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diff --git a/old/11572.txt b/old/11572.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d69f4d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11572.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12364 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Man From Brodney's, by George Barr +McCutcheon, Illustrated by Harrison Fisher + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Man From Brodney's + +Author: George Barr McCutcheon + +Release Date: March 14, 2004 [eBook #11572] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN FROM BRODNEY'S*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Susan Skinner, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 11572-h.htm or 11572-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/5/7/11572/11572-h/11572-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/5/7/11572/11572-h.zip) + + + + + +THE MAN FROM BRODNEY'S + +By + +George Barr McCutcheon + +Author of The Daughter of Anderson Crow, Graustark, +Beverly of Graustark, Brewster's Millions, Nedra, etc. + +With Illustrations by Harrison Fisher + +1908 + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER + I THE LATE MR. SKAGGS + II AN EXTRAORDINARY DOCUMENT + III INTRODUCING HOLLINGSWORTH CHASE + IV THE INDISCREET MR. CHASE + V THE ENGLISH INVADE + VI THE CHATEAU + VII THE BROWNES ARRIVE + VIII THE MAN FROM BRODNEY'S + IX THE ENEMY + X THE AMERICAN BAR + XI THE SLOUGH OF TRANQUILLITY + XII WOMEN AND WOMEN + XIII CHASE PERFORMS A MIRACLE + XIV THE LANTERN ABOVE + XV MR. SAUNDERS HAS A PLAN + XVI TWO CALLS FROM THE ENEMY + XVII THE PRINCESS GOES GALLOPING + XVIII THE BURNING OF THE BUNGALOW + XIX CHASE COMES FROM THE CLOUDS + XX NEENAH + XXI THE PLAGUE IS ANNOUNCED + XXII THE CHARITY BALL + XXIII THE JOY OF TEMPTATION + XXIV SEVERAL PHILOSOPHERS + XXV THE DISQUIETING END OF PONG + XXVI DEPPINGHAM FALLS ILL + XXVII THE TRIAL OF VON BLITZ + XXVIII CENTURIES TO FORGET + XXIX THE PURSUIT + XXX THE PERSIAN ANGEL + XXXI A PRESCRIBED MALADY + XXXII THE TWO WORLDS + XXXIII THE SHIPS THAT PASS + XXXIV IN THE SAME GRAVE WITH SKAGGS + XXXV A TOAST TO THE PAST + XXXVI THE TITLE CLEAR + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"He saw the Princess for the first time that afternoon" + +"'Don't you intend to present me to Lady Deppingham?'" + +"'No,' she said to herself, 'I told him I was keeping them for him'" + +"He felt that Genevra was still looking into his eyes" + + + + +THE MAN FROM BRODNEY'S + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE LATE MR. SKAGGS + + +The death of Taswell Skaggs was stimulating, to say the least, +inapplicable though the expression may seem. + +He attained the end of a hale old age by tumbling aimlessly into the +mouth of a crater on the island of Japat, somewhere in the mysterious +South Seas. The volcano was not a large one and the crater, though +somewhat threatening at times, was correspondingly minute, which +explains--in apology--to some extent, his unfortunate misstep. + +Moreover, there is but one volcano on the surface of Japat; it seems all +the more unique that he, who had lived for thirty years or more on the +island, should have stepped into it in broad daylight, especially as it +was he who had tacked up warning placards along every avenue of +approach. + +Inasmuch as he was more than eighty years old at the time, it would seem +to have been a most reprehensible miscalculation on the part of the Grim +Reaper to have gone to so much trouble. + +But that is neither here nor there. + +Taswell Skaggs was dead and once more remembered. The remark is proper, +for the world had quite thoroughly forgotten him during the twenty odd +years immediately preceding his death. It was, however, noticeably worth +while to remember him at this particular time: he left a last will and +testament that bade fair to distress as well as startle a great many +people on both sides of the Atlantic, among whom it may be well to +include certain distinguished members of the legal profession. + +In Boston the law firm of Bowen & Hare was puzzling itself beyond reason +in the effort to anticipate and circumvent the plans of the firm of +Bosworth, Newnes & Grapewin, London, E.C.; while on the other side of +the Atlantic Messrs. Bosworth, Newnes & Grapewin were blindly struggling +to do precisely the same thing in relation to Messrs. Bowen & Hare. + +Without seeking to further involve myself, I shall at once conduct the +reader to the nearest of these law offices; he may hear something to his +own interest from Bowen & Hare. We find the partners sitting in the +private room. + +"Pretty badly tangled, I declare," said Mr. Hare, staring helplessly at +his senior partner. + +"Hopelessly," agreed Mr. Bowen, very much as if he had at first intended +to groan. + +Before them on the table lay the contents of a bulky envelope: a long +and stupendous letter from their London correspondents and with it a +copy of Taswell Skaggs's will. The letter had come in the morning's +mail, heralded by a rather vague cablegram the week before. To be brief, +Mr. Bowen recently had been named as joint executor of the will, +together with Sir John Allencrombie, of London, W.C., one time neighbour +of the late Mr. Skaggs. A long and exasperating cablegram had touched +somewhat irresolutely upon the terms of the will, besides notifying him +that one of the heirs resided in Boston. He was instructed to apprise +this young man of his good fortune. This he delayed in doing until after +he had obtained more definite information from England. The full and +complete statement of facts was now before him. + +There was one _very_ important, perhaps imposing feature in connection +with the old gentleman's will: he was decidedly sound of mind and body +when it was uttered. + +When such astute lawyers as Bowen & Hare give up to amazement, the usual +forerunner of consternation, it is high time to regard the case as +startling. Their practice was far-reaching and varied; imperviousness +had been acquired through long years of restraint. But this day they +were sharply ousted from habitual calmness into a state of mind +bordering on the ludicrous. + +"Read it again, Bowen." + +"The will?" + +"No; the letter." + +Whereupon Mr. Bowen again read aloud the letter from Bosworth, Newnes & +Grapewin, this time slowly and speculatively. + +"They seem as much upset by the situation as we," he observed +reflectively. + +"Extraordinary state of affairs, I must say." + +"And I don't know what to do about it--I don't even know how to begin. +They're both married." + +"And not to each other." + +"She's the wife of a Lord-knows-what-kind-of-a-lord, and he's married to +an uncommonly fine girl, they say, notwithstanding the fact that she has +larger social aspirations than he has means." + +"And if that all-important clause in the will is not carried out to the +letter, the whole fortune goes to the bow-wows." + +"Practically the same thing. He calls them 'natives,' that's all. It +looks to me as though the bow-wows will get the old man's millions. I +don't see how anything short of Providence can alter the situation." + +Mr. Bowen looked out over the house-tops and Mr. Hare laughed softly +under his breath. + +"Thank heaven, Bowen, he names you as executor, not me." + +"I shall decline to serve. It's an impossible situation, Hare. In the +first place, Skaggs was not an intimate friend of mine. I met him in +Constantinople five years ago and afterward handled some business for +him in New York. He had no right to impose upon me as if------" + +"But why should you hesitate? You have only to wait for the year to roll +by and then turn your troubles over to the natives. Young Browne can't +marry Miss Ruthven inside of a year, simply because there is no Miss +Ruthven. She's Lady--Lady--what's the name?" + +"Deppingham." + +"And Browne already has one Mrs. Browne to his credit, don't you see? +Well, that settles it, I'd say. It's hardly probable that Browne will +murder or divorce his wife, nor is it likely that her ladyship would +have the courage to dispose of her encumbrance in either way on such +short notice." + +"But it means millions to them, Hare." + +"That's their unfortunate lookout. You are to act as an executor, not as +a matrimonial agent." + +"But, man, it's an outrage to give all of it to those wretched +islanders. Bosworth says that rubies and sapphires grow there like +mushrooms." + +"Bosworth also says that the islanders are thrifty, intelligent and will +fight for their rights. There are lawyers among them, he says, as well +as jewel diggers and fishermen." + +"Skaggs and Lady Deppingham's grandfather were the only white men who +ever lived there long enough to find out what the island had stored up +for civilisation. That's why they bought it outright, but I'm hanged if +I can see why he wants to give it back to the natives." + +"Perhaps he owes it to them. He doubtless bought it for a song and, +contrary to all human belief, he may have resurrected a conscience. +Anyhow, there remains a chance for the heirs to break the will." + +"It can't be done, Hare, it can't be done. It's as clean an instrument +as ever survived a man." + +It is, by this time, safe for the reader to assume that Mr. Taswell +Skaggs had been a rich man and therefore privileged to be eccentric. It +is also time for the writer to turn the full light upon the tragic +comedy which entertained but did not amuse a select audience of lawyers +on both sides of the Atlantic. As this tale has to do with the +adventures of Taswell Skaggs's heirs and not with the strange old +gentleman who sleeps his last sleep literally in the midst of the island +of Japat, it is eminently wise to make as little as possible of him. + +Mr. Skaggs came of a sound old country family in upper England, but +seems to have married a bit above his station. His wife was serving as +governess in the home of a certain earl when Taswell won her heart and +dragged her from the exalted position of minding other people's children +into the less conspicuous one of caring for her own. How the uncouth +country youth--not even a squire--overcame her natural prejudice against +the lower classes is not for me to explain. Sufficient to announce, they +were married and lived unhappily ever afterward. + +Their only son was killed by a runaway horse when he was twenty, and +their daughter became the wife of an American named Browne when she was +scarcely out of her teens. It was then that Mr. Skaggs, practically +childless, determined to make himself wifeless as well. + +He magnanimously deeded the unentailed farm to his wife, turned his +securities into cash and then set forth upon a voyage of exploration. It +is common history that upon one dark, still night in December he said +good-bye forever to the farm and its mistress; but it is doubtful if +either of them heard him. + +To be "jolly well even" with him, Mrs. Skaggs did a most priggish thing. +She died six months later. But, before doing so, she made a will in +which she left the entire estate to her daughter, effectually depriving +the absent husband of any chance to reclaim his own. + +Taswell Skaggs was in Shanghai when he heard the news. It was on a +Friday. His informant was that erstwhile friend, Jack Wyckholme. +Naturally, Skaggs felt deeply aggrieved with the fate which permitted +him to capitulate when unconditional surrender was so close at hand. His +language for one brief quarter of an hour did more to upset the progress +of Christian endeavour in the Far East than all the idols in the Chinese +Empire. + +"There's nawthin' in England for me, Jackie. My gal's a bloomin' +foreigner by this time and she'll sell the bleedin' farm, of course. +She's an h'American, God bless 'er 'eart. I daresay if I'd go to 'er and +say I'd like my farm back again she'd want to fork hover, but 'er bloody +'usband wouldn't be for that sort of hextravagance. 'E'd boot me off the +hisland." + +"The United States isn't an island, Tazzy," explained Mr. Wyckholme, +gulping his brandy and soda. + +Mr. Wyckholme was the second son of Sir Somebody-or-other and had +married the vicar's daughter. This put him into such bad odour with his +family that he hurried off to the dogs--and a goodly sized menagerie +besides, if the records of the inebriate's asylum are to be credited. +His wife, after enduring him for sixteen years, secured a divorce. It +may not have been intended as an insult to the scapegoat, but no sooner +had she freed herself from him than his father, Sir Somebody-or-other, +took her and her young daughter into the ancestral halls and gave them a +much-needed abiding-place. This left poor Mr. Jack quite completely out +in the world--and he proceeded to make the best and the worst of it +while he had the strength and ambition. Accepting the world as his home, +he ventured forth to visit every nook and cranny of it. In course of +time he came upon his old-time neighbour and boyhood friend, Taswell +Skaggs, in the city of Shanghai. Neither of them had seen the British +Isles in two years or more. + +"'Ow do you know?" demanded Taswell. + +"Haven't I been there, old chap? A year or more? It's a rotten big place +where gentlemen aspire to sell gloves and handkerchiefs and needlework +over the shop counters. At any rate, that's what every one said every +one else was doing, and advised me to--to get a situation doing the +same. You know, Tazzy, I couldn't well afford to starve and I _wouldn't_ +sell things, so I came away. But it's no island." + +"Well, that's neither here nor there, Jackie. I 'aven't a 'ome and you +'aven't a 'ome, and we're wanderers on the face of the earth. My wife +played me a beastly trick, dying like that. I say marriage is a blooming +nuisance." + +"Marriage, my boy, is the convalescence from a love affair. One wants to +get out the worst way but has to stay in till he's jolly well cured. For +my part, I'm never going back to England." + +"Nor I. It would be just like me, Jackie, to 'ave a relapse and never +get out again." + +The old friends, with tear-dimmed eyes, shook hands and vowed that +nothing short of death should part them during the remainder of their +journey through life. That night they took an inventory. Jack Wyckholme, +gentleman's son and ne'er-do-well, possessed nine pounds and a fraction, +an appetite and excellent spirits, while Taswell Skaggs exhibited a +balance of one thousand pounds in a Shanghai bank, a fairly successful +trade in Celestial necessities, and an unbounded eagerness to change his +luck. + +"I have a proposition to make to you, Tazzy," said Mr. Wyckholme, late +in the night. + +"I think I'll listen to it, Jackie," replied Mr. Skaggs, quite soberly. + +As the outcome of this midnight proposition, Taswell Skaggs and John +Wyckholme arrived, two months later, at the tiny island of Japat, +somewhere south of the Arabian Sea, there to remain until their dying +days and there to accumulate the wealth which gave the first named a +chance to make an extraordinary will. For thirty years they lived on the +island of Japat. Wyckholme preceded Skaggs to the grave by two winters +and he willed his share of everything to his partner of thirty years' +standing. But there was a proviso in Wyckholme's bequest, just as there +was in that of Skaggs. Each had made his will some fifteen years or more +before death and each had bequeathed his fortune to the survivor. At the +death of the survivor the entire property was to go to the grandchild of +each testator, with certain reservations to be mentioned later on, each +having, by investigation, discovered that he possessed a single +grandchild. + +The island of Japat had been the home of a Mohammedan race, the +outgrowth of Arabian adventurers who had fared far from home many years +before Wyckholme happened upon the island by accident. It was a British +possession and there were two or three thousand inhabitants, all +Mohammedans. Skaggs and Wyckholme purchased the land from the natives, +protected and eased their rights with the government and proceeded to +realise on what the natives had unwittingly prepared for them. In course +of time the natives repented of the deal which gave the Englishmen the +right to pick and sell the rubies and other precious stones that they +had been trading away for such trifles as silks, gewgaws and women; a +revolution was imminent. Whereupon the owners organised the entire +population into a great stock company, retaining four-fifths of the +property themselves. This seemed to be a satisfactory arrangement, +despite the fact that some of the more warlike leaders were difficult to +appease. But, as Messrs. Wyckholme and Skaggs owned the land and the +other grants, there was little left for the islanders but arbitration. +It is only necessary to add that the beautiful island of Japat, standing +like an emerald in the sapphire waters of the Orient, brought millions +in money to the two men who had been unlucky in love. + +And now, after more than thirty years of voluntary exile, both of them +were dead, and both of them were buried in the heart of an island of +rubies, their deed and their deeds remaining to posterity--with +reservations. + + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AN EXTRAORDINARY DOCUMENT + + +It appears that the Messrs. Skaggs and Wyckholme, as their dual career +drew to a close, set about to learn what had become of their daughters. +Investigation proved that Wyckholme's daughter had married a London +artist named Ruthven. The Ruthvens in turn had one child, a daughter. +Wyckholme's wife and his daughter died when this grandchild was eight or +ten years old. By last report, the grandchild was living with her father +in London. She was a pretty young woman with scores of admirers on her +hands and a very level head on her shoulders. + +Wyckholme held to his agreement with Skaggs by bequeathing his share of +the property to him, but it was definitely set forth that at the death +of his partner it was to go to Agnes Ruthven, the grandchild--with +reservations. + +Skaggs found that his daughter, who married Browne the American, +likewise had died, but that she had left behind a son and heir. This +son, Robert Browne, was in school when the joint will was designed, and +he was to have Skaggs's fortune at the death of Wyckholme, in case that +worthy survived. + +All this would have been very simple had it not been for the +instructions and conditions agreed upon by the two men. In order to keep +the business and the property intact and under the perpetual control of +one partnership, the granddaughter of Wyckholme was to marry the +grandson of Skaggs within the year after the death of the surviving +partner. The penalty to be imposed upon them if the conditions were not +complied with--neither to be excusable for the defection of the +other--lay in the provision that the whole industry and its accumulated +fortune, including the land (and they owned practically the entire +island), was to go to the islanders--or, in plain words, to the original +owners, their heirs, share and share alike, all of which was set forth +concisely in a separate document attached. Wyckholme named Sir John +Allencrombie as one executor and Skaggs selected Alfred Bowen, of +Boston, as the other. + +As Wyckholme was the first to die, Skaggs became sole owner of the +island and its treasures, and it was he who made the final will in +accordance with the original plans. + +The island of Japat with its jewels and its ancient chateau--of modern +construction--represented several million pounds sterling. Its owners +had accumulated a vast fortune, but, living in seclusion as they did, +were hard put for means to spend any considerable part of it. +Wyckholme's dream of erecting an exact replica of a famous old chateau +found response in the equally whimsical Skaggs, who constantly bemoaned +the fact that it was impossible to spend money. For five years after its +completion the two old men, with an army of Arabian retainers and Nubian +slaves, lived like Oriental potentates in the huge structure on the +highlands overlooking the sea. + +Skaggs seldom went from one part of his home to another without a guide. +It was so vast and so labyrinthine that he feared he might become lost +forever. The dungeon below the chateau, and the moat with its bridges, +were the especial delight of these lonely, romantic old chaps. One of +the builders of this rare pile was now sleeping peacefully in the +sarcophagus beneath the chapel; the other was lying dead and +undiscovered in the very heart of his possessions. Their executors were +sourly wondering whether the two venerable testators were not even then +grinning from those far-away sepulchres in contemplation of the first +feud their unprimitive castle was to know. + +The magnificent plans of the partners would have been a glorious tribute +to romance had it not been for one fatal obstacle. The trouble was that +neither young Miss Ruthven nor young Mr. Browne knew that their +grandfathers lived, much less that they owned an island in the South +Seas. Therefore it is quite natural that they could not have known they +were expected to marry each other. In complete but blissful ignorance +that the other existed, the young legatees fell in love with persons +unmentioned in the will and performed the highly commendable but +exceedingly complicating act of matrimony. This emergency, it is humane +to suspect, had not revealed itself to either of the grandfathers. + +Miss Ruthven, from motives peculiar to the head and not to the heart, +set about to earn a title for herself. Three months before the death of +Mr. Skaggs she was married to Lord Deppingham, who possessed a title and +a country place that rightfully belonged to his creditors. Mr. Browne, +just out of college, hung out his shingle as a physician and surgeon, +and forthwith, with all the confidence his profession is supposed to +inspire, proceeded to marry the daughter of a brokerage banker in Boston +and at once found himself struggling with the difficulties of Back Bay +society. + +A clause in the will, letter of instruction attached, demanded that the +two grandchildren should take up their residence in the chateau within +six months after the death of the testator, there to remain through the +compulsory days of courtship up to and including the wedding day. Four +months had already passed. It was also stipulated that the executors +should receive L10,000 each at the expiration of their year of +servitude, provided it was shown in court that they had carried out the +wishes of the testator, or, in failing, had made the most diligent +effort within human power. + +"It is very explicit," murmured Mr. Hare, for the third time. "I suppose +the first step is to notify young Mr. Browne of his misfortune. His +lordship has the task of breaking the news to Lady Deppingham." + +"You are assuming that I intend to act under this ridiculous will." + +"Certainly. It means about $50,000 to you at the end of the year, with +nothing to do but to notify two persons of the terms in the will. If +they're not divorced and married again at the end of the year, you and +Sir John simply turn everything over to the Malays or whatever they are. +It's something like 'dust to dust,' isn't it, after all? I think it's +easy sledding for you." + +Mr. Bowen was eventually won over by Mr. Hare's enthusiasm. +"Notifications" took wing and flew to different parts of the world, +while many lawyers hovered like vultures to snatch at the bones should a +war at law ensue. + +Young Mr. Browne (he was hardly a doctor even in name) hastened downtown +in response to a message from the American executor, and was told of the +will which had been filed in England, the home land of the testator. To +say that this debonair, good-looking young gentleman was flabbergasted +would be putting it more than mildly. There is no word in the English +language strong enough to describe his attitude at that perilous moment. + +"What shall I do--what can I do, Mr. Bowen?" he gasped, bewildered. + +"Consult an attorney," advised Mr. Bowen promptly. + +"I'll do it," shouted "Bobby" Browne, one time halfback on his college +eleven. "Break the will for me, Mr. Bowen, and I'll give--" + +"I can't break it, Bobby. I'm its executor." + +"Good Lord! Well, then, who is the best will-breaker you know, please? +Something has to be done right away." + +"I'm afraid you don't grasp the situation. Now if you were not married +it would--" + +"I wouldn't give up my wife for all the islands in the universe. That's +settled. You don't know how happy we are. She's the--" + +"Yes, yes, I know," interrupted the wily Mr. Bowen. "Don't tell me about +it. She's a stumbling block, however, even though we are agreed that +she's a most delightful one. Your co-legatee also possesses a block, +perhaps not so delicate, but I daresay she feels the same about hers as +you do about yours. I can't advise you, my boy. Go and see Judge Garrett +over in the K---- building. They say he expects to come back from the +grave to break his own will." + +Ten minutes later an excited young man rushed into an office in the +K---- building. Two minutes afterward he was laying the case before that +distinguished old counsellor, Judge Abner Garrett. + +"You will have to fight it jointly," said Judge Garrett, after +extracting the wheat from the chaff of Browne's remarks. "You can't take +hers away from her and she can't get yours. We must combine against the +natives. Come back to-morrow at two." + +Promptly at two Browne appeared, eager-eyed and nervous. He had left +behind him at home a miserable young woman with red eyes and choking +breath who bemoaned the cruel conviction that she stood between him and +fortune. + +"But hang it all, dearest, I wouldn't marry that girl if I had the +chance. I'd marry you all over again to-day if I could," he had cried +out to her, but she wondered all afternoon if he really meant it. It +never entered her head to wonder if Lady Deppingham was old or young, +pretty or ugly, bright or dull. She had been Mrs. Browne for three +months and she could not quite understand how she had been so happy up +to this sickening hour. + +Judge Garrett had a copy of the will in his hand. He looked dubious, +even dismayed. + +"It's as sound as the rock of Gibraltar," he announced dolefully. + +"You don't mean it!" gasped poor Bobby, mopping his fine Harvard brow, +his six feet of manhood shrinking perceptibly as he looked about for a +chair in which to collapse. "C--can't it be smashed?" + +"It might be an easy matter to prove either of these old gentlemen to +have been insane, but the two of them together make it out of the +question----" + +"Darned unreasonable." + +"What do you mean, sir?" indignantly. + +"I mean--oh, you know what I mean. The conditions and all that. Why, the +old chumps must have been trying to prove their grandchildren insane +when they made that will. Nobody but imbeciles would marry people they'd +never seen. I----" + +"But the will provides for a six months' courtship, Dr. Browne, I'm +sorry to say. You might learn to love a person in less time and still +retain your mental balance, you know, especially if she were pretty and +an heiress to half your own fortune. I daresay that is what they were +thinking about." + +"Thinking? They weren't thinking of anything at all. They weren't +capable. Why didn't they consider the possibility that things might turn +out just as they have?" + +"Possibly they did consider it, my boy. It looks to me as if they did +not care a rap whether it went to their blood relatives or to the +islanders. I fancy of the two they loved the islanders more. At any +rate, they left a beautiful opening for the very complications which now +conspire to give the natives their own, after all. There may be some +sort of method in their badness. More than likely they concluded to let +luck decide the matter." + +"Well, I guess it has, all right." + +"Don't lose heart. It's worth fighting for even if you lose. I'd hate to +see those islanders get all of it, even if you two can't marry each +other. I've thought it over pretty thoroughly and I've reached a +conclusion. It's necessary for both of you to be on the ground according +to schedule. You must go to the island, wife or no wife, and there's not +much time to be lost. Lady Deppingham won't let the grass grow under her +feet if I know anything about the needs of English nobility, and I'll +bet my hat she's packing her trunks now for a long stay in Japat. You +have farther to go than she, but you _must_ get over there inside of +sixty days. I daresay your practice can take care of itself," +ironically. Browne nodded cheerfully. "You can't tell what may happen in +the next six months." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Well, it's possible that you may become a widower and she a wid--" + +"Good heaven, Judge Garrett! Impossible!" gasped Bobby Browne, clutching +the arms of his chair. + +"Nothing is impossible, my boy--" + +"Well, if that's what you're counting on you can count me out, I won't +speculate on my wife's death." + +"But, man, suppose that it _did_ happen!" roared the judge irascibly. +"You should be prepared for the best--I mean the worst. Don't look like +a sick dog. We've got to watch every corner, that's all, and be +Johnny-on-the-spot when the time comes. You go to the island at once. +Take your wife along if you like. You'll find her ladyship there, and +she'll need a woman to tell her troubles to. I'll have the papers ready +for you to sign in three days, and I don't think we'll have any trouble +getting the British heirs to join in the suit to overthrow the will. The +only point is this: the islanders must not have the advantage that your +absence from Japat will give to them. Now, I'll----" + +"But, good Lord, Judge Garrett, I can't go to that confounded island," +wailed Browne. "Take my wife over among those heathenish----" + +"Do you expect me to handle this case for you, sir?" + +"Sure." + +"Then let me handle it. Don't interfere. When you start in to get +somebody else's money you have to do a good many things you don't like, +no matter whether you are a lawyer or a client." + +"But I don't like the suggestion that my wife will be obliged to die in +order----" + +"Please leave all the details to me, Mr. Browne. It may not be necessary +for her to die. There are other alternatives in law. Give the lawyers a +chance. We'll see what we can do. Besides, it would be unreasonable to +expect his lordship to die also. All you have to do is to plant yourself +on that island and stay there until we tell you to get off." + +"Or the islanders push me off," lugubriously. + +"Now, listen intently and I'll tell you just what you are to do." + +Young Mr. Browne went away at dusk, half reeling under the +responsibility of existence, and eventually reached the side of the +anxious young woman uptown. He bared the facts and awaited the wail of +dismay. + +"I think it will be perfectly jolly," she cried, instead, and kissed him +rapturously. + +Over on the opposite side of the Atlantic the excitement in certain +circles was even more intense than that produced in Boston. Lord +Deppingham needed the money, but he was a whole day in grasping the fact +that his wife could not have it and him at the same time. The beautiful +and fashionable Lady Deppingham, once little Agnes Ruthven, came as near +to having hysteria as Englishwomen ever do, but she called in a lawyer +instead of a doctor. For three days she neglected her social duties (and +they were many), ignored her gallant admirers (and they were many), and +hurried back and forth between home and chambers so vigorously that his +lordship was seldom closer than a day behind in anything she did. + +There was a great rattling of trunks, a jangling of keys, a thousand +good-byes, a cast-off season, and the Deppinghams were racing away for +the island of Japat somewhere in the far South Seas. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +INTRODUCING HOLLINGSWORTH CHASE + + +While all this was being threshed out by the persons most vitally +interested in the affairs of Taswell Skaggs and John Wyckholme, events +of a most unusual character were happening to one who not only had no +interest in the aforesaid heritage, but no knowledge whatever of its +existence. The excitement attending the Skaggs-Wyckholme revelations had +not yet spread to the Grand Duchy of Rapp-Thorberg, apparently lost as +it was in the cluster of small units which went to make up a certain +empire: one of the world powers. The Grand Duke Michael disdained the +world at large; he had but little in common with anything that moved +beyond the confines of his narrow domain. His court was sleepy, +lackadaisical, unemotional, impregnable to the taunts of progression; +his people were thrifty, stolid and absolutely stationary in their +loyalty to the ancient traditions of the duchy; his army was a mere +matter of taxation and not a thing of pomp or necessity. Four times a +year he inspected the troops, and just as many times in the year were +the troops obliged to devote themselves to rigorous display. The rest of +the time was spent in social intrigue and whistling for the war-clouds +that never came. + +The precise location of the Grand Duchy in the map of the world has +little or nothing to do with this narrative; indeed, were it not for the +fact that the Grand Duke possessed a charming and most desirable +daughter, the Thorberg dynasty would not be mentioned at all. For that +matter, it is brought to light briefly for the sole purpose of +identifying the young lady in question, and the still more urgent desire +to connect her past with her future--for which we have, perhaps +intemperately, an especial consideration. It is only necessary, +therefore, for us to step into and out of the Grand Duchy without the +procrastination usual in a sojourner, stopping long enough only to see +how tiresome it would be to stay, and to wonder why any one remained who +could get away. Not that the Grand Duchy was an utterly undesirable +place, but that too much time already had been wasted there by the +populace itself. + +It has been said that events of a most unusual character were happening; +any event that roused the people from their daily stolidity was +sufficiently unusual to suggest the superlative. The Grand Duke's peace +of mind had been severely disturbed--so severely, in fact, that he was +transferring his troubles to the Emperor, who, in turn, felt obliged to +communicate with the United States Ambassador, and who, in his turn, had +no other alternative than to take summary action in respect to the +indiscretions of a fellow-countryman. + +In the beginning, it was not altogether the fault of the young man who +had come from America to serve his country. Whatever may have been the +turmoil in the Grand Duke's palace at Thorberg, Chase's conscience was +even and serene. He had no excuses to offer--for that matter none would +have been entertained--and he was resigning his post with the confidence +that he had performed his obligations as an American gentleman should, +even though the performance had created an extraordinary commotion. +Chase was new to the Old World and its customs, especially those +rigorous ones which surrounded royalty and denied it the right to +venture into the commonplace. The ambassador at the capital of the +Empire at first sought to excuse him on the ground of ignorance; but the +Grand Duke insisted that even an American could not be such a fool as +Chase had been; so, it must have been a wilful offence that led up to +the controversy. + +Chase had been the representative of the American Government at Thorberg +for six months. He never fully understood why the government should have +a representative there; but that was a matter quite entirely for the +President to consider. The American flag floated above his doorway in +the Friedrich Strasse, but in all his six months of occupation not ten +Americans had crossed the threshold. As a matter of fact, he had seen +fewer than twenty Americans in all that time. He was a vigorous, healthy +young man, and it may well be presumed that the situation bored him. +Small wonder, then, that he kept out of mischief for half a year. +Diplomatic service is one thing and the lack of opportunity is quite +another. Chase did his best to find occupation for his diplomacy, but +what chance had he with nothing ahead of him but regular reports to the +department in which he could only announce that he was in good health +and that no one had "called." + +Chase belonged to the diplomatic class which owes its elevation to the +influence of Congress--not to Congress as a body but to one of its +atoms. He was not a politician; no more was he an office seeker. He was +a real soldier of fortune, in search of affairs--in peace or in war, on +land or at sea. Possessed of a small income, sufficiently adequate to +sustain life if he managed to advance it to the purple age (but wholly +incapable of supporting him as a thriftless diplomat), he was compelled +to make the best of his talents, no matter to what test they were put. +He left college at twenty-two, possessed of the praiseworthy design to +earn his own way without recourse to the $4,500 income from a certain +trust fund. His plan also incorporated the hope to save every penny of +that income for the possible "rainy day." He was now thirty; in each of +several New York banks he had something like $4,000 drawing three per +cent. interest while he picked his blithe way through the world on +$2,500 a year, more or less, as chance ordained. + +"When I'm forty," Chase was wont to remark to envious spendthrifts who +couldn't understand his philosophy, "I'll have over a hundred thousand +there, and if I live to be ninety, just think what I'll have! And it +will be like finding the money, don't you see? Of course, I won't live +to be ninety. Moreover, I may get married and have to maintain a poor +wife with rich relatives, which is a terrible strain, you know. You have +to live up to your wife's relatives, if you don't do anything else." + +He did not refer to the chance that he was quite sure to come in for a +large legacy at the death of his maternal grandfather, a millionaire +ranch owner in the Far West. Chase never counted on probabilities; he +took what came and was satisfied. + +After leaving college, he drifted pretty much over the world, taking pot +luck with fortune and clasping the hand of circumstance, to be led into +the highways and byways, through good times and ill times, in love and +out, always coming safely into port with a smiling wind behind. There +had been hard roads to travel as well as easy ones, but he never +complained; he swung on through life with the heart of a soldier and the +confidence of a Pagan. He loathed business and he abhorred trade. + +"That little old trust fund is making more money for me by lying idle +than I could accumulate in a century by hard work as a grocer or an +undertaker," he was prone to philosophise when his uncles, who were +merchants, urged him to settle down and "do something." Not that there +were grocers or undertakers among them; it was his way of impressing his +sense of freedom upon them. + +He was an orphan and bounden to no man. No one had the right to question +his actions after his twenty-first anniversary. It was fortunate for him +that he was a level-headed as well as a wild-hearted chap, else he might +have sunk to the perdition his worthy uncles prescribed for him. He went +in for law at Yale, and then practised restlessly, vaguely for two years +in Baltimore, under the patronage of his father's oldest friend, a +lawyer of distinction. + +"If I fail at everything else, I'll go back to the practice of law," he +said cheerfully. "Uncle Henry is mean enough to say that he has +forgotten more law than I ever knew, but he has none the better of me. +'Gad, I am confident that I've forgotten more law, myself, than I ever +knew." + +Tiring of the law books and reports in the old judge's office, he +suddenly abandoned his calling and set forth to see the world. Almost +before his friends knew that he had left he was heard of in Turkestan. +In course of time he served as a war correspondent for one of the great +newspapers, acted as agent for great hemp dealers in the Philippines, +carried a rifle with the Boers in South Africa, hunted wild beasts in +Asia and in Hottentot land, took snapshots in St. Petersburg, and almost +got to the North Pole with one of the expeditions. To do and be all of +these he had to be a manly man. Not in a month's journey would you meet +a truer thoroughbred, a more agreeable chap, a more polished vagabond, +than Hollingsworth Chase, first lieutenant in Dame Fortune's army. Tall, +good looking, rawboned, cheerful, gallant, he was the true comrade of +those merry, reckless volunteers from all lands who find commissions in +Fortune's army and serve her faithfully. He had shared pot luck in odd +parts of the world with English lords, German barons and French +counts--all serving under the common flag. His heart had withstood the +importunate batterings of many a love siege; the wounds had been +pleasant ones and the recovery quick. He left no dead behind him. + +He was nearly thirty when the diplomatic service began to appeal to him +as a pleasing variation from the rigorous occupations he had followed +heretofore. A British lordling put it into his head, away out in Delhi. +It took root, and he hurried home to attend to its growth. One of his +uncles was a congressman and another was in some way connected with +railroads. He first sought the influence of the latter and then the +recommendation of the former. In less than six weeks after his arrival +in Washington he was off for the city of Thorberg in the Grand Duchy of +Rapp-Thorberg, carrying with him an appointment as consul and supplied +with the proper stamps and seal of office. His uncle compassionately +informed him beforehand that his service in Thorberg would be brief and +certainly would lead up to something much better. + +At the end of five months he was devoutly, even pathetically, hoping +that his uncle was no false prophet. He loathed Thorberg; he hated the +inhabitants; he smarted under the sting of royal disdain; he had no real +friends, no boon companions and he was obliged to be good! What wonder, +then, that the bored, suffering, vivacious Mr. Chase seized the first +opportunity to leap headforemost into the very thick of a most appalling +indiscretion! + +When he first arrived in Thorberg to assume his sluggish duties he was +not aware of the fact that the Grand Duke had an unmarried daughter, the +Princess Genevra. Nor, upon learning that the young lady existed, was he +particularly impressed; the royal princesses he had been privileged to +look upon were not remarkable for their personal attractiveness: he +forthwith established Genevra in what he considered to be her proper +sphere. + +She was visiting in St. Petersburg or Berlin or some other place--he +gave it no thought at the time--when he reached his post of duty, and it +was toward the end of his fifth month before she returned to her +father's palace in Thorberg. He awoke to the importance of the occasion, +and took some slight interest in the return of the royal young +lady--even going so far as to follow the crowd to the railway station on +the sunny June afternoon. His companions were two young fellows from the +English bank and a rather agreeable attache of the French Government. + +He saw the Princess for the first time that afternoon, and he was bowled +over, to use the expression of his English friends with whom he dined +that night. She was the first woman that he had ever looked upon that he +could describe, for she was the only one who had impressed him to that +extent. This is how he pictured her at the American legation in Paris a +few weeks later: + +"Ever see her? Well, you've something to live for, gentlemen. I've seen +her but three times and I don't seem able to shake off the spell. Her +sisters, you know--the married ones--are nothing to look at, and the +Grand Duke isn't a beauty by any means. How the deuce she happens to +produce such a contrast I can't, for the life of me, understand. Nature +does some marvellous things, by George, and she certainly spread herself +on the Princess Genevra. You've never seen such hair. 'Gad, it's as near +like the kind that Henner painted as anything human could be, except +that it's more like old gold, if you can understand what I mean by that. +Not bronze, mind you, nor the raw red, but--oh, well, I'm not a +novelist, so I can't half-way describe it. She's rather tall--not too +tall, mind you--five feet five, I'd say--whatever that is in the metric +system. Slender and well dressed--oh, that's the strangest thing of all! +Well dressed! Think of a princess being well dressed! I can see that you +don't believe me, but I'll stake my word it's true. Of course, I've seen +but three of her gowns and--but that's neither here nor there. I'd say +she's twenty-two or twenty-three years of age--not a minute older. I +think her eyes are a very dark grey, almost blue. Her skin is like +a--a--oh, let me see, what is there that's as pure and soft as her skin? +Something warm, and pink, and white, d'ye see? Well, never mind. And her +smile! And her frown! You know, I've seen both of 'em, and one's as +attractive as the other. She's a real princess, gentlemen, and the +prettiest woman I've ever laid my eyes upon. And to think of her as the +wife of that blithering little ass--that nincompoop of a Karl Brabetz! +She loathes him, I'm sure--I _know_ she does. And she's _got_ to marry +him! That's what she gets for being a Grand Duke's daughter. Brabetz is +the heir apparent to some duchy or other over there and is supposed to +be the catch of the season. You've heard of him. He was in Paris this +season and cut quite a figure--a prince with real money in his purse, +you know. I wonder why it is that our American girls can't marry the +princes who have money instead of those who have none. Not that I wish +any of our girls such bad luck as Brabetz! I'll stake my head he'll +never forget me!" Chase concluded with a sharp, reflective laugh in +which his hearers joined, for the escapade which inspired it was being +slyly discussed in every embassy in Europe by this time, but no one +seemed especially loth to shake Chase's hand on account of it. + +But to return: the advent of the Princess put fresh life into the +slowgoing city and court circles. Charming people, whom Chase had never +seen before, seemed to spring into existence suddenly; the streets took +on a new air; the bands played with a keener zest and the army prinked +itself into a most amazingly presentable shape. Officers with noble +blood in their veins stepped out of the obscurity of months; swords +clanked merrily instead of dragging slovenly at the heels of their +owners; uniforms glistened with a new ambition, and the whole atmosphere +of Thorberg underwent a change so startling that Chase could hardly +believe his senses. He lifted up his chin, threw out his chest, banished +the look of discontent from his face and announced to himself that +Thorberg was not such a bad place after all. + +For days he swung blithely through the streets, the hang-dog look gone +from his eyes, always hoping for another glimpse of the fair sorceress +who had worked the great transformation. He even went so far as to read +the court society news in the local papers, and grew to envy the men +whose names were mentioned in the same column with that of the fair +Genevra. It was two weeks before he saw her the second time; he was more +enchanted by her face than before, especially as he came to realise the +astonishing fact that she was kind enough to glance in his direction +from time to time. + +It was during the weekly concert in the Kursaal, late one night. She +came in with a party, among whom he recognised several of the leading +personages at court. + +Once a week the regular concert gave way to a function in which the +royal orchestra was featured. On such occasions the attendance was +extremely fashionable, the Duke and his court usually being present. It +was not until this time, however, that Chase felt that he could sit +through a concert without being bored to extinction. He loved music, but +not the kind that the royal orchestra rendered; Wagner, Chopin, Mozart +were all the same to him--he hated them fervently and he was _not_ yet +given to stratagems and spoils. He sat at a table with the French +attache just below the box occupied by the Princess and her party. In +spite of the fact that he was a gentleman, born and bred, he could not +conquer countless impulses to look at the flower-face of the royal +auditor. They were surreptitious and sidelong peeps, it is true, but +they served him well. He caught her gaze bent upon him more than once, +and he detected an interest in her look that pleased his vanity +exceeding great. + +Gradually the programme led up to the feature of the evening--the +rendition of a great work under the direction of a famous leader, a +special guest of the music-loving Duke. + +Chase arose and cheered with the assemblage when the distinguished +director made his appearance. Then he proceeded to forget the man and +his genius--in fact everything save the rapt listener above him. She was +leaning forward on the rail of the box, her chin in her hand, her eyes +looking steadily ahead, enthralled by the music. Suddenly she turned and +looked squarely into his eyes, as if impelled by the magnetism they +unconsciously employed. A little flush mounted to her brow as she +quickly resumed her former attitude. Chase cursed himself for a +brainless lout. + +The number came to an end and the crowd arose to cheer the bowing, +smiling director. Chase cheered and shouted "bravo," too, because _she_ +was applauding as eagerly as the others. She called the flushed, bowing +director to her box, and publicly thanked him for the pleasure he had +given. Chase saw him kiss her hand as he murmured his gratitude. For the +first time in his life he coveted the occupation of an orchestra leader. + +The director was a frail, rather good-looking young man, with piercing +black eyes that seemed too bold in their scrutiny of the young lady's +face. Chase began to hate him; he was unreasonably thankful when he +passed on to the box in which the Duke sat. + +The third and last time he saw the Princess Genevra before his sudden, +spectacular departure from the Grand Duchy, was at the Duke's reception +to the nobility of Rapp-Thorberg and to the representatives of such +nations of the world as felt the necessity of having a man there in an +official capacity. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE INDISCREET MR. CHASE + + +There was not a handsomer, more striking figure in the palace gardens on +the night of the reception than Hollingsworth Chase, nor one whose poise +proved that he knew the world quite as well as it is possible for any +one man to know it. His was an unique figure, also, for he was easily +distinguishable as the only American in the brilliant assemblage. + +He was presented to the Princess late in the evening, together with +Baggs of the British office. His pride and confidence received a severe +shock. She glanced at him with unaffected welcome, but the air of one +who was looking upon his face for the first time. It was not until he +had spent a full hour in doleful self-commiseration, that his sense of +worldliness came to his relief. In a flash, he was joyously convincing +himself that her pose during the presentation was artfully--and very +properly--assumed. He saw through it very plainly! How simple he had +been! Of course, she could not permit him to feel that she had ever +displayed the slightest interest in him! His spirits shot upward so +suddenly that Baggs accused him of "negotiating a drink on the sly" and +felt very much injured that he had been ignored. + +The gardens of the palace were not unlike the stage setting of a great +spectacle. The sleepy, stolid character of the court had been +transformed, as if by magic. Chase wondered where all the pretty, +vivacious women could have sprung from--and were these the officers of +the Royal Guard that he had so often laughed at in disdain? Could that +gay old gentleman in red and gold be the morbid, carelessly clad Duke of +Rapp-Thorberg, whom he had grown to despise because he seemed so +ridiculously unlike a real potentate? He marvelled and rejoiced as he +strolled hither and thither with the casual Baggs, and for the first +time in his life really felt that it was pleasant to be stared at--in +admiration, too, he may be pardoned for supposing. + +He could not again approach within speaking distance of the +Princess--nor did he presume to make the effort. Chase knew his proper +place. It must be admitted, however, that he was never far distant from +her, but perhaps chance was responsible for that--chance and Baggs, who, +by nature, kept as close to royalty as the restrictions allowed. + +She was the gayest, the most vivacious being in the whole assemblage; +she had but to stretch out her hand or project her smile and every man +in touch with the spell was ready to drop at her feet. At last, she led +her court off toward the pavilion under which the royal orchestra was +playing. As if it were a signal, every one turned his steps in that +direction. Chase and the Englishman had been conversing diligently with +an ancient countess and her two attractive daughters near the fountain. +The Countess gave the command in the middle of Chase's dissertation on +Italian cooking, and the party hastily fell in line with the throng +which hurried forward. + +"What is it? Supper again?" whispered Baggs, lugubriously. + +One of the young women, doubtless observing the look of curiosity in the +face of the American, volunteered the information that the orchestra was +to repeat the great number which had so stirred the musical world at the +concert the week before. Chase's look of despair was instantly banished +by the recollection that the Princess had bestowed unqualified approval +on the previous occasion. Hence, if she enjoyed it, he was determined to +be pleased. + +Again the dapper director came forward to lead the musicians, and again +he was most enthusiastically received. His uniform fairly sparkled with +the thrill of vanity, which seemed to burst from every seam; his sword +clanked madly against his nimble legs as he bowed and scraped his +grateful recognition of the honour. This time Chase was not where he +could watch the Princess; he found, therefore, that he could devote his +attention to the music and the popular conductor. He was amazed to find +that the fellow seemed to be inspired; he was also surprised to find +himself carried away by the fervour of the moment. + +With the final crash of the orchestra, he found himself shouting again +with the others; oddly, this time he was as mad as they. A score or more +of surprised, disapproving eyes were turned upon him when he yelled +"Encore!" + +"There will be no encore," admonished the fair girl at his side, kindly. +"It is not New York," she added, with a sly smile. + +Ten minutes later, Chase and the Englishman were lighting their cigars +in an obscure corner of the gardens, off in the shadows where the circle +of light spent itself among the trees. + +"Extraordinarily beautiful," Chase murmured reflectively, as he seated +himself upon the stone railing along the drive. + +"Yes, they say he really wrote it himself," drawled Baggs, puffing away. + +"I'm not talking about the music," corrected Chase sharply. + +"Oh," murmured Baggs, apologetically. "The night?" + +"No! The Princess, Baggs. Haven't you noticed her?" with intense sarcasm +in his tone. + +"Of course, I have, old chap. By Jove, do you know she _is_ +good-looking--positively ripping." + +The concert over, people began strolling into the more distant corners +of the huge garden, down the green-walled walks and across the moonlit +terraces. For a long time, the two men sat moodily smoking in their dark +nook, watching the occasional passers-by; listening to the subdued +laughter and soft voices of the women, the guttural pleasantries of the +men. They lazily observed the approach of one couple, attracted, no +doubt, by the disparity in the height of the two shadows. The man was at +least half a head shorter than his companion, but his ardour seemed a +thousandfold more vast. Chase was amused by the apparent intensity of +the small officer's devotion, especially as it was met with a coldness +that would have chilled the fervour of a man much larger and therefore +more timid. It was impossible to see the faces of the couple until they +passed through a moonlit streak in the walk, quite close at hand. + +Chase started and grasped his companion's arm. One was the Princess +Genevra and--was it possible? Yes, the nimble conductor! The sensation +of the hour--the musical lion! Moreover, to Chase's cold horror, the +"little freak" was actually making violent love to the divinity of +Rapp-Thorberg! + +There was no doubt of it now. The Princess and her escort--the plebeian +upstart--were quite near at hand, and, to the dismay of the smokers, +apparently were unaware of their presence in the shadows. Chase's heart +was boiling with disappointed rage. His idol had fallen, from a +tremendous height to a depth which disgusted him. + +Then transpired the thing which brought about Hollingsworth Chase's +sudden banishment from Rapp-Thorberg, and came near to making him the +laughing stock of the service. + +The Princess had not seen the two men; nor had the fervent conductor, +whose impassioned French was easily distinguishable by the unwilling +listeners. The sharp, indignant "no" of the Princess, oft repeated, did +much to relieve the pain in the heart of her American admirer. Finally, +with an unmistakable cry of anger, she halted not ten feet from where +Chase sat, as though he had become a part of the stone rail. He could +almost feel the blaze in her eyes as she turned upon the presumptuous +conductor. + +"I have asked you not to touch me, sir! Is not that enough? If you +persist, I shall be compelled to appeal to my father again. The whole +situation is loathsome to me. Are you blind? Can you not see that I +despise you? I will not endure it a day longer. You promised to respect +my wishes--" + +"How can I respect a promise which condemns me to purgatory every time I +see you?" he cried passionately. "I adore you. You are the queen of my +life, the holder of my soul. Genevra, Genevra, I love you! My soul for +one tender word, for one soft caress! Ah, do not be so cruel! I will be +your slave--" + +"Enough! Stop, I say! If you dare to touch me!" she cried, drawing away +from her tormentor, her voice trembling with anger. The little +conductor's manner changed on the instant. He gave a snarl of rage and +despair combined as he raised his clenched hands in the air. For a +moment words seemed to fail him. Then he cried out: + +"By heaven, I'll make you pay for this some day! You shall learn what a +man can do with a woman such as you are! You--" + +Just at that moment a tall figure leaped from the shadows and confronted +the quivering musician. A heavy hand fell upon his collar and he was +almost jerked from his feet, half choked, half paralysed with alarm. Not +a word was spoken. Chase whirled the presumptuous suitor about until he +faced the gates to the garden. Then, with more force than he realised, +he applied his boot to the person of the offender--once, twice, thrice! +The military jacket of the recipient of these attentions was of the +abbreviated European pattern and the trousers were skin tight. + +The Princess started back with a cry of alarm--ay, terror. The onslaught +was so sudden, so powerless to avert, that it seemed like a visitation +of wrath from above. She stared, wide-eyed and unbelieving, upon the +brief tragedy; she saw her tormentor hurled viciously toward the gates +and then, with new alarm, saw him pick himself up from the ground, +writhing with pain and anger. His sword flashed from its scabbard as, +with a scream of rage, he dashed upon the tall intruder. She saw +Chase--even in the shadows she knew him to be the American--she saw +Chase lightly leap aside, avoiding the thrust for his heart. Then, as if +he were playing with a child, he wrested the weapon from the conductor's +hand, snapped the blade in two pieces and threw them off into the +bushes. + +"Skip!" was his only word. It was a command that no one in Rapp-Thorberg +ever had heard before. + +"You shall pay for this!" screamed the conductor, tugging at his collar. +"Scoundrel! Dog! Beast! What do you mean! Murderer! Robber! Assassin!" + +"You know what I mean, you little shrimp!" roared Chase. "Skip! Don't +hang around here a second longer or I'll--" and he took a threatening +step toward his adversary. The latter was discreet, if not actually a +coward. He turned tail and ran twenty paces or more in heartbreaking +time; then, realising that he was not pursued, stopped and shook his +fist at his assailant. + +"Come, Genevra," he gasped, but she remained as if rooted to the spot. +He waited an instant, and then walked rapidly away in the direction of +the palace, his back as straight as a ramrod, but his legs a trifle +unsteady. The trio watched him for a full minute, speech-bound now that +the deed was done and the consequences were to be considered. Baggs +grasped Chase by the shoulder, shook him and exclaimed, when it was too +late: + +"You blooming ass, do you know what you've done?" + +"The da--miserable cur was annoying the Princess," muttered Chase, +straightening his cuffs, vaguely realising that he had interfered too +hastily. + +"Confound it, man, he's the chap she's going to marry." + +"Marry?" gasped Chase. + +"The hereditary prince of Brabetz--Karl Brabetz." + +"Good Lord!" + +"You must have known." + +"How the dev--Of course I didn't know," groaned Chase. "But hang it all, +man, he was annoying her. She was flouting him for it. She said she +despised him. I don't understand----" + +The Princess came forward into the light of the path. There was a quaint +little wrinkle of mirth about her lips, which trembled nevertheless, but +her eyes were full of solicitude. + +"I'm sorry, sir," she began nervously. "You have made a serious mistake. +But," she added frankly, holding out her hand to him, "you meant to +defend me. I thank you." + +Chase bowed low over her hand, too bewildered to speak. Baggs was +pulling at his mustache and looking nervously in the direction which the +Prince had taken. + +"He'll be back here with the guard," he muttered. + +"He will go to my father," said Genevra, her voice trembling. "He will +be very angry. I am sorry, indeed, that you should have witnessed +our--our scene. Of course, you could not have known who he was----" + +"I thought he was a--but in any event, your highness, he was annoying +you," supplemented Chase eagerly. + +"You _will_ forgive me if I've caused you even greater, graver +annoyance. What can I do to set the matter right? I can explain my error +to the Duke. He'll understand--" + +"Alas, he will not understand. He does not even understand me," she said +meaningly. "Oh, I'm so sorry. It may--it will mean trouble for you." +There was a catch in her voice. + +"I'll fight him," murmured Chase, wiping his brow. + +"Deuce take it, man, he won't fight you," said Baggs. "He's a prince, +you know. He can't, you know. It's a beastly mess." + +"Perhaps--perhaps you'd better go at once," said the Princess, rather +pathetically. "My father will not overlook the indignity to--to my--to +his future son-in-law. I am afraid he may take extreme measures. Believe +me, I understand why you did it and I--again I thank you. I am not angry +with you, yet you will understand that I cannot condone your kind +fault." + +"Forgive me," muttered the hapless Chase. + +"It would not be proper in me to say that I could bless you for what you +have done," she said, so naively that he lifted his eyes to hers and let +his heart escape heavenward. + +"The whole world will call me a bungling, stupid ass for not knowing who +he was," said Chase, with a wretched smile. + +Her face brightened after a moment, and an entrancing smile broke around +her lips. + +"If I were you, I'd never confess that I did not know who he was," she +said. "Let the world think that you _did_ know. It will not laugh, then. +If you can trust your friend to keep the secret, I am sure you can trust +me to do the same." + +Again Chase was speechless--this time with joy. She would shield him +from ridicule! + +"And now, please go! It were better if you went at once. I am afraid the +affair will not end with to-night. It grieves me to feel that I may be +the unhappy cause of misfortune to you." + +"No misfortune can appal me now," murmured he gallantly. Then came the +revolting realisation that she was to wed the little musician. The +thought burst from his lips before he could prevent: "I don't believe +you want to marry him. He is the Duke's choice. You--" + +"And I am the Duke's daughter," she said steadily, a touch of hauteur in +her voice. "Good-night. Good-bye. I am not sorry that it has happened." + +She turned and left them, walking swiftly among the trees. A moment +later her voice came from the shadows, quick and pleading. + +"Hasten," she called softly. "They are coming. I can see them." + +Baggs grasped Chase by the arm and hurried him through the gate, past +the unsuspecting sentry. They did not know that the Princess, upon +meeting the soldiers, told them that the two men had gone toward the +palace instead of out into the city streets. It gave them half an hour's +start. + +"It's a devil of a mess," sighed Baggs, when they were far from the +walls. "The Duke may have you jugged, and it would serve you jolly well +right." + +"Now, see here, Baggs, none of that," growled Chase. "You'd have done +the same thing if you hadn't been brought up to fall on your face before +royalty. It will cost me my job here, but I'm glad I did it. +Understand?" + +"I'm sure it will cost you the job if nothing else. You'll be relieved +before to-morrow night, my word for it. And you'll be lucky if that's +all. The Duke's a terror. I don't, for the life of me, see how you +failed to know who the chap really is." + +"An Englishman never sees a joke until it is too late, they say. This +time it appears to be the American who is slow witted. What I don't +understand is why he was leading that confounded band." + +"My word, Chase, everybody in Europe--except you--knows that Brabetz is +a crank about music. Composes, directs and all that. Over in Brabetz he +supports the conservatory of music, written dozens of things for the +orchestra, plays the pipe organ in the cathedral--all that sort of rot, +you know. He's a confounded little bounder, just the same. He's mad +about music and women and don't care a hang about wine. The worst kind, +don't you know. I say, it's a rotten shame she has to marry him. But +that's the way of it with royalty, old chap. You Americans don't +understand it. They have to marry one another whether they like it or +not. But, I say, you'd better come over and stop with me to-night. It +will be better if they don't find you just yet." + +Three days later, a man came down to relieve Chase of his office; he was +unceremoniously supplanted in the Duchy of Rapp-Thorberg. + +It was the successful pleading of the Princess Genevra that kept him +from serving a period in durance vile. + + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE ENGLISH INVADE + + +The granddaughter of Jack Wyckholme, attended by two maids, her husband +and his valet, a clerk from the chambers of Bosworth, Newnes & Grapewin, +a red cocker, seventeen trunks and a cartload of late novels, which she +had been too busy to read at home, was the first of the bewildered +legatees to set foot upon the island of Japat. A rather sultry, boresome +voyage across the Arabian Sea in a most unhappy steamer which called at +Japat on its way to Sidney, depressed her spirits to some extent but not +irretrievably. + +She was very pretty, very smart and delightfully arrogant after a manner +of her own. To begin with, Lady Agnes could see no sensible reason why +she should be compelled to abandon a very promising autumn and winter at +home, to say nothing of the following season, for the sake of protecting +what was rightfully her own against the impudent claims of an unheard-of +American. + +She complacently informed her solicitors that it was all rubbish; they +could arrange, if they would, without forcing her to take this +abominable step. Upon reflection, however, and after Mr. Bosworth had +pointed out the risk to her, she was ready enough to take the step, +although still insisting that it was abominable. + +Mr. Saunders was the polite but excessively middle-class clerk who went +out to keep the legal strings untangled for them. He was soon to +discover that his duties were even more comprehensive. + +It was he who saw to it that the luggage was transferred to the lighter +which came out to the steamer when she dropped anchor off the town of +Aratat; it was he who counted the pieces and haggled with the boatmen; +it was he who carried off the hand luggage when the native dock boys +refused to engage in the work; it was he who unfortunately dropped a +suitcase upon the hallowed tail of the red cocker, an accident which +ever afterward gave him a tenacity of grip that no man could understand; +it was he who made all of the inquiries, did all of the necessary +swearing, and came last in the procession which wended its indignant way +up the long slope to the chateau on the mountain side. + +If Lady Deppingham expected a royal welcome from the inhabitants of +Japat, she was soon to discover her error. Not only was the pictured +scene of welcome missing on the afternoon of her arrival, but an +overpowering air of antipathy smote her in the face as she stepped from +the lighter--conquest in her smile of conciliation. The attitude of the +brown-faced Mohammedans who looked coldly upon the fair visitor was far +from amiable. They did not fall down and bob their heads; they did not +even incline them in response to her overtures. What was more trying, +they glared at the newcomers in a most expressive manner. Lady +Deppingham's chin was interrupted in its tilt of defiance by the shudder +of alarm which raced through her slender figure. She glanced from right +to left down the lines of swarthy islanders, and saw nothing in their +faces but surly, bitter unfriendliness. They stood stolidly, stonily at +a distance, white-robed lines of resentment personified. + +Not a hand was lifted in assistance to the bewildered visitors; not a +word, not a smile of encouragement escaped the lips of the silent +throng. + +Lady Agnes looked about eagerly in search of a white man's face, but +there was none to be seen except in her own party. A moment of panic +came to her as she stood there on the pier, almost alone, while Saunders +and her husband were engaged in the effort to secure help with the +boxes. Behind her lay the friendly ocean; ahead the gorgeous landscape, +smiling down upon her with the green glow of poison in its sunny face, +dark treachery in its heart. On the instant she realised that these +people were her enemies, and that they were the real masters of the +island, after all. She found herself wondering whether they meant to +settle the question of ownership then and there, before she could so +much as set her foot upon the coveted soil at the end of the pier. A +hundred knives might hack her to pieces, but even as she shuddered a +rush of true British doggedness warmed her blood; after all, she was +there to fight for her rights and she would stand her ground. Almost +before she realised, the dominant air of superiority which characterises +her nation, no matter whither its subjects may roam, crept out above her +brief touch of timidity, and she found that she could stare defiantly +into the swarthy ranks. + +"Is there no British agent here?" she demanded imperatively, perhaps a +little more shrilly than usual. + +No one deigned to answer; glances of indifference, even scorn, passed +among the silent lookers-on, but that was all. It was more than her +pride could endure. Her smooth cheeks turned a deeper pink and her blue +eyes flashed. + +"Does no one here understand the English language?" she demanded. "I +don't mean you, Mr. Saunders," she added sharply, as the little clerk +set the suitcase down abruptly and stepped forward, again fumbling his +much-fumbled straw hat. This was the moment when the red cocker's tail +came to grief. The dog arose with an astonished yelp and fled to his +mistress; he had never been so outrageously set upon before in all his +pampered life. Seizing the opportunity to vent her feelings upon one who +could understand, even as she poured soothings upon the insulted Pong, +whom she clasped in her arms, Lady Agnes transformed the unlucky +Saunders into a target for a most ably directed volley of wrath. The +shadow of a smile swept down the threatening row of dark faces. + +Lord Deppingham, a slow and cumbersome young man, stood by nervously +fingering his eyeglass. For the first time he felt that the clerk was +better than a confounded dog, after all. He surprised every one, his +wife most of all, by coolly interfering, not particularly in defence of +the clerk but in behalf of the Deppingham dignity. + +"My dear," he said, waving Saunders into the background, "I think it was +an accident. The dog had no business going to sleep--" he paused and +inserted his monocle for the purpose of looking up the precise spot +where the accident had occurred. + +"He wasn't asleep," cried his wife. + +"Then, my dear, he has positively no excuse to offer for getting his +tail in the way of the bag. If he was awake and didn't have sense +enough--" + +"Oh, rubbish!" exclaimed her ladyship. "I suppose you expect the poor +darling to apologise." + +"All this has nothing to do with the case. We're more interested in +learning where we are and where we are to go. Permit me to have a look +about." + +His wife stared after him in amazement as he walked over to the canvas +awning in front of the low dock building, actually elbowing his way +through a group of natives. Presently he came back, twisting his left +mustache. + +"The fellow in there says that the English agent is employed in the +bank. It's straight up this street--by Jove, he called it a street, +don't you know," he exclaimed, disdainfully eyeing the narrow, dusty +passage ahead. Here and there a rude house or shop stood directly ahead +in the middle of the thoroughfare, with happy disregard for effect or +convenience. + +"There's the British flag, my lord, just ahead. See the building to the +right, sir?" said Mr. Saunders, more respectfully than ever and with +real gratitude in his heart. + +"So it is! That's where he is. I wonder why he isn't down here to meet +us." + +"Very likely he didn't know we were coming," said his wife icily. + +"Well, we'll look him up. Come along, everybody--Oh, I say, we can't +leave this luggage unguarded. They say these fellows are the worst +robbers east of London." + +It was finally decided, after a rather subdued discussion, that Mr. +Saunders should proceed to the bank and rout out the dilatory +representative of the British Government. Saunders looked down the +sullen line of faces, and blanched to his toes. He hemmed and hawed and +said something about his mother, which was wholly lost upon the barren +waste that temporarily stood for a heart in Lord Deppingham's torso. + +"Tell him we'll wait here for him," pursued his lordship. "But remind +him, damn him, that it's inexpressibly hot down here in the sun." + +They stood and watched the miserable Saunders tread gingerly up the +filthy street, his knees crooking outwardly from time to time, his toes +always touching the ground first, very much as if he were contemplating +an instantaneous sprint in any direction but the one he was taking. Even +the placid Deppingham was somewhat disturbed by the significant glances +that followed their emissary as he passed by each separate knot of +natives. He was distinctly dismayed when a dozen or more of the +dark-faced watchers wandered slowly off after Mr. Saunders. It was +clearly observed that Mr. Saunders stepped more nimbly after he became +aware of this fact. + +"I do hope Mr. Saunders will come back alive," murmured Bromley, her +ladyship's maid. The others started, for she had voiced the general +thought. + +"He won't come back at all, Bromley, unless he comes back alive," said +his lordship with a smile. It was a well-known fact that he never smiled +except when his mind was troubled. + +"Goodness, Deppy," said his wife, recognising the symptom, "do you +really think there is danger?" + +"My dear Aggy, who said there was any danger?" he exclaimed, and quickly +looked out to sea. "I rather think we'll enjoy it here," he added after +a moment's pause, in which he saw that the steamer was getting under +way. The Japat company's tug was returning to the pier. Lord Deppingham +sighed and then drew forth his cigarette case. "There!" he went on, +peering intently up the street. "Saunders is gone." + +"Gone?" half shrieked her ladyship. + +"Into the bank," he added, scratching a match. + +"Deppy," she said after a moment, "I hope I was not too hard on the poor +fellow." + +"Perhaps you won't be so nervous if you sit down and look at the sea," +he said gently, and she immediately knew that he suggested it because he +expected a tragedy in the opposite direction. She dropped Pong without +another word, and, her face quite serious, seated herself upon the big +trunk which he selected. He sat down beside her, and together they +watched the long line of smoke far out at sea. + +They expected every minute to hear the shouts of assassins and the +screams of the brave Mr. Saunders. Their apprehensions were sensibly +increased by the mysterious actions of the half-naked loiterers. They +seemed to consult among themselves for some time after the departure of +the clerk, and then, to the horror of the servants, made off in various +directions, more than one of them handling his ugly kris in an ominous +manner. Bromley was not slow to acquaint his lordship with these +movements. Deppingham felt a cold chill shoot up his spine, and he +cleared his throat as if to shout after the disappearing steamer. But he +maintained a brave front, or, more correctly, a brave back, for he +refused to encourage the maid's fears by turning around. + +It was broiling hot in the sun, but no one thought of the white +umbrellas. Saunders was the epitome of every thought. + +"Here he comes!" shouted the valet, joyously forgetting his station. His +lordship still stared at the sea. Lady Deppingham's little jaws were +shut tight and her fingers were clenched desperately in the effort to +maintain the proper dignity before her servants. + +"Your lordship," said Mr. Saunders, three minutes later, "this is Mr. +Bowles, his Majesty's agent here. He is come with me to--" + +It was then and not until then that his lordship turned his stare from +the sea to the clerk and his companion. + +"Aw," he interrupted, "glad to see you, I'm sure. Would you be good +enough to tell us how we are to reach the--er--chateau, and why the +devil we can't get anybody to move our luggage?" + +Mr. Bowles, who had lived in Japat for sixteen years, was a tortuously +slow Englishman with the curse of the clime still growing upon him. He +was half asleep quite a good bit of the time, and wholly asleep during +the remainder. A middle-aged man was he, yet he looked sixty. He +afterward told Saunders that it seemed to take two days to make one in +the beastly climate; that was why he was misled into putting off +everything until the second day. The department had sent him out long +ago at the request of Mr. Wyckholme; he had lost the energy to give up +the post. + +"Mr.--er--Mr. Saunders, my lord, has told me that you have been unable +to secure assistance in removing your belongings--" he began politely, +but Deppingham interrupted him. + +"Where is the chateau? Are there no vans to be had?" + +"Everything is transferred by hand, my lord, and the chateau is two +miles farther up the side of the mountain. It's quite a walk, sir." + +"Do you mean to say we are to walk?" + +"Yes, my lord, if you expect to go there." + +"Of course, we expect to go there. Are there no horses on the beastly +island?" + +"Hundreds, my lord, but they belong to the people and no one but their +owners ride them. One can't take them by the hour, you know. The +servants at the chateau turned Mr. Skaggs's horses out to pasture before +they left." + +"Before who left?" + +"The servants, my lord." + +Lady Deppingham's eyes grew wide with understanding. + +"You don't mean to say that the servants have left the place?" she +cried. + +"Yes, my lady. They were natives, you know." + +"What's that got to do with it?" demanded Deppingham. + +"I'm afraid you don't understand the situation," said Mr. Bowles +patiently. "You see, it's really a triangular controversy, if I may be +so bold as to say so. Lady Deppingham is one of the angles; Mr. Browne, +the American gentleman, is another; the native population is the last. +Each wants to be the hypothenuse. While the interests of all three are +merged in the real issue, there is, nevertheless, a decided disposition +all around to make it an entirely one-sided affair." + +"I don't believe I grasp--" muttered Deppingham blankly. + +"I see perfectly," exclaimed his wife. "The natives are allied against +us, just as we are, in a way, against them and Mr. Browne. Really, it +seems quite natural, doesn't it, dear?" turning to her husband. + +"Very likely, but very unfortunate. It leaves us to broil our brains out +down here on this pier. I say, Mr.--er--old chap, can't you possibly +engage some sort of transportation for us? Really, you know, we can't +stand here all day." + +"I've no doubt I can arrange it, my lord. If you will just wait here +until I run back to the bank, I daresay I'll find a way. Perhaps you'd +prefer standing under the awning until I return." + +The new arrivals glowered after him as he started off toward the bank. +Then they moved over to the shelter of the awning. + +"Did he say he was going to run?" groaned his lordship. The progress of +Bowles rivalled that of the historic tortoise. + +It was fully half an hour before he was seen coming down the street, +followed by a score or more of natives, their dirty white robes flapping +about their brown legs. At first they could not believe it was Bowles. +Lord Deppingham had a sharp thrill of joy, but it was shortlived. Bowles +had changed at least a portion of his garb; he now wore the tight red +jacket of the British trooper, while an ancient army cap was strapped +jauntily over his ear. + +"It's all right, my lord," he said, saluting as he came Up. "They will +do anything I tell 'em to do when I represent the British army. This is +the only uniform on the island, but they've been taught that there are +more where this one came from. These fellows will carry your boxes up to +the chateau, sixpence to the man, if you please, sir; and I've sent for +two carts to draw your party up the slope. They'll be here in a jiffy, +my lady. You'll find the drive a beautiful if not a comfortable one." +Then turning majestically to the huddled natives, he waved his slender +stick over the boxes, big and little, and said: "Lively, now! No +loafing! Lively!" + +Whereupon the entire collection of boxes, bags and bundles figuratively +picked itself up and walked off in the direction of the chateau. Bowles +triumphantly saluted Lord and Lady Deppingham. The former had a longing +look in his eye as he stared at Bowles and remarked: + +"I wish I had a troop of real Tommy Atkinses out here, by Jove." + + + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE CHATEAU + + +The road to the chateau took its devious way through the little +town--out into the green foothill beyond. Two lumbering, wooden wheeled +carts, none too clean, each drawn by four perspiring men, served as +conveyances by which the arrivals were to make the journey to their new +home. Mr. Bowles informed his lordship that horses were not submitted to +the indignity of drawing carts. The lamented Mr. Skaggs had driven his +own Arab steeds to certain fashionable traps, but the natives never +thought of doing such a thing. + +Lady Deppingham's pert little nose lifted itself in disgust as she was +joggled through the town behind the grunting substitutes for horseflesh. +She sat beside her husband in the foremost cart. Mr. Bowles, very tired, +but quite resplendent, walked dutifully beside one wheel; Mr. Saunders +took his post at the other. It might have been noticed that the latter +cut a very different figure from that which he displayed on his first +invasion of the street earlier in the day. The servants came along +behind in the second cart. Far ahead, like hounds in full cry, toiled +the unwilling luggage bearers. From the windows and doorways of every +house, from the bazaars and cafes, from the side streets and +mosque-approaches, the gaze of the sullen populace fastened itself upon +the little procession. The town seemed ominously silent. Deppingham +looked again and again at the red coat on the sloping shoulders of their +guardian, and marvelled not a little at the vastness of the British +dominion. He recalled his red hunting coat in one of the bags ahead, and +mentally resolved to wear it on all occasions--perhaps going so far as +to cut off its tails if necessary. + +At last they came to the end of the sunlit street and plunged into the +shady road that ascended the slope through what seemed to be an +absolutely unbroken though gorgeous jungle. The cool green depths looked +most alluring to the sun-baked travellers; they could almost imagine +that they heard the dripping of fountains, the gurgling of rivulets, so +like paradise was the prospect ahead. Lady Agnes could not restrain her +cries of delighted amazement. + +"It's like this all over the island, your ladyship," volunteered Mr. +Bowles, mopping his brow in a most unmilitary way. "Except at the mines +and back there in the town." + +"Where are the mines?" asked Deppingham. + +"The company's biggest mines are seven or eight miles eastward, as the +crow flies, quite at the other side of the island. It's very rocky over +there and there's no place for a landing from the sea. Everything is +brought overland to Aratat and placed in the vaults of the bank. Four +times a year the rubies and sapphires are shipped to the brokers in +London and Paris and Vienna. It's quite a neat and regular arrangement, +sir." + +"But I should think the confounded natives would steal everything they +got their hands on." + +"What would be the use, sir? They couldn't dispose of a single gem on +the island, and nothing is taken away from here except in the company's +chests. Besides, my lord, these people are not thieves. They are +absolutely honest. Smugglers have tried to bribe them, and the smugglers +have never lived to tell of it. They may kill people occasionally, but +they are quite honest, believe me. And, in any event, are they not a +part of the great corporation? They have their share in the working of +the mines and in the profits. Mr. Wyckholme and Mr. Skaggs were honest +with them and they have been just as honest in return." + +"Sounds very attractive," muttered Deppingham sceptically. + +"I should think they'd be terribly tempted," said Lady Agnes. "They look +so wretchedly poor." + +"They _are_ a bit out at the knees," said her husband, with a great +laugh. + +"My lady," said Bowles, "there are but four poor men on the island: +myself and the three Englishmen who operate the bank. There isn't a poor +man, woman or child among the natives. This is truly a land of rich men. +The superintendent of the mines is a white man--a German--and the three +foremen are Boers. They work on shares just as the natives do and save +even more, I think. The clerical force is entirely native. There were +but ten white men here before you came, including two Greeks. There are +no beggars. Perhaps you noticed that no one was asking for alms as you +came up." + +"'Gad, I should say we did," exclaimed Deppingham ruefully. "There +wasn't even a finger held out to us. But is this a holiday on the +island?" + +"A holiday, my lord?" + +"Yes. No one seems to be at work." + +"Oh? I see. Being part owners the natives have decided that four hours +constitutes a day's work. They pay themselves accordingly, as it were. +No one works after midday, sir." + +"I say, wouldn't this be a paradise for the English workingman?" said +Deppingham. "That's the kind of a day's labor they'd like. Do you mean +to say that these fellows trudge eight miles to work every morning and +back again at noon?" + +"Certainly not, sir. They ride their thoroughbred horses to work and +ride them back again. It's much better than omnibuses or horse cars, I'd +say, sir--as I remember them." + +"You take my breath away," said the other, lapsing into a stunned +silence. + +The road had become so steep and laborious by this time that Bowles was +very glad to forego the pleasure of talking. He fell back, with Mr. +Saunders, and ultimately both of them climbed into the already +overloaded second cart, adding much to the brown man's burden. After +regaining his breath to some extent, the obliging Mr. Bowles, now being +among what he called the lower classes, surreptitiously removed the +tight-fitting red jacket, and proceeded to give the inquisitive lawyer's +clerk all the late news of the island. + +The inhabitants of Japat, standing upon their rights as part owners of +the mines and as prospective heirs to the entire fortune of Messrs. +Skaggs and Wyckholme, had been prompt to protect themselves in a legal +sense. They had leagued themselves together as one interest and had +engaged the services of eminent solicitors in London, who were to +represent them in the final settlement of the estate. London was to be +the battle ground in the coming conflict. A committee of three had +journeyed to England to put the matter in the hands of these lawyers and +were now returning to the island with a representative of the firm, who +was coming out to stand guard, so to speak. Von Blitz, the German +superintendent, was the master mind in the native contingent. It was he +who planned and developed the course of action. The absent committee was +composed of Ben Adi, Abdallah Ben Sabbat and Rasula, the Aratat lawyer. +They were truly wise men from the East--old, shrewd, crafty and begotten +of Mahomet. + +The mines continued to be operated as usual, pending the arrival of the +executors' representative, who, as we know, was now on the ground in the +person of Thomas Saunders. The fact that he also served as legal adviser +to Lady Deppingham was not of sufficient moment to disturb the +arrangements on either side. Every one realised that he could have no +opportunity to exercise a prejudice, if he dared to have one. Saunders +blinked his eyes nervously when Bowles made this pointed observation. + +As for the American heir, Robert Browne, he had not yet arrived. He was +coming by steamer from the west, according to report, and was probably +on the _Boswell_, Sumatra to Madagascar, due off Aratat in two or three +days. Mr. Bowles jocosely inferred that it should be a very happy family +at the chateau, with the English and American heirs ever ready to heave +things at one another, regardless of propriety or the glassware. + +"The islanders," said Mr. Bowles, lighting a cigarette, "it looks to me, +have all the best of the situation. They get the property whether they +marry or not, while the original beneficiaries have to marry each other +or get off the island at the end of the year. Most of the islanders have +got three or four wives already. I daresay the legators took that into +consideration when they devised the will. Von Blitz, the German, has +three and is talking of another." + +"You mean to say that they can have as many wives as they choose?" +demanded Saunders, wrinkling his brow. + +"Yes, just so long as they don't choose anybody else's." + +Saunders was buried in thought for a long time, then he exclaimed, +unconsciously aloud: + +"My word!" + +"Eh?" queried Bowles, arousing himself. + +"I didn't say anything," retorted Saunders, looking up into the tree +tops. + +In the course of an hour--a soft, sleepy hour, too, despite the wondrous +novelty of the scene and the situation--the travellers came into view of +the now famous chateau. + +Standing out against the sky, fully a mile ahead, was the home to which +they were coming. The chateau, beautiful as a picture, lifted itself +like a dream castle above all that was earthly and sordid; it smiled +down from its lofty terrace and glistened in the sunset glow, like the +jewel that had been its godmother. Long and low, scolloped by its +gables, parapets and budding towers, the vast building gleamed red +against the blue sky from one point of view and still redder against the +green mountain from another. Soft, rich reds--not the red of blood, but +of the unpolished ruby--seemed to melt softly in the eye as one gazed +upward in simple wonder. The dream house of two lonely old men who had +no place where they could spend their money! + +According to its own records, the chateau, fashioned quite closely after +a famous structure in France, was designed and built by La Marche, the +ill-fated French architect who was lost at sea in the wreck of the +_Vendome_. Three years and more than seven hundred thousand pounds +sterling, or to make it seem more prodigious, nearly eighteen million +francs, were consumed in its building. An army of skilled artisans had +come out from France and Austria to make this quixotic dream a reality +before the two old men should go into their dreamless sleep; to say +nothing of the slaving, faithful islanders who laboured for love in the +great undertaking. Specially chartered ships had carried material and +men to the island--and had carried the men away again, for not one of +them remained behind after the completion of the job. + +There was not a contrivance or a convenience known to modern +architecture that was not included in the construction of this +latter-day shadow of antiquity. + +It was, to step on ahead of the story as politely as possible, fully a +week before Lord and Lady Deppingham realised all that their new home +meant in the way of scientific improvement and, one might say, research. +It was so spacious, so comprehensive of domain, so elaborate, that one +must have been weeks in becoming acquainted with its fastnesses, if that +word may be employed. To what uses Taswell Skaggs and John Wyckholme +could have put this vast, though splendid waste, the imagination cannot +grasp. Apartments fit for a king abounded; suites which took one back to +the luxuries of Marie Antoinette were common; banquet halls, ball rooms, +reception halls, a chapel, and even a crypt were to be found if one +undertook a voyage of discovery. Perhaps it is safe to say that none of +these was ever used by the original owners, with the exception of the +crypt; John Wyckholme reposed there, alone in his dignity, undisturbed +by so little as the ghost of a tradition. + +The terrace, wide and beautiful, was the work of a famous landscape +gardener. Engineers had come out from England to install the most +complete water and power plant imaginable. Not only did they bring water +up from the sea, but they turned the course of a clear mountain stream +so that it virtually ran through the pipes and faucets of the vast +establishment. The fountains rivalled in beauty those at Versailles, +though not so extensive; the artificial lake, while not built in a +night, as one other that history mentions, was quite as attractive. +Water mains ran through miles of the tropical forest and, no matter how +great the drouth, the natives kept the verdure green and fresh with a +constancy that no real wage-earner could have exercised. As to the +stables, they might have aroused envy in the soul of any sporting +monarch. + +It was a palace, but they had called it a chateau, because Skaggs +stubbornly professed to be democratic. The word palace meant more to him +than chateau, although opinions could not have mattered much on the +island of Japat. Inasmuch as he had not, to his dying day, solved the +manifold mysteries of the structure, it is not surprising that he never +developed sufficient confidence to call it other than "the place." + +Now and then, officers from some British man-of-war stopped off for +entertainment in the chateau, and it was only on such occasions that +Skaggs realised what a gorgeously beautiful home it was that he lived +in. He had seen Windsor Castle in his youth, but never had he seen +anything so magnificent as the crystal chandelier in his own hallway +when it was fully lighted for the benefit of the rarely present guests. +On the occasion of his first view of the chandelier in its complete +glory, it is said that he walked blindly against an Italian table of +solid marble and was in bed for eleven days with a bruised hip. The +polished floors grew to be a horror to him. He could not enumerate the +times their priceless rugs had slipped aimlessly away from him, leaving +him floundering in profane wrath upon the glazed surface. The bare +thought of crossing the great ballroom was enough to send him into a +perspiration. He became so used to walking stiff-legged on the hardwood +floors that it grew to be a habit which would not relax. The servants +were authority for the report, that no earlier than the day before his +death, he slipped and fell in the dining-room, and thereupon swore that +he would have Portland cement floors put in before Christmas. + +Lord and Lady Deppingham, being first in the field, at once proceeded to +settle themselves in the choicest rooms--a Henry the Sixth suite which +looked out on the sea and the town as well. It is said that Wyckholme +slept there twice, while Skaggs looked in perhaps half a dozen +times--when he was lost in the building, and trying to find his way back +to familiar haunts. + +There was not a sign of a servant about the house or grounds. The men +whom Bowles had engaged, carried the luggage to the rooms which Lady +Deppingham selected, and then vanished as if into space. They escaped +while the new tenants were gorging their astonished, bewildered eyes +with the splendors of the apartment. + +"We'll have to make the best of it," sighed Deppingham in response to +his wife's lamentations. "I daresay, Antoine and the maids can get our +things into some sort of shape, my dear. What say to a little stroll +about the grounds while they are doing it? By Jove, it would be exciting +if we were to find a ruby or two. Saunders says they are as common as +strawberries in July." + +Mr. Bowles, who had resumed his coat of red, joined them in the stroll +about the gardens, pointing out objects of certain interest and telling +the cost of each to the penny. + +"I can't conduct you through the chateau," he apologised as they were +returning after the short tour. "They can't close the bank until I set +the balance sheet, sir, and it's now two hours past closing time. It +doesn't matter, however, my lord," he added hastily, "we enjoy anything +in the shape of a diversion." + +"See here, Mr.--er--old chap, what are we to do about servants? We can't +get on without them, you know." + +"Oh, the horses are being well cared for in the valley, sir. You needn't +worry a bit--" + +"Horses! What we want, is to be cared for ourselves. Damn the horses," +roared his lordship. + +"They say these Americans are a wonderful people, my lord," ventured Mr. +Bowles. "I daresay when Mr. and Mrs. Browne arrive, they'll have some +way of--" + +"Browne!" cried her ladyship. "This very evening I shall give orders +concerning the rooms they are to occupy. And that reminds me: I must +look the place over thoroughly before they arrive. I suppose, however, +that the rooms we have taken _are_ the best?" + +"The choicest, my lady," said Bowles, bowing. + +"See here, Mr.--er--old chap, don't you think you can induce the +servants to come back to us? By Jove, I'll make it worth your while. The +place surely must need cleaning up a bit. It's some months since the +old--since Mr. Skaggs died." He always said "Skaggs" after a scornful +pause and in a tone as disdainfully nasal as it was possible for him to +produce. + +"Not at all, my lord. The servants did not leave the place until your +steamer was sighted this morning. It's as clean as a pin." + +"This morning?" + +"Yes, my lord. They would not desert the chateau until they were sure +you were on board. They were extraordinarily faithful." + +"I don't see it that way, leaving us like this. What's to become of the +place? Can't I get an injunction, or whatever you call it?" + +"What _are_ we to do?" wailed Lady Agnes, sitting down suddenly upon the +edge of a fountain. + +"You see, my lady, they take the position that you have no right here," +volunteered Bowles. + +"How absurd! I am heir to every foot of this island--" + +"They are very foolish about it I'm sure. They've got the ridiculous +idea into their noddles that you can't be the heiress unless Lord +Deppingham passes away inside of a year, and--" + +"I'm damned if I do!" roared the perspiring obstacle. "I'm not so +obliging as that, let me tell you. If it comes to that, what sort of an +ass do they think I'd be to come away out here to pass away? London's +good enough for any man to die in." + +"You are not going to die, Deppy," said his wife consolingly. "Unless +you starve to death," she supplemented with an expressive moue. + +"I daresay you'll find a quantity of tinned meats and vegetables in the +storehouse, my lady. You can't starve until the supply gives out. +American tinned meats," vouchsafed Mr. Bowles with his best English +grimace. + +"Come along, Aggy," said her liege lord resignedly. "Let's have a look +about the place." + +Mr. Saunders met them at the grand entrance. He announced that four of +the native servants had been found, dead drunk, in the wine cellar. + +"They can't move, sir. We thought they were dead." + +"Keep 'em in that condition, for the good Lord's sake," exclaimed +Deppingham. "We'll make sure of four servants, even if we have to keep +'em drunk for six months." + +"Good day, your lordship--my lady," said Bowles, edging away. "Perhaps I +can intercede for you when their solicitor comes on. He's due to-morrow, +I hear. It is possible that he may advise at least a score of the +servants to return." + +"Send him up to me as soon as he lands," commanded Deppingham calmly. + +"Very good, sir," said Mr. Bowles. + + + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BROWNES ARRIVE + + +Contrary to all expectations, the Brownes arrived the next morning. The +Deppinghams and their miserably frightened servants were scarcely out of +bed when Saunders came in with the news that a steamer was standing off +the shallow harbour. Bowles had telephoned up that the American claimant +was on board. + +Lady Agnes and her husband had not slept well. They heard noises from +one end of the night to the other, and they were most unusual noises at +that. The maids had flatly refused to sleep in the servants' wing, fully +a block away, so they were given the next best suite of rooms on the +floor, quite cutting off every chance the Brownes may have had for +choice of apartments. Pong howled all night long, but his howls were as +nothing compared to the screams of night birds in the trees close by. + +The deepest gloom pervaded the household when Lady Deppingham discovered +that not one of their retinue knew how to make coffee or broil bacon. +Not that she cared for bacon, but that his lordship always asked for it +when they did not have it. The evening before they had philosophically +dined on tinned food. She brewed a delightful tea, and Antoine opened +three or four kinds of wine. Altogether it was not so bad. But in the +morning! Everything looked different in the morning. Everything always +does, one way or another. + +Bromley upset the last peg of endurance by hoping that the Americans +were bringing a cook and a housemaid with them. + +"The Americans always travel like lords," she concluded, forgetting that +she served a lord, and not in the least intending to be ironical. + +"That will do, Bromley," said her mistress sharply. "If they're like +most Americans I've seen they'll have nothing but wet nurses and +chauffeurs. I can't eat this vile stuff." She had already burned her +fingers and dropped a slice of beechnut bacon on her sweet little +morning gown. "Come on, Deppy; let's go up and watch the approach of the +enemy." + +Dolefully they passed out of the culinary realm; it is of record that +they never looked into it from that hour forth. On the broad, +vine-covered gallery they sat in dour silence and in silence took turns +with Deppy's binoculars in the trying effort to make out what was going +on in the offing. The company's tug seemed unusually active. It bustled +about the big steamer with an industriousness that seemed almost +frantic. The laziness that had marked its efforts of the day before was +amazingly absent. At last they saw it turn for the shore, racing inward +with a great churning of waves and a vast ado in its smokestack. + +From their elevated position, the occupants of the gallery could see the +distant pier. When the tug drew up to its moorings, the same motionless +horde of white-robed natives lined up along the dock building. Trunks, +boxes and huge crated objects were hustled off the boat with astonishing +rapidity. Deppingham stared hard and unbelieving at this evidence of +haste. + +Five or six strangers stood upon the pier, very much as their party had +stood the day before. There were four women and--yes, two men. The men +seemed to be haranguing the natives, although no gesticulations were +visible. Suddenly there was a rush for the trunks and boxes and crates, +and, almost before the Lady Agnes could catch the breath she had lost, +the whole troupe was hurrying up the narrow street, luggage and all. The +once-sullen natives seemed to be fighting for the privilege of carrying +something. A half dozen of them dashed hither and thither and returned +with great umbrellas, which they hoisted above the heads of the +newcomers. Lady Agnes sank back, faint with wonder, as the concourse +lost itself among the houses of the agitated town. + +Scarcely half an hour passed before the advance guard of the Browne +company came into view at the park gates below. Deppingham recalled the +fact that an hour and a half had been consumed in the accomplishment +yesterday. He was keeping a sharp lookout for the magic red jacket and +the Tommy Atkins lid. Quite secure from observation, he and his wife +watched the forerunners with the hand bags; then came the sweating trunk +bearers and then the crated objects in--what? Yes, by the Lord Harry, in +the very carts that had been their private chariots the day before! + +Deppingham's wrath did not really explode until the two were gazing +open-mouthed upon Robert Browne and his wife and his maidservants and +his ass--for that was the name which his lordship subsequently applied, +with no moderation, to the unfortunate gentleman who served as Mr. +Browne's attorney. The Americans were being swiftly, cozily carried to +their new home in litters of oriental comfort and elegance, fanned +vigorously from both sides by eager boys. First came the Brownes, +eager-faced, bright-eyed, alert young people, far better looking than +their new enemies could conscientiously admit under the circumstances; +then the lawyer from the States; then a pert young lady in a pink shirt +waist and a sailor hat; then two giggling, utterly un-English maids--and +all of them lolling in luxurious ease. The red jacket was conspicuously +absent. + +It is not to be wondered at that his lordship looked at his wife, gulped +in sympathy, and then said something memorable. + +Almost before they could realise what had happened the newcomers were +chattering in the spacious halls below, tramping about the rooms, and +giving orders in high, though apparently efficacious voices. Trunks +rattled about the place, barefooted natives shuffled up and down the +corridors and across the galleries, quick American heels clattered on +the marble stairways; and all this time the English occupants sat in +cold silence, despising the earth and all that therein dwelt. + +Mr. and Mrs. Browne evidently believed in the democratic first +principles of their native land: they did not put themselves above their +fellow-man. Close at their heels trooped the servants, all of whom took +part in the discussion incident to fresh discoveries. At last they came +upon the great balcony, pausing just outside the French windows to +exclaim anew in their delight. + +"Great!" said the lawyer man, after a full minute. He was not at all +like Mr. Saunders, who looked on from an obscure window in the distant +left. "Finest I've ever seen. Isn't it a picture, Browne?" + +"Glorious," said young Mr. Browne, taking a long breath. The +Deppinghams, sitting unobserved, saw that he was a tall, good-looking +fellow. They were unconscionably amused when he suddenly reached out and +took his wife's hand in his big fingers. Her face was flushed with +excitement, her eyes were wide and sparkling. She was very trim and +cool-looking in her white duck; moreover, she was of the type that looks +exceedingly attractive in evening dress--at least, that was Deppingham's +innermost reflection. It was not until after many weeks had passed, +however, that Lady Agnes admitted that Brasilia Browne was a very pretty +young woman. + +"Most American women are, after a fashion," she then confessed to +Deppingham, and not grudgingly. + +"What does Baedeker say about it, Bobby?" asked Mrs. Browne. Her voice +was very soft and full--the quiet, well-modulated Boston voice and +manner. + +"Baedeker?" whispered Deppingham, passing his hand over his brow in +bewilderment. His wife was looking serenely in the opposite direction. + +The pert girl in the pink waist opened a small portfolio while the +others gathered around her. She read therefrom. The lawyer, when she had +concluded, drew a compass from his pocket, and, walking over to the +stone balustrade, set it down for observation. Then he pointed vaguely +into what proved to be the southwest. + +"We must tell Lady Deppingham not to take the rooms at this end," was +the next thing that the listeners heard from Mrs. Browne's lips. Her +ladyship turned upon her husband with a triumphant sniff and a knowing +smile. + +"What did I tell you?" she whispered. "I knew they'd want the best of +everything. Isn't it lucky I pounced upon those rooms? They shan't turn +us out. You won't let 'em, will you, Deppy?" + +"The impudence of 'em!" was all that Deppy could sputter. + +At that moment, the American party caught sight of the pair in the +corner. For a brief space of time the two parties stared at each other, +very much as the hunter and the hunted look when they come face to face +without previous warning. Then a friendly, half-abashed smile lighted +Browne's face. He came toward the Deppinghams, his straw hat in his +hand. His lordship retained his seat and met the smile with a cold stare +of superiority. + +"I beg your pardon," said Browne. "This is Lord Deppingham?" + + +"Ya-as," drawled Deppy, with a look which was meant to convey the +impression that he did not know who the deuce he was addressing. + +"Permit me to introduce myself. I am Robert Browne." + +"Oh," said Deppy, as if that did not convey anything to him. Then as an +afterthought: "Glad to know you, I'm sure." Still he did not rise, nor +did he extend his hand. For a moment young Browne waited, a dull red +growing in his temples. + +"Don't you intend to present me to Lady Deppingham?" he demanded +bluntly, without taking his eyes from Deppy's face. + +"Oh--er--is that necess--" + +"Lady Deppingham," interrupted Browne, turning abruptly from the man in +the chair and addressing the lady in azure blue who sat on the +balustrade, "I am Robert Browne, the man you are expected to marry. +Please don't be alarmed. You won't have to marry me. Our grandfathers +did not observe much ceremony in mating us, so I don't see why we should +stand upon it in trying to convince them of their error. We are here for +the same purpose, I suspect. We can't be married to each other. That's +out of the question. But we can live together as if we--" + +"Good Lord!" roared Deppy, coming to his feet in a towering rage. Browne +smiled apologetically and lifted his hand. + +"--as if we were serving out the prescribed period of courtship set down +in the will. Believe me, I am very happily married, as I hope you are. +The courtship, you will perceive, is neither here nor there. Please bear +with me, Lord Deppingham. It's the silly will that brings us together, +not an affinity. Our every issue is identical, Lady Deppingham. Doesn't +it strike you that we will be very foolish if we stand alone and against +each other?" + +[Illustration: "'Don't you intend to present me to Lady Deppingham?'"] + +"My solicitor--" began Lady Deppingham, and then stopped. She was +smiling in spite of herself. This frank, breezy way of putting it had +not offended her, after all, much to her surprise. + +"Your solicitor and mine can get together and talk it over," said Browne +blandly. "We'll leave it to them. I simply want you to know that I am +not here for the purpose of living at swords' points with you. I am +quite ready to be a friendly ally, not a foe." + +"Let me understand you," began Deppingham, cooling off suddenly. "Do you +mean to say that you are not going to fight us in this matter?" + +"Not at all, your lordship," said Browne coolly. "I am here to fight +Taswell Skaggs and John Wyckholme, deceased. I imagine, if you'll have a +talk with your solicitor, that that is precisely what you are here for, +too. As next nearest of kin, I think both of us will run no risk if we +smash the will. If we don't smash it, the islanders will cheerfully take +the legacy off our hands." + +"By Jove," muttered Deppy, looking at his wife. + +"Thank you, Mr. Browne, for being so frank with us," she said coolly. +"If you don't mind, I _will_ consult my solicitor." She bowed ever so +slightly, indicating that the interview was at an end, and, moreover, +that it had not been of her choosing. + +"Any time, your ladyship," said Browne, also bowing. "I think Mrs. +Browne wants to speak to you about the rooms." + +"We are quite settled, Mr. Browne, and very well satisfied," she said +pointedly, turning red with a fresh touch of anger. + +"I trust you have not taken the rooms at this end." + +"We have. We are occupying them." She arose and started away, Deppingham +hesitating between his duty to her and the personal longing to pull +Browne's nose. + +"I'm sorry," said Browne. "We were warned not to take them. They are +said to be unbearable when the hot winds come in October." + +"What's that?" demanded Deppingham. + +"The book of instruction and description which we have secured sets all +that out," said the other. "Mr. Britt, my attorney, had his stenographer +take it all down in Bombay. It's our private Baedeker, you see. We +called on the Bombay agent for the Skaggs-Wyckholme Company. He lived +with them in this house for ten months. No one ever slept in this end of +the building. It's strange that the servants didn't warn you." + +"The da--the confounded servants left us yesterday before we came--every +mother's son of 'em. There isn't a servant on the place." + +"What? You don't mean it?" + +"Are you coming?" called Lady Deppingham from the doorway. + +"At once, my dear," replied Deppingham, shuffling uneasily. "By Jove, +we're in a pretty mess, don't you know. No servants, no food, no----" + +"Wait a minute, please," interrupted Browne. "I say, Britt, come here a +moment, will you? Lord Deppingham says the servants have struck." + +The American lawyer, a chubby, red-faced man of forty, with clear grey +eyes and a stubby mustache, whistled soulfully. + +"What's the trouble? Cut their wages?" he asked. + +"Wages? My good man, we've never laid eyes on 'em," said Deppingham, +drawing himself up. + +"I'll see what I can do, Mr. Browne. Got to have cooks, eh, Lord +Deppingham?" Without waiting for an answer he dashed off. His lordship +observing that his wife had disappeared, followed Browne to the +balustrade, overlooking the upper terrace. The native carriers were +leaving the grounds, when Britt's shrill whistle brought them to a +standstill. No word of the ensuing conversation reached the ears of the +two white men on the balcony, but the pantomime was most entertaining. + +Britt's stocky figure advanced to the very heart of the group. It was +quite evident that his opening sentences were listened to impassively. +Then, all at once, the natives began to gesticulate furiously and to +shake their heads. Whereupon Britt pounded the palm of his left hand +with an emphatic right fist, occasionally pointing over his shoulder +with a stubborn thumb. At last, the argument dwindled down to a force of +two--Britt and a tall, sallow Mohammedan. For two minutes they harangued +each other and then the native gave up in despair. The lawyer waved a +triumphant hand to his friends and then climbed into one of the litters, +to be borne off in the direction of the town. + +"He'll have the servants back at work before two o'clock," said Browne +calmly. Deppingham was transfixed with astonishment. + +"How--how the devil do you--does he bring 'em to time like that?" he +murmured. He afterward said that if he had had Saunders there at that +humiliating moment he would have kicked him. + +"They're afraid of the American battleship," said Browne. + +"But where is the American battleship?" demanded Deppingham, looking +wildly to sea. + +"They understand that there will be one here in a day or two if we need +it," said Browne with a sly grin. "That's the bluff we've worked." He +looked around for his wife, and, finding that she had gone inside, +politely waved his hand to the Englishman and followed. + +At three o'clock, Britt returned with the recalcitrant servants--or at +least the "pick" of them, as he termed the score he had chosen from the +hundred or more. He seemed to have an Aladdin-like effect over the +horde. It did not appear to depress him in the least that from among the +personal effects of more than one peeped the ominous blade of a kris, or +the clutch of a great revolver. He waved his hand and snapped his +fingers and they herded into the servants' wing, from which in a +twinkling they emerged ready to take up their old duties. They were not +a liveried lot, but they were swift and capable. + +Calmly taking Lord Deppingham and his following into his confidence, he +said, in reply to their indignant remonstrances, later on in the day: + +"I know that an American man-o'-war hasn't any right to fire upon +British possessions, but you just keep quiet and let well enough alone. +These fellows believe that the Americans can shoot straighter and with +less pity than any other set of people on earth. If they ever find out +the truth, we won't be able to control 'em a minute. It won't hurt you +to let 'em believe that we can blow the Island off the map in half a +day, and they won't believe you if you tell 'em anything to the +contrary. They just simply _know_ that I can send wireless messages and +that a cruiser would be out there to-morrow if necessary, pegging away +at these green hills with cannon balls so big that there wouldn't be +anything left but the horizon in an hour or two. You let me do the +talking. I've got 'em bluffed and I'll keep 'em that way. Look at that! +See those fellows getting ready to wash the front windows? They don't +need it, I'll confess, but it makes conversation in the servants' hall." + +Over in the gorgeous west wing, Lord Deppingham later on tried to +convince his sulky little wife that the Americans were an amazing lot, +after all. Bromley tapped at the door. + +"Tea is served in the hanging garden, my lady," she announced. Her +mistress looked up in surprise, red-eyed and a bit dishevelled. + +"The--the what?" + +"It's a very pretty place just outside the rooms of the American lady +and gentleman, my lady. It's on the shady side and quite under the shelf +of the mountain. There's a very cool breeze all the time, they say, from +the caverns." + +Deppingham glanced at the sun-baked window ledges of their own rooms and +swore softly. + +"Ask some one to bring the tea things in here, Bromley," she said +sternly, her piquant face as hard and set as it could possibly +be--which, as a matter of fact, was not noticeably adamantine. "Besides, +I want to give some orders. We must have system here, not Americanisms." + +"Very well, my lady." + +After she had retired Deppingham was so unwise as to run his finger +around the inside of his collar and utter the lamentation: + +"By Jove, Aggie, it _is_ hot in these rooms." She transfixed him with a +stare. + +"I find it delightfully cool, George." She called him George only when +it was impossible to call him just what she wanted to. + +The tea things did not come in; in their stead came pretty Mrs. Browne. +She stood in the doorway, a pleading sincere smile on her face. + +"Won't you _please_ join Mr. Browne and me in that dear little garden? +It's so cool up there and it must be dreadfully warm here. Really, you +should move at once into Mr. Wyckholme's old apartments across the court +from ours. They are splendid. But, now _do_ come and have tea with us." + +Whether it was the English love of tea or the American girl's method of +making it, I do not know, but I am able to record the fact that Lord and +Lady Deppingham hesitated ever so briefly and--fell. + +"Extraordinary, Browne," said Deppingham, half an hour later. "What +wonders you chaps can perform." + +"Ho, ho!" laughed Browne. "We only strive to land on our feet, that's +all. Another cigarette, Lady Deppingham?" + +"Thank you. They are delicious. Where do you get them, Mr. Browne?" + +"From the housekeeper. Your grandfather brought them over from London. +My grandfather stored them away." + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE MAN FROM BRODNEY'S + + +It was quite forty-eight hours before the Deppinghams surrendered to the +Brownes. They were obliged to humbly admit, in the seclusion of their +own councils, that it was to the obnoxious but energetic Britt that they +owed their present and ever-growing comfort. + +It is said that Mr. Saunders learned more law of a useful and purposeful +character during his first week of consultation with Britt than he could +have dreamed that the statutes of England contained. Britt's brain was a +whirlpool of suggestions, tricks, subterfuges and--yes, witticisms--that +Saunders never even pretended to appreciate, although he was obliging +enough to laugh at the right time quite as often as at the wrong. "He +talks about what Dan Webster said, how Dan Voorhees could handle a jury, +why Abe Lincoln and Andy Jackson were so--" Saunders would begin in a +dazzled sort of way. + +"Mr. Saunders, will you be good enough to ask Bromley to take Pong out +for a walk?" her ladyship would interrupt languidly, and Saunders would +descend to the requirements of his position. + +Late in the afternoon of the day following the advent of the Brownes, +Lord and Lady Deppingham were laboriously fanning themselves in the +midst of their stifling Marie Antoinette elegance. + +"By Jove, Aggie, it's too beastly hot here for words," growled he for +the hundredth time. "I think we'd better move into your grandfather's +rooms." + +"Now, Deppy, don't let the Brownes talk you into everything they +suggest," she complained, determined to be stubborn to the end. "They +know entirely too much about the place already; please don't let them +know you as intimately." + +"That's all very good, my dear, but you know quite as well as I that we +made a frightful mistake in choosing these rooms. It _is_ cooler on that +side of the house. I'm not too proud to be comfortable, don't you know. +Have you had a look at your grandfather's rooms?" + +She was silent for a long time, pondering. "No, I haven't, Deppy, but I +don't mind going over there now with you--just for a look. We can do it +without letting them see us, you know." + +Just as they were ready to depart stealthily for the distant wing, a +servant came up to their rooms with a note from Mrs. Browne. It was an +invitation to join the Americans at dinner that evening in the grand +banquet hall. Across the bottom of Mrs. Browne's formal little note, her +husband had jauntily scrawled: "_Just to see how small we'll feel in a +ninety by seventy dining-room_" Lady Deppingham flushed and her eyes +glittered as she handed the note to her husband. + +"Rubbish!" she exclaimed. Paying no heed to the wistful look in his eyes +or to the appealing shuffle of his foot, she sent back a dignified +little reply to the effect that "A previous engagement would prevent, +etc." The polite lie made it necessary for them to venture forth at +dinner time to eat their solitary meal of sardines and wafers in the +grove below. The menu was limited to almost nothing because Deppy +refused to fill his pockets with "tinned things and biscuit." + +The next day they moved into the west wing, and that evening they had +the Brownes to dine with them in the banquet hall. Deppingham awoke in +the middle of the night with violent cramps in his stomach. He suffered +in silence for a long time, but, the pain growing steadily worse, his +stoicism gave way to alarm. A sudden thought broke in upon him, and with +a shout that was almost a shriek he called for Antoine. The valet found +him groaning and in a cold perspiration. + +"Don't say a word to Lady Deppingham," he grunted, sitting up in bed and +gazing wildly at the ceiling, "but I've been poisoned. The demmed +servants--ouch!--don't you know! Might have known. Silly ass! See what I +mean? Get something for me--quick!" + +For two hours Antoine applied hot water bags and soothing syrups, and +his master, far from dying as he continually prophesied, dropped off +into a peaceful sleep. + +The next morning Deppingham, fully convinced that the native servants +had tried to poison _him_, inquired of his wife if _she_ had felt the +alarming symptoms. She confessed to a violent headache, but laid it to +the champagne. Later on, the rather haggard victim approached Browne +with subtle inquiries. Browne also had a headache, but said he wasn't +surprised. Fifteen minutes later, Deppingham, taking the bit in his +quivering mouth, unconditionally discharged the entire force of native +servants. He was still in a cold perspiration when he sent Saunders to +tell his wife what he had done and what a narrow escape all of them had +had from the treacherous Moslems. + +Of course, there was a great upheaval. Lady Agnes came tearing down to +the servants' hall, followed directly by the Brownes and Mr. Britt. The +natives were ready to depart, considerably nonplussed, but not a little +relieved. + +"Stop!" she cried. "Deppy, what are you doing? Discharging them after +we've had such a time getting them? Are you crazy?" + +"They're a pack of snakes--I mean sneaks. They're assassins. They tried +to poison every one of us last--" + +"Nonsense! You ate too much. Besides, what's the odds between being +poisoned and being starved to death? Where is Mr. Britt?" She gave a +sharp cry of relief as Britt came dashing down the corridor. "We must +engage them all over again," she lamented, after explaining the +situation. "Stand in the door, Deppy, and don't let them out until Mr. +Britt has talked with them," she called to the disgraced nobleman. + +"They won't stop for me," he muttered, looking at the half-dozen krises +that were visible. + +Britt smoothed the troubled waters with astonishing ease; the servants +returned to their duties, but not without grumbling and no end of savage +glances, all of which were levelled at the luckless Deppingham. + +"By Jove, you'll see, sooner or later," he protested, like the +schoolboy, almost ready to hope that the servants would bear him out by +doling out ample quantities of strychnine that very night. + +"Why poison?" demanded Britt. "They've got knives and guns, haven't +they?" + +"My dear man, that would put them to no end of trouble, cleaning up +after us," said Deppingham, loftily. + +The next day the horses were brought in from the valley, and the traps +were put to immediate use. A half-dozen excursions were planned by the +now friendly beneficiaries; life on the island, aside from certain legal +restraints, began to take on the colour of a real holiday. + +Two lawyers, each clever in his own way, were watching every move with +the faithfulness of brooding hens. Both realised, of course, that the +great fight would take place in England; they were simply active as +outposts in the battle of wits. They posed amiably as common allies in +the fight to keep the islanders from securing a single point of vantage +during the year. + +"If they hadn't been in such a hurry to get married," Britt would +lament. + +"Do you know, I don't believe a man should marry before he's thirty, a +woman twenty-six," Saunders would observe in return. + +"You're right, Saunders. I agree with you. I was married twice before I +was thirty," reflected Britt on one occasion. + +"Ah," sympathised Saunders. "You left a wife at home, then?" + +"Two of 'em," said Britt, puffing dreamily. "But they are other men's +wives now." Saunders was half an hour grasping the fact that Britt had +been twice divorced. + +Meanwhile, it may be well to depict the situation from the enemy's point +of view--the enemy being the islanders as a unit. They were prepared to +abide by the terms of the will so long as it remained clear to them that +fair treatment came from the opposing interests. Rasula, the Aratat +lawyer, in mass meeting, had discussed the document. They understood its +requirements and its restrictions; they knew, by this time, that there +was small chance of the original beneficiaries coming into the property +under the provisions. Moreover, they knew that a bitter effort would be +made to break this remarkable instrument in the English courts. Their +attitude, in consequence, toward the grandchildren of their former lords +was inimical, to say the least. + +"We can afford to wait a year," Rasula had said in another mass meeting +after the two months of suspense which preceded the discovery that +grandchildren really existed. "There is the bare possibility that they +may never marry each other," he added sententiously. Later came the news +that marriage between the heirs was out of the question. Then the +islanders laughed as they toiled. But they were not to be caught +napping. Jacob von Blitz, the superintendent, stolid German that he was, +saw far into the future. It was he who set the native lawyer +unceremoniously aside and urged competent representation in London. The +great law firm headed by Sir John Brodney was chosen; a wide-awake +representative of the distinguished solicitors was now on his way to the +island with the swarthy committee which had created so much interest in +the metropolis during its brief stay. + +Jacob von Blitz came to the island when he was twenty years old. That +was twenty years before the death of Taswell Skaggs. He had worked in +the South African diamond fields and had no difficulty in securing +employment with Skaggs and Wyckholme. Those were the days when the two +Englishmen slaved night and day in the mines; they needed white men to +stand beside them, for they looked ahead and saw what the growing +discontent among the islanders was sure to mean in the end. + +Von Blitz gradually lifted labour and responsibility from their +shoulders; he became a valued man, not alone because of his ability as +an overseer, but on account of the influence he had gained over the +natives. It was he who acted as intermediary at the time of the revolt, +many years before the opening of this tale. Through him the two issues +were pooled; the present co-operative plan was the result. For this he +was promptly accepted by both sides as deserving of a share +corresponding to that of each native. From that day, he cast his lot +with the islanders; it was to him that they turned in every hour of +difficulty. + +Von Blitz was shrewd enough to see that the grandchildren were not +coming to the island for the mere pleasure of sojourning there; their +motive was plain. It was he who advised--even commanded--the horde of +servants to desert the chateau. If they had been able to follow his +advice, the new residents would have been without "help" to the end of +their stay. The end of their stay, he figured, would not be many weeks +from its beginning if they were compelled to dwell there without the +luxury of servants. Bowles often related the story of Von Blitz's rage +when he found that the recalcitrants had been persuaded to resume work +by the American lawyer. + +He lived, with his three wives, in the hills just above and south of the +town itself. The Englishmen who worked in the bank, and the three Boer +foremen also, had houses up there where it was cooler, but Von Blitz was +the only one who practised polygamy. His wives were Persian women and +handsome after the Persian fashion. + +There were many Persian, Turkish and Arabian women on the island, wives +of the more potential men. It was no secret that they had been purchased +from avaricious masters on the mainland, in Bagdad and Damascus and the +Persian gulf ports--sapphires passing in exchange. Marriages were +performed by the local priests. There were no divorces. Perhaps there +may have been a few more wife murders than necessary, but, if one +assumes to call wife murder a crime, he must be reminded that the +natives of Japat were fatalists. In contradiction to this belief, +however, it is related that one night a wife took it upon herself to +reverse the lever of destiny: she slew her husband. That, of course, was +a phase of fatalism that was not to be tolerated. The populace burned +her at a stake before morning. + +One hot, dry afternoon about a week after the reopening of the chateau, +the siesta of a swarthy population was disturbed by the shouts of those +who kept impatient watch of the sea. Five minutes later the whole town +of Aratat knew that the smoke of a steamer lay low on the horizon. No +one doubted that it came from the stack of the boat that was bringing +Rasula and the English solicitor. Joy turned to exultation when the word +came down from Von Blitz that it was the long-looked-for steamship, the +_Sir Joshua_. + +Just before dusk the steamer, flying the British colours, hove to off +the town of Aratat and signalled for the company's tug. There was no one +in Aratat too old, too young or too ill to stay away from the pier and +its vicinity. Bowles telephoned the news to the chateau, and the +occupants, in no little excitement, had their tea served on the grand +colonnade overlooking the town. + +Von Blitz stood at the landing place to welcome Rasula and his comrades, +and to be the first to clasp the hand of the man from London. For the +first time in his life his stolidity gave way to something resembling +exhilaration. He cast more than one meaning glance at the chateau, and +those near by him heard him chuckle from time to time. The horde of +natives seethed back and forth as the tug came running in; every eye was +strained to catch the first glimpse of--Rasula? No! Of the man from +Brodney's! + +At last his figure could be made out on the forward deck. His straw hat +was at least a head higher than the turban of Rasula, who was indicating +to him the interesting spots in the hills. + +"He's big," commented Von Blitz, comfortably, more to himself than to +his neighbour. "And young," he added a few minutes later. Bowles, +standing at his side, offered the single comment: + +"Good-looking." + +As the tall stranger stepped from the boat to the pier, Von Blitz +suddenly started back, a look of wonder in his soggy eyes. Then, a +thrill of satisfaction shot through his brain. He turned a look of +triumph upon Britt, who had elbowed through the crowd a moment before +and was standing close by. + +The newcomer was an American! + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE ENEMY + + +"I've sighted the Enemy," exclaimed Bobby Browne, coming up from +Neptune's Pool--the largest of the fountains. His wife and Lady +Deppingham were sitting in the cool retreat under the hanging garden. +"Would you care to have a peek at him?" + +"I should think so," said his wife, jumping to her feet. "He's been on +the island three days, and we haven't had a glimpse of him. Come along, +Lady Deppingham." + +Lady Deppingham arose reluctantly, stifling a yawn. + +"I'm so frightfully lazy, my dear," she sighed. "But," with a slight +acceleration of speech, "anything in the shape of diversion is worth the +effort, I'm sure. Where is he?" + +They had come to call the new American lawyer "The Enemy." No one knew +his name, or cared to know it, for that matter. Bowles, in answer to the +telephone inquiries of Saunders, said that the new solicitor had taken +temporary quarters above the bank and was in hourly consultation with +Von Blitz, Rasula and others. Much of his time was spent at the mines. +Later on, it was commonly reported, he was to take up his residence in +Wyckholme's deserted bungalow, far up on the mountain side, in plain +view from the chateau. + +Life at the chateau had not been allowed to drag. The Deppinghams and +the Brownes confessed in the privacy of their chambers that there was +scant diplomacy in their "carryings-on," but without these indulgences +the days and nights would have been intolerable. + +The white servants had become good friends, despite the natural disdain +that the trained English expert feels for the unpolished American +domestic. Antipathies were overlooked in the eager strife for +companionship; the fact that one of Mrs. Browne's maids was of Irish +extraction and the other a rosy Swede may have had something to do with +their admission into the exclusive set below stairs, but that is outside +the question. If the Suffolk maids felt any hesitancy about accepting +the hybrid combination as their equals, it was never manifested by word +or deed. Even the astute Antoine, who had lived long in the boulevards +of Paris, and who therefore knew an American when he saw one at any +distance or at any price, evinced no uncertainty in proclaiming them +Americans. + +Miss Pelham, the stenographer from West Twenty-third Street, might have +been included in the circle from the first had not her dignity stood in +the way. For six days she held resolutely aloof from everything except +her notebook and her machine, but her stock of novels beginning to run +low, and the prospect of being bored to extinction for six months to +come looming up before her, she concluded to wave the olive branch in +the face of social ostracism, assuming a genial attitude of +condescension, which was graciously overlooked by the others. As she +afterward said, there is no telling how low she might have sunk, had it +not entered her head one day to set her cap for the unsuspecting Mr. +Saunders. She had learned, in the wisdom of her sex, that he was fancy +free. Mr. Saunders, fully warned against the American typewriter girl as +a class, having read the most shocking jokes at her expense in the comic +papers, was rather shy at the outset, but Britt gallantly came to Miss +Pelham's defence and ultimate rescue by emphatically assuring Saunders +that she was a perfect lady, guaranteed to cause uneasiness to no man's +wife. + +"But I have no wife," quickly protested Saunders, turning a dull red. + +"The devil!" exclaimed Britt, apparently much upset by the revelation. + +But of this more anon. + + * * * * * + +Browne conducted the two young women across the drawbridge and to the +sunlit edge of the terrace, where two servants awaited them with +parasols. + +"Isn't it extraordinary, the trouble one is willing to take for the +merest glimpse of a man?" sighed Lady Agnes. "At home we try to avoid +them." + +"Indeed?" said pretty Mrs. Browne, with a slight touch of irony. It was +the first sign of the gentle warfare which their wits were to wage. + +"There he is! See him?" almost whispered Browne, as if the solitary, +motionless figure at the foot of the avenue was likely to hear his voice +and be frightened away. + +The Enemy was sitting serenely on one of the broad iron benches just +inside the gates to the park, his arms stretched out along the back, his +legs extended and crossed. The great stone wall behind him afforded +shelter from the broiling sun; satinwood trees lent an appearance of +coolness that did not exist, if one were to judge by the absence of hat +and the fact that his soft shirt was open at the throat. He was not more +than two hundred yards away from the clump of trees which screened his +watchers from view. If he caught an occasional glimpse of dainty blue +and white fabrics, he made no demonstration of interest or +acknowledgment. It was quite apparent that he was lazily surveying the +chateau, puffing with consistent ease at the cigarette which drooped +from his lips. His long figure was attired in light grey flannels; one +could not see the stripe at that distance, yet one could not help +feeling that it existed--a slim black stripe, if any one should have +asked. + +"Quite at home," murmured her ladyship, which was enough to show that +she excused the intruder on the ground that he was an American. + +"Mr. Britt was right," said Mrs. Browne irrelevantly. She was peering at +the stranger through the binoculars. "He is _very_ good-looking." + +"And you from Boston, too," scoffed Lady Deppingham. Mrs. Browne +flushed, and smiled deprecatingly. + +"Wonder what he's doing here in the grounds?" puzzled Browne. + +"It's plain to me that he is resting his audacious bones," said her +ladyship, glancing brightly at her co-legatee. The latter's wife, in a +sudden huff, deliberately left them, crossing the macadam driveway in +plain view of the stranger. + +"She's not above an affair with him," was her hot, inward lament. She +was mightily relieved, however, when the others tranquilly followed her +across the road, and took up a new position under the substitute clump +of trees. + +The Enemy gave no sign of interest in these proceedings. If he was +conscious of being watched by these curious exiles, he was not in the +least annoyed. He did not change his position of indolence, nor did he +puff any more fretfully at his cigarette. Instead, his eyes were bent +lazily upon the white avenue, his thoughts apparently far away from the +view ahead. He came out of his lassitude long enough to roll and light a +fresh cigarette and to don his wide madras helmet. + +Suddenly he looked to the right and then arose with some show of +alacrity. Three men were approaching by the path which led down from the +far-away stables. Browne recognised the dark-skinned men as servants in +the chateau--the major-domo, the chef, and the master of the stables. + +"Lord Deppingham must have sent them down to pitch him over the wall," +he said, with an excited grin. + +"Impossible! My husband is hunting for sapphires in the ravine back +of--" She did not complete the sentence. + +The Enemy was greeting the statuesque natives with a friendliness that +upset all calculations. It was evident that the meeting was prearranged. +There was no attempt at secrecy; the conference, whatever its portent, +had the merit of being quite above-board. In the end, the tall +solicitor, lifting his helmet with a gesture so significant that it left +no room for speculation, turned and sauntered through the broad gateway +and out into the forest road. The three servants returned as they had +come, by way of the bridle path along the wall. + +"The nerve of him!" exclaimed Browne. "That graceful attention was meant +for us." + +"He is like the polite robber who first beats you to death and then says +thank you for the purse," said Lady Deppingham. "What a strange +proceeding, Mr. Browne. Can you imagine what it means?" + +"Mischief of some sort, I'll be bound. I admire his nerve in holding the +confab under our very noses. I'll have Britt interview those fellows at +once. Our kitchen, our stable and our domestic discipline are +threatened." + +They hastened to the chateau, and regaled the resourceful Britt with the +disquieting news. + +"I'll have it out of 'em in a minute," he said confidently. "Where's +Saunders? Where's Miss Pelham? Confound the girl, she's never around +when I want her these days. Hay, you!" to a servant. "Send Miss Pelham +to me. The one in pink, understand? Golden-haired one. Yes, yes, that's +right: the one who jiggles her fingers. Tell her to hurry." + +But Miss Pelham was off in the wood, self-charged with the arousing of +Mr. Saunders; an hour passed before she could be found and brought into +the light of Mr. Britt's reflections. If her pert nose was capable of +elevating itself in silent disdain, Mr. Saunders was not able to emulate +its example. He was not so dazzled by the sunshine of her sprightly +recitals but that he could look sheep-faced in the afterglow of Britt's +scorn. + +Britt, with all his clever blustering, could elicit no information from +the crafty head-servants. All they would say was that the strange sahib +had intercepted them on their way to the town, to ask if there were any +rooms to rent in the chateau. + +"That's what he told you to say, isn't it?" demanded Britt angrily. +"Confounded his impudence! Rooms to rent!" + +That evening he dragged the reluctant Saunders into the privacy of the +hanging garden, and deliberately interrupted the game of bridge which +was going on. If Deppingham had any intention to resent the intrusion of +the solicitors, he was forestalled by the startling announcement of Mr. +Britt, who seldom stood on ceremony where duty was concerned. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," said Mr. Britt, calmly dropping into a chair +near by, "this place is full of spies." + +"Spies!" cried four voices in unison. Mr. Saunders nodded a plaintive +apology. + +"Yes, sir, every native servant here is a spy. That's what the Enemy was +here for to-day. I've analysed the situation and I'm right. Ain't I, Mr. +Saunders? Of course, I am. He came here to tell 'em what to do and how +to report our affairs to him. See? Well, there you are. We've simply got +to be careful what we do and say in their presence. Leave 'em to me. +Just be careful, that's all." + +"I don't intend to be watched by a band of sneaks--" began Lord +Deppingham loftily. + +"You can't help yourself," interrupted Britt. + +"I'll discharge every demmed one of them, that's--" + +"Leave 'em to me--leave 'em to me," exclaimed Britt impatiently. His +lordship stiffened but could find no words for instant use. "Now let me +tell you something. This lawyer of theirs is a smooth party. He's here +to look out for their interests and they know it. It's not to their +interest to assassinate you or to do any open dirty work. He is too +clever for that. I've found out from Mr. Bowles just what the fellow has +done since he landed, three days ago. He has gone over all of the +company's accounts, in the office and at the mines, to see that we, as +agents for the executors, haven't put up any job to mulct the natives +out of their share of the profits. He has organised the whole population +into a sort of constabulary to protect itself against any shrewd move we +may contemplate. Moreover, he's getting the evidence of everybody to +prove that Skaggs and Wyckholme were men of sound mind up to the hour of +their death. He has the depositions of agents and dealers in Bombay, +Aden, Suez and three or four European cities, all along that line. He +goes over the day's business at the bank as often as we do as agents for +the executors. He knows just how many rubies and sapphires were washed +out yesterday, and how much they weigh. It's our business, as your +agents, to scrape up everything as far back as we can go to prove that +the old chaps were mentally off their base when they drew up that +agreement and will. I think we've got a shade the best of it, even +though the will looks good. The impulse that prompted it was a crazy one +in the first place." He hesitated a moment and then went on carefully. +"Of course, if we can prove that insanity has always run through the two +families it--" + +"Good Lord!" gasped Browne nervously. + +"--it would be a great help. If we can show that you and Mrs.--er--Lady +Deppingham have queer spells occasionally, it--" + +"Not for all the islands in the world," cried Lady Deppingham. "The +idea! Queer spells! See here, Mr. Britt, if I have any queer spells to +speak of, I won't have them treated publicly. If Lord Deppingham can +afford to overlook them, I daresay I can, also, even though it costs me +the inheritance to do so. Please be good enough to leave me out of the +insanity dodge, as you Americans call it." + +"Madam, God alone provides that part of your inheritance--" began Britt +insistently, fearing that he was losing fair ground. + +"Then leave it for God to discover. I'll not be a party to it. It's +utter nonsense," she cried scathingly. + +"Rubbish!" asserted Mr. Saunders boldly. + +"What?" exclaimed Britt, turning upon Saunders so abruptly that the +little man jumped, and immediately began to readjust his necktie. +"What's that? Look here; it's our only hope--the insanity dodge, I mean. +They've got to show in an English court that Skaggs and--" + +"Let them show what they please about Skaggs," interrupted Bobby Browne, +"but, confound you, I can't have any one saying that I'm subject to fits +or spells or whatever you choose to call 'em. I don't have 'em, but even +if I did, I'd have 'em privately, not for the benefit of the public." + +"Is it necessary to make my husband insane in order to establish the +fact that his grandfather was not of sound mind?" queried pretty Mrs. +Browne, with her calmest Boston inflection. + +"It depends on your husband," said Britt coolly. "If he sticks at +anything which may help us to break that will, he's certainly insane. +That's all I've got to say about it." + +"Well, I'm hanged if I'll pose as an insane man," roared Browne. + +"Mr. Saunders hasn't asked _me_ to be insane, have you, Mr. Saunders?" +asked Lady Agnes in her sweetest, scorn. + +"I don't apprehend--" began Saunders nervously. + +"Saunders," said Britt, calculatingly and evenly, "next thing we'll have +to begin hunting for insanity in your family. We haven't heard anything +from you on this little point, Lord Deppingham." + +"I don't know anything about Mr. Saunders's family," said Deppingham +stiffly. Britt looked at him for a moment, puzzled and uncertain. Then +he gave a short, hopeless laugh and said, under his breath: + +"Holy smoke!" + +He immediately altered the course of the discussion and harked back to +his original declaration that spies abounded in the chateau. When he +finally called the conference adjourned and prepared to depart, he +calmly turned to the stenographer. + +"Did you get all this down, Miss Pelham?" + +"Yes, Mr. Britt." + +"Good!" Then he went away, leaving the quartette unconsciously depressed +by the emphasis he placed upon that single word. + +The next day but one, it was announced that the Enemy had moved into the +bungalow. Signs of activity about the rambling place could be made out +from the hanging garden at the chateau. It was necessary, however, to +employ the binoculars in the rather close watch that was kept by the +interested aristocrats below. From time to time the grey, blue or +white-clad figure of the Enemy could be seen directing the operations of +the natives who were engaged in rehabilitating Wyckholme's "nest." + +The chateau was now under the very eye of the Enemy. + + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE AMERICAN BAR + + +"You're wanted at the 'phone, Mr. Britt," said Miss Pelham. It was late +in the evening a day or two afterward. Britt went into the booth. He was +not in there long, but when he came out he found that Miss Pelham had +disappeared. The coincidence was significant; Mr. Saunders was also +missing from his seat on the window-sill at the far end of the long +corridor. Britt looked his disgust, and muttered something +characteristic. Having no one near with whom he could communicate, he +boldly set off for the hanging garden, where Deppingham had installed +the long-idle roulette paraphernalia. The quartette were placing +prospective rubies and sapphires on the board, using gun-wads in lieu of +the real article. + +Britt's stocky figure came down through the maze of halls, across the +vine-covered bridge and into the midst of a transaction which involved +perhaps a hundred thousand pounds in rubies. + +"Say," he said, without ceremony, "the Enemy's in trouble. Bowles just +telephoned. There's a lot of excitement in the town. I don't know what +to make of it." + +"Then why the devil are you breaking in here with it?" growled +Deppingham, who was growing to hate Britt with an ardour that was +unmanageable. + +"This'll interest you, never fear. There's been a row between Von Blitz +and the lawyer, and the lawyer has unmercifully threshed Von Blitz. Good +Lord, I'd like to have seen it, wouldn't you, Browne? Say, he's all +right, isn't he?" + +"What was it all about?" demanded Browne. They, were now listening, all +attention. + +"It seems that Von Blitz is in the habit of licking his wives," said +Britt. "Bowles was so excited he could hardly talk. It must have been +awful if it could get Bowles really awake." + +"Miraculous!" said Deppingham conclusively. + +"Well, as I get it, the lawyer has concluded to advance the American +idiosyncrasy known as reform. It's a habit with us, my lady. We'll try +to reform heaven if enough of us get there to form a club. Von Blitz +beats his Persian wives instead of his Persian rugs, therefore he needed +reforming. Our friend, the Enemy, met him this evening, and told him +that no white man could beat his wife, singular or plural, while he was +around. Von Blitz is a big, ugly chap, and he naturally resented the +interference with his divine might. He told the lawyer to go hang or +something equivalent. The lawyer knocked him down. By George, I'd like +to have seen it! From the way Bowles tells it, he must have knocked him +down so incessantly in the next five minutes that Von Blitz's attempts +to stand up were nothing short of a stutter. Moreover, he wouldn't let +Von Blitz stab him worth a cent. Bowles says he's got Von Blitz cowed, +and the whole town is walking in circles, it's so dizzy. Von Blitz's +wives threaten to kill the lawyer, but I guess they won't. Bowles says +that all the Persian and Turkish women on the island are crazy about the +fellow." + +"Mr. Britt!" protested Mrs. Browne. + +"Beg pardon. Perhaps Bowles is wrong. Well, to make it short, the lawyer +has got Von Blitz to hating him secretly, and the German has a lot of +influence over the people. It may be uncomfortable for our good-looking +friend. If he didn't seem so well able to look out for himself, I'd feel +mighty uneasy about him. After all, he's a white man and a good fellow, +I imagine." + +"If he should be in great danger down there," said her ladyship +firmly--perhaps consciously--"we must offer him a safe retreat in the +chateau." The others looked at her in surprise. "We can't stand off and +see him murdered, you know," she qualified hastily. + +The next morning a messenger came up from the town with a letter +directed to Messrs. Britt and Saunders. It was from the Enemy, and +requested them to meet him in private conference at four that afternoon. +"I think it will be for the benefit of all concerned if we can get +together," wrote the Enemy in conclusion. + +"He's weakening," mused Britt, experiencing a sense of disappointment +over his countryman's fallibility. "My word for it, Saunders, he's going +to propose an armistice of some sort. He can't keep up the bluff." + +"Shocking bad form, writing to us like this," said Saunders +reflectively. "As if we'd go into any agreement with the fellow. I'm +sure Lady Deppingham wouldn't consider it for a moment." + +The messenger carried back with him a dignified response in which the +counsellors for Mr. Browne and Lady Deppingham respectfully declined to +engage in any conference at this time. + +At two o'clock that afternoon the entire force of native servants picked +up their belongings, and marched out of the chateau. Britt stormed and +threatened, but the inscrutable Mohammedans shook their heads and +hastened toward the gates. Despair reigned in the chateau; tears and +lamentations were no more effective than blasphemy. The major-domo, +suave and deferential, gravely informed Mr. Britt that they were leaving +at the instigation of their legal adviser, who had but that hour issued +his instructions. + +"I hope you are not forgetting what I said about the American gunboats," +said Britt ponderously. + +"Ah," said Baillo, with a cunning smile, "our man is also a great +American. He can command the gunboats, too, sahib. We have told him that +you have the great power. He shows us that he can call upon the English +ships as well, for he comes last from London. He can have both, while +you have only one. Besides, he says you cannot send a message in the +air, without the wire, unless he give permission. He have a little +machine that catch all the lightning in the air and hold it till he +reads the message. Our man is a great man--next to Mohammed." + +Britt passed his hand over his brow, staggered by these statements. +Gnawing at his stubby mustache, he was compelled to stand by helplessly, +while they crowded through the gates like a pack of hounds at the call +of the master. The deserters were gone; the deserted stood staring after +them with wonder in their eyes. Suddenly Britt laughed and clapped +Deppingham on the back. + +"Say, he's smoother than I thought. Most men would have been damned +fools enough to say that it was all poppy-cock about me sending wireless +messages and calling out navies; but not he! And that machine for +tapping the air! Say, we'd better go slow with that fellow. If you say +so, I'll call him up and tell him we'll agree to his little old +conference. What say to that, Browne? And you, Deppy? Think we--" + +"See here," roared Deppingham, red as a lobster, "I won't have you +calling me Deppy, confound your--" + +"I'll take it all back, my lord. Slip of the tongue. Please overlook it. +But, say, shall I call him up on the 'phone and head off the strike?" + +"Anything, Mr. Britt, to get back our servants," said Lady Deppingham, +who had come up with Mrs. Browne. + +"I was just beginning to learn their names and to understand their +English," lamented Mrs. Browne. + +When Britt reappeared after a brief stay in the telephone booth he was +perspiring freely, and his face was redder, if possible, than ever +before. + +"What did he say?" demanded Mrs. Browne, consumed by curiosity. Britt +fanned himself for a moment before answering. + +"He was very peremptory at first and very agreeable in the end, Mrs. +Browne. I said we'd come down at four-thirty. He asked me to bring some +cigarettes. Say, he's a strenuous chap. He wouldn't haggle for a +second." + +Britt and Saunders found the Enemy waiting for them under the awning in +front of the bank. He was sitting in a long canvas lounging chair, his +feet stretched out, his hands clasped behind his head. There was a +far-away, discontented look in his eyes. A native was fanning him +industriously from behind. There was no uncertainty in their judgment of +him; he looked a man from the top of his head to the tips of his canvas +shoes. + +Every line of his long body indicated power, vitality, health. His lean, +masterful face, with its clear grey eyes (the suspicion of a sardonic +smile in their depths), struck them at once as that of a man who could +and would do things in the very teeth of the dogs of war. + +He arose quickly as they came under the awning. A frank, even joyous, +smile now lighted his face, a smile that meant more than either of them +could have suspected. It was the smile of one who had almost forgotten +what it meant to have the companionship of his fellow-man. Both men were +surprised by the eager, sincere manner in which he greeted them. He +clasped their hands in a grip that belied his terse, uncompromising +manner at the telephone; his eyes were not those of the domineering +individual whom conjecture had appraised so vividly a short time before. + +"Glad to see you, gentlemen," he said. He was a head taller than either, +coatless and hatless, a lean but brawny figure in white crash trousers. +His shirt sleeves were rolled up to the elbows, displaying hard, sinewy +forearms, browned by the sun and wind. "It's very good of you to come +down. I'm sure we won't have to call out the British or American +gunboats to preserve order in our midst. I know something a great deal +better than gunboats. If you'll come to my shack down the street, I'll +mix you a real American cocktail, a mint julep, a brandy smash or +anything you like in season. There's a fine mint bed up my way, just +back of the bungalow. It's more precious than a ruby mine, let me tell +you. And yet, I'll exchange three hundred carats of mint, Mr. Britt, for +a dozen boxes of your Egyptian deities." + +Then as they sauntered off into a narrow side street: "Do you know, +gentlemen, I made the greatest mistake of my life in failing to bring a +ton of these little white sticks out with me? I thought of Gordon gin, +both kinds of vermouth, brandy, and all that sort of thing, and +completely forgot the staff of life. I happened to know that you have a +million packages of them, more or less, up at the chateau. My spies told +me. I daresay you know that I have spies up there all the time? Don't +pay any attention to them. You're at liberty to set spies on my trail at +any time. Here we are. This is the headquarters for the Mine-owners' +Association of Japat." + +He led them down a flight of steps and into a long, cool-looking room +some distance below the level of the street. Narrow windows near the +ceiling let in the light of day and yet kept out much of the oppressive +heat. A huge ice chest stood at one end of the room. At the other end +was his desk; a couch, two chairs, and a small deal table were the only +other articles of furniture. The floor was covered with rugs; the walls +were hung with ancient weapons of offence and defence. + +"The Mine-owners' Association, gentlemen, comprises the entire +population of Japat. Here is where I receive my clients; here is where +they receive their daily loaf, if you will pardon the simile. I sit in +the chairs; they squat on the rugs. We talk about rubies and sapphires +as if they were peanuts. Occasionally we talk about our neighbours. +Shall I make three mint juleps? Here, Selim! The ice, the mint and the +straws--and the bottles. Sit down, gentlemen. This is the American bar +that Baedeker tells you about--the one you've searched all over Europe +for, I daresay." + +"Reminds me of home, just a little bit," said Britt, as the tall glasses +were set before them. The Englishman was still clothed in reticence. His +slim, pinched body seemed more drawn up than ever before; the part in +his thatch of straw-coloured hair was as straight and undeviating as if +it had been laid by rule; his eyes were set and uncompromising. Mr. +Saunders was determined that the two Americans should not draw him into +a trap; after what he had seen of their methods, and their amazing +similarity of operation, he was quite prepared to suspect collusion. +"They shan't catch me napping," was the sober reflection of Thomas +Saunders. + +The Enemy planted the mint in its bed of chipped ice. "The sagacity that +Taswell Skaggs displayed in erecting an ice plant and cold storage house +here is equalled only by John Wyckholme's foresightedness in maintaining +a contemporaneous mint bed. I imagine that you, gentlemen, are hoping to +prove the old codgers insane. Between the three of us, and man to man, +how can you have the heart to propose anything so unkind when we look, +as we now do, upon the result of their extreme soundness of mind? Here's +how?" + +Selim passed the straws and the three men took a long and simultaneous +"pull" at the refreshing julep. Mr. Saunders felt something melt as he +drew the subsequent long and satisfying breath. It was the outer rim of +his cautious reserve. + +"I think we'll take you up on that proposition to trade mint for +cigarettes," said Mr. Britt. "Mr. Browne, my client, for one, will +sanction the deal. How about your client, Saunders?" + +Saunders raised his eyes, but did not at once reply, for the very +significant reason that he had just begun a second "pull" at his straw. + +"I can't say as to Lady Deppingham," he responded, after touching his +lips three or four times with his handkerchief, "but I'm quite sure his +lordship will make no objection." + +"Then we'll consider the deal closed. I'll send one of my boys over +to-morrow with a bunch of mint. Telephone up to the bungalow when you +need more. By the way," dropping into a curiously reflective air, "may I +ask why Lady Deppingham is permitted to ride alone through the +unfrequented and perilous parts of the island?" The question was +directed to her solicitor, who stared hard for a moment before replying. + +"Perilous? What do you mean?" + +"Just this, Mr. Saunders," said the Enemy, leaning forward earnestly. +"I'm not responsible for the acts of these islanders. You'll admit that +there is some justification in their contention that the island and its +treasures may be snatched away from them, by some hook or crook. Well, +there are men among them who would not hesitate to dispose of one or +both of the heirs if they could do it without danger to their interests. +What could be more simple, Mr. Saunders, than the death of Lady +Deppingham if her horse should stumble and precipitate her to the bottom +of one of those deep ravines? She wouldn't be alive to tell how it +really happened and there would be no other witnesses. She's much too +young and beautiful to come to that sort of an end." + +"My word!" was all that Saunders could say, forgetting his julep in +contemplation of the catastrophe. + +"He's right," said Britt promptly. "I'll keep my own client on the +straight and public path. He's liable to tip over, too." + +"Deuce take your Browne," said Saunders with mild asperity. "He never +rides alone." + +"I've noticed that," said the Enemy coolly. "He's usually with Lady +Deppingham. It's lucky that Japat is free from gossips, gentlemen." + +"Oh, I say," said Saunders, "none of that talk, you know." + +"Don't lose your temper, Saunders," remonstrated Britt. "Browne's worth +two of Deppingham." + +"Gentlemen," said the Enemy, "please remember that we are not to discuss +the habits of our clients. To change the subject, Britt, that was a--Oh, +Selim, please step over to the bank and ask what time it is." As Selim +departed, the Enemy remarked: "It won't do for him to hear too much. As +I was saying, that was a clever bluff of yours--I mean the gunboat +goblin. I have enlarged upon your story somewhat. You-----" + +"Yes," said Britt, "you've added quite a bit to it." + +"It's a sort of two-story affair now, don't you know," said Saunders, +feeling the effect of the drink. They all laughed heartily, two, at +least, in some surprise. Saunders never let an opportunity escape to +repeat the joke to his friends in after life; in fact, he made the +opportunity more often than not. + +"There's another thing I want to speak of," said the Enemy, arising to +prepare the second round of juleps. "I hope you won't take my +suggestions amiss. They're intended for the peace and security of the +island, nothing else. Of course, I could sit back and say nothing, +thereby letting your clients cut off their own noses, but it's hardly +fair among white people. Besides, it can have nothing to do with the +legal side of the situation. Well, here it is: I hear that your clients +and their partners for life are in the habit of gambling like fury up +there." + +"Gambling?" said Britt. "What rot!" + +"The servants say that they play Bridge every night for vast piles of +rubies, and turn the wheel daily for sapphires uncountable. Oh, I get it +straight." + +"Why, man, it's all a joke. They use gun wads and simply play that they +are rubies." + +"My word," said Saunders, "there isn't a ruby or sapphire in the party." + +"That's all right," said the Enemy, standing before them with a bunch of +mint in one hand and the bowl of ice in the other. They could not but +see that his face was serious. "We know it's all right, but the servants +don't. How do they know that the stakes are not what they're said to be? +It may be a joke, but the people think you are playing for real stones, +using gun wads as they've seen poker chips used. I've heard that as much +as L50,000 in precious gems change hands in a night. Well, the situation +is obvious. Every man in Japat thinks that your people are gambling with +jewels that belong to the corporation. They think there's something +crooked, d'ye see? My advice to you is: Stop that sort of joking. It's +not a joke to the islanders, as you may find out to your sorrow. Take +the tip from me, gentlemen. Let 'em play for pins or peppermint drops, +but not for rubies red. Here's your julep, Mr. Saunders. Fresh straw?" + +"By Jove," said Saunders, taking a straw, and at the same time staring +in open-mouthed wonder at the tall host; "you appal me! It's most +extraordinary. But I see your point clearly, quite clearly. Do you, +Britt?" + +"Certainly," said Britt with a look of disdain. "I told 'em to lower the +limit long ago." + +"This is all offered in a kindly spirit, you understand," said the +magnanimous Enemy. "We might as well live comfortably as to die +unseasonably here. Another little suggestion, Mr. Saunders. Please tell +Lord Deppingham that if he persists in snooping about the ravines in +search of rubies, he'll get an unmanageable bullet in the back of his +head some day soon. He's being watched all the time. The natives resent +his actions, foolish as they may seem to us. This is not child's play. +He has no right to a single ruby, even if he should see one and know +what it was. Just tell him that, please, Mr. Saunders." + +"I shall, confound him," exploded Saunders, smiting the table mightily. +"He's too damned uppish anyhow. He needs taking down--" + +"Ah, Selim," interrupted the Enemy, as the native boy entered, "no mail, +eh?" + +"No, excellency, the ship is not due to arrive for two weeks." + +"Ah, but, Selim, you forget that I am expecting a letter from Von +Blitz's wives. They promised to let me know how soon he is able to +resume work at the mines." + +"I hear you polished him off neatly," said Britt, with a grin. + +"Just the rough edges, Mr. Britt. He is now a gem of purest ray serene. +By the way, I hope you'll not take my mild suggestions amiss." + +"There's nothing I object to except your power to call strikes among our +servants. That seems to me to be rather high-handed," said Britt +good-naturedly. + +"No doubt you're right," agreed the other, "but you must remember that I +needed the cigarettes." + +"My word!" muttered Saunders admiringly. + +"Look here, old man," said Britt, his cheeks glowing, "it's mighty good +of you to take this trouble for----" + +"Don't mention it. I'd only ask in return that we three be a little more +sociable hereafter. We're not here to cut each other's throats, you +know, and we've got a deadly half year ahead of us. What say?" + +For answer the two lawyers arose and shook hands with the excellent +Enemy. When they started for the chateau at seven o'clock, each with six +mint juleps about his person, they were too mellow for analysis. The +Enemy, who had drunk but little, took an arm of each and piloted them +sturdily through the town. + +"I'd walk up to the chateau if I were you," he said, when they clamoured +for a jinriksha apiece. "It will help pass away the time." + +"By Jove," said Saunders, hunting for the Enemy's hand. "I'm going to +'nform L-Lord Deppingham that he's 'nsufferable ass an'--an' I don't +care who knows it." + +"Saunders," said Britt, with rare dignity, "take your hand out of my +pocket." + + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE SLOUGH OF TRANQUILLITY + + +Three months stole by with tantalising slowness. How the strangers on +the island of Japat employed those dull, simmering, idle weeks it would +not be difficult to relate. There was little or no incident to break the +monotony of their enforced residence among the surly Japatites; the same +routine obtained from day to day. Sultry, changeless, machine-like were +those hundred days and nights. They looked forward with hopeful, tired +eyes; never backward. There was nothing behind them but a dour waste, a +bog through which they had driven themselves with a lash of resolution. + +Autumn passed on into winter without a change of expression in the +benign face of nature. Christmas day was as hot as if it had come in +midsummer; the natives were as naked, the trees as fully clad. The +curious sun closed his great eye for a few hours in the twenty-four; the +remainder of the time he glared down upon his victims with a malevolence +that knew no bounds. Soft, sweet winds came with the typhoon season, +else the poor whites must have shrivelled and died while nature +revelled. Rain fell often in fitful little bursts of joyousness, but the +hungry earth sipped its moisture through a million greedy lips, eager to +thwart the mischievous sun. Through it all, the chateau gleamed red and +purple and gray against the green mountainside, baked where the sun +could meet its face, cool where the caverns blew upon it with their +rich, damp breath. + +The six months were passing away, however, in spite of themselves; ten +weeks were left before the worn, but determined heirs could cast off +their bonds and rush away to other climes. It mattered little whether +they went away rich or poor; they were to go! Go! That was the richest +thing the future held out to them--more precious than the wealth for +which they stayed. Whatever was being done for them in London and +Boston, it was no recompense for the weariness of heart and soul that +they had found in the green island of Japat. + +True, they rode and played and swam and romped without restraint, but +beneath all of their abandon there lurked the ever-present pathos of the +jail, the asylum, the detention ward. The blue sky seemed streaked with +the bars of their prison; the green earth clanked as with the sombre +tread of feet crossing flagstones. + +Not until the end of January was there a sign of revolt against the +ever-growing, insidious condition of melancholy. As they turned into the +last third of their exile, they found heart to rejoice in the thought +that release was coming nearer and nearer. The end of March! Eight weeks +off! Soon there would be but seven weeks--then six! + +And, all this time, the islanders toiled as they had toiled for years; +they reckoned in years, while the strangers cast up Time's account in +weeks and called them years. Each day the brown men worked in the mines, +piling gems into the vaults with a resoluteness that never faltered. +They were the sons of Martha. The rubies of Mandalay and Mogok were +rivalled by the takings of these indifferent stockholders in the great +Japat corporation. Nothing short of a ruby as large as the Tibet gem +could have startled them out of their state of taciturnity. Gems +weighing ten and fifteen carats already had been taken from the "byon" +in the wash, and yet inspired no exaltation. Sapphires, nestling in the +soft ground near their carmine sisters, were rolling into the coffers of +the company, but they were treated as so many pebbles in this ceaseless +search. + +The tiniest child knew that the ruby would not lose its colour by fire, +while the blue of the sapphire would vanish forever if subjected to +heat. All these things and many more the white strangers learned; they +were surfeited with a knowledge that tired and bored them. + +From London came disquieting news for all sides to the controversy. The +struggle promised to be drawn out for years, perhaps; the executors +would probably be compelled to turn over the affairs of the corporation +to agents of the Crown; in the meantime a battle royal, long drawn out, +would undoubtedly be fought for the vast unentailed estate left behind +by the two legators. + +The lonely legatees, marooned in the far South Sea, began to realise +that even after they had spent their six months of probation, they would +still have months, even years, of waiting before they could touch the +fortune they laid claim to. The islanders also were vaguely awake to the +fact that everything might be tied up for years, despite the provisions +of the will; a restless, stubborn feeling of alarm spread among them. +This feeling gradually developed itself into bitter resentment; hatred +for the people who were causing this delay was growing deeper and +fiercer with each succeeding day of toil. + +Their counsellor, the complacent Enemy, was in no sense immune to the +blandishments of the climate. His tremendous vitality waned; he slowly +drifted into the current with his fellows, although not beside them. For +some unaccountable reason, he held himself aloof from the men and women +that his charges were fighting. He met the two lawyers often, but +nothing passed between them that could have been regarded as the +slightest breach of trust. He lived like a rajah in his shady bungalow, +surrounded by the luxuries of one to whom all things are brought +indivisible. If he had any longing for the society of women of his own +race and kind, he carefully concealed it; his indifference to the subtle +though unmistakable appeals of the two gentlewomen in the chateau was +irritating in the extreme. When he deliberately, though politely, +declined their invitation to tea one afternoon, their humiliation knew +no bounds. They had, after weeks of procrastination, surrendered to the +inevitable. It was when they could no longer stand out against the +common enemy--Tranquillity! Lord Deppingham and Bobby Browne suffered in +silence; they even looked longingly toward the bungalow for the relief +that it contained and refused to extend. + +Lady Deppingham and Mrs. Browne should not be misunderstood by the +reader. They loved their husbands--I am quite sure of that; but they +were tired of seeing no one else, tired of talking to no one else. +Moreover, in support of this one-sided assertion, they experienced from +time to time the most melancholy attacks of jealousy. The drag of time +hung so heavily upon them that any struggle to cast it off was +immediately noticeable. If Mrs. Browne, in plain despair, went off for a +day's ride with Lord Deppingham, that gentleman's wife was sick with +jealousy. If Lady Agnes strolled in the moonlit gardens with Mr. Browne, +the former Miss Bate of Boston could scarcely control her emotions. They +shed many tears of anguish over the faithlessness of husbands; tears of +hatred over the viciousness of temptresses. Their quarrels were fierce, +their upbraidings characteristic, but in the end they cried and kissed +and "made up"; they actually found some joy in creating these little +feuds and certainly there was great exhilaration in ending them. + +They did not know, of course, that the wily Britt, despite his own +depression, was all the while accumulating the most astounding lot of +evidence to show that a decided streak of insanity existed in the two +heirs. He won Saunders over to his way of thinking, and that faithful +agent unconsciously found himself constantly on the watch for "signs," +jotting them down in his memorandum book. Britt was firm in his purpose +to make them out as "mad as March hares" if needs be; he slyly patted +his typewritten "manifestations" and said that it would be easy sailing, +so far as he was concerned. One choice bit of evidence he secured in a +most canny manner. He was present when Miss Pelham, at the bank, was +"taking" a dictation for the Enemy--some matter pertaining to the output +of the mines. Lady Deppingham had just been guilty of a most astounding +piece of foolhardiness, and he was discussing it with the Enemy. She had +forced her horse to leap across a narrow fissure in the volcano the day +before. Falling, she would have gone to her death three hundred feet +below. + +"She must be an out and out lunatic," the Enemy had said. Britt looked +quickly at Miss Pelham and Mr. Bowles. The former took down the +statement in shorthand and Bowles was afterward required to sign "his +deposition." Such a statement as that, coming from the source it did, +would be of inestimable value in Court. + +"If they could only be married in some way," was Britt's private lament +to Saunders, from time to time, when despair overcame confidence. + +"I've got a ripping idea," Saunders said one day. + +"Let's have it. You've always got 'em. Why not divide with me?" + +"Can't do it just yet. I've been looking up a little matter. I'll spring +it soon." + +"How long have you been working on the idea?" + +"Nearly four months," said Saunders, yawning. + +"'Gad, this climate _is_ enervating," was Britt's caustic comment. + +Saunders was heels over head in love with Miss Pelham at this time, so +it is not surprising that he had some sort of an idea about marriage, no +matter whom it concerned. + +Night after night, the Deppinghams and Brownes gave dinners, balls, +musicales, "Bridges," masques and theatre suppers at the chateau. First +one would invite the other to a great ball, then the other would respond +by giving a sumptuous dinner. Their dinners were served with as much +punctiliousness as if the lordliest guests were present; their dancing +parties, while somewhat barren of guests, were never dull for longer +than ten minutes after they opened. Each lady danced twice and then +pleaded a headache. Whereupon the "function" came to a close. + +For a while, the two hostesses were not in a position to ask any one +outside their immediate families to these functions, but one day Mrs. +Browne was seized by an inspiration. She announced that she was going to +send regular invitations to all of her friends at home. + +"Regular written invitations, with five-cent stamps, my dear," she +explained enthusiastically. "Just like this: 'Mrs. Robert Browne +requests the pleasure of Miss So-and-so's company at dinner on the 17th +of Whatever-it-is. Please reply by return steamer.' Won't it be fun? +Bobby, please send down to the bank for the stamps. I'm going to make +out a list." + +After that it was no unusual thing to see large packages of carefully +stamped envelopes going to sea in the ships that came for the mail. + +"And I'd like so much to meet these native Americans that you are +asking," said Lady Agnes sweetly, and without malice. "I've always +wondered if the first families over there show any trace of their +wonderful, picturesque Indian blood." + +"Our first families came from England, Lady Deppingham," said Drusilla, +biting her lips. + +"Indeed? From what part of England?" Of course, that query killed every +chance for a sensible discussion. + +One morning during the first week in February, the steamer from Aden +brought stacks of mail--the customary newspapers, magazines, novels, +telegrams and letters. It was noticed that her ladyship had several +hundred letters, many bearing crests or coats-of-arms. + +At last, she came to a letter of many pages, covered with a scrawl that +looked preposterously fashionable. + +"Nouveau riche," thought Drusilla Browne, looking up from her own +letters. Lady Agnes gave a sudden shriek, and, leaping to her feet, +performed a dance that set her husband and Bobby Browne to gasping. + +"She's coming!" she cried ecstatically, repeating herself a dozen times. + +"Who's coming, Aggie?" roared her husband for the sixth time. + +"She!" + +"She may be a steamship for all I know, if--" + +"The Princess! Deppy, I'm going to squeeze you! I must squeeze somebody! +Isn't it glorious? Now--now! Now life will be worth living in this +beastly place." + +Her dearest friend, the Princess, had written to say that she was coming +to spend a month with her. Her dear schoolmate of the old days in +Paris--her chum of the dear Sacred Heart Convent when it flourished in +the Boulevard des Invalides--her roommate up to the day when that +institution was forced to leave Paris for less unfriendly fields! + +"In her uncle's yacht, Deppy--the big one that came to Cowes last year, +don't you know? Of course, you do. Don't look so dazed. He's cruising +for a couple of months and is to set her down here until the yacht +returns from Borneo and the Philippines. She says she hopes it will be +quiet here! Quiet! She _hopes_ it will be _quiet_! Where are the +cigarettes, Deppy? Quick! I must do something devilish. Yes, I know I +swore off last week, but--please let me take 'em." The four of them +smoked in wondrous silence for two or three minutes. Then Browne spoke +up, as if coming from a dream: + +"I say, Deppingham, you can take her out walking and pick up a crownful +of fresh rubies every day or so." + +"Hang it all, Browne, I'm afraid to pluck a violet these days. Every +time I stoop over I feel that somebody's going to take a shot at me. I +wonder why the beggars select me to shoot at. They're not always popping +away at you, Browne. Why is it? I'm not looking for rubies every time I +stoop over. They shot at me the other day when I got down to pick up my +crop." + +"It's all right so long as they don't kill you," was Browne's consoling +remark. + +"By Jove!" said Deppingham, starting up with a look of horror in his +eyes, sudden comprehension rushing down upon him. "I wonder if they +think I am _you_, Browne! Horrible!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +WOMEN AND WOMEN + + +The Enemy's office hours were from three to five in the afternoon. It +was of no especial consequence to his clients that he frequently +transferred the placard from the front of the company's bank to the more +alluring doorway of the "American bar;" all was just and fair so long as +he was to be found where the placard listed. Twice a week, Miss Pelham +came down from the chateau in a gaily bedecked jinriksha to sit opposite +to him in his stuffy corner of the banking house, his desk between them, +her notebook trembling with propinquity. Mr. Britt generously loaned the +pert lady to the Enemy in exchange for what he catalogued as "happy +days." + +Miss Pelham made it a point to look as fascinating as possible on the +occasion of these interesting trips into the Enemy's territory. + +The Enemy, doing his duty by his clients with a determination that +seemed incontestable, suffered in the end because of his very +zealousness. He took no time to analyse the personal side of his work; +he dealt with the situation from the aspect of a man who serves but one +interest, forgetting that it involved the weal of a thousand units. For +that reason, he was the last to realise that an intrigue was shaping +itself to combat his endeavours. Von Blitz, openly his friend and ally, +despite their sad encounter, was the thorn which pricked the natives +into a state of uneasiness and doubt as to their agent's sincerity. + +Von Blitz, cunning and methodical, sowed the seed of distrust; it +sprouted at will in the minds of the uncouth, suspicious islanders. They +began to believe that no good could come out of the daily meetings of +the three lawyers. A thousand little things cropped out to prove that +the intimacy between their man and the shrewd lawyers for the opposition +was inimical to their best interests. + +It was Von Blitz who told the leading men of the island that their +wives--the Persians, the Circassians, the Egyptians and the Turkish +houris--were in love with the tall stranger. It was he who advised them +to observe the actions, to study the moods of their women. + +If he spoke to one of the women, beautiful or plain, the whole male +population knew of it, and smiled derisively upon the husband. Von Blitz +had turned an adder loose among these men; it stung swiftly and returned +to sting again. + +The German knew the condition of affairs in his own household. His +overthrow at the hands of the American had cost him more than physical +ignominy; his wives openly expressed an admiration for their champion. + +He knew too well the voluptuous nature of these creamy, unloved women, +who had come down to the island of Japat in exchange for the baubles +that found their way into the crowns of Persian potentates. He knew too +well that they despised the men who called them wives, even though fear +held them constantly in bond. Rebuffed, unnoticed, scorned, the women +themselves began to suspect and hate each other. If he spoke kindly to +one of them, be she fair and young or old and plain, the eyes of all the +others blazed with jealousy. Every eye in Japat was upon him; every hand +was turning against him. + +It was Miss Pelham who finally took it upon herself to warn the lonely +American. The look of surprise and disgust that came into his face +brought her up sharply. She had been "taking" reports at his dictation; +it was during an intermission of idleness on his part that she broached +the subject. + +"Miss Pelham," he said coldly, "will you be kind enough to carry my +condolences to the ladies at court, and say that I recommend reading as +an antidote for the poison which idleness produces. I've no doubt that +they, with all the perspicacity of lonely and honest women, imagine that +I maintain a harem as well as a bar-room. Kindly set them right about +it. Neither my home nor my bar-room is open to ladies. If you don't mind +we'll go on with this report." + +Miss Pelham flushed and looked very uncomfortable. She had more to say, +and yet hesitated about bearding the lion. He noticed the pain and +uncertainty in her erstwhile coquettish eyes, and was sorry. + +"I beg your pardon," he said gently. + +"You're wrong about Lady Deppingham and Mrs. Browne," she began +hurriedly. "They've never said anything mean about you. It was just my +miserable way of putting it. The talk comes from the islanders. Mr. +Bowles has told Mr. Britt and Mr. Saunders. He thinks Von Blitz is +working against you, and he is sure that all of the men are furiously +jealous." + +"My dear Miss Pelham, you are very good to warn me," said he easily. "I +have nothing to fear. The men are quite friendly and--" He stopped +abruptly, his eyes narrowing in thought. A moment later he arose and +walked to the little window overlooking the square. When he turned to +her again his face wore a more serious expression. "Perhaps there is +something in what you say. I'm grateful to you for preparing me." It had +suddenly come to mind that the night before he had seen a man skulking +in the vicinity of the bungalow. His body servant, Selim, had told him +that very morning that this same man, a native, had stood for hours +among the trees, apparently watching the house. + +"I just thought I'd tell you," murmured Miss Pelham nervously, "I--we +don't want to see you get into trouble--none of us." + +"Thank you," After a long pause, he went on, lowering his voice: "Miss +Pelham, I have had a hard time here, in more ways than I care to speak +of. It may interest you to know that I had decided to resign next month +and go home. I'm a living man, and a living man objects to a living +death. It's worse than I had thought, I came out here in the hope that +there would be excitement, life, interest. The only excitement I get is +when the ships call twice a month. I've even prayed that our beastly old +volcano might erupt and do all sorts of horrible things. It might, at +least, toss old Mr. Skaggs back into our midst; that would be a relief, +even if he came up as a chunk of lava. But nothing happens--nothing! +These Persian fairies you talk about--bah! I said I'd decided to resign, +to get out of the infernal place. But I've changed my mind. I'll stick +my time out. I've got three months longer to stay and I'll stay. If Von +Blitz thinks he can drive me out, he's mistaken. I'll be here after you +and your friends up there have sailed away, Miss Pelham--God bless you, +you're all white!--and I'll be here when Von Blitz and his wives are +dancing to the tunes I play. Now let's get back to work." + +"All right; but please be careful," she urged. "Don't let them catch you +unprepared. If you need help, I know the men at the chateau will come at +your call." + +One of those bright, enveloping smiles swept over his face--the smile +that always carried the little stenographer away with it. A merry +chuckle escaped his lips. "Thanks, but you forget that I can call out +the American and British navies." + +She looked doubtful. "I know," she said, "but I'm afraid Von Blitz is +scuttling your ships." + +"If poor little Bowles can conquer them with a red jacket that's too +small for him, to say nothing of the fit it would give to the British +army, I think I can scrape up a garment or two that will startle them in +another way. Please don't worry about me. I shall call my clients +together and have it out with them. If Von Blitz is working in the dark, +I'll compel him to show his hand. And, Miss Pelham," he concluded very +slowly, "I'll promise to use a club, if necessary, to drive the Persian +ladies away. So please rest easy on my account." + +Poor little Miss Pelham left him soon afterward, her head and heart +ringing with the consciousness that she had at last driven him out of +his customary reserve. Mr. Saunders was pacing the street in the +neighbourhood of the bank. He had been waiting an hour or more, and he +was green with jealousy. She nodded sweetly to him and called him to the +side of her conveyance. "Don't you want to walk beside me?" she asked. +And he trotted beside her like a faithful dog, all the way to the +distant chateau. + +The next morning the town bustled with a new excitement. A trim, +beautiful yacht, flying strange colours, steamed into the little harbour +of Aratat. + +She came to anchor much closer in than ships usually ventured, and an +officer put off in the small boat, heading for the pier, which was +already crowded with the native women and children. Every one knew that +the yacht brought the Princess who was to visit her ladyship; nothing +else had been talked of among the women since the word first came down +from the chateau that she was expected. + +The Enemy came down from his bungalow, attracted by the unusual and +inspiring spectacle of a ship at anchor. A line of anxiety marked his +brow. Two figures had watched his windows all night long, sinister +shadows that always met his eye when it penetrated the gloom of the +moonlit forest. + +Lord and Lady Deppingham were on the pier before him. Excitement and joy +illumined her face; her eyes were sparkling with anticipation; he could +almost see that she trembled in her eagerness. He came quite close to +them before they saw him. Exhilaration no doubt was responsible for the +very agreeable smile of recognition that she bestowed upon him. Or, +perhaps it was inspired by womanly pity for the man whose loneliness was +even greater and graver than her own. The Enemy could do no less than go +to them with his pleasantest acknowledgment. His rugged face relaxed +into a most charming, winsome smile, half-diffident, half-assured. + +He passed among the wives of his clients without so much as a sign of +recognition, coolly indifferent to the admiring glances that sought his +face. The dark, langourous eyes that flashed eager admiration a moment +before now turned sullen with disappointment. He had ignored their +owners; he had avoided them as if they were dust heaps in the path; he +had spurned them as if they were dogs by the roadside. And yet he smiled +upon the Englishwoman, he spoke with her, he admired her! The sharp +intake of breath that swept through the crowd told plainer than words +the story of the angry eyes that followed him to the end of the pier, +where the officer's boat was landing. + +"I have heard that you expect a visitor," said the Enemy in his most +agreeable manner. Lady Deppingham had just told him that she had a +friend aboard the yacht. + +"Won't you go aboard with us," asked Deppingham, at a loss for anything +better to say. The Enemy shook his head and smiled. + +"You are very good, but I believe my place is here," he said, with a +swift, sardonic glance toward his herd of followers. Lady Deppingham +raised her delicate eyebrows and gave him the cool, intimate smile of +comprehension. He flushed. "I am one of the lowly and the despised," he +explained humbly. + +"The Princess is to be with me for a month. We expect more sunshine than +ever at the chateau," ventured her ladyship. + +"I sincerely hope you may be disappointed," said he commiseratingly, +fanning himself with his hat. She laughed and understood, but Deppingham +was half way out to the yacht before it became clear to him that the +Enemy hoped literally, not figuratively. + +The Enemy sauntered back toward the town, past and through the staring +crowd of women. Here and there in the curious throng the face of a +Persian or an Egyptian stared at him from among the brown Arabians. +There was no sign of love in the glittering eyes of these trafficked +women of Japat. One by one they lifted their veils to their eyes and +slowly faded into the side streets, each seeking the home she despised, +each filled with a hatred for the man who would not feast upon her +beauty. + +The man, all unconscious of the new force that was to oppose him from +that hour, saw the English people go aboard. He waited until the owner's +launch was ready to return to the pier with its merry company, and then +slowly wended his way to the "American bar," lonelier than ever before +in his life. He now knew what it was that he had missed more than all +else--Woman! + +Britt and Saunders were waiting for him under the awning outside. They +were never permitted to enter, except by the order or invitation of the +Enemy. Selim stood guard and Selim loved the tall American, who could be +and was kind to him. + +"Hello," called Britt. "We saw you down there, but couldn't get near. By +ginger, old man, I had no idea your Persians were so beautiful. They are +Oriental gems of--" + +"My Persians? What the devil do you mean, Britt? Come in and sit down; I +want to talk to you fellows. See here, this talk about these women has +got to be stopped. It's dangerous for you and it's dangerous for me. It +is so full of peril that I don't care to look at them, handsome as you +say they are. Do you know what I was thinking of as I came over here, +after leaving one of the most charming of women?--your Lady Deppingham. +I was thinking what a wretched famine there is in women. I'm speaking of +women like Lady Deppingham and Mrs. Browne--neither of whom I know and +yet I've known them all my life. The kind of women we love--not the kind +we despise or pity. Don't you see? I'm hungry for the very sight of a +woman." + +"You see Miss Pelham often enough," said Saunders surlily. The Enemy was +making a pitcher of lemonade. + +"My dear Saunders, you are quite right. I _do_ see Miss Pelham often +enough. In my present frame of mind I'd fall desperately in love with +her if I saw her oftener." Saunders blinked and glared at him through +his pale eyes. + +"My word," he said. Then he got up abruptly and stalked out of the room. +Britt laughed immoderately. + +"He's a lucky dog," reflected the Enemy. "You see, he loves her, +Britt--he loves little Miss Pelham. Do you know what that means? It +means everything is worth while. Hello! Here he is back! Come in, +Saunders. Here's your lemo!" + +Saunders was excited. He stopped in the doorway, but looked over his +shoulder into the street. + +"Come along," he exclaimed. "They're going up to the chateau--the +Princess and her party. My word, she's ripping!" He was off again, +followed more leisurely by the two Americans. + +At the corner they stopped to await the procession of palanquins and +jinrikshas, which had started from the pier. The smart English victoria +from the chateau, drawn by Wyckholme's thoroughbreds, was coming on in +advance of the foot brigade. Half a dozen officers from the yacht, as +many men in civilian flannels, and a small army of servants were being +borne in the palanquins. In the rear seat of the victoria sat Lady +Deppingham and one who evidently was the Princess. Opposite to them sat +two older but no less smart-looking women. + +Britt and the Enemy moved over to the open space in front of the mosque. +They stood at the edge of and apart from the crowd of curious Moslems, +who had moved up in advance of the procession. + +"A gala day in Aratat," observed the stubby Mr. Britt. "We are to have +the whole party over night up at the chateau. Perhaps the advent of +strangers may heal the new breach between Mrs. Browne and Lady +Deppingham. They haven't been on speaking terms since day before +yesterday. Did Miss Pelham tell you about it? Well, it seems that Mrs. +Browne thinks that Lady Agnes is carrying on a flirtation with +Browne--Hello! By thunder, old man, she's--she's speaking to you!" He +turned in astonishment to look at his companion's face. + +The Enemy was staring, transfixed, at the young woman in white who sat +beside Lady Deppingham. He seemed paralysed for the moment. Then his +helmet came off with a rush; a dazed smile of recognition lighted his +face. The very pretty young woman in the wide hat was leaning forward +and smiling at him, a startled, uncertain look in her eyes. Lady +Deppingham was glancing open-mouthed from one to the other. The Enemy +stood there in the sun, bareheaded, dazed, unbelieving, while the +carriage whirled past and up the street. Both women turned to look back +at him as they rounded the corner into the avenue; both were smiling. + +"I must be dreaming," murmured the Enemy. + +Britt took him by the arm. "Do you know her?" he asked. The Enemy turned +upon him with a radiant gleam in his once sombre disconsolate eyes. + +"Do you think I'd be grinning at her like a damned fool if I didn't? Why +the dickens didn't you tell me that it was the Princess Genevra of +Rapp-Thorberg who was coming?" + +"Never thought of it. I didn't know you were interested in princesses, +Chase." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +CHASE PERFORMS A MIRACLE + + +Hollingsworth Chase now felt that he was on neutral ground with the +Princess Genevra. He could hardly credit his senses. When he left +Rapp-Thorberg in disgrace some months before, his susceptibilities were +in a most thoroughly chastened condition; a cat might look at a king, +but he had forsworn peeping into the secret affairs of princesses. + +His strange connection with the Skaggs will case is easily explained. +After leaving Thorberg he went directly to Paris; thence, after ten +days, to London, where he hoped to get on as a staff correspondent for +one of the big dailies. One day at the Savage Club, he listened to a +recital of the amazing conditions which attended the execution of +Skaggs's will. He had shot wild game in South Africa with Sir John +Brodney, chief counsellor for the islanders, and, as luck would have it, +was to lunch with him on the following day at the Savoy. + +His soul hungered for excitement, novelty. The next day, when Sir John +suddenly proposed that he go out to Japat as the firm's representative, +he leaped at the chance. There would be no difficulty about certain +little irregularities, such as his nationality and the fact that he was +not a member of the London bar: Sir John stood sponsor for him, and the +islanders would take him on faith. + +In truth, Rasula was more than glad to have the services of an American. +He had heard Wyckholme talk of the manner in which civil causes were +conducted and tried in the United States, and he felt that one Yankee on +the scene was worth ten Englishmen at home. Doubtless he got his +impressions of the genus Englishman by observation of the devoted +Bowles. + +The good-looking Mr. Chase, writhing under the dread of exposure as an +international jackass, welcomed the opportunity to get as far away from +civilisation as possible. He knew that the Prince Karl story would not +lie dormant. It would be just as well for him if he were where the lash +of ridicule could not reach him, for he was thin-skinned. + +We know how and when he came to the island and we have renewed our short +acquaintance with him under peculiar circumstances. It would be sadly +remiss, however, to suppress the information that he could not banish +the fair face of the Princess Genevra from his thoughts during the long +voyage; nor would it be stretching the point to say that his day dreams +were of her as he sat and smoked in his bungalow porch. + +Before Chase left London, Sir John Brodney bluntly cautioned him against +the dangers that lurked in Lady Deppingham's eyes. + +"She won't leave you a peg to stand on, Chase, if you seek an +encounter," he said. "She's pretty and she's clever, and she's made +fools of better men than you, my boy. I don't say she's a bad lot, +because she's too smart for that. But I will say that a dozen men are in +love with her to-day. I suppose you'll say that she can't help that. I'm +only warning you on the presumption that they don't seem to be able to +help it, either. Remember, my boy, you are going out there to offset, +not to beset, Lady Deppingham." + +Chase learned more of the attractive Lady Agnes and her court before he +left England. Common report credited her with being dangerously pretty, +scandalously unwise, eminently virtuous, distractingly adventurous in +the search for pleasure, charmingly unscrupulous in her treatment of +men's hearts, but withal, sufficiently clever to dodge the consequences +of her widespread though gentle iniquities. He was quite prepared to +admire her, and yet equally resolved to avoid her. Something told him +that he was not of the age and valor of St. Anthony. He went out to +Japat with a stern resolution to lead himself not into temptation; to +steer clear of the highway of roses and stick close to the thorny paths +below. Besides, he felt that he deserved some sort of punishment for +looking so high in the Duchy of Rapp-Thorberg. + +Not that he was in love with the proud Princess Genevra; he denied that +to himself a hundred times a day as he sat in his bungalow and smoked +the situation over. + +He had proved to himself, quite beyond a doubt, that he was not in love, +when, like a bolt from a clear sky, she stepped out of the oblivion into +which he had cast her, to smile upon him without warning. It was most +unfair. Her smile had been one of the most difficult obstacles to +overcome in the effort to return a fair and final verdict. + +As he sat in the shade of his bungalow porch on the afternoon of her +arrival, he lamented that every argument he had presented in the cause +of common sense had been knocked into a cocked hat by that electric +smile. Could anything be more miraculous than that she should come to +the unheard-of island of Japat--unless, possibly, that he should be +there when she came? She was there for him to look upon and love and +lose, just as he had dreamed all these months. It mattered little that +she was now the wife of Prince Karl of Brabetz; to him she was still the +Princess Genevra of Rapp-Thorberg. + +If he had ever hoped that she might be more to him than an unattainable +divinity, he was not fool enough to imagine that such a hope could be +realised. She was a princess royal, he the slave who stood afar off and +worshipped beyond the barrier of her disdain. In his leather pocketbook +lay the ever-present reminder that she could be no more than a dream to +him. It was the clipping from a Paris newspaper, announcing that the +Princess Genevra was to wed Prince Karl during the Christmas holidays. + +He had seen the Christmas holidays come and go with the certain +knowledge in his heart that they had given her to Brabetz as the most +glorious present that man had ever received. If he was tormented by this +thought at the happiest season of the year, his crustiness was +attributed by others to the loneliness of his life on the island. If he +grew leaner and more morose, no one knew that it was due to the passing +of a woman. + +Now she was come to the island and, so far as he had been able to see, +there was no sign of the Prince of Brabetz in attendance. The absence of +the little musician set Chase to thinking, then to speculating and, in +the end, to rejoicing. Her uncle by marriage, an English nobleman of +high degree, in gathering his friends for the long cruise, evidently had +left the Prince out of his party, for what reason Chase could not +imagine. To say that the omission was gratifying to the tall American +would be too simple a statement. There is no telling to what heights his +thoughts might have carried him on that sultry afternoon if they had not +been harshly checked by the arrival of a messenger from the chateau. His +blood leaped with anticipation. Selim brought word that the messenger +was waiting to deliver a note. The Enemy, who shall be called by his +true name hereafter, steadied himself and commanded that the man be +brought forthwith. + +Could it be possible--but no! _She_ would not be writing to him. What a +ridiculous thought! Lady Deppingham? Ah, there was the solution! She was +acting as the go-between, she was the intermediary! She and the Princess +had put their cunning heads together--but, alas! His hopes fell flat as +the note was put into his eager hand. It was from Britt. + +Still he broke the seal with considerable eagerness. As he perused the +somewhat lengthy message, his disappointment gave way to a no uncertain +form of excitement; with its conclusion, he was on his feet, his eyes +gleaming with enthusiasm. + +"By George!" he exclaimed. "What luck! Things are coming my way with a +vengeance. I'll do it this very night, thanks to Britt. And I must not +forget Browne. Ah, what a consolation it is to know that there are +Americans wherever one goes. Selim! Selim!" He was standing as straight +as a corporal and his eyes were glistening with the fire of battle when +Selim came up and forgot to salute, so great was his wonder at the +transformation. "Get word to the men that I want every mother's son of +'em to attend a meeting in the market-place to-night at nine. Very +important, tell 'em. Tell Von Blitz that he's _got_ to be there. I'm +going to show him and my picturesque friend, Rasula, that I am here to +stay. And, Selim, tell that messenger to wait. There's an answer." + +Long before nine o'clock the men of Japat began to gather in the market +and trading place. It was evident that they expected and were prepared +for the crisis. Von Blitz and Rasula, who had played second fiddle until +he could stand it no longer, were surprised and somewhat staggered by +the peremptory tone of the call, but could see no chance for the +American to shift his troublesome burden. The subdued, sullen air of the +men who filled the torchlighted market-place brooded ill for any attempt +Chase might make to reconcile them to his peculiar views, no matter how +thoroughly they may have been misunderstood by the people. Explanations +were easy to make, but difficult to establish. Chase could convince +them, no doubt, that he was not guilty of double dealing, but it would +be next to impossible to extinguish the blaze of jealousy that was +consuming the reason of the head men of Japat, skilfully fed by the +tortured Von Blitz and blown upon ceaselessly by the breath of scandal. + +Five hundred dark, sinister men were gathered in knots about the square. +They talked in subdued tones and looked from fiery eyes that belied +their outward calm. + +Hollingsworth Chase, attended by Selim, came down from his mountain +retreat. He heard the sibilant hiss of the scorned Persians as he passed +among them on the outskirts of the crowd; he observed the threatening +attitude of the men who waited and watched; he saw the white, ugly face +of Von Blitz quivering with triumph; he felt the breath of disaster upon +his cheek. And yet he walked among them without fear, his head erect, +his eyes defiant. He knew that a crisis had come, but he smiled as he +walked up to meet it, with a confidence that was sublime. + +The market-place was a large open tract in the extreme west end of the +town, some distance removed from the business street and the pier. On +two sides were the tents of the fruit peddlers and the vegetable +hucksters, negroes who came in from the country with their produce. The +other sides were taken up by the fabric and gewgaw venders, while in the +centre stood the platforms from which the auctioneers offered treasures +from the Occident. Through a break in the foothills, the chateau was +plainly discernible, the sea being obscured from view by the dense +forest that crowned the cliffs. + +Chase made his way boldly to the nearest platform, exchanging bows with +the surprised Von Blitz and the saturnine Rasula, who stood quite near. +The men of Japat slowly drew close in as he mounted the platform, The +gleaming eyes that shone in the light of the torches did not create any +visible sign of uneasiness in the American, even though down in his +heart he trembled. He knew the double chance he was to take. From where +he stood looking out over those bronze faces, he could pick out the +scowling husbands who hated him because their wives hated them. He could +see Ben Ali, the master of two beauties from Teheran and the handsome +dancing girl from Cairo; there was Amriph, who basked erstwhile in the +sunshine of a bargain from Damascus and a seraph from Bagdad, but who +now groped about in the blackness of their contempt; and others, all of +whom felt in their bitter hearts that their misery was due to the +prowess of this gallant figure. + +Afar off stood the group of women who had inspired this hatred and +distrust. Behind them, despised and uncountenanced by the Oriental +elect, were crowded the native women, who, down in their hearts, loathed +the usurpers. It was Chase's hope that the husbands of these simple +women would ultimately stand at his side in the fight for supremacy--and +they were vastly in the majority. If he could convince these men that +his dealings with them were honest, Von Blitz could "go hang." + +He faced the crowd, knowing that all there were against him. "Von +Blitz!" he called suddenly. The German started and stepped back +involuntarily, as if he had been reprimanded. + +"I've called this meeting in order to give you a chance to say to my +face some of the things you are saying behind my back. Thank God, all of +you men understand English. I want you to hear what Von Blitz has to say +in public, and then I want you to hear what I say to him. Incidentally, +you may have something to say for yourselves. In the first place, I want +you all to understand just how I stand in respect to my duties as your +legal representative. Von Blitz and Rasula and others, I hear, have +undertaken to discredit my motives as the agent of your London advisers. +Let me say, right here, that the man who says that I have played you +false in the slightest degree, is a liar--a _damned_ liar, if you prefer +it that way. You have been told that I am selling you out to the lawyers +for the opposition. That is lie number one. You have been led to believe +that I make false reports to your London solicitors. Lie number two. You +have been poisoned with the story that I covet certain women in this +town--too numerous to mention, I believe. That is lie number three. They +are all beautiful, my friends, but I wouldn't have one of 'em as a gift. + +"For the past few nights my home has been watched. I want to announce to +you that if I see anybody hanging around the bungalow after to-day, I'm +going to put a bullet through him, just as I would through a dog. Please +bear that in mind. Now, to come down to Von Blitz. You can't drive me +out of this island, old man. You have lied about me ever since I beat +you up that night. You are sacrificing the best interests of these +people in order to gratify a personal spite, in order to wreak a +personal vengeance. Stop! You can talk when I have finished. You have +set spies upon my track. You have told these husbands that their wives +need watching. You have turned them against me and against their wives, +who are as pure and virtuous as the snow which you never see. (God, +forgive me!) All this, my friend, in order to get even with me. I don't +ask you to retract anything you've said. I only intend you to know that +I can crush you as I would a peanut, if you know what that is. You----" + +Von Blitz, foaming with rage, broke in: "I suppose you vill call out der +warships! We are not fools! You can fool some of----" + +"Now, see here, Von Blitz, I'll show whether I can call out a warship +whenever I need one. I have never intended to ask naval help except in +case of an attack by our enemies up at the chateau. You can't believe +that I seek to turn those big guns against my own clients--the clients I +came out here to serve with my life's blood if necessary. But, hear me, +you Dutch lobster! I can have a British man-of-war here in ten hours to +take you off this island and hang you from a yard arm on the charge of +conspiracy against the Crown." + +Von Blitz and Rasula laughed scornfully and turned to the crowd. The +latter began to harangue his fellows. "This man is a--a--" he began. + +"A bluff!" prompted Von Blitz, glaring at his tall accuser. + +"A bluff," went on Rasula. "He can do none of these things. Nor can the +Americans at the chateau. I know that they are liars. They--" + +"I'll make you pay for that, Rasula. Your time is short. Men of Japat, I +don't want to serve you unless you trust me--" + +A dozen voices cried: "We don't trust you!" "Dog of a Christian! Son of +a snake!" Von Blitz glowed with satisfaction. + +"One moment, please! Rasula knows that I came out here to represent Sir +John Brodney. He knows how I am regarded in London. He is jealous +because I have not listened to his chatter. I am not responsible for the +probable delay in settling the estate. If you are not very careful, you +will ruin every hope for success that you may have had in the beginning. +The Crown will take it out of your hands. You've got to show yourselves +worthy of handling the affairs of this company. You can't do it if you +listen to such carrion as Von Blitz and Rasula. Oh, I'm not afraid of +you! I know that you have written to Sir John, Rasula, asking that I be +recalled. He won't recall me, rest assured, unless he throws up the +case. I have his own letters to prove that he is satisfied with my work +out here. I am satisfied that there are enough fair-minded men in this +crowd to protect me. They will stand by me in the end. I call upon--" + +But a howl of dissent from the throng brought him up sharply. His face +went white and for a moment he feared the malevolence that stared at him +from all sides. He looked frequently in the direction of the distant +chateau. An anxious gleam came into his eyes--was it of despair? A +hundred men were shouting, but no one seemed to have the courage to +break over the line that he had drawn. Knives slipped from many sashes; +Von Blitz was screaming with insane laughter, pointing his finger at the +discredited American. While they shouted and cursed, his gaze never left +the cleft in the hills. He did not attempt to cry them down; the effort +would have been in vain. Suddenly a wild, happy light came into his +anxious, searching eyes. He gave a mighty shout and raised his hands, +commanding silence. + +Selim, clinging to his side, also had seen the sky-rocket which arose up +from the chateau and dropped almost instantly into the wall of trees. + +There was something in the face and voice of the American that quelled +the riotous disorder. + +"You fools!" he shouted, "take warning! I have told you that I would not +turn the guns of England and America against you unless you turned +against me. I am your friend--but, by the great Mohammed you'll pay for +my life with every one of your own if you resort to violence. Listen! +To-day I learned that my life was threatened. I sent a message in the +air to the nearest battleship. There is not an hour in the day or night +that I or the people in the chateau cannot call upon our governments for +help. My call to-day has been answered, as I knew it would be. There is +always a warship near at hand, my friends. It is for you to say whether +a storm of shot and shell--" + +Von Blitz leaped upon a platform and shouted madly: "Fools! Don't +believe him! He cannot bring der ships here! He lies--he lies! He--" + +At that moment, a shrill clamour of voices arose in the distance--the +cries of women and children. Chase's heart gave a great bound of joy. He +knew what it meant. The crowd turned to learn the cause of this sudden +disturbance. Across the square, coming from the town, raced the women +and children, gesticulating wildly and screaming with excitement. + +Chase pointed his finger at Von Blitz and shouted: + +"I can't, eh? There's a British warship standing off the harbour now, +and her guns are trained--" + +But he did not complete the astounding, stupefying sentence. The women +were screaming: + +"The warship! The warship! Fly! Fly!" + +In a second, the entire assemblage was racing furiously, doubtingly, yet +fearfully toward the pier. Von Blitz and Rasula shouted in vain. They +were left with Chase, who smiled triumphantly upon their ghastly faces. + +"Gentlemen, they are not deceived. There _is_ a warship out there. You +came near to showing your hand to-night. Now come along with me, and +I'll show my hand to you. Rasula, you'd better draw in your claws. +You're entitled to some consideration. But Von Blitz! Jacob, you are +standing on very thin ice. I can have you shot to-morrow morning." + +Von Blitz sputtered and snarled. "It is all a lie! It is a trick!" He +would have drawn his revolver had not Rasula grasped his arm. The native +lawyer dragged him off toward the pier, half-doubting his own senses. + +Just outside the harbour, plainly distinguishable in the moonlight, lay +a great cruiser, her searchlights whipping the sky and sea with long +white lashes. + +The gaping, awe-struck crowd in the street parted to let Chase pass +through on his way to the bungalow. He was riding one of Wyckholme's +thoroughbreds, a fiery, beautiful grey. His manner was that of a +medieval conqueror. He looked neither to right nor to left, but kept his +eyes straight ahead, ignoring the islanders as completely as if they did +not exist. + +"It's more like a Christian Endeavour meeting than it was ten minutes +ago," he was saying to himself, all the time wondering when some +reckless unbeliever would hurl a knife at his back. He gravely winked +his eye in the direction of the chateau. "Good old Britt!" he muttered +in his exultation. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE LANTERN ABOVE + + +Chase sat for hours on his porch that night, gazing down upon the +chateau. Lights gleamed in a hundred of its windows. He knew that +revelry held forth in what he was pleased enough to call the feudal +castle, and yet his heart warmed toward the gay people who danced and +sang while he thirsted at the gates. + +The bitterness of his own isolation, the ostracism that circumstance had +forced upon him, would have been maddening on this night had not all +rancour been tempered by the glorious achievement in the market-place. +He wondered if the Princess knew what he had dared and what he had +accomplished in the early hours of the night. He wondered if they had +pointed out his solitary light to her--if, now and then, she bestowed a +casual glance upon that twinkling star of his. The porch lantern hung +almost directly above his head. + +He was not fool enough to think that he had permanently pulled the wool +over the eyes of the islanders. Sooner or later they would come to know +that he had tricked them, and then--well, he could only shake his head +in dubious contemplation of the hundred things that might happen. He +smiled as he smoked, however, for he looked down upon a world that +thought only of the night at hand. + +The chateau was indeed the home of revelry. The pent-up, struggling +spirits of those who had dwelt therein for months in solitude arose in +the wild stampede for freedom. All petty differences between Lady +Deppingham and Drusilla Browne, and they were quite common now, were +forgotten in the whirlwind of relief that came with the strangers from +the yacht. Mrs. Browne's good-looking eager husband revelled in the +prospect of this delirious night--this almost Arabian night. He was +swept off his feet by the radiant Princess--the Scheherezade of his +boyhood dreams; his blithe heart thumped as it had not done since he was +a boy. The Duchess of N---- and the handsome Marchioness of B---- came +into his tired, hungry life at a moment when it most needed the light. +It was he who fairly dragged Lady Agnes aside and proposed the banquet, +the dance, the concert--everything--and it was he who carried out the +hundred spasmodic instructions that she gave. + +Late in the night, long after the dinner and the dance, the tired but +happy company flocked to the picturesque hanging garden for rest and the +last refreshment. Every man was in his ducks or flannels, every woman in +the coolest, the daintiest, the sweetest of frocks. The night was clear +and hot; the drinks were cold. + +The hanging garden was a wonderfully constructed open-air plaisance +suspended between the chateau itself and the great cliff in whose shadow +it stood. The cliff towered at least three hundred feet above the roof +of the spreading chateau, a veritable stone wall that extended for a +mile or more in either direction. Its crest was covered with trees +beyond which, in all its splendour, rose the grass-covered mountain +peak. Here and there, along the face of this rocky palisade, tiny +streams of water leaked through and came down in a never-ending spray, +leaving the rocks cool and slimy from its touch. + +Near the chateau there was a real waterfall, reminding one in no small +sense of the misty veils at Lauterbrunnen or Giesbach. The swift stream +which obtained life from these falls, big and little, ran along the base +of the cliff for some distance and was then diverted by means of a deep, +artificial channel into an almost complete circuit of the chateau, +forming the moat. It sped along at the foot of the upper terrace, a wide +torrent that washed between solid walls of masonry which rose to a +height of not less than ten feet on either side. There were two +drawbridges--seldom used but always practicable. One, a handsome example +of bridge building, crossed the current at the terminus of the grand +approach which led up from the park; the other opened the way to the +stables and the servants' quarters at the rear. A small, stationary +bridge crossed the vicious stream immediately below the hanging garden +and led to the ladders by which one ascended to the caverns that ran far +back into the mountain. + +Two big, black, irregular holes in the face of the cliff marked the +entrance to these deep, rambling caves, wonderful caverns wrought by the +convulsions of the dead volcano, cracks made by these splintering +earthquakes when the island was new. + +The garden hung high between the building and the cliff, swung by a +score of great steel cables. These cables were riveted soundly in the +solid rock of the cliff at one end and fastened as safely to the stone +walls of the chateau at the other. It swung staunchly from its moorings, +with the constancy of a suspension bridge, and trembled at the slightest +touch. + +It was at least a hundred feet square. The floor was covered with a foot +or more of soil in which the rich grass and plants of the tropics +flourished. There were tiny flower beds in the center; baby palms, +patchouli plants and a maze of interlacing vines marked the edges of +this wonderful garden in mid-air. Cool fountains sprayed the air at +either end of the green enclosure: the illusion was complete. + +The walls surrounding the garden were three feet high and were intended +to represent the typical English garden wall of brick. To gain access to +the hanging garden, one crossed a narrow bridge, which led from the +second balcony of the chateau. There was not an hour in the day when +protection from the sun could not be found in this little paradise. + +Bobby Browne was holding forth, with his usual exuberance, on the +magnificence of the British navy. The Marquess of B----, uncle to the +Princess, swelled with pride as he sat at the table and tasted his julep +through the ever-obliging straw. The Princess, fanning herself wearily, +leaned back and looked up into the mystic night, the touch of dreamland +caressing her softly. The others--eight or ten men and half as many +women--listened to the American in twice as many moods. + +"There she is now, sleeping out there in the harbour, a great, big thing +with the kindest of hearts inside of those steel ribs. Her Majesty's +ship, the _King's Own!_ Think of it! She convoys a private yacht; she +stops off at this beastly island to catch her breath and to see that all +are safe; then she charges off into the horizon like a bird that has no +home. Ah, I tell you, it's wonderful. Samrat, fill the Count's glass +again. May I offer you a cigarette, Princess? By the way, I wonder how +Chase came off with his side show?" + +"Saunders tells me that he was near to being butchered, but luck was +with him," said Deppingham. "His ship came home." + +"It was a daring trick. I'm glad he pulled it off. He's a man, that +fellow is," said Browne. "See, Princess, away up there in the mountain +is his home. There's a light--see it? He keeps rather late hours, you +see." + +"Tell me about him," said the Princess suddenly. She arose and walked to +the vine-covered wall, followed by Bobby Browne. + +"I don't know much to tell you," said he. "He's made an enemy or two and +they are trying to drive him out. I'd be rather sorry to see him go. +We've asked him down here, just because we can't bear to think of a +fellow-creature wasting his days in utter loneliness. But he has, so +far, declined with thanks. The islanders are beginning to hate him. They +distrust him, Britt says. Of course, you know why we are here, you--" + +"Every one knows, Mr. Browne. You are the most interesting quartette in +the world just now. Every one is wondering how it is going to end. What +a pity you _can't_ marry Lady Agnes." + +"Oh, I say!" protested Browne. She laughed merrily. + +"But how dull it must be for Mr. Chase! Does he complain?" + +"I can't say that he does. Britt--that's my lawyer--Britt says he's +never heard a murmur from him. He takes his medicine with a smile. I +like that sort of a fellow and I wish he'd be a little more friendly. It +couldn't interfere with his duties and I don't see where the harm would +come in for any of us." + +"He has learned to know and keep his place," said she coolly. Perhaps +she was thinking of his last night in the palace garden. Away up there +in the darkness gleamed his single, lonely, pathetic little light. +"Isn't it rather odd, Mr. Browne, that his light should be burning at +two o'clock in the morning? Is it his custom to sit up--" + +"I've never noticed it before, now you speak of it. I hope nothing +serious has happened to him. He may have been injured in--I say, if you +don't mind, I'll ask some one to telephone up to his place. It would be +beastly to let him lie up there alone if we can be of any service to--" + +"Yes, do telephone," she broke in. "I am sure Lady Deppingham will +approve. No, thank you; I will stand here a while. It is cool and I love +the stars." He hurried off to the telephone, more eager than ever, now +that she had started the new thought in his brain. Five minutes later he +returned to her, accompanied by Lady Agnes. She was still looking +at--the stars? The little light among the trees could easily have been +mistaken for a star. + +"Lady Deppingham called him up," said Bobby. + +"And he answered in person," said her ladyship. "He seemed strangely +agitated for a moment or two, Genevra, and then he laughed--yes, laughed +in my face, although it was such a long way off. People can do what they +like over the telephone, my dear. I asked him if he was ill, or had been +hurt. He said he never felt better in his life and hadn't a scratch. He +laughed--I suppose to show me that he was all right. Then he said he was +much obliged to me for calling him up. He'd quite forgotten to go to +bed. He asked me to thank you for bringing a warship. You saved his +life. Really, one would think you were quite a heroine--or a Godsend or +something like that. I never heard anything sweeter than the way he said +good-night to me. There!" + +The light in the bungalow bobbed mysteriously for an instant and then +went out. + +"How far is it from here?" asked the Princess abruptly. + +"Nearly two miles as the crow flies--only there are no crows here. Five +miles by the road, I fancy, isn't it, Bobby? I call him Bobby, you know, +when we are all on good terms. I don't see why I shouldn't if you stop +to think how near to being married to each other we are at this very +instant." + +"I wonder if help could reach him quickly in the event of an attack?" + +"It could, if he'd have the kindness to notify us by 'phone," said +Browne. + +"But he wouldn't telephone to us," said Lady Deppingham ruefully. "He's +not so communicative as that." + +"Surely he would call upon you for help if he----" + +"You don't know him, Genevra." + +The Princess smiled in a vague sort of way. "I've met him quite +informally, if you remember." + +"I should say it was informally. It's the most delicious story I've ever +heard. You must tell it to Mr. Browne, dear. It's all about the Enemy in +Thorberg, Mr. Browne. There's your wife calling, Bobby. She wants you to +tell that story again, about the bishop who rang the door bell." + +The next morning the captain of the _King's Own_ came ashore and was +taken to the chateau for dejeuner. Late in the afternoon, the Marquess +and his party, saying farewell to the Princess and the revived legatees, +put out to the yacht and steamed away in the wake of the great warship. +The yacht was to return in a month, to pick up the Princess. + +Genevra, her maids, her men and her boxes, her poodle and her dachshund, +were left behind for the month of March. Not without misgiving, it must +be said, for the Marquess, her uncle, was not disposed to look upon the +island situation as a spot of long-continued peace, even though its +hereditary companion, Prosperity, might reign steadily. But she refused +to listen to their warnings. She smiled securely and said she had come +to visit Lady Agnes and she would not now disappoint her for the world. +All this, and much more, passed between them. + +"You won't be able to get help as cleverly and as timely as that +American chap got it last night," protested the Marquess. "Warships +don't browse around like gulls, you know. Karl will never forgive me if +I leave you here----" + +"Karl is of a very forgiving nature, uncle, dear," said Genevra sweetly. +"He forgave you for defending Mr. Chase, because you are such a nice +Englishman. I've induced him to forgive Mr. Chase because he's such a +nice American---although Mr. Chase doesn't seem to know it---and I'm quite +sure Karl would shake his hand if he should come upon him anywhere. +Leave Karl to me, uncle." + +"And leave you to the cannibals, or whatever they are. I can't think of +it! It's out of the--" + +"Take him away, Aunt Gretchen. 'And come again some other day,'" she +sang blithely. + +And so they sailed away without her, just as she had intended from the +beginning. Lord Deppingham stood beside her on the pier as the shore +party waved its adieus to the yacht. + +"By Jove, Genevra, I hope no harm comes to you here in this beastly +place," said he, a look of anxiety in his honest eyes. "There goes our +salvation, if any rumpus should come up. We can't call 'em out of the +sky as Chase did last night. Lucky beggar! That fellow Chase is ripping, +by Jove. That's what he is. I wish he'd open up his heart a bit and ask +us into that devilish American bar of his." + +"He owes us something for the warship we delivered to him last night," +said Bobby. "He has made good with his warship story, after all, thanks +to the _King's Own_ and Britt." + +"And the fairy Princess," added Lady Deppingham. + +"I am doubly glad I came, if you include me in the miracle," said +Genevra, shuddering a little as she looked at the lounging natives. +"Isn't it rather more of a miracle that I should come upon mine ancient +champion in this unheard-of corner of the globe?" + +"I'd like to hear the story of Chase and his Adventures in the Queen's +Garden," reminded Bobby Browne. + +"I'll tell it to you to-night, my children," said the Princess, as they +started for the palanquins. + +Hollingsworth Chase dodged into the American bar just in time to escape +the charge of spying. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MR. SAUNDERS HAS A PLAN + + +Miss Pelham's affair with Thomas Saunders by this time had reached the +stage where observers feel a hesitancy about twitting the parties most +concerned. Even Britt, the bravest jester of them all, succumbed to the +prevailing wind when he saw how it blew. He got in the lee of popular +opinion and reefed the sails of the good ship _Tantalus_. + +"Let true love take its course," he remarked to Bobby Browne one day, +after they had hearkened to Deppingham's furious complaint that he +couldn't find Saunders when he wanted him if he happened to be wanted +simultaneously by Miss Pelham. "Miss Pelham is a fine girl. Your wife +likes her and looks after her. She's a clever girl, much cleverer than +Saunders would be if he were a girl. She's found out that he earns a +thousand a year and that his mother is a very old woman. That shows +foresight. She says she's just crazy about London, although she doesn't +know where Hammersmith is. That shows discretion. She's anxious to see +the boats at Putney and talks like an encyclopaedia about Kew Gardens. +That shows diplomacy. You see, Saunders lives in Hammersmith, not far +from the bridge, all alone with his mother, who owns the house and +garden. It's all very appealing to Miss Pelham, who has got devilish +tired of seeing the universe from a nineteenth story in Broadway. I +heard her tell Saunders that she keeps a couple of geranium pots on the +window sill near which she sits all day. She says she's keen about +garden flowers. Looks serious to me." + +"She's a very nice girl," agreed Bobby Browne. + +"A very saucy one," added Deppingham, who had come a severe cropper in +his single attempt to interest her in a mild flirtation. + +"She's off with Saunders now," went on Britt. "That's why you can't find +him, my lord. If you really want him, however, I think you can reach him +by strolling through the lower end of the park and shouting. For +heaven's sake, don't fail to shout." + +"I _do_ want him, confound him. I want to ask him how many days there +are left before our time is up on the island. Demmed annoying, that I +can't have legal advice when I--" + +"How many days have you been here?" + +"How the devil should I know? That's what we've got Saunders here for. +He's supposed to tell us when to go home, and all that sort of thing, +you know." + +"It isn't going to be so bad, now that the Princess has come to cheer us +up a bit," put in Bobby Browne. "Life has a new aspect." + +"I say, Browne," burst out Deppingham, irrelevantly, his eyeglass +clenched in the tight grasp of a perplexed frown, "would you mind +telling me that story about the bishop and the door bell again?" + +Britt laughed hoarsely, his chubby figure shivering with emotion. +"You've heard that story ten times, to my certain knowledge, +Deppingham." + +His lordship glared at him. "See here, Britt, you'll oblige me by--" + +"Very well," interrupted Britt readily. "I forget once in a while." + +"The trouble with you Americans is this," growled Deppingham, turning to +Browne and speaking as if Britt was not in existence: "you have no +dividing line. 'Gad, you wouldn't catch Saunders sticking his nose in +where he wasn't wanted. He's--" + +"I was under the impression that you wanted him," interrupted Britt, +most good-naturedly, his stubby legs far apart, his hands in his +pockets. + +"I say, Browne, would you mind coming into my room? I want to hear that +story, but I'm hanged if I'll listen to it out here." + +The oft-told story of the bishop and the bell, of course, has no bearing +upon the affairs of Miss Pelham and Thomas Saunders. And, for that +matter, the small affairs of that worthy couple have little or no +bearing upon the chief issue involved in this tale. Nobody cares a rap +whether Saunders, middle-aged and unheroic bachelor, with his precise +little "burnsides," won the heart of the pert Miss Pelham, precise in +character if not always so in type. It is of no serious consequence that +she kept him from calling her Minnie until the psychological moment, and +it really doesn't matter that Thomas was days in advancing to the +moment. It is only necessary to break in upon them occasionally for the +purpose of securing legal advice, or the equally unromantic desire to +have a bit of typewriting done. We are not alone in this heartless and +uncharitable obtrusion. Deppingham, phlegmatic soul, was forever +disturbing Saunders with calls to duty, although Saunders was brutish +enough, in his British way, to maintain (in confidence, of course) that +he was in the employ of Lady Deppingham, or no one at all. Nevertheless, +he always lived under the shadow of duty. At any moment, his lordship +was liable to send for him to ask the time of day--or some equally +important question. And this brings us to the hour when Saunders +unfolded his startling solution to the problem that confronted them all. + +First, he confided in Britt, soberly, sagely and in perfect good faith. +Britt was bowled over. He stared at Saunders and gasped. Nearly two +minutes elapsed before he could find words to reply; which proves +conclusively that it must have been something of a shock to him. When at +last he did express himself, however, there was nothing that could have +been left unsaid--absolutely nothing. He went so far as to call Saunders +a doddering fool and a great many other things that Saunders had not in +the least expected. + +The Englishman was stubborn. They had it back and forth, from legal and +other points of view, and finally Britt gave in to his colleague, +reserving the right to laugh when it was all over. Saunders, with a +determination that surprised even himself, called for a conference of +all parties in Wyckholme's study, at four o'clock. + +It was nearly six before Lady Deppingham arrived, although she had but +forty steps to traverse. Mr. and Mrs. Browne were there fully half an +hour earlier. Deppingham appeared at four and then went away. He was +discovered asleep in the hanging garden, however, and at once joined the +others. Miss Pelham was present with her note book. The Princess was +invited by Lady Deppingham, who held no secrets from her, but the royal +young lady preferred to go out walking with her dogs. Pong, the red +cocker, attended the session and twice snarled at Mr. Saunders, for no +other reason than that it is a dog's prerogative to snarl when and at +whom he chooses. + +"Now, what's it all about, Saunders?" demanded Deppingham, with a wide +yawn. Saunders looked hurt. + +"It is high time we were discussing some way out of our difficulties," +he said. "Under ordinary circumstances, my lady, I should not have +called into joint consultation those whom I may be pardoned for +designating as our hereditary foes. Especially Mr. Browne. But, as my +plan to overcome the obstacle which has always stood in our way requires +the co-operation of Mr. Browne, I felt safe in asking him to be present. +Mrs. Browne's conjugal interest is also worthy of consideration." Mrs. +Browne sniffed perceptibly and stared at the speaker. "But five weeks +remain before our stay is over. We all know, by this time, that there is +little or no likelihood of the estate being closed on schedule time. I +think it is clear, from the advices we have, that the estate will be +tied up in the courts for some time to come, possibly a year or two. +From authoritative sources, we learn that the will is to be broken. The +apparent impossibility of marriage between Lady Deppingham and Mr. +Browne naturally throws our joint cause into jeopardy. There would be no +controversy, of course, if the terms of the will could be carried out in +that respect. The islanders understand our position and seem secure in +their rights. They imagine that they have us beaten on the face of +things. Consequently they are jolly well upset by the news that we are +to contest the will in the home courts. They are, from what I hear and +observe, pretty thoroughly angered. Now, the thing for us to do is to +get married." + +He came to this conclusion with startling abruptness. Four of his +hearers stared at him in blank amazement. + +"Get married?" murmured first one, then another. + +"Are you crazy?" demanded Browne. Britt was grinning broadly. + +"Certainly not!" snapped Saunders. + +"Oh, by Jove!" exclaimed Deppingham, relieved. "I see. You mean _you_ +contemplate getting married. I congratulate you. You gave me quite a +shock, Saund--" + +"I don't mean anything of the sort, my lord," said Saunders getting very +red in the face. Miss Pelham looked up from her note book quickly. He +winked at her, and her ladyship saw him do it. "I mean that it is high +time that Lady Deppingham and Mr. Browne were getting married. We +haven't much time to spare. It--" + +"Good Lord!" gasped Bobby Browne. "You _are_ crazy, after all." + +"Open the window and give some air," said Britt coolly. + +"See here, Saunders, what the devil is the matter with you?" roared +Deppingham. + +"My lord, I am here to act as your legal adviser," said Saunders with +dignity. "May I be permitted to proceed?" + +"Rather queer legal advice, 'pon my word." + +"Please let him explain," put in Mrs. Browne, whose sense of humour was +strongly attracted by this time. "If there is anything more to be +learned concerning matrimony, I'd like to know it." + +"Yes, Mr. Saunders, you may proceed," said Lady Agnes, passing a hand +over her bewildered eyes. + +"Thank you, my lady. Well, here it is in a nutshell: I have not spoken +of it before, but you and Mr. Browne can very easily comply with the +provisions of the will. You can be married at any time. Now, I--" + +"And where do I come in?" demanded Deppingham, sarcastically. + +"Yes, and I?" added Mrs. Browne. "You forget us, Mr. Saunders." + +"I include Mrs. Browne," amended Deppingham. "Are we to be assassinated? +By Jove, clever idea of yours, Saunders. Simplifies matters +tremendously." + +"I hear no objection from the heirs," remarked Saunders, meaningly. +Whereupon Lady Agnes and Bobby came out of their stupor and protested +vigorously. + +"Miss Pelham," said Britt, breaking in sharply, "I trust you are getting +all of this down. I wish to warn you, ladies and gentlemen, that _I_ +expect to overthrow the will on the ground that there is insanity on +both sides. You'll oblige me by uttering just what you feel." + +"Why, this is perfectly ridiculous," cried Lady Agnes. "Our souls are +not our own." + +"Your minds are the only things I am interested in," said Britt calmly. + +"My plan is very simple--" began Saunders helplessly. + +"Demmed simple," growled Deppingham. + +"We are living on an island where polygamy is practised and tolerated. +Why can't we take advantage of the custom and beat the natives at their +own game? That's the ticket!" + +Of course, this proposition, simple as it sounded, brought forth a storm +of laughter and expostulation, but Saunders held his ground. He listened +to a dozen jeering remarks in patient dignity, and then got the floor +once more. + +"You have only to embrace Mohammedanism or Paganism, or whatever it is, +temporarily. Just long enough to get married and comply with the terms. +Then, I daresay, you could resume your Christian doctrine once more, +after a few weeks, I'd say, and the case is won." + +"I pay Lady Deppingham the compliment by saying that it would be most +difficult for me to become a Christian again," said Browne smoothly, +bowing to the flushed Englishwoman. + +"How very sweet of you," she said, with a grimace which made Drusilla +shiver with annoyance. + +"You don't need to live together, of course," floundered Saunders, +getting rather beyond his depth. + +"Well, that's a concession on your part," said Mrs. Browne, a flash in +her eye. + +"I never heard of such an asinine proposition," sputtered Deppingham. +Saunders went completely under at that. + +"On the other hand," he hastened to remark, "I'm sure it would be quite +legal if you did live to----" + +"Stop him, for heaven's sake," screamed Lady Agnes, bursting into +uncontrollable laughter. + +"Stop him? Why?" demanded her husband, suddenly seeing what he regarded +as a rare joke. "Let's hear him out. By Jove, there's more to it than I +thought. Go on, Saunders." + +"Of course, if you are going to be nasty about it--" began Saunders in a +huff. + +"I can't see anything nasty about it," said Browne. "I'll admit that our +wife and our husband may decide to be stubborn and unreasonable, but it +sounds rather attractive to me." + +"Robert!" from his wife. + +"He's only joking, Mrs. Browne," explained Deppingham magnanimously. +"Now, let me understand you, Saunders. You say they can be married +according to the customs--which, I take it, are the laws--of the +islanders. Wouldn't they be remanded for bigamy sooner or later?" + +"They don't bother the Mormons, do they, Mr. Browne?" asked Saunders +triumphantly. "Well, who is going to object among us?" + +"I am!" exclaimed Deppingham. "Your plan provides Browne with two +charming wives and gives me but one. There's nothing to compel Mrs. +Browne to marry me." + +"But, my lord," said Saunders, "doesn't the plan give Lady Deppingham +two husbands? It's quite a fair division." + +"It would make Lord Deppingham my husband-in-law, I imagine," said +Drusilla quaintly. "I've always had a horror of husbands-in-law." + +"And you would be my wife-in-law," supplemented Lady Agnes. "How +interesting!" + +"Saunders," said Deppingham soberly, "I must oppose your plan. It's +quite unfair to two innocent and uninvolved parties. What have we done +that we should be exempt from polygamy?" + +"You are not exempt," exclaimed the harassed solicitor. "You are merely +not _obliged_ to, that's all. You can do as you choose about it, I'm +sure. I'm sorry my plan causes so much levity. It is meant for the good +of our cause. The will doesn't say how many wives Mr. Browne shall have. +It simply says that Agnes Ruthven shall be his wife. He isn't +restricted, you know. He can be a polygamist if he likes. I ask Mr. +Britt if there is anything in the document which specifically says he +shall _not_ have more than one wife. Polygamy is quite legal in the +United States, and he is an American citizen. I read about a Mormon chap +marrying a whole Sunday-school class not long ago." + +"You're right," said Britt. "The will doesn't specify. But, my dear +Saunders, you are overlooking your own client in this plan." + +"I don't quite understand, Mr. Britt." + +"As I understand the laws on this island--the church laws at least--a +man can have as many wives as he likes. Well, that's all very well for +Mr. Browne. But isn't it also a fact that a woman can have no more than +one husband? Lady Deppingham has one husband. She can't take another +without first getting rid of this one." + +"And, I say, Saunders," added Deppingham, "the native way of disposing +of husbands is rather trying, I've heard. Six or seven jabs with a long +knife is the most approved way, isn't it, Britt?" + +"Imagine Lady Deppingham going to the altar all covered with gore!" said +Britt. + +"Saunders," said Deppingham, arising and lighting a fresh cigarette, +"you have gone clean daft. You're loony with love. You've got marriage +on the brain. I'd advise you to take some one for it," + +"Do you mean that for me. Lord Deppingham?" demanded Miss Pelham +sharply. She glared at him and then slammed her note book on the table. +"You can josh Mr. Saunders, but you can't josh me. I'm sick of this job. +Get somebody else to do your work after this. I'm through." + +"Oh!" exclaimed every one in a panic. It took nearly ten minutes to +pacify the ruffled stenographer. She finally resumed her place at the +table, but her chin was in the air and she turned the pages with a +vehemence that left nothing to the imagination. + +"I can arrange everything, my lady, so that the ceremony will be +regular," pleaded the unhappy Saunders. "You have only to go through the +form--" + +"But what kind of a form does she follow in stabbing me to mincemeat? +That's the main law point," said Deppingham. "You seem to forget that I +am still alive." + +"Perhaps we could arrange for a divorce all round," cried Saunders, +suddenly inspired. + +"On what grounds?" laughed Browne. + +"Give me time," said the lawyer. + +"It's barely possible that there is no divorce law in Japat," remarked +Britt, keenly enjoying his confrere's misery. + +"Are you quite sure?" + +"Reasonably. If there was such a law, I'll bet my head two-thirds of the +men in Aratat would be getting rid of wives before night." + +Britt, after this remark, sat very still and thoughtful. He was turning +over the divorce idea in his mind. He had ridiculed the polygamy scheme, +but the divorce proposition might be managed. + +"I'm tired," said Lady Deppingham suddenly. She yawned and stretched her +arms. "It's been very entertaining, Saunders, but, really, I think we'd +better dress for dinner. Come, Mr. Browne, shall we look for the +Princess?" + +"With pleasure, if you'll promise to spare Deppingham's life." + +"On condition that you will spare Deppingham's wife," very prettily and +airily. Mrs. Browne laughed with amazing good grace, but there was a new +expression in her eyes. + +"Your ladyship," called Saunders desperately, "do you approve of my +plan? It's only a subterfuge--" + +"Heartily!" she exclaimed, with one of her rarest laughs. "The only +objection that I can see to it is that it leaves out my husband and Mrs. +Browne. They are very nice people, Saunders, and you should be more +considerate of them. Come, Mr. Browne." She took the American's arm and +gaily danced from the room. Lord Deppingham's eyes glowed with pride in +his charming wife as he followed with the heartsick Drusilla. Britt +sauntered slowly out and down the stairway, glancing back but once at +the undone Saunders. + +"I would have won them over if Britt had not interfered," almost wailed +little Mr. Saunders, his eyes glazed with mortification. + +"I'm getting to hate that man," said Miss Pelham loyally. "And the +others! They give me a pain! Don't mind them, Tommy, dear." + +Lady Deppingham and Browne came upon the Princess quite unexpectedly. +She was in the upper gallery, leaning against the stone rail and gazing +steadily through the field glasses in the direction of the bungalow. +They held back and watched her, unseen. The soft light of early evening +fell upon her figure as she stood erect, lithe and sinuous in the open +space between the ivy-clad posts; her face and hands were soft tinted by +the glow from the reflecting east, her hair was like a bronze relief +against the dark green of the mountain. She was dressed in white--a +modish gown of rich Irish lace. One instantly likened this rare young +creature to a rare old painting. + +Genevra smiled securely in her supposed aloofness from the world. Then, +suddenly moved by a strange impulse, she gently waved her handkerchief, +as if in greeting to some one far off in the gloaming. The action was a +mischievous one, no doubt, and it had its consequences--rather sudden +and startling, if the observers were to judge by her subsequent +movements. She lowered the glass instantly; there was a quick catch in +her breath--as if a laugh had been checked; confusion swept over her, +and she drew back into the shadows as a guilty child might have done. +They distinctly heard her murmur as she crossed the flags and +disappeared through the French window, without seeing them: + +"Oh, dear, what a crazy thing to do!" + +Genevra, peering through the glasses, had discovered the figure of Chase +on the bungalow porch. She was amused to find that he, from his distant +post, was also regarding the chateau through a pair of glasses. A spirit +of adventure, risk, mischief, as uncontrolled as breath itself, impelled +her to flaunt her handkerchief. That treacherous spirit deserted her +most shamelessly when her startled eyes saw that he was waving a +response. She laid awake for a long time that night wondering what he +would think of her for that wretched bit of frivolity. Then at last a +new thought came to her relief, but it did not give her the peace of +mind that she desired. + +He may have mistaken her for Lady Deppingham. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +TWO CALLS FROM THE ENEMY + + +Deppingham was up and about quite early the next morning--that is, quite +early for him. He had his rolls and coffee and strolled out in the shady +park for a smoke. The Princess, whose sense of humiliation had not been +lessened by the fitful sleep of the night before, was walking in the +shade of the trees on the lower terrace, beyond the fountains and the +artificial lake. A great straw hat, borrowed from Lady Agnes, shaded her +face from the glare of the mid-morning sun. Farther up the slope, one of +the maids was playing with the dogs. She waved her hand gaily and paused +to wait for him. + +"I was thinking of you," she said in greeting, as he came up. + +"How nice you are," he said. "But, my dear, is it wise in you to be +thinking of us handsome devils? It's a most dangerous habit--thinking of +other men." + +"But, Deppy, dear, the Prince isn't here," she said, falling into his +humour. "That makes quite a difference, doesn't it?" + +"Your logic is splendid. Pray resume your thoughts of me--if they were +pleasant and agreeable. I'll not blow on you to Karl." + +"I was just thinking what a lucky fellow you are to have such a darling +as Agnes for a wife." + +"You might as well say that Agnes ought to feel set up because Pong has +a nice coat. By the way, I have a compliment for you--no, not one of +their beastly trade-lasts! Browne says your hair is more beautiful than +Pong's. That's quite a compliment, Titian never even dreamed of hair +like Pong's." + +"You know, Deppy," she said with a pout, "I am very unhappy about my +hair. It is quite red. I don't see why I should have hair like that of a +red cocker. It seems so animalish." + +"Rubbish! Why should you complain? Look at my hair. It's been likened +more than once to that of a jersey cow." + +"Oh, how I adore jersey cows! Now, I wouldn't mind that a bit." + +They were looking toward the lower gates while carrying on this +frivolous conversation. A man had just entered and was coming toward +them. Both recognised the tall figure in grey flannels. Deppingham's +emotion was that of undisguised amazement; Genevra's that of confusion +and embarrassment. She barely had recovered her lost composure when the +newcomer was close upon them. + +There was nothing in the manner of Chase, however, to cause the +slightest feeling of uneasiness. He was frankness itself. His smile was +one of apology, almost of entreaty; his broad grass helmet was in his +hand and his bow was one of utmost deference. + +"I trust I am not intruding," he said as he came up. His gaze was as +much for Deppingham as for the Princess, his remark quite impersonal. + +"Not at all, not at all," said Deppingham quickly, his heart leaping to +the conclusion that the way to the American bar was likely to be opened +at last. "Charmed to have you here, Mr. Chase. You've been most +unneighbourly. Have you been presented to her Highness, the--Oh, to be +sure. Of course you have. Stupid of me." + +"We met ages ago," she said with an ingenuous smile, which would have +disarmed Chase if he had been prepared for anything else. As a matter of +fact, he had approached her in the light of an adventurer who expects +nothing and grasps at straws. + +"In the dark ages," said he so ruefully that her smile grew. He had +come, in truth, to ascertain why her husband had not come with her. + +"But not the forgotten variety, I fancy," said Deppingham shrewdly. + +"It would be impossible for the Princess to forget the greatest of all +fools," said Chase. + +"He was no worse than other mortals," said she. + +"Thank you," said Chase. Then he turned to Lord Deppingham. "My visit +requires some explanation, Lord Deppingham. You have said that I am +unneighbourly. No doubt you appreciate my reasons. One has to respect +appearances," with a dry smile. "When one is in doubt he must do as the +Moslems do, especially if the Moslems don't want him to do as he wants +to do." + +"No doubt you're right, but it sounds a bit involved," murmured +Deppingham. "Now that you are here you must do as the Moslems don't. +That's our Golden Rule. We'll consider the visit explained, but not +curtailed. Lady Deppingham will be delighted to see you. Are you ready +to come in, Princess?" + +They started toward the chateau, keeping well in the shade of the boxed +trees, the Princess between the two men. + +"I say, Chase, do you mind relieving my fears a bit? With all due +respect to your estimable clients, it occurs to me that they are likely +to break over the traces at any moment, and raise the very old Harry at +somebody else's expense. I'd like to know if my head is really safe. +Since your experience the other night, I'm a bit apprehensive." + +"I came to see you in regard to that very thing, Lord Deppingham. I +don't want to alarm you, but I do not like the appearance of things. +They don't trust me and they hate you--quite naturally. I'm rather sorry +that our British man-of-war is out of reach. Pray, don't be alarmed, +Princess. It is most improbable that anything evil will happen. And, in +any event, we can hold out against them until relief comes." + +"We?" demanded Deppingham. + +"Certainly. If it comes to an assault of any kind upon the chateau, I +trust that I may be considered as one of you. I won't serve assassins +and bandits--at least, not after they've got beyond my control. Besides, +if the worst should come, they won't discriminate in my favour." + +"Why do you stay here, Mr. Chase?" asked the Princess. "You admit that +they do not like you or trust you. Why do you stay?" + +"I came out here to escape certain consequences," said he candidly. +"I'll stay to enjoy the uncertain ones. I am not in the least alarmed on +my own account. The object of my visit, Lord Deppingham, is to ask you +to be on your guard up here. After the next steamer arrives, and they +learn that Sir John will not withdraw me in submission to Rasula's +demand, with the additional news that your solicitors have filed +injunctions and have begun a bitter contest that may tie up the estate +for years--then, I say, we may have trouble. It is best that you should +know what to expect. I am not a traitor to my cause, in telling you +this; it is no more than I would expect from you were the conditions +reversed. Moreover, I do not forget that you gave me the man-of-war +opportunity. That was rather good fun." + +"It's mighty decent in you, Chase, to put us on our guard. Would you +mind talking it over with Browne and me after luncheon? You'll stay to +luncheon, of course?" + +"Thank you. It may be my death sentence, but I'll stay." + +In the wide east gallery they saw Lady Deppingham and Bobby Browne, +deeply engrossed in conversation. They were seated in the shade of the +wisteria, and the two were close upon them before they heard their +voices. Deppingham started and involuntarily allowed his hand to go to +his temple, as if to check the thought that flitted through his brain. + +"Good Lord," he said to himself, "is it possible that they are +considering that demmed Saunders's proposition? Surely they can't be +thinking of that!" + +As he led the way across the green, Browne's voice came to them +distinctly. He was saying earnestly: + +"The mere fact that we have come out to this blessed isle is a point in +favour of the islanders. Chase won't overlook it and you may be sure Sir +John Brodney is making the most of it. Our coming is a guarantee that we +consider the will valid. It is an admission that we regard it as sound. +If not, why should we recognise its provisions, even in the slightest +detail? Britt is looking for hallucinations and all--" + +"Sh!" came in a loud hiss from somewhere near at hand, and the two in +the gallery looked down with startled eyes upon the distressed face of +Lord Deppingham. They started to their feet at once, astonishment and +wonder in their faces. They could scarcely believe their eyes. The +Enemy! + +He was smiling broadly as he lifted his helmet, smiling in spite of the +discomfort that showed so plainly in Deppingham's manner. + +Chase was warmly welcomed by the two heirs. Lady Agnes was especially +cordial. Her eyes gleamed joyously as she lifted them to meet his +admiring gaze. She was amazingly pretty. The conviction that Chase had +mistaken her for Lady Agnes, the evening before, took a fresh grasp upon +the mind of the Princess Genevra. A shameless wave of relief surged +through her heart. + +Chase was presented to Drusilla Browne, who appeared suddenly upon the +scene, coming from no one knew where. There was a certain strained look +in the Boston woman's face and a suspicious redness near the bridge of +her little nose. As she had not yet acquired the Boston habit of wearing +glasses, whether she needed them or not, the irritation could hardly be +attributed to tight _pince nez_. Genevra made up her mind on the instant +that Drusilla was making herself unhappy over her good-looking husband's +attentions to his co-legatee. + +"It's very good of you," said the Enemy, after all of them had joined in +the invitation. There was a peculiar twinkle in his eye as he asked this +rather confounding question: "Why is it that I am more fortunate than +your own attorneys? I am but a humble lawyer, after all, no better than +they. Would you mind telling me why I am honoured by an invitation to +sit at the table with you?" The touch of easy sarcasm was softened by +the frank smile that went with it. Deppingham, having been the first to +offend, after a look of dismay at his wife, felt it his duty to explain. + +"It's--it's--er--oh, yes, it's because you're a diplomat," he finally +remarked in triumph. It was a grand recovery, thought he. "Saunders is +an ass and Britt would be one if Browne could only admit it, as I do. +Rubbish! Don't let that trouble you. Eh, Browne?" + +"Besides," said Bobby Browne breezily, "I haven't heard of your clients +inviting _you_ to lunch, Mr. Chase. The cases are parallel." + +"I'm not so sure about his clients' wives," said Deppingham, with a vast +haw-haw! Chase looked extremely uncomfortable. + +"I am told that some of them are very beautiful," said Genevra sedately. + +"Other men's wives always are, I've discovered," said Chase gallantly. + +The party had moved over to the great stone steps which led down into +the gardens. Chase was standing beside Lady Deppingham and both of them +were looking toward his distant bungalow. He turned to the Princess with +the remark: + +"That is my home. Princess. It is the first time I have seen it from +your point of view, Lady Deppingham. I must say that it doesn't seem as +far from the chateau to the bungalow as it does from the bungalow to the +chateau. There have been times when the chateau seemed to be thousands +of miles away." + +"When in reality it was at your very feet," she said with a bright look +into his eyes. For some unaccountable reason, Genevra resented that look +and speech. Perhaps it was because she felt the rift of an undercurrent. + +"Is that really where you live?" she asked, so innocently that Chase had +difficulty in controlling his expression. + +At that instant something struck sharply against the stone column above +Chase's head. At least three persons saw the little puff of smoke in the +hills far to the right. Every one heard the distant crack of a rifle. +The bullet had dropped at Chase's feet before the sound of the report +came floating to their ears. No one spoke as he stooped and picked up +the warm, deadly missile. Turning it over in his fingers, an ugly thing +to look at, he said coolly, although his cheek had gone white: + +"With Von Blitz's compliments, ladies and gentlemen. He is calling on +me, by proxy." + +"Good God, Chase," cried Browne, "they're trying to murder us. Get back, +every one! Inside the doors!" + +The women, white-faced and silent for the moment, turned to follow the +speaker. + +"I'm sorry to bring my troubles to your door," said Chase. "It was meant +for me, not for any of you. The man who fired that did not intend to +kill me. He was merely giving voice to his pain and regret at seeing me +in such bad company." He was smiling calmly and did not take a single +step to follow them to safety. + +"Come in, Chase! Don't stand out there to be shot at." + +"I'll stay here for a few minutes, Mr. Browne, if you don't mind, just +to convince you all that the shot was not intended to kill. They're not +ready to kill me yet. I'm sure Lord Deppingham will understand. He has +been shot at often enough since he came to the island." + +"By Jove, I should rather say I have," blurted out Deppingham. "'Pon my +word, they had a shot at me every time I tried to pluck a flower at the +roadside. I've got so used to it that I resent it when they don't have a +try at me." + +"Think it was Von Blitz?" asked Browne. + +"No. He couldn't hit the chateau at two hundred yards. It is a native. +They shoot like fury." He lighted a cigarette and coolly leaned against +the column, his gaze bent on the spot where the smoke had been seen. The +others were grouped inside the doors, where they could see without being +seen. A certain sense of horror possessed all of the watchers. It was as +if they were waiting to see him fall with a bullet in his +breast--executed before their eyes. Several minutes passed. + +"For heaven's sake, why does he stand there?" cried the Princess at +last. "I can endure it no longer. It may be as he says it is, but it is +foolhardy to stand there and taunt the pride of that marksman. I can't +stay here and wait for it to come. How can--" + +"He's been there for ten minutes, Princess," said Browne. "Plenty of +time for another try." + +"I am not afraid to stand beside him," said Lady Agnes suddenly. She had +conquered her dread and saw the chance for something theatrical. Her +husband grasped her arm as she started toward the Enemy. + +"None of that, Aggie," he said sharply. + +Before they were aware of her intention, the Princess left the shelter +and boldly walked across the open space to the side of the man. He +started and opened his lips to give vent to a sharp command. + +"It is so easy to be a hero, Mr. Chase, when one is quite sure there is +no real danger," she said, with distinct irony in her tones. "One can +afford to be melodramatic if he knows his part so well as you know +yours." + +Chase felt his face burn. It was a direct declaration that he had +planned the whole affair in advance. He flicked the ashes from his +cigarette and then tossed it away, hesitating long before replying. + +"Nevertheless, I have the greatest respect for the courage which brings +you to my side. I daresay you are quite justified in your opinion of me. +It all must seem very theatrical to you. I had not thought of it in that +light. I shall now retire from the centre of the stage. It will be +perfectly safe for you to remain here--just as it was for me." He was +leaving her without another word or look. She repented. + +"I am sorry for what I said," she said eagerly. "And--" she looked up at +the hills with a sudden widening of her eyes--"I think I shall not +remain." + +He waited for her and they crossed to the entrance together. + +Luncheon was quite well over before the spirits of the party reacted +from the depression due to the shooting. Chase made light of the +occurrence, but sought to impress upon the others the fact that it was +prophetic of more serious events in the future. In a perfectly +cold-blooded manner he told them that the islanders might rise against +them at any time, overstepping the bounds of England's law in a return +to the primeval law of might. He advised the occupants of the chateau to +exercise extreme caution at all times. + +"The people are angry and they will become desperate. Their interests +are mine, of course. I am perfectly sincere in saying to you, Lady +Deppingham, and to you, Mr. Browne, that in time they will win out +against you in the courts. But they are impatient; they are not the kind +who can wait and be content. It is impossible for you to carry out the +provisions of the will, and they know it. That is why they resent the +delays that are impending." + +Deppingham told him of the scheme proposed by Saunders, treating it as a +vast joke. Chase showed a momentary sign of uneasiness, but covered it +instantly by laughing with the others. Strange to say, he had been +instructed from London to look out for just such a coup on the part of +the heirs. Not that the marriage could be legally established, but that +it might create a complication worth avoiding. + +He could not help looking from Lady Deppingham to Bobby Browne, a +calculating gleam in his grey eyes. How very dangerous she could be! He +was quite ready to feel very sorry for pretty Mrs. Browne. Browne, of +course, revealed no present symptom of surrender to the charms of his +co-legatee. Later on, he was to recall this bit of calculation and to +enlarge upon it from divers points of view. + +Just now he was enjoying himself for the first time since his arrival in +Japat. He sat opposite to the Princess; his eyes were refreshing +themselves after months of fatigue; his blood was coursing through new +veins. And yet, his head was calling his heart a fool. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE PRINCESS GOES GALLOPING + + +A week passed--an interesting week in which few things happened openly, +but in which the entire situation underwent a subtle but complete +change. The mail steamer had come and gone. It brought disconcerting +news from London. Chase was obliged to tell the islanders that notice of +a contest had been filed. The lineal heirs had pooled their issues and +were now fighting side by side. The matter would be in chancery for +months, even years. He could almost feel the gust of rage and +disappointment that swept over the island--although not a word came from +the lips of the sullen population. The very silence was foreboding. + +He did not visit the chateau during that perplexing week. It was hard, +but he resolutely kept to the path of duty, disdaining the pleasures +that beckoned to him. Every day he saw and talked with Britt and +Saunders. They, as well as the brisk Miss Pelham, gave him the "family +news" from the chateau. Saunders, when he was not moping with the ague +of love, indulged in rare exhibitions of joy over the turn affairs were +taking with his client and Bobby Browne. It did not require +extraordinary keenness on Chase's part to gather that her ladyship and +Browne had suddenly decided to engage in what he would call a mild +flirtation, but what Saunders looked upon as a real attack of love. + +"If I had the nerve, I'd call Browne good and hard," said Britt, over +his julep. "It isn't right. It isn't decent. No telling what it will +come to. The worst of it is that his wife doesn't blame him. She blames +her. They disappear for hours at a time and they've always got their +heads together. I've noticed it for a month, but it's got worse in the +last week. Poor little Drusilla. She's from Boston, Chase, and can't +retaliate. Besides, Deppingham wouldn't take notice if she tried." + +"There's one safeguard," said Chase. "They can't elope on this island." + +"They can't, eh? Why, man, they could elope in the chateau and nobody +could overtake 'em. You've no idea how big it is. The worst of it is, +Deppingham has got an idea that they may try to put him out of the +way--him and Drusilla. Awful, isn't it?" + +"Perfect rot, Britt. You'll find that it turns out all right in the end. +I'd bank on Lady Deppingham's cool little head. Browne may be mad, but +she isn't." + +"It won't help me any unless both of 'em are mad," said Britt, with a +wry face. "And, say, by the way, Saunders is getting to dislike you +intensely." + +"I can't help it if he loves the only stenographer on the island," said +Chase easily. "You seem to be the only one who isn't in hot water all +the time, Britt." + +"Me and the Princess," said Britt laconically. Chase looked up quickly, +but the other's face was as straight as could be. "If you were a real +gentleman you would come around once in a while and give her something +to talk to, instead of about." + +"Does she talk about me?" quite steadily. + +"They all do. I've even heard the white handmaidens discussing you in +glowing terms. You're a regular matinee hero up there, my--" + +"Selim!" broke in Chase. The Arab came to the table immediately. "Don't +put so much liquor in Mr. Britt's drinks after this. Mostly water." +Britt grinned amiably. + +They sipped through their straws in silence for quite a while. Both were +thinking of the turn affairs were taking at the chateau. + +"I say, Britt, you're not responsible for this affair between Browne and +Lady Deppingham, are you?" demanded Chase abruptly. + +"I? What do you mean?" + +"I was just wondering if you could have put Browne up to the game in the +hope that a divorce or two might solve a very difficult problem." + +"Now that you mention it, I'm going to look up the church and colonial +divorce laws," said Britt non-committally, after a moment. + +"I advise you to hurry," said Chase coolly. "If you can divorce and +marry 'em inside of four weeks, with no court qualified to try the case +nearer than India, you are a wonder." + +Chase was in the habit of visiting the mines two or three times a week +during work hours. The next morning after his conversation with Britt, +he rode out to the mines. When he reached the brow of the last hill, +overlooking the wide expanse in which the men toiled, he drew rein +sharply and stared aghast at what lay before him. + +Instead of the usual activity, there was not a man in sight. It was some +time before his bewildered brain could grasp the meaning of the puzzle. +Selim, who rode behind, came up and without a word directed his master's +attention to the long ridge of trees that bordered the broken hillsides. +Then he saw the miners. Five hundred half-naked brown men were +congregated in the shade of the trees, far to the right. By the aid of +his glasses he could see that one of their number was addressing them in +an earnest, violent harangue. It was not difficult, even at that +distance, to recognise the speaker as Von Blitz. From time to time, the +silent watchers saw the throng exhibit violent signs of emotion. There +were frequent gesticulations, occasional dances; the faint sound of +shouts came across the valley. + +Chase shuddered. He knew what it meant. He turned to Selim, who sat +beside him like a bronze statue, staring hard at the spectacle. + +"How about Allah now, Selim?" he asked sententiously. + +"Allah is great, Allah is good," mumbled the Moslem youth, but without +heart. + +"Do you think He can save me from those dogs?" asked the master, with a +kindly smile. + +"Sahib, do not go among them to-day," implored Selim impulsively. + +"They are expecting me, Selim. If I don't come, they will know that I +have funked. They'll know I am afraid of them." + +"Do not go to-day," persisted Selim doggedly. Suddenly he started, +looking intently to the left along the line of the hill. Chase followed +the direction of his gaze and uttered a sharp exclamation of surprise. + +Several hundred yards away, outlined against the blue sky beyond the +knob, stood the motionless figure of a horse and its rider--a woman in a +green habit. Chase could hardly believe his eyes. It did not require a +second glance to tell him who the rider was; he could not be mistaken in +that slim, proud figure. Without a moment's hesitation he turned his +horse's head and rode rapidly toward her. She had left the road to ride +out upon the crest of the green knob. Chase was in the mood to curse her +temerity. + +As he came up over the slope, she turned in the saddle to watch his +approach. He had time to see that two grooms from the stables were in +the road below her. There was a momentary flash of surprise and +confusion in her eyes, succeeded at once by a warm glow of excitement. +She smiled as he drew up beside her, not noticing his unconscious frown. + +"So those are the fabulous mines of Japat," she said gaily, without +other greeting. "Where is the red glow from the rubies?" + +His horse had come to a standstill beside hers. Scarcely a foot +separated his boot from her animal's side. If she detected the serious +look in his face, she chose to ignore it. + +"Who gave you permission to ride so far from the chateau?" he demanded, +almost harshly. She looked at him in amazement. + +"Am I a trespasser?" she asked coldly. + +"I beg your pardon," he said quickly. "I did not mean to offend. Don't +you know that it is not safe for you to--" + +"Nonsense!" she exclaimed. "I am not afraid of your shadows. Why should +they disturb me?" + +"Look!" He pointed to the distant assemblage. "Those are not shadows. +They are men and they are making ready to transform themselves into +beasts. Before long they will strike. Von Blitz and Rasula have sunk my +warships. You _must_ understand that it is dangerous to leave the +chateau on such rides as this. Come! We will start back together--at +once." + +"I protest, Mr. Chase, that you have no right to say what I shall do +or--" + +"It isn't a question of right. You are nearly ten miles from the +chateau, in the most unfrequented part of the island. Some day you will +not return to your friends. It will be too late to hunt for you then." + +"How very thrilling!" she said with a laugh. + +"I beg of you, do not treat it so lightly," he said, so sharply that she +flushed. He was looking intently in the direction of the men. She was +not slow to see that their position had been discovered by the miners. +"They have seen us," he said briefly. "It is quite possible that they do +not mean to do anything desperate at this time, but you can readily see +that they will resent this proof of spying on our part. They mistake me +for one of the men from the chateau. Will you come with me now?" + +"It seems so absurd--but I will come, of course. I have no desire to +cause you any uneasiness." + +As they rode swiftly back to the tree-lined road, a faint chorus of +yells came to them across the valley. For some distance they rode +without speaking a word to each other. They had traversed two miles of +the soft dirt road before Chase discovered that Selim was the only man +following them. The two men who had come out with the Princess were not +in sight. He mentioned the fact to her, with a peculiar smile on his +lips. They slackened the pace and Chase called Selim up from behind. The +little Arab's face was a study in its display of unwonted emotion. + +"Excellency," he replied, in answer to Chase's question, his voice +trembling with excitement, "they left me at the bend, a mile back. They +will not return to the chateau." + +"The dogs! So, you see, Princess, your escort was not to be trusted," +said Chase grimly. + +"But they have stolen the horses," she murmured irrelevantly. "They +belong to the chateau stables." + +"Which direction did they take, Selim?" + +"They rode off by the Carter's highway, Excellency, toward Aratat." + +"It may not appeal to your vanity, your Highness, but it is my duty to +inform you that they have gone to report our clandestine meeting." + +"Clandestine! What do you mean, sir?" + +"The islanders are watching me like hawks. Every time I am seen with any +one from the chateau, they add a fresh nail to the coffin they are +preparing for me. It's really more serious than you imagine. I must, +therefore, forbid you to ride outside of the park." + +They rode swiftly for another mile, silence being unbroken between them. +She was trying to reconcile her pride to the justice of his command. + +"I daresay you are right, Mr. Chase," she said at last, quite frankly. +"I thank you." + +"I am glad that you understand," he said simply. His gaze was set +straight before him, keen, alert, anxious. They were riding through a +dark stretch of forest; the foliage came down almost to their faces; +there was an almost impenetrable green wall on either side of them. He +knew, and she was beginning to suspect, that danger lurked in the +peaceful, sweet-smelling shades. + +"I begin to fear, Mr. Chase," she said, with a faint smile, "that Lady +Deppingham deceived me in suggesting Japat as a rest cure. It may +interest you to know that the court at Rapp-Thorberg has been very gay +this winter. Much has happened in the past few months." + +"I know," he said briefly, almost bitterly. + +"My brother, Christobal, has been with us after two years' absence. He +came with his wife from the ends of the earth, and my father forgave him +in good earnest. Christobal was very disobedient in the old days. He +refused to marry the girl my father chose for him. Was it not foolish of +him?" + +"Not if it has turned out well in the end." + +"I daresay it has--or will. She is delightful. My father loves her. And +my father--the Grand Duke, I should say--does not love those who cross +him. One is very fortunate to have been born a prince." He thought he +detected a note of bitterness in this raillery. + +"I can conceive of no greater fortune than to have been born Prince Karl +of Brabetz," he said lightly. She flashed a quick glance at his face, +her eyes narrowing in the effort to divine his humour. He saw the cloud +which fell over her face and was suddenly silent, contrite for some +unaccountable reason. + +"As I was saying," she resumed, after a moment, "Lady Deppingham has +lured me from sunshowers into the tempest. Mr. Chase," and her face was +suddenly full of real concern, "is there truly great danger?" + +"I fear so," he answered. "It is only a question of time. I have tried +to check this uprising, but I've failed. They don't trust me. Last night +Von Blitz, Rasula and three others came to the bungalow and coolly +informed me that my services were no longer required. I told them to--to +go to--" + +"I understand," she said quickly. "It required courage to tell them +that." He smiled. + +"They protested friendship, but I can read very well as I run. But can't +we find something more agreeable to talk about? May I say that I have +not seen a newspaper in three months? The world has forgotten me. There +must be news that you can give me. I am hungry for it." + +"You poor man! No newspapers! Then you don't know what has happened in +all these months?" + +"Nothing since before Christmas. Would you like to see a bit of news +that I clipped from the last Paris paper that came into my hands?" + +"Yes," she said, vaguely disturbed. He drew forth his pocketbook and +took from its interior a small bit of paper, which he handed to her, a +shamed smile in his eyes. She read it at a glance and handed it back. A +faint touch of red came into her cheeks. + +"How very odd! Why should you have kept that bit of paper all these +months?" + +"I will admit that the announcement of the approaching nuptials of two +persons whom I had met so casually may seem a strange thing to cherish, +but I am a strange person. You have been married nearly three months," +he said reflectively. "Three months and two days, to be precise." + +She laughed outright, a bewitching, merry laugh that startled him. + +"How accurate you would be," she exclaimed. "It would be a highly +interesting achievement, Mr. Chase, if it were only borne out by facts. +You see, I have not been married so much as three minutes." + +He stared at her, uncomprehending. + +She went on: "Do you consider it bad luck to postpone a wedding?" + +Involuntarily he drew his horse closer to hers. There was a new gleam in +his eyes; her blood leaped at the challenge they carried. + +"Very bad luck," he said quite steadily; "for the bridegroom." + +In an instant they seemed to understand something that had not even been +considered before. She looked away, but he kept his eyes fast upon her +half-turned face, finding delight in the warm tint that surged so +shamelessly to her brow. He wondered if she could hear the pounding of +his heart above the thud of the horses' feet. + +"We are to be married in June," she said somewhat defiantly. Some of the +light died in his eyes. "Prince Karl was very ill. They thought he might +die. His--his studies--his music, I mean, proved more than he could +carry. It--it is not serious. A nervous break-down," she explained +haltingly. + +"You mean that he--" he paused before finishing the +sentence--"collapsed?" + +"Yes. It was necessary to postpone the marriage. He will be quite well +again, they say--by June." + +Chase thought of the small, nervous, excitable prince and in his mind +there arose a great doubt. They might pronounce him cured, but would it +be true? "I hope he may be fully recovered, for your sake," he managed +to say. + +"Thank you." After a long pause, she turned to him again and said: "We +are to live in Paris for a year or two at least." + +Then Chase understood. Prince Karl would not be entirely recovered in +June. He did not ask, but he knew in some strange way that his +physicians were there and that it would be necessary for him to be near +them. + +"He is in Paris now?" + +"No," she answered, and that was all. He waited, but she did not expand +her confidence. + +"So it is to be in June?" he mused. + +"In June," she said quietly. He sighed. + +"I am more than sorry that you are a princess," he said boldly. + +"I am quite sure of that," she said, so pointedly that he almost gasped. +She was laughing comfortably, a mischievous gleam in her dark eyes. His +laugh was as awkward as hers was charming. + +"You _do_ like to be flattered," he exclaimed at random. "And I shall +take it upon myself to add to to-day's measure." He again drew forth his +pocketbook. She looked on curiously. "Permit me to restore the lace +handkerchief which you dropped some time ago. I've been keeping it for +myself, but----" + +"My handkerchief?" she gasped, her thoughts going at once to that +ridiculous incident of the balcony. "It must belong to Lady Deppingham." + +"Oh, it isn't the one you used on the balcony," he protested coolly. "It +antedates that adventure." + +"Balcony? I don't understand you," she contested. + +"Then you are exceedingly obtuse." + +"I never dreamed that you could see," she confessed pathetically. + +"It was extremely nice in you and very presumptuous in me. But, your +highness, this is the handkerchief you dropped in the Castle garden six +months ago. Do you recognise the perfume?" + +She took it from his fingers gingerly, a soft flush of interest +suffusing her cheek. Before she replied, she held the dainty bit of lace +to her straight little nose. + +"You are very sentimental," she said at last. "Would you care to keep +it? It is of no value to me." + +"Thanks, I will keep it." + +"I've changed my mind," she said inconsequently, stuffing the fabric in +her gauntlet. "You have something else in that pocketbook that I should +very much like to possess." + +"It can't be that Bank of England--" + +"No, no! You wrapped it in a bit of paper last week and placed it there +for safe keeping." + +"You mean the bullet?" + +"Yes. I should like it. To show to my friends, you know, when I tell +them how near you were to being shot." Without a word he gave her the +bullet that had dropped at his feet on that first day at the chateau. +"Thank you. Oh, isn't it a horrid thing! Just to think, it might have +struck you!" She shuddered. + +He was about to answer in his delirium when a sharp turn in the road +brought them in view of the chateau. Not a hundred yards ahead of them +two persons were riding slowly, unattended, very much occupied in +themselves. Their backs were toward Chase and the Princess, but it was +an easy matter to recognise them. The glance which shot from the +Princess to Chase found a peculiar smile disappearing from his lips. + +"I know what you are thinking," she cried impulsively "You are +wrong--very wrong, Mr. Chase. Lady Deppingham is a born coquette--a born +trifler. It is ridiculous to think that she can be seriously engaged in +a--" + +"It isn't that, Princess," he interrupted, a dark look in his eyes. "I +was merely wondering whether dear little Mrs. Browne is as happy as she +might be." + +Genevra was silent for a moment. + +"I had not thought of that," she said soberly. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE BURNING OF THE BUNGALOW + + +He went in and had tiffin with them in the hanging garden. Deppingham +was surly and preoccupied. Drusilla Browne was unusually vivacious. At +best, she was not volatile; her greatest accomplishment lay in the +ability to appreciate what others had to say. This in itself is a treat +so unusual that one feels like commending the woman who carries it to +excess. + +Her husband, aside from a natural anxiety, was the same blithe optimist +as ever. He showed no sign of restraint, no evidence of compunction. +Chase found himself secretly speculating on the state of affairs. Were +the two heirs working out a preconceived plan or were they, after all, +playing with the fires of spring? He recalled several of Miss Pelham's +socialistic remarks concerning the privileges of the "upper ten," the +intolerance of caste and the snobbish morality which attaches folly to +none but the girl who "works for a living." + +Immediately after tiffin, Genevra carried Lady Deppingham off to her +room. When they came forth for a proposed stroll in the grounds, Lady +Agnes was looking very meek and tearful, while the Princess had about +her the air of one who has conquered by gentleness. In the upper +corridor, where it was dark and quiet, the wife of Deppingham halted +suddenly and said: + +"It has been so appallingly dull, Genevra, don't you understand? That's +why. Besides, it isn't necessary for her to be so horrid about it. +She--" + +"She isn't horrid about it, dear. She's most self-sacrificing." + +"Rubbish! She talks about the Puritans, and all that sort of thing. I +know what she means. But there's no use talking about it. I'll do as you +say--command, I mean. I'll try to be a prude. Heaven alone knows what a +real prude is. I don't. All this tommy-rot about Bobby and me wouldn't +exist if that wretched Chase man had been a little more affable. He +never noticed us until you came. No wife to snoop after him and--why, my +dear, he would have been ideal." + +"It's all very nice, Agnes, but you forget your husband," said Genevra, +with a tolerant smile. + +"Deppy? Oh, my dear," and she laughed gaily once more. "Deppy doesn't +mind. He rather likes me to be nice to other men. That is, if they are +nice men. Indeed, I don't forget Deppy! I shall remember him to my dying +day." + +"Your point of view is quite different from that of a Boston wife, I'd +suggest." + +"Certainly. We English have a colonial policy. We've spread out, my +dear." + +"You are frivolous once more, Agnes." + +"Genevra," said Lady Agnes solemnly, "if you'd been on a barren island +for five months as I have, with nothing to look at but your husband and +the sunsets, you would not be so hard on me. I wouldn't take Drusilla's +husband away from her for the world; I wouldn't even look at him if he +were not on the barren island, too. I've read novels in which a man and +woman have been wrecked on a desert island and lived there for months, +even years, in an atmosphere of righteousness. My dear, those novelists +are ninnies. Nobody could be so good as all that without getting wings. +And if they got wings they'd soon fly away from each other. Angels are +the only creatures who can be quite circumspect, and they're not real, +after all, don't you know. Drusilla may not know it yet, but she's not +an angel, by any means; she's real and doesn't know it, that's all. I am +real and know it only too well. That's the difference. Now, come along. +Let's have a walk. I'm tired of men and angels. That's why I want you +for awhile. You've got no wings, Genevra; but it's of no consequence, as +you have no one to fly away from." + +"Or to, you might add," laughed Genevra. + +"That's very American. You've been talking to Miss Pelham. She's always +adding things. By the way, Mr. Chase sees quite a lot of her. She types +for him. I fancy she's trying to choose between him and Mr. Saunders. If +you were she, dear, which would you choose?" + +"Mr. Saunders," said Genevra promptly. "But if I were myself, I'd choose +Mr. Chase." + +"Speaking of angels, he must have wings a yard long. He has been chosen +by an entire harem and he flies from them as if pursued by the devil. I +imagine, however, that he'd be rather dangerous if his wings were to get +out of order unexpectedly. But he's nice, isn't he?" + +The Princess nodded her head tolerantly. + +Her ladyship went on: "I don't want to walk, after all. Let us sit here +in the corridor and count the prisms in the chandeliers. It's such fun. +I've done it often. You can imagine how gay it has been here, dear. Have +you heard the latest gossip? Mr. Britt has advanced a new theory. We are +to indulge in double barrelled divorce proceedings. As soon as they are +over, Mr. Browne and I are to marry. Then we are to hurry up and get +another divorce. Then we marry our own husband and wife all over again. +Isn't it exciting? Only, of course, it isn't going to happen. It would +be so frightfully improper--shocking, don't you know. You see, I should +go on living with my divorced husband, even after I was married to +Bobby. I'd be obliged to do that in order to give Bobby grounds for a +divorce as soon as the estate is settled. There's a whole lot more to +Mr. Britt's plan that I can't remember. It's a much gentler solution +than the polygamy scheme that Mr. Saunders proposes; I will say that for +it. But Deppy has put his foot down hard. He says he had trouble enough +getting me to marry him the first time; he won't go through it again. +Besides, he loathes grass widows, as Mrs. Browne calls them. Mr. Britt +told him he'll be sure to love me more than ever as soon as I become a +guileless divorcee. Of course, it's utter nonsense." + +"A little nonsense now and then is--" began the Princess, and paused +amiably. + +"Is Mr. Chase to stay for lunch?" asked Lady Agnes irrelevantly. + +"How should I know? I am not his hostess." + +"Hoity-toity! I've never known you to look like that before. A little +dash of red sets your cheeks off--" But Genevra threw up her hands in +despair and started toward the stairway, her chin tilted high. Lady +Agnes, laughing softly, followed. "It's too bad she's down to marry that +horrid little Brabetz," she said to herself, with a sudden wistful +glance at the proud, vibrant, loveable creature ahead. "She deserves a +better fate than that." + +Genevra waited for her at the head of the stairway. + +"Agnes, I'd like you to promise that you will keep your avaricious claws +off Mrs. Browne's husband," she said, seriously. + +"I'll try, my dear," said Lady Agnes meekly. + +When they reached the garden, they found Deppingham smoking furiously +and quite alone. Chase had left some time before, to give warning to the +English bank that trouble might be expected. The shadow of +disappointment that flitted across Genevra's face was not observed by +the others. Bobby Browne and his wife were off strolling in the lower +end of the park. + +"Poor old Deppy," cried his wife. "I've made up my mind to be +exceedingly nice to you for a whole day." + +"I suppose I ought to beat you," he said slowly. + +"Beat me? Why, pray?" + +"I received an anonymous letter this morning, telling me of your +goings-on with Bobby Browne," said he easily. "It was stuck under my +door by Bromley, who said that Miss Pelham gave it to her. Miss Pelham +referred me to Mr. Britt and Mr. Britt urged me to keep the letter for +future reference. I think he said it could be used as Exhibit A. Then he +advised me to beat you only in the presence of witnesses." + +"The whole household must be going mad," cried Genevra with a laugh. + +"Oh, if something only would happen!" exclaimed her ladyship. "A riot, a +massacre--anything! It all sounds like a farce to you, Genevra, but you +haven't been here for five months, as we have." + +As they moved away from the vine-covered nook in the garden, a hand +parted the leaves in the balcony above and a dark, saturnine face +appeared behind it. The two women would have felt extremely +uncomfortable had they known that a supposedly trusted servant had +followed them from the distant corridor, where he had heard every word +of their conversation. This secret espionage had been going on for days +in the chateau; scarcely a move was made or a word spoken by the white +people that escaped the attention of a swarthy spy. And, curiously +enough, these spies were no longer reporting their discoveries to +Hollingsworth Chase. + +The days passed. Hollingsworth Chase now realised that he no longer had +authority over the natives; they suffered him to come and go, but gave +no heed to his suggestions. Rasula made the reports for the islanders +and took charge of the statements from the bank. + +Every morning he rode boldly into the town, transacted what business he +could, talked with the thoroughly disturbed bankers, and then defiantly +made his way to the chateau. He was in love with the Princess-- +desperately in love. He understood perfectly--for he was a man of +the world and cosmopolitan--that nothing could come of it. She was a +princess and she was not in a story book; she _could_ not marry him. It +was out of the question; of that he was thoroughly convinced, even in +the beginning. + +So far as Genevra was concerned, on her part it could mean no more than +a diversion, a condescension to coquetry, a simple flirtation; it meant +the passing of a few days, the killing of time, the pleasure of gentle +conquest, and then--forgetfulness. All this he knew and reckoned with, +for she was a princess and he but a plebeian passing by. + +At first she revolted against the court he so plainly paid to her in +these last few days; it was bold, conscienceless, impertinent. She +avoided him; she treated him to a short season of disdain; she did all +in her power to rebuke his effrontery--and then in the end she +surrendered to the overpowering vanity which confronts all women who put +the pride of caste against the pride of conquest. + +She decided to give him as good as he sent in this brief battle of +folly; it mattered little who came off with the fewest scars, for in a +fortnight or two they would go their separate ways, no better, no worse +for the conflict. And, after all, it was very dull in these last days, +and he was very attractive, and very brave, and very gallant, and, above +all, very sensible. It required three days of womanly indecision to +bring her to this way of looking at the situation. + +They rode together in the park every morning, keeping well out of range +of marksmen in the hills. A sense of freedom replaced the natural +reserve that had marked their first encounters in this little campaign +of tenderness; they gave over being afraid of each other. He was too +shrewd, too crafty to venture an open declaration; too much of a +gentleman to force her hand ruthlessly. She understood and appreciated +this considerateness. Their conflict was with the eyes, the tone of the +voice, the intervals of silence; no touch of the hand--nothing, except +the strategies of Eros. + +What did it matter if a few dead impulses, a few crippled ideals, a few +blasted hopes were left strewn upon the battlefield at the end of the +fortnight? What mattered if there was grave danger of one or both of +them receiving heart wounds that would cling to them all their lives? +What did anything matter, so long as Prince Karl of Brabetz was not +there? + +One night toward the end of this week of enchanting rencontres--this +week of effort to uncover the vulnerable spot in the other's +armour--Genevra stood leaning upon the rail which enclosed the hanging +garden. She was gazing abstractedly into the black night, out of which, +far away, blinked the light in the bungalow. A dreamy languor lay upon +her. She heard the cry of the night birds, the singing of woodland +insects, but she was not aware of these persistent sounds; far below in +the grassy court she could hear Britt conversing with Saunders and Miss +Pelham; behind her in the little garden, Lady Deppingham and Browne had +their heads close together over a table on which they were playing a +newly discovered game of "solitaire"; Deppingham and Mrs. Browne leaned +against the opposite railing, looking down into the valley. The soft +night wind fanned her face, bringing to her nostrils the scent of the +fragrant forest. It was the first night in a week that he had missed +coming to the chateau. + +She missed him. She was lonely. + +He had told her of the meeting that was to be held at the bungalow that +night, at which he was to be asked to deliver over to Rasula's committee +the papers, the receipts and the memoranda that he had accumulated +during his months of employment in their behalf. She had a feeling of +dread--a numb, sweet feeling that she could not explain, except that +under all of it lay the proud consciousness that he was a man who had +courage, a man who was not afraid. + +"How silly I am," she said, half aloud in her abstraction. + +She turned her gaze away from the blinking light in the hills, a queer, +guilty smile on her lips. The wistful, shamed smile faded as she looked +upon the couple who had given her so much trouble a week ago. She felt, +with a hot flash of self-abasement, as if she was morally responsible +for the consequences that seemed likely to attend Lady Deppingham's +indiscretions. + +Across the garden from where she was flaying herself bitterly, Lady +Deppingham's husband was saying in low, agitated tones to Bobby Browne's +wife, with occasional furtive glances at the two solitaire workers: + +"Now, see here, Brasilia, I'm not saying that our--that is, Lady +Deppingham and Bobby--are accountable for what has happened, but that +doesn't make it any more pleasant! It's of little consequence _who_ is +trying to poison us, don't you know. And all that. _They_ wouldn't do +it, I'm sure, but _somebody_ is! That's what I mean, d'ye see? Lady +Dep--" + +"I _know_ my husband wouldn't--couldn't do such a thing, Lord +Deppingham," came from Drusilla's stiff lips, almost as a moan. She was +very miserable. + +"Of course not, my dear Drusilla," he protested nervously. Then +suddenly, as his eye caught what he considered a suspicious movement of +Bobby's hand as he placed a card close to Lady Deppingham's fingers: +"Demme, I--I'd rather he wouldn't--but I beg your pardon, Drusilla! It's +all perfectly innocent." + +"Of course, it's innocent!" whispered Drusilla fiercely. + +"You know, my dear girl, I--I don't hate your husband. You may have a +feeling that I do, but----" + +"I suppose you think that I hate your wife. Well, I don't! I'm very fond +of her." + +"It's utter nonsense for us to suspect them of--Pray don't be so upset, +Drusilla. It's all right----" + +"If you think I am worrying over your wife's _harmless_ affair with my +husband, you are very much mistaken." + +Deppingham was silent for a long time. + +"I don't sleep at all these night," he said at last, miserably. She +could not feel sorry for him. She could only feel for herself and _her_ +sleepless nights. "Drusilla, do--do you think they want to get rid of +us? We're the obstacles, you know. We can't help it, but we are. +Somebody put that pill in my tea to-day. It must have been a servant. It +couldn't have been--er----" + +"My husband, sir?" + +"No; my wife. You know, Drusilla, she's not that sort. She has a horror +of death and--" he stopped and wiped his brow pathetically. + +"If the servants are trying to poison any of us, Lord Deppingham, it is +reasonable to suspect that your wife and my husband are the ones they +want to dispose of, not you and me. I don't believe it was poison you +found in your tea. But if it was, it was intended for one of the heirs." + +"Well, there's some consolation in that," said Deppy, smiling for the +first time. "It's annoying, however, to go about feeling all the time +that one is likely to pass away because some stupid ass of an assassin +makes a blunder in giving--" + +The sharp rattle of firearms in the distance brought a sudden stop to +his lugubrious reflections. Five, a dozen--a score of shots were heard. +The blood turned cold in the veins of every one in the garden; faces +blanched suddenly and all voices were hushed; a form of paralysis seized +and held them for a full minute. + +Then the voice of Britt below broke harshly upon the tense, still air: +"Good God! Look! It is the bungalow!" + +A bright glow lighted the dark mountain side, a vivid red painted the +trees; the smell of burning wood came down with the breezes. Two or +three sporadic shots were borne to the ears of those who looked toward +the blazing bungalow. + +"They've killed Chase!" burst from the stiff lips of Bobby Browne. + +"Damn them!" came up from below in Britt's hoarse voice. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +CHASE COMES FROM THE CLOUDS + + +For many minutes, the watchers in the chateau stared at the burning +bungalow, fascinated, petrified. Through the mind of each man ran the +sudden, sharp dread that Chase had met death at the hands of his +enemies, and yet their stunned sensibilities refused at once to grasp +the full horror of the tragedy. + +Genevra felt her heart turn cold; then something seemed to clutch her by +the throat and choke the breath out of her body. Through her brain went +whirling the recollection of his last words to her that afternoon: +"They'll find me ready if they come for trouble." She wondered if he had +been ready for them or if they had surprised him! She had heard the +shots. Chase could not have fired them all. He may have fired +once--perhaps twice--that was all! The fusilade came from the guns of +many, not one. Was he now lying dead in that blazing--She screamed aloud +with the thought of it! + +"Can't something be done?" she cried again and again, without taking her +gaze from the doomed bungalow. She turned fiercely upon Bobby Browne, +his countryman. Afterward she recalled that he stood staring as she had +stared, Lady Deppingham clasping his arm with both of her hands. The +glance also took in the face of Deppingham. He was looking at his wife +and his eyes were wide and glassy, but not with terror. "It may not be +too late," again cried the Princess. "There are enough of us here to +make an effort, no matter how futile. He may be alive and trapped, up--" + +"You're right," shouted Browne. "He's not the kind to go down with the +first rush. We must go to him. We can get there in ten minutes. Britt! +Where are the guns? Are you with us, Deppingham?" + +He did not wait for an answer, but dashed out of the garden and down the +steps, calling to his wife to follow. + +"Stop!" shouted Deppingham. "We dare not leave this place! If they have +turned against Chase, they are also ready for us. I'm not a coward, +Browne. We're needed here, that's all. Good God, man, don't you see what +it means? It's to be a general massacre! We all are to go to-night. The +servants may even now be waiting to cut us down. It's too late to help +Chase. They've got him, poor devil! Everybody inside! Get to the guns if +possible and cut off the servants' quarters. We must not let them +surprise us. Follow me!" + +There was wisdom in what he said, and Browne was not slow to see it +clearly. With a single penetrating glance at Genevra's despairing face, +he shook his head gloomily, and turned to follow Deppingham, who was +hurrying off through the corridor with her ladyship. + +"Come," he called, and the Princess, feeling Drusilla's hand grasping +her arm, gave one helpless look at the fire and hastened to obey. + +In the grand hallway, they came upon Britt and Saunders white-faced and +excited. The white servants were clattering down the stairways, filled +with alarm, but there was not one of the native attendants in sight. +This was ominous enough in itself. As they huddled there for a moment, +undecided which way to turn, the sound of a violent struggle in the +lower corridor came to their ears. Loud voices, blows, a single shot, +the rushing of feet, the panting of men in fierce combat--and then, even +as the whites turned to retreat up the stairway, a crowd of men surged +up the stairs from below, headed by Baillo, the major-domo. + +"Stop, excellencies!" he shouted again and again. Bobby Browne and +Deppingham were covering the retreat, prepared to fight to the end for +their women, although unarmed. It was the American who first realised +that Baillo was not heading an attack upon them. He managed to convey +this intelligence to the others and in a moment they were listening in +wonder to the explanations of the major-domo. + +Surprising as it may appear, the majority of the servants were faithful +to their trust, Baillo and a score of his men had refused to join the +stable men and gardeners in the plot to assassinate the white people. As +a last resort, the conspirators contrived to steal into the chateau, +hoping to fall upon their victims before Baillo could interpose. The +major-domo, however, with the wily sagacity of his race, anticipated the +move. The two forces met in the south hall, after the plotters had +effected an entrance from the garden; the struggle was brief, for the +conspirators were outnumbered and surprised. They were even now lying +below, bound and helpless, awaiting the disposition of their intended +victims. + +"It is not because we love you, excellencies," explained Baillo, with a +sudden fierce look in his eyes, "but because Allah has willed that we +should serve you faithfully. We are your dogs. Therefore we fight for +you. It is a vile dog which bites its master." + +Browne, with the readiness of the average American, again assumed +command of the situation. He gave instructions that the prisoners, seven +in number, be confined in the dungeon, temporarily, at least. Bobby did +not make the mistake of pouring gratitude upon the faithful servitors; +it would have been as unwise as it was unwelcome. He simply issued +commands; he was obeyed with the readiness that marks the soldier who +dies for the cause he hates, but will not abandon. + +"There will be no other attack on us to-night," said Browne, rejoining +the women after his interview with Baillo. "It has missed fire for the +present, but they will try to get at us sooner or later from the +outside. Britt, will you and Mr. Saunders put those prisoners through +the 'sweat' box? You may be able to bluff something out of them, if you +threaten them with death. They--" + +"It won't do, Browne," said Deppingham, shaking his head. "They are +fatalists, they are stoics. I know the breed better than you. Question +if you like, but threats will be of no avail. Keep 'em locked up, that's +all." + +Firearms and ammunition were taken from the gunroom to the quarters +occupied by the white people. Every preparation was made for a defence +in the event of an attack from the outside or inside. Strict orders were +given to every one. From this night on, the occupants of the chateau +were to consider themselves in a state of siege, even though the enemy +made no open display against them. Every precaution against surprise was +taken. The white servants were moved into rooms adjoining their +employers; Britt and Saunders transferred their belongings to certain +gorgeous apartments; Miss Pelham went into a Marie Antoinette suite +close by that of the Princess. The native servants retained their +customary quarters, below stairs. It was a peculiar condition that all +of the native servants were men; no women were employed in the great +establishment, nor ever had been. + +Far in the night, Genevra, sleepless and depressed, stole into the +hanging garden. Her mind was full of the horrid thing that had happened +to Hollingsworth Chase. He had been nothing to her--he could not have +been anything to her had he escaped the guns of the assassins. And yet +her heart was stunned by the stroke that it had sustained. Wide-eyed and +sick, she made her way to the railing, and, clinging to the vines, +stared for she knew not how long at the dull red glow on the mountain. +The flames were gone, but the last red tinge of their anger still clung +to the spot where the bungalow had stood. Behind her, there were lights +in a dozen rooms of the chateau. She knew that she was not the only +sleepless one. Others were lying wide awake and tense, but for reasons +scarcely akin to hers; they were appalled, not heartsick. + +The night was still and ominously dark. She had never known a night +since she came to Japat when the birds and insects were so mute. A +sombre, supernatural calm hung over the island like a pall. Far off, +over the black sea, pulsed the fitful glow of an occasional gleam of +lightning, faint with the distance which it traversed. There was no +moon; the stars were gone; the sky was inky and the air somnolent. The +smell of smoke hung about her. She could not help wondering if his fine, +strong body was lying up there, burnt to a crisp. It was far past +midnight; she was alone in the garden. Sixty feet below her was the +ground; above, the black dome of heaven. + +She was not to know till long afterward that one of her faithful +Thorberg men stood guard in the passage leading up from the garden, +armed and willing to die. One or the other slept in front of her door +through all those nights on the island. + +Something hot trickled down her cheeks from the wide, pitying eyes that +stared so hard. She was wondering now if he had a mother--sisters. How +their hearts would be wrenched by this! A mute prayer that he might have +died in the storm of bullets before the fire swept over him struggled +against the hope that he might have escaped altogether. She was thinking +of him with pity and horror in her heart, not love. + +A question was beginning to form itself vaguely in her troubled mind. +Were all of them to die as Chase had died? + +Suddenly there came to her ears the sound of something swishing through +the air. An instant later, a solid object fell almost at her feet. She +started back with a cry of alarm. A broad shaft of light crossed the +garden, thrown by the lamps in the upper hall of the chateau. Her eyes +fell upon a wriggling, snakelike thing that lay in this path of light. + +Fascinated, almost paralysed, she watched it for a full minute before +realising that it was the end of a thick rope, which lost itself in the +heavy shadows at the cliff end of the garden. Looking about in terror, +as if expecting to see murderous forms emerge from the shadows, she +turned to flee. At the head of the steps which led downward into the +corridor, she paused for a moment, glancing over her shoulder at the +mysterious, wriggling thing. She was standing directly in the shaft of +light. To her surprise, the wriggling ceased. The next moment, a faint, +subdued shout was borne to her ears. Her flight was checked by that +shout, for her startled, bewildered ears caught the sound of her own +name. Again the shout, from where she knew not, except that it was +distant; it seemed to come from the clouds. + +At last, far above, she saw the glimmer of a light. It was too large to +be a star, and it moved back and forth. + +Sharply it dawned upon her that it was at the top of the cliff which +overhung the garden and stretched away to the sea. Some one was up there +waving a lantern. She was thinking hard and fast, a light breaking in +upon her understanding. Something like joy shot into her being. Who else +could it be if not Chase? He alone would call out her name! He was +alive! + +She called out his name shrilly, her face raised eagerly to the bobbing +light. Not until hours afterward was Genevra to resent the use of her +Christian name by the man in the clouds. + +In her agitation, she forgot to arouse the chateau, but undertook to +ascertain the truth for herself. Rushing over, she grasped the knotted +end of the rope. A glance and a single tug were sufficient to convince +her that the other end was attached to a support at the top of the +cliff. It hung limp and heavy, lifeless. A sharp tug from above caused +it to tremble violently in her hands; she dropped it as if it were a +serpent. There was something weird, uncanny in its presence, losing +itself as it did in the darkness but a few feet above her head. Again +she heard the shout, and this time she called out a question. + +"Yes," was the answer, far above. "Can you hear me?" Greatly excited, +she called back that she could hear and understand. "I'm coming down the +rope. Pray for us--but don't worry! Please go inside until we land in +the garden. It's a long drop, you know." + +"Are you quite sure--is it safe?" she called, shuddering at the thought +of the perilous descent of nearly three, hundred feet, sheer through the +darkness. + +"It's safer than stopping here. Please go inside." + +She dully comprehended his meaning: he wanted to save her from seeing +his fall in the event that the worst should come to pass. Scarcely +knowing what she did, she moved over into the shadow near the walls and +waited breathlessly, all the time wondering why some one did not come +from the chateau to lend assistance. + +At last that portion of the rope which lay in the garden began to jerk +and writhe vigorously. She knew then that he was coming down, hand over +hand, through that long, dangerous stretch of darkness. Elsewhere in +this narrative, it has been stated that the cliff reared itself sheer to +the height of three hundred and fifty feet directly behind the chateau. +At the summit of this great wall, a shelving ledge projected over the +hanging garden; a rope dangling from this ledge would fall into the +garden not far from the edge nearest the cliff. The summit of the cliff +could be gained only by traversing the mountain slope from the other +side; it was impossible to scale it from the floor of the valley which +it bounded. A wide table-land extended back from the ledge for several +hundred yards and then broke into the sharp, steep incline to the summit +of the mountain. This table-land was covered by large, stout trees, +thickly grown. + +The rope was undoubtedly attached to the trunk of a sturdy tree at the +brow of the cliff. + +She could look no longer; it seemed hours since he started from the top. +Every heart-beat brought him nearer to safety, but would he hold out? +Any instant might bring him crashing to her feet--dead, after all that +he may have lived through during that awful night. + +At last she heard his heavy panting, groaning almost; the creaking and +straining of the rope, the scraping of his hands and body. She opened +her eyes and saw the bulky, swaying shadow not twenty feet above the +garden. Slowly it drew nearer the grass-covered floor--foot by foot, +straining, struggling, gasping in the final supreme effort--and then, +with a sudden rush, the black mass collapsed and the taut rope sprung +loose, the end switching and leaping violently. + +Genevra rushed frantically across the garden, half-fearful, half-joyous. +As she came up, the mass seemed to divide itself into two parts. One +sank limply to the ground, the other stood erect for a second and then +dropped beside the prostrate, gasping figure. + +Chase had come down the rope with another human being clinging to his +body! + +Genevra fell to her knees beside the man who had accomplished this +miracle. She gave but a passing glance at the other dark figure beside +her. All of her interest was in the writhing, gasping American. She +grasped his hands, warm and sticky with blood; she tried to lift his +head from the ground, moaning with pity all the time, uttering words of +encouragement in his ear. + +Many minutes passed. At last Chase gave over gasping and began to +breathe regularly but heavily. The strain had been tremendous; only +superhuman strength and will had carried him through the ordeal. He +groaned with pain as the two beside him lifted him to a sitting posture. + +"Tell Selim to come ahead," he gasped, his bloody hand at his throat. +"We're all right!" + +Then, for the first time, Genevra peered in the darkness at the figure +beside her. She stared in amazement as it sprang lightly erect and +glided across to the patch of light. It was then that she recognised the +figure of a woman--a slight, graceful woman in Oriental garb. The woman +turned and lifted her face to the heights from which she had descended. +In a shrill, eager voice she called out something in a language strange +to the Princess, who knelt there and stared as if she were looking upon +a being from another world. A faint shout came from on high, and once +more the rope began to writhe. + +The Princess passed her hand over her eyes, bewildered. The face of the +woman in the light, half-shaded, half-illumined, was gloriously +beautiful--young, dark, brilliant! + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, starting to her feet, a look of understanding +coming into her eyes. This was one of the Persians! He had saved her! A +feeling of revulsion swept over her, combatting the first natural, +womanly pride in the deed of a brave man. + +Chase struggled weakly to his feet. He saw the tense, strained figure +before him, and, putting out his hand, said: + +"She is Selim's wife. I am stronger than he, so I brought her down." +Then looking upward anxiously, he shouted: + +"Be careful, Selim! It's easy if you take your time to it." + + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +NEENAH + + +"Selim's wife, Neenah, saved my life." It was the next morning and Chase +was relating his experiences to an eager marvelling company in the +breakfast room. "She has a sister whose husband was one of the leaders +in the attack. Neenah told Selim and Selim told me. That's all. We were +prepared for them when they came last night. Days ago, Selim and I +cached the rope at the top of the cliff, anticipating just such an +emergency as this, and intending to use it if we could reach the chateau +in no other way. I figured that they would cut off all other means of +getting into your grounds. + +"Neenah came up from the village ahead of the attacking party, out of +breath and terribly frightened. We didn't waste a second, let me tell +you. Grabbing up our guns, we got out through the rear and made a dash +across the stable yard. It was near midnight. I had received the +committee at nine and had given them my reasons for not resigning the +post. They went away apparently satisfied, which aroused my suspicions. +I knew that there was something behind that exhibition of meekness. + +"The servants, all of whom were up and ready to join in the fight, +attempted to head us off. We had a merry little touch of real warfare +just back of the stables. It was as dark as pitch, and I don't believe +we hit anybody. But it was lively scrambling for a minute or two, let me +tell you." Chase shook his head in sober recollection of the preliminary +affray. + +Deppingham's big blue eyes were fairly snapping. His wife put her hand +on his shoulder with an impulse strange to her and Genevra saw a light +blaze in her eyes. "I hope you potted a few of 'em. Serve 'em jolly well +right if----" + +"Selim says he stumbled over something that groaned as we were racing +for the back road. I was looking out for Neenah." He glanced +involuntarily from Lady Agnes to the Princess, a touch of confusion +suddenly assailing him. "Selim covered the retreat," he added hastily. +"Instead of keeping the road, we turned up the embankment and struck +into the forest. Dropping down behind the bushes, we watched those +devils from the town race pell-mell, howling and shooting, down the +chateau road. There must have been a hundred of 'em. Five minutes later, +the bungalow was afire. It was as bright as day and I had no trouble in +recognising Rasula in the crowd. Selim led the way and I followed with +Neenah. It was hard going, let me tell you, up hill and down, stumbles +and tumbles, scratches and bumps, through five miles of the blackest +night imaginable. Hang it all, Browne, I didn't have time to save that +case of cigarettes; I'm out nearly a hundred boxes. And those novels you +lent me, Lady Deppingham--I can't return. Sorry." + +"You might have saved the cigarettes and novels if you hadn't been so +occupied in saving the fair Neenah," said her ladyship, with a provoking +smile. + +"Alas! I thought of that also, but too late. Still, virtue was its own +reward. Imagine my delight when we stopped to rest to have Neenah divide +her own little store of Turkish cigarettes with me. We had a bully smoke +up there in the wood." + +"Selim, too?" asked Browne casually. + +"Oh, no! Selim was exploring," said Chase easily. + +"Neenah is very beautiful," ventured Lady Agnes. + +"She is exquisite," replied Chase with the utmost _sang froid_. "Selim +bought her last winter for a ten karat ruby and a pint of sapphires." + +"That explains her overwhelming love for Selim," said the Princess +quietly. Chase looked into her eyes for a moment and smiled inwardly. + +"I'll be happy to tell you all about her some other time," he said. "Her +story is most interesting." + +"That will be perfectly delightful," chimed in Drusilla. "We shan't miss +those racy novels, after all." + +"We finally got to the edge of the cliff and unearthed the rope, which +we already had fastened to the trunk of a tree. It had been securely +spliced in three places beforehand, giving us the proper length. It was +a frightful trip we had over the ridge. Exhibit: the scratches upon my +erstwhile beautiful countenance; reserved: the bruises upon my unhappy +knees and elbows. I was obliged to carry Neenah for the last quarter of +a mile, poor little girl. She was tied to my back, leaving my throat and +chest free, and down we came. Simplest thing in the world. Presto! Here +am I, with my happy family at my heels." + +"Well, we can't sit here and dawdle all day," exclaimed Deppingham. "We +must be moving about--arrange our batteries, and all that, don't you +know. Get out a skirmish line, nominate our spies, bolster up our +defences, set a watch, court-martial the prisoners, and look into the +commissariat. We've got to stave these devils off for two or three +weeks, at least, and we'll have to look sharp. Browne, that's the third +cup of coffee you've had. Come along! This isn't Boston." + +As they left the breakfast room, Chase stepped to Genevra's side and +walked with her. They traversed the full length of the long hall in +silence. At the foot of the stairs, where they were to part, she +extended her hand, a bright smile in her eyes. + +"You were and are very brave and good," she said. He withheld his hand +and she dropped hers, hurt and strangely vexed. "Don't you care for my +approval? Or do you--" + +"You forget, Princess, that my hands are still suffering from the +bravery you would laud," he said, holding them resolutely behind his +back. + +"Oh, I remember!" she cried in quick comprehension. "They were cut and +bruised by the rope. How thoughtless of me. What are you doing for them? +Come, Mr. Chase, may I not dress them for you? I am capable--I am not +afraid of wounds. We have had many of them in our family--and fatal ones +too." She was eager now, and earnest. + +He shook his head, with a smile on his lips. "I thank you. They are +better--much better, and they have been quite properly bandaged +already." + +"Neenah?" + +"Yes," he replied gently. She seemed to search his mind with a quick, +intense look into his eyes. Then she smiled and said: "I'll promise not +to bruise the wounds if you'll only be so good as to shake hands with +me." + +He took her slender hand in his broad, white-swathed palm and pressed it +fervently, regardless of the pain which would have caused him to cringe +if engaged in any other pursuit. + +The forenoon was fully occupied with the preparations for defence. Every +precaution was taken to circumvent the plans of the enemy. There was no +longer any doubt as to the intentions of the disappointed islanders. Von +Blitz and Rasula had convinced them that their cause was seriously +jeopardised; they were made to see the necessity for permanently +removing the white pretenders from their path. + +Deppingham, on account of his one time position in the British army, was +chosen chief officer of the beleaguered "citadel." A strict espionage +was set upon the native servants, despite Baillo's assurances of +loyalty. Lookouts were posted in the towers and a ceaseless watch was to +be kept day and night. Chase, on his first visit to the west tower, +discovered a long unused searchlight of powerful dimensions. Fortunately +for the besieged, the electric-light plant was located in the chateau +grounds and could not be tampered with from the outside. A quantity of +fuel, sufficient to last for a couple of months, was found in the bins. + +Britt was put in charge of the night patrol, Saunders the day. Strict +orders were given that no one was to venture into that portion of the +park open to long-range shots from the hills. Chase set the minds of all +at rest by announcing that the islanders would not seek to set fire to +the chateau from the cliffs: such avaricious gentlemen as Von Blitz and +Rasula would never consent to the destruction of property so valuable. +Selim, under orders, had severed the long rope with a single rifle shot; +no one could hope to reach the chateau by way of the cliff. + +Extra precautions were taken to guard the women from attacks from the +inside. The window bars were locked securely and heavy bolts were placed +on the doors leading to the lower regions. It was now only too apparent +that Skaggs and Wyckholme had wrought well in anticipation of a +rebellion by the native shareholders. Each window had its adjustable +grates, every outer door was protected by heavy iron gates. + +By nightfall Deppingham's forces were in full possession of every +advantage that their position afforded. In the cool of the evening, they +sat down to rest in the great stone gallery overlooking the sea, +satisfied that they were reasonably secure from any assault that their +foes might undertake. No sign of hostility had been observed during the +day. Japat looked, as observed from the chateau, to be the most peaceful +spot in the world. + +Chase came from his room, still stiff and sore, but with fresh, white +bandages on his blistered hands. He asked and received permission to +light a cigarette, and then dropped wearily into a seat near the +Princess, who sat upon the stone railing. She was leaning back against +the column and looking dreamily out across the lowlands toward the +starlit sea. The never-ceasing rush of the mountain stream came plainly +up to them from below; now and then a cool dash of spray floated to +their faces from the waterfall hard by. + +The soft light from the shaded windows fell upon her glorious face. +Chase sat in silence for many minutes, covertly feasting his eyes upon +her loveliness. Her trim, graceful, seductive figure was outlined +against the darkness; a delicate, sensuous fragrance exhaled from her +person, filling him with an indescribable delight and languor; the spell +of her beauty was upon him and he felt the leap of his blood. + +"If I were you," he said at last, reluctant to despoil the picture, "I +wouldn't sit up there. It would be a very simple matter for one of our +friends to pick you off with a shot from below. Please let me pull up a +chair for you." + +She smiled languidly, without a trace of uneasiness in her manner. + +"Dear officer of the day, do you think they are so foolish as to pick us +off in particles? Not at all. They will dispose of us wholesale, not by +the piece. By the way, has Neenah been made quite comfortable?" + +"I believe so. She and Selim have the room beyond mine, thanks to Lady +Deppingham." + +"Agnes tells me that she is very interesting--quite like a princess out +of a fairy book. You recall the princesses who were always being +captured by ogres and evil princes and afterward satisfactorily rescued +by those dear knights admirable? Did Selim steal her in the beginning?" + +"You forget the pot of sapphires and the big ruby." + +"They say that princesses can be bought very cheaply." + +"Depends entirely upon the quality of princess you desire. It's very +much like buying rare gems or old paintings, I'd say." + +"Very much, I'm sure. I suppose you'd call Neenah a rare gem?" + +"She is certainly not an old painting." + +"How old is she, pray?" + +"Seventeen--by no means an antique. Speaking of princesses and ogres, +has it occurred to you that you would bring a fortune in the market?" + +"Mr. Chase!" + +"You know, it's barely possible that you may be put in a matrimonial +shop window if Von Blitz and his friends should capture you alive. Ever +think of that?" + +"Good heavens! You--why, what a horrible thing to say!" + +"You won't bring as much in the South Sea market as you would in +Rapp-Thorberg or Paris, but I daresay you could be sold for--" + +"Please, Mr. Chase, don't suggest anything so atrocious," she cried, +something like terror in her voice. + +"Neenah's father sold her for a handful of gems," said he, with distinct +meaning in his voice. She was silent, and he went on after a moment. "Is +there so much difference, after all, where one is sold, just so long as +the price is satisfactory to all concerned?" + +"You are very unkind, Mr. Chase," she said with quiet dignity. "I do not +deserve your sarcasm." + +"I humbly plead for forgiveness," he said, suddenly contrite. "It was +beastly." + +"American wit, I imagine you call it," she said scornfully. "I don't +care to talk with you any longer." + +"Won't you forgive me? I'm a poor brute--don't lash me. In two or three +weeks I'll step down and out of your life; that will be penalty enough, +don't you think?" + +"For whom?" she asked in a voice so low that he could scarcely hear the +words. Then she laughed ironically. "I _do_ forgive. It is all that a +prince or a princess is ever asked to do, I'm beginning to believe. I +also forgive you for coming into my life." + +"If I had been a trifle more intelligent, I should not have come into it +at all," he said. She turned upon him quickly, stung by the remark. + +"Is that the way you feel about it?" she asked sharply. + +"You don't understand. A man of intelligence would never have kicked +Prince Karl. As a matter of fact, in trying to kick Prince Karl out of +your life, I kicked myself into it. A very simple process, and yet +scarcely intellectual. A jackass could have done as much." + +"A jackass may kick at a king," she paraphrased casually. "A cat may +only look at him. But let us go back to realities. Do you mean to tell +me that they--these wretches--would dare to sell me--us, I mean--into +the kind of slavery you mention?" A trace of anxiety deepened the tone +of her voice. She was now keenly alert and no longer trivial. + +"Why not?" he asked soberly, arising and coming quite close to her side. +"You are beautiful. If they should take you alive, it would be a very +simple matter for any one of these men to purchase you from the others. +You might easily be kept on this island for the rest of your days, and +the world would be none the wiser. Or you could be sold into Persia, or +Arabia, or Turkey. I am not surprised that you shudder. Forgive me for +alarming you, perhaps needlessly. Nevertheless, it is a thing to +consider. I have learned all of the plans from Selim's wife. They do not +contemplate the connubial traffic, 'tis true, but that would be a +natural consequence. Von Blitz and Rasula mean to destroy all of us. We +are to disappear from the face of the earth. When our friends come to +look for us, we will have died from the plague and our bodies will have +been burned, as they always are in Japat. There will be no one left to +deny the story. All outsiders are to be destroyed--even the Persian and +Turkish women, who hate their liege lords too well. After to-morrow, no +ship is due to put in here for three weeks. They will see to it that +none of us get out to that ship; nor will the ship's officers know of +our peril. The word will go forth that the plague has come to the +island. That is the first step, your highness. But there is one obstacle +they have overlooked," he concluded. She looked up inquiringly. + +"My warships," he said, the whimsical smile broadening. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE PLAGUE IS ANNOUNCED + + +The next morning, a steamship flying the English flag came to anchor off +Aratat, delivered and received mail bags, and after an hour's stay +steamed away in the drift of the southeast trade winds, Bombay to Cape +Colony. The men at the chateau gazed longingly, helplessly through their +glasses at this black hulled visitor from the world they loved; they +watched it until nothing was left to be seen except the faint cloud of +smoke that went to a pin point in the horizon. There had been absolutely +no opportunity to communicate with the officers of the ship; they sailed +away hurriedly, as if in alarm. Their haste was significant. + +"I guess we'd better not tell the women," said Bobby Browne, heaving a +deep sigh. "It won't add to their cheerfulness if they hear that a ship +has called here." + +"It couldn't matter in any event," said Deppingham. "We've got to stick +here two weeks longer, no matter how many ships call. I'm demmed if I'll +funk now, after all these rotten months." + +"Perhaps Bowles succeeded in getting a word with the officer who came +ashore," said Browne hopefully. "He knows the danger we are in." + +"My dear Browne, Bowles hadn't the ghost of a chance to communicate with +the ship," said Chase. "He can't bully 'em any longer with his Tommy +Atkins coat. They've outgrown it, just as he has. It was splendid while +it lasted, but they're no more afraid of it now than they are of my +warships. I wish there was some way to get him and his English +assistants into the chateau. It's awful to think of what is coming to +them, sooner or later." + +"Good God, Chase, is there no way to help them?" groaned Deppingham. + +"I'll never forget poor Bowles, the first time I saw him in his dinky +red jacket and that Hooligan cap of his," reflected Chase, as if he had +not heard Deppingham's remark. "He put them on and tried to overawe the +crowd that night when I was threatened in the market-place. He did his +best, poor chap, and I----" + +"Look!" exclaimed Britt suddenly, pointing toward one of the big gates +in the upper end of the park. "I believe they're making an attack!" + +The next instant the men in the balcony were leaving it pell-mell, +picking up the ever-ready rifles as they dashed off through the halls +and out into the park. What they had seen at the gate--which was one +rarely used--was sufficient to demand immediate action on their part; a +demonstration of some sort was in progress at this particular entrance +to the grounds. Saunders was left behind with instructions to guard the +chateau against assault from other sources. Headed by Chase, the four +men hurried across the park, prepared for an encounter at the gate. They +kept themselves as well covered as possible by the boxed trees, although +up to this time there had been no shooting. + +Chase, in advance, suddenly gave vent to a loud cry and boldly dashed +out into the open, disregarding all shelter. Two of the native park +patrol were hastening toward the gate from another direction. Outside +the huge, barred gate a throng of men and women were congregated. Some +of the men were vigorously slashing away at the bars with sledges and +crow-bars; others were crouching with rifles levelled--in the other +direction! + +"It's Bowles!" shouted Chase eagerly. + +The situation at once became clear to those inside the walls. Bowles and +his friends, a score all told, had managed to reach the upper gate and +were now clamouring for admission, beset on all sides by the pickets who +were watching the chateau. Bowles, with his pathetic red jacket, could +be distinguished in the midst of his huddled followers, shouting +frantically for haste on the part of those inside. Some one was waving a +white flag of truce. A couple of shots were fired from the forest above, +and there were screams from the frightened women, shouts from the men, +who had ceased battering the gates at the signs of rescue from within. + +"For God's sake, be quick," shouted Bowles. "There's a thousand of them +coming up the mines' road!" + +The gates were unlocked by the patrol and the panic-stricken throng +tumbled through them and scattered like sheep behind the high, +sheltering walls. Once more the massive gates were closed and the bolts +thrown down, just in time to avoid a fusillade of bullets from the +outside. It was all over in a minute. A hundred throats emitted shouts +of rage, curses and threats, and then, as if by magic, the forest became +as still as death. + +Once inside the chateau, the fugitives, shivering with terror, fairly +collapsed. There were three Englishmen in the party besides Bowles, +scrubby, sickly chaps, but men after all. It was with unfeigned surprise +that Chase recognised the Persian wives of Jacob von Blitz among the +women who had been obliged to cast their lot with the refugees from +Aratat. The sister of Neenah and five or six other women who had been +sold into the island made up the remainder of the little group of +trembling females. Their faces were veiled; their persons were bedecked +with all of the gaudy raiment and jewels that their charms had won from +their liege lords. They were slaves, these Persians and Turks and +Egyptians, but they came out of bondage with the trophies of queens +stuck in their hair, in their ears, on their hands and arms and about +their waists and throats. + +The remainder of the men in the party, fourteen or fifteen in all, were +of many castes and nationalities, and of various ages. There were +brown-skinned fellows from Calcutta, a couple of sturdy Greeks, an +Egyptian and a Persian, three or four Assyrians and as many Maori. As to +their walks in life: among them were clerks and guards from the bank, +members of the native constabulary, Indian fakirs and showmen, and +venders of foreign gewgaws. + +Bowles, his thin legs still shaking perceptibly, although he strove +mightily to hold them at strict "attention," was the spokesman. A +valiant heart thumped once more against the seams of the little red +jacket; if his hand trembled and his voice shook, it was because of the +unwonted exertion to which both had been put in that stirring flight at +dawn. He had eager, anxious listeners about him, too--and of the +nobility. Small wonder that his knees were intractable. + +"For some time we have been preparing for the outbreak," he said, +fingering the glass of brandy that Britt had poured for him. "Ever since +Chase began to go in so noticeably for the ladies--ahem!" + +Chase glared at him. The others tittered. + +"I don't mean the old story, sir, of the Persians--and I'm saying, sir, +what's more, there wasn't a word of truth in it--I mean the ladies of +the chateau, begging pardon, too. Von Blitz came to me often with +complaints that you were being made a fool of by a pretty face or two, +and that you were going over to the enemy, body and soul. Of course, I +stood out for you, sir. It wasn't any use. They'd made up their minds to +get rid of you. When I heard that they tried to kill you the night +before last, I made up my mind that no white man was to be left to tell +the tale. Last night we locked all the company's books in the vaults, +got together all the banknotes and gold we had on hand, and made +preparations to go on board the steamer when she called this morning. My +plan was to tell them of the trouble here and try to save you. We were +all expected to die of the plague, that's what we were, and I realised +that Tommy Atkins was off the boards forever. + +"We hadn't any more than got the cash and valuables ready to smuggle +aboard, when down came Rasula upon us. Ten o'clock last night, your +lordship. That's what it was--ten P.M. He had a dozen men with him and +he told every mother's son of us that our presence in the town was not +desired until after the ship had sailed away. We were ordered to leave +the town and go up into the hills under guard. There wasn't any chance +to fight or argue. We said we'd go, but we'd have the government on them +for the outrage. We left the rooms in the bank building, carrying away +what money we could well conceal. Later we were joined by the other men +you found with us, all of whom had refused to join in the outrage. + +"We were taken up into the hills by a squad of men. There wasn't a man +among us that didn't know that we were to be killed as soon as the ship +had gone. With our own eyes, we saw the mail bags rifled, and nearly all +of the mail destroyed. The pouches from the chateau were burned. Rasula +politely informed us that the plague had broken out among the chateau +servants and that no mail could be sent out from that place. He said he +intended to warn the ship's officer of the danger in landing and--well, +that explains the short stay of the ship and the absence of nearly all +mail from the island. We had no means of communicating with the +officers. There won't be another boat for three weeks, and they won't +land because of the plague. They will get word, however, that every one +in the chateau has died of the disease, and that scores of natives are +dying every day. + +"Well, we decided to break away from the guard and try to get to the +chateau. It was our only chance. It was their intention to take some of +us back to the bank this morning to open the vault and the safes. That +was to be our last act, I fancy. I think it was about four this morning +when a dozen of the women came up to where we were being held. They were +flying from the town and ran into the arms of our guard before they knew +of their presence. It seems that those devils down there had set out to +kill their women because it was known that one of them had warned Mr. +Chase of his danger. According to the women who came with us, at least a +score of these unlucky wives were strangled. Von Blitz's wives succeeded +in getting word to a few of their friends and they fled. + +"During the excitement brought about by their arrival in our camp, we +made a sudden attack upon our guards. They were not expecting it and we +had seized their rifles before they could recover from their surprise. I +regret to say that we were obliged to kill a few of them in the row that +followed. But that is neither here nor there. We struck off for the +lower park as lively as possible. The sun was well up, and we had no +time to lose. We found the gates barred and went on to the upper gates. +You let us in just in time. The alarm had gone back to the town and we +could see the mob coming up the mines' road. My word, it was a close +shave." + +He mopped his brow with trembling hand and smiled feebly at his +countrymen for support. The colour was coming back into their faces and +they could smile with the usual British indifference. + +"A very close shave, my crimes!" vouchsafed the stumpy gentleman who +kept the books at the bank. + +"It's an ill wind that blows all evil," said Deppingham. "Mr. Bowles, +you are most welcome. We were a bit short of able-bodied soldiers. May +we count on you and the men who came with you?" + +"To the end, my lord," said Bowles, almost bursting his jacket by +inflation. The others slapped their legs staunchly. + +"Then, we'll all have breakfast," announced Lord Deppingham. "Mr. +Saunders, will you be good enough to conduct the recruits to quarters?" + +The arrival of the refugees from Aratat gave the chateau a staunch +little garrison, not counting the servants, whose loyalty was an +uncertain quantity. The stable men in the dungeon below served as +illustrations of what might be expected of the others, despite their +profession of fidelity. Including the house servants, who, perforce, +were loyal, there was an able-bodied garrison of sixty men. After +luncheon, Deppingham called his forces together. He gave fresh +instructions, exacted staunch promises, and heard reports from all of +his aides. The chateau by this time had been made practically +impregnable to attack from the outside. + +"For the time being we are as snug as bugs in a rug," said Deppingham, +when all was over. "Shall we rejoin the ladies, gentlemen?" He was as +calm as a May morning. + +The three leaders found the ladies in the shaded balcony, lounging +lazily as if no such thing as danger existed. Below them in the grassy +courtyard, a dozen indolent, sensuous Persians were congregated, lying +about in the shade with all the abandon of absolute security. The three +women in the balcony had been watching them for an hour, commenting +freely upon these creatures from another world. Neenah, the youngest and +prettiest of them all, had wafted kisses to the proud dames above. She +had danced for their amusement. Her companions sat staring at the ladies +at the railing, dark eyes peering with disdain above the veils which hid +their faces. + +Lady Agnes waved her hand lazily toward the group below, sending a +mocking smile to Chase. "The Asiatic plague," she said cheerfully. + +"The deuce," broke in her husband, not catching her meaning. "Has it +really broken out--" + +"Deppy, you are the dumbest creature I know," exclaimed his wife. + +Chase smiled broadly. "She refers to the newly acquired harem, Lord +Deppingham. We're supposed to die with the Asiatic plague, not to--not +to--" + +"Not to live with it! Ho, ho, I see, by Jove!" roared Deppingham +amiably. "Splendid! Harem! I get the point. Ripping!" + +"They're not so bad, are they, Bobby?" asked Lady Agnes coolly, going to +Browne's side at the railing. Chase hesitated a moment and then walked +over to Drusilla Browne, who was looking pensively into the courtyard +below. He was sorry for her. She laughed and chatted with him for ten +minutes, but there was a strained note in her voice that did not escape +his notice. It may not have been true that Browne was in love with Lady +Deppingham, but it was more than evident that his wife felt convinced +that he was. + +"Splendid!" was the sudden exclamation of Drusilla's vagrant lord. The +others looked up, interested. "Say, everybody, Lady Agnes and I have hit +upon a ripping scheme. It's great!" + +"To better our position?" asked Deppingham. + +"Position? What--oh, I see. Not exactly. What do you say to a charity +ball, the proceeds to go to the survivors of the plague we're expected +to have?" + +The Princess gave a quick, involuntary look at Chase's face. Browne's +tall fellow-countryman was now leaning against the rail beside her +chair. She saw a look of surprised amusement flit across his face, +succeeded almost instantly by a hard, dark frown of displeasure. He +waited a moment and then looked down at her with unmistakable shame and +disapproval in his eyes. Bobby Browne was going on volubly about the +charity ball, Deppingham listening with a fair show of tolerance. + +"We might just as well be merry while we can," he was saying. "Think of +what the French did at the time of the Commune. They danced and died +like ladies and gentlemen. And our own forefathers, Chase, at the time +of the American Revolution--remember them, too. They gave their balls +and parties right under the muzzles of British cannon. And +Vicksburg--New Orleans, too--in the Civil War! Think of 'em! Why +shouldn't we be as game and as gay as they?" + +"But they were earnest in their distractions," observed Deppingham, with +a glance at his wife's eager face. "This could be nothing more than a +travesty, a jest." + +"Oh, let us be sports," cried Lady Agnes, falling into an Americanism +readily. "It may be a jest, but what odds? Something to kill time with." + +Chase and the Princess watched Deppingham's expressionless face as he +listened to his wife and Bobby Browne. They were talking of +arrangements. He looked out over the roof of the opposite wing, beyond +the group of Persians, and nodded his head from time to time. There was +no smile on his lips, however. + +"I don't like Mr. Browne," whispered Genevra suddenly. Chase did not +reply. She waited a moment and then went on. "He is not like Deppingham. +Do you understand?" + +Lady Deppingham came over to them at that instant, her eyes sparkling. + +"It's to be to-night," she said. "A fashionable charity ball--everything +except the newspaper accounts, don't you know. Committees and all that. +It's short notice, of course, but life may be short. We'll have Arab +acrobatics, Persian dances, a grand march, electric lights and +absolutely no money to distribute. That's the way it usually is. Now, +Mr. Chase, don't look so sour! Be nice, please!" She put her hand on his +arm and smiled up at him so brightly that he could not hold out against +her. She caught the touch of disapproval in Genevra's glance, and a +sharp, quick flash of rebellion came into her own eyes--a stubborn line +stopped for an instant at the corners of her mouth. + +"What is a charity ball?" asked Genevra after a moment. + +"A charity ball is a function where one set of women sit in the boxes +and say nasty things about the women on the floor, and those on the +floor say horrid things about the women in the boxes. It's great fun." + +"Charity is simply a hallucination, then?" + +"Yes, but don't mention it aloud. Mr. Britt is trying with might and +main to prove that Bobby and I have hallucinations without end. If I +happen to look depressed at breakfast time, he jots it down--spells of +depression and melancholia, do you see? He's a dreadful man." + +Saunders was approaching from the lower end of the balcony. He appeared +flustered. His face was red and perspiring and his manner distrait. +Saunders, since his failure to establish the advantages of polygamy, had +shrunk farther into the background than ever, quite unlike Britt, who +had not lost confidence in the divorce laws. The sandy-haired solicitor +was now exhibiting symptoms of unusual discomfiture. + +"Well, Saunders?" said Deppingham, as the lawyer stopped to clear his +throat obsequiously. + +"I have found sufficient food of all descriptions, sir, to last for a +month, at least," said Saunders, in a strained, unnatural voice. + +"Good! Has Miss Pelham jilted you, Saunders?" He put the question in a +jocular way. Its effect on Saunders was startling. His face turned +almost purple with confusion. + +"No, sir, she has not, sir," he stammered. + +"Beg pardon, Saunders. I didn't mean to offend. Where is she, pray, with +the invoice?" + +"I'm--I'm sure I don't know, sir," responded Saunders, striving to +regain his dignity. + +"Have a cigarette, Deppy?" interposed Browne, seeing that something was +amiss with Saunders. In solemn order the silver box went the rounds. +Drusilla alone refused to take one. Her husband looked surprised. + +"Want one, Drusie?" + +"No, thank you, Bobby," she said succinctly. "I've stopped. I don't +think it's womanly." + +Lady Deppingham's hand was arrested with the match half way to her lips. +She looked hard at Drusilla for a moment and then touched the light +serenely to her cigarette. + +"Pooh!" was all that she said. Genevra did not light hers at all. + +Saunders spoke up, as if suddenly recollecting something. "I have also +to report, sir, that the stock of cigarettes is getting very low. They +can't last three days at this rate, sir." + +The three men stared at him. + +"Good Lord!" exclaimed Chase, who could face any peril and relish the +experience if needs be, but who now foresaw a sickening deprivation. +"You can't mean it, Saunders?" + +"I certainly do, sir. The mint is holding out well, though, sir. I think +it will last." + +"By George, this is a calamity," groaned Chase. "How is a man to fight +without cigarettes?" + +Genevra quietly proffered the one she had not lighted, a quizzical smile +in her eyes. + +"My contribution to the cause," she said gaily. "What strange creatures +men are! You will go out and be shot at all day and yet--" she paused +and looked at the cigarette as if it were entitled to reverence. + +"It does seem a bit silly, doesn't it?" lamented the stalwart Chase. +Then he took the cigarette. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE CHARITY BALL + + +They were not long in finding out what had happened to Saunders. After +luncheon, while Browne and the three ladies were completing the +preparations for the entertainment. Miss Pelham appeared before +Deppingham and Chase in the former's headquarters. She had asked for an +interview and was accompanied by Mr. Britt. + +"Lord Deppingham," she began, seating herself coolly before the two men, +her eyes dark with decision, "I approach you as the recognised head of +this establishment. I shan't detain you long. My attorney, Mr. Britt, +will explain matters to you after I have retired. He--" + +"Your attorney? What does this mean?" gasped Deppingham, visions of +blackmail in mind. "What's up, Britt? I deny every demmed word of it, +whatever it is!" + +"Just a little private affair," murmured Britt, uncomfortably. + +"Private?" sniffed Miss Pelham, involuntarily rearranging her hat. "I +think it has been quite public, Mr. Britt. That's the trouble." Lord +Deppingham looked worried and Chase had the feeling that some wretched +disclosure was about to be made by the sharp-tongued young woman. He +looked at her with a hard light in his eyes. She caught the glance and +stared back for a moment defiantly. Then she appeared to remember that +she always had longed for his good opinion--perhaps, she had dreamed of +something more--and her eyes fell; he saw her lip tremble. "I've simply +come to ask Lord Deppingham to stand by me. Mr. Saunders is in his +employ--or Lady Deppingham's, I should say--" + +"Which is the same thing," interposed Deppingham, drawing a deeper +breath. He had been trying to recollect if he ever had said anything to +Miss Pelham that might not appear well if repeated. + +"Mr. Saunders has deceived me," she announced steadily. "I leave it to +you if his attentions have not been most pronounced. Of course, if I +wanted to, I could show you a transcript of everything he has said to me +in the last couple of months. He didn't know it, but I managed to get +most everything down in shorthand. I did it at the risk, too, your +lordship, of being considered cold and unresponsive by him. It's most +difficult to take conversation without the free use of your hands, I +must say. But I've preserved in my own black and white, every promise he +made and--" + +"I'm afraid it won't be good evidence," volunteered her lawyer. "It will +have to be substantiated, my dear." + +"Please don't call me 'my dear,' Mr. Britt. Never you mind about it not +being good evidence. Thomas Saunders won't enjoy hearing it read in +court, just the same. What I want to ask of you, Lord Deppingham, as a +friend, is to give Mr. Britt your deposition regarding Mr. Saunders's +attitude toward me, to the best of your knowledge and belief. I'll take +it verbatim and put it into typewriting, free of charge. I--I don't see +anything to laugh at, Mr. Chase!" she cried, flushing painfully. + +"My dear girl," he said, controlling himself, "I think you are +misjudging the magnitude of a lover's quarrel. Don't you think it is +rather a poor time to talk breach of promise with the guns of an enemy +ready to take a pop at us at any moment?" + +"It's no worse than a charity ball, Mr. Chase," she said severely. +"Charity begins at home, gentlemen, and I'm here to look out for myself. +No one else will, let me tell you that. I want to get the deposition of +every person in the chateau. They can be sworn to before Mr. Bowles, who +is a magistrate, I'm told. He can marry people and--" + +"By Jove!" exclaimed Deppingham suddenly. "Can he? Upon my soul!" + +"His manner changed as soon as that horrid little wife of Selim came to +the chateau. I don't like the way she makes eyes at him and I told him +so this morning, down in the storerooms. My, but he flew up! He said +he'd be damned if he'd marry me." She began to use her handkerchief +vigorously. The men smiled as they looked away. + +"I--I intend to sue him for breach of promise," she said thickly. + +"Is it as bad as all that?" asked Deppingham consolingly. + +"What do you mean by 'bad as all that'? He's kissed me time and again, +but that's all." + +"I'll send for Saunders," said Deppingham sternly. + +"Not while I'm here," she exclaimed, getting up nervously. + +"Just as you like, Miss Pelham. I'll send for you after we've talked it +over with Saunders. We can't afford a scandal in the chateau, don't you +know." + +"No, I should think not," she said pointedly. Then she looked at Chase +and winked, with a meaning nod at the unobserving Deppingham. Chase +followed her into the hall. + +"None of that, Miss Pelham," he said severely. + +Saunders came in a few minutes later, nervous and uncomfortable. + +"You sent for me, my lord," he said weakly. + +"Sit down, Saunders. Your knees seem to be troubling you. Miss Pelham is +going to sue you for breach of promise." + +"Good Lord!" + +"What have you promised her, sir?" + +"That I _wouldn't_ marry her, that's all, sir," floundered Saunders. +"She's got no right to presume, sir. Gentlemen always indulge in little +affairs--flirtations, I might say, sir--it's most common. Of course, I +thought she'd understand." + +"Don't you love her, Saunders?" + +"Oh, I say, my lord, that's rather a pointed question. My word, it is, +sir! There may have been a bit of--er--well, you know--between us, sir, +but--that's all, that's quite all. Absurdly all, 'pon my soul." + +"Saunders," said Britt solemnly, "I am her attorney. Be careful what you +say in my presence." + +"Britt," said Saunders distinctly, "you are a blooming traitor! You told +me yourself that she was used to all that sort of thing and wouldn't +mind. Now, see what you do? It's--it's outrageous!" He was half in +tears. Then turning to Deppingham, he went on fiercely, "I won't be +bullyragged by any woman, sir. We got along beautifully until she began +to shy figurative pots at me because Selim's wife looked at me +occasionally. Hang it all, sir, I can't help it if the ladies choose to +look at me. Minnie--Miss Pelham--was perfectly silly about it. Good +Lord," he groaned in recollection. "It was a very trying scene she made, +sir. More than ever, it made me realise that I can't marry beneath me. +You see, my lord, we've got a fairish sort of social position out +Hammersmith way--as far out as Putney, I might say, where we have rather +swell friends, my mother and I--and I don't think--" + +"Saunders," said Lord Deppingham sternly, "she loves you. I don't +understand why or how, but she does. Just because you have obtained an +exalted social position at Hammersmith Bridge is no reason you should +become a snob. I daresay she stands just as well at Brooklyn Bridge as +you do at Hammersmith. She's a fine girl and would be an adornment to +you, such as Hammersmith could be proud of. If you want my candid +opinion, Saunders, I think you're a silly ass!" + +"Do you really, my lord?" quite humbly. + +"Shall I prove it to you by every man on the place? Miss Pelham is quite +good enough for any one of us. I'd be proud to have her as my wife--if I +lived at Hammersmith Bridge." + +"You amaze me, sir!" + +"She's a very pretty girl," volunteered Chase glibly. + +"Oh, she could marry like a flash in New York," said Britt. "A dozen men +I know of are crazy about her. Good-looking chaps, too," The sarcasm +escaped Saunders, who was fidgeting uncomfortably. + +"Of course--you know--the breaking of the engagement--I should say the +row, wasn't of my doing," he submitted, pulling at his finger joints +nervously. + +"I'm afraid it can't be patched up, either," said Britt dolefully. +"She's been insulted, you see--" + +"Insulted? My eye! I wouldn't say anything to hurt her for the world. I +may have been agitated--very likely I said a sharp word or two. But as +for insulting her--never! She's told me herself a thousand times that +she doesn't mind the word 'damn' in the least. That may have misled +me--" + +"Saunders, we can't have our only romance marred by a breach of promise +suit," said his lordship resolutely. "There is simply got to be a +wedding in the end or the whole world will hate us. Every romance must +have its young lovers, and even though it doesn't run smooth, love will +triumph. So far you have been our prize young lover. You are the +undisputed hero. Don't spoil everything at the last moment, Saunders. +Patch it up, and let's have a wedding in the last chapter. You should +not forget that it was you who advocated multi-marriage. Try it once for +yourself, and, if you like it, by Jove, we'll all come to your +succeeding marriages and bless you, no matter how many wives you take +unto yourself." + +Saunders, very much impressed by these confidences, bowed himself out of +the room, followed by Britt, of whom he implored help in the effort to +bring about a reconciliation. He was sorely distressed by Britt's +apparent reluctance to compromise the case without mature deliberation. + +"You see, old chap," mused Deppingham, after their departure, "matrimony +is no trifling thing, after all. No matter whether it contemplates a +garden in Hammersmith or an island in the South Seas, it has its +drawbacks." + +The charity ball began at ten o'clock, schedule time. If all of those +who participated were not in perfect sympathy with the spirit of the mad +whim, they at least did not deport themselves after the fashion of wet +blankets. To be quite authentic, but two of the promoters were heartily +involved in the travesty--Lady Agnes, whose sprightliness was never +dormant, and Bobby Browne, who shone in the glamour of his first +encounter with the nobility. Drusilla Browne, asserting herself as an +American matron, insisted that the invitation list should include the +lowly as well as the mighty. She had her way, and as a result, the bank +employes, the French maids, Antoine and the two corporals of +Rapp-Thorberg's Royal Guard appeared on the floor in the grand march +directly behind Mr. Britt, Mr. Saunders, and Miss Pelham. + +"One cannot discriminate at the charity ball," Drusilla had stoutly +maintained. "The _hoi polloi_ and the riff-raff always get in at home. +So, why not here? If we're going to have a charity ball, let's give it +the correct atmosphere." + +"I shall feel as if I were dancing with my green grocer," lamented Lady +Agnes. Later on, when the dancing was at its height, she exclaimed with +all the fervour of a charmed imagination: "I feel as the Duchess de +What's-her-name must have felt, Bobby, when she danced all night at her +own ball, and then dressed for the guillotine instead of going to bed. +We may all be shot in the morning." + +The Indian fakirs and showmen gave a performance in the courtyard at +midnight. They were followed by the Bedouin tumblers and the inspired +Persians, who danced with frantic abandon and the ripe lust of joy. +There was but one unfortunate accident. Mr. Rivers, formerly of the +bank, got very tight and fell down the steps leading to the courtyard, +breaking his left arm. + +Lord Deppingham and Chase kept their heads. They saw to it that the +watch over the grounds and about the chateau was strictly maintained. +The former led the grand march with the Princess. She was more +ravishingly beautiful than ever. Her gown, exquisitely cool and simple, +suggested that indefinable, unmistakable touch of class that always +marks the distinction between the woman who subdues the gown and the +gown which subdues the woman. + +Hollingsworth Chase was dazzled. He discovered, much to his subsequent +amusement, that he was holding his breath as he stared at her from the +opposite side of the banquet hall, which had been transformed into a +ballroom. She had just entered with the Deppinghams. Something seemed to +shout coarsely, scoffingly in his ear: "Now, do you realise the distance +that lies between? She was made for kings and princes, not for such as +you!" + +He waited long before presenting himself in quest of the dance he +hungered for so greedily--afraid of her! She greeted him with a new, +brighter light in her eyes; a quiver of delight, long in restraint, came +into her voice; he saw and felt the welcome in her manner. + +The blood surged to his head; he mumbled his request. Then, for the +first time, he was near to holding her close in his arms--he was +clasping her fingers, touching her waist, drawing her gently toward his +heart. Once, as they swept around the almost empty ballroom, she looked +up into his eyes. Neither had spoken. His lips parted suddenly and his +fingers closed down upon hers. She saw the danger light in his eyes and +knew the unuttered words that struggled to his lips and stopped there. +She never knew why she did it, but she involuntarily shook her head +before she lowered her eyes. He knew what she meant. His heart turned +cold again and the distance widened once more to the old proportions. + +He left her with Bobby Browne and went out upon the cool, starlit +balcony. There he gently cursed himself for a fool, a dolt, an idiot. + +The shouts of laughter and the clapping of hands on the inside did not +draw him from his unhappy reverie. He did not know until afterward that +the official announcement of the engagement of Miss Minnie Pelham and +Thomas Saunders was made by Bobby Browne and the health of the couple +drunk in a series of bumpers. + +Chase's bitter reflections were at last disturbed by a sound that came +sharply to his attention. He was staring moodily into the night, his +cigarette drooping dejectedly in his lips. The noise came from directly +below where he stood. He peered over the stone railing. The terrace was +barely ten feet below him; a mass of bushes fringed the base of the +wall, dark, thick, fragrant. Some one was moving among these stubborn +bushes; he could hear him plainly. The next moment a dark figure shot +out from the shadows and slunk off into night, followed by another and +another and yet others, seven in all. Chase's mind refused to work +quickly. He stood as one petrified for a full minute, unable to at once +grasp the meaning of the performance. + +Then the truth suddenly dawned upon him. The prisoners had escaped from +the dungeon! + +He dashed into the ballroom and shouted the alarm. Confusion ensued. He +called out sharp commands as he rushed across to where Deppingham was +chatting with the Princess. + +"There's been treachery," he explained quickly. "Some one has released +the prisoners. We must keep them from reaching the walls. They will +overpower our guards and open the gates to the enemy. Britt, see that +the searchlight is trained on the gates. We must stop those fellows +before it is too late. Time enough to hunt for the traitor later on!" + +Two minutes later, a swarm of armed men forsook the mock charity ball +and sallied forth to engage in realities. Firing was soon heard at the +western gate, half a mile away. Thither, the eager pursuers rushed. The +wide ray from the searchlight swung down upon this gate and revealed the +forms of struggling men. + +The prisoners had fallen suddenly upon the two Greeks who guarded the +western gate, surprising them cleverly. The Greeks fought for their +lives, but were overwhelmed in plain view of the relief party which +raced toward them. Both fell under the clubbed guns of their +adversaries. + +Chase and Selim were not more than a hundred yards away when the +desperate Greeks went down. The blinding glare of the searchlight aided +the pursuers, who kept outside its radius. The fugitives, bewildered, +confused by the bright glare in which they found themselves, faced the +light boldly, five of them kneeling with guns raised to protect their +two companions who started across the narrow strip which separated them +from the massive gate. Selim gave a shout and stopped suddenly, throwing +his rifle to his shoulder. + +"They have the keys!" he cried. "Shoot!" + +His rifle cracked a second later and one of the two men leaped into the +air and fell like a log. Chase understood the necessity for quick work +and fired an instant later. The second man fell in a heap, thirty feet +from the gate. His companions returned the fire at random in the +direction from which the well-aimed shots had come. + +"Under cover!" shouted Chase. He and Selim dropped into the shrubbery in +time to escape a withering fire from outside the gates. The searchlight +revealed a compact mass of men beyond the walls. It was then that the +insiders realised how near they had come to being surprised and +destroyed. A minute more, and the gates would have been opened to this +merciless horde. + +The prisoners, finding themselves trapped, threw themselves upon the +ground and shrieked for mercy. Lord Deppingham and the others came up +and, scattering well, began to fire at the mass outside the wall. The +islanders were at a disadvantage. They could not locate the opposing +marksmen on account of the blinding light in their faces. It was but a +moment before they were scampering off into the dark wood, shrieking +with rage. + +The five fugitives were compelled to carry their fallen comrades and the +two Greeks from the open space in front of the gates to a point where it +was safe for the defenders to approach them without coming in line with +a possible volley from the forest. + +A small force was left to guard the gate; the remainder returned as +quickly as possible to the chateau. The Greeks were unconscious, badly +battered by the clubbed guns. Browne, once more the doctor, attended +them and announced that they would be on their feet in a day or two--"if +complications don't set in." One of the prisoners was dead, shot through +the heart by the deadly Selim. The other had a shattered shoulder. + +Immediately upon the return to the chateau, an inspection of the +dungeons was made, prior to an examination of the servants in the effort +to apprehend the traitor. + +The three men who went down into the damp, chill regions below ground +soon returned with set, pale faces. There had been no traitor! + +The man whose duty it was to guard the prisoners was found lying inside +the big cell, his throat cut from ear to ear, stone dead! + +There was but one solution. He had been seized from within as he came to +the grating in response to a call. While certain fingers choked him into +silence, others held his hands and still others wrenched the keys from +his sash. After that it was easy. Deppingham, Chase and Selim looked at +each other in horror--and, strange as it may seem, relief. + +Death was there, but, after all, Death is no traitor. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE JOY OF TEMPTATION + + +The revolting details were kept from the women. They were not permitted +to know of the ugly thing that sweltered in the dark corridor below +their very feet. Late in the night, a small body of men, acting under +orders, carried the unfortunate guard down into the valley and buried +him. Only the most positive stand on the part of the white men prevented +the massacre of the prisoners by the friends and fellow-servants of the +murdered man. A secret trial by jury, at a later day, was promised by +Lord Deppingham. + +There was but little sleep in the chateau that night. The charity ball +was forgotten--or if recalled at all, only in connection with the +thought of what it came so near to costing its promoters. + +No further disturbances occurred. A strict watch was preserved; the +picturesque drawbridge was lifted and there were lights on the terrace +and galleries; men slept within easy reach of their weapons. The siege +had begun in earnest. Men had been slain and their blood was crying out +for vengeance; the voice of justice was lost in the clamourings of rage. + +Breakfast found no laggards; the lazy comforts of the habitually late +were abandoned for the more stirring interests that had come to occupy +the time and thoughts of all concerned. The Princess was quite serene. +She lightly announced that the present state of affairs was no worse +than that which she was accustomed to at home. The court of +Rapp-Thorberg was ever in a state of unrest, despite its outward +suggestion of security. Outbreaks were common among the masses; somehow, +they were suppressed before they grew large enough to be noticed by the +wide world. + +"We invariably come out on top," she philosophised, "and so shall we +here. At home we always eat, drink and make merry, for to-morrow never +comes." + +"That's all very nice," said Lady Agnes plaintively, "but I'm thinking +of yesterday. Those fellows who were killed can't die to-morrow, you +know; it occurred to them yesterday. It's always yesterday after one +dies." + +Soon after breakfast was over, Chase announced his intention to visit +each of the gates in turn. The Princess strolled with him as far as the +bridge at the foot of the terrace. They stopped in the shade of a clump +of trees that hung upon the edge of the stream. As they were gravely +discussing the events of the night, Neenah came up to them from beyond +the bridge. Her dark, brilliant face was glowing with excitement; the +cheerful adoration that one sees in a dog's eyes shone in hers as she +salaamed gracefully to the "Sahib." She had no eyes for royalty. + +"Excellency," she began breathlessly, "it is Selim who would have +private speech with the most gracious sahib. It is to be quick, +excellency. Selim is under the ground, excellency." + +"In the cellars?" + +"Yes, excellency. It is so dark there that one cannot see, but Neenah +will lead you. Selim has sent me. But come now!" + +Chase felt his ears burn when he turned to find a delicate, significant +smile on Genevra's lips. "Don't let me detain you," she said, ever so +politely. + +"Wait, please!" he exclaimed. "Is Selim hurt?" he demanded of Neenah, +who shook her head vigorously. + +"Then, there is no reason why you should not accompany us. Princess." + +"I am not at all necessary to the undertaking," she said coldly, turning +to leave him. + +"Selim has found fuses and gunpowder laid in the cellars, excellency--in +the secret vaults," began Neenah eagerly, divining the cause of the +white lady's hesitation. + +This astounding piece of news swept away the feeble barrier Genevra +would have erected in her pique. Eagerly she joined in questioning the +Persian girl, but Neenah would only reply that Selim was waiting for the +sahib. The Princess was immeasurably consoled to find that the +body-servant had destroyed the fuses and that they were in no immediate +danger of being blown to pieces. She consented to accompany Chase into +the cellars, a spirit of adventure overcoming certain scruples which +might have restrained her under other conditions. + +Neenah led them through the wine cellars and down into the vaults beyond +the dungeons. They descended three steep flights of stone steps, into +the cold, damp corridors of the lowermost cellars. Neenah explained that +it was necessary to move cautiously and without lights. Selim was +confident that there was at least one traitor among the servants. The +Princess clutched Chase's hand tightly as they stole through the bleak, +chill corridor; she found herself wondering if the girl was to be +trusted. What if she were leading them into a trap? She would have +whispered her fears into Chase's ear had not a sharp "sh!" come from the +girl who was leading. Genevra felt a queer little throb of hatred for +the girl--she could not explain it. + +The dungeon was off to the right. They could hear the insistent murmur +of voices, with now and then a laugh from the distant cells. The guard +could be heard scoffing at his charges. With a caution that seemed +wholly absurd to the two white people, Neenah guided them through the +maze of narrow passages, dark as Erebus and chill as the grave. Chase +checked a hysterical impulse to laugh aloud at the proceedings; it was +like playing at a children's game. + +He was walking between the two women, Neenah ahead, Genevra behind; each +clasped one of his hands. Suddenly he found himself experiencing an +overpowering desire to exert the strength of his arm to draw the +Princess close--close to his insistent body. The touch of her flesh, the +clutch of her cold little hand, filled him with the most exquisite sense +of possession; the magnetism of life charged from one to the other, +striking fire to the blood; sex tingled in this delicious riot of the +senses; all went to inspire and encourage the reckless joy that was +mastering him. He felt his arm grow taut with the irresistible impulse. +He was forgetting Neenah, forgetting himself--thinking only of the +opportunity and its fascination. In another instant he would have drawn +her hand to his lips: Neenah came to a standstill and uttered a warning +whisper. Chase recovered himself with a mighty start, a chill as of one +avoiding an unseen peril sweeping over him. Genevra heard the sharp, +painful intake of his breath and felt the sudden relaxation of his +fingers. She was not puzzled; she, too, had felt the magic of the touch +and her blood was surging red; she knew, then, that she had been +clasping his hand with a fervour that was as unmistakable as it was +shameless. + +She was again forgetting that princesses should dwell in the narrow +realm of self. + +Neenah may have felt the magnetic current that coursed through these +surcharged creatures: she was smiling mysteriously to herself. + +"Wait here," she whispered to Chase, ever so softly. She released his +hand and moved off in the blackness of the passage. "I will bring +Selim," came back to them. + +"Oh!" fell faintly, tremulously from Genevra's lips. It was a trap, +after all! But it was not the trap laid by a traitor. She fell all +a-quiver. Her heart fluttered violently, her breath came quickly. Alone +with him--and their blood leaping to the touch that thrilled! + +Chase could no more have restrained the hand that went out suddenly in +quest of hers than he could have checked his own heart throbs. A wave of +exquisite joy swept over him--the joy of a temptation that knew no fear +or conscience. He found her cold little hand and clasped it in tense +fingers--fingers that throbbed with the call to passion. He drew her +close--their bodies touched and sweetly trembled. His lips were close to +her ear--the smell of her hair was in his quivering nostrils. He heard +her quick, sharp breathing. + +"Are you afraid?" he whispered in tones he had never heard before. + +"Yes," she murmured convulsively--"of you! Please, please, don't!" At +the same time, she tightened her clutch upon his hand and crept closer +to him, governed by an unconquerable craving. Chase had the sensation of +smothering; he could not believe the senses which told him that she was +responding to his appeal. His brain was whirling, his heart bounding +like mad. Her voice, soft and appealing, turned his blood to fire. + +"Genevra!" he murmured--almost gasped--in his delirium. Their bodies +were pressed close to each other--his arms went about her slender figure +suddenly and she was strained to his breast, locked to him with bonds +that seemed unbreakable. Her face was lifted to his. The blackness of +the passage was impenetrable, but love was the guide. He found her lips +in one wild, glorious kiss. + +A door creaked sharply. He released her. Their quivering arms fell away; +they drew ever so slightly apart, still under the control of the +influence which had held them for that brief moment. She was trembling +violently. A soft, wailing sigh, as of pain, came from her lips. + +Then the glimmer of a light came to them through the half open door at +the end of the passage. They gazed at it without comprehension, dumb in +their sudden weakness. A shadowy figure came out through the door and +Selim's voice, low and tense, called to them. + +Still speechless, they moved forward involuntarily. He did not attempt +to take her hand. He was afraid--vastly afraid of what he had done, +unaccountable as it may seem. That piteous sigh wrought shame in his +heart. He felt that he had wronged her--had seized upon a willing, +hapless victim when she had not the power to defend herself against her +own impulses. + +"Forgive me," he murmured. + +"It is too late," she replied. Then his hand sought hers again and, +dizzy with emotion, he led her up to the open door. As they passed into +the huge, dimly lighted chamber, he turned to look into her face. She +met his gaze and there were tears in her eyes. Selim was ahead of them. +She shook her head sadly and he understood. + +"Can we ever forget?" she murmured plaintively. + +"Never!" he whispered. + +"Then we shall always regret--always regret!" she said, withdrawing her +hand. "It was the beginning and the end." + +"Not the end, dearest one--if we are always to regret," he interposed +eagerly. "But why the end? You _do_ love me! I know it! And I worship +you--oh, you don't know how I worship you, Genevra! I--" + +"Hush! We were fools! Don't, please! I do _not_ love you. I was carried +away by--Oh, can't you understand? Remember what I am! You knew and yet +have degraded me in my own eyes. Is my own self-respect nothing? You +will laugh and you may boast after I am married to--" + +"Genevra!" he protested as if in great pain. + +"Excellency," came from the lips of Selim, at the lower end of the +chamber, breaking in sharply upon their little world. "There is no time +to be lost." Time to be lost! And he had held her in his arms! Time to +be lost! All the rest of Time was to be lost! "They may return at any +moment." + +Chase pulled himself together. He looked into her eyes for a moment, +finding nothing there but a command to go. She stood straight and +unyielding on the very spot which had seen her trembling with emotion +but a moment before. + +"Coming, Selim," he said, and moved away from her side as Neenah came +toward them from the opposite wall. Genevra did not move. She stood +quite still and numb, watching his tall figure crossing the stone floor. +Ah, what a man he was! The little Persian wife of Selim, after waiting +for a full minute, gently touched the arm of the Princess. Genevra +started and looked down into the dark, accusing, smiling eyes. She +flushed deeply and hated herself. + +"Shall we go back?" she asked nervously. "I--I have seen enough. Come, +Neenah. Lead me back to--" + +"Most glorious excellency," said Neenah, shaking her pretty head, "we +are to wait here. The sahib and Selim will join us soon." + +"Where are they going?" demanded the Princess, a feeling of awe coming +over her. "I don't want to be left here alone." Chase and Selim had +opened a low, heavy iron door at the lower end and were peering into the +darkness beyond. + +"Selim will explain. He has learned much. It is the secret passage to +the coast. Be not afraid." + +Genevra looked about her for the first time. They were standing in a +long, low room, the walls of which reeked with dampness and gave out a +noxious odour. A single electric light provided a faint, almost +unnatural light. Selim raised a lighted lantern as he led Chase through +the squat door. Behind Genevra were enormous casks, a dozen or more, +reaching almost to the ceiling. A number of boxes stood close by, while +on the opposite side of the chamber four small iron chests were to be +seen, dragged out from recesses in the distant corner. It was not unlike +the mysterious treasure cave of the pirates that her brother had +stealthily read about to her in childhood days. Observing her look of +wonder, Neenah vouchsafed a casual explanation. + +"It is the wine cellar and the storeroom. The iron chests contain the +silver and gold plate that came from the great Rajah of Murpat in +exchange for the five huge rubies which now adorn his crown. The Rajah +bartered his entire service of gold and silver for those wonderful gems. +The old sahibs stored the chests here many years ago. But few know of +their existence. See! They were hidden in the walls over there. Von +Blitz has found them." + +"Von Blitz!" in amazement. + +"He has been here. He has carried away many chests. There were twenty in +all." + +"And--and he will return for these?" queried the Princess in alarm. + +"Assuredly, most glorious one. Soon, perhaps. But be not afraid. Selim +can close the passage door. He cannot get in. He will be fooled, eh? Why +should you be afraid? Have you not with you the most wonderful, the most +brave sahib? Would he not give his life for you?" The dark eyes sparkled +with understanding--aye, even mischief. Genevra felt that this Oriental +witch knew everything. For a long time she looked in uncertain mood upon +that smiling, wistful face. Then she said softly, moved by an +irresistible impulse to confess something, even obscurely: + +"Oh, if only I were such as you, Neenah, and could live forever on this +dear island!" + +Neenah's smile deepened, her eyes glowed with discernment. With a +meaning gleam in their depths, she said: "But, most high, there are no +princes here. There is no one to whom the most gracious one could be +sold. No one who could pay more than a dozen rubies. Women are cheap +here, and you would be a woman, not a most beautiful princess." + +"I would not care to be a princess, perhaps." + +"You love my Sahib Chase?" demanded Neenah abruptly, eagerly. + +"Neenah!" gasped Genevra, with a startled look. Neenah looked intently +into the unsteady, blue-grey eyes and then bent over to kiss the hand of +the Princess. The latter laughed almost aloud in her confusion. She +caught herself up quickly and said with some asperity: "You foolish +child, I am to become a prince's wife. How can I love your sahib? What +nonsense! I am to marry a prince and he is not to pay for me in rubies." + +"Ah, how wonderful!" cried Neenah, with ravishing candour. "A prince for +a husband and the glorious Sahib Chase for a lover all your life! Ah!" +The exclamation was no less than a sigh of rapturous endorsement. + +The Princess stared at her first in consternation, then in dismay. +Before she could find words to combat this alarming prophecy, so +ingenuously presented to her reflections, Selim and Hollingsworth Chase +returned to the chamber. She was distressed, even confounded, to find +that she was staring at Chase with a strange, abashed curiosity growing +in her eyes--a stare that she suddenly was afraid he might observe and +appreciate. A wave of revulsion, of shame, spread over her whole being. +She shuddered slightly as she turned her face away from his eager gaze: +it was as if she recognised the fear that he was even now contemplating +the future as Neenah had painted it for her. + +She caught and checked a horrid arraignment of herself. Such conditions +as Neenah presented were not unknown to her. With the swiftness of +lightning, she recalled the things that had been said of more than one +grand dame in Europe--aye, of women at her own court. Even a princess +she had known who--but for shame! she cried in her heart. It could not +be! Despite herself, a cruel, distressing shyness came over her as he +approached, his eyes glowing with the light she feared yet craved. Was +this man to remain in her life? _Was he?_ Would he come to her and wage +the unfair war? Was he honest? Was he even now coveting her as other men +had coveted the women she knew and despised? She found herself +confronted by the shocking conviction that he _knew_ she could never be +his wife. He _knew_ she was to wed another, and yet--It was +unbelievable! + +She met his eager advance with a quick, shrill laugh of defiance, and +noted the surprise in his eyes. Dim as the light was, she could have +sworn that the look in those eyes was honest. Ah, that silly Neenah! The +reaction was as sudden as the revolt had been. Her smile grew warm and +shy. + +"Von Blitz has been here," he was saying, half diffidently, still +searching deep in her eyes. "He's played hob. And he's likely to return +at any minute." + +"Then let us go quickly. I have no desire to meet the objectionable Mr. +Von Blitz. Isn't it dreadfully dangerous here, Mr. Chase?" He mistook +the slight tremour in her voice for that of fear. A quaint look came +into his face, the lines about the corners of his mouth drooping +dolefully. + +"Mr. Chase?" he said, with his winning smile. "Now?" + +"Yes, now and always, Mr. Chase," she said steadily. "You know that it +cannot be otherwise. I can't always be a fool." + +His face turned a deep red; his lips parted for retort to this truculent +estimate, but he controlled himself. + +"Yes, it is dangerous here," he said quietly, answering her question. +"As soon as Selim bars that door upon the inside, we'll go. I was a fool +to bring you here." + +"How could you know what the dangers would be?" she asked. + +"I'll confess I didn't expect Von Blitz," he said drily. + +"But you did expect--" she began, with a start, biting her lips. + +"There's a vast difference between expectation and hope, Princess." +Neenah had joined Selim at the door when the men re-entered the chamber. +Now she was approaching with her husband. + +"May Allah bless you and profit for Himself, excellencies," said the +good Selim. Neenah plainly had advanced her suspicions to the brown +body-servant. Genevra blushed and then her eyes blazed. She gave the +girl a scornful look; Neenah smiled happily, unreservedly in return. + +"Allah help us, you should say, if Von Blitz returns," interposed Chase +hastily. "Is the door barred?" + +"No, excellency. The bars have sprung, I cannot drop them in place. As +you know, the lock has been blown away. The charge sprung the bolts. We +must go at once." + +"Then there is no way to keep them out of the chateau?" cried Genevra +anxiously. + +"They can go no farther than this room," explained Selim. "We lock the +double iron doors from the other side--the door through which you came, +most glorious excellency--and they cannot enter the cellars above. This +is the chamber which opens into the underground passage to the coast. +The passage was made for escape from the chateau in case of trouble and +was known to but few. My father was the servant of Sahib Wyckholme, and +I used to live in the chateau. We came to the island when I was a baby. +My father had been with the sahib in Africa. I came to know of this +passage, for my father and my mother were to go with the masters if +there was an attack. Five years ago I was given a place in the company's +office, and I never came up here after my parents died of the plague. We +were--" + +"The plague!" cried the Princess. + +"It was said to have been the plague," said Selim bitterly. "They died +in great convulsions while spending the night in the Khan. That's the +inn of Aratat, excellencies. The great sahibs sent their stomachs away +to be examined--" + +"Never mind, Selim," said Chase. "Tell us about the passage there." + +"Once there was a boat--a launch, which lay hidden below the cliffs on +the north coast. The passage led to this boat. It was always ready to +put out to sea. But one night it was destroyed by the great rocks which +fell from the cliffs in an earthquake. When I came here, I at once +thought of the passage. You will see that the doors into the cellar +cannot be opened from this chamber; the locks and bolts are on the other +side. I knew where the keys were hidden. It was easy to unlock the doors +and come into this room. I found that some one had been here before me. +The door to the passage had been forced open from without--cracked by +dynamite. Many of the treasure boxes have been removed. Von Blitz was +here not an hour ago. He wears boots. I saw the footprints among the +naked ones in the passage. They will come back for the other chests. +Then they will blow up the passage way with powder and escape from the +chateau through it will be cut off. I have found the kegs of powder in +the passage and have destroyed the fuses. It will be of no avail, sahib. +They will blow it up at the other end, which will be just the same." + +"There's no time to be lost," cried Chase. "We must bring enough men +down here to capture them when they return--shoot 'em if necessary. Come +on! We can surprise them if we hurry." + +They were starting across the chamber toward the door, when a gruff, +sepulchral oath came rolling up to the chamber through the secret +passage. Quick as a flash Selim, who realised that they could not reach +and open the door leading to the stairs, turned in among the huge wine +casks, first blinding his lantern. He whispered for the others to +follow. In a moment they were squeezing themselves through the narrow +spaces between the dark, strong-smelling casks, back into a darkness so +opaque that it seemed lifeless. Selim halted them in a recess near the +wall and there they huddled, breathlessly awaiting the approach of the +invaders. + +"They won't suspect that we are here," whispered Selim as the door to +the passage creaked. "Keep quiet! Don't breathe!" + +The single electric light was still burning, as Selim had found it when +he first came. The door swung open slowly, heavily, and Jacob von Blitz, +half naked, mud-covered, reeking with perspiration, and panting +savagely, stepped into the light. Behind him came a man with a lantern, +and behind him two others. + +They were white men, all. Von Blitz turned suddenly and cursed the man +with the lantern. The fellow was ready to drop with exhaustion. +Evidently it had been no easy task to remove the chests. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +SEVERAL PHILOSOPHERS + + +The four burly men sat down upon the chests, Von Blitz alone being +visible to the watchers. They were fagged to the last extreme. + +"Dis is der last," panted Von Blitz, blowing hard and stretching his big +arms. The guttural German tones were highly accentuated by the effort +required in speaking. His three helpers said nothing in reply. For fully +five minutes the quartette sat silent, collecting their strength for the +next trip with the chests. Again it was Von Blitz who spoke. He had been +staring savagely at the floor for several minutes, brooding deeply. + +"I fix him," he growled. "His time vill come, by tarn! I let him know he +can't take my vives avay mit him. Der dog! I fix him some day purdy +soon. Und dem tarn vimmens! Dem tarn hyenas! Dey run avay mit him, eh? +Ach, Gott, if I could only put my hands by deir necks yet!" + +"Vat for you fret, Yacob?" growled one of the Boers. "You couldn't take +dose vimmens back by Europe mit you. I tink you got goot luck by losing +dem. Misder Chase can't take dem back needer--so, dey go to hell yet. +Don't fret." + +"Veil," said Von Blitz, arising. "Come on, boys. Dis is der lasd of dem. +Den ve blow der tarn t'ing up. Grab hold dere, Joost. Up mit it, Jan. +Vat? No?" + +"Gott in himmel, Yacob, vait a minutes. My back is proke," protested +Joost stubbornly. Von Blitz swore steadily for a minute, but could not +move the impassive Boers. He began pacing back and forth, growling to +himself. At last he stopped in front of the tired trio. + +"Vat for you tink I vant you in on dis, you svine? To set aroundt und +dream? Nobody else knows aboud dis treasures, und ve got it all for +ourselves--ve four und no more, und you say, 'Vat's der hurry?' It's all +ours. Ve divide it oop in der cave mit all der money ve get from der +bank. Vat? Yes? Den, ven der time comes, ve send it all by Australia und +no von is der viser. Der natives von't know und der white peebles von't +be alive to care aboudt it. Ve let it stay hided in der cave undil dis +drouble is all over und den it vill be easy to get it avay from der +island, yoost so quiet. Come on, boys! Don't be lazy!" + +"I don't like dot scheme to rob der bank," growled Jan. "If der peeples +get onto us, dey vould cut us to bieces." + +"But dey von't get onto us, you fool. Dey vouldn't take it demselves if +it vas handed to dem. Dey're too honest, yes. Vell, don't dey say ve're +honest, too? Vell, vat more you vant? Dey don't know how much money und +rubies dere is in der bank. Ve von't take all of it--und dey von't know +der difference. Ve burn der books. Das is all. Ve get in by der bank +to-night, boys." + +"I don't like id," said Joost. "Id's stealing from our freunds, Yacob. +Besides, if der oder heirs should go before der government mit der +story. Vat den?" + +"Der oder heirs vill never get der chance, boys. Dey vill die mit der +plague--ha, ha! Sure! Dere von't be no oder heirs. Rasula says it must +be so. Ve can'd vait, boys. It vill be years before der business is +settled. Ve must get vat ve can now and vait for der decision +aftervards. Brodney has wrote to Rasula, saying dat dot Chase feller is +to stay here vedder ve vant him or not. He says Chase is a goot man! By +tarn, it makes me cry to fink of vot he has done by me--dot goot man!" + +To the amazement of all, the burly German began to blubber. + +"Don't cry, Yacob," cried Joost, coming to his master's side and shaking +him by the shoulder. "You can get oder vives some day--besser as dese, +yes!" + +"Joost, I can't help crying--I can't. Ven I t'ink how I got to kill dem +yet! I hates to kill vimmens." + +They permitted him to weep and swear for a few minutes. Then, without +offering further consolation, the three foremen made ready to take up +the remaining chests. + +"Come on, Yacob," said Jan gruffly. + +Von Blitz shook his fist at the door across the chamber and thundered +his final maledictions. + +"Sir John says in der letter to Misder Chase dere is a movements on foot +in London to settle der contest out of court," volunteered Joost. + +"Sure, but he also say dat ve all may die mit old age before it is over +yet." + +"Don't forget der plague!" said Jan. + +They groaned mightily as they lifted the heavy chests to their shoulders +and started for the door. + +"Close der door, Jan," commanded Von Blitz from the passage. "Ve vill +light der fuse ven ve haf got beyond der first bend. Vat? Look! By tam, +von of you swine has broke der fuse. Vait! Ve vill fix him now." + +The door was closed behind them, but the listeners could hear them +repairing the damage that Selim had done to the fuse. + +Led by Selim, the four made a rush for the door leading into the +chateau. They threw it open and passed through, flying as if for their +lives. No one could tell how soon an explosion might bring disaster to +the region; they put distance between them and the powder keg. Selim +paused long enough to drop the bolts and turn the great key with the +lever. At the second turn in the narrow corridor, he overtook Chase and +the scurrying women. + +"Is there nothing to be done?" cried the Princess. "Can we not prevent +the explosion? They will cut off our means of escape in that--" + +"I know too much about gunpowder, Princess," said Chase drily, "to fool +with it. It's like a mule. It kicks hard. 'Gad, it was hard to stand +there and hear those brutes planning it all and not be able to stop +them." + +The Princess was once more at his side; he had clasped her arm to lead +her securely in the wake of Neenah's electric lantern. She came to a +sudden stop. + +"And pray, Mr. Chase," she said sharply, as if the thought occurred to +her for the first time, "why _didn't_ you stop them? You had the +advantage. You and Selim could have surprised them--you could have taken +them without a struggle!" + +He laughed softly, deprecatingly, not a little impressed by the justice +of her criticism. + +"No doubt you consider me a coward," he said ruefully. + +"You know that I do not," she protested. "I--I can't understand your +motive, that is all." + +"You forget that I am the representative of these very men. I am the +trusted agent of Sir John Brodney, who has refused to supplant me with +another. All this may sound ridiculous to you, when you take my +anomalous position into account. I can't very well represent Sir John +and at the same time make prisoners or corpses of his clients, even +though I am being shielded by their legal foes. I don't mean to say that +I condone the attempt Von Blitz is making to rob his fellow-workmen of +this hidden plate and the plunder in the bank. They are traitors to +their friends and I shall turn them over sooner or later to the people +they are looting. I'll not have Von Blitz saying, even to himself, that +I have not only stolen his wives but have also cast him into the hands +of his philistines. It may sound quixotic to you, but I think that Lord +Deppingham and Mr. Browne will understand my attitude." + +"But Von Blitz has sworn to kill you," she expostulated with some heat. +"You are wasting your integrity, I must say, Mr. Chase." + +"Would you have me shoot him from ambush?" he demanded. + +"Not at all. You could have taken him captive and held him safe until +the time comes for you to leave the island." + +"He would not have been my captive in any event. I could do no more than +deliver him into the hands of his enemies. Would that be fair?" + +"But he is a thief!" + +"No more so than Taswell Skaggs and John Wyckholme, who unquestionably +cheated the natives out of the very treasure we have seen carried away." + +"Admitting all that, Mr. Chase, you still forget that he has stolen +property which now belongs quite as much to Lady Deppingham and Mr. +Browne as it does to the natives." + +"Quite true. But I am not a constable nor a thief catcher. I am a +soldier of the defence, not an officer of the Crown at this stage of the +game. To-day I shall contrive to send word to Rasula that Von Blitz has +stolen the treasure chests. Mr. Von Blitz will have a sad time +explaining this little defection to his friends. We must not overlook +the fact that Lady Deppingham and Robert Browne are quite willing to +take everything from the islanders. Everything that Taswell Skaggs and +John Wyckholme possessed in this island belongs to them under the terms +of the will." + +They were at the top of the second flight of stairs by this time and +quite a distance from the treasure chamber. His coolness, the absence of +any sign of returning sentiment, was puzzling her sorely. Every vestige +of that emotion which had overwhelmed him during their sweet encounter +was gone, to all appearances: he was as calm and as matter-of-fact as if +she were the merest stranger. She was trying to find the +solution--trying to read the mind of this smiling philosopher. Half an +hour before, she had been carried away, rendered, helpless by the +passion that swayed him; now he spoke and looked as if he had forgotten +the result of his storming. Strangely enough, she was piqued. + +When they came into the well-lighted upper corridor he proceeded +ruthlessly to upset all of her harsh calculations. They were now +traversing the mosaic floors of the hall that led to the lower terraces. +He stopped suddenly, stepping directly in front of her. As she drew up +in surprise, he reached down and took both of her hands in his. For the +moment, she was too amazed to oppose this sudden action. She looked up +into his face, many emotions in her own--reproof, wonder, dismay, +hauteur--joy! + +"Wait," he said gently. They were quite alone. The stream of daylight +from the distant French windows barely reached to this quiet spot. She +saw the most wonderful light in his grey eyes; her lips parted in quick, +timorous confusion. "I love you. I am sorry for what I did down there. I +couldn't help it--nor could you. Yet I took a cruel advantage of you. I +know what you've been thinking, too. You have been saying to yourself +that I wanted to see how far I could go--don't speak! I know. You are +wrong. I've absolutely worshipped you since those first days in +Thorberg--wildly, hopelessly--day and night. I was afraid of you--yes, +afraid of you because you are a princess. But I've got over all that, +Genevra. You are a woman--a living, real woman with the blood and the +heart and the lips that were made for men to crave. I want to tell you +this, here in the light of day, not in the darkness that hid all the +truth in me except that which you might have felt in my kiss." + +"Please, please don't," she said once more, her lip trembling, her eyes +full of the softness that the woman who loves cannot hide. "You shall +not go on! It is wrong!" + +"It is not wrong," he cried passionately. "My love is not wrong. I want +you to understand and to believe. I can't hope that you will be my +wife--it's too wildly improbable. You are not for such as I. You are +pledged to a man of your own world--your own exalted world. But listen, +Genevra--see, my eyes call you darling even though my lips dare not--- +Genevra, I'd give my soul to hear you say that you will be my wife. You +_do_ understand how it is with me?" + +The delicious sense of possession thrilled her; she glowed with the +return of her self-esteem, in the restoration of that quality which +proclaimed her a princess of the blood. She was sure of him now! She was +sure of herself. She had her emotions well in hand. And so, despite the +delicious warmth that swept through her being, she chose to reveal no +sign of it to him. + +"I do understand," she said quietly, meeting his gaze with a directness +that hurt him sorely. "And you, too, understand. I could not be your +wife. I am glad yet sorry that you love me, and I am proud to have heard +you say that you want me. But I am a sensible creature, Mr. Chase, and, +being sensible, am therefore selfish. I have seen women of my unhappy +station venture out side of their narrow confines in the search for +life-long joy with men who might have been kings had they not been born +under happier stars--men of the great wide world instead of the +soulless, heartless patch which such as I call a realm. Not one in a +hundred of those women found the happiness they were so sure of grasping +just outside their prison walls. It was not in the blood. We are the +embodiment of convention, the product of tradition. Time has proved in +nearly every instance that we cannot step from the path our prejudices +know. We must marry and live and die in the sphere to which we were +born. It must sound very bald to you, but the fact remains, just the +same. We must go through life unloved and uncherished, bringing princes +into the world, seeing happiness and love just beyond our reach all the +time. We have hearts and we have blood in our veins, as you say, and we +may love, too, but believe me, dear friend, we are bound by chains no +force can break--the chains of prejudice." + +She had withdrawn her hands from his; he was standing before her as calm +and unmoved as a statue. + +"I understand all of that," he said, a faint smile moving his lips. She +was not expecting such resignation as this. + +"I am glad that you--that you understand," she said. + +"Just the same," he went on gently, "you love me as I love you. You +kissed me. I could feel love in you then. I can see it in you now. +Perhaps you are right in what you say about not finding happiness +outside the walls, but I doubt it, Genevra. You will marry Prince Karl +in June, and all the rest of your life will be bleak December. You will +never forget this month of March--our month." He paused for a moment to +look deeply into her incredulous eyes. His face writhed in sudden pain. +Then he burst forth with a vehemence that startled her. "My God, I pity +you with all my soul! All your life!" + +"Don't pity me!" she cried fiercely. "I cannot endure that!" + +"Forgive me! I shouldn't say such things to you. It's as if I were +bullying you," + +"You must not think of me as unhappy--ever. Go on your own way, +Hollingsworth Chase, and forget that you have known me. _You_ will find +happiness with some one else. You have loved before; you can and will +love again. I--- I have never loved before--but perhaps, like you, I +shall love again. You _will_ love again?" she demanded, her lip +trembling with an irresolution she could not control. + +"Yes," he said calmly, "I'll love the wife of Karl Brabetz." His eyes +swept hungrily over the golden bronze hair; then he turned away with the +short, hard laugh of the man who scoffs at his own despair. She started +violently; her cheek went red and white and her eyes widened as though +they were looking upon something unpleasant; her thoughts went back to +the naive prophecy in the treasure chamber. + +She followed him slowly to the terrace. He stopped in the doorway and +leisurely drew forth his cigarette case. + +"Shall we wait for the explosion?" he asked without a sign of the +emotion that had gone before. She gravely selected a cigarette from the +case which he extended. As he lighted his own, he watched her draw from +her little gold bag a diamond-studded case, half filled. Without a word +of apology, she calmly deposited the cigarette in the case and restored +it to the bottom of the bag. + +Then she looked up brightly. "I am not smoking, you see," she said, with +a smile. "I am saving all of these for you when the famine comes." + +"By Jove!" he exclaimed, something like incredulity in the smile that +transfigured his face. + +"I _could_ be a thrifty housewife, couldn't I?" she asked naively. + +At that moment, a dull, heavy report, as of distant thunder, came to +their ears. The windows rattled sharply and the earth beneath them +seemed to quiver. Involuntarily she drew nearer to him, casting a glance +of alarm over her shoulder in the direction from which they had come. + +"You could, if you had half a chance," he said drily, and then casually +remarked the explosion. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE DISQUIETING END OF PONG + + +Later on, he and Deppingham visited the underground chamber, accompanied +by Mr. Britt. They found that the door to the passage had been blown +away by the terrific concussion. Otherwise, the room was, to all +appearances, undamaged, except that some of the wine casks were leaking. +The subterranean passage at this place was completely filled with earth +and stone. + +Deppingham stared at the closed mouth of the passage. "They've cut off +our exit, but they've also secured us from invasion from this source. I +wonder if the beggars were clever enough to carry the plunder above the +flood line. If not, they've had their work for nothing." + +"Selim says there is a cave near the mouth of the passage," said Chase. +"The tunnel comes out half way up the side of the mountain, overlooking +the sea, and the hole is very carefully screened by the thick shrubbery. +Trust Von Blitz to do the safe thing." + +"I don't mind Von Blitz escaping so much, Chase," said his lordship +earnestly, "as I do the unfortunate closing of what may have been our +only way to leave the chateau in the end." + +"You must think me an ungrateful fool," said Chase bitterly. He had +already stated his position clearly. + +"Not at all, old chap. Don't get that into your head. I only meant that +a hole in the ground is worth two warships that won't come when we need +'em." + +Chase looked up quickly. "You don't believe that I can call the +cruisers?" + +"Oh, come now, Chase, I'm not a demmed native, you know." + +The other grinned amiably. "Well, you just wait, as the boy says." + +Deppingham put his eyeglass in more firmly and stared at his companion, +not knowing whether to take the remark as a jest or to begin to look for +signs of mental collapse. Britt laughed shortly. + +"I guess we'll have to," said the stubby lawyer. + +After satisfying themselves that there was no possibility of the enemy +ever being able to enter the chateau through the collapsed passage, the +trio returned to the upper world. + +Involuntarily their gaze went out searchingly over the placid sea. The +whole sky glared back at them, unwrinkled, smokeless, cloudless. Chase +turned to Deppingham, a word of encouragement on his lips. His lordship +was looking intently toward the palm-shaded grotto at the base of the +lower terrace. Britt moved uneasily and then glanced at his +fellow-countryman, a queer expression in his eyes. A moment later +Deppingham was clearing his throat for the brisk comment on the beauty +of the view from the rather unfrequented spot on which they stood. + +Robert Browne and Lady Agnes were seated on the edge of the fountain in +Apollo's Grotto, conversing earnestly, even eagerly, with Mr. Bowles, +who stood before them in an unmistakable attitude of indecision and +perturbation. Deppingham's first futile attempt to appear unconcerned +was followed by an oppressive silence, broken at last by the Englishman. +He gave Chase a look which plainly revealed his uneasiness. + +"Ever since I've heard that Bowles has the power to marry people, Chase, +I've been upset a bit," he explained nervously. + +"You don't mean to say, Lord Deppingham, that you're afraid the heirs +will follow the advice of that rattle-headed Saunders," said Chase, with +a laugh, "Why, it wouldn't hold in court for a second. Ask Britt." + +Britt cleared his throat. "Not for half a second," he said. "I'm only +wondering if Bowles has authority to grant divorces." + +"I daresay he has," said Deppingham, tugging at his moustache. +"He's--he's a magistrate." + +"It doesn't follow," said Chase, "that he has unlimited legal powers." + +"But _what_ are they ragging him about down there, Chase," blurted out +the unhappy Deppingham. + +"Come in and have a drink," said Chase suddenly. Deppingham was +shivering. "You've got a chill in that damp cellar. I can assure you +positively, as representative of the opposition, that the grandchildren +of Skaggs and Wyckholme are not going to divorce or marry anybody while +I'm here, Britt and Saunders and Bowles to the contrary. And Lady +Deppingham is no fool. Come on and have something to warm the cockles. +You're just childish enough to have the croup to-night." He said it with +such fine humour that Deppingham could not take offence. + +"All right, old chap," he said with a laugh. "I am chilled to the bone. +I'll join you in a few minutes." To their surprise, he started off +across the terrace in the direction of the consulting trio. Chase and +Britt silently watched his progress. They saw him join the others, +neither of whom seemed to be confused or upset by his appearance, and +subsequently enter into the discussion that had been going on. + +"Just the same, Chase," said Britt, after a long silence, "he's worried, +and not about marriage or divorce, either. He's jealous. I didn't +believe it was in him." + +"See here, Britt, you've no right to stir him up with those confounded +remarks about divorce. You know that it's rot. Don't do it." + +"My dear Chase," said Britt, waving his hand serenely, "we can't always +see what's in the air, but, by the Eternal, we usually can feel it. +'Nough said. Give you my word, I can't help laughing at the position +you're in at present. It doesn't matter what you get onto in connection +with our side of the case, you're where you can't take advantage of it +without getting killed by your own clients. Horrible paradox, eh?" + +When Deppingham rejoined them, he was pale and very nervous. His wife, +who had been weeping, came up with him, while Browne went off toward the +stables with the ex-banker. + +"What do you think has happened?" demanded his lordship, addressing the +two men, who stood by, irresolutely. "Somebody's trying to poison us!" + +"What!" from both listeners. + +"I've said it all along. Now, we know! Lady Deppingham's dog is +dead--poisoned, gentlemen." He was wiping the moisture from his brow. + +"I'm sorry, Lady Deppingham," said Chase earnestly. "He was a nice dog. +But I hardly think he could have eaten what was intended for any of us. +If he was poisoned, the poison was meant for him and for no one else. He +bit one of the stable boys yesterday. It--" + +"That may all be very true, Chase," protested his lordship, "but don't +you see, it goes to show that some one has a stock of poison on hand, +and we may be the next to get it. He died half an hour after +eating--after eating a biscuit that was intended for _me_! It's--it's +demmed uncomfortable, to say the least." + +"Mr. Bowles has been questioning the servants," said Lady Agnes +miserably. + +"Of course," said Chase philosophically, "it's much better that Pong +should have got it than Lord Deppingham. By the way, who gave him the +biscuit?" + +"Bromley. She tossed it to him and he--he caught it so cleverly. You +know how cunning he was, Mr. Chase. I loved to see him catch--" + +"Then Bromley has saved your life, Deppingham," said Chase. "I'm sure +you need the brandy, after all this. Come along. Will you join us, Lady +Deppingham?" + +"No. I'm going to bed!" She started away, then stopped and looked at her +husband, her eyes wide with sudden comprehension. "Oh, Deppy, I should +have died! I should have died!" + +"My dear!" + +"I couldn't have lived if--" + +"But, my dear, I _didn't_ eat it--and here we are! God bless you!" He +turned abruptly and walked off beside her, ignoring the two distressed +Americans. As they passed through the French window, Deppingham put his +arm about his wife's waist. Chase turned to Britt. + +"I don't know what you're thinking, Britt, but it isn't so, whatever it +is." + +"Good Lord, man, I wasn't thinking _that_!" + +A very significant fact now stared the occupants of the chateau in the +face. There was not the slightest doubt in the minds of those conversant +with the situation that the poison had been intended for either Lord or +Lady Deppingham. The drug had been subtly, skilfully placed in one of +the sandwiches which came up to their rooms at eleven o'clock, the hour +at which they invariably drank off a cup of bouillon. Lady Deppingham +was not in her room when Bromley brought the tray. She was on the +gallery with the Brownes. Bromley came to ask her if she desired to have +the bouillon served to her there. Lady Agnes directed her to fetch the +tray, first inviting Mrs. Browne to accept Lord Deppingham's portion. +Drusilla declined and Bromley tossed a sandwich to Pong, who was always +lying in wait for such scraps as might come his way. Lady Agnes always +ate macaroons--never touching the sandwiches. This fact, of course, it +was argued, might not have been known to the would-be poisoner. Her +ladyship, as usual, partook of the macaroons and felt no ill effects. It +was, therefore, clear that the poison was intended for but one of them, +as, on this occasion, a single sandwich came up from the buffet. No one +but Deppingham believed that it was intended for him. + +In any event, Pong, the red cocker, was dead. He was in convulsions +almost immediately after swallowing the morsel he had begged for, and in +less than three minutes was out of his misery, proving conclusively that +a dose of deadly proportions had been administered. It is no wonder that +Deppingham shuddered as he looked upon the stiff little body in the +upper hall. + +Drusilla Browne was jesting, no doubt, but it is doubtful if any one +grasped the delicacy of her humour when she observed, in mock concern, +addressing the assembled mourners, that she believed the heirs were +trying to get rid of their incumbrances after the good old Borgia +fashion, and that she would never again have the courage to eat a +mouthful of food so long as she stood between her husband and a hymeneal +fortune. + +"You know, my dear," she concluded, turning to her Husband, "that I +_might_ have had Lord Deppingham's biscuit. His wife asked me to take +it. Goodness, you're a dreadful Borgia person, Agnes," she went on, +smiling brightly at her ladyship. Deppingham was fumbling nervously at +his monocle. "I should think you _would_ be nervous, Lord Deppingham." + +The most rigid questioning elicited no information from the servants. +Baillo's sudden, involuntary look of suspicion, directed toward Lady +Agnes and Robert Browne, did not escape the keen eye of Hollingsworth +Chase. + +"Impossible!" he said, half aloud. He looked up and saw that the +Princess was staring at him questioningly. He shook his head, without +thinking. + +Despair settled upon the white people. They were confronted by a new and +serious peril: poison! At no time could they feel safe. Chase took it +upon himself to talk to the native servants, urging them to do nothing +that might reflect suspicion upon them. He argued long and forcefully +from the standpoint of a friend and counsellor. They listened stolidly +and repeated their vows of fidelity and integrity. He was astute enough +to take them into his confidence concerning the treachery of Jacob Von +Blitz. It was only after most earnest pleading that he persuaded them +not to slay the German's wives as a temporary expedient. + +One of the stable boys volunteered to carry a note from Chase to Rasula, +asking the opportunity to lay a question of grave importance before him. +Chase suggested to Rasula that he should meet him that evening at the +west gate, under a flag of truce. The tone of the letter was more or +less peremptory. + +Rasula came, sullen but curious. At first he would not believe; but +Chase was firm in his denunciation of Jacob von Blitz. Then he was +pleased to accuse Chase of duplicity and double-dealing, going so far as +to charge the deposed American with plotting against Von Blitz to +further his own ends in more ways than one. At last, however, when he +was ready to give up in despair, Chase saw signs of conviction in the +manner of the native leader. His own fairness, his courage, had appealed +to Rasula from the start. He did not know it then, but the dark-skinned +lawyer had always felt, despite his envy and resentment, a certain +respect for his integrity and fearlessness. + +He finally agreed to follow the advice of the American; grudgingly, to +be sure, but none the less determined. + +"You will find everything as I have stated it, Rasula," said Chase. "I'm +sorry you are against me, for I would be your friend. I've told you how +to reach the secret cave. The chests are there. The passage is closed. +You can trap him in the attempt to rob the bank. I could have taken him +red-handed and given him over to Lord Deppingham. But you would never +have known the truth. Now I ask you to judge for yourselves. Give him a +fair trial, Rasula--as you would any man accused of crime--and be just. +If you need a witness--an eye-witness--call on me. I will come and I +will appear against him. I've been honest with you. I am willing to +trust you to be honest with me." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +DEPPINGHAM FALLS ILL + + +That evening Lord Deppingham took to his bed with violent chills. He +shivered and burned by turns and spent a most distressing night. Bobby +Browne came in twice to see him before retiring. For some reason unknown +to any one but himself, Deppingham refused to be treated by the young +man, notwithstanding the fact that Browne laid claim to a physician's +certificate and professed to be especially successful in breaking up +"the ague." Lady Agnes entreated her liege lord to submit to the doses, +but Deppingham was resolute to irascibility. + +"A Dover's powder, Deppy, or a few grains of quinine. Please be +sensible. You're just like a child." + +"What's in a Dover's powder?" demanded the patient, who had never been +ill in his life. + +"Ipecac and opium, sugar of milk or sulphate of potash. It's an anodyne +diaphoretic," said Browne. + +"Opium, eh?" came sharply from the couch. "Good Lord, an overdose of it +would--" he checked the words abruptly and gave vent to a nervous fit of +laughter. + +"Don't be a fool, George," commanded his wife. "No one is trying to +poison you." + +"Who's saying that he's going to poison me?" demanded Deppingham +shortly. "I'm objecting because I don't like the idea of taking medicine +from a man just out of college. Now judge for yourself, Browne: would +you take chances of that sort, away off here where there isn't a +physician nearer than twelve hundred miles? Come now, be frank." + +Bobby Browne leaned back and laughed heartily. "I daresay you're right. +I should be a bit nervous. But if we don't practise on some one, how are +we to acquire proficiency? It's for the advancement of science. Lots of +people have died in that service." + +"By Jove, you're cold-blooded about it!" He stared helplessly at his +wife's smiling face. "It's no laughing matter, Agnes. I'm a very sick +man." + +"Then, why not take the powders?" + +"I've just given my wife a powder, old man. She's got a nervous +headache," urged Browne tolerantly. + +"Your wife?" exclaimed Deppingham, sitting up. "The devil!" He looked +hard at Browne for a moment. "Oh, I say, now, old chap, don't you think +it's rather too much of a coincidence?" + +Browne arose quickly, a flash of resentment in his eyes. "See here, +Deppingham--" + +"Don't be annoyed, Bobby," pleaded Lady Agnes. "He's nervous. Don't mind +him." + +"I'm not nervous. It's the beastly chill." + +"Just the same. Lady Agnes, I shall not give him a grain of anything if +he persists in thinking I'm such a confounded villain as to--" + +"I apologise, Browne," said Deppingham hastily. "I'm not afraid of your +medicine. I'm only thinking of my wife. If I _should_ happen to die, +don't you know, there would be people who might say that you could have +cured me. See what I mean?" + +"You dear old goose," cried his wife. + +"I fancy Selim or Baillo or even Bowles knows what a fellow doses +himself with when he's bowled over by one of these beastly island +ailments. Oblige me, Agnes, and send for Bowles." + +Bowles came bowing and scraping into the room a few minutes later. He +immediately recommended an old-fashioned Dover's powder and ventured the +opinion that "good sweat" would soon put his lordship on his feet, +"better than ever." Deppingham kept Bowles beside him while Browne +generously prepared and administered the medicine. + +Later in the night the Princess came to see how the patient was getting +on. He was in a dripping perspiration. + +Genevra drew a chair up beside his couch and sat down. + +Lady Agnes was yawning sleepily over a book. + +"Do you know, I believe I'd feel better if I could have another chill," +he said. "I'm so beastly hot now that I can't stand it. Aggie, why don't +you turn out on the balcony for a bit of fresh air? I'm a brute to have +kept you moping in here all evening." + +Lady Agnes sighed prettily and--stepped out into the murky night. There +were signs of an approaching storm in the sultry air. + +"I say, Genevra, what's the news?" demanded his lordship. + +"The latest bulletin says that you are very much improved and that you +expect to pass a comfortable night." + +"'Gad I _do_ feel better. I'm not so stuffy. Where is Chase?" + +Now, the Princess, it is most distressing to state, had wilfully avoided +Mr. Chase since early that morning. + +"I'm sure I don't know. I had dinner with Mrs. Browne in her room. I +fancy he's off attending to the guard. I haven't seen him." + +"Nice chap," remarked Deppingham. "Isn't that he now, speaking to Agnes +out there?" + +Genevra looked up quickly. A man's voice came in to them from the +balcony, following Lady Deppingham's soft laugh. + +"No," she said, settling back calmly. "It's Mr. Browne." + +"Oh," said Deppingham, a slight shadow coming into his eyes. "Nice chap, +too," he added a moment later. + +"I don't like him," said she, lowering her voice. Deppingham was silent. +Neither spoke for a long time The low voices came to them indistinctly +from the outside. + +"I've no doubt Agnes is as much to blame as he," said his lordship at +last. "She's made a fool of more than one man, my dear. She rather likes +it." + +"He's behaving like a brute. They've been married less than a year." + +"I daresay I'd better call Aggie off," he mused. + +"It's too late." + +"Too late? The deuce--" + +"I mean, too late to help Drusilla Browne. She's had an ideal +shattered." + +"It really doesn't amount to anything, Genevra," he argued. "It will +blow over in a fortnight. Aggie's always doing this sort of thing, you +know." + +"I know, Deppy," she said sharply. "But this man is different. He's not +a gentleman. Mr. Skaggs wasn't a gentleman. Blood tells. He will boast +of this flirtation until the end of his days." + +"Aggie's had dozens of men in love with her--really in love," he +protested feebly. "She's not--" + +"They've come and gone and she's still the same old Agnes and you're the +same old Deppy. I'm not thinking of you or Aggie. It's Drusilla Browne." + +"I see. Thanks for the confidence you have in Aggie. I daresay I know +how Drusilla feels. I've--I've had a bad turn or two, myself, lately, +and--but, never mind." He was silent for some time, evidently turning +something over in his mind. "By the way, what does Chase say about it?" +he asked suddenly. + +She started and caught her breath. "Mr. Chase? He--he hasn't said +anything about it," she responded lamely. "He's--he's not that sort," + +"Ah," reflected Deppingham, "he _is_ a gentleman?" + +Genevra flushed. "Yes, I'm sure he is." + +"I say, Genevra," he said, looking straight into her rebellious eyes, +"you're in love with Chase. Why don't you marry him?" + +"You--you are really delirious, Deppy," she cried. "The fever has----" + +"He's good enough for any one--even you," went on his lordship coolly. + +"He may have a wife," said she, collecting her wits with rare swiftness. +"Who knows? Don't be silly, Deppy." + +"Rubbish! Haven't you stuffed Aggie and me full of the things you found +out concerning him before he left Thorberg--and afterward? The letters +from the Ambassador's wife and the glowing things your St. Petersburg +friends have to say of him, eh? He comes to us well recommended by no +other than the Princess Genevra, a most discriminating person. Besides, +he'd give his head to marry you--having already lost it." + +"You are very amusing, Deppy, when you try to be clever. Is there a +clause in that silly old will compelling me to marry any one?" + +"Of course not, my dear Princess; but I fancy you've got a will of your +own. Where there's a will, there's a way. You'd marry him to-morrow +if--if----" + +"If I were not amply prepared to contest my own will?" she supplied +airily. + +"No. If your will was not wrapped in convention three centuries old. You +won't marry Chase because you are a princess. That's the long and the +short of it. It isn't your fault, either. It's born in you. I daresay it +would be a mistake, after a fashion, too. You'd be obliged to give up +being a princess, and settle down as a wife. Chase wouldn't let you +forget that you were a wife. It would be hanging over you all the time. +Besides, he'd be a husband. That's something to beware of, too." + +"Deppy, you are ranting frightfully," she said consolingly. "You should +go to sleep." + +"I'm awfully sorry for you, Genevra." + +"Sorry for me? Dear me!" + +"You're tremendously gone on him." + +"Nonsense! Why, I couldn't marry Mr. Chase," she exclaimed, irritable at +last. "Don't put such things into my head--I mean, don't get such things +into that ridiculous old head of yours. Are you forgetting that I am to +become Karl's wife in June? You are babbling, Deppy----" + +"Well, let's say no more about it," he said, lying back resignedly. +"It's too bad, that's all. Chase is a man. Karl isn't. You loathe him. I +don't wonder that you turn pale and look frightened. Take my advice! +Take Chase!" + +"Don't!" she cried, a break in her voice. She arose and went swiftly +toward the window. Then she stopped and turned upon him, her lips parted +as if to give utterance to the thing that was stirring her heart so +violently. The words would not come. She smiled plaintively and said +instead: "Good-night! Get a good sleep." + +"The same to you," he called feverishly. + +"Deppy," she said firmly, a red spot in each cheek, her voice tense and +strained to a high pitch of suppressed decision, "I shall marry Karl +Brabetz. That will be the end of your Mr. Chase." + +"I hope so," he said. "But I'm not so sure of it, if you continue to +love him as you do now." + +She went out with her cheeks burning and a frightened air in her heart. +What right, what reason had he to say such things to her? Her thoughts +raced back to Neenah's airy prophecy. + +Bobby Browne and Agnes were approaching from the lower end of the +balcony. She drew back into the shadow suddenly, afraid that they might +discover in her flushed face the signs of that ugly blow to her pride +and her self-respect. "I'm not so sure of it," was whirling in her +brain, repeating itself a hundred times over, stabbing her each time in +a new and even more tender spot. + +"If you continue to love him as you do now," fought its way through the +maze of horrid, disturbing thoughts. How could she face the charge: "I'm +not so sure of it," unless she killed the indictment "if you love him as +you do now?" + +Lady Agnes and Browne passed by without seeing her and entered the +window. She heard him say something to his companion, softly, +tenderly--she knew not what it was. And Lady Agnes laughed--yes, +nervously. Ah, but Agnes was playing! She was not in love with this man. +It was different. It was not what Neenah meant--nor Deppingham, honest +friend that he was. + +Down below she heard voices. She wondered--inconsistently alert--whether +_he_ was one of the speakers. Thomas Saunders and Miss Pelham were +coming in from the terrace. They were in love with each other! They +_could_ be in love with each other. There was no law, no convention that +said them nay! They could marry--and still love! "If you continue to +love him as you do now," battered at the doors of her conscience. + +Silently she stole off to her own rooms; stealthily, as if afraid of +something she could not see but felt creeping up on her with an evil +grin. It was Shame! + +Her maid came in and she prepared for bed. Left alone, she perched +herself in the window seat to cool her heated face with the breezes that +swept on ahead of the storm which was coming up from the sea. Her heart +was hot; no breeze could cool it--nothing but the ice of decision could +drive out the fever that possessed it. Now she was able to reason calmly +with herself and her emotions. She could judge between them. Three +sentences she had heard uttered that day crowded upon each other to be +uppermost: not the weakest of which was one which had fallen from the +lips of Hollingsworth Chase. + +"It is impossible--incredible!" she was saying to herself. "I could not +love him like that. I should hate him. God above me, am I not different +from those women whom I have known and pitied and despised? Am I not +different from Guelma von Herrick? Am I not different from Prince +Henri's wife? Ah, and they loved, too! And is _he_ not different from +those other men--those weak, unmanly men, who came into the lives of +those women? Ah, yes, yes! He _is_ different." + +She sat and stared out over the black sea, lighted fitfully by the +distant lightning. There, she pronounced sentence upon him--and herself. +There was no place for him in her world. He should feel her disdain--he +should suffer for his presumption. Presumption? In what way had he +offended? She put her hands to her eyes but her lips smiled--smiled with +the memory of the kiss she had returned! + +"What a fool! What a fool I am," she cried aloud, springing up +resolutely. "I _must_ forget. I told him I couldn't, but I--I can." Half +way across the room she stopped, her hands clenched fiercely. "If--if +Karl were only such as he!" she moaned. + +[Illustration: 'No' she said to herself, 'I told him I was keeping them +for him.'] + +She went to her dressing table and resolutely unlocked one of the +drawers, as one would open a case in which the most precious of +treasures was kept. A cautious, involuntary glance over her shoulder, +and then she ran her hand into the bottom of the drawer. + +"It was so silly of me," she muttered. "I shall not keep them for him." +The drawer was partly filled with cigarettes. She took one from among +the rest and placed its tip in her red lips, a reckless light in her +eyes. A match was struck and then her hand seemed to be in the clutch of +some invisible force. The light flickered and died in her fingers. A +blush suffused her face, her eyes, her neck. Then with a guilty, shamed, +tender smile she dropped the cigarette into the drawer. She turned the +key. + +"No," she said to herself, "I told him that I was keeping them for him." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE TRIAL OF VON BLITZ + + +The next morning found the weather unsettled. There had been a fierce +storm during the night and a nasty mist was blowing up from the sea. +Deppingham kept to his room, although his cold was dissipated. For the +first time in all those blistering, trying months, they felt a chill in +the air; raw, wet, unexpected. + +Chase had been up nearly all of the night, fearful lest the islanders +should seize the opportunity to scale the walls under cover of the +tempest. All through the night he had been possessed of a spirit of wild +bravado, a glorious exaltation: he was keeping watch over her, standing +between her and peril, guarding her while she slept. He thought of that +mass of Henner hair--he loved to think of her as a creation of the +fanciful Henner--he thought of her asleep and dreaming in blissful +security while he, with all the loyalty of an imaginative boy, was +standing guard just as he had pictured himself in those heroic days when +he substituted himself for the story-book knight who stood beneath the +battlements and defied the covetous ogre. His thoughts, however, did not +contemplate the Princess fair in a state of wretched insomnia, with +himself as the disturbing element. + +He looked for her at breakfast time. They usually had their rolls and +coffee together. When she did not appear, he made more than one pretext +to lengthen his own stay in the breakfast-room. "She's trying to forget +yesterday," he reflected. "What was it she said about always regretting? +Oh, well, it's the way of women. I'll wait," he concluded with the +utmost confidence in the powers of patience. + +Selim came to him in the midst of his reflections, bearing a thick, +rain-soaked envelope. + +"It was found, excellency, inside the southern gate, and it is meant for +you," said Selim. Chase gingerly slashed open the envelope with his +fruit knife. He laughed ruefully as he read the simple but laborious +message from Jacob von Blitz. + +"_Where are your warships all this time? They are not coming to you +ever. Good-bye. You got to die yet, too. Your friend, Jacob von Blitz. +And my wives, too._" + +Chase stuffed the blurred, sticky letter into his pocket and arose to +stretch himself. + +"There's something coming to you, Jacob," he said, much to the wonder of +Selim. "Selim, unless I miss my guess pretty badly, we'll be having a +message--not from Garcia--but from Rasula before long. You've never +heard of Garcia? Well, come along. I'll tell you something about him as +we take our morning stroll. How are my cigarettes holding out?" + +"They run low, sahib. Neenah has given all of hers to me for you, +excellency, and I have demanded those of the wives of Von Blitz." + +"Selim, you must not forget that you are a gentleman. That was most +ungallant. But I suppose you got them?" + +"No, sahib. They refused to give them up. They are saving them for Mr. +Britt," said Selim dejectedly. + +"Ah, the ficklety of women!" he sighed. "There's a new word for you, +Selim--ficklety. I like it better than fickleness, don't you? Sounds +like frailty, too. Was there any shooting after I went to bed?" His +manner changed suddenly from the frivolous to the serious. + +"No, sahib." + +"I don't understand their game," he mused, a perplexed frown on his +brow. "They've quit popping away at us." + +It was far past midday when he heard from Rasula. The disagreeable +weather may have been more or less responsible for the ruffling of +Chase's temper during those long, dreary hours of waiting. Be that as it +may, he was sorely tried by the feeling of loneliness that attached +itself to him. He had seen the Princess but once, and then she was +walking briskly, wrapped in a rain coat, followed by her shivering dogs, +and her two Rapp-Thorberg soldiers! Somehow she failed to see Chase as +he sauntered hungrily, almost imploringly across the upper terrace, in +plain view. Perhaps, after all, it was not the weather. + +Rasula's messenger came to the gates and announced that he had a letter +for Mr. Chase. He was admitted to the grounds and conducted to the sick +chamber of "the commandant." Hollingsworth Chase read the carefully +worded, diplomatic letter from the native lawyer, his listeners paying +the strictest attention. After the most courteous introductory, Rasula +had this to say: + +"We have reason to suspect that you were right in your suspicions. The +golden plate has been found this day in the cave below the chateau, just +as you have said. This much of what you have charged against Jacob von +Blitz seems to be borne out by the evidence secured. Last night there +was an attempt to rob the vaults in the company's bank. Again I followed +your advice and laid a trap for the men engaged. They were slain in the +struggle which followed. This fact is much to be deplored. Your command +that these men be given a fair trial cannot be obeyed. They died +fighting after we had driven them to the wall. I have to inform you, +sir, that your charge against Jacob von Blitz does not hold good in the +case of the bank robbery. Therefore, I am impelled to believe that you +may have unjustly accused him of being implicated in the robbery of the +treasure chests. He was not among the bank thieves. There were but three +of them--the Boer foremen. Jacob von Blitz came up himself and joined us +in the fight against the traitors. He was merciless in his anger against +them. You have said that you will testify against him. Sir, I have taken +it upon myself to place him under restraint, notwithstanding his actions +against the Boers. He shall have a fair trial. If it is proved that he +is guilty, he shall pay the penalty. We are just people. + +"Sir, we, the people of Japat, will take you at your word. We ask you to +appear against the prisoner and give evidence in support of your charge. +He shall be placed on trial to-morrow morning at ten o'clock. On my +honour as a man and a Believer, I assure safety to you while you are +among us on that occasion. You shall find that we are honourable--more +honourable than the people you now serve so dearly. I, Rasula, will meet +you at the gates and will conduct you back to them in safety. If you are +a true man, you will not evade the call. I beg to assure you that your +testimony against Jacob von Blitz shall be weighed carefully and without +prejudice by those who are to act as his judges. My messenger will carry +your reply to us. RASULA." + +"Well, it looks as though Von Blitz has spiked your guns," said +Deppingham. "The dog turns against his confederates and saves his own +skin by killing them." + +"In any event," said Browne, "you spoiled his little game. He loses the +treasure and he didn't get into the vaults. Rasula should take those +points into consideration." + +"He won't forget them, rest assured. That's why I'm sure that he'll take +my word at the trial as against that of Von Blitz," said Chase. + +"You--you don't mean to say, Mr. Chase, that you are going into the +town?" cried Lady Agnes, wide-eyed. + +"Certainly, Lady Deppingham. They are expecting me." + +"Don't be foolhardy, Chase. They will kill you like a rat," exclaimed +Deppingham. + +"Oh, no, they won't," said the other confidently. "They've given their +promise through Rasula. Whatever else they may be, they hold a promise +sacred. They know I'll come. If I don't, they'll know that I am a +coward. You wouldn't have them think I _am_ a coward, would you, Lady +Deppingham?" he said, turning to look into her distressed face with his +most winning smile. + +The next morning he coolly set forth for the gates, scarcely thinking +enough of the adventure to warrant the matter-of-fact "good-byes" that +he bestowed upon those who were congregated to see him off. His heart +was sore as he strode rapidly down the drive. Genevra had not come down +to say farewell. + +"By heaven," he muttered, strangely vexed with her, "I fancy she means +it. She's bent on showing me my place. But she might have come down and +wished me good luck. That was little enough for her to do. Ah, well," he +sighed, putting it away from him. + +As he turned into the tree-lined avenue near the gate, a slender young +woman in a green and white gown arose from a seat in the shade and +stepped a pace forward, opening her parasol quite leisurely as he +quickened his steps. His eyes gleamed with the sudden rush of joy that +filled his whole being. She stood there, waiting for him, under the +trees. There was an expression in her face that he had never seen there +before. She was smiling, it is true, but there was something like +defiance--yes, it was the set, strained smile of resolution that greeted +his eager exclamation. Her eyes gleamed brightly and she was breathing +as one who has run swiftly. + +"You are determined to go down there among those men?" she demanded, the +smile suddenly giving way to a look of disapproval. She ignored his +hand. + +"Certainly," he said, after the moment of bewilderment. "Why not? I--I +thought you had made up your mind to let me go without a--a word for +good luck." She found great difficulty in meeting the wistful look in +his eyes. "You are good to come down here to say good-bye--and howdy do, +for that matter. We're almost strangers again." + +"I did not come down to say good-bye," she said, her lips trembling ever +so slightly. + +"I don't understand," he said. + +"I am going with you into the town--as a witness," she said, and her +face went pale at the thought of it. He drew back in amazement, staring +at her as though he had not heard aright. + +"Genevra," he cried, "you--you would do _that_?" + +"Why not, Mr. Chase?" She tried to speak calmly, but she was trembling. +After all, she was a slender, helpless girl--not an Amazon! "I saw and +heard everything. They won't believe you unsupported. They won't harm +me. They will treat me as they treat you. I have as much right to be +heard against him as you. If I swear to them that what you say is true +they----" + +Her hand was on his arm now, trembling, eager, yet charged with fear at +the prospect ahead of her. He clasped the little hand in his and quickly +lifted it to his lips. + +"I'm happy again," he cried. "It's all right with me now." She withdrew +her hand on the instant. + +"No, no! It isn't that," she said, her eyes narrowing. "Don't +misinterpret my coming here to say that I will go. It isn't because--no, +it isn't that!" + +He hesitated an instant, looking deep into the bewildered eyes that met +his with all the honesty that dwelt in her soul. He saw that she trusted +him to be fair with her. + +"I was unhappy because you had forsaken me," he said gently. "You are +brave--you are wonderful! But I can't take you down there. I know what +will happen if they find him guilty. Good-bye, dear one. I'll come +back--surely I'll come back. Thank you for sending me away happy." + +"Won't you let me go with you?" she asked, after a long, penetrating +look into his eyes. + +"I would not take you among them for all the world. You forget. Neither +of us would come back." + +"Neither of us?" she said slowly. + +"I wouldn't come back without you," he said quietly, earnestly. She +understood. "Good-bye! Don't worry about me. I am in no danger." + +"Good-bye," she said, the princess once more. "I shall pray for +you--with all my soul." She gave him her hand. It was cold and lifeless. +He pressed it warmly and went quickly away, leaving her standing there +in the still shade of the satinwoods, looking after him with eyes that +grew wider and wider with the tears that welled up from behind. + +Hours went by--slow, tortuous hours in which the souls of those who +watched and waited for his return were tried to the utmost. A restless, +uncanny feeling prevailed: as if they were prisoners waiting in dead +silence for the sickening news that the trap on the scaffold had been +dropped with all that was living of a fellow-cellmate, whom they had +known and pitied for weeks. + +Once there came to the ears of the watchers on the mountainside the +sound of distant shouts, later, the brief rattle of firearms. The blood +of every one turned cold with, apprehension; every voice was stilled, +every eye wide with dread. Neenah screamed as she fled across the +terrace toward the drawbridge, where Selim stood as motionless as a +statue. + +Luncheon-time passed, and again, as if drawn by a magnet, the entire +household made its way to the front of the chateau. + +At last Selim uttered a shout of joy. He forgot the deference due his +betters and unceremoniously dashed off toward the gates, followed by +Neenah, who seemed possessed of wings. + +Chase was returning! + +They saw him coming up the drive, his hat in his hand, his white +umbrella raised above his head. He drew nearer, sauntering as carelessly +as if nothing unusual lay behind him in the morning hours. The eager, +joyous watchers saw him greet Selim and his fluttering wife; they saw +Selim fall upon his knees, and they felt the tears rushing to their own +eyes. + +"Hurray!" shouted little Mr. Saunders in his excitement. Bowles and the +three clerks joined him in the exhibition. Then the Persians and the +Turks and the Arabs began to chatter; the servants, always cold and +morose, revealed signs of unusual emotion; the white people laughed as +if suddenly delivered from extreme pain. The Princess was conscious of +the fact that at least five or six pairs of eyes were watching her face. +She closed her lips and compelled her eyelids to obey the dictates of a +resentful heart: she lowered them until they gave one the impression of +indolent curiosity, even indifference. All the while, her +incomprehensible heart was thumping with a rapture that knew no +allegiance to royal conventions. + +A few minutes later he was among them, listening with his cool, +half-satirical smile to their protestations of joy and relief, assailed +by more questions than he could well answer in a day, his every +expression a protest against their contention that he had done a brave +and wonderful thing. + +"Nonsense," he said in his most deprecating voice, taking a seat beside +the Princess on the railing and fanning himself lazily with his hat to +the mortification of his body-servant, who waved a huge palm leaf in +vigorous adulation. "It was nothing. Just being a witness, that's all. +You'll find how easy it is when you get back to London and have to +testify in the Skaggs will contest. Tell the truth, that's all." The +Princess was now looking at his brown face with eyes over which she had +lost control. "Oh, by the by," he said, as if struck by a sudden +thought. He turned toward the shady court below, where the eager +refugees from Aratat were congregated. A deep, almost sepulchral tone +came into his voice as he addressed himself to the veiled wives of Jacob +von Blitz. "It is my painful duty to announce to the Mesdames von Blitz +that they are widows." + +There was a dead silence. The three women stared up at him, +uncomprehending. + +"Yes," he went on solemnly, "Jacob is no more. He was found guilty by +his judges and executed with commendable haste and precision. I will say +this for your lamented husband: he met his fate like a man and a +German--without a quiver. He took his medicine bravely--twelve leaden +pills administered by as many skilful surgeons. It is perhaps just as +well for you that you are widows. If he had lived long enough he would +have made a widower of himself." The three wives of Von Blitz hugged +themselves and cried out in their joy! "But it is yet too early to +congratulate yourselves on your freedom. Rasula has promised to kill all +of us, whether we deserve it or not, so I daresay we'd better postpone +the celebration until we're entirely out of the woods." + +"They shot him?" demanded Deppingham, when he had finished. + +"Admirably. By Jove, those fellows _can_ shoot! They accepted my word +against his--which is most gratifying to my pride. One other man +testified against him--a chap who saw him with the Boers not ten minutes +before the attempt was made to rob the vaults. Rasula appeared as +counsel for the defence. Merely a matter of form. He _knew_ that he was +guilty. There was no talk of a new trial; no appeal to the supreme +court, Britt; no expense to the community." + +He was as unconcerned about it as if discussing the most trivial +happening of the day. Five ancient men had sat with the venerable Cadi +as judges in the market-place. There were no frills, no disputes, no +summing up of the case by state or defendant. The judges weighed the +evidence; they used their own judgment as to the law and the penalty. +They found him guilty. Von Blitz lived not ten minutes after sentence +was passed. + +"As to their intentions toward us," said Chase, "they are firm in their +determination that no one shall leave the chateau alive. Rasula was +quite frank with me. He is a cool devil. He calmly notified me that we +will all be dead inside of two weeks. No ships will put in here so long +as the plague exists. It has been cleverly managed. I asked him how we +were to die and he smiled as though he was holding something back as a +surprise for us. He came as near to laughing as I've ever seen him when +I asked him if he'd forgotten my warships. 'Why don't you have them +here?' he asked. 'We're not ready,' said I. 'The six months are not up +for nine days yet.' 'No one will come ashore for you,' he said +pointedly. I told him that he was making a great mistake in the attitude +he was taking toward the heirs, but he coolly informed me that it was +best to eradicate all danger of the plague by destroying the germs, so +to speak. He agreed with me that you have no chance in the courts, but +maintains that you'll keep up the fight as long as you live, so you +might just as well die to suit his convenience. I also made the +interesting discovery that suits have already been brought in England to +break the will on the grounds of insanity." + +"But what good will that do us if we are to die here?" exclaimed Bobby +Browne. + +"None whatsoever," said Chase calmly. "You must admit, however, that you +exhibited signs of hereditary insanity by coming here in the first +place. I'm beginning to believe that there's a streak of it in my +family, too." + +"And you--you saw him killed?" asked the Princess in an awed voice, low +and full of horror. + +"Yes. I could not avoid it." + +"They killed him on your--on your--" she could not complete the +sentence, but shuddered expressively. + +"Yes. He deserved death, Princess. I am more or less like the Moslem in +one respect. I might excuse a thief or a murderer, but I have no pity +for a traitor." + +"You saw him killed," she said in the same awed voice, involuntarily +drawing away from him. + +"Yes," he said, "and you would have seen him killed, too, if you had +gone down with me to appear against him." + +She looked up quickly and then thanked him, almost in a whisper. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +CENTURIES TO FORGET + + +"My lord," said Saunders the next day, appearing before his lordship +after an agitated hour of preparation, "it's come to a point where +something's got to be done." He got that far and then turned quite +purple; his collar seemed to be choking him. + +"Quite right, Saunders," said Deppingham, replacing his eyeglass +nervously, "but who's going to do it and what is there to be done?" + +"I'm--er--afraid you don't quite understand, sir," mumbled the little +solicitor, glancing uneasily over his shoulder. "If what Mr. Chase says +is true, we've got a precious short time to live. Well, we've--we've +concluded to get all we can out of the time that's left, my lord." + +"I see," said the other, but he did not see. + +"So I've come to ask if it will be all right with you and her ladyship, +sir. We don't want to do anything that would seem forward and out of +place, sir." + +"It's very considerate of you, Saunders; but what the devil are you +talking about?" + +"Haven't you heard, sir?" + +"That we are to die? Certainly." + +"That's not all, sir. Miss--Miss Pelham and I have decided to +get--er--get married before it is too late." + +Deppingham stared hard for a moment and then grinned broadly. + +"You mean, before you die?" + +"That's it exactly, my lord. Haw, haw! It _would_ be a bit late, +wouldn't it, if we waited till afterward? Haw, haw! Splendid! But +seriously, my lord, we've talked it all over and it strikes us both as a +very clever thing to do. We had intended to wait till we got to London, +but that seems quite out of the question now. Unless we do it up pretty +sharp, sir, we are likely to miss it altogether. So I have come to ask +if you think it will interfere with your arrangements if--if we should +be married to-night." + +"I'm sure, Saunders, that it won't discommode me in the least," said his +lordship genially. "By all means, Saunders, let it be to-night, for +to-morrow we may die." + +"Will you kindly speak to her ladyship, sir?" + +"Gladly. And I'll take it as an honour if you will permit me to give +away the bride." + +"Thank you, my lord," cried Saunders, his face beaming. His lordship +shook hands with him, whereupon his cup of happiness overflowed, +notwithstanding the fact that his honeymoon was likely to be of scarcely +any duration whatsoever. "I've already engaged Mr. Bowles, sir, for half +past eight, and also the banquet hall, sir," he said, with his frank +assurance. + +"And I'll be happy, Saunders, to see to the wedding supper and the +rice," said his lordship. "Have you decided where you will go on your +wedding journey?" + +"Yes, sir," said Saunders seriously, "God helping us, we'll go to +England." + +The wedding took place that night in the little chapel. It was not an +imposing celebration; neither was it attended by the gladsome revelry +that usually marks the nuptial event, no matter how humble. The very +fact that these two were being urged to matrimony by the uncertainties +of life was sufficient to cast a spell of gloom over the guests and high +contracting parties alike. The optimism of Hollingsworth Chase lightened +the shadows but little. + +Chase deliberately took possession of the Princess after the hollow +wedding supper had come to an end. He purposely avoided the hanging +garden and kept to the vine-covered balcony overlooking the sea. Her +mood had changed. Now she was quite at ease with him; the taunting gleam +in her dark eyes presaged evil moments for his peace of mind. + +"I'm inspired," he said to her. "A wedding always inspires me." + +"It's very strange that you've never married," she retorted. She was +striding freely by his side, confident in her power to resist sentiment +with mockery. + +"Will you be my wife?" he asked abruptly. She caught her breath before +laughing tolerantly, and then looked into his eyes with a tantalising +ingenuousness. + +"By no means," she responded. "I am not oppressed by the same views that +actuated Miss Pelham. You see, Mr. Chase, I am quite confident that we +are _not_ to die in two weeks." + +"I could almost wish that we could die in that time," he said. + +"How very diabolical!" + +"It may seem odd to you, but I'd rather see you dead than married to +Prince Karl." She was silent. He went on: "Would you consent to be my +wife if you felt in your heart that we should never leave this island?" + +"You are talking nonsense," she said lightly. + +"Perhaps. But would you?" he insisted. + +"I think I shall go in, Mr. Chase," she said with a warning shake of her +head. + +"Don't, please! I'm not asking you to marry me if we _should_ leave the +island. You must give me credit for that," he argued whimsically. + +"Ah, I see," she said, apparently very much relieved. "You want me only +with the understanding that death should be quite close at hand to +relieve you. And if I were to become your wife, here and now, and we +should be taken from this dreadful place--what then?" + +"You probably would have to go through a long and miserable career as +plain Goodwife Chase," he explained. + +"If it will make you any happier," she said, with a smile in which there +lurked a touch of mischievous triumph, "I can say that I might consent +to marry you if I were not so positive that I will leave the island +soon. You seem to forget that my uncle's yacht is to call here, even +though your cruisers will not." + +"I'll risk even that," he maintained stoutly. + +She stopped suddenly, her hand upon his arm. + +"Do you really love me?" she demanded earnestly. + +"With all my soul, I swear to you," he replied, staggered by the abrupt +change in her manner. + +"Then don't make it any harder for me," she said. "You know that I could +not do what you ask. Please, please be fair with me. I--I can't even +jest about it. It is too much to ask of me," she went on with a strange +firmness in her voice. "It would require centuries to make me forget +that I am a princess, just as centuries were taken up in creating me +what I am. I am no better than you, dear, but--but--you understand?" She +said it so pleadingly, so hopelessly that he understood what it was that +she could not say to him. "We seldom if ever marry the men whom God has +made for us to love." + +He lifted her hands to his breast and held them there. "If you will just +go on loving me, I'll some day make you forget you're a princess." She +smiled and shook her head. Her hair gleamed red and bronze in the kindly +light; a soft perfume came up to his nostrils. + + * * * * * + +The next day three of the native servants became violently ill, seized +by the most appalling convulsions. At first, a thrill of horror ran +through the chateau. The plague! The plague in reality! Faces blanched +white with dread, hearts turned cold and sank like lead; a hundred eyes +looked out to sea with the last gleam of hope in their depths. + +But these fears were quickly dissipated. Baillo and the other natives +unhesitatingly announced that the men were not afflicted with the "fatal +sickness." As if to bear out these positive assertions, the sufferers +soon began to mend. By nightfall they were fairly well recovered. The +mysterious seizure, however, was unexplained. Chase alone divined the +cause. He brooded darkly over the prospect that suddenly had presented +itself to his comprehension. Poison! He was sure of it! But who the +poisoner? + +All previous perils and all that the future seemed to promise were +forgotten in the startling discovery that came with the fall of night. +The first disclosures were succeeded by a frantic but ineffectual search +throughout the grounds; the chateau was ransacked from top to bottom. + +Lady Deppingham and Robert Browne were missing! They had disappeared as +if swallowed by the earth itself! + +Neenah, the wife of Selim, was the last of those in the chateau to see +the heirs. When the sun was low in the west, she observed them strolling +leisurely along the outer edge of the moat. They crossed the swift +torrent by the narrow bridge at the base of the cliff and stopped below +the mouth of the cavern which blew its cool breath out upon the hanging +garden. Later on, she saw them climb the staunch ladder and stand in the +black opening, apparently enjoying the cooling wind that came from the +damp bowels of the mountain. Her attention was called elsewhere, and +that was the last glimpse she had of the two people about whom centred +the struggle for untold riches. + +It was not an unusual thing for the inhabitants of the chateau to climb +to the mouth of the cavern. The men had penetrated its depths for +several hundred yards, lighting their way by means of electric torches, +but no one among them had undertaken the needless task of exploring it +to the end. This much they knew: the cavern stretched to endless +distances, wide in spots, narrow in others, treacherous yet attractive +in its ugly, grave-like solitudes. + +"God, Chase, they are lost in there!" groaned Deppingham, numb with +apprehension. He was trembling like a leaf. + +"There's just one thing to do," said Chase, "we've got to explore that +cavern to the end. They may have lost their bearings and strayed off +into one of the lateral passages." + +"I--I can't bear the thought of her wandering about in that horrible +place," Deppingham cried as he started resolutely toward the ladders. + +"She'll come out of it all right," said Chase, a sudden compassion in +his eyes. + +Drusilla Browne was standing near by, cold and silent with dread, a set +expression in her eyes. Her lips moved slowly and Deppingham heard the +bitter words: + +"You will find them, Lord Deppingham. You will find them!" + +He stopped and passed his hand over his eyes. Then, without a word, he +snatched a rifle from the hands of one of the patrol, and led the way up +the ladder. As he paused at the top to await the approach of his +companions, Chase turned to the white-faced Princess and said, between +his teeth: + +"If Skaggs and Wyckholme had been in the employ of the devil himself +they could not have foreseen the result of their infernal plotting. I am +afraid--mortally afraid!" + +"Take care of him, Hollingsworth," she whispered shuddering. + +The last glow of sunset, reflected in the western sky, fell upon the +tall figure of the Englishman in the mouth of the cavern. Tragedy seemed +to be waiting to cast its mantel about him from behind. + +"Good-bye, Genevra, my Princess," said Chase softly, and then was off +with Britt and Selim. As he passed Drusilla, he seized her hand and +paused long enough to say: + +"It's all right, little woman, take my word for it. If I were you, I'd +cry. You'll see things differently through your tears." + +The four men, with their lights, vanished from sight a few moments +later. Chase grasped Deppingham's arm and held him back, gravely +suggesting that Selim should lead the way. + +They were to learn the truth almost before they had fairly begun their +investigations. + +The heirs already were in the hands of their enemies, the islanders! + +The appalling truth burst upon them with a suddenness that stunned their +sensibilities for many minutes. All doubt was swept away by the +revelation. + +The eager searchers, shouting as they went, had picked their way down +the steps in the sloping floor of the cavern, down through the winding +galleries and clammy grottoes, their voices booming ever and anon +against the silent walls with the roar of foghorns. Now they had come to +what was known as "the Cathedral." This was a wide, lofty chamber, hung +with dripping stalactites, far below the level at which they began the +descent. The floor was almost as flat and even as that of a modern +dwelling. Here the cavern branched off in three or four directions, like +the tentacles of a monster devilfish, the narrow passages leading no one +knew whither in that tomb-like mountain. + +Selim uttered the first shout of surprise and consternation. Then the +four of them rushed forward, their eyes almost starting from their +sockets. An instant later they were standing at the edge of a vast hole +in the floor--newly made and pregnant with disaster. + +A current of air swept up into their faces. The soft, loose earth about +the rent in the floor was covered with the prints of naked feet; the +bottom of the hole was packed down in places by a multitude of tracks. +Chase's bewildered eyes were the first to discover the presence of +loose, scattered masonry in the pile below and the truth dawned upon him +sharply. He gave a loud exclamation and then dropped lightly into the +shallow hole. + +"I've got it!" he shouted, stooping to peer intently ahead. "Von Blitz's +powder kegs did all this. The secret passage runs along here. One of the +discharges blew this hole through the roof of the passage. Here are the +walls of the passage. By heaven, the way is open to the sea!" + +"My God, Chase!" cried Deppingham, staggering toward the opening. "These +footprints are--God! They've murdered her! They've come in here and +surprised----" + +"Go easy, old man! We need to be cool now. It's all as plain as day to +me. Rasula and his men were exploring the passage after the discovery of +the treasure chests. They came upon this new-made hole and then crawled +into the cavern. They surprised Browne and--Yes, here are the prints of +a woman's shoe--and a man's, too. They're gone, God help 'em!" + +He climbed out of the hole and rushed about "the Cathedral" in search of +further evidence. Deppingham dropped suddenly to his knees and buried +his face in his hands, sobbing like a child. + +It was all made plain to the searchers. Signs of a fierce struggle were +found near the entrance to the Cathedral. Bobby Browne had made a +gallant fight. Blood stains marked the smooth floor and walls, and there +was evidence that a body had been dragged across the chamber. + +Britt put his hand over his eyes and shuddered. "They've settled this +contest, Chase, forever!" he groaned. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE PURSUIT + + +Deppingham sprang to his feet with a fierce oath on his lips. His +usually lustreless eyes were gleaming with something more than despair; +there was the wild light of unmistakable relief in them. It was as if a +horrid doubt had been scaled from the soul of Lady Deppingham's husband. + +"We must follow!" shouted his lordship, preparing to lower himself into +the jagged opening. "We may be in time!" + +"Stop, Deppingham!" cried Chase, leaping to his side. "Don't rush +blindly into a trap like that. Let's consider for a moment." + +They had it back and forth for many minutes, the united efforts of the +three men being required to keep the half-frantic Englishman from +rushing alone into the passage. Reason at last prevailed. + +"They've got an hour or more start of us," argued Chase. "Nothing will +be accomplished by rushing into an ambush. They'd kill us like rats. +Rasula is a sagacious scoundrel. He'll not take the entire +responsibility. There will be a council of all the head men. It will be +of no advantage to them to kill the heirs unless they are sure that _we_ +won't live to tell the tale. They will go slow, now that they have the +chief obstacles to victory in their hands." + +"If they will give her up to me, I will guarantee that Lady Agnes shall +relinquish all claim to the estate," announced the harassed husband. + +"They won't do that, old man. Promises won't tempt them," protested +Chase. "We've got to do what we can to rescue them. I'm with you, +gentlemen, in the undertaking, first for humanity's sake; secondly, +because I am your friend; lastly, because I don't want my clients to +lose all chance of winning out in this controversy by acting like +confounded asses. It isn't what Sir John expects of me. Now, let's +consider the situation sensibly." + +In the meantime, the anxious coterie in the chateau were waiting eagerly +for the return of the searchers. Night had fallen swiftly. The Princess +and Drusilla were walking restlessly back and forth, singularly quiet +and constrained. The latter sighed now and then in a manner that went +directly to the heart of her companion. Genevra recognised the futility +of imposing her sympathies in the face of this significant reserve. + +Drusilla made one remark, half unconsciously, no doubt, that rasped in +the ears of the Princess for days. It was the cold, bitter, resigned +epitome of the young wife's thoughts. + +"Robert has loved her for months." That was all. + +Mr. and Mrs. Saunders, thankful that something had happened to divert +attention from their own conspicuous plight, were discoursing freely in +the centre of a group composed of the four Englishmen from the bank, all +of whom had deserted their posts of duty to hear the details of the +amazing disappearance. + +"It's a plain out and out elopement," said Mrs. Saunders, fanning +herself vigorously. + +"But, my dear," expostulated her husband, blushing vividly over the +first public use of the appellation, "where the devil could they elope +to?" + +"I don't know, Tommy, but elopers never take that into consideration. Do +they, Mr. Bowles?" + +Mr. Bowles readjusted the little red forage cap and said he'd be hanged +if he knew the eloping symptoms. + +At last the four men appeared in the mouth of the cavern. The watchers +below fell into chilled silence when they discovered that the missing +ones were not with them. Stupefied with apprehension, they watched the +men descend the ladder and cross the bridge. + +"They are dead!" fell from Brasilia Browne's lips. She swayed for an +instant and then sank to the ground, unconscious. + + * * * * * + +In the conference which followed the return of the searchers, it was +settled that three of the original party should undertake the further +prosecution of the hunt for the two heirs. Lord Deppingham found ready +volunteers in Chase and the faithful Selim. They prepared to go out in +the hills before the night was an hour older. Selim argued that the +abductors would not take their prisoners to the town of Aratat. He +understood them well enough to know that they fully appreciated the +danger of an uprising among those who were known to be openly opposed to +the high-handed operations of Rasula and his constituency. He convinced +Chase that the wily Rasula would carry his captives to the mines, where +he was in full power. + +"You're right, Selim. If he's tried that game we'll beat him at it. Ten +to one, if he hasn't already chucked them into the sea, they're now +confined in one of the mills over there." + +They were ready to start in a very short time. Selim carried a quantity +of food and a small supply of brandy. Each was heavily armed and +prepared for a stiff battle with the abductors. They were to go by way +of the upper gate, taking chances on leaving the park without discovery +by the sentinels. + +"We seem constantly to be saying good-bye to each other." Thus spoke the +Princess to Chase as he stood at the top of the steps waiting for Selim. +The darkness hid the wan, despairing smile that gave the lie to her +sprightly words. + +"And I'm always doing the unexpected thing--coming back. This time I may +vary the monotony by failing to return." + +"I should think you could vary it more pleasantly by not going away," +she said. "You will be careful?" + +"The danger is here, not out there," he said meaningly. + +"You mean--me? But, like all danger, I soon shall pass. In a few days, I +shall say good-bye forever and sail away." + +"How much better it would be for you if this were the last good-bye--and +I should not come back." + +"For me?" + +"Yes. You could marry the Prince without having me on your conscience +forevermore." + +"Mr. Chase!" + +"It's easier to forget the dead than the living, they say." + +"Don't be too sure of that." + +"Ah, there's Selim! Good-bye! We'll have good news for you all, I hope, +before long. Keep your eyes on Neenah. She and Selim have arranged a set +of signals. Don't lie awake all night--and don't pray for me," he +scoffed, in reckless mood. + +The three men stole out through the small gate in the upper end of the +park. Selim at once took the lead. They crept off into the black forest, +keeping clear of the mountain path until they were far from the walls. +It was hard going among the thickly grown, low-hanging trees. They were +without lights; the jungle was wrapped in the blackness of night; the +trail was unmade and arduous. For more than a mile they crept through +the unbroken vegetation of the tropics, finally making their way down to +the beaten path which led past the ruins of the bungalow and up to the +mountain road that provided a short cut around the volcano to the +highlands overlooking the mines district in the cradle-like valley +beyond. + +Deppingham had not spoken since they left the park grounds. He came +second in the single file that they observed, striding silently and +obediently at the given twenty paces behind Selim. They kept to the +grassy roadside and moved swiftly and with as little noise as possible. +By this time, their eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness; they +could distinguish one another quite clearly. The starlight filtered down +through the leafy canopy above the road, increasing rather than +decreasing the density of the shadows through which they sped. None but +strong, determined, inspired men could have followed the pace set by the +lithe, surefooted Selim. + +Mile after mile fell behind them, with no relaxation of energy or +purpose. Chase found time and opportunity to give his thoughts over to +Genevra. A mighty longing to clasp her in his arms and carry her to the +ends of the earth took possession of him: a longing to drag her far from +the conventions which bound her to a world he could not enter into. Down +in his heart, he knew that she loved him: it was not a play-day folly +with her. And yet he knew that the end would be as she had said. She +would be the wife of the man she did not love. Fate had given her to him +when the world was young; there was no escape. In story-books, perhaps, +but not in real life. And how he had come to love her! + +They were coming to the ridge road and Selim fell back to explain the +need for caution. The ridge road crept along the brow of the deep canyon +that ran down to the sea. This was the road, in all likelihood, he +explained, that the abductors would have used in their flight from the +cavern. Two miles farther south it joined the wide highway that ran from +Aratat to the mines. + +Selim crept on ahead to reconnoitre. He was back in ten minutes with the +information that a party of men had but lately passed along the road +toward the south. Their footprints in the soft, untraveled road were +fresh. The stub of a cigarette that had scarcely burned itself out +proved to him conclusively that the smoker, at least, was not far ahead +of them. + +They broke away from the road and took a less exposed course through the +forest to their right, keeping well within earshot of the ridge, but +moving so carefully that there was slight danger of alarming the party +ahead. The fact that the abductors--there seemed to be no doubt as to +identity--had spent several hours longer than necessary in traversing +the distance between the cave and the point just passed, proving rather +conclusively that they were encumbered by living, not dead, burdens. + +At last the sound of voices came to the ears of the pursuers. As they +crept closer and closer, they became aware of the fact that the party +had halted and were wrangling among themselves over some point in +dispute. With Selim in the lead, crawling like panthers through the +dense undergrowth, the trio came to the edge of the timber land. Before +them lay the dark, treeless valley; almost directly below them, not +fifty yards away, clustered the group of disputing islanders, a dozen +men in all, with half as many flaring torches. + +They had halted in the roadway at the point where a sharp defile through +the rocks opened a way down into the valley. Like snakes the pursuers +wriggled their way to a point just above the small basin in which the +party was congregated. + +A great throb of exultation leaped up from their hearts, In plain view, +at the side of the road, were the two persons for whom they were +searching. + +"God, luck is with us," whispered Chase unconsciously. + +Lady Agnes, dishevelled, her dress half stripped from her person, was +seated upon a great boulder, staring hopelessly, lifelessly at the crowd +of men in the roadway. Beside her stood a tall islander, watching her +and at the same time listening eagerly to the dispute that went on +between his fellows. She was not bound; her hands and feet and lips were +free. The glow from the torches held by gesticulating hands fell upon +her tired, frightened face. Deppingham groaned aloud as he looked down +upon the wretched, hopeless woman that he loved and had come out to die +for. + +Bobby Browne was standing near by. His hands were tightly bound behind +his back. His face was blood-covered and the upper part of his body was +almost bare, evidence of the struggle he had made against overwhelming +odds. He was staring at the ground, his head and shoulders drooping in +utter dejection. + +The cause of the slow progress made by the attacking party was also +apparent after a moment's survey of the situation. Three of the treasure +chests were standing beside the road, affording seats for as many weary +carriers. It was all quite plain to Chase. Rasula and his men had +chanced upon the two white people during one of their trips to the cave +for the purpose of removing the chests. Moreover, it was reasonable to +assume that this lot of chests represented the last of those stored away +by Von Blitz. The others had been borne away by detachments of men who +left the cave before the discovery and capture of the heirs. + +Rasula was haranguing the crowd of men in the road. The hidden listeners +could hear and understand every word he uttered. + +"It is the only way," he was shouting angrily. "We cannot take them into +the town to-night--maybe not for two or three days. Some there are in +Aratat who would end their lives before sunrise. I say to you that we +cannot put them to death until we are sure that the others have no +chance to escape to England. I am a lawyer. I know what it would mean if +the story got to the ears of the government. We have them safely in our +hands. The others will soon die. Then--then there can be no mistake! +They must be taken to the mines and kept there until I have explained +everything to the people. Part of us shall conduct them to the lower +mill and the rest of us go on to the bank with these chests of gold." In +the end, after much grumbling and fierce quarreling, in which the +prisoners took little or no interest, the band was divided into two +parts. Rasula and six of the sturdiest men prepared to continue the +journey to Aratat, transporting the chests. Five sullen, resentful +fellows moved over beside the captives and threw themselves down upon +the grassy sward, lighting their cigarettes with all the philosophical +indifference of men who regard themselves as put upon by others at a +time when there is no alternative. + +"We will wait here till day comes," growled one of them defiantly. "Why +should we risk our necks going down the pass to-night? It is one +o'clock. The sun will be here in three hours. Go on!" + +"As you like, Abou Dal," said Rasula, shrugging his pinched shoulders. +"I shall come to the mill at six o'clock." Turning to the prisoners, he +bowed low and said, with a soft laugh: "Adios, my lady, and you, most +noble sir. May your dreams be pleasant ones. Dream that you are wedded +and have come into the wealth of Japat, but spare none of your dream to +the husband and wife, who are lying awake and weeping for the foolish +ones who would go searching for the forbidden fruit. Folly is a hard road +to travel and it leads to the graveyard of fools. Adios!" + +Lady Agnes bent over and dropped her face into her hands. She was +trembling convulsively. Browne did not show the slightest sign that he +had heard the galling words. + +At a single sharp command, the six men picked up the three chests and +moved off rapidly down the road Rasula striding ahead with the flaring +torch. + +They were barely out of sight beyond the turn in the hill when +Deppingham moved as though impulse was driving him into immediate attack +upon the guards who were left behind with the unhappy prisoners. Chase +laid a restraining hand upon his arm. + +"Wait! Plenty of time. Wait an hour. Don't spoil everything. We'll save +them sure," he breathed in the other's ear. Deppingham's groan was +almost loud enough to have been heard above the rustling leaves and the +collective maledictions of the disgusted islanders. + +The minutes slipped by with excruciating slowness The wakeful eyes of +the three watchers missed nothing that took place in the little +grass-grown niche below them They could have sprung almost into the +centre of the group from the position they occupied. Utterly unconscious +of the surveillance, the islanders gradually sunk into a morose, stupid +silence. If the watchers hoped that they might go to sleep they were to +be disappointed Two of the men sat with their backs to the rocks, their +rifles across their knees. The others sprawled lazily upon the soft +grass. Two torches, stuck in the earth, threw a weird light over the +scene. + +Bobby Browne was now lying with his shoulder against a fallen +tree-trunk, staring with unswerving gaze at the woman across the way. +She was looking off into the night, steadfastly refusing to glance in +his direction. For fully half an hour this almost speaking tableau +presented itself to the spectators above. + +Then suddenly Lady Agnes arose to her feet and lifted her hands high +toward the black dome of heaven, Salammbo-like, and prayed aloud to her +God, the sneering islanders looking on in silent derision. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE PERSIAN ANGEL + + +The man called Abou suddenly leaped to his feet, and, with the cry of an +eager animal, sprang to her side. His arms closed about her slender +figure with the unmistakable lust of the victor. A piteous, +heart-rending shriek left her lips as he raised her clear of the ground +and started toward the dense shadows across the road. Her +terror-stricken face was turned to the light; her cries for mercy were +directed to the brute's companions. + +They did not respond, but another did. A hoarse, inarticulate cry of +rage burst from Deppingham's lips. His figure shot out through the air +and down the short slope with the rush of an infuriated beast. Even as +the astonished Abou dropped his struggling burden to meet the attack of +the unexpected deliverer, he was felled to the earth by a mighty blow +from the rifle which his assailant swung swift and true. His skull was +crushed as if it were an eggshell. + +Lady Agnes struggled to her feet, wild-eyed, half crazed by the double +assault. The next instant she fell forward upon her face, dead to all +that was to follow in the next few minutes. Her glazed eyes caught a +fleeting glimpse of the figures that seemed to sweep down from the sky, +and then all was blank. + +There was no struggle. Chase and Selim were upon the stupefied islanders +before they could move, covering them with their rifles. The wretches +fell upon their knees and howled for mercy. While Deppingham was holding +his wife's limp form in his arms, calling out to her in the agony of +fear, utterly oblivious to all else that was happening about him, his +two friends were swiftly disarming the grovelling natives. Selim's knife +severed the cords that bound Bobby Browne's hands; he was staring +blankly, dizzily before him, and many minutes passed before he was able +to comprehend that deliverance had come. + +Ten minutes later Chase was addressing himself to the four islanders, +who, bound and gagged, were tied by their own sashes to trees some +distance from the roadside. + +"I've just thought of a little service you fellows can perform for me in +return for what I've done for you. All the time you're doing it, +however, there will be pistols quite close to your backs. I find that +Lady Deppingham is much too weak to take the five miles' walk we've got +to do in the next two hours--or less. You are to have the honour of +carrying her four miles and a half, and you will have to get along the +best you can with the gags in your mouths. I'm rather proud of the +inspiration. We were up against it, hard, until I thought of you fellows +wasting your time up here in the woods. Corking scheme, isn't it? Two of +you form a basket with your hands--I'll show you how. You carry her for +half a mile; then the other two may have the satisfaction of doing +something just as handsome for the next half mile--and so on. Great, +eh?" + +And it was in just that fashion that the party started off without delay +in the direction of the chateau. Two of the cowed but eager islanders +were carrying her ladyship between them, Deppingham striding close +behind in a position to catch her should she again lose consciousness. +Her tense fingers clung to the straining shoulders of the carriers, and, +although she swayed dizzily from time to time, she maintained her trying +position with extreme courage and cool-headedness. Now and then she +breathed aloud the name of her husband, as if to assure herself that he +was near at hand. She kept her eyes closed tightly, apparently uniting +every vestige of force in the effort to hold herself together through +the last stages of the frightful ordeal which had fallen to her that +night. + +With Selim in the lead, the little procession moved swiftly but +cautiously through the black jungle, bent on reaching the gate if +possible before the night lifted. Chase and Bobby Browne brought up the +rear with the two reserve carriers in hand. Browne, weak and suffering +from torture and exposure, struggled bravely along, determined not to +retard their progress by a single movement of indecision. He had talked +volubly for the first few minutes after their rescue, but now was silent +and intent upon thoughts of his own. His head and face were bruised and +cut; his body was stiff and sore from the effects of his valiant battle +in the cavern and the subsequent hardships of the march. + +In his heart Bobby Browne was now raging against the fate that had +placed him in this humiliating, almost contemptible position. He, and he +alone, was responsible for the sufferings that Lady Agnes had endured: +it was as gall and wormwood to him that other men had been ordained to +save her from the misery that he had created. He could almost have +welcomed death for himself and her rather than to have been saved by +George Deppingham. As he staggered along, propelled by the resistless +force which he knew to be a desire to live in spite of it all, he was +wondering how he could ever hold up his head again in the presence of +those who damned him, even as they had prayed for him. + +His wife! He could never be the same to her. He had forfeited the trust +and confidence of the one loyal believer among them all.... And now, +Lady Deppingham loathed him because his weakness had been greater than +hers! + +When he would have slain the four helpless islanders with his own hands, +Hollingsworth Chase had stayed his rage with the single, caustic +adjuration: + +"Keep out of this, Browne! You've been enough of a damned bounder +without trying that sort of thing." + +Tears were in Bobby Browne's eyes as, mile after mile, he blundered +along at the side of his fellow-countryman, his heart bleeding itself +dry through the wound those words had made. + +It was still pitch dark when they came to the ridge above the park. +Through the trees the lights in the chateau could be seen. Lady Agnes +opened her eyes and cried out in tremulous joy. A great wave of +exaltation swept over Hollingsworth Chase. _She_ was watching and +waiting there with the others! + +"Dame Fortune is good to us," he said, quite irrelevantly. Selim +muttered the sacred word "Allah." Chase's trend of thought, whatever it +may have been, was ruthlessly checked. "That reminds me," he said +briskly, "we can't waste Allah's time in dawdling here. Luck has been +with us--and Allah, too--great is Allah! But we'll have to do some +skilful sneaking on our own hook, just the same. If the upper gate is +being watched--and I doubt it very much--we'll have a hard time getting +inside the walls, signal or no signal. The first thing for us to do is +to make everything nice and snug for our four friends here. You've +laboured well and faithfully," he said to the panting islanders, "and +I'm going to reward you. I'm going to set you free. But not yet. Don't +rejoice. First, we shall tie you securely to four stout trees just off +the road. Then we'll leave you to take a brief, much-needed rest. Lady +Deppingham, I fancy, can walk the rest of the way through the woods. +Just as soon as we are inside the walls, I'll find some way to let your +friends know that you are here. You can explain the situation to them +better than I can. Tell 'em that it might have been worse." + +He and Selim promptly marched the bewildered islanders into the wood. +Bobby Browne, utterly exhausted, had thrown himself to the soft earth. +Lady Deppingham was standing, swaying but resolute, her gaze upon the +distant, friendly windows. + +At last she turned to look at her husband, timorously, an appeal in her +eyes that the darkness hid. He was staring at her, a stark figure in the +night. After a long, tense moment of indecision, she held out her hands +and he sprang forward in time to catch her as she swayed toward him. She +was sobbing in his arms. Bobby Browne's heavy breathing ceased in that +instant, and he closed his ears against the sound that came to them. + +Deppingham gently implored her to sit down with him and rest. Together +they walked a few paces farther away from their companion and sat down +by the roadside. For many minutes no word was spoken; neither could +whisper the words that were so hard in finding their way up from the +depths. At last she said: + +"I've made you unhappy. I've been so foolish. It has not been fun, +either, my husband. God knows it hasn't. You do not love me now." + +He did not answer her at once and she shivered fearfully in his arms. +Then he kissed her brow gently. + +"I _do_ love you, Agnes," he said intensely. "I will answer for my own +love if you can answer for yours. Are you the same Agnes that you were? +My Agnes?" + +"Will you believe me?" + +"Yes." + +"I could lie to you--God knows I would lie to you." + +"I--I would rather you lied to me than to---" + +"I know. Don't say it. George," as she put her hands to his face and +whispered in all the fierceness of a desperate longing to convince him, +"I am the same Agnes. I am _your_ Agnes. I am! You _do_ believe me?" + +He crushed her close to his breast and then patted her shoulder as a +father might have touched an erring child. + +"That's all I ask of you," he said. She lay still and almost breathless +for a long time. + +At last she spoke: "It is not wholly his fault, George. I was to blame. +I led him on. You understand?" + +"Poor devil!" said he drily. "It's a way you have, dear." + +The object of this gentle commiseration was staring with gloomy eyes at +the lights below. He was saying to himself, over and over again: "If I +can only make Drusie understand!" + +Chase and Selim came down upon this little low-toned picture. The former +paused an instant and smiled joyously in the darkness. + +"Come," was all he said. Without a word the three arose and started off +down the road. A few hundred feet farther on, Selim abruptly turned off +among the trees. They made their way slowly, cautiously to a point +scarcely a hundred feet from the wall and somewhat to the right of the +small gate. Here he left them and crept stealthily away. A few minutes +later he crept back to them, a soft hiss on his lips. + +"Five men are near the gate," he whispered. "They watch so closely that +no one may go to rescue those who have disappeared. Friends are hidden +inside the wall, ready to open the gate at a signal. They have waited +with Neenah all night. And day is near, sahib." + +"We must attack at once," said Chase. "We can take them by surprise. No +killing, mind you. They're not looking for anything to happen outside +the walls. It will be easy if we are careful. No shooting unless +necessary. If we should fail to surprise them, Selim and I will dash off +into the forest and they will follow us, Then, Deppingham, you and +Browne get Lady Deppingham inside the gate. We'll look out for +ourselves. Quiet now!" + +Five shadowy figures soon were distinguished huddled close to the wall +below the gate. The sense of sight had become keen during those trying +hours in the darkness. + +The islanders were conversing in low tones, a word or two now and then +reaching the ears of the others. It was evident from what was being +said, that, earlier in the evening, messengers had carried the news from +Rasula to the town; the entire population was now aware of the +astounding capture of the two heirs. There had been rejoicing; it was +easy to picture the populace lying in wait for the expected relief party +from the chateau. + +Suddenly a blinding, mysterious light flashed upon the muttering group. +As they fell back, a voice, low and firm, called out to them: + +"Not a sound or you die!" + +Four unwavering rifles were bearing upon the surprised islanders and +four very material men were advancing from the ghostly darkness. An +electric lantern shot a ray of light athwart the scene. + +"Drop your guns--quick!" commanded Chase. "Don't make a row!" + +Paralysed with fear and amazement, the men obeyed. They could not have +done otherwise. The odds were against them; they were bewildered; they +knew not how to combat what seemed to them an absolutely supernatural +force. + +While the three white men kept them covered with their rifles, Selim ran +to the gate, uttering the shrill cry of a night bird. There was a rush +of feet inside the walls, subdued exclamations, and then a glad cry. + +"Quick!" called Selim. The keys rattled in the locks, the bolts were +thrown down, and an instant later, Lady Deppingham was flying across the +space which intervened between her and the gate, where five or six +figures were huddled and calling out eagerly for haste. + +The men were beside her a moment later, possessed of the weapons of the +helpless sentinels. With a crash the gates were closed and a joyous +laugh rang out from the exultant throat of Hollingsworth Chase. + +"By the Lord Harry, this is worth while!" he shouted. Outside, the +maddened guards were sounding the tardy alarm. Chase called out to them +and told them where they could find the four men in the forest. Then he +turned to follow the group that had scurried off toward the chateau. The +first grey shade of day was coming into the night. + +He saw Neenah ahead of him, standing still in the centre of the +gravelled path. Beyond her was the tall figure of a man. + +"You are a trump, Neenah," cried Chase, hurrying up to her. "A Persian +angel!" + +It was not Neenah's laugh that replied. Chase gasped in amazement and +then uttered a cry of joy. + +The Princess Genevra, slim and erect, was standing before him, her hand +touching her turban in true military salute, soft laughter rippling from +her lips. + +In the exuberance of joy, he clasped that little hand and crushed it +against his lips. + +"You!" he exclaimed. + +"Sh!" she warned, "I have retained my guard of honour." + +He looked beyond her and beheld the tall, soldierly figure of a +Rapp-Thorberg guardsman. + +"The devil!" fell involuntarily from his lips. + +"Not at all. He is here to keep me from going to the devil," she cried +so merrily that he laughed aloud with her in the spirit of unbounded +joy. "Come! Let us run after the others. I want to run and dance and +sing." + +He still held her hand as they ran swiftly down the drive, followed +closely by the faithful sergeant. + +"You are an angel," he said in her ear. She laughed as she looked up +into his face. + +"Yes--a Persian angel," she cried. "It's so much easier to run well in a +Persian angel's costume," she added. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +A PRESCRIBED MALADY + + +"You are wonderful, staying out there all night watching for--us." He +was about to say "me." + +"How could any one sleep? Neenah found this dress for me--aren't these +baggy trousers funny? She rifled the late Mr. Wyckholme's wardrobe. This +costume once adorned a sultana, I'm told. It is a most priceless +treasure. I wore it to-night because I was much less conspicuous as a +sultana than I might have been had I gone to the wall as a princess." + +"I like you best as the Princess," he said, frankly surveying her in the +grey light. + +"I think I like myself as the Princess, too," she said naively. He +sighed deeply. They were quite close to the excited group on the terrace +when she said: "I am very, very happy now, after the most miserable +night I have ever known. I was so troubled and afraid----" + +"Just because I went away for that little while? Don't forget that I am +soon to go out from you for all time. How then?" + +"Ah, but then I will have Paris," she cried gaily. He was puzzled by her +mood--but then, why not? What could he be expected to know of the moods +of royal princesses? No more than he could know of their loves. + +Lady Deppingham was got to bed at once. The Princess, more thrilled by +excitement than she ever had been in her life, attended her friend. In +the sanctity of her chamber, the exhausted young Englishwoman bared her +soul to this wise, sympathetic young woman in Persian vestment. + +"Genevra," she said solemnly, in the end, "take warning from my example. +When you once are married, don't trifle with other men--not even if you +shouldn't love your husband. Sooner or later you'd get tripped up. It +doesn't pay, my dear. I never realised until tonight how much I really +care for Deppy and I am horribly afraid that I've lost something I can +never recover. I've made him unhappy and--and--all that. Can you tell me +what it is that made me--but never mind! I'm going to be good." + +"You were not in love with Mr. Browne. That is why I can't understand +you, Agnes." + +"My dear, I don't understand myself. How can I expect you or my husband +to understand me? How could I expect it of Bobby Browne? Oh, dear; oh, +dear, how tired I am! I think I shall never move out of this bed again. +What a horrible, horrible time I've had." She sat up suddenly and stared +wide-eyed before her, looking upon phantoms that came out of the hours +just gone. + +"Hush, dear! Lie down and go to sleep. You will feel better in a little +while." Lady Agnes abruptly turned to her with a light in her eyes that +checked the kindly impulses. + +"Genevra, you are in love--madly in love with Hollingsworth Chase. Take +my advice: marry him. He's one man in a--" Genevra placed her hand over +the lips of the feverish young woman. + +"I will not listen to anything more about Mr. Chase," she said firmly. +"I am tired--tired to death of being told that I should marry him." + +"But you love him," Lady Agnes managed to mumble, despite the gentle +impediment. + +"I _do_ love him, yes, I do love him," cried the Princess, casting +reserve to the winds. "He knows it--every one knows it. But marry him? +No--no--no! I shall marry Karl. My father, my mother, my grandfather, +have said so--and I have said it, too. And his father and grandfather +and a dozen great grandparents have ordained that he shall marry a +princess and I a prince, That ends it, Agnes! Don't speak of it again." +She cast herself down upon the side of the bed and clenched her hands in +the fierceness of despair and--decision. After a moment, Lady Agnes said +dreamily: "I climbed up the ladder to make a 'ladyship' of myself by +marriage and I find I love my husband. I daresay if you should go down +the ladder a few rounds, my dear, you might be as lucky. But take my +advice, if you _won't_ marry Hollingsworth Chase, don't let him come to +Paris." + +The Princess Genevra lifted her face instantly, a startled expression in +her eyes. + +"Agnes, you forget yourself!" + +"My dear," murmured Lady Agnes sleepily, "forgive me, but I have such a +shockingly absent mind." She was asleep a moment later. + +In the meantime, Bobby Browne, disdaining all commands and entreaties, +refused to be put to bed until he had related the story of their capture +and the subsequent events that made the night memorable. He talked +rapidly, feverishly, as if every particle of energy was necessary to the +task of justifying himself in some measure for the night's mishap. He +sat with his rigid arm about his wife's shoulders. Drusilla was stroking +one of his hands in a half-conscious manner, her eyes staring past his +face toward the dark forest from which he had come. Mr. Britt was +ordering brandy and wine for his trembling client. + +"After all," said Browne, hoarse with nervousness, "there is some good +to be derived from our experiences, hard as it may be to believe. I have +found out the means by which Rasula intends to destroy every living +creature in the chateau." He made this statement at the close of the +brief, spasmodic recital covering the events of the night. Every one +drew nearer. Chase threw off his spell of languidness and looked hard at +the speaker. "Rasula coolly asked me, at one of our resting places, if +there had been any symptoms of poisoning among us. I mentioned Pong and +the servants. The devil laughed gleefully in my face and told me that it +was but the beginning. I tell you. Chase, we can't escape the diabolical +scheme he has arranged. We are all to be poisoned--I don't see how we +can avoid it if we stay here much longer. It is to be a case of slow +death by the most insidious scheme of poisoning imaginable, or, on the +other hand, death by starvation and thirst. The water that comes to us +from the springs up there in the hills is to be poisoned by those +devils." + +There were exclamations of unbelief, followed by the sharp realisation +that he was, after all, pronouncing doom upon each and every one of +those who listened. + +"Rasula knows that we have no means of securing water except from the +springs. Several days ago his men dumped a great quantity of some sort +of poison into the stream--a poison that is used in washing or polishing +the rubies, whatever it is. Well, that put the idea into his head. He is +going about it shrewdly, systematically. I heard him giving instructions +to one of his lieutenants. He thought I was still unconscious from a +blow I received when I tried to interfere in behalf of Lady Agnes, who +was being roughly dragged along the mountain road. Day and night a +detachment of men are to be employed at the springs, deliberately +engaged in the attempt to change the flow of pure water into a slow, +subtle, deadly poison, the effects of which will not be immediately +fatal, but positively so in the course of a few days. Every drop of +water that we drink or use in any way will be polluted with this deadly +cyanide. It's only a question of time. In the end we shall sicken and +die as with the scourge. They will call it the plague!" + +A shudder of horror swept through the crowd. Every one looked into his +neighbour's face with a profound inquiring light in his eyes, seeking +for the first evidence of approaching death. + +Hollingsworth Chase uttered a short, scornful laugh as he unconcernedly +lifted a match to one of his precious cigarettes. The others stared at +him in amazement. He had been exceedingly thoughtful and preoccupied up +to that moment. + +"Great God, Chase!" groaned Browne. "Is this a joke?" + +"Yes--and it's on Rasula," said the other laconically. + +"But even now, man, they are introducing this poison into our +systems----" + +"You say that Rasula isn't aware of the fact that you overheard what he +said to his man? Then, even now, in spite of your escape, he believes +that we may go on drinking the water without in the least suspecting +what it has in store for us. Good! That's why I say the joke is on him." + +"But, my God, we must have water to drink," cried Britt. Mrs. Saunders +alone divined the thought that filled Chase's mind. She clapped her +hands and cried out wonderingly: + +"I know! I--I took depositions in a poisoning case two years ago. Why, +of course!" + +"Browne, you are a doctor--a chemist," said Chase calmly, first +bestowing a fine smile upon the eager Mrs. Saunders. "Well, we'll distil +and double and triple distil the water. That's all. A schoolboy might +have thought of that. It's all right, old man. You're fagged out; your +brain isn't working well. Don't look so crestfallen. Mr. Britt, you and +Mr. Saunders will give immediate instructions that no more water is to +be drunk--or used--until Mr. Browne has had a few hours' rest. He can +take an alcohol bath and we can all drink wine. It won't hurt us. At ten +o'clock sharp Dr. Browne will begin operating the distilling apparatus +in the laboratory. As a matter of fact, I learned somewhere--at college, +I imagine--that practically pure water may be isolated from wine." He +arose painfully and stretched himself. "I think I'll get a little +much-needed rest. Do the same, Browne--and have a rub down. By Jove, +will you listen to the row my clients are making out there in the woods! +They seem to be annoyed over something." + +Outside the walls the islanders were shouting and calling to each other; +rifles were cracking, far and near, voicing, in their peculiarly +spiteful way, the rage that reigned supreme. + +As Chase ascended the steps Bobby Browne and his wife came up beside +him. + +"Chase," said Browne, in a low voice, his face turned away to hide the +mortification that filled his soul, "you are a man! I want you to know +that I thank you from the bottom of my heart." + +"Never mind, old man! Say no more," interrupted Chase, suddenly +embarrassed. + +"I've been a fool, Chase. I don't deserve the friendship of any one--not +even that of my wife. It's all over, though. You understand? I'm not a +coward. I'll do anything you say--take any risk--to pay for the trouble +I've caused you all. Send me out to fight----" + +"Nonsense! Your wife needs you, Browne. Don't you, Mrs. Browne? There, +now! It will be all right, just as I said. I daresay, Browne, that I +wouldn't have been above the folly that got the better of you. Only--" +he hesitated for a minute--"only, it couldn't have happened to me if I +had a wife as dear and as good and as pretty as the one you have." + +Browne was silent for a long time, his arm still about Drusilla's +shoulder. At the end of the long hall he said with decision in his +voice: + +"Chase, you may tell your clients that so far as I am concerned they may +have the beastly island and everything that goes with it. I'm through +with it all. I shall discharge Britt and----" + +"My dear boy, it's most magnanimous of you," cried Chase merrily. "But +I'm afraid you can't decide the question in such an off-hand, _degage_ +manner. Sleep over it. I've come to the conclusion that it isn't so much +of a puzzle as to how you are to _get_ the island as how to get _off_ of +it. Take good care of him, Mrs. Browne. Don't let him talk." + +She held out her hand to him impulsively. There was an unfathomable, +unreadable look in her dark eyes. As he gallantly lifted the cold +fingers to his lips, she said, without taking her almost hungry gaze +from his face: + +"Thank you, Mr. Chase. I shall never forget you." + +He stood there looking after them as they went up the stairway, a +puzzled expression in his face. After a moment he shook his head and +smiled vaguely as he said to himself: + +"I guess he'll be a good boy from now on." But he wondered what it was +that he had seen or felt in her sombre gaze. + +In fifteen minutes he was sound asleep in his room, his long frame +relaxed, his hands wide open in utter fatigue. He dreamed of a Henner +girl with Genevra's brilliant face instead of the vague, greenish +features that haunt the vision with their subtle mysticism. + +He was awakened at noon by Selim, who obeyed his instructions to the +minute. The eager Arab rubbed the soreness and stiffness out of his +master's body with copious applications of alcohol. + +"I'm sorry you awoke me, Selim," said the master enigmatically. Selim +drew back, dismayed. "You drove her away." Selim's eyes blinked with +bewilderment. "I'm afraid she'll never come back." + +"Excellency!" trembled on the lips of the mystified servant. + +"Ah, me!" sighed the master resignedly. "She smiled so divinely. Henner +girls never smile, do they, Selim? Have you noticed that they are always +pensive? Perhaps you haven't. It doesn't matter. But this one smiled. I +say," coming back to earth, "have they begun to distil the water? I've +got a frightful thirst." + +"Yes, excellency. The Sahib Browne is at work. One of the servants +became sick to-day. Now no one is drinking the water. Baillo is bringing +in ice from the storehouses and melting it, but the supply is not large. +Sahib Browne will not let them make any more ice at present." Nothing +more was said until Chase was ready for his rolls and coffee. Then Selim +asked hesitatingly, "Excellency, what is a bounder? Mr. Browne says----" + +"I believe I did call him a bounder," interrupted Chase reminiscently. +"I spoke hastily and I'll give him a chance to demand an explanation. +He'll want it, because he's an American. A bounder, Selim? Well," +closing one eye and looking out of the window calculatingly, "a bounder +is a fellow who keeps up an acquaintance with you by persistently +dunning you for money that you've owed to him for four or five years. +Any one who annoys you is a bounder." + +Selim turned this over in his mind for some time, but the puzzled air +did not lift from his face. + +"Excellency, you will take Selim to live with you in Paris?" he said +after a while wistfully. "I will be your slave." + +"Paris? Who the dickens said anything about Paris?" demanded Chase, +startled. + +"Neenah says you will go there to live, sahib." + +"Um--um," mused Chase; "what does she know about it?" + +"Does not the most glorious Princess live in Paris?" + +"Selim, you've been listening to gossip. It's a frightful habit to get +into. Put cotton in your ears. But if I were to take you, what would +become of little Neenah?" + +"Oh, Neenah?" said Selim easily. "If she would be a trouble to you, +excellency, I can sell her to a man I know." + +Chase looked blackly at the eager Arab, who quailed. + +"You miserable dog!" + +Selim gasped. "Excellency!" + +"Don't you love her?" + +"Yes, yes, sahib--yes! But if she would be a trouble to you--no!" +protested the Arab anxiously. Chase laughed as he came to appreciate the +sacrifice his servant would make for him. + +"I'll take you with me, Selim, wherever I go--and if I go--but, my lad, +we'll take Neenah along, too, to save trouble. She's not for sale, my +good Selim." The husband of Neenah radiated joy. + +"Then she may yet be the slave of the most glorious Princess! Allah is +great! The most glorious one has asked her if she will not come with +her----" + +"Selim," commanded the master ominously, "don't repeat the gossip you +pick up when I'm not around." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE TWO WORLDS + + +Two days and nights crept slowly into the past, and now the white people +of the chateau had come to the eve of their last day's stay on the +island of Japat: the probationary period would expire with the sun on +the following day, the anniversary of the death of Taswell Skaggs. The +six months set aside by the testator as sufficient for all the +requirements of Cupid were to come to an inglorious end at seven o'clock +on March 29th. According to the will, if Agnes Ruthven and Robert Browne +were not married to each other before the close of that day all of their +rights in the estate were lost to them. + +To-morrow would be the last day of residence required, but, alack! Was +it to be the last that they were to spend in the world-forsaken land? As +they sat and stared gloomily at the spotless sea there was not a single +optimist among them who felt that the end was near. Not a few were +convincing themselves that their last days literally would be spent on +the island. + +No later than that morning a steamer--a small Dutch freighter--had come +to a stop off the harbour. But it turned tail and fled within an hour. +No one came ashore; the malevolent tug went out and turned back the +landing party which was ready to leave the ship's side. The watchers in +the chateau knew what it was that the tug's captain shouted through his +trumpet at a safe distance from the steamer. Through their glasses they +saw the boat's crew scramble back to the deck of the freighter; the +action told the story plainer than words. + +The black and yellow flags at the end of the company's pier lent colour +to a grewsome story! + +The hopeless look deepened in the eyes of the watchers. They saw the +steamer move out to sea and then scuttle away as if pursued by demons. + +Hollingsworth Chase alone maintained a stubborn air of confidence and +unconcern. He may not have felt as he looked, but something in his +manner, assumed or real, kept the fires of hope alight in the breasts of +all the others. + +"Don't be downhearted, Bowles," he said to the moping British agent. +"You'll soon be managing the bank again and patronising the American bar +with the same old regularity." + +"My word, Mr. Chase," groaned Bowles, "how can you say a thing like +that? I daresay they've blown the bank to Jericho by this time. Besides, +there won't be an American bar. And, moreover, I don't intend to stay a +minute longer than I have to on the beastly island. This taste of the +old high life has spoiled me for everything else. I'm going back to +London and sit on the banks of the Serpentine until it goes dry. Stay +here? I should rather say not." + +There had been several vicious assaults upon the gates by the infuriated +islanders during the day following the rescue of the heirs. Their rage +and disappointment knew no bounds. For hours they acted like madmen; +only the most determined resistance drove them back from the gates. Some +powerful influence suddenly exerted itself to restore them to a state of +calmness. They abruptly gave up the fruitless, insensate attacks upon +the walls and withdrew to the town, apparently defeated. The cause was +obvious: Rasula had convinced them that Death already was lifting his +hand to blot out the lives of those who opposed them. + +Bobby Browne was accomplishing wonders in the laboratory. He seldom was +seen outside the distilling room; his assiduity was marked, if not +commented upon. Hour after hour he stood watch over the water that went +up in vapour and returned to the crystal liquid that was more precious +than rubies and sapphires. He was redeeming himself, just as he was +redeeming the water from the poison that had made it useless. He +experimented with lizards: the water as it came from the springs brought +quick death to the little reptiles. The fishes in the aquarium died +before it occurred to any one to remove them from the noxious water. + +Drusilla kept close to his side during all of these operations. She +seemed afraid or ashamed to join the others; she avoided Lady Deppingham +as completely as possible. Her effort to be friendly when they were +thrown together was almost pitiable. + +As for Lady Agnes, she seemed stricken by an unconquerable lassitude; +the spirits that had controlled her voice, her look, her movements, were +sadly missing. It was with a most transparent effort that she managed to +infuse life into her conversation. There were times when she stood +staring out over the sea with unseeing eyes, and one knew that she was +not thinking of the ocean. More than once Genevra had caught her +watching Deppingham with eyes that spoke volumes, though they were mute +and wistful. + +From time to time the sentinels brought to Lord Deppingham and Chase +missives that had been tossed over the walls by the emissaries of +Rasula. They were written by the leader himself and in every instance +expressed the deepest sympathy for the plague-ridden chateau. It was +evident that Rasula believed that the occupants were slowly but surely +dying, and that it was but a question of a few days until the place +would become a charnel-house. With atavic cunning he sat upon the +outside and waited for the triumph of death. + +"There's a paucity of real news in these gentle messages that annoys +me," Chase said, after reading aloud the last of the epistles to the +Princess and the Deppinghams. "I rejoice in my heart that he isn't aware +of the true state of affairs. He doesn't appreciate the real calamity +that confronts us. The Plague? Poison? Mere piffle. If he only knew that +I am now smoking my last--_the_ last cigarette on the place!" There was +something so inconceivably droll in the lamentation that his hearers +laughed despite their uneasiness. + +"I believe you would die more certainly from lack of cigarettes than +from an over-abundance of poison," said Genevra. She was thinking of the +stock she had hoarded up for him in her dressing-table drawer, under +lock and key. It occurred to her that she could have no end of +housewifely thrills if she doled them out to him in niggardly +quantities, at stated times, instead of turning them over to him in +profligate abundance. + +"I'm sure I don't know," he said, taking a short inhalation. "I've never +had the poison habit." + +"I say, Chase, can't you just see Rasula's face when he learns that +we've been drinking the water all along and haven't passed away?" cried +Deppingham, brightening considerably in contemplation of the enemy's +disgust. + +"And to think, Mr. Chase, we once called you 'the Enemy,'" said Lady +Agnes in a low, dreamy voice. There was a far-away look in her eyes. + +"I appear to have outlived my usefulness in that respect," he said. He +tossed the stub of his cigarette over the balcony rail. "Good-bye!" he +said, with melancholy emphasis. Then he bent an inquiring look upon the +face of the Princess. + +"Yes," she said, as if he had asked the question aloud. "You shall have +three a day, that's all." + +"You'll leave the entire fortune to me when you sail away, I trust," he +said. The Deppinghams were puzzled. + +"But you also will be sailing away," she argued. + +"I? You forget that I have had no orders to return. Sir John expects me +to stay. At least, so I've heard in a roundabout way." + +"You don't mean to say, Chase, that you'll stay on this demmed Island if +the chance comes to get away," demanded Lord Deppingham earnestly. The +two women were looking at him in amazement. + +"Why not? I'm an ally, not a deserter." + +"You are a madman!" cried Lady Agnes. "Stay here? They would kill you in +a jiffy. Absurd!" + +"Not after they've had another good long look at my warships. Lady +Deppingham," he replied, with a most reassuring smile. + +"Good Lord, Chase, you're not clinging to that corpse-candle straw, are +you?" cried his lordship, beginning to pace the floor. "Don't be a fool! +We can't leave you here to the mercy of these brutes. What's more, we +won't!" + +"My dear fellow," said Chase ruefully, "we are talking as though the +ship had already dropped anchor out there. The chances are that we will +have ample time to discuss the ethics of my rather anomalous position +before we say good-bye to each other. I think I'll take a stroll along +the wall before turning in." + +He arose and leisurely started to go indoors. The Princess called to +him, and he paused. + +"Wait," she said, coming up to him. They walked down the hallway +together. "I will run upstairs and unlock the treasure chest. I do not +trust even my maid. You shall have two to-night--no more." + +"You've really saved them for me?" he queried, a note of eagerness in +his voice. "All these days?" + +"I have been your miser," she said lightly, and then ran lightly up the +stairs. + +He looked after her until she disappeared at the top with a quick, shy +glance over her shoulder. Then he permitted his spirits to drop suddenly +from the altitude to which he had driven them. An expression of utter +dejection came into his face; a haggard look replaced the buoyant smile. + +"God, how I love her--how I love her!" he groaned, half aloud. + +She was coming down the stairs now, eager, flushed, more abashed than +she would have had him know. Without a word she placed the two +cigarettes in his outstretched palm. Her eyes were shining. + +In silence he clasped her hand and led her unresisting through the +window and out upon the broad gallery. She was returning the fervid +pressure of his fingers, warm and electric. They crossed slowly to the +rail. Two chairs stood close together. They sat down, side by side. The +power of speech seemed to have left them altogether. + +He laid the two cigarettes on the broad stone rail. She followed the +movement with perturbed eyes, and then leaned forward and placed her +elbows on the rail. With her chin in her hands, she looked out over the +sombre park, her heart beating violently. After a long time she heard +him saying hoarsely: + +"If the ship should come to-morrow, you would go out of my life? You +would go away and leave me here--" + +"No, no!" she cried, turning upon him suddenly. "You _could_ not stay +here. You shall not!" + +"But, dearest love, I am bound to stay--I cannot go And, God help me, I +want to stay. If I could go into your world and take you unto myself +forever--if you will tell me now that some day you may forget your world +and come to live in mine--then, ah, then, it would be different! But +without you I have no choice of abiding place. Here, as well as +anywhere." + +She put her hands over her eyes. + +"I cannot bear the thought of--of leaving you behind--of leaving you +here to die at the hands of those beasts down there. Hollingsworth, I +implore you--come! If the opportunity comes--and it will, I know--you +will leave the island with the rest of us?" + +"Not unless I am commanded to do so by the man who sent me here to serve +these beasts, as you call them." + +"They do not want you! They are your enemies!" + +"Time will tell," he said sententiously. He leaned over and took her +hand in his. "You do love me?" + +"You know I do--yes, yes!" she cried from her heart, keeping her face +resolutely turned away from him. "I am sick with love for you. Why +should I deny the thing that speaks so loudly for itself--my heart! +Listen! Can you not hear it beating? It is hurting me--yes, it is +hurting me!" + +He trembled at this exhibition of released, unchecked passion, and yet +he did not clasp her in his arms. + +"Will you come into my world, Genevra?" he whispered. "All my life would +be spent in guarding the love you would give to me--all my life given to +making you love me more and more until there will be no other world for +you to think of." + +"I wish that I had not been born," she sobbed. "I cannot, dearest--I +cannot change the laws of fate. I am fated--I am doomed to live forever +in the dreary world of my fathers. But how can I give you up? How can I +give up your love? How can I cast you out of my life?" + +"You do not love Prince Karl?" + +"How can you ask?" she cried fiercely. "Am I not loving you with all my +heart and soul?" + +"And you would leave me behind if the ship should come?" he persisted, +with cruel insistence. "You will go back and marry that--him? Loving me, +you will marry him?" Her head dropped upon her arm. He turned cold as +death. "God help and God pity you, my love. I never knew before what +your little world means to you. I give you up to it. I crawl back into +the one you look down upon with scorn. I shall not again ask you to +descend to the world where love is." + +Her hand lay limp in his. They stared bleakly out into the night and no +word was spoken. + +The minutes became an hour, and yet they sat there with set faces, +bursting hearts, unseeing eyes. + +Below them in the shadows, Bobby Browne was pacing the embankment, his +wife drawn close to his side. Three men, Britt, Saunders and Bowles, +were smoking their pipes on the edge of the terrace. Their words came up +to the two in the gallery. + +"If I have to die to-morrow," Saunders, the bridegroom, was saying, with +real feeling in his voice, "I should say, with all my heart, that my +life has been less than a week long. The rest of it was nothing. I never +was happy before--and happiness is everything." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE SHIPS THAT PASS + + +The next morning was rainy. A quick, violent storm had rushed up from +the sea during the night. + +Chase, after a sleepless night, came down and, without waiting for his +breakfast, hurried out upon the gallery overlooking the harbour. Genevra +was there before him, pale, wistful, heavy-eyed--standing in the shelter +of a huge pilaster. The wind swept the thin, swishing raindrops across +the gallery on both sides of her position. He came up from behind. She +was startled by the sound of his voice saying "good-morning." + +"Hollingsworth," she said drearily, "do you believe he will come +to-day?" + +"He?" he asked, puzzled. + +"My uncle. The yacht was to call for me not later than to-day." + +"I remember," he said slowly. "It may come, Genevra. The day is young." + +She clasped his hand convulsively, a desperate revolt in her soul. + +"I almost hope that it may not come for me!" she said, her voice shaking +with suppressed emotion. + +"I am not so selfish as to wish that, dear one," he said, after a moment +of inconceivable ecstasy in which his own longing gave the lie to the +words which followed. + +"It will not come. I feel it in my heart. We shall die here together, +Hollingsworth. Ah, in that way I may escape the other life. No, no! What +am I saying? Of course I want to leave this dreadful island--this +dreadful, beautiful, hateful, happy island. Am I not too silly?" She was +speaking rapidly, almost hysterically, a nervous, flickering smile on +her face. + +"Dear one," he said gently, "the yacht will come. If it should not come +to-day, my cruisers will forestall its mission. As sure as there is a +sea, those cruisers will come." She looked into his eyes intently, as if +afraid of something there. "Oh, I'm not mad!" he laughed. "You brought a +cruiser to me one day; I'll bring one to you in return. We'll be quits." + +"Quits?" she murmured, hurt by the word. + +"Forgive me," he said, humbled. + +"Hollingsworth," she said, after a long, tense scrutiny of the sea, "how +long will you remain on this island?" + +"Perhaps until I die--if death should come soon. If not, then God knows +how long." + +"Listen to me," she said intensely. "For my sake, you will not stay +long. You will come away before they kill you. You will! Promise me. You +will come--to Paris? Some day, dear heart? Promise!" + +He stared at her beseeching face in wide-eyed amazement. A wave of +triumphant joy shot through him an instant later. To Paris! She was +asking him--but then he understood! Despair was the inspiration of that +hungry cry. She did not mean--no, no! + +"To Paris?" he said, shaking his head sadly. "No, dearest one. Not now. +Listen: I have in my bag upstairs an offer from a great American +corporation. I am asked to assume the management of its entire business +in France. My headquarters would be in Paris. My duties would begin as +soon as my contract with Sir John Brodney expires. The position is a +lucrative one; it presents unlimited opportunities. I am a comparatively +poor man. The letter was forwarded to me by Sir John. I have a year in +which to decide." + +"And you--you will decline?" she asked. + +"Yes. I shall go back to America, where there are no princesses of the +royal blood. Paris is no place for the disappointed, cast-off lover. I +can't go there. I love you too madly. I'd go on loving you, and +you--good as you are, would go on loving me. There is no telling what +would come of it. It will be hard for me to--to stay away from +Paris--desperately hard. Sometimes I feel that I will not be strong +enough to do it, Genevra." + +"But Paris is huge, Hollingsworth," she argued, insistently, an eager, +impelling light in her eyes. "We would be as far apart as if the ocean +were between us." + +"Ah, but would we?" he demanded. + +"It is almost unheard-of for an American to gain _entree_ to our--to the +set in which--well, you understand," she said, blushing painfully in the +consciousness that she was touching his pride. He smiled sadly. + +"My dear, you will do me the honour to remember that I am not trying to +get into your set. I am trying to induce you to come into mine. You +won't be tempted, so that's the end of it. Beastly day, isn't it?" He +uttered the trite commonplace as if no other thought than that of the +weather had been in his mind. "By the way," he resumed, with a most +genial smile, "for some queer, un-masculine reason, I took it into my +head last night to worry about the bride's trousseau. How are you going +to manage it if you are unable to leave the island until--well, say +June?" + +She returned his smile with one as sweetly detached as his had been, +catching his spirit. "So good of you to worry," she said, a defiant red +in her cheeks. "You forget that I have a postponed trousseau at home. A +few stitches here and there, an alteration or two, some smart summer +gowns and hats--Oh, it will be so simple. What is it? What do you see?" + +He was looking eagerly, intently toward the long, low headland beyond +the town of Aratat. + +"The smoke! See? Close in shore, too! By heaven, Genevra--there's a +steamer off there. She's a small one or she wouldn't run in so close. +It--it may be the yacht! Wait! We'll soon see. She'll pass the point in +a few minutes." + +Scarcely breathing in their agitation, they kept the glasses levelled +steadily, impatiently upon the distant point of land. The smoke grew +thicker and nearer. Already the citizens of the town were rushing to the +pier. Even before the vessel turned the point, the watchers at the +chateau witnessed a most amazing performance on the dock. Half a hundred +natives dropped down as if stricken, scattering themselves along the +narrow pier. For many minutes Chase was puzzled, bewildered by this +strange demonstration. Then, the explanation came to him like a flash. + +The people were simulating death! They were posing as the victims of the +plague that infested the land! Chase shuddered at this exhibition of +diabolical cunning. Some of them were writhing as if in the death agony. +It was at once apparent that the effect of this manifestation would +serve to drive away all visitors, appalled and terrified. As he was +explaining the ruse to his mystified companion, the nose of the vessel +came out from behind the tree-covered point. + +An instant later, they were sending wild cries of joy through the +chateau, and people were rushing toward them from all quarters. + +The trim white thing that glided across the harbour, graceful as a bird, +was the Marquess's yacht! + +It is needless to describe the joyous gale that swept the chateau into a +maelstrom of emotions. Every one was shouting and talking and laughing +at once; every one was calling out excitedly that no means should be +spared in the effort to let the yacht know and appreciate the real +situation. + +"Can the yacht take all of us away?" was the anxious cry that went round +and round. + +They saw the tug put out to meet the small boat; they witnessed the same +old manoeuvres; they sustained a chill of surprise and despair when the +bright, white and blue boat from the yacht came to a stop at the command +from the tug. + +There was an hour of parleying. The beleaguered ones signalled with +despairing energy; the flag, limp in the damp air above the chateau, +shot up and down in pitiful eagerness. + +But the small boat edged away from close proximity to the tug and the +near-by dock. They spoke each other at long and ever-widening range. At +last, the yacht's boat turned and fled toward the trim white hull. + +Almost before the startled, dazed people on the balcony could grasp the +full and horrible truth, the yacht had lifted anchor and was slowly +headed out to sea. + +It was unbelievable! + +With stupefied, incredulous eyes, they saw the vessel get quickly under +way. She steamed from the pest-ridden harbour with scarcely so much as a +glance behind. Then they shouted and screamed after her, almost maddened +by this final, convincing proof of the consummate deviltry against which +they were destined to struggle. + +Chase looked grimly about him, into the questioning, stricken faces of +his companions. He drew his hand across his moist forehead. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," he said seriously and without the faintest +intent to jest, "we are supposed to be dead!" + +There was a single shriek from the bride of Thomas Saunders; no sound +left the dry lips of the other watchers, who stood as if petrified and +kept their eyes glued upon the disappearing yacht. + +"They have left me here to die!" came from the stiffened lips of the +Princess Genevra. "They have deserted me. God in heaven!" + +"Look!" cried Chase, pointing to the dock. Half a dozen glasses were +turned in that direction. + +The dying and the dead were leaping about in the wildest exhibition of +gleeful triumph! + +The yacht slipped into the unreachable horizon, the feathery cloud from +its stack lying over against the leaden sky, shaped like a finger that +pointed mockingly the way to safety. + +White-faced and despairing, the watchers turned away and dragged +themselves into the splendid halls of the building they had now come to +regard as their tomb. Their voices were hushed and tremulous; they were +looking at the handwriting on the wall. They had not noticed it there +before. + +Saunders was bravely saying to his distracted wife, as he led her down +the marble hall: + +"Don't give up the ship, dear. My word for it, we'll live to see that +garden out Hammersmith way. My word for it, dear." + +"He's trying so hard to be brave," said Genevra, oppressed by the +knowledge that it was _her_ ship that had played them false. "And Agnes? +Look, Hollingsworth! She is herself again. Ah, these British women come +up under the lash, don't they?" + +Lady Deppingham had thrown off her hopeless, despondent air; she was +crying out words of cheer and encouragement to those about her. Her eyes +were flashing, her head was erect and her voice was rich with +inspiration. + +"And you?" asked Chase, after a moment. "What of you? Your ship has come +and gone and you are still here--with me. You almost wished for this." + +"No. I almost wished that it would _not_ come. There is a distinction," +she said bitterly. "It has come and it has disappointed all of us--not +one alone." + +"Do you remember what it was that Saunders said about having lived only +a week, all told? The rest was nothing." + +"Yes--but you have seen that Saunders still covets life in a garden at +Hammersmith Bridge. I am no less human than Mr. Saunders." + +All day long the islanders rejoiced. Their shouts could be plainly heard +by the besieged; their rifles cracked sarcastic greetings from the +forest; bullets whistled gay accompaniments to the ceaseless song: +"Allah is great! Allah is good!" + +No man in the despised house of Taswell Skaggs slept that night. The +guard was doubled at all points open to attack. It was well that the +precaution was taken, for the islanders, believing that the enemy's +force had been largely reduced by the polluted water, made a vicious +assault on the lower gates. There was a fierce exchange of shots and the +attackers drew away, amazed, stunned by the discovery that the +beleaguered band was as strong and as determined as ever. + +At two in the morning, Deppingham, Browne and Chase came up from the +walls for coffee and an hour's rest. + +"Chase, if you don't get your blooming cruiser here before long, we'll +be as little worth the saving as old man Skaggs, up there in his +open-work grave," Deppingham was saying as he threw himself wearily into +a chair in the breakfast room. They were wet and cold. They had heard +Rasula's minions shouting derisively all night long: "Where is the +warship? Where is the warship?" + +"It will come. I am positive," said Chase, insistent in spite of his +dejection. They drank their coffee in silence. He knew that the +others--including the native who served them--were regarding him with +the pity that one extends to the vain-glorious braggart who goes down +with flying colours. + +He went out upon the west gallery and paced its windswept length for +half an hour or more. Then, utterly fagged, he threw himself into an +unexposed chair and stared through tired eyes into the inscrutable night +that hid the sea from view. The faithless, moaning, jeering sea! + +When he aroused himself with a start, the grey, drizzly dawn was upon +him. He had slept. His limbs were stiff and sore; his face was drenched +by the fine rain that had searched him out with prankish glee. + +The next instant he was on his feet, clutching the stone balustrade with +a grip of iron, his eyes starting from his head. A shout arose to his +lips, but he lacked the power to give it voice. For many minutes he +stood there, rooted to the spot, a song of thanksgiving surging in his +heart. + +He looked about him at last. He was alone in the gallery. A quaint smile +grew in his face; his eyes were bright and full of triumph. After a full +minute of preparation, he made his way toward the breakfast room, +outwardly as calm as a May morning. + +Browne and Deppingham were asleep in the chairs. He shook them +vigorously. As they awoke and stared uncomprehendingly at the disturber +of their dreams, he said, in the coolest, most matter-of-fact way: + +"There's an American cruiser outside the harbour. Get up!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +IN THE SAME GRAVE WITH SKAGGS + + +Down in the village of Aratat there were signs of a vast commotion. +Early risers and the guards were flying from house to house, shouting +the news. The citizens piled from their couches and raced pell-mell into +the streets, unbelieving, demoralised. With one accord they rushed to +the water front--men, women and children. Consternation was succeeded by +utter panic. Rasula's wild shouts went unheeded. He screamed and fought +to secure order among his people, but his efforts were as nought against +the storm of terror that confronted him. + +Outside the harbour lay the low, savage-looking ship. Its guns were +pointed directly at the helpless town; its decks were swarming with +white-clothed men; it was alive and it glowered with rage in its evil +eyes. + +The plague was forgotten! The strategy that had driven off the ships of +peace was lost in the face of this ugly creature of war. No man +grovelled on the dock with the convulsions of death; no man hearkened to +the bitter, impotent words of the single wise man among them. Rasula's +reign of strategy was ended. + +Howling like a madman, he tried to drive the company's tug out to meet +the sailors and urge them to keep away from the pest-ridden island. It +was like pleading with a mountain avalanche. + +"They will not fire! They dare not!" he was shrieking, as he dashed back +and forth along the dock. "It is chance! They do not come for Chase! +Believe in me! The tug! The tug! They must not land!" But others were +raging even more wildly than he, and they were calling upon Allah for +help, for mercy; they were shrieking maledictions upon themselves and +screaming praises to the sinister thing of death that glowered upon them +from its spaceless lair. + +The crash of the long-unused six-pounder at the chateau, followed almost +immediately by a great roar from one of the cruiser's guns, brought the +panic to a crisis. + +The islanders scattered like chaff before the wind, looking wild-eyed +over their shoulders in dread of the pursuing cannon-ball, dodging in +and out among the houses and off into the foothills. + +Rasula, undaunted but crazed with disappointment, stuck to his colours +on the deserted dock. He cursed and raved and begged. In time, two or +three of the more canny, realising that safety lay in an early peace +offering, ventured out beside him. Others followed their example and +still others slunk trembling to the fore, their voices ready to protest +innocence and friendship and loyalty. + +They had heard of the merciless American gunner and they knew, in their +souls, that he could shoot the island into atoms before nightfall. + +The native lawyer harangued them and cursed them and at last brought +them to understand, in a feeble way, that no harm could come to them if +they faced the situation boldly. The Americans would not land on British +soil; it would precipitate war with England. They would not dare to +attempt a bombardment: Chase was a liar, a mountebank, a dog! After +shouting himself hoarse in his frenzy of despair, he finally succeeded +in forcing the men to get up steam in the company's tug. All this time, +the officers of the American warship were dividing their attention +between land and sea. Another vessel was coming up out of the misty +horizon. The men on board knew it to be a British man-of-war! At last +steam was up in the tug. A hundred or more of the islanders had ventured +from their hiding places and were again huddled upon the dock. + +Suddenly the throng separated as if by magic, opening a narrow path down +which three white men approached the startled Rasula. A hundred eager +hands were extended, a hundred voices cried out for mercy, a hundred +Mohammedans beat their heads in abject submission. + +Hollingsworth Chase, Lord Deppingham and a familiar figure in an +ill-fitting red jacket and forage cap strode firmly, defiantly between +the rows of humble Japatites. Close behind them came a tall, resolute +grenadier of the Rapp-Thorberg army. + +"Make way there, make way!" Mr. Bowles was crying, brandishing the +antique broadsword that had come down to Wyckholme from the dark ages. +"Stand aside for the British Government! Make way for the American!" + +Rasula's jaw hung limp in the face of this amazing exhibition of courage +on the part of the enemy. He could not at first believe his eyes. +Hoarse, inarticulate cries came from his froth-covered lips. He was +glaring insanely at the calm, triumphant face of the man from Brodney's, +who was now advancing upon him with the assurance of a conqueror. + +"You see, Rasula, I have called for the cruiser and it has come at my +bidding." Turning to the crowd that surged up from behind, cowed and +cringing, Chase said: "It rests with you. If I give the word, that ship +will blow you from the face of the earth. I am your friend, people. I +would you no harm, but good. You have been misled by Rasula. Rasula, you +are not a fool. You can save yourself, even now. I am here as the +servant of these people, not as their master. I intend to remain here +until I am called back by the man who sent me to you. You have----" + +Rasula uttered a shriek of rage. He had been crouching back among his +cohorts, panting with fury. Now he sprang forward, murder in his eyes. +His arm was raised and a great pistol was levelled at the breast of the +man who faced him so coolly, so confidently. Deppingham shouted and took +a step forward to divert the aim of the frenzied lawyer. + +A revolver cracked behind the tall American and Rasula stopped in his +tracks. There was a great hole in his forehead; his eyes were bursting; +he staggered backward, his knees gave way; and, as the blood filled the +hole and streamed down his face, he sank to the ground--dead! + +The soldier from Rapp-Thorberg, a smoking pistol in his hand, the other +raised to his helmet, stepped to the side of Hollingsworth Chase. + +"By order of Her Serene Highness, sir," he said quietly. + +"Good God!" gasped Chase, passing his hand across his brow. For a full +minute there was no sound to be heard on the pier except the lapping of +the waves. Deppingham, repressing a shudder, addressed the stunned +natives. + +"Take the body away. May that be the end of all assassins!" + + * * * * * + +The _King's Own_ came alongside the American vessel in less than an +hour. Accompanied by the British agent, Mr. Bowles, Chase and Deppingham +left the dock in the company's tug and steamed out toward the two +monsters. The American had made no move to send men ashore, nor had the +British agent deemed it wise to ask aid of the Yankees in view of the +fact that a vessel of his own nation was approaching. + +Standing on the forward deck of the swift little tug, Chase +unconcernedly accounted for the timely arrival of the two cruisers. + +"Three weeks ago I sent out letters by the mail steamer, to be delivered +to the English or American commanders, wherever they might be found. +Undoubtedly they were met with in the same port. That is why I was so +positive that help would come, sooner or later. It was very simple. Lord +Deppingham, merely a case of foresightedness. I knew that we'd need help +and I knew that if I brought the cruisers my power over these people +would never be disturbed again." + +"My word!" exclaimed the admiring Bowles. + +"Chase, you may be theatric, but you are the most dependable chap the +world has ever known," said Deppingham, and he meant it. + +The warships remained off the harbour all that day. Officers from both +ships were landed and escorted to the chateau, where joy reigned +supreme, notwithstanding the fact that the grandchildren of the old men +of the island were morally certain that their cause was lost. The +British captain undertook to straighten out matters on the island. He +consented to leave a small detachment of marines in the town to protect +Chase and the bank, and he promised the head men of the village, whom he +had brought aboard the ship, that no mercy would be shown if he or the +American captain was compelled to make a second visit in response to a +call for aid. To a man the islanders pledged fealty to the cause of +peace and justice: they shouted the names of Chase and Allah in the same +breath, and demanded of the latter that He preserve the former's beard +for all eternity. + +The _King's Own_ was to convey the liberated heirs, their goods and +chattels, their servants and their penates (if any were left inviolate) +to Aden, whither the cruiser was bound. At that port a P. & O. steamer +would pick them up. One white man elected to stay on the island with +Hollingsworth Chase, who steadfastly refused to desert his post until +Sir John Brodney indicated that his mission was completed. That one man +was the wearer of the red jacket, the bearer of the King's commission in +Japat, the undaunted Mr. Bowles, won over from his desire to sit once +more on the banks of the Serpentine and to dine forever in the Old +Cheshire Cheese. + +The Princess Genevra, the wistful light deepening hourly in her +blue-grey eyes, avoided being alone with the man whom she was leaving +behind. She had made up her mind to accept the fate inevitable; he had +reconciled himself to the ending of an impossible dream. There was +nothing more to say, except farewell. She may have bled in her soul for +him and for the happiness that was dying as the minutes crept on to the +hour of parting, but she carefully, deliberately concealed the wounds +from all those who stood by and questioned with their eyes. + +She was a princess of Rapp-Thorberg! + +The last day dawned. The sun smiled down upon them. The soft breeze of +the sea whispered the curse of destiny into their ears; it crooned the +song of heritage; it called her back to the fastnesses where love may +not venture in. + +The chateau was in a state of upheaval; the exodus was beginning. +Servants and luggage had departed on their way to the dock. Palanquins +were waiting to carry the lords and ladies of the castle down to the +sea. The Princess waited until the last moment. She went to him. He was +standing apart from the rest, coldly indifferent to the pangs he was +suffering. + +"I shall love you always," she said simply, giving him her hand. +"Always, Hollingsworth." Her eyes were wide and hopeless, her lips were +white. + +He bowed his head. "May God give you all the happiness that I wish for +you," he said. "The End!" + +She looked steadily into his eyes for a long time, searching his soul +for the hope that never dies. Then she gently withdrew her hands and +stood away from him, humbled in her own soul. + +"Yes," she whispered. "Good-bye." + +He straightened his shoulders and drew a deep breath through compressed +nostrils. "Good-bye! God bless you," was all that he said. + +She left him standing there; the wall between them was too high, too +impregnable for even Love to storm. + +Lady Deppingham came to him there a moment later. "I am sorry," she said +tenderly. "Is there no hope?" + +"There is no hope--for _her_!" he said bitterly. "She was condemned too +long ago." + +On the pier they said good-bye to him. He was laughing as gaily and as +blithely as if the world held no sorrows in all its mighty grasp. + +"I'll look you up in London," he said to the Deppinghams. "Remember, the +real trial is yet to come. Good-bye, Browne. Good-bye, all! You _may_ +come again another day!" + +The launch slipped away from the pier. He and Bowles stood there, side +by side, pale-faced but smiling, waving their handkerchiefs. He felt +that Genevra was still looking into his eyes, even when the launch crept +up under the walls of the distant ship. + +Slowly the great vessel got under way. The American cruiser was already +low on the horizon. There was a single shot from the _King's Own_: a +reverberating farewell! + +Hollingsworth Chase turned away at last. There were tears in his eyes +and there were tears in those of Mr. Bowles. + +"Bowles," said he, "it's a rotten shame they didn't think to say +good-bye to old man Skaggs. He's in the same grave with us." + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +A TOAST TO THE PAST + + +The middle of June found the Deppinghams leaving London once more, but +this time not on a voyage into the mysterious South Seas. They no longer +were interested in the island of Japat, except as a reminiscence, nor +were they concerned in the vagaries of Taswell Skaggs's will. + +The estate was settled--closed! + +Mr. Saunders was mentioned nowadays only in narrative form, and but +rarely in that way. True, they had promised to visit the little place in +Hammersmith if they happened to be passing by, and they had graciously +admitted that it would give them much pleasure to meet his good mother. + +Two months have passed since the Deppinghams departed from Japat, "for +good and all." Many events have come to pass since that memorable day, +not the least of which was the exchanging of L500,000 sterling, less +attorneys' and executors' fees. To be perfectly explicit and as brief as +possible, Lady Deppingham and Robert Browne divided that amount of money +and passed into legal history as the "late claimants to the Estate of +Taswell Skaggs." + +It was Sir John Brodney's enterprise. He saw the way out of the +difficulty and he acted as pathfinder to the other and less perceiving +counsellors, all of whom had looked forward to an endless controversy. + +The business of the Japat Company and all that it entailed was +transferred by agreement to a syndicate of Jews! + +Never before was there such a stupendous deal in futures. + +Soon after the arrival in England of the two claimants, it became known +that the syndicate was casting longing eyes upon the far-away garden of +rubies and sapphires. There was no hope of escape from a long, bitter +contest in the courts. Sir John perhaps saw that there was a possible +chance to break the will of the testator; he was an old man and he would +hardly live long enough to fight the case to the end. In the +interregnum, his clients, the industrious islanders, would be slaving +themselves into a hale old age and a subsequently unhallowed grave, none +the wiser and none the richer than when the contest began, except for +the proportionately insignificant share that was theirs by right of +original possession. Sir John took it upon himself to settle the matter +while his clients were still in a condition to appreciate the results. +He proposed a compromise. + +It was not so much a question of jurisprudence, he argued, as it was a +matter of self-protection for all sides to the controversy--more +particularly that side which assembled the inhabitants of Japat. + +And so it came to pass that the Jews, after modifying some twenty or +thirty propositions of their own, ultimately assumed the credit of +evolving the plan that had originated in the resourceful head of Sir +John Brodney, and affairs were soon brought to a close. + +The grandchildren of the testators were ready to accept the best +settlement that could be obtained. Theirs was a rather forlorn hope, to +begin with. When it was proposed that Agnes Deppingham and Robert Browne +should accept L250,000 apiece in lieu of all claims, moral or legal, +against the estate, they leaped at the chance. + +They had seen but little of each other since landing in England, except +as they were thrown together at the conferences. There was no pretence +of intimacy on either side; the shadow of the past was still there to +remind them that a skeleton lurked behind and grinned spitefully in its +obscurity. Lady Agnes went in for every diversion imaginable; for a +wonder, she dragged Deppingham with her on all occasions. It was a most +unexpected transformation; their friends were puzzled. The rumour went +about town that she was in love with her husband. + +As for Bobby Browne, he was devotion itself to Drusilla. They sailed for +New York within three days after the settlement was effected, ignoring +the enticements of a London season--which could not have mattered much +to them, however, as Drusilla emphatically refused to wear the sort of +gowns that Englishwomen wear when they sit in the stalls. Besides, she +preferred the Boston dressmakers. The Brownes were rich. He could now +become a fashionable specialist. They were worth nearly a million and a +quarter in American dollars. Moreover, they, as well as the Deppinghams, +were the possessors of rubies and sapphires that had been thrust upon +them by supplicating adversaries in the hour of departure--gems that +might have bought a dozen wives in the capitals of Persia; perhaps a +score in the mountains where the Kurds are cheaper. The Brownes +naturally were eager to get back to Boston. They now had nothing in +common with Taswell Skaggs; Skaggs is not a pretty name. + +Mr. Britt afterward spent three weeks of incessant travel on the +continent and an additional seven days at sea. In Baden-Baden he +happened upon Lord and Lady Deppingham. It will be recalled that in +Japat they had always professed an unholy aversion for Mr. Britt. Is it +cause for wonder then that they declined his invitation to dine in +Baden-Baden? He even proposed to invite their entire party, which +included a few dukes and duchesses who were leisurely on their way to +attend the long-talked-of nuptials in Thorberg at the end of June. + +The Syndicate, after buying off the hereditary forces, assumed a half +interest in the Japat Company's business; the islanders controlled the +remaining half. The mines were to be operated under the management of +the Jews and eight hours were to constitute a day's work. The personal +estate passed into the hands of the islanders, from whom Skaggs had +appropriated it in conjunction with John Wyckholme. All in all, it +seemed a fair settlement of the difficulty. The Jews paid something like +L2,000,000 sterling to the islanders in consideration of a twenty years' +grant. Their experts had examined the property before the death of Mr. +Skaggs; they were not investing blindly in the great undertaking. + +Mr. Levistein, the president of the combine, after a long talk with Lord +Deppingham, expressed the belief that the chateau could be turned into a +money-making hotel if properly advertised--outside of the island. +Deppingham admitted, that if he kept the prices up, there was no reason +in the world why the better class of Jews should not flock there for the +winter. + +Before the end of June, representatives of the combine, attended by +officers of the court, a small army of clerks, a half dozen lawyers and +two capable men from the office of Sir John Brodney, set sail for Japat, +provided with the power and the means to effect the transfer agreed upon +in the compromise. + +In Vienna the Deppinghams were joined by the Duchess of N------, the +Marchioness of B------ and other fashionables. In a week all of them +would be in the Castle at Thorberg, for the ceremony that now occupied +the attention of social and royal Europe. + +"And to think," said the Duchess, "she might have died happily on that +miserable island. I am sure we did all we could to bring it about by +steaming away from the place with the plague chasing after us. Dear me, +how diabolically those wretches lied to the Marquess. They said that +every one in the chateau was dead, Lady Deppingham--and buried, if I am +not mistaken." + +The party was dining with one of the Prince Lichtensteins in the Hotel +Bristol after a drive in the Haupt-Allee. + +"My dog, I think, was the only one of us who died, Duchess," said Lady +Agnes airily. "And he was buried. They were that near to the truth." + +"It would be much better for poor Genevra if she were to be buried +instead of married next week," lamented the Duchess. + +"My dear, how ridiculous. She isn't dead yet, by any manner of means. +Why bury her? She's got plenty of life left in her, as Karl Brabetz will +learn before long." Thus spoke the far-sighted Marchioness, aunt of the +bride-to-be. "It's terribly gruesome to speak of burying people before +they are actually dead." + +"Other women have married princes and got on very well," said Prince +Lichtenstein. + +"Oh, come now, Prince," put in Lord Deppingham, "you know the sort of +chap Brabetz is. There are princes and princes, by Jove." + +"He's positively vile!" exclaimed the Duchess, who would not mince +words. + +"She's entering upon a hell of a--I mean a life of hell," exploded the +Duke, banging the table with his fist. "That fellow Brabetz is the +rottenest thing in Europe. He's gone from bad to worse so swiftly that +public opinion is still months behind him." + +"Nice way to talk of the groom," said the host genially. "I quite agree +with you, however. I cannot understand the Grand Duke permitting it to +go on--unless, of course, it's too late to interfere." + +"Poor dear, she'll never know what it is to be loved and cherished," +said the Marchioness dolefully. + +Lord and Lady Deppingham glanced at each other. They were thinking of +the man who stood on the dock at Aratat when the _King's Own_ sailed +away. + +"The Grand Duke is probably saying the very thing to himself that +Brabetz's associates are saying in public," ventured a young Austrian +count. + +"What is that, pray?" + +"That the Prince won't live more than six months. He's a physical wreck +to-day--and a nervous one, too. Take my word for it, he will be a +creeping, imbecile thing inside of half a year. Locomotor ataxia and all +that. It's coming, positively, with a sharp crash." + +"I've heard he has tried to kill that woman in Paris half a dozen +times," remarked one of the women, taking it as a matter of course that +every one knew who she meant by "that woman." As no one even so much as +looked askance, it is to be presumed that every one knew. + +"She was really responsible for the postponement of the wedding in +December, I'm told. Of course, I don't know that it is true," said the +Marchioness, wisely qualifying her gossip. "My brother, the Grand Duke, +does not confide in me." + +"Oh, I think that story was an exaggeration," said her husband. "Genevra +says that he was very ill--nervous something or other." + +"Probably true, too. He's a wreck. She will be the prettiest widow in +Europe before Christmas," said the young count. "Unless, of course, any +one of the excellent husbands surrounding me should die," he added +gallantly. + +"Well, my heart bleeds for her," said Deppingham. + +"She's going into it with her eyes open," said the Prince. "It isn't as +if she hadn't been told. She could see for herself. She knows there's +the other woman in Paris and--Oh, well, why should we make a funeral of +it? Let's do our best to be revellers, not mourners. She'll live to fall +in love with some other man. They always do. Every woman has to love at +least once in her life--if she lives long enough. Come, come! Is my +entertainment to develop into a premature wake? Let us forget the future +of the Princess Genevra and drink to her present!" + +"And to her past, if you don't mind, Prince!" amended Lord Deppingham, +looking into his wife's sombre eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE TITLE CLEAR + + +Two men and a woman stood in the evening glow, looking out over the +tranquil sea that crept up and licked the foot of the cliff. At their +back rose the thick, tropical forest; at its edge and on the nape of the +cliff stood a bungalow, fresh from the hands of a hundred willing +toilsmen. Below, on their right, lay the gaudy village, lolling in the +heat of the summer's day. Far off to the north, across the lowlands and +beyond the sweep of undulating and ever-lengthening hills, could be seen +a great, reddish structure, its gables and towers fusing with the sombre +shades of the mountain against which they seemed to lean. + +It was September. Five months had passed since the _King's Own_ steamed +away from the harbour of Aratat. The new dispensation was in full +effect. During the long, sickening weeks that preceded the coming of the +Syndicate, Hollingsworth Chase toiled faithfully, resolutely for the +restoration of order and system among the demoralised people of Japat. + +The first few weeks of rehabilitation were hard ones: the islanders were +ready to accede to everything he proposed, but their submissiveness was +due in no small measure to the respect they entertained for his almost +supernatural powers. In course of time this feeling was more or less +dissipated and a condition of true confidence took its place. The +lawless element--including the misguided husbands whose jealousy had +been so skilfully worked upon by Rasula and Jacob von Blitz--this +element, greatly in the minority, subsided into a lackadaisical, +law-abiding activity, with little prospect of again attempting to +exercise themselves in another direction. Murder had gone out of their +hearts. + +Eager hands set to work to construct a suitable home for the tall +arbiter. He chose a position on the point that ran out into the sea +beyond the town. It was this point which the yacht was rounding on that +memorable day when he and one other had watched it from the gallery, +stirred by emotions they were never to forget. Besides, the cliff on +which the new bungalow stood represented the extreme western extremity +of the island and therefore was nearest of all Japat to civilisation +and--Genevra. + +Conditions in Aratat were not much changed from what they had been prior +to the event of the legatory invaders. The mines were in full operation; +the bank was being conducted as of yore; the people were happy and +confident; the town was fattening on its own flesh; the sun was as +merciless and the moon as gentle as in the days of old. + +The American bar changed hands with the arrival of the new forces from +the Occident; the Jews and the English clerks, the surveyors and the +engineers, the solicitors and the agents, were now domiciled in +"headquarters." Chase turned over the "bar" when he retired from active +service under Sir John Brodney. With the transfer of the company's +business his work was finished. Two young men from Sir John's were now +settled in Aratat as legal advisers to the islanders, Chase having +declined to serve longer in that capacity. + +He was now waiting for the steamer which was to take him to Cape Town on +his way to England--and home. + +The chateau was closed and in the hands of a small army of caretakers. +The three widows of Jacob von Blitz were now married to separate and +distinct husbands, all of whom retained their places as heads of +departments at the chateau, proving that courtship had not been confined +to the white people during the closing days of the siege. + +The head of the bank was Oscar Arnheimer, Mr. Bowles having been deposed +because his methods were even more obsolete than his coat of armour. +Selim disposed of his lawful interest in the corporation to Ben Ali, the +new Cadi, and was waiting to accompany his master to America. It may be +well to add that the deal did not include the transfer of Neenah. She +was not for sale, said Selim to Ben Ali. + +It was of Mr. Bowles that the three persons were talking as they stood +in the evening glow. + +"Yes, Selim," said the tall man in flannels, "he's a sort of old dog +Tray--ever faithful but not the right kind. You don't happen to know +anything of old dog Tray, do you? No? I thought not. Nor you, Neenah? +Well, he was----" + +"Was he the one who was poisoned at the chateau, excellency?" asked +Neenah timidly. + +"No, my dear," he replied soberly. "If I remember my history, he died in +the seventeenth century or thereabouts. It's really of no consequence, +however. Any good, faithful dog will serve my purpose. What I want to +impress upon you is this: it is most difficult for a faithful old dog to +survive a change of masters. It isn't human nature--or dog nature, +either. I'm glad that you are convinced, Neenah--but please don't tell +Sahib Bowles that he is a dog." + +"Oh, no, excellency!" she cried earnestly. + +"She is very close-mouthed, sahib," added Selim, with conviction. + +"We'll take Bowles to England with us next week," went on Chase +dreamily. "We'll leave Japat to take care of itself. I don't know which +it is in most danger of, seismic or Semitic disturbances." + +He lighted a fresh cigarette, tenderly fingering it before applying the +match. + +"I'll smoke one of hers to-night, Selim. See! I keep them apart from the +others, in this little gold case. I smoke them only when I am thinking. +Now, run in and tell Mr. Bowles that I said he was a Tray. I want to be +alone." + +They left him and he threw himself upon the green sod, his back to a +tree, his face toward the distant chateau. Hours afterward the faithful +Selim came out to tell him that it was bedtime. He found his master +still sitting there, looking across the moonlit flat in the direction of +a place in the hills where once he had dwelt in marble halls. + +"Selim," he said, arising and laying his hand upon his servant's +shoulder, his voice unsteady with finality, "I have decided, after all, +to go to Paris! We will live there, Selim. Do you understand?" with +strange fierceness, a great exultation mastering him. "We are to live in +Paris!" + +To himself, all that night, he was saying: "I _must_ see her again--I +_shall_ see her!" + +A thousand times he had read and re-read the letter that Lady Deppingham +had written to him just before the ceremony in the cathedral at +Thorberg. He knew every word that it contained; he could read it in the +dark. She had said that Genevra was going into a hell that no hereafter +could surpass in horrors! And that was ages ago, it seemed to him. +Genevra had been a wife for nearly three months--the wife of a man she +loathed; she was calling in her heart for him to come to her; she was +suffering in that unspeakable hell. All this he had come to feel and +shudder over in his unspeakable loneliness. He would go to her! There +could be no wrong in loving her, in being near her, in standing by her +in those hours of desperation. + +A copy of a London newspaper, stuffed away in the recesses of his trunk, +dated June 29th, had come to him by post. It contained the telegraphic +details of the brilliant wedding in Thorberg. He had read the names of +the guests over and over again with a bitterness that knew no bounds. +Those very names proved to him that her world was not his, nor ever +could be. Every royal family in Europe was represented; the list of +noble names seemed endless to him--the flower of the world's +aristocracy. How he hated them! + +The next morning Selim aroused him from his fitful sleep, bringing the +news that a strange vessel had arrived off Aratat. Chase sprang out of +bed, possessed of the wild hope that the opportunity to leave the island +had come sooner than he had expected. He rushed out upon his veranda, +overlooking the little harbour. + +A long, white, graceful craft was lying in the harbour. It was in so +close to the pier that he had no choice but to recognise it as a vessel +of light draft. He stared long and intently at the trim craft. + +"Can I be dreaming?" he muttered, passing his hand over his eyes. "Don't +lie to me, Selim! Is it really there?" Then he uttered a loud cry of joy +and started off down the slope with the speed of a race horse, shouting +in the frenzy of an uncontrollable glee. + +It was the Marquess of B----'s white and blue yacht! + + * * * * * + +Three weeks later, Hollingsworth Chase stepped from the deck of the +yacht to the pier in Marseilles; the next day he was in Paris, attended +by the bewildered and almost useless Selim. An old and valued friend, a +campaigner of the war-time days, met him at the Gare de Lyon in response +to a telegram. + +"I'll tell you the whole story of Japat, Arch, but not until to-morrow," +Chase said to him as they drove toward the Ritz. "I arrived yesterday on +the Marquess of B----'s yacht--the _Cricket_. Do you know him? Of course +you do. Everybody does. The _Cricket_ was cruising down my way and +picked me up--Bowles and me. The captain came a bit out of his way to +call at Aratat, but he had orders of some sort from the Marquess, by +cable, I fancy, to stop off for me." + +He did not regard it as necessary to tell his correspondent friend that +the _Cricket_ had sailed from Marseilles with but one port in +view--Aratat. He did not tell him that the _Cricket_ had come with a +message to him and that he was answering it in person, as it was +intended that he should--a message written six weeks before his arrival +in France. There were many things that Chase did not explain to +Archibald James. + +"You're looking fine, Chase, old man. Did you a lot of good out there. +You're as brown as that Arab in the taximetre back there. By Jove, old +man, that Persian girl is ripping. You say she's his wife? She's--" +Chase broke in upon this far from original estimate of the picturesque +Neenah. + +"I say, Arch, there's something I want to know before I go to the +Marquess's this evening. I'm due there with my thanks. He lives in the +Boulevard St. Germain--I've got the number all right. Is one likely to +find the house full of swells? I'm a bit of a savage just now and I'm +correspondingly timid." + +His friend stared at him for a moment. + +"I can save you the trouble of going to the Marquess," he said. "He and +the Marchioness are in London at present. Left Paris a month ago." + +"What? The house is closed?" in deep anxiety. + +"I think not. Servants are all there, I daresay. Their place adjoins the +Brabetz palace. The Princess is his niece, you know." + +"You say the Brabetz palace is next door?" demanded Chase, steadying his +voice with an effort. + +"Yes--the old Flaurebert mansion. The Princess was to have been the +social sensation of Paris this year. She's a wonderful beauty, you +know." + +"Was to have been?" + +"She married that rotten Brabetz last June--but, of course, you never +heard of it out there in what's-the-name-of-the-place. You may have +heard of his murder, however. His mistress shot him in Brussels----" + +"Great God, man!" gasped Chase, clutching his arm in a grip of iron. + +"The devil, Chase!" cried the other, amazed. "What's the matter?" + +"He's dead? Murdered? How--when? Tell me about it," cried Chase, his +agitation so great that James looked at him in wonder. + +"'Gad, you seem to be interested!" + +"I _am_! Where is she--I mean the Princess? And the other woman?" + +"Cool off, old man. People are staring at you. It's not a long story. +Brabetz was shot three weeks ago at a hotel in Brussels. He'd been +living there for two months, more or less, with the woman. In fact, he +left Paris almost immediately after he was married to the Princess +Genevra. The gossip is that she wouldn't live with him. She'd found out +what sort of a dog he was. They didn't have a honeymoon and they didn't +attempt a bridal tour. Somehow, they kept the scandal out of the papers. +Well, he hiked out of Paris at the end of a week, just before the 14th. +The police had asked the woman to leave town. He followed. Dope fiend, +they say. The bride went into seclusion at once. She's never to be seen +anywhere. The woman shot him through the head and then took a fine dose +of poison. They tried to save her life, but couldn't. It was a ripping +news story. The prominence of the----" + +"This was a month ago?" demanded Chase, trying to fix something in his +mind. "Then it was _after_ the yacht left Marseilles with orders to pick +me up at Aratat." + +"What are you talking about? Sure it was, if the yacht left Marseilles +six weeks ago. What's that got to do with it?" + +"Nothing. Don't mind me, Arch. I'm a bit upset." + +"There was talk of a divorce almost before the wedding bells ceased +ringing. The Grand Duke got his eyes opened when it was too late. He +repented of the marriage. The Princess was obliged to live in Paris for +a certain length of time before applying to the courts for freedom. +'Gad, I'll stake my head she's happy these days!" + +Chase was silent for a long time. He was quite cool and composed when at +last he turned to his friend. + +"Arch, do me a great favour. Look out for Selim and Neenah. Take 'em to +the hotel and see that they get settled. I'll join you this evening. +Don't ask questions, but put me down here. I'll take another cab. +There's a good fellow. I'll explain soon. I'm--I'm going somewhere and +I'm in a hurry." + + * * * * * + +The _voiture_ drew up before the historic old palace in the Boulevard +St. Germain. Chase's heart was beating furiously as he stepped to the +curb. The _cocher_ leaned forward for instructions. His fare hesitated +for a moment, swayed by a momentary indecision. + +"_Attendre_" he said finally. The driver adjusted his register and +settled back to wait. Then Chase mounted the steps and lifted the +knocker with trembling fingers. He was dizzy with eagerness, cold with +uncertainty. + +She had asked him to come to her--but conditions were not the same as +when she sent the compelling message. There had come into her life a +vital break, a change that altered everything. What was it to mean to +him? + +He stood a moment later in the salon of the old Flaurebert palace, +vaguely conscious that the room was darkened by the drawn blinds, and +that it was cool and sweet to his senses. He knew that she was coming +down the broad hallway--he could hear the rustle of her gown. +Inconsequently he was wondering whether she would be dressed in black. +Then, to his humiliation, he remembered that he was wearing uncouth, +travel-soiled garments. + +She was dressed in white--a house gown, simple and alluring. There was +no suggestion of the coronet, no shadow of grief in her manner as she +came swiftly toward him, her hands extended, a glad light in her eyes. + +The tall man, voiceless with emotion, clasped her hands in his and +looked down into the smiling, rapturous face. + +"You came!" she said, almost in a whisper. + +"Yes. I could not have stayed away. I have just heard that you--you are +free. You must not expect me to offer condolences. It would be sheer +hypocrisy. I am glad--God, I am glad! You sent for me--you sent the +yacht, Genevra, before--before you were free. I came, knowing that you +belonged to another. I find you the same as when I knew you first--when +I held you in my arms and heard you say that you loved me. You do not +grieve--you do not mourn. You are the same--my Genevra--the same that I +have dreamed of and suffered for all these months. Something tells me +that you have descended to my plane. I will not kiss you, Genevra, until +you have promised to become my wife." + +She had not taken her eyes from his white, intense face during this long +summing-up. + +"Hollingsworth, I cannot, I will not blame you for thinking ill of me," +she said. "Have I fallen in your eyes? I wanted you to be near me. I +wanted you to know that when the courts freed me from that man that I +would be ready and happy to come to you as _your_ wife. I am not in +mourning to-day, you see. I knew you were coming. As God is my witness, +I have no husband to mourn for. He was nothing to me. I want you for my +husband, dearest. It was what I meant when I sent out there for +you--that, and nothing else." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN FROM BRODNEY'S*** + + +******* This file should be named 11572.txt or 11572.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/5/7/11572 + + +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. 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