The Adventure of Princess Sylvia

"If she would go to your hunting-lodge – if the Emperor could know that she was there he would be cured, once for all. Rhaetia would be saved – by you. And regarding the business that I think has brought you – what could be better – for every one concerned?"

"What, indeed?" echoed the Prince. "For every one concerned, except for Minnie Brand."

"After what she has done, need she be considered – before the interests of Rhaetia, and another most innocent Royal lady, whom she is doing her best to humiliate and put to shame?"

"I am not sure that she need be so considered," said the Prince. "At all events – I will send up my card – to Miss de Courcy. As for the rest – it must arrange itself."

He took from his pocket a little gold card-case, sparkling with jewels – a trifle which advertised itself as the gift of a woman. "This shall go upstairs," he said, selecting a bit of engraved pasteboard. "And then – we shall see."

For five minutes, for ten minutes, after the departure of the small, silent messenger, the two men waited, talking of a subject near to both their hearts. But at the end of that time word came that Lady and Miss de Courcy would see the Prince.

"The value of a well-regulated mother!" laughed the young man, who had not requested the pleasure of meeting Lady de Courcy. "Well, whatever comes of this interview, I shall presently have something to tell you, Chancellor."

"The suspense will be hard to bear," said the old man. "I am not as young as I was, and these past four days have sorely tried me. Remember, I pray you, all that is at stake, and do not hesitate. Have no scruple with such a woman as this. The Emperor will shortly be returning. He will lose no time in seeing the girl, and – once they have had another meeting, all our precautions will be too late."

The Prince did not smile as he went out.

He had bidden the Chancellor to await his return in the salon of the "Royal suite," which was usually put at his disposal when he was in Rhaetia, and drove in from the Niederwald to Salzbrück. Other Royalties from foreign countries, or from the provinces, occasionally occupied it also – hence its name; and Apollo was not the first Prince whom old Eberhard von Markstein had visited in the "Royal suite" of the Hohenburgerhof. The Chancellor knew by heart the rich purple hangings in the salon, with the gold double wolf-head of Rhaetia embroidered on their folds; and he sickened of them now, as the moments dragged on and on, and he was left alone.

When half an hour had passed, he could no longer sit still on the purple velvet sofa, but walked up and down, his hands behind him, scowling at the full-length portraits of Rhaetia's former Emperors, glaring a question at his own reflection in the many huge gold-framed mirrors, a question he would have given his life to hear answered in the way he wished.

Three-quarters of an hour had gone at last, and still the Chancellor paced the room from end to end, and still the Prince did not come back to tell the news. Had the young man failed him? Had that Vivian upstairs twisted the boy round her finger, as she had twisted one who was stronger and greater than he? Was it possible that she had wormed the whole secret from the Prince and then ordered him away from the hotel, leaving her enemy fuming in the house?

But no, there were footsteps outside the door; the handle was turned. At least the Prince was true to his promise.

As the Chancellor had said, he was no longer as young as he had been. His lips parted; yet he could not speak, when he would have asked for the result. But the Prince caught the appeal in the glittering eyes, and did not wait to be interrogated.

"Well, I have seen the lady," he said, in a voice that was indefinably changed in the interval since he and the Chancellor had separated.

"And she is the one you had known?"

"Yes. She is the one I had known. What is more, Chancellor, it – it's all right about that plan of yours. She is going with me to Bünden."

"She is? Heaven be praised! When?

"At once. That is, as soon as she can get ready."

"Nothing could be better. I trust she goes with you alone? The presence of the mother as chaperon would be unfortunate."

"Oh, no chaperon is needed for us. The – mother stops behind with a companion they have, who is ill. It – er – it was a little difficult to arrange this matter, but – I don't think the plot will fail, provided you carry through your part as well as I have mine."

"The lady goes with you quite of her own free will?"

"I – er – I flatter myself that she is rather pleased with the invitation. In half an hour or so, if all is well, I and the lady fair will be on our way to my hunting-lodge, to spend an agreeable evening in each other's society and talk over old times. Fortunately I went straight out there this morning before coming to Salzbrück to see you; and though I was not expected back to dinner, there will be something eatable in the house, I dare say – something I need not be ashamed to offer a lady."

The Prince pulled a hunting-watch from the pocket of an elaborate waistcoat (he merited the reputation of being the best-dressed young man in Europe) and consulted it reflectively. "It is now nearly four- thirty. By six, the hour at which I should have sat down to my early dinner here (alas, for a good dinner sacrificed on the altar of duty!), we shall be approaching the outskirts of the Niederwald, my pretty friend and I. Bünden is three miles farther on, my place two miles beyond Bünden. But before seven o'clock I shall be showing the lady the beauties of my Rhaetian hunting-lodge, which I have more than once described to her. Dinner can, on one excuse or another, be delayed until nearly nine, if it would suit your book to find us in the midst of our repast. My dining-room is not a grand salon, but it has light and colour, and would not make a bad background for the last act of this little comedy. What do you say, Chancellor? I have always thought that your success as stage-manager in the Theatre of all Nations was partially due to your regard for dramatic effects."

"They are not to be despised." assented the Chancellor.

"Well, I promise you that the footlights shall be lighted, the stage set, and two of your leading puppets dressed and painted for the show, precisely at the hour of nine. When can you count on the appearance of the third?"

The bristling brows met. Von Markstein was working without scruple against Maximilian, for Maximilian's good; yet he could tolerate no light speaking of the master he would betray.

"When His Majesty telephones to me from Wandeck as he has promised to do, on his arrival there," said the old man stiffly, "I shall inform him of what has taken place in his absence. If I know him in his present ardent mood, he will order a special train to return to Salzbrück. In that case, he will arrive before eight; and all else falling as I now confidently expect, we shall be able to reach the hunting-lodge by half-past nine."

"You will find us at the third course," prophesied the Prince.

"Naturally, the Emperor's sudden appearance will come as a blow to the lady," returned the Chancellor, watching with veiled keenness the other's placid, perfect face. "She would not dare take the risk if she dreamed that he would discover her escapade and follow, great as is the temptation to enjoy your society; indeed, Prince, you must have found subtle weapons to break so soon through the armour of her prudence. I expected much from your courage and resource, once enlisted in the cause, yet I hardly ventured to expect such speedy, such unqualified success as this that seems assured."

"My weapons were sharpened on my past acquaintance with the lady," explained the Prince. "Without that, the desired result might have waited as many days as it has taken moments, though, at last, the end would perhaps have been the same."

"Not for Rhaetia. Every moment counts with us, as I have said. Thanks to you, we shall win; for actress as this woman is, she will find the justification of an evening tête-à-tête with you, at your hunting- lodge in the country, a task beyond her powers."

"If she makes the effort, we can afford to be audience and amuse ourselves with her acting, as the comedy plays itself out," said the Prince.

"There is no doubt in my mind – whatever may be her conception of the part – as to the final tableau. And, after all, it is that alone with which you concern yourself – eh, Chancellor?"

"It is that alone," echoed the old man. "And now, lest by a hitch in the stage mechanism – since you choose that figure of speech – something should yet go wrong, I must make haste home, that I may be in time to receive the Emperor's communication from Wandeck."

"If he should forget to send —there would be rather a serious hitch, would it not?"

"The Emperor has never, in my knowledge of him, forgotten to keep a promise, and I am certain he is not enough changed to do so even now. Au revoir, Prince; till half-past nine."

"Till half-past nine, when a warm welcome awaits you, from one of the dramatis personae. For the other – I cannot answer."

Laughing, the two grasped hands on their understanding. The Chancellor went out to his carriage, which had been kept at the door and a few minutes later he was conversing with Maximilian through the telephone.

CHAPTER XV

THE OLDNESS OF THE CHANCELLOR

MAXIMILIAN had not made an appointment with the Chancellor through the telephone, either for an hour or place of meeting. He had been in no mood at the time for the cool mapping out of details; and later, when there had been plenty of leisure for reflection, he had let himself hope that the Chancellor would already be willing to qualify his rash accusations. If this were so, the old man would be as eager to avoid a visit to the hunting-lodge as he had been a few hours ago to propose it. Maximilian did not mean to let Von Markstein escape the obligation of this visit, but he would have triumphed in the Chancellor's desire to evade it, which would have meant much.

"If he still persists in his abominable idea that she has gone to the hunting-lodge," thought the Emperor (with that vagueness of expression which lovers of high or low degree use in designating the one woman in the world), "he will risk no chance of missing me, but will be waiting at the station. Should he, on the contrary, have had reason since our talk to doubt the accuracy of his own information, he will take advantage of the uncertainty I've left him in regarding my movements, to keep out of the way."

So arguing, Maximilian looked sharply from the window as his special train entered the Salzbrück station along the track that had been kept clear for its arrival. No other train was due from any direction at the moment, therefore few persons were on the platform, and a figure in a long gray coat, with its face shadowed by a slouch hat, was all the more conspicuous. Maximilian's heart sank. He believed in his love, but he would have preferred the Chancellor's absence.

"I hope that Your Majesty will forgive the liberty I have taken in being here, to place myself at your convenience and so avoid delay," were the old man's first words, as he took off his hat to the Emperor. "I drove down from my house some time ago, expecting that you might arrive by special train; and I need hardly say that my carriage, which is waiting, is at your disposal for any use you may care to make of it."

"I wish to go instantly to the hunting-lodge near Bünden," said the Emperor, watching the other's face, and still hoping against hope for a visible sign of discomfiture. But he was not to be gratified.

"I was prepared for that wish, Your Majesty," promptly said the Chancellor. "The horses are fresh, and they will make the journey in an hour and a half."

"Very well, then, there is nothing that need delay us. You are ready to go with me, of course?" Another detective glance, destined again to pass unrewarded by revelations.

"I am ready, Your Majesty – as always, I trust, when I am needed."

It was on Maximilian's tongue to say that it would be well if his Chancellor's readiness confined itself entirely to such occasions; but he shut his lips upon the words and walked by the old man's side in frozen silence.

It was not yet eight o clock, but the month of October had just begun, and the sun having set an hour or more ago, the swiftly fading Rhaetian twilight had darkened into a starlit night. Though the day had been warm, there was now a crisp keenness in the air, and the Chancellor's coachman and groom had prepared themselves with high sable collars for their country drive.

The horses, which had been kept moving up and down the long straight avenue of the Bahnhofstrasse, were nervous and restive, and no sooner had the green-liveried footman shut the carriage door than they bounded off at a pace almost beyond control.

Both windows were closed, to keep out the chill, but Maximilian impatiently lowered the one nearest him, forgetting the Chancellor's tendency to rheumatism, and stared into the night. The railway station was on the outskirts of the town; and speedily passing the few warehouses and factories in the neighbourhood, they struck into the open country. There was a pungent scent of dying leaves on the breeze that blew in through the open window, and Maximilian knew that never again could he inhale the melancholy fragrance of the falling year with out recalling this hour, so vivid with sensations.

He was desperately eager to reach the end of the journey, that the Chancellor might be confounded once for all; yet, as the horses hoofs rang tunefully along the hard roads, and landmark after landmark glided out of sight among tree-branches thickly laced with stars, he would have stayed the passing moments if he could. He wished to know, yet he did not wish to know. He burned to ask questions, yet would have died rather than put them.

It was a relief when Von Markstein spoke at last; a relief that brought a prick of resentment with it; for even the Chancellor had no right to break a silence that the Emperor kept.

"Your Majesty's anger is hard to bear. Yet I can bear it uncomplainingly, because I am confident that my reward is not far off. I look for it no further in the future than to-night."

"And I think that you will get your reward!" retorted the Emperor sharply.

"Not only in your forgiveness, but your thanks."

"I will forgive you when you have found Miss de Courcy for me, and begged her pardon for your calumnies."

"I have already found her, Your Majesty, and am taking you to her now."

"You actually believe your own story, Von Markstein? You believe that this sweet and gracious lady is a fast actress, a friend of your notoriously gallant friend, and willing to compromise her good name by paying a night visit to his hunting-lodge? You really think that we shall see her there?"

"I shall see her, Your Majesty. And you will see her, if this madness you call love has not blinded the eyes of your body as well as of your mind. That she is there I know, for the Prince told me with his own lips that she was driving out to the lodge with him this afternoon."

"You mean that he told you his friend the actress was going. I'll stake my life he did not dare to say Miss de Courcy."

"He said Miss Brand, the actress, it is true. But when he called upon her at the Hohenburgerhof (where he and I had met to talk of a matter which can be no mystery to Your Majesty) he asked for Miss de Courcy. And the message which came down was that Miss de Courcy would see him. This left no doubt in my mind (however the matter may present itself to you) that she had remained in Salzbrück, after giving out that she was departing to-day, for the express purpose of a meeting with her old friend, the Prince. She probably hoped that, as she was supposed to be gone, her indiscretion might be hidden from Your Majesty and others."

"Pray spare me your deductions, Chancellor," said the Emperor curtly. "I am with you in this expedition to prove you wrong, not right, and nothing that you can say will convince me that the Prince's friend and Miss de Courcy are one. If we find a woman at the hunting-lodge it will not be the lady we seek; and as you will presently be ready to eat the words you have spoken, the fewer such bitter pills you have to swallow, the better."

So snubbed by the young man whom he had held in his arms, an imperious as well as Imperial infant, the old statesman relapsed into silence. But he had said that which had been in his mind to say, and he was satisfied to know that it was left to rankle. Meekness was not his métier, but he could play the part of the faithful retainer, humbly loyal through injustice and misunderstanding, when it was the one effective role; and he played it now to perfection. He sat with bowed head and stooping shoulders, suggesting the weakness of old age, his hands clasped on his knee; and from time to time he breathed a stifled sigh.

His silent pathos wrung no sign of relenting from Maximilian, however, and not a word was exchanged between the two men for nearly an hour, until they had driven under the dark arch of the first trees of the Niederwald. Then it was the Emperor who spoke.

"You have led me to suppose that our call at the hunting-lodge is to take its master by surprise. Is that supposition the correct one, Chancellor?"

Count von Markstein would greatly have preferred that this question should have remained in abeyance. He had intended to convey the impression credited to him by the Emperor, but he had not wished to clothe it in actual statement. The Prince understood that he was to be the leading actor in the "little comedy" to which he had merrily referred, and he would know how to feign the astonishment indispensable to success. It was to be hoped that he would have the skill to carry it out to the end, since the Chancellor was now called upon irrevocably to commit himself.

"Were our visit expected, we should not be likely to find the lady, Your Majesty. The Prince, who is on terms of confidence with me, did not hesitate to mention that he was to have a pretty actress as his guest; how could he dream that the event would be of importance to the Emperor of Rhaetia? But had he known that the entertainment he meant to offer her might be interrupted, naturally he would, out of consideration for the lady's feelings, have taken means to secure her against embarrassment."

"This night's work will give him cause to pick a private quarrel with me, if he chooses," said the Emperor, satisfied at least of the Chancellor's integrity.

"I do not think that he will choose, Your Majesty. You are in a mood to be glad if he did, I fear. But, after all, I need not fear. You will always remember Rhaetia and put her interests before your own."

"You did not feel so confident of that a few hours ago, Chancellor."

"I was taken by surprise. But I knew well enough in my heart that when the test should come, Your Majesty's cool head would prevail over the hot impulses of youth. See, we are passing through the village of Bünden, fast asleep already, every window dark. In another ten minutes we shall be at the lodge gates."

The Emperor laughed shortly and somewhat bitterly. "Add twice ten minutes to that, and we shall be out of the lodge gates again, with Chancellor von Markstein a sadder and a wiser man."

Meekness was once more the rôle for "Iron Heart," and lifting his hands, palm upward, in a gesture of generous indulgence, he denied himself the satisfaction of retort.

The hunting-lodge, now the property of the Chancellor's accommodating young friend, had until a year ago belonged to a Rhaetian semi-royal prince, who had been forced by lack of sympathy among his creditors to sell. The present owner was a keen sportsman, and, though he came seldom, had spent a good deal of money upon much needed repairing of the quaint old house in the woods. It was years since the Emperor had visited the place, and the very outlines of the low rambling structure looked strange to him, as in the distance they were silhouetted against a spangled sky. He was glad of this; for he had spent some happy days here as a boy, and he wished to separate from the past the impressions which to-night must engrave upon his mind.

Two tall chimneys stood up like the erected ears of some alert, crouching animal; the path to the lodge gleamed white and straight in the darkness as a parting in the rough black hair of a giant; the trees of the forest gossiped together in the wind. It seemed to Maximilian now that they were evil things who told lies, slandering his love, and he hated them, and their rustling; he hated the two yellow eyes of the animal with pricked ears, which were only lighted windows; he hated the young Prince who had bought the right to bring scandal to this quiet place, and he would have hated the Chancellor, had not the old man limped as he stepped down from the carriage, showing how heavy was the burden of his years, as he had never shown it before.

The carriage was bidden to wait at a little distance from the lodge, and Maximilian, with "Iron Heart" at his side, walked up the path that led to a hooded entrance. They ascended the two or three stone steps, and the Chancellor raised the mailed, clenched fist that did duty as a knocker. Twice he brought it down on the oak panel, and the sound of the metal ringing against wood went echoing away through the house, with an effect of emptiness and desolation.

Nobody came to answer the summons, and Maximilian smiled in the darkness. He did not believe even that the Prince was there; a practical joke had been played upon the Chancellor.

Again the mailed fist rang on oak. Only the echo replied. Von Markstein was alarmed. He thanked the night, which hid the tell-tale vein beating on his forehead from the keen eyes of the Emperor.

"I begin to think, Von Markstein, that we might as well look for Miss de Courcy in a more likely, and, at the same time, more becoming place," he remarked, with a drawl meant to be aggravating. "There doesn't seem to be any one here; even the caretaker is out courting, perhaps."

"But listen, Your Majesty," said the Chancellor.

Maximilian did listen. Steps could be heard approaching the door inside the house – the sound of a heel on a floor of stone or marble.

CHAPTER XVI

THE OPENING OF A DOOR

IT was a jäger who opened the door of the hunting-lodge and gazed at the two men standing in the shadow of the porch, apparently without recognition.

"We wish to see the Prince," said the Chancellor crisply, taking the initiative, as he knew that the Emperor would desire him to do.

"The Prince is not at home, sir," returned the jäger.

Maximilian's eyes lightened as he threw a glance of sarcastic meaning at his companion. But "Iron Heart" was undaunted. He knew very well now that this was only a prelude to the comedy, and though he had had a pang of anxiety at first, he thought that his young friend was playing the part allotted him with commendable realism. Naturally, when beautiful actresses came into the country unchaperoned, to dine with fascinating princes, the least such favoured Royalties could do was to issue notice to an intrusive public that they were "not at home."

"You are mistaken," returned the Chancellor "The Prince is at home, and he will receive us. It will be better for you to admit us without further parley."

Under the domination of the eyes which could quell a Reichstag, the jäger weakened, as doubtless his master had expected would happen in good time. "If may be that I have made a mistake, sir," he stammered, "though I do not think so. If you will have the kindness to walk in and wait until I can inquire whether the Prince has come home, or when he is likely to come home, I – "

"That is not necessary," said the Chancellor. "The Prince dines here with a lady this evening. We will go with you to the door of the dining-room, and follow your announcement of our presence."

But the jäger was no longer uncertain of his duty. The reaction had come, and he faced the invaders boldly. If his master had given instructions only to be overridden, at least the servant was sincere in his respect for them. He put himself in the doorway, and looked a barrier formidable to dislodge.

"That is impossible, sir!" he exclaimed. "I have my orders, which are that His Royal Highness is not at home to-night, and until I find out differently, nobody, not if it were the Emperor himself, should force himself in."