I have no fear of
+failure. I shall find her surrounded by spies, by those who are now my
+enemies. Still, they will find it hard to shake me off. It may be that
+they took her from me only out of revenge. If that be so my task will be
+easier. If there are other dangers which she is called upon to face, it
+is still possible that they might accept my service instead."
+
+"You would give it?" Felix exclaimed.
+
+"To the last drop of blood in my body," Mr. Sabin answered. "Save for my
+love for her I am a dead man upon the earth. I have no longer politics
+or ambition. So the past can easily be expunged. Those who must be her
+guiding influence shall be mine."
+
+"You will win her back," Felix said. "I am sure of it."
+
+"I am willing to pay any price on earth," Mr. Sabin answered. "If they
+can forget the past I can. I want you to remember this. I want her to
+know it. I want them to know it. That is all, Felix."
+
+Mr. Sabin leaned back in his seat. He had left this country last a
+stricken and defeated man, left it with the echoes of his ruined schemes
+crashing in his ears. He came back to it a man with one purpose only,
+and that such a purpose as never before had guided him--the love of a
+woman. Was it a sign of age, he wondered, this return to the humanities?
+His life had been full of great schemes, he had wielded often a gigantic
+influence, more than once he had made history. And now the love of these
+things had gone from him. Their fascination was powerless to quicken by
+a single beat his steady pulse. Monarchy or republic--what did he care?
+It was Lucille he wanted, the woman who had shown him how sweet even
+defeat might be, who had made these three years of his life so happy
+that they seemed to have passed in one delightful dream. Were they dead,
+annihilated, these old ambitions, the old love of great doings, or did
+they only slumber? He moved in his seat uneasily.
+
+At Euston the two men separated with a silent handshake. Mr. Sabin
+drove to one of the largest and newest of the modern hotels de luxe. He
+entered his name as Mr. Sabin--the old exile's hatred of using his title
+in a foreign country had become a confirmed habit with him--and mingled
+freely with the crowds who thronged into the restaurant at night. There
+were many faces which he remembered, there were a few who remembered
+him. He neither courted nor shunned observation. He sat at dinner-time
+at a retired table, and found himself watching the people with a stir
+of pleasure. Afterwards he went round to a famous club, of which he had
+once been made a life member, but towards midnight he was wearied of the
+dull decorum of his surroundings, and returning to the hotel, sought
+the restaurant once more. The stream of people coming in to supper was
+greater even than at dinner-time. He found a small table, and ordered
+some oysters. The sight of this bevy of pleasure-seekers, all apparently
+with multitudes of friends, might have engendered a sense of loneliness
+in a man of different disposition. To Mr. Sabin his isolation was a
+luxury. He had an uninterrupted opportunity of pursuing his favourite
+study.
+
+There entered a party towards midnight, to meet whom the head-waiter
+himself came hurrying from the further end of the room, and whose
+arrival created a little buzz of interest. The woman who formed the
+central figure of the little group had for two years known no rival
+either at Court or in Society. She was the most beautiful woman in
+England, beautiful too with all the subtle grace of her royal descent.
+There were women upon the stage whose faces might have borne comparison
+with hers, but there was not one who in a room would not have sunk
+into insignificance by her side. Her movements, her carriage were
+incomparable--the inherited gifts of a race of women born in palaces.
+
+Mr. Sabin, who neither shunned nor courted observation, watched her with
+a grim smile which was not devoid of bitterness. Suddenly she saw him.
+With a little cry of wonder she came towards him with outstretched
+hands.
+
+"It is marvelous," she exclaimed. "You? Really you?"
+
+He bowed low over her hands.
+
+"It is I, dear Helene," he answered. "A moment ago I was dreaming. I
+thought that I was back once more at Versailles, and in the presence of
+my Queen."
+
+She laughed softly.
+
+"There may be no Versailles," she murmured, "but you will be a courtier
+to the end of your days."
+
+"At least," he said, "believe me that my congratulations come from my
+heart. Your happiness is written in your face, and your husband must be
+the proudest man in England."
+
+He was standing now by her side, and he held out his hand to Mr. Sabin.
+
+"I hope, sir," he said pleasantly, "that you bear me no ill-will."
+
+"It would be madness," Mr. Sabin answered. "To be the most beautiful
+peeress in England is perhaps for Helene a happier fate than to be the
+first queen of a new dynasty."
+
+"And you, uncle?" Helene said. "You are back from your exile then. How
+often I have felt disposed to smile when I thought of you, of all men,
+in America."
+
+"I went into exile," Mr. Sabin answered, "and I found paradise. The
+three years which have passed since I saw you last have been the
+happiest of my life."
+
+"Lucille!" Helene exclaimed.
+
+"Is my wife," Mr. Sabin answered.
+
+"Delightful!" Helene murmured. "She is with you then, I hope. Indeed, I
+felt sure that I saw her the other night at the opera."
+
+"At the opera!" Mr. Sabin for a moment was silent. He would have been
+ashamed to confess that his heart was beating strongly, that a crowd
+of eager questions trembled upon his lips. He recovered himself after a
+moment.
+
+"Lucille is not with me for the moment," he said in measured tones. "I
+am detaining you from your guests, Helene. If you will permit me I will
+call upon you."
+
+"Won't you join us?" Lord Camperdown asked courteously. "We are only
+a small party--the Portuguese Ambassador and his wife, the Duke of
+Medchester, and Stanley Phillipson."
+
+Mr. Sabin rose at once.
+
+"I shall be delighted," he said.
+
+Lord Camperdown hesitated for a moment.
+
+"I present Monsieur le Due de Souspennier, I presume?" he remarked,
+smiling.
+
+Mr. Sabin bowed.
+
+"I am Mr. Sabin," he said, "at the hotels and places where one travels.
+To my friends I have no longer an incognito. It is not necessary."
+
+It was a brilliant little supper party, and Mr. Sabin contributed at
+least his share to the general entertainment. Before they dispersed he
+had to bring out his tablets to make notes of his engagements. He stood
+on the top of the steps above the palm-court to wish them good-bye,
+leaning on his stick. Helene turned back and waved her hand.
+
+"He is unchanged," she murmured, "yet I fear that there must be
+trouble."
+
+"Why? He seemed cheerful enough," her husband remarked.
+
+She dropped her voice a little.
+
+"Lucille is in London. She is staying at Dorset House."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+Mr. Sabin was deep in thought. He sat in an easy-chair with his back to
+the window, his hands crossed upon his stick, his eyes fixed upon the
+fire. Duson was moving noiselessly about the room, cutting the morning's
+supply of newspapers and setting them out upon the table. His master
+was in a mood which he had been taught to respect. It was Mr. Sabin who
+broke the silence.
+
+"Duson!"
+
+"Your Grace!"
+
+"I have always, as you know, ignored your somewhat anomalous position as
+the servant of one man and the slave of a society. The questions which
+I am about to ask you you can answer or not, according to your own
+apprehensions of what is due to each."
+
+"I thank your Grace!"
+
+"My departure from America seemed to incite the most violent opposition
+on the part of your friends. As you know, it was with a certain amount
+of difficulty that I reached this country. Now, however, I am left
+altogether alone. I have not received a single warning letter. My
+comings and goings, although purposely devoid of the slightest secrecy,
+are absolutely undisturbed. Yet I have some reason to believe that your
+mistress is in London."
+
+"Your Grace will pardon me," Duson said, "but there is outside a
+gentleman waiting to see you to whom you might address the same
+questions with better results, for compared with him I know nothing. It
+is Monsieur Felix."
+
+"Why have you kept him waiting?" Mr. Sabin asked.
+
+"Your Grace was much absorbed," Duson answered.
+
+Felix was smoking a cigarette, and Mr. Sabin greeted him with a certain
+grim cordiality.
+
+"Is this permitted--this visit?" he asked, himself selecting a cigarette
+and motioning his guest to a chair.
+
+"It is even encouraged," Felix answered.
+
+"You have perhaps some message?"
+
+"None."
+
+"I am glad to see you," Mr. Sabin said. "Just now I am a little puzzled.
+I will put the matter to you. You shall answer or not, at your own
+discretion."
+
+"I am ready," Felix declared.
+
+"You know the difficulty with which I escaped from America," Mr. Sabin
+continued. "Every means which ingenuity could suggest seemed brought to
+bear against me. And every movement was directed, if not from here, from
+some place in Europe. Well, I arrived here four days ago. I live quite
+openly, I have even abjured to some extent my incognito. Yet I have not
+received even a warning letter. I am left absolutely undisturbed."
+
+Felix looked at him thoughtfully.
+
+"And what do you deduce from this?" he asked.
+
+"I do not like it," Mr. Sabin answered drily.
+
+"After all," Felix remarked, "it is to some extent natural. The very
+openness of your life here makes interference with you more difficult,
+and as to warning letters--well, you have proved the uselessness of
+them."
+
+"Perhaps," Mr. Sabin answered. "At the same time, if I were a
+superstitious person I should consider this inaction ominous."
+
+"You must take account also," Felix said, "of the difference in the
+countries. In England the police system, if not the most infallible
+in the world, is certainly the most incorruptible. There was never a
+country in which security of person and life was so keenly watched over
+as here. In America, up to a certain point, a man is expected to look
+after himself. The same feeling does not prevail here."
+
+Mr. Sabin assented.
+
+"And therefore," he remarked, "for the purposes of your friends I should
+consider this a difficult and unpromising country in which to work."
+
+"Other countries, other methods!" Felix remarked laconically.
+
+"Exactly! It is the new methods which I am anxious to discover," Mr.
+Sabin said. "No glimmering of them as yet has been vouchsafed to me. Yet
+I believe that I am right in assuming that for the moment London is the
+headquarters of your friends, and that Lucille is here?"
+
+"If that is meant for a question," Felix said, "I may not answer it."
+
+Mr. Sabin nodded.
+
+"Yet," he suggested, "your visit has an object. To discover my plans
+perhaps! You are welcome to them."
+
+Felix thoughtfully knocked the ashes off his cigarette.
+
+"My visit had an object," he admitted, "but it was a personal one. I am
+not actually concerned in the doings of those whom you have called my
+friends."
+
+"We are alone," Mr. Sabin reminded him. "My time is yours."
+
+"You and I," Felix said, "have had our periods of bitter enmity. With
+your marriage to Lucille these, so far as I am concerned, ended for
+ever. I will even admit that in my younger days I was prejudiced against
+you. That has passed away. You have been all your days a bold and
+unscrupulous schemer, but ends have at any rate been worthy ones. To-day
+I am able to regard you with feelings of friendliness. You are the
+husband of my dear sister, and for years I know that you made her very
+happy. I ask you, will you believe in this statement of my attitude
+towards you?"
+
+"I do not for a single moment doubt it," Mr. Sabin answered.
+
+"You will regard the advice which I am going to offer as disinterested?"
+
+"Certainly!"
+
+"Then I offer it to you earnestly, and with my whole heart. Take the
+next steamer and go back to America."
+
+"And leave Lucille? Go without making any effort to see her?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Mr. Sabin was for a moment very serious indeed. The advice given in such
+a manner was full of forebodings to him. The lines from the corners of
+his mouth seemed graven into his face.
+
+"Felix," he said slowly, "I am sometimes conscious of the fact that I am
+passing into that period of life which we call old age. My ambitions are
+dead, my energies are weakened. For many years I have toiled--the time
+has come for rest. Of all the great passions which I have felt there
+remains but one--Lucille. Life without her is worth nothing to me. I am
+weary of solitude, I am weary of everything except Lucille. How then
+can I listen to such advice? For me it must be Lucille, or that little
+journey into the mists, from which one does not return."
+
+Felix was silent. The pathos of this thing touched him.
+
+"I will not dispute the right of those who have taken her from me," Mr.
+Sabin continued, "but I want her back. She is necessary to me. My purse,
+my life, my brains are there to be thrown into the scales. I will buy
+her, or fight for her, or rejoin their ranks myself. But I want her
+back."
+
+Still Felix was silent. He was looking steadfastly into the fire.
+
+"You have heard me," Mr. Sabin said.
+
+"I have heard you," Felix answered. "My advice stands."
+
+"I know now," Mr. Sabin said, "that I have a hard task before me. They
+shall have me for a friend or an enemy. I can still make myself felt as
+either. You have nothing more to say?"
+
+"Nothing!"
+
+"Then let us part company," Mr. Sabin said, "or talk of something more
+cheerful. You depress me, Felix. Let Duson bring us wine. You look like
+a death's head."
+
+Felix roused himself.
+
+"You will go your own way," he said. "Now that you have chosen I will
+tell you this. I am glad. Yes, let Duson bring wine. I will drink to
+your health and to your success. There have been times when men have
+performed miracles. I shall drink to that miracle."
+
+Duson brought also a letter, which Mr. Sabin, with a nod towards Felix,
+opened. It was from Helene.
+
+     "15 Park Lane, London,
+     "Thursday Morning.
+
+     "My DEAR UNCLE,--
+
+     "I want you to come to luncheon to-day.  The Princess de Catelan is
+     here, and I am expecting also Mr. Brott, the Home Secretary--our
+     one great politician, you know.  Many people say that he is the
+     most interesting man in England, and must be our next Prime Minister.
+     Such people interest you, I know.  Do come.
+
+                                                  "Yours sincerely,
+                                                       "HELENE."
+
+Mr. Sabin repeated the name to himself as he stood for a moment with the
+letter in his hand.
+
+"Brott! What a name for a statesman! Well, here is your health, Felix. I
+do not often drink wine in the morning, but--"
+
+He broke off in the middle of his sentence. The glass which Felix had
+been in the act of raising to his lips lay shattered upon the floor, and
+a little stream of wine trickled across the carpet. Felix himself seemed
+scarcely conscious of the disaster. His cheeks were white, and he leaned
+across the table towards Mr. Sabin.
+
+"What name did you say--what name?"
+
+Mr. Sabin referred again to the letter which he held in his hand.
+
+"Brott!" he repeated. "He is Home Secretary, I believe."
+
+"What do you know about him?"
+
+"Nothing," Mr. Sabin answered. "My niece, the Countess of Camperdown,
+asks me to meet him to-day at luncheon. Explain yourself, my young
+friend. There is a fresh glass by your side."
+
+Felix poured himself out a glass and drank it off. But he remained
+silent.
+
+"Well?"
+
+Felix picked up his gloves and stick.
+
+"You are asked to meet Mr. Brott at luncheon to-day?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Are you going?"
+
+"Certainly!"
+
+Felix nodded.
+
+"Very good," he said. "I should advise you to cultivate his
+acquaintance. He is a very extraordinary man."
+
+"Come, Felix," Mr. Sabin said. "You owe me something more lucid in the
+way of explanations. Who is he?"
+
+"A statesman--successful, ambitious. He expects to be Prime Minister."
+
+"And what have I to do with him, or he with me?" Mr. Sabin asked
+quietly.
+
+Felix shook his head.
+
+"I cannot tell you," he said. "Yet I fancy that you and he may some time
+be drawn together."
+
+Mr. Sabin asked no more questions, but he promptly sat down and accepted
+his niece's invitation. When he looked round Felix had gone. He rang the
+bell for Duson and handed him the note.
+
+"My town clothes, Duson," he ordered. "I am lunching out."
+
+The man bowed and withdrew. Mr. Sabin remained for a few moments in deep
+thought.
+
+"Brott!" he repeated. "Brott! It is a singular name."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+So this was the man! Mr. Sabin did not neglect his luncheon, nor was he
+ever for a moment unmindful of the grey-headed princess who chatted away
+by his side with all the vivacity of her race and sex. But he watched
+Mr. Brott.
+
+A man this! Mr. Sabin was a judge, and he appraised him rightly. He saw
+through that courteous geniality of tone and gesture; the ready-made
+smile, although it seemed natural enough, did not deceive him.
+Underneath was a man of iron, square-jawed, nervous, forceful. Mr. Brott
+was probably at that time the ablest politician of either party in the
+country. Mr. Sabin knew it. He found himself wondering exactly at what
+point of their lives this man and he would come into contact.
+
+After luncheon Helene brought them together.
+
+"I believe," she said to Mr. Brott, "that you have never met my UNCLE.
+May I make you formally acquainted? UNCLE, this is Mr. Brott, whom
+you must know a great deal about even though you have been away for so
+long--the Duc de Souspennier."
+
+The two men bowed and Helene passed on. Mr. Sabin leaned upon his stick
+and watched keenly for any sign in the other's face. If he expected to
+find it he was disappointed. Either this man had no knowledge of who he
+was, or those things which were to come between them were as yet unborn.
+
+They strolled together after the other guests into the winter gardens,
+which were the envy of every hostess in London. Mr. Sabin lit a
+cigarette, Mr. Brott regretfully declined. He neither smoked nor drank
+wine. Yet he was disposed to be friendly, and selected a seat where they
+were a little apart from the other guests.
+
+"You at least," he remarked, in answer to an observation of Mr. Sabin's,
+"are free from the tyranny of politics. I am assuming, of course, that
+your country under its present form of government has lost its hold upon
+you."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled.
+
+"It is a doubtful boon," he said. "It is true that I am practically an
+exile. Republican France has no need of me. Had I been a soldier I could
+still have remained a patriot. But for one whose leanings were towards
+politics, neither my father before me nor I could be of service to our
+country. You should be thankful," he continued with a slight smile,
+"that you are an Englishman. No constitution in the world can offer so
+much to the politician who is strong enough and fearless enough."
+
+Mr. Brott glanced towards his twinkling eyes.
+
+"Do you happen to know what my politics are?" he asked.
+
+Mr. Sabin hesitated.
+
+"Your views, I know, are advanced," he said. "For the rest I have
+been abroad for years. I have lost touch a little with affairs in this
+country."
+
+"I am afraid," Mr. Brott said, "that I shall shock you. You are an
+aristocrat of the aristocrats, I a democrat of the democrats. The people
+are the only masters whom I own. They first sent me to Parliament."
+
+"Yet," Mr. Sabin remarked, "you are, I understand, in the Cabinet."
+
+Mr. Brott glanced for a moment around. The Prime Minister was somewhere
+in the winter gardens.
+
+"That," he declared, "is an accident. I happened to be the only man
+available who could do the work when Lord Kilbrooke died. I am telling
+you only what is an open secret. But I am afraid I am boring you. Shall
+we join the others?"
+
+"Not unless you yourself are anxious to," Mr. Sabin begged. "It is
+scarcely fair to detain you talking to an old man when there are so many
+charming women here. But I should be sorry for you to think me hidebound
+in my prejudices. You must remember that the Revolution decimated my
+family. It was a long time ago, but the horror of it is still a live
+thing."
+
+"Yet it was the natural outcome," Mr. Brott said, "of the things
+which went before. Such hideous misgovernment as generations of your
+countrymen had suffered was logically bound to bring its own reprisal."
+
+"There is truth in what you say," Mr. Sabin admitted. He did not want to
+talk about the French Revolution.
+
+"You are a stranger in London, are you not?" Mr. Brott asked.
+
+"I feel myself one," Mr. Sabin answered. "I have been away for a few
+years, and I do not think that there is a city in the world where social
+changes are so rapid. I should perhaps except the cities of the country
+from which I have come. But then America is a universe of itself."
+
+For an instant Mr. Brott gave signs of the man underneath. The air of
+polite interest had left his face. He glanced swiftly and keenly at his
+companion. Mr. Sabin's expression was immutable. It was he who scored,
+for he marked the change, whilst Mr. Brott could not be sure whether he
+had noticed it or not.
+
+"You have been living in America, then?"
+
+"For several years--yes."
+
+"It is a country," Mr. Brott said, "which I am particularly anxious to
+visit. I see my chances, however, grow fewer and fewer as the years go
+by."
+
+"For one like yourself," Mr. Sabin said, "whose instincts and sympathies
+are wholly with the democracy, a few months in America would be very
+well spent."
+
+"And you," Mr. Brott remarked, "how did you get on with the people?"
+
+Mr. Sabin traced a pattern with his stick upon the marble floor.
+
+"I lived in the country," he said, "I played golf and read and rested."
+
+"Were you anywhere near New York?" Mr. Brott asked.
+
+"A few hours' journey only," Mr. Sabin answered. "My home was in a very
+picturesque part, near Lenox."
+
+Mr. Brott leaned a little forward.
+
+"You perhaps know then a lady who spent some time in that
+neighbourhood--a Mrs. James Peterson. Her husband was, I believe, the
+American consul in Vienna."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled very faintly. His face betrayed no more than a natural
+and polite interest. There was nothing to indicate the fact that his
+heart was beating like the heart of a young man, that the blood was
+rushing hot through his veins.
+
+"Yes," he said, "I know her very well. Is she in London?"
+
+Mr. Brott hesitated. He seemed a little uncertain how to continue.
+
+"To tell you the truth," he said, "I believe that she has reasons for
+desiring her present whereabouts to remain unknown. I should perhaps not
+have mentioned her name at all. It was, I fancy, indiscreet of me. The
+coincidence of hearing you mention the name of the place where I believe
+she resided surprised my question. With your permission we will abandon
+the subject."
+
+"You disappoint me," Mr. Sabin said quietly. "It would have given
+me much pleasure to have resumed my acquaintance with the lady in
+question."
+
+"You will, without doubt, have an opportunity," Mr. Brott said, glancing
+at his watch and suddenly rising. "Dear me, how the time goes."
+
+He rose to his feet. Mr. Sabin also rose.
+
+"Must I understand," he said in a low tone, "that you are not at liberty
+to give me Mrs. Peterson's address?"
+
+"I am not at liberty even," Mr. Brott answered, with a frown, "to
+mention her name. It will give me great pleasure, Duke, to better my
+acquaintance with you. Will you dine with me at the House of Commons one
+night next week?"
+
+"I shall be charmed," Mr. Sabin answered. "My address for the next
+few days is at the Carlton. I am staying there under my family name of
+Sabin--Mr. Sabin. It is a fancy of mine--it has been ever since I became
+an alien--to use my title as little as possible."
+
+Mr. Brott looked for a moment puzzled.
+
+"Your pseudonym," he remarked thoughtfully, "seems very familiar to me."
+
+Mr. Sabin shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"It is a family name," he remarked, "but I flattered myself that it was
+at least uncommon."
+
+"Fancy, no doubt," Mr. Brott remarked, turning to make his adieux to his
+hostess.
+
+Mr. Sabin joined a fresh group of idlers under the palms. Mr. Brott
+lingered over his farewells.
+
+"Your UNCLE, Lady Camperdown," he said, "is delightful. I enjoy meeting
+new types, and he represents to me most perfectly the old order of
+French aristocracy."
+
+"I am glad," Helene said, "that you found him interesting. I felt sure
+you would. In fact, I asked him especially to meet you."
+
+"You are the most thoughtful of hostesses," he assured her. "By the bye,
+your UNCLE has just told me the name by which he is known at the hotel.
+Mr. Sabin! Sabin! It recalls something to my mind. I cannot exactly
+remember what."
+
+She smiled upon him. People generally forgot things when Helene smiled.
+
+"It is an odd fancy of his to like his title so little," she remarked.
+"At heart no one is prouder of their family and antecedents. I have
+heard him say, though, that an exile had better leave behind him even
+his name."
+
+"Sabin!" Mr. Brott repeated. "Sabin!"
+
+"It is an old family name," she murmured.
+
+His face suddenly cleared. She knew that he had remembered. But he took
+his leave with no further reference to it.
+
+"Sabin!" he repeated to himself when alone in his carriage. "That was
+the name of the man who was supposed to be selling plans to the German
+Government. Poor Renshaw was in a terrible stew about it. Sabin! An
+uncommon name."
+
+He had ordered the coachman to drive to the House of Commons. Suddenly
+he pulled the check-string.
+
+"Call at Dorset House," he directed.
+
+      *          *            *          *            *
+
+Mr. Sabin lingered till nearly the last of the guests had gone. Then he
+led Helene once more into the winter gardens.
+
+"May I detain you for one moment's gossip?" he asked. "I see your
+carriage at the door."
+
+She laughed.
+
+"It is nothing," she declared. "I must drive in the Park for an hour.
+One sees one's friends, and it is cool and refreshing after these heated
+rooms. But at any time. Talk to me as long as you will, and then I will
+drop you at the Carlton."
+
+"It is of Brott!" he remarked. "Ah, I thank you, I will smoke. Your
+husband's taste in cigarettes is excellent."
+
+"Perhaps mine!" she laughed.
+
+Mr. Sabin shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"In either case I congratulate you. This man Brott. He interests me."
+
+"He interests every one. Why not? He is a great personality."
+
+"Politically," Mr. Sabin said, "the gauge of his success is of course
+the measure of the man. But he himself--what manner of a man is he?"
+
+She tapped with her fingers upon the little table by their side.
+
+"He is rich," she said, "and an uncommon mixture of the student and the
+man of society. He refuses many more invitations than he accepts, he
+entertains very seldom but very magnificently. He has never been known
+to pay marked attentions to any woman, even the scandal of the clubs has
+passed him by. What else can I say about him, I wonder?" she continued
+reflectively. "Nothing, I think, except this. He is a strong man. You
+know that that counts for much."
+
+Mr. Sabin was silent. Perhaps he was measuring his strength in some
+imagined encounter with this man. Something in his face alarmed Helene.
+She suddenly leaned forward and looked at him more closely.
+
+"UNCLE," she exclaimed in a low voice, "there is something on your mind.
+Do not tell me that once more you are in the maze, that again you have
+schemes against this country."
+
+He smiled at her sadly enough, but she was reassured.
+
+"You need have no fear," he told her. "With politics--I have finished.
+Why I am here, what I am here for I will tell you very soon. It is to
+find one whom I have lost--and who is dear to me. Forgive me if for
+to-day I say no more. Come, if you will you shall drive me to my hotel."
+
+He offered his arm with the courtly grace which he knew so well how to
+assume. Together they passed out to her carriage.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+"After all," Lady Carey sighed, throwing down a racing calendar
+and lighting a cigarette, "London is the only thoroughly civilized
+Anglo-Saxon capital in the world. Please don't look at me like that,
+Duchess. I know--this is your holy of holies, but the Duke smokes
+here--I've seen him. My cigarettes are very tiny and very harmless."
+
+The Duchess, who wore gold-rimmed spectacles, and was a person of
+weight in the councils of the Primrose League, went calmly on with her
+knitting.
+
+"My dear Muriel," she said, "if my approval or disapproval was of the
+slightest moment to you, it is not your smoking of which I should first
+complain. I know, however, that you consider yourself a privileged
+person. Pray do exactly as you like, but don't drop the ashes upon the
+carpet."
+
+Lady Carey laughed softly.
+
+"I suppose I am rather a thorn in your side as a relative," she
+remarked. "You must put it down to the roving blood of my ancestors. I
+could no more live the life of you other women than I could fly. I must
+have excitement, movement, all the time."
+
+A tall, heavily built man, who had been reading some letters at the
+other end of the room, came sauntering up to them.
+
+"Well," he said, "you assuredly live up to your principles, for you
+travel all over the world as though it were one vast playground."
+
+"And sometimes," she remarked, "my journeys are not exactly successful.
+I know that that is what you are dying to say."
+
+"On the contrary," he said, "I do not blame you at all for this last
+affair. You brought Lucille here, which was excellent. Your failure as
+regards Mr. Sabin is scarcely to be fastened upon you. It is Horser whom
+we hold responsible for that."
+
+She laughed.
+
+"Poor Horser! It was rather rough to pit a creature like that against
+Souspennier."
+
+The man shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Horser," he said, "may not be brilliant, but he had a great
+organisation at his back. Souspennier was without friends or influence.
+The contest should scarcely have been so one-sided. To tell you the
+truth, my dear Muriel, I am more surprised that you yourself should have
+found the task beyond you."
+
+Lady Carey's face darkened.
+
+"It was too soon after the loss of Lucille," she said, "and besides,
+there was his vanity to be reckoned with. It was like a challenge to
+him, and he had taken up the glove before I returned to New York."
+
+The Duchess looked up from her work.
+
+"Have you had any conversation with my husband, Prince?" she asked.
+
+The Prince of Saxe Leinitzer twirled his heavy moustache and sank into a
+chair between the two women.
+
+"I have had a long talk with him," he announced. "And the result?" the
+Duchess asked.
+
+"The result I fear you would scarcely consider satisfactory," the Prince
+declared. "The moment that I hinted at the existence of--er--conditions
+of which you, Duchess, are aware, he showed alarm, and I had all that
+I could do to reassure him. I find it everywhere amongst your
+aristocracy--this stubborn confidence in the existence of the reigning
+order of things, this absolute detestation of anything approaching
+intrigue."
+
+"My dear man, I hope you don't include me," Lady Carey exclaimed.
+
+"You, Lady Muriel," he answered, with a slow smile, "are an exception to
+all rules. No, you are a rule by yourself."
+
+"To revert to the subject then for a moment," the Duchess said stiffly.
+"You have made no progress with the Duke?"
+
+"None whatever," Saxe Leinitzer admitted. "He was sufficiently emphatic
+to inspire me with every caution. Even now I have doubts as to whether
+I have altogether reassured him. I really believe, dear Duchess, that we
+should be better off if you could persuade him to go and live upon his
+estates."
+
+The Duchess smiled grimly.
+
+"Whilst the House of Lords exists," she remarked, "you will never
+succeed in keeping Algernon away from London. He is always on the point
+of making a speech, although he never does it."
+
+"I have heard of that speech," Lady Carey drawled, from her low seat.
+"It is to be a thoroughly enlightening affair. All the great social
+questions are to be permanently disposed of. The Prime Minister will
+come on his knees and beg Algernon to take his place."
+
+The Duchess looked up over her knitting.
+
+"Algernon is at least in earnest," she remarked drily. "And he has the
+good conscience of a clean living and honest man."
+
+"What an unpleasant possession it must be," Lady Carey remarked sweetly.
+"I disposed of my conscience finally many years ago. I am not sure, but
+I believe that it was the Prince to whom I entrusted the burying of it.
+By the bye, Lucille will be here directly, I suppose. Is she to be told
+of Souspennier's arrival in London?"
+
+"I imagine," the Prince said, with knitted brows, "that it will not be
+wise to keep it from her. It is impossible to conceal her whereabouts,
+and the papers will very shortly acquaint her with his."
+
+"And," Lady Carey asked, "how does the little affair progress?"
+
+"Admirably," the Prince answered. "Already some of the Society papers
+are beginning to chatter about the friendship existing between a Cabinet
+Minister and a beautiful Hungarian lady of title, etc., etc. The fact of
+it is that Brott is in deadly earnest. He gives himself away every time.
+If Lucille has not lost old cleverness she will be able to twist him
+presently around her little finger."
+
+"If only some one would twist him on the rack," the Duchess murmured
+vindictively. "I tried to read one of his speeches the other day. It was
+nothing more nor less than blasphemy. I do not think that I am naturally
+a cruel woman, but I would hand such men over to the public executioner
+with joy."
+
+Lucille came in, as beautiful as ever, but with tired lines under her
+full dark eyes. She sank into a low chair with listless grace.
+
+"Reginald Brott again, I suppose," she remarked curtly. "I wish the man
+had never existed."
+
+"That is a very cruel speech, Lucille," the Prince said, with a
+languishing glance towards her, "for if it had not been for Brott we
+should never have dared to call you out from your seclusion."
+
+"Then more heartily than ever," Lucille declared, "I wish the man had
+never been born. You cannot possibly flatter yourself, Prince, that your
+summons was a welcome one."
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I shall never, be able to believe," he said, "that the Countess
+Radantz was able to do more than support existence in a small American
+town--without society, with no scope for her ambitions, detached
+altogether from the whole civilized world."
+
+"Which only goes to prove, Prince," Lucille remarked contemptuously,
+"that you do not understand me in the least. As a place of residence
+Lenox would compare very favourably with--say Homburg, and for
+companionship you forget my husband. I never met the woman yet who did
+not prefer the company of one man, if only it were the right one, to the
+cosmopolitan throng we call society."
+
+"It sounds idyllic, but very gauche," Lady Carey remarked drily. "In
+effect it is rather a blow on the cheek for you, Prince. Of course you
+know that the Prince is in love with you, Lucille?"
+
+"I wish he were," she answered, looking lazily out of the window.
+
+He bent over her.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"I would persuade him to send me home again," she answered coldly.
+
+The Duchess looked up from her knitting. "Your husband has saved you the
+journey," she remarked, "even if you were able to work upon the Prince's
+good nature to such an extent."
+
+Lucille started round eagerly.
+
+"What do you mean?" she cried.
+
+"Your husband is in London," the Duchess answered.
+
+Lucille laughed with the gaiety of a child. Like magic the lines from
+beneath her eyes seemed to have vanished. Lady Carey watched her with
+pale cheeks and malevolent expression.
+
+"Come, Prince," she cried mockingly, "it was only a week ago that you
+assured me that my husband could not leave America. Already he is in
+London. I must go to see him. Oh, I insist upon it."
+
+Saxe Leinitzer glanced towards the Duchess. She laid down her knitting.
+
+"My dear Countess," she said firmly, "I beg that you will listen to me
+carefully. I speak to you for your own good, and I believe I may add,
+Prince, that I speak with authority."
+
+"With authority!" the Prince echoed.
+
+"We all," the Duchess continued, "look upon your husband's arrival as
+inopportune and unfortunate. We are all agreed that you must be kept
+apart. Certain obligations have been laid upon you. You could not
+possibly fulfil them with a husband at your elbow. The matter will be
+put plainly before your husband, as I am now putting it before you. He
+will be warned not to attempt to see or communicate with you as your
+husband. If he or you disobey the consequences will be serious."
+
+Lucille shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"It is easy to talk," she said, "but you will not find it easy to keep
+Victor away when he has found out where I am."
+
+The Prince intervened.
+
+"We have no objection to your meeting," he said, "but it must be as
+acquaintances. There must be no intermission or slackening in your task,
+and that can only be properly carried out by the Countess Radantz and
+from Dorset House."
+
+Lucille smothered her disappointment.
+
+"Dear me," she said. "You will find Victor a little hard to persuade."
+
+There was a moment's silence. Then the Prince spoke slowly, and watching
+carefully the effect of his words upon Lucille.
+
+"Countess," he said, "it has been our pleasure to make of your task so
+far as possible a holiday. Yet perhaps it is wiser to remind you that
+underneath the glove is an iron hand. We do not often threaten, but
+we brook no interference. We have the means to thwart it. I bear no
+ill-will to your husband, but to you I say this. If he should be so mad
+as to defy us, to incite you to disobedience, he must pay the penalty."
+
+A servant entered.
+
+"Mr. Reginald Brott is in the small drawing-room, your Grace," he
+announced. "He enquired for the Countess Radantz."
+
+Lucille rose. When the servant had disappeared she turned round for a
+moment, and faced the Prince. A spot of colour burned in her cheeks, her
+eyes were bright with anger.
+
+"I shall remember your words, Prince," she said. "So far from mine
+being, however, a holiday task, it is one of the most wearisome and
+unpleasant I ever undertook. And in return for your warnings let me tell
+you this. If you should bring any harm upon my husband you shall answer
+for it all your days to me. I will do my duty. Be careful that you do
+not exceed yours."
+
+She swept out of the room. Lady Carey laughed mockingly at the Prince.
+
+"Poor Ferdinand!" she exclaimed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+He had been kept waiting longer than usual, and he had somehow the
+feeling that his visit was ill-timed, when at last she came to him. He
+looked up eagerly as she entered the little reception room which he had
+grown to know so well during the last few weeks, and it struck him for
+the first time that her welcome was a little forced, her eyes a little
+weary.
+
+"I haven't," he said apologetically, "the least right to be here."
+
+"At least," she murmured, "I may be permitted to remind you that you are
+here without an invitation."
+
+"The worse luck," he said, "that one should be necessary."
+
+"This is the one hour of the day," she remarked, sinking into a large
+easy-chair, "which I devote to repose. How shall I preserve my fleeting
+youth if you break in upon it in this ruthless manner?"
+
+"If I could only truthfully say that I was sorry," he answered, "but I
+can't. I am here--and I would rather be here than anywhere else in the
+world."
+
+She looked at him with curving lips; and even he, who had watched her
+often, could not tell whether that curve was of scorn or mirth.
+
+"They told me," she said impressively, "that you were different--a
+woman-hater, honest, gruff, a little cynical. Yet those are the speeches
+of your salad days. What a disenchantment!"
+
+"The things which one invents when one is young," he said, "come perhaps
+fresh from the heart in later life. The words may sound the same, but
+there is a difference."
+
+"Come," she said, "you are improving. That at any rate is ingenious.
+Suppose you tell me now what has brought you here before four o'clock,
+when I am not fit to be seen?"
+
+He smiled. She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"I mean it. I haven't either my clothes or my manners on yet. Come,
+explain."
+
+"I met a man who interested me," he answered. "He comes from America,
+from Lenox!"
+
+He saw her whiten. He saw her fingers clutch the sides of her chair.
+
+"From Lenox? And his name?"
+
+"The Duke of Souspennier! He takes himself so seriously that he even
+travels incognito. At the hotel he calls himself Mr. Sabin."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"I wondered whether you might not know him?"
+
+"Yes, I know him."
+
+"And in connection with this man," Brott continued, "I have something in
+the nature of a confession to make. I forgot for a moment your request.
+I even mentioned your name."
+
+The pallor had spread to her cheeks, even to her lips. Yet her eyes were
+soft and brilliant, so brilliant that they fascinated him.
+
+"What did he say? What did he ask?"
+
+"He asked for your address. Don't be afraid. I made some excuse. I did
+not give it."
+
+For the life of him he could not tell whether she was pleased or
+disappointed. She had turned her shoulder to him. She was looking
+steadily out of the window, and he could not see her face.
+
+"Why are you curious about him?" she asked.
+
+"I wish I knew. I think only because he came from Lenox."
+
+She turned her face slowly round towards him. He was astonished to see
+the dark rings under her eyes, the weariness of her smile.
+
+"The Duke of Souspennier," she said slowly, "is an old and a dear friend
+of mine. When you tell me that he is in London I am anxious because
+there are many here who are not his friends--who have no cause to love
+him."
+
+"I was wrong then," he said, "not to give him your address."
+
+"You were right," she answered. "I am anxious that he should not know
+it. You will remember this?" He rose and bowed over her hand.
+
+"This has been a selfish interlude," he said. "I have destroyed your
+rest, and I almost fear that I have also disturbed your peace of mind.
+Let me take my leave and pray that you may recover both."
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"Do not leave me," she said. "I am low-spirited. You shall stay and
+cheer me."
+
+There was a light in his eyes which few people would have recognised.
+She rose with a little laugh and stood leaning towards the fire, her
+elbow upon the broad mantel, tall, graceful, alluring. Her soft crimson
+gown, with its wealth of old lace, fell around her in lines and curves
+full of grace. The pallor of her face was gone now--the warmth of the
+fire burned her cheeks. Her voice became softer.
+
+"Sit down and talk to me," she murmured. "Do you remember the old days,
+when you were a very timid young secretary of Sir George Nomsom, and
+I was a maid-of-honour at the Viennese Court? Dear me, how you have
+changed!"
+
+"Time," he said, "will not stand still for all of us. Yet my memory
+tells me how possible it would be--for indeed those days seem but as
+yesterday."
+
+He looked up at her with a sudden jealousy. His tone shook with passion.
+No one would have recognised Brott now. In his fiercest hour of debate,
+his hour of greatest trial, he had worn his mask, always master of
+himself and his speech. And now he had cast it off. His eyes were
+hungry, his lips twitched.
+
+"As yesterday! Lucille, I could kill you when I think of those days. For
+twenty years your kiss has lain upon my lips--and you--with you--it has
+been different."
+
+She laughed softly upon him, laughed more with her eyes than with her
+lips. She watched him curiously.
+
+"Dear me!" she murmured, "what would you have? I am a woman--I have been
+a woman all my days, and the memory of one kiss grows cold. So I will
+admit that with me--it has been different. Come! What then?"
+
+He groaned.
+
+"I wonder," he said, "what miserable fate, what cursed stroke of fortune
+brought you once more into my life?"
+
+She threw her head back and laughed at him, this time heartily,
+unaffectedly.
+
+"What adorable candour!" she exclaimed. "My dear friend, how amiable you
+are."
+
+He looked at her steadfastly, and somehow the laugh died away from her
+lips.
+
+"Lucille, will you marry me?"
+
+"Marry you? I? Certainly not."
+
+"And why not?"
+
+"For a score of reasons, if you want them," she answered. "First,
+because I think it is delightful to have you for a friend. I can never
+quite tell what you are going to do or say. As a husband I am almost
+sure that you would be monotonous. But then, how could you avoid it?
+It is madness to think of destroying a pleasant friendship in such a
+manner."
+
+"You are mocking me," he said sadly.
+
+"Well," she said, "why not? Your own proposal is a mockery."
+
+"A mockery! My proposal!"
+
+"Yes," she answered steadily. "You know quite well that the very
+thought of such a thing between you and me is an absurdity. I abhor your
+politics, I detest your party. You are ambitious, I know. You intend to
+be Prime Minister, a people's Prime Minister. Well, for my part, I hate
+the people. I am an aristocrat. As your wife I should be in a perfectly
+ridiculous position. How foolish! You have led me into talking of this
+thing seriously. Let us forget all this rubbish."
+
+He stood before her--waiting patiently, his mouth close set, his manner
+dogged with purpose.
+
+"It is not rubbish," he said. "It is true that I shall be Prime
+Minister. It is true also that you will be my wife."
+
+She shrank back from him--uneasily. The fire in his eyes, the ring in
+his tone distressed her.
+
+"As for my politics, you do not understand them. But you shall! I will
+convert you to my way of thinking. Yes, I will do that. The cause of the
+people, of freedom, is the one great impulse which beats through all the
+world. You too shall hear it."
+
+"Thank you," she said. "I have no wish to hear it. I do not believe in
+what you call freedom for the people. I have discovered in America how
+uncomfortable a people's country can be."
+
+"Yet you married an American. You call yourself still the Countess
+Radantz... but you married Mr. James B. Peterson!"
+
+"It is true, my friend," she answered. "But the American in question
+was a person of culture and intelligence, and at heart he was no more
+a democrat than I am. Further, I am an extravagant woman, and he was a
+millionaire."
+
+"And you, after his death, without necessity--went to bury yourself in
+his country."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"I am jealous of every year of your life which lies hidden from me," he
+said slowly.
+
+"Dear me--how uncomfortable!"
+
+"Before you--reappeared," he said, "I had learnt, yes I had learnt to do
+without you. I had sealed up the one chapter of my life which had in
+it anything to do with sentiment. Your coming has altered all that. You
+have disturbed the focus of my ambitions. Lucille! I have loved you for
+more than half a lifetime. Isn't it time I had my reward?"
+
+He took a quick step towards her. In his tone was the ring of mastery,
+the light in his eyes was compelling. She shrank back, but he seized one
+of her hands. It lay between his, a cold dead thing.
+
+"What have my politics to do with it?" he asked fiercely. "You are not
+an Englishwoman. Be content that I shall set you far above these gods of
+my later life. There is my work to be done, and I shall do it. Let me
+be judge of these things. Believe me that it is a great work. If you are
+ambitious--give your ambitions into my keeping, and I will gratify them.
+Only I cannot bear this suspense-these changing moods. Marry me-now at
+once, or send me back to the old life."
+
+She drew her fingers away, and sank down into her easy-chair. Her head
+was buried in her hands. Was she thinking or weeping? He could not
+decide. While he hesitated she looked up, and he saw that there was no
+trace of tears upon her face.
+
+"You are too masterful," she said gently. "I will not marry you. I will
+not give myself body and soul to any man. Yet that is what you ask. I am
+not a girl. My opinions are as dear to me in their way as yours are to
+you. You want me to close my eyes while you drop sugar plums into my
+mouth. That is not my idea of life. I think that you had better go away.
+Let us forget these things."
+
+"Very well," he answered. "It shall be as you say." He did not wait for
+her to ring, nor did he attempt any sort of farewell. He simply took
+up his hat, and before she could realise his intention he had left the
+room. Lucille sat quite still, looking into the fire.
+
+"If only," she murmured, "if only this were the end."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Duson entered the sitting-room, noiseless as ever, with pale,
+passionless face, the absolute prototype of the perfect French servant,
+to whom any expression of vigorous life seems to savour of presumption.
+He carried a small silver salver, on which reposed a card.
+
+"The gentleman is in the ante-room, sir," he announced.
+
+Mr. Sabin took up the card and studied it.
+
+"Lord Robert Foulkes."
+
+"Do I know this gentleman, Duson?" Mr. Sabin asked.
+
+"Not to my knowledge, sir," the man answered.
+
+"You must show him in," Mr. Sabin said, with a sigh. "In this country
+one must never be rude to a lord."
+
+Duson obeyed. Lord Robert Foulkes was a small young man, very carefully
+groomed, nondescript in appearance. He smiled pleasantly at Mr. Sabin
+and drew off his gloves.
+
+"How do you do, Mr. Sabin?" he said. "Don't remember me, I daresay. Met
+you once or twice last time you were in London. I wish I could say that
+I was glad to see you here again."
+
+Mr. Sabin's forehead lost its wrinkle. He knew where he was now.
+
+"Sit down, Lord Robert," he begged. "I do not remember you, it is
+true, but I am getting an old man. My memory sometimes plays me strange
+tricks."
+
+The young man looked at Mr. Sabin and laughed softly. Indeed, Mr. Sabin
+had very little the appearance of an old man. He was leaning with
+both hands clasped upon his stick, his face alert, his eyes bright and
+searching.
+
+"You carry your years well, Mr. Sabin. Yet while we are on the subject,
+do you know that London is the unhealthiest city in the world?"
+
+"I am always remarkably well here," Mr. Sabin said drily.
+
+"London has changed since your last visit," Lord Robert said, with a
+gentle smile. "Believe me if I say--as your sincere well-wisher--that
+there is something in the air at present positively unwholesome to you.
+I am not sure that unwholesome is not too weak a word."
+
+"Is this official?" Mr. Sabin asked quietly.
+
+The young man fingered the gold chain which disappeared in his trousers
+pocket.
+
+"Need I introduce myself?" he asked.
+
+"Quite unnecessary," Mr. Sabin assured him. "Permit me to reflect for
+a few minutes. Your visit comes upon me as a surprise. Will you smoke?
+There are cigarettes at your elbow."
+
+"I am entirely at your service," Lord Robert answered. "Thanks, I will
+try one of your cigarettes. You were always famous for your tobacco."
+
+There was a short silence. Mr. Sabin had seldom found it more difficult
+to see the way before him.
+
+"I imagined," he said at last, "from several little incidents which
+occurred previous to my leaving New York that my presence here was
+regarded as superfluous. Do you know, I believe that I could convince
+you to the contrary."
+
+Lord Robert raised his eyebrows.
+
+"Mr. dear Mr. Sabin," he said, "pray reflect. I am a messenger. No more!
+A hired commissionaire!"
+
+Mr. Sabin bowed.
+
+"You are an ambassador!" he said.
+
+The young man shook his head.
+
+"You magnify my position," he declared. "My errand is done when I remind
+you that it is many years since you visited Paris, that Vienna is as
+fascinating a city as ever, and Pesth a few hours journey beyond. But
+London--no, London is not possible for you. After the seventh day from
+this London would be worse than impossible."
+
+Mr. Sabin smoked thoughtfully for a few moments.
+
+"Lord Robert," he said, "I have, I believe, the right of a personal
+appeal. I desire to make it."
+
+Lord Robert looked positively distressed.
+
+"My dear sir," he said, "the right of appeal, any right of any sort,
+belongs only to those within the circle."
+
+"Exactly," Mr. Sabin agreed. "I claim to belong there."
+
+Lord Roberts shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"You force me to remind you," he said, "of a certain decree--a decree of
+expulsion passed five years ago, and of which I presume due notification
+was given to you."
+
+Mr. Sabin shook his head very slowly.
+
+"I deny the legality of that decree," he said. "There can be no such
+thing as expulsion."
+
+"There was Lefanu," Lord Robert murmured.
+
+"He died," Mr. Sabin answered. "That was reasonable enough."
+
+"Your services had been great," Lord Robert said, "and your fault was
+but venial."
+
+"Nevertheless," Mr. Sabin said, "the one was logical, the other is not."
+
+"You claim, then," the young man said, "to be still within the circle?"
+
+"Certainly!"
+
+"You are aware that this is a very dangerous claim?"
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled, but he said nothing. Lord Robert hastened to excuse
+himself.
+
+"I beg your pardon," he said. "I should have known better than to have
+used such a word to you. Permit me to take my leave."
+
+Mr. Sabin rose.
+
+"I thank you, sir," he said, "for the courteous manner in which you have
+discharged your mission."
+
+Lord Robert bowed.
+
+"My good wishes," he said, "are yours."
+
+Mr. Sabin when alone called Duson to him.
+
+"Have you any report to make, Duson?" he asked.
+
+"None, sir!"
+
+Mr. Sabin dismissed him impatiently.
+
+"After all, I am getting old. He is young and he is strong--a worthy
+antagonist. Come, let us see what this little volume has to say about
+him."
+
+He turned over the pages rapidly and read aloud.
+
+"Reginald Cyril Brott, born 18--, son of John Reginald Brott, Esq.,
+of Manchester. Educated at Harrow and Merton College, Cambridge, M.A.,
+LL.D., and winner of the Rudlock History Prize. Also tenth wrangler.
+Entered the diplomatic service on leaving college, and served as junior
+attache at Vienna."
+
+Mr. Sabin laid down the volume, and made a little calculation. At the
+end of it he had made a discovery. His face was very white and set.
+
+"I was at Petersburg," he muttered. "Now I think of it, I heard
+something of a young English attache. But--"
+
+He touched the bell.
+
+"Duson, a carriage!"
+
+At Camperdown House he learned that Helene was out--shopping, the
+hall porter believed. Mr. Sabin drove slowly down Bond Street, and was
+rewarded by seeing her brougham outside a famous milliner's. He waited
+for her upon the pavement. Presently she came out and smiled her
+greetings upon him.
+
+"You were waiting for me?" she asked.
+
+"I saw your carriage."
+
+"How delightful of you. Let me take you back to luncheon."
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"I am afraid," he said, "that I should be poor company. May I drive home
+with you, at any rate, when you have finished?"
+
+"Of course you may, and for luncheon we shall be quite alone, unless
+somebody drops in."
+
+He took his seat beside her in the carriage. "Helene," he said, "I am
+interested in Mr. Brott. No, don't look at me like that. You need have
+no fear. My interest is in him as a man, and not as a politician. The
+other days are over and done with now. I am on the defensive and hard
+pressed."
+
+Her face was bright with sympathy. She forgot everything except her
+old admiration for him. In the clashing of their wills the victory had
+remained with her. And as for those things which he had done, the cause
+at least had been a great one. Her happiness had come to her through
+him. She bore him no grudge for that fierce opposition which, after all,
+had been fruitless.
+
+"I believe you, UNCLE," she said affectionately. "If I can help you in
+any way I will."
+
+"This Mr. Brott! He goes very little into society, I believe."
+
+"Scarcely ever," she answered. "He came to us because my husband is one
+of the few Radical peers."
+
+"You have not heard of any recent change in him--in this respect?"
+
+"Well, I did hear Wolfendon chaffing him the other day about somebody,"
+she said. "Oh, I know. He has been going often to the Duchess of
+Dorset's. He is such an ultra Radical, you know, and the Dorsets are
+fierce Tories. Wolfendon says it is a most unwise thing for a good
+Radical who wants to retain the confidence of the people to be seen
+about with a Duchess."
+
+"The Duchess of Dorset," Mr. Sabin remarked, "must be, well--a
+middle-aged woman."
+
+Helene laughed.
+
+"She is sixty if she is a day. But I daresay she herself is not the
+attraction. There is a very beautiful woman staying with her--the
+Countess Radantz. A Hungarian, I believe."
+
+Mr. Sabin sat quite still. His face was turned away from Helene. She
+herself was smiling out of the window at some acquaintances.
+
+"I wonder if there is anything more that I can tell you?" she asked
+presently.
+
+He turned towards her with a faint smile.
+
+"You have told me," he said, "all that I want to know."
+
+She was struck by the change in his face, the quietness of his tone was
+ominous.
+
+"Am I meant to understand?" she said dubiously "because I don't in the
+least. It seems to me that have told you nothing. I cannot imagine what
+Mr. Brott and you have in common."
+
+"If your invitation to lunch still holds good," he said, "may I accept
+it? Afterwards, if you can spare me a few minutes I will make things
+quite clear to you."
+
+She laughed.
+
+"You will find," she declared, "that I shall leave you little peace for
+luncheon. I am consumed with curiosity."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Nevertheless, Mr. Sabin lunched with discretion, as usual, but with no
+lack of appetite. It chanced that they were alone. Lord Camperdown was
+down in the Midlands for a day's hunting, and Helene had ensured their
+seclusion from any one who might drop in by a whispered word to the
+hall porter as they passed into the house. It seemed to her that she had
+never found Mr. Sabin more entertaining, had never more appreciated his
+rare gift of effortless and anecdotal conversation. What a marvelous
+memory! He knew something of every country from the inside. He had been
+brought at various times during his long diplomatic career into contact
+with most of the interesting people in the world. He knew well how
+to separate the grain from the chaff according to the tastes of
+his listener. The pathos of his present position appealed to her
+irresistibly. The possibilities of his life had been so great, fortune
+had treated him always so strangely. The greatest of his schemes had
+come so near to success, the luck had turned against him only at the
+very moment of fruition. Helene felt very kindly towards her UNCLE as
+she led him, after luncheon, to a quiet corner of the winter garden,
+where a servant had already arranged a table with coffee and liqueurs
+and cigarettes. Unscrupulous all his life, there had been an element of
+greatness in all his schemes. Even his failures had been magnificent,
+for his successes he himself had seldom reaped the reward. And now in
+the autumn of his days she felt dimly that he was threatened with some
+evil thing against which he stood at bay single-handed, likely perhaps
+to be overpowered. For there was something in his face just now which
+was strange to her.
+
+"Helene," he said quietly, "I suppose that you, who knew nothing of
+me till you left school, have looked upon me always as a selfish,
+passionless creature--a weaver of plots, perhaps sometimes a dreamer of
+dreams, but a person wholly self-centred, always self-engrossed?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"Not selfish!" she objected. "No, I never thought that. It is the wrong
+word."
+
+"At least," he said, "you will be surprised to hear that I have loved
+one woman all my life."
+
+She looked at him half doubtfully.
+
+"Yes," she said, "I am surprised to hear that."
+
+"I will surprise you still more. I was married to her in America within
+a month of my arrival there. We have lived together ever since. And I
+have been very happy. I speak, of course, of Lucille!"
+
+"It is amazing," she murmured. "You must tell me all about it."
+
+"Not all," he answered sadly. "Only this. I met her first at Vienna
+when I was thirty-five, and she was eighteen. I treated her shamefully.
+Marriage seemed to me, with all my dreams of great achievements, an act
+of madness. I believed in myself and my career. I believed that it was
+my destiny to restore the monarchy to our beloved country. And I wanted
+to be free. I think that I saw myself a second Napoleon. So I won her
+love, took all that she had to give, and returned nothing.
+
+"In the course of years she married the son of the American Consul at
+Vienna. I was obliged, by the bye, to fight her brother, and he carried
+his enmity to me through life. I saw her sometimes in the course
+of years. She was always beautiful, always surrounded by a host of
+admirers, always cold. When the end of my great plans here came, and I
+myself was a fugitive, her brother found me out. He gave me a letter to
+deliver in America. I delivered it--to his sister.
+
+"She was as beautiful as ever, and alone in the world. It seemed to me
+that I realised then how great my folly had been. For always I had loved
+her, always there had been that jealously locked little chamber in my
+life. Helene, she pointed no finger of scorn to my broken life. She
+uttered no reproaches. She took me as I was, and for three years our
+life together has been to me one long unbroken harmony. Our tastes were
+very similar. She was well read, receptive, a charming companion. Ennui
+was a word of which I have forgotten the meaning. And it seemed so with
+her, too, for she grew younger and more beautiful."
+
+"And why is she not with you?" Helene cried. "I must go and see her. How
+delightful it sounds!"
+
+"One day, about three months ago," Mr. Sabin continued, "she left me to
+go to New York for two days. Her milliner in Paris had sent over, and
+twice a year Lucille used to buy clothes. I had sometimes accompanied
+her, but she knew how I detested New York, and this time she did not
+press me to go. She left me in the highest spirits, as tender and
+gracefully affectionate as ever. She never returned."
+
+Helene started in her chair.
+
+"Oh, UNCLE!" she cried.
+
+"I have never seen her since," he repeated.
+
+"Have you no clue? She could not have left you willingly. Have you no
+idea where she is?"
+
+He bowed his head slowly.
+
+"Yes," he said, "I know where she is. She came to Europe with Lady
+Carey. She is staying with the Duchess of Dorset."
+
+"The Countess Radantz?" Helene cried.
+
+"It was her maiden name," he answered.
+
+There was a moment's silence. Helene was bewildered.
+
+"Then you have seen her?"
+
+He shook his head slowly.
+
+"No. I did not even know where she was until you told me."
+
+"But why do you wait a single moment?" she asked. "There must be some
+explanation. Let me order a carriage now. I will drive round to Dorset
+House with you."
+
+She half rose. He held out his hand and checked her.
+
+"There are other things to be explained," he said quickly. "Sit down,
+Helene."
+
+She obeyed him, mystified.
+
+"For your own sake," he continued, "there are certain facts in
+connection with this matter which I must withhold. All I can tell you
+is this. There are people who have acquired a hold upon Lucille so great
+that she is forced to obey their bidding. Lady Carey is one, the Duchess
+of Dorset is another. They are no friends of mine, and apparently
+Lucille has been taken away from me by them."
+
+"A--a hold upon her?" Helene repeated vaguely.
+
+"It is all I can tell you. You must suppose an extreme case. You may
+take my word for it that under certain circumstances Lucille would have
+no power to deny them anything."
+
+"But--without a word of farewell. They could not insist upon her leaving
+you like that! It is incredible!"
+
+"It is quite possible," Mr. Sabin said.
+
+Helene caught herself looking at him stealthily. Was it possible that
+this wonderful brain had given way at last? There were no signs of it
+in his face or expression. But the Duchess of Dorset! Lady Carey! These
+were women of her own circle--Londoners, and the Duchess, at any rate,
+a woman of the very highest social position and unimpeached
+conventionality.
+
+"This sounds--very extraordinary, UNCLE!" she remarked a little lamely.
+
+"It is extraordinary," he answered drily. "I do not wonder that you find
+it hard to believe me. I--"
+
+"Not to believe--to understand!"
+
+He smiled.
+
+"We will not distinguish! After all, what does it matter? Assume, if
+you cannot believe, that Lucille's leaving me may have been at the
+instigation of these people, and therefore involuntary. If this be so
+I have hard battle to fight to win her back, but in the end I shall do
+it."
+
+She nodded sympathetically.
+
+"I am sure," she said, "that you will not find it difficult. Tell me,
+cannot I help you in any way? I know the Duchess very well indeed--well
+enough to take you to call quite informally if you please. She is a
+great supporter of what they call the Primrose League here. I do not
+understand what it is all about, but it seems that I may not join
+because my husband is a Radical."
+
+Mr. Sabin looked for a moment over his clasped hands through the faint
+blue cloud of cigarette smoke, and sundry possibilities flashed through
+his mind to be at once rejected. He shook his head.
+
+"No!" he said firmly. "I do not wish for your help at present, directly
+or indirectly. If you meet the Countess I would rather that you did not
+mention my name. There is only one person whom, if you met at Dorset
+House or anywhere where Lucille is, I would ask you to watch. That is
+Mr. Brott!"
+
+It was to be a conversation full of surprises for Helene. Mr. Brott!
+Her hand went up to her forehead for a moment, and a little gesture of
+bewilderment escaped her.
+
+"Will you tell me," she asked almost plaintively, "what on earth Mr.
+Brott can have to do with this business--with Lucille--with you--with
+any one connected with it?"
+
+Mr. Sabin shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Mr. Brott," he remarked, "a Cabinet Minister of marked Radical
+proclivities, has lately been a frequent visitor at Dorset House,
+which is the very home of the old aristocratic Toryism. Mr. Brott was
+acquainted with Lucille many years ago--in Vienna. At that time he
+was, I believe, deeply interested in her. I must confess that Mr. Brott
+causes me some uneasiness."
+
+"I think--that men always know," Helene said, "if they care to. Was
+Lucille happy with you?"
+
+"Absolutely. I am sure of it."
+
+"Then your first assumption must be correct," she declared. "You cannot
+explain things to me, so I cannot help you even with my advice. I am
+sorry."
+
+He turned his head towards her and regarded her critically, as though
+making some test of her sincerity.
+
+"Helene," he said gravely, "it is for your own sake that I do not
+explain further, that I do not make things clearer to you. Only I wanted
+you to understand why I once more set foot in Europe. I wanted you to
+understand why I am here. It is to win back Lucille. It is like that
+with me, Helene. I, who once schemed and plotted for an empire, am once
+more a schemer and a worker, but for no other purpose than to recover
+possession of the woman whom I love. You do not recognise me, Helene. I
+do not recognise myself. Nevertheless, I would have you know the truth.
+I am here for that, and for no other purpose."
+
+He rose slowly to his feet. She held out both her hands and grasped his.
+
+"Let me help you," she begged. "Do! This is not a matter of politics or
+anything compromising. I am sure that I could be useful to you."
+
+"So you can," he answered quietly. "Do as I have asked you. Watch Mr.
+Brott!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+Mr. Brott and Mr. Sabin dined together--not, as it happened, at the
+House of Commons, but at the former's club in Pall Mall. For Mr. Sabin
+it was not altogether an enjoyable meal. The club was large, gloomy and
+political; the cooking was exactly of that order which such surroundings
+seemed to require. Nor was Mr. Brott a particularly brilliant host. Yet
+his guest derived a certain amount of pleasure from the entertainment,
+owing to Brott's constant endeavours to bring the conversation round to
+Lucille.
+
+"I find," he said, as they lit their cigarettes, "that I committed an
+indiscretion the other day at Camperdown House!"
+
+Mr. Sabin assumed the puzzled air of one endeavouring to pin down an
+elusive memory.
+
+"Let me see," he murmured doubtfully. "It was in connection with--"
+
+"The Countess Radantz. If you remember, I told you that it was her
+desire just now to remain incognito. I, however, unfortunately forgot
+this during the course of our conversation."
+
+"Yes, I remember. You told me where she was staying. But the Countess
+and I are old acquaintances. I feel sure that she did not object to your
+having given me her address. I could not possibly leave London without
+calling upon her."
+
+Mr. Brott moved in his chair uneasily.
+
+"It seems presumption on my part to make such a suggestion perhaps," he
+said slowly, "but I really believe that the Countess is in earnest with
+reference to her desire for seclusion just at present. I believe that
+she is really very anxious that her presence in London, just now should
+not be generally known."
+
+"I am such a very old friend," Mr. Sabin said. "I knew her when she was
+a child."
+
+Mr. Brott nodded.
+
+"It is very strange," he said, "that you should have come together again
+in such a country as America, and in a small town too."
+
+"Lenox," Mr. Sabin said, "is a small place, but a great center. By the
+bye, is there not some question of an impending marriage on the part of
+the Countess?"
+
+"I have heard--of nothing of the sort," Mr. Brott said, looking up
+startled. Then, after a moment's pause, during which he studied closely
+his companion's imperturbable face, he added the question which forced
+its way to his lips.
+
+"Have you?"
+
+Mr. Sabin looked along his cigarette and pinched it affectionately. It
+was one of his own, which he had dexterously substituted for those which
+his host had placed at his disposal.
+
+"The Countess is a very charming, a very beautiful, and a most
+attractive woman," he said slowly. "Her marriage has always seemed to me
+a matter of certainty."
+
+Mr. Brott hesitated, and was lost.
+
+"You are an old friend of hers," he said. "You perhaps know more of her
+recent history than I do. For a time she seemed to drop out of my life
+altogether. Now that she has come back I am very anxious to persuade her
+to marry me."
+
+A single lightning-like flash in Mr. Sabin's eyes for a moment
+disconcerted his host. But, after all, it was gone with such amazing
+suddenness that it left behind it a sense of unreality. Mr. Brott
+decided that after all it must have been fancy.
+
+"May I ask," Mr. Sabin said quietly, "whether the Countess appears to
+receive your suit with favour?"
+
+Mr. Brott hesitated.
+
+"I am afraid I cannot go so far as to say that she does," he said
+regretfully. "I do not know why I find myself talking on this matter to
+you. I feel that I should apologise for giving such a personal turn to
+the conversation."
+
+"I beg that you will do nothing of the sort," Mr. Sabin protested. "I
+am, as a matter of fact, most deeply interested."
+
+"You encourage me," Mr. Brott declared, "to ask you a question--to me a
+very important question."
+
+"It will give me great pleasure," Mr. Sabin assured him, "if I am able
+to answer it."
+
+"You know," Mr. Brott said, "of that portion of her life concerning
+which I have asked no questions, but which somehow, whenever I think of
+it, fills me with a certain amount of uneasiness. I refer to the last
+three years which the Countess has spent in America."
+
+Mr. Sabin looked up, and his lips seemed to move, but he said nothing.
+Mr. Brott felt perhaps that he was on difficult ground.
+
+"I recognise the fact," he continued slowly, "that you are the friend
+of the Countess, and that you and I are nothing more than the merest
+acquaintances. I ask my question therefore with some diffidence. Can you
+tell me from your recent, more intimate knowledge of the Countess
+and her affairs, whether there exists any reason outside her own
+inclinations why she should not accept my proposals of marriage?"
+
+Mr. Sabin had the air of a man gravely surprised. He shook his head very
+slightly.
+
+"You must not ask me such a question as that, Mr. Brott," he said. "It
+is not a subject which I could possibly discuss with you. But I have no
+objection to going so far as this. My experience of the Countess is that
+she is a woman of magnificent and effective will power. I think if she
+has any desire to marry you there are or could be no obstacles existing
+which she would not easily dispose of."
+
+"There are obstacles, then?"
+
+"You must not ask me that," Mr. Sabin said, with a certain amount of
+stiffness. "The Countess is a very dear friend of mine, and you must
+forgive me now if I say that I prefer not to discuss her any longer."
+
+A hall servant entered the room, bearing a note for Mr. Brott. He
+received it at first carelessly, but his expression changed the moment
+he saw the superscription. He turned a little away, and Mr. Sabin
+noticed that the fingers which tore open the envelope were trembling.
+The note seemed short enough, but he must have read it half a dozen
+times before at last he turned round to the messenger.
+
+"There is no answer," he said in a low tone.
+
+He folded the note and put it carefully into his breast pocket. Mr.
+Sabin subdued an insane desire to struggle with him and discover, by
+force, if necessary, who was the sender of those few brief lines. For
+Mr. Brott was a changed man.
+
+"I am afraid," he said, turning to his guest, "that this has been a very
+dull evening for you. To tell you the truth, this club is not exactly
+the haunt of pleasure-seekers. It generally oppresses me for the first
+hour or so. Would you like a hand at bridge, or a game of billiards? I
+am wholly at your service--until twelve o'clock."
+
+Mr. Sabin glanced at the clock.
+
+"You are very good," he said, "but I was never much good at indoor
+games. Golf has been my only relaxation for many years. Besides, I too
+have an engagement for which I must leave in a very few minutes."
+
+"It is very good of you," Mr. Brott said, "to have given me the pleasure
+of your company. I have the greatest possible admiration for your niece,
+Mr. Sabin, and Camperdown is a thundering good fellow. He will be our
+leader in the House of Lords before many years have passed."
+
+"He is, I believe," Mr. Sabin remarked, "of the same politics as
+yourself."
+
+"We are both," Mr. Brott answered, with a smile, "I am afraid outside
+the pale of your consideration in this respect. We are both Radicals."
+
+Mr. Sabin lit another cigarette and glanced once more at the clock.
+
+"A Radical peer!" he remarked. "Isn't that rather an anomaly? The
+principles of Radicalism and aristocracy seem so divergent."
+
+"Yet," Mr. Brott said, "they are not wholly irreconcilable. I have often
+wished that this could be more generally understood. I find myself at
+times very unpopular with people, whose good opinion I am anxious to
+retain, simply owing to this too general misapprehension."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled gently.
+
+"You were referring without doubt--" he began.
+
+"To the Countess," Brott admitted. "Yes, it is true. But after all," he
+added cheerfully, "I believe that our disagreements are mainly upon the
+surface. The Countess is a woman of wide culture and understanding. Her
+mind, too, is plastic. She has few prejudices."
+
+Mr. Sabin glanced at the clock for the third time, and rose to his feet.
+He was quite sure now that the note was from her. He leaned on his
+stick and took his leave quietly. All the time he was studying his host,
+wondering at his air of only partially suppressed excitement.
+
+"I must thank you very much, Mr. Brott," he said, "for your
+entertainment. I trust that you will give me an opportunity shortly of
+reciprocating your hospitality."
+
+The two men parted finally in the hall. Mr. Sabin stepped into his hired
+carriage.
+
+"Dorset House!" he directed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+"This little difference of opinion," the Prince remarked, looking
+thoughtfully through the emerald green of his liqueur, "interests me.
+Our friend Dolinski here thinks that he will not come because he will
+be afraid. De Brouillac, on the contrary, says that he will not come
+because he is too sagacious. Felix here, who knows him best, says that
+he will not come because he prefers ever to play the game from outside
+the circle, a looker-on to all appearance, yet sometimes wielding an
+unseen force. It is a strong position that."
+
+Lucille raised her head and regarded the last speaker steadily.
+
+"And I, Prince!" she exclaimed, "I say that he will come because he is a
+man, and because he does not know fear."
+
+The Prince of Saxe Leinitzer bowed low towards the speaker.
+
+"Dear Lucille," he said, so respectfully that the faint irony of his
+tone was lost to most of those present, "I, too, am of your opinion.
+The man who has a right, real or fancied, to claim you must indeed be
+a coward if he suffered dangers of any sort to stand in the way. After
+all, dangers from us! Is it not a little absurd?"
+
+Lucille looked away from the Prince with a little shudder. He laughed
+softly, and drank his liqueur. Afterwards he leaned back for a moment
+in his chair and glanced thoughtfully around at the assembled company as
+though anxious to impress upon his memory all who were present. It was a
+little group, every member of which bore a well-known name. Their host,
+the Duke of Dorset, in whose splendid library they were assembled, was,
+if not the premier duke of the United Kingdom, at least one of those
+whose many hereditary offices and ancient family entitled him to a
+foremost place in the aristocracy of the world. Raoul de Brouillac,
+Count of Orleans, bore a name which was scarcely absent from a single
+page of the martial history of France. The Prince of Saxe Leinitzer kept
+up still a semblance of royalty in the State which his ancestors had
+ruled with despotic power. Lady Muriel Carey was a younger daughter of
+a ducal house, which had more than once intermarried with Royalty. The
+others, too, had their claims to be considered amongst the greatest
+families of Europe.
+
+The Prince glanced at his watch, and then at the bridge tables ready set
+out.
+
+"I think," he said, "that a little diversion--what does our hostess
+say?"
+
+"Two sets can start at least," the Duchess said. "Lucille and I will
+stay out, and the Count de Brouillac does not play."
+
+The Prince rose.
+
+"It is agreed," he said. "Duke, will you honour me? Felix and Dolinski
+are our ancient adversaries. It should be an interesting trial of
+strength."
+
+There was a general movement, a re-arrangement of seats, and a little
+buzz of conversation. Then silence. Lucille sat back in a great chair,
+and Lady Carey came over to her side.
+
+"You are nervous to-night, Lucille," she said.
+
+"Yes, I am nervous," Lucille admitted. "Why not? At any moment he may be
+here."
+
+"And you care--so much?" Lady Carey said, with a hard little laugh.
+
+"I care so much," Lucille echoed.
+
+Lady Carey shook out her amber satin skirt and sat down upon a low
+divan. She held up her hands, small white hands, ablaze with jewels, and
+looked at them for a moment thoughtfully.
+
+"He was very much in earnest when I saw him at Sherry's in New York,"
+she remarked, "and he was altogether too clever for Mr. Horser and our
+friends there. After all their talk and boasting too. Why, they are
+ignorant of the very elements of intrigue."
+
+Lucille sighed.
+
+"Here," she said, "it is different. The Prince and he are ancient
+rivals, and Raoul de Brouillac is no longer his friend. Muriel, I am
+afraid of what may happen."
+
+Lady Carey shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"He is no fool," she said in a low tone. "He will not come here with a
+magistrate's warrant and a policeman to back it up, nor will he attempt
+to turn the thing into an Adelphi drama. I know him well enough to be
+sure that he will attempt nothing crude. Lucille, don't you find it
+exhilarating?"
+
+"Exhilarating? But why?"
+
+"It will be a game played through to the end by masters, and you, my
+dear woman, are the inspiration. I think that it is most fascinating."
+
+Lucille looked sadly into the fire.
+
+"I think," she said, "that I am weary of all these things. I seem to
+have lived such a very long time. At Lenox I was quite happy. Of my own
+will I would never have left it."
+
+Lady Carey's thin lips curled a little, her blue eyes were full of
+scorn. She was not altogether a pleasant woman to look upon. Her cheeks
+were thin and hollow, her eyes a little too prominent, some hidden
+expression which seemed at times to flit from one to the other of her
+features suggested a sensuality which was a little incongruous with her
+somewhat angular figure and generally cold demeanour. But that she was a
+woman of courage and resource history had proved.
+
+"How idyllic!" she exclaimed. "Positively medieval! Fancy living with
+one man three years."
+
+Lucille smiled.
+
+"Why, not? I never knew a woman yet however cold however fond of change,
+who had not at some time or other during her life met a man for whose
+sake she would have done--what I did. I have had as many admirers--as
+many lovers, I suppose, as most women. But I can truthfully say that
+during the last three years no thought of one of them has crossed my
+mind."
+
+Lady Carey laughed scornfully.
+
+"Upon my word," she said. "If the Prince had not a temper, and if they
+were not playing for such ruinous points, I would entertain them all
+with these delightful confidences. By the bye, the Prince himself was
+once one of those who fell before your chariot wheels, was he not? Look
+at him now--sideways. What does he remind you of?"
+
+Lucille raised her eyes.
+
+"A fat angel," she answered, "or something equally distasteful. How I
+hate those mild eyes and that sweet, slow smile. I saw him thrash a poor
+beater once in the Saxe Leinitzer forests. Ugh!"
+
+"I should not blame him for that," Lady Carey said coldly. "I like
+masterful men, even to the point of cruelty. General Dolinski there
+fascinates me. I believe that he keeps a little private knout at home
+for his wife and children. A wicked little contrivance with an ivory
+handle. I should like to see him use it."
+
+Lucille shuddered. This tete-a-tete did not amuse her. She rose and
+looked over one of the bridge tables for a minute. The Prince, who was
+dealing, looked up with a smile.
+
+"Be my good angel, Countess," he begged. "Fortune has deserted me
+to-night. You shall be the goddess of chance, and smile your favours
+upon me."
+
+A hard little laugh came from the chair where Lady Carey sat. She turned
+her head towards them, and there was a malicious gleam in her eyes.
+
+"Too late, Prince," she exclaimed. "The favours of the Countess are all
+given away. Lucille has become even as one of those flaxen-haired dolls
+of your mountain villages. She has given her heart away, and she is
+sworn to perpetual constancy."
+
+The Prince smiled.
+
+"The absence," he said, glancing up at the clock, "of that most
+fortunate person should surely count in our favour."
+
+Lucille followed his eyes. The clock was striking ten. She shrugged her
+shoulders.
+
+"If the converse also is true, Prince," she said, "you can scarcely have
+anything to hope for from me. For by half-past ten he will be here."
+
+The Prince picked up his cards and sorted them mechanically.
+
+"We shall see," he remarked. "It is true, Countess, that you are here,
+but in this instance you are set with thorns."
+
+"To continue the allegory, Prince," she answered, passing on to the next
+table, "also with poisonous berries. But to the hand which has no fear,
+neither are harmful."
+
+The Prince laid down his hand.
+
+"Now I really believe," he said gently, "that she meant to be rude.
+Partner, I declare hearts!"
+
+Felix was standing out from the next table whilst his hand was being
+played by General Dolinski, his partner. He drew her a little on one
+side.
+
+"Do not irritate Saxe Leinitzer," he whispered. "Remember, everything
+must rest with him. Twice to-night you have brought that smile to his
+lips, and I never see it without thinking of unpleasant things."
+
+"You are right," she answered; "but I hate him so. He and Muriel Carey
+seem to have entered into some conspiracy to lead me on to say things
+which I might regret."
+
+"Saxe Leinitzer," he said, "has never forgotten that he once aspired to
+be your lover."
+
+"He has not failed to let me know it," she answered. "He has even
+dared--ah!"
+
+There was a sudden stir in the room. The library door was thrown open.
+The solemn-visaged butler stood upon the threshold.
+
+"His Grace the Duke of Souspennier!" he announced.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+There was for the moment a dead silence. The soft patter of cards no
+longer fell upon the table. The eyes of every one were turned upon the
+newcomers. And he, leaning upon his stick, looked only for one person,
+and having found her, took no heed of any one else.
+
+"Lucille!"
+
+She rose from her seat and stood with hands outstretched towards him,
+her lips parted in a delightful smile, her eyes soft with happiness.
+
+"Victor, welcome! It is like you to have found me, and I knew that you
+would come."
+
+He raised her fingers to his lips--tenderly--with the grace of a prince,
+but all the affection of a lover. What he said to her none could hear,
+for his voice was lowered almost to a whisper. But the colour stained
+her cheeks, and her blush was the blush of a girl.
+
+A movement of the Duchess recalled him to a sense of his social duty. He
+turned courteously to her with extended hand.
+
+"I trust," he said, "that I may be forgiven my temporary fit of
+aberration. I cannot thank you sufficiently, Duchess, for your kind
+invitation."
+
+Her answering smile was a little dubious.
+
+"I am sure," she said "that we are delighted to welcome back amongst us
+so old and valued a friend. I suppose you know every one?"
+
+Mr. Sabin looked searchingly around, exchanging bows with those whose
+faces were familiar to him. But between him and the Prince of Saxe
+Leinitzer there passed no pretense at any greeting. The two men eyed one
+another for a moment coldly. Each seemed to be trying to read the other
+through.
+
+"I believe," Mr. Sabin said, "that I have that privilege. I see,
+however, that I am interrupting your game. Let me beg you to continue.
+With your permission, Duchess, I will remain a spectator. There are many
+things which my wife and I have to say to one another."
+
+The Prince of Saxe Leinitzer laid his cards softly upon the table. He
+smiled upon Mr. Sabin--a slow, unpleasant smile.
+
+"I think," he said slowly, "that our game must be postponed. It is a
+pity, but I think it had better be so."
+
+"It must be entirely as you wish," Mr. Sabin answered. "I am at your
+service now or later."
+
+The Prince rose to his feet.
+
+"Monsieur le Due de Souspennier," he said, "what are we to conclude from
+your presence here this evening?"
+
+"It is obvious," Mr. Sabin answered. "I claim my place amongst you."
+
+"You claim to be one of us?"
+
+"I do!"
+
+"Ten years ago," the Prince continued, "you were granted immunity from
+all the penalties and obligations which a co-membership with us might
+involve. This privilege was extended to you on account of certain great
+operations in which you were then engaged, and the object of which
+was not foreign to our own aims. You are aware that the period of that
+immunity is long since past."
+
+Mr. Sabin leaned with both hands upon his stick, and his face was like
+the face of a sphinx. Only Lucille, who knew him best of all those
+there, saw him wince for a moment before this reminder of his great
+failure.
+
+"I am not accustomed," Mr. Sabin said quietly, "to shirk my share of the
+work in any undertaking with which I am connected. Only in this case I
+claim to take the place of the Countess Lucille, my wife. I request that
+the task, whatever it may be which you have imposed upon her, may be
+transferred to me."
+
+The Prince's smile was sweet, but those who knew him best wondered what
+evil it might betoken for his ancient enemy.
+
+"You offer yourself, then, as a full member?"
+
+"Assuredly!"
+
+"Subject," he drawled, "to all the usual pains and privileges?"
+
+"Certainly!"
+
+The Prince played with the cards upon the table. His smooth, fair face
+was unruffled, almost undisturbed. Yet underneath he was wondering
+fiercely, eagerly, how this might serve his ends.
+
+"The circumstances," he said at last, "are peculiar. I think that we
+should do well to consult together--you and I, Felix, and Raoul here."
+
+The two men named rose up silently. The Prince pointed to a small
+round table at the farther end of the apartment, half screened off by a
+curtained recess.
+
+"Am I also," Mr. Sabin asked, "of your company?"
+
+The Prince shook his head.
+
+"I think not," he said. "In a few moments we will return."
+
+Mr. Sabin moved away with a slight enigmatic gesture. Lucille gathered
+up her skirts, making room for him by her side on a small sofa.
+
+"It is delightful to see you, Victor," she murmured. "It is delightful
+to know that you trusted me."
+
+Mr. Sabin looked at her, and the smile which no other woman had ever
+seen softened for a moment his face.
+
+"Dear Lucille," he murmured, "how could you ever doubt it? There was a
+day, I admit, when the sun stood still, when, if I had felt inclined to
+turn to light literature, I should have read aloud the Book of Job. But
+afterwards--well, you see that I am here."
+
+She laughed.
+
+"I knew that you would come," she said, "and yet I knew that it would
+be a struggle between you and them. For--the Prince--" she murmured,
+lowering her voice, "had pledged his word to keep us apart."
+
+Mr. Sabin raised his head, and his eyes traveled towards the figure of
+the man who sat with his back to them in the far distant corner of the
+room.
+
+"The Prince," he said softly, "is faithful to his ancient enmities."
+
+Lucille's face was troubled. She turned to her companion with a little
+grimace.
+
+"He would have me believe," she murmured, "that he is faithful to other
+things besides his enmities."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled.
+
+"I am not jealous," he said softly, "of the Prince of Saxe Leinitzer!"
+
+As though attracted by the mention of his name, which must, however,
+have been unheard by him, the Prince at that moment turned round and
+looked for a moment towards them. He shot a quick glance at Lady Carey.
+Almost at once she rose from her chair and came across to them.
+
+"The Prince's watch-dog," Lucille murmured. "Hateful woman! She is bound
+hand and foot to him, and yet--"
+
+Her eyes met his, and he laughed.
+
+"Really," he said, "you and I in our old age might be hero and heroine
+of a little romance--the undesiring objects of a hopeless affection!"
+
+Lady Carey sank into a low chair by their side. "You two," she said,
+with a slow, malicious smile, "are a pattern to this wicked world. Don't
+you know that such fidelity is positively sinful, and after three years
+in such a country too?"
+
+"It is the approach of senility," Mr. Sabin answered her. "I am an old
+man, Lady Muriel!"
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"You are like Ulysses," she said. "The gods, or rather the goddesses,
+have helped you towards immortality."
+
+"It is," Mr. Sabin answered, "the most delicious piece of flattery I
+have ever heard."
+
+"Calypso," she murmured, nodding towards Lucille, "is by your side."
+
+"Really," Mr. Sabin interrupted, "I must protest. Lucille and I
+were married by a most respectable Episcopalian clergyman. We have
+documentary evidence. Besides, if Lucille is Calypso, what about
+Penelope?"
+
+Lady Carey smiled thoughtfully.
+
+"I have always thought," she said, "that Penelope was a myth. In your
+case I should say that Penelope represents a return to sanity--to the
+ordinary ways of life."
+
+Mr. Sabin and Lucille exchanged swift glances. He raised his eyebrows.
+
+"Our little idyll," he said, "seems to be the sport and buffet of
+every one. You forget that I am of the old world. I do not understand
+modernity."
+
+"Ulysses," she answered, "was of the old world, yet he was a wanderer in
+more senses of the word than one. And there have been times--"
+
+Her eyes sought his. He ignored absolutely the subtlety of meaning which
+lurked beneath the heavy drooping eyelids.
+
+"One travels through life," he answered, "by devious paths, and a little
+wandering in the flower-gardens by the way is the lot of every one.
+But when the journey is over, one's taste for wandering has gone--well,
+Ulysses finished his days at the hearth of Penelope."
+
+She rose and walked away. Mr. Sabin sat still and watched her as though
+listening to the soft sweep of her gown upon the carpet.
+
+"Hateful woman!" Lucille exclaimed lightly. "To make love, and such
+love, to one's lawful husband before one's face is a little crude, don't
+you think?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Too obvious," he answered. "She is playing the Prince's game. Dear me,
+how interesting this will be soon."
+
+She nodded. A faint smile of bitterness had stolen into her tone.
+
+"Already," she said, "you are beginning to scent the delight of the
+atmosphere. You are stiffening for the fight. Soon--"
+
+"Ah, no! Don't say it," he whispered, taking her hand. "I shall never
+forget. If the fight seems good to me it is because you are the prize,
+and after all, you know, to fight for one's womenkind is amongst the
+primeval instincts."
+
+Lady Carey, who had been pacing the room restlessly, touching an
+ornament here, looking at a picture there, came back to them and stood
+before Mr. Sabin. She had caught his last words.
+
+"Primeval instincts!" she exclaimed mockingly. "What do you know about
+them, you of all men, a bundle of nerves and brains, with a motor for
+a heart, and an automatic brake upon your passions? Upon my word, I
+believe that I have solved the mystery of your perennial youth. You have
+found a way of substituting machinery for the human organ, and you are
+wound up to go for ever."
+
+"You have found me out," he admitted. "Professor Penningram of Chicago
+will supply you too with an outfit. Mention my name if you like. It is a
+wonderful country America."
+
+The Prince came over to them, fair and bland with no trace upon his
+smooth features or in his half-jesting tone of any evil things.
+
+"Souspennier," he said, holding out his hand, "welcome back once more to
+your old place. I am happy to say that there appears to be no reason why
+your claim should not be fully admitted."
+
+Mr. Sabin rose to his feet.
+
+"I presume," he said, "that no very active demands are likely to be made
+upon my services. In this country more than any other I fear that the
+possibilities of my aid are scanty."
+
+The Prince smiled.
+
+"It is a fact," he said, "which we all appreciate. Upon you at present
+we make no claim."
+
+There was a moment's intense silence. A steely light glittered in Mr.
+Sabin's eyes. He and the Prince alone remained standing. The Duchess of
+Dorset watched them through her lorgnettes; Lady Carey watched too
+with an intense eagerness, her eyes alight with mingled cruelty and
+excitement. Lucille's eyes were so bright that one might readily believe
+the tears to be glistening beneath.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+"I will not pretend," Mr. Sabin said, "to misunderstand you. My help is
+not required by you in this enterprise, whatever it may be, in which you
+are engaged. On the contrary, you have tried by many and various ways to
+keep me at a distance. But I am here, Prince--here to be dealt with and
+treated according to my rights."
+
+The Prince stroked his fair moustache.
+
+"I am a little puzzled," he admitted, "as to this--shall I not call it
+self-assertiveness?--on the part of my good friend Souspennier."
+
+"I will make it quite clear then," Mr. Sabin answered. "Lucille, will
+you favour me by ringing for your maid. The carriage is at the door."
+
+The Prince held out his hand.
+
+"My dear Souspennier," he said, "you must not think of taking Lucille
+away from us."
+
+"Indeed," Mr. Sabin answered coolly. "Why not?"
+
+"It must be obvious to you," the Prince answered, "that we did not
+send to America for Lucille without an object. She is now engaged in an
+important work upon our behalf. It is necessary that she should remain
+under this roof."
+
+"I demand," Mr. Sabin said, "that the nature of that necessity should be
+made clear to me."
+
+The Prince smiled with the air of one disposed to humour a wilful child.
+
+"Come!" he said. "You must know very well that I cannot stand here
+and tell you the bare outline, much less the details of an important
+movement. To-morrow, at any hour you choose, one from amongst us
+shall explain the whole matter--and the part to be borne in it by the
+Countess!"
+
+"And to-night?" Mr. Sabin asked.
+
+The Prince shrugged his shoulders and glanced at the clock.
+
+"To-night, my dear friend," he said, "all of us, I believe, go on to a
+ball at Carmarthen House. It would grieve me also, I am sure, Duke, to
+seem inhospitable, but I am compelled to mention the fact that the hour
+for which the carriages have been ordered is already at hand."
+
+Mr. Sabin reflected for a few moments.
+
+"Did I understand you to say," he asked, "that the help to be given to
+you by my wife, Lucille, Duchess of Souspennier, entailed her remaining
+under this roof?"
+
+The Prince smiled seraphically.
+
+"It is unfortunate," he murmured, "since you have been so gallant as
+to follow her, but it is true! You will understand this
+perfectly--to-morrow."
+
+"And why should I wait until to-morrow?" Mr. Sabin asked coolly.
+
+"I fear," the Prince said, "that it is a matter of necessity."
+
+Mr. Sabin glanced for a moment in turn at the faces of all the little
+company as though seeking to discover how far the attitude of his
+opponent met with their approval. Lady Carey's thin lips were curved
+in a smile, and her eyes met his mockingly. The others remained
+imperturbable. Last of all he looked at Lucille.
+
+"It seems," he said, smiling towards her, "that I am called upon to pay
+a heavy entrance fee on my return amongst your friends. But the Prince
+of Saxe Leinitzer forgets that he has shown me no authority, or given me
+no valid reason why I should tolerate such flagrant interference with my
+personal affairs."
+
+"To-morrow--to-morrow, my good sir!" the Prince interrupted.
+
+"No! To-night!" Mr. Sabin answered sharply. "Lucille, in the absence of
+any reasonable explanation, I challenge the right of the Prince of Saxe
+Leinitzer to rob me even for an hour of my dearest possession. I appeal
+to you. Come with me and remain with me until it has been proved, if
+ever it can be proved, that greater interests require our separation. If
+there be blame I will take it. Will you trust yourself to me?"
+
+Lucille half rose, but Lady Carey's hand was heavy upon her shoulder.
+As though by a careless movement General Dolinski and Raoul de Brouillac
+altered their positions slightly so as to come between the two. The
+Duke of Dorset had left the room. Then Mr. Sabin knew that they were all
+against him.
+
+"Lucille," he said, "have courage! I wait for you."
+
+She looked towards him, and her face puzzled him. For there flashed
+across the shoulders of these people a glance which was wholly out of
+harmony with his own state of barely subdued passion--a glance half
+tender, half humorous, full of subtle promise. Yet her words were a blow
+to him.
+
+"Victor, how is it possible? Believe me, I should come if I could.
+To-morrow--very soon, it may be possible. But now. You hear what the
+Prince says. I fear that he is right!"
+
+To Mr. Sabin the shock was an unexpected one. He had never doubted but
+that she at least was on his side. Her words found him unprepared, and
+a moment he showed his discomfiture. His recovery however, was swift and
+amazing. He bowed to Lucille, and by the time he raised his head even
+the reproach had gone from his eyes.
+
+"Dear lady," he said, "I will not venture to dispute your decision.
+Prince, will you appoint a time to-morrow when this matter shall be more
+fully explained to me?"
+
+The Prince's smile was sweetness itself, and his tone very gentle. But
+Mr. Sabin, who seldom yielded to any passionate impulse, kept his teeth
+set and his hand clenched, lest the blow he longed to deal should escape
+him.
+
+"At midday to-morrow I shall be pleased to receive you," he said.
+"The Countess, with her usual devotion and good sense, has, I trust,
+convinced you that our action is necessary!"
+
+"To-morrow at midday," Mr. Sabin said, "I will be here. I have the
+honour to wish you all good-night."
+
+His farewell was comprehensive. He did not even single out Lucille for a
+parting glance. But down the broad stairs and across the hall of Dorset
+House he passed with weary steps, leaning heavily upon his stick. It was
+a heavy blow which had fallen upon him. As yet he scarcely realised it.
+
+His carriage was delayed for a few moments, and just as he was entering
+it a young woman, plainly dressed in black, came hurrying out and
+slipped a note into his hand.
+
+"Pardon, monsieur," she exclaimed, with a smile. "I feared that I was
+too late."
+
+Mr. Sabin's fingers closed over the note, and he stepped blithely
+into the carriage. But when he tore it open and saw the handwriting he
+permitted himself a little groan of disappointment. It was not from her.
+He read the few lines and crushed the sheet of paper in his hand.
+
+  "I am having supper at the Carlton with some friends on our way
+  to C. H.  I want to speak to you for a moment.  Be in the Palm
+  Court at 12.15, but do not recognise me until I come to you.  If
+  possible keep out of sight.  If you should have left my maid will
+  bring this on to your hotel.
+                                                           "M. C."
+
+Mr. Sabin leaned back in his carriage, and a frown of faint perplexity
+contracted his forehead.
+
+"If I were a younger man," he murmured to himself, "I might believe
+that this woman was really in earnest, as well as being Saxe Leinitzer's
+jackal. We were friendly enough in Paris that year. She is unscrupulous
+enough, of course. Always with some odd fancy for the grotesque or
+unlikely. I wonder--"
+
+He pulled the check-string, and was driven to Camperdown House. A great
+many people were coming and going. Mr. Sabin found Helene's maid, and
+learnt that her mistress was just going to her room, and would be alone
+for a few minutes. He scribbled a few words on the back of a card, and
+was at once taken up to her boudoir.
+
+"My dear UNCLE," Helene exclaimed, "you have arrived most opportunely.
+We have just got rid of a few dinner people, and we are going on to
+Carmarthen House presently. Take that easy-chair, please, and, light a
+cigarette. Will you have a liqueur? Wolfendon has some old brandy which
+every one seems to think wonderful."
+
+"You are very kind, Helene," Mr. Sabin said. "I cannot refuse anything
+which you offer in so charming a manner. But I shall not keep you more
+than a few minutes."
+
+"We need not leave for an hour," Helene said, "and I am dressed except
+for my jewels. Tell me, have you seen Lucille? I am so anxious to know."
+
+"I have seen Lucille this evening," Mr. Sabin answered.
+
+"At Dorset House!"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Helene sat down, smiling.
+
+"Do tell me all about it."
+
+"There is very little to tell," Mr. Sabin answered.
+
+"She is with you--she returns at least!"
+
+Mr. Sabin shook his head.
+
+"No," he answered. "She remains at Dorset House."
+
+Helene was silent. Mr. Sabin smoked pensively a moment or two, and
+sipped the liqueur which Camperdown's own servant had just brought him.
+
+"It is very hard, Helene," he said, "to make you altogether understand
+the situation, for there are certain phases of it which I cannot discuss
+with you at all. I have made my first effort to regain Lucille, and it
+has failed. It is not her fault. I need not say that it is not mine. But
+the struggle has commenced, and in the end I shall win."
+
+"Lucille herself--" Helene began hesitatingly.
+
+"Lucille is, I firmly believe, as anxious to return to me as I am
+anxious to have her," Mr. Sabin said.
+
+Helene threw up her hands.
+
+"It is bewildering," she exclaimed.
+
+"It must seem so to you," Mr. Sabin admitted.
+
+"I wish that Lucille were anywhere else," Helene said. "The Dorset House
+set, you know, although they are very smart and very exclusive, have
+a somewhat peculiar reputation. Lady Carey, although she is such a
+brilliant woman, says and does the most insolent, the most amazing
+things, and the Prince of Saxe Leinitzer goes everywhere in Europe by
+the name of the Royal libertine. They are powerful enough almost to
+dominate society, and we poor people who abide by the conventions are
+absolutely nowhere beside them. They think that we are bourgeois because
+we have virtue, and prehistoric because we are not decadent."
+
+"The Duke--" Mr. Sabin remarked.
+
+"Oh, the Duke is quite different, of course," Helene admitted. "He is a
+fanatical Tory, very stupid, very blind to anything except his beloved
+Primrose League. How he came to lend himself to the vagaries of such a
+set I cannot imagine."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled.
+
+"C'est la femme toujours!" he remarked. "His Grace is, I fear,
+henpecked, and the Duchess herself is the sport of cleverer people. And
+now, my dear niece, I see that the time is going. I came to know if you
+could get me a card for the ball at Carmarthen House to-night."
+
+Helene laughed softly.
+
+"Very easily, my dear UNCLE. Lady Carmarthen is Wolfendon's cousin, you
+know, and a very good friend of mine. I have half a dozen blank cards
+here. Shall I really see you there?"
+
+"I believe so," Mr. Sabin answered.
+
+"And Lucille?"
+
+"It is possible."
+
+"There is nothing I suppose which I can do in the way of intervention,
+or anything of that sort?"
+
+Mr. Sabin shook his head.
+
+"Lucille and I are the best of friends," he answered. "Talk to her, if
+you will. By the bye, is that twelve o'clock? I must hurry. Doubtless we
+shall meet again at the ball."
+
+But Carmarthen House saw nothing of Mr. Sabin that night.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+Mr. Sabin from his seat behind a gigantic palm watched her egress from
+the supper-room with a little group of friends.
+
+They came to a halt in the broad carpeted way only a few feet from him.
+Lady Carey, in a wonderful green gown, her neck and bosom ablaze with
+jewels, seemed to be making her farewells.
+
+"I must go in and see the De Lausanacs," she exclaimed. "They are in
+the blue room supping with the Portuguese Ambassador. I shall be
+at Carmarthen House within half an hour--unless my headache becomes
+unbearable. Au revoir, all of you. Good-bye, Laura!"
+
+Her friends passed on towards the great swing doors. Lady Carey
+retraced her steps slowly towards the supper-room, and made some languid
+inquiries of the head waiter as to a missing handkerchief. Then she came
+again slowly down the broad way and reached Mr. Sabin. He rose to his
+feet.
+
+"I thank you very much for your note," he said. "You have something, I
+believe, to say to me."
+
+She stood before him for a moment in silence, as though not unwilling
+that he should appreciate the soft splendour of her toilette. The jewels
+which encircled her neck were priceless and dazzling; the soft material
+of her gown, the most delicate shade of sea green, seemed to foam about
+her feet, a wonderful triumph of allegoric dressmaking. She saw that
+he was studying her, and she laughed a little uneasily, looking all the
+time into his eyes.
+
+"Shockingly overdressed, ain't I?" she said. "We were going straight to
+Carmarthen House, you know. Come and sit in this corner for a moment,
+and order me some coffee. I suppose there isn't any less public place!"
+
+"I fear not," he answered. "You will perhaps be unobserved behind this
+palm."
+
+She sank into a low chair, and he seated himself beside her. She sighed
+contentedly.
+
+"Dear me!" she said. "Do men like being run after like this?"
+
+Mr. Sabin raised his eyebrows.
+
+"I understood," he said, "that you had something to say to me of
+importance."
+
+She shot a quick look up at him.
+
+"Don't be horrid," she said in a low tone. "Of course I wanted to see
+you. I wanted to explain. Give me one of your cigarettes."
+
+He laid his case silently before her. She took one and lit it, watching
+him furtively all the time. The man brought their coffee. The place was
+almost empty now, and some of the lights were turned down.
+
+"It is very kind of you," he said slowly, "to honour me by so much
+consideration, but if you have much to say perhaps it would be better
+if you permitted me to call upon you to-morrow. I am afraid of depriving
+you of your ball--and your friends will be getting impatient."
+
+"Bother the ball--and my friends," she exclaimed, a certain strained
+note in her tone which puzzled him. "I'm not obliged to go to the thing,
+and I don't want to. I've invented a headache, and they won't even
+expect me. They know my headaches."
+
+"In that case," Mr. Sabin said, "I am entirely at your service."
+
+She sighed, and looked up at him through a little cloud of tobacco
+smoke.
+
+"What a wonderful man you are," she said softly. "You accept defeat with
+the grace of a victor. I believe that you would triumph as easily with
+a shrug of the shoulders. Haven't you any feeling at all? Don't you know
+what it is like to feel?"
+
+He smiled.
+
+"We both come," he said, "of a historic race. If ancestry is worth
+anything it should at least teach us to go about without pinning our
+hearts upon our sleeves."
+
+"But you," she murmured, "you have no heart."
+
+He looked down upon her then with still cold face and steady eyes.
+
+"Indeed," he said, "you are mistaken."
+
+She moved uneasily in her chair. She was very pale, except for a faint
+spot of pink colour in her cheeks.
+
+"It is very hard to find, then," she said, speaking quickly, her bosom
+rising and falling, her eyes always seeking to hold his. "To-night you
+see what I have done--I have, sent away my friends--and my carriage.
+They may know me here--you see what I have risked. And I don't care.
+You thought to-night that I was your enemy--and I am not. I am not your
+enemy at all."
+
+Her hand fell as though by accident upon his, and remained there. Mr.
+Sabin was very nearly embarrassed. He knew quite well that if she were
+not his enemy at that moment she would be very shortly.
+
+"Lucille," she continued, "will blame me too. I cannot help it. I want
+to tell you that for the present your separation from her is a certain
+thing. She acquiesces. You heard her. She is quite happy. She is at the
+ball to-night, and she has friends there who will make it pleasant for
+her. Won't you understand?"
+
+"No," Mr. Sabin answered.
+
+She beat the ground with her foot.
+
+"You must understand," she murmured. "You are not like these fools
+of Englishmen who go to sleep when they are married, and wake in the
+divorce court. For the present at least you have lost Lucille. You heard
+her choose. She's at the ball to-night--and I have come here to be with
+you. Won't you, please," she added, with a little nervous laugh, "show
+some gratitude?"
+
+The interruption which Mr. Sabin had prayed for came at last. The
+musicians had left, and many of the lights had been turned down. An
+official came across to them.
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir," he said, addressing Mr. Sabin, "but we are
+closing now, unless you are a guest in the hotel."
+
+"I am staying here," Mr. Sabin answered, rising, "but the lady--"
+
+Lady Carey interrupted him.
+
+"I am staying here also," she said to the man.
+
+He bowed at once and withdrew. She rose slowly to her feet and laid her
+fingers upon his arm. He looked steadily away from her.
+
+"Fortunately," he said, "I have not yet dismissed my own carriage.
+Permit me."
+
+      *          *            *           *           *
+
+Mr. Sabin leaned heavily upon his stick as he slowly made his way along
+the corridor to his rooms. Things were going ill with him indeed. He was
+not used to the fear of an enemy, but the memory of Lady Carey's white
+cheeks and indrawn lips as she had entered his carriage chilled him.
+Her one look, too, was a threat worse than any which her lips could
+have uttered. He was getting old indeed, he thought, wearily, when
+disappointment weighed so heavily upon him. And Lucille? Had he any
+real fears of her? He felt a little catch in his throat at the bare
+thought--in a moment's singular clearness of perception he realised that
+if Lucille were indeed lost the world was no longer a place for him. So
+his feet fell wearily upon the thickly carpeted floor of the corridor,
+and his face was unusually drawn and haggard as he opened the door of
+his sitting-room.
+
+And then--a transformation, amazing, stupefying. It was Lucille who
+was smiling a welcome upon him from the depths of his favourite
+easy-chair--Lucille sitting over his fire, a novel in her hand, and
+wearing a delightful rose-pink dressing-gown. Some of her belongings
+were scattered about his room, giving it a delicate air of femininity.
+The faint odour of her favourite and only perfume gave to her undoubted
+presence a wonderful sense of reality.
+
+She held out her hands to him, and the broad sleeves of her
+dressing-gown fell away from her white rounded arms. Her eyes were
+wonderfully soft, the pink upon her cheeks was the blush of a girl.
+
+"Victor," she murmured, "do not look so stupefied. Did you not believe
+that I would risk at least a little for you, who have risked so much for
+me? Only come to me! Make the most of me. All sorts of things are sure
+to happen directly I am found out."
+
+He took her into his arms. It was one of the moments of his lifetime.
+
+"Tell me," he murmured, "how have you dared to do this?"
+
+She laughed.
+
+"You know the Prince and his set. You know the way they bribe. Intrigues
+everywhere, new and old overlapping. They have really some reason for
+keeping you and me apart, but as regards my other movements, I am free
+enough. And they thought, Victor--don't be angry--but I let them
+think it was some one else. And I stole away from the ball, and they
+think--never mind what they think. But you, Victor, are my intrigue,
+you, my love, my husband!"
+
+Then all the fatigue and all the weariness, died away from Mr. Sabin's
+face. Once more the fire of youth burned in his heart. And Lucille
+laughed softly as her lips met his, and her head sank upon his shoulder.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+Lady Carey suddenly dropped her partner's arm. She had seen a man
+standing by himself with folded arms and moody face at the entrance
+to the ball-room. She raised her lorgnettes. His identity was
+unquestionable.
+
+"Will you excuse me for a moment, Captain Horton," she said to her
+escort. "I want particularly to speak to Mr. Brott."
+
+Captain Horton bowed with the slight disappointment of a hungry man on
+his way to the supper-room.
+
+"Don't be long," he begged. "The places are filling up."
+
+Lady Carey nodded and walked swiftly across to where Brott was standing.
+He moved eagerly forward to meet her.
+
+"Not dancing, Mr. Brott?"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"This sort of thing isn't much in my way," he answered. "I was rather
+hoping to see the Countess here. I trust that she is not indisposed."
+
+She looked at him steadily.
+
+"Do you mean," she said, "that you do not know where she is?"
+
+"I?" he answered in amazement. "How should I? I have not seen her at all
+this evening. I understood that she was to be here."
+
+Lady Carey hesitated. The man was too honest to be able to lie like
+this, even in a good cause. She stood quite still for a moment thinking.
+Several of her dearest friends had already told her that she was looking
+tired and ill this evening. At that moment she was positively haggard.
+
+"I have been down at Ranelagh this afternoon," she said slowly, "and
+dining out, so I have not seen Lucille. She was complaining of a
+headache yesterday, but I quite thought that she was coming here. Have
+you seen the Duchess?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"No. There is such a crowd."
+
+Lady Carey glanced towards her escort and turned away.
+
+"I will try and find out what has become of her," she said. "Don't go
+away yet."
+
+She rejoined her escort.
+
+"When we have found a table," she said, "I want you to keep my place for
+a few moments while I try and find some of my party."
+
+They passed into the supper-room, and appropriated a small table. Lady
+Carey left her partner, and made her way to the farther end of the
+apartment, where the Prince of Saxe Leinitzer was supping with half a
+dozen men and women. She touched him on the shoulder.
+
+"I want to speak to you for a moment, Ferdinand," she whispered.
+
+He rose at once, and she drew him a little apart.
+
+"Brott is here," she said slowly.
+
+"Brott here!" he repeated. "And Lucille?"
+
+"He is asking for her--expected to find her here. He is downstairs now,
+looking the picture of misery."
+
+He looked at her inquiringly. There was a curious steely light in
+her eyes, and she was showing her front teeth, which were a little
+prominent.
+
+"Do you think," he asked, "that she has deceived us?"
+
+"What else? Where are the Dorsets?"
+
+"The Duchess is with the Earl of Condon, and some more people at the
+round table under the balcony."
+
+"Give me your arm," she whispered. "We must go and ask her."
+
+They crossed the room together. Lady Carey sank into a vacant chair by
+the side of the Duchess and talked for a few minutes to the people whom
+she knew. Then she turned and whispered in the Duchess's ear.
+
+"Where is Lucille?"
+
+The Duchess looked at her with a meaning smile.
+
+"How should I know? She left when we did."
+
+"Alone?"
+
+"Yes. It was all understood, wasn't it?"
+
+Lady Carey laughed unpleasantly.
+
+"She has fooled us," she said. "Brott is here alone. Knows nothing of
+her."
+
+The Duchess was puzzled.
+
+"Well, I know nothing more than you do," she answered. "Are you sure the
+man is telling the truth?"
+
+"Of course. He is the image of despair."
+
+"I am sure she was in earnest," the Duchess said. "When I asked her
+whether she should come on here she laughed a little nervously, and said
+perhaps or something of that sort."
+
+"The fool may have bungled it," Lady Carey said thoughtfully. "I will
+go back to him. There's that idiot of a partner of mine. I must go and
+pretend to have some supper."
+
+Captain Horton found his vis-a-vis a somewhat unsatisfactory companion.
+She drank several glasses of champagne, ate scarcely anything, and
+rushed him away before he had taken the edge off his appetite. He
+brought her to the Duchess and went back in a huff to finish his supper
+alone. Lady Carey went downstairs and discovered Mr. Brott, who had
+scarcely moved.
+
+"Have you seen anything of her?" she asked.
+
+He shook his head gloomily.
+
+"No! It is too late for her to come now, isn't it?"
+
+"Take me somewhere where we can talk," she said abruptly. "One of those
+seats in the recess will do."
+
+He obeyed her, and they found a retired corner. Lady Carey wasted no
+time in fencing.
+
+"I am Lucille's greatest friend, Mr. Brott, and her confidante," she
+said.
+
+He nodded.
+
+"So I have understood."
+
+"She tells me everything."
+
+He glanced towards her a little uneasily.
+
+"That is comprehensive!" he remarked.
+
+"It is true," she answered. "Lucille has told me a great deal about your
+friendship! Come, there is no use in our mincing words. Lucille has
+been badly treated years ago, and she has a perfect right to seek any
+consolation she may find. The old fashioned ideas, thank goodness, do
+not hold any longer amongst us. It is not necessary to tie yourself for
+life to a man in order to procure a little diversion."
+
+"I will not pretend to misunderstand you, Lady Carey," he said gravely,
+"but I must decline to discuss the Countess of Radantz in connection
+with such matters."
+
+"Oh, come!" she declared impatiently; "remember that I am her friend.
+Yours is quite the proper attitude, but with me it doesn't matter. Now
+I am going to ask you a plain question. Had you any engagement with
+Lucille to-night?"
+
+She watched him mercilessly. He was colouring like a boy. Lady Carey's
+thin lips curled. She had no sympathy with such amateurish love-making.
+Nevertheless, his embarrassment was a great relief to her.
+
+"She promised to be here," he answered stiffly.
+
+"Everything depends upon your being honest with me," she continued.
+"You will see from my question that I know. Was there not something said
+about supper at your rooms before or after the dance?"
+
+"I cannot discuss this matter with you or any living person," he
+answered. "If you know so much why ask me?"
+
+Lady Carey could have shaken the man, but she restrained herself.
+
+"It is sufficient!" she declared. "What I cannot understand is why you
+are here--when Lucille is probably awaiting for you at your rooms."
+
+He started from his chair as though he had been shot.
+
+"What do you mean?" he exclaimed. "She was to--"
+
+He stopped short. Lady Carey shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"Oh, written you or something, I suppose!" she exclaimed. "Trust an
+Englishman for bungling a love affair. All I can tell you is that she
+left Dorset House in a hansom without the others, and said some thing
+about having supper with some friends."
+
+Brott sprang to his feet and took a quick step towards the exit.
+
+"It is not possible!" he exclaimed.
+
+She took his arm. He almost dragged her along.
+
+"Well, we are going to see," she said coolly. "Tell the man to call a
+hansom."
+
+They drove almost in silence through the Square to Pall Mall. Brott
+leaped out onto the pavement directly the cab pulled up.
+
+"I will wait here," Lady Carey said. "I only want to know that Lucille
+is safe."
+
+He disappeared, and she sat forward in the cab drumming idly with
+her forefingers upon the apron. In a few minutes he came back. His
+appearance was quite sufficient. He was very pale. The change in him was
+so ludicrous that she laughed.
+
+"Get in," she said. "I am going round to Dorset House. We must find out
+if we can what has become of her."
+
+He obeyed without comment. At Dorset House Lady Carey summoned the
+Duchess's own maid.
+
+"Marie," she said, "you were attending upon the Countess Radantz
+to-night?"
+
+"Yes, my lady."
+
+"At what time did she leave?"
+
+"At about, eleven, my lady."
+
+"Alone?"
+
+"Yes, my lady."
+
+Lady Carey looked steadily at the girl.
+
+"Did she take anything with her?"
+
+The girl hesitated. Lady Carey frowned.
+
+"It must be the truth, remember, Marie."
+
+"Certainly, my lady! She took her small dressing-case."
+
+Lady Carey set her teeth hard. Then with a movement of her head she
+dismissed the maid. She walked restlessly up and down the room. Then she
+stopped short with a hard little laugh.
+
+"If I give way like this," she murmured, "I shall be positively hideous,
+and after all, if she was there it was not possible for him--"
+
+She stopped short, and suddenly tearing the handkerchief which she had
+been carrying into shreds threw the pieces upon the floor, and stamped
+upon them. Then she laughed shortly, and turned towards the door.
+
+"Now I must go and get rid of that poor fool outside," she said. "What a
+bungler!"
+
+Brott was beside himself with impatience.
+
+"Lucille is here," she announced, stepping in beside him. "She has a
+shocking headache and has gone to bed. As a matter of fact, I believe
+that she was expecting to hear from you."
+
+"Impossible!" he answered shortly. He was beginning to distrust this
+woman.
+
+"Never mind. You can make it up with her to-morrow. I was foolish to be
+anxious about her at all. Are you coming in again?"
+
+They were at Carmarthen House. He handed her out.
+
+"No, thanks! If you will allow me I will wish you good-night."
+
+She made her way into the ball-room, and found the Prince of Saxe
+Leinitzer, who was just leaving.
+
+"Do you know where Lucille is?" she asked.
+
+He looked up at her sharply. "Where?"
+
+"At the Carlton Hotel--with him."
+
+He rose to his feet with slow but evil promptitude. His face just then
+was very unlike the face of an angel. Lady Carey laughed aloud.
+
+"Poor man," she said mockingly. "It is always the same when you and
+Souspennier meet."
+
+He set his teeth.
+
+"This time," he muttered, "I hold the trumps."
+
+She pointed at the clock. It was nearly four. "She was there at eleven,"
+she remarked drily.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+"His Highness, the Prince of Saxe Leinitzer!"
+
+Duson stood away from the door with a low bow. The Prince--in the
+buttonhole of whose frock-coat was a large bunch of Russian violets,
+passed across the threshold. Mr. Sabin rose slowly from his chair.
+
+"I fear," the Prince said suavely, "that I am an early visitor. I can
+only throw myself upon your indulgence and plead the urgency of my
+mission."
+
+His arrival appeared to have interrupted a late breakfast of the
+Continental order. The small table at which Lucille and Mr. Sabin were
+seated was covered with roses and several dishes of wonderful fruit. A
+coffee equipage was before Lucille. Mr. Sabin, dressed with his usual
+peculiar care and looking ten years younger, had just lit a cigarette.
+
+"We have been anticipating your visit, Prince," Mr. Sabin remarked, with
+grim courtesy. "Can we offer you coffee or a liqueur?"
+
+"I thank you, no," the Prince answered. "I seldom take anything
+before lunch. Let me beg that you do not disturb yourselves. With your
+permission I will take this easy-chair. So! That is excellent. We can
+now talk undisturbed."
+
+Mr. Sabin bowed.
+
+"You will find me," he said, "an excellent listener."
+
+The Prince smiled in an amiable manner. His eyes were fixed upon
+Lucille, who had drawn her chair a little away from the table. What
+other woman in the world who had passed her first youth could sit thus
+in the slanting sunlight and remain beautiful?
+
+"I will ask you to believe," the Prince said slowly, "how sincerely
+I regret this unavoidable interference in a domestic happiness so
+touching. Nevertheless, I have come for the Countess. It is necessary
+that she returns to Dorset House this morning."
+
+"You will oblige me," Mr. Sabin remarked, "by remembering that my wife
+is the Duchesse de Souspennier, and by so addressing her."
+
+The Prince spread out his hands--a deprecating gesture.
+
+"Alas!" he said, "for the present it is not possible. Until the little
+affair upon which we are now engaged is finally disposed of it is
+necessary that Lucille should be known by the title which she bears
+in her own right, or by the name of her late husband, Mr. James B.
+Peterson."
+
+"That little affair," Mr. Sabin remarked, "is, I presume, the matter
+which you have come to explain to me."
+
+The Prince smiled and shook his head.
+
+"Explain! My dear Duke, that is not possible. It is not within your
+rights to ask questions or to require any explanation as to anything
+which Lucille is required to do by us. You must remember that our claim
+upon her comes before yours. It is a claim which she cannot evade or
+deny. And in pursuance of it, Countess, I deeply regret having to
+tell you that your presence at Dorset House within the next hour is
+demanded."
+
+Lucille made no answer, but looked across the table at Mr. Sabin with a
+little grimace.
+
+"It is a comedy," she murmured. "After all, it is a comedy!"
+
+Mr. Sabin fingered his cigarette thoughtfully.
+
+"I believe," he said, "that the Duchess realises her responsibilities in
+this matter. I myself have no wish to deny them. As ordinary members
+we are both pledged to absolute obedience. I therefore place no embargo
+upon the return of my wife to Dorset House. But there are certain
+conditions, Prince, that considering the special circumstances of the
+case I feel impelled to propose."
+
+"I can recognise," the Prince said, "no conditions."
+
+"They are very harmless," Mr. Sabin continued calmly. "The first is that
+in a friendly way, and of course under the inviolable law of secrecy,
+you explain to me for what part Lucille is cast in this little comedy;
+the next that I be allowed to see her at reasonable intervals,
+and finally that she is known by her rightful name as Duchesse de
+Souspennier."
+
+The forced urbanity which the Prince had assumed fell away from him
+without warning. The tone of his reply was almost a sneer.
+
+"I repeat," he said, "that I can recognise no conditions."
+
+"It is perhaps," Mr. Sabin continued, "the wrong word to use. We submit
+to your authority, but you and I are well aware that your discretionary
+powers are large. I ask you to use them."
+
+"And I," the Prince said, "refuse. Let me add that I intend to prevent
+any recurrence of your little adventure of last night. Lucille shall not
+see you again until her task is over. And as for you, my dear Duke, I
+desire only your absence. I do not wish to hurt your feelings, but your
+name has been associated in the past with too many failures to inspire
+us with any confidence in engaging you as an ally. Countess, a carriage
+from Dorset House awaits you."
+
+But Lucille sat still, and Mr. Sabin rose slowly to his feet.
+
+"I thank you, Prince," he said, "for throwing away the mask. Fighting
+is always better without the buttons. It is true that I have failed
+more than once, but it is also true that my failures have been more
+magnificent than your waddle across the plain of life. As for your
+present authority, I challenge you to your face that you are using it to
+gain your private ends. What I have said to you I shall repeat to those
+whose place is above yours. Lucille shall go to Dorset House, but I warn
+you that I hold my life a slight thing where her welfare is concerned.
+Your hand is upon the lever of a great organization, I am only a unit
+in the world. Yet I would have you remember that more than once, Prince,
+when you and I have met with the odds in your favour the victory has
+been mine. Play the game fairly, and you have nothing to fear from me
+but the open opposition I have promised you. Bring but the shadow of
+evil upon her, misuse your power but ever so slightly against her, and
+I warn you that I shall count the few years of life left to me a
+trifle--of less than no account--until you and I cry quits."
+
+The Prince smiled, a fat, good-natured smile, behind which the malice
+was indeed well hidden.
+
+"Come, come, my dear Souspennier," he declared. "This is unworthy of
+you. It is positively melodramatic. It reminds me of the plays of my
+Fatherland, and of your own Adelphi Theatre. We should be men of the
+world, you and I. You must take your defeats with your victories. I can
+assure you that the welfare of the Countess Lucille shall be my special
+care."
+
+Lucille for the first time spoke. She rose from her chair and rested her
+hands affectionately upon her husband's shoulder.
+
+"Dear Victor," she said, "remember that we are in London, and, need
+I add, have confidence in me. The Prince of Saxe Leinitzer and I
+understand one another, I believe. If we do not it is not my fault. My
+presence here at this moment should prove to you how eagerly I shall
+look forward to the time when our separation is no longer necessary."
+
+She passed away into the inner room with a little farewell gesture
+tender and regretful. Mr. Sabin resumed his seat.
+
+"I believe, Prince," he said, "that no good can come of any further
+conference between you and me. We understand one another too well. Might
+I suggest therefore that you permit me to ring?"
+
+The Prince rose to his feet.
+
+"You are right," he said. "The bandying of words between you and me is a
+waste of time. We are both of us too old at the game. But come, before
+I go I will do you a good turn. I will prove that I am in a generous
+mood."
+
+Mr. Sabin shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"If anything in this world could inspire me with fear," he remarked, "it
+would be the generosity of the Prince of Saxe Leinitzer."
+
+The Prince sighed.
+
+"You always misunderstand me," he murmured. "However, I will prove my
+words. You spoke of an appeal."
+
+"Certainly," Mr. Sabin answered. "I intend to impeach you for making
+use of the powers entrusted to you for your own private ends--in other
+words, for making an arbitrary misuse of your position."
+
+The Prince nodded.
+
+"It is very well put," he said. "I shall await the result of your appeal
+in fear and trembling. I confess that I am very much afraid. But, come
+now, I am going to be generous. I am going to help you on a little. Do
+you know to whom your appeal must be made?"
+
+"To the Grand Duke!" Mr. Sabin replied.
+
+The Prince shook his head.
+
+"Ah me!" he said, "how long indeed you have been absent from the world.
+The Grand Duke is no longer the head of our little affair. Shall I tell
+you who has succeeded him?"
+
+"I can easily find out," Mr. Sabin answered.
+
+"Ah, but I warned you that I was in a generous mood," the Prince said,
+with a smile. "I will save you the trouble. With your permission I will
+whisper the name in your ear. It is not one which we mention lightly."
+
+He stepped forward and bent his head for a moment. Afterwards, as he
+drew back, the smile upon his lips broadened until he showed all his
+teeth. It was a veritable triumph. Mr. Sabin, taken wholly by surprise,
+had not been able to conceal his consternation.
+
+"It is not possible," he exclaimed hoarsely. "He would not dare."
+
+But in his heart he knew that the Prince had spoken the truth.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+"After all," said the Prince, looking up from the wine list, "why cannot
+I be satisfied with you? And why cannot you be satisfied with me? It
+would save so much trouble."
+
+Lady Carey, who was slowly unwinding the white veil from her picture
+hat, shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"My dear man," she said, "you could not seriously expect me to fall in
+love with you."
+
+The Prince sipped his wine--a cabinet hock of rare vintage--and found it
+good. He leaned over towards his companion.
+
+"Why not?" he asked. "I wish that you would try--in earnest, I mean.
+You are capable of great things, I believe--perhaps of the great passion
+itself."
+
+"Perhaps," she murmured derisively.
+
+"And yet," he continued, "there has always been in our love-making a
+touch of amateurishness. It is an awkward word, but I do not know how
+better to explain myself."
+
+"I understand you perfectly," she answered. "I can also, I think,
+explain it. It is because I never cared a rap about you."
+
+The Prince did not appear altogether pleased. He curled his fair
+moustache, and looked deprecatingly at his companion. She had so much
+the air of a woman who has spoken the truth.
+
+"My dear Muriel!" he protested.
+
+She looked at him insolently.
+
+"My good man," she said, "whatever you do don't try and be sentimental.
+You know quite well that I have never in my life pretended to care a rap
+about you--except to pass the time. You are altogether too obvious. Very
+young girls and very old women would rave about you. You simply don't
+appeal to me. Perhaps I know you too well. What does it matter!"
+
+He sighed and examined a sauce critically. They were lunching at
+Prince's alone, at a small table near the wall.
+
+"Your taste," he remarked a little spitefully, "would be considered a
+trifle strange. Souspennier carries his years well, but he must be an
+old man."
+
+She sipped her wine thoughtfully.
+
+"Old or young," she said, "he is a man, and all my life I have loved
+men,--strong men. To have him here opposite to me at this moment, mine,
+belonging to me, the slave of my will, I would give--well, I would
+give--a year of my life--my new tiara--anything!"
+
+"What a pity," he murmured, "that we cannot make an exchange, you and I,
+Lucille and he!"
+
+"Ah, Lucille!" she murmured. "Well, she is beautiful. That goes for
+much. And she has the grand air. But, heavens, how stupid!"
+
+"Stupid!" he repeated doubtfully.
+
+She drummed nervously upon the tablecloth with her fingers.
+
+"Oh, not stupid in the ordinary way, of course, but yet a fool. I should
+like to see man or devil try and separate us if I belonged to him--until
+I was tired of him. That would come, of course. It comes always. It is
+the hideous part of life."
+
+"You look always," he said, "a little too far forward. It is a mistake.
+After all, it is the present only which concerns us."
+
+"Admirable philosophy," she laughed scornfully, "but when one is
+bored to death in the present one must look forward or backward for
+consolation."
+
+He continued his lunch in silence for a while.
+
+"I am rebuked!" he said.
+
+There came a pause in the courses. He looked at her critically. She was
+very handsomely dressed in a walking costume of dove-coloured grey. The
+ostrich feathers which drooped from her large hat were almost priceless.
+She had the undeniable air of being a person of breeding. But she
+was paler even than usual, her hair, notwithstanding its careful
+arrangement, gave signs of being a little thin in front. There were
+wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. She knew these things, but she bore
+his inspection with indifference.
+
+"I wonder," he said reflectively, "what we men see in you. You have
+plenty of admirers. They say that Grefton got himself shot out at the
+front because you treated him badly. Yet--you are not much to look at,
+are you?"
+
+She laughed at him. Hers was never a pleasant laugh, but this time it
+was at least natural.
+
+"How discriminating," she declared. "I am an ugly woman, and men of
+taste usually prefer ugly women. Then I am always well dressed. I know
+how to wear my clothes. And I have a shocking reputation. A really
+wicked woman, I once heard pious old Lady Surbiton call me! Dear old
+thing! It did me no end of good. Then I have the very great advantage
+of never caring for any one more than a few days together. Men find that
+annoying."
+
+"You have violent fancies," he remarked, "and strange ones."
+
+"Perhaps," she admitted. "They concern no one except myself."
+
+"This Souspennier craze, for instance!"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Well, you can't say that I'm not honest. It is positively my only
+virtue. I adore the truth. I loathe a lie. That is one reason, I
+daresay, why I can only barely tolerate you. You are a shocking--a gross
+liar."
+
+"Muriel!"
+
+"Oh, don't look at me like that," she exclaimed irritably. "You must
+hear the truth sometimes. And now, please remember that I came to lunch
+with you to hear about your visit this morning."
+
+The Prince gnawed his moustache, and the light in his eyes was not
+a pleasant thing to see. This woman with her reckless life, her odd
+fascination, her brusque hatred of affectations, was a constant torment
+to him. If only he could once get her thoroughly into his power.
+
+"My visit," he said, "was wholly successful. It could not well be
+otherwise. Lucille has returned to Dorset House. Souspennier is
+confounded altogether by a little revelation which I ventured to make.
+He spoke of an appeal. I let him know with whom he would have to deal.
+I left him nerveless and crushed. He can do nothing save by open revolt.
+And if he tries that--well, there will be no more of this wonderful Mr.
+Sabin."
+
+"Altogether a triumph to you," she remarked scornfully. "Oh, I know the
+sort of thing. But, after all, my dear Ferdinand, what of last night.
+I hate the woman, but she played the game, and played it well. We were
+fooled, both of us. And to think that I--"
+
+She broke off with a short laugh. The Prince looked at her curiously.
+
+"Perhaps," he said, "you had some idea of consoling the desolate
+husband?"
+
+"Perhaps I had," she answered coolly. "It didn't come off, did it? Order
+me some coffee, and give me a cigarette, my friend. I have something
+else to say to you."
+
+He obeyed her, and she leaned back in the high chair.
+
+"Listen to me," she said. "I have nothing whatever to do with you and
+Lucille. I suppose you will get your revenge on Souspennier through her.
+It won't be like you if you don't try, and you ought to have the game
+pretty well in your own hands. But I won't have Souspennier harmed. You
+understand?"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Souspennier," he said, "must take care. If he oversteps the bounds he
+must pay the penalty."
+
+She leaned forward. There was a look in her face which he knew very
+well.
+
+"You and I understand one another," she said coolly. "If you want me for
+an enemy you can have me. Very likely I shall tell you before long that
+you can do what you like with the man. But until I do it will be very
+dangerous for you if harm comes to him."
+
+"It is no use," he answered doggedly. "If he attacks he must be
+silenced."
+
+"If he attacks," she answered, "you must give me twenty-four hours clear
+notice before you move a hand against him. Afterwards--well, we will
+discuss that."
+
+"You had better," he said, looking at her with an ugly gleam in his
+eyes, "persuade him to take you for a little tour on the Continent. It
+would be safer."
+
+"If he would come," she said coolly, "I would go to-morrow. But he
+won't--just yet. Never mind. You have heard what I wanted to say. Now
+shall we go? I am going to get some sleep this afternoon. Everybody
+tells me that I look like a ghost."
+
+"Why not come to Grosvenor Square with me?" he leaning a little across
+the table. "Patoff shall make you some Russian tea, and afterwards you
+shall sleep as long as you like."
+
+"How idyllic!" she answered, with a faint sarcastic smile. "It goes
+to my heart to decline so charming an invitation. But, to tell you the
+truth, it would bore me excessively."
+
+He muttered something under his breath which startled the waiter at
+his elbow. Then he followed her out of the room. She paused for a few
+moments in the portico to finish buttoning her gloves.
+
+"Many thanks for my lunch," she said, nodding to him carelessly. "I'm
+sure I've been a delightful companion."
+
+"You have been a very tormenting one," he answered gloomily as he
+followed her out on to the pavement.
+
+"You should try Lucille," she suggested maliciously.
+
+He stood by her side while they waited for her carriage, and looked
+at her critically. Her slim, elegant figure had never seemed more
+attractive to him. Even the insolence of her tone and manner had an odd
+sort of fascination. He tried to hold for a moment the fingers which
+grasped her skirt.
+
+"I think," he whispered, "that after you Lucille would be dull!"
+
+She laughed.
+
+"That is because Lucille has morals and a conscience," she said, "and
+I have neither. But, dear me, how much more comfortably one gets on
+without them. No, thank you, Prince. My coupe is only built for one.
+Remember."
+
+She flung him a careless nod from the window. The Prince remained on the
+pavement until after the little brougham had driven away. Then he smiled
+softly to himself as he turned to follow it.
+
+"No!" he said. "I think not! I think that she will not get our good
+friend Souspennier. We shall see!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+A barely furnished man's room, comfortable, austere, scholarly. The
+refuge of a busy man, to judge by the piles of books and papers which
+littered the large open writing-table. There were despatch boxes turned
+upside down, a sea of parchment and foolscap. In the midst of it all a
+man deep in thought.
+
+A visitor, entering with the freedom of an old acquaintance, laid
+his hand upon his shoulder and greeted him with an air of suppressed
+enthusiasm.
+
+"Planning the campaign, eh, Brott? Or is that a handbook to Court
+etiquette? You will need it within the week. There are all sorts of
+rumours at the clubs."
+
+Brott shook himself free from his fit of apathetic reflection. He would
+not have dared to tell his visitor where his thoughts had been for the
+last half hour.
+
+"Somehow," he said, "I do not think that little trip to Windsor will
+come just yet. The King will never send for me unless he is compelled."
+
+His visitor, an ex-Cabinet Minister, a pronounced Radical and a lifelong
+friend of Brott's, shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"That time," he said, "is very close at hand. He will send for
+Letheringham first, of course, and great pressure will be brought to
+bear upon him to form a ministry. But without you he will be helpless.
+He has not the confidence of the people."
+
+"Without me," Brott repeated slowly. "You think then that I should not
+accept office with Letheringham?"
+
+His visitor regarded him steadily for a moment, open-mouthed, obviously
+taken aback.
+
+"Brott, are you in your right senses?" he asked incredulously. "Do you
+know what you are saying?"
+
+Brott laughed a little nervously.
+
+"This is a great issue, Grahame," he said. "I will confess that I am in
+an undecided state. I am not sure that the country is in a sufficiently
+advanced state for our propaganda. Is this really our opportunity, or is
+it only the shadow of what is to come thrown before? If we show our hand
+too soon all is lost for this generation. Don't look at me as though I
+were insane, Grahame. Remember that the country is only just free from a
+long era of Conservative rule."
+
+"The better our opportunity," Grahame answered vigorously. "Two decades
+of puppet government are enervating, I admit, but they only pave the
+way more surely to the inevitable reaction. What is the matter with
+you, Brott? Are you ill? This is the great moment of our lives. You must
+speak at Manchester and Birmingham within this week. Glasgow is already
+preparing for you. Everything and everybody waits for your judgment.
+Good God, man, it's magnificent! Where's your enthusiasm? Within a month
+you must be Prime Minister, and we will show the world the way to a new
+era."
+
+Brott sat quite still. His friend's words had stirred him for the
+moment. Yet he seemed the victim of a curious indecision. Grahame leaned
+over towards him.
+
+"Brott, old friend," he said, "you are not ill?"
+
+Brott shook his head.
+
+"I am perfectly well," he said.
+
+Grahame hesitated.
+
+"It is a delicate thing to mention," he said. "Perhaps I shall pass even
+the bounds of our old comradeship. But you have changed. Something is
+wrong with you. What is it?"
+
+"There is nothing," Brott answered, looking up. "It is your fancy. I am
+well enough."
+
+Grahame's face was dark with anxiety.
+
+"This is no idle curiosity of mine," he said. "You know me better than
+that. But the cause which is nearer my heart than life itself is at
+stake. Brott, you are the people's man, their promised redeemer. Think
+of them, the toilers, the oppressed, God's children, groaning under the
+iniquitous laws of generations of evil statesmanship. It is the dawn of
+their new day, their faces are turned to you. Man, can't you hear them
+crying? You can't fail them. You mustn't. I don't know what is the
+matter with you, Brott, but away with it. Free yourself, man."
+
+Brott sighed wearily, but already there was a change in him. His
+face was hardening--the lines in his face deepened. Grahame continued
+hastily--eagerly.
+
+"Public men," he said, "are always at the mercy of the halfpenny press,
+but you know, Brott, your appearance so often in Society lately has set
+men's tongues wagging. There is no harm done, but it is time to stop
+them. You are right to want to understand these people. You must go down
+amongst them. It has been slumming in Mayfair for you, I know. But have
+done with it now. It is these people we are going to fight. Let it be
+open war. Let them hear your programme at Glasgow. We don't want another
+French Revolution, but it is going to be war against the drones, fierce,
+merciless war! You must break with them, Brott, once and for ever. And
+the time is now."
+
+Brott held out his hand across the table. No one but this one man could
+have read the struggle in his face.
+
+"You are right, Grahame. I thank you. I thank you as much for what you
+have left unsaid as for what you have said. I was a fool to think of
+compromising. Letheringham is a nerveless leader. We should have gone
+pottering on for another seven years. Thank God that you came when you
+did. See here!"
+
+He tossed him over a letter. Grahame's cheek paled as he read.
+
+"Already!" he murmured.
+
+Brott nodded.
+
+"Read it!"
+
+Grahame devoured every word. His eyes lit up with excitement.
+
+"My prophecy exactly," he exclaimed, laying it down. "It is as I said.
+He cannot form the ministry without you. His letter is abject. He gives
+himself away. It is an entreaty. And your answer?"
+
+"Has not yet gone," Brott said. "You shall write it yourself if you
+like. I am thankful that you came when you did."
+
+"You were hesitating?" Grahame exclaimed.
+
+"I was."
+
+Grahame looked at him in wonder, and Brott faced him sturdily.
+
+"It seems like treason to you, Grahame!" he said. "So it does to me
+now. I want nothing in the future to come between us," he continued
+more slowly, "and I should like if I can to expunge the memory of this
+interview. And so I am going to tell you the truth." Grahame held out
+his hand.
+
+"Don't!" he said. "I can forget without."
+
+Brott shook his head.
+
+"No," he said. "You had better understand everything. The halfpenny
+press told the truth. Yet only half the truth. I have been to all
+these places, wasted my time, wasted their time, from a purely selfish
+reason--to be near the only woman I have ever cared for, the woman,
+Grahame!"
+
+"I knew it," Grahame murmured. "I fought against the belief, I thought
+that I had stifled it. But I knew it all the time."
+
+"If I have seemed lukewarm sometimes of late," Brott said, "there is the
+cause. She is an aristocrat, and my politics are hateful to her. She has
+told me so seriously, playfully, angrily. She has let me feel it in a
+hundred ways. She has drawn me into discussions and shown the utmost
+horror of my views. I have cared for her all my life, and she knows
+it. And I think, Grahame, that lately she has been trying constantly,
+persistently, to tone down my opinions. She has let me understand that
+they are a bar between us. And it is a horrible confession, Grahame, but
+I believe that I was wavering. This invitation from Letheringham seemed
+such a wonderful opportunity for compromise."
+
+"This must never go out of the room," Grahame said hoarsely. "It would
+ruin your popularity. They would never trust you again."
+
+"I shall tell no one else," Brott said.
+
+"And it is over?" Grahame demanded eagerly.
+
+"It is over."
+
+     *           *           *           *           *
+
+The Duke of Dorset, who entertained for his party, gave a great dinner
+that night at Dorset House, and towards its close the Prince of Saxe
+Leinitzer, who was almost the only non-political guest, moved up to his
+host in response to an eager summons. The Duke was perturbed.
+
+"You have heard the news, Saxe Leinitzer?"
+
+"I did not know of any news," the Prince answered. "What is it?"
+
+"Brott has refused to join with Letheringham in forming a ministry. It
+is rumoured even that a coalition was proposed, and that Brott would
+have nothing to do with it."
+
+The Prince looked into his wineglass.
+
+"Ah!" he said.
+
+"This is disturbing news," the Duke continued. "You do not seem to
+appreciate its significance."
+
+The Prince looked up again.
+
+"Perhaps not," he said. "You shall explain to me."
+
+"Brott refuses to compromise," the Duke said. "He stands for a ministry
+of his own selection. Heaven only knows what mischief this may mean.
+His doctrines are thoroughly revolutionary. He is an iconoclast with a
+genius for destruction. But he has the ear of the people. He is to-day
+their Rienzi."
+
+The Prince nodded.
+
+"And Lucille?" he remarked. "What does she say?"
+
+"I have not spoken to her," the Duke answered. "The news has only just
+come."
+
+"We will speak to her," the Prince said, "together."
+
+Afterwards in the library there was a sort of informal meeting, and
+their opportunity came.
+
+"So you have failed, Countess," her host said, knitting his grey brows
+at her.
+
+She smilingly acknowledged defeat.
+
+"But I can assure you," she said, "that I was very near success. Only
+on Monday he had virtually made up his mind to abandon the extreme party
+and cast in his lot with Letheringham. What has happened to change him I
+do not know."
+
+The Prince curled his fair moustache.
+
+"It is a pity," he said, "that he changed his mind. For one thing is
+very certain. The Duke and I are agreed upon it. A Brott ministry must
+never be formed."
+
+She looked up quickly.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+The Prince answered her without hesitation.
+
+"If one course fails," he said, "another must be adopted. I regret
+having to make use of means which are somewhat clumsy and obvious. But
+our pronouncement on this one point is final. Brott must not be allowed
+to form a ministry."
+
+She looked at him with something like horror in her soft full eyes.
+
+"What would you do?" she murmured.
+
+The Prince shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Well," he said, "we are not quite medieval enough to adopt the only
+really sensible method and remove Mr. Brott permanently from the face of
+the earth. We should stop a little short of that, but I can assure you
+that Mr. Brott's health for the next few months is a matter for grave
+uncertainty. It is a pity for his sake that you failed."
+
+She bit her lip.
+
+"Do you know if he is still in London?" she asked.
+
+"He must be on the point of leaving for Scotland," the Duke answered.
+"If he once mounts the platform at Glasgow there will be no further
+chance of any compromise. He will be committed irretrievably to his
+campaign of anarchy."
+
+"And to his own disaster," the Prince murmured.
+
+Lucille remained for a moment deep in thought. Then she looked up.
+
+"If I can find him before he starts," she said hurriedly, "I will make
+one last effort."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+He peered forward over his desk at the tall graceful figure whose
+entrance had been so noiseless, and whose footsteps had been so light
+that she stood almost within a few feet of him before he was even aware
+of her presence. Then his surprise was so great that he could only gasp
+out her name.
+
+"You! Lucille!"
+
+She smiled upon him delightfully.
+
+"Me! Lucille! Don't blame your servant. I assured him that I was
+expected, so he allowed me to enter unannounced. His astonishment was
+a delightful testimony to your reputation, by the bye. He was evidently
+not used to these invasions."
+
+Brott had recovered himself by this time, and if any emotion still
+remained he was master of it.
+
+"You must forgive my surprise!" he said. "You have of course something
+important to say to me. Will you not loosen your cloak?"
+
+She unfastened the clasp and seated herself in his most comfortable
+chair. The firelight flashed and glittered on the silver ornaments of
+her dress; her neck and arms, with their burden of jewels, gleamed like
+porcelain in the semi-darkness outside the halo of his student lamp. And
+he saw that her dark hair hung low behind in graceful folds as he had
+once admired it. He stood a little apart, and she noted his traveling
+clothes and the various signs of a journey about the room.
+
+"You may be glad to see me," she remarked, looking at him with a smile.
+"You don't look it."
+
+"I am anxious to hear your news," he answered. "I am convinced that you
+have something important to say to me."
+
+"Supposing," she answered, still looking at him steadily, "supposing
+I were to say that I had no object in coming here at all--that it was
+merely a whim? What should you say then?"
+
+"I should take the liberty," he answered quietly, "of doubting the
+evidence of my senses."
+
+There was a moment's silence. She felt his aloofness. It awoke in her
+some of the enthusiasm with which this mission itself had failed to
+inspire her. This man was measuring his strength against hers.
+
+"It was not altogether a whim," she said, her eyes falling from his,
+"and yet--now I am here--it does not seem easy to say what was in my
+mind."
+
+He glanced towards the clock.
+
+"I fear," he said, "that it may sound ungallant, but in case this
+somewhat mysterious mission of yours is of any importance I had better
+perhaps tell you that in twenty minutes I must leave to catch the Scotch
+mail."
+
+She rose at once to her feet, and swept her cloak haughtily around her.
+
+"I have made a mistake," she said. "Be so good as to pardon my
+intrusion. I shall not trouble you again."
+
+She was half-way across the room. She was at the door, her hand was upon
+the handle. He was white to the lips, his whole frame was shaking with
+the effort of intense repression. He kept silence, till only a flutter
+of her cloak was to be seen in the doorway. And then the cry which he
+had tried so hard to stifle broke from his lips.
+
+"Lucille! Lucille!"
+
+She hesitated, and came back--looking at him, so he thought, with
+trembling lips and eyes soft with unshed tears.
+
+"I was a brute," he murmured. "I ought to be grateful for this chance of
+seeing you once more, of saying good-bye to you."
+
+"Good-bye!" she repeated.
+
+"Yes," he said gravely. "It must be good-bye. I have a great work before
+me, and it will cut me off completely from all association with your
+world and your friends. Something wider and deeper than an ocean will
+divide us. Something so wide that our hands will never reach across."
+
+"You can talk about it very calmly," she said, without looking at him.
+
+"I have been disciplining myself," he answered.
+
+She rested her face upon her hand, and looked into the fire.
+
+"I suppose," she said, "this means that you have refused Mr.
+Letheringham's offer."
+
+"I have refused it," he answered.
+
+"I am sorry," she said simply.
+
+She rose from her chair with a sudden start, began to draw on her cloak,
+and then let it fall altogether from her shoulders.
+
+"Why do you do this?" she asked earnestly. "Is it that you are so
+ambitious? You used not to be so--in the old days."
+
+He laughed bitterly.
+
+"You too, then," he said, "can remember. Ambitious! Well, why not? To
+be Premier of England, to stand for the people, to carry through to its
+logical consummation a bloodless revolution, surely this is worth while.
+Is there anything in the world better worth having than power?"
+
+"Yes," she answered, looking him full in the eyes.
+
+"What is it then? Let me know before it is too late."
+
+"Love!"
+
+He threw his arms about her. For a moment she was powerless in his
+grasp.
+
+"So be it then," he cried fiercely. "Give me the one, and I will deny
+the other. Only no half measures! I will drink to the bottom of the cup
+or not at all."
+
+She shook herself free from him, breathless, consumed with an anger to
+which she dared not give voice. For a moment or two she was speechless.
+Her bosom rose and fell, a bright streak of colour flared in her cheeks.
+Brott stood away from her, white and stern.
+
+"You--are clumsy!" she said. "You frighten me!"
+
+Her words carried no conviction. He looked at her with a new suspicion.
+
+"You talk like a child," he answered roughly, "or else your whole
+conduct is a fraud. For months I have been your slave. I have abandoned
+my principles, given you my time, followed at your heels like a tame
+dog. And for what? You will not marry me, you will not commit yourself
+to anything. You are a past mistress in the art of binding fools to your
+chariot wheels. You know that I love you--that there breathes on this
+earth no other woman for me but you. I have told you this in all save
+words a hundred times. And now--now it is my turn. I have been played
+with long enough. You are here unbidden--unexpected. You can consider
+that door locked. Now tell me why you came."
+
+Lucille had recovered herself. She stood before him, white but calm.
+
+"Because," she said, "I am a woman."
+
+"That means that you came without reason--on impulse?" he asked.
+
+"I came," she said, "because I heard that you were about to take a step
+which must separate us for ever."
+
+"And that," he asked, "disturbed you?"
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"Come, we are drawing nearer together," he said, a kindling light in
+his eyes. "Now answer me this. How much do you care if this eternal
+separation does come? Here am I on the threshold of action. Unless I
+change my mind within ten minutes I must throw in my lot with those whom
+you and your Order loathe and despise. There can be no half measures.
+I must be their leader, or I must vanish from the face of the
+political world. This I will do if you bid me. But the price must be
+yourself--wholly, without reservation--yourself, body and soul."
+
+"You care--as much as that?" she murmured.
+
+"Ask me no questions, answer mine!" he cried fiercely. "You shall stay
+with me here--or in five minutes I leave on my campaign."
+
+She laughed musically.
+
+"This is positively delicious," she exclaimed. "I am being made love to
+in medieval fashion. Other times other manners, sir! Will you listen to
+reason?"
+
+"I will listen to nothing--save your answer, yes or no," he declared,
+drawing on his overcoat.
+
+She laid her hand upon his shoulder.
+
+"Reginald," she said, "you are like the whirlwind--and how can I answer
+you in five minutes!"
+
+"You can answer me in one," he declared fiercely. "Will you pay my price
+if I do your bidding? Yes or no! The price is yourself. Now! Yes or no?"
+
+She drew on her own cloak and fastened the clasp with shaking fingers.
+Then she turned towards the door.
+
+"I wish you good-bye and good fortune, Reginald," she said. "I daresay
+we may not meet again. It will be better that we do not."
+
+"This then is your answer?" he cried.
+
+She looked around at him. Was it his fancy, or were those tears in her
+eyes? Or was she really so wonderful an actress?
+
+"Do you think," she said, "that if I had not cared I should have come
+here?"
+
+"Tell me that in plain words," he cried. "It is all I ask."
+
+The door was suddenly opened. Grahame stood upon the threshold. He
+looked beyond Lucille to Brott.
+
+"You must really forgive me," he said, "but there is barely time to
+catch the train, Brott. I have a hansom waiting, and your luggage is
+on."
+
+Brott answered nothing. Lucille held out her hands to him.
+
+"Yes or no?" he asked her in a low hoarse tone.
+
+"You must--give me time! I don't want to lose you. I--"
+
+He caught up his coat.
+
+"Coming, Grahame," he said firmly. "Countess, I must beg your pardon
+ten thousand times for this abrupt departure. My servants will call your
+carriage."
+
+She leaned towards him, beautiful, anxious, alluring.
+
+"Reginald!"
+
+"Yes or no," he whispered in her ear.
+
+"Give me until to-morrow," she faltered.
+
+"Not one moment," he answered. "Yes--now, this instant--or I go!"
+
+"Brott! My dear man, we have not a second to lose."
+
+"You hear!" he muttered. "Yes or no?"
+
+She trembled.
+
+"Give me until to-morrow," she begged. "It is for your own sake. For
+your own safety."
+
+He turned on his heel! His muttered speech was profane, but
+inarticulate. He sprang into the hansom by Grahame's side.
+
+"Euston!" the latter cried through the trap-door. "Double fare, cabby.
+We must catch the Scotchman."
+
+Lucille came out a few moments later, and looked up and down the street
+as her brougham drove smartly up. The hansom was fast disappearing in
+the distance. She looked after it and sighed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+Lucille gave a little start of amazement as she realised that she was
+not alone in the brougham. She reached out for the check-cord, but a
+strong hand held hers.
+
+"My dear Lucille," a familiar voice exclaimed, "why this alarm? Is it
+your nerves or your eyesight which is failing you?"
+
+Her hand dropped. She turned towards him.
+
+"It is you, then, Prince!" she said. "But why are you here? I do not
+understand."
+
+The Prince shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"It is so simple," he said. "We are all very anxious indeed to hear the
+result of your interview with Brott--and apart from that, I personally
+have too few opportunities to act as your escort to let a chance go by.
+I trust that my presence is not displeasing to you?"
+
+She laughed a little uneasily.
+
+"It is at any rate unnecessary," she answered. "But since you are here I
+may as well make my confession. I have failed."
+
+"It is incredible," the Prince murmured.
+
+"As you will--but it is true," she answered. "I have done my very best,
+or rather my worst, and the result has been failure. Mr. Brott has a
+great friend--a man named Grahame, whose influence prevailed against
+mine. He has gone to Scotland."
+
+"That is serious news," the Prince said quietly.
+
+Lucille leaned back amongst the cushions.
+
+"After all," she declared, "we are all out of place in this country.
+There is no scope whatever for such schemes and intrigues as you and all
+the rest of them delight in. In France and Russia, even in Austria,
+it is different. The working of all great organisation there is
+underground--it is easy enough to meet plot by counterplot, to suborn,
+to deceive, to undermine. But here all the great games of life seem to
+be played with the cards upon the table. We are hopelessly out of place.
+I cannot think, Prince, what ill chance led you to ever contemplate
+making your headquarters in London."
+
+The Prince stroked his long moustache.
+
+"That is all very well, Lucille," he said, "but you must remember that
+in England we have very large subscriptions to the Order. These people
+will not go on paying for nothing. There was a meeting of the London
+branch a few months ago, and it was decided that unless some practical
+work was done in this country all English subscriptions should cease. We
+had no alternative but to come over and attempt something. Brott is of
+course the bete noire of our friends here. He is distinctly the man to
+be struck at."
+
+"And what evil stroke of fortune," Lucille asked, "induced you to send
+for me?"
+
+"That is a very cruel speech, dear lady," the Prince murmured.
+
+"I hope," Lucille said, "that you have never for a moment imagined that
+I find any pleasure in what I am called upon to do."
+
+"Why not? It must be interesting. You can have had no sympathy with
+Brott--a hopeless plebeian, a very paragon of Anglo-Saxon stupidity?"
+
+Lucille laughed scornfully.
+
+"Reginald Brott is a man, at any rate, and an honest one," she answered.
+"But I am too selfish to think much of him. It is myself whom I pity. I
+have a home, Prince, and a husband. I want them both."
+
+"You amaze me," the Prince said slowly. "Lucille, indeed, you amaze me.
+You have been buried alive for three years. Positively we believed that
+our summons would sound to you like a message from Heaven."
+
+Lucille was silent for a moment. She rubbed the mist from the carriage
+window and looked out into the streets.
+
+"Well," she said, "I hope that you realise now how completely you
+have misunderstood me. I was perfectly happy in America. I have been
+perfectly miserable here. I suppose that I have grown too old for
+intrigues and adventures."
+
+"Too old, Lucille," the Prince murmured, leaning a little towards her.
+"Lucille, you are the most beautiful woman in London. Many others may
+have told you so, but there is no one, Lucille, who is so devotedly, so
+hopelessly your slave as I."
+
+She drew her hand away, and sat back in her corner. The man's hot
+breath fell upon her cheek, his eyes seemed almost phosphorescent in the
+darkness. Lucille could scarcely keep the biting words from her tongue.
+
+"You do not answer me, Lucille. You do not speak even a single kind
+word to me. Come! Surely we are old friends. We should understand one
+another. It is not a great deal that I ask from your kindness--not a
+great deal to you, but it is all the difference between happiness and
+misery for me."
+
+"This is a very worn-out game, Prince," Lucille said coldly. "You have
+been making love to women in very much the same manner for twenty years,
+and I--well, to be frank, I am utterly weary of being made love to
+like a doll. Laugh at me as you will, my husband is the only man who
+interests me in the slightest. My failure to-day is almost welcome to
+me. It has at least brought my work here to a close. Come, Prince, if
+you want to earn my eternal gratitude, tell me now that I am a free
+woman."
+
+"You give me credit," the Prince said slowly, "for great generosity. If
+I let you go it seems to me that I shall lose you altogether. You will
+go to your husband. He will take you away!"
+
+"Why not?" Lucille asked. "I want to go. I am tired of London. You
+cannot lose what you never possessed--what you never had the slightest
+chance of possessing."
+
+The Prince laughed softly--not a pleasant laugh, not even a mirthful
+one.
+
+"Dear lady," he said, "you speak not wisely. For I am very much in
+earnest when I say that I love you, and until you are kinder to me I
+shall not let you go."
+
+"That is rather a dangerous threat, is it not?" Lucille asked. "You dare
+to tell me openly that you will abuse your position, that you will
+keep me bound a servant to the cause, because of this foolish fancy of
+yours?"
+
+The Prince smiled at her through the gloom--a white, set smile.
+
+"It is no foolish fancy, Lucille. You will find that out before long.
+You have been cold to me all your life. Yet you would find me a better
+friend than enemy."
+
+"If I am to choose," she said steadily, "I shall choose the latter."
+
+"As you will," he answered. "In time you will change your mind."
+
+The carriage had stopped. The Prince alighted and held out his hand.
+Lucille half rose, and then with her foot upon the step she paused and
+looked around.
+
+"Where are we?" she exclaimed. "This is not Dorset House."
+
+"No, we are in Grosvenor Square," the Prince answered. "I forgot to tell
+you that we have a meeting arranged for here this evening. Permit me."
+But Lucille resumed her seat in the carriage.
+
+"It is your house, is it not?" she asked.
+
+"Yes. My house assuredly."
+
+"Very well," Lucille said. "I will come in when the Duchess of Dorset
+shows herself at the window or the front door--or Felix, or even De
+Brouillae."
+
+The Prince still held open the carriage door.
+
+"They will all be here," he assured her. "We are a few minutes early."
+
+"Then I will drive round to Dorset House and fetch the Duchess. It is
+only a few yards."
+
+The Prince hesitated. His cheeks were very white, and something like a
+scowl was blackening his heavy, insipid face.
+
+"Lucille," he said, "you are very foolish. It is not much I ask of you,
+but that little I will have or I pledge my word to it that things shall
+go ill with you and your husband. There is plain speech for you. Do not
+be absurd. Come within, and let us talk. What do you fear? The house is
+full of servants, and the carriage can wait for you here."
+
+Lucille smiled at him--a maddening smile.
+
+"I am not a child," she said, "and such conversations as I am forced to
+hold with you will not be under your own roof. Be so good as to tell the
+coachman to drive to Dorset House."
+
+The Prince turned on his heel with a furious oath.
+
+"He can drive you to Hell," he answered thickly.
+
+Lucille found the Duchess and Lady Carey together at Dorset House. She
+looked from one to the other.
+
+"I thought that there was a meeting to-night," she remarked.
+
+The Duchess shook her head.
+
+"Not to-night," she answered. "It would not be possible. General
+Dolinski is dining at Marlborough House, and De Broullae is in Paris.
+Now tell us all about Mr. Brott."
+
+"He has gone to Scotland," Lucille answered. "I have failed."
+
+Lady Carey looked up from the depths of the chair in which she was
+lounging.
+
+"And the prince?" she asked. "He went to meet you!"
+
+"He also failed," Lucille answered.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+Mr. SABIN drew a little breath, partly of satisfaction because he
+had discovered the place he sought, and partly of disgust at the
+neighbourhood in which he found himself. Nevertheless, he descended
+three steps from the court into which he had been directed, and pushed
+open the swing door, behind which Emil Sachs announced his desire
+to supply the world with dinners at eightpence and vin ordinaire at
+fourpence the small bottle.
+
+A stout black-eyed woman looked up at his entrance from behind the
+counter. The place was empty.
+
+"What does monsieur require she asked, peering forward through the gloom
+with some suspicion. For the eightpenny dinners were the scorn of the
+neighbourhood, and strangers were rare in the wine shop of Emil Sachs."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled.
+
+"One of your excellent omelettes, my good Annette," he answered, "if
+your hand has not lost its cunning!"
+
+She gave a little cry.
+
+"It is monsieur!" she exclaimed. "After all these years it is monsieur!
+Ah, you will pardon that I did not recognise you. This place is a
+cellar. Monsieur has not changed. In the daylight one would know him
+anywhere."
+
+The woman talked fast, but even in that dim light Mr. Sabin knew quite
+well that she was shaking with fear. He could see the corners of her
+mouth twitch. Her black eyes rolled incessantly, but refused to meet
+his. Mr. Sabin frowned.
+
+"You are not glad to see me, Annette!"
+
+She leaned over the counter.
+
+"For monsieur's own sake," she whispered, "go!"
+
+Mr. Sabin stood quite still for a short space of time.
+
+"Can I rest in there for a few minutes?" he asked, pointing to the door
+which led into the room beyond.
+
+The woman hesitated. She looked up at the clock and down again.
+
+"Emil will return," she said, "at three. Monsieur were best out of the
+neighbourhood before then. For ten minutes it might be safe."
+
+Mr. Sabin passed forward. The woman lifted the flap of the counter
+and followed him. Within was a smaller room, far cleaner and better
+appointed than the general appearance of the place promised. Mr. Sabin
+seated himself at one of the small tables. The linen cloth, he noticed,
+was spotless, the cutlery and appointments polished and clean.
+
+"This, I presume," he remarked, "is not where you serve the eightpenny
+table d'hote?"
+
+The woman shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"But it would not be possible," she answered. "We have no customers for
+that. If one arrives we put together a few scraps. But one must make a
+pretense. Monsieur understands?"
+
+Mr. Sabin nodded.
+
+"I will take," he said, "a small glass of fin champagne."
+
+She vanished, and reappeared almost immediately with the brandy in a
+quaintly cut liqueur glass. A glance at the clock as she passed seemed
+to have increased her anxiety.
+
+"If monsieur will drink his liqueur and depart," she prayed. "Indeed, it
+will be for the best."
+
+Mr. Sabin set down his glass. His steadfast gaze seemed to reduce
+Annette into a state of nervous panic.
+
+"Annette," he said, "they have placed me upon the list."
+
+"It is true, monsieur," she answered. "Why do you come here?"
+
+"I wanted to know first for certain that they had ventured so far," Mr.
+Sabin said. "I believe that I am only the second person in this country
+who has been so much honoured."
+
+The woman drew nearer to him.
+
+"Monsieur," she said, "your only danger is to venture into such parts
+as these. London is so safe, and the law is merciless. They only watch.
+They will attempt nothing. Do not leave England. There is here no
+machinery of criminals. Besides, the life of monsieur is insured."
+
+"Insured?" Mr. Sabin remarked quietly. "That is good news. And who pays
+the premium?"
+
+"A great lady, monsieur! I know no more. Monsieur must go indeed. He has
+found his way into the only place in London where he is not safe."
+
+Mr. Sabin rose.
+
+"You are expecting, perhaps," he said, "one of my friends from the--"
+
+She interrupted him.
+
+"It is true," she declared. "He may be here at any instant. The time is
+already up. Oh, monsieur, indeed, indeed it would not do for him to find
+you."
+
+Mr. Sabin moved towards the door.
+
+"You are perhaps right," he said regretfully, "although I should much
+like to hear about this little matter of life insurance while I am
+here."
+
+"Indeed, monsieur," Annette declared, "I know nothing. There is nothing
+which I can tell monsieur."
+
+Mr. Sabin suddenly leaned forward. His gaze was compelling. His tone was
+low but terrible.
+
+"Annette," he said, "obey me. Send Emil here."
+
+The woman trembled, but she did not move. Mr. Sabin lifted his
+forefinger and pointed slowly to the door. The woman's lips parted, but
+she seemed to have lost the power of speech.
+
+"Send Emil here!" Mr. Sabin repeated slowly.
+
+Annette turned and left the room, groping her way to the door as though
+her eyesight had become uncertain. Mr. Sabin lit a cigarette and looked
+for a moment carefully into the small liqueur glass out of which he had
+drunk.
+
+"That was unwise," he said softly to himself. "Just such a blunder might
+have cost me everything."
+
+He held it up to the light and satisfied himself that no dregs remained.
+Then he took from his pocket a tiny little revolver, and placing it
+on the table before him, covered it with his handkerchief. Almost
+immediately a door at the farther end of the room opened and closed.
+A man in dark clothes, small, unnaturally pale, with deep-set eyes and
+nervous, twitching mouth, stood before him. Mr. Sabin smiled a welcome
+at him.
+
+"Good-morning, Emil Sachs," he said. "I am glad that you have shown
+discretion. Stand there in the light, please, and fold your arms.
+Thanks. Do not think that I am afraid of you, but I like to talk
+comfortably."
+
+"I am at monsieur's service," the man said in a low tone.
+
+"Exactly. Now, Emil, before starting to visit you I left a little note
+behind addressed to the chief of the police here--no, you need not
+start--to be sent to him only if my return were unduly delayed. You can
+guess what that note contained. It is not necessary for us to revert
+to--unpleasant subjects."
+
+The man moistened his dry lips.
+
+"It is not necessary," he repeated. "Monsieur is as safe here--from
+me--as at his own hotel."
+
+"Excellent!" Mr. Sabin said. "Now listen, Emil. It has pleased me
+chiefly, as you know, for the sake of your wife, the good Annette, to be
+very merciful to you as regards the past. But I do not propose to allow
+you to run a poison bureau for the advantage of the Prince of Saxe
+Leinitzer and his friends--more especially, perhaps, as I am at present
+upon his list of superfluous persons."
+
+The man trembled.
+
+"Monsieur," he said, "the Prince knows as much as you know, and he has
+not the mercy that one shows to a dog."
+
+"You will find," Mr. Sabin said, "that if you do not obey me, I myself
+can develop a similar disposition. Now answer me this! You have within
+the last few days supplied several people with that marvelous powder for
+the preparation of which you are so justly famed."
+
+"Several--no, monsieur! Two only."
+
+"Their names?"
+
+The man trembled.
+
+"If they should know!"
+
+"They will not, Emil. I will see to that."
+
+"The first I supplied to the order of the Prince."
+
+"Good! And the second?"
+
+"To a lady whose name I do not know."
+
+Mr. Sabin raised his eyebrows.
+
+"Is not that," he remarked, "a little irregular?"
+
+"The lady wrote her request before me in the yellow crayon. It was
+sufficient."
+
+"And you do not know her name, Emil?"
+
+"No, monsieur. She was dark and tall, and closely veiled. She was here
+but a few minutes since."
+
+"Dark and tall!" Mr. Sabin repeated to himself thoughtfully. "Emil, you
+are telling me the truth?"
+
+"I do not dare to tell you anything else, monsieur," the man answered.
+
+Mr. Sabin did not continue his interrogations for a few moments.
+Suddenly he looked up.
+
+"Has that lady left the place yet, Emil?"
+
+"No, monsieur!"
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled.
+
+"Have you a back exit?" he asked.
+
+"None that the lady would know of," Emil answered. "She must pass along
+the passage which borders this apartment, and enter the bar by a door
+from behind. If monsieur desires it, it is impossible for her to leave
+unobserved."
+
+"That is excellent, Emil," Mr. Sabin said. "Now there is one more
+question--quite a harmless one. Annette spoke of my life being in some
+way insured."
+
+"It is true, monsieur," Emil admitted. "A lady who also possessed
+the yellow crayon came here the day that--that monsieur incurred the
+displeasure of--of his friends. She tried to bribe me to blow up my
+laboratory and leave the country, or that I should substitute a harmless
+powder for any required by the Prince. I was obliged to refuse."
+
+"And then?"
+
+"Then she promised me a large sum if you were alive in six months, and
+made me at once a payment.
+
+"Dear me," Mr. Sabin said, "this is quite extraordinary."
+
+"I can tell monsieur the lady's name," Emil continued, "for she raised
+her veil, and everywhere the illustrated papers have been full of her
+picture. It was the lady who was besieged in a little town of South
+Africa, and who carried despatches for the general, disguised as a man."
+
+"Lady Carey!" Mr. Sabin remarked quietly.
+
+"That was the lady's name," Emil agreed.
+
+Mr. Sabin was thoughtful for a few moments. Then he looked up.
+
+"Emil Sachs," he said sternly, "you have given out at least one portion
+of your abominable concoction which is meant to end my days. Whether I
+shall escape it or not remains to be seen. I am forced at the best to
+discharge my servant, and to live the life of a hunted man. Now you have
+done enough mischief in the world. To-morrow morning a messenger will
+place in your hands two hundred pounds. A larger sum will await you at
+Baring's Bank in New York. You will go there and buy a small restaurant
+in the business quarter. This is your last chance, Emil. I give it to
+you for the sake of Annette."
+
+"And I accept it, monsieur, with gratitude."
+
+"For the present--"
+
+Mr. Sabin stopped short. His quick ears had caught the swish of woman's
+gown passing along the passage outside. Emil too had heard it.
+
+"It is the dark lady," he whispered, "who purchased from me the other
+powder. See, I open gently this door. Monsieur must both see and hear."
+
+The door at the end of the passage was opened. A woman stepped out into
+the little bar and made her way towards the door. Here she was met by
+a man entering. Mr. Sabin held up his forefinger to stop the terrified
+exclamation which trembled on Emil's lips. The woman was Lucille, the
+man the Prince. It was Lucille who was speaking.
+
+"You have followed me, Prince. It is intolerable."
+
+"Dear Lucille, it is for your own sake. These are not fit parts for you
+to visit alone."
+
+"It is my own business," she answered coldly.
+
+The Prince appeared to be in a complaisant mood.
+
+"Come," he said, "the affair is not worth a quarrel. I ask you no
+questions. Only since we are here I propose that we test the cooking of
+the good Annette. We will lunch together."
+
+"What, here?" she answered. "Absurd."
+
+"By no means," he answered. "As you doubtless know, the exterior of the
+place is entirely misleading. These people are old servants of mine. I
+can answer for the luncheon."
+
+"You can also eat it," came the prompt reply. "I am returning to the
+carriage."
+
+"But--"
+
+Mr. Sabin emerged through the swing door. "Your discretion, my dear
+Lucille," he said, smiling, "is excellent. The place is indeed better
+than it seems, and Annette's cookery may be all that the Prince
+claims. Yet I think I know better places for a luncheon party, and the
+ventilation is not of the best. May I suggest that you come with me
+instead to the Milan?"
+
+"Victor! You here?"
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled as he admitted the obvious fact. The Prince's face was
+as black as night.
+
+"Believe me," Mr. Sabin said, turning to the Prince, "I sympathise
+entirely with your feelings at the present moment. I myself have
+suffered in precisely the same manner. The fact is, intrigue in this
+country is almost an impossibility. At Paris, Vienna, Pesth, how
+different! You raise your little finger, and the deed is done.
+Superfluous people--like myself--are removed like the hairs from your
+chin. But here intrigue seems indeed to exist only within the pages of a
+shilling novel, or in a comic opera. The gentleman with a helmet there,
+who regards us so benignly, will presently earn a shilling by calling me
+a hansom. Yet in effect he does me a far greater service. He stands
+for a multitude of cold Anglo-Saxon laws, adamant, incorruptible,
+inflexible--as certain as the laws of Nature herself. I am quite aware
+that by this time I ought to be lying in a dark cellar with a gag in my
+mouth, or perhaps in the river with a dagger in my chest. But here in
+England, no!"
+
+The Prince smiled--to all appearance a very genial smile.
+
+"You are right, my dear friend," he said, "yet what you say possesses,
+shall we call it, a somewhat antediluvian flavour. Intrigue is no longer
+a clumsy game of knife and string and bowl. It becomes to-day a game of
+finesse. I can assure you that I have no desire to give a stage whistle
+and have you throttled at my feet. On the contrary, I beg you to use my
+carriage, which you will find in the street. You will lunch at the Milan
+with Lucille, and I shall retire discomfited to eat alone at my club.
+But the game is a long one, my dear friend. The new methods take time."
+
+"This conversation," Mr. Sabin said to Lucille, "is interesting, but
+it is a little ungallant. I think that we will resume it at some future
+occasion. Shall we accept the Prince's offer, or shall we be truly
+democratic and take a hansom."
+
+Lucille passed her arm through his and laughed.
+
+"You are robbing the Prince of me," she declared. "Let us leave him his
+carriage."
+
+She nodded her farewells to Saxe Leinitzer, who took leave of them with
+a low bow. As they waited at the corner for a hansom Mr. Sabin glanced
+back. The Prince had disappeared through the swing doors.
+
+"I want you to promise me one thing," Lucille said earnestly.
+
+"It is promised," Mr. Sabin answered.
+
+"You will not ask me the reason of my visit to this place?"
+
+"I have no curiosity," Mr. Sabin answered. "Come!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+Mr. Sabin, contrary to his usual custom, engaged a private room at the
+Milan. Lucille was in the highest spirits.
+
+"If only this were a game instead of reality!" she said, flashing
+a brilliant smile at him across the table, "I should find it most
+fascinating. You seem to come to me always when I want you most. And
+do you know, it is perfectly charming to be carried off by you in this
+manner."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled at her, and there was a look in his eyes which shone
+there for no other woman.
+
+"It is in effect," he said, "keeping me young. Events seem to have
+enclosed us in a curious little cobweb. All the time we are struggling
+between the rankest primitivism and the most delicate intrigue. To-day
+is the triumph of primitivism."
+
+"Meaning that you, the medieval knight, have carried me off, the
+distressed maiden, on your shoulder."
+
+"Having confounded my enemy," he continued, smiling, "by an embarrassing
+situation, a little argument, and the distant view of a policeman's
+helmet."
+
+"This," she remarked, with a little satisfied sigh as she selected an
+ortolan, "is a very satisfactory place to be carried off to. And you,"
+she added, leaning across the table and touching his fingers for a
+moment tenderly, "are a very delightful knight-errant."
+
+He raised the fingers to his lips--the waiter had left the room. She
+blushed, but yielded her hand readily enough.
+
+"Victor," she murmured, "you would spoil the most faithless woman on
+earth for all her lovers. You make me very impatient."
+
+"Impatience, then," he declared, "must be the most infectious of fevers.
+For I too am a terrible sufferer."
+
+"If only the Prince," she said, "would be reasonable."
+
+"I am afraid," Mr. Sabin answered, "that from him we have not much to
+hope for."
+
+"Yet," she continued, "I have fulfilled all the conditions. Reginald
+Brott remains the enemy of our cause and Order. Yet some say that his
+influence upon the people is lessened. In any case, my work is over.
+He began to mistrust me long ago. To-day I believe that mistrust is the
+only feeling he has in connection with me. I shall demand my release."
+
+"I am afraid," Mr. Sabin said, "that Saxe Leinitzer has other reasons
+for keeping you at Dorset House."
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"He has been very persistent even before I left Vienna. But he must know
+that it is hopeless. I have never encouraged him."
+
+"I am sure of it," Mr. Sabin said. "It is the incorrigible vanity of
+the man which will not be denied. He has been taught to believe himself
+irresistible. I have never doubted you for a single moment, Lucille. I
+could not. But you have been the slave of these people long enough.
+As you say, your task is over. Its failure was always certain. Brott
+believes in his destiny, and it will be no slight thing which will keep
+him from following it. They must give you back to me."
+
+"We will go back to America," she said. "I have never been so happy as
+at Lenox."
+
+"Nor I," Mr. Sahin said softly.
+
+"Besides," she continued, "the times have changed since I joined the
+Society. In Hungary you know how things were. The Socialists were
+carrying all before them, a united solid body. The aristocracy were
+forced to enter into some sort of combination against them. We saved
+Austria, I am not sure that we did not save Russia. But England is
+different. The aristocracy here are a strong resident class. They have
+their House of Lords, they own the land, and will own it for many years
+to come, their position is unassailable. It is the worst country in
+Europe for us to work in. The very climate and the dispositions of the
+people are inimical to intrigue. It is Muriel Carey who brought the
+Society here. It was a mistake. The country is in no need of it. There
+is no scope for it."
+
+"If only one could get beyond Saxe Leinitzer," Mr. Sabin said.
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"Behind him," she said, "there is only the one to whom all reference is
+forbidden. And there is no man in the world who would be less likely to
+listen to an appeal from you--or from me."
+
+"After all," Mr. Sabin said, "though Saxe Leinitzer is our enemy, I
+am not sure that he can do us any harm. If he declines to release
+you--well, when the twelve months are up you are free whether he wishes
+it or not. He has put me outside the pale. But this is not, or never
+was, a vindictive Society. They do not deal in assassinations. In this
+country at least anything of the sort is rarely attempted. If I were
+a young man with my life to live in the capitals of Europe I should be
+more or less a social outcast, I suppose. But I am proof against that
+sort of thing."
+
+Lucille looked a little doubtful.
+
+"The Prince," she said, "is an intriguer of the old school. I know that
+in Vienna he has more than once made use of more violent means than he
+would dare to do here. And there is an underneath machinery very seldom
+used, I believe, and of which none of us who are ordinary members know
+anything at all, which gives him terrible powers."
+
+Mr. Sabin nodded grimly.
+
+"It was worked against me in America," he said, "but I got the best of
+it. Here in England I do not believe that he would dare to use it. If
+so, I think that before now it would have been aimed at Brott. I have
+just read his Glasgow speech. If he becomes Premier it will lead to
+something like a revolution."
+
+She sighed.
+
+"Brott is a clever man, and a strong man," she said. "I am sorry for
+him, but I do not believe that he will never become Prime Minister of
+England."
+
+Mr. Sabin sipped his wine thoughtfully.
+
+"I believe," he said, "that intrigue is the resource of those who have
+lived their lives so quickly that they have found weariness. For these
+things to-day interest me very little. I am only anxious to have you
+back again, Lucille, to find ourselves on our way to our old home."
+
+She laughed softly.
+
+"And I used to think," she said, "that after all I could only keep you a
+little time--that presently the voices from the outside world would come
+whispering in your ears, and you would steal back again to where the
+wheels of life were turning."
+
+"A man," he answered, "is not easily whispered out of Paradise."
+
+She laughed at him.
+
+"Ah, it is so easy," she said, "to know that your youth was spent at a
+court."
+
+"There is only one court," he answered, "where men learn to speak the
+truth."
+
+She leaned back in her chair.
+
+"Oh, you are incorrigible," she said softly. "The one role in life in
+which I fancied you ill at ease you seem to fill to perfection."
+
+"And that?"
+
+"You are an adorable husband!"
+
+"I should like," he said, "a better opportunity to prove it!"
+
+"Let us hope," she murmured, "that our separation is nearly over. I
+shall appeal to the Prince to-night. My remaining at Dorset House is no
+longer necessary."
+
+"I shall come," he said, "and demand you in person."
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"No! They would not let you in, and it would make it more difficult. Be
+patient a little longer."
+
+He came and sat by her side. She leaned over to meet his embrace.
+
+"You make patience," he murmured, "a torture!"
+
+      *           *           *           *           *
+
+Mr. Sabin walked home to his rooms late in the afternoon, well content
+on the whole with his day. He was in no manner prepared for the shock
+which greeted him on entering his sitting-room. Duson was leaning back
+in his most comfortable easy-chair.
+
+"Duson!" Mr. Sabin said sharply. "What does this mean?"
+
+There was no answer. Mr. Sabin moved quickly forward, and then stopped
+short. He had seen dead men, and he knew the signs. Duson was stone
+dead.
+
+Mr. Sabin's nerve answered to this demand upon it. He checked his first
+impulse to ring the bell, and looked carefully on the table for some
+note or message from the dead man. He found it almost at once--a large
+envelope in Duson's handwriting. Mr. Sabin hastily broke the seal and
+read:
+
+  "Monsieur,--I kill myself because it is easiest and best.  The
+  poison was given me for you, but I have not the courage to become
+  a murderer, or afterwards to conceal my guilt.  Monsieur has been
+  a good master to me, and also Madame la Comtesse was always
+  indulgent and kind.  The mistake of my life has been the joining
+  the lower order of the Society.  The money which I have received
+  has been but a poor return for the anxiety and trouble which have
+  come upon me since Madame la Comtesse left America.  Now that I
+  seek shelter in the grave I am free to warn Monsieur that the
+  Prince of S. L. is his determined and merciless enemy, and that
+  he has already made an unlawful use of his position in the Society
+  for the sake of private vengeance.  If monsieur would make a
+  powerful friend he should seek the Lady Muriel Carey.
+
+  "Monsieur will be so good as to destroy this when read.  My will
+  is in my trunk.
+                                 "Your Grace's faithful servant,
+                                         "Jules Duson."
+
+Mr. Sabin read this letter carefully through to the end. Then he put it
+into his pocket-book and quickly rang the bell.
+
+"You had better send for a doctor at once," he said to the waiter who
+appeared. "My servant appears to have suffered from some sudden illness.
+I am afraid that he is quite dead."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+"You spoke, my dear Lucille," the Duchess of Dorset said, "of your
+departure. Is not that a little premature?"
+
+Lucille shrugged her beautiful shoulders, and leaned back in her
+corner of the couch with half-closed eyes. The Duchess, who was very
+Anglo-Saxon, was an easy person to read, and Lucille was anxious to know
+her fate.
+
+"Why premature?" she asked. "I was sent for to use my influence with
+Reginald Brott. Well, I did my best, and I believe that for days it
+was just a chance whether I did not succeed. However, as it happened,
+I failed. One of his friends came and pulled him away just as he was
+wavering. He has declared himself now once and for all. After his speech
+at Glasgow he cannot draw back. I was brought all the way from America,
+and I want to go back to my husband."
+
+The Duchess pursed her lips.
+
+"When one has the honour, my dear," she said, "of belonging to so
+wonderful an organisation as this we must not consider too closely the
+selfish claims of family. I am sure that years ago I should have laughed
+at any one who had told me that I, Georgina Croxton, should ever belong
+to such a thing as a secret society, even though it had some connection
+with so harmless and excellent an organisation as the Primrose League."
+
+"It does seem remarkable," Lucille murmured.
+
+"But look what terrible times have come upon us," the Duchess continued,
+without heeding the interruption. "When I was a girl a Radical was a
+person absolutely without consideration. Now all our great cities are
+hot-beds of Socialism and--and anarchism. The whole country seems banded
+together against the aristocracy and the landowners. Combination amongst
+us became absolutely necessary in some shape or form. When the Prince
+came and began to drop hints about the way the spread of Socialism had
+been checked in Hungary and Austria, and even Germany, I was interested
+from the first. And when he went further, and spoke of the Society, it
+was I who persuaded Dorset to join. Dear man, he is very earnest, but
+very slow, and very averse to anything at all secretive. I am sure the
+reflection that he is a member of a secret society, even although it
+is simply a linking together of the aristocracy of Europe in their own
+defence, has kept him awake for many a night."
+
+Lucille was a little bored.
+
+"The Society," she said, "is an admirable one enough, but just now I am
+beginning to feel it a little exacting. I think that the Prince expects
+a good deal of one. I shall certainly ask for my release to-night."
+
+The Duchess looked doubtful.
+
+"Release!" she repeated. "Come, is that not rather an exaggerated
+expression? I trust that your stay at Dorset House has not in any way
+suggested an imprisonment."
+
+"On the contrary," Lucille answered; "you and the Duke have been most
+kind. But you must remember that I have home of my own--and a husband of
+my own."
+
+"I have no doubt," the Duchess said, "that you will be able to return
+to them some day. But you must not be impatient. I do not think that the
+Prince has given up all hopes of Reginald Brott yet."
+
+Lucille was silent. So her emancipation was to be postponed. After all,
+it was what she had feared. She sat watching idly the Duchess's knitting
+needles. Lady Carey came sweeping in, wonderful in a black velvet gown
+and a display of jewels almost barbaric.
+
+"On my way to the opera," she announced. "The Maddersons sent me their
+box. Will any of you good people come? What do you say, Lucille?"
+
+Lucille shook her head.
+
+"My toilette is deficient," she said; "and besides, I am staying at home
+to see the Prince. We expect him this evening."
+
+"You'll probably be disappointed then," Lady Carey remarked, "for he's
+going to join us at the opera. Run and change your gown. I'll wait."
+
+"Are you sure that the Prince will be there?" Lucille asked.
+
+"Certain."
+
+"Then I will come," she said, "if the Duchess will excuse me."
+
+The Duchess and Lady Carey were left alone for a few minutes. The former
+put down her knitting.
+
+"Why do we keep that woman here," she asked, "now that Brott has broken
+away from her altogether?"
+
+Lady Carey laughed meaningly.
+
+"Better ask the Prince," she remarked.
+
+The Duchess frowned.
+
+"My dear Muriel," she said, "I think that you are wrong to make such
+insinuations. I am sure that the Prince is too much devoted to our cause
+to allow any personal considerations to intervene."
+
+Lady Carey yawned.
+
+"Rats!" she exclaimed.
+
+The Duchess took up her knitting, and went on with it without remark.
+Lady Carey burst out laughing.
+
+"Don't look so shocked," she exclaimed. "It's funny. I can't help being
+a bit slangy. You do take everything so seriously. Of course you can see
+that the Prince is waiting to make a fool of himself over Lucille. He
+has been trying more or less all his life."
+
+"He may admire her," the Duchess said. "I am sure that he would not
+allow that to influence him in his present position. By the bye, she is
+anxious to leave us now that the Brott affair is over. Do you think that
+the Prince will agree?"
+
+Lady Carey's face hardened.
+
+"I am sure that he will not," she said coolly. "There are reasons why
+she may not at present be allowed to rejoin her husband."
+
+The Duchess used her needles briskly.
+
+"For my part," she said, "I can see no object in keeping her here any
+longer. Mr. Brott has shown himself quite capable of keeping her at
+arm's length. I cannot see what further use she is."
+
+Lady Carey heard the flutter of skirts outside and rose.
+
+"There are wheels within wheels," she remarked. "My dear Lucille, what
+a charming toilette. We shall have the lady journalists besieging us
+in our box. Paquin, of course. Good-night, Duchess. Glad to see you're
+getting on with the socks, or stockings, do you call them?"
+
+Insolent aristocratic, now and then attractive in some strange
+suggestive way, Lady Carey sat in front of the box and exchanged
+greetings with her friends. Presently the Prince came in and took the
+chair between the two women. Lady Carey greeted him with a nod.
+
+"Here's Lucille dying to return to her lawful husband," she remarked.
+"Odd thing, isn't it? Most of the married women I ever knew are dying
+to get away from theirs. You can make her happy or miserable in a few
+moments."
+
+The Prince leaned over between them, but he looked only at Lucille.
+
+"I wish that I could," he murmured. "I wish that that were within my
+power."
+
+"It is," she answered coolly. "Muriel is quite right. I am most anxious
+to return to my husband."
+
+The Prince said nothing. Lady Carey, glancing towards him at that
+moment, was surprised at certain signs of disquietude in his face which
+startled her.
+
+"What is the matter with you?" she asked almost roughly.
+
+"Matter with me? Nothing," he answered. "Why this unaccustomed
+solicitude?"
+
+Lady Carey looked into his face fiercely. He was pale, and there was
+a strained look about his eyes. He seemed, too, to be listening. From
+outside in the street came faintly to their ears the cry of a newsboy.
+
+"Get me an evening paper," she whispered in his ear.
+
+He got up and left the box. Lucille was watching the people below and
+had not appreciated the significance of what had been passing between
+the two. Lady Carey leaned back in the box with half-closed eyes. Her
+fingers were clenched nervously together, her bosom was rising and
+falling quickly. If he had dared to defy her! What was it the newsboys
+were calling? What a jargon! Why did not Saxe Leinitzer return?
+Perhaps he was afraid! Her heart stood still for a moment, and a little
+half-stifled cry broke from her lips. Lucille looked around quickly.
+
+"What is the matter, Muriel?" she asked. "Are you faint?"
+
+"Faint, no," Lady Carey answered roughly. "I'm quite well. Don't take
+any notice of me. Do you hear? Don't look at me."
+
+Lucille obeyed. Lady Carey sat quite still with her hand pressed to her
+side. It was a stifling pain. She was sure that she had heard at
+last. "Sudden death of a visitor at the Carlton Hotel." The place was
+beginning to go round.
+
+Saxe Leinitzer returned. His face to her seemed positively ghastly. He
+carried an evening paper in his hand. She snatched it away from him. It
+was there before her in bold, black letters:
+
+"Sudden death in the Carlton Hotel."
+
+Her eyes, dim a moment ago, suddenly blazed fire upon him.
+
+"It shall be a life for a life," she whispered. "If you have killed him
+you shall die."
+
+Lucille looked at them bewildered. And just then came a sharp tap at the
+box door. No one answered it, but the door was softly opened. Mr. Sabin
+stood upon the threshold.
+
+"Pray, don't let me disturb you," he said. "I was unable to refrain from
+paying you a brief visit. Why, Prince, Lady Carey! I can assure you that
+I am no ghost."
+
+He glanced from one to the other with a delicate smile of mockery
+parting his thin lips. For upon the Prince's forehead the perspiration
+stood out like beads, and he shrank away from Mr. Sabin as from some
+unholy thing. Lady Carey had fallen back across her chair. Her hand was
+still pressed to her side, and her face was very pale. A nervous little
+laugh broke from her lips.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+Mr. Sabin found a fourth chair, and calmly seated himself by Lucille's
+side. But his eyes were fixed upon Lady Carey. She was slowly recovering
+herself, but Mr. Sabin, who had never properly understood her attitude
+towards him, was puzzled at the air of intense relief which almost shone
+in her face.
+
+"You seem--all of you," he remarked suavely, "to have found the music
+a little exciting. Wagner certainly knew how to find his way to the
+emotions. Or perhaps I interrupted an interesting discussion?"
+
+Lucille smiled gently upon him.
+
+"These two," she said, looking from the Prince to Lady Carey, "seem to
+have been afflicted with a sudden nervous excitement, and yet I do not
+think that they are, either of them, very susceptible to music."
+
+Lady Carey leaned forward, and looked at him from behind the large fan
+of white feathers which she was lazily fluttering before her face.
+
+"Your entrance," she murmured, "was most opportune, besides being very
+welcome. The Prince and I were literally--on the point of flying at one
+another's throats."
+
+Mr. Sabin glanced at his neighbour and smiled.
+
+"You are certainly a little out of sorts, Saxe Leinitzer," he remarked.
+"You look pale, and your hands are not quite steady. Nerves, I suppose.
+You should see Dr. Carson in Brook Street."
+
+The Prince shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"My health," he said, "was never better. It is true that your coming
+was somewhat of a surprise," he added, looking steadily at Mr. Sabin.
+"I understood that you had gone for a short journey, and I was not
+expecting to see you back again so soon."
+
+"Duson," Mr. Sabin said, "has taken that short journey instead. It
+was rather a liberty, but he left a letter for me fully explaining his
+motives. I cannot blame him."
+
+The Prince stroked his moustache.
+
+"Ah!" he remarked. "That is a pity. You may, however, find it politic,
+even necessary, to join him very shortly."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled grimly.
+
+"I shall go when I am ready," he said, "not before!"
+
+Lucille looked from one to the other with protesting eyebrows.
+
+"Come," she said, "it is very impolite of you to talk in riddles before
+my face. I have been flattering myself, Victor, that you were here to
+see me. Do not wound my vanity."
+
+He whispered something in her ear, and she laughed softly back at him.
+The Prince, with the evening paper in his hand, escaped from the box,
+and found a retired spot where he could read the little paragraph at his
+leisure. Lady Carey pretended to be absorbed by the music.
+
+"Has anything happened, Victor?" Lucille whispered.
+
+He hesitated.
+
+"Well, in a sense, yes," he admitted. "I appear to have become unpopular
+with our friend, the Prince. Duson, who has always been a spy upon my
+movements, was entrusted with a little sleeping draught for me, which he
+preferred to take himself. That is all."
+
+"Duson is--"
+
+He nodded.
+
+"He is dead!"
+
+Lucille went very pale.
+
+"This is horrible!" she murmured
+
+"The Prince is a little annoyed, naturally," Mr. Sabin said. "It is
+vexing to have your plans upset in such a manner."
+
+She shuddered.
+
+"He is hateful! Victor, I fear that he does not mean to let me leave
+Dorset House just yet. I am almost inclined to become, like you, an
+outcast. Who knows--we might go free. Bloodshed is always avoided as
+much as possible, and I do not see how else they could strike at me.
+Social ostracism is their chief weapon. But in America that could not
+hurt us."
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Not yet," he said. "I am sure that Saxe Leinitzer is not playing the
+game. But he is too well served here to make defiance wise."
+
+"You run the risk yourself," she protested.
+
+He smiled.
+
+"It is a different matter. By the bye, we are overheard."
+
+Lady Carey had forgotten to listen any more to the music. She was
+watching them both, a steely light in her eyes, her fingers nervously
+entwined. The Prince was still absent.
+
+"Pray do not consider me," she begged. "So far as I am concerned, your
+conversation is of no possible interest. But I think you had better
+remember that the Prince is in the corridor just outside."
+
+"We are much obliged to you," Mr. Sabin said. "The Prince may hear every
+word I have to say about him. But all the same, I thank you for your
+warning."
+
+"I fear that we are very unsociable, Muriel," Lucille said, "and, after
+all, I should never have been here but for you."
+
+Lady Carey turned her left shoulder upon them.
+
+"I beg," she said, "that you will leave me alone with the music. I
+prefer it."
+
+The Prince suddenly stood upon the threshold. His hand rested lightly
+upon the arm of another man.
+
+"Come in, Brott," he said. "The women will be charmed to see you. And I
+don't suppose they've read your speeches. Countess, here is the man who
+counts all equal under the sun, who decries class, and recognises no
+social distinctions. Brott was born to lead a revolution. He is our
+natural enemy. Let us all try to convert him."
+
+Brott was pale, and deep new lines were furrowed on his face.
+Nevertheless he smiled faintly as he bowed over Lucille's fingers.
+
+"My introduction," he remarked, "is scarcely reassuring. Yet here at
+least, if anywhere in the world, we should all meet upon equal ground.
+Music is a universal leveler."
+
+"And we haven't a chance," Lady Carey remarked with uplifted eyebrows,
+"of listening to a bar of it."
+
+Lucille welcomed the newcomer coldly. Nevertheless, he manoeuvred
+himself into the place by her side. She took up her fan and commenced
+swinging it thoughtfully.
+
+"You are surprised to see me here?" he murmured.
+
+"Yes!" she admitted.
+
+He looked wearily away from the stage up into her face.
+
+"And I too," he said. "I am surprised to find myself here!"
+
+"I pictured you," she remarked, "as immersed in affairs. Did I not hear
+something of a Radical ministry with you for Premier?"
+
+"It has been spoken of," he admitted.
+
+"Then I really cannot see," she said, "what you are doing here."
+
+"Why not?" he asked doggedly.
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"In the first place," she said, "you ought to be rushing about amongst
+your supporters, keeping them up to the mark, and all that sort of
+thing. And in the second--"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Are we not the very people against whom you have declared war?"
+
+"I have declared war against no people," he answered. "It is systems and
+classes, abuses, injustice against which I have been forced to speak.
+I would not deprive your Order of a single privilege to which they are
+justly entitled. But you must remember that I am a people's man. Their
+cause is mine. They look to me as their mouthpiece."
+
+Lucille shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"You cannot evade the point," she said. "If you are the, what do you
+call it, the mouthpiece of the people, I do not see how you can be
+anything else than the enemy of the aristocracy."
+
+"The aristocracy? Who are they?" he asked. "I am the enemy of all those
+who, because they possess an ancient name and inherited wealth, consider
+themselves the God-appointed bullies of the poor, dealing them out
+meagre charities, lordly patronage, an unspoken but bitter contempt. But
+the aristocracy of the earth are not of such as these. Your class are
+furnishing the world with advanced thinkers every year, every month!
+Inherited prejudices can never survive the next few generations. The
+fusion of classes must come."
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"You are sanguine, my friend," she said. "Many generations have come and
+gone since the wonderful pages of history were opened to us. And during
+all these years how much nearer have the serf and the aristocrat come
+together? Nay, have they not rather drifted apart?... But listen! This
+is the great chorus. We must not miss it."
+
+"So the Prince has brought back the wanderer," Lady Carey whispered to
+Mr. Sabin behind her fan. "Hasn't he rather the air of a sheep who has
+strayed from the fold?"
+
+Mr. Sabin raised the horn eyeglass, which he so seldom used, and
+contemplated Brott steadily.
+
+"He reminds me more than ever," he remarked, "of Rienzi. He is like a
+man torn asunder by great causes. They say that his speech at Glasgow
+was the triumph of a born orator."
+
+Lady Carey shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"It was practically the preaching a revolution to the people," she said.
+"A few more such, and we might have the red flag waving. He left Glasgow
+in a ferment. If he really comes into power, what are we to expect?"
+
+"To the onlookers," Mr. Sabin remarked, "a revolution in this country
+would possess many interesting features. The common people lack the
+ferocity of our own rabble, but they are even more determined. I may yet
+live to see an English Duke earning an honest living in the States."
+
+"It depends very much upon Brott," Lady Carey said. "For his own sake it
+is a pity that he is in love with Lucille."
+
+Mr. Sabin agreed with her blandly.
+
+"It is," he affirmed, "a most regrettable incident."
+
+She leaned a little towards him. The box was not a large one, and their
+chairs already touched.
+
+"Are you a jealous husband?" she asked.
+
+"Horribly," he answered.
+
+"Your devotion to Lucille, or rather the singleness of your devotion to
+Lucille," she remarked, "is positively the most gauche thing about you.
+It is--absolutely callow!"
+
+He laughed gently.
+
+"Did I not always tell you," he said, "that when I did marry I should
+make an excellent husband?"
+
+"You are at least," she answered sharply, "a very complaisant one."
+
+The Prince leaned forward from the shadows of the box.
+
+"I invite you all," he said, "to supper with me. It is something of an
+occasion, this! For I do not think that we shall all meet again just as
+we are now for a very long time."
+
+"Your invitation," Mr. Sabin remarked, "is most agreeable. But your
+suggestion is, to say the least of it, nebulous. I do not see what is to
+prevent your all having supper with me to-morrow evening."
+
+Lady Carey laughed as she rose, and stretched out her hand for her
+cloak.
+
+"To-morrow evening," she said, "is a long way off. Let us make sure of
+to-night--before the Prince changes his mind."
+
+Mr. Sabin bowed low.
+
+"To-night by all means," he declared. "But my invitation remains--a
+challenge!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+The Prince, being host, arranged the places at his supper-table. Mr.
+Sabin found himself, therefore, between Lady Carey and a young German
+attache, whom they had met in the ante-room of the restaurant. Lucille
+had the Prince and Mr. Brott on either side of her.
+
+Lady Carey monopolised at first the greater part of the conversation.
+Mr. Sabin was unusually silent. The German attache, whose name was Baron
+von Opperman, did not speak until the champagne was served, when he
+threw a bombshell into the midst of the little party.
+
+"I hear," he said, with a broad and seraphic smile, "that in this hotel
+there has to-day a murder been committed."
+
+Baron von Opperman was suddenly the cynosure of several pairs of eyes.
+He was delighted with the success of his attempt towards the general
+entertainment.
+
+"The evening papers," he continued, "they have in them news of a sudden
+death. But in the hotel here now they are speaking of something--what
+you call more--mysterious. There has been ordered an examination
+post-mortem!"
+
+"It is a case of poisoning then, I presume?" the Prince asked, leaning
+forward.
+
+"It is so supposed," the attache answered. "It seems that the doctors
+could find no trace of disease, nothing to have caused death. They
+were not able to decide anything. The man, they said, was in perfect
+health--but dead."
+
+"It must have been, then," the Prince remarked, "a very wonderful
+poison."
+
+"Without doubt," Baron Opperman answered.
+
+The Prince sighed gently.
+
+"There are many such," he murmured. "Indeed the science of toxicology
+was never so ill-understood as now. I am assured that there are many
+poisons known only to a few chemists in the world, a single grain of
+which is sufficient to destroy the strongest man and leave not the
+slightest trace behind. If the poisoner be sufficiently accomplished he
+can pursue his--calling without the faintest risk of detection."
+
+Mr. Sabin sipped his wine thoughtfully.
+
+"The Prince is, I believe, right," he remarked. "It is for that reason,
+doubtless, that I have heard of men whose lives have been threatened,
+who have deposited in safe places a sealed statement of the danger in
+which they find themselves, with an account of its source, so that if
+they should come to an end in any way mysterious there may be evidence
+against their murderers."
+
+"A very reasonable and judicious precaution," the Prince remarked with
+glittering eyes. "Only if the poison was indeed of such a nature that it
+was not possible to trace it nothing worse than suspicion could ever be
+the lot of any one."
+
+Mr. Sabin helped himself carefully to salad, and resumed the discussion
+with his next course.
+
+"Perhaps not," he admitted. "But you must remember that suspicion is of
+itself a grievous embarrassment. No man likes to feel that he is being
+suspected of murder. By the bye, is it known whom the unfortunate person
+was?"
+
+"The servant of a French nobleman who is staying in the hotel," Mr.
+Brott remarked. "I heard as much as that."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled. Lady Carey glanced at him meaningly.
+
+"You have worried the Prince quite sufficiently," she whispered. "Change
+the subject."
+
+Mr. Sabin bowed.
+
+"You are very considerate--to the Prince," he said.
+
+"It is perhaps for your sake," she answered. "And as for the
+Prince--well, you know, or you should know, for how much he counts with
+me."
+
+Mr. Sabin glanced at her curiously. She was a little flushed as though
+with some inward excitement. Her eyes were bright and soft. Despite a
+certain angularity of figure and her hollow cheeks she was certainly one
+of the most distinguished-looking women in the room.
+
+"You are so dense," she whispered in his ear, "wilfully dense, perhaps.
+You will not understand that I wish to be your friend."
+
+He smiled with gentle deprecation.
+
+"Do you blame me," he murmured, "if I seem incredulous? For I am an old
+man, and you are spoken of always as the friend of my enemy, the friend
+of the Prince."
+
+"I wonder," she said thoughtfully, "if this is really the secret of your
+mistrust? Do you indeed fear that I have no other interest in life save
+to serve Saxe Leinitzer?"
+
+"As to that," he answered, "I cannot say. Yet I know that only a few
+months ago you were acting under orders from him. It is you who brought
+Lucille from America. It was through you that the first blow was struck
+at my happiness."
+
+"Cannot I atone?" she murmured under her breath. "If I can I will.
+And as for the present, well, I am outside his schemes now. Let us be
+friends. You would find me a very valuable ally."
+
+"Let it be so," he answered without emotion. "You shall help me, if you
+will, to regain Lucille. I promise you then that my gratitude shall not
+disappoint you."
+
+She bit her lip.
+
+"And are you sure," she whispered, "that Lucille is anxious to be won
+back? She loves intrigue, excitement, the sense of being concerned
+in important doings. Besides--you must have heard what they say about
+her--and Brott. Look at her now. She wears her grass widowhood lightly
+enough."
+
+Mr. Sabin looked across the table. Lucille had indeed all the appearance
+of a woman thoroughly at peace with the world and herself. Brott was
+talking to her in smothered and eager undertones. The Prince was waiting
+for an opportunity to intervene. Mr. Sabin looked into Brott's white
+strong face, and was thoughtful.
+
+"It is a great power--the power of my sex," Lady Carey continued, with
+a faint, subtle smile. "A word from Lucille, and the history book of the
+future must be differently written."
+
+"She will not speak that word," Mr. Sabin said. Lady Carey shrugged
+her shoulders. The subtlety of her smile faded away. Her whole face
+expressed a contemptuous and self-assured cynicism.
+
+"You know her very well," she murmured. "Yet she and I are no strangers.
+She is one who loves to taste--no, to drink--deeply of all the
+experiences of life. Why should we blame her, you and I? Have we not the
+same desire?"
+
+Mr. Sabin lit a cigarette.
+
+"Once, perhaps," he remarked. "You must not forget that I am no longer a
+young man."
+
+She leaned towards him.
+
+"You will die young," she murmured. "You are not of the breed of men who
+grow old."
+
+"Do you mean to turn my head?" he asked her, with a humorous smile.
+
+"It would be easier," she answered, "than to touch your heart."
+
+Then Lucille looked across at them--and Mr. Sabin suddenly remembered
+that Reginald Brott knew them both only as strangers.
+
+"Muriel," she said, "you are behaving disgracefully."
+
+"I am doing my best," Lady Carey answered, "to keep you in countenance."
+
+The eyes of the two women met for a moment, and though the smiles
+lingered still upon their faces Lady Carey at any rate was not able to
+wholly conceal her hatred. Lucille shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"I am doing my best," she said, "to convert Mr. Brott."
+
+"To what?" Lady Carey asked.
+
+"To a sane point of view concerning the holiness of the aristocracy,"
+Lucille answered. "I am afraid though that I have made very little
+impression. In his heart I believe Mr. Brott would like to see us all
+working for our living, school-teachers and dressmakers, and that sort
+of thing, you know."
+
+Mr. Brott protested.
+
+"I am not even," he declared, "moderately advanced in my views as
+regards matters of your sex. To tell you the truth, I do not like women
+to work at all outside their homes."
+
+Lady Carey laughed.
+
+"My dear," she said to Lucille, "you and I may as well retire in
+despair. Can't you see the sort of woman Mr. Brott admires? She isn't
+like us a bit. She is probably a healthy, ruddy-cheeked young person who
+lives in the country, gets up to breakfast to pour out the coffee for
+some sort of a male relative, goes round the garden snipping off roses
+in big gloves and a huge basket, interviews the cook, orders the dinner,
+makes fancy waistcoats for her husband, and failing a sewing maid, does
+the mending for the family. You and I, Lucille, are not like that."
+
+"Well, you have mentioned nothing which I couldn't do, if it seemed
+worth while," Lucille objected. "It sounds very primitive and
+delightful. I am sure we are all too luxurious and too lazy. I think we
+ought to turn over a new leaf."
+
+"For you, dear Lucille," Lady Carey said with suave and deadly satire,
+"what improvement is possible? You have all that you could desire. It
+is much less fortunate persons, such as myself, to whom Utopia must seem
+such a delightful place."
+
+A frock-coated and altogether immaculate young man approached their
+table and accosted Mr. Sabin.
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir," he said, "but the manager would be much
+obliged if you would spare him a moment or two in his private room as
+soon as possible."
+
+Mr. Sabin nodded.
+
+"In a few minutes," he answered.
+
+The little party broke up almost immediately. Coffee was ordered in the
+palm court, where the band was playing. Mr. Sabin and the Prince fell a
+little behind the others on the way out of the room.
+
+"You heard my summons?" Mr. Sabin asked.
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"I am going to be cross-examined as regards Duson. I am no longer a
+member of the Order. What is to prevent my setting them upon the right
+track?"
+
+"The fact," the Prince said coolly, "that you are hoping one day to
+recover Lucille."
+
+"I doubt," Mr. Sabin said, "whether you are strong enough to keep her
+from me."
+
+The Prince smiled. All his white teeth were showing.
+
+"Come," he said, "you know better than--much better than that. Lucille
+must wait her release. You know that."
+
+"I will buy it," Mr. Sabin said, "with a lie to the manager here, or I
+will tell the truth and still take her from you."
+
+The Prince stood upon the topmost step of the balcony. Below was the
+palm court, with many little groups of people dotted about.
+
+"My dear friend," he said, "Duson died absolutely of his own free will.
+You know that quite well. We should have preferred that the matter had
+been otherwise arranged. But as it is we are safe, absolutely safe."
+
+"Duson's letter!" Mr. Sabin remarked.
+
+"You will not show it," the Prince answered. "You cannot. You have kept
+it too long. And, after all, you cannot escape from the main fact. Duson
+committed suicide."
+
+"He was incited to murder. His letter proves it."
+
+The Prince shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"By whom? Ah, how your story would excite ridicule. I seem to hear the
+laughter now. No, my dear Souspennier, you would bargain for me with
+Lucille. Look below. Are we likely to part with her just yet?"
+
+In a corner, behind a gigantic palm, Lucille and Brott were talking
+together. Lady Carey had drawn Opperman a little distance away. Brott
+was talking eagerly, his cheeks flushed, his manner earnest. Mr. Sabin
+turned upon his heel and walked away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+Mr. Sabin, although he had registered at the hotel under his accustomed
+pseudonym, had taken no pains to conceal his identity, and was well
+known to the people in authority about the place. He was received with
+all the respect due to his rank.
+
+"Your Grace will, I trust, accept my most sincere apologies for
+disturbing you," Mr. Hertz, the manager, said, rising and bowing at his
+entrance. "We have here, however, an emissary connected with the police
+come to inquire into the sad incident of this afternoon. He expressed a
+wish to ask your Grace a question or two with a view to rendering your
+Grace's attendance at the inquest unnecessary."
+
+Mr. Sabin nodded.
+
+"I am perfectly willing," he said, "to answer any questions you may
+choose to put to me."
+
+A plain, hard-featured little man, in a long black overcoat, and holding
+a bowler hat in his hand, bowed respectfully to Mr. Sabin.
+
+"I am much obliged to you, sir," he said. "My name is John Passmore.
+We do not of course appear in this matter unless the post-mortem should
+indicate anything unusual in the circumstances of Duson's death, but it
+is always well to be prepared, and I ventured to ask Mr. Hertz here to
+procure for me your opinion as regards the death of your servant."
+
+"You have asked me," Mr. Sabin said gravely, "a very difficult
+question."
+
+The eyes of the little detective flashed keenly.
+
+"You do not believe then, sir, that he died a natural death?"
+
+"I do not," Mr. Sabin answered.
+
+Mr. Hertz was startled. The detective controlled his features admirably.
+
+"May I ask your reasons, sir?"
+
+Mr. Sabin lightly shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I have never known the man to have a day's illness in his life," he
+said. "Further, since his arrival in England he has been acting in a
+strange and furtive manner, and I gathered that he had some cause for
+fear which he was indisposed to talk about."
+
+"This," the detective said, "is very interesting."
+
+"Doubtless," Mr. Sabin answered. "But before I say anything more I
+must clearly understand my position. I am giving you personally a few
+friendly hints, in the interests of justice perhaps, but still quite
+informally. I am not in possession of any definite facts concerning
+Duson, and what I say to you here I am not prepared to say at the
+inquest, before which I presume I may have to appear as a witness.
+There, I shall do nothing more save identify Duson and state the
+circumstances under which I found him."
+
+"I understand that perfectly, sir," the man answered. "The less said at
+the inquest the better in the interests of justice."
+
+Mr. Sabin nodded.
+
+"I am glad," he said, "that you appreciate that. I do not mind going so
+far then as to tell you that I believe Duson died of poison."
+
+"Can you give me any idea," the detective asked, "as to the source?"
+
+"None," Mr. Sabin answered. "That you must discover for yourselves.
+Duson was a man of silent and secretive habits, and it has occurred to
+me more than once that he might possibly be a member of one of those
+foreign societies who have their headquarters in Soho, and concerning
+which you probably know more than I do."
+
+The detective smiled. It was a very slight flicker of the lips, but it
+attracted Mr. Sabin's keen attention.
+
+"Your suggestions," the detective said, "are making this case a very
+interesting one. I have always understood, however, that reprisals of
+this extreme nature are seldom resorted to in this country. Besides,
+the man's position seems scarcely to indicate sufficient
+importance--perhaps--"
+
+"Well?" Mr. Sabin interjected.
+
+"I notice that Duson was found in your sitting-room. It occurs to me
+as a possibility that he may have met with a fate intended for some one
+else--for yourself, for instance, sir!"
+
+"But I," Mr. Sabin said smoothly, "am a member of no secret society,
+nor am I conscious of having enemies sufficiently venomous to desire my
+life."
+
+The detective sat for a moment with immovable face.
+
+"We, all of us, know our friends, sir," he said. "There are few of us
+properly acquainted with our enemies."
+
+Mr. Sabin lit a cigarette. His fingers were quite steady, but this man
+was making him think.
+
+"You do not seriously believe," he asked, "that Duson met with a death
+which was intended for me?"
+
+"I am afraid," the detective said thoughtfully, "that I know no more
+about it than you do."
+
+"I see," Mr. Sabin said, "that I am no stranger to you."
+
+"You are very far from being that, sir," the man answered. "A few years
+ago I was working for the Government--and you were not often out of my
+sight."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled.
+
+"It was perhaps judicious," he remarked, "though I am afraid it proved
+of very little profit to you. And what about the present time?"
+
+"I see no harm in telling you, sir, that a general watch is kept upon
+your movements. Duson was useful to us... but now Duson is dead."
+
+"It is a fact," Mr. Sabin said impressively, "that Duson was a genius.
+My admiration for him continually increases."
+
+"Duson made harmless reports to us as we desired them," the detective
+said. "I have an idea, however, that if this course had at any time been
+inimical to your interests that Duson would have deceived us."
+
+"I am convinced of it," Mr. Sabin declared.
+
+"And Duson is dead!"
+
+Mr. Sabin nodded gravely.
+
+The little hard-visaged man looked steadily for a moment upon the
+carpet.
+
+"Duson died virtually whilst accepting pay from if not actually in the
+employ of our Secret Service Department. You will understand, therefore,
+that we, knowing of this complication in his life, naturally incline
+towards the theory of murder. Shall I be taking a liberty, sir, if I
+give you an unprofessional word of warning?"
+
+Mr. Sabin raised his eyebrows.
+
+"By no means," he answered. "But surely you cannot--"
+
+The man smiled.
+
+"No, sir," he said drily. "I do not for one moment suspect you. The man
+was our spy upon your movements, but I am perfectly aware that there has
+been nothing worth reporting, and I also know that you would never run
+such a risk for the removal of so insignificant a person. No, my warning
+comes to you from a different point of view. It is, if you will pardon
+my saying so, none the less personal, but wholly friendly. The case of
+Duson will be sifted to the dregs, but unless I am greatly mistaken,
+and I do not see room for the possibility of a mistake, I know the truth
+already."
+
+"You will share your knowledge?" Mr. Sabin asked quietly.
+
+The detective shook his head.
+
+"You shall know," he said, "before the last moment. But I want to warn
+you that when you do know it--it will be a shock to you."
+
+Mr. Sabin stood perfectly still for several moments. This little man
+believed what he was saying. He was certainly deceived. Yet none the
+less Mr. Sabin was thoughtful.
+
+"You do not feel inclined," he said slowly, "to give me your entire
+confidence."
+
+"Not at present, sir," the man answered. "You would certainly intervene,
+and my case would be spoilt."
+
+Mr. Sabin glanced at the clock.
+
+"If you care to call on me to-morrow," he said, "I could perhaps show
+you something which might change your opinion."
+
+The detective bowed.
+
+"I am always open, sir," he said, "to conviction. I will come about
+twelve o'clock."
+
+Mr. Sabin went back to the palm lounge. Lucille and Reginald Brott were
+sitting together at a small table, talking earnestly to one another.
+The Prince and Lady Carey had joined another party who were all talking
+together near the entrance. The latter, directly she saw them coming,
+detached herself from them and came to him.
+
+"Your coffee is almost cold," she said, "but the Prince has found some
+brandy of wonderful age, somewhere in the last century, I believe."
+
+Mr. Sabin glanced towards Lucille. She appeared engrossed in her
+conversation, and had not noticed his approach. Lady Carey shrugged.
+
+"You have only a few minutes," she said, "before that dreadful person
+comes and frowns us all out. I have kept you a chair."
+
+Mr. Sabin sat down. Lady Carey interposed herself between him and the
+small table at which Lucille was sitting.
+
+"Have they discovered anything?" she asked.
+
+"Nothing!" Mr. Sabin answered.
+
+She played with her fan for a moment. Then she looked him steadily in
+the face.
+
+"My friend?"
+
+He glanced towards her.
+
+"Lady Carey!"
+
+"Why are you so obstinate?" she exclaimed in a low, passionate whisper.
+"I want to be your friend, and I could be very useful to you. Yet you
+keep me always at arm's length. You are making a mistake. Indeed you
+are. I suppose you do not trust me. Yet reflect. Have I ever told you
+anything that was not true? Have I ever tried to deceive you? I don't
+pretend to be a paragon of the virtues. I live my life to please myself.
+I admit it. Why not? It is simply applying the same sort of philosophy
+to my life as you have applied to yours. My enemies can find plenty to
+say about me--but never that I have been false to a friend. Why do you
+keep me always at arm's length, as though I were one of those who wished
+you evil?"
+
+"Lady Carey," Mr. Sabin said, "I will not affect to misunderstand
+you, and I am flattered that you should consider my good will of any
+importance. But you are the friend of the Prince of Saxe Leinitzer. You
+are one of those even now who are working actively against me. I am not
+blaming you, but we are on opposite sides."
+
+Lady Carey looked for a moment across at the Prince, and her eyes were
+full of venom.
+
+"If you knew," she murmured, "how I loathe that man. Friends! That is
+all long since past. Nothing would give me so much pleasure as never to
+see his face again."
+
+"Nevertheless," Mr. Sabin reminded her, "whatever your private feelings
+may be, he has claims upon you which you cannot resist."
+
+"There is one thing in the world," she said in a low tone, "for which I
+would risk even the abnegation of those claims."
+
+"You would perjure your honour?"
+
+"Yes--if it came to that."
+
+Mr. Sabin moved uneasily in his chair. The woman was in earnest. She
+offered him an invaluable alliance; she could show him the way to
+hold his own against even the inimical combination by which he was
+surrounded. If only he could compromise. But her eyes were seeking his
+eagerly, even fiercely.
+
+"You doubt me still," she whispered. "And I thought that you had genius.
+Listen, I will prove myself. The Prince has one of his foolish passions
+for Lucille. You know that. So far she has shown herself able to resist
+his fascinations. He is trying other means. Lucille is in danger!
+Duson!--but after all, I was never really in danger, except the time
+when I carried the despatches for the colonel and rode straight into a
+Boer ambush."
+
+Mr. Sabin saw nothing, but he did not move a muscle of his face. A
+moment later they heard the Prince's voice from behind them.
+
+"I am very sorry," he said, "to interrupt these interesting
+reminiscences, but you see that every one is going. Lucille is already
+in the cloak-room."
+
+Lady Carey rose at once, but the glance she threw at the Prince was a
+singularly malicious one. They walked down the carpeted way together,
+and Lady Carey left them without a word. In the vestibule Mr. Sabin and
+Reginald Brott came face to face.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+The greeting between the two men was cold, and the Prince almost
+immediately stepped between them. Nevertheless, Brott seemed to have a
+fancy to talk with Mr. Sabin.
+
+"I was at Camperdown House yesterday," he remarked. "Her Ladyship was
+regretting that she saw you so seldom."
+
+"I have been a little remiss," Mr. Sabin answered. "I hope to lunch
+there to-morrow."
+
+"You have seen the evening paper, Brott?" the Prince asked.
+
+"I saw the early editions," Brott answered. "Is there anything fresh?"
+
+The Prince dropped his voice a little. He drew Brott on one side.
+
+"The Westminster declared that you had left for Windsor by an early
+train this afternoon, and gives a list of your Cabinet. The Pall Mall,
+on the other hand, declares that Letheringham will assuredly be sent for
+to-morrow."
+
+Brott shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"There are bound to be a crop of such reports at a time like this," he
+remarked.
+
+The Prince dropped his voice almost to a whisper.
+
+"Brott," he said, "there is something which I have had it in my mind to
+say to you for the last few days. I am not perhaps a great politician,
+but, like many outsiders, I see perhaps a good deal of the game. I know
+fairly well what the feeling is in Vienna and Berlin. I can give you a
+word of advice."
+
+"You are very kind, Prince," Brott remarked, looking uneasily over his
+shoulder. "But--"
+
+"It is concerning Brand. There is no man more despised and disliked
+abroad, not only because he is a Jew and ill-bred, but because of his
+known sympathy with some of these anarchists who are perfect firebrands
+in Europe."
+
+"I am exceedingly obliged to you," Brott answered hurriedly. "I am
+afraid, however, that you anticipate matters a good deal. I have not yet
+been asked to form a Cabinet. It is doubtful whether I ever shall. And,
+beyond that, it is also doubtful whether even if I am asked I shall
+accept."
+
+"I must confess," the Prince said, "that you puzzle me. Every one says
+that the Premiership of the country is within your reach. It is surely
+the Mecca of all politicians."
+
+"There are complications," Brott muttered. "You--"
+
+He stopped short and moved towards the door. Lucille, unusually pale
+and grave, had just issued from the ladies' ante-room, and joined Lady
+Carey, who was talking to Mr. Sabin. She touched the latter lightly on
+the arm.
+
+"Help us to escape," she said quickly. "I am weary of my task. Can we
+get away without their seeing us?"
+
+Mr. Sabin offered his arm. They passed along the broad way, and as
+they were almost the last to leave the place, their carriage was easily
+found. The Prince and Mr. Brott appeared only in time to see Mr. Sabin
+turning away, hat in hand, from the curb-stone. Brott's face darkened.
+
+"Prince," he said, "who is that man?"
+
+The Prince shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"A man," he said, "who has more than once nearly ruined your country.
+His life has been a splendid failure. He would have given India to the
+Russians, but they mistrusted him and trifled away their chance. Once
+since then he nearly sold this country to Germany; it was a trifle only
+which intervened. He has been all his life devoted to one cause."
+
+"And that?" Brott asked.
+
+"The restoration of the monarchy to France. He, as you of course know,
+is the Duc de Souspennier, the sole living member in the direct line of
+one of the most ancient and historical houses in England. My friend,"
+he added, turning to Mr. Sabin, "you have stolen a march upon us. We had
+not even an opportunity of making our adieux to the ladies."
+
+"I imagine," Mr. Sabin answered, "that the cause of quarrel may rest
+with them. You were nowhere in sight when they came out."
+
+"These fascinating politics," the Prince remarked. "We all want to talk
+politics to Mr. Brott just now."
+
+"I will wish you good-night, gentlemen," Mr. Sabin said, and passed into
+the hotel.
+
+The Prince touched Brott on the arm.
+
+"Will you come round to the club, and take a hand at bridge?" he said.
+
+Brott laughed shortly.
+
+"I imagine," he said, "that I should be an embarrassing guest to you
+just now at, say the Mallborough, or even at the St. James. I believe
+the aristocracy are looking forward to the possibility of my coming into
+power with something like terror."
+
+"I am not thoroughly versed; in the politics of this country," the
+Prince said, "but I have always understood that your views were
+very much advanced. Dorset solemnly believes that you are pledged to
+exterminate the large landed proprietors, and I do not think he would be
+surprised to hear that you had a guillotine up your sleeve."
+
+The two men were strolling along Pall Mall. The Prince had lit a large
+cigar, and was apparently on the best of terms with himself and the
+world in general. Brott, on the contrary, was most unlike himself,
+preoccupied, and apparently ill at ease.
+
+"The Duke and his class are, of course, my natural opponents," Brott
+said shortly. "By the bye, Prince," he added, suddenly turning towards
+him, and with a complete change of tone, "it is within your power to do
+me a favour."
+
+"You have only to command," the Prince assured him good-naturedly.
+
+"My rooms are close here," Brott continued. "Will you accompany me
+there, and grant me the favour of a few minutes' conversation?"
+
+"Assuredly!" the Prince answered, flicking the end off his cigar. "It
+will be a pleasure."
+
+They walked on towards their destination in silence. Brott's secretary
+was in the library with a huge pile of letters and telegrams before him.
+He welcomed Brott with relief.
+
+"We have been sending all over London for you, sir," he said.
+
+Brott nodded.
+
+"I am better out of the way for the present," he answered. "Deny me to
+everybody for an hour, especially Letheringham. There is nothing here, I
+suppose, which cannot wait so long as that?"
+
+The secretary looked a little doubtful.
+
+"I think not, sir," he decided.
+
+"Very good. Go and get something to eat. You look fagged. And tell Hyson
+to bring up some liqueurs, will you! I shall be engaged for a short
+time."
+
+The secretary withdrew. A servant appeared with a little tray of
+liqueurs, and in obedience to an impatient gesture from his master, left
+them upon the table. Brott closed the door firmly.
+
+"Prince," he said, resuming his seat, "I wished to speak with you
+concerning the Countess."
+
+Saxe Leinitzer nodded.
+
+"All right," he said. "I am listening!"
+
+"I understand," Brott continued, "that you are one of her oldest
+friends, and also one of the trustees of her estates. I presume that you
+stand to her therefore to some extent in the position of an adviser?"
+
+"It is perfectly true," the Prince admitted.
+
+"I, too, am an old friend, as she has doubtless told you," Brott said.
+"All my life she has been the one woman whom I have desired to call my
+wife. That desire has never been so strong as at the present moment."
+
+The Prince removed his cigar from his mouth and looked grave.
+
+"But, my dear Brott," he said, "have you considered the enormous gulf
+between your--views? The Countess owns great hereditary estates, she
+comes from a family which is almost Royal, she herself is an aristocrat
+to the backbone. It is a class against which you have declared war. How
+can you possibly come together on common ground?"
+
+Brott was silent for a moment. Looking at him steadily the Prince was
+surprised at the change in the man's appearance. His cheeks seemed
+blanched and his skin drawn. He had lost flesh, his eyes were hollow,
+and he frequently betrayed in small mannerisms a nervousness wholly new
+and unfamiliar to him.
+
+"You speak as a man of sense, Prince," he said after a while. "You are
+absolutely correct. This matter has caused me a great deal of anxious
+thought. To falter at this moment is to lose, politically, all that I
+have worked for all my life. It is to lose the confidence of the
+people who have trusted me. It is a betrayal, the thought of which is
+a constant shame to me. But, on the other hand, Lucille is the dearest
+thing to me in life."
+
+The Prince's expression was wholly sympathetic. The derision which
+lurked behind he kept wholly concealed. A strong man so abjectly in the
+toils, and he to be chosen for his confidant! It was melodrama with a
+dash of humour.
+
+"If I am to help you," the Prince said, "I must know everything. Have
+you made any proposals to Lucille? In plain words, how much of your
+political future are you disposed to sacrifice?"
+
+"All!" Brott said hoarsely. "All for a certainty of her. Not one jot
+without."
+
+"And she?"
+
+Brott sprang to his feet, white and nervous.
+
+"It is where I am at fault," he exclaimed. "It is why I have asked for
+your advice, your help perhaps. I do not find it easy to understand
+Lucille. Perhaps it is because I am not well versed in the ways of her
+sex. I find her elusive. She will give me no promise. Before I went
+to Glasgow I talked with her. If she would have married me then my
+political career was over--thrown on one side like an old garment. But
+she would give me no promise. In everything save the spoken words I
+crave she has promised me her love. Again there comes a climax. In a few
+hours I must make my final choice. I must decline to join Letheringham,
+in which case the King must send for me, or accept office with him,
+and throw away the one great chance of this generation. Letheringham's
+Cabinet, of course, would be a moderate Liberal one, a paragon of milk
+and water in effectiveness. If I go in alone we make history. The moment
+of issue has come. And, Prince, although I have pleaded with all the
+force and all the earnestness I know, Lucille remains elusive. If I
+choose for her side--she promises me--reward. But it is vague to me. I
+don't, I can't understand! I want her for my wife, I want her for the
+rest of my life--nothing else. Tell me, is there any barrier to this?
+There are no complications in her life which I do not know of? I want
+your assurance. I want her promise. You understand me?"
+
+"Yes, I understand you," the Prince said gravely. "I understand more
+than you do. I understand Lucille's position."
+
+Brott leaned forward with bright eyes.
+
+"Ah!"
+
+"Lucille, the Countess of Radantz, is at the present moment a married
+woman."
+
+Brott was speechless. His face was like a carved stone image, from which
+the life had wholly gone.
+
+"Her husband--in name only, let me tell you, is the Mr. Sabin with whom
+we had supper this evening."
+
+"Great God!"
+
+"Their marriage had strange features in it which are not my concern, or
+even yours," the Prince said deliberately. "The truth is, that they have
+not lived together for years, they never will again, for their divorce
+proceedings would long ago have been concluded but for the complications
+arising from the difference between the Hungarian and the American laws.
+Here, without doubt, is the reason why the Countess has hesitated to
+pledge her word directly."
+
+"It is wonderful," Brott said slowly. "But it explains everything."
+
+There was a loud knock at the door. The secretary appeared upon the
+threshold. Behind him was a tall, slim young man in traveling costume.
+
+"The King's messenger!" Brott exclaimed, rising to his feet.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+The Prince presented himself with a low bow. Lucille had a copy of the
+morning paper in her hand.
+
+"I congratulate you, Countess," he said. "You progress admirably. It is
+a great step gained."
+
+Lucille, who was looking pale and nervous, regarded him with anxiety.
+
+"A step! But it is everything. If these rumours are true, he refuses
+the attempt to form a Cabinet. He takes a subordinate position under
+Letheringham. Every paper this morning says that if this is so his
+political career is over. It is true, is it not?"
+
+"It is a great gain," the Prince said slowly.
+
+"But it is everything," Lucille declared, with a rising note of passion
+in her tone. "It was my task. It is accomplished. I demand my release."
+
+The Prince was silent for a moment.
+
+"You are in a great hurry, Lucille," he said.
+
+"What if I am!" she replied fiercely. "Do you suppose that this life of
+lies and deceit is pleasant to me? Do you suppose that it is a pleasant
+task to lure a brave man on to his ruin?"
+
+The Prince raised his eyebrows.
+
+"Come," he said, "you can have no sympathy with Reginald Brott, the
+sworn enemy of our class, a Socialist, a demagogue who would parcel out
+our lands in allotments, a man who has pledged himself to nothing more
+nor less than a revolution."
+
+"The man's views are hateful enough," she answered, "but he is in
+earnest, and however misguided he may be there is something noble in his
+unselfishness, in his, steady fixedness of purpose."
+
+The Prince's face indicated his contempt.
+
+"Such men," he declared, "are only fit to be crushed like vermin under
+foot. In any other country save England we should have dealt with him
+differently."
+
+"This is all beside the question," she declared. "My task was to prevent
+his becoming Prime Minister, and I have succeeded."
+
+The Prince gave vent to a little gesture of dissent. "Your task," he
+said, "went a little farther than that. We require his political ruin."
+
+She pointed to the pile of newspapers upon the table.
+
+"Read what they say!" she exclaimed. "There is not one who does not use
+that precise term. He has missed his opportunity. The people will never
+trust him again."
+
+"That, at any rate, is not certain," the Prince said. "You must remember
+that before long he will realise that he has been your tool. What
+then? He will become more rabid than ever, more also to be feared. No,
+Lucille, your task is not yet over. He must be involved in an open and
+public scandal, and with you."
+
+She was white almost to the lips with passion.
+
+"You expect a great deal!" she exclaimed. "You expect me to ruin my
+life, then, to give my honour as well as these weary months, this
+constant humiliation."
+
+"You are pleased to be melodramatic," he said coldly. "It is quite
+possible to involve him without actually going to extremes."
+
+"And what of my husband?" she asked.
+
+The Prince laughed unpleasantly.
+
+"If you have not taught him complaisance," he said, "it is possible, of
+course, that Mr. Sabin might be unkind. But what of it? You are your
+own mistress. You are a woman of the world. Without him there is an
+infinitely greater future before you than as his wife you could ever
+enjoy."
+
+"You are pleased," she said, "to be enigmatic."
+
+The Prince looked hard at her. Her face was white and set. He sighed.
+
+"Lucille," he said, "I have been very patient for many years. Yet you
+know very well my secret, and in your heart you know very well that I am
+one of those who generally win the thing upon which they have set their
+hearts. I have always loved you, Lucille, but never more than now.
+Fidelity is admirable, but surely you have done your duty. He is an old
+man, and a man who has failed in the great things of life. I, on the
+other hand, can offer you a great future. Saxe Leinitzer, as you know,
+is a kingdom of its own, and, Lucille, I stand well with the Emperor.
+The Socialist party in Berlin are strong and increasing. He needs us.
+Who can say what honours may not be in store for us? For I, too, am of
+the Royal House, Lucille. I am his kinsman. He never forgets that. Come,
+throw aside this restlessness. I will tell you how to deal with Brott,
+and the publicity, after all, will be nothing. We will go abroad
+directly afterwards."
+
+"Have you finished?" she asked.
+
+"You will be reasonable!" he begged.
+
+"Reasonable!" She turned upon him with flashing eyes. "I wonder how
+you ever dared to imagine that I could tolerate you for one moment as a
+lover or a husband. Wipe it out of your mind once and for all. You are
+repellent to me. Positively the only wish I have in connection with
+you is never to see your face again. As for my duty, I have done it. My
+conscience is clear. I shall leave this house to-day."
+
+"I hope," the Prince said softly, "that you will do nothing rash!"
+
+"In an hour," she said, "I shall be at the Carlton with my husband. I
+will trust to him to protect me from you."
+
+The Prince shook his head.
+
+"You talk rashly," he said. "You do not think. You are forbidden to
+leave this house. You are forbidden to join your husband."
+
+She laughed scornfully, but underneath was a tremor of uneasiness.
+
+"You summoned me from America," she said, "and I came... I was forced to
+leave my husband without even a word of farewell. I did it! You set me
+a task--I have accomplished it. I claim that I have kept my bond, that
+I have worked out my own freedom. If you require more of me, I say that
+you are overstepping your authority, and I refuse. Set the black cross
+against my name if you will. I will take the risk."
+
+The Prince came a little nearer to her. She held her own bravely enough,
+but there was a look in his face which terrified her.
+
+"Lucille," he said, "you force me to disclose something which I have
+kept so far to myself. I wished to spare you anxiety, but you must
+understand that your safety depends upon your remaining in this house,
+and in keeping apart from all association with--your husband."
+
+"You will find it difficult," she said, "to convince me of that."
+
+"On the contrary," he said, "I shall find it easy--too easy, believe me.
+You will remember my finding you at the wine-shop of Emil Sachs?"
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"You refused to tell me the object of your visit. It was foolish, for
+of course I was informed. You procured from Emil a small quantity of the
+powder prepared according to the recipe of Herr Estentrauzen, and for
+which we paid him ten thousand marks. It is the most silent, the most
+secret, the most swift poison yet discovered."
+
+"I got it for myself," she said coldly. "There have been times when I
+have felt that the possession of something of that sort was an absolute
+necessity."
+
+"I do not question you as to the reason for your getting it," he
+answered. "Very shortly afterwards you left your carriage in Pall Mall,
+and without even asking for your husband you called at his hotel--you
+stole up into his room."
+
+"I took some roses there and left them," she said "What of that?"
+
+"Only that you were the last person seen to enter Mr. Sabin's rooms
+before Duson was found there dead. And Duson died from a dose of that
+same poison, a packet of which you procured secretly from Emil Sachs. An
+empty wineglass was by his side--it was one generally used by Mr. Sabin.
+I know that the English police, who are not so foolish as people would
+have one believe, are searching now for the woman who was seen to enter
+the sitting-room shortly before Mr. Sabin returned and found Duson there
+dead."
+
+She laughed scornfully.
+
+"It is ingenious," she admitted, "and perhaps a little unfortunate for
+me. But the inference is ridiculous. What interest had I in the man's
+death?"
+
+"None, of course!" the Prince said. "But, Lucille, in all cases of
+poisoning it is the wife of whom one first thinks!"
+
+"The wife? I did not even know that the creature had a wife."
+
+"Of course not! But Duson drank from Mr. Sabin's glass, and you are
+Mr. Sabin's wife. You are living apart from him. He is old and you are
+young. And for the other man--there is Reginald Brott. Your names have
+been coupled together, of course. See what an excellent case stands
+there. You procure the poison--secretly. You make your way to your
+husband's room--secretly. The fatal dose is taken from your husband's
+wineglass. You leave no note, no message. The poison of which the man
+died is exactly the same as you procured from Sachs. Lucille, after all,
+do you wonder that the police are looking for a woman in black with an
+ermine toque? What a mercy you wore a thick veil!"
+
+She sat down suddenly.
+
+"This is hideous," she said.
+
+"Think it over," he said, "step by step. It is wonderful how all the
+incidents dovetail into one another."
+
+"Too wonderful," she cried. "It sounds like some vile plot to
+incriminate me. How much had you to do with this, Prince?"
+
+"Don't be a fool!" he answered roughly. "Can't you see for yourself that
+your arrest would be the most terrible thing that could happen for us?
+Even Sachs might break down in cross-examination, and you--well, you
+are a woman, and you want to live. We should all be in the most deadly
+peril. Lucille, I would have spared you this anxiety if I could, but
+your defiance made it necessary. There was no other way of getting you
+away from England to-night except by telling you the truth."
+
+"Away from England to-night," she repeated vaguely. "But I will not go.
+It is impossible."
+
+"It is imperative," the Prince declared, with a sharp ring of authority
+in his tone. "It is your own folly, for which you have to pay. You went
+secretly to Emil Sachs. You paid surreptitious visits to your husband,
+which were simply madness. You have involved us all in danger. For our
+own sakes we must see that you are removed."
+
+"It is the very thing to excite suspicion--flight abroad," she objected.
+
+"Your flight," he said coolly, "will be looked upon from a different
+point of view, for Reginald Brott must follow you. It will be an
+elopement, not a flight from justice."
+
+"And in case I should decline?" Lucille asked quietly.
+
+The Prince shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Well, we have done the best we can for ourselves," he said. "Come, I
+will be frank with you. There are great interests involved here, and,
+before all things, I have had to consider the welfare of our friends.
+That is my duty! Emil Sachs by this time is beyond risk of detection.
+He has left behind a letter, in which he confesses that he has for
+some time supplemented the profits of his wine-shop by selling secretly
+certain deadly poisons of his own concoctions. Alarmed at reading of the
+death of Duson immediately after he had sold a poison which the symptoms
+denoted he had fled the country. That letter is in the hands of the
+woman who remains in the wine-shop, and will only be used in case of
+necessity. By other means we have dissociated ourselves from Duson and
+all connection with him. I think I could go so far as to say that it
+would be impossible to implicate us. Our sole anxiety now, therefore, is
+to save you."
+
+Lucille rose to her feet.
+
+"I shall go at once to my husband," she said. "I shall tell him
+everything. I shall act on his advice."
+
+The Prince stood over by the door, and she heard the key turn.
+
+"You will do nothing of the sort," he said quietly. "You are in my power
+at last, Lucille. You will do my bidding, or--"
+
+"Or what?"
+
+"I shall myself send for the police and give you into custody!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+The Prince crossed the hall and entered the morning-room. Felix was
+there and Raoul de Brouillac. The Duchess sat at her writing-table,
+scribbling a note. Lady Carey, in a wonderful white serge costume, and
+a huge bunch of Neapolitan violets at her bosom, was lounging in an
+easy-chair, swinging her foot backwards and forwards. The Duke, in a
+very old tweed coat, but immaculate as to linen and the details of
+his toilet, stood a little apart, with a frown upon his forehead, and
+exactly that absorbed air which in the House of Lords usually indicated
+his intention to make a speech. The entrance of the Prince, who
+carefully closed the door behind him, was an event for which evidently
+they were all waiting.
+
+"My good people," he said blandly, "I wish you all a very good-morning."
+
+There was a little murmur of greetings, and before they had all subsided
+the Duke spoke.
+
+"Saxe Leinitzer," he said, "I have a few questions to ask you."
+
+The Prince looked across the room at him.
+
+"By all means, Duke," he said. "But is the present an opportune time?"
+
+"Opportune or no, it is the time which I have selected," the Duke
+answered stiffly. "I do not altogether understand what is going on in
+this house. I am beginning to wonder whether I have been misled."
+
+The Prince, as he twirled his fair moustache, glanced carelessly enough
+across at the Duchess. She was looking the other way.
+
+"I became a--er--general member of this Society," the Duke continued,
+"sympathising heartily with its objects as explained to me by you,
+Prince, and believing, although to confess it is somewhat of a
+humiliation, that a certain amount of--er--combination amongst the
+aristocracy has become necessary to resist the terrible increase of
+Socialism which we must all so much deplore."
+
+"You are not making a speech, dear," the Duchess remarked, looking
+coldly across the room at him. "We are all anxious to hear what the
+Prince has to say to us."
+
+"Your anxiety," the Duke continued, "and the anxiety of our friends must
+be restrained for a few minutes, for there are certain things which I
+am determined to say, and to say them now. I must confess that it was
+at first a painful shock to me to realise that the time had come when it
+was necessary for us to take any heed of the uneducated rabble who seem
+born into the world discontented with their station in life, and instead
+of making honest attempts to improve it waste their time railing against
+us who are more fortunately placed, and in endeavours to mislead in
+every possible way the electorate of the country."
+
+The Prince sighed softly, and lit a cigarette. Lady Carey and Felix were
+already smoking.
+
+"However," the Duke continued, "I was convinced. I have always believed
+in the principle of watching closely the various signs of the times,
+and I may say that I came to the conclusion that a combination of the
+thinking members of the aristocratic party throughout the world was an
+excellent idea. I therefore became what is, I believe, called a general
+member of the Order, of which I believe you, Prince, are the actual
+head."
+
+"My dear James," the Duchess murmured, "the Prince has something to say
+to us."
+
+"The Prince," her husband answered coldly, "can keep back his
+information for a few minutes. I am determined to place my position
+clearly before all of you who are present here now. It is only since I
+have joined this Society that I have been made aware that in addition to
+the general members, of which body I believe that the Duchess and I are
+the sole representatives here, there are special members, and members of
+the inner circle. And I understand that in connection with these there
+is a great machinery of intrigue going on all the time, with branches
+all over the world, spies everywhere with unlimited funds, and with huge
+opportunities of good or evil. In effect I have become an outside member
+of what is nothing more nor less than a very powerful and, it seems to
+me, daring secret society."
+
+"So far as you are concerned, Duke," the Prince said, "your
+responsibility ceases with ordinary membership. You can take no count of
+anything beyond. The time may come when the inner circle may be opened
+to you."
+
+The Duke coughed.
+
+"You misapprehend me," he said. "I can assure you I am not anxious for
+promotion. On the contrary, I stand before you an aggrieved person. I
+have come to the conclusion that my house, and the shelter of my wife's
+name, have been used for a plot, the main points of which have been kept
+wholly secret from me."
+
+The Prince flicked his cigarette ash into the grate.
+
+"My dear Dorset," he said gently, "if you will allow me to explain--"
+
+"I thank you, Saxe Leinitzer," the Duke said coldly, "but it is
+beginning to occur to me that I have had enough of your explanations.
+It seemed natural enough to me, and I must say well conceived, that some
+attempt should be made to modify the views of, if not wholly convert,
+Reginald Brott by means of the influence of a very charming woman. It
+was my duty as a member of the Order to assist in this, and the shelter
+of my house and name were freely accorded to the Countess. But it is
+news to me to find that she was brought here practically by force.
+That because she was an inner member and therefore bound to implicit
+obedience that she was dragged away from her husband, kept apart from
+him against her will, forced into endeavours to make a fool of Brott
+even at the cost of her good name. And now, worst of all, I am told that
+a very deeply laid plot on the part of some of you will compel her
+to leave England almost at once, and that her safety depends upon her
+inducing Reginald Brott to accompany her."
+
+"She has appealed to you," the Prince muttered.
+
+"She has done nothing so sensible," the Duke answered drily. "The facts
+which I have just stated are known to every one in this room. I perhaps
+know less than any one. But I know enough for this. I request, Saxe
+Leinitzer, that you withdraw the name of myself and my wife from your
+list of members, and that you understand clearly that my house is to
+be no more used for meetings of the Society, formal or informal. And,
+further, though I regret the apparent inhospitality of my action, my
+finger is now, as you see, upon the bell, and I venture to wish you all
+a very good-morning. Groves," he added to the servant who answered the
+door, "the Prince of Saxe Leinitzer's carriage is urgently required."
+
+The Prince and Lady Carey descended the broad steps side by side. She
+was laughing softly but immoderately. The Prince was pale with fury.
+
+"Pompous old ass," he muttered savagely. "He may have a worse scandal in
+his house now than he dreams of."
+
+She wiped her eyes.
+
+"Have I not always told you," she said, "that intrigue in this country
+was a sheer impossibility? You may lay your plans ever so carefully, but
+you cannot foresee such a contretemps as this."
+
+"Idiot!" the Prince cried. "Oh, the dolt! Why, even his wife was
+amazed."
+
+"He may be all those pleasant things," Lady Carey, said, "but he is a
+gentleman."
+
+He stopped short. The footman was standing by the side of Lady Carey's
+victoria with a rug on his arm.
+
+"Lucille," he said thoughtfully, "is locked in the morning-room. She is
+prostrate with fear. If the Duke sees her everything is over. Upon
+my word, I have a good mind to throw this all up and cross to Paris
+to-night. Let England breed her own revolutions. What do you say,
+Muriel? Will you come with me?"
+
+She laughed scornfully.
+
+"I'd as soon go with my coachman," she said.
+
+His eyebrows narrowed. A dull, purple flush crept to his forehead.
+
+"Your wit," he said, "is a little coarse. Listen! You wish our first
+plan to go through?"
+
+"Of course!"
+
+"Then you must get Lucille out of that house. If she is left there she
+is absolutely lost to us. Apart from that, she is herself not safe.
+Our plan worked out too well. She is really in danger from this Duson
+affair."
+
+The laughter died away from Lady Carey's face. She hesitated with her
+foot upon the step of her carriage.
+
+"You can go back easily enough," the Prince said. "You are the Duke's
+cousin, and you were not included in his tirade. Lucille is in the
+morning-room, and here is the key. I brought it away with me. You must
+tell her that all our plans are broken, that we have certain knowledge
+that the police are on the track of this Duson affair. Get her to your
+house in Pont Street, and I will be round this afternoon. Or better
+still, take her to mine."
+
+Lady Carey stepped back on to the pavement. She was still, however,
+hesitating.
+
+"Leave her with the Duke and Duchess," the Prince said, "and she will
+dine with her husband to-night."
+
+Lady Carey took the key from his hand.
+
+"I will try," she said. "How shall you know whether I succeed?"
+
+"I will wait in the gardens," he answered. "I shall be out of sight, but
+I shall be able to see you come out. If you are alone I shall come
+to you. If she is with you I shall be at your house in an hour, and I
+promise you that she shall leave England to-night with me."
+
+"Poor Brott!" she murmured ironically.
+
+The Prince smiled.
+
+"He will follow her. Every one will believe that they left London
+together. That is all that is required."
+
+Lady Carey re-entered the house. The Prince made his way into the
+gardens. Ten minutes passed--a quarter of an hour. Then Lady Carey with
+Lucille reappeared, and stepping quickly into the victoria were driven
+away. The Prince drew a little sigh of relief. He looked at his watch,
+called a hansom, and drove to his club for lunch.
+
+Another man, who had also been watching Dorset House from the gardens
+for several hours, also noted Lucille's advent with relief. He followed
+the Prince out and entered another hansom.
+
+"Follow that victoria which has just driven off," he ordered. "Don't
+lose sight of it. Double fare."
+
+The trap-door fell, and the man whipped up his horse.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+Mr. Sabin received an early visitor whilst still lingering over a slight
+but elegant breakfast. Passmore seated himself in an easy-chair and
+accepted the cigar which his host himself selected for him.
+
+"I am glad to see you," Mr. Sabin said. "This affair of Duson's remains
+a complete mystery to me. I am looking to you to help me solve it."
+
+The little man with the imperturbable face removed his cigar from his
+mouth and contemplated it steadfastly.
+
+"It is mysterious," he said. "There are circumstances in connection
+with it which even now puzzle me very much, very much indeed. There are
+circumstances in connection with it also which I fear may be a shock to
+you, sir."
+
+"My life," Mr. Sabin said, with a faint smile, "has been made up of
+shocks. A few more or less may not hurt me."
+
+"Duson," the detective said, "was at heart a faithful servant!"
+
+"I believe it," Mr. Sabin said.
+
+"He was much attached to you!"
+
+"I believe it."
+
+"It is possible that unwittingly he died for you."
+
+Mr. Sabin was silent. It was his way of avoiding a confession of
+surprise. And he was surprised. "You believe then," he said, after a
+moment's pause, "that the poison was intended for me?"
+
+"Certainly I do," the detective answered. "Duson was, after all, a
+valet, a person of little importance. There is no one to whom his
+removal could have been of sufficient importance to justify such extreme
+measures. With you it is different."
+
+Mr. Sabin knocked the ash from his cigarette.
+
+"Why not be frank with me, Mr. Passmore?" he said. "There is no need
+to shelter yourself under professional reticence. Your connection with
+Scotland Yard ended, I believe, some time ago. You are free to speak or
+to keep silence. Do one or the other. Tell me what you think, and I will
+tell you what I know. That surely will be a fair exchange. You shall
+have my facts for your surmises."
+
+Passmore's thin lips curled into a smile. "You know that I have left
+Scotland Yard then, sir?"
+
+"Quite well! You are employed by them often, I believe, but you are not
+on the staff, not since the affair of Nerman and the code book."
+
+If Passmore had been capable of reverence, his eyes looked it at that
+moment.
+
+"You knew this last night, sir?"
+
+"Certainly!"
+
+"Five years ago, sir," he said, "I told my chief that in you the
+detective police of the world had lost one who must have been their
+king. More and more you convince me of it. I cannot believe that you are
+ignorant of the salient points concerning Duson's death."
+
+"Treat me as being so, at any rate," Mr. Sabin said.
+
+"I am pardoned," Passmore said, "for speaking plainly of family
+matters--my concern in which is of course purely professional?"
+
+Mr. Sabin looked up for a moment, but he signified his assent.
+
+"You left America," Passmore said, "in search of your wife, formerly
+Countess of Radantz, who had left you unexpectedly."
+
+"It is true!" Mr. Sabin answered.
+
+"Madame la Duchesse on reaching London became the guest of the Duchess
+of Dorset, where she has been staying since. Whilst there she has
+received many visits from Mr. Reginald Brott."
+
+Mr. Sabin's face was as the face of a sphinx. He made no sign.
+
+"You do not waste your time, sir, over the Society papers. Yet you have
+probably heard that Madame la Duchesse and Mr. Reginald Brott have been
+written about and spoken about as intimate friends. They have been seen
+together everywhere. Gossip has been busy with their names. Mr. Brott
+has followed the Countess into circles which before her coming he
+zealously eschewed. The Countess is everywhere regarded as a widow, and
+a marriage has been confidently spoken of."
+
+Mr. Sabin bowed his head slightly. But of expression there was in his
+face no sign.
+
+"These things," Passmore continued, "are common knowledge. I have
+spoken up to now of nothing which is not known to the world. I proceed
+differently."
+
+"Good!" Mr. Sabin said.
+
+"There is," Passmore continued, "in the foreign district of London a
+man named Emil Sachs, who keeps a curious sort of a wine-shop, and
+supplements his earnings by disposing at a high figure of certain rare
+and deadly poisons. A few days ago the Countess visited him and secured
+a small packet of the most deadly drug the man possesses."
+
+Mr. Sabin sat quite still. He was unmoved.
+
+"The Countess," Passmore continued, "shortly afterwards visited these
+rooms. An hour after her departure Duson was dead. He died from drinking
+out of your liqueur glass, into which a few specks of that powder,
+invisible almost to the naked eye, had been dropped. At Dorset House
+Reginald Brott was waiting for her. He left shortly afterwards in a
+state of agitation."
+
+"And from these things," Mr. Sabin said, "you draw, I presume, the
+natural inference that Madame la Duchesse, desiring to marry her old
+admirer, Reginald Brott, first left me in America, and then, since I
+followed her here, attempted to poison me."
+
+"There is," Passmore said, "a good deal of evidence to that effect."
+
+"Here," Mr. Sabin said, handing him Duson's letter, "is some evidence to
+the contrary."
+
+Passmore read the letter carefully.
+
+"You believe this," he asked, "to be genuine?"
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled.
+
+"I am sure of it!" he answered.
+
+"You recognise the handwriting?"
+
+"Certainly!"
+
+"And this came into your possession--how?"
+
+"I found it on the table by Duson's side."
+
+"You intend to produce it at the inquest?"
+
+"I think not," Mr. Sabin answered.
+
+There was a short silence. Passmore was revolving a certain matter in
+his mind--thinking hard. Mr. Sabin was apparently trying to make rings
+of the blue smoke from his cigarette.
+
+"Has it occurred to you," Passmore asked, "to wonder for what reason
+your wife visited these rooms on the morning of Duson's death?"
+
+Mr. Sabin shook his head.
+
+"I cannot say that it has."
+
+"She knew that you were not here," Passmore continued. "She left no
+message. She came closely veiled and departed unrecognised." Mr. Sabin
+nodded.
+
+"There were reasons," he said, "for that. But when you say that she left
+no message you are mistaken."
+
+Passmore nodded.
+
+"Go on," he said.
+
+Mr. Sabin nodded towards a great vase of La France roses upon a side
+table.
+
+"I found these here on my return," he said, "and attached to them the
+card which I believe is still there. Go and look at it."
+
+Passmore rose and bent over the fragrant blossoms. The card still
+remained, and on the back of it, in a delicate feminine handwriting:
+
+                            "For my husband,
+                            "with love from
+                               "Lucille."
+
+
+Mr. Passmore shrugged his shoulders. He had not the vice of obstinacy,
+and he knew when to abandon a theory.
+
+"I am corrected," he said. "In any case, a mystery remains as well worth
+solving. Who are these people at whose instigation Duson was to have
+murdered you--these people whom Duson feared so much that suicide was
+his only alternative to obeying their behests?"
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled faintly.
+
+"Ah, my dear Passmore," he said, "you must not ask me that question.
+I can only answer you in this way. If you wish to make the biggest
+sensation which has ever been created in the criminal world, to render
+yourself immortal, and your fame imperishable--find out! I may not help
+you, I doubt whether you will find any to help you. But if you want
+excitement, the excitement of a dangerous chase after a tremendous
+quarry, take your life in your hands, go in and win."
+
+Passmore's withered little face lit up with a gleam of rare excitement.
+
+"These are your enemies, sir," he said. "They have attempted your life
+once, they may do it again. Assume the offensive yourself. Give me a
+hint."
+
+Mr. Sabin shook his head.
+
+"That I cannot do," he said. "I have saved you from wasting your time on
+a false scent. I have given you something definite to work upon. Further
+than that I can do nothing."
+
+Passmore looked his disappointment, but he knew Mr. Sabin better than to
+argue the matter.
+
+"You will not even produce that letter at the inquest?" he asked.
+
+"Not even that," Mr. Sabin answered.
+
+Passmore rose to his feet.
+
+"You must remember," he said, "that supposing any one else stumbles
+upon the same trail as I have been pursuing, and suspicion is afterwards
+directed towards madame, your not producing that letter at the inquest
+will make it useless as evidence in her favour."
+
+"I have considered all these things," Mr. Sabin said. "I shall deposit
+the letter in a safe place. But its use will never be necessary. You are
+the only man who might have forced me to produce it, and you know the
+truth."
+
+Passmore rose reluctantly.
+
+"I want you," Mr. Sabin said, "to leave me not only your address, but
+the means of finding you at any moment during the next four-and-twenty
+hours. I may have some important work for you."
+
+The man smiled as he tore leaf from his pocketbook and a made a few
+notes.
+
+"I shall be glad to take any commission from you, sir," he said. "To
+tell you the truth, I scarcely thought that you would be content to sit
+down and wait."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled.
+
+"I think," he said, "that very shortly I can find you plenty to do."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+Mr. Sabin a few minutes afterwards ordered his carriage, and was driven
+to Dorset House. He asked for Lucille, but was shown at once into the
+library, where the Duke was awaiting him. Then Mr. Sabin knew that
+something had happened.
+
+The Duke extended his hand solemnly.
+
+"My dear Souspennier," he said, "I am glad to see you. I was in fact on
+the point of despatching a messenger to your hotel."
+
+"I am glad," Mr. Sabin remarked, "that my visit is opportune. To tell
+you the truth, Duke, I am anxious to see my wife."
+
+The Duke coughed.
+
+"I trust," he said, "that you will not for a moment consider me guilty
+of any discourtesy to the Countess, for whom I have a great respect and
+liking. But it has come to my knowledge that the shelter of my roof and
+name were being given to proceedings of which I heartily disapproved.
+I therefore only a few hours ago formally broke off all connection
+with Saxe Leinitzer and his friends, and to put the matter plainly, I
+expelled them from the house."
+
+"I congratulate you heartily, Duke, upon a most sensible proceeding,"
+Mr. Sabin said. "But in the meantime where is my wife?"
+
+"Your wife was not present at the time," the Duke answered, "and I had
+not the slightest intention of including her in the remarks I made.
+Whether she understood this or not I cannot say, but I have since been
+given to understand that she left with them."
+
+"How long ago?" Mr. Sabin asked.
+
+"Several hours, I fear," the Duke answered. "I should like, Souspennier,
+to express to you my regrets that I was ever induced to become connected
+in any way with proceedings which must have caused you a great deal of
+pain. I beg you to accept my apologies."
+
+"I do not blame you, Duke," Mr. Sabin said. "My one desire now is to
+wrest my wife away from this gang. Can you tell me whether she left
+alone or with any of them?"
+
+"I will endeavour to ascertain," the Duke said, ringing the bell.
+
+But before the Duke's somewhat long-winded series of questions had gone
+very far Mr. Sabin grasped the fact that the servants had been tampered
+with. Without wasting any more time he took a somewhat hurried leave
+and drove back to the hotel. One of the hall porters approached him,
+smiling.
+
+"There is a lady waiting for you in your rooms, sir," he announced. "She
+arrived a few minutes ago."
+
+Mr. Sabin rang for the elevator, got out at his floor and walked down
+the corridor, leaning a little more heavily than usual upon his stick.
+If indeed it were Lucille who had braved all and come to him the way
+before them might still be smooth sailing. He would never let her go
+again. He was sure of that. They would leave England--yes, there was
+time still to catch the five o'clock train. He turned the handle of
+his door and entered. A familiar figure rose from the depths of his
+easy-chair. Her hat lay on the table, her jacket was open, one of his
+cigarettes was between her lips. But it was not Lucille.
+
+"Lady Carey!" he said slowly. "This is an unexpected pleasure. Have you
+brought Lucille with you?"
+
+"I am afraid," she answered, "that I have no ropes strong enough."
+
+"You insinuate," he remarked, "that Lucille would be unwilling to come."
+
+"There is no longer any need," she declared, with a hard little laugh,
+"for insinuations. We have all been turned out from Dorset House
+neck and crop. Lucille has accepted the inevitable. She has gone to
+Reginald's Brott's rooms."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled.
+
+"Indeed. I have just come from Dorset House myself. The Duke has
+supplied me with a highly entertaining account of his sudden awakening.
+The situation must have been humorous."
+
+Her eyes twinkled.
+
+"It was really screamingly funny. The Duke had on his house of Lords
+manner, and we all sat round like a lot of naughty children. If only you
+had been there."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled. Suddenly she laid her hand upon his arm.
+
+"Victor," she said, "I have come to prove that I am your friend. You do
+not believe that Lucille is with Reginald Brott. It is true! Not only
+that, but she is leaving England with him to-night. The man's devotion
+is irresistible--he has been gaining on her slowly but surely all the
+time."
+
+"I have noticed," Mr. Sabin remarked calmly, "that he has been
+wonderfully assiduous. I am sure I congratulate him upon his success, if
+he has succeeded."
+
+"You doubt my word of course," she said. "But I have not come here to
+tell you things. I have come to prove them. I presume that what you see
+with your own eyes will be sufficient."
+
+Mr. Sabin shook his head.
+
+"Certainly not," he answered. "I make it a rule to believe nothing that
+I see, and never to trust my ears."
+
+She stamped her foot lightly upon the floor.
+
+"How impossible you are," she exclaimed. "I can tell you by what train
+Lucille and Reginald Brott will leave London to-night. I can tell you
+why Lucille is bound to go."
+
+"Now," Mr. Sabin said, "you are beginning to get interesting."
+
+"Lucille must go--or run the risk of arrest for complicity in the murder
+of Duson."
+
+"Are you serious?" Mr. Sabin asked, with admirably assumed gravity.
+
+"Is it a jesting matter?" she answered fiercely. "Lucille bought poison,
+the same poison which it will be proved that Duson died of. She came
+here, she was the last person to enter your room before Duson was found
+dead. The police are even now searching for her. Escape is her only
+chance."
+
+"Dear me," Mr. Sabin said. "Then it is not only for Brott's sake that
+she is running away."
+
+"What does that matter? She is going, and she is going with him."
+
+"And why," he asked, "do you come to give me warning? I have plenty of
+time to interpose."
+
+"You can try if you will. Lucille is in hiding. She will not see you if
+you go to her. She is determined. Indeed, she has no choice. Lucille is
+a brave woman in many ways, but you know that she fears death. She is in
+a corner. She is forced to go."
+
+"Again," he said, "I feel that I must ask you why do you give me
+warning?"
+
+She came and stood close to him.
+
+"Perhaps," she said earnestly, "I am anxious to earn your gratitude.
+Perhaps, too, I know that no interposition of yours would be of any
+avail."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled.
+
+"Still," he said, "I do not think that it is wise of you. I might appear
+at the station and forcibly prevent Lucille's departure. After all, she
+is my wife, you know."
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"I am not afraid," she said. "You will make inquiries when I have gone,
+and you will find out that I have spoken the truth. If you keep Lucille
+in England you will expose her to a terrible risk. It is not like you to
+be selfish. You will yield to necessity."
+
+"Will you tell me where Lucille is now?" he asked.
+
+"For your own sake and hers, no," she answered. "You also are watched.
+Besides, it is too late. She was with Brott half an hour after the Duke
+turned us out of Dorset House. Don't you understand, Victor--won't you?
+It is too late."
+
+He sat down heavily in his easy-chair. His whole appearance was one of
+absolute dejection.
+
+"So I am to be left alone in my old age," he murmured. "You have your
+revenge now at last. You have come to take it."
+
+She sank on her knees by the side of his chair, and her arms fell upon
+his shoulders.
+
+"How can you think so cruelly of me, Victor," she murmured. "You were
+always a little mistaken in Lucille. She loved you, it is true, but all
+her life she has been fond of change and excitement. She came to Europe
+willingly--long before this Brott would have been her slave save for
+your reappearance. Can't you forget her--for a little while?"
+
+Mr. Sabin sat quite still. Her hair brushed his cheeks, her arms were
+about his neck, her whole attitude was an invitation for his embrace.
+But he sat like a figure of stone, neither repulsing nor encouraging
+her.
+
+"You need not be alone unless you like," she whispered.
+
+"I am an old man," he said slowly, "and this is a hard blow for me to
+bear. I must be sure, absolutely sure that she has gone."
+
+"By this time to-morrow," she murmured, "all the world will know it."
+
+"Come to me then," he said. "I shall need consolation."
+
+Her eyes were bright with triumph. She leaned over him and kissed him on
+the lips. Then she sprang lightly to her feet.
+
+"Wait here for me," she said, "and I will come to you. You shall know,
+Victor, that Lucille is not the only woman in the world who has cared
+for you."
+
+There was a tap at the door. Lady Carey was busy adjusting her hat.
+Passmore entered, and stood hesitating upon the threshold. Mr. Sabin had
+risen to his feet. He took one of her hands and raised it to his lips.
+She gave him a swift, wonderful look and passed out.
+
+Mr. Sabin's manner changed as though by magic. He was at once alert and
+vigorous.
+
+"My dear Passmore," he said, "come to the table. We shall want those
+Continental time-tables and the London A.B.C. You will have to take a
+journey to-night."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+The two women were alone in the morning-room of Lady Carey's house in
+Pont Street. Lucille was walking restlessly up and down twisting her
+handkerchief between her fingers. Lady Carey was watching her, more
+composed, to all outward appearance, but with closely compressed lips,
+and boding gleam in her eyes.
+
+"I think," Lady Carey said, "that you had better see him."
+
+Lucille turned almost fiercely upon her.
+
+"And why?"
+
+"Well, for one thing he will not understand your refusal. He may be
+suspicious."
+
+"What does it matter? I have finished with him. I have done all that I
+pledged myself to. What more can be expected of me? I do not wish to see
+him again."
+
+Lady Carey laughed.
+
+"At least," she said, "I think that the poor man has a right to
+receive his conge from you. You cannot break with him without a word of
+explanation. Perhaps--you may not find it so easy as it seems."
+
+Lucille swept around.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+Lady Carey shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"You are in a curious mood, my dear Lucille. What I mean is obvious
+enough. Brott is a strong man and a determined man. I do not think that
+he will enjoy being made a fool of."
+
+Lucille was indifferent.
+
+"At any rate," she said, "I shall not see him. I have quite made up my
+mind about that."
+
+"And why not, Countess?" a deep voice asked from the threshold. "What
+have I done? May I not at least know my fault?"
+
+Lady Carey rose and moved towards the door.
+
+"You shall have it out between yourselves," she declared, looking up,
+and nodding at Brott as she passed. "Don't fight!"
+
+"Muriel!"
+
+The cry was imperative, but Lady Carey had gone. Mr. Brott closed the
+door behind him and confronted Lucille. A brilliant spot of colour
+flared in her pale cheeks.
+
+"But this is a trap!" she exclaimed. "Who sent for you? Why did you
+come?"
+
+He looked at her in surprise.
+
+"Lucille!"
+
+His eyes were full of passionate remonstrance. She looked nervously from
+him towards the door. He intercepted her glance.
+
+"What have I done?" he asked fiercely. "What have I failed to do? Why
+do you look as though I had forced myself upon you? Haven't I the right?
+Don't you wish to see me?"
+
+In Brott's face and tone was all the passionate strenuousness of a great
+crisis. Lucille felt suddenly helpless before the directness of his
+gaze, his storm of questions. In all their former intercourse it had
+been she who by virtue of her sex and his blind love for her had kept
+the upper hand. And now the position was changed. All sorts of feeble
+explanations, of appeals to him, occurred to her dimly, only to
+be rejected by reason of their ridiculous inadequacy. She was
+silent-abjectly silent.
+
+He came a little closer to her, and the strength of the man was manifest
+in his intense self-restraint. His words were measured, his tone quiet.
+Yet both somehow gave evidence of the smouldering fires beneath.
+
+"Lucille," he said, "I find you hard to understand to-day. You have
+made me your slave, you came once more into my life at its most critical
+moment, and for your sake I have betrayed a great trust. My conscience,
+my faith, and although that counts for little, my political career, were
+in the balance against my love for you. You know which conquered. At
+your bidding I have made myself the jest of every man who buys the
+halfpenny paper and calls himself a politician. My friends heap abuse
+upon me, my enemies derision. I cannot hold my position in this new
+Cabinet. I had gone too far for compromise. I wonder if you quite
+understand what has happened?"
+
+"Oh, I have heard too much," she cried. "Spare me the rest."
+
+He continued as though he had not heard her.
+
+"Men who have been my intimate associates for many years, and whose
+friendship was dear to me, cross the road to avoid: meeting me, day by
+day I am besieged with visitors and letters from the suffering people
+to whom my word had been pledged, imploring me for some explanation, for
+one word of denial. Life has become a hell for me, a pestilent, militant
+hell! Yet, Lucille, unless you break faith with me I make no complaint.
+I am content."
+
+"I am very sorry," she said. "I do not think that you have properly
+understood me. I have never made you any promise."
+
+For a moment he lost control of himself. She shrank back at the blaze
+of indignation, half scornful, half incredulous, which lit up his clear,
+grey eyes.
+
+"It is a lie!" he answered. "Between you and me it can be no question
+of words. You were always very careful of your pledges, but there are
+limits even to your caution--as to my forbearance. A woman does not ask
+a man who is pleading to her for her love to give up everything else
+he cares for in life without hope of reward. It is monstrous! I never
+sought you under false pretenses. I never asked you for your friendship.
+I wanted you. I told you so plainly. You won't deny that you gave me
+hope--encouraged me? You can't even deny that I am within my rights if I
+claim now at this instant the reward for my apostasy."
+
+Her hands were suddenly locked in his. She felt herself being drawn into
+his arms. With a desperate effort she avoided his embrace. He still held
+her left wrist, and his face was dark with passion.
+
+"Let me go!" she pleaded.
+
+"Not I!" he answered, with an odd, choked little laugh. "You belong to
+me. I have paid the price. I, too, am amongst the long list of those
+poor fools who have sold their gods and their honour for a woman's kiss.
+But I will not be left wholly destitute. You shall pay me for what I
+have lost."
+
+"Oh, you are mad!" she answered. "How could you have deceived yourself
+so? Don't you know that my husband is in London?"
+
+"The man who calls himself Mr. Sabin?" he answered roughly. "What has
+that to do with it? You are living apart. Saxe Leinitzer and the Duchess
+have both told me the history of your married life. Or is the whole
+thing a monstrous lie?" he cried, with a sudden dawning sense of the
+truth. "Nonsense! I won't believe it. Lucille! You're not afraid! I
+shall be good to you. You don't doubt that. Sabin will divorce you of
+course. You won't lose your friends. I--"
+
+There was a sudden loud tapping at the door. Brott dropped her wrist
+and turned round with an exclamation of anger. To Lucille it was a
+Heaven-sent interposition. The Prince entered, pale, and with signs of
+hurry and disorder about his usually immaculate person.
+
+"You are both here," he exclaimed. "Good! Lucille, I must speak with you
+urgently in five minutes. Brott, come this way with me."
+
+Lucille sank into a chair with a little murmur of relief. The Prince led
+Brott into another room, and closed the door carefully behind him.
+
+"Mr. Brott," he said, "can I speak to you as a friend of Lucille's?"
+
+Brott, who distrusted the Prince, looked him steadily in the face. Saxe
+Leinitzer's agitation was too apparent to be wholly assumed. He had all
+the appearance of being a man desperately in earnest.
+
+"I have always considered myself one," Brott answered. "I am
+beginning to doubt, however, whether the Countess holds me in the same
+estimation."
+
+"You found her hysterical, unreasonable, overwrought!" the Prince
+exclaimed. "That is so, eh?"
+
+The Prince drew a long breath.
+
+"Brott," he said, "I am forced to confide in you. Lucille is in terrible
+danger. I am not sure that there is anybody who can effectually help
+her but you. Are you prepared to make a great sacrifice for her sake--to
+leave England at once, to take her to the uttermost part of the world?"
+
+Brott's eyes were suddenly bright. The Prince quailed before the
+fierceness of his gaze.
+
+"She would not go!" he exclaimed sharply.
+
+"She will," the Prince answered. "She must! Not only that, but you will
+earn her eternal gratitude. Listen, I must tell you the predicament in
+which we find ourselves. It places Lucille's life in your hands."
+
+"What?"
+
+The exclamation came like a pistol shot. The Prince held up his hand.
+
+"Do not interrupt. Let me speak. Every moment is very valuable. You
+heard without doubt of the sudden death at the Carlton Hotel. It took
+place in Mr. Sabin's sitting-room. The victim was Mr. Sabin's servant.
+The inquest was this afternoon. The verdict was death from the effect
+of poison. The police are hot upon the case. There was no evidence as
+to the person by whom the poison was administered, but by a hideous
+combination of circumstances one person before many hours have passed
+will be under the surveillance of the police."
+
+"And that person?" Brott asked.
+
+The Prince looked round and lowered his voice, although the room was
+empty.
+
+"Lucille," he whispered hoarsely.
+
+Brott stepped backwards as though he were shot.
+
+"What damned folly!" he exclaimed.
+
+"It is possible that you may not think so directly," Saxe Leinitzer
+continued. "The day it happened Lucille bought this same poison, and it
+is a rare one, from a man who has absconded. An hour before this man was
+found dead, she called at the hotel, left no name, but went upstairs
+to Mr. Sabin's room, and was alone there for five minutes, The man died
+from a single grain of poison which had been introduced into Mr. Sabin's
+special liqueur glass, out of which he was accustomed to drink three or
+four times a day. All these are absolute facts, which at any moment may
+be discovered by the police. Added to that she is living apart from her
+husband, and is known to be on bad terms with him."
+
+Brott as gripping the back of a chair. He was white to the lips.
+
+"You don't think," he cried hoarsely. "You can't believe--"
+
+"No" the Prince answered quickly, "I don't believe anything of the sort.
+I will tell you as man to man that I believe she wished Mr. Sabin dead.
+You yourself should know why. But no, I don't believe she went so far
+as that. It was an accident. But what we have to do is to save her. Will
+you help?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"She must cross to the Continent to-night before the police get on the
+scent. Afterwards she must double back to Havre and take the Bordlaise
+for New York on Saturday. Once there I can guarantee her protection."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"She cannot go alone."
+
+"You mean that I should go with her?"
+
+"Yes! Get her right away, and I will employ special detectives and have
+the matter cleared up, if ever it can be. But if she remains here I
+fear that nothing can save her from the horror of an arrest, even if
+afterwards we are able to save her. You yourself risk much, Brott. The
+only question that remains is, will you do it?"
+
+"At her bidding--yes!" Brott declared.
+
+"Wait here," the Prince answered.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+
+Saxe Leinitzer returned to the morning-room, and taking the key from his
+pocket unlocked the door. Inside Lucille was pale with fury.
+
+"What! I am a prisoner, then!" she exclaimed. "How dare you lock me
+in? This is not your house. Let me pass! I am tired of all this stupid
+espionage."
+
+The Prince stood with his back to the door.
+
+"It is for your own sake, Lucille. The house is watched."
+
+She sank into a low chair, trembling. The Prince had all the appearance
+of a man himself seriously disturbed.
+
+"Lucille," he said, "we will do what we can for you. The whole thing is
+horribly unfortunate. You must leave England to-night. Muriel will go
+with you. Her presence will help to divert suspicion. Once you can
+reach Paris I can assure you of safety. But in this country I am almost
+powerless."
+
+"I must see Victor," she said in a low tone. "I will not go without."
+
+The Prince nodded.
+
+"I have thought of that. There is no reason, Lucille, why he should not
+be the one to lead you into safety."
+
+"You mean that?" she cried.
+
+"I mean it," the Prince answered. "After what has happened you are of
+course of no further use to us. I am inclined to think, too, that we
+have been somewhat exacting. I will send a messenger to Souspennier to
+meet you at Charing Cross to-night."
+
+She sprang up.
+
+"Let me write it myself."
+
+"Very well," he agreed, with a shrug of the shoulders. "But do not
+address or sign it. There is danger in any communication between you."
+
+She took a sheet of note-paper and hastily wrote a few words.
+
+"I have need of your help. Will you be at Charing Cross at twelve
+o'clock prepared for a journey.--Lucille."
+
+The Prince took the letter from her and hastily folded it up.
+
+"I will deliver it myself," he announced. "It will perhaps be safest.
+Until I return, Lucille, do not stir from the house or see any one.
+Muriel has given the servants orders to admit no one. All your life," he
+added, after a moment's pause, "you have been a little cruel to me,
+and this time also. I shall pray that you will relent before our next
+meeting."
+
+She rose to her feet and looked him full in the face. She seemed to be
+following out her own train of thought rather than taking note of his
+words.
+
+"Even now," she said thoughtfully, "I am not sure that I can trust you.
+I have a good mind to fight or scream my way out of this house, and go
+myself to see Victor."
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"The fighting or the screaming will not be necessary, dear Countess," he
+said. "The doors are open to you. But it is as clear as day that if
+you go to the hotel or near it you will at once be recognised, and
+recognition means arrest. There is a limit beyond which one cannot help
+a wilful woman. Take your life in your hands and go your own way, or
+trust in us who are doing our best to save you."
+
+"And what of Reginald Brott?" she asked.
+
+"Brott?" the Prince repeated impatiently. "Who cares what becomes of
+him? You have made him seem a fool, but, Lucille, to tell you the truth,
+I am sorry that we did not leave this country altogether alone. There
+is not the soil for intrigue here, or the possibility. Then, too, the
+police service is too stolid, too inaccessible. And even our friends,
+for whose aid we are here--well, you heard the Duke. The cast-iron Saxon
+idiocy of the man. The aristocracy here are what they call bucolic. It
+is their own fault. They have intermarried with parvenus and Americans
+for generations. They are a race by themselves. We others may shake
+ourselves free from them. I would work in any country of the globe for
+the good of our cause, but never again in England."
+
+Lucille shivered a little.
+
+"I am not in the humour for argument," she declared. "If you would earn
+my gratitude take that note to my husband. He is the only man I feel
+sure of--whom I know can protect me."
+
+The Prince bowed low.
+
+"It is our farewell, Countess," he said.
+
+"I cannot pretend," she answered, "to regret it."
+
+Saxe Leinitzer left the room. There was a peculiar smile upon his lips
+as he crossed the hall. Brott was still awaiting for him.
+
+"Mr. Brott," he said, "the Countess is, as I feared, too agitated to see
+you again for the present, or any one else. She sends you, however, this
+message."
+
+He took the folded paper from his waistcoat pocket and handed it to the
+other man. Brott read it through eagerly. His eyes shone.
+
+"She accepts the situation, then?" he exclaimed.
+
+"Precisely! Will you pardon me, my friend, if I venture upon one other
+word. Lucille is not an ordinary woman. She is not in the least like the
+majority of her sex, especially, I might add, amongst us. The fact that
+her husband was living would seriously influence her consideration of
+any other man--as her lover. The present crisis, however, has changed
+everything. I do not think that you will have cause to complain of her
+lack of gratitude."
+
+Brott walked out into the streets with the half sheet of note-paper
+twisted up between his fingers. For the first time for months he was
+conscious of a distinct and vivid sense of happiness. The terrible
+period of indecision was past. He knew now where he stood. Nor was
+his immediate departure from England altogether unpleasant to him. His
+political career was shattered--friends and enemies were alike cold to
+him. Such an act of cowardice as his, such pitiful shrinking back at the
+last fateful moment, was inexplicable and revolting. Even Letheringham
+was barely civil. It was certain that his place in the Cabinet would be
+intolerable. He yearned for escape from it all, and the means of escape
+were now at hand. In after years he knew very well that the shadow of
+his broken trust, the torture of his misused opportunities, would stand
+for ever between him and the light. But at that moment he was able
+to clear his mind of all such disquieting thoughts. He had won
+Lucille--never mind at what cost, at what peril! He had won Lucille!
+
+He was deeply engrossed, and his name was spoken twice in his ear before
+he turned round. A small, somewhat shabby-looking man, with tired eyes
+and more than a day's growth of beard upon his chin, had accosted him.
+
+"Mr. Brott, sir. A word with you, please."
+
+Brott held out his hand. Nevertheless his tone when he spoke lacked
+heartiness.
+
+"You, Hedley! Why, what brings you to London?"
+
+The little man did not seem to see the hand. At any rate he made no
+motion to take it.
+
+"A few minutes' chat with Mr. Brott. That's what I've come for."
+
+Brott raised his eyebrows, and nodded in somewhat constrained fashion.
+
+"Well," he said, "I am on my way to my rooms. We can talk as we go, if
+you like. I am afraid the good people up in your part of the world are
+not too well pleased with me."
+
+The little man smiled rather queerly.
+
+"That is quite true," he answered calmly. "They hate a liar and a
+turn-coat. So do I!"
+
+Brott stopped short upon the pavement.
+
+"If you are going to talk like that to me, Hedley," he said, "the less
+you have to say the better."
+
+The man nodded.
+
+"Very well," he said. "What I have to say won't take me very long. But
+as I've tramped most of the way up here to say it, you'll have to listen
+here or somewhere else. I thought you were always one who liked the
+truth."
+
+"So I do!" Brott answered. "Go on!"
+
+The man shuffled along by his side. They were an odd-looking pair, for
+Brott was rather a careful man as regards his toilet, and his companion
+looked little better than a tramp.
+
+"All my life," he continued, "I've been called 'Mad Hedley,' or 'Hedley,
+the mad tailor.' Sometimes one and sometimes the other. It don't matter
+which. There's truth in, it. I am a bit mad. You, Mr. Brott, were one
+of those who understood me a little. I have brooded a good deal perhaps,
+and things have got muddled up in my brain. You know what has been at
+the bottom of it all.
+
+"I began making speeches when I was a boy. People laughed at me, but
+I've set many a one a-thinking. I'm no anarchist, although people call
+me one. I'll admit that I admire the men who set the French Revolution
+going. If such a thing happened in this country I'd be one of the first
+to join in. But I've never had a taste for bloodshed. I'd rather the
+thing had been done without. From the first you seemed to be the man who
+might have brought it about. We listened to you, we watched your career,
+and we began to have hopes. Mr. Brott, the bodies and souls of millions
+of your fellow-creatures were in the hollow of your hand. It was you
+who might have set them free. It was you who might have made this the
+greatest, the freest, the happiest country in the world. Not so much for
+us perhaps as for our children, and our children's children. We didn't
+expect a huge social upheaval in a week, or even a decade of years. But
+we did expect to see the first blow struck. Oh, yes, we expected that."
+
+"I have disappointed you, I know, you and many others," Brott said
+bitterly. "I wish I could explain. But I can't!"
+
+"Oh, it doesn't matter," the man answered. "You have broken the hearts
+of thousands of suffering men and women--you who might have led them
+into the light, have forged another bolt in the bars which stand between
+them and liberty. So they must live on in the darkness, dull, dumb
+creatures with just spirit enough to spit and curse at the sound of your
+name. It was the greatest trust God ever placed in one man's hand--and
+you--you abused it. They were afraid of you--the aristocrats, and they
+bought you. Oh, we are not blind up there--there are newspapers in our
+public houses, and now and then one can afford a half-penny. We have
+read of you at their parties and their dances. Quite one of them you
+have become, haven't you? But, Mr. Brott, have you never been afraid?
+Have you never said to yourself, there is justice in the earth? Suppose
+it finds me out?"
+
+"Hedley, you are talking rubbish," Brott said. "Up here you would see
+things with different eyes. Letheringham is pledged."
+
+"If any man ever earned hell," Hedley continued, "it is you, Brott,
+you who came to us a deliverer, and turned out to be a lying prophet.
+'Hell,'" he repeated fiercely, "and may you find it swiftly."
+
+The man's right hand came out of his long pocket. They were in the thick
+of Piccadilly, but his action was too swift for any interference. Four
+reports rang suddenly out, and the muzzle of the revolver was held
+deliberately within an inch or so of Brett's heart. And before even
+the nearest of the bystanders could realise what had happened Brott lay
+across the pavement a dead man, and Hedley was calmly handing over the
+revolver to a policeman who had sprang across the street.
+
+"Be careful, officer," he said, "there are still two chambers loaded.
+I will come with you quite quietly. That is Mr. Reginald Brott, the
+Cabinet Minister, and I have killed him."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+
+"For once," Lady Carey said, with a faint smile, "your 'admirable
+Crichton' has failed you."
+
+Lucille opened her eyes. She had been leaning back amongst the railway
+cushions.
+
+"I think not," she said. "Only I blame myself that I ever trusted the
+Prince even so far as to give him that message. For I know very well
+that if Victor had received it he would have been here."
+
+Lady Carey took up a great pile of papers and looked them carelessly
+through.
+
+"I am afraid," she said, "that I do not agree with you. I do not think
+that Saxe Leinitzer had any desire except to see you safely away. I
+believe that he will be quite as disappointed as you are that your
+husband is not here to aid you. Some one must see you safely on the
+steamer at Havre. Perhaps he will come himself."
+
+"I shall wait in Paris," Lucille said quietly, "for my husband."
+
+"You may wait," Lady Carey said, "for a very long time."
+
+Lucille looked at her steadily. "What do you mean?"
+
+"What a fool you are, Lucille. If to other people it seems almost
+certain on the face of it that you were responsible for that drop of
+poison in your husband's liqueur glass, why should it not seem so to
+himself?"
+
+Lucille laughed, but there was a look of horror in her dark eyes.
+
+"How absurd. I know Victor better than to believe him capable of such a
+suspicion. Just as he knows me better than to believe me capable of such
+an act."
+
+"Really. But you were in his rooms secretly just before."
+
+"I went to leave some roses for him," Lucille answered. "And if you
+would like to know it, I will tell you this. I left my card tied to them
+with a message for him."
+
+Lady Carey yawned.
+
+"A remarkably foolish thing to do," she said. "That may cause you
+trouble later on. Great heavens, what is this?"
+
+She held the evening paper open in her hand. Lucille leaned over with
+blanched face.
+
+"What has happened?" she cried. "Tell me, can't you!"
+
+"Reginald Brott has been shot in Piccadilly," Lady Carey said.
+
+"Is he hurt?" Lucille asked.
+
+"He is dead!"
+
+They read the brief announcement together. The deed had been committed
+by a man whose reputation for sanity had long been questioned, one of
+Brott's own constituents. He was in custody, and freely admitted his
+guilt. The two women looked at one another in horror. Even Lady Carey
+was affected.
+
+"What a hateful thing," she said. "I am glad that we had no hand in it."
+
+"Are you so sure that we hadn't?" Lucille asked bitterly. "You see what
+it says. The man killed him because of his political apostasy. We had
+something to do with that at least."
+
+Lady Carey was recovering her sang froid.
+
+"Oh, well," she said, "indirect influences scarcely count, or one might
+trace the causes of everything which happens back to an absurd extent.
+If this man was mad he might just as well have shot Brott for anything."
+
+Lucille made no answer. She leaned back and closed her eyes. She did not
+speak again till they reached Dover.
+
+They embarked in the drizzling rain. Lady Carey drew a little breath of
+relief as they reached their cabin, and felt the boat move beneath them.
+
+"Thank goodness that we are really off. I have been horribly nervous all
+the time. If they let you leave England they can have no suspicion as
+yet."
+
+Lucille was putting on an ulster and cap to go out on deck.
+
+"I am not at all sure," she said, "that I shall not return to England.
+At any rate, if Victor does not come to me in Paris I shall go to him."
+
+"What beautiful trust!" Lady Carey answered. "My dear Lucille, you are
+more like a school-girl than a woman of the world."
+
+
+A steward entered with a telegram for Lucille. It was banded in at the
+Haymarket, an hour before their departure. Lucille read it, and her face
+blanched. "I thank you for your invitation, but I fear that it would not
+be good for my health.--S."
+
+Lady Carey looked over her shoulder. She laughed hardly.
+
+"How brutal!" she murmured. "But, then, Victor can be brutal sometimes,
+can't he?"
+
+Lucille tore it into small pieces without a word. Lady Carey waited for
+a remark from her in vain.
+
+"I, too," she said at last, "have had some telegrams. I have been
+hesitating whether to show them to you or not. Perhaps you had better
+see them."
+
+She produced them and spread them out. The first was dated about the
+same time as the one Lucille had received.
+
+"Have seen S. with message from Lucille. Fear quite useless, as he
+believes worst."
+
+The second was a little longer.
+
+"Have just heard S. has left for Liverpool, and has engaged berth in
+Campania, sailing to-morrow. Break news to Lucille if you think well.
+Have wired him begging return, and promising full explanation."
+
+"If these," Lucille said calmly, "belonged to me I should treat them as
+I have my own."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I should tear them up."
+
+Lady Carey shrugged her shoulders with the air of one who finds further
+argument hopeless.
+
+"I shall have no more to say to you, Lucille, on this subject," she
+said. "You are impossible. In a few days you will be forced to come
+round to my point of view. I will wait till then. And in the meantime,
+if you think I am going to tramp up and down those sloppy decks and gaze
+at the sea you are very much mistaken. I am going to lie down like a
+civilized being, and try and get a nap. You had better do the same."
+
+Lucille laughed.
+
+"For my part," she said, "I find any part of the steamer except the deck
+intolerable. I am going now in search of some fresh air. Shall I send
+your woman along?"
+
+Lady Carey nodded, for just then the steamer gave a violent lurch, and
+she was not feeling talkative. Lucille went outside and walked up and
+down until the lights of Calais were in sight. All the time she felt
+conscious of the observation of a small man clad in a huge mackintosh,
+whose peaked cap completely obscured his features. As they were entering
+the harbour she purposely stood by his side. He held on to the rail with
+one hand and turned towards her.
+
+"It has been quite a rough passage, has it not?" he remarked.
+
+She nodded.
+
+"I have crossed," she said, "when it has been much worse. I do not mind
+so long as one may come on deck."
+
+"Your friend," he remarked, "is perhaps not so good a sailor?"
+
+"I believe," Lucille said, "that she suffers a great deal. I just looked
+in at her, and she was certainly uncomfortable."
+
+The little man gripped the rail and held on to his cap with the other
+hand.
+
+"You are going to Paris?" he asked.
+
+Lucille nodded.
+
+"Yes."
+
+They were in smoother water now. He was able to relax his grip of the
+rail. He turned towards Lucille, and she saw him for the first time
+distinctly--a thin, wizened-up little man, with shrewd kindly eyes, and
+a long deeply cut mouth.
+
+"I trust," he said, "that you will not think me impertinent, but it
+occurred to me that you have noticed some apparent interest of mine in
+your movements since you arrived on the boat."
+
+Lucille nodded.
+
+"It is true," she answered. "That is why I came and stood by your side.
+What do you want with me?"
+
+"Nothing, madam," he answered. "I am here altogether in your interests.
+If you should want help I shall be somewhere near you for the next few
+hours. Do not hesitate to appeal to me. My mission here is to be your
+protector should you need one."
+
+Lucille's eyes grew bright, and her heart beat quickly.
+
+"Tell me," she said, "who sent you?"
+
+He smiled.
+
+"I think that you know," he answered. "One who I can assure you will
+never allow you to suffer any harm. I have exceeded my instructions in
+speaking to you, but I fancied that you were looking worried. You need
+not. I can assure you that you need have no cause."
+
+Her eyes filled with tears.
+
+"I knew," she said, "that those telegrams were forgeries."
+
+He looked carefully around.
+
+"I know nothing about any telegrams," he said, "but I am here to see
+that no harm comes to you, and I promise you that it shall not. Your
+friend is looking out of the cabin door. I think we may congratulate
+ourselves, madam, on an excellent passage."
+
+Lady Carey disembarked, a complete wreck, leaning on the arm of her
+maid, and with a bottle of smelling salts clutched in her hand. She
+slept all the way in the train, and only woke up when they were nearing
+Paris. She looked at Lucille in astonishment.
+
+"Why, what on earth have you been doing to yourself?" she exclaimed.
+"You look disgustingly fit and well."
+
+Lucille laughed softly.
+
+"Why not? I have had a nap, and we are almost at Paris. I only want a
+bath and a change of clothes to feel perfectly fresh."
+
+But Lady Carey was suspicious.
+
+"Have you seen any one you know upon the train?" she asked.
+
+Lucille shook her head.
+
+"Not a soul. A little man whom I spoke to on the steamer brought me some
+coffee. That is all."
+
+Lady Carey yawned and shook out her skirts. "I suppose I'm getting old,"
+she said. "I couldn't look as you do with as much on my mind as you must
+have, and after traveling all night too."
+
+Lucille laughed.
+
+"After all," she said, "you know that I am a professional optimist, and
+I have faith in my luck. I have been thinking matters over calmly, and,
+to tell you the truth, I am not in the least alarmed."
+
+Lady Carey looked at her curiously.
+
+"Has the optimism been imbibed," she asked, "or is it spontaneous?"
+
+Lucille smiled.
+
+"Unless the little man in the plaid mackintosh poured it into the coffee
+with the milk," she said, "I could not possibly have imbibed it, for I
+haven't spoken to another soul since we left."
+
+"Paris! Here we are, thank goodness. Celeste can see the things through
+the customs. She is quite used to it. We are going to the Ritz, I
+suppose!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+
+At eight o'clock in the evening Lucille knocked at the door of Lady
+Carey's suite of rooms at the hotel. There was no answer. A chambermaid
+who was near came smiling up.
+
+"Miladi has, I think, descended for dinner," she said.
+
+Lucille looked at her watch. She saw that she was a few minutes late, so
+she descended to the restaurant. The small table which they had reserved
+was, however, still unoccupied. Lucille told the waiter that she would
+wait for a few moments, and sent for an English newspaper.
+
+Lady Carey did not appear. A quarter of an hour passed. The head waiter
+came up with a benign smile.
+
+"Madam will please to be served?" he suggested, with a bow.
+
+"I am waiting for my friend Lady Carey," Lucille answered. "I understood
+that she had come down. Perhaps you will send and see if she is in the
+reading-room."
+
+"With much pleasure, madam," the man answered.
+
+In a few minutes he returned.
+
+"Madam's friend was the Lady Carey?" he asked.
+
+Lucille nodded.
+
+The man was gently troubled.
+
+"But, Miladi Carey," he said, "has left more than an hour ago."
+
+Lucille looked up, astonished.
+
+"Left the hotel?" she exclaimed.
+
+"But yes, madam," he exclaimed. "Miladi Carey left to catch the boat
+train at Calais for England."
+
+"It is impossible," Lucille answered. "We only arrived at midday."
+
+"I will inquire again," the man declared. "But it was in the office that
+they told me so."
+
+"They told you quite correctly," said a familiar voice. "I have come
+to take her place. Countess, I trust that in me you will recognise an
+efficient substitute."
+
+It was the Prince of Saxe Leinitzer who was calmly seating himself
+opposite to her. The waiter, with the discretion of his class, withdrew
+for a few paces and stood awaiting orders. Lucille looked across at him
+in amazement.
+
+"You here?" she exclaimed, "and Muriel gone? What does this mean?"
+
+The Prince leaned forward.
+
+"It means," he said, "that after you left I was in torment. I felt that
+you had no one with you who could be of assistance supposing the worst
+happened. Muriel is all very well, but she is a woman, and she has no
+diplomacy, no resource. I felt, Lucille, that I should not be happy
+unless I myself saw you into safety."
+
+"So you followed us here," Lucille remarked quietly.
+
+"Exactly! You do not blame me. It was for your sake--as well as my own."
+
+"And Muriel--why has she left me without farewell--without warning of
+any sort?"
+
+The Prince smiled and stroked his fair moustache.
+
+"Well," he said, "it is rather an awkward thing for me to explain, but
+to tell you the truth, Muriel was a little--more than a little--annoyed
+at my coming. She has no right to be, but--well, you know, she is what
+you call a monopolist. She and I have been friends for many years."
+
+"I understand perfectly what you have wished to convey," Lucille said.
+"But what I do not understand are the exact reasons which brought you
+here."
+
+The Prince took up the carte de jour.
+
+"As we dine," he said, "I will tell you. You will permit me to order?"
+
+Lucille rose to her feet.
+
+"For yourself, certainly," she answered. "As for me, I have accepted no
+invitation to dine with you, nor do I propose to do so."
+
+The Prince frowned.
+
+"Be reasonable, Lucille," he pleaded. "I must talk with you. There
+are important plans to be made. I have a great deal to say to you. Sit
+down."
+
+Lucille looked across at him with a curious smile upon her lips.
+
+"You have a good deal to say to me?" she remarked. "Yes, I will believe
+that. But of the truth how much, I wonder?"
+
+"By and bye," he said, "you will judge me differently. For hors
+d'oeuvres what do you say to oeufs de pluvier? Then--"
+
+"Pardon me," she interrupted, "I am not interested in your dinner!"
+
+"In our dinner," he ventured gently.
+
+"I am not dining with you," she declared firmly. "If you insist upon
+remaining here I shall have something served in my room. You know quite
+well that we are certain to be recognised. One would imagine that this
+was a deliberate attempt on your part to compromise me."
+
+"Lucille," he said, "do not be foolish! Why do you persist in treating
+me as though I were your persecutor?"
+
+"Because you are," she said coolly.
+
+"It is ridiculous," he declared. "You are in the most serious danger,
+and I have come only to save you. I can do it, and I will. But
+listen--not unless you change your demeanour towards me."
+
+She laughed scornfully. She had risen to her feet now, and he was
+perforce compelled to follow her example.
+
+"Is that a challenge?" she asked.
+
+"You may take it as such if you will," he answered, with a note of
+sullenness in his tone. "You know very well that I have but to lift my
+finger and the gendarmes will be here. Yes, we will call it a challenge.
+All my life I have wanted you. Now I think that my time has come. Even
+Souspennier has deserted you. You are alone, and let me tell you that
+danger is closer at your heels than you know of. I can save you, and I
+will. But I have a price, and it must be paid."
+
+"If I refuse?" she asked.
+
+"I send for the chief of the police."
+
+She looked him up and down, a measured, merciless survey. He was a tall,
+big man, but he seemed to shrink into insignificance.
+
+"You are a coward and a bully," she said slowly. "You know quite well
+that I am innocent of any knowledge even concerning Duson's death. But
+I would sooner meet my fate, whatever it might be, than suffer even the
+touch of your fingers upon my hand. Your presence is hateful to me. Send
+for your chief of the police. String your lies together as you will. I
+am satisfied."
+
+She left him and swept from the room, a spot of colour burning in her
+cheeks, her eyes lit with fire. The pride of her race had asserted
+itself. She felt no longer any fear. She only desired to sever herself
+at once and completely from all association with this man. In the hall
+she sent for her maid.
+
+"Fetch my cloak and jewel case, Celeste," she ordered. "I am going
+across to the Bristol. You can return for the other luggage."
+
+"But, madam--"
+
+"Do as I say at once," Lucille ordered.
+
+The girl hesitated and then obeyed. Lucille found herself suddenly
+addressed in a quiet tone by a man who had been sitting in an
+easy-chair, half hidden by a palm tree.
+
+"Will you favour me, madam, with a moment's conversation?"
+
+Lucille turned round. She recognised at once the man with whom she had
+conversed upon the steamer. In the quietest form of evening dress, there
+was something noticeable in the man's very insignificance. He seemed a
+little out of his element. Lucille had a sudden inspiration, The man was
+a detective.
+
+"What do you wish to say?" she asked, half doubtfully.
+
+"I overheard," he remarked, "your order to your maid. She had something
+to say to you, but you gave her no opportunity."
+
+"And you?" she asked, "what do you wish to say?"
+
+"I wish to advise you," he said, "not to leave the hotel."
+
+She looked at him doubtfully.
+
+"You cannot understand," she said, "why I wish to leave it. I have no
+alternative."
+
+"Nevertheless," he said, "I hope that you will change your mind."
+
+"Are you a detective?" she asked abruptly.
+
+"Madam is correct!"
+
+The flush of colour faded from her cheeks.
+
+"I presume, then," she said, "that I am under your surveillance?"
+
+"In a sense," he admitted, "it is true."
+
+"On the steamer," she remarked, "you spoke as though your interest in me
+was not inimical."
+
+"Nor is it," he answered promptly. "You are in a difficult position, but
+you may find things not so bad as you imagine. At present my advice to
+you is this: Go upstairs to your room and stay there."
+
+The little man had a compelling manner. Lucille made her way towards the
+elevator.
+
+"As a matter of fact," she murmured bitterly, "I am not, I suppose,
+permitted to leave the hotel?"
+
+"Madam puts the matter bluntly," he answered; "but certainly if you
+should insist upon leaving, it would be my duty to follow you."
+
+She turned away from him and entered the elevator. The door of her room
+was slightly ajar, and she saw that a waiter was busy at a small round
+table. She looked at him in surprise. He was arranging places for two.
+
+"Who gave you your orders?" she asked.
+
+"But it was monsieur," the man answered, with a low bow. "Dinner for
+two."
+
+"Monsieur?" she repeated. "What monsieur?"
+
+"I am the culprit," a familiar voice answered from the depths of an
+easy-chair, whose back was to her. "I was very hungry, and it occurred
+to me that under the circumstances you would probably not have dined
+either. I hope that you will like what I have ordered. The plovers' eggs
+look delicious."
+
+She gave a little cry of joy. It was Mr. Sabin.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII
+
+The Prince dined carefully, but with less than his usual appetite.
+Afterwards he lit a cigarette and strolled for a moment into the lounge.
+Celeste, who was waiting for him, glided at once to his side.
+
+"Monsieur!" she whispered. "I have been here for one hour."
+
+He nodded.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Monsieur le Duc has arrived."
+
+The Prince turned sharply round.
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Monsieur le Duc de Souspennier. He calls himself no longer Mr. Sabin."
+
+A dull flush of angry colour rose almost to his temples.
+
+"Why did you not tell me before?" he exclaimed.
+
+"Monsieur was in the restaurant," she answered. "It was impossible for
+me to do anything but wait."
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+"Alas! he is with madam," the girl answered.
+
+The Prince was very profane. He started at once for the elevator. In a
+moment or two he presented himself at Lucille's sitting-room. They were
+still lingering over their dinner. Mr. Sabin welcomed him with grave
+courtesy.
+
+"The Prince is in time to take his liqueur with us," he remarked,
+rising. "Will you take fin champagne, Prince, or Chartreuse? I recommend
+the fin champagne."
+
+The Prince bowed his thanks. He was white to the lips with the effort
+for self-mastery.
+
+"I congratulate you, Mr. Sabin," he said, "upon your opportune arrival.
+You will be able to help Lucille through the annoyance to which I deeply
+regret that she should be subjected."
+
+Mr. Sabin gently raised his eyebrows.
+
+"Annoyance!" he repeated. "I fear that I do not quite understand."
+
+The Prince smiled.
+
+"Surely Lucille has told you," he said, "of the perilous position in
+which she finds herself."
+
+"My wife," Mr. Sabin said, "has told me nothing. You alarm me."
+
+The Prince shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I deeply regret to tell you," he said, "that the law has proved too
+powerful for me. I can no longer stand between her and what I fear may
+prove a most unpleasant episode. Lucille will be arrested within the
+hour."
+
+"Upon what charge?" Mr. Sabin asked.
+
+"The murder of Duson."
+
+Mr. Sabin laughed very softly, very gently, but with obvious
+genuineness.
+
+"You are joking, Prince," he exclaimed.
+
+"I regret to say," the Prince answered, "that you will find it very far
+from a joking matter."
+
+Mr. Sabin was suddenly stern.
+
+"Prince of Saxe Leinitzer," he said, "you are a coward and a bully."
+
+The Prince started forward with clenched fist. Mr. Sabin had no weapon,
+but he did not flinch.
+
+"You can frighten women," he said, "with a bogie such as this, but you
+have no longer a woman to deal with. You and I know that such a charge
+is absurd--but you little know the danger to which you expose yourself
+by trifling with this subject. Duson left a letter addressed to me in
+which he announced his reasons for committing suicide."
+
+"Suicide?"
+
+"Yes. He preferred suicide to murder, even at the bidding of the Prince
+of Saxe Leinitzer. He wrote and explained these things to me--and the
+letter is in safe hands. The arrest of Lucille, my dear Prince, would
+mean the ruin of your amiable society."
+
+"This letter," the Prince said slowly, "why was it not produced at the
+inquest? Where is it now?"
+
+"It is deposited in a sealed packet with the Earl of Deringham," Mr.
+Sabin answered. "As to producing it at the inquest--I thought it more
+discreet not to. I leave you to judge of my reasons. But I can assure
+you that your fears for my wife's safety have been wholly misplaced.
+There is not the slightest reason for her to hurry off to America. We
+may take a little trip there presently, but not just yet."
+
+The Prince made a mistake. He lost his temper.
+
+"You!" he cried, "you can go to America when you like, and stay there.
+Europe has had enough of you with your hare-brained schemes and foolish
+failures. But Lucille does not leave this country. We have need of her.
+I forbid her to leave. Do you hear? In the name of the Order I command
+her to remain here."
+
+Mr. Sabin was quite calm, but his face was full of terrible things.
+
+"Prince," he said, "if I by any chance numbered myself amongst your
+friends I would warn you that you yourself are a traitor to your Order.
+You prostitute a great cause when you stoop to use its machinery to
+assist your own private vengeance. I ask you for your own sake to
+consider your words. Lucille is mine--mine she will remain, even though
+you should descend to something more despicable, more cowardly than
+ordinary treason, to wrest her from me. You reproach me with the
+failures of my life. Great they may have been, but if you attempt this
+you will find that I am not yet an impotent person."
+
+The Prince was white with rage. The sight of Lucille standing by Mr.
+Sabin's side, her hand lightly resting upon his, her dark eyes full of
+inscrutable tenderness, maddened him. He was flouted and ignored. He was
+carried away by a storm of passion. He tore a sheet of paper from his
+pocket book, and unlocking a small gold case at the end of his watch
+chain, shook from it a pencil with yellow crayon. Mr. Sabin leaned over
+towards him.
+
+"You sign it at your peril, Prince," he said. "It will mean worse things
+than that for you."
+
+For a second he hesitated. Lucille also leaned towards him.
+
+"Prince," she said, "have I not kept my vows faithfully? Think! I came
+from America at a moment's notice; I left my husband without even a word
+of farewell; I entered upon a hateful task, and though to think of it
+now makes me loathe myself--I succeeded. I have kept my vows, I have
+done my duty. Be generous now, and let me go."
+
+The sound of her voice maddened him. A passionate, arbitrary man, to
+whom nothing in life had been denied, to be baulked in this great desire
+of his latter days was intolerable. He made no answer to either of them.
+He wrote a few lines with the yellow crayon and passed them silently
+across to Lucille.
+
+Her face blanched. She stretched out an unwilling hand. But Mr. Sabin
+intervened. He took the paper from the Prince's hand, and calmly tore it
+into fragments. There was a moment's breathless silence.
+
+"Victor!" Lucille cried. "Oh, what have you done!"
+
+The Prince's face lightened with an evil joy.
+
+"We now, I think," he said, "understand one another. You will permit me
+to wish you a very pleasant evening, and a speedy leave-taking."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled.
+
+"Many thanks, my dear Prince," he said lightly. "Make haste and complete
+your charming little arrangements. Let me beg of you to avoid bungling
+this time. Remember that there is not in the whole of Europe to-day a
+man more dangerous to you than I."
+
+The Prince had departed. Mr. Sabin lit a cigarette and stood on the
+hearthrug. His eyes were bright with the joy of fighting.
+
+"Lucille," he said, "I see that you have not touched your liqueur.
+Oblige me by drinking it. You will find it excellent."
+
+She came over to him and hung upon his arm. He threw his cigarette away
+and kissed her upon the lips.
+
+"Victor," she murmured, "I am afraid. You have been rash!"
+
+"Dearest," he answered, "it is better to die fighting than to stand
+aside and watch evil things. But after all, there is no fear. Come! Your
+cloak and dressing case!"
+
+"You have plans?" she exclaimed, springing up.
+
+"Plans?" He laughed at her a little reproachfully. "My dear Lucille! A
+carriage awaits us outside, a special train with steam up at the Gard de
+L'ouest. This is precisely the contingency for which I have planned."
+
+"Oh, you are wonderful, Victor," she murmured as she drew on her coat.
+"But what corner of the earth is there where we should be safe?"
+
+"I am going," Mr. Sabin said, "to try and make every corner of the earth
+safe."
+
+She was bewildered, but he only laughed and held open the door for her.
+Mr. Sabin made no secret of his departure. He lingered for a moment in
+the doorway to light a cigarette, he even stopped to whisper a few
+words to the little man in plain dinner clothes who was lounging in the
+doorway. But when they had once left the hotel they drove fast.
+
+In less than half an hour Paris was behind them. They were traveling in
+a royal saloon and at a fabuulous cost, for in France they are not fond
+of special trains. But Mr. Sabin was very happy. At least he had escaped
+an ignominious defeat. It was left to him to play the great card.
+
+"And now," Lucille said, coming out from her little bed-chamber which
+the femme de chambre was busy preparing, "suppose you tell me where we
+are going."
+
+Mr. Sabin smiled.
+
+"Do not be alarmed," he said, "even though it will sound to you the
+least likely place in the world. We are going to Berlin."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII
+
+The great room was dimly enough lit, for the windows looking out upon
+the street were high and heavily curtained, The man who sat at the desk
+was almost in the shadow. Yet every now and then a shaft of sunlight
+fell across his pale, worn face. A strange combination this of the
+worker, the idealist, the man of affairs. From outside came the hum of
+a great city. At times, too, there came to his ears as he sat here the
+roar of nations at strife, the fierce underneath battle of the great
+countries of the world struggling for supremacy. And here at this
+cabinet this man sat often, and listened, strenuous, romantic, with
+the heart of a lion and the lofty imagination of an eagle, he steered
+unswervingly on to her destiny a great people. Others might rest, but
+never he.
+
+He looked up from the letter spread out before him. Lucille was seated
+at his command, a few yards away. Mr. Sabin stood respectfully before
+him.
+
+"Monsieur le Duc," he said, "this letter, penned by my illustrious
+father to you, is sufficient to secure my good offices. In what manner
+can I serve you?"
+
+"Your Majesty," Mr. Sabin answered, "in the first place by receiving me
+here. In the second by allowing me to lay before you certain grave and
+very serious charges against the Order of the Yellow Crayon, of which
+your Majesty is the titular head."
+
+"The Order of the Yellow Crayon," the Emperor said thoughtfully,
+"is society composed of aristocrats pledged to resist the march of
+socialism. It is true that I am the titular head of this organisation.
+What have you to say about it?"
+
+"Only that your Majesty has been wholly deceived," Mr. Sabin said
+respectfully, "concerning the methods and the working of this society.
+Its inception and inauguration were above reproach. I myself at once
+became a member. My wife, Countess of Radantz, and sole representative
+of that ancient family, has been one all her life."
+
+The Emperor inclined his head towards Lucille.
+
+"I see no reason," he said, "when our capitals are riddled with secret
+societies, all banded together against us, why the great families of
+Europe should not in their turn come together and display a united front
+against this common enemy. The Order of the Yellow Crayon has had more
+than my support. It has had the sanction of my name. Tell me what you
+have against it."
+
+"I have grave things to say concerning it," Mr. Sahin answered, "and
+concerning those who have wilfully deceived your Majesty. The influences
+to be wielded by the society were mainly, I believe, wealth, education,
+and influence. There was no mention made of murder, of an underground
+alliance with the 'gamins' of Paris, the dregs of humanity, prisoners,
+men skilled in the art of secret death."
+
+The Emperor's tone was stern, almost harsh.
+
+"Duc de Souspennier, what are these things which you are saying?" he
+asked.
+
+"Your Majesty, I speak the truth," Mr. Sabin answered firmly. "There
+are in the Order of the Yellow Crayon three degrees of membership. The
+first, which alone your Majesty knows of, simply corresponds with
+what in England is known as the Primrose League. The second knows that
+beneath is another organisation pledged to frustrate the advance of
+socialism, if necessary by the use of their own weapons. The third,
+whose meetings and signs and whose whole organisation is carried on
+secretly, is allied in every capital in Europe with criminals and
+murderers. With its great wealth it has influence in America as well
+as in every city of the world where there are police to be suborned,
+or desperate men to be bought for tools. At the direction of this third
+order Lavinski died suddenly in the Hungarian House of Parliament,
+Herr Krettingen was involved in a duel, the result of which was assured
+beforehand, and Reginald Brott, the great English statesman, was ruined
+and disgraced. I myself have just narrowly escaped death at his hands,
+and in my place my servant has been driven to death. Of all these
+things, your Majesty, I have brought proofs."
+
+The Emperor's face was like a carven image, but his tone was cold and
+terrible.
+
+"If these things have been sanctioned," he said, "by those who are
+responsible for my having become the head of the Order; they shall feel
+my vengeance."
+
+"Your Majesty," Mr. Sabin said earnestly, "a chance disclosure, and all
+might come to light. I myself could blazon the story through Europe.
+Those who are responsible for the third degree of the Order of
+the Yellow Crayon, and for your Majesty's ignorance concerning its
+existence, have trifled with the destiny of the greatest sovereign of
+modern times."
+
+"The Prince of Saxe Leinitzer," the Emperor said, "is the acting head of
+the Order."
+
+"The Prince of Saxe Leinitzer," Mr. Sabin said firmly, "is responsible
+for the existence of the third degree. It is he who has connected the
+society with a system of corrupt police or desperate criminals in every
+great city. It is the Prince of Saxe Leinitzer, your Majesty, and
+his horde of murderers from whom I have come to seek your Majesty's
+protection. I have yet another charge to make against him. He has made,
+and is making still, use of the society to further his own private
+intrigues. In the name of the Order he brought my wife from America.
+She faithfully carried out the instructions of the Council. She brought
+about the ruin of Reginald Brott. By the rules of the society she was
+free then to return to her home. The Prince, who had been her suitor,
+declined to let her go. My life was attempted. The story of the Prince's
+treason is here, with the necessary proofs. I know that orders have been
+given to the hired murderers of the society for my assassination. My
+life even here is probably an uncertain thing. But I have told your
+Majesty the truth, and the papers which I have brought with me contain
+proof of my words."
+
+The Emperor struck a bell and gave a few orders to the young officer who
+immediately answered it. Then he turned again to Mr. Sabin.
+
+"I have summoned Saxe Leinitzer to Berlin," he said. "These matters
+shall be gone into most thoroughly. In the meantime what can I do for
+you?"
+
+"We will await the coming of the Prince," Mr. Sabin answered grimly.
+
+     *           *           *           *           *
+
+Lady Carey passed from her bath-room into a luxurious little
+dressing-room. Her letters and coffee were on a small table near the
+fire, an easy-chair was drawn up to the hearthrug. She fastened the
+girdle of her dressing-gown, and dismissed her maid.
+
+"I will ring for you in half an hour, Annette," she said. "See that I am
+not disturbed."
+
+On her way to the fireplace she paused for a moment in front of a tall
+looking-glass, and looked steadily at her own reflection.
+
+"I suppose," she murmured to herself, "that I am looking at my best now.
+I slept well last night, and a bath gives one colour, and white is so
+becoming. Still, I don't know why I failed. She may be a little better
+looking, but my figure is as good. I can talk better, I have learnt how
+to keep a man from feeling dull, and there is my reputation. Because I
+played at war correspondence, wore a man's clothes, and didn't shriek
+when I was under fire, people have chosen to make a heroine of me. That
+should have counted for something with him--and it didn't. I could
+have taken my choice of any man in London--and I wanted him. And I have
+failed!"
+
+She threw herself back in her easy-chair and laughed softly.
+
+"Failed! What an ugly word! He is old, and he limps, and I--well, I was
+never a very bashful person. He was beautifully polite, but he wouldn't
+have anything to say to me."
+
+She began to tear open her letters savagely.
+
+"Well, it is over. If ever anybody speaks to me about it I think that
+I shall kill them. That fool Saxe Leinitzer will stroke his beastly
+moustache, and smile at me out of the corners of his eyes. The Dorset
+woman, too--bah, I shall go away. What is it, Annette?"
+
+"His Highness the Prince of Saxe Leinitzer has called, milady."
+
+"Called! Does he regard this as a call?" she exclaimed, glancing towards
+the clock. "Tell him, Annette, that your mistress does not receive
+at such an hour. Be quick, child. Of course I know that he gave you a
+sovereign to persuade me that it was important, but I won't see him, so
+be off."
+
+"But yes, milady," Annette answered, and disappeared.
+
+Lady Carey sipped her coffee.
+
+"I think," she said reflectively, "that it must be Melton."
+
+Annette reappeared.
+
+"Milady," she exclaimed, "His Highness insisted upon my bringing you
+this card. He was so strange in his manner, milady, that I thought it
+best to obey."
+
+Lady Carey stretched out her hand. A few words were scribbled on the
+back of his visiting card in yellow crayon. She glanced at it, tore the
+card up, and threw the pieces into the fire.
+
+"My shoes and stockings, Annette," she said, "and just a morning
+wrap--anything will do."
+
+The Prince was walking restlessly up and down the room, when Lady Carey
+entered. He welcomed her with a little cry of relief.
+
+"Heavens!" he exclaimed. "I thought that you were never coming."
+
+"I was in no hurry," she answered calmly. "I could guess your news, so I
+had not even the spur of curiosity."
+
+He stopped short.
+
+"You have heard nothing! It is not possible?"
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"No, but I know you, and I know him. I am quite prepared to hear that
+you are outwitted. Indeed, to judge from your appearance there can be no
+doubt about it. Remember I warned you."
+
+The Prince was pale with fury.
+
+"No one could foresee this," he exclaimed. "He has walked into the
+lion's den."
+
+"Then," Lady Carey said, "I am quite prepared to hear that he tamed the
+lion."
+
+"If there was one person living whom I could have sworn that this man
+dared not visit, it was our Emperor," the Prince said. "It is only a few
+years since, through this man's intrigues, Germany was shamed before the
+world."
+
+"And yet," Lady Carey said sweetly, "the Emperor has received him."
+
+"I have private intelligence from Berlin," Saxe Leinitzer answered.
+"Mr. Sabin was in possession of a letter written to him by the Emperor
+Frederick, thanking him for some service or other; and the letter was a
+talisman."
+
+"How like him," Lady Carey murmured, "to have the letter."
+
+"What a pity," the Prince sneered, "that such devotion should remain
+unrewarded."
+
+Lady Carey sighed.
+
+"He has broken my heart," she replied.
+
+The Prince threw out his hands.
+
+"You and I," he cried, "why do we behave like children! Let us start
+afresh. Listen! The Emperor has summoned me to Berlin."
+
+"Dear me," Lady Carey murmured. "I am afraid you will have a most
+unpleasant visit."
+
+"I dare not go," the Prince said slowly. "It was I who induced the
+Emperor to become the titular head of this cursed Order. Of course he
+knew nothing about the second or third degree members and our methods.
+Without doubt he is fully informed now. I dare not face him."
+
+"What shall you do?" Lady Carey asked curiously.
+
+"I am off to South America," he said. "It is a great undeveloped
+country, and there is room for us to move there. Muriel, you know what I
+want of you."
+
+"My good man," she answered, "I haven't the faintest idea."
+
+"You will come with me," he begged. "You will not send me into exile so
+lonely, a wanderer! Together there may be a great future before us. You
+have ambition, you love intrigue, excitement, danger. None of these can
+you find here. You shall come with me. You shall not say no. Have I not
+been your devoted slave? Have--"
+
+She stopped him. Her lips were parted in a smile of good-natured scorn.
+
+"Don't be absurd, Saxe Leinitzer. It is true that I love intrigue,
+excitement and danger. That is what made me join your Order, and really
+I have had quite a little excitement out of it, for which I suppose I
+ought to thank you. But as for the rest, why, you are talking rubbish.
+I would go to South America to-morrow with the right man, but with you,
+why, it won't bear talking about. It makes me angry to think that you
+should believe me capable of such shocking taste as to dream of going
+away with you."
+
+He flung himself from the room. Lady Carey went back to her coffee and
+letters. She sent for Annette.
+
+"Annette," she directed, "we shall go to Melton to-morrow. Wire Haggis
+to have the Lodge in order, and carriages to meet the midday train. I
+daresay I shall take a few people down with me. Let George go around
+to Tattershalls at once and make an appointment for me there at three
+o'clock this afternoon. Look out my habits and boots, too, Annette."
+
+Lady Carey leaned back in her chair for a moment with half-closed eyes.
+
+"I think," she murmured, "that some of us in our youth must have
+drunk from some poisoned cup, something which turned our blood into
+quicksilver. I must live, or I must die. I must have excitement every
+hour, every second, or break down. There are others too--many others.
+No wonder that that idiot of a man in Harley Street talked to me gravely
+about my heart. No excitement. A quiet life! Bah! Such wishy-washy
+coffee and only one cigarette."
+
+She lit it and stood up on the hearthrug. Her eyes were half closed,
+every vestige of colour had left her cheeks, her hand was pressed hard
+to her side. For a few minutes she seemed to struggle for breath. Then
+with a little lurch as though still giddy, she stooped, and picking up
+her fallen cigarette, thrust it defiantly between her teeth.
+
+"Not this way," she muttered. "From a horse's back if I can with the air
+rushing by, and the hot joy of it in one's heart... Only I hope it won't
+hurt the poor old gee... Come in, Annette. What a time you've been,
+child."
+
+******
+
+The Emperor sent for Mr. Sabin. He declined to recognise his incognito.
+
+"Monsieur le Duc," he said, "if proof of your story were needed it is
+here. The Prince of Saxe Leinitzer has ignored my summons. He has fled
+to South America."
+
+Mr. Sabin bowed.
+
+"A most interesting country," he murmured, "for the Prince."
+
+"You yourself are free to go when and where you will. You need no longer
+have any fears. The Order does not exist. I have crushed it."
+
+Mr. Sabin bowed.
+
+"Your Majesty," he said, "has shown exemplary wisdom."
+
+"From its inception," the Emperor said, "I believe that the idea was a
+mistaken one. I must confess that its originality pleased me; my calmer
+reflections, however, show me that I was wrong. It is not for the nobles
+of the earth to copy the methods of socialists and anarchists. These men
+are a pest upon humanity, but they may have their good uses. They may
+help us to govern alertly, vigorously, always with our eyes and ears
+strained to catch the signs of the changing times. Monsieur le Duc,
+should you decide to take up your residence in this country I shall at
+all times be glad to receive you. But your future is entirely your own."
+
+Mr. Sabin accepted his dismissal from audience, and went back to
+Lucille.
+
+"The Prince," he told her, "has gone--to South America. The Order does
+not exist any longer. Will you dine in Vienna, or in Frankfort?"
+
+She held out her arms.
+
+"You wonderful man!" she cried.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Yellow Crayon, by E. Phillips Oppenheim
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