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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Modern Mercenary, by Kate Prichard and
+Hesketh Vernon Hesketh-Prichard
+
+
+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: A Modern Mercenary
+
+
+Author: Kate Prichard and Hesketh Vernon Hesketh-Prichard
+
+
+
+Release Date: February 24, 2009  [eBook #28167]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MODERN MERCENARY***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Graeme Mackreth, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
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+
+
+
+
+
+A MODERN MERCENARY
+
+by
+
+K. AND HESKETH PRICHARD
+
+[E. AND H. HERON]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+New York Doubleday, Page & Co. 1902
+
+Copyright, 1899, by
+Doubleday & McClure Co.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER                                             PAGE
+
+     I. A LIEUTENANT OF FRONTIER CAVALRY               1
+
+    II. A GENTLEMAN OF THE GUARD                      14
+
+   III. THE GENTLEMEN OF THE GUARD                    28
+
+    IV. DANGER SIGNALS                                41
+
+     V. GOOD LUCK AND A FIREFLY                       48
+
+    VI. THE CLOISTER OF ST. ANTHONY                   62
+
+   VII. ONE WOMAN'S DIPLOMACY                         79
+
+  VIII. A QUESTION OF THE GUARD                       94
+
+    IX. THE CASTLE OF SAGAN                          106
+
+     X. COUNT SIMON OF SAGAN                         120
+
+    XI. A COUNSEL OF EXPEDIENCY                      130
+
+   XII. ANTHONY UNZIAR                               136
+
+  XIII. LOVE IN TWO SHADES                           144
+
+   XIV. HALF A PROMISE                               153
+
+    XV. COLENDORP                                    159
+
+   XVI. 'WITH YOUR LIPS TO THE HURT'                 170
+
+  XVII. IRIS                                         177
+
+ XVIII. THE SWORD OF UNZIAR                          186
+
+   XIX. IN DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS                      195
+
+    XX. UNDER THE PINES                              202
+
+   XXI. LOVE'S BEGGAR                                210
+
+  XXII. IN LOVE WITH HONOUR                          222
+
+ XXIII. HOW RALLYWOOD HAD HIS ORDERS                 233
+
+  XXIV. ON THE FRONTIER                              239
+
+   XXV. A QUESTION OF TWO MORALITIES                 246
+
+  XXVI. LOVE'S HANDICAP                              258
+
+ XXVII. THE MAN OF THE HOUR                          267
+
+XXVIII. THE ARREST                                   277
+
+  XXIX. THE COURT-MARTIAL                            282
+
+   XXX. 'UPON THE GREAT WORLD'S ALTAR-STAIRS'        292
+
+  XXXI. DUKE GUSTAVE                                 300
+
+ XXXII. FOR A SEASON                                 307
+
+
+
+
+A MODERN MERCENARY
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+A LIEUTENANT OF FRONTIER CAVALRY.
+
+
+During four months of the year the independent State of Maasau,' we will
+call it--which is not very noticeable even on the largest sized map of
+Europe--is tormented by a dry and weary north-east wind. And nowhere is
+its influence more unpleasantly felt than in the capital, Revonde, which
+stands shoulder-on to the hustling gales, its stately frontages and
+noble quays stretching out westwards along the shores of the Kofn almost
+to where the yellow waters of the river spread fan-wise into a
+grey-green sea.
+
+The _tsa_ was blowing strongly on a certain November afternoon, eddying
+and whistling about the wide spaces of the Grand Square as John
+Rallywood, a tall figure in a military cloak, turned the corner of a
+side street and met its full blast. He faced it for some yards along the
+empty pavements, then ran up the steps of his club. A few minutes later
+he passed through a lofty corridor and entered a door over which is set
+a quaint invitation to smokers, which may not be written down here, for
+it is the jealously guarded copyright of the club.
+
+It chanced that the room for the moment had but one occupant, who sat in
+a roomy armchair by the white stove. This gentleman did not raise his
+head, but continued to gaze thoughtfully at his well shaped though
+square and comfortable boots.
+
+Rallywood paused almost imperceptibly in his stride.
+
+'Hullo, Major! Glad to see you,' he said, as he dropped into an armchair
+opposite.
+
+Major Counsellor stood up with his back to the stove, thereby giving a
+view of a red, challenging face, heavy eyebrows, and a huge white droop
+of moustache. He looked down at Rallywood consideringly before he spoke.
+'So you're here. I imagined they kept you pretty closely on the
+frontier. The world been kicking you?'
+
+Rallywood laughed.
+
+'No, but it would do me good to kick the world,' he answered as he
+helped himself from the Major's cigar case. 'Five years, almost six,
+spent on the frontier, with nothing to show for it, isn't good enough.
+I've come up to send in my papers.'
+
+'Then you'll be a fool,' returned the Major with decision.
+
+Rallywood was busy lighting his cigar; when that was arranged to his
+satisfaction he said easily--
+
+'Just so. History repeats itself.'
+
+Counsellor stood squarely upright with his hands behind him.
+
+'Any other reasons?' he asked.
+
+'Plenty.'
+
+'Pity! Are they serious or--otherwise?'
+
+Rallywood pulled his moustache.
+
+'Why is it a pity?' he asked slowly.
+
+'Because there is going to be trouble here, and with trouble comes a
+chance.'
+
+Rallywood smoked on in silence. He was a big, shallow-flanked man with
+the marks of the world upon him, and that indescribable air which comes
+to one who has passed a good portion of his time in laughing at the
+arbitrary handicaps arranged by Fate in the race of life.
+
+'Where do you propose to go?' asked Counsellor after an interval.
+
+'Back to Africa, I think--Buluwayo, Johannesburg, anywhere. South
+Africa's still in the bud, you see.'
+
+'Yes, but it is a biggish bud and will take time to blow. You can afford
+to wait and--it may be worth your while.'
+
+Rallywood threw a swift glance at Counsellor's inscrutable face.
+
+'Seven years ago,' he said in a deliberate manner, 'you told me it was
+worth while, but life has not grown more interesting since then.'
+
+'Ah!' Counsellor paused, then went on with a grim smile, 'At your age,
+John, there are possibilities. Think over it. After hanging on here for
+more than five years why lose your chance now? Look at those fellows.'
+He pointed out into the square.
+
+Rallywood rose lazily and gazed out also. The prospect was not cheering.
+A few troopers, their cloaks flapping in the wind, were galloping across
+the square on the way to relieve guard at the Palace, and under the
+statue of the late Grand Duke on horseback three men in tall hats stood
+talking together; then they turned and walked towards the club.
+
+'Know them?' asked Counsellor.
+
+Rallywood shook his head.
+
+'The man with the beard is Stokes of the 'Times:' next him is Bradley;
+he's on another big daily. Their being here speaks for itself. Maasau is
+going to take up people's attention shortly. The Grand Duke is in a
+tight place, and there will be a flare-up sooner or later.'
+
+'And you advise me to stop and see it through?' said Rallywood
+meditatively from the window; then he lounged back to his chair. 'How
+will it end?'
+
+Counsellor shook the ash from his cigar.
+
+'Selpdorf is the man of the hour,' he said.
+
+On the autumn evening when these two men were talking at the club the
+Duchy of Maasau was, in the opinion of Maasaun patriots, going as fast
+as it could to the devil. With them, it may be added, the devil was
+personified and bore the name of a neighbouring nation. The one person
+who ignored this fact was the Grand Duke. With an inset, stubborn pride
+he believed that his country must remain for ever, as the long centuries
+had known her, Maasau the Free. This being the case, he felt himself at
+liberty to spend his time in cursing the fate that had refused blue seas
+and skies to wintry Revonde, thus depriving it of these sources of
+revenue which depend upon climate, and which are enjoyed by places far
+less naturally beautiful than the capital of Maasau.
+
+The Duke, prematurely aged, by the manner of his life, made it his chief
+business to devise schemes for raising money whereby he might carry on
+the staling pleasures of his youth. Beyond this the administration of
+public affairs was left entirely in the supple hands of the Chancellor,
+M. Selpdorf, while the Duke, with those who surrounded him, plunged into
+the newest excitement of the hour, for who knew what a day might bring
+forth? The Court was like a stage lit by lurid light, on which the
+actors laughed and loved, danced and fought to the music of a wild
+finale, that whirled and maddened before the crash of the coming end.
+
+Once upon a time Maasau was accounted of no particular importance or
+value amongst its bigger neighbours; but of late, for various reasons,
+its fortunes had become the subject of attention and discussion in at
+least three foreign chancelleries, where old maps were being looked up
+and new ones bought and painted different colours, according as seemed
+most desirable by the bearded men, who sat in council to apportion the
+marsh, rock, dune, and forest of which the now absorbingly interesting
+pigmy State was composed.
+
+In fact, Maasau, with its twenty miles or so of seaboard, containing one
+excellent port _in esse_ and two others _in posse_, had become a
+Naboth's vineyard to a country almost land-bound and yet dreaming of the
+supremacy of the four seas. On this ambition and its possible
+consequences the other Great Powers looked, to speak diplomatically,
+with coldness.
+
+It was generally understood that the English Foreign Office desired the
+maintenance of the _status quo_; France was supposed to be ready to clap
+a young republic on the back and to accord it her protection, while
+Russia played her own dumb and blinding game, of which none could
+definitely pronounce the issue. The political world thus stood at gaze,
+watching every change and prepared to take advantage of any chance that
+offered. The honours of the game so far had lain with M. Selpdorf, who
+scored each trick with the same bland smile. Whenever the Treasury of
+Maasau was at a low ebb Selpdorf usually had a thirteenth card to lay
+upon the table, and as the nations cautiously proceeded to frustrate
+each other's purposes royal remittances from Heaven knows where flowed
+in abundantly to replenish the bankrupt exchequer of the State.
+
+When Major Counsellor expressed his emphatic disapproval of the
+intended resignation of Rallywood a new development was in the air.
+Hitherto the lead had mostly devolved upon Selpdorf; on this occasion he
+was known to be hanging back, and the question of who would take the
+initiative was the question of the day. The fact that Germany had lately
+accredited a new representative, a certain Baron von Elmur, to the Court
+of Maasau,--an able man whose reputation rested mainly on the successful
+performance of missions of a delicate nature,--added to the tension of
+the moment.
+
+'So you say they are getting up steam in Maasau?' said Rallywood again.
+'I have been out in the wilds for the last six months, and don't know so
+much about events as I might.'
+
+'Steam?' growled Counsellor. 'Steam enough to wreck Europe! I almost
+wish I'd never godfathered you into this blessed little stoke-hole. Why
+the deuce didn't you enlist at home instead of coming here?'
+
+'That was out of the question, of course.'
+
+'Why? Isn't our army good enough for you to fight in?'
+
+'If it was only that!--I could fight in the ranks, God knows, but I
+couldn't parade in them! Besides, the life here suited me--then.'
+
+'What's gone wrong with it now? I should have thought you would have got
+used to it by this time,' observed Counsellor with the air of the older
+man. It was not the first occasion on which he had played the part of
+elderly relative towards Rallywood during the course of their queer,
+rough-grained friendship--a friendship of a type which exists only
+between man and man, and even then is sufficiently rare.
+
+'Precisely, I'm too infernally used to it! It was not half bad as long
+as the newness lasted, but I can't stand it any longer! I'm sick of the
+monotony. Do you know old Fitzadams's criticism on the service here?
+"Dust and drill, drill and dust, and fill in the chinks with homicidal
+manoeuvres."'
+
+'Maasau only apes its betters. These Continental armies devote
+themselves very assiduously to rehearsals, and there is no end of waste
+about the process,' remarked Counsellor. 'They rehearse in summer and
+get sunstroke; then they rehearse in winter with rheumatisms and lung
+troubles growing on every bush. The bill for blank cartridges alone is
+enormous! And all because they have no India and no Africa, as we have,
+where we can give our fellows a taste of the real thing any day in the
+week. We carry on a small war with a regiment, or despatch a youngster
+with half a company to teach manners and honesty to twenty thousand
+niggers. The peculiarity of our army is that it is always at war. In
+this way we escape the dangers of theory, and get practice with
+something for our money into the bargain.'
+
+'Our plan has its advantages,' agreed Rallywood lazily. 'I saw in South
+Africa what a little active service does for a man. The first time he
+is under fire he is persuaded that he is going to be killed, and that
+every shot must hit him. But after a trial or two he begins to think the
+odds are in his favour and he becomes a much more effective fighting
+machine.'
+
+'Necessarily he does. We don't half realise the value of our colonies
+yet--as a training ground for our soldiers. The British army is the
+smallest in Europe, but it remains to be seen what account it will give
+of itself if it is ever brought into contact with these huge,
+peace-trained conscript monsters.'
+
+'When the Duke dies----' began Rallywood, harking back to the former
+topic of conversation.
+
+The door was softly opened, and a waiter advanced into the room, bearing
+a letter for Rallywood, who took it and laid it down on the table beside
+him, then looked at Counsellor for an answer to his half spoken
+question. Counsellor shrugged his shoulders.
+
+'Who can tell?' he replied. 'Meanwhile take the gifts the gods have sent
+you to-day,' and he pointed to the long, heavily sealed envelope that
+lay at Rallywood's elbow. 'Selpdorf, I see, already has his finger upon
+you.'
+
+Rallywood broke the great seals, and, having read, he tossed the paper
+into the other's hands.
+
+'He wishes to see me at 9.30. What can he want with me?' he asked.
+
+'Probably he has heard you intend to cut the service. It appears to me,
+Rallywood, that your chance has come out to meet you.'
+
+'How could he have heard that I meant to go? And what can it matter to
+any one if I do?' went on Rallywood incredulously.
+
+Counsellor shook his head, but made no other reply.
+
+'A lieutenant of the Frontier Cavalry,' resumed Rallywood, 'is merely a
+superior make of excise officer!'
+
+'You will be something more or something else before 10, I expect. As
+for what he wants with you, that is for you to find out--if you can.'
+
+'It is to be hoped he may feel moved to let me have my arrears of pay,'
+said Rallywood, relapsing into his usual tone of indifference; 'that is
+the chief consideration with us on the frontier just now.'
+
+'He probably will if it suits him--or rather perhaps if you suit him.
+Come over and dine with me presently at the Continental. There's
+generally a decent dinner to be had there.'
+
+John Rallywood, one of the old Lincolnshire Rallywoods, had been born to
+a fortune, and moreover with an immense capacity for enjoying it after a
+wholesome fashion. Queens Fain had fallen to him while still an infant
+upon the death of a great-uncle, and with the old place were connected
+all those hundred untranslatable ties and associations which go to make
+up a boy's dreams. He was a man of suppressed, perhaps half unconscious,
+but nevertheless deep-rooted enthusiasms; hence when the blow fell
+which deprived him not only of his inheritance, but also cut short the
+life of his mother, the unexpected, almost intolerable anguish he
+silently endured had left a deep, defacing scar upon his personality.
+
+Up to twenty-two the record of his life, if not striking, had been clean
+and manly. He had passed through Sandhurst, and joined a dragoon
+regiment for something over a year, when an older branch of the family,
+supposed for a quarter of a century to be extinct, suddenly presented
+itself very much alive in the person of a middle-aged, middle-class
+American. Within three months the man's claim was substantiated, and
+estate, fortune, position, and home--as far as John Rallywood was
+concerned--had melted into thin air.
+
+During this period of disruption and trouble Counsellor, who happened to
+be distantly connected with him, came into his life. They did not meet
+very often and spoke little when together, but mutual knowledge and
+liking resulted. Friendship is a living thing: it cannot be made; it
+grows.
+
+Rallywood, when he turned to seek the means of a livelihood, found
+himself, as he said long afterwards, standing in the corridor of life
+with all the doors shut and no key to open them.
+
+His tastes and training alike led in the direction of a military career,
+and presently he went out to the Cape, where he spent a year or two in a
+police force which was in time disbanded, and he returned to England
+once more at a loose end.
+
+At this juncture Major Counsellor suggested to him the possibility of
+obtaining a commission in the little army of the Duchy of Maasau. This
+hint set him on the right track. The regiments of Maasau, though few in
+number, carried splendid traditions. Their ranks were drawn from a
+stolid, silent peasantry, and officered by a wire-strung, high tempered
+aristocracy, born of a mixed race, it is true, but none the less
+frantically devoted to the freedom and independence of their shred of a
+fatherland.
+
+In compliance with a private request on the part of Major Counsellor the
+British Minister at Revonde bestirred himself to procure a commission
+for Rallywood, who thus became a lieutenant in the Frontier Cavalry, and
+for more than five years had taken his share in riding and keeping the
+marches of Maasau gaining much experience in capturing smugglers and in
+superintending the digging out of snowed up trains. But life on the
+frontier, though crammed with physical activity and routine work, was in
+every other respect monotonously empty, and breaks in the shape of
+furlough were few and far between. Half liked, wholly respected, and a
+little feared amongst his comrades, but always remaining a lieutenant to
+whom now, the State owed eighteen months' arrears of pay, Rallywood, in
+return, owed to Maasau only the qualified service of an unpaid man, but
+gave it the full devotion of a capable officer.
+
+As to Counsellor, no one could quite account for his presence at Revonde
+at the present moment. He was supposed to be attached in some indefinite
+way to the Legation, but he described himself as a bird of passage,
+whose appearance in the European capital simply meant whim or pleasure,
+for he was growing old and lazy and could not be brought to account for
+his wanderings, which he assured those who ventured to enquire were
+chiefly undertaken in search of health. Nevertheless wherever he went or
+came something interesting in a political sense--and more often than
+not, in favour of British interests--was almost sure to happen.
+
+In former days he had filled the position of military attache to two or
+three of the more important embassies, and was said to be the best known
+man in Europe. He had, moreover, the right to carry upon his breast the
+ribbon and decoration of more than one exclusive and distinguished
+Order. Of the many rumours associated with him this saying was certainly
+true: that one could never enter the smoking-room of any diplomatic club
+in any city in Europe without standing a fair chance of encountering
+Major Counsellor warming himself beside the stove.
+
+Therefore he had naturally an enormous circle of acquaintance, each
+individual knowing very little about him, though he always formed an
+interesting subject of conversation, and a political opinion backed by
+his name became at once important.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+A GENTLEMAN OF THE GUARD.
+
+
+Shortly before 9.30 Rallywood presented himself at the granite palace,
+with its four cupolas, which M. Selpdorf occupied in his capacity of
+First Minister of State. After some slight delay he was ushered into a
+comfortable study, where he found Selpdorf with a reading-lamp at his
+elbow, glancing rapidly through a mass of papers that he threw one after
+another, with apparent carelessness, on the floor beside him.
+
+The chancellor of a small State might very well have been pardoned had
+he introduced a certain amount of what an old official used to call
+'desk dignity' into his dealings with those who approached him, but
+Selpdorf habitually affected an easy manner and an easy chair. He was a
+middle-sized man, possessed of a very round head, bald at the crown, but
+having still a lock of dark hair on the summit of his round forehead;
+very round eyes set far back in smooth holes, showing little lid; a nose
+blunt and thick over lips that might have been coarse, but were
+controlled, and betrayed a lurking humour at the corners, to which the
+upstanding moustaches seemed to add point. For all his peculiarity of
+aspect, he was a man who left an impression on the memory of something
+pleasing and attractive, especially in the minds of women.
+
+He received Rallywood with that air of deep personal interest which told
+with such happy effect on those whom he desired to influence.
+
+'Ah, my dear Lieutenant, I understood you were in Revonde, and took the
+advantage of your presence to put into effect a little plan which has
+been for some time in contemplation. I recollect having had the pleasure
+of meeting you not so long ago when you arrived in Maasau.'
+
+'Nearly six years ago, your Excellency,' replied Rallywood with a smile.
+
+'I can scarcely believe it to be so long. At any rate I remember
+perfectly that I had the honour of presenting you to his Highness as the
+latest addition to our Frontier Cavalry.'
+
+'Your Excellency might easily have forgotten. From the nature of the
+case that could not be possible with me.'
+
+Selpdorf listened with a little astonishment. This Englishman was not
+quite such a fool as one might have expected from the fact of his having
+been content to remain without preferment and only a proportion of his
+pay for over five years on the frontier. He had hoped to find the fellow
+adaptable, but this long-limbed, slow-spoken gentleman was not
+altogether so transparent an individuality as Selpdorf had led himself
+to expect.
+
+'But why have you secluded yourself for so long among those barbarous
+marshes and forests?' demanded the Chancellor in a rallying manner. The
+young man made no reply, though the obvious one was in his mind.
+
+'By-the-by,' resumed the Chancellor, as if struck by a new thought, 'I
+have heard that your countryman Major Counsellor has come to pay us a
+little visit in Maasau.'
+
+'He is here. I have just seen him,' replied Rallywood.
+
+Selpdorf's round eyes glanced once more at his companion. The simple
+directness of the reply was admirable but baffling.
+
+'Ah, he is invaluable, the good Major, quite invaluable! England may
+well be proud of him. He is one of the ablest men in Europe,
+besides'--here he smiled, showing a row of strong, even teeth--'besides
+being one of the most honest. For a diplomatist--what praise!'
+
+Rallywood met his glance imperturbably.
+
+'For a diplomatist, your Excellency?' he repeated.
+
+'But assuredly,' replied the Chancellor warmly: 'figure to yourself, my
+friend, the condition of politics if all statesmen were like
+him--honest! An invaluable man!'
+
+He paused for a reply, but Rallywood merely bowed. He felt that so much
+at least was expected of him on the part of England.
+
+'But now, monsieur, with regard to your own affair. You have been five
+years in the service of his Highness. And your command?'
+
+'At present fifty troopers at the block-houses above Kofn Ford and along
+the river. In the winter, during the long dark nights, when there are
+many attempts to run illicit goods across the frontier, I shall have,
+perhaps, a score or so more.'
+
+'And you are not tired of it?' M. Selpdorf raised his hands.
+
+'So tired, your Excellency, that I am half inclined to let a better man
+step into my shoes.'
+
+'But come, come, that is impossible!' returned his Excellency agreeably.
+'Are you also tired of our capital, of Revonde?'
+
+'I have had very little opportunity of growing tired of Revonde. I know
+nothing of it.'
+
+'But you would prefer Revonde, believe me.'
+
+At this moment an attendant appeared with a card upon a salver. Selpdorf
+read the name with the faintest contraction of his brows.
+
+'You will excuse me, M. Rallywood,' he said; 'I must ask you to wait in
+the ante-room for a few minutes.'
+
+The ante-room was a long pillared corridor, in which Rallywood found
+himself quite alone. He fell at once into speculations as to the meaning
+and aim of Selpdorf's late awakened interest in himself. Also the
+allusions to Counsellor had probably been made with calculated
+intention.
+
+Rallywood understood that each of these two men had the same end in
+view; each desired to dissemble his own character. And each of them
+succeeded with the many, but failed as between themselves. Selpdorf
+posed as the suave, sympathetic, good-natured friend of those with whom
+he came in contact; Counsellor, as a man of no account, a rugged
+soldier, honest, strong, outspoken, a good agent to act under the
+direction of more astute brains, but if left to his own resources
+somewhat blunt and blundering.
+
+To do Rallywood justice, he was far more occupied with this last thought
+than with the things which bore more directly on his own prospects and
+future. At this period his life was comparatively tasteless and void of
+interest; there was nothing to look forward to, and the recent past
+meant extremes of heat and cold, long solitary rounds ridden by night,
+and days rendered so far alike by iron-handed rule and method that one
+was driven to mark the lapse of time by the seasons, not by the ordinary
+divisions of weeks and months.
+
+As he lounged in a chair full of these thoughts a slight rustle, soft
+and silken, like the rustle of a woman's dress, caught his ear. He
+turned his head quickly. The corridor with its splendid pillars, which
+stood at long intervals, was steeped in the clear electric light, and
+from where he sat he could see that there was no person visible
+throughout its entire length.
+
+Then as his gaze travelled back it rested on something which had
+certainly not been lying where he now saw it at the time of his
+entrance.
+
+Not six paces behind him, stretched across the dark carpeting, in the
+very centre of the pillared vista, lay a woman's long glove.
+
+A woman's glove possesses a peculiar charm for all men. Perhaps it
+suggests some of the sweet mystery of womanhood. The first action of
+most young men in Rallywood's place would have been to raise it at once
+and to examine it, as though in some impalpable manner it could tell
+something of its unknown wearer, who might turn out to be the Hathor,
+the one woman in the world.
+
+But the circumstances of Rallywood's life, and perhaps also some
+exclusive element in his character, had heretofore set him rather apart
+from the influence of women. He had grown to regard them without
+curiosity, which is the last stage indifference can reach.
+
+It must be admitted that it was with a feeling akin to repugnance that
+he at last lifted the long, soft, pale-hued, faintly-scented _suede_
+from the floor and dangled it at an unnecessary distance from his eyes,
+holding it as he did so daintily between finger and thumb. Its subtle
+appeal to his senses as a man failed to reach him. It simply aroused an
+old feeling of reserve toward the sex it represented. His face altered
+slightly and he dropped it suddenly with an odd repulsion, as he might
+have dropped a snake, on a couch near by.
+
+Then he resumed his chair and turned his back upon it, till the
+reflection that the woman to whom it belonged must have come and gone
+while he sat thinking with his back to the corridor sent him wheeling
+round again.
+
+The glove still lay where he had placed it on the edge of the couch,
+palm upwards and with a suggestion of helplessness and pleading. It
+annoyed him unreasonably. He frowned and looked at his watch. Half an
+hour had passed since Selpdorf dismissed him.
+
+At that moment a guttural voice broke the silence of the house, and the
+heavy curtain over the door at the nearer end of the ante-room was
+thrust back by a brusque hand, and a tall, high-shouldered, handsome
+man, dressed as if he were about to attend some Court function, stood in
+the opening. Behind him Rallywood caught sight of a flurried and
+explanatory lackey.
+
+'Ah! so I have lost my way after all,' said this personage in a bland
+voice. 'A mistake! But I hope you will accord me your forgiveness,
+mademoiselle?'
+
+Rallywood sprang to his feet at this most unexpected ending and looked
+round.
+
+Close beside him stood a tall girl wrapped in a long cloak of fur and
+amber velvet. She was singularly beautiful, with a pale, clear-hued
+beauty. Her black, long-lashed eyes were on him and they were full of
+laughter.
+
+'Enter, then, Baron,' said the girl, glancing across at the courtier.
+'Did you guess you would find me here, or were you seeking monsieur?'
+and she waved her bare left hand towards Rallywood.
+
+'I lost my way, nothing more,' returned the Baron, coming forward; 'but
+perhaps, as in my heart, all roads lead towards----' He bowed deeply
+once more, this time stooping to kiss the girl's hand with a certain
+show of restrained eagerness.
+
+She drew back with a little impatient gesture.
+
+'I should not have been here, but for an accident,' she replied coldly.
+'In fact I was on the point of starting for his Highness's reception,
+had not monsieur detained me.' And, to Rallywood's amazement, she
+indicated himself.
+
+Before he could speak she pointed to his spurred boot.
+
+'Monsieur has set his heel on my poor glove,' she added.
+
+By his hasty movement in rising he had apparently dislodged the glove
+from its position on the edge of the couch. He stooped with a hurried
+word of apology and picked it up. On the delicate palm was stamped the
+curved stain of his boot-heel.
+
+'Do you always treat a lady's glove so?' she asked gravely, and held out
+her hand for it.
+
+Rallywood looked down at her very deliberately, and something that was
+neither his will nor his reason decided the next action. He folded the
+soft _suede_ reverently together.
+
+'No, mademoiselle,' he answered, as he placed it inside his tunic, 'I
+have never before treated a lady's glove--so. For the accident, I offer
+my deepest apologies.'
+
+She watched him with raised eyebrows and a slight derisive smile. Then
+she drew the companion glove from her right hand, and giving it to the
+lackey, who still remained in the background, she said--
+
+'Throw it away, it is useless, and tell Nanzelle to bring me another
+pair.'
+
+'Monsieur, with whom I have not yet the pleasure of being acquainted,'
+interrupted the Baron rather suddenly, 'monsieur is after all the lucky
+man. He retains what I dare not even ask for.'
+
+'Shall I call back the servant with its fellow for you?' mademoiselle
+asked haughtily. 'It is nothing to me who picks up what I have thrown
+away.' With this rebuff to Rallywood she placed her hand upon the
+German's, as if to ask him to lead her from the room, and added--
+
+'You wish for an introduction? Then allow me to present you to each
+other. His excellency the Baron von Elmur.' She paused, and her eyes
+dwelt for a moment on Rallywood's. 'A gentleman of the Guard.' And
+before Rallywood could explain the mistake the curtain had dropped
+behind them and he was left standing alone.
+
+In Baron von Elmur he recognized the oblique carriage of the head and
+the high-shouldered figure of the third man he had seen with the
+newspaper correspondents in the Grand Square that afternoon. Moreover he
+knew that the German had entered the ante-room through no mistake, but
+with some object in view. As for the girl, who was she and where had she
+come from? She was not of Maasau, since she had introduced him as
+belonging to the Guard, for not only was every officer of that favoured
+corps individually known, but it was further impossible for a Maasaun to
+make the slightest mistake with regard to any uniform. It was one of the
+boasts of the country that even a child could tell at a glance not only
+the special regiment, but the rank of the wearer of any uniform
+belonging to the Duchy.
+
+Rallywood had no time just then to pursue the subject further, as he was
+almost immediately recalled to the Chancellor's presence.
+
+'Now, monsieur,' began Selpdorf, as though no break had occurred in the
+conversation, 'you are in truth tired of keeping our dreary marches; is
+it not so?'
+
+'There are better places--and worse, your Excellency.'
+
+'Our gay little capital will be one of the better places, I promise
+you,' continued the Chancellor. 'A position in the Guard of his Highness
+has just become vacant. Am I right in believing that a nomination to
+that superb regiment would tempt you to remain with us?'
+
+Rallywood for once was a little taken aback.
+
+'A gentleman of the Guard.' He repeated the girl's words of introduction
+mechanically; then, putting aside the thought of her, he took up the
+practical view of the situation and answered, 'I am an Englishman, your
+Excellency, and though I have taken the soldier's oath to the Maasaun
+standard I have not taken the oath of nationality. I could not consent
+to become a naturalised citizen even of the Duchy of Maasau.'
+
+'Ah, so?' Selpdorf stroked his chin, then despatching the objection with
+a wave of his hand, he resumed, 'We must overlook that in your case. You
+have already served the Duke for five years with as sincere zeal as the
+truest Maasaun amongst us. We must remember that and overlook a drawback
+which is far less important than it seems.'
+
+He turned to a memorandum on the table and consulted it.
+
+'You were engaged in the affair at Xanthal, I see?'
+
+'Three years ago, your Excellency,' replied Rallywood in a tone that
+implied his powers of usefulness had probably become impaired by lapse
+of time.
+
+Selpdorf moved his shoulders. Here was a man throwing difficulties in
+the way of his own advancement. Yet he could not possibly be so
+indifferent to his own interests as he chose to assume.
+
+'To be plain with you,' Selpdorf said with an air of candour, 'the
+younger officers of the Guard have little experience. The latest fashion
+in neckties or the most charming dancer at the Folie absorbs their
+attention, to the exclusion of more important matters. There is, as you
+doubtless know, a certain admixture of French blood in the veins of our
+most noble families,' he finished abstractedly.
+
+Rallywood had no remark to offer upon this. The officers of the Guard
+bore a very distinct reputation. They were said to be a very pleasant
+set of fellows socially, unless one ran foul of their prejudices, but
+they were credited with a good many prejudices. As for his personal
+acquaintance with them, it was limited to acting as second in a hastily
+arranged duel fought out in the yard behind a little country railway
+station.
+
+'I should like to see a somewhat different spirit introduced, and to be
+assured that I could always rely on the presence of at least one
+cool-headed officer at the Palace. Your experience on the frontier has
+eminently fitted you for the position. To you, therefore, will be
+allotted the quarters reserved in the Palace itself for the adjutant of
+the Guard. May I have the pleasure of saluting you as such?'
+
+Rallywood hesitated. He foresaw certain difficulties, but they appeared
+rather attractive than otherwise at the moment. He threw back his
+shoulders, a light of laughter came into his eyes, he raised his head
+and looked into Selpdorf's face.
+
+'I thank your Excellency.'
+
+The Chancellor understood more than met the ear. He approached the
+subject delicately.
+
+'Then you will allow me to congratulate you, Captain Rallywood,' he
+said, bending forward to shake hands with his visitor in the English
+fashion. 'There may possibly be some trifling difficulties at the
+outset. The first step in any undertaking usually costs something, but
+you will not, I beg, permit yourself to be drawn into,--ahem, any
+shallow quarrels. Our friends of the Guard, you will understand, are a
+little prone to pick up even a careless word on the sword-point.'
+
+M. Selpdorf paused, and referred once more to the memorandum.
+
+'There has been some small hitch about the pay on the frontier of late?'
+he asked innocently.
+
+'A serious hitch for the last eighteen months or so, your Excellency,'
+replied Rallywood with a smile that did not reach his eyes.
+
+'Indeed? That must be remedied. The paymaster-General shall have a note
+upon your affair immediately, Captain Rallywood. Good-night.'
+
+Rallywood stepped out into the windy, frozen night, and also out of his
+old life into the new. Above him the stars, written in their vast, vague
+characters upon the night-blue vault of sky, shone with a keen lustre.
+Below his feet, with scarce a break in the great circle, it seemed as if
+they drew together in denser clusters and set themselves in luminous
+tiers. These latter were the lights of the city. For the Hotel du
+Chancelier stands high upon one of the twin ridges which form the ravine
+of the river, and upon whose converging slopes Revonde is built.
+Rallywood stood and looked down upon the dip and rise of the terraced
+city with a new interest, for now it held a future for him individually,
+a future which must be stirring and might be something more.
+
+The eyes of the girl whose glove he had trodden upon still challenged
+him from the starlit darkness, eyes made of starlit darkness themselves.
+He followed the broad black line of the river between its sweeping
+curves of lamps, broadening out seawards into hazy dimness. Then as a
+great bell across the water boomed out the hour he turned his gaze to
+the east, in the direction of the sound, to where the broken brightness
+of the crowding streets gave place to a majestic alignment of light and
+shadow, showing the position of the Ducal Palace upon the river bank.
+Behind and above it shone a blood-red gleam like an angry eye; this
+Rallywood knew to be the great stained dome of the historic mess-room of
+the Guard.
+
+Then the late lieutenant of the Frontier Cavalry laughed aloud in the
+dark, his blood tingled in his veins, for the priceless element of a
+vague, unknown danger and excitement had entered into his life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE GENTLEMEN OF THE GUARD.
+
+
+Members of great families frequently regard themselves as submerged
+individualities. They wilfully sink all identity of their own in the
+traditions handed down to them, and live as mere representatives of a
+line which bears in common a noble name. This principle, which has
+something to recommend it, was adopted long ago into the system of the
+Guard of Maasau, the officers of which were first gentlemen of the Guard
+and afterwards men in the private and ordinary sense of the term. There
+were eight of them--a colonel-in-chief, whose position became honorary
+after his elevation to that rank; a colonel, upon whom devolved the
+active command; a second in command, whose title of over-captain may be
+translated major; three captains, and as many subalterns. And every
+individual was drawn from the noblest blood of the country.
+
+Thus it will be seen that Rallywood was about to enter the best company
+in Revonde.
+
+On a lofty cliff above the gorge from which the Kofn issues to curve
+round the Palace gardens, and exposed to the four winds of heaven,
+stands an imposing square block of grey buildings. These contain the
+permanent quarters of the Guard. One whole side of the courtyard within
+is taken up by the domed mess-room with its necessary adjuncts and
+offices.
+
+Here on the day following Rallywood's interview with Selpdorf, three men
+lounged over their lunch. Any one of them, had he cared to take the
+regimental rolls from their brass-bound coffer in the ante-room, could
+have read his own name repeating itself down the columns as generation
+after generation lived through its identical life in the same
+surroundings, and died, most of them going to the devil with a fine
+inherited pride and even gracefully.
+
+Nearly every man who had crossed the page of the Maasaun annals had
+dined in that historic room, and each one of the men who now held the
+right to dine there had a hereditary interest, and in many cases a
+hereditary characteristic, to maintain. There was old walrus-faced
+Wallenloup; thin, dark, reckless Colendorp; Adiron, whose great bulk
+behind a cavalry sword was a sight for the gods, and so on; the three
+lieutenants following closely in the footsteps of the three lieutenants
+who had been before them; men who went to the rendezvous of a duel in
+all comfort, affecting to be infinitely more afraid of catching cold
+than of being killed; men who kissed the wife and dispatched the husband
+with equal skill and as little noise as might be; men who were feared by
+a rough, swaggering, raucous soldiery, whom they only knew through the
+hard-faced sergeants; men, in fact, who lived out their debonair,
+picturesquely evil lives to the satisfaction of themselves and of few
+others.
+
+On this occasion Colonel Wallenloup, the commandant, was not present. Of
+him it was told that while still a lieutenant he had been offered, as a
+reward for services rendered to the Crown, the command of any Maasaun
+regiment he might choose to select, and he had replied that he would
+rather be a lieutenant of the Guard than a field-marshal elsewhere. And
+so he remained to favour the mess with his somewhat blood-and-iron
+jokes. The mess-room was a spacious hall, and though only three men sat
+at table the place seemed full of life and colour from the black
+polished flooring to the carved and vaulted ceiling, from which hung in
+tattered folds the old banners of the regiment. Red hangings partially
+draped the dark walls, and over all the light from the stained dome fell
+in rich colour; while through the talk of the men ran the one weird
+sound that never ceased about those walls, the whimpering of the wind.
+
+Suddenly the door opened, and a young man, small and thin, with a faint
+down upon his upper lip, entered quickly.
+
+'Unziar has won!' he cried.
+
+'Won what?' asked Adiron, the senior man present, as he poured out
+another glass of wine.
+
+'Won his second match against Abenfeldt with seven to spare.'
+
+Adiron stretched his legs and leant back; his figure was well adapted
+for leaning back.
+
+'My good Adolph, explain yourself.'
+
+'Hadn't you heard of it? Why, they arranged it last night at Countess
+Sagan's.'
+
+'Abenfeldt fancies himself as a shot, but he forgot he had to do with
+Unziar,' laughed Captain Adiron.
+
+'Abenfeldt bet that he could shoot more swallows in half an hour before
+breakfast than any man in Revonde. That was in September, you know, and
+Unziar took him up--with service revolvers--and shot fifteen, winning
+easily. Abenfeldt can't get over it, and challenged him to a
+shooting-match again last night. I say,' Adolph broke off, and his face
+altered; he thrust out a little foot and surveyed the spurred boot that
+covered it critically, 'I've just ridden back from Brale. That new
+charger of mine bolted down the hill by the paling. I went to see
+Insermann; they had not been able to move him, you know.'
+
+'Well,' urged all three voices at once.
+
+'Insermann's dead. He died last night at dinner time.'
+
+The men's eyes shot for a second at Insermann's empty place, which he
+was never to occupy again.
+
+'Ah, I told him that scooping pass of his was a mistake,' commented
+Adiron. 'And the worst of it is that his death breaks the line of the
+Xanthal Insermanns. Poor old Insermann! he was the last of a good stock,
+and I, for one, don't like new blood. What have you to say about that
+pass now, Colendorp? If I am not mistaken, you defended it?'
+
+'Insermann was by three inches too tall,' replied the individual
+addressed. 'For a short man one would be hard put to it to discover a
+more useful----Hullo!'
+
+The folding doors had been flung open with a crash, and a man of fifty
+or thereabouts, dressed in the gorgeous green and gold of the Guard,
+strode in tempestuously. He was short and heavily built, with a
+weather-red face and a coarse, overhanging moustache, which gave him
+rather the expression of an angry walrus. So angry, indeed, was he that
+his words came volleying out inarticulately. In his hand he held a
+crumpled sheet of parchment.
+
+The men rose as he took his place at the head of the table.
+
+'Insermann's dead, and Selpdorf says----' The Colonel's choked
+ejaculations broke, his voice failed him, and he sent the paper
+fluttering from his hand across the silver and glass till little Adolf
+picked it up. In another moment Colonel Wallenloup was more coherent.
+
+'I am afraid I must have walked up the hill rather too quickly,' he said
+apologetically, after draining a great goblet of beer. 'However, it is
+not to be denied that M. Selpdorf begins to take too much upon himself.
+The entire administration of the State is in his hands, and yet he is
+not satisfied with that position! No, he aims even higher; he desires
+to nominate the officers of his Highness's Guard!'
+
+Every man present had his own peculiarity. The Colonel's reputation
+would not have stood so high as it actually did but for his insensate
+temper. Perhaps the anecdote told of him that, when discussing the point
+of having been ruled out of action during certain army manoeuvres he
+became so enraged that he pursued the umpire in question with a wooden
+tent hammer, had added more to his popularity than all his thirty odd
+years of service and his immense genius for fortification.
+
+Some of the Continental armies are always marking time, and they do not
+prize the most the man who marks time best, but the man who can bring
+some humour or touch of romance into the dullness of routine, and they
+prefer the humour to be led up to by the winding road of eccentricity.
+It was never dull with the Guard. They possessed officers who kept their
+world on the move.
+
+'Gentlemen,' said Wallenloup at length, when his last remark had been
+received with approval, 'I have the honour to inform you that M.
+Selpdorf has seen fit to appoint, _vice_ Captain Insermann, deceased,
+Lieutenant John Rallywood, of the Frontier Cavalry.'
+
+A silence followed this announcement.
+
+'Upon whose recommendation has M. Selpdorf taken this step?' inquired
+Captain Colendorp gravely.
+
+'Reasons of State--mere reasons of State. He had the audacity to tell me
+so.'
+
+'I understood, sir, that you had other views?' said Adiron.
+
+'Well, yes, we had virtually agreed upon our choice, I may say,
+gentlemen.'
+
+'Certainly, sir. And you made that clear to the Chancellor?'
+
+'I did so--perfectly clear. I told him in the most reasonable manner
+that we wanted no condemned rabble in the Maasaun Guard! I told him that
+we had practically decided on Abenfeldt in case of a vacancy occurring.
+I even went so far as to remind him that there had been Abenfeldts among
+us for four centuries.'
+
+'He couldn't meet that argument!' exclaimed Adiron.
+
+'No, he parried it, gracefully enough, I admit. He reminded me in turn
+that there had been Selpdorfs also in the Guard, and swore that had he a
+son of his own to nominate he must still at this moment have given the
+preference to this Englishman. I left him to reconsider the matter,
+however, and rode home, to find _that_ already waiting for me in my
+quarters,' and he pointed to the parchment in Adolf's hand.
+
+Adolf looked up with a smile.
+
+'He will not join immediately, sir, this Rallywood?' he said with his
+gentle lisp.
+
+'Not for a week.'
+
+'Then it doesn't really matter, you know,' added the young man.
+
+Wallenloup's red-shot eyes gleamed upon him suddenly.
+
+'As your commanding officer, sir,' he said grimly, 'I don't understand
+your meaning, but----' and an odd smile flickered about the savage lips.
+
+'As a private gentleman, Colonel----' put in Colendorp.
+
+'As a private individual I understand your meaning very well. But if I
+were here as your colonel, Lieutenant Adolf, by Heaven, sir, not all the
+officers of the Guard, past or present'--he rose to his feet as he
+spoke, and grasping the hilt of his sword glared round upon
+them--'should dare to hint at insult to a comrade!' and he drove the
+blade home with a clatter into its scabbard and strode out of the room
+as he had come, like a thunderstorm.
+
+The men waited in silence until the echo of his footsteps died away, and
+in the mind of each rose a vivid memory. It happened, from causes which
+might in the case of the Guard of Maasau be called natural, that the
+three present lieutenants, viz. Unziar, Varanheim, and Adolf, had joined
+on the same day, and by way of supporting the traditions of their
+immediate predecessors each instantly agreed to challenge each of the
+others, the result of which would in all probability have been the
+speedy occurrence of three fresh vacancies, in the list of officers.
+
+Wallenloup heard of this and sent for the lieutenants, whom he
+considered too valuable to be thus easily lost.
+
+'Gentlemen,' he began, 'I am about to enforce an old order that
+expressly forbids quarrels amongst the members of our corps. If you want
+to fight, fight some one else. There are plenty of men who stand badly
+in need of being killed. Turn your attention to them. But if any trouble
+should arise between any two of you, come to me. There has been enough
+of this kind of scandal about us lately, and therefore for the future we
+will do the thing quietly with a pack of cards, or, if you prefer it,
+with dice. The man who loses can--go. There is the river, or for choice,
+his own pistol. You understand me?'
+
+Varanheim looked at Unziar and Unziar looked at Adolf, and they smiled.
+
+'I think,' said little Adolf, 'we _might_ find others to brawl with.'
+
+'The river is abominably cold,' added Unziar.
+
+'And the same dish is served for us all,' concluded Varanheim.
+
+Wallenloup laughed.
+
+'I have laid the alternative before you, gentlemen,' he said, 'the cards
+or the dice.'
+
+This was the story that rose in the minds of the men round the mess
+table, and a minute later they joined in a simultaneous shout of
+laughter. Adiron's big face was flushed as he called for a special brand
+of champagne wherein to drink the Colonel's health.
+
+'He's magnificent--the old man!' he said when he could speak. 'Let him
+alone. He's equal to any mortal occasion! He reminds me of the day when
+his Imperial Majesty over the border complimented him on the appearance
+of the Guard, saying he should feel proud to number us amongst the
+regiments of the German army. "And I can assure your Majesty that the
+feeling of admiration is entirely reciprocal," says the C.O. "We should
+be happy to incorporate your army in ours!"'
+
+The men had heard the story often before, but it was greeted with all
+the relish of novelty, a quality which lives eternally in any anecdote
+that tells on one's own side.
+
+Before the laughter had subsided another man entered the room. He was,
+perhaps, nearer thirty than twenty, and the face under his dull,
+colourless hair was singularly pale, but there was promise of great
+strength in the long angular body.
+
+'My congratulations, Unziar.' Colendorp turned to the new-comer.
+
+'Thanks. By the way, have you heard of Insermann? Gone out, they tell
+me.'
+
+'Yes. And have you heard of the new appointment?'
+
+'No. But it's Abenfeldt, of course. The Colonel as good as promised him
+last year.'
+
+'Ever heard of Lieutenant Rallywood of the frontier?' demanded Colendorp
+in his slow way.
+
+'Yes, I do happen to know him.' Unziar looked round in some surprise.
+'He was the frontier fellow who undertook to be my second at the station
+when I fought De Balsas because he insisted that our trains were
+inferior to those in Germany. Rallywood--you don't mean to say?' a slow
+comprehension dawning upon him. 'But it's impossible! The fellow's an
+Englishman. How could such a thing be possible? On the frontier, yes,
+but not in the Guard!'
+
+Colendorp was a silent, reserved man, disliked by persons who met him
+casually in society, but to those who inhabited with him the quarters at
+the Palace he stood as the impersonation of the grim spirit of the
+Guard. He drew away from the table and crossed his legs.
+
+'The idea has at length occurred to one man,' he with his glance on
+Unziar's pale face, 'to M. Selpdorf, in fact.'
+
+Unziar looked back at his interlocutor, his eyes hardening.
+
+'Of course,' he said, bringing out each word distinctly, 'Rallywood must
+be got rid of.'
+
+'It will offend M. Selpdorf if his nominee be interfered with,' went on
+Colendorp.
+
+'I have already undertaken that little matter,' put in Adolf eagerly.
+
+There was an undercurrent of meaning in all this of which each man
+present was fully aware. Unziar was presumed to have very strong private
+reasons to propitiate rather than to offend the powerful Minister. But
+this happened to be a typical instance in which the interests of the
+corps over-rode those of the individual. Moreover the custom of the
+Guard required the individual most concerned to prove his loyalty at
+such times.
+
+Colendorp continued to gaze at Unziar.
+
+'We are much obliged to you, Adolf,' he said courteously; 'but in
+compliment to his comrades I feel sure that Unziar will hardly wish to
+allow any other to undertake this special matter.'
+
+Adolf would have spoken again, but Unziar stopped him.
+
+'As a personal favour, Adolf, leave it to me,' he said.
+
+Adiron, who had thus far taken no part in the discussion, now struck in.
+
+'But remember, Unziar, that you must act with caution. For obvious
+reasons there must be no apparent design. The dispute, whatever it may
+turn upon, must appear to come about naturally. Above all, it must not
+take place here.'
+
+'Precautions from Adiron!' remarked Colendorp with a thin smile. 'The
+affair becomes serious indeed!'
+
+'We cannot afford to offend England while Elmur is at work in this
+country. She is at this moment our very good friend,' Adiron observed
+apologetically. 'There will be many public occasions--at the Palace
+ball, for example.'
+
+'You may trust me to keep up appearances,' said Unziar. 'Then it is
+understood that I arrange the affair of Captain Rallywood at the Palace
+ball if possible. The matter may safely be left in my hands.'
+
+Once more the folding doors were thrown back, and between the crimson
+portieres appeared the face of Colonel Wallenloup, charged with a
+strange expression. He advanced a step or two into the room, then turned
+to introduce a man behind him.
+
+'Captain Rallywood, gentlemen,' he said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+DANGER SIGNALS.
+
+
+A week later Rallywood returned from the frontier to take up his
+appointment in the Guard. Advised by a note from Wallenloup that his
+quarters were not yet in readiness for him at the Palace, he drove
+direct to the Continental on his arrival in Revonde.
+
+Here presently Counsellor dropped in upon him. Rallywood was in his
+dressing-room, transforming himself as rapidly as possible into the
+likeness of an English gamekeeper; for a magnificent festivity in the
+shape of a masked ball was about to take place at the Palace. All the
+world had been invited, and as many of the world as could go were going,
+each with his or her own dream or purpose, as the case might be.
+
+Major Counsellor sat and surveyed his friend, occasionally offering
+suggestions and remarks.
+
+'Are you aware that the Guard of Maasau never condescends to show itself
+in Revonde in any costume but its own blazing uniform? I see you have
+your edition of it lying on the chair over there. Why are you not
+conforming with their amiable peculiarities?'
+
+Rallywood had his back to Counsellor at the moment.
+
+'So I have heard, but I do not join until to-morrow,' he replied in an
+expressionless voice.
+
+'And your quarters in the Palace? How about them?'
+
+'I shall also have the rooms to-morrow.' Then he wheeled round and his
+eyes lit on his companion. 'Hullo! I didn't notice you before. Is that
+your notion of the gentle art of masquerade? What are you meant to be--a
+sort of Tommy Atkins?'
+
+'I believed myself to be disguised as an officer and a gentleman,'
+returned Counsellor, rising to give Rallywood the full effect of his
+sturdy figure, clad in the uncompromising scarlet so dear to his
+country's heart. 'This is the uniform of the 30th Dragoons as worn in or
+about the year of grace 1730.'
+
+'Your old regiment?'
+
+Counsellor nodded. 'And my grandfather's,' adding, 'What's the matter
+with the dress?'
+
+'Nothing,' said Rallywood, laughing. 'Perhaps I imagined on an occasion
+of this kind you might possibly stoop to something more misleading than
+this blatantly British get-up.'
+
+'What were you expecting--a troubadour? I am satisfied to appear in my
+own character. Only a proportion of the people wear masks at this ball;
+it's an annual affair. Besides, life with a purpose is too wearing; one
+must always be on the alert and have the purpose in view, like the actor
+in a sixpenny theatre, who plays up to the gallery and keeps his eye
+open for the rotten egg of his enemy. The egg may not be thrown, but he
+must be ready to dodge it all the same. And--I have never excelled in
+dodging.'
+
+'Ah--just what the Chancellor thinks. He says he has an immense
+admiration for you as the most honest diplomatist in Europe.'
+
+'He put himself to the trouble of mentioning that fact to you, did he?
+Then I shall take the precaution of insuring my life. Anything might
+happen to a man of whom he has so villainous an opinion.'
+
+Rallywood was arranging his gaiters.
+
+'Why? You don't suppose Selpdorf is going to throw the egg? He spoke of
+you with absolute affection.'
+
+'My good John, he has already thrown it! Now I must harass myself to
+find out the reason,' said Counsellor. 'You have spoilt my evening out.
+Before I had no purpose; now you have thrust one upon me. You should
+have kept your news until to-morrow.'
+
+Rallywood was getting himself into his velveteen coat with a good deal
+of unnecessary violence.
+
+'I don't believe the Chancellor is so dangerous,' he said carelessly.
+'He is a consummate actor, but one knows it.'
+
+'Yes,' assented the Major thoughtfully; 'yet the moment to watch him is
+the moment when he acts that he is acting. With the others of us acting
+is troublesome; with him it is habitual and a pleasure. However, he has
+given you your company; the rank is substantial, as far as it goes, and
+at least the accompanying pay is not altogether visionary.'
+
+'Yes, he's done all that.' Rallywood was flinging some of his belongings
+back into his portmanteau.
+
+'The next thing will be to find you a mission.'
+
+'He has done that also.' Rallywood raised an expressive face. 'I am to
+reform the Guard!'
+
+Counsellor burst into a great laugh, but as suddenly grew grave.
+
+'They will take it kindly! Their welcome to you is likely to be ...
+interesting!'
+
+'So I expected. But I went down to the mess last week and was introduced
+by old Wallenloup. They were very civil.'
+
+'Ah! and since you left they have been very silent. They are overdoing
+it--too civil and too silent. Looks bad, you know.'
+
+'Oh, that's all right; Selpdorf told me not to be drawn into any shallow
+quarrels,' Rallywood answered with a smile.
+
+But the Major did not take up the smile. The two vertical lines above
+his fleshy nose deepened.
+
+'It strikes me, my boy, that you've got the devil by the tail this
+time,' he said gruffly, as his eyes rested for a moment on Rallywood;
+'but you know how to take care of yourself. Ready? We can drive to the
+Palace together. I have a carriage waiting.'
+
+The couple proceeded downstairs, bought cigarettes of the waiter, and
+started. The wind was howling in its usual twanging cadences down the
+broad streets, increasing in force as they gained the open, lighted
+embankment of the river, along which they passed for some distance
+before reaching the courtyard of the Palace.
+
+The great entrance hall was still full of arrivals, while up the wide
+central staircase trooped masks and dominos in a changing kaleidoscope
+of form and colour. Eager heads thrust this way and that, picturesque
+figures grouping and greeting, cavaliers of all periods, maidens of all
+nations, monks, barbarians, cardinals, queens, and clowns--sometimes the
+wisest heads under the most foolish caps--while here and there a few
+favoured paper-folk made desultory notes and sketches.
+
+The painted ceiling stretching overhead is one of the triumphs of
+Renaissance art. The identity of the master hand who achieved that
+marvellous work has been a mooted point in art circles for a couple of
+centuries or thereabouts, and quite a library on the subject exists. The
+Maasauns are very proud of their ceiling, prouder still of the
+controversy which has raged and still continues to rage around it.
+
+M. Selpdorf, as representing his master, stood at the head of the
+staircase, and received the guests with a good deal more politeness and
+discrimination than the Duke himself might have shown, for that
+personage was said to have an awkward habit of turning his back upon
+those whom he happened to dislike.
+
+Major Counsellor was greeted with effusion; Rallywood with raised
+eyebrows and a slight reserve.
+
+'I had hoped to welcome the new captain of the Guard this evening,'
+Selpdorf said in a low voice and with a significant glance at
+Rallywood's velveteens.
+
+'I have not yet joined, your Excellency. To-morrow I hope to have that
+honour,' returned Rallywood and passed on into the gallery beyond. This
+gallery, opening from the head of the staircase, ran round the great
+saloon, which served the purpose of a ballroom, and many of the guests
+were amusing themselves by looking down over the silk-hung balustrade on
+the dancers below.
+
+In the gallery Counsellor paused to say a word here and there to several
+persons, who, like Rallywood and himself, were without masks, but he
+seemed to have curiously little facility in penetrating disguises.
+Presently a burly old man in the glittering green and gold of the Guard
+disengaged himself from the curtains at the back of the gallery, and
+nodding a supercilious acknowledgment of Rallywood's salute, brought his
+hand down with a rough heartiness on Counsellor's shoulder.
+
+'Back again in Maasau, Major Counsellor. I'm glad to see you!' he said
+with the laugh in his small eyes marred by a wrinkle of suspicious
+cunning, an expression which seemed startling on what was at first
+sight a big, bluff, sensual face. 'What good wind has blown you back
+among us?'
+
+'Thanks, my lord;' Counsellor turned with ready response. 'I am glad to
+find that some of my old friends, especially Count Sagan, have not
+forgotten me,' he said simply.
+
+'We believed you had forgotten Maasau.'
+
+'Maasau will not allow herself to be forgotten!' laughed Counsellor.
+'She is a coquette, and demands consideration from all the world.'
+
+Sagan's face changed.
+
+'Yes, a coquette, who trifles with many admirers but who knows how to
+hold her own against them,' he replied significantly. 'Who is that?' he
+added, staring after Rallywood. 'I think I recognise him as an English
+lieutenant in the Frontier Cavalry.'
+
+'He is the same to-day,' said Counsellor.
+
+'What?' exclaimed Sagan. 'Why to-day? Has he, then, come in for one of
+your colossal fortunes?'
+
+'Who can say?' returned Counsellor. 'A fortune or--a colossal
+misfortune. Ah! there is Madame Aspard. Au revoir, Count.
+
+Counsellor passed on, perfectly well aware of the heavy meaning attached
+to the wilful ignoring of Rallywood's appointment to the Guard by its
+colonel-in-chief. There was certainly danger ahead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+GOOD LUCK AND A FIREFLY.
+
+
+Meanwhile Rallywood had come to an anchor beside one of the high
+embossed doors of gold and white which led from the gallery into various
+luxurious withdrawing rooms. As he leant against the lintel a voice
+suddenly said in his ear, as it seemed--
+
+'My dear lady, why have such scruples? They are the most detestable
+things in life and the least profitable. They poison pleasure even when
+they do not altogether deprive us of it. And what does one gain by them?
+Absolutely nothing, not so much as the good opinion of our friends, who
+can never be brought to believe we possess them,' said a man in a
+mocking tone.
+
+A distinctly uncomfortable sensation pervaded Rallywood's mind for the
+second which preceded the reply. The voice was Baron von Elmur's, and
+there was a note of admiration in it that he had reason to be acquainted
+with.
+
+A woman laughed, a light, provoking laugh, Rallywood, who was still held
+by the crush against the door, knew it well, but he breathed freely, for
+it was not the laugh he had feared to hear.
+
+'Nevertheless, Baron, I like scruples; they are always respectable, and
+therefore of use--sometimes,' the lady answered in a high, sweet tone.
+
+'Your husband, my Lord Sagan, has not found them indispensable in his
+career.'
+
+'But he is not a woman!' with a sigh.
+
+'A beautiful woman can dispense with everything except--her beauty! That
+makes fools of us all! Besides----'
+
+The rest of the sentence was lost, as Rallywood managed at length to
+force his way through the crowd, which was thickening rapidly.
+
+Then he came upon a group of men he knew, men from the frontier, from
+the marshes about Kofn Ford and the crags of Pulesco, men with tanned
+skins like his own, and the mark of the collar rim of their high
+military tunics round their throats. They were masked, and represented
+various original characters, and were enjoying themselves hugely. More
+than all were they astonished at being recognised so readily by
+Rallywood. Rallywood drew his finger round his throat by way of
+explanation. There was a general laugh, and the men scattered each to
+seek his own particular pleasure. Rallywood remained looking down on the
+dancers. There was in the back of his mind some desire to identify the
+lady whose glove was still in his possession. He fixed now on one tall
+domino, now on another, but without satisfaction. He was discontentedly
+coming to the point of knowing that he had made a fresh mistake, when
+he turned his head abruptly, with a vague sense of being looked at, and
+saw a black domino standing for an instant alone at the further end of
+the gallery. Even under the muffling silken folds he fancied he
+recognised the attitude of the girl he had met at the Chancellor's.
+
+He at once began to make his way through the crowd in her direction, but
+when next he looked she was gone. He descended to the salon, where he
+danced with more than one masked lady. His six feet of stature marked
+him out from the shorter Maasauns, and the tall athletic figure of the
+gamekeeper, who moved with so much of unexpected ease and grace, excited
+some attention.
+
+After an interval, as he stood back against the wall to allow a couple
+who had been following him to pass, they drew up in front of him.
+
+'I obey you, Mademoiselle,' said the man.
+
+His companion, who wore a black domino, made a gesture of dismissal;
+then she turned to Rallywood. 'You have been looking for me?' she said,
+as her late partner moved away.
+
+'But naturally, Mademoiselle,' replied Rallywood.
+
+'You know who I am?'
+
+'Not in the least. I cannot even make a guess, though I have been
+waiting to know since this day last week.'
+
+'It would have been easy to ask the question--of anyone,' she said with
+an odd intonation.
+
+'By no means. There are questions which cannot be asked--of anyone,
+because the answer touches too closely.' Rallywood pulled himself up
+with a sudden sense of being ridiculously in earnest.
+
+And then they were dancing.
+
+'Yet you are not a stranger in Revonde. Madame de Sagan could have
+answered your question--had you cared to ask it,' the girl said.
+
+'It did not strike me to ask her. I trusted to the fact that, belonging
+to the Guard, I must some day have the good fortune to find you again.'
+
+'You are patient!'
+
+'No,' returned Rallywood, 'I am not patient. But I know that all things
+come to him who waits. I wait.'
+
+'So I see, excellently!'
+
+'Have I not waited long enough to hear your name first from your own
+lips?'
+
+'Stop for a moment;' then standing beside him, she continued, 'Ask me
+to-morrow.'
+
+'If I am alive I will!' he laughed.
+
+He felt her hand move with a quick tremor on his arm.
+
+'I knew it! Which of them has challenged you? Unziar?' The swift
+question, echoing his own thought, took him completely by surprise.
+
+He passed his arm round her, for the waltz was nearing its end.
+
+'Shall we go on? No; no one has done me the honour of sending me a
+challenge.'
+
+'Let us have an end of this absurd mystery!' said the girl impatiently.
+'I am Valerie Selpdorf, and you are----'
+
+'John Rallywood of the Guard of Maasau!' he interposed. 'I had my
+commission from you in the ante-room of the Hotel du Chancelier. But for
+that I should have been more than half inclined to refuse it.'
+
+'I wish you had refused it! It may cost you--more than a man cares to
+pay. I thought my father held the power to give any commission he
+pleased, but one can never reckon with the Guard. They mean to kill you,
+Captain Rallywood! I wanted to warn you, but I think you know more,
+perhaps, than I can tell you or than you will tell me. What is going to
+happen? I want to help you--you must let me help you!'
+
+Rallywood laughed, but perhaps his arm drew her a little closer as they
+moved more slowly during the concluding bars of the waltz.
+
+'My dear Mademoiselle, I assure you that your fears are quite
+groundless. I am proud to belong to the Guard of Maasau, and they have
+so far shown no intention of rejecting me. As for duels, if there
+happened to be one--are not affairs common in Maasau? And afterwards,
+fewer funerals take place than one would suppose likely! Besides, M.
+Selpdorf's wishes cannot be lightly disregarded in Revonde.'
+
+'You will be drawn into a quarrel before the night is over.'
+Mademoiselle Selpdorf stated her conviction very plainly, without
+noticing his disclaimers.
+
+The music ceased. Rallywood spoke once more. 'To prove to you how little
+I anticipate anything of the sort, will you allow me to have the last
+dance on the programme?'
+
+'That is nothing! What can I do for you?' she exclaimed.
+
+'Expect me! If you would promise to expect me, I don't yet know the man
+who could stop my coming to you.'
+
+The words were lightly spoken, but Valerie Selpdorf, looking up into
+Rallywood's eyes, understood that he was likely to be able to make any
+words of his good. They were handsome eyes, rather long in shape, frank
+and steady, the iris of a dense grey bordering on hazel as became the
+sunburnt yellow of his hair and moustache, and at that moment they
+contained an expression which remained in Valerie's memory as the
+distinctive expression of his face. Whenever in the future she recalled
+Rallywood, she thought of him as he looked then.
+
+'I will expect you,' promised Valerie.
+
+They both knew that for the moment they stood together at one of those
+cross-roads where life and death meet, where moreover a look and a word
+convey a mutual revelation of character such as years of ordinary
+intercourse often fail to supply.
+
+Rallywood did not dance again; he contented himself with following the
+movements of the black domino. After a time she joined a little group
+of people with whom she stood talking. One of the group presently
+detached himself and glanced round as if searching for some one. It was
+Unziar of the Guard. He quickly perceived Rallywood and at once came
+towards him.
+
+'Allow me to recall myself to your memory, Captain Rallywood; I am
+Unziar of the Guard,' he said bowing, both voice and bow touching that
+extreme of punctiliousness which in itself constitutes an insolence.
+
+'The Guard are said to have long memories. I hope in that particular, at
+least, if in no other, to support their traditions,' replied Rallywood,
+with an air of cool and serene indifference said to be impossible to any
+but men of his race.
+
+'That is--something,' rejoined Unziar with a smile that belied its name.
+'We are somewhat exigeant in the Guard. We ask for more than a long
+memory--a long pedigree, for example, and a long sword.'
+
+'I have heard that also.'
+
+Unziar glanced sharply at him out of his pale keen eyes. The fellow was
+too non-committal to please his taste. To hound a coward out of the
+corps promised infinitely less difficulty and enjoyment than he had
+hoped for when he pledged himself to rid the Guard of the Englishman.
+For perhaps the only time in his life he wished he wore any uniform but
+the tell-tale green and gold, for he knew of the Guard that it was often
+their 'great name that conquered.'
+
+Spurred by this thought he looked Rallywood very straightly in the face,
+and the gleam of his eyes reminded the Englishman of glacier ice.
+
+'Knowing so many of our peculiarities, perhaps Captain Rallywood may no
+longer care to join us?' said the Guardsman.
+
+Rallywood laughed with absolute good-humour.
+
+'I both care and--dare!' he said pleasantly.
+
+Unziar's face cleared.
+
+'I am forgetting my errand,' he said with a slight change of tone. 'I
+have been sent by a lady to bring you to her. Will you follow me?'
+
+As they approached the group, the shorter of the two black dominoes
+spoke.
+
+'You need not trouble to introduce Captain Rallywood, Anthony. We are
+already friends; are we not, Monsieur?'
+
+The sweet high voice and the inconsequent childish laugh came upon
+Rallywood with a slight shock.
+
+'I could hardly have dared to claim so much,' he said; 'but I cannot
+forget that Madame de Sagan--'
+
+She laid her hand with a suspicion of caressing familiarity on his arm.
+
+'Hush, then! Do you not know that it is inadmissible to mention the name
+of a masked lady until the clock strikes midnight? Captain Rallywood has
+been stationed near the Castle at Kofn Ford; we have therefore
+met--occasionally,' continued the lady, addressing herself to
+Mademoiselle Selpdorf.
+
+'Captain Rallywood is luckier than most of us,' interposed another
+voice. 'He seems to have an enviable facility for appearing where we
+others in vain wish to be. Only last week----'
+
+A tall Mephistopheles in scarlet silk, whose high shoulders lent him
+added height, had joined them. His peaked cap and feather sparkled with
+lurid points of fire. Countess Sagan turned upon him.
+
+'But, Baron, where is then your domino? It is not yet midnight,' she
+exclaimed, her hand still remaining on Rallywood's arm.
+
+'Listen!' von Elmur raised his hand. 'The happy moment arrives when the
+beautiful faces we long to see----' He gave the rest of the sentence to
+the ear of Mademoiselle Selpdorf, who stood silently looking on at the
+little scene.
+
+At this instant the music broke off with a sudden clang; the dancers
+paused where they stood, as the great bell of the palace tower sent its
+strong, mellow boom of midnight out over the frost-bound city.
+
+Rallywood, on looking round an instant later, saw that masks and
+dominoes had disappeared. Opposite to him stood Valerie Selpdorf in a
+dress of some deep velvety shade, which bore, wrought upon its texture
+here and there, tiny horseshoes embossed in iridescent jewels. A diadem
+of the same shape crowned her dark hair. Yet all the richness and
+delicacy of the blended colourings struck Rallywood with only one odd
+remembrance--his own boot-heel outlined in Revonde mud upon a long
+_suede_ glove. The same association apparently occurred to Baron von
+Elmur. His glance fled from Valerie to Rallywood, and he smiled with
+some malice.
+
+'What have we here, Mademoiselle? The stamp of some idealised cavalry
+charger?' he asked. 'I should be eternally grateful if only I were--of
+the cavalry!'
+
+A sudden intense expression, like a spasm of hope or happiness, crossed
+Unziar's pale face in a flash. A word sprang almost involuntarily from
+his lips.
+
+'The Guard----' But the girl cut him remorselessly short.
+
+'I do not idealise either the Guard'--she paused, then went on without
+taking her eyes from Elmur's face--'or the cavalry. One has illusions,
+doubtless, but none so entirely absurd! I have idealised my own desire
+merely. I want good luck. I am "Good Luck!"' She spoke the last two
+words in English, smiling back at Elmur.
+
+The Baron bowed. He was not beaten yet.
+
+'That is well,' he exclaimed; 'since the cavalry and Guard are disowned,
+it means that the good luck is for the poor diplomat!'
+
+'Provisionally, yes,' said the girl.
+
+'Mademoiselle Selpdorf has already given this waltz to me,' said Unziar,
+stepping forward.
+
+But Mademoiselle Selpdorf placed her hand within the Baron's ready arm.
+
+'Later, Anthony,' she answered. 'His Excellency deserves a consolation
+prize, since my reading of "Good Luck" is not in the German language.'
+
+She turned away, and with her the group parted and scattered.
+
+'You are very much interested; is it not so?'
+
+Rallywood started. The Countess spoke petulantly.
+
+'Do you not know,' she added, 'that the custom in Revonde holds you to
+the partner with whom you find yourself when midnight rings? Valerie
+Selpdorf is embarrassed with partners--my cousin Anthony Unziar, who
+desires perhaps herself, but most certainly her fortune, and our
+delightful German Minister, who uses all means that come to hand to win
+Maasau for his master! But I should not say these foolish things to you,
+who are of the other party.'
+
+They were dancing by this time, her head near his shoulder, her voice
+soft in his bending ear.
+
+'Of the other party?' he repeated. 'I flattered myself that you said
+something else just now.'
+
+'Yes, a friend; but I made a mistake--I have none--no, not one true
+friend!' the voice said passionately in his ear, 'and my husband----'
+
+Rallywood almost lifted her clear of some crowding couples, and then
+gently released her. In a vague way he felt the force of her appealing
+beauty as he had felt it intermittently for some months past. It touched
+him for the moment, but he was apt to forget both it and the very
+existence of the woman herself directly he parted from her.
+
+'Count Sagan is colonel-in-chief of the Guard?' he asked, and the
+question seemed to fit in with her train of thought.
+
+She made no immediate response, but with a light touch on his arm led
+him to a flower-banked apartment, about which a few couples were
+scattered in various convenient nooks. She sank upon a sequestered
+settee, and made room for him beside her.
+
+'Yes, he is colonel-in-chief of the Guard because they think him too old
+to act any longer as its real commandant. He was the first soldier in
+Maasau and the most unequalled sportsman. He was all these things, and I
+am proud of them! But look at me!'
+
+She rose languidly and stood before him. Rallywood saw a slight woman,
+tall and exquisitely fair, who carried her small head with its gleaming
+coronet royally. Her skin and her soft flushed cheeks had the pure,
+evanescent quality of a child's complexion. Moreover, her chief charm
+was perhaps her air of child-like innocence. Isolde of Sagan had seldom
+looked more lovely; she was honestly touched by self-pity, and was
+posing as the proud yet disillusioned wife of a man hopelessly older
+than herself, and for the time being she believed earnestly in that view
+of her lot.
+
+'All these things have been,' she added softly, her eyes filling with
+tears, 'but _I am_! Can I ever be satisfied with what only was?'
+Rallywood's face altered. Like any other man in such a position he felt
+immensely sorry for her. She saw the advantage she had gained, and at
+once the coquette awoke in her.
+
+'Captain Rallywood,' she sank down beside him again, 'I need a friend in
+whom I can trust, who will ask nothing of me, but who will give me all
+the things I most want.'
+
+The interpretation of this enigmatical speech was left to the ear, for
+the young Countess was gazing at her big black fan, where luminous
+fireflies hung tangled amongst the dusky feathers. Quickly with some
+dissatisfaction she became aware that Rallywood was not looking at
+her--as he should have been doing--but staring in front of him with a
+grave expression. Well, she knew she could make him look at her as she
+desired--yet. It was but a matter of time.
+
+'I think you may count upon me,' said Rallywood at last. He believed in
+her, which was good; moreover, he meant what he said; yet the speech was
+wholly lacking in the flavour which to the Countess Sagan was the
+flavour of life.
+
+'After all, it is little to promise, and I may not need your friendship
+for very long,' she replied, plucking a glittering firefly from her fan
+and laying it on his sleeve with her sweet light laugh. 'Like a firefly
+I shall dance out my short night, and die quickly before life grows
+stale!'
+
+Rallywood took out his cigarette case of Alfaun leather-work, and
+dropped the firefly with its sparkle of diamond-dust into it.
+
+'I don't like to hear you say that,' he said in his quiet way, which the
+listener decided might mean so much or so little. 'We must all go out
+some time, I suppose, but one always wants the beautiful things to live
+for ever.... Meanwhile, can you spare me another dance?'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE CLOISTER OF ST. ANTHONY.
+
+
+The night was drawing to a close. The long supper room was almost
+deserted. Amongst the lingerers were a few officers in the uniform of
+the Guard, who stood talking together in one corner.
+
+'The fellow has given you no chance,' Adolf was saying gloomily.
+
+'Have him in here! Kick him in here, if necessary!' said Colendorp.
+
+'I don't think you will find him reluctant, drawled Unziar. 'I have
+spoken with him already this evening, and I--ah--rather liked what he
+said.'
+
+'Then why haven't you arranged it? To-morrow he joins--and he must never
+be permitted to join the Guard! We might have asked Abenfeldt to remove
+him, but the Guard has up to the present day been able to set its own
+house in order,' added Colendorp with a sour glance at Unziar. 'Has his
+Excellency the Chancellor thrown out too powerful a hint about the
+fellow?--I saw Mademoiselle dancing with him this evening--I mean a hint
+too powerful to be disregarded by those who wish to retain the good
+opinion of M. Selpdorf!'
+
+Unziar scowled.
+
+'I permit no one--not one of my own regiment--to insult me,' he rejoined
+with a white blaze of anger on his pale face, and the wine in his hand
+trembled.
+
+Adolf suddenly stretched across to take up a decanter, and catching the
+glass with the edge of his heavy epaulet, knocked it from Unziar's
+fingers.
+
+'We are losing sight of the main question,' he said. 'May I suggest,
+sir,' to Colendorp, who happened to be the captain of his own squadron,
+'that it is unusual to be obliged to act so carefully as we have been
+advised to do in this case?'
+
+Colendorp's dark face grew darker, but the honour of the Guard over-rode
+all personal considerations.
+
+'I have been hasty, Unziar,' he said in a stifled voice after a slight
+pause.
+
+Unziar bowed and continued as if the interlude with its covert allusions
+had not taken place.
+
+'It has been difficult to get at Rallywood this evening. Yet let us see
+how he shoots before we conclude that he has any rooted objection to
+handling a pistol. I agree with Captain Colendorp, that the affair
+should be brought off to-night. I will go and find the Englishman.'
+
+He had already walked towards the broad arched doorway, when among the
+palms and the hangings which shrouded it two men appeared. One was
+Counsellor, in his blazing red uniform, beside him Rallywood's tall
+figure, clad in soft brown tones of velveteen, looked almost black.
+
+Behind them again appeared other faces.
+
+Rallywood took in the meaning of the situation at a glance. Without any
+perceptible pause he held out his hand to Counsellor.
+
+'Well, good-bye, Major, since you are going. I will turn up to-morrow as
+early as I can,' he said.
+
+Counsellor understood also. In his position it was impossible to do
+anything for Rallywood. As an agent secretly accredited by the Court of
+St. James's, he must hold aloof and neutral in all personal quarrels. He
+appreciated the tact with which Rallywood dismissed him from a scene
+which promised to be distinctly awkward, but his hand itched to shoot
+down the flower of the Guard of Maasau for the insolence that dared to
+doubt the worthiness of an Englishman of birth to hold a place among
+them.
+
+'Good-bye, Rallywood,' he said gruffly, and turned on his heel to find
+himself face to face with Baron von Elmur and one or two officers of the
+Frontier Cavalry.
+
+'There is about to be a storm, Major, observed Elmur, passing Counsellor
+with a cool nod.
+
+'So it seems. A storm in a teacup!' retorted the Major derisively.
+
+Meanwhile Rallywood, with the men of the Cavalry, his old
+brother-officers, behind him, advanced to meet Unziar.
+
+'We of the Guard are hoping to break glasses with you gentlemen of the
+Cavalry before the night is over,' began Unziar, alluding to a fashion
+amongst the military contingent in Maasau of taking wine together and
+breaking the glasses afterwards as a sign of unalterable good feeling
+and mutual loyalty. Unziar included Rallywood with the two officers
+beside him in this invitation, by a slight inclination of the head.
+
+The three men accepted, but there was a little stiffening in the
+attitude of each, for Rallywood had friends here who were resolved, if
+only for the honour of the Frontier Corps, to see their late comrade
+through the coming trouble.
+
+Before the wine filled the glasses, Adolf was already deep in the story
+of Unziar's shooting-match with Abenfeldt.
+
+'Allow me the honour of drinking with you, Monsieur,' said Colendorp to
+Rallywood. 'It was in truth a notable performance; we have never had
+even in the Guard a surer shot than Unziar,' he added, alluding to the
+anecdote.
+
+Rallywood had just time to make up his mind and determine upon his
+course of action.
+
+The glasses clinked together, and then clashed upon the floor, where the
+men set their heels upon them. Then Rallywood turned to Unziar:
+
+'I compliment you, Lieutenant Unziar,' he said. 'I already knew that you
+were a swordsman not easily to be matched; since, in fact, the little
+affair at Alfau, when I had the pleasure of acting as your second. But
+the pistol is, I venture to say, another matter.'
+
+Unziar set his shoulders back with an indescribable suggestion of
+scornful defiance.
+
+'May I ask you to state precisely what you mean, Monsieur?' he answered.
+
+'I mean that although a man may shoot any number of swallows of a
+morning before breakfast, it does not follow that he can hit a man at,
+say, twenty paces.' Rallywood spoke deliberately.
+
+The whole group of men listened in silence. Then Unziar leant towards
+Rallywood with a smile.
+
+'We can but try, Captain Rallywood,' he said gently.
+
+Although everyone in their immediate neighbourhood was listening, from
+the other side of the hall they looked, no doubt, like a group of tall
+men engaged in the ordinary conversation and common amenities of
+society, the only noticeable difference being that Unziar was a little
+more deprecating and low-voiced than usual. Elmur, standing near by,
+filled his glass and drank, with a silent nod at Unziar.
+
+'I shall be delighted to assist you in settling the question,' returned
+Rallywood; then, consulting his card, he added, I find I have an
+engagement for the last dance, some twenty minutes hence. May I
+recommend the interval to your consideration?'
+
+The two frontier men stepped forward simultaneously to offer their
+services to Rallywood. He thanked them, and was about to accept, when
+Captain Adiron interposed.
+
+'If either of these gentlemen will resign in my favour I shall feel it
+an obligation, as I can then offer myself to Captain Rallywood as one of
+his seconds.'
+
+Courtesy demanded that Rallywood and his friends should fall in with
+this proposal, and Rallywood, replying to Adiron, added:
+
+'You have heard exactly what passed between Lieutenant Unziar and
+myself, and I am sure I cannot do better than leave the matter in your
+hands in conjunction with my friend, Colonel Jenard.'
+
+Colendorp and Adolf, as representing Unziar, accompanied Rallywood's
+seconds to make the necessary arrangements. Meanwhile, Rallywood
+strolled back to the gallery above the ballroom, and looked down at the
+dancers. He could not see Valerie, but he remembered Selpdorf and his
+injunctions to avoid a quarrel, and smiled as he thought over the words,
+since the Chancellor must have been perfectly aware that he had pushed
+an unwelcome foreigner into a position that could only be held by force
+of arms, even in the case of a Maasaun candidate of noble blood. At that
+moment he saw his own position clearly. He knew himself to be an
+unconsidered unit in the big game of diplomacy that was being played
+over his head, and he remembered that the day of human sacrifices is not
+yet, as many suppose, quite a thing of the past. The gods are changed,
+or called by other names, and the high priest no longer dips his hands
+in the actual blood of the victim; but the whole deadly drama goes on
+repeating itself as it always must while the generations of men have
+their being under various modifications of the primeval system of the
+strong hand. That his life might be deliberately requisitioned by
+Selpdorf to forward some secret policy of his own was by no means an
+impossible supposition. Rallywood glanced at the clock. In another
+quarter of an hour he must either be dancing with Valerie Selpdorf or
+lying dead in the famous Cloister of St. Anthony, which overlooked the
+river, and where many another man had died under much the same
+circumstances.
+
+Rallywood laughed again and turned on his heel. At that period it did
+not seem to matter greatly which way it ended, but he was going to carry
+the undertaking through with what credit his wits afforded him.
+
+In the meantime the Cloister of St. Anthony had been lit up from end to
+end with a brilliant light, and while the other two seconds went to
+fetch their respective principals to the spot, Adiron and Adolf
+exchanged a word or two as they waited.
+
+'The Englishman took it very well,' remarked Adiron.
+
+'Devilish well,' lisped little Adolf; 'he made rather a favour, of it
+just to satisfy Unziar, you know! He's too sure of himself, this
+Rallywood. If he kills Unziar, which is unlikely, I shall have to finish
+the affair myself!' with a frowning importance that sent Adiron into one
+of his ready roars of laughter.
+
+The Cloister was still echoing with the sound when Rallywood,
+accompanied by Jenard, arrived from the other side of the palace, where
+the state rooms were situated. On the way Jenard explained to Rallywood
+that the procedure decided upon as being best suited to the requirements
+of the case was simply alternate shots at twenty paces.
+
+Rallywood and Unziar being placed, one of the men sent a coin spinning
+up into the air. Then followed a long minute of silence.
+
+St. Anthony's Cloister looks inward towards a quadrangle; the outer side
+bordering the river has been glazed in, but in the interval of waiting
+Rallywood could hear the water plashing and sobbing against the
+foundations of the old walls, and the wild sound of the _tsa_, sweeping
+down from the snowy frontier above Kofn Ford, as it wailed and howled
+drearily along the dark waters. He almost started when Adiron,
+approaching him, said:
+
+'You have won the first shot, Captain Rallywood.'
+
+'Then I am afraid I must beg of you to do me the great favour of
+rearranging the affair,' replied Rallywood; 'for if I should be
+unfortunate enough to kill Lieutenant Unziar, or even to disable him,
+the question at issue between us must remain undecided for at the best
+an indefinite time, and possibly for ever. If you recollect, the matter
+over which he was pleased to differ with me was my expressed opinion
+that though a good shot may bring down swallows to perfection, he might
+miss a man at a moderate distance.'
+
+'You have won the toss,' remonstrated Adiron.
+
+'Yes, unluckily. But I feel sure that Lieutenant Unziar will be kind
+enough not to hold me to that, since it is evident that the first shot
+should be his.'
+
+Adiron grinned. It was his way of showing many mixed emotions.
+
+'I like your way of conducting a dispute, Captain Rallywood,' he said;
+'but as your second I must warn you that it is the worst luck in the
+world to refuse luck. You have won the toss. In declining to profit by
+it you are paying court to death.'
+
+Rallywood shrugged his shoulders.
+
+'I may prove my point,' he retorted, smiling.
+
+'As for that, it might be decided on a different basis later on,' urged
+Adiron.
+
+For the second time that night Rallywood looked at his watch.
+
+'I have an engagement in seven minutes,' he said. 'I shall be glad if
+you will convey my meaning to Lieutenant Unziar.'
+
+'As you like,' said Adiron; 'but in case of accident I should like to
+take the opportunity of saying to you now, that in the whole range of my
+experience I have never derived more pleasure from the attitude of a
+principal than I have on this occasion from yours.'
+
+Adiron concluded with a bow and recrossed to the other second. Since the
+Englishman was determined to go to his grave in so excellent and gallant
+a fashion, by heaven, it was Victor St. Just Adiron who would escort him
+to its brink with all the honours of a fine and hereditary courtesy! He
+was a man quite capable of losing himself in a cause; therefore, as he
+approached the other seconds, he came as a partisan of Rallywood's,
+resolved that his man should have his will in spite of all or any
+opposition.
+
+'My principal,' he began, 'has just pointed out that this meeting is
+rather in the nature of the justification of an opinion than a quarrel
+in the ordinary sense;' then, repeating Rallywood's contention, he
+added, 'You will see that it remains for Lieutenant Unziar to prove
+himself in the right.'
+
+Colendorp threw out a bitter oath, Adolf objected softly, and Jenard
+stood silent and in dismay. What could Rallywood mean by throwing away
+his life? But Adiron backed up Rallywood; he was going to bring this
+thing to pass! Rallywood should have a last satisfaction in this life,
+because he was worthy of it.
+
+'If Lieutenant Unziar chooses to withdraw his opinion,' he said, 'of
+course Captain Rallywood will not go any further into the matter. For
+the rest, he has an appointment in less than seven minutes. On his
+behalf I can but insist that his suggestion affords the only possible
+way out of the difficulty.'
+
+Reluctantly the other men yielded. Rallywood had gained a moral
+advantage. If he were destined to die, he would die in a manner that
+would go down into the history of the Guard. Hastily and in accordance
+with the request of Rallywood, the change of procedure was explained to
+Unziar.
+
+The two opponents stood absolutely still, Rallywood's face wearing the
+expression of one who is politely interested in something that is
+happening to somebody else.
+
+At the signal Unziar raised his pistol and fired.
+
+Rallywood stood in his place for some thirty seconds, while there was a
+sound of splintering glass as the bullet rushed out into the darkness
+above the river; then he advanced smiling.
+
+'It seems,' he said,'that I was right.'
+
+Unziar stared at him.
+
+Rallywood handed his pistol to Jenard, and bowing to the assembled men
+ceremoniously, he went on:
+
+'I hope we may consider the affair concluded, and as I am engaged for
+the dance that is about to begin, I trust you will excuse me.'
+
+And with another bow he was gone. No one spoke for a little while, then
+Unziar walked towards the others with no very pleasant face. That
+Rallywood had done a thing above reproach, and in a manner above
+reproach, made it none the easier for his pride to accept the result.
+But he was above all considerations and before all considerations true
+to himself--to Anthony Unziar.
+
+'Captain Rallywood has made his point and a reputation,' he said at
+last. 'I think, Colendorp, you will agree with me that as men of honour
+we must consider the matter ended.'
+
+'And in Captain Rallywood's favour?' asked Colendorp suddenly.
+
+'Certainly. What do you say, gentlemen?' Adiron spoke with warmth.
+
+'I suppose we must concede that it was neatly done, and that Captain
+Rallywood deserves his success,' agreed Adolf with some constraint.
+
+Unziar's generosity rose to the occasion.
+
+'Our gain in the Guard is your loss in the Cavalry, Colonel Jenard,' he
+said handsomely.
+
+Jenard acknowledged the implied compliment, and went off leaving the
+three Guardsmen together.
+
+'We shall have to swallow the Englishman after all,' said Colendorp
+blackly. 'How came you to miss him, Unziar?'
+
+Unziar raised his eyebrows.
+
+'Who can tell? Luck, I suppose,' replied he. 'But I, for one, am not
+sorry. The man's worth keeping.'
+
+'He shapes well,' commented Adolf. 'But how will the chief take it?'
+
+'I am going to find the Colonel and tell him what has happened,' said
+Unziar. 'I don't know how you fellows feel about it, but I say for
+myself that the Guard might have done a good deal worse.'
+
+Colonel Wallenloup was at that moment engaged in promenading the
+ballroom with Valerie Selpdorf on his arm. She belonged to that
+sufficiently rare type of girl whose society is sought and enjoyed by
+those older men who, as a rule, are content to stand by and watch the
+current of younger life sweep by them, men who are in no sense gallants,
+but who find a strong attraction in talking to a young and clever woman
+on all kinds of subjects that too often lie outside the domain of the
+thoughts of youth. Youth, engrossed in the problem of self, persistently
+ignores those far more varied and profound problems to be found hidden
+in more experienced hearts and lives.
+
+Wallenloup, who distrusted all women and was accordingly disliked by not
+a few, always claimed a waltz with Valerie whenever he had the good
+fortune to meet her. To him she was a woman worth talking to first, and
+a pretty girl afterwards.
+
+Their dance having concluded, Wallenloup walked down the room with his
+partner, continuing his monologue. Valerie had been very silent, but the
+Colonel had more to say than usual, and his subject happened to be a
+very scathing condemnation of outside interference with the affairs of
+the Guard. Valerie listened without words. Perhaps her heart beat more
+quickly, and there may have been more anxiety in her mind as to the
+final upshot of the case in point than her companion could have guessed.
+But she showed a flattering amount of interest in his opinion, although
+she was well aware that the question was probably being settled once for
+all, as far as Rallywood was concerned, in St. Anthony's Cloister,
+without the help of Colonel Wallenloup.
+
+Suddenly she leant a little more heavily on his arm.
+
+'My dear Mademoiselle, what is the matter?' exclaimed the Colonel. 'You
+are pale. What is it?'
+
+'I am tired, and the saloon has become so hot, but--thanks, I see my
+next partner coming,' she answered as Rallywood came towards them.
+
+Wallenloup looked down at her with some reproach.
+
+'This fellow?' he said.
+
+'But why not?' she replied with a little smile. 'Is he not one of the
+Guard? Can I aspire to anything higher?'
+
+'Captain Rallywood is not yet of the Guard!' said the old soldier; then
+he bowed coldly and turned on his heel, without giving any symptom of
+having recognized Rallywood beyond his scornful words.
+
+'I have come, Mademoiselle,' said Rallywood.
+
+The girl's pale cheeks were now touched with a delicate carmine, such as
+shines between the fingers of a hand held up against a light. The flush
+seemed to heighten and enhance her beauty, or rather it lent her a novel
+kindling charm that struck home upon Rallywood's mood.
+
+'What have you been doing?' she asked with interest.
+
+'Breaking glasses with the Guard,' he replied.
+
+'That ceremony occasionally includes the use of a sword or a pistol.'
+
+'I have used neither,' he replied.
+
+'Are you then also a diplomatist?' she asked with quick scorn.
+
+Rallywood pulled his moustache. He did not pretend to understand women,
+but that Mademoiselle Selpdorf should now despise him for escaping a
+danger she had half an hour ago trembled over and prayed to avert,
+seemed at best rather inconsistent.
+
+'I have attempted to be diplomatic now and then, perhaps,' he said, 'but
+not always with conspicuous success.'
+
+'Diplomacy was never meant,' she said, looking frowningly at him through
+her black lashes, 'never meant to be a private virtue. Its only excuse
+lies in a national necessity.'
+
+'M. Selpdorf instructed me to avoid a quarrel,' rejoined Rallywood.
+
+'What do you suppose he meant,' she asked bitterly, 'knowing you had to
+deal with the Guard?'
+
+'Ah!' and a slow smile dawned in his eyes; 'now I wonder what he meant
+knowing I had to deal with the Guard?'
+
+Valerie frowned again; her words were not particularly expedient under
+the circumstances, but she disliked having them flung back at her.
+
+'I beg your pardon. Of course I know nothing of--of these things. The
+matter concerns you only. But I thought, and I am sorry for the mistake,
+that you looked like a man!'
+
+There was a jingle of spurs behind her as she was about to turn away,
+and Colonel Wallenloup strode up hurriedly.
+
+'Captain Rallywood, why are you not wearing the uniform of your
+regiment--of the Guard?' he asked in a loud tone.
+
+There was a stir amongst the people about them; many stopped and drew
+nearer to hear the end of this unprecedented conversation.
+
+'Because I intend to resign my commission to-morrow, sir,' replied
+Rallywood haughtily.
+
+'On the part of the Guard, I beg of you to reconsider that decision,'
+urged Wallenloup.
+
+He shook hands gravely with the young man, then detaching a star of
+gun-metal from his breast, he awkwardly attempted to fasten it to the
+lapel of Rallywood's coat. 'I see you have not the star of the Guard.
+May I give you mine? Unziar, see to this; I cannot attach it.'
+
+'No, Colonel Wallenloup; that should rather be my duty,' said the
+Countess Sagan, who happened to be standing by.
+
+Wallenloup grunted.
+
+'As the wife of our colonel-in-chief, madame, I feel sure your kindness
+will be appreciated,' he said grimly.
+
+Madame de Sagan's blue eyes glanced up into Rallywood's face as her
+fingers touched his breast.
+
+'No, as your friend,' she said softly.
+
+Then all at once Rallywood discovered how numerous were his friends and
+well-wishers in Maasau. He was overwhelmed with congratulations and
+introductions, but the memory of that night which lingered longest with
+him was the tall figure of Valerie Selpdorf standing aside and looking
+coldly on. She expressed no pleasure at the turn events had taken, she
+offered no congratulations, but she met Unziar with what was only too
+plainly a mocking comment on the little scene, and the next moment was
+floating down the long room in the young Maasaun's arms to the music of
+the last waltz.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+ONE WOMAN'S DIPLOMACY.
+
+
+There are men who though conspicuously in the world are never of it.
+Counsellor was one of these. He gave the impression of being a
+spectator; one who looked on at the play of common ambitions and
+intrigues with an amused and impersonal interest. He was drawn into no
+quarrels. Those who hated him most continued to shake hands with him,
+and none could accuse him of being a partisan. Yet he was rather
+truculent than meek, entirely ready to give his opinion, often with a
+surprising frankness, but maintaining throughout the complex relations
+of his life a superb reserve that formed a defence behind which neither
+favour nor enmity could penetrate.
+
+He stayed on at Revonde, though the _tsa_ continued to blow
+relentlessly. Affairs were yet in a chaotic condition and he lingered
+grumblingly at the club, declaring it was too cold to travel, and
+apparently finding his chief relaxation in privately deriding Rallywood
+for the favours which Revonde society was thrusting so lavishly upon
+him.
+
+In the untiring whirl and tangle of court life and gaiety Rallywood
+lived and moved with a growing enjoyment that half surprised himself,
+and for which he accounted on the score of change from the dull
+drudgery of the frontier. His acceptance by the Guard had been thorough;
+even the colonel-in-chief, Count Sagan, whose strongest point was not
+courtesy, had given him a pronounced recognition. The pretty Countess
+demanded a good deal of his attention and attendance, and this fact
+brought down upon him some of Counsellor's most scathing jeers.
+
+'Gallantries are in vogue, my boy, and you are qualifying for a high
+place amongst the Maasauns,' he said. 'She is a deuced pretty woman. I
+offer you my compliments.'
+
+'She is pretty,' replied Rallywood, 'but there are a good many people in
+Maasau who think her handsomer than I do.'
+
+'Yet you tell me that you are again on your way to her house this
+evening. Can't you get through the day without a glimpse of her?'
+
+'Does it seem so bad as all that?' asked Rallywood reflectively. 'Yes, I
+suppose I like going there; yet as I have said before, there are a good
+many people who appreciate her more than I do.'
+
+'Then what in the world takes you there?'
+
+An odd expression grew slowly into the young man's face.
+
+'Because of the other people, I suppose,' he repeated dreamily.
+
+'As for instance?'
+
+Rallywood woke up from his thoughts and shook himself.
+
+'Unziar,' he returned with a grin.
+
+Counsellor opened the stove and threw in the remnant of his cigar.
+
+'Ah!' he commented significantly; 'and I presume Unziar goes there to
+meet you. I begin to see.'
+
+Rallywood laughed.
+
+'I'm hanged if I do! By the way, the Countess wants of all things to
+make a friend of you. She says the English are so reliable. But you are
+such an old bear the women can't get at you.'
+
+'So much the better for me,' was the grim reply. 'Also I am sorry that I
+can't reciprocate the Countess's opinion of me. There are very few
+reliable women. If I had ever found one I might have married her.'
+
+'That is a hard saying, Major. You've been unlucky. That's where it
+hurts with you!'
+
+'No, I've no personal feeling in the matter. I share the opinion in
+common with many wise men. Let me refer you to Solomon, the census of
+whose harem warrants us in believing that what he didn't know about
+women wasn't worth knowing. Yet he records as his experience, "One man
+among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all these have I not
+found."'
+
+'I bet he didn't! You can't sample a delicate quality in the bulk,'
+retorted Rallywood, and was already at the door when an idea stopped
+him. 'Look here, Major; come with me and revise your verdict.'
+
+To his surprise Counsellor stood up and asked one more question.
+
+'Countess Isolde invited me?'
+
+'Any number of times, as you know.'
+
+'The more fool she,' growled Counsellor; 'I'll go.'
+
+The cotillon, danced with its hundred absurdities, was as fashionable at
+Revonde as elsewhere. Counsellor, like a courtly bear, was induced to
+join in its whimsical vagaries.
+
+The details of the cotillon obtaining at that period do not concern us
+here. It is sufficient to say that, as a result of some evolution, by
+chance or by choice Counsellor found himself with the Countess on a
+raised dais at one end of the room, while Mademoiselle Selpdorf and
+Rallywood formed the corresponding couple at the other end. Between them
+the dance proceeded, thus leaving the respective couples virtually
+isolated for a few minutes.
+
+'It was delightful of you to come to our little party to-night,' the
+Countess was saying to her companion. 'Now that you have come to see me
+here, can I not induce you to come also to Sagan next week? We are going
+out there for a few days. Do think of it.'
+
+'You are too kind, my dear madame, but an old man like myself may be out
+of place.'
+
+The Countess sighed a little.
+
+'Of course you are not at all old,' she said, shaking her head at him,
+'though you are fond of playing the part. But if you want to be old you
+can be old in good company at the Castle, for the Duke will be
+there--you know he is a cousin of ours.'
+
+Counsellor looked back into the smiling blue eyes. Most men would have
+succumbed to their innocent flattery. To the Major they only suggested
+an infinite capacity for foolishness.
+
+'Don't you think we could exchange our Duke for another, a more
+interesting one?' she added, misled perhaps by his look. 'Duke Gustave
+is so wrapped up in his stupid gambling, and altogether there are many
+things----' her speech tailed off inconsequently into a confused
+silence.
+
+'Wanting? Certainly! For example, we have no Duchess,' said Counsellor
+gallantly. 'We need a pretty Duchess. But is it not possible that Maasau
+may yet boast the most adorable Duchess in Europe?'
+
+Countess Isolde started and flushed like a pleased child, and her eyes
+lit up as she laid her fan on Counsellor's stout knee with a
+confidential impulsive gesture.
+
+'But England does not like the idea of pretty Duchesses?' she ventured
+reproachfully. 'And you are only a flatterer after all!'
+
+The Major raised his bushy white eyebrows.
+
+'Have I that reputation?'
+
+'No, they say you are terribly frank;' then a design to sound this
+difficult and usually unapproachable diplomat came into her irrational
+head. Older men than he had been vanquished by her beauty ere now.
+'England has not yet recognized my husband's claim as next heir,' she
+whispered. 'Major Counsellor, do you think your nation could ever be
+brought to recognize me as Duchess?'
+
+'If the occasion arose,' answered the wily old soldier softly, 'I do not
+see--speaking as a man--how any request of yours could be refused. But I
+cannot answer for my nation. Still, if the occasion arose----' he
+hesitated as if searching for words, but in reality, waiting for his
+companion to take up the unfinished sentence.
+
+The Countess trembled with excitement. This was indeed a triumph. She,
+'silly Isolde,' as old Sagan was ever ready to call her, had gained a
+little bit of information they would give their ears to possess, but she
+would keep it and use it at her leisure. Meanwhile she must strike while
+the iron of old Counsellor's nature was yet hot.
+
+'But the occasion will arise, believe me! Perhaps soon, at Sagan!' As
+she spoke she started violently, and her face turned white as Count
+Sagan stood before them.
+
+'Do you feel inclined for a hand of whist, Counsellor?' he said
+abruptly, with a wrathful, questioning glance at his wife. 'Has my wife
+been boring you with her chatter?'
+
+'On the contrary, Major Counsellor has promised to join us at the Castle
+next week,' exclaimed his wife.
+
+Sagan's bloodshot eyes darkened. He had the guile of a plotter, but
+lacked something of the self-control. Counsellor, who appeared to be
+watching the dancers, turned upon this and added:
+
+'And I have been thanking Madame de Sagan for the invitation.'
+
+'Ah, I knew you wouldn't come! Well, you will lose nothing. We shall
+have a houseful of fools,' interrupted the Count roughly.
+
+'I have already accepted, and will with your permission, Count, be one
+of the fools,' replied Counsellor genially.
+
+The Countess understood she had in some way put her foot in it, but as
+the two men walked away together she nodded complacently to herself,
+with the words, 'I know what I know!'
+
+The tide of dancers still swept backwards and forwards as Madame de
+Sagan idly observed them, until her glance chanced to fall upon the
+opposite couple at the further end of the saloon. Something in Valerie's
+air fixed her wandering attention at once with a little shock. What was
+Rallywood saying to her? And where was Anthony Unziar? The Countess
+Isolde had to the full the all-devouring vanity of her type, but now,
+for once in her life, she felt desirous of forwarding a love affair that
+was not her own.
+
+'You are going to Sagan, of course?' Valerie had said to her partner as
+they stood together.
+
+'I think not,' Rallywood replied.
+
+'I thought you would be sure to be in attendance'--she glanced
+carelessly towards the dais where the Countess was at the moment laying
+her fan on Counsellor's knee--'as usual.'
+
+'No, Unziar is the lucky man,' Rallywood answered without significance
+in his tone.
+
+'Nonsense! Anthony is her cousin!' said the girl impatiently.
+
+Rallywood's grey eyes were on her face.
+
+'Whose cousin? What do you mean?' he asked innocently.
+
+Valerie bit her lip. She hated this Englishman. Of all her acquaintances
+he alone, in his blundering way, was able to put her somehow at a
+disadvantage.
+
+'When the Duke goes to Sagan,' she said, without noticing his question,
+'the Count has the privilege as colonel-in-chief of the Guard, of
+inviting any two officers he pleases to act with the escort. So we shall
+see.'
+
+'I wonder,' said Rallywood after a pause, 'where you get your
+impressions from, Mademoiselle?'
+
+'I see--like other people. We all form our judgments on what we see
+and--know!'
+
+'What do you know, for instance?'
+
+'I heard of you when you were at Kofn Ford, near the Castle of Sagan,'
+she answered.
+
+Rallywood was only human, and however moderately he may have returned
+Madame de Sagan's preference, he was fully aware of its existence. In
+those days on the frontier he had, rather from fastidiousness than
+principle perhaps, avoided her and her invitations whenever possible.
+But that was one thing; it was another to hear the matter coolly
+alluded to by the girl beside him. Involuntarily he drew a little away
+from her. His notions were founded less on actual knowledge and
+experience of women--for of that he had little--than gathered from that
+idealized version of the sex with which the right-minded male animal is
+usually furnished by his own mental and emotional processes. So far his
+intercourse with Isolde of Sagan had been limited to certain sentimental
+passages; the initiative lay with the lady, but Rallywood had once or
+twice been distinctly wrought upon by the appeals to his sympathy and
+pity. Now, however, looked at from a fresh standpoint, the one in fact
+from which Valerie viewed it, the subject became suddenly repellent, and
+he slid away from the discussion with another question.
+
+'What has Unziar been saying of me? You have treated me differently
+since--that night.'
+
+There appeared to be no need to particularize the night.
+
+Mademoiselle Selpdorf understood both the first involuntary movement and
+the change of subject, and resented them equally.
+
+'Anthony is generous, so generous!' she said with some warmth. 'I
+suppose it is an English trait to take everything and to give nothing in
+return. Anthony told me of all that took place in the Cloister of St.
+Anthony. Your action seemed to him so fine, poor fellow!--but not to me.
+You believed in your luck, of course, and took the hazard and won,
+leaving him hopelessly at a disadvantage. I should not have accepted the
+position as he did--I should have forced you to fight it out sooner or
+later! I had rather a hundred times have died by your bullet than lived
+to endure your triumph!'
+
+Rallywood pondered this view of the matter before he spoke.
+
+'I dare say you are right,' he said at last; 'at least, no woman could
+have been so generous to another woman as he was to me.'
+
+'You are complimentary, Captain Rallywood!'
+
+'I beg your pardon. I only meant that women are not generous as between
+themselves. Looked at from your point of view, I see that I was wrong
+about that affair with Unziar. But more than all, it proves he is a
+splendid fellow.'
+
+Now Unziar's praise from Rallywood's lips displeased Mademoiselle
+Selpdorf almost more than all which had gone before.
+
+'It is easy to say these things, but'--she rose eagerly--'at last that
+figure is ended. What a stupid interval it has been!' she added with a
+little smile.
+
+'I am sorry. I always have the misfortune to bore you,' Rallywood said,
+accepting his snub meekly.
+
+'Never mind! You can't help it!' she responded with a pleasant nod as
+she left him.
+
+Rallywood remained standing where he was.
+
+'A very nasty one indeed for me. I shouldn't wonder, though, if she
+forgave me for the sake of that last back-handed blow!' he reflected
+with some amusement.
+
+Which proves that Revonde was teaching Rallywood something that has its
+own value at one period or another of a man's life. He was too poor to
+dream of marrying anyone, much less the daughter of the Chancellor of
+Maasau, a woman whose training and tastes had not been guided on the
+lines of simplicity or economy. That Valerie Selpdorf attracted him was
+a truth to which his eyes began to be opened at the moment when
+Counsellor asked him why he haunted Madame de Sagan's entertainments.
+Then it had struck him that the almost certain chance of meeting Valerie
+was his chief motive, yet he believed it was safe to divulge to himself,
+since the girl bitterly disliked him, and he, in the strength of the
+insular and Puritan side of his nature, disapproved of her. It was the
+pleasure of the hour, no one looked beyond that in Revonde, and
+Rallywood had fallen into the universal habit of drifting.
+
+'You are thoughtful. What can you have been talking about?' asked the
+Countess, coming up.
+
+'Mademoiselle Selpdorf has been giving her opinion of me. It is not
+flattering, and I am depressed,' returned Rallywood, hoping the Countess
+meant to talk of Valerie.
+
+'Has she? She is often absurd in her ideas. But we need not talk of her.
+To turn to something pleasanter, do you know that I have just persuaded
+Major Counsellor to come to us at Sagan?'
+
+Rallywood instantly perceived that the three or four days at the old
+frontier castle might prove to be a singularly interesting period, and
+regretted that he was not to be a guest also.
+
+'And you are coming too, are you not?' went on Madame de Sagan, with a
+note in her voice that Rallywood was learning to dread.
+
+'I fancy not. Unziar and Adiron have been mentioned.'
+
+'Yes, Anthony Unziar, because he is my cousin, and for the sake of
+Valerie. Also Captain Colendorp. I do not like him, he is always black
+and sneering, but the Count chose him yesterday, and then I suggested
+yourself. They were rather doubtful about you, but Baron von Elmur
+consented. And I was so glad--Jack!'
+
+The friendship had been progressing, it will be perceived, during the
+last three weeks. But Rallywood made no immediate response, being
+absorbed in digesting the information she had given him. That the German
+minister should be permitted to dictate the guests for the three days'
+festivities at the Castle was in itself a pregnant fact. But further,
+the Germans had never before possessed old Sagan's confidence; his
+dislike of the encroaching mammoth, whom the whole little nation feared,
+was notorious. This new departure was therefore ominous.
+
+'I had no notion that Baron von Elmur liked me any better than my
+countrymen,' said Rallywood aloud.
+
+'Ah, no, perhaps not; but now, you will understand, he wishes to please
+me!' Countess Isolde answered with an air of mysterious importance.
+
+'He is not alone in wishing to do that,' returned Rallywood, ashamed
+even as he uttered it, of the meaningless compliment.
+
+'Jack,' she said, with a proud raising of her blonde head, 'you are my
+friend, and of course you wish to please me. But everyone will want to
+stand well with me some day--when I have power--and then you shall see
+what I will do for those whom I wish to please!'
+
+Every word she spoke added to the certainty that some new plot was
+afoot, and Rallywood glanced round for Counsellor's stout figure.
+
+'You are glad to come to Sagan?' persisted his companion; 'say you are
+glad.'
+
+'I've never been more glad of anything in my life!' Rallywood replied
+with truth, and then, his good angel rather than his mother's wit coming
+to his rescue, he got away from the dancing-salon, and found Counsellor
+at the entrance preparing to leave.
+
+'I'll walk round with you, Major,' he proposed.
+
+'I'm not going your way,' replied Counsellor. 'Besides, I wish to drive.
+Hullo, you have got hold of my gloves!' and snatching at the
+gloves--which happened to be Rallywood's--he thrust his own into the
+young man's hand, saying in a low voice as he did so, 'Be on the
+Cloister Bridge in half an hour. Good-night!'
+
+At the appointed time, Rallywood, having replaced his military greatcoat
+by one less remarkable, was waiting on the bridge, when he was accosted
+by a hunchbacked fellow in a shabby Maasaun sheepskin, who dropped a
+rough English 'Good-night,' as he passed. Presently Rallywood followed
+him until they came out into an open country road where the biting _tsa_
+met them full face.
+
+'This _tsa_ is deadly! Quick! what is it you have to tell me?' said
+Counsellor's voice.
+
+Rallywood answered in a few rapid sentences.
+
+'Yes, I fancied something of the kind was due. What an inestimable
+blessing it is that such women as the Countess Sagan exist--to satisfy
+diplomatic curiosity! We must find out the precise limits of the German
+game at the Castle of Sagan. It is lucky for you, John, my son, that
+your duty as a Maasaun soldier to the Maasaun nation and as an
+Englishman to your own, run in this instance on the same lines.'
+
+'They always will.'
+
+'Don't be too sure of that! There may come a day when your public and
+your private honour will stand face to face, hopelessly irreconcilable.
+What then?'
+
+'When anything so extremely awkward comes to pass, I suppose I shall
+have to make up my mind on the subject,' replied Rallywood with a lazy
+yawn, 'in the meantime it is to much trouble. Just at present my part is
+simple, and I look for the game to turn in our favor.'
+
+Counsellor stood still, as if in consideration, for a minute.
+
+'The stake may seem to be a small one--just this useless scrap of
+country,' he said at length, 'but the issues are far-reaching, and
+therefore all Europe is taking a hand in the game. How will it end? I
+don't know! The Fates shuffle and men handle the cards, but God cuts!
+Thirty years' experience has taught me that. I didn't believe it once--I
+do now.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+A QUESTION OF THE GUARD.
+
+
+The really great strategist is not the man who loves an intricate plot.
+His method is simple, he eliminates.
+
+On a certain cold morning, when the sun shone pinkly through a sea-haze
+over the glittering roofs of Revonde, a review of the Guard, and of a
+few regiments that happened to be stationed within a short distance of
+the capital, was to be held, in honour of the Duke's birthday, on the
+spacious parade ground of the Guard, which occupied the whole of a small
+plateau lying high between the beetling hills behind the barracks.
+
+Baron von Elmur paid an early visit to the Chancellor on his way to the
+review, and found M. Selpdorf, though brisk and urbane as ever, a little
+difficult.
+
+'We do not progress, Monsieur,' Elmur was saying.
+
+'What would you, my dear Baron? we have so many obstacles in our path,'
+answered the other, shrugging his shoulders good-humoredly.
+
+Elmur leaned his elbow on the table.
+
+'I know that delay can conduce to no good end,' he said. 'You have
+agreed that a certain course is desirable no less for your country than
+mine.'
+
+'Have I agreed to that proposition? Not altogether! Remember, I cannot
+be expected to see with German eyes.'
+
+'Even to the most patriotic Maasaun it must be evident that sooner or
+later the State must fall to us; it is merely a question of time.'
+
+'The time has already been long,' said the Chancellor softly.
+
+'For an excellent reason: because we have not always been as now, a huge
+bulk. The bulk of the new Empire must by force of gravitation attract
+all the smaller bodies round to itself. It is by a miracle only that
+Maasau has stood alone so long.'
+
+'And by another miracle she might go on standing alone a little longer.'
+
+'This is not the age of miracles, my friend!'
+
+'I remember also something which your Excellency forgets,' said
+Selpdorf, with a touch of sadness in his voice, 'that there have been
+Selpdorfs helping in this miracle of the independence of Maasau for
+generations.'
+
+Elmur altered his attitude with an open impatience.
+
+'You are a far-sighted patriot, Monsieur. It is needless to repeat that
+if Maasau joins the confederation of the Empire by her own act she will
+do so on very different terms to any which could possibly be conceded to
+a state that had forced upon us the unpleasant necessity of coercion.
+Remember Frankfurt! She paid for her obstinacy. Whereas we are prepared
+to deal generously towards those who cast in their lot with ours.
+Besides,' he added significantly, 'I am urging you to consult not only
+the interests of Maasau, but your own also.'
+
+'They are the same, and it is difficult to know where our true interest
+lies,' said Selpdorf, thoughtfully. 'Do you go to the Castle of Sagan
+next week?'
+
+The abrupt change of subject seemed to have its effect upon Elmur. He
+turned away from the table, crossed his legs, and lit a cigarette in a
+leisurely manner before he answered.
+
+'Yes; and you, Monsieur?'
+
+'I have no inclination for these gaieties; but my daughter goes.' Von
+Elmur shot a glance at his companion.
+
+'To repeat my own words--we do not progress, my dear Selpdorf.'
+
+'So? Women finesse in these affairs. Valerie follows the custom of her
+sex, and perhaps she has become a little spoilt by overmuch admiration.
+Were she aware of your wishes, it would solve many of the present
+doubts.'
+
+'It takes two to make that especial kind of bargain,' said Elmur, with a
+curious smile, 'one to ask, the other to grant. I am prepared to ask
+when I am assured that my request will be favourably received. An
+ambassador is esteemed in just the same degree as the country he
+represents. If his country triumph he triumphs also.'
+
+'In this case I might point out that your personal success,' the
+Chancellor said airily, 'would be the best, shall I say the only
+possible, preliminary to the success of the mission with which his
+Imperial Majesty has charged you.'
+
+Elmur drew in his lips slightly. Valerie, as the Baroness von Elmur, was
+to be her father's guarantee for the future! Although Elmur's desires
+lay in the same direction, Selpdorf's insistence was most unpalatable to
+the German minister.
+
+'I am ready to lay myself at Mademoiselle's feet,' he said aloud, 'but
+there is always the picturesque young captain of the Guard.'
+
+'Unziar? I can positively reassure your Excellency on that point.'
+
+'Unziar? No! The Englishman--Rallywood.'
+
+'Rallywood?' said the Chancellor in very real surprise, 'what of him?'
+
+'Nothing beyond the fact that he has an aptitude for challenging fate.
+Such men dazzle the eyes, and are consequently apt to be dangerous. Why
+has he been placed in the Guard?'
+
+'I placed him there to serve our mutual convenience,' replied Selpdorf.
+'He is an Englishman, with his full share of English intolerance and
+courage. On the other hand, the Guard resent the intrusion of
+foreigners, neither are they--mild-mannered.'
+
+Elmur considered.
+
+'The chances were in favour of trouble certainly. Had there been trouble
+Rallywood might have disposed of some of our chief difficulties for us,'
+he remarked, with a cynical smile.
+
+'He might also have been disposed of himself,' said Selpdorf, 'and he is
+the one human being for whom the good Counsellor has the slightest
+regard. In politics it is necessary to consider the personal equation.
+To touch Counsellor in his weakest point would have been to alienate
+England at the convenient moment.'
+
+'All that might have been true'--Elmur shrugged his shoulders;
+'unluckily we must face things as they actually are.'
+
+'Even now Rallywood has his uses. The Guard is composed of the flower of
+our nobility--they are not to be tempted. At least that is my opinion,
+although I believe Count Sagan holds differently. But this Rallywood is
+a soldier of fortune, a mercenary. You perceive?'
+
+Elmur stroked his chin dubiously.
+
+'I am very much afraid he belongs to the wrong breed. However, I would
+wish to point out that it will be essential to carry through this matter
+quickly. If the Duke could be persuaded to accept the scheme of
+reversion, the whole arrangement would be completed before the world was
+the wiser.'
+
+'It is the simplest plan, and therefore the best. But what will England
+say? Counsellor is here, that in itself speaks.'
+
+'Neither England nor the good Counsellor can touch an accomplished fact.
+As they say in their own idiom, "Possession is nine parts of the law."
+It remains with us to make the fact.'
+
+Selpdorf arose.
+
+'Your Excellency will excuse me. It is time to start for the palace.
+To-day his Highness the Duke holds a review of the Guard. I will if
+possible sound him on the subject which interests us both. Should that
+fail, we must consider the alternative scheme.'
+
+Half-an-hour later the two men met again as they dismounted in the
+courtyard of the palace. They approached each other courteously.
+
+'There stands the real obstacle to our success,' said Elmur in a low
+tone.
+
+Selpdorf followed the German Minister's glance. Standing there, in the
+fire-light of the guard-room, was the tall figure of Anthony Unziar,
+waiting with haughty stiffness for the appearance of the Duke.
+
+'His Highness's gentlemen, the Maasaun Guard,' went on Elmur with a
+bitter sneer, 'the impersonation of an arrogant militarism!'
+
+'Seven--to be counted with,' corrected Selpdorf gently. 'The other, the
+eighth----'
+
+'Has the initial fault of nationality. However, he goes to Sagan.'
+
+The mist cleared as the sun rose higher until, by noon, the sky was of
+a pale radiant blue laced with a delicate broidery of white
+wind-scattered clouds. Looking westward the dark river wound away to the
+sea, ringed here and there by the highly decorated bridges of
+light-toned granite peculiar to Maasau. Revonde, in the sunshine, shone
+in the colours of a moss-grown stone, gray and green, the twin ridges on
+which it stood fretted and embossed to their summits with the palaces
+and pinnacles, the spires and towers, and gardens of the spreading city.
+The Grand Duke, as they rounded the mounting road to the parade ground,
+looked back upon Revonde with a lingering glance. Selpdorf who was
+seated opposite to him, had been replying to his grumbling questions as
+to the condition of the royal exchequer with a depressing account of the
+hopelessness of the situation.
+
+'Revonde is a jewel after all!' said the Duke suddenly; 'a jewel can
+always be mortgaged, Selpdorf.'
+
+Selpdorf admitted that this was true, and also hinted that the jewel had
+been used in one way or another pretty freely to raise the revenues for
+a good many years, without giving much in the way of a _quid pro quo_,
+beyond the vague hopes and airy promises which pledged the Maasaun
+government to little or nothing. But now, he explained, the Powers were
+growing weary of so unprofitable a speculation, and were inclined to
+expect some definite return for their assistance.
+
+The Duke listened moodily, lying back on his cushions, a thin-legged,
+paunchy figure, whose features had lost their shapely mould under the
+touch of dissipation. The nose hung long and fleshy between the pouched
+skin of his cheekbones, the eyes showed a tell-tale slackness in the
+under eyelid, where it merged into the loose wrinkles below. The lower
+part of the face was covered by a long but sparse moustache, through
+which at times could be discerned that terrible protrusion of the upper
+lip that seems the herald of senility. Yet Gustave, Grand Duke of
+Maasau, was only that day celebrating the completion of his
+fifty-seventh year.
+
+Where the carriage attained the level of the plateau, the main road
+curved away inland to the right, while upon the left hand, under the
+wall of encircling brown cliffs, a small brigade of all arms was
+assembled to do honour to their ruler. Through a cut in the hills far
+away, but seemingly nearer on that windy morning, could be seen a blue
+open bay, blown into the 'innumerable laughter of the sea.' The air, the
+whole scene, was inspiriting, but the Duke looked heavily on as the
+troops deployed and turned, their arms glittering in the sunlight.
+
+First in order came a couple of squadrons of the Frontier Cavalry, with
+their black sheepskins hanging behind them; then infantry, followed by
+two batteries of artillery divided by some more cavalry, and, after a
+distinct interval, the Guard.
+
+The little army was perfect in equipment and finish, and their uniforms
+were brilliant and picturesque; but the Duke stared out of the
+amphitheatre of the parade ground with dissatisfaction and _ennui_.
+Money, he wanted money, and the less the Chancellor could encourage him
+to hope for it the more he desired to have it by hook or by crook.
+
+The Grand Marshal of Maasau having been dismissed from the side of the
+royal carriage with a few curt words, the Duke spoke again, in a low
+tone to Selpdorf.
+
+'Then you wish me to understand that there is no more to be got out of
+anybody. I know better than that. England, Germany, and Russia, are
+waiting to outbid each other.'
+
+'That is true, sire; but they will not deal on the old terms.'
+
+The Guard, with scattered pennons flying, were drawn up at the lower end
+of the parade ground. The chief effect of the day was about to take
+place--the charge of the Guard.
+
+'I am now of an age,' remarked the Duke peevishly, 'when my birthdays
+have ceased to be a cause for congratulation. This review is an
+anachronism. In my father's time I rode at the head of the Guard, and
+led a charge on the day I was eighteen. Pish! I have grown wiser, and
+know how to enjoy life after a more rational fashion. To return to our
+other subject--What do they want?'
+
+Selpdorf smiled, and passed his fingers upwards over the erect corners
+of his moustache.
+
+'For example, there is a power that might pay a heavy annual sum if
+your Highness would consent to disband your Guard!' he said, with a
+tentative smile.
+
+The slack fallen lines of the Duke's visage grew suddenly tense. His
+eyes brightened as the tossing mass in green and gold swept down towards
+them in a thunder of hoofs, and the long-drawn shout of 'Maasau,' with
+which the Guard have charged home on so many a battlefield.
+
+As the splendid ranks of horsemen crashed past under a flashing play of
+saluting swords, the Duke pulled himself erect in his carriage and
+raised his gloved hand in acknowledgment with a strong fling of
+enthusiasm that recalled to men present other and better days.
+
+Selpdorf's brow lost its round smoothness for a short moment, but
+cleared again before the Duke dropped back with a groan into his seat.
+
+'Disband the Guard? What traitor suggested that? May the Guard shoot me
+first! I'd rather rot of starvation than consent to it! For with the
+Guard is bound up the freedom of Maasau!'
+
+Presently he turned upon the Chancellor with a glooming and suspicious
+gaze.
+
+'Has Sagan been tampering with you?' he asked, with a sneer, 'if he
+tempted you now it would only be to betray you later! He hankers after
+Maasau, but remember my cousin in England. He has claims which cannot be
+over-ridden.'
+
+Selpdorf remained respectfully silent for a short time, revolving the
+extremely important admission with regard to the second claimant to the
+heritage of the Duchy, which the Duke in his excitement had made.
+
+The first and simpler plan of persuading the Duke to enter into an
+understanding with Germany, to the effect that she should enjoy the
+reversion of Maasau in exchange for the payment of a secured annuity,
+was plainly hopeless. It now remained to put in motion the second
+scheme, which contained elements of infinitely greater danger.
+
+Human nature is a complex thing, yet each man's attitude of mind towards
+himself, is often only an extension of his attitude of mind towards his
+neighbour.
+
+What the Chancellor said to himself to whitewash his conduct in his own
+eyes, who can tell? The Duke, old vice-sodden reprobate as he was, had
+that one remnant of manhood left, a determination to face the last and
+most absolute contingency of life rather than sell his country.
+
+Perhaps Selpdorf used that most guilty of all excuses--If I do not put
+my hand to this thing someone else will. Maasau must fall sooner or
+later to some larger power. May not I profit by it as well as another?
+Did he set his house of excuse upon the sand of a certain bitter
+writing? 'I will persuade them,' said Satan--'I will make them two
+idols, which they shall call Honour and Fidelity, and a law which shall
+be called passive obedience. And they shall worship these idols!' If
+Honour, Fidelity, and Obedience be idols, where then, are the true
+gods?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE CASTLE OF SAGAN.
+
+
+The broadly flowing Kofn forms part of the north-eastern boundary of the
+State of Maasau. Its dark waters rush tumultuously from the gorge below
+the Castle of Sagan, and fling a vast enclosing arm about the bleak
+plains and marshes of which the wastes of the frontier consist.
+
+It is a land where even summer dwells coldly.
+
+To the north a chain of hills rises black against the sky, and there,
+set upon a boldly jutting spur, the Castle of Sagan dominates the
+inhospitable landscape like a frown upon a sinister face.
+
+The whole spur and the hill behind it are rough with ragged pine-woods,
+and, below, the banks shelve to the river with a broken scattering of
+deciduous trees, that leave on the eye the chill impression of leafless
+branches tangled against a background of grey and stony slopes.
+
+Some two or three miles south of the Castle the river breaks across a
+step-like outcrop of rock, and thus forms that famous ford, across which
+the Counts of Sagan used in the old days to lead their foraging
+expeditions over the border.
+
+Simon of Sagan, the present Count, inherited in an unmodified degree
+the more predatory and uncivilized instincts of his forefathers.
+Illiterate, brutal, and cunning, the thin veneer laid by the nineteenth
+century upon his coarse-grained nature was apt to rub off on the very
+slightest friction, bringing the original savage to the surface.
+
+He was at once the terror and the pride of the stolid, silent peasantry
+that lived under his rule. A fierce and fearless sportsman, his
+dependents delighted in boasting of the prowess of a master whose
+capricious cruelties they never dreamed of resenting. With Sagan,
+throughout life, to desire was to have, and in his pursuit of the
+wished-for object, he was hampered by no new-fangled sentiments of
+honour, truth, or loyalty. Like other savages he quickly tired of his
+fancies when once gratified. Not four years ago he had been possessed by
+a frantic passion for the beautiful young wife whom he had now come to
+regard with something dangerously near hate.
+
+In dealing with such a temperament as this both Elmur and Selpdorf were
+well aware that they were handling an explosive that might at any moment
+wreck their most carefully laid plans. They would very much have
+preferred to have made a tool of the reigning Duke, but Selpdorf, who
+had been plying him for more than a month with a ceaseless and
+exhaustive course of innuendo, discouragement, and veiled temptation,
+was at length convinced, by the Duke's reply on the day of the review,
+that nothing further was to be hoped for in that direction.
+
+For this reason the German party was obliged to fall back on Count
+Sagan. That he was untrammelled by principle, and was, moreover,
+prepared to meet them half-way, rendered their schemes no whit safer.
+The only hope of security lay in clinching the matter as quickly as it
+was possible to do so. Once the German grasp had been fairly laid upon
+the State, the nominal sovereign might struggle as he liked, he could
+hurt no one but himself.
+
+M. Selpdorf's chief contribution towards the new plot--which was to be
+carried out at the Count's own fortress, the Castle of Sagan--consisted
+in sending an urgent letter after his daughter, begging her to fall in
+with von Elmur's wishes.
+
+Valerie received the letter in Madame de Sagan's apartments. The
+Countess lay on a couch, reading a French novel and yawning.
+
+'What a devoted papa!' she exclaimed, glancing up.
+
+Valerie did not immediately reply. She was standing at the deep embayed
+window that looked out towards the river and the apparently endless
+desolation beyond. She only moved very slightly, thereby turning her
+back even more completely upon her companion. The girl had not lived so
+long in an atmosphere of diplomacy without learning the wisdom of
+keeping her own counsel.
+
+She had for some time been aware of Baron von Elmur's admiration, but
+only of late had he seemed anxious to make his aspirations manifest to
+the public--a much more significant fact. For the German was in one way
+a universal admirer, he made qualified love to most of the good-looking
+ladies about the Court, and also, perhaps, more pointedly, to some who
+were not so good-looking, thus gaining much profit and some pleasure.
+His high-shouldered, portly, personable figure, his handsome face with
+its close-set narrow eyes, rose before Valerie's mental eye. Her future
+husband? How absurd, how impossible! And she suddenly laughed a soft,
+throaty ripple of laughter.
+
+Isolde moved noiselessly, and coming behind Valerie, caught her by the
+shoulders and swung her half round.
+
+'What are you laughing at?' she asked over the girl's shoulder.
+
+Valerie moved away gently from under the slender hands.
+
+'Can you imagine yourself in love with Baron von Elmur?' she asked.
+
+'Were you laughing at that?' inquired the other incredulously.
+
+'Yes,' with another little laugh.
+
+'Ah! the devoted papa has been writing of Baron von Elmur?' said the
+Countess, with an arch smile.
+
+'But, I can understand being in love with von Elmur! He is--difficult.
+Men no longer in their first youth are much the more interesting. The
+love of a young man is simple, he says what he means; but when he grows
+older it is not so. By that time he has gathered memories,
+enlightenment, experiences; and he begins by thinking he knows one
+through and through. And why?--because he knows other women--and them
+how imperfectly! As if we were not as various as the colours in the old
+Sagan diadem! Each woman is made differently, and each reflects her own
+colour. To teach a man--old enough to appreciate it--this little fact
+about ourselves is, I assure you, never a dull amusement.'
+
+Valerie paused before she spoke.
+
+'Now I know why you are married, Isolde!'
+
+'Ah, yes; but I was too young to realize that Sagan is a bear who cannot
+be taught to dance. I had just left school. I could not choose. But you,
+Valerie, you have a future before you! Poor Anthony, like all other
+young men, is desperately in earnest, he gives one the blues. I know he
+already bores you; but von Elmur----Ah, that is altogether another
+affair!'
+
+Madame de Sagan sank down beside a little buhl-table, and tapped on it
+impatiently with her slight fingers. Against the light of the afternoon
+glow she watched the outline of Valerie's cheek. For Mdlle. Selpdorf had
+returned to her contemplation of the landscape. A curl of blue smoke
+from among the trees on the nearer bank of the Kofn held her gaze and
+suggested thoughts, which she was taking up one by one, as it were, and
+examining soberly enough.
+
+Rallywood had been stationed at Kofn Ford when first Isolde made his
+acquaintance. The girl recalled a description she had heard of the tall
+young Englishman galloping along the flat road to the rescue of the
+pretty, terrified Countess, whose Arab had been merely cantering along,
+capering now and again from sheer light-heartedness and without
+malicious intent, until its timid rider chose to scream, when it reared
+and started with flying hoofs towards the marshes. Valerie went on to
+picture Rallywood holding the trembling woman on her saddle till her
+escort and grooms overtook them, and at the picture the girl's lip
+curled and quivered with angry scorn--of a sudden she hated and despised
+them both, but especially she despised Rallywood for having succumbed to
+Isolde's shallow beauty! Thus it will be seen that Mdlle. Selpdorf was
+inclined to under-rate Madame de Sagan's points. Isolde was not only
+wonderfully pretty, but she was endowed with a superficial cleverness,
+and kindliness and tact, all of which rendered her irresistible to nine
+men out of ten. A moral chameleon, Isolde almost always believed in
+herself and her own moods, therefore it was little wonder that the men
+whose phases of humour she reflected believed in her also, and moreover
+thought her as adorable and as full of delicious changes as Cleopatra.
+
+Isolde had told the story of her adventure to Valerie, dwelling on the
+facts that the hero detested--absolutely detested--all other women, also
+that in physique he followed the most approved English pattern, and was
+an exceptionally good specimen at that. Altogether Valerie had found the
+description sufficiently attractive to induce her to pay Rallywood that
+coquettish little visit in the ante-room of the Hotel du Chancelier.
+
+While these things passed through her thoughts her eyes were still fixed
+upon the blue plume of smoke that rose and melted over Kofn Ford, for
+its position indicated the whereabouts of the block-house used by the
+Frontier Patrol, and there Rallywood had lived during the early part of
+his acquaintance with Isolde.
+
+'What are you thinking of?' inquired Madame de Sagan suddenly; then, as
+Valerie made no immediate answer, she added, 'Shall I tell you,
+Valerie?'
+
+The other turned, with the pink of sunset lighting up her pale face.
+
+'I don't imagine you can guess,' she said, with a faint smile.
+
+Madame de Sagan's little trill of laughter was not quite so childish and
+irresponsible as usual.
+
+'But I can. You were thinking of Rallywood. You think rather often of
+Rallywood, my dear girl.'
+
+The guess, so near the truth, startled Valerie, although she gave no
+sign. What could have suggested such an idea to Isolde? Instantly
+Valerie was on the defensive. Her delicate nostrils quivered slightly,
+and her hand--a larger and more capable hand than Isolde's--closed more
+firmly upon her father's letter, as she replied, with that firm
+directness which was so surprising a trait in her father's daughter:--
+
+'Yes, I was thinking of him--and you. The block-house where he lived is
+down there, I can see the smoke. That reminded me of it all. By the way,
+Isolde, it seems that some young men have a shade of interest about
+them.'
+
+'This one is rather unlike all the others,' returned Madame de Sagan,
+with gravity. 'He saved my life, and, well, he is different to anybody
+else. He assumes nothing.'
+
+It is a fact worthy of consideration that while a man rarely establishes
+a claim on a woman by rendering her a service, a woman always
+establishes a claim on a man by being rendered a service. Perhaps this
+is as it should be.
+
+'No,' repeated Valerie, thoughtfully, 'he certainly assumes--nothing.'
+
+'What do you mean by that, Valerie?' exclaimed Isolde irritably. 'You
+are in one of your incomprehensible moods to-day. What do you think of
+Rallywood?'
+
+'I hardly know what to think yet. Very likely I shall never come to any
+conclusion about him. He is not my affair, and what can be more
+uninteresting than a man who has saved some other woman's life?' She
+laughed. 'You have recommended von Elmur to my notice--I shall certainly
+spend my time to more profit in studying him.'
+
+A servant entered.
+
+'His Excellency Baron von Elmur wishes to wait upon your ladyship.'
+
+Elmur advanced bowing. After greeting his hostess, he turned to Valerie
+with a manner that was new in their intercourse. He dropped from the
+courtier to the man pure and simple.
+
+Kissing the girl's hand he said earnestly:
+
+'I feared you were not to arrive until to-morrow.'
+
+Madame de Sagan, who had raised her eyebrows and made a little grimace
+at Valerie behind the Minister's back, here interposed:
+
+'I persuaded her to travel here with me. I hope, Baron, you feel how
+greatly I have befriended you!'
+
+'You will find me grateful, Madame. In the meantime, I have been sent to
+warn you that his Highness has already arrived at the foot of the hill,
+and to beg you to descend to the great hall, where the Count is waiting
+to receive him.'
+
+'Come, Valerie,' said the Countess, with a little catch in her breath,
+and an added fleck of colour in her soft cheeks.
+
+The great hall was half-filled with servants and retainers, ranged
+according to the fashion, which has obtained at Sagan during the memory
+of man, for the ceremonious reception of the reigning Duke. Half a dozen
+huntsmen held in leash as many couples of huge boarhounds at one side of
+the hall; on the other, servants, carrying gold trays of refreshments,
+stood in line. Above these, again, clustered the numerous guests who had
+already arrived.
+
+As the Countess, looking very young and fair and slender, walked down
+the centre, Sagan, who had been draining a goblet of wine, thrust the
+cup back upon the tray, and catching his wife's hand roughly, said, with
+an audible oath:
+
+'You're late.'
+
+She shrank back, suppressing a cry, from his angry grasp; but few had
+time to notice the incident, for the outer door clanged back upon its
+hinges to admit the Duke, who, shivering in his furs, entered upon the
+arm of Colendorp.
+
+Sagan advanced to meet him, but the Duke, glancing round the hall with a
+shudder, cut his formal greetings short.
+
+'Sagan wears a more gloomy and cut-throat air than ever, Cousin,' he
+said, irritably.
+
+Sagan's response was covered by the entrance of the suite, the whole
+party being brought up by Rallywood and a couple of troopers of the
+Guard. Then Sagan, with a scowling face, offered the Duke the customary
+cup of wine, and, comparative silence being restored, the ducal answer
+came peevishly to all ears:
+
+'No, my good Simon, your wine is like yourself, rather too strong and a
+trifle rough for my taste. Let Briot be called. I have brought my own
+drinking.'
+
+So saying, he waved the attendants aside, and, approaching Isolde, he
+raised her as she curtsied deeply.
+
+'There is one point, Madame, in which I can never hope to rival my
+cousin of Sagan. My wine may be more palatable; but I could never find a
+wife more beautiful or--more wise than his!' he said, with malicious
+gallantry.
+
+Then bending forward he kissed the Countess with empressment on both
+cheeks. She trembled under the caress, though she was hardly aware of
+it, for her eyes were on her husband, whose daily increasing dislike of
+herself she could not understand, and was only newly beginning to dread.
+Valerie, standing immediately behind the Countess, overheard and
+resented the details of the scene. It was unbearable to see Isolde
+helplessly baited by Sagan and the Duke--each man gratifying the spleen
+of the moment at the expense of a woman, who was obliged to submit to
+their discourtesy. Of all the guests Mdlle. Selpdorf alone stood erect,
+forgetting, in her indignation, to join in the general obeisance. The
+Grand Duke, looking up, found her flushed and flashing, and
+superlatively handsome. His flabby cheeks twitched, and his bleared eyes
+brightened.
+
+'Mademoiselle Selpdorf, since you will not salute me, I can at least
+claim the right as your Duke to salute you,' he said, stepping towards
+her.
+
+Instantly Valerie sank into an exaggerated curtsy, thus adroitly
+avoiding the Duke's outstretched hand and ready lips. His feeble legs
+failed, he stumbled forward and pitched into the arms of Elmur, who set
+him upright with a gentle skilfulness that almost cheated the eyes of
+the spectators.
+
+The Duke, slightly shaken, and exceedingly annoyed, turned upon the
+girl:
+
+'Mademoiselle grows proud!'
+
+'Forgive me, sire; I did not dream that you would stoop so low!'
+rejoined the girl, with apparent humility.
+
+'If you will not accept the salute of your Duke, Mademoiselle, may I ask
+to what you aspire?' he added contemptuously.
+
+Valerie was not of a meek spirit, and she saw a way in which she might
+revenge Isolde, little comprehending the far-reaching consequences of
+her thoughtless words.
+
+'I aspire to be maid of honour to the Grand Duchess of Maasau!' she
+answered, with a glance towards the Countess.
+
+The Duke glared around him into the circle of half-curious,
+half-terrified faces, for this was a piercing home-thrust, his eye dwelt
+for a moment on Sagan, towering tall and rugged and strong as one of his
+own native rocks, and he recognised that his cousin, although ten years
+his senior as age is counted, was infinitely younger in his unimpaired
+energies and rude health. Also, Duke Gustave of Maasau was
+superstitious, and it struck him as an ill omen that the representative
+of Selpdorf should have failed him at the critical moment, and thus
+flung him headlong into the arms of Germany!
+
+Out of all these crowding thoughts arose not only vivid fear, but a
+resolution, of which none at that time believed him to be capable. He
+grew white about the mouth, his protruding lip twitched ominously.
+
+'It is not always lucky for even so young and beautiful a woman as you
+are to count on dead men's shoes,' he said, in a low, penetrating voice.
+
+A happy inspiration came to Madame de Sagan. She took Valerie's hand in
+hers, and addressed the Duke with a quivering smile that somehow vouched
+for her earnestness at the moment.
+
+'You mistake Valerie, sire; she and I both desire the same honour--to
+attend your Highness's Consort, if it would please you to take one.'
+
+'It might please me, Madame; but I doubt it would please your husband
+little,' retorted the Duke.
+
+'I hoped your Highness knew me better!' protested Sagan sulkily.
+
+'I do, my good Simon, I know you much better!' said the Duke laughing.
+'Now, pray lead me to my apartments. The journey to Sagan fatigues in
+this weather--and, after all, it would look better if I died at home--in
+the palace at Revonde.'
+
+At a glance from Elmur, Sagan motioned his wife forward.
+
+'I will lead you to your apartments, sire,' she said, offering the Duke
+her slender hand. 'I am sure that the air of Sagan is as loyal as
+ourselves, and will do for you all that we should wish it to do.'
+
+For answer the Duke shook his head feebly; and, calling Colendorp to his
+side, passed up the long hall through a rustling silence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+COUNT SIMON OF SAGAN.
+
+
+Although secretly dismayed at the effect produced by her rash
+championship of Madame de Sagan, Valerie kept up a semblance of
+self-possession. Her clear colouring faded to extreme pallor, but her
+proud eyes showed no sign of shrinking from the curious glances cast
+upon her. She caught a trenchant aside from Sagan to Elmur:
+
+'These cursed women will ruin us!'
+
+And in answer to this even Elmur's flattery was mute. But Valerie stood
+haughty and erect, watching the Duke's suite file up the hall,
+Rallywood, as before, bringing up in the rear.
+
+As he came in line with her he turned his head, and their glances met.
+
+That look, which she always recalled as distinctively his, was wiped
+from the young man's gray eyes; they fell upon her stern, alienated,
+almost inimical. The change struck her like a blow. But before she could
+fling back her silent defiance at him, he was gone, without a second
+glance, or seeking in any manner to soften the insolent rebuke he had
+dared to convey.
+
+She resolved to go to her own rooms and make instant arrangements for a
+return to Revonde. Her heart was hot in her, as, looking round, she
+found herself standing alone. Elmur, apparently forgetful of the deep
+personal devotion he had so lately manifested, was conversing with a
+group of Maasaun nobles, his back turned conveniently towards her. Sagan
+had disappeared, and not one of those whom she knew so well, and who,
+ten minutes ago, would have felt honoured by seeking her, but now seemed
+too deeply engaged to notice that she stood alone.
+
+A moment later Counsellor approached her. She had known him slightly for
+a long time, but she now for the first time fully met the shrewd, kindly
+eyes under their shaggy brows. Instantly she liked him, and to her own
+surprise found herself talking of the indiscretion of which she had been
+guilty, and of her wish to return to Revonde in consequence.
+
+'Mademoiselle, are you a loyal Maasaun?' asked Counsellor gravely.
+
+Valerie's soft dark eyes gazed steadily back into his.
+
+'I am loyal,' she replied, in an earnest under-breath.
+
+'Then stay in Sagan. If your words carried so long a tag of meaning to
+others, you can see that Maasau may have need of all her loyal children
+soon.'
+
+'Whom can we trust?' she asked suddenly, almost in a whisper, for Elmur,
+seeing her in conversation with Counsellor, now approached with a
+ceremonious air.
+
+Counsellor smiled as he stood squarely beside her.
+
+'Choose!' he said, briefly.
+
+'Choose what?' asked Elmur in his most deferential manner.
+'Madamoiselle's choice in the most trivial matters is of importance.'
+
+Valerie smiled. Not a trace of disturbance was perceptible in her
+manner, and Elmur, noting it, came to the final conclusion that this
+girl was not only extraordinarily handsome, but also exceptionally
+capable. Having made so grievous a mistake, and taken the punishment of
+it, she was still mistress of herself. It was a gallant spirit, and well
+worth capturing.
+
+'Major Counsellor has asked me to choose flowers for the ball to-night.
+I choose roses. I think it is very nice of me, Major Counsellor, for is
+not the rose the emblem of England?' said the girl, with a coquettish
+smile at the older man.
+
+Elmur's face clouded. This interfering old fellow had the power of
+making friends, which means the power of being a dangerous enemy.
+
+'I had hoped,' he said aloud, 'to have the pleasure of begging
+Mademoiselle to accept my flowers.'
+
+'You are too late, Baron; but perhaps you will escort me to the west
+tower, where I daresay Madame de Sagan is already waiting for me.'
+
+Counsellor looked after the tall graceful figure of the girl as she
+ascended the staircase with Elmur at her side. He could see she was
+still laughing and talking to her companion, but her ready parry of the
+German's question, including a clear reply to his own, showed him that
+the Chancellor's daughter was much more than a mere wilful girl.
+
+'John Rallywood,' he grunted, as he turned away, 'is after all not so
+great an ass as he thinks himself.'
+
+An attendant intercepted the German before he regained the hall, after
+leaving Valerie with Madame de Sagan.
+
+'My lord desires to speak with your Excellency,' he said.
+
+Elmur frowned. He wished to allow Count Simon time to cool before
+meeting him, but this summons was imperative, and, besides, he knew the
+danger of failing to provide a safety-valve in the shape of a listener,
+before the Count could blow off the first ebullitions of rage over
+Mdlle. Selpdorf's untoward speech. If pent up within his own breast,
+there was no knowing in how disastrous a manner Sagan's ill-humour might
+explode. Defeat meant much to Elmur, his reputation was at stake. Other
+men had undertaken this same mission--to bring about the annexation to
+the Fatherland of this troublesome little state; they had failed,
+therefore Elmur had pledged himself to succeed.
+
+Elmur stood with his back against a massive carved bookshelf, and looked
+at Sagan, who, with a cigar-butt buried in his ragged beard, was
+walking, with long, uncertain steps, up and down the floor. The tiger
+in the old man was awake.
+
+'Act I., Scene I.,' said Elmur at last, and with a smile.
+
+Sagan stopped short and turned a bloodshot sidelong glare upon him, his
+dark old fingers working convulsively.
+
+'By heaven! It is going to be a tragedy!' he shouted, and burst into a
+whirlwind of hideous curses, coupled with the names of Valerie and his
+wife.
+
+The German picked out a comfortable chair and seated himself, crossing
+his legs with a manifest intention of patience. There was a horrible
+energy in the old man's attitudes. His long smouldering ambition, nursed
+and fed of late, had now flamed into a regnant passion, and the cooler,
+more wary, unscrupulousness of the younger man looked with repugnance
+upon the blind fury of the Duke that was to be.
+
+In no great space of time the sight of that impassive, high-shouldered
+figure, sitting calmly by, imposed a growing sense of restraint upon the
+Count.
+
+'What do you think of our chances now that Gustave's suspicions have
+been set on the alert?' he asked at last, coming to a stop in front of
+Elmur. 'That fool of a wife of mine has blabbed to Selpdorf's daughter,
+and she in her turn blabs before all the world.'
+
+Elmur sat still and dumb. His face enraged Sagan once more.
+
+'But I am master in Sagan. The girl must be got rid of! There are a
+hundred dangers in our mountains and marshes. Do you not understand?'
+
+Baron von Elmur stood up. He bore his most dignified air, and there was
+something in his whole aspect that made the Count pause.
+
+'In the first place, her death under the circumstances would look
+strange. In the second, we have nothing to gain from it,' he said.
+
+Sagan's red eyes twinkled cunningly.
+
+'Hear my plan. I am not so squeamish as you thin-blooded moderns, or at
+least as you pretend to be!' He placed his finger on the Minister's
+breast, and drew back a little, the better to enjoy the approbation he
+expected to read in the other's face. 'We will say that the girl fell
+ill, and I, in my anxiety, sent Madame Sagan--my own wife, mark you--to
+accompany her to Revonde. If both should happen to be killed by an
+accident we should be well rid of them--and what could the world say?'
+
+Elmur drew away from the insistive finger with an unmistakable movement.
+He bowed stiffly and moved towards the door.
+
+'I do not know what the world might do or say but I can answer for
+Ludwig von Elmur. My master does not deal in murder, my lord, and so I
+beg your leave to withdraw.'
+
+'What?' sneered the other, 'he does not deal in murder? Rather, you
+would say, he prefers to deal in murder wholesale! What of your wars and
+annexations? What of the Germans in West Africa? Take care, Elmur, that
+you are not acting over hastily. For my part I don't believe that a life
+or so would weigh too heavy in the balance as against a province, even
+in your master's judgment. I take my world as I find it, my good Baron!'
+
+'Pardon me, my lord, you take the world as your ancestors found it! You
+may be all your fathers were, but however time goes at Sagan, the rest
+of the world has not stood still since the middle ages. And the world is
+on my side to-day. Besides,' he added more suavely, 'we should gain
+nothing. We should alienate Selpdorf, who is useful, and who knows too
+much. As for the Duke, after such an affair he could never be eased of
+his suspicions.'
+
+'I don't ask to ease him, I mean to cure him,' retorted Sagan,
+meaningly.
+
+'I am certain Madame de Sagan has been silent. The speech of Mdlle.
+Selpdorf was the indignant outburst of a girl who thought her friend
+discourteously treated.'
+
+'Discourteously treated? Isolde rudely treated? By whom?'
+
+'Forgive me once more, my lord; but, in the first place, by yourself.'
+
+Sagan laughed aloud; his ill-temper vanishing before the humour of the
+notion that anyone could take exception to a man's rudeness towards his
+own wife.
+
+'Pooh! the girl is a bigger idiot than I thought her. Let us hope she'll
+never meet with worse at the hands of her own husband.'
+
+'I join in the hope, my lord, since I am to be that most fortunate man!'
+It was not the most felicitous moment, but Elmur was aware that in no
+other way could he assure Valerie's safety against the treachery of his
+colleague.
+
+Sagan fell back a step.
+
+'So--the wind blows from that quarter? Take heed, Baron, Selpdorf is a
+slippery fish.'
+
+'But by this arrangement we land him finally.'
+
+'It may be so.' Sagan tugged broodingly at his beard, after a pause
+adding, 'Well, well, the girl is safe enough for me, if you can answer
+for her. Come back and sit down. We must act while Gustave is here. Once
+we secure the Guard, we can force him to do--as we please. First a
+compromise, then abdication, then--' he brought his hand down heavily
+upon the table and sat staring before him at a vision of a dream
+fulfilled--a vision of Duke Simon of Maasau.
+
+Elmur's lip curled as he watched the man, who, for the time being, was
+oblivious of all but the realisation of his own ambition. Duke Simon! a
+name, but never a living power--only a German puppet, pulled hither and
+thither at will by the controlling hand.
+
+'What are your plans, my lord?' he asked aloud.
+
+The Count started, and raised his head.
+
+'We have three of the Guard here--Unziar, Rallywood, Colendorp. You know
+that as soon as we have made sure of their officers the men will follow
+of themselves. Now Unziar is no saint.'
+
+'But he fights the better because he is a sinner.'
+
+'He is not to be tempted, then. But he is in love with Mdlle.
+Selpdorf--with your future wife, and she must blind him. A man in love
+is easily blinded.'
+
+'And Rallywood?' asked Elmur.
+
+'We don't--want Rallywood,' rejoined Sagan, with an odd glance at Elmur.
+'I can manage him, if you will leave him to me.'
+
+Elmur smiled.
+
+'I conclude Rallywood is capable of taking care of himself.'
+
+The Count grinned.
+
+'Exactly what I believed you would think. There remains only Colendorp.
+But Colendorp is the man we must have--all will depend on Colendorp.'
+
+'Do you suppose he will bend?'
+
+'If not he must break! But, no; I know him well! I have chosen him
+because he touches no woman! Men who don't love women, love money, and
+men who do----'
+
+'Love both,' said Elmur quietly.
+
+'To-morrow night Colendorp shall be here with me. You also will be
+present. Colendorp is a poor man--as men go in the Guard--and we must
+approach him softly and by degrees,' said Sagan.
+
+Elmur concealed a smile. A course of softness and caution seemed
+impossible in connection with the headstrong old man who counselled it.
+
+Sagan, left alone, stood engrossed in thought. The wild beast instinct
+in him gave him intuition of danger. Elmur was playing Germany's game,
+but since his aim was the Count's own, it was impossible at this stage
+to disentangle the precise cause of suspicion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A COUNSEL OF EXPEDIENCY.
+
+
+The foundation of the family and Castle of Sagan was said to belong to
+the period of the Frankish incursions. Some one had once remarked that
+Count Simon himself was the most perfect relic of the barbaric period to
+be found in Europe, which, coming round in due time to Count Simon, the
+joker paid with his life for his poor attempt at wit.
+
+However true this tradition of Sagan might be, the Castle itself was
+mediaeval, and, though it had been added to and restored, dark and
+tortuous passages still existed in the older portion of its huge bulk,
+and could by no means be improved away. Treacherous steps waylaid and
+betrayed the unwary foot; undreamed-of doors gave upon their dimmest
+corners, and not all the efforts of the nervous chatelaine ever
+accomplished the adequate lighting of their recesses.
+
+The spirit of fear seemed to be abroad in the Castle that night, and the
+guests moved with a causeless but irresistible hurry when coming or
+going from the upper apartments or through the winding corridors.
+
+Valerie was conscious of it, as, wrapped in a long cloak, she opened
+her door and started back on finding a tall high-shouldered figure
+standing outside.
+
+'Take my arm, Mademoiselle, I beg of you,' von Elmur bent his head,
+speaking urgently: 'I am aware that his August Impertinence well
+deserved your rebuke! But many heard it, and by some a sinister
+construction has been put upon it. For your father's sake, will you
+condescend to listen to me?'
+
+Valerie withdrew her hand from his arm with a swift movement, but he
+caught and replaced it almost roughly.
+
+'Forgive me, Mademoiselle, you must listen to me! I am not urging my
+suit upon you--I will not urge it until you consult your father; but, in
+the meantime, the exigencies of the case, difficulties which have arisen
+as the result of your own words, make it essential for you to follow my
+advice. You are aware, you must be aware, of my feelings towards you,
+and may I remind you that your father's wishes coincide with mine? Will
+you allow me to announce our betrothal to the Count? I will never
+presume upon this favour in the future--you may rely upon me. Valerie,
+you see I am using no lover's persuasiveness, I do not tell you that I
+adore you--though you are well aware of that! I only declare that your
+falling in with my request may mean the difference between life and
+death to some of us!'
+
+'Is my father in danger through my fault?'
+
+His hand held hers close, and she could see that he was moved out of the
+common by some emotion, the cool stillness of his manner was replaced by
+a passion of which she had not believed him capable. Her beauty and the
+thought of losing her had a good deal to do with this disturbance, but
+the chief cause was the fear, that, after all, his mission might fail,
+and fail badly.
+
+'I cannot explain; but I implore you to act on my advice.'
+
+Valerie hesitated. Elmur was very much in earnest, yet it might be an
+attempt to trick her into a position from which she would find it almost
+impossible to withdraw.
+
+'Do you wish to make this public?' she asked.
+
+'No, no. That--pardon me once more--would be equally fatal after the
+impression you unluckily conveyed to the Duke. No; I only ask you to
+allow Count Sagan to believe that you have consented to become my wife.
+I beg you to do this--for M. Selpdorf's sake, and, indeed, Mademoiselle,
+for your own!'
+
+As they entered the circle of brilliant light falling from the great
+lamp above Madame de Sagan's door Baron von Elmur resumed something of
+his usual manner.
+
+'Then I may conduct you no further?' he said, turning in front of her to
+screen her agitated face from two persons who were coming along the
+gallery.
+
+'Thank you for your protection, Baron,' the girl replied in an audible
+tone, 'the Castle is haunted on nights like these, when the _tsa_ cries
+around it.'
+
+The door swung open noiselessly beside them, and Count Sagan stood on
+the threshold. By some instinct, without looking at him, she seemed to
+see his angry, questioning gaze.
+
+'Au revoir,' she added to Elmur, with a coquettish ring in her voice.
+
+'Ah, Mademoiselle, I live for that only--to see you again,' began Elmur.
+
+Sagan cut him short.
+
+'Tut, tut, Baron, too many eyes are looking on to permit of such
+endearments as these! Ardour in a betrothed lover is natural, yet----'
+
+Valerie looked up and smiled miserably.
+
+'Au revoir,' she repeated faintly.
+
+With that the door closed behind her as Sagan led her away to his wife,
+and Elmur, affecting not to see the two men who were passing, strolled
+on singing a love-song under his breath. Unziar paused, then drew
+Rallywood with him into the centre of the wide lighted passage, where
+they could speak with more freedom. 'That settles more questions than
+one!' he said mockingly. 'For example, it settles a question which most
+concerns you and me, Rallywood.'
+
+'Concerns me?' Rallywood flung back the words.
+
+'Would you deny it? You are as deep in that as I,' nodding towards the
+door behind them.
+
+Rallywood's answer came slowly.
+
+'I do not deny it. Why should I wish to? Though regard for her has led
+me to attempt to hide my--folly. I see I have not been altogether as
+successful as I hoped. But, had I anything to offer her beside my sword,
+I'm hanged if I would let that infernal German have her!'
+
+'In these affairs, my friend, the ladies equally make choice,' Unziar
+replied with a sneer. 'Besides, it is only a part of the--plot,' the
+last word was scarcely audible.
+
+Rallywood turned on him a long, keen look.
+
+'And you think that she, Mademoiselle, is in it?' he asked at last.
+
+'I wish to God I could say not! But in the teeth of this conspiracy, for
+the sake of Maasau, we of the Guard cannot lie to each other.'
+
+Rallywood, being on duty during the evening, stood, according to usage,
+at some little distance behind the Duke's chair. From among the coming
+and going, from chance words and prepared speeches he gathered a thread
+of suspicion which had its use in the perplexing future that was rapidly
+advancing upon them.
+
+Valerie, with a flush upon her face, was looking unusually brilliant as
+she talked for a while with Unziar, who, judging from the sourness of
+his smile, may have been offering her his congratulations.
+
+Counsellor came up to Rallywood, and as they stood well away from the
+crowd, spoke openly.
+
+'You have heard the news I see, John, and you are not nearly such a fool
+as you think yourself. She is a girl in ten thousand, and may, not
+improbably, make the exceptional woman I once before spoke to you about.
+I knew this connection was under consideration by Elmur, but the
+engagement did not exist a few hours ago, and the present moment is
+precisely the most inopportune which could be chosen for its
+announcement, hence it follows that someone has forced Elmur's hand, or
+that he is forcing the hand of someone, it may be Mdlle. Selpdorf's.'
+
+'Will it be announced--publicly? The Duke, for example.'
+
+'It is known already to half-a-dozen; what can they do? I had it from
+Blivinski, the little Russian _attache_, as a secret. Russia is, like
+nature herself, the vast reservoir of all secrets; and not one is
+allowed to escape, except for a purpose. Yet I wonder how it will end.
+Look at her! How brilliant she is. But rouge on the cheek of a woman who
+habitually uses none means, in all cases--trouble,' said Counsellor, as
+he moved off.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+ANTHONY UNZIAR.
+
+
+No one could have gathered, from the quiet aspect of Rallywood's tall,
+soldierly figure, that a whirl of emotion was passing through his brain.
+Yet above all rose one dominant sensation--a vast relief. Counsellor
+shared his own opinion with regard to Valerie. Her daring words to the
+Duke had no serious meaning; they were only the natural echo of a girl's
+preference for a young and beautiful woman to preside over the Court,
+rather than the bloated rake who now lolled uneasily in the chair before
+him. He recalled the forlorn little smile with which she had accepted
+von Elmur's lover-like protestations at Madame de Sagan's doorway. Its
+forlornness had been lost upon Unziar, who had drawn but one merciless
+conclusion from the little scene. Close on the heels of these
+reflections a vivid recollection rose before Rallywood's mind of the
+first night he had met her. The lights and music of the grand salon of
+Sagan died away, and he was standing again on the ridge below the Hotel
+du Chancelier, looking out over the glimmering lamps of Revonde,
+dominated, as always, by the regnant red eye of the Guards' Dome, and he
+felt once more that strange new warmth and thrill in his veins which,
+at the time, he had believed to be born of an opening career beset with
+danger and difficulty. To-night, however, he judged more clearly; he
+knew that his dull life had been rekindled, and his ambitions had taken
+fresh fire from the dark starlit eyes Valerie Selpdorf had raised to his
+in the Counsellor's ante-room two months ago.
+
+'Captain Rallywood!'
+
+Rallywood started. The Duke made him a sign to approach. Then, rising
+from his chair, he took the young man's arm, and leaning heavily upon
+it, moved towards the card-room, meeting Unziar with Mdlle. Selpdorf on
+the way.
+
+'Hey, Mademoiselle Valerie,' he stopped abruptly, 'would you teach my
+Guards treason?'
+
+'To teach your Highness's Guards treason is impossible!' replied
+Valerie, with a slight lifting of her proud head.
+
+'The influence of a beautiful woman has no limit,' retorted the Duke.
+
+Valerie's red lips trembled.
+
+'Generations have already proved the fidelity of the Selpdorfs has also
+no limit. But I beg you to accept an apology for my foolish words.'
+
+'But such words from a Selpdorf!'
+
+'We have always been loyal, sire.'
+
+The Duke shook his head sadly.
+
+'But the world changes--what has been is not. And the first reason
+now-a-days why a thing should no longer be, is the fact that once it
+was!'
+
+Valerie was almost as tall as the Duke himself, and she looked level
+into his weary eyes.
+
+'Have we changed with the world, sire?'
+
+'Not--yet,' replied the Duke bitterly; then, struck, as it seemed, by
+the intrinsic spirit of the young imperial face gazing into his own, he
+added, 'Though you tempt a man to believe in you, Mademoiselle!'
+
+'I say this before your Highness and these gentlemen of your Guard,'
+Valerie said, her eyes flashing. 'May the Selpdorf, who ceases to be
+true to your Highness and to Maasau, die!'
+
+In after time events brought back the vehement words to the minds of the
+three who heard them.
+
+'And I say, "Amen!"' The Duke took her hand and added, 'Which proves,
+Valerie, that you have conquered your old friend, Gustave of Maasau.
+Come, Captain Rallywood, half-an-hour's play, and then to bed.'
+
+Valerie looked up at Unziar as she walked beside him.
+
+'And yet you would not believe me?'
+
+'Come!' was Unziar's reply.
+
+She laid her hand within his arm and passed silently through the
+reception rooms beside him.
+
+She felt that the time had come when Unziar could no more be put off by
+the little wiles and evasions a woman employs who has nothing to give to
+the man who loves her but a definite answer. Two luxurious chairs stood
+ready for occupants in the nook to which he led her, but he had no
+thought to give to conventionalities. He stood before her keen and
+white, and desperate with doubt.
+
+'Valerie, what does all this mean?'
+
+Though only a girl in years, Valerie was a woman in experience.
+Experience, not gained altogether at first hand, be it understood, but
+such as a clever woman easily gathers from the lives of those about her.
+As the motherless daughter of M. Selpdorf, she had had exceptional
+opportunities. Thrown into the midst of a brilliant but vicious society,
+her eyes had seen more of the bare under-texture of life than was
+perhaps desirable; she had looked upon the shift and drift of things
+political with an ever-present knowledge that there danger lurked and
+waited; she had learned the uses of reserve, and something of the art of
+resource; and, above all, her womanly perceptions had taken on a strange
+edge of sensitive power, due to her father's quaint methods of pointing
+out to her the difference between the seeming and the true. By reason of
+this premature insight into the motives and stress of human existence
+she gained in safety and strength as her father desired; but on the
+other hand, she had lost the sense of happy irresponsibility that goes
+so far towards making up one of the sweetest essentials of youth.
+Luckily there is one thing which can never be quite destroyed at
+secondhand--the romance and illusions that beguile boyhood and girlhood,
+and the liability to be so beguiled still lived in Valerie's strong and
+vivid nature.
+
+'Shall I swear that every word I spoke to the Duke just now is true?'
+she asked coldly. 'Although, of course, even that would not convince
+you!'
+
+'No, I suppose not,' he said drearily. 'You spoke openly of your hope to
+be maid of honour to Madame de Sagan when she became Duchess of
+Maasau--which can only mean one thing. Rallywood heard and told me
+exactly.'
+
+'You discussed me with Captain Rallywood?' she flashed out.
+
+Unziar's glance darkened again with a new suspicion.
+
+'Should you object?' he asked.
+
+'As it happens, I should, particularly.'
+
+He bit savagely at his moustache.
+
+'What is wrong with Rallywood?'
+
+'He is an Englishman. Besides, I do not care to be discussed amongst the
+men of the Guard!'
+
+'How like a woman you put me off! I did not discuss you with Rallywood,
+of course, as you very well know. I asked him the single question as to
+what had actually been said. I knew he would not lie to me.'
+
+'The Guard keep their falsehoods for outsiders, I suppose?'
+
+Unziar liked this harping upon Rallywood less and less. He moved
+irritably.
+
+'But that is not all. You have admitted that you are going to marry
+Elmur. That also signifies--something.'
+
+'Whatever it signifies, it does not signify that I am disloyal to
+Maasau.'
+
+'You have seen for yourself that there is a change here at Sagan,'
+argued Unziar. 'No German has ever been welcome here before. We can but
+guess at treason.'
+
+'Hush! it cannot be that, since my father has knowledge of it.'
+
+This was an entirely unexpected development of the difficulty. Unziar
+felt the check, and even in his turbulence he changed his venue.
+
+'It may be so--let that rest; but nothing can alter me in the belief
+that Elmur is the natural enemy of the State. Valerie, he can give you
+many things that I cannot offer you. But my love--No, hear me for once.
+You must hear me, Valerie! You know that I have loved you always, I
+don't remember when it began--I was a boy. But Elmur at the best must
+have loved others before you. Whereas I--I have thought of no one else
+all my life!'
+
+'Why, I have heard differently, Anthony,' she interposed, with a smile
+that was a vain effort to temper the intensity of his mood.
+
+He stamped with his spurred heel upon a fallen flower.
+
+'I don't pretend to be a saint; I am what other men are. You see I do
+not deceive you even now. But give me the chance and I will prove to you
+that the Unziars can be faithful. Valerie, give me your love! For God's
+sake don't say you cannot! Give me your love!'
+
+'Anthony!'
+
+It almost shocked her to see Unziar--cold and cynical Unziar--pleading
+as a man pleads for escape from death, with a terrible self-abandonment.
+
+'Wait! Tell me this. Did you choose von Elmur?'
+
+'My--we--it has nothing to do with that kind of thing.'
+
+'I thought not! Then you will sacrifice yourself for an idea? You shall
+not!'
+
+'Anthony, you are very good to me--you have always been. I know that if
+I felt for you as you wish me to feel, then you could help me. But I
+don't! As long as I can remember you have been my playfellow, my
+brother; but not more--never this! Anthony, I love you, but not--but
+not--You have been so honest with me that whatever it costs I must be
+honest with you. I can never do as you wish!'
+
+Unziar listened rather to some far-off tide of thought, as it seemed,
+than to her words--thoughts that flowed in upon him and quenched hope.
+
+'You do not love me; Elmur is beside the mark--beside the question of
+love--altogether. Then, Valerie, whom do you love?'
+
+She gave him a frightened glance, and drew in her breath as one who
+parries a blow.
+
+'There is no one'; then, added more firmly, 'You are mistaken--there is
+no one.'
+
+'If that be so,' responded the young man sullenly, 'then my chance is as
+good as another's. I shall not give up hope! Remember that. But I have
+thought that Rallywood----'
+
+Valerie recalled the coldness of the averted grey eyes, and the memory
+stung her.
+
+'He hates me,' she replied with a haughty smile, 'as I hate him!'
+
+'Rallywood hates you?' he repeated in angry astonishment.
+
+'Yes; but whatever he may feel for me I return in full!'
+
+'Valerie, then you love no one? Say it again.'
+
+The jingle of spur and scabbard came through the flower-hung spaces, and
+Rallywood passed within a few feet of them. He was whistling softly as
+he walked along with an easy swing of his strong shoulders.
+
+'I love----' Valerie began, and stopped short, for Rallywood turned in
+his stride as if he felt their eyes upon him.
+
+'His Highness has sent for you, Unziar,' he said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+LOVE IN TWO SHADES.
+
+
+All the next morning the snow fell persistently, and Sagan might have
+been, as far as appearances went, a castle built in the air. Above,
+below, around, the snow eddied like a fairy torrent, beating against the
+solid walls and curling in curious ringed swirls about its buttresses as
+water beats about a rock in midstream.
+
+But the dominant grey of the outside world cast no appreciable
+reflection on the spirits of Madame de Sagan's guests, with whom gaiety
+and wild devices for killing time were necessary and familiar things.
+
+But to Valerie the same suggestion of fear and unrest that had oppressed
+her on the previous evening still held its silent sway over the place.
+She stood at the broad window of the main staircase watching the swift
+atoms of snow drift past, each one by itself a mere melting point, but,
+in their millions, mighty. She shivered and looked round with an odd
+sense of apprehension, as if the vague blind storm outside had its
+counterpart in a vague blind danger within.
+
+A tall man came leaping up the staircase. He stopped beside her. She
+looked up at him, her deep eyes were full of some disturbing thought.
+
+'Captain Rallywood, will you tell Major Counsellor from me,' she began
+at once, in a low, hurried voice, 'that, in spite of what he has heard
+of me, he must still believe Maasau is the dearest thing on earth to me.
+Tell him that, if needful, I am ready to prove it with my life! He may
+make quite sure I meant all I said to him yesterday.'
+
+Rallywood stood silent. The passion of her voice and speech echoed in
+her own ears and suddenly seemed all excessive and uncalled for; a
+blush--half anger, half shame--rushed over her face, bringing tears to
+her eyes. Why was it decreed that she should always, in some small
+foolish way, appear to disadvantage before this wretched Englishman.
+
+'I will tell him,' said Rallywood at last, 'though I cannot understand.'
+
+'No, you cannot understand! You are so cold, so self-centred that the
+feelings and tumults which trouble most of us appear as weaknesses to
+you. Since you cannot understand us, you should not judge us, we others,
+who, in our own spasmodic way, love our country as you serve
+yours--steadily and with a whole heart.'
+
+Now, John Rallywood was perplexed. He longed to set himself right with
+her. Her very accusations, her readiness to find fault, which might have
+made matters clear to some men, only disheartened him with a renewed
+sense of her dislike.
+
+'You hate my nation,' he said, after a pause of consideration,
+'therefore you condemn me, not because of anything I have done, but on
+general grounds, putting the worst construction on--on everything. I
+wonder why you judge me so hardly?'
+
+Valerie laughed, her red lip finely edged with scorn.
+
+'On the contrary, you judge us! Who made you a judge over us? You regard
+us--you English--with that straight steady look. I suppose you feel what
+futile creatures we others are, with our shifting moods and passions,
+our little furies and desperations! Do you remember the night you joined
+the Guard--the night in the Cloister of St. Anthony? How I trembled and
+feared for you, I'--she laughed again--'I even wanted to help you! How
+absurd it all seemed to you, didn't it? I remember you were very cool
+and quiet, and I suppose you thought it very foolish--one of those
+unnecessary, extravagant emotions in which we inferior races are apt to
+indulge!'
+
+'Stop!' Rallywood cut her short with a peremptory word, 'I will not
+allow you to say such things of yourself nor--of me!'
+
+Valerie threw back her head with the slight haughty lift he knew so
+well.
+
+'You are rather too certain of your own power,' she said.
+
+'You say you remember that night?--not so well as I do? You think I am
+very sure of myself. And yet I have been mistaken on points that touch
+me close. I thought that night when I knew I might never see the
+morning--I dared to fancy that we--you and I--understood each other--a
+little.' He waited, but Valerie had turned away; her profile looked
+exquisite, but cold, against the dark shutter as she watched the driving
+snow. 'So I was the fool after all, you see!' he ended lamely.
+
+According to the immemorial fashion of love, they understood and
+misunderstood each other alternately playing high and low at every other
+moment upon the wide gamut of feeling, touching faint sweet notes that
+would echo for ever.
+
+Rallywood's self-control was giving way a little, and she instinctively
+felt her power and used it.
+
+'I wonder what you really think of us behind that quiet alertness of
+yours,' she said lightly, 'I believe I did imagine I--understood you a
+little that night; but I imagine it no longer! Perhaps I misjudge you
+now, but it cannot matter; you told me once you knew how to wait, and of
+course you are certain that all unfair opinions of you must come right
+in the end.'
+
+But Rallywood passed over her many sentences to seize the central idea
+that appealed to him.
+
+'Yes, I have learned to wait. I told you that everything comes to him
+who waits. Unfortunately a proverb is true often, not always. One thing
+can never come to me however long I wait. For me there is no hope.'
+
+'I don't know what you hope for,' replied the girl, slowly, as if she
+were choosing her words; but she hardly knew what she said, she was lost
+in a multitude of dreams, and her words but filled in the rare crevices
+between them. 'I thought that every man carried his own fate in his own
+hand.'
+
+'A man can fight the tangible, but no man can struggle against the
+ordinary laws of social life. We may laugh at conventional methods, but
+even in Revonde there are some which must be yielded to.'
+
+'I don't think,' said Valerie, 'we yield to many in Revonde.'
+
+Rallywood saw a group of people advancing towards them. Valerie, with
+her changes of mood and manner, distracted him, and drove him on to say
+what he had resolved never to be tempted into saying.
+
+'I am a soldier--only a soldier; I gain a livelihood, but no more. I
+have no luck and no genius. To make a fortune or a name is beyond me.
+And without fortune many desirable things are impossible.'
+
+Valerie turned upon him a bewildering smile.
+
+'I shall know for the future, Captain Rallywood, what you are thinking
+of. You will be thinking, for all those grave eyes of yours, of the
+fortune you cannot make!'
+
+'Not quite that, Mademoiselle,' he answered, 'I shall be thinking of the
+girl I cannot win.'
+
+Valerie found herself drawn away from him by the passing group. She was
+aware of a warm throb at her heart, she was trembling a little, and the
+fear of the morning had temporarily vanished. For no definite reason
+which she could afterwards discover, she felt suddenly happy.
+
+By evening the _tsa_ had blown away the snow-clouds for the time, and a
+thin moon gleamed fitfully over the wide expanses of white. Remote,
+muffled in leagues of snow, and alive with hungry passions and
+unscrupulous strength, the Castle of Sagan did not, on that wild January
+night, offer desirable housing to the Grand Duke of Maasau. He had yet
+some thirty hours to spend as his cousin's guest before he could return
+to his capital without showing suspicion or giving offence. A hundred
+times he wished himself back in his great palace by the river bank where
+the squadrons of the Guard lay within call. But he bore himself well
+notwithstanding, and although, on the plea of chill and fatigue, he kept
+to his rooms more than usual, his short appearances in public left in
+one sense nothing to be desired. He did not carry himself as a man in
+mortal anxiety, but was as dissatisfied, as discourteous, and as
+disagreeable as it was his custom to be.
+
+Late in the afternoon Madame de Sagan retired to take some rest before
+dinner. Wrapped in lace and silk, she was standing in front of her
+mirror with her women about her, when the Count entered. At his first
+imperious word the attendants vanished.
+
+Isolde continued to stare into the glass like one fascinated, for in it
+she not only saw the reflection of her own slender white-clad figure,
+but over her shoulder the fierce face she dreaded.
+
+For a long minute husband and wife remained reading each other's faces
+in the looking-glass.
+
+She had seen aversion and menace in the Count's lowering face many a
+time before, and was at length beginning to believe the almost
+impossible fact to be true, that a man lived who hated her, over whom
+her beauty had no power.
+
+The young Countess shivered in mortal terror.
+
+'Simon,' she wailed suddenly, 'you are changed,--you do not love me any
+more!'
+
+A broad smile flitted across the savage old face.
+
+'You are a fool, but a very pretty fool, Isolde, and for that a man
+might forgive you many things. Now listen to me. After you retire to
+your rooms for the night, keep close to them, no matter what you hear.
+There may be a disturbance, and you had better have Selpdorf's daughter
+to keep you company.' His expression changed as he spoke of Valerie.
+
+'There is danger,' she gasped, 'danger. What is it, oh, tell me what it
+is!' Her first fear leaping towards Rallywood.
+
+He stared into her shrinking eyes.
+
+'If you ever hope to be Duchess of Maasau,' he answered significantly,
+'leave Valerie's lovers, Unziar and the Englishman, to take care of
+themselves. Keep your tongue silent! Remember!' He caught her slender
+wrist roughly as he spoke and pressed it to enforce the command.
+
+The Countess made no reply, but her fingers closed in upon her palms.
+
+'Come, give me a kiss, and promise me to do so much towards making
+yourself a Grand Duchess.' He brushed her lips carelessly with his
+moustache.
+
+The caress brought no response; but as he bent over her she whispered,
+'Have mercy on me Simon!' (it was a prayer born rather of some vague
+instinct of danger than any defined fear); 'don't kill me!'
+
+He put his thick arm round her and shook her impatiently.
+
+'Kill you, Isolde? Are you mad? You are far more useful to me living
+than dead. Get rid of your silly fears, and remember--silence!'
+
+Then putting her back on the couch with more gentleness than might have
+been expected of him, he walked out of the room. For a little while she
+sat listening, then opened her eyes and glanced about her. Yes, he was
+gone. But it was characteristic of her that at such a time her chief and
+overpowering thought was Valerie as a rival! 'Valerie's lovers, Unziar
+and the Englishman!' A score of trifles rushed back upon her memory; but
+no it could not be. It was one of the Count's amiable ways to suggest
+causes of jealousy to his wife. He meant nothing, for what could he
+know? The soothing conviction grew upon her that the taunt was thrown at
+her for what it was worth. Oh, how she hated Sagan--hated his
+bloodshot, beast's eyes, his mocking laugh, his cruel hands, his
+crueller gibes!
+
+She pushed back the lace from her wrist and saw the thin parallels of
+bruised flesh his fingers had left--entirely unaware, it must be
+owned--upon her whiteness. Ah, she would show these to Rallywood--as a
+proof that she was in danger, that she actually needed his protection,
+and so win him from his post, which to-night would become the post of
+death.
+
+All her little vain soul thrilled within her at the possibility of
+triumph--of defeating the honour of such a man--of winning him from his
+watch for love's sake--of overcoming the scruples that had for so long a
+time stood out against her wiles.
+
+And yet in her poor way she loved him--loved him as she would probably
+never love another. Some women are made in that way, they take pride in
+the loftiness of the height from which they drag men down. Then he must
+be saved, she told herself, at all costs saved! He would live to thank
+her yet. A thought of him lying dead in his blood by the dark embrasure
+that masked the entrance to the royal apartments flashed across her
+mind. She stretched out her arms with a soft call like a bird's.
+
+'Oh, love, love, I will save you!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+HALF A PROMISE.
+
+
+Ten minutes later a big emblazoned footman brought Rallywood a summons
+from the Countess, as he stood talking to Counsellor and the Russian
+_attache_.
+
+As he moved away Blivinski placed a bony impressive finger on
+Counsellor's sleeve.
+
+'If he were not English, you could not trust him,' he said
+enigmatically.
+
+Counsellor raised his bushy eyebrows, with a humorous glance. 'We have
+had our day.'
+
+'Ah, my friend, you know most things. Also I know a very few,' Blivinski
+said significantly, 'but with your nation patriotism is not a virtue, it
+is a part of your physical system. You sacrifice all for your country,
+not because it is right to do so, but simply because you cannot help it;
+the good God made you so. Therefore this young man, in face of the
+supreme temptation of youth, may be trusted. I speak of these things now
+because you will remember, in good time, that those who are against you
+will not dare to injure'--he removed the finger to his own breast--'us
+also!'
+
+And the little silent swarthy man slipped away almost before Counsellor
+realised that Russia, the mighty, had given him a pledge which might
+prove of immense value in the uncertain future.
+
+Rallywood found the young Countess crouching and shivering near a wood
+fire. She was magnificently dressed in rich tones of royal purple, that
+accentuated her delicate fairness and beauty, and a small diadem of
+amethysts shone in the pale gold of her hair.
+
+She took no notice of his entrance, though she was acutely conscious
+that his eyes were on her. She was hungry of his gaze, and she believed
+in the power of her own loveliness.
+
+'Jack,' she said at last, 'come here. I wonder now why I sent for you,
+but I am miserable.'
+
+She looked up at him heavy-lidded.
+
+There was concern in his voice as he answered her.
+
+'If I told you all,' she went on, 'you would not believe me. I am
+now--to-night--in great danger.'
+
+'In danger? Here? where you are surrounded by friends,' replied
+Rallywood, beginning to wish himself well out of it. Had there been no
+Valerie Selpdorf, or even had he not uttered those impulsive words
+which, to his mind, changed his position from the indefinite to the
+definite, the history of his life might have been turned into another
+channel that evening. As it was, though Valerie remained free as the
+wind, he felt himself to be in some vague manner bound to her.
+
+'Nonsense! You know how useless all these friends would be if things
+went wrong with me. They flatter the Countess of Sagan, but not one of
+them would make the smallest sacrifice for Isolde, the woman. I do not
+know if you, even you, are my friend. We talked about it--long ago. But
+I have not put you to the test, and I--I often wonder if our friendship
+still remains alive.'
+
+'I am as I always was,' he parried.
+
+'I wonder if that is true?' She raised her drooping face again. 'I don't
+know how to believe you. Why will you keep up this pretence of--of
+reserve between us? You never tell me your troubles, and I suppose you
+have them, like the rest of us. We should be quite old friends now, and
+yet you are always so'--she hesitated for a word--'courteous. Are you
+ever angry, for example?'
+
+'Very often.'
+
+'But not with me, and I have given you cause many a time. If you would
+be angry with me even once, Jack, causelessly angry, then I should know
+I had a friend to whom I could go if I were in trouble--in such trouble
+as I am to-night!'
+
+'If there is anything I can do for you----'
+
+The quiet tone annoyed her. She rose quickly.
+
+'If--if--if! Any man could help me who--cared.'
+
+'I do care.'
+
+'I wonder,' she said wistfully, 'how much you mean of what you say. I
+have no standard to judge you by, because you are not quite like other
+men. But I owe you my life, and I sometimes think it gives me a claim on
+you.'
+
+'I can never pretend you owe me anything: you were quite safe; no
+accident could have happened. You are far too good a horsewoman, though
+you were nervous for the moment.' He spoke with a careless
+affectionateness, for the young Countess in her helpless beauty appealed
+to him.
+
+'Look at me!' she said tragically. 'Do I seem hateful?'
+
+'You are a young queen,' he paused, and added, 'a young queen--seen in a
+dream! You are too ethereal to be of common earth.'
+
+'I am of common earth like any other woman,' she answered with a forlorn
+little smile; 'I can be afraid and--I can love!'
+
+'Afraid? In your own Castle, among your own people?'
+
+'Yes, Jack. Don't think I am silly! It is quite true. You say you have
+not changed, that you are still my friend. You are my only one then! I
+must look to you for protection; I have no one else in the whole world.'
+She was very near him, her little cold hand had caught his in her
+vehemence; she looked apprehensively behind her, and then spoke low in
+his ear. 'I am afraid of my husband. He wishes to be rid of me--I have
+seen it in his eyes. Sagan will kill me! Do you remember the night of
+the ball, when I gave you the firefly? Have you kept it, I wonder? I
+said mine would be a short life. It is true. Sagan is tired of me, and
+I--Jack, I--loathe him!'
+
+'But----' Rallywood began.
+
+'You don't believe me? See this!' she pushed back a band of black velvet
+from her arm, and held it out to him. This touched him more than all;
+the slender blue-veined wrist with the marks of those cruel fingers
+clasped about it moved him far more than the temptations of her delicate
+beauty. With an almost involuntary desire to comfort her as one might
+comfort and please a child, he bent above her hand and kissed the
+bruises.
+
+Isolde clung to him with a quick sob of relief.
+
+'Promise me, Jack, that you will save me! When danger threatens me I
+will send for you. You will come? You promise?'
+
+But Rallywood was not in the least in love with Madame de Sagan for all
+his pity. He was again master of himself, and an odd suspicion flashed
+across him.
+
+'I feel certain you are mistaken,' he repeated; 'but you have another
+friend who can be of more service than I just now, Mademoiselle
+Selpdorf.'
+
+The Countess sank back into her chair.
+
+'What do you know of Valerie?' she asked coldly.
+
+'Very little, but----'
+
+'Thanks! I know her better than you do. I don't choose that she should
+amuse herself at my expense.
+
+As it is, she has brought most of this trouble upon me.'
+
+Rallywood may have been sagacious enough on some points, but on this
+particular one he was a fool. He was not at all aware that Madame de
+Sagan with her innocent eyes and small brain was sifting him.
+
+'But she meant to defend you!' he exclaimed.
+
+She laughed softly, and if a woman could have compassed the ruin of a
+man by means of love and temptation, Rallywood was lost from that hour,
+for the rivalry of Valerie Selpdorf added the one incentive of bitter
+resolve that drives such slight-brained jealous souls to the last limit
+of reckless endeavour.
+
+'When I find myself in danger I will remind you of the firefly, and you
+will come then, Jack!' she said, 'you promise?'
+
+'When you want me, I will come--as soon as I may.'
+
+'But that is only half a promise.'
+
+'Yes,' he replied, 'but you know the other half is pledged already.'
+
+She sprang up with clenched hands.
+
+'What? To Valerie? Already?'
+
+'No, Madame, to the Duke.'
+
+'Ah, the Duke is well served!' she said sadly as he bowed at the door,
+but she laughed to herself when it closed behind him, 'Yet you will come
+when I send for you, Jack!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+COLENDORP.
+
+
+As the night deepened the wind again rose, its many voices howled about
+the Castle and compelled the ear to listen. It volleyed yelling through
+the ravines, it roared among the lean pine-trees like the surf on an
+open coast, it swept round the Castle walls in long-drawn infuriated
+screaming that seemed charged with echoes of wild pain and remoteness
+and fear. The narrow moon had long since sunk behind the rack of
+storm-driven clouds, and left the mountains steeped in a tumultuous
+milk-coloured darkness of snow and wind.
+
+Within the massive walls the reception rooms were closed and empty at
+last; the guests had separated and night had taken possession, but not
+rest.
+
+Valerie, alone in her room and oppressed by the vague infection of
+wakefulness and fear, moved from window to window listening to the wild
+noises that were abroad, and trying to reason herself out of the
+conviction of coming danger, which held her from sleep.
+
+She had thrown back the curtains from the windows. Her room occupied an
+exposed corner of the Castle tower, which stood on the edge of the
+gorge through which the Kofn chafed its way to the plains below the
+Ford. A narrow strip of ground scarcely six feet in width alone
+separated the wall of the tower from the precipice that fell sheer away
+to the foaming water far below.
+
+She tried to read but could not fix her attention. Her heart seemed in
+her ears and answered to every sound.
+
+And all the while in the scattered rooms and shadowy passages the drama
+which involved her life was being slowly played out. Below on the ground
+floor of the tower Elmur and Sagan sat together.
+
+'By the way, my dear Count, have you ever thought of the possibility of
+Captain Colendorp's refusal to see things in our light?' Elmur was
+asking, after an interval filled in by the noises of wind and water
+which could not be shut out of the Castle on such a night.
+
+The Count looked up and scowled.
+
+'Leave the management of the affair to me,' he said. 'Unless I were sure
+of my man, I should not be such a fool as to bring him here to listen to
+what I shall say to him to-night;' then he added as an afterthought,
+'When once we have begun, Baron von Elmur, there can be no going back.
+Remember that! The game must now be played to the end, whatever that end
+is.'
+
+Elmur pondered. Sagan was a bad tool, at once stubborn and secretive,
+cunning enough to recognise and to resent handling, thickheaded and vain
+enough to blunder ruinously. And Elmur found at the last and most
+important moment that for some unexplained reason he had lost the
+whip-hand of Count Simon.
+
+Up to this interview, by alternate effrontery and flattery, he had kept
+his place in the Count's confidence, and exerted a guiding and
+restraining influence over him. Now Sagan held him at arm's length, and
+was plainly determined to act according to his own judgment without
+consulting the German. The mischief had, of course, been done by the
+news of Elmur's engagement to Selpdorf's daughter, for Sagan, like
+others of his limited mental development, was sensitively suspicious.
+Hence the bond between the two men was weak, inasmuch as neither liked
+nor trusted the other, but it was strong, since both were tenacious and
+both had staked all the future on the chance of forcing a new _regime_
+upon Maasau the Free. At this crisis, however, Elmur would gladly have
+hedged or masked his position, for he knew himself to be overmuch at the
+mercy of the equivocal tact and discretion of his ungovernable
+coadjutor.
+
+'I cannot help thinking that my presence at the outset will make Captain
+Colendorp shy at any proposition whatever,' said Elmur again.
+
+'Do you want to draw back? You don't wish to appear in the matter--is
+that it? By St. Anthony, von Elmur, you showed me the road that has
+brought me to this pass and you will have to stand by me now! Also you
+are wrong about Colendorp. When he sees for himself that I have Germany
+behind me, it will decide his doubts--if he has any, which I don't
+expect. I have read the man. He is soured and ill-conditioned, the
+readiest stuff to make a rebel and a traitor of!'
+
+What more Elmur might have urged was cut short by the entrance of
+Colendorp. He had left his sword outside.
+
+He saluted Sagan in his stiff punctilious way, his dark and sallow face
+impenetrable.
+
+'I am glad to see you, Captain Colendorp,' said Sagan with some
+constraint. Even he felt the check of the man's iron impassiveness.
+
+'You sent for me, my lord,' returned Colendorp, as one who hints that
+time is short and he would be through with business.
+
+'Take a cigar,' said the Count, pushing a box across the table, and also
+pouring out a generous glass of the liqueur, for the manufacture of
+which Maasau is famous--the golden glittering poison known as _bizutte_.
+
+Colendorp accepted both in silence, but took a seat with a certain slow
+unwillingness that was suggestive. Colendorp was at the best unpliable.
+His manner put an edge on Sagan's temper. He plunged into his subject.
+
+'Yes, I sent for you, Captain Colendorp, because I believe you to be a
+faithful Maasaun. You are not one of those blind optimists who say
+because Maasau has been swinging so long between ruin and extravagance
+that she must swing on so for ever. It is not possible!'
+
+'I am sorry to hear that, my lord.'
+
+'No, I say it is not possible. Changes must be made. In these days of
+big armaments and growing kingdoms, Maasau can no longer stand alone.
+She must secure an ally, a friend powerful enough to back her up against
+all comers--a great nation who will make the cause of Maasau's freedom
+her own, and help us to preserve the traditions of our country.'
+
+Elmur half expected the soldier to point this speech for himself by a
+glance towards the representative of Germany, but Colendorp sat
+unresponsive and black-browed, and gave no sign.
+
+'There is a party among us who advise us to wait until we are forced
+into a corner, and then to make choice of such an ally. But reasonable
+men know that a bargain one is driven to make must inevitably be a bad
+bargain. The only hope for Maasau is to move at once and to move boldly
+before it is too late, and while we are still in a position to choose
+for ourselves under the conditions which suit us best and will best
+conduce to the preservation of our freedom.'
+
+Colendorp listened without any change of expression.
+
+'What is your opinion, Captain Colendorp?' asked Sagan at last.
+
+'The only difficulty would be to find a nation sufficiently
+disinterested for our purpose, my lord,' replied Colendorp deliberately.
+
+'I have found one.' Sagan indicated Elmur, but the Guardsman still kept
+his gaze on the Count. 'Only one small obstacle stands in the way of
+carrying out our plans--the plans, recollect, of the wisest and most
+patriotic of our countrymen. I need not name it.'
+
+Colendorp apparently thought for a moment.
+
+'M. Selpdorf?' he said.
+
+'But not at all! Selpdorf is one of the foremost of my advisers.'
+
+Colendorp shook his head as if no other name occurred to him; Sagan bent
+across the table, the knotted hand on which he leaned twitching
+slightly.
+
+'You do not speak, but you know the truth. And you know the--the Duke.'
+
+Colendorp's silence was telling on Sagan's self-control.
+
+'Yes, the Duke!' he reiterated. 'He has never given a thought to the
+welfare of Maasau. Its revenues are his necessity, that is all! If the
+ruler will not take the interests of the country into consideration, his
+people must supply his place. Do not misunderstand my words!' for at
+length a blacker frown passed over the iron face of the listener. 'My
+meaning is not to hurt the Duke at all; our one wish is to urge upon him
+the only course left for the safety of the country. To that end we must
+all combine. So long as his Highness believes he can depend on his
+Guard to back him, he will hold out against even the most reasonable
+demands. Therefore the Guard must be with us.'
+
+'I am not the colonel of the Guard,' said Colendorp quietly. Sagan took
+this in some form as an agreement with his views, some surrender on the
+part of the Guardsman, and he broke out into a flood of speech.
+
+'No, but Wallenloup! A pig-headed old fool, who would never be brought
+to see an inch either side of his oath of allegiance, but would rush
+blindly on before the Duke to his death, and to the destruction of
+Maasau--to anywhere! Colendorp, Ulm being away, you are the senior
+officer, failing Wallenloup. It is not outside the possibilities of the
+game that you would find yourself in command of the Guard when all was
+said and done. The highest ambition of a Maasaun is yours if you will
+promise us your help in this struggle! A struggle, mind you, not of
+selfish motives nor for self-aggrandisement, but for Maasau the Free!'
+He stuttered in his eagerness and then stood waiting for the reply.
+
+'And if the Duke does not consent to--any--changes?' asked Colendorp
+coldly.
+
+At this juncture Elmur interposed.
+
+'The Count will ex----'
+
+But Sagan was rushing his fences now like a vicious horse. Having once
+given voice to his ambitions he had no longer the power to rein in his
+speech.
+
+'By your leave, Baron von Elmur, I will speak! Colendorp, you are a man
+to whom the world may yet give much. Your one chance is being offered to
+you--here--to-night. The men will follow you if you give the word, and
+Wallenloup, well, Wallenloup must upon that occasion absent himself. Use
+your influence with the other officers. They are not to be bribed, of
+course, but in the cause of the country each man would find his services
+well rewarded. Think before you answer me, man! Duke Gustave is sunk in
+pleasure and has sold the country over and over again to the highest
+bidder, and only got out of his share of the bargain by Selpdorf's
+infernal cleverness. This time we will play an open game. With Germany
+to stand by us, we have nothing to fear!'
+
+'And if His Highness will not consent to these changes?' again demanded
+Colendorp.
+
+'Then'--Elmur laid a hand on the old man's shoulder, but Sagan shook it
+off--'then, Captain Colendorp, he must go--to make room for another who
+can better fill his place! Just as Wallenloup must go to give room to
+another and less obstructive chief.'
+
+Colendorp's dark eyes glared straight in front of him. Had it been
+Adiron--Adiron, as true a man, would have feigned agreement and blown
+the plot afterwards. But never Colendorp! He was narrow-minded, poor,
+embittered, scenting insult in every careless word, proud, loyal,
+desperate. Mentally his vision was limited; he could see but one thing
+at a time, but he saw it very large.
+
+Sagan's treachery passed by him in that moment of mad feeling. He felt
+and felt only the deadly affront offered to him of all the officers of
+the Guard--the coarse bribe of the colonelcy dangled before his starving
+nose, for he alone of all the Guard had been deemed corruptible! The
+thought held more than the bitterness of death.
+
+He looked from wall to wall, and knew himself an unarmed man, so he made
+ready to die as a soldier and a gentleman. But first he must clear his
+tarnished honour--tarnished with the foul proposal made to him by Count
+Simon of Sagan. He had passed through life a cold and, in his own sense
+of the word, an honourable man, disliked, feared and avoided outside his
+own most intimate circle. He had been driven by the irresistible destiny
+of character to live a lonely man, and now the strength of a lonely man
+was his--the strength that can make an unknown death a glory for the
+sake of honour, not honours. So he spoke.
+
+'You were very good, Count Sagan, to make choice of me before all the
+Guard for--this!' he said in his cold voice; 'may I ask why you so
+favoured me?'
+
+'Because I can read a man.'
+
+'And you read me so? Then hear me. I take the place you have given me. I
+take my place as the least staunch of all the Guard. You have told me
+so much, unmasked so clearly what you intend to do, that, unless I fall
+in with your wishes, I can never hope to leave this room except feet
+foremost. I say this. Now see me act as the least staunch of the Guard!'
+
+Without warning he leaped upon Sagan, hurling him backwards with the
+force of the sudden impact, and buried his fingers in the grey bristling
+beard. He had but his bare hands with which to slay the enemy of the
+Duke, and used them with the strength of envenomed pride. Sagan, under
+the iron throttling fingers snatched at his hunting-knife and stabbed
+fiercely upwards between the bent arms at the Guardsman's throat.
+
+Inside the room the heavy breathing and struggling of the men on the
+floor seemed to Elmur loud enough to alarm the whole Castle, in spite of
+the furious screaming of the gale. He sprang to the writhing heap and
+tried to pinion Colendorp, but as he touched him the wounded man fell
+back. In a moment Sagan was on his feet calling on Elmur to bring the
+lamp. He seized Colendorp under the arm and shoved him roughly towards
+the wall, where throwing back a curtain he opened a door and thrust the
+tottering figure before him down a short flight of steps. Then another
+door was opened and the _tsa_ swept in with a wild yell, for a moment
+holding upright the failing man who staggered out on to the snowy
+terrace, making a tragic centre to the flickering path of light cast by
+the lamp in Elmur's hand.
+
+For an instant Colendorp stood swaying on the yielding snow by the edge
+of the precipice, and as he swayed his voice climbed through his broken
+throat--
+
+'Maasau the Free! Long live the Duke! The Duke's man ... I ... Colendorp
+of ...'
+
+The wind had lulled for a second. Again the mad blast caught and
+wrenched Colendorp's figure, the snow gave between his feet, and he
+plunged forward heavily into the gorge of the Kofn river. The broken
+snow, whirled up in a great cloud by the eddying gusts, shone in the
+lamplight for a second like a wild toss of spray, then settled again
+upon the narrow terrace, obliterating all marks there. A window overhead
+was pushed open, but already the band of light upon the snow was gone,
+and nothing remained for Valerie's eyes but a chaos of gloom. Yet she
+had seen something. Dimly through the double glass she had discerned the
+green and gold of the Guard on the swaying figure before it dropped away
+for ever into the night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+'WITH YOUR LIPS TO THE HURT.'
+
+
+A few minutes later a knocking came to Madame de Sagan's door. It was
+low and urgent. She ran to open it, her heart in her throat. A hand
+pushed her aside with the rough careless force of full control. She
+recoiled with an exclamation, for a glance showed her that the Count was
+in one of his most deadly moods.
+
+'What have you done--where is Selpdorf's daughter?' he snarled.
+
+As Madame de Sagan shrank from the menacing hand the door opened a
+second time, and Valerie herself stumbled in with a bloodless face.
+
+At the sight of the Count, she drew herself together like one who faces
+an unexpected peril.
+
+'I apologise for coming, but I am frightened. The storm is dreadful. So
+I came to you, Isolde.'
+
+Isolde put out her arms with a sobbing cry.
+
+'I am frightened, too,' she said with a swift resentful glance at her
+husband; 'I was coming for you. Stay with me, Valerie; I will not be
+left alone!'
+
+Sagan looked from one to the other of the two beautiful faces, and a
+sensation of surprised dismay, to which he was a stranger, arose in his
+mind. Hitherto women had been to him possessions, not problems. Now a
+very ancient truth burst in upon him with all the force of a revelation.
+To own a woman is not always to understand her. The unexpected defiance
+on his wife's face confounded him.
+
+'Isolde!' he began, stepping towards her.
+
+But the young Countess clung to Valerie.
+
+'Stay with me, Valerie!' she implored. 'I am far more frightened than
+you, for I know what there is to fear.'
+
+With a loud curse of bewilderment he strode out, banging the door behind
+him. Isolde sprang to it, slipping the bolts with trembling fingers.
+Then she threw herself upon a couch and broke into pitiful sobbing.
+
+Valerie stood looking down at her in an agony of suspense, yet
+remembering that self-control is the chief rule of every game. Presently
+she put her hand on Isolde's shoulder. The young Countess started up
+with a suppressed scream. 'I had forgotten you were there. Valerie, he
+will murder me! He hates me! Oh, I have no one to save me!'
+
+Valerie looked round. After the scene she had just witnessed, this
+suggestion did not sound so wild as it would have done at another time.
+
+'You are nervous, Isolde; one could fancy anything on such a night,' she
+said soothingly.
+
+'Have you lived so long in Maasau without knowing that here at Sagan
+everything is possible? He threatens me, and oh, my God, what shall I
+do?'
+
+Valerie sat down beside her and put a steady hand upon her arm. She had
+her own object in this visit, but it must be approached with caution.
+
+'I am here. I will help you!' she said reassuringly.
+
+Isolde sat up and put her arm round her companion's shoulders.
+
+'I must trust you--though----Valerie, there is one person who might be
+able to help me to-night,' she whispered close to the girl's ear. 'He
+might save me. But he must come to me--here--now! I dare not leave this
+room. Simon----' she shivered.
+
+'Who is it?' A new coldness crept into Valerie's voice as she listened.
+
+'Can you not guess? It is Captain Rallywood.'
+
+Valerie had braced herself to meet this, and it only added proof to her
+own fears for his safety. Come what might, she would undertake any
+message from Isolde to get the opportunity of warning the Duke's guard
+of the coming danger, and to tell the fate of that gallant figure
+tossing to and fro in the battering rush of the Kofn. She drew herself
+away from Isolde's embrace with a shudder.
+
+'What is the matter with you?' Isolde peered up at her with a quick
+scrutiny. 'You are shaking all over. Valerie, is it because of him?'
+
+'I am very cold,' returned the girl with a smile. 'I am quite willing to
+bring--Captain Rallywood. But where is he?'
+
+'He is on guard in the Duke's ante-room.' She turned her head away.
+
+'Then, Isolde, you know it is impossible! He cannot come!'
+
+'Even if it costs my life?' said the Countess bitterly. 'Oh, how cheap
+you hold other people's lives, Valerie! You are a true Maasaun!'
+
+Valerie thought a moment. The request of Madame de Sagan fell in with
+her own plan. It would enable her to solve the doubt that was agonising
+her; yet if she found him safe, how could she lend herself to tempt him
+to his own dishonour? A cruel question rose within her. Should she put
+him to the supreme test of life and love--would she not rather know him
+dead in the cold river, than living and false to her dim ideal of him?
+
+'There is no time to spare.' Isolde's voice broke in upon her. 'If you
+could make him know the danger I stand in, he must come! Remind him of
+his promise to me.'
+
+'But if he will not come?' Valerie forced the words.
+
+'Then ask him to give you the cigarette case of Maasaun leather-work.
+That will remind him of many things. But he will come,' she ended more
+confidently.
+
+Valerie rose.
+
+'I am ready. I know the passages are watched. I saw no one, yet I felt
+the shadows were full of eyes. Lend me your sable cloak, Isolde;
+everyone will recognize that, and with this lace about my head, I shall
+be free to go where I please as the Countess Sagan.'
+
+'Valerie'--Madame de Sagan held the girl back--'listen to me, you must
+make him come! I must tell you all. Rallywood is in danger, nothing can
+save him unless you separate him from the Duke----' she stopped,
+panting, then bared her arm. 'Remind him how he promised me--with his
+lips upon the hurt! Now go!'
+
+The next second Valerie Selpdorf found herself alone in the dim
+corridor, in which the lights burned low. She stood quite still, the
+shock of the last sentence 'with his lips upon the hurt' still ringing
+in her ears. Rallywood! Rallywood with the clear grey eyes and that look
+in them which remained persistently in her memory. Her father had taught
+her to suspect the whole world. But she had chosen to think differently
+of this man, even when she told herself she hated him. Different from
+others--exempt from the universal stain of hypocrisy--one to be trusted,
+if it were possible to trust any. Then she turned upon herself. After
+all had he deceived her, had she not rather deceived herself? He had
+spoken openly to her of his despairing secret, of the woman he could
+never hope to win. And she had concluded what? Nothing definite, but
+there had been a dim thought. Oh, it was unbearable! But why did she
+linger to think of this, while Maasau itself was in danger?
+
+She hurried along the passages, moving with a soft swiftness of silken
+garments, and as she passed the hidden eyes of the watchers looked out
+after the muffled figure. Madame de Sagan was free to come and go.
+
+From the head of the great staircase a narrow corridor branched away to
+the Duke's quarters. A very dim light shone from the embrasure at the
+end as she hurried along and, before she could stop herself, she ran
+right into the arms of a tall man who was coming out towards her.
+
+He put her gently back against the wall and looked at her, but the lace
+was drawn close about her face.
+
+'I must pass,' she said.
+
+The man's back was to the light, but she knew the shape of the head and
+shoulders.
+
+'No one can pass, Madame.'
+
+The relief of knowing Rallywood was safe jarred in her mind with the
+hideous suspicion that Isolde's allurements had after all conquered his
+allegiance to the Duke. He clearly recognised the cloak and believed her
+to be the Countess. She would have been more than woman not to take
+advantage of the mistake. She bent forward a little.
+
+'Come with me,' she whispered.
+
+'I cannot.'
+
+'Do you forget your promise?'
+
+'Under the circumstances'--he glanced back at the Duke's door--'you know
+I could make none.'
+
+'But I am in danger--and you promised, surely you promised, with your
+lips there!'
+
+Rallywood stared at the shapely hand and firm white wrist thrust out
+from the dark sables, with a great leap at his heart. The sight took him
+unawares.
+
+'Valerie!' he exclaimed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+IRIS.
+
+
+From its beetling crags the Castle of Sagan looked out that night with
+many luminous eyes over the crowding black pine woods and away across
+the frost-bound, melancholy marshes of the frontier. The renewed
+violence of the storm had not abated, and the wind moaned about the old
+walls.
+
+There was one in Sagan that night to whom the wind had an old yet new
+story to tell. The Duke had heard it in his cradle even in the summer
+palace where he was born; during later years his dulled senses paid
+little heed to that wild singing, and, in truth, passing most of his
+life as he now preferred to do in the low-lying sheltered palace at
+Revonde, where the state apartments were well within the towering mass
+of masonry, and protected on the river side by the Cloister of St.
+Anthony, he seldom heard its voice. So that to-night, while the _tsa_
+whimpered and clamoured about the exposed buttresses and towers of
+Sagan, it sounded to his ears like the calling of some long-dead friend,
+a wraith belonging to his lost youth. Sleeping memories awoke and
+troubled him; he fancied he had read a vague menace in Count Simon's
+bloodshot eyes, and every little incident that had taken place since
+his arrival now assumed strange and malign meanings.
+
+He looked around the great vaulted chamber oppressed by a presentiment
+of danger, and tried to still his jangled nerves. For with the instinct
+of failing mastership he resolved to think out some scheme of defence
+and a spontaneous policy, by which he might not only defeat his enemies,
+but outwit and overwhelm his rebellious servants.
+
+Selpdorf--was he also false and self-seeking? For more years than he
+cared to remember the Duke had forced this man to enact the part of
+virtual ruler of the State, always believing in his loyalty--if not to
+Gustave of Maasau, at least to Maasau the Free. Any dimmest doubt of
+Selpdorf's patriotism had never during all that period entered into the
+soddened brain of his master. But to-night, as the Duke recalled the
+half-jesting proposal to disband the Guard, made by the Chancellor on
+the day of the review, and added to that hint the pregnant significance
+of Valerie's speech, he realised that evil days were overtaking him,
+that his most trusted minister had been bid for and bought by his foes,
+and that it now behoved him to strike out a personal policy, whereby he
+should secure strong friends and supporters to aid him in the coming
+struggle against these traitors.
+
+He had retired to his room at an early hour under the plea of weariness.
+He was, as a matter of fact, worn out by the flood of fears and
+anxieties that Valerie's one reckless sentence had let loose upon him.
+So long was it since he had placed these weightier matters of diplomacy
+and government in other hands, that the renewed sense of responsibility
+and the imminent need for action seemed to be crushing in his brain. But
+the instinct of self-preservation, backed by the one kingly attribute
+left him--love of his country--strengthened him to attempt a final
+effort to combat the overpowering odds which he felt rather than knew to
+be against him.
+
+Tossed and harried by a hundred terrifying thoughts, the self-enfeebled
+creature broke at length into that dreadful crying, the scanty painful
+tears, the aching sobs, which is the weeping of age or of an exhausted
+constitution.
+
+When the paroxysm was over he lay back in his bed, absolutely drained of
+strength and of all power to think longer. Whether he dozed or not he
+scarcely knew, but after an interval he seemed to awake as if from sleep
+with his thoughts once more under control.
+
+Oh, that he had his Guard about him! The Guard, always reliable and full
+of the old grim dash and power which had been the firm foundation of the
+ducal throne from the beginning. Amongst their ranks was no slackening
+of discipline, of devotion, or of that splendid recklessness which had
+made them what they were--the premier Garde du Corps of Europe! In
+spirit he yearned once more to see their plumes and gleaming equipment
+come dancing down the sunny wind, and to hear the grand thunder of
+their charge, which but the other day he had been half-inclined to call
+stale and unprofitable. In this solitary hour, when the night-lamps
+flickered on the massive walls and the sense of loneliness grew upon him
+till he sickened at the unceasing cry of the pitiless wind, he realised
+that the Guard was the sole bulwark now as always of Maasau. He shivered
+down among the soft coverings and listened apprehensively.
+
+Unziar and Rallywood with two troopers watched in the guard-room,
+through which lay the only approach to his sleeping chamber. Unziar,
+could Unziar be trusted? He had heard something of Unziar and that
+handsome vixen of Selpdorf's. Then Colendorp--ah, there was no doubt
+there! Dark and resentful, his poverty and his pride were the bye-words
+of the barracks; he, whatever the temptation, would never fall from
+honour.
+
+There remained Rallywood. He, too, was to be depended upon, the Duke
+decided quickly, though for no special reason but that he had taken some
+vague fancy to the Englishman's bronzed face and swinging stride. Yet
+Simon was powerful and unscrupulous; how could this handful of men
+oppose him?
+
+He sprang up in his bed as the door opened and a man stood on the
+threshold.
+
+'Sire, there is treason! Colendorp has been murdered.'
+
+'Is it you, Unziar?' The Duke's voice came strangely from his pillows.
+'Send for the whole escort of the Guard from their quarters.'
+
+'Impossible, sire! The corridors are held by Count Sagan's men.
+Mademoiselle Selpdorf has brought the news.'
+
+'What! You told me not two hours ago she was engaged to von Elmur. She
+is the price of Selpdorf's treason.'
+
+Unziar stepped nearer.
+
+'Mademoiselle Selpdorf has already risked her life to warn us that we
+are in danger. I'd stake my soul she is loyal.'
+
+'Good indeed, Anthony! I'd sooner have your honour than your soul. But
+go, in the name of the Virgin, and since the corridors are closed to the
+men of my Guard, send the girl for Major Counsellor. She can but die!'
+
+Unziar saluted and hurried back to the ante-room where Valerie and
+Rallywood were waiting. In spite of his personal horror at the thought
+of her danger, he was well aware that only by Valerie's aid could they
+hope to reach Counsellor.
+
+Valerie listened to the Duke's order, then wrapping the lace as before
+about her head turned to Rallywood. He accompanied her through the
+guard-room and some little way along the passage. It seemed as if he
+could not let her go forth on this perilous enterprise.
+
+'For God's sake, take care of yourself!' he said. 'If anything were to
+happen to you.'
+
+The prolonged excitement of events, the sense of responsibility and
+danger, the exaltation of such a moment must have reacted on Valerie.
+Whether prompted by some instinct of coquetry, or betrayed into a touch
+of real feeling, or perhaps moved by the knowledge that death stood
+close beside them both, she drew her hand from his arm and raising her
+face asked in her soft voice:
+
+'Do you remember what you said to me once--on the night of the palace
+ball?'
+
+He saw the deep eyes upraised to his, though their meaning in that dim
+place he could not be sure of, but a rush of quick memories came over
+him.
+
+'Yes.'
+
+She gave a little excited laugh.
+
+'Then expect me!' she said. And she was gone.
+
+When Valerie returned to Madame de Sagan half an hour later she was
+still white and breathless. Isolde, in a fever of impatient terror,
+caught her by the arm.
+
+'Where is he? When is he coming! Valerie--'
+
+Valerie made a supreme effort to control herself.
+
+'He is on guard.'
+
+'Yes, I know. I know! But he is coming!'
+
+'It was impossible! He could not leave His Highness. Isolde, you would
+not wish it!'
+
+'What does anything matter unless it's found out?' cried Isolde, giving
+in her adherence to a common creed. 'Did you give him all my message?
+Did you make him understand? Then, when all else failed, you asked him
+for the cigarette case? That would remind him----' Madame de Sagan spoke
+in growing agitation.
+
+Valerie looked into her wild eyes.
+
+'I forgot that,' she admitted.
+
+Isolde shook the arm she held.
+
+'You have killed him! Valerie, you have been jealous of me, and by your
+jealousy you have killed him! Had you spoken as I told you he would be
+here now--and safe! As it is he is lost!' she flung herself down among
+the cushions.
+
+Her slender hands were clenched, her turquoise eyes stared wide and
+blind from her white face. She seemed to hold her breath as if waiting
+for the inevitable blow to fall. Valerie, greatly moved, knelt down
+beside her.
+
+'What does it matter if we die to-night or a month hence?' Isolde spoke
+in a low voice; her heart had unconsciously been gathering up bitterness
+against Valerie, and she had no longer the strength to conceal it under
+this unbearable strain. 'Valerie, you have stooped to meanness--you who
+have so scorned meanness in others. You knew long ago what--Rallywood's
+love was to me. You have known my life, and much that I have to bear.
+Amongst all who pretend to love me there is not one like him, not one!
+He would be always kind and true. I think these are English qualities,
+for in another way there is Major Counsellor----' the weary voice broke
+off as if too tired for more.
+
+It was well Counsellor never heard that little expression of opinion
+concerning himself; it might have proved the thorn in a somewhat callous
+diplomatic memory.
+
+'You have betrayed me! You!' she repeated with a bitter laugh; then,
+springing up, she ran towards the spot where her sables lay heaped upon
+the floor just as Valerie had dropped them from her shoulders.
+
+'It may be too late, but I will go myself. I will save him if I can!'
+
+Valerie wrapped the cloak around her.
+
+'Isolde, I will go with you.'
+
+'You!' Isolde turned with a startling look of dislike and suspicion.
+'No, I hate you, and I choose to go alone!'
+
+Valerie drew back and Madame de Sagan passed her by and flung wide the
+door. As she did so a confused noise could be heard, and the two women
+stood listening while a distant hubbub of voices rose louder, then a
+pistol shot followed by others echoed down the passages.
+
+'He is dead! By your fault!'
+
+Isolde turned upon Valerie with a wild gesture, as if she would have
+struck her.
+
+Valerie drew back.
+
+'If you really loved him, Isolde, you would rather he was--there--with
+his honour--than--here--without it,' she said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE SWORD OF UNZIAR.
+
+
+The Castle of Sagan may be roughly divided into three irregular parts.
+The massive old keep dominates all, standing high and black against the
+skyline; then the varied cluster of buildings immediately around its
+foot contain the principal reception and living rooms, and lowest of all
+the courtyards, kitchens, stables and offices. To the right of the keep
+a wing, curved like the fluke of an anchor, slopes down to a lower
+level. This portion is fairly modern and arranged for the housing of
+guests. The Countess's own apartments were situated at the junction of
+this wing with the main building, while the quarters assigned by ancient
+custom to the use of the reigning Duke during his visits to Sagan
+occupies the whole upper floor of an old and bulky annex that juts out
+from the base of the keep.
+
+The passage leading to this annex branched from the head of the grand
+staircase. Upon the landing rows of heavily armed men were gathering
+noiselessly.
+
+As Elmur and Sagan stood together waiting at the mouth of the Duke's
+corridor, the Count turned to his companion.
+
+'Have you proposals ready to lay before his Highness?' he demanded.
+
+'In form,' returned Elmur, touching his pocket.
+
+'That is well, for you are about to present them. The Duke lies
+practically in my power at this moment,' Count Simon continued grimly.
+'Gustave is a coward. The way to his presence lies open, and I think you
+will agree with me that his Highness of Maasau will consent to most
+things rather than look the fear of death in the eyes!'
+
+'There must be no violence,' Elmur began.
+
+'That shall be exactly as I choose,' Sagan swore with an oath. 'By the
+good God we can't afford scruples to-night!'
+
+After a short interval he went on.
+
+'Once we have Gustave's word, we are safe. He is too proud to own that
+he gave it unwillingly. Besides, so long as we win what matter the means
+we use? Is your conscience so ticklish, Baron?'
+
+'Politics have their exigencies and are inevitably rigorous, my lord,'
+answered Elmur slowly. 'To be successful means absolution. In the
+political courts where our actions will be judged they make no provision
+for failure. Success is recognised and mercifully considered, while
+failure, my lord, not being in any sense public, falls to the level of
+ordinary crime, and is judged by the standard applied to ordinary crime.
+Thus you will see that I risk as much in my place as you risk in yours.'
+Perhaps this was as near an approach to a threat as had ever been
+uttered in the ears of the fierce old Count. With a violent movement,
+he stepped forward.
+
+'There is no hindrance in our path that cannot be cut through with a
+sword, and, by my soul, if we find one I will cut it!' Then, looking
+round, he gave the word to advance, and entered the darkness of the
+corridor.
+
+A turn brought them in sight of Unziar's tall figure, standing sword in
+hand on the lowest step of the flight that led up to the embrasure
+covering the door leading to the royal apartments.
+
+Count Simon pushed Elmur ahead of him while he fell back to whisper a
+few words to the man immediately behind; then he took precedence once
+more.
+
+'I request an audience of His Highness, Lieutenant Unziar,' he said.
+
+'Certainly, my lord, if you will give me the password of the night,'
+replied Unziar.
+
+Sagan's answer was the countersign he had given to his own following in
+the Castle.
+
+Unziar shook his head.
+
+'You cannot pass, my lord.'
+
+'What--not see my guest and cousin in my own house?'
+
+'His Highness gave orders that none should be allowed to enter without
+giving the countersign chosen by himself.'
+
+Sagan considered a second or two.
+
+'True, I had forgotten. Come here, Unziar; your trooper there has long
+ears; I must speak with you. Stand back, men!' he said roughly. 'Baron
+von Elmur, pray remain, and you, Hern,' addressing the man behind.
+Unziar still stood upon the step.
+
+'Come here! I tell you, man, I must see the Duke to-night--at once,'
+continued Sagan approaching Unziar. 'What the devil are you afraid of?'
+Unziar stepped down as the Count pulled him confidentially nearer to
+himself and towards the narrow entry. But while the Count whispered, a
+hand suddenly darted over his shoulder and seized Unziar by the throat,
+at the same moment when a well-directed kick from Sagan, delivered
+cunningly behind the knees, brought the young man to the ground. He
+lunged at Sagan as he fell with his sword, then it was knocked from his
+hand as his assailants swarmed over him, but not before he had fired his
+revolver into Hern's body. The man fell across him, but Unziar again
+swinging clear rose on his elbow and sent a second shot into the face
+nearest him. Meantime the trooper at the door was making a gallant
+fight, but the odds were too great. The struggle was soon over, the
+trooper's dead body flung aside, and Unziar, frantic and helpless, was
+tied hand and foot and left upon the bloody flooring of the outer
+passage while the Count's people forced the door.
+
+This was a matter of some difficulty, but it was presently accomplished.
+The besieging party pushed through into the guard-room, which seemed
+brilliantly lit in comparison with the gloom outside.
+
+Most of the furniture and the screen had been utilised by Rallywood to
+make a barricade in front of the Duke's ante-room. A single trooper with
+his musket levelled knelt behind it.
+
+Sagan, who held a handkerchief to his cheek, spoke loudly.
+
+'Do you see who I am? Clear the way!'
+
+At this Rallywood stepped into view from behind the screen.
+
+'The man acts under orders from his Highness, my lord,' he said.
+
+Sagan stared at Rallywood with haughty scorn.
+
+'It is of the utmost importance that I should see his Highness at once.
+Inform his Highness that I urgently beg to be granted an interview.'
+
+'With pleasure, my lord,' returned Rallywood formally, 'if you will be
+good enough to give me the password, without which it is quite
+impossible for anyone to have an audience to-night. Our orders were very
+distinct on that point.'
+
+'His Highness could not foresee that I'--the Count dwelt upon the
+pronoun imperiously--'should desire one. Stand back, Captain Rallywood!
+I must pass and am willing to take the responsibility.'
+
+'It is quite impossible, my lord,' repeated Rallywood without moving.
+
+'You force me to extreme measures,' cried Sagan. 'Remove this man,' he
+ordered, 'as quietly as may be. We must not alarm his Highness.'
+
+There was a clatter of arms as Sagan's followers advanced. The foremost
+of them ran in upon Rallywood, the swords met, Rallywood's sleeve was
+ripped from wrist to elbow, but his sword blade passed through his
+opponent's shoulder. The man sank down in a sitting posture, coughing
+oddly; his head dropped forward.
+
+'Shoot them down!' shouted Sagan, but the words were still on his lips
+when the door behind John Rallywood slowly opened and a figure stood
+beside him.
+
+Its appearance checked the rising struggle, for the figure was the
+figure of the Grand Duke of Maasau. He was wrapped in his hooded robe of
+green velvet, and the five points of the golden star of Maasau blazed
+upon his breast.
+
+'Cousin, I would speak with you, but these fools stopped me,' exclaimed
+Sagan.
+
+The Duke turned his shadowed face and spoke to Rallywood in a low voice.
+
+'His Highness begs you, my lord, to withdraw your men,' said Rallywood
+aloud.
+
+Sagan, scowling, ordered his men to the further end of the long room.
+Meantime Rallywood, with evident unwillingness, pulled away a portion of
+the barricade. Through this the Duke advanced with a stately
+deliberation, and walked slowly up to the Count.
+
+With a sudden hoarse shout of triumph Sagan flung his great arms about
+the Duke's body.
+
+'By St. Anthony, Gustave, no one shall stop our conversation now!'
+
+The Duke made no attempt to release himself from the rough hug that held
+him prisoner. He merely raised his hood with one hand, so that Sagan,
+his coarse mouth still wide in laughter, could stare into the
+countenance not four inches from his own.
+
+Consternation and fury swept over the Count's features. From under the
+hood a red challenging face, a big white moustache, and shaggy-browed
+humorous eyes met his gaze. The sight held him gaping. But only for a
+second. Then he whipped out his pistol.
+
+'An English plot, by Heaven!'
+
+But Rallywood was quicker still. A sharp knock on the Count's wrist sent
+the bullet into the ceiling.
+
+'Have a care, my lord,' Counsellor said authoritatively. 'You cannot do
+as you will even in this lonely and remote room in your lonely Castle of
+Sagan, since England and--' with a bow towards Elmur--'Germany are
+looking on.'
+
+Sagan still threatened Counsellor with the revolver.
+
+'Can you see any reason why I should not kill you as a traitor to my
+country at this moment, Major Counsellor?' he shouted.
+
+'Only one, my lord. Russia also, in the person of M. Blivinski, knows
+where I am, and is awaiting my return to arrange for our journey to
+Revonde--which we propose to make in each other's company,' replied
+Counsellor pointedly.
+
+Sagan burst into his habitual storm of curses.
+
+'Your nation have well been called perfidious, Major Counsellor. A stab
+in the back----'
+
+'Why no, my lord,' said Counsellor; 'our greatest vice is admittedly
+that we are always well in front!'
+
+'Come, Baron, have you nothing to say to this?' Sagan asked, ready to
+spring at his friends in his torment of baffled rage.
+
+'Nothing, my lord. You will remember I am here to-night entirely at your
+request.'
+
+Sagan's laugh was not altogether a pleasant one.
+
+'Put it how you like, Monsieur, I should not have been here either but
+for you!'
+
+Elmur stood with folded arms. To stoop to recriminations before the
+common enemy! The cause was lost for the moment, but there was the
+future, and in that future the fool who figured as his ally should
+become his slave! Germany had, after all, gained something in gaining
+the knowledge of British designs afoot.
+
+'Then his Highness refuses to see me, although he can give audience
+to--you?' the Count at length broke the silence.
+
+'On the contrary, my lord, he looks forward to the pleasure of meeting
+you to-morrow. That is the message with which I am charged. Captain
+Rallywood, his Highness wishes Lieutenant Unziar to attend him.'
+
+Count Simon made a sign to his men, and a moment later Unziar stalked
+into the room, maddened by the outrage put upon him.
+
+'My sword, Count Sagan,' he said huskily.
+
+'Your sword! Is it lost?' returned the Count with an angry sneer. 'In my
+day it was not the custom of the guard to lose their swords!'
+
+'When I saw it last it was sticking in your cheek, my lord,' said the
+young man with a studied insolence, pointing to a bleeding cut on the
+Count's face.
+
+One of the men, coming forward, laid the sword upon the top of the
+barricade. Unziar grasped it and thrust it back into the scabbard.
+
+'It was lost by treachery!' he flung out. 'And I leave it to these
+gentlemen to say where the shame lies!'
+
+With that he leaped the barricade and passed into the Duke's room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+IN DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS.
+
+
+It was late on the following morning before the Castle was awake. It
+almost seemed as if the guests had waited for the appearance of the
+reassuring daylight before they ventured from their rooms. Four huge
+fires roared in the four great chimneys round the vast hall where the
+breakfast was in progress.
+
+Sagan, in his weather-stained hunting suit and leggings, stood at the
+upper window overlooking the courtyard where the huntsmen and gaunt
+dogs, the famous Sagan boarhounds, were already collected, in
+anticipation of the boar-hunt arranged to take place on that day. The
+sky had cleared, but the tsa raged and howled after its perennial custom
+about the Castle.
+
+Madame de Sagan, entering later, cast a nervous glance at the grim red
+face and bull-neck, and then fell into a laughing conversation with the
+people round her, although her heart felt cold. She was far from being a
+brave woman, although she joined so gaily in the merry talk passing from
+side to side; but her marvellous self-control was no more than the
+self-control common to women of her social standing. It is secondary
+strength, not innate but acquired, of which the finest instance is a
+matter of history, and was witnessed within the walls of the
+Conciergerie during the Reign of Terror, where men and women
+unflinchingly carried on a hollow semblance of the joyous comedy of life
+till they mounted laughing into the tumbrils.
+
+Although nothing was known about the events of the previous night except
+by those who took part in them, a sense of excitement pervaded the
+party. The strained relations existing between the Duke and his possible
+successor gave rise to an amount of vague expectation and conjecture.
+Anything might happen with such dangerous elements present in the
+atmosphere.
+
+Therefore when Rallywood, booted and spurred, passed up the hall, his
+entrance attracted every eye. He walked straight up to the Count at his
+distant window and saluting, spoke for perhaps a minute in a low voice.
+
+At the first sentence Sagan swung round, his lowering face growing
+darker as he listened. Then, advancing to the head of the table prepared
+for the entertainment of the Duke, he called the attention of all
+present by striking it loudly with the riding-whip he carried.
+
+An instant hush settled upon the room. Sagan glared round with waiting
+eyes, and in the pause the tsa broke in a crash upon the Castle front
+with the pebble-shifting sound of a breaker.
+
+'I have to beg the favour of your attention for a moment,' the Count's
+words rang out. 'Captain Rallywood reports that an officer of his
+Highness's Guard is missing--Captain Colendorp. Inquiries have been made
+but he cannot be found. It seems that he was last seen leaving the
+billiard-room. If anyone in the hall can give us further information,
+will they be good enough to do so?'
+
+Valerie raised her eyes to Rallywood, who stood behind the Count. As he
+met them the young man's stern face softened suddenly.
+
+M. Blivinski, who happened to be sitting beside her, caught the exchange
+of looks, and for a moment was puzzled. Selpdorf's daughter? Well, well,
+the English are a wonderful people, he said to himself. Neither subtle
+nor gifted, but lucky. Lucky enough to give the devil odds and beat him!
+Here was Selpdorf laying his plans deeply and with consummate skill,
+while this pretty clever daughter of his was ready to give him away
+because a heavy dragoon of the favoured race smiled at her across a
+breakfast table. Pah! The ways of Providence are inscrutable; it remains
+for mortal men to do what they may to turn them into more convenient
+channels.
+
+Then there was Counsellor, whose political importance could not be
+denied. Yet he did the bluff thing bluffly and said the obvious thing
+obviously, and blundered on from one great city to another, but
+blundered triumphantly! Still there were compensations. The good God
+had given the Russian craft and a silent tongue, and a facility for
+telling a lie seasonably.
+
+Elmur was by a fraction of a second too late to see what the Russian had
+seen. Valerie was very white, but she was talking indifferently to M.
+Blivinski with her eyes fixed upon her plate. It was some time before
+she seemed to grow conscious of Elmur's gaze; a slight fleck of colour
+showed and paled in her cheeks, and then at length her long lashes
+fluttered up and the German perceived in the darkness of her eyes a
+trace of unshed tears.
+
+'Mademoiselle, you are tired,' he said with solicitude.
+
+'Yes,' she answered smiling. 'But we are going back to Revonde in a day
+or two, and then I will wipe out the remembrance of everything that has
+happened at Sagan from my mind forever!'
+
+Elmur was about to reply when Sagan spoke again.
+
+'No one appears to have heard or seen anything of Captain Colendorp. We
+will have the dogs out, Captain Rallywood. Pray tell his Highness that
+in the course of an hour or two we hope to be able to tell him where our
+man has got to. His absence is doubtless due to some trifling cause.'
+
+As Rallywood retired Sagan cast a comprehensive glance around the
+tables, and noted Counsellor's absence with a sinister satisfaction.
+
+All the morning he had been speculating upon the course Counsellor
+would pursue after the rencontre of the previous night. Most likely
+disappear from the Castle. He would not dare to brazen it out. Sagan
+argued that the British envoy could not be very sure of his position
+yet. What had he proposed to the Duke? And how had the Duke answered
+him? What was to be the result of the visit, or would there be any?
+Selpdorf held the Duke's confidence. He must checkmate England and
+openly throw his influence into the German scale. No half courses could
+any longer avail in Maasau.
+
+Here his reflections were interrupted, for Counsellor's big burly figure
+was bending over Madame de Sagan's chair, before he accepted the seat at
+her side with the assured manner of a favored guest.
+
+Even the Russian attache blinked. Ah, these islanders! What next?
+
+As an immediate result Count Sagan was forced to accept the situation
+thrust upon him.
+
+'Have you slept well, Major?' he inquired sardonically. 'No bad dreams,
+eh?'
+
+'I dream seldom--and I make it a point in the morning to forget bad
+dreams if I have had any,' replied Counsellor, with a good-humored
+raising of his big eyebrows.
+
+'That is wise,' said Sagan, 'for dreams and schemes of the night rarely
+have solid foundations.'
+
+'So they say, my lord, but I do not trouble myself about these things.
+A man of my age is forced to consecrate his best energies to his
+digestion.'
+
+The Duke had decided upon returning to Revonde during the forenoon, but
+most of the guests were to remain for the projected boar-hunt. The
+hunting-party had already started when Blivinski and Counsellor drove
+out of the Castle courtyard on their way to the nearest railway station,
+which lay under the mountains some miles away.
+
+The _tsa_ had blown the snow into heavy drifts, leaving the roads and
+other exposed places bare and almost clean-swept. Near the station they
+passed a squadron of the Guard sent by Wallenloup to escort the Duke
+back to the capital.
+
+The pair in the carriage talked little, but when the jingling of
+accoutrements had died away Blivinski said in an emotionless tone:
+
+'You met with Count Sagan last night then--in your dreams?'
+
+'Yes, or Duke Gustave would have been over the border by this morning.'
+
+'Ah!'
+
+'And history goes to prove that reigning sovereigns are fragile
+ware--they cannot be borrowed without danger.'
+
+'You allude to Bulgaria?' Blivinski asked promptly, with an air of
+genial interest.
+
+'Why, for the sake of argument, Alexander can stand as a case in
+point.'
+
+'If--I say if--we borrowed him, we also returned him.'
+
+Counsellor's reply was characteristic, and justified his companion's
+opinion of his race.
+
+'Damaged--so they say.'
+
+Blivinski considered the dreary landscape.
+
+'We must not believe all we hear. In diplomatic relations, my friend,
+ethics cease to exist. Diplomacy is after all a simple game--even
+elementary--a magnificent beggar-my-neighbour which we continue to play
+into eternity.'
+
+'But there are rules ... even in beggar-my-neighbour,' said the
+Counsellor.
+
+Blivinski kicked the rug softly from his feet as the carriage drew up.
+
+'One rule, only one,' he remarked; 'Britain loves to feign the Pharisee.
+We smile--we others--because we understand that her rule and ours is
+after all the same--self-interest.'
+
+'If that be the case we come back to the law of the Beast,' said the
+Counsellor.
+
+The Russian put his gloved hand upon the open door and looked back over
+his shoulder at Counsellor.
+
+'Always, my dear friend, by very many turnings--but always.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+UNDER THE PINES.
+
+
+It was a day that would be dark an hour before its time. Rallywood rode
+out under the gate of the Castle of Sagan as the last trooper clattered
+down the rocky roadway in the rear of the Duke's carriage, for upon the
+arrival of the squadron from Revonde he had received orders to remain
+behind, the search for Colendorp having so far proved unsuccessful.
+
+Rallywood rode slowly down the shoulder of the mountain spur. Under the
+gray light of the afternoon the limitless swamps stretching to the
+skyline looked cold and naked under their drifted snow. From the sky big
+with storm overhead, to the scanty grass that showed by the wayside
+blackened by the rigours of the winter, the whole aspect of the frontier
+was ominous and forbidding. Before he plunged into the lower ravines
+Rallywood turned to look back at the angry towers of Sagan. He was
+thinking of Colendorp. Under their shadow that lonely and reckless life
+had come to its close. Why or by whose hand might never be made clear,
+but Rallywood's mind had worked down to the conviction that the Count
+might be able to tell the story.
+
+Well, it was good to know that Colendorp had not died in vain;
+indirectly but none the less surely his death had brought about the
+defeat of Sagan's plot.
+
+Then he rode away into the heart of the winter woods, where the branches
+groaned and thrashed under the driving wind. Through gloomy and
+pine-choked gorges he wound his way to the riverside, for he had decided
+that if Colendorp had met his death in the river, his body would in time
+be beached near Kofn Ford.
+
+The sodden dreary paths beside the river, familiar as they were to
+Rallywood, now looked strange to him. He seemed to be revisiting them
+after a long absence. Had they worn the same menace in the past? How had
+he endured to ride for those six heavy years under the hills and up and
+down through the marshes by the black river, one day like the last,
+without a purpose or an interest beyond the action of the hour? He
+lifted his head to the gathering storm, thanking Heaven that phase of
+life, or rather that long stagnation, could never come again!
+
+The horrible emptiness of the place appalled him. Only a few
+block-houses dotted the miles of waste. In summer, when the pools
+yellowed over with flowering plants, rare wood-pigeons eked out a scanty
+subsistence in the thickets, and there was little else the seasons
+round. Only the patrols, and the trains and the smugglers, with a boar
+or two in the forests beside the Kofn, and the ragged wolf-packs that go
+howling by the guard-houses at the first powdering of snow. From the
+past his mind naturally ran on to thoughts of Valerie--thoughts that
+were hopeless and happy at the same time. He could never win her, yet
+those few dim moments in the corridor were his own, and whatever the
+future brought to her, would she ever quite forget them?
+
+Presently as he rode along he came in sight of the block-house by the
+Ford from which he had gone out to Revonde to meet her--gone
+unknowingly! It lay in the dip about a mile ahead. If he were to return
+to-morrow to the narrow quarters he had occupied for so many months, the
+very memory of her would glorify the wooden walls, and even the old
+barren monotony of life with the frontier patrol be chequered and
+cheered by the knowledge that somewhere under the same skies Valerie
+Selpdorf lived and smiled.
+
+The beggars of love--such as Rallywood--are apt to believe that in the
+mere fact of owning remembrance, they own wealth which can never be
+expended. But the day comes soon when we know ourselves poor
+indeed--when we find the comfort of memory wearing thin, when the soul
+aches for a presence beyond reach of the hands, for a voice grown too
+dear to forget, that must for ever escape our ears. Eheu! the bitter
+lesson of vain desire.
+
+Between Rallywood and the Ford the Kofn widened out into a big bay-like
+reach, upon the further shore of which the trees gathered thickly, their
+bare branches overhanging the water. On the nearer side ragged-headed
+pines stood in sparse groups, and amongst their lofty upright stems
+Rallywood presently became aware that a strange scene was in progress.
+
+A small party of people were moving about the low-lying ground where the
+snow still rested. On that bleak site at the foot of an outstanding pine
+two or three men with picks and shovels were hurriedly digging in the
+frost-bound earth. Close beside them what looked like a long military
+cloak flung at full length lay upon the ground.
+
+The meaning of the incident was manifest. The clouding sky, the river,
+the broken pine trees were looking on at a lonely funeral, darkened by a
+suggestive furtiveness and haste.
+
+Rallywood put spurs to his horse and galloped down towards the burial
+party. Another rider coming at speed across the open sheered off to
+intercept him. It was easy to recognise Sagan by his bulk and the
+imperious gesture of the hand with which he signed to the younger man to
+stop. But Rallywood rode the harder. There was a shout from Sagan, and
+the men ran towards the black object on the snow, and by the time
+Rallywood reached them the dead body was already laid in its grave.
+
+At the same moment Sagan on the other side of the grave pulled up his
+big horse on its haunches. The foresters stood rigid, waiting on the
+Count's wishes. He looked over their heads at Rallywood.
+
+'Colendorp has been found,' he said with his most surly bearing.
+
+Rallywood glanced down into the shallow grave; a lump of frosty earth
+slipped from the rugged heap above and settled into a crevice of the
+cloak that covered Colendorp.
+
+'My men are burying him.'
+
+'By your orders, my lord?'
+
+'By my orders. Can you suggest a better use to make of a dead man?'
+
+'No, my lord, but a better manner of burial.'
+
+'Dismount and see for yourself.'
+
+Rallywood swung off the saddle, and giving his horse to one of the
+foresters stooped and threw back the covering from the dead man's face
+and breast. His dead fierce eyes stared upward, his wet hair was already
+frozen to his brow, and a black wound gaped open at his throat.
+Rallywood gazed at the harsh features, which, but for their livid
+colour, were little altered by death. The _tsa_ moaned across the river
+and a few large flakes of snow came floating down.
+
+'Are you satisfied now?'
+
+Rallywood stood up and faced the Count.
+
+'How did he die?'
+
+'You can see that. Suicide as plain as a knife can write it.'
+
+'I do not think so,' said Rallywood slowly.
+
+The Count's horse plunged under the punishing spurs.
+
+'Captain Rallywood, may I ask what you hope to gain by making a scandal
+in the Guard?' he asked.
+
+'Justice, perhaps. Colendorp had no reason to take his life, my lord.'
+
+'You will not find many to agree with you. The man was always
+ill-conditioned. He had debts and the pride of the devil. His affairs
+came to an impossible pass, I conclude. In any case a man has a right to
+his own secrets.'
+
+'Yes, his affairs came to an impossible pass, perhaps. For the rest,
+this seems to me less like Colendorp's secret than the secret of some
+other man.' Rallywood met the red eye full of smouldering wrath. 'Pardon
+me, my lord, but in the name of the Guard, I protest against burial of
+Captain Colendorp in this place.'
+
+'I have given my orders,' answered Sagan. 'The Guard must consider their
+reputation. We have had too many scandals already, and no one will thank
+you for dragging a fresh one into Revonde for public discussion.'
+
+Sagan was amazed at his own moderation in arguing the question at all.
+He looked to see it have its due effect upon the Englishman. But
+Rallywood stood unmoved and stubborn beside the grave.
+
+'We have murder here!' The words fell like an accusation.
+
+Rallywood's eyes were alight now. It took little penetration to picture
+how Colendorp had met his death. Round the grave, Sagan's horse with
+its heavy smoking quarters trampled and fretted under the remorseless
+hand upon the curb. The Count could bear no more opposition. His fury
+overcame him. Roaring an oath he slashed at Rallywood with his riding
+whip.
+
+'By St. Anthony, sir, you forget there is room in that grave for two,'
+he shouted. 'You try me too far--your infernal officiousness--go! It is
+useless to oppose my wishes here.' Which was obvious. The foresters,
+lithe and strong as panthers, waited only the orders of their master.
+They needed but a word, and would as lief have buried two dead men as
+one in the grave under the torn pines. You may find the same type in the
+mountains of Austria, where a poaching affray means a vendetta, and the
+game laws are framed on corresponding principles.
+
+'I see I can do nothing now,' said Rallywood, remounting in his
+leisurely way. 'The Guard must deal with the affair.'
+
+But Sagan had another word to say to him.
+
+'And I also, Captain Rallywood, shall know how to deal with you. Do not
+forget that! Your conduct cannot be overlooked. You will find that in
+Maasau we are still able to get rid of those who cater for a cheap
+notoriety. We shall know how to deal with you! I am the colonel of the
+Guard. Are you aware that it is in my power to break you? Aye, like
+that!' he smashed his riding-whip across his knee as he spoke, and
+flinging away the pieces, he added, 'And by the powers above us, I
+will!'
+
+Rallywood saluted and rode away. At once the foresters fell to work
+feverishly to fill in the earth over Colendorp's body.
+
+Once more through the falling snow Rallywood looked back. Sagan's great
+horse stood across the low mound of the finished grave.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+LOVE'S BEGGAR.
+
+
+A threat from Count Simon of Sagan was not to be lightly regarded at any
+time, but within the boundaries of his own estates it appreciably
+discounted the chances of life. Therefore Rallywood, instead of
+returning to the Castle, headed for the block-house by the Ford. The
+incident which had just taken place probably meant the closing of his
+career in the army of Maasau. Personal power survived in its full
+plenitude in the little state, which had never made any pretence of
+setting up a representative government; the Maasaun people were as mute
+as they had been in the dark ages and appeared content to remain so.
+
+The future which lay before Rallywood on that winter evening was not
+enlivening. Less than three months ago he would have been half amused at
+such a conclusion to his military life as offering an answer to a
+perplexed question. But since then much had happened. That ill-luck
+should overtake him when hope was at its keenest, and when his relations
+both with the Guard and the Duke had reached a promising point, struck
+him hard. If he left the Guard he must also leave Maasau. He had told
+himself a hundred times that the daughter of the Chancellor was far
+beyond his winning, yet the certainty of losing her, which this last
+development of events involved, was the worst blow of all. To stare an
+empty future in the face is like looking into expressionless eyes where
+no soul can ever come.
+
+He little guessed how close upon him were the critical moments of life,
+or how much of emotion and difficulty and strenuous decision were to be
+crowded into the next few days. A whirlpool of events was drawing him to
+its raging centre. The death and the burial of Colendorp, Sagan's
+resentment and his ruthless scheming were all eddies of circumstance
+circling inward and carrying him with them to a definite issue.
+
+As he rode on the weather grew rapidly worse, and it soon became
+impossible to see more than a few yards ahead. The night was settling
+down thick with falling snow, so that Rallywood could only pull up and
+listen when a faint noise, that might have been a woman's scream, came
+to him through the storm. He shouted in return but there was no answer.
+Then out of the gray curtain a sleigh with two maddened horses dashed
+across his path and was as suddenly lost to sight. Rallywood had only
+time to see a woman clinging to the driver's empty seat and clutching
+desperately at the dangling reins.
+
+They passed like a vision, noiseless, swift, and dim, and although
+Rallywood followed quickly, he could not find them. The gloom and the
+snow had obliterated all trace of the sleigh, and at last Rallywood
+himself, well as he knew the country, became bewildered; but luckily the
+horse he rode was a charger he had had with him on the Frontier. He left
+it to choose its own direction, yet it was long before a blur of light
+which he knew to be the open doorway of the block-house grew out on the
+shifting darkness.
+
+Within, the men of the patrol were standing in a group talking eagerly.
+Flinging himself from his horse, Rallywood entered the house just as a
+young cavalry officer came out from the inner room, and, recognising
+Rallywood, advanced hurriedly to meet him.
+
+'I say, who do you think we have in there?' he said excitedly.
+
+'Tell me afterwards,' interrupted Rallywood; 'I met a runaway
+sleigh----'
+
+'They were the horses from the Castle,' interrupted the young man with a
+nervous laugh. 'Mademoiselle Selpdorf managed to get hold of the reins
+after a bit, otherwise----' he snapped his fingers significantly.
+
+'Then she--the lady is safe?'
+
+'Two of them, my dear friend! One is the handsomest girl in Maasau, and
+the other is Madame de Sagan herself! And, by Jove! she's an infernally
+pretty woman too. We're in luck, Rallywood! Have you come to look for
+them?'
+
+Rallywood hesitated before he replied.
+
+'No, thanks. I must get back to Revonde by the first train, so I will
+ride on with the next patrol to the station. Are they hurt?' he nodded
+towards the inner room.
+
+'No, but how they escaped the deuce only knows! Madame de Sagan was
+insensible when we found them.' He dropped his voice. 'By the way, she
+has been saying some queer things! She declares the driver lashed up the
+horses and purposely threw himself off the sleigh when they were on the
+slope of the pine wood just above the Ingern precipice. She swears he
+meant to kill them!'
+
+'She was frightened. That's all.'
+
+'It was about a certainty they'd be dashed to pieces. And look here----'
+the young fellow looked oddly at Rallywood, 'she hinted that the
+Count----'
+
+'Nonsense!' Rallywood forced a laugh. 'She was badly frightened, I tell
+you.'
+
+'I'll take my oath there's something in it though! She refuses to let us
+take her back to the Castle to-night.'
+
+'What have you given them--tea or anything?'
+
+'Faith, no! I made them each take a nip of _bizutte_--far better, too.
+But we'll have some tea made now if you think they would like it.'
+
+'Of course. It will give them something to do. By the way, you might as
+well ask them if they would see me.'
+
+On second thought and in view of the Countess's refusal to go back to
+Sagan, he felt he must offer his assistance.
+
+'Yes, ask them if they will see me now,' he continued, looking at his
+watch; 'I have not much time to spare.'
+
+The next moment Isolde's high sweet voice could be heard distinctly
+through the open door.
+
+'Captain Rallywood! Pray tell him we should like to see him.'
+
+Madame de Sagan was lying on a narrow camp bed supported by wraps and
+pillows, a brilliant red spot on each cheek, and her eyes darker than
+ordinary under the influence of the alternate fright and stimulation of
+the last two hours. She waited till the door was shut, then she put out
+both hands to Rallywood.
+
+'Thank Heaven, we are safe and together again, Jack! Come here! I want
+to know that you are alive and this is not all a dream,' she began
+impulsively, yet behind the impulse lay a calculated design. She owed
+her life to Valerie's courage, but that weighed as nothing in comparison
+with the knowledge that in some indefinite manner the girl stood between
+Rallywood and herself, that Rallywood for some reason held Valerie in
+special regard.
+
+Rallywood bowed, still standing by the door.
+
+'Thank Heaven you are safe, Madame,' he said. 'I saw you somewhere this
+side of the pine woods, but lost you in the mist.'
+
+'Oh, I did not see you! I saw nothing after that murderer leaped off. I
+had a horrible instant during which I imagined myself swinging between
+the gorge and the sky--after that I knew no more!' exclaimed Isolde, a
+sort of complacency mixing with her agitation. 'They tell me that
+Valerie was very brave and that she saved our lives, but for me these
+heroisms are impossible!'
+
+She glanced at Rallywood, secure in his approval, but he had turned to
+Valerie, who was sitting in a low wooden chair by the stove with her
+back to the room.
+
+'It was magnificent, Mademoiselle!' he exclaimed.
+
+Valerie shivered.
+
+'There was nothing at all magnificent about it,' she said coldly.
+'Self-preservation drives one to do what one can; it is only by chance
+that one happens to do the right thing.'
+
+Isolde shrugged her shoulders and made a little grimace at Rallywood.
+
+'Do not heed her, Jack. People are always very pleased with themselves
+for doing what other people call magnificent. Valerie is cross. Take
+this chair by me; I have a very serious quarrel with you.'
+
+All the terror and peril of that dreadful drive had passed from Madame
+de Sagan's facile mind. The little rivalries and coquetries of everyday
+life occupied her as fully as if her lot contained no troublous outlook.
+In this conjunction vanity will often do for a woman what work does for
+a man. As for Isolde, the small promptings of a wounded vanity at once
+absorbed her.
+
+Very unwillingly Rallywood obeyed. Between those narrow walls one was
+within hand-reach of everything in the room, so that although he was
+beside the Countess he was not a yard from Mademoiselle Selpdorf.
+
+'So you would not come to me last night?' began Isolde abruptly. 'You
+cannot be made to understand that we Maasauns hold human life of very
+little account. It is stupid of you, Jack, but you will be forced to
+believe it now. Do you know that the driver of the sleigh----'
+
+The attempt at assassination was horrible enough in itself, but from her
+lips wearing their strange innocent smile he felt he could not endure
+the story.
+
+'I have heard of it,' he interposed hastily; 'the Lieutenant told me.
+But----'
+
+Isolde leant upon her elbow to look into his face.
+
+'What! You don't believe even now that Simon is trying to rid himself of
+me? Valerie, speak! You too refused to believe me last night. What do
+you say now?'
+
+'It may have been an accident,' replied Valerie with a tired movement.
+
+'Absurd! But whatever you choose to say, I will not go back to the
+Castle! Revonde is perhaps safe----'
+
+'My father is there, and you will be safe,' said Valerie in a tone of
+quiet certainty.
+
+Isolde laughed scornfully. 'I don't know that; for after all Sagan is
+the most powerful man in the state!' she cried, with that perverse pride
+in her husband that his daring personality seemed to develop in all his
+dependents.
+
+As Valerie made no reply, she harked back to her former subject. 'I was
+in danger last night, Jack, yet you would not come to my help. What
+excuse can a man offer for such a thing?' her voice and lips had grown
+tender in addressing him.
+
+'The Duke, Madame.'
+
+'That for the old Duke!' with a charming gesture of emptying both her
+little hands. 'What is he in comparison with me? Jack, you are but a
+poor lover after all!'
+
+Rallywood began to see that some motive underlay Isolde's wild talk. The
+kind eyes with which he had been watching her changed.
+
+'It is very true,' he said.
+
+'Jack, Jack, how am I to forgive you?' she swept on. 'Yet you remember
+when I was a firefly at the palace ball, I told you that like a firefly
+my life would be short and merry. My prophecy is coming true.'
+
+An almost imperceptible alteration in the pose of the quiet figure by
+the open stove was not lost upon Madame de Sagan.
+
+The sweet treble voice resumed:
+
+'You took a firefly from my fan and told me that one always wanted the
+beautiful things to live for ever. Jack, you promised to be my friend
+that night. You have not forgotten?'
+
+'I have not forgotten.'
+
+'And the firefly? Have you kept that as carelessly as you have kept your
+promise? Where is your cigarette-case? Ah!' a pause, then a cry of
+pleasure. 'Valerie, come here! He dropped it into his cigarette-case and
+it is here still! If you had only reminded him of that----'
+
+Valerie stood up cold and proud, and exceedingly pale.
+
+'I forgot.'
+
+'It does not matter now,' Isolde replied, taking the glittering atom
+from its hiding-place and holding it up on her slender finger to catch
+the light, 'since we have met after all. You meant to fail, Valerie!
+Were you not ashamed to deceive me last night--even last night when you
+saw I was desperate, and oh, so horribly afraid?'
+
+Rallywood, absorbed in other thoughts, gathered very little of what was
+being said. After avoiding Isolde of Sagan with more or less success on
+the Frontier, he had, since his stay in Revonde, yielded in an odd
+reserved way to her infatuation for him, partly out of a desire to
+secure meetings with Mademoiselle Selpdorf, partly from a man's stupid
+helplessness under such circumstances. The more chivalrous the man the
+more helpless very often. But all this was entirely and for ever
+unexplainable to Mademoiselle Selpdorf. He drew a deep breath. There was
+nothing for it but to accept the situation.
+
+'We both owe a debt to Mademoiselle Selpdorf for carrying the message,'
+he said.
+
+'You are mistaken,' said Valerie, and he winced under the contempt of
+her voice. 'I should never have stooped to carry it had I not had a far
+different object in view.'
+
+Isolde laughed to a shrill echo. Valerie Selpdorf's haughty spirit was
+about to be humbled. She dimly felt why Rallywood held the girl to be
+far above the level of ordinary womanhood--a cold and unattainable star.
+But she should be dragged down from the heights before his eyes.
+
+'I was not so blind as you supposed,' Isolde said aloud, pointing an
+accusing finger at Valerie. 'I knew why you went. Shall I tell you,
+Jack?'
+
+Rallywood looked up quickly. Colendorp naturally recurred to his mind.
+
+'You could not have known,' Valerie answered.
+
+'But I did, though!' Isolde went on. 'Listen to me, Jack. Do you know
+why she undertook my message, and why she forgot its most important
+point? My life has come to-night to a crisis; I will not spare those who
+have been cruel to me!' Isolde was trembling with excitement as she
+leant forward, one hand holding by the table that stood between her and
+Valerie, the other clenched in the soft fur of the rug on her knees.
+'Why? Oh, men are so simple! They believe a woman to be pure and true
+if she but knows how to temper her coquetries with a pretence of
+reserve. Jack, Valerie has been false to me and to you because she is
+jealous of me, and--because she herself loves you!'
+
+Rallywood rose slowly. 'Hush, Madame!'
+
+Valerie stood for one instant scarlet from neck to brow, then the blood
+ebbed and left her of a curious deadly pallor like one who has a mortal
+wound, but she still faced them.
+
+'Wait, Jack. You shall hear the end now that we have gone so far.'
+Isolde laughed again. She was so sure of her lover. 'It is well for the
+truth to come out sometimes, you know. Yes, Valerie Selpdorf, the proud,
+unapproachable Valerie, loves a captain of the Guard, who----'
+
+Rallywood strode across in front of her. After such words of outrage,
+his very nearness to Mademoiselle Selpdorf seemed in itself an insult.
+With his back to the door he stopped and took up the last unfinished
+sentence.
+
+'You have made a strange mistake, Madame,' he said in a low voice but
+very clearly. 'On the contrary, it is the captain of the Guard who has
+loved Mademoiselle Selpdorf, and even dared to tell her so, although she
+had shown him that she regarded him with scorn and dislike. I hope I may
+be forgiven for acknowledging this now, Mademoiselle. And let me say one
+thing more, that though I have no hope, though I am one of Love's
+beggars, the greatest honour of my life will be that I have loved such
+a woman!'
+
+The door closed behind him. Isolde sat stupified at the result of her
+stratagem, the stratagem by which she had intended to humble Valerie in
+the most cruel way a woman can be humbled.
+
+Valerie, sinking down into her chair, burst into an uncontrollable flood
+of tears. The secret of her heart, which she had denied to herself,
+sprang up at Isolde's words and confronted her, filling her world's
+horizon.
+
+'Well,' said Isolde after a long pause, '"We love but while we may." I
+wish you joy of his constancy. He loved me yesterday.'
+
+Valerie raised her head with the old haughty gesture.
+
+'As for him, Isolde, you compelled him to say it! But he does not--love
+me!' Her voice gathered strength. 'As for me, you shall know the whole
+truth; you are right--I love him, for he is a most noble gentleman!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+IN LOVE WITH HONOUR.
+
+
+Revonde was drenched in a sudden and depressing thaw. From her crowned
+ridges down to the swollen river rushing at her feet, she stood
+shivering in a robe of clinging mist; yet the day was warm with the raw
+deceptive closeness that chills to the bone and awakens the latent germs
+of death.
+
+From the Hotel du Chancelier the winter view over the bright, beautiful
+city, glittering only yesterday in its winter bedizenment of frost and
+snow, was changed. Streams of dirty water poured from the roofs, and in
+the streets the miry snow sluiced slowly downhill or stuck on passing
+boot-heels in treacherous pads.
+
+A thaw is demoralising; its penetrative power strikes deeper than
+physical _malaise_. With the average man or woman it damps the spirits,
+unstrings the will, and slackens the mental and moral fibre until
+resistance of any kind becomes an effort. M. Selpdorf was in the habit
+of saying that the rope by which the world swings is made up of the
+strands of the days rather than of the fathoms of the years. He held
+that no detail was too insignificant to be used as a factor in the
+conduct of affairs; thus he habitually took everyday trifles into
+account, since small items are apt to add up handsomely in the final
+figure of any calculation. A man who says 'No' to-day may be won to
+consent to-morrow under altered conditions of weather and diet.
+Therefore the Chancellor, who had avoided his daughter since her return,
+made choice of a dismal morning to bring his influence to bear upon her.
+He relied a good deal upon Valerie's affection for himself, which was
+strong and single-hearted. Moreover, he had trained her to the masculine
+habit of taking a broad view, a bird's-eye view, of the whole of a given
+subject, instead of turning the microscope of her emotions on any one
+point, after the manner of women.
+
+Baron von Elmur was no longer young, but he was a personage and a figure
+in the political world. By marrying him Valerie would place herself in a
+position where her cleverness, her tact, and her beauty would be offered
+a wide and splendid field of activity. Besides, so Selpdorf imagined,
+she had no more favoured suitor.
+
+Valerie was sweet and proud and sensitive; her father gave her credit
+for the two first qualities, but it probably would not have struck him
+to use that last term in describing her. He forgot that, in spite of any
+amount of masculine training, a woman remains always a woman at heart.
+Had Valerie not met Rallywood, she might never have known as much about
+herself as she discovered during her visit to Sagan; as matters stood,
+however, the weak point in M. Selpdorf's theory was already under
+strain. The Chancellor usually breakfasted alone with his daughter. She
+was at once spirited and adaptable--adaptable enough to fall in with a
+man's moods, and spirited enough to hold independent opinions, an ideal
+combination in a comrade. Servants were rigorously excluded from the
+room during the meal, that father and daughter might talk freely
+together.
+
+'I have hardly seen you since you came back, Valerie. I have missed
+you,' Selpdorf said as he turned away from the table and lit a
+cigarette. 'I am hurried to-day, yet I must speak to you on a subject
+that cannot be put off. One incident of your stay at the Castle has been
+constantly in my mind.'
+
+'Yes, father.'
+
+The unconcern of her voice struck Selpdorf. Things were either about to
+go unexpectedly well or else very badly.
+
+'Baron von Elmur tells me you yielded to my advice and his wishes. In
+fact, you consented to an engagement.'
+
+'Oh, yes, for the time being.'
+
+'My dear girl,' he returned gravely, 'it has been publicly announced. It
+was announced the same evening, I understand.'
+
+Valerie looked at him with a vague alarm in her eyes.
+
+'Only by an unlucky accident,' she replied. 'It was never intended to
+be announced. Baron von Elmur assured me of that.'
+
+'I am sure von Elmur's intentions were most generous, but the fact
+remains that it was made public. Valerie, you must be aware of his
+feelings towards you?'
+
+Valerie came round the table and sat down beside her father, slipping
+her hand caressingly through his arm.
+
+Selpdorf smiled down at her.
+
+'Valerie, I must ask you to consider not only your own share in this
+question, but von Elmur's. It compromises Elmur no less than it
+compromises you.'
+
+'I cannot carry out the engagement,' said the girl quietly.
+
+M. Selpdorf threw a great deal of surprise and disappointment into his
+countenance.
+
+'I did not know you were so greatly prejudiced against him. But,
+Valerie, we are honourable people, you and I, and we cannot allow Baron
+von Elmur to suffer because we unluckily misunderstood one another.'
+
+Valerie grew very still, her fingers pressed upon her father's arm.
+
+'Nothing succeeds like success, and up to the present time von Elmur has
+succeeded,' he went on. 'But a failure in a love affair places a man in
+an absurd position, and to be laughed at means loss of prestige.
+Wherever he is known the story will follow him. He has a brilliant
+future before him, a future that it might be the pride of any woman to
+share. I think, therefore, you will hesitate before you injure him by
+giving way to a girlish and perhaps passing dislike.'
+
+'Father, I cannot!'
+
+Valerie's voice was always low pitched and had the mellow sweetness
+peculiar to a contralto. But Selpdorf recognised a note in it now which
+showed him that his wishes were very far from fulfilment. She was loyal
+and steadfast, qualities that up to the present the Chancellor had found
+very admirable in his daughter. It is a rare pleasure for men of his
+type to be able to trust their womankind. In the case of his motherless
+girl, the Chancellor had enjoyed this pleasure to the full. To-day for
+the first time he found himself face to face with the less convenient
+side of the girl's character. She was an eminently reasonable person,
+and though she could stick to her point she never did so without cause.
+Therefore Elmur's affair promised to be awkward.
+
+'What are your reasons?' he asked, after a pause.
+
+'I do not--like Baron von Elmur.'
+
+'That is unfortunate, but your dislike may be overcome when you know him
+better.'
+
+'Oh, no!--never!'
+
+'Why not?'
+
+'Is it possible to explain a dislike?' asked Valerie rather petulantly.
+
+'No, perhaps not--for a woman,' said Selpdorf reflectively, 'but since
+there is no other----' he waited, then putting his forefinger under his
+chin, he raised her face and looked into it. 'Unless indeed you prefer
+someone----'
+
+Her eyes, which met his with the clear direct glance they had not
+inherited from himself, and her pale gravity dismayed him.
+
+'Speak, my dear child. This is a matter very near my heart,' he said
+quietly.
+
+A tremulous smile came to Valerie's lips.
+
+'And near mine--or I should not oppose you, father.'
+
+Selpdorf pushed her away from him with a gentle hand.
+
+'You don't know what you are doing,' he said shortly, and gazed out with
+undisguised chagrin into the mists that overhung Revonde. Presently he
+stood up.
+
+'Well, well; it only goes to prove that the human element is a variable
+quantity,' he remarked.
+
+'Am I only a human element in your plans? Am I no more than that to
+you?' She put her hands upon his shoulder.
+
+M. Selpdorf drew her nearer and kissed her forehead.
+
+'You know what you are to me, Valerie. I had hoped to join our interests
+in all things, but----' he turned to the door.
+
+'Father!' the girl cried, 'don't leave me like this. You don't
+understand. I only knew by chance. He is too noble to----'
+
+'Ah!' Selpdorf recollected Elmur's phrase, 'There is always the
+picturesque captain of the Guard.' He paused before speaking. 'Then this
+noble individual does not propose to take my daughter from me
+altogether--only to entangle her in a sentimental embarrassment?'
+
+'He made no claim upon me. He was compelled to--to speak--for my sake!'
+
+'I will not ask for further confidences to-day, Valerie. But think over
+the whole of our conversation. I can trust you to be just, even to Baron
+von Elmur.'
+
+M. Selpdorf knew that the longer an idea is brooded over, the harder it
+becomes to part company with it. Therefore the forenoon was yet young
+when von Elmur drove up to the Hotel du Chancelier in reply to a
+summons. The German plot was not yet at an end. By judicious
+manipulation, Selpdorf had gleaned a dim knowledge of Counsellor's
+errand from the Duke, who was as wax in his supple hands. Counsellor's
+return had already become one day overdue, and Selpdorf took advantage
+of the delay to infuse doubts and troubled surmises into the Duke's
+wavering mind.
+
+He had recovered in some measure the royal confidence, and felt almost
+certain that if the English proposals could be sufficiently delayed as
+to seem to hang fire, he might still be able to persuade his master to
+enter into some provisional arrangement with Germany.
+
+'You have not any definite news for me, after all,' Elmur remarked at
+the end of ten minutes. 'I begin to believe the Count's declaration that
+his Highness can only be driven into a reasonable treaty with us by----'
+he stopped and sketched rapidly on the paper before him, 'by--in
+fact--the flat of the sword, shall we say?'
+
+Selpdorf turned a look on his companion.
+
+'Could you trust Count Simon to put any man, and most of all the one
+upon whose property he has a reversionary claim, in fear of death? And
+further trust him not to put the threat into execution if provoked by
+failure?'
+
+Elmur shrugged his shoulders.
+
+'We should have Duke Simon to deal with in that case, instead of Duke
+Gustave.'
+
+M. Selpdorf's round forehead wrinkled slightly. He was apprehensive of
+this new temper in Elmur. The Chancellor was too clever to be quite
+honest, and too honest to be quite unflinching. A man, in fact, a little
+weaker and a little stronger than his fellows. 'Then the Count's methods
+still commend themselves to you, the miscarriage of the plan of Sagan
+notwithstanding?' he asked with an invidious smile.
+
+'If his Highness can be brought into a complacent frame of mind as
+regards our project to-day, and before the English proposals are laid
+before him, I think we shall not need the methods of the Count,' Elmur
+answered. 'Count Simon has undertaken to help us on the Frontier. Major
+Counsellor will be detained under some pretext at Kofn Ford block-house,
+and later you, Monsieur, who have so consummate a skill in covering the
+mistakes of other people, will set this mistake right by a graceful
+apology. The fat Major will arrive in Revonde behind time--that is all.
+In the meanwhile, his despatches will be forwarded to you if you will
+select a safe person to meet the Count's messenger beyond the river.
+Later you can return them to Major Counsellor and score a point by the
+act.'
+
+Selpdorf made no comment, but changed the subject. 'I have had a little
+talk with my daughter.'
+
+Elmur laid down his pen and his impassive air became more marked than
+ever.
+
+'Am I then to have the pleasure of an interview with Mademoiselle
+to-day?' he inquired. 'I hope she exonerates me from any blame in
+connection with the announcement made at Sagan?'
+
+'Entirely. But she is inclined to insist that her consent was
+conditional--no more.'
+
+'I only desire the opportunity of assuring her of my entire devotion,'
+said Elmur.
+
+'I do not fancy that she wrongs you, my dear Baron, by doubting that.'
+
+'There is then a difficulty on the part of Mademoiselle? It is
+unfortunate.'
+
+'It can be overcome. She is still very young, and her imagination has
+been touched. The Englishman, Captain Rallywood, has, as you once
+remarked the knack of making himself picturesque, which appeals in fact
+to the imagination. I am myself sensible of something of the kind when
+dealing with him. Valerie imagines him to be quixotic.'
+
+'Has Mademoiselle said this?' Elmur was stiffening at every sentence.
+Circumstances and not liking had put these two men on the same side, and
+Selpdorf repaid Elmur's sneers at the helplessness of Maasau with
+sympathy for Elmur's position as a lover. No man likes to be pitied in
+his love affairs.
+
+'No, no, my good friend, no name was mentioned. It may be more
+convenient that I should never know it.'
+
+'Then you think she may be persuaded to alter her decision with regard
+to me?'
+
+'I am certain of it.'
+
+'And what do you suggest shall be done with my--rival?' asked the German
+with a sinister inflection of the voice.
+
+'We must break him.'
+
+'Will it not be possible to work in this small affair with Counsellor's
+detention? Send Captain Rallywood to Kofn Ford to undertake the custody
+of Major Counsellor. Of course, it will not be necessary for you to
+mention the name of the person about whom your stupid Frontier officials
+are to make so convenient a mistake. When Rallywood discovers the
+identity of his prisoner, I fancy his honour will find the weight of
+temptation put upon it too great. He also is in the English plot,
+remember, and he will co-operate with his countryman. He will allow
+Counsellor to escape. But by that time the Duke must have closed with
+another ally.'
+
+Selpdorf comprehended that the German was playing his own game in a
+double sense. He was, in fact, serving his own private interests and
+also hustling Selpdorf along towards the German goal.
+
+'Then we shall have a court-martial,' said the Chancellor. 'Disgrace
+will be more effectual than death itself in this case.'
+
+'Disgrace? ah, yes! But I know what would happen to Captain Rallywood in
+my country.' Elmur's eyes had a gleam in them.
+
+'I am not so well informed. Our State is more elastic in its laws than
+yours. I cannot foresee what will happen to him in mine!' replied
+Selpdorf smiling.
+
+'There is but one thing that could happen to him under military law in
+any country. He will be shot!' said Elmur pleasantly, then added with a
+sudden uncontrolled irritation, 'And that too is picturesque.'
+
+The Chancellor spread out his hands.
+
+'What will you, my dear Baron? It is also conclusive. Besides, we shall
+have gained our point. The fellow's breach of faith is our point.
+Valerie will be disillusioned; for recollect, I pray you, that Valerie
+is in love with honour.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+HOW RALLYWOOD HAD HIS ORDERS.
+
+
+Unziar had already departed to the Frontier on a secret errand when
+Rallywood started for the Chancellerie through the slush and fog. It was
+yet early in the afternoon, and an hour when the Duke sometimes drove
+out. As Rallywood trotted along the embankment by the river, he saw the
+outriders of the Duke's carriage coming towards him.
+
+Gustave of Maasau happened to be alone, and, to indulge the humour of
+the moment, he beckoned the young man to the side of the carriage and
+spoke a few words to him. He took a pleasure in the Englishman's frank
+readiness.
+
+'I have to thank you for your energy in the matter of Colendorp,' he
+began. 'We have, however, decided to leave the whole affair in abeyance
+for the present. So M. Selpdorf has sent for you. What for?' he added
+with the curiosity of an idle man.
+
+'I do not know, sire.'
+
+'Now I remember, he did mention something about--well, well, we have
+worse enemies in the State than the Chancellor,' he wandered on, for he
+had had an interview during the morning with Selpdorf, and was more than
+half persuaded to place himself once more unreservedly under that able
+direction. For Selpdorf had almost succeeded in lulling his suspicions,
+and in luring him back to the old comfortable habit of believing in a
+false peace. He half regretted the doubts he had lately entertained of
+his Prime Minister, and was weakly willing to disabuse the Englishman's
+mind of prejudice. He did not know that Rallywood was quite unaware of
+Selpdorf's connection with the Sagan plot. 'The excellent Selpdorf is
+unsparing of his agents,' went on the Duke in vague connection, 'but he
+is also unsparing of himself. Therefore see that you obey him loyally.
+For me, he does what he wills with me.' He laughed and raised his hand
+by way of dismissal.
+
+Rallywood went on wondering what the Duke meant to convey by this praise
+of his great Minister and in fact set many constructions on the empty
+words.
+
+Selpdorf received him with an air of gravity, almost of restraint,
+entirely unlike the debonnair interest he had shown in him on the
+occasion of their last interview.
+
+'I have sent for you, Captain Rallywood,' he said after a moment's
+consideration, 'to entrust to you a very delicate mission.'
+
+He ceased and waited for some response. He was standing opposite to
+Rallywood on a white fur rug. The upstanding corners of his moustache,
+his upright carriage, and the ineffaceable mark left upon him by his
+short term of military service--for conscription obtains in Maasau--had
+their effect upon Rallywood. He picked out the soldier from the
+chancellor and saluted in silence.
+
+Selpdorf smiled. Yet he wished the man had spoken! so much may be
+deduced from a tone of voice. Did he guess how much Selpdorf knew of his
+relations with Valerie? But there was nothing to be gathered from that
+rigid front.
+
+'Before I give you any information, I must ask you first to say whether
+you will serve his Highness or not?'
+
+'I have taken the oath, your excellency.'
+
+'Yes,' the Chancellor said dubiously, 'and an oath goes a long way but
+sometimes not all the way. Has not some writer said that it is the man
+that makes the oath believed, not the oath the man?'
+
+'I have taken the soldier's oath,' repeated Rallywood.
+
+But he had no protestation of fidelity to offer. It rested with Selpdorf
+to choose the right man for his mission.
+
+If personal inclination had had any part in the Chancellor's plan of
+life, it is certain he would have liked Rallywood. As it was, in
+trusting he distrusted him. Rallywood could be relied on to follow a
+straight path, he knew, but if it swerved from honour--what then?
+
+'Also I must remind you that a soldier should see no farther than the
+point of his sword, and hear no more than his orders. In short, under
+many circumstances he has no use for an independent judgment. He must
+leave that to those whom he is pledged to obey and with whom rests the
+ultimate responsibility. A soldier's single duty is blind obedience.'
+
+Rallywood bowed and continued to await his orders in silence.
+
+'That is well. I am about to send you to Kofn Ford, where you will meet
+the midnight mail from the Frontier. At the foot of the mountain
+incline, about half-way between the stations, the train will be stopped
+and a person placed in your custody. You will take this person back with
+you to the Ford block-house and keep him there until you receive orders
+to bring him into Revonde. I especially charge you that no violence is
+to be used, but he is not to be permitted to escape. The importance of
+the duty which is entrusted to you cannot be too highly estimated.'
+
+This then was what the Duke meant. Rallywood was to place himself
+unreservedly at the disposal of M. Selpdorf. Yet the preamble troubled
+him. It seemed to be assumed that he might be tempted to evade his
+orders.
+
+'I am to start at once, your Excellency?'
+
+'In half an hour.' Selpdorf's face cleared, something of his former
+geniality returned to him. 'To-night, Captain Rallywood, the Duke has
+need of a man. There are others I might have sent whose claims are
+greater than yours, but you are my nominee to the ranks of the Guard,
+and I would justify my choice. His Highness also is inclined to favour
+you.'
+
+Selpdorf contemplated Rallywood kindly, as if prepared to be interested
+in his answer. He was trying to draw something from the man, but
+Rallywood only stood straighter and hugged his wooden silence closer.
+Any reply he could make would give the advantage to Selpdorf. For the
+present he himself held it. It is often so. The man who speaks ten words
+has an advantage over the man who speaks a hundred.
+
+'I thank your Excellency,' he replied.
+
+'There is,' Selpdorf began again meditatively, as if permitting himself
+the luxury of a little frankness before a trusted adherent, 'an end to
+everything and a beginning. The line drawn between the new and the old
+is never defined; the two overlap. We may regret the old, but since the
+new is irresistible, the wise make the best of it.' He looked up with an
+alert interest. 'In your own case, Captain Rallywood, you were not long
+ago at the dividing line yourself; how has the new life treated you?'
+
+'Well!' said Rallywood as if flinging back a challenge.
+
+The Chancellor's round eyes met his.
+
+'Ah, I thought it would be so! You were half inclined that night to let
+fortune go by you. You must mount her, man, not lead her by the bridle.'
+
+Then Rallywood broke silence.
+
+'I doubt, your Excellency, if she will carry me where I want to go, in
+spite of hard riding,' he said.
+
+'That will depend upon yourself, I imagine. Good-day, Captain.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+ON THE FRONTIER.
+
+
+The evening train was almost due.
+
+Upon the rise of a bare and windy ridge Rallywood sat on horseback
+waiting. Man and horse seemed to be the only living things between the
+horizons. From his point of vantage he looked out over the dim,
+limitless marshes, north, south and west, and although the growing
+darkness rendered the few features of the landscape even less
+distinguishable than usual, his practiced eye passed from point to point
+readily, for the flat map before him had been etched in upon his memory
+by the slow-graving stylus of use.
+
+The night promised to be clear and starlit, for the tsa had risen to a
+gale, and a sudden frost succeeding the thaw had already thrust its iron
+fingers deep into the land. The cold was intense, and a raw wind, that
+had blown across a continent and a sea, came down obliquely upon
+Rallywood through a dip in the mountains. On one side the lines of the
+railway track ran up a curving incline into the Kofn Hills, where, five
+miles away at the bleak Frontier station, officials, imposingly
+uniformed, parade the platforms, examine the baggage, and demand
+passports in a manner calculated to impress the traveller with an idea
+of the immense resources of the State of Maasau. That is one part of
+their duties. The other is slavish obedience. 'Do what you are ordered,
+and the result will look after itself.' Such is the creed. The first
+lesson taught them is that they must not hesitate, and they learn it
+thoroughly. Westwards the line slipped away into the sweep of low ground
+towards Alfau, the first stoppage on the way to Revonde.
+
+Rallywood drew his riding-cloak around him and settled down squarely
+into the saddle. The desolate plains with the crying wind held the
+loneliness of the damned. Occasionally a wolf howled in the distance, or
+a wandering snipe cried as it lost itself among the stiffening reeds
+about the swampy levels, and through all he could hear the hoarse roar
+of the Kofn in flood, as it rushed down from its rocky bed, swollen with
+the melted snows of yesterday. Another interval passed while the gray
+outlook changed to black. Then a red light appeared as it were over the
+edge of the world. Its coming afforded a certain break in the naked
+whimpering solitude of the plain.
+
+Slowly it crept down the incline, for the engines of Maasau, like
+Belgian pistols, are not made for rough usage. Rallywood rode forward to
+meet it, the tufts of grass crackling under his horse's feet. But
+instead of slackening pace the chain of lighted carriages swept past
+him, and, gathering speed, wound away into the desolate night.
+
+Rallywood looked after it with a sense of blankness. The Chancellor's
+exordium and the Duke's remarks had rather primed him to a state of
+expectation, and he felt as if he had been balked of he knew not what.
+The green light contracted and died away into the gloom; then discontent
+mastered him. In his restless mood he had grasped at the situation,
+which had promised a stirring of the blood, but the train passed and
+thrust him back with a hand that seemed almost palpable in the staleness
+of ordinary life. When he left the Frontier he had left behind him the
+old content, the humorous adaptability to circumstances which had once
+been a main element of his character.
+
+Turning his horse's head due west he rode slowly beside the track, where
+the metals had begun to gleam under the stars, and the wind drove behind
+him as if driving him out into the waste. He rode on for five minutes.
+Then he pulled up and listened. Through the whistling of the _tsa_ and
+the dull roar of the river, he fancied he had detected some other sound.
+
+Puzzled, he turned and rode back at a hand-gallop in the teeth of the
+wind. As he rode, the noise became more distinct, and presently out of
+the night something black and bulky came jolting painfully and slowly
+down the slope of the railway track.
+
+As Rallywood drew rein alongside, he saw it was a single carriage,
+unlighted and solitary, rolling aimlessly on towards the level ground
+through the gloom.
+
+Gradually the pace slackened, and at last with a rheumatic jerk
+backwards and forwards it came to a standstill. By this time also
+Rallywood had perceived that it occupied the further set of rails, on
+which the outgoing trains from Revonde travelled. And already the night
+mail could not be far away.
+
+He dropped from his saddle and in a second was feeling for his matches,
+while the horse fell to sniffing half-heartedly at the meagre herbage.
+
+Rallywood mounted the steps of the carriage, for the platforms in Maasau
+are very high, and turned the handle. Then, bending forward, he peered
+into the interior, but through the dusk the seats seemed empty.
+Rallywood stepped inside and lit a match. It sputtered in the frosty air
+and flickered for a second from the route-maps under the musty racks to
+the cushioned seats, and so downwards to a figure heaped on the
+floor-rug by the opposite door.
+
+This wandering carriage had then one occupant. Also he gave signs of
+life, for he grunted feebly in the dark as the match went out.
+
+Rallywood felt for the lamp above his head, for in Maasau the trains are
+lighted by oil lanterns let in over the doors. Finding it, he broke the
+glass with the butt of his revolver and lit the wick; then he turned for
+a closer examination of the man who had come to him in so strange a
+manner. But the manner pointed to the fact that this must be the
+prisoner he was told to hold at Kofn Ford until to-morrow. Politics are
+apt to work out to curious issues in continental railways. Such things
+have happened many times, though they are not often noised abroad. The
+man lay with one arm thrown across the seat and his face buried in it.
+He was a big man, and a fringe of white hair showed under the back of
+his travelling cap above a crease of fleshy neck.
+
+'Counsellor!'
+
+For an instant Rallywood turned sick and his head felt light. He
+remembered feeling the same sensation years before, when a heavy
+opponent sat abruptly down on his chest in a football scrimmage. His
+hands shook as he lifted the inert figure on to the cushions and scanned
+the face, sticky and disfigured with blood. After forcing some brandy
+from his flask down Counsellor's throat and unloosing his collar,
+Rallywood opened the window wide to let the cold air blow in upon him,
+and fired two shots from his revolver in rapid succession out into the
+night. They must have help, for the down mail was already at Alfau.
+
+By this time, Counsellor, grunting and swearing, had got himself up on
+his elbow and stared at the young man with vacant eyes.
+
+'Where the deuce have I got to? Is that you, John? By heaven, I
+remember!' His fingers went groping weakly to his breast, then with a
+groan he struggled to his feet. 'The ruffians have robbed me!'
+
+But the effort exhausted him; he sank back putting his hands to his
+head.
+
+'I don't understand this. What has happened? John, where am I?'
+
+Rallywood explained hurriedly.
+
+'We're on the up line, Major. Have another pull at my flask, and see if
+you can get to the Ford block-house. The night mail will be on us
+directly. Ah, there are the men,' as a stolid sergeant thrust his
+weather-beaten face in at the door.
+
+Rallywood gave the necessary orders rapidly, then turned to the Major.
+
+'Are you badly hurt? Do you think you can ride?' said he.
+
+'Ride! of course I can ride. How far is it to Revonde?'
+
+Rallywood put his arm round him, and helped him very tenderly from the
+carriage.
+
+Counsellor stood up in the howling wind and looked about him into the
+wild night.
+
+'I've had a nasty knock on the head, and I suppose they look to the
+night mail to finish the business. Make haste, John! where's your horse?
+Treachery's afoot to-night. I've lost my despatches--they robbed me of
+them! But I'll beat them all yet! Give me your flask. How far is it to
+Revonde?'
+
+The troopers had dispersed, some to warn the coming train, others to
+arrange for the removal of the carriage from the track.
+
+Counsellor had his foot in the stirrup, and with difficulty Rallywood
+got him up into the saddle.
+
+'Thirty miles, but you cannot ride there to-night,' answered Rallywood.
+
+'With your help I'll beat them yet, John! Thirty miles? I'll be there
+before daylight! I can go by the stars once I find the road.'
+
+He stuck his heels into the horse's side, but Rallywood still held the
+bridle.
+
+A wild gust tore round them, and in the succeeding lull Rallywood laid
+his hand on the other man's knee.
+
+'Major Counsellor, you are my prisoner,' he said.
+
+'How's this, John?' the question came thin, pitiful and weak. A new
+doubt, the old affection, and a strange helplessness mingled in the
+words, and they cut deep into Rallywood's ears.
+
+'That was a bad knock on the head,' muttered the Major apologetically,
+and sank forward on the horse's neck again unconscious.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+A QUESTION OF TWO MORALITIES.
+
+
+The road towards the block-house ran along the river bank past the Kofn
+Ford. They went slowly on together through the starry windy night,
+Rallywood with his hand on the bridle and the wounded man holding limply
+to the saddle.
+
+The _tsa_ raved and rocked in the pine trees, through the pauses of the
+storm a wolf barked, and the black, tumbled water was still swelling and
+gulping under the low stars. But the tumult of noises only served to
+accentuate the hideous loneliness which is the salient characteristic of
+the Frontier.
+
+Counsellor, with an unaccustomed warfare in his heart--rage and the pity
+of it working together--stared into space across the leaping river.
+
+As the two men drew near the ford, they saw the dim figure of a horseman
+riding down the bank on the opposite side, with the evident intention of
+crossing. The approaches to the ford were flooded, for the angry water
+fretted out its banks at such times and deepened into dangerous swirls
+over the crossing-place.
+
+Rallywood checked the horse to shout and signal to the man that the ford
+was impassable, but his voice was drowned by the harsh throated noises
+of the night. Weak as was the starlight, something of the loose reckless
+swing in the saddle told Rallywood that the rider was Anthony Unziar.
+Unziar galloped down the stones of the incline and plunged into the
+torrent. It was clear from where he took the water that he intended to
+make for the little beach below the block-house. His course was marked
+by a whitish rise in the water; now and then the watchers on the bank
+lost sight of the struggling figure as a tree-trunk whirled past and hid
+him, or he seemed to sink in some tormented eddy, but he came into view
+again and always nearer. At the last moment, whether horse and man were
+exhausted or whether a furious tangle of cross-currents caught them,
+they were swung round and away from the landing-point.
+
+It was now evident that Unziar saw Rallywood, for in answer to the
+latter's signs that he must make for the shallows lower down, Unziar
+waved some object over his head as if to call attention to it. The suck
+of the current was fast drawing him away, but with another strong effort
+he got the horse's head round; they heard his faint shout upon the wind
+then the words came more clearly:
+
+'Carry them on--Selpdorf!' He flung something forwards; the gale caught
+and hurled it on to the rocks at Rallywood's feet.
+
+When they looked again Unziar had disappeared.
+
+Hurrying up to the block-house, Rallywood sent off some troopers to
+Unziar's assistance; then with some difficulty got his prisoner, who was
+stiff and dizzy, on his feet and supported him to the room where Madame
+de Sagan and Valerie had rested on the night of the snow-storm.
+
+Rallywood did all that could be done for Counsellor, then he sat down at
+the narrow table to face his position. The _tsa_ battered at the little
+window, and the camp-bed creaked under Counsellor's weight as he turned
+and groaned upon it, while Rallywood sat with soul and body absorbed in
+the consciousness that at last the time of which Counsellor had warned
+him was come, the time when he should find his enemies dressed in red.
+Under almost any other circumstances it would have been possible to
+retire from the position with honour. Had war been declared between
+England and Maasau, he could have resigned his commission. But to-night
+he found himself without any such means of escape, fast in the jaws of
+the cleverly-contrived trap set for him by Selpdorf.
+
+But he scarcely yet knew the worst. Presently Counsellor spoke.
+
+'This thing has gone beyond a joke,' he said, 'What does it mean?' The
+glance from under the overhanging gray brows had regained its fire.
+
+'My orders are simple enough. I am to keep you here until to-morrow
+afternoon at three o'clock.'
+
+'By doing so you will ruin Maasau as a free State and bring a most
+serious defeat upon the British policy.' Counsellor's voice was
+rasping. 'Are you prepared for that?'
+
+Both men were strenuous, and bred deep into the bone of each were the
+same dominant qualities.
+
+'I am prepared to carry out my orders,' answered Rallywood; 'I had them
+practically from the Duke himself.'
+
+'The Duke is of the same mind in which I found him at the Castle, though
+he may be forced to dissemble,' asserted Counsellor; then with a twist
+he sat up as his glance fell upon the square dark object lying on the
+table between them. 'John Rallywood, do you know what that is?'
+
+'The despatches thrown to me by Unziar.'
+
+'That case is mine; it contains my private instructions; you can guess
+something of their importance from the fact that I have been robbed of
+them. You must give them back to me! As an Englishman and an honest man,
+I call upon you to give them back to me.'
+
+Rallywood's long nervous fingers closed over the packet.
+
+'It is impossible!' he said. 'As an Englishman, yes, but as an honest
+man, well, it--it is hard to say.'
+
+'Are you mad?' cried Counsellor.
+
+'I have not had long to think it out, and it is a tangled question,'
+replied Rallywood wearily.
+
+'A tangled question? I take it you are first of all an Englishman?'
+
+'In my private capacity, and that deals with my private honour; but I
+have undertaken another responsibility from which I cannot withdraw at
+pleasure. I am a sworn soldier of Maasau, and as such my public honour
+has first claim.'
+
+It was a simple rendering of a tremendous problem, but it served for
+Rallywood.
+
+'Then----' said Counsellor.
+
+There was a rush and a scuffle, but Rallywood was young and strong and
+more active than the Major.
+
+'Confound you!' Counsellor fell back a step or two, breathing hard.
+There are some situations which by their elemental force destroy all
+other emotions. The situation at Kofn guard-house was one of these. The
+point at issue between these two men pierced to the bed-rock of national
+loyalty. Perhaps Blivinski was right. Love of country was part of their
+physical equipment, yet by the irony of circumstances they were pitted
+against each other.
+
+'Will you give me your parole?' asked Rallywood with his back to the
+door.
+
+Counsellor drew out a big watch.
+
+'For fifteen minutes,' he said. 'It is now half-past nine; at forty-five
+minutes past I shall hold myself once more free to do what I can. You
+understand? In the meantime we will talk.'
+
+Rallywood motioned Counsellor back to the camp bed while he himself sat
+down on the table.
+
+'I fancy, John, we are both rather in the dark about all this,' began
+Counsellor. 'Tell me your story, and I'll tell you mine.'
+
+'My orders were clear enough,' Rallywood said. 'I was to take charge of
+a prisoner, to be brought to me by the incoming mail at the spot where I
+met you. You arrived queerly, I admit, rolling along the down line, but
+you are undoubtedly the person of whom I was instructed to take charge.'
+
+'Ah--I begin to see. There may be many men in Maasau who would rob me,
+but there is only one man who could do it so clumsily.'
+
+'Count Sagan?'
+
+'Naturally. But to return, I left you at the Castle looking for
+Colendorp; whether you found him or not does not come into this affair.
+Perhaps he was in Sagan's way and he removed him----'
+
+'With a knife.'
+
+'That is quite in the Count's manner. Well, I got safely to England,
+where my business took a day and a half longer than I expected. I
+received my despatches, and five hundred miles from here I took the
+precaution of removing them from my despatch-box. After we left the
+Frontier station I noticed that our train had lost half its length, and
+that I was in the last carriage. I didn't like it. It is never healthy
+for a despatch-box to travel in an end compartment. That is tempting of
+Fate.'
+
+Counsellor stopped as if to collect his thoughts again.
+
+'After a little the pace slackened and I felt a sharp jolt. They were
+switching me on to the down line, an improvement upon the original plan
+so like the Count's manner that it almost proves he must have been on
+the spot superintending operations. Next it was a face at the window. I
+used my revolver, but they stunned me and robbed me and left it to the
+night mail to close my mouth for good. Now you know where you are, John
+Rallywood; you are abetting a crime, and a crime against your own
+country, against England!'
+
+Rallywood laughed, but a laugh against oneself has a bad sound with it.
+
+'It seems the day has come when I find my enemies dressed in red!' he
+said.
+
+'Why, yes, if you choose to put it so. If you either carry these
+despatches on for Unziar or remain to keep me prisoner, you play
+Germany's game for her.'
+
+'Perhaps not,' suggested Rallywood. 'The Chancellor sent me here.'
+
+Counsellor's short angry grunt of derision surprised him.
+
+'Mademoiselle Valerie may be loyal, but Selpdorf is at the bottom of the
+whole plot. Does he guess there is any bond of liking or interest
+between you and his daughter? If so, he sent you here to break you! He
+knew that between the conflicting claims of a man's public and private
+honour lie shame and often death. Do you not see that amongst them they
+are bent on ruining you? Just now, when I hoped all might be yours that
+a man can ask for! Your Chicago cousin at Queen's Fain is dying and you
+are his heir. Yet you are to be ruined--ruined by the hate of Elmur and
+Sagan, and what are you to Selpdorf but a fly to be crushed whose
+presence annoys him?'
+
+'Are you sure of this? His sending me to be witness of your
+assassination fits in badly with the theory of his collusion.'
+
+'Perfectly; Sagan stultified the scheme, that was all. Selpdorf forgot
+that Sagan is a wild beast who can only be fed with blood!' Counsellor
+paused. 'The highway robbery with violence to which I have been
+subjected is Sagan's bull-headed translation of Selpdorf's hint to
+detain me. Thus, according to their calculations, before I can get to
+Revonde the Duke will have been induced to lend himself to some other
+course. It is not hard to read their tactics. They run on old lines. So
+you see there is only one way out of it--you must help me, John.'
+
+What advice he might have offered to Rallywood as simple man to man
+occupied no place in Counsellor's intentions. He was England's envoy as
+opposed to her antagonists, and into the scale in her favour he meant to
+throw the whole of his personal influence with Rallywood.
+
+Rallywood made a sign of dissent.
+
+'But surely you will not side with Sagan's party as against the Duke?'
+urged Counsellor.
+
+'The Duke has been known to change his mind before now.'
+
+Counsellor bit savagely at his moustache. The minutes were flying.
+
+'I wonder if old Gustave has allowed himself to be humbugged yet once
+more!' he said to himself. 'John, on which side do you suppose Valerie
+Selpdorf would wish to see you?'
+
+'We need not mention her,' answered Rallywood stiffly.
+
+'What? Have you not spoken? Does she not know?'
+
+'She knows--yes, and others know too that I love her. But it is ended.
+There is nothing more; there never can be now.'
+
+Counsellor put his hand to his head.
+
+'Will you help me? That after all is the question.'
+
+Rallywood looked down at him, and Counsellor fancied there was a shadow
+of reproach in the glance.
+
+'For you that is the question, but for me there is another,' Rallywood
+said deliberately. 'Until I can resign my oath to Maasau, honour holds
+me her sworn soldier.'
+
+'Of all things in the world what is so arbitrary as honour?' cried
+Counsellor. 'Honour is a wild flower; God plants it, but man prunes it,
+and the devil only can be responsible for the sports one sometimes meets
+with. Well, go your own and the devil's way!' The Major turned
+irritably round. 'In my creed a man's first duty is to his country.'
+
+'I wish I could see it so,' said Rallywood sadly. Then the hush of the
+mighty battle fell upon the little room. The air was stifling to both,
+for Counsellor knew what was in his companion's heart and even felt a
+far-off pity for him, but no relenting. Rallywood's handsome brown face
+had grown suddenly sharp and aged, and his gray eyes contracted to dark
+points under their frowning lids. The man was looking on the wreck of
+his life, and slowly coming to the conclusion that he must choose that
+course which would add the defeat of the land he loved to his own ruin.
+He would have died for England, happy in the sacrifice, but to lose all
+in her despite was a bitter thing.
+
+'Time's up,' said the Major. 'You have one minute to give me your
+decision.'
+
+'A soldier should see no further than the point of his sword,' replied
+Rallywood. 'An oath stands between me and my desires. These despatches
+may be yours, but you know how they have come into my charge. As long as
+I am a soldier of Maasau, my duty to her comes first of all. I cannot
+let you go nor can I give up these despatches! Curse you!' a strong
+flash of emotion breaking in upon the restraint of his speech, 'why have
+you no sword? If you had killed me----'
+
+Counsellor put his watch back into his pocket.
+
+'A man's country should be his conscience,' said the old diplomatist,
+as one who pronounces a definite and unassailable truth. Then he waited.
+
+Rallywood stood up.
+
+'I cannot argue,' he said, 'but Major, you will believe me when I say
+that I see my duty plainly. I refuse!'
+
+'I have had a great regard for you,' replied Counsellor slowly, 'but if
+you were my own son, by Heaven, I'd blow your brains out to-night! Give
+me those despatches.'
+
+There was a rapid movement and the gleam of a pistol barrel in his hand.
+
+'Thank God!' It was not more than the faintest whisper from Rallywood as
+he sprang at his companion.
+
+But there was no report, only an ominous click as Counsellor flung the
+unloaded revolver in Rallywood's face with a bitter word.
+
+'It was not loaded.'
+
+Hardly had they closed when the door was opened and a couple of men
+supported Unziar into the room. The water ran in streams from his
+clothes to the floor, while he stood and stared at the two combatants
+who had fallen apart.
+
+'I suppose they sent you to meet me, Rallywood,' he said in English; 'it
+is lucky, for I'm done! You must carry those despatches on without
+delay, for they must reach the Chancellor at the earliest possible
+moment. Go; there is no time to lose!'
+
+Rallywood pointed to Counsellor.
+
+'This gentleman is my prisoner. You will keep him here until further
+orders. Meantime I will ride on with these to Revonde.'
+
+Counsellor and Unziar remained together, but no word passed between them
+till out in the windy night they heard the beat of hoofs as Rallywood
+rode away on his mission.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+LOVE'S HANDICAP.
+
+
+As Rallywood galloped steadily through the night under the shrinking
+moon, with the _tsa_ behind him and the pearl-grey road withering away
+into the level distance ahead, it happened that the two women of whom he
+must have had some thoughts during that lonely ride met and spoke
+together.
+
+'Valerie, I called for you to go with me to the Abenfeldt's reception,
+because I have a question to ask you,' began Isolde at once when the
+door of the carriage was closed.
+
+The passing lamps shone varyingly upon their faces as they passed
+through the lighted streets, and Madame de Sagan looked at her
+companion.
+
+'Where is Captain Rallywood?' she added abruptly.
+
+His name had not passed between them since the interview at the
+block-house.
+
+'I cannot tell you. I don't know,' said Valerie coldly.
+
+'Oh, my dear child, all is fair in love and war! Why be so dreadfully
+cross with me still?'
+
+'Is it necessary to recur to the subject at all?'
+
+'Will you never forgive me, I wonder?'
+
+Valerie looked steadily back into the lovely face, where the underlying
+spirit of mockery was transmuted into an innocent playfulness like a
+child's.
+
+'On the contrary, I thank you.'
+
+'Why--for humbling him? Valerie, you are----'
+
+'Happy!' Valerie could not forego the very womanly triumph, 'very happy!
+And you made me so.'
+
+'But,' said Isolde with some perplexity, 'you would have it that he did
+not mean what he said.'
+
+In her heart she thought Valerie a great goose for making any such
+disclaimer. Vanity has knowledge of no tongue whereby to interpret
+pride.
+
+'No, but it showed me what he was.'
+
+'I wonder how Baron von Elmur would like to hear that his future wife
+was not ashamed to declare her love for another man!' retorted Isolde.
+
+'I mean to tell him.'
+
+'No, no, Valerie, don't!' exclaimed Madame de Sagan, whose weakness
+exuded very often in a sort of kind-heartedness, 'I should not tell him.
+Such a confidence is apt to turn sour in a husband's memory. You may
+trust me--I will keep your secret.' Valerie smiled scornfully.
+
+'But I can keep a secret! For instance, I want to hear where Captain
+Rallywood is, because I know the Count hates him, and also,' she nodded
+her head slowly, 'and also our dear friend Baron von Elmur.'
+
+Valerie was startled.
+
+'Baron von Elmur?' she repeated.
+
+'Oh, you quite mistake the matter. The ill-feeling has nothing to do
+whatever with you or with me. The Count and von Elmur hate him on very
+different grounds. Everything appears to interest men now-a-days but
+ourselves!' she ended sadly.
+
+'Because he is English, perhaps?'
+
+'Well, yes, it has something to do with it. You remember that last night
+at the Castle? I conclude it was Jack who spoiled their plans when Simon
+and the Baron went to the Duke's apartments.'
+
+'The Count and Baron von Elmur together? What did they go for?'
+
+The question dried up the little stream of babble.
+
+'How should I know? But there was a fight--I'd back Jack against most
+people! That is one reason I--liked him. We heard the shots, and though
+I was horribly frightened I told you none of the particulars, yet I knew
+all. Speak to me, Valerie! What are you thinking of?'
+
+Valerie had been rapidly going over in her mind the incidents Isolde had
+alluded to. For the first time she understood. There had been a German
+plot which she had helped to defeat, a plot to place Count Sagan at the
+head of the State, and the price he was to pay was the freedom of
+Maasau. She must see her father before she slept and warn him of the
+conspiracy, which although it had failed temporarily at the Castle of
+Sagan was still in existence. She felt certain that her father knew
+nothing of the German plot, nor of Sagan's bitter enmity against
+himself, as proved by the attempt on her own life. Fears for her father,
+for Rallywood, and for Maasau crowded upon her, though she kept up an
+appearance of composure that Isolde might not guess the importance of
+the information she had given.
+
+'I was thinking of Captain Rallywood,' answered the girl at last,
+offering the excuse Isolde would be most likely to accept as true. 'I
+did not know he had so many enemies. But is he not in Revonde?'
+
+'No, he has not been at the barracks since yesterday afternoon. I sent
+him an invitation. You never give me credit for sincerity, but I am
+steady in my friendships. I do not mean to drop him because he talked
+all that nonsense at Kofn Ford. You boasted about M. Selpdorf's
+power--make him use it now to save Rallywood. I begin to believe that
+you are really as cold as you pretend to be, Valerie, you care so
+little! Whereas I, in spite of all that has happened, would serve him if
+I could.'
+
+'I shall see my father when I return to-night, I promise you.'
+
+Isolde buttoned her glove thoughtfully.
+
+'You must be careful not to let him suspect that you have any especial
+interest in Jack,' she said, 'for that would be merely an additional
+reason for letting Rallywood--go.'
+
+Valerie could not misunderstand the euphemism.
+
+'Isolde, my father is not a savage!' she exclaimed.
+
+'Perhaps not,' said Madame de Sagan simply. 'He is, I know, a very
+charming man in society, but my experience goes to show that every man
+is a savage--_au fond_.'
+
+Words which embody the opinion of more women than one cares to number.
+
+It was three o'clock when an officer of the Guard, leaving the
+wind-swept darkness of the country behind him, rode through the north
+gate of Revonde into the vivid black and white perspectives of the city,
+where close outside the brilliant line of electric lights night herself
+seemed to stand incarnate, a jealous intensity of blackness.
+
+Rallywood had picked up Unziar's relays of horses at certain points, and
+on the whole had made good time of the ride. Now he crossed the bridge
+that lies opposite to the gate of the Palace, and mounted the curving
+streets towards the Chancellerie.
+
+He swung from his horse at the foot of the broad flight of granite steps
+under its overhanging portico as a carriage dashed up on the other side.
+The high doors above were flung open and a roll of red cloth dropped
+from step to step down to the pavement, a couple of footmen placing it
+with the quick deftness of use until it reached the carriage.
+
+As she alighted Mademoiselle Selpdorf recognised the tall figure in the
+travel-stained riding cloak.
+
+'Captain Rallywood, where have you come from?' she asked almost
+involuntarily.
+
+'From the frontier, Mademoiselle.'
+
+'Will you give me your arm? What has happened? Has Major Counsellor
+come back?' she whispered as they went up the steps.
+
+'He is at the Ford. He has met with an accident.'
+
+Valerie said no more, but as she entered the hall she read Rallywood's
+face.
+
+'Has his Excellency returned?' she asked of an attendant. 'Then place
+refreshments in the small library. Captain Rallywood, I will join you in
+a few moments. M. Selpdorf will be home very soon. He is anxious to see
+you.'
+
+It was a little necessary make believe before the numerous servants. How
+far it deceived them may be faintly guessed when one considers anyone's
+secrets in relation to anyone's servants.
+
+'Man designs his own game,' thought Rallywood as he followed the servant
+into whose charge he was given, 'or he is forced to stand out and
+circumstances play it for him. In the years all is one.'
+
+Whichever way the issue of this night's work turned, Maasau and Valerie
+must both pass from his life forever. The one supreme obstacle which
+lurks always beside the mercenary's path had arisen to bar his advance
+at last.
+
+Valerie opened the door softly. She was trembling and afraid, but she
+would not be outdone in generosity by Rallywood. She had determined to
+thank him for the words spoken at Kofn Ford, and to show him how
+entirely she comprehended their chivalrous intention. But when her eyes
+fell upon him all thought of self faded. He was standing midway between
+the gleaming wine and glass of the side-table and the flickering glow of
+the open stove, upright and stately as he ever appeared to her, but in
+his new attitude her sharpened senses perceived a suggestion of
+disheartenment and solitude.
+
+Swept away by the feeling of the moment, she crossed the room to his
+side and laid her hand upon his arm.
+
+'What is it? Something has happened,' she said.
+
+Rallywood looked down at her. The beautiful eyes like starlit darkness,
+her clear-hued loveliness, the soft dusky curls about her brow, her
+girlish reserves and petulances, all her sweet unapproachable
+personality enhanced to pain the knowledge that he was looking his last
+upon them.
+
+'Nothing to distress you, Mademoiselle, because M. Selpdorf knows all
+about it.'
+
+'Then tell me; I know so much already.'
+
+'I wish I could. But I think his Excellency might prefer to tell you
+himself.'
+
+'Is it good news, then? Major Counsellor has succeeded? Then why are you
+so sad?'
+
+'Sad, Mademoiselle?' he answered with a smile. 'Men often look sad when
+they are only hungry and dog-tired.'
+
+'Then eat,' she said. 'Let me give you some wine.'
+
+She drew him to the table and poured out a glass of wine.
+
+'To the success of Maasau and of England,' she said. Then touching it
+with her lips in the graceful fashion of Maasau, she handed it to him.
+
+'Hark! I think I hear my father arriving, and there is something I must
+say to you before he comes.'
+
+She clasped her hands nervously, the bare shapely hands with their
+gleaming rings, and Rallywood watched her and felt as if he were
+dreaming.
+
+'Captain Rallywood, I want to thank you. I can never thank you enough
+for that night at Kofn Ford. I understood--pray believe I understood
+it--and I think you are the noblest gentleman alive!'
+
+Rallywood did not hesitate. There was one thing Valerie should know and
+be certain of in the uncertain future.
+
+'Give me a moment, Mademoiselle,' he exclaimed, detaining her. 'I see
+you do not quite understand. I could not expect you to understand. But
+now--now that I am leaving Maasau, I must tell you the truth. Perhaps
+you will believe it some day. I am proud----'
+
+'I know it, and yet you--oh, say no more! For my sake you stooped to say
+it. It was not true! But I knew that.'
+
+He took her hands between his own in a firm strong clasp.
+
+'Listen, Mademoiselle. It was true! Since first I saw you it has always
+been true!'
+
+'I remember!' she said breathlessly. She could not help saying it.
+
+'Do you?' he answered; the temptation to wander a little was too sweet.
+'You wore this cloak,' he touched it softly with his fingers, then laid
+his hand over hers deliberately, in the quiet confident way in which he
+did everything and which she had grown to love, 'and ever since I have
+carried the glove you despised. And though this is my good-bye, I will
+carry it--always.'
+
+'But--but----'
+
+'Oh, I don't ask you to believe me now,' he said bitterly. 'I am not
+noble, Mademoiselle. I was only too proud to say I loved you that night,
+as,' with another smile, 'I was only too proud not to say it before.'
+
+Valerie raised her face and her eyes were full of light.
+
+'Then it was true--thank God!'
+
+But Rallywood, though he saw the purpose of her speech, would not
+understand its significance. He led her towards the door by which she
+had entered.
+
+'You must go, Mademoiselle. I--dare not keep you with me longer.
+Good-bye, and may God go with you, Valerie!'
+
+She stopped suddenly and kissed the hand that held hers.
+
+'I too am proud,' she whispered, and the door closed upon her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+THE MAN OF THE HOUR.
+
+
+'Selpdorf is the man of the hour,' Counsellor once said to Rallywood,
+and the Major's sayings had a trick of lingering in the memory. With the
+Chancellor then still remained the key to the situation. He was
+implicated in the conspiracy, but he had less to gain and far more to
+lose than the others. A dangerous condition and one possible of
+development.
+
+All this passed in a flash through Rallywood's mind as the opposite door
+opened to admit M. Selpdorf, who replied stiffly to Rallywood's bow.
+
+'I was not prepared to see you this evening,' began Selpdorf.
+
+'I have brought the despatches, your Excellency,' replied Rallywood,
+taking the packet from his pocket but continuing to hold it in his hand.
+
+Selpdorf eyed him.
+
+'From whom?'
+
+'Lieutenant Unziar.'
+
+The affair was falling out in an unexpected manner. Selpdorf was a
+student of human nature as all of his craft must be, and Rallywood
+offered for his observation a character out of the common and hard for
+a Maasaun to read. How had he escaped from the dilemma in which he had
+been so carefully placed? The Chancellor was curious to hear. The man
+was an artist in the human passions.
+
+'From Lieutenant Unziar?' Selpdorf repeated tentatively. 'And your
+prisoner? The man whom I ordered you to keep at the block-house?'
+
+The Chancellor half expected to hear that Counsellor was also in
+Revonde, and that Rallywood with an unassuming but unspeakable
+effrontery had called to explain his own view of the matter.
+
+'Unziar is with him--with Major Counsellor at Kofn Ford. Unziar was
+unable to ride on at once after crossing the river, which is in flood.
+Therefore I have come.'
+
+Was it possible Rallywood had merely shirked facing the difficulty in
+this way? thought Selpdorf.
+
+'Ah, Major Counsellor? And these are the despatches?'
+
+'These are Major Counsellor's private despatches, which were stolen from
+him within the frontier of Maasau!' said Rallywood.
+
+Selpdorf's round eyes showed their lids in an odd flicker. The attack
+was sudden. He brushed his moustache upwards with a thoughtful movement
+of the finger and thumb, regarding Rallywood as he did so.
+
+'Then why have you brought them to me?' he said at last.
+
+'Because a soldier should see no further than the point of his sword,
+your Excellency,' replied Rallywood slowly.
+
+'Good! And how do you come to know what the packet contains?'
+
+'The persons who robbed Major Counsellor did not even take the
+precaution of placing it under another cover. He recognised it at the
+block-house.'
+
+'It seems to me then that you had a decision to make at the
+block-house?'
+
+'Yes,' said Rallywood simply.
+
+But it was not a subject to bear discussion.
+
+'As a soldier of Maasau you decided rightly.' Selpdorf misjudged
+Rallywood for the moment; it crossed his mind that this was a mercenary
+after all and to be bought.
+
+'But as a man I now wish to resign my commission.'
+
+Selpdorf raised his brows.
+
+'But why? At the very moment when you have proved your faithfulness and
+your zeal? When we owe you recognition of these high qualities?'
+
+'I want nothing, your Excellency, but to go out from this house a free
+man,' returned Rallywood coldly.
+
+'Reconsider your words, Captain Rallywood.'
+
+'Even if other difficulties had not arisen,' went on Rallywood, 'I may
+remind your Excellency that a soldier's oath does not cover robbery and
+assassination.'
+
+Selpdorf was, and looked, astonished.
+
+'I don't understand you,' he said gravely. 'Pray tell me what you mean.'
+
+'I found Major Counsellor alone and unconscious in a single carriage
+that had been sent rolling down the incline on the line where the
+outgoing mail train could not fail to collide with it. The inference is
+clear. Some one wished to make an end of him--in a railway accident. But
+the plan was a curiously stupid one, for nothing could satisfactorily
+explain Major Counsellor's presence there, since it was well known to
+the British Legation in Revonde that he was entering, not leaving
+Maasau.'
+
+Selpdorf stood silent. Here was another ill-devised amendment born of
+Count Sagan's blundering brain.
+
+'It is a very strange story,' he said at length. 'Had the train come in
+collision with the carriage which you assert was on the down line----'
+
+'The troops from Kofn and the railway people at Alfau can prove that.'
+
+'The mail might have been derailed, with no one can tell what loss of
+life.'
+
+'Count Simon holds life cheap,' said Rallywood. 'No life that stands in
+his way can be safe. Not even the life of Mademoiselle Selpdorf!'
+
+The Chancellor was moved for once.
+
+'You are out of your senses!' he said sternly.
+
+'It is true!'
+
+Both men looked around. Valerie had entered.
+
+'Father, you must hear me before you--before you----'
+
+She glanced at Rallywood and stopped.
+
+'Go, Valerie; you have nothing to do with these things.'
+
+Selpdorf met her as she came towards him.
+
+'You must hear me to-night, father. You are mistaken; I have had a great
+deal to do with them. I know all that Captain Rallywood has said to
+you--yes, I had a right to know. For it was I who brought Major
+Counsellor to the Duke's apartments at the Castle, because I knew there
+was a plot against his Highness. But I did not know it was a German plot
+in which Baron von Elmur was using Count Sagan. Oh, you must be on your
+guard against them!'
+
+'Who has been frightening you with all this nonsense?' asked Selpdorf
+with cold suspicion.
+
+'You don't understand me! Father, I know how Captain Colendorp died. I
+saw it--the struggle and his fall over the cliff. Then I guessed his
+Highness was in danger, and I went to warn him. Captain Rallywood, tell
+my father of Count Sagan's visit to the Duke's rooms in the middle of
+the night with Baron von Elmur. I--we, Isolde and I--heard the shots.
+You do not know it, but there is a plot. Your life is not safe! Captain
+Rallywood is right; no life that stands in Count Sagan's way is safe!
+And you on whom the State depends--you who alone can uphold her
+liberty--you are the first they will try to destroy! He hates you, else
+why should he try to kill me?'
+
+She was clinging to his arm.
+
+'To kill you? If I thought that was true--if I could believe he meant to
+injure you----'
+
+It added very much to Selpdorf's difficulties that he had a conscience
+and a heart. Perhaps Valerie had kept both awake. He, who acted a part
+to all the world, had been sedulous to maintain a high _role_ before his
+daughter. Perhaps he valued her absolute faith in him even more than her
+love, which is a commoner attitude of mind than we realise.
+
+He felt himself at fault. Although he had heard no details to enable him
+to judge for himself, yet he knew he could rely upon Valerie's statement
+that an attempt had been made upon her life. Count Simon's
+unscrupulousness was an old tale, but this crime was not only
+cold-blooded but also extraordinarily stupid, since the faintest
+suspicion of foul play would finally estrange the one person in all
+Maasau whose help was necessary to the success of his plans and hopes.
+It is to be doubted whether the Count's ineptitude did not disgust the
+Chancellor more thoroughly than his treachery towards Valerie.
+
+Selpdorf was at no time a man who made up his mind irrevocably.
+Astuteness sometimes keeps step with uncertainty. To a clever man so
+many sides of a question are visible. On all counts he was now prepared
+to yield to Valerie's wishes; perhaps looking ahead even in that
+moment, he saw a fresh combination before him, which, while quite
+equally safe and useful to himself, omitted Count Sagan.
+
+The Chancellor raised his eyes. At this moment--diplomatically--he was
+superb. He had an air of sagacious decision, an air of holding a
+master-stroke in reserve, whereas he was in reality merely retiring to a
+negative position to wait upon events.
+
+'Tell me the story,' he said.
+
+'There is nothing further to tell,' replied Rallywood. 'Mademoiselle has
+given you the main facts. But for her Maasau would to-day be a province
+of Germany, in fact if not in name.
+
+'I have been misinformed and deceived in an incomprehensible manner,'
+the Chancellor said emphatically. There was still the matter of
+Counsellor's despatches. Nothing was now to be gained by keeping them,
+whereas by giving them back to the old diplomatist, Maasau was sure to
+profit for the time at least. The difficulty was to get rid of the
+packet without loss of prestige to himself. 'Now as to Major
+Counsellor's despatches,' he added doubtfully.
+
+'You will send them back to him,' said Valerie eagerly.
+
+'You cannot see the difficulty of my position.' The Chancellor laid his
+hand upon her shoulder. 'To be frank with you, and in confidence,
+Captain Rallywood, I have not been ignorant that an understanding
+existed between Count Sagan and the Baron von Elmur. I have even been
+obliged to countenance it to a certain extent. As you know, they are
+aware that these despatches have been sent to me. If I use them as my
+daughter suggests, I need scarcely point out that trouble must ensue,
+since I, more or less, represent Maasau. Now we cannot afford to offend
+Germany. She only awaits a pretext to hurl down her army of occupation
+upon us. Had I never had those despatches the way might have been
+easier.'
+
+His glance at Rallywood held a large reproach.
+
+'But, father, in honesty and justice'--
+
+'It is a case of private justice as opposed to national necessity. If
+Captain Rallywood had sacrificed his public to his private honour, if he
+had chosen to prefer his country's cause to his oath of fealty----'
+
+Rallywood understood.
+
+'No one knows I am here,' he said.
+
+'Ah, true!'
+
+'No one need ever know where the despatches have been. In four hours
+they shall be with Major Counsellor at the British Legation.'
+
+'If you, Captain Rallywood, will bear the whole responsibility that
+would simplify the matter. Otherwise it is war.' Selpdorf looked
+meaningly at Rallywood as he spoke.
+
+But Valerie was not deceived.
+
+'Not that! not that!' she cried.
+
+'It must be that or nothing.' Selpdorf did not look at her and he spoke
+almost brusquely.
+
+'I know what it means. They will say he was false to his oath! Oh,
+father, is there no other way? I cannot let him go!'
+
+Rallywood's face changed. Fate was crushing her two strange gifts into
+his hands, love and death at the same moment! He crossed to Valerie's
+side, and drawing her to him his gray eyes looked their courage and
+their happiness into hers.
+
+'My darling, this makes it easy, whatever comes!'
+
+'It may be death! It will be death!' He winced at the low agonised
+whisper.
+
+She turned to her father.
+
+'Father, you have the power to do anything you please in Maasau. You
+will save him for me! You can save him! Promise me that or I cannot let
+him go!'
+
+Selpdorf was touched. He liked Rallywood. There was much in the
+single-hearted soldier that appealed to his sympathies. But----
+
+'I will not deceive you, Valerie, at such a time as this,' he answered
+gently; 'I cannot foresee what may happen. I may not be able to prevent
+the worst. Captain Rallywood holds the despatches. He offers to
+sacrifice himself for the State, and the decision rests with you.'
+
+Valerie buried her face in her hands. The clock moved noiselessly on and
+on, and the very air seemed to throb in the silence. Then the girl
+raised her head and looked steadily at Rallywood.
+
+'It would not be love if I said otherwise. You would not love me if I
+said otherwise. You must go, John!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+THE ARREST.
+
+
+By the following evening tongues were busy in Revonde. Rumour and
+mystery and an absence of any definite information added zest to the
+town talk. The broken reports were curious.
+
+Major Counsellor had fallen down the staircase at the British Legation
+and injured his head, his brow being much contused. His return to
+Revonde was explained on the ground that Germany and England had joined
+forces in compelling Selpdorf to lessen the heavy taxation with which
+Maasau was burdened. Count Sagan had been seen in the city with a
+lowering face--ah, yes! it was well known he had a most patriotic
+distrust of German interference. Madame de Sagan had quarreled with her
+husband because she had insisted on helping Mademoiselle Selpdorf, who
+was about to be married to Baron von Elmur, in the choice of her
+trousseau. Some excitement was being caused in the Guards' barracks by
+the case of Captain Rallywood, whom Count Sagan accused of using his
+influence unduly with his brother-officers to forward the projects of
+Germany. Some even went so far as to say that he was in arrest, and
+others were found who shook their heads and laughed, professing to be
+aware of a yet deeper reason for the colonel-in-chief's animosity
+against the English captain.
+
+Out of all this chaff the one grain of truth was that Counsellor,
+released by Unziar on the authority of a telegram from Rallywood, had
+arrived by the first train in the morning and had at once proceeded to
+the British Legation. There he found Rallywood waiting for him. 'You
+have seen the Chancellor?' asked Counsellor, looking hard at Rallywood,
+whose brown face wore a look he had never seen upon it before. 'Why was
+I released? Am I already too late?'
+
+'No, you are not too late. You must see the Duke at once. Here are your
+despatches. Good-bye, Major, I'll meet you presently.'
+
+'I shall not in all probability see Duke Gustave again. My part is over
+and done with. The world, my dear John, never sees a national policy
+until it begins to fly. There is no credit for hatching the egg. One
+would almost think it hatched of itself. Occasionally the egg is found
+to be addled, and then the old birds make away with it in private. But
+don't go yet. How have you managed to keep these? What does it mean?'
+
+'It means principally that you must forget you have been robbed, that
+Elmur's game is up, and that you were mistaken in your opinion of the
+Chancellor.'
+
+Counsellor looked hurriedly through the papers contained in the packet,
+'John,' he said suddenly, as he folded up a small sheet of cypher notes,
+'you are an infernal liar.'
+
+Rallywood laughed and his spurs jingled as he left the room, glad to
+have escaped so cheaply from Counsellor's keen observation. The old
+Major went to the window and watched him ride away in the sunshine, a
+gallant figure in his glittering uniform, sitting squarely on his big
+bay charger. No suspicion crossed his thoughts that Rallywood was
+probably taking his last ride through the sunny streets, that at every
+stride of his high-stepping horse he drew nearer to the final scene of
+all. He had gathered from Rallywood's bearing that the difficulties in
+his path had somehow been surmounted. Rallywood was capable. He had won
+the day by energy or pluck or both, but the old diplomatist had no time
+at the moment to trouble his head as to the exact means.
+
+Before the forenoon was over Counsellor, acting through the proper
+channels, secured Maasau's acceptance of the British proposals, and a
+satisfactory undertaking which excluded all rivals from the field, at
+any rate during the Duke's lifetime. Counsellor did not appear in the
+negotiations. He remained shut up at the Legation, but when at length
+they came to public knowledge the German party were not under any
+delusion; they recognised to whose direct offices they owed defeat.
+
+Baron von Elmur said nothing, as a matter of fact he did nothing, but
+he used his influence with an effect that was yet to bear fruit. He was
+inclined to suspect Selpdorf, but the Chancellor proved that he had only
+carried out the German's own suggestion in sending Rallywood to the
+Frontier. Ill-luck, he argued, combined with Sagan's blundering, had
+done the rest. He deplored it. It was clear that Rallywood, taking
+advantage of his position, and under pretence of carrying the despatches
+to the Chancellor had simply gone to Revonde and wired to Unziar a false
+order of release for Major Counsellor. The sole delinquent was
+Rallywood, and the Count in a torrent of curses promised himself a time
+of reckoning.
+
+The day, which had begun in a brief burst of sunshine, closed in clouds.
+Evening climbed sullenly up out of the bleak river.
+
+Traffic died in the streets, and the cloaked troopers passing hither and
+thither against the rising tsa became the chief objects to be seen as
+night gathered.
+
+Rallywood stood at the side window of his quarters looking out over the
+twinkling city. He seemed to have had as yet no time for regret or
+gloomy anticipation. He had dwelt absorbed on the single fact that
+Valerie loved him. He was ready to sacrifice himself and his hopes with
+a smile. Later on, in sorrow and heaviness of heart, he accused himself
+bitterly of spoiling Valerie's young life. But he had not reached that
+stage yet; he was lingering in the first transient period when men and
+women see visions and dream dreams, when the present is lost in the
+recent past, while love's first spell is laid upon them, and the light
+that never was on land or sea blinds them to the chances and changes of
+common life. As long as the glory of it lasts a man is caught up into
+the seventh heaven, and the things of earth have no power over him.
+
+But the breaking of the vision came to Rallywood sufficiently quickly.
+His view of the lamp-lit city grew suddenly blurred and he saw instead
+his own reflection in the polished glass, as the lights were turned on
+in the room behind him. In that same instant too the vague sweet outlook
+faded from his mind.
+
+Then a hand was laid upon his shoulder and he saw another figure
+mirrored beside his own against the dark background of the night. There
+was a suggestion of reluctance in Unziar's movements.
+
+'I regret, Captain Rallywood, that I have been ordered to place you in
+arrest.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+THE COURT-MARTIAL.
+
+
+It has been the privilege of one or two famous Gardes du Corps to be a
+law unto themselves. The Guard of Maasau shares that privilege. The
+inquiry or rather trial was to be held within closed doors, and by the
+express order of the colonel-in-chief all the officers, including those
+junior to the prisoner, were to be present. And every officer present on
+such occasions had the right to vote. The procedure was simple. When the
+witnesses had been examined the accused was invited to speak in his own
+defence, then the senior officer summed up and lastly the officers
+recorded their votes.
+
+Rallywood's offence had outraged the fundamental principle of the Guard,
+the blind self-sacrificing obedience which in trivial as in vital
+matters demanded the merging of the private individual with hopes and
+conscience of his own into the body corporate of the Guard. With the
+single exception of Unziar, no man present was acquainted with the
+details of Rallywood's crime. They knew only that he had grossly
+disobeyed orders, and not only that, but had disobeyed them for the
+furtherance of private ambition. So the charge against him intimated. It
+was understood that the accusation had been lodged by Count Sagan in
+consequence of information received by him, and the court-martial at
+once assembled to deal with the matter.
+
+The original prejudice against Rallywood as a foreigner and an
+interloper was revived, with all the more bitterness because the men had
+in the interval come to respect if not to like him. They resented the
+deception they believed to have been practised upon them with the
+rancour of those who find they have not only been played upon but made
+tools of. Rallywood had gained his position among them by false
+pretences to serve his own ends--gained it to betray them.
+
+But more than this, he had dishonoured the Guard, brought the first blot
+of treachery upon its long and unblemished traditions. Hereditary
+instincts inbred and powerful were arrayed against him in the hearts of
+six of his judges; in the seventh, Count Sagan, he had to encounter the
+ill-blood of a profoundly vindictive nature whose purposes he had
+crossed and baffled, and who harboured towards him a savage personal
+hatred.
+
+It must be understood that so far no hint of the arrangement with
+England had been allowed to transpire. The engagement to be given by
+Maasau in return for the promised British loan and moral support was in
+train for completion, but the final signature was not to take place till
+that afternoon. Meantime the Chancellor kept a still tongue in his head
+and waited upon events, knowing that when all transpired the
+responsibility could be shifted on to the shoulders of the Duke. It was
+a risky game, but M. Selpdorf had played many another--and won them all.
+At the same time he had no intention of putting out his hand to save
+Rallywood, whose disappearance from the scheme of earthly affairs would
+remove an awkward cause of disagreement from the range of his own family
+circle. Yet it must be admitted that M. Selpdorf really regretted that
+the necessities of the case required the sacrifice of the Englishman,
+for whom his former abstract liking remained entirely unaltered.
+
+The doors of the great mess-room were closed, for within them the
+court-martial was in progress. At the central table seven men with the
+marks of power upon them were gathered. Above them the torn banners of
+the regiment hung in the red gloom of the dome, but about the men
+themselves the gray-white light of a winter day fell from the riverward
+windows. It seemed to dull even the red glow of the hangings, that cold
+light, which lent to the faces of those assembled a strange effect of
+pallor.
+
+It is a common experience that silence in a place associated in the mind
+with voices and the movement and sounds of life has a weird and
+impressive effect. Enter an empty church and you are chilled; hear a
+will read in the room which you connect with laughter and the genial
+routine of everyday events, and the uncanny quiet, falling away from the
+single voice, benumbs you. Thus in the mess-room, where music and
+laughter and the hubbub of men's talking usually resounded, the unwonted
+stillness, broken only by the piercing wail of the _tsa_, struck coldly
+and heavily upon the senses.
+
+Count Sagan, his big chest covered with gold-lace and orders, loomed at
+the head of the table, Wallenloup and Ulm to his right and left, Adiron,
+Unziar, Adolf and Varanheim seated according to their rank. At the foot
+of the table in the uniform of the Guard but without a sword stood the
+prisoner.
+
+One man present was a complete stranger to Rallywood--Major Ulm, who had
+just returned from leave, and whose keen eyes set in a thin shaven face
+scrutinised him coldly. Behind Ulm's bald forehead dwelt most of the
+sagacity and discretion of the Guard. Strongly as his prejudices were
+excited he could not avoid being struck by the bearing of the prisoner.
+
+There was a cold fierceness about the men of the Guard, but Rallywood
+stood unmoved under the many hostile eyes.
+
+A court-martial, where the prisoner is condemned, is perhaps the most
+awful scene of justice upon earth. This is so because it contains within
+itself elements that edge its painfulness. The judges wield not only the
+power of death, but the power of putting a man to utter shame. The
+prisoners who stand at such a tribunal may be credited with the
+capability, given to them by training if not by nature, of feeling
+shame. And the capability of suffering shame is as distinct a quality as
+the sense of honour.
+
+Count Sagan glared round the table, and the aspect of his colleagues
+pleased him; they felt under his rough imagination like a sword whose
+temper the fighter is sure of. There was a horrible energy, a furious
+relentlessness about his very attitude and ringing in his voice that
+drove every word of his accusation into and through his hearers. As
+president he put questions to the prisoner, who answered them unmoved.
+
+Rallywood fronted them calm and soldierlike, the picture of a gallant
+despair. He felt as though he stood clear of his life. It was lived and
+the end in sight. His position was hard, but he seemed to be ready to
+say Amen to whatever the fates might send. He had no thought of
+struggling for life and love. He was far otherwise. He was one whose
+love is hopeless, whose loved one is lost as though in death, and who
+lives through the present dream according to an ideal, the ideal of
+being worthy of the vanished past.
+
+Unziar alone looked stonily blank, but the other grim faces round the
+table regarded Rallywood with a sort of satisfaction. He had sinned
+against them, but they were about to make him pay the highest human
+penalty for his sin. Yet to Ulm his demeanour was suggestive. There was
+something eloquent of singleness of heart and nobleness that seemed to
+buoy up this man with his broken honour. There was no parade of
+outraged innocence, nothing but a fearless reserve.
+
+Rallywood hardly heard the grave voices that discussed his fate,
+stirring as they did so the clogging quiet which hung with such solemn
+effect over the historic room.
+
+Those lofty walls had never before echoed to a similar charge or a like
+disgrace. The accusation was set forth in general terms. It spoke only
+of a certain prisoner and certain despatches. Rallywood acting under
+valid orders, had taken over the despatches from Unziar, and next by a
+false telegram to Unziar had ordered the release of a certain prisoner.
+Also he had used the despatches to forward aims of his own, to the loss
+and detriment of the Free State of Maasau. Anthony Unziar gave his
+evidence briefly and with caution, but it was conclusive.
+
+After the charge had been completed and proved, a few minutes silence
+ensued. Then Count Sagan addressed the prisoner.
+
+'Captain Rallywood, have you anything to say in your own defence?'
+
+A sudden jarring sense of amusement struck upon Rallywood. They were
+playing a farce; Count Simon, with his mortal enmity, was but acting his
+part. The whole procedure was hollow yet he Rallywood would have to give
+his life to prove that all this seeming was deadly earnest--that the
+blustering traitor opposite was not a defeated schemer but a loyal son
+of Maasau!
+
+Rallywood could not repress a quick smile.
+
+Count Simon flung his fist upon the table.
+
+'Do you hear me?' he shouted; 'what have you to say in your defence?'
+
+Rallywood looked him in the eyes.
+
+'Nothing,' he said.
+
+There was a hush. Sagan picked up the glances of the officers round him.
+Rallywood's words had come as a shock. Most of the men expected some
+attempt if not at a defence at least at a justification of his conduct.
+
+Sagan's harsh voice was raised again.
+
+'His sword.'
+
+Unziar sprang up hurriedly.
+
+'It is in the ante-room,' he said; 'I will bring it.'
+
+Sagan rose from his place as Unziar returned with a naked sword in his
+hand. The Count took it and laid it on the table before him.
+
+Then standing he addressed the court.
+
+'Gentlemen of the Guard,--I must thank you in the first place for the
+admirable patience with which you have listened to the details of the
+abominable crime with which the prisoner, John Rallywood, is charged.
+His guilt has been proved up to the hilt by Lieutenant Unziar's
+evidence, but in addition to that the accused was not ashamed to convict
+himself out of his own mouth. The sentence upon a traitor as upon a
+mutinous soldier is unalterable. It is death! No doubt, gentlemen, we
+are unanimously agreed upon that, and the formality of the ballot is all
+that is left.'
+
+The ballot-box stood upon a side-table at the upper end of the room, and
+beside it a basket with a number of ivory balls, some black, some white.
+The officers went up in rotation and each with his back to the company
+placed a ball of the colour he chose in the ballot-box.
+
+The haggard daylight was fading slowly as the men left their chairs and
+returned to them in silence.
+
+Rallywood waited, not in suspense indeed, but with the full sense that
+his fate was being legally recorded by a jury of his fellows. It is at
+such a moment as this that a man goes back to his belief in God. If
+there is no God, to what end anything? Those who say there is no God say
+the world is a sad and very evil place. If their creed were universally
+accepted, the last state of humanity would be worse than the first, and
+earth degenerate into a hopeless and helpless hell.
+
+'Six black balls, one white,' announced Major Ulm.
+
+The prisoner's gray frank eyes flashed out at Unziar, but the Maasaun's
+rigid face gave no sign.
+
+Then Count Sagan, secure of his enemy, let himself go. He lifted the
+sword from the table, and casting one more glance at the prisoner, he
+placed the gleaming point upon the floor, bending the delicate blade,
+and stamping upon it midway with his booted heel. There was a shallow
+ring as the steel broke, then a clash of metal as the Count flung the
+hilt upon the point, as if the touch contaminated him.
+
+'John Rallywood, this court has found you guilty and condemned you to
+die! And I, Count Simon of Sagan, colonel-in-chief of the Guard of
+Maasau, now pronounce upon you the sentence of death. Trusted by the
+Guard, you chose to betray them! Where is the oath of fealty by which
+you swore to obey? We are polluted by your treason, we are tainted by
+your shame! Are you afraid to speak? Is your voice frozen in your
+throat? The greater part of your punishment should be in its shame. But
+you cannot feel it! You and shame are strangers--the last infamy of the
+base! You are loathsome, a mercenary false to his salt, a hound who sold
+himself for money first and for disgraceful gain afterwards! How can I
+touch you? Where can I prod you? On what nerve, since the nerve of shame
+is dead? Like the groom, one could only punish you with a whip. I shall
+lay the matter before the Duke. I will urge it upon my colleagues,' he
+swept his arm round the table; 'a hundred with the whip or to run the
+gauntlet of the Guard. That would touch you more than words, or shame,
+or death! Ha, that reaches you!' he cried, and then there was a fierce
+exultation in the raucous volleying words, 'You have disgraced the Guard
+but we cannot for reasons of state publicly disgrace you. But you shall
+be shot--shot like a dog! You shall not meet death face to face as many
+a brave man has met it, but you shall be shot, cringing with your back
+to the gun-muzzles--like the cur you are!'
+
+Rallywood's pale features had flushed for a second. There was a
+brutality about Sagan's denunciations which shocked the men around him.
+Rallywood deserved something, but not this, not that! Unziar's eyes
+burned, Wallenloup was frowning. But Sagan swept on. He was a man who
+trampled horribly upon a fallen foe.
+
+At last Wallenloup could bear it no longer. He rose to his feet and
+saluting the Count led the way from the room, the line closing with
+Rallywood between Adolf and Unziar as guard.
+
+Left alone in the great dim vaulted chamber, Sagan stood upright and
+watched the door through which they had filed out, and there came upon
+him in the dying daylight a terrible moment, such as all uncontrolled
+natures must at times know. A sense of the futility of all things, a
+knowledge that life has lost its taste, the hideousness of finally
+baffled desire.
+
+He hurled out his heavy arms with a wild gesture.
+
+'Where have they gone? Where are they, the strong lusts and hates and
+triumphs--the satisfactions of the old days? The world has grown puny.
+It is empty, empty, empty!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+'UPON THE GREAT WORLD'S ALTAR-STAIRS.'
+
+
+It is a commonplace that selfish natures, balked of gratification, seek
+relief in making the unhappiness of others, preferably of those who are
+helpless to resist or to resent. Therefore Count Sagan employed the
+interval before going to the Palace to procure the signature of the Duke
+to Rallywood's death-warrant in paying a flying visit to his wife, whom
+he had not seen since the morning of the boar-hunt at the Castle.
+
+He found several other people calling upon Madame de Sagan, who was not
+fond of solitude. Numbers gave the pretty Countess courage. She took no
+notice of her husband's entrance, although the soft colour left her face
+instantly as a candle-flame is blown out. But Count Simon had only five
+minutes to spare and something to say in them. Isolde's feeble rebellion
+escaped him; he strode to her side, and with a single glance dispersed
+the little coterie of guests about her, the only one who kept his
+position being Baron von Elmur.
+
+Sagan stood before his wife, an evil smile on his coarse bearded mouth.
+He nodded at Elmur.
+
+'I have news of interest for both of you.'
+
+'Ah! it is over then?' Elmur asked at once. He discerned the Count's
+intention and would have averted its fulfilment if possible. The thought
+that he was about to make a woman unhappy never deterred Elmur from any
+course of action whatsoever, but he preferred not to see them so. He
+delighted in pretty women, and Isolde of Sagan was exceptionally pretty;
+therefore, for the sake of the next half hour of her society he would
+have spared her the tidings her husband's malice designed to thrust upon
+her in public. Afterwards the deluge might come, but what matter? Have
+we not all our deluges in private that submerge our world in tears?
+'Madame has kindly promised to assist in the _tableaux vivants_ next
+week,' he added hastily.
+
+The Count grinned his contempt.
+
+'You should reproduce the death of a traitor. Come to see Rallywood shot
+in the morning by way of an object lesson.'
+
+Madame de Sagan's hand flew to her throat with a quick gasp of horror;
+for a second the room seemed to swing round, then slowly settle again.
+
+'Why, what has he done?' she asked; her lips were dry but she spoke
+deliberately.
+
+'Nothing new, only he happened to be found out this time. Well, au
+revoir!'
+
+Elmur stood up and followed him.
+
+'The signature of his Highness?' he asked in a low voice.
+
+'I go to get it and other things also. I have arranged the interview
+with Selpdorf.'
+
+Elmur bowed and returned to his place by the side of the Countess.
+Isolde's blue eyes, dewy as a child's with unshed tears, appealed to
+him.
+
+'It is not true?'
+
+Elmur reflected that he had never before seen her look so pretty. Most
+women with tears in their eyes repelled his fastidiousness, but this one
+was delicious. He bent towards her and said as much with a fervour that
+surprised her. She smiled tremulously. She had always considered the
+wary German worth capturing, but he was an elusive bird. Admiration had
+never before got the better of his self-possession; now for the first
+time he appeared to be carried away by it. The keenness of conquest
+thrilled her. Jack?--ah, yes, poor Jack! But he was practically lost to
+her for ever. She sighed a little; she had been fond of Jack, but the
+love that can stand against the inevitable was not hers. She reminded
+herself that Jack had preferred Valerie--but, why, so had Elmur! A
+temptation came to her; she glanced again at Elmur. He was personable
+though advancing to middle age, and handsome as men go, though his eyes
+were close-set and cunning. He was not like poor Jack--no, she would
+never find anyone perhaps quite so good to look upon as Jack, with his
+broad shoulders and corn-coloured hair, and those dear frank eyes! No,
+but----
+
+'Madame, what are you thinking of? I wish I dared flatter myself that I
+could ever draw tears to those exquisite eyes,' Elmur said again with
+warmth. He wanted excitement and Isolde was yielding. There are women
+who will sacrifice the most sacred things, God's word itself, on the
+altar of their vanity. Isolde withdrew her slight hand from his touch,
+but it was the withdrawal that invites advance. She hesitated no longer.
+
+'There are other eyes whose tears will be bitterer than mine; are you
+not jealous of them? I am sorry for Captain Rallywood, of course, but
+poor Valerie--what am I saying?'
+
+'Whatever you say interests me,' he urged, his eyes following hers.
+
+She pouted coquettishly.
+
+'Yes, because I speak of Valerie!'
+
+'No, it is because you speak!' he declared amorously. 'Tell me of
+Mademoiselle Valerie if you will,' this as a concession, 'though you
+could tell me something more interesting.'
+
+'Not more interesting to you than this,' she exclaimed, nodding her
+golden head at him with her little air of foolish wisdom. 'It is lucky
+that Captain Rallywood is--is about to furnish an object-lesson,
+for----' she raised her slender finger and laid it on her lips, smiling
+at him.
+
+He looked round. They were alone in a smaller drawing-room; it was not
+possible for the guests in the other saloon to see them. He drew the
+finger from her lips and pressed it to his own. He would woo the truth
+from this beautiful fool. His words meant one thing, his looks another.
+
+'And Valerie?' he questioned, seeming to count her fingers on his palm.
+
+'Valerie loves him--she told me so,' whispered Isolde, since there was
+no longer need to speak louder.
+
+'And you, my dear lady?' And it may be the speech was the more
+impassioned because in his heart he was damning the picturesqueness of
+the captain of the Guard.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+And Rallywood? Rallywood sat in his quarters thinking thoughts that,
+like music, lead sometimes on to exaltation. His earthly life was done,
+and he looked out into the dim beyond fearlessly. His eyes were set and
+sad, for he should see her face and hear Valerie's voice no more, but he
+would be waiting in that somewhere for her. A man in the supremer hours
+often turns again to the faiths of his childhood; so now Rallywood, at
+the summit of his life, found himself given back all those lost dreams.
+
+He did not know how she came there. He heard no footstep enter. And when
+he knew, neither spoke.
+
+There was nothing to say; it was all understood so well. She stood
+beside him, her hands in his in a strange lull of mutual knowledge.
+
+'How did you come?' he asked her at last.
+
+'Anthony,' she answered, 'he knows--all.'
+
+'How like him! But,' with a man's ready thought for the woman he loves,
+'you must not be found here. Say good-bye to me, Valerie.'
+
+'John,' she clung to him, 'how can I let you go? You are dying for
+Maasau--for my father--for me--yes, yes, I can guess all!'
+
+'Valerie, do you know what your love is to me? I need nothing more. I
+have not thought of what there is beyond, but when you want me you will
+find me waiting.'
+
+In the long silence life itself might have been suspended.
+
+'When?' said Valerie, in a sudden recollection of anguish.
+
+'To-morrow,' he answered, understanding the broken question.
+
+Valerie raised her wet eyes.
+
+'In my life there can be no to-morrow. God may not let me die, but my
+life will always be one long remembrance of to-day. I shall live in
+to-day always. To-morrows are for happier women, John. And yet I am
+wicked to say that. I would not change my lot with any other. For have I
+not my memories? And I will learn to have my hopes. And whenever that
+blessed day of release may come to me, I will bring my heart to you as
+it is to-day, my king!'
+
+Rallywood looked into the beautiful tear-dimmed eyes. He was too wise to
+say that he had spoilt her life, that had it been possible to set the
+wrong right by any sacrifice he would have done so. Of this he said
+nothing. He only kissed her.
+
+'Next to living to be with you, darling, I am in love with dying for
+you, Valerie!'
+
+The silence grew again between them, the best and saddest silence upon
+earth--the silence of all's said.
+
+'And yet, John, I have one thing left to live for. I will live to see
+your name stand where it should. For men like you are only understood
+and honoured--afterwards,' she said presently.
+
+Another man might have disclaimed all praise. Rallywood, who believed he
+deserved none, kept silence. He knew that to deny would be to wound. And
+he was fain to say to her a thing which was hard to say and hard to
+hear. But he was looking out into the troubled future, and his anxiety
+for her grew bitter upon him. So he nerved himself to the greatest
+sacrifice of all. And Valerie's next words gave him the opening he
+desired.
+
+'Your sword----' she began.
+
+'Is broken.'
+
+'No, no! Anthony brought another to Count Sagan, not yours. Yours was
+not the sword of a traitor! That also I will keep.'
+
+'Unziar--I thank him. And Valerie, listen! When they condemned me there
+was one vote in my favour. You can guess whose.'
+
+'Anthony's?'
+
+'Yes, Valerie, and he loves you, and I will not blame--I wish--I would
+ask----'
+
+Valerie's glance met his. She understood.
+
+'No,' she said; 'I will thank him, and like him dearly and pray for him,
+but not that--no, not ever that!'
+
+A quiet knock on the door.
+
+'And now it is good-bye.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+DUKE GUSTAVE.
+
+
+Whatever may be said to the contrary, the fact remains that a little
+independent success acts on a morally weak man as a glass of wine upon a
+physically weak one. For a time it exalts and quickens him.
+
+Duke Gustave of Maasau was in a condition of mental exhilaration, and
+experiencing to the full the false sensation of strength thus created
+when Sagan was announced. Selpdorf, who had been listening for some
+minutes to his master's self-gratulations on the newly ratified British
+contract rose as if to take his departure.
+
+'Wait, Selpdorf!' the Duke said.
+
+'My lord has asked for a private interview, your Highness,' Selpdorf
+reminded him.
+
+'Yes, but I have no private affairs to discuss with my cousin. Anything
+that need be said between us is better said before a witness,' replied
+the Duke. 'How do you suppose he will take the news of our agreement
+with England?'
+
+Selpdorf's answer was slow in coming, and before he spoke Count Sagan
+strode into the room. He carried a sheaf of papers; his imperious temper
+was wont to rush every business through to which he put his hand.
+
+'I begged for a few moments in private with your Highness,' he said,
+with a glance at the Minister.
+
+'Our good Selpdorf is too discreet to be considered a third,' answered
+the Duke blandly. 'He knows our secrets without being told them. Pray
+proceed, my lord; is there anything I can do for you?'
+
+'Yes, sire; I wish to lay before you the matter I was forced to postpone
+at the Castle. I also made use of the opportunity to bring one or two
+papers relating to the Guard for signature.'
+
+The Duke took the papers. He was seated at a writing-table, and he
+glanced carelessly over them as Sagan went on.
+
+'Under your approval those papers include Lieutenant Unziar's
+appointment as captain, vice Colendorp----'
+
+'Deceased,' put in the Duke with a sharp significance.
+
+Sagan frowned. Gustave had a curious alertness about him to-night.
+
+'Yes, poor fellow! We can ill spare him,' he said. 'Also we have agreed
+to propose Abenfeldt as junior subaltern.'
+
+'I have no objection,' the Duke said.
+
+'As for the other subject upon which I have for some time wished to
+speak to you, sire, I am authorised to lay before your Highness certain
+proposals--'
+
+'Stop, my lord,' again interrupted the Duke, 'if those proposals have
+any reference to von Elmur and his projects for the good of the State, I
+absolutely decline to hear them. What's this?' he had laid aside the
+upper papers after signature, and was scanning the one below with an
+expression of countenance which showed that he liked what he read very
+little.
+
+Sagan watched him with a deepening frown, the more subtle Selpdorf with
+curiosity. At other times it had been the Duke's custom to add his
+signature to papers without a glance at their contents. The destiny of
+one man is thus often decided by the passing mood of another.
+
+'What's this about Rallywood?'
+
+'A bad business, but your Highness's signature makes many a wrong
+right,' said Sagan, with a clumsy attempt at pleasantry; 'it needs only
+that. You have the pen and ink, sire.'
+
+'But, by Heaven, not the will!' cried the Duke. 'I will not sign it! And
+if I will not, hey?'
+
+'M. Selpdorf will assure you that it is necessary in the case of
+discipline,' urged Sagan with a lowering look.
+
+'And I will assure M. Selpdorf that I am accustomed to make up my own
+mind! You know it already, Selpdorf!'
+
+'I have always known it, sire,' said the supple Chancellor.
+
+'You will hear my reasons?' asked Sagan angrily.
+
+The Duke nodded.
+
+'Captain Rallywood was guilty of gross disobedience of orders. His case
+has been laid before a court-martial of his brother officers, and he has
+been condemned to be shot. The trial has been conducted with justice.'
+
+'What were Captain Rallywood's orders, then?'
+
+'He was ordered to carry certain dispatches to the Chancellor, but he
+carried them elsewhere for his own purposes.'
+
+The Duke nodded slowly and half closed his eyes. He remembered a certain
+damp morning by the river, when Rallywood had ridden to take orders from
+Selpdorf.
+
+'So you are in this also, Selpdorf?' he said. 'What despatches were
+these? Pray tell me frankly. I believe I know something already.'
+
+'Despatches sent to me from the Frontier, sire.'
+
+'Which he failed to bring to you. Where then did he take them?'
+
+The delay and the persistent unexpected questioning of the Duke
+irritated Sagan almost beyond endurance. He struck in.
+
+'Sire, does it matter what he did with them, as we have proof that he
+disobeyed orders? That is the point--what need to ask further?' Then, as
+the Duke still shook his head, he burst out, 'Well, then, he carried
+them to the British Legation--to his own countrymen, mind you. He was
+false to his oath as a soldier! He must be shot!'
+
+Gustave of Maasau was a man who lied much and often, as those of poor
+moral calibre will. He lied now with zest.
+
+'So? Although Captain Rallywood acted under my personal instructions,
+Simon?' he said quietly.
+
+Sagan sprang to his feet.
+
+'Yes,' resumed the Duke, warming to his _role_. 'Yes, he acted under my
+orders, for the despatches were connected with the agreement I have
+within the last hour signed with England, and about which the first
+proposals were laid before me at midnight by the British Envoy during my
+visit to your Castle!'
+
+'What?' shouted Sagan, as his house of cards fell about him. 'You lie,
+Gustave! And Germany? Selpdorf, we hold your promises! It is impossible
+to think this to be true?'
+
+'It is true,' said the Chancellor. 'I beg you will recollect that his
+Highness is present, my lord. This excitement----'
+
+Sagan stood gasping and staring. His passion seemed to choke him as he
+stood, but the Duke, still exalted by the sense of triumph and power,
+mistook the silence for speechless humiliation. His temper rose as the
+other's seemed to sink.
+
+'You can deceive me no more, my lord Sagan!' he cried in a high excited
+voice. 'You took Colendorp from me, you would now take Rallywood, one
+by one all my faithful Guard! But I am sovereign still! You shall not
+tamper any longer with my loyal State; you shall never bring your
+traitorous German schemes to an issue!'
+
+But there were things impossible for Count Simon of Sagan to endure.
+Never before had he been twitted with impotence and failure. He could
+not survive so utter a defeat. A man to bear these things must be less
+thorough than the Count. He was too fierce, too imperious, to bear so
+great a reverse. If he must be put to shame before the world, if even a
+paltry captain of the Guard were to be permitted to negative his will,
+why then life had best be over!
+
+He seemed to struggle for speech; at last, without warning, his passion
+leaped into flame. Like a wild beast he sprang across the table at the
+Duke--the poor snivelling coward who had dared to flay him with his
+tongue! The old hate fired the new fury as he clutched Gustave.
+
+The Duke gave a shrill feeble cry, not such a cry as one would have
+expected from a man of his age, and then Selpdorf was between them
+shouting for the Guard.
+
+'You false hound!' Sagan gnashed his teeth in Selpdorf's face as the
+Chancellor threw himself upon him.
+
+Shouts and shots, and the wild turmoil of a deadly struggle. Then the
+Guard had secured Sagan. The Duke stood trembling and incoherent,
+leaning upon the table, and between them, face downwards on the floor,
+the Chancellor with a bullet in his groin and for once playing a _role_
+he had not prepared.
+
+Sagacious, supple, self-seeking, yet not utterly seared, in the last
+resort he offered up his life for the master he had almost betrayed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+FOR A SEASON.
+
+
+Queens Fain lies upon the inner edge of Lincolnshire, in an undulating
+countryside amongst great old trees, where of an evening the sun throws
+bars of light across the levels of turf, where homing rooks fly in
+scattered lines against a gleaming sky, the air breathes coolness and
+peace, and the scene lays that ineffable spell upon the heart of which
+only the exile can ever know the full pathetic power.
+
+Round the house tall fences of yew and holly fend off the colder winds.
+On an evening in early spring Rallywood and Counsellor strolled under
+the shelter of a massive black wall of yew. The daffodils were blowing
+about the border of the lake below them, and along the distant hedges
+furry catkins were already nodding and floating on the crisp breeze.
+
+'I have found it necessary once or twice before to say that you were a
+fool, John,' said Counsellor, looking up at a corner of the great
+stone-built mansion, its cold aspect yellowed and mellowed by the
+strengthening sunshine.
+
+'Always or on occasion?' Rallywood laughed easily.
+
+'Mostly. You will not leave the Guard. If I were you I should go
+to-morrow. Marry the girl as soon as she will let you, and bring her
+here. Then sit down and shoot partridges. She will like it. It is better
+than Maasau.'
+
+'It is altogether good to own the old place again,' Rallywood said, 'and
+we'll do our duty by the partridges, Major, you and I, I hope,
+by-and-by, but to do that and nothing else--not yet!'
+
+'You've stalked bigger game and that has spoilt you,' grumbled the
+Major. 'After Count Sagan, partridges pall. Yet it is a pity.'
+
+'I shall bring Valerie here sometimes, of course. I think she'll like
+the old place almost as much as I do.'
+
+'More, since it is the birthplace and home of one John Rallywood,' said
+Counsellor with a twist of his big moustache. 'You lucky, undeserving
+beggar! So Selpdorf's gone. A queer compound.'
+
+'His death redeemed--much,' said Rallywood, shortly.
+
+'Yes,' Counsellor puffed out a great cloud of smoke, 'yes, but we have
+no reason to forget the fact that he was very ready to secure himself at
+a heavy cost to you.'
+
+'For the sake of Maasau,' interposed Rallywood.
+
+'Hum--for the sake of Maasau! And you were an inconvenient personality
+also. Well, well, let it pass. But it was touch and go with you, John,
+for no one could have foreseen that shaky old Gustave would rise to the
+occasion as he did. And what has he done for you after all?'
+
+'He saved my life first, and gave me the Gold Star of Maasau
+afterwards,' said Rallywood, 'an honour which I share with some
+monarchs--and Major Counsellor.'
+
+'Dirt cheap, too!' grunted Counsellor. 'I hear that Madame de Sagan sent
+you a very neat congratulation.
+
+   "A genoux sur la terre
+     Nous rendons graces a Dieu
+   Et nous lui faisons voeux
+     D'une double priere."
+
+You can take your own meaning out of it,' ended the Major.
+
+'And the people being chiefly malicious will take the wrong one.'
+
+'That is as it may be. But for you I hope a fine morning will follow the
+stormy evening. You will grow fat and selfish, John, like many a better
+man.'
+
+Rallywood smiled. He was thinking of a certain elderly diplomat who,
+rumour said, had been moved out of his usual composure on one occasion
+only. It was at the moment when he heard that Captain Rallywood of the
+Maasaun Guard was sentenced to be shot.
+
+'By the way,' resumed Counsellor, 'did I tell you that I saw von Elmur
+yesterday at Charing Cross? He said he was starting for Constantinople.
+I bade him good-bye, but he corrected me, "Au revoir, my dear Major,"
+and kissed the tips of his fingers to me as the train passed. So perhaps
+the end is not yet.'
+
+'God bless the present!' said Rallywood.
+
+And while they walk and talk over the past and the future in the
+pleasant places of England, the surf is beating round an island off the
+Maasaun coast, upon which a storm-stricken fortification has been
+adapted to the use of a certain political prisoner, Count Simon of
+Sagan. There he frets, and schemes, and longs through the endless
+afternoons. He does not accept his destiny as final, his hopes are
+unimpaired, his resolves as strong as in the old keen days at Sagan. He
+clings to a blind conviction that Time and the Man must inevitably meet
+together, and he lives for that meeting.
+
+There, too, Anthony Unziar serves his country and his sovereign,
+relentlessly watchful through the dead monotony of the days. At his own
+urgent request he was given charge of the lonely prison, its solitude
+appearing to him the one bearable condition of life. He has his work to
+do and he does it well, and always between Count Sagan and his dreams
+stands the irrevocable figure of the young Maasaun.
+
+Sometimes Sagan taunts him with his hopeless love, but he only answers
+by a look. And each knows that wherever he may turn, he will find the
+other standing up against him--the fierce imbruted prisoner with his
+royal fearlessness, and his intense and frigid guard.
+
+They are waiting. They have each his dream. Sagan's of empire and
+revenge, for he is after all a splendid ruffian, untamable, gallant, a
+man who could never be compelled to cry 'Enough' to evil fortune.
+
+Sometimes deep in the night, while the two enemies play their long games
+together, Sagan flings down the cards and laughs and speaks of another
+game which will find its conclusion in the dim paths of the future. But
+Unziar only smiles. If that day should ever come it will find him ready.
+But to-day is not to-morrow, and 'God bless the present!' as Rallywood
+said.
+
+
+
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