diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 34398-8.txt | 11630 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 34398-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 206178 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 34398-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 301790 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 34398-h/34398-h.htm | 17033 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 34398-h/images/img-drama.jpg | bin | 0 -> 44391 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 34398-h/images/img-front.jpg | bin | 0 -> 47038 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 34398.txt | 11629 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 34398.zip | bin | 0 -> 206095 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
11 files changed, 40308 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34398-8.txt b/34398-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f0238c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/34398-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11630 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mrs. Fitz, by J. C. Snaith + +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: Mrs. Fitz + +Author: J. C. Snaith + +Release Date: February 13, 2011 [EBook #34398] +[Last updated: October 11, 2022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. FITZ *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Dramatis Personæ] + + + + +[Frontispiece: Assassination of the King of Illyria] + + + + +MRS. FITZ + + +BY + +J. C. SNAITH + + + + +HODDER & STOUGHTON'S + +SEVENPENNY LIBRARY + + + + +HODDER AND STOUGHTON + +LONDON -- NEW YORK -- TORONTO + +1912 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + +ACCORDING TO REUTER + + +CHAPTER II + +TRIBULATIONS OF A M.F.H. + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CASE FOR THE PROSECUTION + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MIDDLE COURSE + + +CHAPTER V + +ABOUNDS IN SENSATION + + +CHAPTER VI + +EXPERT OPINION + + +CHAPTER VII + +COVERDALE'S REPORT + + +CHAPTER VIII + +PREPARATIONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN + + +CHAPTER IX + +ON THE EVE + + +CHAPTER X + +ALARUMS AND EXCURSIONS + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE ORDERS FOR THE DAY + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE MAN OF DESTINY + + +CHAPTER XIII + +FURTHER PASSAGES AT NO. 300 PORTLAND PLACE + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A DEPLORABLE INCIDENT + + +CHAPTER XV + +AN INTERNATIONAL ISSUE + + +CHAPTER XVI + +HORSE AND HOUND + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A GLARE IN THE SKY + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MRS. ARBUTHNOT BEGINS TO TAKE NOTICE + + +CHAPTER XIX + +HER ROYAL HIGHNESS RECEIVES A LETTER + + +CHAPTER XX + +A LITTLE DIPLOMACY + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE EXPECTED GUEST + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A VISIT TO BRYANSTON SQUARE + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +PROVIDES AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE THEORY THAT + THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +HIS ILLYRIAN MAJESTY FERDINAND THE TWELFTH + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +A WALK IN THE GARDEN + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +PROVIDES A LITTLE FEMININE DIVERSION + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE WRITING ON THE WALL + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE CAST OF THE DIE + + +CHAPTER XXX + +REACTION + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +NEWS FROM ILLYRIA + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +MORE ALARUMS AND EXCURSIONS + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +IN THE BALANCE + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE CREATURES OF PERRAULT + + + + +CHAPTER I + +ACCORDING TO REUTER + +"It is snowing," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. + +"Worse luck!" growled I from behind my newspaper. "This unspeakable +climate! Why can't we sack the Clerk of the Weather?" + +"Because he is a permanent official," said Joseph Jocelyn De Vere +Vane-Anstruther, who was coming into the room. "And those are the +people who run the benighted country." + +Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther was in rather smart kit. It was +December the First, and the hounds--there is only one pack in the +United Kingdom--were about to pay an annual visit to the country of a +neighbour. With conscious magnificence my relation by marriage took a +bee-line to the sideboard. He paused a moment to debate to which of +two imperative duties he should give the precedence: i.e. to make his +daily report upon the personal appearance of his host, or to find out +what there was to eat. The state of the elements enabled Mother Nature +"to get a cinch" on an honourable æstheticism. Jodey began to forage +slowly but resolutely among the dish covers. + +"Kedgeree! Twice in a fortnight. Look here, Mops, it won't do." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot was perusing that journal which for the modest sum of +one halfpenny purveys the glamour of history with only five per cent. +of its responsibilities. She merely turned over a page. Her brother, +having heaped enough kedgeree upon his plate to make a meal for the +average person, peppered and salted it on a scale equally liberal and +then suggested coffee. + +"Tea is better for the digestion," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with her +natural air of simple authority. + +"I know," said Jodey, "that is why I prefer the other stuff." + +"Men are so reasonable!" + +"Do you mind 'andin' the sugar?" + +"Sugar will make you a welter and ruin your appearance." + +A cardinal axiom of my friend Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins, née Ogbourne, +late of Brownville, Mass., is "Horse-sense always tells." Among the +daughters of men I know none whose endowment of this felicitous quality +can equal that of the amiable participator in my expenditure. It told +in this case. + +"Better give me tea." + +"Without sugar?" said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with great charm of manner. + +"A small lump," said Jodey as a concession to his force of character. + +The young fellow stirred his tea with so much diligence that the small +lump really seemed like a large one. And then, with a gravity that was +somewhat sinister, he fixed his gaze on my coat and leathers. + +"By a local artist of the name of Jobson," said I, humbly. "The second +shop on the right as you enter Middleham High Street." + +"They speak for themselves." + +"My father went there," said I. "My grandfather also. In my +grandfather's day I believe the name of the firm was Wiseman and +Grundy." + +"It's not fair to 'ounds. If I was Brasset I should take 'em 'ome." + +"If you were Brasset," I countered, "that would hardly be necessary. +They would find their way home by themselves." + +"Mops is to blame. She has been brought up properly." + +"It comes to this, my friend. We can't both wear the breeches. Hers +cost a pretty penny from those thieves in Regent Street." + +"Maddox Street," said a bland voice from the recesses of the _Daily +Courier_. + +"Those bandits in Maddox Street," said I, with pathos. "But for all I +know it might be those sharks in the Mile End Road. I am a babe in +these things." + +"No, my dear Odo," said the young fellow, making his point somewhat +elaborately, "in those things you are a perisher. An absolute +perisher. I'm ashamed to be seen 'untin' the same fox with you. I +should be ashamed to be found dead in the same ditch. I hate people +who are not serious about clothes. It's so shallow." + +My relation by marriage produced an extremely vivid yellow silk +handkerchief, and pensively flicked a speck of invisible dust off an +immaculate buckskin. + +"My God, those tops!" + +"By a local draughtsman," said I, "of the name of Bussey. He is +careful in the measurements and takes a drawing of the foot." + +"'Orrible. You look like a Cossack at the Hippodrome." + +"The Madam patronises an establishment in Bond Street. One is given to +understand that various royalties follow her example." + +"They make for the King of Illyria," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. + +"That is interesting," said I, in response to a quizzical glance from +the breakfast table. "The fact is, my amiable coadjutor in the things +of this life has a decided weakness for royalty. She denies it +vehemently and betrays it shamelessly on every possible occasion." + +"Very interestin' indeed," said her brother. + +In the next moment a cry of surprise floated out of the depths of the +halfpenny newspaper. + +"What a coincidence!" exclaimed Mrs. Arbuthnot. "There has been an +attempt on the life of the King of Illyria. They have thrown a bomb +into his palace and killed the brother of the Prime Minister." + +"In the interests of the shareholders of the _Daily Courier_," said I. + +"Be serious, Odo," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "To think of that dear old +king being in danger!" + +"Yes, the dear old king," said Jodey. + +"I think you are horrid, both of you," said Mrs. Arbuthnot with the +spirit that made her an admired member of the Crackanthorpe Hunt. +"Those horrid Illyrians! They don't deserve to have a king. They +ought to be like France and America and Switzerland." + +"They will soon be in that unhappy position," said I, turning to page +four of the _Times_ newspaper. "According to Reuter, it appears to +have been a _bonâ fide_ attempt. Count Cyszysc----" + +"You sneeze twice," suggested Jodey. + +"Count Cyszysc was blown to pieces on the threshold of the Zweisgarten +Palace, the whole of the south-west front of which was wrecked." + +"The wretches!" said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "They are only fit to have a +republic. Such a dear old man, the ideal of what a king ought to be. +Don't you remember him in the state procession riding next to the +Kaiser?" + +"The old Johnny with the white hair," said Jodey, reaching for the +marmalade. + +"He looked every inch a king," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, "and Illyria is not +a very large place either." + +"In a small and obscure country," I ventured to observe, "you have to +look every inch a king, else nobody will believe that you are one. In +a country as important as ours it doesn't matter if a king looks like a +commercial traveller." + +"By the way," said Jodey, who had a polite horror of anything that +could be construed as _lèse majesté_, "where is Illyria?" + +"My dear fellow," said I, "don't you know where Illyria is?" + +"I'll bet you a pony that you don't either," said Jodey, striving, as +young fellows will, to cover his ignorance by a display of effrontery. + +"Haven't you been to Blaenau? Don't you know the Sveltkes?--hoch! +hoch!" + +"No; do you?" said the young fellow, brazenly. + +"They are the oldest reigning family in Europe," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, +severely. + +"How do you know that, Mops?" said the sceptical youth. + +"It says so in the German 'Who's Who,'" said the Madam, sternly, "I +looked them up on purpose." + +"My dear fellow," said I, "if you knew a little less about polo, and a +little less about hunting the fox, and a little more about geography +and foreign languages and the things that make for efficiency, you +would be _au courant_ with the kingdom of Illyria and its reigning +family. Tell the young fellow where that romantic country is, old +lady." + +"First you go to Paris," said the Madam, with admirable lucidity. "And +then, I'm not sure, but I think you come to Vienna, and then I believe +you cut across and you come to Illyria. And then you come to Blaenau, +the capital, where the king lives, which is five hundred miles from St. +Petersburg as the crow flies, because I've marked it on the map." + +"Well, if you've really marked it on the map," said I, "it is only +reasonable to assume that the kingdom of Illyria is in a state of +being." + +"You are too absurd," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "The place is well known +and its king is famous." + +"I wonder if there is decent shootin' in Illyria," said Joseph Jocelyn +De Vere, with that air of tacit condescension which gained him +advancement throughout the English-speaking world. "One might try it +for a week to show one has no feelin' against it." + +"Where there is a king there is always decent shooting," I ventured to +observe. + +Mrs. Arbuthnot returned to her newspaper. + +"They want to form a republic in Illyria," she announced, "but the old +king is determined to thwart them." + +"A bit of a sportsman, evidently," said her brother. "But never mind +Illyria. Give me some more coffee. We've got to be at the Cross Roads +by eleven." + +"No mortal use, I am afraid," said I. "The glass has gone right back. +And look through the window." + +"Good old British climate! And on that side they've got one of the +best bits o' country in the shires, and Morton's covers are always +choke-full of foxes." + +In spite of his pessimism, however, my relation by marriage continued +to deal faithfully with the modest repast that had been offered him. +Also he was fain to inquire of the mistress of the house whether +_enough_ sandwiches had been cut and whether _both_ flasks had been +filled; and from the nominal head of our modest establishment he sought +to learn what arrangements had been made for the second horsemen. + +"They will not be wanted to-day, I fear." + +"Pooh, a few flakes o' snow!" + +It was precisely at this moment that the toot of a motor horn was +heard. A sixty-horse-power six-cylindered affair of the latest design +was seen to steal through the shrubbery _en route_ to the front door. + +"Why, wasn't that Brasset?" + +"His car certainly." + +"What does the blighter want?" + +"He has brought us the information that Morton has telephoned through +to say that there is a foot of snow on the wolds and that hounds had +better stay at the kennels." + +"Pooh," said Jodey, "he wouldn't have troubled to come himself. You've +got a telephone, ain't you?" + +"Doubtless he also wishes to confer with Mrs. Arbuthnot upon the state +of things in Illyria. He is a very serious fellow with political +ambitions." + +Further I might have added--which, however, I did not--that the Master +of the Crackanthorpe was somewhat assiduous in his attitude of +respectful attention towards my seductive co-participator in this vale +of tears, who on her side was rather apt to pride herself upon an +old-fashioned respect for the peerage. The prospect of a visit from +the noble Master caused her to discard the affairs of the Illyrian +monarchy in favour of a subject even more pregnant with interest. + +"If it is Reggie Brasset," said she, renouncing the _Daily Courier_, +"he has come about Mrs. Fitz." + +"Get out!" said the scornful Jodey. "You people down here have got +Mrs. Fitz on the brain." + +Out of the mouths of babes! It was perfectly true that, in our own +little corner of the world, people _had_ got Mrs. Fitz on the brain. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +TRIBULATIONS OF A M.F.H. + +Brasset it certainly was. And when he came into the room looking +delightfully healthy, decidedly handsome, and a great deal more serious +than a minister of the Crown, his first words were to the effect that +Morton had telephoned through to say that they had a foot of snow on +the wolds and that hounds had better stay where they were. + +"Awfully good of you, Brasset, to come and tell us," said I, heartily. +"Have some breakfast?" + +"No, thanks," said Brasset. "The fact is, as we are not going over to +Morton's, I thought this would be a good opportunity to--to----" + +For some reason the noble Master did not appear to know how to complete +his sentence. + +"Yes, Lord Brasset," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with an air of acute +intelligence. + +"A good opportunity to--to----" said Brasset, who in spite of his +seriousness really looked absurdly young to be the master of such a +pack as ours. + +"Yes, Lord Brasset," said Mrs. Arbuthnot again. + +"Yes, quite so, my dear fellow," said I, without, as I hope and +believe, the least appearance of levity, for the uncompromising eye of +authority was upon me. + +"What's up, Brasset?" said Jodey, who contrary to the regulations was +lighting his pipe at the breakfast table, and who combined with his +many engaging qualities an extremely practical mind. "You want a glass +of beer. Parkins, bring his lordship a glass of beer." + +With this aid to the body corporeal in his hand, and with a pair of +large, serious and admirably solicitous eyes fixed upon him, the noble +Master made a third attempt to complete his sentence. This time he +succeeded. + +"The fact is," said he, "I thought this would be a good opportunity +to--to"--here the noble Master made a heroic dash for England, home and +glory--"to talk over this confounded business of Mrs. Fitz." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot sat bolt upright with an air of ecstasy and the +expression "There, what did I tell you!" written all over her + +"Quite so, my dear fellow," said I, in simple good faith, but happening +at that moment to intercept a glance from a feminine eye, had perforce +to smother my countenance somewhat hastily in the voluminous folds of +the _Times_. + +"What about her?" inquired the occupant of the breakfast table, who, +whatever the angels might happen to be doing at any given moment, never +hesitated to walk right in with both feet. "I was saying to Arbuthnot +and my sister just as you came in, that you people down here have got +Mrs. Fitz on the brain." + +"Yes, I am afraid we have," said Brasset, ruefully. "The fact is, +things are coming to such a pass that they can't go on." + +"I agree with you, Lord Brasset," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with conviction. + +"Something must be done." + +"It is so uncomfortable for everybody," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "And I +can promise this, Lord Brasset"--the fair speaker looked ostentatiously +away from the vicinity of the leading morning journal--"whatever steps +you decide to take in the matter will have the entire sympathy and +support of every woman subscriber to the Hunt." + +"Thank you very much indeed, Mrs. Arbuthnot," said the noble Master, +with feeling, "I am very grateful to you. It will help me very much." + +"We held a meeting in Mrs. Catesby's drawing-room on Sunday afternoon. +We passed a resolution expressing the fullest confidence in you--I +wish, Lord Brasset, you could have heard what was said about you." The +Master's picturesque complexion achieved a more roseate tinge. "Our +unanimous support and approval was voted to you in all that you may +feel called upon to do." + +"A thousand thanks, my dear Mrs. Arbuthnot." + +"And we hope you will turn Mrs. Fitz out of the Hunt. I also brought +forward an amendment that Fitz be turned out as well, but it was +decided by six votes to four to give him another chance. But in the +case of Mrs. Fitz the meeting was absolutely unanimous." + +"My God," said the occupant of the breakfast table. "If that ain't the +limit!" + +"Mrs. Fitz is a good deal more than the limit." Mrs. Arbuthnot's eyes +sparkled with truculence. + +"Have a cigarette, my dear fellow," said I, offering my case to the +unfortunate Brasset as soon as the state of my emotions would permit me +to do so. + +Brasset selected a cigarette with an air of intense melancholy. As he +applied the lighted match that was also offered him he favoured me with +an eye that was so woebegone that it must have moved a heart of stone +to pity. On the contrary, my fellow-pilgrim through this vale of tears +had turned a most becoming shade of pink, which she invariably does +when she is really out upon the warpath. Also in her china-blue +eyes--I hope such a description of these weapons will pass the +censor--was a look of grim, unalterable ruthlessness, before which men +quite as stout as Brasset have had to quail. + +The noble Master took a nervous draw at his Egyptian. + +"Look here, Arbuthnot," said he, "you are a wise chap, ain't you?" + +"He thinks he's wise," said my helpmeet. + +"Every man does," said I, modestly, "not necessarily as an article of +faith but as a point of ritual." + +"Yes, of course," said Brasset, with an air of intelligence that +imposed upon nobody. "But everybody says you are a wise chap. That +little Mrs. Perkins says you are the wisest chap she has met out of +London." + +This indiscretion on the part of Brasset--some men have so little +tact!--provoked a stiffening of plumage; and if the china-blue eyes did +not shoot forth a spark this chronicle is not likely to be of much +account. + +"Stick to the point, if you please," said I. "I plead guilty to being +a Solomon." + +"Well, as you are a wise chap," said the blunderer, "and I'm by way of +being an ass----" + +"I don't agree with you at all, Lord Brasset," piped a fair admirer. + +"Oh, but I am, Mrs. Arbuthnot," said Brasset, dissenting with that +courtesy in which he was supreme. "It's awfully good of you to say I'm +not, but everybody knows I am not much of a chap at most things." + +"You may not be so clever as Odo," said the wife of my bosom, "because +Odo's exceptional. But you are an extremely _able_ man all the same, +Lord Brasset." + +"She means to attend that sale at Tatt's on Wednesday," said the +occupant of the breakfast table in an aside to the marmalade. + +"Well, if I am not such a fool as I think I am"--so perfect a sincerity +disarmed criticism--"it is awfully good of you, Mrs. Arbuthnot, to say +so. But what I mean is, I should like Arbuthnot's advice on the +subject of--on the subject of----" + +"On the subject of Mrs. Fitz," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with the coo of the +dove and the glance of the rattlesnake. + +"Ye-es," said the noble Master, nervously dropping the ash from his +cigarette on to a very expensive tablecloth. + +"Odo will be very pleased indeed, Lord Brasset," said the superior half +of my entity, "to give you advice about Mrs. Fitz. He agrees with me +and Mary Catesby and Laura Glendinning, that she must be turned out of +the Hunt." + +Poor Brasset removed a bead of perspiration from the perplexed +melancholy of his features with a silk handkerchief of vivid hue, own +brother to the one sported by the Bayard at the breakfast table, in a +futile attempt to cope with his dismay. + +"Is it usual, Mrs. Arbuthnot?" + +"It may not be usual, Lord Brasset, but Mrs. Fitz is not a usual woman." + +"My dear Irene," said I, judicially--Mrs. Arbuthnot rejoices in the +classical name of Irene--"my dear Irene, I understand Brasset to mean +that there is nothing in the articles of association of the +Crackanthorpe Hunt to provide against the contingency of Mrs. Fitz or +any other British matron overriding hounds as often as she likes." + +Although I have had no regular legal training beyond having once +lunched in the hall of Gray's Inn, everybody knows my uncle the judge. +But I regret to say that this weighty deliverance did not meet with +entire respect in the quarter in which it was entitled to look for it. + +"That is nonsense, Odo," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "I am sure the Quorn----" + +Brasset's misery assumed so acute a phase at the mention of the Quorn +that Mrs. Arbuthnot paused sympathetically. + +"The Quorn--my God!" muttered the Bayard at the breakfast table in an +aside to the tea-kettle. + +"Or the Cottesmore," continued the undefeated Mrs. Arbuthnot, "would +not stand such behaviour from a person like Mrs. Fitz." + +"Do you think so, Mrs. Arbuthnot?" said the noble Master. "You see, we +shouldn't like to get our names up by doing something unusual." + +"An unusual person must be dealt with in an unusual way," said Mrs. +Arbuthnot, with great sententiousness. + +"Mary Catesby thinks----" + +The long arm of coincidence is sometimes very startling, and I can +vouch for it that the entrance of Parkins at this psychological moment, +to herald the appearance of Mary Catesby in the flesh, greatly +impressed us all as something quite beyond the ordinary. + +"Why, here _is_ Mary," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, giving that source of light +and authority a cross-over kiss on both checks. It is the hall-mark of +the married ladies of our neighbourhood that they all delight to +exhibit an almost exaggerated reverence for Mary Catesby. + +I have great esteem for Mary Catesby myself. For one thing, she has +deserved well of her country. The mother of three girls and five boys, +she is the British matron _in excelsis_; and apart from the habit she +has formed of riding in her horse's mouth, she has every attribute of +the best type of Christian gentlewoman. She owns to thirty-nine--to +follow the ungallant example of Debrett!--is the eldest daughter of a +peer, and is extremely authoritative in regard to everything under the +sun, from the price of eggs to the table of precedence. + +The admirable Mary--her full name is Mary Augusta--may be a trifle +over-elaborated. Her horses are well up to fourteen stone. And as +matter and mind are one and the same, it is sometimes urged against her +that her manner is a little overwhelming. But this is to seek for +blemishes on the noonday sun of female excellence. One of a more +fragile cast might find such a weight of virtue a burden. But Mary +Catesby wears it like a flower. + +In addition to her virtue she was also wearing a fur cloak which was +the secret envy of the entire feminine population of the county, +although individual members thereof made it a point of honour to +proclaim for the benefit of one another, "Why _does_ Mary persist in +wearing that ermine-tailed atrocity! She really can't know what a +fright she looks in it." + +As a matter of fact, Mary Catesby in her fur cloak is one of the most +impressive people the mind of man can conceive. That fur cloak of hers +can stop the Flying Dutchman at any wayside station between Land's End +and Paddington; and on the platform at the annual distribution of +prizes at Middleham Grammar School, I have seen more than one small boy +so completely overcome by it, that he has dropped "Macaulay's Essays" +on the head of the reporter of the _Advertiser_. + +Besides this celebrated garment, Mary was adorned with a bowler hat +with enormous brims, not unlike that affected by Mr. Weller the Elder +as Cruikshank depicted him, and so redoubtable a pair of butcher boots +as literally made the earth tremble under her. + +Her first remark was addressed, quite naturally, to the unfortunate +Brasset, who had been rendered a little pinker and a little more +perplexed than he already was by this notable woman's impressive entry. + +"I consider this weather disgraceful," said she. "It always is when we +go over to Morton's. Why is it, Reggie?" + +She spoke as though the luckless Reggie was personally responsible for +the weather and also for the insulting manner in which that +much-criticised British institution had deranged her plans. + +"I am awfully sorry, Mrs. Catesby. Not much of a day, is it?" + +"Disgraceful. If one can't have better weather than this, one might as +well go and have a week's skating at Prince's." + +The idea of Mary Catesby having a week's skating at Prince's seemed to +appeal to Joseph Jocelyn De Vere. At least that sportsman was pleased +not a little. + +"English style or Continental?" said he. + +Mary Catesby did not deign to heed. + +"I am awfully sorry, Mrs. Catesby," said Brasset again, with really +beautiful humility. + +Mrs. Catesby declined to accept this delightfully courteous apology, +but gazed down her chin at the unfortunate Brasset with that ample air +which invariably makes her look like Minerva as Titian conceived that +deity. Silently, pitilessly, she proceeded to fix the whole +responsibility for the weather upon the Master of the Crackanthorpe. + +She had just performed this feat with the greatest efficiency, when by +no means the least of her admirers put in an oar. + +"I'm so glad you've come, Mary," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "We were just +having it out with Lord Brasset about Mrs. Fitz." + +An uncomfortable silence followed. + +"Is she a subject for discussion in a mixed company?" said I, to +relieve the tension. + +"I should say not," said Mary. "But Reggie has been so weak that there +is no help for it." + +"The victim of circumstances, perhaps," said I, with generous unwisdom. + +"People who are weak always are the victims of circumstances. If +Reggie had only been firmer at the beginning, we should not now be a +laughing-stock for everybody. To my mind the first requisite in a +master of hounds is resolution of character." + +"Hear, hear," said the occupant of the breakfast table, _sotto voce_. + +The miserable Brasset, whose pinkness and perplexity were ever +increasing, fairly quailed before the Great Lady's forensic power. + +"Do you think, Mrs. Catesby, I ought to resign?" said he, with the +humility that invites a kicking. + +"Not _now_, surely; it would be too abject. If you felt the situation +was beyond you, you should have resigned at the beginning. You must +show spirit, Reggie. You must not submit to being trampled on publicly +by--by----" + +The Great Lady paused here, not because she was at a loss for a word, +but because, like all born orators, she had an instinctive knowledge of +the value of a pause in the right place. + +"By a circus rider from Vienna," she concluded in a level voice. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CASE FOR THE PROSECUTION + +"I know, Mrs. Catesby, I'm not much of a chap," said Brasset, "but +what's a feller to do? I did drop a hint to Fitz, you know." + +"Fitz!!" The art of the _littérateur_ can only render a scorn so +sublime by two marks of exclamation. + +"What did Fitz say?" I ventured to inquire. + +"Scowled like blazes," said Brasset, miserably. "Thought the +cross-grained, three-cornered devil would eat me. Beg pardon, Mrs. +Catesby." + +The noble Master subsided into his glass of beer in the most lamentably +ineffectual manner. + +I cleared my voice in the consciousness that I had an uncle a judge. + +"Brasset," said I, "will you kindly inform the court what are the +specific grounds of complaint against this much-maligned and +unfortunate--er--female?" + +"Don't make yourself ridiculous, Odo!" + +"Odo, you know perfectly well!" + +It was a dead heat between Mrs. Arbuthnot and the Great Lady. + +"Order, order," said I, sternly. "This scene belongs to Brasset. Now, +Brasset, answer the question, and then perhaps something may be done." + +It was not to be, however. The nephew of my uncle failed lamentably to +exact obedience to the chair. + +"My dear Odo," said Mary Catesby, in what I can only describe as her +Albert Hall manner, with her voice going right up to the top like a +flag going up a pole, "do you mean to tell _me_----?" + +"That you don't know how Mrs. Fitz has been carrying on!" the Madam +chipped in with really wonderful cleverness. + +"I don't, upon oath," said I, solemnly. "You appear to forget that I +have been giving my time to the nation during this abominable autumn +session." + +"So he has, poor dear," said the partner of my joys. + +"Like a good citizen," said Mary Catesby, most august of Primrose Dames. + +"Thank you, Mary, I deserve it. But am I to understand that Mrs. Fitz +has flung her cap over the mill, or that she has taken to riding +astride, or is it that she continues to affect that scarlet coat which +last season hastened the end of the Dowager?" + +"No, Arbuthnot." It was the voice of Brasset, vibrating with such deep +emotion that it can only be compared to the _Marche Funèbre_ performed +upon a cathedral organ. "But it was only by God's mercy that last +Tuesday morning she didn't override Challenger." + +"Allah is great," said I. + +"Upon my solemn word of honour," said the noble Master, speaking from +the depths, "she was within two inches of the old gal's stern." + +"Parkins," said a voice from the breakfast table, "bring another glass +of beer for his lordship." + +To be perfectly frank, liquid sustenance was no longer a vital +necessity to the noble Master. He was already rosy with indignation at +the sudden memory of his wrongs. Only one thing can induce Brasset to +display even a normal amount of spirit. That is the welfare of the +sacred charges over which he presides for the public weal. He will +suffer you to punch his head, to tread on his toe, or to call him +names, and as likely as not he will apologise sweetly for any +inconvenience you may have incurred in the process. But if you +belittle the Crackanthorpe Hounds or in any way endanger the humblest +member of the Fitzwilliam strain, woe unto you. You transform Brasset +into a veritable man of blood and iron. He is invested with pathos and +dignity. The lightnings of heaven flash from beneath his long-lashed +orbs; and from his somewhat narrow chest there is bodied forth a far +richer vocabulary than the general inefficiency of his appearance can +possibly warrant in any conceivable circumstances. + +Mere feminine clamour was silenced by Brasset transformed. His blue +eyes glowed, his cheeks grew rosier, each particular hair of his +perfectly charming little blond moustache--trimmed by Truefitt once a +fortnight--stood up on end like quills upon the fretful porpentine. In +lieu of pink abasement was tawny denunciation. + +"I'll admit, Arbuthnot," said the Man of Blood and Iron, "I looked at +the woman as no man ought to look at a lady." + +"Didn't you say 'damn,' Lord Brasset?" piped a demure seeker after +knowledge. + +"I may have done, Mrs. Arbuthnot, I admit I may have done." + +"I think that ought to go down on the depositions," said I, with an +approximation to the manner of my uncle, the judge, that was very +tolerable for an amateur. + +"I _honour_ you for it, Lord Brasset. Don't you, Mary?" + +"Endeavour not to embarrass the witness," said I. "Go on, Brasset." + +"Brasset, here's your beer," said Jodey, rising from the table and +personally handing the Burton brew with vast solemnity. + +"I may have damned her eyes," proceeded the witness, "or I mayn't have +done. You see, she was within two inches of the old gal, and I may +have lost my head for a bit. I'll admit that no man ought to damn the +eyes of a lady. Mind, I don't say I did. And yet I don't say I +didn't. It all happened before you could say 'knife,' and I'll admit I +was rattled." + +"The witness admits he was rattled," said I. + +"So would you have been, old son," the witness continued +magniloquently. "Within two inches, upon my oath." + +"Were there reprisals on the part of the lady whose eyes you had damned +in a moment of mental duress?" + +"_Rather_. She damned mine in Dutch." + +Sensation. + +"How did you know it was Dutch, Lord Brasset?" piped a seeker of +knowledge. + +"By the behaviour of the hounds, Mrs. Arbuthnot." + +"How did they behave?" + +"The beggars bolted." + +Sensation. + +"My aunt!" said the occupant of the breakfast table with solemn +irrelevance. + +"So would you," said the noble Master. "I never heard anything like +it. In my opinion there is no language like Dutch when it comes to +cursing. And then, before I could blink, up went her hand, and she +gave me one over the head with her crop." + +Sensation. + +"Upon my solemn word of honour. I don't mind showing the mark to +anybody." + +"Where is it, Lord Brasset?" + +Mrs. Arbuthnot rose from her chair in the ecstatic pursuit of +first-hand information. Her eyes were wide and glowing like those of +her small daughter, Miss Lucinda, when she hears the story of "The +Three Bears." + +"Show _me_ the scar, Reggie," said a Minerva-like voice. + +"Let's see it, Brasset," said the occupant of the breakfast table, +kicking over a piece of Chippendale of the best period and incidentally +breaking the back of it. + +The somewhat melodramatic investigations of a thick layer of Rowland's +Macassar oil and a thin layer of fair hair disclosed an unmistakable +weal immediately above the left temple of the noble martyr in the cause +of public duty. + +"If it don't beat cockfighting!" said Jodey in a tone of undisguised +admiration. + +"If it hadn't been for the rim of my cap," said the noble martyr in +response to the public enthusiasm, "it must have laid my head clean +open." + +"In my opinion," said Mary Catesby, speaking _ex cathedra_, "that woman +is a perfect devil. Reggie, if you only show firmness you can count +upon support. They may stand that sort of thing in a Continental +circus, but we don't stand it in the Crackanthorpe Hunt." + +"Firmness, Brasset," said I, anxious, like all the world, to echo the +oracle. + +The little blond moustache was subjected to inhuman treatment. + +"It's all very well, you know, but what's the use of being firm with a +person who is just as firm as yourself?" + +The Great Lady snorted. + +"For three years, Reggie, you have filled a difficult office passably +well. Don't let a little thing like this be your undoing." + +"All very well, Mrs. Catesby, but I can't hit her over the head, can I?" + +"No, but what about Fitz?" said a voice from the breakfast table. + +"Ye-es, I hadn't thought of that." + +"And I shouldn't think of it if I were you," said I, cordially. "Fitz +with all his errors is a heftier chap than you are, my son." + +Brasset's jaw dropped doubtfully--it is quite a good jaw, by the way. + +"Practise the left a bit, Brasset," was the advice of the breakfast +table. "I know a chap in Jermyn Street who has had lessons from Burns. +We might trot up and see him after lunch. Bring a Bradshaw, Parkins. +And I think we had better send a wire." + +"I wasn't so bad with my left when I was up at Trinity," said Brasset. + +Mrs. Arbuthnot shuddered audibly. She has long been an out-and-out +admirer of the noble Master's nose. Certainly its contour has great +elegance and refinement. + +"Brasset," said I, "let me urge you not to listen to evil +communications. If you were Burns himself you would do well to play +very lightly with Fitz. He was my fag at school, and although +sometimes there was occasion to visit him with an ash plant or a +toasting fork in the manner prescribed by the house regulations at that +ancient seat of learning, I shouldn't advise you or anybody else to +undertake a scheme of personal chastisement." + +"Certainly not, Reggie," said Mary Catesby, in response to Mrs. +Arbuthnot's imploring gaze. "Odo is perfectly right. Besides, you +must behave like a gentleman. It is the woman with whom you must deal." + +"Well, I can't hit her, can I?" said Brasset, plaintively. + +"If a cove's wife hit me over the head with a crop," said the voice of +youth, "I should want to hit the cove that had the wife that hit me, +and so would Odo. I see there's a train at two-fifteen gets to town at +five." + +Brasset's eyes are as softly, translucently blue as those of Miss +Lucinda, but in them was the light of battle. He no longer tugged at +his upper lip, but stroked it gently. To those conversant with these +mysteries this portent was sinister. + +"Is Genée on at the Empire?" said he. + +"Parkins knows," said Jodey. + +Parkins did know. + +"Yes, my lord," said that peerless factotum, "she is." + +In parenthesis, I ought to mention that Parkins is the _pièce de +resistance_ of our modest establishment. Not only is he highly +accomplished in all the polite arts practised by man, but also he is a +walking compendium of exact information. + +"How's this?" said Jodey, proceeding to read aloud the telegram he had +composed with studious care. "Dine self and pal Romano's 7.30. Empire +afterwards. Book three stalls in centre." + +"Wouldn't the side be better?" said Brasset. "Then you are out of the +draught." + +Before this important correction could be made Mary Catesby lifted up +her voice in all its natural majesty. + +"Reginald Philip Horatio," said the most august of her sex, "as one who +dressed dolls and composed hymns with your poor dear mother before she +made her imprudent marriage, I forbid you absolutely to fight with such +a man as Nevil Fitzwaren. It is not seemly, it is not Christian, and +Nevil Fitzwaren is a far more powerful man than yourself." + +"Science will beat brute force at any hour of the day or night," was +the opinion of the breakfast table. + +Mrs. Catesby fixed the breakfast table with her invincible north eye. + +"Joseph, pray hold your tongue. This is very wrong advice you are +giving to a man who is rather older and quite as foolish as yourself." + +The Bayard of the breakfast table rebutted the indictment. + +"The advice is sound enough," said he. "My pal in Jermyn Street has +won no end of pots as a middle-weight, and he'll soon have a go at the +heavies now he's taken to supping at the Savoy. He'll put Brasset all +right. He's as clever as daylight, a pupil of Burns. I tell you what, +Mrs. C., if Brasset leads off with a left and a right and follows up +with a half-arm hook on the point, in my opinion he'll have a walk +over." + +"Reggie, I forbid you _absolutely_," said the early collaborator with +the noble Master's mother. "It is so uncivilised; besides, if Nevil +Fitzwaren happened to be the first to lead off with a half-arm hook on +the point, we should probably require a new Master. And that would be +so awkward. It was always a maxim of my dear father's that foxes were +the only things that profited by a change of mastership in the middle +of December." + +"Your dear father was right, Mary," said I, gravely. + +"Dear father was infallible. But seriously, Reggie, if anything +happened to you we should really have nobody to take the hounds now +that for some obscure reason they have made Odo a member of Parliament." + +"If a cove's wife hit me," came the refrain from the breakfast table in +a kind of drone, "I should want to hit the cove that had the wife that +hit me. See that this wire is sent, Parkins, and tell Kelly that I am +running up to town by the 2.15 and shall stay the night." + +"Jodey, don't be a fool," said I. "Brasset, I want to say this. I +hope you are listening, Mary, and you too, Irene. Where Fitz and his +wife are concerned, we have all got to play lightly." + +I summoned all the earnestness of which I am capable. Even Mary +Catesby was impressed by such an air of conviction. + +"I fail to see," said she, "why we should be so especially considerate +of the feelings of the Fitzwarens, when they are the last to consider +the feelings of others." + +"You can take it from me, Mary, that Fitz and his wife are not to be +judged altogether by ordinary standards. They are extraordinary +people." + +"Tell me what you mean by the term extraordinary?" said my +inquisitorial spouse. + +"Does it really require explanation, _mon enfant_?" + +"It means," said the plain-spoken Mary, "that Nevil Fitzwaren is an +extraordinarily reckless and dissolute type of fellow, and that Mrs. +Nevil is an extraordinarily unpleasant type of woman." + +I am the first to admit that that ineffectual thing, the mere human +male, is not of the calibre openly to dissent from a considered +judgment of the Great Lady. But to the amazement of men and doubtless +of gods, for once in a way her opinion was publicly challenged. + +You could have heard a pin drop in the room when the occupant of the +breakfast table took up the gage. + +"Fitz is a bad hat." Joseph Jocelyn De Vere removed the pipe from his +lips. "Everybody knows it. But Mrs. Fitz is a thousand times too good +for the cove that's married her." + +Such an expression of opinion left his sister open-mouthed. Mary +Catesby lowered her chin and her eyelashes at an indiscretion so +portentous. + +"The Fitzwarens," said that great authority, "are a very old family, +and Nevil has the education, if not the instincts, of a gentleman, but +as for this circus rider he has brought from Vienna, she has neither +the birth, the education nor the instincts of a lady." + +This tremendous pronouncement would have put most people out of action +at once. But here was a man of mettle. + +"She's tophole," said that Bayard. "I've never seen her equal. If you +ask my opinion there's not a chap in the Hunt who is fit to open a gate +for Mrs. Fitz." + +The young fellow had fairly got the bit between his teeth and no +mistake. + +"One doesn't ask your opinion, Joseph," said Mary Catesby, with a +bluntness that would have felled a bullock. "Why should one, pray? I +know no person less fitted to express an opinion on any subject." + +"I've followed her line anyhow, and I've been proud to follow it. She +can ride cunning, too, mind you. I've never seen her equal anywhere, +and don't suppose I ever shall." + +"No one questions her riding. She was born and bred in a circus. But +a more unmitigated female bounder never jumped through a hoop in pink +tights." + +It was below the belt, and not only Jodey but Brasset, who, inefficient +as he is in most things, is unmistakably a sportsman of the first +class, also felt it to be so. + +"Mrs. Fitz has foreign ways," said the noble Master, "but she can be as +nice as anybody when she likes. I've known her be awfully civil." + +"She is not without charm," said I, feeling that it was up to me to +play up a bit. + +"She's _it_," said Jodey. "She's the sort of woman that would make a +chap----" + +"Shoot himself," chirruped the noble Master. + +Disgust and indignation are mild terms to apply to Mrs. Catesby's wrath. + +"Pair of boobies! You are as bad as he is, Reggie. But it was always +so like your poor mother to take things lying down." + +"Oh, come now, Mrs. Catesby, haven't I said all along that she had no +right to hit me over the head with her crop?" + +"The safest place in which to hit you, anyway." The Great Lady was in +peril of losing her temper. + +The question of Mrs. Fitz was a very vexed one in the Crackanthorpe +Hunt. It had already divided that proud institution into two sections: +i.e. the thick and thin supporters of that lady and those who would not +have her at any price. It need excite no remark in the minds of the +judicious that the male followers of the Hunt, almost to a man, +admired, as much as they dared in the circumstances, a very remarkable +personality; while its feminine patrons, with a unanimity quite without +precedent in that august body, were conspiring to humiliate, as deeply +as it lay in their power, a personage who had set three counties by the +ears. + +The Great Lady proceeded to temper her wrath with some extremely +dignified pathos. + +"It is a mystery to me," said she, "how men who call themselves +gentlemen can attempt to defend a creature who offered a public affront +to the Duke and dear Evelyn." + +"I presume you mean the affair of the bazaar?" said I. + +"I do; a lamentable fracas. Dear Evelyn never left her bed for a +fortnight." + +"Dear me! Are we to understand that actual physical violence was +offered to her Grace?" + +"Don't be childish, Odo! I was present and saw everything, and I can +answer for it that no such thing as violence was used." + +"Then why did the great lady take to her bed?" + +"Through sheer vexation. And really one doesn't wonder. It was +nothing less than a public insult." + +"Tell me, Mary, precisely in three words what did happen at the bazaar. +All the world agrees that it was a desperate affair, yet nobody seems +to know exactly what it was that occurred." + +Mrs. Catesby enveloped herself in that mantle of high diplomacy that +she is pleased so often to assume. + +"No, my dear Odo, I don't think it would be kind to the Duke and dear +Evelyn to say actually what did occur. To my mind it is not a thing to +be spoken of, but I may tell you this--it has been mentioned at +Windsor!" + +It was clear from the Great Lady's demeanour that at this announcement +we were all expected to cross ourselves. Only Mrs. Arbuthnot did so, +however. + +"Oh, Mary!" The china-blue eyes swam with ecstasy. + +"If you wish to convey to us, my dear Mary," said I, "that a royal +commission has been appointed to inquire into the subject, all +experience tends to teach that there will be less prospect than ever of +finding out what did happen at the bazaar." + +"Tell us what really did happen at the bazaar, Mrs. Catesby," said +Brasset. "I am sorry I wasn't there." + +"No, Reggie, I am _much_ too fond of dear Evelyn to disclose the truth +to a living soul. But I may tell you this: the incident was far worse +than has been reported." + +"I understand," said I, solemnly lying, at the instance of the +histrionic sense, "that Windsor earnestly desired that the incident, +whatever it was, should be minimised as much as possible." + +The bait was gobbled, hook and all. + +"How did you come to hear that, Odo? Even I was not told that." + +"Who told you _that_, Odo?" Mrs. Arbuthnot twittered breathlessly. + +"There was a rumour the other day in the House." + +"The idle gossip of the lobbies," the Great Lady was moved to affirm. + +But we were straying away from the point. And the point was, in what +manner was public decency to mark its sense of outrage at the conduct +of Mrs. Fitz? + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MIDDLE COURSE + +Although so many conflicting rumours were abroad as to the unparalleled +affront that had been offered to the Strawberry Leaf--some accounts had +it that "dear Evelyn" had been called "a cat" within the hearing of the +Mayor and other civic dignitaries of Middleham, while others were +pleased to affirm that she had had her ears boxed before the eyes of +the horrified reporter for the _Advertiser_--there was the implicit +word of Brasset that he had been subjected not only to unchaste +expressions in a foreign tongue, but had actually been in receipt of +physical violence in his honourable endeavour to uphold the dignity and +the discipline of the Crackanthorpe Hunt. + +I hope and believe I am a lenient judge of the offences of +others--fellow-occupants of our local bench delight to tell me so--but +even I was so imbued with the spirit of the meeting as to allow that +some kind of official notice ought to be taken of the outrageous +conduct of Mrs. Nevil Fitzwaren. From the first hour of her appearance +among us, a short fifteen months ago, she had gathered the storm-clouds +of controversy about her. Almost as soon as she appeared out cubbing +she became the most discussed person in the shire. Her ways were +unmistakably foreign and "unconventional"; and certainly, in the saddle +and out of it, her personality can only be described as a little +overpowering. + +In the beginning it may have been Fitz himself who contributed as much +as anything to the notoriety of his continental wife. Five years +before, the only surviving son of a disreputable father had let the +house of his ancestors in a state of gross disrepair, together with the +paternal acres, to a City magnate, and betook himself, Heaven alone +knew where. Wise people, however, were more than willing that the +President of the Destinies should retain the sole and exclusive +possession of this information. Nobody had the least desire to know +where Fitz the Younger, unmistakable scion of a somewhat deplorable +dynasty, was to be found, except, perhaps, a few London tradesmen, who, +if wise men, would be sparing of their tears. They might have been hit +so much harder than proved to be the case. Wherever Fitz had gone, +those who knew most of him, and the stock from which he sprang, +devoutly hoped that there he would stay. + +For five years we knew him not. And then one fine September afternoon +he turned up at the Grange with a motor car and a French chauffeur and +a foreign wife. It may not seem kind to say so, but in the interests +of this strange but ower-true tale, it is well to state clearly that +his return was highly disconcerting to all sections of the community. +His name was still an offence in the ears of an obsequious and by no +means over-censorious countryside. Rural England is astonishingly +lenient "to Squoire and his relations," but Master Nevil had proved too +stiff a proposition even for its forbearance. + +Howbeit, Fitz had hardly been a week at his ancestral home with his +foreign wife and his motor car when there began to be signs of a rise +in Fitzwaren stock. It was bruited abroad that he was paying his +debts, fulfilling long-neglected obligations, that he had given up the +bowl, and that, in a word, he was doing his best to clear a pretty +black record. Indeed, the upward tendency of the Fitzwaren stock was +so well maintained, that it was decided by the Committee for the +Maintenance of the Public Decency that the august Mrs. Catesby should +call on his wife and so pave the way for the _entente_. After all, the +Fitzwarens were the Fitzwarens, and our revered Vicar--the hardest +riding parson in five counties--clinched the matter with the most +apposite quotation from Holy Writ in which he has ever indulged. + +The august Mrs. Catesby bore the olive branch in the form of a couple +of pieces of pasteboard to the Grange in due course; Mrs. Arbuthnot, +the Vicar's wife, Laura Glendinning, and the rank and file of the +custodians of the public decency followed suit; and such an atmosphere +of the best type of Christian magnanimity prevailed, that it was quite +on the _tapis_ that "dear Evelyn" herself, the Perpetual President and +Past Grand Mistress of this strenuous society, would shoot a card at +the Grange. To show that this is not the idle gossip of an empty tale, +there is Mrs. Catesby's own declaration, made in Mrs. Arbuthnot's own +drawing-room in the presence of Laura Glendinning and the Vicar's wife, +"that had Mrs. Fitz only been presented she was in a position to know +that dear Evelyn would have called upon her." + +That was the hour in which the Fitzwaren stock touched its zenith. +Thenceforward there was a fall in price. Nevertheless, it was agreed +that Fitz was a reformed character. A glass of beer for luncheon, a +glass of wine for dinner, and a maximum of three whiskies and sodas +_per diem_; handsome indemnity paid to the daughter of the landlord of +the Fitzwaren Arms; propitiation galore to persons of all degrees and +shades of opinion; appearance with the ducal party at the Cockfoster +shoot; regular attendance at church every Sunday forenoon. Fitz made +the pace so hot that the wise declared it could not possibly last. +They were wrong, however, as the wise are occasionally. Fitz had more +staying power than friends and neighbours were prepared to concede to +the son of his father. But in spite of all this, once the slump set in +it continued steadily. + +Those who had known Fitz before the reformation were not slow to +believe that it was no strength of the inner nature that had rendered +him a vessel of grace. It was excessively creditable, of course, to +the black sheep of the fold, but the whole merit of the reclamation +belonged not to the prodigal, but to the nondescript lady from the +continent who had not been presented at Court. The depth of Fitz's +infatuation for that unconventional creature was really grotesque. + +To the merely masculine intelligence it would have seemed that an +influence so beneficent over one so besmirched as poor Fitz must have +counted to that lady for righteousness on the high court scale. But +the Committee for the Maintenance of the Public Decency came to quite +another conclusion. The mere male cannot do better than give _in +extenso_ the Committee's report upon the matter, and for the text of +this judicial pearl our thanks are due to the august Mrs. Catesby. "If +she had been Anybody," that great and good woman announced, "one would +have felt it only right to encourage Nevil Fitzwaren in his +praise-worthy effort, but as dear Evelyn has been informed, on +unimpeachable authority, that she used to ride bareback in a circus in +Vienna, it is quite clear that the wretched fellow is in the toils of +an infatuation." + +After this finding by the Committee, holders of Fitzwaren stock +unloaded quickly. Yet there were some of these speculators who were +loth to take that course. Fitz, the harum-scarum, with his nails +trimmed, was a less picturesque figure than the provincial Don Juan; +but there were those who were not slow to aver that the fair +_equestrienne_ he had had the audacity to import from Vienna was quite +the most romantic figure that had ever hunted with the Crackanthorpe +Hounds. + +Doubtless she had been born in a stable and reared upon mares' milk, +but to behold her mounted upon the strain of the Godolphin Arabian, in +a tall hat, military gauntlets and a scarlet coat was a spectacle that +few beholders were able to forget. In the opinion of the Committee, +there can be no doubt whatever that it hastened the end of the Dowager. +The old lady drove to the meet at the Cross Roads, behind her fat old +ponies and her fat old coachman John Timmins, in the full enjoyment of +all her faculties, with a shrewd wit, an easy conscience and a good +appetite, took one glance at Mrs. Nevil Fitzwaren, told John Timmins in +a hoarse whisper to go home immediately, had a stroke before she +arrived, and passed away without regaining consciousness, in the +presence of her spiritual, her medical, and her legal advisers. + +In the inflamed state of the public mind, it was necessary that persons +of moderate views should be wary. I had seen Mrs. Fitz out hunting, +and in this place I am open to confess that I was sealed of the tribe +of her admirers. Not from the athletic standpoint merely, but from the +æsthetic one. Quite a young woman, with superb black eyes and a forest +of raven hair, a skin of lustrous olive, a nose and chin of +extraordinary decision and character; a more imperiously challenging +personality I cannot remember to have seen. Professional Viennese +_equestriennes_ are doubtless a race apart. They may be accustomed to +exact a homage from their world which in ours is reserved more or less +for the "dear Evelyns" and their compeers. But the gaze of this +haughty queen of the sawdust, when she condescended to exert it, was +the most direct and arresting thing that ever exacted tribute from the +English male or fluttered the devecotes of the scandalised English +female. Her "what-pray-are-you-doing-on-the-earth?" air was so vital +that it sent a thrill through the veins. Small wonder was it that the +hapless Fitz had struggled so gamely to pull himself together. She was +a woman to make a man or mar him. As Fitz was marred already, the +sphere of her activities were limited accordingly. + +Like most men of moderate views, at heart I own to being a bit of a +coward. At any rate it would have taken wild horses to drag the +admission from me that I was an out-and-out admirer of the "Stormy +Petrel," as with rare felicity the Vicar of the parish had christened +her. For by this time our little republic was cloven in twain. There +were the Mrs. Fitzites, her humble admirers and willing slaves, whose +sex you will easily guess; and there were the Anti-Mrs.-Fitzites, +ruthless adversaries who had sworn to have her blood, or failing that, +since Atalanta was an amazon indeed, to make the place so hot for her +that, in the words of my friend Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins, "she would have +to quit." + +How to dislodge her, that was the problem for the ladies of the +Crackanthorpe Hunt. It was in the quest of a solution that the +illustrious Mrs. Catesby had honoured us with a morning call. + +"Odo Arbuthnot," said that notable woman, "it is my intention to speak +plainly. Mrs. Fitz must leave the neighbourhood. We look to you, as a +married man, a father of a family and a county member, to devise a +means for her removal." + +"Issue a writ," said I. "That seems the most straightforward course. +If our assaulted and battered friend, Brasset, will swear an +information, I shall be glad to sign the warrant." + +"Do you think she could be taken to prison?" said Mrs. Arbuthnot, +hopefully. + +"Don't attempt to beg the question." The Great Lady was not to be +diverted from the scent. "Be more manly. We expect public spirit from +you. Certainly this business is extremely disagreeable, but it does +not excuse your pusillanimity. To my mind, your attitude all along has +suggested that you are trying to run with the hare and to hunt with the +hounds." + +This was a terrible home-thrust for a confirmed lover of the middle +course. I hope I am not wholly lacking in spirit, but such a charge +was not easy to rebut. While I assumed a statesmanlike port, if only +to gain a little time in which to cover my exposed position, my +relation by marriage, with a daring which was certainly remarkable in +one who is not by nature a thruster, took up the cudgels yet again. + +"If I were you, Odo," said he, "I should let 'em do their own dirty +work." + +I felt Mary Catesby's glance flash past me like the lightning of heaven. + +"Dirty work, Joseph? I demand an explanation." + +"I call it dirty," said that gladiator. "I like things straightforrard +myself. If you think a cove is askin' for trouble hand it out to him +personally. Don't set on others." + +Before the woman of impregnable virtue to whom this gem of morality was +addressed, could visit the Bayard at the breakfast table according to +his merit, we found ourselves suddenly precipitated into the realms of +drama. + +For this was the moment in which I became aware that Parkins was +hovering about my chair and that a sensational announcement was on his +lips. + +"Mr. Fitzwaren desires to see you, sir, on most urgent business." + +The effect was electrical. Mary Catesby suspended her indictment with +a gesture like Boadicea's, queenly but ferocious. Brasset's pink +perplexity approximated to a shade of green; the eyes of the Madam were +like moons--in the circumstances a little poetic license is surely to +be pardoned--while as for the demeanour of the narrator of this +ower-true tale, I can answer for it that it was one of total +discomfiture. + +"Mr. Fitzwaren here?" were my first incredulous words. + +"I have shown him into the library, sir," said Parkins, solemnly. + +"You cannot see him, Odo," said the despot of our household. "He must +not come here." + +"Important business, Parkins?" said I. + +"Most _urgent_ business, sir." + +"Highly mysterious!" Mrs. Catesby was pleased to affirm. + +Highly mysterious the coming of Nevil Fitzwaren certainly was. A +moment's reflection convinced me of the need of appeasing the general +curiosity. I took my way to the library with many speculations rising +in my mind. Nothing was further from my expectation than to be +consulted by Nevil Fitzwaren on urgent business. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +ABOUNDS IN SENSATION + +Astonished as I was by the coming of such a visitor, the appearance and +the manner of that much-discussed personage did nothing to lessen my +interest. + +I found him pacing the room in a state of agitation. His face was +haggard, his eyes were bloodshot, he was unkempt and almost piteous to +look upon. And yet more strangely his open overcoat, which his +distress could not suffer to keep buttoned, disclosed a rumpled shirt +front, a tie askew and a dinner jacket which evidently had been donned +the evening before. + +"Hallo, Fitz," said I, as unconcernedly as I could. + +He did not answer me, but immediately closed the door of the room. +Somehow, the action gave me a thrill. + +"There is no possibility of our being overheard?" he said in a hoarse +whisper. + +"None whatever. Let me help you off with your coat. Then sit down in +that chair next the fire and have a drink." + +Fitz submitted, doubtless under a sense of compulsion. My four years' +seniority at school had generally enabled me to get my way with him. +It was rather painful to witness the effort the unfortunate fellow put +forth to pull himself together; and when I measured out a pretty stiff +brandy-and-soda his refusal of it was distinctly poignant. + +"I oughtn't to have it, old chap," he said, with his wild eyes looking +into mine like those of a dumb animal. "It doesn't do, you know." + +"Drink it straight off at once," said I, "and do as you are told." + +Fitz did so with reluctance. The effect upon him was what I had not +foreseen. His haggard wildness yielded quite suddenly to an outburst +of tears. He covered his face with his hands and wept in a painfully +overwrought manner. + +I waited in silence for this outburst to pass. + +"I've been scouring the country since nine o'clock last night," he +said, "and I feel like going out of my mind." + +"What's the trouble, old son?" said I, taking a chair beside him. + +"They've got my wife." + +"Whom do you mean by 'they'?" + +"I can't, I mustn't tell you," said Fitz, excitedly, "but they have got +her, and--and I expect she is dead by now." + +Words as wild as these to the accompaniment of that overwrought +demeanour suggested an acute form of mental disturbance only too +clearly. + +"You had better tell me everything," said I, persuasively. "Perhaps I +might be able to help a little. Two heads are better than one, you +know." + +I must confess that I had no great hope of being able to help the +unlucky fellow very materially, but somewhat to my surprise he answered +in a perfectly rational manner. + +"I have come here with the intention of telling you everything. I must +have help, and you are the only friend I've got." + +"One of many," said I, lying cordially. + +"It's true," said Fitz. "The only one. Like that chap in the Bible, +the hand of every man is against me. I deserve it; I know I've not +played the game; but now I must have somebody to stand by me, and I've +come to you." + +"Well," said I, "that is no more than you would do by me in similar +circumstances." + +"You don't mean that," said Fitz, with an expression of keen misery. +"But you are a genuine chap, all the same." + +"Let's hear the trouble." + +"The trouble is this," said Fitz, and as he spoke the look of wildness +returned to his eyes. "My wife went in the car to do some shopping at +Middleham at three o'clock yesterday afternoon expecting to be back at +five, and neither she nor the car has returned. + +"And nothing has been heard of her?" + +"Not a word." + +"Had she a chauffeur?" + +"Yes, a Frenchman of the name of Moins whom we picked up in Paris." + +"I suppose you have communicated with the police?" + +"No; you see, the whole affair must be kept as dark as possible." + +"They are certainly the people to help you, particularly if you have +reason to suspect foul play." + +"There is every reason to suspect it. I am afraid she is already +beyond the help of the police." + +"Why should you think that?" + +Fitz hesitated. His distraught air was very painful. + +"Arbuthnot," said he, slowly and reluctantly, "before I tell you +everything I must pledge you to absolute secrecy. Other lives, other +interests, more important than yours and mine, are involved in this." + +I gave the pledge, and in so doing was impressed by a depth of +responsibility in the manner of my visitor, of which I should hardly +have expected it to be capable. + +"Did you see in the papers last evening that there had been an attempt +on the life of the King of Illyria?" + +"I read it in this morning's paper." + +"It will surprise you to learn," said Fitz, striving for a calmness he +could not achieve, "that my wife is the only child of Ferdinand XII, +King of Illyria. She is, therefore, Crown Princess and Heiress +Apparent to the oldest monarchy in Europe." + +"It certainly _does_ surprise me," was the only rejoinder that for the +moment I could make. + +"I want help and I want advice; I feel that I hardly dare do anything +on my own initiative. You see, it is most important that the world at +large should know nothing of this." + +"Why, may I ask?" + +"There are two parties at war in Illyria. There is the King's party, +the supporters of the monarchy, and there is the Republican party, +which has made three attempts on the life of Ferdinand XII and two on +that of his daughter." + +"But I assume, my dear fellow, that the whereabouts in England of the +Crown Princess are known to her father the King?" + +"No; and it is essential that he should remain in ignorance. Our +elopement from Illyria was touch and go. Ferdinand has moved heaven +and earth to find out where she is, because she has been formally +betrothed to a Russian Grand Duke, and if she does not return to +Blaenau he will not be able to secure the succession." + +"Depend upon it," said I, "the Crown Princess is on the way to Blaenau. +Not of her own free will, of course. But his Majesty's agents have +managed to play the trick." + +"You may be right, Arbuthnot. But one thing is certain; my poor brave +Sonia will never return to Blaenau alive." + +Fitz buried his face in his hands tragically. + +"She promised that, you know, in case anything of this kind happened, +and I consented to it." The simplicity of his utterance had in it a +certain grandeur which few would have expected to find in a man with +the reputation of Nevil Fitzwaren. "Everybody doesn't believe in this +sort of thing, Arbuthnot, but I and my princess do. She will never lie +in the arms of another. God help her, brave and noble and unluckly +soul!" + +This was not the Fitz the world had always known. I suddenly recalled +the flaxen-haired, odd, intense, somewhat twisted, wholly unhappy +creature who had rendered me willing service in our boyhood. I had +always enjoyed the reputation in our house at school that I alone, and +none other, could manage Fitz. I recalled his passion for the "Morte +d'Arthur," his angular vehemence, his sombre docility. In those +distant days I had felt there was something in him; and now in what +seemed curiously poignant circumstances there came the fulfilment of +the prophecy. + +"Let us assume, my dear fellow," said I, making an attempt to be of +practical use in a situation of almost ludicrous difficulty, "that it +is not her father who has abducted the Princess Sonia. Let us take it +to be the other side, the Republican party. + +"It would still mean death; not by her own hand, but by theirs. They +twice attempted her life in Blaenau." + +"In any case, it is reasonably clear that not a moment is to be lost if +we are to help her." + +"I don't know what to do," said Fitz, "and that's the truth." + +I confessed that I too had no very clear idea of the course of action. +It occurred to me that the wisest thing to be done was to take a third +person into our counsels. + +"You ask my advice," said I; "it seems to me that the best thing to do +is to see if Coverdale will help us." + +"That will mean publicity. At all costs I feel that that must be +avoided." + +"Coverdale is a shrewd fellow. He will know what to do; he is a man +you can trust; and he will be able to set the proper machinery in +motion." + +My insistence on the point, and Fitz's unwilling recognition of the +need for a desperate remedy, goaded him into a half-hearted consent. +In my own mind I was persuaded of the value of Coverdale's advice, in +whatever it might consist. He was the head of the police in our shire, +and apart from a little external pomposity, without which one is given +to understand it is hardly possible for a Chief Constable to play the +part, he was a shrewd and kind-hearted fellow, who knew a good deal +about things in general. + +Poor Fitz would listen to no suggestion of food. Therefore I ordered +the car round at once, and incidentally informed the ruler of the +household, and the expectant assembly by whom she was surrounded, that +Fitz and I had some private business to transact which required our +immediate presence in the city of Middleham. + +"Odo," said she whose word is law, with a mien of dark suspicion, "if +Nevil Fitzwaren is persuading you to lend him money, I forbid you to +entertain the idea. You are really so weak in such matters. You have +really no idea of the value of money." + +"It will do you no good with your constituents either," said Mary +Catesby, "to be seen in Middleham with Nevil Fitzwaren." + +To these warning voices I turned deaf ears, and fled from the room in a +fashion so precipitate that it suggested guilt. + +No time was lost in setting forth. As we glided past the front of the +house, I at least was uncomfortably conscious of a battery of hostile +eyes in ambush behind the window panes. There could be no doubt that +every detail of our going was duly marked. Heaven knew what theories +were being propounded! Yet whatever shape they assumed I was sure that +all the ingenuity in the world would not hit the truth. No feat of +pure imagination was likely to disclose what the business really was +that had caused me to be identified in this open and flagrant manner +with the husband of the luckless circus rider from Vienna. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +EXPERT OPINION + +Every mile of the eight to Middleham, Fitz was as gloomy as the grave. +In spite of the confidence he had been led to repose in my judgment, he +seemed wholly unable to extend it to that of Coverdale. He had a +morbid dread of the police and of the publicity that would invest any +dealings with them. The preservation of his wife's incognito was +undoubtedly a matter of paramount importance. + +It was half-past twelve when we reached Middleham. We were lucky +enough to find Coverdale at his office at the sessions hall. + +"Well, what can I do for you?" said the Chief Constable, heartily. + +"You can do a great deal for us, Coverdale," said I. "But the first +thing we shall ask you to do is to forget that you are an official. We +come to you in your capacity of a personal friend. In that capacity we +seek any advice you may feel able or disposed to give us. But before +we give you any information, we should like to have your assurance that +you will treat the whole matter as being told to you in the strictest +secrecy." + +Coverdale has as active a sense of humour as his exalted station allows +him to sustain. There was something in my mode of address that seemed +to appeal to it. + +"I will promise that on one condition, Arbuthnot," said he; "which is +that you do not seek to involve me in the compounding of a felony." + +"Oh no, no, no, no!" Fitz burst out. + +Fitz's exclamation and his tragic face banished the smile that lurked +at the corners of Coverdale's lips. + +I deemed it best that Fitz should re-tell the story of his tragedy, and +this he did. In the course of his narrative the sweat ran down his +face, his hands twitched painfully, and his bloodshot eyes grew so wild +that neither Coverdale nor I cared to look at them. + +Coverdale sat mute and grave at the conclusion of Fitz's remarkable +story. He had swung round in his revolving chair to face us. His legs +were crossed and the tips of his fingers were placed together, after +the fashion that another celebrity in a branch of his calling is said +to affect. + +"It's a queer story of yours, Fitzwaren," he said at last. "But the +world is full of 'em--what?" + +"Help me," said Fitz, piteously. His voice was that of a drowning man. + +"I think we shall be able to do that," said Coverdale. He spoke in the +soothing tones of a skilful surgeon. + +"The first thing to know," said the Chief Constable, "is the number of +the car." + +"G.Y. 70942 is the number." + +Coverdale jotted it down pensively upon his blotting-pad. + +"Have you a portrait of Mrs. Fitzwaren?" he asked. + +"I have this," said Fitz. + +In the most natural manner he flung open his overcoat, pulled away his +evening tie, tore open his collar, and produced from under the rumpled +shirt front a locket suspended by a fine gold chain round his neck. It +contained a miniature of the Princess, executed in Paris. Both +Coverdale and I examined it curiously, but as we did so I fear our +minds had a single thought. It was that Fitz was a little mad. + +"Will you entrust it to me?" said Coverdale. + +Fitz's indecision was pathetic. + +"It's the only one I've got," he mumbled. "I don't suppose I shall +ever be able to get another. I ought to have had a replica while I had +the chance." + +"I undertake to return it within three days," said Coverdale, with a +simple kindliness for which I honoured him. + +Fitz handed the locket to him impulsively, + +"Of course take it, by all means," he said, hurriedly. "I know you +will take care of it. Fact is, you know, I'm a bit knocked over." + +"Naturally, my dear fellow," said Coverdale. "So should we all be. +But I shall go up to town this afternoon and have a talk with them at +Scotland Yard. + +"I was afraid that would have to happen. I wanted it to be kept an +absolute secret, you know." + +"You can depend upon the Yard to be the soul of discretion. It is not +the first time they have been entrusted with the internal affairs of a +reigning family. If the Princess is still in this country and she is +still alive, and there is no reason to think otherwise, I believe we +shall not have to wait long for news of her." + +Coverdale spoke in a tone of calm reassurance, which at least was +eloquent of his tact and his knowledge of men. Overwrought as Fitz +was, it was not without its effect upon him. + +"Ought not the ports to be watched?" he said. + +"I hardly think it will be necessary. But if Scotland Yard thinks +otherwise, they will be watched of course. Whatever happens, +Fitzwaren, you can be quite sure that nothing will be left undone in +our endeavour to find out what has really happened to the lady we shall +agree to call Mrs. Fitzwaren. Further, you can depend upon it that +absolute discretion will be used." + +We left Coverdale, imbued with a sense of gratitude for his cordial +optimism, and I think we both felt that a peculiarly delicate business +could not be in more competent hands. He was a man of sound judgment +and infinite discretion. Throughout this singular interview he had +emerged as a shrewd, tactful and eminently kind-hearted fellow. + +As a result of this visit to the sessions hall at Middleham, poor Fitz +allowed himself a little hope. He had been duly impressed by the man +of affairs who had taken the case in hand. However, he was still by no +means himself. He was still in a strangely excited and gloomy +condition; and this was aggravated by his friendlessness and the +feeling that the hand of every man was against him. + +In the circumstances, I felt obliged to yield to his expressed wish +that I should accompany him to the Grange. As the crow flies it is +less than four miles from my house. + +The home of the Fitzwarens is a rambling, gloomy and dilapidated place +enough. An air pervades it of having run to seed. Every Fitzwaren who +has inhabited it within living memory has been a gambler and a _roué_ +in one form or another. The Fitzwarens are by long odds the oldest +family in our part of the world, and by odds equally long their record +is the most unfortunate. Coming of a long line of ill-regulated lives, +the heavy bills drawn by his forbears upon posterity seemed to have +become payable in the person of the unhappy Fitz. Doubtless it was not +right that one who in Mrs. Catesby's phrase was a married man, a father +of a family, and a county member, should constitute himself as the +apologist of such a man as Fitz. But, in spite of his errors, I had +never found it in my heart to act towards him as so many of his +neighbours did not hesitate to do. The fact that he had fagged for me +at school and the knowledge that there was a lovable, a pathetic and +even a heroic side to one to whom fate had been relentlessly cruel, +made it impossible for me to regard him as wholly outside the pale. + +I can never forget our arrival at the Grange on this piercing winter +afternoon. My car belonged to that earlier phase of motoring when the +traveller was more exposed to the British climate than modern science +considers necessary. The snow, at the beck of a terrible north-easter, +beat in our faces pitilessly. And when we came half frozen into the +house, we were met on its threshold by a mite of four. She was the +image of her mother, with the same skin of lustrous olive, the same +mass of raven hair, and the same challenging black eyes. In her hand +was a mutilated doll. It was carried upside down and it had been +decapitated. + +"I want my mama," she said with an air of authority which was +ludicrously like that of the circus rider from Vienna. "Have you +brought my mama?" + +"No, my pearl of price," said Fitz, swinging the mite up to his +snow-covered face, "but she will be here soon. She has sent you this." + +He kissed the small elf, who had all the disdain of a princess and the +witchery of a fairy. + +"Who is dis?" said she, pointing at me with her doll. + +"Dis, my jewel of the east, is our kind friend Mr. Arbuthnot. If you +are very nice to him he will stay to tea." + +"Do you like my mama, Mistah 'Buthnot?" said the latest scion of +Europe's oldest dynasty, with a directness which was disconcerting from +a person of four. + +"Very much indeed," said I, warmly. + +"You can stay to tea, Mistah 'Buthnot. I like you vewy much." + +The prompt cordiality of the verdict was certainly pleasant to a humble +unit of a monarchical country. The creature extended her tiny paw with +a gesture so superb that there was only one thing left for a courtier +to do. That was to kiss it. + +The owner of the paw seemed to be much gratified by this discreet +action. + +"I like you vewy much, Mistah 'Buthnot; I will tell you my name." + +"Oh, do, please!" + +"My name is Marie Sophie Louise Waren Fitzwaren." + +"Phoebus, _what_ a name!" + +"And dis, Mistah 'Buthnot, is my guv'ness, Miss Green. She is a tarn +fool." + +The lady thus designated had come unexpectedly upon the scene. An +estimable and bespectacled gentlewoman of uncompromising mien, she +gazed down upon her charge with the gravest austerity. + +"Marie Louise, if I hear that phrase again you will go to bed." + +As Miss Green spoke, however, she gazed at me over her spectacles in a +humorously reflective fashion. + +Marie Louise shrugged her small shoulders disdainfully, and in a tone +that, to say the least, was peremptory, ordered the butler, who looked +venerable enough to be her great-grandfather, to bring the tea. The +_congé_ that the venerable servitor performed upon receiving this order +rendered it clear that upon a day he had been a confidential retainer +in the royal house of Illyria. + +"I am afraid, Miss Green," said I, tentatively, "that your post is no +sinecure." + +"That mite of four has the imperious will of a Catherine of Russia," +said Miss Green, with an amused smile. "If she ever attains the estate +of womanhood, I shudder to think what she will be." + +Fitz entreated me to dine with him. I yielded in the hope that a +little company might help him to fight his depression. The meal was +not a cheerful one. Under the most favourable conditions Fitz is not a +cheerful individual; but I was obliged to note that of late years he +had learned to exercise his will. In many ways I thought he had +changed for the better. He had lost his coarseness of speech; he was +scrupulously moderate in what he ate and drank, and his bearing had +gained in reserve and dignity. In a word, he had grown into a more +civilised, a more developed being than I had ever thought it possible +for him to become. + +It was past eleven when I returned to my own domain. The blizzard +still prevailed, and I found Mrs. Arbuthnot in the drawing-room +enthroned before a roaring fire, which happily served as some +mitigation of the arctic demeanour with which my return was greeted. +This, in conjunction with the adverse elements through which I had +already passed, was enough to complete the overthrow of the strongest +constitution. + +The ruler of Dympsfield House--Dympsfield House is the picturesque name +conferred upon our ancestral home by my grandfather, Mr. George +Arbuthnot of Messrs. Arbuthnot, Boyd and Co., the celebrated firm of +sugar refiners of Bristol--the ruler of Dympsfield House was ostensibly +engaged in the study of a work of fiction of a pronounced sporting +character, with a yellow cover. Works of this nature and the +provincial edition of the _Daily Courier_, which is guaranteed to have +a circulation of ten million copies _per diem_, are the only forms of +literature that the ruler of Dymspfield House considers it "healthy" to +peruse. + +When I entered the drawing-room with a free and easy air which was +designed to suggest that my conscience had nothing to conceal and +nothing to defend, the wife of my bosom discarded her novel and fixed +me with that cool gaze which all who are born Vane-Anstruther consider +it to be the hall-mark of their caste to wield. + +"Where have you been, Odo?" was the greeting that was reserved for me. + +"Dining with Fitz," said I, succinctly. + +A short pause. + +"What did you say?" + +I repeated my modest statement. + +A snort. + +"Upon my word, Odo, I can't think----!" + +It called for a nice judgment to know which opening to play. + +"Fitz is in trouble," said I. + +"Is that _very_ surprising?" + +It is difficult to render the true Vane-Anstruther vocal inflections in +terms of literary art. A similar problem is presented by the +unwavering glint of the china-blue eye and the subtle curl of the lip. + +"In the sense you wish to convey, _mon enfant_, it is surprising. Fitz +is one of the poor devils who are by no means so black as they are +painted." + +A toss of the head. + +"Don't forget that I have known Fitz all his life; that we were at +school together; and that one way and another I have seen a good deal +of him." + +"I wouldn't boast about it, if I were you. The man is a byword; you +know that. It is not kind to me." + +I was in mortal fear of tears. That dread accessory of conjugal life +is permitted by the Code De Vere Vane-Anstruther in certain situations. +However, although the weather was very heavy, for the time being that +was spared me, and I breathed more freely. + +Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther, who had a cigarette between his +lips, and was lying full length upon a chintz that was charmingly +devised in blue and yellow, inquired whether I had mentioned to Fitz +the subject of a meeting with the outraged Brasset. + +"If the weather don't pick up," said this Corinthian, "we shall go up +to town to-morrow, and my pal in Jermyn Street will put Brasset through +his facings. With a bit of practice Brasset ought to be able to give +Fitz his gruel." + +"I fail to see," said I, "why the unfortunate husband should be brought +to book for the sins of the wife." + +"If you take to yourself a wife," said my relation by marriage, with a +didacticism of which he is seldom guilty, "it is for better or for +worse; and if your missus overrides the best 'ound in the pack and then +'its the Master over the head with her crop because he tells her what +he thinks of her, you are looking both ways for trouble." + +"It is a hard doctrine," said I. + +"If a chap is such a fool as to marry, he must stand to the +consequences." + +"He must!" + +Such a prompt corroboration of the young fellow's reasoning can only be +described as sinister. A flash of the china-blue eyes came from the +vicinity of the hearthrug. + +"How did Mrs. Fitz bear herself at the dinner table?" inquired the +sharer of my joys. "Did she eat with her knife and drink out of the +finger bowls?" + +"No, _mon enfant_, I am compelled to say that she did not." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot frowned a becoming incredulity. + +"You surprise one." + +"Perhaps it is not altogether remarkable." + +"A matter of opinion, surely." + +"Personally, I prefer to regard it as a matter of fact. You see, Mrs. +Fitz was not at the dinner table." + +"Where was she, may I ask?" + +"She had gone up to town." + +"And was that why her husband was so upset?" + +"There is reason to believe that it was." + +"Oh!" + +There was great virtue in that exclamation. My amiable coadjutor, as I +knew perfectly well, was burning to pursue her inquiries, but her +status as a human being did not permit her to proceed farther. There +are many advantages incident to the proud condition of a De Vere +Vane-Anstruther, but that almost inhuman eminence has its drawbacks +also. Chief among them are the limits imposed upon a perfectly natural +and healthy curiosity. It is not seemly for a member of that +distinguished clan to enter too exhaustively into the affairs of her +neighbours. + +On the following morning, in spite of the behaviour of the weather, we +were favoured by an early visit from Mrs. Catesby. She was in high +feather. + +"You have heard the news, of course!" she proclaimed for the benefit of +Mrs. Arbuthnot and with an expansion of manner that she does not always +permit herself. "Of course Odo has told you what brought Nevil +Fitzwaren here yesterday morning." + +"Oh no, he hasn't," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, rather aggrievedly. + +"Is it conceivable, my dear child, that you have _not_ heard the news?" + +"I only know, Mary, that Nevil Fitzwaren is in trouble. Odo did not +think well to supply the details, and really the affairs of the +Fitzwarens interest one so little that one did not feel inclined to +inquire." + +"The creature has bolted, my dear." + +In spite of Mrs. Arbuthnot's determination to take no interest in the +affairs of the Fitzwarens, she was not proof against this melodramatic +announcement. + +"Bolted, Mary!" + +"Bolted, child. And with whom do you suppose?" + +"One would say with the chauffeur," hazarded Mrs. Arbuthnot, promptly. + +Mrs. Catesby's countenance fell. She made no attempt to dissemble her +disappointment. + +"Then Odo _has_ told you after all." + +"Not a syllable, I assure you, Mary. But I am certain that if Mrs. +Fitz has bolted with anybody, it must have been with the chauffeur." + +"How clever of you, my dear child!" The Great Lady's admiration was +open and sincere. "Such a right feeling about things! She has +certainly bolted with the chauffeur." + +"Odo," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, triumphant, yet imperious, "why didn't you +tell me all this?" + +"_Mon enfant_," said I, in the mellowest tones of which I am master, +"you gave me clearly to understand that the affairs of the Fitzwarens +had no possible interest for you." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot went to the length of biting her lip. By withholding +such a sensational bit of news, I had been guilty of an unheard-of +outrage upon human nature. But she could not deny my plea of +justification. + +"Nevil Fitzwaren is far luckier than he deserves to be," said the Great +Lady. "It is a merciful dispensation that dear Evelyn did not actually +call upon her. I feel sure she would have done, had I not implored her +not to be hasty." + +"But Mary, I was under the impression that you called upon her +yourself." + +"So I did, Odo. But that was merely out of respect for the memory of +Nevil's mother. Besides, it was only right that somebody should see +what her home was like." + +"What was it like, Mary?" said I. + +Mrs. Catesby compressed her lips. + +"I ask you, Mary. You alone sacrificed yourself upon the altar of +public decency; you alone are in possession of the grim facts." + +"Let us be charitable, my dear Odo. After all, what can one expect of +a person from a continental circus?" + +"What indeed!" was my pious objuration. + +"There is only one thing, I fear, for Nevil to do now," said the Great +Lady. "He must get a divorce and marry his cook." + +The august matron denied us the honour of her company at luncheon. She +was due at the Vicarage. And there was reason to believe that she +would drink tea at the Priory and dine at the Castle. It was so +necessary that the joyful tidings of the Divine justice that had +overtaken the wicked should be spread abroad. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +COVERDALE'S REPORT + +In the afternoon I rode over to the Grange to learn if there was any +news and to see how Fitz was bearing up. He was certainly doing +uncommonly well. His face was less haggard, his eyes were not so wild, +while a change of linen and a razor had helped his appearance +considerably. + +Coverdale had telegraphed to say that the car had been traced to a +garage in Regent Street, and that before long he hoped to be in +possession of further information. + +Fitz seemed to regard the finding of the car as a favourable omen. At +least his emotions were under far better control than on the previous +day. His manner was no longer overwrought, and he was able to take a +more practical view of the situation. + +He promised to keep me informed of any fresh development, and I left +him without misgiving. He seemed much more fit to cope with events +than when I had left him the night before. + +It was in the afternoon of the following day that I saw Fitz again. It +happened that I was just about to set out from my own door when he +drove up in a dogcart. He was accompanied by Coverdale. + +Fitz has a curiously mobile countenance. It is quick to advertise the +fleeting emotions of its owner. This afternoon there was a light in +his eye and a look of resolution and alertness about him which said +that news had come, and that, whatever its nature, Nevil Fitzwaren was +not prepared to submit tamely to fate. + +"I was on the point of coming to see you," I explained as I led them in. + +The presence of Coverdale seemed to indicate an important development. +It would have been difficult, however, to deduce so much from the +bearing of the Chief Constable. He is such a discreet and sagacious +individual, that no amount of special information is capable of +detracting from or adding to his habitual air of composed importance. + +My visitors were supplied with a little sustenance in a liquid form +before I asked for the news; and then in answer to my demand Fitz +called upon Coverdale to put me _au fait_ with the latest information. + +It appeared that Coverdale had hastened to take Scotland Yard into his +confidence, and that that famous organisation had been able in a +surprisingly short space of time to shed a light upon the mysterious +disappearance of Mrs. Fitz. + +"She has been traced to the Illyrian Embassy in Portland Place," said +Coverdale. + +"Indeed!" said I. "In that case we can congratulate you, Fitz, that +she is likely to come by no harm in that dignified seclusion." + +"Yes, that aspect of the affair is decidedly favourable," said +Coverdale. "But as far as the Commissioner is able to learn, the lady +is to all intents and purposes being held a close prisoner." + +"A very singular state of things, surely." + +"Decidedly singular. But there can be no doubt that the Illyrian +Ambassador is acting upon strict instructions from his Sovereign." + +"He must be a pretty cool hand, to kidnap the wife of an Englishman in +this country in the broad light of day, and the monarch for whom he +acts strikes one also as being a pretty cool customer." + +Coverdale laughed. He knocked the ash off the end of his cigar with an +air of reflective enjoyment. + +"Kings are kings in Illyria," said he. "Saving the presence of the +son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth, his Majesty is no believer in this +damned constitutional nonsense. He has his own ideas and his own +little way of carrying them out." + +"He has, apparently. But unfortunately for Ferdinand the Twelfth and +fortunately for his son-in-law, Fitz, we in this country are rather +decided believers in this damned constitutional nonsense. I daresay, +Coverdale, your friend the Commissioner will be able to put his +Illyrian Majesty right upon the point." + +The stealthy air of enjoyment that was hovering about Coverdale's +rubicund visage seemed to deepen. + +"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" he said, with a cheerful puff, "but it +seems it is not quite so easy as you'd suppose." + +I confessed to surprise. + +"You see, Arbuthnot, even in a country like ours, kings are entitled to +a measure of respect. The reigning family of Illyria--under the favour +of our distinguished friend"--the Chief Constable bowed to Fitz with a +solemn unction that to my mind was indescribably comic--"has ties of +blood with nearly all the royal houses of Europe; the Illyrian Embassy +is by no means a negligible quantity at the Court of Saint James, for +if Illyria is not very large it is devilish well connected; and again, +as the Commissioner assures me, an embassy is sacred earth which lies +outside his jurisdiction." + +"He seems to have come up against rather a tough proposition." + +"He is the first to admit it. Here we have a flagrant outrage +committed upon the personal property of a law-abiding Englishman, under +his own vine and fig-tree, in his own little county; the perpetrators +of the outrage sit unconcerned in Portland Place; yet there seems to be +no machinery in this admirably governed and highly constitutional +island which can redress this flagrant hardship." + +"But surely, Coverdale, a way can be found?" + +"The Commissioner declined point-blank to undertake anything on his own +responsibility. Accordingly we went to the Foreign Office and had an +interview with an Official. The Official didn't seem to know what the +practice of the Office was in such cases, for the simple reason that it +was the first time that the Office appeared to have acquired any +practice in them. But upon one point he was perfectly clear. It was +that the Commissioner would do well to return without delay to his +fingermarks and his photographs of notorious criminals, and contrive to +forget that "L'Affaire Fitz" had been brought to his notice." + +"But that is absurd." + +"That is how the matter stands at all events," said Coverdale with an +air of detachment. + +"Did the Official confer with the Minister?" + +"Yes; and the Minister conferred with the Official; and their joint +wisdom amounted to this: if a British subject indulges in the luxury of +a Ferdinand the Twelfth for a father-in-law, he must refer to God any +little differences that may arise between them, because the law of +England does not contemplate and declines to take cognisance of these +domesticities." + +"It is incredible!" + +"I agree with you, Arbuthnot; and yet if you look at the matter in all +its bearings, it is difficult to see what other conclusion could have +been arrived at. The whole affair bristles with difficulties. There +is no specific evidence that the Crown Princess of Illyria is actually +in need of aid. Although many of the details of her flight from +Blaenau five years ago are known to the Foreign Office, it is in +complete ignorance of the fact that she was in residence in this +country. And again, the whole thing is far too delicate to risk a fall +with the Illyrian Ambassador." + +"Certainly the national horror of looking foolish appears to justify +the F.O. in the _rôle_ of Agag. But in my humble judgment its masterly +inactivity is desperately hard on a British subject." + +"Well," said Coverdale, having recourse to the plain man's philosophy, +"if a British subject will indulge in a Ferdinand the Twelfth for a +father-in-law!" + +During our extremely piquant discussion--to me it was certainly that, +however tame and flat it may appear in the bald prose in which it is +now invested--the person most affected by it was a study in sombre +self-repression. He spoke not a word, he hardly indulged in a gesture; +yet his whole bearing had significance. And when at last the time came +for him to speak, he used a quiet deliberation as though every word had +been sought out and weighed beforehand. + +"There is only one thing to be done," he said. "As the law won't help +me, I must help the law." + +Not only in its substance, but also in the manner of its delivery, such +an announcement was entirely worthy of the son-in-law of Ferdinand the +Twelfth. + +I saw the rather amused uplift of Coverdale's eyebrows, but knowing the +unusual calibre of the speaker, I felt instinctively that at this stage +a display of scepticism would be out of place. Fitz was quite capable +of helping the law of England, if he really felt that it required his +assistance. + +"I can't thank you, Coverdale," he said simply. "You have done for me +what I can't repay. This applies to you also, Arbuthnot. I shall +never forget what you've done for me. But now I am going to ask you +both as fellow Englishmen, with wives and children of your own, to +stand by me while I try to get fair play." + +Such words affected us both. + +"You can certainly count upon me for what I may be worth," said I, "but +frankly, my dear fellow, I fail to see what you can do in face of the +Foreign Office decree." + +"I shall play Ferdinand at his own game and beat him at it as I've done +before to-day." + +It was a vaunt that Fitz was entitled to make. The elopement from +Blaenau must have been the work of a bold and resourceful man. + +"Of one thing I am convinced," Fitz proceeded: "there is not an hour to +lose. My wife may be taken back to Blaenau at any moment. I am +confident that von Arlenberg, the Ambassador, has orders from +Ferdinand. If I am to save the life of Sonia, I must act without +delay." + +Coverdale nodded his head in silence, while I felt a pang of dismay. +The argument was clear enough, but Fitz's impotence in the presence of +events made him a figure for pity. + +His demeanour, however, betrayed no consciousness of this. In those +strange eyes there was purpose, and something had entered his voice. + +"I want half a dozen good fellows--sportsmen--to stand by me. You are +one, Arbuthnot. You too, Coverdale. You will stand by me, eh?" + +The Chief Constable looked a little uneasy. To the official mind such +a request was decidedly ambiguous, not to say uncomfortable. + +"I should be glad, Fitzwaren," said he, "if you will tell me precisely +what responsibilities I shall incur if I pledge myself to this course." + +"It depends on circumstances," said Fitz. "But if I find my back to +the wall, as I daresay I shall before I am through with this business, +I should like to have at my elbow a few men I can trust." + +"So long as you don't depute me to throw a bomb into the Embassy!" said +Coverdale. + +Fitz's scheme for the recovery of his lawful property was not so +drastic as that, yet when it came to be unfolded it was somewhat of a +nature to give pause to a pair of Englishmen converging upon middle +age, pledged especially to observe the law. + +"I intend to have her out of Portland Place. She must come away +to-morrow. There is not an hour to lose. But I must find a few pals +who are good at need, because it won't be child's play, you know." + +"It certainly won't be child's play," agreed the Chief Constable, "if +it is your intention to break into the Illyrian Embassy and seize the +Crown Princess by force." + +"There is no help for it," said Fitz, quietly. + +Coverdale grew thoughtful. It was tolerably clear that Fitz was +contemplating an act of open violence; and as a breach of the peace +must at all times be construed as a breach of the law, it was scarcely +for him to aid and abet him. At heart, nevertheless, the worthy Chief +Constable was a downright honest, four-square, genuine fellow. He did +not say as much, but there was something in his manner which implied +that he had come to the conclusion that those repositories of justice, +national and international, Scotland Yard and the Foreign Office, were +conniving at a frank injustice to a fellow Briton. + +"It is a hard case," said Coverdale; "and in the circumstances I don't +altogether see how you can be blamed if you take reasonable steps to +recover your property." + +"In other words, Coverdale," said I, "you are prepared to countenance +the raid on the Illyrian Embassy?" + +The Chief Constable laughed. + +"I don't say that exactly. And yet, after all, this is a free country; +and if a parcel of damned foreigners bagged my wife, and the law could +afford me no redress, I'm afraid, I'm sadly afraid----" + +"It would be 'Up Guards and at 'em'?" + +"Upon my word, Arbuthnot, I'm not sure it wouldn't!" + +"Thank you, Coverdale," said Fitz. "And I take it that both of you +will go up to London with me to-morrow." + +"What do you ask us precisely to do?" + +"Leave the details to me"--Fitz's air was that of a staff officer. +"You can trust me not to go out of my way to look for trouble. But it +is not much use for one man single-handed to attempt to force his way +into the Illyrian Embassy for the purpose of effecting the rescue of +the Crown Princess." + +"It would be suicidal for one man to attempt it," we agreed. + +"What is the minimum of assistance you will require?" said I. + +"Half a dozen stout fellows ought to be able to manage it comfortably. +There's Coverdale and you and me. If I can enlist three others between +now and to-morrow, the thing is as good as done." + +Fitz's calm tone of optimism was certainly surprising. The Chief +Constable and myself exchanged rather rueful glances. We appeared to +have pledged ourselves to a course of action that might have the most +serious and far-reaching consequences. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +PREPARATIONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN + +One thing was perfectly clear; we were pretty well in a cleft stick. +So heartily had we espoused the cause of a much-injured man, that to +withhold practical assistance, now it was needed so sorely, was hardly +possible. Yet there could be no doubt that discomfiture and perplexity +were beginning to play the deuce with the Chief Constable's official +placidity. I also, "a married man, a father of a family, and a county +member," began to have qualms. + +"Three other stout fellows," said Fitz, "who are not afraid of a tight +place and who can be trusted with a revolver, are almost a necessity. +The trouble is to find them." + +On many occasions since, I have had cause to review my conduct in this +crisis. Whether it was that of a sane, judicial-minded, law-abiding +unit of society I have never been able to determine. Doubtless I erred +egregiously. All the same I shall always protest that Nevil Fitzwaren +was a much-injured man. Moreover, now that the call to arms had come +to him, nature had thought fit to invest him with that occult power +that makes a man a leader of others. I could not have believed such a +transfiguration to be possible. He seemed suddenly to emerge as the +possessor of a steadfastness of purpose and a strength of will which +commanded sympathy in almost the same measure that his pathetic +helplessness had in the first place aroused it. + +"Can you suggest three stout fellows, Arbuthnot? Gentlemen, if +possible, and chaps to be trusted. Of course they will have to know +the why and wherefore of it all." + +Under the spell that Fitz was wielding over me I became the victim of +an inspiration. In a flash there came into my mind the three gamesters +necessary to complete the _partie_. They were Jodey, his friend in +Jermyn Street, "who had had lessons from Burns," and that much-enduring +but thoroughly sound-hearted fellow, the Master of the Crackanthorpe. +For an instant I reflected with the Napoleonic gaze of Fitz upon me. +And then through sheer human weakness I committed the most signal +indiscretion of which a tolerably blameless existence had ever been +guilty. I permitted the names of these three champions to cross my +lips. + +Coverdale turned his sombre eyes upon me. They were devoid of anger, +but extremely full of sorrow. + +"You old fool!" he said under his breath. "You look like landing us +fairly." + +"Well," whispered the egregious I, "we can't leave the poor chap in the +lurch at this stage of the proceedings, can we?" + +"I suppose not; but this business looks like costing me my billet. Let +us pray God he don't intend to shoot the ambassador." + +"Not he," said I, assuming a cheerfulness I did not feel, in the hope +of minimising my lapse from the strait way of prudence. "He is a very +sensible fellow and a devilish plucky one." + +The immediate result of my indiscretion was that I was urged to summon +my relation by marriage, in order that his valuable services might be +enlisted. With that end in view, Parkins was sent in search of him. +He returned all too soon with the information that he was over at the +Hall playing billiards with Lord Brasset. + +"Two birds with one stone!" said Fitz, exultantly. "The best thing we +can do is to go over and see them." + +The Hall is not more than a hundred yards or so from our modest +demesne; and at Fitz's behest we set forth in quest of recruits. + +"Nice state o' things!" growled Coverdale _en route_. + +In due course we were ushered into Brasset's billiard-room. The owner +thereof and my relation by marriage were engaged in a friendly but +one-sided game of shilling snooker. The latter, in accordance with his +invariable practice of "putting his best leg first" to atone for the +lifelong handicap of having been born a younger son, was potting three +times the number of balls of his charmingly amiable and courteous +opponent. + +"Hullo, you fellows," said Brasset. "Take a cue and join us." + +The presence in that place of the husband of Mrs. Fitz was wholly +unlooked-for, but neither of the players betrayed their surprise. Any +surprise they had to display was duly forthcoming later. + +Most people who have mixed at all with their fellows are more or less +finished dissemblers. But Brasset and Jodey were by no means proof +against the extraordinary tale that Fitz had come to unfold. + +"Heiress to oldest reigning family in Europe!" exclaimed Brasset, whose +perturbation and bewilderment were comic in the extreme. "In that case +she had an absolute _right_ to hit me over the head with her crop, even +if she did go rather far in overriding Challenger." + +As for Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther, his countenance was a +study. + +"Well, I always said she was _it_," he murmured rapturously. + +"Stand by you--ra-_ther_!" said Brasset. "Only too proud. I've got a +beautiful Colt revolver in my bureau. Shot a lion with it in Africa." + +"Then you ought to be able to manage an ambassador in Portland Place," +said I. + +"Ra-_ther_!" + +"It's a go, then?" said Fitz. "I can count on you fellows to give me a +hand. We may have to put it across that swine von Arlenberg, although +of course he is merely obeying the orders of Ferdinand." + +"Yes, of course." + +The two recruits to the cause of the Crown Princess beamed joyfully. +They took the oath of fealty, which merely assumed the form of +promising to dine at Ward's before the event, and promising to sup at +the Savoy after it. + +The sixth person essential to the success of Fitz's scheme was the +unknown sportsman of Jermyn Street, who had had lessons from Burns. +Jodey was emphatic in his declaration that his friend, whom he +proclaimed as "the amateur middle-weight champion of the United +Kingdom," would be only too eager to seize one of the great +opportunities of his life. A telegram was immediately concocted for +this paladin, who was urged to turn up at Ward's on the morrow at the +appointed hour. "Bring a revolver with you. There will be a bit of +fun going after dinner," was a clause that the author of the telegram +was keenly desirous to insert. + +Opinion was divided as to the wisdom of inserting the clause in +question. To the shrewd and cautious official mind, as represented by +Coverdale, it would be sufficient to urge a sensible and law-abiding +citizen to give the proposed dinner party a wide berth. Personally, I +was of Coverdale's opinion; Fitz and Brasset "saw nothing out of the +way in it," while its author was convinced that so little would the +clause in question be likely to deter his friend O'Mulligan, that it +would invest a commonplace invitation to dine at Ward's and sup at the +Savoy with a sufficient spice of romance to preclude "the best +sportsman that ever came out of Ireland" from having a previous +engagement. + +Youth will be served. Jodey's lucid argument carried weight enough for +the telegram to be sent to Jermyn Street in all its pristine integrity. +Coverdale looked rueful all the same, and I felt his gaze of grave +reproach upon me. The leader of the enterprise, however, was far from +sharing the misgivings of the Chief Constable. On the contrary, he +felt that the cause of the Princess Sonia had gained three valuable +recruits. + +Certainly, the demeanour of Brasset and of my relation by marriage left +nothing to be desired from the point of view of whole-heartedness. +They were only too eager to embrace the opportunity of redressing a +notorious wrong. Coverdale and I could by no means rise to their +enthusiasm. We were both over forty, and at that time of life the +average man cannot evoke that quality, unless it is in the pursuit of a +peerage, but in our innermost hearts we were fain to feel that it did +them honour. + +To Brasset's suggestion that we should dine with him that evening, in +order that we might evolve, as far as in us lay, a plan of campaign, we +yielded a ready response. Incidentally, it may be well to state that +Brasset is unmarried, and that his mother was spending the winter at +San Remo. + +It was in sore travail of the spirit that I walked back to Dympsfield +House, and proceeded to hunt for the weapon which was kept in my +dressing-room as a precaution against burglars. Ruefully it was taken +from its sanctuary and examined. Then I went in search of the ruler of +the household. Having found her pottering about the greenhouse, I +broke the news that I was dining out that evening, and that on the +morrow duty called me to the metropolis, because I feared that my aged +grandmother's chronic bronchitis had taken a turn for the worse. + +Both these announcements were accepted with more serenity than the +inward monitor had led me to anticipate. + +"By all means dine with Reggie Brasset, although I think it is very +wrong of him not to ask me. And by all means go to London to-morrow to +see poor dear Gran, and"--here it was that the first small fly was +disclosed in the ointment--"take me. Now that the weather has gone all +to pieces, it is a good time to see the new plays; and I must have at +least two new frocks and one of those chinchilla coats that everybody +is wearing." + +There are occasions when the most reciprocal nature may regard marriage +as an overrated institution. + +"But, my dear child," I gasped, "did you not promise upon your sacred +word of honour that if you had that mare at the beginning of November, +you would not want to exceed your dress allowance before the summer?" + +"Did I?" said a voice of bland inquiry. + +"Did you, _mon enfant_!" + +"But then you see the poor thing has been lame for quite a fortnight." + +It was man's work to convince Mrs. Arbuthnot, delicately, tenderly, but +quite firmly, that not for a moment could her demands be entertained. +How in the end it was contrived I shall not attempt to explain. Who +among us is competent to render these hearthrug diplomacies in a just +notation? But by some occult means I was able to effect a compromise +upon terms which only a sanguine temperament could have hoped for. I +was to be permitted to dine with Brasset and play a quiet rubber of +bridge, and on the morrow I was to go to town to spend the week-end +with my grandmother; in consideration of which benefits, the second +party to the contract was to spend the week-end with her admirable +parents at Doughty Bridge, Yorks, and become the recipient of a sable +stole and an oxidised silver muff chain. + +I could not help feeling that such a compact was extremely honourable +to the political side of my nature. I had been prepared for pearl +earrings or a new opera cloak at the least. There can be little doubt +that tolerably regular attendance at the House of Commons during the +course of three sessions does not a little to equip a man for the more +complex phases of civilised life. + +Brasset's impromptu dinner party that evening was a decided success. +For this happy result he was not a little indebted to the foresight of +his amiable and ever-lamented father. The wine was excellent. Even +the Chief Constable, who looked as sombre as a cardinal and as rueful +as Don Quixote, swallowed the brown sherry with approbation, toyed with +the lighter vintages, sipped the port wine with sage approval, admired +the old brandy, and told one of the best stories I have ever heard in +my life. + +At the conclusion of this masterpiece of refined ribaldry, Brasset gave +a peremptory little tap on the table and rose to his feet. + +"Gentlemen," said he, "I ask you to drink the health of the Crown +Princess of Illyria. May God defend the right! With the toast, I beg +to be allowed to couple the name of our friend and neighbour, Mr. Nevil +Fitzwaren." + +The toast was honoured in due form. + +"Thank you, gentlemen." Fitz's reply was made with touching +simplicity. "God _will_ defend the right. He always does. But I +thank you all from the bottom of my heart for standing by me to see +that I get fair play. It's good to be born an Englishman." + +"Hear, hear; quite so," said the Chief Constable. + +Out of the corner of one rueful eye, however, the head of our +constabulary favoured me with a glance that was at once whimsical and +lugubrious. The thought was ever present in that official breast that +the slightest hitch in a decidedly precarious adventure would be +fraught for all concerned in it with consequences which he did not care +to contemplate. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +ON THE EVE + +A calm inquiry into the case rendered it inconceivable that two pillars +of the Constitution should commit themselves irrevocably to a scheme of +action whose true sphere was the boards of a playhouse or the pages of +a lurid romance. By what lapse of the reason had they permitted +themselves to drift into a position so ludicrous yet so eminently +dangerous? Possibly it was right for irresponsible youth; possibly it +was right for men of temperament like the heroic Fitz; but for +Lieutenant-Colonel John Chalmers Coverdale, C.M.G., late of His +Majesty's Carabineers, and Odo Arbuthnot, Member of Parliament for the +Uppingdon Division of Middleshire, it was confessedly an egregious +folly. + +We were both past the age when such a scheme would have appealed to our +high spirits as a superior sort of "rag." Once embarked upon it, who +should say whither it might lead? It was impossible to foretell the +course of such an adventure. Two such devotees of law and order did +well to entertain misgivings, even with the winecup in their hands. + +As far as the other side of the picture was concerned, Fitz was fully +entitled to regard himself as a much-injured man. It is true that in +the first instance he had taken the liberty of contracting a morganatic +marriage with a princess in the direct line of succession of a reigning +house. But in a country like ours, where the freedom of the subject +and the right of the individual to shape his own destiny form the +keystone of the arch upon which the fabric of society is raised, it was +impossible not to sympathise keenly with Fitz. All freeborn Englishmen +could not fail to resent the intervention of an irresponsible third +party, who was recklessly determined to violate a tie that had the +sanction of God. + +Over our cigars, when the servants had left the room, the orders for +the morrow were discussed. + +"I hope, Fitzwaren," said the Chief Constable, "that you fully realise +the extreme gravity of your undertaking. A single error of judgment, a +single slip in your mode of procedure, and we are certain to find +ourselves very badly landed indeed. Personally, I hope very much that +you will leave lethal weapons out of the case. If we carry them we run +up against the law; and not only will they prejudice our cause but +there is no saying to what they may lead." + +"I should like," said I, "to identify myself with these remarks of +Coverdale's. I concur entirely." + +Fitz removed the cigar from his lips and leaned back in his chair. He +seemed to be pondering deeply. + +"I respect the opinion of both of you," he said, speaking with a good +deal of deliberation after a pause that was somewhat lengthy. "You are +quite right in one sense, but in the most important sense of all I am +sure you are wrong. I should like everybody who is going into this +business to understand clearly that it is most likely to prove +extremely serious. We must take every reasonable precaution, because +the moment we enter von Arlenberg's house we carry our lives in our +hands. I know these Illyrians; as soon as they understand our game +they will use no ceremony. Law or no law, they will shoot us like dogs +if they think it is necessary. And I can assure you they will think it +is necessary, unless we get them with their hands up." + +"I don't like lethal weapons," said the Chief Constable. + +"I don't like them either," said Fitz, "but if we are to come through +with this business, we shall be compelled to carry them." Suddenly his +voice sank. "The truth is, this game is so dangerous, that I don't +urge anybody to take part in it. Let any man who thinks the cause is +good enough follow me with a loaded revolver in his right-hand trouser +pocket; and let any man who doesn't keep out of it and I shall be the +last to blame him." + +In the language there may not have been persuasiveness, but there was a +good deal in the tone. Fitz's manner was that of a leader of others; +of one who foresaw the risks he incurred; who embraced them +deliberately; who having once formed his plan stuck to it whatever it +might entail. + +Coverdale had seen service in Zululand, the Transvaal, and in Eygpt; +Brasset and I had borne a humble share in the recent transactions in +South Africa; yet in an unconscious way we were all susceptible to the +play of a powerful will and a magnetic personality. Cynics may say it +was the wine that turned the scale--the juice of the grape is the fount +of many a hardy resolution--but I prefer to think it was the quality of +Fitz himself. Retreat at the eleventh hour might have been construed +as dishonourable, but men like Coverdale had no need to be +fantastically nice upon the point of honour. It was, I think, that +Fitz carried conviction. His was the inestimable gift of rising with +his theme. Heaven knew! the enterprise was foolhardy, but the man +himself was a good one to follow. + +All the same, when we adjourned our meeting with the compact that we +should assemble at Middleham railway station on the morrow in time to +catch the 3.30 to London, I went home in a state of depression. Were I +to have been hanged at cock-crow I could not have found my bed more +unsympathetic. Most of the night I lay awake in a state of the most +unworthy apprehension. The very intangibility of the business of the +morrow seemed to make it a nightmare. Had it been a duel, or a +definite pitting of one known force against another, it would have +seemed less uncomfortable, less sinister. As it was, we did not know +precisely to what we stood committed. The thing might prove merely +farcical. On the contrary, it might involve battle, murder and sudden +death. + +A dozen times in the dismal darkness the question was put, by what +chain of events had a mildly egoistical hedonist, the husband of a +charming lady, the father of a merry blue-eyed daughter, with a +reasonable competence and an ambition to excel at golf, come to imperil +all these delectable things? Merely at the beck of a wild-living +profligate who felt he had been wronged. + +Stated as bluntly as this in the high court of reason the whole thing +seemed absurd. There was so much to lose and so little to gain. The +scheme was preposterous. Nevil Fitzwaren might certainly be the victim +of an injustice, but what of Miss Lucinda and her mama? True, +Coverdale was also a party to the scheme; but he was by nature +adventurous, a seeker after something fresh. To be sure he imperilled +his billet, but he was understood to have private means. + +"Odo Arbuthnot," said the thin voice of reason at three o'clock in the +morning, "you must withdraw from this incredibly foolish and +reprehensible proceeding." + +Howbeit, the voice of reason never sways us entirely. Accordingly I +made a particularly feeble breakfast, wrote a letter to my grandmother +in Bolton Street, sped the Madam, looking supremely gay and engaging, +on the way to her fond parents at Doughty Bridge, Yorks, read the +immortal story of "The Three Bears" to Miss Lucinda for the thousand +and first time, carefully overhauled the six-chambered weapon which a +professional criminal had yet to put to the test, and in a miserable +frame of mind sat down to luncheon in the company of my relation by +marriage. + +It may be that the holy state of wedlock makes cowards of us all. +Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther was certainly not embarrassed by +such qualms as these. He was even more serenely magnificent than usual +in a suit of grey tweeds aggressively checked and a waistcoat that was +conducting a violent quarrel with a Zingari necktie; while his air of +hopeful enjoyment of life as it was and as it was going to be, provoked +some rather pregnant reflections upon the crime of homicide. + +"O'Mulligan's wired. Mad keen. A regular nut." + +The well of English undefiled grows more copious with the process of +ages. By what mysterious alchemy the quality of mad keenness +transforms its possessor into "a regular nut" I was too low-spirited to +elucidate. + +"Fitz is a game bird, ain't he?" Flamboyant youth heartily poured half +a bottle of Worcestershire sauce over its cutlet. "Didn't think he had +it in him. Merely shows how you can be deceived." + +I groaned in spirit, but plucked up the courage to take a dismal nibble +at a piece of toast. + +"That chap Coverdale is a bit of a funkstick. Made himself rather an +ass about those firearms." + +I assented feebly. + +"Bet you a pony they want our photographs for the _Morning Mirror_." + +I rose from the table and took a turn in the kitchen garden. When your +heart is fairly in your boots, the society of your peers has its +drawbacks. + +At half-past two, punctual to the minute, the toot of the car was heard +at the hall door. Miss Lucinda received a parting salute and an +illicit box of chocolates which consoled her immensely for the +temporary loss--permanent perhaps in the case of one--of both her +parents. + +I confess to being one of those weak mortals who on a journey is +invariably accompanied by the consciousness of having left something +undone or having omitted to pack some unremembered but quite +indispensable necessary. Three-fourths of the way to the station I was +haunted with this feeling in a more acute form than usual, and then +quite suddenly, with a spasm of perverse joy, it occurred to me that I +had left the burglar's foe in its secret receptacle. + +"Thank God for that!" was the pious hyperbole which ascended to heaven. + +At the station we were not the first to arrive on the scene, although +there was a full quarter of an hour in hand. Fitz in a fur overcoat of +some pretensions bore a look of collected importance which was quite in +keeping with the _rôle_ he had to fill. + +"Tickets are taken," said he, "and carriage reserved for five." + +In front of the bookstall a yellow newsbill displayed the contents of a +London evening paper, issued at noon. "The Attempt on the Life of the +King of Illyria. Latest Details." + +"Clumsy fools," said the son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth, gloomily. +"They seem to have bungled the business badly, but they bungle +everything in Illyria." + +"His Excellency, the Ambassador, would appear to be an exception to the +general rule." + +Fitz bestowed upon me a murderous glower. + +Brasset arrived full five minutes in advance of the London express. +Pink and cherubic, his recent perplexity had yielded to an omnipresent +look of peace. His well-groomed air suggested that he took a simple +pleasure in being alive. + +The question, however, for the four conspirators assembled on the +Middleham platform was, what had happened to the Chief Constable? Was +it conceivable that the noble Brutus had left us in the lurch? +Remembering my own travail of the spirit, which still endured, it +seemed most natural and becoming to my partial judgment, that one so +wise had repented of his folly at the eleventh hour. + +Howbeit, my lips were sealed upon these illicit thoughts. Fitz himself +suspected no treachery. He ushered us into the reserved compartment +with immense dignity, and retained the left-hand corner seat, with the +back to the engine, for the missing warrior. + +"Coverdale is cutting it fine," I ventured to remark. + +"There is a minute yet," said Fitz, with an insouciance which, to use a +much-abused expression, was Napoleonic. + +A porter who suffered from rickets put in his head. + +"All London, gentlemen?" + +"Yes," said Fitz, introducing a shilling to a grimy but willing palm. +"And just see that the station-master keeps the train a few minutes for +Colonel Coverdale." + +"Agen the regulations, you know, sir," said the porter, with polite +misgiving. + +"Against what regulations?" said the undefeated Fitz. + +"The Company's." + +"Against the Company's regulations! Who the devil are the Company that +_they_ should have regulations?" + +This was a poser for the porter, who made a rather ineffectual apology +for such a piece of assumption on the part of the Company. But the +station-master's bell was ringing, and I, peering wildly through the +window, in the vain hope that my mentor, my hope, my stand-by might +after all appear, could see never a sign of Lieutenant-Colonel John +Chalmers Coverdale, C.M.G., late of His Majesty's Carabineers. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +ALARUMS AND EXCURSIONS + +But what is that? A commotion away up the platform, under the clock. +Yes, it is he, the faithful and the valiant! At least it is not he, +but one Baguley, a superannuated police-sergeant, bereft of an eye in +the service of the public peace. He staggers along under the +oppressive burden of a kit bag of portentous dimensions, and twenty +paces behind, sauntering along the platform with the most leisurely +nonchalance in the world, blandly indifferent to the fact that the +London express is due out, is the impressive and slightly pompous bulk +of the fifth conspirator, the great Chief Constable. + +There is a tremendous touching of hats along the platform. Even that +true Olympian, the guard of the London express, contrives to dissemble +his legitimate impatience, while Coverdale and his kit bag come aboard +the reserved compartment. + +"Cutting it rather fine, weren't you?" said I, with a tremor of relief +in my voice. + +"Time enough," said the Chief Constable, subsiding with a growl and a +glower into the left-hand corner. + +A shrill blast from the guard, a whistle and a snort from the engine, +and we were irrevocably committed to the untender hands of destiny. + +We were an ill-assorted party enough. Fitz the embodiment of masterful +determination, with his black eyes glowing with their inward fire; +Brasset and Jodey as cheerful and almost as _blasé_ as two +undergraduates on their way to attend a point-to-point race meeting; +Coverdale and the humble individual responsible for this narrative, +silent, saturnine and profoundly uncomfortable. + +It is true that I was favoured with one fragment of the Chief +Constable's discourse. It was communicated with pregnant brevity ten +miles from Bedford. + +"You old fool!" was its context. + +"It was Fitz who kept the train for you," I countered weakly. + +Whoever was to blame we were fairly in for it now; and to repine was +vain. + +"I am glad about your friend O'What's-his-name," said Fitz to Jodey. +"A man of his hands, hey? By the way, I believe you did mention a +revolver." + +My relation by marriage grinned an almost disgustingly effusive +affirmative. + +"I suppose you fellows have all remembered to bring one?" + +Somehow my looks betrayed me. + +"You've brought one, Arbuthnot?" + +I began to perspire. + +"The fact is," said I, "I had a capital .38 Webley, but it appears to +be mislaid." + +"That can be easily remedied. I have brought three in case of +emergency." + +"How lucky," said I, with insincerity. + +We were converging upon the metropolis all too soon. + +"I have engaged six bedrooms at Long's Hotel," said Fitz. + +"Only five will be necessary," said I, "as O'Mulligan lives in Jermyn +Street." + +"You have forgotten Sonia." + +It is true that for the moment I had forgotten the cause of all our +woes. Fitz had not, however; indeed, he had forgotten nothing. Not +only did he appear to have everything arranged, but he seemed to have +taken cognisance of the smallest detail. + +"I have ordered quite a decent little dinner at Ward's," said he. "You +can always depend upon good plain, solid, old-fashioned English +cooking. They give you the best mulligatawny in London. I must say +myself, that if I have to do a man's work, I like to have a man's meal. +And I think we can depend on some very decent madeira." + +"It is very satisfactory to know that," said Coverdale, with his +deepest growl. + +"There is nothing like madeira in my opinion," said Fitz, "if you are +going to be busy and you want to keep cool." + +"That is something to know," said the Chief Constable, without +enthusiasm. + +"I should think it was," said Fitz. "Do you know who gave me the tip?" + +The Chief Constable gave a growl in the negative. + +"Ferdinand himself. And what that old swine don't know of most things +is not much in the way of knowledge. He once told me he practically +lived on madeira throughout the Austrian campaign; and the night before +Rodova he drank six bottles. He says nothing keeps you so cool and +sharp as madeira." + +"Umph," the Chief Constable grunted. + +Brasset and Jodey, however, two extremely zealous subalterns in the +Middleshire Yeomanry, were much impressed. + +In three taxis we converged upon Long's Hotel; Brasset and Jodey in the +first; the Chief Constable and his kit bag in the second; Fitz and +myself in the third. A very respectable blizzard was raging; the +streets of the metropolis were in a truly horrid condition, wholly +unfit for man or beast; and the atmosphere had the peculiar raw chill +of a thoroughly disagreeable winter's night in London. But at every +yard we slopped precariously through the half-melted slush of the +streets, Fitz seemed to wax more Napoleonic. He was not in any sense +aggressive; there was not a trace of undue mental or moral elevation, +yet he was the possessor of a subtle quality that seemed to render him +equal to any occasion. + +"There is just one thing may undo us," he confessed to me. + +"Fate?" + +"No; to my mind fate is never your master, if you really mean to be +master of it. But there may be a spy. Von Arlenberg is as cunning as +a fox. And if he thinks I may have something to say in the matter, he +will take care that nothing is done without his knowledge. Probably we +are being followed." + +To test his grounds for this suspicion, Fitz suddenly ordered the +driver to stop. He thrust his head out of the window, and then an +instant later told our Jehu to drive on. + +"Just as I thought," he said. "There is another taxi behind." + +My companion became silent. + +"Something will have to be done," he said. "It won't do for von +Arlenberg to know too much." + +During the remainder of the journey Fitz found not a word to say. + +When we came to the quiet family hotel in Bond Street our leader seemed +still preoccupied. Certainly he had grounds for his foreboding. A +fourth taxi drew up behind the three vehicles we had chartered; and I +observed that a man got out of it and, discharging his taxi, entered +the hotel. As he passed me I was careful to note his appearance. He +was a short, sallow, foreign-looking individual, with the collar of his +overcoat turned up; a commonplace creature enough, who on most +occasions would pass without remark. + +While we inquired for our rooms, he sat in the lounge unobtrusively. +Save for Fitz's own conviction upon the point, it would never have +occurred to me that we were undergoing a process of espionage. + +No sooner had Fitz secured his room, than he said, in a tone +considerably louder than he used as a rule, that he had some business +to see after, and that he would be back in an hour. + +The man seated in the lounge could not fail to hear this announcement. +And sure enough, hardly had Fitz passed out of the hotel, when the +fellow rose and also took his leave. + +"What is Fitzwaren's game now?" inquired Coverdale. + +I refrained from advancing any theory as to the nature of Fitz's game. +For that matter, I had no theory to advance. It was clear enough that +the leader of our enterprise was fully justified in his suspicion, but +what his sagacity would profit him, I was wholly at a loss to divine. +I was convinced that the business that had called him so suddenly into +the sleet-laden darkness of the streets had to do with the man who had +passed out of the hotel upon his heels; yet precisely what that +business was, it was futile to conjecture. + +Prior to our departure for Ward's the time hung upon our hands somewhat +heavily. Brasset and Jodey utilised some of it in bestowing even more +pains than usual upon their appearance. In these days it is not +necessary to don powder, ruffles and a brocaded waistcoat for the +purpose of dining at Ward's, but there is an unwritten law which +expects you to wear a white vest at least with your evening clothes. +Even Coverdale and I thought well to comply with this sumptuary law. +We were both past the age when one's tailor is omnipotent; but when in +Rome, those who would be thought men of the world are careful to do +like the Romans. + +Four carefully groomed specimens of British manhood greeted Fitz in the +hotel foyer upon his return. It was then five minutes to seven, and +our mentor entered in a perfectly cool and collected manner. He +apologised, perhaps a thought elaborately, for the necessity which had +deprived us of his society. Twenty minutes later he was looking as +spick and span as the rest of us. + +While the hotel porter was whistling up the necessary means for our +conveyance to Saint James's Street, I found Fitz at my elbow. + +"By the way," said he in a casual undertone, "did you mention to the +others about the fellow who followed us in the taxi?" + +The answer was in the negative. + +"I'm glad of that. I think it will be wise if you don't. It might +worry them, you know. And there is no need to worry about him now." + +"Have you thrown him off the scent?" + +"Yes," said Fitz, quietly. "We shall have no more trouble from that +sportsman." + +I forbore to allow my curiosity any further rein upon this subject. +Beneath Fitz's cool and cordial tone was a suggestion that he would +thank me to dismiss it. Howbeit, I had no hint as to what had happened +outside in the street, and I was burning to know. + +It was a minute past the half-hour when we arrived at Ward's, but the +punctual O'Mulligan was there already. He rejoiced in the name of +Alexander; his freckles were many and he had a shock of red hair. His +nose was of the snub variety; his ears stuck out at right angles; his +eyes were light green; and his jaw was square and massive and the most +magnificently aggressive the mind of man can conceive. Regarded from +the purely æsthetic standpoint, Alexander O'Mulligan might be a subject +for discussion, yet he was as full of "points" as a prize bulldog. He +was not so tall as Coverdale, but every ounce of him was solid muscle; +his chest was deep and spreading, his hands were corded, and he had the +grip of a garotter. + +Alexander O'Mulligan shook hands all round with the greatest +comprehensiveness. As he did so he grinned from ear to ear in the +sheer joy of acquaintanceship. Fitz was his first victim and I was his +last, but each of us would as lief shake hands with a gibbon as with +our friend O'Mulligan. The fellow was so abominably hearty. He shook +hands as though it was the thing of all others he loved doing best in +the world. + +The dinner was admirable. Whether it was force of example, or the +magnetic presence of Alexander O'Mulligan, I am not prepared to say, +but certainly we did ourselves very well. Upon first entering the +hallowed precincts of Ward's, I had been in no mood to appreciate +"really good old-fashioned English cooking." One would have thought +that only the most _recherché_ of dinners would have tempted us in our +present state of mind. But somehow our new friend O'Mulligan dispensed +an atmosphere of Gargantuan good humour. + +Hardly had we come to close quarters with the far-famed mulligatawny, +which was quite appropriate to the conditions prevailing without, when +our latest recruit insisted that one and all must dine with him on the +morrow, and then adjourn to the National Sporting Club, for the purpose +of witnessing "Burns's do with the 'Gunner.'" + +If I live to the age of a hundred and twenty, I shall not forget our +little dinner at Ward's. Six commonplace specimens of _les hommes +moyens sensuels_ with lethal weapons in their pockets and anything from +pitch and toss to manslaughter in their hearts! Really, it was the +incongruous carried to the verge of the _bizarre_. + +Fitz at the head of the table was gracious to a degree. The fellow was +revealing a whole gamut of unsuspected qualities. His composure, his +half-gay, half-sinister _insouciance_, his alertness, his knowledge, +his faculty for action, which seemed to grow in proportion with the +demands that were made upon it--such an array of qualities was +curiously inconsistent with the heedless waster the world had always +judged him to be. + +Now that he had come to grips with fate the real Nevil Fitzwaren was +emerging with considerable potency. As far as "the married man, the +father of the family, and the county member" was concerned, the +fellow's dæmonic power was the cause of his dining quite reasonably +well. As for Coverdale, after swallowing his plate of mulligatawny, +his glance ceased to reproach me. His habitual philosophy and the +old-fashioned English cooking began to walk hand in hand. The +evening's business was quite likely to cost him his billet, but at +least it was sure to be excellent fun. Besides, when he stood fairly +committed to a thing, it was his habit to see it through. + +Dinner was conducted in the spirit of leisurely harmony which is due to +the traditions accruing to the shade of John Ward, who left this vale +of tears in 1720. Fitz assured us that there was no hurry. If we got +a move on about nine we should have plenty of time to do our business +with his Excellency. + +"You haven't quite explained the orders for the day, my dear fellow," +said Coverdale, taking a reverential sip of the famous old brandy. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE ORDERS FOR THE DAY + +"The orders for the day don't need much explanation," said Fitz. +"Merely see that there are six cartridges in your revolver; keep it in +your trouser pocket with your hand on it, and then follow the man from +Cook's." + +"Like all schemes of the first magnitude," said I, "it appears to be +simplicity itself." + +"It is this confounded revolver business," said Coverdale, "that I +should like to see dispensed with. It might so easily land us in +serious trouble." + +"It is far more likely to land us out of serious trouble," said Fitz. +"But this I can promise: they will not be produced except in the last +resort." + +It was clear that the question of the revolvers had made Coverdale as +uneasy as it had made me; but the only thing to be done now was to pin +implicit faith upon the saneness of Fitz's judgment. Certainly he had +aroused respect. His method of communicating to Alexander O'Mulligan +the nature of the cause, and the need for absolute obedience to the +word of command, appeared to kindle awe and admiration in equal parts +in the breast of the middle-weight champion of the United Kingdom. + +"Do exactly as you are told, O'Mulligan, and do nothing without orders, +unless they begin to shoot, and then you begin to shoot too. By the +way, Arbuthnot, did I understand you to say you had forgotten to bring +a revolver?" + +I admitted the impeachment. + +"I have several spare ones in my overcoat"--the tone of reproof was +delicate. "Is there any one else who has forgotten to provide himself +with one?" + +"There is also a spare one at my rooms round the corner," said +Alexander O'Mulligan, with an air of modest pride. + +Fitz honoured the new recruit with a nod of curt approval. In any +assembly of law-breakers the Bayard from Jermyn Street would be sure of +a hearty welcome. His face had expanded to the most moonlike +proportions, which the freckles and the prominent ears set off +fantastically; and in the green eyes was a look of genuine ecstasy, +beside which the emotion in those of Brasset and Jodey was mere hopeful +expectation. + +Fitz took out his watch and studied it with the air of the Man of +Destiny. + +"Fourteen minutes to nine," said he. "At nine o'clock I shall drive +alone to No. 300 Portland Place, in a taxi. At four minutes past nine +Coverdale and Arbuthnot will follow. They will ask for the Ambassador, +Coverdale giving the name of General Drago, and Arbuthnot the name of +Count Alexis Zbynska. You will be shown into a waiting-room while your +names are taken in to his Excellency. If he is in, he will receive +you; if he is not, Grindberg, or one of the other secretaries, or one +of the Attachés will have a word with you. Keep your mufflers up to +your ears and have the collars of your overcoats turned up. If von +Arlenberg is not in, say you will wait for him. You can use Illyrian, +or French, or broken English. Of course your object, in any case, will +be to gain time and keep in the house until you receive further +instructions. Am I clear?" + +"Reasonably clear," said Coverdale. "If we gain access to the house we +are not to leave it until we hear from you?" + +"That is so." + +"And what about Alec and Brasset and me?" The earnestness of my +relation by marriage was wistful. + +"O'Mulligan will leave four minutes after Coverdale and Arbuthnot. He +will merely give his name as Captain Forbes, who desires to fix an +appointment with von Arlenberg upon a private matter of importance. He +won't be able to fix it; but they will send a chap to talk to you, +O'Mulligan. You must be very long-winded and you must use your best +English, and you must waste as much time as you can. Understand?" + +O'Mulligan beamed like a seraph. + +"And Brasset and me?" said the pleading voice. + +"Brasset will leave four minutes after O'Mulligan. He will be Mr. +Bonser, a messenger from the Foreign Office, with a letter for von +Arlenberg. Here you are, Brasset, here is the letter for von +Arlenberg." + +With a matter-of-factness which was really inimitable, Fitz tossed +across the tablecloth the missive in question, copiously daubed with +red sealing-wax. + +"Brasset," said Fitz, "you will be careful not to give this most +important letter into the keeping of anybody save and except his +Excellency, Baron von Arlenberg, Ambassador and Plenipotentiary +Extraordinary to his Majesty the King of Illyria, at the Court of Saint +James." + +"I hope the superscription is correct," said I, misguidedly. + +Fitz looked me down with the eye of a Frederick. The sympathy of the +table was with him entirely. + +"Somebody will want to take it to the Ambassador," said Fitz. "But +Brasset, your instructions are that you deliver this document to his +Excellency in person." + +With an air of reverence, Brasset inserted the letter with its +portentous red seal in his cigar-case. The most exacting of ministers +could not have desired a more trustworthy or a more eminently discreet +custodian for an epoch-making document than the Master of the +Crackanthorpe. + +"How shall I know old von Thingamy when I see him?" inquired the +messenger from the Foreign Office. + +"You won't see him," said Fitz. "But you must make it appear that you +want to see him particularly." + +"But if I should happen to see him?" + +The Master of the Crackanthorpe was awed into silence by a Napoleonic +gesture. + +"Where do I come in?" said the pleading voice from the wilderness. + +"You come in, Vane-Anstruther," said Fitz to my relation by marriage, +"four minutes after Brasset. You are Lieutenant von Wildengarth-Mergle +from Blaenau, with a letter of introduction to the Illyrian Ambassador. +Here is your card, and you can give it to anybody you like." + +The recipient was immensely gratified by the card of Lieutenant von +Wildengarth-Mergle of the Ninth Regiment of Hussars when it was +bestowed upon him. His manner of disposing of it was precisely similar +to that adopted by Brasset in the case of the letter from the Foreign +Office. His bearing also was modelled obviously upon that of that +ornament of high diplomacy. + +"I assume," said I, "that we are all to bluff our way into the Illyrian +Embassy; and once we are there we are to take care to stay until we are +advised further?" + +"That is so." + +"But let us assume for a moment that we get no advice?" + +"If I do not come to you by ten minutes to ten, or you are not sent for +by then, you are all to leave any ante-room you may be in, and you are +to walk straight up the central staircase, taking notice of nobody. If +they try to stop you, merely say you wish to see the Ambassador." + +"And if they use force?" + +"Make use of it yourself, with as much noise as you can. And if you +still fail to hear from me, then will be the time to think about +retirement. Does everybody understand?" + +Everybody did apparently. + +"It is seven minutes to nine. Time we began to collect our taxis." + +Fitz rose from the table, and in a body we went in search of our coats +and hats. For my fellow conspirators I cannot speak, but my heart was +beating in the absurdest manner, and my veins were tingling. There was +that sense of exaltation in them which is generally reserved for a +quick twenty minutes over the grass. + +"Give me that revolver," said I. + +As Fitz smuggled the weapon into my hand, I could feel my pulses +leaping immorally. This sensation may have been due to my having dined +at Ward's; although doubtless it is more scientific to ascribe it to +some primeval instinct which has resisted civilisation's ravages upon +human nature. + +As I stealthily inserted the weapon into the pocket of my trousers, I +stole a covert glance at the solemn visage of the Chief Constable. The +great man was smiling benignly at his thoughts, and smoking a big cigar +with an air of Homeric enjoyment. + +As Fitz, tall-hatted and fur-coated, picked his way delicately down the +slush-covered steps to where his taxi awaited him, he turned to offer a +word of final instruction to his followers. + +"Coverdale and Arbuthnot 9.4; O'Mulligan 9.8; Brasset 9.12; +Vane-Anstruther 9.16. If you hear nothing in the meantime, at 9.50 you +go upstairs." + +"Righto," we chorussed, as Fitz boarded his chariot with a +self-possession that was even touched with languor. + +We watched him turn into Piccadilly, and then proceeded solemnly to +invest ourselves in coats and mufflers. Four minutes is not a long +space of time, yet it is quite possible for it to seem an age. Before +the hall clock pointed to 9.4, one might have had a double molar drawn, +or one's head cut off by the guillotine. + +"300 Portland Place," said the Chief Constable in tones which somehow +seemed astonishingly loud, while I squeezed as far as possible into the +far corner of the vehicle for the better accommodation of my stalwart +companion. + +"Dirty night," said the Chief Constable. "Not fit for a dog to be out. +Have the glass down?" + +It may have been an overwrought fancy, but I thought I perceived a +slight, but unmistakable tremor in the voice of the head of the +Middleshire Constabulary. + +"Not for me, thanks," said I. "These things are so stuffy." + +The head of the Middleshire Constabulary agreed with me. The +impression may have been due to a disordered fancy, but I thought I +detected a note of embarrassment in the Chief Constable's laugh. + +From Saint James's Street to Portland Place is not far, and this +evening we seemed to accomplish the journey in a very short time. +Having dismissed our taxi at the door of the Ambassador's imposing +residence, we each looked to the other to ring his Excellency's +door-bell. + +"General," said I, "you are my senior, and I feel that your Illyrian, +or your French, or your broken English or any other language in which +you may be moved to indulge, will carry more weight than mine." + +"Oh, do you! By the way; I have forgotten my name." + +"General Drago." + +"And yours?" + +"Count Alexis Zbynska." + +"Well, here goes." + +The gallant warrior gave a mighty tug at the bell. This met with no +attention; but at the second assault on the ambassadorial door-bell, +the massive portal was swung back, slowly and solemnly, by a gorgeous +menial. In the immediate background there were others. + +"I am General Drago, and I wish to see the Ambassador." The Chief +Constable's precision of phrase was really majestic. + +The stalwart Illyrian, who seemed to be quite seven feet high from the +crown of his wig to the soles of his silk stockings, bowed and led the +way within. + +When we had crossed his Excellency's threshold, and just as a gorgeous +interior had unfolded itself to our respectful gaze, a very +urbane-looking personage in evening clothes and a pair of white kid +gloves took charge of us. He led us through a spacious hall containing +pillars of white marble, whence we passed into a waiting-room, +immediately to the right of a distinctly imposing alabaster staircase. +In this apartment the light was dim and religious, and the atmosphere +had a chill solemnity. Our friend of the white kid gloves presented us +with a slip of paper apiece, and indicated an inkstand on the table. + +"Write our names in Illyrian," I whispered to my fellow conspirator. +"They will carry more weight." + +The Chief Constable inscribed his own name on the slip of paper very +laboriously, in the Illyrian character. When he had accomplished this +feat, I proceeded as well as in me lay, and with a deliberation quite +equal to his own, to commit to paper the name of the Herr Graf Alexis +von Zbynska. I was beset with much misgiving as to the correct manner +of spelling it, and therefore had recourse to a number of superfluous +flourishes in order to conceal my ignorance as far as possible. + +When the gentleman of the white kid gloves had solemnly borne away the +slips of paper, the Chief Constable proceeded to remove a bead of +honest perspiration from his manly forehead. + +"Of all the cursed crackbrained schemes!" he muttered. "What does the +madman expect us to do now!" + +"Say as little and waste as much time as we can," said I, "and at ten +minutes to ten, if we are still alive, we are to make our way up that +staircase." + +The head of the Middleshire Constabulary subsided into incoherence +mingled with profanity. + +The gentleman of the white kid gloves had closed the door upon us. The +gloom and the silence of the room was terribly oppressive. With +ticking nerves, I made a survey of its contents. The furniture +appeared to consist of a large table with massive legs, half a dozen +chairs covered in red leather, a full-length portrait in oils, by +Bruffenhauser, of his Illyrian Majesty, Ferdinand the Twelfth, in which +the victor of Rodova appeared in full regalia in a gilt frame, a really +magnificent-looking old gentleman; while on a separate table at the far +end of the room was the Almanach de Gotha. + +It began to seem that our suspense was going to last for ever. Not a +sound penetrated to us from beyond the closed door. At last Coverdale +took out his watch. + +"Is it ten minutes to ten yet?" I inquired anxiously. + +"No; it still wants a couple of minutes to half-past nine." + +To be condemned to support such tension for a whole twenty minutes +longer was to place a term upon eternity. + +"Hadn't we better open the door," said I, "so that we can hear if +anything happens?" + +My fellow conspirator concurred. + +I opened the door accordingly and looked out in the direction, of the +alabaster staircase. A man was descending it in a rather languid +manner. There was something curiously familiar about his appearance. +As soon as he saw me standing at the foot of the stairs he quickened +his pace. It was clear that he wished to speak to me. + +"Keep cool," he said, and to my half-joyful bewilderment I recognised +the voice of Fitz. "You and Coverdale had better leave your overcoats +in that room and go up. Go into the first room on the left on the +first floor!" + +With a coolness that was almost incredible, Fitz sauntered away across +the wide vestibule with his hands in his pockets, while I returned to +Coverdale with this latest command. + +We obeyed it with a sense of relief. Anything was better than to sit +counting the seconds in that funereal waiting-room. Divested of our +overcoats, we went forth up the staircase, doing our best to appear +quite at ease, as though there was nothing in the least unusual in the +situation. + +Half-way up we were confronted with two men coming down. They looked +at us with quiet intentness and seemed inclined to speak. Coverdale +passed on with set gaze and rigid facial muscles, an art in which, like +so many of his countrymen, he is greatly accomplished. His +"Speak-to-me-if-you-dare" expression stood us in excellent stead. The +two men passed down the stairs without venturing to address us, and we +went up. + +The first room on the left, on the first floor, was a larger and more +cheerful apartment than the one from which we had come. It was better +lit; there was a bright fire, and it was furnished with taste, after +the fashion of a drawing-room. There were books, photographs, and a +piano. + +The room was empty, but we had been in it scarcely a minute when a +servant entered to offer us coffee. We did not disdain the +ambassadorial bounty. Excellent coffee it was. + +We were toying with this refreshment when a stealthy rustle apprised us +that we were also about to receive the indulgence of feminine society. +A young woman, tall and graceful, fair to the eye and charmingly +gowned, came into the room with a sheet of music in her hand. The +presence of a pair of total strangers did not embarrass her. + +"Do you like Schubert?" said she, with a delightful foreign intonation. + +"I think Schubert is charming," said I, with heartiness and promptitude. + +The lady flashed her teeth in a rare smile and sat down at the piano. +I arranged her music with a care that was rather elaborate. + +It was not Schubert, however, that she began to play, but a haunting +little "Impromptu" of Schumann's. Her playing was good to listen to, +for her touch was highly educated; also it was fascinating to watch her +movements, since she was an extremely graceful and vivid work of nature. + +Very assiduously I turned over her music. The occupation in itself was +pleasant; also it seemed to give some sort of sanction to our unlawful +presence. Coverdale, with his hands tucked deep in his pockets, +appeared to listen most critically to the lady's playing; although, as +I have heard him declare himself, the only form of music that appeals +to him is "a really good brass band." + +In the course of the performance of Schumann's "Impromptu" the audience +of the fair pianist gained in number and authority. Like the famous +Pied Piper of Hamelin, the thrilling delicacy of her touch began to +entice quaint beasts from their lair. Alexander O'Mulligan sauntered +into the drawing-room at about the fourth bar. He wore his most +seraphic grin, and his ears were spread to catch the most illusive +chords of melody. He gave Coverdale a jovial nod and winked at me. It +was clear that the amateur middle-weight champion of Great Britain was +enjoying himself immensely. + +Hardly had Alexander O'Mulligan advised us of his genial presence, when +Brasset and my relation by marriage came in upon tiptoe. The sight of +us all with an unknown lady discoursing Schumann for our benefit was +doubtless as reassuring as it was unexpected. In the emotion of the +moment Jodey gave the amateur middle-weight champion a fraternal dig in +the ribs. + +However, our party could not be considered complete without the +presence of the chief gamester. The "Impromptu" had run its course and +the gracious lady at the piano had been prevailed upon to play +something of Brahms', when the master mind, whose arrival we were +nervously awaiting, appeared once more upon the scene. Fitz came into +the room looking every inch the Man of Destiny. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE MAN OF DESTINY + +It was not in looks alone that Fitz resembled the Man of Destiny. The +peremptory decision of his manner fitted him for the part. The +beautiful musician and her subtle cadences were significant to him only +in so far as they could serve his will. Fitz entered in the midst of a +rhapsody played divinely; and with an unconcerned air he went straight +up to the piano, and, with Napoleonic effrontery, placed his elbow +across the music. + +"Sorry to interrupt you, Countess, but there is no time to lose." + +The Countess lifted her fingers from the keys, and her teeth flashed in +a smile that had an edge to it. + +A shrug of the shoulders from the _pianiste_; and Fitz began to talk +with considerable volubility in his fluent Illyrian. My nurture has +been expensive; and on the admirable English principle of the more you +pay for your education the less practical knowledge you acquire, let it +cause no surprise that my acquaintance with the Illyrian tongue is +limited to a few expletives. Therefore I was unable to follow the +course of Fitz's conversation. + +Perforce I had to be content with watching his play of gesture. This, +too, was considerable. The air of languor which it had pleased him to +assume in the crises of his fate was laid aside in favour of a +wonderful ardour and conviction. He drummed his fingers on the top of +the piano and urged his views with a fervour that might have moved the +Sphinx. + +At first the fair musician did not seem prepared to take Fitz +seriously. Her smile was arch, and inclined to be playful. But Fitz +was in an epic mood. + +He had not come so far upon a momentous enterprise to be gainsaid by a +woman's levity. The man began to wax tremendous. He kept his voice +low, but the veins swelled in his forehead, and he beat the palm of his +right hand with the fist of his left. + +Before such a force of nature no woman could be expected to maintain +her negative attitude. Fitz's Illyrian became volcanic. In the end +the lady at the piano spread her hands, said "Hein!" and rose from the +music stool. A moment she stood irresolute, but the gaze upon her was +that of a serpent fixed upon the eyes of a bird. The man's +determination had won the day. For, clearly at his behest, she quitted +the room, and Fitz, white and tense, yet with blazing eyes, followed +her. + +For the moment it seemed that he had forgotten his fellow conspirators. +But as soon as he had passed out of the room he turned back. + +"Stay where you are," he said. "You will be wanted presently." + +The five of us were left staring after him through the open door of the +drawing-room. It was the Chief Constable who broke the silence. + +"What's his game now?" + +"He appears to be engaged in convincing a woman against her will," said +I. "Were you able to follow the conversation?" + +"Not altogether. He appears to have made up his mind that Madame shall +do something, and Madame appears to have made up hers that she won't. +But exactly what it is, I can't say. I don't mind betting a shilling, +all the same, that the damned fellow will get his way. Upon my word I +have never seen his equal!" + +The Chief Constable laughed in a hollow voice, and removed another bead +of honest perspiration from his countenance. + +Fitz's departure with the Countess marked the renewal of our suspense. +Here were the five of us landed indefinitely, biting our thumbs. The +situation was rather absurd. Five law-abiding Englishmen assembled +with fell intent in a private house, yet knowing very little of the +business they had on hand. Each had made his way by stealth, and under +false pretences, into the very heart of the place. In this comfortable +drawing-room we had no _locus standi_ at all. To all in the +establishment we were total strangers, and to us they were equally +strange. Would Fitz never return? Would the call to action never be +made? A man with a high forehead and the look of an official came to +the threshold of the room, looked in upon us pensively, and then went +away again. Two minutes later a second individual repeated the +performance. Doubtless we were five strange and unexpected birds--but +the whole business was beginning to be ridiculous. + +I looked at my watch. It was twenty-five minutes past ten. Then the +undefeated O'Mulligan sat down at the piano and began to play the +latest masterpiece in vogue at the Tivoli. The strains of his +searching melody had the effect of bringing to us another servant with +a further supply of coffee. + +"Can you tell me if the Ambassador is dining out to-night?" I said to +the servant. + +"Yes, sir," said the man who was English. "At Buckingham Palace, but +he will be home before eleven." + +"Is the Crown Princess dining there also?" + +"No, sir, I believe not." + +"She is in the suite of rooms on the next floor?" I said carelessly. + +"Yes, sir." + +When the man had withdrawn I was congratulated. + +"Well done, you!" said Coverdale. "Useful information." + +"I wonder if Fitz knows as much," said I. + +"Of course he does. The infernal fellow has thought this thing out +pretty well. He knows the game he's playing." + +This was reassuring from one whose habit was averse from optimism. + +Inspired with the knowledge that his Excellency was dining at +Buckingham Palace, Alexander O'Mulligan began to pound away more +heartily than ever upon the upright grand. + +"Give your imitation of church bells and a barrel organ, Alec," said a +humble admirer, insinuating a trifle more ease into his bearing. + +"Do you think they will mind if we smoke here?" said Brasset, +plaintively. "I am dying for a cigarette." + +However, before the Master of the Crackanthorpe could have recourse to +this aid to his existence, Fitz returned. He was alone, and he was +peremptory. + +"What an infernal din you fellows kick up!" He fixed his dæmonic gaze +upon the amateur middle-weight champion. "Leave that piano and come +and be presented to my wife." + +At last we were coming to the horses. There was a perceptible squaring +of shoulders and a shooting of cuffs, and then Fitz led the way out of +the room, followed by Coverdale and the rest of us in review order. We +were conducted up another marble staircase and along a lengthy +corridor, through a succession of reception-rooms, until at last we +found ourselves in an apartment larger and more ornate than all the +others. Its sombre richness was truly imposing. Pictures, tapestry, +candelabra, carpets and furniture all combined to give it the air of a +state chamber. + +Three ladies were seated at the far end of this magnificent room. One +was the fair musician upon whom Fitz had imposed his will; another was +a mature and stately dame, with snow-white hair and patrician features; +and the third, reclining upon a chair with a high gilt back, was the +"Stormy Petrel," the Crown Princess of Illyria. + +As soon as we came into the room the two other ladies rose, leaving the +Princess seated in state. Fitz presented each of us with all the +formality that the most sensitive royalty could have desired. His +manner of recommending us to her Royal Highness was dignified, +authoritative and not without grace. As far as we were concerned, I +hope our bearing was not lacking in the necessary punctilio. + +Hitherto it had been our privilege to see Mrs. Fitz out hunting in her +famous scarlet coat, when to be sure she had been the centre of much +critical observation. But at such times the princess was merged in the +brilliant horsewoman; and it goes to prove how easily "the real thing" +may pass for the mere audacity of the intrepid adventuress, if one +comes to consider that the bearing of "the circus rider from Vienna" +awoke no suspicions in respect of her status. + +It would be easy to indulge in a page of reflection upon the subject of +Mrs. Fitz. Her style was quite as pronounced in the saddle as it was +in the salon, but the experts in that elusive quality had failed, as +they do occasionally, to appreciate its authenticity. Doubtless they +would have failed again to render the genuine thing its meed, had we +not the assurance of Fitz that we were in the presence of the heiress +to the oldest monarchy in Europe. + +It is time I attempted to describe this noble creature. But it is vain +to seek to portray a great work of nature. Above all else I think she +must be regarded as that. She was prodigal in beauty; imperious in the +vividness of her challenge; splendid in the arresting candour of her +dark and disdainful eyes. There was a compelling power before which +the world of men and things was prone to yield; but there was pathos +too in that valiant self-security, which knew so little yet exacted so +much; and beyond all else there was the immemorial fascination of a +luckless, intensely sentient being, who seemed in her own person to be +the epitome of an entire sex at the dawn of the twentieth century. + +One by one we paid our homage, and it was not rendered less by the +romance of the circumstances. + +"You are brave men!" she said in a voice wonderfully low and clear in +quality. "We Sveltkes have known always how to esteem men of courage." + +Coverdale, as the doyen of the party, took upon himself to speak for +us. He held himself erect and bowed much too stiffly to pass muster as +a courtier. But he had a kind of plain, almost rough, sincerity which +atoned a little for his resolute absence of grace. + +"If we are to have the privilege, ma'am," said the Chief Constable, "of +making ourselves useful, I am sure we shall all feel very proud and +honoured." + +There is often something rather charming in a plain man's attempt at +the ornate. So honourable an awkwardness caused the eyes of her Royal +Highness to glow with humour and kindliness. + +"_Mais oui, mon cher_, I know it well, _les Anglais sont des hommes +honnêtes_." Suddenly she laughed quite charmingly, and enfolded the +six of us in a glance of the highest benevolence, with which, +doubtless, her favourite dogs and horses had often been indulged. "Do +you know, there is something in _les Anglais_ that I like much. Quiet +fellows, eh, always a little _bête_, but so--so trustworthy. Yes, I +like them much." + +There was something soft and quaint and entirely captivating in the +accent of her Royal Highness. The smile in her eyes was frankness +itself. + +"I hope, ma'am," said the Chief Constable, still labouring valiantly +with his politeness, "that we shall deserve praise." + +The Princess continued to smile. A very characteristic smile it was. +A little girl admiring her array of dolls, or old Frederick of Prussia +reviewing his regiment of giants, might have been expected to indulge +in a very similar gesture. We were honest Englishmen, quiet fellows, a +little _bête_, who were always to be trusted; and her _naïveté_ was +such, that it was bound to inform us of these facts. + +"You must know my ladies. They will like to know you, I am sure." + +The elder was the Margravine of Lesser Grabia; the fair admirer of +Strauss the Countess Etta von Zweidelheim. The bows were profound; and +not for a moment did the look of high indulgence quit the face of her +Royal Highness. + +"The Margravine is a dear good creature, Colonel Coverdale. Many times +she has helped me when I could not do my sums. I never could do sums, +because I always thought they were stupid. But she is such a kind, +faithful soul, my dear Colonel, and not at all stupid, like the sums +she used to set me. As for her cooking, it is excellent. If you are +not otherwise engaged, my dear Colonel, I should recommend you to marry +her." + +The younger section of her Royal Highness's bodyguard, Brasset, Jodey +and O'Mulligan, gave ground abruptly. The amateur middle-weight +champion of Great Britain nearly disgraced us all by choking audibly. +But really the expression of blank dismay upon the weather-beaten +countenance of the Chief Constable was stupendous. However, his +presence of mind and his courtier-like politeness did not for a moment +desert him. + +"Delighted, I'm sure," he murmured. + +"I feel sure, a man so brave as Colonel Coverdale has a good wife +already," said the lady of the patrician features, speaking excellent +English with great amiability. + +A further development of this alluring topic was precluded by the +entrance of a fourth lady into the room. She carried an opera cloak. +Clearly this was designed for the use of the Princess.' + +Her Royal Highness, however, preferred to tarry. Fitz, hovering round +her chair, found it hard to veil his impatience. Too plainly the +delay, which was wanton and unnecessary, was setting his nerves on +edge. His wife must have been conscious of it, since she patted his +sleeve with an air at once soothing and maternal. Nevertheless she +showed no haste to forgo the comfort of the room or the pleasure of the +society in which she sat. + +"I was hoping," said Fitz, "that we could get away before the return of +von Arlenberg." + +The smile of the Princess was of rare brilliancy. + +"Ah yes, the dear Baron. Perhaps it is better." + +Fitz took the cloak from the hands of the lady, but before he could +place it around his wife's shoulders voices were heard at the far end +of the long room. + +Three men had entered. + +The first of these to approach us was a tall, stout and florid +personage wearing full Court dress and so many decorations that he +looked like a caricature. Certainly he was a magnificent figure of a +man, but, at this moment, a little lacking in serenity. His face +showed traces of a consternation that would have been almost comic had +it not been rather painful. At the sight of the six of us he spread +out his hands and gesticulated to those who had come with him into the +room. + +In an undertone he said something in Illyrian, which I did not +understand. + +In striking contrast to the perturbation of the Ambassador the manner +of the Princess was as amiable and composed as if she were seated in +the castle at Blaenau. + +"Ah, Baron, you have dined well?" + +"Excellently, madam, excellently!" said the Ambassador. The +consternation in his face was slowly deepening. + +"_Très bien_; it is well. I have heard my father say that cooking was +the only art in which the good English are not quite perfect. And _le +bon roi Edouard_, I hope he is in good health?" + +"In robust health, madam, in robust health." + +The dismay in the eyes of the Ambassador was rather tragic. His gaze +was travelling constantly to meet that of his two companions, stolid +men who yet were at a loss to conceal their uneasiness. On the other +hand, the air of the Princess was charmingly cool and _dégagé_. + +"Baron," said she, "do you know my husband?" + +Her smile, as she spoke, acquired a malice that made one think of a +sword. + +"Madam, I have not the privilege," said the Ambassador coldly. + +Somehow the manner of the reply gave one an enlarged idea of his +Excellency's calibre. If in such a situation it is permissible for a +humble spectator to speak of himself, I felt my throat tighten and my +heart begin to beat. + +"Well, Baron," said the Princess, "it is a privilege that I am sure you +covet. His Excellency the Herr Baron von Arlenberg, my dear father's +representative in England, Mr. Nevil Fitzwaren, squire of Broadfields, +in the County of Middleshire." + +The Ambassador bowed gravely and then held out his hand. + +Fitz returned the bow of Ferdinand the Twelfth's representative +slightly and curtly, but ignored his hand altogether. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +FURTHER PASSAGES AT NO. 300 PORTLAND PLACE + +The Princess was amused. + +"_Aha, les Anglais! Très bons enfants!_" + +The royal eyebrows had an uplift of mischievous pleasure. + +"And this, dear Baron," said her Royal Highness, "is my good friend +Colonel Coverdale, who has smelt powder in the wars of his country." + +Fitz's open rudeness seemed to help the Ambassador to sustain his +poise. He bowed and offered his hand to the Chief Constable in a +fashion precisely similar to that he had used to the husband of the +Princess. + +The Chief Constable shook hands with the Ambassador. It was amusing to +observe the manner in which each of these big dogs looked over the +other. The representative of Ferdinand the Twelfth was a man of +greater calibre than his first appearance had led us to believe. + +"It is pleasant, madam," said he, "to find you surrounded by your +English friends." + +The dark eyes brimmed with meaning. + +"Confess, Baron, that you did not think I had so many." + +"Your Royal Highness is not kind to my intelligence," said his +Excellency. + +"Confess, then, you did not think that such was their courage?" + +"I will perjure myself if your Royal Highness desires it." The +Ambassador's laugh was not so gay in effect as it was in intention. +"But could I believe that you would admit any save the bravest to your +friendship?" + +"Then you recognise, Baron, that my friends are brave?" + +"Unquestionably, madam, they are brave." + +"Explain then, Baron, why you did not guard the doors of my prison? +For what reason, when you went out to dine this evening, did you forget +to lock them and put the keys in your pocket?" + +Before the subtle laughter in the eyes of his questioner the Ambassador +lowered his gaze. + +"I trust your Royal Highness does not feel that one of the oldest, if +one of the humblest, servants of the good King has so little regard for +your Royal Highness as to seek to debar her from the simplest of +pleasures?" + +"It has not occurred to your Excellency that that of which you speak as +the simplest of pleasures may prove for yourself the greatest of +calamities?" + +At this point the Ambassador was tempted to dissemble. + +"I am at a loss, madam, to read your thoughts." + +"Liar!" muttered Fitz in my ear. + +"Your Excellency appears to have a store of natural simplicity," said +the Princess. + +The Ambassador bowed. + +"Is it not a great thing to have, madam, in these days?" + +"Has it not occurred to your Excellency that it is a luxury that those +who would serve their Sovereign occasionally deny themselves?" + +"If it pleases your Royal Highness to exercise your delightful wit at +the expense of the humblest servant of the good King!" + +"It does not please me, Excellency. It grieves me to the heart." + +With an address that was remarkable the Princess changed her tone. +Quite suddenly the clear and mellow inflection of light banter was +exchanged for one of coldly wrought reproof. + +"I am sorry, madam," said the Ambassador, simply and with sincerity; "I +am a thousand times sorry. I can never forgive myself if I have +wounded the susceptibilities of your Royal Highness. Already I had +hoped I had made it clear that the least of your servants has not been +a free agent in all that has been done. I am the humble instrument of +an august master." + +"I agree with you, Herr Baron, that the King, in his wisdom, cannot do +wrong. But it is because you have betrayed the service of your master +that I am unhappy." + +The Herr Baron lowered his eyes. + +"Please God," he said humbly, "the least of the King's servants will +never betray the service of him to whom he owes everything." + +The Princess laughed, a little cruelly. + +"Speeches, Baron," said she. + +"Will your Royal Highness deign to explain in what manner I have +betrayed the service of my master?" + +"If you press the question, I will answer it. At the command of the +King, you take me by force and you imprison me in your house until that +hour in which I can be removed to the castle at Blaenau. And then, in +an unlucky moment, you open the door of my cage, and I am once again a +free person in the company of my friends." + +The Princess rose abruptly, and with a disdain that was like a rapier +suffered Fitz to place the cloak about her shoulders. + +The Ambassador retained his self-possession. In his bearing, in the +cold lustre of his eyes, in the rigidity of the jaw, were the evidence +of an inflexible will. + +"The orders, madam, of the King, my master, are explicit," he said in a +low voice. "It grieves me bitterly that I cannot suffer them to be set +aside." + +"So be it, Herr Baron." The great dark eyes of the Princess transfixed +the Ambassador like a pair of swords. + +In the midst of these passages Fitz reassumed his _rôle_ of +generalissimo. + +"Arbuthnot," he whispered to me, "you and Brasset and Vane-Anstruther +guard the farthest door. Let no one enter or pass out. Coverdale and +O'Mulligan will look after the other one." + +In silence, and without ostentation, we disposed ourselves accordingly. +Clearly it had not occurred to the Ambassador to expect compulsion to +be levied in his own house, by half a dozen commonplace civilians in +black coats. + +We had hardly taken up our places when Fitz, who stood by the side of +the Princess, received from her a look that was also a command. +Thereupon, for the first time, he deigned to address the Ambassador. + +"Baron von Arlenberg," he said, "the friends of her Royal Highness have +no wish to use _force majeure_, but her Royal Highness desires me to +inform you that she has it at her disposal. All the same, she is +hopeful that your natural good sense will spare her the necessity of +employing it." + +Fitz's words were well spoken, but his tone, scrupulously restrained as +it was, had an undercurrent of menace that the Ambassador and his two +secretaries could hardly fail to detect. The cold eyes of his +Excellency seemed to blaze with fury, but he made no reply. + +The Princess took the arm of her husband, and moved a pace in the +direction of the farther door. At the same moment the Ambassador made +a movement to the left where a bell-rope hung from the wall. + +"Baron von Arlenberg," said Fitz, in a tone that compelled him to stay +where he was, "if you touch that rope I shall blow out your brains." + +Fitz had the revolver in his hand already. He covered the Ambassador +imperturbably. The two secretaries, although confused by the swiftness +of the act, moved forward. + +"Keep away from the bell-rope, gentlemen," said Fitz. "I shall not +hesitate." + +The secretaries halted indecisively beside their chief, and as they did +so Coverdale left his post by the nearer door and, revolver in hand, +solemnly mounted guard over the bell-rope. + +"I am afraid, gentlemen," said Fitz, "you have no choice other than to +respect the wishes of the Princess. And she desires that you stay in +this room until she has left the Embassy." + +However, with all his coolness, Fitz had made two important +miscalculations. On the right there was another bell-rope, and there +was also the lady of the silver hair, the Margravine of Lesser Grabia. +I sprang from my post and literally wrenched the rope from her fingers, +but not before she had pulled it as hard as she could. + +Escorted by Fitz, the Princess passed out of the room, while the +friends of her Royal Highness assumed an aspect of quiet, but +determined hostility, in order to prevent the Ambassador, his +secretaries, the Margravine, who looked furious, and the fair player of +Schumann, who appeared to be consumed with mirth, from following her. + +Hardly had the Princess passed through the farther door, which Brasset +and Jodey had the honour of holding for her, before the Countess Etta +von Zweidelheim collapsed upon a convenient sofa. + +"It is petter than Offenbach!" she said, beginning to weep softly. + +Whether it was actually better than Offenbach, I am not competent to +affirm, but I can answer for it that for all except that charming but +risible lady it was a great deal more serious. The Ambassador was a +brave man, and he had strength of will, but as becomes one of his +calling he was in no sense a fool. He had seen that in the eyes of +Fitz which had assured him that a too-punctilious regard for the will +of his Sovereign would not only be futile, but indiscreet. And no +sooner had Fitz and the royal lady vanished from his ken, than there +were Coverdale and the rest of us to contend with. + +The Chief Constable with his back to the wall, even without a firearm +in his stolid fist, is a very considerable figure of a man who will not +brook nonsense from anybody. Then Alexander O'Mulligan, by the farther +door, had a personality by no means deficient in persuasiveness. + +Scarcely had the Princess departed before O'Mulligan's door was tried +from without. The amateur middle-weight champion of Great Britain set +his back against it with great success. + +"Help! help!" called the Margravine in a deep bay, which it seemed to +our alarmed ears must have been audible for half a mile. "Save the +Princess! Help! Help!" + +In response to the appeal, a greater and ever-increasing pressure was +brought to bear upon the door. The hinges groaned, and the panels +trembled; and at last Alexander O'Mulligan suddenly withdrew his +weight, and divers persons tumbled headlong, one over another, +pell-mell into the room. + +"I think we had better go," said Coverdale, in the midst of this chaos. + +The five remaining champions of the Princess's freedom gathered +together and, their weapons still in hand, withdrew in excellent order. +But one resplendent apartment led to another, equally resplendent, and +amid the labyrinth of doors and corridors we could not find the +staircase. And immediately behind us the outraged Ambassador and his +retinue were gaining every instant in numbers and morale. + +The situation was ludicrous, yet not without its peril. It was hard to +know what would happen, and there was very little time in which to form +a conjecture. Besides, it was of great importance that we should find +our way downstairs without delay, for our presence there might be +sorely needed. + +As it happened, our thanks were due to the Ambassador that we were able +to find the staircase. For he and a number of excited persons flocked +past us and pointed a direct course thereto. They got down first, but +we followed hard upon their heels. + +On the ground floor all was peace. The men in livery and divers stray +officials were serenely unconscious of what had occurred. Fitz had +donned his overcoat, and with stupendous coolness was preparing to +depart. Just as the Ambassador came into view, he led the Princess +into the outer vestibule. + +"They can't stop 'em now," said Coverdale. "We had better look after +our coats and hats, and then find our way to the Savoy." + +This was true enough, for the door leading to the street was already +open. + +Waiting by the kerb was an electric brougham which Fitz had had the +forethought to provide. Coverdale and I retrieved our property from +the waiting-room at the foot of the staircase, while the others went in +search of theirs; and so quickly was this accomplished, that we were +able to witness an incident that was not the least memorable of the +many of that amazing evening. + +The Ambassador realised that the game was lost as soon as he saw the +open door and the brougham in readiness. Therefore he refrained from +passing beyond the inner vestibule. It is expected of an ambassador +that he shall do no hurt to his dignity in the most exacting situations. + +But there is an astonishing incident still to be recorded. Fitz, +having placed the Princess in safety in the brougham, returned into the +house. Walking straight up to the Ambassador, he addressed him in +terms of measured insult. + +"You cowardly dog," he said. "I would shoot you like a cur if it were +not for the laws of the country. You are not worth hanging for. But I +will meet you at Paris at the first opportunity. Here is my card." + +Before he could be prevented he gave the Ambassador a blow upon the +cheek with his open hand. It was not heavy, but it was premeditated. + +The members of the Embassy closed around Fitz. + +"Come into the ballroom, sir," said the Ambassador, who had turned +deadly pale. + +"When I have seen the Princess into safety I will oblige you," said +Fitz. "But it would be more convenient if we arranged a meeting in +Paris." + +"You shall meet me now, sir," said the Ambassador. + +Coverdale moved forward into the circle that had been formed. + +"I am afraid that is impossible," said the Chief Constable. "The +practice of duelling has no sanction in this country. For all +concerned it will surely be more convenient to meet at Paris." + +Coverdale's intention was pacific, and he is a man of weight, but the +principals in this affair were likely to be too much for him. + +"Arbuthnot," said Fitz, "be good enough to accompany the Princess to +the Savoy. We will come on presently." + +For a moment the issue hung in the balance. The Ambassador had +demanded satisfaction and Fitz was more than willing to grant it. But +Coverdale was equally resolute. To the best of my capacity I seconded +his efforts, but with men so headstrong and so implacable it was almost +impossible to exert any kind of authority. + +"If you don't care to support me," said Fitz to Coverdale, "perhaps you +will not mind taking the place of Arbuthnot. I daresay you other +fellows will come on to the ballroom." + +To our dismay, Fitz, with a reassumption of the Napoleonic manner, +turned towards the staircase. + +"What is to be done?" I inquired of the Chief Constable anxiously. "I +am a man of peace myself, but one of us must see him through." + +"I agree with you--the cursed firebrand! But one of us must stay, and +the other must look after the Princess." + +The Chief Constable did not conceal the fact that he had a predilection +for the latter duty. + +"I don't know much about affairs of honour," said I, "and I should +greatly prefer that a man of more experience took a thing like this in +hand; but I can quite believe that your official position----" + +"Official position be damned!" said the Chief Constable. "If you +honestly think I shall be of more use than you, there is no more to be +said. We are here to make ourselves useful and we must see this thing +through." + +"Very well, I will look after the Princess, and you go to the ballroom +and do what you can to save the situation." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A DEPLORABLE INCIDENT + +It was with a feeling akin to despair that I saw Coverdale follow the +others up the stairs. In the first place my own position was +invidious. But there was nothing to be done. It was beyond question +that Fitz must have a tried man like Coverdale at his elbow, whilst +also it was necessary that a person with some pretensions to +responsibility should take charge of the lady who was safely outside in +the electric brougham. Yet, uppermost in my thoughts, was a more +insistent care. The affair had taken a very ugly turn. Fitz had shown +himself to be a man who did not stick at trifles, whilst von Arlenberg, +unless his manner belied him, was cast in a similar mould. It was +therefore with some uneasiness that I went to offer my services to her +Royal Highness. That distinguished personage was seated greatly at her +ease, yet with a slight frown upon her somewhat imperious countenance. + +"Where is Nefil?" said she. + +"I have to tell you, ma'am," said I, "that Mr. Fitzwaren +is--er--discussing certain important matters with his Excellency, and +that if it is agreeable to you he desires me to accompany you to your +hotel." + +"What are the matters?" Her gaze in its directness seemed to pass +right through me. + +"There are--er--certain details that have to be adjusted." + +"Well, I hope Nefil will be able to shoot straight." + +Whether I was more taken aback by the cynicism of the remark or by its +sagacity, it would be fruitless to inquire. But to this pious hope I +had nothing to add; and I stood feeling decidedly uncomfortable at the +door of the car. There was no room in front by the side of the +chauffeur, and I had received no invitation to take a seat within. + +The pause was awkward, but somehow there seemed to be no help for it. + +"Well?" said the lady, not without a suspicion of acerbity. + +Even that I could not take for an invitation to get in. I stood +acutely conscious that my embarrassment told against me. + +"Aha, _les Anglais_!" The malice was not too genial. "Would you haf +me open the door?" + +I told the chauffeur to drive to the Savoy, and took the proffered seat +by the side of the Crown Princess of Illyria. + +The discovery has no claim to be original, but in order to find out +what a woman really is, one should sit with her alone and +_tête-à-tête_. The opportunity for frankness is not likely to be +neglected upon either side, since a display of that engaging quality +upon the one part seems automatically to evoke it on the other. + +No sooner was I seated by the side of Mrs. Fitz than I felt more at +ease. She was so sentient, so responsive; a creature who, beneath the +trenchant reserve of her manner, was alive in every nerve. + +She patted my knees with her fan. + +"Aha, _les Anglais_!" In the light of the lamps, I thought her eyes +were like stars. "So brave, so honest and so _bête_--I love them all!" + +The spell of her presence seemed to overpower me. + +"My brave Nefil will kill him, will he not?" + +"I fear," said I, "that one of them will not see to-morrow." + +"Indeed, yes; it cannot be otherwise." + +Her calmness amazed me. And yet there was nothing callous or unnatural +in it. Perhaps it might be described as the outward expression of an +imperial nature. At least that was the impression that I gained. When +her servants drew their swords in her cause they must not look for a +prick in the arm. Let them prepare to stake their lives and to yield +them gladly. I shivered slightly; it was barbarous that a woman could +thus offer the father of her children to the gods, yet it was sublime. + +All too soon we arrived at the restaurant where Fitz had ordered supper +for seven. The place was filling up rapidly after the theatres. We +sat on a sofa in the foyer to wait for our party; I with an acute +anxiety and a sense of foreboding that held me tongue-tied; my +companion with a detachment of mind that in the circumstances seemed +almost inhuman. For her sake a man was being done to death; one whom +she loved, or one whom her father honoured. But whatever Fate's +decree, her nature was schooled to the point of submission. + +Seated by my side in the foyer, she subjected the throng of returning +playgoers to a frankly humorous and malicious scrutiny. These English +who were so _bête_ amused her vastly. The clothes they wore, the airs +they gave themselves, the things they did and the things they refrained +from doing, not a detail escaped that audaciously frank, that alertly +curious intelligence. + +"Your women are not as you, you fine, big English good dogs," she said, +bestowing another indulgent pat upon my knees. "_Les Anglaises_, how +prim and pinched they are, what dresses they wear, and how they do +walk! But I adore _vos jolis hommes_: was ever such distinction, such +charm, such stupidity! _Mon père_ shall have an English regiment. I +will raise it myself, and be its colonel." + +Her laughter was deep and rich and full of malice. Even I, stupid and +stricken with fear as I was, was yet sufficiently indiscreet to attempt +to seize the opportunity. + +"It will be the easiest thing in the world, ma'am. Have you not raised +it already?" + +Another indulgent pat was my reward. + +"_Très bon enfant_! _Quel esprit_! You shall sit by my side when we +eat." + +Her ridicule had a velvet sheath, but even an Englishman, who felt as +miserably ineffectual as did I, was susceptible of the thrust. + +It is difficult for the average Briton, acutely conscious that he is +enduring the patronage of a superior, to be easy, graceful and natural +in his bearing; to say the appropriate things in the appropriate way, +and to carry off the situation lightly. Every moment that I sat by the +side of her Royal Highness in the centre of the public gaze, I felt my +position to be growing more invidious. The pose of my companion seemed +to become more Olympian; while if I ventured a half-hearted _riposte_ +or a timid pleasantry, I suffered for it; or if I remained silent and +respectful--and that after all is the only course to take in the +presence of our betters--I furnished an additional example of the +heaviness of my countrymen. + +I came to the conclusion that the less I said the better it would fare +with my over-sensitive dignity, but even the utterance of an occasional +monosyllable did not save me. + +"When I hear the big dogs growl, the English masteefs, I say to myself, +'Ah, the dear fellows, how excellently they speak the language!'" + +Unless one springs from the Chosen Race, it takes more than three +generations to produce a courtier. I felt myself to be growing stiffer +and generally more infelicitous in my demeanour. And then, as if to +complete my overthrow, there entered the foyer a supper-party, whose +appearance on the scene I could only regard with horror. + +Who has not felt that among the astral bodies there is a malign power, +a kind of Court Dramatist, who arranges sinister coincidences and +mischievous surprises for us humble denizens below, in order to divert +the privileged onlookers sitting in heaven? The supper-party which +came into our midst, which looked as though it had been to see "The +Importance of Being Earnest," and had been shocked by its reprehensible +levity, consisted of Dumbarton, our illustrious neighbour, "dear +Evelyn" high of coiffure and robed in pink satin, the august Mrs. +Catesby, and the highly respectable George, with one or two others of +minor importance as far as this narrative is concerned, although in +other spheres not prone to yield pride of place to anybody. + +It was clear from the rigid, slow and undeviating manner in which the +ducal party walked past our sofa, that we were discovered. Mrs. +Catesby, in particular, gazed down her nose with really awful +solemnity; George, the highly respectable, wearing his Quarter Sessions +expression; Dumbarton, looking like a Royal Duke painted in oils; and +"dear Evelyn," his pink-robed spouse, a really admirable picture of +what can be achieved in the way of high-bred hauteur. I can only say +that, speaking for myself, I addressed a humble prayer to heaven that +the floor might open and let me through. + +A chill of apprehension settled upon me. I sat very close, not daring +to move an eyelid. + +Alas! as the procession filed past, there arose a note of derision; a +clear, resonant, bell-like note. + +"Ach, pink! Pink in dis climate and wis dat complexion!" + +Even the _chef de reception_ was compelled to follow the example of +Mrs. Catesby of looking down his nose with really awful solemnity. + +The sweat sprang to my miserable forehead. I never have a nightmare +now without I dream of pink satin. The ducal party passed beyond our +ken, leaving me shattered utterly and more than ever at the mercy of my +companion. However, to my relief, the "Stormy Petrel" began to betray +a care in regard to her husband. It began to seem that the aim of his +adversary had been the straighter. + +Fitz was certainly a desperate fellow, and my intercourse with the lady +whom he had prevailed upon to share his name rendered that aspect of +his character the more clear. What enormous grit the man must have to +abduct such a lioness and to attempt to keep house with her upon a +basis of equality. But had he met his overthrow at last? Had he +tempted fate once too often? The hands of the clock were creeping on +towards midnight. + +"Nefil has missed his aim." The voice of the Princess trembled. + +Almost immediately, however, this was proved to be not the case. There +were further arrivals in the foyer; five men entered together, and the +first of these was Fitz. + +It may have been the fault of my overwrought fancy, but it seemed to me +that each of the five was looking excited and pale. My companion rose +to receive them. "It is well," she said. "It is well." She turned to +Fitz, who looked ghastly, and extended her hand with a gesture that I +can only compare to that of Medusa. Fitz bore the hand to his lips. + +"What happened?" I said to Coverdale in a hoarse whisper. + +"Don't ask!" he said, half turning away. + +"Do you mean----" I said; but the sentence died in my throat. + +The invasion of the supper-room was a pretty grave ordeal to have to +face. The stress of that day, woven of the very tissue of excitement, +had told upon me; and again I was in the grip of a nameless fear. +Instead of following in the train of Mrs. Fitz into the glare of a too +notorious publicity, I wanted to run away and hide myself. + +The room was crowded with people who were there to see and to be seen. +We had to make our way past a number of tables to one reserved for us +at the far end of the room. In the middle of our progress, like a lion +in the gate, was the ducal party toying elegantly with quails and +champagne. + +Each member of her Royal Highness's bodyguard, including the +indomitable O'Mulligan, was looking downcast and unhappy and far from +his best. But the lady herself, in bearing and in manner, made no +secret of her status. She was the Heiress-Apparent to Europe's oldest +monarchy condescending to eat in the midst of barbarians. + +It was clear that the ducal party was fully determined to take an +extreme course. By the animation of its conversation and its assiduous +regard for quails and champagne, it evidently hoped to make the fact +quite plain that our privacy would be respected if only we had the +decency to extend a like indulgence to theirs. + +Alas! in certain kinds of warfare there are no sanctities. + +"Ach, pink!" said Mrs. Fitz, in that voice which had such a terrible +quality of penetration. "Can any one tell me _why_ pink----?" + +The nervous fancy of a married man, a father of a family, and a county +member, seemed to detect a titter from the adjoining tables. Coverdale +pressed forward sombrely. Her Royal Highness, instinct with a ruthless +and humorous disdain, went forward too. Fitz, however, lingered a +moment, and touched his distinguished neighbour upon the shoulder with +incredible Napoleonic heartiness. + +"Hullo, Duke!" he said. + +"How are you, Fitzwaren?" said the great man, in a voice that seemed to +come out of his shoes. + +"Never mind the Missus!" said the Man of Destiny, with a comic +half-cock of the left eye at the patrician aspect of her Grace. "It's +only her fun." + +The man's effrontery, his cynicism, his absence of taste, were +staggering. But what a sublime courage the fellow had. On he +sauntered, with his hands buried in his pockets, in the wake of +Coverdale and her Royal Highness. Brasset and I, walking delicately, +were crowding upon his heels, when what can only be described as a +peremptory and insistent hiss recalled us to the danger zone. + +"Reggie! Odo Arbuthnot!" + +We proffered a forlorn salute to the most august of her sex. + +"Beg pardon, Mrs. Catesby, didn't see you, y'know." + +Brasset's apologetic feebleness was in singular and painful contrast to +the epic breadth of the inconceivable Fitz. + +"Don't dare to offer me a word, either of you," said the Great Lady, in +a whisper of Homeric truculence. "You are committing the act of social +suicide. When I think of your mother, Reggie, and of your wife and +daughter, Odo Arbuthnot, I----but I will say nothing. But it is social +suicide for all of you, including that fatuous police constable." + +The flesh cannot endure more than a given amount of suffering, although +the measure of its capacity is so terrible. But whatever it was, I was +already past it. + +"Pink is certainly a trying colour," I whispered. + +"Dear Evelyn will never forgive it. Have none of you a sense of +decency? It is madness!" + +I agreed that it was, and retreated limply to the next table but two. + +Our supper party should have been a dismal function, but somehow it was +not. It was only reasonable to assume that some fell occurrence had +taken place at the Embassy, but whatever its nature was, its witnesses +began to pull themselves together under the magnetic influence of Mrs. +Fitz. Her imperious gaiety, if it did not wholly banish Coverdale's +abysmal gloom, did much to make it less. As for the other members of +the party, conscience-stricken and uneasy at heart as they were, it was +impossible not to respond to her power. + +Even the Master of the Crackanthorpe, whose sense of humour is of a +decidedly primitive order, indulged in a loud guffaw at one of her +pungent remarks. + +"Restrain yourself, my dear fellow, for heaven's sake!" I admonished +him. "Dumbarton is already looking like doom. Your presence here has +already cost the poultry fund fifty pounds, see if it hasn't. If he +hears you laugh in that way he will close his covers and stick up wire." + +"Don't care what he does!" said the Master of the Crackanthorpe, with +an unnatural brightness in his eyes. + +The siren had indeed a terrible power. The imperious glance, the +distended nostril, the mobile lips, the skin of gleaming olive, the +whole figure vivid with the entrancing charm of sex and the romance of +ages--who were we, _les hommes moyens sensuels_, that we should have +the strength of soul to resist it all? Nature had fashioned a +sorceress; and when she takes the trouble to do that, she bestows, as a +rule, a consciousness of power upon her chosen instrument, and the +determination to wield it ruthlessly. We drained our glasses and +basked in her smiles. + +Our laughter waxed higher; our joy in her presence the more unguarded. +I retained discretion enough to be aware that no detail of our conduct +was lost upon the august party two tables away. Every guffaw of which +we were guilty would be used against us. What had happened to the +impeccable tradition of reticence and right thinking that men of known +probity should yield with this publicity to the blandishments of a +queen of the sawdust? + +It was a desperately unlucky position; but we were committed to it +irrevocably. Nothing now could save our good name among our +neighbours. Yet that half-hour after midnight was crowded and +glorious. Who were we, weak-willed mediocrities, that we should resist +the moment? After the passes we had braved in the service of one so +splendid and so ill-starred, after the long-drawn suspense we had +endured, could we be insensible to the gay music, half-affectionate, +half-insolent, of our names upon her lips? + +Coverdale sat by the right of the sorceress, I by the left--responsible +men--yet even with the Gorgon's eye of the Great Lady upon us, we were +fain to publish to the world that we were neither less nor more than +the bond-slaves of the circus rider from Vienna. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +AN INTERNATIONAL ISSUE + +By a merciful dispensation, the ducal party withdrew at twenty-five +minutes past twelve, doubtless to avert the ignominy of compulsion at +the half-hour. By that means we were at least spared any further +ordeal that might be forthcoming from that quarter. And yet would it +have been an ordeal? That conflict which a little while ago had seemed +so demoralising to the overwrought nerves was now only too likely to be +hailed as the sublimity of battle. + +We were loth to obey the inexorable decree of the Licensing Act, but +there was no choice. Happily the five minutes' start enjoyed by our +friends and neighbours gave us a clear field, and without further +misadventure the "Stormy Petrel" was escorted to her chariot. She +drove off with Fitz to her hotel, while the rest of us, in no humour +for repose, yielded to the suggestion of Alexander O'Mulligan, "that we +should toddle round to Jermyn Street and draw him for a drink." + +It had begun to freeze. Although the pavements were like glass, +overhead the stars were wonderful. The shrewd air was like a balm for +the fumes of the wine and the spirit of lawlessness that had aroused us +to a pitch of exaltation that was almost dangerous. We decided to +walk, if only to lessen the tension upon our nerves. The three junior +members of the conspiracy walked ahead, a little roisterous of aspect, +arm in arm, uncertain of gait--to be sure the condition of the streets +afforded every excuse--and their hats askew. At a respectful distance +and in a fashion more decorous they were followed by the Chief +Constable and myself. + +"And now, Coverdale," said I, "have the goodness to explain what you +meant when you told me not to ask what happened to the Ambassador?" + +I received no answer. + +"My dear fellow," I urged, "I think I am entitled to know." + +"You ought to be able to guess!" + +"I don't understand; Fitz is certainly safe and sound. How did you +manage to bring them to reason?" + +"They were not brought to reason." + +The grim tone alarmed me. + +"What do you mean?" + +I stopped under a street lamp to look into the face of my companion. + +"I simply mean this," said he. "The madman shot him dead!" + +Involuntarily I reeled against the lamp post. + +"You can't mean that," I said feebly. + +"If only we could deceive ourselves!" said Coverdale, in a hoarse tone. +"All the time I sat at supper with that--that woman I was trying to +persuade myself that the thing had not happened. The whole business +ought to be a fantastic dream, but my God, it isn't!" + +"Well, it was his life or Fitz's, I suppose?" + +"Yes, there can be no question about that. The Embassy people admit +it. And there is this to be said for those fellows, they know how to +play the game." + +"A pretty low down game anyhow. If they steal a man's wife they must +take the consequences." + +"I agree; but the circumstances were exceptional. And give those +fellows their due, as soon as we came to the ballroom they played the +game right up." + +"What will happen?" + +"No one can say; but they can be trusted to give nothing away." + +"But surely the whole thing must come out?" + +"Quite possibly; but one prefers to hope that it may not. It is a very +ugly affair, involving international issues; but the First Secretary--I +forget his name--appeared to take a very matter-of-fact and +common-sense view of it. After all, Fitzwaren has merely vindicated +his rights." + +Dismally enough we followed in the wake of the others. All day we had +been hovering between tragedy and farce, never quite knowing what would +be the outcome of the extravaganza in which we were bearing a part. +But now we had the answer with no uncertainty. + +"All along, some such sequel as this was to be feared," said I, "and +yet I fail to see that any real blame attaches to us." + +"Do you! If you ask my opinion, we have all been guilty of +unpardonable folly in backing this fellow Fitzwaren. Really, I can't +think what we have been about. Before the last has been heard of this +business, it strikes me that there will be the devil to pay all round." + +In my heart I felt only too clearly that this was the truth. + +At O'Mulligan's rooms we drank out of long glasses and were accorded +the privilege of inspecting his "pots." The trophies of the amateur +middle-weight champion of Great Britain, who claimed Dublin as his +natal city, made an extremely brave array. But neither they, nor the +refreshment that was offered to us, were able to dispel the gloom that +had descended upon one and all. + +"There is one thing to be said for this chap Fitzwaren," said Alexander +O'Mulligan, in a tone that was not devoid of reverence. "He is grit +all through!" + +Truth there might be in this reflection, but there was little +consolation. Sadly we bade adieu to Alexander O'Mulligan and went to +our hotel to bed, yet not to sleep. For myself, I can answer that +throughout the night I had dark forebodings and distorted images for my +bed-fellows; and it was not until it was almost time to rise that I was +at last able to snatch a brief doze. + +It was fair to assume that the slumbers of the others had been equally +precarious, for at ten o'clock I found myself to be the first of our +party at the breakfast table. In a few minutes I was joined by +Coverdale, who carried the morning paper in his hand. + +He directed my attention to the obituary notice of H.E. the Illyrian +Ambassador, who, it appeared, had met his death at the Illyrian Embassy +in Portland Place at 11.30 o'clock the previous evening, in peculiarly +tragic and distressing circumstances. It appeared that his Excellency, +a noted shot who took a keen interest in firearms of every description, +was engaged in demonstrating to various members of the Embassy certain +merits in the mechanism of a new type of revolver, of which his +Excellency claimed to be the inventor, when the weapon went off, +killing the unfortunate nobleman instantly. The brief statement of the +tragic event was followed by a eulogium, in which the dead Ambassador's +martial, political and social attainments, and the irreparable loss, +not only to his sovereign, but to the polity of nations, was dealt with +at length. + +"Those fellows have done well," said Coverdale. "But I should be glad +to think that the last has been heard of this." + +This conviction I shared with the Chief Constable, but it was good to +find that thus far Illyrian diplomacy had proved equal to the occasion. +It had the effect of giving me a better appetite for breakfast, and in +consequence I ordered two boiled eggs instead of one. + +There was one other item of sinister interest to be found among the +morning's news. In glancing over it my attention was drawn to the +brief account of a mysterious tragedy which had been enacted in Hyde +Park near the Broad Walk the previous evening between six and seven +o'clock. A man who, according to papers found in his possession, bore +the name of Ludovic Bolland, of Illyrian extraction, had been found +dead with a bullet wound in the brain. It was not clear whether it was +a case of murder or suicide. The police inclined to the former +opinion, but at present were not in possession of any information +capable of throwing light upon the subject. + +I did not reveal to Coverdale the fell suspicion that I could not keep +out of my thought. The incident of the taxi following us, the +foreign-looking man who had entered the hotel, and Fitz's words and +subsequent conduct, all conspired to form a theory that I was very loth +to entertain and yet from which I was unable to escape. It certainly +had the effect of making me profoundly uncomfortable and caused the +second egg I had ordered to be superfluous after all. + +Beyond all things now I longed to return to my country home without +delay. The past twenty-four hours formed a page in my experience +which, if impossible to erase, I earnestly desired to forget. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +HORSE AND HOUND + +In spite of the fact that Fitz had accepted Alexander O'Mulligan's +invitation to witness "Burns's do with the 'Gunner'" at the National +Sporting Club that evening, he retrieved his motor from the garage in +Regent Street, wherein Illyrian diplomacy had placed it, and +immediately after luncheon set out for the country with that other item +of his recovered property. He was accompanied by Coverdale. The Chief +Constable seemed to feel that the peace of our county could not endure +if he spent another night in the metropolis. He was certainly able to +return in the simple consciousness of having done his duty. Like a man +and a brother he had stood by a fellow Englishman in the hour of his +need. + +To one of primitive rural instincts, such as myself, London under even +the most favourable conditions is apt to pall. During the reaction +which followed the excitements of the previous night it filled me with +loathing. But I owed it to an ingrained love of veracity that I should +drive to Bolton Street to offer consolation to my grandmother in the +hour of her affliction. She is a charming old lady, and she knows the +world. She was unaffectedly glad to see me and immediately ordered a +fire to be lit in the guest-chamber, although "she really didn't know +that I was in need of money." My explanation that it was spontaneous +natural affection which had led me to seek first-hand information on +the perennial subject of her bronchitis, merely provoked a display of +the engaging scepticism that seems to flourish in the hearts of old +ladies of considerable private means. + +At the first moment consistent with honour--to be precise, on the +following Monday at noon--I found myself on No. 2 platform at the Grand +Central. The guilt of my conscience was agreeably countered by the +thrill of relief in my heart. I was going back to the Madam and Miss +Lucinda. Less than three days ago long odds had been laid by an +overwrought fancy that I should never see them again. Howbeit, the +fates, in their boundless leniency, had ordained that I should return +to tell the tale. + +Yet, if I must confess the truth, such havoc had been worked with the +delicately hung nervous system of "a married man, a father of a family, +and a county member" that it would not have surprised me in the least, +even now I had taken my ticket for Middleham, to find the hand of a +well-dressed detective laid on my shoulder, or to find a revolver next +my temple at the instance of some sombre alien. Still, these fears +were hardly worthy of the broad light of day or of the distinction of +my escort. Not only was my relation by marriage returning with me, but +he had prevailed upon the amateur middle-weight champion of Great +Britain to accept Brasset's cordial invitation that he should satisfy +himself that the gentle art of chasing the fox was quite as well +understood by the Crackanthorpe Hounds as by the Galway Blazers. + +In the presence of Alexander O'Mulligan's epic breadth of manner it was +impossible for a man to take pessimistic views of his destiny. If I +had a suspicion of the skill of a Dickens or a Thackeray I should try +to give that "touch of the brogue" which flavoured the conversation of +this paladin like a subtle condiment. Attached to our express in a +loose box, in the care of a native of Kerry, was "an accomplished +lepper" up to fifteen stone, not merely the envy of the Blazers, but of +every man, woman, and child in the kingdom of Ireland. If his price +was not three hundred of the yellow boys, his owner cordially invited +anybody--_anybody_ to contradict him violently. + +Next to Alexander O'Mulligan's horse and his breadth of manner, his +clothes call for mention. Their cut and style must be pronounced as +"sporting." In particular his waistcoat was a thing of beauty. It was +a canary of the purest dye, forming a really piquant, indeed æsthetic, +contrast to the delicate tint of green in his eye. The presence in +that organ of that genial hue is thought by some to invite the +presumption of the worldly; but according to Joseph Jocelyn De Vere +Vane-Anstruther, whose humble devotion to his hero was almost pathetic, +it called for a very stout fellow indeed "to try it on" with the +amateur middle-weight champion of Great Britain. + +Nevertheless, like every paladin of the great breed, Alexander +O'Mulligan was as gentle as he was brave. He had hardly set foot in +Dympsfield House, which he did somewhere about tea-time on the day of +his arrival in our parish, before he captured the heart of Miss +Lucinda. He straightway assumed the _rôle_ of a bear with the most +realistic and thrilling completeness. Not only was his growl like +distant thunder in the mountains, but also he had the faculty of +rolling his eyes in a savage frenzy, and over and above everything +else, a tendency to bite your legs upon little or no provocation. It +was not until he had promised to marry her that she could be induced to +part with him. + +The ruler of Dympsfield House returned from Doughty Bridge, Yorks, +equally felicitous in her health and in her temper. We dined agreeably +_tête-à-tête_ with the aid of Heidsieck cuvée 1889. I reported that +the venerable inhabitant of Bolton Street, Mayfair, was supporting her +affliction with her accustomed grace and resignation; and duly received +the benediction of my parents-in-law, who in the opinion of their +youngest daughter had never been in more vigorous health--which is no +more than one expects to hear of those who dedicate their lives to +virtue. + +I was in the act of paring an apple when Mrs. Arbuthnot said, with an +air of detachment that was Vane-Anstruther of very good quality, "By +the way, has anything been heard of that creature?" + +"Creature, my angel?" said I. If my tone conveyed anything it was that +the world contained only one creature, and she at that moment was +balancing a piece of preserved ginger on her fruit knife. + +"The circus woman." + +"Circus woman?" said I, blandly. Our glasses were half empty and I +filled them up. "Somehow," said I, "this stuff does not seem equal to +the Bellinger that your father sends us at Christmas." Strictly +speaking this was not altogether the case, but then truth has many +aspects, as the pagan philosophers have found occasion to observe. + +"Mrs. Fitz, you goose!" + +"She has come home, I believe," said I, with a casual air, which all +the same belonged to the region of finished diplomacy. + +"Come home!" The fount of my felicity indulged in a glower that can +only be described as truculent, but her flutelike tones had a little +piping thrill that softened its effect considerably. "Come home! Do +you mean to say that Fitz has taken her back again?" + +"There is reason to believe he has done so." + +"What amazing creatures men are!" + +"Yes, _mon enfant_, we have the authority of Haeckel, that matter +assumed a very remarkable guise when man evolved himself out of the mud +and water." + +"Don't be trivial, Odo. To think she has dared to come home. If I +were a man and my wife bolted with the chauffeur, I wonder if she would +dare to come home again?" + +"The hypothesis is unthinkable. Freedom and poetry and romance, +translated into that overtaxed, down-trodden bondslave, the registered +and betrousered parliamentary voter!" + +The next morning the Crackanthorpe met at the Marl Pits. All the world +and his wife were there. The lawless mobs which are the curse of +latter-day fox-hunting are not quite so rampant in our country as they +are in that of more than one of our neighbours. Why this merciful +dispensation has been granted to us no man can explain. It may be that +we have not a sufficient care for the "bubble reputation." But as our +reverend Vicar says, our immunity is one further proof, if such were +needed, that the Providence which watches over the lowliest of God's +creatures is essentially beneficent: certainly a very becoming frame of +mind for a humble-minded vicar in Christ who keeps ten horses in his +stables and hunts six days a week. + +Brasset in a velvet cap winding the horn of his fathers is a figure for +respect. Even the Nimrods of the old school, who feel that his +courtesy and his care for the feelings of others are beneath the +dignity of the chase, accord to his office a recognition which they +would be the last to grant to his merely human qualities. This morning +the noble Master was esquired by his distinguished guest. The +O'Mulligan of Castle Mulligan, pride of the Blazers, possessor of the +straightest left in the western hemisphere, was immediately presented +to the mistress of Dympsfield House. + +That lady, mounted so expensively, that her weakling of a husband was +deservedly condemned to bestride a quadruped that Joseph Jocelyn De +Vere Vane-Anstruther publicly stigmatised as "an insult to the 'unt,'" +was instantly prepossessed, as her daughter had been, in favour of the +amateur middle-weight champion. Certainly his blandishments were many. +Grinning from ear to ear, revealing two regular and gleaming rows of +white teeth, his bearing had both grace and cordiality. His smile in +itself was enough to take the bone out of the ground, and he had all +the charming volubility of his nation. As for his aide-de-camp, he too +deserves mention. Having done very well at "snooker" the previous day, +my relation by marriage was looking very pleasant and happy in the most +perfectly fitting coat that ever embellished the human form. He was +mounted on Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, the _pièce de résistance_ of his +stable. + +We were accepting the hospitality of the Reverend, an agreeable +function that was rendered necessary by the fact that his parsonage is +within a mile of the tryst, when portentous toot-toots accompanied by +prodigious gruntings assailed our ears. + +"I say, Jo," said Alexander O'Mulligan in an aside to his admiring +camp-follower, "here comes ould Fizzamagig." + +This elegant pseudonym veiled the identity of the most august of her +sex. The famous fur coat and the bell-shaped topper converged upon the +Rectory gravel, at the instance of a worn-out dust distributor whose +manifold grunts and wheezes all too clearly proclaimed that it belonged +to an early phase of the industry. + +It was the broad light of day, I was in the midst of friends and +brother sportsmen, but once again the chill of apprehension went down +my spine. For an instant I had a vision of pink satin. Mrs. Catesby +accepted the glass of brown sherry and the piece of cake respectfully +proffered by the Church. But while she discoursed of parochial +commonplaces in that penetrating voice of hers, it was plain that her +august head was occupied with affairs of state. Her grave grey eye +travelled to the middle of the lawn, where the noble Master was sharing +a ham sandwich with Halcyon and Harmony; thence to the inadequately +mounted Member for the Uppingdon Division of Middleshire; thence to the +Magnificent Youth and the heroic O'Mulligan. Finally in contemplative +austerity it rested upon the trim outline of the lady whose habit had +not a fault, although there is reason to believe that in the eyes of +one it erred a little on the side of fashion, who with the aid of the +Parsoness and Laura Glendinning was engaged in putting the scheme of +things in its appointed order. + +Once again I was undergoing the process of feeling profoundly +uncomfortable, when we were regaled with an incident so pregnant with +drama that a mere private emotion was swept away. An imperious vision +in a scarlet coat, mounted on a noble and generous horse, came in at +the Parson's gate. She was accompanied by the son-in-law of Ferdinand +the Twelfth. + +"What ho, the military!" murmured Alexander O'Mulligan. + +To the sheer amazement of all, save three of his followers, the Master +of the Crackanthorpe was the first to greet Mrs. Fitz. A recent +incident was fresh in the minds of all. It was pretty well understood +that "the circus rider from Vienna" and her cavalier entered the +Rectory grounds without an invitation, for the Fitzwaren stock stood +lower than ever in the market. It was expected of our battered and +traduced chieftain that at least he should withhold official +recognition from these lawless invaders. He was expected to vindicate +his office and maintain what was left of his dignity by looking +assiduously in another direction. But he did nothing of the sort. + +In the most heedless and tactless manner the noble Master proceeded to +forfeit the sympathy, the esteem, and the confidence of those who had +hitherto dispensed those commodities so lavishly. It would be hard to +conceive a more grievous affront to the feminine followers of the +Crackanthorpe than was furnished by the Master's personal reception of +the lady in the scarlet coat. The grave, yet cordial humility of his +bearing, admirably Christian in the light of too-recent history, +received no interpretation in the terms of the higher altruism. + +"He will have to resign," breathed the august Mrs. Catesby in the ear +of the outraged Laura Glendinning. + +It was a relief to everybody when a move was made to the top cover. +Without loss of time the question of questions was put. Was the famous +ticked fox at home? Was that almost mythical customer, whose legend +was revered in three countries, in his favourite earth? + +In a half-circle, each thinking his thoughts, and with a furtive eye +for his neighbour, we waited. + +A succession of silvery notes from the pack at last proclaimed the +answer to the question. As usual the father of cunning had set his +mask for Langley Dumbles. One of the stiffest bits of country in the +Shires lay stretched out ahead. Two distinct and well-defined courses +were immediately presented to the field. The one was pregnant with +grief yet fragrant with glory. The other, if not the path of honour, +was certainly more appropriate to the married man, the father of the +family, and the county member, particularly if the wife of the member +has a weakness for three-hundred-guinea hunters. There was also a +middle course for those who, while retaining some semblance of +ambition, have learned to temper it with prudence, observation, and +sagacity. It was to the middle course that nature had condemned old +Dobbin Grey and his rider. + +Not for us the intemperate delights of the thruster. Crash through a +bullfinch went Alexander O'Mulligan, the pride of the Blazers. Almost +in his pocket followed the lady in the scarlet coat. Almost in hers +followed Mrs. Arbuthnot. Laura Glendinning and little Mrs. Josiah P. +Perkins were obviously hardening their hearts for prodigious deeds of +gallantry. It was already clear as the sun at noon that if our old and +sportsmanlike friend, whose jacket had the curious ticking, only kept +to the line it generally pleased him to follow, some very jealous +riding was about to be witnessed among the feminine followers of the +Crackanthorpe Hounds. + +"My God, they call this 'untin'!" said Joseph Jocelyn De Vere +Vane-Anstruther, who to his disgust had allowed himself, in the +preliminary scuffle for places, to be nonplussed by the unparalleled +ardour of these Amazons. + +One thing was obvious. Old Dobbin Grey and his rider were a little too +near the centre of the picture. Let us blush to relate it, but at the +obsequious promptings of memory we moved down the hedgerow of that wide +and heavy pasture, yea, even unto its uttermost left-hand corner where +a gate was known to lurk. But alas! Nemesis lurked also in that +corner of the landscape. For we were doomed to discover that the +eternal standby of the lover of the middle course, nay the indubitable +emblem of it, the goodly handgate, had been removed of malice prepense, +and in lieu thereof was a stiff and upstanding post and rails, freshly +planted and painted newly! + +It was a great shock to the old horse. It was also a crisis in the +life of his rider. The rails looked terribly high and stout; we had +lost so much time already that every second was priceless if we were to +see hounds again. It was hard on the old horse, yet it really seemed +that there was only one thing to be done. However, before resolve +could be translated into action, other lovers of the middle course bore +down upon us; no less a pair than Mrs. Catesby mounted upon Marian. + +"It was my intention not to speak to you again, Odo Arbuthnot," said +the august rider of Marian, "but if you will give us a lead over that +post and rails we will follow." + +"_Place aux dames_," said I, with ingrained gallantry. "Besides, you +are quite as competent to break that top rail as we are." + +"Out hunting," said the high-minded votary of Diana, "you must behave +like a gentleman, even if at the Savoy----" + +With due encouragement the old horse really did very well indeed, +hitting the top rail fore and aft it is true, describing in his descent +a geometrical figure not unlike a parabola, but landing on his legs and +gathering himself up quite respectably in the adjoining fifty acres of +ridge and furrow. With a little pardonable condescension, I turned +round to look how Marian would behave with her resolute-minded +mistress. It is no disparagement to the Dobbin to say that Mrs. +Catesby's chestnut is a cleverer beast than he ever was, also she has +youth on her side; and she is taller by a hand. She grazed the rail +with her hind legs, but her performance was quite good enough to be +going on with. + +Mrs. Catesby can ride as straight as anybody, but now she is "A Mother +of Seven" who writes to the _Times_ upon the subject of educational +reform, and she has taken to sitting upon committees--in more senses +than one--she feels that she owes it to the mothers of the nation that +she should set them an example in the matter of paying due respect to +their vertebrae. The negotiation of the post and rails had put us on +excellent terms with ourselves, if not with each other, and side by +side we made short work of the fifty acres of ridge and furrow; popped +through a sequence of handgates and along a succession of lanes; and +made such a liberal use of the craft that we had painfully acquired in +the course of more seasons than we cared to remember, that in the end +it was only by the mercy of Allah that we did not head the fox! + +The fortune of war had placed us in the first flight, but the +celebrated customer was still going so strong that we should have to +show cause if we were going to remain there. + +The noble Master was looking very anxious. Well he might, for between +him and his hounds was the lady in the scarlet coat. Mounted upon the +most magnificent-looking bay horse I have ever seen she seemed fully +prepared to hunt the pack. And I grieve to relate that following hard +upon her line, and as close as equine flesh and blood could contrive +it, was Mrs. Arbuthnot on her three-hundred-guinea hunter. + +"Look at Mops," quoth a disgusted voice. "Clean off her rocker. Hope +to God there won't be a check, that's all!" + +Jodey soared by us, taking a fence in his stride. + +On the contrary, old Dobbin Grey was beginning devoutly to hope that a +check there would be. But, as game as a pebble, the old warrior +struggled on. It would never do for him to be cut out by Marian, and +in that opinion his rider concurred. Luckily we found an easy place in +the fence, but all too soon a more formidable obstacle presented +itself. It was Langley Brook. Very bold jumping would be called for +to save a wet jacket; and it is an open secret that, even in his prime, +the Dobbin has always held that the only possible place for water is a +stable bucket. + +We decided to go round by the bridge. A perfectly legitimate +resolution, I am free to maintain, for ardent followers of the middle +course. Having arrived at this statesmanlike decision there was time +to look ahead. It was not without trepidation that we did so. In +front was a welter of ambitious first flighters. Yet, as always, the +one to catch the eye was the lady in the scarlet coat. Utterly +heedless, she went at the Brook at its widest, the noble bay rose like +a Centaur and landed in safety. Sticking ever to her, closer than a +sister, was Mrs. Arbuthnot. I shuddered and had a vision of a broken +back for the three-hundred-guinea hunter, and a ducking for its rider. +Happily, if you are a member of the clan Vane-Anstruther, the more +critical the moment the cooler you are apt to be; also you are born +with the priceless faculty of sitting still and keeping down your +hands. The three-hundred-guinea hunter floundered on to the opposite +bank, threatened to fall back into the stream, by a Herculean effort +recovered itself and emerged on _terra firma_. + +It was with a heart devout with gratitude that I turned to the bridge. +To my surprise, for as all my attention had been for the Brook I had +had none to spare for the field as a whole, I found myself cheek by +jowl with Jodey. In the hunting field I know no young man whom nature +has endowed so happily. His air of world-weariness is a cloak for a +justness of perception, which apparently without the expenditure of the +least exertion generally lands him there or thereabouts at the finish. + +"The silly blighters!--don't they see they have lost their fox?" + +This piece of criticism was hurled not merely at the Amazons, who had +already negotiated the water, but also at the noble Master and his +attendant satellites who were in the act of following their example. + +"Reggie is quite right for once," said a voice from the near side, +severe and magisterial in quality. "It is his duty to prevent, if he +can, his hounds being overridden by those unspeakable women. If Irene +belonged to me I should send her straight home to bed." + +"Ought to be smacked," said the sportsman on the off side, cordially. +"Anybody'd think she'd had no upbringin'!" + +Feeling in a sense responsible for the misbehaviour of my lawful +property, I "lay low and said nuffin." Indeed, there was precious +little to be said in defence of such conduct in the presence of the +whole field. + +On the strength of Jodey's pronouncement we crossed the bridge at our +leisure. As usual his wisdom hastened to justify itself. Reynard was +tucked snugly under a haystack, doubtless with his pad to his nose. He +was upon sacred earth, where, after a tremendous turn-up with Peter, +the Crackanthorpe terrier, the Crackanthorpe hounds and the +Crackanthorpe huntsman reluctantly left him. + +A halt was called; flasks and sandwiches were produced; and the +honourable company of the less enterprising, or the less fortunate, +began to assemble in force without the precincts of the Manor Farm +stackyard. Conversation grew rife; and at least one fragment that +penetrated to my ears was pungent. + +"Look here, Mops," was its context, "when do you suppose you are goin' +to give over playing the goat?" + +The rider of the three-hundred-guinea hunter was splashed with mud up +to her green collar, her hair was coming down, her hat was anyhow, her +cheeks were flame colour, and the sides of Malvolio were sobbing. + +"_Mon enfant_," I ventured sadly to observe, "it may be magnificent, +but it is not the art of chasing the fox, even as it is practised in +the flying countries." + +The light of battle flamed in the eyes of the star of my destiny. + +"What nonsense you talk, Odo! Do you think that the circus woman----" + +"Sssh! She will hear you." + +"Hope she will!" + +"Fact is, Mops," said her admonisher in chief, "as I've always said, +you are only fit for a _provincial_ pack." + +Having thus delivered himself Mrs. Arbuthnot's brother washed his hands +of this "hard case" in the completest and most effectual manner. He +turned about and bestowed his best bow upon the circus rider from +Vienna. The act was certainly irrational. The behaviour of the lady +in the scarlet coat was quite as much exposed to censure. To be sure +her nationality was to be urged in her defence, but then, as the sorely +tried Master confided to me in a pathetic aside, "she had been out +quite often enough to learn the rules of the game." + +"You can't expect Crown Princesses, my dear fellow, to trouble about +rules," said I. "They make their own." + +"Then I wish they would hunt hounds of their own and leave mine to me," +said the long-suffering one tragically. "It turns me dizzy every time +I see her among 'em. If Fitz had any sense of decency he would look +after her." + +"Fitz is the slave of circumstance. Brasset, if you are a wise fellow +and you are not above taking the advice of a friend, you will never +marry the next in succession to an old-established and despotic +monarchy." + +"My God--no!" The voice of the noble Master vibrated with profound +emotion. + +In honour of this resolution we exchanged flasks. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A GLARE IN THE SKY + +The Society for the Maintenance of the Public Decency has a record of +long and distinguished usefulness, but never in its annals has it been +moved to a more determined activity than during the week which followed +this ill-starred run. The Ruling Dames or Past Grand Mistresses--I +don't quite know what their true official title is--of this august body +met and conferred and drank tea continually. Those who were conversant +with the Society's methods made dire prophecy of a public action of an +unparalleled rigour. But beyond the fact that Mrs. Arbuthnot's +china-blue eyes had an inscrutable glint, and that Mrs. Catesby's +Minerva-like front was as lofty and menacing as became the daughter of +Jove, nothing happened during this critical period which really aspires +to the dignity of history. + +Three times within that fateful space the noble Master led forth his +hounds; three times was it whispered confidently in my ear by my little +friend Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins with a piquant suggestion in her accent +of her old Kentucky home, which sometimes overtakes her very charmingly +in moments of acute emotion, "that if the tenderfoot from the rotunda +hit the trail, Reg would take the fox-dogs home"[1]; three times did +the lady in the scarlet coat do her best to override the fox-dogs in +question; three times, as the veracious historian is fain to confess, +nothing happened whatever. It is true that more than once the noble +Master looked at the offender "as no gentleman ought to look at a +lady." More than once he cursed her by all his gods, but never within +her hearing. Rumour had it that he also told Fitz that if he didn't +look after his wife he should give the order for the kennels. +Unfortunately, Miss Laura Glendinning was the sole authority for this +melodramatic statement. + +However, on the evening of the seventh day the stars in their courses +said their word in the matter. Doubtless the behaviour of the astral +bodies was the outcome of a formally expressed wish of the Society; at +least it is well known that certain of its members carry weight in +heaven. Whether Mrs. Catesby and the Vicar's Wife headed a deputation +to Jupiter I am not in a position to affirm. Be that as it may, on the +evening of the seventh day fate issued a decree against "the circus +rider from Vienna" and all her household. + +Let this fell occurrence be recorded with detail. Myself and +co-partner in life's felicities had had a tolerable if somewhat +fatiguing day with the Crackanthorpe Hounds. We had assisted at the +destruction of a couple of fur-coated members of society who had done +us no harm whatever; and having exchanged the soaked, muddy and +generally uncomfortable habiliments of the chase for the garb of peace, +had fared _tête-à-tête_--Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther +regaling his friends at the Hall with the light of his countenance and +his post-prandial skill at snooker--with sumptuous decency upon baked +meats and the good red wine. + +We were in the most harmonious stage of all that this chequered +existence has to offer; taking our ease in our inn while our nether +limbs, whose stiffness was a not unpleasing reminiscence of the +strenuous day we had spent in the saddle, toasted luxuriously before a +good sea-coal fire; smoking the pipe of peace together, although this +is by way of being a figure of speech, since Mrs. Arbuthnot affected a +mild Turkish cigarette; comparing notes of our joint adventures by +flood and field, with the natural and inevitable De Vere +Vane-Anstruther note of condescension quite agreeably mitigated by one +tiny liqueur glass of the 1820 brandy--a magic potion which ere now has +caused the Magnificent Youth himself to abate a few feathers of his +plumage. We were conducting an exhaustive inquiry into the respective +merits of Pixie and Daydream, and I had been led with a charm that was +irresistible into a concurrence with the sharer of my bliss that both +were worth every penny of the price that had been paid for them, +although I had not so much as thrown a leg over either of these +quadrupeds of most distinguished ancestry. + +"It is rather a lot to pay, but you can't call them dear, can you, +because they _do_ fetch such prices nowadays, don't they? And Laura is +perfectly green with envy." + +"I'm glad of that," said I, with undefeated optimism. "If her +greenness approximates to the right shade it will match the Hunt +collar. How green is she?" + +"Funny old thing!" Mrs. Arbuthnot's beam was of childlike benignity. +"She is not such a bad sort, really. Besides, plain people are always +the nicest, aren't they, poor dears? Yes, Parkins, what is it?" + +Parkins the peerless had entered the drawing-room after a discreet +preliminary knock for which the circumstances really made no demand +whatever. He had sidled up to his mistress, and in his mien natural +reserve and a desire to dispense information were finely mingled. + +"Beg pardon, ma'am, but have you seen the glare in the sky?" + +"What sort of a glare, Parkins?" A lazy voice emerged from the seventh +heaven of the hedonist. "Do you mean it's a what-do-you-call-it? A +_planet_ I suppose you mean, Parkins?" + +"It can hardly be a _comet_, ma'am," said Parkins, with his most +encyclopaedic air. "It is so bright and so fixed, and it seems to be +getting larger." + +"So long as it isn't the end of the world," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, +fondling her gold cigarette-case with a little sigh. + +"It looks to me like the Castle, ma'am. It is over in that direction. +I remember when the west wing was burnt twelve years ago." + +"You think the Castle is on fire?" said I. + +I also was in the seventh heaven of the hedonist. But gathering my +faculties as resolutely as I could, I rose from the good sea-coal fire +and assisted Parkins to pull aside the curtains. + +"By Jove, you're right. There is a blaze somewhere, But isn't it +rather near for the Castle?" + +"It might be the Grange," said Parkins. + +I was fain to agree that the Grange it might be. Somehow that seemed a +place excellently laid for disaster. The announcement that the Grange +was on fire brought Mrs. Arbuthnot to the window. Born under Mars, the +star of my destiny is nothing if not a woman of action. In spite of +her present rather lymphatic state she ordered the car round +immediately. Within five minutes we were braving a dark and stormy +December night. + +The beacon growing ever brighter as we went, it did not take long to +convince us that the Grange would be our destination. It is to be +feared that we broke the law, for in something considerably under half +an hour we had come to the home of the Fitzwarens. + +A heartrending scene it was. The beautiful but always rather desolate +old house, which dates from John o' Gaunt, seemed already doomed. A +portion of it was even now in ruins and on all sides the flames were +leaping up fiercely to the sky. Engines had not yet had time to come +from Middleham, and the progress of the fire was appalling. + +A number of servants and villagers had devoted themselves to the task +of retrieving the furniture. On a lawn at some distance from the house +an incongruous collection of articles had been laid out: a picture by +Rubens side by side with a trouser-press; a piece of Sèvres cheek by +jowl with a kitchen saucepan. Standing in their midst in the charge of +a nurse was the small elf of four. Her eyes were sparkling and she was +dancing and clapping her hands in delight at the spectacle. The nurse +was in tears. + +Mrs. Arbuthnot had not seen the creature before. But her instincts are +swift and they are sure. + +"Come with me," she said to the nurse. "Saunders will take you in the +car to Dympsfield House. They will make up a bed for you in the day +nursery and see that you get some warm food." + +Hardly had the little girl suffered herself to be led away by the +prospect of a new adventure before two men came towards the spot where +I stood. They were grimy and dishevelled, and the upper part of their +persons seemed to be enveloped in folds of wet blanket. They were +staggering under a very large and unwieldy burden which was swathed in +a material similar to that which they wore themselves. + +With much care this object was deposited upon a Sheraton table, and +then I found myself greeted by a familiar voice. + +"Hullo, Arbuthnot! Didn't expect to see you here. Very good of you to +come." + +It was the voice of Fitz speaking with the almost uncanny _insouciance_ +of the wonderful night at Portland Place. He cast off the curious +wrappings which encumbered his head, and said to his companion, who was +in similar guise, "I'm afraid it has us beat. The sooner we get out of +this kit the better." + +There came an incoherent growl out of the folds of wet blanket. + +"Why, Coverdale!" I said in astonishment. + +"I think we ought to make a sporting dash for that Holbein," said the +growl, becoming coherent. "That is, if you are quite sure it isn't a +forgery." + +"Personally I think it is," said Fitz, in his voice of unnatural calm. +"But my father always believed it to be genuine." + +"Better take the word of your father. Let us get at it." + +It was the work of a moment to strip the wrappings off the retrieved +masterpiece upon the Sheraton table. + +"Can I help?" said I. + +"If you want to be of use," said Fitz, "go and give the Missus a hand +with the horses." + +Leaving Fitz and Coverdale to make yet another entry into what seemed +hardly less than a furnace of living fire, I made my way round to the +stables. To approach them one had to be careful. The heat was +intense; sparks and burning fragments were being flung a considerable +distance by the gusts of wind, and masonry was crashing continually. +The out-buildings had not yet caught, but with the wind in its present +quarter it would only be the work of a few moments before they did so. + +My recollection is of plunging, rearing and frightened animals, and of +a commanding, all-pervading presence in their midst. Amid the throng +of stable-hands, villagers, firemen and policemen who had now come upon +the scene, it rose supreme, directing their energies and sustaining +them with that imperious magnetism which she possessed beyond any +creature I have ever seen. I heard it said afterwards that she alone +had the power to induce the twelve horses to quit their loose boxes; +that one by one she led them out, soothing and caressing them; and that +so long as she was with them they showed comparatively little fear of +the roaring furnace that was so near to them, but that no sooner were +they handed over to others than they became unmanageable. + +Certainly it was due to a consummate exhibition of her power that the +horses were got out of their stalls without harm to themselves or to +others. They were confided to the care of the friendly farmers of the +neighbourhood, who, assembled in force, were working heroically to +combat the flames. All night long the work of salvage went on, but in +spite of all that could be done, even with the aid of numerous +fire-engines from Middleham, nothing could save the old house. It +burnt like tinder. By three o'clock that December morning it was a +smouldering ruin, with only a few fragments of stone wall remaining. + +At intervals during the night some of the Grange servants had been +dispatched to Dympsfield House, with as many of the personal belongings +of their master and mistress as they could collect. Our establishment +is a modest one, but not for a moment did it occur to Mrs. Arbuthnot +that it would be unable to offer sanctuary to those who needed it so +sorely. + +The fire had run its course and all were resigned to the inevitable +when Mrs. Arbuthnot, without deigning to consult the nominal head of +our household, made the offer of our hospitality to Fitz and his wife. +At her own request she had previously forgone an introduction to "the +circus rider from Vienna"; and now in these tragic December small hours +she deemed such a formality to be unnecessary. Verily misfortune makes +strange bedfellows! + +If I must tell the truth, it surprised me to learn that the Fitzwarens +had been prevailed upon to accept the hospitality of Dymspfield House. +True, they were homeless; but, looking at the case impartially, it +seemed to me that they had not been very generously treated by their +neighbours. The foibles of "the circus rider from Vienna" had aroused +a measure of covert hostility to which the most obtuse people could not +have been insensible. Had the average ordinary married couple been in +the case of Fitz and his wife, I do not think they would have yielded +to Mrs. Arbuthnot's impulsive generosity. + +The Fitzwarens, however, were far from being ordinary average people. +Therefore, by a quarter to five that morning they had crossed our +threshold; and as some recompense for the privations of that tragic +night they were promptly regaled with a scratch meal of coffee and +sandwiches. + +One other individual, at his own suggestion, accompanied our guests to +Dympsfield House. He was of a sinister omen, being no less a person +than the Chief Constable of the county. His presence at the fire had +been a matter for surprise. And when, as we were about to quit the +unhappy scene, he came to me privately and said that if we could +squeeze a corner for him in the car he should be glad to come with us, +that surprise was not made less. + + + +[1] In the opinion of Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins this passage fully +guarantees the author's total ignorance of a very great proposition. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MRS. ARBUTHNOT BEGINS TO TAKE NOTICE + +It was a little before six when the ladies retired in the quest of +their lost repose. No sooner had they left us than we lit our pipes +and drew our chairs up to the fire. In patience I awaited the riddle +of the Chief Constable's presence being read to me. + +"Arbuthnot,"--the great man sucked at his pipe pensively--"there are +several things that Fitzwaren and I are agreed that you ought to know." + +Fitz nodded his head in curt but rather sinister approval. + +"Yes, tell him," he said. + +"Before Fitzwaren accepted your hospitality," said the great man, "he +asked my advice." + +"Oh, really?" said I. + +"And I think it only right to mention"--the air of the great man +reminded me of my old tutor expounding a proposition in Euclid--"that +it is upon my advice he has accepted it." + +"I ought to feel honoured." + +"Well, yes, perhaps you ought." The Chief Constable removed his pipe +from his lips and tapped it upon an extremely dirty boot. "But whether +you will feel honoured when you have heard all we have to say to you I +am not so sure." + +"Nor I," said Fitz. + +"You see, Arbuthnot, we have a rather delicate problem to deal with. +It is neither more nor less than the personal safety of the Princess." + +"I hope," said I, "her Royal Highness will be at least as safe here as +she would be anywhere else." + +"That is the crux of the whole matter. Fitzwaren and I have come to +the conclusion that, for the time being, the Princess will actually be +safer in this house than she would be in any other." + +"Really!" + +"Our local police, acting in conjunction with Scotland Yard, hope to be +able to ensure her safety, that is if she and her friends take +reasonable care." + +"You may depend upon it, Coverdale, that as far as my wife and I are +concerned we shall do nothing to jeopardise it." + +"That is taken for granted. But her present position is much more +critical than perhaps you are aware." + +"I know, of course, that Ferdinand the Twelfth is determined to have +her back in Illyria." + +"Yes, and further than that, the Republican Party is equally determined +that she never shall go back to Illyria. The events of last night have +furnished another proof of their sentiments." + +"I don't understand." + +"There is reason to believe that the destruction of the Grange is the +work of an incendiary. That is to say, a bomb was thrown through one +of the windows, as was the case at Blaenau recently. There can be no +question that the object of the crime was to kill the Princess, as it +was to kill the King, but in each case the business was bungled. In +this instance, rather miraculously, not a soul was hurt, although the +house, as you know, has been entirely destroyed. A bomb was thrown +into the dining-room, but as dinner happened to be half an hour later +than usual, nobody was there." + +This grisly narrative gave me a sharp shock, I confess. And I must +have betrayed my state of mind, for the Chief Constable favoured me +with a smile of reassurance. + +"Put your trust in the Middleshire police," said he, "with a little +assistance from the Yard. They won't play that game twice with us, you +can depend upon it. If the Yard had not been rather late with their +information they would never have played it at all. Our people were +actually on the way to the Grange when the outrage was committed." + +For all the air of professional reassurance, the married man, the +father of the family, and the county member was thoroughly alarmed. + +"It is all very well, Coverdale, but what guarantee is there that even +at this moment they are not dropping bombs into our bedrooms?" + +"Four men in plain clothes are patrolling your park, and will continue +to do so as long as the Princess remains under your roof." + +It would have been ungrateful not to express relief for this official +vigilance. But that it was felt in any substantial measure is more +than I can affirm. + +"Of course, my dear fellow," said Fitz, "now that you are in possession +of all the facts of the case, you have a perfect right to withdraw the +offer of your hospitality. Coverdale and I are agreed that it will do +much to promote my wife's safety for the time being, because this house +will be kept under continual observation. But as soon as I can make +other arrangements I shall do so, of course. And if you really believe +that the safety of your house and family is involved, we shall have no +alternative but to go at once." + +To what length ought we to carry our altruism? Here was a grave +problem for the married man, the father of the family, and the county +member. In spite of the opinion of the cool-headed and sagacious +Coverdale, I could not allay the feeling that to harbour the "Stormy +Petrel" was to incur a grave risk. But at the same time it was not in +me to turn her adrift into the highways and hedges. + +"Now that we have had due warning of what to expect," said Coverdale, +"these gentry will not find it quite so easy to throw bombs in this +country as they do in Illyria. And if I thought for one moment you +were not justified in extending your hospitality to the Princess I +should certainly say so." + +Events are generally too strong for the humble mortals who are content +to tread the path of mediocrity. We had already offered sanctuary to +the Crown Princess of Illyria. A little painful reflection seemed to +show that to revoke it now would be rather inhuman and rather cowardly. +All the same, it was impossible to view with enthusiasm the prospect of +four men in plain clothes continually patrolling the park. + +"By the way," said the Chief Constable, "you will, I hope, treat this +business of the bombs as strictly confidential. It won't help matters +at all to find it in the morning papers." + +"I appreciate that; but won't the servants be rather curious about +those four sportsmen in plain clothes?" + +"Ostensibly they are there to look after a gang of burglars who are +expected in the neighbourhood." + +"Not exactly a plausible story, I am afraid!" + +"The story doesn't matter, so long as they don't suspect the truth. +And as Mrs. Fitzwaren's _incognito_ has been so well kept, there is no +reason why they should." + +So much for the latest development of this amazing situation. From the +very moment the curtain had risen upon the first act of the +tragi-comedy of the Fitzwarens I had seemed to be cast for the +uncomfortable _rôle_ of the weak soul in the toils of fate. From the +beginning it had been contrary to the promptings of the small voice +within that I had borne a part in their destinies. And here they were +established under my roof, a menace to my household and the enemies of +all peace of mind. + +It only remained to make the best of things and to hope devoutly that +Fitz would soon arrange to relieve us of the presence of the "Stormy +Petrel." But in spite of all the dark knowledge it was necessary to +keep locked up in one's heart, there was an aspect of the matter which +was rather charming. To watch the lion and the lamb lying down +together, a veritable De Vere Vane-Anstruther playing hostess to the +fair _equestrienne_ from a continental circus was certainly pleasant. + +I think it is up to me to admit that at the core Mrs. Arbuthnot is as +sound as a bell. Certainly her demeanour towards her guests was +faultless. Indeed, it made me feel quite proud of her to reflect that +had she really known the true status of our visitor she could have done +nothing more for her comfort and for that of her _entourage_. Her +foibles were condoned and "her little foreign ways" were yielded to in +the most gracious manner; and after dinner that evening it was a great +moment when our distinguished guest volunteered to accompany on the +piano her hostess's light contralto. + +I took this to be symbolical of the complete harmony in which the day +had been spent. Confirmation of this was forthcoming an hour later, +when we had the drawing-room to ourselves. + +"Really she is not half such a trial as I feared she would be," Mrs. +Arbuthnot confessed. + +"If you meet people fairly and squarely half-way," said I, in my +favourite _rôle_ of the hearthrug philosopher, "there are surprisingly +few with whom you can't find something in common." + +"Perhaps there is such a thing as being too fastidious." + +"We are apt to draw the line a little close at times, eh?" + +"Some of these Bohemians must be rather interesting in their way," said +Mrs. Arbuthnot. + +"No doubt they have some sort of a standard to which they try to +conform," said I, with excellent gravity. + +"Of course she is not _exactly_ a lady. Yet in some ways she is +_rather_ nice. Doesn't look at things in the way we do, of course. +Awfully unconventional in some of her ideas." + +"By unconventional you mean continental, I presume?" + +"No, not continental exactly. At least, I was 'finished' in Dresden, +but I didn't learn anything of that kind." + +"Had you been 'finished' in an Austrian circus perhaps you might have +done." + +"I hardly think so. They don't seem to be ideas you could pick up. I +should think you would have to be born with them. They seem somehow to +belong to your past--to your ancestors." + +"It has not occurred to me that circus-riders were troubled with +ancestors." + +"Hardly, perhaps, in the sense that we mean. But there is something +rather fine in their way of looking at things." + +"A good type of Bohemian would you say?" + +"Surprisingly so in some ways. She doesn't seem to care a bit about +money and she is absolutely devoted to Fitz. She doesn't seem to care +a bit about jewels, either. She has got some positively gorgeous +things, and if there is anything I care to have she hopes I'll take it. +Of course I shall do nothing of the kind, but I should just love to +have them all." + +"She appears to have had her admirers in Vienna, evidently." + +"That is what one can't make out. She has three tiaras, and they must +be priceless." + +"Nonsense, _mon enfant_. Even the glamour of the sawdust a thousand +times reflected cannot transmute paste into the real thing." + +"But the odd part of it is they _are_ real. I am convinced of it; and +Adèle, my maid, who was two years with dear Evelyn, is absolutely sure." + +"Is it conceivable that the possessor of three diamond tiaras would +choose to jump for a livelihood through a hoop in pink tights?" + +"Yes, I know it's absurd. But nothing will convince me that her +diamonds are not real." + +"And she offered you the pick of them?" + +"The pick of everything except the smallest of the three tiaras, which +she thought perhaps her father might not like her to part with." + +"One would have thought that he would at least have set his affections +upon the largest of the three." + +"Really, I can hardly swallow the circus." + +"You haven't by any chance asked her the question?" + +"Dear no! One wouldn't like to ask a question of that sort unless one +knew her quite well. I don't think she was ever in a circus at all. +Or if she was, she may have been a sort of foundling." + +"Stolen by gipsies from the ancestral castle in her infancy. After +all, there is nothing to prevent her father being a duke." + +"I don't think it would surprise me, although, of course, she is rather +odd. But then in all ways she is so different from us." + +"Did you observe whether she ate with her knife and drank out of the +finger-bowls?" + +"Her manners are just like those of anybody else. I am asking Mary to +dine here on Friday, so that she can see for herself. It is her ideas +that are un-English; yet, judged by her own standard she might be +considered quite nice." + +"Mrs. Arbuthnot, surely a very generous admission!" + +"Let us be fair to everybody. I'm not sure that one couldn't get +almost to like her. There is something about her that seems to take +right hold of you. Personal magnetism, I suppose." + +"Or some uncomfortable Bohemian attribute? Can it be, do you suppose, +that the standard the English gentlewoman likes the whole world to +conform to would be none the worse for a little wider basis?" + +"Don't be a goose! A person is either a lady or she isn't, but she may +be frightfully entertaining and fascinating all the same." + +"Yes, that has the hall-mark of truth. There are cases in history. +Miss Dolly Daydream, for example, of the Frivolity Theatre." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot reproved me for the levity with which I treated a grave +issue. Upon the receipt of my apology she regaled me with the +astounding fact that Mrs. Fitz looked down on the English. + +"Is it conceivable?" said I, the picture of incredulity. + +"Really and truly she does. Quite laughs at us. Says we are so +stupid--so _bête_, that's her word. And she says we are so conceited. +She seems to think we have very little education in the things that +really matter." + +"Is she old-fashioned enough to believe that there is anything that +really matters?" + +"In a way she does." + +"How antediluvian! What does she believe it is that really matters?" + +"She seems to think it's the soul." + +"Dear me! I hope you made it clear to her that that part of the +Englishman's anatomy is never mentioned in good society?" + +"She knows that, I think. She says why the Romans are ashamed of it is +what she can't fathom." + +"She pays us the compliment of comparing us to the Romans?" + +"She says we are the Romans." + +"In a re-incarnation, I presume?" + +"I suppose she means that--she is so awfully odd. And for the Romans +to give themselves airs is too ridiculous." + +"Has she no opinion of the Cæsars?" + +"The Cæsars don't amount to much, in her opinion. We are going to have +another lesson before long, she says, and it will be a very good thing +for the world." + +"If by that she means that materialism leads to a _cul-de-sac_, and +that it takes a better creed than that to raise a reptile out of the +mud, perhaps we might do worse than agree with her." + +"She certainly never said anything about any 'isms.' But I don't +understand you anyway." + +"It seems to me, _mon enfant_, she has had a good deal to say about the +'isms.' But then, as you say, she's so foreign. Was there anything +else about her that engaged your attention?" + +"Heaps of things. She is terribly superstitious, a tremendous believer +in fate. She thinks everything is fore-ordained, and that the same +things keep happening over again." + +"Doesn't her oddness strike you as rather out of date?" + +"Absurdly. But it is not so much her ideas as the way she lives up to +them that makes her so different from other people. There was one +thing she told me really made me laugh. She said that Nevil was her +twin-soul, and that they lived in Babylon together about three thousand +years ago." + +"I should think that is not unlikely." + +"Be serious, Odo." + +"There are more things in earth and heaven, Horatia, than are dreamt of +in your philosophy. Go to bed like a wise child, and dream of hunting +the fox, and see that this Viennese horsewoman doesn't addle that brain +too much." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot confessed namely that she didn't feel in the least like +sleep. + +"I think I'll have another cigarette," she said. + +"Sitting up late and smoking to excess will destroy that magnificent De +Vere Vane-Anstruther nerve." + +"Goose! Yet I am not sure that this circus woman hasn't destroyed it +already. Do you know, I've never been in the least afraid of anybody +before, but I rather think I'm a bit afraid of her. She really is +wonderfully odd." + +A slight tremor seemed to invade the voice of Mrs. Arbuthnot. I was +fain to believe that such a display of sensibility was extremely +honourable to her. For, even judged as a mere human entity, our guest +was quite apart from the ordinary, and it would have implied a measure +of obtuseness not to recognise that fact. + +Taking one consideration with another, I felt the hour was ripe to let +Mrs. Arbuthnot into the secret. As things were going so well, it was +perhaps not strictly necessary; yet at the same time I had a +premonition that I should not be forgiven if the wife of my bosom was +kept too long in innocence of our visitor's romantic lineage. + +"That cigarette of yours," said I, "means another pipe for me, although +you know quite well that it makes me so bad-tempered in the morning. +But I think I ought to tell you something--that is if you will swear by +all your gods not to breathe a word to a living soul, not even to Mary +Catesby." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot pricked up her ears properly. + +"Why, of course. You mean it is something about this Mrs. Fitz? I +know it." + +"What do you know?" + +"I can't explain it, but as soon as I spoke to her it came upon me that +she was something quite deep and mysterious." + +"Well, it happens that she is. Things are not always what they seem. +I am going to give you a guess." + +"There is something Grand-Duchessy about her. You remember that woman +we met at Baden-Baden? In some ways she is rather like her." + +"And do you remember your old friend the King of Illyria?--'the old +johnny with the white hair,' to quote Joseph Jocelyn De Vere." + +"The dear old man in the Jubilee procession?" + +"The Victor of Rodova; the representative of the oldest reigning +monarchy in Europe." + +"Yes, yes. Such an old dear." + +"Well, our friend Mrs. Fitz happens to be his only child, the Heiress +Apparent to the throne of Illyria. What have you to say to that?" + +For the moment Mrs. Arbuthnot had nothing at all to say, but she looked +as though a feather would have knocked her over. + +"It is a small world, isn't it, _mon enfant_?" + +"It really is the oddest thing out!" Mrs. Arbuthnot's feminine +organisation was quite tense. "It doesn't surprise me, and yet it is +really too queer." + +"Ridiculously queer that humdrum people like us should be entertaining +royalties unawares." + +"Not nearly so queer as that she should have married Nevil Fitzwaren. +How did she come to marry him?" + +"They are twin-souls who lived in Babylon three thousand years ago." + +"That is merely silly." + +"My authority is her Royal Highness." + +"Fancy the Crown Princess of Illyria running off with a man like Fitz!" + +"There is reason to suppose that he makes her happy." + +"Why, one day she will be Queen of Illyria!" + +"She may be or she may not." + +"Well, I can't believe it anyway! There is no proof." + +"There is no proof beyond herself. And I confess that to me she +carries conviction." + +For an instant Mrs. Arbuthnot knitted her brows in the process of +thought. She then concurred with a perplexed little sigh. + +"But how dreadfully awkward it will be," she said in a kind of rapture, +"for poor dear Mary Catesby!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +HER ROYAL HIGHNESS RECEIVES A LETTER + +Pledged to secrecy, Mrs. Arbuthnot earned a meed of praise for her +behaviour during a crowded and glorious epoch. If you entertain the +Crown Princess of an active and potent monarchy it is reasonable to +expect that things will happen. + +Things did happen in some profusion during the sojourn of her Royal +Highness at Dympsfield House. Owing to the course taken by events +which I shall have presently to narrate, that sojourn was prolonged +indefinitely. The resources of our modest establishment were taxed to +the uttermost, but throughout a really trying period it is due to Mrs. +Arbuthnot to say that she was a model of tact, discretion, and natural +goodness. + +She would have been unworthy the name of woman--a title not without +pretensions to honour, as sociologists inform us--had she not literally +burned to communicate her knowledge of the true identity of "the circus +rider from Vienna." But some compensation was culled from the fact +that her co-workers in the cause of the Public Decency grew +increasingly lofty in their point of view. Even the promptings of a +healthy human curiosity would not permit Mrs. Catesby to eat at our +board in order that she might see for herself. Mournfully that woman +of an unblemished virtue shook her head over us. + +"It was not kind to dear Evelyn. It was right, of course, to +sympathise with the Fitzwarens in their misfortune. But the place was +old, and George understood that it was covered by insurance. And +fortunately all the pictures that were worth anything--and some that +were not--had been saved. But to take them under one's wing as we had +done was quixotic and bound to give offence. Besides, that kind of +person would be quite in her element at the village inn, the Coach and +Horses." + +Nevertheless, Mrs. Arbuthnot bore every reproof with a stoical +fortitude. What it cost her "not to give away the show," to indulge in +the phrase of Joseph Jocelyn De Vere, it would be idle to estimate. +But she was true to the oath she had sworn on the night of the great +revelation. Not to a living soul did she yield her secret. + +To Jodey himself what he was pleased to call "the royal visit" was a +matter for undiluted joy. It is true that he was turned out of his +bedroom, the best in the house, which commands an unrivalled view of +Knollington Gorse, and had to be content with humbler quarters; but our +Bayard was so perfectly _au courant_ with all that had happened, even +unto the presence of the four men in plain clothes in the shrubbery, +that the situation was much to his taste. + +When the Princess was not herself present, it pleased him to treat the +whole thing as a matter for somewhat laborious satire. + +"Ain't you got a bit o' red carpet and an awning for the front steps, +Mops? And why don't Odo sport his order at dinner? Can't see the use, +myself, in having an order if you don't sport it for royalty. Must put +your best leg first. Buck up a bit, old gal, else her Royal 'Ighness +will think you haven't been used to it. Anyhow, you must tell Parkins +to be damn careful how he decants that '63." + +In the presence of Mrs. Fitz, however, the demeanour of my relation by +marriage was not unlike that of a linesman standing at attention on a +field day. His deportment was so fearfully correct in every detail; +his attire so extraordinarily nice--he discarded gay waistcoats and +brilliant neckties as being hardly "the thing"--his hair was groomed so +marvellously, and he was so overpoweringly polite that it was a source +of wonder how the young fellow contrived to maintain the standard he +had prescribed for himself. + +It was a period of anxiety, yet it was not without its interest. In a +very short time Mrs. Arbuthnot had divined the _raison d'être_ of the +four men in the park, but this did nothing to impair her sense of +hospitality. Fitz did not favour us with much of his company except in +the evening. During the day his energies were absorbed with the +arrangements for the rebuilding of the Grange, and, as I gathered, with +further provisions for the safety of his wife. All the same, limited +as was the time at his disposal, it was our privilege to watch him +sustain the domestic character. + +Whatever the incongruity of their fortunes, it was clear that Fitz and +his wife had a genuine devotion for one another. And in spite of their +apartness and the idea they conveyed of living entirely to themselves +without reference to the lives of humbler mortals, each seemed to +possess a quality worthy to inspire it. In a measure I was privileged +to share their confidence during the time they stayed under our roof; +and it was characteristic of them both that at heart they had a rather +charming and childlike frankness. Each of them revealed unexpected +qualities. + +I think I am entitled to say that I never shared the hostility they +seemed to arouse in others. All his life long Fitz, as far as I had +known him, had been condemned to play the part of the black sheep. +Partly it may have been due to his habit of refusing to go with the +tide; of his declared hatred of any kind of a majority. He had always +been a law unto himself, and had given a very free rein to his +personality. To me he had ever stood revealed as one capable of +anything; of the greatest good or of the greatest evil; and to behold +him now in the domestic circle, in close affinity with the magnetic +being in whom the whole of his life was centred, was to find him +endowed with a charm and a fascination which had no place in the nature +of the Nevil Fitzwaren that was seen by the eyes of the world. + +To me there was something beautiful and also a little pathetic in the +relationship which seemed to exist between these two diverse souls. +Their implicit faith in the rightness of each other, their sense of +adequacy, was a very rare thing. So many of the ignoble things of +life, questions of material expediency, of shallow prejudice, of +partial judgment, they seemed to have ruled out altogether. And this +could not have been otherwise if one reflected that a veritable kingdom +of this world was the price that had been paid for this true fellowship. + +My previous encounters with Mrs. Fitz had been of a somewhat trying +nature. But on the domestic hearth she was much less formidable. The +impetuous arrogance which had proved so disconcerting to everybody was +not so much in evidence. Her charm seemed to become rarefied as it +grew more humane. The childlike directness of her point of view began +to emerge more and more and to enhance her fascination; indeed, her way +of looking at things became a perpetual delight to such sophisticated +minds as ours. + +Her total inability to take us seriously was quite piquant. Our +England and all that was in it amused her vastly. She would compare it +to an enchanted land in one of Perrault's fairy-tales. But our code of +life, our manners and customs, our ideals, our mechanical contrivances +and, above all, our solemnity concerning them, never failed to appeal +to her sense of humour. + +It was my especial pleasure to converse with her after dinner. I +should not say that the art of conversation was her strong point, and +it was not until she had been a week in our midst that I was able to +come to anything approaching close quarters with her. But it was worth +making the effort to get past the barrier that was unconsciously +erected by her air of disillusion, of patient, plaintive tolerance. + +There was a quaint definiteness about her ideas. Touching all +questions that had real significance her thinking seemed to have been +done for her generations ago. All that lay outside the life of the +emotions was to her the wearisome iteration of a constitutional +practice, a necessary but somewhat painful part of the order of things. + +Perhaps the most surprising thing about her was her humility. The pomp +of kingship was to her the hollowest of all chimeras. It merely +resolved itself into the guardianship of a profoundly ignorant, an +undeveloped and an extremely thankless proletariat. "_Hélas!_ poor +souls, they don't know what is good," was a phrase she used with a +maternal sigh. The divine right of kings was part and parcel of the +cosmic order; a fact as pregnant and inviolable as the presence of the +sun and the planets in the firmament. To be called to the state of +kingship was an extremely honourable condition, "but you had always to +be praying." It was also honourable and not so irksome to be an +unregarded unit of the proletariat. + +I am not sure, but I incline to the belief, that the fact that I had a +seat in the House enabled her to support my curiosity with more +tolerance than she might have done had I been without some sort of +official sanction. She regarded me as a chosen servant of _le bon roi +Edouard_; either my own personal grace or that of my kindred had +commended itself to the guardian of the state. + +"Are not," said I, "the members of the Illyrian Parliament elected by +the people?" + +"Yes, my father gave the people the franchise in 1890, and the nobles +have never forgiven him. So now the people choose their sixty deputies +out of a list he draws up for their guidance; the lords of the land +choose another sixty from among themselves; and then, as so often +happens, if the two Chambers cannot agree, the King gives advice." + +"The King of Illyria has heavy duties!" + +"My father loves hard work." + +"Are you troubled, ma'am, with a democratic movement in Illyria, as all +the rest of Europe appears to be at the present time?" + +The gesture of her Royal Highness was one of pity. + +"_Hélas_, poor souls!" + +It was delicate ground upon which to tread. But the fascination of +such an inquiry lured me on where doubtless the canons of good taste +would have had me stay. + +"Would you not say, ma'am, your Republican Party was a menace to the +state?" + +"They don't know what is good, poor souls." Her voice was gentle. +"They will have to learn." + +"Will the King be the means of teaching them?" + +"_Hélas!_ he is too old. It must be left to fate. Poor souls, poor +souls!" + +During the sojourn of her Royal Highness at Dympsfield House, we saw a +good deal of the Chief Constable of our county. In a sense he had made +himself responsible for the safety of us all. His vigilance was great, +and its unobtrusiveness was part of the man. No precaution was +neglected which could minister to our security; and he gave his +personal attention to matters of detail which less thorough-going +individuals might have considered to be beneath their notice. + +He was particularly insistent that the Princess should give up her +hunting, and that she should confine the scope of her activities, as +far as possible, to the grounds of the house. To this she was not in +the least amenable. An out-and-out believer in fate, and a subscriber +to the doctrine of what has to be will be, the bullets of the anarchist +had no terrors for her. To Coverdale's annoyance, she continued to +hunt in spite of his solemn and repeated warnings. And when he was +moved to remonstrate with Fitz upon the subject, he met with the reply, +"She pleases herself entirely." + +"But, my dear fellow," said the Chief Constable, "surely you must know +that she is exposing herself to grave risks." + +"If a thing seems good to her she does it," was Fitz's unprofitable +rejoinder. + +The great man was frankly annoyed. + +"That is very wrong, to my mind," he said with some heat. "It is +unfair to those who have made themselves responsible for her safety." + +"It is a question of free-will," said Fitz, "and she knows far more +about that than most people. And when it comes to a matter of choosing +right, she has a special faculty." + +So inconclusive a reply merely ministered to the wrath of the Chief +Constable, who in private complained to me bitterly. + +"I wish to heaven they would quit the country," he said. "They are a +source of endless worry and expense. We do all we can to help them, +and I must say the Yard is wonderful, yet they can't be induced to take +the most elementary precautions. I regret now, Arbuthnot, that I urged +you to shelter them. I had hoped they were rational and sensible +people, but I now find they are not." + +"You think, Coverdale, the danger is as real as ever?" + +"Frankly I do. Ferdinand the Twelfth has played it up so high in +Illyria that the Republicans are determined to make an end of the +monarchy." + +"But didn't she renounce her right to the throne when she married Fitz?" + +"In effect she may have done so, but the Illyrian law of succession +will not contemplate such an act. Ferdinand makes no secret of the +fact, apparently, that he will compel her to marry the Archduke Joseph, +and that she must succeed to the throne." + +"How is it possible for him to give effect to his will?" + +"He is a strong man, and if he sets his mind upon a particular course +of action few have been able to deny him." + +"Then you think her marriage with Fitz is merely an episode in what is +likely to be a brilliant but stormy career?" + +"Always provided it is not cut short by one of those bullets it is our +duty to anticipate. I can only tell you that the Foreign Office is now +very anxious to get her out of the country, and that if they dared they +would deport her." + +"Ho, ho!" + +An academic admirer of our constitutional practice, I was fain to +indulge in a whistle. + +"And, strictly between ourselves," said the Chief Constable, "if only +the right government were in, deported she would be." + +"A fine proceeding, I am bound to say, for a country with our +pretensions to liberalism!" + +"Under the rose, of course." The Chief Constable permitted himself a +dour smile. "I daresay it would make a precedent, and yet one is not +so sure about that. But one thing I am sure about, and that is that +some of us are devilish unpopular in high places. They would not be +averse from making things rather warm for certain individuals who shall +be nameless. They are pretty well agreed that we ought to have kept +our fingers out of the pie. As old L. said to me yesterday, she has +got to leave the country, and the sooner she goes the better it will be +for all concerned." + +All this tended to bring no comfort to the married man, the father of +the family, and the county member. If anything, it deepened his +anxiety. + +It is only just to state, however, that this feeling was not shared by +Mrs. Arbuthnot. To be sure, she was not acquainted with all that +happened. But as far as she was concerned the element of danger in the +case was an essential and rather delightful concomitant to its romance. + +The Vane-Anstruther hyper-sensitiveness to that mysterious ideal "good +form" rendered it necessary that Mrs. Arbuthnot should perform a +volte-face. This she proceeded to do with really amazing completeness +and efficiency. No sooner was the true identity of our visitor +established, than, as far as the ruler of Dympsfield House was +concerned, there was an end of the circus rider from Vienna and all her +works. The ingrained Vane-Anstruther reverence for royalty, due I have +ever been led to believe to an uncle who held a Household appointment, +received full play. The lightest whim of the Princess--except before +the servants it was ever the Princess--was law. + +Mrs. Arbuthnot did not go without a reward. Such an incursion did she +make upon the royal regard that in a surprisingly short time she was +addressed as Irene, and about the end of the first week of the visit +the intelligence was confided to me that the Princess had asked to be +called Sonia. Without a doubt we were living in a crowded and glorious +epoch. And I do not think its glamour was in any degree impaired by +the strictures of the world. + +It is not too much to say that the Crackanthorpe ladies were +scandalised by the open and flagrant treason of Mrs. Arbuthnot. She +had taken the queen of the sawdust into the bosom of her family. +Together they hunted the fox; together they overrode the Crackanthorpe +Hounds. Loud and bitter were the lamentations of Mrs. Catesby. The +whole county shook its head. + +Mrs. Arbuthnot wore the crown of martyrdom with extraordinary grace and +nerve. Her conduct in public was marked by a cynical impropriety, a +flagrant audacity at which the world rubbed its eyes and wondered. + +"I really believe," said Mrs. Catesby one day as together we made our +way home through the January twilight, "that if Irene belonged to me I +should chastise her. Can you be unaware that she allows the creature +to call her by her first name? And Laura Glendinning assures me that +with her own ears she heard her address her as Matilda, or whatever the +name is she received in baptism." + +"Yes, it's a desperate situation," I agreed, with a sigh which had +perhaps a greater sincerity than it was allowed the credit. + +"I hold you entirely responsible," said the Great Lady. "And so does +everybody who knows the true facts of the case. That deplorable +evening at the Savoy--and now you actually find her house-room in order +that she may demoralise your wife! What a merciful thing it is that +your dear, good, devoted mother, the most refined of women, is no +longer with us! By the way, Odo, I suppose you have heard that there +is some talk of asking you to resign your seat?" + +"That is news to me, my dear Mary, I assure you." + +"The Vicar thinks you ought. He seems to think that if you have any +Christian feeling about things you will do so on your own initiative." + +"It is so like the Church of England not to realise that by the time a +man reaches the age of forty he has gone over to Buddha." + +"I don't know in the least what you mean, but I hope it is nothing +improper. But I can assure you that the Vicar's opinion is shared by +others. The Castle is dreadfully wounded. Poor dear Evelyn will never +forgive it--never! No more fishing in Scotland and no more shooting. +At any rate, it will be a mere waste of time and money for you to stand +again." + +It only remained for me to agree very cordially with Mrs. Catesby, and +to confess to surprise that my constituents had not made the discovery +sooner. + +"But," said I, cheerfully, "here we are at that fine example of late +Jacobean art known as Dympsfield House. I would that I could prevail +upon you, Mary, to honour our guest by drinking a cup of tea in her +presence. It would be a graceful act which I am sure we should all +appreciate." + +"I have a conscience, Odo Arbuthnot," said the Great Lady, with a +severity of mien that rendered the announcement superfluous. "Also I +have some kind of a standard of morals, manners and general conduct +which I strive to live up to." + +At the gate I said _au revoir_ to the outraged matron. Having disposed +of my horse, I made my way indoors. The ladies had come home in the +car and were at the tea-table already. Among a number of other +weaknesses which go with a strong infusion of the feminine temperament, +I confess to a decided partiality for the cup which cheers yet does not +inebriate. + +Mrs. Arbuthnot was pouring out the tea and her Royal Highness was +standing in front of the fire. She was reading a letter, and to judge +by her brilliantly expressive countenance, its contents were affording +a good deal of exercise for her emotions. + +"I wish, Sonia, I could convert you to cream and sugar," said Mrs. +Arbuthnot, declining to entrust the cup to my care, but rising +importantly and personally handing it to the occupant of the hearthrug. + +"Oh, no, t'ank you. Lemon _à la Russe_. What a people to take cream +and sugar in their tea!" + +She enforced her idea of the absurdity by giving Mrs. Arbuthnot a +playfully affectionate pinch of the ear. + +"I have a piece of news for you, my child. Now, you must not laugh." + +"Oh, no, Sonia, I will not laugh." + +The somewhat exaggerated note of Mrs. Arbuthnot's obedience was not +unlike that of the model girl of the class being examined by the head +mistress. + +"Now, Irene, be quite good. Not even a smile." The Princess held up a +finger of mock imperiousness. "Dis is most serious. Shall I tell you +now, or shall I to-morrow tell you?" + +"Oh, please, please," piped Mrs. Arbuthnot, "please tell me at once. +Is it those absurd Republicans?" + +"Oh no, my child; it is something much more interesting. My father is +on his way to England." + +In sheer exultation Mrs. Arbuthnot gave a little leap into the air. + +"O-oh!" she gasped. + +"Think of it, my child! The royal and august one coming to this funny +little island, where everything is according to Perrault. He is coming +with old Schalk." + +"O-oh!" gasped Mrs. Arbuthnot. + +"You don't know Schalk. Wait till you have seen Schalk and then you +will die. He will kill you quite. He looks like dis, and he walks so." + +Her Royal Highness made a face that was really comic and took a few +steps across the carpet in imitation of Schalk going to the House of +Deputies. + +"Are they _really_ coming?" + +"On Thursday they arrive at Southampton." + +"They will go straight to Windsor, of course?" + +"Oh no, my child; it is not a visit of state. It is quite a secret, +what you call _incognito_. The king is coming to make obedient his +wicked daughter. _Helas!_" + +With tragic suddenness the Princess dropped her voice and the laughter +died in her eyes. But Mrs. Arbuthnot was too far deeply engrossed in +her own wild and extravagant thoughts to pay heed to the change. + +"But if the King does not go to Windsor, where else can he go?" said +she. "An hotel doesn't seem right, somehow, although, of course, there +are some rather nice ones in London." + +"I think, my child," said the Princess, "it were best that my father +came to us. They have anarchists in London. Besides, I insist that +you see Schalk. He will make you laugh until you shed tears." + +It was as much as ever Mrs. Arbuthnot could do to keep herself in hand. + +"Oh, Sonia," she cried, "do you really think the King will come to us?" + +"_Mais oui, certainement_, that is his intention. But it is a secret, +a grand secret, you must not fail to remember. _Le bon roi Edouard_ +must not know he is in this country. His name will be Count Zhygny; +and perhaps our good Odo here will be able to find him a little +shooting. Hares, partridges, anything that goes on four legs will +amuse him; and you must never forget, my good Odo, that he is the best +player at _Britch_ in Illyria. Now mind you don't play very high, or +he will ruin you. And so will Schalk." + +"I thank you, ma'am, for the information," said I, gravely. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A LITTLE DIPLOMACY + +The announcement that Ferdinand the Twelfth, accompanied by his famous +minister, Baron von Schalk, was on his way to this country and that he +was coming straight to Dympsfield House can only be described as a blow +to one confirmed in the habit of mediocrity. Had I had only myself to +consult in the matter, I should have urged, with all the vigour of +which my nature is capable, that it would be quite impossible for us to +put them up. The lack of accommodation that was afforded by our modest +establishment; the obscurity of our social state; our radical unfitness +for the honour that was to be thrust upon us; all these disabilities +and many another surged through my brain, while I laved my tired limbs +and struggled into a "boiled" shirt, and tied my "white tie for +royalty" in accordance with the sumptuary decree of Joseph Jocelyn De +Vere. So acute, indeed, became the conviction that something must be +done to turn the tide of events that I was fain to go next door to +Fitz. That worthy was in the act of brushing his hair. + +"You've heard the news, I suppose?" said I, and as I spoke I caught a +glimpse of my own gloomy and shirt-sleeved apparition in a +looking-glass. + +"What news, old son?" said the Man of Destiny, negligently shaking +something out of a bottle on to his scalp. "Not been shootin' at +Sonia, have they? Police are devilish vigilant. I'm hanged if we +haven't had a couple of mounted detectives with us all day. They rode +like it, anyway." + +"Do you mean to say you haven't heard?" said I, positively hating the +man for his coolness. "Hasn't the Princess told you that her father is +on his way to this country, and that he is coming straight to us?" + +Fitz laid down his hair-brushes and turned round to face me. + +"Get out!" he said. "Ferdinand coming here!" + +"Yes; she had a letter this evening to that effect." + +Fitz betrayed astonishment. And under the mask of his habitual +indifference I thought he also betrayed something else. + +"That poisonous old swine coming here!" he muttered. + +"Yes; he is coming with Baron von Schalk." + +"They generally hunt in couples. He never goes anywhere without his +familiar. But I don't like your news at all." + +"I like the news as little as you do," said I. "Really, we can hardly +do with them here." + +Fitz stroked his chin pensively, and then shook his head. + +"It looks as though we shall have to put up with them, I'm afraid. If +they are really on the way, I don't quite see how we can shirk them. +Ferdinand is coming as a private person, I presume?" + +"So I gather. But what do you suppose is his motive in making this +sudden pilgrimage to see his daughter?" + +Fitz did not answer the question immediately. + +"It admits of only one explanation," he said at last. "His other +scheme having failed, he has the audacity to take the thing in hand +himself. But that is his way. Whatever may be thought of his policy +and the style in which it is carried out, it can't be denied that he is +a very remarkable man. But I wish to God he would keep away from +England!" + +The son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth ended with an abrupt outburst. +Evidently the prospect of coming to grips with his august relation was +not to be viewed lightly. + +"But it hardly seems right," he said, "for him to take pot-luck at the +Coach and Horses. I shall be immensely grateful, Arbuthnot, if you +will put him up here, and of course it is quite understood that I stand +the shot." + +"The question of the shot, my dear fellow, doesn't enter into the case +at all. But, you see, we are just simple, ordinary folk, and we are +not quite up to this sort of thing; and then again, our accommodation +is limited." + +"Oh, that will be all right. If you can squeeze in Ferdinand and old +Schalk here, their people can stay in the village." + +I am not often troubled by anything in the nature of an inspiration, +but desperation has been known to quicken the most lethargic minds. + +"By Jove," said I, "there's Brasset. He is mounted on a far better +scale than we are. The very man! I'm sure, if the matter were +mentioned to him, he would feel himself highly honoured." + +"Yes," said Fitz, "it is not half a bad idea. I will mention it to +Sonia." + +"Of course, my dear fellow," I explained, "you understand that my wife +and I immensely appreciate the honour of entertaining the King of +Illyria, and if we only had more resources we should be only too +grateful for the chance. I hope you will make that quite clear to the +Princess." + +Solemnly enough the son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth promised that +this should be done, and I descended to the drawing-room in a more +equable frame of mind. I was able to eat my dinner in the happy belief +that my inspiration had solved an acute and oppressive difficulty. +Emboldened by this reflection and sustained by a sense of danger +overpast, I even went to the length of attempting to pave the way for +the reception of the happy solution. + +"By the way," I ventured to announce to Mrs. Arbuthnot at the other end +of the table, "Mr. Fitzwaren has suggested that perhaps it would be +more convenient for Count Zhygny and his friend the Baron if Lord +Brasset entertained them at the Hall. This seems a most happy +suggestion, and I am quite sure that Lord Brasset will consider it a +very great honour." + +Before I had come to the end of this carefully phrased, and, as I +hoped, eminently diplomatic speech, a silent but furious signal was +dispatched by wireless telegraphy across the whole length of the table. +A frown of portentous dimension clouded the brow of Mrs. Arbuthnot as +she turned ruthlessly to the picture of amused cynicism who sat beside +her. + +"Really, Mr. Fitzwaren," said she, "that is nonsense. His Maj--I mean +to say, Count Thingamy has expressed a gracious desire to come here, +and of course, as I have no need to say, we should be the last people +in the world not to respect it. We shall only feel too _proud_ and +_honoured_, and the longer he stays with us the more _proud_ and the +more _honoured_ we shall feel." + +"Quite so, quite so," said I, hurriedly. "Those are exactly my views; +that goes without saying, of course. But at the same time, Mr. +Fitzwaren agrees with me that the accommodation at the Hall is far +superior to any that we have it in our power to offer." + +"I didn't say that exactly, old son." Fitz turned the tail of an +amused eye upon his hostess. "I rather think that is one of the things +that ought to be expressed differently. Rather open to +misconstruction, as the old lady said when something went wrong with +the airship." + +"Irene quite understands what I mean," said I, with the valour of the +entirely desperate. "The Hall, don't you know, is one of the show +places of the country--ceilings by Verrio, and so on. Then, of course, +Brasset's a peer, and, as it were, marked out by predestination to do +the honours to Count Zhygny." + +There was the imperious upraising of a jewelled paw, in company with a +flash of eyes across the rose-bowl in the centre of the table. I was +reminded of the lady in Meredith whose aspect spat. + +"You are talking sheer nonsense, Odo. Your father is coming here, +isn't he, Sonia dear? It is all arranged, and there will be heaps of +room. Lucinda will go to Yorkshire to see her Granny; and Jodey can go +to the Coach and Horses; and you, Odo, can sleep over the stables, and +I am sure that Mr. Fitzwaren won't mind giving up the nicest bedroom to +his Maj--I should say, Count von Thingamy. You won't, now will you, +Mr. Fitzwaren?" + +"I am yours to command, Mrs. Arbuthnot," said Mr. Fitzwaren, with his +chin pinned down to the front of his shirt, and gazing straight before +him with his smiling but sardonic eye. "And if there is anything I can +do to add to the comfort of the Count, I need hardly say that I shall +be most happy." + +"There!" said Mrs. Arbuthnot, triumphantly. "Not another word, please, +else Sonia will think we don't deserve such an honour." + +Her Royal Highness regaled us all with a benevolent flash of her +wonderful teeth. + +As one in the coils of fate, I had to submit with the best grace I +could to its decree. So far was the sharer of my joys and the +participator in my sorrows from viewing the prospect of the royal +coming with disfavour, that she might be said to revel in it. There +was a fire in her eye, a lightness in her step; the mere thought of the +glamour that was so soon to invest her household served to envelop her +in an atmosphere of mental and moral elevation that can only be +described as lyrical. + +Later in the evening I received a Caudle lecture upon my absence of +tact. "What possessed you, Odo, to talk at dinner in that way! I +don't know what dear Sonia must have felt, I'm sure. One would really +think, to hear you, that we positively didn't want to entertain the +King." + +"Let us assume, _mon enfant_," said the desperate I, "in a purely +academic spirit, that almost inconceivable hypothesis." + +"Really, Odo, there are times when you seem to take a pride in being +_bourgeois_." + +"In this instance, my child, the indictment justifies itself. All the +same, we are what we are; it is hardly kind to hold any man responsible +for his antecedents." + +"Don't think for a moment that I blame you because your grandfather was +in trade; although, of course, trade was not so respectable then as it +is now. Why I blame you, Odo, is because you don't always make the +best of yourself. That was almost the only thing dearest Mama had +against you. Now, for the love of goodness, let us hear no more about +the King going to the Hall to stay with Reggie Brasset!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE EXPECTED GUEST + +In the face of this manifesto by the powers, there was only one course +to adopt. That course was submission. Fitz, while professing to +sympathise with my embarrassment, was too cynical to help me much. The +hospitality of the Hall might be more regal in its character, but then, +if the august visitor came to us, think what a snug family party we +should be! + +The King was due at Southampton that day week, and his dutiful +son-in-law proposed to meet him there. In spite of his casual and +nonchalant airs, he had an inborn instinct for behaving well on great +occasions. Ferdinand the Twelfth having affirmed his determination to +visit our shores, it seemed to Fitz that it behoved all concerned to +make the best of a bad business. It was a sad bore that he should have +decided to do any such thing, but at the same time it might prove an +amusing and possibly an instructive experience to have the victor of +Rodova dwelling among us in Middleshire. + +For Mrs. Arbuthnot these were great days. Almost the first thing she +did was to borrow an under-footman from Yorkshire. She also provoked a +state of anarchy in the kitchen by engaging for a fortnight a cordon +bleu lately in the service of a nobleman. Our much-maligned and +occasionally inebriated household goddess was fairly good for plain +dishes, but certainly not for such as were to be set before a king. +Upon inquiry of his daughter as to what dishes would make the best +appeal to the royal palate, the Princess was fain to declare that if +the victor of Rodova might be said to have a weakness for anything in +particular it was for tomatoes. + +It was my privilege to be present when, one morning at breakfast, the +mandate was issued to Joseph Jocelyn De Vere that for the time being it +was necessary that he should seek other quarters. + +"I am really so sorry," said his sister in a birdlike voice, "I am +really so dreadfully sorry. But what can we do? Two rather important +members of the Illyrian Cabinet are coming from Blaenau to see dear +Sonia, and of course it is only right that we should put them up." + +"That is what all that talk about Count This and Baron That amounts to, +is it?" said the young fellow, coolly. "Well, now, Mops, you don't +suppose I am going to put myself to the trouble of clearin' out for a +couple of bally foreigners, do you? This box suits me very well, and +the Coach and Horses is quite a second-rate sort of pub." + +"You can have your meals here, of course, but it would hardly be right +to send foreigners of distinction to the village inn." + +"Foreigners of distinction! Why, it would take the King himself to +uproot me." + +Such a moment was too much for Mrs. Arbuthnot's dramatic sense. + +"Well, it so happens," said she, with a carefully calculated unconcern, +"it is the King himself." + +Jodey laid down his coffee-cup. + +"Tell that to the Marines!" said he. + +"If you don't believe me, you had better ask Sonia. Of course, it is a +tremendous secret. The visit is a strictly private one, and his +Majesty's _incognito_ must be rigidly preserved." + +"I should rather think so," said the sceptical youth. "I expect Fitz +is pulling your leg." + +"Oh no, he isn't," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "Why should he, pray? The +King arrives at Southampton on Thursday, and Nevil will meet him there. +His Chancellor, Baron von Schalk, accompanies him, and they are coming +straight to us." + +"If it don't beat cock-fightin'!" + +"It is really quite natural that the dear old King should wish to see +his daughter," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with pensive dignity. + +But it is only fair to Mrs. Arbuthnot to say that her dramatic +announcement had wrought sensibly upon her brother. + +"I suppose there is no help for it," he said, cheerfully. "I expect I +shall have to clear out. But I daresay Brasset will find me a crib if +I explain how it is." + +"There must be not a word of explanation to anybody," said Mrs. +Arbuthnot, with an official air. "Not a soul must know it is the King." + +"Brasset will be all right. He's an awfully diplomatic beggar; been an +_attaché_ at Paris, and so on. You can trust him to keep a secret." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot pondered. The gravity of her mien was enormous. + +"Well, if you tell Reggie Brasset, you must give me your word of honour +that you positively won't speak of it to another living being. +Strictly _incog._, you know, and if it got out there might be serious +international complications. Of course I had to write and tell Mama, +else she would never have let me have Thomas. Besides, she is +consulting Uncle Harry upon one or two points of etiquette." + +"Oh, is she! Evidently going to be a devilish well-kept secret this +is!" + +"I should think it is. Why, I haven't even told Mary Catesby, yet I +suppose I shall have to, because she is frightfully well up in that +sort of thing." + +"If you don't disdain a word of advice from a lowly quarter," said I, +modestly, "you will leave Mary Catesby out of your calculations." + +My only guerdon was the flash of an imperious china-blue eye. Other +reward there was none. + +"Seems to me," said Jodey, "we had better have Brasset to dine with us +pretty often. You will want somebody to talk to the old buffer. I'm +not much of a hand at conversation myself." + +"No, Joseph," I ventured to remark, "but you are good and brave and +modest. How goes the ballad that Irene so charmingly discourses? 'Be +good, sweet child, and let who will be clever.'" + +I desisted, for from two points of the compass a double-distilled +Vane-Anstruther gaze was trained upon me. My relation by marriage +drank his coffee and fished out a vile old pipe, and lit it amid the +most magniloquent silence to which I have ever been a contributor. + +But events were moving apace. The passing of each day brought us +sensibly nearer the all-important event. With advice and aid from her +Royal Highness, Mrs. Arbuthnot proceeded to set her house in order with +no uncertainty. The King liked a room with a south aspect, it +appeared, and a bath-room leading out of his dressing-room. By a +special dispensation of providence these things happened to be +forthcoming. Red was the predominant hue of the carpet and +bed-hangings in the chamber of state. The picturesque fancy occurred +to Mrs. Arbuthnot that purple would be more appropriate. Her Royal +Highness thought it really didn't matter, but Joseph Jocelyn De Vere, +who was called in to arbitrate, concurred with Mrs. Arbuthnot. The +bill from Waring's was £65 12_s._ 9_d._ less five per cent. discount +for cash. + +On the morning of Wednesday a paper of instructions arrived from Uncle +Harry _via_ Doughty Bridge, Yorks. It seemed to attach chief +significance to the wine, which should be of the best quality and +abundant in quantity. Deponent adjured his niece to be especially +careful about the madeira, as all the royalties he had had the honour +to meet at table were extremely partial to that beverage. "I am +sending a case of ours in the care of Thomas, unknown to your father," +was interspersed in the form of a note in the maternal hand. In +effect, Uncle Harry's instructions might be said to resolve themselves +into as much madeira and as little fuss as possible. + +Fitz also was not inactive. He had accepted the impending visit of his +father-in-law, wholly distasteful to him as there was reason to believe +it was, in quite the temper of the philosopher. Since the King's +enemies were so rife in our part of the world, the first thing he did +was to take the Chief Constable into his confidence. He then went up +to town, spent two hours in Whitehall at the feet of more than one +Gamaliel, called upon the General Manager of the Great Mid-Western +Railway and arranged for a special train to be run through from +Southampton to Middleham, and rounded up his day with the purchase of a +new silk hat at Scott's. + +The historic Thursday came at last, and shortly after seven A.M. Mr. +Nevil Fitzwaren set forth to Southampton, arrayed in a very smart +Newmarket coat, patent leather boots and his new silk hat. Even when I +had witnessed his setting out in the full panoply of war, I could +hardly realise that we were on the threshold of so high an occasion. I +hope I do not attach an undue importance to the kings of the earth. +But even an insignificant unit of a constitutional country, with +perhaps something of a slight personal bias in the direction of +democracy, could not allay a thrill of lively anticipation of what the +day would bring forth. + +According to the journals of the age, Ferdinand the Twelfth stood for +an advanced type of despot. His word was law in Illyria. I spent half +my morning in the hunting up and perusal of a recent number of one of +the magazines, in which appeared a character-study of this famous man +by one who claimed to know him intimately. Therein he figured as a +benevolent reactionary; as one who in the fullest sense of the term +believed himself to be the father of his people. He dispensed justice +alike to the rich and the poor; but whether he was right or whether he +was wrong, he allowed no appeal from his verdicts. + +In the opinion of the writer of the article, the King of Illyria was +one of the strongest men of his epoch. Poised as he had been all his +life on the crater of a volcano, which issued continual threats of +eruption, he had abated no point of his public or domestic policy in +response to the rumblings below. He believed himself to possess an +infallible knowledge of that which was good for his people, and he was +prone to dispense his universal panacea in liberal doses. Yet he +differed fundamentally from other potentates of a similar faith, as, +for instance, his Russian nephew and his Turkish and Persian +contemporaries, inasmuch as he had faith in the essential virtue of his +subjects. + +In spite of the fact that the modern distemper of anarchy had infected +his kingdom, and had led to three cowardly attempts on his life, +Ferdinand the Twelfth had furnished a convincing proof of his strength +of character by declining to saddle his people with the responsibility +of what he chose to consider as isolated acts of fanaticism. From the +earliest times any individual or body of freemen of the Kingdom of +Illyria had enjoyed the right of personal access to their sovereign. +He was ready to give them advice in the most commonplace affairs. In +many ways he was more like an enlightened friend and neighbour of +liberal views than a despotic ruler whose word was law. It was said +that he would advise a working-man about the choice of a calling for +his son, or he would fix the amount of a daughter's dowry. "To take +the King's opinion" had become a proverbial phrase throughout the land; +and it was said that in the case of two farmers haggling over the price +of a horse, whenever the phrase was used it received a literal +interpretation. + +The consequence of this accessibility was an abundant popularity among +all classes in the state. In living up to the letter of the truly +royal tradition that every Illyrian enjoyed the King's friendship, he +had conserved his power, and in spite of many a sinister growl in +consequence of severe taxation and many flagrant abuses of authority, +the volcano had remained inactive throughout a long and not inglorious +reign. His campaign in the 'sixties against the might of Austria, +culminating in the historic day of Rodova, had been a wonder for wise +men, and had only been rendered possible by the almost superstitious +faith of all classes of a comparatively small community. + +In his final survey of the character and attainments of one of the most +significant figures of the age, the writer of the article indulged in +the prophecy that with Ferdinand the Twelfth a symbol of true kingship +would pass away. The forces of modernism were too strong in Illyria, +as elsewhere in Europe, to be held longer at bay. It was only by a +miracle that the doors of the historic castle at Blaenau had been +barred against them so long. Only an extraordinary personal power and +an unflinching strength of will had kept them unforced. For none could +deny that the sublime example of trusting all men and fearing none had +gone hand in hand with the gravest abuses; yet, whatever was their +nature, it could at least be said that they owed their origin to no +ignoble source. A king in every true essential, Ferdinand the Twelfth +had the defects of his qualities. The standard of well-being in +Illyria was high, but it was by no means widely dispersed. As is the +case within the borders of all despotisms, the rich were the rich and +the poor were the poor in Illyria. In many respects the condition of +the people recalled that of France before the Revolution; and it would +be a source of surprise to none who were in a position to observe the +present situation if, at the eleventh hour, the fate of Louis XVI +overtook this present uncommonly able and uncommonly misguided ruler. + +By the light of what this day was to bring forth, I made an anxious +study of this document. If I cannot say that I derived reassurance +from it, at least it did nothing to diminish my curiosity. It was to +be our privilege to entertain a type of true kingliness under our roof. +If one of those culinary disasters occurred to which even the best +regulated households are susceptible, and we were constrained to offer +burnt soup or an underdone cutlet to the father of his people, it was +to be hoped that his trembling host and hostess would not have to +forfeit their heads. + +As far as the King's daughter was concerned, it had seemed to us that +the announcement of his coming had brought unhappiness. Her alert, +half-humorous, half-malicious interest in everything around her which +made her charm, had seemed to give place to the brooding preoccupation +of one who felt a deep distrust of coming events. In particular I +thought this was shown in her relation to her small daughter. + +Prior to the receipt of the King's letter, Mrs. Fitz had shown no undue +devotion to this piece of mischief incarnate who answered to the name +of Marie, who defied her governess, bullied the servants and the +domestic pets, and who fiercely contended in season and out with Miss +Lucinda, a milder and more legitimate household despot. But by the +time we had come to this historic Thursday, it was as though her mother +could not bear this elf out of her sight. It was, of course, natural +that she should ardently wish that Marie should behave nicely to her +Grandpapa, but there was something almost tragic in this new anxiety +concerning her. There could be no doubt its root struck deep. + +To those who understood her ways and moods, it was clear that something +weighed upon her heavily. It was even in the expression of her face; +there was a strange decline of her vivacity, and a slackening of +interest in the things around her. By the time Thursday came she +seemed most unhappy. + +The Crackanthorpe had no fixture for that day, and in the light of +after events, perhaps, it had been well if they had. All the morning +she was curiously silent and _distraite_. She divided most of her time +between the stables and the society of her horses and the nursery and +the society of her singularly wilful and intractable daughter. At +luncheon she refused every dish, contenting herself with a glass of +water and a piece of dry toast. Not a word did she speak until near +the end of the meal, when quite suddenly she clasped her hands to her +head, and exclaimed in a deep guttural voice, hardly recognisable as +her own-- + +"I t'ink I will go mad!" + +There was something indescribably tragic in the exclamation. I rose +and withdrew from the room, and made a sign to the servants to follow. +Mrs. Arbuthnot was left alone with the unhappy lady, and as I went out +I remarked to her that I was going into the library. + +About ten minutes afterwards, Irene came to me there. She was looking +pale and anxious and not a little alarmed. + +"She is suffering dreadfully, poor thing," she said, not without a +suspicion of tears. "She is almost out of her reason, and she is +making a frantic effort to control herself." + +"Can you gather what the trouble is?" + +"She has a terrible fear of something. What it is I don't know. She +keeps talking in Illyrian." + +"Is it her father's coming?" + +"Yes, it has upset her dreadfully." + +"Is she afraid of him?" + +"Yes, pathetically afraid. But there is also something else she fears." + +"I suppose she is thinking of her husband and her child?" + +"Yes, poor soul! How I wish we could help her!" + +"It is not easy to help the children of destiny." + +"Never until now have I realised what a dreadful life it is these +people lead. She is suffering terribly. Do you know of anybody who +understands the stars?" + +"The stars!" + +"Yes, she says she wants to know what the stars are doing. It is +ridiculous superstition, of course, and I told her so. But she shook +her head in the oddest way, and she looked so tragic and unhappy that +she nearly made me cry." + +"Isn't there an astrologer in Bond Street? But it's a hundred to one +he's a charlatan." + +"They all are, of course." + +"The Princess doesn't appear to think so. And there is my cracked old +Uncle Theodore who lives in Bryanston Square. He is supposed to be no +end of an authority upon the stars." + +"Well, it is utterly ridiculous, but I am afraid nothing can be done +with her until she has consulted somebody. Give her your Uncle +Theodore's address and let her catch the 2.20 to town, and she will be +back before the King comes." + +"She can't go alone. In her present state of mind somebody must be +with her. Can't you persuade her to wait until she has seen her +father?" + +"She is suffering so much that it would be a mercy to relieve the +strain in any way." + +"Very well, I will take her to see old Theodore. I will send him a +wire to tell him that a lady is coming to consult him about the stars; +and also I had better telephone to Coverdale to let him know what's +happening. It is hardly wise to go to London without an escort. Then +there is the monarch to be arranged for. But Fitz will wire the +authorities direct from Southampton the approximate time of his +arrival." + +Luckily Coverdale was at the Sessions Hall. But when I informed him of +the Princess's sudden determination to go to town by the 2.20 he very +nearly fused the wires. "How the blank did she suppose that with her +blank father due at Middleham at 6.50 the Middleshire Constabulary +could arrange for her to go gallivanting to the blank metropolis that +blank afternoon?" Without venturing in any way to enlighten the +official nescience or to mitigate its temperature, I attempted with +infinite tact and patience to explain, yet withholding all reference to +the stars as I did so, that in the circumstances there was no help for +it. This being a matter upon which the Princess had fully made up her +mind, it behoved the Middleshire Constabulary to defer to her wishes +with the best possible grace. + +"Well, my friend," said the Chief Constable, "let me tell you, you are +running a devil of a risk. But I shall communicate with Scotland Yard, +and ask them to look after you. Still, as the King arrives this +evening, the four men you have with you had better remain on duty at +the house. And," concluded the head of the Middleshire Constabulary, +"I would to God the whole blank, blank crowd----!!" + +A married man, a father of a family, and a county member somewhat +hurriedly replaced the receiver. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A VISIT TO BRYANSTON SQUARE + +Unwillingly enough, I set out with our guest to consult my Uncle +Theodore. Assuredly it was a scheme in which common sense, in the +general acceptation of that elusive quality, had no part. Yet, however +preposterous the proceeding, it was an act of common humanity to take +even an extravagant measure for the relief of such an acute suffering. +It was impossible not to pity the unhappy creature. Her eyes were wild +and her appearance had been transformed into that of a hunted animal. + +On the way up to town we were fortunate enough to secure a carriage to +ourselves. Throughout the journey my companion hardly addressed a word +to me, but she continued to betray many tokens of mental anguish. The +train was punctual, and by a few minutes after four o'clock we were in +Bryanston Square. + +It is only once in a lustrum that I visit my Uncle Theodore. He is +rich, a bachelor, and in the family is regarded as an incorrigible +crank. The champion of lost causes, a poet, a radical, a practitioner +of the occult, a scorner of convention, and a robust hater of many +things, including all that relates to the merely expedient, the +utilitarian and the material, he is looked upon as a dangerous heretic +who might be more esteemed if he belonged to a less eminently +responsible clan. + +Howbeit, I confess that I never visit my Uncle Theodore without feeling +constrained to pay a kind of involuntary homage to his personality. He +has a way with him; there is a something about him which is the +absolute negation of the commonplace. He is tall and extraordinarily +frail, with a picturesque mop of orange-coloured hair, and a pair of +large round eyes of remarkable luminosity, which seem like twin moons +of liquid light. + +It was our good fortune to find this bravo at home and in receipt of my +telegram. I left my companion in another room while I went forth and +bearded the lion in his den. Dressed in a velvet jacket, a red tie and +a pair of beaded Oriental slippers he was in the act of composition, +and was writing very slowly with a feathered quill upon a sheet of +unruled foolscap. + +"I am writing a letter to the time-serving rag that disgraces us," he +said with a kind of languid vehemence, "and the time-serving rag won't +print it, but I shall keep a copy and publish it in a pamphlet at the +price of three-pence." + +"Then put me down for four copies," said I. "You know I always regard +you as one of the few living masters of the King's English." + +"The King's English! The King, my boy, has no English. He has less +English than the average self-respecting costermonger." + +"The well of English undefiled, then." + +"That is better. You are perfectly right. It is my firm conviction +that my prose is quite equal to my poetry, and yet these dunces persist +in saying that we poets can't write prose. Swinburne couldn't, it's +true, and with tears in my eyes I used to beseech him to give up +trying. But he was an obstinate little fellow. Milton couldn't, +either. But Goethe now, Goethe could write prose as well as I can +myself, and so could Wordsworth if he had liked, and so could Shelley. +As for that yokel from Stratford-on-Avon, if there is anybody who dares +to say he couldn't write prose, I should like to have the pleasure of +contradicting him." + +"I think," said I, "you will be among the prose-writers after your +death. If I survive you, I shall hope to prepare a collected edition +of the letters you have had rejected by the newspapers." + +"That's a bargain, my boy. I will select them for you. It will be a +nice little legacy to leave to posterity. A hundred years hence they +will speak of me as the British Lucian who opened the stinking +casements of a putrid age and let in God's honest sunlight. What a +time we live in, and what a poisonous crew inhabits it! Why, do you +know, my boy, we have less real freedom in this country than they have +in Illyria." + +The totally unexpected mention of the blessed word Illyria startled me +considerably. That sinister kingdom was evidently in the air. + +"You are right, Theodore," said I. "'The stinking casements of a +putrid age'--that is a phrase I shall remember when next I am at the +point of asphyxiation upon the green benches of the Mother of +Parliaments." + +"What a football-kicking, boat-tugging, gymnasium-bred crew they must +be to stand such an atmosphere day after day, night after night! I +shouldn't have thought that a really _polite_ man could have existed in +it for three days. I wonder what Edmund Burke thinks of the place when +he enters it now." + +A rough working knowledge of the subject with which I had to cope +rendered it imperative that I should make a determined effort to lay +hold of his head before he took charge of me altogether. + +"Theodore," said I, "I am not here to yield to the delight of your +conversation, much as I yearn to do so. I have brought a lady with me +who desires to consult you about the stars." + +He seemed to laugh a deep, hollow laugh out of the depths of himself, +much as an ogre might be expected to do. + +"Vain superstition!" he guffawed, as he stretched out his long tenuous +hands. "O ye upper-middle-class British Pharisees, that ye should +condescend! Who is this weak vessel that would consult the stars? +Not, I trow and trust, a daughter of the late Sir John Stubberfield, +Bart.?" + +"The late Sir John Stubberfield, Bart." was a symbol erected +permanently in his mind, with which he toyed when he was moved to +exercise his fancy at the expense of his countrymen. + +"Not a daughter of Sir John," I assured him. "An even more potent +personage." + +"Impossible, my boy! A veritable daughter of Sir John stands at the +apex of human endeavour. She is the crown of social, political and +philosophical beatitude. Do you forget that it was a daughter of Sir +John Stubberfield, Bart., who married a Prosser? Do you forget it was +a daughter of Sir John Stubberfield, Bart., who had issue an heir male, +a little Prosser?" + +"Peace, peace, my good Theodore. You have a bare half-hour in which to +read the stars in their courses for a fair unknown. And I beg that you +will treat her tenderly, for she is a brave woman and an unhappy." + +"Aha!" The Ogre--the name he was known by in the family--sighed a +romantic sympathy. It may seem out of harmony with the terms in which +I have endeavoured to render the personality of this Berserk, but he +had an almost Quixotic development of the sense of chivalry. Nothing +so greatly delighted this champion of lost causes as to succour those +who were in distress. + +"Produce the languishing vestal, so that the arts of the necromancer +may sustain her. But stay, my boy; before we go further, may I suggest +that you conform to the conventional practice of confiding the name she +goes by among men?" + +"Certainly. Her name is Mrs. Nevil Fitzwaren." + +"Aha!" The Ogre swung half round in his writing-chair to confront me. +He seemed like a satyr, and the twin moons that were his eyes began to +magnetise me with their uncanny effulgence. "A woman about thirty, of +foreign extraction?" + +"Ye--es." + +"Married an English squire about five years ago?" + +"How the deuce do you know that?" said I, in amazement. + +Again the look of the satyr seemed to transfigure him. + +"What, pray, is the use of being a soothsayer without one is permitted +to dabble a little in the black arts?" + +"Theodore, my friend," said I, with a somewhat disconcerted laugh, "I +am inclined to think you must be the Devil." + +"Perchance, my dear boy, perchance." The Ogre placed the tips of his +fingers together in a way he had. "May it interest you to know that +the Devil is a more potent figure in the public life of our little day +than our German friends allow for. Never despise the Devil, and never +mention him lightly in any company, for he is always looking at you." + +The twin moons were enfolding me with a refulgence that in the dim +January twilight was so uncanny that, had I been other than of a fairly +robust materialistic texture, I might have felt a kind of horror. + +"It is very interesting that your friend Mrs. Fitzwaren--black hair, +olive complexion, remarkable appearance, a type you can't place--should +come to me like this. The fact is, my dear boy, things are not always +what they seem. Judging by the recent behaviour of one or two rather +important planetary bodies, and of the new body of which our observant +French friends have lately learned to take cognisance, the visit of +your friend Mrs. Nevil Fitzwaren to your cracked Uncle Theodore at his +local habitation in Bryanston Square may have some kind of a bearing on +the destiny of nations. How say you?" + +"My dear Theodore," I expostulated, from motives of policy, "my dear +Theodore, you really are, 'pon my word you really are----!" + +All the same, it was with a singular complexity of emotion that I went +forth to lead this prophet and soothsayer into the presence of the +Crown Princess of Illyria. + +It struck me as I preceded my carpet-slippered relation into the great +bare room that the unhappy lady was looking more distinguished and more +distraught than-ever. Had I had a merely superficial acquaintance with +our family Berserk I must have had qualms as to the mode of his +reception of his visitor. In uncongenial company he could be a +positive Boeotian savage, but, again, if it pleased him, he could +display an ease and a sympathetic charm of bearing which was wholly +delightful to those who had the good fortune to call it forth. + +As he came shambling in with his flaming tie, his mop of +orange-coloured hair, his hands in his pockets and his heels half out +of his slippers, would it please him to be the polished and gracious +courtier, or the wild Boeotian savage? + +His visitor rose to receive him and a grave bow was exchanged. And for +the first time in my knowledge of her Mrs. Fitz seemed at a loss for +speech. Small wonder was it, for this gaunt, lean presence with the +faun-like smile and the still, full, luminous gaze, seemed to hold the +key to realms of infinite mystery and power. + +"If you will come to my room, we can talk," he said, quite gently. + +As he was about to lead the way, he half turned and leered at me +ogre-like over his shoulder with his peculiarly significant malice. + +"Tell Peacock to give you the _Sporting Times_ and a cigar and a +whisky-and-soda, my dear boy," he said. + +"Thanks," said I, "but I am afraid you cannot be allowed more than +twenty minutes for your interview. It is imperative that Mrs. +Fitzwaren should catch the 5.28 from the Grand Central." + +"The 5.28 from the Grand Central." He repeated the words as though an +importance was attached to them that they had no reason to claim. Then +he added musingly, "I am not so clear as I should like to be that you +will be wise to catch it. It would be better, I think, if Mrs. +Fitzwaren could arrange to travel to-morrow." + +"Impossible, my dear Theodore. Mrs. Fitzwaren is staying with us, and +we must certainly be back to dinner." + +The Princess nodded her concurrence. + +"Well, well, if you really must. And perhaps I exceed my prerogative." + +The singular creature proceeded to lead the way to his study. I was +left to meditate alone for twenty minutes upon this latest expression +of his personality. Never before had I realised so fully that he was +the possessor of gifts the nature of which was as a sealed book to the +common mortal. There had been occasions when we "in the family" had +been tempted to believe that there was a strong infusion of the +charlatan in his pretension to occult knowledge. A prophet is not +without honour save in his own country. + +But as I sat this January evening in his house in Bryanston Square, I +realised more fully than I had ever done before that the last word has +yet to be uttered in regard to the things around us. It was as though +all at once my cranky relation in his carpet slippers, his velvet coat +and his red tie had brought me into a more intimate contact with the +Unseen. + +Somehow, and for no specific reason that I was able to discover, my +unruly nerves began to tick like a clock. The temperature of the room +was not high, but a perspiration broke out all over me. A full five +minutes I sat in the silence of the gathering darkness not quite +knowing what to do and not caring particularly. It was as though the +enervating atmosphere of my uncle's nearness had taken from me the +power of volition. + +It never occurred to me to ring the bell, and yet I had merely to press +the button at my elbow. Nevertheless, when a servant entered with a +lamp it was a real relief. + +"Hullo, Peacock!" said I, issuing with a little shiver from my reverie. + +Somehow it seemed that that retainer, trusted, elderly, responsible, +looked singularly pale and meagre in the lamp-light. + +"Are you very well, Peacock?" + +"Thank you, sir, not very." The old servant sighed heavily. + +"Why, what's the matter?" + +The old fellow proceeded to draw the curtains and then turned to face +me with a kind of nervous defiance. + +"Fact is, Mr. Odo," he said, "this place is getting too much for me. I +am afraid I shan't be able to go on much longer. Fact is, Mr. +Odo"--the old man lowered his voice to a whisper of painful +solemnity--"it is contrary to the will of God." + +"What is contrary to the will of God?" + +"The goings on, sir, of Mr. Theodore. My private opinion is--and I say +to you, Mr. Odo, what I wouldn't say to another"--the voice of the old +fellow grew lower and lower--"that Mr. Theodore is getting to know a +bit more than any man ought to: in fact, sir, more than the Almighty +intended any man should." + +"What do you mean, Peacock? You are not growing superstitious in your +old age, are you?" + +I strove to speak in a light tone. But in my own ears my voice sounded +curiously high and thin. + +"I mean this, sir. The line ought to be drawn somewhere. And Mr. +Theodore doesn't know where to draw it. The people he has here, +sir--it's--well, it's appalling! Clairvoyants, mediums, mahatmas, +Indian fakirs, table-turners, spirit-rappers, and I can't say what. +Communion with spirits is all very well, sir, but it is contrary to the +will of God. The Almighty never intended, sir, that we should pry into +all the secrets of existence." + +"How do you know that, Peacock?" + +"I know by this, sir." The old fellow tapped the centre of his +forehead solemnly. "The thing that lies behind this." + +To my surprise the old servant wrung his hands and burst into tears. + +"It can't go on, sir--at least, as far as I am concerned. Either Mr. +Theodore will have to mend his ways or I shall have to leave him. I +have been a long time with Mr. Theodore, and of course I was with his +father before him, and I daresay I am getting old, but do you know what +we have got in the attic, sir?" + +"What have you got in the attic, Peacock?" + +"An Egyptian mummy, sir. It is several thousand years old, and I am +convinced that a curse is on it. I wouldn't enter that attic, sir, not +me, not for all the wealth of the Rothschilds." + +"I was not aware that you were superstitious, Peacock," said I, with a +very ineffectual assumption of the formal tone of the married man, the +father of the family, and the county member. + +"It is not superstition, sir, but I know what I know. That mummy has +got to leave this house, or I shall leave it." + +"Is that the fiat of the True Believer?" + +"I don't fear God the less, sir, because I fear an Egyptian mummy, if +that is what you mean." + +"But you are inclined to think there are more things in earth and +heaven than it is well for the average man to be concerned with?" + +"I am convinced of that, sir; and if Mr. Theodore doesn't get rid of +that mummy and amend his goings on, I shall be compelled to give +notice." + +Stated baldly, the old fellow's words may seem ridiculous. But as he +uttered them his distress was so sincere that it was impossible to deny +him a meed of sympathy. + +"Quite right, if you do, Peacock," I agreed. "And you can lay it to +that honest conscience of which you are rightly proud that you have +served the family long and faithfully, and that no one will question +your right to an annuity." + +"Oh, that will be all right, sir," said the old retainer; "even if Mr. +Theodore does act contrary to the will of God, nobody can deny that he +is a perfect gentleman." + +"Is not that rather a confirmation of the ancient, theory that the +Devil was the first perfect gentleman?" + +"I have not thought of that before, sir, but now you mention it, it is +certainly worth thinking about." + +Having lent sanction to this profound truth, the old fellow went out of +the room. But I recalled him from the threshold. + +"By the way, Peacock, Mr. Theodore told me to ask for the _Sporting +Times_, a cigar and a whisky-and-soda." + +"Very good, sir." The old fellow withdrew. + +"And thank God for them!" I muttered devoutly to the bare walls. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +PROVIDES AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE THEORY THAT THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT +THEY SEEM + +When the old man returned with this sustenance for the material state, +I was moved to inquire how it was that such an intellectual rawhead and +bloodybones as this too-assiduous diver into the sunless sea of the +occult should subscribe to a journal of such a texture and complexion. + +"Is it, Peacock, do you suppose, that, like Francis the first Lord +Verulam, he would take all knowledge for his province?" + +"He goes racing, sir," said Peacock, not without a suggestion of pride. +"And, what is more, sir, he wins so much money that none of the +bookmakers will have anything to do with him these days if they can +help it. Why, do you know, sir, he has given me the name of the winner +of the Derby three years running a whole fortnight before the race." + +"Did you reconcile it with your conscience, Peacock, to back the horse?" + +"Not the first time, sir, because, you see, I was hardly convinced it +would win. It was a new fad with him then. But when I found it did +win, and he gave me the tip the next year, it seemed to be flying in +the face of providence, as it were, to throw away the chance, so I had +on a sovereign and won nine pounds ten." + +"And the third time, Peacock?" + +"The third time, sir, I made it five and I won forty. And if I can +stand his goings on, sir, until next Epsom week, and he gives me the +tip again, I intend to put on all my savings." + +I had scarcely the heart to ask the old fellow what his conscience had +to say in the matter. Doubtless it was one of those organisms that +only responded to the call of the higher metaphysics. It was a +patrician conscience, no doubt, which only concerned itself with the +ultimate. + +Anyhow, before I could gratify my curiosity on this point, the +re-emergence of my Uncle Theodore saved his retainer from an inquiry. +A glance at my watch convinced me that we had not a moment to lose if +we were to catch the 5.28 from the Grand Central station. + +Uncle Theodore took an almost paternal leave of his visitor. He +conducted her to the taxicab which awaited us; and in a voice of +gentleness, of winning deference, he bade her God-speed. When she +offered him her hand, as it seemed almost timidly, he pressed it to his +lips. + +"Fear nothing," I heard him say under his breath softly, and I thought +the unhappy lady smiled wanly with her great gaunt eyes. + +As I was about to enter the cab, Theodore placed his hand on my +shoulder. + +"Look after her, my dear boy." His voice had the fervour of a +benediction. + +My companion appeared to have shed much of her distraction in the +course of her interview with the weird inhabitant of Bryanston Square. +The sovereignty of the soul seemed once more in her keeping. No longer +did she convey the impression of one passing through an insupportable +mental crisis. Whatever fate had in store for her, it was as though +she had strength to endure it. + +It was in the nature of a race against time to the Grand Central +station. I had promised the driver of our taxi a substantial guerdon +if he caught the train. Undoubtedly he did his best, but fate decreed +that he was not to earn it. An anxious study of my watch revealed the +issue to be still in the balance; but just as it began to seem that we +were gaining a little on the clock, there came a sharp report, followed +by an almost simultaneous crash of glass, and then a confused +succession of happenings. + +Our vehicle stopped abruptly; a brief interval of nothingness seemed to +intervene; and the next thing of which I was cognisant was that the +lights had gone out and that a man with a pale face and a +straw-coloured moustache was looking in at us through the window. + +"Hope you are not hurt, sir." The voice sounded remote, but I could +detect its note of anxiety. "Is the lady all right?" + +Somewhat dazed, almost as if I were passing through a dream, I heard +the voice of my companion speaking with calmness and reassurance. Then +I heard the voice of the man again: + +"I am afraid your Royal Highness will have to go on in another taxi." + +And then the door opened, and I got out unsteadily and found myself in +the midst of much traffic and a press of people. I then grew conscious +that some of these had a way with them, and that they were directing +things with a sort of calm officiousness. + +My dazed senses welcomed the helmet of a policeman. + +"Call a taxi, please," said I, addressing him in a voice that somehow +did not seem to belong to me. "Must catch the 5.28 Grand Central, +whatever happens. Will give you my card." + +As I spoke I turned to help my companion out of the vehicle, and in the +act nearly measured my length on the kerb. Strong and sympathetic +hands seemed to come about me, and again the voice of the man with the +straw-coloured moustache sounded in my ear, decisive but kindly and +respectful. + +"There is a doctor across the road, sir. Can you walk, sir? Lean your +weight on me." + +"5.28 Grand Central," was my incoherent, almost involuntary rejoinder. +"The Princess." + +"Yes, yes, sir," said the voice of my friend in need breaking in again +on my senses. "The Princess will be all right with us." + +Almost as if by magic a passage was made for us through the whirlpool +of traffic. We seemed to be in the middle of a street that appeared +quite familiar, and policemen and extremely efficient persons in dark +overcoats seemed to abound. + +"The Princess," I continued to mutter vaguely at intervals. + +"I am with you," said a low and calm voice at my side. + +She was helping my unknown friend to support me across the road. By +some subtle means her nearness seemed to brace and stimulate my +faculties. + +"I fear we shall not catch the 5.28, ma'am," I said. + +"What _does_ it matter?" The tone of her voice seemed to give me +strength and capacity. + +A few yards away, down a side street, was the house of a doctor. It +seemed but a very little while before I was in a cosy, well-lighted +room, with a fire burning cheerfully, and a tall, genial individual +with a red head and a Scotch accent was talking to me and holding me by +the arm. + +"Pray sit down, madam," I heard him say in his pleasant brogue. "I +hope you are none the worse for your accident?" + +"Not at all, t'ank you," replied my companion in a cordial tone; and +then the man who had taken charge of me was heard to say to a colleague +who had followed us into the house, "Perhaps the Doctor will allow you +to use his telephone, Mr. Johnson. Ring up the Superintendent and then +go and see what Inspector Mottrom is doing." + +The Doctor gave me a bottle to sniff, and then for the first time I +realised that I had an intolerable stinging in the arm. I glanced at +it and saw that the sleeve of my coat was soaked with blood. + +"If you will come into the surgery," said the Doctor, following the +direction of my glance, "we will have a look at it. A breakage of +glass, apparently." + +"Yes," said my friend in need, who was evidently a Scotland Yard +inspector, answering for me promptly, "the cab was pretty well smashed +up." Then he added in an undertone for my private ear, "Don't mention +the shots, sir. I am going to telephone to the railway people to +arrange for a special train as soon as you are ready to go on. I think +it will be safer, and two of our inspectors will accompany the train." + +"Thank you very much indeed," I said, gratefully. + +Never until that moment had I fully realised the organised efficiency +of the Metropolitan Police. + +As soon as I entered the surgery I came perilously near to a fall on +the carpet, somewhat to my disgust, for I appeared to have sustained no +injury beyond the damage to my arm. Further recourse, however, to the +smelling-bottle defeated this temporary weakness. + +After traversing the injured member with light and deft fingers, the +Doctor procured a bowl of warm water, a sponge and a pair of scissors. +He cut away the sleeve of the overcoat, then of the coat and the shirt, +revealing a state of things at which I had no wish to look. After the +application of an antiseptic in warm water he was able to give an +opinion. + +"I am afraid," he said, "this is not the work of glass." He worked +over the quivering flesh with a finger. "A bullet has been at work +here. It has glanced along the lower arm apparently, but it does not +appear to have lodged in it. An incised wound. There may be a +fracture. Can you move your arm in this way?" + +With this request I was able somewhat painfully to comply. + +"That is good," said the Doctor. "No fracture." + +It was surprising how soon and how readily the injured member yielded +to the deft skill of this good Samaritan. Twenty minutes of assiduous +treatment, which, however, was fraught with some pain, as it included +the operation of stitching, did much not only for the damaged limb but +also for its owner. By that time I seemed to have quite overcome the +shock of these events; and with my arm encased in bandages and resting +in a black silk handkerchief, and the good Doctor having lent me an +overcoat to replace my own mutilated one, I was given a pretty stiff +brandy-and-soda and pronounced fit to travel. + +"It is undoubtedly the work of a bullet," said the Doctor at the end of +his labours. "But I suppose it is no business of mine. If I am not +mistaken, the men who brought you here are Scotland Yard detectives." + +I smiled at the Doctor's perspicacity and asked him to be good enough +to take a card out of my cigar-case. + +"Some day, perhaps, I shall be able to explain to you what the accident +really was and how it came to happen. In the meantime I cannot do more +than thank you most sincerely for all that you have done for me." + +There and then I took leave of this true friend, and with a sense of +devout thankfulness that I was no worse off than I was, continued the +journey to the Grand Central station. When at last we came to that +well-known terminus the great clock over the entrance was pointing to +five minutes past six. + +Our arrival there seemed an event of some importance, to judge by the +demeanour of a number of people who appeared to take an interest in it. +Indeed, so much respectful attention did it excite that it seemed to be +rather in the nature of an anti-climax to have to pay our Jehu. + +As soon as we had entered the booking-hall no less a personage than the +station-master, frock-coated and gold-laced, came up to us and took off +his hat. + +"Train ready to start, sir, as soon as her Royal Highness desires. +Platform No. 5. This way, sir, if you will kindly follow me." + +We passed along to Platform No. 5, engaging as we did so the +good-humoured interest of the British Public. Here a special saloon +was awaiting us, also a carriage for the accommodation of our friends +from Scotland Yard. By a quarter past six we had started on our +journey. + +My companion had borne all our vicissitudes _en route_ from Bryanston +Square with the greatest fortitude and composure. It was no new +experience for her chequered life to be exposed to the bullets of the +assassin. This latest effort of the King's enemies she appeared to +regard with stoical indifference. Even in the shock of the calamity +itself she did not lose her self-possession. And through all our +tribulations her attitude of maternal solicitude was charmingly sincere. + +As I came to regard her from the opposite corner in our special saloon, +it was clear that a great change had been wrought in her by the visit +to the magician of Bryanston Square. It was a change wholly for the +better. In lieu of the overwrought intensity which had been so painful +for her friends to notice, was that calm and assured outlook upon the +world of men and things which had ever been her predominant +characteristic in so far as we had known her. + +"Irene will scold me dreadfully," she said, "for bringing you home like +this." + +"Surely it is the reverse of the case, ma'am. Instead of me looking +after you, I really don't know what I should have done without your +help." + +"My poor Odo, you won't be able to hunt for a month at least." + +"Perhaps it is for the best. I shall have more time to think about the +dragon of socialism which is threatening to devour us all." + +"Even here you have that disease"--there was a half-humorous lift of +the royal eyebrow--"even in this quaint place. Why, it is a disease +that is spreading all over the world. If only the dear people would +understand that it was never intended that they should think for +themselves; that it is so much wiser, so much less expensive, so much +more profitable in every way that they should have those who are used +to policy to think for them! How can Jacques Bonhomme, dear, good, +ignorant, stupid fellow, know what is good for him, what is good for +his country, what is good for Europe, what is good for the whole world!" + +"The trouble, ma'am, as far as this island is concerned, is that our +Jacques is becoming such a shrewd, sensible personage, who is learning +to go about with his eyes uncommonly wide open." + +"Ants and bees and dogs and horses, my good Odo, are shrewd and +sensible enough, but Jacques must learn to keep his place. Everything +is good in its degree, but I cannot believe that a watchmaker is fitted +to wind up the clock of state any more than a common soldier is fitted +to win the day of Rodova." + +"Ah, the day of Rodova! I wonder if we shall find the Victor waiting +for us when we get back to Dympsfield House." + +I thought a faint cloud passed over the brows of my companion. + +"_Mais, oui,_" she said in a soft, low tone. "I wonder. And old +Schalk. He is such a character. You will die when you see Schalk." + +"A very able minister, is he not, ma'am?" + +"Like all things, my good Odo," said her Royal Highness, "Schalk is +good in his degree. He has his virtue. He is learned in the law, for +instance, but there are times when, like poor Jacques Bonhomme, Schalk +would aspire to take more on his shoulders than nature intended they +should bear. But there, do not let us complain about Schalk. He is +the faithful servant of an august master; do not let us blame him if he +grows old and difficult. I once had a hound that grew like Schalk. In +the end I had to destroy the honest creature, but of course that is not +to say my father will destroy Schalk." + +"Quite so, ma'am," said I, with a grave appreciation of the fine +distinction that it might please his Majesty to draw in the case of +Baron von Schalk. + +I relapsed into reverie. What kind of a man was this celebrated +sovereign? How would he harmonise with the humble middle-class English +setting to which he was on the point of confiding himself? At this +stage it was vain to repine, but as I reclined on the cushions of our +royal saloon, with my arm throbbing intolerably and my temples too, +what would I not have given to be through with the onerous duty of +entertaining such a guest! + +As thus I sat with our train proceeding full steam ahead to Middleham, +my nerves began to rise up in mutiny. Why, oh, why! had I not been +firmer? What could a comparative child, without the slightest +experience of any walk of life save her own extremely circumscribed +one, know of the exigencies of such a situation? How could she +appreciate all that was involved in it? A kind of mental nausea came +upon me when I realised that I had allowed myself to become responsible +for the personal safety and the general well-being of the King of +Illyria during his sojourn in England. + +The anxieties in which his daughter had involved us were severe enough, +but in the case of her father they seemed a hundred times more complex. +Certainly they were far too much to ask of any private individual in +the middle station of life. It was in vain that I invoked an incipient +sense of humour. Sitting alone with a Crown Princess in a special +train, with a bullet wound in your arm, is not apparently an ideal +situation in which to exercise it. I might laugh as much as I liked at +poor George Dandin himself. His embarrassments in the pass to which +his wife's infatuation for realms beyond their own had brought him +might be truly comic, but the married man, the father of the family, +and the county member was quite unable, in his present shattered +condition, to accept them with the detachment due to the true Olympian +laughter. + +Not to put too fine a point upon the matter, the married man, the +father of the family, and the county member was in an enfeebled mental, +physical and moral state when our special made its first stop. With a +startled abruptness I emerged from my unpleasant speculations. Could +we be at Middleham already? Hardly, for according to my watch it was +only ten minutes past seven. I let down the window and found that it +was Risborough. + +In about a minute the guard of the train, the local station-master, and +the two detectives who were accompanying us as far as Middleham, came +to the door of the carriage. + +"Extremely sorry, sir," said the station-master, "but you won't be able +to go beyond Blakiston. There's been a terrible accident to the 5.28." + +My heart gave a kind of dull thump at this announcement. + +"The driver ran right through Blankhampton with all the signals against +him. The train has been smashed up to matchwood." + +"My God!" + +The station-master dropped his voice. + +"The full number of casualties has not yet been ascertained, sir, but +at least half the passengers are killed or injured." + +"How ghastly!" + +"Awful, sir, awful. It is the worst accident we have ever had on the +Grand Central system." + +"Poor souls, poor souls!" said my companion. "God rest them!" + +"We haven't had a really bad accident for twenty-two years. But this +breaks our record with a vengeance. I can't think what the poor chap +was doing. As good a driver as we've got, to go and do a thing like +that----" + +The station-master, a venerable and grizzled man with a stern, heavily +lined face, suddenly lost his voice. + +"Fate," said my companion with a sombre smile. "Who shall explain the +workings of destiny?" + +Who, indeed! Had it not been for the bullets of the would-be assassin +we should, in all probability, at that moment have been both among the +dead. What, after all, does our human foresight matter in the sum of +things? All the same, I could not help recalling with a sense of +wonder my Uncle Theodore's anxiety that we should not travel by the +ill-fated 5.28. + +"You will be able to go on as far as Blakiston," said the +station-master, "and the Company has arranged for motor cars to meet +the train to take you on to Middleham." + +"What is the distance from Blakiston to Middleham?" + +"About eighteen miles." + +When the train went forward the current of my thoughts was altered +completely. My former speculations seemed mean beyond comparison with +such an event as this. Who shall read the ways of providence? A flesh +wound in the arm and a late dinner were a small price to pay after all. + +Upon arriving at Blakiston we found two motor cars awaiting us: one for +the Princess, the other for our escort. A consultation with the +chauffeurs disclosed the fact that by proceeding direct home _via_ +Parlow and Little Basing instead of by way of Middleham, a matter of +seven miles would be saved. Therefore, after a wire had been sent to +Middleham to inform our people of this change of route, we entered upon +the final stage of our adventurous journey. + +In spite of the fact that we exposed ourselves to the charge of driving +recklessly, even if not to the actual danger of the public, our +destination was reached without further mishap. By twenty-five minutes +to nine we had turned in at the lodge gates of Dympsfield House. All +the windows of that abode were a blaze of light. Doubtless the royal +guest had arrived and, let us hope, was enjoying his dinner. + +However, no sooner had we entered the house than we were met by Mrs. +Arbuthnot. She was dressed for a gala night, very _décolletée_ in her +best gown, carrying a great quantity of sail in the way of +jewels--jewels were being worn that year--and with a coiffure that +absolutely baffles the pen of the conscientious historian. But, alas! +Mrs. Arbuthnot was on the verge of tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +HIS ILLYRIAN MAJESTY FERDINAND THE TWELTFH + +His Majesty had not arrived, and the dinner was spoiling. + +"No news of the King?" I asked, keeping well in the background, for I +had no wish for Mrs. Arbuthnot to observe my condition prematurely. + +"Nevil said in his telegram that he would be here about a quarter past +seven, and it is now five minutes past nine," said Mrs. Arbuthnot +tearfully. + +"Five-and-twenty minutes to nine, _mon enfant_, according to +Greenwich," said I, as reassuringly as the circumstances permitted. +"Your clock is wrong by half an hour. But there has been a bad +accident at Blankhampton. Would they come by Blankhampton? If they +did, that would be bound to delay them." + +"Oh dear!" said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "If anything has happened to the King! +And oh, Sonia dear, how late you are!" she added reproachfully. "I was +getting so horribly nervous about you. And you not here to present me +or anything! But now you've come it is all right. Just be a dear and +have a look at the table before you go up to dress." + +The Princess, however, had scarcely had time to yield to Mrs. +Arbuthnot's suggestion, and I was in the act of walking upstairs in a +state of uncomfortable anxiety in regard to the operation of changing +my clothes, when from the vicinity of the hall door there came the +sounds of fresh arrivals. I hurried to it, to be greeted immediately +by the voice of Fitz. + +"Rather late," he said with that air of languor which afflicted him on +great occasions. "Line blocked at Blankhampton. Devil of a smash. +Tiresome cross-country journey, but we've turned up at last." + +"Safe and sound, I hope?" + +"Right as rain." + +As we walked together down the front steps to the open door of the car +that stood at the bottom in the darkness, I was conscious that my pulse +was a thought too rapid for a tacit subscriber to the theory of +democracy. I held the door while an enormous figure of a man +disengaged himself slowly, and not without difficulty, from the +interior. + +I made a somewhat lower bow than the Englishman in general permits +himself. A smiling and subtle visage, at once handsome and venerable, +was promptly turned upon me, and I found myself exchanging a cordial +and powerful grip of the hand. + +Ferdinand the Twelfth ascended the front steps in the charge of his +son-in-law, while I held the door for the second occupant of the car to +alight. I made an obeisance only a shade less in depth than the one I +had bestowed upon the Sovereign. Baron von Schalk was small and +dapper, with a face full of intelligence and not unlike that of a bird +of prey. As we exchanged bows, it seemed that every line of it, and +there were many, was eloquent of power. + +"I hope the journey has not tired his Majesty?" I ventured to say. "It +must have been very tedious." + +Baron von Schalk smiled passively, made a deep guttural noise and +answered in very tolerable English, "On the contrary, most interesting. +The King never tires himself." + +At the top of the steps, framed in a glow of soft light from within, +were Mrs. Arbuthnot and the Princess. Standing side by side, they +appeared to be vying with one another in the depth and grace of their +curtseys. No sooner had the King ascended to them than he took a hand +of each in his own and led them into the hall, as though they had been +a pair of his small grandchildren. There was a spontaneity about the +action which was charming. + +Half an hour later we were assembled in the drawing-room. The King +promptly offered his arm to his hostess, and led the way in the +direction of her unfortunate meal. His daughter placed her hand very +lightly upon the arm of the Chancellor, directing an arch look over her +shoulder at me as she did so, as if she would say, "There is no help +for it!" + +Fitz and I, walking side by side, brought up the rear of the +procession. The Man of Destiny had a very fell visage. + +"What have you done to your arm?" he asked. + +"Got smashed up in a taxi this afternoon." + +"Where?" + +"Oxford Street, I believe." + +"What were you doing there?" + +"The Princess had important business in town, and I went with her." + +"Important business in town! She never said a word to me about it. +Was she in the accident too?" + +"Yes, but luckily she didn't get a scratch. And of course this is only +a slight superficial wound." + +The slight superficial wound did its best to contradict me by throbbing +vilely. + +Ferdinand the Twelfth sat on the right of his hostess, his Chancellor +on her left. It is the due, I think, of our recent and temporarily +imported culinary artist, lately in the service of a nobleman, to say +that he had done extremely well in trying circumstances. There is no +sauce like hunger, of course, but it was observed that the King ate +heartily, and, although verging upon the statutory term of human life, +seemed not one penny the worse for his long and trying journey. + +He spoke English with an agreeable fluency. Not only did he know this +country very well indeed, but we gathered that he was accustomed to +find it pleasant. Seen across a dinner-table it was clear that his +portraits had not in the least exaggerated his natural picturesqueness. +It was a noble, leonine head, a thing of power and virility, framed +with a mane of white hair. His eyes were heavy-lidded, but deep-seeing +and almost uncomfortably direct and penetrating in their gaze; yet +where one might have expected calculation and cold detachment there was +an impenetrable veil of kindliness which served to obscure the +elemental forces which must have lurked beneath. + +There were tomatoes among the _hors-d'oeuvres_, and there were tomatoes +in the soup. When the Victor of Rodova made a significant departure +from the custom of our land by smacking his lips and astonishing the +impassive Parkins by saying, "Make my compliments to de _chef_ upon his +_consommé_; I will haf more," his hostess hoisted the ensign of the +rose, and her Royal Highness beamed upon her. + +"There, Irene! what did I not tell you, my child?" she exclaimed +triumphantly. + +"Oliver has a devil of a twist upon him, evidently," murmured the +son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth, in an aside to his host of such +deplorable banality that an apology is offered for its appearance in +these pages. "I wish it would choke the old swine." + +"On the contrary, he seems a quite kindly and paternal old gentleman." + +"Ha, you don't know him!" + +I admitted that I did not and that I looked forward to our better +acquaintance. + +The hostess and her humble coadjutor in the things of this life felt it +to be a supreme moment in the progress of the feast when the royal lips +were brought to the brink of the paternal madeira which had reached us +so opportunely, if so illicitly, from Doughty Bridge, Yorks. But our +suspense was resolved at once. The Victor of Rodova raised his glass +to his hostess with the most benignant glance in the world, and for the +second time Mrs. Arbuthnot hoisted the ensign of the rose. + +Certainly the royal expansion had a charm that was all its own. Being +called for the first time to my present exalted plane of social +intercourse, I had had no opportunity of observing anything quite like +it, other than in the manners of Fitz and his wife which had proved +such a scandal to our neighbourhood. But the Victor of Rodova was so +spontaneous in his actions and so unstudied in his gestures, and he +appeared to wear his heart on his sleeve with such a childlike +facility, that to one nurtured in our insular mode of self-repression +it was as good as a play to be in his company. + +One thing was clear. From the first it was plain that Mrs. Arbuthnot +had achieved a great personal triumph. And in the particular +circumstances of the case I am constrained to append the courtier-like +phrase, "nor was it to be wondered at." Speaking out of a moderately +full knowledge of the subject in all its chameleon-like range of +vicissitude, from grave to gay, from lively to severe, in gowns by +Worth, in frocks by Paquin, in costumes by Redfern, in nondescript +creations by "the woman who makes things for Mama," I had never seen +the subject in question keyed up to quite this degree of allure. Mrs. +Arbuthnot was magnificent. + +The King beamed upon her and she beamed upon the King. More than once +he pledged her in the paternal madeira; and before the modest feast had +run its course Fitz gave me a stealthy kick on the shin. + +"Tell her to keep her door locked to-night," he said in one of his +sinister asides. + +The bluntness of the words was most uncomfortable, but there was no +reason to doubt their sincerity. It was a piece of advice at which one +so incorrigibly _bourgeois_ as its recipient might have taken offence. +That he did not do so should be counted to him, upon due reflection, as +the expression of some remote strain of a more azure tint! + +"I know the King's majesty only too well," said the son-in-law of +Ferdinand the Twelfth. + +When the ladies had left us, the King talked in the friendliest manner +and always with that engaging simplicity that was so unstudied and so +charming. He was curious to know what I had done to my arm, and when I +told him he inquired minutely as to the nature of the wound, and gave +me advice as to its treatment. This piece of consideration recalled +the magazine article I had lately studied. Here seemed a practical +illustration of the fact that in a literal sense he was the father of +his people. + +"You must show it to me to-morrow," he said. "And I will give you some +ointment I always carry, made by my own chemist to my own prescription. +Schalk laughs at my chemistry, but that's because he's jealous. I will +apply it for you, and in three days you will see the difference. What +are you laughing at, Schalk?" + +"A man may laugh at his thoughts, sir, may he not?" said Schalk, with a +dour smile. + +"Not in the presence of the little father, Schalk, unless he shares +them with the little father. What are you laughing at? But there, +since you bungled that treaty with the wily Teuton your thoughts are +not of much consequence. You know I don't care a doit for your +thoughts, Schalk, since you went to Berlin. The thoughts of Schalk, +forsooth! The wine is with you, you rascal. Remember that in England +it is not considered to be good breeding to get drunk before your King." + +"In Illyria, sir, that is always held to be impossible," said Schalk. + +Ferdinand the Twelfth indulged in a guffaw. + +"Good for you, impious one! Nay, fill up your glass before you pass +it, and keep out your long nose, else our English friends will think we +have no manners in Illyria." + +When it pleases a monarch to unbend, the laughter his sallies evoke may +seem overmuch for his wit. But it is an excellent custom to laugh +heartily at the humour of kings. Ferdinand the Twelfth, in spite of +his long journey, was in a very gracious mood and indulged us with many +sallies at the expense of his Chancellor. Baron von Schalk, however, +was well able to defend himself. It must be allowed, I think, that the +royal wit was neither very refined nor very courteous. Rough and +primitive, it had something of a Gargantuan savour. But his own +deep-voiced appreciation of it was a perpetual feast. He also told one +or two stories of a true Rabelaisian cast. They were told with an +immense gusto, and he led the laughter himself with a whole-heartedness +which was quite Homeric. Before the bottle the Victor of Rodova was +magnificent company. It was impossible not to respond to his +unaffected, if extremely catholic, good-humour. + +When we joined the ladies we found them playing a game of patience. +The Father of his People immediately carried a chair to the side of +Mrs. Arbuthnot, sat beside her and offered pertinent help in the +arrangement of her cards. "But this game is only fit for people like +Schalk," he declared. "Britch is the game we play in Illyria." + +Interpreting such a remark as being in the nature of a command, the +hostess swept her cards together, and imperiously ordered her spouse to +get the bridge markers. + +"How shall we play, sir?" said Mrs. Arbuthnot. + +"Togezzer, madame, you and I," said the King, with an air of homage, +"_if_ you please. I can see you play well." + +"Oh, sir!" said Madame, for the third time hoisting the ensign of the +rose. "How can you possibly know that?" + +"Infallible signs, milady," said the King, laughing. "Trust an old +soldier to read the signs. First, your ears, if I may say so. They +have shape and position, just like my own. That means a well-balanced +mind. And that dainty head, _c'est magnifique_! What intellect behind +that forehead! Now give me your hand--the left one." + +Milady gave the King a much bejewelled paw. + +"Ouf!" said he, "what ambition! You will never hesitate to call _sans +atout_. The heart-line is very good, also. There will be no other +partner for Ferdinand. Schalk can have whom he pleases." + +It pleased Baron von Schalk to choose her Royal Highness, and a very +interesting game began. + +"We must take care, milady," said Ferdinand the Twelfth, "we simple +children of nature. I expect they will cheat us horribly. Schalk has +very little in the way of a conscience, and nothing delights Sonia so +much as to overreach a confiding parent." + +As he spoke it pleased this simple child of nature to revoke in a very +flagrant and palpable manner. + +"No diamonds, partner?" said Mrs. Arbuthnot. + +"None whatever," said the King, blandly. "I think a small deuce will +take that trick, eh, Schalk?" + +"So it appears, sir," said the long-suffering Chancellor. + +I was led aside by the son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth. + +"If you watch this game, old son," said he, "you will gain an insight +into the monarchical basis of the constitution of Illyria. Let us +watch what the plausible old ruffian does with the nine of diamonds." + +Happily the game was not being played for money. But it was +characteristic of the Illyrian ruler, that in even the simple matter of +a game at cards he was incapable of conducting it other than in a +manner peculiarly his own. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE + +It was past two o'clock when the _partie_ was dissolved. No sooner had +our guests retired to their repose than Mrs. Arbuthnot turned +enthusiastically to her lord. + +"What a perfectly lovely old man! Such charm, such distinction; so +kind, so unaffected, and oh, so simple! There is something in being a +king, after all." + +"Things are not always what they seem, _mon enfant_," I remarked +uneasily. + +"He is a perfect old darling." + +"He is one of the deepest men in Europe, as all the world knows." + +"He is a dear." + +"Personally, I have no wish to meet him in a lonely lane on a dark +night, if I should happen to have anything upon me that I cared to +lose." + +"Why, goose, you are jealous!" + +"Put not your trust in princes, my child." And, reluctantly enough, I +confided Fitz's piece of advice. + +Howbeit, I was more than half prepared for Mrs. Arbuthnot's queenlike +indignation. + +"What do you mean, Odo?" said she, majestically. The outraged delicacy +of a De Vere Vane-Anstruther is a very majestic thing. + +"Either you promise, or I don't sleep over the stables." + +"This is all the doing of Fitz! He has an insane prejudice." + +"Fitz is a very shrewd fellow, and he knows our guest rather better +than either of us. You must not forget that kings are kings in +Illyria." + +"I don't understand." + +"You must promise, even if you don't." + +"I shall do nothing of the kind. It is a humiliating suggestion. +Besides, it is all so _bourgeois_." + +"I was waiting for that. But, whatever it is, I have quite made up my +mind. Either you promise, or I don't sleep over the stables." + +"Then I refuse; absolutely and unconditionally I refuse," said Mrs. +Arbuthnot, with what can only be described as _hauteur_. + +It was our first _impasse_ in the course of six years of double +harness. I have never disguised from myself that I am a weak mortal. +Mrs. Arbuthnot has never disguised it from me either. The habit of +yielding more or less gracefully to the imperious will of the superior +half of my entity had become second nature. But there was a voice +within that would not have me give way. + +"Absolutely and unconditionally! I consider it odious. And why should +you insult me in this manner----" + +The star of my destiny was rising to the heights of the tragedy queen. + +"If you would only make the effort to understand, my child," I said +patiently, "what is implied in your own admission that there is +something in being a king, after all!" + +"You are insanely jealous. He is a perfect dear, and he is old enough +to be one's grandfather." + +For once, however, I was adamant. Together we ascended the stairs; +together we entered her ladyship's chamber. There was not adequate +accommodation for the two of us. The best rooms had been placed at the +disposal of Fitz and his wife, and of the King and his Chancellor. +Leading out of this apartment, however, was a small dressing-room with +a sofa in it. I opened the door and, as I did so, delivered my final +ultimatum. + +"Irene, you will either do as you are asked, else I spend the rest of +the night in there." + +"Pray do as, you choose." Mrs. Arbuthnot was pale with indignation. +"But I shall not lock the door." + +"So be it." + +Leaving the door of the dressing-room slightly ajar, I lay down on the +sofa just as I was, and composed myself for slumber as well as an +entirely ridiculous situation would permit. Precisely how it had come +about it was hard to determine, but I was prepared to inflict upon my +overwrought self, for the events of that long day had been many and +remarkable, a still further amount of bodily discomfort. But Fitz's +hint had overthrown a married man, a father of a family, and a county +member, whatever the sense of humour had to say about it all. + +In the process of time I forgot sufficiently the dull tumult of my +brain and the throbbing of my arm for my jaded nerves to be lulled into +an uneasy doze. How long I had been oblivious of my surroundings I do +not know, but quite suddenly a cry seemed to break in upon my senses. +I awoke with a start. + +The room was in total darkness save for a thread of light which came +through the partially open door of the adjoining chamber. But sounds +and a voice proceeded from it. + +I rose from my sofa and listened at the threshold. + +"Little milady, little Irene." + +The pleading accents were familiar, and paternal. I pushed open the +door and entered the room. A distracted vision with streaming hair and +in a white nightgown was sitting up in bed; while candle in hand a +magnificent figure in a blue silk Oriental robe over a brilliant yellow +sleeping-suit was confronting her. + +"Little milady. Little Irene." + +I fumbled for the knob of the electric light, found it and turned it up. + +I was face to face with a subtle and smiling visage. There was +astonishment in it, it is true, but it was also full of humour and +benevolence. + +"Why, my friend," said Ferdinand the Twelfth in his most paternal +manner, "pray what are _you_ doing here?" + +I confess that I could find no answer to the royal inquiry. + +In the circumstances it was not easy to know what reply to make. +Indeed so completely was I taken aback that I could not find a word to +say. Coolly enough the King stood regarding me with that bland and +subtle countenance. But as those smiling eyes measured me they gave me +"to think." I carried one arm in a sling, I was without a weapon, and +the Father of his People was a man of exceptional physical power. + +As a measure of precaution, I reached pensively for the poker. + +A transitory gleam flitted across the King's face, but the royal +countenance was still urbane. + +"Madame should have locked her door," he said, with an air of humorous +reproach. "Dat is a good custom we haf in Illyria." + +"Your Majesty must forgive us," said I, without permitting my glance to +stray towards the half-terrified vision that was so near to me, "if we +appear _bourgeois_. The fact is, we are not so familiar as we should +like to be with the usages of the great world." + +The King laughed heartily. + +"There is nothing to forgive, my good friend," he said with an air of +splendid magnanimity. "But Madame should certainly have locked her +door. However, let us not bear malice." + +With a superbly graceful gesture, in which the paternal and the +humorous were delightfully mingled, the King withdrew. + +Horror and incredulity contended in the eyes of Mrs. Arbuthnot. But I +did not think well to spare her the reverberation of my triumph. + +"There is something in being a king, after all, _mon enfant_." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot was only able to gasp. + +"Do not let us blame him; he is the Father of his People. But +apparently it would seem that that which may be _bourgeois_ in the eyes +of the matrons of the Crackanthorpe Hunt is really the highest breeding +in Illyria." + +Thereupon I laid down the poker as pensively as I had taken it up, +sought to compose the star of my destiny, who was beginning to weep +softly, and bade her good morning. + +Outside the door I lingered a moment to hear the key click in the lock +in the most unmistakable manner. + +With the aid of a candle I made my way to my temporary quarters over +the stables. The hour was a quarter to five. Little time was left for +further repose, but it was used to such advantage that it was not +without difficulty that my servant was able to rouse me at a quarter to +eight. By the time I was putting the finishing touches to my toilet I +was informed that Count Zhygny was below, inspecting the horses. + +Count Zhygny, to give our illustrious guest his _nom de guerre_, which, +like nearly all Illyrian proper names, it is well not to attempt to +pronounce as it is spelt, was stroking the fetlocks of Daydream with an +air of knowingness when I joined him. Dressed in a suit of tweeds and +a green felt hat, he looked the picture of restless energy. Seen in +the light of day he was far older than he had appeared the previous +night. Hollows were revealed in his cheeks, and there were pouches +under his eyes. His hands shook and his brow had many lines, but every +one of his many inches was instinct with a natural force. + +His greeting was frank and hearty and as cordial as you please. There +was not a trace of resentment or embarrassment. But, from the manly +ease of his bearing, it was abundantly clear that the king could do no +wrong. + +He linked his arm through mine, and together we strolled in to +breakfast. At the sideboard I helped him to bacon and tomatoes, and +Mrs. Arbuthnot gave him coffee. + +The manner of "little milady" was perhaps a thought constrained when +she received his Majesty's matutinal greeting. To encourage her he +pinched her ear playfully. + +Mrs. Fitz did not grace this movable feast, and Fitz and the Chancellor +were rather late. + +"You have taken a long time over your devotions, Schalk," said the +King. "I am glad it does not cost me these pains to keep on good terms +with heaven." + +"I also, sir," said Schalk drily. + +"I see you have the English _Times_ there, Schalk. What is the news +this morning?" + +The Chancellor adjusted a pair of gold pince-nez and began to read +aloud from that organ of opinion. + +"'Blaenau, Wednesday evening. The Illyrian Land Bill was read a second +time in the House of Deputies this afternoon.'" + +"Ha, that is important," said the King, laughing. "What a +well-informed journal is the English _Times_! Do you approve of the +Illyrian Land Bill, Schalk?" + +"Since I had the honour of drafting it, sir, to your dictation, I +cannot do less than endorse it." + +"And read a second time already, says the English _Times_, in the House +of Deputies. I always say they have some of the best minds of the +kingdom in the Lower House." + +"Trust them to know what is good for themselves," said Schalk sourly. + +It was tolerably clear, from the Chancellor's manner, that his royal +master was enjoying a little private baiting. + +"Why, Schalk," he said, "I believe you are still harping on Clause +Three." + +"I have never reverted, sir, from my original view," said the +Chancellor, "that under Clause Three the peasantry is getting far more +than is good for it. I have always felt, sir, as you are aware, that +this is a concession to the pestilential agrarian agitator, and I feel +sure the First Chamber will proclaim this opinion also." + +"Well, well, Schalk," said the King cheerfully, "is it not the function +of the First Chamber to disagree with the Second, and what is the +Little Father for except to soothe their quarrels by flattering both +and agreeing with neither?" + +"Your Majesty is pleased to speak in riddles," said the Chancellor, +with gravity. + +"What a cardinal you would have made, Schalk!" said his master. "But +if you have really made up your mind about Clause Three, we must look +at it again. I agree with you that it is not good for growing children +to eat all the cake. We must keep a little for their elders, because +they like cake too, it appears." + +"Everyone is fond of cake," said the Chancellor sententiously, "but +there is never quite enough to go round, unfortunately." + +"That is a happy phrase of Schalk's," said the King, making the +conversation general with his amused air; "'the pestilential agrarian +agitator.' Have you that kind of animal in England?" + +"We are infested with him, sir," said the member for the Uppingdon +Division of Middleshire, the owner of a modest thousand or so of acres. +"The people for the land, and the land for the people! The country +reeks of it." + +"It is the same everywhere," said the King. "A great world movement is +upon us. The wise can detect the voice of the future in the cry of the +people, but there are some who stuff wool in their ears, eh, Schalk?" + +Ferdinand the Twelfth assumed a port of indulgent sagacity. This +half-serious, half-bantering fragment of his discourse, and half a +dozen in a similar tenor to which it was my privilege to listen, seemed +to establish one fact clearly. It was that the King was not the slave +of his ministers. He was a man with a keen outlook upon his time, +deliberately unprogressive, not in response to the reactionary forces +by which he was surrounded, but because he held that it was not good +for the world to go too fast. + +His article of faith was simple enough, and in his conduct he did not +hesitate to embody it. He conceived it to be the highest good for +every people to have a king; a wise, patient and beneficent law-giver +to correct the excesses of faction; one to stand at the helm to steer +the ship of state through troubled waters. + +Whether his conception of the monarchical condition was right or wrong, +he was able to enforce it with all the weight of his personality. He +believed profoundly in the divine right. In the assurance of his own +infallibility he seemed to admit no limit to his own freedom of action. + +He believed that the future of his country was in his hands. It was in +order to conserve it that he had come to England in this singular and +unexpected manner. Having chosen a Royal Consort for his only +daughter, she whose act of revolt was but a manifestation of +sovereignty carried to a higher power, he was prepared come what may to +enforce his will. + +All through this little history I have tried to show how comedy strove +with tragedy as the play was unfolded. The spectators were never quite +sure which way the cat would jump. Infinite opportunity for laughter +was provided, but underneath this merriment lay that which was too deep +for tears. Viewed upon the surface, the precipitation into our midst +of such an elemental figure as Ferdinand the Twelfth was food for an +inextinguishable jest, but the reverse of the medal must not be +overlooked. + +Every hour the King spent under our roof was a slow-drawn torture for +Fitz and his wife. Holding the romantic belief that they were +twin-souls whom destiny had linked irrevocably together, they were +everything to one another. But running counter to this faith were +those incalculable hereditary forces which the King with incomparable +power and address was marshalling against it. + +Now was the time for the Princess to yield. In his own person the King +had come to demand of her that once and for all she should take up the +burden of her heritage. If now she declined to heed, the days of the +Monarchy were numbered. + +It was only too clear to us onlookers that a terrible contest was being +waged. In two or three brief days the Princess seemed worn to a +shadow; the look of wildness was again in her eyes: her whole bearing +confessed an overwhelming mental stress. + +Fitz also suffered greatly. And his travail was not rendered less by +the fact that Ferdinand did not scruple to make a personal appeal. + +About the third night of his ordeal, Fitz accompanied me to my quarters +over the stables. + +"Arbuthnot," he said, sinking into a chair, "I have been thinking this +thing out as well as I can with the help of Ferdinand, and he has made +me see that my rights in the matter are not quite what I thought they +were. I do not complain. He has talked to me as a father might to a +son, and he has brought me to see that our position in the sight of God +may not be quite what we judged it to be." + +I was hardly prepared for such a speech on the lips of Fitz. That it +should fall from them so simply gave me an enlarged idea of the forces +that were being brought to bear upon him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +A WALK IN THE GARDEN + +In the last resort the issue lay with Sonia. Her husband had the +wisdom to recognise that; although his own happiness was at stake, the +matter was beyond the restricted sphere of the personal equation. + +In the crisis of his fate it has always seemed to me that Fitz +displayed the inherent nobility of his character. Once the King, with +immense force and cogency, had revealed the situation in its true +aspect, his son-in-law, without abating a single claim to his wife's +consideration, yet refrained from unduly exercising the prerogative +conferred upon him by their spiritual affinity. + +It was wise and right that Fitz should detach himself as far as +possible from the conflict that was being waged between father and +daughter. But, although he did what lay in his power to simplify the +issue, he could not banish the image of himself from his wife's heart. +He furnished the motive power of her existence. Emotion held the +master-key to her nature. In any conflict between love and duty, love +could hardly fail to win. + +Fitz suffered intensely as the struggle went on. He even threw out a +hint to me that he might be tempted to take a certain step to help his +wife to a possible solution of the problem. + +"The longer this goes on," he said to me in the small hours of the +morning, "the more clearly I realise that Sonia's place is with her own +people. I have been blind, and I have been mad, and I owe it to +Ferdinand that I have been able to see myself in my true relation to +the issue in which fate has involved us. It is six years since I first +saw Sonia on the terrace of the Castle at Blaenau. I was travelling +about the world trying to find ease for my soul. I knew that she was +unhappy, and she knew that I was, but we were young and not afraid. We +met continually, for I had the _entrée_ to the Castle as the grandson +of the Elector of Gracow, whose daughter married my grandfather, George +Fitzwaren of tragic memory. + +"We used to sit out on the Castle terrace, Sonia and I, night after +night, watching the stars in their courses, while her father dragooned +his parliament and hoodwinked his people. She was lonely, outcast and +unloved; there was none to whom she could speak her thoughts; she was +oppressed with the sense of her destiny. + +"She said that when she first met me she wondered where she had seen me +before. She said that my presence haunted her like a half-remembered +vision, until it began to merge itself into her dreams of a former +existence and a happier state. And as she said this, her voice grew +strangely familiar. For me it unlocked the doors of memory. It was +like the faint, far-off music you can hear sometimes, the music of the +wind in winter sweeping across infinite, illimitable space. + +"She allowed me to kiss her, and we knew then we held the key to the +riddle of existence. We were twin-souls made one again, and together +we would go through all time and all eternity. + +"But I think we are beginning now to realise that the sense of oneness +is alien to the human state, and that the hour is at hand when we must +separate and go out again into the night of ages alone." + +In a condition of desolation the unhappy man rocked his meagre body to +and fro as thus he spoke. + +"If it will really help her," he said, "I think I shall put an end to +my present life. At least, I shall ask Ferdinand to do it, for I doubt +whether any man in the true enjoyment of his reason has really the +power to do it for himself. And yet, perhaps one ought not to say +that. So much can be done by prayer." + +"Surely it is contrary to the will of God?" I said with a kind of +horror. + +"It is, undoubtedly," said Fitz, "as regards humanity at large. But it +sometimes happens, you know, that one among us plays the game up so +high that he gets a special decree. I almost think, Arbuthnot, that I +have heard the Voice--and if I have, my unhappy Sonia will be able to +go back to her people for a term, and I shall ask you, as my oldest +friend, a man whom my instincts tell me to trust, to accept the charge +of my little daughter." + +To one poised delicately upon the plane of reason such a speech could +not fail to be shocking. But it was so sincere, so reasoned, the +holder of these views was so entirely the captain of his soul, that his +words, as he uttered them, seemed to derive a kind of sanction which as +I commit them to paper they do not appear to possess. + +The counsel of one man to another does not amount to much in those +cases where the subject-matter of their discussion has been already +referred to the High Court. But I felt that I should be unfaithful to +the elements that formed my own nature, acutely conscious as I was of +their imperfect development, if I did not seek to give them some sort +of an expression at such a moment as this. + +"Fitz," I said, "I can claim no right to address you, except as a +younger brother. You belong to a higher order of things; your life is +more developed than mine, but I ask you in the name of God to refrain +from the step you contemplate, unless you are absolutely convinced, +beyond any possibility of error, that there is no other way out." + +The unhappy man made no reply. His face had begun to seem +unrecognisable. + +I rose involuntarily from the chair in which I sat. + +"Let us walk in the garden," I said. + +The suggestion appeared to shape itself on my lips, regardless of the +will's volition. It was, perhaps, a recovered fragment of man's +heritage floating downwards from the past. + +I opened the door and we went downstairs into the garden. It was the +middle of the night; what there was of the moon was almost wholly +obscured; the air was mild with the purity of recent rain. Up and down +the wet lawns we walked, bareheaded and in our slippered feet. + +Suddenly lights flashed upon us out of the shrubbery. + +"It is all right," I called. "Do not disturb us. Go into another part +of the grounds." + +The voice seemed unlike my own, but the watchers obeyed it. + +Nature exhorted us as we walked in the garden. Her purity, her calm, +the incommunicable magic of her spaciousness, the thrall of her +splendour entered our veins. We were her children, flesh of her flesh, +bone of her bone. The mighty Mother spoke to us. + +A little wind moved softly among the gaunt branches of a pine. + +"I must make quite sure that the Voice has spoken to me," said Fitz. + +The unhappy man walked to the pine-tree, knelt down and seemed +involuntarily to shroud his face with his hands. + +I shrank back and turned away. + +Quite suddenly my heart leapt with surprise and dismay. An unexpected +and sinister presence was by my side. + +"I pity that poor fellow," said a voice softly. "I pity them both." + +It was the voice of the King. + +Habited in a voluminous mantle, the Victor of Rodova linked his arm +through mine in his paternal manner. + +"Come, my friend," he said in a voice of urgent kindliness, "let us +walk in the garden." + +Together we walked over the lawns, the King and I, with slow and +measured steps. + +"It is a beautiful night." Ferdinand the Twelfth took off his hat. + +"God is in His heaven, sir," I said, softly. + +"You are a God-fearing people," said the King; "that is a good thing. +What can we do in the world without the fear of God? This night +reminds me of the night before Rodova. It was just like this, a calm, +soft air, a little moist. You could hear the wind creeping softly +among the pine-trees. At the bottom of your garden there was the +gentle noise of a little river. All night the little fishes were +leaping and playing in its clear waters, and living their lives +joyously as it seemed good to them. And beyond the river were the +Austrians, sixty thousand men with horses and cannons. + +"The God of Armies had given the soul of my country into my care. Was +she to remain a free and independent people as she had been since the +time of Alvan the First, or was she to be trampled under the heel of +the oppressor? All night I walked in the garden, and I remember I +knelt down under the pine-tree yonder, as our friend is doing there. +It is a wonderful thing how history keeps happening over again." + +The King's voice had grown hushed and solemn. + +"To-night is another crisis in the history of our country. I am older +than I seem; there is a voice within which tells me that my course is +almost run. That is why I have come to speak with my daughter. It is +the business of us Sveltkes to hold the balance in the scales of +destiny. Since the time of Alvan the First there has been an unbroken +line of monarchy; perhaps it is decreed that it shall end to-night. +But yet I cannot think so. The unseen power which enabled us to +withstand the might of Austria will invest my daughter with wisdom and +grace." + +There was a footfall on the soft turf, and we turned to find that Fitz +had joined us. + +"Ha! Nevil," said the King in a voice of parental tenderness. "I was +explaining to our good friend how this night reminds me of the eve of +Rodova. Our lady the moon was in her present quarter; yonder was Mars, +blood-red on the eastern horizon. There behind us was Jupiter, exactly +as we see him to-night; but on the night of Rodova Uranus was not +visible. It was a grave crisis in the history of our country; to-night +is a grave crisis also, for I feel that a term has been placed to my +days. But I walked all night in the garden, and I knelt down beneath a +single pine-tree, and the God of Armies spoke to me. 'Fear nothing,' +said the God of Armies. 'At the break of day, cross the river that +flows at the bottom of the garden, and all will be well.'" + +The light of the moon fell upon the King's face, That smiling and +subtle visage looked strangely luminous. + +"An hour before daybreak," the King went on, "Parlowitz came to me. +'Weissmann has come up in the night,' he said, 'with twenty thousand +men. If we cross the river, all is lost.' 'Fear nothing, Parlowitz,' +I said. 'At daybreak we cross the river. The God of Armies would have +it so.' 'Then, sire,' said Parlowitz, 'give this to my wife when next +you see her'--Parlowitz unfastened the collar of his tunic and took off +a locket which he wore round his neck--'and tell her that it is my wish +that our second son John should succeed to my estate.' I then bade +adieu to Parlowitz, for he would have it so; and as the dawn was +breaking he was shot through the breast at the head of his division. +But that was a glorious day in the annals of the Illyrian people; and +you, my dear Nevil, will have seen the noble statue that has been +raised to the memory of Parlowitz on the terrace at Blaenau." + +"I have seen the statue," said Fitz, calmly. "A monument of piety, but +abominable as a work of art." + +"It is the work of the best sculptor in Illyria," said the King. + +"There are no sculptors in Illyria," said Fitz, bluntly. + +The King fell into a muse. I was sensible of Fitz's grip upon my arm. + +"It is wonderful," said the King, softly, "how history continues to +happen over again. I seem to hear the voice again in the upper air: +'At daybreak, cross the river at the bottom of the garden, and all will +be well.'" + +The grip upon my arm grew tighter. + +"Do not leave me," said Fitz in a hoarse whisper. + +All night long the three of us walked up and down the lawns before the +house. In one of the upper windows was a light. It was Sonia's room. + +Few words passed between us, and in the main it was the King who spoke. +Never once did Fitz relax his grip upon my arm. Indeed, as the hours +passed, it seemed to grow more tense. It had the convulsive tenacity +of one who in the last extremity fights to keep the body united to the +soul. + +Even I, who make no claim to be highly sensitised, was susceptible of +the ominous challenge of the force that was enfolding us. Silence was +even more terrible than speech. The resources of the ages were in the +scale against us. + +"For God's sake do not leave me!" said my unhappy friend in a whisper +of terror. + +At last the first faint pencilings of the dawn began to declare +themselves in the upper air. My slippered feet were soaked and my +teeth were chattering with the chill of the morning. A curious +sensation, which I had never felt before, began to steal over me. With +a thrill of suffocating, incommunicable horror I began slowly to +realise that I was no longer the master of myself. + +Fitz's convulsed grip was still upon my arm, but the sense of him had +grown remote. He was slipping farther and farther away. + +"Hold me!" he whispered; and again, "Hold me!" The stifled voice was +like that of one in whose company I was drowning. + +The voice of the King sounded quite near, although it was with dull +stupefaction that I heard his words. + +"The day is breaking. The river flows at the bottom of the garden." + +The fingers of my friend no longer clasped my arm. In the half-light I +saw the King produce a revolver from the folds of his mantle. He +handed it to Fitz with a paternal, almost deprecating gesture, and we +were both powerless to deny him. It seemed to me that I was standing +outside all that was happening. The sense of distance appeared ever to +increase. + +I witnessed the King kiss the forehead of his son-in-law, and heard him +give him his blessing. Then I seemed to hear the voice of Fitz crying +piteously, + +"Sonia, Sonia, help me!" + +"Look over there," said the King; "the day is breaking. It is another +glorious sunrise for the people of Illyria." + +"Yes, indeed, sir," said a voice that broke the spell. + +The prayer of Fitz had been heard. Sonia had come unperceived into our +midst. + +"I have come to taste the morning, it is so good," she said. "And you, +how early you have risen!" + +The King laughed. He seemed to enfold his daughter with that visage of +smiling subtlety. + +"We have been walking in the garden, my friends and I," he said. "We +have had a pleasant talk together. The position of the stars reminded +me of the eve of Rodova, except that Uranus was not with us. It is +always well to know the position of Uranus." + +I felt Fitz slip the revolver into my hand. + +"Come," he said in his tone of natural decision, "let us go and have a +bath and get ready for breakfast." + +While the King continued to discourse amiably with his daughter we made +our escape. + +In the privacy of my room over the stables we removed the cartridges +from the revolver. + +Fitz handed the weapon to me. "Keep it," he said, "as a memento of +Ferdinand the Twelfth. I should have crossed the river if Sonia had +not heard my call." + +Fitz shivered; but in his haggard face I thought that reason was still +enthroned. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +PROVIDES A LITTLE FEMININE DIVERSION + +At the breakfast table, Mrs. Arbuthnot was moved to inquire of our +distinguished guest whether he would care to meet some of our friends +and neighbours at dinner. His _incognito_ should be preserved rigidly; +and perhaps a few fresh faces would serve to lighten the tedium of his +stay in our midst. The King assented to the proposal with his usual +hearty good-humour. + +Personally I was deeply grateful to Mrs. Arbuthnot for having had the +inspiration to make it. I was prepared to welcome anything that would +withdraw me from the perilous altitudes upon which I had been walking +throughout the night. I might be said to yearn for anything that could +re-attach me to the humbler plane of men and things, in whose +familiarity lay mental security. + +After breakfast, however, when I came to discuss this apparently +innocent proposal with Mrs. Arbuthnot, it was clear that something +lurked behind it. + +"I have got a little plan, you know," said she, with a plaintive, +childlike air. "They have all been so uppish with me lately that I +have thought of a little plan of scoring them off properly." + +"By asking them to meet royalty and giving them an excellent dinner?" + +"There shall be nothing wrong with the dinner," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, +"but it ought to be very amusing. I shall drive round to Mary's at +once and ask her to forgive the short notice, but Sonia's father has +unexpectedly turned up and, much against our will, we are having to +entertain him." + +"Where is the jest? The bald and painful truth is seldom amusing." + +"Goose! As they are all convinced that Sonia was formerly a circus +rider in Vienna, what can be more natural than that her father is the +proprietor of the circus?" + +"True, madam. But how will you explain away his title?" + +"It will be the simplest thing out. You can always buy a title in +Illyria, like you can here. The old circus man has made a fortune and +purchased a title accordingly." + +I confessed that that had a fairly plausible sound. + +"They will swallow it, see if they don't," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, giving +an ever freer rein to her invention. "And the old circus man is really +too funny, and if Mary Catesby and Laura Glendinning and George and the +Vicar and Mrs. Vicar, and that pushing little American would like to +see for themselves, we shall be very glad for them to dine here +to-morrow evening. And," concluded Mrs. Arbuthnot, in a tone in which +childlike conviction and a natural love of mischief were excellently +blended, "just see if they don't, that's all!" + +"But why, my child? I confess that I cannot see any particular charm +in such an entertainment." + +"They will come, if only to score us off afterwards, you goose. You +don't know them as well as I do." + +I confessed that I did not. + +Mrs. Arbuthnot lost no time in driving round to her friends, and +returned in high glee with them all in her net. + +"What did I say!" she declaimed triumphantly. "I called first on Mary. +I knew, if I persuaded her, the rest would be easy. Well, you know her +little way. She read me a terrible lecture about the duties of my +position. As the wife of the member, my responsibilities were simply +enormous. Not on any account would she sit down at the same table as +Mrs. Fitz. But I drew such a fancy portrait of the old circus man and +of his friend the ring-master, who was almost as funny as himself, that +I got her to consent. So she and George are coming." + +"Mischievous monkey!" + +"Then I went on to the Vicarage. The Vicar had no engagement, but he +hummed and hawed, until I told him Mary was coming, so he is coming +too, and he is going to bring Lavinia. Then there will be Laura and +the little American and Reggie Brasset, and Jodey, of course. We shall +be quite a family party, and it ought to be tremendous fun." + +"Won't Brasset and Jodey be rather flies in your ointment? Don't they +know your guilty secret?" + +"I shall tell them all about it, of course, and they will help us to +carry it off. And I mean to ask Colonel Coverdale to come too. He +will like to meet the King, and we must persuade him not to give us +away." + +I was in no mood to give free play to whatever I may have in the way of +a sense of humour. But Mrs. Arbuthnot's scheme, doubtful as it was on +the score of morality, had at least the merit of diverting the current +of my thoughts into another channel. It certainly did something to +lessen the tension. + +Mrs. Arbuthnot laid her plans with considerable precaution. She had a +long and extremely animated conversation over the telephone with the +Chief Constable. I could almost hear the great man growl and chuckle +as she expounded her wicked design. But in the end he was unable to +resist her and he was in her net as well. Jodey and Brasset, of +course, were only too eager to lend a hand, and both agreed with her +"that they all deserved to be scored off properly." Personally, the +workings of the "scoring-off" process were a little too much for my +enfeebled mental system, but I was informed peremptorily that I always +was a dull dog. + +Determined to leave nothing to chance, Mrs. Arbuthnot even went to the +length of taking Fitz into her confidence. + +"You know, Nevil," she said, engagingly, "how they have behaved to +Sonia and what they have said about her behind her back." + +"What have they said?" Fitz's indifference bordered upon the sublime. + +"Why, don't you know?" Mrs. Arbuthnot transfixed the Man of Destiny +with starlike orbs. "Don't you know that when Laura Glendinning found +out that Sonia rides just as straight as she does and that she looks +much smarter, it made her frightfully jealous?" + +"Did it indeed!" grunted the Man of Destiny. + +"And can you believe, Nevil,"--the starlike orbs grew ever rounder and +more luminous--"she circulated the story that dear Sonia was a circus +rider from Vienna!" + +"Oh, really!" Fitz concealed a yawn in a rather perfunctory manner. + +"And, what is more, she got everybody to believe it." + +Fitz's boredom was dissembled with a smile of twelve-horse-power +politeness. + +"And so, to score them off," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, rising to pleasantly +histrionic heights, "I have invited the ringleaders to dinner to-night +to meet the circus rider's father, the proprietor of the circus, who +has made a fortune out of his show and has bought himself a title, as, +of course, you can in Illyria. And Baron von Schalk is the ringmaster +of his circus." + +The Man of Destiny guffawed with languid inefficiency and declared that +the plot was like a comic opera. In my private ear he recorded an +opinion subsequently to which it would be hardly kind to give publicity. + +"Nobody but a woman would have thought of it," he said. "If it turns +out to be funny, so be it, but I must say it looks like spoiling a good +meal--you've got a top-hole cook, old son--and making things damned +uncomfortable for everybody." + +I adjured Fitz, who, like myself, was evidently in no mood to +appreciate refined humour, to wait and see. + +Lieutenant-Colonel John Chalmers Coverdale, C.M.G., late of His +Majesty's Carabineers, was the first to arrive. + +"Sailing rather near the wind, aren't you?" was his greeting to his +hostess, who in her best gown was a ravishing example of picturesque +demureness. + +"I think it will go all right," said she. "Mary Catesby and George +will be too killing." + +Certainly, when that august matron arrived she was very _grande dame_ +and honest George five feet three inches of meticulous good breeding. +They greeted Fitz and his wife with a distant reverence. Ferdinand the +Twelfth and his famous minister had not yet appeared upon the scene. +Most of their day had been spent upon the much-debated Clause Three of +the Illyrian Land Bill. + +Eight o'clock is the hour at which we dine in the Crackanthorpe +country. It is the established custom for regular followers of that +distinguished pack to be extremely hungry at that hour. As the +presentation timepiece chimed the hour from the drawing-room +chimneypiece, there was a full muster of Mrs. Arbuthnot's dinner +guests: the Vicar and his wife, looking rather pinched and formal, +their invariable attitude towards public life, yet the Vicar wearing a +somewhat worldly pair of shoes of patent leather and equally worldly +mauve socks and rather short trousers; Miss Laura Glendinning, our +local Diana, who looked horse and talked horse and who would doubtless +have eaten horse had it been in the menu; my charming little friend, +the relict of Josiah P. Perkins of Brownville, Mass.; the noble Master +enveloped in a sartorial masterpiece and a frown of perplexity; his +_aide-de-camp_, Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther enveloped ditto, +but leaning up not ungracefully against a corner of the chimneypiece +with his hands in his pockets, not looking at anybody, not speaking to +anybody, but with a covert gaze fixed upon the drawing-room door in +quest of early information in regard to Ferdinand the Twelfth. + +In the middle of the _salon_ the august Mrs. Catesby discussed the +Minority Report with the Vicar of the parish and Prison Reform with the +Chief Constable, whilst I, sharing the largest and most comfortable +sofa with Mrs. Nevil Fitzwaren, had to answer a succession of +sympathetic inquiries in regard to my arm. + +"A mere scratch," everybody was assured. "Lucky it wasn't worse. Fact +is, those taxis are rather dangerous." + +The presentation timepiece chimed a quarter past eight. The proprietor +of the Viennese circus and his faithful acolyte were yet to seek. +Romantic figures as they doubtless were--at least, there was the +authority of the hostess that such was their nature--the manner in +which they were obstructing the serious business of life was hard to +condone. + +Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins came up to our sofa. She gave a demure, +down-looking glance at the lady seated by my side, who was decidedly +_piano_, which of course was as it should be, and made the plaintive +confession, "I am so hungry. I wouldn't mind the hind leg off that +satinwood table." + +"You have full permission to have it," said I. + +"Oh, no," said Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins, "it would spoil the suite. But +hardly any breakfast, a sandwich at the Top Covert, in which there was +hardly any hog, one cup of tea at the Vicarage, and you know what that +is, and now--oh dear!----" + +In these harrowing circumstances I conceived it to be my duty to find +out what was toward. I yielded my place to Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins, and +as she collapsed into it, I heard her say, "I suppose if you once get a +cinch on circuses you make a regular pile right soon?" + +But as I made to go forth in search of Ferdinand the Twelfth, lo and +behold! that monarch came in with his minister. He was wearing no +orders, there was nothing to enhance or to distort his personality, but +it struck me that his bearing had a simple majesty beyond that of any +person I had ever seen. + +"Make our apologies, milady," he said in a low voice, which was yet +quite audible to most in the room, since upon his entrance the +conversation had been suspended automatically. "That mad Dutchman is +waving his torch over the powder keg, and we had forgotten the time." + +And then, with the greatest simplicity and good-nature, he started to +make a tour of the room, shaking each man by the hand heartily, saying +"Very pleased to meet you, sir," and bowing to each lady in turn with +smiling gravity. He then gave the hostess his arm. + +At the table I had Mrs. Catesby on my right hand, Mrs. Josiah P. +Perkins on my left. + +"What a lovely man!" said Charybdis on the left. + +"I don't believe," said Scylla, "that he has any connection with a +circus whatever." + +"He is Mrs. Fitz's father, anyhow." + +"What is his name?" + +"Count Zhygny, but titles are cheap in Illyria." + +"It is a noble head," said the Great Lady. + +"Objective criticism is proverbially unsafe," I hazarded. "His +daughter has a noble face." + +"He is just bully." Charybdis was waxing enthusiastic. "Quite +Bawston." + +The Great Lady addressed herself in grim earnest to the serious +business of life, and I am bound to say--although doubtless I am the +wrong person to insist on the fact--that it was worthy of all the +attention that was paid to it. We were twenty-five minutes late at the +post, as Jodey had complained bitterly to his hostess, but the +distinguished _chef_ lately in the service of a nobleman had fairly +excelled himself. Good-humour, nay, even cordiality, reigned all along +the line. + +"Are those pearls real?" said an imperious whisper from the right. + +"I am not a judge of precious stones," I admitted, "although in the +process of time I think I shall be." + +"One can't believe they are real. If they are, they must be priceless. +What a wonderful head that man has! And who, pray, is the other?" + +"Herr Brouss is his name. The circus-ring is his vocation." + +"I once met a distinguished foreigner, a Baron Somebody, a great +politician who looked exactly like that. It was at Spa or one of those +foreign watering-places. By the way, Odo, what did the other man mean +by 'the mad Dutchman is waving his torch over the powder keg'? I see +in the paper this morning that relations are strained between Germany +and Illyria. + +"It is one of those cryptic phrases to which we have not the key." + +"What a delicious _entrée_! This is coals of fire with a vengeance. I +hope you are not living beyond your means." + +"Try the madeira--I see our excellent Vicar has discovered it. I am +wondering, Mary, whether I could win a little support again in high +places, as an out-and-out opponent of socialism in any shape or form." + +"I will make no rash promises, Odo"--the Great Lady took a wary sip of +the paternal vintage--"but I will speak to dear Evelyn if you wish, +although you certainly don't deserve to be forgiven." + +"I hope you will assure her that no one has a profounder veneration for +a poor but deserving class." + +In spite of the fact that Fitz and his wife remained silent and +preoccupied, the progress of the feast was marked by a temperate +gaiety. The hostess was on the crest of the wave. She made no attempt +to veil an almost indecent sense of triumph. Precisely why she should +have harboured it I cannot say, but she betrayed all the outward and +visible signs of that emotion. There was a light in her eye, there was +a piquancy about her discourse, there was a deferential archness in her +attitude towards the high personages by whom she was surrounded, which +communicated themselves to the whole table. In response to her sallies +the reverberations of the royal laughter were loud and long. + +"Toppin' good sort, ain't he?" said my relation by marriage in a moment +of expansion to Miss Laura Glendinning. + +"Who is a toppin' good sort?" said that literal Diana. + +"Why, the King, of course." + +"I have never met him," said Diana. + +"Where, pray, did you meet him, Joseph?" was the severe inquiry of the +Great Lady over the brim of her madeira. + +"In the paddock at Newmarket," said the young fellow, making a +brilliant recovery. + +"Fathead!" said the noble Master in a whisper of indulgent languor. +"You nearly blewed it then." + +The royal laughter continued to reverberate. + +"I suppose he began life as a clown?" said the Great Lady. + +"Nearly all these circus chaps do, don't they?" said Jodey, who nearly +suffered misfortune in a too strenuous desire to preserve his gravity. + +"Or as a bare-back rider," said I, taking up the parable. + +"One would certainly say a clown," said the Great Lady. "Dear me, what +manners!" + +The port wine had appeared and had been duly dispensed. At this +precise moment Ferdinand the Twelfth was giving the table-cloth a +peremptory tap. He rose, glass in hand. + +"Ladies and gentlemen, my good friends," said he. "I haf one toast to +propose. We will drink, if you please, to the health of _le bon roi +Edouard_. God bless him!" + +Upon the Chief Constable's extremely prompt initiative the company did +not hesitate to follow the Circus Proprietor's lead. + +"The King! God bless him!" + +This incident, which the Circus Proprietor had invested with such +authority that it seemed perfectly in order, nearly led to the undoing +of Jodey and his noble friend. Overborne by the emotion of the moment, +they indulged in a little side show of their own. The toast of _le bon +roi Edouard_ having been honoured in form the rest of the company sat +down at once, but our two sportsmen remained upon their feet. Filling +up their glasses, they turned towards the illustrious guest and +repeated the solemn formula: + +"The King. God bless him!" + +"Sit down, you asses," said the Chief Constable in a truculent +undertone. + +Nevertheless, the proprietor of the circus bowed to them and smiled +paternally. + +"One shouldn't look for too much," said the Vicar, "but I think the old +fellow is a bit of a sportsman." + +"Not at all a bad fellow," said honest George, expansively. "Not at +all a bad fellow. Not at all a bad fellow." + +However, a subtle fear lay within the breast of a married man, a father +of a family, and a county member, lest our excellent Vicar had spoken +in excess of his knowledge. I foresaw that the ordeal by fire was +coming. When the ladies left the room desperation urged me to bestow a +pointed hint upon the Church. + +"Perhaps, Vicar," I said, plaintively, "if you joined the ladies? Not +at all a bad fellow, you know, not at all a bad fellow, but perhaps +not--er--altogether--don't you know!" + +"None the worse for that," said the hardest riding parson in three +counties, filling up his glass with composure and with cordiality. "If +you think the old buffer can appreciate a yarn, I will tell that old +one of my Uncle Jackson's. It is rather a chestnut these days, but +perhaps he mayn't have heard it." + +The clerical effort was by no means _vieux jeu_. And it is only just +to the Church to mention that the style of the raconteur compared very +favourably with that he affected in his vocation. Ferdinand the +Twelfth guffawed heartily, and replied with a couple of masterpieces +that brought the blush of shame to the cheek of modesty. I am afraid +there was only one cheek, however, in which the emblem in question was +able to find sanctuary, and truth compels me to assert that it was +neither that of the Church nor the Police. + +For nearly an hour by the clock the bottle was circulated and we were +royally entertained. Ferdinand had had a rich and various experience +of life. Much had he seen and done; he had made and unmade history; he +was of the world, he loved it and he courted it; no personality had +emerged upon the European chequer-board during the past half-century of +whom he could not discourse out of a full and intimate knowledge. If +it pleased him, he could pull aside the curtain and disclose the +showman making the puppets dance in the political theatre. + +He spoke with immense gusto; his zest of life was magnificent, and +somewhat strangely there was nothing cynical or ignoble about his point +of view. For the best part of an hour he held the least wise of us in +thrall. He had an abundance, an overplus of nature, and subtle and +Jesuitical--for want of a happier word--as he doubtless was, there was +something humane and great-hearted about him as a man. + +He gave away the great ones of the earth, showing them in their habit +as they dwelt. He made them neither less nor more than they were. +Naught was set down in malice, but his anecdotes mostly had a +Rabelaisian tang which sprang from a prodigality of nature. He was a +great and not unbeneficent force who drained the cup of life to the +lees, smacked his lips heartily, and demanded more. His philosophy +seemed to be to fear God but not to scruple to use to the full all the +noble and infinite gifts of your inheritance. His rule of conduct, +however, was not, to measure men by their strength but by their +weakness. "Every man has his blind spot," he said, _apropos_ of +Bismarck. "Find it and he is yours." + +Such a crowded hour of wisdom, wit and historic revelation was an +experience that even a dullard was not likely to forget. George +Catesby and the Vicar alone were unacquainted with the identity of our +guest, and as far as they were concerned the cat was more or less out +of the bag. + +When we joined the ladies we found that card-tables had been set out. +Mrs. Arbuthnot and Coverdale engaged Mrs. Catesby and the King. No one +watching the play could fail to be amused by the Circus Proprietor's +caustic but good-humoured reflections upon the performance of his +partner. The Great Lady bore it all, however, with a stoical humility. +To my surprise, she cut in for a second rubber, and her demeanour made +it clear to Jodey, who disdained games like "_britch_" and preferred to +watch the royal _partie_, "that she smelt a rat." + +"I expect the show has pretty well given itself away by now," he said +in an aside to his host, "but anyhow they have been scored off +properly." + +The mystery of "scoring off" was still too much for my inadequate +mental processes. But I gathered that there was a consensus of opinion +among persons of a more vivid intellectual cast that such indeed was +the case. + +"We sha'n't half pull her leg, I don't think"--in the exuberance of the +hour the young fellow relapsed into a semi-lyrical music-hall comedy +vein--"about the old circus johnny who drank a health unto his Majesty. +I only wish old Alec had been there, that's all." + +"A digger, madame, a digger," said the Circus Proprietor in a tone of +humorous expostulation, "when you haf not a treek!" + +The Great Lady accepted the reproof with Christian meekness. + +It was not until hard upon midnight that the departing guest was sped +in divers chariots; the Church in the identical "one-hoss shay" of +inimitable and pious memory. "So many thanks, Mrs. Arbuthnot, for a +really _memorable_ evening," said the Church, with a wave of a somewhat +unclerical bowler. + +Plutocracy in the little person of Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins had a Daimler +of sixty horse power. She gave a lift to a less fortunate sister in +the person of Miss Laura Glendinning. The Great Lady and the excellent +George, "a good vintage sound but dull," as I have heard him described +by a friend and neighbour, had recourse to a medium of travel of twelve +horse power only, as became the representatives of our sorely +impoverished land-owning class. + +"_Such_ a success, my dear!" said the Great Lady, bestowing her parting +blessing. "But," in a voice of mystery, "I shall _insist_ upon the +whole thing being cleared up." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE WRITING ON THE WALL + +The morning which followed these tempered gaieties was cold and bright. +The King borrowed my nicest gun and, accompanied by his son-in-law, our +retainer Andrew, and an old field spaniel who answered to the name of +Gyp, proceeded to put up a hare or two in the stubble. My physical +state precluded my raising a gun to my shoulder, but I deemed it wise +to be of the party. Accidents have been known to occur, and--but +perhaps it is well not to pursue this vein of speculation. + +Destiny is a vague term which provides the veil of decency for many +secrets, and firearms have often been the chosen instruments of its +decrees. Doubtless I was growing too imaginative. Certainly the +adventures I had undergone during the past few weeks had left a mark +upon my nerves, but when I recalled our vigil, which was still so fresh +in my thoughts as to seem strange and terrible, I could not view the +prospect of Ferdinand the Twelfth and his dutiful son-in-law sharing +the innocent pastime of a little rough shooting without a secret fear. + +I am glad to say that the course of the morning's sport lent no colour +to this apprehension. The King was an excellent shot, and even a +strange gun made little difference to his prowess. He displayed both +science and accuracy. But to see him standing cheek by jowl with Fitz, +each with a cocked weapon in his hand; to watch them scramble through +gaps and over stiles and five-barred gates, for in spite of his years +and his physique Ferdinand was a wonderfully active man who took an +almost boyish pride in his bodily condition, was to feel that the life +of either was hanging by a thread. + +However, as I have said, all this was the unworthy fruit of an +overwrought imagination. The sportsmen returned to luncheon safe and +sound, with a modest bag of the fowls of the air and the beasts of the +field. + +In the afternoon, at the instance of Mrs. Arbuthnot, whose happy +thought it was, we all motored over to inspect the Castle. The Family +was understood to be in Egypt, and the ducal stronghold is the show +place of the district. + +The rumour as to the Family's whereabouts proved to be correct, and a +profitable hour was spent in the casual study of magnificence. The +King took a genuine interest in all that he saw. In particular he was +charmed with the view from the terrace, which is modelled upon +Versailles, with a long and far-spreading vista of oaks and beeches and +a herd of deer in the foreground. + +He expressed a keen appreciation of the Duke's collection of works of +art; yet he permitted himself to wonder that a private individual +should have such pictures, such tapestries, such furniture, such +porcelain, such armour, such metal work, such carpets, such painted +ceilings and heaven knows what besides. + +"It is pretty well for a subject," said Ferdinand the Twelfth. + +"His Grace of Dumbarton, sir," said I, "owns four other places in these +islands on a similar scale of magnificence; he owns a million and a +quarter acres, of which a portion is in great centres of industry, his +income is rather more than £500,000 a year, and he is accustomed in his +public utterances to describe himself as a member of a poor but +deserving class." + +Ferdinand the Twelfth pondered a moment with an amused yet wary smile. + +"If he lived in Illyria," he said, "I think his grace would have to be +content with less, eh, Schalk?" + +"It would not surprise me, sir," said the Chancellor, with an +expressive shrug. "I confess it does not appear economically sound for +a State to allow its private citizens to accumulate such quantities of +treasure. Whatever the measure of their public capacity I fail to see +how they can rise to their responsibilities." + +"But if," said I, "the State mulcts his grace of a farthing's-worth, it +is immediately denounced as a robber. Property is the most sacred +thing we know in this country." + +"His grace came by all this honestly, I hope?" said the King, with an +amused air. + +"He came by it under forms of law, certainly." + +"Which he himself did not make, I hope!" said the King, laughing. + +"No, sir; his grandfather and the nominees of his grandfather and so on +managed that little business. Quite a constitutional proceeding, of +course." + +"I appreciate that," said Ferdinand the Twelfth, with his subtle smile. +"The British Constitution has long been the envy of nations. I suppose +our friend the Duke is a man of great public spirit who has rendered +signal service to the British Empire." + +"On the contrary, he prefers the pleasant obscurity of the English +gentleman." + +"His forbears, then?" + +"The late Duke was an imbecile; and I am afraid if anyone took the +trouble to search the records of the family since it came to this +country from Germany about the year 1700, there is only one episode +involving signal public spirit recorded in its archives." + +"A glorious victory, a Blenheim, a Waterloo, I presume?" said Ferdinand +the Twelfth. + +"No, sir; peace has her victories also. This distinguished family has +won the Derby Horse Race on two occasions." + +"A wonderful people, Schalk!" said the King, laughing. + +Her Royal Highness clapped her hands impulsively in the face of Mrs. +Arbuthnot. + +"There, Irene, what did I say!" she exclaimed. "Perrault!--wherever +you go in this little island you find Perrault. My father has now +found Perrault. Even Schalk has found him." + +"Sonia dear, you are too funny!" said Mrs. Arbuthnot, 'with a +plaintively childlike air of tacit condescension. + +The King informed his grace's steward, a gentleman with a bald head and +a very conventional aspect, who awaited us in the entrance hall to see +us safely off the premises, that he would like to write his name in the +visitors' book. Unaware of the identity of Ferdinand the Twelfth and +by no means approving of the general trend of our conversation, the +steward said with cold politeness that he feared the visitors' book was +only used by his grace's guests. + +The King took up a piece of red pencil that lay on a writing-table. + +"We will write on the wall," he said, blandly. + +The steward was shocked and scandalised, but no heed was paid to his +protests. The King wrote his name on the wall in bold and firm English +characters, immediately beneath Lely's portrait of the founder of the +family. + +This accomplished, the King gave the pencil to his daughter, who +inscribed her name also. She in turn gave it to the Chancellor, who +followed her example. He then gave the pencil to Mrs. Arbuthnot. + +That lady coloured with embarrassment, but at the King's express desire +she wrote her name too; and when it came to the turn of the +Conservative member for that part of the county he had no alternative +but to obey the royal command. + +Our names duly appeared on the wall in the following order: + + _Ferdinand Rex + Sonia + Von Schalk + Irene Arbuthnot + Nevil Fitzwaren + Odo Arbuthnot, M.P._ + + +Upon the completion of this act of vandalism, the Victor of Rodova +turned to the steward. + +"Haf the goodness to inform his grace," he said, "that the King of +Illyria accepts entire responsibility for the writing on the wall. It +is the writing on the wall for him and for his country." + +As we went towards the motor cars which awaited us at a side entrance, +we had to pass down a flight of stone steps. In the descent the King +was seized with a sudden and momentary faintness. He reeled, and had +it not been for the promptitude of the ever-watchful Chancellor he must +have fallen. + +"Dat is the writing on the wall for the people of Illyria," said the +Victor of Rodova with humorous stoicism as he recovered himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE CAST OF THE DIE + +Upon the return to Dympsfield House, three telegrams in cypher were +waiting for the King. Two secretaries, who with divers other +unofficial members of his suite were staying at the Coach and Horses, +were in possession of the library, which had been placed at the royal +disposal. At dinner that evening we were informed that the Teutonic +display of red fire had provoked a grave internal crisis in Illyria. +The National Bank was about to suspend payment; Consolidated Stock was +at fifty-nine; and his Majesty must leave these shores in the course of +Saturday. + +I could not repress a sigh of relief, although, to be sure, this was no +more than the evening of Wednesday. + +"Old Vesuvius is beginning to rumble again," said the King, with a +laugh that sounded rather sinister, "but he cannot make us believe in +him. How say you, my child?" + +He looked across the table at the Princess, who was as pale as death. + +Here was the indication of the final and supreme crisis for her and for +her husband, and the hearts of those to whom she had come to mean much +were torn with pity. Elemental, uncontrollable forces had her in their +toils. + +Fitz, too, had all our pity. The strain of true grandeur at the heart +of the man, which all that was superficial could not efface, had +asserted itself in this season of anguish. A lesser nature might have +taken steps to relieve his wife of the torment of his presence. But in +the watches of the night he had referred the question, and now, come +what must, he would meet his fate. + +There was reason to believe that he had already thrown his weight in +the scale on the side of Ferdinand. He had stopped short of +self-immolation, it was true; he had placed another interpretation on +the Voice; but it seemed to me, his friend, that his whole bearing was +a piece of altruistic heroism which could have had few parallels. + +"Ferdinand is right," he said as we kept vigil in my quarters. "The +interests of a great people are of more account than a chap like me. I +know it, and Sonia knows it too." + +The words were torn from him. It was curious how this contained and +self-reliant spirit yearned for the sanction that it was in the power +of a sympathetic understanding to bestow. If he dealt himself a mortal +wound he must have a friend at his side. If he had superhuman +strength, at least he had human weakness. Men of valour are proud as a +rule. Fitz in the hour of his passion had a humility, a craving for +the countenance of his fellows that I could only do my best to render +in a humble way. The walk of mediocrity saves us from many things, but +I suppose there are seasons in the lives of some who wear its badge +when we would willingly forgo its comfortable consciousness of immunity +for some diviner gift. + +It was as though my unhappy friend was bleeding, perhaps to death, and +I knew not how to stanch his wound. + +Neither of us sought our beds that night, but sat and smoked hour after +hour, in silence for the most part, beside a dead fire. He wished me +to be near him, almost as a dumb animal yearns for those who show a +sympathetic understanding of its pain, even if they are powerless to +make it less. + +As thus we sat together my mind envisaged the chequered career of my +companion in all its phases. I recalled him in his first pair of +trousers at his private school; I recalled him as my fag in that larger +cosmogony in which afterwards we dwelt together. As his senior, in +those days I had unconsciously regarded him as less than myself. But +this night, as I sat with him, consumed with pity for the tragic wreck +of his fortunes, I realised that he was one whose life was passed on a +higher, more significant plane than mine could ever occupy. + +It was good to feel that I had nothing with which to reproach myself in +regard to my attitude towards him in those distant days. His fits of +depression, his outbursts of devilry, his dislike of games, the streak +of fatalism that was in him, his impatience of all authority, had +exposed him to many hardships. But I was glad to think that I need not +accuse myself of imperfect sympathy towards this fantastically odd, yet +high and enduring spirit. + +Thursday came and passed in gloom. Even Ferdinand, that heart of +steel, was feeling the poignancy of the crisis. Throughout the day +Sonia did not appear. But in the evening Irene sat with her in her +room. + +"If I were she," she declared to me later, with tearful defiance, "I +would not go back--that is, unless they accepted my husband as their +future king." + +"They cannot do that." + +"I think the King himself is so wrong. He hates Nevil, and he has not +the least affection for poor little Marie, his granddaughter. It is a +dreadful state of things." + +I concurred dismally. Yet it was a state of things arising so +naturally, so inevitably out of the special circumstances of the case +that it seemed almost to forfeit a little of its tragic significance. + +"If only she is strong enough to hold out until Saturday!" said my +feminine counsellor. "But I am rather afraid. She is quite weak in +some ways." + +"There is a weakness, isn't there, which is a higher form of strength?" + +"Can you mean that she will not be weak if she consents to return to +Illyria to marry the Archduke Joseph?" + +"She owes a duty to her people." + +"She owes a duty to her husband and child." + +Thursday ended as it began and Friday brought no solace. The Princess +reappeared among us in the afternoon. She was pale and composed, and +as the twilight of the January afternoon was gathering, she and Fitz +rode out together. The King, at the same hour, walked in the muddy +lanes with von Schalk. + +"They leave us to-morrow morning at eleven," Mrs. Arbuthnot informed +me, "and Sonia has not had her things packed. I believe the worst is +over. She would have told me had she decided to go." + +I was unable to share her optimism. From the first I had felt that the +stars in their courses would prove too much for the unhappy lady. And +nothing had occurred to remove that fear. + +The King returned from his walk, and suave and subtle of countenance, +it pleased him to toy with a cup of Mrs. Arbuthnot's tea, while he +toasted his muddy gaiters at the fire. + +"My daughter has not returned from her ride?" + +"No, sir," I answered him. + +"The last ride together," said the King, gently. "One of your +excellent English poets has a poem about it, has he not?" + +A thrill passed through my nerves at the almost cruel directness of the +King's speech. I saw that in the same moment the eyes of Mrs. +Arbuthnot had filled with tears. + +"You have great poets in England," said the King, softly. "They are +the chief glories of a nation, and your country is rich in them. We +have great poets in Illyria also. There is Bolder. We are all proud +to be the countrymen of Bolder. When you come to see us at Blaenau I +think you will like to meet him." + +As the King spoke in his paternal voice, I was conscious of his hand +upon the breast of my coat. He had pinned a piece of black ribbon upon +it, to which was attached a silver star. + +"I am afraid, sir," I said, suffering some embarrassment, "no man ever +did less to deserve the Order of the Silver Star of Illyria." + +The King took my hand in his with that wonderful cordial simplicity +that was so hard to resist. + +"A friend in need is a friend indeed, Mr. Arbuthnot, as your English +saying has it. And, madame, when together we lead the cotillon at +Blaenau, I hope you will honour us by wearing this." + +The King laid a jewel of much beauty upon the tea-table. + +"Oh, sir," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, smiling faintly through wet eyelashes. + +Standing before the fire, teacup in hand, the King talked to us quite +simply and pleasantly and sincerely. He was a man of great power of +mind and his outlook upon life was large and direct. + +"You have many ways in this country that I should like to see in ours," +he said. "But we in Illyria make haste slowly. The climate is not so +bracing. I am afraid we do not think so forcibly. And there is a +wider gulf between the rich and the poor." + +There was a note of regret in the King's tone. He seemed to be turning +his eyes to the future, and in the process his face grew tired and +melancholy. It was then that I realised that this man of infinite +vigour and power was said to be near the end of his course. + +At dinner we were enlivened by his gaiety. His charm was hard to +resist, so rich and full it was and so spontaneous. But my thoughts +strayed ever away from the King, his wisdom and his persiflage, to +those who were one flesh in the sight of God, who were dining together +for the last time. + +Their courage was a noble, even an amazing thing. The stoicism with +which they ate and drank and bore a part in the conversation while a +chasm had opened beneath their feet was almost incredible. Throughout +the perpetual oscillation from comedy to tragedy, from tragedy to +comedy, from comedy to tragedy again of their life together, they had +borne their parts with a heroic constancy, and even in this dark phase +they were equal to their task. + +The die was cast. On the morrow the Princess would return to her +people, marry the Archduke, and when the time came accept the throne. +It was part of the dreadful covenant the King had exacted that she +would never see Fitz and their child again. + +I passed a night of weary wretchedness. Do what I would, I could not +keep Fitz out of my thoughts. About three o'clock I rose and dressed +and put on my overcoat and walked out into the garden. Somehow I +expected to find him there. But there was not a trace of him, and +every window in the house was dark. A spirit of desolation seemed to +pervade everything--so dark and chill was the night. There was not a +star to be seen. + +I went back to my room, coaxed up the fire, seated myself beside it and +lit a pipe. Presently I heard a footfall on the stairs. It was Irene, +pale and weary with much weeping. Daylight found her asleep in my arms +with her head on my shoulder. + +The day of the King's departure had come at last. There was a general +scurry of preparation, but precisely at eleven o'clock a procession of +six motor cars started from our door for Middleham railway station, +whence a special train would proceed to Southampton. It was Sonia's +wish that Irene and I should accompany her to the train; and poor Fitz, +half stunned as he was, determined to play out the game to the end, and +with one of his odd outbursts of cynicism affirmed his sportsmanlike +intention of "being in at the death." + +The King, his daughter, the Chancellor, and Mrs. Arbuthnot were in the +second car, preceded by a special escort from Scotland Yard. Fitz and +I had the third to ourselves; the Secretaries were in the fourth; the +fifth and sixth conveyed the valets, her Royal Highness's maid, and a +considerable quantity of luggage. + +As the procession, at the modest rate of twelve miles an hour, came +into the pleasant village of Lymeswold, where our revered Vicar has his +cure of souls, there was a considerable amount of bunting displayed in +the vicinity of the Coach and Horses. And from the windows of the +Vicarage itself depended the Union Jack side by side with the silver +Star of Illyria on a green ground. Mrs. Vicar waved a white +pocket-handkerchief from the gate of the manse, but the Vicar was +bearing a chief part in a more dramatic tableau that had been arranged +on the village green. Here the village school was drawn up, the girls +in nice white pinafores and the boys looking almost painfully well +washed. Each had a small flag that was waved frantically, and the +Vicar standing at their head led a prodigious quantity of cheering, +while Ferdinand the Twelfth took off his hat and bowed. + +But all this was merely a prelude to the historic spectacle that we +came upon presently. At the top of the steep hill leading to the Marl +Pits, that favourite haunt of "the stinkin' Middleshire phocks," lo and +behold! all the Crackanthorpe horses, all the Crackanthorpe men, not to +mention their ladies, their hounds and the entire hunt establishment, +even unto Peter the terrier, were assembled in full array of battle, as +became the hour of eleven o'clock in the morning of a rare scenting day +in the middle of January. The cavalcade lined each side of the road, +and our motor cars passed through it on their lowest speed, to a +running accompaniment of cheers and hunting noises and a waving of hats +and handkerchiefs. + +Evidently the scene had been carefully stage-managed and formed a +handsome and appropriate _amende_. It did not fail of its appeal to +the broken-hearted circus rider from Vienna. She responded by kissing +her hand repeatedly, and her father lifted his hat and bowed +continually as though it were a state procession. + +The heart of Mrs. Arbuthnot was in pieces, but it was a great moment in +the history of the clan. The china-blue eyes were brimming over with +their tears, but they were still capable of radiating a subtle feminine +light of triumph. The noble Master blew a blast on his horn and his +aide-de-camp, Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther, marked the royal +progress by hoisting his hat on his whip. As we passed Mrs. Catesby, +who looked very red, the brims of whose hat looked wider and whose +whole appearance approximated more nearly than ever to that of Mr. +Weller the Elder, I bestowed a special salutation upon her, of, I fear, +somewhat ironical dimensions. The Great Lady responded by shaking her +whip at me in a decidedly truculent manner. + +Our procession passed on to Middleham railway station, which we reached +about a quarter to twelve. A considerable crowd had assembled about +its precincts. The roadway and the entrance to the station were +guarded by a body of mounted police, and a small detachment of the +Middleshire Yeomanry in the charge of no less a person than Major +George Catesby, who saluted us with his sword. + +On the platform we were received by a number of local dignitaries, and +foremost among these, tall and austere, but with the faint light of +humour in his countenance, was Lieutenant-Colonel John Chalmers +Coverdale, C.M.G., late of his Majesty's Carabineers. + +The King and his Chancellor took a brief but cordial leave of us and +stepped briskly into the royal saloon; and then I felt the pressure of +a woman's hand, and I heard a low, broken whisper, "Be good for my sake +to Nevil and little Marie." The Princess then took the hands of Mrs. +Arbuthnot in each of her own, kissed her wet cheeks, and was handed +into the train by the husband she had promised never to see in this +life again. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +REACTION + +The week which followed the royal departure was a season of reaction at +Dympsfield House. The tension of our recent life had been well-nigh +unendurable. But now the die was cast, the problem solved; we could +live and move and enjoy our being according to our wont. + +To be sure the unhappy Fitz was still our anxiety. He and his small +daughter were still under our roof, and would so remain until the house +of his fathers had been rebuilt or until such time as he should choose +some other asylum for his shattered life. + +It is not too much to say that Fitz, with all his quiddity, had become +dear to us. The tragic wreck of his life had called forth all that +latent nobility which I at any rate, as his oldest friend, had always +known to be there. His submission to the fate which he had himself +invoked had seemed to soften the grosser elements that were in his +clay. He had now only his small elf of four to live for. In that +vivid atom of mortality were reproduced many of the characteristics of +the ill-starred "circus rider from Vienna." + +During the first few days a kind of stupor lay upon Fitz. He hardly +seemed able to realise what had happened. He went out hunting and +actively superintended the rebuilding of the Grange, almost as if +nothing had occurred to him. But, all too soon, this merciful veil was +withdrawn from his mind. He became consumed by restlessness. He could +not sleep nor eat his food; he could not settle to any sort of +occupation; nothing seemed able to engage his interest; his mind lost +its stability, and slowly but surely his will began to lose that +reawakened power that it had seemed to be the special function of his +marriage to sustain and promote. + +By the time the first week had passed we began to have forebodings. +Already signs were not wanting that the demons of a sinister +inheritance were silently marshalling themselves in order that they +might swoop down upon him. One afternoon I found him asleep on a sofa +drunk. + +As Coverdale was well acquainted with his temperament and all the most +salient facts in its history, and as, moreover, he was a man for whose +natural soundness of judgment I had the greatest respect, I was moved +to take him into my confidence. + +"He must get away from England," said Coverdale, "for a time at any +rate. And he must go soon." + +This was an opinion with which I agreed. It happened that Coverdale +knew a man who was about to start on a journey across Equatorial Africa +and who proposed to form a hunting camp and indulge in some big game +shooting by the way. Such a scheme appeared so eminently suited to +Fitz's immediate needs that I hailed it gladly. + +Alas! when I discussed this project with him he declined wholly to +entertain it; moreover he declined with all that odd decision which was +one of his chief characteristics. + +"No," he said. "I must stay here and see to the building of the house, +and I must look after Marie." + +It was in vain that I launched my arguments. The scheme did not appeal +to him and there, as far as he was concerned, was the end to the matter. + +"I must look after Marie," he said. "We are getting her to do sums. +Her mother could never do a sum to save her life." + +Argument was vain. Such a nature was incapable of accepting a +suggestion from an outside source; the mainspring of all its actions +lay within. + +The total failure of the attempt to get him to respond to so hopeful an +alternative vexed me sorely. At the time it seemed to promise the only +means of saving him from the danger which already had him in its toils. +He grew more and more restless; his distaste for food grew more +pronounced, and in an appallingly short time it became clear to us that +whatever there remained to be done for him must be done at once. + +We were helpless nevertheless. To anything in the nature of persuasion +he remained impervious. He could not be brought to see the nearness of +the danger. It was like him never to heed the question of cost. He +could never have ordered his life as he had done, had he not had the +quality of projecting the whole of himself into the actual hour. + +Those who had his welfare at heart were still taking counsel one of +another in respect of what could be done to help him through this new +crisis, when a mandate was received from Mrs. Catesby to dine at the +Hermitage. Fitz was included in it, but it did not surprise us that he +declined an invitation which less uncompromising persons were inclined +to regard in the light of a command. + +It was not that he bore malice. He was altogether beyond the pettiness +of the minor emotions; it was as though his entire being, for good or +for evil, had been raised to another dimension or a higher power. But +as he said with his haggard face, "I don't feel up to it." + +Lowlier mortals, more specifically Mrs. Arbuthnot and myself, accepted +humbly and contritely. We felt that a certain piquancy would invest +the gathering. Not that we knew exactly who had been bidden to attend +it, but Mrs. Arbuthnot's feminine instinct--and what is so impeccable +in such matters as these?--proclaimed this dinner party to be neither +more nor less than the public signature of the articles of peace. + +Accordingly we set out for the Hermitage, not however without a certain +travail of the spirit, for poor Fitz would be left to a lonely cutlet +which he would not eat. As a matter of fact, when we went forth he had +not returned from London, where he had spent most of the day in +consultation with his solicitors. + +There assembled at the Hermitage, at which we arrived in very good +time, nearly every identical member of the company we expected to meet. +Coverdale, Brasset, Jodey, who still enjoyed the hospitality of our +neighbour, the Vicar and his Lavinia, Laura Glendinning, Mrs. Josiah P. +Perkins. Also, as became one whose house provided a kind of _via +media_ to that greater world of which the Castle was the embodiment, +Mrs. Catesby's dinner table was graced by a younger son and a +daughter-in-law of the ducal house. + +Good humour reigned. It might even be said to amount in the course of +the pleasant process of deglutition to a sort of friendly _badinage_. +An atmosphere of tolerance pervaded all things. If bygones were not +actually bygones, they were in a fair way of so becoming. At least +this particular section of the Crackanthorpe Hunt was on the high road +to being once again a happy and united family. + +The revelation of the "Stormy Petrel's" identity had had a magic +influence upon an immense aggregation of wounded feelings. It was now +felt pretty generally that all might be forgiven without any grave +sacrifice of personal dignity. It was conceded that great spirit had +been shown on both sides, but in the special and peculiar circumstances +a display of Christian magnanimity was called for. + +Irene was morally and wickedly wrong--the phrase is Mrs. Catesby's +own--in keeping the secret so well. Of course "the circus proprietor" +had deceived nobody: it was merely childish for Irene to suppose for +one single moment that he would; and for her to attempt "a score" of +that puerile character was positively infantile. But in the opinion of +the assembled jury of matrons, plus Miss Laura Glendinning specially +co-opted, it was felt very strongly that Irene had not quite played the +game. + +"Child," said the Great Lady, speaking _ex cathedra_, with a piece of +bread in one hand and a piece of turbot on a fork in the other, "when I +consider that I chose your husband's first governess, quite a refined +person, of the sound, rather old-fashioned evangelical school, I feel +that it was morally and wickedly wrong of you to withhold from me of +_all_ people the identity of the dear Princess." + +"But Mary," said the light of my existence, toying demurely with her +sherry, "I didn't know who she was myself until nearly a week after the +fire." + +The Great Lady bolted her bread and laid down her fork with an +approximation to that which can only be described as majesty. + +"Would you have me believe," she demanded, "that when you took her to +your house on the night of the fire you really and sincerely believed +that she was merely the wife of Nevil?" + +"Yes, Mary," said the joy of my days, "I really and sincerely believed +that she was the circus--I mean, that is, that she was just Mrs. Fitz." + +General incredulity, in the course of which George Catesby inquired +very politely of the Younger Son if he had enjoyed his day. + +"Never enjoyed a day so much," said the Younger Son, with immense +conviction, "since we turned up that old customer without a brush in +Dipwell Gorse five years ago to-morrow come eleven-fifteen g.m." + +"Eleven-twenty, my lad," chirruped the noble Master. "Your memory is +failin'." + +"Irene," said the uncompromising voice from the end of the table, "I +cannot and will not allow myself to believe that you were not in the +secret before the fire." + +"Tell it to the Marines, Irene," said Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins. + +"Wonder what she will ask us to believe next," said Miss Laura +Glendinning. + +"What indeed!" said the Vicar's wife. + +"It isn't human nature," affirmed Lady Frederick. + +"Very well, then," said the star of my destiny, with an ominous sparkle +of a china-blue eye, "you can ask Odo." + +"Odo!" I give up the attempt to reproduce the cataclysm of scorn which +overwhelmed the table. "Odo is quite as bad as you are, if not worse. +He knew from the first. He knew when the Illryian Ambassador came in +person to the Coach and Horses and fetched her in his car; he knew when +she chaffed dear Evelyn so delightfully that night at the Savoy." + +"What if he did?" said the undefeated Mrs. Arbuthnot. "He didn't tell +me. Did you now, Odo?" + +With statesmanlike mien I assured the company that Mrs. Fitz's identity +was not disclosed to our household despot until some days after her +arrival at Dympsfield House. + +"I am obliged to believe you, Odo," said Mrs. Catesby. "But mind I +only do so on principle." + +Somehow this cryptic statement seemed to minister to the mirth of the +table. It was increased when the Younger Son, who evidently had been +waiting his opportunity, came into the conversation. + +"Odo Arbuthnot, M.P.," said he, "I expect when Dick sees what you have +done to his wall he'll sue you. Anyhow I should." + +The approval which greeted this sally made it clear that the incident +had become historical. + +"By royal command," said I; "and what chance do you suppose has a mere +private member against the despotic will of the father of his people?" + +"A gross outrage. An act of vandalism. Postlewaite says----" + +"Postlewaite's an ass." + +"Whatever Postlewaite is, it don't excuse you. He says you were all +talking the rankest Socialism, and he was quite within his rights not +to give you the book." + +"I repeat, Frederick, that Postlewaite is an ass. If the Postlewaites +of the earth think for one moment that the Victors of Rodova will turn +the other cheek to the retort discourteous, the sooner they learn +otherwise the better it will be for them and those whom they serve." + +"Hear, hear, and cheers," said my gallant little friend, Mrs. Josiah P. +Perkins, in spite of the fact that the Great Lady had fixed her with +her invincible north eye. + +"Ferdinand Rex one doesn't mind so much," proceeded Frederick, "and the +Princess is all right of course, and von Schalk is a bit of a Bismarck, +they say; but when you come to foot the bill with Odo Arbuthnot, +M.P.--well, as Postlewaite says, it is nothing less than an act of +vandalism. The M.P. fairly cooked my goose, I must say." + +The M.P. was very bad form, everybody agreed, with the honourable and +gallant exception of _la belle Americaine_. + +"Might be a labour member! I don't know what Dick'll say when he sees +it." + +"Two alternatives present themselves to my mind," said I, impenitently. +"Postlewaite can either clear off the whole thing before he returns, or +else append a magic 'C' in brackets after the offending symbols." + +"You ain't entitled to a 'C' in brackets. You grow a worse Radical +every day of your life and everybody is agreed that it is time you came +out in your true colours." + +"Hear, hear," from the table. + +"I've half a mind to oppose you myself at the next election as a +convinced Tariff Reformer, Anti-Socialist, Fair Play for Everybody, and +official representative of a poor but deserving class." + +"We shall all be glad to sign your nomination paper," affirmed George +Catesby. + +"Well, Lord Frederick," said my intrepid Mrs. Josiah, "I will just bet +you a box of gloves anyway that you don't get in." + +"And I'll bet you another," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. + +"He's not such a fool as to try," said the noble Master. + +"Frederick," said the Great Lady, "stick to your muttons. You have +plenty to do to raise breed and quality. Why not try a cross between +the Welsh and the Southdown? At least I am convinced that in these +days the House of Commons offers no career for a gentleman." + +"I've a great mind to cut in and have a shot anyway," said the scion of +the ducal house, with a mild confusion of metaphor. "I don't see why +these Radical fellers----" + +Whatever the speech was in its integrity, it was destined never to be +completed. For at this precise moment the door was flung open in a +dramatic manner, and a haggard man, wearing an overcoat and carrying +his hat in his hand, broke in upon Mrs. Catesby's dinner party. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +NEWS FROM ILLYRIA + +The man was Fitz. + +"A thousand apologies," he said. "So sorry to disturb you. But +there's news from Illyria." + +Such a very remarkable obtrusion enchained the attention of us all. +And this was not rendered less by the self-possession of the speaker's +manner. + +"Ferdinand has been assassinated." Fitz's tone was slow and contained. +"The Monarchy has been overthrown; Sonia is a close prisoner in the +Castle at Blaenau, and her fate hangs in the balance." + +"What is your authority?" said Coverdale. + +"Reuter," said Fitz. "A telegram is printed in the evening papers. I +happened to buy one at the book-stall as I left town." + +He produced the _Westminster Gazette_ from the pocket of his overcoat +and handed it to the Chief Constable. + +"You don't suppose," said Coverdale, frowning heavily, "that they are +capable of personal violence towards the Princess?" + +"At bottom they are only half civilised," said Fitz, "and when their +passions are aroused they are capable of anything. You will see the +telegram says the government is in the hands of a committee of the +people. And no wise man ever trusts the people and never will." + +This feudal sentiment was uttered in a tone of the oddest conviction. + +"By Jove!" said the scion of the ducal house. "Here is the chap we are +looking for." + +But the intrusion of Fitz was too deadly serious for any side issue to +be allowed to distract our attention. + +"I apologise to you, Mrs. Catesby, for spoiling your dinner party like +this," he said, "but it is my firm conviction that if the Princess is +to be saved there is not a moment to lose." + +"One is inclined to agree with you," said Coverdale, slowly and +thoughtfully. "Has it occurred to you that anything can be done?" + +Fitz's reply, given quietly enough, was characteristic of the man. + +"To-day is Monday," he said. "By midnight on Thursday we shall have +her out of Blaenau." + +"Impossible, my dear fellow, impossible," said the Chief Constable, "if +this account is correct." + +"Nothing is impossible," said the Man of Destiny. "There is just time +now to catch the ten o'clock to-night from Middleham. First thing +to-morrow morning we will get our papers if we can, and if we can't +we'll go without them. We shall be in Paris some time in the +afternoon; and if all goes well by Wednesday evening we shall be in +Vienna. By five o'clock on Thursday we ought to be at Orgov on the +Milesian frontier, and six hours' easy riding over the mountains with a +couple of baits will land us at Blaenau." + +We who knew Fitz and had followed him in high affairs knew better than +to venture upon criticism of this bald and unconvincing scheme. Those +who did not know him could only smile incredulously. + +"Sounds easy," said Lord Frederick, "but assuming, Fitzwaren, that you +get to Blaenau like that, what can it profit you if the Princess is in +the Castle under lock and key?" + +"Stone walls do not a prison make nor iron bars a cage," quoted the Man +of Destiny. "Once we get to Blaenau we shall have her out of the +Castle, never fear about that. But there is no time to discuss the +matter now. If we go at once and collect our gear--so sorry, Mrs. +Catesby, but absolutely unavoidable--we can be in town by +twelve-fifteen, arrange about our papers and keep well in front of the +clock." + +The man's calm assumption that we should all unhesitatingly follow his +lead and commit ourselves to this rather mad and certainly most +uncomfortable enterprise was remarkable. + +"There is not a minute to lose," he said. "By the way, Arbuthnot, I've +told Peters to pack a kit-bag for you. And this time, old son, you had +better see that you don't forget your revolver." + +Under the goad of the Chief Constable's uneasy eye I was fain to gaze +at the black silk handkerchief, which still bore my wrist. + +"I'm afraid I'm a lame duck anyway," I said. + +"You will do to hold the horses at the foot of the Castle rock. +Climbing up the face of that cliff will be out of the question as far +as you are concerned. Now then, you fellows," the Man of Destiny took +out his watch, "you have just two minutes to finish your port and get +your cigars alight and then it's boot and saddle." + +"Nevil," said the imperious voice of the Great Lady, "I am really +afraid you are mad." + +The Man of Destiny did not deign to heed this irrelevant suggestion. + +The exigencies of historical truth render it necessary to record the +fact that Joseph Jocelyn de Vere Vane-Anstruther was undoubtedly the +first respondent to the call. My relation by marriage drank his port +wine and rose in his place at Mrs. Catesby's board. There was a fire +in his eye and the suspicion of a hectic flush upon his countenance +which seemed to contrast strangely with the habitual languor of his +bearing. + +"First thing we must do is to send a wire to old Alec," he said; +"although he is certain not to be in if we send it. If we get to town +by twelve-fifteen I will trot round to the Continental. The beggar is +sure to be there until they kick him out, as there is a ball to-night +at Covent Garden." + +This reasoning may have been lucid and it may have been pregnant; at +least it recommended itself to the comprehensive intellect of the Man +of Destiny. + +"Quite right, Vane-Anstruther. I shall hold you responsible for +O'Mulligan." + +"Joseph," said the Great Lady upon a stentorian note, "are you mad +also?" + +Hardly had this pertinent inquiry been advanced when the noble Master +was on his legs. + +"So awfully sorry, Mrs. Catesby," he said with a long-drawn sweetness +of apology, "but it can't be helped in the circumstances, can it? I +leave hounds in the care of George and Frederick. Keep Potts up to his +work, George, and see that he pays proper attention to their feet. And +Frederick, I charge you to make it your business to see that Madrigal +has a ball every Friday." + +"Reginald," said his hostess with great energy, "in the unavoidable +absence of your widowed and unfortunate mother I absolutely forbid you +to bear a part in this hare-brained enterprise. I really don't know +what Nevil can be thinking of." + +In Ascalon whisper it not, but this was the precise moment in which I +found the cynical eye of the Chief Constable upon me for the second +time. The eye was also wary and a little pensive, but the great man +rose in his place with an air of profound rumination. He slowly +cracked a walnut and then turned to the butler, with a coolness which +to my mind had a suspicion of the uncanny. + +"Just tell my chap to have my car round at once," he said; and then +with great deference to his hostess, "a thousand apologies, Mrs. +Catesby, but you do see, don't you, that it can't be helped?" + +Whether I rose to my feet by an act of private volition or at the +subconscious beck of another's compelling power, there is no need to +attempt to determine. But somehow I found myself upon my legs and +adding my own imperfect apologies to the equally imperfect ones of the +Chief Constable. + +"Odo Arbuthnot," said my hostess, "sit down at once. A married man, a +father of a family, and a county member! Sit down at once and get on +with your fruit. Colonel Coverdale! I am surprised at you." + +"Finished your port, Arbuthnot?" said Fitz, calmly. "Time's about up. +But I've told your chap about the car." + +Consternation mingled now with the lively feminine bewilderment, but +Mrs. Arbuthnot, whom Fitz's news had excited and distressed, issued no +personal edict. If the life of Sonia was really at stake it was right +to take a risk. Nevertheless it showed a right feeling about things to +betray a little public perturbation at the prospect of being made a +widow. + +"Jodey and Reggie and Colonel Coverdale must go," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. +"They haven't wives and families dependent upon them. But you, Odo, +are different. And then, too, your wrist. You would be of no use if +you went." + +"I shall do to hold the horses at the foot of the Castle rock," said I, +saluting a white cheek. + +Fitz was already withdrawing from the room with his volunteers when +Lord Frederick rose in his place at the board. + +"Look here, Fitzwaren," he said. "If you have a vacancy in your +irregulars I rather think I'll make one." + +"By all means," said Fitz. "The more the merrier." + +Bewilderment and consternation mounted ever higher around Mrs. +Catesby's mahogany. + +"Freddie! Freddie!" There arose a tearful wail from across the table. + +"You ought to be bled for the simples, Frederick," said his hostess. + +However, even as the Great Lady spoke, honest George, most +conscientious of husbands, and notwithstanding his rank in the +Middleshire Yeomanry, the most peace-loving of men, was understood to +make an offer of active service. + +"Well done, George," said his friend the Vicar. "I shouldn't mind +coming as the chaplain to the force myself." + +"George," said an imperious voice from the table head, "George!" + +The Man of Destiny halted a moment on the threshold of the banquet hall +with the frank eye of cynicism fixed midway between the Great Lady and +the warlike George. + +"George! Sit down!" + +Finally George sat down with a covert glance at his friend the Vicar. + +By the time we had got into our overcoats and mufflers and the means of +travel had been provided for us, a scene with some pretensions to +pathos had been enacted in the hall. + +"Odo, you really ought not, but if dear Sonia really is in danger----!" + +"We shall all be back a week to-night," the Man of Destiny informed my +somewhat tearful monitor with a note of assurance in his voice. + +Moving objurgations of "Freddie! Freddie!" were mingled with the +clarion note of Mrs. Catesby's indignation. + +"It is a mad scheme, and if you get your deserts you will all be shot +by the Illyrians." + +But Fitz and I were already seated side by side in the car. We waved a +farewell to the bewildered company upon the hall steps, and then the +fact seemed slowly to be borne in upon my numbed intelligence that yet +again I was irrevocably committed to this latest and maddest call of my +evil genius. There he sat by my side, his cigar a small red disc of +fire, and he self-possessed, insouciant, dæmonic, almost gay. + +The flaccid, rudderless creature of the past ten days was gone as +though he had never been. It was hard to realise that this born leader +of others, who courted war like a mistress, the magic of whose +initiative the coolest and sanest could not resist, was the self-same +broken fragment of human wreckage who twenty-four hours ago had not the +motive power to perform the simplest action. But there could be no +question of the magic he knew how to exert over the most diverse +natures; and as we sat side by side in the semi-darkness of the car +while it flew along the muddy, winding and narrow roads to Dympsfield +House, I yielded almost with a thrill of exultation to the director of +my fate. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +MORE ALARUMS AND EXCURSIONS + +We had no difficulty in reaching Middleham railway station, that +familiar rendezvous, at the appointed time. Even Lord Frederick, who +lived farther afield than any of us, was able, by putting a powerful +car to an illegal use, to arrive on the stroke of the hour. + +It was to be remarked that the prevailing tone in our coupe was one +which almost amounted to gaiety. Judged by the cold agnostic eye, the +scheme was only a little this side of madness. But it had the sanction +of a high motive. Further, we were brothers in arms who had smelt +powder together upon a more dubious enterprise; we had faith in one +another; and above all we were sustained, one might even say +translated, by the epic quality of an incomparable leader. + +Fitz smoked his cigar and cut in at a rubber of bridge with an air of +indulgent and serene content. + +"It is lucky," he said, "that I know an old innkeeper on the frontier +who will be rather useful if we have to go without passports. He is +about a mile on the Milesian side, and will be able to provide us with +horses and smuggle us across in the darkness. He will also find for us +a couple of guides over the mountains." + +"You say we can get from the frontier to the Castle at Blaenau in six +hours?" inquired the gruff voice of the Chief Constable. + +"Yes, unless there is a lot of snow in the passes." + +"But if the country is in a state of revolution, aren't we likely to be +held up?" + +"Perhaps; perhaps not. We shall find a way if we have to take an +airship. Eh, Joe?" + +The Man of Destiny gave my relation by marriage a fraternal punch in +the ribs. + +"Ra-_ther_!" That hero was in the act of cutting an ace and winning +the deal. + +"I shall arrange," said Fitz, "for a change of horses at Postovik, +which is about half way. If all goes well we shall be at the foot of +the Castle rock a little before midnight on Thursday. I am thinking, +though, that we may have to swim the Maravina." + +"Umph!" growled the Chief Constable, declaring an original spade, "a +moderately cheerful prospect on a January night in Illyria." + +"It may not come to that, of course. But all the bridges and ferries +are sure to be guarded. And even if they are, with a bit of luck we +may be able to rush them." + +As our leader began to evolve his plan of campaign it could not be said +to forfeit any of its romance. But I think it would be neither fair +nor gracious to Mr. Nevil Fitzwaren's corps of irregulars to say that +this spice of adventure made less its glamour. We could all claim some +little experience of war and that mimic sphere of action "that provides +the image of war without its guilt, and only thirty per cent. of its +dangers." Some of us had taken cover upon the veldt and others had +crossed the Blakiston after a week's rain; and we all felt as we sped +towards the metropolis at the rate of sixty miles an hour, and at the +same time endeavoured to restrain the cards from slipping on to the +floor, that whatever Fate, that capricious mistress, had in store for +us, our hazard was for as high a stake as any set of gamesters need +wish to play. + +Punctual to the minute, we came into the London terminus. As on the +occasion of that former adventure, we posted off to Long's quiet family +hotel, with the exception of Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther, +who confided his kit-bag to the care of his man Kelly, and adjured him +to see that a decent room was found for him, while he went "to rout out +Alec at the Continental before they fired the beggar out." + +"Tell him we leave Charing Cross at ten-forty in the morning," said +Fitz. "That will give me time to see what can be done in the way of +papers, although as far as Illyria is concerned, diplomatic relations +are pretty sure to have been suspended." + +Driving again to Long's Hotel, I was regaled with the remembrance of +our former journey; of the incident of the cab which followed us +through the November slush; of the weird sequel; of that long night of +alarums and excursions, which yet was no more than a prelude to a +chaotic vista of events. + +I recalled the drive from Ward's with Coverdale; the slow-drawn +tragi-comedy of suspense; the waiting-room at the Embassy, the plunge +up the stairs, the charming player of Schumann, the presentation to her +Royal Highness. I recalled the passages with the Ambassador and their +terrible issue; the drive with the Princess to the Savoy; the episode +of the pink satin at which I could now afford to laugh. Again I +recalled our _bizarre_ visit to Bryanston Square; our reception by my +Uncle Theodore, his "Fear nothing" and his still more curious prevision +of that which was to come to pass. I recalled our dash for this same +Grand Central railway station and the merciful shattering of our hopes +midway. I recalled the Scotland Yard inspector with the light +moustache, the hand of the Princess guiding me through the traffic, the +cool-fingered doctor, the bowl of crimson water at which I did not care +to look. Finally, in this panoramic jumble of wild occurrences, the +memory of which I should carry to the grave, I recalled that noble, +complex, misguided emblem of our species, the Victor of Rodova, the +clear-sighted, subtle yet great-hearted hero of an epoch in the destiny +of nations; the father of his people, whom his children had slain even +while the hand of death was already upon him. + +I pictured him lying riddled with bullets on the steps of his palace at +Blaenau, riddled with the bullets he had so often despised. Even from +the brief account in the evening papers it was clear that the end of +the Victor of Rodova had been heroic. + +The smouldering volcano had burst into flame at last. A tax-gatherer +had been slain in an outlying district. At the signal, a whole +province, at the back of one half-patriot, half-brigand, rose up, +marched armed to the Capital, and called upon the King at his palace to +grant a charter to the people. The King met them alone, as was his +custom, on the steps of his palace, and having listened with kindness +and patience to their demands, made the reply "that he would take steps +to procure the charter for his people if the peccant son who had slain +a faithful servant treacherously was rendered to justice." + +Whether the King deliberately misread the temper of his subjects, or +whether he overestimated the personal power it was his custom to exert, +was hard to determine, but in this reply which was so strangely +deficient in that high political wisdom in which no man of his age +excelled him, lay his doom. The leader of the armed mob, who himself +had slain the tax-gatherer, laughed in the King's, face, and +immediately riddled him with bullets. And as the King fell, the +burghers of Blaenau poured in at the gates, the soldiers revolted +because their wages were over-due, possession was taken of the Castle; +and the long-deferred republic was proclaimed. + +"And where were the aristocracy and the supporters of the monarchy +while all this was happening?" I asked, as we sat in the lounge at the +hotel having a final drink before turning in. + +"Reading between the lines of the dispatch," said Fitz, "I should be +inclined to say that they had conspired to throw Ferdinand over at the +last and to let in the people. I can reconcile the facts on no other +hypothesis." + +"Why should they?" + +"The aristocracy have always been jealous of his power. He has walked +too much alone." + +"It is hard to believe that they would yield up their country to mob +law." + +"They have their own safety to consider. A small and exclusive class, +not accustomed to move very actively in public affairs, they have +little control of events. And the army having joined with the people, +their only hope is to sit on the fence and try to hold what they have." + +"You are convinced of the Princess's danger?" + +"There is no question of that. Having decided to make an end of their +rulers, the French Revolution is quite likely to be enacted over again. +They are a semi-barbarous people, and few will deny that they have +suffered." + +On the morrow Fitz was early abroad. The morning papers brought +confirmation of the news from Illyria. The King was dead; the Crown +Princess was a close prisoner at Blaenau in the hands of the +insurgents; the Chancellor and other ministers had fled the country; a +number of regiments had massacred their officers; and it was expected +that a Committee of the People would take over the government. + +At Charing Cross we found Alexander O'Mulligan already waiting for us. +He was in the pink of health and his grin was extraordinarily +expansive. Fitz arrived with the necessary tickets for the whole +party, but had only been able to procure passports as far as the +frontier. But, as he explained, this need not trouble us, as we should +leave the train before we came there and make our way over the +mountains in the darkness. + +As our train wound its way through suburbia we began more clearly to +realise the promise of a crowded and glorious week. The motive was +adequate; and although the Chief Constable and myself had a sense of +the profound rashness of the scheme, we shared the common faith in Fitz. + +Our route was by way of Paris. It was more direct to go from +Southampton, but there was very little difference in the point of +actual time. + +When we reached Paris, soon after five that afternoon, we learned that +in spite of the representations of the Powers, the fate of the Princess +still hung in the balance. We stayed only an hour and then took train +again. + +All night we travelled and all through the next day; and then, as Fitz +had predicted, shortly after five o'clock in the evening of Thursday we +had come to the township of Orgov, a mile from the Illyrian frontier on +the borders of Milesia. Here we found a shrewd old peasant who had +acted as the friend of Fitz on a former occasion, and with whom he had +already communicated by telegraph. The old fellow shook his head over +the state of affairs in the neighbouring kingdom, but provided us with +a couple of trustworthy guides through the mountains and seven +tolerable horses, one apiece for each member of our party. + +Fitz affirmed his intention of getting to Blaenau in six hours. The +innkeeper, however, declared frankly that this was impossible. The +winter had been severe; heavy drifts of snow lay in the passes, and in +its present state the country itself was full of danger. Indeed, our +friend the innkeeper was fain to declare that, unless God was very kind +to us, we should never get to Blaenau at all. + +However, we were a party of nine, stout fellows, well armed and +tolerably mounted. And when we started from Orgov a little after six +in the evening, I do not think the sense of peril oppressed us much. +Our mission was of the highest; each of us had faith in himself and in +his comrades. We were a small but mobile force in fairly hard +condition; and I think it may be claimed for each member of it that he +had a natural love of adventure. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +IN THE BALANCE + +The air was shrewd as we set out from Orgov. We took a narrow, winding +bridle-path, uncomfortably steep in places, in order to avoid the +frontier town of Boruna, wherein trouble might lurk. The stars were +out already, with Mars straight before us wonderfully large and red as +we rode due east. There was an exhilaration in the atmosphere that was +like wine in the veins; and presently we caught the tail of an icy +blast that made us glad to wrap our cloaks around us. + +An impartial view of such an enterprise rendered it clear that the odds +were greatly in favour of a total failure. How could six men and a +cripple hope to penetrate into the heart of a closely guarded fortress? +And assuming that we got in, by what means did we expect to make our +way out again! In all conscience the scheme was wild enough, but this +was not the hour in which to lay stress upon that fact. + +There can be no doubt that the qualities of our leader were a great aid +to his corps. Undaunted courage, invincible optimism were his in +amplest measure; and this attitude of mind could not fail to react upon +his comrades in arms. Moreover, in the most singular degree he +appeared to combine with the audacity of genius, a head for detail and +a shrewd practical wisdom, which very seldom embellish the characters +of those who depend primarily upon the faculty of inspiration. + +As mile by mile we traversed these snow-laden Illyrian mountains, the +possibility of anything less than complete success found no place in +his thoughts. "Nothing is impossible" was his motto, and this he +realised with plenary conviction. His twin soul was calling him to the +Castle of Blaenau, and not for an instant did he doubt his ability to +obey the summons. + +It was our plan to avoid as far as possible all centres of population. +Our guides being men of experience, familiar with all the by-paths and +bridle-roads, we were able to do this, and even to save time in the +process. But as the innkeeper had insisted, Fitz's optimism had misled +him when he expected to reach the Illyrian capital in six hours. + +When we took our first bait, at an inn above the sinister waters of the +Lake of Montardo, it was nearly nine o'clock. Coffee and cakes were +very acceptable; indeed I have seldom tasted anything so delicious. +But in spite of our diligence and a fair measure of luck, we had come +rather less than twenty miles of the journey. Our horses were good for +another twelve miles through the formidable pass of Ryhgo, where in the +middle of winter the mountain streams are generally in spate. + +We went on after a halt of a quarter of an hour. As yet we had seen +few signs of the revolution. But at the inn above Montardo ugly +rumours were rife. The people and the army were said to have turned +against the aristocracy; they were butchering them by the score, and +the Crown Princess was declared to be dead. + +That our mission was being made in vain Fitz declined to believe. The +man's courage had never seemed so remarkable as when confronted with +this news. + +"If she were already dead," he said, simply, "I should have had +information. I shall not believe it until I hold her corpse in my +arms." + +Through the pass of Ryhgo, overshadowed as it is by the gaunt Illyrian +mountains, the narrow path wound along the very edge of a precipice. +Below were the waters of the Lake of Montardo, which as we rode above +it reflected a baleful grandeur to the stars. The wind was very +piercing now and drove sheer in our faces; not a little did it add to +the dangers of our progress through the pass. The horses had only to +make a false step and their riders would be hurled a thousand feet into +those terrible black waters gleaming below. + +Before we had overcome this most precarious stage of our journey, the +clouds were beaten up rapidly by the wind, and to add to our peril and +discomfort it came on to snow. It was, therefore, a great relief when +at last we came to an inn at a hamlet with an unpronounceable name +which marked the end of the pass. It was then eleven o'clock and we +had come little more than half the way. + +Here we found a friend awaiting us. He was an Illyrian acquaintance of +Fitz's, and he had arranged the details of our mountain journey. A +member of a noble family, he was familiar with the court life at +Blaenau, and had borne the part of a friend in the previous episode +which had culminated in the elopement of the Crown Princess. + +He was an agreeable fellow, quite cosmopolitan, and had no difficulty +in making himself understood in French, in which tongue he enjoyed a +greater felicity than any of us. He answered to the name of John, +although his full title, which was very long and hard to pronounce, I +have forgotten. He, too, had heard the common report that the Princess +was dead, but chose to express no opinion in regard to the truth of it. + +When Fitz outlined his project, he expressed a mild astonishment. + +"But how," said he, "will you cross the Maravina?" + +"You don't suppose," said Fitz, "that we have come as far as this to be +deterred by the crossing of the Maravina?" + +"All the bridges are closely guarded by the Republicans. The ferries +also." + +"We can swim the Maravina, at a pinch." + +"You English can do most things," said John, "but don't attempt to swim +the Maravina in the middle of January is my advice." + +John's view drew a growl of deep bass approval from no less a person +than the Chief Constable of Middleshire. + +"We shall do what we can," said the Man of Destiny, with excellent +indifference. + +"Yes, but we damn well needn't do what we can't," said the Chief +Constable _sotto voce_, yet meaning no disrespect to his native tongue. + +I must confess to an involuntary shudder, as, at the instance of a +too-active imagination, the waters of the Maravina pierced a pair of +leathers "by a local artist of the name of Jobson." They seemed +miserably damp already. And if anything feels more miserable than a +pair of leathers when they are damp, I pray to be spared the knowledge. + +High as our mission was, the flesh was loth to quit the warm stove at +the hostelry of "The Hanging Cross" for those terrible purlieus that +wound through the heart of the wild Illyrian mountains. But at least +we could congratulate ourselves that the pass of Ryhgo was at an end, +and that the black waters of Lake Montardo no longer lay in wait for +the hapless traveller a thousand feet below. Also the snow had ceased, +the wind had fallen, Mars and his brethren were looking again upon us, +and there was a faint suspicion of a crescent moon. + +Our weary beasts had been exchanged for a fresh relay at the hostelry +of "The Hanging Cross." In addition to a reinforcement in the shape of +John, a led horse with a side saddle accompanied us for the use of the +Princess. With fairer conditions and a path less perilous to traverse, +we began to improve considerably upon our previous rate of progression. +Then the road began again to grow difficult, but happily the sky kept +clear. + +During the later stages of the journey we passed through several +hamlets and small towns. To judge by the lights in the windows of the +houses and the demeanour of little groups of people in the streets, a +general spirit of uneasiness was abroad. Men clad in the picturesque +skin caps which are so typical of the country were to be seen carrying +formidable-looking guns; and although such a cavalcade excited their +curiosity they allowed it to pass. + +We had no adventures worthy of the name. In one of the mountain +valleys a deep crevasse was concealed by a drift of snow, and we owed +it to the vigilance of our guides that we were not its victims. The +wind was still very piercing, but acting upon Fitz's advice before we +started, we had all taken the precaution to be well clad. + +Our progress was really better than we realised. A sudden turn in the +road revealed a very broad and rapid torrent. It was the Maravina; and +there upon the farther bank was the bluff upstanding rock crowned with +the majestic Castle of Blaenau. Nestling close about it was a dark +huddle of houses and gaunt church spires of the capital city of Illyria. + +"There you are," cried John, with a wave of the hand. "Now, my +friends, are you tempted to swim across?" + +"I daresay we shall find a bridge," said Fitz, nonchalantly enough. + +"They are all bound to be guarded by the enemy." + +"May be," said the Man of Destiny imperturbably. + +Away to the right, at the distance of a mile, was one of the smaller +bridges into the city. It was a rickety, wooden structure, guarded by +a gate with a turret, which had a quaintly mediaeval aspect. In front +of the gate a bright coke fire was burning in a bucket, and sprawling +around it in attitudes which suggested varying phases of somnolence +were a number of men in uniform. + +A shaggy, fierce-looking, finely-grown fellow rose to his feet and +challenged us. Fitz replied promptly in his suavest and best Illyrian. +Not a word of the conversation that ensued was intelligible to me, but +it was punctuated by the approving laughter of John and the guides, and +was conducted on both sides with the highest good-humour. + +Its conclusion at any rate was in keeping with this surmise. Fitz was +seen to slip a piece of gold into a furtive palm; the password was +whispered to him; and the gate was opened just far enough for each of +us to pass through one at a time. + +"If there is a more corrupt rogue than an Illyrian corporal of +infantry," said John, "on the face of this fair earth, I am glad to say +I have met him not." + +"Evil practices breed an evil state," said the sententious Fitz. "If +chaps have to whistle for their wages what can you expect?" + +"Let us hope the custodians of the Castle will prove as susceptible," I +observed, piously. + +"Ah, there you have another sort of bird!" said Fitz. + +There was a second gate on the city side of the bridge. This also was +guarded by the soldiery, but the password given boldly got us through +without a question. There were tall spikes set in a row on the top of +the heavy and unwieldy gate. They were adorned with a row of human +heads. + +To me, I confess, these grisly mementoes brought a shudder. + +"They appear to do things pleasantly at Blaenau," said Frederick. + +"They can go one better than that, my son," said Fitz, "if they get the +chance. I should advise each of you, in the case of emergency, to +leave just one cartridge in his revolver." + +To a married man, a father of a family, and a county member, with his +left arm in a black silk handkerchief, who did not feel particularly +secure in the saddle as he rode knee to knee across the bridge with his +misguided friend the Chief Constable of Middleshire, the icy wind which +saluted him from the mighty torrent swirling beneath, blew distinctly +"thin." Somewhat bitterly he began to deplore that decree of fate +which had bereft him of the use of a hand. + +Through narrow, close-built streets, whose odours were decidedly +unpleasant, we passed unmolested until we came into the shadow of the +Castle rock. In the faint light of the stars it towered a sheer and +beetling pile. + +Dismounting, we tied the horses to a fence. Fitz took a dark lantern +from his saddle; and among a miscellaneous collection of articles with +which he had the forethought to provide himself, was a coil of rope. +This it seemed was capable of adjustment into the form of a ladder; and +our leader affirmed his intention of being the first man up the Castle +wall. He proposed to affix this contrivance to the coping at the top +in order that the others might climb up as easily and as expeditiously +as possible. + +There was nothing for it save to resign myself to stay with the two +guides in the charge of the horses. It would have been a physical +impossibility for a man bereft of the use of an arm to climb that sheer +precipice. + +Fitz's parting words of advice to me were characteristic. + +"If," said he, "a sentry should come along, and want to know your +business--I don't suppose he will, because they don't appear to have +mounted a picket--knock out his brains at once, and make one of the +guides put on his uniform and shoulder his gun and march up and down. +So long, old son." + +The Man of Destiny was gone, perhaps for ever. As each of my comrades +in arms climbed over the low fence in his wake I wished him good luck. +It seemed hardly a fighting chance that we should ever look on one +another again. + +They had left their cloaks behind, and these, together with my own, +were thrown over the horses which had carried us so well. Tobacco is a +great solace in seasons of tension, but the long-drawn suspense to +which I had to submit soon became intolerable. + +To a lover of the _aurea mediocritas_, a twentieth-century British +paterfamilias confirmed in the comfortable security of a civil life, +such a predicament was absurd. It was painful indeed to march hour +after hour up and down the broken ground at the foot of the Castle +rock. A pipe was in my teeth, otherwise I was signally exposed to the +rigours of a long January night in Illyria. A bloody end was my +perpetual contemplation. And I hardly dared to think what lay in store +for my comrades, the faint hope of whose return it was my bounden duty +to await. + +There were moments in this season of poignant misery when I felt myself +to be growing absolutely desperate. Why be ashamed to make the +confession? The sensation of impotence was truly terrible. As the +time passed and not a sound was to be heard, God alone knew what was +being transacted in that frowning eyrie under the cover of the night. + +Like most of those who have the unlucky leaven of imagination in their +clay, my instinctive optimism is often on its trial. While I marched +up and down in the darkness, trying vainly to keep warm, waiting for +that tardy dawn in which death lurked for us all, I would have laid +long odds that the doom of the Princess was sealed already and that my +comrades in arms would share it. + +A man should strive in some sort to figure as a hero when he comes to +the purple patches in his own history. But if a profuse fear of the +immediate future in combination with a lively horror of the present are +compatible with that degree, so be it. Throughout those hours of +inaction I suffered the torments of the damned. + +Again and again I strained nervously to catch a footfall, and each time +I did so Fitz's sinister injunction was in my ears. I recognised its +wisdom, but what a counsel for a respectable law-abiding Englishman! +Conceive the husband of Mrs. Arbuthnot, the father of Miss Lucinda, the +sensitive product of a settled state of society, lying in wait to knock +out the brains of a fellow creature on hardly any pretext at all! + +Prudence is not without a tenderness for those who court her; at least +a liberal supply of tobacco was in my pouch. In a state of sheer +desperation I smoked away the intolerable hours, and even had tobacco +to share with the guides who placidly awaited the dawn in the lee of +the horses. + +These were rugged, silent, contained men. I had not a word of their +language whatever it was, and I think it was a kind of Milesian +_argot_. But there was an air of torpid responsibility about them. +They were honest peasants, calm, unimaginative, faithful. + +The hour of five was told from half a dozen steeples of the capital. +In less than three short hours the fate of us all would be sealed. My +mind went back to Middleshire and I could have wept for vexation. +Everything was so happy and comfortable there. If Mrs. Arbuthnot did +not see eye to eye with me in all things, an occasional discreet +diversity of opinion merely added piquancy to double harness. + +Yes, life and all that pertained to it was very dear to me. It is +proper, of course, to maintain a becoming reticence about that +indissoluble core of egoism that lies at the heart of us all. But +during these unspeakable hours I could not dissemble it. Why had it +pleased fate to project this ill-starred creature, one altogether +outside the circle of my interests, one alien in birth, in race, in +fortune, into the quiet backwater of my years! Was there not a +wantonness in shattering such a comfortable hedonism in this cruel, +meaningless, irresponsible way? + +What man can be a hero to his autobiographer! By all the rules of the +game I ought to have been bathed in a kind of moral limelight as I +walked my miserable beat throughout that cursed Illyrian night. It +should be the easiest thing in the world to present a picture of +stoical disdain for Dame Fortune and her fantasies. + +But the blunt truth is before me, ignoble as it is. Life meant too +much. The least of my thoughts should have been dedicated to that high +and noble mission which had lured me from my happy home in an English +county. I should have had my mind wholly concentrated on the fate of +the royal lady and on that of those stout fellows who had come so far +and who had endured so much that they might serve her. + +Well, I will not deny that in a measure my thoughts were for them. But +I did not dare to speculate on what had happened to them; their fate +was too big with tragic possibilities. Yet ever uppermost within me +was a sore vexation. I did not want in the least to die, and I was +determined not to do so. Unhappily Fitz had not given me the password +which in the last resort might take me across the bridge; I could not +communicate with the guides; I was a stranger in a strange land. + +Six o'clock was told from the steeples of the city, but there was not a +sound from the Castle rock. Despair gripped me by the heart. The +Princess was dead and my friends had been unable to make their way out +of the fortress they had had the incredible foolhardiness to enter. +But until daylight came I must wait at my post; yea, if I could +contrive it, longer than that it behoved me to remain. + +Already the sleeping city was beginning to stir uneasily. Distant +sounds proceeded from it; within ten paces of our horses a farmer's +wagon had passed along the road. Figures began to emerge from the +darkness and to re-enter it. Doubtless they were workmen going to +their toil. The icy blasts from the river congealed my blood. +Half-past six told from the steeples; housemaids in pink print dresses +were lighting the fires at Dympsfield House. + +I began to scourge my brain for a plan of escape in broad daylight from +this accursed place, in case Fitz did not return. But even my mind was +numbed, and it was under the dominion of two clear facts: I did not +know a word of the Illyrian tongue, and I knew nothing of the habits +and customs of the country. + +The row of heads upon the city gate occupied a chamber to themselves in +the halls of my imagination. In whatever direction I turned my +thoughts, there was that grisly frieze before my eyes. Presently I +made the discovery that I had bitten the stem of my pipe clean through. + +It was now seven o'clock and I had yielded up all hope of Fitz. So +tragedy after all was to be the end of these wild oscillations which +had begun with broad farce. The unhappy "circus rider from Vienna" had +been done to death by the people for whom she had given all. Not only +had they rejected her sacrifice but they had requited it with brutal +treachery. And the noble man who had loved her, and those brave +fellows who had dared everything to serve her, regardless of lives they +valued as highly as I did my own, had perished in her cause. + +Rage and horror began to rise up within me. God in heaven, was this +the end of our adventure? It was a quarter past seven; the whole city +was astir. + +The dawn was coming. There were a few faint streaks of grey already +above the Castle rock. Numbed and helpless I strained my eyes upwards +to that sinister pile. Cold in body, faint in spirit, I knew not what +to do, nor which way to turn. And then, before I could realise what +had come to pass, there was a surge of dark and stealthy figures, there +was a hand on my shoulder and a low voice was in my ears. + +"The horses! The horses!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE CREATURES OF PERRAULT + +Half paralysed as were the physical senses, there was a magic in the +words. Involuntarily, scarcely knowing what I did, I helped to unloose +the horses. I saw others climb into their saddles; with a little +friendly help I got into mine. + +In the growing light of the dawn, we started at a gentle pace towards +the old and quaint and many-gabled city. Yet it was still too dark to +see who precisely was of our company. We came to the bridge, and +halted while Fitz gave the password at the gate. Suspicious eyes were +cast upon him, but they let us through. + +At the farther gate Fitz gave the password again. There was a little +delay, in the course of which Fitz spoke in a jovial manner with the +corporal of infantry. Finally another gold piece changed owners, and +then we were allowed to pass on to the open country. + +Without having to fire a shot, we had got clear of the city. As yet I +knew nothing of what had happened during the hours of my suspense, but +I was able to make out in the dim light that two of another sex had +augmented our company. One riding by the side of Fitz had a familiar +outline; the other, an unknown lady, was accommodated somewhat +insecurely in front of the saddle of Joseph Jocelyn De Vere. + +As we turned towards the mountain road there came the booming of a gun +across the turbulent water of the Maravina. + +"They are awake at last," said a gruff voice at my elbow. The Chief +Constable seemed very weary and very grim. + +Hard and straight we rode through the comparatively easy country to the +inn at the head of the pass of Ryhgo. We had to be content with a +change of horses here; there was not time to allow of anything else +beyond a cup of spiced wine. + +In broad daylight the pass of Ryhgo was shorn of many of its terrors. +But as we rode above the lake the path was so narrow and its turns so +sharp that care was still necessary. Happily the wind was now dead. + +Even now I was hardly in a state to realise what had occurred. The +strain upon my mind was still acute; my faculties seemed to have got +out of control. + +"We had wonderful luck." The voice of the Chief Constable sounded +remote and meaningless. "It was a devil of a climb up that rock, and +I'll lay odds that we should never have got to the top at all, if Fitz +hadn't remembered a secret stairway that led right into the heart of +the place. Either the burghers of Blaenau had forgotten all about it +or they didn't know of its existence. But Fitz remembered it all right +as soon as he happened to see the hole in the rock. When we got in, it +was as black as the tomb, except for Fitz's lantern. + +"It was a poisonous journey up an interminable flight of winding stone +steps. It took us quite an hour to come to the end. And then we found +ourselves confronted by a door of solid oak, which was three parts +rotten. It took us another hour to cut through that, and Fitz's +lantern went out and we had to keep striking matches. I shall never +forget that hour in the dark until my dying day. And when we got +through that infernal door at last, where do you suppose we found +ourselves?" + +"I cannot say," I said, dreamily, with a vague eye upon the black +waters of the lake below. + +"Behind the tapestry of the King's bedroom. A marvellous piece of +luck! It is a strange providence that watches over some things. And +there we waited in the darkness, with our hands on our weapons, while +Fitz made his way to the Princess, and he brought her and her woman to +us, and we got clear away without disturbing a soul." + +"A wonderful and an incredible story!" + +I began to have a fear that I might pitch from my horse. But we got +through the fell pass of Ryhgo at last, and by three o'clock that +afternoon were in the presence of food and shelter and security in the +hostelry a mile beyond the frontier. Thereupon a mute prayer passed up +to heaven from the still shuddering soul of a married man, a father of +a family, and a county member. + +The unknown lady whom Jodey had borne so gallantly upon his saddle +through the perilous mountain passes was none other than the Countess +Etta von Zweidelheim, that lover of Schubert, that charming interpreter +of Schumann who had made herself responsible for the statement that our +memorable evening at the Embassy was "petter than Offenbach." + +Even when she was lifted cold, hungry and desperately fatigued from the +saddle of her cavalier, she was inclined to laugh; and we were able to +raise among us a sort of hollow echo of her mirth when we observed the +solemnity with which my relation by marriage escorted her to the stove +and chafed her bloodless hands to restore the circulation. + +The somewhat formal, perhaps slightly embarrassed nature of our +laughter did not fail, even in these circumstances, of its customary +appeal to her Royal Highness. Her own, however, unloosed a thousand +memories which I shall carry to the grave, and perhaps beyond. + +"Aha, _les Anglais_!" There was a maternal indulgence in the gaunt +eyes. "_Très bons enfants!_" Her voice was low, canorous, quaintly +caressing. "_Très bons enfants!_" + +Suddenly she turned and gave both her hands to me. Lightly my lips +touched the frozen fingers. For an instant my eyes were upon the +strange pallor of her face; and then they met in a kind of challenge +the sunken brilliancy which gave it life. + +"The creatures of Perrault, ma'am," I said, rather hysterically. + + + + +THE END + + + + + +LONDON: HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 1912. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mrs. Fitz, by J. C. Snaith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. FITZ *** + +***** This file should be named 34398-8.txt or 34398-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/3/9/34398/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/34398-8.zip b/34398-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4b58803 --- /dev/null +++ b/34398-8.zip diff --git a/34398-h.zip b/34398-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b729ca8 --- /dev/null +++ b/34398-h.zip diff --git a/34398-h/34398-h.htm b/34398-h/34398-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2eaf9f3 --- /dev/null +++ b/34398-h/34398-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,17033 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Mrs. Fitz, by J. C. Snaith +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.t1 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 200%; + text-align: center } + +P.t2 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center } + +P.t3 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center } + +P.t4 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center } + +P.t5 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 50%; + text-align: center } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.contents {text-indent: -5%; + margin-left: 15% ; + margin-right: 15% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +H4.h4center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: auto; } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mrs. Fitz, by J. C. Snaith + +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: Mrs. Fitz + +Author: J. C. Snaith + +Release Date: February 13, 2011 [EBook #34398] +[Last updated: October 11, 2022 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. FITZ *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-drama"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-drama.jpg" ALT="Dramatis Personæ" BORDER="2" WIDTH="347" HEIGHT="632"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 347px"> +Dramatis Personæ +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="Assassination of the King of Illyria" BORDER="2" WIDTH="462" HEIGHT="665"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 462px"> +Assassination of the King of Illyria +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t1"> +MRS. FITZ +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +BY +</P> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +J. C. SNAITH +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +HODDER & STOUGHTON'S +<BR> +SEVENPENNY LIBRARY +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +HODDER AND STOUGHTON +<BR> +LONDON — NEW YORK — TORONTO +<BR> +1912 +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +CONTENTS +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap01">CHAPTER I</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +ACCORDING TO REUTER +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap02">CHAPTER II</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +TRIBULATIONS OF A M.F.H. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap03">CHAPTER III</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +THE CASE FOR THE PROSECUTION +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap04">CHAPTER IV</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +THE MIDDLE COURSE +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap05">CHAPTER V</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +ABOUNDS IN SENSATION +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap06">CHAPTER VI</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +EXPERT OPINION +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap07">CHAPTER VII</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +COVERDALE'S REPORT +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +PREPARATIONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap09">CHAPTER IX</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +ON THE EVE +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap10">CHAPTER X</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +ALARUMS AND EXCURSIONS +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap11">CHAPTER XI</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +THE ORDERS FOR THE DAY +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap12">CHAPTER XII</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +THE MAN OF DESTINY +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +FURTHER PASSAGES AT NO. 300 PORTLAND PLACE +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +A DEPLORABLE INCIDENT +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap15">CHAPTER XV</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +AN INTERNATIONAL ISSUE +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +HORSE AND HOUND +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +A GLARE IN THE SKY +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap18">CHAPTER XVIII</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +MRS. ARBUTHNOT BEGINS TO TAKE NOTICE +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap19">CHAPTER XIX</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +HER ROYAL HIGHNESS RECEIVES A LETTER +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap20">CHAPTER XX</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +A LITTLE DIPLOMACY +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap21">CHAPTER XXI</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +THE EXPECTED GUEST +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap22">CHAPTER XXII</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +A VISIT TO BRYANSTON SQUARE +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap23">CHAPTER XXIII</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +PROVIDES AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE THEORY THAT +THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap24">CHAPTER XXIV</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +HIS ILLYRIAN MAJESTY FERDINAND THE TWELFTH +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap25">CHAPTER XXV</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +THE FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap26">CHAPTER XXVI</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +A WALK IN THE GARDEN +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap27">CHAPTER XXVII</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +PROVIDES A LITTLE FEMININE DIVERSION +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap28">CHAPTER XXVIII</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +THE WRITING ON THE WALL +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap29">CHAPTER XXIX</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +THE CAST OF THE DIE +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap30">CHAPTER XXX</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +REACTION +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap31">CHAPTER XXXI</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +NEWS FROM ILLYRIA +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap32">CHAPTER XXXII</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +MORE ALARUMS AND EXCURSIONS +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap33">CHAPTER XXXIII</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +IN THE BALANCE +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap34">CHAPTER XXXIV</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +THE CREATURES OF PERRAULT +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ACCORDING TO REUTER +</H4> + +<P> +"It is snowing," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. +</P> + +<P> +"Worse luck!" growled I from behind my newspaper. "This unspeakable +climate! Why can't we sack the Clerk of the Weather?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because he is a permanent official," said Joseph Jocelyn De Vere +Vane-Anstruther, who was coming into the room. "And those are the +people who run the benighted country." +</P> + +<P> +Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther was in rather smart kit. It was +December the First, and the hounds—there is only one pack in the +United Kingdom—were about to pay an annual visit to the country of a +neighbour. With conscious magnificence my relation by marriage took a +bee-line to the sideboard. He paused a moment to debate to which of +two imperative duties he should give the precedence: i.e. to make his +daily report upon the personal appearance of his host, or to find out +what there was to eat. The state of the elements enabled Mother Nature +"to get a cinch" on an honourable æstheticism. Jodey began to forage +slowly but resolutely among the dish covers. +</P> + +<P> +"Kedgeree! Twice in a fortnight. Look here, Mops, it won't do." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot was perusing that journal which for the modest sum of +one halfpenny purveys the glamour of history with only five per cent. +of its responsibilities. She merely turned over a page. Her brother, +having heaped enough kedgeree upon his plate to make a meal for the +average person, peppered and salted it on a scale equally liberal and +then suggested coffee. +</P> + +<P> +"Tea is better for the digestion," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with her +natural air of simple authority. +</P> + +<P> +"I know," said Jodey, "that is why I prefer the other stuff." +</P> + +<P> +"Men are so reasonable!" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mind 'andin' the sugar?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sugar will make you a welter and ruin your appearance." +</P> + +<P> +A cardinal axiom of my friend Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins, née Ogbourne, +late of Brownville, Mass., is "Horse-sense always tells." Among the +daughters of men I know none whose endowment of this felicitous quality +can equal that of the amiable participator in my expenditure. It told +in this case. +</P> + +<P> +"Better give me tea." +</P> + +<P> +"Without sugar?" said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with great charm of manner. +</P> + +<P> +"A small lump," said Jodey as a concession to his force of character. +</P> + +<P> +The young fellow stirred his tea with so much diligence that the small +lump really seemed like a large one. And then, with a gravity that was +somewhat sinister, he fixed his gaze on my coat and leathers. +</P> + +<P> +"By a local artist of the name of Jobson," said I, humbly. "The second +shop on the right as you enter Middleham High Street." +</P> + +<P> +"They speak for themselves." +</P> + +<P> +"My father went there," said I. "My grandfather also. In my +grandfather's day I believe the name of the firm was Wiseman and +Grundy." +</P> + +<P> +"It's not fair to 'ounds. If I was Brasset I should take 'em 'ome." +</P> + +<P> +"If you were Brasset," I countered, "that would hardly be necessary. +They would find their way home by themselves." +</P> + +<P> +"Mops is to blame. She has been brought up properly." +</P> + +<P> +"It comes to this, my friend. We can't both wear the breeches. Hers +cost a pretty penny from those thieves in Regent Street." +</P> + +<P> +"Maddox Street," said a bland voice from the recesses of the <I>Daily +Courier</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Those bandits in Maddox Street," said I, with pathos. "But for all I +know it might be those sharks in the Mile End Road. I am a babe in +these things." +</P> + +<P> +"No, my dear Odo," said the young fellow, making his point somewhat +elaborately, "in those things you are a perisher. An absolute +perisher. I'm ashamed to be seen 'untin' the same fox with you. I +should be ashamed to be found dead in the same ditch. I hate people +who are not serious about clothes. It's so shallow." +</P> + +<P> +My relation by marriage produced an extremely vivid yellow silk +handkerchief, and pensively flicked a speck of invisible dust off an +immaculate buckskin. +</P> + +<P> +"My God, those tops!" +</P> + +<P> +"By a local draughtsman," said I, "of the name of Bussey. He is +careful in the measurements and takes a drawing of the foot." +</P> + +<P> +"'Orrible. You look like a Cossack at the Hippodrome." +</P> + +<P> +"The Madam patronises an establishment in Bond Street. One is given to +understand that various royalties follow her example." +</P> + +<P> +"They make for the King of Illyria," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. +</P> + +<P> +"That is interesting," said I, in response to a quizzical glance from +the breakfast table. "The fact is, my amiable coadjutor in the things +of this life has a decided weakness for royalty. She denies it +vehemently and betrays it shamelessly on every possible occasion." +</P> + +<P> +"Very interestin' indeed," said her brother. +</P> + +<P> +In the next moment a cry of surprise floated out of the depths of the +halfpenny newspaper. +</P> + +<P> +"What a coincidence!" exclaimed Mrs. Arbuthnot. "There has been an +attempt on the life of the King of Illyria. They have thrown a bomb +into his palace and killed the brother of the Prime Minister." +</P> + +<P> +"In the interests of the shareholders of the <I>Daily Courier</I>," said I. +</P> + +<P> +"Be serious, Odo," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "To think of that dear old +king being in danger!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, the dear old king," said Jodey. +</P> + +<P> +"I think you are horrid, both of you," said Mrs. Arbuthnot with the +spirit that made her an admired member of the Crackanthorpe Hunt. +"Those horrid Illyrians! They don't deserve to have a king. They +ought to be like France and America and Switzerland." +</P> + +<P> +"They will soon be in that unhappy position," said I, turning to page +four of the <I>Times</I> newspaper. "According to Reuter, it appears to +have been a <I>bonâ fide</I> attempt. Count Cyszysc——" +</P> + +<P> +"You sneeze twice," suggested Jodey. +</P> + +<P> +"Count Cyszysc was blown to pieces on the threshold of the Zweisgarten +Palace, the whole of the south-west front of which was wrecked." +</P> + +<P> +"The wretches!" said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "They are only fit to have a +republic. Such a dear old man, the ideal of what a king ought to be. +Don't you remember him in the state procession riding next to the +Kaiser?" +</P> + +<P> +"The old Johnny with the white hair," said Jodey, reaching for the +marmalade. +</P> + +<P> +"He looked every inch a king," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, "and Illyria is not +a very large place either." +</P> + +<P> +"In a small and obscure country," I ventured to observe, "you have to +look every inch a king, else nobody will believe that you are one. In +a country as important as ours it doesn't matter if a king looks like a +commercial traveller." +</P> + +<P> +"By the way," said Jodey, who had a polite horror of anything that +could be construed as <I>lèse majesté</I>, "where is Illyria?" +</P> + +<P> +"My dear fellow," said I, "don't you know where Illyria is?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet you a pony that you don't either," said Jodey, striving, as +young fellows will, to cover his ignorance by a display of effrontery. +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't you been to Blaenau? Don't you know the Sveltkes?—hoch! +hoch!" +</P> + +<P> +"No; do you?" said the young fellow, brazenly. +</P> + +<P> +"They are the oldest reigning family in Europe," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, +severely. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know that, Mops?" said the sceptical youth. +</P> + +<P> +"It says so in the German 'Who's Who,'" said the Madam, sternly, "I +looked them up on purpose." +</P> + +<P> +"My dear fellow," said I, "if you knew a little less about polo, and a +little less about hunting the fox, and a little more about geography +and foreign languages and the things that make for efficiency, you +would be <I>au courant</I> with the kingdom of Illyria and its reigning +family. Tell the young fellow where that romantic country is, old +lady." +</P> + +<P> +"First you go to Paris," said the Madam, with admirable lucidity. "And +then, I'm not sure, but I think you come to Vienna, and then I believe +you cut across and you come to Illyria. And then you come to Blaenau, +the capital, where the king lives, which is five hundred miles from St. +Petersburg as the crow flies, because I've marked it on the map." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if you've really marked it on the map," said I, "it is only +reasonable to assume that the kingdom of Illyria is in a state of +being." +</P> + +<P> +"You are too absurd," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "The place is well known +and its king is famous." +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if there is decent shootin' in Illyria," said Joseph Jocelyn +De Vere, with that air of tacit condescension which gained him +advancement throughout the English-speaking world. "One might try it +for a week to show one has no feelin' against it." +</P> + +<P> +"Where there is a king there is always decent shooting," I ventured to +observe. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot returned to her newspaper. +</P> + +<P> +"They want to form a republic in Illyria," she announced, "but the old +king is determined to thwart them." +</P> + +<P> +"A bit of a sportsman, evidently," said her brother. "But never mind +Illyria. Give me some more coffee. We've got to be at the Cross Roads +by eleven." +</P> + +<P> +"No mortal use, I am afraid," said I. "The glass has gone right back. +And look through the window." +</P> + +<P> +"Good old British climate! And on that side they've got one of the +best bits o' country in the shires, and Morton's covers are always +choke-full of foxes." +</P> + +<P> +In spite of his pessimism, however, my relation by marriage continued +to deal faithfully with the modest repast that had been offered him. +Also he was fain to inquire of the mistress of the house whether +<I>enough</I> sandwiches had been cut and whether <I>both</I> flasks had been +filled; and from the nominal head of our modest establishment he sought +to learn what arrangements had been made for the second horsemen. +</P> + +<P> +"They will not be wanted to-day, I fear." +</P> + +<P> +"Pooh, a few flakes o' snow!" +</P> + +<P> +It was precisely at this moment that the toot of a motor horn was +heard. A sixty-horse-power six-cylindered affair of the latest design +was seen to steal through the shrubbery <I>en route</I> to the front door. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, wasn't that Brasset?" +</P> + +<P> +"His car certainly." +</P> + +<P> +"What does the blighter want?" +</P> + +<P> +"He has brought us the information that Morton has telephoned through +to say that there is a foot of snow on the wolds and that hounds had +better stay at the kennels." +</P> + +<P> +"Pooh," said Jodey, "he wouldn't have troubled to come himself. You've +got a telephone, ain't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Doubtless he also wishes to confer with Mrs. Arbuthnot upon the state +of things in Illyria. He is a very serious fellow with political +ambitions." +</P> + +<P> +Further I might have added—which, however, I did not—that the Master +of the Crackanthorpe was somewhat assiduous in his attitude of +respectful attention towards my seductive co-participator in this vale +of tears, who on her side was rather apt to pride herself upon an +old-fashioned respect for the peerage. The prospect of a visit from +the noble Master caused her to discard the affairs of the Illyrian +monarchy in favour of a subject even more pregnant with interest. +</P> + +<P> +"If it is Reggie Brasset," said she, renouncing the <I>Daily Courier</I>, +"he has come about Mrs. Fitz." +</P> + +<P> +"Get out!" said the scornful Jodey. "You people down here have got +Mrs. Fitz on the brain." +</P> + +<P> +Out of the mouths of babes! It was perfectly true that, in our own +little corner of the world, people <I>had</I> got Mrs. Fitz on the brain. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +TRIBULATIONS OF A M.F.H. +</H4> + +<P> +Brasset it certainly was. And when he came into the room looking +delightfully healthy, decidedly handsome, and a great deal more serious +than a minister of the Crown, his first words were to the effect that +Morton had telephoned through to say that they had a foot of snow on +the wolds and that hounds had better stay where they were. +</P> + +<P> +"Awfully good of you, Brasset, to come and tell us," said I, heartily. +"Have some breakfast?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, thanks," said Brasset. "The fact is, as we are not going over to +Morton's, I thought this would be a good opportunity to—to——" +</P> + +<P> +For some reason the noble Master did not appear to know how to complete +his sentence. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Lord Brasset," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with an air of acute +intelligence. +</P> + +<P> +"A good opportunity to—to——" said Brasset, who in spite of his +seriousness really looked absurdly young to be the master of such a +pack as ours. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Lord Brasset," said Mrs. Arbuthnot again. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, quite so, my dear fellow," said I, without, as I hope and +believe, the least appearance of levity, for the uncompromising eye of +authority was upon me. +</P> + +<P> +"What's up, Brasset?" said Jodey, who contrary to the regulations was +lighting his pipe at the breakfast table, and who combined with his +many engaging qualities an extremely practical mind. "You want a glass +of beer. Parkins, bring his lordship a glass of beer." +</P> + +<P> +With this aid to the body corporeal in his hand, and with a pair of +large, serious and admirably solicitous eyes fixed upon him, the noble +Master made a third attempt to complete his sentence. This time he +succeeded. +</P> + +<P> +"The fact is," said he, "I thought this would be a good opportunity +to—to"—here the noble Master made a heroic dash for England, home and +glory—"to talk over this confounded business of Mrs. Fitz." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot sat bolt upright with an air of ecstasy and the +expression "There, what did I tell you!" written all over her +</P> + +<P> +"Quite so, my dear fellow," said I, in simple good faith, but happening +at that moment to intercept a glance from a feminine eye, had perforce +to smother my countenance somewhat hastily in the voluminous folds of +the <I>Times</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"What about her?" inquired the occupant of the breakfast table, who, +whatever the angels might happen to be doing at any given moment, never +hesitated to walk right in with both feet. "I was saying to Arbuthnot +and my sister just as you came in, that you people down here have got +Mrs. Fitz on the brain." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I am afraid we have," said Brasset, ruefully. "The fact is, +things are coming to such a pass that they can't go on." +</P> + +<P> +"I agree with you, Lord Brasset," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with conviction. +</P> + +<P> +"Something must be done." +</P> + +<P> +"It is so uncomfortable for everybody," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "And I +can promise this, Lord Brasset"—the fair speaker looked ostentatiously +away from the vicinity of the leading morning journal—"whatever steps +you decide to take in the matter will have the entire sympathy and +support of every woman subscriber to the Hunt." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you very much indeed, Mrs. Arbuthnot," said the noble Master, +with feeling, "I am very grateful to you. It will help me very much." +</P> + +<P> +"We held a meeting in Mrs. Catesby's drawing-room on Sunday afternoon. +We passed a resolution expressing the fullest confidence in you—I +wish, Lord Brasset, you could have heard what was said about you." The +Master's picturesque complexion achieved a more roseate tinge. "Our +unanimous support and approval was voted to you in all that you may +feel called upon to do." +</P> + +<P> +"A thousand thanks, my dear Mrs. Arbuthnot." +</P> + +<P> +"And we hope you will turn Mrs. Fitz out of the Hunt. I also brought +forward an amendment that Fitz be turned out as well, but it was +decided by six votes to four to give him another chance. But in the +case of Mrs. Fitz the meeting was absolutely unanimous." +</P> + +<P> +"My God," said the occupant of the breakfast table. "If that ain't the +limit!" +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Fitz is a good deal more than the limit." Mrs. Arbuthnot's eyes +sparkled with truculence. +</P> + +<P> +"Have a cigarette, my dear fellow," said I, offering my case to the +unfortunate Brasset as soon as the state of my emotions would permit me +to do so. +</P> + +<P> +Brasset selected a cigarette with an air of intense melancholy. As he +applied the lighted match that was also offered him he favoured me with +an eye that was so woebegone that it must have moved a heart of stone +to pity. On the contrary, my fellow-pilgrim through this vale of tears +had turned a most becoming shade of pink, which she invariably does +when she is really out upon the warpath. Also in her china-blue +eyes—I hope such a description of these weapons will pass the +censor—was a look of grim, unalterable ruthlessness, before which men +quite as stout as Brasset have had to quail. +</P> + +<P> +The noble Master took a nervous draw at his Egyptian. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, Arbuthnot," said he, "you are a wise chap, ain't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"He thinks he's wise," said my helpmeet. +</P> + +<P> +"Every man does," said I, modestly, "not necessarily as an article of +faith but as a point of ritual." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, of course," said Brasset, with an air of intelligence that +imposed upon nobody. "But everybody says you are a wise chap. That +little Mrs. Perkins says you are the wisest chap she has met out of +London." +</P> + +<P> +This indiscretion on the part of Brasset—some men have so little +tact!—provoked a stiffening of plumage; and if the china-blue eyes did +not shoot forth a spark this chronicle is not likely to be of much +account. +</P> + +<P> +"Stick to the point, if you please," said I. "I plead guilty to being +a Solomon." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, as you are a wise chap," said the blunderer, "and I'm by way of +being an ass——" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't agree with you at all, Lord Brasset," piped a fair admirer. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but I am, Mrs. Arbuthnot," said Brasset, dissenting with that +courtesy in which he was supreme. "It's awfully good of you to say I'm +not, but everybody knows I am not much of a chap at most things." +</P> + +<P> +"You may not be so clever as Odo," said the wife of my bosom, "because +Odo's exceptional. But you are an extremely <I>able</I> man all the same, +Lord Brasset." +</P> + +<P> +"She means to attend that sale at Tatt's on Wednesday," said the +occupant of the breakfast table in an aside to the marmalade. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if I am not such a fool as I think I am"—so perfect a sincerity +disarmed criticism—"it is awfully good of you, Mrs. Arbuthnot, to say +so. But what I mean is, I should like Arbuthnot's advice on the +subject of—on the subject of——" +</P> + +<P> +"On the subject of Mrs. Fitz," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with the coo of the +dove and the glance of the rattlesnake. +</P> + +<P> +"Ye-es," said the noble Master, nervously dropping the ash from his +cigarette on to a very expensive tablecloth. +</P> + +<P> +"Odo will be very pleased indeed, Lord Brasset," said the superior half +of my entity, "to give you advice about Mrs. Fitz. He agrees with me +and Mary Catesby and Laura Glendinning, that she must be turned out of +the Hunt." +</P> + +<P> +Poor Brasset removed a bead of perspiration from the perplexed +melancholy of his features with a silk handkerchief of vivid hue, own +brother to the one sported by the Bayard at the breakfast table, in a +futile attempt to cope with his dismay. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it usual, Mrs. Arbuthnot?" +</P> + +<P> +"It may not be usual, Lord Brasset, but Mrs. Fitz is not a usual woman." +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Irene," said I, judicially—Mrs. Arbuthnot rejoices in the +classical name of Irene—"my dear Irene, I understand Brasset to mean +that there is nothing in the articles of association of the +Crackanthorpe Hunt to provide against the contingency of Mrs. Fitz or +any other British matron overriding hounds as often as she likes." +</P> + +<P> +Although I have had no regular legal training beyond having once +lunched in the hall of Gray's Inn, everybody knows my uncle the judge. +But I regret to say that this weighty deliverance did not meet with +entire respect in the quarter in which it was entitled to look for it. +</P> + +<P> +"That is nonsense, Odo," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "I am sure the Quorn——" +</P> + +<P> +Brasset's misery assumed so acute a phase at the mention of the Quorn +that Mrs. Arbuthnot paused sympathetically. +</P> + +<P> +"The Quorn—my God!" muttered the Bayard at the breakfast table in an +aside to the tea-kettle. +</P> + +<P> +"Or the Cottesmore," continued the undefeated Mrs. Arbuthnot, "would +not stand such behaviour from a person like Mrs. Fitz." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think so, Mrs. Arbuthnot?" said the noble Master. "You see, we +shouldn't like to get our names up by doing something unusual." +</P> + +<P> +"An unusual person must be dealt with in an unusual way," said Mrs. +Arbuthnot, with great sententiousness. +</P> + +<P> +"Mary Catesby thinks——" +</P> + +<P> +The long arm of coincidence is sometimes very startling, and I can +vouch for it that the entrance of Parkins at this psychological moment, +to herald the appearance of Mary Catesby in the flesh, greatly +impressed us all as something quite beyond the ordinary. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, here <I>is</I> Mary," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, giving that source of light +and authority a cross-over kiss on both checks. It is the hall-mark of +the married ladies of our neighbourhood that they all delight to +exhibit an almost exaggerated reverence for Mary Catesby. +</P> + +<P> +I have great esteem for Mary Catesby myself. For one thing, she has +deserved well of her country. The mother of three girls and five boys, +she is the British matron <I>in excelsis</I>; and apart from the habit she +has formed of riding in her horse's mouth, she has every attribute of +the best type of Christian gentlewoman. She owns to thirty-nine—to +follow the ungallant example of Debrett!—is the eldest daughter of a +peer, and is extremely authoritative in regard to everything under the +sun, from the price of eggs to the table of precedence. +</P> + +<P> +The admirable Mary—her full name is Mary Augusta—may be a trifle +over-elaborated. Her horses are well up to fourteen stone. And as +matter and mind are one and the same, it is sometimes urged against her +that her manner is a little overwhelming. But this is to seek for +blemishes on the noonday sun of female excellence. One of a more +fragile cast might find such a weight of virtue a burden. But Mary +Catesby wears it like a flower. +</P> + +<P> +In addition to her virtue she was also wearing a fur cloak which was +the secret envy of the entire feminine population of the county, +although individual members thereof made it a point of honour to +proclaim for the benefit of one another, "Why <I>does</I> Mary persist in +wearing that ermine-tailed atrocity! She really can't know what a +fright she looks in it." +</P> + +<P> +As a matter of fact, Mary Catesby in her fur cloak is one of the most +impressive people the mind of man can conceive. That fur cloak of hers +can stop the Flying Dutchman at any wayside station between Land's End +and Paddington; and on the platform at the annual distribution of +prizes at Middleham Grammar School, I have seen more than one small boy +so completely overcome by it, that he has dropped "Macaulay's Essays" +on the head of the reporter of the <I>Advertiser</I>. +</P> + +<P> +Besides this celebrated garment, Mary was adorned with a bowler hat +with enormous brims, not unlike that affected by Mr. Weller the Elder +as Cruikshank depicted him, and so redoubtable a pair of butcher boots +as literally made the earth tremble under her. +</P> + +<P> +Her first remark was addressed, quite naturally, to the unfortunate +Brasset, who had been rendered a little pinker and a little more +perplexed than he already was by this notable woman's impressive entry. +</P> + +<P> +"I consider this weather disgraceful," said she. "It always is when we +go over to Morton's. Why is it, Reggie?" +</P> + +<P> +She spoke as though the luckless Reggie was personally responsible for +the weather and also for the insulting manner in which that +much-criticised British institution had deranged her plans. +</P> + +<P> +"I am awfully sorry, Mrs. Catesby. Not much of a day, is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Disgraceful. If one can't have better weather than this, one might as +well go and have a week's skating at Prince's." +</P> + +<P> +The idea of Mary Catesby having a week's skating at Prince's seemed to +appeal to Joseph Jocelyn De Vere. At least that sportsman was pleased +not a little. +</P> + +<P> +"English style or Continental?" said he. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Catesby did not deign to heed. +</P> + +<P> +"I am awfully sorry, Mrs. Catesby," said Brasset again, with really +beautiful humility. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Catesby declined to accept this delightfully courteous apology, +but gazed down her chin at the unfortunate Brasset with that ample air +which invariably makes her look like Minerva as Titian conceived that +deity. Silently, pitilessly, she proceeded to fix the whole +responsibility for the weather upon the Master of the Crackanthorpe. +</P> + +<P> +She had just performed this feat with the greatest efficiency, when by +no means the least of her admirers put in an oar. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm so glad you've come, Mary," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "We were just +having it out with Lord Brasset about Mrs. Fitz." +</P> + +<P> +An uncomfortable silence followed. +</P> + +<P> +"Is she a subject for discussion in a mixed company?" said I, to +relieve the tension. +</P> + +<P> +"I should say not," said Mary. "But Reggie has been so weak that there +is no help for it." +</P> + +<P> +"The victim of circumstances, perhaps," said I, with generous unwisdom. +</P> + +<P> +"People who are weak always are the victims of circumstances. If +Reggie had only been firmer at the beginning, we should not now be a +laughing-stock for everybody. To my mind the first requisite in a +master of hounds is resolution of character." +</P> + +<P> +"Hear, hear," said the occupant of the breakfast table, <I>sotto voce</I>. +</P> + +<P> +The miserable Brasset, whose pinkness and perplexity were ever +increasing, fairly quailed before the Great Lady's forensic power. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think, Mrs. Catesby, I ought to resign?" said he, with the +humility that invites a kicking. +</P> + +<P> +"Not <I>now</I>, surely; it would be too abject. If you felt the situation +was beyond you, you should have resigned at the beginning. You must +show spirit, Reggie. You must not submit to being trampled on publicly +by—by——" +</P> + +<P> +The Great Lady paused here, not because she was at a loss for a word, +but because, like all born orators, she had an instinctive knowledge of +the value of a pause in the right place. +</P> + +<P> +"By a circus rider from Vienna," she concluded in a level voice. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE CASE FOR THE PROSECUTION +</H4> + +<P> +"I know, Mrs. Catesby, I'm not much of a chap," said Brasset, "but +what's a feller to do? I did drop a hint to Fitz, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Fitz!!" The art of the <I>littérateur</I> can only render a scorn so +sublime by two marks of exclamation. +</P> + +<P> +"What did Fitz say?" I ventured to inquire. +</P> + +<P> +"Scowled like blazes," said Brasset, miserably. "Thought the +cross-grained, three-cornered devil would eat me. Beg pardon, Mrs. +Catesby." +</P> + +<P> +The noble Master subsided into his glass of beer in the most lamentably +ineffectual manner. +</P> + +<P> +I cleared my voice in the consciousness that I had an uncle a judge. +</P> + +<P> +"Brasset," said I, "will you kindly inform the court what are the +specific grounds of complaint against this much-maligned and +unfortunate—er—female?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't make yourself ridiculous, Odo!" +</P> + +<P> +"Odo, you know perfectly well!" +</P> + +<P> +It was a dead heat between Mrs. Arbuthnot and the Great Lady. +</P> + +<P> +"Order, order," said I, sternly. "This scene belongs to Brasset. Now, +Brasset, answer the question, and then perhaps something may be done." +</P> + +<P> +It was not to be, however. The nephew of my uncle failed lamentably to +exact obedience to the chair. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Odo," said Mary Catesby, in what I can only describe as her +Albert Hall manner, with her voice going right up to the top like a +flag going up a pole, "do you mean to tell <I>me</I>——?" +</P> + +<P> +"That you don't know how Mrs. Fitz has been carrying on!" the Madam +chipped in with really wonderful cleverness. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't, upon oath," said I, solemnly. "You appear to forget that I +have been giving my time to the nation during this abominable autumn +session." +</P> + +<P> +"So he has, poor dear," said the partner of my joys. +</P> + +<P> +"Like a good citizen," said Mary Catesby, most august of Primrose Dames. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, Mary, I deserve it. But am I to understand that Mrs. Fitz +has flung her cap over the mill, or that she has taken to riding +astride, or is it that she continues to affect that scarlet coat which +last season hastened the end of the Dowager?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Arbuthnot." It was the voice of Brasset, vibrating with such deep +emotion that it can only be compared to the <I>Marche Funèbre</I> performed +upon a cathedral organ. "But it was only by God's mercy that last +Tuesday morning she didn't override Challenger." +</P> + +<P> +"Allah is great," said I. +</P> + +<P> +"Upon my solemn word of honour," said the noble Master, speaking from +the depths, "she was within two inches of the old gal's stern." +</P> + +<P> +"Parkins," said a voice from the breakfast table, "bring another glass +of beer for his lordship." +</P> + +<P> +To be perfectly frank, liquid sustenance was no longer a vital +necessity to the noble Master. He was already rosy with indignation at +the sudden memory of his wrongs. Only one thing can induce Brasset to +display even a normal amount of spirit. That is the welfare of the +sacred charges over which he presides for the public weal. He will +suffer you to punch his head, to tread on his toe, or to call him +names, and as likely as not he will apologise sweetly for any +inconvenience you may have incurred in the process. But if you +belittle the Crackanthorpe Hounds or in any way endanger the humblest +member of the Fitzwilliam strain, woe unto you. You transform Brasset +into a veritable man of blood and iron. He is invested with pathos and +dignity. The lightnings of heaven flash from beneath his long-lashed +orbs; and from his somewhat narrow chest there is bodied forth a far +richer vocabulary than the general inefficiency of his appearance can +possibly warrant in any conceivable circumstances. +</P> + +<P> +Mere feminine clamour was silenced by Brasset transformed. His blue +eyes glowed, his cheeks grew rosier, each particular hair of his +perfectly charming little blond moustache—trimmed by Truefitt once a +fortnight—stood up on end like quills upon the fretful porpentine. In +lieu of pink abasement was tawny denunciation. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll admit, Arbuthnot," said the Man of Blood and Iron, "I looked at +the woman as no man ought to look at a lady." +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't you say 'damn,' Lord Brasset?" piped a demure seeker after +knowledge. +</P> + +<P> +"I may have done, Mrs. Arbuthnot, I admit I may have done." +</P> + +<P> +"I think that ought to go down on the depositions," said I, with an +approximation to the manner of my uncle, the judge, that was very +tolerable for an amateur. +</P> + +<P> +"I <I>honour</I> you for it, Lord Brasset. Don't you, Mary?" +</P> + +<P> +"Endeavour not to embarrass the witness," said I. "Go on, Brasset." +</P> + +<P> +"Brasset, here's your beer," said Jodey, rising from the table and +personally handing the Burton brew with vast solemnity. +</P> + +<P> +"I may have damned her eyes," proceeded the witness, "or I mayn't have +done. You see, she was within two inches of the old gal, and I may +have lost my head for a bit. I'll admit that no man ought to damn the +eyes of a lady. Mind, I don't say I did. And yet I don't say I +didn't. It all happened before you could say 'knife,' and I'll admit I +was rattled." +</P> + +<P> +"The witness admits he was rattled," said I. +</P> + +<P> +"So would you have been, old son," the witness continued +magniloquently. "Within two inches, upon my oath." +</P> + +<P> +"Were there reprisals on the part of the lady whose eyes you had damned +in a moment of mental duress?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Rather</I>. She damned mine in Dutch." +</P> + +<P> +Sensation. +</P> + +<P> +"How did you know it was Dutch, Lord Brasset?" piped a seeker of +knowledge. +</P> + +<P> +"By the behaviour of the hounds, Mrs. Arbuthnot." +</P> + +<P> +"How did they behave?" +</P> + +<P> +"The beggars bolted." +</P> + +<P> +Sensation. +</P> + +<P> +"My aunt!" said the occupant of the breakfast table with solemn +irrelevance. +</P> + +<P> +"So would you," said the noble Master. "I never heard anything like +it. In my opinion there is no language like Dutch when it comes to +cursing. And then, before I could blink, up went her hand, and she +gave me one over the head with her crop." +</P> + +<P> +Sensation. +</P> + +<P> +"Upon my solemn word of honour. I don't mind showing the mark to +anybody." +</P> + +<P> +"Where is it, Lord Brasset?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot rose from her chair in the ecstatic pursuit of +first-hand information. Her eyes were wide and glowing like those of +her small daughter, Miss Lucinda, when she hears the story of "The +Three Bears." +</P> + +<P> +"Show <I>me</I> the scar, Reggie," said a Minerva-like voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's see it, Brasset," said the occupant of the breakfast table, +kicking over a piece of Chippendale of the best period and incidentally +breaking the back of it. +</P> + +<P> +The somewhat melodramatic investigations of a thick layer of Rowland's +Macassar oil and a thin layer of fair hair disclosed an unmistakable +weal immediately above the left temple of the noble martyr in the cause +of public duty. +</P> + +<P> +"If it don't beat cockfighting!" said Jodey in a tone of undisguised +admiration. +</P> + +<P> +"If it hadn't been for the rim of my cap," said the noble martyr in +response to the public enthusiasm, "it must have laid my head clean +open." +</P> + +<P> +"In my opinion," said Mary Catesby, speaking <I>ex cathedra</I>, "that woman +is a perfect devil. Reggie, if you only show firmness you can count +upon support. They may stand that sort of thing in a Continental +circus, but we don't stand it in the Crackanthorpe Hunt." +</P> + +<P> +"Firmness, Brasset," said I, anxious, like all the world, to echo the +oracle. +</P> + +<P> +The little blond moustache was subjected to inhuman treatment. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all very well, you know, but what's the use of being firm with a +person who is just as firm as yourself?" +</P> + +<P> +The Great Lady snorted. +</P> + +<P> +"For three years, Reggie, you have filled a difficult office passably +well. Don't let a little thing like this be your undoing." +</P> + +<P> +"All very well, Mrs. Catesby, but I can't hit her over the head, can I?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, but what about Fitz?" said a voice from the breakfast table. +</P> + +<P> +"Ye-es, I hadn't thought of that." +</P> + +<P> +"And I shouldn't think of it if I were you," said I, cordially. "Fitz +with all his errors is a heftier chap than you are, my son." +</P> + +<P> +Brasset's jaw dropped doubtfully—it is quite a good jaw, by the way. +</P> + +<P> +"Practise the left a bit, Brasset," was the advice of the breakfast +table. "I know a chap in Jermyn Street who has had lessons from Burns. +We might trot up and see him after lunch. Bring a Bradshaw, Parkins. +And I think we had better send a wire." +</P> + +<P> +"I wasn't so bad with my left when I was up at Trinity," said Brasset. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot shuddered audibly. She has long been an out-and-out +admirer of the noble Master's nose. Certainly its contour has great +elegance and refinement. +</P> + +<P> +"Brasset," said I, "let me urge you not to listen to evil +communications. If you were Burns himself you would do well to play +very lightly with Fitz. He was my fag at school, and although +sometimes there was occasion to visit him with an ash plant or a +toasting fork in the manner prescribed by the house regulations at that +ancient seat of learning, I shouldn't advise you or anybody else to +undertake a scheme of personal chastisement." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly not, Reggie," said Mary Catesby, in response to Mrs. +Arbuthnot's imploring gaze. "Odo is perfectly right. Besides, you +must behave like a gentleman. It is the woman with whom you must deal." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I can't hit her, can I?" said Brasset, plaintively. +</P> + +<P> +"If a cove's wife hit me over the head with a crop," said the voice of +youth, "I should want to hit the cove that had the wife that hit me, +and so would Odo. I see there's a train at two-fifteen gets to town at +five." +</P> + +<P> +Brasset's eyes are as softly, translucently blue as those of Miss +Lucinda, but in them was the light of battle. He no longer tugged at +his upper lip, but stroked it gently. To those conversant with these +mysteries this portent was sinister. +</P> + +<P> +"Is Genée on at the Empire?" said he. +</P> + +<P> +"Parkins knows," said Jodey. +</P> + +<P> +Parkins did know. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, my lord," said that peerless factotum, "she is." +</P> + +<P> +In parenthesis, I ought to mention that Parkins is the <I>pièce de +resistance</I> of our modest establishment. Not only is he highly +accomplished in all the polite arts practised by man, but also he is a +walking compendium of exact information. +</P> + +<P> +"How's this?" said Jodey, proceeding to read aloud the telegram he had +composed with studious care. "Dine self and pal Romano's 7.30. Empire +afterwards. Book three stalls in centre." +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't the side be better?" said Brasset. "Then you are out of the +draught." +</P> + +<P> +Before this important correction could be made Mary Catesby lifted up +her voice in all its natural majesty. +</P> + +<P> +"Reginald Philip Horatio," said the most august of her sex, "as one who +dressed dolls and composed hymns with your poor dear mother before she +made her imprudent marriage, I forbid you absolutely to fight with such +a man as Nevil Fitzwaren. It is not seemly, it is not Christian, and +Nevil Fitzwaren is a far more powerful man than yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"Science will beat brute force at any hour of the day or night," was +the opinion of the breakfast table. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Catesby fixed the breakfast table with her invincible north eye. +</P> + +<P> +"Joseph, pray hold your tongue. This is very wrong advice you are +giving to a man who is rather older and quite as foolish as yourself." +</P> + +<P> +The Bayard of the breakfast table rebutted the indictment. +</P> + +<P> +"The advice is sound enough," said he. "My pal in Jermyn Street has +won no end of pots as a middle-weight, and he'll soon have a go at the +heavies now he's taken to supping at the Savoy. He'll put Brasset all +right. He's as clever as daylight, a pupil of Burns. I tell you what, +Mrs. C., if Brasset leads off with a left and a right and follows up +with a half-arm hook on the point, in my opinion he'll have a walk +over." +</P> + +<P> +"Reggie, I forbid you <I>absolutely</I>," said the early collaborator with +the noble Master's mother. "It is so uncivilised; besides, if Nevil +Fitzwaren happened to be the first to lead off with a half-arm hook on +the point, we should probably require a new Master. And that would be +so awkward. It was always a maxim of my dear father's that foxes were +the only things that profited by a change of mastership in the middle +of December." +</P> + +<P> +"Your dear father was right, Mary," said I, gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear father was infallible. But seriously, Reggie, if anything +happened to you we should really have nobody to take the hounds now +that for some obscure reason they have made Odo a member of Parliament." +</P> + +<P> +"If a cove's wife hit me," came the refrain from the breakfast table in +a kind of drone, "I should want to hit the cove that had the wife that +hit me. See that this wire is sent, Parkins, and tell Kelly that I am +running up to town by the 2.15 and shall stay the night." +</P> + +<P> +"Jodey, don't be a fool," said I. "Brasset, I want to say this. I +hope you are listening, Mary, and you too, Irene. Where Fitz and his +wife are concerned, we have all got to play lightly." +</P> + +<P> +I summoned all the earnestness of which I am capable. Even Mary +Catesby was impressed by such an air of conviction. +</P> + +<P> +"I fail to see," said she, "why we should be so especially considerate +of the feelings of the Fitzwarens, when they are the last to consider +the feelings of others." +</P> + +<P> +"You can take it from me, Mary, that Fitz and his wife are not to be +judged altogether by ordinary standards. They are extraordinary +people." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me what you mean by the term extraordinary?" said my +inquisitorial spouse. +</P> + +<P> +"Does it really require explanation, <I>mon enfant</I>?" +</P> + +<P> +"It means," said the plain-spoken Mary, "that Nevil Fitzwaren is an +extraordinarily reckless and dissolute type of fellow, and that Mrs. +Nevil is an extraordinarily unpleasant type of woman." +</P> + +<P> +I am the first to admit that that ineffectual thing, the mere human +male, is not of the calibre openly to dissent from a considered +judgment of the Great Lady. But to the amazement of men and doubtless +of gods, for once in a way her opinion was publicly challenged. +</P> + +<P> +You could have heard a pin drop in the room when the occupant of the +breakfast table took up the gage. +</P> + +<P> +"Fitz is a bad hat." Joseph Jocelyn De Vere removed the pipe from his +lips. "Everybody knows it. But Mrs. Fitz is a thousand times too good +for the cove that's married her." +</P> + +<P> +Such an expression of opinion left his sister open-mouthed. Mary +Catesby lowered her chin and her eyelashes at an indiscretion so +portentous. +</P> + +<P> +"The Fitzwarens," said that great authority, "are a very old family, +and Nevil has the education, if not the instincts, of a gentleman, but +as for this circus rider he has brought from Vienna, she has neither +the birth, the education nor the instincts of a lady." +</P> + +<P> +This tremendous pronouncement would have put most people out of action +at once. But here was a man of mettle. +</P> + +<P> +"She's tophole," said that Bayard. "I've never seen her equal. If you +ask my opinion there's not a chap in the Hunt who is fit to open a gate +for Mrs. Fitz." +</P> + +<P> +The young fellow had fairly got the bit between his teeth and no +mistake. +</P> + +<P> +"One doesn't ask your opinion, Joseph," said Mary Catesby, with a +bluntness that would have felled a bullock. "Why should one, pray? I +know no person less fitted to express an opinion on any subject." +</P> + +<P> +"I've followed her line anyhow, and I've been proud to follow it. She +can ride cunning, too, mind you. I've never seen her equal anywhere, +and don't suppose I ever shall." +</P> + +<P> +"No one questions her riding. She was born and bred in a circus. But +a more unmitigated female bounder never jumped through a hoop in pink +tights." +</P> + +<P> +It was below the belt, and not only Jodey but Brasset, who, inefficient +as he is in most things, is unmistakably a sportsman of the first +class, also felt it to be so. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Fitz has foreign ways," said the noble Master, "but she can be as +nice as anybody when she likes. I've known her be awfully civil." +</P> + +<P> +"She is not without charm," said I, feeling that it was up to me to +play up a bit. +</P> + +<P> +"She's <I>it</I>," said Jodey. "She's the sort of woman that would make a +chap——" +</P> + +<P> +"Shoot himself," chirruped the noble Master. +</P> + +<P> +Disgust and indignation are mild terms to apply to Mrs. Catesby's wrath. +</P> + +<P> +"Pair of boobies! You are as bad as he is, Reggie. But it was always +so like your poor mother to take things lying down." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, come now, Mrs. Catesby, haven't I said all along that she had no +right to hit me over the head with her crop?" +</P> + +<P> +"The safest place in which to hit you, anyway." The Great Lady was in +peril of losing her temper. +</P> + +<P> +The question of Mrs. Fitz was a very vexed one in the Crackanthorpe +Hunt. It had already divided that proud institution into two sections: +i.e. the thick and thin supporters of that lady and those who would not +have her at any price. It need excite no remark in the minds of the +judicious that the male followers of the Hunt, almost to a man, +admired, as much as they dared in the circumstances, a very remarkable +personality; while its feminine patrons, with a unanimity quite without +precedent in that august body, were conspiring to humiliate, as deeply +as it lay in their power, a personage who had set three counties by the +ears. +</P> + +<P> +The Great Lady proceeded to temper her wrath with some extremely +dignified pathos. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a mystery to me," said she, "how men who call themselves +gentlemen can attempt to defend a creature who offered a public affront +to the Duke and dear Evelyn." +</P> + +<P> +"I presume you mean the affair of the bazaar?" said I. +</P> + +<P> +"I do; a lamentable fracas. Dear Evelyn never left her bed for a +fortnight." +</P> + +<P> +"Dear me! Are we to understand that actual physical violence was +offered to her Grace?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be childish, Odo! I was present and saw everything, and I can +answer for it that no such thing as violence was used." +</P> + +<P> +"Then why did the great lady take to her bed?" +</P> + +<P> +"Through sheer vexation. And really one doesn't wonder. It was +nothing less than a public insult." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me, Mary, precisely in three words what did happen at the bazaar. +All the world agrees that it was a desperate affair, yet nobody seems +to know exactly what it was that occurred." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Catesby enveloped herself in that mantle of high diplomacy that +she is pleased so often to assume. +</P> + +<P> +"No, my dear Odo, I don't think it would be kind to the Duke and dear +Evelyn to say actually what did occur. To my mind it is not a thing to +be spoken of, but I may tell you this—it has been mentioned at +Windsor!" +</P> + +<P> +It was clear from the Great Lady's demeanour that at this announcement +we were all expected to cross ourselves. Only Mrs. Arbuthnot did so, +however. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mary!" The china-blue eyes swam with ecstasy. +</P> + +<P> +"If you wish to convey to us, my dear Mary," said I, "that a royal +commission has been appointed to inquire into the subject, all +experience tends to teach that there will be less prospect than ever of +finding out what did happen at the bazaar." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell us what really did happen at the bazaar, Mrs. Catesby," said +Brasset. "I am sorry I wasn't there." +</P> + +<P> +"No, Reggie, I am <I>much</I> too fond of dear Evelyn to disclose the truth +to a living soul. But I may tell you this: the incident was far worse +than has been reported." +</P> + +<P> +"I understand," said I, solemnly lying, at the instance of the +histrionic sense, "that Windsor earnestly desired that the incident, +whatever it was, should be minimised as much as possible." +</P> + +<P> +The bait was gobbled, hook and all. +</P> + +<P> +"How did you come to hear that, Odo? Even I was not told that." +</P> + +<P> +"Who told you <I>that</I>, Odo?" Mrs. Arbuthnot twittered breathlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"There was a rumour the other day in the House." +</P> + +<P> +"The idle gossip of the lobbies," the Great Lady was moved to affirm. +</P> + +<P> +But we were straying away from the point. And the point was, in what +manner was public decency to mark its sense of outrage at the conduct +of Mrs. Fitz? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE MIDDLE COURSE +</H4> + +<P> +Although so many conflicting rumours were abroad as to the unparalleled +affront that had been offered to the Strawberry Leaf—some accounts had +it that "dear Evelyn" had been called "a cat" within the hearing of the +Mayor and other civic dignitaries of Middleham, while others were +pleased to affirm that she had had her ears boxed before the eyes of +the horrified reporter for the <I>Advertiser</I>—there was the implicit +word of Brasset that he had been subjected not only to unchaste +expressions in a foreign tongue, but had actually been in receipt of +physical violence in his honourable endeavour to uphold the dignity and +the discipline of the Crackanthorpe Hunt. +</P> + +<P> +I hope and believe I am a lenient judge of the offences of +others—fellow-occupants of our local bench delight to tell me so—but +even I was so imbued with the spirit of the meeting as to allow that +some kind of official notice ought to be taken of the outrageous +conduct of Mrs. Nevil Fitzwaren. From the first hour of her appearance +among us, a short fifteen months ago, she had gathered the storm-clouds +of controversy about her. Almost as soon as she appeared out cubbing +she became the most discussed person in the shire. Her ways were +unmistakably foreign and "unconventional"; and certainly, in the saddle +and out of it, her personality can only be described as a little +overpowering. +</P> + +<P> +In the beginning it may have been Fitz himself who contributed as much +as anything to the notoriety of his continental wife. Five years +before, the only surviving son of a disreputable father had let the +house of his ancestors in a state of gross disrepair, together with the +paternal acres, to a City magnate, and betook himself, Heaven alone +knew where. Wise people, however, were more than willing that the +President of the Destinies should retain the sole and exclusive +possession of this information. Nobody had the least desire to know +where Fitz the Younger, unmistakable scion of a somewhat deplorable +dynasty, was to be found, except, perhaps, a few London tradesmen, who, +if wise men, would be sparing of their tears. They might have been hit +so much harder than proved to be the case. Wherever Fitz had gone, +those who knew most of him, and the stock from which he sprang, +devoutly hoped that there he would stay. +</P> + +<P> +For five years we knew him not. And then one fine September afternoon +he turned up at the Grange with a motor car and a French chauffeur and +a foreign wife. It may not seem kind to say so, but in the interests +of this strange but ower-true tale, it is well to state clearly that +his return was highly disconcerting to all sections of the community. +His name was still an offence in the ears of an obsequious and by no +means over-censorious countryside. Rural England is astonishingly +lenient "to Squoire and his relations," but Master Nevil had proved too +stiff a proposition even for its forbearance. +</P> + +<P> +Howbeit, Fitz had hardly been a week at his ancestral home with his +foreign wife and his motor car when there began to be signs of a rise +in Fitzwaren stock. It was bruited abroad that he was paying his +debts, fulfilling long-neglected obligations, that he had given up the +bowl, and that, in a word, he was doing his best to clear a pretty +black record. Indeed, the upward tendency of the Fitzwaren stock was +so well maintained, that it was decided by the Committee for the +Maintenance of the Public Decency that the august Mrs. Catesby should +call on his wife and so pave the way for the <I>entente</I>. After all, the +Fitzwarens were the Fitzwarens, and our revered Vicar—the hardest +riding parson in five counties—clinched the matter with the most +apposite quotation from Holy Writ in which he has ever indulged. +</P> + +<P> +The august Mrs. Catesby bore the olive branch in the form of a couple +of pieces of pasteboard to the Grange in due course; Mrs. Arbuthnot, +the Vicar's wife, Laura Glendinning, and the rank and file of the +custodians of the public decency followed suit; and such an atmosphere +of the best type of Christian magnanimity prevailed, that it was quite +on the <I>tapis</I> that "dear Evelyn" herself, the Perpetual President and +Past Grand Mistress of this strenuous society, would shoot a card at +the Grange. To show that this is not the idle gossip of an empty tale, +there is Mrs. Catesby's own declaration, made in Mrs. Arbuthnot's own +drawing-room in the presence of Laura Glendinning and the Vicar's wife, +"that had Mrs. Fitz only been presented she was in a position to know +that dear Evelyn would have called upon her." +</P> + +<P> +That was the hour in which the Fitzwaren stock touched its zenith. +Thenceforward there was a fall in price. Nevertheless, it was agreed +that Fitz was a reformed character. A glass of beer for luncheon, a +glass of wine for dinner, and a maximum of three whiskies and sodas +<I>per diem</I>; handsome indemnity paid to the daughter of the landlord of +the Fitzwaren Arms; propitiation galore to persons of all degrees and +shades of opinion; appearance with the ducal party at the Cockfoster +shoot; regular attendance at church every Sunday forenoon. Fitz made +the pace so hot that the wise declared it could not possibly last. +They were wrong, however, as the wise are occasionally. Fitz had more +staying power than friends and neighbours were prepared to concede to +the son of his father. But in spite of all this, once the slump set in +it continued steadily. +</P> + +<P> +Those who had known Fitz before the reformation were not slow to +believe that it was no strength of the inner nature that had rendered +him a vessel of grace. It was excessively creditable, of course, to +the black sheep of the fold, but the whole merit of the reclamation +belonged not to the prodigal, but to the nondescript lady from the +continent who had not been presented at Court. The depth of Fitz's +infatuation for that unconventional creature was really grotesque. +</P> + +<P> +To the merely masculine intelligence it would have seemed that an +influence so beneficent over one so besmirched as poor Fitz must have +counted to that lady for righteousness on the high court scale. But +the Committee for the Maintenance of the Public Decency came to quite +another conclusion. The mere male cannot do better than give <I>in +extenso</I> the Committee's report upon the matter, and for the text of +this judicial pearl our thanks are due to the august Mrs. Catesby. "If +she had been Anybody," that great and good woman announced, "one would +have felt it only right to encourage Nevil Fitzwaren in his +praise-worthy effort, but as dear Evelyn has been informed, on +unimpeachable authority, that she used to ride bareback in a circus in +Vienna, it is quite clear that the wretched fellow is in the toils of +an infatuation." +</P> + +<P> +After this finding by the Committee, holders of Fitzwaren stock +unloaded quickly. Yet there were some of these speculators who were +loth to take that course. Fitz, the harum-scarum, with his nails +trimmed, was a less picturesque figure than the provincial Don Juan; +but there were those who were not slow to aver that the fair +<I>equestrienne</I> he had had the audacity to import from Vienna was quite +the most romantic figure that had ever hunted with the Crackanthorpe +Hounds. +</P> + +<P> +Doubtless she had been born in a stable and reared upon mares' milk, +but to behold her mounted upon the strain of the Godolphin Arabian, in +a tall hat, military gauntlets and a scarlet coat was a spectacle that +few beholders were able to forget. In the opinion of the Committee, +there can be no doubt whatever that it hastened the end of the Dowager. +The old lady drove to the meet at the Cross Roads, behind her fat old +ponies and her fat old coachman John Timmins, in the full enjoyment of +all her faculties, with a shrewd wit, an easy conscience and a good +appetite, took one glance at Mrs. Nevil Fitzwaren, told John Timmins in +a hoarse whisper to go home immediately, had a stroke before she +arrived, and passed away without regaining consciousness, in the +presence of her spiritual, her medical, and her legal advisers. +</P> + +<P> +In the inflamed state of the public mind, it was necessary that persons +of moderate views should be wary. I had seen Mrs. Fitz out hunting, +and in this place I am open to confess that I was sealed of the tribe +of her admirers. Not from the athletic standpoint merely, but from the +æsthetic one. Quite a young woman, with superb black eyes and a forest +of raven hair, a skin of lustrous olive, a nose and chin of +extraordinary decision and character; a more imperiously challenging +personality I cannot remember to have seen. Professional Viennese +<I>equestriennes</I> are doubtless a race apart. They may be accustomed to +exact a homage from their world which in ours is reserved more or less +for the "dear Evelyns" and their compeers. But the gaze of this +haughty queen of the sawdust, when she condescended to exert it, was +the most direct and arresting thing that ever exacted tribute from the +English male or fluttered the devecotes of the scandalised English +female. Her "what-pray-are-you-doing-on-the-earth?" air was so vital +that it sent a thrill through the veins. Small wonder was it that the +hapless Fitz had struggled so gamely to pull himself together. She was +a woman to make a man or mar him. As Fitz was marred already, the +sphere of her activities were limited accordingly. +</P> + +<P> +Like most men of moderate views, at heart I own to being a bit of a +coward. At any rate it would have taken wild horses to drag the +admission from me that I was an out-and-out admirer of the "Stormy +Petrel," as with rare felicity the Vicar of the parish had christened +her. For by this time our little republic was cloven in twain. There +were the Mrs. Fitzites, her humble admirers and willing slaves, whose +sex you will easily guess; and there were the Anti-Mrs.-Fitzites, +ruthless adversaries who had sworn to have her blood, or failing that, +since Atalanta was an amazon indeed, to make the place so hot for her +that, in the words of my friend Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins, "she would have +to quit." +</P> + +<P> +How to dislodge her, that was the problem for the ladies of the +Crackanthorpe Hunt. It was in the quest of a solution that the +illustrious Mrs. Catesby had honoured us with a morning call. +</P> + +<P> +"Odo Arbuthnot," said that notable woman, "it is my intention to speak +plainly. Mrs. Fitz must leave the neighbourhood. We look to you, as a +married man, a father of a family and a county member, to devise a +means for her removal." +</P> + +<P> +"Issue a writ," said I. "That seems the most straightforward course. +If our assaulted and battered friend, Brasset, will swear an +information, I shall be glad to sign the warrant." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think she could be taken to prison?" said Mrs. Arbuthnot, +hopefully. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't attempt to beg the question." The Great Lady was not to be +diverted from the scent. "Be more manly. We expect public spirit from +you. Certainly this business is extremely disagreeable, but it does +not excuse your pusillanimity. To my mind, your attitude all along has +suggested that you are trying to run with the hare and to hunt with the +hounds." +</P> + +<P> +This was a terrible home-thrust for a confirmed lover of the middle +course. I hope I am not wholly lacking in spirit, but such a charge +was not easy to rebut. While I assumed a statesmanlike port, if only +to gain a little time in which to cover my exposed position, my +relation by marriage, with a daring which was certainly remarkable in +one who is not by nature a thruster, took up the cudgels yet again. +</P> + +<P> +"If I were you, Odo," said he, "I should let 'em do their own dirty +work." +</P> + +<P> +I felt Mary Catesby's glance flash past me like the lightning of heaven. +</P> + +<P> +"Dirty work, Joseph? I demand an explanation." +</P> + +<P> +"I call it dirty," said that gladiator. "I like things straightforrard +myself. If you think a cove is askin' for trouble hand it out to him +personally. Don't set on others." +</P> + +<P> +Before the woman of impregnable virtue to whom this gem of morality was +addressed, could visit the Bayard at the breakfast table according to +his merit, we found ourselves suddenly precipitated into the realms of +drama. +</P> + +<P> +For this was the moment in which I became aware that Parkins was +hovering about my chair and that a sensational announcement was on his +lips. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Fitzwaren desires to see you, sir, on most urgent business." +</P> + +<P> +The effect was electrical. Mary Catesby suspended her indictment with +a gesture like Boadicea's, queenly but ferocious. Brasset's pink +perplexity approximated to a shade of green; the eyes of the Madam were +like moons—in the circumstances a little poetic license is surely to +be pardoned—while as for the demeanour of the narrator of this +ower-true tale, I can answer for it that it was one of total +discomfiture. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Fitzwaren here?" were my first incredulous words. +</P> + +<P> +"I have shown him into the library, sir," said Parkins, solemnly. +</P> + +<P> +"You cannot see him, Odo," said the despot of our household. "He must +not come here." +</P> + +<P> +"Important business, Parkins?" said I. +</P> + +<P> +"Most <I>urgent</I> business, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Highly mysterious!" Mrs. Catesby was pleased to affirm. +</P> + +<P> +Highly mysterious the coming of Nevil Fitzwaren certainly was. A +moment's reflection convinced me of the need of appeasing the general +curiosity. I took my way to the library with many speculations rising +in my mind. Nothing was further from my expectation than to be +consulted by Nevil Fitzwaren on urgent business. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ABOUNDS IN SENSATION +</H4> + +<P> +Astonished as I was by the coming of such a visitor, the appearance and +the manner of that much-discussed personage did nothing to lessen my +interest. +</P> + +<P> +I found him pacing the room in a state of agitation. His face was +haggard, his eyes were bloodshot, he was unkempt and almost piteous to +look upon. And yet more strangely his open overcoat, which his +distress could not suffer to keep buttoned, disclosed a rumpled shirt +front, a tie askew and a dinner jacket which evidently had been donned +the evening before. +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo, Fitz," said I, as unconcernedly as I could. +</P> + +<P> +He did not answer me, but immediately closed the door of the room. +Somehow, the action gave me a thrill. +</P> + +<P> +"There is no possibility of our being overheard?" he said in a hoarse +whisper. +</P> + +<P> +"None whatever. Let me help you off with your coat. Then sit down in +that chair next the fire and have a drink." +</P> + +<P> +Fitz submitted, doubtless under a sense of compulsion. My four years' +seniority at school had generally enabled me to get my way with him. +It was rather painful to witness the effort the unfortunate fellow put +forth to pull himself together; and when I measured out a pretty stiff +brandy-and-soda his refusal of it was distinctly poignant. +</P> + +<P> +"I oughtn't to have it, old chap," he said, with his wild eyes looking +into mine like those of a dumb animal. "It doesn't do, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Drink it straight off at once," said I, "and do as you are told." +</P> + +<P> +Fitz did so with reluctance. The effect upon him was what I had not +foreseen. His haggard wildness yielded quite suddenly to an outburst +of tears. He covered his face with his hands and wept in a painfully +overwrought manner. +</P> + +<P> +I waited in silence for this outburst to pass. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been scouring the country since nine o'clock last night," he +said, "and I feel like going out of my mind." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the trouble, old son?" said I, taking a chair beside him. +</P> + +<P> +"They've got my wife." +</P> + +<P> +"Whom do you mean by 'they'?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can't, I mustn't tell you," said Fitz, excitedly, "but they have got +her, and—and I expect she is dead by now." +</P> + +<P> +Words as wild as these to the accompaniment of that overwrought +demeanour suggested an acute form of mental disturbance only too +clearly. +</P> + +<P> +"You had better tell me everything," said I, persuasively. "Perhaps I +might be able to help a little. Two heads are better than one, you +know." +</P> + +<P> +I must confess that I had no great hope of being able to help the +unlucky fellow very materially, but somewhat to my surprise he answered +in a perfectly rational manner. +</P> + +<P> +"I have come here with the intention of telling you everything. I must +have help, and you are the only friend I've got." +</P> + +<P> +"One of many," said I, lying cordially. +</P> + +<P> +"It's true," said Fitz. "The only one. Like that chap in the Bible, +the hand of every man is against me. I deserve it; I know I've not +played the game; but now I must have somebody to stand by me, and I've +come to you." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said I, "that is no more than you would do by me in similar +circumstances." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mean that," said Fitz, with an expression of keen misery. +"But you are a genuine chap, all the same." +</P> + +<P> +"Let's hear the trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"The trouble is this," said Fitz, and as he spoke the look of wildness +returned to his eyes. "My wife went in the car to do some shopping at +Middleham at three o'clock yesterday afternoon expecting to be back at +five, and neither she nor the car has returned. +</P> + +<P> +"And nothing has been heard of her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a word." +</P> + +<P> +"Had she a chauffeur?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, a Frenchman of the name of Moins whom we picked up in Paris." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you have communicated with the police?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; you see, the whole affair must be kept as dark as possible." +</P> + +<P> +"They are certainly the people to help you, particularly if you have +reason to suspect foul play." +</P> + +<P> +"There is every reason to suspect it. I am afraid she is already +beyond the help of the police." +</P> + +<P> +"Why should you think that?" +</P> + +<P> +Fitz hesitated. His distraught air was very painful. +</P> + +<P> +"Arbuthnot," said he, slowly and reluctantly, "before I tell you +everything I must pledge you to absolute secrecy. Other lives, other +interests, more important than yours and mine, are involved in this." +</P> + +<P> +I gave the pledge, and in so doing was impressed by a depth of +responsibility in the manner of my visitor, of which I should hardly +have expected it to be capable. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see in the papers last evening that there had been an attempt +on the life of the King of Illyria?" +</P> + +<P> +"I read it in this morning's paper." +</P> + +<P> +"It will surprise you to learn," said Fitz, striving for a calmness he +could not achieve, "that my wife is the only child of Ferdinand XII, +King of Illyria. She is, therefore, Crown Princess and Heiress +Apparent to the oldest monarchy in Europe." +</P> + +<P> +"It certainly <I>does</I> surprise me," was the only rejoinder that for the +moment I could make. +</P> + +<P> +"I want help and I want advice; I feel that I hardly dare do anything +on my own initiative. You see, it is most important that the world at +large should know nothing of this." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, may I ask?" +</P> + +<P> +"There are two parties at war in Illyria. There is the King's party, +the supporters of the monarchy, and there is the Republican party, +which has made three attempts on the life of Ferdinand XII and two on +that of his daughter." +</P> + +<P> +"But I assume, my dear fellow, that the whereabouts in England of the +Crown Princess are known to her father the King?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; and it is essential that he should remain in ignorance. Our +elopement from Illyria was touch and go. Ferdinand has moved heaven +and earth to find out where she is, because she has been formally +betrothed to a Russian Grand Duke, and if she does not return to +Blaenau he will not be able to secure the succession." +</P> + +<P> +"Depend upon it," said I, "the Crown Princess is on the way to Blaenau. +Not of her own free will, of course. But his Majesty's agents have +managed to play the trick." +</P> + +<P> +"You may be right, Arbuthnot. But one thing is certain; my poor brave +Sonia will never return to Blaenau alive." +</P> + +<P> +Fitz buried his face in his hands tragically. +</P> + +<P> +"She promised that, you know, in case anything of this kind happened, +and I consented to it." The simplicity of his utterance had in it a +certain grandeur which few would have expected to find in a man with +the reputation of Nevil Fitzwaren. "Everybody doesn't believe in this +sort of thing, Arbuthnot, but I and my princess do. She will never lie +in the arms of another. God help her, brave and noble and unluckly +soul!" +</P> + +<P> +This was not the Fitz the world had always known. I suddenly recalled +the flaxen-haired, odd, intense, somewhat twisted, wholly unhappy +creature who had rendered me willing service in our boyhood. I had +always enjoyed the reputation in our house at school that I alone, and +none other, could manage Fitz. I recalled his passion for the "Morte +d'Arthur," his angular vehemence, his sombre docility. In those +distant days I had felt there was something in him; and now in what +seemed curiously poignant circumstances there came the fulfilment of +the prophecy. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us assume, my dear fellow," said I, making an attempt to be of +practical use in a situation of almost ludicrous difficulty, "that it +is not her father who has abducted the Princess Sonia. Let us take it +to be the other side, the Republican party. +</P> + +<P> +"It would still mean death; not by her own hand, but by theirs. They +twice attempted her life in Blaenau." +</P> + +<P> +"In any case, it is reasonably clear that not a moment is to be lost if +we are to help her." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what to do," said Fitz, "and that's the truth." +</P> + +<P> +I confessed that I too had no very clear idea of the course of action. +It occurred to me that the wisest thing to be done was to take a third +person into our counsels. +</P> + +<P> +"You ask my advice," said I; "it seems to me that the best thing to do +is to see if Coverdale will help us." +</P> + +<P> +"That will mean publicity. At all costs I feel that that must be +avoided." +</P> + +<P> +"Coverdale is a shrewd fellow. He will know what to do; he is a man +you can trust; and he will be able to set the proper machinery in +motion." +</P> + +<P> +My insistence on the point, and Fitz's unwilling recognition of the +need for a desperate remedy, goaded him into a half-hearted consent. +In my own mind I was persuaded of the value of Coverdale's advice, in +whatever it might consist. He was the head of the police in our shire, +and apart from a little external pomposity, without which one is given +to understand it is hardly possible for a Chief Constable to play the +part, he was a shrewd and kind-hearted fellow, who knew a good deal +about things in general. +</P> + +<P> +Poor Fitz would listen to no suggestion of food. Therefore I ordered +the car round at once, and incidentally informed the ruler of the +household, and the expectant assembly by whom she was surrounded, that +Fitz and I had some private business to transact which required our +immediate presence in the city of Middleham. +</P> + +<P> +"Odo," said she whose word is law, with a mien of dark suspicion, "if +Nevil Fitzwaren is persuading you to lend him money, I forbid you to +entertain the idea. You are really so weak in such matters. You have +really no idea of the value of money." +</P> + +<P> +"It will do you no good with your constituents either," said Mary +Catesby, "to be seen in Middleham with Nevil Fitzwaren." +</P> + +<P> +To these warning voices I turned deaf ears, and fled from the room in a +fashion so precipitate that it suggested guilt. +</P> + +<P> +No time was lost in setting forth. As we glided past the front of the +house, I at least was uncomfortably conscious of a battery of hostile +eyes in ambush behind the window panes. There could be no doubt that +every detail of our going was duly marked. Heaven knew what theories +were being propounded! Yet whatever shape they assumed I was sure that +all the ingenuity in the world would not hit the truth. No feat of +pure imagination was likely to disclose what the business really was +that had caused me to be identified in this open and flagrant manner +with the husband of the luckless circus rider from Vienna. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +EXPERT OPINION +</H4> + +<P> +Every mile of the eight to Middleham, Fitz was as gloomy as the grave. +In spite of the confidence he had been led to repose in my judgment, he +seemed wholly unable to extend it to that of Coverdale. He had a +morbid dread of the police and of the publicity that would invest any +dealings with them. The preservation of his wife's incognito was +undoubtedly a matter of paramount importance. +</P> + +<P> +It was half-past twelve when we reached Middleham. We were lucky +enough to find Coverdale at his office at the sessions hall. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what can I do for you?" said the Chief Constable, heartily. +</P> + +<P> +"You can do a great deal for us, Coverdale," said I. "But the first +thing we shall ask you to do is to forget that you are an official. We +come to you in your capacity of a personal friend. In that capacity we +seek any advice you may feel able or disposed to give us. But before +we give you any information, we should like to have your assurance that +you will treat the whole matter as being told to you in the strictest +secrecy." +</P> + +<P> +Coverdale has as active a sense of humour as his exalted station allows +him to sustain. There was something in my mode of address that seemed +to appeal to it. +</P> + +<P> +"I will promise that on one condition, Arbuthnot," said he; "which is +that you do not seek to involve me in the compounding of a felony." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh no, no, no, no!" Fitz burst out. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz's exclamation and his tragic face banished the smile that lurked +at the corners of Coverdale's lips. +</P> + +<P> +I deemed it best that Fitz should re-tell the story of his tragedy, and +this he did. In the course of his narrative the sweat ran down his +face, his hands twitched painfully, and his bloodshot eyes grew so wild +that neither Coverdale nor I cared to look at them. +</P> + +<P> +Coverdale sat mute and grave at the conclusion of Fitz's remarkable +story. He had swung round in his revolving chair to face us. His legs +were crossed and the tips of his fingers were placed together, after +the fashion that another celebrity in a branch of his calling is said +to affect. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a queer story of yours, Fitzwaren," he said at last. "But the +world is full of 'em—what?" +</P> + +<P> +"Help me," said Fitz, piteously. His voice was that of a drowning man. +</P> + +<P> +"I think we shall be able to do that," said Coverdale. He spoke in the +soothing tones of a skilful surgeon. +</P> + +<P> +"The first thing to know," said the Chief Constable, "is the number of +the car." +</P> + +<P> +"G.Y. 70942 is the number." +</P> + +<P> +Coverdale jotted it down pensively upon his blotting-pad. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you a portrait of Mrs. Fitzwaren?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I have this," said Fitz. +</P> + +<P> +In the most natural manner he flung open his overcoat, pulled away his +evening tie, tore open his collar, and produced from under the rumpled +shirt front a locket suspended by a fine gold chain round his neck. It +contained a miniature of the Princess, executed in Paris. Both +Coverdale and I examined it curiously, but as we did so I fear our +minds had a single thought. It was that Fitz was a little mad. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you entrust it to me?" said Coverdale. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz's indecision was pathetic. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the only one I've got," he mumbled. "I don't suppose I shall +ever be able to get another. I ought to have had a replica while I had +the chance." +</P> + +<P> +"I undertake to return it within three days," said Coverdale, with a +simple kindliness for which I honoured him. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz handed the locket to him impulsively, +</P> + +<P> +"Of course take it, by all means," he said, hurriedly. "I know you +will take care of it. Fact is, you know, I'm a bit knocked over." +</P> + +<P> +"Naturally, my dear fellow," said Coverdale. "So should we all be. +But I shall go up to town this afternoon and have a talk with them at +Scotland Yard. +</P> + +<P> +"I was afraid that would have to happen. I wanted it to be kept an +absolute secret, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"You can depend upon the Yard to be the soul of discretion. It is not +the first time they have been entrusted with the internal affairs of a +reigning family. If the Princess is still in this country and she is +still alive, and there is no reason to think otherwise, I believe we +shall not have to wait long for news of her." +</P> + +<P> +Coverdale spoke in a tone of calm reassurance, which at least was +eloquent of his tact and his knowledge of men. Overwrought as Fitz +was, it was not without its effect upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"Ought not the ports to be watched?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly think it will be necessary. But if Scotland Yard thinks +otherwise, they will be watched of course. Whatever happens, +Fitzwaren, you can be quite sure that nothing will be left undone in +our endeavour to find out what has really happened to the lady we shall +agree to call Mrs. Fitzwaren. Further, you can depend upon it that +absolute discretion will be used." +</P> + +<P> +We left Coverdale, imbued with a sense of gratitude for his cordial +optimism, and I think we both felt that a peculiarly delicate business +could not be in more competent hands. He was a man of sound judgment +and infinite discretion. Throughout this singular interview he had +emerged as a shrewd, tactful and eminently kind-hearted fellow. +</P> + +<P> +As a result of this visit to the sessions hall at Middleham, poor Fitz +allowed himself a little hope. He had been duly impressed by the man +of affairs who had taken the case in hand. However, he was still by no +means himself. He was still in a strangely excited and gloomy +condition; and this was aggravated by his friendlessness and the +feeling that the hand of every man was against him. +</P> + +<P> +In the circumstances, I felt obliged to yield to his expressed wish +that I should accompany him to the Grange. As the crow flies it is +less than four miles from my house. +</P> + +<P> +The home of the Fitzwarens is a rambling, gloomy and dilapidated place +enough. An air pervades it of having run to seed. Every Fitzwaren who +has inhabited it within living memory has been a gambler and a <I>roué</I> +in one form or another. The Fitzwarens are by long odds the oldest +family in our part of the world, and by odds equally long their record +is the most unfortunate. Coming of a long line of ill-regulated lives, +the heavy bills drawn by his forbears upon posterity seemed to have +become payable in the person of the unhappy Fitz. Doubtless it was not +right that one who in Mrs. Catesby's phrase was a married man, a father +of a family, and a county member, should constitute himself as the +apologist of such a man as Fitz. But, in spite of his errors, I had +never found it in my heart to act towards him as so many of his +neighbours did not hesitate to do. The fact that he had fagged for me +at school and the knowledge that there was a lovable, a pathetic and +even a heroic side to one to whom fate had been relentlessly cruel, +made it impossible for me to regard him as wholly outside the pale. +</P> + +<P> +I can never forget our arrival at the Grange on this piercing winter +afternoon. My car belonged to that earlier phase of motoring when the +traveller was more exposed to the British climate than modern science +considers necessary. The snow, at the beck of a terrible north-easter, +beat in our faces pitilessly. And when we came half frozen into the +house, we were met on its threshold by a mite of four. She was the +image of her mother, with the same skin of lustrous olive, the same +mass of raven hair, and the same challenging black eyes. In her hand +was a mutilated doll. It was carried upside down and it had been +decapitated. +</P> + +<P> +"I want my mama," she said with an air of authority which was +ludicrously like that of the circus rider from Vienna. "Have you +brought my mama?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, my pearl of price," said Fitz, swinging the mite up to his +snow-covered face, "but she will be here soon. She has sent you this." +</P> + +<P> +He kissed the small elf, who had all the disdain of a princess and the +witchery of a fairy. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is dis?" said she, pointing at me with her doll. +</P> + +<P> +"Dis, my jewel of the east, is our kind friend Mr. Arbuthnot. If you +are very nice to him he will stay to tea." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you like my mama, Mistah 'Buthnot?" said the latest scion of +Europe's oldest dynasty, with a directness which was disconcerting from +a person of four. +</P> + +<P> +"Very much indeed," said I, warmly. +</P> + +<P> +"You can stay to tea, Mistah 'Buthnot. I like you vewy much." +</P> + +<P> +The prompt cordiality of the verdict was certainly pleasant to a humble +unit of a monarchical country. The creature extended her tiny paw with +a gesture so superb that there was only one thing left for a courtier +to do. That was to kiss it. +</P> + +<P> +The owner of the paw seemed to be much gratified by this discreet +action. +</P> + +<P> +"I like you vewy much, Mistah 'Buthnot; I will tell you my name." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, do, please!" +</P> + +<P> +"My name is Marie Sophie Louise Waren Fitzwaren." +</P> + +<P> +"Phoebus, <I>what</I> a name!" +</P> + +<P> +"And dis, Mistah 'Buthnot, is my guv'ness, Miss Green. She is a tarn +fool." +</P> + +<P> +The lady thus designated had come unexpectedly upon the scene. An +estimable and bespectacled gentlewoman of uncompromising mien, she +gazed down upon her charge with the gravest austerity. +</P> + +<P> +"Marie Louise, if I hear that phrase again you will go to bed." +</P> + +<P> +As Miss Green spoke, however, she gazed at me over her spectacles in a +humorously reflective fashion. +</P> + +<P> +Marie Louise shrugged her small shoulders disdainfully, and in a tone +that, to say the least, was peremptory, ordered the butler, who looked +venerable enough to be her great-grandfather, to bring the tea. The +<I>congé</I> that the venerable servitor performed upon receiving this order +rendered it clear that upon a day he had been a confidential retainer +in the royal house of Illyria. +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid, Miss Green," said I, tentatively, "that your post is no +sinecure." +</P> + +<P> +"That mite of four has the imperious will of a Catherine of Russia," +said Miss Green, with an amused smile. "If she ever attains the estate +of womanhood, I shudder to think what she will be." +</P> + +<P> +Fitz entreated me to dine with him. I yielded in the hope that a +little company might help him to fight his depression. The meal was +not a cheerful one. Under the most favourable conditions Fitz is not a +cheerful individual; but I was obliged to note that of late years he +had learned to exercise his will. In many ways I thought he had +changed for the better. He had lost his coarseness of speech; he was +scrupulously moderate in what he ate and drank, and his bearing had +gained in reserve and dignity. In a word, he had grown into a more +civilised, a more developed being than I had ever thought it possible +for him to become. +</P> + +<P> +It was past eleven when I returned to my own domain. The blizzard +still prevailed, and I found Mrs. Arbuthnot in the drawing-room +enthroned before a roaring fire, which happily served as some +mitigation of the arctic demeanour with which my return was greeted. +This, in conjunction with the adverse elements through which I had +already passed, was enough to complete the overthrow of the strongest +constitution. +</P> + +<P> +The ruler of Dympsfield House—Dympsfield House is the picturesque name +conferred upon our ancestral home by my grandfather, Mr. George +Arbuthnot of Messrs. Arbuthnot, Boyd and Co., the celebrated firm of +sugar refiners of Bristol—the ruler of Dympsfield House was ostensibly +engaged in the study of a work of fiction of a pronounced sporting +character, with a yellow cover. Works of this nature and the +provincial edition of the <I>Daily Courier</I>, which is guaranteed to have +a circulation of ten million copies <I>per diem</I>, are the only forms of +literature that the ruler of Dymspfield House considers it "healthy" to +peruse. +</P> + +<P> +When I entered the drawing-room with a free and easy air which was +designed to suggest that my conscience had nothing to conceal and +nothing to defend, the wife of my bosom discarded her novel and fixed +me with that cool gaze which all who are born Vane-Anstruther consider +it to be the hall-mark of their caste to wield. +</P> + +<P> +"Where have you been, Odo?" was the greeting that was reserved for me. +</P> + +<P> +"Dining with Fitz," said I, succinctly. +</P> + +<P> +A short pause. +</P> + +<P> +"What did you say?" +</P> + +<P> +I repeated my modest statement. +</P> + +<P> +A snort. +</P> + +<P> +"Upon my word, Odo, I can't think——!" +</P> + +<P> +It called for a nice judgment to know which opening to play. +</P> + +<P> +"Fitz is in trouble," said I. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that <I>very</I> surprising?" +</P> + +<P> +It is difficult to render the true Vane-Anstruther vocal inflections in +terms of literary art. A similar problem is presented by the +unwavering glint of the china-blue eye and the subtle curl of the lip. +</P> + +<P> +"In the sense you wish to convey, <I>mon enfant</I>, it is surprising. Fitz +is one of the poor devils who are by no means so black as they are +painted." +</P> + +<P> +A toss of the head. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't forget that I have known Fitz all his life; that we were at +school together; and that one way and another I have seen a good deal +of him." +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't boast about it, if I were you. The man is a byword; you +know that. It is not kind to me." +</P> + +<P> +I was in mortal fear of tears. That dread accessory of conjugal life +is permitted by the Code De Vere Vane-Anstruther in certain situations. +However, although the weather was very heavy, for the time being that +was spared me, and I breathed more freely. +</P> + +<P> +Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther, who had a cigarette between his +lips, and was lying full length upon a chintz that was charmingly +devised in blue and yellow, inquired whether I had mentioned to Fitz +the subject of a meeting with the outraged Brasset. +</P> + +<P> +"If the weather don't pick up," said this Corinthian, "we shall go up +to town to-morrow, and my pal in Jermyn Street will put Brasset through +his facings. With a bit of practice Brasset ought to be able to give +Fitz his gruel." +</P> + +<P> +"I fail to see," said I, "why the unfortunate husband should be brought +to book for the sins of the wife." +</P> + +<P> +"If you take to yourself a wife," said my relation by marriage, with a +didacticism of which he is seldom guilty, "it is for better or for +worse; and if your missus overrides the best 'ound in the pack and then +'its the Master over the head with her crop because he tells her what +he thinks of her, you are looking both ways for trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"It is a hard doctrine," said I. +</P> + +<P> +"If a chap is such a fool as to marry, he must stand to the +consequences." +</P> + +<P> +"He must!" +</P> + +<P> +Such a prompt corroboration of the young fellow's reasoning can only be +described as sinister. A flash of the china-blue eyes came from the +vicinity of the hearthrug. +</P> + +<P> +"How did Mrs. Fitz bear herself at the dinner table?" inquired the +sharer of my joys. "Did she eat with her knife and drink out of the +finger bowls?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, <I>mon enfant</I>, I am compelled to say that she did not." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot frowned a becoming incredulity. +</P> + +<P> +"You surprise one." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps it is not altogether remarkable." +</P> + +<P> +"A matter of opinion, surely." +</P> + +<P> +"Personally, I prefer to regard it as a matter of fact. You see, Mrs. +Fitz was not at the dinner table." +</P> + +<P> +"Where was she, may I ask?" +</P> + +<P> +"She had gone up to town." +</P> + +<P> +"And was that why her husband was so upset?" +</P> + +<P> +"There is reason to believe that it was." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" +</P> + +<P> +There was great virtue in that exclamation. My amiable coadjutor, as I +knew perfectly well, was burning to pursue her inquiries, but her +status as a human being did not permit her to proceed farther. There +are many advantages incident to the proud condition of a De Vere +Vane-Anstruther, but that almost inhuman eminence has its drawbacks +also. Chief among them are the limits imposed upon a perfectly natural +and healthy curiosity. It is not seemly for a member of that +distinguished clan to enter too exhaustively into the affairs of her +neighbours. +</P> + +<P> +On the following morning, in spite of the behaviour of the weather, we +were favoured by an early visit from Mrs. Catesby. She was in high +feather. +</P> + +<P> +"You have heard the news, of course!" she proclaimed for the benefit of +Mrs. Arbuthnot and with an expansion of manner that she does not always +permit herself. "Of course Odo has told you what brought Nevil +Fitzwaren here yesterday morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh no, he hasn't," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, rather aggrievedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it conceivable, my dear child, that you have <I>not</I> heard the news?" +</P> + +<P> +"I only know, Mary, that Nevil Fitzwaren is in trouble. Odo did not +think well to supply the details, and really the affairs of the +Fitzwarens interest one so little that one did not feel inclined to +inquire." +</P> + +<P> +"The creature has bolted, my dear." +</P> + +<P> +In spite of Mrs. Arbuthnot's determination to take no interest in the +affairs of the Fitzwarens, she was not proof against this melodramatic +announcement. +</P> + +<P> +"Bolted, Mary!" +</P> + +<P> +"Bolted, child. And with whom do you suppose?" +</P> + +<P> +"One would say with the chauffeur," hazarded Mrs. Arbuthnot, promptly. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Catesby's countenance fell. She made no attempt to dissemble her +disappointment. +</P> + +<P> +"Then Odo <I>has</I> told you after all." +</P> + +<P> +"Not a syllable, I assure you, Mary. But I am certain that if Mrs. +Fitz has bolted with anybody, it must have been with the chauffeur." +</P> + +<P> +"How clever of you, my dear child!" The Great Lady's admiration was +open and sincere. "Such a right feeling about things! She has +certainly bolted with the chauffeur." +</P> + +<P> +"Odo," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, triumphant, yet imperious, "why didn't you +tell me all this?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Mon enfant</I>," said I, in the mellowest tones of which I am master, +"you gave me clearly to understand that the affairs of the Fitzwarens +had no possible interest for you." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot went to the length of biting her lip. By withholding +such a sensational bit of news, I had been guilty of an unheard-of +outrage upon human nature. But she could not deny my plea of +justification. +</P> + +<P> +"Nevil Fitzwaren is far luckier than he deserves to be," said the Great +Lady. "It is a merciful dispensation that dear Evelyn did not actually +call upon her. I feel sure she would have done, had I not implored her +not to be hasty." +</P> + +<P> +"But Mary, I was under the impression that you called upon her +yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"So I did, Odo. But that was merely out of respect for the memory of +Nevil's mother. Besides, it was only right that somebody should see +what her home was like." +</P> + +<P> +"What was it like, Mary?" said I. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Catesby compressed her lips. +</P> + +<P> +"I ask you, Mary. You alone sacrificed yourself upon the altar of +public decency; you alone are in possession of the grim facts." +</P> + +<P> +"Let us be charitable, my dear Odo. After all, what can one expect of +a person from a continental circus?" +</P> + +<P> +"What indeed!" was my pious objuration. +</P> + +<P> +"There is only one thing, I fear, for Nevil to do now," said the Great +Lady. "He must get a divorce and marry his cook." +</P> + +<P> +The august matron denied us the honour of her company at luncheon. She +was due at the Vicarage. And there was reason to believe that she +would drink tea at the Priory and dine at the Castle. It was so +necessary that the joyful tidings of the Divine justice that had +overtaken the wicked should be spread abroad. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +COVERDALE'S REPORT +</H4> + +<P> +In the afternoon I rode over to the Grange to learn if there was any +news and to see how Fitz was bearing up. He was certainly doing +uncommonly well. His face was less haggard, his eyes were not so wild, +while a change of linen and a razor had helped his appearance +considerably. +</P> + +<P> +Coverdale had telegraphed to say that the car had been traced to a +garage in Regent Street, and that before long he hoped to be in +possession of further information. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz seemed to regard the finding of the car as a favourable omen. At +least his emotions were under far better control than on the previous +day. His manner was no longer overwrought, and he was able to take a +more practical view of the situation. +</P> + +<P> +He promised to keep me informed of any fresh development, and I left +him without misgiving. He seemed much more fit to cope with events +than when I had left him the night before. +</P> + +<P> +It was in the afternoon of the following day that I saw Fitz again. It +happened that I was just about to set out from my own door when he +drove up in a dogcart. He was accompanied by Coverdale. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz has a curiously mobile countenance. It is quick to advertise the +fleeting emotions of its owner. This afternoon there was a light in +his eye and a look of resolution and alertness about him which said +that news had come, and that, whatever its nature, Nevil Fitzwaren was +not prepared to submit tamely to fate. +</P> + +<P> +"I was on the point of coming to see you," I explained as I led them in. +</P> + +<P> +The presence of Coverdale seemed to indicate an important development. +It would have been difficult, however, to deduce so much from the +bearing of the Chief Constable. He is such a discreet and sagacious +individual, that no amount of special information is capable of +detracting from or adding to his habitual air of composed importance. +</P> + +<P> +My visitors were supplied with a little sustenance in a liquid form +before I asked for the news; and then in answer to my demand Fitz +called upon Coverdale to put me <I>au fait</I> with the latest information. +</P> + +<P> +It appeared that Coverdale had hastened to take Scotland Yard into his +confidence, and that that famous organisation had been able in a +surprisingly short space of time to shed a light upon the mysterious +disappearance of Mrs. Fitz. +</P> + +<P> +"She has been traced to the Illyrian Embassy in Portland Place," said +Coverdale. +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed!" said I. "In that case we can congratulate you, Fitz, that +she is likely to come by no harm in that dignified seclusion." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that aspect of the affair is decidedly favourable," said +Coverdale. "But as far as the Commissioner is able to learn, the lady +is to all intents and purposes being held a close prisoner." +</P> + +<P> +"A very singular state of things, surely." +</P> + +<P> +"Decidedly singular. But there can be no doubt that the Illyrian +Ambassador is acting upon strict instructions from his Sovereign." +</P> + +<P> +"He must be a pretty cool hand, to kidnap the wife of an Englishman in +this country in the broad light of day, and the monarch for whom he +acts strikes one also as being a pretty cool customer." +</P> + +<P> +Coverdale laughed. He knocked the ash off the end of his cigar with an +air of reflective enjoyment. +</P> + +<P> +"Kings are kings in Illyria," said he. "Saving the presence of the +son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth, his Majesty is no believer in this +damned constitutional nonsense. He has his own ideas and his own +little way of carrying them out." +</P> + +<P> +"He has, apparently. But unfortunately for Ferdinand the Twelfth and +fortunately for his son-in-law, Fitz, we in this country are rather +decided believers in this damned constitutional nonsense. I daresay, +Coverdale, your friend the Commissioner will be able to put his +Illyrian Majesty right upon the point." +</P> + +<P> +The stealthy air of enjoyment that was hovering about Coverdale's +rubicund visage seemed to deepen. +</P> + +<P> +"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" he said, with a cheerful puff, "but it +seems it is not quite so easy as you'd suppose." +</P> + +<P> +I confessed to surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, Arbuthnot, even in a country like ours, kings are entitled to +a measure of respect. The reigning family of Illyria—under the favour +of our distinguished friend"—the Chief Constable bowed to Fitz with a +solemn unction that to my mind was indescribably comic—"has ties of +blood with nearly all the royal houses of Europe; the Illyrian Embassy +is by no means a negligible quantity at the Court of Saint James, for +if Illyria is not very large it is devilish well connected; and again, +as the Commissioner assures me, an embassy is sacred earth which lies +outside his jurisdiction." +</P> + +<P> +"He seems to have come up against rather a tough proposition." +</P> + +<P> +"He is the first to admit it. Here we have a flagrant outrage +committed upon the personal property of a law-abiding Englishman, under +his own vine and fig-tree, in his own little county; the perpetrators +of the outrage sit unconcerned in Portland Place; yet there seems to be +no machinery in this admirably governed and highly constitutional +island which can redress this flagrant hardship." +</P> + +<P> +"But surely, Coverdale, a way can be found?" +</P> + +<P> +"The Commissioner declined point-blank to undertake anything on his own +responsibility. Accordingly we went to the Foreign Office and had an +interview with an Official. The Official didn't seem to know what the +practice of the Office was in such cases, for the simple reason that it +was the first time that the Office appeared to have acquired any +practice in them. But upon one point he was perfectly clear. It was +that the Commissioner would do well to return without delay to his +fingermarks and his photographs of notorious criminals, and contrive to +forget that "L'Affaire Fitz" had been brought to his notice." +</P> + +<P> +"But that is absurd." +</P> + +<P> +"That is how the matter stands at all events," said Coverdale with an +air of detachment. +</P> + +<P> +"Did the Official confer with the Minister?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; and the Minister conferred with the Official; and their joint +wisdom amounted to this: if a British subject indulges in the luxury of +a Ferdinand the Twelfth for a father-in-law, he must refer to God any +little differences that may arise between them, because the law of +England does not contemplate and declines to take cognisance of these +domesticities." +</P> + +<P> +"It is incredible!" +</P> + +<P> +"I agree with you, Arbuthnot; and yet if you look at the matter in all +its bearings, it is difficult to see what other conclusion could have +been arrived at. The whole affair bristles with difficulties. There +is no specific evidence that the Crown Princess of Illyria is actually +in need of aid. Although many of the details of her flight from +Blaenau five years ago are known to the Foreign Office, it is in +complete ignorance of the fact that she was in residence in this +country. And again, the whole thing is far too delicate to risk a fall +with the Illyrian Ambassador." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly the national horror of looking foolish appears to justify +the F.O. in the <I>rôle</I> of Agag. But in my humble judgment its masterly +inactivity is desperately hard on a British subject." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Coverdale, having recourse to the plain man's philosophy, +"if a British subject will indulge in a Ferdinand the Twelfth for a +father-in-law!" +</P> + +<P> +During our extremely piquant discussion—to me it was certainly that, +however tame and flat it may appear in the bald prose in which it is +now invested—the person most affected by it was a study in sombre +self-repression. He spoke not a word, he hardly indulged in a gesture; +yet his whole bearing had significance. And when at last the time came +for him to speak, he used a quiet deliberation as though every word had +been sought out and weighed beforehand. +</P> + +<P> +"There is only one thing to be done," he said. "As the law won't help +me, I must help the law." +</P> + +<P> +Not only in its substance, but also in the manner of its delivery, such +an announcement was entirely worthy of the son-in-law of Ferdinand the +Twelfth. +</P> + +<P> +I saw the rather amused uplift of Coverdale's eyebrows, but knowing the +unusual calibre of the speaker, I felt instinctively that at this stage +a display of scepticism would be out of place. Fitz was quite capable +of helping the law of England, if he really felt that it required his +assistance. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't thank you, Coverdale," he said simply. "You have done for me +what I can't repay. This applies to you also, Arbuthnot. I shall +never forget what you've done for me. But now I am going to ask you +both as fellow Englishmen, with wives and children of your own, to +stand by me while I try to get fair play." +</P> + +<P> +Such words affected us both. +</P> + +<P> +"You can certainly count upon me for what I may be worth," said I, "but +frankly, my dear fellow, I fail to see what you can do in face of the +Foreign Office decree." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall play Ferdinand at his own game and beat him at it as I've done +before to-day." +</P> + +<P> +It was a vaunt that Fitz was entitled to make. The elopement from +Blaenau must have been the work of a bold and resourceful man. +</P> + +<P> +"Of one thing I am convinced," Fitz proceeded: "there is not an hour to +lose. My wife may be taken back to Blaenau at any moment. I am +confident that von Arlenberg, the Ambassador, has orders from +Ferdinand. If I am to save the life of Sonia, I must act without +delay." +</P> + +<P> +Coverdale nodded his head in silence, while I felt a pang of dismay. +The argument was clear enough, but Fitz's impotence in the presence of +events made him a figure for pity. +</P> + +<P> +His demeanour, however, betrayed no consciousness of this. In those +strange eyes there was purpose, and something had entered his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"I want half a dozen good fellows—sportsmen—to stand by me. You are +one, Arbuthnot. You too, Coverdale. You will stand by me, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +The Chief Constable looked a little uneasy. To the official mind such +a request was decidedly ambiguous, not to say uncomfortable. +</P> + +<P> +"I should be glad, Fitzwaren," said he, "if you will tell me precisely +what responsibilities I shall incur if I pledge myself to this course." +</P> + +<P> +"It depends on circumstances," said Fitz. "But if I find my back to +the wall, as I daresay I shall before I am through with this business, +I should like to have at my elbow a few men I can trust." +</P> + +<P> +"So long as you don't depute me to throw a bomb into the Embassy!" said +Coverdale. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz's scheme for the recovery of his lawful property was not so +drastic as that, yet when it came to be unfolded it was somewhat of a +nature to give pause to a pair of Englishmen converging upon middle +age, pledged especially to observe the law. +</P> + +<P> +"I intend to have her out of Portland Place. She must come away +to-morrow. There is not an hour to lose. But I must find a few pals +who are good at need, because it won't be child's play, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"It certainly won't be child's play," agreed the Chief Constable, "if +it is your intention to break into the Illyrian Embassy and seize the +Crown Princess by force." +</P> + +<P> +"There is no help for it," said Fitz, quietly. +</P> + +<P> +Coverdale grew thoughtful. It was tolerably clear that Fitz was +contemplating an act of open violence; and as a breach of the peace +must at all times be construed as a breach of the law, it was scarcely +for him to aid and abet him. At heart, nevertheless, the worthy Chief +Constable was a downright honest, four-square, genuine fellow. He did +not say as much, but there was something in his manner which implied +that he had come to the conclusion that those repositories of justice, +national and international, Scotland Yard and the Foreign Office, were +conniving at a frank injustice to a fellow Briton. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a hard case," said Coverdale; "and in the circumstances I don't +altogether see how you can be blamed if you take reasonable steps to +recover your property." +</P> + +<P> +"In other words, Coverdale," said I, "you are prepared to countenance +the raid on the Illyrian Embassy?" +</P> + +<P> +The Chief Constable laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't say that exactly. And yet, after all, this is a free country; +and if a parcel of damned foreigners bagged my wife, and the law could +afford me no redress, I'm afraid, I'm sadly afraid——" +</P> + +<P> +"It would be 'Up Guards and at 'em'?" +</P> + +<P> +"Upon my word, Arbuthnot, I'm not sure it wouldn't!" +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, Coverdale," said Fitz. "And I take it that both of you +will go up to London with me to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you ask us precisely to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Leave the details to me"—Fitz's air was that of a staff officer. +"You can trust me not to go out of my way to look for trouble. But it +is not much use for one man single-handed to attempt to force his way +into the Illyrian Embassy for the purpose of effecting the rescue of +the Crown Princess." +</P> + +<P> +"It would be suicidal for one man to attempt it," we agreed. +</P> + +<P> +"What is the minimum of assistance you will require?" said I. +</P> + +<P> +"Half a dozen stout fellows ought to be able to manage it comfortably. +There's Coverdale and you and me. If I can enlist three others between +now and to-morrow, the thing is as good as done." +</P> + +<P> +Fitz's calm tone of optimism was certainly surprising. The Chief +Constable and myself exchanged rather rueful glances. We appeared to +have pledged ourselves to a course of action that might have the most +serious and far-reaching consequences. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +PREPARATIONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN +</H4> + +<P> +One thing was perfectly clear; we were pretty well in a cleft stick. +So heartily had we espoused the cause of a much-injured man, that to +withhold practical assistance, now it was needed so sorely, was hardly +possible. Yet there could be no doubt that discomfiture and perplexity +were beginning to play the deuce with the Chief Constable's official +placidity. I also, "a married man, a father of a family, and a county +member," began to have qualms. +</P> + +<P> +"Three other stout fellows," said Fitz, "who are not afraid of a tight +place and who can be trusted with a revolver, are almost a necessity. +The trouble is to find them." +</P> + +<P> +On many occasions since, I have had cause to review my conduct in this +crisis. Whether it was that of a sane, judicial-minded, law-abiding +unit of society I have never been able to determine. Doubtless I erred +egregiously. All the same I shall always protest that Nevil Fitzwaren +was a much-injured man. Moreover, now that the call to arms had come +to him, nature had thought fit to invest him with that occult power +that makes a man a leader of others. I could not have believed such a +transfiguration to be possible. He seemed suddenly to emerge as the +possessor of a steadfastness of purpose and a strength of will which +commanded sympathy in almost the same measure that his pathetic +helplessness had in the first place aroused it. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you suggest three stout fellows, Arbuthnot? Gentlemen, if +possible, and chaps to be trusted. Of course they will have to know +the why and wherefore of it all." +</P> + +<P> +Under the spell that Fitz was wielding over me I became the victim of +an inspiration. In a flash there came into my mind the three gamesters +necessary to complete the <I>partie</I>. They were Jodey, his friend in +Jermyn Street, "who had had lessons from Burns," and that much-enduring +but thoroughly sound-hearted fellow, the Master of the Crackanthorpe. +For an instant I reflected with the Napoleonic gaze of Fitz upon me. +And then through sheer human weakness I committed the most signal +indiscretion of which a tolerably blameless existence had ever been +guilty. I permitted the names of these three champions to cross my +lips. +</P> + +<P> +Coverdale turned his sombre eyes upon me. They were devoid of anger, +but extremely full of sorrow. +</P> + +<P> +"You old fool!" he said under his breath. "You look like landing us +fairly." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," whispered the egregious I, "we can't leave the poor chap in the +lurch at this stage of the proceedings, can we?" +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose not; but this business looks like costing me my billet. Let +us pray God he don't intend to shoot the ambassador." +</P> + +<P> +"Not he," said I, assuming a cheerfulness I did not feel, in the hope +of minimising my lapse from the strait way of prudence. "He is a very +sensible fellow and a devilish plucky one." +</P> + +<P> +The immediate result of my indiscretion was that I was urged to summon +my relation by marriage, in order that his valuable services might be +enlisted. With that end in view, Parkins was sent in search of him. +He returned all too soon with the information that he was over at the +Hall playing billiards with Lord Brasset. +</P> + +<P> +"Two birds with one stone!" said Fitz, exultantly. "The best thing we +can do is to go over and see them." +</P> + +<P> +The Hall is not more than a hundred yards or so from our modest +demesne; and at Fitz's behest we set forth in quest of recruits. +</P> + +<P> +"Nice state o' things!" growled Coverdale <I>en route</I>. +</P> + +<P> +In due course we were ushered into Brasset's billiard-room. The owner +thereof and my relation by marriage were engaged in a friendly but +one-sided game of shilling snooker. The latter, in accordance with his +invariable practice of "putting his best leg first" to atone for the +lifelong handicap of having been born a younger son, was potting three +times the number of balls of his charmingly amiable and courteous +opponent. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo, you fellows," said Brasset. "Take a cue and join us." +</P> + +<P> +The presence in that place of the husband of Mrs. Fitz was wholly +unlooked-for, but neither of the players betrayed their surprise. Any +surprise they had to display was duly forthcoming later. +</P> + +<P> +Most people who have mixed at all with their fellows are more or less +finished dissemblers. But Brasset and Jodey were by no means proof +against the extraordinary tale that Fitz had come to unfold. +</P> + +<P> +"Heiress to oldest reigning family in Europe!" exclaimed Brasset, whose +perturbation and bewilderment were comic in the extreme. "In that case +she had an absolute <I>right</I> to hit me over the head with her crop, even +if she did go rather far in overriding Challenger." +</P> + +<P> +As for Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther, his countenance was a +study. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I always said she was <I>it</I>," he murmured rapturously. +</P> + +<P> +"Stand by you—ra-<I>ther</I>!" said Brasset. "Only too proud. I've got a +beautiful Colt revolver in my bureau. Shot a lion with it in Africa." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you ought to be able to manage an ambassador in Portland Place," +said I. +</P> + +<P> +"Ra-<I>ther</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"It's a go, then?" said Fitz. "I can count on you fellows to give me a +hand. We may have to put it across that swine von Arlenberg, although +of course he is merely obeying the orders of Ferdinand." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, of course." +</P> + +<P> +The two recruits to the cause of the Crown Princess beamed joyfully. +They took the oath of fealty, which merely assumed the form of +promising to dine at Ward's before the event, and promising to sup at +the Savoy after it. +</P> + +<P> +The sixth person essential to the success of Fitz's scheme was the +unknown sportsman of Jermyn Street, who had had lessons from Burns. +Jodey was emphatic in his declaration that his friend, whom he +proclaimed as "the amateur middle-weight champion of the United +Kingdom," would be only too eager to seize one of the great +opportunities of his life. A telegram was immediately concocted for +this paladin, who was urged to turn up at Ward's on the morrow at the +appointed hour. "Bring a revolver with you. There will be a bit of +fun going after dinner," was a clause that the author of the telegram +was keenly desirous to insert. +</P> + +<P> +Opinion was divided as to the wisdom of inserting the clause in +question. To the shrewd and cautious official mind, as represented by +Coverdale, it would be sufficient to urge a sensible and law-abiding +citizen to give the proposed dinner party a wide berth. Personally, I +was of Coverdale's opinion; Fitz and Brasset "saw nothing out of the +way in it," while its author was convinced that so little would the +clause in question be likely to deter his friend O'Mulligan, that it +would invest a commonplace invitation to dine at Ward's and sup at the +Savoy with a sufficient spice of romance to preclude "the best +sportsman that ever came out of Ireland" from having a previous +engagement. +</P> + +<P> +Youth will be served. Jodey's lucid argument carried weight enough for +the telegram to be sent to Jermyn Street in all its pristine integrity. +Coverdale looked rueful all the same, and I felt his gaze of grave +reproach upon me. The leader of the enterprise, however, was far from +sharing the misgivings of the Chief Constable. On the contrary, he +felt that the cause of the Princess Sonia had gained three valuable +recruits. +</P> + +<P> +Certainly, the demeanour of Brasset and of my relation by marriage left +nothing to be desired from the point of view of whole-heartedness. +They were only too eager to embrace the opportunity of redressing a +notorious wrong. Coverdale and I could by no means rise to their +enthusiasm. We were both over forty, and at that time of life the +average man cannot evoke that quality, unless it is in the pursuit of a +peerage, but in our innermost hearts we were fain to feel that it did +them honour. +</P> + +<P> +To Brasset's suggestion that we should dine with him that evening, in +order that we might evolve, as far as in us lay, a plan of campaign, we +yielded a ready response. Incidentally, it may be well to state that +Brasset is unmarried, and that his mother was spending the winter at +San Remo. +</P> + +<P> +It was in sore travail of the spirit that I walked back to Dympsfield +House, and proceeded to hunt for the weapon which was kept in my +dressing-room as a precaution against burglars. Ruefully it was taken +from its sanctuary and examined. Then I went in search of the ruler of +the household. Having found her pottering about the greenhouse, I +broke the news that I was dining out that evening, and that on the +morrow duty called me to the metropolis, because I feared that my aged +grandmother's chronic bronchitis had taken a turn for the worse. +</P> + +<P> +Both these announcements were accepted with more serenity than the +inward monitor had led me to anticipate. +</P> + +<P> +"By all means dine with Reggie Brasset, although I think it is very +wrong of him not to ask me. And by all means go to London to-morrow to +see poor dear Gran, and"—here it was that the first small fly was +disclosed in the ointment—"take me. Now that the weather has gone all +to pieces, it is a good time to see the new plays; and I must have at +least two new frocks and one of those chinchilla coats that everybody +is wearing." +</P> + +<P> +There are occasions when the most reciprocal nature may regard marriage +as an overrated institution. +</P> + +<P> +"But, my dear child," I gasped, "did you not promise upon your sacred +word of honour that if you had that mare at the beginning of November, +you would not want to exceed your dress allowance before the summer?" +</P> + +<P> +"Did I?" said a voice of bland inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you, <I>mon enfant</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"But then you see the poor thing has been lame for quite a fortnight." +</P> + +<P> +It was man's work to convince Mrs. Arbuthnot, delicately, tenderly, but +quite firmly, that not for a moment could her demands be entertained. +How in the end it was contrived I shall not attempt to explain. Who +among us is competent to render these hearthrug diplomacies in a just +notation? But by some occult means I was able to effect a compromise +upon terms which only a sanguine temperament could have hoped for. I +was to be permitted to dine with Brasset and play a quiet rubber of +bridge, and on the morrow I was to go to town to spend the week-end +with my grandmother; in consideration of which benefits, the second +party to the contract was to spend the week-end with her admirable +parents at Doughty Bridge, Yorks, and become the recipient of a sable +stole and an oxidised silver muff chain. +</P> + +<P> +I could not help feeling that such a compact was extremely honourable +to the political side of my nature. I had been prepared for pearl +earrings or a new opera cloak at the least. There can be little doubt +that tolerably regular attendance at the House of Commons during the +course of three sessions does not a little to equip a man for the more +complex phases of civilised life. +</P> + +<P> +Brasset's impromptu dinner party that evening was a decided success. +For this happy result he was not a little indebted to the foresight of +his amiable and ever-lamented father. The wine was excellent. Even +the Chief Constable, who looked as sombre as a cardinal and as rueful +as Don Quixote, swallowed the brown sherry with approbation, toyed with +the lighter vintages, sipped the port wine with sage approval, admired +the old brandy, and told one of the best stories I have ever heard in +my life. +</P> + +<P> +At the conclusion of this masterpiece of refined ribaldry, Brasset gave +a peremptory little tap on the table and rose to his feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Gentlemen," said he, "I ask you to drink the health of the Crown +Princess of Illyria. May God defend the right! With the toast, I beg +to be allowed to couple the name of our friend and neighbour, Mr. Nevil +Fitzwaren." +</P> + +<P> +The toast was honoured in due form. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, gentlemen." Fitz's reply was made with touching +simplicity. "God <I>will</I> defend the right. He always does. But I +thank you all from the bottom of my heart for standing by me to see +that I get fair play. It's good to be born an Englishman." +</P> + +<P> +"Hear, hear; quite so," said the Chief Constable. +</P> + +<P> +Out of the corner of one rueful eye, however, the head of our +constabulary favoured me with a glance that was at once whimsical and +lugubrious. The thought was ever present in that official breast that +the slightest hitch in a decidedly precarious adventure would be +fraught for all concerned in it with consequences which he did not care +to contemplate. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ON THE EVE +</H4> + +<P> +A calm inquiry into the case rendered it inconceivable that two pillars +of the Constitution should commit themselves irrevocably to a scheme of +action whose true sphere was the boards of a playhouse or the pages of +a lurid romance. By what lapse of the reason had they permitted +themselves to drift into a position so ludicrous yet so eminently +dangerous? Possibly it was right for irresponsible youth; possibly it +was right for men of temperament like the heroic Fitz; but for +Lieutenant-Colonel John Chalmers Coverdale, C.M.G., late of His +Majesty's Carabineers, and Odo Arbuthnot, Member of Parliament for the +Uppingdon Division of Middleshire, it was confessedly an egregious +folly. +</P> + +<P> +We were both past the age when such a scheme would have appealed to our +high spirits as a superior sort of "rag." Once embarked upon it, who +should say whither it might lead? It was impossible to foretell the +course of such an adventure. Two such devotees of law and order did +well to entertain misgivings, even with the winecup in their hands. +</P> + +<P> +As far as the other side of the picture was concerned, Fitz was fully +entitled to regard himself as a much-injured man. It is true that in +the first instance he had taken the liberty of contracting a morganatic +marriage with a princess in the direct line of succession of a reigning +house. But in a country like ours, where the freedom of the subject +and the right of the individual to shape his own destiny form the +keystone of the arch upon which the fabric of society is raised, it was +impossible not to sympathise keenly with Fitz. All freeborn Englishmen +could not fail to resent the intervention of an irresponsible third +party, who was recklessly determined to violate a tie that had the +sanction of God. +</P> + +<P> +Over our cigars, when the servants had left the room, the orders for +the morrow were discussed. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope, Fitzwaren," said the Chief Constable, "that you fully realise +the extreme gravity of your undertaking. A single error of judgment, a +single slip in your mode of procedure, and we are certain to find +ourselves very badly landed indeed. Personally, I hope very much that +you will leave lethal weapons out of the case. If we carry them we run +up against the law; and not only will they prejudice our cause but +there is no saying to what they may lead." +</P> + +<P> +"I should like," said I, "to identify myself with these remarks of +Coverdale's. I concur entirely." +</P> + +<P> +Fitz removed the cigar from his lips and leaned back in his chair. He +seemed to be pondering deeply. +</P> + +<P> +"I respect the opinion of both of you," he said, speaking with a good +deal of deliberation after a pause that was somewhat lengthy. "You are +quite right in one sense, but in the most important sense of all I am +sure you are wrong. I should like everybody who is going into this +business to understand clearly that it is most likely to prove +extremely serious. We must take every reasonable precaution, because +the moment we enter von Arlenberg's house we carry our lives in our +hands. I know these Illyrians; as soon as they understand our game +they will use no ceremony. Law or no law, they will shoot us like dogs +if they think it is necessary. And I can assure you they will think it +is necessary, unless we get them with their hands up." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't like lethal weapons," said the Chief Constable. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't like them either," said Fitz, "but if we are to come through +with this business, we shall be compelled to carry them." Suddenly his +voice sank. "The truth is, this game is so dangerous, that I don't +urge anybody to take part in it. Let any man who thinks the cause is +good enough follow me with a loaded revolver in his right-hand trouser +pocket; and let any man who doesn't keep out of it and I shall be the +last to blame him." +</P> + +<P> +In the language there may not have been persuasiveness, but there was a +good deal in the tone. Fitz's manner was that of a leader of others; +of one who foresaw the risks he incurred; who embraced them +deliberately; who having once formed his plan stuck to it whatever it +might entail. +</P> + +<P> +Coverdale had seen service in Zululand, the Transvaal, and in Eygpt; +Brasset and I had borne a humble share in the recent transactions in +South Africa; yet in an unconscious way we were all susceptible to the +play of a powerful will and a magnetic personality. Cynics may say it +was the wine that turned the scale—the juice of the grape is the fount +of many a hardy resolution—but I prefer to think it was the quality of +Fitz himself. Retreat at the eleventh hour might have been construed +as dishonourable, but men like Coverdale had no need to be +fantastically nice upon the point of honour. It was, I think, that +Fitz carried conviction. His was the inestimable gift of rising with +his theme. Heaven knew! the enterprise was foolhardy, but the man +himself was a good one to follow. +</P> + +<P> +All the same, when we adjourned our meeting with the compact that we +should assemble at Middleham railway station on the morrow in time to +catch the 3.30 to London, I went home in a state of depression. Were I +to have been hanged at cock-crow I could not have found my bed more +unsympathetic. Most of the night I lay awake in a state of the most +unworthy apprehension. The very intangibility of the business of the +morrow seemed to make it a nightmare. Had it been a duel, or a +definite pitting of one known force against another, it would have +seemed less uncomfortable, less sinister. As it was, we did not know +precisely to what we stood committed. The thing might prove merely +farcical. On the contrary, it might involve battle, murder and sudden +death. +</P> + +<P> +A dozen times in the dismal darkness the question was put, by what +chain of events had a mildly egoistical hedonist, the husband of a +charming lady, the father of a merry blue-eyed daughter, with a +reasonable competence and an ambition to excel at golf, come to imperil +all these delectable things? Merely at the beck of a wild-living +profligate who felt he had been wronged. +</P> + +<P> +Stated as bluntly as this in the high court of reason the whole thing +seemed absurd. There was so much to lose and so little to gain. The +scheme was preposterous. Nevil Fitzwaren might certainly be the victim +of an injustice, but what of Miss Lucinda and her mama? True, +Coverdale was also a party to the scheme; but he was by nature +adventurous, a seeker after something fresh. To be sure he imperilled +his billet, but he was understood to have private means. +</P> + +<P> +"Odo Arbuthnot," said the thin voice of reason at three o'clock in the +morning, "you must withdraw from this incredibly foolish and +reprehensible proceeding." +</P> + +<P> +Howbeit, the voice of reason never sways us entirely. Accordingly I +made a particularly feeble breakfast, wrote a letter to my grandmother +in Bolton Street, sped the Madam, looking supremely gay and engaging, +on the way to her fond parents at Doughty Bridge, Yorks, read the +immortal story of "The Three Bears" to Miss Lucinda for the thousand +and first time, carefully overhauled the six-chambered weapon which a +professional criminal had yet to put to the test, and in a miserable +frame of mind sat down to luncheon in the company of my relation by +marriage. +</P> + +<P> +It may be that the holy state of wedlock makes cowards of us all. +Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther was certainly not embarrassed by +such qualms as these. He was even more serenely magnificent than usual +in a suit of grey tweeds aggressively checked and a waistcoat that was +conducting a violent quarrel with a Zingari necktie; while his air of +hopeful enjoyment of life as it was and as it was going to be, provoked +some rather pregnant reflections upon the crime of homicide. +</P> + +<P> +"O'Mulligan's wired. Mad keen. A regular nut." +</P> + +<P> +The well of English undefiled grows more copious with the process of +ages. By what mysterious alchemy the quality of mad keenness +transforms its possessor into "a regular nut" I was too low-spirited to +elucidate. +</P> + +<P> +"Fitz is a game bird, ain't he?" Flamboyant youth heartily poured half +a bottle of Worcestershire sauce over its cutlet. "Didn't think he had +it in him. Merely shows how you can be deceived." +</P> + +<P> +I groaned in spirit, but plucked up the courage to take a dismal nibble +at a piece of toast. +</P> + +<P> +"That chap Coverdale is a bit of a funkstick. Made himself rather an +ass about those firearms." +</P> + +<P> +I assented feebly. +</P> + +<P> +"Bet you a pony they want our photographs for the <I>Morning Mirror</I>." +</P> + +<P> +I rose from the table and took a turn in the kitchen garden. When your +heart is fairly in your boots, the society of your peers has its +drawbacks. +</P> + +<P> +At half-past two, punctual to the minute, the toot of the car was heard +at the hall door. Miss Lucinda received a parting salute and an +illicit box of chocolates which consoled her immensely for the +temporary loss—permanent perhaps in the case of one—of both her +parents. +</P> + +<P> +I confess to being one of those weak mortals who on a journey is +invariably accompanied by the consciousness of having left something +undone or having omitted to pack some unremembered but quite +indispensable necessary. Three-fourths of the way to the station I was +haunted with this feeling in a more acute form than usual, and then +quite suddenly, with a spasm of perverse joy, it occurred to me that I +had left the burglar's foe in its secret receptacle. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank God for that!" was the pious hyperbole which ascended to heaven. +</P> + +<P> +At the station we were not the first to arrive on the scene, although +there was a full quarter of an hour in hand. Fitz in a fur overcoat of +some pretensions bore a look of collected importance which was quite in +keeping with the <I>rôle</I> he had to fill. +</P> + +<P> +"Tickets are taken," said he, "and carriage reserved for five." +</P> + +<P> +In front of the bookstall a yellow newsbill displayed the contents of a +London evening paper, issued at noon. "The Attempt on the Life of the +King of Illyria. Latest Details." +</P> + +<P> +"Clumsy fools," said the son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth, gloomily. +"They seem to have bungled the business badly, but they bungle +everything in Illyria." +</P> + +<P> +"His Excellency, the Ambassador, would appear to be an exception to the +general rule." +</P> + +<P> +Fitz bestowed upon me a murderous glower. +</P> + +<P> +Brasset arrived full five minutes in advance of the London express. +Pink and cherubic, his recent perplexity had yielded to an omnipresent +look of peace. His well-groomed air suggested that he took a simple +pleasure in being alive. +</P> + +<P> +The question, however, for the four conspirators assembled on the +Middleham platform was, what had happened to the Chief Constable? Was +it conceivable that the noble Brutus had left us in the lurch? +Remembering my own travail of the spirit, which still endured, it +seemed most natural and becoming to my partial judgment, that one so +wise had repented of his folly at the eleventh hour. +</P> + +<P> +Howbeit, my lips were sealed upon these illicit thoughts. Fitz himself +suspected no treachery. He ushered us into the reserved compartment +with immense dignity, and retained the left-hand corner seat, with the +back to the engine, for the missing warrior. +</P> + +<P> +"Coverdale is cutting it fine," I ventured to remark. +</P> + +<P> +"There is a minute yet," said Fitz, with an insouciance which, to use a +much-abused expression, was Napoleonic. +</P> + +<P> +A porter who suffered from rickets put in his head. +</P> + +<P> +"All London, gentlemen?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Fitz, introducing a shilling to a grimy but willing palm. +"And just see that the station-master keeps the train a few minutes for +Colonel Coverdale." +</P> + +<P> +"Agen the regulations, you know, sir," said the porter, with polite +misgiving. +</P> + +<P> +"Against what regulations?" said the undefeated Fitz. +</P> + +<P> +"The Company's." +</P> + +<P> +"Against the Company's regulations! Who the devil are the Company that +<I>they</I> should have regulations?" +</P> + +<P> +This was a poser for the porter, who made a rather ineffectual apology +for such a piece of assumption on the part of the Company. But the +station-master's bell was ringing, and I, peering wildly through the +window, in the vain hope that my mentor, my hope, my stand-by might +after all appear, could see never a sign of Lieutenant-Colonel John +Chalmers Coverdale, C.M.G., late of His Majesty's Carabineers. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ALARUMS AND EXCURSIONS +</H4> + +<P> +But what is that? A commotion away up the platform, under the clock. +Yes, it is he, the faithful and the valiant! At least it is not he, +but one Baguley, a superannuated police-sergeant, bereft of an eye in +the service of the public peace. He staggers along under the +oppressive burden of a kit bag of portentous dimensions, and twenty +paces behind, sauntering along the platform with the most leisurely +nonchalance in the world, blandly indifferent to the fact that the +London express is due out, is the impressive and slightly pompous bulk +of the fifth conspirator, the great Chief Constable. +</P> + +<P> +There is a tremendous touching of hats along the platform. Even that +true Olympian, the guard of the London express, contrives to dissemble +his legitimate impatience, while Coverdale and his kit bag come aboard +the reserved compartment. +</P> + +<P> +"Cutting it rather fine, weren't you?" said I, with a tremor of relief +in my voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Time enough," said the Chief Constable, subsiding with a growl and a +glower into the left-hand corner. +</P> + +<P> +A shrill blast from the guard, a whistle and a snort from the engine, +and we were irrevocably committed to the untender hands of destiny. +</P> + +<P> +We were an ill-assorted party enough. Fitz the embodiment of masterful +determination, with his black eyes glowing with their inward fire; +Brasset and Jodey as cheerful and almost as <I>blasé</I> as two +undergraduates on their way to attend a point-to-point race meeting; +Coverdale and the humble individual responsible for this narrative, +silent, saturnine and profoundly uncomfortable. +</P> + +<P> +It is true that I was favoured with one fragment of the Chief +Constable's discourse. It was communicated with pregnant brevity ten +miles from Bedford. +</P> + +<P> +"You old fool!" was its context. +</P> + +<P> +"It was Fitz who kept the train for you," I countered weakly. +</P> + +<P> +Whoever was to blame we were fairly in for it now; and to repine was +vain. +</P> + +<P> +"I am glad about your friend O'What's-his-name," said Fitz to Jodey. +"A man of his hands, hey? By the way, I believe you did mention a +revolver." +</P> + +<P> +My relation by marriage grinned an almost disgustingly effusive +affirmative. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you fellows have all remembered to bring one?" +</P> + +<P> +Somehow my looks betrayed me. +</P> + +<P> +"You've brought one, Arbuthnot?" +</P> + +<P> +I began to perspire. +</P> + +<P> +"The fact is," said I, "I had a capital .38 Webley, but it appears to +be mislaid." +</P> + +<P> +"That can be easily remedied. I have brought three in case of +emergency." +</P> + +<P> +"How lucky," said I, with insincerity. +</P> + +<P> +We were converging upon the metropolis all too soon. +</P> + +<P> +"I have engaged six bedrooms at Long's Hotel," said Fitz. +</P> + +<P> +"Only five will be necessary," said I, "as O'Mulligan lives in Jermyn +Street." +</P> + +<P> +"You have forgotten Sonia." +</P> + +<P> +It is true that for the moment I had forgotten the cause of all our +woes. Fitz had not, however; indeed, he had forgotten nothing. Not +only did he appear to have everything arranged, but he seemed to have +taken cognisance of the smallest detail. +</P> + +<P> +"I have ordered quite a decent little dinner at Ward's," said he. "You +can always depend upon good plain, solid, old-fashioned English +cooking. They give you the best mulligatawny in London. I must say +myself, that if I have to do a man's work, I like to have a man's meal. +And I think we can depend on some very decent madeira." +</P> + +<P> +"It is very satisfactory to know that," said Coverdale, with his +deepest growl. +</P> + +<P> +"There is nothing like madeira in my opinion," said Fitz, "if you are +going to be busy and you want to keep cool." +</P> + +<P> +"That is something to know," said the Chief Constable, without +enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"I should think it was," said Fitz. "Do you know who gave me the tip?" +</P> + +<P> +The Chief Constable gave a growl in the negative. +</P> + +<P> +"Ferdinand himself. And what that old swine don't know of most things +is not much in the way of knowledge. He once told me he practically +lived on madeira throughout the Austrian campaign; and the night before +Rodova he drank six bottles. He says nothing keeps you so cool and +sharp as madeira." +</P> + +<P> +"Umph," the Chief Constable grunted. +</P> + +<P> +Brasset and Jodey, however, two extremely zealous subalterns in the +Middleshire Yeomanry, were much impressed. +</P> + +<P> +In three taxis we converged upon Long's Hotel; Brasset and Jodey in the +first; the Chief Constable and his kit bag in the second; Fitz and +myself in the third. A very respectable blizzard was raging; the +streets of the metropolis were in a truly horrid condition, wholly +unfit for man or beast; and the atmosphere had the peculiar raw chill +of a thoroughly disagreeable winter's night in London. But at every +yard we slopped precariously through the half-melted slush of the +streets, Fitz seemed to wax more Napoleonic. He was not in any sense +aggressive; there was not a trace of undue mental or moral elevation, +yet he was the possessor of a subtle quality that seemed to render him +equal to any occasion. +</P> + +<P> +"There is just one thing may undo us," he confessed to me. +</P> + +<P> +"Fate?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; to my mind fate is never your master, if you really mean to be +master of it. But there may be a spy. Von Arlenberg is as cunning as +a fox. And if he thinks I may have something to say in the matter, he +will take care that nothing is done without his knowledge. Probably we +are being followed." +</P> + +<P> +To test his grounds for this suspicion, Fitz suddenly ordered the +driver to stop. He thrust his head out of the window, and then an +instant later told our Jehu to drive on. +</P> + +<P> +"Just as I thought," he said. "There is another taxi behind." +</P> + +<P> +My companion became silent. +</P> + +<P> +"Something will have to be done," he said. "It won't do for von +Arlenberg to know too much." +</P> + +<P> +During the remainder of the journey Fitz found not a word to say. +</P> + +<P> +When we came to the quiet family hotel in Bond Street our leader seemed +still preoccupied. Certainly he had grounds for his foreboding. A +fourth taxi drew up behind the three vehicles we had chartered; and I +observed that a man got out of it and, discharging his taxi, entered +the hotel. As he passed me I was careful to note his appearance. He +was a short, sallow, foreign-looking individual, with the collar of his +overcoat turned up; a commonplace creature enough, who on most +occasions would pass without remark. +</P> + +<P> +While we inquired for our rooms, he sat in the lounge unobtrusively. +Save for Fitz's own conviction upon the point, it would never have +occurred to me that we were undergoing a process of espionage. +</P> + +<P> +No sooner had Fitz secured his room, than he said, in a tone +considerably louder than he used as a rule, that he had some business +to see after, and that he would be back in an hour. +</P> + +<P> +The man seated in the lounge could not fail to hear this announcement. +And sure enough, hardly had Fitz passed out of the hotel, when the +fellow rose and also took his leave. +</P> + +<P> +"What is Fitzwaren's game now?" inquired Coverdale. +</P> + +<P> +I refrained from advancing any theory as to the nature of Fitz's game. +For that matter, I had no theory to advance. It was clear enough that +the leader of our enterprise was fully justified in his suspicion, but +what his sagacity would profit him, I was wholly at a loss to divine. +I was convinced that the business that had called him so suddenly into +the sleet-laden darkness of the streets had to do with the man who had +passed out of the hotel upon his heels; yet precisely what that +business was, it was futile to conjecture. +</P> + +<P> +Prior to our departure for Ward's the time hung upon our hands somewhat +heavily. Brasset and Jodey utilised some of it in bestowing even more +pains than usual upon their appearance. In these days it is not +necessary to don powder, ruffles and a brocaded waistcoat for the +purpose of dining at Ward's, but there is an unwritten law which +expects you to wear a white vest at least with your evening clothes. +Even Coverdale and I thought well to comply with this sumptuary law. +We were both past the age when one's tailor is omnipotent; but when in +Rome, those who would be thought men of the world are careful to do +like the Romans. +</P> + +<P> +Four carefully groomed specimens of British manhood greeted Fitz in the +hotel foyer upon his return. It was then five minutes to seven, and +our mentor entered in a perfectly cool and collected manner. He +apologised, perhaps a thought elaborately, for the necessity which had +deprived us of his society. Twenty minutes later he was looking as +spick and span as the rest of us. +</P> + +<P> +While the hotel porter was whistling up the necessary means for our +conveyance to Saint James's Street, I found Fitz at my elbow. +</P> + +<P> +"By the way," said he in a casual undertone, "did you mention to the +others about the fellow who followed us in the taxi?" +</P> + +<P> +The answer was in the negative. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad of that. I think it will be wise if you don't. It might +worry them, you know. And there is no need to worry about him now." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you thrown him off the scent?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Fitz, quietly. "We shall have no more trouble from that +sportsman." +</P> + +<P> +I forbore to allow my curiosity any further rein upon this subject. +Beneath Fitz's cool and cordial tone was a suggestion that he would +thank me to dismiss it. Howbeit, I had no hint as to what had happened +outside in the street, and I was burning to know. +</P> + +<P> +It was a minute past the half-hour when we arrived at Ward's, but the +punctual O'Mulligan was there already. He rejoiced in the name of +Alexander; his freckles were many and he had a shock of red hair. His +nose was of the snub variety; his ears stuck out at right angles; his +eyes were light green; and his jaw was square and massive and the most +magnificently aggressive the mind of man can conceive. Regarded from +the purely æsthetic standpoint, Alexander O'Mulligan might be a subject +for discussion, yet he was as full of "points" as a prize bulldog. He +was not so tall as Coverdale, but every ounce of him was solid muscle; +his chest was deep and spreading, his hands were corded, and he had the +grip of a garotter. +</P> + +<P> +Alexander O'Mulligan shook hands all round with the greatest +comprehensiveness. As he did so he grinned from ear to ear in the +sheer joy of acquaintanceship. Fitz was his first victim and I was his +last, but each of us would as lief shake hands with a gibbon as with +our friend O'Mulligan. The fellow was so abominably hearty. He shook +hands as though it was the thing of all others he loved doing best in +the world. +</P> + +<P> +The dinner was admirable. Whether it was force of example, or the +magnetic presence of Alexander O'Mulligan, I am not prepared to say, +but certainly we did ourselves very well. Upon first entering the +hallowed precincts of Ward's, I had been in no mood to appreciate +"really good old-fashioned English cooking." One would have thought +that only the most <I>recherché</I> of dinners would have tempted us in our +present state of mind. But somehow our new friend O'Mulligan dispensed +an atmosphere of Gargantuan good humour. +</P> + +<P> +Hardly had we come to close quarters with the far-famed mulligatawny, +which was quite appropriate to the conditions prevailing without, when +our latest recruit insisted that one and all must dine with him on the +morrow, and then adjourn to the National Sporting Club, for the purpose +of witnessing "Burns's do with the 'Gunner.'" +</P> + +<P> +If I live to the age of a hundred and twenty, I shall not forget our +little dinner at Ward's. Six commonplace specimens of <I>les hommes +moyens sensuels</I> with lethal weapons in their pockets and anything from +pitch and toss to manslaughter in their hearts! Really, it was the +incongruous carried to the verge of the <I>bizarre</I>. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz at the head of the table was gracious to a degree. The fellow was +revealing a whole gamut of unsuspected qualities. His composure, his +half-gay, half-sinister <I>insouciance</I>, his alertness, his knowledge, +his faculty for action, which seemed to grow in proportion with the +demands that were made upon it—such an array of qualities was +curiously inconsistent with the heedless waster the world had always +judged him to be. +</P> + +<P> +Now that he had come to grips with fate the real Nevil Fitzwaren was +emerging with considerable potency. As far as "the married man, the +father of the family, and the county member" was concerned, the +fellow's dæmonic power was the cause of his dining quite reasonably +well. As for Coverdale, after swallowing his plate of mulligatawny, +his glance ceased to reproach me. His habitual philosophy and the +old-fashioned English cooking began to walk hand in hand. The +evening's business was quite likely to cost him his billet, but at +least it was sure to be excellent fun. Besides, when he stood fairly +committed to a thing, it was his habit to see it through. +</P> + +<P> +Dinner was conducted in the spirit of leisurely harmony which is due to +the traditions accruing to the shade of John Ward, who left this vale +of tears in 1720. Fitz assured us that there was no hurry. If we got +a move on about nine we should have plenty of time to do our business +with his Excellency. +</P> + +<P> +"You haven't quite explained the orders for the day, my dear fellow," +said Coverdale, taking a reverential sip of the famous old brandy. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE ORDERS FOR THE DAY +</H4> + +<P> +"The orders for the day don't need much explanation," said Fitz. +"Merely see that there are six cartridges in your revolver; keep it in +your trouser pocket with your hand on it, and then follow the man from +Cook's." +</P> + +<P> +"Like all schemes of the first magnitude," said I, "it appears to be +simplicity itself." +</P> + +<P> +"It is this confounded revolver business," said Coverdale, "that I +should like to see dispensed with. It might so easily land us in +serious trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"It is far more likely to land us out of serious trouble," said Fitz. +"But this I can promise: they will not be produced except in the last +resort." +</P> + +<P> +It was clear that the question of the revolvers had made Coverdale as +uneasy as it had made me; but the only thing to be done now was to pin +implicit faith upon the saneness of Fitz's judgment. Certainly he had +aroused respect. His method of communicating to Alexander O'Mulligan +the nature of the cause, and the need for absolute obedience to the +word of command, appeared to kindle awe and admiration in equal parts +in the breast of the middle-weight champion of the United Kingdom. +</P> + +<P> +"Do exactly as you are told, O'Mulligan, and do nothing without orders, +unless they begin to shoot, and then you begin to shoot too. By the +way, Arbuthnot, did I understand you to say you had forgotten to bring +a revolver?" +</P> + +<P> +I admitted the impeachment. +</P> + +<P> +"I have several spare ones in my overcoat"—the tone of reproof was +delicate. "Is there any one else who has forgotten to provide himself +with one?" +</P> + +<P> +"There is also a spare one at my rooms round the corner," said +Alexander O'Mulligan, with an air of modest pride. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz honoured the new recruit with a nod of curt approval. In any +assembly of law-breakers the Bayard from Jermyn Street would be sure of +a hearty welcome. His face had expanded to the most moonlike +proportions, which the freckles and the prominent ears set off +fantastically; and in the green eyes was a look of genuine ecstasy, +beside which the emotion in those of Brasset and Jodey was mere hopeful +expectation. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz took out his watch and studied it with the air of the Man of +Destiny. +</P> + +<P> +"Fourteen minutes to nine," said he. "At nine o'clock I shall drive +alone to No. 300 Portland Place, in a taxi. At four minutes past nine +Coverdale and Arbuthnot will follow. They will ask for the Ambassador, +Coverdale giving the name of General Drago, and Arbuthnot the name of +Count Alexis Zbynska. You will be shown into a waiting-room while your +names are taken in to his Excellency. If he is in, he will receive +you; if he is not, Grindberg, or one of the other secretaries, or one +of the Attachés will have a word with you. Keep your mufflers up to +your ears and have the collars of your overcoats turned up. If von +Arlenberg is not in, say you will wait for him. You can use Illyrian, +or French, or broken English. Of course your object, in any case, will +be to gain time and keep in the house until you receive further +instructions. Am I clear?" +</P> + +<P> +"Reasonably clear," said Coverdale. "If we gain access to the house we +are not to leave it until we hear from you?" +</P> + +<P> +"That is so." +</P> + +<P> +"And what about Alec and Brasset and me?" The earnestness of my +relation by marriage was wistful. +</P> + +<P> +"O'Mulligan will leave four minutes after Coverdale and Arbuthnot. He +will merely give his name as Captain Forbes, who desires to fix an +appointment with von Arlenberg upon a private matter of importance. He +won't be able to fix it; but they will send a chap to talk to you, +O'Mulligan. You must be very long-winded and you must use your best +English, and you must waste as much time as you can. Understand?" +</P> + +<P> +O'Mulligan beamed like a seraph. +</P> + +<P> +"And Brasset and me?" said the pleading voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Brasset will leave four minutes after O'Mulligan. He will be Mr. +Bonser, a messenger from the Foreign Office, with a letter for von +Arlenberg. Here you are, Brasset, here is the letter for von +Arlenberg." +</P> + +<P> +With a matter-of-factness which was really inimitable, Fitz tossed +across the tablecloth the missive in question, copiously daubed with +red sealing-wax. +</P> + +<P> +"Brasset," said Fitz, "you will be careful not to give this most +important letter into the keeping of anybody save and except his +Excellency, Baron von Arlenberg, Ambassador and Plenipotentiary +Extraordinary to his Majesty the King of Illyria, at the Court of Saint +James." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope the superscription is correct," said I, misguidedly. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz looked me down with the eye of a Frederick. The sympathy of the +table was with him entirely. +</P> + +<P> +"Somebody will want to take it to the Ambassador," said Fitz. "But +Brasset, your instructions are that you deliver this document to his +Excellency in person." +</P> + +<P> +With an air of reverence, Brasset inserted the letter with its +portentous red seal in his cigar-case. The most exacting of ministers +could not have desired a more trustworthy or a more eminently discreet +custodian for an epoch-making document than the Master of the +Crackanthorpe. +</P> + +<P> +"How shall I know old von Thingamy when I see him?" inquired the +messenger from the Foreign Office. +</P> + +<P> +"You won't see him," said Fitz. "But you must make it appear that you +want to see him particularly." +</P> + +<P> +"But if I should happen to see him?" +</P> + +<P> +The Master of the Crackanthorpe was awed into silence by a Napoleonic +gesture. +</P> + +<P> +"Where do I come in?" said the pleading voice from the wilderness. +</P> + +<P> +"You come in, Vane-Anstruther," said Fitz to my relation by marriage, +"four minutes after Brasset. You are Lieutenant von Wildengarth-Mergle +from Blaenau, with a letter of introduction to the Illyrian Ambassador. +Here is your card, and you can give it to anybody you like." +</P> + +<P> +The recipient was immensely gratified by the card of Lieutenant von +Wildengarth-Mergle of the Ninth Regiment of Hussars when it was +bestowed upon him. His manner of disposing of it was precisely similar +to that adopted by Brasset in the case of the letter from the Foreign +Office. His bearing also was modelled obviously upon that of that +ornament of high diplomacy. +</P> + +<P> +"I assume," said I, "that we are all to bluff our way into the Illyrian +Embassy; and once we are there we are to take care to stay until we are +advised further?" +</P> + +<P> +"That is so." +</P> + +<P> +"But let us assume for a moment that we get no advice?" +</P> + +<P> +"If I do not come to you by ten minutes to ten, or you are not sent for +by then, you are all to leave any ante-room you may be in, and you are +to walk straight up the central staircase, taking notice of nobody. If +they try to stop you, merely say you wish to see the Ambassador." +</P> + +<P> +"And if they use force?" +</P> + +<P> +"Make use of it yourself, with as much noise as you can. And if you +still fail to hear from me, then will be the time to think about +retirement. Does everybody understand?" +</P> + +<P> +Everybody did apparently. +</P> + +<P> +"It is seven minutes to nine. Time we began to collect our taxis." +</P> + +<P> +Fitz rose from the table, and in a body we went in search of our coats +and hats. For my fellow conspirators I cannot speak, but my heart was +beating in the absurdest manner, and my veins were tingling. There was +that sense of exaltation in them which is generally reserved for a +quick twenty minutes over the grass. +</P> + +<P> +"Give me that revolver," said I. +</P> + +<P> +As Fitz smuggled the weapon into my hand, I could feel my pulses +leaping immorally. This sensation may have been due to my having dined +at Ward's; although doubtless it is more scientific to ascribe it to +some primeval instinct which has resisted civilisation's ravages upon +human nature. +</P> + +<P> +As I stealthily inserted the weapon into the pocket of my trousers, I +stole a covert glance at the solemn visage of the Chief Constable. The +great man was smiling benignly at his thoughts, and smoking a big cigar +with an air of Homeric enjoyment. +</P> + +<P> +As Fitz, tall-hatted and fur-coated, picked his way delicately down the +slush-covered steps to where his taxi awaited him, he turned to offer a +word of final instruction to his followers. +</P> + +<P> +"Coverdale and Arbuthnot 9.4; O'Mulligan 9.8; Brasset 9.12; +Vane-Anstruther 9.16. If you hear nothing in the meantime, at 9.50 you +go upstairs." +</P> + +<P> +"Righto," we chorussed, as Fitz boarded his chariot with a +self-possession that was even touched with languor. +</P> + +<P> +We watched him turn into Piccadilly, and then proceeded solemnly to +invest ourselves in coats and mufflers. Four minutes is not a long +space of time, yet it is quite possible for it to seem an age. Before +the hall clock pointed to 9.4, one might have had a double molar drawn, +or one's head cut off by the guillotine. +</P> + +<P> +"300 Portland Place," said the Chief Constable in tones which somehow +seemed astonishingly loud, while I squeezed as far as possible into the +far corner of the vehicle for the better accommodation of my stalwart +companion. +</P> + +<P> +"Dirty night," said the Chief Constable. "Not fit for a dog to be out. +Have the glass down?" +</P> + +<P> +It may have been an overwrought fancy, but I thought I perceived a +slight, but unmistakable tremor in the voice of the head of the +Middleshire Constabulary. +</P> + +<P> +"Not for me, thanks," said I. "These things are so stuffy." +</P> + +<P> +The head of the Middleshire Constabulary agreed with me. The +impression may have been due to a disordered fancy, but I thought I +detected a note of embarrassment in the Chief Constable's laugh. +</P> + +<P> +From Saint James's Street to Portland Place is not far, and this +evening we seemed to accomplish the journey in a very short time. +Having dismissed our taxi at the door of the Ambassador's imposing +residence, we each looked to the other to ring his Excellency's +door-bell. +</P> + +<P> +"General," said I, "you are my senior, and I feel that your Illyrian, +or your French, or your broken English or any other language in which +you may be moved to indulge, will carry more weight than mine." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, do you! By the way; I have forgotten my name." +</P> + +<P> +"General Drago." +</P> + +<P> +"And yours?" +</P> + +<P> +"Count Alexis Zbynska." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, here goes." +</P> + +<P> +The gallant warrior gave a mighty tug at the bell. This met with no +attention; but at the second assault on the ambassadorial door-bell, +the massive portal was swung back, slowly and solemnly, by a gorgeous +menial. In the immediate background there were others. +</P> + +<P> +"I am General Drago, and I wish to see the Ambassador." The Chief +Constable's precision of phrase was really majestic. +</P> + +<P> +The stalwart Illyrian, who seemed to be quite seven feet high from the +crown of his wig to the soles of his silk stockings, bowed and led the +way within. +</P> + +<P> +When we had crossed his Excellency's threshold, and just as a gorgeous +interior had unfolded itself to our respectful gaze, a very +urbane-looking personage in evening clothes and a pair of white kid +gloves took charge of us. He led us through a spacious hall containing +pillars of white marble, whence we passed into a waiting-room, +immediately to the right of a distinctly imposing alabaster staircase. +In this apartment the light was dim and religious, and the atmosphere +had a chill solemnity. Our friend of the white kid gloves presented us +with a slip of paper apiece, and indicated an inkstand on the table. +</P> + +<P> +"Write our names in Illyrian," I whispered to my fellow conspirator. +"They will carry more weight." +</P> + +<P> +The Chief Constable inscribed his own name on the slip of paper very +laboriously, in the Illyrian character. When he had accomplished this +feat, I proceeded as well as in me lay, and with a deliberation quite +equal to his own, to commit to paper the name of the Herr Graf Alexis +von Zbynska. I was beset with much misgiving as to the correct manner +of spelling it, and therefore had recourse to a number of superfluous +flourishes in order to conceal my ignorance as far as possible. +</P> + +<P> +When the gentleman of the white kid gloves had solemnly borne away the +slips of paper, the Chief Constable proceeded to remove a bead of +honest perspiration from his manly forehead. +</P> + +<P> +"Of all the cursed crackbrained schemes!" he muttered. "What does the +madman expect us to do now!" +</P> + +<P> +"Say as little and waste as much time as we can," said I, "and at ten +minutes to ten, if we are still alive, we are to make our way up that +staircase." +</P> + +<P> +The head of the Middleshire Constabulary subsided into incoherence +mingled with profanity. +</P> + +<P> +The gentleman of the white kid gloves had closed the door upon us. The +gloom and the silence of the room was terribly oppressive. With +ticking nerves, I made a survey of its contents. The furniture +appeared to consist of a large table with massive legs, half a dozen +chairs covered in red leather, a full-length portrait in oils, by +Bruffenhauser, of his Illyrian Majesty, Ferdinand the Twelfth, in which +the victor of Rodova appeared in full regalia in a gilt frame, a really +magnificent-looking old gentleman; while on a separate table at the far +end of the room was the Almanach de Gotha. +</P> + +<P> +It began to seem that our suspense was going to last for ever. Not a +sound penetrated to us from beyond the closed door. At last Coverdale +took out his watch. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it ten minutes to ten yet?" I inquired anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"No; it still wants a couple of minutes to half-past nine." +</P> + +<P> +To be condemned to support such tension for a whole twenty minutes +longer was to place a term upon eternity. +</P> + +<P> +"Hadn't we better open the door," said I, "so that we can hear if +anything happens?" +</P> + +<P> +My fellow conspirator concurred. +</P> + +<P> +I opened the door accordingly and looked out in the direction, of the +alabaster staircase. A man was descending it in a rather languid +manner. There was something curiously familiar about his appearance. +As soon as he saw me standing at the foot of the stairs he quickened +his pace. It was clear that he wished to speak to me. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep cool," he said, and to my half-joyful bewilderment I recognised +the voice of Fitz. "You and Coverdale had better leave your overcoats +in that room and go up. Go into the first room on the left on the +first floor!" +</P> + +<P> +With a coolness that was almost incredible, Fitz sauntered away across +the wide vestibule with his hands in his pockets, while I returned to +Coverdale with this latest command. +</P> + +<P> +We obeyed it with a sense of relief. Anything was better than to sit +counting the seconds in that funereal waiting-room. Divested of our +overcoats, we went forth up the staircase, doing our best to appear +quite at ease, as though there was nothing in the least unusual in the +situation. +</P> + +<P> +Half-way up we were confronted with two men coming down. They looked +at us with quiet intentness and seemed inclined to speak. Coverdale +passed on with set gaze and rigid facial muscles, an art in which, like +so many of his countrymen, he is greatly accomplished. His +"Speak-to-me-if-you-dare" expression stood us in excellent stead. The +two men passed down the stairs without venturing to address us, and we +went up. +</P> + +<P> +The first room on the left, on the first floor, was a larger and more +cheerful apartment than the one from which we had come. It was better +lit; there was a bright fire, and it was furnished with taste, after +the fashion of a drawing-room. There were books, photographs, and a +piano. +</P> + +<P> +The room was empty, but we had been in it scarcely a minute when a +servant entered to offer us coffee. We did not disdain the +ambassadorial bounty. Excellent coffee it was. +</P> + +<P> +We were toying with this refreshment when a stealthy rustle apprised us +that we were also about to receive the indulgence of feminine society. +A young woman, tall and graceful, fair to the eye and charmingly +gowned, came into the room with a sheet of music in her hand. The +presence of a pair of total strangers did not embarrass her. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you like Schubert?" said she, with a delightful foreign intonation. +</P> + +<P> +"I think Schubert is charming," said I, with heartiness and promptitude. +</P> + +<P> +The lady flashed her teeth in a rare smile and sat down at the piano. +I arranged her music with a care that was rather elaborate. +</P> + +<P> +It was not Schubert, however, that she began to play, but a haunting +little "Impromptu" of Schumann's. Her playing was good to listen to, +for her touch was highly educated; also it was fascinating to watch her +movements, since she was an extremely graceful and vivid work of nature. +</P> + +<P> +Very assiduously I turned over her music. The occupation in itself was +pleasant; also it seemed to give some sort of sanction to our unlawful +presence. Coverdale, with his hands tucked deep in his pockets, +appeared to listen most critically to the lady's playing; although, as +I have heard him declare himself, the only form of music that appeals +to him is "a really good brass band." +</P> + +<P> +In the course of the performance of Schumann's "Impromptu" the audience +of the fair pianist gained in number and authority. Like the famous +Pied Piper of Hamelin, the thrilling delicacy of her touch began to +entice quaint beasts from their lair. Alexander O'Mulligan sauntered +into the drawing-room at about the fourth bar. He wore his most +seraphic grin, and his ears were spread to catch the most illusive +chords of melody. He gave Coverdale a jovial nod and winked at me. It +was clear that the amateur middle-weight champion of Great Britain was +enjoying himself immensely. +</P> + +<P> +Hardly had Alexander O'Mulligan advised us of his genial presence, when +Brasset and my relation by marriage came in upon tiptoe. The sight of +us all with an unknown lady discoursing Schumann for our benefit was +doubtless as reassuring as it was unexpected. In the emotion of the +moment Jodey gave the amateur middle-weight champion a fraternal dig in +the ribs. +</P> + +<P> +However, our party could not be considered complete without the +presence of the chief gamester. The "Impromptu" had run its course and +the gracious lady at the piano had been prevailed upon to play +something of Brahms', when the master mind, whose arrival we were +nervously awaiting, appeared once more upon the scene. Fitz came into +the room looking every inch the Man of Destiny. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE MAN OF DESTINY +</H4> + +<P> +It was not in looks alone that Fitz resembled the Man of Destiny. The +peremptory decision of his manner fitted him for the part. The +beautiful musician and her subtle cadences were significant to him only +in so far as they could serve his will. Fitz entered in the midst of a +rhapsody played divinely; and with an unconcerned air he went straight +up to the piano, and, with Napoleonic effrontery, placed his elbow +across the music. +</P> + +<P> +"Sorry to interrupt you, Countess, but there is no time to lose." +</P> + +<P> +The Countess lifted her fingers from the keys, and her teeth flashed in +a smile that had an edge to it. +</P> + +<P> +A shrug of the shoulders from the <I>pianiste</I>; and Fitz began to talk +with considerable volubility in his fluent Illyrian. My nurture has +been expensive; and on the admirable English principle of the more you +pay for your education the less practical knowledge you acquire, let it +cause no surprise that my acquaintance with the Illyrian tongue is +limited to a few expletives. Therefore I was unable to follow the +course of Fitz's conversation. +</P> + +<P> +Perforce I had to be content with watching his play of gesture. This, +too, was considerable. The air of languor which it had pleased him to +assume in the crises of his fate was laid aside in favour of a +wonderful ardour and conviction. He drummed his fingers on the top of +the piano and urged his views with a fervour that might have moved the +Sphinx. +</P> + +<P> +At first the fair musician did not seem prepared to take Fitz +seriously. Her smile was arch, and inclined to be playful. But Fitz +was in an epic mood. +</P> + +<P> +He had not come so far upon a momentous enterprise to be gainsaid by a +woman's levity. The man began to wax tremendous. He kept his voice +low, but the veins swelled in his forehead, and he beat the palm of his +right hand with the fist of his left. +</P> + +<P> +Before such a force of nature no woman could be expected to maintain +her negative attitude. Fitz's Illyrian became volcanic. In the end +the lady at the piano spread her hands, said "Hein!" and rose from the +music stool. A moment she stood irresolute, but the gaze upon her was +that of a serpent fixed upon the eyes of a bird. The man's +determination had won the day. For, clearly at his behest, she quitted +the room, and Fitz, white and tense, yet with blazing eyes, followed +her. +</P> + +<P> +For the moment it seemed that he had forgotten his fellow conspirators. +But as soon as he had passed out of the room he turned back. +</P> + +<P> +"Stay where you are," he said. "You will be wanted presently." +</P> + +<P> +The five of us were left staring after him through the open door of the +drawing-room. It was the Chief Constable who broke the silence. +</P> + +<P> +"What's his game now?" +</P> + +<P> +"He appears to be engaged in convincing a woman against her will," said +I. "Were you able to follow the conversation?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not altogether. He appears to have made up his mind that Madame shall +do something, and Madame appears to have made up hers that she won't. +But exactly what it is, I can't say. I don't mind betting a shilling, +all the same, that the damned fellow will get his way. Upon my word I +have never seen his equal!" +</P> + +<P> +The Chief Constable laughed in a hollow voice, and removed another bead +of honest perspiration from his countenance. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz's departure with the Countess marked the renewal of our suspense. +Here were the five of us landed indefinitely, biting our thumbs. The +situation was rather absurd. Five law-abiding Englishmen assembled +with fell intent in a private house, yet knowing very little of the +business they had on hand. Each had made his way by stealth, and under +false pretences, into the very heart of the place. In this comfortable +drawing-room we had no <I>locus standi</I> at all. To all in the +establishment we were total strangers, and to us they were equally +strange. Would Fitz never return? Would the call to action never be +made? A man with a high forehead and the look of an official came to +the threshold of the room, looked in upon us pensively, and then went +away again. Two minutes later a second individual repeated the +performance. Doubtless we were five strange and unexpected birds—but +the whole business was beginning to be ridiculous. +</P> + +<P> +I looked at my watch. It was twenty-five minutes past ten. Then the +undefeated O'Mulligan sat down at the piano and began to play the +latest masterpiece in vogue at the Tivoli. The strains of his +searching melody had the effect of bringing to us another servant with +a further supply of coffee. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you tell me if the Ambassador is dining out to-night?" I said to +the servant. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," said the man who was English. "At Buckingham Palace, but +he will be home before eleven." +</P> + +<P> +"Is the Crown Princess dining there also?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir, I believe not." +</P> + +<P> +"She is in the suite of rooms on the next floor?" I said carelessly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +When the man had withdrawn I was congratulated. +</P> + +<P> +"Well done, you!" said Coverdale. "Useful information." +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if Fitz knows as much," said I. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course he does. The infernal fellow has thought this thing out +pretty well. He knows the game he's playing." +</P> + +<P> +This was reassuring from one whose habit was averse from optimism. +</P> + +<P> +Inspired with the knowledge that his Excellency was dining at +Buckingham Palace, Alexander O'Mulligan began to pound away more +heartily than ever upon the upright grand. +</P> + +<P> +"Give your imitation of church bells and a barrel organ, Alec," said a +humble admirer, insinuating a trifle more ease into his bearing. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think they will mind if we smoke here?" said Brasset, +plaintively. "I am dying for a cigarette." +</P> + +<P> +However, before the Master of the Crackanthorpe could have recourse to +this aid to his existence, Fitz returned. He was alone, and he was +peremptory. +</P> + +<P> +"What an infernal din you fellows kick up!" He fixed his dæmonic gaze +upon the amateur middle-weight champion. "Leave that piano and come +and be presented to my wife." +</P> + +<P> +At last we were coming to the horses. There was a perceptible squaring +of shoulders and a shooting of cuffs, and then Fitz led the way out of +the room, followed by Coverdale and the rest of us in review order. We +were conducted up another marble staircase and along a lengthy +corridor, through a succession of reception-rooms, until at last we +found ourselves in an apartment larger and more ornate than all the +others. Its sombre richness was truly imposing. Pictures, tapestry, +candelabra, carpets and furniture all combined to give it the air of a +state chamber. +</P> + +<P> +Three ladies were seated at the far end of this magnificent room. One +was the fair musician upon whom Fitz had imposed his will; another was +a mature and stately dame, with snow-white hair and patrician features; +and the third, reclining upon a chair with a high gilt back, was the +"Stormy Petrel," the Crown Princess of Illyria. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as we came into the room the two other ladies rose, leaving the +Princess seated in state. Fitz presented each of us with all the +formality that the most sensitive royalty could have desired. His +manner of recommending us to her Royal Highness was dignified, +authoritative and not without grace. As far as we were concerned, I +hope our bearing was not lacking in the necessary punctilio. +</P> + +<P> +Hitherto it had been our privilege to see Mrs. Fitz out hunting in her +famous scarlet coat, when to be sure she had been the centre of much +critical observation. But at such times the princess was merged in the +brilliant horsewoman; and it goes to prove how easily "the real thing" +may pass for the mere audacity of the intrepid adventuress, if one +comes to consider that the bearing of "the circus rider from Vienna" +awoke no suspicions in respect of her status. +</P> + +<P> +It would be easy to indulge in a page of reflection upon the subject of +Mrs. Fitz. Her style was quite as pronounced in the saddle as it was +in the salon, but the experts in that elusive quality had failed, as +they do occasionally, to appreciate its authenticity. Doubtless they +would have failed again to render the genuine thing its meed, had we +not the assurance of Fitz that we were in the presence of the heiress +to the oldest monarchy in Europe. +</P> + +<P> +It is time I attempted to describe this noble creature. But it is vain +to seek to portray a great work of nature. Above all else I think she +must be regarded as that. She was prodigal in beauty; imperious in the +vividness of her challenge; splendid in the arresting candour of her +dark and disdainful eyes. There was a compelling power before which +the world of men and things was prone to yield; but there was pathos +too in that valiant self-security, which knew so little yet exacted so +much; and beyond all else there was the immemorial fascination of a +luckless, intensely sentient being, who seemed in her own person to be +the epitome of an entire sex at the dawn of the twentieth century. +</P> + +<P> +One by one we paid our homage, and it was not rendered less by the +romance of the circumstances. +</P> + +<P> +"You are brave men!" she said in a voice wonderfully low and clear in +quality. "We Sveltkes have known always how to esteem men of courage." +</P> + +<P> +Coverdale, as the doyen of the party, took upon himself to speak for +us. He held himself erect and bowed much too stiffly to pass muster as +a courtier. But he had a kind of plain, almost rough, sincerity which +atoned a little for his resolute absence of grace. +</P> + +<P> +"If we are to have the privilege, ma'am," said the Chief Constable, "of +making ourselves useful, I am sure we shall all feel very proud and +honoured." +</P> + +<P> +There is often something rather charming in a plain man's attempt at +the ornate. So honourable an awkwardness caused the eyes of her Royal +Highness to glow with humour and kindliness. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Mais oui, mon cher</I>, I know it well, <I>les Anglais sont des hommes +honnêtes</I>." Suddenly she laughed quite charmingly, and enfolded the +six of us in a glance of the highest benevolence, with which, +doubtless, her favourite dogs and horses had often been indulged. "Do +you know, there is something in <I>les Anglais</I> that I like much. Quiet +fellows, eh, always a little <I>bête</I>, but so—so trustworthy. Yes, I +like them much." +</P> + +<P> +There was something soft and quaint and entirely captivating in the +accent of her Royal Highness. The smile in her eyes was frankness +itself. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope, ma'am," said the Chief Constable, still labouring valiantly +with his politeness, "that we shall deserve praise." +</P> + +<P> +The Princess continued to smile. A very characteristic smile it was. +A little girl admiring her array of dolls, or old Frederick of Prussia +reviewing his regiment of giants, might have been expected to indulge +in a very similar gesture. We were honest Englishmen, quiet fellows, a +little <I>bête</I>, who were always to be trusted; and her <I>naïveté</I> was +such, that it was bound to inform us of these facts. +</P> + +<P> +"You must know my ladies. They will like to know you, I am sure." +</P> + +<P> +The elder was the Margravine of Lesser Grabia; the fair admirer of +Strauss the Countess Etta von Zweidelheim. The bows were profound; and +not for a moment did the look of high indulgence quit the face of her +Royal Highness. +</P> + +<P> +"The Margravine is a dear good creature, Colonel Coverdale. Many times +she has helped me when I could not do my sums. I never could do sums, +because I always thought they were stupid. But she is such a kind, +faithful soul, my dear Colonel, and not at all stupid, like the sums +she used to set me. As for her cooking, it is excellent. If you are +not otherwise engaged, my dear Colonel, I should recommend you to marry +her." +</P> + +<P> +The younger section of her Royal Highness's bodyguard, Brasset, Jodey +and O'Mulligan, gave ground abruptly. The amateur middle-weight +champion of Great Britain nearly disgraced us all by choking audibly. +But really the expression of blank dismay upon the weather-beaten +countenance of the Chief Constable was stupendous. However, his +presence of mind and his courtier-like politeness did not for a moment +desert him. +</P> + +<P> +"Delighted, I'm sure," he murmured. +</P> + +<P> +"I feel sure, a man so brave as Colonel Coverdale has a good wife +already," said the lady of the patrician features, speaking excellent +English with great amiability. +</P> + +<P> +A further development of this alluring topic was precluded by the +entrance of a fourth lady into the room. She carried an opera cloak. +Clearly this was designed for the use of the Princess.' +</P> + +<P> +Her Royal Highness, however, preferred to tarry. Fitz, hovering round +her chair, found it hard to veil his impatience. Too plainly the +delay, which was wanton and unnecessary, was setting his nerves on +edge. His wife must have been conscious of it, since she patted his +sleeve with an air at once soothing and maternal. Nevertheless she +showed no haste to forgo the comfort of the room or the pleasure of the +society in which she sat. +</P> + +<P> +"I was hoping," said Fitz, "that we could get away before the return of +von Arlenberg." +</P> + +<P> +The smile of the Princess was of rare brilliancy. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah yes, the dear Baron. Perhaps it is better." +</P> + +<P> +Fitz took the cloak from the hands of the lady, but before he could +place it around his wife's shoulders voices were heard at the far end +of the long room. +</P> + +<P> +Three men had entered. +</P> + +<P> +The first of these to approach us was a tall, stout and florid +personage wearing full Court dress and so many decorations that he +looked like a caricature. Certainly he was a magnificent figure of a +man, but, at this moment, a little lacking in serenity. His face +showed traces of a consternation that would have been almost comic had +it not been rather painful. At the sight of the six of us he spread +out his hands and gesticulated to those who had come with him into the +room. +</P> + +<P> +In an undertone he said something in Illyrian, which I did not +understand. +</P> + +<P> +In striking contrast to the perturbation of the Ambassador the manner +of the Princess was as amiable and composed as if she were seated in +the castle at Blaenau. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, Baron, you have dined well?" +</P> + +<P> +"Excellently, madam, excellently!" said the Ambassador. The +consternation in his face was slowly deepening. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Très bien</I>; it is well. I have heard my father say that cooking was +the only art in which the good English are not quite perfect. And <I>le +bon roi Edouard</I>, I hope he is in good health?" +</P> + +<P> +"In robust health, madam, in robust health." +</P> + +<P> +The dismay in the eyes of the Ambassador was rather tragic. His gaze +was travelling constantly to meet that of his two companions, stolid +men who yet were at a loss to conceal their uneasiness. On the other +hand, the air of the Princess was charmingly cool and <I>dégagé</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Baron," said she, "do you know my husband?" +</P> + +<P> +Her smile, as she spoke, acquired a malice that made one think of a +sword. +</P> + +<P> +"Madam, I have not the privilege," said the Ambassador coldly. +</P> + +<P> +Somehow the manner of the reply gave one an enlarged idea of his +Excellency's calibre. If in such a situation it is permissible for a +humble spectator to speak of himself, I felt my throat tighten and my +heart begin to beat. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Baron," said the Princess, "it is a privilege that I am sure you +covet. His Excellency the Herr Baron von Arlenberg, my dear father's +representative in England, Mr. Nevil Fitzwaren, squire of Broadfields, +in the County of Middleshire." +</P> + +<P> +The Ambassador bowed gravely and then held out his hand. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz returned the bow of Ferdinand the Twelfth's representative +slightly and curtly, but ignored his hand altogether. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +FURTHER PASSAGES AT NO. 300 PORTLAND PLACE +</H4> + +<P> +The Princess was amused. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Aha, les Anglais! Très bons enfants!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +The royal eyebrows had an uplift of mischievous pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +"And this, dear Baron," said her Royal Highness, "is my good friend +Colonel Coverdale, who has smelt powder in the wars of his country." +</P> + +<P> +Fitz's open rudeness seemed to help the Ambassador to sustain his +poise. He bowed and offered his hand to the Chief Constable in a +fashion precisely similar to that he had used to the husband of the +Princess. +</P> + +<P> +The Chief Constable shook hands with the Ambassador. It was amusing to +observe the manner in which each of these big dogs looked over the +other. The representative of Ferdinand the Twelfth was a man of +greater calibre than his first appearance had led us to believe. +</P> + +<P> +"It is pleasant, madam," said he, "to find you surrounded by your +English friends." +</P> + +<P> +The dark eyes brimmed with meaning. +</P> + +<P> +"Confess, Baron, that you did not think I had so many." +</P> + +<P> +"Your Royal Highness is not kind to my intelligence," said his +Excellency. +</P> + +<P> +"Confess, then, you did not think that such was their courage?" +</P> + +<P> +"I will perjure myself if your Royal Highness desires it." The +Ambassador's laugh was not so gay in effect as it was in intention. +"But could I believe that you would admit any save the bravest to your +friendship?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then you recognise, Baron, that my friends are brave?" +</P> + +<P> +"Unquestionably, madam, they are brave." +</P> + +<P> +"Explain then, Baron, why you did not guard the doors of my prison? +For what reason, when you went out to dine this evening, did you forget +to lock them and put the keys in your pocket?" +</P> + +<P> +Before the subtle laughter in the eyes of his questioner the Ambassador +lowered his gaze. +</P> + +<P> +"I trust your Royal Highness does not feel that one of the oldest, if +one of the humblest, servants of the good King has so little regard for +your Royal Highness as to seek to debar her from the simplest of +pleasures?" +</P> + +<P> +"It has not occurred to your Excellency that that of which you speak as +the simplest of pleasures may prove for yourself the greatest of +calamities?" +</P> + +<P> +At this point the Ambassador was tempted to dissemble. +</P> + +<P> +"I am at a loss, madam, to read your thoughts." +</P> + +<P> +"Liar!" muttered Fitz in my ear. +</P> + +<P> +"Your Excellency appears to have a store of natural simplicity," said +the Princess. +</P> + +<P> +The Ambassador bowed. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it not a great thing to have, madam, in these days?" +</P> + +<P> +"Has it not occurred to your Excellency that it is a luxury that those +who would serve their Sovereign occasionally deny themselves?" +</P> + +<P> +"If it pleases your Royal Highness to exercise your delightful wit at +the expense of the humblest servant of the good King!" +</P> + +<P> +"It does not please me, Excellency. It grieves me to the heart." +</P> + +<P> +With an address that was remarkable the Princess changed her tone. +Quite suddenly the clear and mellow inflection of light banter was +exchanged for one of coldly wrought reproof. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry, madam," said the Ambassador, simply and with sincerity; "I +am a thousand times sorry. I can never forgive myself if I have +wounded the susceptibilities of your Royal Highness. Already I had +hoped I had made it clear that the least of your servants has not been +a free agent in all that has been done. I am the humble instrument of +an august master." +</P> + +<P> +"I agree with you, Herr Baron, that the King, in his wisdom, cannot do +wrong. But it is because you have betrayed the service of your master +that I am unhappy." +</P> + +<P> +The Herr Baron lowered his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Please God," he said humbly, "the least of the King's servants will +never betray the service of him to whom he owes everything." +</P> + +<P> +The Princess laughed, a little cruelly. +</P> + +<P> +"Speeches, Baron," said she. +</P> + +<P> +"Will your Royal Highness deign to explain in what manner I have +betrayed the service of my master?" +</P> + +<P> +"If you press the question, I will answer it. At the command of the +King, you take me by force and you imprison me in your house until that +hour in which I can be removed to the castle at Blaenau. And then, in +an unlucky moment, you open the door of my cage, and I am once again a +free person in the company of my friends." +</P> + +<P> +The Princess rose abruptly, and with a disdain that was like a rapier +suffered Fitz to place the cloak about her shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +The Ambassador retained his self-possession. In his bearing, in the +cold lustre of his eyes, in the rigidity of the jaw, were the evidence +of an inflexible will. +</P> + +<P> +"The orders, madam, of the King, my master, are explicit," he said in a +low voice. "It grieves me bitterly that I cannot suffer them to be set +aside." +</P> + +<P> +"So be it, Herr Baron." The great dark eyes of the Princess transfixed +the Ambassador like a pair of swords. +</P> + +<P> +In the midst of these passages Fitz reassumed his <I>rôle</I> of +generalissimo. +</P> + +<P> +"Arbuthnot," he whispered to me, "you and Brasset and Vane-Anstruther +guard the farthest door. Let no one enter or pass out. Coverdale and +O'Mulligan will look after the other one." +</P> + +<P> +In silence, and without ostentation, we disposed ourselves accordingly. +Clearly it had not occurred to the Ambassador to expect compulsion to +be levied in his own house, by half a dozen commonplace civilians in +black coats. +</P> + +<P> +We had hardly taken up our places when Fitz, who stood by the side of +the Princess, received from her a look that was also a command. +Thereupon, for the first time, he deigned to address the Ambassador. +</P> + +<P> +"Baron von Arlenberg," he said, "the friends of her Royal Highness have +no wish to use <I>force majeure</I>, but her Royal Highness desires me to +inform you that she has it at her disposal. All the same, she is +hopeful that your natural good sense will spare her the necessity of +employing it." +</P> + +<P> +Fitz's words were well spoken, but his tone, scrupulously restrained as +it was, had an undercurrent of menace that the Ambassador and his two +secretaries could hardly fail to detect. The cold eyes of his +Excellency seemed to blaze with fury, but he made no reply. +</P> + +<P> +The Princess took the arm of her husband, and moved a pace in the +direction of the farther door. At the same moment the Ambassador made +a movement to the left where a bell-rope hung from the wall. +</P> + +<P> +"Baron von Arlenberg," said Fitz, in a tone that compelled him to stay +where he was, "if you touch that rope I shall blow out your brains." +</P> + +<P> +Fitz had the revolver in his hand already. He covered the Ambassador +imperturbably. The two secretaries, although confused by the swiftness +of the act, moved forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep away from the bell-rope, gentlemen," said Fitz. "I shall not +hesitate." +</P> + +<P> +The secretaries halted indecisively beside their chief, and as they did +so Coverdale left his post by the nearer door and, revolver in hand, +solemnly mounted guard over the bell-rope. +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid, gentlemen," said Fitz, "you have no choice other than to +respect the wishes of the Princess. And she desires that you stay in +this room until she has left the Embassy." +</P> + +<P> +However, with all his coolness, Fitz had made two important +miscalculations. On the right there was another bell-rope, and there +was also the lady of the silver hair, the Margravine of Lesser Grabia. +I sprang from my post and literally wrenched the rope from her fingers, +but not before she had pulled it as hard as she could. +</P> + +<P> +Escorted by Fitz, the Princess passed out of the room, while the +friends of her Royal Highness assumed an aspect of quiet, but +determined hostility, in order to prevent the Ambassador, his +secretaries, the Margravine, who looked furious, and the fair player of +Schumann, who appeared to be consumed with mirth, from following her. +</P> + +<P> +Hardly had the Princess passed through the farther door, which Brasset +and Jodey had the honour of holding for her, before the Countess Etta +von Zweidelheim collapsed upon a convenient sofa. +</P> + +<P> +"It is petter than Offenbach!" she said, beginning to weep softly. +</P> + +<P> +Whether it was actually better than Offenbach, I am not competent to +affirm, but I can answer for it that for all except that charming but +risible lady it was a great deal more serious. The Ambassador was a +brave man, and he had strength of will, but as becomes one of his +calling he was in no sense a fool. He had seen that in the eyes of +Fitz which had assured him that a too-punctilious regard for the will +of his Sovereign would not only be futile, but indiscreet. And no +sooner had Fitz and the royal lady vanished from his ken, than there +were Coverdale and the rest of us to contend with. +</P> + +<P> +The Chief Constable with his back to the wall, even without a firearm +in his stolid fist, is a very considerable figure of a man who will not +brook nonsense from anybody. Then Alexander O'Mulligan, by the farther +door, had a personality by no means deficient in persuasiveness. +</P> + +<P> +Scarcely had the Princess departed before O'Mulligan's door was tried +from without. The amateur middle-weight champion of Great Britain set +his back against it with great success. +</P> + +<P> +"Help! help!" called the Margravine in a deep bay, which it seemed to +our alarmed ears must have been audible for half a mile. "Save the +Princess! Help! Help!" +</P> + +<P> +In response to the appeal, a greater and ever-increasing pressure was +brought to bear upon the door. The hinges groaned, and the panels +trembled; and at last Alexander O'Mulligan suddenly withdrew his +weight, and divers persons tumbled headlong, one over another, +pell-mell into the room. +</P> + +<P> +"I think we had better go," said Coverdale, in the midst of this chaos. +</P> + +<P> +The five remaining champions of the Princess's freedom gathered +together and, their weapons still in hand, withdrew in excellent order. +But one resplendent apartment led to another, equally resplendent, and +amid the labyrinth of doors and corridors we could not find the +staircase. And immediately behind us the outraged Ambassador and his +retinue were gaining every instant in numbers and morale. +</P> + +<P> +The situation was ludicrous, yet not without its peril. It was hard to +know what would happen, and there was very little time in which to form +a conjecture. Besides, it was of great importance that we should find +our way downstairs without delay, for our presence there might be +sorely needed. +</P> + +<P> +As it happened, our thanks were due to the Ambassador that we were able +to find the staircase. For he and a number of excited persons flocked +past us and pointed a direct course thereto. They got down first, but +we followed hard upon their heels. +</P> + +<P> +On the ground floor all was peace. The men in livery and divers stray +officials were serenely unconscious of what had occurred. Fitz had +donned his overcoat, and with stupendous coolness was preparing to +depart. Just as the Ambassador came into view, he led the Princess +into the outer vestibule. +</P> + +<P> +"They can't stop 'em now," said Coverdale. "We had better look after +our coats and hats, and then find our way to the Savoy." +</P> + +<P> +This was true enough, for the door leading to the street was already +open. +</P> + +<P> +Waiting by the kerb was an electric brougham which Fitz had had the +forethought to provide. Coverdale and I retrieved our property from +the waiting-room at the foot of the staircase, while the others went in +search of theirs; and so quickly was this accomplished, that we were +able to witness an incident that was not the least memorable of the +many of that amazing evening. +</P> + +<P> +The Ambassador realised that the game was lost as soon as he saw the +open door and the brougham in readiness. Therefore he refrained from +passing beyond the inner vestibule. It is expected of an ambassador +that he shall do no hurt to his dignity in the most exacting situations. +</P> + +<P> +But there is an astonishing incident still to be recorded. Fitz, +having placed the Princess in safety in the brougham, returned into the +house. Walking straight up to the Ambassador, he addressed him in +terms of measured insult. +</P> + +<P> +"You cowardly dog," he said. "I would shoot you like a cur if it were +not for the laws of the country. You are not worth hanging for. But I +will meet you at Paris at the first opportunity. Here is my card." +</P> + +<P> +Before he could be prevented he gave the Ambassador a blow upon the +cheek with his open hand. It was not heavy, but it was premeditated. +</P> + +<P> +The members of the Embassy closed around Fitz. +</P> + +<P> +"Come into the ballroom, sir," said the Ambassador, who had turned +deadly pale. +</P> + +<P> +"When I have seen the Princess into safety I will oblige you," said +Fitz. "But it would be more convenient if we arranged a meeting in +Paris." +</P> + +<P> +"You shall meet me now, sir," said the Ambassador. +</P> + +<P> +Coverdale moved forward into the circle that had been formed. +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid that is impossible," said the Chief Constable. "The +practice of duelling has no sanction in this country. For all +concerned it will surely be more convenient to meet at Paris." +</P> + +<P> +Coverdale's intention was pacific, and he is a man of weight, but the +principals in this affair were likely to be too much for him. +</P> + +<P> +"Arbuthnot," said Fitz, "be good enough to accompany the Princess to +the Savoy. We will come on presently." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment the issue hung in the balance. The Ambassador had +demanded satisfaction and Fitz was more than willing to grant it. But +Coverdale was equally resolute. To the best of my capacity I seconded +his efforts, but with men so headstrong and so implacable it was almost +impossible to exert any kind of authority. +</P> + +<P> +"If you don't care to support me," said Fitz to Coverdale, "perhaps you +will not mind taking the place of Arbuthnot. I daresay you other +fellows will come on to the ballroom." +</P> + +<P> +To our dismay, Fitz, with a reassumption of the Napoleonic manner, +turned towards the staircase. +</P> + +<P> +"What is to be done?" I inquired of the Chief Constable anxiously. "I +am a man of peace myself, but one of us must see him through." +</P> + +<P> +"I agree with you—the cursed firebrand! But one of us must stay, and +the other must look after the Princess." +</P> + +<P> +The Chief Constable did not conceal the fact that he had a predilection +for the latter duty. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know much about affairs of honour," said I, "and I should +greatly prefer that a man of more experience took a thing like this in +hand; but I can quite believe that your official position——" +</P> + +<P> +"Official position be damned!" said the Chief Constable. "If you +honestly think I shall be of more use than you, there is no more to be +said. We are here to make ourselves useful and we must see this thing +through." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, I will look after the Princess, and you go to the ballroom +and do what you can to save the situation." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A DEPLORABLE INCIDENT +</H4> + +<P> +It was with a feeling akin to despair that I saw Coverdale follow the +others up the stairs. In the first place my own position was +invidious. But there was nothing to be done. It was beyond question +that Fitz must have a tried man like Coverdale at his elbow, whilst +also it was necessary that a person with some pretensions to +responsibility should take charge of the lady who was safely outside in +the electric brougham. Yet, uppermost in my thoughts, was a more +insistent care. The affair had taken a very ugly turn. Fitz had shown +himself to be a man who did not stick at trifles, whilst von Arlenberg, +unless his manner belied him, was cast in a similar mould. It was +therefore with some uneasiness that I went to offer my services to her +Royal Highness. That distinguished personage was seated greatly at her +ease, yet with a slight frown upon her somewhat imperious countenance. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is Nefil?" said she. +</P> + +<P> +"I have to tell you, ma'am," said I, "that Mr. Fitzwaren +is—er—discussing certain important matters with his Excellency, and +that if it is agreeable to you he desires me to accompany you to your +hotel." +</P> + +<P> +"What are the matters?" Her gaze in its directness seemed to pass +right through me. +</P> + +<P> +"There are—er—certain details that have to be adjusted." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I hope Nefil will be able to shoot straight." +</P> + +<P> +Whether I was more taken aback by the cynicism of the remark or by its +sagacity, it would be fruitless to inquire. But to this pious hope I +had nothing to add; and I stood feeling decidedly uncomfortable at the +door of the car. There was no room in front by the side of the +chauffeur, and I had received no invitation to take a seat within. +</P> + +<P> +The pause was awkward, but somehow there seemed to be no help for it. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" said the lady, not without a suspicion of acerbity. +</P> + +<P> +Even that I could not take for an invitation to get in. I stood +acutely conscious that my embarrassment told against me. +</P> + +<P> +"Aha, <I>les Anglais</I>!" The malice was not too genial. "Would you haf +me open the door?" +</P> + +<P> +I told the chauffeur to drive to the Savoy, and took the proffered seat +by the side of the Crown Princess of Illyria. +</P> + +<P> +The discovery has no claim to be original, but in order to find out +what a woman really is, one should sit with her alone and +<I>tête-à-tête</I>. The opportunity for frankness is not likely to be +neglected upon either side, since a display of that engaging quality +upon the one part seems automatically to evoke it on the other. +</P> + +<P> +No sooner was I seated by the side of Mrs. Fitz than I felt more at +ease. She was so sentient, so responsive; a creature who, beneath the +trenchant reserve of her manner, was alive in every nerve. +</P> + +<P> +She patted my knees with her fan. +</P> + +<P> +"Aha, <I>les Anglais</I>!" In the light of the lamps, I thought her eyes +were like stars. "So brave, so honest and so <I>bête</I>—I love them all!" +</P> + +<P> +The spell of her presence seemed to overpower me. +</P> + +<P> +"My brave Nefil will kill him, will he not?" +</P> + +<P> +"I fear," said I, "that one of them will not see to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed, yes; it cannot be otherwise." +</P> + +<P> +Her calmness amazed me. And yet there was nothing callous or unnatural +in it. Perhaps it might be described as the outward expression of an +imperial nature. At least that was the impression that I gained. When +her servants drew their swords in her cause they must not look for a +prick in the arm. Let them prepare to stake their lives and to yield +them gladly. I shivered slightly; it was barbarous that a woman could +thus offer the father of her children to the gods, yet it was sublime. +</P> + +<P> +All too soon we arrived at the restaurant where Fitz had ordered supper +for seven. The place was filling up rapidly after the theatres. We +sat on a sofa in the foyer to wait for our party; I with an acute +anxiety and a sense of foreboding that held me tongue-tied; my +companion with a detachment of mind that in the circumstances seemed +almost inhuman. For her sake a man was being done to death; one whom +she loved, or one whom her father honoured. But whatever Fate's +decree, her nature was schooled to the point of submission. +</P> + +<P> +Seated by my side in the foyer, she subjected the throng of returning +playgoers to a frankly humorous and malicious scrutiny. These English +who were so <I>bête</I> amused her vastly. The clothes they wore, the airs +they gave themselves, the things they did and the things they refrained +from doing, not a detail escaped that audaciously frank, that alertly +curious intelligence. +</P> + +<P> +"Your women are not as you, you fine, big English good dogs," she said, +bestowing another indulgent pat upon my knees. "<I>Les Anglaises</I>, how +prim and pinched they are, what dresses they wear, and how they do +walk! But I adore <I>vos jolis hommes</I>: was ever such distinction, such +charm, such stupidity! <I>Mon père</I> shall have an English regiment. I +will raise it myself, and be its colonel." +</P> + +<P> +Her laughter was deep and rich and full of malice. Even I, stupid and +stricken with fear as I was, was yet sufficiently indiscreet to attempt +to seize the opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +"It will be the easiest thing in the world, ma'am. Have you not raised +it already?" +</P> + +<P> +Another indulgent pat was my reward. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Très bon enfant</I>! <I>Quel esprit</I>! You shall sit by my side when we +eat." +</P> + +<P> +Her ridicule had a velvet sheath, but even an Englishman, who felt as +miserably ineffectual as did I, was susceptible of the thrust. +</P> + +<P> +It is difficult for the average Briton, acutely conscious that he is +enduring the patronage of a superior, to be easy, graceful and natural +in his bearing; to say the appropriate things in the appropriate way, +and to carry off the situation lightly. Every moment that I sat by the +side of her Royal Highness in the centre of the public gaze, I felt my +position to be growing more invidious. The pose of my companion seemed +to become more Olympian; while if I ventured a half-hearted <I>riposte</I> +or a timid pleasantry, I suffered for it; or if I remained silent and +respectful—and that after all is the only course to take in the +presence of our betters—I furnished an additional example of the +heaviness of my countrymen. +</P> + +<P> +I came to the conclusion that the less I said the better it would fare +with my over-sensitive dignity, but even the utterance of an occasional +monosyllable did not save me. +</P> + +<P> +"When I hear the big dogs growl, the English masteefs, I say to myself, +'Ah, the dear fellows, how excellently they speak the language!'" +</P> + +<P> +Unless one springs from the Chosen Race, it takes more than three +generations to produce a courtier. I felt myself to be growing stiffer +and generally more infelicitous in my demeanour. And then, as if to +complete my overthrow, there entered the foyer a supper-party, whose +appearance on the scene I could only regard with horror. +</P> + +<P> +Who has not felt that among the astral bodies there is a malign power, +a kind of Court Dramatist, who arranges sinister coincidences and +mischievous surprises for us humble denizens below, in order to divert +the privileged onlookers sitting in heaven? The supper-party which +came into our midst, which looked as though it had been to see "The +Importance of Being Earnest," and had been shocked by its reprehensible +levity, consisted of Dumbarton, our illustrious neighbour, "dear +Evelyn" high of coiffure and robed in pink satin, the august Mrs. +Catesby, and the highly respectable George, with one or two others of +minor importance as far as this narrative is concerned, although in +other spheres not prone to yield pride of place to anybody. +</P> + +<P> +It was clear from the rigid, slow and undeviating manner in which the +ducal party walked past our sofa, that we were discovered. Mrs. +Catesby, in particular, gazed down her nose with really awful +solemnity; George, the highly respectable, wearing his Quarter Sessions +expression; Dumbarton, looking like a Royal Duke painted in oils; and +"dear Evelyn," his pink-robed spouse, a really admirable picture of +what can be achieved in the way of high-bred hauteur. I can only say +that, speaking for myself, I addressed a humble prayer to heaven that +the floor might open and let me through. +</P> + +<P> +A chill of apprehension settled upon me. I sat very close, not daring +to move an eyelid. +</P> + +<P> +Alas! as the procession filed past, there arose a note of derision; a +clear, resonant, bell-like note. +</P> + +<P> +"Ach, pink! Pink in dis climate and wis dat complexion!" +</P> + +<P> +Even the <I>chef de reception</I> was compelled to follow the example of +Mrs. Catesby of looking down his nose with really awful solemnity. +</P> + +<P> +The sweat sprang to my miserable forehead. I never have a nightmare +now without I dream of pink satin. The ducal party passed beyond our +ken, leaving me shattered utterly and more than ever at the mercy of my +companion. However, to my relief, the "Stormy Petrel" began to betray +a care in regard to her husband. It began to seem that the aim of his +adversary had been the straighter. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz was certainly a desperate fellow, and my intercourse with the lady +whom he had prevailed upon to share his name rendered that aspect of +his character the more clear. What enormous grit the man must have to +abduct such a lioness and to attempt to keep house with her upon a +basis of equality. But had he met his overthrow at last? Had he +tempted fate once too often? The hands of the clock were creeping on +towards midnight. +</P> + +<P> +"Nefil has missed his aim." The voice of the Princess trembled. +</P> + +<P> +Almost immediately, however, this was proved to be not the case. There +were further arrivals in the foyer; five men entered together, and the +first of these was Fitz. +</P> + +<P> +It may have been the fault of my overwrought fancy, but it seemed to me +that each of the five was looking excited and pale. My companion rose +to receive them. "It is well," she said. "It is well." She turned to +Fitz, who looked ghastly, and extended her hand with a gesture that I +can only compare to that of Medusa. Fitz bore the hand to his lips. +</P> + +<P> +"What happened?" I said to Coverdale in a hoarse whisper. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't ask!" he said, half turning away. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean——" I said; but the sentence died in my throat. +</P> + +<P> +The invasion of the supper-room was a pretty grave ordeal to have to +face. The stress of that day, woven of the very tissue of excitement, +had told upon me; and again I was in the grip of a nameless fear. +Instead of following in the train of Mrs. Fitz into the glare of a too +notorious publicity, I wanted to run away and hide myself. +</P> + +<P> +The room was crowded with people who were there to see and to be seen. +We had to make our way past a number of tables to one reserved for us +at the far end of the room. In the middle of our progress, like a lion +in the gate, was the ducal party toying elegantly with quails and +champagne. +</P> + +<P> +Each member of her Royal Highness's bodyguard, including the +indomitable O'Mulligan, was looking downcast and unhappy and far from +his best. But the lady herself, in bearing and in manner, made no +secret of her status. She was the Heiress-Apparent to Europe's oldest +monarchy condescending to eat in the midst of barbarians. +</P> + +<P> +It was clear that the ducal party was fully determined to take an +extreme course. By the animation of its conversation and its assiduous +regard for quails and champagne, it evidently hoped to make the fact +quite plain that our privacy would be respected if only we had the +decency to extend a like indulgence to theirs. +</P> + +<P> +Alas! in certain kinds of warfare there are no sanctities. +</P> + +<P> +"Ach, pink!" said Mrs. Fitz, in that voice which had such a terrible +quality of penetration. "Can any one tell me <I>why</I> pink——?" +</P> + +<P> +The nervous fancy of a married man, a father of a family, and a county +member, seemed to detect a titter from the adjoining tables. Coverdale +pressed forward sombrely. Her Royal Highness, instinct with a ruthless +and humorous disdain, went forward too. Fitz, however, lingered a +moment, and touched his distinguished neighbour upon the shoulder with +incredible Napoleonic heartiness. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo, Duke!" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"How are you, Fitzwaren?" said the great man, in a voice that seemed to +come out of his shoes. +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind the Missus!" said the Man of Destiny, with a comic +half-cock of the left eye at the patrician aspect of her Grace. "It's +only her fun." +</P> + +<P> +The man's effrontery, his cynicism, his absence of taste, were +staggering. But what a sublime courage the fellow had. On he +sauntered, with his hands buried in his pockets, in the wake of +Coverdale and her Royal Highness. Brasset and I, walking delicately, +were crowding upon his heels, when what can only be described as a +peremptory and insistent hiss recalled us to the danger zone. +</P> + +<P> +"Reggie! Odo Arbuthnot!" +</P> + +<P> +We proffered a forlorn salute to the most august of her sex. +</P> + +<P> +"Beg pardon, Mrs. Catesby, didn't see you, y'know." +</P> + +<P> +Brasset's apologetic feebleness was in singular and painful contrast to +the epic breadth of the inconceivable Fitz. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't dare to offer me a word, either of you," said the Great Lady, in +a whisper of Homeric truculence. "You are committing the act of social +suicide. When I think of your mother, Reggie, and of your wife and +daughter, Odo Arbuthnot, I——but I will say nothing. But it is social +suicide for all of you, including that fatuous police constable." +</P> + +<P> +The flesh cannot endure more than a given amount of suffering, although +the measure of its capacity is so terrible. But whatever it was, I was +already past it. +</P> + +<P> +"Pink is certainly a trying colour," I whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear Evelyn will never forgive it. Have none of you a sense of +decency? It is madness!" +</P> + +<P> +I agreed that it was, and retreated limply to the next table but two. +</P> + +<P> +Our supper party should have been a dismal function, but somehow it was +not. It was only reasonable to assume that some fell occurrence had +taken place at the Embassy, but whatever its nature was, its witnesses +began to pull themselves together under the magnetic influence of Mrs. +Fitz. Her imperious gaiety, if it did not wholly banish Coverdale's +abysmal gloom, did much to make it less. As for the other members of +the party, conscience-stricken and uneasy at heart as they were, it was +impossible not to respond to her power. +</P> + +<P> +Even the Master of the Crackanthorpe, whose sense of humour is of a +decidedly primitive order, indulged in a loud guffaw at one of her +pungent remarks. +</P> + +<P> +"Restrain yourself, my dear fellow, for heaven's sake!" I admonished +him. "Dumbarton is already looking like doom. Your presence here has +already cost the poultry fund fifty pounds, see if it hasn't. If he +hears you laugh in that way he will close his covers and stick up wire." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't care what he does!" said the Master of the Crackanthorpe, with +an unnatural brightness in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +The siren had indeed a terrible power. The imperious glance, the +distended nostril, the mobile lips, the skin of gleaming olive, the +whole figure vivid with the entrancing charm of sex and the romance of +ages—who were we, <I>les hommes moyens sensuels</I>, that we should have +the strength of soul to resist it all? Nature had fashioned a +sorceress; and when she takes the trouble to do that, she bestows, as a +rule, a consciousness of power upon her chosen instrument, and the +determination to wield it ruthlessly. We drained our glasses and +basked in her smiles. +</P> + +<P> +Our laughter waxed higher; our joy in her presence the more unguarded. +I retained discretion enough to be aware that no detail of our conduct +was lost upon the august party two tables away. Every guffaw of which +we were guilty would be used against us. What had happened to the +impeccable tradition of reticence and right thinking that men of known +probity should yield with this publicity to the blandishments of a +queen of the sawdust? +</P> + +<P> +It was a desperately unlucky position; but we were committed to it +irrevocably. Nothing now could save our good name among our +neighbours. Yet that half-hour after midnight was crowded and +glorious. Who were we, weak-willed mediocrities, that we should resist +the moment? After the passes we had braved in the service of one so +splendid and so ill-starred, after the long-drawn suspense we had +endured, could we be insensible to the gay music, half-affectionate, +half-insolent, of our names upon her lips? +</P> + +<P> +Coverdale sat by the right of the sorceress, I by the left—responsible +men—yet even with the Gorgon's eye of the Great Lady upon us, we were +fain to publish to the world that we were neither less nor more than +the bond-slaves of the circus rider from Vienna. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AN INTERNATIONAL ISSUE +</H4> + +<P> +By a merciful dispensation, the ducal party withdrew at twenty-five +minutes past twelve, doubtless to avert the ignominy of compulsion at +the half-hour. By that means we were at least spared any further +ordeal that might be forthcoming from that quarter. And yet would it +have been an ordeal? That conflict which a little while ago had seemed +so demoralising to the overwrought nerves was now only too likely to be +hailed as the sublimity of battle. +</P> + +<P> +We were loth to obey the inexorable decree of the Licensing Act, but +there was no choice. Happily the five minutes' start enjoyed by our +friends and neighbours gave us a clear field, and without further +misadventure the "Stormy Petrel" was escorted to her chariot. She +drove off with Fitz to her hotel, while the rest of us, in no humour +for repose, yielded to the suggestion of Alexander O'Mulligan, "that we +should toddle round to Jermyn Street and draw him for a drink." +</P> + +<P> +It had begun to freeze. Although the pavements were like glass, +overhead the stars were wonderful. The shrewd air was like a balm for +the fumes of the wine and the spirit of lawlessness that had aroused us +to a pitch of exaltation that was almost dangerous. We decided to +walk, if only to lessen the tension upon our nerves. The three junior +members of the conspiracy walked ahead, a little roisterous of aspect, +arm in arm, uncertain of gait—to be sure the condition of the streets +afforded every excuse—and their hats askew. At a respectful distance +and in a fashion more decorous they were followed by the Chief +Constable and myself. +</P> + +<P> +"And now, Coverdale," said I, "have the goodness to explain what you +meant when you told me not to ask what happened to the Ambassador?" +</P> + +<P> +I received no answer. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear fellow," I urged, "I think I am entitled to know." +</P> + +<P> +"You ought to be able to guess!" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand; Fitz is certainly safe and sound. How did you +manage to bring them to reason?" +</P> + +<P> +"They were not brought to reason." +</P> + +<P> +The grim tone alarmed me. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +I stopped under a street lamp to look into the face of my companion. +</P> + +<P> +"I simply mean this," said he. "The madman shot him dead!" +</P> + +<P> +Involuntarily I reeled against the lamp post. +</P> + +<P> +"You can't mean that," I said feebly. +</P> + +<P> +"If only we could deceive ourselves!" said Coverdale, in a hoarse tone. +"All the time I sat at supper with that—that woman I was trying to +persuade myself that the thing had not happened. The whole business +ought to be a fantastic dream, but my God, it isn't!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it was his life or Fitz's, I suppose?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, there can be no question about that. The Embassy people admit +it. And there is this to be said for those fellows, they know how to +play the game." +</P> + +<P> +"A pretty low down game anyhow. If they steal a man's wife they must +take the consequences." +</P> + +<P> +"I agree; but the circumstances were exceptional. And give those +fellows their due, as soon as we came to the ballroom they played the +game right up." +</P> + +<P> +"What will happen?" +</P> + +<P> +"No one can say; but they can be trusted to give nothing away." +</P> + +<P> +"But surely the whole thing must come out?" +</P> + +<P> +"Quite possibly; but one prefers to hope that it may not. It is a very +ugly affair, involving international issues; but the First Secretary—I +forget his name—appeared to take a very matter-of-fact and +common-sense view of it. After all, Fitzwaren has merely vindicated +his rights." +</P> + +<P> +Dismally enough we followed in the wake of the others. All day we had +been hovering between tragedy and farce, never quite knowing what would +be the outcome of the extravaganza in which we were bearing a part. +But now we had the answer with no uncertainty. +</P> + +<P> +"All along, some such sequel as this was to be feared," said I, "and +yet I fail to see that any real blame attaches to us." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you! If you ask my opinion, we have all been guilty of +unpardonable folly in backing this fellow Fitzwaren. Really, I can't +think what we have been about. Before the last has been heard of this +business, it strikes me that there will be the devil to pay all round." +</P> + +<P> +In my heart I felt only too clearly that this was the truth. +</P> + +<P> +At O'Mulligan's rooms we drank out of long glasses and were accorded +the privilege of inspecting his "pots." The trophies of the amateur +middle-weight champion of Great Britain, who claimed Dublin as his +natal city, made an extremely brave array. But neither they, nor the +refreshment that was offered to us, were able to dispel the gloom that +had descended upon one and all. +</P> + +<P> +"There is one thing to be said for this chap Fitzwaren," said Alexander +O'Mulligan, in a tone that was not devoid of reverence. "He is grit +all through!" +</P> + +<P> +Truth there might be in this reflection, but there was little +consolation. Sadly we bade adieu to Alexander O'Mulligan and went to +our hotel to bed, yet not to sleep. For myself, I can answer that +throughout the night I had dark forebodings and distorted images for my +bed-fellows; and it was not until it was almost time to rise that I was +at last able to snatch a brief doze. +</P> + +<P> +It was fair to assume that the slumbers of the others had been equally +precarious, for at ten o'clock I found myself to be the first of our +party at the breakfast table. In a few minutes I was joined by +Coverdale, who carried the morning paper in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +He directed my attention to the obituary notice of H.E. the Illyrian +Ambassador, who, it appeared, had met his death at the Illyrian Embassy +in Portland Place at 11.30 o'clock the previous evening, in peculiarly +tragic and distressing circumstances. It appeared that his Excellency, +a noted shot who took a keen interest in firearms of every description, +was engaged in demonstrating to various members of the Embassy certain +merits in the mechanism of a new type of revolver, of which his +Excellency claimed to be the inventor, when the weapon went off, +killing the unfortunate nobleman instantly. The brief statement of the +tragic event was followed by a eulogium, in which the dead Ambassador's +martial, political and social attainments, and the irreparable loss, +not only to his sovereign, but to the polity of nations, was dealt with +at length. +</P> + +<P> +"Those fellows have done well," said Coverdale. "But I should be glad +to think that the last has been heard of this." +</P> + +<P> +This conviction I shared with the Chief Constable, but it was good to +find that thus far Illyrian diplomacy had proved equal to the occasion. +It had the effect of giving me a better appetite for breakfast, and in +consequence I ordered two boiled eggs instead of one. +</P> + +<P> +There was one other item of sinister interest to be found among the +morning's news. In glancing over it my attention was drawn to the +brief account of a mysterious tragedy which had been enacted in Hyde +Park near the Broad Walk the previous evening between six and seven +o'clock. A man who, according to papers found in his possession, bore +the name of Ludovic Bolland, of Illyrian extraction, had been found +dead with a bullet wound in the brain. It was not clear whether it was +a case of murder or suicide. The police inclined to the former +opinion, but at present were not in possession of any information +capable of throwing light upon the subject. +</P> + +<P> +I did not reveal to Coverdale the fell suspicion that I could not keep +out of my thought. The incident of the taxi following us, the +foreign-looking man who had entered the hotel, and Fitz's words and +subsequent conduct, all conspired to form a theory that I was very loth +to entertain and yet from which I was unable to escape. It certainly +had the effect of making me profoundly uncomfortable and caused the +second egg I had ordered to be superfluous after all. +</P> + +<P> +Beyond all things now I longed to return to my country home without +delay. The past twenty-four hours formed a page in my experience +which, if impossible to erase, I earnestly desired to forget. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +HORSE AND HOUND +</H4> + +<P> +In spite of the fact that Fitz had accepted Alexander O'Mulligan's +invitation to witness "Burns's do with the 'Gunner'" at the National +Sporting Club that evening, he retrieved his motor from the garage in +Regent Street, wherein Illyrian diplomacy had placed it, and +immediately after luncheon set out for the country with that other item +of his recovered property. He was accompanied by Coverdale. The Chief +Constable seemed to feel that the peace of our county could not endure +if he spent another night in the metropolis. He was certainly able to +return in the simple consciousness of having done his duty. Like a man +and a brother he had stood by a fellow Englishman in the hour of his +need. +</P> + +<P> +To one of primitive rural instincts, such as myself, London under even +the most favourable conditions is apt to pall. During the reaction +which followed the excitements of the previous night it filled me with +loathing. But I owed it to an ingrained love of veracity that I should +drive to Bolton Street to offer consolation to my grandmother in the +hour of her affliction. She is a charming old lady, and she knows the +world. She was unaffectedly glad to see me and immediately ordered a +fire to be lit in the guest-chamber, although "she really didn't know +that I was in need of money." My explanation that it was spontaneous +natural affection which had led me to seek first-hand information on +the perennial subject of her bronchitis, merely provoked a display of +the engaging scepticism that seems to flourish in the hearts of old +ladies of considerable private means. +</P> + +<P> +At the first moment consistent with honour—to be precise, on the +following Monday at noon—I found myself on No. 2 platform at the Grand +Central. The guilt of my conscience was agreeably countered by the +thrill of relief in my heart. I was going back to the Madam and Miss +Lucinda. Less than three days ago long odds had been laid by an +overwrought fancy that I should never see them again. Howbeit, the +fates, in their boundless leniency, had ordained that I should return +to tell the tale. +</P> + +<P> +Yet, if I must confess the truth, such havoc had been worked with the +delicately hung nervous system of "a married man, a father of a family, +and a county member" that it would not have surprised me in the least, +even now I had taken my ticket for Middleham, to find the hand of a +well-dressed detective laid on my shoulder, or to find a revolver next +my temple at the instance of some sombre alien. Still, these fears +were hardly worthy of the broad light of day or of the distinction of +my escort. Not only was my relation by marriage returning with me, but +he had prevailed upon the amateur middle-weight champion of Great +Britain to accept Brasset's cordial invitation that he should satisfy +himself that the gentle art of chasing the fox was quite as well +understood by the Crackanthorpe Hounds as by the Galway Blazers. +</P> + +<P> +In the presence of Alexander O'Mulligan's epic breadth of manner it was +impossible for a man to take pessimistic views of his destiny. If I +had a suspicion of the skill of a Dickens or a Thackeray I should try +to give that "touch of the brogue" which flavoured the conversation of +this paladin like a subtle condiment. Attached to our express in a +loose box, in the care of a native of Kerry, was "an accomplished +lepper" up to fifteen stone, not merely the envy of the Blazers, but of +every man, woman, and child in the kingdom of Ireland. If his price +was not three hundred of the yellow boys, his owner cordially invited +anybody—<I>anybody</I> to contradict him violently. +</P> + +<P> +Next to Alexander O'Mulligan's horse and his breadth of manner, his +clothes call for mention. Their cut and style must be pronounced as +"sporting." In particular his waistcoat was a thing of beauty. It was +a canary of the purest dye, forming a really piquant, indeed æsthetic, +contrast to the delicate tint of green in his eye. The presence in +that organ of that genial hue is thought by some to invite the +presumption of the worldly; but according to Joseph Jocelyn De Vere +Vane-Anstruther, whose humble devotion to his hero was almost pathetic, +it called for a very stout fellow indeed "to try it on" with the +amateur middle-weight champion of Great Britain. +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, like every paladin of the great breed, Alexander +O'Mulligan was as gentle as he was brave. He had hardly set foot in +Dympsfield House, which he did somewhere about tea-time on the day of +his arrival in our parish, before he captured the heart of Miss +Lucinda. He straightway assumed the <I>rôle</I> of a bear with the most +realistic and thrilling completeness. Not only was his growl like +distant thunder in the mountains, but also he had the faculty of +rolling his eyes in a savage frenzy, and over and above everything +else, a tendency to bite your legs upon little or no provocation. It +was not until he had promised to marry her that she could be induced to +part with him. +</P> + +<P> +The ruler of Dympsfield House returned from Doughty Bridge, Yorks, +equally felicitous in her health and in her temper. We dined agreeably +<I>tête-à-tête</I> with the aid of Heidsieck cuvée 1889. I reported that +the venerable inhabitant of Bolton Street, Mayfair, was supporting her +affliction with her accustomed grace and resignation; and duly received +the benediction of my parents-in-law, who in the opinion of their +youngest daughter had never been in more vigorous health—which is no +more than one expects to hear of those who dedicate their lives to +virtue. +</P> + +<P> +I was in the act of paring an apple when Mrs. Arbuthnot said, with an +air of detachment that was Vane-Anstruther of very good quality, "By +the way, has anything been heard of that creature?" +</P> + +<P> +"Creature, my angel?" said I. If my tone conveyed anything it was that +the world contained only one creature, and she at that moment was +balancing a piece of preserved ginger on her fruit knife. +</P> + +<P> +"The circus woman." +</P> + +<P> +"Circus woman?" said I, blandly. Our glasses were half empty and I +filled them up. "Somehow," said I, "this stuff does not seem equal to +the Bellinger that your father sends us at Christmas." Strictly +speaking this was not altogether the case, but then truth has many +aspects, as the pagan philosophers have found occasion to observe. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Fitz, you goose!" +</P> + +<P> +"She has come home, I believe," said I, with a casual air, which all +the same belonged to the region of finished diplomacy. +</P> + +<P> +"Come home!" The fount of my felicity indulged in a glower that can +only be described as truculent, but her flutelike tones had a little +piping thrill that softened its effect considerably. "Come home! Do +you mean to say that Fitz has taken her back again?" +</P> + +<P> +"There is reason to believe he has done so." +</P> + +<P> +"What amazing creatures men are!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, <I>mon enfant</I>, we have the authority of Haeckel, that matter +assumed a very remarkable guise when man evolved himself out of the mud +and water." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be trivial, Odo. To think she has dared to come home. If I +were a man and my wife bolted with the chauffeur, I wonder if she would +dare to come home again?" +</P> + +<P> +"The hypothesis is unthinkable. Freedom and poetry and romance, +translated into that overtaxed, down-trodden bondslave, the registered +and betrousered parliamentary voter!" +</P> + +<P> +The next morning the Crackanthorpe met at the Marl Pits. All the world +and his wife were there. The lawless mobs which are the curse of +latter-day fox-hunting are not quite so rampant in our country as they +are in that of more than one of our neighbours. Why this merciful +dispensation has been granted to us no man can explain. It may be that +we have not a sufficient care for the "bubble reputation." But as our +reverend Vicar says, our immunity is one further proof, if such were +needed, that the Providence which watches over the lowliest of God's +creatures is essentially beneficent: certainly a very becoming frame of +mind for a humble-minded vicar in Christ who keeps ten horses in his +stables and hunts six days a week. +</P> + +<P> +Brasset in a velvet cap winding the horn of his fathers is a figure for +respect. Even the Nimrods of the old school, who feel that his +courtesy and his care for the feelings of others are beneath the +dignity of the chase, accord to his office a recognition which they +would be the last to grant to his merely human qualities. This morning +the noble Master was esquired by his distinguished guest. The +O'Mulligan of Castle Mulligan, pride of the Blazers, possessor of the +straightest left in the western hemisphere, was immediately presented +to the mistress of Dympsfield House. +</P> + +<P> +That lady, mounted so expensively, that her weakling of a husband was +deservedly condemned to bestride a quadruped that Joseph Jocelyn De +Vere Vane-Anstruther publicly stigmatised as "an insult to the 'unt,'" +was instantly prepossessed, as her daughter had been, in favour of the +amateur middle-weight champion. Certainly his blandishments were many. +Grinning from ear to ear, revealing two regular and gleaming rows of +white teeth, his bearing had both grace and cordiality. His smile in +itself was enough to take the bone out of the ground, and he had all +the charming volubility of his nation. As for his aide-de-camp, he too +deserves mention. Having done very well at "snooker" the previous day, +my relation by marriage was looking very pleasant and happy in the most +perfectly fitting coat that ever embellished the human form. He was +mounted on Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, the <I>pièce de résistance</I> of his +stable. +</P> + +<P> +We were accepting the hospitality of the Reverend, an agreeable +function that was rendered necessary by the fact that his parsonage is +within a mile of the tryst, when portentous toot-toots accompanied by +prodigious gruntings assailed our ears. +</P> + +<P> +"I say, Jo," said Alexander O'Mulligan in an aside to his admiring +camp-follower, "here comes ould Fizzamagig." +</P> + +<P> +This elegant pseudonym veiled the identity of the most august of her +sex. The famous fur coat and the bell-shaped topper converged upon the +Rectory gravel, at the instance of a worn-out dust distributor whose +manifold grunts and wheezes all too clearly proclaimed that it belonged +to an early phase of the industry. +</P> + +<P> +It was the broad light of day, I was in the midst of friends and +brother sportsmen, but once again the chill of apprehension went down +my spine. For an instant I had a vision of pink satin. Mrs. Catesby +accepted the glass of brown sherry and the piece of cake respectfully +proffered by the Church. But while she discoursed of parochial +commonplaces in that penetrating voice of hers, it was plain that her +august head was occupied with affairs of state. Her grave grey eye +travelled to the middle of the lawn, where the noble Master was sharing +a ham sandwich with Halcyon and Harmony; thence to the inadequately +mounted Member for the Uppingdon Division of Middleshire; thence to the +Magnificent Youth and the heroic O'Mulligan. Finally in contemplative +austerity it rested upon the trim outline of the lady whose habit had +not a fault, although there is reason to believe that in the eyes of +one it erred a little on the side of fashion, who with the aid of the +Parsoness and Laura Glendinning was engaged in putting the scheme of +things in its appointed order. +</P> + +<P> +Once again I was undergoing the process of feeling profoundly +uncomfortable, when we were regaled with an incident so pregnant with +drama that a mere private emotion was swept away. An imperious vision +in a scarlet coat, mounted on a noble and generous horse, came in at +the Parson's gate. She was accompanied by the son-in-law of Ferdinand +the Twelfth. +</P> + +<P> +"What ho, the military!" murmured Alexander O'Mulligan. +</P> + +<P> +To the sheer amazement of all, save three of his followers, the Master +of the Crackanthorpe was the first to greet Mrs. Fitz. A recent +incident was fresh in the minds of all. It was pretty well understood +that "the circus rider from Vienna" and her cavalier entered the +Rectory grounds without an invitation, for the Fitzwaren stock stood +lower than ever in the market. It was expected of our battered and +traduced chieftain that at least he should withhold official +recognition from these lawless invaders. He was expected to vindicate +his office and maintain what was left of his dignity by looking +assiduously in another direction. But he did nothing of the sort. +</P> + +<P> +In the most heedless and tactless manner the noble Master proceeded to +forfeit the sympathy, the esteem, and the confidence of those who had +hitherto dispensed those commodities so lavishly. It would be hard to +conceive a more grievous affront to the feminine followers of the +Crackanthorpe than was furnished by the Master's personal reception of +the lady in the scarlet coat. The grave, yet cordial humility of his +bearing, admirably Christian in the light of too-recent history, +received no interpretation in the terms of the higher altruism. +</P> + +<P> +"He will have to resign," breathed the august Mrs. Catesby in the ear +of the outraged Laura Glendinning. +</P> + +<P> +It was a relief to everybody when a move was made to the top cover. +Without loss of time the question of questions was put. Was the famous +ticked fox at home? Was that almost mythical customer, whose legend +was revered in three countries, in his favourite earth? +</P> + +<P> +In a half-circle, each thinking his thoughts, and with a furtive eye +for his neighbour, we waited. +</P> + +<P> +A succession of silvery notes from the pack at last proclaimed the +answer to the question. As usual the father of cunning had set his +mask for Langley Dumbles. One of the stiffest bits of country in the +Shires lay stretched out ahead. Two distinct and well-defined courses +were immediately presented to the field. The one was pregnant with +grief yet fragrant with glory. The other, if not the path of honour, +was certainly more appropriate to the married man, the father of the +family, and the county member, particularly if the wife of the member +has a weakness for three-hundred-guinea hunters. There was also a +middle course for those who, while retaining some semblance of +ambition, have learned to temper it with prudence, observation, and +sagacity. It was to the middle course that nature had condemned old +Dobbin Grey and his rider. +</P> + +<P> +Not for us the intemperate delights of the thruster. Crash through a +bullfinch went Alexander O'Mulligan, the pride of the Blazers. Almost +in his pocket followed the lady in the scarlet coat. Almost in hers +followed Mrs. Arbuthnot. Laura Glendinning and little Mrs. Josiah P. +Perkins were obviously hardening their hearts for prodigious deeds of +gallantry. It was already clear as the sun at noon that if our old and +sportsmanlike friend, whose jacket had the curious ticking, only kept +to the line it generally pleased him to follow, some very jealous +riding was about to be witnessed among the feminine followers of the +Crackanthorpe Hounds. +</P> + +<P> +"My God, they call this 'untin'!" said Joseph Jocelyn De Vere +Vane-Anstruther, who to his disgust had allowed himself, in the +preliminary scuffle for places, to be nonplussed by the unparalleled +ardour of these Amazons. +</P> + +<P> +One thing was obvious. Old Dobbin Grey and his rider were a little too +near the centre of the picture. Let us blush to relate it, but at the +obsequious promptings of memory we moved down the hedgerow of that wide +and heavy pasture, yea, even unto its uttermost left-hand corner where +a gate was known to lurk. But alas! Nemesis lurked also in that +corner of the landscape. For we were doomed to discover that the +eternal standby of the lover of the middle course, nay the indubitable +emblem of it, the goodly handgate, had been removed of malice prepense, +and in lieu thereof was a stiff and upstanding post and rails, freshly +planted and painted newly! +</P> + +<P> +It was a great shock to the old horse. It was also a crisis in the +life of his rider. The rails looked terribly high and stout; we had +lost so much time already that every second was priceless if we were to +see hounds again. It was hard on the old horse, yet it really seemed +that there was only one thing to be done. However, before resolve +could be translated into action, other lovers of the middle course bore +down upon us; no less a pair than Mrs. Catesby mounted upon Marian. +</P> + +<P> +"It was my intention not to speak to you again, Odo Arbuthnot," said +the august rider of Marian, "but if you will give us a lead over that +post and rails we will follow." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Place aux dames</I>," said I, with ingrained gallantry. "Besides, you +are quite as competent to break that top rail as we are." +</P> + +<P> +"Out hunting," said the high-minded votary of Diana, "you must behave +like a gentleman, even if at the Savoy——" +</P> + +<P> +With due encouragement the old horse really did very well indeed, +hitting the top rail fore and aft it is true, describing in his descent +a geometrical figure not unlike a parabola, but landing on his legs and +gathering himself up quite respectably in the adjoining fifty acres of +ridge and furrow. With a little pardonable condescension, I turned +round to look how Marian would behave with her resolute-minded +mistress. It is no disparagement to the Dobbin to say that Mrs. +Catesby's chestnut is a cleverer beast than he ever was, also she has +youth on her side; and she is taller by a hand. She grazed the rail +with her hind legs, but her performance was quite good enough to be +going on with. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Catesby can ride as straight as anybody, but now she is "A Mother +of Seven" who writes to the <I>Times</I> upon the subject of educational +reform, and she has taken to sitting upon committees—in more senses +than one—she feels that she owes it to the mothers of the nation that +she should set them an example in the matter of paying due respect to +their vertebrae. The negotiation of the post and rails had put us on +excellent terms with ourselves, if not with each other, and side by +side we made short work of the fifty acres of ridge and furrow; popped +through a sequence of handgates and along a succession of lanes; and +made such a liberal use of the craft that we had painfully acquired in +the course of more seasons than we cared to remember, that in the end +it was only by the mercy of Allah that we did not head the fox! +</P> + +<P> +The fortune of war had placed us in the first flight, but the +celebrated customer was still going so strong that we should have to +show cause if we were going to remain there. +</P> + +<P> +The noble Master was looking very anxious. Well he might, for between +him and his hounds was the lady in the scarlet coat. Mounted upon the +most magnificent-looking bay horse I have ever seen she seemed fully +prepared to hunt the pack. And I grieve to relate that following hard +upon her line, and as close as equine flesh and blood could contrive +it, was Mrs. Arbuthnot on her three-hundred-guinea hunter. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at Mops," quoth a disgusted voice. "Clean off her rocker. Hope +to God there won't be a check, that's all!" +</P> + +<P> +Jodey soared by us, taking a fence in his stride. +</P> + +<P> +On the contrary, old Dobbin Grey was beginning devoutly to hope that a +check there would be. But, as game as a pebble, the old warrior +struggled on. It would never do for him to be cut out by Marian, and +in that opinion his rider concurred. Luckily we found an easy place in +the fence, but all too soon a more formidable obstacle presented +itself. It was Langley Brook. Very bold jumping would be called for +to save a wet jacket; and it is an open secret that, even in his prime, +the Dobbin has always held that the only possible place for water is a +stable bucket. +</P> + +<P> +We decided to go round by the bridge. A perfectly legitimate +resolution, I am free to maintain, for ardent followers of the middle +course. Having arrived at this statesmanlike decision there was time +to look ahead. It was not without trepidation that we did so. In +front was a welter of ambitious first flighters. Yet, as always, the +one to catch the eye was the lady in the scarlet coat. Utterly +heedless, she went at the Brook at its widest, the noble bay rose like +a Centaur and landed in safety. Sticking ever to her, closer than a +sister, was Mrs. Arbuthnot. I shuddered and had a vision of a broken +back for the three-hundred-guinea hunter, and a ducking for its rider. +Happily, if you are a member of the clan Vane-Anstruther, the more +critical the moment the cooler you are apt to be; also you are born +with the priceless faculty of sitting still and keeping down your +hands. The three-hundred-guinea hunter floundered on to the opposite +bank, threatened to fall back into the stream, by a Herculean effort +recovered itself and emerged on <I>terra firma</I>. +</P> + +<P> +It was with a heart devout with gratitude that I turned to the bridge. +To my surprise, for as all my attention had been for the Brook I had +had none to spare for the field as a whole, I found myself cheek by +jowl with Jodey. In the hunting field I know no young man whom nature +has endowed so happily. His air of world-weariness is a cloak for a +justness of perception, which apparently without the expenditure of the +least exertion generally lands him there or thereabouts at the finish. +</P> + +<P> +"The silly blighters!—don't they see they have lost their fox?" +</P> + +<P> +This piece of criticism was hurled not merely at the Amazons, who had +already negotiated the water, but also at the noble Master and his +attendant satellites who were in the act of following their example. +</P> + +<P> +"Reggie is quite right for once," said a voice from the near side, +severe and magisterial in quality. "It is his duty to prevent, if he +can, his hounds being overridden by those unspeakable women. If Irene +belonged to me I should send her straight home to bed." +</P> + +<P> +"Ought to be smacked," said the sportsman on the off side, cordially. +"Anybody'd think she'd had no upbringin'!" +</P> + +<P> +Feeling in a sense responsible for the misbehaviour of my lawful +property, I "lay low and said nuffin." Indeed, there was precious +little to be said in defence of such conduct in the presence of the +whole field. +</P> + +<P> +On the strength of Jodey's pronouncement we crossed the bridge at our +leisure. As usual his wisdom hastened to justify itself. Reynard was +tucked snugly under a haystack, doubtless with his pad to his nose. He +was upon sacred earth, where, after a tremendous turn-up with Peter, +the Crackanthorpe terrier, the Crackanthorpe hounds and the +Crackanthorpe huntsman reluctantly left him. +</P> + +<P> +A halt was called; flasks and sandwiches were produced; and the +honourable company of the less enterprising, or the less fortunate, +began to assemble in force without the precincts of the Manor Farm +stackyard. Conversation grew rife; and at least one fragment that +penetrated to my ears was pungent. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, Mops," was its context, "when do you suppose you are goin' +to give over playing the goat?" +</P> + +<P> +The rider of the three-hundred-guinea hunter was splashed with mud up +to her green collar, her hair was coming down, her hat was anyhow, her +cheeks were flame colour, and the sides of Malvolio were sobbing. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Mon enfant</I>," I ventured sadly to observe, "it may be magnificent, +but it is not the art of chasing the fox, even as it is practised in +the flying countries." +</P> + +<P> +The light of battle flamed in the eyes of the star of my destiny. +</P> + +<P> +"What nonsense you talk, Odo! Do you think that the circus woman——" +</P> + +<P> +"Sssh! She will hear you." +</P> + +<P> +"Hope she will!" +</P> + +<P> +"Fact is, Mops," said her admonisher in chief, "as I've always said, +you are only fit for a <I>provincial</I> pack." +</P> + +<P> +Having thus delivered himself Mrs. Arbuthnot's brother washed his hands +of this "hard case" in the completest and most effectual manner. He +turned about and bestowed his best bow upon the circus rider from +Vienna. The act was certainly irrational. The behaviour of the lady +in the scarlet coat was quite as much exposed to censure. To be sure +her nationality was to be urged in her defence, but then, as the sorely +tried Master confided to me in a pathetic aside, "she had been out +quite often enough to learn the rules of the game." +</P> + +<P> +"You can't expect Crown Princesses, my dear fellow, to trouble about +rules," said I. "They make their own." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I wish they would hunt hounds of their own and leave mine to me," +said the long-suffering one tragically. "It turns me dizzy every time +I see her among 'em. If Fitz had any sense of decency he would look +after her." +</P> + +<P> +"Fitz is the slave of circumstance. Brasset, if you are a wise fellow +and you are not above taking the advice of a friend, you will never +marry the next in succession to an old-established and despotic +monarchy." +</P> + +<P> +"My God—no!" The voice of the noble Master vibrated with profound +emotion. +</P> + +<P> +In honour of this resolution we exchanged flasks. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A GLARE IN THE SKY +</H4> + +<P> +The Society for the Maintenance of the Public Decency has a record of +long and distinguished usefulness, but never in its annals has it been +moved to a more determined activity than during the week which followed +this ill-starred run. The Ruling Dames or Past Grand Mistresses—I +don't quite know what their true official title is—of this august body +met and conferred and drank tea continually. Those who were conversant +with the Society's methods made dire prophecy of a public action of an +unparalleled rigour. But beyond the fact that Mrs. Arbuthnot's +china-blue eyes had an inscrutable glint, and that Mrs. Catesby's +Minerva-like front was as lofty and menacing as became the daughter of +Jove, nothing happened during this critical period which really aspires +to the dignity of history. +</P> + +<P> +Three times within that fateful space the noble Master led forth his +hounds; three times was it whispered confidently in my ear by my little +friend Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins with a piquant suggestion in her accent +of her old Kentucky home, which sometimes overtakes her very charmingly +in moments of acute emotion, "that if the tenderfoot from the rotunda +hit the trail, Reg would take the fox-dogs home"[<A NAME="chap17fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap17fn1">1</A>]; three times did +the lady in the scarlet coat do her best to override the fox-dogs in +question; three times, as the veracious historian is fain to confess, +nothing happened whatever. It is true that more than once the noble +Master looked at the offender "as no gentleman ought to look at a +lady." More than once he cursed her by all his gods, but never within +her hearing. Rumour had it that he also told Fitz that if he didn't +look after his wife he should give the order for the kennels. +Unfortunately, Miss Laura Glendinning was the sole authority for this +melodramatic statement. +</P> + +<P> +However, on the evening of the seventh day the stars in their courses +said their word in the matter. Doubtless the behaviour of the astral +bodies was the outcome of a formally expressed wish of the Society; at +least it is well known that certain of its members carry weight in +heaven. Whether Mrs. Catesby and the Vicar's Wife headed a deputation +to Jupiter I am not in a position to affirm. Be that as it may, on the +evening of the seventh day fate issued a decree against "the circus +rider from Vienna" and all her household. +</P> + +<P> +Let this fell occurrence be recorded with detail. Myself and +co-partner in life's felicities had had a tolerable if somewhat +fatiguing day with the Crackanthorpe Hounds. We had assisted at the +destruction of a couple of fur-coated members of society who had done +us no harm whatever; and having exchanged the soaked, muddy and +generally uncomfortable habiliments of the chase for the garb of peace, +had fared <I>tête-à-tête</I>—Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther +regaling his friends at the Hall with the light of his countenance and +his post-prandial skill at snooker—with sumptuous decency upon baked +meats and the good red wine. +</P> + +<P> +We were in the most harmonious stage of all that this chequered +existence has to offer; taking our ease in our inn while our nether +limbs, whose stiffness was a not unpleasing reminiscence of the +strenuous day we had spent in the saddle, toasted luxuriously before a +good sea-coal fire; smoking the pipe of peace together, although this +is by way of being a figure of speech, since Mrs. Arbuthnot affected a +mild Turkish cigarette; comparing notes of our joint adventures by +flood and field, with the natural and inevitable De Vere +Vane-Anstruther note of condescension quite agreeably mitigated by one +tiny liqueur glass of the 1820 brandy—a magic potion which ere now has +caused the Magnificent Youth himself to abate a few feathers of his +plumage. We were conducting an exhaustive inquiry into the respective +merits of Pixie and Daydream, and I had been led with a charm that was +irresistible into a concurrence with the sharer of my bliss that both +were worth every penny of the price that had been paid for them, +although I had not so much as thrown a leg over either of these +quadrupeds of most distinguished ancestry. +</P> + +<P> +"It is rather a lot to pay, but you can't call them dear, can you, +because they <I>do</I> fetch such prices nowadays, don't they? And Laura is +perfectly green with envy." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad of that," said I, with undefeated optimism. "If her +greenness approximates to the right shade it will match the Hunt +collar. How green is she?" +</P> + +<P> +"Funny old thing!" Mrs. Arbuthnot's beam was of childlike benignity. +"She is not such a bad sort, really. Besides, plain people are always +the nicest, aren't they, poor dears? Yes, Parkins, what is it?" +</P> + +<P> +Parkins the peerless had entered the drawing-room after a discreet +preliminary knock for which the circumstances really made no demand +whatever. He had sidled up to his mistress, and in his mien natural +reserve and a desire to dispense information were finely mingled. +</P> + +<P> +"Beg pardon, ma'am, but have you seen the glare in the sky?" +</P> + +<P> +"What sort of a glare, Parkins?" A lazy voice emerged from the seventh +heaven of the hedonist. "Do you mean it's a what-do-you-call-it? A +<I>planet</I> I suppose you mean, Parkins?" +</P> + +<P> +"It can hardly be a <I>comet</I>, ma'am," said Parkins, with his most +encyclopaedic air. "It is so bright and so fixed, and it seems to be +getting larger." +</P> + +<P> +"So long as it isn't the end of the world," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, +fondling her gold cigarette-case with a little sigh. +</P> + +<P> +"It looks to me like the Castle, ma'am. It is over in that direction. +I remember when the west wing was burnt twelve years ago." +</P> + +<P> +"You think the Castle is on fire?" said I. +</P> + +<P> +I also was in the seventh heaven of the hedonist. But gathering my +faculties as resolutely as I could, I rose from the good sea-coal fire +and assisted Parkins to pull aside the curtains. +</P> + +<P> +"By Jove, you're right. There is a blaze somewhere, But isn't it +rather near for the Castle?" +</P> + +<P> +"It might be the Grange," said Parkins. +</P> + +<P> +I was fain to agree that the Grange it might be. Somehow that seemed a +place excellently laid for disaster. The announcement that the Grange +was on fire brought Mrs. Arbuthnot to the window. Born under Mars, the +star of my destiny is nothing if not a woman of action. In spite of +her present rather lymphatic state she ordered the car round +immediately. Within five minutes we were braving a dark and stormy +December night. +</P> + +<P> +The beacon growing ever brighter as we went, it did not take long to +convince us that the Grange would be our destination. It is to be +feared that we broke the law, for in something considerably under half +an hour we had come to the home of the Fitzwarens. +</P> + +<P> +A heartrending scene it was. The beautiful but always rather desolate +old house, which dates from John o' Gaunt, seemed already doomed. A +portion of it was even now in ruins and on all sides the flames were +leaping up fiercely to the sky. Engines had not yet had time to come +from Middleham, and the progress of the fire was appalling. +</P> + +<P> +A number of servants and villagers had devoted themselves to the task +of retrieving the furniture. On a lawn at some distance from the house +an incongruous collection of articles had been laid out: a picture by +Rubens side by side with a trouser-press; a piece of Sèvres cheek by +jowl with a kitchen saucepan. Standing in their midst in the charge of +a nurse was the small elf of four. Her eyes were sparkling and she was +dancing and clapping her hands in delight at the spectacle. The nurse +was in tears. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot had not seen the creature before. But her instincts are +swift and they are sure. +</P> + +<P> +"Come with me," she said to the nurse. "Saunders will take you in the +car to Dympsfield House. They will make up a bed for you in the day +nursery and see that you get some warm food." +</P> + +<P> +Hardly had the little girl suffered herself to be led away by the +prospect of a new adventure before two men came towards the spot where +I stood. They were grimy and dishevelled, and the upper part of their +persons seemed to be enveloped in folds of wet blanket. They were +staggering under a very large and unwieldy burden which was swathed in +a material similar to that which they wore themselves. +</P> + +<P> +With much care this object was deposited upon a Sheraton table, and +then I found myself greeted by a familiar voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo, Arbuthnot! Didn't expect to see you here. Very good of you to +come." +</P> + +<P> +It was the voice of Fitz speaking with the almost uncanny <I>insouciance</I> +of the wonderful night at Portland Place. He cast off the curious +wrappings which encumbered his head, and said to his companion, who was +in similar guise, "I'm afraid it has us beat. The sooner we get out of +this kit the better." +</P> + +<P> +There came an incoherent growl out of the folds of wet blanket. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Coverdale!" I said in astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"I think we ought to make a sporting dash for that Holbein," said the +growl, becoming coherent. "That is, if you are quite sure it isn't a +forgery." +</P> + +<P> +"Personally I think it is," said Fitz, in his voice of unnatural calm. +"But my father always believed it to be genuine." +</P> + +<P> +"Better take the word of your father. Let us get at it." +</P> + +<P> +It was the work of a moment to strip the wrappings off the retrieved +masterpiece upon the Sheraton table. +</P> + +<P> +"Can I help?" said I. +</P> + +<P> +"If you want to be of use," said Fitz, "go and give the Missus a hand +with the horses." +</P> + +<P> +Leaving Fitz and Coverdale to make yet another entry into what seemed +hardly less than a furnace of living fire, I made my way round to the +stables. To approach them one had to be careful. The heat was +intense; sparks and burning fragments were being flung a considerable +distance by the gusts of wind, and masonry was crashing continually. +The out-buildings had not yet caught, but with the wind in its present +quarter it would only be the work of a few moments before they did so. +</P> + +<P> +My recollection is of plunging, rearing and frightened animals, and of +a commanding, all-pervading presence in their midst. Amid the throng +of stable-hands, villagers, firemen and policemen who had now come upon +the scene, it rose supreme, directing their energies and sustaining +them with that imperious magnetism which she possessed beyond any +creature I have ever seen. I heard it said afterwards that she alone +had the power to induce the twelve horses to quit their loose boxes; +that one by one she led them out, soothing and caressing them; and that +so long as she was with them they showed comparatively little fear of +the roaring furnace that was so near to them, but that no sooner were +they handed over to others than they became unmanageable. +</P> + +<P> +Certainly it was due to a consummate exhibition of her power that the +horses were got out of their stalls without harm to themselves or to +others. They were confided to the care of the friendly farmers of the +neighbourhood, who, assembled in force, were working heroically to +combat the flames. All night long the work of salvage went on, but in +spite of all that could be done, even with the aid of numerous +fire-engines from Middleham, nothing could save the old house. It +burnt like tinder. By three o'clock that December morning it was a +smouldering ruin, with only a few fragments of stone wall remaining. +</P> + +<P> +At intervals during the night some of the Grange servants had been +dispatched to Dympsfield House, with as many of the personal belongings +of their master and mistress as they could collect. Our establishment +is a modest one, but not for a moment did it occur to Mrs. Arbuthnot +that it would be unable to offer sanctuary to those who needed it so +sorely. +</P> + +<P> +The fire had run its course and all were resigned to the inevitable +when Mrs. Arbuthnot, without deigning to consult the nominal head of +our household, made the offer of our hospitality to Fitz and his wife. +At her own request she had previously forgone an introduction to "the +circus rider from Vienna"; and now in these tragic December small hours +she deemed such a formality to be unnecessary. Verily misfortune makes +strange bedfellows! +</P> + +<P> +If I must tell the truth, it surprised me to learn that the Fitzwarens +had been prevailed upon to accept the hospitality of Dymspfield House. +True, they were homeless; but, looking at the case impartially, it +seemed to me that they had not been very generously treated by their +neighbours. The foibles of "the circus rider from Vienna" had aroused +a measure of covert hostility to which the most obtuse people could not +have been insensible. Had the average ordinary married couple been in +the case of Fitz and his wife, I do not think they would have yielded +to Mrs. Arbuthnot's impulsive generosity. +</P> + +<P> +The Fitzwarens, however, were far from being ordinary average people. +Therefore, by a quarter to five that morning they had crossed our +threshold; and as some recompense for the privations of that tragic +night they were promptly regaled with a scratch meal of coffee and +sandwiches. +</P> + +<P> +One other individual, at his own suggestion, accompanied our guests to +Dympsfield House. He was of a sinister omen, being no less a person +than the Chief Constable of the county. His presence at the fire had +been a matter for surprise. And when, as we were about to quit the +unhappy scene, he came to me privately and said that if we could +squeeze a corner for him in the car he should be glad to come with us, +that surprise was not made less. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap17fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap17fn1text">1</A>] In the opinion of Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins this passage fully +guarantees the author's total ignorance of a very great proposition. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +MRS. ARBUTHNOT BEGINS TO TAKE NOTICE +</H4> + +<P> +It was a little before six when the ladies retired in the quest of +their lost repose. No sooner had they left us than we lit our pipes +and drew our chairs up to the fire. In patience I awaited the riddle +of the Chief Constable's presence being read to me. +</P> + +<P> +"Arbuthnot,"—the great man sucked at his pipe pensively—"there are +several things that Fitzwaren and I are agreed that you ought to know." +</P> + +<P> +Fitz nodded his head in curt but rather sinister approval. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, tell him," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Before Fitzwaren accepted your hospitality," said the great man, "he +asked my advice." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, really?" said I. +</P> + +<P> +"And I think it only right to mention"—the air of the great man +reminded me of my old tutor expounding a proposition in Euclid—"that +it is upon my advice he has accepted it." +</P> + +<P> +"I ought to feel honoured." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, yes, perhaps you ought." The Chief Constable removed his pipe +from his lips and tapped it upon an extremely dirty boot. "But whether +you will feel honoured when you have heard all we have to say to you I +am not so sure." +</P> + +<P> +"Nor I," said Fitz. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, Arbuthnot, we have a rather delicate problem to deal with. +It is neither more nor less than the personal safety of the Princess." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope," said I, "her Royal Highness will be at least as safe here as +she would be anywhere else." +</P> + +<P> +"That is the crux of the whole matter. Fitzwaren and I have come to +the conclusion that, for the time being, the Princess will actually be +safer in this house than she would be in any other." +</P> + +<P> +"Really!" +</P> + +<P> +"Our local police, acting in conjunction with Scotland Yard, hope to be +able to ensure her safety, that is if she and her friends take +reasonable care." +</P> + +<P> +"You may depend upon it, Coverdale, that as far as my wife and I are +concerned we shall do nothing to jeopardise it." +</P> + +<P> +"That is taken for granted. But her present position is much more +critical than perhaps you are aware." +</P> + +<P> +"I know, of course, that Ferdinand the Twelfth is determined to have +her back in Illyria." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and further than that, the Republican Party is equally determined +that she never shall go back to Illyria. The events of last night have +furnished another proof of their sentiments." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand." +</P> + +<P> +"There is reason to believe that the destruction of the Grange is the +work of an incendiary. That is to say, a bomb was thrown through one +of the windows, as was the case at Blaenau recently. There can be no +question that the object of the crime was to kill the Princess, as it +was to kill the King, but in each case the business was bungled. In +this instance, rather miraculously, not a soul was hurt, although the +house, as you know, has been entirely destroyed. A bomb was thrown +into the dining-room, but as dinner happened to be half an hour later +than usual, nobody was there." +</P> + +<P> +This grisly narrative gave me a sharp shock, I confess. And I must +have betrayed my state of mind, for the Chief Constable favoured me +with a smile of reassurance. +</P> + +<P> +"Put your trust in the Middleshire police," said he, "with a little +assistance from the Yard. They won't play that game twice with us, you +can depend upon it. If the Yard had not been rather late with their +information they would never have played it at all. Our people were +actually on the way to the Grange when the outrage was committed." +</P> + +<P> +For all the air of professional reassurance, the married man, the +father of the family, and the county member was thoroughly alarmed. +</P> + +<P> +"It is all very well, Coverdale, but what guarantee is there that even +at this moment they are not dropping bombs into our bedrooms?" +</P> + +<P> +"Four men in plain clothes are patrolling your park, and will continue +to do so as long as the Princess remains under your roof." +</P> + +<P> +It would have been ungrateful not to express relief for this official +vigilance. But that it was felt in any substantial measure is more +than I can affirm. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, my dear fellow," said Fitz, "now that you are in possession +of all the facts of the case, you have a perfect right to withdraw the +offer of your hospitality. Coverdale and I are agreed that it will do +much to promote my wife's safety for the time being, because this house +will be kept under continual observation. But as soon as I can make +other arrangements I shall do so, of course. And if you really believe +that the safety of your house and family is involved, we shall have no +alternative but to go at once." +</P> + +<P> +To what length ought we to carry our altruism? Here was a grave +problem for the married man, the father of the family, and the county +member. In spite of the opinion of the cool-headed and sagacious +Coverdale, I could not allay the feeling that to harbour the "Stormy +Petrel" was to incur a grave risk. But at the same time it was not in +me to turn her adrift into the highways and hedges. +</P> + +<P> +"Now that we have had due warning of what to expect," said Coverdale, +"these gentry will not find it quite so easy to throw bombs in this +country as they do in Illyria. And if I thought for one moment you +were not justified in extending your hospitality to the Princess I +should certainly say so." +</P> + +<P> +Events are generally too strong for the humble mortals who are content +to tread the path of mediocrity. We had already offered sanctuary to +the Crown Princess of Illyria. A little painful reflection seemed to +show that to revoke it now would be rather inhuman and rather cowardly. +All the same, it was impossible to view with enthusiasm the prospect of +four men in plain clothes continually patrolling the park. +</P> + +<P> +"By the way," said the Chief Constable, "you will, I hope, treat this +business of the bombs as strictly confidential. It won't help matters +at all to find it in the morning papers." +</P> + +<P> +"I appreciate that; but won't the servants be rather curious about +those four sportsmen in plain clothes?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ostensibly they are there to look after a gang of burglars who are +expected in the neighbourhood." +</P> + +<P> +"Not exactly a plausible story, I am afraid!" +</P> + +<P> +"The story doesn't matter, so long as they don't suspect the truth. +And as Mrs. Fitzwaren's <I>incognito</I> has been so well kept, there is no +reason why they should." +</P> + +<P> +So much for the latest development of this amazing situation. From the +very moment the curtain had risen upon the first act of the +tragi-comedy of the Fitzwarens I had seemed to be cast for the +uncomfortable <I>rôle</I> of the weak soul in the toils of fate. From the +beginning it had been contrary to the promptings of the small voice +within that I had borne a part in their destinies. And here they were +established under my roof, a menace to my household and the enemies of +all peace of mind. +</P> + +<P> +It only remained to make the best of things and to hope devoutly that +Fitz would soon arrange to relieve us of the presence of the "Stormy +Petrel." But in spite of all the dark knowledge it was necessary to +keep locked up in one's heart, there was an aspect of the matter which +was rather charming. To watch the lion and the lamb lying down +together, a veritable De Vere Vane-Anstruther playing hostess to the +fair <I>equestrienne</I> from a continental circus was certainly pleasant. +</P> + +<P> +I think it is up to me to admit that at the core Mrs. Arbuthnot is as +sound as a bell. Certainly her demeanour towards her guests was +faultless. Indeed, it made me feel quite proud of her to reflect that +had she really known the true status of our visitor she could have done +nothing more for her comfort and for that of her <I>entourage</I>. Her +foibles were condoned and "her little foreign ways" were yielded to in +the most gracious manner; and after dinner that evening it was a great +moment when our distinguished guest volunteered to accompany on the +piano her hostess's light contralto. +</P> + +<P> +I took this to be symbolical of the complete harmony in which the day +had been spent. Confirmation of this was forthcoming an hour later, +when we had the drawing-room to ourselves. +</P> + +<P> +"Really she is not half such a trial as I feared she would be," Mrs. +Arbuthnot confessed. +</P> + +<P> +"If you meet people fairly and squarely half-way," said I, in my +favourite <I>rôle</I> of the hearthrug philosopher, "there are surprisingly +few with whom you can't find something in common." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps there is such a thing as being too fastidious." +</P> + +<P> +"We are apt to draw the line a little close at times, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Some of these Bohemians must be rather interesting in their way," said +Mrs. Arbuthnot. +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt they have some sort of a standard to which they try to +conform," said I, with excellent gravity. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course she is not <I>exactly</I> a lady. Yet in some ways she is +<I>rather</I> nice. Doesn't look at things in the way we do, of course. +Awfully unconventional in some of her ideas." +</P> + +<P> +"By unconventional you mean continental, I presume?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, not continental exactly. At least, I was 'finished' in Dresden, +but I didn't learn anything of that kind." +</P> + +<P> +"Had you been 'finished' in an Austrian circus perhaps you might have +done." +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly think so. They don't seem to be ideas you could pick up. I +should think you would have to be born with them. They seem somehow to +belong to your past—to your ancestors." +</P> + +<P> +"It has not occurred to me that circus-riders were troubled with +ancestors." +</P> + +<P> +"Hardly, perhaps, in the sense that we mean. But there is something +rather fine in their way of looking at things." +</P> + +<P> +"A good type of Bohemian would you say?" +</P> + +<P> +"Surprisingly so in some ways. She doesn't seem to care a bit about +money and she is absolutely devoted to Fitz. She doesn't seem to care +a bit about jewels, either. She has got some positively gorgeous +things, and if there is anything I care to have she hopes I'll take it. +Of course I shall do nothing of the kind, but I should just love to +have them all." +</P> + +<P> +"She appears to have had her admirers in Vienna, evidently." +</P> + +<P> +"That is what one can't make out. She has three tiaras, and they must +be priceless." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense, <I>mon enfant</I>. Even the glamour of the sawdust a thousand +times reflected cannot transmute paste into the real thing." +</P> + +<P> +"But the odd part of it is they <I>are</I> real. I am convinced of it; and +Adèle, my maid, who was two years with dear Evelyn, is absolutely sure." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it conceivable that the possessor of three diamond tiaras would +choose to jump for a livelihood through a hoop in pink tights?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know it's absurd. But nothing will convince me that her +diamonds are not real." +</P> + +<P> +"And she offered you the pick of them?" +</P> + +<P> +"The pick of everything except the smallest of the three tiaras, which +she thought perhaps her father might not like her to part with." +</P> + +<P> +"One would have thought that he would at least have set his affections +upon the largest of the three." +</P> + +<P> +"Really, I can hardly swallow the circus." +</P> + +<P> +"You haven't by any chance asked her the question?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dear no! One wouldn't like to ask a question of that sort unless one +knew her quite well. I don't think she was ever in a circus at all. +Or if she was, she may have been a sort of foundling." +</P> + +<P> +"Stolen by gipsies from the ancestral castle in her infancy. After +all, there is nothing to prevent her father being a duke." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think it would surprise me, although, of course, she is rather +odd. But then in all ways she is so different from us." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you observe whether she ate with her knife and drank out of the +finger-bowls?" +</P> + +<P> +"Her manners are just like those of anybody else. I am asking Mary to +dine here on Friday, so that she can see for herself. It is her ideas +that are un-English; yet, judged by her own standard she might be +considered quite nice." +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Arbuthnot, surely a very generous admission!" +</P> + +<P> +"Let us be fair to everybody. I'm not sure that one couldn't get +almost to like her. There is something about her that seems to take +right hold of you. Personal magnetism, I suppose." +</P> + +<P> +"Or some uncomfortable Bohemian attribute? Can it be, do you suppose, +that the standard the English gentlewoman likes the whole world to +conform to would be none the worse for a little wider basis?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be a goose! A person is either a lady or she isn't, but she may +be frightfully entertaining and fascinating all the same." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that has the hall-mark of truth. There are cases in history. +Miss Dolly Daydream, for example, of the Frivolity Theatre." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot reproved me for the levity with which I treated a grave +issue. Upon the receipt of my apology she regaled me with the +astounding fact that Mrs. Fitz looked down on the English. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it conceivable?" said I, the picture of incredulity. +</P> + +<P> +"Really and truly she does. Quite laughs at us. Says we are so +stupid—so <I>bête</I>, that's her word. And she says we are so conceited. +She seems to think we have very little education in the things that +really matter." +</P> + +<P> +"Is she old-fashioned enough to believe that there is anything that +really matters?" +</P> + +<P> +"In a way she does." +</P> + +<P> +"How antediluvian! What does she believe it is that really matters?" +</P> + +<P> +"She seems to think it's the soul." +</P> + +<P> +"Dear me! I hope you made it clear to her that that part of the +Englishman's anatomy is never mentioned in good society?" +</P> + +<P> +"She knows that, I think. She says why the Romans are ashamed of it is +what she can't fathom." +</P> + +<P> +"She pays us the compliment of comparing us to the Romans?" +</P> + +<P> +"She says we are the Romans." +</P> + +<P> +"In a re-incarnation, I presume?" +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose she means that—she is so awfully odd. And for the Romans +to give themselves airs is too ridiculous." +</P> + +<P> +"Has she no opinion of the Cæsars?" +</P> + +<P> +"The Cæsars don't amount to much, in her opinion. We are going to have +another lesson before long, she says, and it will be a very good thing +for the world." +</P> + +<P> +"If by that she means that materialism leads to a <I>cul-de-sac</I>, and +that it takes a better creed than that to raise a reptile out of the +mud, perhaps we might do worse than agree with her." +</P> + +<P> +"She certainly never said anything about any 'isms.' But I don't +understand you anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"It seems to me, <I>mon enfant</I>, she has had a good deal to say about the +'isms.' But then, as you say, she's so foreign. Was there anything +else about her that engaged your attention?" +</P> + +<P> +"Heaps of things. She is terribly superstitious, a tremendous believer +in fate. She thinks everything is fore-ordained, and that the same +things keep happening over again." +</P> + +<P> +"Doesn't her oddness strike you as rather out of date?" +</P> + +<P> +"Absurdly. But it is not so much her ideas as the way she lives up to +them that makes her so different from other people. There was one +thing she told me really made me laugh. She said that Nevil was her +twin-soul, and that they lived in Babylon together about three thousand +years ago." +</P> + +<P> +"I should think that is not unlikely." +</P> + +<P> +"Be serious, Odo." +</P> + +<P> +"There are more things in earth and heaven, Horatia, than are dreamt of +in your philosophy. Go to bed like a wise child, and dream of hunting +the fox, and see that this Viennese horsewoman doesn't addle that brain +too much." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot confessed namely that she didn't feel in the least like +sleep. +</P> + +<P> +"I think I'll have another cigarette," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Sitting up late and smoking to excess will destroy that magnificent De +Vere Vane-Anstruther nerve." +</P> + +<P> +"Goose! Yet I am not sure that this circus woman hasn't destroyed it +already. Do you know, I've never been in the least afraid of anybody +before, but I rather think I'm a bit afraid of her. She really is +wonderfully odd." +</P> + +<P> +A slight tremor seemed to invade the voice of Mrs. Arbuthnot. I was +fain to believe that such a display of sensibility was extremely +honourable to her. For, even judged as a mere human entity, our guest +was quite apart from the ordinary, and it would have implied a measure +of obtuseness not to recognise that fact. +</P> + +<P> +Taking one consideration with another, I felt the hour was ripe to let +Mrs. Arbuthnot into the secret. As things were going so well, it was +perhaps not strictly necessary; yet at the same time I had a +premonition that I should not be forgiven if the wife of my bosom was +kept too long in innocence of our visitor's romantic lineage. +</P> + +<P> +"That cigarette of yours," said I, "means another pipe for me, although +you know quite well that it makes me so bad-tempered in the morning. +But I think I ought to tell you something—that is if you will swear by +all your gods not to breathe a word to a living soul, not even to Mary +Catesby." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot pricked up her ears properly. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, of course. You mean it is something about this Mrs. Fitz? I +know it." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you know?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can't explain it, but as soon as I spoke to her it came upon me that +she was something quite deep and mysterious." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it happens that she is. Things are not always what they seem. +I am going to give you a guess." +</P> + +<P> +"There is something Grand-Duchessy about her. You remember that woman +we met at Baden-Baden? In some ways she is rather like her." +</P> + +<P> +"And do you remember your old friend the King of Illyria?—'the old +johnny with the white hair,' to quote Joseph Jocelyn De Vere." +</P> + +<P> +"The dear old man in the Jubilee procession?" +</P> + +<P> +"The Victor of Rodova; the representative of the oldest reigning +monarchy in Europe." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes. Such an old dear." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, our friend Mrs. Fitz happens to be his only child, the Heiress +Apparent to the throne of Illyria. What have you to say to that?" +</P> + +<P> +For the moment Mrs. Arbuthnot had nothing at all to say, but she looked +as though a feather would have knocked her over. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a small world, isn't it, <I>mon enfant</I>?" +</P> + +<P> +"It really is the oddest thing out!" Mrs. Arbuthnot's feminine +organisation was quite tense. "It doesn't surprise me, and yet it is +really too queer." +</P> + +<P> +"Ridiculously queer that humdrum people like us should be entertaining +royalties unawares." +</P> + +<P> +"Not nearly so queer as that she should have married Nevil Fitzwaren. +How did she come to marry him?" +</P> + +<P> +"They are twin-souls who lived in Babylon three thousand years ago." +</P> + +<P> +"That is merely silly." +</P> + +<P> +"My authority is her Royal Highness." +</P> + +<P> +"Fancy the Crown Princess of Illyria running off with a man like Fitz!" +</P> + +<P> +"There is reason to suppose that he makes her happy." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, one day she will be Queen of Illyria!" +</P> + +<P> +"She may be or she may not." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I can't believe it anyway! There is no proof." +</P> + +<P> +"There is no proof beyond herself. And I confess that to me she +carries conviction." +</P> + +<P> +For an instant Mrs. Arbuthnot knitted her brows in the process of +thought. She then concurred with a perplexed little sigh. +</P> + +<P> +"But how dreadfully awkward it will be," she said in a kind of rapture, +"for poor dear Mary Catesby!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +HER ROYAL HIGHNESS RECEIVES A LETTER +</H4> + +<P> +Pledged to secrecy, Mrs. Arbuthnot earned a meed of praise for her +behaviour during a crowded and glorious epoch. If you entertain the +Crown Princess of an active and potent monarchy it is reasonable to +expect that things will happen. +</P> + +<P> +Things did happen in some profusion during the sojourn of her Royal +Highness at Dympsfield House. Owing to the course taken by events +which I shall have presently to narrate, that sojourn was prolonged +indefinitely. The resources of our modest establishment were taxed to +the uttermost, but throughout a really trying period it is due to Mrs. +Arbuthnot to say that she was a model of tact, discretion, and natural +goodness. +</P> + +<P> +She would have been unworthy the name of woman—a title not without +pretensions to honour, as sociologists inform us—had she not literally +burned to communicate her knowledge of the true identity of "the circus +rider from Vienna." But some compensation was culled from the fact +that her co-workers in the cause of the Public Decency grew +increasingly lofty in their point of view. Even the promptings of a +healthy human curiosity would not permit Mrs. Catesby to eat at our +board in order that she might see for herself. Mournfully that woman +of an unblemished virtue shook her head over us. +</P> + +<P> +"It was not kind to dear Evelyn. It was right, of course, to +sympathise with the Fitzwarens in their misfortune. But the place was +old, and George understood that it was covered by insurance. And +fortunately all the pictures that were worth anything—and some that +were not—had been saved. But to take them under one's wing as we had +done was quixotic and bound to give offence. Besides, that kind of +person would be quite in her element at the village inn, the Coach and +Horses." +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, Mrs. Arbuthnot bore every reproof with a stoical +fortitude. What it cost her "not to give away the show," to indulge in +the phrase of Joseph Jocelyn De Vere, it would be idle to estimate. +But she was true to the oath she had sworn on the night of the great +revelation. Not to a living soul did she yield her secret. +</P> + +<P> +To Jodey himself what he was pleased to call "the royal visit" was a +matter for undiluted joy. It is true that he was turned out of his +bedroom, the best in the house, which commands an unrivalled view of +Knollington Gorse, and had to be content with humbler quarters; but our +Bayard was so perfectly <I>au courant</I> with all that had happened, even +unto the presence of the four men in plain clothes in the shrubbery, +that the situation was much to his taste. +</P> + +<P> +When the Princess was not herself present, it pleased him to treat the +whole thing as a matter for somewhat laborious satire. +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't you got a bit o' red carpet and an awning for the front steps, +Mops? And why don't Odo sport his order at dinner? Can't see the use, +myself, in having an order if you don't sport it for royalty. Must put +your best leg first. Buck up a bit, old gal, else her Royal 'Ighness +will think you haven't been used to it. Anyhow, you must tell Parkins +to be damn careful how he decants that '63." +</P> + +<P> +In the presence of Mrs. Fitz, however, the demeanour of my relation by +marriage was not unlike that of a linesman standing at attention on a +field day. His deportment was so fearfully correct in every detail; +his attire so extraordinarily nice—he discarded gay waistcoats and +brilliant neckties as being hardly "the thing"—his hair was groomed so +marvellously, and he was so overpoweringly polite that it was a source +of wonder how the young fellow contrived to maintain the standard he +had prescribed for himself. +</P> + +<P> +It was a period of anxiety, yet it was not without its interest. In a +very short time Mrs. Arbuthnot had divined the <I>raison d'être</I> of the +four men in the park, but this did nothing to impair her sense of +hospitality. Fitz did not favour us with much of his company except in +the evening. During the day his energies were absorbed with the +arrangements for the rebuilding of the Grange, and, as I gathered, with +further provisions for the safety of his wife. All the same, limited +as was the time at his disposal, it was our privilege to watch him +sustain the domestic character. +</P> + +<P> +Whatever the incongruity of their fortunes, it was clear that Fitz and +his wife had a genuine devotion for one another. And in spite of their +apartness and the idea they conveyed of living entirely to themselves +without reference to the lives of humbler mortals, each seemed to +possess a quality worthy to inspire it. In a measure I was privileged +to share their confidence during the time they stayed under our roof; +and it was characteristic of them both that at heart they had a rather +charming and childlike frankness. Each of them revealed unexpected +qualities. +</P> + +<P> +I think I am entitled to say that I never shared the hostility they +seemed to arouse in others. All his life long Fitz, as far as I had +known him, had been condemned to play the part of the black sheep. +Partly it may have been due to his habit of refusing to go with the +tide; of his declared hatred of any kind of a majority. He had always +been a law unto himself, and had given a very free rein to his +personality. To me he had ever stood revealed as one capable of +anything; of the greatest good or of the greatest evil; and to behold +him now in the domestic circle, in close affinity with the magnetic +being in whom the whole of his life was centred, was to find him +endowed with a charm and a fascination which had no place in the nature +of the Nevil Fitzwaren that was seen by the eyes of the world. +</P> + +<P> +To me there was something beautiful and also a little pathetic in the +relationship which seemed to exist between these two diverse souls. +Their implicit faith in the rightness of each other, their sense of +adequacy, was a very rare thing. So many of the ignoble things of +life, questions of material expediency, of shallow prejudice, of +partial judgment, they seemed to have ruled out altogether. And this +could not have been otherwise if one reflected that a veritable kingdom +of this world was the price that had been paid for this true fellowship. +</P> + +<P> +My previous encounters with Mrs. Fitz had been of a somewhat trying +nature. But on the domestic hearth she was much less formidable. The +impetuous arrogance which had proved so disconcerting to everybody was +not so much in evidence. Her charm seemed to become rarefied as it +grew more humane. The childlike directness of her point of view began +to emerge more and more and to enhance her fascination; indeed, her way +of looking at things became a perpetual delight to such sophisticated +minds as ours. +</P> + +<P> +Her total inability to take us seriously was quite piquant. Our +England and all that was in it amused her vastly. She would compare it +to an enchanted land in one of Perrault's fairy-tales. But our code of +life, our manners and customs, our ideals, our mechanical contrivances +and, above all, our solemnity concerning them, never failed to appeal +to her sense of humour. +</P> + +<P> +It was my especial pleasure to converse with her after dinner. I +should not say that the art of conversation was her strong point, and +it was not until she had been a week in our midst that I was able to +come to anything approaching close quarters with her. But it was worth +making the effort to get past the barrier that was unconsciously +erected by her air of disillusion, of patient, plaintive tolerance. +</P> + +<P> +There was a quaint definiteness about her ideas. Touching all +questions that had real significance her thinking seemed to have been +done for her generations ago. All that lay outside the life of the +emotions was to her the wearisome iteration of a constitutional +practice, a necessary but somewhat painful part of the order of things. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps the most surprising thing about her was her humility. The pomp +of kingship was to her the hollowest of all chimeras. It merely +resolved itself into the guardianship of a profoundly ignorant, an +undeveloped and an extremely thankless proletariat. "<I>Hélas!</I> poor +souls, they don't know what is good," was a phrase she used with a +maternal sigh. The divine right of kings was part and parcel of the +cosmic order; a fact as pregnant and inviolable as the presence of the +sun and the planets in the firmament. To be called to the state of +kingship was an extremely honourable condition, "but you had always to +be praying." It was also honourable and not so irksome to be an +unregarded unit of the proletariat. +</P> + +<P> +I am not sure, but I incline to the belief, that the fact that I had a +seat in the House enabled her to support my curiosity with more +tolerance than she might have done had I been without some sort of +official sanction. She regarded me as a chosen servant of <I>le bon roi +Edouard</I>; either my own personal grace or that of my kindred had +commended itself to the guardian of the state. +</P> + +<P> +"Are not," said I, "the members of the Illyrian Parliament elected by +the people?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, my father gave the people the franchise in 1890, and the nobles +have never forgiven him. So now the people choose their sixty deputies +out of a list he draws up for their guidance; the lords of the land +choose another sixty from among themselves; and then, as so often +happens, if the two Chambers cannot agree, the King gives advice." +</P> + +<P> +"The King of Illyria has heavy duties!" +</P> + +<P> +"My father loves hard work." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you troubled, ma'am, with a democratic movement in Illyria, as all +the rest of Europe appears to be at the present time?" +</P> + +<P> +The gesture of her Royal Highness was one of pity. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Hélas</I>, poor souls!" +</P> + +<P> +It was delicate ground upon which to tread. But the fascination of +such an inquiry lured me on where doubtless the canons of good taste +would have had me stay. +</P> + +<P> +"Would you not say, ma'am, your Republican Party was a menace to the +state?" +</P> + +<P> +"They don't know what is good, poor souls." Her voice was gentle. +"They will have to learn." +</P> + +<P> +"Will the King be the means of teaching them?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Hélas!</I> he is too old. It must be left to fate. Poor souls, poor +souls!" +</P> + +<P> +During the sojourn of her Royal Highness at Dympsfield House, we saw a +good deal of the Chief Constable of our county. In a sense he had made +himself responsible for the safety of us all. His vigilance was great, +and its unobtrusiveness was part of the man. No precaution was +neglected which could minister to our security; and he gave his +personal attention to matters of detail which less thorough-going +individuals might have considered to be beneath their notice. +</P> + +<P> +He was particularly insistent that the Princess should give up her +hunting, and that she should confine the scope of her activities, as +far as possible, to the grounds of the house. To this she was not in +the least amenable. An out-and-out believer in fate, and a subscriber +to the doctrine of what has to be will be, the bullets of the anarchist +had no terrors for her. To Coverdale's annoyance, she continued to +hunt in spite of his solemn and repeated warnings. And when he was +moved to remonstrate with Fitz upon the subject, he met with the reply, +"She pleases herself entirely." +</P> + +<P> +"But, my dear fellow," said the Chief Constable, "surely you must know +that she is exposing herself to grave risks." +</P> + +<P> +"If a thing seems good to her she does it," was Fitz's unprofitable +rejoinder. +</P> + +<P> +The great man was frankly annoyed. +</P> + +<P> +"That is very wrong, to my mind," he said with some heat. "It is +unfair to those who have made themselves responsible for her safety." +</P> + +<P> +"It is a question of free-will," said Fitz, "and she knows far more +about that than most people. And when it comes to a matter of choosing +right, she has a special faculty." +</P> + +<P> +So inconclusive a reply merely ministered to the wrath of the Chief +Constable, who in private complained to me bitterly. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish to heaven they would quit the country," he said. "They are a +source of endless worry and expense. We do all we can to help them, +and I must say the Yard is wonderful, yet they can't be induced to take +the most elementary precautions. I regret now, Arbuthnot, that I urged +you to shelter them. I had hoped they were rational and sensible +people, but I now find they are not." +</P> + +<P> +"You think, Coverdale, the danger is as real as ever?" +</P> + +<P> +"Frankly I do. Ferdinand the Twelfth has played it up so high in +Illyria that the Republicans are determined to make an end of the +monarchy." +</P> + +<P> +"But didn't she renounce her right to the throne when she married Fitz?" +</P> + +<P> +"In effect she may have done so, but the Illyrian law of succession +will not contemplate such an act. Ferdinand makes no secret of the +fact, apparently, that he will compel her to marry the Archduke Joseph, +and that she must succeed to the throne." +</P> + +<P> +"How is it possible for him to give effect to his will?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is a strong man, and if he sets his mind upon a particular course +of action few have been able to deny him." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you think her marriage with Fitz is merely an episode in what is +likely to be a brilliant but stormy career?" +</P> + +<P> +"Always provided it is not cut short by one of those bullets it is our +duty to anticipate. I can only tell you that the Foreign Office is now +very anxious to get her out of the country, and that if they dared they +would deport her." +</P> + +<P> +"Ho, ho!" +</P> + +<P> +An academic admirer of our constitutional practice, I was fain to +indulge in a whistle. +</P> + +<P> +"And, strictly between ourselves," said the Chief Constable, "if only +the right government were in, deported she would be." +</P> + +<P> +"A fine proceeding, I am bound to say, for a country with our +pretensions to liberalism!" +</P> + +<P> +"Under the rose, of course." The Chief Constable permitted himself a +dour smile. "I daresay it would make a precedent, and yet one is not +so sure about that. But one thing I am sure about, and that is that +some of us are devilish unpopular in high places. They would not be +averse from making things rather warm for certain individuals who shall +be nameless. They are pretty well agreed that we ought to have kept +our fingers out of the pie. As old L. said to me yesterday, she has +got to leave the country, and the sooner she goes the better it will be +for all concerned." +</P> + +<P> +All this tended to bring no comfort to the married man, the father of +the family, and the county member. If anything, it deepened his +anxiety. +</P> + +<P> +It is only just to state, however, that this feeling was not shared by +Mrs. Arbuthnot. To be sure, she was not acquainted with all that +happened. But as far as she was concerned the element of danger in the +case was an essential and rather delightful concomitant to its romance. +</P> + +<P> +The Vane-Anstruther hyper-sensitiveness to that mysterious ideal "good +form" rendered it necessary that Mrs. Arbuthnot should perform a +volte-face. This she proceeded to do with really amazing completeness +and efficiency. No sooner was the true identity of our visitor +established, than, as far as the ruler of Dympsfield House was +concerned, there was an end of the circus rider from Vienna and all her +works. The ingrained Vane-Anstruther reverence for royalty, due I have +ever been led to believe to an uncle who held a Household appointment, +received full play. The lightest whim of the Princess—except before +the servants it was ever the Princess—was law. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot did not go without a reward. Such an incursion did she +make upon the royal regard that in a surprisingly short time she was +addressed as Irene, and about the end of the first week of the visit +the intelligence was confided to me that the Princess had asked to be +called Sonia. Without a doubt we were living in a crowded and glorious +epoch. And I do not think its glamour was in any degree impaired by +the strictures of the world. +</P> + +<P> +It is not too much to say that the Crackanthorpe ladies were +scandalised by the open and flagrant treason of Mrs. Arbuthnot. She +had taken the queen of the sawdust into the bosom of her family. +Together they hunted the fox; together they overrode the Crackanthorpe +Hounds. Loud and bitter were the lamentations of Mrs. Catesby. The +whole county shook its head. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot wore the crown of martyrdom with extraordinary grace and +nerve. Her conduct in public was marked by a cynical impropriety, a +flagrant audacity at which the world rubbed its eyes and wondered. +</P> + +<P> +"I really believe," said Mrs. Catesby one day as together we made our +way home through the January twilight, "that if Irene belonged to me I +should chastise her. Can you be unaware that she allows the creature +to call her by her first name? And Laura Glendinning assures me that +with her own ears she heard her address her as Matilda, or whatever the +name is she received in baptism." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it's a desperate situation," I agreed, with a sigh which had +perhaps a greater sincerity than it was allowed the credit. +</P> + +<P> +"I hold you entirely responsible," said the Great Lady. "And so does +everybody who knows the true facts of the case. That deplorable +evening at the Savoy—and now you actually find her house-room in order +that she may demoralise your wife! What a merciful thing it is that +your dear, good, devoted mother, the most refined of women, is no +longer with us! By the way, Odo, I suppose you have heard that there +is some talk of asking you to resign your seat?" +</P> + +<P> +"That is news to me, my dear Mary, I assure you." +</P> + +<P> +"The Vicar thinks you ought. He seems to think that if you have any +Christian feeling about things you will do so on your own initiative." +</P> + +<P> +"It is so like the Church of England not to realise that by the time a +man reaches the age of forty he has gone over to Buddha." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know in the least what you mean, but I hope it is nothing +improper. But I can assure you that the Vicar's opinion is shared by +others. The Castle is dreadfully wounded. Poor dear Evelyn will never +forgive it—never! No more fishing in Scotland and no more shooting. +At any rate, it will be a mere waste of time and money for you to stand +again." +</P> + +<P> +It only remained for me to agree very cordially with Mrs. Catesby, and +to confess to surprise that my constituents had not made the discovery +sooner. +</P> + +<P> +"But," said I, cheerfully, "here we are at that fine example of late +Jacobean art known as Dympsfield House. I would that I could prevail +upon you, Mary, to honour our guest by drinking a cup of tea in her +presence. It would be a graceful act which I am sure we should all +appreciate." +</P> + +<P> +"I have a conscience, Odo Arbuthnot," said the Great Lady, with a +severity of mien that rendered the announcement superfluous. "Also I +have some kind of a standard of morals, manners and general conduct +which I strive to live up to." +</P> + +<P> +At the gate I said <I>au revoir</I> to the outraged matron. Having disposed +of my horse, I made my way indoors. The ladies had come home in the +car and were at the tea-table already. Among a number of other +weaknesses which go with a strong infusion of the feminine temperament, +I confess to a decided partiality for the cup which cheers yet does not +inebriate. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot was pouring out the tea and her Royal Highness was +standing in front of the fire. She was reading a letter, and to judge +by her brilliantly expressive countenance, its contents were affording +a good deal of exercise for her emotions. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish, Sonia, I could convert you to cream and sugar," said Mrs. +Arbuthnot, declining to entrust the cup to my care, but rising +importantly and personally handing it to the occupant of the hearthrug. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, t'ank you. Lemon <I>à la Russe</I>. What a people to take cream +and sugar in their tea!" +</P> + +<P> +She enforced her idea of the absurdity by giving Mrs. Arbuthnot a +playfully affectionate pinch of the ear. +</P> + +<P> +"I have a piece of news for you, my child. Now, you must not laugh." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, Sonia, I will not laugh." +</P> + +<P> +The somewhat exaggerated note of Mrs. Arbuthnot's obedience was not +unlike that of the model girl of the class being examined by the head +mistress. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Irene, be quite good. Not even a smile." The Princess held up a +finger of mock imperiousness. "Dis is most serious. Shall I tell you +now, or shall I to-morrow tell you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, please, please," piped Mrs. Arbuthnot, "please tell me at once. +Is it those absurd Republicans?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh no, my child; it is something much more interesting. My father is +on his way to England." +</P> + +<P> +In sheer exultation Mrs. Arbuthnot gave a little leap into the air. +</P> + +<P> +"O-oh!" she gasped. +</P> + +<P> +"Think of it, my child! The royal and august one coming to this funny +little island, where everything is according to Perrault. He is coming +with old Schalk." +</P> + +<P> +"O-oh!" gasped Mrs. Arbuthnot. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't know Schalk. Wait till you have seen Schalk and then you +will die. He will kill you quite. He looks like dis, and he walks so." +</P> + +<P> +Her Royal Highness made a face that was really comic and took a few +steps across the carpet in imitation of Schalk going to the House of +Deputies. +</P> + +<P> +"Are they <I>really</I> coming?" +</P> + +<P> +"On Thursday they arrive at Southampton." +</P> + +<P> +"They will go straight to Windsor, of course?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh no, my child; it is not a visit of state. It is quite a secret, +what you call <I>incognito</I>. The king is coming to make obedient his +wicked daughter. <I>Helas!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +With tragic suddenness the Princess dropped her voice and the laughter +died in her eyes. But Mrs. Arbuthnot was too far deeply engrossed in +her own wild and extravagant thoughts to pay heed to the change. +</P> + +<P> +"But if the King does not go to Windsor, where else can he go?" said +she. "An hotel doesn't seem right, somehow, although, of course, there +are some rather nice ones in London." +</P> + +<P> +"I think, my child," said the Princess, "it were best that my father +came to us. They have anarchists in London. Besides, I insist that +you see Schalk. He will make you laugh until you shed tears." +</P> + +<P> +It was as much as ever Mrs. Arbuthnot could do to keep herself in hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Sonia," she cried, "do you really think the King will come to us?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Mais oui, certainement</I>, that is his intention. But it is a secret, +a grand secret, you must not fail to remember. <I>Le bon roi Edouard</I> +must not know he is in this country. His name will be Count Zhygny; +and perhaps our good Odo here will be able to find him a little +shooting. Hares, partridges, anything that goes on four legs will +amuse him; and you must never forget, my good Odo, that he is the best +player at <I>Britch</I> in Illyria. Now mind you don't play very high, or +he will ruin you. And so will Schalk." +</P> + +<P> +"I thank you, ma'am, for the information," said I, gravely. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A LITTLE DIPLOMACY +</H4> + +<P> +The announcement that Ferdinand the Twelfth, accompanied by his famous +minister, Baron von Schalk, was on his way to this country and that he +was coming straight to Dympsfield House can only be described as a blow +to one confirmed in the habit of mediocrity. Had I had only myself to +consult in the matter, I should have urged, with all the vigour of +which my nature is capable, that it would be quite impossible for us to +put them up. The lack of accommodation that was afforded by our modest +establishment; the obscurity of our social state; our radical unfitness +for the honour that was to be thrust upon us; all these disabilities +and many another surged through my brain, while I laved my tired limbs +and struggled into a "boiled" shirt, and tied my "white tie for +royalty" in accordance with the sumptuary decree of Joseph Jocelyn De +Vere. So acute, indeed, became the conviction that something must be +done to turn the tide of events that I was fain to go next door to +Fitz. That worthy was in the act of brushing his hair. +</P> + +<P> +"You've heard the news, I suppose?" said I, and as I spoke I caught a +glimpse of my own gloomy and shirt-sleeved apparition in a +looking-glass. +</P> + +<P> +"What news, old son?" said the Man of Destiny, negligently shaking +something out of a bottle on to his scalp. "Not been shootin' at +Sonia, have they? Police are devilish vigilant. I'm hanged if we +haven't had a couple of mounted detectives with us all day. They rode +like it, anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean to say you haven't heard?" said I, positively hating the +man for his coolness. "Hasn't the Princess told you that her father is +on his way to this country, and that he is coming straight to us?" +</P> + +<P> +Fitz laid down his hair-brushes and turned round to face me. +</P> + +<P> +"Get out!" he said. "Ferdinand coming here!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; she had a letter this evening to that effect." +</P> + +<P> +Fitz betrayed astonishment. And under the mask of his habitual +indifference I thought he also betrayed something else. +</P> + +<P> +"That poisonous old swine coming here!" he muttered. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; he is coming with Baron von Schalk." +</P> + +<P> +"They generally hunt in couples. He never goes anywhere without his +familiar. But I don't like your news at all." +</P> + +<P> +"I like the news as little as you do," said I. "Really, we can hardly +do with them here." +</P> + +<P> +Fitz stroked his chin pensively, and then shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"It looks as though we shall have to put up with them, I'm afraid. If +they are really on the way, I don't quite see how we can shirk them. +Ferdinand is coming as a private person, I presume?" +</P> + +<P> +"So I gather. But what do you suppose is his motive in making this +sudden pilgrimage to see his daughter?" +</P> + +<P> +Fitz did not answer the question immediately. +</P> + +<P> +"It admits of only one explanation," he said at last. "His other +scheme having failed, he has the audacity to take the thing in hand +himself. But that is his way. Whatever may be thought of his policy +and the style in which it is carried out, it can't be denied that he is +a very remarkable man. But I wish to God he would keep away from +England!" +</P> + +<P> +The son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth ended with an abrupt outburst. +Evidently the prospect of coming to grips with his august relation was +not to be viewed lightly. +</P> + +<P> +"But it hardly seems right," he said, "for him to take pot-luck at the +Coach and Horses. I shall be immensely grateful, Arbuthnot, if you +will put him up here, and of course it is quite understood that I stand +the shot." +</P> + +<P> +"The question of the shot, my dear fellow, doesn't enter into the case +at all. But, you see, we are just simple, ordinary folk, and we are +not quite up to this sort of thing; and then again, our accommodation +is limited." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that will be all right. If you can squeeze in Ferdinand and old +Schalk here, their people can stay in the village." +</P> + +<P> +I am not often troubled by anything in the nature of an inspiration, +but desperation has been known to quicken the most lethargic minds. +</P> + +<P> +"By Jove," said I, "there's Brasset. He is mounted on a far better +scale than we are. The very man! I'm sure, if the matter were +mentioned to him, he would feel himself highly honoured." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Fitz, "it is not half a bad idea. I will mention it to +Sonia." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, my dear fellow," I explained, "you understand that my wife +and I immensely appreciate the honour of entertaining the King of +Illyria, and if we only had more resources we should be only too +grateful for the chance. I hope you will make that quite clear to the +Princess." +</P> + +<P> +Solemnly enough the son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth promised that +this should be done, and I descended to the drawing-room in a more +equable frame of mind. I was able to eat my dinner in the happy belief +that my inspiration had solved an acute and oppressive difficulty. +Emboldened by this reflection and sustained by a sense of danger +overpast, I even went to the length of attempting to pave the way for +the reception of the happy solution. +</P> + +<P> +"By the way," I ventured to announce to Mrs. Arbuthnot at the other end +of the table, "Mr. Fitzwaren has suggested that perhaps it would be +more convenient for Count Zhygny and his friend the Baron if Lord +Brasset entertained them at the Hall. This seems a most happy +suggestion, and I am quite sure that Lord Brasset will consider it a +very great honour." +</P> + +<P> +Before I had come to the end of this carefully phrased, and, as I +hoped, eminently diplomatic speech, a silent but furious signal was +dispatched by wireless telegraphy across the whole length of the table. +A frown of portentous dimension clouded the brow of Mrs. Arbuthnot as +she turned ruthlessly to the picture of amused cynicism who sat beside +her. +</P> + +<P> +"Really, Mr. Fitzwaren," said she, "that is nonsense. His Maj—I mean +to say, Count Thingamy has expressed a gracious desire to come here, +and of course, as I have no need to say, we should be the last people +in the world not to respect it. We shall only feel too <I>proud</I> and +<I>honoured</I>, and the longer he stays with us the more <I>proud</I> and the +more <I>honoured</I> we shall feel." +</P> + +<P> +"Quite so, quite so," said I, hurriedly. "Those are exactly my views; +that goes without saying, of course. But at the same time, Mr. +Fitzwaren agrees with me that the accommodation at the Hall is far +superior to any that we have it in our power to offer." +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't say that exactly, old son." Fitz turned the tail of an +amused eye upon his hostess. "I rather think that is one of the things +that ought to be expressed differently. Rather open to +misconstruction, as the old lady said when something went wrong with +the airship." +</P> + +<P> +"Irene quite understands what I mean," said I, with the valour of the +entirely desperate. "The Hall, don't you know, is one of the show +places of the country—ceilings by Verrio, and so on. Then, of course, +Brasset's a peer, and, as it were, marked out by predestination to do +the honours to Count Zhygny." +</P> + +<P> +There was the imperious upraising of a jewelled paw, in company with a +flash of eyes across the rose-bowl in the centre of the table. I was +reminded of the lady in Meredith whose aspect spat. +</P> + +<P> +"You are talking sheer nonsense, Odo. Your father is coming here, +isn't he, Sonia dear? It is all arranged, and there will be heaps of +room. Lucinda will go to Yorkshire to see her Granny; and Jodey can go +to the Coach and Horses; and you, Odo, can sleep over the stables, and +I am sure that Mr. Fitzwaren won't mind giving up the nicest bedroom to +his Maj—I should say, Count von Thingamy. You won't, now will you, +Mr. Fitzwaren?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am yours to command, Mrs. Arbuthnot," said Mr. Fitzwaren, with his +chin pinned down to the front of his shirt, and gazing straight before +him with his smiling but sardonic eye. "And if there is anything I can +do to add to the comfort of the Count, I need hardly say that I shall +be most happy." +</P> + +<P> +"There!" said Mrs. Arbuthnot, triumphantly. "Not another word, please, +else Sonia will think we don't deserve such an honour." +</P> + +<P> +Her Royal Highness regaled us all with a benevolent flash of her +wonderful teeth. +</P> + +<P> +As one in the coils of fate, I had to submit with the best grace I +could to its decree. So far was the sharer of my joys and the +participator in my sorrows from viewing the prospect of the royal +coming with disfavour, that she might be said to revel in it. There +was a fire in her eye, a lightness in her step; the mere thought of the +glamour that was so soon to invest her household served to envelop her +in an atmosphere of mental and moral elevation that can only be +described as lyrical. +</P> + +<P> +Later in the evening I received a Caudle lecture upon my absence of +tact. "What possessed you, Odo, to talk at dinner in that way! I +don't know what dear Sonia must have felt, I'm sure. One would really +think, to hear you, that we positively didn't want to entertain the +King." +</P> + +<P> +"Let us assume, <I>mon enfant</I>," said the desperate I, "in a purely +academic spirit, that almost inconceivable hypothesis." +</P> + +<P> +"Really, Odo, there are times when you seem to take a pride in being +<I>bourgeois</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"In this instance, my child, the indictment justifies itself. All the +same, we are what we are; it is hardly kind to hold any man responsible +for his antecedents." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't think for a moment that I blame you because your grandfather was +in trade; although, of course, trade was not so respectable then as it +is now. Why I blame you, Odo, is because you don't always make the +best of yourself. That was almost the only thing dearest Mama had +against you. Now, for the love of goodness, let us hear no more about +the King going to the Hall to stay with Reggie Brasset!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE EXPECTED GUEST +</H4> + +<P> +In the face of this manifesto by the powers, there was only one course +to adopt. That course was submission. Fitz, while professing to +sympathise with my embarrassment, was too cynical to help me much. The +hospitality of the Hall might be more regal in its character, but then, +if the august visitor came to us, think what a snug family party we +should be! +</P> + +<P> +The King was due at Southampton that day week, and his dutiful +son-in-law proposed to meet him there. In spite of his casual and +nonchalant airs, he had an inborn instinct for behaving well on great +occasions. Ferdinand the Twelfth having affirmed his determination to +visit our shores, it seemed to Fitz that it behoved all concerned to +make the best of a bad business. It was a sad bore that he should have +decided to do any such thing, but at the same time it might prove an +amusing and possibly an instructive experience to have the victor of +Rodova dwelling among us in Middleshire. +</P> + +<P> +For Mrs. Arbuthnot these were great days. Almost the first thing she +did was to borrow an under-footman from Yorkshire. She also provoked a +state of anarchy in the kitchen by engaging for a fortnight a cordon +bleu lately in the service of a nobleman. Our much-maligned and +occasionally inebriated household goddess was fairly good for plain +dishes, but certainly not for such as were to be set before a king. +Upon inquiry of his daughter as to what dishes would make the best +appeal to the royal palate, the Princess was fain to declare that if +the victor of Rodova might be said to have a weakness for anything in +particular it was for tomatoes. +</P> + +<P> +It was my privilege to be present when, one morning at breakfast, the +mandate was issued to Joseph Jocelyn De Vere that for the time being it +was necessary that he should seek other quarters. +</P> + +<P> +"I am really so sorry," said his sister in a birdlike voice, "I am +really so dreadfully sorry. But what can we do? Two rather important +members of the Illyrian Cabinet are coming from Blaenau to see dear +Sonia, and of course it is only right that we should put them up." +</P> + +<P> +"That is what all that talk about Count This and Baron That amounts to, +is it?" said the young fellow, coolly. "Well, now, Mops, you don't +suppose I am going to put myself to the trouble of clearin' out for a +couple of bally foreigners, do you? This box suits me very well, and +the Coach and Horses is quite a second-rate sort of pub." +</P> + +<P> +"You can have your meals here, of course, but it would hardly be right +to send foreigners of distinction to the village inn." +</P> + +<P> +"Foreigners of distinction! Why, it would take the King himself to +uproot me." +</P> + +<P> +Such a moment was too much for Mrs. Arbuthnot's dramatic sense. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it so happens," said she, with a carefully calculated unconcern, +"it is the King himself." +</P> + +<P> +Jodey laid down his coffee-cup. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell that to the Marines!" said he. +</P> + +<P> +"If you don't believe me, you had better ask Sonia. Of course, it is a +tremendous secret. The visit is a strictly private one, and his +Majesty's <I>incognito</I> must be rigidly preserved." +</P> + +<P> +"I should rather think so," said the sceptical youth. "I expect Fitz +is pulling your leg." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh no, he isn't," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "Why should he, pray? The +King arrives at Southampton on Thursday, and Nevil will meet him there. +His Chancellor, Baron von Schalk, accompanies him, and they are coming +straight to us." +</P> + +<P> +"If it don't beat cock-fightin'!" +</P> + +<P> +"It is really quite natural that the dear old King should wish to see +his daughter," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with pensive dignity. +</P> + +<P> +But it is only fair to Mrs. Arbuthnot to say that her dramatic +announcement had wrought sensibly upon her brother. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose there is no help for it," he said, cheerfully. "I expect I +shall have to clear out. But I daresay Brasset will find me a crib if +I explain how it is." +</P> + +<P> +"There must be not a word of explanation to anybody," said Mrs. +Arbuthnot, with an official air. "Not a soul must know it is the King." +</P> + +<P> +"Brasset will be all right. He's an awfully diplomatic beggar; been an +<I>attaché</I> at Paris, and so on. You can trust him to keep a secret." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot pondered. The gravity of her mien was enormous. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if you tell Reggie Brasset, you must give me your word of honour +that you positively won't speak of it to another living being. +Strictly <I>incog.</I>, you know, and if it got out there might be serious +international complications. Of course I had to write and tell Mama, +else she would never have let me have Thomas. Besides, she is +consulting Uncle Harry upon one or two points of etiquette." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, is she! Evidently going to be a devilish well-kept secret this +is!" +</P> + +<P> +"I should think it is. Why, I haven't even told Mary Catesby, yet I +suppose I shall have to, because she is frightfully well up in that +sort of thing." +</P> + +<P> +"If you don't disdain a word of advice from a lowly quarter," said I, +modestly, "you will leave Mary Catesby out of your calculations." +</P> + +<P> +My only guerdon was the flash of an imperious china-blue eye. Other +reward there was none. +</P> + +<P> +"Seems to me," said Jodey, "we had better have Brasset to dine with us +pretty often. You will want somebody to talk to the old buffer. I'm +not much of a hand at conversation myself." +</P> + +<P> +"No, Joseph," I ventured to remark, "but you are good and brave and +modest. How goes the ballad that Irene so charmingly discourses? 'Be +good, sweet child, and let who will be clever.'" +</P> + +<P> +I desisted, for from two points of the compass a double-distilled +Vane-Anstruther gaze was trained upon me. My relation by marriage +drank his coffee and fished out a vile old pipe, and lit it amid the +most magniloquent silence to which I have ever been a contributor. +</P> + +<P> +But events were moving apace. The passing of each day brought us +sensibly nearer the all-important event. With advice and aid from her +Royal Highness, Mrs. Arbuthnot proceeded to set her house in order with +no uncertainty. The King liked a room with a south aspect, it +appeared, and a bath-room leading out of his dressing-room. By a +special dispensation of providence these things happened to be +forthcoming. Red was the predominant hue of the carpet and +bed-hangings in the chamber of state. The picturesque fancy occurred +to Mrs. Arbuthnot that purple would be more appropriate. Her Royal +Highness thought it really didn't matter, but Joseph Jocelyn De Vere, +who was called in to arbitrate, concurred with Mrs. Arbuthnot. The +bill from Waring's was £65 12<I>s.</I> 9<I>d.</I> less five per cent. discount +for cash. +</P> + +<P> +On the morning of Wednesday a paper of instructions arrived from Uncle +Harry <I>via</I> Doughty Bridge, Yorks. It seemed to attach chief +significance to the wine, which should be of the best quality and +abundant in quantity. Deponent adjured his niece to be especially +careful about the madeira, as all the royalties he had had the honour +to meet at table were extremely partial to that beverage. "I am +sending a case of ours in the care of Thomas, unknown to your father," +was interspersed in the form of a note in the maternal hand. In +effect, Uncle Harry's instructions might be said to resolve themselves +into as much madeira and as little fuss as possible. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz also was not inactive. He had accepted the impending visit of his +father-in-law, wholly distasteful to him as there was reason to believe +it was, in quite the temper of the philosopher. Since the King's +enemies were so rife in our part of the world, the first thing he did +was to take the Chief Constable into his confidence. He then went up +to town, spent two hours in Whitehall at the feet of more than one +Gamaliel, called upon the General Manager of the Great Mid-Western +Railway and arranged for a special train to be run through from +Southampton to Middleham, and rounded up his day with the purchase of a +new silk hat at Scott's. +</P> + +<P> +The historic Thursday came at last, and shortly after seven A.M. Mr. +Nevil Fitzwaren set forth to Southampton, arrayed in a very smart +Newmarket coat, patent leather boots and his new silk hat. Even when I +had witnessed his setting out in the full panoply of war, I could +hardly realise that we were on the threshold of so high an occasion. I +hope I do not attach an undue importance to the kings of the earth. +But even an insignificant unit of a constitutional country, with +perhaps something of a slight personal bias in the direction of +democracy, could not allay a thrill of lively anticipation of what the +day would bring forth. +</P> + +<P> +According to the journals of the age, Ferdinand the Twelfth stood for +an advanced type of despot. His word was law in Illyria. I spent half +my morning in the hunting up and perusal of a recent number of one of +the magazines, in which appeared a character-study of this famous man +by one who claimed to know him intimately. Therein he figured as a +benevolent reactionary; as one who in the fullest sense of the term +believed himself to be the father of his people. He dispensed justice +alike to the rich and the poor; but whether he was right or whether he +was wrong, he allowed no appeal from his verdicts. +</P> + +<P> +In the opinion of the writer of the article, the King of Illyria was +one of the strongest men of his epoch. Poised as he had been all his +life on the crater of a volcano, which issued continual threats of +eruption, he had abated no point of his public or domestic policy in +response to the rumblings below. He believed himself to possess an +infallible knowledge of that which was good for his people, and he was +prone to dispense his universal panacea in liberal doses. Yet he +differed fundamentally from other potentates of a similar faith, as, +for instance, his Russian nephew and his Turkish and Persian +contemporaries, inasmuch as he had faith in the essential virtue of his +subjects. +</P> + +<P> +In spite of the fact that the modern distemper of anarchy had infected +his kingdom, and had led to three cowardly attempts on his life, +Ferdinand the Twelfth had furnished a convincing proof of his strength +of character by declining to saddle his people with the responsibility +of what he chose to consider as isolated acts of fanaticism. From the +earliest times any individual or body of freemen of the Kingdom of +Illyria had enjoyed the right of personal access to their sovereign. +He was ready to give them advice in the most commonplace affairs. In +many ways he was more like an enlightened friend and neighbour of +liberal views than a despotic ruler whose word was law. It was said +that he would advise a working-man about the choice of a calling for +his son, or he would fix the amount of a daughter's dowry. "To take +the King's opinion" had become a proverbial phrase throughout the land; +and it was said that in the case of two farmers haggling over the price +of a horse, whenever the phrase was used it received a literal +interpretation. +</P> + +<P> +The consequence of this accessibility was an abundant popularity among +all classes in the state. In living up to the letter of the truly +royal tradition that every Illyrian enjoyed the King's friendship, he +had conserved his power, and in spite of many a sinister growl in +consequence of severe taxation and many flagrant abuses of authority, +the volcano had remained inactive throughout a long and not inglorious +reign. His campaign in the 'sixties against the might of Austria, +culminating in the historic day of Rodova, had been a wonder for wise +men, and had only been rendered possible by the almost superstitious +faith of all classes of a comparatively small community. +</P> + +<P> +In his final survey of the character and attainments of one of the most +significant figures of the age, the writer of the article indulged in +the prophecy that with Ferdinand the Twelfth a symbol of true kingship +would pass away. The forces of modernism were too strong in Illyria, +as elsewhere in Europe, to be held longer at bay. It was only by a +miracle that the doors of the historic castle at Blaenau had been +barred against them so long. Only an extraordinary personal power and +an unflinching strength of will had kept them unforced. For none could +deny that the sublime example of trusting all men and fearing none had +gone hand in hand with the gravest abuses; yet, whatever was their +nature, it could at least be said that they owed their origin to no +ignoble source. A king in every true essential, Ferdinand the Twelfth +had the defects of his qualities. The standard of well-being in +Illyria was high, but it was by no means widely dispersed. As is the +case within the borders of all despotisms, the rich were the rich and +the poor were the poor in Illyria. In many respects the condition of +the people recalled that of France before the Revolution; and it would +be a source of surprise to none who were in a position to observe the +present situation if, at the eleventh hour, the fate of Louis XVI +overtook this present uncommonly able and uncommonly misguided ruler. +</P> + +<P> +By the light of what this day was to bring forth, I made an anxious +study of this document. If I cannot say that I derived reassurance +from it, at least it did nothing to diminish my curiosity. It was to +be our privilege to entertain a type of true kingliness under our roof. +If one of those culinary disasters occurred to which even the best +regulated households are susceptible, and we were constrained to offer +burnt soup or an underdone cutlet to the father of his people, it was +to be hoped that his trembling host and hostess would not have to +forfeit their heads. +</P> + +<P> +As far as the King's daughter was concerned, it had seemed to us that +the announcement of his coming had brought unhappiness. Her alert, +half-humorous, half-malicious interest in everything around her which +made her charm, had seemed to give place to the brooding preoccupation +of one who felt a deep distrust of coming events. In particular I +thought this was shown in her relation to her small daughter. +</P> + +<P> +Prior to the receipt of the King's letter, Mrs. Fitz had shown no undue +devotion to this piece of mischief incarnate who answered to the name +of Marie, who defied her governess, bullied the servants and the +domestic pets, and who fiercely contended in season and out with Miss +Lucinda, a milder and more legitimate household despot. But by the +time we had come to this historic Thursday, it was as though her mother +could not bear this elf out of her sight. It was, of course, natural +that she should ardently wish that Marie should behave nicely to her +Grandpapa, but there was something almost tragic in this new anxiety +concerning her. There could be no doubt its root struck deep. +</P> + +<P> +To those who understood her ways and moods, it was clear that something +weighed upon her heavily. It was even in the expression of her face; +there was a strange decline of her vivacity, and a slackening of +interest in the things around her. By the time Thursday came she +seemed most unhappy. +</P> + +<P> +The Crackanthorpe had no fixture for that day, and in the light of +after events, perhaps, it had been well if they had. All the morning +she was curiously silent and <I>distraite</I>. She divided most of her time +between the stables and the society of her horses and the nursery and +the society of her singularly wilful and intractable daughter. At +luncheon she refused every dish, contenting herself with a glass of +water and a piece of dry toast. Not a word did she speak until near +the end of the meal, when quite suddenly she clasped her hands to her +head, and exclaimed in a deep guttural voice, hardly recognisable as +her own— +</P> + +<P> +"I t'ink I will go mad!" +</P> + +<P> +There was something indescribably tragic in the exclamation. I rose +and withdrew from the room, and made a sign to the servants to follow. +Mrs. Arbuthnot was left alone with the unhappy lady, and as I went out +I remarked to her that I was going into the library. +</P> + +<P> +About ten minutes afterwards, Irene came to me there. She was looking +pale and anxious and not a little alarmed. +</P> + +<P> +"She is suffering dreadfully, poor thing," she said, not without a +suspicion of tears. "She is almost out of her reason, and she is +making a frantic effort to control herself." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you gather what the trouble is?" +</P> + +<P> +"She has a terrible fear of something. What it is I don't know. She +keeps talking in Illyrian." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it her father's coming?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it has upset her dreadfully." +</P> + +<P> +"Is she afraid of him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, pathetically afraid. But there is also something else she fears." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose she is thinking of her husband and her child?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, poor soul! How I wish we could help her!" +</P> + +<P> +"It is not easy to help the children of destiny." +</P> + +<P> +"Never until now have I realised what a dreadful life it is these +people lead. She is suffering terribly. Do you know of anybody who +understands the stars?" +</P> + +<P> +"The stars!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, she says she wants to know what the stars are doing. It is +ridiculous superstition, of course, and I told her so. But she shook +her head in the oddest way, and she looked so tragic and unhappy that +she nearly made me cry." +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't there an astrologer in Bond Street? But it's a hundred to one +he's a charlatan." +</P> + +<P> +"They all are, of course." +</P> + +<P> +"The Princess doesn't appear to think so. And there is my cracked old +Uncle Theodore who lives in Bryanston Square. He is supposed to be no +end of an authority upon the stars." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it is utterly ridiculous, but I am afraid nothing can be done +with her until she has consulted somebody. Give her your Uncle +Theodore's address and let her catch the 2.20 to town, and she will be +back before the King comes." +</P> + +<P> +"She can't go alone. In her present state of mind somebody must be +with her. Can't you persuade her to wait until she has seen her +father?" +</P> + +<P> +"She is suffering so much that it would be a mercy to relieve the +strain in any way." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, I will take her to see old Theodore. I will send him a +wire to tell him that a lady is coming to consult him about the stars; +and also I had better telephone to Coverdale to let him know what's +happening. It is hardly wise to go to London without an escort. Then +there is the monarch to be arranged for. But Fitz will wire the +authorities direct from Southampton the approximate time of his +arrival." +</P> + +<P> +Luckily Coverdale was at the Sessions Hall. But when I informed him of +the Princess's sudden determination to go to town by the 2.20 he very +nearly fused the wires. "How the blank did she suppose that with her +blank father due at Middleham at 6.50 the Middleshire Constabulary +could arrange for her to go gallivanting to the blank metropolis that +blank afternoon?" Without venturing in any way to enlighten the +official nescience or to mitigate its temperature, I attempted with +infinite tact and patience to explain, yet withholding all reference to +the stars as I did so, that in the circumstances there was no help for +it. This being a matter upon which the Princess had fully made up her +mind, it behoved the Middleshire Constabulary to defer to her wishes +with the best possible grace. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my friend," said the Chief Constable, "let me tell you, you are +running a devil of a risk. But I shall communicate with Scotland Yard, +and ask them to look after you. Still, as the King arrives this +evening, the four men you have with you had better remain on duty at +the house. And," concluded the head of the Middleshire Constabulary, +"I would to God the whole blank, blank crowd——!!" +</P> + +<P> +A married man, a father of a family, and a county member somewhat +hurriedly replaced the receiver. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A VISIT TO BRYANSTON SQUARE +</H4> + +<P> +Unwillingly enough, I set out with our guest to consult my Uncle +Theodore. Assuredly it was a scheme in which common sense, in the +general acceptation of that elusive quality, had no part. Yet, however +preposterous the proceeding, it was an act of common humanity to take +even an extravagant measure for the relief of such an acute suffering. +It was impossible not to pity the unhappy creature. Her eyes were wild +and her appearance had been transformed into that of a hunted animal. +</P> + +<P> +On the way up to town we were fortunate enough to secure a carriage to +ourselves. Throughout the journey my companion hardly addressed a word +to me, but she continued to betray many tokens of mental anguish. The +train was punctual, and by a few minutes after four o'clock we were in +Bryanston Square. +</P> + +<P> +It is only once in a lustrum that I visit my Uncle Theodore. He is +rich, a bachelor, and in the family is regarded as an incorrigible +crank. The champion of lost causes, a poet, a radical, a practitioner +of the occult, a scorner of convention, and a robust hater of many +things, including all that relates to the merely expedient, the +utilitarian and the material, he is looked upon as a dangerous heretic +who might be more esteemed if he belonged to a less eminently +responsible clan. +</P> + +<P> +Howbeit, I confess that I never visit my Uncle Theodore without feeling +constrained to pay a kind of involuntary homage to his personality. He +has a way with him; there is a something about him which is the +absolute negation of the commonplace. He is tall and extraordinarily +frail, with a picturesque mop of orange-coloured hair, and a pair of +large round eyes of remarkable luminosity, which seem like twin moons +of liquid light. +</P> + +<P> +It was our good fortune to find this bravo at home and in receipt of my +telegram. I left my companion in another room while I went forth and +bearded the lion in his den. Dressed in a velvet jacket, a red tie and +a pair of beaded Oriental slippers he was in the act of composition, +and was writing very slowly with a feathered quill upon a sheet of +unruled foolscap. +</P> + +<P> +"I am writing a letter to the time-serving rag that disgraces us," he +said with a kind of languid vehemence, "and the time-serving rag won't +print it, but I shall keep a copy and publish it in a pamphlet at the +price of three-pence." +</P> + +<P> +"Then put me down for four copies," said I. "You know I always regard +you as one of the few living masters of the King's English." +</P> + +<P> +"The King's English! The King, my boy, has no English. He has less +English than the average self-respecting costermonger." +</P> + +<P> +"The well of English undefiled, then." +</P> + +<P> +"That is better. You are perfectly right. It is my firm conviction +that my prose is quite equal to my poetry, and yet these dunces persist +in saying that we poets can't write prose. Swinburne couldn't, it's +true, and with tears in my eyes I used to beseech him to give up +trying. But he was an obstinate little fellow. Milton couldn't, +either. But Goethe now, Goethe could write prose as well as I can +myself, and so could Wordsworth if he had liked, and so could Shelley. +As for that yokel from Stratford-on-Avon, if there is anybody who dares +to say he couldn't write prose, I should like to have the pleasure of +contradicting him." +</P> + +<P> +"I think," said I, "you will be among the prose-writers after your +death. If I survive you, I shall hope to prepare a collected edition +of the letters you have had rejected by the newspapers." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a bargain, my boy. I will select them for you. It will be a +nice little legacy to leave to posterity. A hundred years hence they +will speak of me as the British Lucian who opened the stinking +casements of a putrid age and let in God's honest sunlight. What a +time we live in, and what a poisonous crew inhabits it! Why, do you +know, my boy, we have less real freedom in this country than they have +in Illyria." +</P> + +<P> +The totally unexpected mention of the blessed word Illyria startled me +considerably. That sinister kingdom was evidently in the air. +</P> + +<P> +"You are right, Theodore," said I. "'The stinking casements of a +putrid age'—that is a phrase I shall remember when next I am at the +point of asphyxiation upon the green benches of the Mother of +Parliaments." +</P> + +<P> +"What a football-kicking, boat-tugging, gymnasium-bred crew they must +be to stand such an atmosphere day after day, night after night! I +shouldn't have thought that a really <I>polite</I> man could have existed in +it for three days. I wonder what Edmund Burke thinks of the place when +he enters it now." +</P> + +<P> +A rough working knowledge of the subject with which I had to cope +rendered it imperative that I should make a determined effort to lay +hold of his head before he took charge of me altogether. +</P> + +<P> +"Theodore," said I, "I am not here to yield to the delight of your +conversation, much as I yearn to do so. I have brought a lady with me +who desires to consult you about the stars." +</P> + +<P> +He seemed to laugh a deep, hollow laugh out of the depths of himself, +much as an ogre might be expected to do. +</P> + +<P> +"Vain superstition!" he guffawed, as he stretched out his long tenuous +hands. "O ye upper-middle-class British Pharisees, that ye should +condescend! Who is this weak vessel that would consult the stars? +Not, I trow and trust, a daughter of the late Sir John Stubberfield, +Bart.?" +</P> + +<P> +"The late Sir John Stubberfield, Bart." was a symbol erected +permanently in his mind, with which he toyed when he was moved to +exercise his fancy at the expense of his countrymen. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a daughter of Sir John," I assured him. "An even more potent +personage." +</P> + +<P> +"Impossible, my boy! A veritable daughter of Sir John stands at the +apex of human endeavour. She is the crown of social, political and +philosophical beatitude. Do you forget that it was a daughter of Sir +John Stubberfield, Bart., who married a Prosser? Do you forget it was +a daughter of Sir John Stubberfield, Bart., who had issue an heir male, +a little Prosser?" +</P> + +<P> +"Peace, peace, my good Theodore. You have a bare half-hour in which to +read the stars in their courses for a fair unknown. And I beg that you +will treat her tenderly, for she is a brave woman and an unhappy." +</P> + +<P> +"Aha!" The Ogre—the name he was known by in the family—sighed a +romantic sympathy. It may seem out of harmony with the terms in which +I have endeavoured to render the personality of this Berserk, but he +had an almost Quixotic development of the sense of chivalry. Nothing +so greatly delighted this champion of lost causes as to succour those +who were in distress. +</P> + +<P> +"Produce the languishing vestal, so that the arts of the necromancer +may sustain her. But stay, my boy; before we go further, may I suggest +that you conform to the conventional practice of confiding the name she +goes by among men?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly. Her name is Mrs. Nevil Fitzwaren." +</P> + +<P> +"Aha!" The Ogre swung half round in his writing-chair to confront me. +He seemed like a satyr, and the twin moons that were his eyes began to +magnetise me with their uncanny effulgence. "A woman about thirty, of +foreign extraction?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ye—es." +</P> + +<P> +"Married an English squire about five years ago?" +</P> + +<P> +"How the deuce do you know that?" said I, in amazement. +</P> + +<P> +Again the look of the satyr seemed to transfigure him. +</P> + +<P> +"What, pray, is the use of being a soothsayer without one is permitted +to dabble a little in the black arts?" +</P> + +<P> +"Theodore, my friend," said I, with a somewhat disconcerted laugh, "I +am inclined to think you must be the Devil." +</P> + +<P> +"Perchance, my dear boy, perchance." The Ogre placed the tips of his +fingers together in a way he had. "May it interest you to know that +the Devil is a more potent figure in the public life of our little day +than our German friends allow for. Never despise the Devil, and never +mention him lightly in any company, for he is always looking at you." +</P> + +<P> +The twin moons were enfolding me with a refulgence that in the dim +January twilight was so uncanny that, had I been other than of a fairly +robust materialistic texture, I might have felt a kind of horror. +</P> + +<P> +"It is very interesting that your friend Mrs. Fitzwaren—black hair, +olive complexion, remarkable appearance, a type you can't place—should +come to me like this. The fact is, my dear boy, things are not always +what they seem. Judging by the recent behaviour of one or two rather +important planetary bodies, and of the new body of which our observant +French friends have lately learned to take cognisance, the visit of +your friend Mrs. Nevil Fitzwaren to your cracked Uncle Theodore at his +local habitation in Bryanston Square may have some kind of a bearing on +the destiny of nations. How say you?" +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Theodore," I expostulated, from motives of policy, "my dear +Theodore, you really are, 'pon my word you really are——!" +</P> + +<P> +All the same, it was with a singular complexity of emotion that I went +forth to lead this prophet and soothsayer into the presence of the +Crown Princess of Illyria. +</P> + +<P> +It struck me as I preceded my carpet-slippered relation into the great +bare room that the unhappy lady was looking more distinguished and more +distraught than-ever. Had I had a merely superficial acquaintance with +our family Berserk I must have had qualms as to the mode of his +reception of his visitor. In uncongenial company he could be a +positive Boeotian savage, but, again, if it pleased him, he could +display an ease and a sympathetic charm of bearing which was wholly +delightful to those who had the good fortune to call it forth. +</P> + +<P> +As he came shambling in with his flaming tie, his mop of +orange-coloured hair, his hands in his pockets and his heels half out +of his slippers, would it please him to be the polished and gracious +courtier, or the wild Boeotian savage? +</P> + +<P> +His visitor rose to receive him and a grave bow was exchanged. And for +the first time in my knowledge of her Mrs. Fitz seemed at a loss for +speech. Small wonder was it, for this gaunt, lean presence with the +faun-like smile and the still, full, luminous gaze, seemed to hold the +key to realms of infinite mystery and power. +</P> + +<P> +"If you will come to my room, we can talk," he said, quite gently. +</P> + +<P> +As he was about to lead the way, he half turned and leered at me +ogre-like over his shoulder with his peculiarly significant malice. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell Peacock to give you the <I>Sporting Times</I> and a cigar and a +whisky-and-soda, my dear boy," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks," said I, "but I am afraid you cannot be allowed more than +twenty minutes for your interview. It is imperative that Mrs. +Fitzwaren should catch the 5.28 from the Grand Central." +</P> + +<P> +"The 5.28 from the Grand Central." He repeated the words as though an +importance was attached to them that they had no reason to claim. Then +he added musingly, "I am not so clear as I should like to be that you +will be wise to catch it. It would be better, I think, if Mrs. +Fitzwaren could arrange to travel to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"Impossible, my dear Theodore. Mrs. Fitzwaren is staying with us, and +we must certainly be back to dinner." +</P> + +<P> +The Princess nodded her concurrence. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well, if you really must. And perhaps I exceed my prerogative." +</P> + +<P> +The singular creature proceeded to lead the way to his study. I was +left to meditate alone for twenty minutes upon this latest expression +of his personality. Never before had I realised so fully that he was +the possessor of gifts the nature of which was as a sealed book to the +common mortal. There had been occasions when we "in the family" had +been tempted to believe that there was a strong infusion of the +charlatan in his pretension to occult knowledge. A prophet is not +without honour save in his own country. +</P> + +<P> +But as I sat this January evening in his house in Bryanston Square, I +realised more fully than I had ever done before that the last word has +yet to be uttered in regard to the things around us. It was as though +all at once my cranky relation in his carpet slippers, his velvet coat +and his red tie had brought me into a more intimate contact with the +Unseen. +</P> + +<P> +Somehow, and for no specific reason that I was able to discover, my +unruly nerves began to tick like a clock. The temperature of the room +was not high, but a perspiration broke out all over me. A full five +minutes I sat in the silence of the gathering darkness not quite +knowing what to do and not caring particularly. It was as though the +enervating atmosphere of my uncle's nearness had taken from me the +power of volition. +</P> + +<P> +It never occurred to me to ring the bell, and yet I had merely to press +the button at my elbow. Nevertheless, when a servant entered with a +lamp it was a real relief. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo, Peacock!" said I, issuing with a little shiver from my reverie. +</P> + +<P> +Somehow it seemed that that retainer, trusted, elderly, responsible, +looked singularly pale and meagre in the lamp-light. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you very well, Peacock?" +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, sir, not very." The old servant sighed heavily. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, what's the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +The old fellow proceeded to draw the curtains and then turned to face +me with a kind of nervous defiance. +</P> + +<P> +"Fact is, Mr. Odo," he said, "this place is getting too much for me. I +am afraid I shan't be able to go on much longer. Fact is, Mr. +Odo"—the old man lowered his voice to a whisper of painful +solemnity—"it is contrary to the will of God." +</P> + +<P> +"What is contrary to the will of God?" +</P> + +<P> +"The goings on, sir, of Mr. Theodore. My private opinion is—and I say +to you, Mr. Odo, what I wouldn't say to another"—the voice of the old +fellow grew lower and lower—"that Mr. Theodore is getting to know a +bit more than any man ought to: in fact, sir, more than the Almighty +intended any man should." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean, Peacock? You are not growing superstitious in your +old age, are you?" +</P> + +<P> +I strove to speak in a light tone. But in my own ears my voice sounded +curiously high and thin. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean this, sir. The line ought to be drawn somewhere. And Mr. +Theodore doesn't know where to draw it. The people he has here, +sir—it's—well, it's appalling! Clairvoyants, mediums, mahatmas, +Indian fakirs, table-turners, spirit-rappers, and I can't say what. +Communion with spirits is all very well, sir, but it is contrary to the +will of God. The Almighty never intended, sir, that we should pry into +all the secrets of existence." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know that, Peacock?" +</P> + +<P> +"I know by this, sir." The old fellow tapped the centre of his +forehead solemnly. "The thing that lies behind this." +</P> + +<P> +To my surprise the old servant wrung his hands and burst into tears. +</P> + +<P> +"It can't go on, sir—at least, as far as I am concerned. Either Mr. +Theodore will have to mend his ways or I shall have to leave him. I +have been a long time with Mr. Theodore, and of course I was with his +father before him, and I daresay I am getting old, but do you know what +we have got in the attic, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"What have you got in the attic, Peacock?" +</P> + +<P> +"An Egyptian mummy, sir. It is several thousand years old, and I am +convinced that a curse is on it. I wouldn't enter that attic, sir, not +me, not for all the wealth of the Rothschilds." +</P> + +<P> +"I was not aware that you were superstitious, Peacock," said I, with a +very ineffectual assumption of the formal tone of the married man, the +father of the family, and the county member. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not superstition, sir, but I know what I know. That mummy has +got to leave this house, or I shall leave it." +</P> + +<P> +"Is that the fiat of the True Believer?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't fear God the less, sir, because I fear an Egyptian mummy, if +that is what you mean." +</P> + +<P> +"But you are inclined to think there are more things in earth and +heaven than it is well for the average man to be concerned with?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am convinced of that, sir; and if Mr. Theodore doesn't get rid of +that mummy and amend his goings on, I shall be compelled to give +notice." +</P> + +<P> +Stated baldly, the old fellow's words may seem ridiculous. But as he +uttered them his distress was so sincere that it was impossible to deny +him a meed of sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +"Quite right, if you do, Peacock," I agreed. "And you can lay it to +that honest conscience of which you are rightly proud that you have +served the family long and faithfully, and that no one will question +your right to an annuity." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that will be all right, sir," said the old retainer; "even if Mr. +Theodore does act contrary to the will of God, nobody can deny that he +is a perfect gentleman." +</P> + +<P> +"Is not that rather a confirmation of the ancient, theory that the +Devil was the first perfect gentleman?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have not thought of that before, sir, but now you mention it, it is +certainly worth thinking about." +</P> + +<P> +Having lent sanction to this profound truth, the old fellow went out of +the room. But I recalled him from the threshold. +</P> + +<P> +"By the way, Peacock, Mr. Theodore told me to ask for the <I>Sporting +Times</I>, a cigar and a whisky-and-soda." +</P> + +<P> +"Very good, sir." The old fellow withdrew. +</P> + +<P> +"And thank God for them!" I muttered devoutly to the bare walls. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +PROVIDES AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE THEORY THAT THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT +THEY SEEM +</H4> + +<P> +When the old man returned with this sustenance for the material state, +I was moved to inquire how it was that such an intellectual rawhead and +bloodybones as this too-assiduous diver into the sunless sea of the +occult should subscribe to a journal of such a texture and complexion. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it, Peacock, do you suppose, that, like Francis the first Lord +Verulam, he would take all knowledge for his province?" +</P> + +<P> +"He goes racing, sir," said Peacock, not without a suggestion of pride. +"And, what is more, sir, he wins so much money that none of the +bookmakers will have anything to do with him these days if they can +help it. Why, do you know, sir, he has given me the name of the winner +of the Derby three years running a whole fortnight before the race." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you reconcile it with your conscience, Peacock, to back the horse?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not the first time, sir, because, you see, I was hardly convinced it +would win. It was a new fad with him then. But when I found it did +win, and he gave me the tip the next year, it seemed to be flying in +the face of providence, as it were, to throw away the chance, so I had +on a sovereign and won nine pounds ten." +</P> + +<P> +"And the third time, Peacock?" +</P> + +<P> +"The third time, sir, I made it five and I won forty. And if I can +stand his goings on, sir, until next Epsom week, and he gives me the +tip again, I intend to put on all my savings." +</P> + +<P> +I had scarcely the heart to ask the old fellow what his conscience had +to say in the matter. Doubtless it was one of those organisms that +only responded to the call of the higher metaphysics. It was a +patrician conscience, no doubt, which only concerned itself with the +ultimate. +</P> + +<P> +Anyhow, before I could gratify my curiosity on this point, the +re-emergence of my Uncle Theodore saved his retainer from an inquiry. +A glance at my watch convinced me that we had not a moment to lose if +we were to catch the 5.28 from the Grand Central station. +</P> + +<P> +Uncle Theodore took an almost paternal leave of his visitor. He +conducted her to the taxicab which awaited us; and in a voice of +gentleness, of winning deference, he bade her God-speed. When she +offered him her hand, as it seemed almost timidly, he pressed it to his +lips. +</P> + +<P> +"Fear nothing," I heard him say under his breath softly, and I thought +the unhappy lady smiled wanly with her great gaunt eyes. +</P> + +<P> +As I was about to enter the cab, Theodore placed his hand on my +shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Look after her, my dear boy." His voice had the fervour of a +benediction. +</P> + +<P> +My companion appeared to have shed much of her distraction in the +course of her interview with the weird inhabitant of Bryanston Square. +The sovereignty of the soul seemed once more in her keeping. No longer +did she convey the impression of one passing through an insupportable +mental crisis. Whatever fate had in store for her, it was as though +she had strength to endure it. +</P> + +<P> +It was in the nature of a race against time to the Grand Central +station. I had promised the driver of our taxi a substantial guerdon +if he caught the train. Undoubtedly he did his best, but fate decreed +that he was not to earn it. An anxious study of my watch revealed the +issue to be still in the balance; but just as it began to seem that we +were gaining a little on the clock, there came a sharp report, followed +by an almost simultaneous crash of glass, and then a confused +succession of happenings. +</P> + +<P> +Our vehicle stopped abruptly; a brief interval of nothingness seemed to +intervene; and the next thing of which I was cognisant was that the +lights had gone out and that a man with a pale face and a +straw-coloured moustache was looking in at us through the window. +</P> + +<P> +"Hope you are not hurt, sir." The voice sounded remote, but I could +detect its note of anxiety. "Is the lady all right?" +</P> + +<P> +Somewhat dazed, almost as if I were passing through a dream, I heard +the voice of my companion speaking with calmness and reassurance. Then +I heard the voice of the man again: +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid your Royal Highness will have to go on in another taxi." +</P> + +<P> +And then the door opened, and I got out unsteadily and found myself in +the midst of much traffic and a press of people. I then grew conscious +that some of these had a way with them, and that they were directing +things with a sort of calm officiousness. +</P> + +<P> +My dazed senses welcomed the helmet of a policeman. +</P> + +<P> +"Call a taxi, please," said I, addressing him in a voice that somehow +did not seem to belong to me. "Must catch the 5.28 Grand Central, +whatever happens. Will give you my card." +</P> + +<P> +As I spoke I turned to help my companion out of the vehicle, and in the +act nearly measured my length on the kerb. Strong and sympathetic +hands seemed to come about me, and again the voice of the man with the +straw-coloured moustache sounded in my ear, decisive but kindly and +respectful. +</P> + +<P> +"There is a doctor across the road, sir. Can you walk, sir? Lean your +weight on me." +</P> + +<P> +"5.28 Grand Central," was my incoherent, almost involuntary rejoinder. +"The Princess." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes, sir," said the voice of my friend in need breaking in again +on my senses. "The Princess will be all right with us." +</P> + +<P> +Almost as if by magic a passage was made for us through the whirlpool +of traffic. We seemed to be in the middle of a street that appeared +quite familiar, and policemen and extremely efficient persons in dark +overcoats seemed to abound. +</P> + +<P> +"The Princess," I continued to mutter vaguely at intervals. +</P> + +<P> +"I am with you," said a low and calm voice at my side. +</P> + +<P> +She was helping my unknown friend to support me across the road. By +some subtle means her nearness seemed to brace and stimulate my +faculties. +</P> + +<P> +"I fear we shall not catch the 5.28, ma'am," I said. +</P> + +<P> +"What <I>does</I> it matter?" The tone of her voice seemed to give me +strength and capacity. +</P> + +<P> +A few yards away, down a side street, was the house of a doctor. It +seemed but a very little while before I was in a cosy, well-lighted +room, with a fire burning cheerfully, and a tall, genial individual +with a red head and a Scotch accent was talking to me and holding me by +the arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Pray sit down, madam," I heard him say in his pleasant brogue. "I +hope you are none the worse for your accident?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all, t'ank you," replied my companion in a cordial tone; and +then the man who had taken charge of me was heard to say to a colleague +who had followed us into the house, "Perhaps the Doctor will allow you +to use his telephone, Mr. Johnson. Ring up the Superintendent and then +go and see what Inspector Mottrom is doing." +</P> + +<P> +The Doctor gave me a bottle to sniff, and then for the first time I +realised that I had an intolerable stinging in the arm. I glanced at +it and saw that the sleeve of my coat was soaked with blood. +</P> + +<P> +"If you will come into the surgery," said the Doctor, following the +direction of my glance, "we will have a look at it. A breakage of +glass, apparently." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said my friend in need, who was evidently a Scotland Yard +inspector, answering for me promptly, "the cab was pretty well smashed +up." Then he added in an undertone for my private ear, "Don't mention +the shots, sir. I am going to telephone to the railway people to +arrange for a special train as soon as you are ready to go on. I think +it will be safer, and two of our inspectors will accompany the train." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you very much indeed," I said, gratefully. +</P> + +<P> +Never until that moment had I fully realised the organised efficiency +of the Metropolitan Police. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as I entered the surgery I came perilously near to a fall on +the carpet, somewhat to my disgust, for I appeared to have sustained no +injury beyond the damage to my arm. Further recourse, however, to the +smelling-bottle defeated this temporary weakness. +</P> + +<P> +After traversing the injured member with light and deft fingers, the +Doctor procured a bowl of warm water, a sponge and a pair of scissors. +He cut away the sleeve of the overcoat, then of the coat and the shirt, +revealing a state of things at which I had no wish to look. After the +application of an antiseptic in warm water he was able to give an +opinion. +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid," he said, "this is not the work of glass." He worked +over the quivering flesh with a finger. "A bullet has been at work +here. It has glanced along the lower arm apparently, but it does not +appear to have lodged in it. An incised wound. There may be a +fracture. Can you move your arm in this way?" +</P> + +<P> +With this request I was able somewhat painfully to comply. +</P> + +<P> +"That is good," said the Doctor. "No fracture." +</P> + +<P> +It was surprising how soon and how readily the injured member yielded +to the deft skill of this good Samaritan. Twenty minutes of assiduous +treatment, which, however, was fraught with some pain, as it included +the operation of stitching, did much not only for the damaged limb but +also for its owner. By that time I seemed to have quite overcome the +shock of these events; and with my arm encased in bandages and resting +in a black silk handkerchief, and the good Doctor having lent me an +overcoat to replace my own mutilated one, I was given a pretty stiff +brandy-and-soda and pronounced fit to travel. +</P> + +<P> +"It is undoubtedly the work of a bullet," said the Doctor at the end of +his labours. "But I suppose it is no business of mine. If I am not +mistaken, the men who brought you here are Scotland Yard detectives." +</P> + +<P> +I smiled at the Doctor's perspicacity and asked him to be good enough +to take a card out of my cigar-case. +</P> + +<P> +"Some day, perhaps, I shall be able to explain to you what the accident +really was and how it came to happen. In the meantime I cannot do more +than thank you most sincerely for all that you have done for me." +</P> + +<P> +There and then I took leave of this true friend, and with a sense of +devout thankfulness that I was no worse off than I was, continued the +journey to the Grand Central station. When at last we came to that +well-known terminus the great clock over the entrance was pointing to +five minutes past six. +</P> + +<P> +Our arrival there seemed an event of some importance, to judge by the +demeanour of a number of people who appeared to take an interest in it. +Indeed, so much respectful attention did it excite that it seemed to be +rather in the nature of an anti-climax to have to pay our Jehu. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as we had entered the booking-hall no less a personage than the +station-master, frock-coated and gold-laced, came up to us and took off +his hat. +</P> + +<P> +"Train ready to start, sir, as soon as her Royal Highness desires. +Platform No. 5. This way, sir, if you will kindly follow me." +</P> + +<P> +We passed along to Platform No. 5, engaging as we did so the +good-humoured interest of the British Public. Here a special saloon +was awaiting us, also a carriage for the accommodation of our friends +from Scotland Yard. By a quarter past six we had started on our +journey. +</P> + +<P> +My companion had borne all our vicissitudes <I>en route</I> from Bryanston +Square with the greatest fortitude and composure. It was no new +experience for her chequered life to be exposed to the bullets of the +assassin. This latest effort of the King's enemies she appeared to +regard with stoical indifference. Even in the shock of the calamity +itself she did not lose her self-possession. And through all our +tribulations her attitude of maternal solicitude was charmingly sincere. +</P> + +<P> +As I came to regard her from the opposite corner in our special saloon, +it was clear that a great change had been wrought in her by the visit +to the magician of Bryanston Square. It was a change wholly for the +better. In lieu of the overwrought intensity which had been so painful +for her friends to notice, was that calm and assured outlook upon the +world of men and things which had ever been her predominant +characteristic in so far as we had known her. +</P> + +<P> +"Irene will scold me dreadfully," she said, "for bringing you home like +this." +</P> + +<P> +"Surely it is the reverse of the case, ma'am. Instead of me looking +after you, I really don't know what I should have done without your +help." +</P> + +<P> +"My poor Odo, you won't be able to hunt for a month at least." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps it is for the best. I shall have more time to think about the +dragon of socialism which is threatening to devour us all." +</P> + +<P> +"Even here you have that disease"—there was a half-humorous lift of +the royal eyebrow—"even in this quaint place. Why, it is a disease +that is spreading all over the world. If only the dear people would +understand that it was never intended that they should think for +themselves; that it is so much wiser, so much less expensive, so much +more profitable in every way that they should have those who are used +to policy to think for them! How can Jacques Bonhomme, dear, good, +ignorant, stupid fellow, know what is good for him, what is good for +his country, what is good for Europe, what is good for the whole world!" +</P> + +<P> +"The trouble, ma'am, as far as this island is concerned, is that our +Jacques is becoming such a shrewd, sensible personage, who is learning +to go about with his eyes uncommonly wide open." +</P> + +<P> +"Ants and bees and dogs and horses, my good Odo, are shrewd and +sensible enough, but Jacques must learn to keep his place. Everything +is good in its degree, but I cannot believe that a watchmaker is fitted +to wind up the clock of state any more than a common soldier is fitted +to win the day of Rodova." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, the day of Rodova! I wonder if we shall find the Victor waiting +for us when we get back to Dympsfield House." +</P> + +<P> +I thought a faint cloud passed over the brows of my companion. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Mais, oui,</I>" she said in a soft, low tone. "I wonder. And old +Schalk. He is such a character. You will die when you see Schalk." +</P> + +<P> +"A very able minister, is he not, ma'am?" +</P> + +<P> +"Like all things, my good Odo," said her Royal Highness, "Schalk is +good in his degree. He has his virtue. He is learned in the law, for +instance, but there are times when, like poor Jacques Bonhomme, Schalk +would aspire to take more on his shoulders than nature intended they +should bear. But there, do not let us complain about Schalk. He is +the faithful servant of an august master; do not let us blame him if he +grows old and difficult. I once had a hound that grew like Schalk. In +the end I had to destroy the honest creature, but of course that is not +to say my father will destroy Schalk." +</P> + +<P> +"Quite so, ma'am," said I, with a grave appreciation of the fine +distinction that it might please his Majesty to draw in the case of +Baron von Schalk. +</P> + +<P> +I relapsed into reverie. What kind of a man was this celebrated +sovereign? How would he harmonise with the humble middle-class English +setting to which he was on the point of confiding himself? At this +stage it was vain to repine, but as I reclined on the cushions of our +royal saloon, with my arm throbbing intolerably and my temples too, +what would I not have given to be through with the onerous duty of +entertaining such a guest! +</P> + +<P> +As thus I sat with our train proceeding full steam ahead to Middleham, +my nerves began to rise up in mutiny. Why, oh, why! had I not been +firmer? What could a comparative child, without the slightest +experience of any walk of life save her own extremely circumscribed +one, know of the exigencies of such a situation? How could she +appreciate all that was involved in it? A kind of mental nausea came +upon me when I realised that I had allowed myself to become responsible +for the personal safety and the general well-being of the King of +Illyria during his sojourn in England. +</P> + +<P> +The anxieties in which his daughter had involved us were severe enough, +but in the case of her father they seemed a hundred times more complex. +Certainly they were far too much to ask of any private individual in +the middle station of life. It was in vain that I invoked an incipient +sense of humour. Sitting alone with a Crown Princess in a special +train, with a bullet wound in your arm, is not apparently an ideal +situation in which to exercise it. I might laugh as much as I liked at +poor George Dandin himself. His embarrassments in the pass to which +his wife's infatuation for realms beyond their own had brought him +might be truly comic, but the married man, the father of the family, +and the county member was quite unable, in his present shattered +condition, to accept them with the detachment due to the true Olympian +laughter. +</P> + +<P> +Not to put too fine a point upon the matter, the married man, the +father of the family, and the county member was in an enfeebled mental, +physical and moral state when our special made its first stop. With a +startled abruptness I emerged from my unpleasant speculations. Could +we be at Middleham already? Hardly, for according to my watch it was +only ten minutes past seven. I let down the window and found that it +was Risborough. +</P> + +<P> +In about a minute the guard of the train, the local station-master, and +the two detectives who were accompanying us as far as Middleham, came +to the door of the carriage. +</P> + +<P> +"Extremely sorry, sir," said the station-master, "but you won't be able +to go beyond Blakiston. There's been a terrible accident to the 5.28." +</P> + +<P> +My heart gave a kind of dull thump at this announcement. +</P> + +<P> +"The driver ran right through Blankhampton with all the signals against +him. The train has been smashed up to matchwood." +</P> + +<P> +"My God!" +</P> + +<P> +The station-master dropped his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"The full number of casualties has not yet been ascertained, sir, but +at least half the passengers are killed or injured." +</P> + +<P> +"How ghastly!" +</P> + +<P> +"Awful, sir, awful. It is the worst accident we have ever had on the +Grand Central system." +</P> + +<P> +"Poor souls, poor souls!" said my companion. "God rest them!" +</P> + +<P> +"We haven't had a really bad accident for twenty-two years. But this +breaks our record with a vengeance. I can't think what the poor chap +was doing. As good a driver as we've got, to go and do a thing like +that——" +</P> + +<P> +The station-master, a venerable and grizzled man with a stern, heavily +lined face, suddenly lost his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Fate," said my companion with a sombre smile. "Who shall explain the +workings of destiny?" +</P> + +<P> +Who, indeed! Had it not been for the bullets of the would-be assassin +we should, in all probability, at that moment have been both among the +dead. What, after all, does our human foresight matter in the sum of +things? All the same, I could not help recalling with a sense of +wonder my Uncle Theodore's anxiety that we should not travel by the +ill-fated 5.28. +</P> + +<P> +"You will be able to go on as far as Blakiston," said the +station-master, "and the Company has arranged for motor cars to meet +the train to take you on to Middleham." +</P> + +<P> +"What is the distance from Blakiston to Middleham?" +</P> + +<P> +"About eighteen miles." +</P> + +<P> +When the train went forward the current of my thoughts was altered +completely. My former speculations seemed mean beyond comparison with +such an event as this. Who shall read the ways of providence? A flesh +wound in the arm and a late dinner were a small price to pay after all. +</P> + +<P> +Upon arriving at Blakiston we found two motor cars awaiting us: one for +the Princess, the other for our escort. A consultation with the +chauffeurs disclosed the fact that by proceeding direct home <I>via</I> +Parlow and Little Basing instead of by way of Middleham, a matter of +seven miles would be saved. Therefore, after a wire had been sent to +Middleham to inform our people of this change of route, we entered upon +the final stage of our adventurous journey. +</P> + +<P> +In spite of the fact that we exposed ourselves to the charge of driving +recklessly, even if not to the actual danger of the public, our +destination was reached without further mishap. By twenty-five minutes +to nine we had turned in at the lodge gates of Dympsfield House. All +the windows of that abode were a blaze of light. Doubtless the royal +guest had arrived and, let us hope, was enjoying his dinner. +</P> + +<P> +However, no sooner had we entered the house than we were met by Mrs. +Arbuthnot. She was dressed for a gala night, very <I>décolletée</I> in her +best gown, carrying a great quantity of sail in the way of +jewels—jewels were being worn that year—and with a coiffure that +absolutely baffles the pen of the conscientious historian. But, alas! +Mrs. Arbuthnot was on the verge of tears. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +HIS ILLYRIAN MAJESTY FERDINAND THE TWELTFH +</H4> + +<P> +His Majesty had not arrived, and the dinner was spoiling. +</P> + +<P> +"No news of the King?" I asked, keeping well in the background, for I +had no wish for Mrs. Arbuthnot to observe my condition prematurely. +</P> + +<P> +"Nevil said in his telegram that he would be here about a quarter past +seven, and it is now five minutes past nine," said Mrs. Arbuthnot +tearfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Five-and-twenty minutes to nine, <I>mon enfant</I>, according to +Greenwich," said I, as reassuringly as the circumstances permitted. +"Your clock is wrong by half an hour. But there has been a bad +accident at Blankhampton. Would they come by Blankhampton? If they +did, that would be bound to delay them." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh dear!" said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "If anything has happened to the King! +And oh, Sonia dear, how late you are!" she added reproachfully. "I was +getting so horribly nervous about you. And you not here to present me +or anything! But now you've come it is all right. Just be a dear and +have a look at the table before you go up to dress." +</P> + +<P> +The Princess, however, had scarcely had time to yield to Mrs. +Arbuthnot's suggestion, and I was in the act of walking upstairs in a +state of uncomfortable anxiety in regard to the operation of changing +my clothes, when from the vicinity of the hall door there came the +sounds of fresh arrivals. I hurried to it, to be greeted immediately +by the voice of Fitz. +</P> + +<P> +"Rather late," he said with that air of languor which afflicted him on +great occasions. "Line blocked at Blankhampton. Devil of a smash. +Tiresome cross-country journey, but we've turned up at last." +</P> + +<P> +"Safe and sound, I hope?" +</P> + +<P> +"Right as rain." +</P> + +<P> +As we walked together down the front steps to the open door of the car +that stood at the bottom in the darkness, I was conscious that my pulse +was a thought too rapid for a tacit subscriber to the theory of +democracy. I held the door while an enormous figure of a man +disengaged himself slowly, and not without difficulty, from the +interior. +</P> + +<P> +I made a somewhat lower bow than the Englishman in general permits +himself. A smiling and subtle visage, at once handsome and venerable, +was promptly turned upon me, and I found myself exchanging a cordial +and powerful grip of the hand. +</P> + +<P> +Ferdinand the Twelfth ascended the front steps in the charge of his +son-in-law, while I held the door for the second occupant of the car to +alight. I made an obeisance only a shade less in depth than the one I +had bestowed upon the Sovereign. Baron von Schalk was small and +dapper, with a face full of intelligence and not unlike that of a bird +of prey. As we exchanged bows, it seemed that every line of it, and +there were many, was eloquent of power. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope the journey has not tired his Majesty?" I ventured to say. "It +must have been very tedious." +</P> + +<P> +Baron von Schalk smiled passively, made a deep guttural noise and +answered in very tolerable English, "On the contrary, most interesting. +The King never tires himself." +</P> + +<P> +At the top of the steps, framed in a glow of soft light from within, +were Mrs. Arbuthnot and the Princess. Standing side by side, they +appeared to be vying with one another in the depth and grace of their +curtseys. No sooner had the King ascended to them than he took a hand +of each in his own and led them into the hall, as though they had been +a pair of his small grandchildren. There was a spontaneity about the +action which was charming. +</P> + +<P> +Half an hour later we were assembled in the drawing-room. The King +promptly offered his arm to his hostess, and led the way in the +direction of her unfortunate meal. His daughter placed her hand very +lightly upon the arm of the Chancellor, directing an arch look over her +shoulder at me as she did so, as if she would say, "There is no help +for it!" +</P> + +<P> +Fitz and I, walking side by side, brought up the rear of the +procession. The Man of Destiny had a very fell visage. +</P> + +<P> +"What have you done to your arm?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Got smashed up in a taxi this afternoon." +</P> + +<P> +"Where?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oxford Street, I believe." +</P> + +<P> +"What were you doing there?" +</P> + +<P> +"The Princess had important business in town, and I went with her." +</P> + +<P> +"Important business in town! She never said a word to me about it. +Was she in the accident too?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but luckily she didn't get a scratch. And of course this is only +a slight superficial wound." +</P> + +<P> +The slight superficial wound did its best to contradict me by throbbing +vilely. +</P> + +<P> +Ferdinand the Twelfth sat on the right of his hostess, his Chancellor +on her left. It is the due, I think, of our recent and temporarily +imported culinary artist, lately in the service of a nobleman, to say +that he had done extremely well in trying circumstances. There is no +sauce like hunger, of course, but it was observed that the King ate +heartily, and, although verging upon the statutory term of human life, +seemed not one penny the worse for his long and trying journey. +</P> + +<P> +He spoke English with an agreeable fluency. Not only did he know this +country very well indeed, but we gathered that he was accustomed to +find it pleasant. Seen across a dinner-table it was clear that his +portraits had not in the least exaggerated his natural picturesqueness. +It was a noble, leonine head, a thing of power and virility, framed +with a mane of white hair. His eyes were heavy-lidded, but deep-seeing +and almost uncomfortably direct and penetrating in their gaze; yet +where one might have expected calculation and cold detachment there was +an impenetrable veil of kindliness which served to obscure the +elemental forces which must have lurked beneath. +</P> + +<P> +There were tomatoes among the <I>hors-d'oeuvres</I>, and there were tomatoes +in the soup. When the Victor of Rodova made a significant departure +from the custom of our land by smacking his lips and astonishing the +impassive Parkins by saying, "Make my compliments to de <I>chef</I> upon his +<I>consommé</I>; I will haf more," his hostess hoisted the ensign of the +rose, and her Royal Highness beamed upon her. +</P> + +<P> +"There, Irene! what did I not tell you, my child?" she exclaimed +triumphantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oliver has a devil of a twist upon him, evidently," murmured the +son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth, in an aside to his host of such +deplorable banality that an apology is offered for its appearance in +these pages. "I wish it would choke the old swine." +</P> + +<P> +"On the contrary, he seems a quite kindly and paternal old gentleman." +</P> + +<P> +"Ha, you don't know him!" +</P> + +<P> +I admitted that I did not and that I looked forward to our better +acquaintance. +</P> + +<P> +The hostess and her humble coadjutor in the things of this life felt it +to be a supreme moment in the progress of the feast when the royal lips +were brought to the brink of the paternal madeira which had reached us +so opportunely, if so illicitly, from Doughty Bridge, Yorks. But our +suspense was resolved at once. The Victor of Rodova raised his glass +to his hostess with the most benignant glance in the world, and for the +second time Mrs. Arbuthnot hoisted the ensign of the rose. +</P> + +<P> +Certainly the royal expansion had a charm that was all its own. Being +called for the first time to my present exalted plane of social +intercourse, I had had no opportunity of observing anything quite like +it, other than in the manners of Fitz and his wife which had proved +such a scandal to our neighbourhood. But the Victor of Rodova was so +spontaneous in his actions and so unstudied in his gestures, and he +appeared to wear his heart on his sleeve with such a childlike +facility, that to one nurtured in our insular mode of self-repression +it was as good as a play to be in his company. +</P> + +<P> +One thing was clear. From the first it was plain that Mrs. Arbuthnot +had achieved a great personal triumph. And in the particular +circumstances of the case I am constrained to append the courtier-like +phrase, "nor was it to be wondered at." Speaking out of a moderately +full knowledge of the subject in all its chameleon-like range of +vicissitude, from grave to gay, from lively to severe, in gowns by +Worth, in frocks by Paquin, in costumes by Redfern, in nondescript +creations by "the woman who makes things for Mama," I had never seen +the subject in question keyed up to quite this degree of allure. Mrs. +Arbuthnot was magnificent. +</P> + +<P> +The King beamed upon her and she beamed upon the King. More than once +he pledged her in the paternal madeira; and before the modest feast had +run its course Fitz gave me a stealthy kick on the shin. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell her to keep her door locked to-night," he said in one of his +sinister asides. +</P> + +<P> +The bluntness of the words was most uncomfortable, but there was no +reason to doubt their sincerity. It was a piece of advice at which one +so incorrigibly <I>bourgeois</I> as its recipient might have taken offence. +That he did not do so should be counted to him, upon due reflection, as +the expression of some remote strain of a more azure tint! +</P> + +<P> +"I know the King's majesty only too well," said the son-in-law of +Ferdinand the Twelfth. +</P> + +<P> +When the ladies had left us, the King talked in the friendliest manner +and always with that engaging simplicity that was so unstudied and so +charming. He was curious to know what I had done to my arm, and when I +told him he inquired minutely as to the nature of the wound, and gave +me advice as to its treatment. This piece of consideration recalled +the magazine article I had lately studied. Here seemed a practical +illustration of the fact that in a literal sense he was the father of +his people. +</P> + +<P> +"You must show it to me to-morrow," he said. "And I will give you some +ointment I always carry, made by my own chemist to my own prescription. +Schalk laughs at my chemistry, but that's because he's jealous. I will +apply it for you, and in three days you will see the difference. What +are you laughing at, Schalk?" +</P> + +<P> +"A man may laugh at his thoughts, sir, may he not?" said Schalk, with a +dour smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Not in the presence of the little father, Schalk, unless he shares +them with the little father. What are you laughing at? But there, +since you bungled that treaty with the wily Teuton your thoughts are +not of much consequence. You know I don't care a doit for your +thoughts, Schalk, since you went to Berlin. The thoughts of Schalk, +forsooth! The wine is with you, you rascal. Remember that in England +it is not considered to be good breeding to get drunk before your King." +</P> + +<P> +"In Illyria, sir, that is always held to be impossible," said Schalk. +</P> + +<P> +Ferdinand the Twelfth indulged in a guffaw. +</P> + +<P> +"Good for you, impious one! Nay, fill up your glass before you pass +it, and keep out your long nose, else our English friends will think we +have no manners in Illyria." +</P> + +<P> +When it pleases a monarch to unbend, the laughter his sallies evoke may +seem overmuch for his wit. But it is an excellent custom to laugh +heartily at the humour of kings. Ferdinand the Twelfth, in spite of +his long journey, was in a very gracious mood and indulged us with many +sallies at the expense of his Chancellor. Baron von Schalk, however, +was well able to defend himself. It must be allowed, I think, that the +royal wit was neither very refined nor very courteous. Rough and +primitive, it had something of a Gargantuan savour. But his own +deep-voiced appreciation of it was a perpetual feast. He also told one +or two stories of a true Rabelaisian cast. They were told with an +immense gusto, and he led the laughter himself with a whole-heartedness +which was quite Homeric. Before the bottle the Victor of Rodova was +magnificent company. It was impossible not to respond to his +unaffected, if extremely catholic, good-humour. +</P> + +<P> +When we joined the ladies we found them playing a game of patience. +The Father of his People immediately carried a chair to the side of +Mrs. Arbuthnot, sat beside her and offered pertinent help in the +arrangement of her cards. "But this game is only fit for people like +Schalk," he declared. "Britch is the game we play in Illyria." +</P> + +<P> +Interpreting such a remark as being in the nature of a command, the +hostess swept her cards together, and imperiously ordered her spouse to +get the bridge markers. +</P> + +<P> +"How shall we play, sir?" said Mrs. Arbuthnot. +</P> + +<P> +"Togezzer, madame, you and I," said the King, with an air of homage, +"<I>if</I> you please. I can see you play well." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, sir!" said Madame, for the third time hoisting the ensign of the +rose. "How can you possibly know that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Infallible signs, milady," said the King, laughing. "Trust an old +soldier to read the signs. First, your ears, if I may say so. They +have shape and position, just like my own. That means a well-balanced +mind. And that dainty head, <I>c'est magnifique</I>! What intellect behind +that forehead! Now give me your hand—the left one." +</P> + +<P> +Milady gave the King a much bejewelled paw. +</P> + +<P> +"Ouf!" said he, "what ambition! You will never hesitate to call <I>sans +atout</I>. The heart-line is very good, also. There will be no other +partner for Ferdinand. Schalk can have whom he pleases." +</P> + +<P> +It pleased Baron von Schalk to choose her Royal Highness, and a very +interesting game began. +</P> + +<P> +"We must take care, milady," said Ferdinand the Twelfth, "we simple +children of nature. I expect they will cheat us horribly. Schalk has +very little in the way of a conscience, and nothing delights Sonia so +much as to overreach a confiding parent." +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke it pleased this simple child of nature to revoke in a very +flagrant and palpable manner. +</P> + +<P> +"No diamonds, partner?" said Mrs. Arbuthnot. +</P> + +<P> +"None whatever," said the King, blandly. "I think a small deuce will +take that trick, eh, Schalk?" +</P> + +<P> +"So it appears, sir," said the long-suffering Chancellor. +</P> + +<P> +I was led aside by the son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth. +</P> + +<P> +"If you watch this game, old son," said he, "you will gain an insight +into the monarchical basis of the constitution of Illyria. Let us +watch what the plausible old ruffian does with the nine of diamonds." +</P> + +<P> +Happily the game was not being played for money. But it was +characteristic of the Illyrian ruler, that in even the simple matter of +a game at cards he was incapable of conducting it other than in a +manner peculiarly his own. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE +</H4> + +<P> +It was past two o'clock when the <I>partie</I> was dissolved. No sooner had +our guests retired to their repose than Mrs. Arbuthnot turned +enthusiastically to her lord. +</P> + +<P> +"What a perfectly lovely old man! Such charm, such distinction; so +kind, so unaffected, and oh, so simple! There is something in being a +king, after all." +</P> + +<P> +"Things are not always what they seem, <I>mon enfant</I>," I remarked +uneasily. +</P> + +<P> +"He is a perfect old darling." +</P> + +<P> +"He is one of the deepest men in Europe, as all the world knows." +</P> + +<P> +"He is a dear." +</P> + +<P> +"Personally, I have no wish to meet him in a lonely lane on a dark +night, if I should happen to have anything upon me that I cared to +lose." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, goose, you are jealous!" +</P> + +<P> +"Put not your trust in princes, my child." And, reluctantly enough, I +confided Fitz's piece of advice. +</P> + +<P> +Howbeit, I was more than half prepared for Mrs. Arbuthnot's queenlike +indignation. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean, Odo?" said she, majestically. The outraged delicacy +of a De Vere Vane-Anstruther is a very majestic thing. +</P> + +<P> +"Either you promise, or I don't sleep over the stables." +</P> + +<P> +"This is all the doing of Fitz! He has an insane prejudice." +</P> + +<P> +"Fitz is a very shrewd fellow, and he knows our guest rather better +than either of us. You must not forget that kings are kings in +Illyria." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand." +</P> + +<P> +"You must promise, even if you don't." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall do nothing of the kind. It is a humiliating suggestion. +Besides, it is all so <I>bourgeois</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"I was waiting for that. But, whatever it is, I have quite made up my +mind. Either you promise, or I don't sleep over the stables." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I refuse; absolutely and unconditionally I refuse," said Mrs. +Arbuthnot, with what can only be described as <I>hauteur</I>. +</P> + +<P> +It was our first <I>impasse</I> in the course of six years of double +harness. I have never disguised from myself that I am a weak mortal. +Mrs. Arbuthnot has never disguised it from me either. The habit of +yielding more or less gracefully to the imperious will of the superior +half of my entity had become second nature. But there was a voice +within that would not have me give way. +</P> + +<P> +"Absolutely and unconditionally! I consider it odious. And why should +you insult me in this manner——" +</P> + +<P> +The star of my destiny was rising to the heights of the tragedy queen. +</P> + +<P> +"If you would only make the effort to understand, my child," I said +patiently, "what is implied in your own admission that there is +something in being a king, after all!" +</P> + +<P> +"You are insanely jealous. He is a perfect dear, and he is old enough +to be one's grandfather." +</P> + +<P> +For once, however, I was adamant. Together we ascended the stairs; +together we entered her ladyship's chamber. There was not adequate +accommodation for the two of us. The best rooms had been placed at the +disposal of Fitz and his wife, and of the King and his Chancellor. +Leading out of this apartment, however, was a small dressing-room with +a sofa in it. I opened the door and, as I did so, delivered my final +ultimatum. +</P> + +<P> +"Irene, you will either do as you are asked, else I spend the rest of +the night in there." +</P> + +<P> +"Pray do as, you choose." Mrs. Arbuthnot was pale with indignation. +"But I shall not lock the door." +</P> + +<P> +"So be it." +</P> + +<P> +Leaving the door of the dressing-room slightly ajar, I lay down on the +sofa just as I was, and composed myself for slumber as well as an +entirely ridiculous situation would permit. Precisely how it had come +about it was hard to determine, but I was prepared to inflict upon my +overwrought self, for the events of that long day had been many and +remarkable, a still further amount of bodily discomfort. But Fitz's +hint had overthrown a married man, a father of a family, and a county +member, whatever the sense of humour had to say about it all. +</P> + +<P> +In the process of time I forgot sufficiently the dull tumult of my +brain and the throbbing of my arm for my jaded nerves to be lulled into +an uneasy doze. How long I had been oblivious of my surroundings I do +not know, but quite suddenly a cry seemed to break in upon my senses. +I awoke with a start. +</P> + +<P> +The room was in total darkness save for a thread of light which came +through the partially open door of the adjoining chamber. But sounds +and a voice proceeded from it. +</P> + +<P> +I rose from my sofa and listened at the threshold. +</P> + +<P> +"Little milady, little Irene." +</P> + +<P> +The pleading accents were familiar, and paternal. I pushed open the +door and entered the room. A distracted vision with streaming hair and +in a white nightgown was sitting up in bed; while candle in hand a +magnificent figure in a blue silk Oriental robe over a brilliant yellow +sleeping-suit was confronting her. +</P> + +<P> +"Little milady. Little Irene." +</P> + +<P> +I fumbled for the knob of the electric light, found it and turned it up. +</P> + +<P> +I was face to face with a subtle and smiling visage. There was +astonishment in it, it is true, but it was also full of humour and +benevolence. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, my friend," said Ferdinand the Twelfth in his most paternal +manner, "pray what are <I>you</I> doing here?" +</P> + +<P> +I confess that I could find no answer to the royal inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +In the circumstances it was not easy to know what reply to make. +Indeed so completely was I taken aback that I could not find a word to +say. Coolly enough the King stood regarding me with that bland and +subtle countenance. But as those smiling eyes measured me they gave me +"to think." I carried one arm in a sling, I was without a weapon, and +the Father of his People was a man of exceptional physical power. +</P> + +<P> +As a measure of precaution, I reached pensively for the poker. +</P> + +<P> +A transitory gleam flitted across the King's face, but the royal +countenance was still urbane. +</P> + +<P> +"Madame should have locked her door," he said, with an air of humorous +reproach. "Dat is a good custom we haf in Illyria." +</P> + +<P> +"Your Majesty must forgive us," said I, without permitting my glance to +stray towards the half-terrified vision that was so near to me, "if we +appear <I>bourgeois</I>. The fact is, we are not so familiar as we should +like to be with the usages of the great world." +</P> + +<P> +The King laughed heartily. +</P> + +<P> +"There is nothing to forgive, my good friend," he said with an air of +splendid magnanimity. "But Madame should certainly have locked her +door. However, let us not bear malice." +</P> + +<P> +With a superbly graceful gesture, in which the paternal and the +humorous were delightfully mingled, the King withdrew. +</P> + +<P> +Horror and incredulity contended in the eyes of Mrs. Arbuthnot. But I +did not think well to spare her the reverberation of my triumph. +</P> + +<P> +"There is something in being a king, after all, <I>mon enfant</I>." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot was only able to gasp. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not let us blame him; he is the Father of his People. But +apparently it would seem that that which may be <I>bourgeois</I> in the eyes +of the matrons of the Crackanthorpe Hunt is really the highest breeding +in Illyria." +</P> + +<P> +Thereupon I laid down the poker as pensively as I had taken it up, +sought to compose the star of my destiny, who was beginning to weep +softly, and bade her good morning. +</P> + +<P> +Outside the door I lingered a moment to hear the key click in the lock +in the most unmistakable manner. +</P> + +<P> +With the aid of a candle I made my way to my temporary quarters over +the stables. The hour was a quarter to five. Little time was left for +further repose, but it was used to such advantage that it was not +without difficulty that my servant was able to rouse me at a quarter to +eight. By the time I was putting the finishing touches to my toilet I +was informed that Count Zhygny was below, inspecting the horses. +</P> + +<P> +Count Zhygny, to give our illustrious guest his <I>nom de guerre</I>, which, +like nearly all Illyrian proper names, it is well not to attempt to +pronounce as it is spelt, was stroking the fetlocks of Daydream with an +air of knowingness when I joined him. Dressed in a suit of tweeds and +a green felt hat, he looked the picture of restless energy. Seen in +the light of day he was far older than he had appeared the previous +night. Hollows were revealed in his cheeks, and there were pouches +under his eyes. His hands shook and his brow had many lines, but every +one of his many inches was instinct with a natural force. +</P> + +<P> +His greeting was frank and hearty and as cordial as you please. There +was not a trace of resentment or embarrassment. But, from the manly +ease of his bearing, it was abundantly clear that the king could do no +wrong. +</P> + +<P> +He linked his arm through mine, and together we strolled in to +breakfast. At the sideboard I helped him to bacon and tomatoes, and +Mrs. Arbuthnot gave him coffee. +</P> + +<P> +The manner of "little milady" was perhaps a thought constrained when +she received his Majesty's matutinal greeting. To encourage her he +pinched her ear playfully. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Fitz did not grace this movable feast, and Fitz and the Chancellor +were rather late. +</P> + +<P> +"You have taken a long time over your devotions, Schalk," said the +King. "I am glad it does not cost me these pains to keep on good terms +with heaven." +</P> + +<P> +"I also, sir," said Schalk drily. +</P> + +<P> +"I see you have the English <I>Times</I> there, Schalk. What is the news +this morning?" +</P> + +<P> +The Chancellor adjusted a pair of gold pince-nez and began to read +aloud from that organ of opinion. +</P> + +<P> +"'Blaenau, Wednesday evening. The Illyrian Land Bill was read a second +time in the House of Deputies this afternoon.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Ha, that is important," said the King, laughing. "What a +well-informed journal is the English <I>Times</I>! Do you approve of the +Illyrian Land Bill, Schalk?" +</P> + +<P> +"Since I had the honour of drafting it, sir, to your dictation, I +cannot do less than endorse it." +</P> + +<P> +"And read a second time already, says the English <I>Times</I>, in the House +of Deputies. I always say they have some of the best minds of the +kingdom in the Lower House." +</P> + +<P> +"Trust them to know what is good for themselves," said Schalk sourly. +</P> + +<P> +It was tolerably clear, from the Chancellor's manner, that his royal +master was enjoying a little private baiting. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Schalk," he said, "I believe you are still harping on Clause +Three." +</P> + +<P> +"I have never reverted, sir, from my original view," said the +Chancellor, "that under Clause Three the peasantry is getting far more +than is good for it. I have always felt, sir, as you are aware, that +this is a concession to the pestilential agrarian agitator, and I feel +sure the First Chamber will proclaim this opinion also." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well, Schalk," said the King cheerfully, "is it not the function +of the First Chamber to disagree with the Second, and what is the +Little Father for except to soothe their quarrels by flattering both +and agreeing with neither?" +</P> + +<P> +"Your Majesty is pleased to speak in riddles," said the Chancellor, +with gravity. +</P> + +<P> +"What a cardinal you would have made, Schalk!" said his master. "But +if you have really made up your mind about Clause Three, we must look +at it again. I agree with you that it is not good for growing children +to eat all the cake. We must keep a little for their elders, because +they like cake too, it appears." +</P> + +<P> +"Everyone is fond of cake," said the Chancellor sententiously, "but +there is never quite enough to go round, unfortunately." +</P> + +<P> +"That is a happy phrase of Schalk's," said the King, making the +conversation general with his amused air; "'the pestilential agrarian +agitator.' Have you that kind of animal in England?" +</P> + +<P> +"We are infested with him, sir," said the member for the Uppingdon +Division of Middleshire, the owner of a modest thousand or so of acres. +"The people for the land, and the land for the people! The country +reeks of it." +</P> + +<P> +"It is the same everywhere," said the King. "A great world movement is +upon us. The wise can detect the voice of the future in the cry of the +people, but there are some who stuff wool in their ears, eh, Schalk?" +</P> + +<P> +Ferdinand the Twelfth assumed a port of indulgent sagacity. This +half-serious, half-bantering fragment of his discourse, and half a +dozen in a similar tenor to which it was my privilege to listen, seemed +to establish one fact clearly. It was that the King was not the slave +of his ministers. He was a man with a keen outlook upon his time, +deliberately unprogressive, not in response to the reactionary forces +by which he was surrounded, but because he held that it was not good +for the world to go too fast. +</P> + +<P> +His article of faith was simple enough, and in his conduct he did not +hesitate to embody it. He conceived it to be the highest good for +every people to have a king; a wise, patient and beneficent law-giver +to correct the excesses of faction; one to stand at the helm to steer +the ship of state through troubled waters. +</P> + +<P> +Whether his conception of the monarchical condition was right or wrong, +he was able to enforce it with all the weight of his personality. He +believed profoundly in the divine right. In the assurance of his own +infallibility he seemed to admit no limit to his own freedom of action. +</P> + +<P> +He believed that the future of his country was in his hands. It was in +order to conserve it that he had come to England in this singular and +unexpected manner. Having chosen a Royal Consort for his only +daughter, she whose act of revolt was but a manifestation of +sovereignty carried to a higher power, he was prepared come what may to +enforce his will. +</P> + +<P> +All through this little history I have tried to show how comedy strove +with tragedy as the play was unfolded. The spectators were never quite +sure which way the cat would jump. Infinite opportunity for laughter +was provided, but underneath this merriment lay that which was too deep +for tears. Viewed upon the surface, the precipitation into our midst +of such an elemental figure as Ferdinand the Twelfth was food for an +inextinguishable jest, but the reverse of the medal must not be +overlooked. +</P> + +<P> +Every hour the King spent under our roof was a slow-drawn torture for +Fitz and his wife. Holding the romantic belief that they were +twin-souls whom destiny had linked irrevocably together, they were +everything to one another. But running counter to this faith were +those incalculable hereditary forces which the King with incomparable +power and address was marshalling against it. +</P> + +<P> +Now was the time for the Princess to yield. In his own person the King +had come to demand of her that once and for all she should take up the +burden of her heritage. If now she declined to heed, the days of the +Monarchy were numbered. +</P> + +<P> +It was only too clear to us onlookers that a terrible contest was being +waged. In two or three brief days the Princess seemed worn to a +shadow; the look of wildness was again in her eyes: her whole bearing +confessed an overwhelming mental stress. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz also suffered greatly. And his travail was not rendered less by +the fact that Ferdinand did not scruple to make a personal appeal. +</P> + +<P> +About the third night of his ordeal, Fitz accompanied me to my quarters +over the stables. +</P> + +<P> +"Arbuthnot," he said, sinking into a chair, "I have been thinking this +thing out as well as I can with the help of Ferdinand, and he has made +me see that my rights in the matter are not quite what I thought they +were. I do not complain. He has talked to me as a father might to a +son, and he has brought me to see that our position in the sight of God +may not be quite what we judged it to be." +</P> + +<P> +I was hardly prepared for such a speech on the lips of Fitz. That it +should fall from them so simply gave me an enlarged idea of the forces +that were being brought to bear upon him. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap26"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A WALK IN THE GARDEN +</H4> + +<P> +In the last resort the issue lay with Sonia. Her husband had the +wisdom to recognise that; although his own happiness was at stake, the +matter was beyond the restricted sphere of the personal equation. +</P> + +<P> +In the crisis of his fate it has always seemed to me that Fitz +displayed the inherent nobility of his character. Once the King, with +immense force and cogency, had revealed the situation in its true +aspect, his son-in-law, without abating a single claim to his wife's +consideration, yet refrained from unduly exercising the prerogative +conferred upon him by their spiritual affinity. +</P> + +<P> +It was wise and right that Fitz should detach himself as far as +possible from the conflict that was being waged between father and +daughter. But, although he did what lay in his power to simplify the +issue, he could not banish the image of himself from his wife's heart. +He furnished the motive power of her existence. Emotion held the +master-key to her nature. In any conflict between love and duty, love +could hardly fail to win. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz suffered intensely as the struggle went on. He even threw out a +hint to me that he might be tempted to take a certain step to help his +wife to a possible solution of the problem. +</P> + +<P> +"The longer this goes on," he said to me in the small hours of the +morning, "the more clearly I realise that Sonia's place is with her own +people. I have been blind, and I have been mad, and I owe it to +Ferdinand that I have been able to see myself in my true relation to +the issue in which fate has involved us. It is six years since I first +saw Sonia on the terrace of the Castle at Blaenau. I was travelling +about the world trying to find ease for my soul. I knew that she was +unhappy, and she knew that I was, but we were young and not afraid. We +met continually, for I had the <I>entrée</I> to the Castle as the grandson +of the Elector of Gracow, whose daughter married my grandfather, George +Fitzwaren of tragic memory. +</P> + +<P> +"We used to sit out on the Castle terrace, Sonia and I, night after +night, watching the stars in their courses, while her father dragooned +his parliament and hoodwinked his people. She was lonely, outcast and +unloved; there was none to whom she could speak her thoughts; she was +oppressed with the sense of her destiny. +</P> + +<P> +"She said that when she first met me she wondered where she had seen me +before. She said that my presence haunted her like a half-remembered +vision, until it began to merge itself into her dreams of a former +existence and a happier state. And as she said this, her voice grew +strangely familiar. For me it unlocked the doors of memory. It was +like the faint, far-off music you can hear sometimes, the music of the +wind in winter sweeping across infinite, illimitable space. +</P> + +<P> +"She allowed me to kiss her, and we knew then we held the key to the +riddle of existence. We were twin-souls made one again, and together +we would go through all time and all eternity. +</P> + +<P> +"But I think we are beginning now to realise that the sense of oneness +is alien to the human state, and that the hour is at hand when we must +separate and go out again into the night of ages alone." +</P> + +<P> +In a condition of desolation the unhappy man rocked his meagre body to +and fro as thus he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"If it will really help her," he said, "I think I shall put an end to +my present life. At least, I shall ask Ferdinand to do it, for I doubt +whether any man in the true enjoyment of his reason has really the +power to do it for himself. And yet, perhaps one ought not to say +that. So much can be done by prayer." +</P> + +<P> +"Surely it is contrary to the will of God?" I said with a kind of +horror. +</P> + +<P> +"It is, undoubtedly," said Fitz, "as regards humanity at large. But it +sometimes happens, you know, that one among us plays the game up so +high that he gets a special decree. I almost think, Arbuthnot, that I +have heard the Voice—and if I have, my unhappy Sonia will be able to +go back to her people for a term, and I shall ask you, as my oldest +friend, a man whom my instincts tell me to trust, to accept the charge +of my little daughter." +</P> + +<P> +To one poised delicately upon the plane of reason such a speech could +not fail to be shocking. But it was so sincere, so reasoned, the +holder of these views was so entirely the captain of his soul, that his +words, as he uttered them, seemed to derive a kind of sanction which as +I commit them to paper they do not appear to possess. +</P> + +<P> +The counsel of one man to another does not amount to much in those +cases where the subject-matter of their discussion has been already +referred to the High Court. But I felt that I should be unfaithful to +the elements that formed my own nature, acutely conscious as I was of +their imperfect development, if I did not seek to give them some sort +of an expression at such a moment as this. +</P> + +<P> +"Fitz," I said, "I can claim no right to address you, except as a +younger brother. You belong to a higher order of things; your life is +more developed than mine, but I ask you in the name of God to refrain +from the step you contemplate, unless you are absolutely convinced, +beyond any possibility of error, that there is no other way out." +</P> + +<P> +The unhappy man made no reply. His face had begun to seem +unrecognisable. +</P> + +<P> +I rose involuntarily from the chair in which I sat. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us walk in the garden," I said. +</P> + +<P> +The suggestion appeared to shape itself on my lips, regardless of the +will's volition. It was, perhaps, a recovered fragment of man's +heritage floating downwards from the past. +</P> + +<P> +I opened the door and we went downstairs into the garden. It was the +middle of the night; what there was of the moon was almost wholly +obscured; the air was mild with the purity of recent rain. Up and down +the wet lawns we walked, bareheaded and in our slippered feet. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly lights flashed upon us out of the shrubbery. +</P> + +<P> +"It is all right," I called. "Do not disturb us. Go into another part +of the grounds." +</P> + +<P> +The voice seemed unlike my own, but the watchers obeyed it. +</P> + +<P> +Nature exhorted us as we walked in the garden. Her purity, her calm, +the incommunicable magic of her spaciousness, the thrall of her +splendour entered our veins. We were her children, flesh of her flesh, +bone of her bone. The mighty Mother spoke to us. +</P> + +<P> +A little wind moved softly among the gaunt branches of a pine. +</P> + +<P> +"I must make quite sure that the Voice has spoken to me," said Fitz. +</P> + +<P> +The unhappy man walked to the pine-tree, knelt down and seemed +involuntarily to shroud his face with his hands. +</P> + +<P> +I shrank back and turned away. +</P> + +<P> +Quite suddenly my heart leapt with surprise and dismay. An unexpected +and sinister presence was by my side. +</P> + +<P> +"I pity that poor fellow," said a voice softly. "I pity them both." +</P> + +<P> +It was the voice of the King. +</P> + +<P> +Habited in a voluminous mantle, the Victor of Rodova linked his arm +through mine in his paternal manner. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, my friend," he said in a voice of urgent kindliness, "let us +walk in the garden." +</P> + +<P> +Together we walked over the lawns, the King and I, with slow and +measured steps. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a beautiful night." Ferdinand the Twelfth took off his hat. +</P> + +<P> +"God is in His heaven, sir," I said, softly. +</P> + +<P> +"You are a God-fearing people," said the King; "that is a good thing. +What can we do in the world without the fear of God? This night +reminds me of the night before Rodova. It was just like this, a calm, +soft air, a little moist. You could hear the wind creeping softly +among the pine-trees. At the bottom of your garden there was the +gentle noise of a little river. All night the little fishes were +leaping and playing in its clear waters, and living their lives +joyously as it seemed good to them. And beyond the river were the +Austrians, sixty thousand men with horses and cannons. +</P> + +<P> +"The God of Armies had given the soul of my country into my care. Was +she to remain a free and independent people as she had been since the +time of Alvan the First, or was she to be trampled under the heel of +the oppressor? All night I walked in the garden, and I remember I +knelt down under the pine-tree yonder, as our friend is doing there. +It is a wonderful thing how history keeps happening over again." +</P> + +<P> +The King's voice had grown hushed and solemn. +</P> + +<P> +"To-night is another crisis in the history of our country. I am older +than I seem; there is a voice within which tells me that my course is +almost run. That is why I have come to speak with my daughter. It is +the business of us Sveltkes to hold the balance in the scales of +destiny. Since the time of Alvan the First there has been an unbroken +line of monarchy; perhaps it is decreed that it shall end to-night. +But yet I cannot think so. The unseen power which enabled us to +withstand the might of Austria will invest my daughter with wisdom and +grace." +</P> + +<P> +There was a footfall on the soft turf, and we turned to find that Fitz +had joined us. +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! Nevil," said the King in a voice of parental tenderness. "I was +explaining to our good friend how this night reminds me of the eve of +Rodova. Our lady the moon was in her present quarter; yonder was Mars, +blood-red on the eastern horizon. There behind us was Jupiter, exactly +as we see him to-night; but on the night of Rodova Uranus was not +visible. It was a grave crisis in the history of our country; to-night +is a grave crisis also, for I feel that a term has been placed to my +days. But I walked all night in the garden, and I knelt down beneath a +single pine-tree, and the God of Armies spoke to me. 'Fear nothing,' +said the God of Armies. 'At the break of day, cross the river that +flows at the bottom of the garden, and all will be well.'" +</P> + +<P> +The light of the moon fell upon the King's face, That smiling and +subtle visage looked strangely luminous. +</P> + +<P> +"An hour before daybreak," the King went on, "Parlowitz came to me. +'Weissmann has come up in the night,' he said, 'with twenty thousand +men. If we cross the river, all is lost.' 'Fear nothing, Parlowitz,' +I said. 'At daybreak we cross the river. The God of Armies would have +it so.' 'Then, sire,' said Parlowitz, 'give this to my wife when next +you see her'—Parlowitz unfastened the collar of his tunic and took off +a locket which he wore round his neck—'and tell her that it is my wish +that our second son John should succeed to my estate.' I then bade +adieu to Parlowitz, for he would have it so; and as the dawn was +breaking he was shot through the breast at the head of his division. +But that was a glorious day in the annals of the Illyrian people; and +you, my dear Nevil, will have seen the noble statue that has been +raised to the memory of Parlowitz on the terrace at Blaenau." +</P> + +<P> +"I have seen the statue," said Fitz, calmly. "A monument of piety, but +abominable as a work of art." +</P> + +<P> +"It is the work of the best sculptor in Illyria," said the King. +</P> + +<P> +"There are no sculptors in Illyria," said Fitz, bluntly. +</P> + +<P> +The King fell into a muse. I was sensible of Fitz's grip upon my arm. +</P> + +<P> +"It is wonderful," said the King, softly, "how history continues to +happen over again. I seem to hear the voice again in the upper air: +'At daybreak, cross the river at the bottom of the garden, and all will +be well.'" +</P> + +<P> +The grip upon my arm grew tighter. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not leave me," said Fitz in a hoarse whisper. +</P> + +<P> +All night long the three of us walked up and down the lawns before the +house. In one of the upper windows was a light. It was Sonia's room. +</P> + +<P> +Few words passed between us, and in the main it was the King who spoke. +Never once did Fitz relax his grip upon my arm. Indeed, as the hours +passed, it seemed to grow more tense. It had the convulsive tenacity +of one who in the last extremity fights to keep the body united to the +soul. +</P> + +<P> +Even I, who make no claim to be highly sensitised, was susceptible of +the ominous challenge of the force that was enfolding us. Silence was +even more terrible than speech. The resources of the ages were in the +scale against us. +</P> + +<P> +"For God's sake do not leave me!" said my unhappy friend in a whisper +of terror. +</P> + +<P> +At last the first faint pencilings of the dawn began to declare +themselves in the upper air. My slippered feet were soaked and my +teeth were chattering with the chill of the morning. A curious +sensation, which I had never felt before, began to steal over me. With +a thrill of suffocating, incommunicable horror I began slowly to +realise that I was no longer the master of myself. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz's convulsed grip was still upon my arm, but the sense of him had +grown remote. He was slipping farther and farther away. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold me!" he whispered; and again, "Hold me!" The stifled voice was +like that of one in whose company I was drowning. +</P> + +<P> +The voice of the King sounded quite near, although it was with dull +stupefaction that I heard his words. +</P> + +<P> +"The day is breaking. The river flows at the bottom of the garden." +</P> + +<P> +The fingers of my friend no longer clasped my arm. In the half-light I +saw the King produce a revolver from the folds of his mantle. He +handed it to Fitz with a paternal, almost deprecating gesture, and we +were both powerless to deny him. It seemed to me that I was standing +outside all that was happening. The sense of distance appeared ever to +increase. +</P> + +<P> +I witnessed the King kiss the forehead of his son-in-law, and heard him +give him his blessing. Then I seemed to hear the voice of Fitz crying +piteously, +</P> + +<P> +"Sonia, Sonia, help me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Look over there," said the King; "the day is breaking. It is another +glorious sunrise for the people of Illyria." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, indeed, sir," said a voice that broke the spell. +</P> + +<P> +The prayer of Fitz had been heard. Sonia had come unperceived into our +midst. +</P> + +<P> +"I have come to taste the morning, it is so good," she said. "And you, +how early you have risen!" +</P> + +<P> +The King laughed. He seemed to enfold his daughter with that visage of +smiling subtlety. +</P> + +<P> +"We have been walking in the garden, my friends and I," he said. "We +have had a pleasant talk together. The position of the stars reminded +me of the eve of Rodova, except that Uranus was not with us. It is +always well to know the position of Uranus." +</P> + +<P> +I felt Fitz slip the revolver into my hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," he said in his tone of natural decision, "let us go and have a +bath and get ready for breakfast." +</P> + +<P> +While the King continued to discourse amiably with his daughter we made +our escape. +</P> + +<P> +In the privacy of my room over the stables we removed the cartridges +from the revolver. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz handed the weapon to me. "Keep it," he said, "as a memento of +Ferdinand the Twelfth. I should have crossed the river if Sonia had +not heard my call." +</P> + +<P> +Fitz shivered; but in his haggard face I thought that reason was still +enthroned. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap27"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +PROVIDES A LITTLE FEMININE DIVERSION +</H4> + +<P> +At the breakfast table, Mrs. Arbuthnot was moved to inquire of our +distinguished guest whether he would care to meet some of our friends +and neighbours at dinner. His <I>incognito</I> should be preserved rigidly; +and perhaps a few fresh faces would serve to lighten the tedium of his +stay in our midst. The King assented to the proposal with his usual +hearty good-humour. +</P> + +<P> +Personally I was deeply grateful to Mrs. Arbuthnot for having had the +inspiration to make it. I was prepared to welcome anything that would +withdraw me from the perilous altitudes upon which I had been walking +throughout the night. I might be said to yearn for anything that could +re-attach me to the humbler plane of men and things, in whose +familiarity lay mental security. +</P> + +<P> +After breakfast, however, when I came to discuss this apparently +innocent proposal with Mrs. Arbuthnot, it was clear that something +lurked behind it. +</P> + +<P> +"I have got a little plan, you know," said she, with a plaintive, +childlike air. "They have all been so uppish with me lately that I +have thought of a little plan of scoring them off properly." +</P> + +<P> +"By asking them to meet royalty and giving them an excellent dinner?" +</P> + +<P> +"There shall be nothing wrong with the dinner," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, +"but it ought to be very amusing. I shall drive round to Mary's at +once and ask her to forgive the short notice, but Sonia's father has +unexpectedly turned up and, much against our will, we are having to +entertain him." +</P> + +<P> +"Where is the jest? The bald and painful truth is seldom amusing." +</P> + +<P> +"Goose! As they are all convinced that Sonia was formerly a circus +rider in Vienna, what can be more natural than that her father is the +proprietor of the circus?" +</P> + +<P> +"True, madam. But how will you explain away his title?" +</P> + +<P> +"It will be the simplest thing out. You can always buy a title in +Illyria, like you can here. The old circus man has made a fortune and +purchased a title accordingly." +</P> + +<P> +I confessed that that had a fairly plausible sound. +</P> + +<P> +"They will swallow it, see if they don't," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, giving +an ever freer rein to her invention. "And the old circus man is really +too funny, and if Mary Catesby and Laura Glendinning and George and the +Vicar and Mrs. Vicar, and that pushing little American would like to +see for themselves, we shall be very glad for them to dine here +to-morrow evening. And," concluded Mrs. Arbuthnot, in a tone in which +childlike conviction and a natural love of mischief were excellently +blended, "just see if they don't, that's all!" +</P> + +<P> +"But why, my child? I confess that I cannot see any particular charm +in such an entertainment." +</P> + +<P> +"They will come, if only to score us off afterwards, you goose. You +don't know them as well as I do." +</P> + +<P> +I confessed that I did not. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot lost no time in driving round to her friends, and +returned in high glee with them all in her net. +</P> + +<P> +"What did I say!" she declaimed triumphantly. "I called first on Mary. +I knew, if I persuaded her, the rest would be easy. Well, you know her +little way. She read me a terrible lecture about the duties of my +position. As the wife of the member, my responsibilities were simply +enormous. Not on any account would she sit down at the same table as +Mrs. Fitz. But I drew such a fancy portrait of the old circus man and +of his friend the ring-master, who was almost as funny as himself, that +I got her to consent. So she and George are coming." +</P> + +<P> +"Mischievous monkey!" +</P> + +<P> +"Then I went on to the Vicarage. The Vicar had no engagement, but he +hummed and hawed, until I told him Mary was coming, so he is coming +too, and he is going to bring Lavinia. Then there will be Laura and +the little American and Reggie Brasset, and Jodey, of course. We shall +be quite a family party, and it ought to be tremendous fun." +</P> + +<P> +"Won't Brasset and Jodey be rather flies in your ointment? Don't they +know your guilty secret?" +</P> + +<P> +"I shall tell them all about it, of course, and they will help us to +carry it off. And I mean to ask Colonel Coverdale to come too. He +will like to meet the King, and we must persuade him not to give us +away." +</P> + +<P> +I was in no mood to give free play to whatever I may have in the way of +a sense of humour. But Mrs. Arbuthnot's scheme, doubtful as it was on +the score of morality, had at least the merit of diverting the current +of my thoughts into another channel. It certainly did something to +lessen the tension. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Arbuthnot laid her plans with considerable precaution. She had a +long and extremely animated conversation over the telephone with the +Chief Constable. I could almost hear the great man growl and chuckle +as she expounded her wicked design. But in the end he was unable to +resist her and he was in her net as well. Jodey and Brasset, of +course, were only too eager to lend a hand, and both agreed with her +"that they all deserved to be scored off properly." Personally, the +workings of the "scoring-off" process were a little too much for my +enfeebled mental system, but I was informed peremptorily that I always +was a dull dog. +</P> + +<P> +Determined to leave nothing to chance, Mrs. Arbuthnot even went to the +length of taking Fitz into her confidence. +</P> + +<P> +"You know, Nevil," she said, engagingly, "how they have behaved to +Sonia and what they have said about her behind her back." +</P> + +<P> +"What have they said?" Fitz's indifference bordered upon the sublime. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, don't you know?" Mrs. Arbuthnot transfixed the Man of Destiny +with starlike orbs. "Don't you know that when Laura Glendinning found +out that Sonia rides just as straight as she does and that she looks +much smarter, it made her frightfully jealous?" +</P> + +<P> +"Did it indeed!" grunted the Man of Destiny. +</P> + +<P> +"And can you believe, Nevil,"—the starlike orbs grew ever rounder and +more luminous—"she circulated the story that dear Sonia was a circus +rider from Vienna!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, really!" Fitz concealed a yawn in a rather perfunctory manner. +</P> + +<P> +"And, what is more, she got everybody to believe it." +</P> + +<P> +Fitz's boredom was dissembled with a smile of twelve-horse-power +politeness. +</P> + +<P> +"And so, to score them off," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, rising to pleasantly +histrionic heights, "I have invited the ringleaders to dinner to-night +to meet the circus rider's father, the proprietor of the circus, who +has made a fortune out of his show and has bought himself a title, as, +of course, you can in Illyria. And Baron von Schalk is the ringmaster +of his circus." +</P> + +<P> +The Man of Destiny guffawed with languid inefficiency and declared that +the plot was like a comic opera. In my private ear he recorded an +opinion subsequently to which it would be hardly kind to give publicity. +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody but a woman would have thought of it," he said. "If it turns +out to be funny, so be it, but I must say it looks like spoiling a good +meal—you've got a top-hole cook, old son—and making things damned +uncomfortable for everybody." +</P> + +<P> +I adjured Fitz, who, like myself, was evidently in no mood to +appreciate refined humour, to wait and see. +</P> + +<P> +Lieutenant-Colonel John Chalmers Coverdale, C.M.G., late of His +Majesty's Carabineers, was the first to arrive. +</P> + +<P> +"Sailing rather near the wind, aren't you?" was his greeting to his +hostess, who in her best gown was a ravishing example of picturesque +demureness. +</P> + +<P> +"I think it will go all right," said she. "Mary Catesby and George +will be too killing." +</P> + +<P> +Certainly, when that august matron arrived she was very <I>grande dame</I> +and honest George five feet three inches of meticulous good breeding. +They greeted Fitz and his wife with a distant reverence. Ferdinand the +Twelfth and his famous minister had not yet appeared upon the scene. +Most of their day had been spent upon the much-debated Clause Three of +the Illyrian Land Bill. +</P> + +<P> +Eight o'clock is the hour at which we dine in the Crackanthorpe +country. It is the established custom for regular followers of that +distinguished pack to be extremely hungry at that hour. As the +presentation timepiece chimed the hour from the drawing-room +chimneypiece, there was a full muster of Mrs. Arbuthnot's dinner +guests: the Vicar and his wife, looking rather pinched and formal, +their invariable attitude towards public life, yet the Vicar wearing a +somewhat worldly pair of shoes of patent leather and equally worldly +mauve socks and rather short trousers; Miss Laura Glendinning, our +local Diana, who looked horse and talked horse and who would doubtless +have eaten horse had it been in the menu; my charming little friend, +the relict of Josiah P. Perkins of Brownville, Mass.; the noble Master +enveloped in a sartorial masterpiece and a frown of perplexity; his +<I>aide-de-camp</I>, Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther enveloped ditto, +but leaning up not ungracefully against a corner of the chimneypiece +with his hands in his pockets, not looking at anybody, not speaking to +anybody, but with a covert gaze fixed upon the drawing-room door in +quest of early information in regard to Ferdinand the Twelfth. +</P> + +<P> +In the middle of the <I>salon</I> the august Mrs. Catesby discussed the +Minority Report with the Vicar of the parish and Prison Reform with the +Chief Constable, whilst I, sharing the largest and most comfortable +sofa with Mrs. Nevil Fitzwaren, had to answer a succession of +sympathetic inquiries in regard to my arm. +</P> + +<P> +"A mere scratch," everybody was assured. "Lucky it wasn't worse. Fact +is, those taxis are rather dangerous." +</P> + +<P> +The presentation timepiece chimed a quarter past eight. The proprietor +of the Viennese circus and his faithful acolyte were yet to seek. +Romantic figures as they doubtless were—at least, there was the +authority of the hostess that such was their nature—the manner in +which they were obstructing the serious business of life was hard to +condone. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins came up to our sofa. She gave a demure, +down-looking glance at the lady seated by my side, who was decidedly +<I>piano</I>, which of course was as it should be, and made the plaintive +confession, "I am so hungry. I wouldn't mind the hind leg off that +satinwood table." +</P> + +<P> +"You have full permission to have it," said I. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no," said Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins, "it would spoil the suite. But +hardly any breakfast, a sandwich at the Top Covert, in which there was +hardly any hog, one cup of tea at the Vicarage, and you know what that +is, and now—oh dear!——" +</P> + +<P> +In these harrowing circumstances I conceived it to be my duty to find +out what was toward. I yielded my place to Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins, and +as she collapsed into it, I heard her say, "I suppose if you once get a +cinch on circuses you make a regular pile right soon?" +</P> + +<P> +But as I made to go forth in search of Ferdinand the Twelfth, lo and +behold! that monarch came in with his minister. He was wearing no +orders, there was nothing to enhance or to distort his personality, but +it struck me that his bearing had a simple majesty beyond that of any +person I had ever seen. +</P> + +<P> +"Make our apologies, milady," he said in a low voice, which was yet +quite audible to most in the room, since upon his entrance the +conversation had been suspended automatically. "That mad Dutchman is +waving his torch over the powder keg, and we had forgotten the time." +</P> + +<P> +And then, with the greatest simplicity and good-nature, he started to +make a tour of the room, shaking each man by the hand heartily, saying +"Very pleased to meet you, sir," and bowing to each lady in turn with +smiling gravity. He then gave the hostess his arm. +</P> + +<P> +At the table I had Mrs. Catesby on my right hand, Mrs. Josiah P. +Perkins on my left. +</P> + +<P> +"What a lovely man!" said Charybdis on the left. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe," said Scylla, "that he has any connection with a +circus whatever." +</P> + +<P> +"He is Mrs. Fitz's father, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +"What is his name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Count Zhygny, but titles are cheap in Illyria." +</P> + +<P> +"It is a noble head," said the Great Lady. +</P> + +<P> +"Objective criticism is proverbially unsafe," I hazarded. "His +daughter has a noble face." +</P> + +<P> +"He is just bully." Charybdis was waxing enthusiastic. "Quite +Bawston." +</P> + +<P> +The Great Lady addressed herself in grim earnest to the serious +business of life, and I am bound to say—although doubtless I am the +wrong person to insist on the fact—that it was worthy of all the +attention that was paid to it. We were twenty-five minutes late at the +post, as Jodey had complained bitterly to his hostess, but the +distinguished <I>chef</I> lately in the service of a nobleman had fairly +excelled himself. Good-humour, nay, even cordiality, reigned all along +the line. +</P> + +<P> +"Are those pearls real?" said an imperious whisper from the right. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not a judge of precious stones," I admitted, "although in the +process of time I think I shall be." +</P> + +<P> +"One can't believe they are real. If they are, they must be priceless. +What a wonderful head that man has! And who, pray, is the other?" +</P> + +<P> +"Herr Brouss is his name. The circus-ring is his vocation." +</P> + +<P> +"I once met a distinguished foreigner, a Baron Somebody, a great +politician who looked exactly like that. It was at Spa or one of those +foreign watering-places. By the way, Odo, what did the other man mean +by 'the mad Dutchman is waving his torch over the powder keg'? I see +in the paper this morning that relations are strained between Germany +and Illyria. +</P> + +<P> +"It is one of those cryptic phrases to which we have not the key." +</P> + +<P> +"What a delicious <I>entrée</I>! This is coals of fire with a vengeance. I +hope you are not living beyond your means." +</P> + +<P> +"Try the madeira—I see our excellent Vicar has discovered it. I am +wondering, Mary, whether I could win a little support again in high +places, as an out-and-out opponent of socialism in any shape or form." +</P> + +<P> +"I will make no rash promises, Odo"—the Great Lady took a wary sip of +the paternal vintage—"but I will speak to dear Evelyn if you wish, +although you certainly don't deserve to be forgiven." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope you will assure her that no one has a profounder veneration for +a poor but deserving class." +</P> + +<P> +In spite of the fact that Fitz and his wife remained silent and +preoccupied, the progress of the feast was marked by a temperate +gaiety. The hostess was on the crest of the wave. She made no attempt +to veil an almost indecent sense of triumph. Precisely why she should +have harboured it I cannot say, but she betrayed all the outward and +visible signs of that emotion. There was a light in her eye, there was +a piquancy about her discourse, there was a deferential archness in her +attitude towards the high personages by whom she was surrounded, which +communicated themselves to the whole table. In response to her sallies +the reverberations of the royal laughter were loud and long. +</P> + +<P> +"Toppin' good sort, ain't he?" said my relation by marriage in a moment +of expansion to Miss Laura Glendinning. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is a toppin' good sort?" said that literal Diana. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, the King, of course." +</P> + +<P> +"I have never met him," said Diana. +</P> + +<P> +"Where, pray, did you meet him, Joseph?" was the severe inquiry of the +Great Lady over the brim of her madeira. +</P> + +<P> +"In the paddock at Newmarket," said the young fellow, making a +brilliant recovery. +</P> + +<P> +"Fathead!" said the noble Master in a whisper of indulgent languor. +"You nearly blewed it then." +</P> + +<P> +The royal laughter continued to reverberate. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose he began life as a clown?" said the Great Lady. +</P> + +<P> +"Nearly all these circus chaps do, don't they?" said Jodey, who nearly +suffered misfortune in a too strenuous desire to preserve his gravity. +</P> + +<P> +"Or as a bare-back rider," said I, taking up the parable. +</P> + +<P> +"One would certainly say a clown," said the Great Lady. "Dear me, what +manners!" +</P> + +<P> +The port wine had appeared and had been duly dispensed. At this +precise moment Ferdinand the Twelfth was giving the table-cloth a +peremptory tap. He rose, glass in hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Ladies and gentlemen, my good friends," said he. "I haf one toast to +propose. We will drink, if you please, to the health of <I>le bon roi +Edouard</I>. God bless him!" +</P> + +<P> +Upon the Chief Constable's extremely prompt initiative the company did +not hesitate to follow the Circus Proprietor's lead. +</P> + +<P> +"The King! God bless him!" +</P> + +<P> +This incident, which the Circus Proprietor had invested with such +authority that it seemed perfectly in order, nearly led to the undoing +of Jodey and his noble friend. Overborne by the emotion of the moment, +they indulged in a little side show of their own. The toast of <I>le bon +roi Edouard</I> having been honoured in form the rest of the company sat +down at once, but our two sportsmen remained upon their feet. Filling +up their glasses, they turned towards the illustrious guest and +repeated the solemn formula: +</P> + +<P> +"The King. God bless him!" +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down, you asses," said the Chief Constable in a truculent +undertone. +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, the proprietor of the circus bowed to them and smiled +paternally. +</P> + +<P> +"One shouldn't look for too much," said the Vicar, "but I think the old +fellow is a bit of a sportsman." +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all a bad fellow," said honest George, expansively. "Not at +all a bad fellow. Not at all a bad fellow." +</P> + +<P> +However, a subtle fear lay within the breast of a married man, a father +of a family, and a county member, lest our excellent Vicar had spoken +in excess of his knowledge. I foresaw that the ordeal by fire was +coming. When the ladies left the room desperation urged me to bestow a +pointed hint upon the Church. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps, Vicar," I said, plaintively, "if you joined the ladies? Not +at all a bad fellow, you know, not at all a bad fellow, but perhaps +not—er—altogether—don't you know!" +</P> + +<P> +"None the worse for that," said the hardest riding parson in three +counties, filling up his glass with composure and with cordiality. "If +you think the old buffer can appreciate a yarn, I will tell that old +one of my Uncle Jackson's. It is rather a chestnut these days, but +perhaps he mayn't have heard it." +</P> + +<P> +The clerical effort was by no means <I>vieux jeu</I>. And it is only just +to the Church to mention that the style of the raconteur compared very +favourably with that he affected in his vocation. Ferdinand the +Twelfth guffawed heartily, and replied with a couple of masterpieces +that brought the blush of shame to the cheek of modesty. I am afraid +there was only one cheek, however, in which the emblem in question was +able to find sanctuary, and truth compels me to assert that it was +neither that of the Church nor the Police. +</P> + +<P> +For nearly an hour by the clock the bottle was circulated and we were +royally entertained. Ferdinand had had a rich and various experience +of life. Much had he seen and done; he had made and unmade history; he +was of the world, he loved it and he courted it; no personality had +emerged upon the European chequer-board during the past half-century of +whom he could not discourse out of a full and intimate knowledge. If +it pleased him, he could pull aside the curtain and disclose the +showman making the puppets dance in the political theatre. +</P> + +<P> +He spoke with immense gusto; his zest of life was magnificent, and +somewhat strangely there was nothing cynical or ignoble about his point +of view. For the best part of an hour he held the least wise of us in +thrall. He had an abundance, an overplus of nature, and subtle and +Jesuitical—for want of a happier word—as he doubtless was, there was +something humane and great-hearted about him as a man. +</P> + +<P> +He gave away the great ones of the earth, showing them in their habit +as they dwelt. He made them neither less nor more than they were. +Naught was set down in malice, but his anecdotes mostly had a +Rabelaisian tang which sprang from a prodigality of nature. He was a +great and not unbeneficent force who drained the cup of life to the +lees, smacked his lips heartily, and demanded more. His philosophy +seemed to be to fear God but not to scruple to use to the full all the +noble and infinite gifts of your inheritance. His rule of conduct, +however, was not, to measure men by their strength but by their +weakness. "Every man has his blind spot," he said, <I>apropos</I> of +Bismarck. "Find it and he is yours." +</P> + +<P> +Such a crowded hour of wisdom, wit and historic revelation was an +experience that even a dullard was not likely to forget. George +Catesby and the Vicar alone were unacquainted with the identity of our +guest, and as far as they were concerned the cat was more or less out +of the bag. +</P> + +<P> +When we joined the ladies we found that card-tables had been set out. +Mrs. Arbuthnot and Coverdale engaged Mrs. Catesby and the King. No one +watching the play could fail to be amused by the Circus Proprietor's +caustic but good-humoured reflections upon the performance of his +partner. The Great Lady bore it all, however, with a stoical humility. +To my surprise, she cut in for a second rubber, and her demeanour made +it clear to Jodey, who disdained games like "<I>britch</I>" and preferred to +watch the royal <I>partie</I>, "that she smelt a rat." +</P> + +<P> +"I expect the show has pretty well given itself away by now," he said +in an aside to his host, "but anyhow they have been scored off +properly." +</P> + +<P> +The mystery of "scoring off" was still too much for my inadequate +mental processes. But I gathered that there was a consensus of opinion +among persons of a more vivid intellectual cast that such indeed was +the case. +</P> + +<P> +"We sha'n't half pull her leg, I don't think"—in the exuberance of the +hour the young fellow relapsed into a semi-lyrical music-hall comedy +vein—"about the old circus johnny who drank a health unto his Majesty. +I only wish old Alec had been there, that's all." +</P> + +<P> +"A digger, madame, a digger," said the Circus Proprietor in a tone of +humorous expostulation, "when you haf not a treek!" +</P> + +<P> +The Great Lady accepted the reproof with Christian meekness. +</P> + +<P> +It was not until hard upon midnight that the departing guest was sped +in divers chariots; the Church in the identical "one-hoss shay" of +inimitable and pious memory. "So many thanks, Mrs. Arbuthnot, for a +really <I>memorable</I> evening," said the Church, with a wave of a somewhat +unclerical bowler. +</P> + +<P> +Plutocracy in the little person of Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins had a Daimler +of sixty horse power. She gave a lift to a less fortunate sister in +the person of Miss Laura Glendinning. The Great Lady and the excellent +George, "a good vintage sound but dull," as I have heard him described +by a friend and neighbour, had recourse to a medium of travel of twelve +horse power only, as became the representatives of our sorely +impoverished land-owning class. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Such</I> a success, my dear!" said the Great Lady, bestowing her parting +blessing. "But," in a voice of mystery, "I shall <I>insist</I> upon the +whole thing being cleared up." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap28"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE WRITING ON THE WALL +</H4> + +<P> +The morning which followed these tempered gaieties was cold and bright. +The King borrowed my nicest gun and, accompanied by his son-in-law, our +retainer Andrew, and an old field spaniel who answered to the name of +Gyp, proceeded to put up a hare or two in the stubble. My physical +state precluded my raising a gun to my shoulder, but I deemed it wise +to be of the party. Accidents have been known to occur, and—but +perhaps it is well not to pursue this vein of speculation. +</P> + +<P> +Destiny is a vague term which provides the veil of decency for many +secrets, and firearms have often been the chosen instruments of its +decrees. Doubtless I was growing too imaginative. Certainly the +adventures I had undergone during the past few weeks had left a mark +upon my nerves, but when I recalled our vigil, which was still so fresh +in my thoughts as to seem strange and terrible, I could not view the +prospect of Ferdinand the Twelfth and his dutiful son-in-law sharing +the innocent pastime of a little rough shooting without a secret fear. +</P> + +<P> +I am glad to say that the course of the morning's sport lent no colour +to this apprehension. The King was an excellent shot, and even a +strange gun made little difference to his prowess. He displayed both +science and accuracy. But to see him standing cheek by jowl with Fitz, +each with a cocked weapon in his hand; to watch them scramble through +gaps and over stiles and five-barred gates, for in spite of his years +and his physique Ferdinand was a wonderfully active man who took an +almost boyish pride in his bodily condition, was to feel that the life +of either was hanging by a thread. +</P> + +<P> +However, as I have said, all this was the unworthy fruit of an +overwrought imagination. The sportsmen returned to luncheon safe and +sound, with a modest bag of the fowls of the air and the beasts of the +field. +</P> + +<P> +In the afternoon, at the instance of Mrs. Arbuthnot, whose happy +thought it was, we all motored over to inspect the Castle. The Family +was understood to be in Egypt, and the ducal stronghold is the show +place of the district. +</P> + +<P> +The rumour as to the Family's whereabouts proved to be correct, and a +profitable hour was spent in the casual study of magnificence. The +King took a genuine interest in all that he saw. In particular he was +charmed with the view from the terrace, which is modelled upon +Versailles, with a long and far-spreading vista of oaks and beeches and +a herd of deer in the foreground. +</P> + +<P> +He expressed a keen appreciation of the Duke's collection of works of +art; yet he permitted himself to wonder that a private individual +should have such pictures, such tapestries, such furniture, such +porcelain, such armour, such metal work, such carpets, such painted +ceilings and heaven knows what besides. +</P> + +<P> +"It is pretty well for a subject," said Ferdinand the Twelfth. +</P> + +<P> +"His Grace of Dumbarton, sir," said I, "owns four other places in these +islands on a similar scale of magnificence; he owns a million and a +quarter acres, of which a portion is in great centres of industry, his +income is rather more than £500,000 a year, and he is accustomed in his +public utterances to describe himself as a member of a poor but +deserving class." +</P> + +<P> +Ferdinand the Twelfth pondered a moment with an amused yet wary smile. +</P> + +<P> +"If he lived in Illyria," he said, "I think his grace would have to be +content with less, eh, Schalk?" +</P> + +<P> +"It would not surprise me, sir," said the Chancellor, with an +expressive shrug. "I confess it does not appear economically sound for +a State to allow its private citizens to accumulate such quantities of +treasure. Whatever the measure of their public capacity I fail to see +how they can rise to their responsibilities." +</P> + +<P> +"But if," said I, "the State mulcts his grace of a farthing's-worth, it +is immediately denounced as a robber. Property is the most sacred +thing we know in this country." +</P> + +<P> +"His grace came by all this honestly, I hope?" said the King, with an +amused air. +</P> + +<P> +"He came by it under forms of law, certainly." +</P> + +<P> +"Which he himself did not make, I hope!" said the King, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir; his grandfather and the nominees of his grandfather and so on +managed that little business. Quite a constitutional proceeding, of +course." +</P> + +<P> +"I appreciate that," said Ferdinand the Twelfth, with his subtle smile. +"The British Constitution has long been the envy of nations. I suppose +our friend the Duke is a man of great public spirit who has rendered +signal service to the British Empire." +</P> + +<P> +"On the contrary, he prefers the pleasant obscurity of the English +gentleman." +</P> + +<P> +"His forbears, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"The late Duke was an imbecile; and I am afraid if anyone took the +trouble to search the records of the family since it came to this +country from Germany about the year 1700, there is only one episode +involving signal public spirit recorded in its archives." +</P> + +<P> +"A glorious victory, a Blenheim, a Waterloo, I presume?" said Ferdinand +the Twelfth. +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir; peace has her victories also. This distinguished family has +won the Derby Horse Race on two occasions." +</P> + +<P> +"A wonderful people, Schalk!" said the King, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +Her Royal Highness clapped her hands impulsively in the face of Mrs. +Arbuthnot. +</P> + +<P> +"There, Irene, what did I say!" she exclaimed. "Perrault!—wherever +you go in this little island you find Perrault. My father has now +found Perrault. Even Schalk has found him." +</P> + +<P> +"Sonia dear, you are too funny!" said Mrs. Arbuthnot, 'with a +plaintively childlike air of tacit condescension. +</P> + +<P> +The King informed his grace's steward, a gentleman with a bald head and +a very conventional aspect, who awaited us in the entrance hall to see +us safely off the premises, that he would like to write his name in the +visitors' book. Unaware of the identity of Ferdinand the Twelfth and +by no means approving of the general trend of our conversation, the +steward said with cold politeness that he feared the visitors' book was +only used by his grace's guests. +</P> + +<P> +The King took up a piece of red pencil that lay on a writing-table. +</P> + +<P> +"We will write on the wall," he said, blandly. +</P> + +<P> +The steward was shocked and scandalised, but no heed was paid to his +protests. The King wrote his name on the wall in bold and firm English +characters, immediately beneath Lely's portrait of the founder of the +family. +</P> + +<P> +This accomplished, the King gave the pencil to his daughter, who +inscribed her name also. She in turn gave it to the Chancellor, who +followed her example. He then gave the pencil to Mrs. Arbuthnot. +</P> + +<P> +That lady coloured with embarrassment, but at the King's express desire +she wrote her name too; and when it came to the turn of the +Conservative member for that part of the county he had no alternative +but to obey the royal command. +</P> + +<P> +Our names duly appeared on the wall in the following order: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +<I>Ferdinand Rex<BR> +Sonia<BR> +Von Schalk<BR> +Irene Arbuthnot<BR> +Nevil Fitzwaren<BR> +Odo Arbuthnot, M.P.</I><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Upon the completion of this act of vandalism, the Victor of Rodova +turned to the steward. +</P> + +<P> +"Haf the goodness to inform his grace," he said, "that the King of +Illyria accepts entire responsibility for the writing on the wall. It +is the writing on the wall for him and for his country." +</P> + +<P> +As we went towards the motor cars which awaited us at a side entrance, +we had to pass down a flight of stone steps. In the descent the King +was seized with a sudden and momentary faintness. He reeled, and had +it not been for the promptitude of the ever-watchful Chancellor he must +have fallen. +</P> + +<P> +"Dat is the writing on the wall for the people of Illyria," said the +Victor of Rodova with humorous stoicism as he recovered himself. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap29"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE CAST OF THE DIE +</H4> + +<P> +Upon the return to Dympsfield House, three telegrams in cypher were +waiting for the King. Two secretaries, who with divers other +unofficial members of his suite were staying at the Coach and Horses, +were in possession of the library, which had been placed at the royal +disposal. At dinner that evening we were informed that the Teutonic +display of red fire had provoked a grave internal crisis in Illyria. +The National Bank was about to suspend payment; Consolidated Stock was +at fifty-nine; and his Majesty must leave these shores in the course of +Saturday. +</P> + +<P> +I could not repress a sigh of relief, although, to be sure, this was no +more than the evening of Wednesday. +</P> + +<P> +"Old Vesuvius is beginning to rumble again," said the King, with a +laugh that sounded rather sinister, "but he cannot make us believe in +him. How say you, my child?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked across the table at the Princess, who was as pale as death. +</P> + +<P> +Here was the indication of the final and supreme crisis for her and for +her husband, and the hearts of those to whom she had come to mean much +were torn with pity. Elemental, uncontrollable forces had her in their +toils. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz, too, had all our pity. The strain of true grandeur at the heart +of the man, which all that was superficial could not efface, had +asserted itself in this season of anguish. A lesser nature might have +taken steps to relieve his wife of the torment of his presence. But in +the watches of the night he had referred the question, and now, come +what must, he would meet his fate. +</P> + +<P> +There was reason to believe that he had already thrown his weight in +the scale on the side of Ferdinand. He had stopped short of +self-immolation, it was true; he had placed another interpretation on +the Voice; but it seemed to me, his friend, that his whole bearing was +a piece of altruistic heroism which could have had few parallels. +</P> + +<P> +"Ferdinand is right," he said as we kept vigil in my quarters. "The +interests of a great people are of more account than a chap like me. I +know it, and Sonia knows it too." +</P> + +<P> +The words were torn from him. It was curious how this contained and +self-reliant spirit yearned for the sanction that it was in the power +of a sympathetic understanding to bestow. If he dealt himself a mortal +wound he must have a friend at his side. If he had superhuman +strength, at least he had human weakness. Men of valour are proud as a +rule. Fitz in the hour of his passion had a humility, a craving for +the countenance of his fellows that I could only do my best to render +in a humble way. The walk of mediocrity saves us from many things, but +I suppose there are seasons in the lives of some who wear its badge +when we would willingly forgo its comfortable consciousness of immunity +for some diviner gift. +</P> + +<P> +It was as though my unhappy friend was bleeding, perhaps to death, and +I knew not how to stanch his wound. +</P> + +<P> +Neither of us sought our beds that night, but sat and smoked hour after +hour, in silence for the most part, beside a dead fire. He wished me +to be near him, almost as a dumb animal yearns for those who show a +sympathetic understanding of its pain, even if they are powerless to +make it less. +</P> + +<P> +As thus we sat together my mind envisaged the chequered career of my +companion in all its phases. I recalled him in his first pair of +trousers at his private school; I recalled him as my fag in that larger +cosmogony in which afterwards we dwelt together. As his senior, in +those days I had unconsciously regarded him as less than myself. But +this night, as I sat with him, consumed with pity for the tragic wreck +of his fortunes, I realised that he was one whose life was passed on a +higher, more significant plane than mine could ever occupy. +</P> + +<P> +It was good to feel that I had nothing with which to reproach myself in +regard to my attitude towards him in those distant days. His fits of +depression, his outbursts of devilry, his dislike of games, the streak +of fatalism that was in him, his impatience of all authority, had +exposed him to many hardships. But I was glad to think that I need not +accuse myself of imperfect sympathy towards this fantastically odd, yet +high and enduring spirit. +</P> + +<P> +Thursday came and passed in gloom. Even Ferdinand, that heart of +steel, was feeling the poignancy of the crisis. Throughout the day +Sonia did not appear. But in the evening Irene sat with her in her +room. +</P> + +<P> +"If I were she," she declared to me later, with tearful defiance, "I +would not go back—that is, unless they accepted my husband as their +future king." +</P> + +<P> +"They cannot do that." +</P> + +<P> +"I think the King himself is so wrong. He hates Nevil, and he has not +the least affection for poor little Marie, his granddaughter. It is a +dreadful state of things." +</P> + +<P> +I concurred dismally. Yet it was a state of things arising so +naturally, so inevitably out of the special circumstances of the case +that it seemed almost to forfeit a little of its tragic significance. +</P> + +<P> +"If only she is strong enough to hold out until Saturday!" said my +feminine counsellor. "But I am rather afraid. She is quite weak in +some ways." +</P> + +<P> +"There is a weakness, isn't there, which is a higher form of strength?" +</P> + +<P> +"Can you mean that she will not be weak if she consents to return to +Illyria to marry the Archduke Joseph?" +</P> + +<P> +"She owes a duty to her people." +</P> + +<P> +"She owes a duty to her husband and child." +</P> + +<P> +Thursday ended as it began and Friday brought no solace. The Princess +reappeared among us in the afternoon. She was pale and composed, and +as the twilight of the January afternoon was gathering, she and Fitz +rode out together. The King, at the same hour, walked in the muddy +lanes with von Schalk. +</P> + +<P> +"They leave us to-morrow morning at eleven," Mrs. Arbuthnot informed +me, "and Sonia has not had her things packed. I believe the worst is +over. She would have told me had she decided to go." +</P> + +<P> +I was unable to share her optimism. From the first I had felt that the +stars in their courses would prove too much for the unhappy lady. And +nothing had occurred to remove that fear. +</P> + +<P> +The King returned from his walk, and suave and subtle of countenance, +it pleased him to toy with a cup of Mrs. Arbuthnot's tea, while he +toasted his muddy gaiters at the fire. +</P> + +<P> +"My daughter has not returned from her ride?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir," I answered him. +</P> + +<P> +"The last ride together," said the King, gently. "One of your +excellent English poets has a poem about it, has he not?" +</P> + +<P> +A thrill passed through my nerves at the almost cruel directness of the +King's speech. I saw that in the same moment the eyes of Mrs. +Arbuthnot had filled with tears. +</P> + +<P> +"You have great poets in England," said the King, softly. "They are +the chief glories of a nation, and your country is rich in them. We +have great poets in Illyria also. There is Bolder. We are all proud +to be the countrymen of Bolder. When you come to see us at Blaenau I +think you will like to meet him." +</P> + +<P> +As the King spoke in his paternal voice, I was conscious of his hand +upon the breast of my coat. He had pinned a piece of black ribbon upon +it, to which was attached a silver star. +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid, sir," I said, suffering some embarrassment, "no man ever +did less to deserve the Order of the Silver Star of Illyria." +</P> + +<P> +The King took my hand in his with that wonderful cordial simplicity +that was so hard to resist. +</P> + +<P> +"A friend in need is a friend indeed, Mr. Arbuthnot, as your English +saying has it. And, madame, when together we lead the cotillon at +Blaenau, I hope you will honour us by wearing this." +</P> + +<P> +The King laid a jewel of much beauty upon the tea-table. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, sir," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, smiling faintly through wet eyelashes. +</P> + +<P> +Standing before the fire, teacup in hand, the King talked to us quite +simply and pleasantly and sincerely. He was a man of great power of +mind and his outlook upon life was large and direct. +</P> + +<P> +"You have many ways in this country that I should like to see in ours," +he said. "But we in Illyria make haste slowly. The climate is not so +bracing. I am afraid we do not think so forcibly. And there is a +wider gulf between the rich and the poor." +</P> + +<P> +There was a note of regret in the King's tone. He seemed to be turning +his eyes to the future, and in the process his face grew tired and +melancholy. It was then that I realised that this man of infinite +vigour and power was said to be near the end of his course. +</P> + +<P> +At dinner we were enlivened by his gaiety. His charm was hard to +resist, so rich and full it was and so spontaneous. But my thoughts +strayed ever away from the King, his wisdom and his persiflage, to +those who were one flesh in the sight of God, who were dining together +for the last time. +</P> + +<P> +Their courage was a noble, even an amazing thing. The stoicism with +which they ate and drank and bore a part in the conversation while a +chasm had opened beneath their feet was almost incredible. Throughout +the perpetual oscillation from comedy to tragedy, from tragedy to +comedy, from comedy to tragedy again of their life together, they had +borne their parts with a heroic constancy, and even in this dark phase +they were equal to their task. +</P> + +<P> +The die was cast. On the morrow the Princess would return to her +people, marry the Archduke, and when the time came accept the throne. +It was part of the dreadful covenant the King had exacted that she +would never see Fitz and their child again. +</P> + +<P> +I passed a night of weary wretchedness. Do what I would, I could not +keep Fitz out of my thoughts. About three o'clock I rose and dressed +and put on my overcoat and walked out into the garden. Somehow I +expected to find him there. But there was not a trace of him, and +every window in the house was dark. A spirit of desolation seemed to +pervade everything—so dark and chill was the night. There was not a +star to be seen. +</P> + +<P> +I went back to my room, coaxed up the fire, seated myself beside it and +lit a pipe. Presently I heard a footfall on the stairs. It was Irene, +pale and weary with much weeping. Daylight found her asleep in my arms +with her head on my shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +The day of the King's departure had come at last. There was a general +scurry of preparation, but precisely at eleven o'clock a procession of +six motor cars started from our door for Middleham railway station, +whence a special train would proceed to Southampton. It was Sonia's +wish that Irene and I should accompany her to the train; and poor Fitz, +half stunned as he was, determined to play out the game to the end, and +with one of his odd outbursts of cynicism affirmed his sportsmanlike +intention of "being in at the death." +</P> + +<P> +The King, his daughter, the Chancellor, and Mrs. Arbuthnot were in the +second car, preceded by a special escort from Scotland Yard. Fitz and +I had the third to ourselves; the Secretaries were in the fourth; the +fifth and sixth conveyed the valets, her Royal Highness's maid, and a +considerable quantity of luggage. +</P> + +<P> +As the procession, at the modest rate of twelve miles an hour, came +into the pleasant village of Lymeswold, where our revered Vicar has his +cure of souls, there was a considerable amount of bunting displayed in +the vicinity of the Coach and Horses. And from the windows of the +Vicarage itself depended the Union Jack side by side with the silver +Star of Illyria on a green ground. Mrs. Vicar waved a white +pocket-handkerchief from the gate of the manse, but the Vicar was +bearing a chief part in a more dramatic tableau that had been arranged +on the village green. Here the village school was drawn up, the girls +in nice white pinafores and the boys looking almost painfully well +washed. Each had a small flag that was waved frantically, and the +Vicar standing at their head led a prodigious quantity of cheering, +while Ferdinand the Twelfth took off his hat and bowed. +</P> + +<P> +But all this was merely a prelude to the historic spectacle that we +came upon presently. At the top of the steep hill leading to the Marl +Pits, that favourite haunt of "the stinkin' Middleshire phocks," lo and +behold! all the Crackanthorpe horses, all the Crackanthorpe men, not to +mention their ladies, their hounds and the entire hunt establishment, +even unto Peter the terrier, were assembled in full array of battle, as +became the hour of eleven o'clock in the morning of a rare scenting day +in the middle of January. The cavalcade lined each side of the road, +and our motor cars passed through it on their lowest speed, to a +running accompaniment of cheers and hunting noises and a waving of hats +and handkerchiefs. +</P> + +<P> +Evidently the scene had been carefully stage-managed and formed a +handsome and appropriate <I>amende</I>. It did not fail of its appeal to +the broken-hearted circus rider from Vienna. She responded by kissing +her hand repeatedly, and her father lifted his hat and bowed +continually as though it were a state procession. +</P> + +<P> +The heart of Mrs. Arbuthnot was in pieces, but it was a great moment in +the history of the clan. The china-blue eyes were brimming over with +their tears, but they were still capable of radiating a subtle feminine +light of triumph. The noble Master blew a blast on his horn and his +aide-de-camp, Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther, marked the royal +progress by hoisting his hat on his whip. As we passed Mrs. Catesby, +who looked very red, the brims of whose hat looked wider and whose +whole appearance approximated more nearly than ever to that of Mr. +Weller the Elder, I bestowed a special salutation upon her, of, I fear, +somewhat ironical dimensions. The Great Lady responded by shaking her +whip at me in a decidedly truculent manner. +</P> + +<P> +Our procession passed on to Middleham railway station, which we reached +about a quarter to twelve. A considerable crowd had assembled about +its precincts. The roadway and the entrance to the station were +guarded by a body of mounted police, and a small detachment of the +Middleshire Yeomanry in the charge of no less a person than Major +George Catesby, who saluted us with his sword. +</P> + +<P> +On the platform we were received by a number of local dignitaries, and +foremost among these, tall and austere, but with the faint light of +humour in his countenance, was Lieutenant-Colonel John Chalmers +Coverdale, C.M.G., late of his Majesty's Carabineers. +</P> + +<P> +The King and his Chancellor took a brief but cordial leave of us and +stepped briskly into the royal saloon; and then I felt the pressure of +a woman's hand, and I heard a low, broken whisper, "Be good for my sake +to Nevil and little Marie." The Princess then took the hands of Mrs. +Arbuthnot in each of her own, kissed her wet cheeks, and was handed +into the train by the husband she had promised never to see in this +life again. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap30"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +REACTION +</H4> + +<P> +The week which followed the royal departure was a season of reaction at +Dympsfield House. The tension of our recent life had been well-nigh +unendurable. But now the die was cast, the problem solved; we could +live and move and enjoy our being according to our wont. +</P> + +<P> +To be sure the unhappy Fitz was still our anxiety. He and his small +daughter were still under our roof, and would so remain until the house +of his fathers had been rebuilt or until such time as he should choose +some other asylum for his shattered life. +</P> + +<P> +It is not too much to say that Fitz, with all his quiddity, had become +dear to us. The tragic wreck of his life had called forth all that +latent nobility which I at any rate, as his oldest friend, had always +known to be there. His submission to the fate which he had himself +invoked had seemed to soften the grosser elements that were in his +clay. He had now only his small elf of four to live for. In that +vivid atom of mortality were reproduced many of the characteristics of +the ill-starred "circus rider from Vienna." +</P> + +<P> +During the first few days a kind of stupor lay upon Fitz. He hardly +seemed able to realise what had happened. He went out hunting and +actively superintended the rebuilding of the Grange, almost as if +nothing had occurred to him. But, all too soon, this merciful veil was +withdrawn from his mind. He became consumed by restlessness. He could +not sleep nor eat his food; he could not settle to any sort of +occupation; nothing seemed able to engage his interest; his mind lost +its stability, and slowly but surely his will began to lose that +reawakened power that it had seemed to be the special function of his +marriage to sustain and promote. +</P> + +<P> +By the time the first week had passed we began to have forebodings. +Already signs were not wanting that the demons of a sinister +inheritance were silently marshalling themselves in order that they +might swoop down upon him. One afternoon I found him asleep on a sofa +drunk. +</P> + +<P> +As Coverdale was well acquainted with his temperament and all the most +salient facts in its history, and as, moreover, he was a man for whose +natural soundness of judgment I had the greatest respect, I was moved +to take him into my confidence. +</P> + +<P> +"He must get away from England," said Coverdale, "for a time at any +rate. And he must go soon." +</P> + +<P> +This was an opinion with which I agreed. It happened that Coverdale +knew a man who was about to start on a journey across Equatorial Africa +and who proposed to form a hunting camp and indulge in some big game +shooting by the way. Such a scheme appeared so eminently suited to +Fitz's immediate needs that I hailed it gladly. +</P> + +<P> +Alas! when I discussed this project with him he declined wholly to +entertain it; moreover he declined with all that odd decision which was +one of his chief characteristics. +</P> + +<P> +"No," he said. "I must stay here and see to the building of the house, +and I must look after Marie." +</P> + +<P> +It was in vain that I launched my arguments. The scheme did not appeal +to him and there, as far as he was concerned, was the end to the matter. +</P> + +<P> +"I must look after Marie," he said. "We are getting her to do sums. +Her mother could never do a sum to save her life." +</P> + +<P> +Argument was vain. Such a nature was incapable of accepting a +suggestion from an outside source; the mainspring of all its actions +lay within. +</P> + +<P> +The total failure of the attempt to get him to respond to so hopeful an +alternative vexed me sorely. At the time it seemed to promise the only +means of saving him from the danger which already had him in its toils. +He grew more and more restless; his distaste for food grew more +pronounced, and in an appallingly short time it became clear to us that +whatever there remained to be done for him must be done at once. +</P> + +<P> +We were helpless nevertheless. To anything in the nature of persuasion +he remained impervious. He could not be brought to see the nearness of +the danger. It was like him never to heed the question of cost. He +could never have ordered his life as he had done, had he not had the +quality of projecting the whole of himself into the actual hour. +</P> + +<P> +Those who had his welfare at heart were still taking counsel one of +another in respect of what could be done to help him through this new +crisis, when a mandate was received from Mrs. Catesby to dine at the +Hermitage. Fitz was included in it, but it did not surprise us that he +declined an invitation which less uncompromising persons were inclined +to regard in the light of a command. +</P> + +<P> +It was not that he bore malice. He was altogether beyond the pettiness +of the minor emotions; it was as though his entire being, for good or +for evil, had been raised to another dimension or a higher power. But +as he said with his haggard face, "I don't feel up to it." +</P> + +<P> +Lowlier mortals, more specifically Mrs. Arbuthnot and myself, accepted +humbly and contritely. We felt that a certain piquancy would invest +the gathering. Not that we knew exactly who had been bidden to attend +it, but Mrs. Arbuthnot's feminine instinct—and what is so impeccable +in such matters as these?—proclaimed this dinner party to be neither +more nor less than the public signature of the articles of peace. +</P> + +<P> +Accordingly we set out for the Hermitage, not however without a certain +travail of the spirit, for poor Fitz would be left to a lonely cutlet +which he would not eat. As a matter of fact, when we went forth he had +not returned from London, where he had spent most of the day in +consultation with his solicitors. +</P> + +<P> +There assembled at the Hermitage, at which we arrived in very good +time, nearly every identical member of the company we expected to meet. +Coverdale, Brasset, Jodey, who still enjoyed the hospitality of our +neighbour, the Vicar and his Lavinia, Laura Glendinning, Mrs. Josiah P. +Perkins. Also, as became one whose house provided a kind of <I>via +media</I> to that greater world of which the Castle was the embodiment, +Mrs. Catesby's dinner table was graced by a younger son and a +daughter-in-law of the ducal house. +</P> + +<P> +Good humour reigned. It might even be said to amount in the course of +the pleasant process of deglutition to a sort of friendly <I>badinage</I>. +An atmosphere of tolerance pervaded all things. If bygones were not +actually bygones, they were in a fair way of so becoming. At least +this particular section of the Crackanthorpe Hunt was on the high road +to being once again a happy and united family. +</P> + +<P> +The revelation of the "Stormy Petrel's" identity had had a magic +influence upon an immense aggregation of wounded feelings. It was now +felt pretty generally that all might be forgiven without any grave +sacrifice of personal dignity. It was conceded that great spirit had +been shown on both sides, but in the special and peculiar circumstances +a display of Christian magnanimity was called for. +</P> + +<P> +Irene was morally and wickedly wrong—the phrase is Mrs. Catesby's +own—in keeping the secret so well. Of course "the circus proprietor" +had deceived nobody: it was merely childish for Irene to suppose for +one single moment that he would; and for her to attempt "a score" of +that puerile character was positively infantile. But in the opinion of +the assembled jury of matrons, plus Miss Laura Glendinning specially +co-opted, it was felt very strongly that Irene had not quite played the +game. +</P> + +<P> +"Child," said the Great Lady, speaking <I>ex cathedra</I>, with a piece of +bread in one hand and a piece of turbot on a fork in the other, "when I +consider that I chose your husband's first governess, quite a refined +person, of the sound, rather old-fashioned evangelical school, I feel +that it was morally and wickedly wrong of you to withhold from me of +<I>all</I> people the identity of the dear Princess." +</P> + +<P> +"But Mary," said the light of my existence, toying demurely with her +sherry, "I didn't know who she was myself until nearly a week after the +fire." +</P> + +<P> +The Great Lady bolted her bread and laid down her fork with an +approximation to that which can only be described as majesty. +</P> + +<P> +"Would you have me believe," she demanded, "that when you took her to +your house on the night of the fire you really and sincerely believed +that she was merely the wife of Nevil?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Mary," said the joy of my days, "I really and sincerely believed +that she was the circus—I mean, that is, that she was just Mrs. Fitz." +</P> + +<P> +General incredulity, in the course of which George Catesby inquired +very politely of the Younger Son if he had enjoyed his day. +</P> + +<P> +"Never enjoyed a day so much," said the Younger Son, with immense +conviction, "since we turned up that old customer without a brush in +Dipwell Gorse five years ago to-morrow come eleven-fifteen g.m." +</P> + +<P> +"Eleven-twenty, my lad," chirruped the noble Master. "Your memory is +failin'." +</P> + +<P> +"Irene," said the uncompromising voice from the end of the table, "I +cannot and will not allow myself to believe that you were not in the +secret before the fire." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell it to the Marines, Irene," said Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins. +</P> + +<P> +"Wonder what she will ask us to believe next," said Miss Laura +Glendinning. +</P> + +<P> +"What indeed!" said the Vicar's wife. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't human nature," affirmed Lady Frederick. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, then," said the star of my destiny, with an ominous sparkle +of a china-blue eye, "you can ask Odo." +</P> + +<P> +"Odo!" I give up the attempt to reproduce the cataclysm of scorn which +overwhelmed the table. "Odo is quite as bad as you are, if not worse. +He knew from the first. He knew when the Illryian Ambassador came in +person to the Coach and Horses and fetched her in his car; he knew when +she chaffed dear Evelyn so delightfully that night at the Savoy." +</P> + +<P> +"What if he did?" said the undefeated Mrs. Arbuthnot. "He didn't tell +me. Did you now, Odo?" +</P> + +<P> +With statesmanlike mien I assured the company that Mrs. Fitz's identity +was not disclosed to our household despot until some days after her +arrival at Dympsfield House. +</P> + +<P> +"I am obliged to believe you, Odo," said Mrs. Catesby. "But mind I +only do so on principle." +</P> + +<P> +Somehow this cryptic statement seemed to minister to the mirth of the +table. It was increased when the Younger Son, who evidently had been +waiting his opportunity, came into the conversation. +</P> + +<P> +"Odo Arbuthnot, M.P.," said he, "I expect when Dick sees what you have +done to his wall he'll sue you. Anyhow I should." +</P> + +<P> +The approval which greeted this sally made it clear that the incident +had become historical. +</P> + +<P> +"By royal command," said I; "and what chance do you suppose has a mere +private member against the despotic will of the father of his people?" +</P> + +<P> +"A gross outrage. An act of vandalism. Postlewaite says——" +</P> + +<P> +"Postlewaite's an ass." +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever Postlewaite is, it don't excuse you. He says you were all +talking the rankest Socialism, and he was quite within his rights not +to give you the book." +</P> + +<P> +"I repeat, Frederick, that Postlewaite is an ass. If the Postlewaites +of the earth think for one moment that the Victors of Rodova will turn +the other cheek to the retort discourteous, the sooner they learn +otherwise the better it will be for them and those whom they serve." +</P> + +<P> +"Hear, hear, and cheers," said my gallant little friend, Mrs. Josiah P. +Perkins, in spite of the fact that the Great Lady had fixed her with +her invincible north eye. +</P> + +<P> +"Ferdinand Rex one doesn't mind so much," proceeded Frederick, "and the +Princess is all right of course, and von Schalk is a bit of a Bismarck, +they say; but when you come to foot the bill with Odo Arbuthnot, +M.P.—well, as Postlewaite says, it is nothing less than an act of +vandalism. The M.P. fairly cooked my goose, I must say." +</P> + +<P> +The M.P. was very bad form, everybody agreed, with the honourable and +gallant exception of <I>la belle Americaine</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Might be a labour member! I don't know what Dick'll say when he sees +it." +</P> + +<P> +"Two alternatives present themselves to my mind," said I, impenitently. +"Postlewaite can either clear off the whole thing before he returns, or +else append a magic 'C' in brackets after the offending symbols." +</P> + +<P> +"You ain't entitled to a 'C' in brackets. You grow a worse Radical +every day of your life and everybody is agreed that it is time you came +out in your true colours." +</P> + +<P> +"Hear, hear," from the table. +</P> + +<P> +"I've half a mind to oppose you myself at the next election as a +convinced Tariff Reformer, Anti-Socialist, Fair Play for Everybody, and +official representative of a poor but deserving class." +</P> + +<P> +"We shall all be glad to sign your nomination paper," affirmed George +Catesby. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Lord Frederick," said my intrepid Mrs. Josiah, "I will just bet +you a box of gloves anyway that you don't get in." +</P> + +<P> +"And I'll bet you another," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. +</P> + +<P> +"He's not such a fool as to try," said the noble Master. +</P> + +<P> +"Frederick," said the Great Lady, "stick to your muttons. You have +plenty to do to raise breed and quality. Why not try a cross between +the Welsh and the Southdown? At least I am convinced that in these +days the House of Commons offers no career for a gentleman." +</P> + +<P> +"I've a great mind to cut in and have a shot anyway," said the scion of +the ducal house, with a mild confusion of metaphor. "I don't see why +these Radical fellers——" +</P> + +<P> +Whatever the speech was in its integrity, it was destined never to be +completed. For at this precise moment the door was flung open in a +dramatic manner, and a haggard man, wearing an overcoat and carrying +his hat in his hand, broke in upon Mrs. Catesby's dinner party. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap31"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXXI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +NEWS FROM ILLYRIA +</H4> + +<P> +The man was Fitz. +</P> + +<P> +"A thousand apologies," he said. "So sorry to disturb you. But +there's news from Illyria." +</P> + +<P> +Such a very remarkable obtrusion enchained the attention of us all. +And this was not rendered less by the self-possession of the speaker's +manner. +</P> + +<P> +"Ferdinand has been assassinated." Fitz's tone was slow and contained. +"The Monarchy has been overthrown; Sonia is a close prisoner in the +Castle at Blaenau, and her fate hangs in the balance." +</P> + +<P> +"What is your authority?" said Coverdale. +</P> + +<P> +"Reuter," said Fitz. "A telegram is printed in the evening papers. I +happened to buy one at the book-stall as I left town." +</P> + +<P> +He produced the <I>Westminster Gazette</I> from the pocket of his overcoat +and handed it to the Chief Constable. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't suppose," said Coverdale, frowning heavily, "that they are +capable of personal violence towards the Princess?" +</P> + +<P> +"At bottom they are only half civilised," said Fitz, "and when their +passions are aroused they are capable of anything. You will see the +telegram says the government is in the hands of a committee of the +people. And no wise man ever trusts the people and never will." +</P> + +<P> +This feudal sentiment was uttered in a tone of the oddest conviction. +</P> + +<P> +"By Jove!" said the scion of the ducal house. "Here is the chap we are +looking for." +</P> + +<P> +But the intrusion of Fitz was too deadly serious for any side issue to +be allowed to distract our attention. +</P> + +<P> +"I apologise to you, Mrs. Catesby, for spoiling your dinner party like +this," he said, "but it is my firm conviction that if the Princess is +to be saved there is not a moment to lose." +</P> + +<P> +"One is inclined to agree with you," said Coverdale, slowly and +thoughtfully. "Has it occurred to you that anything can be done?" +</P> + +<P> +Fitz's reply, given quietly enough, was characteristic of the man. +</P> + +<P> +"To-day is Monday," he said. "By midnight on Thursday we shall have +her out of Blaenau." +</P> + +<P> +"Impossible, my dear fellow, impossible," said the Chief Constable, "if +this account is correct." +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing is impossible," said the Man of Destiny. "There is just time +now to catch the ten o'clock to-night from Middleham. First thing +to-morrow morning we will get our papers if we can, and if we can't +we'll go without them. We shall be in Paris some time in the +afternoon; and if all goes well by Wednesday evening we shall be in +Vienna. By five o'clock on Thursday we ought to be at Orgov on the +Milesian frontier, and six hours' easy riding over the mountains with a +couple of baits will land us at Blaenau." +</P> + +<P> +We who knew Fitz and had followed him in high affairs knew better than +to venture upon criticism of this bald and unconvincing scheme. Those +who did not know him could only smile incredulously. +</P> + +<P> +"Sounds easy," said Lord Frederick, "but assuming, Fitzwaren, that you +get to Blaenau like that, what can it profit you if the Princess is in +the Castle under lock and key?" +</P> + +<P> +"Stone walls do not a prison make nor iron bars a cage," quoted the Man +of Destiny. "Once we get to Blaenau we shall have her out of the +Castle, never fear about that. But there is no time to discuss the +matter now. If we go at once and collect our gear—so sorry, Mrs. +Catesby, but absolutely unavoidable—we can be in town by +twelve-fifteen, arrange about our papers and keep well in front of the +clock." +</P> + +<P> +The man's calm assumption that we should all unhesitatingly follow his +lead and commit ourselves to this rather mad and certainly most +uncomfortable enterprise was remarkable. +</P> + +<P> +"There is not a minute to lose," he said. "By the way, Arbuthnot, I've +told Peters to pack a kit-bag for you. And this time, old son, you had +better see that you don't forget your revolver." +</P> + +<P> +Under the goad of the Chief Constable's uneasy eye I was fain to gaze +at the black silk handkerchief, which still bore my wrist. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid I'm a lame duck anyway," I said. +</P> + +<P> +"You will do to hold the horses at the foot of the Castle rock. +Climbing up the face of that cliff will be out of the question as far +as you are concerned. Now then, you fellows," the Man of Destiny took +out his watch, "you have just two minutes to finish your port and get +your cigars alight and then it's boot and saddle." +</P> + +<P> +"Nevil," said the imperious voice of the Great Lady, "I am really +afraid you are mad." +</P> + +<P> +The Man of Destiny did not deign to heed this irrelevant suggestion. +</P> + +<P> +The exigencies of historical truth render it necessary to record the +fact that Joseph Jocelyn de Vere Vane-Anstruther was undoubtedly the +first respondent to the call. My relation by marriage drank his port +wine and rose in his place at Mrs. Catesby's board. There was a fire +in his eye and the suspicion of a hectic flush upon his countenance +which seemed to contrast strangely with the habitual languor of his +bearing. +</P> + +<P> +"First thing we must do is to send a wire to old Alec," he said; +"although he is certain not to be in if we send it. If we get to town +by twelve-fifteen I will trot round to the Continental. The beggar is +sure to be there until they kick him out, as there is a ball to-night +at Covent Garden." +</P> + +<P> +This reasoning may have been lucid and it may have been pregnant; at +least it recommended itself to the comprehensive intellect of the Man +of Destiny. +</P> + +<P> +"Quite right, Vane-Anstruther. I shall hold you responsible for +O'Mulligan." +</P> + +<P> +"Joseph," said the Great Lady upon a stentorian note, "are you mad +also?" +</P> + +<P> +Hardly had this pertinent inquiry been advanced when the noble Master +was on his legs. +</P> + +<P> +"So awfully sorry, Mrs. Catesby," he said with a long-drawn sweetness +of apology, "but it can't be helped in the circumstances, can it? I +leave hounds in the care of George and Frederick. Keep Potts up to his +work, George, and see that he pays proper attention to their feet. And +Frederick, I charge you to make it your business to see that Madrigal +has a ball every Friday." +</P> + +<P> +"Reginald," said his hostess with great energy, "in the unavoidable +absence of your widowed and unfortunate mother I absolutely forbid you +to bear a part in this hare-brained enterprise. I really don't know +what Nevil can be thinking of." +</P> + +<P> +In Ascalon whisper it not, but this was the precise moment in which I +found the cynical eye of the Chief Constable upon me for the second +time. The eye was also wary and a little pensive, but the great man +rose in his place with an air of profound rumination. He slowly +cracked a walnut and then turned to the butler, with a coolness which +to my mind had a suspicion of the uncanny. +</P> + +<P> +"Just tell my chap to have my car round at once," he said; and then +with great deference to his hostess, "a thousand apologies, Mrs. +Catesby, but you do see, don't you, that it can't be helped?" +</P> + +<P> +Whether I rose to my feet by an act of private volition or at the +subconscious beck of another's compelling power, there is no need to +attempt to determine. But somehow I found myself upon my legs and +adding my own imperfect apologies to the equally imperfect ones of the +Chief Constable. +</P> + +<P> +"Odo Arbuthnot," said my hostess, "sit down at once. A married man, a +father of a family, and a county member! Sit down at once and get on +with your fruit. Colonel Coverdale! I am surprised at you." +</P> + +<P> +"Finished your port, Arbuthnot?" said Fitz, calmly. "Time's about up. +But I've told your chap about the car." +</P> + +<P> +Consternation mingled now with the lively feminine bewilderment, but +Mrs. Arbuthnot, whom Fitz's news had excited and distressed, issued no +personal edict. If the life of Sonia was really at stake it was right +to take a risk. Nevertheless it showed a right feeling about things to +betray a little public perturbation at the prospect of being made a +widow. +</P> + +<P> +"Jodey and Reggie and Colonel Coverdale must go," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. +"They haven't wives and families dependent upon them. But you, Odo, +are different. And then, too, your wrist. You would be of no use if +you went." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall do to hold the horses at the foot of the Castle rock," said I, +saluting a white cheek. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz was already withdrawing from the room with his volunteers when +Lord Frederick rose in his place at the board. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, Fitzwaren," he said. "If you have a vacancy in your +irregulars I rather think I'll make one." +</P> + +<P> +"By all means," said Fitz. "The more the merrier." +</P> + +<P> +Bewilderment and consternation mounted ever higher around Mrs. +Catesby's mahogany. +</P> + +<P> +"Freddie! Freddie!" There arose a tearful wail from across the table. +</P> + +<P> +"You ought to be bled for the simples, Frederick," said his hostess. +</P> + +<P> +However, even as the Great Lady spoke, honest George, most +conscientious of husbands, and notwithstanding his rank in the +Middleshire Yeomanry, the most peace-loving of men, was understood to +make an offer of active service. +</P> + +<P> +"Well done, George," said his friend the Vicar. "I shouldn't mind +coming as the chaplain to the force myself." +</P> + +<P> +"George," said an imperious voice from the table head, "George!" +</P> + +<P> +The Man of Destiny halted a moment on the threshold of the banquet hall +with the frank eye of cynicism fixed midway between the Great Lady and +the warlike George. +</P> + +<P> +"George! Sit down!" +</P> + +<P> +Finally George sat down with a covert glance at his friend the Vicar. +</P> + +<P> +By the time we had got into our overcoats and mufflers and the means of +travel had been provided for us, a scene with some pretensions to +pathos had been enacted in the hall. +</P> + +<P> +"Odo, you really ought not, but if dear Sonia really is in danger——!" +</P> + +<P> +"We shall all be back a week to-night," the Man of Destiny informed my +somewhat tearful monitor with a note of assurance in his voice. +</P> + +<P> +Moving objurgations of "Freddie! Freddie!" were mingled with the +clarion note of Mrs. Catesby's indignation. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a mad scheme, and if you get your deserts you will all be shot +by the Illyrians." +</P> + +<P> +But Fitz and I were already seated side by side in the car. We waved a +farewell to the bewildered company upon the hall steps, and then the +fact seemed slowly to be borne in upon my numbed intelligence that yet +again I was irrevocably committed to this latest and maddest call of my +evil genius. There he sat by my side, his cigar a small red disc of +fire, and he self-possessed, insouciant, dæmonic, almost gay. +</P> + +<P> +The flaccid, rudderless creature of the past ten days was gone as +though he had never been. It was hard to realise that this born leader +of others, who courted war like a mistress, the magic of whose +initiative the coolest and sanest could not resist, was the self-same +broken fragment of human wreckage who twenty-four hours ago had not the +motive power to perform the simplest action. But there could be no +question of the magic he knew how to exert over the most diverse +natures; and as we sat side by side in the semi-darkness of the car +while it flew along the muddy, winding and narrow roads to Dympsfield +House, I yielded almost with a thrill of exultation to the director of +my fate. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap32"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXXII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +MORE ALARUMS AND EXCURSIONS +</H4> + +<P> +We had no difficulty in reaching Middleham railway station, that +familiar rendezvous, at the appointed time. Even Lord Frederick, who +lived farther afield than any of us, was able, by putting a powerful +car to an illegal use, to arrive on the stroke of the hour. +</P> + +<P> +It was to be remarked that the prevailing tone in our coupe was one +which almost amounted to gaiety. Judged by the cold agnostic eye, the +scheme was only a little this side of madness. But it had the sanction +of a high motive. Further, we were brothers in arms who had smelt +powder together upon a more dubious enterprise; we had faith in one +another; and above all we were sustained, one might even say +translated, by the epic quality of an incomparable leader. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz smoked his cigar and cut in at a rubber of bridge with an air of +indulgent and serene content. +</P> + +<P> +"It is lucky," he said, "that I know an old innkeeper on the frontier +who will be rather useful if we have to go without passports. He is +about a mile on the Milesian side, and will be able to provide us with +horses and smuggle us across in the darkness. He will also find for us +a couple of guides over the mountains." +</P> + +<P> +"You say we can get from the frontier to the Castle at Blaenau in six +hours?" inquired the gruff voice of the Chief Constable. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, unless there is a lot of snow in the passes." +</P> + +<P> +"But if the country is in a state of revolution, aren't we likely to be +held up?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps; perhaps not. We shall find a way if we have to take an +airship. Eh, Joe?" +</P> + +<P> +The Man of Destiny gave my relation by marriage a fraternal punch in +the ribs. +</P> + +<P> +"Ra-<I>ther</I>!" That hero was in the act of cutting an ace and winning +the deal. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall arrange," said Fitz, "for a change of horses at Postovik, +which is about half way. If all goes well we shall be at the foot of +the Castle rock a little before midnight on Thursday. I am thinking, +though, that we may have to swim the Maravina." +</P> + +<P> +"Umph!" growled the Chief Constable, declaring an original spade, "a +moderately cheerful prospect on a January night in Illyria." +</P> + +<P> +"It may not come to that, of course. But all the bridges and ferries +are sure to be guarded. And even if they are, with a bit of luck we +may be able to rush them." +</P> + +<P> +As our leader began to evolve his plan of campaign it could not be said +to forfeit any of its romance. But I think it would be neither fair +nor gracious to Mr. Nevil Fitzwaren's corps of irregulars to say that +this spice of adventure made less its glamour. We could all claim some +little experience of war and that mimic sphere of action "that provides +the image of war without its guilt, and only thirty per cent. of its +dangers." Some of us had taken cover upon the veldt and others had +crossed the Blakiston after a week's rain; and we all felt as we sped +towards the metropolis at the rate of sixty miles an hour, and at the +same time endeavoured to restrain the cards from slipping on to the +floor, that whatever Fate, that capricious mistress, had in store for +us, our hazard was for as high a stake as any set of gamesters need +wish to play. +</P> + +<P> +Punctual to the minute, we came into the London terminus. As on the +occasion of that former adventure, we posted off to Long's quiet family +hotel, with the exception of Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther, +who confided his kit-bag to the care of his man Kelly, and adjured him +to see that a decent room was found for him, while he went "to rout out +Alec at the Continental before they fired the beggar out." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell him we leave Charing Cross at ten-forty in the morning," said +Fitz. "That will give me time to see what can be done in the way of +papers, although as far as Illyria is concerned, diplomatic relations +are pretty sure to have been suspended." +</P> + +<P> +Driving again to Long's Hotel, I was regaled with the remembrance of +our former journey; of the incident of the cab which followed us +through the November slush; of the weird sequel; of that long night of +alarums and excursions, which yet was no more than a prelude to a +chaotic vista of events. +</P> + +<P> +I recalled the drive from Ward's with Coverdale; the slow-drawn +tragi-comedy of suspense; the waiting-room at the Embassy, the plunge +up the stairs, the charming player of Schumann, the presentation to her +Royal Highness. I recalled the passages with the Ambassador and their +terrible issue; the drive with the Princess to the Savoy; the episode +of the pink satin at which I could now afford to laugh. Again I +recalled our <I>bizarre</I> visit to Bryanston Square; our reception by my +Uncle Theodore, his "Fear nothing" and his still more curious prevision +of that which was to come to pass. I recalled our dash for this same +Grand Central railway station and the merciful shattering of our hopes +midway. I recalled the Scotland Yard inspector with the light +moustache, the hand of the Princess guiding me through the traffic, the +cool-fingered doctor, the bowl of crimson water at which I did not care +to look. Finally, in this panoramic jumble of wild occurrences, the +memory of which I should carry to the grave, I recalled that noble, +complex, misguided emblem of our species, the Victor of Rodova, the +clear-sighted, subtle yet great-hearted hero of an epoch in the destiny +of nations; the father of his people, whom his children had slain even +while the hand of death was already upon him. +</P> + +<P> +I pictured him lying riddled with bullets on the steps of his palace at +Blaenau, riddled with the bullets he had so often despised. Even from +the brief account in the evening papers it was clear that the end of +the Victor of Rodova had been heroic. +</P> + +<P> +The smouldering volcano had burst into flame at last. A tax-gatherer +had been slain in an outlying district. At the signal, a whole +province, at the back of one half-patriot, half-brigand, rose up, +marched armed to the Capital, and called upon the King at his palace to +grant a charter to the people. The King met them alone, as was his +custom, on the steps of his palace, and having listened with kindness +and patience to their demands, made the reply "that he would take steps +to procure the charter for his people if the peccant son who had slain +a faithful servant treacherously was rendered to justice." +</P> + +<P> +Whether the King deliberately misread the temper of his subjects, or +whether he overestimated the personal power it was his custom to exert, +was hard to determine, but in this reply which was so strangely +deficient in that high political wisdom in which no man of his age +excelled him, lay his doom. The leader of the armed mob, who himself +had slain the tax-gatherer, laughed in the King's, face, and +immediately riddled him with bullets. And as the King fell, the +burghers of Blaenau poured in at the gates, the soldiers revolted +because their wages were over-due, possession was taken of the Castle; +and the long-deferred republic was proclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"And where were the aristocracy and the supporters of the monarchy +while all this was happening?" I asked, as we sat in the lounge at the +hotel having a final drink before turning in. +</P> + +<P> +"Reading between the lines of the dispatch," said Fitz, "I should be +inclined to say that they had conspired to throw Ferdinand over at the +last and to let in the people. I can reconcile the facts on no other +hypothesis." +</P> + +<P> +"Why should they?" +</P> + +<P> +"The aristocracy have always been jealous of his power. He has walked +too much alone." +</P> + +<P> +"It is hard to believe that they would yield up their country to mob +law." +</P> + +<P> +"They have their own safety to consider. A small and exclusive class, +not accustomed to move very actively in public affairs, they have +little control of events. And the army having joined with the people, +their only hope is to sit on the fence and try to hold what they have." +</P> + +<P> +"You are convinced of the Princess's danger?" +</P> + +<P> +"There is no question of that. Having decided to make an end of their +rulers, the French Revolution is quite likely to be enacted over again. +They are a semi-barbarous people, and few will deny that they have +suffered." +</P> + +<P> +On the morrow Fitz was early abroad. The morning papers brought +confirmation of the news from Illyria. The King was dead; the Crown +Princess was a close prisoner at Blaenau in the hands of the +insurgents; the Chancellor and other ministers had fled the country; a +number of regiments had massacred their officers; and it was expected +that a Committee of the People would take over the government. +</P> + +<P> +At Charing Cross we found Alexander O'Mulligan already waiting for us. +He was in the pink of health and his grin was extraordinarily +expansive. Fitz arrived with the necessary tickets for the whole +party, but had only been able to procure passports as far as the +frontier. But, as he explained, this need not trouble us, as we should +leave the train before we came there and make our way over the +mountains in the darkness. +</P> + +<P> +As our train wound its way through suburbia we began more clearly to +realise the promise of a crowded and glorious week. The motive was +adequate; and although the Chief Constable and myself had a sense of +the profound rashness of the scheme, we shared the common faith in Fitz. +</P> + +<P> +Our route was by way of Paris. It was more direct to go from +Southampton, but there was very little difference in the point of +actual time. +</P> + +<P> +When we reached Paris, soon after five that afternoon, we learned that +in spite of the representations of the Powers, the fate of the Princess +still hung in the balance. We stayed only an hour and then took train +again. +</P> + +<P> +All night we travelled and all through the next day; and then, as Fitz +had predicted, shortly after five o'clock in the evening of Thursday we +had come to the township of Orgov, a mile from the Illyrian frontier on +the borders of Milesia. Here we found a shrewd old peasant who had +acted as the friend of Fitz on a former occasion, and with whom he had +already communicated by telegraph. The old fellow shook his head over +the state of affairs in the neighbouring kingdom, but provided us with +a couple of trustworthy guides through the mountains and seven +tolerable horses, one apiece for each member of our party. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz affirmed his intention of getting to Blaenau in six hours. The +innkeeper, however, declared frankly that this was impossible. The +winter had been severe; heavy drifts of snow lay in the passes, and in +its present state the country itself was full of danger. Indeed, our +friend the innkeeper was fain to declare that, unless God was very kind +to us, we should never get to Blaenau at all. +</P> + +<P> +However, we were a party of nine, stout fellows, well armed and +tolerably mounted. And when we started from Orgov a little after six +in the evening, I do not think the sense of peril oppressed us much. +Our mission was of the highest; each of us had faith in himself and in +his comrades. We were a small but mobile force in fairly hard +condition; and I think it may be claimed for each member of it that he +had a natural love of adventure. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap33"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXXIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IN THE BALANCE +</H4> + +<P> +The air was shrewd as we set out from Orgov. We took a narrow, winding +bridle-path, uncomfortably steep in places, in order to avoid the +frontier town of Boruna, wherein trouble might lurk. The stars were +out already, with Mars straight before us wonderfully large and red as +we rode due east. There was an exhilaration in the atmosphere that was +like wine in the veins; and presently we caught the tail of an icy +blast that made us glad to wrap our cloaks around us. +</P> + +<P> +An impartial view of such an enterprise rendered it clear that the odds +were greatly in favour of a total failure. How could six men and a +cripple hope to penetrate into the heart of a closely guarded fortress? +And assuming that we got in, by what means did we expect to make our +way out again! In all conscience the scheme was wild enough, but this +was not the hour in which to lay stress upon that fact. +</P> + +<P> +There can be no doubt that the qualities of our leader were a great aid +to his corps. Undaunted courage, invincible optimism were his in +amplest measure; and this attitude of mind could not fail to react upon +his comrades in arms. Moreover, in the most singular degree he +appeared to combine with the audacity of genius, a head for detail and +a shrewd practical wisdom, which very seldom embellish the characters +of those who depend primarily upon the faculty of inspiration. +</P> + +<P> +As mile by mile we traversed these snow-laden Illyrian mountains, the +possibility of anything less than complete success found no place in +his thoughts. "Nothing is impossible" was his motto, and this he +realised with plenary conviction. His twin soul was calling him to the +Castle of Blaenau, and not for an instant did he doubt his ability to +obey the summons. +</P> + +<P> +It was our plan to avoid as far as possible all centres of population. +Our guides being men of experience, familiar with all the by-paths and +bridle-roads, we were able to do this, and even to save time in the +process. But as the innkeeper had insisted, Fitz's optimism had misled +him when he expected to reach the Illyrian capital in six hours. +</P> + +<P> +When we took our first bait, at an inn above the sinister waters of the +Lake of Montardo, it was nearly nine o'clock. Coffee and cakes were +very acceptable; indeed I have seldom tasted anything so delicious. +But in spite of our diligence and a fair measure of luck, we had come +rather less than twenty miles of the journey. Our horses were good for +another twelve miles through the formidable pass of Ryhgo, where in the +middle of winter the mountain streams are generally in spate. +</P> + +<P> +We went on after a halt of a quarter of an hour. As yet we had seen +few signs of the revolution. But at the inn above Montardo ugly +rumours were rife. The people and the army were said to have turned +against the aristocracy; they were butchering them by the score, and +the Crown Princess was declared to be dead. +</P> + +<P> +That our mission was being made in vain Fitz declined to believe. The +man's courage had never seemed so remarkable as when confronted with +this news. +</P> + +<P> +"If she were already dead," he said, simply, "I should have had +information. I shall not believe it until I hold her corpse in my +arms." +</P> + +<P> +Through the pass of Ryhgo, overshadowed as it is by the gaunt Illyrian +mountains, the narrow path wound along the very edge of a precipice. +Below were the waters of the Lake of Montardo, which as we rode above +it reflected a baleful grandeur to the stars. The wind was very +piercing now and drove sheer in our faces; not a little did it add to +the dangers of our progress through the pass. The horses had only to +make a false step and their riders would be hurled a thousand feet into +those terrible black waters gleaming below. +</P> + +<P> +Before we had overcome this most precarious stage of our journey, the +clouds were beaten up rapidly by the wind, and to add to our peril and +discomfort it came on to snow. It was, therefore, a great relief when +at last we came to an inn at a hamlet with an unpronounceable name +which marked the end of the pass. It was then eleven o'clock and we +had come little more than half the way. +</P> + +<P> +Here we found a friend awaiting us. He was an Illyrian acquaintance of +Fitz's, and he had arranged the details of our mountain journey. A +member of a noble family, he was familiar with the court life at +Blaenau, and had borne the part of a friend in the previous episode +which had culminated in the elopement of the Crown Princess. +</P> + +<P> +He was an agreeable fellow, quite cosmopolitan, and had no difficulty +in making himself understood in French, in which tongue he enjoyed a +greater felicity than any of us. He answered to the name of John, +although his full title, which was very long and hard to pronounce, I +have forgotten. He, too, had heard the common report that the Princess +was dead, but chose to express no opinion in regard to the truth of it. +</P> + +<P> +When Fitz outlined his project, he expressed a mild astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"But how," said he, "will you cross the Maravina?" +</P> + +<P> +"You don't suppose," said Fitz, "that we have come as far as this to be +deterred by the crossing of the Maravina?" +</P> + +<P> +"All the bridges are closely guarded by the Republicans. The ferries +also." +</P> + +<P> +"We can swim the Maravina, at a pinch." +</P> + +<P> +"You English can do most things," said John, "but don't attempt to swim +the Maravina in the middle of January is my advice." +</P> + +<P> +John's view drew a growl of deep bass approval from no less a person +than the Chief Constable of Middleshire. +</P> + +<P> +"We shall do what we can," said the Man of Destiny, with excellent +indifference. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but we damn well needn't do what we can't," said the Chief +Constable <I>sotto voce</I>, yet meaning no disrespect to his native tongue. +</P> + +<P> +I must confess to an involuntary shudder, as, at the instance of a +too-active imagination, the waters of the Maravina pierced a pair of +leathers "by a local artist of the name of Jobson." They seemed +miserably damp already. And if anything feels more miserable than a +pair of leathers when they are damp, I pray to be spared the knowledge. +</P> + +<P> +High as our mission was, the flesh was loth to quit the warm stove at +the hostelry of "The Hanging Cross" for those terrible purlieus that +wound through the heart of the wild Illyrian mountains. But at least +we could congratulate ourselves that the pass of Ryhgo was at an end, +and that the black waters of Lake Montardo no longer lay in wait for +the hapless traveller a thousand feet below. Also the snow had ceased, +the wind had fallen, Mars and his brethren were looking again upon us, +and there was a faint suspicion of a crescent moon. +</P> + +<P> +Our weary beasts had been exchanged for a fresh relay at the hostelry +of "The Hanging Cross." In addition to a reinforcement in the shape of +John, a led horse with a side saddle accompanied us for the use of the +Princess. With fairer conditions and a path less perilous to traverse, +we began to improve considerably upon our previous rate of progression. +Then the road began again to grow difficult, but happily the sky kept +clear. +</P> + +<P> +During the later stages of the journey we passed through several +hamlets and small towns. To judge by the lights in the windows of the +houses and the demeanour of little groups of people in the streets, a +general spirit of uneasiness was abroad. Men clad in the picturesque +skin caps which are so typical of the country were to be seen carrying +formidable-looking guns; and although such a cavalcade excited their +curiosity they allowed it to pass. +</P> + +<P> +We had no adventures worthy of the name. In one of the mountain +valleys a deep crevasse was concealed by a drift of snow, and we owed +it to the vigilance of our guides that we were not its victims. The +wind was still very piercing, but acting upon Fitz's advice before we +started, we had all taken the precaution to be well clad. +</P> + +<P> +Our progress was really better than we realised. A sudden turn in the +road revealed a very broad and rapid torrent. It was the Maravina; and +there upon the farther bank was the bluff upstanding rock crowned with +the majestic Castle of Blaenau. Nestling close about it was a dark +huddle of houses and gaunt church spires of the capital city of Illyria. +</P> + +<P> +"There you are," cried John, with a wave of the hand. "Now, my +friends, are you tempted to swim across?" +</P> + +<P> +"I daresay we shall find a bridge," said Fitz, nonchalantly enough. +</P> + +<P> +"They are all bound to be guarded by the enemy." +</P> + +<P> +"May be," said the Man of Destiny imperturbably. +</P> + +<P> +Away to the right, at the distance of a mile, was one of the smaller +bridges into the city. It was a rickety, wooden structure, guarded by +a gate with a turret, which had a quaintly mediaeval aspect. In front +of the gate a bright coke fire was burning in a bucket, and sprawling +around it in attitudes which suggested varying phases of somnolence +were a number of men in uniform. +</P> + +<P> +A shaggy, fierce-looking, finely-grown fellow rose to his feet and +challenged us. Fitz replied promptly in his suavest and best Illyrian. +Not a word of the conversation that ensued was intelligible to me, but +it was punctuated by the approving laughter of John and the guides, and +was conducted on both sides with the highest good-humour. +</P> + +<P> +Its conclusion at any rate was in keeping with this surmise. Fitz was +seen to slip a piece of gold into a furtive palm; the password was +whispered to him; and the gate was opened just far enough for each of +us to pass through one at a time. +</P> + +<P> +"If there is a more corrupt rogue than an Illyrian corporal of +infantry," said John, "on the face of this fair earth, I am glad to say +I have met him not." +</P> + +<P> +"Evil practices breed an evil state," said the sententious Fitz. "If +chaps have to whistle for their wages what can you expect?" +</P> + +<P> +"Let us hope the custodians of the Castle will prove as susceptible," I +observed, piously. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, there you have another sort of bird!" said Fitz. +</P> + +<P> +There was a second gate on the city side of the bridge. This also was +guarded by the soldiery, but the password given boldly got us through +without a question. There were tall spikes set in a row on the top of +the heavy and unwieldy gate. They were adorned with a row of human +heads. +</P> + +<P> +To me, I confess, these grisly mementoes brought a shudder. +</P> + +<P> +"They appear to do things pleasantly at Blaenau," said Frederick. +</P> + +<P> +"They can go one better than that, my son," said Fitz, "if they get the +chance. I should advise each of you, in the case of emergency, to +leave just one cartridge in his revolver." +</P> + +<P> +To a married man, a father of a family, and a county member, with his +left arm in a black silk handkerchief, who did not feel particularly +secure in the saddle as he rode knee to knee across the bridge with his +misguided friend the Chief Constable of Middleshire, the icy wind which +saluted him from the mighty torrent swirling beneath, blew distinctly +"thin." Somewhat bitterly he began to deplore that decree of fate +which had bereft him of the use of a hand. +</P> + +<P> +Through narrow, close-built streets, whose odours were decidedly +unpleasant, we passed unmolested until we came into the shadow of the +Castle rock. In the faint light of the stars it towered a sheer and +beetling pile. +</P> + +<P> +Dismounting, we tied the horses to a fence. Fitz took a dark lantern +from his saddle; and among a miscellaneous collection of articles with +which he had the forethought to provide himself, was a coil of rope. +This it seemed was capable of adjustment into the form of a ladder; and +our leader affirmed his intention of being the first man up the Castle +wall. He proposed to affix this contrivance to the coping at the top +in order that the others might climb up as easily and as expeditiously +as possible. +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing for it save to resign myself to stay with the two +guides in the charge of the horses. It would have been a physical +impossibility for a man bereft of the use of an arm to climb that sheer +precipice. +</P> + +<P> +Fitz's parting words of advice to me were characteristic. +</P> + +<P> +"If," said he, "a sentry should come along, and want to know your +business—I don't suppose he will, because they don't appear to have +mounted a picket—knock out his brains at once, and make one of the +guides put on his uniform and shoulder his gun and march up and down. +So long, old son." +</P> + +<P> +The Man of Destiny was gone, perhaps for ever. As each of my comrades +in arms climbed over the low fence in his wake I wished him good luck. +It seemed hardly a fighting chance that we should ever look on one +another again. +</P> + +<P> +They had left their cloaks behind, and these, together with my own, +were thrown over the horses which had carried us so well. Tobacco is a +great solace in seasons of tension, but the long-drawn suspense to +which I had to submit soon became intolerable. +</P> + +<P> +To a lover of the <I>aurea mediocritas</I>, a twentieth-century British +paterfamilias confirmed in the comfortable security of a civil life, +such a predicament was absurd. It was painful indeed to march hour +after hour up and down the broken ground at the foot of the Castle +rock. A pipe was in my teeth, otherwise I was signally exposed to the +rigours of a long January night in Illyria. A bloody end was my +perpetual contemplation. And I hardly dared to think what lay in store +for my comrades, the faint hope of whose return it was my bounden duty +to await. +</P> + +<P> +There were moments in this season of poignant misery when I felt myself +to be growing absolutely desperate. Why be ashamed to make the +confession? The sensation of impotence was truly terrible. As the +time passed and not a sound was to be heard, God alone knew what was +being transacted in that frowning eyrie under the cover of the night. +</P> + +<P> +Like most of those who have the unlucky leaven of imagination in their +clay, my instinctive optimism is often on its trial. While I marched +up and down in the darkness, trying vainly to keep warm, waiting for +that tardy dawn in which death lurked for us all, I would have laid +long odds that the doom of the Princess was sealed already and that my +comrades in arms would share it. +</P> + +<P> +A man should strive in some sort to figure as a hero when he comes to +the purple patches in his own history. But if a profuse fear of the +immediate future in combination with a lively horror of the present are +compatible with that degree, so be it. Throughout those hours of +inaction I suffered the torments of the damned. +</P> + +<P> +Again and again I strained nervously to catch a footfall, and each time +I did so Fitz's sinister injunction was in my ears. I recognised its +wisdom, but what a counsel for a respectable law-abiding Englishman! +Conceive the husband of Mrs. Arbuthnot, the father of Miss Lucinda, the +sensitive product of a settled state of society, lying in wait to knock +out the brains of a fellow creature on hardly any pretext at all! +</P> + +<P> +Prudence is not without a tenderness for those who court her; at least +a liberal supply of tobacco was in my pouch. In a state of sheer +desperation I smoked away the intolerable hours, and even had tobacco +to share with the guides who placidly awaited the dawn in the lee of +the horses. +</P> + +<P> +These were rugged, silent, contained men. I had not a word of their +language whatever it was, and I think it was a kind of Milesian +<I>argot</I>. But there was an air of torpid responsibility about them. +They were honest peasants, calm, unimaginative, faithful. +</P> + +<P> +The hour of five was told from half a dozen steeples of the capital. +In less than three short hours the fate of us all would be sealed. My +mind went back to Middleshire and I could have wept for vexation. +Everything was so happy and comfortable there. If Mrs. Arbuthnot did +not see eye to eye with me in all things, an occasional discreet +diversity of opinion merely added piquancy to double harness. +</P> + +<P> +Yes, life and all that pertained to it was very dear to me. It is +proper, of course, to maintain a becoming reticence about that +indissoluble core of egoism that lies at the heart of us all. But +during these unspeakable hours I could not dissemble it. Why had it +pleased fate to project this ill-starred creature, one altogether +outside the circle of my interests, one alien in birth, in race, in +fortune, into the quiet backwater of my years! Was there not a +wantonness in shattering such a comfortable hedonism in this cruel, +meaningless, irresponsible way? +</P> + +<P> +What man can be a hero to his autobiographer! By all the rules of the +game I ought to have been bathed in a kind of moral limelight as I +walked my miserable beat throughout that cursed Illyrian night. It +should be the easiest thing in the world to present a picture of +stoical disdain for Dame Fortune and her fantasies. +</P> + +<P> +But the blunt truth is before me, ignoble as it is. Life meant too +much. The least of my thoughts should have been dedicated to that high +and noble mission which had lured me from my happy home in an English +county. I should have had my mind wholly concentrated on the fate of +the royal lady and on that of those stout fellows who had come so far +and who had endured so much that they might serve her. +</P> + +<P> +Well, I will not deny that in a measure my thoughts were for them. But +I did not dare to speculate on what had happened to them; their fate +was too big with tragic possibilities. Yet ever uppermost within me +was a sore vexation. I did not want in the least to die, and I was +determined not to do so. Unhappily Fitz had not given me the password +which in the last resort might take me across the bridge; I could not +communicate with the guides; I was a stranger in a strange land. +</P> + +<P> +Six o'clock was told from the steeples of the city, but there was not a +sound from the Castle rock. Despair gripped me by the heart. The +Princess was dead and my friends had been unable to make their way out +of the fortress they had had the incredible foolhardiness to enter. +But until daylight came I must wait at my post; yea, if I could +contrive it, longer than that it behoved me to remain. +</P> + +<P> +Already the sleeping city was beginning to stir uneasily. Distant +sounds proceeded from it; within ten paces of our horses a farmer's +wagon had passed along the road. Figures began to emerge from the +darkness and to re-enter it. Doubtless they were workmen going to +their toil. The icy blasts from the river congealed my blood. +Half-past six told from the steeples; housemaids in pink print dresses +were lighting the fires at Dympsfield House. +</P> + +<P> +I began to scourge my brain for a plan of escape in broad daylight from +this accursed place, in case Fitz did not return. But even my mind was +numbed, and it was under the dominion of two clear facts: I did not +know a word of the Illyrian tongue, and I knew nothing of the habits +and customs of the country. +</P> + +<P> +The row of heads upon the city gate occupied a chamber to themselves in +the halls of my imagination. In whatever direction I turned my +thoughts, there was that grisly frieze before my eyes. Presently I +made the discovery that I had bitten the stem of my pipe clean through. +</P> + +<P> +It was now seven o'clock and I had yielded up all hope of Fitz. So +tragedy after all was to be the end of these wild oscillations which +had begun with broad farce. The unhappy "circus rider from Vienna" had +been done to death by the people for whom she had given all. Not only +had they rejected her sacrifice but they had requited it with brutal +treachery. And the noble man who had loved her, and those brave +fellows who had dared everything to serve her, regardless of lives they +valued as highly as I did my own, had perished in her cause. +</P> + +<P> +Rage and horror began to rise up within me. God in heaven, was this +the end of our adventure? It was a quarter past seven; the whole city +was astir. +</P> + +<P> +The dawn was coming. There were a few faint streaks of grey already +above the Castle rock. Numbed and helpless I strained my eyes upwards +to that sinister pile. Cold in body, faint in spirit, I knew not what +to do, nor which way to turn. And then, before I could realise what +had come to pass, there was a surge of dark and stealthy figures, there +was a hand on my shoulder and a low voice was in my ears. +</P> + +<P> +"The horses! The horses!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap34"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXXIV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE CREATURES OF PERRAULT +</H4> + +<P> +Half paralysed as were the physical senses, there was a magic in the +words. Involuntarily, scarcely knowing what I did, I helped to unloose +the horses. I saw others climb into their saddles; with a little +friendly help I got into mine. +</P> + +<P> +In the growing light of the dawn, we started at a gentle pace towards +the old and quaint and many-gabled city. Yet it was still too dark to +see who precisely was of our company. We came to the bridge, and +halted while Fitz gave the password at the gate. Suspicious eyes were +cast upon him, but they let us through. +</P> + +<P> +At the farther gate Fitz gave the password again. There was a little +delay, in the course of which Fitz spoke in a jovial manner with the +corporal of infantry. Finally another gold piece changed owners, and +then we were allowed to pass on to the open country. +</P> + +<P> +Without having to fire a shot, we had got clear of the city. As yet I +knew nothing of what had happened during the hours of my suspense, but +I was able to make out in the dim light that two of another sex had +augmented our company. One riding by the side of Fitz had a familiar +outline; the other, an unknown lady, was accommodated somewhat +insecurely in front of the saddle of Joseph Jocelyn De Vere. +</P> + +<P> +As we turned towards the mountain road there came the booming of a gun +across the turbulent water of the Maravina. +</P> + +<P> +"They are awake at last," said a gruff voice at my elbow. The Chief +Constable seemed very weary and very grim. +</P> + +<P> +Hard and straight we rode through the comparatively easy country to the +inn at the head of the pass of Ryhgo. We had to be content with a +change of horses here; there was not time to allow of anything else +beyond a cup of spiced wine. +</P> + +<P> +In broad daylight the pass of Ryhgo was shorn of many of its terrors. +But as we rode above the lake the path was so narrow and its turns so +sharp that care was still necessary. Happily the wind was now dead. +</P> + +<P> +Even now I was hardly in a state to realise what had occurred. The +strain upon my mind was still acute; my faculties seemed to have got +out of control. +</P> + +<P> +"We had wonderful luck." The voice of the Chief Constable sounded +remote and meaningless. "It was a devil of a climb up that rock, and +I'll lay odds that we should never have got to the top at all, if Fitz +hadn't remembered a secret stairway that led right into the heart of +the place. Either the burghers of Blaenau had forgotten all about it +or they didn't know of its existence. But Fitz remembered it all right +as soon as he happened to see the hole in the rock. When we got in, it +was as black as the tomb, except for Fitz's lantern. +</P> + +<P> +"It was a poisonous journey up an interminable flight of winding stone +steps. It took us quite an hour to come to the end. And then we found +ourselves confronted by a door of solid oak, which was three parts +rotten. It took us another hour to cut through that, and Fitz's +lantern went out and we had to keep striking matches. I shall never +forget that hour in the dark until my dying day. And when we got +through that infernal door at last, where do you suppose we found +ourselves?" +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot say," I said, dreamily, with a vague eye upon the black +waters of the lake below. +</P> + +<P> +"Behind the tapestry of the King's bedroom. A marvellous piece of +luck! It is a strange providence that watches over some things. And +there we waited in the darkness, with our hands on our weapons, while +Fitz made his way to the Princess, and he brought her and her woman to +us, and we got clear away without disturbing a soul." +</P> + +<P> +"A wonderful and an incredible story!" +</P> + +<P> +I began to have a fear that I might pitch from my horse. But we got +through the fell pass of Ryhgo at last, and by three o'clock that +afternoon were in the presence of food and shelter and security in the +hostelry a mile beyond the frontier. Thereupon a mute prayer passed up +to heaven from the still shuddering soul of a married man, a father of +a family, and a county member. +</P> + +<P> +The unknown lady whom Jodey had borne so gallantly upon his saddle +through the perilous mountain passes was none other than the Countess +Etta von Zweidelheim, that lover of Schubert, that charming interpreter +of Schumann who had made herself responsible for the statement that our +memorable evening at the Embassy was "petter than Offenbach." +</P> + +<P> +Even when she was lifted cold, hungry and desperately fatigued from the +saddle of her cavalier, she was inclined to laugh; and we were able to +raise among us a sort of hollow echo of her mirth when we observed the +solemnity with which my relation by marriage escorted her to the stove +and chafed her bloodless hands to restore the circulation. +</P> + +<P> +The somewhat formal, perhaps slightly embarrassed nature of our +laughter did not fail, even in these circumstances, of its customary +appeal to her Royal Highness. Her own, however, unloosed a thousand +memories which I shall carry to the grave, and perhaps beyond. +</P> + +<P> +"Aha, <I>les Anglais</I>!" There was a maternal indulgence in the gaunt +eyes. "<I>Très bons enfants!</I>" Her voice was low, canorous, quaintly +caressing. "<I>Très bons enfants!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly she turned and gave both her hands to me. Lightly my lips +touched the frozen fingers. For an instant my eyes were upon the +strange pallor of her face; and then they met in a kind of challenge +the sunken brilliancy which gave it life. +</P> + +<P> +"The creatures of Perrault, ma'am," I said, rather hysterically. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +LONDON: HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 1912. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mrs. Fitz, by J. C. Snaith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. FITZ *** + +***** This file should be named 34398-h.htm or 34398-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/3/9/34398/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</BODY> + +</HTML> + diff --git a/34398-h/images/img-drama.jpg b/34398-h/images/img-drama.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8847ab1 --- /dev/null +++ b/34398-h/images/img-drama.jpg diff --git a/34398-h/images/img-front.jpg b/34398-h/images/img-front.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe3af1d --- /dev/null +++ b/34398-h/images/img-front.jpg diff --git a/34398.txt b/34398.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..15cbbe7 --- /dev/null +++ b/34398.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11629 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mrs. Fitz, by J. C. Snaith + +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: Mrs. Fitz + +Author: J. C. Snaith + +Release Date: February 13, 2011 [EBook #34398] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. FITZ *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Dramatis Personae] + + + + +[Frontispiece: Assassination of the King of Illyria] + + + + +MRS. FITZ + + +BY + +J. C. SNAITH + + + + +HODDER & STOUGHTON'S + +SEVENPENNY LIBRARY + + + + +HODDER AND STOUGHTON + +LONDON -- NEW YORK -- TORONTO + +1912 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + +ACCORDING TO REUTER + + +CHAPTER II + +TRIBULATIONS OF A M.F.H. + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CASE FOR THE PROSECUTION + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MIDDLE COURSE + + +CHAPTER V + +ABOUNDS IN SENSATION + + +CHAPTER VI + +EXPERT OPINION + + +CHAPTER VII + +COVERDALE'S REPORT + + +CHAPTER VIII + +PREPARATIONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN + + +CHAPTER IX + +ON THE EVE + + +CHAPTER X + +ALARUMS AND EXCURSIONS + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE ORDERS FOR THE DAY + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE MAN OF DESTINY + + +CHAPTER XIII + +FURTHER PASSAGES AT NO. 300 PORTLAND PLACE + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A DEPLORABLE INCIDENT + + +CHAPTER XV + +AN INTERNATIONAL ISSUE + + +CHAPTER XVI + +HORSE AND HOUND + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A GLARE IN THE SKY + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MRS. ARBUTHNOT BEGINS TO TAKE NOTICE + + +CHAPTER XIX + +HER ROYAL HIGHNESS RECEIVES A LETTER + + +CHAPTER XX + +A LITTLE DIPLOMACY + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE EXPECTED GUEST + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A VISIT TO BRYANSTON SQUARE + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +PROVIDES AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE THEORY THAT + THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +HIS ILLYRIAN MAJESTY FERDINAND THE TWELFTH + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +A WALK IN THE GARDEN + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +PROVIDES A LITTLE FEMININE DIVERSION + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE WRITING ON THE WALL + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE CAST OF THE DIE + + +CHAPTER XXX + +REACTION + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +NEWS FROM ILLYRIA + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +MORE ALARUMS AND EXCURSIONS + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +IN THE BALANCE + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE CREATURES OF PERRAULT + + + + +CHAPTER I + +ACCORDING TO REUTER + +"It is snowing," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. + +"Worse luck!" growled I from behind my newspaper. "This unspeakable +climate! Why can't we sack the Clerk of the Weather?" + +"Because he is a permanent official," said Joseph Jocelyn De Vere +Vane-Anstruther, who was coming into the room. "And those are the +people who run the benighted country." + +Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther was in rather smart kit. It was +December the First, and the hounds--there is only one pack in the +United Kingdom--were about to pay an annual visit to the country of a +neighbour. With conscious magnificence my relation by marriage took a +bee-line to the sideboard. He paused a moment to debate to which of +two imperative duties he should give the precedence: i.e. to make his +daily report upon the personal appearance of his host, or to find out +what there was to eat. The state of the elements enabled Mother Nature +"to get a cinch" on an honourable aestheticism. Jodey began to forage +slowly but resolutely among the dish covers. + +"Kedgeree! Twice in a fortnight. Look here, Mops, it won't do." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot was perusing that journal which for the modest sum of +one halfpenny purveys the glamour of history with only five per cent. +of its responsibilities. She merely turned over a page. Her brother, +having heaped enough kedgeree upon his plate to make a meal for the +average person, peppered and salted it on a scale equally liberal and +then suggested coffee. + +"Tea is better for the digestion," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with her +natural air of simple authority. + +"I know," said Jodey, "that is why I prefer the other stuff." + +"Men are so reasonable!" + +"Do you mind 'andin' the sugar?" + +"Sugar will make you a welter and ruin your appearance." + +A cardinal axiom of my friend Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins, nee Ogbourne, +late of Brownville, Mass., is "Horse-sense always tells." Among the +daughters of men I know none whose endowment of this felicitous quality +can equal that of the amiable participator in my expenditure. It told +in this case. + +"Better give me tea." + +"Without sugar?" said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with great charm of manner. + +"A small lump," said Jodey as a concession to his force of character. + +The young fellow stirred his tea with so much diligence that the small +lump really seemed like a large one. And then, with a gravity that was +somewhat sinister, he fixed his gaze on my coat and leathers. + +"By a local artist of the name of Jobson," said I, humbly. "The second +shop on the right as you enter Middleham High Street." + +"They speak for themselves." + +"My father went there," said I. "My grandfather also. In my +grandfather's day I believe the name of the firm was Wiseman and +Grundy." + +"It's not fair to 'ounds. If I was Brasset I should take 'em 'ome." + +"If you were Brasset," I countered, "that would hardly be necessary. +They would find their way home by themselves." + +"Mops is to blame. She has been brought up properly." + +"It comes to this, my friend. We can't both wear the breeches. Hers +cost a pretty penny from those thieves in Regent Street." + +"Maddox Street," said a bland voice from the recesses of the _Daily +Courier_. + +"Those bandits in Maddox Street," said I, with pathos. "But for all I +know it might be those sharks in the Mile End Road. I am a babe in +these things." + +"No, my dear Odo," said the young fellow, making his point somewhat +elaborately, "in those things you are a perisher. An absolute +perisher. I'm ashamed to be seen 'untin' the same fox with you. I +should be ashamed to be found dead in the same ditch. I hate people +who are not serious about clothes. It's so shallow." + +My relation by marriage produced an extremely vivid yellow silk +handkerchief, and pensively flicked a speck of invisible dust off an +immaculate buckskin. + +"My God, those tops!" + +"By a local draughtsman," said I, "of the name of Bussey. He is +careful in the measurements and takes a drawing of the foot." + +"'Orrible. You look like a Cossack at the Hippodrome." + +"The Madam patronises an establishment in Bond Street. One is given to +understand that various royalties follow her example." + +"They make for the King of Illyria," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. + +"That is interesting," said I, in response to a quizzical glance from +the breakfast table. "The fact is, my amiable coadjutor in the things +of this life has a decided weakness for royalty. She denies it +vehemently and betrays it shamelessly on every possible occasion." + +"Very interestin' indeed," said her brother. + +In the next moment a cry of surprise floated out of the depths of the +halfpenny newspaper. + +"What a coincidence!" exclaimed Mrs. Arbuthnot. "There has been an +attempt on the life of the King of Illyria. They have thrown a bomb +into his palace and killed the brother of the Prime Minister." + +"In the interests of the shareholders of the _Daily Courier_," said I. + +"Be serious, Odo," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "To think of that dear old +king being in danger!" + +"Yes, the dear old king," said Jodey. + +"I think you are horrid, both of you," said Mrs. Arbuthnot with the +spirit that made her an admired member of the Crackanthorpe Hunt. +"Those horrid Illyrians! They don't deserve to have a king. They +ought to be like France and America and Switzerland." + +"They will soon be in that unhappy position," said I, turning to page +four of the _Times_ newspaper. "According to Reuter, it appears to +have been a _bona fide_ attempt. Count Cyszysc----" + +"You sneeze twice," suggested Jodey. + +"Count Cyszysc was blown to pieces on the threshold of the Zweisgarten +Palace, the whole of the south-west front of which was wrecked." + +"The wretches!" said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "They are only fit to have a +republic. Such a dear old man, the ideal of what a king ought to be. +Don't you remember him in the state procession riding next to the +Kaiser?" + +"The old Johnny with the white hair," said Jodey, reaching for the +marmalade. + +"He looked every inch a king," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, "and Illyria is not +a very large place either." + +"In a small and obscure country," I ventured to observe, "you have to +look every inch a king, else nobody will believe that you are one. In +a country as important as ours it doesn't matter if a king looks like a +commercial traveller." + +"By the way," said Jodey, who had a polite horror of anything that +could be construed as _lese majeste_, "where is Illyria?" + +"My dear fellow," said I, "don't you know where Illyria is?" + +"I'll bet you a pony that you don't either," said Jodey, striving, as +young fellows will, to cover his ignorance by a display of effrontery. + +"Haven't you been to Blaenau? Don't you know the Sveltkes?--hoch! +hoch!" + +"No; do you?" said the young fellow, brazenly. + +"They are the oldest reigning family in Europe," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, +severely. + +"How do you know that, Mops?" said the sceptical youth. + +"It says so in the German 'Who's Who,'" said the Madam, sternly, "I +looked them up on purpose." + +"My dear fellow," said I, "if you knew a little less about polo, and a +little less about hunting the fox, and a little more about geography +and foreign languages and the things that make for efficiency, you +would be _au courant_ with the kingdom of Illyria and its reigning +family. Tell the young fellow where that romantic country is, old +lady." + +"First you go to Paris," said the Madam, with admirable lucidity. "And +then, I'm not sure, but I think you come to Vienna, and then I believe +you cut across and you come to Illyria. And then you come to Blaenau, +the capital, where the king lives, which is five hundred miles from St. +Petersburg as the crow flies, because I've marked it on the map." + +"Well, if you've really marked it on the map," said I, "it is only +reasonable to assume that the kingdom of Illyria is in a state of +being." + +"You are too absurd," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "The place is well known +and its king is famous." + +"I wonder if there is decent shootin' in Illyria," said Joseph Jocelyn +De Vere, with that air of tacit condescension which gained him +advancement throughout the English-speaking world. "One might try it +for a week to show one has no feelin' against it." + +"Where there is a king there is always decent shooting," I ventured to +observe. + +Mrs. Arbuthnot returned to her newspaper. + +"They want to form a republic in Illyria," she announced, "but the old +king is determined to thwart them." + +"A bit of a sportsman, evidently," said her brother. "But never mind +Illyria. Give me some more coffee. We've got to be at the Cross Roads +by eleven." + +"No mortal use, I am afraid," said I. "The glass has gone right back. +And look through the window." + +"Good old British climate! And on that side they've got one of the +best bits o' country in the shires, and Morton's covers are always +choke-full of foxes." + +In spite of his pessimism, however, my relation by marriage continued +to deal faithfully with the modest repast that had been offered him. +Also he was fain to inquire of the mistress of the house whether +_enough_ sandwiches had been cut and whether _both_ flasks had been +filled; and from the nominal head of our modest establishment he sought +to learn what arrangements had been made for the second horsemen. + +"They will not be wanted to-day, I fear." + +"Pooh, a few flakes o' snow!" + +It was precisely at this moment that the toot of a motor horn was +heard. A sixty-horse-power six-cylindered affair of the latest design +was seen to steal through the shrubbery _en route_ to the front door. + +"Why, wasn't that Brasset?" + +"His car certainly." + +"What does the blighter want?" + +"He has brought us the information that Morton has telephoned through +to say that there is a foot of snow on the wolds and that hounds had +better stay at the kennels." + +"Pooh," said Jodey, "he wouldn't have troubled to come himself. You've +got a telephone, ain't you?" + +"Doubtless he also wishes to confer with Mrs. Arbuthnot upon the state +of things in Illyria. He is a very serious fellow with political +ambitions." + +Further I might have added--which, however, I did not--that the Master +of the Crackanthorpe was somewhat assiduous in his attitude of +respectful attention towards my seductive co-participator in this vale +of tears, who on her side was rather apt to pride herself upon an +old-fashioned respect for the peerage. The prospect of a visit from +the noble Master caused her to discard the affairs of the Illyrian +monarchy in favour of a subject even more pregnant with interest. + +"If it is Reggie Brasset," said she, renouncing the _Daily Courier_, +"he has come about Mrs. Fitz." + +"Get out!" said the scornful Jodey. "You people down here have got +Mrs. Fitz on the brain." + +Out of the mouths of babes! It was perfectly true that, in our own +little corner of the world, people _had_ got Mrs. Fitz on the brain. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +TRIBULATIONS OF A M.F.H. + +Brasset it certainly was. And when he came into the room looking +delightfully healthy, decidedly handsome, and a great deal more serious +than a minister of the Crown, his first words were to the effect that +Morton had telephoned through to say that they had a foot of snow on +the wolds and that hounds had better stay where they were. + +"Awfully good of you, Brasset, to come and tell us," said I, heartily. +"Have some breakfast?" + +"No, thanks," said Brasset. "The fact is, as we are not going over to +Morton's, I thought this would be a good opportunity to--to----" + +For some reason the noble Master did not appear to know how to complete +his sentence. + +"Yes, Lord Brasset," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with an air of acute +intelligence. + +"A good opportunity to--to----" said Brasset, who in spite of his +seriousness really looked absurdly young to be the master of such a +pack as ours. + +"Yes, Lord Brasset," said Mrs. Arbuthnot again. + +"Yes, quite so, my dear fellow," said I, without, as I hope and +believe, the least appearance of levity, for the uncompromising eye of +authority was upon me. + +"What's up, Brasset?" said Jodey, who contrary to the regulations was +lighting his pipe at the breakfast table, and who combined with his +many engaging qualities an extremely practical mind. "You want a glass +of beer. Parkins, bring his lordship a glass of beer." + +With this aid to the body corporeal in his hand, and with a pair of +large, serious and admirably solicitous eyes fixed upon him, the noble +Master made a third attempt to complete his sentence. This time he +succeeded. + +"The fact is," said he, "I thought this would be a good opportunity +to--to"--here the noble Master made a heroic dash for England, home and +glory--"to talk over this confounded business of Mrs. Fitz." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot sat bolt upright with an air of ecstasy and the +expression "There, what did I tell you!" written all over her + +"Quite so, my dear fellow," said I, in simple good faith, but happening +at that moment to intercept a glance from a feminine eye, had perforce +to smother my countenance somewhat hastily in the voluminous folds of +the _Times_. + +"What about her?" inquired the occupant of the breakfast table, who, +whatever the angels might happen to be doing at any given moment, never +hesitated to walk right in with both feet. "I was saying to Arbuthnot +and my sister just as you came in, that you people down here have got +Mrs. Fitz on the brain." + +"Yes, I am afraid we have," said Brasset, ruefully. "The fact is, +things are coming to such a pass that they can't go on." + +"I agree with you, Lord Brasset," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with conviction. + +"Something must be done." + +"It is so uncomfortable for everybody," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "And I +can promise this, Lord Brasset"--the fair speaker looked ostentatiously +away from the vicinity of the leading morning journal--"whatever steps +you decide to take in the matter will have the entire sympathy and +support of every woman subscriber to the Hunt." + +"Thank you very much indeed, Mrs. Arbuthnot," said the noble Master, +with feeling, "I am very grateful to you. It will help me very much." + +"We held a meeting in Mrs. Catesby's drawing-room on Sunday afternoon. +We passed a resolution expressing the fullest confidence in you--I +wish, Lord Brasset, you could have heard what was said about you." The +Master's picturesque complexion achieved a more roseate tinge. "Our +unanimous support and approval was voted to you in all that you may +feel called upon to do." + +"A thousand thanks, my dear Mrs. Arbuthnot." + +"And we hope you will turn Mrs. Fitz out of the Hunt. I also brought +forward an amendment that Fitz be turned out as well, but it was +decided by six votes to four to give him another chance. But in the +case of Mrs. Fitz the meeting was absolutely unanimous." + +"My God," said the occupant of the breakfast table. "If that ain't the +limit!" + +"Mrs. Fitz is a good deal more than the limit." Mrs. Arbuthnot's eyes +sparkled with truculence. + +"Have a cigarette, my dear fellow," said I, offering my case to the +unfortunate Brasset as soon as the state of my emotions would permit me +to do so. + +Brasset selected a cigarette with an air of intense melancholy. As he +applied the lighted match that was also offered him he favoured me with +an eye that was so woebegone that it must have moved a heart of stone +to pity. On the contrary, my fellow-pilgrim through this vale of tears +had turned a most becoming shade of pink, which she invariably does +when she is really out upon the warpath. Also in her china-blue +eyes--I hope such a description of these weapons will pass the +censor--was a look of grim, unalterable ruthlessness, before which men +quite as stout as Brasset have had to quail. + +The noble Master took a nervous draw at his Egyptian. + +"Look here, Arbuthnot," said he, "you are a wise chap, ain't you?" + +"He thinks he's wise," said my helpmeet. + +"Every man does," said I, modestly, "not necessarily as an article of +faith but as a point of ritual." + +"Yes, of course," said Brasset, with an air of intelligence that +imposed upon nobody. "But everybody says you are a wise chap. That +little Mrs. Perkins says you are the wisest chap she has met out of +London." + +This indiscretion on the part of Brasset--some men have so little +tact!--provoked a stiffening of plumage; and if the china-blue eyes did +not shoot forth a spark this chronicle is not likely to be of much +account. + +"Stick to the point, if you please," said I. "I plead guilty to being +a Solomon." + +"Well, as you are a wise chap," said the blunderer, "and I'm by way of +being an ass----" + +"I don't agree with you at all, Lord Brasset," piped a fair admirer. + +"Oh, but I am, Mrs. Arbuthnot," said Brasset, dissenting with that +courtesy in which he was supreme. "It's awfully good of you to say I'm +not, but everybody knows I am not much of a chap at most things." + +"You may not be so clever as Odo," said the wife of my bosom, "because +Odo's exceptional. But you are an extremely _able_ man all the same, +Lord Brasset." + +"She means to attend that sale at Tatt's on Wednesday," said the +occupant of the breakfast table in an aside to the marmalade. + +"Well, if I am not such a fool as I think I am"--so perfect a sincerity +disarmed criticism--"it is awfully good of you, Mrs. Arbuthnot, to say +so. But what I mean is, I should like Arbuthnot's advice on the +subject of--on the subject of----" + +"On the subject of Mrs. Fitz," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with the coo of the +dove and the glance of the rattlesnake. + +"Ye-es," said the noble Master, nervously dropping the ash from his +cigarette on to a very expensive tablecloth. + +"Odo will be very pleased indeed, Lord Brasset," said the superior half +of my entity, "to give you advice about Mrs. Fitz. He agrees with me +and Mary Catesby and Laura Glendinning, that she must be turned out of +the Hunt." + +Poor Brasset removed a bead of perspiration from the perplexed +melancholy of his features with a silk handkerchief of vivid hue, own +brother to the one sported by the Bayard at the breakfast table, in a +futile attempt to cope with his dismay. + +"Is it usual, Mrs. Arbuthnot?" + +"It may not be usual, Lord Brasset, but Mrs. Fitz is not a usual woman." + +"My dear Irene," said I, judicially--Mrs. Arbuthnot rejoices in the +classical name of Irene--"my dear Irene, I understand Brasset to mean +that there is nothing in the articles of association of the +Crackanthorpe Hunt to provide against the contingency of Mrs. Fitz or +any other British matron overriding hounds as often as she likes." + +Although I have had no regular legal training beyond having once +lunched in the hall of Gray's Inn, everybody knows my uncle the judge. +But I regret to say that this weighty deliverance did not meet with +entire respect in the quarter in which it was entitled to look for it. + +"That is nonsense, Odo," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "I am sure the Quorn----" + +Brasset's misery assumed so acute a phase at the mention of the Quorn +that Mrs. Arbuthnot paused sympathetically. + +"The Quorn--my God!" muttered the Bayard at the breakfast table in an +aside to the tea-kettle. + +"Or the Cottesmore," continued the undefeated Mrs. Arbuthnot, "would +not stand such behaviour from a person like Mrs. Fitz." + +"Do you think so, Mrs. Arbuthnot?" said the noble Master. "You see, we +shouldn't like to get our names up by doing something unusual." + +"An unusual person must be dealt with in an unusual way," said Mrs. +Arbuthnot, with great sententiousness. + +"Mary Catesby thinks----" + +The long arm of coincidence is sometimes very startling, and I can +vouch for it that the entrance of Parkins at this psychological moment, +to herald the appearance of Mary Catesby in the flesh, greatly +impressed us all as something quite beyond the ordinary. + +"Why, here _is_ Mary," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, giving that source of light +and authority a cross-over kiss on both checks. It is the hall-mark of +the married ladies of our neighbourhood that they all delight to +exhibit an almost exaggerated reverence for Mary Catesby. + +I have great esteem for Mary Catesby myself. For one thing, she has +deserved well of her country. The mother of three girls and five boys, +she is the British matron _in excelsis_; and apart from the habit she +has formed of riding in her horse's mouth, she has every attribute of +the best type of Christian gentlewoman. She owns to thirty-nine--to +follow the ungallant example of Debrett!--is the eldest daughter of a +peer, and is extremely authoritative in regard to everything under the +sun, from the price of eggs to the table of precedence. + +The admirable Mary--her full name is Mary Augusta--may be a trifle +over-elaborated. Her horses are well up to fourteen stone. And as +matter and mind are one and the same, it is sometimes urged against her +that her manner is a little overwhelming. But this is to seek for +blemishes on the noonday sun of female excellence. One of a more +fragile cast might find such a weight of virtue a burden. But Mary +Catesby wears it like a flower. + +In addition to her virtue she was also wearing a fur cloak which was +the secret envy of the entire feminine population of the county, +although individual members thereof made it a point of honour to +proclaim for the benefit of one another, "Why _does_ Mary persist in +wearing that ermine-tailed atrocity! She really can't know what a +fright she looks in it." + +As a matter of fact, Mary Catesby in her fur cloak is one of the most +impressive people the mind of man can conceive. That fur cloak of hers +can stop the Flying Dutchman at any wayside station between Land's End +and Paddington; and on the platform at the annual distribution of +prizes at Middleham Grammar School, I have seen more than one small boy +so completely overcome by it, that he has dropped "Macaulay's Essays" +on the head of the reporter of the _Advertiser_. + +Besides this celebrated garment, Mary was adorned with a bowler hat +with enormous brims, not unlike that affected by Mr. Weller the Elder +as Cruikshank depicted him, and so redoubtable a pair of butcher boots +as literally made the earth tremble under her. + +Her first remark was addressed, quite naturally, to the unfortunate +Brasset, who had been rendered a little pinker and a little more +perplexed than he already was by this notable woman's impressive entry. + +"I consider this weather disgraceful," said she. "It always is when we +go over to Morton's. Why is it, Reggie?" + +She spoke as though the luckless Reggie was personally responsible for +the weather and also for the insulting manner in which that +much-criticised British institution had deranged her plans. + +"I am awfully sorry, Mrs. Catesby. Not much of a day, is it?" + +"Disgraceful. If one can't have better weather than this, one might as +well go and have a week's skating at Prince's." + +The idea of Mary Catesby having a week's skating at Prince's seemed to +appeal to Joseph Jocelyn De Vere. At least that sportsman was pleased +not a little. + +"English style or Continental?" said he. + +Mary Catesby did not deign to heed. + +"I am awfully sorry, Mrs. Catesby," said Brasset again, with really +beautiful humility. + +Mrs. Catesby declined to accept this delightfully courteous apology, +but gazed down her chin at the unfortunate Brasset with that ample air +which invariably makes her look like Minerva as Titian conceived that +deity. Silently, pitilessly, she proceeded to fix the whole +responsibility for the weather upon the Master of the Crackanthorpe. + +She had just performed this feat with the greatest efficiency, when by +no means the least of her admirers put in an oar. + +"I'm so glad you've come, Mary," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "We were just +having it out with Lord Brasset about Mrs. Fitz." + +An uncomfortable silence followed. + +"Is she a subject for discussion in a mixed company?" said I, to +relieve the tension. + +"I should say not," said Mary. "But Reggie has been so weak that there +is no help for it." + +"The victim of circumstances, perhaps," said I, with generous unwisdom. + +"People who are weak always are the victims of circumstances. If +Reggie had only been firmer at the beginning, we should not now be a +laughing-stock for everybody. To my mind the first requisite in a +master of hounds is resolution of character." + +"Hear, hear," said the occupant of the breakfast table, _sotto voce_. + +The miserable Brasset, whose pinkness and perplexity were ever +increasing, fairly quailed before the Great Lady's forensic power. + +"Do you think, Mrs. Catesby, I ought to resign?" said he, with the +humility that invites a kicking. + +"Not _now_, surely; it would be too abject. If you felt the situation +was beyond you, you should have resigned at the beginning. You must +show spirit, Reggie. You must not submit to being trampled on publicly +by--by----" + +The Great Lady paused here, not because she was at a loss for a word, +but because, like all born orators, she had an instinctive knowledge of +the value of a pause in the right place. + +"By a circus rider from Vienna," she concluded in a level voice. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CASE FOR THE PROSECUTION + +"I know, Mrs. Catesby, I'm not much of a chap," said Brasset, "but +what's a feller to do? I did drop a hint to Fitz, you know." + +"Fitz!!" The art of the _litterateur_ can only render a scorn so +sublime by two marks of exclamation. + +"What did Fitz say?" I ventured to inquire. + +"Scowled like blazes," said Brasset, miserably. "Thought the +cross-grained, three-cornered devil would eat me. Beg pardon, Mrs. +Catesby." + +The noble Master subsided into his glass of beer in the most lamentably +ineffectual manner. + +I cleared my voice in the consciousness that I had an uncle a judge. + +"Brasset," said I, "will you kindly inform the court what are the +specific grounds of complaint against this much-maligned and +unfortunate--er--female?" + +"Don't make yourself ridiculous, Odo!" + +"Odo, you know perfectly well!" + +It was a dead heat between Mrs. Arbuthnot and the Great Lady. + +"Order, order," said I, sternly. "This scene belongs to Brasset. Now, +Brasset, answer the question, and then perhaps something may be done." + +It was not to be, however. The nephew of my uncle failed lamentably to +exact obedience to the chair. + +"My dear Odo," said Mary Catesby, in what I can only describe as her +Albert Hall manner, with her voice going right up to the top like a +flag going up a pole, "do you mean to tell _me_----?" + +"That you don't know how Mrs. Fitz has been carrying on!" the Madam +chipped in with really wonderful cleverness. + +"I don't, upon oath," said I, solemnly. "You appear to forget that I +have been giving my time to the nation during this abominable autumn +session." + +"So he has, poor dear," said the partner of my joys. + +"Like a good citizen," said Mary Catesby, most august of Primrose Dames. + +"Thank you, Mary, I deserve it. But am I to understand that Mrs. Fitz +has flung her cap over the mill, or that she has taken to riding +astride, or is it that she continues to affect that scarlet coat which +last season hastened the end of the Dowager?" + +"No, Arbuthnot." It was the voice of Brasset, vibrating with such deep +emotion that it can only be compared to the _Marche Funebre_ performed +upon a cathedral organ. "But it was only by God's mercy that last +Tuesday morning she didn't override Challenger." + +"Allah is great," said I. + +"Upon my solemn word of honour," said the noble Master, speaking from +the depths, "she was within two inches of the old gal's stern." + +"Parkins," said a voice from the breakfast table, "bring another glass +of beer for his lordship." + +To be perfectly frank, liquid sustenance was no longer a vital +necessity to the noble Master. He was already rosy with indignation at +the sudden memory of his wrongs. Only one thing can induce Brasset to +display even a normal amount of spirit. That is the welfare of the +sacred charges over which he presides for the public weal. He will +suffer you to punch his head, to tread on his toe, or to call him +names, and as likely as not he will apologise sweetly for any +inconvenience you may have incurred in the process. But if you +belittle the Crackanthorpe Hounds or in any way endanger the humblest +member of the Fitzwilliam strain, woe unto you. You transform Brasset +into a veritable man of blood and iron. He is invested with pathos and +dignity. The lightnings of heaven flash from beneath his long-lashed +orbs; and from his somewhat narrow chest there is bodied forth a far +richer vocabulary than the general inefficiency of his appearance can +possibly warrant hi any conceivable circumstances. + +Mere feminine clamour was silenced by Brasset transformed. His blue +eyes glowed, his cheeks grew rosier, each particular hair of his +perfectly charming little blond moustache--trimmed by Truefitt once a +fortnight--stood up on end like quills upon the fretful porpentine. In +lieu of pink abasement was tawny denunciation. + +"I'll admit, Arbuthnot," said the Man of Blood and Iron, "I looked at +the woman as no man ought to look at a lady." + +"Didn't you say 'damn,' Lord Brasset?" piped a demure seeker after +knowledge. + +"I may have done, Mrs. Arbuthnot, I admit I may have done." + +"I think that ought to go down on the depositions," said I, with an +approximation to the manner of my uncle, the judge, that was very +tolerable for an amateur. + +"I _honour_ you for it, Lord Brasset. Don't you, Mary?" + +"Endeavour not to embarrass the witness," said I. "Go on, Brasset." + +"Brasset, here's your beer," said Jodey, rising from the table and +personally handing the Burton brew with vast solemnity. + +"I may have damned her eyes," proceeded the witness, "or I mayn't have +done. You see, she was within two inches of the old gal, and I may +have lost my head for a bit. I'll admit that no man ought to damn the +eyes of a lady. Mind, I don't say I did. And yet I don't say I +didn't. It all happened before you could say 'knife,' and I'll admit I +was rattled." + +"The witness admits he was rattled," said I. + +"So would you have been, old son," the witness continued +magniloquently. "Within two inches, upon my oath." + +"Were there reprisals on the part of the lady whose eyes you had damned +in a moment of mental duress?" + +"_Rather_. She damned mine in Dutch." + +Sensation. + +"How did you know it was Dutch, Lord Brasset?" piped a seeker of +knowledge. + +"By the behaviour of the hounds, Mrs. Arbuthnot." + +"How did they behave?" + +"The beggars bolted." + +Sensation. + +"My aunt!" said the occupant of the breakfast table with solemn +irrelevance. + +"So would you," said the noble Master. "I never heard anything like +it. In my opinion there is no language like Dutch when it comes to +cursing. And then, before I could blink, up went her hand, and she +gave me one over the head with her crop." + +Sensation. + +"Upon my solemn word of honour. I don't mind showing the mark to +anybody." + +"Where is it, Lord Brasset?" + +Mrs. Arbuthnot rose from her chair in the ecstatic pursuit of +first-hand information. Her eyes were wide and glowing like those of +her small daughter, Miss Lucinda, when she hears the story of "The +Three Bears." + +"Show _me_ the scar, Reggie," said a Minerva-like voice. + +"Let's see it, Brasset," said the occupant of the breakfast table, +kicking over a piece of Chippendale of the best period and incidentally +breaking the back of it. + +The somewhat melodramatic investigations of a thick layer of Rowland's +Macassar oil and a thin layer of fair hair disclosed an unmistakable +weal immediately above the left temple of the noble martyr in the cause +of public duty. + +"If it don't beat cockfighting!" said Jodey in a tone of undisguised +admiration. + +"If it hadn't been for the rim of my cap," said the noble martyr in +response to the public enthusiasm, "it must have laid my head clean +open." + +"In my opinion," said Mary Catesby, speaking _ex cathedra_, "that woman +is a perfect devil. Reggie, if you only show firmness you can count +upon support. They may stand that sort of thing in a Continental +circus, but we don't stand it in the Crackanthorpe Hunt." + +"Firmness, Brasset," said I, anxious, like all the world, to echo the +oracle. + +The little blond moustache was subjected to inhuman treatment. + +"It's all very well, you know, but what's the use of being firm with a +person who is just as firm as yourself?" + +The Great Lady snorted. + +"For three years, Reggie, you have filled a difficult office passably +well. Don't let a little thing like this be your undoing." + +"All very well, Mrs. Catesby, but I can't hit her over the head, can I?" + +"No, but what about Fitz?" said a voice from the breakfast table. + +"Ye-es, I hadn't thought of that." + +"And I shouldn't think of it if I were you," said I, cordially. "Fitz +with all his errors is a heftier chap than you are, my son." + +Brasset's jaw dropped doubtfully--it is quite a good jaw, by the way. + +"Practise the left a bit, Brasset," was the advice of the breakfast +table. "I know a chap in Jermyn Street who has had lessons from Burns. +We might trot up and see him after lunch. Bring a Bradshaw, Parkins. +And I think we had better send a wire." + +"I wasn't so bad with my left when I was up at Trinity," said Brasset. + +Mrs. Arbuthnot shuddered audibly. She has long been an out-and-out +admirer of the noble Master's nose. Certainly its contour has great +elegance and refinement. + +"Brasset," said I, "let me urge you not to listen to evil +communications. If you were Burns himself you would do well to play +very lightly with Fitz. He was my fag at school, and although +sometimes there was occasion to visit him with an ash plant or a +toasting fork in the manner prescribed by the house regulations at that +ancient seat of learning, I shouldn't advise you or anybody else to +undertake a scheme of personal chastisement." + +"Certainly not, Reggie," said Mary Catesby, in response to Mrs. +Arbuthnot's imploring gaze. "Odo is perfectly right. Besides, you +must behave like a gentleman. It is the woman with whom you must deal." + +"Well, I can't hit her, can I?" said Brasset, plaintively. + +"If a cove's wife hit me over the head with a crop," said the voice of +youth, "I should want to hit the cove that had the wife that hit me, +and so would Odo. I see there's a train at two-fifteen gets to town at +five." + +Brasset's eyes are as softly, translucently blue as those of Miss +Lucinda, but in them was the light of battle. He no longer tugged at +his upper lip, but stroked it gently. To those conversant with these +mysteries this portent was sinister. + +"Is Genee on at the Empire?" said he. + +"Parkins knows," said Jodey. + +Parkins did know. + +"Yes, my lord," said that peerless factotum, "she is." + +In parenthesis, I ought to mention that Parkins is the _piece de +resistance_ of our modest establishment. Not only is he highly +accomplished in all the polite arts practised by man, but also he is a +walking compendium of exact information. + +"How's this?" said Jodey, proceeding to read aloud the telegram he had +composed with studious care. "Dine self and pal Romano's 7.30. Empire +afterwards. Book three stalls in centre." + +"Wouldn't the side be better?" said Brasset. "Then you are out of the +draught." + +Before this important correction could be made Mary Catesby lifted up +her voice in all its natural majesty. + +"Reginald Philip Horatio," said the most august of her sex, "as one who +dressed dolls and composed hymns with your poor dear mother before she +made her imprudent marriage, I forbid you absolutely to fight with such +a man as Nevil Fitzwaren. It is not seemly, it is not Christian, and +Nevil Fitzwaren is a far more powerful man than yourself." + +"Science will beat brute force at any hour of the day or night," was +the opinion of the breakfast table. + +Mrs. Catesby fixed the breakfast table with her invincible north eye. + +"Joseph, pray hold your tongue. This is very wrong advice you are +giving to a man who is rather older and quite as foolish as yourself." + +The Bayard of the breakfast table rebutted the indictment. + +"The advice is sound enough," said he. "My pal in Jermyn Street has +won no end of pots as a middle-weight, and he'll soon have a go at the +heavies now he's taken to supping at the Savoy. He'll put Brasset all +right. He's as clever as daylight, a pupil of Burns. I tell you what, +Mrs. C., if Brasset leads off with a left and a right and follows up +with a half-arm hook on the point, in my opinion he'll have a walk +over." + +"Reggie, I forbid you _absolutely_," said the early collaborator with +the noble Master's mother. "It is so uncivilised; besides, if Nevil +Fitzwaren happened to be the first to lead off with a half-arm hook on +the point, we should probably require a new Master. And that would be +so awkward. It was always a maxim of my dear father's that foxes were +the only things that profited by a change of mastership in the middle +of December." + +"Your dear father was right, Mary," said I, gravely. + +"Dear father was infallible. But seriously, Reggie, if anything +happened to you we should really have nobody to take the hounds now +that for some obscure reason they have made Odo a member of Parliament." + +"If a cove's wife hit me," came the refrain from the breakfast table in +a kind of drone, "I should want to hit the cove that had the wife that +hit me. See that this wire is sent, Parkins, and tell Kelly that I am +running up to town by the 2.15 and shall stay the night." + +"Jodey, don't be a fool," said I. "Brasset, I want to say this. I +hope you are listening, Mary, and you too, Irene. Where Fitz and his +wife are concerned, we have all got to play lightly." + +I summoned all the earnestness of which I am capable. Even Mary +Catesby was impressed by such an air of conviction. + +"I fail to see," said she, "why we should be so especially considerate +of the feelings of the Fitzwarens, when they are the last to consider +the feelings of others." + +"You can take it from me, Mary, that Fitz and his wife are not to be +judged altogether by ordinary standards. They are extraordinary +people." + +"Tell me what you mean by the term extraordinary?" said my +inquisitorial spouse. + +"Does it really require explanation, _mon enfant_?" + +"It means," said the plain-spoken Mary, "that Nevil Fitzwaren is an +extraordinarily reckless and dissolute type of fellow, and that Mrs. +Nevil is an extraordinarily unpleasant type of woman." + +I am the first to admit that that ineffectual thing, the mere human +male, is not of the calibre openly to dissent from a considered +judgment of the Great Lady. But to the amazement of men and doubtless +of gods, for once in a way her opinion was publicly challenged. + +You could have heard a pin drop in the room when the occupant of the +breakfast table took up the gage. + +"Fitz is a bad hat." Joseph Jocelyn De Vere removed the pipe from his +lips. "Everybody knows it. But Mrs. Fitz is a thousand times too good +for the cove that's married her." + +Such an expression of opinion left his sister open-mouthed. Mary +Catesby lowered her chin and her eyelashes at an indiscretion so +portentous. + +"The Fitzwarens," said that great authority, "are a very old family, +and Nevil has the education, if not the instincts, of a gentleman, but +as for this circus rider he has brought from Vienna, she has neither +the birth, the education nor the instincts of a lady." + +This tremendous pronouncement would have put most people out of action +at once. But here was a man of mettle. + +"She's tophole," said that Bayard. "I've never seen her equal. If you +ask my opinion there's not a chap in the Hunt who is fit to open a gate +for Mrs. Fitz." + +The young fellow had fairly got the bit between his teeth and no +mistake. + +"One doesn't ask your opinion, Joseph," said Mary Catesby, with a +bluntness that would have felled a bullock. "Why should one, pray? I +know no person less fitted to express an opinion on any subject." + +"I've followed her line anyhow, and I've been proud to follow it. She +can ride cunning, too, mind you. I've never seen her equal anywhere, +and don't suppose I ever shall." + +"No one questions her riding. She was born and bred in a circus. But +a more unmitigated female bounder never jumped through a hoop in pink +tights." + +It was below the belt, and not only Jodey but Brasset, who, inefficient +as he is in most things, is unmistakably a sportsman of the first +class, also felt it to be so. + +"Mrs. Fitz has foreign ways," said the noble Master, "but she can be as +nice as anybody when she likes. I've known her be awfully civil." + +"She is not without charm," said I, feeling that it was up to me to +play up a bit. + +"She's _it_," said Jodey. "She's the sort of woman that would make a +chap----" + +"Shoot himself," chirruped the noble Master. + +Disgust and indignation are mild terms to apply to Mrs. Catesby's wrath. + +"Pair of boobies! You are as bad as he is, Reggie. But it was always +so like your poor mother to take things lying down." + +"Oh, come now, Mrs. Catesby, haven't I said all along that she had no +right to hit me over the head with her crop?" + +"The safest place in which to hit you, anyway." The Great Lady was in +peril of losing her temper. + +The question of Mrs. Fitz was a very vexed one in the Crackanthorpe +Hunt. It had already divided that proud institution into two sections: +i.e. the thick and thin supporters of that lady and those who would not +have her at any price. It need excite no remark in the minds of the +judicious that the male followers of the Hunt, almost to a man, +admired, as much as they dared in the circumstances, a very remarkable +personality; while its feminine patrons, with a unanimity quite without +precedent in that august body, were conspiring to humiliate, as deeply +as it lay in their power, a personage who had set three counties by the +ears. + +The Great Lady proceeded to temper her wrath with some extremely +dignified pathos. + +"It is a mystery to me," said she, "how men who call themselves +gentlemen can attempt to defend a creature who offered a public affront +to the Duke and dear Evelyn." + +"I presume you mean the affair of the bazaar?" said I. + +"I do; a lamentable fracas. Dear Evelyn never left her bed for a +fortnight." + +"Dear me! Are we to understand that actual physical violence was +offered to her Grace?" + +"Don't be childish, Odo! I was present and saw everything, and I can +answer for it that no such thing as violence was used." + +"Then why did the great lady take to her bed?" + +"Through sheer vexation. And really one doesn't wonder. It was +nothing less than a public insult." + +"Tell me, Mary, precisely in three words what did happen at the bazaar. +All the world agrees that it was a desperate affair, yet nobody seems +to know exactly what it was that occurred." + +Mrs. Catesby enveloped herself in that mantle of high diplomacy that +she is pleased so often to assume. + +"No, my dear Odo, I don't think it would be kind to the Duke and dear +Evelyn to say actually what did occur. To my mind it is not a thing to +be spoken of, but I may tell you this--it has been mentioned at +Windsor!" + +It was clear from the Great Lady's demeanour that at this announcement +we were all expected to cross ourselves. Only Mrs. Arbuthnot did so, +however. + +"Oh, Mary!" The china-blue eyes swam with ecstasy. + +"If you wish to convey to us, my dear Mary," said I, "that a royal +commission has been appointed to inquire into the subject, all +experience tends to teach that there will be less prospect than ever of +finding out what did happen at the bazaar." + +"Tell us what really did happen at the bazaar, Mrs. Catesby," said +Brasset. "I am sorry I wasn't there." + +"No, Reggie, I am _much_ too fond of dear Evelyn to disclose the truth +to a living soul. But I may tell you this: the incident was far worse +than has been reported." + +"I understand," said I, solemnly lying, at the instance of the +histrionic sense, "that Windsor earnestly desired that the incident, +whatever it was, should be minimised as much as possible." + +The bait was gobbled, hook and all. + +"How did you come to hear that, Odo? Even I was not told that." + +"Who told you _that_, Odo?" Mrs. Arbuthnot twittered breathlessly. + +"There was a rumour the other day in the House." + +"The idle gossip of the lobbies," the Great Lady was moved to affirm. + +But we were straying away from the point. And the point was, in what +manner was public decency to mark its sense of outrage at the conduct +of Mrs. Fitz? + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MIDDLE COURSE + +Although so many conflicting rumours were abroad as to the unparalleled +affront that had been offered to the Strawberry Leaf--some accounts had +it that "dear Evelyn" had been called "a cat" within the hearing of the +Mayor and other civic dignitaries of Middleham, while others were +pleased to affirm that she had had her ears boxed before the eyes of +the horrified reporter for the _Advertiser_--there was the implicit +word of Brasset that he had been subjected not only to unchaste +expressions in a foreign tongue, but had actually been in receipt of +physical violence in his honourable endeavour to uphold the dignity and +the discipline of the Crackanthorpe Hunt. + +I hope and believe I am a lenient judge of the offences of +others--fellow-occupants of our local bench delight to tell me so--but +even I was so imbued with the spirit of the meeting as to allow that +some kind of official notice ought to be taken of the outrageous +conduct of Mrs. Nevil Fitzwaren. From the first hour of her appearance +among us, a short fifteen months ago, she had gathered the storm-clouds +of controversy about her. Almost as soon as she appeared out cubbing +she became the most discussed person in the shire. Her ways were +unmistakably foreign and "unconventional"; and certainly, in the saddle +and out of it, her personality can only be described as a little +overpowering. + +In the beginning it may have been Fitz himself who contributed as much +as anything to the notoriety of his continental wife. Five years +before, the only surviving son of a disreputable father had let the +house of his ancestors in a state of gross disrepair, together with the +paternal acres, to a City magnate, and betook himself, Heaven alone +knew where. Wise people, however, were more than willing that the +President of the Destinies should retain the sole and exclusive +possession of this information. Nobody had the least desire to know +where Fitz the Younger, unmistakable scion of a somewhat deplorable +dynasty, was to be found, except, perhaps, a few London tradesmen, who, +if wise men, would be sparing of their tears. They might have been hit +so much harder than proved to be the case. Wherever Fitz had gone, +those who knew most of him, and the stock from which he sprang, +devoutly hoped that there he would stay. + +For five years we knew him not. And then one fine September afternoon +he turned up at the Grange with a motor car and a French chauffeur and +a foreign wife. It may not seem kind to say so, but in the interests +of this strange but ower-true tale, it is well to state clearly that +his return was highly disconcerting to all sections of the community. +His name was still an offence in the ears of an obsequious and by no +means over-censorious countryside. Rural England is astonishingly +lenient "to Squoire and his relations," but Master Nevil had proved too +stiff a proposition even for its forbearance. + +Howbeit, Fitz had hardly been a week at his ancestral home with his +foreign wife and his motor car when there began to be signs of a rise +in Fitzwaren stock. It was bruited abroad that he was paying his +debts, fulfilling long-neglected obligations, that he had given up the +bowl, and that, in a word, he was doing his best to clear a pretty +black record. Indeed, the upward tendency of the Fitzwaren stock was +so well maintained, that it was decided by the Committee for the +Maintenance of the Public Decency that the august Mrs. Catesby should +call on his wife and so pave the way for the _entente_. After all, the +Fitzwarens were the Fitzwarens, and our revered Vicar--the hardest +riding parson in five counties--clinched the matter with the most +apposite quotation from Holy Writ in which he has ever indulged. + +The august Mrs. Catesby bore the olive branch in the form of a couple +of pieces of pasteboard to the Grange in due course; Mrs. Arbuthnot, +the Vicar's wife, Laura Glendinning, and the rank and file of the +custodians of the public decency followed suit; and such an atmosphere +of the best type of Christian magnanimity prevailed, that it was quite +on the _tapis_ that "dear Evelyn" herself, the Perpetual President and +Past Grand Mistress of this strenuous society, would shoot a card at +the Grange. To show that this is not the idle gossip of an empty tale, +there is Mrs. Catesby's own declaration, made in Mrs. Arbuthnot's own +drawing-room in the presence of Laura Glendinning and the Vicar's wife, +"that had Mrs. Fitz only been presented she was in a position to know +that dear Evelyn would have called upon her." + +That was the hour in which the Fitzwaren stock touched its zenith. +Thenceforward there was a fall in price. Nevertheless, it was agreed +that Fitz was a reformed character. A glass of beer for luncheon, a +glass of wine for dinner, and a maximum of three whiskies and sodas +_per diem_; handsome indemnity paid to the daughter of the landlord of +the Fitzwaren Arms; propitiation galore to persons of all degrees and +shades of opinion; appearance with the ducal party at the Cockfoster +shoot; regular attendance at church every Sunday forenoon. Fitz made +the pace so hot that the wise declared it could not possibly last. +They were wrong, however, as the wise are occasionally. Fitz had more +staying power than friends and neighbours were prepared to concede to +the son of his father. But in spite of all this, once the slump set in +it continued steadily. + +Those who had known Fitz before the reformation were not slow to +believe that it was no strength of the inner nature that had rendered +him a vessel of grace. It was excessively creditable, of course, to +the black sheep of the fold, but the whole merit of the reclamation +belonged not to the prodigal, but to the nondescript lady from the +continent who had not been presented at Court. The depth of Fitz's +infatuation for that unconventional creature was really grotesque. + +To the merely masculine intelligence it would have seemed that an +influence so beneficent over one so besmirched as poor Fitz must have +counted to that lady for righteousness on the high court scale. But +the Committee for the Maintenance of the Public Decency came to quite +another conclusion. The mere male cannot do better than give _in +extenso_ the Committee's report upon the matter, and for the text of +this judicial pearl our thanks are due to the august Mrs. Catesby. "If +she had been Anybody," that great and good woman announced, "one would +have felt it only right to encourage Nevil Fitzwaren in his +praise-worthy effort, but as dear Evelyn has been informed, on +unimpeachable authority, that she used to ride bareback in a circus in +Vienna, it is quite clear that the wretched fellow is in the toils of +an infatuation." + +After this finding by the Committee, holders of Fitzwaren stock +unloaded quickly. Yet there were some of these speculators who were +loth to take that course. Fitz, the harum-scarum, with his nails +trimmed, was a less picturesque figure than the provincial Don Juan; +but there were those who were not slow to aver that the fair +_equestrienne_ he had had the audacity to import from Vienna was quite +the most romantic figure that had ever hunted with the Crackanthorpe +Hounds. + +Doubtless she had been born in a stable and reared upon mares' milk, +but to behold her mounted upon the strain of the Godolphin Arabian, in +a tall hat, military gauntlets and a scarlet coat was a spectacle that +few beholders were able to forget. In the opinion of the Committee, +there can be no doubt whatever that it hastened the end of the Dowager. +The old lady drove to the meet at the Cross Roads, behind her fat old +ponies and her fat old coachman John Timmins, in the full enjoyment of +all her faculties, with a shrewd wit, an easy conscience and a good +appetite, took one glance at Mrs. Nevil Fitzwaren, told John Timmins in +a hoarse whisper to go home immediately, had a stroke before she +arrived, and passed away without regaining consciousness, in the +presence of her spiritual, her medical, and her legal advisers. + +In the inflamed state of the public mind, it was necessary that persons +of moderate views should be wary. I had seen Mrs. Fitz out hunting, +and in this place I am open to confess that I was sealed of the tribe +of her admirers. Not from the athletic standpoint merely, but from the +aesthetic one. Quite a young woman, with superb black eyes and a forest +of raven hair, a skin of lustrous olive, a nose and chin of +extraordinary decision and character; a more imperiously challenging +personality I cannot remember to have seen. Professional Viennese +_equestriennes_ are doubtless a race apart. They may be accustomed to +exact a homage from their world which in ours is reserved more or less +for the "dear Evelyns" and their compeers. But the gaze of this +haughty queen of the sawdust, when she condescended to exert it, was +the most direct and arresting thing that ever exacted tribute from the +English male or fluttered the devecotes of the scandalised English +female. Her "what-pray-are-you-doing-on-the-earth?" air was so vital +that it sent a thrill through the veins. Small wonder was it that the +hapless Fitz had struggled so gamely to pull himself together. She was +a woman to make a man or mar him. As Fitz was marred already, the +sphere of her activities were limited accordingly. + +Like most men of moderate views, at heart I own to being a bit of a +coward. At any rate it would have taken wild horses to drag the +admission from me that I was an out-and-out admirer of the "Stormy +Petrel," as with rare felicity the Vicar of the parish had christened +her. For by this time our little republic was cloven in twain. There +were the Mrs. Fitzites, her humble admirers and willing slaves, whose +sex you will easily guess; and there were the Anti-Mrs.-Fitzites, +ruthless adversaries who had sworn to have her blood, or failing that, +since Atalanta was an amazon indeed, to make the place so hot for her +that, in the words of my friend Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins, "she would have +to quit." + +How to dislodge her, that was the problem for the ladies of the +Crackanthorpe Hunt. It was in the quest of a solution that the +illustrious Mrs. Catesby had honoured us with a morning call. + +"Odo Arbuthnot," said that notable woman, "it is my intention to speak +plainly. Mrs. Fitz must leave the neighbourhood. We look to you, as a +married man, a father of a family and a county member, to devise a +means for her removal." + +"Issue a writ," said I. "That seems the most straightforward course. +If our assaulted and battered friend, Brasset, will swear an +information, I shall be glad to sign the warrant." + +"Do you think she could be taken to prison?" said Mrs. Arbuthnot, +hopefully. + +"Don't attempt to beg the question." The Great Lady was not to be +diverted from the scent. "Be more manly. We expect public spirit from +you. Certainly this business is extremely disagreeable, but it does +not excuse your pusillanimity. To my mind, your attitude all along has +suggested that you are trying to run with the hare and to hunt with the +hounds." + +This was a terrible home-thrust for a confirmed lover of the middle +course. I hope I am not wholly lacking in spirit, but such a charge +was not easy to rebut. While I assumed a statesmanlike port, if only +to gain a little time in which to cover my exposed position, my +relation by marriage, with a daring which was certainly remarkable in +one who is not by nature a thruster, took up the cudgels yet again. + +"If I were you, Odo," said he, "I should let 'em do their own dirty +work." + +I felt Mary Catesby's glance flash past me like the lightning of heaven. + +"Dirty work, Joseph? I demand an explanation." + +"I call it dirty," said that gladiator. "I like things straightforrard +myself. If you think a cove is askin' for trouble hand it out to him +personally. Don't set on others." + +Before the woman of impregnable virtue to whom this gem of morality was +addressed, could visit the Bayard at the breakfast table according to +his merit, we found ourselves suddenly precipitated into the realms of +drama. + +For this was the moment in which I became aware that Parkins was +hovering about my chair and that a sensational announcement was on his +lips. + +"Mr. Fitzwaren desires to see you, sir, on most urgent business." + +The effect was electrical. Mary Catesby suspended her indictment with +a gesture like Boadicea's, queenly but ferocious. Brasset's pink +perplexity approximated to a shade of green; the eyes of the Madam were +like moons--in the circumstances a little poetic license is surely to +be pardoned--while as for the demeanour of the narrator of this +ower-true tale, I can answer for it that it was one of total +discomfiture. + +"Mr. Fitzwaren here?" were my first incredulous words. + +"I have shown him into the library, sir," said Parkins, solemnly. + +"You cannot see him, Odo," said the despot of our household. "He must +not come here." + +"Important business, Parkins?" said I. + +"Most _urgent_ business, sir." + +"Highly mysterious!" Mrs. Catesby was pleased to affirm. + +Highly mysterious the coming of Nevil Fitzwaren certainly was. A +moment's reflection convinced me of the need of appeasing the general +curiosity. I took my way to the library with many speculations rising +in my mind. Nothing was further from my expectation than to be +consulted by Nevil Fitzwaren on urgent business. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +ABOUNDS IN SENSATION + +Astonished as I was by the coming of such a visitor, the appearance and +the manner of that much-discussed personage did nothing to lessen my +interest. + +I found him pacing the room in a state of agitation. His face was +haggard, his eyes were bloodshot, he was unkempt and almost piteous to +look upon. And yet more strangely his open overcoat, which his +distress could not suffer to keep buttoned, disclosed a rumpled shirt +front, a tie askew and a dinner jacket which evidently had been donned +the evening before. + +"Hallo, Fitz," said I, as unconcernedly as I could. + +He did not answer me, but immediately closed the door of the room. +Somehow, the action gave me a thrill. + +"There is no possibility of our being overheard?" he said in a hoarse +whisper. + +"None whatever. Let me help you off with your coat. Then sit down in +that chair next the fire and have a drink." + +Fitz submitted, doubtless under a sense of compulsion. My four years' +seniority at school had generally enabled me to get my way with him. +It was rather painful to witness the effort the unfortunate fellow put +forth to pull himself together; and when I measured out a pretty stiff +brandy-and-soda his refusal of it was distinctly poignant. + +"I oughtn't to have it, old chap," he said, with his wild eyes looking +into mine like those of a dumb animal. "It doesn't do, you know." + +"Drink it straight off at once," said I, "and do as you are told." + +Fitz did so with reluctance. The effect upon him was what I had not +foreseen. His haggard wildness yielded quite suddenly to an outburst +of tears. He covered his face with his hands and wept in a painfully +overwrought manner. + +I waited in silence for this outburst to pass. + +"I've been scouring the country since nine o'clock last night," he +said, "and I feel like going out of my mind." + +"What's the trouble, old son?" said I, taking a chair beside him. + +"They've got my wife." + +"Whom do you mean by 'they'?" + +"I can't, I mustn't tell you," said Fitz, excitedly, "but they have got +her, and--and I expect she is dead by now." + +Words as wild as these to the accompaniment of that overwrought +demeanour suggested an acute form of mental disturbance only too +clearly. + +"You had better tell me everything," said I, persuasively. "Perhaps I +might be able to help a little. Two heads are better than one, you +know." + +I must confess that I had no great hope of being able to help the +unlucky fellow very materially, but somewhat to my surprise he answered +in a perfectly rational manner. + +"I have come here with the intention of telling you everything. I must +have help, and you are the only friend I've got." + +"One of many," said I, lying cordially. + +"It's true," said Fitz. "The only one. Like that chap in the Bible, +the hand of every man is against me. I deserve it; I know I've not +played the game; but now I must have somebody to stand by me, and I've +come to you." + +"Well," said I, "that is no more than you would do by me in similar +circumstances." + +"You don't mean that," said Fitz, with an expression of keen misery. +"But you are a genuine chap, all the same." + +"Let's hear the trouble." + +"The trouble is this," said Fitz, and as he spoke the look of wildness +returned to his eyes. "My wife went in the car to do some shopping at +Middleham at three o'clock yesterday afternoon expecting to be back at +five, and neither she nor the car has returned. + +"And nothing has been heard of her?" + +"Not a word." + +"Had she a chauffeur?" + +"Yes, a Frenchman of the name of Moins whom we picked up in Paris." + +"I suppose you have communicated with the police?" + +"No; you see, the whole affair must be kept as dark as possible." + +"They are certainly the people to help you, particularly if you have +reason to suspect foul play." + +"There is every reason to suspect it. I am afraid she is already +beyond the help of the police." + +"Why should you think that?" + +Fitz hesitated. His distraught air was very painful. + +"Arbuthnot," said he, slowly and reluctantly, "before I tell you +everything I must pledge you to absolute secrecy. Other lives, other +interests, more important than yours and mine, are involved in this." + +I gave the pledge, and in so doing was impressed by a depth of +responsibility in the manner of my visitor, of which I should hardly +have expected it to be capable. + +"Did you see in the papers last evening that there had been an attempt +on the life of the King of Illyria?" + +"I read it in this morning's paper." + +"It will surprise you to learn," said Fitz, striving for a calmness he +could not achieve, "that my wife is the only child of Ferdinand XII, +King of Illyria. She is, therefore, Crown Princess and Heiress +Apparent to the oldest monarchy in Europe." + +"It certainly _does_ surprise me," was the only rejoinder that for the +moment I could make. + +"I want help and I want advice; I feel that I hardly dare do anything +on my own initiative. You see, it is most important that the world at +large should know nothing of this." + +"Why, may I ask?" + +"There are two parties at war in Illyria. There is the King's party, +the supporters of the monarchy, and there is the Republican party, +which has made three attempts on the life of Ferdinand XII and two on +that of his daughter." + +"But I assume, my dear fellow, that the whereabouts in England of the +Crown Princess are known to her father the King?" + +"No; and it is essential that he should remain in ignorance. Our +elopement from Illyria was touch and go. Ferdinand has moved heaven +and earth to find out where she is, because she has been formally +betrothed to a Russian Grand Duke, and if she does not return to +Blaenau he will not be able to secure the succession." + +"Depend upon it," said I, "the Crown Princess is on the way to Blaenau. +Not of her own free will, of course. But his Majesty's agents have +managed to play the trick." + +"You may be right, Arbuthnot. But one thing is certain; my poor brave +Sonia will never return to Blaenau alive." + +Fitz buried his face in his hands tragically. + +"She promised that, you know, in case anything of this kind happened, +and I consented to it." The simplicity of his utterance had in it a +certain grandeur which few would have expected to find in a man with +the reputation of Nevil Fitzwaren. "Everybody doesn't believe in this +sort of thing, Arbuthnot, but I and my princess do. She will never lie +in the arms of another. God help her, brave and noble and unluckly +soul!" + +This was not the Fitz the world had always known. I suddenly recalled +the flaxen-haired, odd, intense, somewhat twisted, wholly unhappy +creature who had rendered me willing service in our boyhood. I had +always enjoyed the reputation in our house at school that I alone, and +none other, could manage Fitz. I recalled his passion for the "Morte +d'Arthur," his angular vehemence, his sombre docility. In those +distant days I had felt there was something in him; and now in what +seemed curiously poignant circumstances there came the fulfilment of +the prophecy. + +"Let us assume, my dear fellow," said I, making an attempt to be of +practical use in a situation of almost ludicrous difficulty, "that it +is not her father who has abducted the Princess Sonia. Let us take it +to be the other side, the Republican party. + +"It would still mean death; not by her own hand, but by theirs. They +twice attempted her life in Blaenau." + +"In any case, it is reasonably clear that not a moment is to be lost if +we are to help her." + +"I don't know what to do," said Fitz, "and that's the truth." + +I confessed that I too had no very clear idea of the course of action. +It occurred to me that the wisest thing to be done was to take a third +person into our counsels. + +"You ask my advice," said I; "it seems to me that the best thing to do +is to see if Coverdale will help us." + +"That will mean publicity. At all costs I feel that that must be +avoided." + +"Coverdale is a shrewd fellow. He will know what to do; he is a man +you can trust; and he will be able to Bet the proper machinery in +motion." + +My insistence on the point, and Fitz's unwilling recognition of the +need for a desperate remedy, goaded him into a half-hearted consent. +In my own mind I was persuaded of the value of Coverdale's advice, in +whatever it might consist. He was the head of the police in our shire, +and apart from a little external pomposity, without which one is given +to understand it is hardly possible for a Chief Constable to play the +part, he was a shrewd and kind-hearted fellow, who knew a good deal +about things in general. + +Poor Fitz would listen to no suggestion of food. Therefore I ordered +the car round at once, and incidentally informed the ruler of the +household, and the expectant assembly by whom she was surrounded, that +Fitz and I had some private business to transact which required our +immediate presence in the city of Middleham. + +"Odo," said she whose word is law, with a mien of dark suspicion, "if +Nevil Fitzwaren is persuading you to lend him money, I forbid you to +entertain the idea. You are really so weak in such matters. You have +really no idea of the value of money." + +"It will do you no good with your constituents either," said Mary +Catesby, "to be seen in Middleham with Nevil Fitzwaren." + +To these warning voices I turned deaf ears, and fled from the room in a +fashion so precipitate that it suggested guilt. + +No time was lost in setting forth. As we glided past the front of the +house, I at least was uncomfortably conscious of a battery of hostile +eyes in ambush behind the window panes. There could be no doubt that +every detail of our going was duly marked. Heaven knew what theories +were being propounded! Yet whatever shape they assumed I was sure that +all the ingenuity in the world would not hit the truth. No feat of +pure imagination was likely to disclose what the business really was +that had caused me to be identified in this open and flagrant manner +with the husband of the luckless circus rider from Vienna. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +EXPERT OPINION + +Every mile of the eight to Middleham, Fitz was as gloomy as the grave. +In spite of the confidence he had been led to repose in my judgment, he +seemed wholly unable to extend it to that of Coverdale. He had a +morbid dread of the police and of the publicity that would invest any +dealings with them. The preservation of his wife's incognito was +undoubtedly a matter of paramount importance. + +It was half-past twelve when we reached Middleham. We were lucky +enough to find Coverdale at his office at the sessions hall. + +"Well, what can I do for you?" said the Chief Constable, heartily. + +"You can do a great deal for us, Coverdale," said I. "But the first +thing we shall ask you to do is to forget that you are an official. We +come to you in your capacity of a personal friend. In that capacity we +seek any advice you may feel able or disposed to give us. But before +we give you any information, we should like to have your assurance that +you will treat the whole matter as being told to you in the strictest +secrecy." + +Coverdale has as active a sense of humour as his exalted station allows +him to sustain. There was something in my mode of address that seemed +to appeal to it. + +"I will promise that on one condition, Arbuthnot," said he; "which is +that you do not seek to involve me in the compounding of a felony." + +"Oh no, no, no, no!" Fitz burst out. + +Fitz's exclamation and his tragic face banished the smile that lurked +at the corners of Coverdale's lips. + +I deemed it best that Fitz should re-tell the story of his tragedy, and +this he did. In the course of his narrative the sweat ran down his +face, his hands twitched painfully, and his bloodshot eyes grew so wild +that neither Coverdale nor I cared to look at them. + +Coverdale sat mute and grave at the conclusion of Fitz's remarkable +story. He had swung round in his revolving chair to face us. His legs +were crossed and the tips of his fingers were placed together, after +the fashion that another celebrity in a branch of his calling is said +to affect. + +"It's a queer story of yours, Fitzwaren," he said at last. "But the +world is full of 'em--what?" + +"Help me," said Fitz, piteously. His voice was that of a drowning man. + +"I think we shall be able to do that," said Coverdale. He spoke in the +soothing tones of a skilful surgeon. + +"The first thing to know," said the Chief Constable, "is the number of +the car." + +"G.Y. 70942 is the number." + +Coverdale jotted it down pensively upon his blotting-pad. + +"Have you a portrait of Mrs. Fitzwaren?" he asked. + +"I have this," said Fitz. + +In the most natural manner he flung open his overcoat, pulled away his +evening tie, tore open his collar, and produced from under the rumpled +shirt front a locket suspended by a fine gold chain round his neck. It +contained a miniature of the Princess, executed in Paris. Both +Coverdale and I examined it curiously, but as we did so I fear our +minds had a single thought. It was that Fitz was a little mad. + +"Will you entrust it to me?" said Coverdale. + +Fitz's indecision was pathetic. + +"It's the only one I've got," he mumbled. "I don't suppose I shall +ever be able to get another. I ought to have had a replica while I had +the chance." + +"I undertake to return it within three days," said Coverdale, with a +simple kindliness for which I honoured him. + +Fitz handed the locket to him impulsively, + +"Of course take it, by all means," he said, hurriedly. "I know you +will take care of it. Fact is, you know, I'm a bit knocked over." + +"Naturally, my dear fellow," said Coverdale. "So should we all be. +But I shall go up to town this afternoon and have a talk with them at +Scotland Yard. + +"I was afraid that would have to happen. I wanted it to be kept an +absolute secret, you know." + +"You can depend upon the Yard to be the soul of discretion. It is not +the first time they have been entrusted with the internal affairs of a +reigning family. If the Princess is still in this country and she is +still alive, and there is no reason to think otherwise, I believe we +shall not have to wait long for news of her." + +Coverdale spoke in a tone of calm reassurance, which at least was +eloquent of his tact and his knowledge of men. Overwrought as Fitz +was, it was not without its effect upon him. + +"Ought not the ports to be watched?" he said. + +"I hardly think it will be necessary. But if Scotland Yard thinks +otherwise, they will be watched of course. Whatever happens, +Fitzwaren, you can be quite sure that nothing will be left undone in +our endeavour to find out what has really happened to the lady we shall +agree to call Mrs. Fitzwaren. Further, you can depend upon it that +absolute discretion will be used." + +We left Coverdale, imbued with a sense of gratitude for his cordial +optimism, and I think we both felt that a peculiarly delicate business +could not be in more competent hands. He was a man of sound judgment +and infinite discretion. Throughout this singular interview he had +emerged as a shrewd, tactful and eminently kind-hearted fellow. + +As a result of this visit to the sessions hall at Middleham, poor Fitz +allowed himself a little hope. He had been duly impressed by the man +of affairs who had taken the case in hand. However, he was still by no +means himself. He was still in a strangely excited and gloomy +condition; and this was aggravated by his friendlessness and the +feeling that the hand of every man was against him. + +In the circumstances, I felt obliged to yield to his expressed wish +that I should accompany him to the Grange. As the crow flies it is +less than four miles from my house. + +The home of the Fitzwarens is a rambling, gloomy and dilapidated place +enough. An air pervades it of having run to seed. Every Fitzwaren who +has inhabited it within living memory has been a gambler and a _roue_ +in one form or another. The Fitzwarens are by long odds the oldest +family in our part of the world, and by odds equally long their record +is the most unfortunate. Coming of a long line of ill-regulated lives, +the heavy bills drawn by his forbears upon posterity seemed to have +become payable in the person of the unhappy Fitz. Doubtless it was not +right that one who in Mrs. Catesby's phrase was a married man, a father +of a family, and a county member, should constitute himself as the +apologist of such a man as Fitz. But, in spite of his errors, I had +never found it in my heart to act towards him as so many of his +neighbours did not hesitate to do. The fact that he had fagged for me +at school and the knowledge that there was a lovable, a pathetic and +even a heroic side to one to whom fate had been relentlessly cruel, +made it impossible for me to regard him as wholly outside the pale. + +I can never forget our arrival at the Grange on this piercing winter +afternoon. My car belonged to that earlier phase of motoring when the +traveller was more exposed to the British climate than modern science +considers necessary. The snow, at the beck of a terrible north-easter, +beat in our faces pitilessly. And when we came half frozen into the +house, we were met on its threshold by a mite of four. She was the +image of her mother, with the same skin of lustrous olive, the same +mass of raven hair, and the same challenging black eyes. In her hand +was a mutilated doll. It was carried upside down and it had been +decapitated. + +"I want my mama," she said with an air of authority which was +ludicrously like that of the circus rider from Vienna. "Have you +brought my mama?" + +"No, my pearl of price," said Fitz, swinging the mite up to his +snow-covered face, "but she will be here soon. She has sent you this." + +He kissed the small elf, who had all the disdain of a princess and the +witchery of a fairy. + +"Who is dis?" said she, pointing at me with her doll. + +"Dis, my jewel of the east, is our kind friend Mr. Arbuthnot. If you +are very nice to him he will stay to tea." + +"Do you like my mama, Mistah 'Buthnot?" said the latest scion of +Europe's oldest dynasty, with a directness which was disconcerting from +a person of four. + +"Very much indeed," said I, warmly. + +"You can stay to tea, Mistah 'Buthnot. I like you vewy much." + +The prompt cordiality of the verdict was certainly pleasant to a humble +unit of a monarchical country. The creature extended her tiny paw with +a gesture so superb that there was only one thing left for a courtier +to do. That was to kiss it. + +The owner of the paw seemed to be much gratified by this discreet +action. + +"I like you vewy much, Mistah 'Buthnot; I will tell you my name." + +"Oh, do, please!" + +"My name is Marie Sophie Louise Waren Fitzwaren." + +"Phoebus, _what_ a name!" + +"And dis, Mistah 'Buthnot, is my guv'ness, Miss Green. She is a tarn +fool." + +The lady thus designated had come unexpectedly upon the scene. An +estimable and bespectacled gentlewoman of uncompromising mien, she +gazed down upon her charge with the gravest austerity. + +"Marie Louise, if I hear that phrase again you will go to bed." + +As Miss Green spoke, however, she gazed at me over her spectacles in a +humorously reflective fashion. + +Marie Louise shrugged her small shoulders disdainfully, and in a tone +that, to say the least, was peremptory, ordered the butler, who looked +venerable enough to be her great-grandfather, to bring the tea. The +_conge_ that the venerable servitor performed upon receiving this order +rendered it clear that upon a day he had been a confidential retainer +in the royal house of Illyria. + +"I am afraid, Miss Green," said I, tentatively, "that your post is no +sinecure." + +"That mite of four has the imperious will of a Catherine of Russia," +said Miss Green, with an amused smile. "If she ever attains the estate +of womanhood, I shudder to think what she will be." + +Fitz entreated me to dine with him. I yielded in the hope that a +little company might help him to fight his depression. The meal was +not a cheerful one. Under the most favourable conditions Fitz is not a +cheerful individual; but I was obliged to note that of late years he +had learned to exercise his will. In many ways I thought he had +changed for the better. He had lost his coarseness of speech; he was +scrupulously moderate in what he ate and drank, and his bearing had +gained in reserve and dignity. In a word, he had grown into a more +civilised, a more developed being than I had ever thought it possible +for him to become. + +It was past eleven when I returned to my own domain. The blizzard +still prevailed, and I found Mrs. Arbuthnot in the drawing-room +enthroned before a roaring fire, which happily served as some +mitigation of the arctic demeanour with which my return was greeted. +This, in conjunction with the adverse elements through which I had +already passed, was enough to complete the overthrow of the strongest +constitution. + +The ruler of Dympsfield House--Dympsfield House is the picturesque name +conferred upon our ancestral home by my grandfather, Mr. George +Arbuthnot of Messrs. Arbuthnot, Boyd and Co., the celebrated firm of +sugar refiners of Bristol--the ruler of Dympsfield House was ostensibly +engaged in the study of a work of fiction of a pronounced sporting +character, with a yellow cover. Works of this nature and the +provincial edition of the _Daily Courier_, which is guaranteed to have +a circulation of ten million copies _per diem_, are the only forms of +literature that the ruler of Dymspfield House considers it "healthy" to +peruse. + +When I entered the drawing-room with a free and easy air which was +designed to suggest that my conscience had nothing to conceal and +nothing to defend, the wife of my bosom discarded her novel and fixed +me with that cool gaze which all who are born Vane-Anstruther consider +it to be the hall-mark of their caste to wield. + +"Where have you been, Odo?" was the greeting that was reserved for me. + +"Dining with Fitz," said I, succinctly. + +A short pause. + +"What did you say?" + +I repeated my modest statement. + +A snort. + +"Upon my word, Odo, I can't think----!" + +It called for a nice judgment to know which opening to play. + +"Fitz is in trouble," said I. + +"Is that _very_ surprising?" + +It is difficult to render the true Vane-Anstruther vocal inflections in +terms of literary art. A similar problem is presented by the +unwavering glint of the china-blue eye and the subtle curl of the lip. + +"In the sense you wish to convey, _mon enfant_, it is surprising. Fitz +is one of the poor devils who are by no means so black as they are +painted." + +A toss of the head. + +"Don't forget that I have known Fitz all his life; that we were at +school together; and that one way and another I have seen a good deal +of him." + +"I wouldn't boast about it, if I were you. The man is a byword; you +know that. It is not kind to me." + +I was in mortal fear of tears. That dread accessory of conjugal life +is permitted by the Code De Vere Vane-Anstruther in certain situations. +However, although the weather was very heavy, for the time being that +was spared me, and I breathed more freely. + +Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther, who had a cigarette between his +lips, and was lying full length upon a chintz that was charmingly +devised in blue and yellow, inquired whether I had mentioned to Fitz +the subject of a meeting with the outraged Brasset. + +"If the weather don't pick up," said this Corinthian, "we shall go up +to town to-morrow, and my pal in Jermyn Street will put Brasset through +his facings. With a bit of practice Brasset ought to be able to give +Fitz his gruel." + +"I fail to see," said I, "why the unfortunate husband should be brought +to book for the sins of the wife." + +"If you take to yourself a wife," said my relation by marriage, with a +didacticism of which he is seldom guilty, "it is for better or for +worse; and if your missus overrides the best 'ound in the pack and then +'its the Master over the head with her crop because he tells her what +he thinks of her, you are looking both ways for trouble." + +"It is a hard doctrine," said I. + +"If a chap is such a fool as to marry, he must stand to the +consequences." + +"He must!" + +Such a prompt corroboration of the young fellow's reasoning can only be +described as sinister. A flash of the china-blue eyes came from the +vicinity of the hearthrug. + +"How did Mrs. Fitz bear herself at the dinner table?" inquired the +sharer of my joys. "Did she eat with her knife and drink out of the +finger bowls?" + +"No, _mon enfant_, I am compelled to say that she did not." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot frowned a becoming incredulity. + +"You surprise one." + +"Perhaps it is not altogether remarkable." + +"A matter of opinion, surely." + +"Personally, I prefer to regard it as a matter of fact. You see, Mrs. +Fitz was not at the dinner table." + +"Where was she, may I ask?" + +"She had gone up to town." + +"And was that why her husband was so upset?" + +"There is reason to believe that it was." + +"Oh!" + +There was great virtue in that exclamation. My amiable coadjutor, as I +knew perfectly well, was burning to pursue her inquiries, but her +status as a human being did not permit her to proceed farther. There +are many advantages incident to the proud condition of a De Vere +Vane-Anstruther, but that almost inhuman eminence has its drawbacks +also. Chief among them are the limits imposed upon a perfectly natural +and healthy curiosity. It is not seemly for a member of that +distinguished clan to enter too exhaustively into the affairs of her +neighbours. + +On the following morning, in spite of the behaviour of the weather, we +were favoured by an early visit from Mrs. Catesby. She was in high +feather. + +"You have heard the news, of course!" she proclaimed for the benefit of +Mrs. Arbuthnot and with an expansion of manner that she does not always +permit herself. "Of course Odo has told you what brought Nevil +Fitzwaren here yesterday morning." + +"Oh no, he hasn't," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, rather aggrievedly. + +"Is it conceivable, my dear child, that you have _not_ heard the news?" + +"I only know, Mary, that Nevil Fitzwaren is in trouble. Odo did not +think well to supply the details, and really the affairs of the +Fitzwarens interest one so little that one did not feel inclined to +inquire." + +"The creature has bolted, my dear." + +In spite of Mrs. Arbuthnot's determination to take no interest in the +affairs of the Fitzwarens, she was not proof against this melodramatic +announcement. + +"Bolted, Mary!" + +"Bolted, child. And with whom do you suppose?" + +"One would say with the chauffeur," hazarded Mrs. Arbuthnot, promptly. + +Mrs. Catesby's countenance fell. She made no attempt to dissemble her +disappointment. + +"Then Odo _has_ told you after all." + +"Not a syllable, I assure you, Mary. But I am certain that if Mrs. +Fitz has bolted with anybody, it must have been with the chauffeur." + +"How clever of you, my dear child!" The Great Lady's admiration was +open and sincere. "Such a right feeling about things! She has +certainly bolted with the chauffeur." + +"Odo," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, triumphant, yet imperious, "why didn't you +tell me all this?" + +"_Mon enfant_," said I, in the mellowest tones of which I am master, +"you gave me clearly to understand that the affairs of the Fitzwarens +had no possible interest for you." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot went to the length of biting her lip. By withholding +such a sensational bit of news, I had been guilty of an unheard-of +outrage upon human nature. But she could not deny my plea of +justification. + +"Nevil Fitzwaren is far luckier than he deserves to be," said the Great +Lady. "It is a merciful dispensation that dear Evelyn did not actually +call upon her. I feel sure she would have done, had I not implored her +not to be hasty." + +"But Mary, I was under the impression that you called upon her +yourself." + +"So I did, Odo. But that was merely out of respect for the memory of +Nevil's mother. Besides, it was only right that somebody should see +what her home was like." + +"What was it like, Mary?" said I. + +Mrs. Catesby compressed her lips. + +"I ask you, Mary. You alone sacrificed yourself upon the altar of +public decency; you alone are in possession of the grim facts." + +"Let us be charitable, my dear Odo. After all, what can one expect of +a person from a continental circus?" + +"What indeed!" was my pious objuration. + +"There is only one thing, I fear, for Nevil to do now," said the Great +Lady. "He must get a divorce and marry his cook." + +The august matron denied us the honour of her company at luncheon. She +was due at the Vicarage. And there was reason to believe that she +would drink tea at the Priory and dine at the Castle. It was so +necessary that the joyful tidings of the Divine justice that had +overtaken the wicked should be spread abroad. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +COVERDALE'S REPORT + +In the afternoon I rode over to the Grange to learn if there was any +news and to see how Fitz was bearing up. He was certainly doing +uncommonly well. His face was less haggard, his eyes were not so wild, +while a change of linen and a razor had helped his appearance +considerably. + +Coverdale had telegraphed to say that the car had been traced to a +garage in Regent Street, and that before long he hoped to be in +possession of further information. + +Fitz seemed to regard the finding of the car as a favourable omen. At +least his emotions were under far better control than on the previous +day. His manner was no longer overwrought, and he was able to take a +more practical view of the situation. + +He promised to keep me informed of any fresh development, and I left +him without misgiving. He seemed much more fit to cope with events +than when I had left him the night before. + +It was in the afternoon of the following day that I saw Fitz again. It +happened that I was just about to set out from my own door when he +drove up in a dogcart. He was accompanied by Coverdale. + +Fitz has a curiously mobile countenance. It is quick to advertise the +fleeting emotions of its owner. This afternoon there was a light in +his eye and a look of resolution and alertness about him which said +that news had come, and that, whatever its nature, Nevil Fitzwaren was +not prepared to submit tamely to fate. + +"I was on the point of coming to see you," I explained as I led them in. + +The presence of Coverdale seemed to indicate an important development. +It would have been difficult, however, to deduce so much from the +bearing of the Chief Constable. He is such a discreet and sagacious +individual, that no amount of special information is capable of +detracting from or adding to his habitual air of composed importance. + +My visitors were supplied with a little sustenance in a liquid form +before I asked for the news; and then in answer to my demand Fitz +called upon Coverdale to put me _au fait_ with the latest information. + +It appeared that Coverdale had hastened to take Scotland Yard into his +confidence, and that that famous organisation had been able in a +surprisingly short space of time to shed a light upon the mysterious +disappearance of Mrs. Fitz. + +"She has been traced to the Illyrian Embassy in Portland Place," said +Coverdale. + +"Indeed!" said I. "In that case we can congratulate you, Fitz, that +she is likely to come by no harm in that dignified seclusion." + +"Yes, that aspect of the affair is decidedly favourable," said +Coverdale. "But as far as the Commissioner is able to learn, the lady +is to all intents and purposes being held a close prisoner." + +"A very singular state of things, surely." + +"Decidedly singular. But there can be no doubt that the Illyrian +Ambassador is acting upon strict instructions from his Sovereign." + +"He must be a pretty cool hand, to kidnap the wife of an Englishman in +this country in the broad light of day, and the monarch for whom he +acts strikes one also as being a pretty cool customer." + +Coverdale laughed. He knocked the ash off the end of his cigar with an +air of reflective enjoyment. + +"Kings are kings in Illyria," said he. "Saving the presence of the +son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth, his Majesty is no believer in this +damned constitutional nonsense. He has his own ideas and his own +little way of carrying them out." + +"He has, apparently. But unfortunately for Ferdinand the Twelfth and +fortunately for his son-in-law, Fitz, we in this country are rather +decided believers in this damned constitutional nonsense. I daresay, +Coverdale, your friend the Commissioner will be able to put his +Illyrian Majesty right upon the point." + +The stealthy air of enjoyment that was hovering about Coverdale's +rubicund visage seemed to deepen. + +"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" he said, with a cheerful puff, "but it +seems it is not quite so easy as you'd suppose." + +I confessed to surprise. + +"You see, Arbuthnot, even in a country like ours, kings are entitled to +a measure of respect. The reigning family of Illyria--under the favour +of our distinguished friend"--the Chief Constable bowed to Fitz with a +solemn unction that to my mind was indescribably comic--"has ties of +blood with nearly all the royal houses of Europe; the Illyrian Embassy +is by no means a negligible quantity at the Court of Saint James, for +if Illyria is not very large it is devilish well connected; and again, +as the Commissioner assures me, an embassy is sacred earth which lies +outside his jurisdiction." + +"He seems to have come up against rather a tough proposition." + +"He is the first to admit it. Here we have a flagrant outrage +committed upon the personal property of a law-abiding Englishman, under +his own vine and fig-tree, in his own little county; the perpetrators +of the outrage sit unconcerned in Portland Place; yet there seems to be +no machinery in this admirably governed and highly constitutional +island which can redress this flagrant hardship." + +"But surely, Coverdale, a way can be found?" + +"The Commissioner declined point-blank to undertake anything on his own +responsibility. Accordingly we went to the Foreign Office and had an +interview with an Official. The Official didn't seem to know what the +practice of the Office was in such cases, for the simple reason that it +was the first time that the Office appeared to have acquired any +practice in them. But upon one point he was perfectly clear. It was +that the Commissioner would do well to return without delay to his +fingermarks and his photographs of notorious criminals, and contrive to +forget that "L'Affaire Fitz" had been brought to his notice." + +"But that is absurd." + +"That is how the matter stands at all events," said Coverdale with an +air of detachment. + +"Did the Official confer with the Minister?" + +"Yes; and the Minister conferred with the Official; and their joint +wisdom amounted to this: if a British subject indulges in the luxury of +a Ferdinand the Twelfth for a father-in-law, he must refer to God any +little differences that may arise between them, because the law of +England does not contemplate and declines to take cognisance of these +domesticities." + +"It is incredible!" + +"I agree with you, Arbuthnot; and yet if you look at the matter in all +its bearings, it is difficult to see what other conclusion could have +been arrived at. The whole affair bristles with difficulties. There +is no specific evidence that the Crown Princess of Illyria is actually +in need of aid. Although many of the details of her flight from +Blaenau five years ago are known to the Foreign Office, it is in +complete ignorance of the fact that she was in residence in this +country. And again, the whole thing is far too delicate to risk a fall +with the Illyrian Ambassador." + +"Certainly the national horror of looking foolish appears to justify +the F.O. in the _role_ of Agag. But in my humble judgment its masterly +inactivity is desperately hard on a British subject." + +"Well," said Coverdale, having recourse to the plain man's philosophy, +"if a British subject will indulge in a Ferdinand the Twelfth for a +father-in-law!" + +During our extremely piquant discussion--to me it was certainly that, +however tame and flat it may appear in the bald prose in which it is +now invested--the person most affected by it was a study in sombre +self-repression. He spoke not a word, he hardly indulged in a gesture; +yet his whole bearing had significance. And when at last the time came +for him to speak, he used a quiet deliberation as though every word had +been sought out and weighed beforehand. + +"There is only one thing to be done," he said. "As the law won't help +me, I must help the law." + +Not only in its substance, but also in the manner of its delivery, such +an announcement was entirely worthy of the son-in-law of Ferdinand the +Twelfth. + +I saw the rather amused uplift of Coverdale's eyebrows, but knowing the +unusual calibre of the speaker, I felt instinctively that at this stage +a display of scepticism would be out of place. Fitz was quite capable +of helping the law of England, if he really felt that it required his +assistance. + +"I can't thank you, Coverdale," he said simply. "You have done for me +what I can't repay. This applies to you also, Arbuthnot. I shall +never forget what you've done for me. But now I am going to ask you +both as fellow Englishmen, with wives and children of your own, to +stand by me while I try to get fair play." + +Such words affected us both. + +"You can certainly count upon me for what I may be worth," said I, "but +frankly, my dear fellow, I fail to see what you can do in face of the +Foreign Office decree." + +"I shall play Ferdinand at his own game and beat him at it as I've done +before to-day." + +It was a vaunt that Fitz was entitled to make. The elopement from +Blaenau must have been the work of a bold and resourceful man. + +"Of one thing I am convinced," Fitz proceeded: "there is not an hour to +lose. My wife may be taken back to Blaenau at any moment. I am +confident that von Arlenberg, the Ambassador, has orders from +Ferdinand. If I am to save the life of Sonia, I must act without +delay." + +Coverdale nodded his head in silence, while I felt a pang of dismay. +The argument was clear enough, but Fitz's impotence in the presence of +events made him a figure for pity. + +His demeanour, however, betrayed no consciousness of this. In those +strange eyes there was purpose, and something had entered his voice. + +"I want half a dozen good fellows--sportsmen--to stand by me. You are +one, Arbuthnot. You too, Coverdale. You will stand by me, eh?" + +The Chief Constable looked a little uneasy. To the official mind such +a request was decidedly ambiguous, not to say uncomfortable. + +"I should be glad, Fitzwaren," said he, "if you will tell me precisely +what responsibilities I shall incur if I pledge myself to this course." + +"It depends on circumstances," said Fitz. "But if I find my back to +the wall, as I daresay I shall before I am through with this business, +I should like to have at my elbow a few men I can trust." + +"So long as you don't depute me to throw a bomb into the Embassy!" said +Coverdale. + +Fitz's scheme for the recovery of his lawful property was not so +drastic as that, yet when it came to be unfolded it was somewhat of a +nature to give pause to a pair of Englishmen converging upon middle +age, pledged especially to observe the law. + +"I intend to have her out of Portland Place. She must come away +to-morrow. There is not an hour to lose. But I must find a few pals +who are good at need, because it won't be child's play, you know." + +"It certainly won't be child's play," agreed the Chief Constable, "if +it is your intention to break into the Illyrian Embassy and seize the +Crown Princess by force." + +"There is no help for it," said Fitz, quietly. + +Coverdale grew thoughtful. It was tolerably clear that Fitz was +contemplating an act of open violence; and as a breach of the peace +must at all times be construed as a breach of the law, it was scarcely +for him to aid and abet him. At heart, nevertheless, the worthy Chief +Constable was a downright honest, four-square, genuine fellow. He did +not say as much, but there was something in his manner which implied +that he had come to the conclusion that those repositories of justice, +national and international, Scotland Yard and the Foreign Office, were +conniving at a frank injustice to a fellow Briton. + +"It is a hard case," said Coverdale; "and in the circumstances I don't +altogether see how you can be blamed if you take reasonable steps to +recover your property." + +"In other words, Coverdale," said I, "you are prepared to countenance +the raid on the Illyrian Embassy?" + +The Chief Constable laughed. + +"I don't say that exactly. And yet, after all, this is a free country; +and if a parcel of damned foreigners bagged my wife, and the law could +afford me no redress, I'm afraid, I'm sadly afraid----" + +"It would be 'Up Guards and at 'em'?" + +"Upon my word, Arbuthnot, I'm not sure it wouldn't!" + +"Thank you, Coverdale," said Fitz. "And I take it that both of you +will go up to London with me to-morrow." + +"What do you ask us precisely to do?" + +"Leave the details to me"--Fitz's air was that of a staff officer. +"You can trust me not to go out of my way to look for trouble. But it +is not much use for one man single-handed to attempt to force his way +into the Illyrian Embassy for the purpose of effecting the rescue of +the Crown Princess." + +"It would be suicidal for one man to attempt it," we agreed. + +"What is the minimum of assistance you will require?" said I. + +"Half a dozen stout fellows ought to be able to manage it comfortably. +There's Coverdale and you and me. If I can enlist three others between +now and to-morrow, the thing is as good as done." + +Fitz's calm tone of optimism was certainly surprising. The Chief +Constable and myself exchanged rather rueful glances. We appeared to +have pledged ourselves to a course of action that might have the most +serious and far-reaching consequences. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +PREPARATIONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN + +One thing was perfectly clear; we were pretty well in a cleft stick. +So heartily had we espoused the cause of a much-injured man, that to +withhold practical assistance, now it was needed so sorely, was hardly +possible. Yet there could be no doubt that discomfiture and perplexity +were beginning to play the deuce with the Chief Constable's official +placidity. I also, "a married man, a father of a family, and a county +member," began to have qualms. + +"Three other stout fellows," said Fitz, "who are not afraid of a tight +place and who can be trusted with a revolver, are almost a necessity. +The trouble is to find them." + +On many occasions since, I have had cause to review my conduct in this +crisis. Whether it was that of a sane, judicial-minded, law-abiding +unit of society I have never been able to determine. Doubtless I erred +egregiously. All the same I shall always protest that Nevil Fitzwaren +was a much-injured man. Moreover, now that the call to arms had come +to him, nature had thought fit to invest him with that occult power +that makes a man a leader of others. I could not have believed such a +transfiguration to be possible. He seemed suddenly to emerge as the +possessor of a steadfastness of purpose and a strength of will which +commanded sympathy in almost the same measure that his pathetic +helplessness had in the first place aroused it. + +"Can you suggest three stout fellows, Arbuthnot? Gentlemen, if +possible, and chaps to be trusted. Of course they will have to know +the why and wherefore of it all." + +Under the spell that Fitz was wielding over me I became the victim of +an inspiration. In a flash there came into my mind the three gamesters +necessary to complete the _partie_. They were Jodey, his friend in +Jermyn Street, "who had had lessons from Burns," and that much-enduring +but thoroughly sound-hearted fellow, the Master of the Crackanthorpe. +For an instant I reflected with the Napoleonic gaze of Fitz upon me. +And then through sheer human weakness I committed the most signal +indiscretion of which a tolerably blameless existence had ever been +guilty. I permitted the names of these three champions to cross my +lips. + +Coverdale turned his sombre eyes upon me. They were devoid of anger, +but extremely full of sorrow. + +"You old fool!" he said under his breath. "You look like landing us +fairly." + +"Well," whispered the egregious I, "we can't leave the poor chap in the +lurch at this stage of the proceedings, can we?" + +"I suppose not; but this business looks like costing me my billet. Let +us pray God he don't intend to shoot the ambassador." + +"Not he," said I, assuming a cheerfulness I did not feel, in the hope +of minimising my lapse from the strait way of prudence. "He is a very +sensible fellow and a devilish plucky one." + +The immediate result of my indiscretion was that I was urged to summon +my relation by marriage, in order that his valuable services might be +enlisted. With that end in view, Parkins was sent in search of him. +He returned all too soon with the information that he was over at the +Hall playing billiards with Lord Brasset. + +"Two birds with one stone!" said Fitz, exultantly. "The best thing we +can do is to go over and see them." + +The Hall is not more than a hundred yards or so from our modest +demesne; and at Fitz's behest we set forth in quest of recruits. + +"Nice state o' things!" growled Coverdale _en route_. + +In due course we were ushered into Brasset's billiard-room. The owner +thereof and my relation by marriage were engaged in a friendly but +one-sided game of shilling snooker. The latter, in accordance with his +invariable practice of "putting his best leg first" to atone for the +lifelong handicap of having been born a younger son, was potting three +times the number of balls of his charmingly amiable and courteous +opponent. + +"Hullo, you fellows," said Brasset. "Take a cue and join us." + +The presence in that place of the husband of Mrs. Fitz was wholly +unlooked-for, but neither of the players betrayed their surprise. Any +surprise they had to display was duly forthcoming later. + +Most people who have mixed at all with their fellows are more or less +finished dissemblers. But Brasset and Jodey were by no means proof +against the extraordinary tale that Fitz had come to unfold. + +"Heiress to oldest reigning family in Europe!" exclaimed Brasset, whose +perturbation and bewilderment were comic in the extreme. "In that case +she had an absolute _right_ to hit me over the head with her crop, even +if she did go rather far in overriding Challenger." + +As for Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther, his countenance was a +study. + +"Well, I always said she was _it_," he murmured rapturously. + +"Stand by you--ra-_ther_!" said Brasset. "Only too proud. I've got a +beautiful Colt revolver in my bureau. Shot a lion with it in Africa." + +"Then you ought to be able to manage an ambassador in Portland Place," +said I. + +"Ra-_ther_!" + +"It's a go, then?" said Fitz. "I can count on you fellows to give me a +hand. We may have to put it across that swine von Arlenberg, although +of course he is merely obeying the orders of Ferdinand." + +"Yes, of course." + +The two recruits to the cause of the Crown Princess beamed joyfully. +They took the oath of fealty, which merely assumed the form of +promising to dine at Ward's before the event, and promising to sup at +the Savoy after it. + +The sixth person essential to the success of Fitz's scheme was the +unknown sportsman of Jermyn Street, who had had lessons from Burns. +Jodey was emphatic in his declaration that his friend, whom he +proclaimed as "the amateur middle-weight champion of the United +Kingdom," would be only too eager to seize one of the great +opportunities of his life. A telegram was immediately concocted for +this paladin, who was urged to turn up at Ward's on the morrow at the +appointed hour. "Bring a revolver with you. There will be a bit of +fun going after dinner," was a clause that the author of the telegram +was keenly desirous to insert. + +Opinion was divided as to the wisdom of inserting the clause in +question. To the shrewd and cautious official mind, as represented by +Coverdale, it would be sufficient to urge a sensible and law-abiding +citizen to give the proposed dinner party a wide berth. Personally, I +was of Coverdale's opinion; Fitz and Brasset "saw nothing out of the +way in it," while its author was convinced that so little would the +clause in question be likely to deter his friend O'Mulligan, that it +would invest a commonplace invitation to dine at Ward's and sup at the +Savoy with a sufficient spice of romance to preclude "the best +sportsman that ever came out of Ireland" from having a previous +engagement. + +Youth will be served. Jodey's lucid argument carried weight enough for +the telegram to be sent to Jermyn Street in all its pristine integrity. +Coverdale looked rueful all the same, and I felt his gaze of grave +reproach upon me. The leader of the enterprise, however, was far from +sharing the misgivings of the Chief Constable. On the contrary, he +felt that the cause of the Princess Sonia had gained three valuable +recruits. + +Certainly, the demeanour of Brasset and of my relation by marriage left +nothing to be desired from the point of view of whole-heartedness. +They were only too eager to embrace the opportunity of redressing a +notorious wrong. Coverdale and I could by no means rise to their +enthusiasm. We were both over forty, and at that time of life the +average man cannot evoke that quality, unless it is in the pursuit of a +peerage, but in our innermost hearts we were fain to feel that it did +them honour. + +To Brasset's suggestion that we should dine with him that evening, in +order that we might evolve, as far as in us lay, a plan of campaign, we +yielded a ready response. Incidentally, it may be well to state that +Brasset is unmarried, and that his mother was spending the winter at +San Remo. + +It was in sore travail of the spirit that I walked back to Dympsfield +House, and proceeded to hunt for the weapon which was kept in my +dressing-room as a precaution against burglars. Ruefully it was taken +from its sanctuary and examined. Then I went in search of the ruler of +the household. Having found her pottering about the greenhouse, I +broke the news that I was dining out that evening, and that on the +morrow duty called me to the metropolis, because I feared that my aged +grandmother's chronic bronchitis had taken a turn for the worse. + +Both these announcements were accepted with more serenity than the +inward monitor had led me to anticipate. + +"By all means dine with Reggie Brasset, although I think it is very +wrong of him not to ask me. And by all means go to London to-morrow to +see poor dear Gran, and"--here it was that the first small fly was +disclosed in the ointment--"take me. Now that the weather has gone all +to pieces, it is a good time to see the new plays; and I must have at +least two new frocks and one of those chinchilla coats that everybody +is wearing." + +There are occasions when the most reciprocal nature may regard marriage +as an overrated institution. + +"But, my dear child," I gasped, "did you not promise upon your sacred +word of honour that if you had that mare at the beginning of November, +you would not want to exceed your dress allowance before the summer?" + +"Did I?" said a voice of bland inquiry. + +"Did you, _mon enfant_!" + +"But then you see the poor thing has been lame for quite a fortnight." + +It was man's work to convince Mrs. Arbuthnot, delicately, tenderly, but +quite firmly, that not for a moment could her demands be entertained. +How in the end it was contrived I shall not attempt to explain. Who +among us is competent to render these hearthrug diplomacies in a just +notation? But by some occult means I was able to effect a compromise +upon terms which only a sanguine temperament could have hoped for. I +was to be permitted to dine with Brasset and play a quiet rubber of +bridge, and on the morrow I was to go to town to spend the week-end +with my grandmother; in consideration of which benefits, the second +party to the contract was to spend the week-end with her admirable +parents at Doughty Bridge, Yorks, and become the recipient of a sable +stole and an oxidised silver muff chain. + +I could not help feeling that such a compact was extremely honourable +to the political side of my nature. I had been prepared for pearl +earrings or a new opera cloak at the least. There can be little doubt +that tolerably regular attendance at the House of Commons during the +course of three sessions does not a little to equip a man for the more +complex phases of civilised life. + +Brasset's impromptu dinner party that evening was a decided success. +For this happy result he was not a little indebted to the foresight of +his amiable and ever-lamented father. The wine was excellent. Even +the Chief Constable, who looked as sombre as a cardinal and as rueful +as Don Quixote, swallowed the brown sherry with approbation, toyed with +the lighter vintages, sipped the port wine with sage approval, admired +the old brandy, and told one of the best stories I have ever heard in +my life. + +At the conclusion of this masterpiece of refined ribaldry, Brasset gave +a peremptory little tap on the table and rose to his feet. + +"Gentlemen," said he, "I ask you to drink the health of the Crown +Princess of Illyria. May God defend the right! With the toast, I beg +to be allowed to couple the name of our friend and neighbour, Mr. Nevil +Fitzwaren." + +The toast was honoured in due form. + +"Thank you, gentlemen." Fitz's reply was made with touching +simplicity. "God _will_ defend the right. He always does. But I +thank you all from the bottom of my heart for standing by me to see +that I get fair play. It's good to be born an Englishman." + +"Hear, hear; quite so," said the Chief Constable. + +Out of the corner of one rueful eye, however, the head of our +constabulary favoured me with a glance that was at once whimsical and +lugubrious. The thought was ever present in that official breast that +the slightest hitch in a decidedly precarious adventure would be +fraught for all concerned in it with consequences which he did not care +to contemplate. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +ON THE EVE + +A calm inquiry into the case rendered it inconceivable that two pillars +of the Constitution should commit themselves irrevocably to a scheme of +action whose true sphere was the boards of a playhouse or the pages of +a lurid romance. By what lapse of the reason had they permitted +themselves to drift into a position so ludicrous yet so eminently +dangerous? Possibly it was right for irresponsible youth; possibly it +was right for men of temperament like the heroic Fitz; but for +Lieutenant-Colonel John Chalmers Coverdale, C.M.G., late of His +Majesty's Carabineers, and Odo Arbuthnot, Member of Parliament for the +Uppingdon Division of Middleshire, it was confessedly an egregious +folly. + +We were both past the age when such a scheme would have appealed to our +high spirits as a superior sort of "rag." Once embarked upon it, who +should say whither it might lead? It was impossible to foretell the +course of such an adventure. Two such devotees of law and order did +well to entertain misgivings, even with the winecup in their hands. + +As far as the other side of the picture was concerned, Fitz was fully +entitled to regard himself as a much-injured man. It is true that in +the first instance he had taken the liberty of contracting a morganatic +marriage with a princess in the direct line of succession of a reigning +house. But in a country like ours, where the freedom of the subject +and the right of the individual to shape his own destiny form the +keystone of the arch upon which the fabric of society is raised, it was +impossible not to sympathise keenly with Fitz. All freeborn Englishmen +could not fail to resent the intervention of an irresponsible third +party, who was recklessly determined to violate a tie that had the +sanction of God. + +Over our cigars, when the servants had left the room, the orders for +the morrow were discussed. + +"I hope, Fitzwaren," said the Chief Constable, "that you fully realise +the extreme gravity of your undertaking. A single error of judgment, a +single slip in your mode of procedure, and we are certain to find +ourselves very badly landed indeed. Personally, I hope very much that +you will leave lethal weapons out of the case. If we carry them we run +up against the law; and not only will they prejudice our cause but +there is no saying to what they may lead." + +"I should like," said I, "to identify myself with these remarks of +Coverdale's. I concur entirely." + +Fitz removed the cigar from his lips and leaned back in his chair. He +seemed to be pondering deeply. + +"I respect the opinion of both of you," he said, speaking with a good +deal of deliberation after a pause that was somewhat lengthy. "You are +quite right in one sense, but in the most important sense of all I am +sure you are wrong. I should like everybody who is going into this +business to understand clearly that it is most likely to prove +extremely serious. We must take every reasonable precaution, because +the moment we enter von Arlenberg's house we carry our lives in our +hands. I know these Illyrians; as soon as they understand our game +they will use no ceremony. Law or no law, they will shoot us like dogs +if they think it is necessary. And I can assure you they will think it +is necessary, unless we get them with their hands up." + +"I don't like lethal weapons," said the Chief Constable. + +"I don't like them either," said Fitz, "but if we are to come through +with this business, we shall be compelled to carry them." Suddenly his +voice sank. "The truth is, this game is so dangerous, that I don't +urge anybody to take part in it. Let any man who thinks the cause is +good enough follow me with a loaded revolver in his right-hand trouser +pocket; and let any man who doesn't keep out of it and I shall be the +last to blame him." + +In the language there may not have been persuasiveness, but there was a +good deal in the tone. Fitz's manner was that of a leader of others; +of one who foresaw the risks he incurred; who embraced them +deliberately; who having once formed his plan stuck to it whatever it +might entail. + +Coverdale had seen service in Zululand, the Transvaal, and in Eygpt; +Brasset and I had borne a humble share in the recent transactions in +South Africa; yet in an unconscious way we were all susceptible to the +play of a powerful will and a magnetic personality. Cynics may say it +was the wine that turned the scale--the juice of the grape is the fount +of many a hardy resolution--but I prefer to think it was the quality of +Fitz himself. Retreat at the eleventh hour might have been construed +as dishonourable, but men like Coverdale had no need to be +fantastically nice upon the point of honour. It was, I think, that +Fitz carried conviction. His was the inestimable gift of rising with +his theme. Heaven knew! the enterprise was foolhardy, but the man +himself was a good one to follow. + +All the same, when we adjourned our meeting with the compact that we +should assemble at Middleham railway station on the morrow in time to +catch the 3.30 to London, I went home in a state of depression. Were I +to have been hanged at cock-crow I could not have found my bed more +unsympathetic. Most of the night I lay awake in a state of the most +unworthy apprehension. The very intangibility of the business of the +morrow seemed to make it a nightmare. Had it been a duel, or a +definite pitting of one known force against another, it would have +seemed less uncomfortable, less sinister. As it was, we did not know +precisely to what we stood committed. The thing might prove merely +farcical. On the contrary, it might involve battle, murder and sudden +death. + +A dozen times in the dismal darkness the question was put, by what +chain of events had a mildly egoistical hedonist, the husband of a +charming lady, the father of a merry blue-eyed daughter, with a +reasonable competence and an ambition to excel at golf, come to imperil +all these delectable things? Merely at the beck of a wild-living +profligate who felt he had been wronged. + +Stated as bluntly as this in the high court of reason the whole thing +seemed absurd. There was so much to lose and so little to gain. The +scheme was preposterous. Nevil Fitzwaren might certainly be the victim +of an injustice, but what of Miss Lucinda and her mama? True, +Coverdale was also a party to the scheme; but he was by nature +adventurous, a seeker after something fresh. To be sure he imperilled +his billet, but he was understood to have private means. + +"Odo Arbuthnot," said the thin voice of reason at three o'clock in the +morning, "you must withdraw from this incredibly foolish and +reprehensible proceeding." + +Howbeit, the voice of reason never sways us entirely. Accordingly I +made a particularly feeble breakfast, wrote a letter to my grandmother +in Bolton Street, sped the Madam, looking supremely gay and engaging, +on the way to her fond parents at Doughty Bridge, Yorks, read the +immortal story of "The Three Bears" to Miss Lucinda for the thousand +and first time, carefully overhauled the six-chambered weapon which a +professional criminal had yet to put to the test, and in a miserable +frame of mind sat down to luncheon in the company of my relation by +marriage. + +It may be that the holy state of wedlock makes cowards of us all. +Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther was certainly not embarrassed by +such qualms as these. He was even more serenely magnificent than usual +in a suit of grey tweeds aggressively checked and a waistcoat that was +conducting a violent quarrel with a Zingari necktie; while his air of +hopeful enjoyment of life as it was and as it was going to be, provoked +some rather pregnant reflections upon the crime of homicide. + +"O'Mulligan's wired. Mad keen. A regular nut." + +The well of English undefiled grows more copious with the process of +ages. By what mysterious alchemy the quality of mad keenness +transforms its possessor into "a regular nut" I was too low-spirited to +elucidate. + +"Fitz is a game bird, ain't he?" Flamboyant youth heartily poured half +a bottle of Worcestershire sauce over its cutlet. "Didn't think he had +it in him. Merely shows how you can be deceived." + +I groaned in spirit, but plucked up the courage to take a dismal nibble +at a piece of toast. + +"That chap Coverdale is a bit of a funkstick. Made himself rather an +ass about those firearms." + +I assented feebly. + +"Bet you a pony they want our photographs for the _Morning Mirror_." + +I rose from the table and took a turn in the kitchen garden. When your +heart is fairly in your boots, the society of your peers has its +drawbacks. + +At half-past two, punctual to the minute, the toot of the car was heard +at the hall door. Miss Lucinda received a parting salute and an +illicit box of chocolates which consoled her immensely for the +temporary loss--permanent perhaps in the case of one--of both her +parents. + +I confess to being one of those weak mortals who on a journey is +invariably accompanied by the consciousness of having left something +undone or having omitted to pack some unremembered but quite +indispensable necessary. Three-fourths of the way to the station I was +haunted with this feeling in a more acute form than usual, and then +quite suddenly, with a spasm of perverse joy, it occurred to me that I +had left the burglar's foe in its secret receptacle. + +"Thank God for that!" was the pious hyperbole which ascended to heaven. + +At the station we were not the first to arrive on the scene, although +there was a full quarter of an hour in hand. Fitz in a fur overcoat of +some pretensions bore a look of collected importance which was quite in +keeping with the _role_ he had to fill. + +"Tickets are taken," said he, "and carriage reserved for five." + +In front of the bookstall a yellow newsbill displayed the contents of a +London evening paper, issued at noon. "The Attempt on the Life of the +King of Illyria. Latest Details." + +"Clumsy fools," said the son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth, gloomily. +"They seem to have bungled the business badly, but they bungle +everything in Illyria." + +"His Excellency, the Ambassador, would appear to be an exception to the +general rule." + +Fitz bestowed upon me a murderous glower. + +Brasset arrived full five minutes in advance of the London express. +Pink and cherubic, his recent perplexity had yielded to an omnipresent +look of peace. His well-groomed air suggested that he took a simple +pleasure in being alive. + +The question, however, for the four conspirators assembled on the +Middleham platform was, what had happened to the Chief Constable? Was +it conceivable that the noble Brutus had left us in the lurch? +Remembering my own travail of the spirit, which still endured, it +seemed most natural and becoming to my partial judgment, that one so +wise had repented of his folly at the eleventh hour. + +Howbeit, my lips were sealed upon these illicit thoughts. Fitz himself +suspected no treachery. He ushered us into the reserved compartment +with immense dignity, and retained the left-hand corner seat, with the +back to the engine, for the missing warrior. + +"Coverdale is cutting it fine," I ventured to remark. + +"There is a minute yet," said Fitz, with an insouciance which, to use a +much-abused expression, was Napoleonic. + +A porter who suffered from rickets put in his head. + +"All London, gentlemen?" + +"Yes," said Fitz, introducing a shilling to a grimy but willing palm. +"And just see that the station-master keeps the train a few minutes for +Colonel Coverdale." + +"Agen the regulations, you know, sir," said the porter, with polite +misgiving. + +"Against what regulations?" said the undefeated Fitz. + +"The Company's." + +"Against the Company's regulations! Who the devil are the Company that +_they_ should have regulations?" + +This was a poser for the porter, who made a rather ineffectual apology +for such a piece of assumption on the part of the Company. But the +station-master's bell was ringing, and I, peering wildly through the +window, in the vain hope that my mentor, my hope, my stand-by might +after all appear, could see never a sign of Lieutenant-Colonel John +Chalmers Coverdale, C.M.G., late of His Majesty's Carabineers. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +ALARUMS AND EXCURSIONS + +But what is that? A commotion away up the platform, under the clock. +Yes, it is he, the faithful and the valiant! At least it is not he, +but one Baguley, a superannuated police-sergeant, bereft of an eye in +the service of the public peace. He staggers along under the +oppressive burden of a kit bag of portentous dimensions, and twenty +paces behind, sauntering along the platform with the most leisurely +nonchalance in the world, blandly indifferent to the fact that the +London express is due out, is the impressive and slightly pompous bulk +of the fifth conspirator, the great Chief Constable. + +There is a tremendous touching of hats along the platform. Even that +true Olympian, the guard of the London express, contrives to dissemble +his legitimate impatience, while Coverdale and his kit bag come aboard +the reserved compartment. + +"Cutting it rather fine, weren't you?" said I, with a tremor of relief +in my voice. + +"Time enough," said the Chief Constable, subsiding with a growl and a +glower into the left-hand corner. + +A shrill blast from the guard, a whistle and a snort from the engine, +and we were irrevocably committed to the untender hands of destiny. + +We were an ill-assorted party enough. Fitz the embodiment of masterful +determination, with his black eyes glowing with their inward fire; +Brasset and Jodey as cheerful and almost as _blase_ as two +undergraduates on their way to attend a point-to-point race meeting; +Coverdale and the humble individual responsible for this narrative, +silent, saturnine and profoundly uncomfortable. + +It is true that I was favoured with one fragment of the Chief +Constable's discourse. It was communicated with pregnant brevity ten +miles from Bedford. + +"You old fool!" was its context. + +"It was Fitz who kept the train for you," I countered weakly. + +Whoever was to blame we were fairly in for it now; and to repine was +vain. + +"I am glad about your friend O'What's-his-name," said Fitz to Jodey. +"A man of his hands, hey? By the way, I believe you did mention a +revolver." + +My relation by marriage grinned an almost disgustingly effusive +affirmative. + +"I suppose you fellows have all remembered to bring one?" + +Somehow my looks betrayed me. + +"You've brought one, Arbuthnot?" + +I began to perspire. + +"The fact is," said I, "I had a capital .38 Webley, but it appears to +be mislaid." + +"That can be easily remedied. I have brought three in case of +emergency." + +"How lucky," said I, with insincerity. + +We were converging upon the metropolis all too soon. + +"I have engaged six bedrooms at Long's Hotel," said Fitz. + +"Only five will be necessary," said I, "as O'Mulligan lives in Jermyn +Street." + +"You have forgotten Sonia." + +It is true that for the moment I had forgotten the cause of all our +woes. Fitz had not, however; indeed, he had forgotten nothing. Not +only did he appear to have everything arranged, but he seemed to have +taken cognisance of the smallest detail. + +"I have ordered quite a decent little dinner at Ward's," said he. "You +can always depend upon good plain, solid, old-fashioned English +cooking. They give you the best mulligatawny in London. I must say +myself, that if I have to do a man's work, I like to have a man's meal. +And I think we can depend on some very decent madeira." + +"It is very satisfactory to know that," said Coverdale, with his +deepest growl. + +"There is nothing like madeira in my opinion," said Fitz, "if you are +going to be busy and you want to keep cool." + +"That is something to know," said the Chief Constable, without +enthusiasm. + +"I should think it was," said Fitz. "Do you know who gave me the tip?" + +The Chief Constable gave a growl in the negative. + +"Ferdinand himself. And what that old swine don't know of most things +is not much in the way of knowledge. He once told me he practically +lived on madeira throughout the Austrian campaign; and the night before +Rodova he drank six bottles. He says nothing keeps you so cool and +sharp as madeira." + +"Umph," the Chief Constable grunted. + +Brasset and Jodey, however, two extremely zealous subalterns in the +Middleshire Yeomanry, were much impressed. + +In three taxis we converged upon Long's Hotel; Brasset and Jodey in the +first; the Chief Constable and his kit bag in the second; Fitz and +myself in the third. A very respectable blizzard was raging; the +streets of the metropolis were in a truly horrid condition, wholly +unfit for man or beast; and the atmosphere had the peculiar raw chill +of a thoroughly disagreeable winter's night in London. But at every +yard we slopped precariously through the half-melted slush of the +streets, Fitz seemed to wax more Napoleonic. He was not in any sense +aggressive; there was not a trace of undue mental or moral elevation, +yet he was the possessor of a subtle quality that seemed to render him +equal to any occasion. + +"There is just one thing may undo us," he confessed to me. + +"Fate?" + +"No; to my mind fate is never your master, if you really mean to be +master of it. But there may be a spy. Von Arlenberg is as cunning as +a fox. And if he thinks I may have something to say in the matter, he +will take care that nothing is done without his knowledge. Probably we +are being followed." + +To test his grounds for this suspicion, Fitz suddenly ordered the +driver to stop. He thrust his head out of the window, and then an +instant later told our Jehu to drive on. + +"Just as I thought," he said. "There is another taxi behind." + +My companion became silent. + +"Something will have to be done," he said. "It won't do for von +Arlenberg to know too much." + +During the remainder of the journey Fitz found not a word to say. + +When we came to the quiet family hotel in Bond Street our leader seemed +still preoccupied. Certainly he had grounds for his foreboding. A +fourth taxi drew up behind the three vehicles we had chartered; and I +observed that a man got out of it and, discharging his taxi, entered +the hotel. As he passed me I was careful to note his appearance. He +was a short, sallow, foreign-looking individual, with the collar of his +overcoat turned up; a commonplace creature enough, who on most +occasions would pass without remark. + +While we inquired for our rooms, he sat in the lounge unobtrusively. +Save for Fitz's own conviction upon the point, it would never have +occurred to me that we were undergoing a process of espionage. + +No sooner had Fitz secured his room, than he said, in a tone +considerably louder than he used as a rule, that he had some business +to see after, and that he would be back in an hour. + +The man seated in the lounge could not fail to hear this announcement. +And sure enough, hardly had Fitz passed out of the hotel, when the +fellow rose and also took his leave. + +"What is Fitzwaren's game now?" inquired Coverdale. + +I refrained from advancing any theory as to the nature of Fitz's game. +For that matter, I had no theory to advance. It was clear enough that +the leader of our enterprise was fully justified in his suspicion, but +what his sagacity would profit him, I was wholly at a loss to divine. +I was convinced that the business that had called him so suddenly into +the sleet-laden darkness of the streets had to do with the man who had +passed out of the hotel upon his heels; yet precisely what that +business was, it was futile to conjecture. + +Prior to our departure for Ward's the time hung upon our hands somewhat +heavily. Brasset and Jodey utilised some of it in bestowing even more +pains than usual upon their appearance. In these days it is not +necessary to don powder, ruffles and a brocaded waistcoat for the +purpose of dining at Ward's, but there is an unwritten law which +expects you to wear a white vest at least with your evening clothes. +Even Coverdale and I thought well to comply with this sumptuary law. +We were both past the age when one's tailor is omnipotent; but when in +Rome, those who would be thought men of the world are careful to do +like the Romans. + +Four carefully groomed specimens of British manhood greeted Fitz in the +hotel foyer upon his return. It was then five minutes to seven, and +our mentor entered in a perfectly cool and collected manner. He +apologised, perhaps a thought elaborately, for the necessity which had +deprived us of his society. Twenty minutes later he was looking as +spick and span as the rest of us. + +While the hotel porter was whistling up the necessary means for our +conveyance to Saint James's Street, I found Fitz at my elbow. + +"By the way," said he in a casual undertone, "did you mention to the +others about the fellow who followed us in the taxi?" + +The answer was in the negative. + +"I'm glad of that. I think it will be wise if you don't. It might +worry them, you know. And there is no need to worry about him now." + +"Have you thrown him off the scent?" + +"Yes," said Fitz, quietly. "We shall have no more trouble from that +sportsman." + +I forbore to allow my curiosity any further rein upon this subject. +Beneath Fitz's cool and cordial tone was a suggestion that he would +thank me to dismiss it. Howbeit, I had no hint as to what had happened +outside in the street, and I was burning to know. + +It was a minute past the half-hour when we arrived at Ward's, but the +punctual O'Mulligan was there already. He rejoiced in the name of +Alexander; his freckles were many and he had a shock of red hair. His +nose was of the snub variety; his ears stuck out at right angles; his +eyes were light green; and his jaw was square and massive and the most +magnificently aggressive the mind of man can conceive. Regarded from +the purely aesthetic standpoint, Alexander O'Mulligan might be a subject +for discussion, yet he was as full of "points" as a prize bulldog. He +was not so tall as Coverdale, but every ounce of him was solid muscle; +his chest was deep and spreading, his hands were corded, and he had the +grip of a garotter. + +Alexander O'Mulligan shook hands all round with the greatest +comprehensiveness. As he did so he grinned from ear to ear in the +sheer joy of acquaintanceship. Fitz was his first victim and I was his +last, but each of us would as lief shake hands with a gibbon as with +our friend O'Mulligan. The fellow was so abominably hearty. He shook +hands as though it was the thing of all others he loved doing best in +the world. + +The dinner was admirable. Whether it was force of example, or the +magnetic presence of Alexander O'Mulligan, I am not prepared to say, +but certainly we did ourselves very well. Upon first entering the +hallowed precincts of Ward's, I had been in no mood to appreciate +"really good old-fashioned English cooking." One would have thought +that only the most _recherche_ of dinners would have tempted us in our +present state of mind. But somehow our new friend O'Mulligan dispensed +an atmosphere of Gargantuan good humour. + +Hardly had we come to close quarters with the far-famed mulligatawny, +which was quite appropriate to the conditions prevailing without, when +our latest recruit insisted that one and all must dine with him on the +morrow, and then adjourn to the National Sporting Club, for the purpose +of witnessing "Burns's do with the 'Gunner.'" + +If I live to the age of a hundred and twenty, I shall not forget our +little dinner at Ward's. Six commonplace specimens of _les hommes +moyens sensuels_ with lethal weapons in their pockets and anything from +pitch and toss to manslaughter in their hearts! Really, it was the +incongruous carried to the verge of the _bizarre_. + +Fitz at the head of the table was gracious to a degree. The fellow was +revealing a whole gamut of unsuspected qualities. His composure, his +half-gay, half-sinister _insouciance_, his alertness, his knowledge, +his faculty for action, which seemed to grow in proportion with the +demands that were made upon it--such an array of qualities was +curiously inconsistent with the heedless waster the world had always +judged him to be. + +Now that he had come to grips with fate the real Nevil Fitzwaren was +emerging with considerable potency. As far as "the married man, the +father of the family, and the county member" was concerned, the +fellow's daemonic power was the cause of his dining quite reasonably +well. As for Coverdale, after swallowing his plate of mulligatawny, +his glance ceased to reproach me. His habitual philosophy and the +old-fashioned English cooking began to walk hand in hand. The +evening's business was quite likely to cost him his billet, but at +least it was sure to be excellent fun. Besides, when he stood fairly +committed to a thing, it was his habit to see it through. + +Dinner was conducted in the spirit of leisurely harmony which is due to +the traditions accruing to the shade of John Ward, who left this vale +of tears in 1720. Fitz assured us that there was no hurry. If we got +a move on about nine we should have plenty of time to do our business +with his Excellency. + +"You haven't quite explained the orders for the day, my dear fellow," +said Coverdale, taking a reverential sip of the famous old brandy. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE ORDERS FOR THE DAY + +"The orders for the day don't need much explanation," said Fitz. +"Merely see that there are six cartridges in your revolver; keep it in +your trouser pocket with your hand on it, and then follow the man from +Cook's." + +"Like all schemes of the first magnitude," said I, "it appears to be +simplicity itself." + +"It is this confounded revolver business," said Coverdale, "that I +should like to see dispensed with. It might so easily land us in +serious trouble." + +"It is far more likely to land us out of serious trouble," said Fitz. +"But this I can promise: they will not be produced except in the last +resort." + +It was clear that the question of the revolvers had made Coverdale as +uneasy as it had made me; but the only thing to be done now was to pin +implicit faith upon the saneness of Fitz's judgment. Certainly he had +aroused respect. His method of communicating to Alexander O'Mulligan +the nature of the cause, and the need for absolute obedience to the +word of command, appeared to kindle awe and admiration in equal parts +in the breast of the middle-weight champion of the United Kingdom. + +"Do exactly as you are told, O'Mulligan, and do nothing without orders, +unless they begin to shoot, and then you begin to shoot too. By the +way, Arbuthnot, did I understand you to say you had forgotten to bring +a revolver?" + +I admitted the impeachment. + +"I have several spare ones in my overcoat"--the tone of reproof was +delicate. "Is there any one else who has forgotten to provide himself +with one?" + +"There is also a spare one at my rooms round the corner," said +Alexander O'Mulligan, with an air of modest pride. + +Fitz honoured the new recruit with a nod of curt approval. In any +assembly of law-breakers the Bayard from Jermyn Street would be sure of +a hearty welcome. His face had expanded to the most moonlike +proportions, which the freckles and the prominent ears set off +fantastically; and in the green eyes was a look of genuine ecstasy, +beside which the emotion in those of Brasset and Jodey was mere hopeful +expectation. + +Fitz took out his watch and studied it with the air of the Man of +Destiny. + +"Fourteen minutes to nine," said he. "At nine o'clock I shall drive +alone to No. 300 Portland Place, in a taxi. At four minutes past nine +Coverdale and Arbuthnot will follow. They will ask for the Ambassador, +Coverdale giving the name of General Drago, and Arbuthnot the name of +Count Alexis Zbynska. You will be shown into a waiting-room while your +names are taken in to his Excellency. If he is in, he will receive +you; if he is not, Grindberg, or one of the other secretaries, or one +of the Attaches will have a word with you. Keep your mufflers up to +your ears and have the collars of your overcoats turned up. If von +Arlenberg is not in, say you will wait for him. You can use Illyrian, +or French, or broken English. Of course your object, in any case, will +be to gain time and keep in the house until you receive further +instructions. Am I clear?" + +"Reasonably clear," said Coverdale. "If we gain access to the house we +are not to leave it until we hear from you?" + +"That is so." + +"And what about Alec and Brasset and me?" The earnestness of my +relation by marriage was wistful. + +"O'Mulligan will leave four minutes after Coverdale and Arbuthnot. He +will merely give his name as Captain Forbes, who desires to fix an +appointment with von Arlenberg upon a private matter of importance. He +won't be able to fix it; but they will send a chap to talk to you, +O'Mulligan. You must be very long-winded and you must use your best +English, and you must waste as much time as you can. Understand?" + +O'Mulligan beamed like a seraph. + +"And Brasset and me?" said the pleading voice. + +"Brasset will leave four minutes after O'Mulligan. He will be Mr. +Bonser, a messenger from the Foreign Office, with a letter for von +Arlenberg. Here you are, Brasset, here is the letter for von +Arlenberg." + +With a matter-of-factness which was really inimitable, Fitz tossed +across the tablecloth the missive in question, copiously daubed with +red sealing-wax. + +"Brasset," said Fitz, "you will be careful not to give this most +important letter into the keeping of anybody save and except his +Excellency, Baron von Arlenberg, Ambassador and Plenipotentiary +Extraordinary to his Majesty the King of Illyria, at the Court of Saint +James." + +"I hope the superscription is correct," said I, misguidedly. + +Fitz looked me down with the eye of a Frederick. The sympathy of the +table was with him entirely. + +"Somebody will want to take it to the Ambassador," said Fitz. "But +Brasset, your instructions are that you deliver this document to his +Excellency in person." + +With an air of reverence, Brasset inserted the letter with its +portentous red seal in his cigar-case. The most exacting of ministers +could not have desired a more trustworthy or a more eminently discreet +custodian for an epoch-making document than the Master of the +Crackanthorpe. + +"How shall I know old von Thingamy when I see him?" inquired the +messenger from the Foreign Office. + +"You won't see him," said Fitz. "But you must make it appear that you +want to see him particularly." + +"But if I should happen to see him?" + +The Master of the Crackanthorpe was awed into silence by a Napoleonic +gesture. + +"Where do I come in?" said the pleading voice from the wilderness. + +"You come in, Vane-Anstruther," said Fitz to my relation by marriage, +"four minutes after Brasset. You are Lieutenant von Wildengarth-Mergle +from Blaenau, with a letter of introduction to the Illyrian Ambassador. +Here is your card, and you can give it to anybody you like." + +The recipient was immensely gratified by the card of Lieutenant von +Wildengarth-Mergle of the Ninth Regiment of Hussars when it was +bestowed upon him. His manner of disposing of it was precisely similar +to that adopted by Brasset in the case of the letter from the Foreign +Office. His bearing also was modelled obviously upon that of that +ornament of high diplomacy. + +"I assume," said I, "that we are all to bluff our way into the Illyrian +Embassy; and once we are there we are to take care to stay until we are +advised further?" + +"That is so." + +"But let us assume for a moment that we get no advice?" + +"If I do not come to you by ten minutes to ten, or you are not sent for +by then, you are all to leave any ante-room you may be in, and you are +to walk straight up the central staircase, taking notice of nobody. If +they try to stop you, merely say you wish to see the Ambassador." + +"And if they use force?" + +"Make use of it yourself, with as much noise as you can. And if you +still fail to hear from me, then will be the time to think about +retirement. Does everybody understand?" + +Everybody did apparently. + +"It is seven minutes to nine. Time we began to collect our taxis." + +Fitz rose from the table, and in a body we went in search of our coats +and hats. For my fellow conspirators I cannot speak, but my heart was +beating in the absurdest manner, and my veins were tingling. There was +that sense of exaltation in them which is generally reserved for a +quick twenty minutes over the grass. + +"Give me that revolver," said I. + +As Fitz smuggled the weapon into my hand, I could feel my pulses +leaping immorally. This sensation may have been due to my having dined +at Ward's; although doubtless it is more scientific to ascribe it to +some primeval instinct which has resisted civilisation's ravages upon +human nature. + +As I stealthily inserted the weapon into the pocket of my trousers, I +stole a covert glance at the solemn visage of the Chief Constable. The +great man was smiling benignly at his thoughts, and smoking a big cigar +with an air of Homeric enjoyment. + +As Fitz, tall-hatted and fur-coated, picked his way delicately down the +slush-covered steps to where his taxi awaited him, he turned to offer a +word of final instruction to his followers. + +"Coverdale and Arbuthnot 9.4; O'Mulligan 9.8; Brasset 9.12; +Vane-Anstruther 9.16. If you hear nothing in the meantime, at 9.50 you +go upstairs." + +"Righto," we chorussed, as Fitz boarded his chariot with a +self-possession that was even touched with languor. + +We watched him turn into Piccadilly, and then proceeded solemnly to +invest ourselves in coats and mufflers. Four minutes is not a long +space of time, yet it is quite possible for it to seem an age. Before +the hall clock pointed to 9.4, one might have had a double molar drawn, +or one's head cut off by the guillotine. + +"300 Portland Place," said the Chief Constable in tones which somehow +seemed astonishingly loud, while I squeezed as far as possible into the +far corner of the vehicle for the better accommodation of my stalwart +companion. + +"Dirty night," said the Chief Constable. "Not fit for a dog to be out. +Have the glass down?" + +It may have been an overwrought fancy, but I thought I perceived a +slight, but unmistakable tremor in the voice of the head of the +Middleshire Constabulary. + +"Not for me, thanks," said I. "These things are so stuffy." + +The head of the Middleshire Constabulary agreed with me. The +impression may have been due to a disordered fancy, but I thought I +detected a note of embarrassment in the Chief Constable's laugh. + +From Saint James's Street to Portland Place is not far, and this +evening we seemed to accomplish the journey in a very short time. +Having dismissed our taxi at the door of the Ambassador's imposing +residence, we each looked to the other to ring his Excellency's +door-bell. + +"General," said I, "you are my senior, and I feel that your Illyrian, +or your French, or your broken English or any other language in which +you may be moved to indulge, will carry more weight than mine." + +"Oh, do you! By the way; I have forgotten my name." + +"General Drago." + +"And yours?" + +"Count Alexis Zbynska." + +"Well, here goes." + +The gallant warrior gave a mighty tug at the bell. This met with no +attention; but at the second assault on the ambassadorial door-bell, +the massive portal was swung back, slowly and solemnly, by a gorgeous +menial. In the immediate background there were others. + +"I am General Drago, and I wish to see the Ambassador." The Chief +Constable's precision of phrase was really majestic. + +The stalwart Illyrian, who seemed to be quite seven feet high from the +crown of his wig to the soles of his silk stockings, bowed and led the +way within. + +When we had crossed his Excellency's threshold, and just as a gorgeous +interior had unfolded itself to our respectful gaze, a very +urbane-looking personage in evening clothes and a pair of white kid +gloves took charge of us. He led us through a spacious hall containing +pillars of white marble, whence we passed into a waiting-room, +immediately to the right of a distinctly imposing alabaster staircase. +In this apartment the light was dim and religious, and the atmosphere +had a chill solemnity. Our friend of the white kid gloves presented us +with a slip of paper apiece, and indicated an inkstand on the table. + +"Write our names in Illyrian," I whispered to my fellow conspirator. +"They will carry more weight." + +The Chief Constable inscribed his own name on the slip of paper very +laboriously, in the Illyrian character. When he had accomplished this +feat, I proceeded as well as in me lay, and with a deliberation quite +equal to his own, to commit to paper the name of the Herr Graf Alexis +von Zbynska. I was beset with much misgiving as to the correct manner +of spelling it, and therefore had recourse to a number of superfluous +flourishes in order to conceal my ignorance as far as possible. + +When the gentleman of the white kid gloves had solemnly borne away the +slips of paper, the Chief Constable proceeded to remove a bead of +honest perspiration from his manly forehead. + +"Of all the cursed crackbrained schemes!" he muttered. "What does the +madman expect us to do now!" + +"Say as little and waste as much time as we can," said I, "and at ten +minutes to ten, if we are still alive, we are to make our way up that +staircase." + +The head of the Middleshire Constabulary subsided into incoherence +mingled with profanity. + +The gentleman of the white kid gloves had closed the door upon us. The +gloom and the silence of the room was terribly oppressive. With +ticking nerves, I made a survey of its contents. The furniture +appeared to consist of a large table with massive legs, half a dozen +chairs covered in red leather, a full-length portrait in oils, by +Bruffenhauser, of his Illyrian Majesty, Ferdinand the Twelfth, in which +the victor of Rodova appeared in full regalia in a gilt frame, a really +magnificent-looking old gentleman; while on a separate table at the far +end of the room was the Almanach de Gotha. + +It began to seem that our suspense was going to last for ever. Not a +sound penetrated to us from beyond the closed door. At last Coverdale +took out his watch. + +"Is it ten minutes to ten yet?" I inquired anxiously. + +"No; it still wants a couple of minutes to half-past nine." + +To be condemned to support such tension for a whole twenty minutes +longer was to place a term upon eternity. + +"Hadn't we better open the door," said I, "so that we can hear if +anything happens?" + +My fellow conspirator concurred. + +I opened the door accordingly and looked out in the direction, of the +alabaster staircase. A man was descending it in a rather languid +manner. There was something curiously familiar about his appearance. +As soon as he saw me standing at the foot of the stairs he quickened +his pace. It was clear that he wished to speak to me. + +"Keep cool," he said, and to my half-joyful bewilderment I recognised +the voice of Fitz. "You and Coverdale had better leave your overcoats +in that room and go up. Go into the first room on the left on the +first floor!" + +With a coolness that was almost incredible, Fitz sauntered away across +the wide vestibule with his hands in his pockets, while I returned to +Coverdale with this latest command. + +We obeyed it with a sense of relief. Anything was better than to sit +counting the seconds in that funereal waiting-room. Divested of our +overcoats, we went forth up the staircase, doing our best to appear +quite at ease, as though there was nothing in the least unusual in the +situation. + +Half-way up we were confronted with two men coming down. They looked +at us with quiet intentness and seemed inclined to speak. Coverdale +passed on with set gaze and rigid facial muscles, an art in which, like +so many of his countrymen, he is greatly accomplished. His +"Speak-to-me-if-you-dare" expression stood us in excellent stead. The +two men passed down the stairs without venturing to address us, and we +went up. + +The first room on the left, on the first floor, was a larger and more +cheerful apartment than the one from which we had come. It was better +lit; there was a bright fire, and it was furnished with taste, after +the fashion of a drawing-room. There were books, photographs, and a +piano. + +The room was empty, but we had been in it scarcely a minute when a +servant entered to offer us coffee. We did not disdain the +ambassadorial bounty. Excellent coffee it was. + +We were toying with this refreshment when a stealthy rustle apprised us +that we were also about to receive the indulgence of feminine society. +A young woman, tall and graceful, fair to the eye and charmingly +gowned, came into the room with a sheet of music in her hand. The +presence of a pair of total strangers did not embarrass her. + +"Do you like Schubert?" said she, with a delightful foreign intonation. + +"I think Schubert is charming," said I, with heartiness and promptitude. + +The lady flashed her teeth in a rare smile and sat down at the piano. +I arranged her music with a care that was rather elaborate. + +It was not Schubert, however, that she began to play, but a haunting +little "Impromptu" of Schumann's. Her playing was good to listen to, +for her touch was highly educated; also it was fascinating to watch her +movements, since she was an extremely graceful and vivid work of nature. + +Very assiduously I turned over her music. The occupation in itself was +pleasant; also it seemed to give some sort of sanction to our unlawful +presence. Coverdale, with his hands tucked deep in his pockets, +appeared to listen most critically to the lady's playing; although, as +I have heard him declare himself, the only form of music that appeals +to him is "a really good brass band." + +In the course of the performance of Schumann's "Impromptu" the audience +of the fair pianist gained in number and authority. Like the famous +Pied Piper of Hamelin, the thrilling delicacy of her touch began to +entice quaint beasts from their lair. Alexander O'Mulligan sauntered +into the drawing-room at about the fourth bar. He wore his most +seraphic grin, and his ears were spread to catch the most illusive +chords of melody. He gave Coverdale a jovial nod and winked at me. It +was clear that the amateur middle-weight champion of Great Britain was +enjoying himself immensely. + +Hardly had Alexander O'Mulligan advised us of his genial presence, when +Brasset and my relation by marriage came in upon tiptoe. The sight of +us all with an unknown lady discoursing Schumann for our benefit was +doubtless as reassuring as it was unexpected. In the emotion of the +moment Jodey gave the amateur middle-weight champion a fraternal dig in +the ribs. + +However, our party could not be considered complete without the +presence of the chief gamester. The "Impromptu" had run its course and +the gracious lady at the piano had been prevailed upon to play +something of Brahms', when the master mind, whose arrival we were +nervously awaiting, appeared once more upon the scene. Fitz came into +the room looking every inch the Man of Destiny. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE MAN OF DESTINY + +It was not in looks alone that Fitz resembled the Man of Destiny. The +peremptory decision of his manner fitted him for the part. The +beautiful musician and her subtle cadences were significant to him only +in so far as they could serve his will. Fitz entered in the midst of a +rhapsody played divinely; and with an unconcerned air he went straight +up to the piano, and, with Napoleonic effrontery, placed his elbow +across the music. + +"Sorry to interrupt you, Countess, but there is no time to lose." + +The Countess lifted her fingers from the keys, and her teeth flashed in +a smile that had an edge to it. + +A shrug of the shoulders from the _pianiste_; and Fitz began to talk +with considerable volubility in his fluent Illyrian. My nurture has +been expensive; and on the admirable English principle of the more you +pay for your education the less practical knowledge you acquire, let it +cause no surprise that my acquaintance with the Illyrian tongue is +limited to a few expletives. Therefore I was unable to follow the +course of Fitz's conversation. + +Perforce I had to be content with watching his play of gesture. This, +too, was considerable. The air of languor which it had pleased him to +assume in the crises of his fate was laid aside in favour of a +wonderful ardour and conviction. He drummed his fingers on the top of +the piano and urged his views with a fervour that might have moved the +Sphinx. + +At first the fair musician did not seem prepared to take Fitz +seriously. Her smile was arch, and inclined to be playful. But Fitz +was in an epic mood. + +He had not come so far upon a momentous enterprise to be gainsaid by a +woman's levity. The man began to wax tremendous. He kept his voice +low, but the veins swelled in his forehead, and he beat the palm of his +right hand with the fist of his left. + +Before such a force of nature no woman could be expected to maintain +her negative attitude. Fitz's Illyrian became volcanic. In the end +the lady at the piano spread her hands, said "Hein!" and rose from the +music stool. A moment she stood irresolute, but the gaze upon her was +that of a serpent fixed upon the eyes of a bird. The man's +determination had won the day. For, clearly at his behest, she quitted +the room, and Fitz, white and tense, yet with blazing eyes, followed +her. + +For the moment it seemed that he had forgotten his fellow conspirators. +But as soon as he had passed out of the room he turned back. + +"Stay where you are," he said. "You will be wanted presently." + +The five of us were left staring after him through the open door of the +drawing-room. It was the Chief Constable who broke the silence. + +"What's his game now?" + +"He appears to be engaged in convincing a woman against her will," said +I. "Were you able to follow the conversation?" + +"Not altogether. He appears to have made up his mind that Madame shall +do something, and Madame appears to have made up hers that she won't. +But exactly what it is, I can't say. I don't mind betting a shilling, +all the same, that the damned fellow will get his way. Upon my word I +have never seen his equal!" + +The Chief Constable laughed in a hollow voice, and removed another bead +of honest perspiration from his countenance. + +Fitz's departure with the Countess marked the renewal of our suspense. +Here were the five of us landed indefinitely, biting our thumbs. The +situation was rather absurd. Five law-abiding Englishmen assembled +with fell intent in a private house, yet knowing very little of the +business they had on hand. Each had made his way by stealth, and under +false pretences, into the very heart of the place. In this comfortable +drawing-room we had no _locus standi_ at all. To all in the +establishment we were total strangers, and to us they were equally +strange. Would Fitz never return? Would the call to action never be +made? A man with a high forehead and the look of an official came to +the threshold of the room, looked in upon us pensively, and then went +away again. Two minutes later a second individual repeated the +performance. Doubtless we were five strange and unexpected birds--but +the whole business was beginning to be ridiculous. + +I looked at my watch. It was twenty-five minutes past ten. Then the +undefeated O'Mulligan sat down at the piano and began to play the +latest masterpiece in vogue at the Tivoli. The strains of his +searching melody had the effect of bringing to us another servant with +a further supply of coffee. + +"Can you tell me if the Ambassador is dining out to-night?" I said to +the servant. + +"Yes, sir," said the man who was English. "At Buckingham Palace, but +he will be home before eleven." + +"Is the Crown Princess dining there also?" + +"No, sir, I believe not." + +"She is in the suite of rooms on the next floor?" I said carelessly. + +"Yes, sir." + +When the man had withdrawn I was congratulated. + +"Well done, you!" said Coverdale. "Useful information." + +"I wonder if Fitz knows as much," said I. + +"Of course he does. The infernal fellow has thought this thing out +pretty well. He knows the game he's playing." + +This was reassuring from one whose habit was averse from optimism. + +Inspired with the knowledge that his Excellency was dining at +Buckingham Palace, Alexander O'Mulligan began to pound away more +heartily than ever upon the upright grand. + +"Give your imitation of church bells and a barrel organ, Alec," said a +humble admirer, insinuating a trifle more ease into his bearing. + +"Do you think they will mind if we smoke here?" said Brasset, +plaintively. "I am dying for a cigarette." + +However, before the Master of the Crackanthorpe could have recourse to +this aid to his existence, Fitz returned. He was alone, and he was +peremptory. + +"What an infernal din you fellows kick up!" He fixed his daemonic gaze +upon the amateur middle-weight champion. "Leave that piano and come +and be presented to my wife." + +At last we were coming to the horses. There was a perceptible squaring +of shoulders and a shooting of cuffs, and then Fitz led the way out of +the room, followed by Coverdale and the rest of us in review order. We +were conducted up another marble staircase and along a lengthy +corridor, through a succession of reception-rooms, until at last we +found ourselves in an apartment larger and more ornate than all the +others. Its sombre richness was truly imposing. Pictures, tapestry, +candelabra, carpets and furniture all combined to give it the air of a +state chamber. + +Three ladies were seated at the far end of this magnificent room. One +was the fair musician upon whom Fitz had imposed his will; another was +a mature and stately dame, with snow-white hair and patrician features; +and the third, reclining upon a chair with a high gilt back, was the +"Stormy Petrel," the Crown Princess of Illyria. + +As soon as we came into the room the two other ladies rose, leaving the +Princess seated in state. Fitz presented each of us with all the +formality that the most sensitive royalty could have desired. His +manner of recommending us to her Royal Highness was dignified, +authoritative and not without grace. As far as we were concerned, I +hope our bearing was not lacking in the necessary punctilio. + +Hitherto it had been our privilege to see Mrs. Fitz out hunting in her +famous scarlet coat, when to be sure she had been the centre of much +critical observation. But at such times the princess was merged in the +brilliant horsewoman; and it goes to prove how easily "the real thing" +may pass for the mere audacity of the intrepid adventuress, if one +comes to consider that the bearing of "the circus rider from Vienna" +awoke no suspicions in respect of her status. + +It would be easy to indulge in a page of reflection upon the subject of +Mrs. Fitz. Her style was quite as pronounced in the saddle as it was +in the salon, but the experts in that elusive quality had failed, as +they do occasionally, to appreciate its authenticity. Doubtless they +would have failed again to render the genuine thing its meed, had we +not the assurance of Fitz that we were in the presence of the heiress +to the oldest monarchy in Europe. + +It is time I attempted to describe this noble creature. But it is vain +to seek to portray a great work of nature. Above all else I think she +must be regarded as that. She was prodigal in beauty; imperious in the +vividness of her challenge; splendid in the arresting candour of her +dark and disdainful eyes. There was a compelling power before which +the world of men and things was prone to yield; but there was pathos +too in that valiant self-security, which knew so little yet exacted so +much; and beyond all else there was the immemorial fascination of a +luckless, intensely sentient being, who seemed in her own person to be +the epitome of an entire sex at the dawn of the twentieth century. + +One by one we paid our homage, and it was not rendered less by the +romance of the circumstances. + +"You are brave men!" she said in a voice wonderfully low and clear in +quality. "We Sveltkes have known always how to esteem men of courage." + +Coverdale, as the doyen of the party, took upon himself to speak for +us. He held himself erect and bowed much too stiffly to pass muster as +a courtier. But he had a kind of plain, almost rough, sincerity which +atoned a little for his resolute absence of grace. + +"If we are to have the privilege, ma'am," said the Chief Constable, "of +making ourselves useful, I am sure we shall all feel very proud and +honoured." + +There is often something rather charming in a plain man's attempt at +the ornate. So honourable an awkwardness caused the eyes of her Royal +Highness to glow with humour and kindliness. + +"_Mais oui, mon cher_, I know it well, _les Anglais sont des hommes +honnetes_." Suddenly she laughed quite charmingly, and enfolded the +six of us in a glance of the highest benevolence, with which, +doubtless, her favourite dogs and horses had often been indulged. "Do +you know, there is something in _les Anglais_ that I like much. Quiet +fellows, eh, always a little _bete_, but so--so trustworthy. Yes, I +like them much." + +There was something soft and quaint and entirely captivating in the +accent of her Royal Highness. The smile in her eyes was frankness +itself. + +"I hope, ma'am," said the Chief Constable, still labouring valiantly +with his politeness, "that we shall deserve praise." + +The Princess continued to smile. A very characteristic smile it was. +A little girl admiring her array of dolls, or old Frederick of Prussia +reviewing his regiment of giants, might have been expected to indulge +in a very similar gesture. We were honest Englishmen, quiet fellows, a +little _bete_, who were always to be trusted; and her _naivete_ was +such, that it was bound to inform us of these facts. + +"You must know my ladies. They will like to know you, I am sure." + +The elder was the Margravine of Lesser Grabia; the fair admirer of +Strauss the Countess Etta von Zweidelheim. The bows were profound; and +not for a moment did the look of high indulgence quit the face of her +Royal Highness. + +"The Margravine is a dear good creature, Colonel Coverdale. Many times +she has helped me when I could not do my sums. I never could do sums, +because I always thought they were stupid. But she is such a kind, +faithful soul, my dear Colonel, and not at all stupid, like the sums +she used to set me. As for her cooking, it is excellent. If you are +not otherwise engaged, my dear Colonel, I should recommend you to marry +her." + +The younger section of her Royal Highness's bodyguard, Brasset, Jodey +and O'Mulligan, gave ground abruptly. The amateur middle-weight +champion of Great Britain nearly disgraced us all by choking audibly. +But really the expression of blank dismay upon the weather-beaten +countenance of the Chief Constable was stupendous. However, his +presence of mind and his courtier-like politeness did not for a moment +desert him. + +"Delighted, I'm sure," he murmured. + +"I feel sure, a man so brave as Colonel Coverdale has a good wife +already," said the lady of the patrician features, speaking excellent +English with great amiability. + +A further development of this alluring topic was precluded by the +entrance of a fourth lady into the room. She carried an opera cloak. +Clearly this was designed for the use of the Princess.' + +Her Royal Highness, however, preferred to tarry. Fitz, hovering round +her chair, found it hard to veil his impatience. Too plainly the +delay, which was wanton and unnecessary, was setting his nerves on +edge. His wife must have been conscious of it, since she patted his +sleeve with an air at once soothing and maternal. Nevertheless she +showed no haste to forgo the comfort of the room or the pleasure of the +society in which she sat. + +"I was hoping," said Fitz, "that we could get away before the return of +von Arlenberg." + +The smile of the Princess was of rare brilliancy. + +"Ah yes, the dear Baron. Perhaps it is better." + +Fitz took the cloak from the hands of the lady, but before he could +place it around his wife's shoulders voices were heard at the far end +of the long room. + +Three men had entered. + +The first of these to approach us was a tall, stout and florid +personage wearing full Court dress and so many decorations that he +looked like a caricature. Certainly he was a magnificent figure of a +man, but, at this moment, a little lacking in serenity. His face +showed traces of a consternation that would have been almost comic had +it not been rather painful. At the sight of the six of us he spread +out his hands and gesticulated to those who had come with him into the +room. + +In an undertone he said something in Illyrian, which I did not +understand. + +In striking contrast to the perturbation of the Ambassador the manner +of the Princess was as amiable and composed as if she were seated in +the castle at Blaenau. + +"Ah, Baron, you have dined well?" + +"Excellently, madam, excellently!" said the Ambassador. The +consternation in his face was slowly deepening. + +"_Tres bien_; it is well. I have heard my father say that cooking was +the only art in which the good English are not quite perfect. And _le +bon roi Edouard_, I hope he is in good health?" + +"In robust health, madam, in robust health." + +The dismay in the eyes of the Ambassador was rather tragic. His gaze +was travelling constantly to meet that of his two companions, stolid +men who yet were at a loss to conceal their uneasiness. On the other +hand, the air of the Princess was charmingly cool and _degage_. + +"Baron," said she, "do you know my husband?" + +Her smile, as she spoke, acquired a malice that made one think of a +sword. + +"Madam, I have not the privilege," said the Ambassador coldly. + +Somehow the manner of the reply gave one an enlarged idea of his +Excellency's calibre. If in such a situation it is permissible for a +humble spectator to speak of himself, I felt my throat tighten and my +heart begin to beat. + +"Well, Baron," said the Princess, "it is a privilege that I am sure you +covet. His Excellency the Herr Baron von Arlenberg, my dear father's +representative in England, Mr. Nevil Fitzwaren, squire of Broadfields, +in the County of Middleshire." + +The Ambassador bowed gravely and then held out his hand. + +Fitz returned the bow of Ferdinand the Twelfth's representative +slightly and curtly, but ignored his hand altogether. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +FURTHER PASSAGES AT NO. 300 PORTLAND PLACE + +The Princess was amused. + +"_Aha, les Anglais! Tres bons enfants!_" + +The royal eyebrows had an uplift of mischievous pleasure. + +"And this, dear Baron," said her Royal Highness, "is my good friend +Colonel Coverdale, who has smelt powder in the wars of his country." + +Fitz's open rudeness seemed to help the Ambassador to sustain his +poise. He bowed and offered his hand to the Chief Constable in a +fashion precisely similar to that he had used to the husband of the +Princess. + +The Chief Constable shook hands with the Ambassador. It was amusing to +observe the manner in which each of these big dogs looked over the +other. The representative of Ferdinand the Twelfth was a man of +greater calibre than his first appearance had led us to believe. + +"It is pleasant, madam," said he, "to find you surrounded by your +English friends." + +The dark eyes brimmed with meaning. + +"Confess, Baron, that you did not think I had so many." + +"Your Royal Highness is not kind to my intelligence," said his +Excellency. + +"Confess, then, you did not think that such was their courage?" + +"I will perjure myself if your Royal Highness desires it." The +Ambassador's laugh was not so gay in effect as it was in intention. +"But could I believe that you would admit any save the bravest to your +friendship?" + +"Then you recognise, Baron, that my friends are brave?" + +"Unquestionably, madam, they are brave." + +"Explain then, Baron, why you did not guard the doors of my prison? +For what reason, when you went out to dine this evening, did you forget +to lock them and put the keys in your pocket?" + +Before the subtle laughter in the eyes of his questioner the Ambassador +lowered his gaze. + +"I trust your Royal Highness does not feel that one of the oldest, if +one of the humblest, servants of the good King has so little regard for +your Royal Highness as to seek to debar her from the simplest of +pleasures?" + +"It has not occurred to your Excellency that that of which you speak as +the simplest of pleasures may prove for yourself the greatest of +calamities?" + +At this point the Ambassador was tempted to dissemble. + +"I am at a loss, madam, to read your thoughts." + +"Liar!" muttered Fitz in my ear. + +"Your Excellency appears to have a store of natural simplicity," said +the Princess. + +The Ambassador bowed. + +"Is it not a great thing to have, madam, in these days?" + +"Has it not occurred to your Excellency that it is a luxury that those +who would serve their Sovereign occasionally deny themselves?" + +"If it pleases your Royal Highness to exercise your delightful wit at +the expense of the humblest servant of the good King!" + +"It does not please me, Excellency. It grieves me to the heart." + +With an address that was remarkable the Princess changed her tone. +Quite suddenly the clear and mellow inflection of light banter was +exchanged for one of coldly wrought reproof. + +"I am sorry, madam," said the Ambassador, simply and with sincerity; "I +am a thousand times sorry. I can never forgive myself if I have +wounded the susceptibilities of your Royal Highness. Already I had +hoped I had made it clear that the least of your servants has not been +a free agent in all that has been done. I am the humble instrument of +an august master." + +"I agree with you, Herr Baron, that the King, in his wisdom, cannot do +wrong. But it is because you have betrayed the service of your master +that I am unhappy." + +The Herr Baron lowered his eyes. + +"Please God," he said humbly, "the least of the King's servants will +never betray the service of him to whom he owes everything." + +The Princess laughed, a little cruelly. + +"Speeches, Baron," said she. + +"Will your Royal Highness deign to explain in what manner I have +betrayed the service of my master?" + +"If you press the question, I will answer it. At the command of the +King, you take me by force and you imprison me in your house until that +hour in which I can be removed to the castle at Blaenau. And then, in +an unlucky moment, you open the door of my cage, and I am once again a +free person in the company of my friends." + +The Princess rose abruptly, and with a disdain that was like a rapier +suffered Fitz to place the cloak about her shoulders. + +The Ambassador retained his self-possession. In his bearing, in the +cold lustre of his eyes, in the rigidity of the jaw, were the evidence +of an inflexible will. + +"The orders, madam, of the King, my master, are explicit," he said in a +low voice. "It grieves me bitterly that I cannot suffer them to be set +aside." + +"So be it, Herr Baron." The great dark eyes of the Princess transfixed +the Ambassador like a pair of swords. + +In the midst of these passages Fitz reassumed his _role_ of +generalissimo. + +"Arbuthnot," he whispered to me, "you and Brasset and Vane-Anstruther +guard the farthest door. Let no one enter or pass out. Coverdale and +O'Mulligan will look after the other one." + +In silence, and without ostentation, we disposed ourselves accordingly. +Clearly it had not occurred to the Ambassador to expect compulsion to +be levied in his own house, by half a dozen commonplace civilians in +black coats. + +We had hardly taken up our places when Fitz, who stood by the side of +the Princess, received from her a look that was also a command. +Thereupon, for the first time, he deigned to address the Ambassador. + +"Baron von Arlenberg," he said, "the friends of her Royal Highness have +no wish to use _force majeure_, but her Royal Highness desires me to +inform you that she has it at her disposal. All the same, she is +hopeful that your natural good sense will spare her the necessity of +employing it." + +Fitz's words were well spoken, but his tone, scrupulously restrained as +it was, had an undercurrent of menace that the Ambassador and his two +secretaries could hardly fail to detect. The cold eyes of his +Excellency seemed to blaze with fury, but he made no reply. + +The Princess took the arm of her husband, and moved a pace in the +direction of the farther door. At the same moment the Ambassador made +a movement to the left where a bell-rope hung from the wall. + +"Baron von Arlenberg," said Fitz, in a tone that compelled him to stay +where he was, "if you touch that rope I shall blow out your brains." + +Fitz had the revolver in his hand already. He covered the Ambassador +imperturbably. The two secretaries, although confused by the swiftness +of the act, moved forward. + +"Keep away from the bell-rope, gentlemen," said Fitz. "I shall not +hesitate." + +The secretaries halted indecisively beside their chief, and as they did +so Coverdale left his post by the nearer door and, revolver in hand, +solemnly mounted guard over the bell-rope. + +"I am afraid, gentlemen," said Fitz, "you have no choice other than to +respect the wishes of the Princess. And she desires that you stay in +this room until she has left the Embassy." + +However, with all his coolness, Fitz had made two important +miscalculations. On the right there was another bell-rope, and there +was also the lady of the silver hair, the Margravine of Lesser Grabia. +I sprang from my post and literally wrenched the rope from her fingers, +but not before she had pulled it as hard as she could. + +Escorted by Fitz, the Princess passed out of the room, while the +friends of her Royal Highness assumed an aspect of quiet, but +determined hostility, in order to prevent the Ambassador, his +secretaries, the Margravine, who looked furious, and the fair player of +Schumann, who appeared to be consumed with mirth, from following her. + +Hardly had the Princess passed through the farther door, which Brasset +and Jodey had the honour of holding for her, before the Countess Etta +von Zweidelheim collapsed upon a convenient sofa. + +"It is petter than Offenbach!" she said, beginning to weep softly. + +Whether it was actually better than Offenbach, I am not competent to +affirm, but I can answer for it that for all except that charming but +risible lady it was a great deal more serious. The Ambassador was a +brave man, and he had strength of will, but as becomes one of his +calling he was in no sense a fool. He had seen that in the eyes of +Fitz which had assured him that a too-punctilious regard for the will +of his Sovereign would not only be futile, but indiscreet. And no +sooner had Fitz and the royal lady vanished from his ken, than there +were Coverdale and the rest of us to contend with. + +The Chief Constable with his back to the wall, even without a firearm +in his stolid fist, is a very considerable figure of a man who will not +brook nonsense from anybody. Then Alexander O'Mulligan, by the farther +door, had a personality by no means deficient in persuasiveness. + +Scarcely had the Princess departed before O'Mulligan's door was tried +from without. The amateur middle-weight champion of Great Britain set +his back against it with great success. + +"Help! help!" called the Margravine in a deep bay, which it seemed to +our alarmed ears must have been audible for half a mile. "Save the +Princess! Help! Help!" + +In response to the appeal, a greater and ever-increasing pressure was +brought to bear upon the door. The hinges groaned, and the panels +trembled; and at last Alexander O'Mulligan suddenly withdrew his +weight, and divers persons tumbled headlong, one over another, +pell-mell into the room. + +"I think we had better go," said Coverdale, in the midst of this chaos. + +The five remaining champions of the Princess's freedom gathered +together and, their weapons still in hand, withdrew in excellent order. +But one resplendent apartment led to another, equally resplendent, and +amid the labyrinth of doors and corridors we could not find the +staircase. And immediately behind us the outraged Ambassador and his +retinue were gaining every instant in numbers and morale. + +The situation was ludicrous, yet not without its peril. It was hard to +know what would happen, and there was very little time in which to form +a conjecture. Besides, it was of great importance that we should find +our way downstairs without delay, for our presence there might be +sorely needed. + +As it happened, our thanks were due to the Ambassador that we were able +to find the staircase. For he and a number of excited persons flocked +past us and pointed a direct course thereto. They got down first, but +we followed hard upon their heels. + +On the ground floor all was peace. The men in livery and divers stray +officials were serenely unconscious of what had occurred. Fitz had +donned his overcoat, and with stupendous coolness was preparing to +depart. Just as the Ambassador came into view, he led the Princess +into the outer vestibule. + +"They can't stop 'em now," said Coverdale. "We had better look after +our coats and hats, and then find our way to the Savoy." + +This was true enough, for the door leading to the street was already +open. + +Waiting by the kerb was an electric brougham which Fitz had had the +forethought to provide. Coverdale and I retrieved our property from +the waiting-room at the foot of the staircase, while the others went in +search of theirs; and so quickly was this accomplished, that we were +able to witness an incident that was not the least memorable of the +many of that amazing evening. + +The Ambassador realised that the game was lost as soon as he saw the +open door and the brougham in readiness. Therefore he refrained from +passing beyond the inner vestibule. It is expected of an ambassador +that he shall do no hurt to his dignity in the most exacting situations. + +But there is an astonishing incident still to be recorded. Fitz, +having placed the Princess in safety in the brougham, returned into the +house. Walking straight up to the Ambassador, he addressed him in +terms of measured insult. + +"You cowardly dog," he said. "I would shoot you like a cur if it were +not for the laws of the country. You are not worth hanging for. But I +will meet you at Paris at the first opportunity. Here is my card." + +Before he could be prevented he gave the Ambassador a blow upon the +cheek with his open hand. It was not heavy, but it was premeditated. + +The members of the Embassy closed around Fitz. + +"Come into the ballroom, sir," said the Ambassador, who had turned +deadly pale. + +"When I have seen the Princess into safety I will oblige you," said +Fitz. "But it would be more convenient if we arranged a meeting in +Paris." + +"You shall meet me now, sir," said the Ambassador. + +Coverdale moved forward into the circle that had been formed. + +"I am afraid that is impossible," said the Chief Constable. "The +practice of duelling has no sanction in this country. For all +concerned it will surely be more convenient to meet at Paris." + +Coverdale's intention was pacific, and he is a man of weight, but the +principals in this affair were likely to be too much for him. + +"Arbuthnot," said Fitz, "be good enough to accompany the Princess to +the Savoy. We will come on presently." + +For a moment the issue hung in the balance. The Ambassador had +demanded satisfaction and Fitz was more than willing to grant it. But +Coverdale was equally resolute. To the best of my capacity I seconded +his efforts, but with men so headstrong and so implacable it was almost +impossible to exert any kind of authority. + +"If you don't care to support me," said Fitz to Coverdale, "perhaps you +will not mind taking the place of Arbuthnot. I daresay you other +fellows will come on to the ballroom." + +To our dismay, Fitz, with a reassumption of the Napoleonic manner, +turned towards the staircase. + +"What is to be done?" I inquired of the Chief Constable anxiously. "I +am a man of peace myself, but one of us must see him through." + +"I agree with you--the cursed firebrand! But one of us must stay, and +the other must look after the Princess." + +The Chief Constable did not conceal the fact that he had a predilection +for the latter duty. + +"I don't know much about affairs of honour," said I, "and I should +greatly prefer that a man of more experience took a thing like this in +hand; but I can quite believe that your official position----" + +"Official position be damned!" said the Chief Constable. "If you +honestly think I shall be of more use than you, there is no more to be +said. We are here to make ourselves useful and we must see this thing +through." + +"Very well, I will look after the Princess, and you go to the ballroom +and do what you can to save the situation." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A DEPLORABLE INCIDENT + +It was with a feeling akin to despair that I saw Coverdale follow the +others up the stairs. In the first place my own position was +invidious. But there was nothing to be done. It was beyond question +that Fitz must have a tried man like Coverdale at his elbow, whilst +also it was necessary that a person with some pretensions to +responsibility should take charge of the lady who was safely outside in +the electric brougham. Yet, uppermost in my thoughts, was a more +insistent care. The affair had taken a very ugly turn. Fitz had shown +himself to be a man who did not stick at trifles, whilst von Arlenberg, +unless his manner belied him, was cast in a similar mould. It was +therefore with some uneasiness that I went to offer my services to her +Royal Highness. That distinguished personage was seated greatly at her +ease, yet with a slight frown upon her somewhat imperious countenance. + +"Where is Nefil?" said she. + +"I have to tell you, ma'am," said I, "that Mr. Fitzwaren +is--er--discussing certain important matters with his Excellency, and +that if it is agreeable to you he desires me to accompany you to your +hotel." + +"What are the matters?" Her gaze in its directness seemed to pass +right through me. + +"There are--er--certain details that have to be adjusted." + +"Well, I hope Nefil will be able to shoot straight." + +Whether I was more taken aback by the cynicism of the remark or by its +sagacity, it would be fruitless to inquire. But to this pious hope I +had nothing to add; and I stood feeling decidedly uncomfortable at the +door of the car. There was no room in front by the side of the +chauffeur, and I had received no invitation to take a seat within. + +The pause was awkward, but somehow there seemed to be no help for it. + +"Well?" said the lady, not without a suspicion of acerbity. + +Even that I could not take for an invitation to get in. I stood +acutely conscious that my embarrassment told against me. + +"Aha, _les Anglais_!" The malice was not too genial. "Would you haf +me open the door?" + +I told the chauffeur to drive to the Savoy, and took the proffered seat +by the side of the Crown Princess of Illyria. + +The discovery has no claim to be original, but in order to find out +what a woman really is, one should sit with her alone and +_tete-a-tete_. The opportunity for frankness is not likely to be +neglected upon either side, since a display of that engaging quality +upon the one part seems automatically to evoke it on the other. + +No sooner was I seated by the side of Mrs. Fitz than I felt more at +ease. She was so sentient, so responsive; a creature who, beneath the +trenchant reserve of her manner, was alive in every nerve. + +She patted my knees with her fan. + +"Aha, _les Anglais_!" In the light of the lamps, I thought her eyes +were like stars. "So brave, so honest and so _bete_--I love them all!" + +The spell of her presence seemed to overpower me. + +"My brave Nefil will kill him, will he not?" + +"I fear," said I, "that one of them will not see to-morrow." + +"Indeed, yes; it cannot be otherwise." + +Her calmness amazed me. And yet there was nothing callous or unnatural +in it. Perhaps it might be described as the outward expression of an +imperial nature. At least that was the impression that I gained. When +her servants drew their swords in her cause they must not look for a +prick in the arm. Let them prepare to stake their lives and to yield +them gladly. I shivered slightly; it was barbarous that a woman could +thus offer the father of her children to the gods, yet it was sublime. + +All too soon we arrived at the restaurant where Fitz had ordered supper +for seven. The place was filling up rapidly after the theatres. We +sat on a sofa in the foyer to wait for our party; I with an acute +anxiety and a sense of foreboding that held me tongue-tied; my +companion with a detachment of mind that in the circumstances seemed +almost inhuman. For her sake a man was being done to death; one whom +she loved, or one whom her father honoured. But whatever Fate's +decree, her nature was schooled to the point of submission. + +Seated by my side in the foyer, she subjected the throng of returning +playgoers to a frankly humorous and malicious scrutiny. These English +who were so _bete_ amused her vastly. The clothes they wore, the airs +they gave themselves, the things they did and the things they refrained +from doing, not a detail escaped that audaciously frank, that alertly +curious intelligence. + +"Your women are not as you, you fine, big English good dogs," she said, +bestowing another indulgent pat upon my knees. "_Les Anglaises_, how +prim and pinched they are, what dresses they wear, and how they do +walk! But I adore _vos jolis hommes_: was ever such distinction, such +charm, such stupidity! _Mon pere_ shall have an English regiment. I +will raise it myself, and be its colonel." + +Her laughter was deep and rich and full of malice. Even I, stupid and +stricken with fear as I was, was yet sufficiently indiscreet to attempt +to seize the opportunity. + +"It will be the easiest thing in the world, ma'am. Have you not raised +it already?" + +Another indulgent pat was my reward. + +"_Tres bon enfant_! _Quel esprit_! You shall sit by my side when we +eat." + +Her ridicule had a velvet sheath, but even an Englishman, who felt as +miserably ineffectual as did I, was susceptible of the thrust. + +It is difficult for the average Briton, acutely conscious that he is +enduring the patronage of a superior, to be easy, graceful and natural +in his bearing; to say the appropriate things in the appropriate way, +and to carry off the situation lightly. Every moment that I sat by the +side of her Royal Highness in the centre of the public gaze, I felt my +position to be growing more invidious. The pose of my companion seemed +to become more Olympian; while if I ventured a half-hearted _riposte_ +or a timid pleasantry, I suffered for it; or if I remained silent and +respectful--and that after all is the only course to take in the +presence of our betters--I furnished an additional example of the +heaviness of my countrymen. + +I came to the conclusion that the less I said the better it would fare +with my over-sensitive dignity, but even the utterance of an occasional +monosyllable did not save me. + +"When I hear the big dogs growl, the English masteefs, I say to myself, +'Ah, the dear fellows, how excellently they speak the language!'" + +Unless one springs from the Chosen Race, it takes more than three +generations to produce a courtier. I felt myself to be growing stiffer +and generally more infelicitous in my demeanour. And then, as if to +complete my overthrow, there entered the foyer a supper-party, whose +appearance on the scene I could only regard with horror. + +Who has not felt that among the astral bodies there is a malign power, +a kind of Court Dramatist, who arranges sinister coincidences and +mischievous surprises for us humble denizens below, in order to divert +the privileged onlookers sitting in heaven? The supper-party which +came into our midst, which looked as though it had been to see "The +Importance of Being Earnest," and had been shocked by its reprehensible +levity, consisted of Dumbarton, our illustrious neighbour, "dear +Evelyn" high of coiffure and robed in pink satin, the august Mrs. +Catesby, and the highly respectable George, with one or two others of +minor importance as far as this narrative is concerned, although in +other spheres not prone to yield pride of place to anybody. + +It was clear from the rigid, slow and undeviating manner in which the +ducal party walked past our sofa, that we were discovered. Mrs. +Catesby, in particular, gazed down her nose with really awful +solemnity; George, the highly respectable, wearing his Quarter Sessions +expression; Dumbarton, looking like a Royal Duke painted in oils; and +"dear Evelyn," his pink-robed spouse, a really admirable picture of +what can be achieved in the way of high-bred hauteur. I can only say +that, speaking for myself, I addressed a humble prayer to heaven that +the floor might open and let me through. + +A chill of apprehension settled upon me. I sat very close, not daring +to move an eyelid. + +Alas! as the procession filed past, there arose a note of derision; a +clear, resonant, bell-like note. + +"Ach, pink! Pink in dis climate and wis dat complexion!" + +Even the _chef de reception_ was compelled to follow the example of +Mrs. Catesby of looking down his nose with really awful solemnity. + +The sweat sprang to my miserable forehead. I never have a nightmare +now without I dream of pink satin. The ducal party passed beyond our +ken, leaving me shattered utterly and more than ever at the mercy of my +companion. However, to my relief, the "Stormy Petrel" began to betray +a care in regard to her husband. It began to seem that the aim of his +adversary had been the straighter. + +Fitz was certainly a desperate fellow, and my intercourse with the lady +whom he had prevailed upon to share his name rendered that aspect of +his character the more clear. What enormous grit the man must have to +abduct such a lioness and to attempt to keep house with her upon a +basis of equality. But had he met his overthrow at last? Had he +tempted fate once too often? The hands of the clock were creeping on +towards midnight. + +"Nefil has missed his aim." The voice of the Princess trembled. + +Almost immediately, however, this was proved to be not the case. There +were further arrivals in the foyer; five men entered together, and the +first of these was Fitz. + +It may have been the fault of my overwrought fancy, but it seemed to me +that each of the five was looking excited and pale. My companion rose +to receive them. "It is well," she said. "It is well." She turned to +Fitz, who looked ghastly, and extended her hand with a gesture that I +can only compare to that of Medusa. Fitz bore the hand to his lips. + +"What happened?" I said to Coverdale in a hoarse whisper. + +"Don't ask!" he said, half turning away. + +"Do you mean----" I said; but the sentence died in my throat. + +The invasion of the supper-room was a pretty grave ordeal to have to +face. The stress of that day, woven of the very tissue of excitement, +had told upon me; and again I was in the grip of a nameless fear. +Instead of following in the train of Mrs. Fitz into the glare of a too +notorious publicity, I wanted to run away and hide myself. + +The room was crowded with people who were there to see and to be seen. +We had to make our way past a number of tables to one reserved for us +at the far end of the room. In the middle of our progress, like a lion +in the gate, was the ducal party toying elegantly with quails and +champagne. + +Each member of her Royal Highness's bodyguard, including the +indomitable O'Mulligan, was looking downcast and unhappy and far from +his best. But the lady herself, in bearing and in manner, made no +secret of her status. She was the Heiress-Apparent to Europe's oldest +monarchy condescending to eat in the midst of barbarians. + +It was clear that the ducal party was fully determined to take an +extreme course. By the animation of its conversation and its assiduous +regard for quails and champagne, it evidently hoped to make the fact +quite plain that our privacy would be respected if only we had the +decency to extend a like indulgence to theirs. + +Alas! in certain kinds of warfare there are no sanctities. + +"Ach, pink!" said Mrs. Fitz, in that voice which had such a terrible +quality of penetration. "Can any one tell me _why_ pink----?" + +The nervous fancy of a married man, a father of a family, and a county +member, seemed to detect a titter from the adjoining tables. Coverdale +pressed forward sombrely. Her Royal Highness, instinct with a ruthless +and humorous disdain, went forward too. Fitz, however, lingered a +moment, and touched his distinguished neighbour upon the shoulder with +incredible Napoleonic heartiness. + +"Hullo, Duke!" he said. + +"How are you, Fitzwaren?" said the great man, in a voice that seemed to +come out of his shoes. + +"Never mind the Missus!" said the Man of Destiny, with a comic +half-cock of the left eye at the patrician aspect of her Grace. "It's +only her fun." + +The man's effrontery, his cynicism, his absence of taste, were +staggering. But what a sublime courage the fellow had. On he +sauntered, with his hands buried in his pockets, in the wake of +Coverdale and her Royal Highness. Brasset and I, walking delicately, +were crowding upon his heels, when what can only be described as a +peremptory and insistent hiss recalled us to the danger zone. + +"Reggie! Odo Arbuthnot!" + +We proffered a forlorn salute to the most august of her sex. + +"Beg pardon, Mrs. Catesby, didn't see you, y'know." + +Brasset's apologetic feebleness was in singular and painful contrast to +the epic breadth of the inconceivable Fitz. + +"Don't dare to offer me a word, either of you," said the Great Lady, in +a whisper of Homeric truculence. "You are committing the act of social +suicide. When I think of your mother, Reggie, and of your wife and +daughter, Odo Arbuthnot, I----but I will say nothing. But it is social +suicide for all of you, including that fatuous police constable." + +The flesh cannot endure more than a given amount of suffering, although +the measure of its capacity is so terrible. But whatever it was, I was +already past it. + +"Pink is certainly a trying colour," I whispered. + +"Dear Evelyn will never forgive it. Have none of you a sense of +decency? It is madness!" + +I agreed that it was, and retreated limply to the next table but two. + +Our supper party should have been a dismal function, but somehow it was +not. It was only reasonable to assume that some fell occurrence had +taken place at the Embassy, but whatever its nature was, its witnesses +began to pull themselves together under the magnetic influence of Mrs. +Fitz. Her imperious gaiety, if it did not wholly banish Coverdale's +abysmal gloom, did much to make it less. As for the other members of +the party, conscience-stricken and uneasy at heart as they were, it was +impossible not to respond to her power. + +Even the Master of the Crackanthorpe, whose sense of humour is of a +decidedly primitive order, indulged in a loud guffaw at one of her +pungent remarks. + +"Restrain yourself, my dear fellow, for heaven's sake!" I admonished +him. "Dumbarton is already looking like doom. Your presence here has +already cost the poultry fund fifty pounds, see if it hasn't. If he +hears you laugh in that way he will close his covers and stick up wire." + +"Don't care what he does!" said the Master of the Crackanthorpe, with +an unnatural brightness in his eyes. + +The siren had indeed a terrible power. The imperious glance, the +distended nostril, the mobile lips, the skin of gleaming olive, the +whole figure vivid with the entrancing charm of sex and the romance of +ages--who were we, _les hommes moyens sensuels_, that we should have +the strength of soul to resist it all? Nature had fashioned a +sorceress; and when she takes the trouble to do that, she bestows, as a +rule, a consciousness of power upon her chosen instrument, and the +determination to wield it ruthlessly. We drained our glasses and +basked in her smiles. + +Our laughter waxed higher; our joy in her presence the more unguarded. +I retained discretion enough to be aware that no detail of our conduct +was lost upon the august party two tables away. Every guffaw of which +we were guilty would be used against us. What had happened to the +impeccable tradition of reticence and right thinking that men of known +probity should yield with this publicity to the blandishments of a +queen of the sawdust? + +It was a desperately unlucky position; but we were committed to it +irrevocably. Nothing now could save our good name among our +neighbours. Yet that half-hour after midnight was crowded and +glorious. Who were we, weak-willed mediocrities, that we should resist +the moment? After the passes we had braved in the service of one so +splendid and so ill-starred, after the long-drawn suspense we had +endured, could we be insensible to the gay music, half-affectionate, +half-insolent, of our names upon her lips? + +Coverdale sat by the right of the sorceress, I by the left--responsible +men--yet even with the Gorgon's eye of the Great Lady upon us, we were +fain to publish to the world that we were neither less nor more than +the bond-slaves of the circus rider from Vienna. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +AN INTERNATIONAL ISSUE + +By a merciful dispensation, the ducal party withdrew at twenty-five +minutes past twelve, doubtless to avert the ignominy of compulsion at +the half-hour. By that means we were at least spared any further +ordeal that might be forthcoming from that quarter. And yet would it +have been an ordeal? That conflict which a little while ago had seemed +so demoralising to the overwrought nerves was now only too likely to be +hailed as the sublimity of battle. + +We were loth to obey the inexorable decree of the Licensing Act, but +there was no choice. Happily the five minutes' start enjoyed by our +friends and neighbours gave us a clear field, and without further +misadventure the "Stormy Petrel" was escorted to her chariot. She +drove off with Fitz to her hotel, while the rest of us, in no humour +for repose, yielded to the suggestion of Alexander O'Mulligan, "that we +should toddle round to Jermyn Street and draw him for a drink." + +It had begun to freeze. Although the pavements were like glass, +overhead the stars were wonderful. The shrewd air was like a balm for +the fumes of the wine and the spirit of lawlessness that had aroused us +to a pitch of exaltation that was almost dangerous. We decided to +walk, if only to lessen the tension upon our nerves. The three junior +members of the conspiracy walked ahead, a little roisterous of aspect, +arm in arm, uncertain of gait--to be sure the condition of the streets +afforded every excuse--and their hats askew. At a respectful distance +and in a fashion more decorous they were followed by the Chief +Constable and myself. + +"And now, Coverdale," said I, "have the goodness to explain what you +meant when you told me not to ask what happened to the Ambassador?" + +I received no answer. + +"My dear fellow," I urged, "I think I am entitled to know." + +"You ought to be able to guess!" + +"I don't understand; Fitz is certainly safe and sound. How did you +manage to bring them to reason?" + +"They were not brought to reason." + +The grim tone alarmed me. + +"What do you mean?" + +I stopped under a street lamp to look into the face of my companion. + +"I simply mean this," said he. "The madman shot him dead!" + +Involuntarily I reeled against the lamp post. + +"You can't mean that," I said feebly. + +"If only we could deceive ourselves!" said Coverdale, in a hoarse tone. +"All the time I sat at supper with that--that woman I was trying to +persuade myself that the thing had not happened. The whole business +ought to be a fantastic dream, but my God, it isn't!" + +"Well, it was his life or Fitz's, I suppose?" + +"Yes, there can be no question about that. The Embassy people admit +it. And there is this to be said for those fellows, they know how to +play the game." + +"A pretty low down game anyhow. If they steal a man's wife they must +take the consequences." + +"I agree; but the circumstances were exceptional. And give those +fellows their due, as soon as we came to the ballroom they played the +game right up." + +"What will happen?" + +"No one can say; but they can be trusted to give nothing away." + +"But surely the whole thing must come out?" + +"Quite possibly; but one prefers to hope that it may not. It is a very +ugly affair, involving international issues; but the First Secretary--I +forget his name--appeared to take a very matter-of-fact and +common-sense view of it. After all, Fitzwaren has merely vindicated +his rights." + +Dismally enough we followed in the wake of the others. All day we had +been hovering between tragedy and farce, never quite knowing what would +be the outcome of the extravaganza in which we were bearing a part. +But now we had the answer with no uncertainty. + +"All along, some such sequel as this was to be feared," said I, "and +yet I fail to see that any real blame attaches to us." + +"Do you! If you ask my opinion, we have all been guilty of +unpardonable folly in backing this fellow Fitzwaren. Really, I can't +think what we have been about. Before the last has been heard of this +business, it strikes me that there will be the devil to pay all round." + +In my heart I felt only too clearly that this was the truth. + +At O'Mulligan's rooms we drank out of long glasses and were accorded +the privilege of inspecting his "pots." The trophies of the amateur +middle-weight champion of Great Britain, who claimed Dublin as his +natal city, made an extremely brave array. But neither they, nor the +refreshment that was offered to us, were able to dispel the gloom that +had descended upon one and all. + +"There is one thing to be said for this chap Fitzwaren," said Alexander +O'Mulligan, in a tone that was not devoid of reverence. "He is grit +all through!" + +Truth there might be in this reflection, but there was little +consolation. Sadly we bade adieu to Alexander O'Mulligan and went to +our hotel to bed, yet not to sleep. For myself, I can answer that +throughout the night I had dark forebodings and distorted images for my +bed-fellows; and it was not until it was almost time to rise that I was +at last able to snatch a brief doze. + +It was fair to assume that the slumbers of the others had been equally +precarious, for at ten o'clock I found myself to be the first of our +party at the breakfast table. In a few minutes I was joined by +Coverdale, who carried the morning paper in his hand. + +He directed my attention to the obituary notice of H.E. the Illyrian +Ambassador, who, it appeared, had met his death at the Illyrian Embassy +in Portland Place at 11.30 o'clock the previous evening, in peculiarly +tragic and distressing circumstances. It appeared that his Excellency, +a noted shot who took a keen interest in firearms of every description, +was engaged in demonstrating to various members of the Embassy certain +merits in the mechanism of a new type of revolver, of which his +Excellency claimed to be the inventor, when the weapon went off, +killing the unfortunate nobleman instantly. The brief statement of the +tragic event was followed by a eulogium, in which the dead Ambassador's +martial, political and social attainments, and the irreparable loss, +not only to his sovereign, but to the polity of nations, was dealt with +at length. + +"Those fellows have done well," said Coverdale. "But I should be glad +to think that the last has been heard of this." + +This conviction I shared with the Chief Constable, but it was good to +find that thus far Illyrian diplomacy had proved equal to the occasion. +It had the effect of giving me a better appetite for breakfast, and in +consequence I ordered two boiled eggs instead of one. + +There was one other item of sinister interest to be found among the +morning's news. In glancing over it my attention was drawn to the +brief account of a mysterious tragedy which had been enacted in Hyde +Park near the Broad Walk the previous evening between six and seven +o'clock. A man who, according to papers found in his possession, bore +the name of Ludovic Bolland, of Illyrian extraction, had been found +dead with a bullet wound in the brain. It was not clear whether it was +a case of murder or suicide. The police inclined to the former +opinion, but at present were not in possession of any information +capable of throwing light upon the subject. + +I did not reveal to Coverdale the fell suspicion that I could not keep +out of my thought. The incident of the taxi following us, the +foreign-looking man who had entered the hotel, and Fitz's words and +subsequent conduct, all conspired to form a theory that I was very loth +to entertain and yet from which I was unable to escape. It certainly +had the effect of making me profoundly uncomfortable and caused the +second egg I had ordered to be superfluous after all. + +Beyond all things now I longed to return to my country home without +delay. The past twenty-four hours formed a page in my experience +which, if impossible to erase, I earnestly desired to forget. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +HORSE AND HOUND + +In spite of the fact that Fitz had accepted Alexander O'Mulligan's +invitation to witness "Burns's do with the 'Gunner'" at the National +Sporting Club that evening, he retrieved his motor from the garage in +Regent Street, wherein Illyrian diplomacy had placed it, and +immediately after luncheon set out for the country with that other item +of his recovered property. He was accompanied by Coverdale. The Chief +Constable seemed to feel that the peace of our county could not endure +if he spent another night in the metropolis. He was certainly able to +return in the simple consciousness of having done his duty. Like a man +and a brother he had stood by a fellow Englishman in the hour of his +need. + +To one of primitive rural instincts, such as myself, London under even +the most favourable conditions is apt to pall. During the reaction +which followed the excitements of the previous night it filled me with +loathing. But I owed it to an ingrained love of veracity that I should +drive to Bolton Street to offer consolation to my grandmother in the +hour of her affliction. She is a charming old lady, and she knows the +world. She was unaffectedly glad to see me and immediately ordered a +fire to be lit in the guest-chamber, although "she really didn't know +that I was in need of money." My explanation that it was spontaneous +natural affection which had led me to seek first-hand information on +the perennial subject of her bronchitis, merely provoked a display of +the engaging scepticism that seems to flourish in the hearts of old +ladies of considerable private means. + +At the first moment consistent with honour--to be precise, on the +following Monday at noon--I found myself on No. 2 platform at the Grand +Central. The guilt of my conscience was agreeably countered by the +thrill of relief in my heart. I was going back to the Madam and Miss +Lucinda. Less than three days ago long odds had been laid by an +overwrought fancy that I should never see them again. Howbeit, the +fates, in their boundless leniency, had ordained that I should return +to tell the tale. + +Yet, if I must confess the truth, such havoc had been worked with the +delicately hung nervous system of "a married man, a father of a family, +and a county member" that it would not have surprised me in the least, +even now I had taken my ticket for Middleham, to find the hand of a +well-dressed detective laid on my shoulder, or to find a revolver next +my temple at the instance of some sombre alien. Still, these fears +were hardly worthy of the broad light of day or of the distinction of +my escort. Not only was my relation by marriage returning with me, but +he had prevailed upon the amateur middle-weight champion of Great +Britain to accept Brasset's cordial invitation that he should satisfy +himself that the gentle art of chasing the fox was quite as well +understood by the Crackanthorpe Hounds as by the Galway Blazers. + +In the presence of Alexander O'Mulligan's epic breadth of manner it was +impossible for a man to take pessimistic views of his destiny. If I +had a suspicion of the skill of a Dickens or a Thackeray I should try +to give that "touch of the brogue" which flavoured the conversation of +this paladin like a subtle condiment. Attached to our express in a +loose box, in the care of a native of Kerry, was "an accomplished +lepper" up to fifteen stone, not merely the envy of the Blazers, but of +every man, woman, and child in the kingdom of Ireland. If his price +was not three hundred of the yellow boys, his owner cordially invited +anybody--_anybody_ to contradict him violently. + +Next to Alexander O'Mulligan's horse and his breadth of manner, his +clothes call for mention. Their cut and style must be pronounced as +"sporting." In particular his waistcoat was a thing of beauty. It was +a canary of the purest dye, forming a really piquant, indeed aesthetic, +contrast to the delicate tint of green in his eye. The presence in +that organ of that genial hue is thought by some to invite the +presumption of the worldly; but according to Joseph Jocelyn De Vere +Vane-Anstruther, whose humble devotion to his hero was almost pathetic, +it called for a very stout fellow indeed "to try it on" with the +amateur middle-weight champion of Great Britain. + +Nevertheless, like every paladin of the great breed, Alexander +O'Mulligan was as gentle as he was brave. He had hardly set foot in +Dympsfield House, which he did somewhere about tea-time on the day of +his arrival in our parish, before he captured the heart of Miss +Lucinda. He straightway assumed the _role_ of a bear with the most +realistic and thrilling completeness. Not only was his growl like +distant thunder in the mountains, but also he had the faculty of +rolling his eyes in a savage frenzy, and over and above everything +else, a tendency to bite your legs upon little or no provocation. It +was not until he had promised to marry her that she could be induced to +part with him. + +The ruler of Dympsfield House returned from Doughty Bridge, Yorks, +equally felicitous in her health and in her temper. We dined agreeably +_tete-a-tete_ with the aid of Heidsieck cuvee 1889. I reported that +the venerable inhabitant of Bolton Street, Mayfair, was supporting her +affliction with her accustomed grace and resignation; and duly received +the benediction of my parents-in-law, who in the opinion of their +youngest daughter had never been in more vigorous health--which is no +more than one expects to hear of those who dedicate their lives to +virtue. + +I was in the act of paring an apple when Mrs. Arbuthnot said, with an +air of detachment that was Vane-Anstruther of very good quality, "By +the way, has anything been heard of that creature?" + +"Creature, my angel?" said I. If my tone conveyed anything it was that +the world contained only one creature, and she at that moment was +balancing a piece of preserved ginger on her fruit knife. + +"The circus woman." + +"Circus woman?" said I, blandly. Our glasses were half empty and I +filled them up. "Somehow," said I, "this stuff does not seem equal to +the Bellinger that your father sends us at Christmas." Strictly +speaking this was not altogether the case, but then truth has many +aspects, as the pagan philosophers have found occasion to observe. + +"Mrs. Fitz, you goose!" + +"She has come home, I believe," said I, with a casual air, which all +the same belonged to the region of finished diplomacy. + +"Come home!" The fount of my felicity indulged in a glower that can +only be described as truculent, but her flutelike tones had a little +piping thrill that softened its effect considerably. "Come home! Do +you mean to say that Fitz has taken her back again?" + +"There is reason to believe he has done so." + +"What amazing creatures men are!" + +"Yes, _mon enfant_, we have the authority of Haeckel, that matter +assumed a very remarkable guise when man evolved himself out of the mud +and water." + +"Don't be trivial, Odo. To think she has dared to come home. If I +were a man and my wife bolted with the chauffeur, I wonder if she would +dare to come home again?" + +"The hypothesis is unthinkable. Freedom and poetry and romance, +translated into that overtaxed, down-trodden bondslave, the registered +and betrousered parliamentary voter!" + +The next morning the Crackanthorpe met at the Marl Pits. All the world +and his wife were there. The lawless mobs which are the curse of +latter-day fox-hunting are not quite so rampant in our country as they +are in that of more than one of our neighbours. Why this merciful +dispensation has been granted to us no man can explain. It may be that +we have not a sufficient care for the "bubble reputation." But as our +reverend Vicar says, our immunity is one further proof, if such were +needed, that the Providence which watches over the lowliest of God's +creatures is essentially beneficent: certainly a very becoming frame of +mind for a humble-minded vicar in Christ who keeps ten horses in his +stables and hunts six days a week. + +Brasset in a velvet cap winding the horn of his fathers is a figure for +respect. Even the Nimrods of the old school, who feel that his +courtesy and his care for the feelings of others are beneath the +dignity of the chase, accord to his office a recognition which they +would be the last to grant to his merely human qualities. This morning +the noble Master was esquired by his distinguished guest. The +O'Mulligan of Castle Mulligan, pride of the Blazers, possessor of the +straightest left in the western hemisphere, was immediately presented +to the mistress of Dympsfield House. + +That lady, mounted so expensively, that her weakling of a husband was +deservedly condemned to bestride a quadruped that Joseph Jocelyn De +Vere Vane-Anstruther publicly stigmatised as "an insult to the 'unt,'" +was instantly prepossessed, as her daughter had been, in favour of the +amateur middle-weight champion. Certainly his blandishments were many. +Grinning from ear to ear, revealing two regular and gleaming rows of +white teeth, his bearing had both grace and cordiality. His smile in +itself was enough to take the bone out of the ground, and he had all +the charming volubility of his nation. As for his aide-de-camp, he too +deserves mention. Having done very well at "snooker" the previous day, +my relation by marriage was looking very pleasant and happy in the most +perfectly fitting coat that ever embellished the human form. He was +mounted on Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, the _piece de resistance_ of his +stable. + +We were accepting the hospitality of the Reverend, an agreeable +function that was rendered necessary by the fact that his parsonage is +within a mile of the tryst, when portentous toot-toots accompanied by +prodigious gruntings assailed our ears. + +"I say, Jo," said Alexander O'Mulligan in an aside to his admiring +camp-follower, "here comes ould Fizzamagig." + +This elegant pseudonym veiled the identity of the most august of her +sex. The famous fur coat and the bell-shaped topper converged upon the +Rectory gravel, at the instance of a worn-out dust distributor whose +manifold grunts and wheezes all too clearly proclaimed that it belonged +to an early phase of the industry. + +It was the broad light of day, I was in the midst of friends and +brother sportsmen, but once again the chill of apprehension went down +my spine. For an instant I had a vision of pink satin. Mrs. Catesby +accepted the glass of brown sherry and the piece of cake respectfully +proffered by the Church. But while she discoursed of parochial +commonplaces in that penetrating voice of hers, it was plain that her +august head was occupied with affairs of state. Her grave grey eye +travelled to the middle of the lawn, where the noble Master was sharing +a ham sandwich with Halcyon and Harmony; thence to the inadequately +mounted Member for the Uppingdon Division of Middleshire; thence to the +Magnificent Youth and the heroic O'Mulligan. Finally in contemplative +austerity it rested upon the trim outline of the lady whose habit had +not a fault, although there is reason to believe that in the eyes of +one it erred a little on the side of fashion, who with the aid of the +Parsoness and Laura Glendinning was engaged in putting the scheme of +things in its appointed order. + +Once again I was undergoing the process of feeling profoundly +uncomfortable, when we were regaled with an incident so pregnant with +drama that a mere private emotion was swept away. An imperious vision +in a scarlet coat, mounted on a noble and generous horse, came in at +the Parson's gate. She was accompanied by the son-in-law of Ferdinand +the Twelfth. + +"What ho, the military!" murmured Alexander O'Mulligan. + +To the sheer amazement of all, save three of his followers, the Master +of the Crackanthorpe was the first to greet Mrs. Fitz. A recent +incident was fresh in the minds of all. It was pretty well understood +that "the circus rider from Vienna" and her cavalier entered the +Rectory grounds without an invitation, for the Fitzwaren stock stood +lower than ever in the market. It was expected of our battered and +traduced chieftain that at least he should withhold official +recognition from these lawless invaders. He was expected to vindicate +his office and maintain what was left of his dignity by looking +assiduously in another direction. But he did nothing of the sort. + +In the most heedless and tactless manner the noble Master proceeded to +forfeit the sympathy, the esteem, and the confidence of those who had +hitherto dispensed those commodities so lavishly. It would be hard to +conceive a more grievous affront to the feminine followers of the +Crackanthorpe than was furnished by the Master's personal reception of +the lady in the scarlet coat. The grave, yet cordial humility of his +bearing, admirably Christian in the light of too-recent history, +received no interpretation in the terms of the higher altruism. + +"He will have to resign," breathed the august Mrs. Catesby in the ear +of the outraged Laura Glendinning. + +It was a relief to everybody when a move was made to the top cover. +Without loss of time the question of questions was put. Was the famous +ticked fox at home? Was that almost mythical customer, whose legend +was revered in three countries, in his favourite earth? + +In a half-circle, each thinking his thoughts, and with a furtive eye +for his neighbour, we waited. + +A succession of silvery notes from the pack at last proclaimed the +answer to the question. As usual the father of cunning had set his +mask for Langley Dumbles. One of the stiffest bits of country in the +Shires lay stretched out ahead. Two distinct and well-defined courses +were immediately presented to the field. The one was pregnant with +grief yet fragrant with glory. The other, if not the path of honour, +was certainly more appropriate to the married man, the father of the +family, and the county member, particularly if the wife of the member +has a weakness for three-hundred-guinea hunters. There was also a +middle course for those who, while retaining some semblance of +ambition, have learned to temper it with prudence, observation, and +sagacity. It was to the middle course that nature had condemned old +Dobbin Grey and his rider. + +Not for us the intemperate delights of the thruster. Crash through a +bullfinch went Alexander O'Mulligan, the pride of the Blazers. Almost +in his pocket followed the lady in the scarlet coat. Almost in hers +followed Mrs. Arbuthnot. Laura Glendinning and little Mrs. Josiah P. +Perkins were obviously hardening their hearts for prodigious deeds of +gallantry. It was already clear as the sun at noon that if our old and +sportsmanlike friend, whose jacket had the curious ticking, only kept +to the line it generally pleased him to follow, some very jealous +riding was about to be witnessed among the feminine followers of the +Crackanthorpe Hounds. + +"My God, they call this 'untin'!" said Joseph Jocelyn De Vere +Vane-Anstruther, who to his disgust had allowed himself, in the +preliminary scuffle for places, to be nonplussed by the unparalleled +ardour of these Amazons. + +One thing was obvious. Old Dobbin Grey and his rider were a little too +near the centre of the picture. Let us blush to relate it, but at the +obsequious promptings of memory we moved down the hedgerow of that wide +and heavy pasture, yea, even unto its uttermost left-hand corner where +a gate was known to lurk. But alas! Nemesis lurked also in that +corner of the landscape. For we were doomed to discover that the +eternal standby of the lover of the middle course, nay the indubitable +emblem of it, the goodly handgate, had been removed of malice prepense, +and in lieu thereof was a stiff and upstanding post and rails, freshly +planted and painted newly! + +It was a great shock to the old horse. It was also a crisis in the +life of his rider. The rails looked terribly high and stout; we had +lost so much time already that every second was priceless if we were to +see hounds again. It was hard on the old horse, yet it really seemed +that there was only one thing to be done. However, before resolve +could be translated into action, other lovers of the middle course bore +down upon us; no less a pair than Mrs. Catesby mounted upon Marian. + +"It was my intention not to speak to you again, Odo Arbuthnot," said +the august rider of Marian, "but if you will give us a lead over that +post and rails we will follow." + +"_Place aux dames_," said I, with ingrained gallantry. "Besides, you +are quite as competent to break that top rail as we are." + +"Out hunting," said the high-minded votary of Diana, "you must behave +like a gentleman, even if at the Savoy----" + +With due encouragement the old horse really did very well indeed, +hitting the top rail fore and aft it is true, describing in his descent +a geometrical figure not unlike a parabola, but landing on his legs and +gathering himself up quite respectably in the adjoining fifty acres of +ridge and furrow. With a little pardonable condescension, I turned +round to look how Marian would behave with her resolute-minded +mistress. It is no disparagement to the Dobbin to say that Mrs. +Catesby's chestnut is a cleverer beast than he ever was, also she has +youth on her side; and she is taller by a hand. She grazed the rail +with her hind legs, but her performance was quite good enough to be +going on with. + +Mrs. Catesby can ride as straight as anybody, but now she is "A Mother +of Seven" who writes to the _Times_ upon the subject of educational +reform, and she has taken to sitting upon committees--in more senses +than one--she feels that she owes it to the mothers of the nation that +she should set them an example in the matter of paying due respect to +their vertebrae. The negotiation of the post and rails had put us on +excellent terms with ourselves, if not with each other, and side by +side we made short work of the fifty acres of ridge and furrow; popped +through a sequence of handgates and along a succession of lanes; and +made such a liberal use of the craft that we had painfully acquired in +the course of more seasons than we cared to remember, that in the end +it was only by the mercy of Allah that we did not head the fox! + +The fortune of war had placed us in the first flight, but the +celebrated customer was still going so strong that we should have to +show cause if we were going to remain there. + +The noble Master was looking very anxious. Well he might, for between +him and his hounds was the lady in the scarlet coat. Mounted upon the +most magnificent-looking bay horse I have ever seen she seemed fully +prepared to hunt the pack. And I grieve to relate that following hard +upon her line, and as close as equine flesh and blood could contrive +it, was Mrs. Arbuthnot on her three-hundred-guinea hunter. + +"Look at Mops," quoth a disgusted voice. "Clean off her rocker. Hope +to God there won't be a check, that's all!" + +Jodey soared by us, taking a fence in his stride. + +On the contrary, old Dobbin Grey was beginning devoutly to hope that a +check there would be. But, as game as a pebble, the old warrior +struggled on. It would never do for him to be cut out by Marian, and +in that opinion his rider concurred. Luckily we found an easy place in +the fence, but all too soon a more formidable obstacle presented +itself. It was Langley Brook. Very bold jumping would be called for +to save a wet jacket; and it is an open secret that, even in his prime, +the Dobbin has always held that the only possible place for water is a +stable bucket. + +We decided to go round by the bridge. A perfectly legitimate +resolution, I am free to maintain, for ardent followers of the middle +course. Having arrived at this statesmanlike decision there was time +to look ahead. It was not without trepidation that we did so. In +front was a welter of ambitious first flighters. Yet, as always, the +one to catch the eye was the lady in the scarlet coat. Utterly +heedless, she went at the Brook at its widest, the noble bay rose like +a Centaur and landed in safety. Sticking ever to her, closer than a +sister, was Mrs. Arbuthnot. I shuddered and had a vision of a broken +back for the three-hundred-guinea hunter, and a ducking for its rider. +Happily, if you are a member of the clan Vane-Anstruther, the more +critical the moment the cooler you are apt to be; also you are born +with the priceless faculty of sitting still and keeping down your +hands. The three-hundred-guinea hunter floundered on to the opposite +bank, threatened to fall back into the stream, by a Herculean effort +recovered itself and emerged on _terra firma_. + +It was with a heart devout with gratitude that I turned to the bridge. +To my surprise, for as all my attention had been for the Brook I had +had none to spare for the field as a whole, I found myself cheek by +jowl with Jodey. In the hunting field I know no young man whom nature +has endowed so happily. His air of world-weariness is a cloak for a +justness of perception, which apparently without the expenditure of the +least exertion generally lands him there or thereabouts at the finish. + +"The silly blighters!--don't they see they have lost their fox?" + +This piece of criticism was hurled not merely at the Amazons, who had +already negotiated the water, but also at the noble Master and his +attendant satellites who were in the act of following their example. + +"Reggie is quite right for once," said a voice from the near side, +severe and magisterial in quality. "It is his duty to prevent, if he +can, his hounds being overridden by those unspeakable women. If Irene +belonged to me I should send her straight home to bed." + +"Ought to be smacked," said the sportsman on the off side, cordially. +"Anybody'd think she'd had no upbringin'!" + +Feeling in a sense responsible for the misbehaviour of my lawful +property, I "lay low and said nuffin." Indeed, there was precious +little to be said in defence of such conduct in the presence of the +whole field. + +On the strength of Jodey's pronouncement we crossed the bridge at our +leisure. As usual his wisdom hastened to justify itself. Reynard was +tucked snugly under a haystack, doubtless with his pad to his nose. He +was upon sacred earth, where, after a tremendous turn-up with Peter, +the Crackanthorpe terrier, the Crackanthorpe hounds and the +Crackanthorpe huntsman reluctantly left him. + +A halt was called; flasks and sandwiches were produced; and the +honourable company of the less enterprising, or the less fortunate, +began to assemble in force without the precincts of the Manor Farm +stackyard. Conversation grew rife; and at least one fragment that +penetrated to my ears was pungent. + +"Look here, Mops," was its context, "when do you suppose you are goin' +to give over playing the goat?" + +The rider of the three-hundred-guinea hunter was splashed with mud up +to her green collar, her hair was coming down, her hat was anyhow, her +cheeks were flame colour, and the sides of Malvolio were sobbing. + +"_Mon enfant_," I ventured sadly to observe, "it may be magnificent, +but it is not the art of chasing the fox, even as it is practised in +the flying countries." + +The light of battle flamed in the eyes of the star of my destiny. + +"What nonsense you talk, Odo! Do you think that the circus woman----" + +"Sssh! She will hear you." + +"Hope she will!" + +"Fact is, Mops," said her admonisher in chief, "as I've always said, +you are only fit for a _provincial_ pack." + +Having thus delivered himself Mrs. Arbuthnot's brother washed his hands +of this "hard case" in the completest and most effectual manner. He +turned about and bestowed his best bow upon the circus rider from +Vienna. The act was certainly irrational. The behaviour of the lady +in the scarlet coat was quite as much exposed to censure. To be sure +her nationality was to be urged in her defence, but then, as the sorely +tried Master confided to me in a pathetic aside, "she had been out +quite often enough to learn the rules of the game." + +"You can't expect Crown Princesses, my dear fellow, to trouble about +rules," said I. "They make their own." + +"Then I wish they would hunt hounds of their own and leave mine to me," +said the long-suffering one tragically. "It turns me dizzy every time +I see her among 'em. If Fitz had any sense of decency he would look +after her." + +"Fitz is the slave of circumstance. Brasset, if you are a wise fellow +and you are not above taking the advice of a friend, you will never +marry the next in succession to an old-established and despotic +monarchy." + +"My God--no!" The voice of the noble Master vibrated with profound +emotion. + +In honour of this resolution we exchanged flasks. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A GLARE IN THE SKY + +The Society for the Maintenance of the Public Decency has a record of +long and distinguished usefulness, but never in its annals has it been +moved to a more determined activity than during the week which followed +this ill-starred run. The Ruling Dames or Past Grand Mistresses--I +don't quite know what their true official title is--of this august body +met and conferred and drank tea continually. Those who were conversant +with the Society's methods made dire prophecy of a public action of an +unparalleled rigour. But beyond the fact that Mrs. Arbuthnot's +china-blue eyes had an inscrutable glint, and that Mrs. Catesby's +Minerva-like front was as lofty and menacing as became the daughter of +Jove, nothing happened during this critical period which really aspires +to the dignity of history. + +Three times within that fateful space the noble Master led forth his +hounds; three times was it whispered confidently in my ear by my little +friend Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins with a piquant suggestion in her accent +of her old Kentucky home, which sometimes overtakes her very charmingly +in moments of acute emotion, "that if the tenderfoot from the rotunda +hit the trail, Reg would take the fox-dogs home"[1]; three times did +the lady in the scarlet coat do her best to override the fox-dogs in +question; three times, as the veracious historian is fain to confess, +nothing happened whatever. It is true that more than once the noble +Master looked at the offender "as no gentleman ought to look at a +lady." More than once he cursed her by all his gods, but never within +her hearing. Rumour had it that he also told Fitz that if he didn't +look after his wife he should give the order for the kennels. +Unfortunately, Miss Laura Glendinning was the sole authority for this +melodramatic statement. + +However, on the evening of the seventh day the stars in their courses +said their word in the matter. Doubtless the behaviour of the astral +bodies was the outcome of a formally expressed wish of the Society; at +least it is well known that certain of its members carry weight in +heaven. Whether Mrs. Catesby and the Vicar's Wife headed a deputation +to Jupiter I am not in a position to affirm. Be that as it may, on the +evening of the seventh day fate issued a decree against "the circus +rider from Vienna" and all her household. + +Let this fell occurrence be recorded with detail. Myself and +co-partner in life's felicities had had a tolerable if somewhat +fatiguing day with the Crackanthorpe Hounds. We had assisted at the +destruction of a couple of fur-coated members of society who had done +us no harm whatever; and having exchanged the soaked, muddy and +generally uncomfortable habiliments of the chase for the garb of peace, +had fared _tete-a-tete_--Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther +regaling his friends at the Hall with the light of his countenance and +his post-prandial skill at snooker--with sumptuous decency upon baked +meats and the good red wine. + +We were in the most harmonious stage of all that this chequered +existence has to offer; taking our ease in our inn while our nether +limbs, whose stiffness was a not unpleasing reminiscence of the +strenuous day we had spent in the saddle, toasted luxuriously before a +good sea-coal fire; smoking the pipe of peace together, although this +is by way of being a figure of speech, since Mrs. Arbuthnot affected a +mild Turkish cigarette; comparing notes of our joint adventures by +flood and field, with the natural and inevitable De Vere +Vane-Anstruther note of condescension quite agreeably mitigated by one +tiny liqueur glass of the 1820 brandy--a magic potion which ere now has +caused the Magnificent Youth himself to abate a few feathers of his +plumage. We were conducting an exhaustive inquiry into the respective +merits of Pixie and Daydream, and I had been led with a charm that was +irresistible into a concurrence with the sharer of my bliss that both +were worth every penny of the price that had been paid for them, +although I had not so much as thrown a leg over either of these +quadrupeds of most distinguished ancestry. + +"It is rather a lot to pay, but you can't call them dear, can you, +because they _do_ fetch such prices nowadays, don't they? And Laura is +perfectly green with envy." + +"I'm glad of that," said I, with undefeated optimism. "If her +greenness approximates to the right shade it will match the Hunt +collar. How green is she?" + +"Funny old thing!" Mrs. Arbuthnot's beam was of childlike benignity. +"She is not such a bad sort, really. Besides, plain people are always +the nicest, aren't they, poor dears? Yes, Parkins, what is it?" + +Parkins the peerless had entered the drawing-room after a discreet +preliminary knock for which the circumstances really made no demand +whatever. He had sidled up to his mistress, and in his mien natural +reserve and a desire to dispense information were finely mingled. + +"Beg pardon, ma'am, but have you seen the glare in the sky?" + +"What sort of a glare, Parkins?" A lazy voice emerged from the seventh +heaven of the hedonist. "Do you mean it's a what-do-you-call-it? A +_planet_ I suppose you mean, Parkins?" + +"It can hardly be a _comet_, ma'am," said Parkins, with his most +encyclopaedic air. "It is so bright and so fixed, and it seems to be +getting larger." + +"So long as it isn't the end of the world," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, +fondling her gold cigarette-case with a little sigh. + +"It looks to me like the Castle, ma'am. It is over in that direction. +I remember when the west wing was burnt twelve years ago." + +"You think the Castle is on fire?" said I. + +I also was in the seventh heaven of the hedonist. But gathering my +faculties as resolutely as I could, I rose from the good sea-coal fire +and assisted Parkins to pull aside the curtains. + +"By Jove, you're right. There is a blaze somewhere, But isn't it +rather near for the Castle?" + +"It might be the Grange," said Parkins. + +I was fain to agree that the Grange it might be. Somehow that seemed a +place excellently laid for disaster. The announcement that the Grange +was on fire brought Mrs. Arbuthnot to the window. Born under Mars, the +star of my destiny is nothing if not a woman of action. In spite of +her present rather lymphatic state she ordered the car round +immediately. Within five minutes we were braving a dark and stormy +December night. + +The beacon growing ever brighter as we went, it did not take long to +convince us that the Grange would be our destination. It is to be +feared that we broke the law, for in something considerably under half +an hour we had come to the home of the Fitzwarens. + +A heartrending scene it was. The beautiful but always rather desolate +old house, which dates from John o' Gaunt, seemed already doomed. A +portion of it was even now in ruins and on all sides the flames were +leaping up fiercely to the sky. Engines had not yet had time to come +from Middleham, and the progress of the fire was appalling. + +A number of servants and villagers had devoted themselves to the task +of retrieving the furniture. On a lawn at some distance from the house +an incongruous collection of articles had been laid out: a picture by +Rubens side by side with a trouser-press; a piece of Sevres cheek by +jowl with a kitchen saucepan. Standing in their midst in the charge of +a nurse was the small elf of four. Her eyes were sparkling and she was +dancing and clapping her hands in delight at the spectacle. The nurse +was in tears. + +Mrs. Arbuthnot had not seen the creature before. But her instincts are +swift and they are sure. + +"Come with me," she said to the nurse. "Saunders will take you in the +car to Dympsfield House. They will make up a bed for you in the day +nursery and see that you get some warm food." + +Hardly had the little girl suffered herself to be led away by the +prospect of a new adventure before two men came towards the spot where +I stood. They were grimy and dishevelled, and the upper part of their +persons seemed to be enveloped in folds of wet blanket. They were +staggering under a very large and unwieldy burden which was swathed in +a material similar to that which they wore themselves. + +With much care this object was deposited upon a Sheraton table, and +then I found myself greeted by a familiar voice. + +"Hullo, Arbuthnot! Didn't expect to see you here. Very good of you to +come." + +It was the voice of Fitz speaking with the almost uncanny _insouciance_ +of the wonderful night at Portland Place. He cast off the curious +wrappings which encumbered his head, and said to his companion, who was +in similar guise, "I'm afraid it has us beat. The sooner we get out of +this kit the better." + +There came an incoherent growl out of the folds of wet blanket. + +"Why, Coverdale!" I said in astonishment. + +"I think we ought to make a sporting dash for that Holbein," said the +growl, becoming coherent. "That is, if you are quite sure it isn't a +forgery." + +"Personally I think it is," said Fitz, in his voice of unnatural calm. +"But my father always believed it to be genuine." + +"Better take the word of your father. Let us get at it." + +It was the work of a moment to strip the wrappings off the retrieved +masterpiece upon the Sheraton table. + +"Can I help?" said I. + +"If you want to be of use," said Fitz, "go and give the Missus a hand +with the horses." + +Leaving Fitz and Coverdale to make yet another entry into what seemed +hardly less than a furnace of living fire, I made my way round to the +stables. To approach them one had to be careful. The heat was +intense; sparks and burning fragments were being flung a considerable +distance by the gusts of wind, and masonry was crashing continually. +The out-buildings had not yet caught, but with the wind in its present +quarter it would only be the work of a few moments before they did so. + +My recollection is of plunging, rearing and frightened animals, and of +a commanding, all-pervading presence in their midst. Amid the throng +of stable-hands, villagers, firemen and policemen who had now come upon +the scene, it rose supreme, directing their energies and sustaining +them with that imperious magnetism which she possessed beyond any +creature I have ever seen. I heard it said afterwards that she alone +had the power to induce the twelve horses to quit their loose boxes; +that one by one she led them out, soothing and caressing them; and that +so long as she was with them they showed comparatively little fear of +the roaring furnace that was so near to them, but that no sooner were +they handed over to others than they became unmanageable. + +Certainly it was due to a consummate exhibition of her power that the +horses were got out of their stalls without harm to themselves or to +others. They were confided to the care of the friendly farmers of the +neighbourhood, who, assembled in force, were working heroically to +combat the flames. All night long the work of salvage went on, but in +spite of all that could be done, even with the aid of numerous +fire-engines from Middleham, nothing could save the old house. It +burnt like tinder. By three o'clock that December morning it was a +smouldering ruin, with only a few fragments of stone wall remaining. + +At intervals during the night some of the Grange servants had been +dispatched to Dympsfield House, with as many of the personal belongings +of their master and mistress as they could collect. Our establishment +is a modest one, but not for a moment did it occur to Mrs. Arbuthnot +that it would be unable to offer sanctuary to those who needed it so +sorely. + +The fire had run its course and all were resigned to the inevitable +when Mrs. Arbuthnot, without deigning to consult the nominal head of +our household, made the offer of our hospitality to Fitz and his wife. +At her own request she had previously forgone an introduction to "the +circus rider from Vienna"; and now in these tragic December small hours +she deemed such a formality to be unnecessary. Verily misfortune makes +strange bedfellows! + +If I must tell the truth, it surprised me to learn that the Fitzwarens +had been prevailed upon to accept the hospitality of Dymspfield House. +True, they were homeless; but, looking at the case impartially, it +seemed to me that they had not been very generously treated by their +neighbours. The foibles of "the circus rider from Vienna" had aroused +a measure of covert hostility to which the most obtuse people could not +have been insensible. Had the average ordinary married couple been in +the case of Fitz and his wife, I do not think they would have yielded +to Mrs. Arbuthnot's impulsive generosity. + +The Fitzwarens, however, were far from being ordinary average people. +Therefore, by a quarter to five that morning they had crossed our +threshold; and as some recompense for the privations of that tragic +night they were promptly regaled with a scratch meal of coffee and +sandwiches. + +One other individual, at his own suggestion, accompanied our guests to +Dympsfield House. He was of a sinister omen, being no less a person +than the Chief Constable of the county. His presence at the fire had +been a matter for surprise. And when, as we were about to quit the +unhappy scene, he came to me privately and said that if we could +squeeze a corner for him in the car he should be glad to come with us, +that surprise was not made less. + + + +[1] In the opinion of Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins this passage fully +guarantees the author's total ignorance of a very great proposition. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MRS. ARBUTHNOT BEGINS TO TAKE NOTICE + +It was a little before six when the ladies retired in the quest of +their lost repose. No sooner had they left us than we lit our pipes +and drew our chairs up to the fire. In patience I awaited the riddle +of the Chief Constable's presence being read to me. + +"Arbuthnot,"--the great man sucked at his pipe pensively--"there are +several things that Fitzwaren and I are agreed that you ought to know." + +Fitz nodded his head in curt but rather sinister approval. + +"Yes, tell him," he said. + +"Before Fitzwaren accepted your hospitality," said the great man, "he +asked my advice." + +"Oh, really?" said I. + +"And I think it only right to mention"--the air of the great man +reminded me of my old tutor expounding a proposition in Euclid--"that +it is upon my advice he has accepted it." + +"I ought to feel honoured." + +"Well, yes, perhaps you ought." The Chief Constable removed his pipe +from his lips and tapped it upon an extremely dirty boot. "But whether +you will feel honoured when you have heard all we have to say to you I +am not so sure." + +"Nor I," said Fitz. + +"You see, Arbuthnot, we have a rather delicate problem to deal with. +It is neither more nor less than the personal safety of the Princess." + +"I hope," said I, "her Royal Highness will be at least as safe here as +she would be anywhere else." + +"That is the crux of the whole matter. Fitzwaren and I have come to +the conclusion that, for the time being, the Princess will actually be +safer in this house than she would be in any other." + +"Really!" + +"Our local police, acting in conjunction with Scotland Yard, hope to be +able to ensure her safety, that is if she and her friends take +reasonable care." + +"You may depend upon it, Coverdale, that as far as my wife and I are +concerned we shall do nothing to jeopardise it." + +"That is taken for granted. But her present position is much more +critical than perhaps you are aware." + +"I know, of course, that Ferdinand the Twelfth is determined to have +her back in Illyria." + +"Yes, and further than that, the Republican Party is equally determined +that she never shall go back to Illyria. The events of last night have +furnished another proof of their sentiments." + +"I don't understand." + +"There is reason to believe that the destruction of the Grange is the +work of an incendiary. That is to say, a bomb was thrown through one +of the windows, as was the case at Blaenau recently. There can be no +question that the object of the crime was to kill the Princess, as it +was to kill the King, but in each case the business was bungled. In +this instance, rather miraculously, not a soul was hurt, although the +house, as you know, has been entirely destroyed. A bomb was thrown +into the dining-room, but as dinner happened to be half an hour later +than usual, nobody was there." + +This grisly narrative gave me a sharp shock, I confess. And I must +have betrayed my state of mind, for the Chief Constable favoured me +with a smile of reassurance. + +"Put your trust in the Middleshire police," said he, "with a little +assistance from the Yard. They won't play that game twice with us, you +can depend upon it. If the Yard had not been rather late with their +information they would never have played it at all. Our people were +actually on the way to the Grange when the outrage was committed." + +For all the air of professional reassurance, the married man, the +father of the family, and the county member was thoroughly alarmed. + +"It is all very well, Coverdale, but what guarantee is there that even +at this moment they are not dropping bombs into our bedrooms?" + +"Four men in plain clothes are patrolling your park, and will continue +to do so as long as the Princess remains under your roof." + +It would have been ungrateful not to express relief for this official +vigilance. But that it was felt in any substantial measure is more +than I can affirm. + +"Of course, my dear fellow," said Fitz, "now that you are in possession +of all the facts of the case, you have a perfect right to withdraw the +offer of your hospitality. Coverdale and I are agreed that it will do +much to promote my wife's safety for the time being, because this house +will be kept under continual observation. But as soon as I can make +other arrangements I shall do so, of course. And if you really believe +that the safety of your house and family is involved, we shall have no +alternative but to go at once." + +To what length ought we to carry our altruism? Here was a grave +problem for the married man, the father of the family, and the county +member. In spite of the opinion of the cool-headed and sagacious +Coverdale, I could not allay the feeling that to harbour the "Stormy +Petrel" was to incur a grave risk. But at the same time it was not in +me to turn her adrift into the highways and hedges. + +"Now that we have had due warning of what to expect," said Coverdale, +"these gentry will not find it quite so easy to throw bombs in this +country as they do in Illyria. And if I thought for one moment you +were not justified in extending your hospitality to the Princess I +should certainly say so." + +Events are generally too strong for the humble mortals who are content +to tread the path of mediocrity. We had already offered sanctuary to +the Crown Princess of Illyria. A little painful reflection seemed to +show that to revoke it now would be rather inhuman and rather cowardly. +All the same, it was impossible to view with enthusiasm the prospect of +four men in plain clothes continually patrolling the park. + +"By the way," said the Chief Constable, "you will, I hope, treat this +business of the bombs as strictly confidential. It won't help matters +at all to find it in the morning papers." + +"I appreciate that; but won't the servants be rather curious about +those four sportsmen in plain clothes?" + +"Ostensibly they are there to look after a gang of burglars who are +expected in the neighbourhood." + +"Not exactly a plausible story, I am afraid!" + +"The story doesn't matter, so long as they don't suspect the truth. +And as Mrs. Fitzwaren's _incognito_ has been so well kept, there is no +reason why they should." + +So much for the latest development of this amazing situation. From the +very moment the curtain had risen upon the first act of the +tragi-comedy of the Fitzwarens I had seemed to be cast for the +uncomfortable _role_ of the weak soul in the toils of fate. From the +beginning it had been contrary to the promptings of the small voice +within that I had borne a part in their destinies. And here they were +established under my roof, a menace to my household and the enemies of +all peace of mind. + +It only remained to make the best of things and to hope devoutly that +Fitz would soon arrange to relieve us of the presence of the "Stormy +Petrel." But in spite of all the dark knowledge it was necessary to +keep locked up in one's heart, there was an aspect of the matter which +was rather charming. To watch the lion and the lamb lying down +together, a veritable De Vere Vane-Anstruther playing hostess to the +fair _equestrienne_ from a continental circus was certainly pleasant. + +I think it is up to me to admit that at the core Mrs. Arbuthnot is as +sound as a bell. Certainly her demeanour towards her guests was +faultless. Indeed, it made me feel quite proud of her to reflect that +had she really known the true status of our visitor she could have done +nothing more for her comfort and for that of her _entourage_. Her +foibles were condoned and "her little foreign ways" were yielded to in +the most gracious manner; and after dinner that evening it was a great +moment when our distinguished guest volunteered to accompany on the +piano her hostess's light contralto. + +I took this to be symbolical of the complete harmony in which the day +had been spent. Confirmation of this was forthcoming an hour later, +when we had the drawing-room to ourselves. + +"Really she is not half such a trial as I feared she would be," Mrs. +Arbuthnot confessed. + +"If you meet people fairly and squarely half-way," said I, in my +favourite _role_ of the hearthrug philosopher, "there are surprisingly +few with whom you can't find something in common." + +"Perhaps there is such a thing as being too fastidious." + +"We are apt to draw the line a little close at times, eh?" + +"Some of these Bohemians must be rather interesting in their way," said +Mrs. Arbuthnot. + +"No doubt they have some sort of a standard to which they try to +conform," said I, with excellent gravity. + +"Of course she is not _exactly_ a lady. Yet in some ways she is +_rather_ nice. Doesn't look at things in the way we do, of course. +Awfully unconventional in some of her ideas." + +"By unconventional you mean continental, I presume?" + +"No, not continental exactly. At least, I was 'finished' in Dresden, +but I didn't learn anything of that kind." + +"Had you been 'finished' in an Austrian circus perhaps you might have +done." + +"I hardly think so. They don't seem to be ideas you could pick up. I +should think you would have to be born with them. They seem somehow to +belong to your past--to your ancestors." + +"It has not occurred to me that circus-riders were troubled with +ancestors." + +"Hardly, perhaps, in the sense that we mean. But there is something +rather fine in their way of looking at things." + +"A good type of Bohemian would you say?" + +"Surprisingly so in some ways. She doesn't seem to care a bit about +money and she is absolutely devoted to Fitz. She doesn't seem to care +a bit about jewels, either. She has got some positively gorgeous +things, and if there is anything I care to have she hopes I'll take it. +Of course I shall do nothing of the kind, but I should just love to +have them all." + +"She appears to have had her admirers in Vienna, evidently." + +"That is what one can't make out. She has three tiaras, and they must +be priceless." + +"Nonsense, _mon enfant_. Even the glamour of the sawdust a thousand +times reflected cannot transmute paste into the real thing." + +"But the odd part of it is they _are_ real. I am convinced of it; and +Adele, my maid, who was two years with dear Evelyn, is absolutely sure." + +"Is it conceivable that the possessor of three diamond tiaras would +choose to jump for a livelihood through a hoop in pink tights?" + +"Yes, I know it's absurd. But nothing will convince me that her +diamonds are not real." + +"And she offered you the pick of them?" + +"The pick of everything except the smallest of the three tiaras, which +she thought perhaps her father might not like her to part with." + +"One would have thought that he would at least have set his affections +upon the largest of the three." + +"Really, I can hardly swallow the circus." + +"You haven't by any chance asked her the question?" + +"Dear no! One wouldn't like to ask a question of that sort unless one +knew her quite well. I don't think she was ever in a circus at all. +Or if she was, she may have been a sort of foundling." + +"Stolen by gipsies from the ancestral castle in her infancy. After +all, there is nothing to prevent her father being a duke." + +"I don't think it would surprise me, although, of course, she is rather +odd. But then in all ways she is so different from us." + +"Did you observe whether she ate with her knife and drank out of the +finger-bowls?" + +"Her manners are just like those of anybody else. I am asking Mary to +dine here on Friday, so that she can see for herself. It is her ideas +that are un-English; yet, judged by her own standard she might be +considered quite nice." + +"Mrs. Arbuthnot, surely a very generous admission!" + +"Let us be fair to everybody. I'm not sure that one couldn't get +almost to like her. There is something about her that seems to take +right hold of you. Personal magnetism, I suppose." + +"Or some uncomfortable Bohemian attribute? Can it be, do you suppose, +that the standard the English gentlewoman likes the whole world to +conform to would be none the worse for a little wider basis?" + +"Don't be a goose! A person is either a lady or she isn't, but she may +be frightfully entertaining and fascinating all the same." + +"Yes, that has the hall-mark of truth. There are cases in history. +Miss Dolly Daydream, for example, of the Frivolity Theatre." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot reproved me for the levity with which I treated a grave +issue. Upon the receipt of my apology she regaled me with the +astounding fact that Mrs. Fitz looked down on the English. + +"Is it conceivable?" said I, the picture of incredulity. + +"Really and truly she does. Quite laughs at us. Says we are so +stupid--so _bete_, that's her word. And she says we are so conceited. +She seems to think we have very little education in the things that +really matter." + +"Is she old-fashioned enough to believe that there is anything that +really matters?" + +"In a way she does." + +"How antediluvian! What does she believe it is that really matters?" + +"She seems to think it's the soul." + +"Dear me! I hope you made it clear to her that that part of the +Englishman's anatomy is never mentioned in good society?" + +"She knows that, I think. She says why the Romans are ashamed of it is +what she can't fathom." + +"She pays us the compliment of comparing us to the Romans?" + +"She says we are the Romans." + +"In a re-incarnation, I presume?" + +"I suppose she means that--she is so awfully odd. And for the Romans +to give themselves airs is too ridiculous." + +"Has she no opinion of the Caesars?" + +"The Caesars don't amount to much, in her opinion. We are going to have +another lesson before long, she says, and it will be a very good thing +for the world." + +"If by that she means that materialism leads to a _cul-de-sac_, and +that it takes a better creed than that to raise a reptile out of the +mud, perhaps we might do worse than agree with her." + +"She certainly never said anything about any 'isms.' But I don't +understand you anyway." + +"It seems to me, _mon enfant_, she has had a good deal to say about the +'isms.' But then, as you say, she's so foreign. Was there anything +else about her that engaged your attention?" + +"Heaps of things. She is terribly superstitious, a tremendous believer +in fate. She thinks everything is fore-ordained, and that the same +things keep happening over again." + +"Doesn't her oddness strike you as rather out of date?" + +"Absurdly. But it is not so much her ideas as the way she lives up to +them that makes her so different from other people. There was one +thing she told me really made me laugh. She said that Nevil was her +twin-soul, and that they lived in Babylon together about three thousand +years ago." + +"I should think that is not unlikely." + +"Be serious, Odo." + +"There are more things in earth and heaven, Horatia, than are dreamt of +in your philosophy. Go to bed like a wise child, and dream of hunting +the fox, and see that this Viennese horsewoman doesn't addle that brain +too much." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot confessed namely that she didn't feel in the least like +sleep. + +"I think I'll have another cigarette," she said. + +"Sitting up late and smoking to excess will destroy that magnificent De +Vere Vane-Anstruther nerve." + +"Goose! Yet I am not sure that this circus woman hasn't destroyed it +already. Do you know, I've never been in the least afraid of anybody +before, but I rather think I'm a bit afraid of her. She really is +wonderfully odd." + +A slight tremor seemed to invade the voice of Mrs. Arbuthnot. I was +fain to believe that such a display of sensibility was extremely +honourable to her. For, even judged as a mere human entity, our guest +was quite apart from the ordinary, and it would have implied a measure +of obtuseness not to recognise that fact. + +Taking one consideration with another, I felt the hour was ripe to let +Mrs. Arbuthnot into the secret. As things were going so well, it was +perhaps not strictly necessary; yet at the same time I had a +premonition that I should not be forgiven if the wife of my bosom was +kept too long in innocence of our visitor's romantic lineage. + +"That cigarette of yours," said I, "means another pipe for me, although +you know quite well that it makes me so bad-tempered in the morning. +But I think I ought to tell you something--that is if you will swear by +all your gods not to breathe a word to a living soul, not even to Mary +Catesby." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot pricked up her ears properly. + +"Why, of course. You mean it is something about this Mrs. Fitz? I +know it." + +"What do you know?" + +"I can't explain it, but as soon as I spoke to her it came upon me that +she was something quite deep and mysterious." + +"Well, it happens that she is. Things are not always what they seem. +I am going to give you a guess." + +"There is something Grand-Duchessy about her. You remember that woman +we met at Baden-Baden? In some ways she is rather like her." + +"And do you remember your old friend the King of Illyria?--'the old +johnny with the white hair,' to quote Joseph Jocelyn De Vere." + +"The dear old man in the Jubilee procession?" + +"The Victor of Rodova; the representative of the oldest reigning +monarchy in Europe." + +"Yes, yes. Such an old dear." + +"Well, our friend Mrs. Fitz happens to be his only child, the Heiress +Apparent to the throne of Illyria. What have you to say to that?" + +For the moment Mrs. Arbuthnot had nothing at all to say, but she looked +as though a feather would have knocked her over. + +"It is a small world, isn't it, _mon enfant_?" + +"It really is the oddest thing out!" Mrs. Arbuthnot's feminine +organisation was quite tense. "It doesn't surprise me, and yet it is +really too queer." + +"Ridiculously queer that humdrum people like us should be entertaining +royalties unawares." + +"Not nearly so queer as that she should have married Nevil Fitzwaren. +How did she come to marry him?" + +"They are twin-souls who lived in Babylon three thousand years ago." + +"That is merely silly." + +"My authority is her Royal Highness." + +"Fancy the Crown Princess of Illyria running off with a man like Fitz!" + +"There is reason to suppose that he makes her happy." + +"Why, one day she will be Queen of Illyria!" + +"She may be or she may not." + +"Well, I can't believe it anyway! There is no proof." + +"There is no proof beyond herself. And I confess that to me she +carries conviction." + +For an instant Mrs. Arbuthnot knitted her brows in the process of +thought. She then concurred with a perplexed little sigh. + +"But how dreadfully awkward it will be," she said in a kind of rapture, +"for poor dear Mary Catesby!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +HER ROYAL HIGHNESS RECEIVES A LETTER + +Pledged to secrecy, Mrs. Arbuthnot earned a meed of praise for her +behaviour during a crowded and glorious epoch. If you entertain the +Crown Princess of an active and potent monarchy it is reasonable to +expect that things will happen. + +Things did happen in some profusion during the sojourn of her Royal +Highness at Dympsfield House. Owing to the course taken by events +which I shall have presently to narrate, that sojourn was prolonged +indefinitely. The resources of our modest establishment were taxed to +the uttermost, but throughout a really trying period it is due to Mrs. +Arbuthnot to say that she was a model of tact, discretion, and natural +goodness. + +She would have been unworthy the name of woman--a title not without +pretensions to honour, as sociologists inform us--had she not literally +burned to communicate her knowledge of the true identity of "the circus +rider from Vienna." But some compensation was culled from the fact +that her co-workers in the cause of the Public Decency grew +increasingly lofty in their point of view. Even the promptings of a +healthy human curiosity would not permit Mrs. Catesby to eat at our +board in order that she might see for herself. Mournfully that woman +of an unblemished virtue shook her head over us. + +"It was not kind to dear Evelyn. It was right, of course, to +sympathise with the Fitzwarens in their misfortune. But the place was +old, and George understood that it was covered by insurance. And +fortunately all the pictures that were worth anything--and some that +were not--had been saved. But to take them under one's wing as we had +done was quixotic and bound to give offence. Besides, that kind of +person would be quite in her element at the village inn, the Coach and +Horses." + +Nevertheless, Mrs. Arbuthnot bore every reproof with a stoical +fortitude. What it cost her "not to give away the show," to indulge in +the phrase of Joseph Jocelyn De Vere, it would be idle to estimate. +But she was true to the oath she had sworn on the night of the great +revelation. Not to a living soul did she yield her secret. + +To Jodey himself what he was pleased to call "the royal visit" was a +matter for undiluted joy. It is true that he was turned out of his +bedroom, the best in the house, which commands an unrivalled view of +Knollington Gorse, and had to be content with humbler quarters; but our +Bayard was so perfectly _au courant_ with all that had happened, even +unto the presence of the four men in plain clothes in the shrubbery, +that the situation was much to his taste. + +When the Princess was not herself present, it pleased him to treat the +whole thing as a matter for somewhat laborious satire. + +"Ain't you got a bit o' red carpet and an awning for the front steps, +Mops? And why don't Odo sport his order at dinner? Can't see the use, +myself, in having an order if you don't sport it for royalty. Must put +your best leg first. Buck up a bit, old gal, else her Royal 'Ighness +will think you haven't been used to it. Anyhow, you must tell Parkins +to be damn careful how he decants that '63." + +In the presence of Mrs. Fitz, however, the demeanour of my relation by +marriage was not unlike that of a linesman standing at attention on a +field day. His deportment was so fearfully correct in every detail; +his attire so extraordinarily nice--he discarded gay waistcoats and +brilliant neckties as being hardly "the thing"--his hair was groomed so +marvellously, and he was so overpoweringly polite that it was a source +of wonder how the young fellow contrived to maintain the standard he +had prescribed for himself. + +It was a period of anxiety, yet it was not without its interest. In a +very short time Mrs. Arbuthnot had divined the _raison d'etre_ of the +four men in the park, but this did nothing to impair her sense of +hospitality. Fitz did not favour us with much of his company except in +the evening. During the day his energies were absorbed with the +arrangements for the rebuilding of the Grange, and, as I gathered, with +further provisions for the safety of his wife. All the same, limited +as was the time at his disposal, it was our privilege to watch him +sustain the domestic character. + +Whatever the incongruity of their fortunes, it was clear that Fitz and +his wife had a genuine devotion for one another. And in spite of their +apartness and the idea they conveyed of living entirely to themselves +without reference to the lives of humbler mortals, each seemed to +possess a quality worthy to inspire it. In a measure I was privileged +to share their confidence during the time they stayed under our roof; +and it was characteristic of them both that at heart they had a rather +charming and childlike frankness. Each of them revealed unexpected +qualities. + +I think I am entitled to say that I never shared the hostility they +seemed to arouse in others. All his life long Fitz, as far as I had +known him, had been condemned to play the part of the black sheep. +Partly it may have been due to his habit of refusing to go with the +tide; of his declared hatred of any kind of a majority. He had always +been a law unto himself, and had given a very free rein to his +personality. To me he had ever stood revealed as one capable of +anything; of the greatest good or of the greatest evil; and to behold +him now in the domestic circle, in close affinity with the magnetic +being in whom the whole of his life was centred, was to find him +endowed with a charm and a fascination which had no place in the nature +of the Nevil Fitzwaren that was seen by the eyes of the world. + +To me there was something beautiful and also a little pathetic in the +relationship which seemed to exist between these two diverse souls. +Their implicit faith in the rightness of each other, their sense of +adequacy, was a very rare thing. So many of the ignoble things of +life, questions of material expediency, of shallow prejudice, of +partial judgment, they seemed to have ruled out altogether. And this +could not have been otherwise if one reflected that a veritable kingdom +of this world was the price that had been paid for this true fellowship. + +My previous encounters with Mrs. Fitz had been of a somewhat trying +nature. But on the domestic hearth she was much less formidable. The +impetuous arrogance which had proved so disconcerting to everybody was +not so much in evidence. Her charm seemed to become rarefied as it +grew more humane. The childlike directness of her point of view began +to emerge more and more and to enhance her fascination; indeed, her way +of looking at things became a perpetual delight to such sophisticated +minds as ours. + +Her total inability to take us seriously was quite piquant. Our +England and all that was in it amused her vastly. She would compare it +to an enchanted land in one of Perrault's fairy-tales. But our code of +life, our manners and customs, our ideals, our mechanical contrivances +and, above all, our solemnity concerning them, never failed to appeal +to her sense of humour. + +It was my especial pleasure to converse with her after dinner. I +should not say that the art of conversation was her strong point, and +it was not until she had been a week in our midst that I was able to +come to anything approaching close quarters with her. But it was worth +making the effort to get past the barrier that was unconsciously +erected by her air of disillusion, of patient, plaintive tolerance. + +There was a quaint definiteness about her ideas. Touching all +questions that had real significance her thinking seemed to have been +done for her generations ago. All that lay outside the life of the +emotions was to her the wearisome iteration of a constitutional +practice, a necessary but somewhat painful part of the order of things. + +Perhaps the most surprising thing about her was her humility. The pomp +of kingship was to her the hollowest of all chimeras. It merely +resolved itself into the guardianship of a profoundly ignorant, an +undeveloped and an extremely thankless proletariat. "_Helas!_ poor +souls, they don't know what is good," was a phrase she used with a +maternal sigh. The divine right of kings was part and parcel of the +cosmic order; a fact as pregnant and inviolable as the presence of the +sun and the planets in the firmament. To be called to the state of +kingship was an extremely honourable condition, "but you had always to +be praying." It was also honourable and not so irksome to be an +unregarded unit of the proletariat. + +I am not sure, but I incline to the belief, that the fact that I had a +seat in the House enabled her to support my curiosity with more +tolerance than she might have done had I been without some sort of +official sanction. She regarded me as a chosen servant of _le bon roi +Edouard_; either my own personal grace or that of my kindred had +commended itself to the guardian of the state. + +"Are not," said I, "the members of the Illyrian Parliament elected by +the people?" + +"Yes, my father gave the people the franchise in 1890, and the nobles +have never forgiven him. So now the people choose their sixty deputies +out of a list he draws up for their guidance; the lords of the land +choose another sixty from among themselves; and then, as so often +happens, if the two Chambers cannot agree, the King gives advice." + +"The King of Illyria has heavy duties!" + +"My father loves hard work." + +"Are you troubled, ma'am, with a democratic movement in Illyria, as all +the rest of Europe appears to be at the present time?" + +The gesture of her Royal Highness was one of pity. + +"_Helas_, poor souls!" + +It was delicate ground upon which to tread. But the fascination of +such an inquiry lured me on where doubtless the canons of good taste +would have had me stay. + +"Would you not say, ma'am, your Republican Party was a menace to the +state?" + +"They don't know what is good, poor souls." Her voice was gentle. +"They will have to learn." + +"Will the King be the means of teaching them?" + +"_Helas!_ he is too old. It must be left to fate. Poor souls, poor +souls!" + +During the sojourn of her Royal Highness at Dympsfield House, we saw a +good deal of the Chief Constable of our county. In a sense he had made +himself responsible for the safety of us all. His vigilance was great, +and its unobtrusiveness was part of the man. No precaution was +neglected which could minister to our security; and he gave his +personal attention to matters of detail which less thorough-going +individuals might have considered to be beneath their notice. + +He was particularly insistent that the Princess should give up her +hunting, and that she should confine the scope of her activities, as +far as possible, to the grounds of the house. To this she was not in +the least amenable. An out-and-out believer in fate, and a subscriber +to the doctrine of what has to be will be, the bullets of the anarchist +had no terrors for her. To Coverdale's annoyance, she continued to +hunt in spite of his solemn and repeated warnings. And when he was +moved to remonstrate with Fitz upon the subject, he met with the reply, +"She pleases herself entirely." + +"But, my dear fellow," said the Chief Constable, "surely you must know +that she is exposing herself to grave risks." + +"If a thing seems good to her she does it," was Fitz's unprofitable +rejoinder. + +The great man was frankly annoyed. + +"That is very wrong, to my mind," he said with some heat. "It is +unfair to those who have made themselves responsible for her safety." + +"It is a question of free-will," said Fitz, "and she knows far more +about that than most people. And when it comes to a matter of choosing +right, she has a special faculty." + +So inconclusive a reply merely ministered to the wrath of the Chief +Constable, who in private complained to me bitterly. + +"I wish to heaven they would quit the country," he said. "They are a +source of endless worry and expense. We do all we can to help them, +and I must say the Yard is wonderful, yet they can't be induced to take +the most elementary precautions. I regret now, Arbuthnot, that I urged +you to shelter them. I had hoped they were rational and sensible +people, but I now find they are not." + +"You think, Coverdale, the danger is as real as ever?" + +"Frankly I do. Ferdinand the Twelfth has played it up so high in +Illyria that the Republicans are determined to make an end of the +monarchy." + +"But didn't she renounce her right to the throne when she married Fitz?" + +"In effect she may have done so, but the Illyrian law of succession +will not contemplate such an act. Ferdinand makes no secret of the +fact, apparently, that he will compel her to marry the Archduke Joseph, +and that she must succeed to the throne." + +"How is it possible for him to give effect to his will?" + +"He is a strong man, and if he sets his mind upon a particular course +of action few have been able to deny him." + +"Then you think her marriage with Fitz is merely an episode in what is +likely to be a brilliant but stormy career?" + +"Always provided it is not cut short by one of those bullets it is our +duty to anticipate. I can only tell you that the Foreign Office is now +very anxious to get her out of the country, and that if they dared they +would deport her." + +"Ho, ho!" + +An academic admirer of our constitutional practice, I was fain to +indulge in a whistle. + +"And, strictly between ourselves," said the Chief Constable, "if only +the right government were in, deported she would be." + +"A fine proceeding, I am bound to say, for a country with our +pretensions to liberalism!" + +"Under the rose, of course." The Chief Constable permitted himself a +dour smile. "I daresay it would make a precedent, and yet one is not +so sure about that. But one thing I am sure about, and that is that +some of us are devilish unpopular in high places. They would not be +averse from making things rather warm for certain individuals who shall +be nameless. They are pretty well agreed that we ought to have kept +our fingers out of the pie. As old L. said to me yesterday, she has +got to leave the country, and the sooner she goes the better it will be +for all concerned." + +All this tended to bring no comfort to the married man, the father of +the family, and the county member. If anything, it deepened his +anxiety. + +It is only just to state, however, that this feeling was not shared by +Mrs. Arbuthnot. To be sure, she was not acquainted with all that +happened. But as far as she was concerned the element of danger in the +case was an essential and rather delightful concomitant to its romance. + +The Vane-Anstruther hyper-sensitiveness to that mysterious ideal "good +form" rendered it necessary that Mrs. Arbuthnot should perform a +volte-face. This she proceeded to do with really amazing completeness +and efficiency. No sooner was the true identity of our visitor +established, than, as far as the ruler of Dympsfield House was +concerned, there was an end of the circus rider from Vienna and all her +works. The ingrained Vane-Anstruther reverence for royalty, due I have +ever been led to believe to an uncle who held a Household appointment, +received full play. The lightest whim of the Princess--except before +the servants it was ever the Princess--was law. + +Mrs. Arbuthnot did not go without a reward. Such an incursion did she +make upon the royal regard that in a surprisingly short time she was +addressed as Irene, and about the end of the first week of the visit +the intelligence was confided to me that the Princess had asked to be +called Sonia. Without a doubt we were living in a crowded and glorious +epoch. And I do not think its glamour was in any degree impaired by +the strictures of the world. + +It is not too much to say that the Crackanthorpe ladies were +scandalised by the open and flagrant treason of Mrs. Arbuthnot. She +had taken the queen of the sawdust into the bosom of her family. +Together they hunted the fox; together they overrode the Crackanthorpe +Hounds. Loud and bitter were the lamentations of Mrs. Catesby. The +whole county shook its head. + +Mrs. Arbuthnot wore the crown of martyrdom with extraordinary grace and +nerve. Her conduct in public was marked by a cynical impropriety, a +flagrant audacity at which the world rubbed its eyes and wondered. + +"I really believe," said Mrs. Catesby one day as together we made our +way home through the January twilight, "that if Irene belonged to me I +should chastise her. Can you be unaware that she allows the creature +to call her by her first name? And Laura Glendinning assures me that +with her own ears she heard her address her as Matilda, or whatever the +name is she received in baptism." + +"Yes, it's a desperate situation," I agreed, with a sigh which had +perhaps a greater sincerity than it was allowed the credit. + +"I hold you entirely responsible," said the Great Lady. "And so does +everybody who knows the true facts of the case. That deplorable +evening at the Savoy--and now you actually find her house-room in order +that she may demoralise your wife! What a merciful thing it is that +your dear, good, devoted mother, the most refined of women, is no +longer with us! By the way, Odo, I suppose you have heard that there +is some talk of asking you to resign your seat?" + +"That is news to me, my dear Mary, I assure you." + +"The Vicar thinks you ought. He seems to think that if you have any +Christian feeling about things you will do so on your own initiative." + +"It is so like the Church of England not to realise that by the time a +man reaches the age of forty he has gone over to Buddha." + +"I don't know in the least what you mean, but I hope it is nothing +improper. But I can assure you that the Vicar's opinion is shared by +others. The Castle is dreadfully wounded. Poor dear Evelyn will never +forgive it--never! No more fishing in Scotland and no more shooting. +At any rate, it will be a mere waste of time and money for you to stand +again." + +It only remained for me to agree very cordially with Mrs. Catesby, and +to confess to surprise that my constituents had not made the discovery +sooner. + +"But," said I, cheerfully, "here we are at that fine example of late +Jacobean art known as Dympsfield House. I would that I could prevail +upon you, Mary, to honour our guest by drinking a cup of tea in her +presence. It would be a graceful act which I am sure we should all +appreciate." + +"I have a conscience, Odo Arbuthnot," said the Great Lady, with a +severity of mien that rendered the announcement superfluous. "Also I +have some kind of a standard of morals, manners and general conduct +which I strive to live up to." + +At the gate I said _au revoir_ to the outraged matron. Having disposed +of my horse, I made my way indoors. The ladies had come home in the +car and were at the tea-table already. Among a number of other +weaknesses which go with a strong infusion of the feminine temperament, +I confess to a decided partiality for the cup which cheers yet does not +inebriate. + +Mrs. Arbuthnot was pouring out the tea and her Royal Highness was +standing in front of the fire. She was reading a letter, and to judge +by her brilliantly expressive countenance, its contents were affording +a good deal of exercise for her emotions. + +"I wish, Sonia, I could convert you to cream and sugar," said Mrs. +Arbuthnot, declining to entrust the cup to my care, but rising +importantly and personally handing it to the occupant of the hearthrug. + +"Oh, no, t'ank you. Lemon _a la Russe_. What a people to take cream +and sugar in their tea!" + +She enforced her idea of the absurdity by giving Mrs. Arbuthnot a +playfully affectionate pinch of the ear. + +"I have a piece of news for you, my child. Now, you must not laugh." + +"Oh, no, Sonia, I will not laugh." + +The somewhat exaggerated note of Mrs. Arbuthnot's obedience was not +unlike that of the model girl of the class being examined by the head +mistress. + +"Now, Irene, be quite good. Not even a smile." The Princess held up a +finger of mock imperiousness. "Dis is most serious. Shall I tell you +now, or shall I to-morrow tell you?" + +"Oh, please, please," piped Mrs. Arbuthnot, "please tell me at once. +Is it those absurd Republicans?" + +"Oh no, my child; it is something much more interesting. My father is +on his way to England." + +In sheer exultation Mrs. Arbuthnot gave a little leap into the air. + +"O-oh!" she gasped. + +"Think of it, my child! The royal and august one coming to this funny +little island, where everything is according to Perrault. He is coming +with old Schalk." + +"O-oh!" gasped Mrs. Arbuthnot. + +"You don't know Schalk. Wait till you have seen Schalk and then you +will die. He will kill you quite. He looks like dis, and he walks so." + +Her Royal Highness made a face that was really comic and took a few +steps across the carpet in imitation of Schalk going to the House of +Deputies. + +"Are they _really_ coming?" + +"On Thursday they arrive at Southampton." + +"They will go straight to Windsor, of course?" + +"Oh no, my child; it is not a visit of state. It is quite a secret, +what you call _incognito_. The king is coming to make obedient his +wicked daughter. _Helas!_" + +With tragic suddenness the Princess dropped her voice and the laughter +died in her eyes. But Mrs. Arbuthnot was too far deeply engrossed in +her own wild and extravagant thoughts to pay heed to the change. + +"But if the King does not go to Windsor, where else can he go?" said +she. "An hotel doesn't seem right, somehow, although, of course, there +are some rather nice ones in London." + +"I think, my child," said the Princess, "it were best that my father +came to us. They have anarchists in London. Besides, I insist that +you see Schalk. He will make you laugh until you shed tears." + +It was as much as ever Mrs. Arbuthnot could do to keep herself in hand. + +"Oh, Sonia," she cried, "do you really think the King will come to us?" + +"_Mais oui, certainement_, that is his intention. But it is a secret, +a grand secret, you must not fail to remember. _Le bon roi Edouard_ +must not know he is in this country. His name will be Count Zhygny; +and perhaps our good Odo here will be able to find him a little +shooting. Hares, partridges, anything that goes on four legs will +amuse him; and you must never forget, my good Odo, that he is the best +player at _Britch_ in Illyria. Now mind you don't play very high, or +he will ruin you. And so will Schalk." + +"I thank you, ma'am, for the information," said I, gravely. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A LITTLE DIPLOMACY + +The announcement that Ferdinand the Twelfth, accompanied by his famous +minister, Baron von Schalk, was on his way to this country and that he +was coming straight to Dympsfield House can only be described as a blow +to one confirmed in the habit of mediocrity. Had I had only myself to +consult in the matter, I should have urged, with all the vigour of +which my nature is capable, that it would be quite impossible for us to +put them up. The lack of accommodation that was afforded by our modest +establishment; the obscurity of our social state; our radical unfitness +for the honour that was to be thrust upon us; all these disabilities +and many another surged through my brain, while I laved my tired limbs +and struggled into a "boiled" shirt, and tied my "white tie for +royalty" in accordance with the sumptuary decree of Joseph Jocelyn De +Vere. So acute, indeed, became the conviction that something must be +done to turn the tide of events that I was fain to go next door to +Fitz. That worthy was in the act of brushing his hair. + +"You've heard the news, I suppose?" said I, and as I spoke I caught a +glimpse of my own gloomy and shirt-sleeved apparition in a +looking-glass. + +"What news, old son?" said the Man of Destiny, negligently shaking +something out of a bottle on to his scalp. "Not been shootin' at +Sonia, have they? Police are devilish vigilant. I'm hanged if we +haven't had a couple of mounted detectives with us all day. They rode +like it, anyway." + +"Do you mean to say you haven't heard?" said I, positively hating the +man for his coolness. "Hasn't the Princess told you that her father is +on his way to this country, and that he is coming straight to us?" + +Fitz laid down his hair-brushes and turned round to face me. + +"Get out!" he said. "Ferdinand coming here!" + +"Yes; she had a letter this evening to that effect." + +Fitz betrayed astonishment. And under the mask of his habitual +indifference I thought he also betrayed something else. + +"That poisonous old swine coming here!" he muttered. + +"Yes; he is coming with Baron von Schalk." + +"They generally hunt in couples. He never goes anywhere without his +familiar. But I don't like your news at all." + +"I like the news as little as you do," said I. "Really, we can hardly +do with them here." + +Fitz stroked his chin pensively, and then shook his head. + +"It looks as though we shall have to put up with them, I'm afraid. If +they are really on the way, I don't quite see how we can shirk them. +Ferdinand is coming as a private person, I presume?" + +"So I gather. But what do you suppose is his motive in making this +sudden pilgrimage to see his daughter?" + +Fitz did not answer the question immediately. + +"It admits of only one explanation," he said at last. "His other +scheme having failed, he has the audacity to take the thing in hand +himself. But that is his way. Whatever may be thought of his policy +and the style in which it is carried out, it can't be denied that he is +a very remarkable man. But I wish to God he would keep away from +England!" + +The son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth ended with an abrupt outburst. +Evidently the prospect of coming to grips with his august relation was +not to be viewed lightly. + +"But it hardly seems right," he said, "for him to take pot-luck at the +Coach and Horses. I shall be immensely grateful, Arbuthnot, if you +will put him up here, and of course it is quite understood that I stand +the shot." + +"The question of the shot, my dear fellow, doesn't enter into the case +at all. But, you see, we are just simple, ordinary folk, and we are +not quite up to this sort of thing; and then again, our accommodation +is limited." + +"Oh, that will be all right. If you can squeeze in Ferdinand and old +Schalk here, their people can stay in the village." + +I am not often troubled by anything in the nature of an inspiration, +but desperation has been known to quicken the most lethargic minds. + +"By Jove," said I, "there's Brasset. He is mounted on a far better +scale than we are. The very man! I'm sure, if the matter were +mentioned to him, he would feel himself highly honoured." + +"Yes," said Fitz, "it is not half a bad idea. I will mention it to +Sonia." + +"Of course, my dear fellow," I explained, "you understand that my wife +and I immensely appreciate the honour of entertaining the King of +Illyria, and if we only had more resources we should be only too +grateful for the chance. I hope you will make that quite clear to the +Princess." + +Solemnly enough the son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth promised that +this should be done, and I descended to the drawing-room in a more +equable frame of mind. I was able to eat my dinner in the happy belief +that my inspiration had solved an acute and oppressive difficulty. +Emboldened by this reflection and sustained by a sense of danger +overpast, I even went to the length of attempting to pave the way for +the reception of the happy solution. + +"By the way," I ventured to announce to Mrs. Arbuthnot at the other end +of the table, "Mr. Fitzwaren has suggested that perhaps it would be +more convenient for Count Zhygny and his friend the Baron if Lord +Brasset entertained them at the Hall. This seems a most happy +suggestion, and I am quite sure that Lord Brasset will consider it a +very great honour." + +Before I had come to the end of this carefully phrased, and, as I +hoped, eminently diplomatic speech, a silent but furious signal was +dispatched by wireless telegraphy across the whole length of the table. +A frown of portentous dimension clouded the brow of Mrs. Arbuthnot as +she turned ruthlessly to the picture of amused cynicism who sat beside +her. + +"Really, Mr. Fitzwaren," said she, "that is nonsense. His Maj--I mean +to say, Count Thingamy has expressed a gracious desire to come here, +and of course, as I have no need to say, we should be the last people +in the world not to respect it. We shall only feel too _proud_ and +_honoured_, and the longer he stays with us the more _proud_ and the +more _honoured_ we shall feel." + +"Quite so, quite so," said I, hurriedly. "Those are exactly my views; +that goes without saying, of course. But at the same time, Mr. +Fitzwaren agrees with me that the accommodation at the Hall is far +superior to any that we have it in our power to offer." + +"I didn't say that exactly, old son." Fitz turned the tail of an +amused eye upon his hostess. "I rather think that is one of the things +that ought to be expressed differently. Rather open to +misconstruction, as the old lady said when something went wrong with +the airship." + +"Irene quite understands what I mean," said I, with the valour of the +entirely desperate. "The Hall, don't you know, is one of the show +places of the country--ceilings by Verrio, and so on. Then, of course, +Brasset's a peer, and, as it were, marked out by predestination to do +the honours to Count Zhygny." + +There was the imperious upraising of a jewelled paw, in company with a +flash of eyes across the rose-bowl in the centre of the table. I was +reminded of the lady in Meredith whose aspect spat. + +"You are talking sheer nonsense, Odo. Your father is coming here, +isn't he, Sonia dear? It is all arranged, and there will be heaps of +room. Lucinda will go to Yorkshire to see her Granny; and Jodey can go +to the Coach and Horses; and you, Odo, can sleep over the stables, and +I am sure that Mr. Fitzwaren won't mind giving up the nicest bedroom to +his Maj--I should say, Count von Thingamy. You won't, now will you, +Mr. Fitzwaren?" + +"I am yours to command, Mrs. Arbuthnot," said Mr. Fitzwaren, with his +chin pinned down to the front of his shirt, and gazing straight before +him with his smiling but sardonic eye. "And if there is anything I can +do to add to the comfort of the Count, I need hardly say that I shall +be most happy." + +"There!" said Mrs. Arbuthnot, triumphantly. "Not another word, please, +else Sonia will think we don't deserve such an honour." + +Her Royal Highness regaled us all with a benevolent flash of her +wonderful teeth. + +As one in the coils of fate, I had to submit with the best grace I +could to its decree. So far was the sharer of my joys and the +participator in my sorrows from viewing the prospect of the royal +coming with disfavour, that she might be said to revel in it. There +was a fire in her eye, a lightness in her step; the mere thought of the +glamour that was so soon to invest her household served to envelop her +in an atmosphere of mental and moral elevation that can only be +described as lyrical. + +Later in the evening I received a Caudle lecture upon my absence of +tact. "What possessed you, Odo, to talk at dinner in that way! I +don't know what dear Sonia must have felt, I'm sure. One would really +think, to hear you, that we positively didn't want to entertain the +King." + +"Let us assume, _mon enfant_," said the desperate I, "in a purely +academic spirit, that almost inconceivable hypothesis." + +"Really, Odo, there are times when you seem to take a pride in being +_bourgeois_." + +"In this instance, my child, the indictment justifies itself. All the +same, we are what we are; it is hardly kind to hold any man responsible +for his antecedents." + +"Don't think for a moment that I blame you because your grandfather was +in trade; although, of course, trade was not so respectable then as it +is now. Why I blame you, Odo, is because you don't always make the +best of yourself. That was almost the only thing dearest Mama had +against you. Now, for the love of goodness, let us hear no more about +the King going to the Hall to stay with Reggie Brasset!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE EXPECTED GUEST + +In the face of this manifesto by the powers, there was only one course +to adopt. That course was submission. Fitz, while professing to +sympathise with my embarrassment, was too cynical to help me much. The +hospitality of the Hall might be more regal in its character, but then, +if the august visitor came to us, think what a snug family party we +should be! + +The King was due at Southampton that day week, and his dutiful +son-in-law proposed to meet him there. In spite of his casual and +nonchalant airs, he had an inborn instinct for behaving well on great +occasions. Ferdinand the Twelfth having affirmed his determination to +visit our shores, it seemed to Fitz that it behoved all concerned to +make the best of a bad business. It was a sad bore that he should have +decided to do any such thing, but at the same time it might prove an +amusing and possibly an instructive experience to have the victor of +Rodova dwelling among us in Middleshire. + +For Mrs. Arbuthnot these were great days. Almost the first thing she +did was to borrow an under-footman from Yorkshire. She also provoked a +state of anarchy in the kitchen by engaging for a fortnight a cordon +bleu lately in the service of a nobleman. Our much-maligned and +occasionally inebriated household goddess was fairly good for plain +dishes, but certainly not for such as were to be set before a king. +Upon inquiry of his daughter as to what dishes would make the best +appeal to the royal palate, the Princess was fain to declare that if +the victor of Rodova might be said to have a weakness for anything in +particular it was for tomatoes. + +It was my privilege to be present when, one morning at breakfast, the +mandate was issued to Joseph Jocelyn De Vere that for the time being it +was necessary that he should seek other quarters. + +"I am really so sorry," said his sister in a birdlike voice, "I am +really so dreadfully sorry. But what can we do? Two rather important +members of the Illyrian Cabinet are coming from Blaenau to see dear +Sonia, and of course it is only right that we should put them up." + +"That is what all that talk about Count This and Baron That amounts to, +is it?" said the young fellow, coolly. "Well, now, Mops, you don't +suppose I am going to put myself to the trouble of clearin' out for a +couple of bally foreigners, do you? This box suits me very well, and +the Coach and Horses is quite a second-rate sort of pub." + +"You can have your meals here, of course, but it would hardly be right +to send foreigners of distinction to the village inn." + +"Foreigners of distinction! Why, it would take the King himself to +uproot me." + +Such a moment was too much for Mrs. Arbuthnot's dramatic sense. + +"Well, it so happens," said she, with a carefully calculated unconcern, +"it is the King himself." + +Jodey laid down his coffee-cup. + +"Tell that to the Marines!" said he. + +"If you don't believe me, you had better ask Sonia. Of course, it is a +tremendous secret. The visit is a strictly private one, and his +Majesty's _incognito_ must be rigidly preserved." + +"I should rather think so," said the sceptical youth. "I expect Fitz +is pulling your leg." + +"Oh no, he isn't," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "Why should he, pray? The +King arrives at Southampton on Thursday, and Nevil will meet him there. +His Chancellor, Baron von Schalk, accompanies him, and they are coming +straight to us." + +"If it don't beat cock-fightin'!" + +"It is really quite natural that the dear old King should wish to see +his daughter," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, with pensive dignity. + +But it is only fair to Mrs. Arbuthnot to say that her dramatic +announcement had wrought sensibly upon her brother. + +"I suppose there is no help for it," he said, cheerfully. "I expect I +shall have to clear out. But I daresay Brasset will find me a crib if +I explain how it is." + +"There must be not a word of explanation to anybody," said Mrs. +Arbuthnot, with an official air. "Not a soul must know it is the King." + +"Brasset will be all right. He's an awfully diplomatic beggar; been an +_attache_ at Paris, and so on. You can trust him to keep a secret." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot pondered. The gravity of her mien was enormous. + +"Well, if you tell Reggie Brasset, you must give me your word of honour +that you positively won't speak of it to another living being. +Strictly _incog._, you know, and if it got out there might be serious +international complications. Of course I had to write and tell Mama, +else she would never have let me have Thomas. Besides, she is +consulting Uncle Harry upon one or two points of etiquette." + +"Oh, is she! Evidently going to be a devilish well-kept secret this +is!" + +"I should think it is. Why, I haven't even told Mary Catesby, yet I +suppose I shall have to, because she is frightfully well up in that +sort of thing." + +"If you don't disdain a word of advice from a lowly quarter," said I, +modestly, "you will leave Mary Catesby out of your calculations." + +My only guerdon was the flash of an imperious china-blue eye. Other +reward there was none. + +"Seems to me," said Jodey, "we had better have Brasset to dine with us +pretty often. You will want somebody to talk to the old buffer. I'm +not much of a hand at conversation myself." + +"No, Joseph," I ventured to remark, "but you are good and brave and +modest. How goes the ballad that Irene so charmingly discourses? 'Be +good, sweet child, and let who will be clever.'" + +I desisted, for from two points of the compass a double-distilled +Vane-Anstruther gaze was trained upon me. My relation by marriage +drank his coffee and fished out a vile old pipe, and lit it amid the +most magniloquent silence to which I have ever been a contributor. + +But events were moving apace. The passing of each day brought us +sensibly nearer the all-important event. With advice and aid from her +Royal Highness, Mrs. Arbuthnot proceeded to set her house in order with +no uncertainty. The King liked a room with a south aspect, it +appeared, and a bath-room leading out of his dressing-room. By a +special dispensation of providence these things happened to be +forthcoming. Red was the predominant hue of the carpet and +bed-hangings in the chamber of state. The picturesque fancy occurred +to Mrs. Arbuthnot that purple would be more appropriate. Her Royal +Highness thought it really didn't matter, but Joseph Jocelyn De Vere, +who was called in to arbitrate, concurred with Mrs. Arbuthnot. The +bill from Waring's was L65 12_s._ 9_d._ less five per cent. discount +for cash. + +On the morning of Wednesday a paper of instructions arrived from Uncle +Harry _via_ Doughty Bridge, Yorks. It seemed to attach chief +significance to the wine, which should be of the best quality and +abundant in quantity. Deponent adjured his niece to be especially +careful about the madeira, as all the royalties he had had the honour +to meet at table were extremely partial to that beverage. "I am +sending a case of ours in the care of Thomas, unknown to your father," +was interspersed in the form of a note in the maternal hand. In +effect, Uncle Harry's instructions might be said to resolve themselves +into as much madeira and as little fuss as possible. + +Fitz also was not inactive. He had accepted the impending visit of his +father-in-law, wholly distasteful to him as there was reason to believe +it was, in quite the temper of the philosopher. Since the King's +enemies were so rife in our part of the world, the first thing he did +was to take the Chief Constable into his confidence. He then went up +to town, spent two hours in Whitehall at the feet of more than one +Gamaliel, called upon the General Manager of the Great Mid-Western +Railway and arranged for a special train to be run through from +Southampton to Middleham, and rounded up his day with the purchase of a +new silk hat at Scott's. + +The historic Thursday came at last, and shortly after seven A.M. Mr. +Nevil Fitzwaren set forth to Southampton, arrayed in a very smart +Newmarket coat, patent leather boots and his new silk hat. Even when I +had witnessed his setting out in the full panoply of war, I could +hardly realise that we were on the threshold of so high an occasion. I +hope I do not attach an undue importance to the kings of the earth. +But even an insignificant unit of a constitutional country, with +perhaps something of a slight personal bias in the direction of +democracy, could not allay a thrill of lively anticipation of what the +day would bring forth. + +According to the journals of the age, Ferdinand the Twelfth stood for +an advanced type of despot. His word was law in Illyria. I spent half +my morning in the hunting up and perusal of a recent number of one of +the magazines, in which appeared a character-study of this famous man +by one who claimed to know him intimately. Therein he figured as a +benevolent reactionary; as one who in the fullest sense of the term +believed himself to be the father of his people. He dispensed justice +alike to the rich and the poor; but whether he was right or whether he +was wrong, he allowed no appeal from his verdicts. + +In the opinion of the writer of the article, the King of Illyria was +one of the strongest men of his epoch. Poised as he had been all his +life on the crater of a volcano, which issued continual threats of +eruption, he had abated no point of his public or domestic policy in +response to the rumblings below. He believed himself to possess an +infallible knowledge of that which was good for his people, and he was +prone to dispense his universal panacea in liberal doses. Yet he +differed fundamentally from other potentates of a similar faith, as, +for instance, his Russian nephew and his Turkish and Persian +contemporaries, inasmuch as he had faith in the essential virtue of his +subjects. + +In spite of the fact that the modern distemper of anarchy had infected +his kingdom, and had led to three cowardly attempts on his life, +Ferdinand the Twelfth had furnished a convincing proof of his strength +of character by declining to saddle his people with the responsibility +of what he chose to consider as isolated acts of fanaticism. From the +earliest times any individual or body of freemen of the Kingdom of +Illyria had enjoyed the right of personal access to their sovereign. +He was ready to give them advice in the most commonplace affairs. In +many ways he was more like an enlightened friend and neighbour of +liberal views than a despotic ruler whose word was law. It was said +that he would advise a working-man about the choice of a calling for +his son, or he would fix the amount of a daughter's dowry. "To take +the King's opinion" had become a proverbial phrase throughout the land; +and it was said that in the case of two farmers haggling over the price +of a horse, whenever the phrase was used it received a literal +interpretation. + +The consequence of this accessibility was an abundant popularity among +all classes in the state. In living up to the letter of the truly +royal tradition that every Illyrian enjoyed the King's friendship, he +had conserved his power, and in spite of many a sinister growl in +consequence of severe taxation and many flagrant abuses of authority, +the volcano had remained inactive throughout a long and not inglorious +reign. His campaign in the 'sixties against the might of Austria, +culminating in the historic day of Rodova, had been a wonder for wise +men, and had only been rendered possible by the almost superstitious +faith of all classes of a comparatively small community. + +In his final survey of the character and attainments of one of the most +significant figures of the age, the writer of the article indulged in +the prophecy that with Ferdinand the Twelfth a symbol of true kingship +would pass away. The forces of modernism were too strong in Illyria, +as elsewhere in Europe, to be held longer at bay. It was only by a +miracle that the doors of the historic castle at Blaenau had been +barred against them so long. Only an extraordinary personal power and +an unflinching strength of will had kept them unforced. For none could +deny that the sublime example of trusting all men and fearing none had +gone hand in hand with the gravest abuses; yet, whatever was their +nature, it could at least be said that they owed their origin to no +ignoble source. A king in every true essential, Ferdinand the Twelfth +had the defects of his qualities. The standard of well-being in +Illyria was high, but it was by no means widely dispersed. As is the +case within the borders of all despotisms, the rich were the rich and +the poor were the poor in Illyria. In many respects the condition of +the people recalled that of France before the Revolution; and it would +be a source of surprise to none who were in a position to observe the +present situation if, at the eleventh hour, the fate of Louis XVI +overtook this present uncommonly able and uncommonly misguided ruler. + +By the light of what this day was to bring forth, I made an anxious +study of this document. If I cannot say that I derived reassurance +from it, at least it did nothing to diminish my curiosity. It was to +be our privilege to entertain a type of true kingliness under our roof. +If one of those culinary disasters occurred to which even the best +regulated households are susceptible, and we were constrained to offer +burnt soup or an underdone cutlet to the father of his people, it was +to be hoped that his trembling host and hostess would not have to +forfeit their heads. + +As far as the King's daughter was concerned, it had seemed to us that +the announcement of his coming had brought unhappiness. Her alert, +half-humorous, half-malicious interest in everything around her which +made her charm, had seemed to give place to the brooding preoccupation +of one who felt a deep distrust of coming events. In particular I +thought this was shown in her relation to her small daughter. + +Prior to the receipt of the King's letter, Mrs. Fitz had shown no undue +devotion to this piece of mischief incarnate who answered to the name +of Marie, who defied her governess, bullied the servants and the +domestic pets, and who fiercely contended in season and out with Miss +Lucinda, a milder and more legitimate household despot. But by the +time we had come to this historic Thursday, it was as though her mother +could not bear this elf out of her sight. It was, of course, natural +that she should ardently wish that Marie should behave nicely to her +Grandpapa, but there was something almost tragic in this new anxiety +concerning her. There could be no doubt its root struck deep. + +To those who understood her ways and moods, it was clear that something +weighed upon her heavily. It was even in the expression of her face; +there was a strange decline of her vivacity, and a slackening of +interest in the things around her. By the time Thursday came she +seemed most unhappy. + +The Crackanthorpe had no fixture for that day, and in the light of +after events, perhaps, it had been well if they had. All the morning +she was curiously silent and _distraite_. She divided most of her time +between the stables and the society of her horses and the nursery and +the society of her singularly wilful and intractable daughter. At +luncheon she refused every dish, contenting herself with a glass of +water and a piece of dry toast. Not a word did she speak until near +the end of the meal, when quite suddenly she clasped her hands to her +head, and exclaimed in a deep guttural voice, hardly recognisable as +her own-- + +"I t'ink I will go mad!" + +There was something indescribably tragic in the exclamation. I rose +and withdrew from the room, and made a sign to the servants to follow. +Mrs. Arbuthnot was left alone with the unhappy lady, and as I went out +I remarked to her that I was going into the library. + +About ten minutes afterwards, Irene came to me there. She was looking +pale and anxious and not a little alarmed. + +"She is suffering dreadfully, poor thing," she said, not without a +suspicion of tears. "She is almost out of her reason, and she is +making a frantic effort to control herself." + +"Can you gather what the trouble is?" + +"She has a terrible fear of something. What it is I don't know. She +keeps talking in Illyrian." + +"Is it her father's coming?" + +"Yes, it has upset her dreadfully." + +"Is she afraid of him?" + +"Yes, pathetically afraid. But there is also something else she fears." + +"I suppose she is thinking of her husband and her child?" + +"Yes, poor soul! How I wish we could help her!" + +"It is not easy to help the children of destiny." + +"Never until now have I realised what a dreadful life it is these +people lead. She is suffering terribly. Do you know of anybody who +understands the stars?" + +"The stars!" + +"Yes, she says she wants to know what the stars are doing. It is +ridiculous superstition, of course, and I told her so. But she shook +her head in the oddest way, and she looked so tragic and unhappy that +she nearly made me cry." + +"Isn't there an astrologer in Bond Street? But it's a hundred to one +he's a charlatan." + +"They all are, of course." + +"The Princess doesn't appear to think so. And there is my cracked old +Uncle Theodore who lives in Bryanston Square. He is supposed to be no +end of an authority upon the stars." + +"Well, it is utterly ridiculous, but I am afraid nothing can be done +with her until she has consulted somebody. Give her your Uncle +Theodore's address and let her catch the 2.20 to town, and she will be +back before the King comes." + +"She can't go alone. In her present state of mind somebody must be +with her. Can't you persuade her to wait until she has seen her +father?" + +"She is suffering so much that it would be a mercy to relieve the +strain in any way." + +"Very well, I will take her to see old Theodore. I will send him a +wire to tell him that a lady is coming to consult him about the stars; +and also I had better telephone to Coverdale to let him know what's +happening. It is hardly wise to go to London without an escort. Then +there is the monarch to be arranged for. But Fitz will wire the +authorities direct from Southampton the approximate time of his +arrival." + +Luckily Coverdale was at the Sessions Hall. But when I informed him of +the Princess's sudden determination to go to town by the 2.20 he very +nearly fused the wires. "How the blank did she suppose that with her +blank father due at Middleham at 6.50 the Middleshire Constabulary +could arrange for her to go gallivanting to the blank metropolis that +blank afternoon?" Without venturing in any way to enlighten the +official nescience or to mitigate its temperature, I attempted with +infinite tact and patience to explain, yet withholding all reference to +the stars as I did so, that in the circumstances there was no help for +it. This being a matter upon which the Princess had fully made up her +mind, it behoved the Middleshire Constabulary to defer to her wishes +with the best possible grace. + +"Well, my friend," said the Chief Constable, "let me tell you, you are +running a devil of a risk. But I shall communicate with Scotland Yard, +and ask them to look after you. Still, as the King arrives this +evening, the four men you have with you had better remain on duty at +the house. And," concluded the head of the Middleshire Constabulary, +"I would to God the whole blank, blank crowd----!!" + +A married man, a father of a family, and a county member somewhat +hurriedly replaced the receiver. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A VISIT TO BRYANSTON SQUARE + +Unwillingly enough, I set out with our guest to consult my Uncle +Theodore. Assuredly it was a scheme in which common sense, in the +general acceptation of that elusive quality, had no part. Yet, however +preposterous the proceeding, it was an act of common humanity to take +even an extravagant measure for the relief of such an acute suffering. +It was impossible not to pity the unhappy creature. Her eyes were wild +and her appearance had been transformed into that of a hunted animal. + +On the way up to town we were fortunate enough to secure a carriage to +ourselves. Throughout the journey my companion hardly addressed a word +to me, but she continued to betray many tokens of mental anguish. The +train was punctual, and by a few minutes after four o'clock we were in +Bryanston Square. + +It is only once in a lustrum that I visit my Uncle Theodore. He is +rich, a bachelor, and in the family is regarded as an incorrigible +crank. The champion of lost causes, a poet, a radical, a practitioner +of the occult, a scorner of convention, and a robust hater of many +things, including all that relates to the merely expedient, the +utilitarian and the material, he is looked upon as a dangerous heretic +who might be more esteemed if he belonged to a less eminently +responsible clan. + +Howbeit, I confess that I never visit my Uncle Theodore without feeling +constrained to pay a kind of involuntary homage to his personality. He +has a way with him; there is a something about him which is the +absolute negation of the commonplace. He is tall and extraordinarily +frail, with a picturesque mop of orange-coloured hair, and a pair of +large round eyes of remarkable luminosity, which seem like twin moons +of liquid light. + +It was our good fortune to find this bravo at home and in receipt of my +telegram. I left my companion in another room while I went forth and +bearded the lion in his den. Dressed in a velvet jacket, a red tie and +a pair of beaded Oriental slippers he was in the act of composition, +and was writing very slowly with a feathered quill upon a sheet of +unruled foolscap. + +"I am writing a letter to the time-serving rag that disgraces us," he +said with a kind of languid vehemence, "and the time-serving rag won't +print it, but I shall keep a copy and publish it in a pamphlet at the +price of three-pence." + +"Then put me down for four copies," said I. "You know I always regard +you as one of the few living masters of the King's English." + +"The King's English! The King, my boy, has no English. He has less +English than the average self-respecting costermonger." + +"The well of English undefiled, then." + +"That is better. You are perfectly right. It is my firm conviction +that my prose is quite equal to my poetry, and yet these dunces persist +in saying that we poets can't write prose. Swinburne couldn't, it's +true, and with tears in my eyes I used to beseech him to give up +trying. But he was an obstinate little fellow. Milton couldn't, +either. But Goethe now, Goethe could write prose as well as I can +myself, and so could Wordsworth if he had liked, and so could Shelley. +As for that yokel from Stratford-on-Avon, if there is anybody who dares +to say he couldn't write prose, I should like to have the pleasure of +contradicting him." + +"I think," said I, "you will be among the prose-writers after your +death. If I survive you, I shall hope to prepare a collected edition +of the letters you have had rejected by the newspapers." + +"That's a bargain, my boy. I will select them for you. It will be a +nice little legacy to leave to posterity. A hundred years hence they +will speak of me as the British Lucian who opened the stinking +casements of a putrid age and let in God's honest sunlight. What a +time we live in, and what a poisonous crew inhabits it! Why, do you +know, my boy, we have less real freedom in this country than they have +in Illyria." + +The totally unexpected mention of the blessed word Illyria startled me +considerably. That sinister kingdom was evidently in the air. + +"You are right, Theodore," said I. "'The stinking casements of a +putrid age'--that is a phrase I shall remember when next I am at the +point of asphyxiation upon the green benches of the Mother of +Parliaments." + +"What a football-kicking, boat-tugging, gymnasium-bred crew they must +be to stand such an atmosphere day after day, night after night! I +shouldn't have thought that a really _polite_ man could have existed in +it for three days. I wonder what Edmund Burke thinks of the place when +he enters it now." + +A rough working knowledge of the subject with which I had to cope +rendered it imperative that I should make a determined effort to lay +hold of his head before he took charge of me altogether. + +"Theodore," said I, "I am not here to yield to the delight of your +conversation, much as I yearn to do so. I have brought a lady with me +who desires to consult you about the stars." + +He seemed to laugh a deep, hollow laugh out of the depths of himself, +much as an ogre might be expected to do. + +"Vain superstition!" he guffawed, as he stretched out his long tenuous +hands. "O ye upper-middle-class British Pharisees, that ye should +condescend! Who is this weak vessel that would consult the stars? +Not, I trow and trust, a daughter of the late Sir John Stubberfield, +Bart.?" + +"The late Sir John Stubberfield, Bart." was a symbol erected +permanently in his mind, with which he toyed when he was moved to +exercise his fancy at the expense of his countrymen. + +"Not a daughter of Sir John," I assured him. "An even more potent +personage." + +"Impossible, my boy! A veritable daughter of Sir John stands at the +apex of human endeavour. She is the crown of social, political and +philosophical beatitude. Do you forget that it was a daughter of Sir +John Stubberfield, Bart., who married a Prosser? Do you forget it was +a daughter of Sir John Stubberfield, Bart., who had issue an heir male, +a little Prosser?" + +"Peace, peace, my good Theodore. You have a bare half-hour in which to +read the stars in their courses for a fair unknown. And I beg that you +will treat her tenderly, for she is a brave woman and an unhappy." + +"Aha!" The Ogre--the name he was known by in the family--sighed a +romantic sympathy. It may seem out of harmony with the terms in which +I have endeavoured to render the personality of this Berserk, but he +had an almost Quixotic development of the sense of chivalry. Nothing +so greatly delighted this champion of lost causes as to succour those +who were in distress. + +"Produce the languishing vestal, so that the arts of the necromancer +may sustain her. But stay, my boy; before we go further, may I suggest +that you conform to the conventional practice of confiding the name she +goes by among men?" + +"Certainly. Her name is Mrs. Nevil Fitzwaren." + +"Aha!" The Ogre swung half round in his writing-chair to confront me. +He seemed like a satyr, and the twin moons that were his eyes began to +magnetise me with their uncanny effulgence. "A woman about thirty, of +foreign extraction?" + +"Ye--es." + +"Married an English squire about five years ago?" + +"How the deuce do you know that?" said I, in amazement. + +Again the look of the satyr seemed to transfigure him. + +"What, pray, is the use of being a soothsayer without one is permitted +to dabble a little in the black arts?" + +"Theodore, my friend," said I, with a somewhat disconcerted laugh, "I +am inclined to think you must be the Devil." + +"Perchance, my dear boy, perchance." The Ogre placed the tips of his +fingers together in a way he had. "May it interest you to know that +the Devil is a more potent figure in the public life of our little day +than our German friends allow for. Never despise the Devil, and never +mention him lightly in any company, for he is always looking at you." + +The twin moons were enfolding me with a refulgence that in the dim +January twilight was so uncanny that, had I been other than of a fairly +robust materialistic texture, I might have felt a kind of horror. + +"It is very interesting that your friend Mrs. Fitzwaren--black hair, +olive complexion, remarkable appearance, a type you can't place--should +come to me like this. The fact is, my dear boy, things are not always +what they seem. Judging by the recent behaviour of one or two rather +important planetary bodies, and of the new body of which our observant +French friends have lately learned to take cognisance, the visit of +your friend Mrs. Nevil Fitzwaren to your cracked Uncle Theodore at his +local habitation in Bryanston Square may have some kind of a bearing on +the destiny of nations. How say you?" + +"My dear Theodore," I expostulated, from motives of policy, "my dear +Theodore, you really are, 'pon my word you really are----!" + +All the same, it was with a singular complexity of emotion that I went +forth to lead this prophet and soothsayer into the presence of the +Crown Princess of Illyria. + +It struck me as I preceded my carpet-slippered relation into the great +bare room that the unhappy lady was looking more distinguished and more +distraught than-ever. Had I had a merely superficial acquaintance with +our family Berserk I must have had qualms as to the mode of his +reception of his visitor. In uncongenial company he could be a +positive Boeotian savage, but, again, if it pleased him, he could +display an ease and a sympathetic charm of bearing which was wholly +delightful to those who had the good fortune to call it forth. + +As he came shambling in with his flaming tie, his mop of +orange-coloured hair, his hands in his pockets and his heels half out +of his slippers, would it please him to be the polished and gracious +courtier, or the wild Boeotian savage? + +His visitor rose to receive him and a grave bow was exchanged. And for +the first time in my knowledge of her Mrs. Fitz seemed at a loss for +speech. Small wonder was it, for this gaunt, lean presence with the +faun-like smile and the still, full, luminous gaze, seemed to hold the +key to realms of infinite mystery and power. + +"If you will come to my room, we can talk," he said, quite gently. + +As he was about to lead the way, he half turned and leered at me +ogre-like over his shoulder with his peculiarly significant malice. + +"Tell Peacock to give you the _Sporting Times_ and a cigar and a +whisky-and-soda, my dear boy," he said. + +"Thanks," said I, "but I am afraid you cannot be allowed more than +twenty minutes for your interview. It is imperative that Mrs. +Fitzwaren should catch the 5.28 from the Grand Central." + +"The 5.28 from the Grand Central." He repeated the words as though an +importance was attached to them that they had no reason to claim. Then +he added musingly, "I am not so clear as I should like to be that you +will be wise to catch it. It would be better, I think, if Mrs. +Fitzwaren could arrange to travel to-morrow." + +"Impossible, my dear Theodore. Mrs. Fitzwaren is staying with us, and +we must certainly be back to dinner." + +The Princess nodded her concurrence. + +"Well, well, if you really must. And perhaps I exceed my prerogative." + +The singular creature proceeded to lead the way to his study. I was +left to meditate alone for twenty minutes upon this latest expression +of his personality. Never before had I realised so fully that he was +the possessor of gifts the nature of which was as a sealed book to the +common mortal. There had been occasions when we "in the family" had +been tempted to believe that there was a strong infusion of the +charlatan in his pretension to occult knowledge. A prophet is not +without honour save in his own country. + +But as I sat this January evening in his house in Bryanston Square, I +realised more fully than I had ever done before that the last word has +yet to be uttered in regard to the things around us. It was as though +all at once my cranky relation in his carpet slippers, his velvet coat +and his red tie had brought me into a more intimate contact with the +Unseen. + +Somehow, and for no specific reason that I was able to discover, my +unruly nerves began to tick like a clock. The temperature of the room +was not high, but a perspiration broke out all over me. A full five +minutes I sat in the silence of the gathering darkness not quite +knowing what to do and not caring particularly. It was as though the +enervating atmosphere of my uncle's nearness had taken from me the +power of volition. + +It never occurred to me to ring the bell, and yet I had merely to press +the button at my elbow. Nevertheless, when a servant entered with a +lamp it was a real relief. + +"Hullo, Peacock!" said I, issuing with a little shiver from my reverie. + +Somehow it seemed that that retainer, trusted, elderly, responsible, +looked singularly pale and meagre in the lamp-light. + +"Are you very well, Peacock?" + +"Thank you, sir, not very." The old servant sighed heavily. + +"Why, what's the matter?" + +The old fellow proceeded to draw the curtains and then turned to face +me with a kind of nervous defiance. + +"Fact is, Mr. Odo," he said, "this place is getting too much for me. I +am afraid I shan't be able to go on much longer. Fact is, Mr. +Odo"--the old man lowered his voice to a whisper of painful +solemnity--"it is contrary to the will of God." + +"What is contrary to the will of God?" + +"The goings on, sir, of Mr. Theodore. My private opinion is--and I say +to you, Mr. Odo, what I wouldn't say to another"--the voice of the old +fellow grew lower and lower--"that Mr. Theodore is getting to know a +bit more than any man ought to: in fact, sir, more than the Almighty +intended any man should." + +"What do you mean, Peacock? You are not growing superstitious in your +old age, are you?" + +I strove to speak in a light tone. But in my own ears my voice sounded +curiously high and thin. + +"I mean this, sir. The line ought to be drawn somewhere. And Mr. +Theodore doesn't know where to draw it. The people he has here, +sir--it's--well, it's appalling! Clairvoyants, mediums, mahatmas, +Indian fakirs, table-turners, spirit-rappers, and I can't say what. +Communion with spirits is all very well, sir, but it is contrary to the +will of God. The Almighty never intended, sir, that we should pry into +all the secrets of existence." + +"How do you know that, Peacock?" + +"I know by this, sir." The old fellow tapped the centre of his +forehead solemnly. "The thing that lies behind this." + +To my surprise the old servant wrung his hands and burst into tears. + +"It can't go on, sir--at least, as far as I am concerned. Either Mr. +Theodore will have to mend his ways or I shall have to leave him. I +have been a long time with Mr. Theodore, and of course I was with his +father before him, and I daresay I am getting old, but do you know what +we have got in the attic, sir?" + +"What have you got in the attic, Peacock?" + +"An Egyptian mummy, sir. It is several thousand years old, and I am +convinced that a curse is on it. I wouldn't enter that attic, sir, not +me, not for all the wealth of the Rothschilds." + +"I was not aware that you were superstitious, Peacock," said I, with a +very ineffectual assumption of the formal tone of the married man, the +father of the family, and the county member. + +"It is not superstition, sir, but I know what I know. That mummy has +got to leave this house, or I shall leave it." + +"Is that the fiat of the True Believer?" + +"I don't fear God the less, sir, because I fear an Egyptian mummy, if +that is what you mean." + +"But you are inclined to think there are more things in earth and +heaven than it is well for the average man to be concerned with?" + +"I am convinced of that, sir; and if Mr. Theodore doesn't get rid of +that mummy and amend his goings on, I shall be compelled to give +notice." + +Stated baldly, the old fellow's words may seem ridiculous. But as he +uttered them his distress was so sincere that it was impossible to deny +him a meed of sympathy. + +"Quite right, if you do, Peacock," I agreed. "And you can lay it to +that honest conscience of which you are rightly proud that you have +served the family long and faithfully, and that no one will question +your right to an annuity." + +"Oh, that will be all right, sir," said the old retainer; "even if Mr. +Theodore does act contrary to the will of God, nobody can deny that he +is a perfect gentleman." + +"Is not that rather a confirmation of the ancient, theory that the +Devil was the first perfect gentleman?" + +"I have not thought of that before, sir, but now you mention it, it is +certainly worth thinking about." + +Having lent sanction to this profound truth, the old fellow went out of +the room. But I recalled him from the threshold. + +"By the way, Peacock, Mr. Theodore told me to ask for the _Sporting +Times_, a cigar and a whisky-and-soda." + +"Very good, sir." The old fellow withdrew. + +"And thank God for them!" I muttered devoutly to the bare walls. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +PROVIDES AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE THEORY THAT THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT +THEY SEEM + +When the old man returned with this sustenance for the material state, +I was moved to inquire how it was that such an intellectual rawhead and +bloodybones as this too-assiduous diver into the sunless sea of the +occult should subscribe to a journal of such a texture and complexion. + +"Is it, Peacock, do you suppose, that, like Francis the first Lord +Verulam, he would take all knowledge for his province?" + +"He goes racing, sir," said Peacock, not without a suggestion of pride. +"And, what is more, sir, he wins so much money that none of the +bookmakers will have anything to do with him these days if they can +help it. Why, do you know, sir, he has given me the name of the winner +of the Derby three years running a whole fortnight before the race." + +"Did you reconcile it with your conscience, Peacock, to back the horse?" + +"Not the first time, sir, because, you see, I was hardly convinced it +would win. It was a new fad with him then. But when I found it did +win, and he gave me the tip the next year, it seemed to be flying in +the face of providence, as it were, to throw away the chance, so I had +on a sovereign and won nine pounds ten." + +"And the third time, Peacock?" + +"The third time, sir, I made it five and I won forty. And if I can +stand his goings on, sir, until next Epsom week, and he gives me the +tip again, I intend to put on all my savings." + +I had scarcely the heart to ask the old fellow what his conscience had +to say in the matter. Doubtless it was one of those organisms that +only responded to the call of the higher metaphysics. It was a +patrician conscience, no doubt, which only concerned itself with the +ultimate. + +Anyhow, before I could gratify my curiosity on this point, the +re-emergence of my Uncle Theodore saved his retainer from an inquiry. +A glance at my watch convinced me that we had not a moment to lose if +we were to catch the 5.28 from the Grand Central station. + +Uncle Theodore took an almost paternal leave of his visitor. He +conducted her to the taxicab which awaited us; and in a voice of +gentleness, of winning deference, he bade her God-speed. When she +offered him her hand, as it seemed almost timidly, he pressed it to his +lips. + +"Fear nothing," I heard him say under his breath softly, and I thought +the unhappy lady smiled wanly with her great gaunt eyes. + +As I was about to enter the cab, Theodore placed his hand on my +shoulder. + +"Look after her, my dear boy." His voice had the fervour of a +benediction. + +My companion appeared to have shed much of her distraction in the +course of her interview with the weird inhabitant of Bryanston Square. +The sovereignty of the soul seemed once more in her keeping. No longer +did she convey the impression of one passing through an insupportable +mental crisis. Whatever fate had in store for her, it was as though +she had strength to endure it. + +It was in the nature of a race against time to the Grand Central +station. I had promised the driver of our taxi a substantial guerdon +if he caught the train. Undoubtedly he did his best, but fate decreed +that he was not to earn it. An anxious study of my watch revealed the +issue to be still in the balance; but just as it began to seem that we +were gaining a little on the clock, there came a sharp report, followed +by an almost simultaneous crash of glass, and then a confused +succession of happenings. + +Our vehicle stopped abruptly; a brief interval of nothingness seemed to +intervene; and the next thing of which I was cognisant was that the +lights had gone out and that a man with a pale face and a +straw-coloured moustache was looking in at us through the window. + +"Hope you are not hurt, sir." The voice sounded remote, but I could +detect its note of anxiety. "Is the lady all right?" + +Somewhat dazed, almost as if I were passing through a dream, I heard +the voice of my companion speaking with calmness and reassurance. Then +I heard the voice of the man again: + +"I am afraid your Royal Highness will have to go on in another taxi." + +And then the door opened, and I got out unsteadily and found myself in +the midst of much traffic and a press of people. I then grew conscious +that some of these had a way with them, and that they were directing +things with a sort of calm officiousness. + +My dazed senses welcomed the helmet of a policeman. + +"Call a taxi, please," said I, addressing him in a voice that somehow +did not seem to belong to me. "Must catch the 5.28 Grand Central, +whatever happens. Will give you my card." + +As I spoke I turned to help my companion out of the vehicle, and in the +act nearly measured my length on the kerb. Strong and sympathetic +hands seemed to come about me, and again the voice of the man with the +straw-coloured moustache sounded in my ear, decisive but kindly and +respectful. + +"There is a doctor across the road, sir. Can you walk, sir? Lean your +weight on me." + +"5.28 Grand Central," was my incoherent, almost involuntary rejoinder. +"The Princess." + +"Yes, yes, sir," said the voice of my friend in need breaking in again +on my senses. "The Princess will be all right with us." + +Almost as if by magic a passage was made for us through the whirlpool +of traffic. We seemed to be in the middle of a street that appeared +quite familiar, and policemen and extremely efficient persons in dark +overcoats seemed to abound. + +"The Princess," I continued to mutter vaguely at intervals. + +"I am with you," said a low and calm voice at my side. + +She was helping my unknown friend to support me across the road. By +some subtle means her nearness seemed to brace and stimulate my +faculties. + +"I fear we shall not catch the 5.28, ma'am," I said. + +"What _does_ it matter?" The tone of her voice seemed to give me +strength and capacity. + +A few yards away, down a side street, was the house of a doctor. It +seemed but a very little while before I was in a cosy, well-lighted +room, with a fire burning cheerfully, and a tall, genial individual +with a red head and a Scotch accent was talking to me and holding me by +the arm. + +"Pray sit down, madam," I heard him say in his pleasant brogue. "I +hope you are none the worse for your accident?" + +"Not at all, t'ank you," replied my companion in a cordial tone; and +then the man who had taken charge of me was heard to say to a colleague +who had followed us into the house, "Perhaps the Doctor will allow you +to use his telephone, Mr. Johnson. Ring up the Superintendent and then +go and see what Inspector Mottrom is doing." + +The Doctor gave me a bottle to sniff, and then for the first time I +realised that I had an intolerable stinging in the arm. I glanced at +it and saw that the sleeve of my coat was soaked with blood. + +"If you will come into the surgery," said the Doctor, following the +direction of my glance, "we will have a look at it. A breakage of +glass, apparently." + +"Yes," said my friend in need, who was evidently a Scotland Yard +inspector, answering for me promptly, "the cab was pretty well smashed +up." Then he added in an undertone for my private ear, "Don't mention +the shots, sir. I am going to telephone to the railway people to +arrange for a special train as soon as you are ready to go on. I think +it will be safer, and two of our inspectors will accompany the train." + +"Thank you very much indeed," I said, gratefully. + +Never until that moment had I fully realised the organised efficiency +of the Metropolitan Police. + +As soon as I entered the surgery I came perilously near to a fall on +the carpet, somewhat to my disgust, for I appeared to have sustained no +injury beyond the damage to my arm. Further recourse, however, to the +smelling-bottle defeated this temporary weakness. + +After traversing the injured member with light and deft fingers, the +Doctor procured a bowl of warm water, a sponge and a pair of scissors. +He cut away the sleeve of the overcoat, then of the coat and the shirt, +revealing a state of things at which I had no wish to look. After the +application of an antiseptic in warm water he was able to give an +opinion. + +"I am afraid," he said, "this is not the work of glass." He worked +over the quivering flesh with a finger. "A bullet has been at work +here. It has glanced along the lower arm apparently, but it does not +appear to have lodged in it. An incised wound. There may be a +fracture. Can you move your arm in this way?" + +With this request I was able somewhat painfully to comply. + +"That is good," said the Doctor. "No fracture." + +It was surprising how soon and how readily the injured member yielded +to the deft skill of this good Samaritan. Twenty minutes of assiduous +treatment, which, however, was fraught with some pain, as it included +the operation of stitching, did much not only for the damaged limb but +also for its owner. By that time I seemed to have quite overcome the +shock of these events; and with my arm encased in bandages and resting +in a black silk handkerchief, and the good Doctor having lent me an +overcoat to replace my own mutilated one, I was given a pretty stiff +brandy-and-soda and pronounced fit to travel. + +"It is undoubtedly the work of a bullet," said the Doctor at the end of +his labours. "But I suppose it is no business of mine. If I am not +mistaken, the men who brought you here are Scotland Yard detectives." + +I smiled at the Doctor's perspicacity and asked him to be good enough +to take a card out of my cigar-case. + +"Some day, perhaps, I shall be able to explain to you what the accident +really was and how it came to happen. In the meantime I cannot do more +than thank you most sincerely for all that you have done for me." + +There and then I took leave of this true friend, and with a sense of +devout thankfulness that I was no worse off than I was, continued the +journey to the Grand Central station. When at last we came to that +well-known terminus the great clock over the entrance was pointing to +five minutes past six. + +Our arrival there seemed an event of some importance, to judge by the +demeanour of a number of people who appeared to take an interest in it. +Indeed, so much respectful attention did it excite that it seemed to be +rather in the nature of an anti-climax to have to pay our Jehu. + +As soon as we had entered the booking-hall no less a personage than the +station-master, frock-coated and gold-laced, came up to us and took off +his hat. + +"Train ready to start, sir, as soon as her Royal Highness desires. +Platform No. 5. This way, sir, if you will kindly follow me." + +We passed along to Platform No. 5, engaging as we did so the +good-humoured interest of the British Public. Here a special saloon +was awaiting us, also a carriage for the accommodation of our friends +from Scotland Yard. By a quarter past six we had started on our +journey. + +My companion had borne all our vicissitudes _en route_ from Bryanston +Square with the greatest fortitude and composure. It was no new +experience for her chequered life to be exposed to the bullets of the +assassin. This latest effort of the King's enemies she appeared to +regard with stoical indifference. Even in the shock of the calamity +itself she did not lose her self-possession. And through all our +tribulations her attitude of maternal solicitude was charmingly sincere. + +As I came to regard her from the opposite corner in our special saloon, +it was clear that a great change had been wrought in her by the visit +to the magician of Bryanston Square. It was a change wholly for the +better. In lieu of the overwrought intensity which had been so painful +for her friends to notice, was that calm and assured outlook upon the +world of men and things which had ever been her predominant +characteristic in so far as we had known her. + +"Irene will scold me dreadfully," she said, "for bringing you home like +this." + +"Surely it is the reverse of the case, ma'am. Instead of me looking +after you, I really don't know what I should have done without your +help." + +"My poor Odo, you won't be able to hunt for a month at least." + +"Perhaps it is for the best. I shall have more time to think about the +dragon of socialism which is threatening to devour us all." + +"Even here you have that disease"--there was a half-humorous lift of +the royal eyebrow--"even in this quaint place. Why, it is a disease +that is spreading all over the world. If only the dear people would +understand that it was never intended that they should think for +themselves; that it is so much wiser, so much less expensive, so much +more profitable in every way that they should have those who are used +to policy to think for them! How can Jacques Bonhomme, dear, good, +ignorant, stupid fellow, know what is good for him, what is good for +his country, what is good for Europe, what is good for the whole world!" + +"The trouble, ma'am, as far as this island is concerned, is that our +Jacques is becoming such a shrewd, sensible personage, who is learning +to go about with his eyes uncommonly wide open." + +"Ants and bees and dogs and horses, my good Odo, are shrewd and +sensible enough, but Jacques must learn to keep his place. Everything +is good in its degree, but I cannot believe that a watchmaker is fitted +to wind up the clock of state any more than a common soldier is fitted +to win the day of Rodova." + +"Ah, the day of Rodova! I wonder if we shall find the Victor waiting +for us when we get back to Dympsfield House." + +I thought a faint cloud passed over the brows of my companion. + +"_Mais, oui,_" she said in a soft, low tone. "I wonder. And old +Schalk. He is such a character. You will die when you see Schalk." + +"A very able minister, is he not, ma'am?" + +"Like all things, my good Odo," said her Royal Highness, "Schalk is +good in his degree. He has his virtue. He is learned in the law, for +instance, but there are times when, like poor Jacques Bonhomme, Schalk +would aspire to take more on his shoulders than nature intended they +should bear. But there, do not let us complain about Schalk. He is +the faithful servant of an august master; do not let us blame him if he +grows old and difficult. I once had a hound that grew like Schalk. In +the end I had to destroy the honest creature, but of course that is not +to say my father will destroy Schalk." + +"Quite so, ma'am," said I, with a grave appreciation of the fine +distinction that it might please his Majesty to draw in the case of +Baron von Schalk. + +I relapsed into reverie. What kind of a man was this celebrated +sovereign? How would he harmonise with the humble middle-class English +setting to which he was on the point of confiding himself? At this +stage it was vain to repine, but as I reclined on the cushions of our +royal saloon, with my arm throbbing intolerably and my temples too, +what would I not have given to be through with the onerous duty of +entertaining such a guest! + +As thus I sat with our train proceeding full steam ahead to Middleham, +my nerves began to rise up in mutiny. Why, oh, why! had I not been +firmer? What could a comparative child, without the slightest +experience of any walk of life save her own extremely circumscribed +one, know of the exigencies of such a situation? How could she +appreciate all that was involved in it? A kind of mental nausea came +upon me when I realised that I had allowed myself to become responsible +for the personal safety and the general well-being of the King of +Illyria during his sojourn in England. + +The anxieties in which his daughter had involved us were severe enough, +but in the case of her father they seemed a hundred times more complex. +Certainly they were far too much to ask of any private individual in +the middle station of life. It was in vain that I invoked an incipient +sense of humour. Sitting alone with a Crown Princess in a special +train, with a bullet wound in your arm, is not apparently an ideal +situation in which to exercise it. I might laugh as much as I liked at +poor George Dandin himself. His embarrassments in the pass to which +his wife's infatuation for realms beyond their own had brought him +might be truly comic, but the married man, the father of the family, +and the county member was quite unable, in his present shattered +condition, to accept them with the detachment due to the true Olympian +laughter. + +Not to put too fine a point upon the matter, the married man, the +father of the family, and the county member was in an enfeebled mental, +physical and moral state when our special made its first stop. With a +startled abruptness I emerged from my unpleasant speculations. Could +we be at Middleham already? Hardly, for according to my watch it was +only ten minutes past seven. I let down the window and found that it +was Risborough. + +In about a minute the guard of the train, the local station-master, and +the two detectives who were accompanying us as far as Middleham, came +to the door of the carriage. + +"Extremely sorry, sir," said the station-master, "but you won't be able +to go beyond Blakiston. There's been a terrible accident to the 5.28." + +My heart gave a kind of dull thump at this announcement. + +"The driver ran right through Blankhampton with all the signals against +him. The train has been smashed up to matchwood." + +"My God!" + +The station-master dropped his voice. + +"The full number of casualties has not yet been ascertained, sir, but +at least half the passengers are killed or injured." + +"How ghastly!" + +"Awful, sir, awful. It is the worst accident we have ever had on the +Grand Central system." + +"Poor souls, poor souls!" said my companion. "God rest them!" + +"We haven't had a really bad accident for twenty-two years. But this +breaks our record with a vengeance. I can't think what the poor chap +was doing. As good a driver as we've got, to go and do a thing like +that----" + +The station-master, a venerable and grizzled man with a stern, heavily +lined face, suddenly lost his voice. + +"Fate," said my companion with a sombre smile. "Who shall explain the +workings of destiny?" + +Who, indeed! Had it not been for the bullets of the would-be assassin +we should, in all probability, at that moment have been both among the +dead. What, after all, does our human foresight matter in the sum of +things? All the same, I could not help recalling with a sense of +wonder my Uncle Theodore's anxiety that we should not travel by the +ill-fated 5.28. + +"You will be able to go on as far as Blakiston," said the +station-master, "and the Company has arranged for motor cars to meet +the train to take you on to Middleham." + +"What is the distance from Blakiston to Middleham?" + +"About eighteen miles." + +When the train went forward the current of my thoughts was altered +completely. My former speculations seemed mean beyond comparison with +such an event as this. Who shall read the ways of providence? A flesh +wound in the arm and a late dinner were a small price to pay after all. + +Upon arriving at Blakiston we found two motor cars awaiting us: one for +the Princess, the other for our escort. A consultation with the +chauffeurs disclosed the fact that by proceeding direct home _via_ +Parlow and Little Basing instead of by way of Middleham, a matter of +seven miles would be saved. Therefore, after a wire had been sent to +Middleham to inform our people of this change of route, we entered upon +the final stage of our adventurous journey. + +In spite of the fact that we exposed ourselves to the charge of driving +recklessly, even if not to the actual danger of the public, our +destination was reached without further mishap. By twenty-five minutes +to nine we had turned in at the lodge gates of Dympsfield House. All +the windows of that abode were a blaze of light. Doubtless the royal +guest had arrived and, let us hope, was enjoying his dinner. + +However, no sooner had we entered the house than we were met by Mrs. +Arbuthnot. She was dressed for a gala night, very _decolletee_ in her +best gown, carrying a great quantity of sail in the way of +jewels--jewels were being worn that year--and with a coiffure that +absolutely baffles the pen of the conscientious historian. But, alas! +Mrs. Arbuthnot was on the verge of tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +HIS ILLYRIAN MAJESTY FERDINAND THE TWELTFH + +His Majesty had not arrived, and the dinner was spoiling. + +"No news of the King?" I asked, keeping well in the background, for I +had no wish for Mrs. Arbuthnot to observe my condition prematurely. + +"Nevil said in his telegram that he would be here about a quarter past +seven, and it is now five minutes past nine," said Mrs. Arbuthnot +tearfully. + +"Five-and-twenty minutes to nine, _mon enfant_, according to +Greenwich," said I, as reassuringly as the circumstances permitted. +"Your clock is wrong by half an hour. But there has been a bad +accident at Blankhampton. Would they come by Blankhampton? If they +did, that would be bound to delay them." + +"Oh dear!" said Mrs. Arbuthnot. "If anything has happened to the King! +And oh, Sonia dear, how late you are!" she added reproachfully. "I was +getting so horribly nervous about you. And you not here to present me +or anything! But now you've come it is all right. Just be a dear and +have a look at the table before you go up to dress." + +The Princess, however, had scarcely had time to yield to Mrs. +Arbuthnot's suggestion, and I was in the act of walking upstairs in a +state of uncomfortable anxiety in regard to the operation of changing +my clothes, when from the vicinity of the hall door there came the +sounds of fresh arrivals. I hurried to it, to be greeted immediately +by the voice of Fitz. + +"Rather late," he said with that air of languor which afflicted him on +great occasions. "Line blocked at Blankhampton. Devil of a smash. +Tiresome cross-country journey, but we've turned up at last." + +"Safe and sound, I hope?" + +"Right as rain." + +As we walked together down the front steps to the open door of the car +that stood at the bottom in the darkness, I was conscious that my pulse +was a thought too rapid for a tacit subscriber to the theory of +democracy. I held the door while an enormous figure of a man +disengaged himself slowly, and not without difficulty, from the +interior. + +I made a somewhat lower bow than the Englishman in general permits +himself. A smiling and subtle visage, at once handsome and venerable, +was promptly turned upon me, and I found myself exchanging a cordial +and powerful grip of the hand. + +Ferdinand the Twelfth ascended the front steps in the charge of his +son-in-law, while I held the door for the second occupant of the car to +alight. I made an obeisance only a shade less in depth than the one I +had bestowed upon the Sovereign. Baron von Schalk was small and +dapper, with a face full of intelligence and not unlike that of a bird +of prey. As we exchanged bows, it seemed that every line of it, and +there were many, was eloquent of power. + +"I hope the journey has not tired his Majesty?" I ventured to say. "It +must have been very tedious." + +Baron von Schalk smiled passively, made a deep guttural noise and +answered in very tolerable English, "On the contrary, most interesting. +The King never tires himself." + +At the top of the steps, framed in a glow of soft light from within, +were Mrs. Arbuthnot and the Princess. Standing side by side, they +appeared to be vying with one another in the depth and grace of their +curtseys. No sooner had the King ascended to them than he took a hand +of each in his own and led them into the hall, as though they had been +a pair of his small grandchildren. There was a spontaneity about the +action which was charming. + +Half an hour later we were assembled in the drawing-room. The King +promptly offered his arm to his hostess, and led the way in the +direction of her unfortunate meal. His daughter placed her hand very +lightly upon the arm of the Chancellor, directing an arch look over her +shoulder at me as she did so, as if she would say, "There is no help +for it!" + +Fitz and I, walking side by side, brought up the rear of the +procession. The Man of Destiny had a very fell visage. + +"What have you done to your arm?" he asked. + +"Got smashed up in a taxi this afternoon." + +"Where?" + +"Oxford Street, I believe." + +"What were you doing there?" + +"The Princess had important business in town, and I went with her." + +"Important business in town! She never said a word to me about it. +Was she in the accident too?" + +"Yes, but luckily she didn't get a scratch. And of course this is only +a slight superficial wound." + +The slight superficial wound did its best to contradict me by throbbing +vilely. + +Ferdinand the Twelfth sat on the right of his hostess, his Chancellor +on her left. It is the due, I think, of our recent and temporarily +imported culinary artist, lately in the service of a nobleman, to say +that he had done extremely well in trying circumstances. There is no +sauce like hunger, of course, but it was observed that the King ate +heartily, and, although verging upon the statutory term of human life, +seemed not one penny the worse for his long and trying journey. + +He spoke English with an agreeable fluency. Not only did he know this +country very well indeed, but we gathered that he was accustomed to +find it pleasant. Seen across a dinner-table it was clear that his +portraits had not in the least exaggerated his natural picturesqueness. +It was a noble, leonine head, a thing of power and virility, framed +with a mane of white hair. His eyes were heavy-lidded, but deep-seeing +and almost uncomfortably direct and penetrating in their gaze; yet +where one might have expected calculation and cold detachment there was +an impenetrable veil of kindliness which served to obscure the +elemental forces which must have lurked beneath. + +There were tomatoes among the _hors-d'oeuvres_, and there were tomatoes +in the soup. When the Victor of Rodova made a significant departure +from the custom of our land by smacking his lips and astonishing the +impassive Parkins by saying, "Make my compliments to de _chef_ upon his +_consomme_; I will haf more," his hostess hoisted the ensign of the +rose, and her Royal Highness beamed upon her. + +"There, Irene! what did I not tell you, my child?" she exclaimed +triumphantly. + +"Oliver has a devil of a twist upon him, evidently," murmured the +son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth, in an aside to his host of such +deplorable banality that an apology is offered for its appearance in +these pages. "I wish it would choke the old swine." + +"On the contrary, he seems a quite kindly and paternal old gentleman." + +"Ha, you don't know him!" + +I admitted that I did not and that I looked forward to our better +acquaintance. + +The hostess and her humble coadjutor in the things of this life felt it +to be a supreme moment in the progress of the feast when the royal lips +were brought to the brink of the paternal madeira which had reached us +so opportunely, if so illicitly, from Doughty Bridge, Yorks. But our +suspense was resolved at once. The Victor of Rodova raised his glass +to his hostess with the most benignant glance in the world, and for the +second time Mrs. Arbuthnot hoisted the ensign of the rose. + +Certainly the royal expansion had a charm that was all its own. Being +called for the first time to my present exalted plane of social +intercourse, I had had no opportunity of observing anything quite like +it, other than in the manners of Fitz and his wife which had proved +such a scandal to our neighbourhood. But the Victor of Rodova was so +spontaneous in his actions and so unstudied in his gestures, and he +appeared to wear his heart on his sleeve with such a childlike +facility, that to one nurtured in our insular mode of self-repression +it was as good as a play to be in his company. + +One thing was clear. From the first it was plain that Mrs. Arbuthnot +had achieved a great personal triumph. And in the particular +circumstances of the case I am constrained to append the courtier-like +phrase, "nor was it to be wondered at." Speaking out of a moderately +full knowledge of the subject in all its chameleon-like range of +vicissitude, from grave to gay, from lively to severe, in gowns by +Worth, in frocks by Paquin, in costumes by Redfern, in nondescript +creations by "the woman who makes things for Mama," I had never seen +the subject in question keyed up to quite this degree of allure. Mrs. +Arbuthnot was magnificent. + +The King beamed upon her and she beamed upon the King. More than once +he pledged her in the paternal madeira; and before the modest feast had +run its course Fitz gave me a stealthy kick on the shin. + +"Tell her to keep her door locked to-night," he said in one of his +sinister asides. + +The bluntness of the words was most uncomfortable, but there was no +reason to doubt their sincerity. It was a piece of advice at which one +so incorrigibly _bourgeois_ as its recipient might have taken offence. +That he did not do so should be counted to him, upon due reflection, as +the expression of some remote strain of a more azure tint! + +"I know the King's majesty only too well," said the son-in-law of +Ferdinand the Twelfth. + +When the ladies had left us, the King talked in the friendliest manner +and always with that engaging simplicity that was so unstudied and so +charming. He was curious to know what I had done to my arm, and when I +told him he inquired minutely as to the nature of the wound, and gave +me advice as to its treatment. This piece of consideration recalled +the magazine article I had lately studied. Here seemed a practical +illustration of the fact that in a literal sense he was the father of +his people. + +"You must show it to me to-morrow," he said. "And I will give you some +ointment I always carry, made by my own chemist to my own prescription. +Schalk laughs at my chemistry, but that's because he's jealous. I will +apply it for you, and in three days you will see the difference. What +are you laughing at, Schalk?" + +"A man may laugh at his thoughts, sir, may he not?" said Schalk, with a +dour smile. + +"Not in the presence of the little father, Schalk, unless he shares +them with the little father. What are you laughing at? But there, +since you bungled that treaty with the wily Teuton your thoughts are +not of much consequence. You know I don't care a doit for your +thoughts, Schalk, since you went to Berlin. The thoughts of Schalk, +forsooth! The wine is with you, you rascal. Remember that in England +it is not considered to be good breeding to get drunk before your King." + +"In Illyria, sir, that is always held to be impossible," said Schalk. + +Ferdinand the Twelfth indulged in a guffaw. + +"Good for you, impious one! Nay, fill up your glass before you pass +it, and keep out your long nose, else our English friends will think we +have no manners in Illyria." + +When it pleases a monarch to unbend, the laughter his sallies evoke may +seem overmuch for his wit. But it is an excellent custom to laugh +heartily at the humour of kings. Ferdinand the Twelfth, in spite of +his long journey, was in a very gracious mood and indulged us with many +sallies at the expense of his Chancellor. Baron von Schalk, however, +was well able to defend himself. It must be allowed, I think, that the +royal wit was neither very refined nor very courteous. Rough and +primitive, it had something of a Gargantuan savour. But his own +deep-voiced appreciation of it was a perpetual feast. He also told one +or two stories of a true Rabelaisian cast. They were told with an +immense gusto, and he led the laughter himself with a whole-heartedness +which was quite Homeric. Before the bottle the Victor of Rodova was +magnificent company. It was impossible not to respond to his +unaffected, if extremely catholic, good-humour. + +When we joined the ladies we found them playing a game of patience. +The Father of his People immediately carried a chair to the side of +Mrs. Arbuthnot, sat beside her and offered pertinent help in the +arrangement of her cards. "But this game is only fit for people like +Schalk," he declared. "Britch is the game we play in Illyria." + +Interpreting such a remark as being in the nature of a command, the +hostess swept her cards together, and imperiously ordered her spouse to +get the bridge markers. + +"How shall we play, sir?" said Mrs. Arbuthnot. + +"Togezzer, madame, you and I," said the King, with an air of homage, +"_if_ you please. I can see you play well." + +"Oh, sir!" said Madame, for the third time hoisting the ensign of the +rose. "How can you possibly know that?" + +"Infallible signs, milady," said the King, laughing. "Trust an old +soldier to read the signs. First, your ears, if I may say so. They +have shape and position, just like my own. That means a well-balanced +mind. And that dainty head, _c'est magnifique_! What intellect behind +that forehead! Now give me your hand--the left one." + +Milady gave the King a much bejewelled paw. + +"Ouf!" said he, "what ambition! You will never hesitate to call _sans +atout_. The heart-line is very good, also. There will be no other +partner for Ferdinand. Schalk can have whom he pleases." + +It pleased Baron von Schalk to choose her Royal Highness, and a very +interesting game began. + +"We must take care, milady," said Ferdinand the Twelfth, "we simple +children of nature. I expect they will cheat us horribly. Schalk has +very little in the way of a conscience, and nothing delights Sonia so +much as to overreach a confiding parent." + +As he spoke it pleased this simple child of nature to revoke in a very +flagrant and palpable manner. + +"No diamonds, partner?" said Mrs. Arbuthnot. + +"None whatever," said the King, blandly. "I think a small deuce will +take that trick, eh, Schalk?" + +"So it appears, sir," said the long-suffering Chancellor. + +I was led aside by the son-in-law of Ferdinand the Twelfth. + +"If you watch this game, old son," said he, "you will gain an insight +into the monarchical basis of the constitution of Illyria. Let us +watch what the plausible old ruffian does with the nine of diamonds." + +Happily the game was not being played for money. But it was +characteristic of the Illyrian ruler, that in even the simple matter of +a game at cards he was incapable of conducting it other than in a +manner peculiarly his own. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE + +It was past two o'clock when the _partie_ was dissolved. No sooner had +our guests retired to their repose than Mrs. Arbuthnot turned +enthusiastically to her lord. + +"What a perfectly lovely old man! Such charm, such distinction; so +kind, so unaffected, and oh, so simple! There is something in being a +king, after all." + +"Things are not always what they seem, _mon enfant_," I remarked +uneasily. + +"He is a perfect old darling." + +"He is one of the deepest men in Europe, as all the world knows." + +"He is a dear." + +"Personally, I have no wish to meet him in a lonely lane on a dark +night, if I should happen to have anything upon me that I cared to +lose." + +"Why, goose, you are jealous!" + +"Put not your trust in princes, my child." And, reluctantly enough, I +confided Fitz's piece of advice. + +Howbeit, I was more than half prepared for Mrs. Arbuthnot's queenlike +indignation. + +"What do you mean, Odo?" said she, majestically. The outraged delicacy +of a De Vere Vane-Anstruther is a very majestic thing. + +"Either you promise, or I don't sleep over the stables." + +"This is all the doing of Fitz! He has an insane prejudice." + +"Fitz is a very shrewd fellow, and he knows our guest rather better +than either of us. You must not forget that kings are kings in +Illyria." + +"I don't understand." + +"You must promise, even if you don't." + +"I shall do nothing of the kind. It is a humiliating suggestion. +Besides, it is all so _bourgeois_." + +"I was waiting for that. But, whatever it is, I have quite made up my +mind. Either you promise, or I don't sleep over the stables." + +"Then I refuse; absolutely and unconditionally I refuse," said Mrs. +Arbuthnot, with what can only be described as _hauteur_. + +It was our first _impasse_ in the course of six years of double +harness. I have never disguised from myself that I am a weak mortal. +Mrs. Arbuthnot has never disguised it from me either. The habit of +yielding more or less gracefully to the imperious will of the superior +half of my entity had become second nature. But there was a voice +within that would not have me give way. + +"Absolutely and unconditionally! I consider it odious. And why should +you insult me in this manner----" + +The star of my destiny was rising to the heights of the tragedy queen. + +"If you would only make the effort to understand, my child," I said +patiently, "what is implied in your own admission that there is +something in being a king, after all!" + +"You are insanely jealous. He is a perfect dear, and he is old enough +to be one's grandfather." + +For once, however, I was adamant. Together we ascended the stairs; +together we entered her ladyship's chamber. There was not adequate +accommodation for the two of us. The best rooms had been placed at the +disposal of Fitz and his wife, and of the King and his Chancellor. +Leading out of this apartment, however, was a small dressing-room with +a sofa in it. I opened the door and, as I did so, delivered my final +ultimatum. + +"Irene, you will either do as you are asked, else I spend the rest of +the night in there." + +"Pray do as, you choose." Mrs. Arbuthnot was pale with indignation. +"But I shall not lock the door." + +"So be it." + +Leaving the door of the dressing-room slightly ajar, I lay down on the +sofa just as I was, and composed myself for slumber as well as an +entirely ridiculous situation would permit. Precisely how it had come +about it was hard to determine, but I was prepared to inflict upon my +overwrought self, for the events of that long day had been many and +remarkable, a still further amount of bodily discomfort. But Fitz's +hint had overthrown a married man, a father of a family, and a county +member, whatever the sense of humour had to say about it all. + +In the process of time I forgot sufficiently the dull tumult of my +brain and the throbbing of my arm for my jaded nerves to be lulled into +an uneasy doze. How long I had been oblivious of my surroundings I do +not know, but quite suddenly a cry seemed to break in upon my senses. +I awoke with a start. + +The room was in total darkness save for a thread of light which came +through the partially open door of the adjoining chamber. But sounds +and a voice proceeded from it. + +I rose from my sofa and listened at the threshold. + +"Little milady, little Irene." + +The pleading accents were familiar, and paternal. I pushed open the +door and entered the room. A distracted vision with streaming hair and +in a white nightgown was sitting up in bed; while candle in hand a +magnificent figure in a blue silk Oriental robe over a brilliant yellow +sleeping-suit was confronting her. + +"Little milady. Little Irene." + +I fumbled for the knob of the electric light, found it and turned it up. + +I was face to face with a subtle and smiling visage. There was +astonishment in it, it is true, but it was also full of humour and +benevolence. + +"Why, my friend," said Ferdinand the Twelfth in his most paternal +manner, "pray what are _you_ doing here?" + +I confess that I could find no answer to the royal inquiry. + +In the circumstances it was not easy to know what reply to make. +Indeed so completely was I taken aback that I could not find a word to +say. Coolly enough the King stood regarding me with that bland and +subtle countenance. But as those smiling eyes measured me they gave me +"to think." I carried one arm in a sling, I was without a weapon, and +the Father of his People was a man of exceptional physical power. + +As a measure of precaution, I reached pensively for the poker. + +A transitory gleam flitted across the King's face, but the royal +countenance was still urbane. + +"Madame should have locked her door," he said, with an air of humorous +reproach. "Dat is a good custom we haf in Illyria." + +"Your Majesty must forgive us," said I, without permitting my glance to +stray towards the half-terrified vision that was so near to me, "if we +appear _bourgeois_. The fact is, we are not so familiar as we should +like to be with the usages of the great world." + +The King laughed heartily. + +"There is nothing to forgive, my good friend," he said with an air of +splendid magnanimity. "But Madame should certainly have locked her +door. However, let us not bear malice." + +With a superbly graceful gesture, in which the paternal and the +humorous were delightfully mingled, the King withdrew. + +Horror and incredulity contended in the eyes of Mrs. Arbuthnot. But I +did not think well to spare her the reverberation of my triumph. + +"There is something in being a king, after all, _mon enfant_." + +Mrs. Arbuthnot was only able to gasp. + +"Do not let us blame him; he is the Father of his People. But +apparently it would seem that that which may be _bourgeois_ in the eyes +of the matrons of the Crackanthorpe Hunt is really the highest breeding +in Illyria." + +Thereupon I laid down the poker as pensively as I had taken it up, +sought to compose the star of my destiny, who was beginning to weep +softly, and bade her good morning. + +Outside the door I lingered a moment to hear the key click in the lock +in the most unmistakable manner. + +With the aid of a candle I made my way to my temporary quarters over +the stables. The hour was a quarter to five. Little time was left for +further repose, but it was used to such advantage that it was not +without difficulty that my servant was able to rouse me at a quarter to +eight. By the time I was putting the finishing touches to my toilet I +was informed that Count Zhygny was below, inspecting the horses. + +Count Zhygny, to give our illustrious guest his _nom de guerre_, which, +like nearly all Illyrian proper names, it is well not to attempt to +pronounce as it is spelt, was stroking the fetlocks of Daydream with an +air of knowingness when I joined him. Dressed in a suit of tweeds and +a green felt hat, he looked the picture of restless energy. Seen in +the light of day he was far older than he had appeared the previous +night. Hollows were revealed in his cheeks, and there were pouches +under his eyes. His hands shook and his brow had many lines, but every +one of his many inches was instinct with a natural force. + +His greeting was frank and hearty and as cordial as you please. There +was not a trace of resentment or embarrassment. But, from the manly +ease of his bearing, it was abundantly clear that the king could do no +wrong. + +He linked his arm through mine, and together we strolled in to +breakfast. At the sideboard I helped him to bacon and tomatoes, and +Mrs. Arbuthnot gave him coffee. + +The manner of "little milady" was perhaps a thought constrained when +she received his Majesty's matutinal greeting. To encourage her he +pinched her ear playfully. + +Mrs. Fitz did not grace this movable feast, and Fitz and the Chancellor +were rather late. + +"You have taken a long time over your devotions, Schalk," said the +King. "I am glad it does not cost me these pains to keep on good terms +with heaven." + +"I also, sir," said Schalk drily. + +"I see you have the English _Times_ there, Schalk. What is the news +this morning?" + +The Chancellor adjusted a pair of gold pince-nez and began to read +aloud from that organ of opinion. + +"'Blaenau, Wednesday evening. The Illyrian Land Bill was read a second +time in the House of Deputies this afternoon.'" + +"Ha, that is important," said the King, laughing. "What a +well-informed journal is the English _Times_! Do you approve of the +Illyrian Land Bill, Schalk?" + +"Since I had the honour of drafting it, sir, to your dictation, I +cannot do less than endorse it." + +"And read a second time already, says the English _Times_, in the House +of Deputies. I always say they have some of the best minds of the +kingdom in the Lower House." + +"Trust them to know what is good for themselves," said Schalk sourly. + +It was tolerably clear, from the Chancellor's manner, that his royal +master was enjoying a little private baiting. + +"Why, Schalk," he said, "I believe you are still harping on Clause +Three." + +"I have never reverted, sir, from my original view," said the +Chancellor, "that under Clause Three the peasantry is getting far more +than is good for it. I have always felt, sir, as you are aware, that +this is a concession to the pestilential agrarian agitator, and I feel +sure the First Chamber will proclaim this opinion also." + +"Well, well, Schalk," said the King cheerfully, "is it not the function +of the First Chamber to disagree with the Second, and what is the +Little Father for except to soothe their quarrels by flattering both +and agreeing with neither?" + +"Your Majesty is pleased to speak in riddles," said the Chancellor, +with gravity. + +"What a cardinal you would have made, Schalk!" said his master. "But +if you have really made up your mind about Clause Three, we must look +at it again. I agree with you that it is not good for growing children +to eat all the cake. We must keep a little for their elders, because +they like cake too, it appears." + +"Everyone is fond of cake," said the Chancellor sententiously, "but +there is never quite enough to go round, unfortunately." + +"That is a happy phrase of Schalk's," said the King, making the +conversation general with his amused air; "'the pestilential agrarian +agitator.' Have you that kind of animal in England?" + +"We are infested with him, sir," said the member for the Uppingdon +Division of Middleshire, the owner of a modest thousand or so of acres. +"The people for the land, and the land for the people! The country +reeks of it." + +"It is the same everywhere," said the King. "A great world movement is +upon us. The wise can detect the voice of the future in the cry of the +people, but there are some who stuff wool in their ears, eh, Schalk?" + +Ferdinand the Twelfth assumed a port of indulgent sagacity. This +half-serious, half-bantering fragment of his discourse, and half a +dozen in a similar tenor to which it was my privilege to listen, seemed +to establish one fact clearly. It was that the King was not the slave +of his ministers. He was a man with a keen outlook upon his time, +deliberately unprogressive, not in response to the reactionary forces +by which he was surrounded, but because he held that it was not good +for the world to go too fast. + +His article of faith was simple enough, and in his conduct he did not +hesitate to embody it. He conceived it to be the highest good for +every people to have a king; a wise, patient and beneficent law-giver +to correct the excesses of faction; one to stand at the helm to steer +the ship of state through troubled waters. + +Whether his conception of the monarchical condition was right or wrong, +he was able to enforce it with all the weight of his personality. He +believed profoundly in the divine right. In the assurance of his own +infallibility he seemed to admit no limit to his own freedom of action. + +He believed that the future of his country was in his hands. It was in +order to conserve it that he had come to England in this singular and +unexpected manner. Having chosen a Royal Consort for his only +daughter, she whose act of revolt was but a manifestation of +sovereignty carried to a higher power, he was prepared come what may to +enforce his will. + +All through this little history I have tried to show how comedy strove +with tragedy as the play was unfolded. The spectators were never quite +sure which way the cat would jump. Infinite opportunity for laughter +was provided, but underneath this merriment lay that which was too deep +for tears. Viewed upon the surface, the precipitation into our midst +of such an elemental figure as Ferdinand the Twelfth was food for an +inextinguishable jest, but the reverse of the medal must not be +overlooked. + +Every hour the King spent under our roof was a slow-drawn torture for +Fitz and his wife. Holding the romantic belief that they were +twin-souls whom destiny had linked irrevocably together, they were +everything to one another. But running counter to this faith were +those incalculable hereditary forces which the King with incomparable +power and address was marshalling against it. + +Now was the time for the Princess to yield. In his own person the King +had come to demand of her that once and for all she should take up the +burden of her heritage. If now she declined to heed, the days of the +Monarchy were numbered. + +It was only too clear to us onlookers that a terrible contest was being +waged. In two or three brief days the Princess seemed worn to a +shadow; the look of wildness was again in her eyes: her whole bearing +confessed an overwhelming mental stress. + +Fitz also suffered greatly. And his travail was not rendered less by +the fact that Ferdinand did not scruple to make a personal appeal. + +About the third night of his ordeal, Fitz accompanied me to my quarters +over the stables. + +"Arbuthnot," he said, sinking into a chair, "I have been thinking this +thing out as well as I can with the help of Ferdinand, and he has made +me see that my rights in the matter are not quite what I thought they +were. I do not complain. He has talked to me as a father might to a +son, and he has brought me to see that our position in the sight of God +may not be quite what we judged it to be." + +I was hardly prepared for such a speech on the lips of Fitz. That it +should fall from them so simply gave me an enlarged idea of the forces +that were being brought to bear upon him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +A WALK IN THE GARDEN + +In the last resort the issue lay with Sonia. Her husband had the +wisdom to recognise that; although his own happiness was at stake, the +matter was beyond the restricted sphere of the personal equation. + +In the crisis of his fate it has always seemed to me that Fitz +displayed the inherent nobility of his character. Once the King, with +immense force and cogency, had revealed the situation in its true +aspect, his son-in-law, without abating a single claim to his wife's +consideration, yet refrained from unduly exercising the prerogative +conferred upon him by their spiritual affinity. + +It was wise and right that Fitz should detach himself as far as +possible from the conflict that was being waged between father and +daughter. But, although he did what lay in his power to simplify the +issue, he could not banish the image of himself from his wife's heart. +He furnished the motive power of her existence. Emotion held the +master-key to her nature. In any conflict between love and duty, love +could hardly fail to win. + +Fitz suffered intensely as the struggle went on. He even threw out a +hint to me that he might be tempted to take a certain step to help his +wife to a possible solution of the problem. + +"The longer this goes on," he said to me in the small hours of the +morning, "the more clearly I realise that Sonia's place is with her own +people. I have been blind, and I have been mad, and I owe it to +Ferdinand that I have been able to see myself in my true relation to +the issue in which fate has involved us. It is six years since I first +saw Sonia on the terrace of the Castle at Blaenau. I was travelling +about the world trying to find ease for my soul. I knew that she was +unhappy, and she knew that I was, but we were young and not afraid. We +met continually, for I had the _entree_ to the Castle as the grandson +of the Elector of Gracow, whose daughter married my grandfather, George +Fitzwaren of tragic memory. + +"We used to sit out on the Castle terrace, Sonia and I, night after +night, watching the stars in their courses, while her father dragooned +his parliament and hoodwinked his people. She was lonely, outcast and +unloved; there was none to whom she could speak her thoughts; she was +oppressed with the sense of her destiny. + +"She said that when she first met me she wondered where she had seen me +before. She said that my presence haunted her like a half-remembered +vision, until it began to merge itself into her dreams of a former +existence and a happier state. And as she said this, her voice grew +strangely familiar. For me it unlocked the doors of memory. It was +like the faint, far-off music you can hear sometimes, the music of the +wind in winter sweeping across infinite, illimitable space. + +"She allowed me to kiss her, and we knew then we held the key to the +riddle of existence. We were twin-souls made one again, and together +we would go through all time and all eternity. + +"But I think we are beginning now to realise that the sense of oneness +is alien to the human state, and that the hour is at hand when we must +separate and go out again into the night of ages alone." + +In a condition of desolation the unhappy man rocked his meagre body to +and fro as thus he spoke. + +"If it will really help her," he said, "I think I shall put an end to +my present life. At least, I shall ask Ferdinand to do it, for I doubt +whether any man in the true enjoyment of his reason has really the +power to do it for himself. And yet, perhaps one ought not to say +that. So much can be done by prayer." + +"Surely it is contrary to the will of God?" I said with a kind of +horror. + +"It is, undoubtedly," said Fitz, "as regards humanity at large. But it +sometimes happens, you know, that one among us plays the game up so +high that he gets a special decree. I almost think, Arbuthnot, that I +have heard the Voice--and if I have, my unhappy Sonia will be able to +go back to her people for a term, and I shall ask you, as my oldest +friend, a man whom my instincts tell me to trust, to accept the charge +of my little daughter." + +To one poised delicately upon the plane of reason such a speech could +not fail to be shocking. But it was so sincere, so reasoned, the +holder of these views was so entirely the captain of his soul, that his +words, as he uttered them, seemed to derive a kind of sanction which as +I commit them to paper they do not appear to possess. + +The counsel of one man to another does not amount to much in those +cases where the subject-matter of their discussion has been already +referred to the High Court. But I felt that I should be unfaithful to +the elements that formed my own nature, acutely conscious as I was of +their imperfect development, if I did not seek to give them some sort +of an expression at such a moment as this. + +"Fitz," I said, "I can claim no right to address you, except as a +younger brother. You belong to a higher order of things; your life is +more developed than mine, but I ask you in the name of God to refrain +from the step you contemplate, unless you are absolutely convinced, +beyond any possibility of error, that there is no other way out." + +The unhappy man made no reply. His face had begun to seem +unrecognisable. + +I rose involuntarily from the chair in which I sat. + +"Let us walk in the garden," I said. + +The suggestion appeared to shape itself on my lips, regardless of the +will's volition. It was, perhaps, a recovered fragment of man's +heritage floating downwards from the past. + +I opened the door and we went downstairs into the garden. It was the +middle of the night; what there was of the moon was almost wholly +obscured; the air was mild with the purity of recent rain. Up and down +the wet lawns we walked, bareheaded and in our slippered feet. + +Suddenly lights flashed upon us out of the shrubbery. + +"It is all right," I called. "Do not disturb us. Go into another part +of the grounds." + +The voice seemed unlike my own, but the watchers obeyed it. + +Nature exhorted us as we walked in the garden. Her purity, her calm, +the incommunicable magic of her spaciousness, the thrall of her +splendour entered our veins. We were her children, flesh of her flesh, +bone of her bone. The mighty Mother spoke to us. + +A little wind moved softly among the gaunt branches of a pine. + +"I must make quite sure that the Voice has spoken to me," said Fitz. + +The unhappy man walked to the pine-tree, knelt down and seemed +involuntarily to shroud his face with his hands. + +I shrank back and turned away. + +Quite suddenly my heart leapt with surprise and dismay. An unexpected +and sinister presence was by my side. + +"I pity that poor fellow," said a voice softly. "I pity them both." + +It was the voice of the King. + +Habited in a voluminous mantle, the Victor of Rodova linked his arm +through mine in his paternal manner. + +"Come, my friend," he said in a voice of urgent kindliness, "let us +walk in the garden." + +Together we walked over the lawns, the King and I, with slow and +measured steps. + +"It is a beautiful night." Ferdinand the Twelfth took off his hat. + +"God is in His heaven, sir," I said, softly. + +"You are a God-fearing people," said the King; "that is a good thing. +What can we do in the world without the fear of God? This night +reminds me of the night before Rodova. It was just like this, a calm, +soft air, a little moist. You could hear the wind creeping softly +among the pine-trees. At the bottom of your garden there was the +gentle noise of a little river. All night the little fishes were +leaping and playing in its clear waters, and living their lives +joyously as it seemed good to them. And beyond the river were the +Austrians, sixty thousand men with horses and cannons. + +"The God of Armies had given the soul of my country into my care. Was +she to remain a free and independent people as she had been since the +time of Alvan the First, or was she to be trampled under the heel of +the oppressor? All night I walked in the garden, and I remember I +knelt down under the pine-tree yonder, as our friend is doing there. +It is a wonderful thing how history keeps happening over again." + +The King's voice had grown hushed and solemn. + +"To-night is another crisis in the history of our country. I am older +than I seem; there is a voice within which tells me that my course is +almost run. That is why I have come to speak with my daughter. It is +the business of us Sveltkes to hold the balance in the scales of +destiny. Since the time of Alvan the First there has been an unbroken +line of monarchy; perhaps it is decreed that it shall end to-night. +But yet I cannot think so. The unseen power which enabled us to +withstand the might of Austria will invest my daughter with wisdom and +grace." + +There was a footfall on the soft turf, and we turned to find that Fitz +had joined us. + +"Ha! Nevil," said the King in a voice of parental tenderness. "I was +explaining to our good friend how this night reminds me of the eve of +Rodova. Our lady the moon was in her present quarter; yonder was Mars, +blood-red on the eastern horizon. There behind us was Jupiter, exactly +as we see him to-night; but on the night of Rodova Uranus was not +visible. It was a grave crisis in the history of our country; to-night +is a grave crisis also, for I feel that a term has been placed to my +days. But I walked all night in the garden, and I knelt down beneath a +single pine-tree, and the God of Armies spoke to me. 'Fear nothing,' +said the God of Armies. 'At the break of day, cross the river that +flows at the bottom of the garden, and all will be well.'" + +The light of the moon fell upon the King's face, That smiling and +subtle visage looked strangely luminous. + +"An hour before daybreak," the King went on, "Parlowitz came to me. +'Weissmann has come up in the night,' he said, 'with twenty thousand +men. If we cross the river, all is lost.' 'Fear nothing, Parlowitz,' +I said. 'At daybreak we cross the river. The God of Armies would have +it so.' 'Then, sire,' said Parlowitz, 'give this to my wife when next +you see her'--Parlowitz unfastened the collar of his tunic and took off +a locket which he wore round his neck--'and tell her that it is my wish +that our second son John should succeed to my estate.' I then bade +adieu to Parlowitz, for he would have it so; and as the dawn was +breaking he was shot through the breast at the head of his division. +But that was a glorious day in the annals of the Illyrian people; and +you, my dear Nevil, will have seen the noble statue that has been +raised to the memory of Parlowitz on the terrace at Blaenau." + +"I have seen the statue," said Fitz, calmly. "A monument of piety, but +abominable as a work of art." + +"It is the work of the best sculptor in Illyria," said the King. + +"There are no sculptors in Illyria," said Fitz, bluntly. + +The King fell into a muse. I was sensible of Fitz's grip upon my arm. + +"It is wonderful," said the King, softly, "how history continues to +happen over again. I seem to hear the voice again in the upper air: +'At daybreak, cross the river at the bottom of the garden, and all will +be well.'" + +The grip upon my arm grew tighter. + +"Do not leave me," said Fitz in a hoarse whisper. + +All night long the three of us walked up and down the lawns before the +house. In one of the upper windows was a light. It was Sonia's room. + +Few words passed between us, and in the main it was the King who spoke. +Never once did Fitz relax his grip upon my arm. Indeed, as the hours +passed, it seemed to grow more tense. It had the convulsive tenacity +of one who in the last extremity fights to keep the body united to the +soul. + +Even I, who make no claim to be highly sensitised, was susceptible of +the ominous challenge of the force that was enfolding us. Silence was +even more terrible than speech. The resources of the ages were in the +scale against us. + +"For God's sake do not leave me!" said my unhappy friend in a whisper +of terror. + +At last the first faint pencilings of the dawn began to declare +themselves in the upper air. My slippered feet were soaked and my +teeth were chattering with the chill of the morning. A curious +sensation, which I had never felt before, began to steal over me. With +a thrill of suffocating, incommunicable horror I began slowly to +realise that I was no longer the master of myself. + +Fitz's convulsed grip was still upon my arm, but the sense of him had +grown remote. He was slipping farther and farther away. + +"Hold me!" he whispered; and again, "Hold me!" The stifled voice was +like that of one in whose company I was drowning. + +The voice of the King sounded quite near, although it was with dull +stupefaction that I heard his words. + +"The day is breaking. The river flows at the bottom of the garden." + +The fingers of my friend no longer clasped my arm. In the half-light I +saw the King produce a revolver from the folds of his mantle. He +handed it to Fitz with a paternal, almost deprecating gesture, and we +were both powerless to deny him. It seemed to me that I was standing +outside all that was happening. The sense of distance appeared ever to +increase. + +I witnessed the King kiss the forehead of his son-in-law, and heard him +give him his blessing. Then I seemed to hear the voice of Fitz crying +piteously, + +"Sonia, Sonia, help me!" + +"Look over there," said the King; "the day is breaking. It is another +glorious sunrise for the people of Illyria." + +"Yes, indeed, sir," said a voice that broke the spell. + +The prayer of Fitz had been heard. Sonia had come unperceived into our +midst. + +"I have come to taste the morning, it is so good," she said. "And you, +how early you have risen!" + +The King laughed. He seemed to enfold his daughter with that visage of +smiling subtlety. + +"We have been walking in the garden, my friends and I," he said. "We +have had a pleasant talk together. The position of the stars reminded +me of the eve of Rodova, except that Uranus was not with us. It is +always well to know the position of Uranus." + +I felt Fitz slip the revolver into my hand. + +"Come," he said in his tone of natural decision, "let us go and have a +bath and get ready for breakfast." + +While the King continued to discourse amiably with his daughter we made +our escape. + +In the privacy of my room over the stables we removed the cartridges +from the revolver. + +Fitz handed the weapon to me. "Keep it," he said, "as a memento of +Ferdinand the Twelfth. I should have crossed the river if Sonia had +not heard my call." + +Fitz shivered; but in his haggard face I thought that reason was still +enthroned. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +PROVIDES A LITTLE FEMININE DIVERSION + +At the breakfast table, Mrs. Arbuthnot was moved to inquire of our +distinguished guest whether he would care to meet some of our friends +and neighbours at dinner. His _incognito_ should be preserved rigidly; +and perhaps a few fresh faces would serve to lighten the tedium of his +stay in our midst. The King assented to the proposal with his usual +hearty good-humour. + +Personally I was deeply grateful to Mrs. Arbuthnot for having had the +inspiration to make it. I was prepared to welcome anything that would +withdraw me from the perilous altitudes upon which I had been walking +throughout the night. I might be said to yearn for anything that could +re-attach me to the humbler plane of men and things, in whose +familiarity lay mental security. + +After breakfast, however, when I came to discuss this apparently +innocent proposal with Mrs. Arbuthnot, it was clear that something +lurked behind it. + +"I have got a little plan, you know," said she, with a plaintive, +childlike air. "They have all been so uppish with me lately that I +have thought of a little plan of scoring them off properly." + +"By asking them to meet royalty and giving them an excellent dinner?" + +"There shall be nothing wrong with the dinner," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, +"but it ought to be very amusing. I shall drive round to Mary's at +once and ask her to forgive the short notice, but Sonia's father has +unexpectedly turned up and, much against our will, we are having to +entertain him." + +"Where is the jest? The bald and painful truth is seldom amusing." + +"Goose! As they are all convinced that Sonia was formerly a circus +rider in Vienna, what can be more natural than that her father is the +proprietor of the circus?" + +"True, madam. But how will you explain away his title?" + +"It will be the simplest thing out. You can always buy a title in +Illyria, like you can here. The old circus man has made a fortune and +purchased a title accordingly." + +I confessed that that had a fairly plausible sound. + +"They will swallow it, see if they don't," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, giving +an ever freer rein to her invention. "And the old circus man is really +too funny, and if Mary Catesby and Laura Glendinning and George and the +Vicar and Mrs. Vicar, and that pushing little American would like to +see for themselves, we shall be very glad for them to dine here +to-morrow evening. And," concluded Mrs. Arbuthnot, in a tone in which +childlike conviction and a natural love of mischief were excellently +blended, "just see if they don't, that's all!" + +"But why, my child? I confess that I cannot see any particular charm +in such an entertainment." + +"They will come, if only to score us off afterwards, you goose. You +don't know them as well as I do." + +I confessed that I did not. + +Mrs. Arbuthnot lost no time in driving round to her friends, and +returned in high glee with them all in her net. + +"What did I say!" she declaimed triumphantly. "I called first on Mary. +I knew, if I persuaded her, the rest would be easy. Well, you know her +little way. She read me a terrible lecture about the duties of my +position. As the wife of the member, my responsibilities were simply +enormous. Not on any account would she sit down at the same table as +Mrs. Fitz. But I drew such a fancy portrait of the old circus man and +of his friend the ring-master, who was almost as funny as himself, that +I got her to consent. So she and George are coming." + +"Mischievous monkey!" + +"Then I went on to the Vicarage. The Vicar had no engagement, but he +hummed and hawed, until I told him Mary was coming, so he is coming +too, and he is going to bring Lavinia. Then there will be Laura and +the little American and Reggie Brasset, and Jodey, of course. We shall +be quite a family party, and it ought to be tremendous fun." + +"Won't Brasset and Jodey be rather flies in your ointment? Don't they +know your guilty secret?" + +"I shall tell them all about it, of course, and they will help us to +carry it off. And I mean to ask Colonel Coverdale to come too. He +will like to meet the King, and we must persuade him not to give us +away." + +I was in no mood to give free play to whatever I may have in the way of +a sense of humour. But Mrs. Arbuthnot's scheme, doubtful as it was on +the score of morality, had at least the merit of diverting the current +of my thoughts into another channel. It certainly did something to +lessen the tension. + +Mrs. Arbuthnot laid her plans with considerable precaution. She had a +long and extremely animated conversation over the telephone with the +Chief Constable. I could almost hear the great man growl and chuckle +as she expounded her wicked design. But in the end he was unable to +resist her and he was in her net as well. Jodey and Brasset, of +course, were only too eager to lend a hand, and both agreed with her +"that they all deserved to be scored off properly." Personally, the +workings of the "scoring-off" process were a little too much for my +enfeebled mental system, but I was informed peremptorily that I always +was a dull dog. + +Determined to leave nothing to chance, Mrs. Arbuthnot even went to the +length of taking Fitz into her confidence. + +"You know, Nevil," she said, engagingly, "how they have behaved to +Sonia and what they have said about her behind her back." + +"What have they said?" Fitz's indifference bordered upon the sublime. + +"Why, don't you know?" Mrs. Arbuthnot transfixed the Man of Destiny +with starlike orbs. "Don't you know that when Laura Glendinning found +out that Sonia rides just as straight as she does and that she looks +much smarter, it made her frightfully jealous?" + +"Did it indeed!" grunted the Man of Destiny. + +"And can you believe, Nevil,"--the starlike orbs grew ever rounder and +more luminous--"she circulated the story that dear Sonia was a circus +rider from Vienna!" + +"Oh, really!" Fitz concealed a yawn in a rather perfunctory manner. + +"And, what is more, she got everybody to believe it." + +Fitz's boredom was dissembled with a smile of twelve-horse-power +politeness. + +"And so, to score them off," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, rising to pleasantly +histrionic heights, "I have invited the ringleaders to dinner to-night +to meet the circus rider's father, the proprietor of the circus, who +has made a fortune out of his show and has bought himself a title, as, +of course, you can in Illyria. And Baron von Schalk is the ringmaster +of his circus." + +The Man of Destiny guffawed with languid inefficiency and declared that +the plot was like a comic opera. In my private ear he recorded an +opinion subsequently to which it would be hardly kind to give publicity. + +"Nobody but a woman would have thought of it," he said. "If it turns +out to be funny, so be it, but I must say it looks like spoiling a good +meal--you've got a top-hole cook, old son--and making things damned +uncomfortable for everybody." + +I adjured Fitz, who, like myself, was evidently in no mood to +appreciate refined humour, to wait and see. + +Lieutenant-Colonel John Chalmers Coverdale, C.M.G., late of His +Majesty's Carabineers, was the first to arrive. + +"Sailing rather near the wind, aren't you?" was his greeting to his +hostess, who in her best gown was a ravishing example of picturesque +demureness. + +"I think it will go all right," said she. "Mary Catesby and George +will be too killing." + +Certainly, when that august matron arrived she was very _grande dame_ +and honest George five feet three inches of meticulous good breeding. +They greeted Fitz and his wife with a distant reverence. Ferdinand the +Twelfth and his famous minister had not yet appeared upon the scene. +Most of their day had been spent upon the much-debated Clause Three of +the Illyrian Land Bill. + +Eight o'clock is the hour at which we dine in the Crackanthorpe +country. It is the established custom for regular followers of that +distinguished pack to be extremely hungry at that hour. As the +presentation timepiece chimed the hour from the drawing-room +chimneypiece, there was a full muster of Mrs. Arbuthnot's dinner +guests: the Vicar and his wife, looking rather pinched and formal, +their invariable attitude towards public life, yet the Vicar wearing a +somewhat worldly pair of shoes of patent leather and equally worldly +mauve socks and rather short trousers; Miss Laura Glendinning, our +local Diana, who looked horse and talked horse and who would doubtless +have eaten horse had it been in the menu; my charming little friend, +the relict of Josiah P. Perkins of Brownville, Mass.; the noble Master +enveloped in a sartorial masterpiece and a frown of perplexity; his +_aide-de-camp_, Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther enveloped ditto, +but leaning up not ungracefully against a corner of the chimneypiece +with his hands in his pockets, not looking at anybody, not speaking to +anybody, but with a covert gaze fixed upon the drawing-room door in +quest of early information in regard to Ferdinand the Twelfth. + +In the middle of the _salon_ the august Mrs. Catesby discussed the +Minority Report with the Vicar of the parish and Prison Reform with the +Chief Constable, whilst I, sharing the largest and most comfortable +sofa with Mrs. Nevil Fitzwaren, had to answer a succession of +sympathetic inquiries in regard to my arm. + +"A mere scratch," everybody was assured. "Lucky it wasn't worse. Fact +is, those taxis are rather dangerous." + +The presentation timepiece chimed a quarter past eight. The proprietor +of the Viennese circus and his faithful acolyte were yet to seek. +Romantic figures as they doubtless were--at least, there was the +authority of the hostess that such was their nature--the manner in +which they were obstructing the serious business of life was hard to +condone. + +Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins came up to our sofa. She gave a demure, +down-looking glance at the lady seated by my side, who was decidedly +_piano_, which of course was as it should be, and made the plaintive +confession, "I am so hungry. I wouldn't mind the hind leg off that +satinwood table." + +"You have full permission to have it," said I. + +"Oh, no," said Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins, "it would spoil the suite. But +hardly any breakfast, a sandwich at the Top Covert, in which there was +hardly any hog, one cup of tea at the Vicarage, and you know what that +is, and now--oh dear!----" + +In these harrowing circumstances I conceived it to be my duty to find +out what was toward. I yielded my place to Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins, and +as she collapsed into it, I heard her say, "I suppose if you once get a +cinch on circuses you make a regular pile right soon?" + +But as I made to go forth in search of Ferdinand the Twelfth, lo and +behold! that monarch came in with his minister. He was wearing no +orders, there was nothing to enhance or to distort his personality, but +it struck me that his bearing had a simple majesty beyond that of any +person I had ever seen. + +"Make our apologies, milady," he said in a low voice, which was yet +quite audible to most in the room, since upon his entrance the +conversation had been suspended automatically. "That mad Dutchman is +waving his torch over the powder keg, and we had forgotten the time." + +And then, with the greatest simplicity and good-nature, he started to +make a tour of the room, shaking each man by the hand heartily, saying +"Very pleased to meet you, sir," and bowing to each lady in turn with +smiling gravity. He then gave the hostess his arm. + +At the table I had Mrs. Catesby on my right hand, Mrs. Josiah P. +Perkins on my left. + +"What a lovely man!" said Charybdis on the left. + +"I don't believe," said Scylla, "that he has any connection with a +circus whatever." + +"He is Mrs. Fitz's father, anyhow." + +"What is his name?" + +"Count Zhygny, but titles are cheap in Illyria." + +"It is a noble head," said the Great Lady. + +"Objective criticism is proverbially unsafe," I hazarded. "His +daughter has a noble face." + +"He is just bully." Charybdis was waxing enthusiastic. "Quite +Bawston." + +The Great Lady addressed herself in grim earnest to the serious +business of life, and I am bound to say--although doubtless I am the +wrong person to insist on the fact--that it was worthy of all the +attention that was paid to it. We were twenty-five minutes late at the +post, as Jodey had complained bitterly to his hostess, but the +distinguished _chef_ lately in the service of a nobleman had fairly +excelled himself. Good-humour, nay, even cordiality, reigned all along +the line. + +"Are those pearls real?" said an imperious whisper from the right. + +"I am not a judge of precious stones," I admitted, "although in the +process of time I think I shall be." + +"One can't believe they are real. If they are, they must be priceless. +What a wonderful head that man has! And who, pray, is the other?" + +"Herr Brouss is his name. The circus-ring is his vocation." + +"I once met a distinguished foreigner, a Baron Somebody, a great +politician who looked exactly like that. It was at Spa or one of those +foreign watering-places. By the way, Odo, what did the other man mean +by 'the mad Dutchman is waving his torch over the powder keg'? I see +in the paper this morning that relations are strained between Germany +and Illyria. + +"It is one of those cryptic phrases to which we have not the key." + +"What a delicious _entree_! This is coals of fire with a vengeance. I +hope you are not living beyond your means." + +"Try the madeira--I see our excellent Vicar has discovered it. I am +wondering, Mary, whether I could win a little support again in high +places, as an out-and-out opponent of socialism in any shape or form." + +"I will make no rash promises, Odo"--the Great Lady took a wary sip of +the paternal vintage--"but I will speak to dear Evelyn if you wish, +although you certainly don't deserve to be forgiven." + +"I hope you will assure her that no one has a profounder veneration for +a poor but deserving class." + +In spite of the fact that Fitz and his wife remained silent and +preoccupied, the progress of the feast was marked by a temperate +gaiety. The hostess was on the crest of the wave. She made no attempt +to veil an almost indecent sense of triumph. Precisely why she should +have harboured it I cannot say, but she betrayed all the outward and +visible signs of that emotion. There was a light in her eye, there was +a piquancy about her discourse, there was a deferential archness in her +attitude towards the high personages by whom she was surrounded, which +communicated themselves to the whole table. In response to her sallies +the reverberations of the royal laughter were loud and long. + +"Toppin' good sort, ain't he?" said my relation by marriage in a moment +of expansion to Miss Laura Glendinning. + +"Who is a toppin' good sort?" said that literal Diana. + +"Why, the King, of course." + +"I have never met him," said Diana. + +"Where, pray, did you meet him, Joseph?" was the severe inquiry of the +Great Lady over the brim of her madeira. + +"In the paddock at Newmarket," said the young fellow, making a +brilliant recovery. + +"Fathead!" said the noble Master in a whisper of indulgent languor. +"You nearly blewed it then." + +The royal laughter continued to reverberate. + +"I suppose he began life as a clown?" said the Great Lady. + +"Nearly all these circus chaps do, don't they?" said Jodey, who nearly +suffered misfortune in a too strenuous desire to preserve his gravity. + +"Or as a bare-back rider," said I, taking up the parable. + +"One would certainly say a clown," said the Great Lady. "Dear me, what +manners!" + +The port wine had appeared and had been duly dispensed. At this +precise moment Ferdinand the Twelfth was giving the table-cloth a +peremptory tap. He rose, glass in hand. + +"Ladies and gentlemen, my good friends," said he. "I haf one toast to +propose. We will drink, if you please, to the health of _le bon roi +Edouard_. God bless him!" + +Upon the Chief Constable's extremely prompt initiative the company did +not hesitate to follow the Circus Proprietor's lead. + +"The King! God bless him!" + +This incident, which the Circus Proprietor had invested with such +authority that it seemed perfectly in order, nearly led to the undoing +of Jodey and his noble friend. Overborne by the emotion of the moment, +they indulged in a little side show of their own. The toast of _le bon +roi Edouard_ having been honoured in form the rest of the company sat +down at once, but our two sportsmen remained upon their feet. Filling +up their glasses, they turned towards the illustrious guest and +repeated the solemn formula: + +"The King. God bless him!" + +"Sit down, you asses," said the Chief Constable in a truculent +undertone. + +Nevertheless, the proprietor of the circus bowed to them and smiled +paternally. + +"One shouldn't look for too much," said the Vicar, "but I think the old +fellow is a bit of a sportsman." + +"Not at all a bad fellow," said honest George, expansively. "Not at +all a bad fellow. Not at all a bad fellow." + +However, a subtle fear lay within the breast of a married man, a father +of a family, and a county member, lest our excellent Vicar had spoken +in excess of his knowledge. I foresaw that the ordeal by fire was +coming. When the ladies left the room desperation urged me to bestow a +pointed hint upon the Church. + +"Perhaps, Vicar," I said, plaintively, "if you joined the ladies? Not +at all a bad fellow, you know, not at all a bad fellow, but perhaps +not--er--altogether--don't you know!" + +"None the worse for that," said the hardest riding parson in three +counties, filling up his glass with composure and with cordiality. "If +you think the old buffer can appreciate a yarn, I will tell that old +one of my Uncle Jackson's. It is rather a chestnut these days, but +perhaps he mayn't have heard it." + +The clerical effort was by no means _vieux jeu_. And it is only just +to the Church to mention that the style of the raconteur compared very +favourably with that he affected in his vocation. Ferdinand the +Twelfth guffawed heartily, and replied with a couple of masterpieces +that brought the blush of shame to the cheek of modesty. I am afraid +there was only one cheek, however, in which the emblem in question was +able to find sanctuary, and truth compels me to assert that it was +neither that of the Church nor the Police. + +For nearly an hour by the clock the bottle was circulated and we were +royally entertained. Ferdinand had had a rich and various experience +of life. Much had he seen and done; he had made and unmade history; he +was of the world, he loved it and he courted it; no personality had +emerged upon the European chequer-board during the past half-century of +whom he could not discourse out of a full and intimate knowledge. If +it pleased him, he could pull aside the curtain and disclose the +showman making the puppets dance in the political theatre. + +He spoke with immense gusto; his zest of life was magnificent, and +somewhat strangely there was nothing cynical or ignoble about his point +of view. For the best part of an hour he held the least wise of us in +thrall. He had an abundance, an overplus of nature, and subtle and +Jesuitical--for want of a happier word--as he doubtless was, there was +something humane and great-hearted about him as a man. + +He gave away the great ones of the earth, showing them in their habit +as they dwelt. He made them neither less nor more than they were. +Naught was set down in malice, but his anecdotes mostly had a +Rabelaisian tang which sprang from a prodigality of nature. He was a +great and not unbeneficent force who drained the cup of life to the +lees, smacked his lips heartily, and demanded more. His philosophy +seemed to be to fear God but not to scruple to use to the full all the +noble and infinite gifts of your inheritance. His rule of conduct, +however, was not, to measure men by their strength but by their +weakness. "Every man has his blind spot," he said, _apropos_ of +Bismarck. "Find it and he is yours." + +Such a crowded hour of wisdom, wit and historic revelation was an +experience that even a dullard was not likely to forget. George +Catesby and the Vicar alone were unacquainted with the identity of our +guest, and as far as they were concerned the cat was more or less out +of the bag. + +When we joined the ladies we found that card-tables had been set out. +Mrs. Arbuthnot and Coverdale engaged Mrs. Catesby and the King. No one +watching the play could fail to be amused by the Circus Proprietor's +caustic but good-humoured reflections upon the performance of his +partner. The Great Lady bore it all, however, with a stoical humility. +To my surprise, she cut in for a second rubber, and her demeanour made +it clear to Jodey, who disdained games like "_britch_" and preferred to +watch the royal _partie_, "that she smelt a rat." + +"I expect the show has pretty well given itself away by now," he said +in an aside to his host, "but anyhow they have been scored off +properly." + +The mystery of "scoring off" was still too much for my inadequate +mental processes. But I gathered that there was a consensus of opinion +among persons of a more vivid intellectual cast that such indeed was +the case. + +"We sha'n't half pull her leg, I don't think"--in the exuberance of the +hour the young fellow relapsed into a semi-lyrical music-hall comedy +vein--"about the old circus johnny who drank a health unto his Majesty. +I only wish old Alec had been there, that's all." + +"A digger, madame, a digger," said the Circus Proprietor in a tone of +humorous expostulation, "when you haf not a treek!" + +The Great Lady accepted the reproof with Christian meekness. + +It was not until hard upon midnight that the departing guest was sped +in divers chariots; the Church in the identical "one-hoss shay" of +inimitable and pious memory. "So many thanks, Mrs. Arbuthnot, for a +really _memorable_ evening," said the Church, with a wave of a somewhat +unclerical bowler. + +Plutocracy in the little person of Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins had a Daimler +of sixty horse power. She gave a lift to a less fortunate sister in +the person of Miss Laura Glendinning. The Great Lady and the excellent +George, "a good vintage sound but dull," as I have heard him described +by a friend and neighbour, had recourse to a medium of travel of twelve +horse power only, as became the representatives of our sorely +impoverished land-owning class. + +"_Such_ a success, my dear!" said the Great Lady, bestowing her parting +blessing. "But," in a voice of mystery, "I shall _insist_ upon the +whole thing being cleared up." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE WRITING ON THE WALL + +The morning which followed these tempered gaieties was cold and bright. +The King borrowed my nicest gun and, accompanied by his son-in-law, our +retainer Andrew, and an old field spaniel who answered to the name of +Gyp, proceeded to put up a hare or two in the stubble. My physical +state precluded my raising a gun to my shoulder, but I deemed it wise +to be of the party. Accidents have been known to occur, and--but +perhaps it is well not to pursue this vein of speculation. + +Destiny is a vague term which provides the veil of decency for many +secrets, and firearms have often been the chosen instruments of its +decrees. Doubtless I was growing too imaginative. Certainly the +adventures I had undergone during the past few weeks had left a mark +upon my nerves, but when I recalled our vigil, which was still so fresh +in my thoughts as to seem strange and terrible, I could not view the +prospect of Ferdinand the Twelfth and his dutiful son-in-law sharing +the innocent pastime of a little rough shooting without a secret fear. + +I am glad to say that the course of the morning's sport lent no colour +to this apprehension. The King was an excellent shot, and even a +strange gun made little difference to his prowess. He displayed both +science and accuracy. But to see him standing cheek by jowl with Fitz, +each with a cocked weapon in his hand; to watch them scramble through +gaps and over stiles and five-barred gates, for in spite of his years +and his physique Ferdinand was a wonderfully active man who took an +almost boyish pride in his bodily condition, was to feel that the life +of either was hanging by a thread. + +However, as I have said, all this was the unworthy fruit of an +overwrought imagination. The sportsmen returned to luncheon safe and +sound, with a modest bag of the fowls of the air and the beasts of the +field. + +In the afternoon, at the instance of Mrs. Arbuthnot, whose happy +thought it was, we all motored over to inspect the Castle. The Family +was understood to be in Egypt, and the ducal stronghold is the show +place of the district. + +The rumour as to the Family's whereabouts proved to be correct, and a +profitable hour was spent in the casual study of magnificence. The +King took a genuine interest in all that he saw. In particular he was +charmed with the view from the terrace, which is modelled upon +Versailles, with a long and far-spreading vista of oaks and beeches and +a herd of deer in the foreground. + +He expressed a keen appreciation of the Duke's collection of works of +art; yet he permitted himself to wonder that a private individual +should have such pictures, such tapestries, such furniture, such +porcelain, such armour, such metal work, such carpets, such painted +ceilings and heaven knows what besides. + +"It is pretty well for a subject," said Ferdinand the Twelfth. + +"His Grace of Dumbarton, sir," said I, "owns four other places in these +islands on a similar scale of magnificence; he owns a million and a +quarter acres, of which a portion is in great centres of industry, his +income is rather more than L500,000 a year, and he is accustomed in his +public utterances to describe himself as a member of a poor but +deserving class." + +Ferdinand the Twelfth pondered a moment with an amused yet wary smile. + +"If he lived in Illyria," he said, "I think his grace would have to be +content with less, eh, Schalk?" + +"It would not surprise me, sir," said the Chancellor, with an +expressive shrug. "I confess it does not appear economically sound for +a State to allow its private citizens to accumulate such quantities of +treasure. Whatever the measure of their public capacity I fail to see +how they can rise to their responsibilities." + +"But if," said I, "the State mulcts his grace of a farthing's-worth, it +is immediately denounced as a robber. Property is the most sacred +thing we know in this country." + +"His grace came by all this honestly, I hope?" said the King, with an +amused air. + +"He came by it under forms of law, certainly." + +"Which he himself did not make, I hope!" said the King, laughing. + +"No, sir; his grandfather and the nominees of his grandfather and so on +managed that little business. Quite a constitutional proceeding, of +course." + +"I appreciate that," said Ferdinand the Twelfth, with his subtle smile. +"The British Constitution has long been the envy of nations. I suppose +our friend the Duke is a man of great public spirit who has rendered +signal service to the British Empire." + +"On the contrary, he prefers the pleasant obscurity of the English +gentleman." + +"His forbears, then?" + +"The late Duke was an imbecile; and I am afraid if anyone took the +trouble to search the records of the family since it came to this +country from Germany about the year 1700, there is only one episode +involving signal public spirit recorded in its archives." + +"A glorious victory, a Blenheim, a Waterloo, I presume?" said Ferdinand +the Twelfth. + +"No, sir; peace has her victories also. This distinguished family has +won the Derby Horse Race on two occasions." + +"A wonderful people, Schalk!" said the King, laughing. + +Her Royal Highness clapped her hands impulsively in the face of Mrs. +Arbuthnot. + +"There, Irene, what did I say!" she exclaimed. "Perrault!--wherever +you go in this little island you find Perrault. My father has now +found Perrault. Even Schalk has found him." + +"Sonia dear, you are too funny!" said Mrs. Arbuthnot, 'with a +plaintively childlike air of tacit condescension. + +The King informed his grace's steward, a gentleman with a bald head and +a very conventional aspect, who awaited us in the entrance hall to see +us safely off the premises, that he would like to write his name in the +visitors' book. Unaware of the identity of Ferdinand the Twelfth and +by no means approving of the general trend of our conversation, the +steward said with cold politeness that he feared the visitors' book was +only used by his grace's guests. + +The King took up a piece of red pencil that lay on a writing-table. + +"We will write on the wall," he said, blandly. + +The steward was shocked and scandalised, but no heed was paid to his +protests. The King wrote his name on the wall in bold and firm English +characters, immediately beneath Lely's portrait of the founder of the +family. + +This accomplished, the King gave the pencil to his daughter, who +inscribed her name also. She in turn gave it to the Chancellor, who +followed her example. He then gave the pencil to Mrs. Arbuthnot. + +That lady coloured with embarrassment, but at the King's express desire +she wrote her name too; and when it came to the turn of the +Conservative member for that part of the county he had no alternative +but to obey the royal command. + +Our names duly appeared on the wall in the following order: + + _Ferdinand Rex + Sonia + Von Schalk + Irene Arbuthnot + Nevil Fitzwaren + Odo Arbuthnot, M.P._ + + +Upon the completion of this act of vandalism, the Victor of Rodova +turned to the steward. + +"Haf the goodness to inform his grace," he said, "that the King of +Illyria accepts entire responsibility for the writing on the wall. It +is the writing on the wall for him and for his country." + +As we went towards the motor cars which awaited us at a side entrance, +we had to pass down a flight of stone steps. In the descent the King +was seized with a sudden and momentary faintness. He reeled, and had +it not been for the promptitude of the ever-watchful Chancellor he must +have fallen. + +"Dat is the writing on the wall for the people of Illyria," said the +Victor of Rodova with humorous stoicism as he recovered himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE CAST OF THE DIE + +Upon the return to Dympsfield House, three telegrams in cypher were +waiting for the King. Two secretaries, who with divers other +unofficial members of his suite were staying at the Coach and Horses, +were in possession of the library, which had been placed at the royal +disposal. At dinner that evening we were informed that the Teutonic +display of red fire had provoked a grave internal crisis in Illyria. +The National Bank was about to suspend payment; Consolidated Stock was +at fifty-nine; and his Majesty must leave these shores in the course of +Saturday. + +I could not repress a sigh of relief, although, to be sure, this was no +more than the evening of Wednesday. + +"Old Vesuvius is beginning to rumble again," said the King, with a +laugh that sounded rather sinister, "but he cannot make us believe in +him. How say you, my child?" + +He looked across the table at the Princess, who was as pale as death. + +Here was the indication of the final and supreme crisis for her and for +her husband, and the hearts of those to whom she had come to mean much +were torn with pity. Elemental, uncontrollable forces had her in their +toils. + +Fitz, too, had all our pity. The strain of true grandeur at the heart +of the man, which all that was superficial could not efface, had +asserted itself in this season of anguish. A lesser nature might have +taken steps to relieve his wife of the torment of his presence. But in +the watches of the night he had referred the question, and now, come +what must, he would meet his fate. + +There was reason to believe that he had already thrown his weight in +the scale on the side of Ferdinand. He had stopped short of +self-immolation, it was true; he had placed another interpretation on +the Voice; but it seemed to me, his friend, that his whole bearing was +a piece of altruistic heroism which could have had few parallels. + +"Ferdinand is right," he said as we kept vigil in my quarters. "The +interests of a great people are of more account than a chap like me. I +know it, and Sonia knows it too." + +The words were torn from him. It was curious how this contained and +self-reliant spirit yearned for the sanction that it was in the power +of a sympathetic understanding to bestow. If he dealt himself a mortal +wound he must have a friend at his side. If he had superhuman +strength, at least he had human weakness. Men of valour are proud as a +rule. Fitz in the hour of his passion had a humility, a craving for +the countenance of his fellows that I could only do my best to render +in a humble way. The walk of mediocrity saves us from many things, but +I suppose there are seasons in the lives of some who wear its badge +when we would willingly forgo its comfortable consciousness of immunity +for some diviner gift. + +It was as though my unhappy friend was bleeding, perhaps to death, and +I knew not how to stanch his wound. + +Neither of us sought our beds that night, but sat and smoked hour after +hour, in silence for the most part, beside a dead fire. He wished me +to be near him, almost as a dumb animal yearns for those who show a +sympathetic understanding of its pain, even if they are powerless to +make it less. + +As thus we sat together my mind envisaged the chequered career of my +companion in all its phases. I recalled him in his first pair of +trousers at his private school; I recalled him as my fag in that larger +cosmogony in which afterwards we dwelt together. As his senior, in +those days I had unconsciously regarded him as less than myself. But +this night, as I sat with him, consumed with pity for the tragic wreck +of his fortunes, I realised that he was one whose life was passed on a +higher, more significant plane than mine could ever occupy. + +It was good to feel that I had nothing with which to reproach myself in +regard to my attitude towards him in those distant days. His fits of +depression, his outbursts of devilry, his dislike of games, the streak +of fatalism that was in him, his impatience of all authority, had +exposed him to many hardships. But I was glad to think that I need not +accuse myself of imperfect sympathy towards this fantastically odd, yet +high and enduring spirit. + +Thursday came and passed in gloom. Even Ferdinand, that heart of +steel, was feeling the poignancy of the crisis. Throughout the day +Sonia did not appear. But in the evening Irene sat with her in her +room. + +"If I were she," she declared to me later, with tearful defiance, "I +would not go back--that is, unless they accepted my husband as their +future king." + +"They cannot do that." + +"I think the King himself is so wrong. He hates Nevil, and he has not +the least affection for poor little Marie, his granddaughter. It is a +dreadful state of things." + +I concurred dismally. Yet it was a state of things arising so +naturally, so inevitably out of the special circumstances of the case +that it seemed almost to forfeit a little of its tragic significance. + +"If only she is strong enough to hold out until Saturday!" said my +feminine counsellor. "But I am rather afraid. She is quite weak in +some ways." + +"There is a weakness, isn't there, which is a higher form of strength?" + +"Can you mean that she will not be weak if she consents to return to +Illyria to marry the Archduke Joseph?" + +"She owes a duty to her people." + +"She owes a duty to her husband and child." + +Thursday ended as it began and Friday brought no solace. The Princess +reappeared among us in the afternoon. She was pale and composed, and +as the twilight of the January afternoon was gathering, she and Fitz +rode out together. The King, at the same hour, walked in the muddy +lanes with von Schalk. + +"They leave us to-morrow morning at eleven," Mrs. Arbuthnot informed +me, "and Sonia has not had her things packed. I believe the worst is +over. She would have told me had she decided to go." + +I was unable to share her optimism. From the first I had felt that the +stars in their courses would prove too much for the unhappy lady. And +nothing had occurred to remove that fear. + +The King returned from his walk, and suave and subtle of countenance, +it pleased him to toy with a cup of Mrs. Arbuthnot's tea, while he +toasted his muddy gaiters at the fire. + +"My daughter has not returned from her ride?" + +"No, sir," I answered him. + +"The last ride together," said the King, gently. "One of your +excellent English poets has a poem about it, has he not?" + +A thrill passed through my nerves at the almost cruel directness of the +King's speech. I saw that in the same moment the eyes of Mrs. +Arbuthnot had filled with tears. + +"You have great poets in England," said the King, softly. "They are +the chief glories of a nation, and your country is rich in them. We +have great poets in Illyria also. There is Bolder. We are all proud +to be the countrymen of Bolder. When you come to see us at Blaenau I +think you will like to meet him." + +As the King spoke in his paternal voice, I was conscious of his hand +upon the breast of my coat. He had pinned a piece of black ribbon upon +it, to which was attached a silver star. + +"I am afraid, sir," I said, suffering some embarrassment, "no man ever +did less to deserve the Order of the Silver Star of Illyria." + +The King took my hand in his with that wonderful cordial simplicity +that was so hard to resist. + +"A friend in need is a friend indeed, Mr. Arbuthnot, as your English +saying has it. And, madame, when together we lead the cotillon at +Blaenau, I hope you will honour us by wearing this." + +The King laid a jewel of much beauty upon the tea-table. + +"Oh, sir," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, smiling faintly through wet eyelashes. + +Standing before the fire, teacup in hand, the King talked to us quite +simply and pleasantly and sincerely. He was a man of great power of +mind and his outlook upon life was large and direct. + +"You have many ways in this country that I should like to see in ours," +he said. "But we in Illyria make haste slowly. The climate is not so +bracing. I am afraid we do not think so forcibly. And there is a +wider gulf between the rich and the poor." + +There was a note of regret in the King's tone. He seemed to be turning +his eyes to the future, and in the process his face grew tired and +melancholy. It was then that I realised that this man of infinite +vigour and power was said to be near the end of his course. + +At dinner we were enlivened by his gaiety. His charm was hard to +resist, so rich and full it was and so spontaneous. But my thoughts +strayed ever away from the King, his wisdom and his persiflage, to +those who were one flesh in the sight of God, who were dining together +for the last time. + +Their courage was a noble, even an amazing thing. The stoicism with +which they ate and drank and bore a part in the conversation while a +chasm had opened beneath their feet was almost incredible. Throughout +the perpetual oscillation from comedy to tragedy, from tragedy to +comedy, from comedy to tragedy again of their life together, they had +borne their parts with a heroic constancy, and even in this dark phase +they were equal to their task. + +The die was cast. On the morrow the Princess would return to her +people, marry the Archduke, and when the time came accept the throne. +It was part of the dreadful covenant the King had exacted that she +would never see Fitz and their child again. + +I passed a night of weary wretchedness. Do what I would, I could not +keep Fitz out of my thoughts. About three o'clock I rose and dressed +and put on my overcoat and walked out into the garden. Somehow I +expected to find him there. But there was not a trace of him, and +every window in the house was dark. A spirit of desolation seemed to +pervade everything--so dark and chill was the night. There was not a +star to be seen. + +I went back to my room, coaxed up the fire, seated myself beside it and +lit a pipe. Presently I heard a footfall on the stairs. It was Irene, +pale and weary with much weeping. Daylight found her asleep in my arms +with her head on my shoulder. + +The day of the King's departure had come at last. There was a general +scurry of preparation, but precisely at eleven o'clock a procession of +six motor cars started from our door for Middleham railway station, +whence a special train would proceed to Southampton. It was Sonia's +wish that Irene and I should accompany her to the train; and poor Fitz, +half stunned as he was, determined to play out the game to the end, and +with one of his odd outbursts of cynicism affirmed his sportsmanlike +intention of "being in at the death." + +The King, his daughter, the Chancellor, and Mrs. Arbuthnot were in the +second car, preceded by a special escort from Scotland Yard. Fitz and +I had the third to ourselves; the Secretaries were in the fourth; the +fifth and sixth conveyed the valets, her Royal Highness's maid, and a +considerable quantity of luggage. + +As the procession, at the modest rate of twelve miles an hour, came +into the pleasant village of Lymeswold, where our revered Vicar has his +cure of souls, there was a considerable amount of bunting displayed in +the vicinity of the Coach and Horses. And from the windows of the +Vicarage itself depended the Union Jack side by side with the silver +Star of Illyria on a green ground. Mrs. Vicar waved a white +pocket-handkerchief from the gate of the manse, but the Vicar was +bearing a chief part in a more dramatic tableau that had been arranged +on the village green. Here the village school was drawn up, the girls +in nice white pinafores and the boys looking almost painfully well +washed. Each had a small flag that was waved frantically, and the +Vicar standing at their head led a prodigious quantity of cheering, +while Ferdinand the Twelfth took off his hat and bowed. + +But all this was merely a prelude to the historic spectacle that we +came upon presently. At the top of the steep hill leading to the Marl +Pits, that favourite haunt of "the stinkin' Middleshire phocks," lo and +behold! all the Crackanthorpe horses, all the Crackanthorpe men, not to +mention their ladies, their hounds and the entire hunt establishment, +even unto Peter the terrier, were assembled in full array of battle, as +became the hour of eleven o'clock in the morning of a rare scenting day +in the middle of January. The cavalcade lined each side of the road, +and our motor cars passed through it on their lowest speed, to a +running accompaniment of cheers and hunting noises and a waving of hats +and handkerchiefs. + +Evidently the scene had been carefully stage-managed and formed a +handsome and appropriate _amende_. It did not fail of its appeal to +the broken-hearted circus rider from Vienna. She responded by kissing +her hand repeatedly, and her father lifted his hat and bowed +continually as though it were a state procession. + +The heart of Mrs. Arbuthnot was in pieces, but it was a great moment in +the history of the clan. The china-blue eyes were brimming over with +their tears, but they were still capable of radiating a subtle feminine +light of triumph. The noble Master blew a blast on his horn and his +aide-de-camp, Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther, marked the royal +progress by hoisting his hat on his whip. As we passed Mrs. Catesby, +who looked very red, the brims of whose hat looked wider and whose +whole appearance approximated more nearly than ever to that of Mr. +Weller the Elder, I bestowed a special salutation upon her, of, I fear, +somewhat ironical dimensions. The Great Lady responded by shaking her +whip at me in a decidedly truculent manner. + +Our procession passed on to Middleham railway station, which we reached +about a quarter to twelve. A considerable crowd had assembled about +its precincts. The roadway and the entrance to the station were +guarded by a body of mounted police, and a small detachment of the +Middleshire Yeomanry in the charge of no less a person than Major +George Catesby, who saluted us with his sword. + +On the platform we were received by a number of local dignitaries, and +foremost among these, tall and austere, but with the faint light of +humour in his countenance, was Lieutenant-Colonel John Chalmers +Coverdale, C.M.G., late of his Majesty's Carabineers. + +The King and his Chancellor took a brief but cordial leave of us and +stepped briskly into the royal saloon; and then I felt the pressure of +a woman's hand, and I heard a low, broken whisper, "Be good for my sake +to Nevil and little Marie." The Princess then took the hands of Mrs. +Arbuthnot in each of her own, kissed her wet cheeks, and was handed +into the train by the husband she had promised never to see in this +life again. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +REACTION + +The week which followed the royal departure was a season of reaction at +Dympsfield House. The tension of our recent life had been well-nigh +unendurable. But now the die was cast, the problem solved; we could +live and move and enjoy our being according to our wont. + +To be sure the unhappy Fitz was still our anxiety. He and his small +daughter were still under our roof, and would so remain until the house +of his fathers had been rebuilt or until such time as he should choose +some other asylum for his shattered life. + +It is not too much to say that Fitz, with all his quiddity, had become +dear to us. The tragic wreck of his life had called forth all that +latent nobility which I at any rate, as his oldest friend, had always +known to be there. His submission to the fate which he had himself +invoked had seemed to soften the grosser elements that were in his +clay. He had now only his small elf of four to live for. In that +vivid atom of mortality were reproduced many of the characteristics of +the ill-starred "circus rider from Vienna." + +During the first few days a kind of stupor lay upon Fitz. He hardly +seemed able to realise what had happened. He went out hunting and +actively superintended the rebuilding of the Grange, almost as if +nothing had occurred to him. But, all too soon, this merciful veil was +withdrawn from his mind. He became consumed by restlessness. He could +not sleep nor eat his food; he could not settle to any sort of +occupation; nothing seemed able to engage his interest; his mind lost +its stability, and slowly but surely his will began to lose that +reawakened power that it had seemed to be the special function of his +marriage to sustain and promote. + +By the time the first week had passed we began to have forebodings. +Already signs were not wanting that the demons of a sinister +inheritance were silently marshalling themselves in order that they +might swoop down upon him. One afternoon I found him asleep on a sofa +drunk. + +As Coverdale was well acquainted with his temperament and all the most +salient facts in its history, and as, moreover, he was a man for whose +natural soundness of judgment I had the greatest respect, I was moved +to take him into my confidence. + +"He must get away from England," said Coverdale, "for a time at any +rate. And he must go soon." + +This was an opinion with which I agreed. It happened that Coverdale +knew a man who was about to start on a journey across Equatorial Africa +and who proposed to form a hunting camp and indulge in some big game +shooting by the way. Such a scheme appeared so eminently suited to +Fitz's immediate needs that I hailed it gladly. + +Alas! when I discussed this project with him he declined wholly to +entertain it; moreover he declined with all that odd decision which was +one of his chief characteristics. + +"No," he said. "I must stay here and see to the building of the house, +and I must look after Marie." + +It was in vain that I launched my arguments. The scheme did not appeal +to him and there, as far as he was concerned, was the end to the matter. + +"I must look after Marie," he said. "We are getting her to do sums. +Her mother could never do a sum to save her life." + +Argument was vain. Such a nature was incapable of accepting a +suggestion from an outside source; the mainspring of all its actions +lay within. + +The total failure of the attempt to get him to respond to so hopeful an +alternative vexed me sorely. At the time it seemed to promise the only +means of saving him from the danger which already had him in its toils. +He grew more and more restless; his distaste for food grew more +pronounced, and in an appallingly short time it became clear to us that +whatever there remained to be done for him must be done at once. + +We were helpless nevertheless. To anything in the nature of persuasion +he remained impervious. He could not be brought to see the nearness of +the danger. It was like him never to heed the question of cost. He +could never have ordered his life as he had done, had he not had the +quality of projecting the whole of himself into the actual hour. + +Those who had his welfare at heart were still taking counsel one of +another in respect of what could be done to help him through this new +crisis, when a mandate was received from Mrs. Catesby to dine at the +Hermitage. Fitz was included in it, but it did not surprise us that he +declined an invitation which less uncompromising persons were inclined +to regard in the light of a command. + +It was not that he bore malice. He was altogether beyond the pettiness +of the minor emotions; it was as though his entire being, for good or +for evil, had been raised to another dimension or a higher power. But +as he said with his haggard face, "I don't feel up to it." + +Lowlier mortals, more specifically Mrs. Arbuthnot and myself, accepted +humbly and contritely. We felt that a certain piquancy would invest +the gathering. Not that we knew exactly who had been bidden to attend +it, but Mrs. Arbuthnot's feminine instinct--and what is so impeccable +in such matters as these?--proclaimed this dinner party to be neither +more nor less than the public signature of the articles of peace. + +Accordingly we set out for the Hermitage, not however without a certain +travail of the spirit, for poor Fitz would be left to a lonely cutlet +which he would not eat. As a matter of fact, when we went forth he had +not returned from London, where he had spent most of the day in +consultation with his solicitors. + +There assembled at the Hermitage, at which we arrived in very good +time, nearly every identical member of the company we expected to meet. +Coverdale, Brasset, Jodey, who still enjoyed the hospitality of our +neighbour, the Vicar and his Lavinia, Laura Glendinning, Mrs. Josiah P. +Perkins. Also, as became one whose house provided a kind of _via +media_ to that greater world of which the Castle was the embodiment, +Mrs. Catesby's dinner table was graced by a younger son and a +daughter-in-law of the ducal house. + +Good humour reigned. It might even be said to amount in the course of +the pleasant process of deglutition to a sort of friendly _badinage_. +An atmosphere of tolerance pervaded all things. If bygones were not +actually bygones, they were in a fair way of so becoming. At least +this particular section of the Crackanthorpe Hunt was on the high road +to being once again a happy and united family. + +The revelation of the "Stormy Petrel's" identity had had a magic +influence upon an immense aggregation of wounded feelings. It was now +felt pretty generally that all might be forgiven without any grave +sacrifice of personal dignity. It was conceded that great spirit had +been shown on both sides, but in the special and peculiar circumstances +a display of Christian magnanimity was called for. + +Irene was morally and wickedly wrong--the phrase is Mrs. Catesby's +own--in keeping the secret so well. Of course "the circus proprietor" +had deceived nobody: it was merely childish for Irene to suppose for +one single moment that he would; and for her to attempt "a score" of +that puerile character was positively infantile. But in the opinion of +the assembled jury of matrons, plus Miss Laura Glendinning specially +co-opted, it was felt very strongly that Irene had not quite played the +game. + +"Child," said the Great Lady, speaking _ex cathedra_, with a piece of +bread in one hand and a piece of turbot on a fork in the other, "when I +consider that I chose your husband's first governess, quite a refined +person, of the sound, rather old-fashioned evangelical school, I feel +that it was morally and wickedly wrong of you to withhold from me of +_all_ people the identity of the dear Princess." + +"But Mary," said the light of my existence, toying demurely with her +sherry, "I didn't know who she was myself until nearly a week after the +fire." + +The Great Lady bolted her bread and laid down her fork with an +approximation to that which can only be described as majesty. + +"Would you have me believe," she demanded, "that when you took her to +your house on the night of the fire you really and sincerely believed +that she was merely the wife of Nevil?" + +"Yes, Mary," said the joy of my days, "I really and sincerely believed +that she was the circus--I mean, that is, that she was just Mrs. Fitz." + +General incredulity, in the course of which George Catesby inquired +very politely of the Younger Son if he had enjoyed his day. + +"Never enjoyed a day so much," said the Younger Son, with immense +conviction, "since we turned up that old customer without a brush in +Dipwell Gorse five years ago to-morrow come eleven-fifteen g.m." + +"Eleven-twenty, my lad," chirruped the noble Master. "Your memory is +failin'." + +"Irene," said the uncompromising voice from the end of the table, "I +cannot and will not allow myself to believe that you were not in the +secret before the fire." + +"Tell it to the Marines, Irene," said Mrs. Josiah P. Perkins. + +"Wonder what she will ask us to believe next," said Miss Laura +Glendinning. + +"What indeed!" said the Vicar's wife. + +"It isn't human nature," affirmed Lady Frederick. + +"Very well, then," said the star of my destiny, with an ominous sparkle +of a china-blue eye, "you can ask Odo." + +"Odo!" I give up the attempt to reproduce the cataclysm of scorn which +overwhelmed the table. "Odo is quite as bad as you are, if not worse. +He knew from the first. He knew when the Illryian Ambassador came in +person to the Coach and Horses and fetched her in his car; he knew when +she chaffed dear Evelyn so delightfully that night at the Savoy." + +"What if he did?" said the undefeated Mrs. Arbuthnot. "He didn't tell +me. Did you now, Odo?" + +With statesmanlike mien I assured the company that Mrs. Fitz's identity +was not disclosed to our household despot until some days after her +arrival at Dympsfield House. + +"I am obliged to believe you, Odo," said Mrs. Catesby. "But mind I +only do so on principle." + +Somehow this cryptic statement seemed to minister to the mirth of the +table. It was increased when the Younger Son, who evidently had been +waiting his opportunity, came into the conversation. + +"Odo Arbuthnot, M.P.," said he, "I expect when Dick sees what you have +done to his wall he'll sue you. Anyhow I should." + +The approval which greeted this sally made it clear that the incident +had become historical. + +"By royal command," said I; "and what chance do you suppose has a mere +private member against the despotic will of the father of his people?" + +"A gross outrage. An act of vandalism. Postlewaite says----" + +"Postlewaite's an ass." + +"Whatever Postlewaite is, it don't excuse you. He says you were all +talking the rankest Socialism, and he was quite within his rights not +to give you the book." + +"I repeat, Frederick, that Postlewaite is an ass. If the Postlewaites +of the earth think for one moment that the Victors of Rodova will turn +the other cheek to the retort discourteous, the sooner they learn +otherwise the better it will be for them and those whom they serve." + +"Hear, hear, and cheers," said my gallant little friend, Mrs. Josiah P. +Perkins, in spite of the fact that the Great Lady had fixed her with +her invincible north eye. + +"Ferdinand Rex one doesn't mind so much," proceeded Frederick, "and the +Princess is all right of course, and von Schalk is a bit of a Bismarck, +they say; but when you come to foot the bill with Odo Arbuthnot, +M.P.--well, as Postlewaite says, it is nothing less than an act of +vandalism. The M.P. fairly cooked my goose, I must say." + +The M.P. was very bad form, everybody agreed, with the honourable and +gallant exception of _la belle Americaine_. + +"Might be a labour member! I don't know what Dick'll say when he sees +it." + +"Two alternatives present themselves to my mind," said I, impenitently. +"Postlewaite can either clear off the whole thing before he returns, or +else append a magic 'C' in brackets after the offending symbols." + +"You ain't entitled to a 'C' in brackets. You grow a worse Radical +every day of your life and everybody is agreed that it is time you came +out in your true colours." + +"Hear, hear," from the table. + +"I've half a mind to oppose you myself at the next election as a +convinced Tariff Reformer, Anti-Socialist, Fair Play for Everybody, and +official representative of a poor but deserving class." + +"We shall all be glad to sign your nomination paper," affirmed George +Catesby. + +"Well, Lord Frederick," said my intrepid Mrs. Josiah, "I will just bet +you a box of gloves anyway that you don't get in." + +"And I'll bet you another," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. + +"He's not such a fool as to try," said the noble Master. + +"Frederick," said the Great Lady, "stick to your muttons. You have +plenty to do to raise breed and quality. Why not try a cross between +the Welsh and the Southdown? At least I am convinced that in these +days the House of Commons offers no career for a gentleman." + +"I've a great mind to cut in and have a shot anyway," said the scion of +the ducal house, with a mild confusion of metaphor. "I don't see why +these Radical fellers----" + +Whatever the speech was in its integrity, it was destined never to be +completed. For at this precise moment the door was flung open in a +dramatic manner, and a haggard man, wearing an overcoat and carrying +his hat in his hand, broke in upon Mrs. Catesby's dinner party. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +NEWS FROM ILLYRIA + +The man was Fitz. + +"A thousand apologies," he said. "So sorry to disturb you. But +there's news from Illyria." + +Such a very remarkable obtrusion enchained the attention of us all. +And this was not rendered less by the self-possession of the speaker's +manner. + +"Ferdinand has been assassinated." Fitz's tone was slow and contained. +"The Monarchy has been overthrown; Sonia is a close prisoner in the +Castle at Blaenau, and her fate hangs in the balance." + +"What is your authority?" said Coverdale. + +"Reuter," said Fitz. "A telegram is printed in the evening papers. I +happened to buy one at the book-stall as I left town." + +He produced the _Westminster Gazette_ from the pocket of his overcoat +and handed it to the Chief Constable. + +"You don't suppose," said Coverdale, frowning heavily, "that they are +capable of personal violence towards the Princess?" + +"At bottom they are only half civilised," said Fitz, "and when their +passions are aroused they are capable of anything. You will see the +telegram says the government is in the hands of a committee of the +people. And no wise man ever trusts the people and never will." + +This feudal sentiment was uttered in a tone of the oddest conviction. + +"By Jove!" said the scion of the ducal house. "Here is the chap we are +looking for." + +But the intrusion of Fitz was too deadly serious for any side issue to +be allowed to distract our attention. + +"I apologise to you, Mrs. Catesby, for spoiling your dinner party like +this," he said, "but it is my firm conviction that if the Princess is +to be saved there is not a moment to lose." + +"One is inclined to agree with you," said Coverdale, slowly and +thoughtfully. "Has it occurred to you that anything can be done?" + +Fitz's reply, given quietly enough, was characteristic of the man. + +"To-day is Monday," he said. "By midnight on Thursday we shall have +her out of Blaenau." + +"Impossible, my dear fellow, impossible," said the Chief Constable, "if +this account is correct." + +"Nothing is impossible," said the Man of Destiny. "There is just time +now to catch the ten o'clock to-night from Middleham. First thing +to-morrow morning we will get our papers if we can, and if we can't +we'll go without them. We shall be in Paris some time in the +afternoon; and if all goes well by Wednesday evening we shall be in +Vienna. By five o'clock on Thursday we ought to be at Orgov on the +Milesian frontier, and six hours' easy riding over the mountains with a +couple of baits will land us at Blaenau." + +We who knew Fitz and had followed him in high affairs knew better than +to venture upon criticism of this bald and unconvincing scheme. Those +who did not know him could only smile incredulously. + +"Sounds easy," said Lord Frederick, "but assuming, Fitzwaren, that you +get to Blaenau like that, what can it profit you if the Princess is in +the Castle under lock and key?" + +"Stone walls do not a prison make nor iron bars a cage," quoted the Man +of Destiny. "Once we get to Blaenau we shall have her out of the +Castle, never fear about that. But there is no time to discuss the +matter now. If we go at once and collect our gear--so sorry, Mrs. +Catesby, but absolutely unavoidable--we can be in town by +twelve-fifteen, arrange about our papers and keep well in front of the +clock." + +The man's calm assumption that we should all unhesitatingly follow his +lead and commit ourselves to this rather mad and certainly most +uncomfortable enterprise was remarkable. + +"There is not a minute to lose," he said. "By the way, Arbuthnot, I've +told Peters to pack a kit-bag for you. And this time, old son, you had +better see that you don't forget your revolver." + +Under the goad of the Chief Constable's uneasy eye I was fain to gaze +at the black silk handkerchief, which still bore my wrist. + +"I'm afraid I'm a lame duck anyway," I said. + +"You will do to hold the horses at the foot of the Castle rock. +Climbing up the face of that cliff will be out of the question as far +as you are concerned. Now then, you fellows," the Man of Destiny took +out his watch, "you have just two minutes to finish your port and get +your cigars alight and then it's boot and saddle." + +"Nevil," said the imperious voice of the Great Lady, "I am really +afraid you are mad." + +The Man of Destiny did not deign to heed this irrelevant suggestion. + +The exigencies of historical truth render it necessary to record the +fact that Joseph Jocelyn de Vere Vane-Anstruther was undoubtedly the +first respondent to the call. My relation by marriage drank his port +wine and rose in his place at Mrs. Catesby's board. There was a fire +in his eye and the suspicion of a hectic flush upon his countenance +which seemed to contrast strangely with the habitual languor of his +bearing. + +"First thing we must do is to send a wire to old Alec," he said; +"although he is certain not to be in if we send it. If we get to town +by twelve-fifteen I will trot round to the Continental. The beggar is +sure to be there until they kick him out, as there is a ball to-night +at Covent Garden." + +This reasoning may have been lucid and it may have been pregnant; at +least it recommended itself to the comprehensive intellect of the Man +of Destiny. + +"Quite right, Vane-Anstruther. I shall hold you responsible for +O'Mulligan." + +"Joseph," said the Great Lady upon a stentorian note, "are you mad +also?" + +Hardly had this pertinent inquiry been advanced when the noble Master +was on his legs. + +"So awfully sorry, Mrs. Catesby," he said with a long-drawn sweetness +of apology, "but it can't be helped in the circumstances, can it? I +leave hounds in the care of George and Frederick. Keep Potts up to his +work, George, and see that he pays proper attention to their feet. And +Frederick, I charge you to make it your business to see that Madrigal +has a ball every Friday." + +"Reginald," said his hostess with great energy, "in the unavoidable +absence of your widowed and unfortunate mother I absolutely forbid you +to bear a part in this hare-brained enterprise. I really don't know +what Nevil can be thinking of." + +In Ascalon whisper it not, but this was the precise moment in which I +found the cynical eye of the Chief Constable upon me for the second +time. The eye was also wary and a little pensive, but the great man +rose in his place with an air of profound rumination. He slowly +cracked a walnut and then turned to the butler, with a coolness which +to my mind had a suspicion of the uncanny. + +"Just tell my chap to have my car round at once," he said; and then +with great deference to his hostess, "a thousand apologies, Mrs. +Catesby, but you do see, don't you, that it can't be helped?" + +Whether I rose to my feet by an act of private volition or at the +subconscious beck of another's compelling power, there is no need to +attempt to determine. But somehow I found myself upon my legs and +adding my own imperfect apologies to the equally imperfect ones of the +Chief Constable. + +"Odo Arbuthnot," said my hostess, "sit down at once. A married man, a +father of a family, and a county member! Sit down at once and get on +with your fruit. Colonel Coverdale! I am surprised at you." + +"Finished your port, Arbuthnot?" said Fitz, calmly. "Time's about up. +But I've told your chap about the car." + +Consternation mingled now with the lively feminine bewilderment, but +Mrs. Arbuthnot, whom Fitz's news had excited and distressed, issued no +personal edict. If the life of Sonia was really at stake it was right +to take a risk. Nevertheless it showed a right feeling about things to +betray a little public perturbation at the prospect of being made a +widow. + +"Jodey and Reggie and Colonel Coverdale must go," said Mrs. Arbuthnot. +"They haven't wives and families dependent upon them. But you, Odo, +are different. And then, too, your wrist. You would be of no use if +you went." + +"I shall do to hold the horses at the foot of the Castle rock," said I, +saluting a white cheek. + +Fitz was already withdrawing from the room with his volunteers when +Lord Frederick rose in his place at the board. + +"Look here, Fitzwaren," he said. "If you have a vacancy in your +irregulars I rather think I'll make one." + +"By all means," said Fitz. "The more the merrier." + +Bewilderment and consternation mounted ever higher around Mrs. +Catesby's mahogany. + +"Freddie! Freddie!" There arose a tearful wail from across the table. + +"You ought to be bled for the simples, Frederick," said his hostess. + +However, even as the Great Lady spoke, honest George, most +conscientious of husbands, and notwithstanding his rank in the +Middleshire Yeomanry, the most peace-loving of men, was understood to +make an offer of active service. + +"Well done, George," said his friend the Vicar. "I shouldn't mind +coming as the chaplain to the force myself." + +"George," said an imperious voice from the table head, "George!" + +The Man of Destiny halted a moment on the threshold of the banquet hall +with the frank eye of cynicism fixed midway between the Great Lady and +the warlike George. + +"George! Sit down!" + +Finally George sat down with a covert glance at his friend the Vicar. + +By the time we had got into our overcoats and mufflers and the means of +travel had been provided for us, a scene with some pretensions to +pathos had been enacted in the hall. + +"Odo, you really ought not, but if dear Sonia really is in danger----!" + +"We shall all be back a week to-night," the Man of Destiny informed my +somewhat tearful monitor with a note of assurance in his voice. + +Moving objurgations of "Freddie! Freddie!" were mingled with the +clarion note of Mrs. Catesby's indignation. + +"It is a mad scheme, and if you get your deserts you will all be shot +by the Illyrians." + +But Fitz and I were already seated side by side in the car. We waved a +farewell to the bewildered company upon the hall steps, and then the +fact seemed slowly to be borne in upon my numbed intelligence that yet +again I was irrevocably committed to this latest and maddest call of my +evil genius. There he sat by my side, his cigar a small red disc of +fire, and he self-possessed, insouciant, daemonic, almost gay. + +The flaccid, rudderless creature of the past ten days was gone as +though he had never been. It was hard to realise that this born leader +of others, who courted war like a mistress, the magic of whose +initiative the coolest and sanest could not resist, was the self-same +broken fragment of human wreckage who twenty-four hours ago had not the +motive power to perform the simplest action. But there could be no +question of the magic he knew how to exert over the most diverse +natures; and as we sat side by side in the semi-darkness of the car +while it flew along the muddy, winding and narrow roads to Dympsfield +House, I yielded almost with a thrill of exultation to the director of +my fate. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +MORE ALARUMS AND EXCURSIONS + +We had no difficulty in reaching Middleham railway station, that +familiar rendezvous, at the appointed time. Even Lord Frederick, who +lived farther afield than any of us, was able, by putting a powerful +car to an illegal use, to arrive on the stroke of the hour. + +It was to be remarked that the prevailing tone in our coupe was one +which almost amounted to gaiety. Judged by the cold agnostic eye, the +scheme was only a little this side of madness. But it had the sanction +of a high motive. Further, we were brothers in arms who had smelt +powder together upon a more dubious enterprise; we had faith in one +another; and above all we were sustained, one might even say +translated, by the epic quality of an incomparable leader. + +Fitz smoked his cigar and cut in at a rubber of bridge with an air of +indulgent and serene content. + +"It is lucky," he said, "that I know an old innkeeper on the frontier +who will be rather useful if we have to go without passports. He is +about a mile on the Milesian side, and will be able to provide us with +horses and smuggle us across in the darkness. He will also find for us +a couple of guides over the mountains." + +"You say we can get from the frontier to the Castle at Blaenau in six +hours?" inquired the gruff voice of the Chief Constable. + +"Yes, unless there is a lot of snow in the passes." + +"But if the country is in a state of revolution, aren't we likely to be +held up?" + +"Perhaps; perhaps not. We shall find a way if we have to take an +airship. Eh, Joe?" + +The Man of Destiny gave my relation by marriage a fraternal punch in +the ribs. + +"Ra-_ther_!" That hero was in the act of cutting an ace and winning +the deal. + +"I shall arrange," said Fitz, "for a change of horses at Postovik, +which is about half way. If all goes well we shall be at the foot of +the Castle rock a little before midnight on Thursday. I am thinking, +though, that we may have to swim the Maravina." + +"Umph!" growled the Chief Constable, declaring an original spade, "a +moderately cheerful prospect on a January night in Illyria." + +"It may not come to that, of course. But all the bridges and ferries +are sure to be guarded. And even if they are, with a bit of luck we +may be able to rush them." + +As our leader began to evolve his plan of campaign it could not be said +to forfeit any of its romance. But I think it would be neither fair +nor gracious to Mr. Nevil Fitzwaren's corps of irregulars to say that +this spice of adventure made less its glamour. We could all claim some +little experience of war and that mimic sphere of action "that provides +the image of war without its guilt, and only thirty per cent. of its +dangers." Some of us had taken cover upon the veldt and others had +crossed the Blakiston after a week's rain; and we all felt as we sped +towards the metropolis at the rate of sixty miles an hour, and at the +same time endeavoured to restrain the cards from slipping on to the +floor, that whatever Fate, that capricious mistress, had in store for +us, our hazard was for as high a stake as any set of gamesters need +wish to play. + +Punctual to the minute, we came into the London terminus. As on the +occasion of that former adventure, we posted off to Long's quiet family +hotel, with the exception of Joseph Jocelyn De Vere Vane-Anstruther, +who confided his kit-bag to the care of his man Kelly, and adjured him +to see that a decent room was found for him, while he went "to rout out +Alec at the Continental before they fired the beggar out." + +"Tell him we leave Charing Cross at ten-forty in the morning," said +Fitz. "That will give me time to see what can be done in the way of +papers, although as far as Illyria is concerned, diplomatic relations +are pretty sure to have been suspended." + +Driving again to Long's Hotel, I was regaled with the remembrance of +our former journey; of the incident of the cab which followed us +through the November slush; of the weird sequel; of that long night of +alarums and excursions, which yet was no more than a prelude to a +chaotic vista of events. + +I recalled the drive from Ward's with Coverdale; the slow-drawn +tragi-comedy of suspense; the waiting-room at the Embassy, the plunge +up the stairs, the charming player of Schumann, the presentation to her +Royal Highness. I recalled the passages with the Ambassador and their +terrible issue; the drive with the Princess to the Savoy; the episode +of the pink satin at which I could now afford to laugh. Again I +recalled our _bizarre_ visit to Bryanston Square; our reception by my +Uncle Theodore, his "Fear nothing" and his still more curious prevision +of that which was to come to pass. I recalled our dash for this same +Grand Central railway station and the merciful shattering of our hopes +midway. I recalled the Scotland Yard inspector with the light +moustache, the hand of the Princess guiding me through the traffic, the +cool-fingered doctor, the bowl of crimson water at which I did not care +to look. Finally, in this panoramic jumble of wild occurrences, the +memory of which I should carry to the grave, I recalled that noble, +complex, misguided emblem of our species, the Victor of Rodova, the +clear-sighted, subtle yet great-hearted hero of an epoch in the destiny +of nations; the father of his people, whom his children had slain even +while the hand of death was already upon him. + +I pictured him lying riddled with bullets on the steps of his palace at +Blaenau, riddled with the bullets he had so often despised. Even from +the brief account in the evening papers it was clear that the end of +the Victor of Rodova had been heroic. + +The smouldering volcano had burst into flame at last. A tax-gatherer +had been slain in an outlying district. At the signal, a whole +province, at the back of one half-patriot, half-brigand, rose up, +marched armed to the Capital, and called upon the King at his palace to +grant a charter to the people. The King met them alone, as was his +custom, on the steps of his palace, and having listened with kindness +and patience to their demands, made the reply "that he would take steps +to procure the charter for his people if the peccant son who had slain +a faithful servant treacherously was rendered to justice." + +Whether the King deliberately misread the temper of his subjects, or +whether he overestimated the personal power it was his custom to exert, +was hard to determine, but in this reply which was so strangely +deficient in that high political wisdom in which no man of his age +excelled him, lay his doom. The leader of the armed mob, who himself +had slain the tax-gatherer, laughed in the King's, face, and +immediately riddled him with bullets. And as the King fell, the +burghers of Blaenau poured in at the gates, the soldiers revolted +because their wages were over-due, possession was taken of the Castle; +and the long-deferred republic was proclaimed. + +"And where were the aristocracy and the supporters of the monarchy +while all this was happening?" I asked, as we sat in the lounge at the +hotel having a final drink before turning in. + +"Reading between the lines of the dispatch," said Fitz, "I should be +inclined to say that they had conspired to throw Ferdinand over at the +last and to let in the people. I can reconcile the facts on no other +hypothesis." + +"Why should they?" + +"The aristocracy have always been jealous of his power. He has walked +too much alone." + +"It is hard to believe that they would yield up their country to mob +law." + +"They have their own safety to consider. A small and exclusive class, +not accustomed to move very actively in public affairs, they have +little control of events. And the army having joined with the people, +their only hope is to sit on the fence and try to hold what they have." + +"You are convinced of the Princess's danger?" + +"There is no question of that. Having decided to make an end of their +rulers, the French Revolution is quite likely to be enacted over again. +They are a semi-barbarous people, and few will deny that they have +suffered." + +On the morrow Fitz was early abroad. The morning papers brought +confirmation of the news from Illyria. The King was dead; the Crown +Princess was a close prisoner at Blaenau in the hands of the +insurgents; the Chancellor and other ministers had fled the country; a +number of regiments had massacred their officers; and it was expected +that a Committee of the People would take over the government. + +At Charing Cross we found Alexander O'Mulligan already waiting for us. +He was in the pink of health and his grin was extraordinarily +expansive. Fitz arrived with the necessary tickets for the whole +party, but had only been able to procure passports as far as the +frontier. But, as he explained, this need not trouble us, as we should +leave the train before we came there and make our way over the +mountains in the darkness. + +As our train wound its way through suburbia we began more clearly to +realise the promise of a crowded and glorious week. The motive was +adequate; and although the Chief Constable and myself had a sense of +the profound rashness of the scheme, we shared the common faith in Fitz. + +Our route was by way of Paris. It was more direct to go from +Southampton, but there was very little difference in the point of +actual time. + +When we reached Paris, soon after five that afternoon, we learned that +in spite of the representations of the Powers, the fate of the Princess +still hung in the balance. We stayed only an hour and then took train +again. + +All night we travelled and all through the next day; and then, as Fitz +had predicted, shortly after five o'clock in the evening of Thursday we +had come to the township of Orgov, a mile from the Illyrian frontier on +the borders of Milesia. Here we found a shrewd old peasant who had +acted as the friend of Fitz on a former occasion, and with whom he had +already communicated by telegraph. The old fellow shook his head over +the state of affairs in the neighbouring kingdom, but provided us with +a couple of trustworthy guides through the mountains and seven +tolerable horses, one apiece for each member of our party. + +Fitz affirmed his intention of getting to Blaenau in six hours. The +innkeeper, however, declared frankly that this was impossible. The +winter had been severe; heavy drifts of snow lay in the passes, and in +its present state the country itself was full of danger. Indeed, our +friend the innkeeper was fain to declare that, unless God was very kind +to us, we should never get to Blaenau at all. + +However, we were a party of nine, stout fellows, well armed and +tolerably mounted. And when we started from Orgov a little after six +in the evening, I do not think the sense of peril oppressed us much. +Our mission was of the highest; each of us had faith in himself and in +his comrades. We were a small but mobile force in fairly hard +condition; and I think it may be claimed for each member of it that he +had a natural love of adventure. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +IN THE BALANCE + +The air was shrewd as we set out from Orgov. We took a narrow, winding +bridle-path, uncomfortably steep in places, in order to avoid the +frontier town of Boruna, wherein trouble might lurk. The stars were +out already, with Mars straight before us wonderfully large and red as +we rode due east. There was an exhilaration in the atmosphere that was +like wine in the veins; and presently we caught the tail of an icy +blast that made us glad to wrap our cloaks around us. + +An impartial view of such an enterprise rendered it clear that the odds +were greatly in favour of a total failure. How could six men and a +cripple hope to penetrate into the heart of a closely guarded fortress? +And assuming that we got in, by what means did we expect to make our +way out again! In all conscience the scheme was wild enough, but this +was not the hour in which to lay stress upon that fact. + +There can be no doubt that the qualities of our leader were a great aid +to his corps. Undaunted courage, invincible optimism were his in +amplest measure; and this attitude of mind could not fail to react upon +his comrades in arms. Moreover, in the most singular degree he +appeared to combine with the audacity of genius, a head for detail and +a shrewd practical wisdom, which very seldom embellish the characters +of those who depend primarily upon the faculty of inspiration. + +As mile by mile we traversed these snow-laden Illyrian mountains, the +possibility of anything less than complete success found no place in +his thoughts. "Nothing is impossible" was his motto, and this he +realised with plenary conviction. His twin soul was calling him to the +Castle of Blaenau, and not for an instant did he doubt his ability to +obey the summons. + +It was our plan to avoid as far as possible all centres of population. +Our guides being men of experience, familiar with all the by-paths and +bridle-roads, we were able to do this, and even to save time in the +process. But as the innkeeper had insisted, Fitz's optimism had misled +him when he expected to reach the Illyrian capital in six hours. + +When we took our first bait, at an inn above the sinister waters of the +Lake of Montardo, it was nearly nine o'clock. Coffee and cakes were +very acceptable; indeed I have seldom tasted anything so delicious. +But in spite of our diligence and a fair measure of luck, we had come +rather less than twenty miles of the journey. Our horses were good for +another twelve miles through the formidable pass of Ryhgo, where in the +middle of winter the mountain streams are generally in spate. + +We went on after a halt of a quarter of an hour. As yet we had seen +few signs of the revolution. But at the inn above Montardo ugly +rumours were rife. The people and the army were said to have turned +against the aristocracy; they were butchering them by the score, and +the Crown Princess was declared to be dead. + +That our mission was being made in vain Fitz declined to believe. The +man's courage had never seemed so remarkable as when confronted with +this news. + +"If she were already dead," he said, simply, "I should have had +information. I shall not believe it until I hold her corpse in my +arms." + +Through the pass of Ryhgo, overshadowed as it is by the gaunt Illyrian +mountains, the narrow path wound along the very edge of a precipice. +Below were the waters of the Lake of Montardo, which as we rode above +it reflected a baleful grandeur to the stars. The wind was very +piercing now and drove sheer in our faces; not a little did it add to +the dangers of our progress through the pass. The horses had only to +make a false step and their riders would be hurled a thousand feet into +those terrible black waters gleaming below. + +Before we had overcome this most precarious stage of our journey, the +clouds were beaten up rapidly by the wind, and to add to our peril and +discomfort it came on to snow. It was, therefore, a great relief when +at last we came to an inn at a hamlet with an unpronounceable name +which marked the end of the pass. It was then eleven o'clock and we +had come little more than half the way. + +Here we found a friend awaiting us. He was an Illyrian acquaintance of +Fitz's, and he had arranged the details of our mountain journey. A +member of a noble family, he was familiar with the court life at +Blaenau, and had borne the part of a friend in the previous episode +which had culminated in the elopement of the Crown Princess. + +He was an agreeable fellow, quite cosmopolitan, and had no difficulty +in making himself understood in French, in which tongue he enjoyed a +greater felicity than any of us. He answered to the name of John, +although his full title, which was very long and hard to pronounce, I +have forgotten. He, too, had heard the common report that the Princess +was dead, but chose to express no opinion in regard to the truth of it. + +When Fitz outlined his project, he expressed a mild astonishment. + +"But how," said he, "will you cross the Maravina?" + +"You don't suppose," said Fitz, "that we have come as far as this to be +deterred by the crossing of the Maravina?" + +"All the bridges are closely guarded by the Republicans. The ferries +also." + +"We can swim the Maravina, at a pinch." + +"You English can do most things," said John, "but don't attempt to swim +the Maravina in the middle of January is my advice." + +John's view drew a growl of deep bass approval from no less a person +than the Chief Constable of Middleshire. + +"We shall do what we can," said the Man of Destiny, with excellent +indifference. + +"Yes, but we damn well needn't do what we can't," said the Chief +Constable _sotto voce_, yet meaning no disrespect to his native tongue. + +I must confess to an involuntary shudder, as, at the instance of a +too-active imagination, the waters of the Maravina pierced a pair of +leathers "by a local artist of the name of Jobson." They seemed +miserably damp already. And if anything feels more miserable than a +pair of leathers when they are damp, I pray to be spared the knowledge. + +High as our mission was, the flesh was loth to quit the warm stove at +the hostelry of "The Hanging Cross" for those terrible purlieus that +wound through the heart of the wild Illyrian mountains. But at least +we could congratulate ourselves that the pass of Ryhgo was at an end, +and that the black waters of Lake Montardo no longer lay in wait for +the hapless traveller a thousand feet below. Also the snow had ceased, +the wind had fallen, Mars and his brethren were looking again upon us, +and there was a faint suspicion of a crescent moon. + +Our weary beasts had been exchanged for a fresh relay at the hostelry +of "The Hanging Cross." In addition to a reinforcement in the shape of +John, a led horse with a side saddle accompanied us for the use of the +Princess. With fairer conditions and a path less perilous to traverse, +we began to improve considerably upon our previous rate of progression. +Then the road began again to grow difficult, but happily the sky kept +clear. + +During the later stages of the journey we passed through several +hamlets and small towns. To judge by the lights in the windows of the +houses and the demeanour of little groups of people in the streets, a +general spirit of uneasiness was abroad. Men clad in the picturesque +skin caps which are so typical of the country were to be seen carrying +formidable-looking guns; and although such a cavalcade excited their +curiosity they allowed it to pass. + +We had no adventures worthy of the name. In one of the mountain +valleys a deep crevasse was concealed by a drift of snow, and we owed +it to the vigilance of our guides that we were not its victims. The +wind was still very piercing, but acting upon Fitz's advice before we +started, we had all taken the precaution to be well clad. + +Our progress was really better than we realised. A sudden turn in the +road revealed a very broad and rapid torrent. It was the Maravina; and +there upon the farther bank was the bluff upstanding rock crowned with +the majestic Castle of Blaenau. Nestling close about it was a dark +huddle of houses and gaunt church spires of the capital city of Illyria. + +"There you are," cried John, with a wave of the hand. "Now, my +friends, are you tempted to swim across?" + +"I daresay we shall find a bridge," said Fitz, nonchalantly enough. + +"They are all bound to be guarded by the enemy." + +"May be," said the Man of Destiny imperturbably. + +Away to the right, at the distance of a mile, was one of the smaller +bridges into the city. It was a rickety, wooden structure, guarded by +a gate with a turret, which had a quaintly mediaeval aspect. In front +of the gate a bright coke fire was burning in a bucket, and sprawling +around it in attitudes which suggested varying phases of somnolence +were a number of men in uniform. + +A shaggy, fierce-looking, finely-grown fellow rose to his feet and +challenged us. Fitz replied promptly in his suavest and best Illyrian. +Not a word of the conversation that ensued was intelligible to me, but +it was punctuated by the approving laughter of John and the guides, and +was conducted on both sides with the highest good-humour. + +Its conclusion at any rate was in keeping with this surmise. Fitz was +seen to slip a piece of gold into a furtive palm; the password was +whispered to him; and the gate was opened just far enough for each of +us to pass through one at a time. + +"If there is a more corrupt rogue than an Illyrian corporal of +infantry," said John, "on the face of this fair earth, I am glad to say +I have met him not." + +"Evil practices breed an evil state," said the sententious Fitz. "If +chaps have to whistle for their wages what can you expect?" + +"Let us hope the custodians of the Castle will prove as susceptible," I +observed, piously. + +"Ah, there you have another sort of bird!" said Fitz. + +There was a second gate on the city side of the bridge. This also was +guarded by the soldiery, but the password given boldly got us through +without a question. There were tall spikes set in a row on the top of +the heavy and unwieldy gate. They were adorned with a row of human +heads. + +To me, I confess, these grisly mementoes brought a shudder. + +"They appear to do things pleasantly at Blaenau," said Frederick. + +"They can go one better than that, my son," said Fitz, "if they get the +chance. I should advise each of you, in the case of emergency, to +leave just one cartridge in his revolver." + +To a married man, a father of a family, and a county member, with his +left arm in a black silk handkerchief, who did not feel particularly +secure in the saddle as he rode knee to knee across the bridge with his +misguided friend the Chief Constable of Middleshire, the icy wind which +saluted him from the mighty torrent swirling beneath, blew distinctly +"thin." Somewhat bitterly he began to deplore that decree of fate +which had bereft him of the use of a hand. + +Through narrow, close-built streets, whose odours were decidedly +unpleasant, we passed unmolested until we came into the shadow of the +Castle rock. In the faint light of the stars it towered a sheer and +beetling pile. + +Dismounting, we tied the horses to a fence. Fitz took a dark lantern +from his saddle; and among a miscellaneous collection of articles with +which he had the forethought to provide himself, was a coil of rope. +This it seemed was capable of adjustment into the form of a ladder; and +our leader affirmed his intention of being the first man up the Castle +wall. He proposed to affix this contrivance to the coping at the top +in order that the others might climb up as easily and as expeditiously +as possible. + +There was nothing for it save to resign myself to stay with the two +guides in the charge of the horses. It would have been a physical +impossibility for a man bereft of the use of an arm to climb that sheer +precipice. + +Fitz's parting words of advice to me were characteristic. + +"If," said he, "a sentry should come along, and want to know your +business--I don't suppose he will, because they don't appear to have +mounted a picket--knock out his brains at once, and make one of the +guides put on his uniform and shoulder his gun and march up and down. +So long, old son." + +The Man of Destiny was gone, perhaps for ever. As each of my comrades +in arms climbed over the low fence in his wake I wished him good luck. +It seemed hardly a fighting chance that we should ever look on one +another again. + +They had left their cloaks behind, and these, together with my own, +were thrown over the horses which had carried us so well. Tobacco is a +great solace in seasons of tension, but the long-drawn suspense to +which I had to submit soon became intolerable. + +To a lover of the _aurea mediocritas_, a twentieth-century British +paterfamilias confirmed in the comfortable security of a civil life, +such a predicament was absurd. It was painful indeed to march hour +after hour up and down the broken ground at the foot of the Castle +rock. A pipe was in my teeth, otherwise I was signally exposed to the +rigours of a long January night in Illyria. A bloody end was my +perpetual contemplation. And I hardly dared to think what lay in store +for my comrades, the faint hope of whose return it was my bounden duty +to await. + +There were moments in this season of poignant misery when I felt myself +to be growing absolutely desperate. Why be ashamed to make the +confession? The sensation of impotence was truly terrible. As the +time passed and not a sound was to be heard, God alone knew what was +being transacted in that frowning eyrie under the cover of the night. + +Like most of those who have the unlucky leaven of imagination in their +clay, my instinctive optimism is often on its trial. While I marched +up and down in the darkness, trying vainly to keep warm, waiting for +that tardy dawn in which death lurked for us all, I would have laid +long odds that the doom of the Princess was sealed already and that my +comrades in arms would share it. + +A man should strive in some sort to figure as a hero when he comes to +the purple patches in his own history. But if a profuse fear of the +immediate future in combination with a lively horror of the present are +compatible with that degree, so be it. Throughout those hours of +inaction I suffered the torments of the damned. + +Again and again I strained nervously to catch a footfall, and each time +I did so Fitz's sinister injunction was in my ears. I recognised its +wisdom, but what a counsel for a respectable law-abiding Englishman! +Conceive the husband of Mrs. Arbuthnot, the father of Miss Lucinda, the +sensitive product of a settled state of society, lying in wait to knock +out the brains of a fellow creature on hardly any pretext at all! + +Prudence is not without a tenderness for those who court her; at least +a liberal supply of tobacco was in my pouch. In a state of sheer +desperation I smoked away the intolerable hours, and even had tobacco +to share with the guides who placidly awaited the dawn in the lee of +the horses. + +These were rugged, silent, contained men. I had not a word of their +language whatever it was, and I think it was a kind of Milesian +_argot_. But there was an air of torpid responsibility about them. +They were honest peasants, calm, unimaginative, faithful. + +The hour of five was told from half a dozen steeples of the capital. +In less than three short hours the fate of us all would be sealed. My +mind went back to Middleshire and I could have wept for vexation. +Everything was so happy and comfortable there. If Mrs. Arbuthnot did +not see eye to eye with me in all things, an occasional discreet +diversity of opinion merely added piquancy to double harness. + +Yes, life and all that pertained to it was very dear to me. It is +proper, of course, to maintain a becoming reticence about that +indissoluble core of egoism that lies at the heart of us all. But +during these unspeakable hours I could not dissemble it. Why had it +pleased fate to project this ill-starred creature, one altogether +outside the circle of my interests, one alien in birth, in race, in +fortune, into the quiet backwater of my years! Was there not a +wantonness in shattering such a comfortable hedonism in this cruel, +meaningless, irresponsible way? + +What man can be a hero to his autobiographer! By all the rules of the +game I ought to have been bathed in a kind of moral limelight as I +walked my miserable beat throughout that cursed Illyrian night. It +should be the easiest thing in the world to present a picture of +stoical disdain for Dame Fortune and her fantasies. + +But the blunt truth is before me, ignoble as it is. Life meant too +much. The least of my thoughts should have been dedicated to that high +and noble mission which had lured me from my happy home in an English +county. I should have had my mind wholly concentrated on the fate of +the royal lady and on that of those stout fellows who had come so far +and who had endured so much that they might serve her. + +Well, I will not deny that in a measure my thoughts were for them. But +I did not dare to speculate on what had happened to them; their fate +was too big with tragic possibilities. Yet ever uppermost within me +was a sore vexation. I did not want in the least to die, and I was +determined not to do so. Unhappily Fitz had not given me the password +which in the last resort might take me across the bridge; I could not +communicate with the guides; I was a stranger in a strange land. + +Six o'clock was told from the steeples of the city, but there was not a +sound from the Castle rock. Despair gripped me by the heart. The +Princess was dead and my friends had been unable to make their way out +of the fortress they had had the incredible foolhardiness to enter. +But until daylight came I must wait at my post; yea, if I could +contrive it, longer than that it behoved me to remain. + +Already the sleeping city was beginning to stir uneasily. Distant +sounds proceeded from it; within ten paces of our horses a farmer's +wagon had passed along the road. Figures began to emerge from the +darkness and to re-enter it. Doubtless they were workmen going to +their toil. The icy blasts from the river congealed my blood. +Half-past six told from the steeples; housemaids in pink print dresses +were lighting the fires at Dympsfield House. + +I began to scourge my brain for a plan of escape in broad daylight from +this accursed place, in case Fitz did not return. But even my mind was +numbed, and it was under the dominion of two clear facts: I did not +know a word of the Illyrian tongue, and I knew nothing of the habits +and customs of the country. + +The row of heads upon the city gate occupied a chamber to themselves in +the halls of my imagination. In whatever direction I turned my +thoughts, there was that grisly frieze before my eyes. Presently I +made the discovery that I had bitten the stem of my pipe clean through. + +It was now seven o'clock and I had yielded up all hope of Fitz. So +tragedy after all was to be the end of these wild oscillations which +had begun with broad farce. The unhappy "circus rider from Vienna" had +been done to death by the people for whom she had given all. Not only +had they rejected her sacrifice but they had requited it with brutal +treachery. And the noble man who had loved her, and those brave +fellows who had dared everything to serve her, regardless of lives they +valued as highly as I did my own, had perished in her cause. + +Rage and horror began to rise up within me. God in heaven, was this +the end of our adventure? It was a quarter past seven; the whole city +was astir. + +The dawn was coming. There were a few faint streaks of grey already +above the Castle rock. Numbed and helpless I strained my eyes upwards +to that sinister pile. Cold in body, faint in spirit, I knew not what +to do, nor which way to turn. And then, before I could realise what +had come to pass, there was a surge of dark and stealthy figures, there +was a hand on my shoulder and a low voice was in my ears. + +"The horses! The horses!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE CREATURES OF PERRAULT + +Half paralysed as were the physical senses, there was a magic in the +words. Involuntarily, scarcely knowing what I did, I helped to unloose +the horses. I saw others climb into their saddles; with a little +friendly help I got into mine. + +In the growing light of the dawn, we started at a gentle pace towards +the old and quaint and many-gabled city. Yet it was still too dark to +see who precisely was of our company. We came to the bridge, and +halted while Fitz gave the password at the gate. Suspicious eyes were +cast upon him, but they let us through. + +At the farther gate Fitz gave the password again. There was a little +delay, in the course of which Fitz spoke in a jovial manner with the +corporal of infantry. Finally another gold piece changed owners, and +then we were allowed to pass on to the open country. + +Without having to fire a shot, we had got clear of the city. As yet I +knew nothing of what had happened during the hours of my suspense, but +I was able to make out in the dim light that two of another sex had +augmented our company. One riding by the side of Fitz had a familiar +outline; the other, an unknown lady, was accommodated somewhat +insecurely in front of the saddle of Joseph Jocelyn De Vere. + +As we turned towards the mountain road there came the booming of a gun +across the turbulent water of the Maravina. + +"They are awake at last," said a gruff voice at my elbow. The Chief +Constable seemed very weary and very grim. + +Hard and straight we rode through the comparatively easy country to the +inn at the head of the pass of Ryhgo. We had to be content with a +change of horses here; there was not time to allow of anything else +beyond a cup of spiced wine. + +In broad daylight the pass of Ryhgo was shorn of many of its terrors. +But as we rode above the lake the path was so narrow and its turns so +sharp that care was still necessary. Happily the wind was now dead. + +Even now I was hardly in a state to realise what had occurred. The +strain upon my mind was still acute; my faculties seemed to have got +out of control. + +"We had wonderful luck." The voice of the Chief Constable sounded +remote and meaningless. "It was a devil of a climb up that rock, and +I'll lay odds that we should never have got to the top at all, if Fitz +hadn't remembered a secret stairway that led right into the heart of +the place. Either the burghers of Blaenau had forgotten all about it +or they didn't know of its existence. But Fitz remembered it all right +as soon as he happened to see the hole in the rock. When we got in, it +was as black as the tomb, except for Fitz's lantern. + +"It was a poisonous journey up an interminable flight of winding stone +steps. It took us quite an hour to come to the end. And then we found +ourselves confronted by a door of solid oak, which was three parts +rotten. It took us another hour to cut through that, and Fitz's +lantern went out and we had to keep striking matches. I shall never +forget that hour in the dark until my dying day. And when we got +through that infernal door at last, where do you suppose we found +ourselves?" + +"I cannot say," I said, dreamily, with a vague eye upon the black +waters of the lake below. + +"Behind the tapestry of the King's bedroom. A marvellous piece of +luck! It is a strange providence that watches over some things. And +there we waited in the darkness, with our hands on our weapons, while +Fitz made his way to the Princess, and he brought her and her woman to +us, and we got clear away without disturbing a soul." + +"A wonderful and an incredible story!" + +I began to have a fear that I might pitch from my horse. But we got +through the fell pass of Ryhgo at last, and by three o'clock that +afternoon were in the presence of food and shelter and security in the +hostelry a mile beyond the frontier. Thereupon a mute prayer passed up +to heaven from the still shuddering soul of a married man, a father of +a family, and a county member. + +The unknown lady whom Jodey had borne so gallantly upon his saddle +through the perilous mountain passes was none other than the Countess +Etta von Zweidelheim, that lover of Schubert, that charming interpreter +of Schumann who had made herself responsible for the statement that our +memorable evening at the Embassy was "petter than Offenbach." + +Even when she was lifted cold, hungry and desperately fatigued from the +saddle of her cavalier, she was inclined to laugh; and we were able to +raise among us a sort of hollow echo of her mirth when we observed the +solemnity with which my relation by marriage escorted her to the stove +and chafed her bloodless hands to restore the circulation. + +The somewhat formal, perhaps slightly embarrassed nature of our +laughter did not fail, even in these circumstances, of its customary +appeal to her Royal Highness. Her own, however, unloosed a thousand +memories which I shall carry to the grave, and perhaps beyond. + +"Aha, _les Anglais_!" There was a maternal indulgence in the gaunt +eyes. "_Tres bons enfants!_" Her voice was low, canorous, quaintly +caressing. "_Tres bons enfants!_" + +Suddenly she turned and gave both her hands to me. Lightly my lips +touched the frozen fingers. For an instant my eyes were upon the +strange pallor of her face; and then they met in a kind of challenge +the sunken brilliancy which gave it life. + +"The creatures of Perrault, ma'am," I said, rather hysterically. + + + + +THE END + + + + + +LONDON: HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 1912. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mrs. Fitz, by J. C. Snaith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. FITZ *** + +***** This file should be named 34398.txt or 34398.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/3/9/34398/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/34398.zip b/34398.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cff68a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/34398.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5e52eb --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #34398 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34398) |
